[nabs-l] Wanted to share my experience living at Friedman Place, a supportive living community for blind adults in Chicago

[Robert William Kingett]

I too am a member of Friedman place and a competent member of the 
blindness community, even if I have someone cook for me. I've raised 
money to donate to the NFB and ACB to help their cause, even supporting 
my fellow peers with advocacy related matters. I believe that Friedman 
place is just the right fit for me. What I don't agree with is the 
notion that people, and yes, I've looked at the archives, have tried to 
make others do what they deem as independent. I have to ask this very 
simple question. What is independence anyway? I believe independence is 
freedom, individuality, liberation. I believe that it is freedom from 
dependence on or control by another person, organization, or state. I'm 
both a member of the NFB and ACB, and I have been nominated to be 
president of the LGBT chapter in the ACB, even though I live in a place 
that fosters stereotypes and makes people think blind people can't take 
care of themselves, apparently. Independence, as stated above, is very 
different for people. Someone who's independent is free, and that, I 
believe, should be celebrated and applauded. Since a lot of people have 
said that the NFB is the optimal way to live I don't understand 
something. This is my understanding of the NFB, and correct me if I'm 
wrong. The mission of the National Federation of the Blind is to achieve 
widespread emotional acceptance and intellectual understanding that the 
real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight but the 
misconceptions and lack of information which exist. We do this by 
bringing blind people together to share successes, to support each other 
in times of failure, and to create imaginative solutions. Acceptance is 
a key part of showing sighted people, and people who have stereotypical 
perceptions that the NFB are a powerful organization and not just an 
organization to adopt a one size fits all policy. Instead, as I have 
said before and state again, independence should be celebrated. We’re 
paying our bills and we’re paying for our food. When we rise in the 
morning to brighten up the world we choose, with care, the clothes we 
wear even if we have help with washing them. No one dictates my path and 
I have achieved my level of independence that I'm very satisfied with. 
Ii have my own apartment and I'm a very strong advocate for both the 
LGBT community and the blindness community as well. When I hear that 
someone is living on their own and paying their own bills, even if they 
have someone cook for them. There independent and it makes me happy. 
Why? Because that’s a blind person that has broken down the stereotype 
of living at home with their parents all of their lives, and I celebrate 
that with congratulatory words all the way. They're an independent 
person, living how they want to live. It sure does feel good. As I have 
said, that's something to be celebrated because, they're changing what 
it means to be blind, those beautifully independent people.