Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!yale.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!David.Andrews From: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Re: hot topic Message-ID: <16292@handicap.news> Date: 20 Jun 91 20:10:11 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.isc-br.com Reply-To: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA Lines: 56 Approved: wtm@bunker.hcap.fidonet.org Index Number: 16292 [This is from the Blink Talk Conference] JD> After reading your comments on free transportation for JD> the blind and then reading the reply you received from JD> Dan Kysor, I am forced to agree with Dan. He's absolutely JD> correct when he states, infact itemizes, that many things wich JD> cost the average sighted person only cents costs us so much JD> more. The brailler verses the ball point pin is a perfect JD> example. There are so many more. Another that pops to mind JD> as I sit here typing away on this machine is all the extras I JD> had to buy just to get into the world of computers. Yes, there are things that cost us more, but there are things that we don't have to buy at all, such as cars. Most of my sighted friends pay from $200 to $500 a month for car payments, plus another $100 for insurance. No matter what, I know that I don't spent that much money on taxi cabs and buses in a month. I suspect that it evens out over the long run. The problem is that as a group, the income level for the blind is lower, so it is harder to get a start. JD> this whole issue brings to mind the thought that for so many JD> years blind activists fought for just such considerations as JD> extra tax exemptions and reduced public transportation fees. JD> It seems a shame for this new radical view of blind JD> independence should be deystroying so many hard won victories. JD> Don't get me wrong. I'm as independent as I can be, I think. JD> But there are limits to the amount of confusion we can force JD> upon the sighte retain their respect. In other words, 1 blind JD> pers another blind person says a completely different thing JD> about h independence the next day. No wonder some sighted JD> individuals act around blind persons. It's to bad there's not JD> an organi does give a true a-cross-the-board representation JD> of the blin whole. Please don't even try to say that the JD> organization I can only sum up my feelings about N.F.B. in 2 JD> words, "IT call'em as I don't see'm! When blind activists started lobbying for changes, back in the 1940's, survival for blind persons was the main issue. When you read the early NFB speeches by Dr. Jacobus Ten'broek, "welfare" was the big issue. In general blind people stayed at home, some worked in sheltered workshops, some in vending, but most not. There were of course exceptions, but not many. Things are still not great, but they are getting better, so of course our positions are going to change. Some day, many years down the road, we all will get good training and have all the opportunities or lack thereof as anyone. At that time, we certainly won't be asking for tax exemptions or discounted bus fares. Ultimately, we can't have it both ways, we can't take and ask for full responsibility at the same time, but it will take a while to get there. The road will be rough and will at times even be bvlocked by blind persons, but we will get there. .... David Andrews -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!David.Andrews Internet: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org