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

John Heim john at johnheim.net
Sat Apr 23 21:24:42 UTC 2011


Yet, the NFB would have us ask for help to identify our money.


On Apr 22, 2011, at 9:21 PM, Gloria Whipple wrote:

> 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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