[nabs-l] Blind Verses Legally Blind

Sat Dec 7 17:40:15 UTC 2013

Hello Steve and all,

I only mentioned nFB philosophy as a means to try and explain my questions 
more to this email list.

I honestly do not understand why I have to be some great educator of the 
blind when this is not a role I wish to take on in my life. I would rather 
be able to go about living my life without the constant interruptions and 
interference by sighted people. I do not want to have to explain to some 
stranger standing with me on the street corner waiting to cross the street 
how much eyesight I have or how I am able to cross the street as a blind 
person. I do not want to have to explain to someone whether or not I am 
blind or legally blind when they believe one must have some sort of eyesight 
to perform some sort of task, and the more eyesight one has, the more likely 
a person is able to perform the task. And I know this one was not mentioned 
in my previous posts, but I do not want strangers grabbing my arm thinking I 
am in need of assistance when I am just going about the normal business of 
my life. I just never really know what to say to these people in some two 
second interaction with them to be able to fully answer their curiosity, or 
to get them to leave me alone.

I just thought maybe other blind people have encountered these kinds of 
questions from strangers, and could provide some suggestions as to how I 
could go about dealing with these kinds of people in my life. However, based 
on the responses I have received thus far, it would seem as though most 
people on this list have not encountered these kinds of questions in their 
lives, or believe there is some big distinction between being legally blind 
and blind. All I was looking for were some suggestions as to how I could go 
about dealing with this situation better so I do not look like some stupid 
fool trying to figure out what to say when I really do not know what to say. 
I am sorry if this email list was the wrong place for me to pose my 
question.

Elizabeth
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2013 11:23 AM
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blind Verses Legally Blind

> Elizabeth,
>
> One always has to remember that just because we have a philosophy in the 
> NFB, that doesn't mean that everyone is even aware of it.  It is 
> completely
> normal for members of the public to not understand what we believe or even 
> know about it.  Also, the public, in my experience, has more trouble
> understanding blind people with some vision than those of us who are 
> totally blind.  They do think that the more vision one has the better off 
> one is.  What
> I have seen is that sometimes it is harder for people with low vision than 
> it is for me because they are so often told and almost forced to struggle 
> with the
> little vision they have rather than to learn how to do things other ways. 
> Often the public assumes that "legally blind" means no vision so when they 
> meet
> someone who can obviously see a little, they are sometimes even a little 
> suspicious.  All of this is pretty normal.  Our philosophy is something we 
> try to
> teach people, it is not something everyone knows already.
>
> How you handle a particular incident is something only you can determine. 
> However, how each of us deals with the public does affect all of us to 
> some
> degree.  Just because someone decides they are not going to represent the 
> blind doesn't stop them from doing just that because the public determines
> how they get their information not each of us.  We all need to keep 
> working to change this, but it is what it is.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson\
>
>>On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 3:57 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke 
>><lizmohnke at hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>>> Hello All,
>>>
>>> Thank you for the responses thus far. However, how do I
>>> even answer a question that I really do not know how to answer myself? 
>>> Why
>>> should I spend five minutes trying to stumble through some sort of 
>>> answer
>>> with a stranger I am most likely never going to see again? I do not know
>>> why strangers are asking me if I am blind or legally blind except to 
>>> figure
>>> out how much I can see or not see.
>>>
>>> But I am just wondering what difference that really makes when the NFB
>>> teaches that blind people are really no different than sighted people, 
>>> and
>>> with the right tools and attitudes, we can do pretty much anything that 
>>> a
>>> sighted person can do. If these beliefs are true, then what difference 
>>> does
>>> it make as to how much I can see or not see.
>>>
>>> It just seems to me that when people ask me these questions they are
>>> trying to imply that I must have some sight because how could a person 
>>> be
>>> able to function without any sight. It is almost like people are trying 
>>> to
>>> tell me that the more eyesight a person has the better off they are in
>>> life. How exactly am I suppose to deal with these kinds of questions 
>>> when
>>> my encounter with these people is rather brief, and I would rather not 
>>> deal
>>> with what seems to me like some form of idiotic line of thinking?
>>>
>>> What exactly should I say to these people if what I am saying is the 
>>> wrong
>>> thing, and I really do not know how to briefly describe what I can and
>>> cannot see, or even wish to describe it in the first place? I would give 
>>> a
>>> specific example of how I encountered this situation from the other day,
>>> but I am afraid it would only spear the conversation away from the real
>>> heart of the issue.
>>>
>>> Again, this is just something I have been struggling with lately.  So I
>>> was just interested in how other people deal with these kinds of 
>>> questions
>>> from other people in their lives.
>>>
>>> Elizabeth
>>>
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>
>
>
>
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