[nfbwatlk] Fw: an essay
KAYE KIPP
kkipp123 at msn.com
Wed Nov 25 05:06:59 UTC 2009
Wow. Good essay.
Kaye
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:40 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: an essay
> ----- Forwarded Message -----
> From: "Mary Ellen" <gabias at telus.net>
> To: <list at cfb.ca>
> Date: Monday, Nov 23, 2009 13:31:04
> Subject: an essay
>
>
>
>
>
> Joanne, our nineteen-year-old daughter, is studying in Guatemala this
> semester. As part of her philosophy course, she studied nongovernmental
> organizations, (NGO'NESS). This is the essay she wrote comparing effective
> and ineffective NGO's.
> The whole movement toward social and human services would be greatly
> enhanced if those making decisions remembered respect, education, and
> offering a genuine hand up.
>
> Joanne Gabias
> Philosophy 235
> Essay 3
> Don't Be Blinded by the Glamour
> Many humanitarian organizations put on a show that will please the donors.
> They tell them what they want to hear to receive funds. However, these
> funds sparsely are properly distributed to the benefit of the recipients.
> The best way to measure the effectiveness of these organizations is to see
> how they respect their recipients, their methods of education and if they
> are giving people a hand up or a hand out. I will be looking at two
> different organizations to illustrate the difference between a positive
> and effective humanitarian organization and an organization parading as
> one.
> To be able to help someone you need to first understand who they are as a
> person or as a people. You cannot pretend that they are any less than
> they are. You cannot downplay their identity. Once you acknowledge them
> for who they are you have to respect them for who they are. From there you
> are able to figure out what you are able to do in helping them in whatever
> way they need to further their personal improvement.
> The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the largest organization for
> the Blind in the United States. Respect is at the core of everything they
> stand for and fight for. They do not run from the word blind. They embrace
> it. They believe "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of
> eyesight, but the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist. If
> a blind person has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be
> reduced to the level of a physical nuisance." (NFB)
> The CNIB on the other hand, fears the word blind. The CNIB is a Canadian
> organization that focuses on the prevention of blindness and support of
> people with vision loss. Their name used to signify Canadian National
> Institute for the Blind but they have since changed it to simply CNIB.
> There were two reasons for the change in name. The first was they didn't
> like the word Institute, rightly so. The second was they didn't like the
> word Blind. They refuse to call anyone they help Blind, even if they are
> 100% blind. They prefer to use the word vision impaired or affected by
> vision loss for everyone they help. This is the core of their
> ineffectiveness. If you are terrified to understand people for who they
> are, you are not able to truly respect them and therefore are unable to
> help them in any way.
> Once you recognize and see the value in who you are trying to aid, you can
> find ways of facilitating their needs through education. Education is the
> basis to all self-improvement. You cannot grow if you do not have a method
> of doing so.
> The NFB's main focus of aid is through education. They have programs for
> all ages, infants to seniors, for all degrees of blindness, legally blind
> to completely blind, for parents of blind children to blind parents, for
> newly blind and so much more. Their goal is to help people "understand the
> real problems of blindness and try to develop innovative education,
> technologies, products and services that help the world's blind to achieve
> independence." (NFB)
> Since the CNIB does not believe in the word blind, their goal is to try to
> help you use the little vision you have as much as possible. They have
> products and services that help you continue to use your sight. CNIB is
> not directly responsible for the education of blind children, though they
> frequently raise funds using children. Nevertheless, their philosophy of
> using vision instead of developing blindness techniques has been adopted
> by the education system of Canada. In schools, at least partly because of
> the influence of CNIB, children are not taught how to read Braille rather
> how to use large magnifying glasses to slowly read print. This in fact
> hinders the child. Once they become fully blind, they will have no way to
> read or write anymore. They will have to read learn all these things when
> they could have been taught them in the beginning. Learning blindness
> techniques would not prevent them from using their small amount of vision.
> In fact, knowing blindness skills make
> s the use of small amounts of remaining eyesight more useful because sight
> can be used in situations where it will truly help and blindness
> techniques most of the time because they work best. If the person knows no
> blindness techniques, the person has no choices.
> The CNIB looks at blindness or vision loss, as they call it, as a huge
> problem that has little hope without their services. This is clearly
> embodied in their slogan Vision Health, Vision Hope.
> If they want to be an effective and positive organization, CNIB must start
> giving their recipients a hand up and not simply a handout. They should be
> a supporting aspect of a person's self-improvement not the provider of
> cradle to grave services, most of which a well trained and independent
> blind person does not need. Their goal should be to give their recipients
> the means of coming to their own ends. They shouldn't consider themselves
> the saving god of their recipients or their only way to happiness.
> The National Federation of the Blind believes that every person is an
> ordinary person, some just happen to be blind. It is the same as if you
> are missing your pinky finger on your right hand, it's annoying but it
> doesn't make you any less capable than anyone else. The NFB provides
> measures of helping you attain your full potential and assists you in
> achieving your goals. There are blind welders and blind painters even
> blind people who have climbed to the top of Mount Everest. The NFB is also
> a positive support when faced with prejudice and discrimination in the
> work place or other institutions. The NFB helps people fight many battles
> of inequality due to blindness. My own parents have benefitted from the
> help of the NFB in this matter. The airlines wanted to take away their
> right to walk by refusing to let them keep their canes with them on the
> plane.
> The CNIB see themselves as the facilitator of happiness for their
> recipients. They believe that through their products and support, their
> recipients are able to live a more enjoyable and hopeful life, as much as
> they can without their eyesight. They see themselves as the light at the
> end of the tunnel. They unfortunately do not have programs or services
> that help their recipients personally grow and prosper. The CNIB "needs to
> be needed" by blind people they perceive as perpetual clients. The more
> they're needed, the more funds they can raise from the public.
> Many people especially in Canada see names like the CNIB and believe they
> are helping their recipients achieve a better life without really looking
> into what the agency does to help their recipients help themselves. Many
> people believe when an organization claims to be helping their recipients
> that they truly are doing so. Donors need to look into the three aspects
> of an organization as explained above, respect, education and hand up or
> handout, to determine if an organization is truly helping their
> recipients. People need to stop being blinded by the glamour of good
> intentions.
>
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> References
> "NFB- What Is the National Federation of the Blind?". National Federation
> of the Blind. Nov 24 2009
> http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Who_We_Are.asp?SnID=983196946
> "CNIB- Vision Support". CNIB. Nov 24 2009.
> http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/vision-support/Default.aspx
>
>
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