[nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
Mike Freeman
k7uij at panix.com
Fri Oct 20 16:50:05 CDT 2006
Hi, Joe.
Thank you for a thought-provoking post. Let me address a few of your
comments/questions.
I've found that people tend to join NFB for one of several reasons.
Perhaps the most important reason people join is that their friends are
members of NFB and people are drawn into the orbit of the organization
that their friends are a part of. Another reason people join NFB is
because they're angry; they're angry at discrimination which has
happened to them or to others. This is why I joined; although I had been
nominally a member of NFB for several years before I became truly
active, I really got into the traces when I discovered how difficult it
was to get my first job and I vowed that it wasn't going to be like that
for your generation and those who came after if I could help it! There
was also an element of idealism in my joining -- although I had done my
fair share of anti-war demonstrating in the late '60's and early '70's
and was, therefore, somewhat jaded on mass movements and taking the good
fight to the streets, still the notion of joining a civil rights
organization of the blind and expanding the Constitution to cover the
rights of the blind appealed mightily to me. Another reason -- a big one
-- that some join is similar to the anger reason I mentioned above:
people want help with their own discrimination cases or SSDI problems or
whatever. They come to NFB because they know (whatever their misgivings
about our supposedly dictatorial ways) that the NFB is where the action
is and we get results, even if it takes years. A few join NFB for social
reasons even if they didn't have friends in NFB. However, in my state,
at least, people who want to join an organization of the blind for
strictly social reasons tend to join that other one as it tends to have
many events such as bop-it tournaments at its affiliate conventions --
stuff that, frankly, turns our stomachs and is largely irrelevant to the
struggle of the blind for first-class citizenship.
Now let me turn to a discussion of issues which might appeal to youth. I
know this is a sore spot with you and I certainly empathize with your
frustration that we haven't gotten higher education texts available in
accessible form as a matter of right insofar as this is possible. And
you are frustrated that, in your eyes, the issue has "taken a
back-burner" on our list of things we're working for. But, as with much
else in real life, it isn't quite that simple. In fact, we didn't get
all we wanted in terms of the Instructional Materials Accessibility Act
and it is an open question, at least in certain states (yours being one
of these) whether the Act will even be implemented. So we're still
fighting the fight for K-12 accessibility, if in a different arena. What
is true for IMAA is true in spades for texts at the college level! There
is much resistance among college text publishers to making texts
available in alternate forms (even though a few do so) and sometimes
when legislation mandating this gets passed, it does more than we want
or does it in the wrong way. This occurred in my state wherein
accessible text legislation passed but only DSS offices are officially
entitled to get these textbooks -- I was unable to get the legislation
modified and no one (least of all DSS people) understood why the NFB of
Washington might want things done differently.
The bottom line is that this is one of those long-term struggles (like
braille bills) that doesn't offer immediate prospect of the sort of
reward college students might grock as a reason to join us, especially
as many are perfectly satisfied (whether we will admit it or not) with
the way their textbooks are being handled by the DSS system. For those
far-seeing students who get the picture and realize that the real world
won't coddle them, it's patently obvious why we should struggle for
independent student access to textbooks in alternate form. But even this
issue doesn't have the sort of life-and-death pizaz that, say, the fight
for the right of the blind to organize had or the right of blind welfare
recipients not to be subject to "night raids" and the like. In fact, I
dare say quite a number of people on these lists don't even know what
"night raids" were, thank God.
I'm not saying we old fuddy-duddies walked to school barefoot seven
miles in the snow. But the issues with which we struggle now are
different and some of these are not as "sexy" as those we dealt with in
previous generations and which brought us out in droves.
I very-much affirm that organizing parents is a good way to bring
students in. Some states have a strong parents movement; some do not.
But even here, it's not simple. Dr. Jernigan was constantly fighting the
battle of trying to get parents to realize that it was in their interest
to become a part of us; parents, in my experience, except for the
dedicated few, come and go -- they show up when they think they need us
and then drift away. So, in practice, we see them when their blind
children are small; they then drift away and we see them again when
their blind partially-sighted children hit middle-school not knowing
braille and unable to keep up; we may see them again when their kids are
in college. But we have to be a bit flexibile in harnessing
parent-power. But there's a crying need for relevant information for
kids transitioning out of high school and we're going to hold a two-day
retreat next spring for parents and their kids to deal with some of the
issues (social and academic) that they are facing.
Frankly, at the chapter level, I'm not quite sure what social events
would draw kids in when most would rather be on MySpace or listening to
their I-pods. Perhaps a push to make XBox-360 accessible? <g>
And we haven't even touched on the growing number of multihandicapped
kids that we're beginning to see.
But we have to keep talking; keep pondering; keep working. I know what
would have drawn students in when I was young but most of that sort of
thing would be declared illegal now! (smirk)
Mike Freeman
On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Joe Orozco wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I think Mike makes a good point about us no longer living in the 1960's
> when the fight may have been a little more adamant. Yet there must surely
> be something we could do to be more inclusive of the younger generation.
> The youth programs in Baltimore are certainly a step in the right direction,
> but just as with our training centers, not everyone will attend. And we are
> still neglecting the post-adolescent and middle-age gap that is not eligible
> to attend events like the science camps.
>
> Julie asked about the vitality of partnerships between student and
> parent divisions. Having finished such a combined conference in Texas last
> month, I can testify to the profitability of such an endeavor. The parents
> brought us students we would otherwise have missed, and the students'
> enthusiasm will hopefully fuel their parents' desire to want to come back.
> Does anyone know the exact strength of the parent division at the state
> level? I know our state student divisions as a whole need organizing, and I
> am wondering if our approach should then be to target those states where a
> parent's division's presence could help spark the growth of the student
> component?
>
> To a certain extent I believe everyone is correct in concluding that
> students just aren't interested in fighting the good fight for legislative
> efforts. To play devil's advocate, could this be because our legislative
> efforts are not capturing the wave of what is needed in these contemporary
> times? I've seen the higher education item on our legislative agendas the
> past three years, and I've also seen the item take a back seat to other
> items that are later deemed more important. I would not argue the priority
> of one item over the other, but could one argue that we could generate more
> interest if we took up an issue that hit directly at the heart of what the
> younger generation finds essential?
>
> Finally, what practices in your local chapters do you think could
> improve to more easily embrace the talents and vitality of younger members?
> Meeting month to month seems practical to accomplish our business, but would
> your chapters benefit from hosting social gatherings geared at children?
> One of the problems TABS temporarily faced in Texas was the lack of
> connection between the student division and the larger movement of the NFB.
>
> I think the discussion is wonderful. Naturally, I don't have all the
> answers, but hearing your responses makes my membership task for the
> National Association of Blind Students a little easier. You all have been
> around longer and know what worked to get you involved. I look forward to
> more feedback.
>
> Joe Orozco
>
> "Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like
> you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not
> forget you."--William Arthur Ward
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 11:49 AM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>
>
>> On the other hand, it has been my experience that the young often don't
>> realize that there are battles left still to fight and if they do
>> realize it, The Bit They (meaning us grizzled veterans) will take care
>> of it for them. Let's face it: society is in a different place now than
>> it was in the 1970's. and if we're truly honest, part of the problem is
>> that there aren't *enough* young people to party hardy whereas in tye
>> 1960's and 1970's, the blindness world was overwhelmed with young
>> people!
>>
>> Mike Freeman
>>
>> On Wed, 18 Oct 2006, Alan Wheeler wrote:
>>
>>> Here here! I've seen that happen too. Nothing against what I very
>>> lovingly
>>> call the "grizzled veterans" of the Federation, but they need to work to
>>> bring the youth into the fold and not just sustain themselves on the
>>> memories of their glory days. I'm not actually saying that is what
>>> happens,
>>> but I would suspect this is how the youth tend to feel. Just some random
>>> thoughts.
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Wm. Ritchhart" <william.ritchhart at sbcglobal.net>
>>> To: "'Joe Orozco'" <jsorozco at gmail.com>; "'NFB Talk Mailing List'"
>>> <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 5:55 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>>>
>>>
>>>> Give them something meaningful to do. Give them the power to make an
>>>> impact. If they show leadership traits, give them the opportunity to
>>>> use and develop those skills.
>>>>
>>>> Most of the students I know who have lost interest and moved on, have
>>>> done so, because they did not feel valued. They wanted to make a
>>>> contribution and they were cast aside, often gently because they were
>>>> young.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> William
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>> On Behalf Of Joe Orozco
>>>> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 9:51 PM
>>>> To: nfb-talk at nfbnet.org; nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>>>>
>>>> Dear list:
>>>>
>>>> Earlier today I was talking to one of our TABS members about
>>>> membership
>>>> recruitment and youth involvement. Like any other division of the
>>>> greater
>>>> movement we're always on a continuous quest to refresh our approach to
>>>> delivering the philosophy, and one of the items mentioned in the
>>>> conversation was the gap that exists between the founding generation and
>>>> the
>>>> generation on the rise. It seems that even at the local chapter level,
>>>> students are simply not finding their place in the infrastructure and
>>>> end up
>>>> doing something else other than joining and sticking around. I know the
>>>>
>>>> concept is not unique. People are aware of the problem, but I also know
>>>>
>>>> that the problem does not exist in every corner of the organization.
>>>> And so
>>>> I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on the subject, what you think
>>>> are
>>>> some solutions and perhaps things you have tried in your chapters and
>>>> divisions to capture and maintain the attention of the younger
>>>> generation.
>>>> As the chair of the NABS membership committee, I understand the need to
>>>> strengthen the student arm of our movement, but I also understand that
>>>> the
>>>> arm is not independent and that we need to find ways to better
>>>> incorporate
>>>> ourselves into the strength of the local chapters and the spirit of the
>>>> affiliates. Your opinions, on or off list, would be much appreciated.
>>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>>
>>>> Joe Orozco
>>>>
>>>> "Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like
>>>>
>>>> you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not
>>>> forget you."--William Arthur Ward
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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