[nabs-l] "you are amazing"

[Mary Fernandez]

I just compliment them on their willingness to admit a self-evident
truth, that of my awesomeness! Lol. I kid!
I think it depends on the context. If I'm walking, and someone says
I'm amazing, and if I have time, I'll ask why? If they tell me because
I can walk, I point out that they can to. If they say that I can
almost run in six-inch heels, when the situation calls for it, I'll
say, how much practice I've had. I suppose it's nice to be inspiring
to people, but I simply cannot see myself as inspiring, when all I'm
doing is walking.
I think that learning to take compliments is an important and useful
skill to have. I find that I'm a lot more comfortable with criticism
than I am with compliments of any type. And part of that is that I
want to be seen holistically, and not have my blindness be the thing
which people focus on. And that's why I insist and making people think
through what they say if I have the time. As blind people, we are just
people. And typically, you don't go around telling people they are
amazing just when you see them walking down the street. For all they
know, I'm a horrible human being, who hates puppies, bunnies and
penguins. Oh, and ducks. How could anyone hate ducks?
All that is to say, that I agree, that when you are being  told you
are amazing, and you are not aware of having just made a display of
your awesomenss, aside from  gracing  the universe with your presence,
it is a good conversation starter, and educational opportunity.
Whether its fashion or blindness you choose to educate on, is up to
you.

Mary

On 11/15/13, Joe <jsoro620 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Darian,
>
> You are not amazing. Does that help you feel better? LOL I think Tyler's
> response had the right of it. To be honest, I shrug off the compliment,
> deflect it with a compliment about something the person does better than I
> do, and move on. In a world where there are maybe not enough good things
> said about people, I almost think it's nice that people bother to say that
> anyone is amazing at all. As for you sir, no one can motivate people to
> community service like you can, so you just keep on being your amazing self
> and never mind the rest.
>
> Joe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Darian Smith
> Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 11:42 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: [nabs-l] "you are amazing"
>
>  Hi all,
>
>   I am sure  that all of us  have had someone tell us  that we are amazing
> at one time or another.
>   Many times we are convinced  this  is because  the person telling us has
> a
> low expectation  of blind  people.
>   When we are convinced  of this, how do we communicate that we are not
> amazing, do this with a positive attitude, and finally do you or do you not
> find yourself being offended by the statement?
>
>   Darian
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-- 
Mary Fernandez
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them
feel."
—
Maya Angelou