[nabs-l] Blindness and other minorities

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Chris,

I understand your point, but people of different races have faced
similar discrimination with people not believing them as intelligent or
capable as caucasians. It stems from different reasoning and is
exhibited differently, but people have, and still do, view people of
different races and ethnicities as inferior and less intelligent. I know
this wasn't your intention, but I think it's important we remember, and
don't down-play, the fact that racism is still very, very prevalent
today. It parades about more quietly, but people still cling to
antiquated notions about people different just because of the color of
their skin.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 5
Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:46:27 -0500
From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com>
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
	list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups
Message-ID: <4eb6f23f.2959340a.5b18.436d at mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi Arielle,

You raise some good points here, and I hope this starts a good 
discussion; one that I believe is good to have.  In my opinion, 
the difference between the public's stereotyping and 
discrimination of blind people and that of other minority groups 
is this: blind people have to deal with more misconceptions about 
us.  In other words, there are still widely-held misconceptions 
about us and what we can and cannot do, which are held by the 
public as being true.  This, of course, is a generalisation; not 
all of the public believes these misconceptions to be true, 
especially those members of the public who work directly with us 
or are friends or relatives of a blind person; those who know 
from experience what blind people can do.  It seems to me that 
these misconceptions are passed down through the generations; 
from one generation to their children, then passed on to those 
children's children, then to their children, and to their 
children, and so on.  When these beliefs are taught for a long 
time and are handed down through the generations, it becomes 
easier for people to believe them and they mostly do.  These 
misconceptions, which are widely believed by a vast majority of 
the public, are the beliefs from which the stereotyping and 
discrimination stem.  Then, the misconceptions of the public 
directly effect us, as we then become the object of 
discrimination and stereotypes.  To me, other minority groups 
don't have this problem.  Take the African-Americans for example.  
Are there any widely-held misconceptions about what they can do 
and how successful they can be? No! Are there any doubts as to 
their ability to compete on terms of equality with their white 
piers? No! Are their any questions about their ability to be 
employed? No! Even during the segregation era, this group was not 
discriminated against for the reason that there were 
misconceptions held by the white that they couldn't be on terms 
of equality with everybody else in society, but for the simple 
reason that they were different! During this time, I think the 
majority, the white population, forgot the undisputed fact that 
all people are different, and that having a different skin color 
doesn't justify looking down on a person.  The beliefs about 
blind people which make people discriminate against us are of a 
different character than the beliefs which make people 
discriminate against other minorities.  The difference is that 
the beliefs about blindness which cause discrimination against us 
to happen are stemmed from a lack of education about the truth 
about blindness, whereas the beliefs which make people 
discriminate against other minorities (I'm talking about 
minorities based on skin color, religion, political beliefs, 
sexual orientation, etc.) are just based on relatively untrue 
stereotypes and thoughts.  Therefore, people who might stereotype 
or discriminate against us wouldn't tolerate discrimination based 
on race, religion, etc, because the times have changed and the 
misconceptions and discrimination have no justification 
whatsoever, nor are even legal, in the case of outright 
discrimination.  However, they would stereotype about us because 
they don't have the education about blindness to see the fact 
that these stereotypes aren't justified either.  For this reason, 
we have organizations such as the Federation to educate and 
advocate.  We have a special responsibility, in my opinion, that 
many other minority groups don't have; to educate the public.  We 
have to make sure everybody knows what blind people really can do 
and prove that we can compete on terms of equality with our 
sighted piers.  Other minority groups have proven this already, 
and the little discrimination that still exists is generally 
thought to be ridiculous and baseless.  However, the public 
doesn't think of discrimination against the blind that way, 
simply because they don't think it's discrimination! They're OK 
with it, because they aren't educated.  So, it is our job to 
educate them! I should also say that we also need to educate by 
example, meaning that we must not discriminate or stereotype 
against other people.  Those are my thoughts.

Chris