Leading the Blind
This story is tragic. Brianna Nelson, a blind girl attending to a camp for blind children, drowned after her blind counselors couldn’t find her in the water. But the worst part is this quote from her father, Carl Nelson: “There’s no blame here — it was just her time to go.” Just her time to go?? She was, literally, the blind being led by the blind, not an 88-year-old cancer victim! How fatalist and simplistic can you get? And how cold can you be to dismiss your daughter’s death (a death that could easily have been prevented) as something that was just preordained–as though she would have died at that moment, regardless of where she was?
Here’s a quote from the Joyce Scanlan, executive director of Blind, Inc. (what a name!), the company that sponsored the camp: “When something like this happens, you do think about the fact they were blind and wonder. But I believe that blindness — either in the child or the counselors — had nothing to do with this. There are many sighted children who also drown.” Right. Because seeing the drowning child wouldn’t have helped find her any faster. There are many sighted people who can’t drive very well, but that’s no excuse to start handing out licenses to the blind.
Look, I’m further left politically than most people who read this blog. I’m all for persons with disabilities being empowered and encouraged to live independently, provided they know their limitations. I have terrible vision and a worse sense of direction. But I don’t run around the city without my contacts and a map. The fact is, when you have a camp for blind children and you leave them under the care of blind counselors while at the beach, you are playing with fire. And if I were the parent of a blind child, like Carl Nelson, I would certainly not send my seven-year-old daughter to a camp where she would be supervised by blind counselors at the beach. Furthermore, when she died, I wouldn’t think of just throwing my hands up in the air and claiming that it was unavoidable and blameless. In a case like this, there is plenty of blame to go around.