[nfbwatlk] Fw: For InkSpeak Reunion Issue: "Stranger in a FamiliarLand?"

[Jedi]

Well, I've done simulations very similar to what you're discribing.

My favorite simulation that I do at blindness seminars is the Helping 
Interaction. In this exercise, several participants (about five or six 
for a class of 25-30) are taken out of the room and are taught the 
rules of the game. They are instructed to be as helpful as possible to 
a targeted individual of their choosing. I generally recommend that 
their target be of the same gender because some of this helpfulness 
will require physical assistance such as sitting their target down, 
moving their target, etc. These volunteers are told that they have 
three options should their target show any resistance: they can pretend 
to be offended, continue to force their helpfulness anyway thereby 
ignoring their target, or they can end their friendship with their 
target for the duration of the exercise. Meanwhile, non-targeted 
participants observe the goings on while the poor targets cope with 
this unnatural assistance.

The results generally come as follows. The targets tend to feel 
overpowered and frustrated with their helper's lack of consideration; 
they also can't figure out why they are getting so much help even 
though they are clearly competent enough not to need it. For those 
targets who resist help, they often show surprise for their helper's 
reaction to their resistance, particularly if the friendship ends based 
on the helper's manufactured perception that the target is ungrateful 
and not worth knowing. Helpers also tend to feel annoyed with their own 
helpfulness because it's exhausting and because they also realize how 
unnecessary it is. Naturally, a helper wouldn't recognize this lack of 
necessity if their target was really blind, but this is a first step 
and gets them thinking. Observers of the experience tend to feel 
uncomfortable. There is a lot of laughter because everyone is so 
uncomfortable with how invasive all this is.

This exercise really works in conjunction with a healthy discussion 
about blindness stereotypes. I usually start my seminars with an 
implicit attitude activitiy where participants come face to face with 
their own ideas and fears about blindness. Sometimes, I ask them to 
perform skits depicting their version of a typical blind person in a 
given scenario. Sometimes, I have all participants write their fears on 
a slip of paper (If I were blind...); I collect these fears and 
redistribute them so no one has their own and so the fears could be 
read aloud. In either case, I have the class brainstorm a list of 
common conceptions about blindness based on their depictions and fears. 
We then work on dispelling these myths together.. I usually offer 
information in the form of questions that cause individual participants 
to rethink their hypotheses about blindness. Sometimes, I have to give 
direct information. In any case, these seminars are very effective. 
I've been doing them for about three years now.

Respectfully,
Jedi

Original message:
> Jedi,
> Very interesting article and a good poster concept.
> Sighted people want to know what it's like to be blind, so they simulate
> with blindfolds. For reasons that are very well known to all of us,
> blindfolding the sighted just reinforces negative stereotyped thinking.
> Still, it would be nice if we could find a way to simulate the real barriers
> we often face.
> It would be almost impossible to do it, but it would be great to construct a
> situation in which the sighted person continued to be fully sighted ()rather
> than becoming suddenly incompetent when blindfolded.) Rules would go
> something like this.
> Assuming we're dealing with a literate simulated blind person, the
> individual would be allowed to write notes to him/herself, read books that
> were already on hand, use computers so long as there were no web sites with
> captchas. However, whenever the person attended a meeting, he/she would be
> given blank paper while everyone else got the handouts for the meeting. The
> white board or Power Point screen would be placed out of the individuals
> line of sight. The person conducting the meeting would proceed merrily along
> discussing the Power Point and writing on the white board with no verbal
> explanation, except when reminded. Even after being reminded, the presenter
> would forget several times and need to be reminded over and over.
> We would have to replace store clerks with people in the know about the plan
> in order to get them to talk loudly, explain things in a very elementary and
> condescending way.
> When traveling, the person doing the simulation would not be allowed to read
> signs but would need to ask. Going to a restaurant would mean asking the
> wait staff to read the menu and sometimes the staff would say there was just
> too much to read and not enough time to read it.
> At a cocktail party or reception, the simulated blind person would
> immediately be ushered to a seat, brought food, and be encouraged to stay
> put, whether or not there was anyone to talk with at the table.
> You can see how it would go. Naturally, the circumstances would be set up in
> order to include almost every situation in which we're placed at an
> artificial disadvantage due to environmental structures or poor attitudes.
> My guess is that most people would be furious and openly grumpy after an
> hour or so.
> Your poster made me think of that idle daydream. Although my life on a
> routine basis is not full of such treatment, all those situations occur
> often enough to be reasonable components of a simulation. The difference
> between my daydream scenario and the typical blindfolding saga is that the
> person doing the learning in my plan would feel perfectly competent
> throughout but would be faced with assaults to his/her intelligence and
> capability. That's the part of being blind that most simulations completely
> ignore. They leave the person feeling that blindness really does change
> one's level of competence and that, though some of the things that happen to
> us are unfortunate, they're just misguided responses to genuine
> disadvantage.
> Odd ramblings, but your poster came as close as anything I've ever found to
> creating that consciousness.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Jedi
> Sent: May 24, 2010 5:14 PM
> To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: For InkSpeak Reunion Issue: "Stranger in a
> FamiliarLand?"


> I participated at a reunion for Fairhaven College about a week ago. I
> contributed a poster encapsulating my studies at Fairhaven. While
> there, I met a gentleman who used to write for our school zine called
> Ink Speak (then called Tuna Gas after the stench of Georgia Pacific
> during his time as a school journalist). Rick wrote this piece for the
> reunion issue of Ink Speak. I understand that it is to be one of few
> recollections from that weekend written by him. I thought you might be
> interested to read it.

> Respectfully,
> Jedi

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