[nabs-l] Feeling Inadequate After National Convention?

[Jedi Moerke]

Beth,

I would strongly advise against taking one persons view of guardianship issues to be the view representing the entire organization. I for one  have strong feelings against guardianship in many cases. It is true that guardianship can be helpful for some people, but I have long since felt that the system has been abused in such a way as to prevent the progress of people with disabilities while advantageing  those who are supposed to care for them.

Respect fully,
Jedi

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 12, 2014, at 7:25 PM, Beth Taurasi via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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