[nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

Carranza, Rosy RCarranza at nfb.org
Thu Nov 6 18:57:24 UTC 2008


Hi Everyone,
Since I created the Facebook group, I thought I would provide my
perspective.

The term visually impaired was used intentionally, for the reasons that
Terri, Dominique, JJ, BJ and others discussed. In very practical
terms--when people search for anything relating to vision loss, we want
to be the organization that pops up. 

The words visually impaired were not used to water-down our
long-standing NFB philosophy or to distort our personal definitions
about blindness.

In fact, possessing a deep awareness of our own philosophy, and
understanding the process that people go through in developing their own
philosophy are two lenses that can help all of us understand why we use
"visually impaired" to market our programs.

We need to start with new people where they are, and not where we think
they ought to be. We should use our philosophy to guide us in the
mentoring of these new faces, and not use our philosophy as a tool of
superiority that further separates us from the people that really need
our message. 

I grew up feeling ashamed of my blindness. I never called myself blind
and did not associate with any blind groups. When asked about my vision,
I called myself either visually impaired or legally blind. Yet, NFB
mentors drew me in, and in time, I was ready to internalize a positive
attitude about blindness and began using the word blind with no shame.

My story is not unique. There are tons of current members that came into
the movement calling themselves visually impaired, who now call
themselves blind. Also, there are some members who have been around the
Federation for a while who still choose to call themselves visually
impaired-they are still welcomed in our group and we invite their
participation. Nevertheless, as an organization, we advocate for the use
of the word blind and work to help people learn that it is respectable
to be blind.

Bringing people into our organization requires a few key elements: 
1. Understanding the prior experiences of the people we want to reach. 
2. Making a sincere and committed long-term effort to mentor new people.
3. Gaining the respect and loyalty of the person you are mentoring.

Once these things are in place, we will be positioned to help others
gain the same empowering philosophy about blindness that we have been
discussing in these messages. 

Not recognizing that philosophy is a constant process, will keep us from
bringing in lots of great people.

Thanks for listening!  

Rosy Carranza

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Janice
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 11:04 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

Hello Corbb and fellow listers,

I might just like philosophical debates and being able to see where my
fellow nabs members stand- LOL!  I feel it helps my own philosophy also.

However,  I think I can see where you are coming from... However, I only
brought the subject line up as one such example... Not the end all of
examples. The subject line example  was also stated as  a precursor to
the idea that the change in terminology,  seems to be happening more
frequently. 
For example, even in the production of our own newsletters, etc... I
have witnessed the term visually impaired. I cannot come up with
specifics on which newsletters and in what format right now but have
seen it recent, where as I do not think I have witnessed it before...

My sincerest question is, if it is just marketing.... are we marketing
to our own also? I am also wondering if this demarks a new trend in the
Federation? Are we moving away from being seen as staunch and rigid, as
one lister had stated,and now trying to be seen as more inclusive? Under
what instances would it be acceptable to use the terms visually
impaired, visually challenged, low vision, etc.... What is the
methodology one would use to manage these instances of "double speak and
double speak"?

I am honestly trying to learn to walk that tight rope Mike Freeman had
mentioned. In my own internal debates of trying to please both gods,
what is the methodology and how are others reconciling this? I would
love any more thoughts, since I think it is important for us all to
understand how to balance our true philosophy and the use of, "... some
meaningless or useless variant thereof..." according to Mr. Omvig's
quote. I guess I am just grappling with the issue myself and trying to
see if we have some sort of standard, or what others have found helps
with my slight disconnect. I ask because I have been working with and
mentoring a very young blind individual myself and am wondering about
recent comments on tactics. Thanks guys and keep the good ideas and
philosophical thoughts rolling.

Kindest Regards,

Janice

----- Original Message -----
From: "Corbb O'Connor" <corbbo at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology


>I didn't write the subject line, but I am assuming that was a blanket 
>marketing e-mail. That is, it was meant to be forwarded around. Just
as we 
>want to attract new members (as has been said by me and others),  we 
>wouldn't want to push people toward the delete button after only
reading 
>the subject line. Marketing, my friends, it's marketing. I  agree with
all 
>of you -- we in the Federation are blind, even those of  us with some 
>residual vision. Let's not push people away from our  great
organization 
>before they even know who we are and why we use the  words we do. I
don't 
>think we're undermining ourselves or our  philosophy -- we're trying to

>find others out there who don't see as  well as their peers (seniors, 
>students, and...well...everybody else)  to show them our positive 
>philosophy on blindness.
>
> -----
> Corbb O'Connor
> studying at the National University of Ireland, Galway
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 5, 2008, at 10:33 PM, Janice wrote:
>
> 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
>> (707)-567-3019
>> nabs.president at gmail.com
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>
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