[stylist] question

Tue Mar 24 22:09:20 UTC 2009

I couldn't agree more.  I simply tell people that I'm legally blind, not 
legally brain dead.  If they can't figure that out perhaps they are looking 
in the wrong mirror.  No pun intended.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Wheeler" <awheeler at neb.rr.com>
To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] question


> 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
>
>
>
> +-+-+-
>
>   God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it 
> is not there. There is no such thing.
> C. S. Lewis
> ~~~
> awheeler at neb.rr.com
> IM me at: outlaw-cowboy at live.com
> Skype: redwheel1
>
> ----- 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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>
>
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