Thanks to Alan Greenblatt of NPR for writing today about the issue of Chen Guancheng's blindness and the overtly dynamic positioning of the "b" word in the press coverage of the Chinese dissident. Greenblatt's piece, entitled "A Factor in a Much Larger Life: Debating Chen Guancheng's Blindness" does a nice job of arguing that people with disabilities are not, in fact defined by those disabilities, and I'm glad to have been asked for some comments on the subject. Kudos to the folks at NPR for bucking the media's fixation on the blindness as a determinant symbol of what is indeed a much larger life.
Planet of the Blind 