[Nfbmt] Wake Up, Montana. Time is of the essence.

[Bruce&Joy Breslauer]

Hello, my fellow hibernating Montana Federationists.

 

Winter is here and the weather is fluctuating.  When it is cold most
red-blooded Montana wildlife go into hibernation.  Is that true of the
typical red-blooded Montana Federationist?

 

We have thousands of beautiful brochures to distribute to get our name and
mission out there, and to recruit more helping hands and deeper pockets.  

 

I have only had two requests for more brochures from our Montana Federation
family members.  What are the rest of us doing?  How can we get these
brochures out into the public eye and into the hands of the people who need
our help and advocacy the most, but may not even know that we exist? How will
they know they can add their numbers and enthusiasm to ours, to help us
change Montana and the nation and even the world into a place where we truly
can live the lives we want.  

 

Every day more and more Montana seniors are dealing with failing vision,
which often happens with aging.  Where can they turn?  Montana high school
students are graduating and entering the work force or college.  What
obstacles will they face, and who will be there to encourage them to overcome
these obstacles, and to advocate for their removal?  Parents are having
children who may be born with disabilities, or who may become disabled
through an accident or a war.  Perhaps one or both of the parents has a
visual disability.  Who will be there to advocate for them so they don't
automatically lose their children?  Who will be there to educate the
nondisabled that blindness can be a nuisance, a characteristic like blonde
hair or brown eyes or skin color, and doesn't automatically have to be the
end of the world or the reason for teachers, employers, or anyone else to
have low expectations of the person who is blind?  The answer to all these
questions and many more like them is the NFB of Montana, but not if no one
knows who we are and what we can do together.  We are the friend who comes
alongside and shares the knowledge we have gained from each other, and from
life, with someone who doesn't yet know there is an alternative to
helplessness and hopelessness, but when they learn it, they can teach what
they have learned to another.  When a blind person can succeed in school or
work, own a home, pay taxes, get married, have kids, and live a normal life
just like anyone else, and not have it be the subject of a noteworthy and
marvelous news story, then we may be making progress toward living the lives
we want.  

 

At the Washington Seminar I just attended, someone made the comment that a
disabled person has a need and cries out for help, but the Federationist sees
a need and says how can I help, even before being asked.  Let's be the change
we want to see in the Big Sky Country and the world.  Let's show the rest of
the world that blindness is not what is holding us back.

 

Joy Breslauer, President

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

Address: P.O. Box 1325, Great Falls, MT 59403 

Phone: (406) 454-3096

Email: president at nfbofmt.org

Web Site: 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.

 

It's TIME to Eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities

http://www.nfb.org/TIME

 

Donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Montana
<http://www.nfbofmt.org/donate.html>