ITA that this can too often be the case. But I do think that discrimination against guide dog handlers is sort of a separate beast...because guide dogs are separate beasts. Ha ha! Um. Sorry. Two in the morning. That is, the importance of there being a live animal involved can't be overlooked: most likely (though not certainly) this woman would not have been asked to sit elsewhere had she been using a cane instead of a dog, so to say that she was treated this way because of her blindness is a bit too simplistic.
I'm not at all trying to be an apologist for discrimination against guide dog handlers (I mean, obviously). And it is most definitely connected to blindness and its historical negative connotations. But I do think it's important to acknowledge some of the disparate roots of this subset of oppression if we're to be successful at combatting it.
I agree--the roots of the problem may be different (though I was once told that the staff asked me to go around rather than through a particular restaurant to get to my outside seat because it would be easier for me than going up and down those stairs...). Thankfully, we have not yet reached the point where someone would worry about liability if a blind person with a cane were left to sit unattended in a reception area. (Or have we? I once had an airline employee refuse to give me directions to my gate because "we would be in trouble if you got hurt on the way." This gate, BTW, was like six gates from the one where I was standing, and all I was asking was whether to turn left or right. When she wouldn't give me a direction, I took one at random, and she then decided to follow me, complaining the whole time about how I'd made her leave her post. Whatever. But I digress.) Both issues do provoke similar emotional responses for me, though.
I agree--the roots of the problem may be different (though I was once told that the staff asked me to go around rather than through a particular restaurant to get to my outside seat because it would be easier for me than going up and down those stairs...).
That was probably more a case of attempting to justify an initial act of oppression (oppression of a person because they use an animal as a mobility aid) with a "secondary" one (oppression of a person because she is blind) for the convenience of a particularly ignorant oppressor. That might be a little different than saying that the roots of both types of oppression are the same, though the example certainly does demonstrate the connectedness I mentioned.
Thankfully, we have not yet reached the point where someone would worry about liability if a blind person with a cane were left to sit unattended in a reception area.
I prefer to think that we have surpassed that point, rather than that we are yet to reach it. :) Obviously we haven't shaken it off completely, as your
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BTW, I wasn't arguing with you--I know you were responding to a particular sentiment in A's post. Was just kind of musing aloud...again, probably not something I should be doing at this hour.
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I'm not at all trying to be an apologist for discrimination against guide dog handlers (I mean, obviously). And it is most definitely connected to blindness and its historical negative connotations. But I do think it's important to acknowledge some of the disparate roots of this subset of oppression if we're to be successful at combatting it.
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That was probably more a case of attempting to justify an initial act of oppression (oppression of a person because they use an animal as a mobility aid) with a "secondary" one (oppression of a person because she is blind) for the convenience of a particularly ignorant oppressor. That might be a little different than saying that the roots of both types of oppression are the same, though the example certainly does demonstrate the connectedness I mentioned.
Thankfully, we have not yet reached the point where someone would worry about liability if a blind person with a cane were left to sit unattended in a reception area.
I prefer to think that we have surpassed that point, rather than that we are yet to reach it. :) Obviously we haven't shaken it off completely, as your ( ... )
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