[stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 81, Issue 3

Wed Jan 5 02:11:30 UTC 2011

I couldn't agree more with Donna.  However I also can't help but realize 
that many non-disabled students get pushed through the school system and 
graduate high school without the ability to fill out a job application. 
Many of these students are in some of the highest taxed areas of the country 
where most property taxes go to the school district.  I think the people of 
this country, disabled included, have to roll up their sleeves and pledge to 
give students an education that will carry them through a fulfilling life. 
Right now most of our tax dollars go towards teachers, their pay checks and 
their retirement plans.  At what point does serving a teacher's union that 
produces uneducated children run out of excuses?  In other words this 
country has to get back to knowing that children, each and everyone of them, 
is a crucial part of America's tomorrow.  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: <cosmoscat at earthlink.net>; "Writer's Division Mailing List" 
<stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Kerry Thompson" <kethompson1964 at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 8:56 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 81, Issue 3


> Hi Kerry,
> Thanks for the Damaris link. I know in high school, her teachers still 
> called her Damari. If I can find her, I'll use whatever spelling she uses. 
> If not, it'll stay Damari. Thanks for the liberating comments about using 
> whatever one I like.
>
> As far as Braille and literacy ... I think one of the understated issues 
> with Braille literacy is that society is undergoing a blurring of 
> standards for literacy in general, which is a shame. I really don't think 
> people get that audio learning isn't the same as Braille or print. When I 
> do radio interviews, I do often ask a sighted host how they would feel if 
> their child came home with the happy news that he/she no longer needed to 
> study reading, because the teacher thinks they're such a good listener. Of 
> course, it isn't OK for sighted children to just listen, when you put it 
> to them that way.
>
> As to your comments about the fact that literacy for all should be the 
> goal and we aren't second class ... I think that this is what Shawn was 
> talking about when he mentioned that we need to make blindness and how we 
> cope with it relevant to the general public. To most people, blind people 
> are not equal. I say this not merely out of experience and observation but 
> because it is what pollsters learn when they canvass non-disabled 
> Americans on their beliefs about people with disabilities. The report I 
> often cite from the early '90s says the general public views people with 
> disabilities as "fundamentally different from the rest of the population." 
> I don't think there's any other way to frame that other than by saying 
> that we are in the minds of our fellow Americans second class. It always 
> reminds me of the movie "Children of a Lesser God" which dealt 
> withdeafness.
>
> In order to get John & Jane Q. Public to understand the injustice of only 
> 10% of blind children being literate or over 70% of blind adults being 
> unemployed,  we have to first convince them that we are part of them, and 
> that there's no reason they have to carry us on their backs. All too often 
> the success stories of blind people are presented and viewed as isolated 
> instances of inspiring individuals who surmounted insurmountable obstacles 
> to get somewhere that can't really be expected of blind people in general. 
> The fact that others could achieve if they had the tools, training and the 
> attitude of these few isn't discussed. I think the public likes to have 
> the occasional blind hero to give them a warm and fuzzy feeling. There 
> wouldn't be as much of that, if we were expected to achieve like everyone 
> else.
>
> I think your points about working for equality like other minorities is 
> right on. It's a civil rights issue based on fear and prejudice. I don't 
> think the public gets that either. They think we are here to be taken care 
> of and to remind them of how good they have it because they can see.
> Donna
>
>
> Read Donna's articles on
> Suite 101:
> www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/donna_hill
> Ezine Articles:
> http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=D._W._Hill
> American Chronicle:
> www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885
>
> Connect with Donna on
> Twitter:
> www.twitter.com/dewhill
> LinkedIn:
> www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
> FaceBook:
> www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.
>
> Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
> cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
> Apple I-Tunes
> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374
>
> Check out the "Sound in Sight" CD project
> Donna is Head of Media Relations for the nonprofit
> Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind:
> www.padnfb.org
>
>
> On 1/4/2011 5:18 PM, Kerry Thompson wrote:
>> Hi friends,
>>
>> Donna, maybe the problem, the barrier, is the emphasis on "braille." The 
>> emphasis needs to be on "reading," however the individual approaches 
>> reading. It sticks in my mind that only ten per cent of blind children 
>> are taught to read braille, i.e. the method of reading appropriate to 
>> them. Only ten percent! How would society at large react if, say, only 
>> ten per cent of black children were taught to read, or ten per cent of 
>> Jewish children, or ten per cent of children from Idaho? It's a question 
>> of human rights. All American children should be taught to read. Someof 
>> them need an alternative method to print. So what? The method isn't (or 
>> shouldn't be) the issue. The issue should be literacy.
>>
>> Yes, I realize the above sounds naive and utopian. But, I truly believe 
>> it should be the goal. I mean, the phrase "separate but equal" comes to 
>> mind whenever I hear people talk about braille literacy. Literacy is the 
>> goal, full literacy of the entire U.S. population. For most that will 
>> mean print literacy, for some, braille literacy. But, the two really 
>> can't be separated. To read is to read, whether with the eyes or with the 
>> fingers. The false dichotomy of literacy and braille literacy needs to be 
>> removed, both in our own minds and in themind of John Q. Public.
>>
>> That reminds me. Did Congress ever do anything about the shameful lack of 
>> accessible textbooks for blind schoolchildren? Again, it seems to me the 
>> emphasis needs to be, not on the difference, books in braille, but on the 
>> colossal injustice ofany American schoolchild being denied access to 
>> schoolbooks. Again, how would it be if it were some other group being 
>> denied access to schooling or to the necessary books? It wouldn't wash. 
>> We have to present our needs the way Civil Rights and Women's Rights 
>> campaigners presented needs, not as special concessions or favors we're 
>> asking for, but as matters of right, of justice.
>>
>> There was a time when printed books were very rare and valuable. Now, you 
>> can pick up a mass market paperback for five or six bucks. Braille books 
>> are just the same. Now they are dear, but as demand grows with the 
>> increasing literacy of the blind population, prices will come down. 
>> That's simple demand and supply. As demand grows, supply also grows and 
>> prices fall. Again, we all, blind and sighted alike, have to stop 
>> regarding braille as a specialty item. It's no different from print.
>>
>> I donno. I just get so frustrated and angry at the conditions we have to 
>> accept, conditions no other minority group would put up with. We're not 
>> subhuman. We're citizens just like anybody else, and we should have the 
>> same rights and expectations...
>>
>> End of rant.
>>
>> Jim, so glad Lynda is on the mend, if slowly. Continuing prayers and 
>> heart thingies.
>>
>> Judith, For some reason, I always thought "thingy" was chiefly British. 
>> I've always liked it. Yes, it's a very useful word. It's strange about 
>> the pronunciation. Window-eyes pronounces the singular with the hard g 
>> sound but the plural with the soft g. Just one of those oddnesses we have 
>> to get used to, I guess.
>>
>> Judith, yeah, but it's a generic British just like the generic American. 
>> I imagine British JAWS users get just as frustrated with pronunciation as 
>> we do. And, how about the Canadians?
>>
>> Donna, I know there's a girl's name Damaris. The way I've heard it 
>> pronounced is with the stress on the second syllable. Here's the page 
>> from Behind the Name:
>>
>> http://www.behindthename.com/name/damaris
>>
>> Behind the Name does not have a listing for Damari. It sounds like a 
>> diminutive to me, probably for Damaris or possibly a nursery name derived 
>> from Rosemarie or Rosemary.
>>
>> The thing is, with a rare or even made up name, you can spell it any old 
>> way you like.
>>
>> Jim, it's funny you should think the same thing about damari and Damaris. 
>> Great minds...
>>
>> I'm not sure "hood" is out of date even now to mean hoodlum etc.
>>
>> Marion, what race was "hoodlum" supposed to be targeting? Sheesh! Now, I 
>> can see "hooligan" being construed as anti-Irish, maybe, but "hoodlum?"
>>
>> Solidarity and Peace,
>>
>> Kerry
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