[Perform-Talk] division news and updates

[Gary Wunder]

I am not a close follower of this list, but I post to make a request. We
have been running articles during 2017 focusing on what your division is all
about--breaking the glass ceiling, getting more blind people as actors, and
actively exploring how to combat what seem to be real barriers that need
attention. Unfortunately we have heard nothing from the people who ought to
know the most about this and have the most to win if we succeed and lose if,
through our organization's failure to understand, we do nothing.

I need articles from your division. Who has tried to get a job as an actor
and been denied. What were the circumstances? We seem to agree that blind
people should be cast to play blind people. Do we have blind actors who have
applied for recent roles in which sighted actors with fantastic name
recognition have been cast? What do we think about blind people being
limited to roles in which a blind person is being played? If we believe we
can be sighted actors, how do we act sighted in a way that is convincing to
a sighted audience? 

I suspect many of you have ideas, but does the division have thoughtout
positions in response to these questions? Am I more likely to get an article
if I take contributions from anyone who wants to comment, or should the
Monitor publish a position adopted by the division?

I look for your guidance. I believe that, absent a division response, our
concern comes off looking pretty hollow. I think we have more to offer than
complaining and that any move to solve this problem will require us. It
usually does, and the best solutions are the ones in which we are involved.

Though I will monitor this list, feel free to write to me at 
gwunder at nfb.org

Thank you for reading, and please keep reading the Braille Monitor or start
reading if you aren't a regular reader.

Gary