[nabs-l] Feeling Inadequate After National Convention?

[Beth Taurasi]

I would agree, Arielle.  It just bothers me that while the NFB is 
fighting for the "vanilla blind" people, they seem to think 
guardianship is ok for a mentally ill and blind person because, 
while at the CCB, the director said she wasn't comfortable 
changing the state of the guardianship because of the "mental 
health disability" or undiagnosed disabling factors.  Whuat's the 
point, then, of fighting for, in one case, the total illegality 
of guardianship?  It should be illegal just as Henry's turkey 
Service was found to be in violation of so many existing laws nd 
exploited low IQ boys.  The "guardians of the boys stole their 
money.  I am lucky in that I'm even living alone, but the 
"guardians" don't even see me in CO.  So whuat to do next!
Beth

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: Elizabeth Mohnke <lizmohnke at hotmail.com>, National 
Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 15:03:19 -0700
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Feeling Inadequate After National 
Convention?

Hi Elizabeth and all,

I  think your reaction is perfectly natural and it is definitely 
one
that others have expressed inside and outside the NFB. However, I
would point out that  our leaders could also experience struggles 
in
ways that we are not aware of. For example, I know that several 
of our
national leaders learned Braille later in life, either because of
anti-Braille attitudes in their education or because they became 
blind
as adults. In a way, learning Braille later could be considered a 
kind
of disability because it is harder to become fluent in Braille 
when
one starts learning later in life. These leaders may come across 
as
impeccable in their speeches, but what we don't know is how much 
they
might have practiced beforehand or what tricks they use to 
compensate
for a slower reading speed. There are also many among us, 
probably
some in leadership, who have hidden disabilities--learning, 
mental
health or otherwise--they have not disclosed with us. In fact, I 
have
several lifelong balance and coordination problems, and suspect I
could have a  mild form of a  second disability myself. Given the
prevalence of mental health conditions (many hidden) in the
population, and the kinds of additional disabilities that often 
come
with blindness, I would probably guess that a majority of our 
members
have additional disabilities even if we cannot see them, and 
everyone
has their own real and perceived struggles even if we cannot see 
them.
My point is that while comparisons are natural, I would encourage 
all
of us to try to be the best we can be rather than comparing 
ourselves
to the front that somebody else puts forward.

Best,
Arielle

On 7/12/14, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 
wrote:
 Hello All,

 I hope everyone who attended the national convention this year 
had a great
 time in Orlando. I understand attending a national convention 
can be a
 rather inspiring event in the life of someone who is blind. 
However, as I
 was listening to the online stream of the national convention 
this year, I
 found myself feeling the complete opposite.

 Instead of feeling inspired and hopeful for the future, I found 
myself
 feeling rather defeated and inadequate. As I was listening to 
the speaches
 from various leaders within the NFB, I found myself thinking how 
lucky they
 must be that the only disability they have to deal with in their 
lives was
 there blindness. I was thinking about how easy it must be fore 
someone who
 is only blind, and how more difficult it is for someone who has 
another
 disability in addition to being blind.

 Now perhaps this may be a bit too personal to post to the email 
list, but I
 was just curious if anyone else has ever felt this way, and if 
so, what did
 you do to deal with these kinds of feelings? I would greatly 
appreciate
 hearing from anyone who has ever dealt with this kind of issue 
before.

 Thanks,
 Elizabeth

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