[nagdu] New information about more and more people becomingblind

Wed Mar 31 06:44:42 UTC 2010

Albert,

We've been watching old movies I saw, sometimes more than once and loved
when I was sighted.  Now that I can't see enough to bother to try, I get to
experience them in a whole new way through the dialogue and sound effects.
There are so many really great tidbits that I never noticed before!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Albert J Rizzi
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 5:40 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

I tend to agree with Tami here. I find myself visualizing what I used to see
as I walk or do any number of things. Sometimes doing that shuts down the
other senses I need to be effective in my task. I am working on that though.
I do find however, that I have never seen things more clearly in many
instances as a blind man then I did as a sighted man. at times my vision
would distract me to something meaningless and distracting taking me off my
focus if even for a moment. that does not tend happen when I use my other
senses these days.

Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
CEO/Founder
My Blind Spot, Inc.
90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
New York, New York  10004
www.myblindspot.org
PH: 917-553-0347
Fax: 212-858-5759
"The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
doing it."

Visit us on Facebook LinkedIn

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 8:25 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

Tami, 
I do think you're really onto something with this post. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 4:37 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

Rebecca,

Could it be as simple a thing as that we *behave* differently because of the
years we spent operating and interacting visually before we learned to adapt
to doing the same things nonvisually?

I'm not talking about big stuff, but some of those little social cues that
we've learned or maybe do differently because of the deeper changes in the
brain from sight to blindness...  I dunno, it's just something I've thought
about a time or two.  When I first started spending more time with other
blind people, I could still see enough to pick up some of the less subtle
mannerisms and started noticing that people who told me they had been blind
from birth were somehow "different" than people like me who had gotten there
as adults.  It was something really glaring, like one group was weird and
the other one wasn't.  Just, something...  So I sort of watch what I can
when I'm in groups because now I'm curious. /smile/  Watching is getting to
be not possible, so I guess I may not figure out what it is I'm reaching
for.  Which is fine.

One thing I've noticed is that people who have been blind since birth or
early childhood have an ability to sit comfortably still in a crowd, taking
in the goings on through their other senses, talking and laughing, in a way
that I really can't.  Not because I can't tell what's going on, but because
I turn my head towards things, or I start gesturing around while I talk then
have to remind myself I'm likely to hit someone passing by and put my hands
back in my lap and fidget and then pick up my cane or my dog's leash and
start fidgeting with that and...  Well, I'm not really that extreme, but I
don't have the quality of stillness while I'm listening.  Does that make
sense?  I really noticed it when I did that consulting gig last fall,
because the other two blind consultants, it turned out, had been blind from
birth.  I was being more self-conscious because it's been so long since I
had to be all professional and stuff, and I haven't done it since I had
quite a bit more vision.  I also was more conscious of the other two
consultants carried themselves and their canes and managed that style of
interaction and communication with our sighted peers...  I didn't know until
the meeting started they had both been blind from birth, but it suddenly
clicked that stillness is one of the qualities that had been nagging at me
as "different" between the two groups.

I can sit still in a crowd if I decide to, of course, and even when I could
see, I like to sit quietly and observe the people around me at times instead
of dashing about as one of the milling masses.

I just know that I don't do it the same way as the people I've met who have
always experienced the world nonvisually. I have noticed that when I'm in a
group where I'm aware of the status of several other blind people, I can see
the difference from a different perspective, and it just seems that us
late-comers move around more and are more likely to turn our heads to listen
to sounds across the rooms or shift our feet or fiddle with our canes...

I'm not saying my observations are accurate or even close.  But I would
think that if I were some sighted somebody who happened across two identical
blind people and stopped to chat without necessarily thinking about the
blindness per se, that I would probably react differently to the one who was
blind from birth and therefore giving social cues of calm and stillness and
having it all under control because how else it could be? Than I would the
one who had become blind as an adult and somehow giving off leftover social
cues because of those minor behaviors none of us is even aware of.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject, for what they're worth.  It
could be so many other things, those deep-seated social attitudes, the
general assumption that it's better to have seen and lost than never to have
seen at all...  Interesting to wonder about, though.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 10:04 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

William makes some excellent points. 
I'd be curious, how/why do some of you think those people who had sight in
that undefined time as "before" are treated differently? 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of William ODonnell
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 3:11 PM
To: the National Association of Guide Dog UsersNAGDU Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

Take note to the fact that there are those of us who have had no vision
since the beginning of life.  With this said, the rule does not apply that
parents used good teaching tools and learned from the beginning.  I know too
many people who have been razed by parents that assume the role of teaching
to the "blindness" agencies or professionals further entrapping there
children in to living within the means of the "status quo."  In other words,
many children end up learning to deal with what is given to them in a way to
feel as if they and the services are "normal" since from an early age, they
are not properly taught about advocating for themselves as well as the law
that is supposed to protect them.

--- On Thu, 3/25/10, cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [nagdu] New information about more and more people becoming blind
> To: "nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 2:20 PM
> Now it is interesting because this
> was on ABC New Last night.  The a new study of people
> with Diabetes whether type 1 or type 2.  The story
> emphasizes on diabetics but it should also go for people to
> get there eyesight check once a year.
> 
> Because more and more people aren't properly getting check
> for diabetes when they go to the doctor, or if they have
> diabetes that they won't go blind as long as there sugars
> are controlled are absolutely wrong.
> 
> I know because I lost my vision to diabetes.  It
> showed that the blood vessel around the retina get blocked
> and will get to the point where the is no blood flow and
> your vision will get worse and worse and there is no way of
> stopping the damage was it starts it may slow down for
> awhile.  But Diabetes is the no 1 cause of blindness in
> this country.
> 
> I say this on this list because a it seems to me that
> people who have had vision and now don't seem to be treated
> differently.  I find this true and in fact a friend of
> mine out here who is blind and not from the NFB and is a
> guide dog user, its true she told me she said that she was
> jealous of me that I was able to see and describe to her
> things she couldn't see. I still see things, but more black
> and white and blurred but still shapes and objects. 
> But at the same time I told her that I was jealous of her
> because she learned from day one from parents that made sure
> she had all the right tools and no how so she could be
> independent and I am still learning my ABCs so to say.
> 
> There will be more and more newly blind people, especially
> those return home from fighting wars for our country, and I
> think we need for them to know the laws and the mobility
> that is out there and work on those issues instead of trying
> to see who knows the laws better then the other when
> everyone interprets it in the own way.
> 
> This statement might be all over the place but you get my
> drift.
> 
> Cheryl Echevarria 
> Independent Travel Consultant
> http://Echevarriatravel.com<http://echevarriatravel.com/>
> 1-866-580-5574
> 
> http://blog.echevarriatravel.com<http://blog.echevarriatravel.com/>
>
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:Reservations at echevarriatravel.com>
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose
> Travel CST-1018299-10
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