On Sat, Feb 12, 2000 at 08:35:19PM -0400, Ben Armstrong wrote: > > > I may well work on Debian for the Blind at some point. How discriminatory > > > of me! ;> > > > > Debian for blind is not descriminatory. Your analogy is excellent if one > > assumes that everyone > > labeled 'kid' is by definition handicapped. > > I don't even know if someone *born* blind would label themselves as > handicapped. They came into the world with different abilities from the > "norm", which is a world full of sighted people. I decided not to comment before, but I've changed my mind.. Technically I meet the legal definition for "blind". OTOH, I best fit into the classification of "visually impaired" While I don't have any qualms about being called "blind" (even if it is technically a mis-applied label) or visually impaired (an appropriately applied one with a negative idea attached that somehow my low vision is bad), I _AM_ very offended to be called "handicapped". The fact is that at night I can see better than anyone else on this list right now. I can hear better than most of you too and I'll even often times see details the lot of you would overlook. Can the lot of you walk down a sidewalk "normally" with your eyes closed safely because the sun's glare is in your face? I can. I can hear the echo of my footsteps off the sidewalk in such a way that I can do it, even walking around objects in my way to get home from my classes in the afternoon. Should I consider the lot of you handicapped or crippled because you cannot do the same? Why then should I be considered anything less than anyone else because I need a large monitor to be able to work effectively, have to use magnifiers and get close to read things, or cannot drive? I can do a great deal of things almost everyone reading this message cannot even fathom. (Sorry Ben, this message really is targetted toward Kyle and the very large segment of the population that thinks exactly as he does..) -- Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@debian.org> Debian Linux developer http://tank.debian.net GnuPG key pub 1024D/DCF9DAB3 sub 2048g/3F9C2A43 http://www.debian.org 20F6 2261 F185 7A3E 79FC 44F9 8FF7 D7A3 DCF9 DAB3 * Knghtbrd unleashes a pair of double barreled snurf guns and covers jesus with snurf darts <jesus> meany :P
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