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Showing posts with label disabilities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disabilities. Show all posts
8/26/07
8/13/07
Unsicht Unseen
Written by: Jennifer Justice Today I received an email from a friend who is working in Germany. He wanted to know if I'd like to dine at Unsicht - Bar in Berlin during my vacation, scheduled for late fall. For some reason, I'd thought this restaurant was located in the UK - perhaps there is one like it there. I believe there's one located on the west coast too - owned and operated by a blind chef if my memory serves.
By "like it" I mean a restaurant with a truly unique twist. Patrons dine in total darkness, experiencing elegant three - and - four course meals elegantly served by blind/ visually impaired waiters.
Unsicht- Bar (meaning invisible or unseeable) has locations in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne and should not be confused with Blindekuh (the Blind Cow), a restaurant with locations in Zurich and Basel. According to Wikipedia, Blindekuh was established by the Swiss - German Blind- Leicht Foundation to create employment opportunities for blind people in the food service industry. The name comes from the German equivalent of the game Blind Man's Bluff. I've yet to translate the German language press releases about Unsicht - Bar to determine if it too is a Blind - Leicht project. Obviously this is a story which begs more research and a first- hand account (I love it when research involves food)!
The Unsicht - Bar website explains that meals and table settings are arranged to coordinate to the numbers on a clock face. Fair enough, I can see how this might help the uninitiated sighted person to navigate their first meal in the dark. However, the site also notes that the food is prepared in bite- sized portions so that visitors don't have to worry about cutting their food!
As someone with a vision impairment, I find this consideration amusing as well as a wee bit troubling. It reminded me of a time hanging out at a friend's house when I was nine. My friend's mom made us lunch. Setting the plate in front of me, she picked a knife and began cutting the food for me! We tried to laugh it off- my friend had certainly eaten with me enough to know I could cut my own food. But her mom made an assumption based on damaging misconceptions of what blind/ visually impaired people are thought to be able to do.
I remember her mom getting really embarrassed and hurriedly saying something like, "Oh I'm so used to cutting other people's food, I don't know when to stop!" My friend offered that she still tried to cut up her food at times as well, but it was a weak cover up.
I'm quite sure I could cut a steak or debone a fish without looking. But then, I've relied on my sense of touch much longer than Unsicht - Bar's sited patrons. For me, touch has always been an integral component and ally to seeing. For years I thought that everyone linked sight to touch like I did, that if you love art and aesthetics then you're a sensualist to boot. I now know that isn't necessarily the case. Perhaps Unsicht's boneless/ knifeless policy is nothing more than a bit of hand- holding intended for ambivalent guests, the clock face analogy extended to touch- phobic foodies who want to know exactly what they're putting in their mouths.
It just so happens that Eastern Europe is flecked with diamonds- in- the- rough tourist attractions of particular interest to PWDs and "With-" minded folk. Other sites on my Hit List: the Kasper Hauser Museum in Ansbach, Germany for a peak into a decidedly intriguing passage in the history of early specialized education. Too bad I won't be there in time for the festival held in Hauser's honor each September.
I'm beginning to think that Ansbach just may be my spiritual home, as their other major attraction is none other than the extravagant Rococo Festival held in July. I'll take any excuse to dress up in skirts and big hair! I am a southern girl at heart.
Visual description: A double portrait of Kasper Hauser, in bronze or possibly iron, stands in a cobble stone square. The figure in the foreground has a disheveled appearance and stands with head cast downward. He holds a battered satchel in one hand and a letter in the other. The companion figure in the background is poised and finely dressed. His hat lies on the ground at his feet, as if knocked off or lost in some unseen disturbance.
Cross-posted at Pedestrian Hostile
7/30/07
Stories Ignored
A few weeks ago, the news had highlighted and then dropped some important stories that "had legs" in terms of television viewers not especially interested in disability issues and, more importantly from the perspective of our community, had even "better legs" and needed to be put in the spotlight where they could be discussed, debated, and covered with the attention deserving when considering their impact on society at large.
These were, to mention just two, the discovery of an Iraqi Orphanage where adolescent boys with "special needs" - media does not even know what to call us they are so used to excluding us from their lives, how could they know? These boys with mixed disabilities, largely cognitive and developmental, were found in the most squalid conditions possible. This should come as no shock to us in the community. TV did what it does - makes a splash - throws whatever attention on a subject that will benefit the media source and then moves on.
The other story was the "immunity deals" worked out with the two nurses in LA in the Katrina debacle - I prefer that word to disaster, because while this was an event of Nature, the murder of these men and women with disabilities and the deaths of others occurred not through the wishes of anyone's God, but rather the callousness of society, and our exclusion of people with disabilities in the human race.
[with]tv would have been on these stories from day one and would have not only advanced the cause through dialogue and discussion but would have garnered audience, industry admiration and advertising dollars all employing people with disabilities and without disabilities in the process. Think of the role models for youngsters with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, the teenagers with spinal cord injuries and veterans returning from military service with acquired physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities.
It is time for us to accept, learn and teach that disabilities mean money. That money means empowerment. It will happen when we are all make room for each other just like in a good game of "musical chairs" where as chairs are taken away the participants must accommodate each other on a shrinking space.
Howard Renensland, CEO
These were, to mention just two, the discovery of an Iraqi Orphanage where adolescent boys with "special needs" - media does not even know what to call us they are so used to excluding us from their lives, how could they know? These boys with mixed disabilities, largely cognitive and developmental, were found in the most squalid conditions possible. This should come as no shock to us in the community. TV did what it does - makes a splash - throws whatever attention on a subject that will benefit the media source and then moves on.
The other story was the "immunity deals" worked out with the two nurses in LA in the Katrina debacle - I prefer that word to disaster, because while this was an event of Nature, the murder of these men and women with disabilities and the deaths of others occurred not through the wishes of anyone's God, but rather the callousness of society, and our exclusion of people with disabilities in the human race.
[with]tv would have been on these stories from day one and would have not only advanced the cause through dialogue and discussion but would have garnered audience, industry admiration and advertising dollars all employing people with disabilities and without disabilities in the process. Think of the role models for youngsters with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, the teenagers with spinal cord injuries and veterans returning from military service with acquired physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities.
It is time for us to accept, learn and teach that disabilities mean money. That money means empowerment. It will happen when we are all make room for each other just like in a good game of "musical chairs" where as chairs are taken away the participants must accommodate each other on a shrinking space.
Howard Renensland, CEO
Welcome
Dear Friend,
On August 13, 1984 my life was wonderfully transformed. My daughter Victoria, a person with disabilities was born. At first this meant fighting for her physical survival and then fighting against her exclusion from opportunities her friends without disabilities enjoyed. Victoria and I fought for her access to playgrounds, pre-school, and kindergarten through high school. We fought for her access to worship, recreation, and socialization. We carried on topost-secondary inclusion at a fine university. Then came “the real world” and the forces excluding her there were the most formidable yet.
Our experiences of the past 22 years have crystallized my thinking. I believe the single most debilitating factor limiting people with disabilities is not their disability, but their image in mainstream media. When profiled, they remain objects of extreme pity or extreme inspiration. This image is not one of their choosing. As long as others define you, you do not exist.
As I write this letter, there is no mainstream television channel in the world addressing the needs of and targeting people with disabilities as viewers, consumers and participants. I resolve to change that by creating [with]tv, an inclusive media outlet that defines all people by their talents and the quality of their stories, rather than by disability; a place where Victoria and everyone else can work in a universally designed workplace with a welcoming, inclusive workforce.
People with disabilities have a global need for access to information, employment, artistic expression and control of their image. Furthermore, the need extends beyond people with disabilities. The disability community is a grossly underutilized source of market-share for companies, making a win-win solution for individuals, society, and business.
People with disabilities welcome you to the world of [with]tv, a television channel of, by, and for people with disabilities…and everyone else! We invite you to learn more about our business and our stories.
Sincerely,
Howard Renensland
President & Founder
On August 13, 1984 my life was wonderfully transformed. My daughter Victoria, a person with disabilities was born. At first this meant fighting for her physical survival and then fighting against her exclusion from opportunities her friends without disabilities enjoyed. Victoria and I fought for her access to playgrounds, pre-school, and kindergarten through high school. We fought for her access to worship, recreation, and socialization. We carried on topost-secondary inclusion at a fine university. Then came “the real world” and the forces excluding her there were the most formidable yet.
Our experiences of the past 22 years have crystallized my thinking. I believe the single most debilitating factor limiting people with disabilities is not their disability, but their image in mainstream media. When profiled, they remain objects of extreme pity or extreme inspiration. This image is not one of their choosing. As long as others define you, you do not exist.
As I write this letter, there is no mainstream television channel in the world addressing the needs of and targeting people with disabilities as viewers, consumers and participants. I resolve to change that by creating [with]tv, an inclusive media outlet that defines all people by their talents and the quality of their stories, rather than by disability; a place where Victoria and everyone else can work in a universally designed workplace with a welcoming, inclusive workforce.
People with disabilities have a global need for access to information, employment, artistic expression and control of their image. Furthermore, the need extends beyond people with disabilities. The disability community is a grossly underutilized source of market-share for companies, making a win-win solution for individuals, society, and business.
People with disabilities welcome you to the world of [with]tv, a television channel of, by, and for people with disabilities…and everyone else! We invite you to learn more about our business and our stories.
Sincerely,
Howard Renensland
President & Founder
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