[nabs-l] NABS: A Division IN the National Federation of the Blind

[Justin Salisbury]

Fellow Federationists:

I would like to reply to a couple of people here.  I very much appreciate the discussion so far.

To Jimmy:

I am sorry to hear that you are struggling to connect with Shafeka.  For what it's worth, I have always been able to get in touch with her when I have needed her. If you'd like to work on that privately with me, Mikayla, or maybe Joe Ruffalo, I'm sure we can find solutions.  I think a lot of Shafeka and hope that nobody got the wrong idea from the message.  I have seen some great student seminar and leadership summit work from the New Jersey Association of Blind Students in the past few years and hope that you can be a part of our continuance and growth.

To Chris Nusbaum:

You wrote a beautiful and thoughtful message.  It looks clear to me that the Maryland Association of Blind Students is functioning the way it should, with strong ties to state and national leadership.  I find it refreshing to read your articulation of the transformation, and it is quite similar to the transformation that I want to see in NABS nationally.  Since you are so well-versed in this transformation and the ideal functioning of a student division, I think it would be really helpful to have you or someone else from Maryland join the NABS board to help in our upcoming transformation.  I dream that, one day, all student divisions will function this way, including the National Association of Blind Students.

Recently, the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin held meetings with state legislators in Madison to advocate for the Blind Person's Right to Parent Act.  One of our state senators argued that nobody would ever take children away from blind parents.  He insisted that everyone in Wisconsin knew that blindness would not prevent someone from being a good parent and gave a speech outlining the capacity of the blind.  We were so grateful that he understood the capacity of the blind, but, in order to achieve the improvements we needed, we had to convince him how truly valuable his understanding of blindness actually was.

You are so right in your understanding of what does not work for student divisions (trying to reinvent the wheel without desiring a strong connection with our national leadership) and how to get to a better place.  I need you on my team.

When I was serving as NABS rep at a recent state convention, I explained to the convention assembled how NABS played an unusual role in the Federation in that we took our direction not from the National Federation of the Blind leadership core, but from within our own membership.  I remember myself explaining it in an objective way without alarm because I had come to accept that this was just how NABS functioned.  I was not announcing it publicly, but I had been planning to quietly shift my involvement out of NABS and into other areas of the Federation-ones that had stronger ties to the core leadership of the National Federation of the Blind. Those close relationships with our core leadership are important, and I want NABS to have a strong relationship with our core leadership.

To Ashley:

I am sorry to hear that VABS is not functioning the way that you would like VABS to function.  I am sure that Chris, Sarah, Kim, V, Kierra, and Fred will work with you to strengthen VABS if you want to have a hand in it.  I invite you to drive the change you want just as I wish to do.  Perhaps VABS can take some time on a future conference call to flush out the needs and chart future priorities.

Thank you all for the discussion so far.

Yours,

Justin Salisbury
Board Member
National Association of Blind Students