Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC
Latest posts by Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC (see all)
- The Elephant in the Room - July 24, 2020
- Leading Voices of Diversity and Inclusion - June 17, 2020
- Keeping Up With Your Braille Knowledge At This Time - March 27, 2020
- SurveyGizmo and PDRIB Power Ground-Breaking Research on Blindness - February 27, 2020
- Making a Distinction: Teachers of Blind Students - August 12, 2019
The Elephant in the Room
By
Denise Mackenstadt, NOMC
In this year’s National Federation of the Blind convention banquet speech President Mark Riccobono talked about how words impact the lives of blind people. He especially identified the words used to define blind students by the Association of Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). I have been a long standing member of AER. Working in the education system for blind students I was exasperated when colleagues insisted on using terms such as vision teacher or teacher of the visually impaired (TVI). The program would be called the vision program. Yet I would not speak up. I mentioned this to my husband, who was a blind student in the public schools in the 50s and 60s. He was amazed at these terms. His whole educational career he had not ever heard these terms. He was a blind student in a program for the blind not the visually impaired. When we only identify blind students as visually impaired we deny their very existence. We perpetuate the myth with parents that their child was not really blind. This does an injustice to both students and their families. In my decades of working with blind individuals I have never seen a blind student recoil from the word blind. Not being willing to use the word blind and all of what that means philosophically determines an instructors belief in the tools blind people use to navigate the world. Braille becomes the reading method of last resort, a long cane is too inconvenient for other students and staff so put it in the corner of the classroom, out of the way.
I have worked with intelligent and dedicated professionals in the field of work with the blind. Most have been open to the ideas presented by the organized blind. They are in the trenches. They want what is best for their students. However, these are not the leaders and movers in the field. The leaders in the field recognized by the Association of Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) have demonstrated that they do not see a need to be responsive to the wishes of the very people they serve. This includes not only the professionals who may be members but also the students they work with.
President Riccobono’s words have encouraged me to work to use, in my own interactions with fellow colleagues and individual students, the language which is important to blind people. The vision first language used in the field is not acceptable and we all have a responsibility to encourage the use of language which shows true high expectations.
Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC
Latest posts by Edward Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC (see all)
- The Elephant in the Room - July 24, 2020
- Leading Voices of Diversity and Inclusion - June 17, 2020
- Keeping Up With Your Braille Knowledge At This Time - March 27, 2020
- SurveyGizmo and PDRIB Power Ground-Breaking Research on Blindness - February 27, 2020
- Making a Distinction: Teachers of Blind Students - August 12, 2019
