[PHOTO/CAPTION: Tai Tomasi]

[PHOTO/CAPTION: Tai Tomasi]

Braille Monitor

December

2004

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Reflection

on the Holidays and the Federation

by Tai Tomasi

From the Editor:

Here is a Christmas story with a difference. Tai Tomasi is a graduate student

in public administration who lives in Salt Lake City. Next year she plans to

enter law school. She currently works full-time in childcare and goes to school

full-time in the evenings. In addition to all this, she serves as secretary

of the Salt Lake chapter and president of the affiliate's student division,

is active in her church, and is planning her wedding in late 2005. Tai loves

skiing, hiking, and Rollerblading. She is clearly a living example of all she

believes. Here is her story:

Tai Tomasi

As a child I was

made painfully aware every holiday season that I was different. Something about

me somehow made me different from my twenty-two, yes twenty-two, siblings. In

the early years I was eager to help string Christmas lights and do all kinds

of decorating throughout my large house and yard, but I was always told to stop

getting in the way. Moreover, I was never allowed to cook or do anything else

in the kitchen. As a youngster I was inclined, like most other children, to

dart hither and yon, generally making a nuisance of myself underfoot.

When I began to realize

my difference--the fact that I was blind--I assumed that this was the reason

for my family's not wanting my help. Gradually I ceased to have the confidence

to decorate anything, let alone string the lights. I did manage to help decorate

the tree, but that wasn't as exciting or fun as all of the decorating my brother

Toby had done. He was our star decorator, coming up with all kinds of elaborate

lighting schemes for the exterior of the house and our large patio.

I eventually concluded

that these holiday activities were best left to the sighted and that I would

probably never participate in the journey into the woods or the trip to the

Christmas tree farm to find and cut down the perfect tree. Of course these attitudes

changed when I found the National Federation of the Blind.

I freely admit that my

first encounter with the Federation involved money--I won a state scholarship

from the NFB of Vermont and attended the state convention. There I met Allen

Harris, who became a great friend and mentor to me. Although my initial attraction

to the NFB was money, something more captured my interest: the promise of something

better, a new lease on life, and a new attitude about blindness.

I became involved with

my state affiliate and attended my first Washington seminar in 1999. The experience

was empowering, and I longed to go to a national convention. I got my wish in

2000 when I won a national scholarship and flew to Atlanta. That week was indescribable.

There Joanne Wilson, current commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration

and longtime Federationist, attempted to convince me that I should receive training

at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. I was not immediately convinced; in fact

it took me two years to realize the importance of what she had been trying to

impress upon me.

Feeling that I had not

reached my full potential in school and in other pursuits, I decided to attend

the center. This experience brought me full circle as my graduation from the

center approached in early December 2002. Not only did I lend a hand with decorating

the tree and the center, but I did it all under sleepshades, proving to myself

once and for all that blindness was no longer and never would again be a hindrance

to me. Arriving at the Christmas tree farm, I even cut down one of the trees

we took back to the center. I felt like the world's best chef when I cooked

all manner of things--including a turkey--for our holiday dinner.

This transformation in

my outlook symbolizes what the Federation means to me. Perhaps as a child I

was just paranoid. Perhaps my family's reactions were not based on blindness

but on the fact that I was an inquisitive, overzealous, pesky kid. I suppose

I will never know whether their reasons were based on my visual acuity, but

I am convinced that I would have been allowed to string lights had I been sighted.

My experiences with the

National Federation of the Blind and the training and philosophy we promote

have been the only influence in my life that has allowed me to prove to myself

that I can accomplish anything as a blind person. You can be sure that I will

be decorating, cooking, and stringing lights for years to come thanks to the

NFB. This is the type of empowerment the NFB provides.

Federationists have proven

over the past sixty-four years that anything can be accomplished with steadfast

and unwavering dedication. As Federationists we take pride in changing lives

one by one. Through a life-changing, exhilarating event a blind person comes

to experience firsthand the incredibly empowering message of the Federation:

that it is respectable to be blind; that with proper training and attitude,

blindness can be reduced to the level of a nuisance.

Through example and by

getting our blind friends and neighbors to attempt things they never thought

possible, things that they never dared to try because of blindness, we make

a difference. This is what the Federation means to its members and what it can

mean to the blind of the nation. So get out there and cut down your Christmas

tree, string plenty of lights, and cook those wonderful dishes that bring delight

to your friends and family.

As you go about your

holiday preparations, do not forget about the NFB. Stay involved in your local

chapters (in my opinion one of the most important elements of the Federation).

Chapters are the best at recruiting and getting blind people out of their houses

when they are struggling and discouraged. Let us teach these folks how to cook,

string lights, and cut down trees. Let us help them hold their heads high, walking

confidently without fear or shame throughout our communities.

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