[nabs-l] Personal characteristics and traits of successfulblind people

Sat Mar 29 18:33:05 UTC 2014

Joe, I think all the examples you cite are instances of lack of
opportunity. Inaccessible technology, lack of transit, discrimination;
these are all denials of opportunity. Everyone admits that blindness
makes a lack of opportunity more of a barrier. But when there is
opportunity--when things are accessible, there are ways to get around
besides driving a car, etc.--blindness becomes a non-issue.
Arielle

On 3/29/14, Kirt <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com> wrote:
> Funny you mentioned that... because it's actually one of my favorite speeches
> and, in my opinion, one of the best explanations of The way I interpret and
> apply Federation philosophy. If you recall, his main point in that speech
> was that real independence means getting things done in the most efficient
> way possible, Without placing ridiculously high burdens on other people. He
> went out of his way to repeatedly emphasize that real independence, As he
> saw it, does indeed mean you accept assistance if you want it, if it will
> really be helpful, and as long as it is on your terms and not somebody
> else's. That speech is easily one of my favorites-I think it's fair to say
> there are some people in the federation who don't quite live by it.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Mar 29, 2014, at 10:10 AM, "justin williams"
>> <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Revisit the Dr. Jernican speech on interdependence.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kirt
>> Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2014 12:03 PM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Personal characteristics and traits of
>> successfulblind
>> people
>>
>> Absolutely nothing and, if you think that's what the federation teaches,
>> you've been listening to the wrong people.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Mar 29, 2014, at 6:46 AM, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Good morning, everyone,
>>>
>>> So, going back to how Robin holds up interdependence as a means of
>>> getting
>> assistance for such things as not quite accessable forms, what's wrong
>> with
>> that?
>>> for today, Car
>>>
>>> At 02:23 PM 3/28/2014, Ashley Bramlett wrote:
>>>> Hi Joe,
>>>> very well said. I, too, cannot believe blindness is a nuisance anymore.
>> Not with the barriers I face because the world is not conducive to
>> nonvisual
>> access, especially appliances and technology. Do I think about blindness a
>> lot? No, its part of me; actually I have low vision.
>>>> I go about my business like making breakfast, listening to the news and
>> weather via radio and watching tv shows that are rather auditory a lot and
>> feel happy. I don't think about that I'm doing things differently because
>> of
>> my vision or feel down over it. But, it does play a role in my ability to
>> accomplish visual tasks. For instance filling out job applications; its
>> like
>> half are inaccessible; I came across at least three which say errors, fix
>> the boxes by red stars, and I do not know what the errors are. or others I
>> fill out are not accepted telling me that I missed fields, and I have no
>> idea which fields I missed. I need some eyes to assist me.
>>>> Then there is the transit issue; with mobility being a challenge, I
>> struggle with that, and hate the inconvenience of paratransit.
>>>> Then you have electronics which we cannot see.  So, no its not a
>>>> nuisance, and we have not made enough progress to render blindness
>> insignificant in doing what we want to do.
>>>>
>>>> Anyway, I agree with you on success. Its about living your passions. Its
>> also, I believe, about making goals, and doing them to change the world.
>> Go
>> out and achieve big things for you.
>>>>
>>>> Also, yeah, success is you. Having a federal job as you do in that
>>>> field,
>> is a rather successful thing you accomplished.
>>>> You  are smart.
>>>>
>>>> Ashley
>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Joe
>>>> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 9:12 PM
>>>> To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Personal characteristics and traits of
>>>> successfulblind people
>>>>
>>>> Phil,
>>>>
>>>> A successful blind person looks, acts, and communicates like me.
>>>> Isn't that obvious?
>>>>
>>>> But, kidding aside, I want to give you a different perspective from
>>>> the people whining about how it is unfair to make blindness a factor in
>> success.
>>>> Apparently some of us believe that success is success and blindness
>>>> is irrelevant, but to deny that blindness is a factor is to deny the
>>>> reality that more than 70% of our blind peers are unemployed. To a
>>>> degree, overcoming blindness is success onto itself, and if you can't
>>>> succeed there, a person's likelihood of succeeding anywhere else is
>>>> slim. Is the person willing to advocate for themselves? Are they
>>>> willing to work twice as hard to achieve tasks their sighted peers
>>>> can complete sometimes in half the time? Are they honest enough with
>>>> themselves to tell if they possess sufficient daily living,
>>>> technology, and communication skills to succeed at life, let alone
>>>> the workplace? It may be true that our sighted peers may need to
>>>> ponder some of these points, but not with the same necessity or to
>>>> the same depth as the blind person who has to be extra competitive to
>> beat sighted applicants.
>>>>
>>>> At some point over the past several years I stopped subscribing to
>>>> the NFB notion that blindness can be reduced to the level of a
>>>> nuisance. Were that true, I believe we would have seen better
>>>> progress where blind people are concerned. Blindness presents certain
>>>> unique challenges a person must regularly overcome to excel. Yes,
>>>> building up confidence makes the process easier, but I don't know
>>>> that we have reached a point in our evolution of independence that
>>>> blindness is irrelevant, and certainly not so minimal as to be labeled a
>> minor inconvenience.
>>>>
>>>> Now, as to success across the board, blind or sighted, I think
>>>> pursuing your own passions is a key ingredient. I wrote a blog post
>>>> on the subject, which you can read at the link below:
>>>>
>>>> http://joeorozco.com/blog_are_you_living_someone_elses_dream
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Twitter: @ScribblingJoe
>>>>
>>>> Visit my blog:
>>>> http://joeorozco.com/blog
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Phil
>>>> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 6:29 AM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Personal characteristics and traits of successful
>>>> blind people
>>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I'm working on a research paper, and would like to hear what you think.
>>>> Obviously there are external factors such as accessibility barriers,
>>>> social and attitudinal barriers and so on that affect a blind
>>>> person's likelihood of success in life.  But if we focus on personal
>>>> characteristics for a moment, what do you think are some personal
>>>> characteristics that can help a blind person succeed, or ask in a
>>>> different way, what characteristics and behavior traits do successful
>>>> blind people around you exhibit? And what makes you cite these traits?
>>>> For example, some have rightly pointed out that a sense of curiosity
>>>> and exploration is key, both curiosity to explore one's physical
>>>> surrounding, intellectual curiosity to explore different subjects and
>>>> career possibilities, and so on. Others have also pointed out having
>>>> the courage to be different is important as a blind person.
>>>> What else do you think are important characteristics or behavior traits?
>>>> Hope to hear lots of diverse views on this.
>>>> Thanks!
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Phil
>>>>
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