[nfb-talk] [Blindtlk] HumanWare, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, here we go again

[T. Joseph Carter]

Corey,

Do you let random people grab you and drag you across streets you maybe
didn't want to cross because they're doing something nice?  Do people
physically handle you like a piece of furniture or lead you around like a
puppy without your protest because they're doing something nice?

I don't care in the least what a person's intent is.  I am not some poor
blind person in need of help, "rescue", pity, or assistance I didn't seek.
You don't have to speak slowly or excessively loud, you don't have got use
simple words, and you had certainly better not expect that you'll talk to
my sighted companions in my place.  I do not live so that well-meaning
sighted people can get their warm fuzzies by trying to commit charity upon
me, and I am deeply offended when I see others treated in the same way I
myself would not tolerate.

In this case, apparently, Extreme Make-Over did not do a bad job, as they
have in the past.  (I missed the episode, so I cannot say with certainty.)
But after several cases where the show has demonstrated most or all of the
above intolerable behaviors and certainly the underlying attitudes, I
think we deserve the benefit of the doubt when we expect no better this
time around.  We can now be surprised and pleased with the outcome in this
one case.  I don't have high hopes for future shows on disabilities, of
course because they've established a pattern to which this episode seems
an anomaly.

The primary issue discussed in this thread is HumanWare's press release
and the wording they chose to use.  It's frankly insulting, to all of us.

Joseph

On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 03:55:49PM -0500, Corey Cook wrote:
> I don't personally get the big deal anyway.
> They did something nice for the man and his family.
> Who are we to sit and judge this?
>  
> Corey Cook
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> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> mailto:powerst at dcpcepn.nci.nih.gov Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]
> To:
> mailto:nfb-talk at nfbnet.org NFB Talk Mailing List
> Sent:
> Thursday, February 21, 2008 7:12 AM
> Subject:
> Re: [nfb-talk] [Blindtlk] HumanWare, Extreme Makeover Home Edition,here we go again
> I sure must be missing something here.  Why are you bashing HW anyway.  They just anounced that the show was going to be aired and I think they said they were going to be represented.  I saw the whole show and there was no mention of HW.  The only thing I can come up with is maybe the controls for the new wheel chair were actually a GPS.  I think his lack of being able to walk was emfasized a lot more than his blindness.  That is in our faver.  I found one extreamly stupid thing they did for him, that was to put that ability for music to go off, when he went into a spacific room.  Also, HW might have had something to do with creating the door that would open when the gentleman would say, open. 
> I liked his aditude about looking at what he could do not what he could not do.  He seamed to always be on the positive side which is a pluss for him and the NFb.  Many blind with out jobs or the ability to read, are depressed and dependent on SSI. I think their main goal was to make the home accessable, because of his wheelchair needs.  They also over did it in the music area by buying him all that recording equipment.  What did that have to do with his handicap.  I still saw no sign of HW.  If they were not in the show, how did they know about the show?  They had to be in the background someware.
> Terry Powers
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: T. Joseph Carter [mailto:tjosephcarter at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:36 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] [Blindtlk] HumanWare, Extreme Makeover Home Edition,here we go again
> I don't think a boycott would be effective in the least.  I do think a more low-key approach generally involving talking to someone in a position to see to it that this doesn't happen again would probably get far better results far quicker.
> Joseph
> On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 07:43:01PM -0800, Mike Freeman wrote:
> > One question which hasn't been dealt with here is whether we'd be effective if we protested to Humanware or attempted a boycott.
> >
> > Do you *really* think that blind persons would stop buying VR Streams over philosophical concerns? Fanatics would but I fear me greatly that it would end up a huge bust and would cause us more problems than we would solve.
> >
> > Mike
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