[Ohio-talk] question of philosophy

[richard payne]

The following  was posted on the chapter presidents list and only when I
read things like this  are some one  asked what the difference is in the 2
groups do I cling to  a strong sound philosophy.
Yes there are democrats' and republicans but I am a federations' to death.
The person who wrote the following   be leaves in just what he writes. 

by Paul Edwards 
At the beginning of a new year, it's perhaps appropriate to pause for a
little reflection. It's customary to do what I have done before with this
column and look back at the preceding year and ahead to the next one. I am
not going to do that! Instead, I want to offer some of my answers to the
question I get asked more often than any other as president of the American
Council of the Blind. Can you guess what the question is? What does the ACB
stand for? What is ACB's philosophy? What makes the ACB different from the
NFB? Though this question has been posed in three different ways, it's
really the same question. 

I have often thought of dealing with this issue here and have avoided it
because many will disagree with whatever I say. Disagreement is good! One of
ACB's hallmarks is its tolerance for people with divergent notions of who
they are and what ACB is! That, in fact, is one of the organization's
characteristics! It is a fluid set of beliefs and assumptions that changes
from state to state and from time to time. But, for me anyway, there are
some core values that are at the heart of what the ACB is! Here are some of
them! 

It is OK to be blind! That's a big one! It carries with it a whole set of
other ancillary values. First and foremost, people who have meaningful
vision loss are blind. Blindness is much more than just a nuisance. Blind
people can and should expect society to make changes that facilitate the
inclusion of people who are blind. These last two values may be areas where
members of the National Federation of the Blind would not agree with us! 

Another core value of the ACB relates to expectations! We are absolutely
convinced that there is not a one-size-fits-all "blind person" or that there
should be! I believe that ACB values diversity and is tolerant of people who
are at various levels of independence. Does that mean that we don't champion
good training or expect a lot of our members? I don't think so! It does mean
that we embrace people at various levels of competence and try very hard not
to be judgmental about where people are! In a very real sense, I think that
ACB has almost instinctively adopted the "People First" model by placing
individuality far above other values in seeing each other. 

And then there is democracy! ACB, as most of you well know, was formed, in
part, because those who created our organization believed that states and
individual members alike had to have substantial autonomy to express
divergent opinions without being penalized. So, another core value of ACB is
the notion that there must be room for a broad range of beliefs within our
organization. If this is a core value, and I think it is, it goes a long way
toward explaining why we have never been able to produce the kind of
coherent, easily portable creed that all of our members must accept. 

All of the divergence I have talked about so far has some real drawbacks. It
truly has impeded coherent, centralized decision-taking and probably always
will. That divergence has also made it difficult for us to arrive at
positions sometimes. Where there is disagreement, we debate. This debate can
often take many years and can cause us to take positions that may seem
somewhat ambivalent to those who do not know us well. I choose to use a
different word! Our positions validate divergence by creating a place where
the majority of our members are comfortable. 

What I have written about here does not constitute a complete list of our
core values. It may well not be your core list of our fundamental beliefs.
But there is one more core value I think we can agree upon! That is that the
ACB is much more than just a group of blind people meeting and working
together for common goals! It's much larger than the sum of its members!
It's a hug when you're feeling sad! It's a belly-laugh at those in society
who just don't understand! It's arms around each other when we lose someone!
It's a place where you can feel safe! It's anger distilled into action as
people die falling off subway platforms! It's people arguing and hugging
afterwards! It's 1,500 people singing the national anthem! It's help and
hope and hands and holding and happiness and hilarity. It's us, alone and
together, divided and united, men and women, young and old! And it's the
American Council of the Blind! 

So when someone asks you what the American Council of the Blind is or any of
those other questions, you can show him or her this column! Will it tell him
or her who we are and what we believe? Not really. It might help, but ACB is
not a philosophy. It's a dynamic never-ending experience, and the only way
you can truly understand us is to plunge right in among us and become us!
And then, if you fully understand who we are, tell me because I would like
to know too!