[Nfbf-l] 2018 Banquet speech
Kitty King
joenkitty at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 12 19:53:44 UTC 2018
Thank you, Denise, for Placing the Banquet speech on the regular email.
Since there are " issues with my attachment and "on-line" ability with my
computer, I (and hopefully) others in our Chapter can hear Mark Rickaboni's
great message. I appreciate, very much, your insights into including
everyone -in many various levels of NFB information.
I am so very sorry I missed the streaming through Alexa, and that is my
fault for not checking in. That would have been great - as I am one of her
many fans!
Warmly
Kitty King-
----- Original Message -----
From: "Denise Valkema via Nfbf-l" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
To: "NFBF" <nfbf-leaders at nfbnet.org>; "NFBF" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Denise Valkema" <valkemadenise at aol.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2018 11:38 AM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] 2018 Banquet speech
>
> https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/banquet-speech-2018-2.html
>
> Authenticity, Diversity, and the Synergy of the Organized Blind
>
> An Address Delivered by
> Mark A. Riccobono, President
> At the Banquet of the Annual Convention
> Of the National Federation of the Blind
> Orlando, Florida
> July 8, 2018
>
> Any single moment in time can be an opportunity for reflection, for
> commitment, or for action. That we share this moment together means that
> we combine our unique perspectives, backgrounds, and talents into one
> unified experience. Publisher Malcolm Forbes noted that diversity is “the
> art of thinking independently together.” Artist Vincent Van Gogh explained
> that “great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
> And Aristotle is credited with observing that “the whole is greater than
> the sum of its parts.” This philosophical musing has now been applied in
> almost every aspect of life—from the Gestalt psychological theory that,
> “the whole is something else than the sum of its parts,” to applications
> in physiology, economics, and theology.
>
> This concept is now better known as synergy, from the Latin word synergia
> meaning working together. Synergy is broadly understood to be a mutually
> advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct participants or
> elements. Leadership coach Stephen Covey describes it this way: “Synergy
> is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a
> thousand! It's the profound result when two or more respectful human
> beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great
> challenge.” In this construction, synergy can be understood as the product
> of successful organizing. One of the best examples of synergy that I have
> experienced in my life is the organized blind movement. What are the
> distinct characteristics that have allowed us to achieve synergy, and how
> can we continue to grow the exponential impact of our combined effort?
>
> Blindness has almost always been understood to be a characteristic that
> distinguishes one as lacking ability. Throughout the centuries the fear of
> darkness shaped the myths about blindness that were shared through oral
> storytelling and later retold in written works. On many occasions, the
> blind attempted to come together to move beyond the myths, but they were
> always marginalized or overtaken by people having the distinct trait of
> keen eyesight. The dominance of the vision-centered approach resulted in
> deeply rooted misconceptions about blindness and pushed blind people to
> the fringe of society—we did not belong. By the twentieth century it
> seemed as though the great misunderstanding of blindness was unstoppable.
> That was until blind women and men in the United States gained enough
> momentum to begin to organize and share their authentic insights.
>
> In the fall of 1940, representatives of seven state organizations of the
> blind came together to form a unified national organization of blind
> people led by elected blind leaders—the National Federation of the Blind.
> Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, a blind scholar of constitutional law, was elected
> as our first President, and his leadership was critical to keeping the new
> organization together. For nearly eight decades we have distinguished our
> movement by continuing to build on the authentic organizational principles
> that brought us together. The hopes, dreams, and actions of a diverse and
> committed corps of individual blind people, unified in purpose, and led by
> elected blind representatives have resulted in synergy. When others who
> are not elected by the blind have attempted to knock us off course, we
> have held the line. When those who choose not to join together with us
> have tried to divide us, we have held more tightly to the bonds that
> connect us. When others have said the blind cannot, we have followed our
> dreams and made them come true. With synergy, we are the blind—the
> National Federation of the Blind.
>
> Blindness is merely one of a thousand characteristics we individually
> bring to this movement. Yet for our organization blindness is preeminent
> to our mission and our governance structure. In everything we have done,
> we have kept a strong and singular focus on blind people. Although we
> welcome those who do not possess the characteristic of blindness as
> members, collectively they may not constitute a majority of our membership
> and they cannot run our governing boards.
>
> Kenneth Jernigan, the second great President of the National Federation of
> the Blind, articulated our philosophy regarding the definition of
> blindness this way: “One is blind to the extent that the individual must
> devise alternative techniques to do efficiently those things which he
> would do if he had normal vision. An individual may properly be said to be
> “blind” or a “blind person” when he has to devise so many alternative
> techniques—that is, if he is to function efficiently—that his pattern of
> daily living is substantially altered.”
>
> Under this functional definition of blindness, we reflect one class of
> people—blind people—a class that deserves equal treatment. There are those
> who attempt to divide us based upon how much remaining eyesight we
> have—carving us into categories such as low vision, visually impaired,
> hard of seeing, partially sighted, visually challenged, and that most
> feared group, the totals. We reject this hierarchical vision-centered
> approach which threatens our common bond and our unified interests. While
> some of us may use visual techniques now and then, as blind people we
> recognize that vision is not a requirement for success in the world.
> Blindness is our primary distinction and it gives us authenticity and
> power, but when we choose to determine our own direction and speak for
> ourselves, it transforms into synergy.
>
> An important second distinction fuels the synergy of our
> movement—equality. Since our founding, we have taken responsibility for
> setting the standard of equality for the participation of the blind in
> society. We have rejected society’s second-class accommodations. We have
> never sought greater advantages than our sighted peers, but we have
> insisted upon equality of opportunity and freedom from artificial
> barriers. Over time, we have raised the expectations for equal treatment.
> One example is our participation in voting for public officials. Blind
> people were once forced to have their paper ballot filled out by whomever
> the polling place assigned as a scribe—the blind did not have a choice. We
> fought for the right of blind people to vote independently by bringing a
> person of their own choosing into the voting booth. Today, we favor a new
> standard of equality where the blind use the same voting systems as every
> other voter with the expectation that the electronic machines will be
> fully accessible and our ballots will look the same, allowing us to cast a
> vote independently and privately. We must continue to explore the limits
> and evaluate equality within our movement and throughout the broader
> society.
>
> Equality contributes to our synergy in another important way—it
> strengthens our diversity. Blindness is not constrained by race, gender,
> economic status, or any of a thousand other characteristics. Therefore, if
> we are going to be a movement of blind people who synergize around
> equality, we must reflect a diverse range of blind people with a large
> variation in characteristics beyond blindness. We must continue to value
> and cultivate diversity, as we have in the past, and we should guard
> against our diversity becoming a fracture that divides us as blind people.
>
> I have been reflecting upon what we know about blind people throughout
> history and during the time of the National Federation of the Blind. A
> pattern of leadership is evident that I believe exemplifies the value we
> place on equality within our movement. In the stories of blind people
> prior to our founding, most of the prominent figures are men not women.
> Consider the nineteenth century essays of James Wilson that profiled blind
> people in a series of volumes entitled Biography of the Blind. Wilson
> profiles sixty-three blind individuals, but only seven are women. While a
> handful of other stories of blind women have surfaced since Wilson
> published his sketches in the 1800s, the record is still thin.
>
> Women have faced social, economic, and political barriers that have
> created inequality compared to men and their stories have been under
> recorded in history. Blind women, faced with the twin low expectations of
> being female and having the most feared disability, blindness, have been
> limited in opportunities to pursue their dreams. The lack of adequate
> training for blind people before the organized blind movement contributed
> to blind women being considered inadequate for even stereotypical roles in
> society. The full participation of blind women has been further
> complicated by efforts like the eugenics movement that reached its height
> in the early part of the twentieth century. Proponents of eugenics
> believed in selective breeding, which led to a movement to pass state laws
> requiring forced sterilization of the poor and disabled. These forced
> sterilization programs largely impacted women with disabilities and
> contributed to misconceptions about the capacity of the blind to be
> effective parents—a painful history we are still trying to overcome.
>
> In contrast, the role of blind women within the National Federation of the
> Blind is clear and powerful. This evening I seek to highlight a sampling
> of the hundreds of female leaders of our movement whose stories illuminate
> the characteristics that have allowed us, as diverse individuals who
> happen to be blind, to synergize a movement that cannot be divided.
>
> At our organizing on November 16, 1940, there were sixteen blind people
> from seven states in attendance, and two of them were women who both
> served on the board of directors. The first was Mary McCann of Illinois
> who was elected as secretary of our organization at that first meeting but
> only served for a short time. The other blind woman was Evelyn Burlingame
> of Pennsylvania who was not elected to the board in 1940, but was elected
> as first vice president of the organization in 1942.
>
> Let me pause briefly to note that Hazel tenBroek was also in attendance at
> the organizing and her notes are the most substantive record we have of
> the proceedings. Although she was not blind, she was a significant force
> in the early development of the Federation. Mrs. tenBroek set the standard
> for what has been a proud line of deeply loved and admired sighted
> marchers in our movement.
>
> Let us return to Evelyn who was born in Pennsylvania in 1906. After
> graduating from the Overbrook School for the Blind, she worked as the
> lead stenographer in the legal department for an insurance company; later
> she managed a small business among other jobs. In her free time she worked
> to bring together many small community-based organizations of the blind
> into a statewide organization called the Pennsylvania Federation of the
> Blind (which officially came into existence in 1934). It was the annual
> meeting of the Pennsylvania Federation that served as the backdrop for the
> constitutional meeting establishing the National Federation of the Blind.
> While early Federation leaders had to expend considerable time and energy
> convincing blind people that we could gain synergy by directing the future
> through building our own organization, Evelyn already knew the value of
> organizing and she was prepared to make personal sacrifices for the
> movement.
>
> Evelyn’s hard work, information sharing, and wise counsel to the
> Federation’s President were likely factors contributing to her election to
> the national board. In the National Federation of the Blind we elect
> leaders to speak for us, but those leaders must be able to synthesize the
> hopes, dreams, and innovative approaches that the members bring forward.
> In that regard, Evelyn may get credit for the Federation’s first major
> outreach and fundraising strategy. On November 9, 1941, she wrote to Dr.
> tenBroek to propose that we approach state and national unions to enlist
> their support in the Federation’s cause and to give specific examples of
> the circumstances in her state. This idea was developed into a significant
> program for making connections and gathering financial resources for the
> young organization. Evelyn’s early and active participation in our
> movement gave credibility to the notion that the blind can and should
> speak for themselves. For Evelyn, the characteristic of blindness did not
> hold her back and for the Federation the characteristic of blindness was
> most important to Evelyn’s leadership in our movement.
>
> Francis Lorraine Goranson was born in 1918 to farmers near Huron, South
> Dakota. She was the youngest daughter of the family and, like her older
> sister, she was blind and received an education from the South Dakota
> School for the Blind. In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into
> law the groundbreaking Randolph-Sheppard Act, giving blind individuals
> opportunities to operate vending facilities on federal property. By the
> time Lorraine graduated from the school in 1938, she was aware of the new
> program and prepared to build her own future.
>
> By the early months of 1940, South Dakota had two vending locations run by
> blind people and, determined not to be restricted to a life of low
> expectations, Lorraine took the initiative to secure the resources needed
> to open the third. She began by convincing the officials at the Huron post
> office to provide her with space for a stand. She then used her previous
> contacts at the local Kiwanis Club to make a skillful presentation that
> resulted in the club building out Lorraine’s location and providing the
> early inventory of newspapers, magazines, candy, and cigars she needed to
> open the doors in April 1940. Lorraine is the first known woman to operate
> a facility under the Randolph-Sheppard program anywhere in the country.
>
> Her early success did not leave her satisfied. She learned about the newly
> formed National Federation of the Blind through an editorial in the All
> Story magazine authored by Dr. tenBroek’s mentor, Dr. Newel Perry. On
> February 7, 1941, she wrote to Dr. tenBroek expressing excitement about a
> movement for the blind to speak for themselves. In her opening paragraph
> she notes, “I find that it is more difficult convincing my sighted friends
> of my capabilities, than the duty to be actually performed.” She later
> shares her ambition and commitment, “I am writing you because I am
> interested in what can be done for the blind, and am ready and willing to
> do whatever I can at any time. To be frank, as I feel I may be, I am so
> very anxious to get out and make a place in the world.”
>
> Lorraine possessed another important characteristic that distinguishes
> members of the Federation—hope for the future. In 1942, the
> characteristics of blindness, a drive for equality, and a hope for the
> future combined with a readiness to work led her to be elected to the
> Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. Her
> self-directed efforts to build opportunities out of the Randolph-Sheppard
> priority laid the foundation for the leadership we have provided to that
> program.
>
> Another woman from the Midwest was effective in teaching the synergy of
> local organizations connecting into a national movement. Ada Bates-Tiernan
> was born in Coon Rapids, Iowa, in 1889. She was blinded in an accident at
> age five and her parents sent her to Iowa’s school for the blind, where
> she stayed until her graduation. In the early part of the twentieth
> century, Iowa had no adult rehabilitation program, and Ada recognized that
> bonding together with other blind people was critical in creating
> opportunities for herself. She started by regularly attending the annual
> gatherings of the school’s alumni group known as the Iowa Association of
> the Blind.
>
> By 1941, Ada had moved to Des Moines where she was president of the local
> association. She met the tenBroeks while in Chicago and a stream of
> information sharing began between them. Ada joined the Federation as an
> individual member since the Iowa association was interested only in the
> school for the blind locally. She understood that the new National
> Federation of the Blind was essential to bringing inspiration and
> innovative training practices to Iowa.
>
> The hope and determination that came from a national movement fueled Ada’s
> leadership of other blind advocates in Iowa. The Federation’s National
> Convention was held in Des Moines in 1942, and Ada was critical in
> managing local details, including securing speakers. During that time the
> relationship between Ada and the tenBroeks developed into something more
> personal—what we would today describe as the Federation family. At the
> 1944 National Convention in Cleveland, Ada was elected to the Board of
> Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. In later correspondence
> Ada demonstrates a deep commitment to supporting Dr. tenBroek and advises
> him on many matters. At the same time, she expresses her own doubts about
> whether she has the right talents to support the leadership where she has
> been asked to serve. During a series of correspondence from February 1946,
> Dr. tenBroek expresses a deep belief in the talents Ada brings to the
> organization, a personal commitment to their friendship, and a faith in
> her capacity to provide leadership among the board members.
>
> Ada served on the national board until 1948 and her story helps to
> illuminate another important characteristic of Federationists—leadership.
> She wondered if she was really the right person for the job, whether she
> had the qualities needed to serve, and whether she was adequate to work
> closely with such a dynamic force for equality as Dr. tenBroek. These are
> doubts many of us have experienced when considering the work of this great
> organization compared to the individual contributions we make--doubts that
> are often a result of our internalizing society’s low expectations. When
> she did not believe in herself, the Federation believed in her. That is
> the bond of faith we pass from generation to generation in this movement.
> We believe in each other and it is that element that brings out the
> potential for leadership in each of us. For Ada Tiernan her leadership was
> inspired by her participation in the organized blind movement, where the
> most important characteristics were that she was a blind person, seeking
> equality, with hope for the future, and a willingness to lead when called.
>
> A woman who was not born in the United states and who was not blind at the
> time of our founding, came to be a force for sharing our message around
> the world. Isabelle Lyon Dean was born in 1896 in a fishing village on the
> northern coast of Scotland. At the age of twenty-eight, Isabelle and her
> husband, Dr. Alexander Grant, left Scotland to build their life together
> in the United States. In 1927, Isabelle began teaching in the Los Angeles
> County schools where, aided by her fluency in Spanish, she became a vocal
> advocate for the sizable population of Mexican American students. In 1940
> she further enhanced her teaching credentials by earning a PhD in
> comparative literature.
>
> Her career took a turn when she developed glaucoma and, by the fall of
> 1948, Dr. Grant was totally blind. She found no hope among the agencies
> for the blind she visited, and her uncertainty grew regarding how to
> manage her job as vice principal at Belvedere Junior High School. Hope and
> opportunity returned to her when a friend introduced her to a blind man
> who was a member of the National Federation of the Blind—an encounter that
> put her on the road to mastering the skills of blindness, to internalizing
> our shared philosophy, and to becoming an active member in our California
> affiliate.
>
> Dr. Grant’s own determination, the unwavering support of her professional
> colleagues in the school, and the shared bond with her sisters and
> brothers in the Federation assisted in rejecting the school district’s
> attempt to force her to retire based on her disability. Yet, Dr. Grant
> would endure more than a decade of maneuvers by the district to sabotage
> her work by regularly shifting her assigned school and the students on her
> caseload. The discrimination she faced caused her real pain. One example
> is that the district assigned her a sighted teaching assistant to be with
> her at all times. When the sighted person left the classroom the door was
> required to be locked as a safety precaution—a circumstance she described
> as “the blind teacher in a glass cage.”
>
> As the first blind teacher in the California public school system, Dr.
> Grant worked tirelessly so that future generations of blind educators
> would not face similar barriers. She advocated for new state laws,
> organized conferences for blind educators, and innovated quality
> educational services for blind children based on the authentic experience
> of blind people. A trip to an international conference in 1957 sparked a
> passion for working on issues of education and self-organization of the
> blind outside of the United States, which would drive the final twenty
> years of her life.
>
> During the 1959-60 school year, she took a sabbatical from teaching to
> make a remarkable journey through twenty-three countries, traveling alone,
> with the aim to learn from the educational and living conditions of other
> blind people, and to raise expectations through self-organization. She
> chronicled her adventures in a manuscript entitled, “Crooked Paths Made
> Straight,” which went unpublished until 2016. She would make many more
> international trips and correspond regularly with hundreds of blind
> people around the world. Significantly, 1960 also marked Dr. Grant’s
> election to the Board of the National Federation of the Blind on which she
> served until her death in 1977. In everything she did, no matter the
> continent, she was a constant promoter and information gatherer for the
> Federation. Blindness was what brought Dr. Grant to the Federation
> family, but it was only one of many dynamic characteristics that added
> synergy to our movement.
>
> Isabel Grant was most certainly influenced by a blind educator from New
> Mexico named Pauline Gomez. Blind from birth, Pauline was educated at the
> New Mexico School for the Blind where she graduated in 1940. A scholarship
> from the Perkins Institute for the Blind gave her an opportunity to meet
> blind people from around the country and set her on the path to be a
> teacher. In the fall of 1941, Pauline became the first blind student to
> enroll at the University of New Mexico where she had to pioneer methods
> for gaining access to instructional materials and navigating the campus
> independently.
>
> Upon successful graduation from the university, Pauline returned home to
> Santa Fe where she planned to teach in the public schools. Despite her
> qualifications, the public-school administrators could not imagine a blind
> teacher working with children, but Pauline was determined to build her own
> opportunity to share her talents with the children of Santa Fe. On October
> 1, 1946, Los Niños Kindergarten School opened in the back room of Pauline’s
> home. There were eight children in her first class and Pauline served as
> the only teacher, in addition to managing the administrative details of
> the school. From that modest beginning, Pauline expanded her school over
> the following decades serving the children of all of the most prominent
> families in Santa Fe.
>
> Pauline’s school had been open almost a decade when she assisted in
> organizing the New Mexico affiliate of the National Federation of the
> Blind in 1956. When Pauline became president of the affiliate in 1960, she
> began aggressively working on legislative proposals to improve
> opportunities for the blind. A keen educator, Pauline recognized the
> efficacy of Kenneth Jernigan’s Iowa training program using the Federation’s
> philosophy. She wanted that level of training in New Mexico. In 1963, she
> persuaded the state legislature to study the value of establishing an
> adult rehabilitation training center in the state, which threatened the
> monopoly that the workshops for the blind had on the employment pipeline.
> Workshop supervisors attended the 1963 Convention of the NFB of New Mexico
> where they were able to coerce their blind employees into electing four
> agency supporters to the affiliate’s board of directors. Pauline took
> swift action to guard against the hostile takeover of the organized blind
> movement by sending affiliate documents to the President of the
> Federation, securing the treasury, and reorganizing the affiliate, all of
> this while running her own growing school in Santa Fe.
>
> Whether it was in the president’s chair or another position within the
> Federation, Pauline had a hand in more victories than we can do justice to
> this evening. From leading New Mexico to be the first state in the nation
> to pass the Federation’s model White Cane Law in 1967, to developing the
> teachers division of the National Federation of the Blind in 1970, for
> Pauline the Federation was personal. Her community contributions outside
> of the Federation were extraordinary and widely celebrated. Her school was
> admired for its quality and innovative practices. It would have been easy
> for her to decide that the organized blind movement did not matter. Except
> for her it did matter. She was a blind person, she felt the pain of
> discrimination, and she understood the synergy of equality. The National
> Federation of the Blind fueled Pauline’s hope for the future, and we
> helped her to know she could do something to shape that future. She
> brought perspective, diversity, knowledge, and determination to us, and we
> gave to her the place where her blindness was a most important factor in
> her leadership, but the least important factor in her success.
>
> There may be no better example of the role blind women have played in the
> National Federation of the Blind, than the pioneering, tough, persistent,
> dedicated, and generous women who founded the three training programs that
> proudly call themselves Federation training centers. While these women,
> Joanne Wilson (Louisiana), Diane McGeorge (Colorado), and Joyce Scanlan
> (Minnesota), built upon the philosophy and methodology tested by Kenneth
> Jernigan, they made significant personal sacrifices and took risks that
> few would even dream to pursue. While each of these women has an
> extraordinary personal story, they share a common bond. They are all blind
> people who, until they came to know the heartbeat of our movement, had
> internalized some of the misconceptions about blindness that threaten to
> hold each of us back. It was their coming to be part of our movement which
> allowed the rest of us to benefit from their leadership. Did the
> Federation believe in them more or did they believe in the Federation
> more? The answer most certainly is yes. Each of these women have brought
> their talent and energy to our cause and their lives have been enriched by
> being part of us. From the perspective of history—now having thirty years
> or more of graduates from these centers—we can be certain that all of us
> are stronger because these women invested in equality for the blind. In
> case anyone doubts the impact these three women have had on our movement,
> how about a cheer from anyone who has been impacted by the programs and
> graduates of our NFB training centers?
>
> There are thousands of other examples of contributions small and great
> from blind people who happen to be women. From managing our scholarship
> program over the past fifty years, editing our publications, leading
> pickets and writing protest songs, directing our research and training
> institute, answering general information calls, testifying in Congress,
> building affiliates while raising families, commanding local legislatures,
> pioneering new teaching techniques, managing the operations of our
> Washington Seminar, directing fundraisers, to leading or serving wherever
> this movement has needed them, blind women have added synergy to our
> organization. That they were women was not nearly as important as the fact
> that they were blind people who believed in equality, had a hope for the
> future, and were willing to participate actively in the efforts of the
> National Federation of the Blind. From Arlene Hill practicing the
> techniques that blind people use to teach blind people to travel, to Ever
> Lee Hairston delivering a powerful address to the next generation of blind
> leaders from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, we have
> overcome because of the everyday and extraordinary blind people that have
> given synergy to our movement.
>
> Tonight, I call on us to celebrate these individuals and the thousands of
> others I have not named by committing ourselves to carrying the march
> forward. Tonight, we celebrate the diversity of our organized blind
> movement. A movement that brings together blind people for a common
> purpose. Blind people who come with varying characteristics. Different
> races, sexual orientations, religions, political points of view, gender
> identities, disabilities, economic circumstances, languages, talents,
> interests, and priorities. Yet, in everything that matters we are one as
> blind people. We cannot be divided. We share a quest for equality and hope
> for the future. It is our diversity that gives us depth. It is our
> long-standing commitment to work together that gives us strength. It is
> our synergy that makes us unstoppable.
>
> Tomorrow we must again pick up the tools of progress. There are those that
> seek to divide us and slow us down. There are those who say we do not
> represent those blind people who have some usable vision. There are those
> who claim that for us equality means only for blind people who do not have
> other disabilities. There are those who tell the story that in order to be
> one of us you must fit a certain type. To those who share these false
> claims about us we say, we, the blind, speak for ourselves. Our movement
> is for blind people, all blind people, and we will not let others who are
> not committed to equality and hope for the future stand in our way. We
> will set the direction and the pace, and we invite all blind people to
> contribute to our synergy.
>
> We will not go back to a time when we must fight the agencies for the
> blind for recognition. We reject, as we have before, accreditation without
> authenticity, in an effort to validate mediocracy. We leave behind the
> days when technologies were built and later made usable by the blind. We
> move past, but do not forget, the employment shackles of the sheltered
> workshops that pay pennies per hour. In doing so we recognize that there
> are those who wish to return to the good old days when the blind received
> what little charity was offered, and the experts in the field were
> qualified by the amount of eyesight not insight. To the extent that the
> past belongs to others, we declare once again this evening that the future
> is ours. Our future is filled with love, hope, and determination. Our
> future is distinguished by leadership, collaboration, and authenticity.
> And our future, as has been our pattern since 1940, is unified in the
> common bond of faith that we hold with each other as blind people.
>
> My sisters and my brothers, blindness does not define us or our future. It
> does serve the most important role of bringing us together in this
> movement. A movement that is built on equality. A movement that feeds our
> hope for the future. A movement that empowers us to lead in all aspects of
> life. A movement where we come seeking a place to belong and where we stay
> because of those we befriend. Let us recommit to our march toward
> equality. Let us welcome new members into the diverse family that we
> share. Let us direct our own future and reach for unimagined
> possibilities. With synergy, let us go build the National Federation of
> the Blind.
>
>
>
> Denise Valkema, President
> National Federation of the Blind of Florida
> President at nfbflorida.org
> (305)972-8529
> WWW.NFBFLORIDA.ORG
> Follow us @nfbflorida
> Live the life you want.
> _______________________________________________
> Nfbf-l mailing list
> Nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbf-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Nfbf-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbf-l_nfbnet.org/joenkitty%40earthlink.net
>
More information about the NFBF-L
mailing list