[Nfbmt] Dreams, by Sheila Leigland

[Bruce&Joy Breslauer]

Have you ever written something down just to get it off your chest, a rant
aimed at everybody in general and nobody in particular, usually not meant
for publication, to vent your frustration about the way things are in your
life, or at least the way you perceive them to be at that particular moment?
Maybe it's something that has built up over time, or something that comes to
a head suddenly and seeks an outlet before you go postal.

 

Most people aren't brave enough to share such rantings on an email list, but
I know somebody who is.  So since we're all friends here, I promise I won't
tell if you won't tell.  We'll keep this little secret just between us.  

 

At a recent at large chapter meeting, President Sheila Leigland asked what
are our dreams as blind people.  If we could have the best of all possible
worlds, what would our world be like?  Here is something she wrote last
winter along those lines that she gave me permission to share.  It might get
us thinking about how we can work together as an organization to see some of
our dreams come true.

 

Snip snip 

Someone once asked me what my dreams for the future were, and actually, I
have been giving this some thought in reference to what I would like to see
happen for blind people in our country. 

 

In my perfect world, blindness would truly be a physical nuisance. I
wouldn't have people asking if there are homes for the blind.  People
wouldn't be amazed that we can buy a house. Well-meaning folks wouldn't
assume that we all have free housing because we are such nice people. Blind
parents wouldn't need to defend their right to have and raise their
children. They would never feel that a pregnancy needed to be hidden.  Blind
parents wouldn't be hurt because the suggestion of someone else raising
their children wouldn't even come up in conversation, because we would be
seen as capable and loving parents.

 

In my perfect world, we wouldn't have to fight for accessible materials in
our schools and places of higher education. We would be able to take the
classes of our choosing and pass or fail like everyone else. We could work
equally with those around us in our chosen fields and truly be judged by the
work that we do, not our disability. As a wife and mother, It would not be
assumed that because I'm blind I wouldn't see whether my home is clean. A
teacher wouldn't even think about sending me a note stating that she felt my
son needed a haircut, as if because I didn't see the length of his hair I
wouldn't know that it was too long. My own relatives wouldn't have been
afraid that we would lose our child while taking him to Disneyland just
because we are blind.  

 

I'm a part of the national federation of the blind because I want us to
realize the dream of my perfect world. I just want us to be able to live the
lives that we want. If I believed that these dreams that I have aren't
possible to achieve, I would choose to not be a part of the National
federation of the blind, but I do choose to belong because my ideals are
worth standing up for and, yes, fighting for. I know that the road seems
long and it isn't easy, but oh it will be worth it when these things happen,
because then we will be truly free.

 

Sheila Leigland

Snip snip 

 

Joy Breslauer, President

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

www.nfbofmt.org

 

Live the life you want 

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back