[Nfbmo] The glass ceiling for blind performers

[Gary Wunder]

Hello, Julie, Dick, and Nancy. As you can tell from my initial post, I am
extremely interested in this topic, but I am not at all interested in it
focusing on what I think. I had my initial bite at the apple, so I think
before trying to answer your questions that I'm going to see if other people
have opinions about the subject. I also want some time to think about your
questions. One of the advantages of the written word is that we can let what
other people say and ask wash over us, immerse ourselves in it, and not
worry about having to come up with an immediate response as we would in a
face-to-face conversation. I hope more folks will offer their thoughts and
opinions, and I'll be thinking about my debut on the big screen.


-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie McGinnity
via Nfbmo
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2016 9:47 AM
To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
Cc: Julie McGinnity
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The glass ceiling for blind performers

Hi all,

Thanks for bringing this back Gary!

Nancy got it right.  I have unique facial expressions, but they are quite
clear.  Many of my friends have told me that they just like to watch my
reactions to stuff because the faces I make entertain them.

When I was at Webster, they tried to mold my facial expressions into what
they believed to be a more normal set of expressions.  I did everything they
told me, but none of it ever felt natural.  And then I felt like a failure
because I couldn't do what my professors wanted.

When I came here to Mizzou, I had a lot of anxiety about facial expressions,
gestures, and movement on stage in general.  I believed that I looked
stupid, that everyone was judging me because I could not move like a sighted
person, etc.  Then I learned two things: A.
Everyone (even sighted people) are convinced that they look stupid on
occasion.  And, B. Everyone is unique.  Blind people might express our
feelings on our faces and with our bodies slightly more uniquely than
sighted people, but it doesn't change the fact that all people do not look
or act the same.

What does that mean for me and other blind performers?  I don't know...
Because we've never explored this topic.

Let me ask this question: how would you want your blindness represented on
screen?  If you were an actor, and you had the training to star in the
latest prime time drama, then what would that look like to you?  Would your
blindness be central to the character you play?
Would it be there but as an afterthought?  Or would you ignore it
altogether?  Wait, one more or...  Would you find a way to play a sighted
character, relying on special effects, other characters, and other
adaptations to make you look and act completely sighted?

Before we decide what would be discrimination, we need to figure out what
would be acceptable in our minds.  And I understand that many of you don't
have acting experience, but that's not a concern to me.  We all watch tv and
movies, and we all think about what we watch.  What I'm asking is for us to
think about what we watch and put ourselves in it in whatever way makes
sense to us.  :)

On 4/20/16, Nancy Lynn via Nfbmo <nfbmo at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I'll talk a bit about facial expressions. You don't have to see them 
> to display them naturally. I'm told I have a rubber face and shouldn't 
> expect to do well at poker. Sometimes my face says things I don't 
> really want it to
>
> say. I guess to be able to display the facial expressions called for 
> in a particular role, you'd have to really feel the emotions so deeply 
> that the appropriate expressions show up naturally without your having 
> to control them or produce them intentionally. I remember my mother 
> saying that she was
>
> worried that I wouldn't have facial expressions when she found out 
> that I'd
>
> be blind. She didn't have to worry about that long, apparently.
>
>
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--
Julie A. McGinnity
President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division, Second
Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri "For we walk by
faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7

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