[NFBOK-Talk] HowEyeSeeIt -- The Truth

[Jeannie Massay]

The following message is from President Riccobono. Please take a few minutes
to make a video of yourself doing something that you normally do. We have no
fear of blindness and cannot allow others to instill fear within society
about blindness either. Engage, please!

Yours in the Federation!!

Jeannie 

 

Fellow Federationists:

 

This message is to urge you to keep applying pressure on the #HowEyeSeeIt
campaign and telling the truth about blindness. My announcement from this
week's notebook is pasted below for reference. We are doing great at
generating content on the hashtag and getting attention. Members of the
Federation are now being blocked from the Foundation Fighting Blindness page
on Facebook. This means that they are more interested in ignoring our
concern than addressing it. This morning the campaign is being featured on
the Today Show. All of this means that there is a great need to keep up the
activity across the country. Be talking about this in our chapter meetings
and at our conventions. Keep creating videos and generating posts in social
media. Write letters to your local newspaper. Find other creative ways to
bring attention to the harmful impact of this campaign. There will be more
news coming soon. Congratulations on the swift action, let's keep it up
through the weekend and into next week.

 

---Post from earlier this week------

Dear Fellow Federationists,

 

This past weekend an organization released a social media campaign with the
hashtag HowEyeSeeIt. The people using this hashtag are making videos of
themselves attempting to do everyday tasks under blindfold with the
misguided view that this experience will help them know what it is like to
be blind. The motivation for the campaign is to raise funds to eliminate
blindness. We in the National Federation of the Blind know that blindness
doesn't hold us back. We also know that living with blindness requires
learning the techniques blind people use to do everyday tasks without
vision. We are not opposed to medical research, but the way to generate
interest in medical research is not by further spreading the fear of
blindness and strengthening misconceptions about the lived experience of
blind people.

 

The current videos being circulated with the #HowEyeSeeIt campaign are
perpetuating the idea that blindness is something to be feared and that
blind people adhere to low expectations. One of the tasks people are
encouraged to do in this campaign is have a friend give them an unidentified
amount of cash and then, under blindfold, attempt to pay for a meal with
this money. Another particularly outrageous example is people are asked to
attempt to take care of their child for one minute while blindfolded. At a
time when we have launched new efforts for blind parents who have their
children taken away because of misconceptions about blindness, this is
dangerous and offensive. These examples and the dozens of others used in the
campaign rely on the notion that vision is a requirement for success, but we
know the truth-blindness does not define us or our future.

 

We've published a blog, "Challenging the Fear of Blindness
<https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/challenging-fear-blindness> ," that I
encourage you to share. See below for some related critical actions.

 


Critical Actions This Week:


Challenging the Fear of Blindness - #HowEyeSeeIt:
It is critical that we now join together to combat this harmful campaign. I
urge all Federation leaders to lead by example and to encourage the members
of the Federation in your state to join with me in changing the perception
that blindness is something to be feared and something that significantly
limits our lives. Now is the time to turn our fear into power and that power
into action. We have the opportunity to demonstrate how we live the lives we
want as blind people in a commanding way. All you have to do is:

1.       Make a video of yourself accomplishing an everyday task as a blind
person. For example, show how you dance, sing, exercise, care for your
children, go to school or work, play sports, manage your finances, travel,
participate in social events, enjoy your hobbies-in short, take a video of
yourself living the life you want.

2.       At the end of your video, say that you're a proud member of the
National Federation of the Blind, and tag three friends or family members to
keep the trend going. You can also urge your audience to make a donation to
the NFB.

Upload your video to social media using the hashtag #HowEyeSeeIt. Make sure
to link to our website, www.nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org> , and tag the NFB
in your Tweet, Facebook, or Instagram post. If the people you mentioned in
your video are on social media, be sure to tag them, too.

 

Mark A. Riccobono, President

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place

Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Phone: (410) 659-9314

Fax: (410) 659-5129

Email: officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org> 

Twitter: @Riccobono and @NFB_Voice

Web:  <http://www.nfb.org/> www.nfb.org

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

 

 

 

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