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

[Haben Girma]

You really should share your idea of a portable and personal traffic 
light vibrator with the adaptive tech companies. Those are awesome ideas.

I have not heard specifically about the blind in Japan. In the book I am 
reading a Japanese American ablebodied woman discovers that whenever she 
does or says anything non-Japanese people treat her like she is 
retarded. She claims that many of the people she met treated her as if 
she were non-human whenever she made a small cultural mistake. Thus, 
from her book I deduce that the Japanese disabled community is probably 
also very dehumanized. I am aware of a practice in China, Korea, to 
train blind people to be masseurs and ban sighted people from becoming 
masseurs. A while back an organization of sighted masseurs in South 
Korea were complaining about the discrimination they faced, about how 
they could not practice their chosen professions legally. I definitely 
can see how the blind can receive respect for possessing a specialized 
skill. I disagree with the discrimination against the sighted, and I 
disagree with the few alternative employment opportunities for the blind 
in those countries. I do not know Japan's story on this topic, but from 
what I hear from you it is probably similar to Kore in some ways.

I'm sorry to hear about that awful tour guide in Germany. I was 
exploring Italy and Greece with my boyfriend back in January and I 
definitely noticed that the general population seems to expect people 
with disabilities to rely on human support systems. For instance, a 
hotel may say they are wheelchair accessible when all they mean is that 
they are willing to carry a person and a wheelchair up their stairs, no 
elevator. A totally different way of life, really. Quite a few people in 
Greece didn't know what a white cane means. One guy even told me that 
Greece "doesn't have much blind people." The blind people are there, 
just much less visible than in the US.

I read "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" last year for a class. 
That book wonderfully highlights the clash between Western and Hmong 
views on medicine and healing.

take care,
Haben

Michael Peterson wrote:
>    Hi Haben. You just gave me an interesting set of ideas.
> We have navigation like Senderon on the braille note so why if one 
> needs a traffic signal couldn't a device be created with sensors the 
> deaf blind person could carry with him/her.  This would most likely be 
> a lot cheaper than putting a box on every traffic light in fact it 
> could be set up to pulsate on your wrist like a cell phone alarm on 
> vibrate it could give a series of two pulses for crossing north south 
> and a long pusle for crossing east west.
> If you visit another city you would still have the device just like a 
> white cane or a guide dog
> it would be with you not sedentary.
> In my mind it's about the size of a braille watch and kind of like a 
> light probe a blind switch board operator might use.  It probably 
> operates like an infr red sensor.
> It might even be usable to protect blind folks without a hearing loss 
> from highbred silent cars.
>
> Also the money issue I'm sure such a device could read money in 
> braille, for example if you have openbook and or most likely Kurzweill 
> as a part of the scanner they have a bill scan feature. You can even 
> now attach a braille note or a braille sense to your computer and 
> probably read the money that way.
> Also since we know the NFB believes very vehemently in braille 
> literacy and we know there is currently a cellphone that takes 
> pictures and reads back labels etc verbaly, the next step should be to 
> give that phone a small attachment that would allow it's user to read 
> text messages or scanned documents labels etc in braille.
> When I sacrifice for the common good I attempt to come up with 
> alternatives that can work and at the same time bring people 
> together.  In my view staying inside without a whimper isn't for the 
> good of anyone because it puts sighted folks in the position of 
> caretaker.  Just to give an illustration of people feeling 
> inconvenienced, a woman recently had eight babies at once.  She's 
> happy, her children I guess are happy but her mom says she had six 
> babies to take care of all ready and now has fourteen! She's not a 
> happy camper.
> Most people on some level get really unhappy when they feel forced to 
> treat adults as children but they have a guilt thing going on.  When I 
> speak of self sacrifice for the common good by trying to clear a path 
> for my blind brothers and sisters I am not just helping them I'm 
> helping society as a whole including the government which about now 
> could reduce expenses significantly by employing the 70% or so of the 
> disabled who currently don't work.
> Talk about a posative stimulus package!
>
> But on the otherhand as you said in other cultures blind people see 
> sacrifice differently.
> Speaking of the japaneese culture I either read or heard they actually 
> have a higher regard in general for the blind.  In fact many blind 
> practictioners do massage and other health wellness stuff that 
> requires them to undergo very rigorous training and discipline.  They 
> don't just go to massage school or at least the group I'm thinking of 
> didn't.  I'm thinking I read it in the New York times or readers 
> diggest a few years ago and these women were really highly regarded in 
> Japaneese culture.
> I don't know about other areas of employment they have but I had the 
> impression they are more progressive than western Europe.
> This is in contrast to a Japaneese man Doctor Journigan spoke about 
> who saw blindness I think as a dying.
> Maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong.
> It's an interesting subject.
> I know when I visited Germany I was kind of disappointed blind people 
> aren't treated nearly as well there as in the US in fact when I wanted 
> to go on a tour to the castles the tour guide refused saying "we don't 
> have someone to babysit you." Never mind I had flown across the world 
> and was staying in Munich unaccompanyed.  When I spoke to the hotel 
> about it and said in America they could never do this he said I 
> understand but this isn't America.
> I did go to Switzerland and austria but I made a mistake, I knew I 
> didn't know the area so I stayed on the bus instead of breaking off 
> the tour and staying in the little town on the lake for a night.  I 
> could've taken the train back to munich the next day and got a cab to 
> the hotel without a problem but my confidence was shaken I guess 
> because of conversations I was having with the tour guide.
> She was very nice but also very condescending.  The little town was 
> very quiet and sereen a postcard story book kind of town in the Alps.
>
> I went there because I won a sweepstakes from Becks beer.  They felt 
> bad about the situation with the tour company  too and were going to 
> provide me with a private driver for the second tour I wanted.   I was 
> going to go to the Black forest.  My problem was my plane schedule was 
> to close so I couldn't work out the change.
> I was suposed to have a guest with me but she couldn't go at the last 
> minute and I wasn't about to throw away the trip of a life time.
> So I went.
> Cultural diversity is something we really stress in my training to 
> become a VR counselor.
> There is a book about the Hmon culture called "spirit catches you and 
> you fall  down about a little Hmon girl who has epilepsi.  Realy 
> interesting book.
> 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 11:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [Cabs-talk] [cabs-talk] Diversity and the NFB
>
>
>> Hi Mike,
>>
>> Thanks for sharing your concerns about chirping signals. I hadn't 
>> thought they would be a disadvantage for anyone. Just an aside, the 
>> traffic signal they guy set up near my house works 24/7 whenever 
>> someone presses the button.
>>
>> We must be very careful in choosing our self-sacrifices. In many 
>> places around the world, a blind person might choose to just stay at 
>> home because he knows that if he stepped outside on his own he would 
>> cause his family and neighbors much stress. The man would do it for 
>> the greater good, for the majority sighted people around him. I 
>> happen to be reading about Japanese culture at the moment and they 
>> are very big on self sacrifice. I find that if I were to refrain from 
>> requesting all the things I would need to be successful in life, such 
>> as FM Systems, braille books, etc, it would not be a positive image 
>> for the NFB, I would simply become another un-productive statistic. 
>> I've also heard of deafblind folks holding up cards to request 
>> passerby help them cross streets. Since I absolutely cannot hear 
>> traffic patterns reliably, then I suppose I could have chosen to hold 
>> up signs instead of asking for a chirping signal. For me, the greater 
>> freedom offered by a chirping signal was preferable. I really 
>> appreciate that you've revealed to me that chirping signals might 
>> actually make crossing streets harder for some deafblind people; 
>> that's a factor I was totally unaware of. As far as images go, I 
>> certainly did point out to the city technician that my hearing loss 
>> prevented me from listening to traffic patterns, as a solely blind 
>> person might.
>>
>> A girl made a youtube video criticizing the NFB. Many of her claims 
>> were untrue and uninformed. I suspect, though, that some of her 
>> frustrations might stem from the common knowledge of the NFB, and 
>> that knowledge seems to have a strong tendency to cast the blind 
>> person as belonging to a homogeneous population. There are 
>> subdivisions like the deafblind Division, but that is not the voice 
>> most people hear from the NFB. To be honest, I don't know about the 
>> activities of the deafblind division, I don't know of any to speak 
>> of. A year or so ago I read in the news of the NFB's protest against 
>> making currency with tactile identifications. One of the NFB's 
>> arguments was that there exist machines that "speak" the denomination 
>> of a bill. If the deafblind division ever mentioned that the 
>> deafblind cannot use such a machine, their voices were not in the 
>> articles I read about the issue. By bringing this up I only mean to 
>> provide an example of how the NFB might not even represent its 
>> deafblind division, or the other deafblind organizations; I do just 
>> fine with folding bills, by the way, and have successfully been 
>> employed doing tasks involving money and cash registers.
>>
>> I like the NFB, it's a fantastic and incredibly supportive 
>> organization. All I mean to convey is that I realize the NFB cannot 
>> always represent me because its intent is to represent the majority 
>> of blind people. I totally understand this, though the process of 
>> understanding and realizing this has been a little unsettling.
>>
>> best,
>> Haben
>>
>> Michael Peterson wrote:
>>>    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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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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