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From: Barbara.Akin@f460.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Barbara Akin)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Sermon
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Date: 22 Feb 90 21:36:16 GMT
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Index Number: 6906

Hi all, thought I'd throw this out here, and see what kind of thoughts I 
get back from anyone who might be interested in replying to this post.
My Pastor is giving a sermon on the man who was born blind, in the next 
three to four weeks or so. He asked me if he could interview me for about 
5 minutes durring the sermon. 
I said yes, he could. Now, here is my concern--although I know my Pastor 
well, and he knows me as well, I still have Some concerns about being up 
there as "the blind woman" rather than being a woman who Happens to be 
blind.
There is a world of difference between the two as I'm sure you all know.
I plan to first write a letter to my Pastor explaining to him that it is 
lonely as hell to be thought of as "the blind woman" rather than as the 
person I am. I do Not want to be interviewed as a blind person. I want to 
be interviewed as a person who deals with the dissability of blindness, 
and that blindness is Not the main issue in my life. It is important to 
me that people see the woman first, and the disability second. 
I want to make this letter as honest and real as posible and I certainly 
do not want to be offensive in the way I write it. 
But, in the past, unfortuneately, when having been placed in an 
interviewing type of posision, the interviewer has kept asking me about 
blindness, and focusing solely on that. I want to get the message across 
that while I am blind, I am much more than "that blind woman."
I know you all know what I mean here. Any thoughts from this echo would 
be of help. Thanks in advance.

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