Seems like only yesterday that I was writing about the premier of the new show Growing Up Fisher, but in reality we are already thru episode 10. Episode 10 is all about the "First Time". In this episode they are primarily referring to the first time having sex but for blind/VI individuals the first time for anything is always an adventure. We typically learn from our first time experiences of hitting things, getting lost, etc and do better the next time around. In this episode, it was good that Katie made the decision to delay the decision for her "First Time".

FAVORITES:

Swirling is Not Good: Joyce finds out that Katie is going to sleep with Anthony after prom and she is beside herself. She decides to confront Anthony about it while he is at work at the FroYo place. Because having a conversation about sex at the cash register was not appropriate, Joyce decides to associate the topic to swirling two flavors of yogurt. Anthony's coworker argues that "swirling" is a great thing. Joyce responds, "taking two flavors and mixing them to make a third is not a good idea." The conversation continues from there until Katie walks through the front door. Joyce then decides she will order a single small cone, emphasizing "no swirl."

Hormones Will Find A Way: When Mel finds out about Anthony and Katie's plan after prom, he immediately ends his date with Allison (which hadn't even begun) and heads to the prom hotel. He uses his legal power once again to talk the bellman to let him inside the Fisher room. Too bad this was a different Fisher. Instead of his daughter, he finds another Fisher couple that are probably old enough to be his parents celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. Big mistake!

After scouring the hotel for Katie, Mel left the hotel with Joyce to find out where they could be. Mel says, "They could be anywhere doing it; the back seat of a car, in the bathroom, in a tree." Joyce responds, "In a tree?" Mel's response to jJoyce was, "hormones will find a way." This scene was absolutely hilarious. Gotta love Mel just barging in anywhere he wants to go guide dog and all.

Salsa Bombs: As a childhood prank, Runyan and Henry decide to make a salsa bomb and drop it out of the window of the school. It lands right on the principal's car. I have heard of a lot of pranks but never a salsa bomb. This cracked me up and boy would this be a mess to clean up.

LIFE TRUTH:

A Fear of the Sighted: I am so glad this episode totally hit on a major issue I wrote about in my Living in an Uncertain World Blog; Taboo to You May Not Be Taboo to Us. In the show, Katie's boyfriend Anthony starts telling Mel how the view from the prom venue is amazing and that you can see the entire city of Los Angeles. Then in mid sentence he catches himself, stops and apologizes to Mel, thinking that he may have offended him by saying, "you can see the entire city." As mentioned in my blog about taboos among society and the blind/VI, this is a very common occurrence and one that I want to clear up for society.

There is no need to think twice about talking about the view or asking us if we have seen a recent movie. Making these comments does not imply you are being insensitive nor should it make us feel bad. This is normal everyday conversation and actually by Anthony saying that the skyline of the city can be seen from the venue, it actually gave descriptive information so Mel has a better idea about the location.

Typically society is more concerned about saying the wrong thing than we are about trying to look for people to say the wrong thing. Remember, as I mentioned in my blog, we may not see things the way sighted individuals see things but we still "C" things. We can get the same information from using other senses and context clues. So next time you are in conversation with a blind/VI individual, don't go into the conversation hoping just not to offend us, go into the conversation just like you would any other conversation. You will come out of it educated and more comfortable than ever!

Growing Up Fisher is Like Growing up Scheidies Episode 10: The First Time