[nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

[Terri Rupp]

Itls only been about three years that I have been calling myself blind.
Prior to that, I live by the phrase "fake it till you make it".  However, as
a college student, it became more and more obvious, my faking it was not
making it at all.  It was getting extremely exhausting both physically and
emotionally pretending I could see.  I realized that faking it only made
things harder.  After realizing how much time and energy I was putting into
pretending I could see, I decided that unless I made a drastic change in my
attitude I would never be able to live a productive life.  There is a saying
I heard once in a seminar while working with teens, "I would rather be a
competent blind person, than an incompetent sighted person".  The more I
tried to see, the more incompetent I felt.  When I found the National
Federation of the Blind in 2005, I found positive blind role models living
productive happy lives.  They were proud to carry canes.  They read Braille
faster than I could read large print.  I wondered why it had taken me so
long to find this.  Why my cane at home was folded up in the corner of the
closet?  Why did I give myself headaches every night trying to read my own
handwriting?  Now I wonder where I would be, if I would never have found the
NFB.  What would I be doing if I would have never taken the time to get
training at the Louisiana Center for the Blind?

I would be one of those people that we are trying to reach out to today.  I
lived in denial of my blindness for over 20 years.  I was angry with my
parents when they wanted to help me.  I had often wished to be fully sighted
or fully blind.  And I never felt like a complete human being.  Thanks to my
training at LCB and the friends that I have found through the federation, I
am now your NABS president and the president of the Nevada affiliate.  I am
living a fully functioning, happy, productive life.  I use every opportunity
to educate both the sighted and the blind about our movement.

However, we can't expect everyone to jump on board immediately.  The word
blind is and unbelievably powerful word.  We are in no way blurring the
lines or sacrificing our philosophy by using phrases like "visually
impaired" or "legally blind".  Caves are carved out by tiny drops of water.
We must spread our philosophy one bit at a time.  If Rosy would have walked
up to me as a 16 year old and handed me a cane telling me I was blind, I
would have said "I don't know what you're talking about.  I can see just
fine" However, if you ask anyone on the convention floor what they regret
most.  You'll find that many of them will say "I wish I would have found the
federation earlier in life"

So let's work together to bring in those people who call themselves
"visually impaired" or "legally blind" and give them the mentoring that we
have been given ourselves by loving Federationists.  After time, they too
will understand that "it is respectable to be blind"



Yours,

Terri Rupp, President

National Association of Blind Students

(707)-567-3019

nabs.president at gmail.com



"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond into
the impossible" - Arthur C. Clarke