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

Fri May 9 07:11:01 CDT 2008

(Math! It gets me every time!) What would you say the other 20 percent
thinks, Mike?
Lorraine 

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces+lrovig=nfb.org at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-talk-bounces+lrovig=nfb.org at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike
Freeman
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:32 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] FW: To Be or Not to Be, Irritated

Right. But 20 + 40 = 60, not 80!

Mike Freeman
... "It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly." -- Anatole
France

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Rovig, Lorraine
  To: NFB Talk Mailing List
  Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 5:19 AM
  Subject: [nfb-talk] FW: To Be or Not to Be, Irritated

  I came to believe a long time ago that the 80-20 rule applies to this
  kind of prejudice too.  I believe there are 20 percent who cannot be
  educated, they can only be coerced by civil rights laws so that they 
do
  less damage.  Of the other 80 percent, I'd say 20 percent have figured
  it out on their own and the other 40 percent are educable if they have
  the right teacher.  Having read Jim Mark's essays on our listservs for
  years, I know he is among our best at educating folks out of 
unthinking
  prejudices toward blind persons.

  Lorraine Rovig

  -----Original Message-----
  From: On Behalf Of Jim Marks
  Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 10:28 PM
  To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
  Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] To Be or Not to Be, Irritated

  Changing minds can be tough.  I recently had a negative experience 
that
  still shakes me up today.

  I am a director of a university disability service office.  This 
summer,
  our receptionist resigned, and our first search to replace the
  receptionist failed.  I then hired a temporary employee, a woman who
  also happened to be blind.  She was fully qualified for the job and 
had
  just returned home from one of our NFB training centers.

  An office manager from another campus department that shares the
  reception desk with my office immediately took issue with the idea of 
a
  blind receptionist for a high-traffic university service area.  My 
mouth
  dropped open in surprise when the office manager said that no blind
  person could do the job.  She had not met the person I hired, and the
  manager seemed stupidly ignorant of the fact that she was airing her
  prejudices before another blind person.  I remember thinking, how dare
  she judge this without any foundation other than ignorance!  I told 
the
  manager to give me time to see whether it would work or not.  I 
figured
  I could bully the prejudice into submission, but I wanted to win her
  over by showing her how it would work.

  First thing the blind receptionist and I did was to create a working
  environment that could be handled with non-visual techniques.  The big
  hurdle was having the receptionist respond to walk-in visitors since 
the
  visitors often did not announce themselves.  To make it work, we 
needed
  the collaboration of the co-workers.  Unfortunately, instead of 
getting
  cooperation, we got the opposite.

  The prejudiced office manager set out to do everything she could to
  sabotage the confidence and reputation of the blind receptionist.  The
  manager would leap up every time someone walked in and dramatically
  intervene with her superior powers of vision.  She would reprimand the
  blind receptionist with constant tiny and pointless corrections.  And
  she encouraged others to join her in her hostility towards blindness.
  It was clear that the manager saw blind people in extremes, either as
  fools or super heroes.  She never even considered the possibility that

a
  blind person could be her peer.

  The blind receptionist held up well, but it was tough beyond belief. 
It
  helped that the president of the NFB of Montana works in our office.
  Others joined in support of the blind receptionist, too.  Another 
office
  manager, a sighted person, actually took time to sit beside the blind
  receptionist when the going was painfully and obviously difficult.  At
  one point, I lost my temper and told the prejudiced office manager, a
  person I do not supervise, that she was to back off and stay out of 
it.
  I knew there was zero chance for her support, and adjusted my
  expectations from winning her over to simply getting her to stop her
  outrageous behaviors.  unfortunately, she did not stop, and the
  situation continued on.  Then, the blind receptionist asked for a
  reasonable accommodation.  She asked that the interventions cease
  through a formal request for reasonable accommodation.  The manager 
sort
  of complied, and the drama lessened.  When it went to the level of 
civil
  rights, the situation became marginally better.  But it was still a
  hostile and ugly situation, and it was occurring in my shop under my
  watch.
  Attitudes were the problem, and, for the life of me, I knew no way to
  deal with them in any effective way.  I still do not, except that it's
  important to be relentless.  We can never give up, never.

  The story ends badly.  When we re-opened the position, the blind
  receptionist did not get the permanent job.  The pool contained
  applicants who were more qualified than she was.  Had the blind
  receptionist been in the pool during the first search, she would have
  had the job.  But this pool was too strong.  The blind receptionist
  handled herself very, very well all throughout the weeks she worked in
  my office.  She's now going to school, and is doing great.  I will
  likely hire her for work as a student employee in my office.  I 
decided
  to sever my relationship with the prejudiced office manager.  We no
  longer supervise people together because I will not work with someone
  who is so bigoted.  I am polite, for I will not stoop to the same 
level
  of bigotry, but damage was done, and it's irreversible insofar as I 
can
  tell.  So, maybe in many ways the story ends better than I thought, 
but
  it's hard to see the good of it.  Thing is, I am still shaking my head
  over what happened.

  Those who think our battles are over are out of touch.  I am in it for
  the long haul, and the NFB really does give us a vehicle for change 
that
  we could not possibly accomplish on our own as lone wolves.  We hunt 
in
  packs, and that's the way nature intended it.

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

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