Just Wondering

Hi to All Thoughtful People,

 

Currently I am on four email lists, all of them set up or moderated by blind people.  Over the past two or three years we've heard from folks who tell us that they are millionaires, and those who find themselves at the bottom of the pit. 

Young, old, full figured or boney, we are a cross section of America.  Except for one common thread.  The great majority of us are seen by society as being blind. 

That determination alone trumps all other features about who we are, or who we believe we are. 

We are, "The Blind". 

And no matter how we would wish it to be different, we are all held up to the same Universal Blind Stereotype. 

Regardless of who we think we are, individually, when we meet a sighted person for the first time, they see us in light of all they think they know about blindness. 

One of my favorite questions when I speak to students is, "What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and discovered that you were totally blind?"  These students range from First Graders to College Age.  The answers are dramatic.  "I'd kill myself", "I'd crawl downstairs and find my mother,"  "I'd pray to God to heal me," "I'd pull the covers over my head and wait for someone to help me". 

In going further and asking the students what they would do once they knew for a fact that they would now be blind for life, most of them were at a total loss as to what they could do.  Most of them envisioned a life of helplessness, being waited on by family members, unable to attend school, no friends coming around to play with them.  In short, total helplessness. 

And yet, here on our lists we see blind men and women in all sorts of activities, jobs and endeavors.  The world we live in is mostly ignored by the sighted public.  There is a wall between our world and theirs.  It is the wall of ignorance.  But even if we get their attention, we still have the Universal Blind Stereotype to deal with. 

And then, of course since we are also products of this society, we blind people are also conditioned by the same stereotype.  Often times what I observe are blind people trying desperately to avoid the negative aspects of that stereotype.  We try to distance ourselves from those we feel are examples of this negativity, not realizing that in the eyes of society we are all alike. 

Since I personally believe that several thousands of years prove beyond a doubt that we will not erase the difference that blindness imposes upon us, I would suggest that we stop worrying about what this blind person or that one does to embarrass us. 

Let's go forward, living our own lives without fretting over how we are seen.  Rather, let's put our collective efforts into passing positive legislation that will open doors and offer us the same opportunities that are enjoyed by all Americans. 

We do not need to be liked by the sighted members of our society.  Nor do we need to be understood.  We don't like or understand many of them, but what they have that we need to claim, is the right to a job, a home and a family. 

 

Carl Jarvis