[nabs-l] My Blindness Philosophy is Better than Yours

[annajee82 at gmail.com]

Good discussion. I think one of the key words that has been used by some, is "integrity". If some other person got to the gate first, I would expect them to board first; and they have every right to do so. If said person gets to the gate last, or somewhere in the middle, I expect them not to board first; they don't have the right to do so. In fact, if someone who was not at the gate first, boarded first, I would not be happy about it. It is unreasonable. What right does that person have that I don't? If there is some reason why they really do need to, then that's fine. But I can't think of a reason for me, as a blind person, to do that. If I do not hold myself to the standards I have for others, I have lost something of my own integrity. 

To take this one step further, I work really hard every day fighting for civil rights. (Yes, it is really work). I attempt to bring the message everywhere I go, that we are intelligent, capable, skilled, hard-working people. That we want to be, and deserve, as human beings, to be treated equally. I absolutely feel that if I, for example, go to the front of a line, when I have no real reason  to do so, that I am practicing a different message: "I want to be treated equally, unless I could benefit from being treated unequally." Does it make a difference if I refuse the offer to go to the front of line or not? I don't know. But I know what I believe- that I deserve to be treated as a whole human being who among other things happens to be blind, not just as the blind person. II find it likely that there are times it has no positive effect on those around me if I go ahead and stand in that line, but I am also quite sure there are times that people see me and realize for the first time that a blind person is capable of standing in line. And although it may be a small thing, it is a step in the right direction of changing the mind of the public. 

Those are my experiences, beliefs and thoughts.

With rights come responsibilities.

Thanks for the discussion.

Anna E Givens


> On Jun 13, 2016, at 4:13 AM, Joe Orozco via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Should a blind person use their disability to take advantage of social perks?
> I briefly touched on the following story elsewhere in these pages. It
> has bearing on the current point though, so hang in there for a
> moment.
> Back in college I was once traveling with a fellow blind friend on
> Greyhound. We happened to arrive at the gate before anyone else, but
> because my traveling companion was, probably still is, an ultra
> independent blind person, they refused to board the bus first. The bus
> driver was confused. Why would this person want to let other
> passengers skip ahead when we'd beaten everyone else to the gate? The
> bus driver couldn't understand my companion was refusing to get on the
> bus ahead of everyone else on principle. Allowing persons with
> disabilities to skip ahead in line is just something society expects,
> and my companion, following their own philosophy of independence, was
> not going to feed into that presumptive notion.
> I have always wondered about the rationale to this way of thinking.
> What is it about using certain social perks directly linked to
> disabilities that inspire such delicate feelings of inferiority?
> Perhaps we are afraid to look inept by jumping to the front of a line.
> That speaks to perception, and just as laws do not change minds
> overnight, your position in line is not likely to automatically make
> someone think you are any more or less capable by standing ahead or
> behind. Do we really believe standing in the middle of the crowd will
> somehow make us more a part of the people? Will that translate to
> making us more approachable? More datable? More employable? Your
> subsequent words and actions after getting in line are more likely to
> have an influence over someone's opinion of you as a blind individual.
> Making a scene to be treated as an equal does not create equality. It
> creates a spectacle.
> 
> Read the rest of the article at:
> 
> http://joeorozco.com/blog_my_blindness_philosophy_is_better_than_yours
> 
> Joe
> 
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