[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

[David Andrews]

Arielle:

I think that it is in part that we are a small minority, but the 
biggest factor is people's ignorance about the capabilities of the 
blind.  When someone shuts their eyes, they don't see how they could 
do anything, (pun partially intended.)  Without training -- which 
they don't have, they can't imagine how we get around etc.

I don't think their statements are malicious, just ignorant!

Dave

At 10:09 PM 10/31/2011, you 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