I posted the video clip about the Braille Graffiti project in Portland, Oregon in the midst of the ice storm. While I was able to get the clip up, I wasn’t able to explain why I posted it.
To be honest, I was just curious about what all of you, especially those that are also blind/visually impaired, thought of the project.
As some of you know, I’m a big fan of Current TV. Current broadcasts what they term “pods” – short, independently-produced video clips about a certain topic. They’re sort of like mini documentaries.
The other night I was watching and along came this pod about the Braille Graffiti public art project. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
My first reaction, fair or not, was suspicion. I still have a lot of questions and perhaps one day Scott, the artist, will find us here and be able to answer some of them. Suspicion probably isn’t the fair response to have – but it’s been learned after watching too many people with little understanding of blindness or the blind community try to “help those poor blind people” and in the process sometimes actually do a great deal of damage. What was this guy’s agenda? Had he involved blind people in the project? Who is this Scott guy? Why is he interested in Braille? What does he know about it?
My second response was perhaps as shameful as my automatic suspicion and skepticism. While I would never advocate defacing private or public property, there was something mildly appealing about Braille being associated with something young, hip and definitely not nerdy.
The Current pod interviewed two blind people who were not impressed with the project, but they were both older and I doubt that, were they sighted, they’d be much impressed with print graffiti either. Just the term “graffiti” seemed to turn them off for all the reasons it sort of turned me on.
It was much like when I was in high school and my vision teacher told me a story about a former student of hers that had been arrested for selling drugs out of his brailler. He’d tuck the contraband up into the inside of the machine and worked as a dope dealer during his lunch hour.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not pro dope dealer. I don’t think it was cool that he was pushing drugs. Yet, somehow, thinking about some kid using his brailler for such a purpose made blindness seem somehow more normal. We weren’t just a bunch of fragile goodie-two-shoes who could never possibly do anything wrong because somehow we just weren’t capable of it. If blind people are capable of achieving the best in life, of becoming lawyers and business people, then surely we must be capable of achieving the worst in life too – even being a dope dealer.
If I was well behaved and pretty much a “good girl” it was because I actually chose to be, not because I wasn’t capable of doing anything different. Somehow, I really liked that idea.
There are a lot of obstacles to kids learning Braille- among them the “cool factor.” So, if it’s not doing a lot of property damage, why not?
Yet, part of what would make Braille graffiti artistic would be the phrases or statements that it would make. I wonder why there’s not a print translation next to each bit of Braille? Also, I found it interesting that the video clips highlighting the “art” weren’t audio-described so that a blind person could access it? Did the artist think of this? Just wonder…..
Anyone else have any thoughts?
To be honest, I was just curious about what all of you, especially those that are also blind/visually impaired, thought of the project.
As some of you know, I’m a big fan of Current TV. Current broadcasts what they term “pods” – short, independently-produced video clips about a certain topic. They’re sort of like mini documentaries.
The other night I was watching and along came this pod about the Braille Graffiti public art project. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
My first reaction, fair or not, was suspicion. I still have a lot of questions and perhaps one day Scott, the artist, will find us here and be able to answer some of them. Suspicion probably isn’t the fair response to have – but it’s been learned after watching too many people with little understanding of blindness or the blind community try to “help those poor blind people” and in the process sometimes actually do a great deal of damage. What was this guy’s agenda? Had he involved blind people in the project? Who is this Scott guy? Why is he interested in Braille? What does he know about it?
My second response was perhaps as shameful as my automatic suspicion and skepticism. While I would never advocate defacing private or public property, there was something mildly appealing about Braille being associated with something young, hip and definitely not nerdy.
The Current pod interviewed two blind people who were not impressed with the project, but they were both older and I doubt that, were they sighted, they’d be much impressed with print graffiti either. Just the term “graffiti” seemed to turn them off for all the reasons it sort of turned me on.
It was much like when I was in high school and my vision teacher told me a story about a former student of hers that had been arrested for selling drugs out of his brailler. He’d tuck the contraband up into the inside of the machine and worked as a dope dealer during his lunch hour.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not pro dope dealer. I don’t think it was cool that he was pushing drugs. Yet, somehow, thinking about some kid using his brailler for such a purpose made blindness seem somehow more normal. We weren’t just a bunch of fragile goodie-two-shoes who could never possibly do anything wrong because somehow we just weren’t capable of it. If blind people are capable of achieving the best in life, of becoming lawyers and business people, then surely we must be capable of achieving the worst in life too – even being a dope dealer.
If I was well behaved and pretty much a “good girl” it was because I actually chose to be, not because I wasn’t capable of doing anything different. Somehow, I really liked that idea.
There are a lot of obstacles to kids learning Braille- among them the “cool factor.” So, if it’s not doing a lot of property damage, why not?
Yet, part of what would make Braille graffiti artistic would be the phrases or statements that it would make. I wonder why there’s not a print translation next to each bit of Braille? Also, I found it interesting that the video clips highlighting the “art” weren’t audio-described so that a blind person could access it? Did the artist think of this? Just wonder…..
Anyone else have any thoughts?
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