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

[Desiree Oudinot]

That makes perfect sense, but we should not fall into the trap of
taking responsibility for others' actions. When we do that, we lose
sight of our own goals and direction in life. Unless you're a
therapist, or a rehab teacher working with people like that, it is not
your job to fix them. Even as a therapist or teacher, your place is to
be a mentor and an instructor. As I previously said, if that person,
after being shown compassion and alternative ways of thinking, doing
and living chooses to fall back into old patterns as soon as the
instructor's back is turned, that shows a lack of respect for everyone
around them, including themselves. So if a person wants to wallow in
misery and self-pity, let them! That person will either fall hard when
they find out their parents/family members/significant other or what
have you can't take care of them forever, and then they'll realize
what needs to happen in due time, or they will get sick of the status
quo and want to change it. And if people hold it against a decent
blind person because they've met a person like that in the past, it's
not worth it to try and make them feel any differently. They will
either come around in time or they won't. Choice is the key word here.
Everyone is free to think as they choose so long as it's not hurting
anyone. So, while it might temporarily sting a bit to lose out on a
potential friendship due to someone's ignorance, as soon as you meet
someone who's worth your time, you forget about that other person real
quick

On 5/26/11, Daniel Romero <djdan567 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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?
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/turtlepower17%40gmail.com
>