[Ct-nfb] Blind Babies and Our Purpose

Tue Jul 16 02:31:36 UTC 2013

Are we really helping this baby?
If he gets the medical procedure, they can either succeed or fail. In one case, negative misperceptions about blindness will be very detrimental to his success.
If we educate him, his parents, and the public properly about blindness, he will be better off in either case with the procedure.

The real problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight; it is the lack of information and misperceptions which exist.  With the proper training and opportunity, blind people can lead normal, productive lives.

When I say that I am not making a moral claim against helping this baby gain his sight, I mean it.

The National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut exists to play other roles in society. This is not one of them.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 15, 2013, at 10:19 PM, "Edward" <personal.edward at gmail.com<mailto:personal.edward at gmail.com>> wrote:

I don't find anything wrong with trying to help another human being.  The child is blind, so it was placed on a list of blind individuals, in order to see if there are resources available, donations, or otherwise.  Why is this an issue?  What if it was your child, or yourself needing help?  Would you care about what banner is providing that help, and where it's located?  A baby needs assistants, how in the world can anyone turn this into a philosophical debate for the purposes of denying this child a slight chance of help from someone on the list.  I don't care if someone came from another country, it's common decency to try to help if we can, and if you can't, then that’s ok. If asking for help on the list isn't going to hurt you, Why not just ignore the request and go about your business.  I'm disgusted over this conversation.  If you wont help, then let others that can do so without having to feel like they are going against nfb philosophy.

Edward

_____________________________________________
From:   Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org]  On Behalf Of Trevor Attenberg
Sent:   Monday, July 15, 2013 9:35 PM
To:     'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'
Subject:        [Ct-nfb] Blind Babies and Our Purpose
When:   Monday, July 15, 2013 9:30 PM-10:00 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
Where:  home

Sorry I didn’t respond to the latest message. I concur with Justin though. The last message Justin sent was the NFB’s most basic statement of philosophy, and it really says it all. While the NFB does open its doors to those overseas—we have people from other countries visit our centers and receive training from us—our local resource expenditures are for our local benefit, and our philosophical message is clearly laid out for all members to follow. As we care for this family, I can see that this discussion is contentious; but I agree what we’ve done with our campaign here has strayed too far from our core values if you will. It’s not a good picture, and it’s not what we do as a federation. The messageis already off the mark, and we’re misappropriating our list use. I think if we’re going to continue to pursue the goal of getting the child avisa for the purpose of saving or restoring sight, we should not be doing it under the banner of National Federation of the Blind.

Best,
TrevorA

_____________________________________________
From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cookiechumper at aol.com<mailto:Cookiechumper at aol.com>
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 9:09 PM
To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Blind Babies and Our Purpose

Justin,

Oh man you are so on it it's insane. I think this story did open the door on that which was good that there is different levels of blindness,problesm etc. I get people asking my sister is she mental or have mental issues because she can see somethings,has a cane,eyes move funny,moves too adn she always responds she's blind and then they'll be oh om. So there needs to be so much more information and education this si why my friend at News12 will do teh stories adn if you have any do pass them on so he can do them.

Thank you somuch for beign on it Justin Elizabeth

In a message dated 7/15/2013 8:59:16 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu<mailto:PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu> writes:
The real problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight. It is the lack of information and misunderstanding which exist.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 15, 2013, at 8:57 PM, "Sandee Kush" <slkush93 at att.net<mailto:slkush93 at att.net>> wrote:
Justin, who are you speaking for with the "we".  Did you speak with Dr. Mauer personally about this issue?
If asking for  humane and  supportive treatment for a baby, a baby from another country, has the power to set us back so far that we need to start over again, the NFB must not be very strong.

Also,  well I really won't take the time to debate many of your generalized statements.  I will say, that I  do not want it  to represent  my voice nor do other members I have spoken to.

Thank you Joyce for sharing those important facts and an international perspective.

From: Ct-nfb[mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Blindhands at aol.com<mailto:Blindhands at aol.com>
Sent:Monday, July 15, 2013 7:57 PM
To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Blind Babies and Our Purpose

Justin ,

I agree  with the Federation regarding what you said in your email, but this child lives in India and is a native of India.

I don't know if you have had the opportunity to ever had gone to India and experienced first hand the blind people in India, but I have.

There is 14.5 million blind people in India andthe opportunity for the blind in India is far from what yu can imagine.  They are not taught to travel independently nor do they have the opportunity to even have a cane.    There isn't much opportunity for training of jobs.

While I was there I had the chance of visiting some of the much better schools for the blind.  Some examples I can give is a school in Mumbai  that had over 500 students living at the school and I visited their computer lab.  They had 8 computers in there to train these 500 students on.

While I was there I had to get special peermission which was made ahead of time to my arrival to travel with my guide dog.  I could not go in public tourist areas with her, but I was invited to the Capital in New Deli to have an appointment with the Department of rehabilitation for the government in India.

Mind you I was only allowed to visit the blind schools that the India government allowed me to visit along with members of the U.S. Embassy.

I totally understand the desperation of this Mother ofthis little boy seeking medical attention in the USA to save her child's sight.

I never had the chance to visit blind people that live in the villages that are cared for by their family for all of their life.

Joyce Kane
www.KraftersKorner.org<file://www.KraftersKorner.org> <http://www.krafterskorner.org/>
Blindhands at AOL.com<mailto:Blindhands at AOL.com>

In a message dated 7/15/2013 1:24:46 P.M. Eastern DaylightTime, PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu<mailto:PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu> writes:
Justin
_______________________________________________
Ct-nfb mailing list
Ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:Ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change yourlist options or get your account info for Ct-nfb:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/president%40alumni.ecu.edu

_______________________________________________
Ct-nfb mailing list
Ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:Ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Ct-nfb:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/cookiechumper%40aol.com

_______________________________________________
Ct-nfb mailing list
Ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:Ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Ct-nfb:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/president%40alumni.ecu.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130716/ca1ff45c/attachment.html>