[nfb-talk] issue with job and philosophy

Wed Nov 29 13:22:37 CST 2006

Antonio;
Listen to Mike.  The NFB calls our blindness a nucence, because we want
our people to learn to cope with their blindness and not pity
themselves.  I am partially blind and also have a lot of other
complications to cope with.  With a little assistance from the agency
now know as Doors, I got a summer job and volunteered during the winter,
worked the next summer and volunteered again.  By the next May, NIH had
created a position for me, which I have held for 20 years, all together.
I showed the government that I wanted to work and not just depend on
SSI. 
I have been through an elevator accident, many falls and 4 car accidents
and have epelepsi and a mild hearing problem, but I am live and in the
office and working every day.

Terry Powers

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Freeman [mailto:k7uij at panix.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:31 AM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] issue with job and philosophy

Antonio:

There's a fallacy in your argument: you presume that bindness is a
*unique* 
nuisance; it is not. The point of NFB philosophy is that blindness is
the 
same sort of nuisance or inconvenience as are often race, religion or 
national origin or any number of other characteristics. For better or
worse, 
all can be nuisances or inconveniences at times (try being a Christian
in 
Iran, for example or being six-foot-seven on a submarine). But blindness
is 
not a tragedy with a special reserved category for wailing and nashing
of 
teeth.

There are times when blindness can be damned inconvenient; software 
inaccessibility is one of these. But one doesn't need to make a Federal
case 
out of it. But when it impacts something one wishes to do adversely,
that 
inconvenience can loom large.

Let's keep our logic straight, however.

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ANTONIO GUIMARAES" <amguima at verizon.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] issue with job and philosophy

Hi Chriss,

I don't agree 100 percent with the notion that blindness is a mere
nuisence.
That to me is understating the fact.

I have been nuisenced out of 2 grand for the purchase of a screen
reader,
and a scanning package, $450 for a fully talking dictionary, 5 grand for
a
note-taker/PDA, and I have been nuicenced out of possibilities for
promotions at my job.

I am nuisenced all the time when going out to a club, as I can not see
others, and know if they are members of the opposit sex, and weather
they
are acompanied.

Blind people are often nuisenced for having to leave everything behind
to go
away for guide dog training for about a month every 10 years.

I can cite several other instances of nuicences, but this meticulous
exercize wouln't do me much good, at least for now.

NFB philosophy is changing, and federationists of all tipes are giving
more
waight to access issues. Any person reading through our current
Convention
resolutions will note this fact.

Blind students wishing to take AP exams are nuisenced by the inadequate
availability of brailled training materials, (Res2006-03)-

Blind pupils are nuisenced by the lack of braille instruction, and often
fall into illiteracy, (Res2006-01)

Blind workers are frequently nuisenced in their jobs, because they can
earn
less than minimal wage, (Res2006-04).

These are just some examples of how our philosophy has been flexible,
due to
technological, and socio-economic barriers.

And what about the dictionary definition of nuicence?

Acording to my Franklin Master, nuisance is an anoying or troublesome
person
or thing.

Is blindness simply an anoying fact, or is it troublesome at times? Is
it a
tragedy, or something that can be overcome?

Sincerely yours
Antonio M. Guimaraes Jr.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Westbrook" <westbc at clw19.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:38 PM
Subject: [nfb-talk] issue with job and philosophy

I am having an issue with my new job and I was wondering if any of you
had
suggestions.  There are a lot of things I can do well, but sometimes I
am
put on lower priority projects because of my inability to affectively
create
reports in Microsoft access.  I find Jaws and Window Eye' support for
Access
sorely lacking for anyone who wants to do anything useful with it.  I
know
some of you are saying well use a reader, and I have certainly thought
about
that, but I do not have enough work to keep a reader busy for eight or
even
four hours a day, and many times these projects come up suddenly and
need to
be done yesterday so I can't just recruit a reader whenever I need one
or
push my work to a certain time when a reader could be scheduled.  Other
coworkers can't be of much help either because they are working on other
tasks.  I think this issue brings up two points.  One, have you found
any
techniques for dealing with this problem, but I think this also raises a
philosophical question which I think is probably more appropriate for
this
list.  I have always grown up with the idea that blindness can really be
reduced to the level of a physical nuisance given the proper training
and
opportunity.  I feel that I have pretty decent blindness skills,
especially
related to computers, and I am given all the opportunity in the world.
I
have the latest version of Jaws and Window Eyes at my disposal as well
as a
70 cell Braille display and good Braille literacy  skills.  Yet there
are
certain things I just can't do not because of my lack of intelligence
but
due to accessibility.  Sometimes I fear Federationists don't really
understand how important accessibility is.  It's easy to say "use a
reader"
when you're dealing with reading the occasional mail or using the
occasional
visual verification or identifying the occasional bit of paper money,
etc.
but if Jaws went away tomorrow and you were told to just use a reader to
access your computer would you do it?  I know some of you will probably
say
"oh well we could make our own solutions if Jaws were to disappear" but
I'm
not sure if you realize how much cooperation is required from Microsoft
and
other companies to have what little accessibility we do have and how
easily
it could be taken away.  I've been thinking of this issue a lot because
it
really frustrates me when I am not able to help with a problem at work
due
to inaccessible Microsoft software that probably cannot be scripted for.
What is sometimes even more frustrating is when I mention my concerns to
my
friend who is also pretty much my boss and the one who brought me to the
company, he turns my  Federationist philosophy right back on me by
commenting that I have said repeatedly that I don't want to be treated
differently from other people, which is of course true.  I don't really
have
a good response for that one.  While there is still plenty of stuff I
can do
and I am not in danger of losing my job, and I realize I might not have
been
able to do all those things fully sighted, it really bugs me that I
can't
contribute as much as I feel I could.  IF I were sighted I would be
expected
to learn to do these things if I had a gap in my skill set.  Frankly I
consider that more than just a nuisance.  I'm curious to hear what you
guys
think.

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