[Nfbsatx] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"

[Peter Donahue]

Good afternoon everyone,

    Several days ago I posted a message concerning our support of the 
Foundation for Fighting Blindness. All chapter members would do well to 
contemplate the letter Marion Gwizdala, a federationist from Tampa Florida 
and President of the National Association of Guide Dog Users, (NAGDU) wrote 
to the very organization we gave a contribution to and whose walk some of us 
will participate in on Saturday. Mary and I will not be there!!

    The contribution we're making to an organization like this that raises 
funds at the expense of the blind would have been better spent assisting a 
blind youngster to attend the Junior Science Academy this summer.  I hope 
that in the future that all decisions of this kind come before the entire 
chapter, not just the board, and that we think long and hard about how we 
spend the funds we raise to be sure that blind persons reap the benefit. 
Here is Marion's message:

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "NAGDU List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:54 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"


Dear All,
    I tried to get a copy of the original article about which I wrote this 
letter to the editor; however, it was not available without paying a fee. 
The article can be accessed by going to NFB-Newsline and selecting the 
St.Petersburg Times Metro section. If anyone can get access to this article, 
please send it to the list. Pasted below is my letter to the editor.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala

March 11, 2010

            I am writing to comment on the article "Awareness Was the Main 
Course" by Laura Reiley that appeared in the March 10 Metro section of the 
St. Petersburg times. As a blind person, I often meet people who are amazed 
by the fact that I can perform even the simplest of tasks. Generally this 
attitude is based on their own experience attempting to perform the same 
task without eyesight and failing at it miserably. It is for this reason 
that most blind people are opposed to using the type of simulation exercises 
featured in this article. Blindfolding a sighted person and asking them to 
perform even a simple task does not, as the article purports, give a person 
any awareness of what the life of a blind person is like. In fact, such 
exercises only serve to reinforce the misconceptions and promulgate the 
myths about blindness that create the social, legal, and economic barriers 
that prevent us from achieving true equality with our sighted peers. Those 
of us who are blind have developed an array of non-visual techniques to 
perform activities of daily living, such as eating, just as effectively as 
sighted people do using eyesight. Blindfolding a sighted person and asking 
them to perform a task is like putting someone in the cockpit of a jetliner 
and telling them to fly! Lacking the proper skills, the results of both 
would be disastrous!

            The real problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight; 
rather it is the manner in which we are treated as the result of the 
misconceptions people have about blindness. If one really wants to find out 
what life is like for a blind person, there is no need to don a blindfold! 
All one needs to do is carry a white cane, the international symbol of 
blindness,  and go about their everyday life. Then they would feel the 
crushing insults  of public misperception that blind people, except for 
those few who are believed to be amazing and extraordinary, are innately 
ignorant and helpless. They would experience the waitress who asks a five 
year old what the blind adult wants to drink. They would encounter the 
librarian who admonishes them for going out alone, thus exposing them to the 
hazards of opening a door. They would be confronted by the Employer who 
inquires about who will bring them to work. They would learn that even well 
educated doctors are so ignorant as to ask them who bathes them! Though you 
might want to minimize these incidents away, they are examples of the type 
of ignorance I - and other blind people - encounter on a regular, almost 
daily, basis!

            I am not asserting that eyesight is not beneficial nor that the 
work of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is not valuable. What concerns me 
is that organizations that assert they want to "serve the blind" do us such 
a disservice by reinforcing the public misconceptions and fears that create 
the problems we face. I am all for raising money to cure retinal 
degenerative diseases, especially since the condition that has caused my 
blindness, that of my 14-year-old nephew , and several other members of my 
family is retinitis Pigmentosa. I am, however, opposed to creating the type 
of fear and pity that results from blindfolding people for the purpose of 
raising money! Such a practice is as offensive to me as a black-faced 
minstrel would be to an African American! These misconceptions are the 
reason fewer than 10% of blind children are learning to read and write 
Braille, producing functionally illiterate blind adults. These fears and 
misconceptions are the reason that the unemployment rate among the blind is 
more than 70%!

            The veracity of my concerns are supported by the numerous 
inaccurate statements made by the author who has bought into the false 
perceptions of the blind. Does she really believe that "other senses are 
heightened" by taking away one's sight or "; texture became paramount" as 
the result of simulated blindness? Does she really believe that blindfolding 
participants "gave all assembled a greater window into the world of the 
sightless"? Does she really believe that blind people go through life 
"bumbling" their ways around or did she just irresponsibly promulgate the 
pitiful stereotype in an effort to sell your newspapers like the Foundation 
Fighting Blindness did to sell themselves and selfishly generate  revenue 
with no concern about the social consequences of their actions?

            The belief that blind people are endowed with heightened senses 
and special powers is a myth. Blind people simply learn to use their other 
senses and alternative techniques to perform the tasks sighted people do 
with eyesight. Like any skill, these techniques are generally not acquired 
in a half-hour nor mysteriously and supernaturally endowed. However, these 
skills enable blind people to function independently, efficiently, and 
effectively. In fact, the average blind person can perform the same tasks as 
their sighted peers as well, if not better, by employing these alternative 
techniques. Our blindness is not the problem. The real problem of blindness 
is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exists. If a blind 
person is given proper training and opportunity, blindness is only a 
physical nuisance.

            In the future, when your paper is doing a story about blindness, 
it would be helpful to get accurate information and the perspective of a 
blind person who is qualified to speak to these issues by being chosen by 
the blind to speak on their behalf. The National Federation of the Blind is 
the oldest and largest organization of the blind in the United States. We 
are not an organization that speaks on behalf of the blind; we are the blind 
speaking for ourselves. For accurate information about blindness or the 
blind, please feel free to get in touch with me or visit one of our websites 
at

 HTTP://WWW.NFB.ORG

Or

HTTP://WWW.NFB-NAGDU.ORG



Respectfully yours,

Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide Dog Users

National Federation of the Blind

813-598-7161

President at NFB-NAGDU.ORG


_
Peter Donahue