[nabs-l] advocacy advice to an grandmother

Fri May 10 03:14:33 UTC 2013

Hi all,
  So I am  no doubt catching this thread on the tail-end, but I still want to react  to  the letter.

 Firstly,  I appreciate your sharing   this  with all of us.  The Nabs-L list is a community, one with many many eyes reading what we write, but a community all the same.
   No doubt  we all have different views on a particular subject and  certainly different views on blindness and the NFB, as well as the various organizations  that  feel  that for their part they are  doing great things to change  lives for the blind.

 Personally, I don't believe any organization is perfect, nor do I think that any one  organization  is completely negative. 
 I think the best work in any movement is done when the people who are most effected by the  issues they face are the people making the decisions and driving the change ("nothing about us, without us"). 
 In the National Federation of the blind, we work with  our sighted peers in making those changes, which makes sense if we say that  the work we does being done so that we can compete on a level playing field  with our sighted peers.
  I think that's important, because sometimes we think  that we are setting ourselves  in a situation where it is the blind against the sighted, and that's not very accurate at all. Our parents of blind children are some of the strongest advocates in our movement, we have sighted members of our affiliates that are just as loyal  as some of our blind members, and we don't consider them any less or  any more of a part of what we do. Further, I would dare say that sighted students can be just as active  members of our organization, and we should welcome them with open arms.
  There is no denying  that there is not a lot of cross-organization collaboration, and for my part, I think this is unfortunate.  I think that it is possible that one day, maybe sooner than we know, we will see some of those bridges mended, and meaningful relationships grow from that.
 In the meantime, I think it's fine to keep an open mind and connect with anyone you feel a commonality with in either organization, however that connection might  take root from.
      I admire anyone who feels strongly enough about a matter to advocate for it. Some learn it from their parents, some learn it on their own, some have learned it from theACB or NFB.  
 I personally think I gained  parts of my  philosophy on blindness and advocacy as I  lived and learned, but a good deal of it came from my experiences in the  federation. 
  One thing  that I will say in closing is that I believe we all have the ability to be the change that we wish to see in the world we live in.  Some of us do it by working with the blind, some of us do it by living our lives and showing in how we live it how we believe the blind out to be treated.  Obviously, you can  and should  find your own thing to believe in, but so long as you find that thing you believe in, it tends to make life much more of an amazing experience.

  respectfully,
  Darian 

On Apr 26, 2013, at 2:01 PM, "Littlefield, Tyler" <tyler at tysdomain.com> wrote:

> I only have a couple of points.
> First, I really liked the letter you wrote--I'd just remove the random lol. Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but older people generally don't care for what Lol means and it totally kills your flow here.
> Second, you're focusing a lot on NFB and ACB fighting among themselves. This might be true, but there are amazing people in both camps. I've been attacked on this list for being part of the ACB, then others don't care because whatever I am part of, as long as I do something somehow to help it doesn't matter.
> The organizations themselves don't fight, it's mainly the die-hard fans of either camp. While it's not always the case, I've never seen all that much intelligence in the people that attacked me for being part of the ACB to begin with, so if they feel they need to scream at me, I'd rather them do that than say, try to promote fairness by doing something that would make us look worse.
> 
> You also kind of sound like you're screaming into the wind here with your talk of nothing happening. There is a lot of stuff happening, it's just a very slow process. Your influence as well as everyone elses helps contribute to that bigger picture, even if it's not obvious right now.
> 
> Just my two cents.
> On 4/26/2013 2:20 PM, Robert William Kingett wrote:
>> 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!
>> 
>> 
>> 
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