Of Blindness and Limitations

Of Blindness and Limitations

Future Reflections March/April/May 1984, Vol. 3 No. 2
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OF BLINDNESS AND LIMITATIONS
by Fred Schroeder
(Reprinted from the September/October, 1983
NFB SPOKESMAN in California.)
Fred Schroeder, one of the hard working,
dynamic leaders of the NFB, delivered this
address at a White Cane Day Banquet of the
NFB of Albuquerque. Many readers may recognize
the name, for Fred was recently a featured
speaker on the TOD A Y SHOW along with NFB
leaders, Peggy Pinder and President Dr.
Jernigan. Fred (blind from birth) wears many
hats and wears them all well. He is the director
of the Albuquerque Public School's Low Incidence
Program (Deaf and Blind); State President
of the NFB of New Mexico; a husband and
a father of two lovely little girls.
Fred, who is also a trained and experienced
cane travel teacher, is currently challenging a
decision to deny him certification as an Orientation
and Mobility Instructor merely on the
basis of his blindness. The refusal of the O&M
profession to recognize the abilities of the blind
to safely teach O & M to other blind persons
is nothing less than unreasonable discrimination.
Fred and the National Federation of the
Blind plan to change that.
Today, across the nation the blind are observing
White Cane Safety Day. White Cane
Safety Day for most blind people in our society,
is no longer simply the day where we make the
public aware of the driving code. It has changed,
it has evolved and it has grown to a day where
now the white cane is a symbol of independence.
At one time the white cane was used as a means
of identifying blind travelers so as to alert
members of the community to be watchful for
the safety of the blind. Over the years, we have
begun to find that relying on someone else to
look out for our safety has potentially disastrous
consequences. As a group, we have become
increasingly aware of the means of providing for our own safety. This is not to discount the reciprocal responsibility for members of the
community to be concerned with one anothers
well-being. The struggle to travel with confidence
that was once ours, we have now conquered.
At one time, the ability to get out, to go
down to the corner store, to go where we wanted
to go, was something that for most blind people
was a dream. Today, with rehabilitation and
more importantly, with a change of our own
attitudes as blind people about blindness, most
of us are able to get out with security, with
self-confidence and travel where we want to go.
The change that has happened has been a
change in the conception of blindness. A conception
of blindness is something that takes a long
time to change. When it changes, its results are
profound, yet the process of change is subtle.
All of us have experienced this change and can
look across the years and see change in ourselves.
When I went blind, I went to the rehabilitation
center in Albany, California. While there,
I learned to use a cane. To use a cane gave me
freedom that I had never believed as a blind
person I would ever know. I was able to travel
anywhere in the Bay Area that I wanted to go. I
learned to use all types of public transportation
and to cross major streets. It was an exhilerating
experience. I felt in myself that I knew
what it was to be a self-sufficient, independent
blind person. However, my conception of blindness
was still limited, but not by lack of skills. I
knew how to use the cane. I could keep myself
safe. My conception of blindness was limiting
me.
A friend of mine who was blind called me and
said, "I need to fly to Los Angeles tomorrow
morning. I've never flown alone, can you tell
me how to do it." I told her, "It's easy. All you do
is take a cab to the airport. When you get out of
the cab have the cabdriver find a skycap. The
skycap will take you to the desk where you buy
your ticket. They'll get you another skycap who
will take you out to the waiting area. At the
waiting area another agent will come along
and put you on first. You'll fly to where you're
going and then another agent will come on
after everybody else has gotten off and he'll
take you down to the baggage area. He'll find
another skycap for you who will take you and
your baggage out and find you a cab and the
cabdriver will take you to your hotel. It's great.
There's nothing to it." I was independent in my
own mind at that point. I was independent
because at least, I was not staying at home. I
was going where I wanted to go and if I wanted
to go to Chicago, I went to Chicago. Yet, I was
limiting myself in what I believed I could do.
I was relaying this situation to another friend
of mine named Jim who was blind. He said,
"Now wait a minute. Why is it that you have
people take you out to the gate area?" I said,
"Well, in a big airport, how am I going to find the gate area? It's not practical to be wandering
around an enormous airport by myself. It's so
much easier and simpler to have someone take
you out there."
Sometime after we had this discussion, it turned
out that I went with this fellow on a flight. We
went up to the desk and the guy in front of us, as
is often the case, happened to be going to the
same gate as we were. Jim paid attention to
which direction the guy in front of us went after
buying his ticket. In that way, we knew which
way to start off after buying our tickets. We
walked through the airport until we came to a
major interchange of hallways and Jim stopped
somebody and said, "Excuse me, which way is
Gate 63." We got directions and we headed off
down the concourse. After we walked a long
way, Jim stopped someone and said, "Excuse
me, what gate is this?" The person said, "It's
Gate 47." Then Jim said to me, "Well, we got a
ways to go still." So we kept going for Gate 63.
We got there and the gate agent came up to us
and said that he would put us on early. Jim said
that we would get on with everybody else. I
thought to myself, I'll believe this when I see it.
They called the flight and everybody got up
and Jim said to me, "Well, with 200 people all
going in one direction, it shouldn't be too hard
to follow them onto the plane." So, I followed
him, and he followed them, and we got on the
plane. We got seated and I thought, now here's
going to be the interesting part because we
were going to land in another city and neither
one of us had been to this airport, but the same
principle worked.
We landed and instead of waiting for the gate
agent to come and get us, Jim said, "You know,
if we hurry up and get off the plane we can
follow these people and probably out of the 200
people at least 150 of them will be going to get
their suitcases so we ought to be able to find the
baggage area." We got to the baggage area and
I said, "Now, we need someone to help us find
our bags." I said it a little hesitantly, because I
knew for sure he was going to have something
else to say to me. Jim said, "You know what
your bag looks like, so just put your hand out
and when your bag comes by pick it up." I was worried about getting the wrong suitcase, but
sure enough we found our bags. In the meantime,
we'd been paying attention and could
hear where people were leaving the building.
We went out front and we got in a cab and we
left.
My conception of blindness had changed. What
changed in my mind was that what before had
seemed like a reasonable way to operate as a
blind person suddenly changed. I realized with
some embarrassment that the way I had been
operating was not because that's just a practical,
reasonable way for a blind person to
function. After all, I believed that we blind
people have to be reasonable about what we
can do. We shouldn't be too pushy or too
aggressive. That's not what I was doing. I was
limiting myself because I had never questioned
a self-imposed limitation.
If you had asked me prior to that time why I traveled the way I did, I probably would have said that I've been blind for quite a while now and I get around as good as the next guy. I ought to know how it is blind people travle and that's just a reasonable way to do it. What happens to us over a period of time is we evolve a lifestlye where we stop questioning the way that we're functioning and how that might affect our lives. In the final analysis, whether or not you have some help you to a plane of you walk to the plane yourself, in and of itself, is not the issue. The issue is as members of society, what king of attitudes are we perpetuating in our daily lives. When we stop to question how we might do things on our own, not just for the sake of doing them alone, but for the sake of finding out what our abilities really are, we promote a positive attitude of blindness
to the public. We are just normal people, living
a normal life in an everyday sort of way. The
attitudes of the public and the attitudes that we
create in the mind of the public are the only
things that are going to change people's conceptions
of blindness.
I used to work for a rehabilitation agency and
what I found is that rehabilitation counselors
are just like the rest of the public. They tend to
believe the same stereotypes of what blind
people are capable of doing and what they're
not capable of doing. Back to the conception of
blindness, back to the notion of what's practical
and what's reasonable.
The National Federation of the Blind of New
Mexico has actively operated an advocacy
program for rehabilitation clients in the state.
We go with clients who are either feeling as
though they are not getting all the services that
they need or who are perhaps, newly blinded
and just now applying for services. We accompany
them to the rehabilitation office to ensure
they are getting the services to which they are
entitled. I went recently with a young woman
who began losing her vision just a few months
ago. She sat down across the desk from the
counselor who asked her what she wanted to do
with her life. She said that she was interested
in cashiering. He was quiet for a moment and
the said, "I'm a little surprised by that. I
wouldn't really have expected you to want to go
into cashiering, but everyone needs to have his
dreams."
The message that came through loud and clear
that that dream will never come true for
I'm not going to shatter your dream, .going to take it away, but it won't ever come true. You need to face that and consider
realistically what you can do. He advised her to
go home and talk to her doctor about what her
future held. I sat there and I started to become
angry because I knew that there are blind
vendors all across the country doing their own
cashiering. There are talking calculators and
there are talking cash registers. The equipment
is there, the technology is there, but a rehabilitation
counselor's conception of what is practical,
feasible, and reasonable for a blind person
may well change a life.
The consequences go beyond rehabilitation. I
remember very vividly the day when a friend of
mine in California who is a rehabilitation
counselor, called me and asked if I would help
him work out a problem with an employer. He
was having some trouble trying to get a woman
placed as a receptionist and switch-board operator
in a maj or business. We went down and we
talked to the manager. This guy appealed to
our sense of reason. He said, "Well, after all,
there are a lot of telephones in this office and
this woman might trip over the cords. There
really won't be anybody available to take her to
the restroom and to lunch." We talked and he
appealed to our sense of reason. We appealed to
his sense of reason and his concepts of blindness,
and our concepts of blindness, unfortunately,
never came together. His final argument
was that she takes the bus to work and if
there was a bus strike she wouldn't be able to get to work. His conception of blindness
changed a life. The rehabilitation counselor's
conception of blindness changed a life, and my
conception of blindness has changed my life.
I remember when I first went blind, I wasn't a
big coffee drinker. When I did drink coffee, it was with cream and sugar. When I went to the
orientation center, we were expected to do
things pretty much on our own. I found that if I
was going to use cream and sugar, I would first
have to find it, get a spoon, and measure it. It
didn't seem worth the trouble. I might spill
something and make a mess. So even though I
didn't like it, I started drinking coffee black.
After nine years of drinking black coffee, I
finally learned to like it.
To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I hadn't
gone blind if I'd be drinking coffee black or
coffee with cream. Coffee isn't the essence of
life. It's not what employs us or makes us feel
fulfillment, but I think that experience has a
meaning. That experience told me that the
things I do on a routine basis, the accommodations
that I make as a blind person, I need to
reevaluate and to ask myself honestly and
objectively if this is really what it is to be blind
or is this what I am making it to be. Cervantes
observed, "Perhaps to be practical is madness
and maddest of all is to see life as it is and not
as it ought to be."
I think the challenge for all of us is to create a
vision of ourselves as blind people. We need to
create a vision for ourselves of what we can
accomplish, in spite of the employer who is
concerned about our means of getting to work
or in spite of the rehabilitation counselor. The
progress that we have made, as a group, is in
large part related to the blind joining together
as a national movement. The National Federation
of the Blind has been in existence for 42
years and during that time the blind have
made greater strides in society than at any
other time in history.
The reason we have made these strides is that
we have realized that we need to take hold of
our futures. We need to create our own conception
of blindness and to share this conception
with society. We have fought court battles across the nation. We have battled discrimination
and most importantly, we have promoted a
positive attitude about blindness.
Our philosophical orientation is that blindness
is simply characteristic. As with all characteristics,
in some contexts that characteristic will
be inconvenient and in other contexts that
characteristic will be very convenient. Blindness
should not be romanticized, it should not
be viewed as a sixth sense and conversely
blindness should not be viewed as helplessness
or second-class citizenship. We must look
frankly and honestly at blindness.
There was a situation last year in two different
states where blind mothers were threatened by
the local social welfare agency to have their
children taken away for no reason other than
that the mothers were blind. The consequence
of that kind of an attitude on our lives is
devastating. We cannot allow society to make
those judgments for us. The National Federation
of the Blind stepped in and said, "There
are criteria by which you evaluate whether a
mother, blind or sighted, is fit or unfit. Is the
child well-fed? Is he clean? Is he being cared for
properly? If these are being done by a blind
woman or a sighted woman, then there is no
reason to remove the child from the home."
The National Accreditation Council for Agencies
Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped
(NAC) is an accrediting body which
goes around and puts its seal of approval on agencies that NAC feels are providing quality
service to the blind. Many of the members of
NAC's Board, and many of the agencies that
NAC accredits feel as though they are in fact
providing quality services. Again you have to
look at the basic concept of blindness that these
agencies hold.
The Minneapolis Society for the Blind runs a
sheltered workshop where their workers are
paid less than the minimum wage. They were
interviewed about two years ago by 60 Minutes.
Most of us have seen 60 Minutes and would
generally agree that the quality of investigative
reporting is outstanding. They analyze the
issues, they ask pointed questions and they
reach logical conclusions. However, when 60
Minutes investigated the Minneapolis Society
for the Blind, the interviewed one woman who
had been in the shop for 11 years. They asked
her about her education and background. This
woman was college educated. She had a BA
degree. She had been in the sheltered workshop
for 11 years as one of their highest paid workers
and was making $1.50 an hour. It never occurred
to the reporters, given their conception
of blindness, to ask her why with her training
and education she had been with the shop for
11 years. Nationwide the Federation has battled
discrimination and struggled with the agencies
providing inadequate services. We have won
many battles, but most importantly, we have
watched society's concept of blindness gradually
change.
We have been at war with NAC for many years.
The war is based around one fundamental
principle -- Who is going to be in control of the
lives of the blind? Will it be the blind themselves
or will it be the professionals? Aristotle observed, "We make war that we may live in
peace." The agencies, in injured tones, say that
all they are trying to do is provide the highest
level of professional service; that the Federation
is just a bunch of militants and a bunch of
angry folks and are just stirring up trouble.
Most of NAC's clients accordingly really like
what they're doing and most of their clients are
behind them 100 per cent. They never seem to
stop and ask themselves why the blind are so
angry with them. What provokes the blind to
demonstrate against them? Why are the blind
continuously picketing and writing letters to
Congress? These questions never seem to come
up.
The orientation and mobility profession is one
of the subsets or subgroups of the professionals
with whom we are forever battling. I talked at
the beginning about the white cane as a symbol.
What we have found over the years is that to be
able to travel independently is something that,
given reasonable opportunity, we are able to
accomplish. What we are finding is actually a
schism where blind people across the nation
are beginning to learn in great numbers that
they are able to travel independently. Whereas,
on the other hand, the orientation and mobility
profession charged with training us how to
travel is solidifying their notion that we cannot
travel in any meaningful sense. That may
seem harsh, but I think I have good reason to be
harsh.
I talked with an orientation and mobility
specialist several years back who told me that
if she were blindfolded she would not trust a
blind person to get her safely across a street.
What she was saying is that generally a blind
person can cross safely, but when push comes
to shove, she wouldn't put her life on the line. I ask you reasonably why then should I put my
life on the line, if the techniques don't work. I'd
just as soon not be squashed by a car either. I
have noticed that this conception of blindness
is pervasive among orientation and mobility
specialists. As a group of blind people, we are
bringing the professionals to a place where
they are going to have to reevaluate their
conception of blindness.
We, as blind people, have to take hold of the
future and make the future what we want it to
be. Tonight we have gathered together and
brought our friends, neighbors, and relatives
so that we can share with them our concept of
blindness. The progress we have made, as
blind people, is progress of which we can all be
proud. However, there is much progress yet to
be made.
The blind children of today will be the blind
adults of tomorrow and we must build a future
for them. We must prepare for them a place in
society. There is a blind child here in Albuquerque
who is six years old. He is able to use
the cane around school and can keep up with
any sighted child. That is an opportunity that
most of us did not have. This child's opportunity
is a symbol of the progress we have made. It is a
symbol of the freedom that we want for our
lives and the lives of blind children. Our futures
will be as bright as we can conceive them to be.
As we stretch our own thoughts and challenge
our routines and traditions, we will discover
new opportunities which will fulfill us as individuals
and collectively bring us first class status
in society. We cannot allow our concepts of
blindness or the concepts of those around us to
limit our individual potential or to keep us from
the goals toward which we strive.
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