From: Mike.Freeman@f107.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Mike Freeman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: free matter for the
Date: 15 Dec 92 17:56:23 GMT
Reply-To: Mike.Freeman@f107.n105.z1.fidonet.org
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Index Number: 26776

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

In a message to Mike Freeman <17 Nov 92 18:10> Chet Tacka wrote:

 CT> However, in your reply to Anthony Hodgetts, you
 CT> seemed to almost be derisive about a community
 CT> "GIMMEE", his bus pass.

 CT> Consider this:  As little as has been done to
 CT> accommodate his needs, isn't even a perhaps
 CT> misdirected effort better than nothing?

 CT> I can't imagine the bus pass being just a "bone"
 CT> that was thrown at someone to shut him up.  Yes, I
 CT> am certain there are more important issues, but was
 CT> this all bad?  Or, was it, perhaps, a measure of SOME
 CT> sensitivity?

Hi, Chet.

No offense taken at your question; it is a valid one.  Let me try
to answer it in a couple of ways.

If, perchance, you are walking down a street in Everyville,
U.S.A., and encounter some who, out of the goodness of their
heart (and, knowing the high unemployment rate among the blind)
begs you to accept a quarter from him/her.  Do you accept it?
You do not have to answer.  I would submit, however, that a
common reaction would be an emphatic "No!" with the explanation
that followed being something either like "I am not a beggar" or
"I might but it would set a bad example and perpetuate a negative
image of the blind".

Again, consider the situation in which there has been
discrimination against the blind in hiring (or the lack thereof)
for a certain profession or calling.  There has been a case won
prohibiting such discrimination in future and mandating remedies
for past discrimination.  Should those remedies include hiring
quotas for blind persons, ignoring job qualifications (because,
presumably, training also wasn't available for the field in
question)?  Some would say yes; others would say no, maintaining
that that such hiring would undermine efforts of the blind to be
seen as capable of competing on terms of equality with the
sighted (given training and opportunity).

What I am getting at here is that even a well-intentioned attempt
to make blindness less of a burden can, in the long run, become a
liability to the blind rather than an asset.  My diatribe was in
no way meant as a personal attack on Mr. Hodgett; I am not in his
shoes.  It was meant as a commentary on the whole arena of
"freebies" for the blind; as I recall (I don't keep my packets),
he mentioned the free pass and I therefore thought I had license
to comment upon it.

This whole subject is frought with minefields.  In reality, how
we handle it often becomes a balancing act; ones man's firm
principle is flexible to someone else.  I, personally, do not
accept such freebies; I would do nothing to prohibit any
particular person from accepting them.  If asked whether such
freebies are sound or needed, I will render my opinion.  So will
my opposition.  Of such is representative government made.

Thanks so much for writing and such questioning keeps us
"radicals" honest! <grin>

Take care.

Mike Freeman
... If you don't succeed, redefine success!
    CRR QWK 1.40

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