[Blindtlk] My 2 Cents

[Diane Graves]

Hi Carly,

I also have a schoolmate--he was a year behind me in high school-who has
some brain damage. I believe he had meningitis. He has trouble with
articulating and I believe with Braille too. But he has a wonderful sense of
humor and many other skills. He's a great person and is also a
federationist.

Diane Graves

 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carly
Mihalakis
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 11:46 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] My 2 Cents

Hi, Diane,

What a great message!

I too have a duel disability. Not only am I totally blind since age
18 months, in 2003, I acquired brain damage, a side effect of which is
tactal appraxia, the inability for finger  to communicate input to the
brain. So, essentially, I can not any longer perceive braille although
complete knowledge of the code including the many rules of writing, does
endure, held fast in long term memory which, ever miraculously, remains
untouched.

I too considdered braille one of my lovers, and losing it was akin to losing
someone with whom you share such intimacies.
I'd love to talk with you, Diane so gimme a call: 408-209-3239   At 
08:14 PM 3/23/2013, you wrote:
>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.
>
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>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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