I find it strange that, in a time when we are becoming more and more sensitive toward persons with handicapping conditions, our nation’s State Department would adopt a policy which effectively eliminates blind persons from foreign service positions.  As the editorial in the Ann Arbor News put it, “It’s probably a good thing Helen Keller isn’t alive today to apply for a job with the U.S. foreign services, They’d turn her down, flat.” (Thursday, December 1, 1988) I can understand that blindness would certainly put some limitations upon a person’s ability to perceive some things in some situations, but my experience tells me that blind people often “see” the reality of things in ways that sighted persons do not.  Sometimes the blind have more insight than the sighted. 

I.  THAT IS CERTAINLY …