Category: Let's talk
i joined a msn group a few days agao! it all seemed to be working well until the manager of the group contacted me!
she told me i could not post messages to this group anymore becaus i was blind.
that's it! i'm finished with msn for good. what are your thorts?
It sounds like yet another discrimination problem. If you really wanted to, you can report it and have some attention brought to it. She can not reject you from the group, just because you are blind. As I said, this is discrimination. You shouldn't tolerate it. Remember, you have your rights.
What! that is complete discrimination. Stargate, I'd go very very public with this, it's unforgiveable.
it's 100% wrong, look at me, I'm blind, and I am typing, and chatting, and you do it as well. so why'd they kick you out, isn't it your decision to join, therefor your decision to leave?
so what do you all think i should do now?
As you may know, I had a similar problem, but not with MSN. I had the impression that the people in Spain sent me back because I am blind. I don't understand though, why you can not post messages! I mean - as long as it's working with jaws and as long as you don't post only topics related to blind people, she should not complain, or you could think she's a racist or something.
Stargate Your best bet is to get in touch with the Disability Rights Commission, who have a great track record on issues of upholding disabled rights, use the Disability Discrimination Act to full effect.
Yeah, I agree. Everyone has the right to post there, no matter if they'Re disabled or not. I think this is a good idea.
OK, let me get this straight. So you were told you could not post to that group merely for being blind? You did not behave in a way that was abusive or threatening to the other members? I want to know why this person thought it was OK to ban you from the group.
That's a good question, Labyrinth.
i'm not banned yet!
the idea was no other members were blind so the manager thort i'd be not wrelcome there!
well, fuck them! you're alowed there and you shouldn't leave
Stargate, as I said earlier, this is discrimination, and if you really want to do something about it, you should contact the Americans With Disabilities Act, if you are in the US. Discrimination is not tolerable. We have just as much right to be on a web site, or a part of a group, just as much as someone who can se does.
I see a couple of options. There is of course the legal response; IE ADA for US citizens and so on...Or I'm not sure how this manager thing works with MSN, is there someone over her or someone who is allowing her to manage the group? If so you could send a copy of the note she sent you directly to them and see if that helps. That could go as far as to get the group band...You could also send her message public to the entire group; since you haven't been banned yet. Or you could get a bunch of blind people who are willing to join the group and post as well as yourself and see what she does? Kinda make it even footing?
OK, so apparently this manager believes you can only feel welcome or comfortable around other blind people. Tell her although you understand she means well, her thinking is wrong and you can talk to and relate to sighted people just as easily as blind ones. She's also probably assuming what the other members might think which is wrong. Ask her to let you post anyhow and see if the members accept you or reject you.
Although I think it would be best to talk to the manager and explain what's going on and that you're quite capible of making or hating friends online, I would have lost it and started cussing her out, I don't think like that. But yeah, talk to him/her and explain that you're going to post whether you're welcome or not but thanks for the,,, concern/? now, if he/she tries to ban you, I'd be royally pissed.
thanks for all your help.
i went online this morning to the group now aparently the manager thinks i'm going to spam. out of all the members i do feel left out
but i'll take all your advice and let you know
I'm with labyrinth on this one, at least try and be civilized about it, getting into an argument over it will only cause you to be banned from the group anyway because you'll be branded a trouble maker, if he/she doesn't ban you for being blind, then go online, be civil and don't hold your blindness over the others, just act like everyone else.
As to your legal rights, I hate to burst your bubble, but unfortunately, over the internet, you don't have any. The internet is not governed by disability discrimination law, websites are not, for instance, legally obliged to be accessible to all users etc, internet laws only apply in the country where the site is hosted, for instance the law that says all users on here need to be 13 is a US law, if the zone was hosted from another country that law would not apply, so legally you sadly have no case, these communities are generally private communities, and sadly, they can allow or disallow whoever they want.
True, wasn't thinking of that, but she thinks your going to spam just because your blind and ignored her request?
This seems to be a case of a person who thinks they're doing the right thing and being nice and wanting to protect your feelings. But unless all the members had some kind of discussion in the past where they said they could not stand blind people, she's working only with what she assumes will happen.
This sounds horribly ludicrous! How does this mod know you are blind anyway? Well it seems you have received much good advice here. I'd add that perhaps it might be better to not let on you are blind in the future. It's personal choice really but that is one of the great beauties of the net; anonimity. Good luck in working this one out.
I think it's a bunch bullshit and 100% wrong that people turn you down cuz your blind, but I think everyone gave excellent advice to you, and hope things work out for you stargate, I know how rejection feels, I was rejected from CrimeStoppers back in high school cuz they thought I wouldn't be able to handle it so...yeah thats all for me
Why is it, that sighted people can go on blind sites, but blind people aren't really wanted on sighted sites? Well, I've been on a few sighted sites, gcn,excite.com, paltalk, and I was treated better in some rooms than others, but so far no one has told me I couldn't stay or participate because I'm blind. As for hiding the fact we are blind, we shouldn't have to do that just because some sighted people think we don't fit in to their little world. And what's more, it's not always an easy thing to hide, especially if it's a sighted oriented subject, or if someone says, see that icon on the screen right next to the blue rectangle? or whatever. Don't misunderstand me, I've made some sighted friends, talked to a few very nice people on paltalk, but audio tips use to be a site mainly for the blind, but now that's been taken out, and instead of saying voice chat for the blind or visually impaired, the description of the site has nothing to do with blindness, and now just says, free voice chat, and as a result, sighted people have taken it over. Maybe it's because I have the soft bone disease as well, and can't walk without a walker, but I don't have hardly any topics that aren't blind oriented in some way.
wonderwoman
ok, one thing that annoys me intensely is this wish by blind people to have some things labelled for blind people. Let's get one thing straight - the world is not about blind and sighted. If there were websites out there that said "for sighted people only", then the blind would be up in arms about it, so why is that that sites should be labelled as being for blind people. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but the reality is, the majority of the world is sighted, and it's up to those of us who aren't to fit in with them, not the other way around. Of course there will be people out there with prejudices, but that's the reality of life, and if you are unable to talk about other topics that aren't blind related, then I'm sorry to say that you can't blame people for not wanting to know, because reality is that the majority of people don't want to know. I mean it's one thing telling people that you are blind, but having to talk about it all the time will only create the impression that you don't deal with it very well.
In short, if you are unable to relate to sighted people, then don't complain if they are unable to relate to you.
Coming back to the point about sites being labeled for blind people or whatever, I think the main reason for this seems to be that sites designed to be used with a screen reader are obviously more accessible for blind people, such as this one, that's why unfortunately sites like these get labelled in some way.
I'm not complaining anymore than you are complaining.
wonderwoman
I think the reason why some people might want a sight specifically for the blind is because we do have certain resources and information that pertains to us only, plus some of us might want to seek out people similar to us who happen to be blind.
that's true, and most of us have things in common that we just don't have in common with other sighted people. The vipconduit sight for instance, says it's there to serve the blind, but anyone can join. I use to go in a room on paltalk, that was run by twins. They were wonderful, at least one was, and she always made sure people identified themselves when they spoke to me, and if anyone said anything to me in text, if I wasn't arrowing up and down the screen reading it, she'd always tell me. It would be wonderful if all sighted places were like that.
wonderwoman
I think the a "blind" site is one the we can work with. I don't label site as for the blind, but as how well the work for the blind. Get my meaning?
Yeah... I forgot to mention earlier that I was also rejected from a job at the mall where i worked in Austin at a mexican/hamburger restaurant. On account I was visually imapired and the person in charge of both facilities thought I'd get hurt in the kitchen. Well I was prepared for that type work through my work experience at the soup kitchen called Critas in Austin that I volunteered at and was trained under blindfold at the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center.