[nfb-db] nfb-db Digest, Vol 52, Issue 2

Thu May 23 01:59:44 UTC 2013

Dear Friends:

It saddens me to think that some of us just don't get it that we are guilty of the injustices that we accuse others of.  To answer your question, Marsha, the NFB is NOT against HKDBA.  Although the NFB might have a history of supporting vanilla-flavored blindness, the philosophy of the leardership began to undergo a change with Dr. Maurer.  So many of the rank and file haven't caught on yet.  

I have to say, truthfully, that among Deaf people, I have experienced the same type of attitudes.  Not everyone is guilty, but I've witnessed others being treated like step children and have myself been shunned and left out because I'm different.  It's human nature, a relic of the past, and something we must fight against.  The battle will not be won overnight, but we must continue the fight.

Don't forget to fight on the state and local level, wherever you can find support.Pam Allen, my state affiliate president, asked me to present at our state convention on the topic of deaf-blindness.  I keep a running dialog with her about deaf-blind issues, and she is lways happy to hear what's going on.  The attitudes of our NFB are changing rapidly.  It's like we're gonna reach critical mass at some point, so it's so important that we bring our knowledge together from as many points as possible, HKNC being an important one.

Although I did not attend HKNC, the best thing I ever did as a deaf-blind person was to attend Louisiana Career Development Center for the Deaf and Deaf-Blind )LCDC).  All my teachers were culturally and literally Deaf, so it was a total immersion program.  I learned to communicate in a way that no other place could have taught me.  Marsha, if you have an opportunity to attend HKNC, not only do you owe it to yourself, but remember that the restr of us need the knowledge you will gain there; we need you, enlightened, to fight with us t.  We are fighting the same fight that began in 1940 for the founders of the NFB, only those of us who are deaf-blind are fighting it 73 years later.

Anyone who would look down on you for going to HKNC is not an enlightened Federationist.  We are here to support each other, and the important part of that is realizing that none of us have the same needs as the next one.

Sent from my iPad

On May 22, 2013, at 8:37 AM, nfb-db-request at nfbnet.org wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Re: HKNC (Marsha Drenth)
>   2. Re: HKNC (Marsha Drenth)
>   3. Re: Orlando 2013 National Convention (Marsha Drenth)
>   4. Re: HKNC (Marsha Drenth)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 09:04:16 -0400
> From: Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com>
> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List <nfb-db at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] HKNC
> Message-ID: <44DEAB8A-BB77-4D51-9B4F-D5669A4C146C at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
> 
> Rox, 
> 
> I am not happy to hear that I am the only one. I am happy to hear that I am not the one in feeling the way i do about the nastiness. 
> 
> I have only seen this nastiness on the national level. Although my state is just now coming to fully understand my issues, they are supportive. 
> 
> I am assuming that you have asked for a interpertor? And if when you asked what was said? Why was your request denied. 
> 
> I mean for goodness sakes, the NFB does supply listening devices for those who are hard of hearing. This is awesome. But what about those of us who can't use the listening devices. We should be denied access to the same information? The NFB advocates for access all of the time, what about our access? what about our rights? are we that different that we don't deserve that right? Heck no...
> 
> I am very happy to hear about NAGDU. Of course its not just me, so by no means do I take responsibility for this. But NAGDU has worked hard to be a good division. And I work hard on the NAGDU list. 
> 
> Ok, I will shut up now, I could go on forever LOL 
> 
> Marsha drenth  
> Sent with my IPhone 
> 
> On May 22, 2013, at 1:09 AM, The Pawpower Pack <pawpower4me at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Marsha, 
>> I have never been to HK as a student, but I did want to say that I have had the same experience with the NFB, on local, state, and national levels.  Not willing to provide interpreters, Resentful attitudes, nasty namecalling and treating me like I have terrible blindness skills because I'm deaf and therefore can't interact with the world like hearing people.  
>> I have to say, that the NAGDU has been the single exception to my experience and is wonderful. 
>> I don't go to national conventions any more, because I'm tired of the names and the superior attitudes, and the downright nasty behavior.  It's very sad.  Because as our population ages, more and more people will experience hearing loss.  So the same people who are being rude and horrible today may have hearing loss in 20 years.  I hope, for their sake, that fundamental change will have happened in the NFB by the time they need it. 
>> 
>> Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
>> Bristol, Mill'E-Max, Laveau!
>> pawpower4me at gmail.com
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On May 21, 2013, at 9:14 PM, Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hello Listers, 
>>> 
>>> For the past year I have lost a significant amount of hearing. Last tested I was at a 100DB loss. I have been totally blind for the last 10 years. as a child I attended a school for the blind. So my blindness skills are good. But now with the loss of my hearing, life has certainly gotten interesting and challenging. I will be the first to say that I have been struggling. Currently I am a full time student at a major university pursuing a degree in Social Work. I have one year left. 
>>> 
>>> So my questions are this, Has anyone on this list been to HKNC? I know the NFB advocates for a blindness skills training center, but that is NOT what i need. my OVR came to and has recommended that I go to HKNC for training. If you have been, I have a whole slue of questions, that i'll ask at another point. 
>>> 
>>> What is the NFB's stance on HKNC? This by no means will impact my desicion to go or not to go. I am curious. 
>>> 
>>> I guess a better reason of why I ask the above questions, is that I have been an NFB member for my entire life, my parents, my grandparents all have been in the NFB. my grandparents were around when the two organizations split. I have grown up with the positive philosophy. I get it, I truely do. But here I have been thrust into the world of deafblindness. Not many people know this yet, as I am working to figure things out, I am only begining to be comfortable with expressing my needs to others. I know that is whole another subject on acceptance, but that is not my point for this post. 
>>> 
>>> I will relay an experience I had at my last national convention, last year in Dallas. I was in the general session, I got up to go to the bathroom, found my way out fine. Found the bathroom fine. But when I entered the big huge room, I was lost. I asked persons around me where I was. People were rude. i said I can't hear. people made fun of me. I walked around looking for my state for atleast 15 minutes. I was frustrated, I didn't know which way was to the front or the back of the room or the way to get out. 
>>> 
>>> I tell you all this, because I realized that my ability to hear, my independence was changing. There were other times that I got lost, but people were so rude, so mean. When I expressed that I was hard of hearing and totally blind, people did not understand, care, or get it. In other words I was shunned, looked down upon, made fun of. 
>>> 
>>> Why can't people in the NFB accept persons who are different? Why are us who are deafblind looked down upon? And if confirmed, its just because our blindness skills are lacking. That is not the case. 
>>> 
>>> So do the NFB people look down upon those who go to HKNC? Is there a difference in training philosophy? Again I said this won't change my desision to go for training or not. more curious than anything. 
>>> 
>>> Look folks I don't want to argue about this, but I do want answers. 
>>> 
>>> Thank you for reading, and sorry this is so long.... 
>>> 
>>> Marsha drenth  
>>> Sent with my IPhone 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-db mailing list
>>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfb-db mailing list
>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 09:13:04 -0400
> From: Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com>
> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List <nfb-db at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] HKNC
> Message-ID: <F09E3542-75A0-488F-88DD-2F003C926DE3 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
> 
> Janice, 
> 
> I want to make sure that I understand correctly, the NFb DB division asked the state presidents for the names of those within their states who are deafblind? And the state presidents denied that they even had deafblind persons in the state? What! Seriously! Please tell me your kidding. I guess your not. In a way I do believe that this happened. UGH! This makes me all shades of mad and frustrated. 
> 
> I know of quite of few DB in the state of PA. Perhaps those presidents are delusional, or perhaps they really don't have any DB, because the NFB has such a bad reputation for acceptance of the different, or the DB. 
> 
> its the same as the NAGDU board/division asking the state presidents of who the guide dog users are. I remember a time when guide dogs in the NFB were not accepted, so now as the DB division and people we are starting off at the same point. 
> 
> I wonder if, one of us wrote an article, and wanted it in the Braille Monitor about DB issues, if it would be included. What do you all think? 
> 
> Marsha drenth  
> Sent with my IPhone 
> 
> On May 22, 2013, at 6:14 AM, Janice Toothman <janice.toothman at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Marsha and Pawpower,
>> I empathize.
>> As a secretary of the deaf-blind division, the board talked about lack of acceptance by the NFB to issues of the deaf-blind. We had tried to get asked each state affiliate president for the names of deaf-blind individuals in their state all had denied they had any deaf-blind members!
>> We discussed the growing as more people live longer they will acquire age related deaf-blindness.
>> 
>> We will be seeking to propose resolutions this year at the National Convention to hope raise awareness to the deaf-blind issues.
>> Janice
>> On 5/22/2013 1:09 AM, The Pawpower Pack wrote:
>>> Marsha,
>>> I have never been to HK as a student, but I did want to say that I have had the same experience with the NFB, on local, state, and national levels.  Not willing to provide interpreters, Resentful attitudes, nasty namecalling and treating me like I have terrible blindness skills because I'm deaf and therefore can't interact with the world like hearing people.
>>> I have to say, that the NAGDU has been the single exception to my experience and is wonderful.
>>> I don't go to national conventions any more, because I'm tired of the names and the superior attitudes, and the downright nasty behavior.  It's very sad.  Because as our population ages, more and more people will experience hearing loss.  So the same people who are being rude and horrible today may have hearing loss in 20 years.  I hope, for their sake, that fundamental change will have happened in the NFB by the time they need it.
>>> 
>>> Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
>>> Bristol, Mill'E-Max, Laveau!
>>> pawpower4me at gmail.com
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> On May 21, 2013, at 9:14 PM, Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hello Listers,
>>>> 
>>>> For the past year I have lost a significant amount of hearing. Last tested I was at a 100DB loss. I have been totally blind for the last 10 years. as a child I attended a school for the blind. So my blindness skills are good. But now with the loss of my hearing, life has certainly gotten interesting and challenging. I will be the first to say that I have been struggling. Currently I am a full time student at a major university pursuing a degree in Social Work. I have one year left.
>>>> 
>>>> So my questions are this, Has anyone on this list been to HKNC? I know the NFB advocates for a blindness skills training center, but that is NOT what i need. my OVR came to and has recommended that I go to HKNC for training. If you have been, I have a whole slue of questions, that i'll ask at another point.
>>>> 
>>>> What is the NFB's stance on HKNC? This by no means will impact my desicion to go or not to go. I am curious.
>>>> 
>>>> I guess a better reason of why I ask the above questions, is that I have been an NFB member for my entire life, my parents, my grandparents all have been in the NFB. my grandparents were around when the two organizations split. I have grown up with the positive philosophy. I get it, I truely do. But here I have been thrust into the world of deafblindness. Not many people know this yet, as I am working to figure things out, I am only begining to be comfortable with expressing my needs to others. I know that is whole another subject on acceptance, but that is not my point for this post.
>>>> 
>>>> I will relay an experience I had at my last national convention, last year in Dallas. I was in the general session, I got up to go to the bathroom, found my way out fine. Found the bathroom fine. But when I entered the big huge room, I was lost. I asked persons around me where I was. People were rude. i said I can't hear. people made fun of me. I walked around looking for my state for atleast 15 minutes. I was frustrated, I didn't know which way was to the front or the back of the room or the way to get out.
>>>> 
>>>> I tell you all this, because I realized that my ability to hear, my independence was changing. There were other times that I got lost, but people were so rude, so mean. When I expressed that I was hard of hearing and totally blind, people did not understand, care, or get it. In other words I was shunned, looked down upon, made fun of.
>>>> 
>>>> Why can't people in the NFB accept persons who are different? Why are us who are deafblind looked down upon? And if confirmed, its just because our blindness skills are lacking. That is not the case.
>>>> 
>>>> So do the NFB people look down upon those who go to HKNC? Is there a difference in training philosophy? Again I said this won't change my desision to go for training or not. more curious than anything.
>>>> 
>>>> Look folks I don't want to argue about this, but I do want answers.
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you for reading, and sorry this is so long....
>>>> 
>>>> Marsha drenth
>>>> Sent with my IPhone
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nfb-db mailing list
>>>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-db mailing list
>>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfb-db mailing list
>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 09:15:40 -0400
> From: Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com>
> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List <nfb-db at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] Orlando 2013 National Convention
> Message-ID: <A7BE9741-5E0D-4412-8803-A86225E7E039 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
> 
> Janice, 
> 
> I seriously wish I could go to convention this year. I can't afford. If only to go to the DB division meeting. 
> 
> Well, Janice please tell the board that I am more than happy to help in any way possible. I mean that. I will do whatever needs to be done. 
> 
> 
> 
> Marsha drenth  
> Sent with my IPhone 
> 
> On May 22, 2013, at 6:25 AM, Janice Toothman <janice.toothman at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
>> The Deaf-Blind Division will hold its meeting on July 2.
>> Registration begins at 6:00PM
>> Business meeting begins at 7:00PM-8:00PM
>> Election of all Officers
>> A moment of Silence to honor Second-Vice President Bob Eschach, who died last year.
>> Topics of concern
>> Helen Keller Celebration 8:00-9:00PM
>> The celebration includes guest speakers and cake and drinks
>> 
>> Are there any particular topics that people on this list want to cover?
>> Also, if you need interpreting for the meeting please let me know what type of interpreting services you require and whether you have applied for assistance with the Jernigan Institute.
>> Thanks
>> Secretary,
>> Janice
>> Deaf-Blind Division/NFB
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfb-db mailing list
>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 09:17:44 -0400
> From: Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com>
> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List <nfb-db at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] HKNC
> Message-ID: <0AACBCED-4E63-4EDA-B5F1-51A5289CEA0F at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
> 
> A NFB taskfource? Really? Like on the national level or is this a state particular taskforce? I have never heard of such a thing. I want more information on this taskforce, who is on it? What does it do? 
> 
> 
> Marsha drenth  
> Sent with my IPhone 
> 
> On May 22, 2013, at 8:26 AM, Christine Telford <ctelford at dors.state.md.us> wrote:
> 
>> Hello Everyone, 
>> 
>> NFB has a deaf-blind taskforce, right? Or did that fall through? I am actually meeting with them tomorrow and I can gather some information for everyone. 
>> 
>> Thanks
>> Christine Telford
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-db [mailto:nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Janice Toothman
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 6:15 AM
>> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] HKNC
>> 
>> Hi Marsha and Pawpower,
>> I empathize.
>> As a secretary of the deaf-blind division, the board talked about lack of acceptance by the NFB to issues of the deaf-blind. We had tried to get asked each st