[nabs-l] ACB/NFB

[Arielle Silverman]

Hello Jim,

I am sorry that you felt you were deceived by the NABS leadership;
this was never our intention. I think an important distinction needs
to be made between supporting an event or activity and funding it. The
various national divisions and committees of the NFB all work together
and try their best to “support” each other’s endeavors by giving
advice and, sometimes, contributing volunteers or resources. However,
all the different NFB groups have separate treasuries and simply can’t
afford to fund each other’s projects. For example, the NFB Sports and
Recreation division does a lot of cool stuff that NABS fully
“supports” in that we think the events are great and will advertise
them to our members and may provide advice to Sports and Rec leaders
if requested. But, even though many of their events might be
especially appealing to students, we don’t provide funding for their
events. The Employment Seminar you mention is put on by the NFB
Employment Committee, not by NABS, which is why I emphasized talking
to their chair, Buna Dahal, about recording/webcasting arrangements.
I support your venture in that I think it’s a good idea, but the
employment seminar doesn’t target just students, so it’s not something
that NABS is able to spend money on. We need our division’s funds to
pay for things like our Website, student mixers like the one we had at
Washington Seminar, and sending volunteers out to state student
division meetings—all events that only focus on students. Also, the
NFB national office supports all our initiatives but doesn’t always
give us money to carry them out, because they recognize that we as a
division need to raise our own funds.

As for any kind of joint NFB/ACB meeting, getting financial support
from either organization will be difficult, as it would require the
agreement and support of a majority of the leaders of either or both
organizations—not just the student divisions but the national
organizations as well.

Arielle Silverman
First Vice-President, NABS


On 5/22/09, Jim Reed <jim275_2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Dave,
> How are we supposed to "walk the walk" when there is so much negitivity
> coming from NABS leadership regarding this issue (how it wont work)?
> Specificly, I remember one post (I don't know who sent it) that said
> something along the lines of "I don't see the harm in trying, but NABS is
> not (should not) pay for it." Why should I devote my time and energy to this
> effort when I know it will get shut down when I ask NABS for funding?
>
> The same thing happened when I floated the idea of recording the national
> convention employment seminar. (actually, I thing it was worse. I felt
> decieved). First, several people in the NABS leadership (including Areielle
> Silverman) mentioned that they thought it was a good idea that was worthy of
> being pursued. So, I pursued the idea thinking that I had the support of
> NABS, then, when it came time for NABS to fund the idea, I get an email from
> Arielle Silverman saying something along the lines of "sorry, this isn't a
> NABS event/project, therefore NABS can't/won't fund it." I put alot of time
> and effort into pursuing that idea, just to find out that when
> push-comes-to-shove, I really did not have the support of NABS.
>
> So, I ask you, why should I invest the time and energy into
> "walking-the-walk", when I was decieved last time, and clearly NABS has no
> interest in pursuing a joint convention?
>
> Jim
>
>
> From: "Dave Wright" <gymnastdave at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Ending the NFB/ACB feud
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>
> Good afternoon all,
> While I've really enjoyed reading all of these messages about finding a way
> to set aside the differences of both organizations in order to find a common
> ground on the student level, I'm wondering whether or not if any of the
> proponents of this idea have taken an active role of setting up a meetting
> involving students of both organizations on a local level. Since I believe
> that students should have a choice when it comes to advocacy, I don't mind
> that there are more than one organization advocating for the rights of blind
> students. I know how easy it is to talk the talk, but walking the walk and
> being an active proponent for change is much harder. While the thought of
> national change is perhaps an idealistic view, lets try first dealing with
> local change. I know this discussion has leaked over to the ACB listServe
> and believe both sides have positive feedback to offer.
> Just my thoughts.
>
>
> Best Regards:
> Dave Wright
> Work Phone: 651-636-5184 X803
> Email:
> dwrigh6 at gmail.com
> WebPage:
> http://www.knfbreader.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> Homer Simpson's brain: "Use reverse psychology."
>  Homer: "Oh, that sounds too complicated."
>  Homer's brain: "Okay, don't use reverse psychology."
>  Homer: "Okay, I will!"
>
>
>
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