[stylist] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind

Tue May 5 19:39:39 UTC 2009

I just tell them the truth.  Then it's up to them to figure out.  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind


> Judith,
>
> As I like to say when I confuse one person with another (especially 
> amusing
> when I confuse a total stranger for someone I know well), "Y'all look 
> alike
> to me."  /smile/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Judith Bron
> Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 10:29 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind
>
> Aziza, There are those who constantly confuse one black for another, one
> blond for another and one guy for another.  Being blind, I confuse 
> everyone.
>
> We can't spend our lives trying to educate those who refuse to be 
> educated.
> In their ignorance, there are no differences between one person in a group
> and the other.  Judith
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Aziza C" <daydreamingncolor at gmail.com>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 1:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind
>
>
>> Hi guys,
>> Well, I've been confused for other blind students on campus, but when
>> NFB supporters have been at school with me for meetings, I have often
>> spent the following days telling people that the blind individual
>> walking beside me was not my father It seems the common thought is
>> that blind people are interchangeable by looking blind, or that we are
>> all directly related.
>>
>> I think people jump to conclusions way to soon... Two weeks ago I went
>> to Catalina Island with a blind student group I am apart of. The four
>> girls, including myself were allowed to explore the island
>> independently as long as we met up with the adults at a certain time.
>> We wanted to go to the gardens to take some pictures and walk around,
>> so we asked for directions from a woman running a booth. Three of us
>> were holding canes, and the youngest was not. She has the most vission
>> out of all of us, and hasn't been introduced to using a cane yet. She
>> is ten years old, and the rest of us  are in the age range of 15-17.
>> Yet, the woman chose to address the youngest because she tought she
>> could see, when reality after a few minutes of being amused I had to
>> step forward and ask her to address the rest of us as our youngest
>> member was becoming quite confused. The woman was shocked to find that
>> the ten year old she was talking to was also  visually impaired.
>>
>> So, I think that people look for cues, guide dogs, and canes and the
>> like. People judge to quickly whether one is blind or not based on
>> appearance. Things that are associated with blindness are often
>> overannalized. However, I do agree with the TP that blind, and sighted
>> people alike who are approached with this kind of mentality have a
>> responsibility to react in an educating and appropriate way.
>> A.C.
>>
>> On 5/3/09, James Canaday M.A.  N6YR <n6yr at sunflower.com> wrote:
>>> 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
>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>Writers Division web site:
>>>>http://www.nfb-writers-division.org
>>>><http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>>>>
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> .com
>>>
>>>
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>>
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