[NFBMO] FW: The Magic of a Month and Should We be Celebrating

[Gary Wunder]

That is scary, my friend. I am blind and my life is not threatened except when I forget to do the dishes.



-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMO <nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Randy C via NFBMO
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2021 10:23 PM
To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Randy C <randycarmack at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBMO] FW: The Magic of a Month and Should We be Celebrating

Daniel, thanks for sharing this article with us.

Gary, another awesome article my friend.  I do take issue with one of your
points though, I would bet that most of the sighted community would choose
to have cancer over blindness.  Just my thought and I would guess that
there would really be no way to prove it.

Thanks,
Randy


On Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 9:42 AM Daniel Garcia via NFBMO <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

>
>
> Feed: Voice of the Nation's Blind Blog
> Posted on: Monday, October 25, 2021 7:00 AM
> Author: scascone
> Subject: The Magic of a Month and Should We be Celebrating
>
> The Magic of a Month and Should We be Celebrating
> [Portrait of Gary Wunder, he is wearing a dark suit and a purple,
> patterned tie]
> scascone Oct 25, 2021
> Gary Wunder
> Monday, October 25, 2021
>
> By Gary Wunder
>
> For the last few weeks, we have been writing about Blind Equality
> Achievement Month, focusing a bit of attention on each letter that
> encompasses our approach to October and the effort that we make to change
> people’s perceptions about what it means to be blind. We saved the toughest
> questions for last: Why a month? Have we achieved enough to celebrate? And
> why should the blind get special attention?
>
> So, what is a month? Miriam Webster says it is “a measure of time
> corresponding nearly to the period of the moon's revolution and amounting
> to approximately four weeks or thirty days or ¹/₁₂ of a year.” So as much
> as I respect and rely on Merriam-Webster, that really doesn’t get us very
> far because it tells us what we already know. I could play a little bit
> with the romantic notions about the various stages of the moon, but I’m not
> sure that would tell us anything about why a month is the appropriate
> measure of how long we should celebrate the achievements of the blind or
> focus our energy on receiving equal treatment.
>
> Maybe we can start by admitting that a month is an arbitrary period when
> we are talking about how long a celebration should be. Perhaps what we
> should be discussing is not why a month is the obvious choice for our
> program but instead figure out how to take best advantage of this measure
> of time.
>
> If we want to send a message to people, we must realize that they are busy
> and offer it at times when they may be available to receive it. A month
> lets us choose from all the weekdays that end in Y, and we may take the
> same advantage of weekends to catch those who are otherwise occupied during
> the week. A month is long enough to let us schedule multiple activities and
> not wear people out by trying to squeeze those activities into a week.
>
> Some people are concerned less about the unit of time but instead focused
> on the appropriateness of celebrating achievements by blind people. They
> ask why we should be celebrating when there is so much work still to do.
> The acknowledgment of achievement suggests that work pays off, and this is
> important if in fact we have more work to do, which we most assuredly do.
> We need some time to do cheerleading to get people excited about what blind
> people have done but, more importantly, about what blind people can do. For
> some this excitement may translate into extending opportunities to people
> they had previously considered incapable. For others it may mean taking a
> step that they previously thought foolish, unrealistic, or imprudent.
> Encouraging a person to dream is a positive step, but helping them to act
> on that dream is truly a noble leap forward.
>
> One question that is periodically raised is why blind people should
> highlight our own achievements given there is already Disability Awareness
> Month? If we are engaging in needless duplication, it is a poor use of our
> resources and time. A compelling argument for me has always been that
> blindness is feared more than any other disability, and polls have
> suggested that it is feared second only to cancer when it comes to health
> conditions. A significant reduction in eyesight is specific in the life
> changes it can bring about, and answering those fears must be equally
> specific. Generic terms are fine when crafting legislation to broadly
> address human rights or trying to define large groups of people. But when
> it comes to problem solving, people are looking for specific solutions, and
> being responsive must mean we are specific in discussing our life
> experiences and the alternative techniques we daily employ.
>
> Is there a reason to focus energy and attention on the quest for equality
> and the achievements that have sprung from it during the month of October?
> The answer isn’t found in some book of wisdom; it is found in us. If we
> believe that the pursuit of equality of opportunity is worth it, we share
> that passion with the public. If we believe that our achievements are worth
> sharing with the world that too often undervalues us, we will do it. If our
> life experience is that “we should do that sometime” is less effective than
> “let’s do that next week,” then we will rally behind the idea of Blind
> Equality Achievement Month and focus on making who we are, what we do, and
> what we can bring to our communities more visibly in the thirty-one days
> October gifts to us. I think we should, no we can, and fervently believe we
> will.
> read more
>
> View article...<
> https://nfb.org/blog/magic-month-and-should-we-be-celebrating>
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