From: Mike.Freeman@f126.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Mike Freeman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Screen reader.
Date: 13 Oct 92 18:19:15 GMT
Reply-To: Mike.Freeman@f126.n105.z1.fidonet.org
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Index Number: 24909

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

In a message to Juan Mojena <02 Sep 92 08:23> Doug Coyle wrote:

 DC> But the time is long past that we should blame
 DC> society for our problems. We will never change society by
 DC> complaining about past or present unjust situations.  We
 DC> will only change it by telling all the world that we can
 DC> and will compete as equals even with society's deck stacked
 DC> against us.

Hi, Doug.

You are partially correct.  If we, the blind, do not believe that
we can compete on terms of equality with the sighted, given
training and opportunity, then we will never achieve equality.
That we should therefore strive to do so then follows.  However,
notice what I said above:  we can compete on terms of equality
**if** given training *****and opportunity*****.  We must have
**both** if we are to compete on an equal basis with the sighted.
Yes, we must believe in ourselves; yes we must proclaim our
equality even in the face of a doubting world; yes we shouldn't
blame others to the extent that we absolve ourselves of the
obligation to compete.

Having acknowledged this, however, we would be fools indeed if we
failed to acknowledge the massive discrimination still facing the
blind today and the fact that, while the blind, being part of
society, often, by acquiescence, contribute to this
discrimination, there are also many, many instances when the
blind, through no fault of their own, have been shut out of the
mainstream in society.  For these individuals, IMHO, the first
step toward empowerment and self-confidence is the achievement of
a level of existence that grants a modicum of personal dignity
and the sense that society, to some extent, at least,
acknowledges the indivual's worth as a human being.

In practical terms, in most cases, at least, what this amounts to
is that one cannot achieve the rehabilitation and successful
integration of an individual who is blind into society without
their being able to live without fear of destitution, excessive
intrusion by authority in the name of efficiency or care and the
tacit indication that society considers them, as a class, less
capable than their sighted peers.

Yes, there are a few people to whom the best thing that could
happen would be an immediate and total cutoff of their SSI and/or
SSDI payments.  Yes, SSI and SSDI can and often do foster
dependency.  However, just as often, they give the individual a
leg up; they give the individual the sense that they are valued
and, to put it in crass terms, a full belly which allows them to
concentrate on training to take their place in society.

IMHO it ill-behooves us who have suceded to judge too harshly
those who have not.  Get _The Man and the Movement_, a collection
of Jacobus tenBroek's speeches; you can get it in Braille, print,
on disc or casette from NFB's National Office.  Read the third
speech in.  It is entitled "Within the Grace of God".  Note
especially the last few paragraphs.

Let me know what you think.

Regards,

Mike Freeman
... ** The blind are no longer willing to be second-class citizens. **
___ CRR QWK 1.40

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