Changing What It Means To Be Blind
By Jim Jirak
Perhaps each member
of The American Council of the Blind of Nebraska should humble him or herself
and attend a state convention of The National Federation of the Blind of
Nebraska. Because of my responsibilities
as NCBVI Webmaster, I was provided with the unique opportunity to do just
that. And before I proceed with my
remarks, I want to go on record as saying that since this newsletter is
circulated to a few Federationists, as well as other non-ACB members, I will
try to remain positive, but yet tell it, as I perceive it to be.
The state convention
was held October 8-11 at the downtown Lincoln Holiday Inn. Before I go any further, let me state that
NFB of Omaha arranged transportation for all attendees, with those going on the
van responsible for paying their assumed cost.
For those that weren’t fortunate enough to ride in the van, taxpayers
unknowingly provided transportation by commission staff in state vehicles. Personally thinking this wasn’t too kosher,
the question was raised in route with the driver, ironically to picking up
another client, whether attendance by commission clients were mandatory and
part of their IEP process. The response
provided was a client is never forced to do something they wish not to and that
attendance at an NFB convention had to be exclusively their decision.
After arriving at the
hotel and going through the registration process, I felt as though I were
entering a glorified state staff meeting as the majority registering attendees
were commission staff. The registration
process is similar, in some respects, to our registration process with the only
difference being the cost for the banquet higher than ours and an opportunity
to attend the student lunch, which this year featured one time Nebraska
football coach turned Congressman Tom Osborne as the keynote speaker. Because my responsibilities only required
attendance at the meetings and banquet, I passed on this opportunity, knowing
full well I would have been reimbursed if I chose to attend.
The Friday activities
at the NFB state convention were rather interesting and quite imaginative. The senior division meets Friday afternoon
to discuss issues related to blind seniors, as does the student division dealing
with transition issues. In addition,
NFB sponsors a hospitality room Friday evening only, cash bar, and a Monte
Christo night, which is somewhat similar to CCLVI’s Las Vegas night at ACB
national. Neither of these events saw
me in attendance. I chose to have
dinner with Janice Shafer and watch the presidential debate.
As stated earlier,
every ACBN member should humble him or herself and attend an NFB state
convention. Both the Saturday morning
and afternoon sessions featured speakers dealing with everything from
technology to Dr. Pearl Van Zandt’s presentation on the happenings within the
commission. The only real interesting
speaker during the Saturday session was an update from NCBVI Chairman Barbara
Loos on the previous year’s happenings as interpreted by the board of
commissioners. So far as their Sunday
morning business meeting is concerned, I was surprised at how little input the
membership had. The business meeting consisted
of nothing but committee reports, elections and fund raising for national.
Now for my personal
spin on the convention. While there is
a purpose for both NFB & ACB, I am in the affirmative that ACB is far
superior to NFB in that we, in Nebraska, put people first and causes second. While the goal of both NFB & ACB is
similar, getting to the end result is extremely different. It got to the point where I couldn’t wait
for the Saturday morning session to end so I could watch The Oklahoma/Texas
game and deliberately walked in late during the afternoon session as the
hamburger, fries and cold beer was easier to swallow than the propagandist
rhetoric dished up by NFB. And likewise
during the banquet, though the Nebraska football team got beat by a historic 60
points, I still haven’t decided which is worse … the final score of the game,
or sitting through a weekend perceived as a glorified state staff meeting of
pure rhetoric.
Please understand
that I am not bashing NFB as an organization as they have done some good for
the blindness community. What I am
concerned with is the perception that our supposed to be neutral commission
isn’t. While we have no control over
who does what in their private lives, we, within ACBN, do have a moral
obligation and a duty to ensure our voice is heard on matters of importance
letting NCBVI know there is one more organization of national importance in
Nebraska besides the Federation.
Hmmm! Wonders how much times
each state staff member holding office in a private national blindness
organization spent on taxpayer time doing the business of NFB? Further more, what appearance would this
give to the state ombudsman?
Hmmmm! You be the judge.