[Nebraska-students] Philosophical Terminology

[Jessica Wymore]

I agree with both Karen and Kayde: we shouldn't differentiate among
ourselves because we all have something in common, but on the other hand we
are trying to include other people and educate them to see that they can be
blind without "acting" blind. Some people are more comfortable with the term
"visually impaired" instead of "blind," but in the end it is what the person
thinks about himself/herself that is important. If we can make an effort to
include people who are not comfortable with their blindness, than maybe down
the road they can learn to accept their blindness. I really don't think it
matters though. I'm legally blind, and I don't prefer either term over the
other. In some cases I feel more sighted than blind, and sometimes I feel
more blind than sighted. The important thing is that I know my vision isn't
always reliable and I have the skills to compensate for that and I'm not
ashamed of it. Blindness to me is like hair color or eye color. We don't
divide people by what color their hair is on web sites, so I don't know why
we should with blind people. It doesn't matter if I call myself visually
impaired or blind, I am still the same person. I guess I have mixed opinions
on the issue. And maybe it's not really an issue at all. The important thing
is that we're empowering people and giving the information and support they
need. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nebraska-students-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nebraska-students-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of KD Rieken
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:35 PM
To: Nebraska Association of Blind Students List
Subject: Re: [Nebraska-students] Philosophical Terminology

While I agree that one of the goals of the NFB is to veer away from such
terms, another goal is recruiting and spreading the message. If a random,
partially-blind person on Facebook came across a group that said nothing
about "visually impaired" or "low vision" people, a likely response would
be, "Well, that's not for me, I'm not blind, I have low vision." So by
putting these terms out there, we increase the likelihood of recruitment,
then start to educate about terms of blindness and what they mean. That's
the only reason I can think of. Anyone else have thoughts?
Kayde

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 1:48 AM, Karen Anderson <kea_anderson at cox.net> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
>
>
>            I was looking around on facebook and noticed several new groups
> for students affiliated with the NFB. And I must say, several of them look
> really interesting. However, I have one concern. Since joining the
> federation it has been my understanding that we encourage everyone,
whether
> they are a high partial or totally blind, to consider themselves blind.
Our
> taglines are things like, "Changing what it means to be blind," and "Voice
> of the Nation's Blind." Yet more and more frequently I find other terms
> showing up in our literature. The term "visually impaired," is used in the
> group descriptions for both The NFB Café and Blind 411. I believe one of
> our
> greatest strengths, one of the things that sets us apart from other
> organizations, has always been that we do not divide people into
categories
> based on how much vision they have. We believe that those with no vision
at
> all can be just as successful as the highest partial. It seems to me that
> using terminology such as "visually impaired," and "low vision," changes
> that, and I fail to see what good can come from that division.
>
>            I am extremely interested to see what the list, and
particularly
> the members of the NABS board, have to say about this issue.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Karen
>
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