[nabs-l] [Nfb-or] should the blind adapt to the world, or should the world adapt to us?

[T. Joseph Carter]

I said I'd come back to the second reason (skip next para if you just 
read the message before this):

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 12:56:55PM -0700, T. Joseph Carter wrote:
> Second, this view provides us with dignity, and more than a little  
> pride.  We know that equality means treatment that is no different 
> from that of anyone else—no extra breaks, but also no extra 
> barriers.  While we recognize that sometimes we have to accept the 
> former to offset the latter, our preference is not to.  If we can 
> maintain our dignity by working a little harder so that we need not 
> accept something that may be regarded as a special favor, we will.  
> I'll take up this point in particular in another message.

It is sometimes said that the NFB is critical of or tends to attack 
those blind people who we feel negatively impact our collective 
dignity.  I'm not saying that doing so is good or right, nor even am 
I saying that it happens as often as some say.  It does happen once 
in awhile, though, and it's not even really limited to Federationists 
all that much.  If and when it does happen, though, this notion of 
collective dignity is at the heart of it.

Unfortunately, I find that it leads to a sort of stratification 
amongst the blind—again, not limited to the Federation by any stretch 
of the imagination.  What I've observed is that we tend to look down 
upon those who have significantly less independence than we have, 
because we wish not to be associated with their more limited ability 
and treated accordingly.  We also look down upon those demonstrating 
significantly greater independence because they make us feel somehow 
less capable by comparison.

This is dangerous for us as a collective population.  I think it has 
a lot to do with why there is a deaf culture, but no blind culture.  
We are divided because we constantly compare ourselves to others, and 
we do it unfavorably most of the time.  A sighted friend observed to 
me one day that it seemed to her that blind people all hated each 
other, based on the fact that she knows nearly half a dozen of us, 
and none of us seemed to want anything to do with each other except 
at a distance over the Internet.  Her conclusion is wrong, but it was 
her observation that caused me to take a closer look at this problem.

I've said this extends far beyond the NFB, but I think the NFB has 
been shortsighted as an organization in addressing the problem.  I 
hate to end this message without proposing a solution to the problem 
I see, but I don't wish to hijack Alena's thread any more than I 
already have.  I do have some thoughts on the matter, but I'll start 
my own thread to address them.

Joseph