Blind People Are Just Looking for Social Equality

Blind People Are Just Looking for Social Equality

The Braille Monitor

March,

2004

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Blind People Are Just

Looking for Social Equality

by

Katrilla Martin

From the Editor: Any

time a blind person ventures outside the home or into a new place, he or she

is likely to be noticed and may be compelled to do some impromptu public education.

Often such experiences are pleasant, interesting, and successful; but sometimes,

despite our best efforts, they do not go well. Even then it may be possible

to turn the experience into something positive. The following article is reprinted

from the Fall 2003 issue of the Vigilant, the publication of the NFB

of Virginia. It originally appeared in the November 9, 2003, Fredericksburg

Free Lance Star.

Katrilla

Martin

Katrilla Martin is a

Federationist who is ready to articulate her positive philosophy of blindness

anytime it is appropriate. Her refreshing attitude does not, unfortunately,

shield her from unpleasantness. Being Katrilla, however, she finds ways of using

such experiences to do some good despite inappropriate comments by unbalanced

people. May we all be as sensible and constructive when such things happen to

us:

Recently I was verbally

attacked in downtown Fredericksburg, not because of the color of my skin, not

because of my religious beliefs, but because of the cane I was carrying and

the jacket I was wearing. Confused? So was I.

You see, I am blind, and

I use a white cane for independent travel. I have had some cane travel training,

and I have never injured anyone with my cane. As for the jacket, I was simply

cold, and it kept me warm. The issue on that day had nothing to do with my cane-travel

skills or the cool temperatures. A gentleman—and I consider him a gentleman—tapped

me on the shoulder to express his hatred of the organization of which I am a

member. He said that my organization, The National Federation of the Blind,

was made up of "angry, blind, cane-pushing [expletives] who think that

blind people are better than the rest of us!" I tried to reason with him

and even invited him to one of our meetings so that he could find out what the

NFB is about for himself. An innocent bystander asked if the police needed to

be called.

I

concluded that this man was misinformed and chalked it up to ignorance. Besides,

the gentleman was elderly, and I, being twenty-eight years old, decided that

the attack had done me minimal damage. I was wrong. I have been deeply affected

by the incident and would like to take this opportunity to clear something up.

The

National Federation of the Blind is the largest organization of blind people.

We organize to secure equality for the blind. We are the blind speaking for

the blind, but that does not mean that we will not work in partnership with

anyone interested in educating others to counteract the misconceptions about

blindness. We believe that, given proper training and equal opportunity, blind

people can live worthwhile lives and successfully maintain careers.

The gentleman was wrong.

We do not think of ourselves as better than the rest of you. We do know that

we are capable. We do not push canes, but we do use canes (as well as guide

dogs) to travel independently. We are not angry—persistent, maybe—because

we simply will not give up until the misconceptions about blindness are dispelled

and equality is reached. If you would like to find out more about our organization,

please feel free to join us at our monthly chapter meetings.

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