[nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

[Hope Paulos]

You're not the only one who is confused, Harry.  I was going to 
say the same thing but was too shy to.  I have a friend who uses 
a guide dog, but can read large print, watch movies (and describe 
to me what's happening on the screen) and use a computer with 
screen magnification software.  This is much different than me 
being totally blind.  I don't think lumping people that have 
quite a bit of sight and those who have no sight into one 
category is a good idea.  Yes, we all have vision loss, but can 
they be considered blind even though they have sight? Yes, again, 
they're able to be a part of Nfb, because they have less vision 
than fully sighted individuals.

Hope and Beignet

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: Harry Hogue <harryhogue at yahoo.com
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:37:10 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

>I am confused.  If someone could please explain this to me, I 
would appreciate it.  I am totally blind, so I am not in denial 
of blidness, but to me there is a significant difference in 
having 20/200 vision and having no vision at all.  Your vision is 
then impaired, not completely gone; you do use alternative 
techniques, but are those not alternative techniques for someone 
with only partial visio nrather than complete blindness?
> 
>I'm not trying to irritate anyone; I truly do not know why the 
NFB is so adament about saying people are blind.
> 
>Thanks!
> 
>Harry


>--- On Wed, 11/5/08, Janice <snowball07 at gmail.com> wrote:

>From: Janice <snowball07 at gmail.com
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology
>To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 4:33 PM

>Hello Karen, Terri and Listers,

>Wow, Karen!! I must say, thanks for calling us, as the nabs board 
and as
>nabs members,  out on this very interesting point.  I have 
recently noticed
>something like this also.  I think that Terri's point can be a 
good one.  It
>might be important for the Federation to use terminology such as 
visually
>impaired or low vision, to try to attract a larger facet of 
people.  These
>people might be uncomfortable with their blindness, they might 
not want to
>identify as blind...  so, we say- Hey you visually impaired 
person...  this
>group is for you too!
>Once we have their foot in the door so to speak, then
>we can teach them about our philosophy and educate them in the 
fact that we
>are all blind individuals> We can then wow them into believing 
that  the
>visual hierarchy does not matter.  Even if you
>are legally blind,    the key word is blind.  One is not going to 
be
>recognized as a legally visually impaired person, are they?

>However, I do wonder in certain instances where the lines get 
blurred and if
>we are sacrificing what we are as an organization to try to get 
these new
>individuals into our door.  For example, not  to pick on one 
specific
>facebook group, but I will use the 411 group, since it seems to 
be the most
>recent one and has sparked some debate.  The salutation line- 
"Attention
>blind and visually impaired high school students!" This makes 
some sense
>according to Terri's argument.  We want those who self identify 
as visually
>impaired to come to our group.  Yet, why would we need to use the 
terminology
>visually impaired among ourselves and within our Federation 
family?

>Why would we use the words low vision, visually impaired, to 
refer to other
>Federationist? One such example I an talking about is the email 
subject line
>:"for the sake of ne, in which the group was actually announced 
to the
>NABS
>list.  the official heading was something like- Blind and 
Visually Impaired
>Teen Group on Facebook.  why not just use something like, "new 
blindness
>group of facebook!
>? I am definitely not trying to point fingers at any specific 
group or
>person...  I am really curious, because I have seen terms such as 
visually
>impaired, low vision, and high partial , in our literature 
recently, also.  I
>am merely using the facebook post as the most recent and relevant 
example.
>Is this a new trend in Federation philosophy? or do we believe 
that perhaps
>trying to be all inclusive has caused us to become a little lax 
and blur
>the lines of philosophy? Are the philosophical boundaries of all 
blind
>members being equal, thus united we stand and divided we fall, 
not as solid
>, and binding, now, as when I first joined the Federation...?

>I really am confused and would love to hear the philosophers 
among us debate
>this observation.  What are the effects of these happenings, to 
our
>philosophy? Do we need to tighten our concepts about blindness 
and what it
>stands for within the Federation, or is inclusion the matter of 
importance?

>Thoughtfully yours,

>Janice
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Terri Rupp"
><terri.rupp at gmail.com
>To: "NABS list serve" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:25 PM
>Subject: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology


>> Karen and all,
>> The NFB is using different outlets to try to reach out to 
nonmembers.
>> Facebook is just one of them.  Although as you said, the 
philosophy of the
>> federation is based on the word "Blind", that word
>"Blind" is sometimes a
>> negative things to those people struggling to deal or accept 
their
>> blindness.  It was only until a few years ago that I was one of 
them.  I
>> didn't want to associate with anything that labeled me as blind.  
I
>felt
>> ashamed to be blind and called myself "visually impaired".  The
>acceptance
>> of one's blindness is a grieving process that each person goes 
through
>> differently.  What we have to do is serve as positive blind role 
models,
>> and show that being blind is no different than being short.  It 
is simply
>> a
>> characteristic.  Once we attract them to these groups, we can 
promote NFB
>> activities, scholarships, etc and reel them in with our 
philosophy.

>> Yours,
>> Terri Rupp, President
>> National Association of Blind Students

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