[nabs-l] Success and Why I Left the NFB

Peter Donahue pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com
Sun Mar 30 20:47:35 UTC 2014


Good afternoon everyone,

    I have a few thoughts on this thread. First no one likes anyone who runs 
from a fight. Health, work, and other issues can get in the way of serving 
in the organization but there are other ways to stay involved. People are 
only pushed to the side is they believe they are and don't find other ways 
to stay involved. They become lion prey rather than becoming or remaining 
lion chasers.

    The shunning we've seen is of those who lack blindness skills being 
offered the opportunity to learn them from those who just happen to be NFB 
members. My advice to such individuals is that of Judge Judy "Get over it!" 
If learning to use a computer, honing your Braille skills, becoming a better 
traveler will help you become more independent and create new career 
opportunities for God sakes except their offers of help regardless of whose 
camp they come from.

    As for this whole NFB VS ACB junk particularly when ACB members like to 
bring up stuff that happened 50 or 60 years ago they have been served notice 
from us that such conversations are off limits and they would do well to 
"Get over it" and that we're not interested in hearing it. On a few 
occasions we had several of them removed from our home due to the 
conversation getting out-of-control. And it didn't bother us to see them pay 
a $50 cab fare to get home to teach them that continuing to engage in this 
kind of non-productive garbage can become a very expensive proposition.

    On several occasions our chapter exhibited at a local resource fair for 
those with low vision. Both NFB and ACB had booths at this event. Some of us 
went by the ACB table to say hello. At no time did we attempt to harm their 
display or interfear with their activities in any way. They did not return 
the favor. One year several of their members tried to knock over our table 
which had a number of expensive notetakers on it. Our president at the time 
should have had the backbone to notify show officials and have them removed 
from the event but didn't. On another occasion one of these ACB folks tried 
to tell us he was the president of a new company we may be interested in 
learning about. Since we did not have a laptop with an Internet connection 
present to verify his story or not we were unable to do anything about it. 
Had we searched for the name of his company and found no reference to it 
online it's possible we could have had him kicked out for promoting a scam 
during the expo. By now you know that we have no patience with those who 
misrepresent themselves by atempting to promote a fraudulant company or 
engage in destructive behavior. The individual I referred to in this 
paragraph has served as the Alamo Council of the Blind's President.

On the other hand if they wish to learn about various programs and services 
offered by the federation, learn about the BELL Program for example, our 
STEM Initiative, or if they would like an opportunity to ride in a car 
driven by a blind driver we're game for the conversation. Yes I know this is 
rather heavy-handed but there's some history behind why we've taken such a 
hard line with these people. It can be best summarized in a paraphraise of 
some words of a song by the late Stompin Tom Conners:
"That there may never elsewhere be,
Another Philadelphia tragedy,
Another philadelphia tragety."

    The words above refer to an insident I and several other individuals 
were involved in during our 2001 Convention in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. 
Disagreements and philosophies among organizations of the blind helped lead 
up to this incident. Since taking such a hard stance against those who have 
nothing better to do than to run away from battles, sit on fences, etc there 
has never been another incident of that kind involving us. We had a close 
call in 2012 but heeded the warning signs and took action prior to that 
year's national convention to fend it off. Thanks to our alertness that 
national convention went without a hitch.

    Another thing that disturbs us is the ACB's attempts to undermind our 
programs and activities in some states. Did anyone tell them that this is 
America and they're free to establish programs and operate them as they see 
fit instead of attempting to scuttle the hard work of others?They attempted 
to quash NFB Newsline in a few states. If they didn't like the way the 
Newsline Program operates they're free to begin a similar program and 
operate it as they choose. Fortunately since we now host The Braille Forum I 
would hope it's got them thinking twice about that one.

    One thing that could help bring about greater unity in the blind 
community is if more agency directors had more backbone and laid out to all 
potential partners for a program they're considering the criteria these 
partners will need to satisfy for consideration instead of feeling like they 
need to be all things to all consumer groups of the blind. Again this is 
America and we're a free enterprise society. If someone wishes to be 
considered to assist with a program or to help fill a need they need to meet 
the criteria for consideration. For example if a host agency decides that 
immersion training is to be used in the operation of a particular program or 
service anyone wishing to partner with this agency will need to endorse 
immersion training or they will not be considered as a venture partner. Thus 
if ACB wants to be a partner in the operation of a program or service 
offered by a blindness agency that chooses to use immersion training they'll 
need to over hall their philosophy and adopt immersion training as a viable 
way to operate a program. If they're unwilling to do that they will be 
filtered and would do well not to complain that they were left out of 
consideration and would do well to refrain from trying to undermind the 
activities of such an agency because they were unwilling to adapt their 
approach and philosophy to meet changing conditions and needs of the blind. 
Again we have no patience with losers according to our standards!

    As for Joe's point about fundraising part of this one can be traced to 
the approach to career planning taken by many in the field including the 
NFB. We hear it every day about how unstable the job market has become yet 
we still tell people to go to school, get good grades, and you'll land that 
dream job when we should be taking it a step farther and urge blind 
individuals, parents, and educators of blind children  to develop multiple 
income channels should something happen to your primary income source and so 
you will have the funds to support causes such as the activities of the NFB. 
We're currently working with the mother of a blind child in our area to 
encourage her to do this so she will be bettter able to meet her blind 
child's needs as she progresses through school and college and to have 
financial resources that will last her for her entire life instead of just 
40 or 50 years of it if even that given the high unemployment rate we face.

    And let's not forget aboutthe the high cost of technology, and the 
refusal of the so-called blindness professionals to teach blind children and 
adults such valuable skills as Braille and cane travel to name a few. The 
NFB needs to urge blind persons and parents of blind children to develop 
multiple income sources so in the event that a school district is unwilling 
to teach a blind kid Braille no problem. They can hire someone to teach them 
privately and perhaps provide a job for another blind individual. If 
necessary they could home-school their blind child and give him/her an 
education far superior to that offered in many public schools. Likewise if a 
state agency refuses to fund a blind person to attend one of our centers 
since we urged them and their families to create ,multiple income streams 
they could pay for it themselves and to Hell with the rehab system. The more 
financial resources you have at your disposal that you can control the 
better you can provide for your blind child or fund the training you 
yourself wish to obtain.

    We attend regular information sessions related to one of our ventures. 
Each week we see many college students at these meetings. They're heeding 
the advice of those telling them not to put all of their eggs in one basket. 
These young folks most often referred to as Generation Y or Gen-Y for short 
understand the value of this advice and are creating multiple income streams 
for themselves should something happen to them or their career job. 
Individuals 30 years of age and under are considered to be a part of Gen-Y. 
Like their sighted Gen-Y counterparts blind individuals should be as 
intelligent. Consumer organizations of the blind need to become more 
agressive in this respect and urge blind persons and their families to do 
likewise.


       Mary and I have been around professional networking for years. In the 
late 1970s a blind individual and his wife became very successful in a 
well-known direct selling business achieving an extremely high level of 
success. Back then there were no smart phones, no direct delivery of the 
products in question to his home as there is now, no Internet portals in 
which one can transact business, yet this individual and his wife built an 
empire using this concept. The online resources I'm speaking of our 
accessible and usable by blind entrepreneurs. We have worked closely with 
the company in question to insure that this is so and they have greatly 
appreciated our assistance. Given his success one would think other blind 
individuals would have followed his lead in large numbers given the 
technology and services now available to those persuing careers in the 
direct selling industry. We find this state of affairs sad and shameful! 
This is something that can change in the years ahead. It's not too late. 
Anyone wanting more information about such opportunities is strongly advised 
to seek it from credible sources such as attending a meeting like the one 
mentioned above. Some of our NFB Lists have been used to spread information 
concerning particular companies that is inaccurate, false, and misleading. 
We're neither talking about your grandmother's business opportunity or NFB.



    If the NFB wishes to have increased financial support it needs to change 
the advice it gives to its members and others with respect to career options 
and advise blind consumers to create an income to last them a lifetime not 
just for 50 years of it only to end upon skid row when those years are over. 
It needs to give the kind of career advice that will allow its members and 
others to have the resources needed to support its programs and to allow 
blind individuals to maintain a deasent quality of life.  Now I believe I'm 
spent. All the best everyone.

Peter Donahue

 


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