[nabs-l] Of things that matter

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

I don't think any of us were criticizing sight or those with sight, but
I think we were concerned with the vagueness of the email.

I don't think the prof needs to disclose his own blindness, but I do
think they should have been more specific with the details of the
survey.

I, personally, was never outright against the survey, nor did I mean to
imply it was harmful.  I simply wanted to be cautious and encourage
anyone who decided to take the survey to ask questions before jumping
into something they knew little about.

Yes, the world still views blindness as a horrible, life-haltering,
cataclysmic way to live, but there are others who do not buy into
stereotypes and negative perceptions.  And there are those who have open
minds and are willing to learn.  We can be the victims of our own
perceptions if we practice reverse prejudice.

Just as we hope people don't judge us based solely on our blindness, in
return, we should nnot judge others before we know their intentions.

Surveys like this have an agenda-- for good or bad-- and we should be
aware of those agendas because, in the bad cases especially, they will
not care what our answers are, or what we have to say-- they are
following an agenda and their findings will fit this agenda.

Now that some questions have been answered, this particular survey seems
more legit , though I am still curious what the reasoning is-- what is
it about blind people, 18 to 20, and their particular knowledge of sex,
that is so important?  I have only been blind for 8 years, am I missing
something?  Can anyone enlighten me?  I am just curious.

Anyway, here's to moving forward and knocking those barriers down one
step at a time.  I am unbelieveably proud of all of you, who are
students and moving into fields that people do not always think are
possible for the blind and visually impaired.  I'm truly blessed to call
you my Federation family.  It has been an amazing thing for me to have a
group of people who "gets it."

Bridgit

Message: 12
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:59:11 -0800
From: humberto <humbertoa5369 at netzero.net>
To: jsorozco at gmail.com,	National Association of Blind Students mailing
	list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Of Things that Matter
Message-ID: <3fz11g00W2PutTY05fz4Lx at netzero.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The prof is blind? And we're 
wasting our energy and our brains and our fingers just by posting 
comments about sighted people thinking things about blind people? 
Wow! what a surprise!
If this professor is a blind person, that means, we might be able 
to support his efforts with more trust. Also, if he is blind, we 
won't stop him from announcing his surveys on this matter. 
Perhaps if his researchers are also blind, we will even have 
better support as well. And, a better thing yet, he might have 
clearly and precisely stated in his survey message that he was 
blind so that we don't take action in critiquing sighted people.