Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sorry, Lea, to hear of your accident. I've had two myself, one of which cost me the permanent loss of 50% of the mobility in my left wrist, the other of which involved rolling a car at 65 mph with myself, son, and dog in it, and didn’t result in injury to either son, or dog, and blessedly only left me a broken collar bone, five broken ribs, and a crushed vertebrae. We all have things for which to be thankful. :-) And sorry that I don’t begin to 'see' a connection between your having almost lost the sight of one eye and the question of whether a blind person can be a photographer. Is the point that having thought that you were going to be blind in one eye you are more appreciative of your sight, or that having thought you were going to be blind in one eye you are more sensitive to the plight of the blind? Again, neither will make the blind capable of, in any meaningful way, practicing photography, an art/craft that requires vision as well as visualization. :-) B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of lea Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 7:10 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R..blind BD, I will share a little story... Twelve years ago I was in a car wreck. I was a passenger in a little MG convertible with the top down...a perfect mix of warmish-cool on a June 6 evening. My 6-year-old daughter, Lauren, was on my lap when a car ran a light and we broad-sided it. No seatbelts (it was before the days of them being law but, with the exception of this ONE time, I always wore one anyway). My head hit the metal encasement of the top of the windshield in a crash I can still hear in my head to this day. I jumped out of the car, put Lauren down, scared to death she's suffered a major head injury. She walked away with nary a scar. I was not so lucky. As I stood up a flow of blood covered my white tank top and continued down my legs. Within seconds I was surrounded by people insisting I lay down in the street. Raising my hands to my head, they were covered in blood but I had no idea where the blood was coming from and no one would tell me. A man leaned over me...an off duty paramedic from the car behind ours...I looked in his mirrored sunglasses to see bloody goo where my right eye was supposed to be. In the brief seconds it took for me to realize what I was looking at, I realized I could be blind in one eye. I asked the man standing over me if my eye was gone. And he simply said, "I don't know." My eyeglasses had been cut in half by the impact and the top part of my right lens shoved up in my eyelid, cutting skin, blood vessels and a nerve (to this day I have no feeling in a portion of my forehead). When the paramedics arrived and began prepping me for my ambulance ride to the hospital, they cleaned me enough for me to know my eye was intact. And I could see out of it. Eighty some odd stitches later, both inside and outside my eye lid, I was able to leave the hospital and go home. My vision, though blurry from the impact for several days, is now fine as can be. And while this experience doesn't make me a blind person, I can say honestly that I came as close to being blind that day as I hope to ever get again. This exchange about blind, deaf (mute, paralyzed, diseased, etc............) has served only to make me grateful for the senses God gave me. And for the senses I was fortunate enough not to lose. Lea - ----- Original Message ----- From: "bdcolen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 3:56 PM Subject: RE: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R > Lea, I wouldn’t tell anyone that they can’t do whatever they want to > do - as long as it's legal!;-) But the fact that a blind person can live alone, go to college, work for Camp Fire Girls and organize events, has absolutely nothing to do with whether that same person can be a photographer. Create something using a camera? Sure. Create pictographs? Sure! Why not, that could easily be done by touch and feel, arranging objects within borders in a way that the persons brain finds pleasing. But photograph in the traditional sense? No. No way. And to Kit - No, I don't think that if Beethoven had been deaf from birth he would have been Beethoven. > > What I find most interesting about this discussion is the fact that we > are having it at all. In suppose I should be encouraged by it, and take from it the thought that we have come far enough in our battles to eliminate discrimination against those with what are now called "differences," that some people don't believe there are any. That some people have come to fervently believe, and insist that when all is said and done, there are no differences between us; that there are absolutely no disabilities that cannot be overcome; that we are all the same and are all able to do the same things if only we try hard enough. > > Would that it were so. > > B. D. > > B. D. > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of lea > Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 4:19 PM > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > Subject: Re: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R > > > <<Do folks who can't see live in what we perceive as "darkness"?>> > > << Yes, Kit, they do. It's not what "we perceive" as darkness. It IS, > by definition, darkness.>> > > Not according to my blind friend...completely blind since birth, she > sees colors. The reason she knows is because not everything she sees is the same tone, shade, color. > > My mother spent many years volunteering here in Kansas City at CCVI...Children's Center for the Visually Impared...a special school catering to the needs of blind children. I had occasion to visit there often and it was there that I learned very few people are truly blind. Most blind people see color or tone or shade. Some see shape and shadow depending on the light. And yes, these people are considered 100% blind. > > You can think what you like about deaf people not writing, playing or hearing music and blind people not shooting, drawing or painting pictures but I can tell you I've not met a single blind person who hasn't been able to do anything they put their mind to. That includes the young blind woman who lived with my parents for a year as a house guest...the same person I speak of above...she went to college, lived alone for many years (moved in to my parents' home while getting her masters degree) works for Camp Fire Girls and organized many events...including nature walks for young children. She is an amazing woman. I'd be the last person (well, Kit and I might tie > here) to tell her she couldn't photograph if she thought she could. > > Lea > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "bdcolen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> > To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> > Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 1:34 PM > Subject: RE: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R > > > > ROFLOL!!! > > > > Yes, Kit, they do. It's not what "we perceive" as darkness. It IS, > > by > definition, darkness. > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Kit McChesney > | acmefoto > > Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 12:03 PM > > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > > Subject: RE: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R > > > > > > George-- > > > > What difference does age make? Or if the person was blind from > > birth? > Since images are themselves "created" in the mind anyway, is the > ability to visualize predicated on having had conventional sight, that is, using one's eyes to see, or is it an ability that is innate? Do folks who can't see live in what we perceive as "darkness"? > > > > Kit ;-) > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > > [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of George > Lottermoser > > Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 9:22 AM > > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > > Subject: RE: [Leica] Autofocus Leica R > > > > > > kitmc@acmefoto.com (Kit McChesney | acmefoto)3/12/03 > > > > >I beg to differ that a blind person cannot see, or visualize. Just > > >ask a blind person. > > > > Which sort of Blind Person? > > Blind from birth? > > Blinded at age 18? > > Blinded at age 65? > > > > <€>Peace<€> <€>Harmony<€> <€>Stewardship<€> > > > > Presenting effective messages in beautiful ways > > since 1975 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > G e o r g e L o t t e r m o s e r, imagist > > _______________________________________________ > > eMail imagist@concentric.net > > voice 262 241 9375 > > fax 262 241 9398 > > Lotter Moser & Associates > > 10050 N Port Washington Rd - Mequon, WI 53092 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see > > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see > > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see > > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > -- > To unsubscribe, see > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html