[nfb-talk] [Blindtlk] HumanWare, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, here we go again

[T. Joseph Carter]

Actually Joe, several people on ACB lists routinely do precisely that.
And you know what?  From the outside looking in, it sure seems like they
have a point.  They regularly discuss how we have apparently sold out,
will do anything (including partner with paratransit companies whose track
records are anything but good, etc) for a few dollars more.  They discuss
how it appears our answer to the currency issue they're fighting so hard
for is to spend $2000 on a cellphone we seem to profit from.  They discuss
how it seems that we have become a provider or rehabilitation services and
products more than we are an advocacy organization.

I know these are all distortions.  I know it because I am an active member
of this organization and I keep on top of these things as much as I can.

I know that's not how it works because I am an active Federationist and I
try to keep track of these things.  But still, if I weren't, it would sure
LOOK LIKE the Federation cared more about money than about civil rights.
I know we're always going to have some detractors who hate us because we
are the National Federation of the Blind, but here we see even our own
membership questioning what it looks like we're doing.  It seems that we
have an image problem, and we need to work to correct it.

Joseph


On Mon, Feb 18, 2008 at 10:50:19AM -0500, Joe Orozco wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I have found it a little more than unfair to criticize the national office 
> for balancing public positions with financial need.  National conventions 
> are hosted at no small cost, and continuing Washington Seminars is done so 
> at increasing rates.  The National Center habitually flies people in for a 
> number of seminars, houses them and feeds them.  A few people have pondered 
> about what Jernigan what think of our current operation, but we forget that 
> it was his desire to see the establishment of the research institute that 
> now demands so much of our financial resources.  Mind you, this is not a 
> critique of Jernigan's aspirations, because it was we who ultimately 
> accepted and supported the construction of the facility.  Yet, more 
> important is the fact that the reinforcement of the organization's 
> philosophy was always meant to be carried out at the state and local levels, 
> and trust me, no one is accusing the NFB of becoming weak these days. 
> Companies like Freedom Scientific and Humanware have an incentive to 
> exercise good business practices, and nonprofits working at such a high 
> velocity like the NFB ultimately have to rely on strategic fundraising 
> tactics to remain competitive.  Let us not be idealist in presuming that the 
> national office is an innocent bystander, but let us not be so quick as to 
> assume that the National Center is selling us out on an image it worked too 
> hard to develop, especially when it has always been understood that the bulk 
> of the ground work has to be maneuvered amongst those of living outside of 
> the national office.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Joe Orozco
> 
> "We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves, from ourselves."--Senator 
> John McCain 
> 
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