[nabs-l] Disability rights movement impacting blind movement

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Steve,

You're so right in your assessment of how certain ideas have negatively
impacted disabled people especially those with blindness. Coming from
the "sighted world" to the "blind world," I'm still acclimating to some
attitudes and ideas. Like you, I think we can learn from one another in
the disability rights movement, but each disability also has specific
needs, and what is important to one group, may not be so for another.

Your example of making buildings accessible is a great one. I still fail
to see how, beyond accessible signs, a building must be "accessible" to
the blind. I don't personally consider blindness a physical disability
in and of itself. I have no problem with my physical being. My arms,
legs, feet and hands work. I can no longer see, but this doesn't affect
my physical abilities- at least once I learned certain skills, I've been
able to do what I did sighted- driving excluded! Smile. So blindness is
a sensory disability to me. I fail to understand where others come from
with frustrations about buildings not being accessible for the blind. We
can go up and down stairs; we can walk through halls; we can find doors
and entrances; what possibly needs to be done to further accessibility
beyond Braille or raised numbers/letters, and perhaps busable locations.

But because other disabilities have demanded accessible features to
buildings, which for many is truly necessary, many blind people now
believe this is a top issue for them as well. We stop focusing on the
bigger priorities like better public transit or equal access to
information. We still have blind people thinking they require ramps or
elevators or that buildings should have simpler designs, whatever that
means. They don't realize how trivial these things are in the way of
accommodating those of us who are blind.

And I sense an attitude of entitlement to many of us. We certainly
should be accepted as equals, and therefore provided with equal access
to the world, but sometimes we're so accustomed to everything being
provided for us, we don't even consider doing it for ourselves. I mean
no disrespect here, but I read post after post about students not having
technology purchased, which rehab agencies should do, but at some point,
we need to truly be independent and take charge of our own lives. These
complaints are made while at the bottom of the post, it says sent from
an IPhone or Droid. Maybe the priority should have been a laptop or JAWS
or notetaker before the fancy phone. Oh the irony. We expect a lot, but
what do we expect for ourselves?

I'm veering off into dodgy territory here, but I get what you're saying
about other disability issues clouded the priorities of what is
important and necessary for blindness. We can work together and fight
for the entire movement as long as we understand what our individual
priorities should be. For the blind, accessible buildings isn't as
important as public transportation; having curb cut-outs isn't
necessary, but some audible noise on cars is necessary; living on the
first floor of a building doesn't help blind people more, but providing
more Braille signs, or allowing Braille labels to be placed in certain
areas, is very helpful. We should be aware of what, and who, is moving
the disability rights movement forward, but we can't lose sight of the
specific goals and priorities of those who are blind.

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: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:58:16 -0500
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
	<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Lives Worth Living disability documentary to air
Message-ID: <auto-000004192485 at mailback4.g2host.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Bridget,

Please allow me to reply to this note since I somehow didn't get the
note that you addressed to me last 
night sent to my work machine.  I want to make it clear that I didn't
think you were diminishing 
anything that our founders did, and that I do think we need to be sure
we understand other efforts made 
by persons with disabilities.  It has always confused some, in my
opinion, why we in the NFB didn't get 
more excited about the Americans with Disabilities Act because they
didn't understand that we had gotten 
some of what the ADA represented into law through our white cane and
other legislation years before.  I 
worry some that people may loose sight of how the general disability
movement has helped us but also how 
it sometimes makes things more complicated for us.  I read another post
on this subject that seemed to 
express some frustration that much money was spent on making a building
accessible but little was done 
to make it accessible to the blind.  This, in my opinion, is an example
of how our thinking has been 
negatively impacted by the general disability movement.  It really fits
into the example I wrote about 
last night.  Some of us have been made to feel that since building
accessibility is extremely important 
to much of the disability community that it has the same importance to
us.  Braille room numbers and 
such can be helpful, but the lack of such did not stop us from getting
where we needed to go as the lack 
of ramps and elevators impacted those in wheelchairs or walkers.  This
point was really brought home to 
me once when a number of us who were blind when with a friend of ours
who was in a wheelchair to a 
restaurant where it turned out the elevator was out of order.  The
elevator was the only way to get into 
the restaurant without walking down a wide staircase with perhaps
fifteen stairs.  The staff felt very 
badly and offered to get a couple of people to carry her and her
wheelchair down the stairs.  She was 
rightfully uncomfortable with that and made sure we knew that she was
all right with us eating at this 
rastaurant and that she would go somewhere else.  Well, we decided not
to eat there and find a place we 
could all enter without her having to be carried down the stairs by
people she didn't know.  The 
restaurant was a generally accommodating restaurant and the elevator
being out of order was not typical.  
Still, what it brought home to me was that this was a show stopper for
my friend, and while an attempt 
to be accommodating was made, it involved her taking a physical risk,
something that was on a totally 
different level than is ever experienced by my not having braille room
numbers, for example.  On the 
other hand, I have seen examples of web accessibility where attention is
paid to a number of things that 
affect other disabilities where we are specifically excluded because the
pages used technology that 
could not be easily repaired.  Like you, I've known other disabled
persons who truly did not understand 
that I could be independent.  However, I also recognize that there is a
great deal I don't know about 
other disabilities as well.  While I believe I may understand some of
the frustrations experienced by 
other disabilities, it would be wrong for me to think I can make
decisions about them simply based upon 
an understanding of their frustrations.  The same is true the other way
around.  Our commonness with 
other disabilities has to be tempered by our respective uniqueness.

I do not see you as arguing with any of my points, but I've seen other
postings that indicate to me that 
people don't keep what we all have common and what might be specific to
blindness in perspective.  Your 
note was simply the motivating factor to write about this some.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson