[NABS-L] Preparing Blind People for the Rest of Reality

Wed Apr 14 13:22:59 UTC 2021

Tyler, I second, third, and fourth exactly this. I have been told this all along my journey to get to pharmacy school, and it is only because I did not listen that I am here. I have also worked in some form for most of my years since age 16, so advocacy and productivity can definitely go hand-in-hand. you you won the Internet for me today. Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 14, 2021, at 1:15 AM, Littlefield, Tyler via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I wasn't sure if I wanted to respond to this or just skip past it, but I think there are a few points worth talking about.
> 
> Firstly, I would love to live in a life where I could take a sabbatical from advocating in the blind-sphere, because that would mean I'm not interfacing with the accessibility issues I experience daily. I realize that I may not be grounded in your reality, but I would say that this is simply not possible, and you cover part of why. Every day we need to advocate for accessibility, or for something to be slightly different to enable us to perform tasks and to accomplish our jobs. We work extra hours daily to overcome accessibility challenges and to compete with our peers. to suggest that we can simply ignore this fact and wander off into the sunset to not advocate for blindness-related issues shows me that you've missed a point here. While I would agree that centering your life around these issues might not be the best for some, it works for many, and we all owe a lot of gratitude and appreciation to those who do dedicate their lives to making it easier. I would also say that it is this daily advocacy that brings us into contact with organizations like the NFB and ACB.
> 
> You also make a point about how the sighted world isn't going to meet us where we are, and how we should just learn to use our tech and get by. While I understand that learning your technology is important, there are two key issues here. First, your ability to write this, your ability to bestow your paternal wisdom upon us folk is only because you stand on the shoulders of giants. If everyone accepted the world for what it was and simply adapted without reaching for more and trying to make it a better place, we would not be having this argument. You would likely still be reading raised print if that, and your article opener wouldn't be talking about opportunities for work that we currently have.
> 
> I find articles like this discouraging and outright disappointing. It disgusts me how many times blind people hold other blind people to lofty standards that they themselves sometimes don't even rise to, or that we don't hold others outside of this community to. There's something to be said for understanding that everyone has their own lived experiences, and that those experiences are what might shape us. Opportunity isn't there for the taking for everyone, many times it relies on so many characteristics outside of someone's control. It's easy to dismiss a group's issues as not learning technology, or not being grounded in reality, when there are many other factors that might dictate how one is able to use the tools that they are given. These include but most certainly are not limited to education and ability. You want to compare us to the sighted world, yet the standards your article sets for blind people is far above what most people need to aspire to in order to say that they are your version of "successful." Not every sighted person has to devote hours and days of training and experimentation to learn their technology, at the very least. Not every blind person can do this, either. So rather than tell blind people they've got it all wrong, I would urge you to go be the change you want to see. Do something that helps people, rather than disparage a community on mass by putting them in a box that you can write an article full of stereotypes around.
> 
>> On 4/13/2021 5:02 PM, Joe Orozco via NABS-L wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Considering I wrote the post below with this list audience in mind, it
>> makes sense to share it here. I'll reiterate these are just personal
>> opinions, not an authority by any means.--Joe
>> 
>> There’s never been a better time to be blind, or so I’ve heard. And I
>> have to ask: How low have we dropped the bar?
>> 
>> I was recently chatting with a friend. I forget exactly how the
>> subject came up, but we found ourselves discussing blind people and
>> entry level jobs. I expressed frustration at the blindness consumer
>> groups for not doing a better job of partnering with national chains
>> to employ blind people.
>> 
>> If the unemployment rate among the blind persists deep into double
>> digits, why would we not fight to change the landscape?
>> 
>> The number of jobs that ask for a high school education or jobs that
>> do not require formal education to fulfill are growing at the slowest
>> rate compared to other trends. Blind people should be prepared for the
>> inevitability of automation, but in the meantime, it does not seem
>> reasonable that blind people should be kept out of the jobs in retail,
>> hospitality, and recreation so common to Americans as early as
>> adolescence.
>> 
>> In 2021, Amazons announcement to make more opportunities available for
>> the blind should not have been newsworthy. It should have been
>> commonplace. Why are we not demanding more companies follow Amazon’s
>> example of opening their industry to blind workers? It’s fine for
>> diversity campaigns to be inclusive of all genders, ethnicities, age,
>> and religions, but if companies are not stretching themselves to
>> accommodate disabilities, they are still blocking the doorway to
>> equality.
>> 
>> And then my friend said something that stopped my rant in its tracks.
>> She said that maybe it was because blind people were not ready for
>> those jobs...
>> 
>> I’ve prepared a few thoughts on the steps the up and coming generation
>> of blind individuals should follow as they prepare to meet the real
>> world. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do claim to be
>> successful. These are just one guy’s personal opinions, and hey, if
>> you disagree, you know where to leave your comments.
>> 
>> You can read the entire post here:
>> 
>> https://joeorozco.com/preparing-blind-people-for-the-rest-of-reality/
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> NABS-L mailing list
>> NABS-L at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NABS-L:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/tyler%40tysdomain.com
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Take Care,
> Tyler Littlefield (he/him/his)
> 
> Tyler Littlefield Consulting: website development and business solutions. <http://tylerlittlefield.me> My personal site <http://tysdomain.com> My Linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ty-lerlittlefield> @Sorressean on Twitter <http://twitter.com/sorressean>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NABS-L mailing list
> NABS-L at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NABS-L:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/eschlenker%40cox.net