[nfb-talk] Younger People

Sun Dec 2 20:13:54 CST 2007

Sherri, I know personally that the owners of Century village Love cruises! I 
sold many of their condo residents improvements thru the years and they were 
always looking for discounted cruises. Kirk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:00 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Younger People


> Hey Dave, Why don't you try to sell Century Village on our fund-raising
> cruise for NFBF?
>
> Sherri
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
> To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 4:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Younger People
>
>
>
> Dear Joe R,Carolyn and Joe M,
>
> I think that we should develop some kind of relationship with A.A.R.P. and
> try to get some of our literature and philosophy into their magazine and
> literature.
> Good things, seniors seem to share with other seniors.    Maybe we should
> try to get some of our own people to write pieces to go into some A.A.R.P.
> publications on a regular basis.
> We could write them aimed directly at those who are losing their vision, 
> but
> with some info that sighted readers can and will share with other seniors
> they know.  It is allot like trying to pet a strange dog.    You have to
> approach it slowly, with allot of caution and patience until you have won
> its trust.  One false move and its gone.
> .
> We really can not do enough in this area in reaching out to seniors who 
> are
> losing their vision late in life.
> They need what we already know about dealing with Blindness.
> One thing we do need to be careful with is that they are very afraid of 
> the
> term blind.  They seem to be able to accept "vision impaired" but they run
> like hell away from the word "Blind."
> They, like most everyone else, realize that society has placed a stigma on
> the word "Blind."
>  I had a problem with it myself, early on in dealing with my Blindness.  I
> fought the label until I learned it is respectable to be blind.
> I am afraid that we will have to "sugar coat" it for a time or up to a 
> point
> in order to get their attention and slip them the medicine that will cure
> them of their fear of the word.
> Seniors are stubborn
> And have very little patience for anything they don't immediately like or
> understand.  They don't like frustration or complexity.  They tend to give
> up quickly and easily, withdraw, and refuse to consider the matter once
> turned off.
> I deal with seniors here all of the time.  I live next door to the
> elephant's grave yard here called Century Village.  I have a support group
> there that has over 80 members year round and over 130 during the winter
> months.
>
> I think that our idea, here in Florida, of having a senior's Retreat, 
> geared
> straight to seniors is a good idea and I will begin looking for grants for
> it now.
>
>
> David Evans, NFBF
> Seniors Concerns Committee-Florida
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Joe Orozco
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 6:59 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Younger People
>
> Hi David,
>
> Has there been any thought to establishing a loose affiliation with the
> AARP?  Their operation is so vast as to almost be mind-boggling, but I
> wonder if they might be interested in sharing our literature.  It could be
> one more method of spreading word of our programs.
>
> Joe Orozco
>
> "Politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is
> what we do, what we create, by what we work for, by what we hope for and
> what we dare to imagine."--Senator Paul Wellstone
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
> To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 5:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Younger People
>
>
>>
>> Dear Marilyn,
>>
>> That is why the NFB has a Seniors Division, nationally, and a senior's
>> Concerns Committee for the State of Florida.
>> Joe Men cello is the Chair.
>> I am on the committee and we are having a conference call tonight at 7:30
>> PM.
>> The question is how do we get the politicians to see the need and help to
>> construct programs that will reach out to seniors who are losing their
>> vision late in life.
>> They can be very resistant to help as it forces them to admit to
>> themselves
>> that there is something wrong and they are losing their abilities to
>> function.
>> The old ostrage with it its head in the sand mentality.  Ignore it and it
>> isn't real kind of thinking.
>>
>> This is the same kind of mind set with a man in the papers this morning.
>> An 81 year old senior, who has failed 3 driving test, but is still
>> driving,
>> insisted on driving his wife to a doctors appointment.
>> He struck and killed another person when he blew through a red light. And
>> also put himself and his wife in the hospital.
>> There are transportation services available here for him and his wife, 
>> but
>> it is this denial of the facts that still drives many of these people.
>> We need and must have programs and laws that help us identify those 
>> people
>> who need help and educate them as to how to find and use it.
>> As I sit on many transportation service boards, I see the stats from the
>> State and the Federal Government.  This is an avalanche coming down the
>> mountain.
>>
>> Join us and get back into the thick of it.
>>
>> David Evans, NFBF
>> MV Transit
>> Consumer Advocate
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Marilyn Womble
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 8:35 PM
>> To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Younger People
>>
>> David, having founded and directed the Florida Center for the Blind for
>> thirteen years, I am in full agreement with what you have written.  I
>> realize that employment is very important, but I feel that the older 
>> blind
>> person is not given full consideration within the movements for the 
>> blind.
>> Marilyn Womble
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of David Evans
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 8:05 PM
>> To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Younger People
>>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> There is a more insidious reason why fewer young people are joining
>> organizations.
>> The truth is that there are fewer young people who are Blind now than
>> before
>> because of better medicine and treatments of conditions that use to cause
>> more blindness.
>> There is another reason also.  That is that currently 69.8% of all blind
>> people today are over the age of 65 years old and that because the "baby
>> boomers" are now hitting their golden age, it makes them more numerous
>> than
>> the young people.
>> In fact, this number for seniors will go from 69.8% to 74% in less than 8
>> years from now.
>> This is why we need to contact seniors, who are losing their vision late
>> in
>> life, and get them to realize the importance of getting rehab training 
>> and
>> learning some skills of Blindness before they lose their independence and
>> wind up in a nursing home for fear that they can not take care of
>> themselves
>> alone.
>> I see it here all of the time in Florida.
>> Assisted living and nursing homes are booming here mostly for these
>> reasons.
>> Many seniors take on the attitude that you can't teach old dogs new
>> tricks.
>> This is only true if the old dog don't want to learn.
>> Seniors are very stubborn and don't want to face the issue that they are
>> losing their vision and try to hide it.  They go to great lengths to do 
>> so
>> and bury themselves in denial that it is happening to them.
>> I see them go through all of the stages.  They run from doctor to doctor,
>> looking for that "magic doctor that is going to cure them.  If not 
>> looking
>> for the magic doctor.  They are looking for that magic magnifier or 
>> device
>> that is going to let them see again like they could when they were 20.
>> They put their lives on "hold" and sit back and wait for a cure, 
>> meanwhile
>> letting the rest of their lives pass them by, afraid to join in.
>> Anyway, that is some of the truth surrounding the issue of fewer young
>> people joining organizations.
>>
>> David Evans, NFBF
>> MV Transit
>> Consumer Advocate
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Corey Cook
>> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 5:05 PM
>> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Younger People
>>
>> Hello all,
>> I will respond with some thoughts about why NFB can't get younger people
>> to
>> join.
>> Sadly we are seeing a sociatal shift in America.
>> More and more especially in the 20 somethings and below it is all about
>> me!
>> A generation of Americans has been raised to think mainly of them selfs.
>> I had the fortune of being raised by my grand parents.
>> Both members of the greatest generation, so needless to say I was raised
>> much differently than many of the people I went to high-school and 
>> college
>> with.
>> Just my thoughts.
>>
>> Corey Cook
>> Live Journal
>> http://vanguardman.livejournal.com/
>> Xanga
>> http://www.xanga.com/ciu_nice_guy
>> AIM
>> goldadore922
>> MSN
>> romans815 at earthlink.net
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "T. Joseph Carter" <tjcarter at bluecherry.net>
>> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 5:39 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NFB and ACB
>>
>>
>> David, you point out that their membership is waning.  The problem is 
>> that
>> ours is as well.  Maybe not as rapidly or as remarkably, but particularly
>> in Western states (Colorado excepted), we really don't have the kind of
>> support we once had.
>>
>> I think your assessment of the reaction younger people have to the ACB
>> applies also to the NFB.  A lot of people my age and younger just do not
>> want to get into this big battle over who did what to whom and when.  I
>> think Corey was expressing precisely that frustration.
>>
>> Granted that is not the only thing affecting our ability to attract the
>> younger generations.  We talked about the problem just a few weeks ago
>> that people today seem to be more interested in what we can do for them
>> than what they can do with us.
>>
>> Fewer today are willing to become active, plain and simple.  Neither we
>> nor the ACB can afford to scare away potential new members by continuing
>> this feud.  We're modern-day Hatfields and McCoys here, and nobody really
>> cares about the pig or the hen anymore.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 24, 2007 at 12:05:11PM -0600, David Andrews wrote:
>>> The other thing I would say is that the organization is slowly
>>> dying.  I wasn't able to make it to NFB convention this year, and
>>> since ACB was here, I went over to check it out.  One of the first
>>> things you notice, after seeing how small their convention is, is
>>> that there are very few young people or kids there.  It is the older
>>> persons, the NFB haters, who are there.  They aren't attracting new
>>> people in large numbers because younger people don't care what
>>> happened between them and us in the past.  Unless they get some new
>>> dynamic leadership soon, then they will eventually go away.
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>
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