[nfbwatlk] Food for Thought

Tue Jan 22 16:32:08 CST 2008

My understanding / experience is that you just pay attention more. I 
have poor hearing and while I am becoming more and more blind <g>, my 
hearing is not improving at all! Grrrr... just the opposite, it seems to 
be getting a bit worse. And I know I am not the only one with hearing 
issues and being blind. As for taste? Ha! I like a good steak, I enjoy 
Thai food and yet I am not able to tell the difference between a $100 
bottle of wine or an $14 bottle of wine. Smell isn't any better. I think 
my nose went on strike after the second child and refuses to smell 
another acent just in case it is that last dirty diaper! <g> Touch? As 
long as it is soft and fuzzy, I like it! Scratchy? not so much. But I 
cannot tell you the difference between an Alpaca rug that was made in 
the USA vs. the Alpaca rug made overseas.

I personally find it frustrating that this seems to be making a come 
back in the blind myth pool. It seems as though I am running into more 
and more people who think that because I am blind, I should go and work 
for some perfume manufacterer as I must have an "amazing" sense of 
smell. Or someone thinking that a blind person can give a better massage 
because they are in tune with their sense of touch. Though someday soon, 
I may hope that they believe you need to shout at a blind person to make 
them hear... would save on potential cost of hearing aide batteries?<g>

Kris

P.S. Disclaimer - Just to ensure that there is no misunderstanding, I DO 
NOT want people to think that you have to shout at a blind person to 
make them hear you. This was just a bit of silliness on my part <g>.

Rebekah Jakeman wrote:
> Good thoughts.  Along the lines of educating people--my friend's daughter is 
> doing a science project on how blind people's other senses are greatly 
> enhanced or super powered.  I told her that this is not true nor has it been 
> my own experience.  But she wants more info.  Does any one have an 
> experience they can share or know of more info I can give her?  She's coming 
> today to ask me about it.
>
> Thanks so much,
> Rebekah
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jedi" <blindjedi at clearwire.net>
> To: "'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:24 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Food for Thought
>
>
>   
>> Karl,
>>
>> I've always marveled at the fact that we never mourn the loss of a
>> caterpillar's ability to be a caterpillar. Instead, we stand in awe of its
>> becoming a beautiful butterfly. In that vein, it makes sense that we 
>> should
>> say we become blind rather than that we lost our sight just as we say that 
>> a
>> caterpillar becomes a butterfly. After all, blindness opens doors to new
>> experiences that we may not have had otherwise. And I'm not talking about
>> the actual experience of sightlessness. Rather, it occurs to me that had I
>> not been blind, I wouldn't know anyone here on this list. In any case...
>>
>> Respectfully,
>> Jedi
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
>> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 1:39 PM
>> To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Food for Thought
>>
>> How long must we endure?  Just as long as the Media reports blindness as 
>> an
>> affliction, reporting that we suffer from blindness, the tragic loss of 
>> our
>> precious sight, stricken blind. If Grandpa suffered with cancer and had to
>> go to a nursing home to wait to die, then what do children think when they
>> learn that Grandma is suffering from blindness?
>> When I am out and about in the world do people see me, the capable blind
>> man?  Or do they see all of the negative adjectives associated with
>> blindness?
>> Although I consider myself to be a fairly mellow, flexible guy, over the
>> years I have become much more rigid in one area.  I refuse to say, "I lost
>> my sight".  In fact, I no longer tell folks that I went blind.  I always
>> say, "I Became blind".  While it sounds like a small thing, I believe that
>> it helps set a more positive tone.  I became a husband.  I became a 
>> father.
>> I became self-employed.  I became blind.
>> I want people to see me as I am today.  Help them to focus on the positive
>> aspects of my life, not on my loss.  Once you say, "I lost my sight", 
>> people
>>
>> are caught up in the tragedy of what you once had.  Or in some cases, of
>> what you never had.  They are seeing only the negative.
>> I became a blind man in 1965, and my life has been a wild and wonderful
>> ride.  I have never held better jobs.  I met and married a beautiful,
>> bright, generous woman.  I look forward to each new day, and the 
>> excitement
>> that it brings.
>> When, from time to time someone insists, "but you lost your sight.  That 
>> is
>> terribly depressing".  I tell them, "I also lost my youth.  I lost my 
>> teeth.
>>
>> I lost 20 dollars.  I lost a job.  My life is full of losses.  But the 
>> great
>>
>> secret of Life is that all my losses are behind me.  I am today a blind 
>> man.
>>
>> And tomorrow, when the Sun rises, I will become involved in living Life to
>> the fullest.  I have no time to wallow in loss.
>>
>> Carl Jarvis
>>
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>>     
>
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