Why We Need TV and Movies That Include People with Disabilities: Part 104

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:

Remembering Mr. Magoo

Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv

Premise

Suppose the rain treated us

As philosophers do—

Fingering skulls with sure duration

And knowing our time is brief

Sweetly steers attention away from dying?

Minturno of spring storm;

Proclus of fog skimming the fields;

Didn’t we talk to one another about seeing?

Oh yes, rain is the art of dying:

Men fear rain who do not shut their eyes.

S.K.

Today's "Talk of the Nation"

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

On Today’s Op Ed Piece in the NY Times

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


Allies: the Theme of the 33rd Disability Blog Carnival

Ruth has put together the 33rd (WOW!) Disability Blog Carnival and it is now available on her blog, WHEELIE CATHOLIC.  Borrowing from Ruth:

"The theme of this carnival is "Appreciating Allies". So, what and who are allies? Wikipedia says
that " those who share a common goal and whose work toward that goal is
complementary may be viewed as allies for various purposes even when no
explicit agreement has been worked out between them."

Ruth
pointed out that there are opportunities for those of us in the
disability community to act as allies. In so doing, she was kind enough
to mention Anna’s Pakman’s survey on Media Consumption and people with disabilities on her carnival.  According to Anna:

“the Nielsen ratings track media consumption for just about
every population EXCEPT our community so the only way I can get this
data is through your assistance. All individual survey responses are
anonymous and will be kept strictly confidential.”

This
is a perfect opportunity to say "thanks" to all ALLIES who in one way
or the other support our efforts. And a special thanks to Ruth.  We are
fortunate to consider her an ally, as are many others.  Of that we have
no doubt.

Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv and Crimes Against People with Disabilities.

Get Involved: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities "Blog Swarm"

RatifyNow.org is "a
website to support the global grassroots efforts to ratify the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities."  There you will
find this announcement:

Blog Swarm!

Calling all bloggers and writers! On March 30,
2008, the RatifyNow.org site will be host to the RatifyNow CRPD Blog
Swarm 2008! If you’re reading this page, chances are, you care
passionately about disability rights. This is your chance to get on a
soap box and tell the world what the international disability rights
treaty (CRPD) means to you! Learn how to get involved.

If you are not a blogger, you too can be involved.  Simply forward your essay/comments to a blogger, here for instance, to have your thoughts be heard.

Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv and Crimes Against People with Disabilities

The Book of Ringo

Back in the sixties if you had to make a decision about anything (from whether to have children or sell your bicycle) chances are good that you consulted the I Ching. Some people still do this of course and I wouldn’t want to dissuade them from utilizing an age old book of wisdom.

But I’m announcing on this blog that I’m now putting together a new spiritual almanac that I’m calling “The Book of Ringo”.

Why? Because I believe that the wisest words of the last generation are those of the overlooked Beatle, Richard Starkey.

This is always the way of things when it comes to holy men or women. They’re right here in our midst but we don’t see them.

Everybody remembers the topsy-turvy lingo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney or the sage pronouncements of Maharishi—but we can now see that wise as these people may have been or might still be, they are, as the poet Emily Dickinson once said, “playing at paste” as opposed to Ringo who has the real gems.    

Who among you remembers that the first question asked of The Beatles as they stood on American soil for the first time at Idlewild was posed by a hostile reporter who snarled at Ringo: “What do you think of Beethoven?”

Ringo said: “I love Beethoven, especially the poems.”

I would love to top that, but I’m not wise enough. Not by a country mile in the company of my long winded grandmother am I that smart.

Like the I Ching you can sort Ringo’s lyrics and pronouncements in any shape and they will answer your questions.

Example: “Why is life so hard?”

Ringo:

“I’d ask my friends to come and see/an Octopus’s garden with me.”

But of course like all holy men, Ringo is fast.

At this year’s Grammy Awards Ringo overheard Natalie Cole complaining about Amy Winehouse’s multiple awards and he said:

"Man, those are some grapes!”

Need more proof Ringo is a guru?

Press: “What do you think of topless bathing suits?”

Ringo:  “We’ve been wearing them for years.”

Upon seeing America for the first time:

“So this is America. They must be out of their minds.”

Of course the secret of all spiritual figures is that they invariably come from humble roots. Ringo once said that Gene Autrey was his first musical influence.

I rest my case.

The process of cross-indexing the Book of Ringo could take several years. And obviously there’s some theosophical research that has to be done. What for instance does this mean exactly?

Reporter: “Why do you always wear six rings?”

Ringo: “because six is too heavy.”

Man, I’m sorry! That’s better than the Dhammapada!

S.K. 

The Triumph of Industry

"Who do you want to be?" said the doctor. He was cleaning his glasses with the sleeve of his sport coat.

"I want to be a hydro-electric pump designer," said the little girl.

"Why don’t you show me how that works with your Barbie doll," Said the Doctor.

"Okay," said the little girl. "Watch."

She popped Barbie’s head off with a flick of her index finger.

"You must take Barbie’s head off quite often," said the doctor, "It looks like you’ve practiced."

"Barbie loses her head very easily," said the girl.

Then she took a Bic pen and poked a hole In Barbie’s left foot. Then she poked another one on the right foot.

She put the hollowed tube of the Bic pen into the top of Barbie’s neck.

"If you pour water into Barbie through the Bic," said the girl, "Then you can create downward pressure because water displaces the air and creates the conditions necessary for a vacuum, except the air needs to go somewhere so it heads for her feet.: but then you can control the displacement by opening and closing her foot holes."

The girl demonstrated by pressing her thumbs on Barbie’s feet. Water spurted out of the Bic pen atop Barbie’s neck in perfect accord.

"That’s why Sir Thomas Crapper called it a "foot valve"in the first place, "said the girl.

"You know, "she said, "You can’t make this kind of stuff up."

S.K.