[nfb-talk] the value of banquet speeches

[Kerri Kosten]

Hi:

This is very interesting.
The speeches are available to read on the NFB website and you can also
listen to many many of them.
I am sort of new to the NFB and actually went back and started to
listen to the speeches from past conventions.
They are definitely inspirational, but yet at the same time hillarious.

Maybe the mother and her son would be interested in joining the NOPBC
and the NFB and she can truly see how blindness can be just a
nuissance andis not a tragedy.

Kerri

On 2/24/10, Kathleen Millhoff <kmillhoff at gmail.com> wrote:
> Good Morning,
> It's been quite a long time since I've had the opportunity to write to
> an NFB list. Circumstances alter the ways in which time and resources
> can be spent.  I have been able to keep up with things somewhat via
> reading "The Braille Monitor" and occasionally reading posts from NFB
> members.
> Additionally, I have great memories of the one national convention I
> was able to attend, and look forward to reading convention information
> each year.
> By some quirk of fate, or the mail service, or other factors too
> numous to consider, I only now read Dr. Maurer's speech to the 2009
> convention banquet. I realize the speech has been on the internet for
> some time, but I'm one of those who still gets the most pleasure from
> reading a braille copy of just about anything.
> At any rate, it is a good thing no one had come into work yet, as I
> read about the vibrating vest and the games about blind people created
> by UNESCO (an organization I have supported in many ways until now.)
> Even has I tried to recover from the laughter that sent me into a
> coughing fit, to continue reading, I realized the seriousness behind
> the words and the implications of what was being said.
> I have, over the years, used both Dr. Maurer's speeches, along with
> Robert Leslie Newman's "Thought Provokers" in teaching about blindness
> to teens, adults, and parents of blind children.  I always cite the
> quoted or read or summarized information.  I use the excuse that I'm
> not able to reinvent a wheel already so perfectly crafted. But more to
> the point, my own thoughts and considerations are sharpened,
> crystalized even, by reading the contributions of NFB leaders.
> I know that by this time of year, the 2009 convention and its
> inspiring speeches are a distant memory for participants and that
> people are looking ahead to 2010. But I wonder if there isn't a really
> appropriate way to rekindle the fire for many by making speeches such
> as the one I've noted here, available in a quck, easy manner, so that
> at any given time, a quick tap would open up the words from a banquet
> of last year or decades ago: Facebook, Twitter, Google, educational
> resources such as ERIC?
> And, in case they want to try out that vibrating vest, I'll help. I'm
> done laughing about it now and am inordinately curious.
> Seriously, I'm now on my way to talk with a mother of a baby who is
> newly blind due to bacterial meningitis. I have every good intention
> of guiding her to the belief that her son is not a broken human being,
> devastating as this illness is.
> Thank you all sincerely.
>
> warmest,
> kathy millhoff
> --
> Kathleen A. Millhoff
>
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