Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Buzzfeed continues to be terrible: "People Are Really Touched By The Moment This Blind Teen Was Able To Read A Menu For The First Time". Should read: "Apparently Restaurants in Grove City, Ohio are still not following the ADA after over 20 years" (buzzfeed.com)
submitted by fastfinge
snow671 8 points 6y ago
Damn. From Buzzfeed I kind of expected: "See how this Ohio restaurant is revolutionizing the way blind people order food."
What can we expect next? "Elderly woman touched when pharmacy offers prescription instructions in large print."
"Parents of young children touched by thoughtful railing surrounding 17th floor balcony."
What can we expect next? "Elderly woman touched when pharmacy offers prescription instructions in large print."
"Parents of young children touched by thoughtful railing surrounding 17th floor balcony."
fastfinge [OP] 11 points 6y ago
"Blind PHD touched to be offered minimum wage job at call centre"
"Blind girl gets emotional when school textbooks are made available in Braille"
I could do this all day. Sigh. You can either laugh or cry, right?
"Blind girl gets emotional when school textbooks are made available in Braille"
I could do this all day. Sigh. You can either laugh or cry, right?
-shacklebolt- 8 points 6y ago
> "Blind girl gets emotional when school textbooks are made available in Braille"
And they only came two weeks into the semester, so she hardly missed anything!
And they only came two weeks into the semester, so she hardly missed anything!
snow671 6 points 6y ago
> "Blind PHD touched to be offered minimum wage job at call centre"
Oh man this one is so true it hurts.
Oh man this one is so true it hurts.
Terry_Pie 5 points 6y ago
I dunno mate, pretty sure any PhD graduate would be over the moon to be offered a minimum wage job in a call centre the way my state's economy is!
SideshowKaz 7 points 6y ago
Some of these are so horrendous I almost find it funny. The whole thing is inspiration porn.
snow671 6 points 6y ago
It's just sad. If the article was "Several Ohio restaurants under fire for not offering braille menus," the comments would be full of vitriol.
-shacklebolt- 6 points 6y ago
Pretty much. A lot of the comments I saw online about the recent Eatsa lawsuit were horrendous. Either people who don't understand that blind people can use ipads and find it hilarious that we'd want to order from one, or people acting as though it's totally entitled and unreasonable to expect to use a touchscreen yourself because "there's just some things that blind people can't do." And of course the default assumption that when a blind person sues a business they're just in it for the money, regardless of how little money they end up usually getting out of it.
snow671 6 points 6y ago
I got similar responses after posting a rant about a local theater advertising descriptive audio for the visually impaired while simultaneously replacing their ticket booth with inaccessible self-service kiosks. People thought it was hilarious that a blind person would want to go to the movies.
>"there's just some things that blind people can't do."
Oh this makes my blood boil. So what do they expect us to do as more and more businesses are moving to self-service kiosks and iPad ordering? Sit inside all day and listen to the radio?
>"there's just some things that blind people can't do."
Oh this makes my blood boil. So what do they expect us to do as more and more businesses are moving to self-service kiosks and iPad ordering? Sit inside all day and listen to the radio?
SideshowKaz 5 points 6y ago
Just about. But they didn't really have much else they wanted us to do before. I'd love to write an article like this one of these days pointing out all this stuff.
fastfinge [OP] 7 points 6y ago
The author of this story is @TasneemN on twitter, and @BuzzFeed also has an account. Those would probably be the best places to complain about this kind of coverage.
Edit to add: if we do complain, in my opinion our goal should either be to get an apology published, and/or the headline changed. We have rules about not starting a witch hunt here, so let's not start one. Not that anyone has, yet. But I really do feel like I should be careful to follow a rule that I created! :-)
Edit to add: if we do complain, in my opinion our goal should either be to get an apology published, and/or the headline changed. We have rules about not starting a witch hunt here, so let's not start one. Not that anyone has, yet. But I really do feel like I should be careful to follow a rule that I created! :-)
tymme 7 points 6y ago
People Complained To Buzzfeed About An Article- You Won't Believe What Happens Next!
(hint: nothing)
We're not talking a major news outlet... I mean, a front page article is boasting it will tell what kind of cake you are based on your taste in men.
(hint: nothing)
We're not talking a major news outlet... I mean, a front page article is boasting it will tell what kind of cake you are based on your taste in men.
fastfinge [OP] 5 points 6y ago
Well, it depends how you define major. Buzzfeed gets far more traffic (both shares and views) than the New York Times. And just because everything it posts is anti-intellectual garbage doesn't mean it should get a free pass on things like ableism, racism, etc. Someone finally getting equal access to information, a basic human right, is not "touching".
And no, I don't really expect buzzfeed will do anything at all. But maybe if this reporter gets enough feedback, she'll at least think twice before writing this crap in future. Similarly, buzzfeed editors may respond to Pavlovian conditioning and publish fewer stories that deny the rights of the blind, and infantilize us for "the feels". Not likely, I admit, but it's worth a try.
And no, I don't really expect buzzfeed will do anything at all. But maybe if this reporter gets enough feedback, she'll at least think twice before writing this crap in future. Similarly, buzzfeed editors may respond to Pavlovian conditioning and publish fewer stories that deny the rights of the blind, and infantilize us for "the feels". Not likely, I admit, but it's worth a try.
Nighthawk321 3 points 6y ago
I'm on it. haha
-shacklebolt- 5 points 6y ago
I am also touched when businesses do the bare minimum that everyone should be doing.
"People are really touched by the moment this blind man was able to walk into the right restroom thanks to thoughtful braille signage!"
"People are really touched by the moment this blind man was able to walk into the right restroom thanks to thoughtful braille signage!"
snow671 4 points 6y ago
"The manager of that cafe told us he takes pride in going above and beyond in creating the kind of memorable, personal experience that -shacklebolt- had."
blindjo 2 points 6y ago
This comment was so realistic that i almost downvoted it out of anger. Well done
snow671 1 points 6y ago
It's almost word for word from the BuzzFeed article, haha
BraveRock 3 points 6y ago
You could probably post this, with the same title, over at
https://www.reddit.com/r/savedyouaclick/
/r/savedyouaclick hates buzzfeed's "reporting"
https://www.reddit.com/r/savedyouaclick/
/r/savedyouaclick hates buzzfeed's "reporting"
fastfinge [OP] 3 points 6y ago
I thought about it. But they've got some rules over there that would make it a pain for me to post anything. In order to prevent the original site from getting any extra traffic, you need to create a screenshot of the original page and post that. Screenshots, when you can't see the results, are tricky. Feel free to post yourself if you want.
fastfinge [OP] 3 points 6y ago
A blog post from someone who heard back from the journalist who "wrote" this "story" is at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/62ftb0/its_not_cute_its_equality/
snow671 3 points 6y ago
>"I reached out to the journalist who wrote the article, who told me that the use of the word “touching”, was only in reference to the moment the family shared."
What? Really? Did the journalist read their own article?
Also not sure if quoting is working right on here.
What? Really? Did the journalist read their own article?
Also not sure if quoting is working right on here.
fastfinge [OP] 4 points 6y ago
> What? Really? Did the journalist read their own article?
She works for buzzfeed. So I doubt it! Copy and paste a bunch of stuff from Twitter, get a stock photo from somewhere, slap a headline on it, and call it done. She can hardly claim to have written her own article.
Unfortunately, I can't judge her as harshly as I would like. Speaking from personal experience, content mills (and buzzfeed is definitely one) care only about quantity, not quality. If you spend more than 5 or 10 minutes on a single article, you're spending too much time on it, as far as they're concerned.
She works for buzzfeed. So I doubt it! Copy and paste a bunch of stuff from Twitter, get a stock photo from somewhere, slap a headline on it, and call it done. She can hardly claim to have written her own article.
Unfortunately, I can't judge her as harshly as I would like. Speaking from personal experience, content mills (and buzzfeed is definitely one) care only about quantity, not quality. If you spend more than 5 or 10 minutes on a single article, you're spending too much time on it, as far as they're concerned.
blindjo 2 points 6y ago
I kind of hate buzzeed. I feel like they're just pretending to fight ableism to be trendy, leaving folks who actually want to educate people about disability and disability discrimination frustrated. I mean, for fuck's sake, a majority of their site isn't even accessible!
fastfinge [OP] 1 points 6y ago
You know if they fix it, they'll publish an article like "Blind man brought to tears when buzzfeed describes images to him". :-(
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