[Ohio-talk] FW: Blind Person vs. Person Who is Blind

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

 This is something that drives me crazy on nearly a daily basis. Like everyone else in one of the helping professions, I have to use person first language in any professional document I write. Personally, I don't agree with it for some of the reasons Robby described. Person first language did not come about from disable people themselves, but from professionals serving them who thought it would be more offensive to focus on disabilities, because their perception was that disabilities were bad. With the disability Pride movement that has really taken off the past several years, concepts like ableism and identity first language have increasingly been talked about by people with all kinds of disabilities in everything from professional articles and books to writings on the mighty. I personally align with people in the identity first camp, simply because I reject the sentiment that a couple decades ago people helping disabled people made this decision without actually consulting disable people as a whole, and I think it has made things more taboo. Plus, it just feels clunky in my mouth and in my ears. Every other adjective to describe a person goes before the word, and it doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing. I am a short person, and a passionate person, and a young person... so person who is blind seems out of place. I don't know if it has so much to do with disability pride as it does just being honest and really and acknowledging disabilities as another different, but not detrimental, trait people have in life. Of course, that will be different for every person, but if you subscribe to the notion that disability is just another aspect of humanity, identity first language makes sense. For me, and for other people in similar fields, this creates a bit of a problem because you have to be careful in how you speak about yourself A bit, because depending on where you work colleagues who are less familiar with these things could consider you to be unethical or not treating people with do dignity and respect. The best solution I have come up with for this is to describe myself however I want, since that shouldn't really offend other people and if it does it's their problem, and then to ask other people how they would like to be referred to. It's really annoying, but in terms of following ethics and outdated standards that assume everyone wants to be labeled by person first terms, it's a way to cover The bases. It's kind of amazing to me that the Deaf and Autism communities in addition to the NFB have spoken up and said it's OK or preferable to say Deaf person/Autistic person/blind person and have been completely ignored in a lot of ways, but it's just the reality that helping professions have some way to go and their understanding of disability studies to break down their perceived hierarchies.   

Kaiti Shelton

> On Jan 31, 2017, at 9:42 PM, Robert Spangler via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone:
> 
> This topic has undoubtedly come up before, but either I wasn't around for it
> or I don't remember.  So I am curious to know people's thoughts on being
> referred to as a blind person vs. a person who is blind.  It's something
> with which I struggle.  Those of you who know me well are aware that I have
> no use for political correctness, which is usually why I refer to myself as
> a blind person.  On the other hand, however, I can see the point of why one
> might prefer to be called a person who is blind.
> 
> To my understanding, saying "a person who is blind" means a person who
> happens to be blind--referring to the blindness as another characteristic,
> such as being skinny, fat, tall, short, blonde, you get the picture.  I like
> this form of speech for this reason, because I believe that all of us work
> hard to get people to stop paying attention to our blindness over everything
> else.  All of us are tired of our blindness coming up as the main point of
> conversation with so many sighted folks.  Sure, there are those people who
> pay it no mind, but I would say most of the people we come across on the
> streets make one comment about it at least.  So explaining this form of
> speech to them helps to explain that blindness is just another
> characteristic.  When we must prove ourselves all the time and face lower
> expectations, we only want it to be seen as another characteristic.
> 
> Now there's "blind person," which in many ways describes me, I think.  Maybe
> I'm being hypocritical, I'm not quite sure, but I do think that blindness
> changes how we do many things.  It doesn't make things impossible, but my
> life would be significantly different were I not blind.  My hobbies would
> probably be different, my skills, my upbringing, etc.  I don't necessarily
> see this as a bad thing, so long as I am happy with myself, which I am.  So
> in a way, I see blindness as being a defining characteristic of myself, much
> like how someone who is black may see that characteristic as defining them.
> I have never let blindness stop me from doing anything and, whenever someone
> tries to tell me that I can't do something because I am blind, I do it
> anyway and usually succeed.  So maybe I have a little bit of "blind pride."
> Inside, I see myself as a blind person because I have fully grasped
> blindness and do not see it as something that holds me back.  I had a friend
> tell me yesterday, "you identify as blind, whereas I just consider it
> another characteristic of myself."  Yes, it is a characteristic but I can't
> help but also thinking that it does make our lives different, as much as
> many people may deny it.  I think the only reason people would deny it,
> though, is the negativity that surrounds blindness.
> 
> I think the main problem we have identifying with blindness is that so many
> people see it as negative and tragic.  While I'm comfortable with being
> blind and lead a normal life, I still explain to sighted people who I am
> trying to educate that blindness is just another characteristic and reserve
> the identifying as blind (blind person) thoughts with those to whom I am
> very close.
> 
> Thoughts?  I know I rambled a bit but this is something I've been thinking
> about lately.
> 
> Robby
> 
> --
> Robert Spangler
> Secretary, Miami Valley Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of
> Ohio Spangler.robert at gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
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