David Paterson
I realize that you have to take blindness articles with several grains of sault. So I'm not actually reflecting on Paterson, but on the media's portrayal of Paterson. Here's a quote from an older article:

Paterson's disability was not a major factor in the election either. In fact, not everyone is aware he has been legally blind since birth. He almost always
has someone with him, and he doesn't use a cane or seeing-eye dog.

If that's true, it's too bad. But I'm always perplexed by these articles that talk about how "independent" someone is because they don't use a mobility aid. I remember reading an article about one woman who said her doctor suggested a cane, but she wanted to be more independent. Her solution? Make sure a coworker was around to yell to her when she was approaching the top of the stairs.

So, if we want to *look* inependent (as opposed to *being* independent), maybe we're going about it all wrong. Maybe it's like a status symbol if we can have all of these people around to guide us so we don't have to rely on one of those canes or dogs.

I see the same thing in articles about braille--someone is "independent" because they spend hours and hours memorizing stuff rather than reading braille.

Is our cultural fear of blindness so great that it shapes our perceptions of what constitutes independence?