From: Richard Webb 
Subject: Re: Conflict of Interest
Hi Jim, Harvey, and listers.
On 1997-08-23 Jim Gashel said to elspider@interl.net
   >why is it that you think that the ability to cary out a political
   >strategy and win votes is somehow in conflict with democracy.  Take
   >our nation.  by tradition, we have a two party system.  ask anyone

   >planning, organizing, and getting yourself into the inner workings
   >of the politically inside group is the essence of democracy.
   >apparently you don't like it that way because you can't seem to do
   >that.  however,  just because you lack the political savy to become
   >a political insider does not mean that we don't have a democracy in
   >the contry as a whole or in the nfb.
This is true, but I think Harvey's question goes deeper than that.  It
goes to the fact that he doesn't think the director of Rehabilitation
for the state of Louisiana is cutting the gig.
He feels she was given an award for supporting the louisiana center in
Ruston, while letting general rehab for the blind go to hell.  This is
paraphrasing his words.
I hope I'm paraphrasing them accurately, btw.
Now, some thoughts from this quarter.  I think that a center such as
the Louisiana center is vitally important, because the first thing we
have to do for newly blinded adults, or blind adults in many cases, is
show them a new way of looking at their blindness, and a new set of
expectations.  Therefore, support of the center is a good thing.
Where Harvey, and quite a few of us fall short, though is expecting
rehab to do anything.  Rehab by its very nature is a bureaucracy, hard
to move, hard to manage, unresponsive, all the other old bad cliches.
You can't expect a bureaucrat to do anything positive for the rest of
rehab for the blind.  The center, by the nature of its leadership and
commitment, does a good job, so it's easy for the rehab lady to
support, just give lip service, and send clients that way.
The clients come from the program with higher expectations for
themselves, therefore they finish their educational programs, or find
jobs, many without much further to do with rehab.
It's easy for the rehab boss to give herself an attaboy and go on down
the road.  No pain, but some gain.
Harvey sites the poor performance of bep and poor performance by rehab
counsellors who work with the blind in the New Orleans area.
Probably true.  I'll find out within a year or so when we move that
direction .  Still, I probably won't know as personally as he
might, as I ignore rehab and avoid them when possible.  There is
little the bureaucracy can do for me.  I'm trying to develop my own
thing, a little bit out of the mainstream, and I think eventually it's
going to pay off for me and get me away from the whole damn dole role
thing.
I don't want a vending stand or anything similar, as I feel that no
matter how much the rules and regs say I'm an independent business
person, sooner or later, the straw boss suit guy is going to throw
his/her weight around, and if I don't sing the right song, I"m outa
there.
Programs such as the Louisiana center do what they do well when
they're run with such a philosophy as ours, but unless the rest of the system
is run with such a philosophy, it's just another sink hole for
dollars.  I hate to tell Harvey, but his expectations are too high if
he thinks it can reform just because there's a good orientation center
in La.
A separate commission for the blind might help, but leadership may see
that it would be too hard a fight to even think about winning with the
established governmental climate in the state, and might jeopardize
what positive programs are going.  This doesn't mean the NFB affiliate
shouldn't be working toward that end, I think they should, it just
means one must plant the seeds, and nurture them until the tree has
borne fruit.
IN a nutshell, Harvey should maybe try to establish some kind of
dialogue with Mrs. Wilson and other state leadership, see what real
resistance there is to a separate commission, and voice some of his
concerns about the head of REhab.
Also, I hate to say this, Harvey, but lower your expectations of what
a bureaucracy can do for you, because it ain't much.
I've been reading this discussion for the last few days, and have
given careful thought to what Harvey has said, and what Jim has been
saying.  Other than the anti-nfb flames we get from one quarter who
poses as a good nfb member, even though he's always siting the ACB
this and the ACB that, the  rest of the dialogue has been interesting.
I hope I"m not offending, but shedding some light on both sides of the
debate here.
REgards,
Richard Webb
Electric Spider Productions
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