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Common Questions and Concerns
Perspectives from a Blind Man: What Blindness Is, What It Isn't
This is a draft of a letter that Dan Kish prepared in
response to the article "Kindness Beats Blindness." This pointed
but diplomatic proclamation about blindness places blindness in
a whole new light
To Whom This May Concern:
My name is Daniel Kish. I am totally blind from birth, and the
Executive Director of World Access for the Blind - a nonprofit
organization using a modern, No-Limit approach to equalize
opportunities for the success of blind people. I hold Master's
degrees in Developmental Psychology (where I focused on children at
risk) and Special Education. I am the first totally blind,
nationally certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, as this
certification was withheld from blind people until very recently. I
refer to myself as an Alternative Perception Specialist, because of
the highly sensory nature of what I teach. I do not blow my own horn
out of fanfare for myself, but fanfare for a few of the achievement
possible with blindness - to set the stage for what I wish to share
with you. Anyway, 4 years ago, I quit my full time job as a
coordinator of educational and enrichment services, to start this
organization when I realized a way to teach blind people how to see
without sight, and to master their way in darkness.
I commend your wonderful work. Your efforts and good intentions
stand tall as an inspiration to us all. I have a concern about the
new campaign, Kindness Beats Blindness, which I feel a need to share
with you with the expectation that you will understand and
appreciate my perspective.
As a blindness professional, I monitor several blindness related
mailing lists. When the article, "What Kids Can Do" about
Harrington's Heroes came to my attention, I read it with a highly
ambivalent reaction. This project is certainly filled with heart and
the very best of intentions, but touched me, not with hope, but with
a sense of foreboding. I posted a response to the list, and have
since been urged by multiple subscribers, sighted and blind, to take
the lead in addressing what we perceive to be a well-intended but
somewhat misguided (forgive me) threat to the dignity and integrity
of blind people, and our ability to gain a position of respect in
society. "I wish the staff at Good Morning America could hear these
sentiments as they covered this project" said one colleague from the
list. I do not claim to speak for all blind people, only myself as a
blind person. My concerns arise from a life's dedication to helping
blind people find their own strength. I present my response here,
not with any intent to criticize, but to raise points concerning
blindness that you may find useful and interesting as one who
clearly wishes to make a respectful impact on our behalf. I would
also like to offer you some insights about blindness from a
No-Limits perspective that can set right and further empower this
new movement you have sparked. I have found that the best
achievements are often wrought through joint efforts in good
conscience. Please accept my contribution in this spirit.
When I first encountered this incoming message, my tension was
immediately raised by the subject line "Kindness Beats Blindness."
Indeed, I have felt beaten and pummeled by many things - misplaced
kindness foremost among them. So, my negative reaction was somewhat
reflexive. As a blind individual self-dedicated to helping blind
people throughout the world gain a place of dignity, respect, and
self-reliance in today's difficult, sight dominated society, I read
the article with a mixture of chagrin and admiration. In today's
society of stress and self-centeredness, who can argue with the need
for kindness, camaraderie, solidarity, respect, and all those good
things? It seems clear to me from this account that the intention
here of promoting compassion is well meant, and is finding well
deserved fruition and popularity. My heart-felt congratulations. Is
that wrong? If the intention is to promote kindness toward blind
people, I respectfully pose this question: Is it kindness that
we blind people need? (Perhaps this depends on how you define
kindness, and the results of it.) I ask this with genuine respect,
because I appreciate the positive endeavor here.
In my experience, what we call "kindness" or "compassion" has stood
among the biggest threats to blind people. It is compassion with
lack of understanding that has landed many blind people in
institutions and kept us out of the mainstream "for our own
protection" over the years. "Killing with kindness," as a woman
wrote on one of the lists in response to this fine article. It isn't
compassion that necessarily benefits blind people any more than
others, unless it's well blended with understanding and respect for
blindness as a gainful opportunity, not a shameful condition of
deficit. Compassion without understanding of human strength and
respect for dignity and purpose becomes a dangerous and hurtful
thing. I know. I and my students world wide confront this reality
every single day. Some have told me after losing their vision, "It
isn't the blindness that most bothers me, it's the way I'm now
treated." They're not generally referring to people being cruel,
callous, or insensitive, but rather too helpful, smothering,
condescending, and often lacking recognition of personal potency.
In my experience, blindfold experiences typically raise more fears
and doubts, and affirm more myths and misconceptions about blindness
than they put to rest. The results have always been disappointing,
disheartening, and demeaning. I haven't seen this campaign in
action, so perhaps I am missing something important here. But, it
seems to me that kids leading each other around for a day with a
solemn "the lights go on" ceremony as the finale may do little to
promote productive understanding of blindness, and may serve to
cause harm toward blind people by way of sending a message of
neediness rather than capacity. This approach runs the risk of
re-enforcing the destructive idea, already too rampant, that blind
people need the eyes of others to reach fulfillment, or even just to
get by. In truth, we who have adapted to blindness as a viable way
of life often find that notion disdainful and hurtful. Please,
forgive my strong choice of words. I mean no offense at all to the
wonderful spirit of this project and of your much needed work, and I
hope I can help make it the kind of project you seem to intend.
Please understand, for many blind people, blindness isn't at all
about being lead around, relying on others' kindness, or craving the
light of day. Blindness isn't about fear of the dark, vulnerability,
or suffering. It is definitely not about what we can't do, or wish
we could do. Blindness is about adaptation and resourcefulness,
about effective, purposeful, dignified, self-directed living in the
dark, about achievement through perseverance. Blindness is about the
joy, freedom, and beauty of making our own choices by exercising our
own sound judgments and capabilities. It is about the gratification
of embracing the world and making the unknown known. Those of us who
have seen the New Light that shines in darkness are leaders, givers,
and doers, not waiting to be lead or enabled by the kind hands of a
warm heart. I fear that, with the very finest of will, this campaign
as it stands may serve to backfire by presenting and affirming a
twisted perspective on blindness to the children involved, and to
the public at large.
Blindness need not be a thing that we must regard as a condition of
"suffering." The suffering part of it is ultimately a matter of
personal choice as is true when faced with any challenge. While most
blind people would probably rather see than not, at the same time
many would not regard their circumstances as "suffering." We see and
live blindness from a "gain" perspective, not a "loss" perspective.
That is the only way we can find and own our power. I think the
purpose of fighting blindness isn't so much to combat it as an
affliction, but to bring a positive light to the situation of
blindness. I call it the "new light." Blindness may be eradicated in
a few instances, and good riddance to it, but more realistically and
importantly, I submit that the afflictive nature of blindness can
and should be addressed in positive, respectful ways without casting
aspersions on the condition.
World Access for the Blind, for example, teaches blind people world
wide how to "see without sight", and how to approach life with a
perspective of success and purpose, not loss. Our main message is
"No-Limits", and we mean it. Our students learn to use sound and
sonar imaging natural to humans, together with belief in their own
capacity, to interact with their environment gracefully and
energetically in astounding ways not previously imagined. Solo
bicycling, competitive ball play, and wilderness survival without
need for the eyes of others are just a few things that become
readily possible, not to mention finding quality and enrichment in
one's day to day life. The impact on self-worth and confidence is
immeasurable in this positive light. In our public and professional
presentations, we never conduct a blindfold experience without
ensuring that participants leave with a knowledge of how to adapt to
the dark, and appreciate blindness, not as a condition of deficit or
affliction, but one of strength, capability, and promise. The
blindness remains, and the capacity is restored and celebrated.
Imagine an 11-year-old boy named Daniel from Mexico, spurned by his
peers and lamented by his loving grandma after being struck blind by
a truck at the age of 6. The urgent hope held before him that his
vision would surely return was perhaps most confusing and
devastating to him. Once angry, bitter, and bewildered, he offered
us his heart-felt thanks for showing him how to use "the click of
the mouth" to see again, and has returned all smiles to the soccer
field and play yard where he has forcefully earned the respect and
admiration of his companeros and community. His warm-hearted
grandma now regards him with hope and pride, not sadness or pity -
engaged in the pleasure of who he is and how he has grown. Not only
has he won respect, but he has reached the top of his class in his
neighborhood school, and earned the acclaim of the local media for
his shining No Limits example to all. As Thomas Baldrick would say,
small bodies do, indeed, have big hearts." The strength of Daniel's
heart and the fire burning from it is one of the greatest
inspirations of my career, and the finest testimonies of our work.
Two of our former students and now good friends (one of whom serving
as a key employee) say that losing their vision is the best thing
that ever happened to them - that they like who they have become as
a result of the blindness. Both have appeared with me on national TV
to demonstrate their new found ability to see without sight. One of
them, Brian, was called "the world's best, totally blind mountain
biker" in Mountain Bike Action Magazine, as he navigated rugged
mountain trails on his own bicycle without need of a tandem pilot.
Brian will be one of our lead riders in our "TeamBat Over America"
campaign featuring blind cyclist riding solo. An avid young athlete,
he lost his vision suddenly during the summer before his 8th grade,
and his sports gear went into storage. A few years later, he removed
his old bike from storage after hearing of our program, and came
with us to learn to ride it in the dark, and learn to see again. He
is now our most agile rider. He is graduating Pepperdine University
with honors, having traveled Europe as an exchange student. While
both of these guys would doubtless give up their blindness for sight
as it becomes available at some point in the future, both have told
me that they would not trade what they've learned and how they've
grown through adapting to blindness for a life time of seeing.
Neither would I, though I've never seen.
As you can see, we see blindness from a perspective of gain rather
than loss, action rather than reaction, taking care rather than
being cared for. So, I think before we start beating blindness with
kindness as if it were a dastardly thing to be scourged, please
consider that it may be more productive and respectful to take a
look at shedding the light of understanding on what we propose
someday to conquer. Let's not make blindness the scapegoat. In the
mean time, we can focus on what we can do right now - making it a
viable, livable, even enjoyable and enriching circumstance of
living. As an expert in the field, I can assure you that many
decades stand between us and the fabled cure for most forms of
blindness. I can also assure you that there are many ways to see
without eyes, and these ways can be applied immediately with very
powerful and exciting results by those who believe and achieve. For
the near future, World Access for the Blind is involved in
mobilizing the
development of an artificial eye that will make visual information
available in detail through hearing and touch. I was inspired to do
this after a visit with Prof. Steve Mann, a top scientist at Toronto
University, who told me that, given the resources, detection and
sensory technology and knowledge are at a point that we have the
ability right now to create a device that would allow blind people
to "throw away their canes, and take up tennis as a hobby." Preludes
for such a device have already been created by my organization, and
by Dr. Leslie Kay from BAT LTD in New Zealand, and others. But, for
the capacity of blind people to be fully realized and accepted, with
or without technology or special training, I submit that we must
work with rather than against blindness in a positive way without
disrespecting or dishonoring the condition. To do otherwise throws a
pall over everything that we blind people strive for - to stand as
equals with our sighted comrades, not because of
their kindness towards us, but because of our own intrinsic capacity
to achieve and to shine. It seems to me that this is, indeed,
consistent with the mission statement set forth by Harrington's
Heroes.
I mean no offense or disrespect to you or to this fine cause. You
clearly intend a wonderful thing here, and finding cures for
blindness is a noble and much worthy cause. I think with a little
thought, this could be turned into a powerful message of affirmation
and respect, rather than one about the meritable easing of another's
afflictions. I would be honored and very pleased to help you with
this.
With Appreciation and Respect,
Daniel Kish, M.A., M.A., COMS, NOMC
Executive Director, World Access for the Blind
This essay by Paulette Kish, presented at a professional
conference in 2000, gives a heart felt and level headed view of
raising two blind children to lead the lives they wish to lead
with achievement and purpose.
I am going to start today by reading some definitions to you.
HANDICAPPED: A disadvantage that makes progress or success difficult
(it does not say impossible only difficult). DISABLED: To be unable
or incapable. Because I do not consider people with visual
impairment to be unable or incapable, I prefer to use the word
handicapped. So if you hear the word handicapped today this is why.
Today we are going to talk about how we can help children with
visual impairments attain independence. Are we, any of us, truly
independent? Few of us grow our own food, milk our own cows, churn
our own butter, or even make our own clothes. We are actually
interdependent. We depend on others to provide services and products
for us and we in turn provide something for them. This is how our
society works, and this is how our families function. It is just as
important, if not more so, for children who are blind or have low
vision to learn interdependence. They need to feel like they are
contributing to the family unit.
As Educators we have a responsibility to help parents understand
how important it is to help their children be a part of the family
unit and not the center of it. By being a part of the family and
expected to pull their own weight, so to speak, the child learns
self-confidence and a sense of self-worth. These are big steps
towards independence.
Over the past twenty to twenty-five years many laws have been
implemented to see that the special needs of children with visual
impairments are met. These services are truly remarkable. The low
vision aids and special equipment for the blind are far beyond what
we could have imagined fifteen years ago. We have IEP meetings that
specialists, parents, and even the child may attend to design a
personalized plan for educating the child. These children receive a
comparable, if not superior, education to their peers...So why is
there a 75% unemployment rate among the legally blind and up to 90%
for those who are blind from early infancy?
There are two books I am going to talk about briefly. JOB'S TO BE
PROUD OF gives profiles of workers who are blind or visually
impaired, and CAREER PERSPECTIVES...interviews with blind and
visually impaired professionals. These books are from "The American
Foundation for the Blind." Mentioned in these books is a mechanic, a
receptionist, a medical transcriber, a massage and acupressure
therapist, a Customer Service Agent, a factory worker, there is a
Deputy Assistant Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey, an executive
with Xerox, a Senior Planner with the Fulton County Department of
Parks and Recreation, an Assistant Attorney General in the Land and
Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, a
Feature Writer with the Fort Worth Star Telegram in Texas, a
Vice-President and general manager of KKOB AM & FM in New Mexico, a
stockbroker, a judge, a lawyer, and a professor, just to mention a
few. Then we have my son Keith who teaches Language Arts at s middle
school in Yorba Linda ... and he likes to read by the way. And my
son Dan who is an O&M instructor as well as the Youth Out Reach
Coordinator for Blind Children's Learning Center. Visual impairments
and blindness are not stopping these people.
There are many areas of development that children need to
achieve. Intellectual development is only one of them and perhaps
not the most important. These children need to learn how to function
in a seeing world. They need to be a part of society as it is. The
rules are already in place and like everyone else they must learn
how society works and what is expected of them. But first of all, as
educators, we need to evaluate our expectations for these children.
Most children...most people will only achieve what is expected of
them. If we expect less from children with visual impairments than
we do from children who are not visually impaired...that is what we
are going to get. These children are children first and their visual
impairment is only a small part of what they are. We need to work on
their social development. Instead of providing a sheltered
environment where these children can have their social needs met
among other visually impaired or blind children why are we not
encouraging them to go to their school dances, to join clubs, to
participate in other school functions. What about joining community
activities...like Brownies and Cub Scouts. After all ultimately this
is where they will learn the social skills needed in the seeing
world of employment. If we expect them to be productive adults, to
hold jobs. Then they will need all the experience they can get to
develop these social skills. Let's not make them more handicapped
than they need to be...lets stop thinking of them as blind children.
They are children with feelings, wants, needs, and dreams just like
all children.
We must help parents to start teaching interdependence within the
family unit early in life. By the age of two a child can help put
their toys away. By three they can learn to help fold some
clothes...like wash clothes. (At age 3&1/2 Dan could help me fold
Keith's diapers.) By four they can set the table, put their own
clothes away and help feed the pets. By five they can make their own
beds, pour their own cereal and milk, and make a sandwich. There are
many things children can do to help... to contribute. Children need
to experience first hand: Failure, success, helping others, respect
for themselves as well as respect for others. They must learn to
take responsibility for their actions. We need to let them grow to
allow them the ability to make choices. All people deserve the right
to make choices. This is independence.
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