[Blind-international-students] introducing myself and comments on your discussion

Mon Aug 9 03:16:26 UTC 2010

Hi, Anmol,

         You are speaking some sense! In my opinion, this whole car 
thing the NFB is currently proposing seems to b be a wee bit 
misguided, when we still cannot do one of the most essential rights 
of living in this society, knowing in completely independent terms 
exactly  how much money one has.
S               ounds ever so slightly bas' ackwards to me.
:44 PM 8/8/2010, you wrote:
>You say that you have been short changed twice which is twice to many times.
>Know person blind or not should not be short changed when pratically 
>the US currency can be made identifiable.
>I brought up the arguement of blind driver challenge in the context 
>of NFB's priorities arguing that the fighting for identifiable 
>currency is far more practicable and realistic in achieving then a 
>blind driver challenge, therefore, it would make alot more sense if 
>NFB would focus on the issue of identifiable currency then a car 
>that frankly I do not realisticly see it coming anytime soon. In 
>addition, as a blind person it is far more important to be able to 
>manage my money independently then a car that frankly I can not 
>affordable. So know my arguement was not a Red herring arguement due 
>to the context that it was used and remember I was arguing with 
>Daves point about NFB's not being active on the currency issue.
>
>Anmol
>I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. 
>Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, 
>like a breeze among flowers.
>Hellen Keller
>
>
>--- On Sun, 8/8/10, Guido Corona <guidoc at austin.rr.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Guido Corona <guidoc at austin.rr.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Blind-international-students] introducing myself 
> and comments on your discussion
> > To: "'Blind International Students Mailing List'" 
> <blind-international-students at nfbnet.org>
> > Date: Sunday, August 8, 2010, 7:10 PM
> > Uhrn.... I am not sure the issue of
> > non tactily identifiable currency is
> > such a particular problem.  I have lived in North
> > America for 35 years...
> > first in Canada, then in US.
> >
> > During all this time, I have been shortchanged only twice,
> > by taxi drivers
> > in both cases.  In one of these cases, my sighted wife
> > was present, and she
> > did not catch the swindle either.
> >
> > I have found that, universaly, kindly asking the other
> > party to tell me
> > which bills have what value, solves all currency
> > identification issues.  I
> > then fold bills according to their values, and place them
> > in 4 different
> > slots in my billfold... And no, I never make mistakes.
> >
> > And no, having to shop every few years for a billfold with
> > enough slots for
> > my liking is not something that I deem to be a violation of
> > my basic uman
> > rights under the US Declaration Of Independence, US
> > Constitution, ADA,
> > Section 504, or otherwise.
> >
> > Please note that Canada uses embossing for tactile
> > identification of
> > currency... Works splendidly... until a bill is a few
> > months old, after
> > which markings become flat and unreadable.
> >
> > Sometimes there are simple and remarkably low impact/cost
> > socialization-based workarounds for certain accessibility
> > problems.  I can
> > only praise NFB's pragmatic approach to the entire issue.
> >
> > Finally, in the current context, raising the Blind Drivers
> > Challange is what
> > we call a Red herring... or a distracting argument,
> > extraneous from the
> > discussion at hand. Perhaps it's an interesting topic to
> > debate by itself,
> > but it does not add any value to the current debate on
> > currency recognition.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > g
> >
> > Guido D. Corona
> > Email: guidoc at austin.rr.com
> > Home office: (512) 996-9187
> > Mobile: (512) 466-1322
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: blind-international-students-bounces at nfbnet.org
> > [mailto:blind-international-students-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> > On Behalf Of Anmol
> > Bhatia
> > Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2010 6:21 PM
> > To: Blind International Students Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [Blind-international-students] introducing
> > myself and comments
> > on your discussion
> >
> > Hello Dave,
> > Let me clarify myself. I never thought that NFB is against
> > bringing
> > identifiable currency, but where I have a problem is
> > its     priorities. For
> > me personally identifiable currency is far more important
> > than the Blind
> > Driver Challenge and far more realistic in achieving then a
> > car that a blind
> > person can drive.
> >
> > You are right that groups such as the NFB and ACB may not
> > know what people
> > with disabilities need, but the advantage that groups such
> > as NFB and ACB
> > can bring by participating in various disability coalitions
> > is that they can
> > represent the needs of blind people who make up a large
> > population of people
> > with disabilities.
> >
> > Finally I never ment to say that all blind people should
> > work together, but
> > the two major blind organizations should find more of a
> > common ground and as
> > I stated the members of each respective organizations have
> > greater
> > differences with each other then the two major
> > organizations have with each
> > other. So the organization back and forth seems silly and
> > does not seem to
> > accomplish anything for blind citizens. True we have
> > political parties in
> > this country just as they do in my country, however, it is
> > unfortunate but
> > blind people can not aford to have the luxury of being
> > divided like
> > Democrats and Republicans because our challenges our to
> > great and our
> > community is to small.
> >
> > Having said all that, I commend the NFB on its work of
> > making a difference
> > for blind people around the world including myself. I was
> > fortunate to
> > attend the NFB convention for the first time on a
> > scholarship and I was
> > impressed in being around so many blind people. So I do
> > commend NFB on its
> > work but I do have some differences like any person should
> > have with any
> > organization. So please understand that I am not trying to
> > have it both
> > ways, but simply stating some of my differences. I invite
> > you to participate
> > in the international students conference call next Sunday
> > at 2:00 p.m.
> > eastern time.
> > Also to all members please  forgive my grammar
> > mistakes in my previous
> > email.
> >
> > Anmol
> >
> >
> > I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me
> > sad. Perhaps
> > there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is
> > vague, like a breeze
> > among flowers.
> > Hellen Keller
> >
> >
> > --- On Sun, 8/8/10, David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> > > Subject: Re: [Blind-international-students]
> > introducing myself and
> > comments on your discussion
> > > To: "Blind International Students Mailing List"
> > <blind-international-students at nfbnet.org>
> > > Date: Sunday, August 8, 2010, 4:44 PM
> > > Hi Anmol:
> > >
> > > I have been following this discussion with
> > interest.
> > > There have been lots of good ideas.  However, I also
> > > feel like some people here want to have it both ways
> > -- as
> > > we would say in America.  That is they want to
> > benefit
> > > from an association with the NFB, and they want to use
> > what
> > > the NFB has to offer, but they are not willing to
> > support
> > > the NFB to they extent that they receive support.
> > >
> > > I apologize if I offend anyone -- but I just want to
> > be
> > > honest here.
> > >
> > > Below I think you misrepresent some NFB positions.
> > We
> > > are not strongly opposed to identifiable currency, as
> > you
> > > say, but we don't consider it to be our highest
> > > priority.  We also don't think many of the proposed
> > > systems will work, or are likely to be adopted.
> > >
> > > You are right that we traditionally have not been
> > very
> > > active in coalitions.  In large part this is because
> > we
> > > do not know what other disabled people need, and
> > others do
> > > not know what blind persons want and need.  We can
> > not
> > > represent them -- and they can not represent us.
> > This
> > > is not to say that we don't participate in coalitions,
> > such
> > > as the Reading Rights Coalition among others.
> > >
> > > Finally you say all blind people should work together
> > > ...  These are nice words, but unrealistic.  In
> > > your country, is there only one political party?
> > Why
> > > doesn't everybody just work together, after all, don't
> > they
> > > want the same thing.
> > >
> > > It is only natural that people will disagree, think
> > things
> > > should be done in different ways, want different
> > people to
> > > be in charge etc.
> > >
> > > Dave
> > >
> > > At 04:37 PM 8/3/2010, you wrote:
> > > > Hello Jan,
> > > > I do believe in the basic philosophy of the NFB
> > of
> > > braille education, independence, the right of blind
> > > individuals to teach other blind people and defeating
> > the
> > > false immage and attitudes that sighted society holds
> > > towards blindness. However, my main issue with NFB has
> > been
> > > that it sometimes goes to far. For example, I have yet
> > to
> > > understand why NFB is so opposed to legislation which
> > would
> > > make US currency excessable to the blind. Managing
> > one's
> > > finances is a fundamental right of all Americans and
> > even
> > > though technology does exist which can read papper
> > currency
> > > and one can should find their method of managing
> > their
> > > money, a blind are forced to depend on the honesty of
> > > sighted individuals to know how much money they have
> > and
> > > this itself goes against the NFB philosophy  of
> > > independence. Also I do have some disagreement with
> > NFB
> > > philosophy of total independence. I am a farely
> > independ
> > > person but I think that at times it is ok to ask for
> > help.
> > > As a student
> > > >  at the Arkansas School for the Blind I was
> > > thought by my hoste mother who was blind and by my
> > teachers
> > > that it is ok to ask for help and as a adult I have
> > found
> > > this to be so true. I consider myself to be a
> > independent
> > > and confident blind adult but I still ask for help
> > when I
> > > need to. Another good point you bring up is NFB does
> > not
> > > seem to work with other disability organizations. Last
> > week
> > > when attending the National Council on Disability
> > Summit I
> > > was surprised not to see any officials  from NFB or
> > > ACB. This is not to say they were not there. There
> > were alot
> > > of people who I did not meet. So someone from the NFB
> > and
> > > ACB may have been there and I just did not know about
> > it.
> > > However, I think both NFB and ACB should strive to
> > work with
> > > any or all blindness related or disability
> > organization.
> > > Blind people can only be put on back burner if we let
> > > ourselves do so and blind community is a large enough
> > > community within the disability community that if we
> > unify
> > > >  and assert ourselves we can be the most
> > powerful
> > > disabled comunity. This brings me to another point! I
> > think
> > > the infighting between the NFB and ACB is really
> > silly! Both
> > > organizations have alot of value to contribute for the
> > blind
> > > community and frankly it seems to me that the
> > differences
> > > between is not that much! It seems to me that there is
> > more
> > > difference within the membership of each organization
> > then
> > > there is between the organizations. Another words
> > members of
> > > NFB and ACB have differences with each other more then
> > NFB
> > > and ACB have with each other.Some have compared us to
> > > Democrats and Republicans, fair  comparison but the
> > > blind community is to small and our challenges to
> > great for
> > > us to be Democrats and Republicans. As you know by now
> > I am
> > > a person with strong oppinions and not afraid to
> > share
> > > them  regardless of who I piss off or anger. lol I
> > > may  never be  invited to another NFB convention!
> > > lol
> > > > To answer your question about blindness
> > organizations
> > > in other countries, on MIUSA's webcite there is a link
> > which
> > > list all the disability organizations around the
> > world. You
> > > can select which country or disability or both you
> > wish to
> > > view and a list should appear.
> > >
> > >
> > >         David Andrews:  dandrews at visi.com
> > > Follow me on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/dandrews920
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > molpbhatia%40yahoo.com
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> > idoc%40austin.rr.com
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