Although I am blind and do not need the NFB to speak for me, I do see some
sense in Dan's point. The problem isn't the blind needing a toilet of their
own, but rather all the sighted people who make public toilets into
cesspools. There are many times where I will avoid using a public restroom
simply because I don't want my dog walking around or lying down in urine. It
strikes me as sad, but ironic that my four footed assistant has better
toilet habits than many people.

Dan's comments clearly bring out the difference between disabled and
handicapped. Disabled means simply that you cannot do something that is
considered a normal and necessary function, like seeing. A handicap is a
condition that is imposed (willingly in golf, unwillingly with disabilities)
that prevents you from doing something. Now personally, I don't mind not
being allowed to drive, since without my eyes I could very well kill
someone. It is not my right to do that. However, to tell me that I cannot do
something because it is too expensive is the height of hypocrisy. Do you
know what a doctoral degree costs a student, sighted or otherwise? There are
CARS that cost more than my first house did on the road right now, and
someone may sweat a $2,500 computer and Kurzweil reading system? Those
$40,000 cars can be totalled by a $200 Yugo, but the only thing that can
total a blind person is another person (who will most likely be sighted and
who drove himself to work) who thinks that it is his right to decide the
rights of the blind.

That is where the discrimination comes in. The rights of the disabled are
decided by those who are disabled only by their own arrogance. The point is
that we will not have what is rightfully ours unless we show two things. The
first is that we are able to overcome the problems caused by our disability
the same way that an abled person deals with their own problems. Secondly,
our rights are not a gift given by some individual who thinks that rights
are his to dispense as he sees fit. We are coming up on Memorial Day, where
those who fought to maintain our rights are remembered for their sacrifices.
They did not die for people who are not blind, not deaf, or not wheelchair
users. I benefit from what they did, and it is not the job of anyone to
abridge those rights without due process.

Decide for yourself whether you are or can be enabled, but don't let anyone
handicap you!

Gary Drennan
and Gage, the Wonder Dog

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly Pierce" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2000 5:16 PM
Subject: edu: letter to editor about blind toilet


> >>  >From: Jim Marks <[log in to unmask]>
> >>  >
> >>  >Here's the local NFB Chapter's response to the toilet for the blind:
> >>  >
> >>  >Missoulian
> >>  >Wednesday, May 3, 2000
> >>  >Opinion/Letters
> >>  >
> >>  >Toilet for the Blind: Open your eyes and stop the bigotry
> >>  >By Dan Burke
> >>  >
> >>  >Dan Burke is vice president of the Montana Association for the Blind,
> >>  >Missoula Chapter, and access coordinator for the Disability Services
f=
> or
> >>  >Students at the University of Montana.  Write him at
> >[log in to unmask]
> >>  >
> >>  >         Breaking news: The blind have bigger worries than whether
the=
> y=20
> >>  > will be
> >>  >able to wipe themselves in a public restroom.
> >>  >         The Missoulian's April 25 article "Flush the Promise" is an=
> =20
> >>  > example of the
> >>  >biggest problem we face - the stereotype that we may be so helpless
an=
> d
> >>  >dependent that we worry about whether we'll be able to carry out the
> >most
> >>  >basic personal hygiene if we leave our own bathrooms.
> >>  >         That is, we face the kind of bigotry that keeps us out of
job=
> s,
> >
> >>  > that leads
> >>  >too many of our schools to fail in educating us, that kind of doubt
> >about
> >>  >our useful citizenship that makes people surprised if we own our own
> >home,
> >>  >have families, achieve anything beyond feeding and clothing ourselves
=
> -
> >at
> >>  >public expense, of course.  These are the attitudes that result in
low
> >>  >expectations for blind kids to have meaningful, productive lives, for
> >whom
> >>  >turning 18 and getting a Social Security check is the first and final
> >>  >epiphany.
> >>  >         The product described in the article does not help us, nor
do=
> es
> >its
> >>  >publicity.  In fact, it humiliates and demeans us, a side-effect that
> >I'm
> >>  >sure the inventor never intended.  Through he contacted many of us in
> >>  >Missoula who are blind for an endorsement, we all politely told him
no=
> =2E=20
> >In
> >>  >fact, more than one of us told him there was no problem to be solved.
> >>  >         Coincidentally, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last month=
> =20
> >>  > referenced
> >>  >blindness in a decision about the Americans with Disabilities Act - a
> >civil
> >>  >rights case that didn't have anything to do with blindness.  It said
> >that a
> >>  >blind person couldn't be a college professor since we couldn't keep
up
> >with
> >>  >the necessary reading, or that hiring a reader would be too costly an
> >>  >accommodation.
> >>  >         Why single out blindness as an example in an employment
case=
> =20
> >>  > involving
> >>  >fertility?
> >>  >         Answer:  because too many people really believe that blind
> >people=20
> >>  > may not
> >>  >be able to wipe themselves without assistance.  The blind are
apparent=
> ly
> >>  >the yardsticks by which we measure pathetic incompetence.
> >>  >         Forget that there are blind college professors all over the=
> =20
> >>  > world, and
> >>  >that they have long been around.  Forget Jacobis Tenbrook, founding
> >father
> >>  >of the National Federation of the Blind in 1940, a renowned
> >Constitutional
> >>  >law scholar.  Forget Missoula's own George Kerscher, world leader in
> >>  >developing digital technology for audio books for the blind, who
trave=
> ls
> >>  >around the globe alone several times a year.  Forget Jorge Luis
Borges=
> ,
> >>  >Argentine author, college professor, student of languages and
one-time
> >>  >chief librarian of Argentina's national library.
> >>  >         What?  A blind guy in charge of all those books?  The secret
=
> is
> >
> >>  > out - it
> >>  >was his ready supply or emergency paper!
> >>  >         I find myself bringing this article up with everyone I
meet -
> >bus=20
> >>  > drivers
> >>  >and shopkeepers, neighbors and co-workers - for fear they have read
it
> >and
> >>  >are wondering if I can clean myself.  I can't help but imagining
their
> >>  >noses crinkling, expectantly, as I come into the room.
> >>  >         Instead of fighting for better education for blind kids,
> >instead of
> >>  >advocating for real job opportunities for the nearly 80 percent of
bli=
> nd
> >>  >working aged adults who are unemployed, instead of sounding the
trumpe=
> t
> >of
> >>  >freedom and justice for blind people everywhere, maybe we should beg
t=
> he
> >>  >Legislature of service groups for enough money to buy a cell phone
for
> >>  >every blind Montanan - in case we get=85er, stranded.
> >>  >         Or maybe I could invent a toilet paper dispenser I can carry
=
> on
> >
> >>  > my white
> >>  >cane.  I would never have trouble finding the goods again.
> >>  >         If you read the article, and said to yourself, "Huh, I bet
th=
> at
> >
> >>  > would be a
> >>  >problem for blind people," then it's time to rethink your assumptions
> >about
> >>  >blindness.  Will you ever want to pay for our teachers so we can get
a
> >good
> >>  >education?  Will you ever even consider hiring us at your
business?=20
> >Will
> >>  >you ever think of us as anything but "those poor people?"  Those are
t=
> he
> >>  >very prejudices that we must fight against.  They have no merit, and
> >have
> >>  >been proved wrong again and again - but they just won't flush!
> >>  >         We need education, skills, opportunity and the right to live
> >with=20
> >>  > dignity.
> >>  >  But, like so much in life, we can't get these things from a toilet
> >seat.
> >>  >
> >>  >=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-
>
>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> To join or leave the list, send a message to
> [log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
> "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
>  VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
>


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html