[nabs-l] Philosophical Terminology

[Rania]

I have a question. When articles are ritten on us I find these wirds that we 
are speaking of in them. Is it better for those wirds to be in the articles 
in instead of the wird blind because it is so powerful? Maybe that would 
answer my question of why they used those wirds in the articles ritten on me 
because I am the first blind student to attend the massage therapy program 
at my local community college. I am just wondering why they don't just use 
the wird blind.
Rania,
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terri Rupp" <terri.rupp at gmail.com>
To: "NABS list serve" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 3:33 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
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