Blind Monk

Well it was inevitable: television's favorite compulsive detective will be rendered blind in an upcoming episode. It was also inevitable that Monk will recover after experiencing this secondary disability. But for one episode viewers will get to see this comedic character undergoing depression, compensatory bliss, and navigational disorientation.

I wish that I felt better about this.

Years ago when I worked at Guiding Eyes for the Blind they used to blindfold apprentice guide dog trainers for a week of uninterupted temporary blindness. The trouble with this exercise is that the apprentice got to take the blindfold off. Temporary blindness is not easy or fun both in real life and anywhere else. But real blindness is far more challenging.

Comic interludes featuring temporary blindness do a good deal to reinforce public misperceptions about visual disabilities and are essentially a re-packaging of "Mr. McGoo".

Let's have Monk go permanently blind. Then wwe can watch him waiting in the rain for a bus that seldom comes on time. Or better yet, he could be treated rudely by the airlines in every episode. See TV Guide listings below.

SK