[Ncabs] I need your help!

[Currin, Kevin]

Hello fellow blind students of North Carolina and Everyone else:

Could each of you please look at the questions below and either email your responses to the list, email them to me, and/or write them down for discussions on our calls:

1. What resources do you use and/or are aware of in your home/school/anywhere you spend time that can help you exercise on a regular basis if you wish to do so? Are these the activities you actually would prefer to do if you had the choice (I.E. would you rather bike, but you can only run where you live)?
2. What resources do you know of that can help you get involved in the community through volunteering?
3. What resources do you know of that can help you get a job (such as a summer job when you aren't at school or a side job to gain a little extra money)?
4. What resources do you know of that can help you learn to cook, clean, do laundry, and learn other living skills?
5. What resources do you know of that will help you access public facilities like restaurants, coffee shops, concerts, parks, stores, etc?
6. What things would you like to be able to do but don't know how to find accessible ways of doing such activities?

The reason I am asking you these questions is two fold:
1. Like many of you, I wasn't very interested or involved in NCABS or the NFB when I first learned about them (yes, I've noticed that many of you are hesitant in getting involved). It took me a few years, and a lot of blind-related frustrations, to realize the reason the NFB exists and why it does what it does. It can really suck to be blind: people will have misconceptions of us, treat us differently, exclude us from things, and pity us all in addition to what we have to face outside of their ignorance. However, we have to realize that its not the fault of sighted people for the way we are perceived; it is simply the fact that people (blind and sighted) don't always know how to act around people who are different in any way. For example, I don't know how to act around individuals who are cognitively impaired, who are deaf, etc unless I meet someone who has such a condition and learn from them. Likewise, I cannot expect people to know how to act around me if I don't make an effort to educate them. I will say it again, it can really suck to be blind. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Many blind people live fulfilling, successful, and diverse lives. However, the only way that things will get better for us is if we work to make the world a better place for blind people, not just ourselves, all blind people. This is the goal of the NFB; we work to educate the public and to correct injustices where ever they occur. We are full fledged citizens of where ever we live and we have rights and we have responsibilities. However, like people have had to do forever, we have to work for those rights and responsibilities.

Thanks and I hope everyone is having a great start of the year,

Kevin