The Mythology of Discrimination will be discussed at a free University of Queensland public lecture on Friday, October 16 at the UQ St Lucia campus.
The President of the National Federation of the Blind, USA Dr Marc Maurer, will be guest speaker at the lecture at 4pm-5pm at Lecture Theatre 234, Parnell Building, Great Court.
Earlier this year Dr Maurer told an audience at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana that in the past, discrimination meant discernment — a positive characteristic.
“Discrimination is a term which today signifies arbitrary, improper, and illegal classifications of human beings,” he said.
“Our community is composed of blind people and their friends who want to foster independence for the blind and who reject as unfounded mythology—the mythology of discrimination—the assumption that blind people have less ability than that possessed by the sighted.”
Born in 1951, Dr Maurer was the second in a family of six children. His blindness was caused by overexposure to oxygen after his premature birth, but he and his parents were determined that this should not prevent him from living a full and normal life.
He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1977 from the University of Indiana School of Law. He is a member of the Bar in Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Maryland and a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
He has been President of the National Federation of the Blind since 1986. 1997 to 2000 he also served as president of the North America/Caribbean Region of the World Blind Union, and he chaired the WBU Committee on the Restoration of the of the Louis Braille Birthplace in Coupvray, France.
In 2004 he became vice president of the World Blind Union North America/Caribbean Region, and in 2006 reassumed the presidency.
The lecture is part of the UQ Equity Office Diversity Discussion series. Light refreshments will be served afterwards. RSVP to equity@uq.edu.au by close of business Wednesday, October 14.
Media: Dr Ann Stewart, telephone 07 3365 3052 or Jan King at 0413 601 248.
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