Social inclusion is a two-way street
I have been doing a little one woman social experiment of late, as I am fascinated by the human condition and particularly what makes people behave the way they do. Having moved from the mainstream into the disabled stream, the one thing that I have found very difficult to comprehend is why so many people respond to me chipping up with my white cane with fear.
Although I have made it quite clear that I am not a fan of anyone who discriminates, it would seem that there are two distinct types of discriminator. The first, and most abhorrent type, are people who are motivated by ill intent and hatred. For the purposes of my little experiment, these people have been excluded, because their response to my undertaking may have resulted in my having to be hospitalised and I didn't really fancy that. But the second group, people who are just ignorant, and I do not mean ignorant in its colloquial sense, but literally, in that these people are just unaware of the facts. These were the ones I was going to target.
As I still have some vision and I can, strangely, still hear (note to those people who seem to think that just because I can't see you also means I can't hear you), I am aware of people's reluctance to approach me and their somewhat troubled look when they see me bouncing down the street with my cane and I wonder why. Have they had a bad angry disabled person experience in the past and think I am about to impale them? Or have they just had no exposure to disabled folk and they simply don't know what to do? Either way, as far as I was concerned, this would not do. I could not leave this unanswered, so I set about to try different ways of communicating with people to see if this would make a difference.
So, I decided to just be super duper nice to every new person I met in order to break the ice and then afterwards to just be myself. I thought that the key was to make it evident that I am at ease with being visually impaired. I figured if I did this, then they would see Sandi, not the cane or the disability, but the person.
And it worked. I was friendly and relaxed and they were friendly and relaxed right back. Once they got the measure of me and realised that I have lost my eyesight and not my personality or sense of humour, then balance was restored for both. But as this was an experiment, there must be an outcome, and it is this - if I want to be included, I have to include myself.
About Sandi
Businesswoman Sandi Wassmer registered blind in 2008. In her blog, she shares with us the 'shenanigans of visual impairment'.
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Comments
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Fear of the unknown and that which we have not been exposed to is a likely reason I believe. I recently had a friend ask me to acompany her to meet with a friend who is in a wheelchair, just simply as she said because she felt a bit awkward. If we have not socialised in these situations we don't know what to expect. I should imagine that maybe some people are just anxious not to impede your journey too perhaps? I doubt it's a fear of you, unless your stick is being wealded in a menacing manner of coarse! XX
Posted by Heather Fallows, 11 May 2010 (2 years ago)
