[BlindTlk] Inclusion of the Blind

[Judy Jones]

Wow, I'd like to come! Are you in Skagit County? (smiles)

The blind always will get the short end of the stick, unless we advocate, participate, and relate.

One reason for this is simply demographic. There are much fewer blind person as compared to other disability groups across society. And, among the blind, there are fewer totally blind than those with vision, and the munnel widens, as you like at populations with better vision. 

In one of his speeches, I remember Kenneth Jernigan stating the reason we blind need to have our own agencies is because of our numbers.

Also, I can tell you, in speaking of rehab, it is more costly to bring blind people through rehab when you're talking about buying technology, getting training, etc. It shouldn't, but it does take longer, on average, for a blind person to become employed.

Part of are problem in the rehab world, and has been for years, is cutbacks, lack of state funding. Not an excuse, but a fact.

In the scenario you're taling about, and you may already be doing this, it's important to know or find out who the blind people are in your community, and make a way of spreading the word about activities.

I empathize with you, because we lived here about a year in north Washington before we met our first blind person. We used to joke that blind people here are like extra terrestrials, or sasquach. You hear they exist, people swear up and down that they do, but you don't know anyone who has seen one. Our first blind person "sighting" was in August this year.

It's something that will take consistent communication. I'm trying to get more blind people involved with our Skagit Transit Community Advisory Council, and I'm going to have to keep it 1that until we get some. 

You may not get many for this activity, but you may get one more for the nex. Then mayBe one more, and hopefully over time, you'll have more blind people.

Plus, if the accessibility isn't there for you, whatever you're doing, suggest to the group leaders inclusive activities, or ways to make existing activities accessible.

Could you hook your group up with the Blind Athletes' Association? They sponsor different athletic activities and days of sports with blind persons in mind. All you have to do is find the venue and get the people there.




Judy
sent from the BrailleSense U2 Mini 

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul via BlTlk  <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
To:  blindtlk at nfbnet.org
CC: paul at blindonline.org
Date: Monday, October 29, 2018 1:17 pm
Subject: Re: [BlTlk] Inclusion of the Blind

>
>
> Thank you for your replies. Judy is right, I was too general. 
> Over the years of being involved in the NFB there have been challenges to states that combined or intended to combine rehab services for the Blind with other disabilities because the Blind always come out the losers. I am wondering if that is true across the board with other activities.
> A group I work with just recently did a bonfire and only one person who is blind except myself showed up. Next month we are hosting a bowling night. We are expecting a low turnout from the blind community. I am wondering if there are reasons I am overlooking and if we should plan on separate activities.
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [BlTlk] Inclusion of the Blind
> From: Chris Nusbaum via BlTlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Mon, October 22, 2018 10:03 am
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Chris Nusbaum <cnusbaumnfb at gmail.com>
> 
> Paul:
> 
> This is very interesting question. From what I can gather it seems that you might be talking about paratransit or some other general service for people with disabilities, but we don't have the information we need to give you the best feedback possible. Could you tell us more about the specific organization in question so we can better help?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Chris Nusbaum
> 
> On Oct 22, 2018, at 12:51 PM, Paul via BlTlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Greetings to all!
> An organization that provides activities for people with disabilities has not seen much success in including the blind. They would like my recommendations for improving their inclusion of the Blind. I have my own list of obstacles but would like the input of others to learn what I am overlooking.
> I am legally blind and have sat out many visual activities, witnessed a dog injured and a cane broken by wheel chairs, and cognitively impaired people attempting to lead people who are blind. 
> I would appreciate your input, either on the list or to paul at blindonline.org. If anyone has experienced a successful inclusion of disabilities, please send me your observations. If anyone can steer me toward research done on this topic, your help would also be sincerely appreciated. Thank you! Paul Weingartner
> 
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