[nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

[Dezman Jackson]

Awsom points, Terri and congrads on your presidency of the Navada affiliate.

Dezman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terri Rupp" <terri.rupp at gmail.com>
To: "NABS list serve" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 2:33 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology


> 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
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nabs-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/jackson.dezman%40gmail.com
>