[nfbmi-talk] [NFBMI-talk] Here is something from FederationLiterature that you may wish to read.

[Marcus Simmons]

Well stated!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mauricio Almeida" <mauriciopmalmeida at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2013 10:19 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] [NFBMI-talk] Here is something from 
FederationLiterature that you may wish to read.


> dar fred,
>
> I see what you have done as no preaching at all.
> in fact you did what i was planning on coin myself.: shift this 
> conversation to what indeed matters, the future of our people and our 
> state.
> both of our hands must be on the field if work is to be done, and you said 
> things better than I ever could.
>
> regards,
>
> mauricio
> On Mar 5, 2013, at 10:13 PM, "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel at att.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi Elizabeth,
>>
>> With all due respect, Terry clearly did say the piece is from the NFB web
>> site.  I don't think Terry did anything wrong.  I don't think you mean to
>> take away from Dr. Jernigan's point or the point of the original post,
>> either, but unfortunately we are talking about this rather than the very
>> relevant comments that Dr. Jernigan is making about rehabilitation 
>> agencies
>> for the blind.  Our Michigan agency is facing some major challenges on a
>> lack of course of direction and a commitment to sound principles of
>> rehabilitation of the blind.
>>
>> You are studying Political Science.  Remember Machiavelli?  One of his 
>> main
>> tactics in defeating his opposition is to divide his enemies by getting 
>> them
>> fighting. We need to do our best to support one another to make us strong
>> enough to bring about the necessary change in our agency.  Blind people 
>> have
>> been and are still being hurt by the unwise decisions, disregard for
>> consumer input, lack of spending of the budget on services, the bloating 
>> of
>> top administration with multiple 100k personnel and the use of the agency 
>> as
>> an ATM for other programs.  When jobs for high-paid sighted people become
>> more important than well-paying jobs for blind people it is time to work
>> even harder together to reform the services.
>>
>> So, I am sorry to get on a rant or to preach to you, because I have a lot 
>> of
>> respect for your knowledge and understanding of law and policy.  I just 
>> feel
>> bad to see us picking at one another when none of us is the bad guy who 
>> is
>> causing the Michigan agency to go so far off course.
>>
>> Warmest Regards,
>>
>> Fred
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBMI-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf of
>> Elizabeth Mohnke
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2013 4:50 PM
>> To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [NFBMI-talk] here is something from Federation Literature 
>> that
>> you may wish to read.
>>
>> And there is also this little thing called respect and giving credit when
>> credit is due. If people are going to post things to this email list that
>> are written by other people, they should be respectful and courteous 
>> enough
>> to give them the credit for writing it.
>>
>> When someone does not list the author for something they did not write, 
>> it
>> comes across as something they wrote themselves. I understand that Terri
>> probably did not mean to do this on purpose, which is why I simply 
>> requested
>> that she cite the author when posting things to the list that she did not
>> write herself.
>>
>> Elizabeth
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "Jordyn Castor" <jordyn2493 at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2013 3:12 PM
>> To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Here is something from Federation Literature 
>> that
>> youmay wish to read.
>>
>>> It just so happens that there is this little well-known tool called
>>> Google.
>>> If you type in "NFB To Man the Barricades" the very first link that
>>> comes up is:
>>> https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/banque71.htm
>>> Under the first heading is who it's by, where the address was
>>> delivered, and the date if you need that information as well. Very easy 
>>> to
>> find...
>>> So there you have it, the link to the properly cited article and all.
>>> I hope you enjoy it.
>>> Jordyn
>>> On 3/5/2013 2:25 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke wrote:
>>>> Hello Terri,
>>>>
>>>> If you are going to post works that are not your own, please give
>>>> credit to the person who wrote it.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Elizabeth
>>>>
>>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>> From: "trising" <trising at sbcglobal.net>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2013 1:08 AM
>>>> To: "nfbmi List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Here is something from Federation Literature
>>>> that youmay wish to read.
>>>>
>>>>> Here is something from Federation Literature that you may wish to 
>>>>> read.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> To Man the Barricades
>>>>> Some of you may remember the story Will Rogers liked to tell about
>>>>> his early career as a comedian in vaudeville. "I used to play a song
>>>>> called 'Casey Jones' on the harmonica with one hand," he said, "and
>>>>> spin a rope with the other, and then whine into the old empty rain
>>>>> barrel ... and then in between the verses I used to tell jokes about
>>>>> the Senate of the United States. If I needed any new jokes that
>>>>> night, I used to just get the late afternoon papers and read what
>>>>> Congress had done that day, and the audience would die laughing."
>>>>>
>>>>> This story reminds me of my own activities over the past twenty
>>>>> years. I have gone all over the country as the guest of blind groups
>>>>> and civic associations; and, like Will Rogers, I tell stories about
>>>>> the Government of the United States-particularly the Department of
>>>>> Health, Education, and Welfare, and the other "professionals" doing 
>>>>> work
>> with the blind.
>>>>> And when I need any new jokes, I just get the latest reports from
>>>>> the agencies and foundations and read what they have been doing
>>>>> recently-and the audience dies laughing. Unless, of course, there
>>>>> are people in the audience who are blind, or friends of the blind-and
>> they die crying.
>>>>>
>>>>> Which is a roundabout way of saying that much of what goes on in the
>>>>> journals and laboratories and workshops of the agencies for the
>>>>> blind these days is a cruel joke. It is a mockery of social science
>>>>> and a travesty on social service. Far from advancing the welfare and
>>>>> well-being of blind people, it sets our cause back and does us harm.
>>>>>
>>>>> The blind, along with some other groups in our society, have become
>>>>> the victims of a malady known as "R and D"-that is, Research and
>>>>> Demonstration. The R and D projects are largely financed by the
>>>>> Federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and account for
>>>>> an ever-increasing chunk of its budget. The whole tone and direction
>>>>> of programs for the blind in the country-rehabilitation, education,
>>>>> social services, and the rest-have been altered as a result. The art
>>>>> of writing grant applications, the tens of millions of dollars
>>>>> available to fund the approved R and D projects, the resulting
>>>>> build-up of staff in universities and agencies for the blind, the
>>>>> need to produce some sort of seemingly scientific results in the
>>>>> form of books and pamphlets to justify the staff salaries and the
>>>>> field trips and conferences, and the wish for so-called "professional"
>> status have all had their effect.
>>>>> Blind people have become the objects of research and the subjects of
>>>>> demonstration. They are quizzed, queried, and quantified; they are
>>>>> diagnosed, defined, and dissected; and when the R and D people get
>>>>> through with them, there is nothing left at all-at any rate, nothing
>>>>> of dignity or rationality or responsibility. Despite all of their
>>>>> talk about improving the quality of services to blind people (and
>>>>> there is a lot of such talk these days), the research and
>>>>> demonstration people see the blind as inferiors. They see us as
>>>>> infantile, dependent wards. The signs of this creeping
>>>>> condescension-of this misapplied science, this false notion of what
>>>>> blind people are, and of what blindness means-are all about us. Some
>>>>> things are big, and some are little; but the pattern is conclusive and
>> the trend unmistakable.
>>>>>
>>>>> Consider, for instance, what has happened to the talking book. From
>>>>> the very beginning of the library service back in the 1930's, the
>>>>> first side of each talking-book record has concluded with these
>>>>> words: "This book is continued on the other side of this record."
>>>>> The flip side has always ended with: "This book is continued on the
>>>>> next record." Surely no one can have any serious quarrel with this
>> language. It serves a purpose.
>>>>> The reader, absorbed in the narrative, may well not remember whether
>>>>> he is on the first or second side of a record, and the reminder is
>>>>> useful and saves time.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the last three or four years, however, something new has been 
>>>>> added.
>>>>> After the familiar "This book is continued on the next record," the
>>>>> statement now appears: "Please replace this record in its envelope
>>>>> and container." That one, I must confess, crept up on me gradually.
>>>>> Although from the very beginning I found the statement annoying, it
>>>>> took some time for its full significance to hit me.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here I was, let us say, reading a learned treatise on French
>>>>> history-a book on Gallic statesmanship-one which presupposes a
>>>>> certain amount of understanding and mental competence. The narrative
>>>>> is interrupted by a voice saying "Please replace this record in its
>> envelope and container."
>>>>> Then it strikes me: These are the words one addresses to a moron or
>>>>> a lazy lout. These words do not appear on records intended for the
>>>>> use of sighted library borrowers. They are intended for the blind.
>>>>> To be sure, they are not an overwhelming or unbearable insult. They
>>>>> are only one more small evidence of the new custodialism, the
>>>>> additional input of contempt for the blind recipient of services
>>>>> which is in the air these days.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have heard that the words were added at the request of some of the
>>>>> regional librarians because certain blind borrowers were careless
>>>>> with the records. Are sighted people never careless with books or
>> records?
>>>>> Are such words at the end of the record really likely to make the
>>>>> slob less slobby? The ordinary, normal human being (blind or
>>>>> sighted) will, as a matter of course, put the record back into the
>>>>> envelope and container. What else, one wonders, would he do with it?
>>>>>
>>>>> Regardless of all this, one thing is fairly certain: My remarks on
>>>>> the subject will undoubtedly bring forth angry comments from library
>>>>> officials and others that I am quibbling and grasping at straws,
>>>>> that I am reading meanings that aren't there into innocent words. To
>>>>> which I
>>>>> reply: I am sure that no harm was meant and that the author of the
>>>>> words did not sit down to reason out their significance, but all of
>>>>> this is beside the point. We have reasoned out the significance, and
>>>>> we are no longer willing for our road to hell to be paved with other
>>>>> people's good intentions, their failure to comprehend, or their
>>>>> insistence that we not quibble.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is another illustration-again, a slight and almost trivial 
>>>>> affair.
>>>>> I had occasion recently to visit a public school where there was a
>>>>> resource class for blind and partially seeing children. The teacher
>>>>> moved about with me among the students. "This little girl can read
>>>>> print," she said. "This little girl has to read Braille." Now, that
>>>>> language is not oppressively bad. Its prejudice is a subtle thing.
>>>>> But just imagine, if you will, a teacher saying of a pair of
>>>>> children: "This little girl can read Braille; this little girl has
>>>>> to read print." The supposition is that the child possessing some
>>>>> sight, no matter how little, is closer to being a normal and
>>>>> full-fledged human being; the one without sight can't cut it and has
>>>>> to make do with inferior substitutes.
>>>>>
>>>>> Confront that teacher with her words, and she will be hurt. She will
>>>>> say, "But that is not how I meant it. It was simply the way I said 
>>>>> it."
>>>>> It is true that she was not consciously aware of the significance of
>>>>> her statement and that she did not mean to say what she said; but
>>>>> she said exactly what she meant, and how she felt. And her students,
>>>>> as well as visitors to her classroom, will be conditioned
>>>>> accordingly. I don't wish to make too much of the teacher's
>>>>> terminology, or the words on the talking-book record. Neither
>> exemplifies any great cruelty or tragedy.
>>>>> They are, however, straws in the wind; and either of them could be
>>>>> the final straw-the straw that breaks the blind man's back, or
>>>>> spirit. Far too many backs and spirits have been broken in that way,
>>>>> and the breaking must stop.
>>>>>
>>>>> As I have said, some of the recent incidents in our field are small,
>>>>> and some are big; but they fit together to make a pattern, and the
>>>>> pattern is conclusive. During the past decade, for instance, the
>>>>> vocational employment objective of rehabilitation has steadily
>>>>> receded before the advancing tide of "social services" and "research
>>>>> and development," and the Division for the Blind in the Federal
>>>>> Rehabilitation Service has diminished accordingly in prominence and
>>>>> importance. By 1967 rehabilitation had taken such a back seat that
>>>>> it became submerged in a comprehensive pot of Mulligan stew set up
>>>>> by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare called "Social
>>>>> and Rehabilitation Service," with the emphasis clearly on the
>>>>> "social." A new public-information brochure turned out by HEW,
>>>>> listing all the department's branches and programs, placed
>> rehabilitation-where do you suppose?-dead last.
>>>>>
>>>>> As far as the blind were concerned, the ultimate blow fell late last
>>>>> year. Federal Register document 70-17447, dated December 28, 1970,
>>>>> announced the abolition of the Division for the Blind altogether,
>>>>> and its inclusion in the new Division of Special Populations! And
>>>>> who are these "special populations"? They include, and I quote,
>>>>> "alcoholics, drug addicts, arthritics, epileptics, the blind, heart,
>>>>> cancer, and stroke victims, those suffering communication disorders,
>>>>> et cetera." (I leave the specifics of the "et cetera: to your
>>>>> imagination.) Therefore, half a century after the establishment of
>>>>> the Federal vocational rehabilitation program, and almost as long
>>>>> after the development of a special division of services for the
>>>>> blind (and still longer since the creation of separate agencies or
>>>>> commissions for the blind in most of the States) the blind of
>>>>> America were to lose their identity and return to the almshouse for 
>>>>> the
>> sick and indigent.
>>>>>
>>>>> This was too much, and every major national organization and agency
>>>>> (both of and for the blind) combined to resist it. By February of
>>>>> 1971 the HEW officials had made a strategic withdrawal. They
>>>>> announced that they had never intended to downgrade or de-emphasize
>>>>> services to the blind; but that in order to clear up any possible
>>>>> misunderstanding they were establishing a new "Office for the
>>>>> Blind," to be on a par with the "Division of Special Populations,"
>>>>> and in no way connected with it. Thus (for the moment) the tide was
>>>>> reversed and the power of united action demonstrated; but the tide
>>>>> is still the tide, and the trend is still the trend.
>>>>>
>>>>> It is not difficult to find the evidence. For example, under date of
>>>>> February 4, 1971, the Federal Rehabilitation Services Administration
>>>>> issued an information memorandum entitled "Subminimum Wage
>>>>> Certificates for Handicapped Workers." The document is
>>>>> self-explanatory; it is damning; and it is all too indicative of
>>>>> what is happening to the blind in America today. "A recent revision to
>> the wage and hour regulations,"
>>>>> the memorandum begins, "broadens State vocational rehabilitation
>>>>> agencies' certification responsibility with respect to employment of
>>>>> handicapped workers at subminimum wages. The responsibility was
>>>>> previously limited by regulation to certain categories of
>>>>> handicapped persons employed by sheltered workshops.
>>>>>
>>>>> "The revision to the wage and hour regulations, effective February
>>>>> 4, 1971," the memorandum continues, "authorizes State rehabilitation
>>>>> agencies to certify certain disabled persons for work in competitive
>>>>> employment at less than fifty percent of the statutory minimum wage
>>>>> but not less than twenty-five percent."
>>>>>
>>>>> So said HEW in February of this year! No longer must the pay be even
>>>>> fifty percent of the minimum wage! No longer is it limited to the
>>>>> sheltered shop! It may now be extended to private industry, to
>>>>> so-called "competitive" employment! And this, we are told, is
>>>>> rehabilitation. We are not to quibble. We are not to read meanings
>>>>> into things which are not there. We are not to find patterns or trends
>> or hidden significance.
>>>>> No! We are to take our twenty-five percent "competitive" employment,
>>>>> and be grateful for it. That is what we are expected to do, but I
>>>>> doubt that we will do it.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have already spoken about R and D-the so-called "research and
>>>>> demonstration"-financed ever more heavily and lovingly by the
>>>>> Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. I have at hand a
>>>>> typical product of "R and D"-a comprehensive 239-page publication of
>>>>> the American Foundation for the Blind, entitled A Step-by-Step Guide
>>>>> to Personal Management for Blind Persons.1 I invite you now to
>>>>> accompany me on a step-by-step guided tour through its pages and
>>>>> mazes. But let me warn
>>>>> you: It may be a bad trip.
>>>>>
>>>>> "One of the areas," we are told at the outset of this guidebook,
>>>>> "where independence is valued most highly by a broad spectrum of
>>>>> blind persons ... is personal management." I myself would put that a
>>>>> little differently. I would say that the blind person should, and
>>>>> commonly does, take for granted that independence begins at
>>>>> home-that self-care comes before self-support-but that what he
>>>>> values most highly in life is not his ability to master the simple
>>>>> rituals of daily living, such as are detailed in this manual. It is
>>>>> not his ability to wash his face, take a shower, clean his nails,
>>>>> brush his hair, sit down on a chair, rise from a chair, stand
>>>>> upright, wash his socks, light a cigarette, shake hands, nod his
>>>>> head "yes," shake his head "no," and so on and so on through two
>>>>> hundred-plus pages of instruction. No, these are not the supreme
>>>>> attainments and values in the life of the blind person, or of any
>>>>> other civilized person. They are merely the elementary motor and
>>>>> mechanical skills which represent the foundation on which more
>>>>> meaningful and significant achievements rest. The skills of personal
>> management are rudimentary, not remarkable.
>>>>>
>>>>> However, the American Foundation's Guide to Personal Management for
>>>>> Blind Persons does not put the matter in such modest perspective.
>>>>> Rather, it is blown up to majestic proportions, as if it were not
>>>>> the beginning but the end of self-realization and independence. Most
>>>>> of all, it is presented as a very difficult and complicated
>>>>> subject-this business of grooming and shaving, bathing and
>>>>> dressing-virtually as the source of a new science. Much is made of
>>>>> the "need for an organized body of realistic and practical personal
>>>>> management techniques." The American Foundation, out of a deep sense
>>>>> of professional obligation and the excitement of pioneering on new
>>>>> scientific horizons, agreed as long ago as 1965 (in its own words)
>>>>> "to undertake the responsibility for developing, over a period of
>>>>> years, workable personal management techniques for blind persons."
>>>>> To begin with, an AFB staff specialist was assigned to coordinate
>>>>> the project, and he proceeded immediately to carry out a massive
>>>>> survey of agencies throughout this country and Canada-on such
>>>>> life-and-death questions and critical issues as how to teach blind
>>>>> persons to shake hands correctly and put the right sock on the right
>> foot.
>>>>>
>>>>> But surveys at a distance, no matter how thorough and scientific,
>>>>> were not good enough for such profound subject matter. No. What was
>>>>> needed was (to quote the report) "the pooled thinking and experience
>>>>> of a fairly large number of persons from diverse backgrounds and
>> programs."
>>>>> In short, what was needed was a conference, or better yet, a series
>>>>> of conferences-in big hotels in major cities, complete with
>>>>> workshops, round-tables, lunches, dinners, social hours, and 
>>>>> sensitivity
>> sessions.
>>>>> In the words of the report: "For three years, 1967, 1968, and 1969,
>>>>> national meetings were held in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans at
>>>>> which key personnel from representative agencies met both to develop
>>>>> techniques and methods and to refine and improve already existing 
>>>>> ones."
>>>>>
>>>>> Here, to illustrate, is a typical technique-developed and refined
>>>>> over the years in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans, representing
>>>>> the distilled wisdom (if that is the proper expression) of key
>>>>> personnel from diverse backgrounds and specialized programs. Here,
>>>>> under the broad classification "Bathing," is the sixteen-step
>>>>> procedure for the "Sponge Bath." I quote in full:
>>>>>
>>>>> Orientation: Discuss how equipment can be most efficiently used when
>>>>> taking a sponge bath.
>>>>>
>>>>> Equipment: Water, two containers, soap, cloth, towel, bath mat.
>>>>>
>>>>> Technique:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. Disrobe.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. Put water of desired temperature in sink or container.
>>>>>
>>>>> 3. Thoroughly wet washcloth and gently squeeze cloth together.
>>>>>
>>>>> 4. Take one corner in right hand, the other in left hand, bring
>>>>> corners together and grasp in whole hand.
>>>>>
>>>>> 5. With other hand grasp remaining cloth. Hold washcloth in closed 
>>>>> fist.
>>>>>
>>>>> 6. Hold one hand stationary while turning other hand to squeeze
>>>>> excess water.
>>>>>
>>>>> 7. Unfold cloth and drape over palm of one hand. With other hand
>>>>> pick up soap and dip into water, then rub back and forth from wrist
>>>>> to tips of fingers on cloth.
>>>>>
>>>>> 8. Place soap back in dish.
>>>>>
>>>>> 9. Place soaped cloth in dominant hand.
>>>>>
>>>>> 10. Starting with face and neck, rub soaped cloth over skin portion.
>>>>>
>>>>> 11. Place soaped cloth in water and wring as described above several
>>>>> times until soap has been removed.
>>>>>
>>>>> 12. Use same motion as step 10 to rinse soap from face and neck.
>>>>>
>>>>> 13. Unfold towel. Using either or both hands, dry using a vigorous
>>>>> rubbing motion.
>>>>>
>>>>> 14. Continue to each section of body-washing, rinsing, and drying.
>>>>>
>>>>> 15. As towel gets damp, shift to a dry section.
>>>>>
>>>>> 16. For drying back, put bath towel over right shoulder, grasp lower
>>>>> end hanging in back with left hand and grasp end hanging in front
>>>>> with right hand. While holding towel pull up and down alternately
>>>>> changing position of towel until entire area of back is dry.
>>>>>
>>>>> Immediately following this highly developed and refined
>>>>> technique-the product of five years of national conferences and
>>>>> international surveys-is the step-by-step guide to taking a "tub
>>>>> bath." I feel that you will want to know that this affair of the tub
>>>>> represents a more advanced and elaborate enterprise in personal
>>>>> management. The greater complexity is evident at the outset. You
>>>>> will recall that the first step in the sponge bath technique was:
>>>>>
>>>>> "Disrobe." But the first step in the tub bath exercise is: "Disrobe
>>>>> and place clothing where it will not get wet." That is, of course, a
>>>>> substantial increase in subtlety over the sponge bath.
>>>>>
>>>>> Let us pause here for a moment and contemplate the significance of
>>>>> that
>>>>> instruction:
>>>>>
>>>>> "Disrobe and place clothing where it will not get wet." What does it
>>>>> tell us about the intelligence-the presumed intelligence-of the
>>>>> blind person under instruction? It tells us that he has not the
>>>>> sense to come in out of the rain; or, more exactly, that he has not
>>>>> the sense to bring his clothes in out of the shower. He is presumed
>>>>> to be either a mental case or a recent immigrant from the jungle,
>>>>> who has never taken a bath before. This latter possibility is given
>>>>> additional credence by instruction number fifteen: "As towel gets
>>>>> damp, shift to a dry section." If the trainee has ever bathed
>>>>> before, he will know about that. Only if he is a babbling idiot or
>>>>> Bomba, the Jungle Boy, does he need to be given that extraordinary
>>>>> advice. This presumption of incompetence or newborn innocence on the
>>>>> part of the blind person is, indeed, pervasive of the entire 239-page
>> guidebook.
>>>>>
>>>>> What else can it mean to say, with regard to the technique for
>>>>> shaking
>>>>> hands: "If desired, the hands may be moved in an up and down motion?"
>>>>> What else can it mean to say, with regard to the technique for
>>>>> nodding the head: "The head is held facing the person to whom you
>>>>> wish to communicate ... With the head held in this position, move
>>>>> the chin down towards the floor about two inches then raise it again
>>>>> to the original position. Make this movement twice in quick 
>>>>> succession."
>>>>>
>>>>> One last quotation, before we leave this magisterial work of applied
>>>>> domestic science. Under the general heading of "Hand Gestures," we
>>>>> find, the technique for "Applauding." It goes like this:
>>>>>
>>>>> a. With elbows close to the body, raise both hands until the
>>>>> forearms are approximately parallel to the floor.
>>>>>
>>>>> b. Move each hand towards the other so that they come in contact
>>>>> with one another towards the center of the body.
>>>>>
>>>>> c. The thumb of both hands is held slightly apart from the other
>>>>> four fingers which are held straight and close together.
>>>>>
>>>>> d. The fingers of the right hand point slightly toward the ceiling
>>>>> and the fingers of the left hand slightly toward the floor so that
>>>>> when the hands come in contact with each other the palms touch but
>>>>> the fingers do not.
>>>>>
>>>>> e. The thumb of the right hand rests on the knuckle of the left
>>>>> thumb, the fingers of the right hand being above the fingers of the 
>>>>> left
>> hand.
>>>>>
>>>>> f. The hands are brought back to a position about eight to twelve
>>>>> inches apart then brought together in a quick slapping motion.
>>>>>
>>>>> g. Polite applause would require slapping the hands together about
>>>>> twice each second. More feeling would be expressed by the rapidity,
>>>>> rather than the volume or loudness of the individual's applause.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. Hands Inactive: When the hands are not being used for some
>>>>> specific purpose, the most common position is resting the hands in
>>>>> the lap. For example, the back of the left hand might rest on the
>>>>> left or right leg, or in between, with the palm turned up; the right
>>>>> hand with the palm turned down over the left hand and the fingers of
>>>>> each hand slightly curled around each other.
>>>>>
>>>>> I cannot leave this great book and its truly vital subject without
>>>>> reading to you the "Foreward" as written by Mr. M. Robert Barnett,
>>>>> executive director of the American Foundation for the Blind: "We
>>>>> would like to take this opportunity," he writes, "to express our
>>>>> appreciation to the many persons professionally involved in work for
>>>>> the blind across the country whose five years of hard work,
>>>>> creativity, and experience have made A Step-by-Step Guide to
>>>>> Personal Management for Blind Persons a reality. For many years,
>>>>> countless persons have expressed a need for such a manual and we
>>>>> hope that this publication will help to fill that need."
>>>>>
>>>>> I would like to know who those "countless persons" are who have
>>>>> expressed a need for such a manual, wouldn't you? Are they blind
>>>>> persons-and if so have they been waiting all these years without
>>>>> being able to test the water, clap the hands, lift the bale, tote
>>>>> the barge, nod, shake, shimmy, rattle and roll? How have they
>>>>> managed their lives all these years without this personal guide from
>>>>> the American Foundation and its cohorts?
>>>>>
>>>>> But maybe they are not the ones who have expressed a need for such a
>>>>> manual. Perhaps it is not the blind at all but-as the Foundation
>>>>> puts it-those "professionally involved in work for the blind" to
>>>>> whom this definitive guidebook is addressed. Not our blind brothers,
>>>>> but our blind brothers' keepers. Presumably they are the ones who
>>>>> are to conduct the "orientation" sessions which precede each of the
>>>>> various procedures and techniques-such as:
>>>>>
>>>>> "Discuss types of ties and materials from which ties are made (silk,
>>>>> linen, leather, knit, synthetic, and wool)." And: "Discuss reasons
>>>>> for brushing hair regularly and the suitability of different types
>>>>> of brushes" (scrub brushes, toothbrushes, horse brushes,
>>>>> sagebrushes, brushes with the law, etcetera). Well, admittedly, I
>>>>> added the last part of that sentence myself; but I maintain that it
>>>>> is no different in character, and no more foolish, than the trivial
>>>>> and vacuous material set forth in most of the 239 pages.
>>>>>
>>>>> Indeed, the very triviality and vacuity of this misguided guidebook
>>>>> may deceive some readers into dismissing it as an unfortunate
>>>>> exception, not characteristic of the main body of work turned out
>>>>> today by serious scholars and professionals in the field of work
>>>>> with the blind. Let me emphasize, therefore, as strongly as I can,
>>>>> the typical and conventional character of this manual. It is not the
>>>>> exception. Its name is legion; its approach, its philosophy, and its
>>>>> superficial contents have been duplicated many times over in the
>>>>> research and demonstration projects of the American Foundation for
>>>>> the Blind, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the
>>>>> college institutes, and the State agencies caught up in the
>>>>> profitable cycle of grants, surveys, tests, and questionnaires.
>>>>>
>>>>> There is another potential objection to dispose of. That is the
>>>>> supposition that this set of instructions, simple-minded as it is,
>>>>> is not really intended for the ordinary, capable blind person but
>>>>> only for a minority. Moreover, it is true that the book itself makes
>>>>> a verbal nod in this direction, admitting modestly that its
>>>>> techniques are not the only ones possible and that there may be
>>>>> other ways to approach the same goals. But the book also contains an
>>>>> opposite disclaimer, to the effect that the proposed techniques may
>>>>> be too complicated and advanced for some blind persons to handle
>>>>> without preliminary instruction. However that may be, it is clear
>>>>> that this lengthy five-year report is meant to be circulated
>>>>> generally to agencies and schools, to parents and counselors, to
>>>>> guides and custodians, without reservation or qualification.
>>>>>
>>>>> The best evidence of how this book is intended to be read is to be
>>>>> found in its title. It does not say that it is a step-by-step guide
>>>>> to personal management for mentally retarded or extremely backward
>>>>> blind persons. It does not say it is a guide for tiny children. It
>>>>> says what it means, and means what it says- namely, that it is A
>>>>> Step-by-Step Guide to Personal Management for Blind Persons.
>>>>>
>>>>> And we can do no less than that ourselves; we must also say what we
>>>>> mean. As long as such insulting drivel about us continues to be
>>>>> issued in the name of science by agencies doing work with the
>>>>> blind-as long as Federal money continues to be available to support
>>>>> it-as long as the climate of general public opinion continues to
>>>>> tolerate it-as long as blind persons continue to be found who can be
>>>>> coaxed or hoodwinked into participating in it-then, for just so long
>>>>> must we of the National Federation of the Blind raise our voices to
>>>>> resist it, denounce it, and expose it for the pseudoscience and the
>> fraud which it is.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Federal research and demonstration projects, the wording on the
>>>>> talking-book records, the attempt to abolish the Division for the
>>>>> Blind in Federal rehabilitation, the payment of subminimum wages in
>>>>> sheltered shops and private industry, and the guidebooks to tell us
>>>>> how to run our daily lives are all straws in the wind, signs of the
>>>>> times. But there are other, more hopeful signs. Though the Library
>>>>> of Congress tells us to replace our records in the envelopes and
>>>>> containers, its book selection policies have been refreshingly
>>>>> updated. More and better books are now available to the blind than
>>>>> ever before, including best-sellers and popular magazines. Likewise,
>>>>> though the Division for the Blind was abolished at the Federal
>>>>> level, the move was successfully resisted and reversed. And although
>>>>> teachers still talk of blind people who have to read Braille and
>>>>> can't read print, although subminimum wages are still allowed in
>>>>> sheltered shops and private industry, and although the Foundation's
>>>>> guidebook is still distributed by the hundreds and thousands to slow
>>>>> our progress, we (the organized blind) are abroad in the land in 
>>>>> growing
>> numbers-aware of the peril and prepared to fight it.
>>>>> It is just that simple: We are prepared to fight, and we will fight.
>>>>> We don't want conflict or trouble with anyone; we don't want to
>>>>> quibble or be aggressive or militant; we don't want strife or
>>>>> dissension; but the time is absolutely at an end when we will
>>>>> passively tolerate second-class citizenship and custodial treatment.
>>>>> We are free men, and we intend to act like it. We are free men, and
>>>>> we intend to stay that way. We are free men, and we intend to defend
>>>>> ourselves. Let those who truly have the best interests of the blind
>>>>> at heart join with us as we move into the new era of equality and
>>>>> integration. Let those who call our conduct negative or destructive 
>>>>> make
>> the most of it!
>>>>>
>>>>> I want to say a few words now to those agencies doing work with the
>>>>> blind who march with us in the cause of freedom, who are glad to see
>>>>> the blind emancipated, and who work with us as human beings-not as
>>>>> statistics or case histories or inferior wards. To such agencies I
>>>>> say
>>>>> this: You have nothing to fear from the organized blind movement.
>>>>> Your battles are our battles. Your cause is our cause. Your friends
>>>>> are our friends. Your enemies are our enemies. We will go with you
>>>>> to the legislatures and the Federal Government to secure funds for
>>>>> your operation. We will urge the public to contribute to your
>>>>> support. We will defend you from attack and work with you in a
>>>>> partnership of progress.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now, let me say something to those agencies who still look back to
>>>>> yesterday, who condescend to the blind, who custodialize and 
>>>>> patronize.
>>>>> To them I say this: Your days are numbered. Once men have tasted
>>>>> freedom, they will not willingly or easily return to bondage. You
>>>>> have told us as blind people and you have told the community at
>>>>> large that we are not capable of managing our own affairs, that you
>>>>> are responsible for our lives and our destinies, that we as blind
>>>>> people must be sheltered and segregated-and that even then, we are
>>>>> not capable of earning our own keep. You have told us that we as
>>>>> blind people do not really have anything in common and that we,
>>>>> therefore do not need an organization-that there is no such thing as
>>>>> an "organized blind movement." But you have not spoken the truth.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you tell us that you are important and necessary to our lives, we
>>>>> reply: It is true. But tear down every agency for the blind in the
>>>>> Nation, destroy every workshop, and burn every professional journal;
>>>>> and we can build them all back if they are needed. But take away the
>>>>> blind, and your journals will go dusty on the shelves. Your
>>>>> counselors will walk the streets for work, and your broom corn will
>>>>> mold and rot in your sheltered shops. Yes, we need you; but you need
>>>>> us, too. We intend to have a voice in your operation and your
>>>>> decisions since what you do affects our lives. We intend to have
>>>>> representation on your boards, and we intend for you to recognize our
>> organizations and treat us as equals.
>>>>> We are not your wards, and there is no way for you to make us your
>>>>> wards. The only question left to be settled is whether you will
>>>>> accept the new conditions and work with us in peace and partnership
>>>>> or whether we must drag you kicking and screaming into the new era.
>>>>> But enter the new era you will, like it or not.
>>>>>
>>>>> Next, I want to say something to those blind persons who are aware
>>>>> of our movement and who have had an opportunity to join it but who
>>>>> have not seen fit to do so. In this category I also place those
>>>>> blind persons who are among us but not really of us, who
>>>>> (technically speaking) hold membership in the Federation but are not
>> really part of the movement.
>>>>> The non-Federation and the noncommitted blind are a strange 
>>>>> phenomenon.
>>>>> Some of them are successful in business or the professions. I have
>>>>> heard them say, "I really don't need the Federation. Of course, if I
>>>>> could do anything to help you people, I would be glad to do it, but
>>>>> I am independent. I have made it on my own." I have heard them say:
>>>>>
>>>>> "You really can't expect me to go down to that local meeting of the
>>>>> blind. Nobody goes there except a few old people, who sit around and
>>>>> drink coffee and plan Christmas parties. I am a successful lawyer,
>>>>> or businessman, or judge; and I am busy. Besides, they never get
>>>>> anything done. They just talk and argue." I have heard them say: "I
>>>>> don't know that I necessarily have anything in common with other
>>>>> blind people just because I'm blind. Almost all my friends are
>>>>> sighted. My life is busy with bowling, hiking, reading, or my
>>>>> business or profession." I have heard them say: "You people in the
>>>>> Federation are too aggressive. You are always in a fight with
>>>>> somebody, or bickering among yourselves. I am an individualist and 
>>>>> never
>> was much of a joiner."
>>>>>
>>>>> I have heard some of them say: "I am an employee of a governmental
>>>>> or private agency doing work with the blind, and I think it would
>>>>> destroy my professional relationship with my clients if I were to
>>>>> work actively in the Federation. Anyway, we all have a common
>>>>> concern, the betterment of blind people; so I'll make my
>>>>> contribution by working as a 'professional' in the field. Besides,
>>>>> not all blind people agree with you or want to join your
>>>>> organization, and as a 'professional' I have to represent and work 
>>>>> with
>> all blind people."
>>>>>
>>>>> I have heard them say all of these things, and to such blind persons
>>>>> I say this: You are patsies! Not only that but you are also
>>>>> deceiving yourselves and failing to act in your own best interest.
>>>>> Further, you are profiting from the labor and sacrifice, and are
>>>>> riding on the backs, of the blind who have joined the movement and
>>>>> worked to make it possible for you to have what you have. Some of
>>>>> you feel superior to many of the blind who belong to the Federation
>>>>> (especially those who work in the sheltered shops or draw welfare),
>>>>> but your feelings of superiority are misplaced; for collectively these
>> people have clothed you and fed you.
>>>>> They have made it possible for you to have such equality in society
>>>>> and such opportunity as you now enjoy. Resent what I say if you
>>>>> will, but it is the truth, whether you like it or not and whether
>>>>> you admit it or not. It is true for those of you who work in the
>>>>> agencies as well as for those of you who work in private endeavor.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you think this movement should be better or that it should be of
>>>>> higher caliber, then join us and help make it that way. If you think
>>>>> the local meetings or the State conventions are dull or uninspiring,
>>>>> then do your part to make them different. Even animals in the jungle
>>>>> have sense enough to hunt in packs. The blind ought to be at least as
>> intelligent.
>>>>>
>>>>> We need you, and we want you as active participants in the movement;
>>>>> but until you will join, we must do the best we can without you. We
>>>>> must carry you on our backs and do your work for you, and we will do
>>>>> it. The fact that we say you are patsies does not mean that we
>>>>> resent you. Far from it. You are our brothers, and we will continue
>>>>> to look upon you as such, regardless of how irresponsibly you
>>>>> behave. We are trying to get you to think about the implications of
>>>>> your actions. We are trying to get you to join with us to help make
>>>>> things better for other blind people and for yourselves. We are
>>>>> trying to get you to stop being patsies.
>>>>>
>>>>> Finally, I want to address myself to the active members of the
>>>>> NFB-to the blind, and to our sighted brothers who have made our
>>>>> cause their cause. To the active Federationists I say this: We are
>>>>> not helpless, and we are not children. We know our problems, and we
>>>>> know how to solve them. The challenge which faces us is clear, and
>>>>> the means of meeting that challenge are equally clear. If we fail in
>>>>> courage or nerve or dedication, we have only ourselves to blame.
>>>>>
>>>>> But, of course, we will not fail. The stakes are too high and the
>>>>> need too great to permit it. To paraphrase the Biblical statement:
>>>>> Upon the rock of Federationism we have built our movement, and the
>>>>> gates of hell shall not prevail against it! Since 1969 we have
>>>>> talked a great deal about joining each other on the barricades. If
>>>>> there was ever a time, that time is now. What we in the Federation
>>>>> do during the next decade may well determine the fate of the blind
>>>>> for a hundred years to come. To win through to success will require
>>>>> all that we have in the way of purpose, dedication, loyalty, good
>>>>> sense, and guts. Above all, we need front-line soldiers, who are
>>>>> willing to make sacrifices and work for the cause. Therefore, I ask
>>>>> you again today (as I did last year and the year
>>>>> before): Will you join me on the barricades?
>>>>>
>>>>> FOOTNOTE
>>>>> 1. American Foundation for the Blind, A Step-by-Step Guide to
>>>>> Personal Management for Blind Persons, New York, New York, 1970.
>>>>>
>>>>> Back to top
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>
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