[nabs-l] Future of the NFB

Jorge Paez jorgeapaez at mac.com
Tue Mar 8 00:38:58 UTC 2011


> Brice:

I think you are right.

There are certainly plenty of people who are just blind still,
but I do agree that medical advances have allowed children to live who 15, even 10 or 5 years ago may not have made it.

Other disabilities varry, as does the level of each one in each person, but it is certainly more common now.


I wonder if that might mean a transformation is coming to the NFB?


On Mar 7, 2011, at 7:26 PM, Brice Smith wrote:

> I spoke to one of my old VI teachers last week who gave me some
> interesting observations to consider. At least from the perspective of
> this professional, more and more students who are blind often have
> multiple disabilities. She suspects that medical advancements have
> made it so that children who previously did not survive are now living
> longer lives, but often  with more profound impairments. She notes
> that it is a "rare treat" for VI professionals to work with students
> who are simply visually impaired. Please understand that I do not have
> any hard data or research to back up any of these observations.
> 
> I realize the NFB respects and values other disabilities. there are
> many divisions within the NFB including the Diabetes Action Network.
> However, I think most people can agree that our organization is
> concerned primarily with blindness and not other physical or mental
> disabilities.
> 
> This is not meant as a criticism of the NFB. Advocacy organizations
> simply cannot be everything to everyone, and I think it is a testament
> to our strength that we gather thousands of blind people and raise a
> unified voice that might otherwise go unheard. But if the number of
> people with blindness as their only disability is shrinking, what does
> this mean for our future?
> 
> There has been discussion on this and other NFB lists about the future
> of the organization with regards to membership recruitment and
> legislation and advocacy. If more and more people with visual
> impairments are born with multiple, "profound" disabilities, I'm
> curious what, if any, impact would this have on the NFB in the future
> and years to come.
> 
> Any thoughts are welcome.
> 
> Brice
> 
> -- 
> Brice Smith
> North Carolina State University, Communication - Public Relations
> Brice.Smith319 at gmail.com
> 
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