[nfb-talk] For Texans

[Joe Orozco]

Dear Texans:

    I write this on the final mmorning of our NFB of Texas state convention. 
It's been a good convention, 215 registered members as of yesterday 
afternoon.  We'll save the convention coverage for our president in the 
upcoming newsletter, but here are the results for our newly elected Texas 
student division board and something in the way of parting words.  My term 
does not end until December, but I think it only fitting for our new 
president to assume the spokesmanship for what will soon be his division. 
It's been good.  Let's make it better.

          Joe Orozco, Outgoing President

          Texas Association of Blind Students

          August 2004-December 2006



President's Farewell

Delivered on Friday, October 29 at the annual TABS business meeting.



    It has sometimes been suggested that the more things change, the more 
things stay the same.  You have to wonder if the author of this observation 
had much of an imagination.  Could it not be argued that creativity knows no 
bounds and that maybe, just maybe, Oliver Wendell Holmes had it right when 
he argued that a mind stretched by a new idea could never regain its 
original dimension?  History repeatedly teaches us that some of the most 
significant advances were born out of the most random of circumstances, and 
while TABS is anything but random, one could argue that the force you see 
today is a far cry from the muscle we felt yesterday or the strength we will 
witness tomorrow.  And we have change to thank for the persistent growth of 
our dedicated movement.



    I joined the organization five years ago.  Those of you who were around 
for my introduction know that I loved the student division so much that I 
wanted to change everything about it.  I understood blind people were facing 
a number of obstacles, but I felt that the NFB had made enough progress to 
point out that we were no longer living in the 1940's.  Modern times called 
for modern strategies.  We had to change our method of reaching out to the 
general community, and as the student arm of the larger movement, we should 
consider adjusting our seminars to peak the interest of our fellow comrades. 
Naturally, no one wanted to hear the lofty goals of a rookie.  Prior to 
becoming your president I will admit I was never the easiest person to work 
around.  My biggest flaw has always been my impatience.  Results needed to 
be achieved practically overnight, and anything less was a shortcoming on 
our part.  Add to this the fact that I was never wrong, and you had a 
president's worse nightmare.  It was only through careful mentorship and 
heated lectures that I was able to turn my impatience into a concentrated 
effort at helping others.  I understood that just as with any other 
organization, I would need to prove my worth to show the validity of my 
ideas, but unlike other organizations, I learned that my worth would not be 
proven by credentials, but rather, through my dedication to engage in the 
manual labor that has always fueled the operations of the Federation.



    For better or worse, two years ago you elected me president.  I quickly 
learned that the successes of our division would be a shared commodity but 
that failures would be my responsibility alone.  Together with the unfailing 
support of two consecutive boards we set to work changing the traditional 
format of our student seminars.  You wanted to hear from new speakers, and 
so not only did we expand our agendas to include representatives from 
services around the state, but we also opened our meetings to exhibits to 
give you tangible proof of the innovations working to advance the 
possibilities for blind residents.  You wanted to break the monotony of 
panel discussions, and so in addition to the exhibits we have now included 
travel instruction, public debates and dance lessons into the general flow 
of our program.  We listened to your suggestions, and because you felt that 
there should be more to a student division than mere education, we 
introduced the TABS Idol competition and took the lead on bringing goal ball 
games to the national convention.  You criticized our cause of not welcoming 
guide dog users into our ranks, so we invited Guide Dogs of Texas to speak 
to our membership and invited students at our last gathering to get a 
hands-on demonstration of what it was like to use a service animal.  Are 
these changes sufficient?  I should hope they are not, but I should also 
hope that each change is seen as proof that the student division can be 
shaped to something that works to the benefit of all its members without 
losing sight of the Federationn's principles.  Before I proceed, I think it 
only fair for me to ask that given everything we've done for you, what have 
you done for us?



    As my presidency comes to an end, let us learn from some of the 
challenges my leadership faced so that you might look forward to better ways 
of invigorating the organization.  Let us look first to the state tour we 
took during the first year of my service and the amount of personal money we 
invested in the course of these smaller regional seminars.  Some meetings 
were more profitable than others.  In San Antonio we only had one daughter 
accompanied by her father.  Yet I could tell you that the world is changed 
one person at a time and that even those people who did not come back to see 
us walked away from our gatherings with a new sense of hope.  Let us look at 
the geographical maneuvering of these regional seminars and the path of our 
statewide gatherings.  I could tell you that we could not hope to capture 
the hearts of distant places if we could not harness the vitality of this 
central region and that the proximity of DARS, TSB and Criss Cole were 
integral to our success.  Let us look at the manner in which I allowed our 
student publication to lay dormant.  I could tell you that writing can be 
pretentious and that if given a choice between producing articles or talking 
to people I would say that the latter makes more advances and personal 
differences.  Let us look at the management of Southern Strums, our annual 
fundraiser, and the new format I authorized at this past convention.  I 
could tell you that the new program found us new talent and that the 
fundraiser was more inclusive even if the new program ran the risk of 
producing less profit.  Let us look more recently into the creation of the 
TABS list-serve.  I knew perfectly well that an automatic subscription of 
our roster would severely irritate some people, but I could also tell you 
that the list has done more to generate communication among students than 
all of our mass mailings of the past two years combined.  No subscription 
request has gone more than three hours before receiving attention, and after 
the chaos of its introduction, we still have over a hundred people on board. 
Let us look at my direct letter to the staff of the Division for Blind 
Services.  On a cynical level I could tell you that no army will ever prove 
it's worth if it never meets confrontation, but on a sincere level I can 
also assure you that the letter has caught the agency's attention and that 
we will continue to ride the momentum until we solidify the partnership we 
are confident is within our reach.



    The fact is that I could give you a million reasons for why I made a 
myriad of decisions.  I do not expect you to be satisfied with my answers. 
I expect you to examine my strategies, to question their efficiency and do 
your absolute best to improve upon anything you ever felt went wrong and 
even those things you thought went right.  I implemented certain plans with 
full knowledge of their outcome and the criticism that would follow.  Others 
took me by surprise, but I will tell you that I would not change a single 
decision because: first, no mistake would be graver than to not have 
committed the mistake in the first place; and second, it is better to follow 
a leader that takes risks than to sit complacent with a leader who never 
cared enough to try.



    In the way of parting advice, I have a few things to offer:



To the agencies and organizations with whom we seek to become allies:



    You have our word that we will do everything in our power to join your 
efforts at reaching out to the blind.  Your struggles will be our struggles, 
and together we will find the means to tear down the obstacles that inhibit 
the blind from succeeding, but with equal conviction we will rail against 
anything or anyone that proves incapable of recognizing the worth of each 
and every blind student in the state.



To the general membership:



    Please remember that your value to our cause is not measured by whether 
or not you hold a position on our board.  The only thing that separates you 
from the board is responsibility.  History tells us that the most dedicated 
advocates understood that the message was more important than the title, and 
if your heart is true, you will discover that the latter is an empty glory 
without the former.  You should hold your board accountable, and you should 
be just as willing to allow the board to hold you responsible for the 
fulfillment of their mission that is impossible to implement without your 
participation.



To the future board of our student division:



    I can tell you there are at least three distinct challenges that will 
attempt to impede your progress into the next phase of our development. 
First, because the core of TABS has been built upon the heart of 
long-standing relationships, some of the most difficult obstacles will be 
some of your own friends.  When faced with your burning desire to make 
something of yourself, some people you thought friends will be threatened by 
your confidence, mistake it for arrogance, and will choose to bury the sword 
rather than embrace your accomplishments.  Second, no obstacle can be more 
overwhelming than the feeling of loneliness.  Society is expected to 
minimize the abilities of the blind, but as grassroots organizers you will 
find that your most skeptical audiences are going to be blind people 
themselves.  Some people will wholeheartedly buy into society's prescribed 
limitations, and it will be disheartening to feel as though you are the only 
one who cares about the blind's potential, to hear blind people speak 
contentedly of their sheltered existence and to know that in some cases 
there may never be anything you can do about their condition, which brings 
me to the most critical challenge of all.  It was not until I began working 
in DC that I accepted the fact that you cannot force people to be 
successful.  They have to recognize the need for success themselves.  No 
amount of literature, banquet speeches or one on one mentoring will be of 
use if the individual is not willing to try a little harder, and in the 
course of these negotiations you must never be condescending.  You must 
never belittle their importance or ever feel as though your own independence 
makes you superior.



    If you should ask for consolation for the challenges that are to come, I 
would tell you that the consolation was granted to you the moment you set 
foot in this hotel.  You are part of a larger movement, but more important, 
you are part of a larger family.  Some relatives you will like more than 
others, and other relatives you will wonder at how they were ever admitted. 
But know that a fellow comrade is always a phone call away.  Some of you 
will no doubt see this consolation as cold comfort in light of the ridicule 
you must endure.  Rest assured that the most difficult lesson I ever learned 
was learning to understand the significance of the larger picture.



    In light of the criticism that follows any worthy cause, you might ask 
why we bother persisting with our message.  I cannot speak on anyone else's 
behalf, but for me the reason became clear one early morning in Baltimore 
while training for the NFB Corps.  We were sitting at breakfast in the 
dining room when Mr. Cobb asked if we knew the main force behind the cause 
of the Federation.  Several failed attempts later he told us 
matter-of-factly that the answer was love.  I thought then that one could 
not hope to get more cliché, and it was not until later that I learned the 
real significance behind his response.  The NFB has shown me that rumors of 
deplorable group homes for the blind are really not rumors and that a large 
percentage of blind people still work in sheltered workshops for what is 
barely minimum wage.  Over the past five years I have met and worked on 
behalf of students whose stories ranged from apartment managers who refused 
to allow guide dogs onto their property to feelings of hopelessness 
associated with a persistent loss of sight.  I have patiently listened to 
older adults who refuse to accept their blindness and yell at me for having 
to live in the midst of what they feel is a cruel world.  I have worked with 
a particular student who persistently threatens suicide because they cannot 
handle not being able to see the blackboard and not being able to enjoy the 
popularity they once experienced.  I have done my best to work for 
individuals whose experiences are made all the more complicated by the lack 
of legal documentation to pursue education and services in the United 
States.  I have spoken to parents and teachers and other professionals about 
the importance of giving their children the best preparation for the 
obstacles of the real world, and I will continue to serve these 
responsibilities because I genuinely believe in the potential of the blind. 
I believe that it is not enough to settle for the minimal and that if 
greatness is to be achieved; I want the blind to be just as entitled to that 
greatness as anybody else.  A good number of blind people understand the 
value of success, but an even larger number of us have been told success is 
not attainable or that our success can only stretch so far.  If you do not 
help this large population out of a sense of duty to our movement, do it out 
of your own innate instinct to love and help those who feel they cannot help 
themselves.  I have done it and assure you beyond any doubt that the 
experience is rewarding.  But we cannot do it alone.



    Such has been the birth of my lifelong commitment to you as president of 
this student division and as a member of the larger organization of the NFB. 
And such has been the birth of your ideas that have created the leading 
state student division in the country.  Nothing ever became great from the 
beginning, but through persistent change we have created an enormous base of 
possibilities.  Each function has yielded new members, and each new member 
has stretched our influence to new dimensions through the fire of their 
unique imagination.  At the end of my meandering leadership I should hope 
that nothing has been allowed to remain the same because we are a dynamic 
force of fresh vitality working side by side with our parent organization to 
show the state of Texas and states beyond that the blind are the architects 
of their own destiny, that the blind can and will change the perception of 
helplessness, that we are tired of being looked down upon and that our next 
generation of leaders will only double up their efforts to genuinely change 
what it means to be blind.  The period of introduction, though long, has 
finally ended, and the next phase of our growth is active recruitment.  We 
will use our accumulated resources to seek out blind students in every 
corner of the state.  We have a long list of contacts who have promised 
their cooperation, and under the next presidency we will call upon those 
contacts to live up to their word to help spread the philosophy to every 
teacher, parent and counselor who ever questioned their children's capacity. 
Companies and organizations once seen as enemies of the Federation will have 
no choice but to join the collective cry as we fill the halls of the 
legislature to pass a law making instructional materials accessible to 
students at post-secondary institutions.  We will not bend to the whim of 
those whose only desire is to silence our impending victory.  We will not 
allow our fellow students to be subjects of paternalism, nor will we stand 
idle while the rest of society attempts to define success without the input 
of the blind children it seeks to underestimate.  The feedback of the 
membership, the guidance of past leaders and the dedication of present 
advocates has spawned the incredible force we see today.  Some will embrace 
its principles and take up the cause.  Others will shun our motives and will 
want nothing to do with what we stand for, but no matter their position, one 
thing remains certain: It was the force of change that brought us together 
here tonight, and it is the force of change that will touch everyone with 
the potent strength that is our student division.  It has touched me, and 
for allowing me to be a part of it as long as I was, I say thank you.