[nfb-talk] [nabs-l] House Said to Remove Hall Clutter

[T. Joseph Carter]

Ryan,

That was exactly my point.  The accusation has been made that we are
precisely that, an organization of blind people who believe we are somehow
better than the average blind person.  The emphasis is usually placed on
our belief that we have received superior training, implying that it isn't
as good as we think it is.  Further implied is the notion that we go
around doing things that aren't really safe for us to do, and we do them
with reckless abandon, and are likely to be hurt in the process sooner or
later.  That really should bug you.

I just realized something else, actually.  It could be that the people
observed "tripping over" and "running into" clutter were in fact just
blind people walking with canes until their canes found obstacles, at
which point they stepped around them.  My experience is that the average
sighted person assumes that if our canes ever come into contact with an
object or person, we will stop and become lost, disoriented, and just
plain confused.

The only logical conclusion is to remove these dangerous obstacles and to
literally jump out of our way when they see us coming.  Because nothing
makes a person feel more respected as a human being than to have people
jump out of their way in the same way they might if you had some kind of
plague or something.

Yes, seriously, people do these things.

Joseph

On Fri, Feb 01, 2008 at 01:53:24AM -0700, RyanO wrote:
> Joseph, your "superblink" comment bugs me a little. It connotes the idea 
> that, if we get just a little too good at travel, social interaction, etc, 
> therefore surpassing our blind peers, then we should somehow feel ashamed. 
> The deeper meaning here is that mediocrity is the norm and should be good 
> enough.
> 
> The term, "superblink," was probably coined by blind people who were pissed 
> off that other blind people were trying to do it better than they were and 
> succeeding. Or it may have been coined by sighted people who believed that 
> blind people doing ordinary things was, "amazing." Either way you look at 
> it, the larger goal of striving for the betterment of the blind seems to be 
> lost in the term.
> 
> Moreover, while your point about taking people of varying skill levels to 
> meet our representatives in D.C. is well-taken, we have to face the reality 
> that some of those people will reinforce negative stereotypes. If you walk 
> into a senator's office with a person who may publicly adjust their crotch, 
> pick their nose, rock back and forth, refuse to soap their armpits in the 
> shower or talk at inappropriate moments, are you going to be comfortable 
> dialoguing with that senator about our issues of necessity? Do we really 
> want to deal with that when pushing for important legislation that is 
> beneficial to our lives? I don't have a clear-cut answer, but even though I 
> may be accused of insensitivity or elitism, the question is still a valid 
> one and is worth discussing.
> 
> 
> RyanO 
> 
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