[nabs-l] Public humiliation because of blindness.

Sun Oct 21 16:55:04 UTC 2012

Karlee,
  Problem is it's not always a joke.  When it's funny, I'll laugh
along with everyone.  (just a couple days ago I got on a bus and I
wasn't really using my cane all that well and I accidentally sat on
someone's lap.  I appologized and then couldn't stop laughing because
it just seemed comical to me.)  But having your child taken away
because you're blind isn't comical.  Not even being considered for a
job because you can't see certainly doesn't seem funny to me.  When my
aunt, who our family was visiting, suggested my parents put a tracker
on my phone so they always know where I am and I don't get lost, it
was meant in all seriousness.  True, many minorities have been
socially descriminated against throughout human history.  What happens
to us as blind people is minor when compared to the holocaust, forced
physical slavery, being targeted by biological weapons, and the like.
However, that doesn't make the descrimination and hostile attitudes we
sometimes face somehow excusable or "okay."  We often have the
responsibility to stand up, speak up and make sure people understand
we are capable and deserve to be treated as equal members of society,
with all the rights and responsibilities that go along with such a
claim.
  Yes, sometimes raising hell about something won't get you anywhere.
Still, and I bet we disagree on this one and that's fine, but I think
sometimes raising hell about injustice is the only correct course of
action.  Knowing when to do it is a challenge.
  Best,
Kirt

On 10/21/12, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Good morning, Chris,
>
> Perhaps, if you feel your ego, your particular social standing is
> threatened, so is in need of defending. Yet,  it Seems to me, if you
> just consider the multitudes who have been socially slited over the
> millennial, you could see that our personal slight is but a drop in
> the slighting, bucket not in need of such ardent, defense? Fact is,
> we are not completely, whole at least by mainn stream, standards. For
> this reason, I think we have a certain mystique, made more pronounced
> by our being obligated to take so much shit from society. Also, you
> could try smiling, laughing at the slights. If regarding the world
> with a smile, and a laugh, they have not killed your spirit. Make it
> a big joke, disarm people.  rtain
> Car 10/21/2012, christopher nusbaum wrote:
>>It's not easy for all of us. We're told to "pick our battles, "but
>>that's easier said than done.
>>
>>Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>On Oct 21, 2012, at 12:41 AM, Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Carley,
>> >  You make a lot of sense.  People who take the total opposite
>> > position make, in my mind, just as much sense.  Finding a balance
>> > between fighting battles when I need to but, as you said, rolling with
>> > the punches when fighting would be counterproductive, is one of the
>> > hardest things I'm trying to figure out in my own life right now.
>> > It's not easy.
>> >
>> > On 10/20/12, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
>> >> Good morning,
>> >>
>> >> Can't we cut the uninitiated a little slack? A state of ocular
>> >> Blindness ought not impede our remaining selective about our battles,
>> >> rolling with the punches. People's intentions, I'm sure aren't to
>> >> demean us. If we., as a people freak out over every little slight, or
>> >> what we deem an injustice, it seems it will further alienate us from
>> >> the mainstream, reducing us to reactionary and  unintelligent enough
>> >> to identify a meaningful, struggle. Furthermore, ocularly blind folks
>> >> are not the only ones to get slighted, or demeaned. If you haven't
>> >> figured out yet this one is a rich, tradition of not treating folks
>> >> perceived to be abnormal as aliens, unequal and not entitled to basic
>> >> dignity?  Who can cry for the rest of this culture's, whipping boys?
>> >> that we're not intelligent or perceptive enough to know when action
>> >> is a best course?
>> >> Letting it go, I believe, sends the message of not wanting special
>> >> treatment because of our blindness, a helllovva lot more than some
>> >> inservice about treating folks with ocular, blindness.
>> >> So, good on you for not being so reactionary!
>> >> Car
>> >>> You might want to write them or give them a call and talk to them
>> >>> about your concerns. It might not do anything for this year, but at
>> >>> least it will prepare them for the future. I think they need to know
>> >>> about this.
>> >>>
>> >>> Sent from my iPhone
>> >>>
>> >>> On Oct 20, 2012, at 7:37 AM, John Moore <coasterfreak88 at me.com>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> Hi guys. I'd lke to point out a few things. Brandon, you
>> >>> mentioned being willing to sign a waver. This particular midway is
>> >>> not run by one company. Various carnival providers bring in there
>> >>> best attractions, and the midway is what is known as an independent
>> >>> midway. I do not think they even have those wavers around anywhere;
>> >>> I have never been asked to sign one, nor have I even heard of
>> >>> people doing so at this fair. The guy in question was hired
>> >>> locally. I can guarantee you that if any of you go through this if
>> >>> it is at a fair near you, you will not encounter him. I found out
>> >>> later that he is a part-time paratransit driver for the Dallas Area
>> >>> Rapid Transit system. I'm going to just let it go. THe fair ends
>> >>> tomorrow, so nothing much could probably be done anyway. Finding
>> >>> out who specifically to contact is also a challenge and I have
>> >>> other things I need to do that are more important. i appreciate the
>> >>> advice, however.
>> >>>>
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