Introducing Guess Writer: Trevor Attenberg<\/p>\n
There was a wee commentary piece on National Public Radio a week or two ago, where a man discussed the prospects of technology geared towards providing sight for the blind. The typical business was reverently alluded to, including implanted telescopes in the eye; digitally processed electronic optic technology, some kind of echo-location sensory enhancement, and neuro-muscular regeneration. Nothing entirely new; but also certainly not out of the question for widespread application. Such talks (usually coming from sighted people or people that recently lost their vision) are often quite frustrating for the blind, including myself. This isn\u2019t simply because we\u2019ve been longing for such technological, technocratically driven solutions all of our lives only to be left on the shelf (although this may be the case with an unfortunate few); quite the opposite is true.<\/p>\n
Many of us blind folks give little thought to being blind you see. We go about our daily lives as blue-collared laborers (though sometimes without actual shirts on), private investigators, lawyers, family members, scientists, professors, school teachers, artists, musicians, clowns, vagabonds, etc., only to be reminded of the blindness thing by a shook-up on-looker.
\nWhy for example, just the other day I was on my way through downtown Portland OR. I stopped at an intersection waiting for the traffic to change so I might cross. Sure enough I could tell by the sound of the cars that traffic was running parallel, so it was time to get a move on; but I gave it an extra split second to make sure no one was thinking of turning in front of me. Suddenly a gentleman started in on crying out from the afar corner \u201cyou can cross! You can cross!\u201d Well I couldn\u2019t hear the traffic very well with him yelling at me, though this bit of mantraic information was yet one of those countless reminders that I was just a blind dude in the least romantic sense. Just a needy, pitiful blind man, who\u2019s every agitation, is a miracle life affirming reminder of cosmic intervention and how lucky the sighted world is to have cute little functioning eye-ball receptors.<\/p>\n
Did you know blindness is the second greatest fear had by Americans behind death?<\/p>\n
Well this little run-in with blindness of my own that day\u2014while it startled me a bit\u2014was hardly anything new. I\u2019m exaggerating a bit to say I was startled, as this happens nearly all the time everywhere. But might you be a wee startled too when someone yells at you for doing the tiniest mundane activities like crossing the street, or grabs you from behind by your shirt in order to pull you in a perceived correct direction? This might even piss you off eh? But I do indeed cross the street and walk around out-doors among other things often enough to not feel the need to recall every event tied to it; though sometimes I feel it\u2019s nice to have the sense people are not staring at me. Mostly I put these hurtles behind me somewhere that I can perhaps spew them out on FB or at a coffee shop or something. And \u201cthey\u2019re only trying to help\u201d is what you say. All things must pass.<\/p>\n
But anyway, this fella on the radio went on with the typical argots: \u201cthere are so many living in darkness that dream of sight\u2026 So many who cannot see a painting that wish to see the beautiful world we take for granted.\u201d This is insulting not only due to the erroneous description of the blind condition; but because of how it stifles the ability of we blind peoples to create understanding, and integrate ourselves into mainstream society without the fear and stigma blocking our way.
\nI am not totally blind myself. Often people ask me \u201chow much can you see?\u201d before they ask me how I am and what my name is. My vision is a little hard to explain in a real snappy way that I\u2019d be content to fit into a simple introduction. Crap, I must be blind again. I don\u2019t mind being blind to be honest; but I can tell you those that have zero vision\u2014including no eyes do not live in darkness. At least that\u2019s what they tell me. Many don\u2019t really have much of a concept of darkness from what I gather. Even people that experienced total vision loss don\u2019t attest to being trapped in a black cave. You\u2019d have to ask them though. Why don\u2019t you find one walking on the sidewalk and grab\u2019em by the shoulder? When they say \u201chow are you?\u201d ask them \u201cwhere are you trying to get to?\u201d After they give you some slightly evasive answer, ask them \u201chow much can you see? Are you totally blind?… What\u2019s it like being completely blind?\u201d<\/p>\n
I can tell you that blind people, when treated with humanity and respect do fairly well for themselves and don\u2019t sit around dreaming about the day the light will finally shine on them. I suppose this is a matter of conditioning though. If a blind person here\u2019s about how wonderful vision is and how sad his or her condition is all of his or her life, that person may want to attain vision just to make sighted people shut up and get their grubby hands off. Living in Louisiana (as strangely many blind people do at some point) I hired a person to read some college texts to me. He refused my money, but spent most of his time saying hallelujah, and how it was such a miracle that I could cook and walk and do any of those things that human beings do. When we were starting to run out of time he\u2019d make a phone call to his girlfriend and talk for an additional 20 minutes. \u201cWhat the hell\u201d he must have thought, \u201che\u2019s not paying me anyway. It\u2019s a miracle I\u2019m here for him.\u201d And it was a miracle I decided not to reel him back as my volunteer reading eyes.<\/p>\n
So if you ever see an upset blind person\u2014well maybe you don\u2019t need to ask \u201chow are you?\u201d You already know he\/she\u2019s pissed at you. Just ask \u201ccan I help you?\u201d and \u201cwhere are you trying to get to?\u201d Just rest assure that blind people have many visions, many destinations (especially if they don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going), and they\u2019re probably too content with their lives to have surgery so little telescopes can be planted in their eyes. What\u2019s more, it is these outsider attitudes based on a lack of perception held mostly by the sighted that so often keep blind people from finding work, education, and even meaningful relationships.
\nDon\u2019t I\/they sometimes dream to have regular vision?<\/p>\n
Luckily many people, all be it all too few, make it through these hurtles, after they become aware of themselves and acclimated to an imperfect world of sighted folk. For a mass of these successful blind individuals, blindness is painted as a characteristic that helped make them who they are, and that they will not readily surrender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introducing Guess Writer: Trevor Attenberg There was a wee commentary piece on National Public Radio a week or two ago, where a man discussed the prospects of technology geared towards providing sight for the blind. The typical business was reverently alluded to, including implanted telescopes in the eye; digitally processed electronic optic technology, some kind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[239],"tags":[177,175],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-sight","tag-visually-impaired"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6rcRg-3I","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1939,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=1939","url_meta":{"origin":230,"position":0},"title":"Trevor and Guide Dog Tennille Taking Hiking to it’s Logical Extreme","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"May 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Blind Abilities Presents Trevor Thomas, the only professional hiker and has a guide dog named Tennille as his partner on some of the longest hiking trails in the states. From the Appellation Trail (AT) to the pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Trevor and Tennille have done it all. 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