OT: ACB & NFB

Wed Apr 26 17:03:51 UTC 2017

> I am a member of the NFB of Dane County (Wisconsin) and it's great.

I wish I'd had a similar experience. I didn't start off with negative
feelings towards the organization and you were actually one of the
interesting individual members I had in mind.

Amanda
On 4/26/17, Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
> I am a member of the NFB of Dane County (Wisconsin) and it's great. I
> have met the most unbelievable people in that group. You know the
> saying, "Get knocked down 9 times, get up ten"? Try get knocked down a
> thousand times and get up a thousand and one. I used to think I had no
> reason to hang out with other blind people. We happen to be blind but
> other than that we have nothing in common. But I've never met a better
> bunch of people in my life. Not only do I really enjoy it, it helps me
> keep my perspective.
>
> PS: It was probably really stupid of me to start this thread. I didn't
> intend to start an NFB vs ACB debate. I deliberately titled the thread
> NFB *and* ACB as if that would matter.  Stupid.
>
> -- John Heim
>
>
>
> On 04/26/2017 06:28 AM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>> Tony Baechler here. I don't know who you are, but I thank you! I
>> couldn't agree more! I went to the LCB. That was the worst month of my
>> life! They tried to take my SSI (I guess I shouldn't be allowed to
>> manage my own money), wouldn't help me learn even basic tasks and told
>> me to sink or swim. Huh? What about training? I'm a cane user and I
>> don't like dogs out of preference. Guide dogs were absolutely forbidden.
>> Too bad if you have some vision as you weren't allowed to use it. Oh,
>> you need help in cooking class? Too bad for you! I was very much a
>> believer in the NFB until then, but no more! I was a member at large of
>> the ACB, but am not currently a member of either. Of the two, the ACB is
>> far more welcoming and friendly. I would join them just for that reason,
>> but I think their structured negotiation method of getting things done
>> as opposed to suing the pants off everyone works much better and makes
>> the blind look better. The NFB has benefitted from what the ACB has
>> done, just as the ACB has. I'm starting to see those few, rare times
>> when both worked together. I predict that within 20 years, they merge.
>> Also, the ACB split off the NFB in 1961.
>>
>> On 4/25/2017 4:05 PM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>> NFB members at a training center alienated me through their rigid
>>> insistence on straight canes and failure to account for the
>>> multiply-disabled or congenitally blind in training methods. I also
>>> couldn't stomach their idea that I should run all my words and actions
>>> through the "how does this make all blind people look" filter, or that
>>> becoming normal should be my ultimate goal. Several of us in here
>>> would have to lose a bunch of IQ points to be considered normal. And,
>>> I hate the Borg.
>>>
>>> That was over a decade ago. I'm on some of their mailing lists and I
>>> have some of their folding) canes since those are useful things. I
>>> won't join, but I've met some interesting individual members.
>>>
>>> On 4/25/17, Linux for blind general discussion
>>> <blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
>>>> The ACB's lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury to make
>>>> them make money accessible was already flawed to say the least.
>>>> According to the United States Constitution, the power to design money
>>>> has been delegated to Congress, and the Department of the Treasury is
>>>> only responsible for carrying out the orders of Congress. Therefore,
>>>> the
>>>> best way to make money accessible would have been for any and all
>>>> so-called advocacy organizations to lobby Congress and get a bill
>>>> passed
>>>> and signed by the President of the United States that would redesign
>>>> our
>>>> money in an accessible way. Do I think the ACB's lawsuit was a
>>>> publicity
>>>> stunt? Absolutely, as if they wanted us to have accessible money for
>>>> sure, they would have gone through the proper channels and we would
>>>> have
>>>> had it by now. Instead, where are we? No closer to truly accessible
>>>> currency than we were when this whole sleighride begen nearly 10 years
>>>> ago. Thank you, ACB and NFB for being such advocates for the needs of
>>>> blind and visually impaired citizens of the United States. Without your
>>>> petty bickering and your "We're not them" attitudes, the world would
>>>> certainly be a better and more friendly place for all of us.
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>>
>
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