[Nfbc-info] A Fun & Interesting Read/Listen

[Serena Olsen]

Thanks again to Jennifer, Jason, Claudia, and Lisamaria, the NFBC East
Bay board members, who gave their Saturday afternoon to Federation and
chapter business so that we can continue changing what it means to be
blind in the East Bay!

As part of our board retreat today, we scoured the literature archives
and each brought something for discussion.  I happened recently upon a
piece in the January 2012 Braille Monitor that I thought worth sharing
with everyone.  It is a piece submitted by Dan Frye on the importance
of chapter activities in the Federation--a re-presentation of a talk
he gave last summer in Orlando at the Back to Basics seminar.  "The
Chapter: A Foundation Block for the Federation" is a good read and can
be found at http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm12/bm1201/bm120109.htm

and a reference to a recording by Dr. Jernigan from the 70s called
"Why I am a Federationist."  Here is the passage that I shared, and
the link to the full text (which contains a link to the audio file)
will follow:

Here is what Dr. Jernigan had to say:
I think it's important that the right message be given to society and
to the blind themselves as to what blindness really is and what it
means.

Just as it's important for other groups, it's important for blind
people to shape their own destinies, to have a say about what's going
to be done with their lives. We know that the National Accreditation
Council, that is, NAC, is trying to gain respectability and is trying
to set the pattern and the tone for all work with the blind. We know
that more and more in the computerized age there is a tendency to
dehumanize all of us as citizens and as blind people. This is not
because somebody's trying deliberately to be mean to us or do us
in--not at all. It's simply part of the age we live in. The way to
counter that sort of thing is through self-organization. It's why I'm
a Federationist; It's why I believe you are Federationists. It's worth
giving to. It's worth giving time and money; it's worth giving parts
of our life to because that's what time is; it's part of your life.

I believe that there is no other way for blind people to have full
first-class citizenship than through self-organization, the organized
blind movement. This is why I'm part of the Federation; it's why I
give to it my nights, my weekends, and whatever time I can.

I think that we've made tremendous progress as Federationists, and I
think we're not only helping sighted persons in the community at large
to come to new attitudes about blindness, but that we ourselves are
helping each other to understand new truths about what blindness is
and what it isn't. We of course must realize that, although many
sighted people do not understand the problems we have, many do, and as
a matter of fact some of the strongest workers, some of the best
members we have in the National Federation of the Blind, are sighted
people. What really counts is the attitude, the frame of mind, the
notion that we, as blind people, should be able to map our own
destinies--that's what counts.

I think there are things that we must guard against. It's easy, if
you're part of a minority group, every time you have a failure to
blame it on the public at large and to say, if I'd just been given an
opportunity by sighted people, then I could've done this or this or
this. That's not always true. We must begin by assuming responsibility
for our own failures. We must try ourselves to make our lives better.
We must avoid blaming every problem we have on sighted people or on
the agencies doing work with the blind. We must ourselves have a
mature attitude. We must not simply be crybabies. We must not, on the
one hand, ask for equal treatment when we want it, and, on the other,
ask for special favors and special treatment when we want that.   We
must make of Federationism the living, growing, viable thing which it
is. We must make it a reality, not simply a philosophy that's talked
about.

http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm12/bm1201/bm120108.htm

Finally, if you are not already aware, the Braille Monitor is no
longer available on 4-track cassette tapes, and if you do not contact
the national center and request an alternative format (cassette
subscribers only), you will be dropped from the mailing list.  Don't
miss coming issues of the Braille Monitor--call the national center at
410.659.9314 and request an alternate format like braille, via e-mail,
or electronic on a thumb drive for your NLS digital talking book
player.  It is also available on NFB Newsline!

Cheers!

-- 
Serena Olsen, MAIPS, NCLB
Staff Assistant, Japan Society of Northern California (www.usajapan.org)
Braille Instructor, Lions Center for the Blind (www.lbcenter.org)
President, NFBC East Bay (nfbc-east-bay at googlegroups.com)

"We are all born to be the hero of our own story." --Deepak Chopra