[nabs-l] In Defense of Divisions

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi all,

As president of a national NFB division I feel compelled to speak in
support of our divisions. I believe the national NFB divisions are
essential for two reasons. First, they greatly facilitate the
mentoring and networking that is such an integral part of what we do.
When I get a call from a student who just became blind and wants to
obtain resources and information, it's much easier for me to say "Hey,
why don't you join NABS, and you can talk to other blind students in
your major and find out what techniques they use" than to say, "Hey,
why don't you join the NFB, a huge consumer organization made up of
thousands of blind people of all ages and professions?" Of course I
tell them that by joining NABS they're also joining the NFB, which
provides a whole wealth of additional resources. But much of the
important work our divisions do, if they're as active and strong as
they should be, is to facilitate mentoring and the exchange of
information about specific topics. If you've been to a Blind Lawyers,
Blind Merchants, or Blind Educators meeting at NFB convention, why did
you go?
The second reason for divisions is to inform the rest of the
organization about what advocacy issues matter and how to tackle them.
Much of the work the NFB national office is involved in at the moment
is geared toward improving accessibility of online college course
systems, textbooks, etc. This battle was sparked by information from
real members of our student division, and we continue to help them
gather the data they need to understand the scope of the problem. The
parents' division helps us who are not parents understand what kinds
of issues their blind children are facing with education and why these
issues matter. I actually think our divisions for people with multiple
disabilities (like the deaf/blind division, for instance) should be
nurtured so they can help us understand the unique difficulties they
face so we can include these problems in our collective advocacy
strategy. Not to mention, as others said earlier in this thread, that
blind people with other disabilities sometimes tend to feel a bit lost
in the big wide NFB. By being part of a division or interest group,
these people are still in the NFB, but inside a supportive community
of peers and potential mentors.

I've noticed that lately on this list there is a lot of "either-or"
thinking being expressed. Either you hang out with blind people, or
you join the sighted community. Either we join cross-disability
coalitions or we reject people with multiple disabilities. And, either
we remain united or we form divisions and special interest groups. I
believe this kind of dualistic thought is unnecessarily restrictive,
and I would like to see more "both-and" propositions considered here.
I feel very fortunate to have close and rewarding relationships with
both blind and sighted people. Similarly, I believe the NFB can only
grow stronger by investing in our divisions and special interest
groups, which can do much to bring in new members, utilize our
collective resources to help blind people, and inform our advocacy
priorities. Despite being called "divisions", our divisions should not
compete with one another or "divide" the organization politically. In
fact, I've seen several NFB divisions collaborate when planning
events. Furthermore, of course our NFB divisions aren't going to
replace other community organizations we may wish to join. It's
entirely possible to be active in NABS or another NFB division, but
also active in campus or community student organizations, church
groups, etc. In fact, I suspect many of us who are railing against
divisions, by virtue of being on this list and being involved in your
state student divisions, are using this kind of "both-and" solution.

I will conclude by conceding that some of our NFB divisions are not
very active. That can be due to many factors including problems with
the division's elected leadership, lack of membership, or simply lack
of interest between conventions. However, I don't think this justifies
getting rid of divisions at all. National divisions can always afford
to do more stuff-even if it's just setting up a listserv for blind
people sharing a professional interest to network or setting up a few
conference calls between conventions.

Best,
Arielle
-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org