[stylist] sharing

[EvaMarie Sanchez]

Debby, I do not want to get too far into it here, but suffice it to say
that yes there are many things within most Pagan practices that are
inhibited due to blindness and vision loss. Some of us struggle with
practicing the way we want to because of it and we could only benefit from
sharing with others.
As for the lady on the church bus; Well, it is true that churchesare not
bound by the ADA, but it sounds as if that pastor was not being relentless.
He did come up with an alternative option that he was able to provide this
woman. He should be commended for this. For whatever reason he had to deny
her access to the bus, he was nnot denying her access to the church
function.
As for the taxi cabs driven by Muslims; Their personal beliefs are their
personal beliefs, but they are choosing to work in a public capacity which
is covered by the ADA.
I am no longer, or at least at this mmoment, on the NAGDU list as it was
getting too repetitive and argumentative for me. I think this was proven
when Margot resigned as moderator for that very reason.I do miss the
important issues though and luckily Marion does try and put things out
there on the members list when it is urgent.
We do talk about a variety of things here, but as Shelley had previously
said, this is primarily and always will be a writers' list. We need to make
that effort to keep it such. But still, we are more diverse than many of
the lists out there.
Let's not lose that either.
Eve Sanchez

 President, National Federation of the Blind Northern Arizona
President, National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division
Committee Chair, Arizona Association of Guide Dog Users
Affiliate Member, National Federation of the Blind Legislative Committee
Affiliate Member, National Federation of the Blind Membership Committee
Member, Slate & Style Editing Team

"You do not need to have vision to see the stars."

On Sat, Aug 15, 2015 at 12:32 PM, Debby Phillips via stylist <
stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Well, the division you mention is supposed to be all-inclusive, but
> unfortunately I do not believe that it is.  Its purpose is supposed to be
> for discussions about how blindness affects people's ability to be involved
> in their faith, whether it be Southern Baptist or Buddhist.  I personally
> don't see how my blindness has anything to do with what I believe, and
> since churches have exempted themselves from the ADA, there's not much that
> anybody can do if a church discriminates against a blind person.  For
> instance, on the NAGDU list, there was a recent discussion because a church
> pastor decided that a lady with her guide dog could not ride the bus to
> church because of children being on the bus.  I'm simplifying this issue,
> but here's my point.  We all made suggestions, made angry comments, but
> basically when push came to shove, neither NFB, ACB or any other group can
> help this woman.  The pastor did offer her rides in someone's car to
> church.  With her dog.  So she could choose that option, or go elsewhere to
> church.  I'm not quite sure I understand all of that, since cab drivers who
> are Muslims have been told that they must pick up blind people with their
> dogs, even if they do believe that dogs are unclean.  But I digress.  In
> what way, other than as a point of gatring, would a Pagan group or division
> be necessary? Or an LGBT group? ACB has one, but I'm really not sure what
> they do.  We could have a Catholic group, a Methodist group, or whatever.
> How does that help the cause rthe Fedgation? And we could have a Wiccan
> group and some other kind of group, but other than helping us to find out
> who each other is, I see no point.  The Writers Division and other more
> general Divios can certainly have a purpose, because we can discuss things
> that are important to us as blind writerB are there specific things that
> only affect blind Wiccans, or blind Pagans? As for me I'd love to know more
> blind Catholics, but not just NFB Catholics, or ACB Catholics.  I'd want to
> know things like: are there blind priests? Are there blind nuns? If so,
> what do you do? What accommodations have you been given? How does this
> affect your spirituality? But I don't want it just to be folks from NFB or
> ACB.  Hmm.  Maybe I should start a Catholic email list? Lol.     Debby
> P.S.  Sorry for my rambling.
>
>
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