[nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
humberto
humbertoa5369 at netzero.net
Tue May 3 04:46:10 UTC 2011
Let's change the subject line now, shall we? * smile *
> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com
>To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Mon, 2 May 2011 21:35:18 -0700
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
>Hey Kirt:
>The Mavericks blitzed the Trailblazers so NBA is of no use to me
anymore
>this year. (grin)
>Now if the Washington Capitals can knock off the Tampa Bay
Lightning in the
>NHL so we can in the end have a Capitals Canuks Stanley Cup Final
.. Now
>there's something to care about! :-)
>Mike
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
>Of Kirt Manwaring
>Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 9:18 PM
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
>Mike,
> Very, very well said. Except for the bit about no ultimate
meaning except
>for what we make of life (which, really, is kind of beyond the
scope of this
>meaningless conversation), I totally agree with you.
>Blindness is sometimes a pain in the ass, sometimes it really
makes no
>difference to life one way or another. I guess the only benefit
blindness
>has ever given me is the opportunity to meet some friends who I
would
>otherwise never have known. Other than that, if I'm weighing
pros and cons
>in my own life, blindness isn't really much of a good thing or a
bad
>thing...it's just kind of there. It's certainly not a good
thing, I don't
>think-but it's not really that bad either.
>At any rate, there's plenty more important things to worry
about...like the
>NBA playoffs! :) Go Grizleys! (I kind of adopted them as my
team after
>they upset the spurs-can you say bandwagon fan?)
> Warmest regards,
>Kirt
>On 5/2/11, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
>> Chris:
>> I agree with you. I did not, in fact, say that diversity could
be
>> negative although I dare say that quite a number of high school
kids
>> trying to "fit in" might think so. In fact, to my way of
thinking,
>> physical diversity is neutral. Intellectual diversity is
certainly an
>> advantage. As for negative diversity -- let's see -- how about
the
>> presence of diseases such as sickle-cell anemia? After all, the
genes
>> that code for this disease also confer some immunity to malaria.
Yet
>> few would disagree with those who seek to cure or eliminate this
disease.
>> Now I'm not saying blindness is a disease. It is a physical
condition
>> resulting from the lack of one sense -- vision. That's far from
being
>> a disease in my book. But I don't believe blindness confers any
>> advantages, either.
>> Perhaps a sentence or two about my view of life might help you
to
>> understand where I'm coming from -- it's a view that Jedi does
not
>> subscribe to. Long live diversity, eh? Anyway, I am agnostic.
>> Therefore, I do not believe there is any meaning in life apart
from
>> the meaning we give it by our own actions. Nor do I believe
there is
>> an ultimate purpose to existence except insofar as we overlay it
with a
>gloss of meaning of our own making.
>> Therefore, questions such as "why am I here? Why was I blind?
What
>> purpose does my blindness serve in the larger scheme of things?"
have
>> no answers and, in fact, make no sense to even ask. It's sort
of like
>> in quantum mechanics where it makes no sense to ask whether an
>> electron is a wave or a particle.
>> Anyway, with that world view in mind and bearing in mind that I
>> subscribe to the NFB notion that with training and opportunity,
>> blindness can be reduced to the level of a physical
inconvenience and
>> that we, the blind, are simply normal people who cannot see, I
do not
>> see that having blind people around confers some special
blessing on
>> society. Blindness is just that -- the lack of sight. I do not
>> believe that it renders us privy to special insights, miraculous
>> talents or capacities or special cultural predilections. I am
>> therefore not committed to its preservation. Neither, on the
other
>> hand, am I committed to its eradication. If it happens, so be
it. If
>> it does not, so be it. I'm not going to worry overly-much about
it
>> since it won't happen in my lifetime and there will be
innumerable
>circumstances I cannot foresee so cannot make a binding judgment
upon.
>> Bottom line: I don't see how we can say that blindness is just
the
>> lack of eyesight while at the same time believing it confers
special
>> virtues or valuable traits for society. I truly do not believe
>> blindness to be all that much of a muchness. Sometimes it's a
pain;
>sometimes it's just there.
>> In my experience, it's never the catalyst for wisdom or
enlightenment.
>> Now that I've written this to death, on to the next issue!
(smile)
>> Mike
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Chris Nusbaum
>> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:55 PM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
>> Being Devil's advocate, what negativity does diversity have?
>> Diversity, by definition, isn't good nor bad, but just
different.
>> So, what is the negative impact of diversity on... who,
society?
>> Chris Nusbaum
>> "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities
motto)
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com
>> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Date sent: Sun, 1 May 2011 21:25:10 -0700
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
>> That presumes that diversity always equals benefit. You and I
are
>> going to have to differ on this one.
>> Mike
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jedi
>> Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2011 6:45 PM
>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
>> I say that disability is a form of diversity, so I wouldn't want
to
>> erase it.
>> Respectfully,
>> Jedi
>> Original message:
>> Hello all,
>> This is an interesting discussion, so I thought I'd pop in for
a minute.
>> This question goes, at the root of it, to how you view
disability.
>> If you view it as an aspect that creates diversity, then
erasing it
>> would be like erasing races or different languages. If you
view
>> disability as a disease, then logically the first response
would be to
>want to cure it.
>> What do you guys think?
>> Briley
>> On Apr 27, 2011, at 7:55 AM, Jorge Paez wrote:
>> Arielle:
>> I think blindness does play a roll--in that it is just one of
many
>> things that make up an individual, and in a world where genetics
>> would be preprogramed, it just be too perfect.
>> It'd just bee too flawless--too artificial.
>> I'm sure some people would want it--but a world in which
blindness
>> and other disabilities are completely eradicated would just be
too
>> artificial, almost like we literally managed to create our own
world in a
>way.
>> Worse, it would make it a whole lot worse for any blind who
were born
>> cause then everyone would consider them a scientific failure so
to speak.
>> Of course,
>> I'm hypothetically talking about a very cold world in which
science
>> would create people which I hope would never happen but its a
good
>> talking point anyway.
>> Jorge
>> On Apr 27, 2011, at 12:08 AM, Arielle Silverman wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> We recently had a discussion about how we would react if some
of our
>> blind friends could become sighted, and we asked whether it
would be
>> reasonable for a sighted person to want to go blind. This made
me
>> think of an interesting, although a bit painful, question:
>> Would the world be better off, worse off, or about the same if
>> blindness were completely eradicated, through genetic
engineering
>> and/or mandatory treatment of all causes of blindness?
>> The question may sound silly, but for many vision researchers,
>> eradication of blindness is a real goal. But does the presence
of
>> blind people in our society have any benefit to the society or
the world
>as a whole?
>> Certainly there are costs of having a small group of people in
>> society who read and travel using different techniques than the
rest.
>> These specialized techniques have to be taught, technology has
to be
>> adapted to their use and negative public attitudes prevent this
>> minority of people who do things differently from having full
access
>> to societal goods and opportunities. So would it be cheaper
and less
>> resource-demanding if everybody could use the same visual
techniques to
>accomplish life tasks?
>> On the other hand, you could perhaps argue that having people
who
>> use different senses to do things in society is advantageous.
>> Technology is forced to innovate to become usable by those who
don't
>> have vision as well as those who do. And conceivably, if a
darkness
>> plague struck the planet, it would be better for the species if
some
>> of its members could fully function without light.
>> What do you think? Should we as a society make an effort to get
rid
>> of blindness? Or does blindness serve any kind of social
function?
>> There obviously isn't a right answer here, but it's something
that,
>> for better or for worse, could become relevant to us someday.
>> Arielle
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/computert
>> ech
>> jorgepaez%40gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/brileyp%4
>> 0gma
>> il.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/loneblind
>> jedi%
>> 40samobile.net
>> --
>> Email services provided by the System Access Mobile Network.
>> Visit
>> www.serotek.com to learn more about accessibility anywhere.
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40p
>> anix.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dotkid.nu
>> sbaum%40gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40p
anix.
>> com
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
>> nabs-l:
>>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/kirt.craz
ydude
>> %40gmail.com
>_______________________________________________
>nabs-l mailing list
>nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
for
>nabs-l:
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40p
anix.com
>_______________________________________________
>nabs-l mailing list
>nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
for nabs-l:
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/humbertoa
5369%40netzero.net
More information about the NABS-L
mailing list