[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

[Chris Nusbaum]

Dave,

I totally agree! That's why throughout this thread I have been 
emphasizing the need for us to educate the ignorant public.

Chris

 ----- Original Message -----
From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 04 Nov 2011 05:54:59 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness vs.  Other Minority Groups

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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