Convention: attitudes discussed

I was actually quite surprised at convention when I found out how bad blindness is dismissed in the public school system. They don’t feel it is necessary for blind children to know how to read Braille or children partially blind losing vision are not taught how either. It doesn’t make sense to me why the school system excludes blindness as a handicap that is worth specific instruction. Listening to a tape or having someone read print to you is considered enough. The NFB have been fighting the lack of Braille literacy for a while now. I’m so surprised how much I didn’t know actually happened.

There’s a couple in Missouri that had their baby taken away at the hospital because the hospital social worker felt that two blind parents would not be able to take care of a baby. Blind people are more than capable and often develop tricks or methods to do things sighted people do without much difficulty. Bells on toddler shoes, really good baby proofing, hands and fingers to change diapers (which sighted people do anyways), etc.

I was so ignorant to the mentality that society has towards blind people and how extensively deep it went. It is considered the worst of disabilities to have and the most disabling (aside from quadriplegia). I agree that it’s awful to have but I know and have seen many blind people function better than a lot of sighted people do. And perhaps after getting used to it it isn’t so bad after awhile…you learn to use other senses to fully enjoy the world around you. Sight becomes less important. The hard part is dealing with a very sight based society and putting up with the notions that “you can’t do anything b/c you are blind.” I even had the notion as a partially blind person that total blindness would render me useless and incapable. I know that’s not true now and if anyone could overcome the challenges I know I could.
Even with deafness attached to it I know I’d find a way to overcome. It’s the social element that is hardest to deal with, and the limited freedoms (i.e. driving).