Intro: Gray Pancakes and Gold Horses

Intro: Gray Pancakes and Gold Horses

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
This is the fourteenth volume in the Kernel Book series. Its title, Gray
Pancakes and Gold Horses, is taken from the first two stories and symbolizes the theme
of the book.

How do blind children learn the details of the hundreds of small daily
acts that sighted children pick up without ever even knowing they have done it? A blind
boy sits in a farm house on a summer night and wonders which way to shake his head to mean
yes and no. He guesses and loses, and his mother’s feelings are hurt. I know, for I
was that boy.

A blind father cooks for his two sighted children, and the pancakes are
gray, causing the children to reject them. Small incidents, things of no great moment.
Yet, the stuff of daily living, the patterns and realities of life.

This Kernel Book is much like those that have gone before it. It
contains first-person real-life stories, told by those who have lived them. It talks about
going to school, communicating with others, and living from day to day. I know the people
who appear in its pages. They are friends of mine. Some have been my students.

The one thing all of us who appear in this book have in common is our
shared participation in the work of the National Federation of the Blind, the organization
which has been the strongest single factor in making life better for the blind of this
country during the twentieth century. With more than 50,000 members, the National
Federation of the Blind is primarily composed of blind people, who are trying to make life
better for themselves and other blind people, while at the same time making the world a
better place in which to live for everybody.

We who are blind have a major job on our hands in trying to get members
of the general public to see us for what we are-not especially blessed or especially
cursed but just ordinary people, exactly like you. The only difference is that we
don’t have eyesight, which is not as big a factor in our daily lives as most people
think it is.

So how do we get the job done? How do we get people to see us for what
we are and not just what they have always thought we are? One of the most important ways
is through the Kernel Books. This is why we write and publish them. They must be
entertaining enough that people will read them, but they must do more than that. They must
carry the message of what blindness truly is, and what it isn’t.

We hope you will enjoy this book and that it will give you new insights
about blindness. Since more than 50,000 people become blind in this country each year, the
information you get from these pages may be useful to you in a personal way at some future
time-and if not for you, then for a family member or friend.

As you read, remember that we who are blind have more hope today than
ever before in history. We believe that when we can, we should do for ourselves before
calling on others for assistance, but we also recognize the value of the help which a
growing number of sighted friends and associates give us. We want to live the full lives
of free, participating citizens, and we know that we can.

All of this you will see reflected in the pages of this book. We hope
you will find it of interest and that it will cause you to rethink some of your notions
about blindness.

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