# Homes for the Blind, what do you think?

Category: Let's talk

## Post 1 by ProudAFL-CIOLaborUnionGirl (Account disabled) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 13:40:37

What do you think about homes for the blind? There is one I know of called Friedman Place. Its a bunch of blind people that live in a building and have their own rooms with staff people that help them. I think they are good for people that need them, but I would never want to live in one.

## Post 2 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 13:44:05

That's crazy!
Then again, if they're paying for it, who am I to stand in their way? Sounds like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to me though.
And I hope we aren't paying for that shit. Seciton 8 housing is one thing, but an institution for the blind like that? Hello 19th-century, and, no thank you.

## Post 3 by Smiling Sunshine (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 14:13:02

Yep, I'm gunna have to agree with Leo on this one. I'm sure for some, they may need something like that for whatever reason. I think it's important for us to remember that blindness is simply a characteristic of a person who may have many other issues, whether they're health related, developmental delay related, etc. Some people just don't have what it takes to do the whole ra ra ree, overcoming blindness thing and that may have nothing what so ever to do with their blindness but more rather with their psychological make-up. Perhaps they need a place like this.
So long as we're not being forced into something like that, or even strongly encouraged to live in them, I'm ok with it for those who really need it. I don't particularly want to pay for it but then again, since I pay taxes, there's a whole crap-ton of stuf I pay for that I don't support.
As for myself personally, hell no, I wouldn't live in something like that. I'll take my little suburban sanctuary and keep it, thank you very much.

## Post 4 by bea (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 14:14:53

Went to the Mary Bryant Home in Illinois to see what it was. Those poor folks aren't only blind; they have multiple handicaps either bad health issues or mental retardation. There are only 2 of those homes in the U.S. as I understand it, both located here in Illinois.

## Post 5 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 14:25:07

So that explains things. I am far from oen of those ra ra ra people. Live and let live, I say.
But this sounds like an explanation. Again, on initial reading of post 1 I wasn't thinking the political independence thing, I was mainly thinking of poor McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Can't be helped, I guess, them types of places have that sort of a reputation.

## Post 6 by Jack Off Jill (why the hell am I posting in the first place?) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 14:30:02

I can understand about people living in those homes who don't have family either willing or just plainly don't have family to take care of them. By people I mean people as bea said in her post, with multiple disabilities. I'd never live in one myself, of course because I much rather be independent. But I can see where these homes come in use.

## Post 7 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 15:03:54

Yeah that's what I was thinking of too. I've never heard of a place where they keep people who are blind solely, not for the purpose of training, but as a sort of nursing home or group home simply for the Blind. Who knows.

## Post 8 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 15:05:46

I'd rather be taken outside and shot.

## Post 9 by Smiling Sunshine (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 15:08:24

My husband is our city's ADA coordinator and he has to field calls from citizens. He got one a while back from a lady who was hugely pissed off because there aren't apartment complexes or homes specifically for the blind. She got even more pissed off when he said that he himself was an independent man who was blind and lived as head of our household. Of course she then went on a tangent about all us racest white people so perhaps she was a few fries short of the proverbial happy meal.

## Post 10 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 15:11:46

Yeah, all of the fries.

## Post 11 by Jack Off Jill (why the hell am I posting in the first place?) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 15:21:34

Wow how awful domestic Goddess.

## Post 12 by chelslicious (like it or not, I'm gonna say what I mean. all the time.) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 16:24:28

I'd never live in one of these, personally, but I understand people with other disabilities may need to.

## Post 13 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 17:00:42

Providing the home is a good place and provides the correct services, I will pay taxes for them.
They need to be monitored, but other then that I agree with them as well.

## Post 14 by Vegaspipistrelle (Generic Zoner) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 17:04:19

Well, I think different circumstances call for specific measures. I have met blind people who choose not to do anything for themselves and always have the volunteers at the local adult daycare do it for them.
Someone told me a about a community for the blind in the former east Germany, but I can't seem to find information corroborating what I've heard. It was some sort of factory town. I don't have a name, but it would be interesting to find out more about it if it existed.

## Post 15 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 19:18:22

ok, what the hell is up with all these mentionings of Friedman Place lately? Seriously, this is like the fifth time I've heard about it in a week. this is getting beyond weird, honestly.

## Post 16 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 20:23:59

Definitely not somewhere I'd want to be. I'm even a bit wary of schools for the blind and colleges for the blind. They certainly have their uses, but because I've been mainstreamed all my life, I can't imagine doing anything else.

## Post 17 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 20:41:49

When I looked at this topic, first thing I thought was, "Those still exist? Thought for sure they went out with forced sterilization and the tin cup and pencils."

## Post 18 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Thursday, 18-Apr-2013 21:03:47

At the post before the last one, where are there actually still colleges for the blind? Certainly not in the US, at least I don't think so. I know there's the Royal Institute or whatever it's called in England, but then again, from what I understand, what they call college is more like what we call trade school, and uni would be like our colleges and universities. Am I right? And, if so, the Royal Institute isn't really a place of higher learning so much as it's there to pick up a trade of some kind.

## Post 19 by hi5 (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Friday, 19-Apr-2013 6:36:09

There's an apartment building in New York City for blind people under hud. They live independently no nurses or anything like that and the rent is of course subsidised unless you have enough to pay the market value, but why pay $1200 for a bed bug ridden, roach and rat infested hole? Anyway the first floor has free services and facilities for blind people whether you live there or not such as a small library and radio station, reading services, computer, yoga, fitness art classes and more. It also has a snack stand and they hire blind teens for summer and after school work and blind adults to supervise them. Its in the middle of chelsea and even more is at their fingertips. The braille and talking book library, a movie theater that provides description, a zillian restaurants some that even have braille menues, even the mega bus that I take when I visit and much, much more, all within walking distance! The building itself and the residents are a complete eyesore. They get all kinds of hate mail about blind people not knowing how to dress themselves and abusing their guide dogs (not just normal healthy corrections either. Some of them smack them in their heads). Take away the segrigation, the bad maintenance and I'd say it wouldn't be such a bad place to live.

## Post 20 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Friday, 19-Apr-2013 14:11:17

Last post: Interesting, never heard of that. But yes if the blind were to congregate then it makes sense that as a group there would be hate targeted towards tht direction, one reason I have maintained a low profile that way in real life. Congregate if one wants, I say, but be defense-ready for challengers.
All so-called minority types of situations are accused of taking advantage of the system, or are accused of not doing enough, not just us. Only since we're not a race or an ethnic thing, the congregating doesn't really happen, so unlike the black kids or other colors / groups, we might be individual targets but not targeted as a group too often.
And yet, if they issued this sort of a hate mail or probably vandalism / graffiti situation against a different group people would call race card, but in our situation, like your previous post, well, it's deemed relatively acceptable, or at worst tolerable.
What you probably don't see is, I bet that building gets a new face on every once in awhile, on account of graffiti and the like, based on the hate mail you said they get. People are often genuinely afraid of other groups coming together because they're afraid of some sort of compromise to their own individual stakeholdings and resources. I more try and look at the situation as a nature or animalistic situation and so try and deal with it like that, the way you might a pack of dogs sniffing out a cat or something. Ideology and all of that is just a cover.

## Post 21 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Friday, 19-Apr-2013 21:36:22

The only one I know of, the royal national college, is in Harriferd I think.

## Post 22 by write away (The Zone's Blunt Object) on Friday, 19-Apr-2013 21:47:06

That sucks about the blind complex in new york city. I think that's doing us a disservice as blind people, to have such a place in one of the largest cities in America. What kind of image do people get of blind people if they see these people or live near them? What kind of stereotypes do they retain about the rest of us because of those sloppy dressers and dog abusers?
And if a home is indeed needed for those who are blind and disabled otherwise, it shouldnt' be called a home for the blind, but a home for the multihandicapped.
A home for the blind is just wrong. it's a crutch that some lazy or fearful blind folks would use, those who don't have another disability of course. Blind people without additional disabilities do not need any additional mollycoddling. Period. End of story.

## Post 23 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Saturday, 20-Apr-2013 9:23:02

I cry bullshit on the claims about the sloppy situation. I've been blind as long as I've been alive, and been the target of exaggerated claims since childhood. Accidentally stick a hand in what turns out to be a plate of food on the ground next to you at a childhood picnic, and get accused of an attempted food theft. Come inside after working on a cantankerous pool filtration system in Florida, and have the.nosy neighbor comment that the blind can't see the "stains" (chemical smears) on the shirt. Meanwhile that poor senseless swamp rat would be hard pressed to address a similar mechanical situation, let alone come away spotless and clean. Or leave a spill site to get a mop and bucket, only to be accused of spill site abandonment. In all cases, these types render us guilty until proven innocent, and would not be convinced by sound reasoning, the archenemy of the porn we call ideology.

## Post 24 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Saturday, 20-Apr-2013 11:36:16

The word should be asylum, not home.

## Post 25 by BryanP22 (Novice theriminist) on Sunday, 21-Apr-2013 14:12:29

They're coming to take us away, ha-haaa! LOL.

## Post 26 by forereel (Just posting.) on Sunday, 21-Apr-2013 14:47:06

Not me. I'll pretend to see and.... Lol

## Post 27 by BryanP22 (Novice theriminist) on Sunday, 21-Apr-2013 17:58:58

That was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this topic.

## Post 28 by ProudAFL-CIOLaborUnionGirl (Account disabled) on Sunday, 21-Apr-2013 18:11:35

I think maybe they work for some people, but I think its pretty sad if you have to live in a place just for blind people or any disability for that matter. They might be good for young adults just getting out away from their parents though, but I would never live in one.

## Post 29 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 21-Apr-2013 18:55:01

The fact that they exist doesn't sadden me as much, as the fact that most of the people who end up in them are most likely not the ones to make that decision. It's the parents, family members, etc. who were at a point in charge of making sed decisions in the name of that person, and for whatever reason could no longer take care of them so they had to find a place for the person to stay. And to that person who goes to stay there, it probably just seems like a way of life, like it's meant to happen. It's probably something that happens less nowadays, but it's kind of like child labor. It's still out there. Plus, there may also be other situations and reasons that we don't know ourselves.

## Post 30 by Real Pimps Use Dial Up (Stop, drop, and belly rolls) on Monday, 22-Apr-2013 18:51:45

(points to write aways comment)
All that I wanted to say is in that post, if you are in need of such a living situation, than clearly lack of vision is not your only problem...

## Post 31 by chelslicious (like it or not, I'm gonna say what I mean. all the time.) on Monday, 22-Apr-2013 19:35:59

I have a friend who lives in a group home, and blindness isn't his only problem. there's no way he'd be able to live on his own, and be responsible for managing his own place, so as I said, for those who need them, it's great that they exist.

## Post 32 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 22-Apr-2013 20:26:54

Yes. The fact that they exist is not what can bothersome. What is, is sometimes there are people who end up working for them that shouldn't be. They turn out to be abusive to the residents, and even at times they get away with it. It's kind of like the foster care system. There are some heartless bastards who end up as a part of it, but the mear existence isn't what's bad. It's the people.

## Post 33 by chelslicious (like it or not, I'm gonna say what I mean. all the time.) on Monday, 22-Apr-2013 20:35:34

that's anywhere you go, though. it isn't specific to group homes, nursing homes, or what have you.