[nabs-l] Success and Why I Left the NFB

[Antonio Guimaraes]

Hi all,

It's hard talking about many things I see happening in the Nfb without turning into somewhat of a griping session.

I have come a little bit late to this thread, as sometimes happens. This is one example of what has been already said. Life goes on with, or without the Nfb. Life goes on whether or not I read or respond to messages from this list.

I am happy to be here, reading, and responding though.

The Youth Slam was but one example of how the Nfb does things too big.

We held three of those events. The membership was responsible for recruiting students, mentoring them, sometimes taking care of their physical, and emotional needs.

The first use slam was a realization of one of Betsi Zabarowski's dreams. She said as much in presentations to the group.

We had over 250 blind students and mentors at the event.

I don't care how you slice it, blindness does add certain challenges to run an event that large.

I got tired and stressed as a mentor in the Youth Slam. We were out of the college dorms by 7 A.M. and some times back at 10:00 P.M.

I got no relief from people who were actually recruited, and served in the event as "Quote "relief Mentors," unquote.

It was go, go, go for several days.

I see the Youth Slam as a reflection of the organization itself. It is a gathering of mostly NFB leaders, and dedicated members mentoring bright, and excited teens.

I feel mentors were treated more or less as hands on deck. We were there to do the dirty work of running the program, and the structure of hierarchy did very much look like a top down approach.

The slam was in many ways a great event, but it was all a thankless job. I left exhausted, and vowing not to return at a future one, should they hold one.

I found myself volunteering to the 2011 Youth Slam, the last one held so far.

Not much changed since four years before. I saw, and heard of enough cases where mentors were saked to quote, "act as mentors," unquote. this was to mean they were to act in an NFB way. Show independence at any cost.

Here's another example of what I said on list once before: We preach much, but some times don't follow our own message.

Explicit displays of public independence sounds a lot like rebellious independence to me.

Consider the supposed scenario of a mentor who helps her student, her mentee,, to a table, and assists in some way with getting that student's tray safely and quickly to the table.

Imagine that a person on the paid NFB Youth Slam staff sees this happen. the staff person in this scenario would most likely reprimand the mentor for taking independence out of the hands of the student. the mentor would have been lectured, and made to feel as if she had to make every single interaction with student to be a teaching moment.

If the mentor did as expected, and teach the student to carry her tray while using the cane, time would run out, and the student, mentor, and pod, small group of four slam participants, would still be reprimanded. this time the crime would have been the slow progress through the lunch.

It was dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.  

this story is one I made up. It is similar to the type of pressure we all faced. It may have happened, and more than once. The point I am making is that behind this story is a philosophy of militancy we are accused of displaying in the NFB.

We may want to be tolerant. We may even be inclusive, but there are clear instances when people are encouraged to stay quiet, especially if one is not to quote "support the programs and policies of the Federation." Unquote.

I will most likely chime in on this thread again. I don't want to run on from topic to topic, so see you on another post.

Antonio