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Thread for #BlackHistoryMonth 
on #blackdisabilityhistory:
1.
In 1971, Louis D Mitchell wrote a piece in the @NAACP’s The Crisis mag titled ‘The Blackness of Blindness’, a fascinating piece on the genesis/ intersections of prejudice, discrimination, ableism & racism
#DisHist/
on #blackdisabilityhistory:1.
In 1971, Louis D Mitchell wrote a piece in the @NAACP’s The Crisis mag titled ‘The Blackness of Blindness’, a fascinating piece on the genesis/ intersections of prejudice, discrimination, ableism & racism
#DisHist/
2.
Blind since childhood, Mitchell had attended the NY Institute for the Education of the Blind. He later worked at Scranton University for several years, as a professor of English literature.
#DisHist #BHM #BlackHistoryMonth /
Blind since childhood, Mitchell had attended the NY Institute for the Education of the Blind. He later worked at Scranton University for several years, as a professor of English literature.
#DisHist #BHM
#BlackHistoryMonth /
3.
The article examines the ‘otherness’ of both blindness & blackness.
Mitchell explains how people often erased his blindness: ‘when someone says to me, “You do things so well that I forget you can’t see. I simply think of you being like just about anyone else.”/
#DisHist #BHM
The article examines the ‘otherness’ of both blindness & blackness.
Mitchell explains how people often erased his blindness: ‘when someone says to me, “You do things so well that I forget you can’t see. I simply think of you being like just about anyone else.”/
#DisHist #BHM
4.
Mitchell then pointed out the inherent prejudice behind such a statement:
'I wonder about the true value of such an offering…The arrogance of ‘being-like-anyone-else’ concept is relevantly blatant.’ /
#DisHist #BHM #Ableism
Mitchell then pointed out the inherent prejudice behind such a statement:
'I wonder about the true value of such an offering…The arrogance of ‘being-like-anyone-else’ concept is relevantly blatant.’ /
#DisHist #BHM
#Ableism
5.
‘What they truly say is, ‘It is more normal than not for blind people to be limited, dependent, inferior & incompetent. You are still a blind person & still much more limited than I. You have compensated for your handicap so well that I almost forget you are inferior to me.”/
‘What they truly say is, ‘It is more normal than not for blind people to be limited, dependent, inferior & incompetent. You are still a blind person & still much more limited than I. You have compensated for your handicap so well that I almost forget you are inferior to me.”/
6.
‘It is well enough that the public should continue to see us as blind men & women. But let them also see us as men and women, equals…fully capable of participating in the process of society, as contributing human beings. Why should condescension go along with ‘otherness’?/
‘It is well enough that the public should continue to see us as blind men & women. But let them also see us as men and women, equals…fully capable of participating in the process of society, as contributing human beings. Why should condescension go along with ‘otherness’?/
7.
He pointed out how ableism shaped how blind people experienced their own bodies: ‘I have known blind people who have been ashamed to carry a cane or wear dark glasses, who have bluffed sight... because they reckoned that it made them look more like other persons.’
#DisHist /
He pointed out how ableism shaped how blind people experienced their own bodies: ‘I have known blind people who have been ashamed to carry a cane or wear dark glasses, who have bluffed sight... because they reckoned that it made them look more like other persons.’
#DisHist /
8.
Mitchell pointed out the genealogy of prejudice:
‘Somehow the attitudes that want to lynch blacks, keep them out of good schools, send them to the back of the bus, bar them from neighborhoods, keep them form swimming pools, look upon them as sex symbols...'
#DisHist #BHM /
Mitchell pointed out the genealogy of prejudice:
‘Somehow the attitudes that want to lynch blacks, keep them out of good schools, send them to the back of the bus, bar them from neighborhoods, keep them form swimming pools, look upon them as sex symbols...'
#DisHist #BHM
/
9.
'...are not so different from those which patronise the blind, feel sorry for them, protect from life’s tribulations, think for them and treat them as dumb and limited.’ arguing for us to examine prejudice at the intersection of blackness and blindness./
#DisHist #BHM
'...are not so different from those which patronise the blind, feel sorry for them, protect from life’s tribulations, think for them and treat them as dumb and limited.’ arguing for us to examine prejudice at the intersection of blackness and blindness./
#DisHist #BHM
10.
Mitchell made a passionate argument for inclusion:
‘The blind man, like the black man, can participate fully in both civic and social, ecclesiastical and political affairs as well as everyone else', with training & opportunities available to everyone.
#DisHist #BlackHistory
Mitchell made a passionate argument for inclusion:
‘The blind man, like the black man, can participate fully in both civic and social, ecclesiastical and political affairs as well as everyone else', with training & opportunities available to everyone.
#DisHist #BlackHistory
11.
He ends thus:
'The overall stereotypic treatment of blind people and black people, to say nothing of the minorities, are two sides of the same coin; one passive and the other active, both part of a cult of negativism and guilt’
#DisHist #BHM /
He ends thus:
'The overall stereotypic treatment of blind people and black people, to say nothing of the minorities, are two sides of the same coin; one passive and the other active, both part of a cult of negativism and guilt’
#DisHist #BHM
/
12.
If you are interested in reading more about him, some of Crisis magazine older issues have been digitised and are accessible through Google Books.
#DisHist #BHM #BlackHistoryMonth #DisabilityRights #DisabilityHistory
End thread.
If you are interested in reading more about him, some of Crisis magazine older issues have been digitised and are accessible through Google Books.
#DisHist #BHM
#BlackHistoryMonth #DisabilityRights #DisabilityHistory End thread.
