[nabs-l] Blindness and other minorities

Fri Nov 18 21:57:34 UTC 2011

Hi Bridgit,

I'm sorry I took that too literally, as it wasn't meant to be 
taken that way.  A lot of people get those two forms of 
government mixed up, and I have to explain to them that we're not 
a true democracy.  If we were, all decisions would be made by the 
people.  Well who knows, maybe that would be better.  LOL Anyway, 
I don't think the discrimination that we are currently faced with 
in this country is not because of the laws and system of 
government because we now have a lot of anti-discrimination laws 
in place; the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Rehabilitation Act of 
1973, The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA,) 
and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) So, what laws that 
haven't been repealed are supporting discrimination against us? 
We almost had one in the subminimum wage bill, but thank God that 
was voted down.  Now we just need cosponsors for the replacement 
bill, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act.  Has 
anyone on this list contacted their Congresspeople? If so, what 
were your experiences?

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan (President, National Federation of the Blind, 
1968-1986

P.S.  The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps blind and visually impaired 
youth in Maryland say "I can," by empowering them through 
providing assistive technology and scholarships to camps and 
conventions which help them be equal with their sighted peers.  
For more information about the Foundation and to support our 
work, visit us online at www.icanfoundation.info!

Sent from my BrailleNote Apex

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Bridgit Pollpeter <bpollpeter at hotmail.com
To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:46:04 -0600
Subject: [nabs-l] Blindness and other minorities

Chris,

I think you took a much to literal interpretation on my comment 
wich was
meant to be cynical.  And I understand the difference between a 
republic
and a democracy, and realize that America has more of a republic 
form of
government than a democracy, but it's still taught as a democracy 
in
schools, and our form of government is officially listed as a 
democracy.
If you look The United States of America up, our form of 
government is
listed as a democracy even though we've never been a true 
democracy.

That out of the way, my comment wasn't meant to necessarily 
reflect our
government system, but to outline the irony of America acting 
like Big
Brother with other countries, sending troops in, forcing a 
specific
political system and demanding more equality when America itself 
is
still struggling to accept people as equals.  This isn't meant to 
be
anti-American, but just a satirical comment on equality and how 
we view
it.

People with disabilities are still viewed as less capable leaving 
us out
of employment, having CPS investigate our lives when starting 
families,
assuming we can't do much independently and so forth and so on.  
Gays
still don't have ordinary rights afforded to heterosexuals, and 
since we
are suppose to have a separation of church and state, religious
arguments shouldn't be a factor in what rights gays have, which 
is the
primary reason we don't allow things like gay marriage.  Racism 
is still
a huge issue whether you want to believe it or not.  It may not 
be as
socially acceptable to be an out-loud-racist, but trust me, 
racist
mindsets are just as prevalent today as they once were.  And yet 
we
expect other countries to adopt more tolerant attitudes towards
differing races and religions, to not follow dictatorships or 
corrupt
monarchies or corrupt political systems with alleged presidents 
or prime
ministers.  The goal is to find tolerance and equality, yet we 
miss the
mark in our own country.

I was not saying inequality is solely due to a flawed government 
since
no government is without its flaws.  And while on the subject, no
government has withstood the test of time.  All countries have
experienced political upheaval through the centuries, but again, 
my
commentary wasn't focused on governments but the concept of 
equality,
and how our own country views equality.

I'm no political expert, nor am I anti-American, but I just find 
it
ironic that we have similar problems in this country but demand 
other
countries follow a higher standard.  Again, I understand many of 
these
countries have governments way more corrupt than ours, and some 
practice
genocide and terrorism.  I'm just simply commenting on the irony 
though,
and not trying to make America an exact reflection of countries 
such as
Bosnia, or Iraq, or Libya, or Rwanda, North Korea, or even 
Mexico.

I do respectively disagree that discrimination and inequality are 
not
caused, or at least supported, by political systems .  Not only 
did the
majority of public opinion support racism in this country, but 
the Jim
Crowe laws, as established by our government in the late 1800's 
and
lasting until the 1960's, made certain behavior legal and placed 
rigid
definitions forming a legal precedence for "separate but equal." 
Our own
government passed legislation openly supporting segregation.  We 
became
an official country at the signing of the Declaration of 
Independence in
1776, but black men, and any man not owning property, couldn't 
vote
until after the Civil War, which was after 1865.  Women couldn't 
vote
until the 1920's.  Between the 1920's and early 1970's, it was 
legal to
sterilize poor blacks and whites as well as those with 
disabilities, and
it could be done against a person's will.  Our government decided 
who
could and could not procreate based on discriminatory criteria
masquerading as an initiative  to eliminate those predisposed to
promiscuous behavior, poverty or carrying "unwanted" genes.  
Until 1971,
a blind person could be cited, and possibly arrested if walking 
around
without a sighted companion.  Until 2011, gays couldn't openly 
serve in
our military; they still can't legally marry in most states or 
adopt
children as a couple.  And I know this is off the topic, but 
those who
argue gay marriage will destroy the family unit as we know it, 
how do
heterosexual marriages, of which 50% end in divorce, support the
traditional family unit? Anyway, humans aren't perfect and 
inequality is
a sad part of reality, but when governments actively choose to 
pass
discriminatory  laws, it doesn't help and it makes this behavior 
legal
and acceptable.  So please explain how this, regardless of the 
form of
government, doesn't cause, lead to and perpetuate inequality and
discrimination? People can engage in discriminatory behavior, but 
if the
law supports the behavior, there are no consequences; no one 
changes
their mind because a legal precedence exists allowing 
discrimination as
well as perpetuating it.

So, that's my long explanation of what was originally a very 
satirical
comment and then some.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 5
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:41:36 -0500
From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
	list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness and other minorities
Message-ID: <4ebeda21.a26e340a.476b.1283 at mx.google.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=EUC-KR; format=flowed

Hi Ashley and Bridgit,

Let me point out that although there is still discrimination and
inequality in America, it's not, in my opinion, because our
"democracy" is flawed; we don't have a democracy! We have a
Republic for a system of government, which is different from a
Democratic form of government.  The difference is that in a true
democracy, the country is ruled by the people as a collective,
all-powerful group.  In other words, it is what some would call
"mob rule." This historically has caused riots and chaos, which
usually leads to the end of whatever country tried it.  As a
republic, we have representatives who are sent to represent the
people in our government.  We then vote for who we think would be
best to represent us.  So, the discrimination and inequality
isn't because of our system of government, in my opinion.

Chris

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