[nabs-l] Feeling Inadequate After National Convention?

Mon Jul 14 11:52:00 UTC 2014

Elizabeth,

I hear what you're saying aboutNFB leaders and their propensity to have used college as a jumping point for success. I think it's important to consider the experience of blind people in general society. For generations, the only way for a blind person to be successful at all was  to obtain a degree that gets us  into jobs that society feels we can do. Besides that, the possibilities were pretty grim. I believe we still have this issue today. I believe that people with other types of disabilities face a similar issue. Either go to college or work in sub minimal wage sheltered workshops. It may not really be that severe, but it feels as though it is. I think the better approach is to start working on Ways to open up possibilities for blind people and blind people with other disabilities rather than letting someone else's success make us  feel inadequate.

I want to talk about our new tagline for moment. Live the life you want. This message is a bite sized version of the entire thought. I have not yet memorized it and cannot  word it exactly, but the bottom line is that blindness does not have to be the characteristic that defines you or your future.  I believe that this thought process can be applied to other types of disabilities. I think many members would agree.

So Elizabeth, let me ask you a question. What do you want? Keep in mind that what you say you want may  not actually be what you want. Generally speaking, people have a habit of not getting to the heart of what they want. Instead, we tend to focus more on the way in which we think we will obtain what we want. So really stop and think about it for a moment. And, at the end of your reflection, you still aren't  sure what it is that you want, join the rest of us. We are right there with you. I highly doubt our leadership meant to do this, but they are really asking us to consider a question that experts in  metaphysics have been asking the entire population for a long time. The challenge is that most people think more about what stops them from moving forward as opposed to figuring out what course they want to set in the first place. Those who are successful and feel they have what they want are those who have spent some time plotting the course and coming up with innovative ways to get from the starting point to the finishing point. Keep in mind that these individuals have found  detours along their path that sometimes cause with temporary setbacks. I believe  that what marks us ass as successful is our ability to think  creatively for solutions that get us back on course and passed the setbacks.

When I was younger, I wanted to be either a law enforcement officer or a doctor. I even thought about becoming an Olympic gymnast. Everyone kept telling me that I could not do these things because I am blind. I figured out there must be something wrong with society to have so many possibilities discouraged for me based on blindness. So, I thought that the best way to change perceptions of what blind people can do is to start with blind people ourselves. So, I thought to be a mobility instructor. Naturally, I was told I could not do this either. Then, I read an article written by Fred Schroeder. I read about the Louisiana Tech program and decided to go there. I am now a mobility instructor who changes perceptions of blind people about what we can accomplish as a group and as individuals. Now that I spend some time thinking about it, I realize that that is actually what I have always wanted. Whether it's being a gymnast, a doctor, or a police officer, Michael has always been to do something innovative and interesting that changes the perceptions of blind people and society about what we can do. I guess that being a mobility instructor was an interesting detour that had the bonus effect of empowering other people besides myself at the most basic level. I'm not finished yet. While teaching travel is interesting and empowering for me and the people I teach, I recognize that I have the potential to try some other avenues for empowerment as well. I have plans to get a doctorate degree so that I can teach incoming instructors, run an agency, do some research on blindness, or anyone of those things and things I have not even dreamed of yet. I have challenges like everybody else. They may not be represented by some form of disability, but they definitely create frustrating setbacks. The speeches I heard at convention have not left me feeling inadequate. Quite the opposite. If anything, I feel like I'm being encouraged to strive and to push a little harder to get serious about deciding what I want and plotting a course to get there.

Respectfully,
Jedi

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 13, 2014, at 11:28 AM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello Carly,
> 
> I am honestly not quite sure how my post about feeling defeated and
> inadequate turned into a thread about not being able to become a blind
> parent. My post had absolutely nothing to do with this. The last time I
> checked, this was an email list for blind students and not blind parents. As
> I look around this organization, all I seem to see are leaders who have been
> successful at being a college student. They are either succeeding in their
> classes, are successful college graduates, or have pursued the career of
> their choice. This makes me feel inadequate because there is the possibility
> none of these things will ever happened to me in my own life. And I guess
> learning to embrace this possibility in my life is rather difficult for me.
> 
> Warm regards,
> Elizabeth
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carly Mihalakis
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2014 10:13 AM
> To: tyler at tysdomain.com; National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list; Beth Taurasi; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Feeling Inadequate After National Convention?
> 
> Good morning, Elizabeth,
> 
> Personally, I was bienucleated (had both ocular organs surgically
> removed) after having retinal blastoma as an infant. And, I have come into a
> realization that,  without so much as a shaddow of a doubt, I want no part
> of synthetic means of artificially tweeking with nature, such that I, too,
> can proliferate this genetic cespool of mine, just so someone with genes ill
> fit for proliferation, can conceive of  and then carry to term their own
> kid! Personally, I think I have come to realize that, the universe doesn't
> mean for me to prolifferate my genetics and I accept this. For, the world
> seems to becoming strange, beyond my wildest dreams and seems not to be a
> welcoming place for any creature, let alone a fruit of my corrupt loins.
> Just some meditation on the question for people to take, or leave, as they
> see fit.
> for today, Car
> 
> 
> perportion and made the thread all about you, again. I don't think that was
> the point, just that the speeches and people doing so much makes people feel
> like they're not doing enough, or as much as they could. How much one can
> actually accomplish is up to someone, and only -you- know if you've not done
> enough.
>>> On 7/12/2014 8:25 PM, Beth Taurasi via nabs-l wrote:
>>> I feel the same way as you, Liz.  I have some other disabling factors 
>>> due to parental misconnduct or psychological abuse and I was devalued 
>>> at home, at school, and in some work settings in Florida and Colorado.  
>>> It's easy for the NFB people to feel like blindness is the only 
>>> people's disabling factor they can serve, but they fail to recognize 
>>> that mental illnesses, chronic health issues due to abuse, and so on 
>>> also play a huge role in how the people act, interact, and so on.  I'm 
>>> worried as heck about my own future because the NFB says a lot about 
>>> blind parents, but whuat about multidisabled intelligent beings who 
>>> want to bring children in to this world?  80% of psychiatrically ill 
>>> mothers have their babies removed from her. s Anyone heard of Buck V. 
>>> Bell?  Carrie Buck had her kid removed from her all because she was 
>>> epileptic and even though she was not blind, a disability was present 
>>> anyway.  Then, she was sterilized.  I will not tolerate such actions 
>>> to be taken against me or any person with or without multiple 
>>> disabilities.
>>> I side with you on this,
>>> Beth
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> Date sent: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 17:29:51 -0400
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Feeling Inadequate After National Convention?
>>> 
>>> 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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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Take care,
>> Ty
>> http://tds-solutions.net
>> He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he 
>> that dares not reason is a slave.
>> 
>> 
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