[nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

[T. Joseph Carter]

David,

People still use the word in all its derogatory glory.  Others who are 
themselves somewhat unsavory use it as a term to refer to "their own kind" 
that is tolerated coming from one who is black.  The advances we have made 
in American society to end racism happened in spite of, not because of 
this.  The word simply should not be used by anybody.

What advances have we made exactly?  We just elected a man to the office 
of the president of the United States who happens to identify himself as 
black.  They voted for him in parts of the country where he'd likely have 
been beaten to death 150 years ago for having the audacity to learn how to 
read.  Today, he's getting ready to take on a position that many have 
described as leader of the free world.  That's true no matter what you 
think of his policies, record, tactics, or style.

Certainly racism is not dead, but it sure doesn't have much legitimacy 
anymore.

Disability discrimination, however, is still commonplace.  Dezman reminds 
us that sighted people believe in a hierarchy of vision, and those who do 
not act like they are more sighted are assumed to be able to do less.  I 
cannot describe the situation I am most familiar with right now, but it 
communicates clearly to me just how much we still need to accomplish.

Quibbling over language isn't going to get us there.

Joseph

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:34:10AM -0600, David Andrews wrote:
> Joseph:
>
> I understand what you are saying about politically correct o language.  
> It can be taken to far.  On the other hand, some change in language is 
> the first step in bringing about change.  For example, if we still used 
> the N word, African-Americans wouldn't have probably achieved much civil 
> rights wise.  People stopped using the word even though some of them 
> still probably thought of blacks in terms of the N word and all it 
> applies.  However, for most of us, eventually our actions and and 
> thoughts start to follow our words.
>
> Dave
>
> At 11:22 PM 11/15/2008, you wrote:
>> Harry, I object to the concept of political correctness outright.  It 
>> forces people to say things they do not mean and mean things they do  
>> not say.  Morally, that seems wrong to me. I endeavor to say exactly 
>> what I think.  Not everyone likes that.  And you know what?  That's  
>> fine.  In fact, sometimes I'm wrong.  Thing is, you've got to be 
>> willing to accept responsibility for being wrong now and then, or  
>> you'd best not say anything. Too often, politically correct speech is 
>> used as an excuse to have everything be so nebulous that anything you 
>> say can be interpreted any number of ways, none of which you can be 
>> held responsible for.  Down that road lies the girlie-men from Joe 
>> Orozco's history lesson.  *grin* Joseph On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 
>> 07:34:36PM -0800, Harry Hogue wrote: >Here's an interesting thought.  
>> We get all bent out of shape about the word "visually impaired," or any 
>> other kind of "politically correct "language, and insist that we call 
>> things the way they are, but yet we also insist that the techniques we 
>> use be called "alternative."Â  I understand and agree with that one, 
>> because "substitute techniques" does sound inferior, but I just think 
>> it's interesting how strict we are on our termonology. > > >--- On Sat, 
>> 11/15/08, Chris Westbrook <westbchris at gmail.com> wrote: > >From: Chris 
>> Westbrook <westbchris at gmail.com> >Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical 
>> Terminology >To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> >Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008, 8:10 PM > 
>> >Also, I don't think that just because you call yourself visually 
>> impaired >you are necessarily denying your blindness.  I will use an 
>> example with another >disability from my own life.  I am hearing 
>> impaired.  Notice I said hearing >impaired, not deaf.  I choose not to  
>> call myself deaf, because deafness >generally implies profound hearing 
>> loss, sign language, the inability to speak, >etc.  If any of you have 
>> been around me for a while, however, you no that I do >not deny my 
>> hearing loss.  I wear two hearing aids.  I also accept that certain 
>> >things are much harder if not impossible for me, such as street 
>> crossings and >socializing in crowded situations.  Why is it deemed OK 
>> for me to call myself >hearing impaired when it is not OK for a 
>> visually impaired individual to call >themselves visually impaired?  
>> after all, even if you are totally blind you are >visually impaired.  
>> The more I think about these things, the more I find myself >struggling 
>> with some of the stricter points of NFB philosophy. >----- Original  
>> Message ----- From: "T. Joseph Carter" ><carter.tjoseph at gmail.com> >To: 
>> "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
>> ><nabs-l at nfbnet.org> >Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 8:24 PM 
>> >Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology > > >> I think you are 
>> all getting too hung up on empty words.  The NFB >philosophy is about 
>> actions and attitudes. >> >> If you call me blind and mean by it that I 
>> am helpless, I will take >offense.  If you call me impaired and mean  
>> that I just can't see much but am >otherwise like anyone else, I'll 
>> accept your words as respectful. >> >> I can almost always tell the  
>> difference, and I bet you can too. >> >> Joseph >> >> On Wed, Nov 05, 
>> 2008 at 11:06:10PM +0000, Corbb O'Connor wrote: >>> I didn't write the 
>> subject line, but I am assuming that was a >blanket marketing e-mail. 
>> That is, it was meant to be forwarded around. Just as >we want to 
>> attract new members (as has been said by me and others), we >wouldn't 
>> want to push people toward the delete button after only reading the 
>> >subject line. Marketing, my friends, it's marketing. I agree with all 
>> of you >-- we in the Federation are blind, even those of us with some  
>> residual vision. >Let's not push people away from our great 
>> organization before they even know >who we are and why we use the words 
>> we do. I don't think we're >undermining ourselves or our philosophy -- 
>> we're trying to find others out >there who don't see as well as their 
>> peers (seniors, students, >and...well...everybody else) to show them 
>> our positive philosophy on blindness. >>> >>> ----- >>> Corbb O'Connor 
>> >>> studying at the National University of Ireland, Galway >>> >>> >>> 
>> >>> >>> On Nov 5, 2008, at 10:33 PM, Janice wrote: >>> >>> Hello Karen, 
>> Terri and Listers, >>> >>> Wow, Karen!! I must say, thanks for calling 
>> us, as the nabs board and >as >>> nabs members,  out on this very  
>> interesting point. I have recently >noticed >>> something like this 
>> also. I think that Terri's point can be a good >one. It >>> might be  
>> important for the Federation to use terminology such as >visually >>> 
>> impaired or low vision, to try to attract a larger facet of people. 
>> >These >>> people might be uncomfortable with their blindness, they 
>> might not >want to >>> identify as blind... so, we say- Hey you  
>> visually impaired person... >this >>> group is for you too! >>> Once we 
>> have their foot in the door so to speak, then >>> we can teach them  
>> about our philosophy and educate them in the fact >that we >>> are all 
>> blind individuals> We can then wow them into believing that > the  
>> visual hierarchy does not matter. Even if you >>> are legally blind,    
>> the key word is blind. One is not going to be >>> recognized as a 
>> legally visually impaired person, are they? >>> >>> However, I do 
>> wonder in certain instances where the lines get blurred >and if >>> we 
>> are sacrificing what we are as an organization to try to get these >new 
>> >>> individuals into our door. For example, not  to pick on one 
>> specific >>> facebook group, but I will use the 411 group, since it 
>> seems to be the >most >>> recent one and has sparked some debate. The 
>> salutation line- >"Attention >>> blind and visually impaired high 
>> school students!" This makes >some sense >>> according to Terri's 
>> argument. We want those who self identify as >visually >>> impaired to 
>> come to our group. Yet, why would we need to use the >terminology >>> 
>> visually impaired among ourselves and within our Federation family? >>> 
>> >>> Why would we use the words low vision, visually impaired, to refer  
>> to >other >>> Federationist? One such example I an talking about is the 
>> email >subject line >>> :"for the sake of ne, in which the group was  
>> actually announced >to the NABS >>> list. the official heading was 
>> something like- Blind and Visually >Impaired >>> Teen Group on 
>> Facebook. why not just use something like, "new >blindness >>> group of 
>> facebook! >>> ? I am definitely not trying to point fingers at any  
>> specific group or >person... I am really curious, because I have seen 
>> terms such as visually >impaired, low vision, and high partial , in our 
>> literature recently, also. I >>> am merely using the facebook post as 
>> the most recent and relevant >example. >>> Is this a new trend in 
>> Federation philosophy? or do we believe that >perhaps >>> trying to be 
>> all inclusive has caused us to become a little lax and >blur >>> the 
>> lines of philosophy? Are the philosophical boundaries of all blind >>> 
>> members being equal, thus united we stand and divided we fall, not as 
>> >solid >>> , and binding, now, as when I first joined the 
>> Federation...?> >>> >>> I really am confused and would love to hear the 
>> philosophers among us >debate >>> this observation. What are the 
>> effects of these happenings, to our >>> philosophy? Do we need to  
>> tighten our concepts about blindness and >what it >>> stands for within 
>> the Federation, or is inclusion the matter of >importance? >>> >>>  
>> Thoughtfully yours, >>> >>> Janice >>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Terri Rupp" ><terri.rupp at gmail.com> >>> To: "NABS list serve" 
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> >>> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:25 PM >>> 
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology >>> >>> >>>> Karen and  
>> all, >>>> The NFB is using different outlets to try to reach out to 
>> >nonmembers. >>>> Facebook is just one of them.  Although as you said,  
>> the >philosophy of the >>>> federation is based on the word "Blind", 
>> that word >"Blind" is  sometimes a >>>> negative things to those  
>> people struggling to deal or accept their >>>> blindness.  It was only 
>> until a few years ago that I was one of >them.  I >>>> didn't want to  
>> associate with anything that labeled me as >blind.  I felt >>>> ashamed 
>> to be blind and called myself "visually >impaired".  The acceptance 
>> >>>> of one's blindness is a grieving process that each person goes 
>> >through >>>> differently.  What we have to do is serve as positive 
>> blind role >models, >>>> and show that being blind is no different than 
>> being short.  It is >simply >>>> a >>>> characteristic.  Once we 
>> attract them to these groups, we can >promote NFB >>>> activities,  
>> scholarships, etc and reel them in with our >philosophy. >>>> >>>> 
>> Yours, >>>> Terri Rupp, President >>>> National Association of Blind  
>> Students >>>> >__________________________________ _____________ >nabs-l 
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