[Nfbc-info] FW: offensive content: please immediately remove {184578}

[Brandon Keith Biggs]

Hello,
I found the said article very amusing and wrote a response to it.
(I had never heard of EHow or About.com before).
But I also read an article on how to feed a blind person and how to 
treat a blind person. Which are all valid questions, they just need to 
not be written by someone with no idea of what they are talking about.
But here are my responses:


How to assist a sighted person

Instructions:

Sight is a very complicated infliction many people are faced with. It 
can lead to low self esteem, depression, prejudice and lots of extra 
anxiety.

It often takes sighted people a lifetime to come to terms with themselves.

Something you need to be careful with when dealing with a sighted person 
is conforming to their definition of what a person is supposed to be. 
Every sighted person is different, so you need to unfortunately observe 
them in their own environment before making any kind of conclusion. 
Sometimes their grasping hands and over enthusiastic reactions to what 
you do or say can be hard to live with, but here are some techniques to 
deal with those challenges.

instructions:

1.

Look at the sighted person's face. They feel neglected and confused when 
you move your eye sockets away from pointing at their face. Often times 
this can trigger an unfriendly response in many sighted people. Also 
make sure your face moves. Good movements include lifting the eyebrows 
to indicate interest, moving your head up and down to show you agree and 
moving your head left to right to show you disagree. Another common 
movement sighted people like to see is a small lift of the shoulders to 
show you don't know something. But always combine your actions with what 
you say, because often times sighted people don't see what you are doing 
and that makes them anxious.

2.

When you walk into a room make lots of noise so the sighted person knows 
you are there. It causes lots of anxiety and fear in the sighted person 
if you are doing something in the same room as they are and they don't 
notice you are there. Most sighted people have a hard time focusing on 
more than one thing at once and their eyes can only focus on one point 
in the room at a time. Making noise alerts the sighted person so they 
can turn their face toward you if they wish. Some noise options are 
clattering your cane on the floor, scuffing your feet on the floor, 
clearing your throat or talking while you enter the room.

3.

Some sighted people have a hard time talking. Make sure you ask 
questions in a clear concise manor so they just need to answer in as few 
words as possible.

4.

When playing music or a section in a book for a sighted person, slow 
down your screen reader. Most sighted people have a hard time 
understanding speech at normal speed.

5.

If you notice a sighted person getting anxious about something you are 
doing, start explaining what you are doing in a calm manor. Often times 
sighted people jump to conclusions very fast. If they still are acting 
anxious and start touching or grabbing you, stop and in a clear firm 
tone tell them what you are doing.

6.

when telling a sighted person directions use as many vague terms as you 
can. Often times just giving a simple description of a building or 
object they need to find is too much. They have a hard time 
understanding landmarks and running into things, so even though they 
will probably spend extra time finding something because the description 
they understood was very bad, that is OK, because they thought they knew 
what you were talking about.

7.

Sighted people get scared when you use your fingers to steady and mark 
where to cut with a knife, stab with a fork or place a hot object. Make 
sure your hand is at least 5 inches away from the point of impact before 
you perform your action.

Tips and warnings:

Sighted people can be very judgmental so be patient with them.

Having sight does not mean that they use it. Don't expect people to know 
buildings around a rout they follow every day, or even the street names.

Avoid any mention (unless it is complementary) of a sighted person's 
dress or looks, many are super sensitive about words like ugly and will 
fret about it for the rest of the day.

Also, sighted people use much more electricity than normal people, so be 
aware of that. They like to use these strange devices called lights and 
they don't do anything but make the sighted person happy. They let off a 
little heat after they have been on for a while, but that's about it. 
Just ignore it.


How to cair for a sighted person:

1. Make sure lights are turned on and not facing toward the door. 
Sighted people don't like walking into dark rooms. They also don't like 
walking into bright lights, so one needs to find the perfect balance.

2. Open the curtains if it is day time, even if it is really warm 
outside and the AC is on. Sighted people love to have the sun shining 
into their house even though it raises the electrical bill.

3. Make sure print labels on food and appliances aren't covered by 
anything so the sighted person can feel comfortable reading the familiar 
labels. If there aren't already print labels on something, make sure 
they are printed in at least 14 point font with black letters on a white 
background. Sighted people have a hard time seeing small and or faded print.

4. Make sure your TV screen is on and make sure your computer screen 
shows what you are doing at all times. If you wish to be safe, slow down 
your screen reader so the sighted person won't feel left out of what you 
are doing.

Warning!

If you plan on cooking with the sighted person in the house, make sure 
to wear big gloves, because it raises the anxiety level of the sighted 
person seeing someone cutting and using hot items without protection.

If you follow all these instructions, you will be able to interact with 
a sighted person comfortably in your house.






Brandon Keith Biggs

On 7/17/2014 7:43 PM, Lisa Irving via Nfbc-info wrote:
> Hello Federation Family,
>
>   
>
>   
>
> For those of us who heard Dr. Mauer's banquet speech we heard him reference
> an E-How article. The article described how to "entertain" a blind person.
>
>   
>
>   
>
> I wanted to see for myself what the entire article had to say. After reading
> the highly offensive article I sent a message and strongly recommended that
> the highly offensive article be immediately removed. Below is the response I
> received today.
>
>   
>
>   
>
> From,
>
> Lisa Irving
>
>   
>
>   
>
> From: editorialteam at demandstudios.com
> [mailto:editorialteam at demandstudios.com] Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2014 4:19
> PM
> To: peacefulwoman89 at cox.net
> Subject: RE: offensive content: please immediately remove {184578}
>
>   
>
>
> ## Reply ABOVE THIS LINE to add a note to this request ##
>
>   
>
>
> Request Update
>
> View the complete request history
> <http://helpdesk.demandstudios.com/index.php?pg=request.check&id=184578hdnhw
> p>
>
>   
>
> Hello Lisa,
>
> Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are having the article
> removed from the site as it is certainly not something we want on eHow.com.
>
> Thank you,
>
> The DMS Team
>
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