AMPERS
Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities
We DeafBlind folks may be lucky in one respect; we don’t see people staring at us. We’re less burdened by what’s called the “Abled Gaze.”
Sometimes I get unwanted help. I’m walking along a wall instead of down the middle of a corridor, and people think I’m lost, and so they to try and correct what seems out of place. Abled people are unacquainted with people with disabilities, yet we make up a quarter of the population.
Speaker: We deafblind folks may be lucky in one respect as compared with other people with disabilities. We don't see people staring at us. This means we’re less burdened by what's called the “Abled Gaze.”
Host: This is Keep Moving Forward.
George H.W. Bush: Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.
Host: Exploring the legacy and promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Speaker: I'm speaking on behalf of John Lee Clark, who is a second generation deafblind man who’s also a poet, a Braille instructor and a family man with a wife and three boys. These are his words.
I interact with hearing and sighted people all the time. Most of them are awesome and respond well when I do tactile gestures to communicate, but some are like deer caught in the headlights – they freeze.
People with disabilities who are sighted are more aware of this. The Abled Gaze is most of the time invisible to me, but when you notice it, it can get into your head. For instance, I sometimes get unwanted “help,” like when someone thinks I must be lost because I'm walking along a wall instead of down the middle of a corridor. They don't know how to behave, except to try and correct what seems out of place. Abled people are so unacquainted with real people with disabilities. And yet we make up nearly a quarter of the total population.
Host: Keep Moving Forward is supported by The Minnesota Council on Disability, The Minnesota Humanities Center and the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, online at Ampers.org.