[Iabs-talk] Fw: Washington post Cartoon and Jordan in the news

[Patti Gregory-Chang]

I want to share this even though we are not a parents list.  She is so articulate in discussing the underlying prejudices.  


Patti Gregory-Chang
President, National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
pattichang at att.net
www.nfbofillinois.org
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carrie Gilmer 
To: 'Carlton Anne Cook Walker' ; 'Annee' ; 'Andy & Sally Thomas' ; amysnbaltimore at hotmail.com ; aspooner at blindinc.org ; allen.harris at dwx.com ; 'Cheadle, Barbara' ; 'martin greiser' ; 'Carol Castellano' ; bbpierce at pobox.com ; Barbara.Mathews at sce.com ; 'Bowman, Kristi' ; 'Beth Sturman' ; brkess at earthlink.net ; 'Ben Gaylord' ; 'Brian Peterson' ; 'Bonnie Lucas' ; bogdanus91 at gmail.com ; 'Carol Castellano' ; 'Clark, Lorelei' ; 'Chuk Hamilton' ; childrensmontessori at msn.com ; cas380 at psu.edu ; 'Denise Colton' ; 'Neubeck, Dawn' ; 'Deborah Kent Stein' ; dblair2525 at msn.com ; 'DrV' ; David.Gilmer at SEMATECH.Org ; 'David Andrews' ; 'Carly' ; 'Gibbs, Emily' ; 'emily zitek' ; fritzfamily at centurytel.net ; 'Fredric Schroeder' ; 'Gary Wunder' ; 'Nelly Gamino' ; 'Sara Hegge' ; hunters at mindspring.com ; 'Jennifer Dunnam' ; johnsonjbabb at aol.com ; 'Joyce Scanlan' ; jay at captionmax.com ; 'McCarthy, Jim' ; 'Joya C Bromeland' ; jwilson at nfb.org ; 'Jan Bailey' ; jpare at nfb.org ; 'Jeff Thompson' ; jhartle at nfb.org ; 'Jernigan, Mary Ellen' ; 'Lazarus, Jerry' ; 'Kim Cunningham' ; 'Zakhnini, Karen' ; 'Karen Adams' ; 'Ken Trebelhorn' ; katemworsham at yahoo.com ; KAnder8145 at aol.com ; 'Lisa Moon' ; lowayne54 at aol.com ; laura.fenley at dot.state.wi.us ; 'Marla Palmer' ; 'Riccobono, Mark' ; 'Thorpe, Mary Jo' ; 'Michael K. Freholm' ; 'NOPBC Board of Directors' ; Nfgilmer at aol.com ; nadine.jacobson at visi.com ; nfbu at qwest.net ; officeofthepresident at nfb.org ; 'Phillip Richardson' ; 'Patti Gregory-Chang' ; PLastrilla at austin.rr.com ; 'Pamela Allen' ; 'Ruby Ryles' ; 'Carranza, Rosy' ; 'Ron and Jan Gardner' ; 'Rene Harrell' ; 'Richard Strong' ; 'Steve Jacobson' ; 'Scott C. LaBarre' ; swagkat at att.net ; 'Lamkin, Seth' ; 'S.Smitley' ; 'Tom Scanlan' ; 'Tiffany Bickell' ; 'Theresa M. Beissel' ; 'Training & Organizing People to Serve 2005' ; weberfam07 at comcast.net ; 'William Cucco' 
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 4:16 PM
Subject: Washington post Cartoon and Jordan in the news


Hi All,

On Sunday I found a cartoon by the famous political cartoonist Tom Toles using the ruling on US currency and the judgment for the Treasury Department and the image of a blind person which I thought was a harmful perpetuation of the myths. I wrote the Post and Mr. Toles. I was unsuccessful in my understanding of how to send it as it bounced back to me this morning. I resent with a better understanding and within one hour Mr. Toles responded to me in a very genuine and personal way. My letter is below. Also please note that I have just had confirmation that Jordan will be featured in the Source section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tomorrow, May 28th as well as online in a slide show. Online it is www.startribune.com To answer a question you may have at the end, Yes Jordan's Braille AP Statistics test did indeed finally arrive today. Please, Please do not post this letter to the Post and Mr. Toles to the blind kid or any other list, do not, thank you. But yes dad you may share Jordan being in the paper with family and friends-smile.

Love,

Carrie Gilmer

 

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Mr. Tom Toles

The Editorial Staff

RE: TOLES Political Cartoon

The Washington Post

 

Dear Mr. Toles,

 

On the Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend, seeking some much needed time for regeneration and peace, I chose to begin my day with a cup of coffee and a few sections of the newspaper, the editorial being one. What was I thinking? Maybe the partakers of Yoga and tea have something. As it is, my choice brought me to your cartoon in the editorial section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I was hoping to think about something other than the false ideas about blindness and their ramifications, instead I became embroiled in a personal dilemma of to speak or not to on your use of an image of the blind in one of your cartoons. 

 

The cartoon which I have in the end chosen to speak on portrays a judge speaking to the ruling this past week on the suit against the Treasury Department.  The cartoon judge is saying US currency must be redesigned to assist the blind. Central to the cartoon is the caricature of a blind man wearing an Uncle Sam hat feeling print pages with titles such as "Trade Deficit", "U.S. Debt", "Dollar Plunge, "Federal Deficit", and the like. Did you realize a real blind person could get at the information about these issues, and if given proper training, a fair education, and opportunity might also very possibly be one to help solve the looming monetary issues of our day?

 

 A real judge in the real case made a comment comparing the problems of the blind in identifying currency to the problems stairs present to wheelchair users. These things are not really comparable. This case has brought up many false ideas about the blind and distorted the reality of the real everyday meaning of blindness.

 

 I'm guessing that possibly your intent was to make a statement saying we have a national dilemma in Uncle Sam or our elected representatives being unable to discern those  problems with money. Right now they have about as much a chance of knowing the problems as your cartoon blind representative has of reading the print on those pages; I guess you meant that. I also guess, in your mind the chance is none. Or, maybe you were saying the management to date needs such redesigning as to start over. Or were you trying to say there are none so blind as those who will not see in their minds merely using an image of those who cannot see with their eyeballs to make your point. Or was it that you were saying the government needs assistance in determining what the real monetary issues are? I guess I'm not sure what you were trying to say.

 

 I imagine you will say it was only sarcasm and humor. I imagine you thought yourself very clever when you thought of it. I notice you are a Pulitzer Prize winner. I imagine you are indeed a clever person to get to be a regular political cartoonist for such a prestigious paper as the Washington Post (apparently where my paper received the cartoon from).  I imagine you get a lot of criticism, most of which you or the paper defends. I don't know if other critiques have been valid or not. I hope you will think hard about this one. I imagine also you never conceived the cartoon would throw an average Minnesota mom's whole day off. 

 

 It isn't quite accurate to say it is assistance that the blind seek. The blind I know seek access, opportunity, understanding and terms of equality.  The image of the blind your cartoon perpetuates is part and parcel to the bigger picture and real big problems to real blind people like my son, Jordan.  He is an honor student who is seriously interested in cartoons himself. I wonder what his chances of employment are as a cartoonist or journalist with the editors who let this cartoon go to print. He has effective ways to get at identifying money or much of the print he can not see. It is much harder for him to get at discrimination, prejudice and myth. These things create most of the problems he must deal with as a blind person . If you are blind it is easy to get someone inspired (just cross the street on your own!) but not so easy to get hired.

 

 The much bigger problems of a near 75% unemployment rate for the blind and a near 90% of our blind children failing to get to learn Braille, and so losing the chance to really read, stem from the seeds constantly sewn by the perpetuation of the idea portrayed in your cartoon: Since the blind cannot see it logically means they cannot know cannot discern.  Indeed it is in our very language. If I say, "I see!" You think me to mean, everyone thinks me to mean, I understand. 

 

You are not alone Mr. Toles. HBO put out an advertisement for The Sopranos  last year using actors portraying blind men with the same message. The blind can not see, therefore they do not know, can not discern. I wrote the CEO of Time Warner. I told him how this false idea cost people like my son real jobs among other things.  He responded. The ad was pulled. 

 

A few months ago CBS news did a feature on a man who had been a barber all his life. When he lost his vision he continued with his work.  He didn't accept that a tragedy had occurred to him and he needed to give up his life. He found a new way to continue his old life. Rather than give this man even the regular respect you would think he was due, Ms. Katie Couric and the reporter who did the story cracked jokes about him at the desk after the story ran-on the national news. She said something like, good thing he wasn't a surgeon before he lost his sight-uproarious laughter. GAWD, I wonder how he felt sitting there probably watching the broadcast with his family. Where was the public outcry? There was none.  

 

Flipping channels one recent late night I happened to flip to Conan O'Brien. Not at all my taste, can't even understand how he keeps his job, but I stopped flipping briefly because he was having a joke at the expense of the blind. It was about the blind bowler who got all strikes in a game. There was some crack about if he was sure he was in a bowling alley. Ha, ha, ha. Garrison Keillor and Jay Lenno crack a few blind jokes of their own once in awhile too. Who notices? How many people laugh and think the jokes are understandable? There was a time when white people thought jokes about black people were not the stereotypes and falsehoods recognized today, they thought the jokes were funny and understandable. Unfortunately some still do. How does one unravel the history of a false idea? One thread at a time.

 

I'm told on Wednesday May 28th, my son will be featured in an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. We worked for months with the reporters trying to get them to understand accurately what it means to be blind. It was clear in some of our conversations they just didn't "get it".  Honestly, I'm a bit nervous. One of the reporters, "really liked" my son and thinks "he's great". We are concerned that rather than being portrayed as super AND blind, he will be portrayed as super blind.  I don't think the reporter even really understands my apprehensions. I am afraid he is taking it personally. I won't know until Wednesday.  It would be common for me to say now, "We'll see". Which you would understand to mean, we'll find out. There it is again.

 

This week my son's biggest problem is that last fall he registered and was accepted to receive accommodations for testing from the College Board. The God of standardized testing. He was to take the AP Statistics exam and receive it in Braille the same time as his peers on or about May 5th. There had been a momentum of study sessions up to the test. His Braille did not come. A comedy of errors and claims by the College Board ensued. After many calls and differing claims by the College Board but no action I called with my lawyer on Thursday. On Friday we were again told it had been sent. He has lost the momentum the other students had. The group study sessions are long over. He has had other year end finals and large projects this month. He just wants to take the test. We'll wait to find out if it arrives on Tuesday.  He's got bigger problems than your cartoon. But I think they are woven from the same thread. There is a lack of respect for the blind. I couldn't help myself from pulling out the loose one I read this morning.

 

Sincerely,

Carrie Gilmer, "Jordan's Mom"

President, Minnesota Parents of Blind Children

A Division of the National Federation of the Blind 

Home Address:

1152 106th Lane NE

Blaine, MN 55434

Phone: 763-784-8590