Saturday, June 14, 2008

Blind poet explains negative attitudes worse than blindness

The Washington (DC) City Paper profiled Kathi Wolfe, 55, a freelance writer and poet who recently published a chapbook of poems about Helen Keller.

In its "What's Your Problem" Arts & Events column, she says blindness isn’t an impediment to her work; being identified as a “blind person” can be. “My biggest obstacle is dealing with people’s attitudes toward the disabled,” she says. “It’s a whole spectrum of responses. There are people who have a stigma against you. There are people who tell you you’re ‘inspirational.’ There are people who pity you.” Once, in a writing workshop, another participant told Wolfe that he “just doesn’t associate blind people with poetry.” “That really made me angry,” says Wolfe.