[Nfbmo] The glass ceiling for blind performers

Randy Carmack randycarmack at gmail.com
Thu Apr 21 22:33:01 UTC 2016


Friends,

Ever since this subject was addressed at convention, I have been racking my
brain trying to remember the name of a fairly popular blind actor back in
the 80's.  Well today, I finally remembered his name (Tom Sullivan).  So I
looked him up on Wikipedia and was thoroughly impressed by all of his
accomplishments.  He seems to have a lot of insight on these types of
subjects and Julie or Gary if you could get him to speak at our next state
convention, I think it would be awesome (unless of course, he is a member
of another unnamed organization for the blind).

Sincerely,
Randy Carmack

P.S.
I don't have any idea of which sighted people are misleading you but I have
not met a blind person yet that does not have facial expressions.  May I
also note, that all of the facial expressions that I have noticed on blind
people match the feeling that the person is feeling as much as sighted
people facial expressions do.

On Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Gary Wunder via Nfbmo <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> 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.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Nfbmo mailing list
> > Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> > Nfbmo:
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/kaybaycar%40gmail.c
> > om
> >
>
>
> --
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfbmo mailing list
> Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Nfbmo:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/gwunder%40earthlink.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfbmo mailing list
> Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Nfbmo:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/randycarmack%40gmail.com
>



More information about the NFBMO mailing list