[nabs-l] Future of the NFB

[Joe Orozco]

Brice,

You are the future of the NFB.  What do you think the organization should do
about its operations if you think blindness might not be the only disability
affecting the membership?  Don't speculate about what may happen.  Instead,
tell us what you think should happen.

I don't know that I agree with this notion that people are made to feel
inferior because they have secondary disabilities.  There have always been
similar observations made about guide dog users in the NFB, but the people
who disliked and looked down on me before I went and got my guide dog were
going to dislike me and look down on me regardless of my choice of travel
tools.  I think part of me went and got Gator to show these people where
they could stick their condescending views.  Anyway, I guess Eleanor
Roosevelt was more polished when she said "no one can make you feel inferior
without your consent."

But, seriously, what's this nonsense about the deaf-blind division not being
as promoted as the student or parent division?  They all get equal access to
the convention program, and if you hear about it more, it might simply be
owed to the size comparison between the groups.  If divisions that focus on
conditions other than blindness feel as though they're being left out, it
might be owed to the fact that the division is not doing anything worth
promoting?

Mind you, I think the whole concept of divisions in the NFB is bogus.
First, a vast majority of them do absolutely nothing between national
conventions.  Second, they create rifts in the membership when power-hungry
members view elections in these divisions as a badge of importance.  Third,
they distract us from the more important task of chipping away at the
fundamental challenges facing the blindness community.  If I were president
of the NFB for a day, my first order of business would be to eliminate
divisions in the way they exist today.  There are so many professional
organizations out there that we shouldn't create mirror groups within our
ranks to create little havens for blind people.

My point is this:  The NFB cannot exist without members like you.  You are
the current youth and will be the future leader.  NFB members spend so much
time accepting and not enough time questioning and even less time acting,
and that is why several months ago I advanced the controversial idea that if
the NFB keeps going down its current path, it will virtually cease to exist
in 50 years.  More on that point in a future post, but to answer your
question:  The way you accommodate people with secondary disabilities is to
encourage them to get involved.  Get on the boards and make the organization
recognize and react to what may be a change in demographics.  A few years
ago when a group of people proposed the idea of establishing a GLBT
division, they were told that with enough support, the division would be
established.  I think we're still waiting on this group to get their act
together about drumming up support.  It's not enough to complain about what
you, you in the general sense, think the NFB leadership is or is not doing
to accommodate certain members.  Just like the NFB as a whole has to make a
good case to the general public that certain issues need to be addressed,
blind people with secondary disabilities need to come together and make a
case for why we as a whole need to be more conscious of their unique needs.

Just my twenty dollar's worth,

Joe

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing