[blindlaw] CLE agenda language that is negative toward the blind

Tue Sep 26 23:48:39 CDT 2006

I cannot resist being pedantic, but I have often wondered how wheelchair
users feel about the term "wheelchair-bound."  I admit I have never asked
such an individual this question.
Ray

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark BurningHawk" <stone_troll at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 7:28 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] CLE agenda language that is negative toward the
blind

> No contest, Everett.  I freely admit that the statement I have made is
> loaded with personal opinion and weighted decidedly in favor of my
> experience.  Someone who is wheelchair-bound, or deaf, for example, might
> give you a totally other perspective and tell you I'm full of sewage.
> However, the one bit of slightly more objective evidence I have to back up
> my opinion with is the statements and actions of others who are, in my
> opinion, profoundly more disabled than I am; people in wheelchairs have
said
> things to me like, "Well I hope you get better soon, I'd hate to be..."
> awkward silence or, a favorite of mine, "well at least I can still ..."
> trailing off into more awkward silence.  A woman with COMPLIANT that I
dated
> briefly caused me to dump he because she "took charge," of every situation
> and, when I called her on it, said, "well because obviously I can see what
> I'm doing, so ..."  The general consensus of people I have met,disabled or
> not, is that "I'd rather lose any other sense or be disabled in any other
> way than being blind."  Again, if you want a paper citing statistics or
some
> evidence of popular pseudo-mythological stance, take a Gallop poll. *grin*
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Everett Zufelt" <everett at zufelt.ca>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 6:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] CLE agenda language that is negative toward the
> blind
>
>
> > Mark,
> >
> > This may be a bit off topic, but can you please give some type of
evidence
> > (outside of personal experience) that might convince me that blindness
> > actually gets the most stigma of all disabilities?  I feel that your
> > statements here are a very good reflection of how you feel and what you
> > have
> > experienced in your life and the lives of others, but that they may be
> > subject to the heuristic of availability.
> >
> > Everett
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mark BurningHawk" <stone_troll at sbcglobal.net>
> > To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 9:01 AM
> > Subject: Re: [blindlaw] CLE agenda language that is negative toward the
> > blind
> >
> >
> >> This ties in with the sad fact that blindness gets the most stigma of
all
> >> the "disabilities," with the possible exception of cognitive
> >> disabilities;
> >> retardation, extreme learning disability/CP, that sort of thing.  I
play
> >> a
> >> game with people that I end up in a teaching role with; Think of five
> >> expressions that use the word "blind."  Now, think of all the contexts
in
> >> which the word "blind," is used but does not mean "lacking in sight."
> >> "Flying blind," for example, not only means literally flying without
> >> being
> >> able to see where you're going, but it carries associations of
ignorance,
> >> willful disregard for reality, a sort of immature brattish bull-headed
> >> stupidity which becomes associated with the exp-ression, and more
> >> importantly the word "blind.  Blind also means hopeless, despairing,
> >> dead-end, dumb/stupid, etc.  Let's face it; the general consensus is
> >> "better
> >> dead than blind."  Well.  I have to go start training with my third
guide
> >> dog now, after retiring my second of nine years last night to go live
> >> with
> >> friends across the country; it's just part of the price I and other
blind
> >> people pay just to live "normal," lives like the sighted Jonses we keep
> >> up
> >> with.  *shrug* who's blind?
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Ashley, Kathy J" <Kathy.Ashley at fssa.in.gov>
> >> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> >> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:46 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] CLE agenda language that is negative toward the
> >> blind
> >>
> >>
> >>> I'm not an attorney, I do not play one on TV, nor did I stay all night
> >>> at a Holiday Inn Express, but I feel that this language is very
> >>> offensive and only under heavy sedation could I even put a positive
spin
> >>> on the wording.  Why not say:  I would rather be in a wheel chair than
> >>> see you walk away from me?  Or I would rather go deaf than to see you
> >>> walk away from me.  It is still demeaning and ugly.
> >>>
> >>> Kathy Ashley, MS, CRC
> >>> Program Director for Blind & VI Services
> >>> Vocational Rehabilitation Services
> >>> 1-800-545-7763
> >>> 317-232-1352
> >>> Fax: 317-232-6478
> >>>
> >>> PLEASE NOTE: Information contained in this email and/or attachment may
> >>> contain protected health, legally privileged, or otherwise
confidential
> >>> information intended only for the use of the individual(s) named
above.
> >>> If you, the reader of this message, are not the intended recipient,
you
> >>> are hereby notified that you may not further disseminate, distribute,
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If
> >>> you have received this email in error, please notify the sender
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> >>> On Behalf Of Noel Nightingale
> >>> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 4:11 PM
> >>> To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> >>> Subject: [blindlaw] CLE agenda language that is negative toward the
> >>> blind
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Blind law listers:
> >>>
> >>> I just ran across a family law CLE agenda for my local county bar
> >>> association that contains t following agenda topic:
> >>>
> >>> 2:15     I'd Rather Go Blind Than See You Walk Away From Me:  Stories
> >>> from the Relocation Trenches
> >>>
> >>> Panel discussion of recent problems in interpretation and enforcement
of
> >>> the Relocation Act
> >>>
> >>> Before I knee jerk react against this language, I'd like to hear what
> >>> you all think about the agenda item title stating that the presenters
> >>> would rather go blind than have a custodial parent relocate.  Perhaps
it
> >>> can be construed as a positive statement about being blind.  What do
you
> >>> think?
> >>>
> >>> Noel
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> >>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw
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> >>> blindlaw mailing list
> >>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> >>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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