[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Division?

[debby]

I think that people do have !get out of their -fort zones, and that means we as blind folks, too. If I've been talking !a group and people start making plans for lunch, if I want !g, I've been known to ask if this is a closed thing or if I could -every along. Sometimes people are surprised, I guess they don't quite know what to do about that, so when I ask to be included there is a slight hesitN and then they will say something like, Of course! Come along. Of course it doesn't always work out so well, and I have gone home and cried. Not everybody is comfortable doing what I have done, and I definitely understand that. And it does get tiring, no, I'll say exhausting sometimes to always have to be the one to push myself in to situNs with others. Hope that made sense.    Debby

On Sep 5, 2016 3:31 AM, Sarah Blake LaRose via Faith-Talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Linda, my point is that sometimes the solution a person wants isn't for the 
> NFB to contact their church leaders but for their to be a place where it is 
> good to build skills and understanding for how to self-advocate in the faith 
> community. I encounter many people who don't know, for instance, how to have 
> good discussions about working in the nursery. I was among them for a long 
> time.
>
> It has always been easy for me to have discussions among church groups about 
> Bible questions. It is not easy to have discussions about the social issues 
> associated with church. We lose a lot of people because of these things, and 
> I think it is an important thing to talk about--not only in the blind 
> community but in the church. I am trying to find the right words because I 
> observe that it annoys sighted people when I bring up the fact that blind 
> people leave the church because they feel isolated. The sighted people's 
> response it typically, "Well, all they have to do is call and ask for a 
> ride." It's hard to explain how it feels when you hear people making plans 
> to go to lunch and you are not among any of the groups, but someone offers 
> to drop you off at home. This is one of the most common reasons why I find 
> people leaving the church. I think it would take more than NFB advocacy to 
> bring about change in the face of this. This is the kind of thing that I 
> have personally encountered throughout most of my life. I chose to stay 
> anyway, and sometimes to be vulnerable with the community about what was 
> going on. It usually didn't work. Most people cannot distinguish well 
> between the types of silly conversations they have with me, e.g. "You're 
> teaching Hebrew? I couldn't teach English and I'm sighted" and the 
> respectful exchanges they have with each other that result in ongoing 
> relationships. I have taken other people to church with me, but they don’tdon't 
> have the fortitude to stick around in that kind of environment. I don't 
> blame them. This is what they cope with all day every day. Why shouldn't the 
> church be a different place?
>
> Sarah Blake LaRose, M.Div., accessible instruction in biblical languages
> Personal mail: sarah at sarahblakelarose.com
> http://www.sarahblakelarose.com
> Info for seminaries and faith communities: http://www.night-light.org
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Linda Mentink via Faith-Talk
> Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2016 11:40 PM
> To: Faith-talk
> Cc: Linda Mentink
> Subject: [Faith-talk] {Spam?} Division?
>
> Hi Sarah,
>
> I have tried to explain the purposes of the NFB's Communities of
> Faith division.  What is it that you're not clear about? I guess
> I'm frustrated because I don't know what you want to know, and I
> have done my best to give a brief overview.
>
> Of course there are still issues of blind people not being
> welcome or getting the materials they need.  We can't help those
> we don't know about.  We can't advocate for what we don't know
> about.  We can't contact your church leaders if we don't know
> there's a problem.  Um, that's what we're here for!
>
> Blessings,
>
> Linda
>
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