By Jennifer Dunnam

Another very busy summer seemed to go by in a flash this year and saw much accomplishment.

The summer residential programs at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND) Inc. helped bring new skills and new perspectives to the blind youth who attended, and now the adult students have moved into a new apartment complex. 

We held a successful Walk for Opportunity in Rochester on September 7, bringing in much needed contributions and bringing visibility to our organization (not to mention getting many of us some great exercise).  Quite a number of people participated for the first time this year, some of whom were not blind but were very interested to learn about blind people and what we do in our organization. 

As we are just at the beginning of Meet the Blind Month, so proclaimed by Governor Dayton and by several mayors around the state, and all over the nation, I reflect on recent images of blindness in the mainstream media and how much work there is to do to make known the truth about blindness.

We were saddened recently to learn of the passing of Dr. Abraham Nemeth, the inventor of the braille code for mathematics and science notation that is in widespread use in the United States and some other nations.  Many of us remember his excellent contributions to one of our parents' seminars here in Minnesota several years ago.  His very interesting life story appeared in the media and shows that blind people can be quite resourceful, can lead full and rich lives, and can do significant things that are truly worthy of news coverage.

Unfortunately, it is all too common for items to get into the news that not only foster misconceptions about blindness, but also, upon close examination, are not really news at all.  Not long ago, right here in Hopkins Minnesota, an incident happened at a Dairy Queen and got quite a bit of media exposure.  A blind person dropped a $20 bill without noticing it while paying for his order and someone behind him swiped it off the ground.  A manager saw it happen but was unable to convince the thief to give the money back, so he kicked her out of the store and gave the blind person the $20 out of his own money.  Another customer witnessed this occurrence, and wrote a letter of compliment to Dairy Queen.  The subsequent news stories emphasized the kindness and generosity of the manager.  Certainly this was a kind and generous thing to do, and surely, had the robbed customer been sighted (after all, sighted people do drop things and are swindled, too), the same kindness would have been extended, right?  It is a question worth contemplating.  Also, if the customer had been sighted and the generous manager had given the $20, would this incident have made the news?  That seems highly doubtful.

Another un-news item occurred during the terrible shooting in the DC Navy yard.  A story appeared about a "hero" who led a blind man out of a building to safety. Apparently, the two colleagues were having a meeting, and when they heard the shots, the blind man took the sighted man's arm and they headed out.  Of course, it is very glad news indeed that these two and many others survived that horrendous event.  Also, it is a good thing when people treat one another well in a world where we can always use more courtesy and respect.  However, a story of two very fortunate souls who escaped a dangerous situation was turned into a story of a dependent blind person being protected by a hero.  This assumes too much, and it is not a stretch to say that it is yet one more reason why blind people are presumed not to be able to be responsible for our own safety, much less that of others.

Speaking of guns, many likely noted the media storm over the gun laws in Iowa that do not prevent blind people from owning guns.  The National Federation of the Blind takes absolutely no position on gun rights or gun control.  However, when the portrayals in the media say that we who are blind are categorically less responsible than anybody else and even places us in the same class with demonstrated criminals, we must say something.  So many of the same kinds of fears are used to say that we cannot be responsible for raising or teaching children, or cooking, or working with power tools.  The fact is that sight or the lack of it is not connected with ability to understand safety requirements, to know and observe the laws, or to use judgment.  The National Federation of the Blind released a press release, and several of us in Minnesota called in to provide our perspective when this issue was discussed at length on WCCO radio.

National Public Radio aired a story a couple of months ago about beep baseball.  The story discussed how things have evolved over the years, how blind people's participation in sports is more accepted and the sports are less restricted.  I always find myself a bit worried while listening to such stories, hoping that they will be a positive portrayal that does not show us either as "inspirational" or as pitiful.  This beep baseball story went along rather well for a while.  Then, an audio clip was played of a person congratulating a teammate on a hit, after which the sighted people pointed out that someone else made the hit.  This was meant to give an example of the humor and camaraderie of the team, but to me it seemed to undermine the story, once again making sure everyone remembers that such goof-ups are an essential feature of blindness.  This and the above-mentioned may seem like just a lot of pickiness, but the list of such things goes on and on, and they add up to create the perceptions that we must work against in order to have opportunities and live successful lives.

Fortunately, we do have this organization, which works hard to have the public at large know the truth about blindness, to meet real blind people, and to understand that we are a cross-section of society just as are those who are not blind.  People need us to meet them, through the pages of this bulletin but especially in person in our communities.  We have our work cut out for us, but we have a strong community and many resources.  This Meet the Blind Month, and every month, let us redouble our efforts.