[stylist] a better use for tongues

[Allison Nastoff]

Very well said Chris.  I agree with you that there are so many 
perks to being blind.  One other perk came to mind as I was 
listening to America's Got Talent on television tonight.  When it 
comes to talent shows, and music award shows, it always amazes me 
how people will win awards or advance to the next round in a 
competition who are terrible singers, while really good singers 
don't get awards.  I wonder if it is because sighted people go 
for people who look good, and don't care as much whether or not 
they sound good.  By contrast, when you are blind and cannot see 
what people look like, you are a much better judge of who has 
real talent.  If only there were more blind people in the world, 
maybe so many bad songs wouldn't top the radio charts!
Allison Nastoff

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Kuell" <ckuell at comcast.net
To: <jsorozco at gmail.com>, "Writer's Division Mailing List" 
<stylist at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:32:54 -0400
Subject: [stylist] a better use for tongues

Howdy, folks.  I've been lurking for a while, and thought I'd 
post a 500 word
essay I wrote last year on the benefits of blindness.  For 
personal reasons,
I wrote it under my pseudonym, Reid Fleming.

chris


The Ten Best Things About Being Blind

By Reid Fleming

I lost my eyesight ten years ago at the age of thirty-two.  Along 
with my
vision, I lost my fiancée, and my wiener dog Sledge went to that 
eternal
farm when I was at my lowest.  However, I'm happy to report 
there's a good
side to blindness as well.  In fact, I can rattle off ten great 
things about
being blind easy as pie.

One.  The first best thing about being blind is NLS books.  You 
can get
thousands of books and magazines, on tape or in Braille, 
delivered to your
home, returned at your leisure-for free.  Is America great, or 
what?

Two.  At airports, blind people can board early if they like, and 
I say-why
not? You get a nice stewardess to show you to your seat before 
the crowds
come, and there's no worrying about having room in the overhead 
bin.  Plus,
twice I've been bumped up to first class.  Sweet.

Three.  Related to travel is discount bus fares.  I know, if we 
are ever to
receive full acceptance, we have to pay equally.  But, I'm what 
some might
call frugal, and saving a buck makes me happy.

Four.  Using Braille is like being in a selective club where we 
use a secret
language.  In other words, every kid's dream-come-true.  I was at 
a meeting
one time, and this blowhard was blabbering on while I used my 
Braille Lite
to write-I wish this guy would just shut the hell up.  Everybody 
probably
thought-Oh, look at how interested Reid is, taking notes-what a 
great
employee!

Five.  Guide dogs are incredible animals, some of the best Dogs 
on the
planet-and we can have them almost for free.  Think about 
it-these highly
trained helpers and companions and all you have to do is work, 
love, and
take care of them.

  Six.  Here's a fun thing.  Next time you're at a party, pick 
someone out
that you want to meet, and have a friend describe them in detail.  
Make your
way over and join in on a conversation, and get to know the 
person a little..
Ask how tall they are, or how old they are, and then say you've 
developed a
mental picture of them, and describe them exactly.  Freaks them 
out!

Seven.  Blind people are not forced to look at all the ugliness 
in the world..
There's undocumented amounts of garbage and graffiti and dog poop 
and
suburban blight out there-and it's not pretty.

Eight.  The flip side of that coin is that people all become 
better looking
than they really are.  When I'm talking to someone, I never 
imagine they have
a boil on their neck, or really crooked teeth, or are having a 
really bad
hair day-even though they might.

Nine.  There's an old cliché-out of sight, out of mind, and it's 
true.  What
cobwebs?   What dust? There's nothing wrong with that wallpaper!

Ten.  The final reason I like being a blind guy is because I get 
to hang
around blind people.  Before I went blind, the only other blind 
person I ever
met was my second-cousin Zebediah, and the court agreement says I 
can't
really talk about him.  But I've met all kinds of blind people at 
NFB
conventions-artists and lawyers and BEP operators and computer 
programmers
and tattoo artists-and you realize there's nothing that can't be 
done.  Just
work up your courage and figure it out.



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