Category: Let's talk
greetings as a person who is both totally blind and one who grew up in America it has always been my curiosity how other blind people in other countries perceive their life in terms of quality and perseption from a society's point of view, do you feel that you have equal opportunities in the work place. and 2 would be interested in your perseption of we americans in terms of do blind people have the "american dream like regular folk who want to say make a better life for themselves so they flock too "the land of opportunity just some food for thought
I recently heard a program on NPR where they were comparing the status of people born into poverty in the States vs the rest of the world. And, may be not surprisingly, they found that people who are born into poor families in the U.S. have much less of a chance at becoming successful in life than people born into similar situations in Europe for instance, the reason being that the European education system is more government funded and the notion of better private schools and universities isn't as strong there. So, the American dream and the land of opportunity are very nice concept but in reality the U.S. lives up to neither of these promises. That being said though, if you work hard and you do well here you get some very nice opportunities. High education jobs or jobs with a lot of responsibility pay relatively higher here than in Europe so once you got there you are pretty much set. However it's the getting there that is the difficult process and it's made even ore difficult here. In Europe (well I cn only speak for the Nordic countries and the UK) people get more government assistance in terms of buying or borrowing adaptive equipment e.g. and the access to the basic education system is easier in many ways so I think being blind in Europe is, over-all, a better experience than fighting blindness here. In addition public transportation systems are much more advanced and widely used in Europe, giving the blind person a chance to be much more independent than here, where everyone drives a car and everyone is expected to drive a car.
So, lots of pros and cons, I came here after growing up in Europe and I like a lot of tings about both places. I'm not sure if I'm exactly living the American dream though, I got a nice house and have a decently paid job and enjoy the weather and the summer here, people are nice and helpful and I definitely have no source of complaints, but I also see things that were done much better in Europe.
Cheers
-B
Golden Voice..Hmminteresting question well I would say that Britian is still dragging her heels as regards equality and inclusion,and the attitude of many who should know better doesn't help.The RNIB ect shout loudly about their great results in high profile discrimination campaigns but at the grass roots level they are not much use..It is not unknown for a recently blinded person to only recieve help, in the form of a white cane through the post, and nothing else...However there is an upside many blind/vi people are belligerent where their rights are concerned and determined to enjoy themselves...I teach blind/vi children to climb and play piano ect and if their determination and drive is anything to go by, then I'd say yes, we are every bit as driven, maybe more so, as we are not expected to succeed.However there are far too many who are content to sit about yelling I cant! So you have both sides and neither can agree..so we don't do ourselves any favours...smile
hey folks thanks okay to addd to this thread i have heard about vacation homes forr the blind in britain and like discounted or free train travel in australia any comments
I can't really compare australia to anywhere else, as I've not lived anywhere else, and only know what I have discovered from the people I've met on line. Australia is very much into the idea of intergration, we have very few schools for the blind, there is only 1 I can think of at the moment, and I'm not even sure that it is a proper school. We have fantastic public transport services, in that we get free train buss tram and ferry travel in all capital cities. Provided that the transport company is a govermnet one, and not privately owned. Also we can travel with an attendent if necessary, and they also travel free. If you are part of the public school system when your growing up, then provided you have a good Support teacher, you will have some pretty top of the range technology to work with. Although the down side is you have to give it back when your finished hgh school, and getting more when you get to university or out in the world force is a different ball game entirely. IT's not impossible though, you just have to be good at self advocasy, and be a little diplomatic and you'll usualy get it in the end. The australian attitude seems to be very much equality, and to a large extent that attitude pays off and the majority of blind people I know here are either in ufll time study, or are working. But there is the down side of australia beeing so big and having such a small population, that services are still hard to cme by if your out in the country, and for thoughs people I imagine it would be extremely difficult.
something I did notice though when I was in the UK a couple of years ago though. Over there, it would seem that the government is all ofr giving the blind person every chance possible at success and all that. but I can't help wondering if this is really the result of thier eferts. . the majority of blind/vi people I know in the UK aren't working, at leat not in full time well payed jobs. A large number of them live in government housing, and all of them bar 1 was sent to a school for the blind. But yet most of them seem to be happy enough with this arangement. but because of it beeing the norm to send your blind/vi child to a school for the blind. I cant help thinking that it closes the world off very much for the individual. We don't live in a blind world, it's a sited one. so we need to learn how to live in it. But this is going a little off topic. I guess what I'm saying is that while services in these countries are good for blind/vi people, the over all attitudes of the general public still needs a little work.
In Britain there is a free travel scheme for blind/vi travellers they are exempt from paying fares on all forms of public transport right to Carlise..just over the Scottish border..