[nfb-talk] FW: {Disarmed} FW: A personal report from ChairmanGordon Gund

[Gloria Whipple]

Hi Joseph,

Well done! I like what you had to say.

My prayers go out to you and I hope you get better and I hope you are free
from cancer soon.

All my best,


Gloria Whipple
Corresponding Secretary
Inland Empire chapter
nfb of WA


-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 19:01
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] FW: {Disarmed} FW: A personal report from
ChairmanGordon Gund

Gloria,

I think what it boils down to is that language is a powerful thing.  
The words a person uses are less important than the intent behind 
them, but from a choice of certain words over others we can infer an 
intent.  I have been battling cancer.  This implies something about 
me and my relationship to cancer.  I have been living with it, and I 
don't want to be.  In fact, I am fighting to make it gone, because 
cancer is a horrible thing.

Am I fighting blindness?  Do I suffer from blindness?  Am I forced to 
use alternative techniques?  Well yes, I do suffer as a result of 
blindness.  Not because of blindness itself per se, but because of 
the reaction of others to it who are not blind (and a few who are, 
sadly).

The refusal to be pigeon-holed into this "sad existence" of 
"suffering because of blindness" is precisely the kind of supposed 
"unethical" behavior the NFB engages in by spreading our philosophy.  
It is akin to those during the 60s arguing against the notion that 
they were afflicted somehow with being black.  Blindness is a bad 
thing only if you make it be so, and we refuse to make it so for 
ourselves.  Moreover, we refuse to allow others to force us into that 
role.

Those who would disparage our efforts to do so are not our friends, 
just as those who would have you look down upon a man of color 
because his skin was darker than, say, mine is.  Is he somehow worse 
of because of that?  Is he lessened as a man or as a person?  Does he 
deserve something less, or for that matter anything more, than any 
other person simply because of the color of his skin?  Most today 
would say out of hand that he should have the same opportunities 
anyone would have.  No more, but certainly no less!

The blind deserve the same equality that our more sunburn-resistant 
brothers demanded more than forty years ago.  In just one generation 
we have gone from a person of color being denied the use of a 
drinking fountain to electing him to the United States presidency.  
If there remains racial inequality, it cannot be because of the color 
of a person's skin anymore.  Some individuals may yet harbor such 
attitudes (and I recently observed some of those people in a public 
display, sadly), but society rejects such people as undesirable when 
they are exposed.  (And believe me, we are exposing them all over 
YouTube, since the local media won't even report it.)

But what about the blind?  The same society who refuses to allow a 
black man to be treated as a second class citizen openly condones it 
when a blind man is treated likewise.  Disability is one of only two 
acceptable areas of discrimination that remain in this country.  (The 
other is so far removed from topical for this list that I won't 
discuss it here, much to Dave's relief.)

We cannot continue to meekly request that we be treated as first 
class citizens.  It didn't work in the 1940s, and it hasn't worked 
yet.  Only by refusing to be anything less will we finally achieve 
that.  Unfortunately, that means getting a bit uppity over language 
that paints us into a corner, as it were.  I'm not here to be pitied 
or someone's inspiration.  I'm here because I've got a job to do, and 
within the National Federation of the Blind, that job is to achieve 
for myself and for all of us the basic rights of first class 
citizenship afforded to anyone else in this country today, regardless 
of their skin color, sexual orientation, and a whole host of other 
things.

I don't expect any more, but I also won't accept any less.

Joseph

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 09:33:15AM -0700, Gloria Whipple wrote:
>James,
>
>Thanks for explaining what I wanted to say about this subject.
>
>I am glad someone is on my side!
>
>
>Gloria Whipple
>Corresponding Secretary
>Inland Empire chapter
>nfb of WA

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