[NFBF-L] Braille Monitor article

Tue Mar 17 05:44:49 UTC 2020

Greetings Denise and our NFBF members and friends,
The first half of my life as a fully sighted individual was very successful according to prevailing societal standards. I graduated Valedictorian from my High School in Miami, and subsequently graduated with honors from Harvard University and University of Florida Law School.
I was a successful attorney until I progressively lost my vision  from RP(retinitis pigmentosa). 
When I became severely blind and unable to independently and competently read, write and edit documents, I lost my confidence and positive self-image. Although alternative blind education and training resources, such as braille,  were presented to me, I did not want to make the effort to adapt to my vision loss. I began to make mistakes, and   I sadly could not accept my onset of blindness without anger and frustration. I blamed my problems on my progressive loss of sight. 
I now recognize that blindness was not the cause of these difficulties. The actual cause of my work and personal difficulties was the fear of blindness and loss of my usual positive outlook on life. I even blamed God for my troubles. I unfortunately attempted to avoid my difficulties  and fears through avoidance of learning braille and other alternative methods of compensating with my   loss of vision. I had a negative image of myself as a blind individual.   I tried to avoid my fears and hopelessness through alcohol abuse, and just gave up working in any active useful community involvement. 
At that time,  blind accessible digital technology was just being  developed. It took me many years of hopelessness to accept my vision loss and realize that I should be grateful for the blessings I still have and not be consumed by fears and self-pity for those things I have lost. 
After too many years, I finally   accepted my blindness as just another challenge in my life path.  Through God’s grace, the help of family, friends, and especially active involvement in the National Federation of the Blind and Alcoholics Anonymous, I have regained my positive outlook on life and confidence. Four years ago,  I became motivated  to learn blind accessible technology , moved from Tallahassee, and enrolled in the Florida Division of Blind Services Daytona Center for Rehabilitation and Training.  
While just a new student there, I was blessed with meeting Peter Cerullo. He encouraged me to join his local NFBF Greater Daytona Beach Chapter. He also encouraged and guided me on a path to re-educate myself to again become a useful member of the legal profession. I was unsure of my ability to successfully attend school in this new technological era. When I had previously attended college and law school 40 years earlier, I needed good penmanship rather than computer skills to succeed.  I had just learned typing, beginners word processing, and  computer basics.  With the encouragement of Peter Cerullo and the positive attitudes of the National Federation of the Blind, I developed sufficient motivation to assume this substantial new challenging commitment.
In December 2019, I just graduated with high honors from the two-year Paralegal Studies Program at Daytona State College, updating my legal knowledge and learning blind accessible technology as applicable to legal writing and research. The Florida NFB assisted my education by awarding me a NFBF scholarship. The Division of Blind Services gratefully assisted me with grants for tuition and books. At DSC, I was the recipient of the prestigious Hall of Fame Award for Academic Excellence and Outstanding Community Involvement and Citizenship. I worked in cooperation with Daytona State College faculty and staff to modify blind accessibility curriculum problems. 
I have learned to independently navigate the complicated DSC campus. I use my competitive high school and college swim team skills to competently swim  laps  in the campus pool several days each week as the  only blind swimmer.
I am an active long-time member of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida and have been the active President of the NFBF Greater Daytona Beach Chapter for the past 2 years, since the sad death of my mentor Peter Cerullo. .
I continue to receive valuable blind accessible technology education and training   at both Daytona State College and the wonderful Daytona Beach Center for the Visually Impaired. 
I happily live with my loving  partner Earline, who is a  long time active NFBF member and mother of our GDB blind Secretary Bill Outman. 
I am now taking exams to renew my Florida Bar license. 
Last January, I celebrated my 9th AA sobriety birthday. 
Last week, I celebrated my 71st birthday as a motivated, useful, compassionate, actively involved Floridian who also happens to be totally blind. 
God has blessed me with certain talents for which I   did not fully appreciate prior to becoming blind. I have learned gratitude, and want to pass on my motivation and experience to other blind individuals who do not yet recognize that God has blessed each one of his children with special individual talents. Each of us should become motivated to use our gifts to become useful, kind, compassionate and helpful  . My blindness has taught me to engage in overcoming obstacles I encounter instead of giving up to frustration and avoidance. I hope I can provide motivation to those older Floridians  who lose their  eyesight and mistakenly believe that they have now become useless. Many opportunities still exist in the future if you stay motivated and actively involved . 
Whether fully sighted or totally blind, life is unpredictable  and will certainly have obstacles, losses, and challenges. My  eyesight has not been my only  substantial loss. Everyday I miss loved ones who have passed on. Staying actively involved in compassionate help to other persons by sharing my talents and blessings continue to make me a better person. 
Every day is a new adventure,
Brian Norton
NFBF Greater Daytona Beach President
386.871.3359
brian.edward.norton at outlook.com  

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBF-L <nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Denise Valkema via NFBF-L
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2020 10:31 AM
To: NFBF <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>; NFBF <nfbf-leaders at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Denise Valkema <valkemadenise at aol.com>
Subject: [NFBF-L] Braille Monitor article

Any discussion on article below? The article is pasted below the link. 

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Live the Life You Want: A Choice or a Prescription for Being an Elite Blind Person

by Gary Wunder

When I was asked to be a part of coming up with branding messages and we selected “Live the Life You Want,” I was keenly aware that anything we chose would perpetuate the questions folks on the outside have always had about us: Is the Federation’s goal to help blind people travel their own path, or is it the Federation telling blind folks how to live? I knew that the way people perceived a message was everything and feared that if it took much explaining, it wouldn't be the right tagline. My concern didn’t spring from some innate ability to predict the future but from living through some of our past.

I clearly remember other messages that tried to briefly speak to our mission and work—nowadays called an elevator speech. If you only get the time it takes to go from floor three to four, can you briefly explain what this organization that means so much to you does and why others might want to help further its goals?

"We are Changing What It Means to be Blind" was a phrase I liked very much. It was on the lips of many of my generation in the movement. But the problem with it was that too many people thought we were pledging to change visual acuity, and it took too much time to explain that it was social change that filled our agenda. Then there was "It is Respectable to be Blind," the reaction to the fact that some didn't believe that people perceived as broken could ever garner true acceptance and respect. But some folks objected to this one because they thought we were saying that the mere presence of blindness in one’s life conveyed respectability. They agreed that being blind didn't preclude being respectable but neither did it convey respectability The criticism of our tagline isn't the five words "Live the Life You Want." It is the suspicion that what we really mean is that blind people are to live their lives in such a way that they become the elite blind, the people who go further than anyone expects, the people who are admired by all because of their undeniable intellect, motivation, and accomplishment. To some extent I understand the concern and the way that some have elevated it to a criticism. Every civil rights organization pushes its people to go beyond where they are. All of us believe that many of the things that keep us from being all we can be are socially constructed barriers. But beyond this, most people involved in civil rights also believe that part of the problem we face comes from buying the societal expectations that do so much to limit us. So yes, there is upward pressure to do more and be more, but no organization encouraging the advancement of a class is free from this expectation.

For me our tagline asks each of us to exercise some faith: faith that we will help when one of us encounters problems in living the life they want, and faith that each of us can dare to dream and dare to act on those dreams. Not every dream will come true, and not every dream is meant to. As a youngster I dreamed of being an astronaut, and that hasn't happened. But many of my generation shared that dream, and only a small number achieved it. Blindness certainly precluded me from flying in space, but so too did a number of things: the few positions there were to be had, the training that was required, and even the height and weight requirements that were and probably still are a part of the program. 

Nobody in the Federation has ever questioned what I have wanted or done in my life except a dear friend who once told me that before writing a book about myself, I’d first need to do something worth writing about. My Federation colleagues, friends, and family have asked me to be honest in distinguishing between real accomplishments and the faint praise I can easily get by being blind. They have asked that I look at the things I have in my life and try to see that others have it at least as good, and they have allowed me to participate in something I believe makes that possible. 

At least from my perspective as the editor of this publication, I welcome articles from people whose aspirations and achievements vary widely. If you volunteer for an organization that values your work and gives you satisfaction, write us. If you work a job that pays at or slightly above minimum wage and you have a story to tell about how you do it as a blind person, write us. If there is something you do in lieu of paid employment and there are good reasons why you don't pursue something that pays, tell us about it. If you have tried and failed and there may be a way we can help or benefit from your experience, together let’s put that out for public discussion and concerted action.

Please don't assume that because you don't see articles about people like you, it is because we actively discourage them or outright turn them down. I believe we mean what we say in our tagline and that we find value in anyone brave enough to dream, brave enough to try, and brave enough to share their story with blind people who share in common this pledge of helping each blind person live the life they want

Together,
Denise Valkema, President
National Federation of the Blind of Florida President at nfbflorida.org
(305)972-8529
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Live the life you want.
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