[Ct-nfb] Blind Babies and Our Purpose

[Justin Salisbury]

I pledge to participate actively in the effort of the National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality,     opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.                   -NFB Pledge



As Kenneth Jernigan publically admitted, even he had his lapses in his own positive philosophy about blindness, even after he had been a student of it for quite some time.  It is only natural that we have our own lapses, too.  I do not condemn anyone who has fallen victim to their own misperceptions, but it is up to us to keep each other strong.  It is up to us to nourish each other in a positive philosophy about blindness.



When Dr. Maurer discussed blind people going into ophthalmology, the idea stood upon a foundational belief that blind people can achieve like our sighted counterparts.  The desperate plea to save the eyesight of a blind baby in order to rescue him from lifelong desolation stands upon a foundational misperception that blind people cannot achieve like our sighted counterparts.



If we truly want to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind, we must avoid such a counterproductive message.



Some members have taken the stance that participating in this cause gives us free advertising.  There is no such thing as a free lunch, and, in this case, this advertising has been extraordinarily costly.  In order to attain this advertising, we sacrificed our dignity and our message of a positive philosophy about blindness.  We put ourselves again on Senator Blumenthal's radar, but we also reinforced the negative misperceptions that we work so hard to correct when we request his support on legislation.  The progress that we have made in our attempts to teach him a positive philosophy about blindness was instantly erased.  We must again start from square one and try to correct the negative misperceptions that we recently reinforced.  With our efforts to educate the public, we have lost the same progress and must now work to reverse the damage.  We have even taught doctors that it is right to view blindness as a tragedy.


The constitution of the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut says, in Article II, "The purpose of this organization shall be to promote the general welfare and education of the blind of the State of Connecticut, and the nation, and to cooperate with the National Federation of the Blind in its various activities."  Interpreting our purpose statement in the context of the NFB Pledge, promoting the general welfare is seeking equality, opportunity, and security for the blind.  By participating in this cause, we are not promoting the general welfare of the blind of Connecticut; we are doing quite the opposite.



Lastly, we must follow through on our commitments to this baby since they have already been made but do nothing further counterproductive to our mission.  Any further advertising of this effort will be further counterproductive.

We all have our lapses and cannot throw stones at each other, but it is up to us to nourish each other in a positive philosophy about blindness.  We can achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind.  The future can be ours.  Join with me in reciting the NFB Pledge.  Learn it and love it, but, most of all, live it.

Sincerely and affectionately yours in Federationism,

Justin Salisbury

Justin M. Salisbury
B.A. in Mathematics
Class of 2012
East Carolina University
president at alumni.ecu.edu<mailto:president at alumni.ecu.edu>

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."    -MARGARET MEAD


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