[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups
Chris Nusbaum
dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
Sun Nov 6 22:39:54 UTC 2011
Oh my gosh, how ridiculous these people are! Wow, Andi, what a
testament to the downright stupidity of some people! Well, I
think we need to try and educate people, and if they still don't
get it, they're either really stupid or really closed-minded, and
we can't control their thoughts after we've tried to educate
them.
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andi" <adrianne.dempsey at gmail.com
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 13:32:17 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups
I have a friend who is in a wheelchair and when we took trips
together or
even just went out to lunch together, it was both anoying and
offensive and
yet some how funny, because people did not know which one of us
to treet
like we were stupid or incapable. It always offended us the way
we were
treeted but we use to make a bet with each other, which one of us
would be
the "one that needed help" and which one of us would be the
"helper." We
were allways rong when we thought it would be both of us thought
of as
stupid, because people think if you have a "disability" then you
need an aid
or helper, so when their were two people they feel are helpless
their brain
cant handle the confewsion. It never occurred to them to think
we were both
capable intelligent people. Once I went to the club with a
sighted friend
and I was weighting to use the bathroom when my friend walked in
wondering
where I went. Some stranger yeld at my friend for letting me
wonder off by
myself as thoe I were a child. My friend told her that I was a
big girl and
did not need a keeper, but the chick just didn't get it. One
time I went to
lunch with a group of sighted friends and my friends all were
given glass
glasses while I was given a styraphome cup with a lid. I asked
the waiter
why I was given the cup with a lid while my friends were given
glass glasses
and he pretended not to speek english. He went and found the
restoront
owner and they had a long conversation in korean which I was told
was a
translation of what I was asking but was most defanatly a
discussion about
what to do with me. He told me he thought I wanted take out. I
laughed and
asked him why he would think so when I sat at the same table with
my friends
and took my coat off? He finally told me he just thought it
would be better
so I wouldn’t spill. I am not that clumbsy but I almost took
the top off
and dumped it out on the floor just to proove a point but I did
not. We
finished eating and when I went to pay for myself and my friend
who's
birthday it was, I was swept aside and my friend was asked for
money on my
behalf. Needless to say I was livid, and my friends told me I
was over
reacting about the whole thing and just needed to calm down
because the man
just did not understand blind people. Thees are just a few
examples as you
all well know we have to deal with it every day. I try to
enlighten people
and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Some people are
just to
dence too ever understand anything beyond their skewed perseption
of
themselves and the world, but some times people will understand
once they
are given a chance. One time I went to a sushi restoront and the
waittriss
probably had never seen a blind person in her life and thought I
was
helpless at first but once she heard me talking like a normal
person and did
not need the fork she gave me because I could eat with the
chopsticks she
started talking to me like I was a normal person. She even was
joking with
me as I was leaveing. The change from practically shuvving me in
a chair
because she was afraid I would brake if I took another step to
asking my
opinian about her relationship was enough to tell me that some
people if
educated can come around. The ones who will never get it no
matter how well
you prove yourself I feel bad for it must really suck to be so
stupid. I
say stupid because I truly believe there is a difference between
stupid and
ignorent. If you are ignorent it is not your fault because you
just don't
know, but if you are ignorent because you refuse to learn then
that person
is stupid. I am sorry for the ranting and the run on sentences
but I get
mad when talking about the stupid people of the world. As far as
other
minorities go, I have friends in pretty much every community
there is and
the descrimenation is just as bad for them it is just a different
form. My
friend Canesha who is black just had an insident where she was
being wached
for shoplifting and she is the last person on earth who would
shoplift. She
was being wached for no other reason then because she is black.
She was so
angry about it but told me it happened at every store she went
to. It made
me so mad. My friend Youmi is from Korea and when we were in
highschool she
did not have many friends because everyone thought because she
had an
accsent and her english was not perfict that she was stupid. She
had
skipped 2 grades that is how smart she is. People still talked
baby talk to
her that made me mad. She never acted like she was mad but I
know it
bothered her. I have a friend who's knew name is Maria, but had
a former
name of Peter and she lost a lot of family and friends when they
met Maria.
she is the same person she was except now her phisical gender
maches her
mental gender. People act like she has a contagious disease,
that makes me
mad. My own father through a toster through a glass door when he
found out
I was dating a man from Guatemala. He did eventually come around
though and
is now suportive of our engagement. However he is still more
happy with my
sisters white boyfriend who treets her taribly then my brown
feeonce who
treets me like a queen. If the world was more openminded and
less stuck on
themselves then none of us would have problems but unfortunatly
it is not
that symple and all the education in the world will not fix the
problem.
Thankfully not all people are so stupid and we just have to focus
on
educating the people who are inteligent enough to not want to be
ignorent.
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Lester
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 2:49 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups
Cortnie:
Welcome to the list!
I hope you enjoy your time here!
I agree with your statements.
I'll E-mail you offlist.
Blessings, Joshua
On 11/1/11, Cortnie Ryan <cortnie.ryan at gmail.com> wrote:
Hello, my name is Cortnie.
This is an extremely interesting topic of discussion. One in
which
I've pondered multiple times. I'm relatively new on this
mailing list,
and haven't quite had the nerve to put my thoughts and opinions
down
for all to see. Shy? I don't know. Anyway, on with the show, I
guess.
First off, I should say that the way this was brought to the
table was
very well-said, and I could tell it's something that was thought
about
at great length. Yes, forgive me for stating the obvious, but a
cause
for controversy is definitely a possibility, but these issues
need to
be discussed in order to reach a potential and satisfactory
resolution. Mind you, this is only my opinion, but it's an
opinion I
feel very strongly about. No, I don't feel that it's different
at all.
What you may feel as a compliment to another person, may,
essentially,
be a slap in their face. Saying that you do something well for
a blind
person is no different than if you were to, as previously
stated, do
well for being a woman. Quite frankly, that sounds sexist and
degrading, no matter how well-meaning the comment was. It's all
about
the perception. What someone else may see as complimentary, you
may
see as an insult. There have been many times those types of
statements
have been made to me. For instance, "Wow, I'm impressed. You
do really
well with crossing the street... for a blind person." Yet,
comments
like that aren't made to any other minority. A more tactful
approach
is taken. I'm unsure why it's that way, but I'm inclined to
believe
that it's a lack of education as well as the fact that most
people see
blindness as a physical disability or, I really hate to use this
word,
but a handicap. We as blind people may be a small fraction of
the
population, but blindness has been around as long as gays have,
or
even unconventional religious practices and beliefs. Take it
from
someone who has struggled through a couple different situations.
I
found my experiences to be quite similar. Lots of stereotyping,
but
different approaches were made when dealing with it. We all
just want
to be accepted and cared about for who we are on the inside.
That's
all that should matter. Unfortunately, though, that's not what
people
see when they meet us. Our supposed disability overshadows our
disposition and personality. It's the same with our success.
We can't
possibly make it in the fast-track world of the all-mighty
sighted.
Note the sarcasm.
Well, there's so much more I could write about this subject, but
then
it would just become even more of a rant. I'm trying to avoid
that.
Once again, very well written.
On 10/31/11, Joshua Lester <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu>
wrote:
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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