[Nfbc-sj] REMINDER: OUR NEXT CHAPTER MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 3PM VIA ZOOM

[Brian Buhrow]

	hello David.  I'll try to address your question, but really, for the newcomers, I
encourage you to invite them to our meetings and to tell them you really enjoy them.  After
all, if they're asking you what the differences are, what they're really asking you is if you
think it would be worth it for them to come join you at our meetings.  If you enjoy them and if
you think they bring value to you, convey that to them and invite them to come share in the
experience.   Ultimately, it's about the support and friendship we get out of the
organizations we belong to.

	I have attended NFB and ACB/CCB conventions and while everyone has different answers to
this question, here's my take on it.  The NFB says that, given training and opportunity, blind
folks can compete on terms of equality.  The NFB also says that it is respectable to be blind.
This message has always resonated with me, but it has taken me many years to really come to an
understanding of what this actually means.  What this actually means to me is if I study hard
in my chosen craft and if my peers in that craft give me an opportunity to work with them in
that craft, I will be able to compete with those peers in that craft based on my skill in that
craft, rather than getting special consideration, or inconsideration as the case may be, based
on my blindness.  This doesn't mean I won't have to work harder than my sighted peers to gain
those skills, nor does it mean my blindness won't conttinue to pose challenges as I work to
improve my skill in my chosen craft.  It does mean that I should not use blindness as an excuse
if my efforts fall short in a given task.  The philosophy in the NFB, in general, is that if blind
people get training in life skills, work skills, etc. and if they can engineer opportunities
for themselves to work with their sighted peers in those careers or hobbies, it won't be
blindness that keeps them from succeeding.  Of course we are a diverse organization, so there
are those who might not totally believe in this line of thought, or might not understand how it
applies to them, but it is this philosophy that serves as the North Star for our organization.
I'm not sure the ACB embraces this idea as fully, though they often use the same words.  Here
are some theoretical and actual examples of what I'm getting at.

	If a new member comes to me and tells me they're hoping to take up a career in, say,
accounting, I fully believe they'll be able to have a successful career in accounting.  Not
being an accountant myself, I might not be able to tell them how to do it, exactly, but I can
give them general guidance on what things they might try to make things possible for
themselves.  I might also be able to find a blind person who works in the accounting field who
might give them specific  practical suggestions for things they can do to help them achieve
their specific goal.  The point I'm making here is that at no time do I ever believe blindness
is the thing that will keep them from achieving their goal of working in accounting.

Speaking to the differences between the CCB and the NFB specifically, here is a practical
example.  At both CCB and NFB conventions, members can get help doing things they need, i.e.
traveling to and from meeting rooms, assistance in getting transportation, etc. At CCB
conventions, that assistance is often offered unsolicited and, usually, by
sighted people.  At NFB conventions, it's offered if folks ask for it and it's often offered by
blind members themselves.  This  has the effect of demonstrating to the new member that not only
do we say we can function fully in society as blind people, but we put our money where our
mouth is by teaching the new member, either by example or by direct instruction, how to do the
thing they need help with in the moment.  If you ask for a guide to your hotel room from the
hotel lobby, for example, and I offer you  my elbow and guide you to your room and you realize
I am also blind, you will then realize it can be done as a blind person and, most likely,
you'll want to figure out how to do it too.  And, if you ask, I'll be happy to show you how to
do it.

	In summary, the most fundamental difference between the NFB and the ACB/CCB in my mind is
that while both organizations can teach you the skills of living with blindness, only the NFB
can instill the confidence you need to truly believe you can live as an equal member of society
as a blind person.  When I joined the NFB, I was pretty good at the skills of blindness.  What
I didn't have, however, was the confidence or belief that those skills would allow me to live
as an equal member of my sighted society.  By watching my fellow NFB members function in their
own lives, taking courage from their example, listening to the speeches of NFB leaders and
reading the literature, I began internalizing the message and gaining an understanding of what
this message meant in my life.  Today, more than 30 years later, I still come to meetings and
contribute to the NFB, not only to share the small nuggets of wisdom I've picked up from my
mentors, but to draw on the vast reservoir of knowledge and confidence that exists in our
collective presencde.  I may not know how to do something in my current life that would be
interesting to me, but there is a good chance that someone in the blindness community knows how
to do that thing and being a member of the NFB allows me to find them.  It may be I could find
them if I were a member of the ACB/CCB as well, but given the ACB/CCB's seeming reluctance to
fully embrace the NFB's members, I'm not sure that's true.  As long as I've been a member of the
NFB, we've been welcoming of ACB/CCB members if they want to join us.  My impression, and I
could be wrong, is ACB/CCB members have not been as welcoming of NFB members in their midst.

Hope that helps.
-Brian