Diversity is usually portrayed as the acceptance of many different races and geographical cultures. It is not as common to hear the lack of diversity towards the blind community but it exists. The attendance of Texas State University has opened up the doors to one of the most diverse places I have had the chance to experience first-hand. Although Texas State has become somewhat of a safe-haven, that does not displace the fact that there is stereotyping everywhere against the blind.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of blind is “unable to see; sightless” (Definition of Blind in English, 2015). However, I do not like to be put in such a box. I define blindness as merely a heightening of other senses. What do you think of when you hear the word sight? More than likely you think of shapes, colors, and objects. My idea of sight consists of many senses; smell, touch, sounds, those are the things that I “see” with. How about the word blind; what do you think of then? The most common relation to the word blind is disabled; however, we are a very abled people. Even though I carry a cane among my person I get through my daily life just as any other able-bodied human being (Question 1).
My name is Melony Fey Harper and I am blind. I am just another girl on just another campus getting through just another day. There are a few differences, however, in the structure of a typical person’s day and my own. I wake up, brush my teeth, put on my makeup, and head downstairs
In his memoir, Planet of the Blind, Stephen Kuusisto details his experience of living with a disability of sight, including his initial denial of his legally blind status. His tiring work at passing and his parents’ own denial and support of his refusal to be openly blind both stem from and reflect views of society at large. Members of Kuusisto’s life, just like many people today, ignore blindness and the challenges those with visual impairments have and continue to face. It’s not until he’s struggled for years pretending to see that he fully accepts his legal blindness and begins using a cane and a guide dog.
Throughout the novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison works with many different images of blindness and impaired vision and how it relates to perception. These images prove to be fascinating pieces of symbolism that enhance the themes of impression and vision within the novel. From the beginning of the novel when the narrator is blindfolded during the battle royal to the end where Brother Jack's false eye pops out, images of sight and blindness add to the meaning of many scenes and characters. In many of these situations the characters inability to see outwardly often directly parallels their inability to perceive inwardly what is going on in the world around them. Characters like Homer A. Barbee and Brother Jack believe they are all knowing
All people who have brown hair are not alike. All people who have disabilities are not
In Freeman Patterson’s Barriers to Seeing, Patterson mentions a quote from Susan Sontag about cameras and experiences. Sontag writes, “‘A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it – by limiting the experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting into an image, a souvenir’” (Paragraph 12). Essentially, Sontag is elaborating how people are distracted from their surroundings and experiences to find a photogenic picture or to record what they think to be an experience. While the objective of photography is usually to capture an experience or feeling, many are instead obsessed with finding good lighting, searching for a good background, and are focused on taking the best picture to post on social media. In many cases this is very true, and I myself can see it in people’s photos as well as my own. In Freeman Patterson’s Barriers to Seeing,” he quotes Susan Sontag’s statement that one’s camera can be a barrier to seeing and experiencing a moment. Through other’s picture taking as well
When people are growing up, being normal was the way to be cool. Everyone wants to be like everybody else and that’s the way it goes. What children and many adults still don’t understand is that being different and having diversity is a good thing. It is ok to be different, especially in today 's society. Being able to acknowledge that diversity and disability in everyday life and seeing the good in it will help bring together our society. For my next three paragraphs i 'm going to discuss what it was like to be an outsider, when I experienced diversity and an experience I have had with disability
In the novel, Paradise of the Blind, written by Duong Thu Huong originally in Vietnamese and translated into English by Phan Huy Duong and Nina Mcpherson, the author constructs characters Aunt Tam and Uncle Chinh as analogs of conflicting political ideologies of 20th century Vietnam in order to display her opinions on its effectiveness in attaining proclaimed paradise. The characters are constructed to differently express the author’s voice towards extremist ideologies, Uncle Chinh
For two days, I observed the first ten individuals entering the Jones-Sampson building located on the JSU campus. Observing these individuals allowed me the opportunity to explore how diversity is perceived from a small sample of the campus. I believe, a college campus is the perfect setting to view the hop topic called diversity. The population at JSU includes people from various countries, social economic backgrounds, class, gender, occupations, and sexual-orientation. According to the Webster dictionary, diversity entails the quality or state of having different forms, types, and ideas about something. For the purpose of this observation, the first ten individuals encountered were evaluated based on both their similarities and differences. The factors observed
By saying that his idea of blind people came from the movies shows that he probably has not had any real life encounters with a person who is blind, therefore the only idea he has of blind people are the kind that are portrayed in movies. However, by saying that blind people “never laugh” and “move slowly” makes them seem dysfunctional as human beings. Blind people cannot see, but that does not correlate to how quickly they move. By saying that blind people move slowly, that indicates that they are “disabled” and not able to keep up at the same pace as others. Not only is the fact that the narrators perception of those who are blind awkward, but it makes it seem as if the blind have their own stereotypes—which is the foundation of discrimination and prejudice.
If a blind person walked into the room, I would expect to see someone who looked feeble, wore dark glasses, used a cane, and potentially had a guide dog. The narrator of this story had similar preconceptions about the blind. Some of these preconceptions were that “the blind move slowly and never laugh”, “sometimes [the blind are] led by seeing-eye dogs”, the blind man’s life and marriage were unfulfilling because he was unable not see, and others that had to do with physical appearance and mannerisms. This blind man though breaks these stereotypes and much more. Conventional ideas about the blind are broken because of the way he was portrayed and helped to teach the narrator a lesson.
The Blind Side directed by John Lee Hancock was a visual text about a teenage boy named Michael. Based on a true story Michael, nicknamed Big Mike has grown up in a poor and broken family and goes to a public school where no one really cares about him. Growing up this way has left Big Mike emotionally deprived and lonely. Thanks to his Friend’s dad Michael gets the opportunity to go to a private school on a scholarship. Suddenly he has teachers that care about him and while his life seems to be slowly improving, Big Mike still uses other people’s washing machines in the Laundromat, does not sleep at home and stays at the gym at school because it was warm. The biggest turning point in this movie was when Leigh Anne Touhy
When one thinks of being blind, they think of someone who literally can not see, but one can also be blind by lacking perception or awareness. People who have sight and yet are blind is clearly seen in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story based in the 1930’s when racial issues are heavily present. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and throughout history, people or groups of people have existed who can literally see the world around them, and yet are blind to the truth; but, as seen in the novel, some of these people’s eyes can be opened to the truth either by empathy or experiences.
Being blind or partially sighted means losing the ability to see facial expressions and gestures making it difficult for the person to understand what is being communicated. Not being able to read
The society questions why it is so challenging to communicate with foreigners. "The Country of the Blind" is a short story first published in 1904 by H.G. Wells. He is well known for his science fiction novels. This short story is focusing on sight and blindness and brings up the theme of prejudice versus learning. In the novel we follow a traveller, who ends up in an unfamiliar strange place, which set him in learning trail, figuring out who he really is. How does the writer illustrate the difficulties with foreigners in this short story?
Many people make an assumption they are not blind to life itself whether ignorance plays a part or pride. In Cathedral by Raymond Carver, it describes a few myths that society has portrayed and opinions of the visual impaired. The main focus is getting to know the person before drawing a conclusion. Its not fair to anyone to be neglected whether you are visual impaired or have the functionality of what is considered to be a normal human being.
The United States has many minority groups that face oppression. In the media today, most of the minority issues that are highlighted involve the LGBTQ community, women, and racial minorities. Differently-abled people are rarely given the space to share with the world how they see it. This literature review will discuss terms related to visual impairment, legislative measures taken in the United States to assist those with severe visual impairments, and the oppression and discrimination those who are visually impaired face.