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

Julie McGinnity kaybaycar at gmail.com
Sun Apr 17 06:10:21 UTC 2016


Micro aggressions might be more subtle than someone grabbing us,
insisting upon helping us, or talking over us at a restaurant.  I
suppose we could loosely classify these examples as micro aggressions,
since the intentions in these cases are not to cause harm.  Still, I'm
not convinced.

Have any of you ever been told that you accomplish a task or perform a
certain job so well that the complementer forgets your blind?  Or what
about those news articles that list a student's accomplishments and
then proclaim dramatically half way through the article: "And she did
all of this while blind!"

Let's define the good intentions of the sighted, shall we.  :)  When
someone asks me if I need help, they have good intentions.  When I
give them a smile and a "no thank you", and we're on our way, then I
know the person genuinely wanted to find out if I needed help.  However...
If the sighted person in question assumes I need help, does not listen
when I refuse their assistance, and never bothers to understand that I
responded in the negative, then their good intentions represent
nothing more than fear of my disability, a need on their part to do
something good for themselves, and a complete refusal to look beyond
my blindness and see a person.

Thing is...  And this is only my humble opinion...  When these micro
aggressions happen, the people who commit them are seeing us as
people.  They may even have respect for us as people, but they may not
have respect for the group of people we represent.  And in most cases
they don't even realize it!

I tend to be rather forgetful.  My phone will find its way all over my
apartment, and I can spend precious minutes looking for it.  When I
laugh about this with my sighted friends, some of them believe that my
scattered nature should naturally be blamed on my blindness.  All of
you on this list know this is not so as I'm sure a number of you never
misplace any of your belongings.  I have to explain to my friends that
not all blind people lose their posessions all the time.  Those
comments would be micro aggressions.

We live in a reality that is not black and white, ignorance and
knowledge, or prejudice and acceptance.  Some people display the flaws
in their knowledge or buy into general misconceptions yet still see us
as people before disabilities.  It's in those in-between areas when
micro aggressions come into play.




On 4/16/16, Joe via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I've recently noticed more people continue to talk as I am attempting to
> finish asking a question or complete an explanation. If you've ever met me
> in person, you know I tend to be soft-spoken, and for a time I thought
> well,
> hell, maybe it's me, not you. LOL But no, even when I begin to raise my
> voice and know beyond any doubt they can understand the words coming out of
> my mouth, they still do it as if I am the stupid blind guy who can't
> possibly be trusted to make any coherent sense. I'm generally slow to
> kindle
> but admit such behavior tests my patience.
>
> Good discussion,
>
> Joe
>
> --
> Musings of a Work in Progress:
> www.JoeOrozco.com/
>
> Twitter: @ScribblingJoe
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Phil via
> nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 11:52 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Cc: Phil
> Subject: [nabs-l] Microaggression and unconscious biases towards blind
> people and people with disabilities
>
> Hey guys,
>
> What are some examples of microaggression, unconscious biases, assumptions
> people say or do towards blind people and people with disabilities that
> bother you?
>
> I'm doing a mini research and am trying to compile a top-20 list of such
> microaggression.  For instance, the other day I heard someone who works
> with
> adults with intellectual disabilities, adults in their 30s and 40s, that
> her
> clients are so adorable. She treats her clients like infants but doesn't
> realize it could be disrespectful.
>
> It'd be interesting to see what other examples we come up with here.
>
>
> Let's share.
>
> Best,
> Phil
>
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-- 
Julie A. McGinnity
President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division,
Second Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
"For we walk by faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7




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