[Nfb-or] Fw: A Somewhat Secret Call + An Invite to PDX Blind Cafe 2!!!

[T. Joseph Carter]

When I went to the dinner in the dark thing, people around us had 
some guidance on how to actually eat without vision.  That didn't 
happen at my table, because I took that responsibility.

If it had been done in the same way as the Tri-Met blindfold day 
things are done, it would've been utterly useless.  Perhaps this 
particular dinner in the dark event I attended was atypical?

Technically I was not an assistant in the travel thing, I was just my 
mouthy self, a CCB student who up to that point hadn't been all that 
particularly successful.  In fact, that convention was my turning 
point because I KNEW what I'd done there.

Any event of the sort I put on (and I've got some ideas for such 
things) will incorporate instruction instruction in the skills of 
blindness needed to accomplish the task at hand.  I don't do either 
"sucks to be blind" or "blind people are so amazing!"

Of course, at times it really does suck to be blind, but not as much 
as the average sightie thinks.  And some blind people really are 
amazing, but ... I don't like to boast too much.  *grin, duck*

Joseph


On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 11:17:39AM -0800, Mike Freeman wrote:
>Joseph:
>
>WE do, in fact, occasionally do cane walks to try to convey to 
>overprotective parents and people of that ilk that we can, in fact, 
>travel. But there was one great caveat in your post below:  the 
>parent had a travel instructor and you to assist.  Will every sighted 
>gawker at the "dining in the dark" event have one experienced blind 
>person and one experienced rehab tech to coach him/her?  Verily, I 
>doubt it.  It's the usual syrupy drivel put out by do-gooders who 
>want to help us but who don't seem to think that the best way to help 
>us is to prepare us for jobs in the real world and --  gasp -- then 
>to hire us!  When they do the syrupy things, they can tell themselves 
>that they really are helping while, in fact, they do very little but 
>say either "ain't it awful to be blind" or "ain't them blind folks 
>just amazin'?'.  Ah well.
>
>Mike