From Tim Hendel, Huntsville, AL:
In May's issue, John Dragona objects to the term "the blind" or any other expression that puts the word blind first. He asks us to use the term "people who are blind." I have the opposite opinion regarding this matter. I am not at all surprised that Mr. Dragona acquired a preference for the "people who..." terminology while studying for a degree in rehab counseling.
During my almost 20 years of rehab teaching in Miami, I discovered that many sighted people who call themselves rehab professionals seem to be quite uncomfortable with the whole notion of blindness. Since they cannot very well bury the notion, they attempt to bury the word blind by hiding it in some supposedly politically correct circumlocution, or avoiding it altogether.
I very much feel myself to be a member of the blind community, and can't think of a better term to describe this group of people. I have no objection if someone, in attempting to identify me, says, "Tim is the blind man who lives upstairs," and I will usually say, "This is a special tape player for blind people." I have always known that I am a person, and don't need a special phrase to remind me. Mr. Dragona wrote that, if I call myself a "person who is blind," rather than a "blind person," people will better evaluate my abilities and not see me as quite so helpless. But I think this idea is undocumented and very unlikely.
In the same issue, Fred Gissoni talks of his experience with Moon Type. I, too, once decided to learn Moon. The Royal National Institute for the Blind in London has, or used to have, a pamphlet in braille that would teach a braille reader how to read Moon. I learned the system, and read through a couple of magazines they sent me. At that point, I gave it up, since becoming a fast Moon reader did not interest me; I only wanted to see what the system was like.
The most unusual thing about Moon, and the hardest thing to adapt to for me, a braille reader, was that the lines are read in opposite directions. The first line of a page is read left to right, like braille. The next line is read right to left, and so on down the page. There is a little arc at the end of each line to guide your finger down and around to the following line. I found reading from right to left very hard to get used to.
I, too, used to get the Ziegler when it was printed at the braille plant in Monsey, NY. We always got the Ziegler at the school for the blind in Batavia, and I remember being so thrilled when I found out that I could have my own subscription.
As has been mentioned, the magazines came rolled up. I used to put mine between my mattress and boxspring for a couple of days to flatten it. Can the editor tell us when the Monsey plant opened? I think it closed in the 1960's, and then the Ziegler was printed at Clovernook.
[Editor's Note: The magazine moved from New York City to Monsey in 1927. We ceased embossing operations in 1965, and two years later re-established our office in New York City.]
During my almost 20 years of rehab teaching in Miami, I discovered that many sighted people who call themselves rehab professionals seem to be quite uncomfortable with the whole notion of blindness. Since they cannot very well bury the notion, they attempt to bury the word blind by hiding it in some supposedly politically correct circumlocution, or avoiding it altogether.
I very much feel myself to be a member of the blind community, and can't think of a better term to describe this group of people. I have no objection if someone, in attempting to identify me, says, "Tim is the blind man who lives upstairs," and I will usually say, "This is a special tape player for blind people." I have always known that I am a person, and don't need a special phrase to remind me. Mr. Dragona wrote that, if I call myself a "person who is blind," rather than a "blind person," people will better evaluate my abilities and not see me as quite so helpless. But I think this idea is undocumented and very unlikely.
In the same issue, Fred Gissoni talks of his experience with Moon Type. I, too, once decided to learn Moon. The Royal National Institute for the Blind in London has, or used to have, a pamphlet in braille that would teach a braille reader how to read Moon. I learned the system, and read through a couple of magazines they sent me. At that point, I gave it up, since becoming a fast Moon reader did not interest me; I only wanted to see what the system was like.
The most unusual thing about Moon, and the hardest thing to adapt to for me, a braille reader, was that the lines are read in opposite directions. The first line of a page is read left to right, like braille. The next line is read right to left, and so on down the page. There is a little arc at the end of each line to guide your finger down and around to the following line. I found reading from right to left very hard to get used to.
I, too, used to get the Ziegler when it was printed at the braille plant in Monsey, NY. We always got the Ziegler at the school for the blind in Batavia, and I remember being so thrilled when I found out that I could have my own subscription.
As has been mentioned, the magazines came rolled up. I used to put mine between my mattress and boxspring for a couple of days to flatten it. Can the editor tell us when the Monsey plant opened? I think it closed in the 1960's, and then the Ziegler was printed at Clovernook.
[Editor's Note: The magazine moved from New York City to Monsey in 1927. We ceased embossing operations in 1965, and two years later re-established our office in New York City.]
posted by Matilda Ziegler at
7:51 PM
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