The very basis are mythical! There are instances where blind persons have married not only once but so many times. Its an issue of attraction not of accessibility! Atleast I never faced such dearth in my life, whether the occasion is of getting married or making girl friends. With love and regards, Vip
----- Original Message ----- From: "rajesh asudani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [AI] The blind diplomat > Yes, I do also inclined to hold the same opinion, even David Blunket seems > not to have married! > > Exclusion is ubiqutous. > > Rajesh > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "dr.u.n.sinha narain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Geetha Shamanna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; > <accessindia@accessindia.org.in> > Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 1:28 AM > Subject: Re: [AI] The blind diplomat > > >>i met mr. rabby. i saw his capacities, when i met him in lucknow. >> since he is transferred from india, i could not contact him, as i do >> not have his e mail now. my questionis the gentle man is so qualified >> but why he has not married? is it general blind problem everywhere? >> regards >> drun >> >> On 7/8/07, Geetha Shamanna <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> The Saturday Profile >>> >>> A U.S. Diplomat With an Extraordinary Global View >>> >>> By [4]MARC LACEY >>> >>> PORT OF SPAIN, [5]Trinidad >>> >>> AS chief of the political section at the American Embassy here for >>> the >>> last two years, Avraham Rabby has had the job of surveying >>> Trinidads >>> political landscape for Washington. >>> >>> The fact that he has not actually seen the Caribbean island or any >>> of >>> the places on five continents where he has been posted has not >>> stymied >>> him. >>> >>> I necessarily listen more than a sighted person would, he said. If >>> Im >>> walking along a street, I can tell there is a building next to me >>> because of the echoes of my feet or my cane. A blind person sees >>> the >>> world differently from a sighted person. Our impressions are no >>> less >>> valid. >>> >>> Mr. Rabby, who lost his sight at the age of 8 because of detached >>> retinas, is the State Departments first blind diplomat. It is an >>> achievement he fought for in the 1980s, passing three written >>> entrance >>> exams and two oral exercises along the way. But even then, the >>> State >>> Department barred him from the diplomatic corps. >>> >>> You dont ask a blind person to drive a bus or be a bank teller, >>> George >>> S. Vest, who was the personnel director for the Foreign Service, >>> explained in a 1988 interview. There are jobs which are dangerous >>> or >>> unsuitable for them. And in the Foreign Service, were full of jobs >>> like that. >>> >>> The department contended that diplomats, blind ones included, had >>> to >>> be able to work anywhere in the world and to work with confidential >>> documents without any outside aid. In addition, State Department >>> officials said, diplomats had to be able to pick up on nonverbal >>> cues, >>> such as winks or nods, which can sometimes have more meaning than >>> the >>> words being uttered. >>> >>> But Mr. Rabby illustrated another essential quality of diplomats: >>> perseverance. No international treaty has ever been decided on the >>> basis of a wink or a nod, he retorted, after hiring a lawyer and >>> challenging the State Departments policy, which dated from the 18th >>> century. >>> >>> Aiding Mr. Rabbys effort was a federal law barring the government >>> from >>> disqualifying prospective employees because of disabilities. >>> Eventually, after the news media and Congress found out about his >>> case, the State Department reversed course. The new policy would >>> consider disabled diplomats on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Rabby >>> became >>> case No. 1. >>> >>> In 1990, he was off to London, where he was posted at the embassy >>> there as a junior political officer. He moved next to Pretoria, >>> South >>> Africa, where [6]Nelson Mandela had just been freed from prison and >>> where Mr. Rabby witnessed the countrys first free elections. It was >>> one of the most stimulating experiences in my life, he said, noting >>> that he was one of the embassys election observers. >>> >>> People ask me how I can assess a political rally if I cant see it, >>> he >>> said. I tell them that I listen to the crowd and to the speakers. >>> You >>> can sense what is going on. >>> >>> He spent time in Washington at the State Departments Bureau of >>> Human >>> Rights, and in postings in Lima and New Delhi. During a stint at >>> the >>> United States Mission to the [7]United Nations, he helped write >>> resolutions dealing with literacy, global health and the rights of >>> the >>> disabled. >>> >>> His final posting he retired at the end of June at the mandatory >>> retirement age of 65 was to Port of Spain, where he became an >>> expert >>> in Trinidads political system, which has long been divided between >>> parties, one predominantly Afro-Trinidadian and one >>> Indo-Trinidadian. >>> >>> When journalists descended on Trinidad recently in search of >>> information on the suspected plot to set off a bomb at a fuel line >>> at >>> Kennedy International Airport that was traced back to this >>> Caribbean >>> island, he became one of the officials to talk to. >>> >>> A diplomat does a lot of writing, a lot of reading, a lot of >>> thinking, >>> a lot of talking and has to attend a lot of meetings, he said. >>> Thanks >>> to technological advances and a full-time assistant, Mr. Rabby >>> could >>> do all of those things too. >>> >>> He wrote his cables to Washington using a machine that wrote in >>> Braille. He then read them back to his assistant, Rhonda Singh, who >>> typed them up. He also had a computer with a speech program that >>> allowed him to listen to his e-mail messages. >>> >>> As for tracking news developments, Ms. Singh, an American citizen >>> who >>> lives in Trinidad, read him the local papers. I was basically his >>> eyes, she said. >>> >>> BORN in Israel, Mr. Rabby, who is known as Rami, was sent to live >>> with >>> an aunt in England at the age of 10 because his parents believed >>> there >>> were better schools for the blind there. A Hebrew speaker, he >>> quickly >>> mastered English at Worcester College for Blind Boys. >>> >>> I remember the headmaster used to go out and speak to groups about >>> the >>> school, and he used to say that we teach our boys to stand on their >>> own two feet and, if necessary, to step on yours too, Mr. Rabby >>> recalled. >>> >>> He went off to Oxford, where he studied French and Spanish. Finding >>> a >>> job after college proved a challenge. Time and time again I met >>> recruiters who felt that a blind person could not work in >>> management, >>> he said in the British accent that he has never lost. >>> >>> Eventually, he joined Ford Motor Company in Britain, where he >>> worked >>> in human resources. After about a year, he moved to the United >>> States >>> and earned an M.B.A. at the [8]University of Chicago. >>> >>> After graduation in 1969, he sought out a management training >>> program, >>> but had few offers after dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of >>> interviews. >>> >>> He finally landed a job with a management consulting firm, Hewitt >>> Associates, and later moved to Citibank. He also spent time as an >>> independent consultant, writing a number of employment guides, >>> including one giving advice to blind job seekers. >>> >>> One of my problems in my working life, after a few years I get a >>> bit >>> tired of what I am doing and I want to change, said Mr. Rabby, who >>> became an American citizen in 1980. >>> >>> It was while living in New York that he decided to make the jump >>> into >>> international relations, a longtime interest. The State Departments >>> regular rotations of its diplomats proved a perfect fit. >>> >>> His fight to join the Foreign Service has helped others along the >>> way. >>> There are now four blind Foreign Service officers stationed around >>> the >>> globe, the State Department said, among about 170 disabled Foreign >>> Service employees overseas. >>> >>> MR. RABBY said blind Foreign Service officers had recently been >>> restricted from adjudicating visa applications because of their >>> inability to verify photographs and signatures of applications. >>> >>> Mr. Rabby, who attributes the decision to the increased >>> restrictions >>> after the Sept. 11 attacks, said he did visa work at the start of >>> his >>> career in London, with the assistance of a reader, who verified >>> documents for him. He asked the questions and assessed the >>> responses. >>> >>> The State Department is not yet completely on the side of the >>> angels, >>> he said. A State Department official disputed that there was a >>> policy >>> in place restricting the assignments of blind diplomats. Decisions >>> on >>> assigning personnel, the official said, are made on a case-by-case >>> basis in accordance with the law. >>> >>> Even before Mr. Rabby headed out into the world as a diplomat, he >>> was >>> already testifying before Congress on his quest for the job. He >>> said >>> back then that he did not want to be put in a pigeonhole as a blind >>> diplomat. >>> >>> Blind people are as different from one another as sighted people, >>> he >>> told members of the House Foreign Affairs and Civil Service >>> Committees >>> in 1989. There is no such thing as a category labeled, blind. >>> >>> Prior Beharry contributed reporting. >>> >>> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> with >>> the subject unsubscribe. >>> >>> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, >>> please >>> visit the list home page at >>> >>> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in >>> >> >> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> with the subject unsubscribe. >> >> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, >> please visit the list home page at >> >> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in >> > > > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Choose the right car based on your needs. 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