[nabs-l] Security in ourselves, acceptance in others

[Desiree Oudinot]

That's a good way to look at it. I know myself that I always want to
be doing something with my hands. I'd venture to say that, as Braille
readers, we take in more through our fingers, even using them as our
eyes in a sense. So it makes sense that we want to employ some form of
stimulation since we are not getting the visual stimulation that
sighted people get when their eyes roam around a room, or look at a
clock in a boring meeting, etc.

On 5/31/11, Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
> Okay.
>
> We know that some blindisms (as they are called) are a direct result of
> blind children not getting the appropriate opportunities to move around
> that they should have gotten early on. But I also think that so-called
> blindisms can also be our version of boredisms, little self-adaptive
> behaviors that we do when we've shifted our attention. They could also
> be behaviors that we do when we're excited or overstimulated. Sighted
> people have these, too. For example, they drumb their fingers, fidget,
> shake their knees, etc. These are no more appropriate than our
> behaviors except that they are more normative. So here's a thought.
> Instead of trying to eraticate a so-called blindism, try employing some
> alternative movement. So instead of rocking, tap a foot or shake an
> ankle. My mother suggested this technique to me and it worked.
> Eventually, i found that I didn't need the alternative movement. I
> guess employing the alternative made me more aware of my behavior and
> so I stopped it on my own. But in those weird times when I am moving, I
> find that I'm shaking an ankle or something, and most sighted people
> don't think much of it because they do it, too.
>
> Respectfully,
> Jedi
>
> Original message:
>> You make a lot of sense! I'm still trying to get rid of my
>> blindism, and sometimes I would get a little annoyed when Mom
>> always "got on my case" about it.  She told me that, like it or
>> not, the world around me is mostly sighted and wrong or right,
>> they make judgments on people based on what they see.  So if we
>> want to change what it means to be blind (hint hint, NFB says
>> that all the time) we need to convey that positive image about
>> blindness not only in what we say, but in what sighted people see
>> visually from us.
>
>>  Chris
>
>> "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)
>
>> --- Sent from my BrailleNote
>
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Daniel Romero <djdan567 at gmail.com
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Date sent: Thu, 26 May 2011 14:27:53 -0400
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Security in ourselves, acceptance in others
>
>> I think the reason why this might go down is because of the view
>> that
>> we get from the public in general.  Most people who are sighted
>> are not
>> used to a blind person.  You have to understand that one blind
>> person
>> being seen is a huge thing.  They're now reliable for what a
>> person
>> thinks about blind people.  They are the ones setting an example.
>> So if
>> you have a blind person who smells bad, rocks, pokes their eyes
>> or
>> just do not have the proper skills, the outside person will make
>> an
>> assumtion and say that all blind people are like that.  i'm not
>> saying
>> it's right for blind people to call out other blind people with a
>> skills set that is lower then theirs, they're just calling them
>> out
>> because they are representing blind people.  It puts a bad label
>> on us
>> blind people who do take care of ourselves, have the skills to be
>> independent and succeed.  like i said, i'm not saying it's right
>> but I
>> don't think us who do have the skills want to have a negative
>> conotation.  Not all blind people poke their eyes, rock, hop,
>> twitch,bump into everything, smell bad, do not clean their own
>> clothes, or anything like that.  So to be part of a group that's
>> going
>> to display such a view that is negative to the public, we fall
>> right
>> behind that.  Am I making sense?
>
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