[nabs-l] disclosing blindness

[Lizzy]

Hi All,
I love this conversation because so often we talk about 
disclosing blindness in a job setting, but the really significant 
piece of this thread is that though it is professional, it is not 
at all about getting a job.  In an academic setting, with no 
interview, no job on the line, published given that it is 
grammatically correct and makes sense, why not include blindness 
if it's something that's important to you.  Why not show that we 
the blind are well read, great writers, good researchers etc.? In 
this case, it's a simple bio, no one is bringing a camera and 
putting you on the news to create "disability porn" (sorry if I 
got the phrase wrong lol).  Sometimes people are so wrapped up in 
what others will think that they forget to think about themselves 
first.  Your bio shows relevant or very important parts of your 
life that you choose to let others know about.  Whether or not 
you decide to include blindness or any other physical 
characteristic is solely your choice and you should not be judged 
for it one way or another.  I personally, would only include 
things that relate to my major or hobbies.
Darian made some really great points in his post, and I would 
like to answer a few of his questions (though I know they were 
rhetorical):
D: Is it different when creating a profile for a dating site? Is 
Disclosure different in a academic setting?
L: I'm going to also add is it different in a work environment.  
Yes.  They are three completely different areas where you are 
trying to convey three different things.  In a work environment 
you're trying to make sure that no one is discriminating against 
you, and you're trying to prove that you can do the same amount 
of work as your sighted counter parts.  In an academic 
environment, you know that you can't be discriminated against, so 
you can be very open about your blindness and from there you just 
need to show that you are a competent, hardworking student.  In a 
dating environment, you can totally be discriminated against, 
also you're trying to be attractive in many ways.  However,  it's 
not good to leave blindness out because if you like someone and 
vice versa, they're going to know that you are blind eventually.  
Since this thread is related to an academic setting, I'm all for 
disclosing, because there really aren't any downfalls.
D: And how different is the disclosure of blindness from 
disclosure of being a man, a woman, gay, straight, latino/Latina, 
asian, etc?
L: I don't think they are different at all, they are 
characteristics that make you who you are and in an open-ended 
setting, you can disclose them whenever you're ready...
So...  Is blindness an important part of your life? Is it 
something that you'd like to share with people? Does it relate to 
anything else in your bio? In your published work?
I'm curious to know what the original poster decides to do,
Lizzy