[nabs-l] Body language and facial expressions

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Carly,

But will that kid get a job? Date? Be accepted by other peers? I'm not
trying to generalize and say it can never happen because I know people
with blindisms, and they are active and social, but I know many more who
aren't. Whether it's right or wrong, this is how the world works, and
suggesting we create a utopia doesn't help things because outside of
philosophical discussions, the world isn't going to change much. This
isn't a defeatist attitude, but a realistic one. Just look at what is
happening in the world, then tell me a kid can be treated as equal who
rocks, pokes their eyes and any other blindism. We can't change being
blind; we can't change what our eyes look like, or how they function,
but blindisms aren't socially acceptable, and learning to not do these
behaviors isn't stifling one's inner nature, but it's teaching them
behaviors that will help them integrate into society.

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: 9
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:03:30 -0800
From: Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at earthlink.net>
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
	<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>,	"National Association of Blind Students
mailing
	list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Body language and facial expressions
Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20111119125543.01e0a1a0 at earthlink.net>
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Good afternoon, Ashley I think,

What's with trying to cram everyone into boxes 
upon which are plastered identifiers like 
"blindness" and "cognitive impairments?" People 
ought to feel they can just do what feels right, 
and comfortable and not be pressured to shead 
some mannerisms, while retaining others. Doncha 
think? And, besides, there are folks starving, in 
this here world so if kid needs to rock, and he 
doesn't happen to have so-called cog native 
impairment, let the kid rock around the whole, 
clock!11/19/2011, Ashley Bramlett wrote:
>Bridgit, Very well said! Sighted people in a 
>culture learn body language and facial 
>expressions from observing others; our culture 
>emphasises personal space, shaking hands to 
>greet, and eye contact just as some examples. 
>Blind and low vision people won???t see it, but 
>if someone works with us, its still a learned 
>behavior; we just learn in a different way. I 
>think behaviors such as eye contact and shaking 
>hands  are natural since I learned early on as 
>did sighted peers. Once practiced, it became 
>more automatic. I also like your comment that we 
>should try to extinguish behaviors associated 
>with mental and cognitive behaviors. Rocking is 
>one of them. Yet, I think it would be unnatural 
>to learn something now; I could do it, but it 
>would probably be stiffer and not as natural 
>like if I learned gestures. What I do though in 
>a presentation is look around the room from left 
>to right; speakers to do this to get attention 
>and establish themselves before talking to a 
>group; I do it even though I cannot see a lot, 
>especially toward the back of the room. I can 
>also say yes or no with my head because I was 
>taught early on. But other nonverbals such as 
>winking, shrugging shoulders, and becconing with 
>the hand were not taught and I think I'd be a 
>little stiffer and unnatural doing them. Still 
>it would be good to try and learn. Ashley