[nabs-l] Security in ourselves, acceptance in others
Josh Gregory
joshkart12 at gmail.com
Sat May 28 17:07:09 UTC 2011
Is there a site with... the history of blind people and what
they went through? I'm curious now, this is a good thread.
Josh
sent from my Apex
Email: joshkart12 at gmail.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 28 May 2011 09:52:47 -0700
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Security in ourselves, acceptance in others
Although I was never subject to one, I can still remember when,
at late as
the 1960's, welfare workers conducted "night raids" with the help
of the
police wherein said workers would visit blind clients and go
through their
homes to make sure that nothing had been bought that would
indicate that the
clients had unreported income. This extended even to such items
as a new
dress.
I echo Briley's sentiments that many today have no concept of
what went down
in the past.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Briley Pollard
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2011 7:28 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Security in ourselves, acceptance in others
I think it is not always an appropriate comparison to say our
struggle for
civil rights isn't completely parallel with the black American
experience,
but we have struggled for civil rights. Go read some history on
how blind
people have been treated by families and institutions over the
years. Blind
children were targets for sexual assault in extremely high
numbers because
they were considered to be vulnerable. They were placed in
horrific living
conditions throughout history in institutions because families
believed that
blindness was equal to ineffectiveness, and that they'd never be
able to
succeed or help out their relatives. As a people group, we have
suffered
many indignities that I don't think the current generation of
blind people
even come close to realizing.
Best,
Briley
On May 28, 2011, at 1:23 AM, Darian Smith wrote:
Mike:
African-Americans/blacks (however one choosses to term
themselves)would not have been too keen on the idea based upon
how
they were treated by whites up to that time.
It is curious that how african-americans were treated is
always
one of the first ways we as blind people choose to make our
comparisons in our struggle for first-class citizanship. I
wonder,
were blind people beatin and hosed down when they peacefully
protest
the unjust ways they were treated? Were they lybnched? Can we
safely
make those comparisons? unless I am missing something (I
could be,
and it wouldn't be the first or last time I have), we have some
similarities with regards to civil rights, but largely our
histories
were quite different and the scars, deaths,risks were felt on
largely
different levels.
Just some thoughts on the matter,and I very much appreciate
the
question.
Respectfully,
Darian
On 5/26/11, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
Darian:
What do you think African-americans would have said during the
1950's and 1960's had one of their number said he/she would
rather
date a Caucasian person because of the concern for two black
persons
dating?
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Darian Smith
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 5:49 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Security in ourselves, acceptance in
others
Jedi,
Sure-let me see...
We as federationests have certain ways that we like to deal with
situations, ways that we see life or phrase things in life. For
example We like to use the term "blind" as opposed to
"visually
impaired" or any variant there of. We also like if a person
uses
products with Braille on them (braille watches, braille
compass,
braille books and the like, but somehow we tend to make people
who
don't utilize these things seem lesser for not.
I have a friend who would much rather date a sighted gentleman
than
a blind gentleman because she is concerned about the idea of two
blind people dating.
Personally I may feel a certain way about these things, but I
would
like to think that it's huge to consider where each person is
in
their life and accept them into the fold as they are. I am
fine
with educatinn, so long as we arn't critical and that we are
accepting, because seems to me that weas people hate to be told
that we
are "wrong"
for thinking like we do.
Does that make sense?
Respecgfully,
Darian
On 5/26/11, Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com> wrote:
Very good points.
We as blind people are a minority, and I think it's good to
remember that there are other minorities out there. How does
one
member of a minority group address another member of that same
group
if they don't feel that this person is acting like they should
in
public? Don't feel like this person is projecting a positive
image
of the rest of that group to society?
I believe that we all face that problem and how we deal with
it
varies, but I would hope that we know enough to not take it
upon
ourselves to change the worlds opinions. I think we can model
that
positive image that is with in our grasp to become, that
probably is
the healthiest way to approach this idea of
perception-changing
that we think about alot, Does that make sense?
thoughts?
On 5/26/11, Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
Excellent points.
I'm going to add to that some.
I've noticed that we also tend to judge a person's actions when
they attempt to handle a vexing situation like overhelpfulness
or
discrimination. I've been doing some research on the effects of
such judgment and have concluded that it creates an invisible
audience for the blind person in question. This audience is
made of
both the blind and the sighted community and creates thoughts
like
"What will my blind friends and colleagues think of me if I
react this
or that way?
What will the sighted person I'm talking to think? What will
sighted bystanders think?" What this does is create a win/lose
situation where the stakes are high. Aside from causing stress
that
limits problem-solving ability, this high stakes situation also
creates a greater likelihood of negative response to perceived
threats to the blind person's self-concept and sense of efficacy
in the
interaction.
So for example, an overly helpful person might cause a blind
person
to feel ineffective as it is. But the invisible audience
concept
boosts that feeling considerably because of the stress involved
with feeling like they have to show themselves as both effective
and graceful in handling both the offers of help and the person
who's offering it. Is any of this making sense? So the bottom
line
is that by trying to be the perfect ambassador for the blind, we
may be shooting ourselves in the foot by creating such a high
stakes situation in our mind that the stress lowers our ability
to
present the cool, calm, and effective image we want to offer to
the
public.
On that note, I've noticed that our community seems to have it
in
our heads that we're responsible for how the sighted feel about
us.
The truth is that there are limits to that responsibility.
Sure, we
want to set a good impression in all areas, but so does everyone
else. The sad truth is that we are judged based on the actions
of one
person.
But the thing is, there's nothing that we can really do about
that
except to expose a given sighted person to the diversity of our
population. Even if we set the perfect impression, it's likely
that
the sighted person will still stereotype by saying that we're
all
amazing or that the one individual in question is the exception
to
a rule. It seems to me that the only people who really get that
we're as diverse as they are are those who know how to
deconstruct
society's grand narrative or are those who have seen enough
diversity in our population to realize that they can't judge all
of
us based on one
person.
Respectfully,
Jedi
Original message:
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?
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Darian Smith
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"The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
- Robert Byrne
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