Bob,
Wonderfully stated! I judge these orgs on actions, policies, and inactions
nowadays.
It also appears to me in both orgs a lot depends upon how well various state
and divisions are led and organized.
As just one example it seems that the NFB in Ohio have been particularly
proactive in suits and OCR complaints concerning access to information in
education and voting.
Our state orgas cannot even be proactive in accessing our own ADA
Celebration!
That is because it has become a club laden with personality conflicts and
petty power plays.
Of course, it isn't helpful that we have a Governor who has destroyed all
consumer control, and even in put in to our IL and VR programs and others.
He's filled them with agency hacks....And well conflicted private secctor
exploitators like the shelterred shop bosses.
Everything here in Michigan is being run by this unholy corporativist state
apparatus.
Most of our consumer groups, just like the unions have been beaten bloody.
So a whole lot of folks including many in disabilitty orgs are licking their
wounds and trying to survive and/or burying their heads in the sand because
the reality is just too scary to deal with. Lots of denial out there in the
mix.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Hachey" <bhachey@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 4:05 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: more on NFB petition
Hi Joe,
I have a confession to make. I think it was maybe thirteen years ago when I
first read a message from you, not sure on which list, that both NFB and ACB
are way too willing to go along to get along which makes them part of the
problem. AT that point in my evolution, (or should I say journey) I thought
maybe you were being too hard on NFB and ACB, especially ACB. But the more I
read and the more injustice I see around me, the more I am convinced that
you were right all along.
I still love ACB and am involved in both state and national activities of
ACB, but I find myself disagreeing at times with what I see as wishy-washy
actions. I do believe that ACB means well, but I find myself thinking that
ACB should be taking stronger action. Here's an example. We're all familiar
with the Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. I was proud to
work on that legislation and was in the East Room of the White House when
the bill was signed.
AT the time, I recommended that ACB officially support a bill being
sponsored by NFB that would require all consumer electronics to be
accessible via non-visual means by some point in the future. ACB leaders
liked the bill, but they said we shouldn't sign on as an organization
because there was no way the bill would pass. While it is true that the bill
in question didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of passing, (and it would
have even less chance now) it was the right thing to do.
While I am happy to continue to work closely with ACB, I really wish that
our organization could show more chutzpah.
Bob Hachey
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of joe harcz Comcast
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 10:05 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: more on NFB petition
I'm not sanguine about NFB as we allknow. And I'm not an apologist for them
either.
At the risk of sounding paranoid I think they are all out to get us/me.
I'm sick of all these pricks, as a short cut to the story.
That said the NFB is the least of our issues and only a symtom of a disease.
The bigger issues are those we all know.
BTW just got off the phone with the Michigan ACLU....
They know what is going on here in Michigan.
But, our issues are in the hopper, lost in the maelsttrom.
NFB here has been absent because it is taken over by "thumb suckers" and for
that matter so is ACB here, long time ago btw.
I'm taking on all of the beasts Miriam!!
This mission is becoming trully existential.
I'm not paranoid for there is a plot!
And they are fucking with me personally and have been fuckingwith me for
some time along with others of course as highlighted by the flint water
crisis!
The whole thing is a corrupted mess!!!
Sorry I'm sick and fucked with beyond measure and still I'm trying to fight
the fight!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 9:50 AM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: more on NFB petition
In my fourth attempt to sign the thing, and by then it was just a
personal challenge to me, I managed to do it following a set of
directions about the extra key strokes to use when you get to the sign
button. But even then, I had to do it over 3 times before it worked.
I wonder what the NFB leadership was thinking when they set this thing
up.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of joe harcz
Comcast
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 9:05 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: more on NFB petition
Points well taken.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 5:06 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] more on NFB petition
One of the more cynical list members wrote.
So far, only about 1500 people have signed this petition, and more
than
98,000 more signatures are required by Feb . 11. This is more than
the combined membership of all the blindness advocacy groups in this
country so it is unlikely that the 100,000 signature threshhold will
be met by the deadline, especially since this petition is not very
accessible to begin with.
They could have used Change or Move On or the other sites that lalow
you to do your own petition and that are easy for people to use. But
perhaps those websites are too liberal for NFB?
Miriam
