The window shade is stuck in the down position.
Why does a blind person need a window shade?
The hotel wants to know.
“I’m not an exhibitionist,” I tell them.
But of course I am always a symbol.
The staff in the dining room seems frightened when they see me and the guide dog.
“I’m just a strange citizen, passing through,” I think to say.
In this I am no different from Walt Whitman or you or you or you.
Nira, my guide dog is happy wherever she goes.
What a teacher she is!
S.K.
During his speech today on the war in Iraq (which the president calls "the war on terror") George W. Bush told the story of a soldier named William Gibson who lost a leg while fighting in Iraq. In the president’s narrative, William Gibson came home and received a prosthetic leg and then went on to compete in triathalons. While competing in the famous Alcatraz swim in San Francisco Bay William Gibson was observed by a U.S. General who asked him if he could use any help. Again, according to the president, Gibson asked to be allowed to return to Iraq. He is there today.
Like so many of the president’s stories the point of this was unclear. In Bush’s framing of the narrative one should imagine that the stamina and heartfelt concern of William Gibson means that we will triumph over our foes.
As I like to say in disability studies classes: disability functions as a complex metaphor—really, for all intents and purposes you can think of this metaphorical process as having layers like an onion.
Disability is a "foe" that we must conquer.
Conquering disability is heroic.
A disabled person who is heroic inevitably inspires everyone.
Inspired people are the good guys.
Good guys don’t need complex medical or psychiatric care.
I admire bravery and I further admire William Gibson for his fighting spirit. I have no qualms about his patriotism and his concern for his fellow soldiers and the people of Iraq.
The thing that concerns me is that there are tens of thousands of veterans who have been shattered by their experiences in Iraq and in Afghanistan and these veterans are finding it’s very difficult, if not virtually impossible to get good health care.
If disability can be used as a heroic metaphor for overcoming or fighting the odds does it follow that "not talking" about the majority of disability experiences faced by our soldiers means their stories are insufficiently symbolic?
S.K.
So there I was today on NPR’s “On Point” program with two terrific blind professionals and I was feeling like the school kid who has to use the bathroom and can’t wait any longer to announce the matter. I needed to say that the reason blind people are so woefully unemployed and the reason that the public marvels at the accomplishments of exemplary blind professionals like Gordon Gund or David A. Paterson is that the film and TV industries continue to make blindness look horrible. Who wouldn’t imagine, after seeing that dreadful movie “At First Sight” (with Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino) that being blind isn’t a minimal life? That movie came out at the same time as my memoir “Planet of the Blind” and it reinforced every cliché about blindness that I was trying to conquer. If the human resources professionals saw a prime time television show in which a blind person confidently uses state of the art assistive technology—heck, even showing the non-disabled characters a thing or two about the gizmos, well that would be as big a step toward changing the climate of unemployment for the blind as our well intentioned celebration of Governor Paterson’s oath of office. Let’s face it: the public thinks that blind people are scarcely able to navigate their living rooms. How could they possibly serve as good employees? That Ph.D. or Master’s degree must be some kind of a trick. That’s it! The “brainiac” blind woman or man is probably “faking it” just like those guys you see begging for money with the phony sunglasses. Yep! That’s gotta be it! How do I know this at (insert company name here)? Because I just saw Disney’s film version of Mr. Magoo. Now there’s a blind guy for you! Ha! I laughed til I dropped my popcorn on my plaid shorts. Boy Oh Boy was that ever a good movie!
In case anybody’s wondering, I was once interviewed by a producer of ABC’s television program “20/20”about the possibility of an interview associated with the publication of “Planet of the Blind”. What did I do to ruin the deal? I mentioned that ABC is owned by Disney and that the new film of Mr. Magoo was a disgrace. They were very nice as they showed me to the door.
S.K.
Professor Stephen Kuusisto
Department of English
The University of Iowa
308 EPB
Iowa City, IA 52242
Links:
Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv
As heard today on On Point Radio with host Tom Ashbrook
"This hour, On Point: we talk with a roundtable of blind Americans about living and working and leading blind."
Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv
I was fortunate to be asked by National Public Radio to appear as a guest today on their nationwide program "Talk of the Nation". I stress "fortunate" because it’s a privilege to be asked to share with the public ideas about disability in general and blindness in particular.
But I felt a sense of disappointment with the interview today. Today’s host, Lynn Neary asked me questions like explain "how" I (a blind person) could know what a painting by Jackson Pollock might look like. I gave the obvious answer–namely that I have descriptive friends who tell me these things.
Unfortunately, I think we ran out of time before the really important questions could be asked. What I had hoped for was an interview in which I might talk about "why" 70 per cent of the nation’s blind and visually impaired people who are of working age remain unemployed. I wanted to talk about our contemporary inheritance from the Victorians who saw a disabled body as an economic liability in the machine driven world of the Industrial Revolution. I wanted to talk about "why" these outworn ideas persist in the United States–so much so that we continue to stand in amazement when a superbly intellectual and gifted man like Governor David Paterson emerges from the pack.
Instead the interview sputtered badly I’m afraid, though I tried to explain that blind people bring critical thinking and emotional intelligence to their public and professional lives.
The good news is that tomorrow I am scheduled to appear on NPR’s "On Point" program. With any luck, I’ll have an opportunity to discuss some of this then.
S.K.
LINK:
NPR’s Blog of the Nation "Colors and Fog": What It Means to be Blind
Good morning. I am privileged to have been asked to write an Op Ed piece for the NY Times concerning the ascendancy of David A. Paterson who will be sworn in as the nation’s first blind governor on Monday. You can follow this link to read the piece.
I wish that the Times hadn’t called the editorial “The Vision Thing” since I hate to be associated with George Herbert Walker Bush or his progeny. But they didn’t ask me.
Still, the success of David Paterson is something that all people with disabilities can celebrate!
S.K.
Professor Stephen Kuusisto
Department of English
The University of Iowa
308 EPB
Iowa City, IA 52242
LINKS:
What It Means to be New York’s First Legally Blind Governor
Who Is David Paterson?
Read All About It! Thanks Blue Girl
The Vision Thing Brigit Abstract
The first legally blind governor Thanks Heather
David Paterson to Become First Legally Blind Governor of NY on Monday Thanks Anne
Rhetoric about blindness begins in paterson coverage Thanks BA Haller
Kuusisto on David Paterson Thanks Ken
Building the Internal World Thanks Jean Marie
Blind elected officials Interesting! Thanks Penny
He’s Blind. I’m Deaf. What Do I Have in Common with New York State Governor David Paterson? Thanks David
NY Times Op Ed on David Paterson Thanks, Ruth
Gordon Cardona lives in Malta. He has been blogging about the
efforts of the Maltese Labor party to create a new institution for people with
disabilities and in turn, Gordon is arguing for getting pwds into the
community.
This issue of institutionalizing people with disabilities remains a problem worldwide. Here in the great state of Iowa there are people even as I type who are in hospitals who would like to be in their communities.
It is safe to say that people with disabilities are only as free as the civic “ethos” of their local communities.
One thing that Gordon’s post reminds me of here in the United States is that people with disabilities are equally ignored by the GOP and the Democrats.
Our friend Kay Olson over at The Gimp Parade has a post about two Hollywood casting calls that are looking for physically deformed or oddly shaped people for two upcoming movies: one about "the hollers" of West Virginia; the other having to do with Cormac McCarthy’s novel "The Road" which is a post-apocalyptic vision that features ghastly survivors.
Kay’s post Is "spot on" about the dilemmas of using real disabled people in exploited roles. Just so, she wants to see people with disabilities get the chance to play themselves. The problem is in the scripting of course. Nowadays Hollywood is a cartoon industry rather than a cinematic one. Film after film presents real life actors playing two-dimensional cartoon characters. Disney did this a few years ago with a version of "Mr. McGoo" starring Leslie Nielson. But you can find thousands of examples from "Pretty Woman" to "Edward Scissorhands" and beyond. The days when Hollywood jumped at the chance to film a complex novel featuring three dimensional characters are largely over. I saw only one such film making the rounds this past year. ("Atonement").
Physically challenged people are perfect for 2D roles because in the second dimension they are of course merely symbols for atavistic impulses like the belief that if you see a blind person first thing in the morning you will also go blind; or if you meet a little person you will be crushed by a falling tree. Or worse: physical difference means that you’ve been punished or rewarded by supernatural forces or the gods. This is the kind of stuff that continues to set back the public’s understanding of disabilities and I know whereof I speak for far more often than you might suppose I am accosted by people who want to pray for my recovery.
And why not? Film after film shows us to be in the hands of a twisted power.
I have the feeling that Karl Rove might have a new career in some of these films. He’s small. He has a funny looking head. He’s mean as can be. But I digress.
S.K.
Crimes Against People with Disabilities: A brand new blog and A Place to Tell It Like It Is
In 2002, Professor Mark Sherry, then at the University of California, published an intriguing article about the grievous underreporting of hate crimes against people with disabilities in the United States.
The most important dimension of this piece resides in the FBI’s
suggestion that hate crimes against the disabled are statistically
negligible. The findings of an accompanying study by the UC Berkeley’s
program in disability studies suggest that police and law enforcement
officials are often reluctant to categorize crimes against people with
disabilities as hate crimes because officers aren’t sufficiently
trained to identify biased based crimes. Additionally, it is easier to
classify a crime as simple assault.
Alas, not much has changed in the six years since this article was
published even though disability rights advocates have continued to
point out the seriousness of this underreporting problem.
The aim of this blog is to give people with disabilities and their
fellow advocates a place to publicly record narratives of abuse against
PWDs. These narratives might be first person accounts or associated
stories drawn from the news media or the internet. They might be links
to blogs or links to announcements concerning public policy and law
enforcement initiatives aimed at addressing these problems. Other posts
might include articles or bibliographies about these issues.
Above all
else it’s safe to say that the gathering of this information will be
timely.
Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv
Thank you, Ben Kieffer, for this opportunity!
An interview with University of Iowa Professor Steve Kuusisto. He’s an author, educator and advocate for people with disabilities. Blind since birth he says sometimes even those working to help people with disabilities consign the disabled person to a second-class, defective status. That thinking is something Kuusisto is working to change. |
Planet of the Blind 