Minority Report

I once overheard a couple of actors arguing about which received more prejudice, being Asian or being gay. This was in the late 90's, a particularly dark time for Asian actors. After a "worldwide search," the white Jonathan Pryce had recently been cast as the Asian leading role in Miss Saigon. Thankfully, he did not play Miss Saigon.

The Asian actor talked about all the stereotypes that he had to overcome, and the fact that he could not hide his ethnicity (nor did he want to, of course) when auditioning for roles that were envisioned for white actors. The gay actor argued that the prejudice against the queer community was much more toxic, and that he felt the need to hide his orientation when auditioning for commercial roles. He also brought up the point that Asian people are usually born to Asian families, whereas a gay man is often shunned by his own family.

It can be tricky to have an identity your family doesn't share. I imagine many adopted people go through this, especially when their parents are a different race than they are. As far as us blind and blind-ish people go, we tend to be born into fully sighted families who don't have any idea what the world looks like through our eyes. There's no comparison to racism or homophobia -- people don't hate the partially sighted, as far as I know -- but there are a few parallels. It's hard enough to explain your sight to a friend or colleague, but it almost feels alien to explain your physiology to your parents.

My mother and I have gotten into pretty big arguments about this -- in fact, we had one just last night -- and I probably have unrealistic expectations about how much she can know (or remember) about what I can and can't see. She's certainly sensitive to it, but she forgets about certain limitations, like my basic inability to recognize a face from a photograph (usually). That's not her fault, but it's inevitably frustrating for me. If I end up with a family of my own someday, it will probably be a source of frustration then, too, for all of us. Hopefully, it will be a source of humor as well.

I don't think the gay actor and the Asian actor settled their differences., but the tempers cooled by the time the show started. It's a good thing, too; there's no room for prejudice in Shakespeare. Now, tell me again what happens in The Merchant of Venice?