Re: What is wrong with the NFB?
yes jade you are correct, people that are completely blind do not have to wear the shades. You only have to wear them during classes, and sometimes there are shade breaks during classes as well. @115 I don't think they are intending to make everyone carbon copies, they are only attempting to make everyones vision be the same for a time so they can teach only the skills they are trying to teach without vision getting in the way, which, though I can't proove it, having never had vision, but apparently is almost impossible unless you actually remove the vision while teaching, so you properly learn the skills without subconsciously using your vision to aid you, so you are able to use the skills deprived of that sense someday when it's not the shades but actual deterioration later in life that is depriving you of it. I don't have any particular opinions on the NFB itself, I just go to the conventions for social purposes since so many people are already there it's fun to go hang out with friends, but I do feel like my confidence has increased a lot when going to the blind inc center. It certainly has it's problems, but it also has it's benefits. The counselors here are really cool. You know how you can usually tell if someone is a *TEACHER? You know, always has the class really organized and quiet and hands out homework every day and really makes you feel like you are in a class environment? Well here at least in blind inc it's like the opposite. The counselors here are just, like, you know, normal every day people that are passing along skills in a relaxed environment where you don't feel like the first joke you crack is gonna get you banned or something lol. Disorganization actually runs quite rampant here, but it's interesting because I think it actually helps my learning rather than impedes it. They still teach us, but they are extremely laid back. I mean sometimes it's an actual problem, mostly for the parents who aren't told when, for example, we leave MN for a day because we drive to WI to go to a water park, which as you can imagine makes some parents hundreds of miles away very very uncomfortable, and the communication here is occasionally downright dreadful, so they certainly have a bit of work to do on finding an organizational middleground where the laid back learning environment still exists but the communication with parents and occasionally students and apparently even among the staff gets improved. However I feel like despite the issues I've learned a lot of stuff and I certainly feel more confident as a person, which for me is, to say the least, a very, very foreign feeling. I don't really agree with the Kain thing, those long streight kains are annoying to navigate with, but I don't mind their lightness. If I had to use one of those I'd get a folding one lol. But I go along with it anyway because it's not like it's a death sentence just a minor inconvenience, and ntm I think it's good to know how to use those, as they are quite a bit different from the typical heavier ones, for example with these NFB canes, having never used them before, I was completely unable to tell the change of surface from a sidewalk to a street. So if I would have randomly been given one of those canes to use one day because my primary one broke, I would have been at a disadvantage. I'm in high school right now so I'm part of the prep program here which is 2 months in length, so the cane thing isn't really a big deal. And like I said above, no one is forcing you to go. If the shade issue is huge for you and you can't negotiate with them, you certainly don't have to go and you can find other training. However I think it's a small price to pay for the amount of skills you get. I've gone to a lot of other shorter training programs in the past and though in those programs I did learn stuff, the problem is that I never learned the confidence to use any of the theoretical skills I picked up at those programs. I think the learning environment is way better here because a lot of those other programs are like ok step 1 step 2 step 3 here let me hold your hand step 4 nope not that way here I've got it step 5 here I've got that, ... ... you get what I mean. Here it's like they tell you what you need to do and can help you if you need it, but for the most part they say ok we're doing this heres generally how and heres what not to do so now figure it out. I mean that's slightly exadurated, but generally it's more the environment the counselors create to learn in. I learn confidence here because you have to actually do things here rather than having a sighted person grab your hand and do it for you. And I think there is something about being trained by others with your disability that also helps. You can use the counselors not just as teachers, but as roll models that show you that having confidence isn't directly related to your disability. Seeing someone else with your same issue succeeding like that really shows you that it's very likely possible for you to do the same. And if you have confidence issues like I do, that's kind of a big thing.
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