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From: mgflax@phoenix.princeton.edu (Marshall G. Flax)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: For the great clueless public out there ... a list!
Summary: I'd love to compile a consise list of "Do"'s and "Don't"'s
Message-ID: <15043@handicap.news>
Date: 19 Apr 91 20:13:51 GMT
Sender: wtm@bunker.isc-br.com
Reply-To: mgflax@phoenix.princeton.edu (Marshall G. Flax)
Organization: Princeton University
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Index Number: 15043

<Note: I am not handicapped, but would like to become less clueless>

	I've been reading misc.handicap for a few weeks now, and would
like to propose a project that this group, as a whole, could attempt: a
list of "do's" and "don't"'s with handicapped persons.  Simple things,
like "offering is polite but insisting is rude" or "when my dog is in
harness, pay no attention to him" or "please don't speak while eating if
I am lip-reading".

	I'd be quite willing to receive people's suggestions and compile
it into a short (1-2 page) digest.  I'm not expecting consistency; in
fact I am expecting the range of responses to be, itself, a powerful
educational tool.  Neither do I indend to offend anyone -- I think that
a useful technique to prevent offense is to mix the do's and don'ts
together without respect to handicap rather than having an
"orthopedically handicapped" section that would be seen as representing
one class and a "visually impaired" section representing another.
Mixing the responses would emphasize the variety among and between the
readers of misc.handicap.

	In resturants they have, on the walls, simple instructions for
choking patrons.  In libraries they have charts explaining the Dewey
Decimal system.  In telephone booths they have simple instructions for
using the phone.  I would like a simple two-sided piece of paper
containing lots of useful information that I could give to people I
know, have read on public-service announcements on the radio, and
included in school curricula.  Simple guidelines about dealing with
fellow citizens that we should already know, but, unfortunately, often
do not.  But I am not the one to write any of it.  You are.

	So please send me short lists (5-10 do's or don'ts).  I'll
collect them for about a week and post a digest, which, I am sure, will
prompt the suggestion and modification of even more do's and don't's.
And we'll keep on going around that circle until either:

a) We come up with a short list with which everyone is happy, in which
case I'll use all my computer knowledge to disseminate as widely as
possible, or

b) We don't, in which case I'll go onto other, more frivilous, projects.

	And please, don't worry about speaking for any group or class
of people.  Just say what you'd like people to know when interacting
with *you*.  Don't even identify your handicap(s) if you don't feel
like it.  If everyone speaks for themself, then no one would have to
worry about speaking for others.  [And I promise that I'll keep going
through the review cycle until everyone has had a chance to speak for
themself.]

	I hope that this works, but in any case it is not up to me.
Have fun.

marshall

/****************************************************************************/
/* Marshall Gene Flax '89       (609)258-6739  mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU */
/* c/o Jack Gelfand|Psychology Dept|Princeton University|Princeton NJ 08544 */
/****************************************************************************/