Eleftheria Bernidaki-Aldous http://www.bernidaki.eu Personal website of Eleftheria Bernidaki-Aldous , Member of Greek Parliament en Blindness in a Culture of Light - Especially the Case of "Oedipus at Colonus" of Sophocles http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=publications&i=759&from=rss This book examines the paradox: sight in blindness in Ancient Greek culture. Deprivation of light is almost as undesirable as death, yet blindness bestows a status of distinction in a culture where choice between light and honor is difficult. Blindness is punishment for breaking the limits of human knowledge, yet it is also the means to insight (truth-vision of metaphysical light). The (polluted) blind seers and poets enjoy the highest religious, social and political powers. "Sophron Polis: on the Pension of the Handicapped Athenian (Lysias 24.)", Newsletter, The American College of Greece, November 1996, p16. http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=publications&i=757&from=rss Many scholars have drawn the theoretical implications for the Greek wareness of mortality. What they have not considered (and some even doubted) is the possibility that the compassion which characterized attitudes toward the handicapped in literature had any application in everyday life. The Power of the Evil Eye in the Blind: 'Oedipus Tyrannus' 1306 and 'Oedipus at Colonus' 149-156 http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=publications&i=756&from=rss Focusing on the reaction of Sophoclean choruses lefore the blind, I examine the Greek belief in the jvil eye: its definition and function. I also show how it relates to other beliefs such as transgression (hybris), envy (phthonos), pollution (miasma, agos) and that which maintains that suffering spoils the character. The blind are seen not only as having transgressed mortal boundaries and as a source of pollution, but also as capable of inflicting the evil eye AMERICAN UNIVERSITY-"Greek scholar, politician visits AU " http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=press_releases_anafora&i=762&from=rss 2nd INTERNATIONAL OSSATE WORKSHOP-‘Accessible Tourism’ – A Wake-up Call to the Greek and European Tourism Industry http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=press_releases_anafora&i=760&from=rss Speeches before 2002 http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=universities&i=769&from=rss Disability Awareness Conference, American College of Thessaloniki http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=universities&i=768&from=rss American University Washington DC http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=universities&i=767&from=rss American Hellenic Institute http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=universities&i=766&from=rss 2nd International OSSATE Workshop on "Accessible Tourism" http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=universities&i=765&from=rss Statement of Greek Deputy of New Democracy Dr. Eleftheria Bernidaki-Aldous concerning the passing of the Archbishop Iakovos Formerly of North and South America http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=press_releases_office&i=764&from=rss AMERICAN HELLENIC INSTITUTE-"An Exchange of Values and Ideas between Greece and the United States" http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=press_releases_anafora&i=763&from=rss ATHENS NEWS AGENCY-"New Democracy MP Bernidaki-Aldous a guest speaker at Washington's American University" http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=press_releases_anafora&i=761&from=rss Insight in Blindness in a Culture of Light, Creighton University Faculty Journal, April, 1986, p29. http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=publications&i=758&from=rss This essay addresses the paradox: sight in blindness. Greek culture (immersed in light, literally and metaphorically) is characterized as a "culture of light." Greek literature is dominated by the dialectics of light (light-darkness imagery, blindness and insight vs. eyesight). Light is so desirable that in Greek phos is synonymous with life. Deprivation of light is almost as undesirable as death, yet blindness bestows a status of distinction in a culture where choice between light and honor is difficult. Achilles chooses time over life in the Ilaid, but in the Odyssey he would give up the highest honors in Hades to see the light again. Athens News -"Disabling mechanisms" http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=newspapers&i=454&from=rss Washington Post -"A Model for E.U." http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=newspapers&i=448&from=rss Kathimerini -"ND state deputy and shining example to all" http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=newspapers&i=423&from=rss Interview at The National Herald - "Classical Attitudes Shaped Modern Outlooks on Disabilities" http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=newspapers&i=422&from=rss Athens News - Cretans, drop your guns http://www.bernidaki.eu/?l=en&p=newspapers&i=424&from=rss