[Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight, and our place as blind people in the world

[Gary Wunder]

Greetings to my friends and colleagues who have posted on this topic about
the value of sight, research, and how it relates to the National Federation
of the Blind. I believe this post started with a comment from Rosina about
the absolute insistence of researchers that the only way blind people will
have a quality of life is when they are able to see. That discussion quickly
moved into whether or not blind people who are in the National Federation of
the Blind thought sight had value and whether we would like to see. I think
this discussion is one of those that I hope to this list would see more of,
and I'm gratified by it.

 

I don't think that there is a blind person alive who doesn't understand at
some significant level how great the advantage of seeing can be. This
morning I'm getting ready to vacuum my rug. Before doing that I will
painstakingly walk around my living room in an attempt to find any mislaid
dog bones, torn up dog toy parts, or even spare socks from those of us who
did not take them off in the correct place and put them in the dirty
clothes. Does it cross my mind that any one of my daughters could sit on the
couch, turn her head, move her eyes, and ascertain the same information? Of
course it does. Do I wish I could do that? Absolutely. Will all of that
wishing get my floor cleared for vacuuming? It certainly won't. So rather
than fret about what some can do that I cannot, I take charge of my life by
walking around that room and being grateful for the fact that I can walk,
going back and forth in that room being grateful that I can use my mind to
create a system that will ensure that the floor is clear. Then I take that
vacuum cleaner, being grateful for the fact that I earned the money to buy
it, and I set to work making my house presentable.

 

When people who can see go shopping at a big box store, I realize they have
a lot of advantages over me. They are not concerned about whether something
is or is not accessible. They may be concerned about whether it is too
complicated for what they want, but they never once have to worry about
whether it will talk or whether it has Bluetooth capability so that it can
interface with a braille display or their iPhone or some other device that
can render speech or braille. I wish we did not have to fight for access,
but I am glad that we at least have the ability to do it and realize
ourselves worthy of access. There was a time when there was no collective
activity on the part of blind people, and the thought that we might boil
water or cook a meal was absurd both to us and to those who looked after us.
The idea that we might actually make a meaningful contribution was barely
considered, and we were nothing more than the family's burden and the bad
luck of the person who drew the short straw. 

 

I grew up in a family with a disabled aunt. In today's world her disability
would've been seen as rather insignificant. She traveled using a walking
cane, but she was well read, had a great conscience, was funny, was
motivated, and took care of the house so that two people who didn't really
want her could both work outside the home. I thought that might be my life
as well, but circumstances placed me in a time when our country was
reassessing what it thought about blind people, how we could be educated,
and how we could be integrated. I think this occurred in no small part due
to our organization.

 

So what about research? I favor research on how to restore sight in the same
way that I think of research to kill the AIDS virus, grow new kidneys for
those on dialysis, and figure out how to stop the ravages of diabetes and
keep people from insulin resistance and the damage done to their pancreas.
What I object to is the kind of publicity about research that says one
should give because the quality of life for those to be served is currently
intolerable. My life is not intolerable. It is rich, and I am blessed beyond
measure. This is not just a subjective judgment I make about the quality of
the time I have spent on earth. I have it as well as most other human beings
can hope to have it. I have a family who loves me, a group of people who
think that what I do and say has some importance in their lives, a job that
provides me with a good standard of living, enough reading material that I
understand the state of the world at least as much as the person on the
other end of the journalists pen can. I have problems aplenty, but at least
I have received enough God-given gifts that these are ones I can handle. I
think this is true for many of the people I know, so when people sell
research on the pathetic state of our existence, then I object to the way
they are selling it, and I think it is fair for us to say that we have lives
that are worth living, whether or not we gain vision.

 

I think there are many things about the NFB's position on living as blind
people and the restoration of vision that are misunderstood. When we say
that it is respectable to be blind, we do not mean that being blind in and
of itself conveys respect. We do not mean that it is somehow superior to be
blind. What we do mean is that there is nothing about blindness that should
make people pity us, fail to consider us for responsible positions, or set
us up in the community as pathetic examples of what they might have been had
it not been for the grace of God. When we say that blindness is a nuisance
and an inconvenience, it is not that we treasure the nuisance or don't at
times get mad about the inconvenience. We are proudly affirming that there
is a great difference between a nuisance and an inconvenience, and a tragic
condition that makes our lives substandard.

 

Lastly, if I had the opportunity to experience vision, would I be
interested? Yes I would. I would love to take a look at the stars. I would
love to take a look at enough faces that I would understand why people are
so spellbound by the Mona Lisa. I would love to look into the eyes of
another and see whether it really gives me a read on what is going on in
their sole or whether, like the human voice, it can sometimes be significant
and can sometimes be deceptive. I would love to spend several hours watching
YouTube videos and learning passively what can sometimes be more difficult
because I don't see it done. I would love to look through a microscope and
see items that are smaller than a hair with such clarity that I could make
out their individual components. I would like to look at a two dimensional
picture and see how people form three-dimensional images in their mind that
convey beauty and tragedy. To me many of these simply feel like lines on a
page when someone has taken the time to put them in raised-line form. 

 

As it is, those things are not likely to come my way anytime soon, so I take
my job to be enjoying the life I have, sharing it with others to the extent
that I can, and thanking God for the quality time he is given me on earth.

 

I love hearing your opinions. Thank you for putting them to paper. If you
have more of them, please use this list to flesh them out.

 

Gary

 

. 

 

 

Gary Wunder, President

National Federation of the Blind of Missouri