there is a third way for Dr. Ron Milliman of Bowling Green, Kentucky.  It
is called a vicug.  Blind people can cooperatively work together, support
each other, and rally under the banner of technology access and
empowerment.  Many of us are doing it now.  Here's  a story  that speaks
to many of  the reasons why  many of us have chosen to form vicugs rather
than be part of national blindness organizations.  Information access
comes in all forms, but apparently some wish to keep certain kinds of
information bottled up.

Kelly



    From: "Ronald E. Milliman"
< [log in to unmask]>

    Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 10:47 AM


    I am no longer a member of the National Federation of the Blind. I
am writing this post with a certain degree of sadness because I have
been a loyal and active member of the National Federation of the Blind
and our NFB of Kentucky Affiliate for many years and have served as the
South Central Chapter President since 1987. Most recently, I have also
been the NFBK Computer Users' Division President and have devoted
considerable efforts toward creating and maintaining one of the best
state affiliate web sites in existence: http://www.nfbk.org and our NFBK
CUD site:

    http://www.nfbkcud.com

However, as of last Thursday night, April 30, I resigned my membership in
the NFB.

    On November 14 of last year, we one of our local regularly
scheduled meetings of our South Central Chapter of the NFBK. The meeting
was held in our local library, like all of our meetings have been for
the past two years. Since we have several new members that joined our
Chapter, and since they have raised questions about NFB verses ACB,
their similarities and differences, etc., I thought it was quite
appropriate, at some point, to invite a member of the Kentucky Council
of the Blind (KCB) in to discuss the two groups with us in an open
discussion to better educate everyone, including myself.

    It just happened, totally by chance, that Carla and Adam Ruschival
were scheduled to be in Bowling Green on the same day as we had our
local Chapter meeting scheduled. As most all of you know, Carla and Adam
are active members of the KCB. They were here to attend a conference,
which was being held in the Holiday Inn University Plaza Hotel here in
Bowling Green. If I recall correctly, it was the quarterly meeting of
the DFB State Rehabilitation Council. The point is that their meeting
had been scheduled I am sure for weeks or perhaps even months in
advance, and our local Chapter meeting had also been scheduled for
months in advance. So, there was no changing of anyone's schedule to
accommodate what I am herein describing.

    I have known Carla for many years and have a great deal of respect
for her, and while I didn't know her husband, Adam, very well, I still
considered us as friends. My wife, Palma, also has known Carla for
years. So, when I heard that they were going to be coming to Bowling
Green on that day, I invited them to have dinner with us. We had a very
nice, pleasant dinner here at my house and discussed a wide range of
subjects. After dinner, we took Carla back to the hotel to participate
in some additional meetings in which she was a member, requiring her
attendance. However, Adam was not involved in the evening meetings at
the hotel, and so, I saw an opportunity to invite him to come to our NFB
meeting that evening with Palma and I. It would give us an excellent
opportunity to engage in an open discussion about the two groups, the
NFB and the ACB, their histories, their similarities, differences,
philosophies, etc. I was genuinely excited about the potential for a
rather intellectual exchange toward the objective of everyone involved
becoming more educated on a murid of relevant issues and subjects.

    There was no attempt on the part of Adam to convert anyone to the
ACB or KCB nor did we make any attempt to convert him to the NFB. I was
very impressed with Adam's knowledge of the issues and thought he
conducted himself in a highly tactful and professional manner, as I
think all of our members did as well. The whole point of the meeting was
simply to have an open forum to discuss the two organizations of the
blind and to end up with a more informed group. I, personally, found the
meeting extremely enlightening and educational. My only regret is that
the turnout for our meeting was extremely small. Thus, the opportunity
for more of our members to be exposed to the broadening of knowledge was
largely lost because of the small turnout.

    However, evidently, Key members of the NFB and NFBK believe I have
committed some form of treason for inviting a member of the KCB into one
of our Chapter meetings to engage in an open exchange. A member of our
local chapter, Randy Hester, told Charles Allen what had taken place.
Since I was not there when Randy told Charley about our November
meeting, I have no way of determining the accuracy of the information
conveyed to Charley. In any event, it seems that Charley felt it was
significant to report to Cathy Jackson what Randy had told him. Again,
since I was not there when this conversation took place, I have no way
of knowing precisely what was said to whom. As a result of these various
exchanges, accurate or inaccurate as they may have been, Cathy called me
this last Thursday evening, April 30, obviously upset and uncomfortable
with what she felt necessary to communicate to me. It seemed quite
apparent from Cathy's comments that she had taken it upon herself to
call President Marc Maurer to get his recommendation on a course of
action to be taken before she had discussed anything with me. Without
going into all of the details of Cathy's and my conversation, she asked
for my version of what had taken place in our meeting. I conveyed to
Cathy, basically, what I have summarized in this post as to what had
taken place surrounding our Chapter meeting in November. Cathy asked me
to present my version of what had taken place in that meeting and to
defend my actions before a special meeting of the NFBK Board to be held
by telephone conference call, Sunday night, May 4. I refused to do that
because I saw no reason why I needed to defend my actions before the
NFBK Board. By agreeing to defend my actions before the Board, would be,
in my mind, tantamount to an acknowledgement that I had done something
wrong, and I absolutely do not believe I have done anything wrong. When
I refused to present my version of the meeting's events to the Board,
Cathy indicated that she would have to call President Maurer back to see
what he felt NFBK needed to do. When I asked her what she thought
President Maurer would say, she said she felt reasonably certain that he
would say that I needed to go." In other words, be kicked out of the
NFB. To that I simply responded that she didn't have to pursue it any
further because I officially resigned effective immediately.

    I do not want to be a part of an organization that stifles the
pursuit of knowledge. Is the NFB so insecure in its philosophy and
positions on key issues that it feels it must keep its membership in the
dark? Freedom, isn't that what this country is supposed to stand for,
freedom of expression, freedom to acquire knowledge, freedom of
assembly, freedom to exchange thoughts and differing viewpoints? I am a
professor, and as an educator, I encourage my students to consider other
points of views, new material that might even be opposed to their
present way of thinking or even opposed to my own beliefs.

    Since that November meeting, I have had no communications with Adam,
and the exchanges I have had with Carla, which amounts to perhaps 1 or
two e-mail posts, have been limited to legislative issues. We have never
discussed the November South Central Chapter meeting one single time
since that evening. Furthermore, I do not even know who the KCB officers
are, and I rather doubt that any of our South Central Chapter members do
either. I strongly suspect the initial information conveyed to Charley
Allen was either inaccurate or misunderstood. Regardless, I am greatly
concerned that the NFB would take such extreme measures as to reprimand
or expel one of its long-standing, loyal, and very active members, such
as myself, because that member had encouraged an open discussion of key
issues of interest to blind people and to examine the philosophical and
issue difference between the two largest organizations representing
blind people in the world, the NFB and the ACB.

    Finally, I am especially sad to realize that many of you, who I
consider friends of mine, I will have little or no interaction with
since our encounters were always associated with NFB activities. I bare
no malice toward anyone. Though, I sincerely believe this situation was
handled in an extremely poor manner and hopefully it will cause some
people involved to reexamine their reactions and think about how
differently these chains of events might have better been handled.

    Ron Milliman

    Dr. Ronald E. Milliman
Professor of Marketing
Department of Economics & Marketing
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101

Outstanding Teaching Award -- 2002/2003 ---


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