Scott, I never would have had my interest peaked about the iPhone, were it not for my niece, Elisabeth, who had one and though she didn't show me how to operate it, she thought it could be adapted so that blind people could use it. Richie Gardenhire, Anchorage, Alaska.
On Nov 30, 2009, at 12:12 PM, Scott Howell wrote: Mark, very interesting. I once was on a flight and this nice young lady started asking me about my dog. The conversation quickly turned to questions about being blind, about how I work with computers and the like and eventually to her showing me an Iphone. THis was before the iPhone was accessible and even then I thought it was very cool. The point was she became very interested in me as a person and not just some blind guy. I think I left her with a very different perspective and understanding. I think it was one of the most intelligent convversations I have had in a good while and one where she really wanted to learn something and share her experiences. So, instead of seeing me as a disabled person, she saw me as a person with different abilities than herself and being a fellow Mac user, made for some really neat conversation. Of course I just knew she was cute and that didn't hurt either. :) On Nov 30, 2009, at 4:04 PM, Mark BurningHawk Baxter wrote: > As long as the blind define themselves as "disabled," they will have > this problem. It's paradoxical, because as I said, I don't really > like to be around lots of blind people all together in a group, and > yet we, the blind people, need some sort of cohesive teaching / > enabling power that will allow us to not be disabled any more. It's > idealistic as hell to think that every single blind person can escape > from the disability of blindness without some cohesion, but also it's > just as dangerous to try and develop a "blind culture," as the deaf > have done. If we allow others to see us as disabled, then we will be, > but how do you change an attitude which I believe to be literally > hard- > wired into the brain stem, which says that if a stranger can't meet > your eyes, then they are not to be trusted but instead are to be > ostracized and shunned, cast out? I personally don't have an answer, > except for myself; I do not allow people to act toward me as if I were > disabled, as much of the time as is feasible. Of course I ask for > help when I need it, directions or, in the case of a mailing label the > other day, the help of a sighted person to ensure the label she > printed for me went on right--I'm not naive, but I struggle constantly > to escape from the "disabled box," that people on the street put me > in. > > Growing up as an only child, born blind, with things like Braille a > fact of life, rather than the exception, in a small town, in a very > constricted and confined environment where I didn't even need a cane > to get around, I could literally forget that I was blind--to this day, > when people come up to me and start talking to me like a blind man, it > often takes me a few moments to realize what's happening; until then, > things people say to me sound nonsensical or outright rude. Until I > remember that they're talking to my blind eyes, not to the man before > them. It causes me no end of social hassle because I don't know that > a person is "helping," me when I'm just doing my thing, and so I > respond as a "normal," person would to someone who came up out of the > blue and made a random comment about steps, or the curb, or whatever. > The other day, someone in the post office thought they were helping by > repeating everything the clerk said to me after she was done saying > it. I turned and snapped, "Wait your turn!" and it was only when the > person in question started yelling at me about how ungrateful I was > that I remembered that, "Oh yeah; this is probably someone trying to > help me the blind guy, not talking to me the guy." By then, as in > numerous other instances, it was already far too late. (Eventually > they had to call security to get the woman to leave me alone...) > Whether that's a sign of my near-complete adaptation to blindness, my > ADHD rearing its ugly head again, or what, I don't know, but I > personally don't think of myself as disabled, don't act as if I expect > people to give me a handicap. What would happen if every blind > person, instead of going out the door with the assumption that "I'm > blind, and people who come up and talk to me are talking to the blind > me, not the true me," instead walked out the door with the assumption > that "I'm just doing my thing, I'm as able as the next person, more or > less, just different, and people who come up and talk to me as if I'm > blind are rude?" This is the kind of universal change that I think > needs to be made, and which I despair will ever be made. If thousands > of blind people got on the phone to Microsoft, for example, and said, > "What's wrong with this computer that I can't use it!? what's wrong > with you for not making a computer I can use?" instead of waiting for > an agency or a specialized software company to fix the problem for > them?... > > > Mark BurningHawk Baxter > > Skype and Twitter: BurningHawk1969 > MSN: burninghawk1...@hotmail.com > My home page: > http://MarkBurningHawk.net/ > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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