[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

Tue Nov 1 03:56:42 UTC 2011

I think that this opens  a whole bag of discussion.  To me, it seems that 
the only other thing one can get away with joking or criticizing is someone 
who is a Christian.  Having said that, I also believe that while some 
remarks are plain stupid, we must be careful we do not put ourselves in a 
corner.

Words in general have a big impact on people and the attitudes that come 
from them.  Have any of you evver been set up on a "sighted date"?  Or 
should the term "blind date even bother us?  How about a person who sells 
shades and curtains being called the "blind man"?

For whatever reasons, I find some remarks about blindness humorous, and 
others I find plain dumb.  Yet, I also know that one must be careful at what 
one laughs at these days.  I heard a sports announcer make some comment 
about the lions devouring the Christian, because the Bronco qb played a 
horrible game. Yet, he would not dare make a comment about a person of islam 
belief, coughing up the pigskin.  Should a Christian be offended at this?

I also hate the remark that I do that so well that the person forgets I am 
blind.  I use to get really upset at this.  I then went to the idea that 
thanks, but hopefully someday you will just expect a blind individual to the 
same thing a sighted would do.  And right now, with all I habve been 
through, I pretty much have that attitude that if that's the worst thing I 
face today, it is a pretty good day.

I don't have any clear answers to this.  I think we must deal with how we 
feel about it personally, and what we expect out of ourselves before we yell 
at john q public about it.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Joshua Lester
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 10:18 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

Wow!
Arielle, I've been waiting to say something about this issue!
I was listening to the National Quartet Convention, (Southern Gospel
music's largest event,) when legendary singer/songwriter Bill Gaither
made this comment, while introducing the next group.
Gordon Mote, is his pianist, and he happens to be blind, so bear this in 
mind.
Bill Gaither said this, while introducing the Southern Gospel trio,
"Greater Vision."
"Now, we go from lesser vision, (refering to Gordon,) to Greater
Vision," (referring to the group.)
It's okay to make fun of blindness, but if I told a joke against
someone else, I'd be criticized.
There's a double standard in the politically correct world.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander!
Blessings, Joshua

On 10/31/11, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Warning-this topic has the potential to start a heated debate, but I
> also think it is an interesting and important topic for us as blind
> people to think about.
> Lately I have been thinking a lot about how the problems faced by the
> blind are similar to or different from those faced by other minority
> groups in this country historically and in the present. More than
> that, I have been thinking about how the general public sees us as a
> group in comparison to how they view other minority groups. It has
> struck me that oftentimes members of the general public treat us in
> discriminatory ways or stereotype us without even considering that
> this kind of treatment resembles stereotyping and discrimination
> against other minority groups.
> Let me give a concrete example. In his book Freedom for the Blind, Jim
> Omvig writes of a time when he was directing a training center and a
> female staff member at the center commented, "You do your job so well,
> sometimes I forget you're blind!" Seeing the teachable moment, Mr.
> Omvig brought up this incident to his students during a philosophy
> class, and to illustrate his point he said to the woman, "You are such
> a good teacher, sometimes I forget you're a woman!" From what I
> recall, the staff member got a bit upset and insisted that "no, what I
> said about you being blind was very different from what you said about
> my being a woman. I was just trying to give you a compliment!"
> Now, as blind people most of us understand the problem with her
> comment-the implication that being blind must not be very good, so
> someone who does a good job isn't like other blind people. To me this
> sounds like the same problem as making the analogous comment to a
> woman-but she didn't see it that way. Why not? Is there a difference
> here?
> I have often been quite frustrated when people I know and
> trust-friends or family members, who have very liberal views about
> race, would never utter a racial slur or support discrimination
> against racial minorities, women, gays etc. who nonetheless have no
> qualms about saying negative things about blindness. Like saying blind
> people are all worse than the sighted at something, or that blind
> people are more dependent or less successful than the sighted, etc.
> They will sometimes say these things to my face and don't understand
> why I don't like to hear these things. Sometimes family members will
> make comments comparing me favorably to other blind people. They think
> they are giving me compliments, and fail to understand that I don't
> want to hear negative things spoken about the blind as a collective.
> Yet these same people would never tell an African American that they
> are "smart for a black person" etc. I remember during the protests
> against the Blindness film in 2008, I was perplexed by how many people
> just didn't get it, and didn't see what harm the film could do-and yet
> an analogous film where everyone developed black skin or female
> anatomy with such dire consequences would never be accepted in our
> modern society. And finally, in my research, I have observed that the
> college students in my experiments have no problem saying on a survey
> that the blind are much less competent than the sighted, yet would
> never say such things directly about another minority group-in fact,
> lots of fancy indirect measures have been developed to tap those
> attitudes because people nowadays are so unwilling to admit their
> prejudices, unless it's toward the blind.
> So, what's up? Are stereotypes about the blind somehow more accurate
> than stereotypes about ethnic minorities? Is discrimination against
> the blind somehow more justified? Or is it just that we are such a
> small group that we haven't developed the same history, had the same
> scale of civil rights activism, etc. to raise people's awareness? Do
> you guys think we deserve the same considerations as other minorities
> in this country? If not, am I missing something? If so, how do we get
> members of the public to see this?
> Also, as an aside, I'm curious to hear from those of you who are "dual
> minorities" being both blind and a member of a minority group in this
> country (ethnicity-wise, or a different group like GLBT, uncommon
> religious beliefs etc.) How do you think your two identities are
> similar? Different? Do you feel they interact with one another?
> I look forward to the discussion.
> Best,
> Arielle
>
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