[nabs-l] negative traffic

[Angela fowler]

Yes, the state board here can be pretty fractious, with vastly different
ideas about how the state should be managed. When an issue comes up which is
of common interest however, they can transcend their differences and work
toward a higher purpose. NFB and ACB may never merge, probably will never
merge, but there are a lot of misconceptions out their on both sides. I
don't think sharing ideas to promote understanding would hurt anything, in
fact it may well encourage NFB and ACB members to work together to achieve a
higher purpose.  

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Aziza C
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 8:28 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] negative traffic

Sarah,
You've got it. I've seen the comment, negative traffic, negative energy...
but is that to say the NFB doesn't have it ourselves? Lets just take a look
at California... Angela, help me out, our state board has some pretty steady
negative energy flowing through it, and yet they've pulled togetherright?
They may not like each other, may not think the same, may not even view
anything the same, but they can pull together and work together when
itsnecessary, to better our state...
Why not try it on a bigger scale?
Aziza

On 5/19/09, Sarah J. Blake <sarah at growingstrong.org> wrote:
> Joseph,
>
> I regularly attend ACB conventions and would take exception to your 
> assertion that 3/4 of ACB traffic is negative toward anything. That is 
> a pretty negative statement in itself. I wasn't going to comment on 
> it; bt this is the kind of un-constructive comment that prevents 
> dialogue. I see a lot of NFB members emailing with the signature, "We 
> must be the change we wish to see in the world..." Why not put it into 
> practice...? Then again, maybe the division doesn't bother you. If you 
> like it, put it in positive words for us. I disagree with Arielle's 
> points, but I appreciated her positive spin on the benefits of having two
organiations.
>
> In reality, whenever you put thousands of people together, many of 
> whom are over 55, there will likely be a good deal of negative energy 
> unless there is a concerted effort to build positive energy. The very 
> nature of dealing with blindness issues is that some negative energy 
> must be dealt with. Regardless of how many blindness skills we have, 
> how many gadgets we have to enable us to do xxx, or how accessible the 
> environment is, things will take longer and be more cumbersome and we 
> will always battle negative attitudes; and it is a pain in the behind. 
> Part of what happens at conventions is that people realize, "Hey, 
> someone gets it." Part of what happens is that someone will confront 
> someone about the fact that they need to grow up and stop being such a 
> whiner because we all live this. Part of what happens is that we 
> wrangle about what on earth to advocate for--and we can't agree 
> because despite having blindness in common, we all cope just a bit 
> differently. It does create negative energy, regardless of which 
> organization a person belongs to. I suspect there is negative energy 
> in every advocacy organization in existence. In fact, I took a 
> leadership course this spring in which there were only six participants.
We did mock controversies; and you would be amazed at the negative energy
that was generated!
>
> Sarah J. Blake
> Personal email: sjblake at growingstrong.org http://www.growingstrong.org
>
>
> I'm protected by SpamBrave
> http://www.spambrave.com/
>
>
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