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From: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: expulsion of nfb member
Message-ID: <16577@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jan 91 04:59:56 GMT
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Index Number: 12651

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 DK> i would really like to see an nfb computer echo as well as a 
 DK> acb computer echo.  at least these organizations should at 
 DK> least have bbs's so they can distribute info to their members.  

Dan,
     I fully agree with your thoughts that both the NFB and the ACB
should have bulletin boards for distributing info to their members, but
the practicality of having echos for each just isn't there.  As a matter
of fact, thanks to Nolan Crabbe of the ACB, the Braille Forum is
available from BlinkLink and many of the other BlinkTalk carrying
boards.  Likewise, I've given the NFB the opportunity to distribute the
Braille Monitor via this most efficient medium, but the only real
response we've had is from Ted Young, the president of the Pennsylvania
NFB, who regularly uploads the state NFB newsletter here.  I've heard a
few reasons why this is so, all of which didn't amount to a hill of
beans, but hey, let's face it...it is most definately more their loss
than ours, cause indeed, to be "the voice of the blind" in this country,
and to ignore BlinkTalk, is somewhat of a paradox!

 DK> i guess that's why i like this echo so much because there are a 
 DK> lot of independent thinking folks on here.

Yeah Dan, and hopefully there are a lot of people here questioning their
beliefs as well!  I am sure that there are many of us out here
intentionally keeping silent in this NFB thread, and just sitting back
and watching, and that there are many who don't belong to either
organization who are being swayed one way or the other, but what about
these staunch NFB advocates who show absolutely no signs of being
affected by this whole thing?  Can they honestly respond to the charges
with "hogwash", and pick out only the weakest of the claims made against the
NFB and ignore the major issues like "democracy" and undue process?

     You know, a long time ago, long before I ever used a talking
computer, let alone had a board or BlinkTalk's existance, a friend sent
me a tape of Dr. Ken's keynote speech at an NFB annual convention.  In
it, he started with a joke about blind people, and honestly, although I
don't remember it now, I howled, as did the audience on the tape.  Well,
he continued with more jokes, ranging from 1 to 10 on the BlinkTalk
humor scale, and they continued to get varying amounts of laughter from
the audience.
     Seriously, I think I caught onto the fact that Ken was actually
trying to say that these jokes were a travesty to blind people before
most of the audience, so I listened more and more intently to the sounds
from them after each joke.  It seemed so strange to me, as it was
obvious that the perception change of the audience from hilarity to
outrage was not due to anything but wanting to give the feedback the
speaker desired, not due to any real change in attitude on their part.
Again, this was long before I heard any of the Jim Baker and sheep
analogies I've heard here or anywhere else, but boy, it sure sounded
like that to me way back then!

     Yep Dan, I figure that if you hear a blind joke in an audience
consisting overwhelmingly of blinks, like here in BlinkTalk or at an NFB
convention, it should be expected to be looked at in a perspective that
would allow one to laugh!  I also believe that claims by the "boice of
the blind" that this destroys our image in the minds of our sighted
counterparts, or that we are doing an injustice to ourselves by telling
such jokes, are more "hogwash" than anything ever posted here in an anti
NFB vein!  Not only does the NFB claim to be the voice of the blind in
this country, they apparantly claim to be the mind of the sighted in
this country, and with, I must add, not one shred of statistical
evidence!

       Finally, and this really is my last word in this thread if I can
help it at all, if the NFB can't withstand the stones hurled at it in as
public a forum as this, they most definately have an infinate amount of
nerve referring to themselves as the voice of anything but a few!
Personally, I have never seen anything sadder than the posts here by
people who are obviously, intelligent, concerned participants, turn to
blind defense of the organization that apparantly makes up the core of
their existance!
                                                        Willie
     

... BlinkTalk, Dr. Deb and Silver in Pittsburgh!

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