[Blind-international-students] introducing myself and comments on your discussion
Guido Corona
guidoc at austin.rr.com
Mon Aug 9 13:25:31 UTC 2010
Anmol, you essentially answered your own question... You yourself manage to
track your change with a minimum of ingenuity. All a currency reform
would manage to do, at an exorbitant cost to the Nation, is for you to
perform exactly the same task without resorting to such minor ingenuity.
Granted, eventually in some future, you may see a transition to more
coinage, as Canada has successfully done with 1, 2, and in the future 5
dollars coins... and possibly with residual paper currency that contain
short range RF tags. This unavoidable transformation will take time so that
costs can be absorbed, and will be performed in a manner that it will
benefit the entirety of the country, rather than a single -- fortunately
small -- population.
The National Federation of the Blind, and the bulk of the accessibility
community, are concentrating on rising technological and societal barriers
for which there are no practical workarounds. Some of these, such as access
to dynamic web applications are being solved in the short and medium term by
a trilateral application of new software technologies developed by industry,
collaboration of screen reader developers, and standards organizations.
Other problems, such as that of independent vehicular control for the blind
are extremely long term projects, in which the state of the art is still
concentrating on the detailed definition and implications of the problem
set.
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 9:44 PM
To: Blind International Students Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blind-international-students] introducing myself and comments
on your discussion
Guido,
Actually your assurtion that I am fixated on the currency issue is not at
all true. I have managed my money successfully for 31 years and have not
been shorted changed that I can remember, but what I am arguing is the basic
principal of independently managing one's money without having to ask for
sighted assistance. As a friend of my said the other day "we forced to adapt
ourselves to money which is not accessable not by choice but by
cercumstances". Basically what I am arguing is that bringing identifiable
currency can realisticly be achieved and it would benefit alot of blind
people. This is all I am arguing. Let me ask a simple question from Guido ,
Dave and everyone "can members of this list openly disagree with NFB"?
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, 9:06 PM
> Anmol, I can see that you have
> fixated on this currency issue, and I doubt
> I can convince you otherwise. It is clearly important
> to you, and you seem
> to be rejecting simple workaround as a matter of principle,
> which is
> perfectly fine by me. Fortunately, most blind people appear
> to find simple
> commonsense workarounds that are of no cost to the country
> perfectly
> acceptable.
>
> I should like to point out that, while these 2 instances of
> being short
> changed probably costed me a total of $25 (Canadian), other
> taxi drivers
> took advantage of my blindness through credit card phraud
> to the tune of
> several thousand dollars over the years, for which neither
> the ACB, nor AFB,
> nor NFB, nor currency reform can do anything about.
>
> Bottomline... Do not swet the small stuff... and let us
> move on.
>
> G.
>
>
>
>
>
> 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 7:45 PM
> To: Blind International Students Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blind-international-students] introducing
> myself and comments
> on your discussion
>
> 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
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Blind-international-students mailing list
> > > Blind-international-students at nfbnet.org
> > >
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-international-students_nfbnet.org
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> your
> > > account info for Blind-international-students:
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> >
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> > molpbhatia%40yahoo.com
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > idoc%40austin.rr.com
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