From: Robert Newman <[log in to unmask]>

Hi, I'm the guy who hosts THOUGHT PROVOKER, the Email discussion forum
concerning blindness related issues.  I am asking you to join THOUGHT
PROVOKER and aid in my effort to change what it means to be blind.

A THOUGHT PROVOKER is a short-short story that encapsulates an issue of
blindness, the reader responds to it, this creates peer counseling and the
result is change.

What is unique and I feel worth while about THOUGHT PROVOKER, the forum, is
two fold-
One, THE MEMBERS- at present I have people from five continents involved.
People who are visually impaired themselves or are family or professionals
in the field of blindness or are sighted and interested or employers or etc.
They are all sharing their thoughts striving to assist the next guy to a
higher level of adjustment.  Think of it, some of these folks are new at
blindness and some of us are old hands at it.  Thus the struggling new
person is being helped by the experienced confident person and the old hand
at it are in turn helped by being reminded from where they have come.  This
is truly a worldwide effort in peer counseling.

2.  THE NATURE- No where else upon the web or in hardcopy will you find a
collection of thoughts about specific issues of vision loss all in one
place. This is not like a listserv which has many topics going, ebbing and
flowing, then gone.  This is more like a book with a theme, with each
Provoker being a chapter focusing on one piece of the overall theme.

Also consider checking out my site.  Besides 20 Provokers presently posted
there, you will find longer short stories wherein the main characters are
blind/visually impaired and living and adjusting to life.

Joining THOUGHT PROVOKER would mean receiving on average one message per
week. The procedure is- at the beginning of a new THOUGHT PROVOKER I send it
out to all on the list, over the following week people respond back, I
compile the responses into a single message and send them back out the next
week. This goes on for four updates/weeks. On the date of the fourth update
I also send out a
new Provoker. Plus, all Provokers, including the weekly update
are available upon my web site for all the world to see.

Please do give this serious thought and let me know.

Robert Leslie Newman
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Web Site- Adjustment To Blindness And Visual Impairment
URL- http://falcon.creighton.edu/vip
Phone- 402-556-3216
Mail- 504 S. 57th St.
      Omaha, Nebraska, 68106 USA


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