[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

[Beth]

Try being Blind, Muslim, and Somali.  I converted to Islam and 
associate with Somalis, who are viewed as "violent, bombers, 
people who just want to absolutely throw you into a ditch."  Not 
that anyone has ever said that.  But the news views Somalis as 
"confidants of Al Shabbab" and so on.  Deq, my Somali friend, is 
so sweet, and so intelligent, I forget about the whole Somali 
thing.  Being a Muslim is not a bad dea at all.  Jedi, I see what 
you've got in the "unusual religion" category.  I don't think 
your stuff is too unusual.  Your religion could be categorized as 
"super Buddhism".  My religion could be classified according to 
interpretations of the Quran.  To those who practice 
Judaeo-Christian heritage, I don't think it's a bad heritage.  
I've been there.  But I didn't feel it was appropriate because 
the charismmatic Christians in my family didn't feel that 
blindness is something bearable.  Islam believes that if you 
"suffer", or if you really are suffering from mental illness or 
blindness, then if you are also patient with what you have, then 
you are bound for Heaven or Paradise as we call it.  Being blind 
AND a Muslim is a bad idea in some states like Florida, but not a 
bad idea in Colorado, where the Somali population is third 
largest only to one other state ad Minnesota.  I don't remember, 
uh, I think it was Maine I was thinking of.  I'm not Somali 
myself, but since Deq is a Somali, people tend to say things that 
aren't so nice about him, blind or otherwise.  I usually stop and 
defend him.
Beth

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:27:07 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

Arielle,

I think you're right that speaking about blindness in such a 
negative
way is no different than speaking about other minorities in this
fashion. I think the problem is twofold. First, people honestly 
feel
that they are being kind to us, but they understand on some level 
that
negative comments about other minorities are not kind; most 
people
don't understand how their kindness impacts us. The other problem 
is
that, up to this point, we haven't spoken with a clear voice on 
the
matter of how we're treated by the sighted. Yes, there are our 
banquet
speeches and our public announcements, but we're pressured into
everyday politeness by both blind and sighted persons so much 
that
we're afraid to tell the sighted how their so-called kindness 
really
impacts us; the end result is that the sighted have no idea how 
we
really feel about their behavior and we continue to have the same 
old
issues we've had forever. Other minorities have done a much 
better job
of voicing their frustrations than we have on an interpersonal 
level.
We've conditioned ourselves into thinking that we owe the sighted 
some
form of special courtesy since we're so afraid that they're going 
to
judge us all based on the reactions of one person. If you want
evidence, consider "Don't Throw the Nickel" and "The Nature of 
Independence."

Let me say now what I've personally decided to do when it comes 
to this
very issue. I stressed myself out to the point of needing 
counseling
over whether or not the sighted would judge all of us based on my
actions; I stressed out because i was afraid of how the rest of 
you
might judge me if you ever found out about how I handled this or 
that
interaction. That's a hell of a lot of pressure! I personally
internalized the frustrations of all of us and this obsessive 
need to
educate the sighted. I felt it was my responsibility to be an
ambassador for the blind. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I
emotionally hurt myself and physically drained my personal 
resources.
After a lot of soul-searching and some professional help, I've 
decided
to abdicate my role as ambassador for the blind unless I 
willingly put
myself in that position (e.g. a meet the blind month activity or
presentation on blindness). I have also abdicated my role as the
educator. I've decided to stop dialoguing with the sighted 
through
education and I've decided to start educating through dialogue. 
This
needs explaining. If a sighted person says "You do so well that I
forget you're blind," I say (if I think it's important enough), 
"I feel
stuck when I hear you say that I'm so good at X that you forget 
that
I'm blind. First, I feel forced to thank you for what you 
perceived to
be a compliment because, if I don't thank you, I'm the rude one 
here.
But at the same time, I feel hurt that you would say something 
like
that because I hear you saying that you don't expect me to do so 
well
because I'm blind and so are surprised, or that you somehow think 
that
I'm better than whatever image you've created of me and my blind
friends. This isn't to say that I don't recognize your attempt at
kindness, but I'd rather you tell me that you appreciate 
something I'm
good at because I'm good at it, not because I seem to go beyond 
an
expectation I perceive you've set for me." Use whatever words you 
like
folks. If you're genuinely grateful for the comment, say so. If 
you're
angry, say so. But for goodness sake, don't just be quiet because
you're expected to be polite. This is a great way to stack these 
things
up in your heart. And if you can't say whatever you need to say 
to the
person you need to say it to, find someone to say it to like a 
friend
or a colleague who understands you. Put it in an e-mail message 
or
whatever you need to do. That's what other minorities have been 
doing
with comments like this, and I don't understand why we've not 
caught on
except that we somehow seem to think we don't deserve this kind 
of
equality. And you know what, some sighted people won't get it no 
matter
what you do or say. But some will, and they'll appreciate your
heart-felt honesty a hell of a lot more than whatever platitude 
you offer.

Arielle, you asked some of us to talk about our other minority 
statuses
if we have them. I fit into the "unusual religious belief" 
category,
and my legal name reflects that fact. Some of you may know how 
much
crap I've received from some regarding my preference to be called
"Jedi" rather than my given name "Jennifer." I learned the hard 
way
that going along to get along is a terrible choice. by going 
along to
get along, I felt like some part of myself wasn't being heard. 
And if I
fought against the tide of people telling me what to call myself, 
I
felt like my words and reasons were falling into nothingness, 
even by
people who cared about me but couldn't understand how important 
this
preference was to me. So finally, i decided that I need to 
respect
myself, especially because i wasn't getting much from others in 
this
respect. So I changed my name legally and now it's no problem. 
I'm sure
some people were disappointed in me for whatever reason. But I 
think
they learned to respect me more as a person because I stood up 
for
myself and didn't ask their permission to be who and what I am. I 
think
the sighted are the same way. Maybe dramatic demonstrations such 
as
mine aren't required in every situation, but I think we need to 
be
ready for those times when they are.

So in short, when you find yourself in a situation where a 
sighted
person has said or done something to you, think about how that 
really
makes you feel inside. And if it's important to you, make it a 
point to
say whatever it is you feel you need to say. And since the rest 
of us
aren't with you when you're going through this process, none of 
us have
the right to judge you for whatever you do because we might have 
done
the same had we been in your shoes. And if we really support each 
other
and our collective bid for freedom, we shouldn't judge you 
anyway. Only
you know what's right for you in how you deal with the sighted, 
and
your experiences will tell you if any changes are needed to your
approach. As to the reactions of the sighted, realize that 
they'll get
over it; they're just as resilient as we are, and someone might
actually take what you have to say to heart, I've heard it happen
before and I've witnessed it myself. And really folks, we can't 
expect
ourselves to represent all of us all of the time. We are a 
people's
movement, yes. But first and foremost, we are people.

If what I say feels right to any of you, let's get in contact 
because
I'm working on some workshops in which ideas like these can be 
further
explored and spread to the Federationists who are interested in 
this
kind of thing.

Thanks for asking the question, Arielle. It's high time someone 
did.

Respectfully,
Jedi
Original message:
 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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