[stylist] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind

Mon May 4 03:50:54 UTC 2009

Robert,
first I want to compliment the writing in this one, it particularly 
stands out.
looking blind or looking helpless.  your scenario certainly 
highlights the distinction.
blindness as a personal trait compared to race as a personal trait, 
that's woven in here too.
two professors worked at kansas university when I was a 
student.  these two were completely blind.  One tall thin, a 
WASP.   the other short, broad, and argentinian.  the argentinian 
taught very advanced topics in mathematics.  the tall thin white guy 
was in the clinical and then the cognitive psychology teaching 
staffs.  their buildings were across campus from each 
other.  frequently, people were confusing the two.  it was common for 
one to be addressed by the other's name!
blind men all look alike it seems to many sighted people!  I am 
sometimes confused for a blind guy here in town who has never worn a 
beard, same phenomenon.  for some sighted people, all they see is 
that we're blind.
jc

At 08:50 PM 5/3/2009, you wrote:
>Writers
>RE: Looking Blind
>
>Here is my newest THOUGHT PROVOKER. (You know, my TP forum, the stories and
>their solicitation of responses by others- I would say it is a type of
>BLOG.) If you have not read the PROVOKER, it follows.  Recall that I collect
>responses and post them upon my web site for all the WWW to read and learn
>from and that URL is- Http://thoughtprovoker.info
><http://thoughtprovoker.info/>   If you wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS
>sent directly to you, just write me and ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net
>
>THOUGHT PROVOKER 145
>Looking Blind
>  "Do I look BLIND," the young man wearing dark glasses exploded.
>
>"sorry.ah, you.you all looked blind," the pedestrian said, releasing Bob's
>arm. Without an invitation, she had grabbed Bob as she offered to assist the
>three friends to cross a busy downtown street. Apology said, she sped off.
>
>"Guys, what is this 'you look blind,' thing?" Bob addressed his two friends,
>Jose (partially blind, a dog guide user) and Jamal (totally blind, a long
>white cane user). "And I'm sorry guys. I was.ah, shocked. That's never
>happened to me before. I mean --- I know it is respectable to be blind. And
>hey, where was this sweeping generalization coming from --- all blind people
>will need help to cross a simple not too busy street? But for real, when
>this woman came up to us, put the vice-grip on my arm, thinking we all
>'looked blind,' I was just.flabbergasted. Guess I flipped-out, felt I had to
>prove to her I wasn't blind. I lifted my shades, looked her in the eye, even
>dangled my car keys in front of her nose and.said what I said. I've just
>never had that happen before and now I know what you guys mean about how
>sometimes you are treated."
>
>"Bobby boy, my fully sighted friend," answered Jose, his teasing tone
>stressing the Hispanic accent in his voice. "And ah." pointing first to
>himself and his dog, then over to Jamal and his cane, "you with your dark
>sunglasses and no travel tool, I'd say the lady saw three blind men and you
>were the dude who really needed the help."
>
>"Huh," responded the now self-conscious Bob?
>
>"Yeah man, that was priceless!" Jamal chimed in. "Didn't your mama ever warn
>you that you become who you hang with?" Chuckling, his tone slipping deeper
>into the accented tones of the African American vernacular of the
>neighborhood of his birth. "With them shades, if we rub a little color onto
>your lily white skin, next time, she'd be see'n you as a Brother."
>
>"Come on you guys, I'm serious," irritation was again showing in Bob's
>voice. "You can't always tell by just looking!"
>
>For a couple of beats the two blind guys said nothing, just staring at their
>sighted friend. Then Jose spoke first. "Well.you are right and wrong. For
>example, take Jamal and me. You strip us of our obvious blindness related
>stuff," jiggling the handle of his dogs harness, "and look at us just
>standing here, then no. Like even if they come up and look us in the eye,
>then maybe. Hear what I'm saying? But sometimes, it pays off to be
>recognized as blind. Before I started using a dog guide, back when I was
>young and full of foolish pride, I wouldn't be caught dead with a cane. So
>man, I'd play it cool and fake it. Guess we might as well call a stereo type
>a stereo type, I tried to look sighted. Then one day I finally had too much.
>I was out here trying to cross a busy street with my little amount of
>screwed up sight, couldn't do it and couldn't get anyone to help me. I mean
>get real, a good Samaritan like that woman would have looked at me and seen
>this young Hispanic dude with the spiked up do, and she'd be think'n of
>newscasts about Mex gang-bangers."
>
>
>"Yeah," Jamal added, "Some times it pays to be looking blind. Remember that
>Mac Donald's commercial I was in? They wanted a blind guy with a cane. I
>wasn't about to allow them to dress up a sighted guy."
>
>  "Ya, Ya, YA," jumped back in Jose. "Like let's get real, dude! It's okay or
>should be to look like what you are. It's not your look that is the problem,
>it is how the guy doing the looking is thinking that is the problem." An
>expression which could only be labeled as "inner-examination" came over his
>face, then he finished with an earlier impulse, "And get'in personal and
>real. The problem with this cause and reaction thing, also lies within the
>blind guy, too. So ah, Bobby Boy, we got to work with you on your response
>to the judgmental public."
>
>
>
>Robert Leslie Newman
>Email- newmanrl at cox.net
>THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
>Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
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