[nabs-l] Blindness and Identity

[Jedi]

Marc,

This is a circular argument as far as I'm concerned, and i don't think 
we're going to ever agree completely on this issue. I don't know how 
many times I have to tell you that I don't see myself differently 
because I have the ability to give birth. If I do, it's because I 
learned from my society that I'm supposed to. But before that, I really 
didn't care. And to be honest, I care about it less than some other 
women do. Same goes for my blindness. Before I learned that i'm 
different from others, it didn't occur to me that I couldn't see. I 
just figured that I was what I was. What it really comes down to is 
that society tells us what different experiences mean, and we think of 
ourselves based on those meanings. For example, most White people don't 
really think about the fact that they're White because it's not 
something that's regularly drawn attention to. That may be less true 
now that discussions about racism have become more mainstream, but 
people take their Whiteness for granted because they are sort of like 
the invisible norm. Other ethnicities don't have that luxury, so they 
are more aware of their skin color because society has told them that 
they are different from White people in fundamental ways. If there was 
no meaning assigned to skin color, we might observe that someone is 
Black and someone is White, but that's about as far as it would go. But 
instead, this socially constructed meaning created that identity that 
having a different skin color other than White produces.

I think your article is interesting because it almost repeats long-held 
notions about blind people that have been around in the field of 
special education for a long time: blind people's language development 
is delayed, especially since they can't see what's being talked about 
in order to link some object with it's symbolic counterpart, yet blind 
people develop an amazingness with words themselves because they have 
no other way to really get information. Some folks believe that even 
our amazing ability with words isn't enough since we still can't link 
these words with the things they represent. What I think is really 
going on with these brain studies is that blind people are using parts 
of their brains to make inferences about what they're being told. It's 
a skill we pick up over time as a way of supplimenting what we already 
get. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the sighted could do the same 
thing and that more of their brains would light up if they used the 
skill more. there's a fine distinction there.

Respectfully,
Jedi



Original message:
> Jedi,

> I hope that I did not try to tell you what you think about your ability to
> give birth.  I said that I wasn't sure it was possible to say that you don't
> see yourself differently.  I admit I should have clarified, but what I said
> has absolutely nothing to do with you and what you think about yourself.  I
> was saying that it is literally impossible to make a claim like the one you
> made.  The reason it is impossible is because to know for sure if you do or
> do not see yourself differently as a result of possessing the ability to
> give birth, you would have had to have grown up as a man and as a woman,
> which is not physically possible.  So I suppose you can say that you don't
> think about it, and you probably don't, but since you have nothing to
> compare it to, it's impossible to say whether it does or does not shape how
> you think about yourself.  It would be like me saying, I don't think about
> my ability to be self-aware.  Therefore, it isn't a part of my identity, or,
> I don't think much about my ability to feel pain, so I would be the same
> person if  I lacked this ability.  I can say that I don't think about these
> things, and it can be true that I don't think about these things, but I
> can't say that they do not shape my identity, which is what I thought you
> were trying to say.

> The deeper claim I'm making is that identity is not something you can just
> step outside of and say features X and Y are part of my identity, but
> features A, B, and C are not.  I want to say that there are things about you
> that affect your identity that you are not at all aware of, and it is not
> possible to step outside of your identity and take stock of the factors that
> make you who you are.  If you step outside of your identity, the you that is
> doing the stepping disappears.  So it's a philosophical claim that you can
> never no for sure what exactly shapes your sense of self because knowing
> this would require stepping outside yourself to have a look, but this is not
> possible.

> As for language processing, I'm going to paste an article abstract below my
> name.  It discusses the faster language processing that I mentioned.

> Please correct me if I'm wrong: The difference in opinion here seems to be
> that you think that identity is socially constructed.  I'm only suggesting
> that there is a close link between the body and identity and that possessing
> a body that functions in a rather significantly different way (e.g., one
> that is capable of visual perception versus one that is not) has a
> non-trivial impact on one's sense of self.  It doesn't strike me as a
> particularly bold claim, no more than to say that I would probably be a
> different person if I had a photographic memory, the ability to sense
> infrared signals, or the sense of smell of a dog.  And though I don't think
> that how we perceive our bodies is beyond social influence, I'm not sure
> that it is entirely socially constructed either.

> Abstract follows.

> Marc

> Event -related potentials during auditory language processing in
> congenitally blind and sighted people
> Brigitte Roder
> Abstract

> While behavioral studies have documented delayed language acquisition in
> blind children, other studies have revealed better speech discrimination
> abilities for blind than sighted adults. Several brain imaging studies have
> provided evidence for cortical reorganization due to visual deprivation but
> the cerebral organization of language in blind humans is not known yet.

> We hypothesized that the increasing specialization of language systems
> normally observed during development may not take place to the same degree
> in blind individuals since posterior visual areas do not receive their
> adequate input. On the other hand, we hypothesized that blind people, due to
> their greater reliance upon the auditory language signal, may process speech
> faster than sighted people.

> To test these assumptions, event-related potentials were recorded while 11
> congenitally blind and 11 sighted adults matched in age, gender, handedness
> and education were engaged in a language task. Participants listened to
> sentences in order to decide after each sentence if it was meaningful or
> not.

> Incongruous sentence-final words elicited an N400 effect in both groups. The
> N400 effect had a left-lateralized fronto-central scalp distribution in the
> sighted but a symmetric and broad topography in the blind. Furthermore, the
> N400 effect started earlier in the blind than in the sighted. Closed class
> compared to open class sentence middle words elicited a more pronounced late
> negativity in the blind than in the sighted.

> These results suggest that blind people process auditory language stimuli
> faster than sighted people and that some language functions may be
> reorganized in the blind.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
> Behalf Of Jedi
> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 1:14 PM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness and Identity


> Marc,

> Seems how you're not a woman, and seems how you're not me, it isn't
> your place to tell me what I think about myself in light of my ability
> to give birth. I'm telling you that aside from the social consequences
> of being the child bearing half of the spiecies, I don't think about it
> much, and I suspect you would because you're not a woman. That is not
> to say that some women don't think about it more than I do, but I
> personally don't think about it much. I also suspect that sighted
> people think the same way. They think about the differences of
> blindness more than many of us do.

> Next, blind people do not have inherently better memories nor better
> language processing skills. On the whole, we're on par with the sighted
> even if there are small brain differences. Just hanging out at an NFB
> meeting or convention shows us how many differences there are between
> us all: some have better memories than others, some are well spoken
> while others aren't. The research I'm speaking of shows that blind
> people handle voice recognition with the same parts of the brain that
> the sighted handle face recognition and that we handle space-related
> tasks with the same mechanism the sighted do except that we use
> different inputs for the information. The occipital lobe of the brain
> lights up when reading Braille the same way it does when reading print.
> For some of us, the occipital lobe lights up when listening to text
> because that's our primary form of reading. that may be linked to the
> researched you're talking about.

> Respectfully,
> Jedi

> Original message:
>> Jedi,

>> I'm not sure it's possible to say that you don't see yourself differently
>> because you have the ability to give birth.  I'm only saying that I
> suspect
>> I would view my body differently if I had that ability.  It's not
> something
>> I'll ever know.  But here's another example if that one doesn't satisfy
> you.
>> If I were a woman, I would probably be 60 pounds lighter and six or seven
>> inches shorter on average.  Again, I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty
> sure
>> that living in the world, in any world, with a body that is 60 pounds
>> lighter and 7 inches shorter would have a non-trivial impact on my sense
> of
>> self.

>> And here's a blindness example.  In my experience, blind people tend to
> have
>> better memories than the average sighted person.  Unless you want to argue
>> that this is only because of social factors, which I admit probably is a
>> factor but not the only factor, then better memories will be around even
>> after all social barriers are removed.  I'm pretty sure again that having
> a
>> better memory that allows me to quickly recall information changes the way
> I
>> am able to think in a non-trivial way.  If I suddenly lost my better
> memory,
>> even if I didn't need it to get around successfully in the world, it would
>> have an impact on my sense of self.  Would I be a completely different
>> person? Probably not, but it would affect my identity more than if I went
>> out and got a haircut tomorrow.

>> Example 2: You say that evidence shows that the brains of blind people
> more
>> or less process information the same way the brains of sighted people do.
>> I've seen evidence that suggests the contrary, particularly with respect
> to
>> language processing.  There is evidence that some blind people end up
> using
>> the occipital lobe, the part of the brain normally reserved for visual
>> processing, to conduct language processing.  As a result, studies have
> shown
>> that certain sorts of language processing occur faster among blind people.
>> This seems to me that it could also affect the way I think and my sense of
>> self in a non-trivial way.  And it doesn't seem to be entirely social.
> Any
>> social context that includes an oral language will have the same result.
>> Though I admit that this can be more or less emphasized depending on
> social
>> factors.

>> Finally, I wonder if some people think there is a danger in acknowledging
>> that blindness can shape our identities even in the absence of harmful
>> social attitudes.  I can see the potential danger.  If we say that we are
>> different, then others can argue that we should thus be treated
> differently.
>> So I can understand why it might be better to deny it even if it's true.
>> Alternatively, you could just not think it's true, but I think the
> examples
>> of better memories and increased language processing abilities, plus
> others
>> that I'm sure I could come up with if I spent some time researching,
> suggest
>> that blindness does generally affect the ways in which we are able to
> think
>> and thus our sense of self in what I keep saying are merely non-trivial
>> ways.

>> Regards,

>> Marc

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
>> Behalf Of Jedi
>> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 11:57 PM
>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness and Identity


>> Marc,

>> I'm a woman, and I don't see myself differently because I have the
>> ability to give birth, but I do perceive the world based on the fact
>> that sexism in all its forms is still alive and well int he world. As
>> to blindness, I definitely think that we physically perceive the world
>> slightly different than the sighted, but not enough to really warrant
>> saying that blindness fundamentally shifts our world view.
>> Neuroscientists are starting to show that the blind and sighted use the
>> same rules for perceiving the world, we just use different inputs or
>> modalities even though our brains more or less process the information
>> the same way the brains of sighted people do. I think however, that
>> being blind has produced a number of very interesting experiences that
>> we all have in common including a world that is obsessed with
>> perceiving the world visually. I use the word "obsessed" because it's
>> clear that while vision is useful, it's almost like sighted people
>> sometimes go overboard with touchscreens and a lot of flashy and
>> unnecessary graphic material. Add the fact that the NfB as an
>> organization with assumptions and values that shape our blindness lives
>> and even our non-blindness lives, and you've got the making of a
>> cultural identity.

>> Respectfully,
>> Jedi


>> Original message:
>>> I think the issue of blindness constituting identity is definitely very
>>> interesting, and I've been thinking about it a bit recently.

>>> I believe that blindness does shape our sense of who we are, and this is
>>> largely socially influenced, but it's also deeper than that.  It's almost
>>> certainly true that the challenges, discrimination, exclusion, etc that
>>> blind people routinely experience influence our identity.  However, and
>> this
>>> is where I part somewhat with so called NFB philosophy, I'm not sure
> that,
>>> in the absence of these factors, blindness would be reduced to a mere
>>> characteristic, if mere characteristic is supposed to mean something
>> rather
>>> trivial and unimportant like hair and eye colour.  I definitely think
>> that,
>>> in the absence of social and environmental barriers, blind people would
> be
>>> able to flourish as well as anyone else; I don't question that claim, but
>> I
>>> think perceiving the world in a unique way, in the way blind people do
>> with
>>> little or no sight, is a significant factor in how a person's identity is
>>> constituted.

>>> Arielle called sex a mere characteristic.  As with blindness, if calling
>> it
>>> a mere characteristic is supposed to mean that it is as trivial as being
> 5
>>> foot 6 instead of 5 foot 5, then I don't think it is a mere
>> characteristic.
>>> I don't have evidence of this, but I think I would feel differently about
>> my
>>> body if I had the ability to grow a human being inside of it.  My hunch
> is
>>> that the ability, or lack of ability, to give birth probably affects how
>> one
>>> views one's body and thus one's sense of self in a non-trivial way.
>>> Similarly, relying heavily on auditory input, developing better memories,
>>> perceiving the world with little to no reliance on sight, I think these
>> all
>>> affect a person's sense of identity in non-trivial ways, and they don't
>>> depend on social factors.

>>> Clarification, I'm not trying to suggest that women are defined by their
>>> ability to give birth.  I'm only saying that to possess that ability
> might
>>> shape how you think about yourself in a way that is more significant than
>>> whether you have short or long hair.

>>> Best,

>>> Marc

>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
>>> Behalf Of Arielle Silverman
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 7:08 PM
>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] being scholastically social?


>>> Hi again,

>>> Re-reading the posts thus far, I will add that I agree with Jedi.
>>> Blindness itself doesn't constitute the social identity. The identity
>>> comes from the social reaction we experience as a result of blindness,
>>> and the ways we've developed to respond to that social reaction. I
>>> would venture to guess that this is similar to the effects of skin
>>> color or biological sex on the development of racial and gender
>>> identities. Race and sex are mere characteristics to the extent that
>>> they by themselves don't influence how people function, just as
>>> blindness by itself doesn't significantly alter or take away from how
>>> we function. It's the social expectations associated with race, sex,
>>> and disability that shape how those identities form and how they
>>> influence people's sense of self.

>>> Arielle


>>> On 3/25/10, Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi all,

>>>> A few comments from an amateur social psychologist:

>>>> There is research showing that members of minority groups (i.e. ethnic
>>>> minorities) sometimes experience the same kinds of awkward
>>>> interactions with majority group members that we have discussed as
>>>> happening to blind people. Specifically, majority group members (i.e.
>>>> white Americans) sometimes feel awkward when interacting with minority
>>>> members, especially out of concern that they might accidentally come
>>>> across as being prejudiced or racist. The result is that the
>>>> interaction tends to be strained and there is more tension than there
>>>> should be, and minority group members can get left out as a result of
>>>> the awkwardness. Of course this doesn't happen to all minority members
>>>> and certainly many majority members have no problem interacting across
>>>> race or ethnicity lines, just as plenty of sighted people have no
>>>> problem befriending, working with or dating blind people. But it is a
>>>> general tendency.

>>>> I think the question of whether blindness is an identity or a
>>>> situation/characteristic is interesting. My hunch is that it depends
>>>> on who you ask; in other words, blind people can range from being
>>>> completely disidentified (and often not voluntarily associating with
>>>> other blind people) to completely identified and highly affiliated (to
>>>> the point of having no close sighted friends). For low-identifiers,
>>>> blindness probably feels more like a single characteristic; for high
>>>> identifiers, blindness may feel like a trait coupled with a social
>>>> group label. In the NFB, when we talk about "the blind" or "the
>>>> nation's blind", we are implicitly acknowledging that the blind have a
>>>> common identity, even if we don't all believe that this common
>>>> identity or fate is rooted in culture.

>>>> As part of my Ph.D. training I do intend to do some research
>>>> investigating whether blindness is a coherent identity and, if it is,
>>>> whether it has similar effects on people's self-concept and behavior
>>>> as other identities (i.e. ethnic, religious, etc.) For example, I
>>>> suspect that the constant messages we get from the public about our
>>>> inferiority and the devastation of blindness pose unique psychological
>>>> issues that we contend with, and that it can be difficult to see
>>>> ourselves as whole, capable beings when our identities as blind people
>>>> are construed in the public eye as compromised or broken.

>>>> One final thought: I've found it interesting that many sighted people
>>>> seem to think of blindness as a condition or trait but don't think of
>>>> "the blind" as a coherent group with the same rights as racial,
>>>> ethnic, and other cultural groups. This was apparent in the debate
>>>> over the movie Blindness. I heard several people (some sighted, some
>>>> blind) argue that the movie was OK because the people portrayed in it
>>>> weren't "real blind people"; rather, they were sighted people who went
>>>> blind as part of the plot. Of course, any of us who were sighted at
>>>> one time know that people who go blind are still blind people;
>>>> nevertheless, there appeared to be that distinction in some people's
>>>> minds. I think this is also why it's hard for us to make civil rights
>>>> arguments against blatant injustices (i.e. "Treating blacks with this
>>>> kind of discrimination is unacceptable, and so treating us this way is
>>>> also unacceptable"). A lot of people just don't get it, or think that
>>>> treating blind people differently is OK because stereotypes about
>>>> blindness are somehow more valid than stereotypes about other minority
>>>> groups. I'm not sure how to bridge that thought gap or how to
>>>> demonstrate the existence of the common blind identity in situations
>>>> where we are all affected by the same discriminations or denials of
>>>> rights.

>>>> Arielle

>>>> On 3/25/10, Sarah Alawami <marrie12 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> True. Maybe the reason I'm anti social is I have no social skills to
>>>>> begin
>>>>> it I wirhwe talk to much or don't' talk at all and sometimes I come
>>>>> across
>>>>> as rude but I'm so used to beeing int he teaching invironment that I
>>>>> cannot
>>>>> for me get out of it. I'm not making much sense as I am starting to get
>> a
>>>>> bit hungry.. Hehaha. I do know this much I have a harder time
>> socialising
>>>>> with the sighree then with the bind. theer is so much that can be
>>>>> comunicated in silence. so much we can't see.

>>>>> I really enjoy reading these discussions and view points as it makes me
>>>>> think about what I need to work on or not bather working on.

>>>>> Take care all.
>>>>> On Mar 24, 2010, at 9:14 PM, Joe Orozco wrote:

>>>>>> Interesting.  If we're talking straight up blindness, I think we've
> all
>>>>>> experienced a moment or two of feeling out of place in light of the
>>>>>> dominant
>>>>>> sighted crowd.  I certainly experience with each meeting I attend
> until
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> shake off the feeling and plunge forward.  If we're talking ethnic
>>>>>> minority,
>>>>>> I can't say I've experienced that before, but I don't know if it's
>>>>>> because
>>>>>> the feeling is overshadowed by the blindness factor or because I've
>>>>>> genuinely never witnessed this behavior.

>>>>>> Regardless, what I find interesting about this discussion is that it
>>>>>> makes
>>>>>> blindness an identity factor.  I think the original post asked how we
>> as
>>>>>> blind individuals handled campus involvement, when our philosophy
>> claims
>>>>>> blindness can be reduced to the level of a nuisance.  I know this
>>>>>> position
>>>>>> does not claim blindness can be eliminated, but it would appear to
>>>>>> suggest
>>>>>> blindness is irrelevant to one's sense of self.  So, rather than ask,
>>>>>> "how
>>>>>> do you, as a blind person, handle X, Y and Z," shouldn't we be asking
>>>>>> how
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> handle the task in general?

>>>>>> Interesting discussion.

>>>>>> Joe Orozco

>>>>>> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their
>>>>>> sleeves,
>>>>>> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing

>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
>>>>>> [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jedi
>>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 8:51 PM
>>>>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] being scholastically social?

>>>>>> Joe,

>>>>>> The issue of inaccessibility to informal networks is actually becoming
>>>>>> a key issue for those who study organizational communication and
>>>>>> diversity. Basically, inaccessibility to informal networks is a fancy
>>>>>> way of saying that one is left out or somehow treated differently
> based
>>>>>> on their minority group status. Either as a blind person or a member
> of
>>>>>> a minority group, have you ever had that gut feeling that you just
>>>>>> didn't belong or that your social interactions were influenced by your
>>>>>> minority status? Perhaps you were the only member of a minority or one
>>>>>> of few? Maybe it wasn't something that anyone said directly, or maybe
>>>>>> it was. But either way, that gut feeling was still there.
>>>>>> Organizational scholars would say that this kind of thing is
> controlled
>>>>>> by context for sure. If your workplace and general environment are
>>>>>> rather diverse and handle diversity well, you're probably less likely
>>>>>> to have this experience. If not, than you probably will at some point
>>>>>> and to some degree or other. But basically, the bottom line is that
> for
>>>>>> people who experience this problem, they tend to be the only one or
> one
>>>>>> of few representing their minority in an organization that hasn't yet
>>>>>> become aware of its assumptions and ideologies favoring the dominant
>>>>>> population. If you ask me, blindness will definitely cause one to
>>>>>> experience this interesting problem at some point.

>>>>>> Respectfully,
>>>>>> Jedi


>>>>>> Original message:
>>>>>>> Jedi,

>>>>>>> I'm part of a minority group and have never experienced or
>>>>>> witnessed this
>>>>>>> behavior.  What are you basing these conclusions on?  Or,
>>>>>> could you give
>>>>>>> examples?  If blind people are going to use this as a justification
> to
>>>>>>> explain their social isolation, I'd like the comparison to be
>>>>>> accurate.

>>>>>>> Joe Orozco

>>>>>>> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up
>>>>>> their sleeves,
>>>>>>> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing

>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
>>>>>>> [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jedi
>>>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:59 AM
>>>>>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] being scholastically social?

>>>>>>> It's not just a blindness thing precisely. It's not uncommon for
>>>>>>> minority groups to have difficulty making friends on the job or in
>>>>>>> school: things are cordial at work, but there's often lack of
>>>>>> access to
>>>>>>> informal social networks which can, in some cases, become a real
>>>>>>> obstacle even during work hours. Causes might include anything from
>>>>>>> just not knowing what to say to a minority group member to feeling a
>>>>>>> large gap between minorities and their non-minority
>>>>>> counterparts. There
>>>>>>> really is no right way to handle this problem because it
>>>>>> affects us all
>>>>>>> so differently. If it concerns you that you're feeling left
>>>>>> out, it may
>>>>>>> be worth addressing to someone who you feel will most likely hear
> you.

>>>>>>> Respectfully,
>>>>>>> Jedi


>>>>>>> Original message:
>>>>>>>> I am currently in high school. I don't do much in terms of
>>>>>>> clubs or other
>>>>>>>> school activities in school. I briefly joined the stage crew
>>>>>>> for a play, but
>>>>>>>> I was kind of in the way. No one talked to me, about anything
>>>>>>> other than
>>>>>>>> professional questions about things of a technical nature. I
>>>>>>> did my job
>>>>>>>> well, but I clearly did not fit in. people were afraid that
>>>>>>> if they talked
>>>>>>>> to me they would offend me or something like that.

>>>>>>>> Because I don't do many activities in school, I am involved
>>>>>> in the boy
>>>>>>>> scouts, life teen, and the NFB. Even at places such as boy
>>>>>>> scouts and life
>>>>>>>> teen, most of the conversations I have are professional or
>>>>>>> technical in
>>>>>>>> nature. I really don't have many sighted friends. I don't
>>>>>>> know if this is
>>>>>>>> blindness related, or what.


>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>>>> From: "Jamie Principato" <blackbyrdfly at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>>>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>>>> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 8:11 PM
>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] being scholastically social?


>>>>>>>>> In middle school, I would jump at the opportunity to get
>>>>>>> involved in as
>>>>>>>>> much
>>>>>>>>> as my parents would allow. I did Student Government, Jazz
>>>>>> Band, and a
>>>>>>>>> Youth
>>>>>>>>> Leadership organization that focused on competitive debate
>>>>>> and public
>>>>>>>>> speaking (think like a junior Toastmasters International). I
>>>>>>> couldn't wait
>>>>>>>>> for high school when I'd have even more interesting groups
>>>>>>> and activities
>>>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>>>> choose from.

>>>>>>>>> When I got to high school, I encountered a lot
>>>>>>> of...problems...with the
>>>>>>>>> school's Vision department (which is sad since I only went
>>>>>>> to this high
>>>>>>>>> school because we were told it offered the most for
>>>>>> visually impaired
>>>>>>>>> students). I could go on all day with the details here, but
>>>>>>> I'll spare you
>>>>>>>>> that. One of these issues was the fact that blind students
>>>>>>> at this school
>>>>>>>>> tended to be very...disconnected from the rest of the student body,
>>>>>>>>> avoiding
>>>>>>>>> activities and student events. I learned shortly after
>>>>>>> joining Model UN
>>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>>> Psychology Club, attending the first Freshman dance, and
>>>>>>> planning to go to
>>>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>>>> pep rally that the Vision department wasn't happy with the
>>>>>>> fact t I joined
>>>>>>>>> and attended these clubs without telling them first, and
>>>>>>> that if I was
>>>>>>>>> going
>>>>>>>>> to keep attending, they'd need my mother to write up a
>>>>>>> permission note (no
>>>>>>>>> other student needed to do this) and they would have to first find
> a
>>>>>>>>> teacher
>>>>>>>>> to stay late in the day and basically babysit me while I
>>>>>> attend these
>>>>>>>>> activities. Oh, and I wasn't allowed to go to that pep rally
>>>>>>> unless I sat
>>>>>>>>> with my TVI and the other teachers, not in the Freshman
>>>>>>> stands with my
>>>>>>>>> class. My mother and I told them that all of this was
>>>>>>> unnecessary, and we
>>>>>>>>> complained to the principal, but between this and a number of other
>>>>>>>>> issues,
>>>>>>>>> we just ended up taking matters into our own hands.

>>>>>>>>> We registered as a home schooling family, and joined a home
>>>>>>> school support
>>>>>>>>> group with about 70 or so other families in the county. I
>>>>>>> took advantage
>>>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>>>> my new freedom and got involved in a ton of extracurricular
>>>>>>> activities in
>>>>>>>>> my
>>>>>>>>> community, even sports (something that never would have
>>>>>> flown at that
>>>>>>>>> school). Now that I'm in college, I try to get involved on
>>>>>>> campus and in
>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>> city when ever I can. I joined the university's fencing
>>>>>>> club, a volunteer
>>>>>>>>> organization, and I'm currently applying to Psi Chi. I also
>>>>>>> try to get the
>>>>>>>>> most out of campus cultural events like plays or concerts,
>>>>>>> and make use of
>>>>>>>>> campus facilities like the gym. THe only issue I've been
>>>>>>> having is that
>>>>>>>>> transportation in my city. The only bus that comes near by
>>>>>>> house recently
>>>>>>>>> changed its schedule and now stops running early in the
>>>>>>> evening. The only
>>>>>>>>> way to really go out in the evening for any sort of event or
>>>>>>> get home from
>>>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>>>> club meeting is to take a cab or ride with a friend, but you
>>>>>>> need to get
>>>>>>>>> out
>>>>>>>>> a bit first to make those sighted friends. I find that if
>>>>>>> money is tight
>>>>>>>>> one
>>>>>>>>> month, it's pretty unlikely that I'll be doing much outside
>>>>>>> of attending
>>>>>>>>> class, including attending free activities or events. I
>>>>>>> guess that's just
>>>>>>>>> one price of living off campus though.

>>>>>>>>> On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 4:28 PM, Darian Smith
>>>>>>> <dsmithnfb at gmail.com> wrote:

>>>>>>>>>> Hi list,

>>>>>>>>>> I'm curious to  here what  people's thoughts are about  becoming
>>>>>>>>>> involved in  clubs and campus  activities in school (high school
> or
>>>>>>>>>> college). do you  jump at the oppertunity to meet new
>>>>>> people? do you
>>>>>>>>>> feel nervous about it. have you met some of your  best friends at
> a
>>>>>>>>>> ralley,  social club, campus society? how did your  self-
>>>>>>> identity as
>>>>>>>>>> a blind person factor into  your interactions with people? how did
>>>>>>>>>> people interact with you?
>>>>>>>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>>>>> Darian
>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>>> Darian Smith
>>>>>>>>>> Skype: The_Blind_Truth
>>>>>>>>>> Windows Live: Lightningrod2010 at live.com
>>>>>>>>>> The National Federation of the Blind has launched a
>>>>>>> nationwide teacher
>>>>>>>>>> recruitment campaign to help attract energetic and passionate
>>>>>>>>>> individuals into the field of blindness education, and we need
> your
>>>>>>>>>> help!   To Get Involved  go to:
>>>>>>>>>> www.TeachBlindStudents.org

>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> --
>>>> Arielle Silverman
>>>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>>>> Phone:  602-502-2255
>>>> Email:
>>>> nabs.president at gmail.com
>>>> Website:
>>>> www.nabslink.org



>>> --
>>> Arielle Silverman
>>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>>> Phone:  602-502-2255
>>> Email:
>>> nabs.president at gmail.com
>>> Website:
>>> www.nabslink.org

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