[nfb-talk] Younger People

Tue Nov 27 20:16:07 CST 2007

Hi David:
I'm intrigued by your percentages.  The data from the National Health
Information Survey doesn't show it that high, but I've had some concerns
about that information.  Can you please pass along your data sources so I
can see the studies.
Mike Bullis
Baltimore Maryland 

-----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.
_______________________________________________
nfb-talk mailing list
nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk

-- 
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.7/1151 - Release Date: 11/25/2007 
4:24 PM

_______________________________________________
nfb-talk mailing list
nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.9/1155 - Release Date: 11/27/2007
8:30 PM

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.9/1155 - Release Date: 11/27/2007
8:30 PM

_______________________________________________
nfb-talk mailing list
nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk