A Harvard geneticist, George Church, is developing an app that would prevent couples who carry the same recessive gene from ever meeting. The goal: to eliminate hereditary genetic diseases. Critics of the app have raised concerns that this is 21st century eugenics, but Church claims that it isn’t, and that he values diversity. The app,…
Category: Disability and Identity
My identity as a disabled person is very important to me. It has undoubtedly shaped my life experiences, including how I interact with others and obtain an education.
It was other disabled people that taught me how to value my body, how to love myself and reject society’s perception of disability.
Finding a Family at the Colorado Center for the Blind
On Wednesday I will start cooking a meal for 60 people. My final project at CCB, a celebration of how far I’ve come over the last six months. I know this last week is going to rush by before I know what’s happened. On the one hand it’s hard to believe that I’ve been in…
Living as a Blind Person in the United Kingdom and the United States
At the state convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado I was given the opportunity to share my experiences growing up as a blind child in England and how moving to Colorado for training has had an impact on my life. Please watch my speech. I hope that for those of you…
A Blindfold, a Cane and the City
Yesterday I was dropped somewhere in Denver. Wearing a blindfold and with no access to my phone I had to find my way back. I had no idea where I was, if I’d travelled north or south, or if there would be busses or trains anywhere nearby. I hadn’t been kidnapped, though it might sound…
A Blind Person is Crossing the Street
A blind person is crossing the street. You see them waiting, white cane in hand. Should you tell them it’s safe to cross? They can’t see the light change, is it your moral duty as a fellow human to give them this information? They step out into the street and you watch from your car,…
Measuring the Impossible
I have been in training at the Colorado Center for the Blind for two months. Moving to another country no longer feels strange to me, I feel as though I never manage to settle in one place for very long before I pack up my things and head somewhere else. Change, whilst incredibly disruptive, provides…
Blindness and Anxiety
I’m so glad to have seen some recent discussions of blindness and mental health, and how these two things can come hand in hand. These conversations are becoming more acceptable and it is so important that we talk openly about it. I worry constantly. And so many of these worries are fuelled, if indirectly, by…
I’m Blind: What Technology Should I use at University?
This post was adapted from a comment I wrote to a parent who was unsure what technology their blind child should be using at university. It’s a question I frequently see being asked by both parents of blind children and blind teenagers who are preparing for university. The truth is there is no singular package…
You Are Not a Burden
You are not a burden when you ask for documents in a format you can read. You are not a burden when you need them to clear the accessible changing room. You are not a burden when you assert your right to enter a business with your service dog. You are not a burden when…
Rethinking Blindness Skills
The phrase “blindness skills” is one the blind community knows well. From the moment you experience vision loss, whether because you are born blind or lose vision in later life, emphasis is placed on teaching you necessary blindness skills to navigate your environment. These include orientation and mobility training, cooking, matching your clothes and doing…