[Nfb-or] Do you find this offensive?

[Haben Girma]

Thanks, Joseph.

T. Joseph Carter wrote:
> 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
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nfb-or mailing list
>> Nfb-or at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-or_nfbnet.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfb-or mailing list
> Nfb-or at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-or_nfbnet.org