The designation may be seen as old-fashioned today, but I don't believe that any of the blind musicians under discussion here found it "degrading" to be known as "Blind [Whoever]." I am quite sure that each and every such person calmly accepted the description "blind" as simply descriptive, not perjorative, and was glad to have his/her public persona ~ so critical to one's livelihood ~ be made so easily recognizable.

Of course, all these folks were highly skilled and extremely talented, and they all found a way to make careers by developing abilities unaffected by and independent of their sightlessness.

And most importantly, this was during an era when people in general were much less worried about shades of meaning and delicate sensibilities than they are today. (An "era" defined as starting at the beginning of human history and ending about 20 years ago!)