[nabs-l] Future of the NFB

[Marsha Drenth]

This is a very interesting question. Lets take those of us who are hearing
impaired and blind. Now blindness is my primary disability, but I am hard of
hearing. Yes we have a deafblind division, but is it promoted as much as say
the parents, or the students? No, not at all. Are these disabilities any
less than our blindness? No, not at all. But then my question is that why
are those of us who are hard of hearing, deaf, hearing impaired, or whatever
you want to call it, second class to those vanilla blind persons in the NFB?
Why are those vanilla blind people so quick to judge those of us who can't
do things in the same as everyone else?Its the judgement of people, that has
kept some away from the NFB. I feel like a broken record in this matter. But
frankly blind people are very quick to judge others who are blind for their
abilities or the lack of skills. And its those same people who judge others
for the additional disabilities they may have. 

Just my two cents,
Marsha       



-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Brice Smith
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 7:26 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: [nabs-l] Future of the NFB

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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