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From: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Blindness And The Blindfold
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Date: 6 Nov 90 14:07:36 GMT
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Index Number: 11590

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 DA>> Sun glasses smeared with petrolium jelly is not the same thing as a  
 DA>> blindfold.  
 DA>> While they would deminish vision, they would not block it out completely.
 DA>> What we all are talking about here is the total absence of sight. 
 DA>> The other approach could have merit except that it would perpetuate the  
 DA>> notion that those who have some sight are luckier then us poor
 DA>> guys with nothing 
      
 WS>      Well, aren't they? 
 
Walter,  I had some vision until about two years ago, and lost it
then.  I must say that my life has not changed since then.  I may
get a little more help in the grocery store, although I can still
find most things, and I have abandoned my print playboy
collection, but the quality of my life is no different.  Yes,
there are a couple things I would like to see, like the ballon
fiesta here in Albuquerque, but they do not change my life, the
presence or absence.  I certainly do not wish people to be
totally blind, but it isn't the end of the world.  Schools for
the blind especially set up a cast system which makes the
partially sighted more priveleged then the totally blind, giving
them the idea they are better.  It creates an us and them
attitude.  When I was in blind school, in Virginia, totals could
not go downtown by themselves, but partials could.  Some
parftially sighted people try to use their sight for things for
which it is not appropriate, so there are probably instances
where a blind person would be better off.  I have also known
partials that lord their sight over me, telling me where to go
etc.  It allows them to feel superior.  I think it is very
dangerous and counterproductive for us to set up these class
distinctions.
David Andrews

... Your Sound Alternative

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