<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I was listening to the podcast on my treadmill, and it literally had me crying. Incredible.<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On May 3, 2021, at 6:23 PM, Tony Santiago via NJTechDiv <<a href="mailto:njtechdiv@nfbnet.org" class="">njtechdiv@nfbnet.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Some of you may have already heard or read this, but I thought it so good I had to share. Enjoy.</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-IE" class="">Why I am proud to be blind<br class=""><br class="">written by Jonathan Mosen<br class=""><br class="">I often mention on my Mosen At Large podcast that I am proud to be <br class="">blind. Recently, I was challenged by a listener and asked how I can <br class="">possibly be proud of having a serious, debilitating condition.<br class="">I am glad to say that disability pride, and blind pride as a subset of <br class="">that, is on the rise. Yet it is an incomprehensible concept to some.<br class="">I keep a gratitude journal, where I write at least 10 things every day <br class="">for which I am grateful. So it was easy for me to consult that journal, <br class="">where I have often written of things relating to blindness for which I <br class="">am grateful and write this piece on why I am proud to be blind. You can <br class="">hear the audio of this in Mosen At Large episode 119, but here is the <br class="">text of what I said.<br class="">I am profoundly proud to be blind. I am proud of the fact that as a kid, <br class="">when my older siblings would have been found out for reading at night, I <br class="">read in the dark as much as I liked, a Braille book tucked under the <br class="">covers on winter nights.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because it connects me with a proud history. I <br class="">share a characteristic with a man who gave us the priceless gift of <br class="">functional, efficient literacy. Louis Braille was an example of “nothing <br class="">about us without us” in the 19th century, long before we used that <br class="">phrase. His genius invention was derided by sighted people who were <br class="">certain they knew what was best for us. He was ridiculed. His code was <br class="">driven underground and his books were burned. But he prevailed, because <br class="">he was blind. He devised his code for himself, he gave it, at <br class="">considerable personal cost, to all of us.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because of all the other blind people who <br class="">followed in Louis Braille’s footsteps, blind people innovating and <br class="">inventing for our collective advancement, imagining a better future and <br class="">making it real. Whether it be Larry Skutchan with his methodical mind <br class="">and interminable patience, or Ted Henter with his zeal and <br class="">entrepreneurship, or David Costution and Glen Gordon who believed that <br class="">Windows could be truly useable and then made it come true, or the blind <br class="">people now working on the inside of mainstream companies who are our <br class="">champions, we dreamed it, we created it.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because blind people are the reason the 33 RPM <br class="">record was developed, initially so talking books could be distributed <br class="">more efficiently.<br class="">And speaking of talking books, I am proud to be blind, because blind <br class="">people are the reason talking books exist. Now, sighted people are using <br class="">them too.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because the original reading machine was created <br class="">for us. We started the journey of digitising printed text that resulted <br class="">in the scanners that are still commonplace in offices today.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because long before the term PDA was in the <br class="">lexicon of sighted people, we were taking notes, keeping track of <br class="">appointments and reading books on devices like Keynotes and <br class="">Braille’n’Speaks.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because we were one of the reasons computers <br class="">started to talk. Technology is better because of blind people. There are <br class="">so many examples of technology when we, proudly, have been the blind who <br class="">led the sighted.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because I am not influenced by someone’s <br class="">physical appearance, but instead gain information from the tone of a <br class="">voice and the words that are said.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because it has made me a more lateral thinker, <br class="">developing and refining alternative techniques to access a wide range of <br class="">information so I can thrive in a largely sight-dependent world.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because even though my other senses aren’t <br class="">sharper than anyone else’s, in fact I have a dual sensory loss, like <br class="">many blind people I use them well. It makes me smile when I can tell <br class="">what type of audio processor is being used on a radio station, or when <br class="">another blind person can tell the kind of car that’s passing by simply <br class="">by the sound it’s making, or when a blind person gives another blind <br class="">person an instruction like, “when your cane hits a pole on my street <br class="">that emits a fifth octave A-Flat, you’re outside my house”.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because of the legacy of great blind civil <br class="">rights leaders around the world. Often ostracised and branded radical <br class="">troublemakers, they confronted, and are still confronting today, the <br class="">tyranny of low expectations and the disabling decisions society has <br class="">chosen to make. They challenged the damaging, fundamentally flawed <br class="">notion that we had neither the ability nor the right to achieve <br class="">self-determination, that it wasn’t necessary for society to be <br class="">accessible, or inclusive, or accepting. Their belief in a fairer <br class="">tomorrow unshackled us from institutions and shattered disempowering <br class="">paternalism. Their tenacity has seen the increasing availability of <br class="">better training, much of it driven by blind people ourselves, and <br class="">increased opportunity through civil rights legislation.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because as a subset of the world’s largest <br class="">minority, disabled people, blind people led the way in the disability <br class="">movement, securing legislative victories long before they were common <br class="">for much of the rest of the sector. I am grateful every day of my life <br class="">for those blind people who took on those difficult causes, displayed <br class="">tenacity and stated their cases again, and again, and again until <br class="">progress was slowly but surely made. I am proud of the personal <br class="">responsibility I feel as a blind person to always cherish and defend, <br class="">never take for granted, and constantly build upon the legacy of civil <br class="">rights victories that I have inherited and benefited from. I am mindful <br class="">that they must not be squandered, and I am proud to stand up, be <br class="">counted, and do my moral duty to advance that legacy so that the next <br class="">generation has even more opportunity than I have had.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because it has shaped who I am, it is part of my <br class="">identity and it has helped define me. I accept that. I embrace that.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because in being blind I contribute to the rich <br class="">tapestry and the diversity of humankind.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because no matter how many negative signals are <br class="">sent, I know that being blind makes me no less a person of worth.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, because the opposite of pride is shame, and my <br class="">blindness is nothing to be ashamed of.<br class="">I am proud to be blind, and therefore share a characteristic with <br class="">talented people from all walks of life. Blind people are parents, <br class="">devoted, loving parents, some of whom have had their babies literally <br class="">snatched from their loving arms, an atrocity no capable and loving <br class="">parent should endure, and all for no other reason than people getting it <br class="">horribly wrong about blindness. I am proud that we as blind people show <br class="">those parents love, solidarity, and a steadfast determination to get <br class="">those children back where they belong.<br class="">Blind people are in factories and farms, law practices and legislatures, <br class="">sandwich shops and start-ups. I am proud of the blind teachers, software <br class="">developers, businesspeople, mechanics, transcribers, musicians and even <br class="">medical doctors. There is very little we can’t do and there are few <br class="">professions where you can’t find a blind person, often to many people’s <br class="">surprise. The only trouble is, the world doesn’t necessarily know that. <br class="">And that’s the biggest reason I am proud to be blind. Because every day, <br class="">just by getting on with my life, I defy the odds in a disabling society, <br class="">we defy expectations where there is little disability confidence. When <br class="">people tell us we can’t, we show them yes, we can. It can be exhausting <br class="">sometimes. We may get knocked down, and sometimes we may feel like we’re <br class="">out for the count. But eventually, most of us get up again. We apply for <br class="">that one more job. We work around that inaccessible website. We keep <br class="">calm and carry on when we’re treated like a helpless child in the <br class="">street, or when walking into a store, or when yet another ride share <br class="">driver declines to take our guide dog. That takes guts, it takes <br class="">tenacity. The odds are stacked against us, but we march on, we make <br class="">progress. Go us!<br class="">Yes, I am proud, proud, a thousand times proud to be blind.<br class="">Share and enjoy<br class=""><br class=""><a href="https://mosen.org/BlindPride/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">https://mosen.org/BlindPride/</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"></p></div></div><div width="1" style="clear: both;" class="">_._,_._,_</div><hr style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255); text-decoration: underline;" class=""><a href="http://Groups.io" class="">Groups.io</a></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> Links:</span><p style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">You receive all messages sent to this group. </p><p style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><a target="_blank" href="https://groups.io/g/idevices/message/12993" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">View/Reply Online (#12993)</a> | <a target="_blank" href="mailto:idevices@groups.io?subject=Re:%20%5BiDevices%5D%20Why%20I%20am%20proud%20to%20be%20blind" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">Reply To Group</a>| <a target="_blank" href="mailto:kevinmeyers@wi.rr.com?subject=Private:%20Re:%20%5BiDevices%5D%20Why%20I%20am%20proud%20to%20be%20blind" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">Reply To Sender</a> | <a target="_blank" href="https://groups.io/mt/82550927/1306116" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">Mute This Topic</a> | <a href="https://groups.io/g/idevices/post" style="color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">New Topic</a><br class=""></p><hr style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); width: 85.5px; margin-right: 342px;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">To post to this list send your message to: </span><span dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255); text-decoration: underline;" class=""><a href="mailto:idevices@groups.io" class="">idevices@groups.io</a></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">This list owned by, Gateway For the Blind LLC.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><a href="http://www.gatewayfortheblind.com/" target="_blank" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">http://www.gatewayfortheblind.com</a><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">The Gateway To Independence</span><hr style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); width: 85.5px; margin-right: 342px;" class=""><a href="https://groups.io/g/idevices/editsub/1306116" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">Your Subscription</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> | </span><a href="mailto:idevices+owner@groups.io" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">Contact Group Owner</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> | </span><a href="https://groups.io/g/idevices/leave/3985842/1306116/90581974/xyzzy" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255);" class="">Unsubscribe</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> [</span><span dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(37, 37, 255); text-decoration: underline;" class=""><a href="mailto:ts12865@yahoo.com" class="">ts12865@yahoo.com</a></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">]</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><div width="1" style="clear: both;" class="">_._,_._,_</div><br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Tony Santiago<div class="">Sent from my iPhone</div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">NJTechDiv mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:NJTechDiv@nfbnet.org" class="">NJTechDiv@nfbnet.org</a><br class="">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/njtechdiv_nfbnet.org<br class="">To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NJTechDiv:<br class="">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/njtechdiv_nfbnet.org/guitarwizandy%40optonline.net<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></body></html>