[stylist] question

[John Lee Clark]

Robert J.:

It's not only about legally blind people trying to pass themselves off as
sighted, but also fully blind people who, though it is obvious they are
blind, still refuse to reconcile themselves fully with being blind.  It's
not only about passing, though if one of them could pass a bit, they'd
surely try to.  Uncle Toms and Oreos are not only about light-skinned people
trying to pass a white, but also very dark people but who talks like the
whites, dresses like the whites, has a white-style house and doesn't want
black friends etc.

If there's no such term, then we should invent one.  The concept exists,
such people exist, and it is to our great political disadvantage if we don't
have a name for it.

We need a word for the bigotry, too.

I mean, what would the civil rights movement have been like if there was no
word for racism?  What would be the feminist movement be without the word
sexism?  What would the Deaf Pride movement be without the word audism?

Discrimination is the enemy, and it doesn't even have a name?  No name would
make it harder to point the finger accurately.  It can be a powerful weapon
as no company, no politician, no school, nobody wants to be accused of being
---ist.   

Fill in the blank!  

John  

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Robert Jaquiss
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 9:21 PM
To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] question

Hello John:

     I have been an active member of the NFB since the spring of 1990. I 
have not heard of terms for those legally blind people who try to pass 
themselves off as sighted. My view is that if a person has a significant 
vision loss, then "passing" is extremely difficult if not impossible. 
Historically, some literature used to describe blind people used the term 
"sightless", or more recently "partially blind" or "partials". The last two 
terms were and sometimes still used to describe those of us who have some 
vision.

Regards,

Robert Jaquiss

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
To: "'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 6:32 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] question


> Yo, blinks:
>
> Just read my first issue of the Monitor.  The Ved Mahta piece reminded me 
> to
> ask you all two questions.  I am wondering if you have a term that you use
> for two concepts I am sure that very much exists.
>
> The definition of the first one would have a picture of Ved Mahta himself 
> or
> someone else more notorious in your community for this type.  The text
> definition would be something like "a blind person who is in denial or
> refuses to embrace blind identity and in fact takes pains to avoid blind
> people or being associated with the blind community."  The black community
> has its own version, called Uncle Tom or Oreo--dark on the outside but 
> white
> inside.  The Deaf community has this type, too, called hearing-headed, 
> with
> a special sign that implies the person is hearing in his head, obsessed 
> with
> trying to be hearing.  The most notorious hearing-head is probably Heather
> Weatherstone, who was Miss America but is a graduate of the much-hated
> Clarke oralist school and doesn't sign or anything.
>
> So what do you call a blind person like that?
>
> Now, I'd like to learn what you call something else.  Blacks have to deal
> with racism, which is the belief that blacks are a lower class.  Women 
> often
> encounter sexism, which is the belief in the inferiority of one gender 
> under
> another.  Young people and old people sometimes suffer from ageism, which 
> is
> discrimination against someone because of that person's age.  The signing
> community has to work against audism.  Our most villainous audist figure 
> is
> Alexander Graham Bell, and he is the subject of many works of Deaf art,
> taking the role of a monster, a dread ghost, and in a famous poem he is 
> the
> Pilate who crucifixes Laurent Clerc, the most beloved Deaf historical
> figure, the first Deaf teacher in America.
>
> So what do you call bigotry targeting the blind?
>
> Thanks!
>
> John
>
>
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>
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