[nabs-l] Disappointed

[T. Joseph Carter]

Joe,

I can tell you that the state of the Oregon student division is that 
we're tiny and just getting started.  We have a few pockets of 
students here and there, mostly around the Portland area, and a few 
isolates elsewhere in the state.  Outreach is difficult since we 
often do not have support from schools and agencies, so we are 
dividing the task up amongst ourselves and going to expect to do some 
legwork (and possibly some travel) to compensate.

I know discrimination has been a factor at three of the five public 
universities in the state, and I'm not sure that the people at two of 
the private universities understand the issues of blindness either.  
I've found three of our community colleges to be anywhere from 
unprepared to simply unable to serve the needs of blind students.

There is a strong anti-Federation bias in some of the ESDs which 
provide itinerant teachers of blind students to Oregon's K-12 
schools, and parents of blind children are too often encouraged to 
adopt an entitlement mentality along with the usual hierarchy of 
sight silliness.

We've got our work cut out for us here in Oregon.  The state NFB 
affiliate is not particularly large either for many of the same 
reasons.  Getting students involved and keeping them involved is 
going to take a lot of creativity.  But we have a good, creative 
group of dedicated students on the ORABS board now, so perhaps we 
show the "grown-ups" how a few things ought to be done.  *grin*

Joseph


On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 11:14:15AM -0400, Joe Orozco wrote:
>Joseph,
>
>I transmitted the notice to all student lists on Friday, March 13.  The
>message read in part:
>
>*I hope a representative from every state student division will submit a
>proposal for this program.  If I look at the final list of applicants and
>see one of you missing, I'll call you out on it publically for being lazy.
>If you have questions about the program, call or write to me.*
>
>Anyway, the opportunity has come and gone.  A good friend of mine pointed
>out that perhaps student divisions were not ready to prepare and then
>deliver on a grant proposal, even a watered-down program aimed at youth such
>as this one.  She was not the first person to point this out, which then
>makes me wonder about the real state of our student division as a whole...
>
>Joe Orozco
>
>"A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the
>crowd."--Max Lucado