This questionnaire is designed to stimulate thinking and dialogue. It is not intended to test knowledge of disability or attitudes toward people with disabilities. As people increasingly find themselves in situations involving people who are disabled they need to make quick decisions on how to respond. This questionnaire provides an opportunity to think about situations involving people with disabilities, to respond, and then to consider the various responses more carefully.
Q. Which of the following positions has not been filled by a person who is legally blind?
a) photographer
b) airplane pilot
c) chemistry professor
d) all of the above
b) airplane pilot
I have never found a reference to an airplane pilot who is blind. This does not mean that a person who is blind absolutely couldn't fly a plane, nor that it has never happened. But to the best of my knowledge it hasn't happened yet.
George Covington, a professional photographer who is blind, has written a photography manual for individuals with impaired vision, Let Your Camera Do the Seeing (published by the Council of Citizens with Low Vision, 1211 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Suite 506, Washington, D.C. 20036). People with severely impaired vision can use photography as a tool by studying greatly enlarged copies of their pictures.
People who are blind have pursued chemistry, biology, engineering and a vast array of other sciences. You will find references to such scientists, including chemistry professors, in the Resource Directory of Handicapped Scientists, compiled by J. Alsford Owens, M. Ross Redden and J. Welsh Brown (AAAS Publication No. 78-13, 1978, Office of Opportunities in Science, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036).