[stylist] Kuell article in Braille Monitor

Thu Apr 4 03:38:39 UTC 2013

Is this the article that got you band?  

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donna Hill
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 2:07 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Kuell article in Braille Monitor

Cool! Chris is going viral!
Donna 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Robert Leslie
Newman
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 10:42 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Kuell article in Braille Monitor

Chris I have not seen the April Monitor yet --- but I saw this piece by you
a couple of weeks back, in the "Minnesota Bulletin." (Tom Scanlan liked it
too; he is the editor of the Bulletin. 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donna Hill
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 9:30 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Kuell article in Braille Monitor

Bridgit,
Thanks for posting this -- I'm a couple months behind in my reading.

Chris, this is a wonderful and poignant story. Thank you for being so candid
in sharing your experience. BTW, I'm told that the area of northeastern
Pennsylvania where we live was once part of Connecticut. I'm not sure if we
seceded or if you guys threw us out. *grin* Donna 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit
Pollpeter
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 4:11 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Kuell article in Braille Monitor

Stylist,

Our own Chris Kuell has an article in the current issue of The Braille
Monitor. Congrats, Chris.

              Change Our Lives-Why I Go to National Convention
                               by Chris Kuell

      From the Editor: This example of how attending the NFB national
convention has changed the lives of many of us is reprinted from the
Fall/Winter 2012 issue of the Federationist in Connecticut, a publication of
the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut which is edited by Chris
Kuell. He is the president of the Danbury chapter of the National Federation
of the Blind of Connecticut.
      Most of us who faithfully attend NFB annual conventions have stories
about the impact our first convention had on us. This is what Chris says
about attending his first national convention:

      In the summer of 1998 my wife and I entrusted the care of our kids to
my brother and his wife, said a few prayers, and headed to Dallas for our
first NFB national convention. My gut was full of anxiety, both because it
was our first time leaving the kids for more than a few hours and because of
the unknown that the convention was to me then. I really had no idea what to
expect, except that a blind friend named Betty Woodward had encouraged us to
go. She told us it would change our lives.
Since my entire life had been overturned in the previous year after I lost
my vision, I figured any further change could only be positive.
      We caught a shuttle van from the airport to the hotel. A guy on the
seat next to me asked if I was going to the NFB convention, and I said, yes,
how about him? He told me he was going to his fifth convention. His name was
Ed, and he was from Detroit. I asked whom he was traveling with and got my
first shock of the week. "Nobody" he said.
      "Nobody?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around this concept. I had
received a white cane from our state agency for the blind and even knew my
way to my kids' school and the local Rite-Aid, but the concept of traveling
to another state alone was beyond my comprehension. How could you find the
door? How could you find the front desk to check in--or your room, for that
matter? My brain nearly burst with questions.
      I held my wife's elbow tightly as we checked in at the front desk,
surrounded by blind people. Several asked my wife for directions, which she
gave. We had to walk down a long hallway to another building to get to our
room. As we walked, I heard little feet and kids laughing as they sprinted
by. "You won't believe it," my wife said. "That was three blind kids, racing
with their canes down the corridor."
      Blind kids, running? Once again my mind was filled with one
question: how? We spent the afternoon listening to talks. I popped into a
meeting of blind diabetics and another full of blind scientists and
engineers. Before dinner we went to the pool for a swim. There I met Dan, a
blind computer teacher who answered some of my many questions about JAWS. We
spoke with two women who had driven down from upstate New York with a van
full of kids. I talked with a blind single mom who was raising a daughter
the same age as my son. She worked as an accountant at a company in
Virginia.
      My wife wanted to clean up before dinner, and she turned the TV on for
me before showering. I listened as a man with a strong voice and a slight
Tennessee drawl spoke about a blind man who was sitting at home waiting for
someone to help him. He said the guy called and called his state agency for
the blind, but they rarely called him back, and, when they did, they rarely
did anything for him. They reminded him of all the things he couldn't do.
The man felt worthless, he felt afraid, and he lost all hope for the future.
As I listened, tears began to stream down my cheeks. The man on the
television said he was talking about a guy named Bill, but I didn't think
that was the case. He was talking about me.
      After dinner we went to the bar, where I learned another truth-blind
people like to drink. I talked with a guy named Mike from Canada and a man
named Felix from San Diego, who had lost his sight, had it restored through
surgery, and then lost it again. I heard stories of frustration, stories of
adventures, and stories that made me laugh so hard my belly hurt. I felt
more relaxed than I had since the day the doctor had removed the bandages
from my eyes and I couldn't see anything.
      After a week we left Dallas, and both my wife and I had changed.
She didn't want me clutching her elbow anymore, and she wanted me to try
doing more things by myself. Rather than my questioning how other blind
people did things, I thought to myself-if they can do it, I can do it as
well.
      In 1999 we brought the kids with us to the convention in Atlanta, and
in 2000 I attended the national convention by myself. I've been to
conventions in Philadelphia, Louisville, and back to Atlanta again. With
each convention I meet new people, make more friends, and come home
reenergized to make a difference in the world.

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