It’s different from the use of black face because one has a more severe historical context than the other so I would not make that comparison. Sighted people portraying blind people in media is only offensive when their portrayal represents negative stereotypes about blind people. That being said, actually finding a portrayal of a blind person not played by an blind person that doesn’t perpetuate negative stereotypes is rare. I do wish actually blind actors were given more of a shot for blind roles. However, I recognize that there’s more to a casting decision than one variable such as blindness of the actor. Therefore, yes, if a sighted actor takes the role of a blind character over a blind actor, they probably have every right
To complain because the blind actor was likely not given a fair shot due to a number of
Reasons including potential implicit discrimination. Blind actors should actively be brought into media like every other underrepresented minority population - provided they’re good actors and satisfy all the other requirements of the job.

It matters because mini disabled individuals grow up without seeing representation of themselves on TV. Moreover, a lot of the time sighted actors playing blind individuals portray full stereotypes. I would really like to see more blind actors on TV and movies and for there to be more of a potential for actors who are applying to get jobs.

Personally, it is frustrating and somewhat insulting. There is a CW show with a main character who is blind, yet the actress is sighted. They later claimed they tried to get an actress who was blind but had no luck, but said the main actress walked around blindfolded to get into character. It is very clear they didn't make any attempt to find an actress who was blind, what they mean to say is "we couldn't find one who was already 'well known'". I mean, This Is Us found an actor who was blind, that looked like other characters and could sing, but still found someone. As well, I find it insulting that she/they think being blindfolded actually simulates what the community goes through. Unlike them, we don't get to just take off our blindfolds at the end of the day and see our families or take them off when trying to find the door to our doctors' office, or when you're lost and alone at the airport. It is not the same thing at all.

I wish there were more actors who were blind. I mean I still obsessed with Geordi LaForge from Star Trek because it is one of the only characters who is blind I know but his blindness actually makes him stronger thanks to his visor. I always like that in their version of the future, blindness isn't eradicated but instead they have super powerful technology helping them. In his case, it is alright he is not played by an actor who is blind because Geordi does "see".

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Though I will end my rant by saying, I agree with the person above, this is not the same thing as Black Face at all.

Its fine. It doesn't matter, especially when you make them bad asses like Dare Devil.

And its not a good idea to compare black face to this.

It's orders of magnitude less offensive than blackface, and I think it's pretty obvious why. In stark contrast to PoC, blind people have historically been subjected to what could be called benign marginalisation. We're seen as innocent, helpless, in need of protection. We haven't had the same opportunities (we still don't a lot of the time) but neither were we being compared to apes. So, y'know, perspective I guess?

But the answer is still that in an ideal world, a blind role would be played by a blind person. Our unemployment rate is huge compared to the general population and it's not because we're not capable of working the same jobs ... Within reason of course.

Representation for all groups is important for normalising things that might be seen as 'other', for giving members of that group someone to identify with, and for giving jobs to groups that are particularly underrepresented. And I think the most important reason is because there are just so many more interesting stories left to tell that haven't seen the light of day because they're not white stories or men's stories or abled people's stories. There's a rich well of narrative inspiration that's just languishing and that's a shame.

I actually can't think of a blind character off the top of my head that impacted me at all. I remember as a queer person being extremely excited the first time a video game allowed my avatar to be anything other than straight. It was like all of a sudden I felt seen and understood and really connected with that game. Imagine what we could do for blind people by giving us that same kind of representation.

Honestly I think we as a society, not just blind people, get way to worked up over stuff like this. The key word in all of this is acting as in it’s not real. The goal of the director is cash not reality and when you look at the amount of money invested into these movies you can see why the latter is often sacrificed for the former. Sensationalism pays the bills.

I can think of 2 examples from when I was a kid. In chronological order the first was Backdraft and the second was twister. Dad was a firefighter and let’s just say that the actors obviously weren’t firefighters and the way that fires were handled in the movie would have gotten people fired. About a year or year and a half before twister came out I was in a large and very violent tornado. I’ll just say there were plenty of inaccuricies and stop there.

Do you ever stop to think that with all of the medical shows we have you don’t have doctors yelling that the actors didn’t spend the time in medical school, they don’t know what it’s like to try to save a life, and they shouldn’t impersonate a doctor? I wonder if maybe they realize that in the scheme of things it’s not reality and doesn’t matter.

actually some blind actors actually avoid these roles as well. Peter Falk was one who refused.

Honestly, I have never really thought about it. I don't really care. If the actor can play a blind character, and do a reasonably good job, I don't have any problem with it.

We don't really have a lot of blind actors anyway. The main problem is blind actors don't get hired, so the group of employable blind actors is small. If we could get society to hire people based on their merits and not their disability or lack of one, this might not be a problem any more.

Being racist is different than having sighted actors play blind people. While people from different cultures, races, and genders have the possibility of losing their vision (probably some more than others), are both offensive? Yes for black face, and yes, most likely for those who are blind.

So yes, they are similar in a way that is offensive to both of your presented parties (one that I believe is more extreme and offensive than the other). And yes they are different because I believe that a white person having black face holds a stronger amount of damage and disrespect than a sighted actor playing a blind role. They shouldn't be compared.