[Ct-nfb] Futuristic Article

Fri May 1 02:49:08 UTC 2015

Hi Deb,

I will be happy to forward to you old messages when I get home tonight if you'd like.

I'm sorry that this confusion happened to you.

When you say that it makes the organization look bad, possibly a bit disorganized, when members contact their legislators and cite the scenario from the article as if it had occurred at a previous point in time, I don't disagree with you. I had not predicted this outcome.

I think it's fairly common for legislators to hear anecdotal stories that are not published in news articles, so I don't think that referencing the story is harmful enough that we should worry about it retrospectively. In any future external communications, if the story is to be used, it would best be sold as a matter of what can happen.

Again, I am sorry for the confusion, and I really appreciate your leadership in the Central Connecticut chapter on our legislative affairs.

Justin Salisbury

Sent from the iPhone of

Justin Salisbury - Running Thunder Phoenix
Graduate Student
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

 First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

On Apr 30, 2015, at 3:22 PM, Deb Reed <deb.reed57 at gmail.com<mailto:deb.reed57 at gmail.com>> wrote:

Hello Justin,
Just read just read this now and am confused in a new way. I read most all email pertaining to legislative matters that comes in my inbox. Please forward to me any emails that were on the list serve that must not have come to me. Prior to reading about SB 234, was about 1061. There was never anything in my inbox that would have made me aware that the letter you posted was futuristic. I am concerned  that our members are not receiving the information they need to make effective contacts with legislative members. If anyone else made phone calls or send emails like I did and referred to the article as truth, this makes the NFB of CT look bad. Furthermore, it is my understanding that the bill SB 234 would give insurance companies the power to decide about service dogs only if private contributionsweren't there. As far as I know things are working fine the way they are without insurance.
 Deb Reed, President
National Federation Of The Blind
Central CT Chapter
Phone - 860-584-5221
Email - deb.reed57 at gmail.com<mailto:deb.reed57 at gmail.com>

On Apr 30, 2015, at 12:06 PM, Justin Salisbury via Ct-nfb <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>> wrote:

Federation Family:

I recently posted an article on this list to give everyone a depiction of what can happen if SB 234 passes as written. I did it with the assumption that subscribers to this list were reading and keeping up with messages about the bill. To those who were, it was obvious that the article was hypothetical and futuristic. It appears that I had applied this assumption too broadly, though, and I am sorry to have made this mistake.

For what it may be worth to you, the plan was to give people a concrete depiction of the threat that the current bill poses. I had planned to give people a few days to let that article simmer and then refocus everyone on how that article is not reality yet, using that as a platform for a surge of activism.

Well, anyway, that approach worked very well with some affiliate members and not so well with others. At first, I received messages from people who had been staying on top of the legislation and thanked me for the time and creativity to compose the article. Many of these folks even wrote to their state senators again with new inspiration, which I loved!

Then, I started getting messages from people who had not been on top of the legislative work that we’d been doing. Life gets busy, and unread messages sit in our inboxes; it happens. For these members, it had not been obvious that the article was futuristic and hypothetical. I had posted the article on our Facebook group, as well, which is where I really learned that we had people seeing the article without knowing any background. I am sorry for leaving room for that confusion to occur.

Then, I started receiving a volley of harsh personal attacks. I must admit that I was not prepared for the absolute hatred that I was receiving, sometimes from people I had never even heard of.

I am hoping that my next seven years of participation in our movement can be as full of growth and warmth as the first seven years were and that the acute pain that I have experienced over the past 24 hours will be only a blurred memory. I am sorry for inciting the immense hostility that I have brought upon myself.

Have a good one.

Justin

Justin Salisbury - Running Thunder Phoenix
Graduate Student
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

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