[nabs-l] Why Are You a Member of the NFB?
Elizabeth Mohnke
lizmohnke at hotmail.com
Tue Jan 20 23:06:25 UTC 2015
Hello Carl,
I was trying to frame my questions in a more positive way because continuing
to focus on the negative only seems to upset me and create more negativity.
I have shared bits and pieces of my specific experience with a number of
individuals privately, and sharing these specifics of my personal experience
with others has never really done anything to answer the question as to why
I am treated so poorly within the National Federation of the Blind.
As I have already stated, my overall experience within the NFB has been
marked with harsh criticism and rejection rather than encouragement,
support, and acceptance. Because of this I am questioning why I keep trying
to remain a part of the National Federation of the Blind.
Therefore, I thought it would be beneficial to hear why others are a part of
the NFB, what factors make their experience a positive one rather than a
negative one, and the strengths of the organization. I thought perhaps this
would help me identify any positives from my own experience even though it
is rather negative. I also wanted to see how I might be able to make my
experience with the NFB a more positive one while trying to prevent someone
else from having the same negative experience as me.
However, it would appear as though trying to use this more positive approach
has not been all that successful, and I apologize for bringing up such a
controversial subject on the email list.
Warm regards,
Elizabeth
-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Martin Adam [mailto:kmaent1 at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 12:01 PM
To: Elizabeth Mohnke; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Why Are You a Member of the NFB?
Hi Elizabeth, I understand why you might want to be vague about exactly what
your negative experiences have been, but this makes it difficult for any of
us to give you constructive answers.
Without knowing what problems you've had and how they came about, we can't
tell you what we've done differently or point out that we've interacted with
different people or realize that we evaluate certain things as being less
negative or anything like that. At least in my case, one difference in our
experience is probably that I've never had a need or desire to contact the
president of the organization or anyone that powerful and busy.
My interactions have been mostly with ordinary members, who have in the vast
majority of cases been open and welcoming. I'm also primarily a member
because I support the NFB's advocacy goals, not because I'm looking for
self-affirmation from leadership.
That being said, when I was young, I was involved in the local mentoring
program led by Allan Harris where I learned Braille and my basic mobility
skills, which was overwhelmingly a positive experience. As Arielle said, it
is very sad that you, and others, have had negative experiences, and we
should all work to reduce those as much as possible. I hope that you can
feel comfortable enough to talk about exactly what problems you've had, so
that people can try to fix them. Of course, I can think of many reasons you
might not want to do that, so please don't feel pressured in any way.
Best,
Karl
----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "'Manners, Derek'" <dmanners at jd16.law.harvard.edu>,"'National
Association of Blind Students mailing list'" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org Date sent:
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:47:32 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Why Are You a Member of the NFB?
Hello Justin,
Thank you for sharing your experience with the National Federation of the
Blind. However, I am honestly wondering if we are talking about the same
organization here as my overall experience with the National Federation of
the Blind is absolutely nothing like what you have described in this email.
What do you believe accounts for these differences? What makes your overall
experience so positive while my overall experience has been so negative? Why
have you been able to find encouraging words from people who truly seem to
care about you while I have mostly received criticism and rejection from
peple who do not seem to care all that much about me? I have a lot more
questions, but I am honestly not sure which ones would be appropriate to
post on such a public email list.
And for those of you who believe my negative experience with the National
Federation of the Blind simply stems from a bad interaction with leaders on
a local level, I simply do not agree with you. My negative experience with
the National Federation of the Blind appears to occur at all levels of the
organization. Whether it be my first interaction with an NFB board member,
an email exchange with the new President of the NFB, interactions with the
NABS board, or interactions with state affiliate and local chapter leaders,
I would say that most of these interactions are nothing like what you have
described in your email.
And so I am just wondering, and I have been wondering this for quite some
time now, why are there such drastic differences between what I have
experienced as a member of the National Federation of the Blind and what
others have experienced as members of the National Federation of the Blind?
I honestly feel as though I have been sold a lot of empty promises and false
advertising because for me the NFB has never really been anything that
anyone has ever told me it would be. Hopefully, I have framed my questions
in such a way that they elicit a constructive positive dialog rather than
offend anyone who believes my overall experience with the National
Federation of the Blind could possibly be anything less than positive.
Warm regards,
Elizabeth
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Manners, Derek
via nabs-l
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2015 11:03 PM
To: Justin Salisbury; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Why Are You a Member of the NFB?
I would add to Justin's words and say that the main reason I chose the
National Federation of the Blind over the ACB is that the NFB tries to make
the word accessible for blind people and expects us to be a part of it.
For example, in Massachusetts, our state treasurer (a blind Harvard
graduate) was the first blind teacher in America in large part due to
pressure and advocacy from the NFB. The NFB of MA pushed for blind people
to be able to buy life insurance for the same price as sighted people and
not to be discriminated against due to our disability. The NFB of MA also
pushed to allow blind people to serve on juries. Can you imagine a world in
which we could not sit on juries despite being lawyers, scientists,
teachers, etc.? We are continuing to make strides in accessible voting,
accessible ATMs, accessible taxis. However, these efforts were started by
the NFB. The reason Apple and iTunes are so accessible is because of
lawsuits by the NFB.
Those efforts of the past have made the world a better place for blind
people. If our generation has as much success, the world will be that much
closer to full accessibility and that is why I'm with the NFB.
I understand that some states are better than others and that it can be very
frustrating when you don't feel like you can work with the people in your
state. I'd be happy to talk to you off list about those issues as I had a
similar issue in Massachusetts when I first joined. Our state president at
the time was overwhelmed by the job and did not respond to me for months at
a time.
Best Wishes
Derek Manners
On Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 10:26 PM, Justin Salisbury via nabs-l <
nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you for catalyzing this discussion. I'm going to reply with my
knee-jerk answers and may follow up later if more ideas develop.
I
think the answer that comes by reflex can be the most authentic.
Why do you choose to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind?
The National Federation of the Blind has created so many opportunities for
me and changed the world before I was even born. When I became a blind
person in 2005, the society that I faced was much better because of the 65
years of work of the National Federation of the Blind.
I
believe it is my duty to the people who came before me (people I will
never meet) and to those blind people of the future to carry the baton and
run my leg of the race. I actually keep a quote from Dr.
Jernigan's speech about climbing the stairs to freedom in my email
signature. You can read it if you like.
I also have found so many mentors through the Federation who have changed
my life by changing how I look at it. Before I found the Federation, I used
to wield blindness as a source of pity to get scholarship money and to
impress news reporters with the fact that I would get out of bed every
morning. At my first NFB event, a state convention where I was a
scholarship winner, I was trying to complain about how hard science was as
a blind person. Three blind people surrounded me and started encouraging
me, telling me that the Federation would help me get through it. They were
a chemist, a civil engineer, and an environmental scientist. I wanted pity,
but they wouldn't let me give up on myself. Still today, we have 50,000
blind people who won't accept low expectations for blind people. We have
training centers that give people their lives back-or give them the lives
they never had but always deserved. I can't not be a part of that.
If you believe your experience with the National Federation of the blind
is a positive one, what do you believe are the key factors that you believe
makes your experience positive rather than negative?
1. Good Mentoring
2. Good Blind Role Models
3. Learning about leadership
4. Helping other people by empowering them 5. Nourishment in the
philosophy that equips me to face the low expectations in society and do it
effectively 6. Friendship with a lot of great people 7.
Let's
not forget all the fun! Things like room parties at national convention,
pie-in-the-face fundraisers, latin dancing, you name it!
And finally, what do you believe are the current strengths of the National
Federation of the Blind as it looks into the future?
1. Relationship-oriented leadership: our personal relationships in our
movement help carry us through the tough times and are still fun in the
good times 2. Focus on a common goal: We're all fighting for the same
thing.
3. Giving each other second chances: For example, I made some pretty bad
mistakes in my campaign for NABS President, and a lot of the NABS members
and leaders-and National Federation of the Blind members and leaders-could
have chosen to never let me live those down. The totem animal in my Native
American name is the Phoenix, which can burst into flame and be reborn any
time it wants to reinvent itself. I have been able to reinvent myself, but
a necessary part of that is others'
willingness to let me. I bring this up because, no matter what it is that
people have on you or against you, if they are truly leaders in our
movement, they will give you a chance to reinvent yourself.
It's
all about us getting to the same common goals, right?
4. We have a rock-solid understanding of something that is true.
The
National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characterist that defines you or your future. Every day, we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.
With much love for my Federation family,
Justin Salisbury
Justin Salisbury - Running Thunder Phoenix Graduate Student Professional
Development and Research Institute on Blindness Louisiana Tech University
Email: jms132 at latech.edu
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin
But, of course, we will not fail. We will continue to climb. Our heritage
demands it; our faith confirms it; our humanity requires it.
Whatever the sacrifice, we will make it. Whatever the price, we will pay
it. Seen from this perspective, the hostility and backlash (the challenges
and
confrontations) are hardly worth noticing. They are only an irritant.
My brothers and my sisters, the future is ours. Come! Join me on the
stairs, and we will finish the journey.
- Dr. Kenneth Jernigan
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth
Mohnke via nabs-l
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2015 8:52 PM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Subject: [nabs-l] Why Are You a Member of the NFB?
Hello All,
It appears to me that I have started to become a rather disheartened
member of the NFB. Although, I am sure some of you would argue that I am
already there. Anyway, as I try to work through the questions that seem to
keep rumbling through my mind, I thought I would ask a few questions to
spur on some discussion on this email list.
Why do you choose to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind?
If you believe your experience with the National Federation of the blind
is a positive one, what do you believe are the key factors that you believe
makes your experience positive rather than negative?
And
finally, what do you believe are the current strengths of the National
Federation of the Blind as it looks into the future?
Please feel free to answer any or all of the questions, or any other
question related to these ones. If you feel as though you relate more to
being a member of the National Association of Blind Students rather than
the National Federation of the Blind as a whole, you can answer these
questions from this point of view as well.
I look forward to hearing your responses.
Warm regards,
Elizabeth
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