I agree with moggymania

[conuly]

MTV isn't the first place I'd go looking for decent advice on People With Disabilities^TM, but it works.

Even the stuff about "PERSONFIRSTLANGUAGERAR!" is coupled with a note that people have their own preferences, and that not everyone may like being a Person With.

The world, it endeth.

Edit: I can't bring myself to put Griff's latest linkypost on its own entry, because it's too much to do that, but go read. griffen is just one of the coolest people I know.

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

As I said in no_pity, it looks mostly good. But really, if I'm walking with someone and they're giving me a running commentary of every mundane thing we're passing or every perceived obstacle, it's going to get quite annoying. A guide dog knows enough to adjust the person's pace to avoid cracks or other small obstacles. People who use a cane either are quite good with one or have enough residual vision to be able to handle normal issues like stairs and cracks. I do very much appreciate though a warning about head-height things that don't go all the way down. And I do appreciate certain other forms of information, but in truth, if I don't walk with you regularly, it's better to just trust I know what I'm doing (I do go out and travel alone, afterall) than you trying to guess what info I need. Because it's hard to enoy a walk with every curb and crack being mentioned.

[conuly]

Judging from the general attitude of the article, I hope the impression most people will get is "if the person I'm trying to help tells me to knock it off with the *blank*, I should do that". So, while it's certainly a big uh-oh to see it, I'm still mostly happy about the article.

(I was wondering about a few of the specifics, certainly, but I figured the general direction of the article was a good step.)

[leora.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It's mostly quite good. Could use a little polish.

But I am glad to see anything that emphasizes don't grab people with disabilities. Seriously, don't. Don't. Don't. Don't.

There are, of course, exceptions. Such as, if you know the person and know details and can actually judge the situation. Or if you're pushing the person out of the way of oncoming traffic. But if it looks questionable and the person just seems shaky or worse seems fine but is blind/crippled/whatever, don't grab them.

People who grab me seriously piss me off. And when they grab my cane arm, they immobolize me, which greatly bothers me.

Now, if it's a friend reacting to a particular situation, it's generally fine. Had to reassure a few people who were reacting to a particular situation in a sensible manner that that was fine. But strangers tend to grab me solely because I'm blind or because I sometimes am a little shakey on my feet while getting up. But that's my normal everyday way of being, and not a good reason to grab me. Yeah, I've got lots of stored up annoyance on this topic. But if strangers felt they could grab you and hold you in place or drag you around, you'd be annoyed too.

[code-epic.livejournal.com]

People grab me, and I'm Deaf. It's my ears that don't work; my legs are just fine. Like conuly, I think this article is a good first step in the right direction. Everything it says regarding Deaf and hard of hearing people looks accurate to me, and I especially appreciate that it acknowledges Deaf culture.

I have a question that I hope you won't mind answering. How should I, or any other Deaf person who doesn't speak, should interact with a blind person who isn't aware that I'm Deaf in the first place? I've communicated comfortably with blind individuals through sign language interpreters before, but a couple of years ago I was alone in a Metro station when a blind man approached me. I was able to figure out that he wanted me to lead him to one of the farecard kiosks, but to this day I don't know if he ever realized that I'm Deaf or thought I was just unusually tight-lipped. There were hearing commuters all around us, but of course no one stopped to help.

I can't pronounce the sentence, "I am Deaf." The Metro station incident was a freak occurrence: out of all the commuters in that rush hour, the man just happened to choose the one Deaf girl there. But in case I ever again find myself alone with a blind person, do you have advice as to how I can tell him or her that I'm Deaf without transgressing any physical contact boundaries too badly? Thanks in advance - Leigh.

[leora.livejournal.com]

The blind trying to interact with the deaf just doesn't tend to work well, well, not in person. Unfortunately, it really is a comedy situation. I have managed nice interactions with deaf and hard of hearing people, but there were people who could translate ASL for me.

I can think of many things that could work, but the real problem is that not all blind people are the same. If the person is partially sighted, as many blind people are, you might manage with gestures toward your ears and mouth to make it somewhat clear. You might manage to communicate a lack of ability to communicate if you can just make unintelligible sounds. And if you are really worried about the possibility, you could try to get a bit of Braille that says "I am deaf". That'd be easy to Braille, if you have access to some method of Brailling, which most people don't. And, of course, not all blind people can read Braille.

I think you mainly have to hope it doesn't happen. Because while things could be arranged to allow for communication, it's not going to be easy to just communicate with a blind person with no warning and in the timespan of a random encounter. Sometimes disabilities really do get in the way. That's just the way it is.