[stylist] deaf or blind in text, was "a new member"

Sat Dec 27 22:49:22 UTC 2008

what a great post John.
as far as movie portrayals, I think that overwhelmingly blind women 
are portrayed as victims, weak, vulnerable.  I'm having a hard time 
recalling even one movie with a strong blind woman as a main 
character who isn't victimized etc.

for that matter, there isn't much better for  blind male lead characters.
jc
Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 12:56 PM 12/27/2008, you wrote:
>Donna:
>
>I think this discussion is splitting into two wholly different areas.
>
>For writing and getting published, the point is that the benefit of writing
>blind material has nothing to do with there being a "market" for such
>material, such as the blind population itself being the base for such
>titles.  Yo0u had argued that maybe there was a benefit to writing deaf
>material because the deaf community, as you thought, is bigger and so
>creates a market.
>
>So I was trying to point out that the blind or deaf communities are not a
>factor at all here.  Neither community is large enough for each group's
>small percentage of buying readers to constitute any kind of "base."
>
>The benefit of writing blind material is that it would stand out among
>mountains of the same old, same old.  You ever read through hundreds of
>submissions?  You wouldn't believe how much most of them resemble one
>another, even down to the characters' names and color of hair and the
>dreadfulness of dialogue and the sheer predictability of the plots.  Almost
>all writers think they're writing something original, but most of them are
>not.
>
>So that's where your unique experiences and perspectives can help you.
>
>Now, the superstars thing.  It hardly has anything to do with whether or not
>the general readers will be interested in something or not.  There have been
>many, many, many novels with blind or deaf main characters that have made
>the bestseller list.  But they are by sighted and hearing writers.  They are
>professionals, and they knew what they were doing when they decided to use a
>blind or deaf character--because it's different, because it's a good
>variation, and it's very interesting.  That's why I find it incredible those
>blind and deaf writers, who would be able to do this BETTER, wouldn't do
>this!
>
>About society not finding blind women appealing, oh but it does.  There is a
>long list of films with blind women.  But yes, they're not always portrayed
>as empowered women.  Deaf women have the same problem.  Beautiful helpless
>victims.  Until Marlee Matlin and Shoshannah Stern came along, most deaf
>women roles were played by hearing women, such as Ronald Reagan's first wife
>in Johnny Belinda.  I am not sure about blind women in movies, but I
>remember watching several as a teenager and there was only one in which I
>was SURE the actress was really blind.
>
>One thing you can do about something you are sick and tired of is to, well,
>do something about it.  Write a novel with a blind woman who is strong and
>empowered.  Create the opportunity for a blind female superstar to emerge.
>I am reminded of the example of Nicola Griffith.  She wrote a fine novel
>called Ammonite, about a planet populated entirely by women.  She was sick
>of the stereotypical women in movies and literature, and she classified such
>typecasts in her afterword to the book, and I realized how right she was,
>that indeed there tends to be only a few certain types of women portrayed in
>popular media.  By writing about a world where there are only women, she was
>able to portray all sorts of women, ranging from the nice to the mean, the
>strong to the weak, the beautiful to the ugly, the smart to the insane.  The
>book was a bestseller and is still in print today.  It's a cool book.
>
>What Nicola Griffith did was to make her "difference" as a strong woman
>helps her write something different, unusual, and endlessly entertaining.
>She did not cater to anyone.  She didn't worry about what the mainstream
>would think.  She just did her thing.  It worked.
>
>But perhaps one important thing in writing from a different perspective is
>that you embrace it.  If you are uneasy with your "different" identity, then
>I can imagine it being difficult to write in line with that.  But I love
>being deafblind, and it is the greatest, so cool and so fun, so it is really
>easy for me to write as a deafblind person.  What the mainstream reader
>might think is of no concern to me.  I frankly don't care what they think,
>what notions they have.  I only care about writing well, and everything else
>will take care of itself.
>
>John
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Donna Hill
>Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 10:33 AM
>To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
>
>John,
>Perhaps not, but that has more to do with the fact that musical
>superstars are traditionally more popular than acting superstars.
>Furthermore, we haven't had a new blind American superstar since Jose
>Feliciano and Stevie Wonder, both of whom attained their status decades
>ago when the emphasis on needing to be a sex symbol in addition to being
>a musician had just begun to emerge.  I think you have also missed the
>point that blind women are not part of the American mainstream culture
>at all, whether they are accepted in the blindness community or not.
>The existence of female representatives of minority groups has
>accompanied a change in public acceptance of their minorities.  So far,
>the public doesn't find blind women that appealing.
>Donna
>
>--
>For my bio & to hear clips from The Last Straw:
>http://cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
>
>Apple I-Tunes
>
>phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374
>
>Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind
>www.padnfb.org
>
>
>
>
>
>John Lee Clark wrote:
> > Donna:
> >
> > Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
> >
> > In my post, I did emphasize that it was not about writing "about"
>blindness,
> > but just BEING blind in your writing.  The blindness need not be the point
> > at all, but it would certainly give you a gold mine for creative twists on
> > the same old, same old.  If you want to write a mystery novel with a
> > detective, why, go ahead and make the crime the main point, but it would
>be
> > a most delightful read if the detective is blind.
> >
> > I had to smile when you mentioned Marlee Matlin.  The signing community
> > doesn't consider her as one of its own--just as much rejected as Heather
> > Whitestone is.  If you want to learn the complicated reasons why, I'd be
> > glad to oblige.  But at any rate, Marlee Matlin is hardly the superstar
>that
> > Stevie Wonder is!
> >
> > I doubt that the deaf community is larger.  It is certainly more close
>knit.
> > Deaf people have their own culture, traditions, and distinct values.  They
> > don't consider deafness to be a disability at all.  There are many, many
> > people with hearing loss who do not sign or are not members of this world.
>
> >
> > I think that the greatest difference between deaf people and blind people
> > are that culturally deaf people use a different language.  And it is a
>huge
> > blessing, because a different language means society has more trouble in
> > sending its demeaning messages to them.  True, they have limited access to
> > the mainstream, but the mainstream, in turn, has only limited access to
> > them.
> >
> > Anyway, there is no such thing as a deaf consumer base that sustains a
> > "market" for deaf-related material.  There is a market for sign language
> > textbooks, because ASL is the second most popular foreign language, next
>to
> > Spanish.  But for Deaf literature, the main market is the general reading
> > public.  So this has nothing to do with the difference in the number of
>deaf
> > readers and blind readers buying titles by their own.  It has to do with
> > intriguing and entertaining the general readership with something new,
>with
> > fresh material that stands out.
> >
> > What do you think?
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of Donna Hill
> > Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 5:46 PM
> > To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
> >
> > John,
> > I understand your perspective and I am writing a novel with a blind
> > character, but having grown up trying to be sighted and being taught to
> > be sighted, I have information from that world as well and have written
> > some fiction with non blind characters, simply to avoid having the story
> > be about blindness, when the real point is more complicated as well as
> > universal.
> >
> > I also can't help wondering, especially reading this particular post,
> > about the difference between the blind and deaf communities.  If the
> > blind community were as large, independent and self-integrated as the
> > deaf community and if blindness were as socially acceptable as deafness
> > -- i.e., Marly Maitlin is a superstar and the only blind woman anyone
> > knows is Helen Keller who died over fifty years ago, well, perhaps there
> > would be a market for blindness-related literature.
> > Donna
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.386)
>Database version: 5.11420
>http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/
>
>_______________________________________________
>Writers Division web site:
>http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
>stylist mailing list
>stylist at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>stylist:
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/johnlee%40clarktouc
>h.com
>
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG.
>Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1865 - Release Date: 12/26/2008
>1:01 PM
>
>
>No virus found in this outgoing message.
>Checked by AVG.
>Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1865 - Release Date: 12/26/2008
>1:01 PM
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Writers Division web site:
>http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
>stylist mailing list
>stylist at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for stylist:
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/n6yr%40sunflower.com