[Blindtlk] My 2 Cents

Sun Mar 24 03:57:25 UTC 2013

Blind people are considered consumers in this arena because they are being
provided a service. That service may be blindness skills training or it may
be educational services. It may also be job placement. 

Whatever the case may be, they are clients/consumers. The words are one in
the same. An attorney, for example might choose to call his clients
consumers of his services.

If a sighted person applies for financial aide to go to school, they are a
consumer.
The word consumer doesn't mean that you aren't producing or can't produce. I
challenge you to find a dictionary definition which links the two concepts.

Diane Graves

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Peter Wolfe
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 11:43 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] My 2 Cents

   Why are blind people considered consumers in much of rehabilitation? They
aren't producers, therefore, they are deemed inferior even by fellow blind
professions who work at such facilities.
Sorry the whole conversation is besides the point just a reason to demean
someone of another opinion. I'm an atheist-agnostic, so view things in
another paradigm than that of yourself in that way. I'm looking at
everything extremely logical to a fault that is to say deductive logic not
inductive logic as much.

sincerely,
Peter

On 3/23/13, Mark Tardif <markspark at roadrunner.com> wrote:
> Diane,
>
> Absolutely, one hundred percent spot on!!!
>
> Mark Tardif
> Nuclear arms will not hold you.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diane Graves
> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 11:14 PM
> To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
> Subject: [Blindtlk] My 2 Cents
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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--
Cordially,
Peter Q Wolfe, BA
cum laude Auburn University
e-mail: yogabare13 at gmail.com
"If you don't stand up for something your willing to fall for anything"
Peter Q Wolfe
"Stand up for your rights"
Bob Marley

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