[stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

Fri Feb 14 22:56:10 UTC 2014

So true Donna.
You know, you have "bad eye days" and I have them as well. I do not think it 
has anything to do with the strain you experienced as a child - for I did 
not have any experiences with sight loss till I was 64 years old. Now, I 
have days when I have a lot of pain, and any kind of overworking or 
overdoing things can bring them on. I think it is just a physical condition 
that some of us have with our sight loss.  I have had it explained to me 
that our eyes are like a camera that is constantly trying to bring things 
into focus, but our eyes don't have the ability to focus and the eyes just 
keep on working at it endlessly.  I also have very sensitive light issues, 
and if I don't wear the right kind/color of shades in different light 
conditions, then I am really in trouble with pain.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Applebutter Hill" <applebutterhill at gmail.com>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

> Bridgit
> It is one of those ironies of life. They would probably say that it's
> important to develop the other senses in your sighted son since they can
> augment vision, not replace it. You mention studies saying that sight is 
> not
> all that accurate, and that fascinates me. In Lynda's story about trying 
> to
> open a locked door, for instance, it occurred to me that the only value 
> that
> sight could possibly have is to find the keyhole to begin with. Her sister
> was able to find the keyhole and insert the key; beyond that, sight wasn't
> going to do her any good. Lynda found the keyhole without site, so we can
> conclude that although sight can benefit in unlocking a door by allowing
> someone to find the keyhole, it isn't the only way to find it, and it
> doesn't do a lick of good once you're there. In fact, if her sister was
> watching the key or lock as she was turning it, she was probably doing
> herself more harm than good. Not only was there no useful visual 
> information
> available, but she was distracting herself from the nonvisual information
> that she might have employed in the task.
>
> This is an issue that really rankles me, because I had some vision as a
> child. I was legally blind from birth, but since I could (with great 
> effort)
> technically see some things, I was pushed into trying to do things with
> sight. When I tried to use my hands, I was chastised. I got the message 
> very
> early that it wasn't OK to count on other senses. It was better to have
> migraines and not get your work done than to succumb to using Braille; it
> was better to walk into things and fall than to use a white cane.
>
> I still have a problem where the muscles in my neck and eyes get all 
> screwed
> up because using them was so habituated. It's been 43 years since I 
> learned
> Braille, got a guide dog and stopped wearing prescription glasses. Even 
> with
> my eyes closed, it's difficult to avoid eye strain, especially when I'm
> concentrating on something difficult or stressful.
> Donna
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit
> Pollpeter
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 1:13 PM
> To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
> It's amazing to people, blind and sighted, that one can do most tasks 
> using
> other senses. We are such a sight-oriented society that very few seem to
> understand that learning can happen with the other senses.
> Studies have shown sight isn't always an accurate sense, yet the world
> insists we can't survive without it, and that there's no way for a person 
> to
> be safe and successful without it. So when they encounter blind people who
> do live safe and successful lives, the only way they can process it is 
> that
> we are amazing and have spidey senses or magical abilities coded into our
> DNA. That's what bothers me more than anything, this idea that only the
> blind can do things with their other senses.
> That it's only instinctual to blind people. Like I was born with some
> special DNA to help me be blind. But I wasn't always blind, and I didn't
> automatically know how to do things nonvisually once I lost sight. I had 
> to
> learn and develop certain skills. For me, using my other senses wasn't
> always instinctual, I didn't tap into some hidden ability once I couldn't
> see. Some things, I'm still learning. But the world doesn't see this,
> doesn't know it, and when we try to explain it, they don't seem to
> comprehend. How many times do you hear people say, "I couldn't do that."
> Yet, anyone can. They just don't process it this way.
>
> Having a small child, I'm constantly told to stimulate all his senses, to
> play with toys designed to help develop the other senses. We are suppose 
> to
> encourage sensory learning, but I wonder why. Most adults are astounded 
> that
> I do things nonvisually, like I'm accomplishing impossible feats. Yet 
> isn't
> this sensory learning suppose to develop and encourage similar nonvisual
> skills in my child? Why do this when as we grow we rely only on our sight?
> How, in one breath, can you tell me to develop my son's senses, but in the
> next breath be amazed that I do things nonvisually? The world is full of
> contradictions that, pardon the pun, the world is blind too.
>
> Bridgit
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda 
> Lambert
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 8:18 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
>
> It's a Friday morning snow storm here - a beautiful day outside. Time to 
> get
> some coffee and begin my day, but first I wanted to drop a not on your
> discussion which is so interesting to me.
>
> I think Bridgit really hit it - unless a sighted person has had a lot of
>
> time together with a blind person, they are really clueless and they could
> care less about knowing positive things.  They still live with the 
> mentality
> of the question they have asked themselves and each other for years, 
> "Would
> you rather lose your sight, or your hearing?".  To sighted people losing
>
> sight or hearing is the worst case scenario they can think of and they are
> not about to look any closer into either of the two life-challenges.
> And,
> as Henrietta, experienced, even close family members really don't 
> understand
> how we do things. Not really.  They watch us, but we are a mystery to them
> even though they have been around us many times over the years.
> Occasionally there is some little revelation that they grasp, but I think 
> it
> is very rare.
>
> A couple years ago I went on a short 5 hour trip with my sister.  When we
> arrived at our cousin's home, we had instructions to locate her house key
> and let ourselves in because they were away on vacation and we would have
> their home to stay in.  My sister retrieved the key, as instructed.  She
>
> began to try to open the door.  She fiddled around for quite awhile with 
> the
> key and the lock in the door - yet, she could not get it open. She tried
>
> turning the key around, tried going faster, slower, but no luck.
> Finally, I
> quietly said to her, "Give me the key and let me see what I can do."
> She
> snickered and said "Oh, sure, you are going to open the door that you 
> can't
> even see!"  I took the key from her, felt the key, and inserted it into 
> the
> door's lock slowly. Then, I put my left had on the door, just above the
> lock, so I could FEEL any movement the lock would make.  And, I leaned 
> very
> close to the lock, and I listened.  Very quickly, as I slowly turned the
>
> key, I felt the vibration of it moving, and I heard the click as it was
> disengaged.  I smiled, and handed over the key to her, and said, "The door
> is open."  She loudly proclaimed, "I cannot believe it! A blind person 
> could
> open the door and I couldn't."
>
> I smiled at her and said, "You could not open the door because you were
> using only your eyes. I opened it because I could feel it and hear it
> moving."  To her it was something very weird that I had actually opened up
> the door that she had struggled with and could not get the job done.  I
> think in her mind it was a lucky accident even though I explained why it
>
> happened.  Most sighted people do not think we can do much of anything, no
> matter what we achieve - honestly, that is what I think. So, for most
> sighted people to read about a blind hero in a fictional account, I say,
>
> "Dream on!"  I think the interest level for a sighted person to even read 
> a
> book through is really a stretch unless that person is really on a mission
> to learn more about blindness and diversity and inclusion. Maybe in a
> literature course, where it would be included in the required reading, but
> on their own, I think the chances are quite slim.  But, then, as I write
>
> this I am optimistic enough to think I see a "movie" that could be made 
> that
> would be exciting to them. Who knows? I sure don't.  Why is it that we are
> constantly told we are "amazing" when we do things that are high level
> achievements for anyone at all?  Why is it that some people droll all over
> us about how inspiring we are and how tragic it is that we lost our sight?
> I just smile at them and say, "NO, not really! It is just who I am and who 
> I
> have always been."  That usually leaves them speechless and the 
> conversation
> ends.  Write on! Lynda
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Applebutter Hill" <applebutterhill at gmail.com>
> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
>
>> Great story!
>> Donna
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> Henrietta Brewer
>> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 7:32 PM
>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>>
>> You guys make me laugh. You're right, Sighted people can't imagine the
>> blind
>> being the hero. At Christmas, when the power was out in our town, I
> had
>> twenty five or thirty people here most days. We had a generator so we
> had
>> a
>> few lights but not in more then half the house.
>>
>> I didn't think much of it while everyone was here. Though I was tired
>> of doing all the fetching because no one could find anything in the
>> dark. When everyone left and I was cleaning house, I saw how difficult
>
>> it was for our guests. They had only a flashlight in the bathroom and
>> their bedroom and nothing was where it should be.
>>
>> they all mention now, that they will call me in any black out. But it
>> took reality to get even family to realize that a blind person can be
>> helpful in a black out. lol Henrietta On Feb 13, 2014, at 12:10 AM,
>> Bridgit Pollpeter
>> wrote:
>>
>>> When I wrote a short mystery story for a detective fiction class I
>>> took at university, I made my main character blind, which is the
>>> first time I did this. Anyway, at one point, the house the two main
>>> characters are sleeping in goes up in flames, and the blind character
>
>>> navigates them out of the house. Using his other senses, he makes it
>>> out the front door. I did do some research before writing the scene,
>>> but mostly based it off my own knowledge of what a blind person might
>
>>> do in that particular situation. When critiqueing our stories, a
>>> classmate said, to my face, it wasn't believeable that a blind person
>
>>> could do that and I should change that scene. Another classmate, to
>>> my surprise, said who better than a blind person to navigate through
>>> a situation where sight wouldn't be much help because of the smoke,
>>> and that by smell and feeling heat, surely a blind person would be
>>> able to navigate just as well, if not better, than a sighted person.
>>> After considering this point, the first person half-heartedly agreed.
>
>>> My point being that I agree with Chris that even though these stories
>
>>> are being written by blind people, most of the sighted world can't,
>>> or won't, buy a blind person doing the things we make them do, living
>
>>> as independent, active, vital people.
>>>
>>> Bridgit
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris
>>> Kuell
>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 7:47 AM
>>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>>>
>>>
>>> Donna,
>>>
>>> I'm generally skeptical by nature, but I really hope they do a good
>>> job with this show. It's exactly what we've been talking about
>>> here--an opportunity to crush the stupid stereotypes and let the
>>> public see a guy who is interesting, and just happens to be blind. If
>
>>> it does a good job, and if the public enjoys it, it could open the
>>> door to more blind characters in the
>>>
>>> arts. Personally, I feel certain that the reason books like yours and
>
>>> mine aren't getting read by agents and traditional publishers is
>>> because we have blind protagonists. An agent, or more likely, an
>>> agent's assistant reads my query and thinks--a blind protagonist?
>>> Nobody is going to buy that. It's too outside mainstream experience.
>>>
>>> Hopefully, the times, they are a changing.
>>>
>>> chris
>>>
>>>
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