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

[Kirt Manwaring]

I honestly think it's not a bad idea to have something to play with
and keep our hands busy...especially in long NFB convention meetings!
*grin*  I have this little wooden carving thingie my scoutmaster gave
me a few years back and I like carrying thatwith me so I can do
something with my hands when all else fails.

On 5/31/11, Desiree Oudinot <turtlepower17 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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