[nfb-talk] state con attendance

Thu Nov 15 08:49:45 CST 2007

Sherri;
Great message!  I was an ACB member while at ACB in Little Rock.  It was
them or do not belong.  I am so glad to be back where I belong.  Back
then I did not know the difference, but I sure do now.  I belong to a
strong chapter of which I play a large part in fund raising.  I love
National and belonging to the NFB.  My chapter leader and I just had a
table at the Combined Federal Campain to get people to donate to the
NFB.

Terry Powers

-----Original Message-----
From: Sherri [mailto:flmom2006 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 8:28 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance

Again, and this has been stated many times, please, please read "The
nature of Independence" by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan. I actually used to feel
the same way, that NFB was full of a bunch of super-blind people who
thought asking for help or taking help was beneath them. I read that
speech. It changed my view.

As to volunteers, we volunteer to assist each other, but there are also
volunteers, usually from UPS at convention. I have asked them for help
several times. They just aren't quite as obvious as the ACB volunteers
and maybe not as proliferative, but they are out there.

As for the majority of the power being at the top and NFB becoming a
more agency-oriented or driven organization, as long as there are local
chapters and state affiliates, I doubt that will ever happen. I really
don't worry to much about what is happening at the top. I just worry
about changing what it means to be blind in my own community. I think
NFB has done and is doing much more to accomplish this than is the other
group, which seems to be so focused on being democratic that they
haven't even developed a really well-written mission statement or
philosophy. There philosophy, I guess, is to be so democratic as to not
offend anyone. *lol.

Sherri

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Westbrook" <westbc at clw19.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 5:36 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance

Mike, you make some good points. Being a young blind person myself, I
think
it's sad that many younger blind people view progress as inevitable and
feel
no need to join an organization.  On the other hand, I'm not really sure
what NFB is really doing to stop the tide from turning against us  The
biggest issue I see looming ahead is a loss of access to information.
This
could be due to inaccessible computer software, inaccessible appliances,
or
any number of other things I haven't thought of.  On the inaccessible
appliances front, we had a home showcase at convention, but do you
really
think that will make a difference?  I'm sure most manufacturers really
don't
care whether their products were coincidentally sort of accessible.  I
hope
our NFB Jernigan Institute can eventually help with this area.  That
leads
me to my next point, which is what mike said about some people believing
that the national leadership are the experts.  I see the NFB as a very
top
down organization with much of it's activity happening at the national
level.  I wonder if in the future the NFB will become more and more
focused
on it's Jernigan institute and basically be a clearinghouse for research
and
product design, while the ACB does most of the advocacy work?  I know
for
myself I really don't see that many ways for a rank and file member to
influence policy, especially if they can't come to convention but even
if
they can.

Also, I really think people in NFB need to relax and realize that not
every
blind person has had great training or has the ability to do everything
independently.  I know ACB has been criticized for having volunteers at
their convention, and frankly I find that kind of amusing when NFB's
leadership always has someone going sighted guide with them.  IF it's
good
enough for the leadership, why is it not good enough for the general
membership?  If you don't want the help, just refuse it, but don't keep
someone like me from using help that we may need.  On another note, I
frankly think ACB is better equipped to handle the challenges of the
future.
Yes, they can be a bit more demanding than necessary, but I think we as
blind people are going to have to do more and more of that as time goes
on.
NFB's philosophy is too focused on always being independence and this
whole
idea of blindness being a nuisance and not that big of a deal.  I'm
afraid
the NFB will suddenly wake up one day when all microwaves and other
appliances are flat paneled with no way to use them effectively, there
are
no usable telephones, all keyboards are completely touch screen and
wonder,
gee how did we get here?  I think I may be exaggerating slightly, but I
don't think I'm exaggerating as much as some may think.  My only
consolation
is that when things start getting worse, we will wake up and disregard
what
Kenneth Jernigan said in his speech "the day after civil rights"
whenever
that is, and start fighting again.  I just hope it's not too late.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance

> Ray:
>
> Welcome to the way the "other half" lives. Here in Washington, we
> consider we're doing an outstanding job if we get seventy-five to
eighty
> people at our state banquet. Unlike at national conventions, our
> banquets are more well attended than are our plenary convention
sessions
> as some convention participants bring guests to the banquet who do not
> attend the rest of the convention.
>
> Of course, part of the problem here in Washington is that, whether we
> admit it or not, we're still suffering from the organizational split
> that accompanied the whole Robert Acosta business in the late 1970's
> when the then-affiliate for Washington was expelled (or chose to
leave,
> depending upon one's viewpoint) and was reorganized. The old affiliate
> eventually joined ACB so that ACB is considerably larger numerically
> than is NFB in Washington. In the legislature, however, it is we of
NFB
> who are known for getting things done.
>
> AFfiliates east of the Mississippi such as Massachusetts are far
larger
> than are our affiliates out here with the exception of California. WE
> are, in Shakespeare's terms, "we happy few". But NFB is where the
action
> is.
>
> On the original subject, what I see in terms of dwindling convention
> attendance and grousing about the irrelevance of convention material
> stems, I believe, from a number of trends in society today. First,
> society is, in general, much more fragmented than was the case thirty
or
> forty years ago. People move around the country much more often than
> heretofore and, hence, don't put down roots and make as many lasting
> local friendships. (When was the last time you attended a "block
> party"?) They are thus less likely to have great circles of friends --
> arguably a prerequisit for easy growth of organizations.
>
> Second, perhaps because society is more fragmented and because there
are
> more venues of entertainment (cable TV, the Internet, video games and
> the like), I believe that people are far less likely to be "joiners"
> then was the case even twenty years ago. There are too many other
things
> competing for their time.
>
> Third, I believe that it is fair to say that the 1960's and 1970's
were
> decades of activism. Whatever your thoughts are concerning the war in
> Iraq, note the vast difference between the small anti-war
demonstrations
> of today and the mass protests against the Vietnam war from 1964 to
> 1975. WE of NFB, like many other activist organizations, are the
victims
> of the paradigm shift from activism to indifference and (see above)
from
> the paradigm of working to make changes to being entertained.
>
> Fourth, I believe that, rightly or wrongly, many young blind people
> today see all the progress that the blind have made over the previous
> two generations toward a world of equality with the sighted and
conclude
> that continued progress in this arena is inevitable. Obviously, I
> disagree with this assessment and, in fact, I am worried that we might
> be on the verge of slipping backward, making NFB even more of a
> necessity than it may have been twenty years ago. Couple this with
laws
> mandating provision of services such as DSS offices at universities
and
> this is a recipe for organizational lacitude IMO. I opine that many
> young people do not recognize that provision of some of these services
> constitutes a wolf in sheep's clothing and, hence, when they hit the
> "real world" and encounter businesses that don't automatically provide
> them with all the high-tech gadgetry they think they need, they
> interpret the problem as one of discrmination rather than one simply
of
> the way the world works. All this is to say that many blind people of
> all ages today don't see why they need to gain advocacy skills or pay
> attention to all the "dull" stuf involving politics or their agencies
> for the blind. Let "the experts" do it. And while many would agree
with
> us that agency moguls may not be the "experts", some are beginning to
> see *us* as the "experts",where by "us" I mean NFB leadership. In
other
> words, I'm not sure that the rank-and-file always sees that it has a
> stake in what's happening or that it really has the power to change
> things.
>
> This problem is not unique to NFB: ACB has it also. The "advantage",
if
> one wishes to call it that, that ACB has is that often its affiliates
> conduct many more social functions than do NFB affiliates -- at least
> it's like that out here in the Pacific Northwest. When, for example,
was
> the last time you attended a NFB affiliate convention where a comedian
> was the featured banquet speaker? It has happend in ACB affiliates out
> here.
>
> Now I would hazard that this sort of fluff is not what we in NFB truly
> want. But to make changes, we must understand why what we're doing may
> not always appeal to "the masses" and, therefore, must decide whether
we
> can incorporate other items into our conventions that might gain
> interest and not cause groans of "same ol' same ol'" while at the same
> time not betraying our NFB heritage and philosophy.
>
> I don't have the answer but I value the discussions as we may
> collectively come up with ideas that might work for all of us.
>
> Mike Freeman, President
> NFB of Washington
>
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Ray Foret Jr
>  To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>  Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 9:37 AM
>  Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>
>
>  Edd, I am floored!!!  Are you truly telling us that at your last New
>  Hampshire state NFB convention, y'all only had 30 attendees?  Only
30?
> What
>  is y'all's membership compared to that number?  I just cannot get my
> mind
>  around the idea of y'all putting all that work in to an all day state
>  convention and having only 30 people there.  Perhaps you might
inquire
> of
>  your members just what the issues are which cause them not to attend
> y'all's
>  convention.  From what I gather, you say in your message that folks
> were
>  complaining that the program items were "so so".  If I'm not
mistaken,
> we
>  usually have over 100 folks at the Louisiana NFB state convention.
> How
>  about I forward your message on to Pam Allan and she can maybe
suggest
> what
>  you might want to consider.
>
>  Sincerely yours,
>  The Constantly Barefooted,
>  Ray
>  Home phone and fax:
>  (985)853-0139
>  E-mail:
>  rforetjratbellsouthdotnet
>  Skype Name:
>  barefootedray
>  Blog:
>  www.raysworld.blogs.com
>  Podcast .rss Feed:
>  http://feeds.feedburner.com/worldofray
>
>  God bless President George W. Bush!
>  God bless our troops!
>  and God bless America
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: "Ed Meskys" <edmeskys at localnet.com>
>  To: "nfb-talk" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>  Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 10:44 AM
>  Subject: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>
>
>  When I first became NH state president in 1988 the first few state
>  conventions I put on had about 100-120 attendees, up about 20% from
> the
>  previous president, because I did a lot of outreach to find former
and
> new
>  members, and initiated a state newsletter. We had been drifting down
> ever
>  since, to under 50. Last year we had our 50th anniversary, and got
> more
>  attendees, but with people muttering about our programs being the
> "same old,
>  same old." This year we decided to devote our whole morning to a
topic
>  important to blind persons and many others in a rural state, the
> future of
>  transportation in NH. We made it a one-day con, with a luncheon
> banquet, and
>  the National report, some technology, mobility, and our business
> meeting in
>  he afternoon. With the help of Blind Services, the talking book
> library, the
>  Governor's Commission on Disabilities, and Granite State Independent
> Living
>  (Foundation) we distributed over 2000 flyers, and aside from program
>  participants we had only 30 attendees. Our officers are very
> disappointed,
>  and are saying it cost so much money to put on and advertise the con,
> and
>  put in so much work, that we will pull back and only have a business
> meeting
>  with lunch in the back room of a restaurant next year. Are other
> states
>  having the same problem getting attendance at a con?
>
>  We are using an Imagination Grant to put on a one-day tech expo next
> April,
>  which is not a convention (cons are normally in October or November).
> If
>  this flops too, I think the board will be devastated. We lined up an
>  excellent panel of five experts and administrators for the
> transportation
>  panel, and are working on getting excellent speakers for the tech
> expo.
>
>  Incidentally, the results of our state elections were:
>  continuing constitutional officers:
>  Marie Johnson, President
>  Gil Vickery, FVP.
>  Judy Leavitt, SVP
>  Ed Meskys, secretary
>  Lucille Lynch, treasurer
>  and our new slate of untitled board positions is:
>  Julie Clark (new)
>  Wayne Harvey (new)
>  Donald Little (new)
>  John Parker (returning)
>  Stephen Yerardi (returning)
>
>  Best, Ed Meskys
>
>
>  Edmund R. Meskys
>  NIEKAS Publications
>  National Federation of the Blind of N.H.
>  Moultonboro Lions Club
>  edmeskys at localnet.com
>  322 Whittier Hwy
>  Moultonboro NH 03254-3627
>  my credo:
>  Clinton lied, nothing happened
>  Bush lied, thousands died
>  and over 3,000 permanently brain injured
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  nfb-talk mailing list
>  nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>  http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  nfb-talk mailing list
>  nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
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>
>
>
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