Since the launch of the Intel® Reader, I have seen a lot of the word “overcoming, or perhaps “overcame,” as in Joe overcame his dyslexia to succeed in business.
Blind folks get this a lot too…so and so “overcame her disability to become the first blind person to…” I, for one, have not overcome my disability. Rather, I have integrated it into my life, or at least enough to be happy being dyslexic.
The Intel Reader does not allow me to overcome dyslexia. Dyslexia is part of who I am just like being a woman is part of who women are. Does a woman “overcome being a woman” to achieve something? In the context of disability, the disability, not the bias out there is what is usually framed as the thing to overcome.
It is tempting to say I overcame dyslexia. It is a clean, simple narrative that tells people “I am now competent.”–a very attractive option because some think people with disabilities are lazy and infirm (see a previous blog on that.)
Last week, I was traveling with my wife to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show. In the San Francisco airport, we split up to get food and reading material for the flight. I arrive at Gate 31 as planned 10 minutes later. No wife. I waited for 15 minutes, starting to wonder what was wrong. I re-examined by boarding pass for the fifth time and figured out that I was supposed to be at Gate 61. Running most of the way allowed me to make the flight, but I was still reminded that my dyslexia is still there. I have a good job, a great wife, and wonderful life and still I can’t read my way to the right gate on a regular basis.
For folks who are blind, it is still annoying to be told to wait for someone to escort them in an airport. I love the story of Dr. Marc Maurer, head of the NFB, who got frustrated with the staff at one airline when they would not tell him which way to go to get to his gate because they wanted him to wait for an escort. He started off walking with his cane.
“You’re going the wrong way,” yelled the airline employee.
“Thank you – that is what I wanted to know in the first place,” he shot back, pivoting and heading to his flight.
The point is that buying into the myth of “overcoming” can be a deal with the devil. Agreeing with the term, whether it is about “overcoming being an immigrant” or “overcoming being a minority” tells people that this major part of who you are as a person, but it is an enemy to be conquered. It is not. It is like family member to be integrated into your life.
What we need to overcome is bias. Overcome the way some people think we should be. But don’t cling to the mainstreams view of who you are. If, you do, you may be overcome.
P.S. On a separate note, The Intel Reader had a great CES – 10 Ten on CNN.com for Best of Show and second in Last Gadget Standing – not bad at all.
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