Re: Training Centers
@arqmeister
I understand that you and I are likely going to have very differing opinions, and I respect that. Please keep in mind, though, that calling me a cultist probably won't help either one of us. Aside from that, I want to address a few things you brought up in your post in the hope that I can clear up some confusion.
First, sleepshades aren't required for totally blind people. As I previously stated, it's not a matter of leveling the playing field; it's a matter of getting people to not rely on their existing vision. If you don't have any vision, there would be absolutely no need for you to wear sleepshades. That's just common sense.
Second, to your point about an organization providing career training, specific career training is not the goal of the NFB. The reason NFB centers don't provide training in things like computer repair is precisely for the reason you stated above--nobody wants to be shunted into specific jobs if
they don't have interest in them. The careers classes taught at BLIND Inc. are meant to teach valuable job seeking skills like resume writing, interviewing, and job searching. Once someone has finished with those, or if he knows how to do these things already, the purpose of careers class is to give the person a place to apply for jobs or colleges, go for interviews, etc.
Careers class does not recommend jobs for students. It empowers the students to go out and get whatever job they want, be it computer repairman, chef, lawyer, daycare worker, school counselor, massage therapist, mechanic, teacher, or anything else the person wants to do. The actual training is left up to rehabilitation agencies, trade schools, or colleges, as it should be.
You are right that blind people have more opportunities now than they had before, and that has given many opportunities they might not otherwise have had, but I will argue to the wall with anyone who says friends and family can pr
ovide all the necessary training. For some, like us, friends and family are great, but I have seen far too many people for whom this isn't the case. I have had a twenty-two-year-old student who couldn't sign his name, an eighteen-year-old cum laude graduate who couldn't tie his shoes, and a girl who, at 43, was still living at home with her parents because they had her convinced that the rest of the world wasn't safe for her. You are one of the lucky ones. I am one of the lucky ones. Others don't have our opportunities.
And finally, I want to lay one last thing out about the NFB.
Far too often, when someone mentions their consumer group of choice, the NFB in my case, they suddenly get painted with a certain brush as though belonging to a group automatically gives them a certain set of views and beliefs. I think, however, that anyone who took the time to look past the articles and literature might find that the people who make up these organizations
are as different and varied as anyone else.
Just as political parties have members with differing views, so too do members of consumer groups--or any group, for that matter. Calling NFB members cultists supposes that we all think alike. I can promise you that nothing could be further from the truth.
in the end, I'm just a guy who wants to help people--not a federationist or a counsel member or anything else. I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who believed in me enough to put a cane in my hand when I was 2 years old, who insisted that I learn Braille instead of reading two-inch-tall letters, who made me talk to my own teachers and order my own books, and who went to bat for me when teachers said they didn't want me in their classrooms, all while teaching me to stand up for myself. I have met too many people who weren't that lucky.
If someone doesn't want my help, I won't force it on them. If people are happy with where they are in life,
it's not my place, nor anyone else's, to judge them for their views. But if I can help, I will.
URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=167046#p167046
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