Djembe - Concordia College

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Her instructors had some logistical concerns. How would Claire handle the mechanics of
travel? The trip, which traveled to Iceland, Germany, France, Ireland, Wales, and England, focused
on Medieval Europe and therefore included some treacherous terrain. How would Claire negotiate
the looming rocky cliffs of Ireland, steep spiral staircases, crumbling walls, and muddy narrow
secret passageways of castles, not to mention the awkward room accommodations of some hotels
where toilets and bathrooms lie at the end of labyrinthine hallways? With a group of about twenty
students to look after, the teachers also wondered about their ability to give Claire the attention that
they assumed she might require. All of these fears were unfounded.
A narrow vision of how the blind deal with safety issues in everyday life limited the
instructors’ ability to see the truth about how adept the seeing impaired are. The presupposition
was that the blind handle familiar surroundings safely, but that unfamiliar settings are more of a
danger to them than to sighted students. They falsely believed that Claire simply would have more
difficulty than the others with the ever-changing schedule and landscape of their European journey.
The instructors were completely misguided by their lack of experience and knowledge of how the
blind are able to cope with every day life, whether it be in the US, Europe, or anywhere else in
the world. In fact, Claire, like the blind in general, and any sighted person for that matter, faces
obstacles related to her own safety on a regular basis, even in familiar settings.
This is not to say safety was not a concern while traveling. On the contrary, it was. The
focus on safety, however, was a constant issue for all students, not just for Claire. By singling out
Claire, thinking that she needed a different kind of help from the others, the instructors unwittingly
marginalized her in a way that was inappropriate. Both the blind and the sighted have to learn how
to deal with the physical and cultural landscape of new countries. Likewise, everyone has to do it
in their own way. Fortunately, the teachers came to this realization with the help of an honest and
compassionately direct Claire even before the sojourn began. In the end, instructors and students
always must work together to make sure all are safe when navigating new environs. As a matter of
fact, Claire proved to be one of the more adventurous members of the group. She scaled the walls of
Mt. St. Michel, climbed the towers of Chartres and Salisbury Cathedrals, and enjoyed spelunking
through secret passages under Germany’s Castle Rheinfels and Ireland’s Knowth burial mounds,
all with a broad smile of absolute wonder, while some sighted students stayed behind and watched
with agoraphobic and/or claustrophobic concern.
A related example of shortsightedness on the part of the instructors also occurred early
on. The teachers heard that Sasha, a close friend of Claire’s, desired to come on the trip. The
instructors approached Sasha and asked her if she would be able to “help” them “look after”
Claire. The aforementioned perceived “problem” concerning Claire’s safety was the instructor’s
primary concern. Nevertheless, when Claire heard of this she immediately went to one instructor to
complain. “Why do you think I need help?” she wondered. The stunned instructor slowly realized
that his assumptions concerning Claire were wanting at best and prejudice at worst. Claire, in fact,
required no more aid than any other students, and was as fully capable of dealing with Europe as
the others were, and as had been noted, was even more willing to take risks that most of the students
avoided. The idea, namely that Claire’s blindness meant that she needed special assistance beyond
what the instructors might be able to offer her, was nothing less than misguided insensitivity on
the instructor’s part.
Claire was equally concerned that the request by the instructors to “help” her might
actually affect her relationship with Sasha and other students. Claire questioned, “Would Sasha
and she always be roommates? Would Sasha feel obligated to stay with Claire if the two of them
wanted to see or be involved in different historic or cultural sites or events?” And so on.... The