My wife and I have both been blind for over 20 years, and we understand why the first instinct when showcasing the disabled is to put able individuals in these roles. Speaking from a blind perspective, we feel this is the wrong way to go about educating the public on the lives of people with disabilities. The thought of being blind or becoming blind is overwhelming, and it goes beyond just the physical limitation of not being able to see.  

My wife and I went through months of rehabilitation after losing our eyesight. Rehabilitation was an extensive and rigorous process, which included classes on how to travel, cook, shop, sew, read Braille and adapt our sightless situation to highly visually-based computer operations. In addition, one of the classes I participated in was woodworking. Yes, woodworking, including power saws and tools.

All these hands-on courses were valuable self-confidence builders, but the most important class dealt with attitudes and issues related to blindness. This carefully structured discussion class taught us that it was okay to be blind and that we could lead productive and fulfilling lives. Through guided interaction with the group, we grew to understand that if we believed we could be productive and fulfilled, we, in fact, could be.

I am not trying to rain on anyone’s parade. But putting a cane in someone’s hand and blindfolding him or her doesn’t begin to touch the evolutionary process necessary in learning to live with blindness.

Sure, blindness is frustrating and scary. It certainly was for us in the beginning, but we want folks to understand that we have grown to accept our situations and have learned to go on with life, facing it with all the up and downs and struggles common to everyone.

Giving someone a cane and blindfold or trying a wheelchair for the first time in most cases instills fear, sadness and/or the thought of a terrible life. If they don’t feel the aforementioned thoughts, many times the thoughts are that we are amazing people who magically became competent. We are not — we are just people who over time learned to live life in a different way.

Rather than the cane, blindfold, wheelchair exercises, I would much rather see individuals go to a lecture or panel explaining how they go on with daily tasks — a program offered by folks with disabilities. However, if you are one of the people who is going to grab a white cane and blindfold, jump into a wheelchair or any of the different activities on campus, please understand that this is what it is like the first time. It marks the very beginning of a long adjustment process which sharpens our wills and abilities to accomplish and fulfill our lives.

Clay Gurganus

Enrollment Services Adviser

Student Financial Aid