[nfb-talk] state con attendance

Mon Nov 12 16:01:56 CST 2007

Hi,

For most of my life I would have been Like the first child but after the 
loss of a husband and moving back in with my aging parents I am becoming 
more and more like the second.  I am fifty years young and was raised to 
believe that I would always have to be " taken care of".  It wasn't until I 
met other blind individuals, many of which are very independent, that I 
began to question that belief.
I have been living here with my parents for about four years now and it has 
taken me about three of those years to prove that I could go into the 
kitchen and prepare a meal without catching myself or the house on fire! 
How sad, how much more could I have accomplished if I had support and 
encouragement instead of having to fight tooth and nail for every inch of 
independence, every step of the way?

Guess what I am doing now?  I am apartment shopping.  I know it is going to 
be a little difficult but I know with The help of my heavenly Father I can 
do it.  I learned to use a computer when two years ago I didn't even know 
how to turn one on.  I am a little scared.  But thank God I am as 
rebellious, stubborn, and defiant as some of my family tells me, or else I 
would probably wind up in some kind of an institution!

Thank you fellow NFB members for backing up and supporting people like me. 
I am actually beginning to believe that I can learn to do anything a sited 
person can do, except maybe drive an automobile.  one of these days i 
believe we will be able to do that!

Debra, AKA Carolina Sonshine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Wheeler" <awheeler at neb.rr.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance

: Joseph,
: I like what you have to say here.  It is very well thought out.  Thank 
you.
:
:
: ----- Original Message ----- 
: From: "T. Joseph Carter" <tjcarter at bluecherry.net>
: To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
: Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 7:49 AM
: Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
:
:
: >I don't know if I'd agree that computers have depersonalized human 
contact
: > all that much.  Without them, I'd have no contact with any of you.  I 
live
: > in a small commuter college town with no public transit to speak of.  A
: > chapter meets some fifteen miles away, but that's an awfully long walk.
: >
: > I think the problem is that today, particularly the young want to know
: > what an organization is going to do for them.  The NFB is going to tell
: > them that they need to speak up and demand to be given both the same
: > opportunity and the same responsibility of their sighted peers, and we
: > will stand behind them 100% if they do that.
: >
: > This doesn't appeal to the young very well.  I think we can understand 
why
: > by considering two extremes: The first extreme is the blind child who is
: > sheltered, kept from having to make decisions, and coddled to the point
: > that many here would describe it as a form of abuse.  The second is the
: > blind child who has done well, perhaps in spite of reduced expectations
: > and people telling him or her what he or she cannot do.
: >
: > First, let's consider what both of these children have in common.  Both
: > have access to technology which is light years beyond anything anyone 
over
: > the age of thirty-five has probably ever had.  Secondly, no matter how
: > poor they may have been, both children have grown up in a school system
: > that is legally mandated to provide every accommodation their schools 
deem
: > reasonable.
: >
: > The first child has been smothered by overprotective parents and school
: > and agency staff who all insist that they know what is best for the 
child.
: > He/she grows up having never made a real decision for him/herself, and 
is
: > in fact completely uncomfortable making any such decisions.  In high
: > school, discussions at IEP meetings will be focused on "vocational 
goals"
: > since such students inevitably do not show neither the initiative nor 
the
: > strong potential needed to succeed in collegiate study.
: >
: > This child grows up to find the world a very hostile and discriminatory
: > place.  If they are introduced to the Federation, they will not likely
: > receive its message very well.  They don't know how to do the things we
: > Federationists tell them to do.  Likewise, they have no desire to accept
: > or wrest from others the basic responsibilities we of the Federation
: > demand be ours alone, as is our right.
: >
: > The second child has probably grown up knowing the first child.  If not,
: > it is likely that he or she is the only blind person in the area.  In
: > either case, they are exposed to large amounts of ignorance, assumptions
: > about their ability, low expectations, and condescension.  We can assume
: > this because even those of us who have grown up in the Federation have 
had
: > to learn to accept this sort of behavior from others as part of our 
daily
: > lives.  An important difference between such cradle-Federationists and
: > this child is that the child most likely does not have any connection to
: > the Federation.
: >
: > As a young man or woman, this blind person will probably be successful, 
if
: > only because he or she has learned to fight, and fight hard to not have
: > foolish accommodations shoved down their throats, to not be treated
: > constantly as a small child, and to not be denied the opportunity to
: > compete with their peers "for liability reasons" or some similarly
: > meaningless drivel that serves as a ready excuse for why they are 
somehow
: > less than their peers.
: >
: > The problem is that this young person is probably jaded by the constant
: > struggle for legitimacy as a person.  I myself had a rather extreme case
: > of that affliction.  Probably, the first person would be highly aversive
: > to the second, should they ever come in contact.  The second person may
: > generalize that aversion to cover all blind people, especially if they 
are
: > exposed to an organization which does not reject the learned 
helplessness
: > as much as we do.
: >
: > When this person finally is exposed to the Federation, it is probably 
only
: > after hearing all of the logical-sounding arguments for why they should
: > avoid the militant, radical NFB.  (If they grew up with particularly
: > custodial "experts", they might seek out the Federation for precisely 
that
: > reason.  I know I did at first!)  Inevitably, this young person will 
find
: > the NFB is not what they were led to believe it to be.
: >
: > But again, the Federation doesn't generally fight battles for a person
: > just because that person is tired of fighting.  That's contrary to our
: > purpose.  Both of these extreme cases are likely to ask, "What can the
: > Federation do for me?"  The answer to both comes across sounding an 
awful
: > lot like, "Not much."
: >
: >
: > I've suggested how we can help the first person once or twice, but it's
: > very hard to do because this person is past the age where their biology
: > naturally encourages them to begin questioning authority figures and
: > testing limits.  Much better it would be to reach out to their parents
: > much sooner with a softer sell and let them see for themselves what we 
the
: > blind can do for themselves.
: >
: > I have no idea how to reach out to the other extreme, as I said in 
another
: > message.  We've got to find a way to do it though, both for their 
futures
: > and for ours.
: >
: >
: > On Sun, Nov 11, 2007 at 01:00:17PM -0500, Sherri wrote:
: >> I became interested in the NFB as a "younger blind" person and now I am
: >> an
: >> "older" blind person and I'm still here. I think that actually 
computers
: >> and
: >> the internet have greatly depersonalized human contact and many young
: >> people
: >> just don't see the point. Wow, that really makes me sound old.
: >>
: >> Sherri
: >
: > _______________________________________________
: > nfb-talk mailing list
: > nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
: > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
: >
: >
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11/12/2007 12:56 PM
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