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

Sun Dec 28 00:05:37 UTC 2008

Jim:

The only blind woman that was not a victim had a minor role in the movie
Men, or that's what I think the movie is called.  It was about a
nymphomaniac woman, who is sighted, and later in the movie she truly falls
in love with this photographer.  This guy invites over some friends for
dinner, and one of the friends is a blind woman.  It seemed to me that the
woman was played by a real blind person, and I found her very sexy.  I wish
I knew her name, but in those days I never paid attention to actors' names

Does anyone know that movie and whether that actress is really blind?

As for males, I remember only Al Pacino playing a blind man in Scent of a
Woman.  Remember that one?  What did you think of it?

John

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of James Canaday M.A. N6YR
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 4:49 PM
To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: [stylist] deaf or blind in text, was "a new member"

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
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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