[nabs-l] Martin Luther King Junior Day of service.

Sun Jan 20 22:27:04 UTC 2013

Hi Arielle and others,
I experienced the attitudes you described many times when participating in service activities.  I was not always successful in overcoming them, but I was most successful  when I brought a friend with me.  That might not be the most satisfying answer, but having someone who knew me and my capabilities whom I could ask to help me assess the various jobs that needed to be done was a huge help.  Having a friend helped me orient myself quickly to new tasks so that on subsequent trips to the same locations I could work independently.  Community service is often done in groups anyway, so this wasn't a weird or inconvenient thing to do.  

Other times I have volunteered by myself or found that even having a friend could not overcome these perceptions.  On one occasion, I showed up by myself to volunteer at the food pantry of my church and was immediately told to wait in line to receive my food.  They were slightly taken aback when I explained that I came to volunteer and then assigned me to a job with a "partner" who basically did everything for the two of us.  I made it a point to do as much as I could to impress that one volunteer that I worked with, demonstrating my competence so that the next time there would at least be one person there who knew I was capable of actually helping.  

Changing perceptions can be awkward and take a long time.  Finding one ally can be key, whether you bring them with you or win over one of the other volunteers.  You could even try calling the project manager ahead of time and explaining that you are concerned that other volunteers might not think you will be able to contribute.  This is straight forward and diffuses the situation before it begins.  It creates an opportunity for you to talk about what kind of things you can do and ask about what kinds of things need to be done.  

As with any other kind of misperception, projecting confidence in your own abilities goes a long way toward changing opinions.  

I hope some of this is helpful.  

Best,
Greg
On Jan 20, 2013, at 4:58 PM, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> Speaking of service, I'm just wondering if anyone has had any
> difficult experiences persuading people that you could still
> participate in service activities in spite of blindness? If something
> like this came up how did you handle it and were you successful in
> advocating to be included in the activity?
> As some of you know, some blind friends and I had a not-so-good
> experience a few years ago when we tried to prepare a meal for folks
> at Ronald McDonald House. The house manager sent someone to supervise
> us, and was upset that we did not bring a sighted companion with us. I
> was even told that our arrival without a sighted companion had
> inconvenienced them more than it had helped them, despite the
> substantial monetary donation we made to them in buying the food.
> I also have a blind friend who tried to volunteer at a horseback
> riding place (ironically, one that provided therapeutic horse riding
> to children with disabilities). She wanted to help with grooming and
> caring for the horses, and was refused because of blindness.
> I hate to be so negative as it is great to see so many folks who have
> successfully participated in community service. But unfortunately
> discrimination does still happen. How do we overcome it and continue
> to show our communities that we are capable of giving back and want to
> do so?
> Arielle
> 
> On 1/20/13, Greg Aikens <gpaikens at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Yea APO!  I'm an APO alum and had tons of wonderful community service
>> experiences with them in college.
>> 
>> The elementary school I work at now is having a day of service tomorrow by
>> inviting teachers, students, and families to come clean up the road that
>> runs by our school.  It should be a great way to reach out to the
>> neighborhoods around the school.  I plan to participate, especially since I
>> am a resident of one of those neighborhoods. :)
>> 
>> Enjoy your day of service.
>> 
>> -Greg
>> 
>> On Jan 19, 2013, at 10:09 PM, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I am a member of a co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega.  It's
>>> one of the largest international fraternal groups and is based on the
>>> service principles of the boy and girl scouts organizations.
>>> Typically we have our meetings on Sunday nights, but our president had
>>> the same idea as you and decided to schedule our first meeting of the
>>> year, where the majority of our service for this semester will be
>>> discussed and voted on, for MLK day.  Although we won't necessarioly
>>> be doing service yet, MLK day will be when we do the planning to set
>>> up the next three months of volunteer work.
>>> 
>>> On 1/19/13, Darian <dsmithnfb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Hey folks,
>>>> Being an alumnus of AmeriCorps, I firmly believe that Martin Luther King
>>>> Junior's birthday (holiday)  Is a date on, not a day off.
>>>> This being said, I have every intention of going out and being real  deep
>>>> in
>>>> community service activities.
>>>> 
>>>> Do you all have any such plans? And if so, what are they?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> This electronic message has been brought to you by my mobile device.
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Kaiti
>>> 
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>> 
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> 
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