Category: Let's talk
There’s something I don’t understand. It’s simple when you think about it. We, as blind people try to fit into a world that it’s main focus is sight. The blind are always stereotyped as knowledgeable, or to be looked up to. Many times we are just stared at in silent awe. This kind of thing bothers some blind people who are in the constant pursuit of normality. What an idea, let’s try to fit a square peg in a round hole, right? So what do we do, we preach inclusion, and first person language. Where does that get us? Well it brings us to the political correctness issues around the water cooler at the office. “Did you watch the game, oh I mean did you listen to the game.” Stuff like that can be a downer. Talk about conflict of interest, how many of you have been asked the question “when you went blind did your senses become more acute?” You give your answer as you see it and then get the question, or rather the statement “If you were born blind would you find it easier?” I say that is more a statement because you cannot answer that. I say start our own culture, lets be like the deaf. I can remember being in school and the ASL posters were everywhere! It was like back in ww2 when America dropped their propaganda all over the streets. Why doen’t we have the Braille alphabet posters everywhere is it some kind of secret. No one even batted an eye when the deaf miss America was crowned. Please tell others to read this and please respond even if it is to bash the hell out of this.
It's like most sighties ask when I tell them about screen readers like Jaws or Window-eyes they're like do you need a mik to use those programs, ya must have to if they're voice activated. And I'm like no, get it right, you're totally confused. Jaws for windows and window-eyes aren't voice recognition packages, they're screen reading packages. One sighted person I know honestly thought I had a movie on my windows desktop, and they're like that's a clasic film, and I'm like no, click the jaws icon, and you'll see what you get, as jfw comes up talking, and I lonch audiogalaxy, and they had nothing to say at all after that.
you are very, very, very right. Ask any of your sighted friends what a TTY is. They may not be able to tell you what TTY stands for, however they will probabily say it's for the deaf. My hope, is that people may not understand what JAWS, or Window eyes are, but they at least know that the blind people need this to function and it goes with computers.
It's like when I first started as a windos user, the majority of the sighted people I know were like it must be impossible to use windos if you can't use a mouse, and I'm like that's why we have software like jfw or windo-eyes, as I was cruising the start menu, and navigating a webpage, all the wile eloquence is talking, and I'm like we can use the same windos system just as effectivly as any sighted person can, maybe even better in some cases. Just to give yall an idea, I was a dos user since 1983 up untill summer 2001. That's when I migrated to windos, and within the first hour of the training workshop I attended, I was flying circles around everyone elce in the room!
First I want to clarify that I am sighted and I will, not intentonally at least, try to defend the sighted point of view. All I want to do is clarify some issues.
You are right when you say that the world is very much based on sight and because of that many sighted people are extremely afraid of loosing their sight. When they meet a blind person these fears tend to surface along with many, many questions.
Lets say you are afraid of flying and you meet a person who survived a plane crash wouldn't you be curious how they survived? when did the event happen and how it changed their lives after they experienced that event?
Many sighted people see a blind person as someone who has experienced their orst fear and survived to live on. When they meet a blind person they ask 'stupid' questions only because they want to know how it is like to go throught such a devastating event and have the strength to go on living.
They are so engaged in their own fear and curiocity that they forget that the erson they are questioning is not a 'lab rat' it's a real person with their own thougts, fears, needs, wishes. A person who might even not share their fear of blindness. At least not any more, but facing other more important issues as that of fitting in and dealing with a sighted society that puts such high value on being sighted.
It is also true that many people are ignorant. They know what they have experienced and not much beyond that. Every day life is a very time consuming thing and many of us blind, sighted, deaf or whatever do not tend to think far beyond the boundaries of our everyday lives.
You questioned how many would knw what a TTY is? Did you know that is a toll-free relay service that allows a TTY user 'talk' to a non TTY user? How do I know? because I have friends who are deaf. Do you know how many pills an HIV positive person has to take in their daily 'cocktail' of pills? You probably would if you were using such a cocktail or knew someone close to you who did.
What I am saying is that people who don't know someone who is blind do not know what JAWS is or what window-eyes do. It is normal. Like most of you probably don't know much of the devices a quatroplegic uses to control their computer. Yeap, a quatroplegic can and do use computers operated by software that allows them to do anything any of you do with their computers.
The bottom line is, pleae don't be angry with those who ask questions cause they want to know they care, they admit they don't know by asking -even stupid questions- and want to learn as slow as that learning process might be.
The ones you should be angry at are the ones who don't ask, who don't care, who don't give a damn to learn but are happy and satisfied with the stereotypes and use them accordingly. Those are the dangerous one, those who discriminate because they live in true ingnorance and are not brave enough to make fools of themselves by asking even stupid qiestions as long as they ask.
Thank you for reading this.
I am not upset with anyone, I just want the blind people to unify much like the deaf have to promote a more independant place for people to live. When I read the other boards about the problems facing vi community my thoughts dwell on the fact that people don't know. Sure there are people who want to know and just don't ask however I think we need to take a more aggressive approach to the problems. You make a lot of interesting points and the rest I will need to consider further. Thanks for posting.
You are welcome. The problem with what you call as uniting is that many blind people do not see themselves the same as other blind people and I agree with that. Being blind is not a common personality trait that can unify people. On the other hand what deaf people use to unify as a group is culture. Sharing a common language (American Sign Language) also helps deaf people share common culture and the way they bring their children up. Deafness is a hereditary gene more than it is with blindness. It is very uncommon to have a family where both parents and children are blind which is much more common with deafness. Also, I thought that the National Federation of the Blind is such a group that unites blind people for common causes and also educating the sighted world about blindness and the lives of the blind. What does the NFB doesn't have that the group you would like to form might have instead?
I agree with Star. Just cause I am blind does not mean I need to unite. Why would I do that? I'm just like everyone else, except I can see. I'd rather unite with the sited people.
My personal opinion, and this is not directed towards anyone, but.. I think a lot of blind people are sheltered which in turn causes them to be socially lacking. I've seen it, especially in a lot of blind schools. Which is not to say that all blind people from blind schools are socially inept, because I've met many successful people from those schools, and I've als o seen students from the schools get turned to the bottle for one reason or another. Instead of uniting, I think we should try and fit in with the sighted people, and yes it can be done. I've done it to a point. I go out with the guys from school and I can make a lot of references to TV shows, or things that are visual, and they question how I can do it, but after a while I impress people with the fact that I know what's going on.
Just a thought:
Liam
Hello all,
I'll jump in here. I can agree with the points Star made. Education is very important. If you are not familiar with people with disabilities, it's normal you know nothing about it. So please don't grow impatient if they ask you what JAWS is, because if you explain it to them, they'll know.
As for participating in the sighted world or not, I think it's a choice every blind person should make for theirselves. I've met some blind people who actually think all the sighted are bad and mean. A very narrow minded view if you ask me. It's part of the personality how you behave, not part of the disability.
When I say unify I am refering to a culture like the deaf has. Education and reeducation is what I want to see happening. I can remember the posters and comersal promoting ASL and being in school and watching the happyness of people learning ASL. I could see once and I don't remember seeing the braille alphabet anywhere. To answer your question about the NFB and what they are lacking my only responce is that for as long as they have been around, I had the NFB's main head quartors in my back yard. I lived in Rockville Maryland, and the NFB is located in Baltimore maryland. I knew nothing about them until I went blind. Whereas, I had the Maryland School for the Deaf also in my backyard. They are located in Frederick maryland and I knew that before I left the sixth grade. Star, you are right as far as there olny being one or two people in an entire family being blind. I was that one person in my family, when it happened to me my family did not know where to turn for help for me. That, is the main reason I think that as a culture the vi should become a community. I have no reason not to want to be a part of the sighted community however, I think there are too few movie theaters offering discription, and not enough play houses offering description. Some resturants that I have been to didn't even know that they could get their menus done n braille, and the list goes on and on. If the vi came together and had a culture, we could not only try to fit in but become a functioning part of the sighted world.
I reread my post and when I say functioning, I mean more then just being able to well, do some things that sighted people do. I mean actually doing. I don't know about most of you, but when I am out with sighted people, strangers and friends, I feel the weight of those who don't know. I want to say sometimes stop looking at me. At the same time I do presentations at locial schools to make not only blindness but all disabilitys, a quote normal unquote thing. you should see the eyes of the children when I get up there and begin talking, by the end the children who stayed the farthest away from me when entering the room are now coming up to me and shaking my hand an even hugging me. Children of fifth and sixth grade and even as young as third grade, come to me and say how someone in their families suffer with one of the disabilities i spoke about. I ask the children, did that person tell you they were suffering? If I could see I would guess the children were staring at me blank faced. That is what I want the Vi community to dispell, we don't suffer we forge ahead and this is how. thanks for reading and posting all of you.
I know what you mean by a community for the Deaf. Members of that community see theirselves as a culture and not as persons with a disability. It seems sign language is an essential aspect to create that culture.
A Blind culture may have advantages as well. I'm not against such a culture, but the danger is that you might be very unfamiliar with the sighted world and vice versa they might be very unfamiliar with the blind. And that won't bring the 'sighted world' towards acceptance and understanding. Not meant to insult you, dragonfire, just a though.
hey i just want to say a lot of sited people act the way they do because they dont understand and because they dont have a clue about blindness
Yeah, Metallicagirl I think that is what Dragonfire is trying to say. I think some may have took his post the wrong. As most of you have made some interesting points, I think you are missing the point he is try8ing to make. To sum it up we need to educate the public more. How is anyone sighted going to know about the different things blind go through if we don't tell them. I was sighted until three years and I to had no idea some of things we as blind people are able to do! It wasn't until one year after being blind that I learned of jaws and all the fun gadgets we have and need. The information on this stuff just wasn't out there. I had to do a lot of research to even find a agency that knew how to get a hold of this things. Even then, I still got mislead on the information. So I agree with dragonfire, we need to educate the public more and if we as blind people don't unite, then who is going to spread this kind of information?
Hi everyone:
i think that the ultimate goal here is balance. Sure, its nice to establish a sense of community among blind people, as often our blindness does unify us, whether we'd like to admit or not. We may not share common personality trates, but we do share a common disability, and often blind people (or people with any disability or characteristic for that matter) seek comfort and happiness in being able to relate to the next one. That having been said, it is also important to keep the sighted people in the world informed and educated about blindness and visual impairements. We need not limmit ourselves to our microcosm, there is much that we can learn from the sighted people in the world. And as Star said, even teh stupidest question posted to us by sighed people are often asked out of genuine curiosity as opposed to blunt disrespect or rudeness. The responsibility is on us to keep them informed and educated, while successfully integrating ourselves in teh sighted world.
-Sky
sighted people think blind persons are great challenged musicians and singers. Well it is if you have talent for it. I have no trubble with this, but sometimes they think we can hear 4 times better than them. Noooooooo! we just use other sences to know what is around us. If for example you are blind today and recover your sight tomorrow, you provably will discoverother things. We just pay close atention to our ears. Or, sometimes, people thinks we blind are "super humans". Just because we cannot see and do the same things they do doesn't n mean we are super people, or have other super perseptions.
also, it butters or anoys me when... well, I've been playing music, and I've been in some conserts and presentations. I don't know why people say "sing, sing, sing!" they think we are slaves or something, and they look at you like an stranje bug, or an alien in a box, they just thing we are stranje creatures. Ok... I talked too much now. Just ignore it, and make they notice about that. If they anoy you or someting, just ignore it, or try to kindly explain it to them. I remember, and will always remember this. It made me laugh.
When I moved to a city in my original country (Colombia), we were trying to find a school. When I came to one, the director said "this school... you understand right? this school don't work with blind people, is a school for normal kids." I "suddenly" or if not, I wanted to stand up from my chair, which was beside my mom. I sat in the left side. She now asked me "why did you stand up from your chair?" I just smiled. She now understood. "It will be a great idea to accept this child in the school!. Also, I think your brother can go into a special needs center (because he is mental retarded)" she done it with just the sentence avobe the parenthesis... and then, she gave me her MSN adress, she is really happy when she talks with me. I changed her life. I was pretty good at that school, I did two years, 6th grade and 7th grade in less than two years! I am now going to nine grade.
OK... thats an experience of my life. I just am telling this because I want you to know it, and that you can change the way people thinks about blidnness.
Just to teach you a small lesson...
OK... I now wrote really really much. See you
I'm in agreement with both Liam and star here. The key here is educating the sighted world on how we live our lives and do the things we do. Sure, the questions they have may seem stupid, but they obviously want to know the answers, otherwise they wouldn't bother asking in the first place. The blind comunity does need to unite, but as Star pointed out, we do not share the same bonds that those of the deaf comunity do. I think a better word for what dragon fire is describing is a subculture, meaning a division of the overall culture. Liam is right about the many blind people who come from blind schools being sheltered, and that's exactly why I refused to leave a public school. Having lots of people that share your disability as friends is a good thing, but at the same time, if u do not hang out with ppl that do not have your disability, u lose the ability to relate to them in any way, shape, or form. And to have these other people coming up to u and asking questions and u just either getting pissed at their questioning or giving them some off the wall answer, is worse than not answering at all. Y? Because people love to form stereotypes based on their mimimal amounts of experience. U can't blame them for doing that, since that's how the human brain naturally functions. Just bare this in mind the next time u start to get impatient with someone asking about your disability. The next person that has your disability that this person asking u a question encounters, that person will pull the experience they had with u in to their brain and start making assumptions of the other disabled person based on this. Any of u psych majors will know this as the social identification theory. Sorry for the long poste!
well, those are valid points. we are normal, just we cannot see and require some help, but not so much. We have to do as many things as posible. Midstakes are part of learning. Sometimes blind also think themselves they are helpless. (this is not directed to anybody) that is just because they haven't try anything.
I do not disagree with that we as blind people could be a little more unified. It surely would not hurt. However I don't have the time to start the movement so here's how I survive. Yess, I get all of the usual questions but so what! they don't know. I answer them. Doing that maybe doesn't change the world but those who take the time to listen to my answers don't repeat the questions and we all, sighted and blind go out drinking, chasing after women, hanging out on Sundays during football season, taking the train to work, putting up with the same stresses on our job, coming back home and doing the same stuff all over again. Those that choose not to get in on that live in their own misery listening to all of the stories about the fun we have. Those that do ask those pain in the ass blind questions often follow them up with much more substantive questions like how can I help in my experience anyway.
hey dude, this is the wrong board...
just joking. Yup, we are blind, not handycapped