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The Braille MonitorJanuary/February

2002

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Does

What You Do Really Matter?

Dana

Ard

by

Dana Ard

From

the Editor: The following article first appeared in the Fall, 2001, Gem State

Milestones, a publication of the NFB of Idaho. Dana Ard is Secretary of

the NFB of Idaho and editor of the affiliate's newsletter. She works as a counselor

for the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This is what she

says:

Some

time ago I had a discussion with a client about how things were going following

her completion of rehabilitation training. "Things are great," she

reported enthusiastically. "I still wear mismatched shoes sometimes, but

my friends understand. They know I'm blind." Sadly, I fear that this woman

has no idea what her friends actually do understand about her blindness.

Our

Federation philosophy teaches us that the greatest problem we as blind people

face is not our blindness but the attitudes of society, including our own attitudes,

about blindness. The attitude of my client's friends demonstrates a two-fold

problem. The first part is that of low expectations. The reasoning goes something

like this: "Our friend is blind. How could she be expected to wear matching

shoes?" I'm sure we can all think of times when friends or acquaintances

have expressed amazement over our ability to cook, clean house, raise children,

ride public transportation, or hold down a job. In the mind of the average person,

blind people can't possibly do all of the things that we find ordinary. The

second half of the problem illustrated by these caring friends is that any mistake

their blind friend makes is automatically attributed to her blindness.

I

have accidentally worn mismatched shoes a few times in my life. The reason wasn't

blindness. It was carelessness or perhaps not being very awake when I put the

shoes on. Sighted people have a bigger margin for error in this area than blind

people. I understand that CBS news anchor Dan Rather came to his interview at

CBS wearing mismatched shoes. If the interviewer noticed this flaw, it didn't

keep him or her from hiring Mr. Rather. I'm sure a blind applicant wouldn't

have gotten off as easily. The error would have been blamed on blindness. The

would-be employer's reasoning would then have gone: "If he can't wear the

right shoes, how can he be expected to do the job right?"

As

Federationists our goal must be to help society raise its expectations of blind

people. We can do this only if we raise our own expectations about ourselves.

Yes, what we do really does matter.

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