i think this speach was posted before. it is better if ripitation is avoided.
On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 harish kotian wrote : >Hello all > > > >I am pasting below a posting made by our member. > > > >It is a long speech, Therefore, please don't reply to this message. > >Any comments should be made on a seperate mail. > >Harish. > > > >The Edge of Tomorrow > >THE FUTURE FOR THE BLIND > > > >Address by MARC MAUER, President, National Federation for the Blind > >Delivered to the Banquet of the Annual Convention of the National Federation >of the Blind, > >Louisville, Kentucky, July 7, 2005 > > > >In art, perspective is the depiction of objects with proper alignment, clarity >of detail, and depth. In thought, perspective is the contemplation of ideas >from a vantage point that allows maximum understanding, clarity of detail, and >depth. Although perspective was once the science of sight (sometimes known as >optics), it has come to mean in part the capacity to understand-to penetrate >the complex and to illuminate the obscure. > > > >For an illustration of perspective consider the earth and the billiard ball. >The earth, we are told, is round. However, it is covered with oceans, >mountains, cliffs, and valleys; our observation tells us mat it is only more >or less > >round. > > > >A billiard ball is round; when we hold it, we know this is true. The >observation is born out by the Billiard Congress of America, which tells us >that the billiard ball is completely round. However, the standards for >manufacture of billiard balls permit a deviation in the diameter of the ball. >The diameter is two and one-quarter inches, and the permitted deviation is >plus or minus five-thousandths of an inch. Therefore, the deviation is one out >of 225. > > > >The highest point on the earth is just short of six miles above sea level. If >in considering the roundness of the earth, the land mass is examined and the >oceans are ignored (a thing very difficult to do because more than two-thirds >of the globe is covered with water), the lowest point of land is just short of >seven miles below sea level. The diameter is approximately eight thousand >miles. Therefore, the deviation in the diameter of the land mass of the earth >is thirteen eight-thousandths or approximately one out of 615. The arithmetic >shows that the percentage deviation from roundness of the earth is less than >the percentage deviation in the roundness of a billiard ball. If a billiard >ball with the maximum deviation were to be expanded to the size of the earth, >it would have a mountain on it more than twice as tall as Mount Everest. The >earth is rounder than a billiard ball. It's all a matter of perspective. > > > >The concept of perspective seems so simple; a new position from which to >observe or a new pattern of thought makes altered comprehension possible. >Enhanced comprehension provides additional knowledge. Additional knowledge >permits more informed decision making than had previously been achievable, >with more productive planning as a result. Surely, added perspective will >always be sought, always embraced, always welcomed, always valued. However, >our experience demonstrates that this supposition is not always the case. >Enhanced perspective is sometimes greeted with suspicion, or even more violent >reactions. > > > > > >Altered thought patterns always challenge the accepted formulations of >previous observation, and they challenge the authority of those who espouse >such formulations. Human beings find it hard to admit error and harder still >to reconcile themselves with the proposition that somebody else possesses >greater insight than they do. Furthermore, newly gained knowledge requires >altered patterns of behavior, and old habits are hard to break. Consequently, >perspective demands courage, the self-confidence to correct the >misapprehensions of a former time, the flexibility to alter a point of view >when circumstances make this necessary, and the determination to act in >accordance with the newly revealed truth. If progress is to occur, these >elements are essential, but they are not easy to achieve or simple to apply. >They exact commitment and sacrifice and work. However, without this >combination there can be no progress, and we must and will have progress. We >possess the determination, the self-confidence, the flexibility, and the >courage. We dare to have perspective- the perspective of the National >Federation of the Blind. > > > >More than six decades have come and gone since the gathering that brought our >Federation together in 1940 at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, under the >prodigious leaderships of Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, our founder and first >President. Conditions for the blind are dramatically different today from >those he described at the founding of the Federation, but the task before us >established by our founders which was of enormous proportions at the beginning >of our movement remains monumental still. It is the reshaping of the patterns >of thought of our society to recognize the ability within us, to value the >talent we possess, and to welcome the contributions we have to make. > > > >At the beginning of the Federation there was a measure of hope, but almost >nothing else-no money, virtually no employment, almost no program to support >the blind at the state or federal level, few books, little prospect of a >college education, almost no chance to engage in business either within the >newly established vending stand program or without its support, almost no >acceptance within society of our capacity as human beings, and no organized >method of changing these conditions. A few, a very few, blind people were >employed-but most of these had jobs at pitifully low wages in the sheltered >workshops. > > > >By the mid-1950s Dr. tenBroek could declare that the National Federation of >the Blind had grown to more than forty affiliates, that blind people were >employed in a wide array of professions and callings from shoemaker to >physicist, that education was becoming more generally available to the blind >than it had ever previously been, and that the employment rate of the blind >had risen dramatically. By the 1960s, Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, the second great >leader of the National Federation of the Blind, had fashioned within the Iowa >programs the most astonishing training facility for blind Americans that had >ever been created to that day. Granted a presidential citation in 1968, Dr. >Jernigan was regarded widely as the most influential director of programs for >the blind in the world. The reason for this success was the vigorous >implementation of the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. > > > > > >In the 1970s, we had grown to have affiliates in every state and the District >of Columbia, and we established the National Center for the Blind. In the >1980s, we continued to expand programs at the National Center for the Blind >and inaugurated orientation centers in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Colorado. In >the 1990s, we added Puerto Rico to our family of affiliates, and we created >the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind, the >NFB-NEWSLINE® program, the Kernel Book series, and other innovative >initiatives. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, we have >constructed and begun to operate the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan >Institute, the only research and training facility for the blind established >by the blind, operated under the direction of blind people, and incorporating >the individual experiences of the blind of the nation. > > > >With all of this growth, with all of these expansions in the work we are >doing, with all of the new challenges we have addressed, our perspective has >changed. We have not altered our fundamental beliefs or modified our dreams, >but we have come to realize that our role is not only to observe, to >challenge, and to offer critical comment but also to lead, to demonstrate, and >to expand the horizons not only for ourselves but also for others within the >field of work with the blind and in broader context within our entire society. >If we find (and we sometimes do) that training programs are inadequate, we >must show how to make them better. If we find that research regarding >blindness is often flawed, frequently without foundation, and sometimes >marred from the false assumptions about us that have bedeviled the lives of >the blind for centuries, we must design programs of our own that lead in a >direction to inspire others to have faith in us and to explore horizons that >have never before been reached. If the perspective of the blind is not a part >of program development, research, and training, these matters will inevitably >be incomplete. Consequently, we have established our own programs >incorporating our perspective, and we are seeking partners to join with us. >Because we dare to have perspective, the opportunities that will belong to us >are presently beyond the horizon. > > > >How does our perspective compare to that of others? What vistas for us have >the administrators in programs of rehabilitation, the journalists, the >representatives of the business community, the scientists, and the members of >the public imagined? > > > >In a newspaper article from October of 2004 that appeared in Portland, Maine, >Steven Obremski, the chief executive officer of The Iris Network (formerly the >Maine Center for the Blind) announced plans to remodel a 100-year-old building >to create a place containing thirty-one apartments specifically designed for >the blind. The name of the organization, The Iris Network, is noteworthy. The >iris is* of course, a part of the eye. Apparently it is intended to convey >the notion that this agency will, in some figurative sense, help the blind to >see. Or, perhaps this is a warning that The iris Network is watching us to >make sure that we don't get out of line. What kind of vision does Iris have in >mind for the blind? What environment are the Iris people trying to create? >What are the prospects for the future of the blind from the Iris point of >view? The article does not leave us in doubt. > > > >As we examine the published report of the plans of Iris, it is worth >remembering that Mr. Obremski has served as president of the National >Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Impaired >(NAC), one of the most controversial and oppressive organizations ever to >exist in the field of work with the blind. Here, in part, is > >what the article says: > > > >For those who are totally blind, the complex will offer amenities such as >signs in Braille and textural changes to help residents navigate on their own. >For example, a switch from carpet to floor tile will help them to tell that >they're moving from the living room to the kitchen or from the hallway to a >stair. > > > >[I interrupt to ask if the officials at Iris really believe that blind people >don't know when they've left the living room and entered the kitchen. They >must think that the blind are as stupid as a creosote post. But, there is >more.] > > > >Behind the residence [the article says] will be a sensory garden with raised >flower beds filled with flowers with varying scents and textures. Residents >could use the area to learn to garden and to practice their mobility skills >with a cane. > > > >They [the residents] have lived in the dormitory, which functions like a >boarding house, for years-some for decades. They welcome the thought of >having a bathroom in their own apartment instead of sharing one down the hall >and having more space, but they're worried about how they would handle tasks >such as cooking on their own. > > > >John Lee, thirty-five, who has lived in the dormitory for nearly sixteen >years, said what scares residents is "the prospect of transition." > > > >But Obremski, himself visually impaired, assured them that current services, >such as meals cooked in a communal kitchen, will continue as long as needed. > > > >This is what the article says, and the picture of service to the blind in >Maine is dismal indeed. Some of the residents have lived in the dormitory for >decades. At least one began his tenure before he was twenty and has remained >for sixteen years. Residents apparently do not know how to cook for >themselves, and their travel skills are so severely limited that they need to >practice in the flower garden in the backyard. > > > >Can these residents expect employment, participation in the community, the >procurement of a home, the establishment of a family, matriculation at >educational institutions, or other activities of citizenship? The answer is >no, but at least they get a private bathroom and a flower garden. Of course, >according to Obremski, they might not be able to use these amenities unless >the contrast in the floor covering is sufficiently great to warn them that >they've entered a new location. The blind can't tell that they've left the >kitchen unless a contrast in the texture of the floor warns them that this has >happened. How many kinds of floor covering are needed for this ideal home for >the blind? Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room, hallway, stairway, and >flower garden-all these must feel different to the feet or the blind will be >lost at Iris-wandering aimlessly in this specially designed home for the blind. > > > >Half a century ago Dr. tenBroek proclaimed that blind people were employed as >shoemakers and physicists, as lawyers and professors. Steven Obremski must >have missed this information. He has been living in the stifled atmosphere of >Iris-an atmosphere of custodialism and curtailed potential. He has apparently >missed the news that the blind have rejected ward status and have claimed >their rights as full and equal citizens. > > > >Several years ago in his capacity as president of the National Accreditation >Council, Mr. Obremski came to our convention to ask us to acquiesce in his >proposal that he serve as the leader in setting standards for all blind >people. Is there any wonder that we rejected this overture? He wants to set >the standards that will circumscribe our lives and blight our futures, but he >will not do it, for we will not let him. Despite his blindness, his >perspective is limited and his imagination withered. We do not seek custody >but emancipation, and we dare to have the perspective that gives our future >the broadest range of opportunity. > > > >To Steven Obremski and all like-minded ilk we say, "Not on your life!" Learn >if you can about the restless vibrant spirit that lives in the hearts of the >blind. Become part of that spirit if you have the courage, and join with us in >altering the future if you have the will. Otherwise, stand aside; get out of >the way; the force of our aspirations cannot be resisted. We will not permit >anything to stop our progress. We dare to have perspective-the perspective of >the organized blind. > > > >An article found on the Internet with the copyright of RP International bears >the title "The Eyes of Christmas." It says that Christmas is a warm joyous >celebration for many, but not for the blind. The blind think of Christmas as >dark, lonely, and sad (according to this article) because they "live without >the light." To alleviate somewhat the lot of those with this miserable >condition, Helen Harris reached out on Christmas Eve with a program entitled >"The Eyes of Christmas," designed especially for those who "cannot see >Christmas for themselves." "A host of celebrity describers [the article says] >told what Christmas looks like: the colors of the season, messages on greeting >cards, the latest children's toys, and messages of hope in medical research." > > > >The pith of this article is that those who can see have joy; those who cannot >do not-those who can see the light gain happiness; those who are in the dark >are lonely and sad. > >Is this the meaning of Christmas for you? Whence came all this dismal >dreariness? Is it not one more expression of the fear of the dark? > > > >We who are blind appreciate competent description effectively done as much as >anybody else. However, to leap from the notion that we might like to hear a >good description of a scene to the thought that without a verbal rendering of >the visual images of the season we are left in a dark depression is to create >trouble where none exists. Christmas is the season of hope-of renewal. But in >the minds of those who have created "The Eyes of Christmas," there is only >one reference to hope, the hope of medical research. Joy, warmth, family >togetherness, the hope of renewal inherent in the season may exist only if the >scientists performing medical research find a cure to the devastating >condition for those "who live without the light." > > > >The description is false, the assumptions about us that underlie the >description are false, and the implications that flow from the underlying >assumptions are false. We who are blind are not without hope. Although each of >us has felt loneliness at times, our blindness has not served as the means for >creating it. Rather, it has been the misunderstanding of others that has >contributed significantly to our separation from society-the misunderstanding >exemplified by the article "The Eyes of Christmas." If the writers of such >articles think of us as lonely, they will help to create the isolation that >makes it so. If they imagine we are sad, they will be less responsive to our >joy, and they will make us work harder to have joy. Nevertheless, they cannot >change what we are. The most fundamental element of Christmas is love, and we >have that. We receive it, and of equal importance, we give it to others. Not >only does our perspective tell us that those who believe we are living without >the light have formed an erroneous conclusion but, beyond that, the joy and >love of Christmas belong to us. The light that exemplifies these virtues is >ours, we are living within it-we are part of it. This, too, is the perspective >of the National Federation of the Blind. > > > >An agency for the blind in Birmingham, England, named Focus on Blindness runs >a sight-loss course. An article which appeared in the Birmingham Post on June >26,2004, contains reflections of the reporter about her experiences being >blindfolded in this course. Her overwhelming reaction to the course was a >feeling of dependency. Here, in part, is what the article says: > > > >If you are able to read this, you should thank your lucky stars that you can >also negotiate that bag left on the stairs or fill up the kettle [for your >morning tea]. > >For the blind and partially sighted it is not so easy. > >Every day poses new challenges to carry out the simplest of tasks that a >sighted person would take for granted. > > > >A staggering 95 percent of what we perceive in the world around us is gathered >through what we see. But it wasn't until I took part in a sight loss awareness >course that my eyes were really opened to blindness. > > > >How on earth would i thread a needle or peel a potato [without sight]? > > > >And even more frightening was the prospect of being blindfolded and having to >refy totally on and trust my partner to guide me through doors, down ramps, >and around chairs. > > > >But whatever the condition [that causes blindness], they all make sewing a >button on a shin, writing a letter, reading a newspaper, or using a >calculator ten times more difficult, if not hopeless. > > > >However, one of the key things I learned while blindly being led around by my >guide was trust. > >Feeling helpless, vulnerable, and lost in a world where everything seems to >revolve around image, I was completely dependent on all she said to me. > > > >Whatever else may be said about this article, it is not subtle. When the >reporter decides that a put-down for the blind is in order, she lays it on >with a trowel. The blind are completely dependent, unable to sew a button on a >shirt, write a letter, use a calculator, get through a doorway without help, >get down a ramp without guidance, or get around chairs without being led. We >can't thread needles or peel potatoes, and we miss 95 percent of what may be >perceived in the world around us. Despite these disadvantages, the article >tells us, our condition does help us learn trust. > > > >The Focus on Blindness agency may have sought to foster this reaction for the >purpose of showing how important its services are. Those who run the program >may want to be regarded as benevolent experts contributing their time and >skill to the unfortunate blind. If this is their intent, they seem to have >succeeded, but at what cost to the blind? How can the image of such >helplessness and dependency stimulate blind people to meaningful >participation in society? How can this image foster an atmosphere in which >the capabilities of the blind will be recognized? ' > > > >We in the National Federation of the Blind sometimes conduct the same kinds of >classes, but the results are vastly different. We show sighted people that >being blind need not be fearful and that the routines of life can be >performed effectively without vision when the proper techniques are used. As >with so much else involving blindness, the result to be achieved depends on >the perspective of the planners who create the program. If we expect >dependency, that is what we get. If we expect independence, that too is what >we get. > > > >It is essential that we be clearly understood. We are not trying to say that >blindness is an irrelevance or mat it has no impact. It can be a hellish >experience if it is not properly understood. However, becoming blind does not >necessarily denote the loss of independence, the inability to learn, a >diminished capacity for contribution, or the absence of a full and active >life. Part of the altered perspective in the programs we operate is that we >ask blind people to do the teaching. The perspective of blindness must be a >part of education about blindness, or the program is inadequate. When the >perspective of blindness is incorporated in the teaching, a dramatic increase >in effectiveness occurs. For this reason, we dare to have perspective, and we >ask others to share it. We are no longer prepared to be regarded as helpless >or dependent, and we demand that our opportunities reach to the far horizons. >This is the perspective of the National Federation of the Blind. > > > >An advertisement for a vitamin drink which has appeared here and there lately >invokes the images of sight and blindness. The drink, called Focus, is >accompanied by a caption, "See more. Drink Focus." The vitamin A in the drink >is supposed to assist with vision. In the advertisement there is a woman >apparently performing a striptease dance and a man with a white cane and dark >glasses holding money not toward the dancer but into empty space. One of the >implications of the advertisement is that the blind man can't find his target >and that if he would only drink Focus he might better be able to focus on his >objective. (I leave to one side the suggestive implications of the >advertisement arising from the juxtaposition of a striptease dancer with the >slogan, "See more. Drink Focus.") Unlike the comments regarding the course on >sight loss from the agency Focus on Blindness in England, this advertisement >does not describe the blind man as completely helpless. Although he is >holding his money in the wrong direction, he has sufficient observational >skills to know that, in the circumstances, he might want to spend it. >Furthermore, before he met the dancer, he found some method of getting the >funds for later use. > > > >However, to portray us as socially inept as a means of selling their product >is not only reprehensible but misleading. My observation of blind people is >that those who seek unusual and delicate social situations perform as well as >anybody else. My advice to the people who make Focus is that they leave us >out of their advertisements, or we may decide to focus our attention on them. > > > >A blind psychic from a small town in Germany asserts that he can tell people's >futures by feeling their buttocks. Articles from newspapers in Baltimore and >Australia give details. Here are excerpts: > > > >Forget palm-reading-a blind German psychic claims he can read people's futures >by feeling their naked buttocks. > > > >Clairvoyant Ulf Buck, thirty-nine, claims that people's backsides have lines >like those on the palm of the hand, which can be read to reveal much about >their character and destiny. > >"The bottom is much more intense-it has a much stronger power of expression >than the hand in my experience," Mr. Buck told the Reuters news agency. > >"It goes on developing throughout your life." [To which one is tempted to >interject, I bet it does.] > > > >By running his fingers along a number of lines on the surface of a client's >posterior, he says he can tell them about their future monetary success, >family life, health, and happiness. > > > >Such are quotes about the blind psychic from Germany. Although the psychic >does not say that blindness causes him to be able to recognize the future in >such an unusual way, he does tell us that being blind has its advantages. His >clients do not have to worry that he will later recognize their faces. Blind >people recognize others through a handshake, the pattern of a walk, the tone >of voice, the characteristic knock upon a door, or some other indicator. This >blind man has introduced a new type of recognition factor. He might not know a >face, but there are other ways to come to know people. > >What a bunch of nonsense. If the man were sighted, his weird behavior would >not be tolerated. We insist on new perspective, but we are circumspect in the >way we do it. Taking liberties is intolerable, and we who are blind know that >if we expect to participate fully in our society, we must meet the standards >of behavior that have been established for all. We must not take advantage of >blindness. This too is our perspective. > > > >A CNN report from London, England, dated July 15, 2004, reiterates the >oft-repeated opinion that the brains of the blind are not the same as the >brains of the sighted. Bearing the headline "Infant Blindness Boosts Music >Acumen" the article says, in part: > >Infants who go blind at a very young age develop musical abilities that are >measurably better than those who lose their sight later in life or retain full >vision, according to a new study. > > > >It has long been known that blind people are far better than their sighted >counterparts at orientating themselves by sound. > > > >But now scientists at Canada's University of Montreal have found that blind >people are also up to ten times better at discerning pitch changes than the >sighted-but only when they went blind before the age of two. > > > >"It is well known that you have great musicians that are blind, and a lot of >piano tuners are blind. But until this study there was no quantifiable >evidence to demonstrate that blind people were indeed better," [Pascal Belin >lead researcher for the study] added. > > > >The research, published in the science journal Nature, attributed the clear >differences in performance to brain plasticity-the formative period when the >infant brain is akin to a sponge and soaking up all sorts of stimuli. > > > >Belin said his research suggested that deprived of input, the section of the >brain that would have processed images was reassigned to enhance other sectors. > > > >"When these people became blind, the part of their brain that would have been >used to process visual information reorganizes to take over other functions." > > > >With those mighty thoughts rolling about in your reorganized brains, consider >the inevitable question. This article says that our perception of sound is >different from the perception that sighted people have. But what else has >changed? Why is the plasticity limited only to hearing? Some say our sense of >touch is enhanced, some argue that our sense of smell is improved, and some >assert that our taste is superior to that of others. Could all of it be true? >Does the taste of our dinners explode in our consciousness with an impact that >is ever so much greater than that experienced by the sighted? Do those who >have been blind from birth have an inchoate superior olfactory ability? Are we >merely in need of training to become blind bloodhounds? And what of touch? Do >we feel better than others? > > > >Are the findings of the study born out in personal experience? Some blind >people are very talented musically, but this artistic ability seems to have >missed a good many of the rest of us. If I had my choice, I would want my >brain plasticity to reassign my mental functioning to intellect. The part of >my brain that had been assigned to seeing should be reorganized into >thinking. If this were so, the blind would be smarter than the sighted. The >intellectual class would be made up of blind people. We ask the professors at >the universities to work out this interesting experiment in plasticity. In the >past blindness has almost always been a disadvantage; let us make all blind >people geniuses. > > > >Fanciful supposition may be all right for an Internet chat, a comedy club, or >a federal grant, but perspective demands that we be more realistic. We expect >to create greater opportunity than has previously belonged to us, and we dare >to have the perspective that makes it possible. However, our perspective >depends not on fancy but on fact. Next time they want to speculate, let them >learn of our experience and the perspective of the National Federation of the >Blind. > > > >At the National Center for the Blind we conduct many meetings, seminars, and >classes. During one of these I talked with blind professors, blind technology >experts, blind students, and blind lawyers about the meaning of blindness and >what collectively we can do to improve conditions for the blind. After the >meeting had ended, one of the participants came to talk with me in my office. >The conversation was comparatively brief, but it was packed with significance. > > > >The man said that he had been blind all of his life, that he had attended >elementary and high school, that he had gained a college degree, and that he >was successfully employed with a major American corporation, doing important >work and earning a satisfactory living. However, although many of the indicia >of success were present in his life, he had always felt that there was >something missing. In school, at play, in extracurricular activities outside >the classroom, in sporting events, in social interaction, and in seeking >employment, he has been repeatedly admonished that he is different because of >blindness-not includable as a regular human being in the routine commerce of >everyday life. The admonitions were not meant to be brutal but gentle and >kind. Nevertheless, they separated him from others and created isolation. They >were always there, and it hurt. Growing up he read the children's story >Pinocchio, and like the fairytale figure, he has forever longed to be a real >boy. > > > >But of course, he already is. The reasons for his feelings of isolation arise >from the repetition of the idea that he should feel separate-that his life is >not as good as that enjoyed by others, and that he is somehow distinctly >different from the rest of society. However, we know that what he has been >told is incorrect. His life has value, and his worth is great. One element of >the perspective that we have is the urgent need to support one another in the >recognition of our innate normality and inherent value. We are blind, but we >are not repulsive. In fact, we insist on being a part of this society-of >making our contributions and having them recognized for what they are. We who >are blind are as real as anybody else, and we intend to demonstrate it. This >also is a part of the perspective of the National Federation of the Blind. > > > >In 1968, when the Federation was twenty-eight, and Dr. Jernigan was giving his >first banquet address as President, he said; "The very symbol and substance >of the new ideas, and the challenge to the old attitudes, can be found in the >organized blind movement." > >In 1996, twenty-eight years later, Dr. Jernigan addressed the convention >again, this time on the revolution of the Kernel Books. He said, "... I am >absolutely certain of the general direction our organization will take. Our >mutual faith and trust in each other will be unchanged, and all else will >follow. I never come into the convention hall without a lift of spirit and a >surge of joy, for I know to the depths of my being that our shared bond of >love and trust will never change and that because of it we will be unswervable >in our determination and unstoppable in our progress." > > > >One of the elements of perspective is time. I look ahead to that point in our >history when the next twenty-eight years will have been accomplished from the >moment of the speech Dr. Jernigan delivered in 1996, and I speculate about >what we will have done. The leadership of the Federation will be in other >hands, and other minds will be imagining the programs we pursue. Our Jernigan >Institute will have become fully operational, and it will have generated >programs to expand opportunity for blind people in other institutions. Our >state affiliates and local chapters will have gained strength, and training >centers for the blind conducted in accordance with our thinking and under our >direction will be more numerous. Research into the nature of blindness that >incorporates the experiences of the rank and file of the blind of the nation >will no longer be regarded as novel. The hostility that some agency >administrators and public officials have tried to revive in the field of >blindness will have receded, and both respect for the opinions of the blind >and the advantages of having blind people be a part of program development and >administration will have become accepted practice. Public attitudes about the >blind will have shifted to a substantial degree, and the employment >opportunities for blind people will have expanded. From the vantage point of >2024 (I will then be seventy-three), we will look back and marvel at what some >have thought about the blind in 2005. > > > >Today the administrators of programs for the blind tell us that we need >special floor coverings to get out of the kitchen and that our lives are >virtually hopeless. The television personalities say that our Christmases are >dark, lonely, and sad. The vitamin drink advertisers tell us that we can't >find the dancer. The scientists say that even our brains have been reorganized >to be different from those of the sighted. However, the people who make these >statements have no perception at all. The summation of blindness contained >in this catalog of misguided assessments is completely false. It cannot stand >the test of time, and it will not survive the challenge of the organized blind. > > > >Our perspective is not just for one day. It stretches back over the decades to >the time of our beginning, and it reaches forward to the moment of the >fulfillment of our dreams. > >We stand at the edge of another day, and we probe the possibilities that may >exist. We have come together to forge a mighty movement of the blind, united >and with one voice-a movement with ideals, a determined purpose, a bedrock >philosophical foundation, and a membership committed to mutual support. What >makes our movement unstoppable is the dedication of our members, the people of >the movement. When I come to the Federation hall, and 1 observe the great >multitude of our membership, I am uplifted. For I know with all that is in me >that we will never lose the faith that we have in one another-never lose our >bond of shared love and trust. When 1 think of the past, what comes to mind is >the great family of the Federation-the people of the movement. When I think >of the future, the image before me is the people of the > >movement-always the people of the movement. > > > >We stand on the edge of another day, and we know that tomorrow is bright with >promise. Nobody else can create the future that must and will be ours; we must >do that for ourselves. And do it we will. We have the imagination, the >courage, the spirit, and the will. We have the unity that makes us one, and >nothing on earth can change our course or turn us back. We dare to have >perspective, and we reach for tomorrow with joy. Come, and we will make it >come true! >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. 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