[Ohio-talk] Reflections on How I See It Campaign

Sat Nov 5 22:04:37 UTC 2016

I was board and decided to write a paper on this topic.  Plus, I was asked
to do so by someone where I used to work.  I've attached as a Word document
and also pasted it here in the email.  Feedback welcome and even further
discussion on the topic!

Reflections on the “How I see It” Campaign

Robert Spangler

11/5/2016

Most recently, the Foundation Fighting Blindness ran a campaign to raise
funds towards the research of retinal degenerative diseases.  In order to
portray the “difficulties and challenges experienced by those with vision
loss,” This campaign featured individuals with sight attempting to do their
favorite daily activities wearing a blindfold.  “We hope it will give
people a better understanding of what it is like to live with a blinding
disease and ultimately inspire them to join us in the fight to find a
cure,” said Bill Schmidt, the organization’s Chief Executive Officer (
blindness.org).  The campaign concluded on World Sight Day, October 13

Many blind people as well as the National Federation of the Blind were
upset by what they saw as the Foundation Fighting Blindness playing on
common fears and the misunderstanding of blindness to raise funds for its
coffers.  Of course, the campaign participants were frustrated by not being
able to use sight and ultimately failed at the task.  They attempted such
things as cooking, cleaning and eating.  One particularly harmful
suggestion was that people put on a blindfold and attempt to care for their
child for one minute.  Mark Riccobono, President of The National Federation
of the Blind, which has been working tirelessly since 1940 towards the full
acceptance of blind people as working, contributing members of our society,
immediately sent a letter to the CEO of the Foundation denouncing the
campaign for playing on the fears and misconceptions surrounding blindness.
President Riccobono concluded his letter by inviting the CEO of the
Foundation to meet with him to discuss the campaign on a leadership level.

The campaign also under minds the fact that, with proper training,
blindness can be rendered to merely a nuisance.  The individuals
participating in the campaign, who had never been trained in the skills
that independent blind people use every day to go about their lives, were
unable to do the things that they did with sight.  In addition, with
respects to childcare, this campaign could seriously harm the rights of
blind parents.  President Riccobono wrote in his letter, “That even one
family might be harmed because a social worker or neighbor watches your
video and begins to question the competency of a blind parent is
unconscionable” (nfb.org).  In fact, there have been several examples in
which caseworkers have removed children from their homes, just because they
could not imagine how someone who is blind could possibly raise a child.  The
federation has had to fight alongside blind parents in court for the return
of their children, who were taken from them by uninformed Children Services
caseworkers.

In hopes of combating the perpetuation of the fears and misconceptions
about blindness, the NFB also asked its members to write about or video
themselves doing the things they do every day and to share it on social
media.  Mr. Riccobono wrote in his letter about how he and his wife
Melissa, also blind, are independently and competently raising their three
young children by knowing well the techniques that blind parents use to
care for and play with their children.  I also know two blind parents who
face discriminatory behavior when they go out in public.  For example,
their little girl is often asked, “Do you take good care of your mommy?”  This
campaign will further damage the lives and opportunities of blind people by
reinforcing the false belief that blind people cannot possibly take care of
themselves, let alone a child.

Anyone who spends a lot of time around a competent blind person knows that,
with the proper training of nonvisual techniques, a blind person can live a
truly productive life and contribute to their society, just like anyone
else.  I am completely aware of this, having learned many nonvisual
techniques to manage my life as someone who is blind.  As a successful
blind person, I find the publics’ misconceptions about blindness to be
frustrating and that they are being encouraged extremely insulting.  Every
time someone suggests that I take the elevator instead of the stairs or
talks down to me like I am a child is a reminder that I will always have to
fight the obstacle of ignorance in working towards my goals.  I work hard
to maintain my image as someone who is independent and successful and it
just sickens me that an organization would play into these fears to raise
support.  It is also harmful to the campaign participants.  Should any of
them ever experience severe vision loss, which is more and more likely with
age or in an accident, they are driving home their belief that they could
never make it without sight. This, of course, is false.

The NFB does not oppose medical research to help cure or prevent blindness,
but playing on the misinformation of blindness as a vehicle to raise
support is unacceptable and is nowhere near the truth of what it is like to
be blind.  I cook, clean and work, along with thousands of other blind
people, accomplishing all by utilizing nonvisual techniques.

I have been asked to write about when it is appropriate to use a blindfold.
While it is foolish to believe that you can experience the true meaning of
blindness just by wearing a blindfold for a minute, they are useful in
blindness skills training programs.  Several blindness training centers
around the country, including the Colorado Center for the Blind in Denver
and Blind, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, train their students the
techniques of blindness by requiring that they all wear blindfolds, to
ensure that they are not able to use any remaining sight to complete their
work at the centers.  These centers instruct both people who have been
blind for a very long time and those who have just become blind on daily
living skills, travel/mobility, Braille, carpentry and other things.  To
achieve mastery of these skills as someone who is totally blind, it is
necessary to do them without using any sight.  Blindfolds are also used for
training future teachers of the blind, so that they, too, can gain the full
experience of learning and utilizing nonvisual techniques.

Utilizing blindfolds to train people to use nonvisual techniques is
completely acceptable; however, it is a completely different story to ask a
fully sighted individual, who has no idea of what it is like to be blind,
to attempt completing a task without their sight.  This will have the
effect of reversing years of work done by competent blind individuals and
the National Federation of the Blind to fight these misconceptions.  For
some groups, such as blind parents, these misconceptions can even be
damaging.  To the sighted reader, I hope that this paper has been
educational.  To the blind reader, please go about your life and be patient
with those you encounter.  Every day provides us with a myriad of
opportunities to educate our sighted counterparts.  There are many, many
misunderstandings about blindness circulating and it is our job to combat
them.

Works Cited

"Foundation Fighting Blindness Launches #HowEyeSeeIt Campaign to Raise
Awareness, Funds for Retinal Degenerative Disease Research." *Blindness.org*.
Foundation Fighting Blindness, 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 05 Nov. 2016. <
http://www.blindness.org/foundation-news/foundation-fighting-blindness-launches-howeyeseeit-campaign-raise-awareness-funds
>.

National Federation of the Blind. Public Relations. *National Federation of
the Blind Comments on Foundation Fighting Blindness #HowEyeSeeIt
Campaign*. *National
Federation of the Blind*. N.p., 26 Sept. 2016. Web. 05 Nov. 2016. <
https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-comments-foundation-fighting-blindness-howeyeseeit-campaign
>.

Riccobono, Mark A. "From President Mark Riccobono: Letter Regarding
#HowEyeSeeIt Campaign." Letter to William Schmidt. 22 Sept. 2016. *National
Federation of the Blind*. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2016. <
https://nfb.org/president-mark-riccobono-letter-regarding-howeyeseeit-campaign
>.
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