[blparent] NFB and Cane Length (was Introduction and a Question from the origenater)

Sat Feb 20 19:07:18 UTC 2016

		Kane: contact me off list at the email below. 

Rob Kaiser
Email;
rcubfank at sbcglobal.net

-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 10:53 AM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com>
Subject: Re: [blparent] NFB and Cane Length (was Introduction and a Question from the origenater)

To be perfectly honest, the reason I have not joined the NFB is because many members put forth a very rude face to the public when it comes to demanding equal treatment.  Believe me, I understand where the anger and bitterness come from.  I've been in the real world as long as anybody else.  We need to be firm and resolute when dealing with discrimination as it arises in the media, the courts, etc.  But meeting injustice with anger on the streets from day to day only leads to public confusion when often, the people who receive the anger are only trying to be helpful.

For example, my boyfriend offered assistance to a blind man not long ago who was literally about to step out into the street in front of an oncoming city bus.  The man snapped at him, saying it was wrong to assume that he needed help just because he was blind and that he knew exactly where he was going and how to get there.

My boyfriend--okay, diplomacy isn't his best trait--backed off and told him that if he was on a career path to becoming a hood ornament, he was headed in exactly the right direction, good luck.  I don't know for sure that the blind man was affiliated with the NFB, but he had the typical "I don't need sighted help" attitude and the super long cane.  He could have been.

As far as the super long canes go, they don't work for me.  I've been given a lot of crap for that by blind people I know.  I'm a slower traveler since I lost the last of my light perception and developed fibromyalgia and other health problems, which I've also been hassled for, but it is what it is. 
Frankly, I don't understand those long canes as a symbol of blind strength or anything else.  I've been told they can make a person travel faster.  If that works for some people, more power to them, but why does that make the long canes a symbol of anything?  When I went to a State of Colorado NFB convention, the only thing the long canes seemed to be a symbol of was the license to ram other people in the ankles and crowd them out of the way in the food line.  It would seem to me that a telescoping cane would work better in most situations because it could be folded up and put out of the way.  I really am open to an explanation.

Jo Elizabeth

"The Bright Side of Darkness"
is my newly published novel,
available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kane Brolin via BlParent
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 8:40 AM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: Kane Brolin
Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction and a Question from the origenater

On 2/19/16, Elizabeth Bowden via BlParent <blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I'd like to let everyone know that I am also blind, and wanted the 
> informN as much as > the mother does.  Also, she is having a problem 
> with her email, so I offered to join the > list first so she could see 
> what an email discussion list is like.
> Just my 2 cents worth.

Thank you, Elizabeth.  I have seen you on some other lists before, though I generally lurk on lists more than I participate.

I have come to love the Federation and its subsidiary groups, and I even am a leader on a small scale.  But I have to say that for me this has been an acquired taste, because some Federationists overreach and cut off our nose to spite our face.

One time in the early '90s, I came to visit a chapter meeting in the heart of Chicago, carrying a telescoping cane that I had purchased through what is now the Independence Market.  Without even knowing me, a veteran member of that chapter accused me of "folding up your blindness" because I was not carrying the full-length, long cane (which in my case stands about 70 inches high).  I knew I would be riding back and forth on trains, sitting at a crowded outdoor café, etc.  So I just decided to bring the telescoping cane with me--as much for convenience as for anything else.  But somehow this man thought that I probably was trying to hide my blindness from the world or de-emphasize it by choosing a cane whose length I could collapse.
Utterly ridiculous, as I've dealt with blindness my entire life--some times more effectively than others--but I've never had an issue with owning up to this characteristic or with sharing my coping techniques (or other resources) with those who are curious.  And, being total, it's not as though I've ever been able to hide it.  What's more,  the style of telescoping cane I purchased, had been recommended to me by none other than Dr. Jernigan himself, whom I'd met face to face the prior year. Experiences like this one were one factor in my not joining up with the Federation actively for more than 20 years of my adult life.

I don't believe in watering down our principles.  But I think it's best to practice the Stephen Covey maxim of "Seek first to understand before being understood."

I will say nothing further in or about this thread.  Thank you for your indulgence.

-Kane

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