[NFBSF] Vision Loss

[Lisamaria]

Just a few thoughts to fuel the thread...

Vision loss comes from a place of loss. It assumes that vision is the gold standard and that anything less is bad or wrong or inferior. This is ableist because the assumption is that able is the "good" thing. 

As for the word blind ... what's wrong with identifying as blind if you have some functional vision but are legally blind? I mean, if your vision is something like 20/1200, which mine is, I consider that to be pretty shitty vision and I don't personally kid myself and think I'm anything but blind. You don't have to be 100% Puerto Rican to identify as Puerto Rican or any other ethnicity. 

You aren't partially pregnant. 

You aren't sort of amputated. It doesn't matter if the amputation occrred at the ankle, knee or mid thigh. You still are an amputee. 

This is all to say there are degrees of or levels of being blind, pregnant, Puerto Rican or an amputee. It doesn't make you more or less of that thing. Anyways ... this is how I view things. 

LM  

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 30, 2019, at 17:07, Daveed Mandell via NFBSF <nfbsf at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello, sister and fellow Federationists: 
> 
> Bryan Bashin mentioned something in his national convention speech which has aroused my interest, given how often the term "vision loss" is bandied about these days in so-called blindness professional circles. He calls it an ableist term. 
> 
> If and when one loses one's vision, isn't that a los, in fact an exceedingly dramatic and often painful loss? Vision is considered by many people to be the most important human sense. If one has relied mainly on one's vision for much of one's life, isn't losing one's vision quite devistating?
> 
> I have been blind since birth, but I have encountered many people who have lost their sight as teenagers and adults. For some the transition has been fairly smooth and easy. But for others it has been utter hell. 
> 
> While I agree that the term "vision loss" is indeed rather negative, isn't it also realistic? 
> 
> Another question I have concerns those people who call themselves "blind", although they have and rely on a substantial amount of functional vision. I believe there is a vast difference between people of this ilk and those of us who are totabbly blind. Now, wait! I'm not engaging here in a pity party! But every bit of functional vision makes life somewhat easier in the often inaccessible, blind-hostile world in which we now live. 
> 
> Comments welcome! 
> 
> Best regards to all,
> 
> Daveed Mandell
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