[Nfbf-l] Sight is Required
craig kiser
sckiser55 at earthlink.net
Sun Jun 26 22:20:09 UTC 2011
Matt, Kenneth Jernigan once said to me back in 1968 that he was
asked what he would be willing to pay to become sighted. He
said, after thinking about it, that he thought he would probably
be willing to pay about $5000 to have sight. Remember, this was
in 1968, so in today's money it might be as much as $1,000 to
$20,000. What he was saying is that sight is valuable, but not
priceless. At the time, he was probably earning about $30,000
per year. If he were sighted, would he have greater earning
capacity? Probably not. He loved his job and was at the top of
his field with recognition nationwide, including a Presidential
Citation.
I've often thought about what he said to me and tried to answer
the question myself. I've come to realize that sight hasn't held
me back financially or in self-satisfaction. I realized that I'm
prone to be lazy. In school, I only did what I had to for a
passing grade. If I hadn't lost my sight, I probably would have
continued to just work enough to get by. However, being blind I
had to work harder to get by. After a hile, I was able to
overcome my inate laziness. Would that have happened if I hadn't
become blind? I
can't say for certain, but there wouldn't have been the same need
to work harder. In his book The Adversity Advantage Erik
Weihenmayer talks about how adversity, including having a
disability motivates us to do more.
Kenneth Jernigan once gave a speech about how everyone has some
disability-too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, left handed
or needing glasses. How we deal with our disability has more to
do with success and self esteem than the disability itself.
Spending our lives waiting for a miracle cure for height, weight
or sight is a far greater waste of time than watching television
or social networking on a computer. In my case, I've had a
successful career as an attorney, as Deputy Comptroller of
Florida and as Director of the Division of Blind Services-all as
a blind person. I've fished, hiked, camped and climbed
mountains-again, all as a blind person. I have thoroughly
enjoyed every job I've had These were the same goals in life I
had before becoming blind at age 20. I can honestly say that
blindness did not hold me back in any way.
Would I like to be able to see? Of course. I would also like
to be better looking, taller and stronger. Does that mean I'm
willing to spend myself into bankrupsy on cosmetic surgery, body
building or surgery to make me taller? No, it isn't worth it to
me. More and more, I wish I were younger. Will I spend my life
searching for the Fountain of Youth?
No, I'm too busy living. What I'm saying is, yes, we should
support research into sight restoration, but not to the exclusion
of efforts to educate the public about blindness and the myths of
blindness. As Kenneth Jernigan and I both concluded, we need to
put our desire for sight into proper perspective.
----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Roberts <blindbiker at yahoo.com
To: Nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:13:43 -0400
Subject: [Nfbf-l] Sight is Required
I have been doing a lot of soul searching. Sadly I have come up
with a realization that will be foreign to most of you, but feel
I should share it anyway.
We can create all the artificial things we want to allow us to be
like everyone else, but it won't do it. Most things I ike to do
require sight, and there is no getting around it! The only way to
be able to fully enjoy my life is if I get full vision, or enough
to allow me to not appear blind. Blindness is the most feared
thing most people "see" and nothing we can do will change that!
Instead of worrying about a small aspect of society such as
driving, we need to focus on seeing.
That's my goal, to see! We will see ways eye conditions can be
reversed. It may not happen tomorrow, but it will happen. When
mine is reversed, I'll be able to enjoy all the things which are
closed off to me right now. I don't choose to live my life as a
blind person. Why? All blind people do is sit home and live on
the phone and computer or watch TV all day. Very few of us are
working, and are relying on the government to support us. That's
not the kind of life I choose to live!
Before you tell me I'm not fully adjusted to my disability, I'd
ask you are you fully adjusted? You never fully adjust to not
being able to do things you once did or want to do. Anyone who
tells you they are fully adjusted to being blind is not telling
the truth.
I can't predict exactly when , but in a few years, when eye
conditions are being reversed, I hope you'll take advantage it
this. A few cases of blindness have been reversed. It can
openly get better!
Matt Roberts blindbiker at yahoo.com
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