[stylist] Low expectations of the blind; RE: New Book, blindness on TV

Sat Feb 15 17:36:21 UTC 2014

Hi Robert,
I was wondering when you'd chime in. Glad to hear we've lost our #1 status
as most feared condition. The thing I keep thinking of though is that when
we tell the sighted public that the biggest problem is public ignorance,
they interpret it in a very benign way. My impression is that they give me
one of those sappy smiles and either say or think, "Oh that's so sweet." It
seems to me that they view it as something we say that shows how brave we
are. They can't imagine that their well-ordered and basically good society
provides more of an obstacle than learning Braille or mobility or, God
forbid, living with the knowledge that we will never see the faces of our
loved ones. They know that those are the real difficulties, and they can't
face the reality of how much the social factors are holding us back.

The truth of the matter is that it is the biggest problem we face, and that
it is a huge problem.
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Robert Leslie
Newman
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 11:22 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: [stylist] Low expectations of the blind;RE: New Book, blindness on
TV

Hi you all, this has been an interesting conversation:

Here is another generalization that many around the world have developed
over the eons: Blindness is the most God awful, feared physical condition
that mankind can experience.

I had read and heard this forever, from the mouths of people on the street,
to what I've learned in a variety of college classes..though, over the past
couple of decades blindness has been pushed down to third place. Guess what
has eclipsed being blind as the most feared? Aids and cancer. And hey, I can
believe that these two physical conditions are far worse...after all, either
one of these two monster conditions can kill you!!! (Though, there are some
who feel that blindness is a living death. And yeah, if you allow it to
rule! And this is where the NFB has done the world a great service...as in
we have developed a philosophy, built a framework of alternative techniques,
and influenced the making of a wide variety of tools that in
combination...will allow most of us to reduce the effects of blindness, down
to  a level whereby most of us can say with an honesty level of 100%, 100%,
that the loss of sight is not a major impediment to living a successful and
happy life. No...the true problem we face is more the ignorance and the lack
of information about the human potential to successfully live with blindness
is the toughest impediment to being blind. MMM, go figure? [Being blind
isn't the problem, living in a world of ignorance is.]

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Applebutter
Hill
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 9:10 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

Lynda,
At 70, I should certainly hope you (or anyone) would have developed a
healthy level of skepticism. *grin*

I know that black people face prejudice and low expectations, but I think
the fact that white people enslaved them to actually do something, makes
that low level quite a bit higher than for blind people. We aren't deemed
capable of planting a field, keeping up a household or even caring for
children -- as the incident in the Midwest a few years ago shoed, when a
child was removed shortly after birth from its blind parents.

Our traditional purpose is to give the average person something they can
look at and say, "Well, I may have problems, but at least I'm not blind." We
also have traditionally provided them with opportunities to do good deeds.
Expecting us to no longer be helpless fundamentally changes how they see
themselves.

Your post reminds me of a story I heard from a blind woman who was accepted
to grad school. Her aunt was furious that she had stolen the position from
someone who could really benefit from it. The belief was that anything that
a blind person accomplished was just another example of the kindness of
strangers in elevating a pitiful person and helping them feel better about
themselves. BTW, she has a doctorate in law. I heard many similar stories
when I was writing about Braille literacy -- they weren't on topic at the
time, and I had hoped to gather some of the things people told me into
articles about some of these more subtle things that are going on to this
day, but it never happened.
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 6:31 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

Donna, yes, the expectations for blind people are very low.  I believe that
is why blind people as a group are the highest educated of all people with
disabilities, yet, they are the lowest employed people of all the groups.
This says it all - we are not expected to be smart, able, or willing to
succeed at anything more than very low levels.
This is my own thoughts on it and I recognize I am quite skeptical about it
- but heck, I am 70 years old now, so I guess I can blame it on my age.
I think we have to work so far beyond what other people have to do to find
success at so many things. And, this is also true of black people.  I do not
know this from a distance, or from reading books on the subject which of
course I do all the time. I know it personally, because my son is black and
his family is black - they are very highly educated professionals - she a
physician, he a psychologist.  At every level, black people still face very
low expectations and racism - and I think blind people are very close to the
same in the general view of the ST"STUPID public. I agree with you. They are
ver STUPID, but we won't tell them that, just yet. lol

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 3:34 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

> Lynda,
> Like you've noticed with your sister and the key, sighted people will
> not accept anything we do as anything other than a fluke or a miracle.
> Even faced with a clear description of the usefulness of other senses,
> they somehow still have to brush anything aside that conflicts with
> what they kno ... Blindness is essentially insurmountable. I think of
> it as being similar to the days when a few nutheads were trying to
> explain to the human race that the world is not flat.
>
> Coincidentally, I just got an e-mail from a rehab counsellor in PA,
> who I reached out to on Linked In -- I offer them a free e-book
> version of my novel and explain why I think it has value for them and
> their clients. I mention the issue of dealing with low expectations.
> This man said that, as

> a
> person who used to work with BVI and now works with other
> disabilities, he believes that the issue of low expectations is much
> worse for those with vision loss. I have always felt that way, but I
> don't have the credentials to say so. It meant a lot to me to hear
> that
from someone.
>
> You hit on the reason behind my removing all references to blindness
> from my online book descriptions; it's a taboo. Just imagine someone
> getting my book and not knowing that the heroine is blind and has a
> guide dog. They will have to read through at least a page before it
> becomes clear to them. Some will be angry with me, because I didn't
> warn them. Some, I hope, will have gotten hooked by something else in
> the story and read it anyway. It's fiction, so they don't have to
> change their stupid belief systems, but I hope they will have a bit of
> an adjustment  in spite of themselves.
> Donna
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda
> Lambert
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 9:18 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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