# Disability as a Cultural Experience

Category: Language and Culture

## Post 1 by GuitarGuy (Veteran Zoner) on Thursday, 22-May-2014 14:53:03

Okay, as blindies we live in a "sighted world." As people with disabilities, we navigate through and interact with an "able-bodied world."
Our experiences, beliefs, and values SOMETIMES (I capitalized that BTW), differ from sighties or able-bodied people. Some people view this as a negative thing, like a barrier between us and them, or an obstacle to overcome. I wonder if living life as a blind person in a sighted world is like living in a foreign culture?
Let's face it, we must find ways to assimilate with the world around us or be left out. We assimilate by making daily tasks accessible for us. We know that our world is only made accessible when an advocate speaks up (whether that be ourselves or someone else). If we looked at disabled people as one demographic group, it would be the largest minority group in society. What say you?

## Post 2 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 22-May-2014 18:09:31

Yeah, sometimes it can feel like living in a foreign world, but usually it doesn't to me. The one thing is this. We may be the largest minority group out there, (disabled people in general, not blind people specifically), but as far as able-bodied society goes, I personally think we're the least cared about, and the least publicized. I don't say that in a spirit of whining, simply what I believe to be the truth. Various racial or ethnic groups get all kinds of press, and everyone cares when they get upset. One of those minority groups says jump, and society generally says how high? But when things aren't accessible for us, whether that's blind, wheelchair, etc, and we have to push and push and push to get anything done. That's the part that frustrates me most often. This is the kind of thing I think about when situations arise, like my recent experience with my job being inaccessible and my former employer not giving a crap, though you can bet if someone felt they were being treated differently on the basis of race or any other category, this company would have done anything necessary to remedy the situation. But not so with accessibility. However, unless I'm running up against it directly, I don't always think about this kind of thing in my day-to-day life. It is, however, why I believe advocacy is important, however one chooses to do it: whether just your own personal self-advocacy, or joining an organization of and/or for disabled people, etc.

## Post 3 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 22-May-2014 18:45:13

Alicia is absotively posolutely correct on this one.
Diversity does not mean disabled people. You will find people discriminate against disabilities as much in the Ivy League Halls of the Left, as they do in the Hallowed Fallowed Halls of the Right.
They will talk about transphobia, homophobia, sexism, and so on. What about people having a phobia about folks with disabilities? I'm not whining either, but sorry kiddos of both a religious or a leftist persuasion, you lost street cred from me on this account decades ago and continue to do so.
We have sensitivity training this, harassment that for when people overhear a conversation meant for someone else, and yet a disabled person is supposed to shut up and take it or open mouth and educate when people are being demeaning towards us and our families. To the former I generally shut up me wallet to said people and go elsewhere, and to the latter, I am not a educator I would fail the class far too often and am terrible with giving explanations, so.
But I don't really get the 'sighted world' 'able-bodied world', etc. Nobody says 'white world' 'men's world' (well they used to say that in the 70s but ...)
Anyhow, we are also our worst enemy because we promote this idea that no disabled person should have any mannerism or idiosyncracy that could possibly offend someone in any way, or maybe cause trauma to a fruit fly somewhere. Again, to the rationally objective, this results in their having lost enormous cred.
Truth be told, disability doesn't have the sex appeal that gender and racial issues do. Who wouldn't want to do something for a woman, for instance. And everyone likes to hear from people from somewhere else. It's all rather shallow, actually, this notion we have of what we call diversity and interest groups.
And there is hierarchy among the disabilities too. Wheelchair people have a bit more public acceptance whereas the blind, people say they would rather kill themselves than be blind.
One guy on a bus said to me once he wished he was blind, because of all the help he could get and free stuff. Now this was before 9/11 and people's sensitivity to this kinda thing, but, I popped out me trusty jackknife and said, 'C'mere and I'll be a brother and help you out.'
A lot of people laughed and said touche. But, you know, many of the blind activists would have me sit there all stuffed and mounted with a painted on smile like an obedient sheep. To that I quote Pink Floyde:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green he leadeth me the silent waters by
With bright knives he releaseth my soul
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
He converteth me to lamb cutlets
For lo, he hath great power and great hunger
Obviously I would never actually pop out the dude's eyes. But while someone could do this as a black or other minority, respond to an asinine remark, we are expected to be as the above poem describes. And I are simply not one of these, and never have been. Perhaps got me into trouble in my youth, but has also saved me ass more often than not.

## Post 4 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 23-May-2014 15:54:49

Lmfao, Leo! That response to the guy on the bus is awesome! I love it! Couldn't get away with that today, but still great!

## Post 5 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 23-May-2014 20:33:09

I also am not into this blind world sighted world thing. I must have missed the memo I guess, because ever since I was a little guy I thought there was just the one planet, namely Earth, and we all share it. When I go out to be among other sighted people, there's just a door on my house, no transdimensional warp field. And, assimilation? Really? Sorry, I'm an individual, not a borg, and frankly, I do not look to or look up to sighted people as some kind of ideal to live up to or as people to try to aspire to or impress or otherwise see as greater than I am. This is because I do not believe that the word normal means the ultimate, the absolute apex of who or what a person ought to be. Normal is a default setting, it is being utterly bland, not too bright, being a herd animal who never questions anything, it's being utterly undistinguished, it's the key of C major on your keyboard. I do not look up to sighted people and I don't want to be like them. They seem very scared and miserable and they hate and/or fear difference of any kind. Now, this is going to be a shocker to some of y'all but we as blind people as well as disabled people are, in fact, different merely for existing. You can cut out every mannerism, be a super-achiever, be as outgoing as a used car salesman, and still, most people are going to be scared shitless of you and be scared shitless to hypothetically become you one day. You will find some who will get it and see you as people and you'll find most who will be very content to see you as alien just so they can keep their world view in order. If you want to chip away at something, stop eliminating our own difference or at least covering it up and start attacking the idea that difference is wrong. Shame I don't have a solution for that though.

## Post 6 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Friday, 23-May-2014 20:37:58

Words of wisdom, sir.

## Post 7 by Binary solo (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Sunday, 25-May-2014 23:36:22

I do agree on many of the things that have been said here. That said talking about sighted people as one group of similarly minded people is exactly the same fault we are so quick to accuse the sighted off having, namely refusing to acknowledge the diversity of people. Sighted people are a very large portion of the world's population and as such a very diverse group. Some of them are closed minded idiots but many of them are not.

## Post 8 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Monday, 26-May-2014 10:58:26

And most nonconformists are also sighted. This is more a discussion about sheeple versus
free thought.

## Post 9 by tough sweetheart (Generic Zoner) on Monday, 26-May-2014 14:52:55

Agree with Godzilla all the way. Binary I can see your perspective but in this case post 5 sums it up pretty well. There are different types of people in the world and that is why he did not say all.

## Post 10 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 26-May-2014 17:01:02

Yeah, we can not make the generalization that this is a sighted world, or that this is a world for smart people, or that this is a world that is more fit to a specific group of people as opposed to another and that other group is just shit out of luck. Along with the previous poster's statement I will add that culturally speaking, the world is divided. As compared to other parts of the world, blind people in the United States have it easy compared to other parts of the world. Think of the areas of the world, or the religious groups that look at blindness as a curse or something terrible. This is much more rare here, but if you haven't heard of this happening try and find it online. I'm sure there are articles and such about the things that people from other parts of the world have gone through. I have heard accounts firsthand from people in other countries who were forced to accept narrow minded beliefs like blind people must depend on other people to survive. And that's putting it modestly. So if you think you have it hard, just think of what these people are being put through, and realize that this is a way of life to them because they never experienced anything outside of that type of life.
Likewise, I don't want to make it seem like I'm saying we don't have issues from people here and that we have it good all the time. The reactions that you experience from people daily could be because of a number of factors. Most people don't interact with blind people regularly, and it can be shocking, fearsome, amazing, etc. when they come across you. Everybody is different. The truth is, you are left with no choice but to deal with what comes at you. You can either take it like a grain of salt, get upset and be miserable with the way things are, or be indifferent depending on the situation that arises. This is one of those things that depends heavily on you as a person and your outlook on things.