[nfbmi-talk] TV Report About Pedestrian Death In Lansing

[Kane Brolin]

On 3/19/15, Fred Wurtzel via nfbmi-talk <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Tonight at 6 and 11 channel 6 will have a report on the tragic accident
> which killed Charles Glime, a blind Business Enterprise Operator [in Lansing, Michigan].  The man
> was walking and was hit by a woman driving a Jeep.  Not much is known about
> the circumstances.  The coverage I have read seems to blame the victim.

I have two serious problems with such coverage, if the victim really
is being blamed.

(1)  A car is a lot faster and more deadly than a pedestrian.  And on
a night when a lot of drivers out there on the road probably are
impaired--a university town on St. Patrick's Night, hello!!--do you
really think that it's probable that the blind man is at fault?  Like
it or not, I think many sighted folks unfamiliar with blindness and
blind people's adaptive skills would take the attitude that a blind
guy has no business walking alone on a busy street anyway.  Hence, it
wouldn't be terribly hard to spin it in the media that this is an
unfortunate but tragic event that could have been avoided had this
blind guy just used some common sense and either stayed home or ridden
with somebody.

(2)  Liability.  Yes, I understand that a blind vendor can become
affluent after many years of running a successful vending operation.
But if the victim was young and single, and if the driver of the Jeep
has money or a business and family of her own?  One would be naíve to
think that she didn't get lawyered up five minutes after this
accident.  They won't be saying anything about this for some
time--until either criminal charges or the likelihood of a wrongful
death civil suit has been assessed.

This is a nasty situation all around, and we in the Federation need to
weigh in.  Even if we don't know the exact circumstances surrounding
Mr. Glime's death, we need to make sure the media throughout Michigan
understand what our position is on the rights and skills of adult
blind persons--including the right to travel independently without
facing an inordinate risk of dying.

Has anyone in the Michigan affiliate thought of contacting the media
to offer a balanced perspective on this issue in a broad sense?

Respectfully,

Kane Brolin