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People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

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Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#51
post #25

A bit of a tengent, but... For those worrying about their eyesight when getting older... If you are into FLOSS, one last defense against your eyes failing when you get older is actually to contribute to accessibility before you (hopefully never) end up needing it. Disclaimer: I am blind myself.

What do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title? I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it. In my case, should I call myself "a person with programming, Czechness and fortysomething years"? Nope, I am a middle-aged Czech programmer. Yes, that does not reflect my entire personality and humanity. So what. Better than this sort of language abuse.

Since you ask... I am find as long as blind is actually used. I dont particular care about the order of words. However, what I absolutely despise and truely hate is this "visually challenged" nonesense from the leftist language police.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title? I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it. In my case, should I call myself "a person with programming, Czechness and fortysomething years"? Nope, I am a middle-aged Czech programmer. Yes, that does not reflect my entire personality and humanity. So what. Better than this sort of language abuse.

To tag onto this, how do you feel about using "blind" in the figurative sense? Like "People born with various kinds of privilege are often blind to the ways they subtly benefit from that privilege on a daily basis"

Well, it's not always nice to realize that your condition is casually used as a negative conotation in everyday language. OTOH, there are worse things in life, so I mostly blink and move on... There are other hills to die on.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#53
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title? I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it. In my case, should I call myself "a person with programming, Czechness and fortysomething years"? Nope, I am a middle-aged Czech programmer. Yes, that does not reflect my entire personality and humanity. So what. Better than this sort of language abuse.

Since you ask... I am find as long as blind is actually used. I dont particular care about the order of words. However, what I absolutely despise and truely hate is this "visually challenged" nonesense from the leftist language police.

Nah, its only perceived as a slur by language police people with little stakes in the actual game. And, the slur thing is definitely not an US only phenomenon. In the german speaking area where I dwell, the youth use "spast" as a general derogatory term for everyone they dont like or perceive as "below" them. That is definitely a slur that went rogue.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shortcuts the American tendency to turn all disability-related nouns into slurs. (I found out a few weeks ago that "deaf-mute" is a slur in the States.) That's the major advantage, as far as I can tell.

Deaf-mute is not a slur in the US

Wikipedia says it is, citing the National Association of the Deaf's Community and Culture FAQ (among others). If you have sources that say otherwise, that suggests a NPOV issue with the "Deaf-mute" Wikipedia article.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#55

For the sake of the patients, I hope there's a better long-term service plan than Second Sight Medical Products had: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_retinal_prosthesis

The way I would solve that is by requiring that any software / documentation required for the operation, maintenance and repair of medical implants must be stored with some appropriate government body. If the company becomes unwilling or unable to service the product the information is made public.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#56
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title? I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it. In my case, should I call myself "a person with programming, Czechness and fortysomething years"? Nope, I am a middle-aged Czech programmer. Yes, that does not reflect my entire personality and humanity. So what. Better than this sort of language abuse.

Since you ask... I am find as long as blind is actually used. I dont particular care about the order of words. However, what I absolutely despise and truely hate is this "visually challenged" nonesense from the leftist language police.

Ahh, and to the language police people who downvote my POV: You are the problem. Stop patronising us.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deaf-mute is not a slur in the US

Wikipedia says it is, citing the National Association of the Deaf's Community and Culture FAQ (among others). If you have sources that say otherwise, that suggests a NPOV issue with the "Deaf-mute" Wikipedia article.

Wikipedia is dead wrong. I have never, ever, even in the most obscure context, heard it used as a slur.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#58
post #25

A bit of a tengent, but... For those worrying about their eyesight when getting older... If you are into FLOSS, one last defense against your eyes failing when you get older is actually to contribute to accessibility before you (hopefully never) end up needing it. Disclaimer: I am blind myself.

What do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title? I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it. In my case, should I call myself "a person with programming, Czechness and fortysomething years"? Nope, I am a middle-aged Czech programmer. Yes, that does not reflect my entire personality and humanity. So what. Better than this sort of language abuse.

> What do you think about the recent "People with blindness" obsession, as evidenced in the title?

Is there really an "obsession"? Also, while I don't deny there's some discussion here, I think you really have to squint to read the title in such a way.

In any case, I ... really don't care. As another commenter says, there are other, bigger, more important hills to die on than getting worked up about people trying to be more inclusive with their language.

Does it take anything away from me or minimize my disability when I'm referred to as a "blind person" vs a "person with blindness"? Not at all. So why does it matter?

And to be honest, I've never once met a blind person (or autistic person) who actually cares about this type of wording. I think this is one of those battles being fought by the extremes on either side, and it's frustrating and exhausting for everyone else, because it's a distraction from the real issues. And you can see this right in this comment!

> I am not blind nor deaf etc., but I am frankly fed up with it.

You're "frankly fed up" with something that barely affects you at all. Why?

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#59
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free software is more important than ever

Accessibility of free software is more important than ever.

The freedom of users of accessibility software is more important than ever.

Blind people in my family rely on proprietary software for dealing with visual impairments. It's painful and offensive how exploitative these tools often are. The thought of installing something by a similar company into one's body is frankly dystopian.

Re: People with blindness can read again after retinal implant and special glasses

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia says it is, citing the National Association of the Deaf's Community and Culture FAQ (among others). If you have sources that say otherwise, that suggests a NPOV issue with the "Deaf-mute" Wikipedia article.

Wikipedia is dead wrong. I have never, ever, even in the most obscure context, heard it used as a slur.

Neither have I – but Wikipedia also cites the OED (paywalled, so I can't confirm this). If the OED really says that deaf-mute is used as a slur, then I believe it. Again, if you have positive evidence that deaf-mute is not used as a slur, then please correct the Wikipedia article.
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