[nabs-l] NFB and Independence

[Suzanne Germano]

For me independence is knowing you can do it. Knowing and having had taken
the bus to school, work, new places.

My commute to school on the bus is 5 hours so we chose to have my fiance
pick me up unless he is out of town. It is a 25 min drive home vs 2.5 to
2.75 hours home on the bus. So I am not giving up independence by getting
picked up I am gaining time. Most evenings he picks me up and we go to the
gym adn we still get home earlier than if I took the bus. When he is out of
town on business which in the last couple of months happened a lot I did
take the bus both ways. I lost a lot of homework time doing that. In the
morning he drops em at the 2nd bus 2 miles from our house it takes us 3-4
min but saves me 45 minutes.

I have done the 2 or more hours each way to school and work. I walked to
school starting from first grade. I began taking the bus at 12 years old
(boy have times changed) I would take my daughter to the zoo and other
places on the bus. So I can and have done it but know chose to have time to
spend with my fiance or do homework.

What's interesting is since I am low vision I never got formal O & M so I
was never taught to listen to the traffic. So even though I was on my own
crossing streets I often felt nervous about it. I also find since I don't
use a cane asking for assistance or directions is more difficult. I always
start with "I am legally blind" or "I am visually impaired" and people
still just point or say something like over by the blue sign. Or and quite
often answer with "why don't you get glasses." Even after they point and I
repeat I can't see that they still just don't get it. I did use a cane year
ago before I got my red contacts then I would get the other end of the
comments "You're not blind"

As far as housecleaning many sighted people have housekeepers come. We do
all our regular cleaning ourselves but every so often we chose to have
someone come in to do deep cleaning not because I can't but because we
chose not to do it ourselves. Also we have yard guys come while he is at
work and I am at school. That frees up our weekends to do things we enjoy.
Plus we live in Phoenix and can't stand heat so neither one of us would go
out and do the yard from May through the end of October.

So I think being independent is knowing you can do it even if you chose not
to. I don't need to wast over 20 hours a week on teh bus to prove to myself
or anyone else that I am independent.


On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 9:09 PM, Arielle Silverman <
Arielle.Silverman at asu.edu> wrote:

> Hi all,
> Kenneth Jernigan, who was president of the NFB for 18 years and had a
> huge influence on the organization's philosophical approach to
> blindness, wrote a speech titled "The Nature of Independence" which is
> available on the NFB website. I won't post it here since it is quite
> long, but will just summarize what I got out of hearing it. Jernigan
> talked about times when he, as a blind man, would walk with sighted
> guides, such as holding the arm of his secretary while walking with
> her and in conversation. He said that he did this from time to time,
> not because he needed the help, but because it was more convenient for
> both of them. He stated that one can accept assistance from others and
> still remain independent. Specifically, he defined independence as:
> The ability to travel whenever you want, wherever you want, with a
> minimum of inconvenience to yourself and others.
>
> To me, that definition sounds similar to those that some of you are
> espousing. I think before we bash the NFB too much on this point, we
> should bear in mind where Jernigan was coming from. In fact, I think
> most if not all of us in the NFB agree that independence is the
> freedom to choose when, and what kind of help, to get. We can all be a
> little better about not judging others who make different choices than
> what we would make, and some judgmental folks have tainted the NFB's
> reputation in this regard. But I really think we agree more than we
> disagree here.
> I believe that all people can seek help with things and still remain
> independent. But I also think that being blind, by itself, shouldn't
> change our standard of independence. I personally like doing the same
> kinds of things that other 28-year-olds do, so I don't want to be
> called super-blind because I do typical things like living with my
> fiancee and sharing cooking duties with him, or walking independently
> around campus. And I think that whenever we do accept help with
> something, there is always a trade-off where we have to give up
> something. Sometimes we have to pay for help, like paying a taxi
> driver or a restaurant to cook our food. Sometimes it's a time
> sacrifice, like having to wait for a ride or a guide in order to go
> somewhere. Other times the sacrifices are more subtle losses of
> freedom, like if we choose to live somewhere that makes rules about
> whether or not we can have overnight guests. Sometimes the help we get
> is worth the sacrifice, but other times it's not, because the
> inconvenience on ourselves or others is too great. Finally, I believe
> that in order to make knowledgeable decisions about what we really
> need help doing, and what we don't, we should get decent training. If
> someone always has another person do their laundry because they never
> tried doing it themself, they will never know how easy it might be for
> them. If they try it, they might discover that actually it's not worth
> the sacrifice and that they prefer doing it themself, but we never
> know these things until we try them.
> I personally think there are many sighted people, and some blind
> people, who would benefit greatly from a supported living community
> like Friedman Place. Offering these communities could really help make
> a dent in national crises like homelessness, poverty and ccrime. I
> think there are many other populations in this country who need a
> place like Friedman far more than blind people do. And while I don't
> fault those who choose to go to Friedman, I would submit that there
> are sacrifices and trade-offs involved. You get low-cost housing,
> cooked food and companionship, but you lose control over most of your
> spending money, have to sign out to leave the premises and the hot
> date you bring home has to pass a background check. I think these are
> small sacrifices, but I also think that living on one's own, and
> especially getting training in daily living skills and job skills,
> gives us the flexibility to handle all kinds of life situations,
> either on our own or with assistance.
> Best,
> Arielle
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/sgermano%40asu.edu
>