[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

[David Andrews]

I didn't say that we shouldn't do anything, or speak out.  I was just 
trying to explain why I think people say some of what they say to 
us.  I do think we need to speak out if we want to change this.

Dave

At 02:05 PM 11/4/2011, you wrote:
>David,
>
>With all due respect, I think that's exactly the logic that rewards 
>us for keeping our mouths shut thus maintaining the status quo. When 
>we say to ourselves "Sighted people don't mean to be malicious," we 
>somehow send ourselves, and each other, the second half of the 
>message which ultimately says "So lay off," "No need to worry about 
>it," or ""It's no big deal." If that works for you, great. But what 
>about those of us whom such logic doesn't work for?
>
>I tried to soothe myself with the notion that the sighted just don't 
>know better. And for me, that made the problem all the worse because 
>I started to think that there was something wrong with me for 
>feeling upset by what the sighted person had said or done to begin 
>with. I started questioning the validity of my own experience as the 
>person to whom ignorant comments are made and ignorant actions are 
>pressed upon. Like I said in a previous post, I had to rearrange my 
>thinking or else go nuts. *grin*
>
>Yes, the sighted don't intend to be malicious, but the fact is that 
>what they say and do is still harmful. Humans never meant to be 
>malicious toward Earth, but our actions over the last hundred years 
>or so have badly depleted our natural resources and will continue to 
>do so until we realize that, despite our lack of bad intensions, 
>we're harming something that's as much a part of ourselves as 
>anything. I hope the analogy is not too remote.
>
>My bottom line is this. I think it's time to stop excusing the 
>sighted when they treat us in ways that they themselves would never 
>wish to be treated. I think it's time we start alerting ourselves 
>and the rest of the world to the fact that our interpersonal 
>relationships with the sighted public haven't changed as much as we 
>would like them to, and that these interpersonal (and intercultural) 
>relationships are, to a large extent, a huge part of why we have 
>such a high unemployment rate, why we experience discrimination in 
>our recreational and personal lives, and why the public still 
>largely considers us a non-entity in a lot of ways (I think internet 
>accessibility is a great example of this).
>
>Yes, what i'm suggesting is, i suppose, quite radical. But I think 
>we can have our cake and eat it, too. I think it's possible to 
>develop excellent interpersonal and intercultural relations with the 
>sighted thereby getting our basic societal needs met. But the first 
>step is realizing that nothing is going to change unless we intend 
>that change to happen and take the steps to start it.
>
>Here's what I think we could do to get the ball rolling. I think we 
>need to start publishing another round of Kernel books. I realize we 
>still have a bunch left over from the last set we did, but they are 
>out of date in that they don't address some of the newer issues that 
>have cropped up in the last ten years or so. And frankly, we need 
>fresher faces in these stories. we need more stories from the 
>current generation because that's who will be reading these stories 
>on the sighted end of things. I'm willing to write for the kernel 
>books. anyone with me?
>
>The second thing we need to do is to formally teach ourselves how to 
>communicate more effectively with the sighted. Last time, i talked 
>about educating through dialogue rather than dialoguing through 
>education. How is that done, anyway? Well, there are a few ways of 
>going about it and there are some amazing groups and institutions 
>who specialize in teaching people how to communicate based on their 
>experience. I immediately think of the Swil Kanim Foundation, the 
>Institute of Cultural Affairs, and the Center for studies of the 
>Person. All of these entities have trained facilitators who can help 
>groups of us learn how to communicate our experiences more 
>effectively; we could potentially hold encounter groups during our 
>next NFB convention in Dallas. The groups would be small to start 
>out with; maybe twenty to fifty in each. But it's a start. 
>Alternatively, the Federation could start a project wherein some of 
>us volunteer to train as facilitators through one of these entities 
>and then go around from affiliate to affiliate, chapter to chapter, 
>and have these encounter groups locally. What would come out of 
>either approach is a group of people who are more willing to be 
>truthful with the sighted and can do so in a way that's honoring to 
>everyone concerned.
>
>Anyway, these are some thoughts I've been playing with for some 
>time, and I'm willing to participate in a project like this, but i'm 
>going to need some help.I've said it before, but I'm interested in 
>hearing from anyone who's also interested in this kind of thing and 
>who think we could come up with some crazy way to get it going.
>
>Respectfully,
>Jedi
>
>Original message:
>>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
>
>
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