[Access] a question to ponder...

[Barb Prentice]

As usual, I think Mary is right on.

Barb

At 08:09 PM 7/31/2008, you wrote:
>I do not think you should be asked to "disclose" your blindness to
>people whom you may potentially host. Only in the case where the person
>being hosted is deaf, as you note, would this present a serious
>comunication issue. Otherwise, I would want to know why anyone would be
>asking you to disclose this fact about yourself. Are they asking people
>to disclose their race? Sexual preference? Political views?  Why should
>anybody need to know in advance that you are blind? If this were
>required of me, I would decline to participate in the program, and I
>would register a complaint with whatever powers that be that my worth
>and dignity as an individual were being diminished, because I feel sure
>that the other things I alluded to, race etc, are not matters that will
>be disclosed to the potential guests ahead of time, nor should they be.
>  It could be said that people might feel uncomfortable being with a
>blind person. They might also feel uncomfortable staying in the home of
>somebody who is of a different race or has a different sexual
>preference than they. Would such potential discomfort be considered a
>valid reason to require that these traits of a potential host should be
>disclosed to their potential guest in advance? If not, then there is,
>in my view, absolutely 0 justification for requiring more of a blind
>person, person who uses a wheel-chair etc. Prejudice is prejudice, and
>its not ok to make exceptions.
>
>Mary
>
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