[nabs-l] Blind Devotion video

[Arielle Silverman]

Dear all:
I recently learned that a nonprofit organization called Jubilee
Project has created a very demeaning "inspirational" video about
blindness. You can see it at
jubileeproject.org/home/blind-devotion/

In the video, a wife happily cooks and does laundry for her husband.
Upon learning that she is going blind, she is afraid that if she tells
him he will leave her, and she fears not being able to take care of
him anymore. He finds out, and because his love for her is so strong,
he starts doing things for her and follows her to work every day
without her nowing, allegedly to be sure she is OK. He goes to some
lengths to ensure she doesn't find out that he is following her.

The 8-min film is rife with the usual blindness stereotypes such as
her dropping shells into her scrambled eggs (which she didn't do while
sighted) and smelling the laundry to sort it. In addition, it sends
the message that a sighted man surreptitiously following a blind woman
without her knowledge or consent is not only OK, but even a sign of
true love.
A number of my blind friends and I found the video deeply disturbing,
especially those of us who are married. I encourage you to write to
Jubilee Project at
project.jubilee at gmail.com
, tweet them, write on their Facebook page, or write comments on the
video itself. Public reaction to this film as been overwhelmingly
positive. I think it would be good to get some blind voices into the
mix to help explain how insulting and creepy this depiction is.
Best, Arielle