[Blindtlk] My 2 Cents

[Diane Graves]

Good Evening,

 

For days I have been overwhelmed by the sizable discussion thread on
"Adjustment to blindness training NFB Centers Or Not," and I admit to having
deleted a good number of the messages without reading, so I apologize in
advance if I missed some things. I changed the subject line on purpose, just
in case there were others doing the same. However, tonight I am up late
baking and have read a number of the posts, and feel compelled to share my
sentiments on a few things, or the facts as I see them.

 

First of all, I'll say, very respectfully, that there is one participant in
the discussion who has me very confused. On one hand I hear him saying that
we in the federation need to "wake up and smell the coffee" and accept the
fact that blindness does make us inferior. On the other hand, this same
individual is saying that we need to come together to fight discrimination
against the blind. If you, yourself, believe that you are inferior, then why
should society stop discriminating? In fact, how can they stop
discriminating? Why should employers hire us, and lessen that 70%
unemployment rate, if we aren't equal to our sighted counterparts? 

 

Secondly, I'll just say that the notion that NFB believes that one size fits
all is ludicrous. There are no two blind people that are a like any more
than there are two sighted people who are exactly alike. There are sighted
people who are excellent construction workers, who do not have the people
skills business prowess and any number of other skills necessary to be the
CEO of a corporation.  That CEO  might not have the athletic prowess to
fight his way out of a cardboard box.  That doesn't make either one of them
inferior. They're just different. 

 

The statement that all blind people need to accept the fact that they can't
perform any number of given tasks, is, indeed, arrogant. We are just as
varied in our abilities as the sighted.

 

I have a dual disability in that I am not only totally blind, but also have
a significant hearing impairment. Therefore, there are a number of blind
people who can run circles around me in the mobility arena, simply because
they have the benefit of that good hearing. The fact that I have trouble at
times, doesn't mean that they face the same drawbacks and that their skills
are not excellent and far above mine.

 

On the other hand, I am an avid Braille reader, and much prefer Braille to
any other media, whereas there are other blind people who prefer to listen
to tapes and recorded books. My hearing is good enough that I could
certainly use audiobooks if I chose too. I just get more out of a book when
actively reading it myself. Some of those people with the superb mobility
skills may not have the same prowess in Braille that I do. We are all
different.

 

Mike Freeman and Gary Wunder are both skilled in the area of computer
programming, and, I suspect, could give sighted programmers a run for their
money. I, on the other hand am strictly a computer user. Start talking about
programming and you've lost me immediately. The fact that I can't do it,
doesn't mean that they're not experts in it.

 

Don't know if this is making sense or not, but again, on one hand I hear
this person  telling us that we are a cookie cutter organization, while at
the same time cutting his own cookies by telling us that we are all severely
limited.

 

In our organization we have liberals and we have conservatives. We have
Christians and we have atheists. We have people who are athletes and those
who are out of shape and proud of it. Lol We have any variation that you
could think of. What unites us is our desire and our intent to fight the
discriminatory barriers which face the blind.

 

Now I'm not going to tell you that I've never known a federationist who
believed that there was only one way of doing things and one standard as it
relates to blindness skills. But that isn't the mantra of the organization
at all.

 

If you want to "stop dreaming" then that is your choice. But you can't take
my dreams.

 

Diane Graves