dreams and schemes

[Christopher Chaltain]

For some reason, I thankfully didn't see the last handful of messages in 
this thread.

I did see that the following was stated, and I'd just like to say that I 
strongly disagree with such statements.

"The major problem I see in the US is that too many "blind people" want 
everything for free, they whine about anything that doesn't go their 
way, and believe employers should exempt them out of every minor aspect 
of a job that requires them to "work hard"."

I obviously can't say that there aren't some blind people who feel this 
way, but that's also true for some sighted people. As I said in a 
previous post, some blind people who feel this way were let down by a 
lack of positive role models as children or a rehab system that didn't 
set high expectations for them. Instead of looking down our noses at 
them we need to help them. I see plenty of whining on blindness related 
lists from people who think it's hopeless and don't think that any 
amount of legislation or rehabilitation is going to change the lot of 
the blind. There's just too much discrimination out there. I get 
frustrated with this negative attitude, but don't let the vocal minority 
speak for the quiet majority. I know far more blind people who are hard 
working or who sincerely want to be hard working than I do blind people 
who just want everything done for them.

Note that I strongly encourage blind people to contribute to open source 
projects and help their fellow blind peers. I'd like to do more of this 
myself, but I am proud of what I am able to do. Blind people, just like 
their sighted counterparts, also need to get a job and think of their 
own employment. That will limit how much someone, even someone out of 
work or between projects, can contribute to projects helping the blind.

I'm also not comfortable creating our own subculture. Blind people do 
share quite a few issues the sighted population doesn't have to Eal 
with, and I think we need to come together to help each other and make 
things better for other blind people, but I don't think we should 
separate ourselves from the mainstream population. I'm not saying it's 
easy, but we need to change the rest of the world so that it's more 
inclusive. We've accomplished a lot in the last few decades, and with an 
incredible amount of hard work, we can do more.

On 11/05/2013 01:24 PM, B. Henry wrote:
> job is the best fix. The major problem I see in the US is that too many
> >"blind people" want everything for free, they whine about anything that
> >doesn't go their way, and believe employers should exempt them out of every
> >minor aspect of a job that requires them to "work hard".
> >
> >

-- 
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail