How to Really See a Blind Person

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/opinion/blind-sight-seeing.html

I'm writing this blog post after reading a NYT article from Feb 28, 2018 titled: How to Really See a Blind Person (link posted above). Snyder, the author, was blinded by an explosive while serving in Afghanistan. He writes about his experience with blindness and compares it to his life before he lost his vision. Snyder talks about how he’s able to "rationalize" his blindness because he lost his vision in service for others. This made me wonder how he would feel if he were born without sight. I wonder how readers of this article who were born blind would feel about this line.

This piece connects to many of the themes we have touched on in class. Snyder discusses how "overcoming" his disability has been far less difficult than "overcoming" the social stigma associated with it. While his cane and guide dog allow him to navigate streets, airports, and buildings, they also welcome unwanted stares and attention. Snyder admits that he feels put on display everywhere he travels, like a "freak," he says. This reminded me of the line in Good Kings, Bad Kings where Ricky says he feels guilty reading the charts of the ILLC kids because if he gets to read their charts, they should get to read his. For people with visible disabilities like Snyder, there is sometimes no way to prevent people from "reading your chart."