[stylist] A New Member

Mon Dec 29 00:01:22 UTC 2008

Hi,

How about Andre Bocelli?  He is a world-wide superstar and younger than me.

Warm Regards,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Donna Hill
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 11:33 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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