[stylist] A New Member
Judith Bron
jbron at optonline.net
Sun Dec 28 03:43:28 UTC 2008
New York will pay for screen readers but you have to have a vocational goal
before they will even look at you. They don't provide counselling to get
you to a point where you can decide what your goal is. In the case of the
newly blind this is a problem. They have laws and bylaws dating back to the
19th century. They don't believe in change. Judith
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
> Judith,
> In Philadelphia back in the seventies, Ted Young, a blind man who was
> active in the NFB was the director of the Bureau for Blindness & Visual
> Services, or whatever it was called in those days. He at at least one
> blind rehab counsellor. Of course, public transportation was available in
> the city and surrounding areas. In a bit of a twist, in our area --
> Wilkes-Barre -- there is a sighted woman who is a rehab counsellor, who is
> the daughter of blind parents. BTW, on another list, one of the women
> stated that New York won't pay for screen reading software. I can't
> imagine that that's true. Do you know?
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
> Judith Bron wrote:
>> Every counsellor I've had with the commission for the blind has been
>> sighted. They are required to drive to their clients. Obviously blind
>> people cannot fill these roles. However, in teaching blind people to use
>> adaptive equipment blind individuals do this in facilities for the blind.
>> I work with other handicaps, mostly mental disabilities, but have never
>> worked with a blind person in rehabilitation. Yes, we have a blind
>> governor in New York State but he doesn't use adaptive equipment,, walk
>> with a white cane or read braille. I just keep forging ahead with my own
>> thing. Judith
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Lee Clark"
>> <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
>> To: "'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 6:58 PM
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
>>
>>
>>> Judith:
>>>
>>> Deafness is an invisible to most. Deaf people can spot a deaf person a
>>> mile
>>> away with the way their eyes move, but most hearing people don't know
>>> anything until they'[re spoken to but don't respond, or if they see them
>>> signing.
>>>
>>> Blindness is more visible, certainly.
>>>
>>> But more accepted? Maybe as objects of sexual desire, but other than
>>> that,
>>> there's this difference in language. Blind people speak the same
>>> language
>>> with the mainstream. For this reason, I think blind people have greater
>>> potential for employment. However, blind unemployment is far higher
>>> than
>>> deaf unemployment.
>>>
>>> I think blind people are in higher positions, but deaf people have more
>>> jobs, just not as many in very high positions. There are several
>>> "industries" suited especially for deaf people. One is the ASL teaching
>>> industry. As the second most popular foreign language and the fastest
>>> growing, there are more than twenty thousand ASL teachers in the
>>> country.
>>> This industry includes performers for ASL videos, writers of ASL
>>> textbooks,
>>> tutors, etc. Then there is the relay services industry. Text relay,
>>> CapTel, and most popular, video relay. This is a multi-billion dollar
>>> industry and employs many deaf people in administration, training, and
>>> marketing. A third source of employment is working for the states, for
>>> departments of human services and commissions and social work and also
>>> teaching in the state schools for the deaf. You understand, most
>>> services
>>> provided to the deaf are provided by deaf people, too. Not many hearing
>>> people are capable or qualified to teach deaf children, give counseling,
>>> train, whatever.
>>>
>>> But outside of these areas and other smaller businesses geared toward
>>> the
>>> deaf, they don't have much headway. We don't have a deaf judge or a
>>> deaf
>>> governor, but you've got blind people in those positions.
>>>
>>> I may be wrong but low blind employment may have to do with the fact
>>> blind
>>> people are not required for meeting the needs of or providing services
>>> to
>>> the blind. Maybe you've got a good source of employment in vocational
>>> rehabilitation, but to me, it seems there are way too many sighted
>>> teachers,
>>> trainers, counselors, and technicians that work with blind people. And
>>> is
>>> the fact that blindness is a great deal with SSDI a factor for the high
>>> unemployment? Deaf people can only earn up to eight hundred dollars per
>>> month if they want to keep their SSDI, whereas blind people can earn up
>>> to
>>> twice that. So it is more in the interest for the deaf to seek full
>>> time
>>> jobs and less in the interest for the blind to do the same.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>> Behalf Of Judith Bron
>>> Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 5:16 PM
>>> To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
>>>
>>> Could it be that deafness is more acceptable than blindness is that deaf
>>> people don't look different? In many cases the blind person's eyes look
>>> different from the sighted person's eyes. Judith
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
>>> To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 6:45 PM
>>> 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
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> 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:
>>>>> Shelley:
>>>>>
>>>>> Aside from my six-year run as publisher of my own publishing
>>>>> operation, I
>>>>> have been involved in the publishing world for twelve years. I've
>>>>> worked
>>>>> with many, many writers, about half of them hearing sighted and the
>>>>> other
>>>>> deaf sighted with a few deafblind. While the quality of the writing
>>>>> always
>>>>> plays a role in whether or not something gets published, the deaf
>>>>> writers'
>>>>> writing from the deaf perspective is always, always an advantage.
>>>>>
>>>>> No, I don't mean one needs to make a conscious effort to write "about"
>>>>> being
>>>>> deaf, in the didactic sense. Just write about life--love, crime,
>>>>> family,
>>>>> whatever--but through deaf eyes, drawing from the deaf writer's own
>>>>> observations and sensations. Ha Jin, the well-known writer, made the
>>>>> point
>>>>> in his latest book that there are too many writers who write about
>>>>> stuff
>>>>> they learned in a secondhand fashion, and readers can pick it up, even
>>>>> though they may not be conscious. The writer's describing his or her
>>>>> own
>>>>> genuine observations and experiences for the purpose of describing
>>>>> things
>>>
>>>>> is
>>>>> very important and lends the work with an aura of, a vibe exuding
>>>>> authenticity.
>>>>>
>>>>> So that's one benefit of writing exactly what you know. Another boon
>>>>> to
>>>>> any
>>>>> writer is any type of outsiderhood. If you look back on the annals of
>>>>> literature, those who are "different" from the establishment
>>>>> population
>>>>> but
>>>>> don't write from that different perspective don't get published often,
>>>>> or
>>>
>>>>> if
>>>>> they do, their work wears off quickly and they are forgotten. Take
>>>>> the
>>>>> example of Thomas Caldwell, who was deaf, but wrote as if he wasn't.
>>>>> Who
>>>>> knows him now? Or take Richard Wright, a wonderful and groundbreaking
>>>>> African American writer. All of his books are still in print, except
>>>>> one,
>>>>> and that was the only book he wrote about only white people.
>>>>>
>>>>> You understand, there are tens of thousands sighted people writing and
>>>>> trying to get published. So I cannot imagine any use in adding more
>>>>> of
>>>>> the
>>>>> same types of material to that pot. There are only a limited number
>>>>> of
>>>>> genres and plots, and they all have been done over and over again.
>>>>> But
>>>>> if
>>>>> you're blind, and you're privileged to have different sensations and a
>>>>> different touch in your observations, that's quite a blessing and will
>>>>> help
>>>>> your work stand out amidst the awful racket of the same old, same old
>>>>> that
>>>>> editors endure reading through week after week.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now, my deaf writer friends, they all have found their most important
>>>>> and
>>>>> rewarding publishing credits through their deaf material. Many of
>>>>> them,
>>>>> before they started workring with me, wrote only mainstream stuff,
>>>>> thinking
>>>>> they would have a better chance. Not so. Take Raymond Luczak: He has
>>>>> written over forty plays, but only twelve with deaf characters.
>>>>> Thirteen
>>>
>>>>> of
>>>>> his plays have been produced. All twelve deaf plays and one not make
>>>>> up
>>>>> the
>>>>> thirteen, leaving the rest of his "hearing" plays still collecting
>>>>> dust.
>>>>> He
>>>>> has written four novels, only one with deaf characters. No surprise:
>>>>> The
>>>>> three mainstream works remain unpublished and the deaf one won a
>>>>> prestigious
>>>>> fellowship and also a national first-novel contest and will be coming
>>>>> out
>>>>> soon. Raymond's "hearing" stuff is good and worthy of publication,
>>>>> but
>>>>> the
>>>>> problem is that there are so many equally good stuff these days,
>>>>> because
>>>>> there are so many well-trained writers from all those MFA programs.
>>>>> Those
>>>>> who get published are the ones with unique voices, original twists, or
>>>>> those
>>>>> who bring to the reader authentic tastes of different worlds.
>>>>>
>>>>> I once got a story from a good deaf writer. It was about the Titanic.
>>>>> A
>>>>> couple gets separated at the end, the woman rowed away while the man
>>>>> sinks
>>>>> with the ship. It was wonderfully researched and detailed. The
>>>>> writing
>>>>> was
>>>>> smooth and luminous. In all the fundamental areas, it was a superb
>>>>> story.
>>>>> But it was never picked up, and the deaf writer could not understand
>>>>> why
>>>>> not, since it was one of her very best efforts. The reason, of
>>>>> course,
>>>>> is
>>>>> that the Titanic as the backdrop for a love story has been done to
>>>>> death.
>>>>> It was already worn threadbare even before that movie with Leo and
>>>>> Kate.
>>>>> But what if the couple was deaf? They wake up because of the great
>>>>> commotion outside their room sending vibrations to them. They ask
>>>>> each
>>>>> other what's going on. Outside their room, they see people running.
>>>>> They
>>>>> try to get someone to write to them on a notepad, but they're all
>>>>> panicked.
>>>>> So they have to investigate, and gradually, from all the visual
>>>>> information,
>>>>> they begin to understand. A sailor tries to put the deaf woman in
>>>>> line
>>>>> for
>>>>> getting on a lifeboat, but she doesn't want to be separated from her
>>>>> husband. All sorts of misunderstandings, issues, correctives, etc.
>>>>> occur.
>>>>> And at the end, a twist on the classic separation thing: The deaf
>>>>> woman
>>>>> decides to sink with her husband, so strong is their bond with each
>>>>> other
>>>
>>>>> as
>>>>> they come from a small community and the deaf woman cannot imagine
>>>>> venturing
>>>>> out on her own amidst all those hearing strangers.
>>>>> Now, isn't that a much better story? A blind couple on the Titanic
>>>>> would
>>>>> likewise be much better than the mainstream version and would
>>>>> definitely
>>>>> stand out!
>>>>>
>>>>> Incidentally, some of the hearing writers I've worked with but who
>>>>> have
>>>>> connectins to the Deaf world, they also have found greater success in
>>>>> publishing their work relating to the Deaf world as opposed to their
>>>>> more
>>>>> mainstream fare. Take Morgan Grayce Willow, an ASL interpreter. Her
>>>>> biggest book credit is her work on interpreting. Her most prestigious
>>>>> magazine credit is for her essay "Double Language," about her
>>>>> experiences
>>>
>>>>> as
>>>>> an interpreter. She has published other stuff, but with much more
>>>>> difficulty and less compensation. Or take Pia Taavila, a wonderful
>>>>> poet
>>>>> and
>>>>> professor of English, who is the daughter of deaf parents, or a CODA
>>>>> as
>>>>> we
>>>>> call people like her--Children of Deaf Adults. She has written both
>>>>> mainstream stuff and stuff having to do with her upbringing in a Deaf
>>>>> home
>>>>> and her continued link with the Deaf community. You guessed it again:
>>>>> Her
>>>>> Deaf-related poems are more readily published and get higher praise.
>>>>>
>>>>> It is not that they can't get published without the deaf material.
>>>>> They
>>>>> can
>>>>> and have. But it is against greater, much greater odds that they do.
>>>>> Here
>>>>> and there, they are able to be heard, able to be distinguished from
>>>>> the
>>>>> rest
>>>>> clamoring for the same editor's attention. And it's not that writing
>>>>> from a
>>>>> different perspective will automatically get you published. The
>>>>> writing
>>>>> still has to be good. But it is a huge advantage in arresting the
>>>>> editor's
>>>>> attention, curiosity, and interest.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't know how the deaf writers could possibly try to write
>>>>> mainstream
>>>>> stuff, or how you could avoid writing as a blind writer, but I never
>>>>> could,
>>>>> never wanted to. It feels fake and contrived to me. It would take
>>>>> too
>>>>> much
>>>>> effort to pretend, to write about auditory things I never heard, to
>>>>> write
>>>>> visual descriptions of what I have never seen. I am of the opinion
>>>>> that
>>>>> "'catering" to the mainstream audience is self-defeating, because
>>>>> there
>>>>> are
>>>>> many writers that produce mainstream stuff and it's not like they're
>>>>> "catering" but they're genuine because they ARE mainstream. I have
>>>>> always
>>>>> written straight from who and what I am. And I am not complaining
>>>>> about
>>>>> my
>>>>> inability to write mainstream stuff because I've been published in
>>>>> POETRY
>>>>> magazine twice, while there are thousands of poets who can only dream
>>>>> about
>>>>> ever getting there; I've been published in McSWEENEY'S, America's most
>>>>> hip
>>>>> literary journal; I've won all those awards; my work has been
>>>>> broadcast
>>>>> on
>>>>> radio, including on the "Poem of the Day" program on Martha Stewart;
>>>>> I'm
>>>>> being interviewed by someone from The New Yorker right now; I've been
>>>>> a
>>>>> featured poet at an international cultural arts festival, flown there
>>>>> first-class and with all expenses paid . . . so I guess I must be
>>>>> doing
>>>>> something right.
>>>>>
>>>>> No, that was not to brag at all. That was purely to make my point, to
>>>>> make
>>>>> my case for writing from a different angle, and to encourage you and
>>>>> others
>>>>> to try doing that. Hey, it can't hurt to try, can it?
>>>>>
>>>>> John
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
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>>
>>
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