<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top"><div id='yahoo__compose_area' style="background-color:white; display:block; font-family:HelveticaNeue-Regular,Helvetica;"><br>This is beautifully written Gary! You say so much better my turmoil of saying something like this when others comment to me. I feel my life so richly blessed by my children, two of which happen to be blind. When people ask me what happened I always comment that I'm just lucky. I know they think I am sarcastic as I many times am but I'm honestly serious. I consider my life and theirs truly blessed. <div>Is it aggravating at times? Well of course but anything could be. Even us sighted people have issues that come up that cause irritations. But we never would have become involved in something so much greater than ourselves had our luck not fallen the way it has. My children truly look at the good of people in general. </div><div>Would they like to see better
than they do? Certainly. Do they stress and worry and become depressed about it? Not in the least. Life is life. Some of us are short or tall. Some of us are crafty others not. Some male some female. Some blind some not. It just is what it is. I think we should be taken or respected for the individual not our features whatever they may be. And that is what I feel the NFB does for us and our family. </div><div>Rosina. <br><br><a href="https://yho.com/footer0">Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone</a></div></div><div id='yahoo__original_message' class='yQTDBase'><br><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex; border-left:1px #ccc solid; padding-left:1ex; ">On Sep 13, 2015, 7:00:05 AM, nfbmo-request@nfbnet.org<nfbmo-request@nfbnet.org> wrote:<div id="msgSandbox_AJp2imIAABNOVfVlrwuoYD553nw_TEXT" class="msgSandbox" style="padding: 1.5em 0.5em 0.5em 1.2em; word-wrap: break-word;">Send Nfbmo mailing list submissions to<br> <a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo@nfbnet.org"
href="javascript:return">nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a><br><br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br> <a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org</a><br>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br> <a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo-request@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo-request@nfbnet.org</a><br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br> <a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo-owner@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo-owner@nfbnet.org</a><br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of Nfbmo digest..."<br><br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. The value of research, the value of sight, and our place as<br> blind people in the world (Gary Wunder)<br> 2. Re: The value of research, the value of sight, and our place<br> as blind people in the world (Nancy
Lynn)<br> 3. Re: The value of research, the value of sight, and our place<br> as blind people in the world (Gary Wunder)<br> 4. jeremiah, please add me to your LinkedIn network (Cari Ford)<br> 5. Re: The value of research, the value of sight, and our place<br> as blind people in the world (Daniel Garcia)<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Message: 1<br>Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 09:22:58 -0500<br>From: "Gary Wunder" <<a ymailto="mailto:gwunder@earthlink.net" href="javascript:return">gwunder@earthlink.net</a>><br>To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a>><br>Subject: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight, and our<br> place as blind people in the world<br>Message-ID: <000001d0ed66$871a4fc0$954eef40$@earthlink.net><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<br><br>Greetings to my
friends and colleagues who have posted on this topic about<br>the value of sight, research, and how it relates to the National Federation<br>of the Blind. I believe this post started with a comment from Rosina about<br>the absolute insistence of researchers that the only way blind people will<br>have a quality of life is when they are able to see. That discussion quickly<br>moved into whether or not blind people who are in the National Federation of<br>the Blind thought sight had value and whether we would like to see. I think<br>this discussion is one of those that I hope to this list would see more of,<br>and I'm gratified by it.<br><br> <br><br>I don't think that there is a blind person alive who doesn't understand at<br>some significant level how great the advantage of seeing can be. This<br>morning I'm getting ready to vacuum my rug. Before doing that I will<br>painstakingly walk around my living room in an attempt to find any mislaid<br>dog bones,
torn up dog toy parts, or even spare socks from those of us who<br>did not take them off in the correct place and put them in the dirty<br>clothes. Does it cross my mind that any one of my daughters could sit on the<br>couch, turn her head, move her eyes, and ascertain the same information? Of<br>course it does. Do I wish I could do that? Absolutely. Will all of that<br>wishing get my floor cleared for vacuuming? It certainly won't. So rather<br>than fret about what some can do that I cannot, I take charge of my life by<br>walking around that room and being grateful for the fact that I can walk,<br>going back and forth in that room being grateful that I can use my mind to<br>create a system that will ensure that the floor is clear. Then I take that<br>vacuum cleaner, being grateful for the fact that I earned the money to buy<br>it, and I set to work making my house presentable.<br><br> <br><br>When people who can see go shopping at a big box store, I
realize they have<br>a lot of advantages over me. They are not concerned about whether something<br>is or is not accessible. They may be concerned about whether it is too<br>complicated for what they want, but they never once have to worry about<br>whether it will talk or whether it has Bluetooth capability so that it can<br>interface with a braille display or their iPhone or some other device that<br>can render speech or braille. I wish we did not have to fight for access,<br>but I am glad that we at least have the ability to do it and realize<br>ourselves worthy of access. There was a time when there was no collective<br>activity on the part of blind people, and the thought that we might boil<br>water or cook a meal was absurd both to us and to those who looked after us.<br>The idea that we might actually make a meaningful contribution was barely<br>considered, and we were nothing more than the family's burden and the bad<br>luck of the person who
drew the short straw. <br><br> <br><br>I grew up in a family with a disabled aunt. In today's world her disability<br>would've been seen as rather insignificant. She traveled using a walking<br>cane, but she was well read, had a great conscience, was funny, was<br>motivated, and took care of the house so that two people who didn't really<br>want her could both work outside the home. I thought that might be my life<br>as well, but circumstances placed me in a time when our country was<br>reassessing what it thought about blind people, how we could be educated,<br>and how we could be integrated. I think this occurred in no small part due<br>to our organization.<br><br> <br><br>So what about research? I favor research on how to restore sight in the same<br>way that I think of research to kill the AIDS virus, grow new kidneys for<br>those on dialysis, and figure out how to stop the ravages of diabetes and<br>keep people from insulin resistance and the
damage done to their pancreas.<br>What I object to is the kind of publicity about research that says one<br>should give because the quality of life for those to be served is currently<br>intolerable. My life is not intolerable. It is rich, and I am blessed beyond<br>measure. This is not just a subjective judgment I make about the quality of<br>the time I have spent on earth. I have it as well as most other human beings<br>can hope to have it. I have a family who loves me, a group of people who<br>think that what I do and say has some importance in their lives, a job that<br>provides me with a good standard of living, enough reading material that I<br>understand the state of the world at least as much as the person on the<br>other end of the journalists pen can. I have problems aplenty, but at least<br>I have received enough God-given gifts that these are ones I can handle. I<br>think this is true for many of the people I know, so when people
sell<br>research on the pathetic state of our existence, then I object to the way<br>they are selling it, and I think it is fair for us to say that we have lives<br>that are worth living, whether or not we gain vision.<br><br> <br><br>I think there are many things about the NFB's position on living as blind<br>people and the restoration of vision that are misunderstood. When we say<br>that it is respectable to be blind, we do not mean that being blind in and<br>of itself conveys respect. We do not mean that it is somehow superior to be<br>blind. What we do mean is that there is nothing about blindness that should<br>make people pity us, fail to consider us for responsible positions, or set<br>us up in the community as pathetic examples of what they might have been had<br>it not been for the grace of God. When we say that blindness is a nuisance<br>and an inconvenience, it is not that we treasure the nuisance or don't at<br>times get mad about the
inconvenience. We are proudly affirming that there<br>is a great difference between a nuisance and an inconvenience, and a tragic<br>condition that makes our lives substandard.<br><br> <br><br>Lastly, if I had the opportunity to experience vision, would I be<br>interested? Yes I would. I would love to take a look at the stars. I would<br>love to take a look at enough faces that I would understand why people are<br>so spellbound by the Mona Lisa. I would love to look into the eyes of<br>another and see whether it really gives me a read on what is going on in<br>their sole or whether, like the human voice, it can sometimes be significant<br>and can sometimes be deceptive. I would love to spend several hours watching<br>YouTube videos and learning passively what can sometimes be more difficult<br>because I don't see it done. I would love to look through a microscope and<br>see items that are smaller than a hair with such clarity that I could make<br>out
their individual components. I would like to look at a two dimensional<br>picture and see how people form three-dimensional images in their mind that<br>convey beauty and tragedy. To me many of these simply feel like lines on a<br>page when someone has taken the time to put them in raised-line form. <br><br> <br><br>As it is, those things are not likely to come my way anytime soon, so I take<br>my job to be enjoying the life I have, sharing it with others to the extent<br>that I can, and thanking God for the quality time he is given me on earth.<br><br> <br><br>I love hearing your opinions. Thank you for putting them to paper. If you<br>have more of them, please use this list to flesh them out.<br><br> <br><br>Gary<br><br> <br><br>. <br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Gary Wunder, President<br><br>National Federation of the Blind of Missouri<br><br> <br><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 2<br>Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 09:47:14 -0500<br>From:
"Nancy Lynn" <<a ymailto="mailto:freespirit.stl@att.net" href="javascript:return">freespirit.stl@att.net</a>><br>To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a>><br>Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight, and<br> our place as blind people in the world<br>Message-ID: <<a ymailto="mailto:B705FF397F494CCE83A334E5144B91AA@nancyPC" href="javascript:return">B705FF397F494CCE83A334E5144B91AA@nancyPC</a>><br>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";<br> reply-type=original<br><br>That is a beautiful message beautifully written, and I want to share it with <br>others not on this list.<br><br><br><br>Live the life you want!<br>-----Original Message----- <br>From: Gary Wunder via Nfbmo<br>Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2015 9:22 AM<br>To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'<br>Cc: Gary Wunder<br>Subject: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of
sight,and our place as <br>blind people in the world<br><br>Greetings to my friends and colleagues who have posted on this topic about<br>the value of sight, research, and how it relates to the National Federation<br>of the Blind. I believe this post started with a comment from Rosina about<br>the absolute insistence of researchers that the only way blind people will<br>have a quality of life is when they are able to see. That discussion quickly<br>moved into whether or not blind people who are in the National Federation of<br>the Blind thought sight had value and whether we would like to see. I think<br>this discussion is one of those that I hope to this list would see more of,<br>and I'm gratified by it.<br><br><br><br>I don't think that there is a blind person alive who doesn't understand at<br>some significant level how great the advantage of seeing can be. This<br>morning I'm getting ready to vacuum my rug. Before doing that I will<br>painstakingly
walk around my living room in an attempt to find any mislaid<br>dog bones, torn up dog toy parts, or even spare socks from those of us who<br>did not take them off in the correct place and put them in the dirty<br>clothes. Does it cross my mind that any one of my daughters could sit on the<br>couch, turn her head, move her eyes, and ascertain the same information? Of<br>course it does. Do I wish I could do that? Absolutely. Will all of that<br>wishing get my floor cleared for vacuuming? It certainly won't. So rather<br>than fret about what some can do that I cannot, I take charge of my life by<br>walking around that room and being grateful for the fact that I can walk,<br>going back and forth in that room being grateful that I can use my mind to<br>create a system that will ensure that the floor is clear. Then I take that<br>vacuum cleaner, being grateful for the fact that I earned the money to buy<br>it, and I set to work making my house
presentable.<br><br><br><br>When people who can see go shopping at a big box store, I realize they have<br>a lot of advantages over me. They are not concerned about whether something<br>is or is not accessible. They may be concerned about whether it is too<br>complicated for what they want, but they never once have to worry about<br>whether it will talk or whether it has Bluetooth capability so that it can<br>interface with a braille display or their iPhone or some other device that<br>can render speech or braille. I wish we did not have to fight for access,<br>but I am glad that we at least have the ability to do it and realize<br>ourselves worthy of access. There was a time when there was no collective<br>activity on the part of blind people, and the thought that we might boil<br>water or cook a meal was absurd both to us and to those who looked after us.<br>The idea that we might actually make a meaningful contribution was barely<br>considered, and
we were nothing more than the family's burden and the bad<br>luck of the person who drew the short straw.<br><br><br><br>I grew up in a family with a disabled aunt. In today's world her disability<br>would've been seen as rather insignificant. She traveled using a walking<br>cane, but she was well read, had a great conscience, was funny, was<br>motivated, and took care of the house so that two people who didn't really<br>want her could both work outside the home. I thought that might be my life<br>as well, but circumstances placed me in a time when our country was<br>reassessing what it thought about blind people, how we could be educated,<br>and how we could be integrated. I think this occurred in no small part due<br>to our organization.<br><br><br><br>So what about research? I favor research on how to restore sight in the same<br>way that I think of research to kill the AIDS virus, grow new kidneys for<br>those on dialysis, and figure out how to stop
the ravages of diabetes and<br>keep people from insulin resistance and the damage done to their pancreas.<br>What I object to is the kind of publicity about research that says one<br>should give because the quality of life for those to be served is currently<br>intolerable. My life is not intolerable. It is rich, and I am blessed beyond<br>measure. This is not just a subjective judgment I make about the quality of<br>the time I have spent on earth. I have it as well as most other human beings<br>can hope to have it. I have a family who loves me, a group of people who<br>think that what I do and say has some importance in their lives, a job that<br>provides me with a good standard of living, enough reading material that I<br>understand the state of the world at least as much as the person on the<br>other end of the journalists pen can. I have problems aplenty, but at least<br>I have received enough God-given gifts that these are ones I can handle.
I<br>think this is true for many of the people I know, so when people sell<br>research on the pathetic state of our existence, then I object to the way<br>they are selling it, and I think it is fair for us to say that we have lives<br>that are worth living, whether or not we gain vision.<br><br><br><br>I think there are many things about the NFB's position on living as blind<br>people and the restoration of vision that are misunderstood. When we say<br>that it is respectable to be blind, we do not mean that being blind in and<br>of itself conveys respect. We do not mean that it is somehow superior to be<br>blind. What we do mean is that there is nothing about blindness that should<br>make people pity us, fail to consider us for responsible positions, or set<br>us up in the community as pathetic examples of what they might have been had<br>it not been for the grace of God. When we say that blindness is a nuisance<br>and an inconvenience, it is not that
we treasure the nuisance or don't at<br>times get mad about the inconvenience. We are proudly affirming that there<br>is a great difference between a nuisance and an inconvenience, and a tragic<br>condition that makes our lives substandard.<br><br><br><br>Lastly, if I had the opportunity to experience vision, would I be<br>interested? Yes I would. I would love to take a look at the stars. I would<br>love to take a look at enough faces that I would understand why people are<br>so spellbound by the Mona Lisa. I would love to look into the eyes of<br>another and see whether it really gives me a read on what is going on in<br>their sole or whether, like the human voice, it can sometimes be significant<br>and can sometimes be deceptive. I would love to spend several hours watching<br>YouTube videos and learning passively what can sometimes be more difficult<br>because I don't see it done. I would love to look through a microscope and<br>see items that are
smaller than a hair with such clarity that I could make<br>out their individual components. I would like to look at a two dimensional<br>picture and see how people form three-dimensional images in their mind that<br>convey beauty and tragedy. To me many of these simply feel like lines on a<br>page when someone has taken the time to put them in raised-line form.<br><br><br><br>As it is, those things are not likely to come my way anytime soon, so I take<br>my job to be enjoying the life I have, sharing it with others to the extent<br>that I can, and thanking God for the quality time he is given me on earth.<br><br><br><br>I love hearing your opinions. Thank you for putting them to paper. If you<br>have more of them, please use this list to flesh them out.<br><br><br><br>Gary<br><br><br><br>.<br><br><br><br><br><br>Gary Wunder, President<br><br>National Federation of the Blind of
Missouri<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Nfbmo mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">Nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbmo:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/freespirit.stl%40att.net " target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/freespirit.stl%40att.net </a><br><br><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 3<br>Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 10:00:18 -0500<br>From: "Gary Wunder" <<a ymailto="mailto:gwunder@earthlink.net" href="javascript:return">gwunder@earthlink.net</a>><br>To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a>><br>Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The
value of research, the value of sight, and<br> our place as blind people in the world<br>Message-ID: <000501d0ed6b$bd77e820$3867b860$@earthlink.net><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<br><br>By all means, my friend.<br><br><br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: Nfbmo [mailto:<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo-bounces@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] On Behalf Of Nancy Lynn via<br>Nfbmo<br>Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2015 9:47 AM<br>To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List<br>Cc: Nancy Lynn<br>Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight, and our<br>place as blind people in the world<br><br>That is a beautiful message beautifully written, and I want to share it with<br>others not on this list.<br><br><br><br>Live the life you want!<br>-----Original Message----- <br>From: Gary Wunder via Nfbmo<br>Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2015 9:22 AM<br>To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'<br>Cc: Gary
Wunder<br>Subject: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight,and our place as <br>blind people in the world<br><br>Greetings to my friends and colleagues who have posted on this topic about<br>the value of sight, research, and how it relates to the National Federation<br>of the Blind. I believe this post started with a comment from Rosina about<br>the absolute insistence of researchers that the only way blind people will<br>have a quality of life is when they are able to see. That discussion quickly<br>moved into whether or not blind people who are in the National Federation of<br>the Blind thought sight had value and whether we would like to see. I think<br>this discussion is one of those that I hope to this list would see more of,<br>and I'm gratified by it.<br><br><br><br>I don't think that there is a blind person alive who doesn't understand at<br>some significant level how great the advantage of seeing can be. This<br>morning I'm getting
ready to vacuum my rug. Before doing that I will<br>painstakingly walk around my living room in an attempt to find any mislaid<br>dog bones, torn up dog toy parts, or even spare socks from those of us who<br>did not take them off in the correct place and put them in the dirty<br>clothes. Does it cross my mind that any one of my daughters could sit on the<br>couch, turn her head, move her eyes, and ascertain the same information? Of<br>course it does. Do I wish I could do that? Absolutely. Will all of that<br>wishing get my floor cleared for vacuuming? It certainly won't. So rather<br>than fret about what some can do that I cannot, I take charge of my life by<br>walking around that room and being grateful for the fact that I can walk,<br>going back and forth in that room being grateful that I can use my mind to<br>create a system that will ensure that the floor is clear. Then I take that<br>vacuum cleaner, being grateful for the fact that I earned the
money to buy<br>it, and I set to work making my house presentable.<br><br><br><br>When people who can see go shopping at a big box store, I realize they have<br>a lot of advantages over me. They are not concerned about whether something<br>is or is not accessible. They may be concerned about whether it is too<br>complicated for what they want, but they never once have to worry about<br>whether it will talk or whether it has Bluetooth capability so that it can<br>interface with a braille display or their iPhone or some other device that<br>can render speech or braille. I wish we did not have to fight for access,<br>but I am glad that we at least have the ability to do it and realize<br>ourselves worthy of access. There was a time when there was no collective<br>activity on the part of blind people, and the thought that we might boil<br>water or cook a meal was absurd both to us and to those who looked after us.<br>The idea that we might actually make a
meaningful contribution was barely<br>considered, and we were nothing more than the family's burden and the bad<br>luck of the person who drew the short straw.<br><br><br><br>I grew up in a family with a disabled aunt. In today's world her disability<br>would've been seen as rather insignificant. She traveled using a walking<br>cane, but she was well read, had a great conscience, was funny, was<br>motivated, and took care of the house so that two people who didn't really<br>want her could both work outside the home. I thought that might be my life<br>as well, but circumstances placed me in a time when our country was<br>reassessing what it thought about blind people, how we could be educated,<br>and how we could be integrated. I think this occurred in no small part due<br>to our organization.<br><br><br><br>So what about research? I favor research on how to restore sight in the same<br>way that I think of research to kill the AIDS virus, grow new
kidneys for<br>those on dialysis, and figure out how to stop the ravages of diabetes and<br>keep people from insulin resistance and the damage done to their pancreas.<br>What I object to is the kind of publicity about research that says one<br>should give because the quality of life for those to be served is currently<br>intolerable. My life is not intolerable. It is rich, and I am blessed beyond<br>measure. This is not just a subjective judgment I make about the quality of<br>the time I have spent on earth. I have it as well as most other human beings<br>can hope to have it. I have a family who loves me, a group of people who<br>think that what I do and say has some importance in their lives, a job that<br>provides me with a good standard of living, enough reading material that I<br>understand the state of the world at least as much as the person on the<br>other end of the journalists pen can. I have problems aplenty, but at least<br>I have received
enough God-given gifts that these are ones I can handle. I<br>think this is true for many of the people I know, so when people sell<br>research on the pathetic state of our existence, then I object to the way<br>they are selling it, and I think it is fair for us to say that we have lives<br>that are worth living, whether or not we gain vision.<br><br><br><br>I think there are many things about the NFB's position on living as blind<br>people and the restoration of vision that are misunderstood. When we say<br>that it is respectable to be blind, we do not mean that being blind in and<br>of itself conveys respect. We do not mean that it is somehow superior to be<br>blind. What we do mean is that there is nothing about blindness that should<br>make people pity us, fail to consider us for responsible positions, or set<br>us up in the community as pathetic examples of what they might have been had<br>it not been for the grace of God. When we say that
blindness is a nuisance<br>and an inconvenience, it is not that we treasure the nuisance or don't at<br>times get mad about the inconvenience. We are proudly affirming that there<br>is a great difference between a nuisance and an inconvenience, and a tragic<br>condition that makes our lives substandard.<br><br><br><br>Lastly, if I had the opportunity to experience vision, would I be<br>interested? Yes I would. I would love to take a look at the stars. I would<br>love to take a look at enough faces that I would understand why people are<br>so spellbound by the Mona Lisa. I would love to look into the eyes of<br>another and see whether it really gives me a read on what is going on in<br>their sole or whether, like the human voice, it can sometimes be significant<br>and can sometimes be deceptive. I would love to spend several hours watching<br>YouTube videos and learning passively what can sometimes be more difficult<br>because I don't see it done. I
would love to look through a microscope and<br>see items that are smaller than a hair with such clarity that I could make<br>out their individual components. I would like to look at a two dimensional<br>picture and see how people form three-dimensional images in their mind that<br>convey beauty and tragedy. To me many of these simply feel like lines on a<br>page when someone has taken the time to put them in raised-line form.<br><br><br><br>As it is, those things are not likely to come my way anytime soon, so I take<br>my job to be enjoying the life I have, sharing it with others to the extent<br>that I can, and thanking God for the quality time he is given me on earth.<br><br><br><br>I love hearing your opinions. Thank you for putting them to paper. If you<br>have more of them, please use this list to flesh them out.<br><br><br><br>Gary<br><br><br><br>.<br><br><br><br><br><br>Gary Wunder, President<br><br>National Federation of the Blind of
Missouri<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Nfbmo mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">Nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbmo:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/freespirit.stl%40att.net " target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/freespirit.stl%40att.net </a><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Nfbmo mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">Nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Nfbmo:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/gwunder%40earthlink.net" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/gwunder%40earthlink.net</a><br><br><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 4<br>Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 20:41:09 +0000 (UTC)<br>From: Cari Ford <<a ymailto="mailto:member@linkedin.com" href="javascript:return">member@linkedin.com</a>><br>To: jeremiah Wells <<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a>><br>Subject: [Nfbmo] jeremiah, please add me to your LinkedIn network<br>Message-ID:<br> <<a ymailto="mailto:1511179248.254609.1442090469527.JavaMail.app@ltx1-app8543.prod" href="javascript:return">1511179248.254609.1442090469527.JavaMail.app@ltx1-app8543.prod</a>><br>Content-Type: text/plain;charset=UTF-8<br><br>Hi jeremiah,<br>I'd like to connect with you on LinkedIn.<br><br>Cari Ford<br>Student at University of Missouri-Saint Louis
School of Social Work<br><br>Accept: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&a=invite-accept&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&tracking=eml-comm_invm-b-accept-newinvite&ek=invite_member_28&mboxId=I6048565694285516800_500&sharedKey=IYMIN8AC&invitationId=6048565672743563264&fromReminder=false&fromEmail=true" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&a=invite-accept&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&tracking=eml-comm_invm-b-accept-newinvite&ek=invite_member_28&mboxId=I6048565694285516800_500&sharedKey=IYMIN8AC&invitationId=6048565672743563264&fromReminder=false&fromEmail=true</a><br><br>View Cari Ford's profile: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&t=npv&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&tracking=eml-comm_invm-b-name-newinvite&ek=invite_member_28&invitationAccept=280787129_I6048565694285516800_500&authType=name&authToken=h_d7&memberID=416503939"
target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&t=npv&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&tracking=eml-comm_invm-b-name-newinvite&ek=invite_member_28&invitationAccept=280787129_I6048565694285516800_500&authType=name&authToken=h_d7&memberID=416503939</a><br><br>You are receiving Invitation emails. Unsubscribe here: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&t=lun&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&tracking=eml-comm_invm-f-unsub-newinvite&ek=invite_member_28&loid=AQHpFcXaD7e2ugAAAU_DSkh8PrbXbBom5oksfcv_5VfSAvIj0z1xg0lWIeKX3doMhP9g53KEonU&eid=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&t=lun&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&tracking=eml-comm_invm-f-unsub-newinvite&ek=invite_member_28&loid=AQHpFcXaD7e2ugAAAU_DSkh8PrbXbBom5oksfcv_5VfSAvIj0z1xg0lWIeKX3doMhP9g53KEonU&eid=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38</a><br><br>This email was intended for jeremiah Wells (--). Learn why we included this at the following link: <a
href="https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&a=customerServiceUrl&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&ek=invite_member_28&articleId=4788" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=4n68qh-iehjfj7j-38&a=customerServiceUrl&midToken=AQGXQ_KiiKw-mQ&ek=invite_member_28&articleId=4788</a><br>© 2015, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA<br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 5<br>Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 22:31:06 -0500<br>From: Daniel Garcia <<a ymailto="mailto:dangarcia3@hotmail.com" href="javascript:return">dangarcia3@hotmail.com</a>><br>To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a>><br>Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight, and<br> our place as blind people in the world<br>Message-ID: <<a ymailto="mailto:COL130-DS19882B984EDD8BCD046910885E0@phx.gbl"
href="javascript:return">COL130-DS19882B984EDD8BCD046910885E0@phx.gbl</a>><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<br><br>Gary:<br><br>This message is very thoughtful.<br><br>As I was reading it I was reminded of a speech titled " Within the Grace of<br>God" delivered by Jacobus tenBroek on July 1, 1955.<br><br><a href="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/tb1956.htm" target="_blank">https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/tb1956.htm</a><br><br>The end of the speech follows:<br><br>Begin quote<br>In the Sixteenth Century, John Bradford made a famous remark which has ever<br>since been held up to us as a model of Christian humility and correct<br>charity and which you saw reflected in the agency quotations I presented.<br>Seeing a beggar in his rags creeping along a wall through a flash of<br>lightning in a stormy night Bradford said: "But for the Grace of God, there<br>go I." Compassion was shown; pity was shown; charity was
shown; humility was<br>shown; there was even an acknowledgement that the relative positions of the<br>two could and might have been switched. Yet despite the compassion, despite<br>the pity, despite the charity, despite the humility, how insufferably<br>arrogant! There was still an unbridgeable gulf between Bradford and the<br>beggar. They were not one but two. Whatever might have been, Bradford<br>thought himself Bradford and the beggar a beggar-one high, the other low;<br>one wise, the other misguided; one strong, the other weak; one virtuous, the<br>other depraved.<br><br>We do not and cannot take the Bradford approach. It is not just that beggary<br>is the badge of our past and is still all too often the present symbol of<br>social attitudes towards us; although that is at least part of it. But in<br>the broader sense, we are that beggar and he is each of us. We are made in<br>the same image and out of the same ingredients. We have the same
weaknesses<br>and strengths, the same feelings, emotions, and drives; and we are the<br>product of the same social, economic, and other environmental forces. How<br>much more consonant with the facts of individual and social life, how much<br>more a part of a true humanity, to say instead: "There, within the Grace of<br>God, do go I."<br>End quote<br><br>When this subject came up a few weeks ago I was thinking. If a blind person<br>were to regain or gain his eyesight he would have to undergo rehabilitation<br>to use the alternative techniques of sight to do as a sighted person what he<br>used to do as a blind person. My statement might seem preposterous to some,<br>but it is based on logic. Blind people do not use their eyes to gain<br>information about the world around them, they used other senses. If suddenly<br>they had the ability to see, they would have to learn to use their new found<br>sight in order to correctly interpret what information they
were perceiving.<br>This is especially true of people who were totally blind from birth. Imagine<br>if other blind people felt sorry for those that gained their eyesight<br>because they had to relearn how to do things. In his speech, Dr. tenBroek<br>used a parable to illustrate the divide that exists between sighted and<br>blind. Though it was given 60 years ago, it still resonates today.<br><br>Daniel<br><br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: Nfbmo [mailto:<a ymailto="mailto:nfbmo-bounces@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">nfbmo-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] On Behalf Of Gary Wunder via<br>Nfbmo<br>Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2015 9:23 AM<br>To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'<br>Cc: Gary Wunder<br>Subject: [Nfbmo] The value of research, the value of sight, and our place as<br>blind people in the world<br><br>Greetings to my friends and colleagues who have posted on this topic about<br>the value of sight, research, and how it relates to the National
Federation<br>of the Blind. I believe this post started with a comment from Rosina about<br>the absolute insistence of researchers that the only way blind people will<br>have a quality of life is when they are able to see. That discussion quickly<br>moved into whether or not blind people who are in the National Federation of<br>the Blind thought sight had value and whether we would like to see. I think<br>this discussion is one of those that I hope to this list would see more of,<br>and I'm gratified by it.<br><br> <br><br>I don't think that there is a blind person alive who doesn't understand at<br>some significant level how great the advantage of seeing can be. This<br>morning I'm getting ready to vacuum my rug. Before doing that I will<br>painstakingly walk around my living room in an attempt to find any mislaid<br>dog bones, torn up dog toy parts, or even spare socks from those of us who<br>did not take them off in the correct place and put them in
the dirty<br>clothes. Does it cross my mind that any one of my daughters could sit on the<br>couch, turn her head, move her eyes, and ascertain the same information? Of<br>course it does. Do I wish I could do that? Absolutely. Will all of that<br>wishing get my floor cleared for vacuuming? It certainly won't. So rather<br>than fret about what some can do that I cannot, I take charge of my life by<br>walking around that room and being grateful for the fact that I can walk,<br>going back and forth in that room being grateful that I can use my mind to<br>create a system that will ensure that the floor is clear. Then I take that<br>vacuum cleaner, being grateful for the fact that I earned the money to buy<br>it, and I set to work making my house presentable.<br><br> <br><br>When people who can see go shopping at a big box store, I realize they have<br>a lot of advantages over me. They are not concerned about whether something<br>is or is not accessible.
They may be concerned about whether it is too<br>complicated for what they want, but they never once have to worry about<br>whether it will talk or whether it has Bluetooth capability so that it can<br>interface with a braille display or their iPhone or some other device that<br>can render speech or braille. I wish we did not have to fight for access,<br>but I am glad that we at least have the ability to do it and realize<br>ourselves worthy of access. There was a time when there was no collective<br>activity on the part of blind people, and the thought that we might boil<br>water or cook a meal was absurd both to us and to those who looked after us.<br>The idea that we might actually make a meaningful contribution was barely<br>considered, and we were nothing more than the family's burden and the bad<br>luck of the person who drew the short straw. <br><br> <br><br>I grew up in a family with a disabled aunt. In today's world her disability<br>would've
been seen as rather insignificant. She traveled using a walking<br>cane, but she was well read, had a great conscience, was funny, was<br>motivated, and took care of the house so that two people who didn't really<br>want her could both work outside the home. I thought that might be my life<br>as well, but circumstances placed me in a time when our country was<br>reassessing what it thought about blind people, how we could be educated,<br>and how we could be integrated. I think this occurred in no small part due<br>to our organization.<br><br> <br><br>So what about research? I favor research on how to restore sight in the same<br>way that I think of research to kill the AIDS virus, grow new kidneys for<br>those on dialysis, and figure out how to stop the ravages of diabetes and<br>keep people from insulin resistance and the damage done to their pancreas.<br>What I object to is the kind of publicity about research that says one<br>should give because the
quality of life for those to be served is currently<br>intolerable. My life is not intolerable. It is rich, and I am blessed beyond<br>measure. This is not just a subjective judgment I make about the quality of<br>the time I have spent on earth. I have it as well as most other human beings<br>can hope to have it. I have a family who loves me, a group of people who<br>think that what I do and say has some importance in their lives, a job that<br>provides me with a good standard of living, enough reading material that I<br>understand the state of the world at least as much as the person on the<br>other end of the journalists pen can. I have problems aplenty, but at least<br>I have received enough God-given gifts that these are ones I can handle. I<br>think this is true for many of the people I know, so when people sell<br>research on the pathetic state of our existence, then I object to the way<br>they are selling it, and I think it is fair for us to say
that we have lives<br>that are worth living, whether or not we gain vision.<br><br> <br><br>I think there are many things about the NFB's position on living as blind<br>people and the restoration of vision that are misunderstood. When we say<br>that it is respectable to be blind, we do not mean that being blind in and<br>of itself conveys respect. We do not mean that it is somehow superior to be<br>blind. What we do mean is that there is nothing about blindness that should<br>make people pity us, fail to consider us for responsible positions, or set<br>us up in the community as pathetic examples of what they might have been had<br>it not been for the grace of God. When we say that blindness is a nuisance<br>and an inconvenience, it is not that we treasure the nuisance or don't at<br>times get mad about the inconvenience. We are proudly affirming that there<br>is a great difference between a nuisance and an inconvenience, and a tragic<br>condition that
makes our lives substandard.<br><br> <br><br>Lastly, if I had the opportunity to experience vision, would I be<br>interested? Yes I would. I would love to take a look at the stars. I would<br>love to take a look at enough faces that I would understand why people are<br>so spellbound by the Mona Lisa. I would love to look into the eyes of<br>another and see whether it really gives me a read on what is going on in<br>their sole or whether, like the human voice, it can sometimes be significant<br>and can sometimes be deceptive. I would love to spend several hours watching<br>YouTube videos and learning passively what can sometimes be more difficult<br>because I don't see it done. I would love to look through a microscope and<br>see items that are smaller than a hair with such clarity that I could make<br>out their individual components. I would like to look at a two dimensional<br>picture and see how people form three-dimensional images in their mind
that<br>convey beauty and tragedy. To me many of these simply feel like lines on a<br>page when someone has taken the time to put them in raised-line form. <br><br> <br><br>As it is, those things are not likely to come my way anytime soon, so I take<br>my job to be enjoying the life I have, sharing it with others to the extent<br>that I can, and thanking God for the quality time he is given me on earth.<br><br> <br><br>I love hearing your opinions. Thank you for putting them to paper. If you<br>have more of them, please use this list to flesh them out.<br><br> <br><br>Gary<br><br> <br><br>. <br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Gary Wunder, President<br><br>National Federation of the Blind of Missouri<br><br> <br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Nfbmo mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">Nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org"
target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbmo:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/dangarcia3%40hotmail.com" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/dangarcia3%40hotmail.com</a><br><br><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Subject: Digest Footer<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Nfbmo mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Nfbmo@nfbnet.org" href="javascript:return">Nfbmo@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org</a><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>End of Nfbmo Digest, Vol 136, Issue 15<br>**************************************<br></div><div></div></blockquote></div></html></td></tr></table>