[Nfb-or] Do you find this offensive?

[T. Joseph Carter]

Haben,

I think sometimes we blind people get a little too sensitive and tend 
to overreact to things we think to be insults, but really aren't.  I 
don't want to be misunderstood--there are some downright offensive 
things said out there.  I just don't think this is one of them.  I 
think it's meant to be funny, clever, or thought-provoking (perhaps 
because I found it to be all three.)

Your response to sighted kid is just sublime.  Being both subtle and 
non-confrontational, it is likely to be examined carefully by those 
who read it to understand its meaning.  It's also subtle and a bit 
mysterious.  It'll take half a moment for most sighted people to 
connect back to blindness and Braille.  It's perfect.

Joseph

On Mon, Mar 02, 2009 at 10:02:14PM -0800, Haben Girma wrote:
>
> Hello, all. I'm a student at Lewis & Clark College. A member of the  
> Disabled Student Services just contacted me to alert me of a comment in  
> the student newspaper she thought might be offensive. The comment was in  
> a column on the back of the paper titled "You Caught My Eye," which is a  
> series of  comments of the form:
>
> You:  Tall glass.
> Me: wanting to fill you with alcohol.
> You: Erotic Dancer.
> Me: Severely unimpressed.
>
> The comment thought to be offensive was:
>
> You: blind kid.
> Me: Caught you not looking at me.
>
> I'm wondering what you all think of it. The Disabled Student Services  
> office wants to respond to the comment. How do you think they should  
> respond? I personally don't find the comment offensive and might respond  
> like this:
>
> You: Sighted kid.
> Me: Writing secrets in dots you'll never understand.
>
> Best,
> Haben
>
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