[stylist] question

Tue Mar 24 21:23:25 UTC 2009

Judith,
I start to care, though, when people associate the fact that my eyes don't work with being the same as my brain not working.  Know what I mean?  For some sighted people blindness = stupidity, and that bothers me.  My eyes can't see, but my brain can still think.  So, when people treat me like both my brain and my eyes don't work, I tend to struggle with how to respond at times.  The overwhelming majority of the time, I am kind about it.  There are those moments I find myself thinking that dealing with a particular individual is a total wash.  I am not saying I am right for feeeling that way, because I am not.  It's just my human nature rearing its head is all.

In Christ,
Alan

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   God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judith Bron" <jbron at optonline.net>
To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 02:45
Subject: Re: [stylist] question

> John, The reality, as much as you disagree, is that being sighted is better 
> than being blind.  Terms like "visually impaired", "Visually challenged" or 
> any of the like are legislated terms.  I can't see any better or worse when 
> a bureaucrat describes my visual limitations.  I am what I am.  Like I said 
> before, I have to take those limitations, do the best I can to do what I am 
> capable of and continue striving to be the best me I can be.  I don't care 
> how society looks at my limitations.  And, yes, they are limitations.  I 
> have to be the one to deal with them.  Almost every person in this world has 
> limitations.  Some can create beautiful artwork, some can't.  Some can write 
> beautifully, some can't put together a cognizant statement either verbally 
> or in writing.  Some have athletic prowess while others are happy being 
> couch potatoes.  Some love to eat while others are skinny and physically fit 
> their entire life.  All "problems", all "limitations" when put in the 
> perspective of the optimum and people all over the world live with them 
> every day.  When was the last time you heard of the "art impaired" person? 
> Or the person who can't sing one note without causing distress to the other 
> person's eardrums?  Are there cultures for the tone deaf?  The person who 
> can't draw a straight line?  John, deal with John.  Society has enough 
> problems.  As a society we have a lot to deal with, but making John socially 
> comfortable isn't one of them.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
> To: "'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 1:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] question
> 
> 
>> Lori:
>>
>> I love the words blind and deaf.  I abhor anything with impaired in it.
>>
>> Although the definition of blind may say one who cannot see, and that's a
>> negative description, we still have the opportunity to neutralize the word
>> itself and have it convey something else entirely, into something that's
>> cool.  Same with deaf.  We can take it and turn it around, and associate 
>> it
>> with culture, pride, ASL, all sorts of great and positive things.
>>
>> But you can't neutralize and turn around a term like sight impaired. 
>> Tthat
>> term does two very bad, bad, bad things.  First, it implies that sight is
>> the ideal, that it's right, and what we SHOULD have, and that if we don't
>> have it, we SHOULD want it.  This is society talking, "Sight is better."
>>
>> Second, the term implies that we're broken or we're short of the ideal, or
>> we've fallen from the grace of what society says is normal.  This is very
>> bad, bad, bad.
>>
>> Does NFB merely "prefer" the word blind?  It shouldn't.  it should embrace
>> it absolutely.
>>
>> John
>>
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>>
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> 
> 
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