[nfb-talk] feedback wanted on possible letter to the editor regarding "dining in the dark" dinner

[Cindy Handel]

Great letter, Chris.  More people should write to try to stop this nonsense.

Cindy

-----Original Message----- 
From: Chris Westbrook
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2013 6:07 PM
To: nfbtalk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nfb-talk] feedback wanted on possible letter to the editor 
regarding "dining in the dark" dinner

Guys, I realize a lot of you are a lot more skilled than I at these types of 
things, so I am seeking your feedback for the below letter.  a link to the 
news story is below
http://bit.ly/WmkdiT

am I too harsh in my letter below?  I am trying to keep it short so that the 
newspaper will hopefully publish as is.
Should I come at this from another angle?  Thanks so much in advance.

I recently read an article in the lifestyle section for January 22 entitled 
North Central Sight Services to host ‘Dining in the Dark’.  This is supposed 
to be a dinner in which sighted participants will learn what it is like to 
be blind for an hour as they try to eat dinner blindfolded.  As a totally 
blind person, I am against events like this for multiple reasons.  Firstly, 
there is no way you can experience what it is like to be blind when merely 
blindfolded for an hour.  Things that you think are a huge deal are mere 
inconveniences to those blind people who have learned the techniques 
necessary to survive in a sighted world, while things you probably wouldn't 
think of are much bigger deals to us.  Secondly, and more importantly, I 
know how most sighted people will react to this since I have been around 
them my whole life and have seen it first hand.  They will not state it 
openly, but they will walk out of the dinner making comments to their 
friends like "I'm glad I'm not one of those people" or "I'm glad I don't 
have to deal with that problem."  They may give a few dollars of their money 
to NCSS, believing they are helping "those people" and will continue with 
their lives totally ignoring any blind people they meet while feeling good 
about themselves.  The problem with this sympathy is it hinders our efforts 
to be equal members of society.  Generally the people who feel most sorry 
for my life as a blind person, I can pick them out almost immediately, only 
wish to be friends with me on a very superficial level and don't see how I 
could possibly hold down a job or lead a normal life without a caregiver by 
my side constantly.  Rather than educating the general public about the 
capabilities and needs of blind people, NCSS has decided to put blindfolds 
on them and give them an exaggerated and distorted view of blindness.  I am 
an active member of Trinity Gospel Church's children's ministry, a saxophone 
player, and a computer programmer who happens to be blind.  I would like 
people to look at my accomplishments first, not my blindness.  I call on 
NCSS to educate the public about the capabilities of blind people by 
presenting real blind role models and their real lives rather than 
exaggerated portraits of bumbling sighted people as they try to eat a piece 
of meat blindfolded without training.
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