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

Sat Nov 5 23:12:25 UTC 2016

All I can say is, Excellent! Blessings, Cheryl Fields

On 11/5/16, Robert Spangler via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 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
>>.
>