[Ohio-talk] Dr. tenGroek's remarks at the founding meeting

[barbara.pierce9366 at gmail.com]

I have pasted in Dr. Tenbroek's 1940 call to
organize address.



[handwritten] Minutes of first meeting

Nov - 1940 - [end handwriting]

BLIND OF THE NATION:

The time has come to organize upon a national basis! In dealing with the public, especially in its many governmental forms, we, as handicapped persons, have long known the advantage and even the necessity of collective action. Individually, we are scattered, ineffective

and inarticulate, subject alike to the oppression of the social
worker and the arrogance of the governmental administrator. Collectively, we are the masters of our own future and the successful guardian of our own common interests. Let one speak in the name of many who are prepared to act in his support, let the democratically elected blind representatives of the blind act as spokesman for all, let the

machinery be created to unify the action and concentrate the energies

of the blind as a nation, and the inherent justice of our cause and

the good will of the public will do the rest.

When the problems of the blind first began to be regarded as a proper subject of public concern, they fell within the jurisdiction of the county or township authorities. At that time local organizations of the blind were adequate. But when, in the course of time, our problems were taken over by the State legislative

and executive  authorities, the local organizations of the
blind had to be associated in a larger group capable of state-wide action. Now that the national government has entered the field of assistance to the blind, we must again adjust our organizational structure to the area of the governmental unit with which we must deal. The time has come to join our state and local blind organizations in a national federation. Only by this method can the blind hope to cope with the nation-wide difficulties at present besetting us.

There are many goals upon which we can unite:-The ultimate establishment of a national pension which will eliminate  the diversities of treatment of the blind among the states and insure an adequate support to all; the correction of the vices that have crept into the administration of the social security act by seeking  its [handwritten] amendment [end handwriting] in Congress; the  proper and reasonable definition of the blind persons who should receive public assistance; governmental recognition of the fact that the blind are not to be classified as paupers and that they have needs peculiar to and arising out of their blindness; the property type of statutory standards by which eligibility for
public

assistance should be determined; adequate methods for restraining

the influence and defining the place of the social worker in the
administration

of aid laws; proper safeguards to prevent administrative

abuse and misinterpretation of statutes designed for our benefit; legislative and administrative encouragement of the blind who are striving to render themselves self-supporting; legal recognition of the right of a blind aid recipient to own a little; earn a

little, accept a little; governmental recognition of our inalienable right to receive public assistance and still retain our economic,

social and political independence, our intellectual integrity, and our spiritual self-respect;—these are but a few of the problems that are common to the blind throughout the nation. But the mere listing of them shows the imperative need for organization upon a national

basis, for creating the machinery which will unify the action and concentrate the energies of the blind, for an instrument through which the blind of the nation can speak to Congress and the Public in a voice that will be heard and command attention. Until the blind become group conscious and support such an organization, they will continue to live out their lives in material poverty, in social isolation, and in the atrophy of their productive powers.

Barbara Pierce 
President Emerita
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
Barbara.pierce9366 at gmail.com
440-774-8077
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 zwant; blindness is not what holds you back.