[nabs-l] advocacy advice to an grandmother

[Robert William Kingett]

Let me know your thoughts.

Dear xxx.

I hope that I got your name right because I have never ever been good 
with names. I guess it runs in the family. LOL.

I want to introduce myself to you. Sam forwarded me your message and it 
was really moving that I just had to respond personally.

I want to introduce what Sam and I do and then I will comment on what 
you have so truthfully written and I also want to give you my thoughts, 
based on observation alone. Sam and are both blindness related advocates 
here in Chicago Illinois. I'm a blind journalist here in Chicago 
Illinois as well as an advocate for the LGBT community. I'm most known 
for my journalistic endeavors and I want to tell you something very 
personal and profound.

I've been blind ever since birth and I grew up in a very abusive 
environment. When you say the word invisible that really struck a chord 
with me. Even though I have dealt with the abusive past by turning it 
into positive advocacy energy that one word brought back several 
memories. I was invisible in both cases, from the blindness side and the 
domestic violence side, and, I had to find my own way out of it because 
the school for the blind I was in just didn't care to get involved with 
such matters. The unusualDCF investigations never went as far as someone 
from child services coming to our home to investigate only to deem that 
everything was fine because, even though I did not like my mom, I 
covered up for her. My troubles at home were invisible to everyone, or 
so I believed. The truth is that they weren't invisible and someone had 
noticed. Naturally, they just didn't know what to do.

In school I also learned to embrace my blindness because I saw the 
treatment that we received at a young age. When I was 11, I asked the 
manager at a restaurant why he didn't have any Braille menus, and why he 
was breaking the law. He didn't have an answer for me, so I began to ask 
that question at every restaurant I came to. It was an easy question for 
me to ask. Why? Because I asked my mom why she broke the law all the 
time. I was, and still am, a bookworm so I had a lot of questions, based 
on the stuff I read critically. In high school I found my own way out of 
the abusive home and that's when I truly learned what independence was 
and so I began to go around school telling other blind kids what it 
meant as well. On the academic side of the circle, the Florida school 
for the deaf and the blind was very good, but anything social skills 
related, advocacy related, that just flew over their heads. They didn't 
even tell us what college was going to be like. I had to experience that 
for myself. I realized that I had a gift and that gift was to string 
words together to make people listen. I was a writer and I started 
studying the extent, the power that my gift held. I began writing 
proposals for a school newspaper that the school had never had and I 
soon started my own school newspaper. Even at a blind school, the 
teachers told me that no one would read it. Kids at Saint Augustine high 
were crawling to pay for the fourth issue.

I do have a point to this entire story so just hang in there! LOL.

I wasn't invisible anymore but the blindness community was, and I 
realized this even more after I got out of high school. I'm sure that 
you have heard about the NFB and ACB and AFB and all of the above and 
many more. If you haven’t they are blindness advocacy groups that do 
their own parts in different things. You want to talk about invisible? 
These groups are invisible. They are just now being heard about in 
mainstream media regularly. Even now, though, the only people who know 
about them are blind people. Why? Because there haven’t been any loud 
voices. Okay, correction, there are loud voices but they are quietly 
yelling, thinking they will not do anything worthwhile by speaking up. 
You’re an example of a voice that everyone should listen to. These blind 
groups would listen but there's a huge problem with these groups, and 
it's a shame to see the ironic twist, they don't reach out to sighted 
people for assistance with legal matters, or any other matter, they'd 
rather stay in their own tents, if you get my drift. Some efforts, not 
all, but some, are after the media to do stories about them. The NFB and 
ACB both have a lot to offer but they both don't do a big enough job on 
their own separately. They do things on a case-by-case basis, and their 
efforts are to educate the public about the blind and then change comes 
after the education. Plus, they even fight among one another, and waste 
energy doing it. All that yelling could have been done to do something 
better. The ACB people will say they are better, the NFB say that they 
do the right thing. Never, ever, have they collaborated on anything 
solid to make a powerful enough standing for change. Education does 
little good if change isn't implemented but they haven’t realized this 
yet. They want to say that their group is better than the other rather 
than make efforts to change the community to better serve the blind.

That being said, there's a lot of people who are making a difference.

For example, I want to point you to Christine. http://www.christineha.com/

She was a blind MasterChef winner last season.

There's a car that's driverless, allowing blind people to be mobile like 
never before... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car

Also, the ACB have managed to get the communications and accessibility 
act signed by Obama, which will allow all electronic devices, even cell 
phones to be accessible. http://www.acb.org/adp/tv.html. They are also 
taking strides to make all paper currency accessible to the blind and 
the visually impaired.

The NFB have done much work on employment. They have done so many things 
that I'll just give you their website. https://nfb.org/

And people like us, me, Sam, you, and every other small voice out there 
makes a big difference, even if we don't realize it or see it right 
away. For instance, I received an email from a woman whose wives, 
sisters, and friend I helped out years ago. You know how they say that 
every action has an equal and opposite reaction? Even though the action 
isn't seen and heard for years, it's an action that will be carried out 
for sure. For example, the FSDB kids of today now have a paper they can 
write for because of my simple action three years ago. I'm glad that I 
made that decision.

I do think that we should unite to give the blind a much more stable 
ground to walk on but I'm just one person. Bigger and better companies 
and blindness organizations have a lot to fight about that are a lot 
more important than our wishes and dreams. I'm sorry to say but it's the 
truth. These blindness groups have a lot of energy to fight each other 
but that's changing too. That being said, I'm still going to continue to 
do my small actions of writing and advocacy and standing up for our 
rights as blind people because I know that somewhere along the line, 
even after my death, I will have made a powerful impact on someone's 
life and have made them a better person because I managed to get people 
talking because an article was published or because I demanded to see a 
company officer to straighten out an accessibility barrier, gave them 
some guidance. It's hard to stand up for the right thing because it 
seems that no one is listening. They are listening. I do believe, 
however, that this blindness schism is the worst that I've ever seen and 
it's the dumbest thing ever especially since they both promote inclusion 
and equality and they can't even include one another. To combat this, 
the people, not organizations, not the NFB, not the ACB, not the AFB, 
the people need to change what it means to be blind. We’re doing that. 
You’re doing that. You’re amazing! We’re amazing! Even though we’re 
making progress it will take time, as with all great things. Big things 
come in small packages and voices and efforts.

Your small actions towards your granddaughter will be remembered, and 
appreciated, and used very well even though they may seem as though they 
are not getting anywhere at the moment they will blossom into something 
big. People like us just have to continue to be loud positive vocal 
people who will both advocate and educate for the blind and the visually 
impaired. We can't rely on just blindness groups because then we will be 
sitting on our hands talking, taking no action.

I just want to say hell yes you’re a good grandmother. She knows 
Braille; she's standing up for herself. You’re giving her all she needs, 
even if it's not right now. Even a small ripple can make a big wave. 
We’re making a big wave, even if that wave won’t come until years later. 
Our small actions will impact the world, and that's why I do what I do. 
That’s why I don't give up because no matter how much arguing goes on, 
ignorance is displayed, services are denied, etc. I know that I have the 
power to change things. I'm proud to use my particular power of writing 
to change the world and to change what it means to be blind. You are 
changing your granddaughter’s world, and someday, she will remember how 
you changed her world and then she will change other people’s lives and 
that will be all because of you, xxx, you’re an amazing ripple. Continue 
to make that wave!