One of the most misunderstood groups

Greetings! I'm Scott Savoy, managing editor at http://www.sterlingcreations.ca.
I hope that everyone is enjoying their October thus far and today, I have a very insightful editorial to share with you. Written by our president Donna J. Jodhan, this editorial focuses on how much society fails to understand the blind community.
I wish you a great weekend.

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One of the most misunderstood groups
By Donna J. Jodhan

Would it be fair to say that in general, the blind community could be one of the most misunderstood groups? If so, then why? Could it be that we are misunderstood because maybe and just maybe, the mainstream society has probably not taken enough time to get to know us? Or maybe is it because that they have not been exposed to our world enough?

I guess that we could probably offer several explanations for this but at the end of the day, this is the situation. As for my humble opinion, I offer these possibilities:
I believe that when it comes to blind persons in general, most of our mainstream society have somehow managed to erect artificial barriers towards us. These would include attitude, perception, and belief.

Let us first look at attitude. There seems to exist an attitude from many mainstream persons that blind persons should probably be viewed as not being fully able to be contributors to society. In short, we may be viewed more as persons who need to be helped rather than as persons who can help ourselves as well as others. The attitude may be one that includes the view that we are not fully able to take our places in the workplace and accordingly we are unable to attain enough spending power to look after ourselves. As a result, we need to be enrolled in support programs that can help to bolster our disposable incomes.

Perception: Much of our society may be guilty of having the wrong perception of blind persons; we are often viewed as not being able to think and do for ourselves. We are often seen as being helpless, easy prey for thieves, hackers, and bullies, and we are frequently seen as not important enough to receive certain core services. Evidence of this is often exhibited by both governments and companies in that whenever the going gets tough, the first set of services to be cut are those to the disabled and to the blind in particular. These circumstances often occur during unfavourable economic conditions.

Belief: Believe it or not, there are certain cultures that genuinely feel that blind persons are better off being shut off from society; in homes and away from the glares and stares of society. Or that they are better off not being seen or heard. There are even some cultures that honestly believe that we as a group should not be considered equally to the rest of society because of our disability.

Attitude, perception, and belief; these in my humble opinion seem to be the three main barriers that are responsible for us not being fully understood as persons, contributors, and as part of society. These are the three main barriers that we as a group have to face and ones that we need to tackle if we hope to turn things around in a positive way.


I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and weekend.
To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would be delighted to send you an electronic copy of our latest newsletter.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna's blogs and editorials.
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog
A monthly editorial on issues on diversity
http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca