[Nfbc-info] Hating the NFB

Sun Feb 8 17:15:14 UTC 2009

Hello Mike and listers,

    Perhaps I can shed some light on this individual. Last year we had a 
college-age blind woman living in San Antonio who according to all the 
members we talked to had all but love for the NFB. We ourselves talked to 
her and can tell you first-hand that she's definitely uninformed but has 
great potential. During our phone conversation she began slam-dunking the 
federation, BLIND Inc. and other programs we operate while at the same time 
telling us that she had this and that problem she needed help solving.

 After a while we got tired of hearing her rants and insults against the 
NFB. We told her that we wanted to be her friend, that she had great 
potential as a successful blind person and that we could help her with her 
issues, but that we wouldn't tolerate her talking about the NFB that way. We 
told her that any conversation related to the federation would be one of an 
educational nature, and that we wouldn't dwell on things that happened in 
the past. We would only discuss the future and how she could help the 
federation grow and further its mission. Sufficed to say it was our first 
and only conversation with her.

    We later learned from her roomates that they told her to leave as they 
too were tired of her anty NFB remarks and her angry attitude towards 
everyone and everything around her. They also told us that she didn't pick 
up after herself, and didn't take care of her person very well. She hopped a 
Greyhound Bus and hasn't been heard from since.

    I believe she mentioned something about having videos on uTube but 
didn't discuss their content. She also has an Internet Radio Show in where 
she features African Music. Our hunch is that she's no longer in Texas. I 
was told that she went back to Philadelphia where she's from. One can only 
hope and pray that someone like that will eventually come around and embrace 
the NFB. If someone wants explanations of why we do the things we do we'll 
gladly discuss it with them, but we definitely drew a bad one when we tried 
to reach out to this young lady. Hope this sheds some light on the 
individual in question.

Peter Donahue

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Peterson" <its_mike at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFB of California List" <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 1:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] Hating the NFB

Hi Serena.
Very interesting.
She's not a poster girl for public relations either,, I'msurprised she
posted this with the language etc on Utube.
Could come back and bite her some day especially with the sighted people are
ignorant matra.
She has definitely been misinformed about target and the silent car
situations.
But your right her whole opinion could miraculously change if she met some
people she got to know and like.

Most likely many of her friends just don't understand the NFB philosophy.
She's a great illustration of clients that I may be dealing with in a year
or so.
Unteaching these types of misconceptions will be a challenge.
But she has some good qualities like asertiveness that can work for her.

Mike
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Serena Olsen" <starbellyserena at gmail.com>
To: "Cabs-talk" <Cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>; "Nfbc-info" <Nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 9:53 PM
Subject: [Nfbc-info] Hating the NFB

> California Federationists and students,
>
> I came across the following videos on You Tube and at the risk of
> bringing up something I missed the first time, I thought it important
> enough to forward to TABS and the Texas affiliate president, but I
> post it here too, as there are undoubtedly many lessons for us to
> consider in how we interact with people and how it affects their
> perceptions about blindness, blind people, and the NFB.  It is the
> rant of an angry young college girl somewhere in Texas, and I hope
> there is a Federationist nearby that can connect with her personally
> and clear up some of her gross misperceptions!
>
> Part 1:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2KbTBRC3UY
> Part 2:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFEYGASy-Xg
>
> I sent the following email to Jose, Jesse, and Tommy Craig. I hope
> someone is able to connect with this girl and that this discussion
> thread can serve as a sounding board to throw around ideas about how
> to approach people like these, change their misconceptions, and bring
> them into the organization.
>
> Thanks,
> Serena
>
> Hi all,
>
> At the risk of bringing up something that I missed the first time, I
> happened on these You Tube videos and am disturbed to say the least.
> The video is in 2 parts and I've posted the links below. It is nearly
> a year old and hundreds of people have watched it. This girl is a
> college student somewhere in Texas, so I wanted to bring this to your
> attention--I think she could use a little outreach. To start, she's
> pretty angry, which makes it hard to take seriously, but she also has
> many facts about the NFB and people in general dead wrong and it would
> be a mistake to dismiss her. She accuses the NFB of "spewing shit,"
> though I doubt she'd admit she was a pot calling a kettle black (It's
> ok for her, but not us, right?). Sounds like if she cleared up her
> misconceptions and saw the NFB for what it really is, she'd fit right
> in with the Federation...she's got some training, uses AT and mobility
> aids, and reads some Braille (we all know the cane and Braille can be
> huge stumbling blocks for partials...I didn't think I needed them at
> her age, so she's got a leg up on where I was at her age). Yes, the
> public is very ignorant about
> blindness and blind people, she simply hasn't embraced the idea that
> she can do anything about it, but she has a great "can-do" attitude in
> terms of her own needs...if you can't do it the sighted way, find
> another way. She may have a fierce hatred for the NFB, but imagine
> how horrified she'd be to discover that her beliefs actually fit with
> the NFB!
>
> But I digress, are any of you familiar with this video or this girl,
> and if someone hasn't already, can we find out where she is and where
> her nearest Federationist is?!
>
> Part 1:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2KbTBRC3UY
>
> Part 2:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFEYGASy-Xg
>
> Thanks!
>
> -- 
> Serena Olsen, MAIPS
> NFBC Monterey, president
>
> Find me on Facebook!
> http://www.myspace.com/starbellyserena
> http://www.myspace.com/nfbcmonterey
> http://www.myspace.com/tabithacambodia
>
> **Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your
> hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it,
> democracy crumbles. --Abbie Hoffman
>
> The death of a child is a tragedy.  The preventable death of a child is
> unjust.
> Support the UN Millennium Development Goals!
>
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