[NFB-Lions] Help, need perspective

[Judy Jones]

Hi, All,

 

My husband, Chris, and I are considering joining our local Lions club.

 

We have been asked to be part of our multi-district 19 newly-forming Knights Of The Blind committee.

 

We like the idea of being blind members to assist our local club, and in especially reaching out to the blind in our area.

 

What we’re finding, though, is a committee made up of people whose philosophy differs radically from ours, concerning blindness.

 

We’ve been telling ourselves that, although our philosophies don’t jive, the commonality of serving together should unite us.

 

We live in a semi-rural area in northern Washington, so not many blind people around and the MD-19 goes clear up into Canada, and over into parts of Idaho, so comprises a lot of territory and a lot of people.  We also belong to the state’s NFB at-large chapter as there are no chapters in our area.

 

The WCB has prospered, also in our county, and we are the only two NFB members on the committee.

 

We’ve become good friends with two of the couples in the WCB, but we live in different hemispheres in the way we think about blindness and the way we do life.

 

The founder of this Knights Of The Blind committee is a very knowledgeable and experienced Lion, but is losing his vision, can’t read his e-mails, can’t change his talking clock from Daylight Savings Time, and not interested in any empowerment.  Of course that is his business, but just setting the ambience.

 

The committee is mainly made up of blind members who are satisfied with “visually impaired” and “blind.”

 

Chris and I had this discussion on how we would set the tone for blindness, that blind is blind, as people who are legally blind are, in fact, blind, that we are responsible for setting the tone for our clubs in which we serve.

 

The rest of the committee disagreed with us, so we understand we are in the minority, but feel that we still can serve together.

 

On tonight’s call, we had a guest speaker, familiar with Knights Of The Blind committees, and states that it is imperative to teach Lions the difference between blind and visually impaired.

 

She goes on further to describe her visual impairment, that she doesn’t use a cane that her husband is her seeing eye dog.

 

She talks about approaching the blind of the community, asking what they would need, what they would like to do, then proceeds to organize the projects.  These are all things done FOR the blind, because the general premise is that they don’t get out, so these planned projects are those that help them get out in public.

 

She also states that for events with paid tickets, the blind individuals are not charged full admission, that the Lions pick up the tab.

 

The more Chris and I are listening to this, the more uncomfortable we are feeling.  The rest of the committee is buying all this hook, line, and sinker.

 

I think the problem Chris and I have is in the philosophy permeating this committee.

 

We have been with the NFB since 1980, and any, have been mostly around blind folks who just do life.  

 

I told Chris about this list, and we both feel, that, before saying anything to the committee, we need some perspective from experienced Lions who are in the NFB.

 

We are just feeling very disappointed coming off the committee call tonight, but we don’t want to let wrong attitudes get in our way of serving.

 

We are on the cusp of joining Lions, but giving it a second thought, and welcome questions, advice and perspective.

 

My husband is suggesting a call, if anyone is interested, and we do have a freeconferencecall.com account we could use.

 

Thanks a ton.

 

Chris will also be subscribing to the nfb-lions list.

 

 

Judy

🌄 (sunrise over mountains)

“embrace each day with His mercies and blessings.”