Miriam, the flip side of that is when you hear blind folks called sighted
persons "sightalings" which is the sing song reference to ding-a-lings.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Monday, February 8, 2021 9:38 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] another memory regarding the language police
For a brief period of time, there was a term that sighted people were using to
avoid using the word, "blind". I don't remember the precise phrase, but I do
remember this weird incident. I was attending a platform address at the Long
Island Ethical Humanist Society. I don't remember anything about the talk that
was given, but I do remember that the guest speaker used that blindness
avoidance term during his talk. So at the end of his talk when we all had a
chance to speak with him individually, I told him that as a blind person, I
wanted him to know that I, and the many blind people whom I knew, did not
resent the use of the word, "blind", that is an honest, straightforward
description of our disability, and we are not ashamed of it.
I wanted to reassure him that it is perfectly OK to use the word, "blind".
Amazingly, he did not accept what I said, but instead, he gave me some
rationale for refusing to use the word. I was furious. Here was a person
saying that he didn't wish to disrespect a group of people and he then
disrespects a member of that group by refusing to receive feedback on his
decision.
Miriam
