[Cabs-talk] [cabs-talk] Diversity and the NFB

Tue Feb 10 05:35:17 UTC 2009

    Hi Haben.
I like you have multiple disabilities am totally blind and also have about a 
50% hearing loss using "smart" hearing aids". I wondered if the chirping 
signal would be helpful and have used some over in Los angeles near braille 
institute.
This isn't because of the NFB but although I understand your dread of 
crossing some streets especially more complex ones with islands and multiple 
turns, I have major concerns about the chirping signals.
1.  For me, when the signal chirps it interferes with the traffic I mean I 
can hear traffic but it goes over quieter cars.  If someone makes a turn or 
I veer I think I'm less likely to notice.
2.  In many cities the audible signals only work certain hours.  Even if 
they were an advantage I can't use them whenever I want.
3.   Most of these signals have one sound for north south another for east 
west.  If I don't live there I don't know which is which.  I might or might 
not be able to decipher at the intersection with long careful listening.
4.  Even when I hear traffic I have to watch my veering, in Fact one time I 
actually crossed Van Nuys and Sherman Way two very busy streets 
cattycornered during the 4:00 p.m rush hour.  God was with me because not 
one car honked or squealed even a tire.  The only noticeable thing that 
happened was a friend of mine happened to be driving by at that time she 
jumped out of her car like grease lightning but by the time she got across I 
was well on my way the wrong direction heading towards my destination.  I 
stated noticing something was wrong, wrong landmarks etc about the time she 
found me.  I should have been going east not North.
My point is the extra distraction it would seem could cause me to line up 
improperly more frequently.

I do understand where your coming from, but you should remember the sole or 
at least primary focus of the NFB are the blindness issues.
It's possible to be a member of the NFB and support them where blind people 
generally are concerned and differ because of extinuating circumstances like 
multiple disabilities, or some other minority concerns I might not be 
thinking about just now.
I know someone who was blind and  severely deaf and he took buses to work 
and carried signs with different slogans one told the driver to call his 
stop, another ask people to cross him I imagine sometimes he had a long 
waiting time but that's what he had to do. Once he got stuck in an elavator 
for a while and it was really tramatic because all he could do was ring the 
bell and hope someone knew he was there.
 I ask a counselor "why does he travel by himself? She laughed and said lots 
of people might ask you that same question.
If I did decide audible signals were helpful I wouldn't appeal to the city 
on the basis of blindness but rather on the basis of a multiple handicap 
blindness combined with poor hearing.
I think though if I did instead of an audible signal I would like a 
vibrating one on the traffic light.  I've also toyed with the idea of 
tactile lines on the street to keep me straight while crossing that's 
definitely something the NFB wouldn't like in the majority and rightfully 
so.  Most blind people don't need tactile markers they can hear good. I 
don't ask for those not because the NFB would get mad at me but I do have 
concerns that the sighted public might misunderstand.  They might think I 
couldn't function in the work place without special beepers to tell me where 
my desk the bathroom etc are and they might think I need tactual markers on 
the floor to keep me from hurting or endangering myself.
I don't want other blind people to be turned down for work because of 
misconceptions I inadvertently create.
Sometimes that means I have to sacrifice at least I feel I do for the 
greater good.
But our philosophy about ourselves and our blindness as well as our 
responsability to the blind community doesn't just happen.  I did things 
when I was younger I might not do today and visa versa.
So in my view that's just a decision you made for better or worse and it's 
done.
You can still be as much a federationist as you used to be.
But, perhaps folks like you and I should join the deaf blind division and 
communicate these concerns.
I never joined because like a medium or high partial I said why do I need to 
be in the deaf blind group I can hear?
Oh yah try telling my wife that when she has to repeat herself several 
times.
Thank God she's not in to throwing things or I might need a beeping sound 
shield.
Keep the faith.
Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
To: "California Association of Blind Students Mailing List" 
<cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 7:42 PM
Subject: [Cabs-talk] [cabs-talk] Diversity and the NFB

>
> A few months back I called the city of Portland's Transportation 
> Department requesting that they place chirping signals at a particularly 
> difficult intersection near my house. Today, finally, the city sent 
> someone who actually did just that! I was amazed at how quickly the man 
> was able to set up the chirping signals, and how little work it required. 
> Reflecting on the whole situation, I wondered if maybe I could start a 
> volunteer group to set up chirping signals at the intersections around 
> Portland. Then my boyfriend said, "You know what the NFB would say?"
>
> "Oh shit," I was suddenly hot and took off my hat. I felt momentarily 
> stressed, ashamed, panicked. I knew exactly what the NFB would say. The 
> NFB would say chirping signals are not necessary, a properly trained blind 
> person can safely cross the intersections by listening to traffic 
> patterns. Suddenly my plan seemed stupid, and I felt guilty for asking the 
> city to set up an chirping intersection near my home.
>
> After some thought, after talking it out with my boyfriend, I realized 
> that the blind population is too diverse for the NFB to dish out standards 
> for every single one of those blind people. I attended the Louisiana 
> Center for the Blind and in some ways my confidence in crossing streets 
> shrunk from that experience. I am blind, but I'm hard of hearing, too, and 
> hence I cannot trust my ears to help me get across streets. I use a 
> combination of vision and hearing to cross most streets, but some streets 
> I simply do not feel safe crossing. The intersections that cannot be tamed 
> by my vision and hearing are those for which I want the city of Portland 
> to install chirping signals.
>
> My point is that the NFB should not be treated as law by all blind people. 
> I've had to pick and choose which standards of the NFB to adopt, and which 
> I should discard because I am hard-of-hearing. There are other blind 
> people with multiple disabilities that probably experience similar 
> frustrations with the NFB. I noticed that the girl in the youtube video 
> who rants against the NFB has a partial facial paralysis. I strongly feel 
> that the NFB should more vocally acknowledge the non-homogeneity of the 
> blind population.
>
> Sincerely,
> Haben
>
>
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