[nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

[Charlene Ota]

I think you're right, Julie, and people can be very hard on each other about
it, too. Sometimes, I've seen dog users really be hard on each other, too,
even about their dogs and what they can or can't, will or won't do, and
their behavior in public. I wish we gave each other more cedit for what we
accomplish than pick on each other for the little things we do different.
Sometimes people also forget that some of us have other issues than just
blindness to deal with as well that affect our mobility and travel skills.
Thinking about it, it strikes me a little funny, we want to be treated as
individuals by the sighted world, but we fall into expecting ourselves to
all have the same skill set as a group of blind people when in reality, we
are all different.
 
I've observed something that's always been interesting to me as a blind
person all my life, and that is that sometimes people who have never had
vision have some pretty amazing ideas about what vision is. Like, that when
a person sees, they see everything. A sighted person, for example, shouldn't
trip over something or miss a friend when they're walking down the street or
miss the spot on the front of their shirt or whatever you want. Somehow if
you can see you can see it all at all times. I haven't seen myself, but I
know I've seen this happen in various degrees with different people. If we
live long enough and associate with enough people, we find out that sighted
people have their shortcomings, too. (smile!)


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Steve Johnson
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 12:11 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

Hmmm, that is quite the interesting question Julie.  I find myself engaging
in conversations with my peers many times indeed surrounding that of travel,
but not necessarily judging them, but maybe rather comparing and contrasting
our methods of travel when using a guide, cane and then transitioning these
skills into our everyday routines.  Sometimes, we may also compare our
employment and how were we were able to achieve a level of
gainful/meaningful employment, while other times maybe our involvement and
contributions to the greater blind community.  But all in all, and I am
looking and thinking of my blind peers primarily involved in our local NFB
chapter, we tend not to judge, but feed off of each others strengths, and
become a stronger united group by this.  It is pretty cool to see how this
concept fosters the leadership that we need within the movement, and somehow
creates a fairly well-balanced front.  

Just my immediate thoughts,

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 3:27 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

Some of the recent discussion got me to thinking about how we, as blind
people, perceive independence or who is more capable than who.   It seems
that we always use travel to judge who has better skills than who.  I know
we have discussed this before, but I still have no clue why we don't use
Braille or cooking or something else to base our judgments on.  I'm guilty
of it too.  I've caught myself thinking if not actually saying that so and
so isn't as well adjusted as they could be because they are always needing
help to get places.

I happen to be a very good traveler with cane or dog.  But you know what?  I
read Braille at about 40 wpm.  By any measure that's slow, like incredibly,
snails pace slow.  But no one has ever said to me, "You know, you should
really attend a center where you could get better Braille skills so you
could be more independent."  

Then there is the kitchen...I really like to cook.  Generally I'm okay in
the kitchen.  I cook most meals from scratch.  But, getting the meat,
especially the chicken, thoroughly cooked is a constant stress for me.  I'm
frequently freaked out about whether or not there is any pink in the meat.
I know the skills.  I know how to check nonvisually, but I totally and
completely lack chicken confidence.

Am I crazy?  or don't you think that blind people always judge other blind
people on the basis of travel skills and virtually nothing else?  

thoughts?
Julie
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