[nabs-l] Appreciating our roots

[David Andrews]

As an old-timer, thank you!  It is important to remember that our 
ceiling is your floor.  What you can take for granted is what we had 
to fight for!

And ... we came from a time that was in some ways simpler, but where 
we asked for as little as possible.  We will not ever be as 
comfortable as your generation with asking for some stuff.  We also 
feel somewhat like there is an entitlement attitude, and people are 
not as self sufficient as they need to be in the real world.

Dave

At 03:35 PM 5/2/2010, you wrote:
>Good afternoon all,
>
>I am writing to open up a topic of conversation which I feel is to 
>often overlooked in our organization; our history as a movement. 
>I've grown up in this organization, and admittedly didn't fully 
>understand our history until about a month ago when I began digging 
>a little deeper.
>
>The federation has always been an important force in my life, and 
>has shaped my views about my blindness, even during the periods 
>where I wasn't actively involved. I always heard about what great 
>leaders we've had, and was exposed to tidbits of information at 
>state conventions or national events. But most of the focus has 
>always been on the here and now, which is understandable to a point. 
>It is vital that we understand the obstacles that the blind 
>community as a whole faces on a daily basis, and how the federation 
>is responding to them. However, life events have spurred me on to 
>discover more about our roots. I'll keep the story short for 
>brevity's sake, but it has a point which I think is important, so stay with me.
>
>I am dating someone who has never been actively involved with any of 
>the blindness consumer organizations. He recently realized his need 
>for further training, and that lead him to ask me my reasons for 
>being a federationist. He began asking me questions about how the 
>federation began, how the philosophy developed, and how the 
>rehabilitation views of the NFB evolved. I found myself unable to 
>answer a lot of his questions, and was disappointed in myself. I 
>knew vague details about Dr. Jernigan's involvement with the Iowa 
>Commission for the Blind, and something about airplane issues in the 
>70's and 80's, but beyond that, my historical knowledge of the NFB 
>was supremely limited. After discussing this with some of my friends 
>in the organization, I found that the problem wasn't just with me. 
>I'm on the board of our local chapter, and it became apparent to me 
>after out last meeting that this is a widespread problem. We have 
>lost touch with our past, and that is never good. Roots are vital to 
>the life of any tree, and without them, we wouldn't exist.
>
>I began to dig, which isn't hard to do. Nationals has done an 
>amazing job of making our history available to us. www.nfb.org is a 
>gold mine of information, even some of the parts that are hard to 
>see. Issues of the Braille Monitor are available online going back 
>25 years, and important speeches are available in both text and 
>recorded form going back before that. I have found myself appalled 
>by the discrimination that blind people faced even just twenty years 
>ago. The fortitude it took to get out there every day and command 
>respect from a sighted public is not just commendable, but amazing to me.
>
>I think that sometimes, the youth of this organization accuse the 
>older generation of the federation of being too "militant," or 
>"confrontational." While I do not always agree with how the older 
>generation has approached some issues, when you really dig and read 
>about what they had to indoor just to be able to do things we take 
>for granted today, you develop a greater respect for their views and 
>approach. We still have a long way to go in some respects, but we 
>have come far, and I think we've lost respect for our past.
>
>I encourage everyone to sea out and understand the beginnings and 
>progress our movement has made over the past 70 years. You will be 
>amazed, and it will make you really understand, respect, and love 
>this organization. I have had my share of frustrations with the 
>organization over the years. But I must admit that I am so proud to 
>be a part of the NFB, not just for what it has meant to me, but what 
>it has done even before I was born to insure that I can live and 
>work in a world where I am seen as an equal with my sighted peers. 
>No organization is perfect because no person is perfect. But we must 
>all remember to appreciate this community we have, built upon a 
>solid foundation provided by many generations of blind people before 
>us, tirelessly working to show that blindness should not limit our 
>life choices.
>
>Let's all make a greater effort to know and appreciate our history. 
>We will all be better for it.
>
>Best,
>Briley