[nagdu] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Great letter!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Marion Gwizdala
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 8:54 AM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org; NAGDU List
Subject: [nagdu] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"

Dear All,
    I tried to get a copy of the original article about which I wrote this
letter to the editor; however, it was not available without paying a fee.
The article can be accessed by going to NFB-Newsline and selecting the
St.Petersburg Times Metro section. If anyone can get access to this article,
please send it to the list. Pasted below is my letter to the editor.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala

March 11, 2010

            I am writing to comment on the article "Awareness Was the Main
Course" by Laura Reiley that appeared in the March 10 Metro section of the
St. Petersburg times. As a blind person, I often meet people who are amazed
by the fact that I can perform even the simplest of tasks. Generally this
attitude is based on their own experience attempting to perform the same
task without eyesight and failing at it miserably. It is for this reason
that most blind people are opposed to using the type of simulation exercises
featured in this article. Blindfolding a sighted person and asking them to
perform even a simple task does not, as the article purports, give a person
any awareness of what the life of a blind person is like. In fact, such
exercises only serve to reinforce the misconceptions and promulgate the
myths about blindness that create the social, legal, and economic barriers
that prevent us from achieving true equality with our sighted peers. Those
of us who are blind have developed an array of non-visual techniques to
perform activities of daily living, such as eating, just as effectively as
sighted people do using eyesight. Blindfolding a sighted person and asking
them to perform a task is like putting someone in the cockpit of a jetliner
and telling them to fly! Lacking the proper skills, the results of both
would be disastrous!

            The real problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight;
rather it is the manner in which we are treated as the result of the
misconceptions people have about blindness. If one really wants to find out
what life is like for a blind person, there is no need to don a blindfold!
All one needs to do is carry a white cane, the international symbol of
blindness,  and go about their everyday life. Then they would feel the
crushing insults  of public misperception that blind people, except for
those few who are believed to be amazing and extraordinary, are innately
ignorant and helpless. They would experience the waitress who asks a five
year old what the blind adult wants to drink. They would encounter the
librarian who admonishes them for going out alone, thus exposing them to the
hazards of opening a door. They would be confronted by the Employer who
inquires about who will bring them to work. They would learn that even well
educated doctors are so ignorant as to ask them who bathes them! Though you
might want to minimize these incidents away, they are examples of the type
of ignorance I - and other blind people - encounter on a regular, almost
daily, basis!

            I am not asserting that eyesight is not beneficial nor that the
work of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is not valuable. What concerns me
is that organizations that assert they want to "serve the blind" do us such
a disservice by reinforcing the public misconceptions and fears that create
the problems we face. I am all for raising money to cure retinal
degenerative diseases, especially since the condition that has caused my
blindness, that of my 14-year-old nephew , and several other members of my
family is retinitis Pigmentosa. I am, however, opposed to creating the type
of fear and pity that results from blindfolding people for the purpose of
raising money! Such a practice is as offensive to me as a black-faced
minstrel would be to an African American! These misconceptions are the
reason fewer than 10% of blind children are learning to read and write
Braille, producing functionally illiterate blind adults. These fears and
misconceptions are the reason that the unemployment rate among the blind is
more than 70%! 

            The veracity of my concerns are supported by the numerous
inaccurate statements made by the author who has bought into the false
perceptions of the blind. Does she really believe that "other senses are
heightened" by taking away one's sight or "; texture became paramount" as
the result of simulated blindness? Does she really believe that blindfolding
participants "gave all assembled a greater window into the world of the
sightless"? Does she really believe that blind people go through life
"bumbling" their ways around or did she just irresponsibly promulgate the
pitiful stereotype in an effort to sell your newspapers like the Foundation
Fighting Blindness did to sell themselves and selfishly generate  revenue
with no concern about the social consequences of their actions?

            The belief that blind people are endowed with heightened senses
and special powers is a myth. Blind people simply learn to use their other
senses and alternative techniques to perform the tasks sighted people do
with eyesight. Like any skill, these techniques are generally not acquired
in a half-hour nor mysteriously and supernaturally endowed. However, these
skills enable blind people to function independently, efficiently, and
effectively. In fact, the average blind person can perform the same tasks as
their sighted peers as well, if not better, by employing these alternative
techniques. Our blindness is not the problem. The real problem of blindness
is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exists. If a blind
person is given proper training and opportunity, blindness is only a
physical nuisance.

            In the future, when your paper is doing a story about blindness,
it would be helpful to get accurate information and the perspective of a
blind person who is qualified to speak to these issues by being chosen by
the blind to speak on their behalf. The National Federation of the Blind is
the oldest and largest organization of the blind in the United States. We
are not an organization that speaks on behalf of the blind; we are the blind
speaking for ourselves. For accurate information about blindness or the
blind, please feel free to get in touch with me or visit one of our websites
at

 

HTTP://WWW.NFB.ORG

Or

HTTP://WWW.NFB-NAGDU.ORG

 

Respectfully yours,

Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide Dog Users

National Federation of the Blind

813-598-7161

President at NFB-NAGDU.ORG

 
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