From National Public Radio

Students from across the country and Canada gather in Los Angeles for the competition to top all competitions for blind and visually impaired students: The Braille Challenge. High-achieving students like Megan Bening (arm wrestling, left) compete for cash prizes in up to four categories, and compare notes on what it’s like to be in the majority for a change.

Making friends at school is a struggle, Megan says, which is hard to believe, given that she keeps the people around her constantly laughing.

The problem isn’t that sighted kids are mean, she says matter-of-factly; it’s that they are too nice. Paralyzed by political correctness, people often pretend that they haven’t noticed she’s blind, which adds a saccharine veneer to interaction.

“It doesn’t do any good to dance around the elephant in the room. It eats up too many brain cells,” she advises.

(Photo from NPR)

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 7:37 am and is filed under blindness/visual impairments, public attitudes, success stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.