[stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 81, Issue 3

Wed Jan 5 20:19:18 UTC 2011

Donna,

Free associating a bit here:  There have always been wounded i.e. 
disabled veterans. But, with so many more wounded, with such horrific 
injuries, surviving from Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with the fact 
that so many of them are so young,maybe the wall between able bodied and 
disabled will finally start to crumble. These kids are going to need 
serious care and serious societal change for many years to come. Of 
course, it's already been ten years. How much longer, how many more 
ordinary kids turned into desperately disabled citizens is it going to 
take before the able bodied get the  message that, to paraphrase Pogo, 
they have met the disabled and they are us?

Solidarity and Peace,
Kerry

On 1/4/2011 8:56 PM, Donna Hill wrote:
> 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
>
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> www.twitter.com/dewhill
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> 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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