[nfbwatlk] Use of word "vision"todescribeprofessionalsandservices in the blindness field

[n7pzr]

 here here  amen

Paul Whipple n7pzr
Vice President Inland Empire Chapter
of the National Federation of the Blind
of Wa.
phone 509/362/3148
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar at olypen.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 10:02 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Use of word 
"vision"todescribeprofessionalsandservices in the blindness field


> Exactly right Jim.  And our future is as blind men and women, not as
> visionless, or vision challenged, or vision impaired.
> I am a blind man.  Anyone who believes that they are trained to provide me
> services, but they can't bring themselves to say, "blind man", is not fit
> for the job.
> In fact, vision services should be reserved for eye doctors and
> optomitrists.
> Anyone in the field of Work with the Blind who exchanges the word Blind 
> with
> Vision, should be considered an enemy of the Organized Blind.
> Their refusal to call us by our name sends a strong message to the newly
> blind and the uninformed.  By omission they make "Blind" into a dirty 
> word,
> a bad taste in the mouth.
> I spent the first thirty years of my life as a sighted man.  And I brought
> to my new world all of the misconceptions and negative attitudes that
> existed at that time,  even though I became deeply involved in the NFB for
> many years.
> These negative attitudes are so deeply entrenched that after 41 years as a
> blind man I am still brought up short from time to time by some hang over
> attitude from my past.
> I need to stop and get off my soap box, but I feel so strongly that there
> are still far too many so called professionals who are working to control 
> us
> and keep us in subservient status.
> Replacing Blind with Vision is no accident.  Nor is it an honest effort to
> "reach those folks who don't want to believe they're blind".  It is an out
> and out power play.  If we are regarded as their equals, they have no 
> reason
> to exist.  And they are out of work.  And they have no one to push around.
> So we need to double our efforts to help them to the unemployment line.
>
> Carl Jarvis
> sometime ask me how I really feel
>
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