[nabs-l] what it takes to work together

[Sarah J. Blake]

Getting positive relations going between the two organizations (which is, 
imho, a much more workable goal at this point than any kind of unification) 
will take a whole lot of hard work and long-term dedication. It would 
require people to form friendships across organizations which can and would 
stand the test of negative organizational energy. It would also require 
people to be able to withstand the negative energy within their own 
organization and (a) remain committed to the organization withour joining in 
the negative energy; and (b) remain cocmmitted to the goal of positive 
relationship with the other organization, even if it costs some friendships 
within the organization.

Writing this message is causing me to rethink my own position as a past 
dues-paying ACB member. This same discussion is taking place on the ACB 
student list, and someone asked why we chose one organization over the 
other.I will copy this post to that list because the same thing deserves to 
be said on both forums. I have read the literature of both the NFB and ACB 
since I was 16 years old. The local ACB affiliate happened to snag me first, 
built relationships with me, ultimately gave me scholarships, and insisted 
that I should experience a state convention. (I think they paid my way.) I 
was 20 years old when I attended my first state convention, and I really had 
no understanding of why most of the programming should matter to me; but I 
began to care--and to admire the president of the national NABS, who was a 
few years older than I. Eventually I began to find things to care about. 
People were very good at helping me to become familiar with advocacy issues 
and methods along the way. That is what a good ACB or NFB does.

Philosophically, I lean toward ACB's model. It is a slight lean. I was 
raised on good blindness techniques. I began cane instruction at age seven 
in a day when most people got their canes at 14. I should have gotten mine 
earlier: I remember feeling emotionally uncomfortable because I was aware of 
my difference, and I already believed that my vision was just fine for 
getting around. In this regard, my philosophies are much in line with the 
NFB. I am quite in favor of early braille instruction. I believe that it 
should be available for all students who need it. I do not believe that 
every student who is classified visually impaired needs it. Why is a long 
and complicated explanation. I am strongly against requiring students to use 
sleepshades, though I believe that they can be valuable teachingtools and in 
certain situations students would benefit from wearing them during certain 
portions of training and should be encouraged (but not required) to do so. I 
also believe that blind people should have the right to environmental 
information in bus areas such as tactile warnings and audible signals which 
can be used in conjunction with good travel skills. These things are why I 
choose to remain withthe ACB when I do pay my dues to an organization.

Truthfully, I think that if the two organizations stopped fighting and 
started working together, we might achieve a more well-rounded advocacy. I 
don't believe that we need to fight so hard against each other. I do find 
that if we fight against each other, we destroy whatever any of us are 
trying to advocate for and all of us end up looking like fools.

In conclusion, I think that a good start would be for us to be good hosts to 
members of each other's groups. I attended the Atlanta NFB convention in 
1999. It was a 99.9 percent positive experience for me. The most negative 
thing that happened to me had nothing to do with anyone's actions toward me. 
Sadly, it did have to do with my perceptions of the organization; and it 
never should have occurred. I had a partial seizure, which caused me to 
continue walking through the hotel in a semiconscious state. I fell 
head-first down a flight of stairs. As I was trying to pick myself up, three 
people stopped to assist me. A national board member walked me back to my 
room in the overflow hotel so that I could rest. Unfortunately, instead of 
thinking about thanking him properly or assessing my own safety, I was 
thinking about how incompetent he must have thought I was.That should never 
have been my reaction. The truth is that people fall down stairs for all 
kinds of reasons, and it is never another person's place to judge someone's 
competence or lack thereof. In reality, I was treated very graciously the 
entire week that I was there; and I have no reason to refuse to attend 
another NFB convention as a guest. I hope that people would feel that they 
were received as well at an ACB convention. Whether or not that happens 
begins with me.


Sarah J. Blake
Personal email: sjblake at growingstrong.org
http://www.growingstrong.org 


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