[nfb-talk] To Be or Not to Be, Irritated

[Jim Marks]

Terry you asked how the prejudiced office manager accepted me as an
administrator when she would not accept the blind receptionist.  That's an
excellent question.  The answer is, I think, that the manager never accepted
me in the first place.  I believe the manager looked on me as someone to
pity.  Looking back, I now remember that the manager was overly solicitous
to me and the other blind people on our campus.  The manager's expectations
for blind people are obviously low.  Thing is, all this occurs within the
context of my reputation as a fair and knowledgeable administrator.  I am
also a large and strong person.  It never occurred to me that anyone would
think or behave like the manager did.  

I know the story is sad, but the reason I told what happened is that I think
we need reminders that we have not quite come as far as we like, and the
traditional battles are still with us.  I was thinking about John, the
lister who has been challenging NFB philosophy and actions.  We're not going
to change minds by sending the message that we need accessible pedestrian
signals or accessible money if we fail to put what's going on in its proper
context.  Each of us benefits from the message of personal responsibility
and positive attitudes about what it means to be blind.  Those premises
underpin everything the NFB does.

Going back to the experience of the blind receptionist. I want to make
another point that I neglected earlier.  There was no legal way out of the
situation.  Charges of discrimination must include harm that can be measured
and potential remedies.  In this case, there was no harm that could be
showed, although the psychological harm caused by the hostile working
environment was there.  The blind receptionist was not fired.  She did not
get the permanent job, but this was not due to illegal disability
discrimination.  If anything, her blindness was a major asset in the
permanent search.  When the issue of discrimination was raised, we could
find no remedy short of assisting the blind receptionist in finding another
job on campus.  We are going to do that.  Also, the blind receptionist is a
Federationist, and a strong one at that.  She held her head high through all
the hostility.  She enjoyed more support than low expectations, and her own
head was screwed on tight thanks to the superb rehabilitation she received
from an NFB center and her own spirit.  The blind receptionist decided to be
a blind student, and the long and short of it was that there was no legal
handle to grab in this situation.  While the experience was ugly, it
certainly had its beautiful moments, too.  We've got to remember to look at
all aspects of a conflict so that we may realize there are silver linings in
many a cloud.



-------
Jim Marks
blind.grizzly at gmail.com