From: Steve.Matzura@f203.n2603.z1.fidonet.org (Steve Matzura)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Blind fold the sighted
Date: 7 Apr 92 21:01:44 GMT
Reply-To: Steve.Matzura@f203.n2603.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:2603/203 - The Shop Mail Only, Flushing NY

Index Number: 20902

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 > SM> with the worst case of misunderstanding.  I just don't think
 > SM> that putting a 'fold on someone for five or ten minutes is going
 > SM> to help anyone, especially when cameras are rolling and people
 > SM> are gawking.  We are misunderstood enough, this would only
 > SM> further the problem, not the cause.

 > Why do you say this?

Why do I say what?  That we're misunderstood?  Are you blind, or
just crazy?  If you're blind, then how many times have you been in
a restaurant with sighted people, and the waitron comes over and
says "What would >he< like?"  How many times have you had your cane
grabbed or your dog's harness handle grabbed practically out of
your hands in the name of someone trying to help you go somewhere
they want you to go but which has no relation whatsoever to where
>you< want to be going?  How many times have you been asked have
you ever gone to school?  How many times have you been asked what
do you do with yourself all day, you can't >possibly< work?

How many times have you been asked who dresses you in the morning,
takes care of you, feeds you, wipes your behind when you go to the
bathroom?  How many times have you been refused access to public
places because the proprietor is afraid of a lawsuit if you hurt
yourself?  How many more examples of being misunderstood would you
like?

Why do I say putting a 'fold on someone for five or ten minutes
would further the problem, not the solution (or, as I said, the
cause, what I meant was the "cause" as in our cause)?  Because the
one difference between someone living with a disability--any
disability--and a person attempting to emulate that disability by
applying a physically handicapping device is that the person
attempting the emulation knows that it's not permanent, that the
handicapping device--in this case, the blindfold--can, and >will<,
be removed and the person using it can go back to their normal
life, whereas there's no removing our blindfolds, not ever--no
removing our bum leg, our bad ear, our uncontrollable
tongue-and-mouth co-ordination, etc. Makes a great deal of
difference, when you know you can take something away that's
inhibiting your actions--kinda like when an unwelcome guest visits
you, you know he's going to leave eventually, but until then you've
got him where you don't want him, in your house.  Well, our
unwelcome guest never leaves,
that's the difference.

If you are offended by my tone, then please excuse, I am not
intending offense, just trying to wake you up a little bit.  Having
a disabling condition is no picnic, and anyone who thinks being
able to put on some sort of handicapping device (like a blindfold,
like picking up crutches and trying to walk with them, like sitting
themselves in a wheelchair and trying to get along, plugging up
one's ears, etc.) to get an idea of what it's like is wasting their
time.  It can be made to look like lots of fun, like it's a big
game, but a game it most certainly is not--it's all too real for
all too many of us, and I think rather poorly of anyone who wishes
to make it other than what it is by seemingly glorifying it by
attempting to see what it's like by imitation.

Steve Matzura

Via: FrontDoor 2.02

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