[nabs-l] Of things that matter

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Joe,

Here, here.  You said, much mor eloquently, what I have been trying to
express.  True, it is a bit irrelevent what we think and feel on the
subject as it does not advance or educate on anything important to blind
people.

Way to be active and investigate the reasoning behind such a study.

Bridgit

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 13:47:20 -0500
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
	<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: gkapperman at niu.edu
Subject: [nabs-l] Of Things that Matter
Message-ID: <BC08CA09E9994CEEA0903B17F77BA869 at Rufus>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"

For me, the sex study is irrelevant and insignificant.  The age range is
limited, making me wonder about a sufficient sample, and we really don't
have a clue as to what exactly it is that the research hopes to
accomplish. And this survey is merely preparatory for a future survey?
What does trouble me is the validity people have given the project.
>From what little we know of the project, it would appear the professor
believes there is something inherently different in blind people that
would make sex education a special circumstance for this population.

Maybe I'm missing something.  Is your perception of sex different
because you're blind?  Was your inability to see a significant challenge
to figuring out how it works?  Was your childhood so isolated that your
friends did not fill in the gaps?

Okay, let's say we agree the study is a joke.  You say it's important to
educate the public that blind people are every bit as capable of
intercourse as anyone else.  The million-dollar question is quite
simply:  Why? Seriously, why is it necessary to tell scholars that blind
people learn about sex the same as any other adolescent.  You could
claim it's everyday advocacy, but advocacy is only necessary if you are
being barred from equally participating in certain activities.

This specific study is intellectual waste because it makes blind people
feed into public misconceptions.  It makes blind people feel they need
to defend themselves against something for which no defense is
necessary.  The research presumes blind individuals are subjects worthy
of unique examination, and we allow ourselves to be reduced to odd
samples the second we begin to engage the researcher in his own
experiment.  You're not going to educate him, because it's not just
about disproving a hypothesis.  It's about disproving the preconceived
prejudice that triggered the research in the first place.

Ultimately, people will wonder but will probably not publicly ask:  Why
are sighted people generally put off by the idea of intercourse with a
blind person?  My educated guess is fear of the unknown.  We have all
been in situations where we feared too many questions would be just
plain rude. Well, you think, how is it that we're supposed to change
minds if we're not supposed to advocate?  Remember, you're not trying to
have sex with the general public.  There are things for which you do not
need to make a statement to make happen with the one person that is the
target of your natural instincts.

Is there a place for an examination of sex and blindness in the same
context?  Certainly.  We should examine the depravity of certain humans
who force themselves on blind people simply because they perceive the
victims as easy prey.  This is an idea worth investigating and finding
solutions.

But, there is a difference between a victim of violence and a victim of
society.  In the case of the former, one may not always have the
resources to protect oneself against the circumstances.  In the case of
the latter, however, you do have a choice, and you do not need to feel
pressured to send a signal over something so insubstantial as to almost
be laughable. Hard-core disability activists who feel moved to write
books about sexual equality irritate me because all that time that was
spent preaching could have been spent...But, I digress.

We need to keep things in perspective.  We need to not be lured into
dialogues that do nothing to advance our equality.  There are plenty of
fields where we need to educate the public of our abilities, and as far
as I'm concerned, the three main people in that big diverse public for
whom the extra mile is required are the people you call family, the
people who cut your check, and the people you take home to meet mama.
How I learned about and fulfilled my private tasks is not a matter of
academic speculation, because my disability does not make me any
different from anyone else.

Alright, now I'm going to smack myself around for succumbing to the urge
to fall victim to this irrelevant distraction.  I am copying the
professor here in hopes he might enlighten me as to his motives.  Maybe
there's something there I'm just too dense to see?  Criticisms aside,
I'm open to being educated.

Regards,

Joe

"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 




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