[nabs-l] waver

[William ODonnell]

That was well said.
--- On Mon, 1/10/11, Sean Whalen <smwhalenpsp at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Sean Whalen <smwhalenpsp at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] waver
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date: Monday, January 10, 2011, 3:50 PM


Good afternoon,

I don't necessarily think that it is the purpose of NABS or the NFB to
prescribe rigid stances on issues like class waivers, paratransit use,
reduced price tickets for transport, when to accept or not accept
assistance, etc. In fact, I think that is not our purpose at all. People,
both inside and outside of the organization, seem to get the impression that
we are some monolith that holds clear positions on such issues. If you want
to know what the NFB thinks, go look at our resolutions and the programs we
implement. Those are the policies of the organization. And, while we all
work to further them, the policy objectives of the organization may or may
not be in line with the thinking of any particular member of the group. I,
for instance, certainly have my points of disagreement with the NFB's
policies in certain areas, and just because I have chosen to be a member
does not mean that I have forfeited the right to my own opinions. Like
anything, you take the good with the bad. If I tell you I'm a Democrat,
would you automatically assume that I hold a specific set of views? Would
your knowing that I am a democrat entail your knowing how I feel about every
issue, abortion, economy, education, etc.? Of course it wouldn't. So, why
does your knowing that I am an NFB member entail your knowing how I feel
about all issues related to blindness? Obviously, it doesn't.

This said, when it comes to the question of whether one should take a waiver
for a class, there isn't even an official NFB stance. Nor should there be.
Certainly you are likely to find a prevailing opinion among our membership,
but that doesn't make it "what the NFB thinks."

My personal opinion on the matter is that it is lazy, counterproductive, and
absolutely the wrong thing to do. I'm sure somebody can show me a case where
a waiver was the right decision, but there are counterexamples to
everything. 

Ok, so you don't want to take the visual arts class that is required for a
BA. It would present certain challenges, and surely is not essential for
your history major. It would be way easier to just pick up 3 other credits
somewhere else. The argument goes:

Being blind, this class would present me with additional challenges and
extra work not required of other students.
Therefore, I shouldn't have to take it.

Short argument, I know. Seems there must be a missing premise there
somewhere, no? Maybe something like:

People shouldn't have to do things that aren't fair.

That's about what you'd have to believe to make the "I'm blind, please don't
make me." Argument hold water. Jeez, is it fair that math takes me so much
longer than my classmates. I'm an English major, and who really needs math
anyway? Wouldn't it be more fair if I could pick up some additional English
credits to replace that pesky college algebra? More fair, maybe. Better, no
chance in hell.

Universities have these requirements for a reason. You may agree or disagree
with the reason, but there is an objective, namely graduating reasonably
well-rounded students, behind them. And please do not come with the line
about how blind students simply won't take anything away from certain
classes. I, a Political Science and Philosophy major by the way, took
calculus, statistics, and economics courses which were heavily visual in
many respects. Through work with classmates, instructors and readers I was
able to master the concepts at play in each without ever having any of the
information represented to me visually. So, can I draw or examine economic
or mathematical graphs? Nope, but I can sure understand what economists are
talking about when they refer to them, and I can absolutely ask the right
questions of a lay person to glean the information I need from the graph. So
often people get caught up in and intimidated by graphs, when all they are
are tools to represent data and illustrate concepts. Mastery of the
underlying concept is what is important.

So what about a visual arts class. Fortunately, I never was required to take
one. I say fortunately, because I have no inclination to take such a class,
and don't think I would enjoy it, though one can never know. But what if I
had been required to take a class on art history or something of the sort.
What if I had to have a reader come in and describe paintings to me? Would
that be a pain in the ass? Yes, probably. In an entire semester of learning
about different styles of painting would I ever have the pleasure of
enjoying the aesthetic beauty of any of these works? No, I would not, which,
incidentally is just another one of those things in life that isn't fair.
But, at the end of the class, would I know something about the progression
of artistic expression that I didn't know at the start? Yes, hopefully I
would. That is the point. I likely won't enjoy it, but neither will any of
the other students in the class who were forced to take it to graduate. So I
had to work a little harder to not enjoy something. Such is life. If we say
we want to be treated like anybody else, we have to mean it. The "when it
suits me" Caveat undermines the whole stance.

Imagine you get a waiver and don't have to take that bothersome art class or
science lab, but some time later you wish to go on a student trip abroad,
and the school doesn't want to allow you to come along. "Why do you need to
come with us to Egypt?" they ask, "It isn't required for your major, and
besides, it would really present us with some logistical problems." Wouldn't
it be easier, and maybe more fair, to just have you skip the optional trip?"

I'll leave it to you to draw the parallel.

If you think you can compete, compete. If you think it's just too hard, then
either just cash it in now, or take a real close look at what you believe
and ask yourself whether it is consistent with your ending up where you want
to be in life.

Sorry for the length, but this thread has been driving me up the wall. All
the bellyaching: "This is hard because I'm blind." "That sucks because I'm
blind." A lot of things suck about being blind. A lot of things also suck
about being stupid, disorganized, or lazy; having cancer or having one leg;
or growing old and dying. That. is. life!

Fortunately, we in the NFB are working together to make things less
difficult, and through our collective work we have built, and continue to
build, a brighter future for all blind people. I will, however, assure you
that none of our progress was ever attained by requesting a waiver.

Sean


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