[nabs-l] Microaggression and unconscious biases towards blind people and people with disabilities

STOMBERG, KENNEDY kestomberg at coe.edu
Sat Apr 16 14:59:10 UTC 2016


 Agreeed! When I am in those situations, I will often look directly at the
waiter, and say, "I'm right here. My name is Kennedy, and if you would like
to know what I want, maybe you should ask me."

Two aditional microagressions come to mind.
First, it really bothers me when people assume I need help. For example, I
could be walking somewhere uon campus, and someone might come up to me and
say, "Where do you want to go? I will help you." (This is often accompanied
by the person grabbing my arm, that same microagression that Joseph
mentionedff) I usually respond by saying, "I am going to such and such a
place, but I don't need help. Thank you." What makes the situation worse
though is that the person will often say, "Oh! Are you sure? Because I
don't mind. Really, I don't!" At that point, I respond more firmly, "No
thank you." And of course, by this time, I'm trying to resist the urge to
slap the person...

The second microagression is when sighted people commit a microagression,
and then tell me to "please be patient"   when I correct them. I understand
that no one is perfect! Sometimes, I am going to have to explain things,
and that's all right. But if I am using microagressions and don't realize
it, I want to be corrected! I find it frustrating when my sighted piers
tell me that my correcting them is impatient.

I am so glad we are having this conversation. I read somewhere that when
the steriotypes of any minority group are constantly brought to the
surface, it's very psychologically damaging, and can lead to
under-performance in many areas, which often perpetuates the steriotypes! I
think this is definitely true for me and other blind people, though of
course we almost always manage to rise above these ridiculous
microagressions and steriotypes!

Honestly though, I was starting to think that the microagressions I was
noticing were just me being petty! So, I'm happy to know that others are
experiencing the same things, though it sucks that anyone has to!

Kennedy Stomberg


On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 8:05 AM, justin williams via nabs-l <
nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Yeap, and I don't tip them either.  I tell them why also.
>  Justin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jason
> Polansky
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2016 9:04 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> >
> Cc: Jason Polansky <jpolansky.nfb at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Microaggression and unconscious biases towards blind
> people and people with disabilities
>
> I agree with Phil and Joseph. Something at the top of my head is sometimes
> when we go to restaurants, the waiter or waitress will ask fy friends or
> family members and say "What does he want to eat?", like we can't talk for
> ourselves because we're blind.
>
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 5:42 AM Joseph C. Lininger via nabs-l <
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> > Off the top of my head, there are two things that could be classified
> > in your words as microaggression that really get to me. The first is
> > unsolicited touching. Many people seem to think it's ok to touch a
> > blind person without asking permission or otherwise violate our
> > personal space in a way they would never dream of doing if the person
> > were sighted. The second one is when a person sees you as blind first,
> > and maybe something else second. I say maybe because blind may be all
> > you are to them. What I mean by this is that every time they talk to
> > you they always bring up the blindness in every conceivable situation.
> > If you try to address them normally for something like a work related
> > issue, they will change the subject to blindness. If they see you in
> > the hallway, they will make a comment about the blindness. You get the
> > idea. I understand curiosity, and I'm not offended by that. What I am
> > offended by though is when it is impossible to speak to a person
> > without them bringing that up. (I know one person who I have known for
> > almost 3 years, so at this point it's starting to get a bit
> > ridiculous)
> >
> > As for unconscious biases, it's interesting you bring that up because
> > I was just talking to a friend about that this last week. I was
> > telling him that it is often times hard for a blind person to find
> > employment, even when qualified because of biases held by the hiring
> > manager for instance. I told him the worst part of that, at least in
> > my opinion, is that it doesn't even have to be something that a person
> > does consciously. A person can be absolutely convinced they have no
> > negative thoughts about blindness, yet their behavior indicates
> > otherwise. You can't even address it in that case because they are
> > absolutely convinced it doesn't exist.
> >
> > I had an experience related to this just a couple of months ago. I was
> > talking to someone about the possibility of a future work opportunity.
> > This guy had said in the same conversation that he doesn't even notice
> > the blindness and that he treats me like everyone else. Then, a few
> > minutes later he said, "well, I'm assuming you wouldn't want to work
> > at this location because the layout of the area is weird." If you
> > bring it to his attention though, even with that comment, he'll deny
> > he has any such views. It's not a dishonesty thing either; he is
> > actually convinced he doesn't harbour opinions like that.
> > Joe
> >
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