Re: My problem with the Blindy handbook
Hello:
At the top of the document I believe it states that the book was composed by That guy and those associates, which would be me and people associated with me. Allow me to attempt to explain our motives while composing this document. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to justify our actions.
From the point that I was introduced to the blind community by being added into a random iMessage group with people I didn't know, which used to be a huge trend a couple years ago, I continually noticed several very strange characteristics that, living and interacting mainly with sighted people, I never really been exposed to before. I wasn't sure quite what to think about them, so I just mainly observed for a while and didn't do too much interacting. But one day, when setting up my computer after a reformat, I realized that I was installing a lot of programs that only blind people would use, like teamtalk, virtual audio cable, NVDA, TW Blue,
and so on. So I put all those into a folder and had plans to ask someone to code me an installer which would run all those executables and all I'd have to do was press alt Y on the user account control dialog. That never happened, but I had also planned on distributing this package and calling it "Blindy Essentials," sort of like the Microsoft Security Essentials. It would be given to everyone who was just entering the blind community and get them up and running within it as soon as possible.
As I was carrying out my plan, I began writing instructions for each program so everyone would be presented with everything they needed right out of the gate. Within those instructions I found myself outlining several of the odd characteristics of the blind community in relation to how to use some of the software, for instance, how to unsubscribe from channel messages on teamtalk because someone decided to start spamming. Eventually, I decided: "Hey, you know, why not just write a handbook for all this?" So I started writing. I shared it with a few friends and they found it hilarious, so I asked them to pitch in and write some sections.
And thus, on December 31, 2017, the original blindy essentials package was released on Blindyessentials.com. It was big, I hear, and I applauded myself on a job well done. This edition's handbook did not contain names.
But then, as more trends developed, I started to revise and update the book, which I planned to release in June of 2018, and did. That is the copy I believe @1 has issue with, and I can't really say i disagree with him. Allow me to try to forever set this straight.
The purpose of the handbook was to poke fun at a handful of distinguishing characteristics of blind people and the way they acted, all under the guise of providing newcomers to the community a less shocking introduction. The first copy did an excellent job, and was not nearly as controversial. But the second one was, because, as the original poster made clear, we used names. We told ourselves this was because if the same people were around when someone first became part of the community, they'd have no hard time knowing which people were who and who was especially indicative of a certain trait, and boy did we ever hit the nail on the head. It was a very wrong thing to do, and I can't begin to imagine how the people we named were feeling after reading that, and we do apologize to any within the reach of this post. It was meant in the spirit of fun but quite clearly went far beyond that.
Once again, I'm not trying for redemption here. I only mean to explain. This book was also written mainly by me when I was a lot younger and less mature, and I have since learned to think (longer, anyway) about the outcomes of my actions. Once again, we are glad some of you found it funny, as that is why we wrote it, but we should not have illustrated our point in such a way. Thank you.
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