Dear all, Greetings from Mumbai.
i have read the very interesting discussions going on on this list, and i would request someone to provide me with the guidelines of the list again- it seems we are pushing boundaries each time. In a very recent eenthusiastic thread active on the list i can only say that it is shocking how couple of points could be related to blindness or accessibility: -what should be done first, trimming or shaving -how much time does a shave take -if someone has a hard growth or a soft one -how to clean the blade -getting rid of the pubic hair the first one or two exchanges were okay or could be directly/indirectly related to accessibility but seriously the 37 others that followed? these are only a few out of the many objectionable contents. As a woman i can and will share my idea that this list suddenly seems like an electronic space invader. for those who dont know who space invaders are, let me tell you. they are those men who share a two seater bench with a woman and take up three quarters of that seat/bench. now why do i say that ? because the gendered discussion going on this list reflects a very strong patriarchal attitude and male hegemony. i can see how objections by women were royally ignored. it is not about personal is political but about the boundaries of a said list and where i choose to be. if Access India decides that the boundaries have changed and they are okay with gendered discussions and personal matters that concern the blind then just for a minute reflect on this. Women will absolutely bring up the accessibility of a sanitary napkin vs tampon. i am sure menstrual issues are of great concern to blind women. if toilet habits of men are okay being discussed here so should be that of women. and of course we will too indulge into enlighting discussions of whether waxing is more doable than self threading, and elaborate on how frequently will we have to do the hair removal, or which method will leave our skin soft and not let it go dark. well, i really cant miss out on personal is political. we could bring up sex positions on this list, because blindness leaves many people apprehensive about not having seen sex positions earlier and lack of that impacting their sexual lives. i work on gender, sexual rights, and disability so definitely this wont make me shy away. the point is that please tell us what is access India all about and some of us will be happy to decide whether or not we want to be in this space and of course others may choose to be here with full awareness of what can come up and will be acceptable. of course some others like me will start utilising the newly pushed boundaries! Happy to comply. Cheers, Nidhi Goyal disability and gender rights activist @saysnidhigoyal Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
