[nabs-l] Body language and facial expressions

[Robin]

Good Evenin', Miss Bridget,

All I'm GOIN' to say IS that you CAN'T equate masturbating with 
rockin'? NUFF Said!!

At 02:20 PM 11/25/2011, you wrote:
>Arielle,
>
>I agree that we are quick to assume we know why a person does what they
>do; for anyone, there a lot of variables that can contribute to, or lead
>to, certain behavior. In the instance of the case with the boy who
>masterbated, I can only say what information I read about.
>
>It was like four years ago that I wrote the paper, and I'm not sure if I
>ended up using that particular source, but I still have the paper
>somewhere and can check. I believe the boy lived in Florida.
>
>Based on what I remember, the teacher working with this student, who was
>also blind, explained that the boy wasn't aware of how sight worked-
>this is completely a layman's definition based on my memory of the case.
>Obviously, chronic, not to mention public, masturbation for anyone is
>symptomatic of a sexual compulsion. Though you boys are so icky in this
>regard, j/k, smile, chronic masturbation, blind, sighted, male, female,
>is not appropriate behavior around others. With this case, I believe,
>the reasoning he did it in public was, based on the foundings of his
>teacher who was blind, because he wasn't aware that others could see
>him.
>
>It's unfortunate that many attribute every little thing we do to our
>blindness. If my sighted friend trips, it's because they're not paying
>attention, but if I trip, it's all credited to my blindness. We never
>get to just be people. Having been sighted for 22 years and only blind
>for eight, this has been the most difficult adjustment.
>
>I agree we need to be careful about how and why we attribute behavior to
>a person. When blind, for instance, we can't assume everything is just
>due to blindness. I had a doctor go through my med list during a visit
>years ago, and they asked what anti-depressant I was currently on. I
>responded by saying none, to which they acted surprised by and wanted to
>know if I wanted a prescription for one. When I asked why, they, a
>doctor, were at a loss for words. This is a bit off the topic, but in
>the same vein, but it was assumed that just because I was blind, I
>required medication to deal with the horror of my life.
>
>Nonetheless, there are blind people who aren't taught certain things,
>and as they grow older, certain behaviors develop and persist. It
>becomes difficult to reverse some behavior the older we get. I knew a
>young woman who was blind, and she never smiled- literally, not even
>when laughing. I came to find out that her parents told her that she had
>a silly smile and to just not do it. I knew another blind person, a
>young man, who never spoke until he was directly addressed. Apparently
>his parents had told him that if he spoke before being addressed, he
>risked looking stupid when it turned out no one was speaking to him, or
>addressing another person. And I won't even go into blindisms as we risk
>entering very heated territory here soon, smirky grin.
>
>Anyway, what I remember from the study, the reason behind the public
>display of sexual behavior, and not the behavior itself, was due to lack
>of information because he was blind. If I find any information, I'll
>post it.
>
>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: 7
>Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:46:46 -0700
>From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>         <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Body language and facial expressions
>Message-ID:
>
><CALAYQJBWdF-OSZ+x1vTgORguGY7rSz+txKV2a1yqAWncWXB-cg at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>Hi Bridgit,
>Do you happen to remember who wrote the study about the blind student
>masturbating during class? I'd be curious to know if it was actually
>verified that the reason he did this is because no one had ever told him
>that he shouldn't do it. It's definitely possible, but it's also
>possible that he knew he shouldn't do it but still ended up doing it for
>a different reason. Perhaps he had a sexual compulsion (unrelated to
>blindness) that made it very hard for him to not masturbate no matter
>how hard he tried. Or, it's possible that he knew he "shouldn't" do it
>or that other kids didn't do it, but that he wasn't motivated to stop,
>figuring "the teacher's blind, what's the difference?" My point is that
>I think whenever a blind person displays any kind of non-normative
>behavior, it's assumed they just "don't know any better" but that's just
>one of several possible reasons. As I've stated before, in order for
>anyone to modify their behavior they have to (a) know what the desired
>behavior is, (b) actually be motivated to change to conform to the
>norms, and (c) have the ability (self-awareness, self-control, etc.) to
>do so. In the case of blindisms, I would submit that most cases of
>blindisms do not result from mere lack of knowledge, but from either
>lack of motivation, lack of ability, or both. I have talked to so many
>blind teens and adults over the years who have complained that they
>really want to stop rocking or eye-poking but just can't because they
>aren't aware that it is happening. I have also talked to a few blind
>people who know that sighted people don't do those things, but still
>choose to do them (active nonconformity, like my adolescent approach to
>fashion that I mentioned earlier). I think when people assume any
>atypical behavior of the blind stems from merely not knowing what the
>norms are, we neglect the more complex aspects of the issue. Best,
>Arielle
>
>
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