Monday, May 01, 2006

Disablism: The Seeing Spouse

Blogging Against Disabilism Day 2006I am sighted; my spouse is blind.

There are a few things that I do better than my spouse because I am sighted and my spouse is not
  • drive
  • track fashions
  • skim
  • frisbee
  • watch television with the sound off
  • check cakes in the oven
There are ways in which my skills or capacities exceed those of my spouse but they have nothing to do with vision or blindness:
  • news junkiedom
  • my chosen profession
  • broad general knowledge
  • cooking sans recipe
  • hear high register sounds
There are also ways in which my spouse surpasses me that have little or nothing to do with blindness
  • music
  • moral and ethical consistency
  • optimism
  • ability to predict plot twists mid-drama
  • task orientation
  • cookie baking quality
  • raw intelligence
  • balance a checkbook
  • understand Windowstm
  • deal with difficult people
And my spouse can read in the dark, and fix my computer when the screen dies.

Ways in which we are exceedingly well matched (we're happily married, after all, over ten years)
  • education
  • verbal play
  • editorial support
  • musical interests
  • introverts
  • patient
  • family-centered
  • parenting priorities and methods
  • political orientation and engagement
Your [temporarily] sighted marriage should be so good.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I absolutely loved this post. Your spouse "sees" more than most men can ever hope to see!

You guys sound wonderful together.

May you have another ten,twenty, fifty beautiful years together!

jo(e) said...

Well said.

Attila the Mom said...

Great post! Sounds like you're a perfect match!

Rhonda said...

Many more years of well-matched happiness to both of you.

Great post!

Dream Mom said...

Great post! He sounds like a gem!

Ahistoricality said...

...the lonely single person...

And if there's a spouse, it's the "longsuffering caregiver"! Not me. Every marriage involves adaptations and accomodations; some of ours are a bit more obvious than most, that's all.

And I'm very interested in how people came to the conclusion that my spouse was male....

Thanks to all for dropping by; I haven't had time to check out the other posts myself, but I'll be doing it very soon.

Kathy Cullen said...

What a great post, thanks for the "glimpse" into your world. You sound like a well balanced pair, who I'm sure will be celebrating many more years together.

Anonymous said...

I was looking at your WebBraille post, because I was trying to find info one what the heck's going on there. But I digress.

As a blind person, I'd refer to you as

an honorary blind person. A compliment, of course. ;)