Upon a couple of readings of the statement from the National
Council on Disability aimed at justifying their recent adoption
of recommendations to encourage a General Accounting Office study
of the blindness system and the destruction of the current
program of independent living for older blind persons by making
the program generic; it is apparent that NCD is now more than
ever in need of corrective action by the Congress and the
Administration. Here's why.
Basically their defense is that they have this statutory
mandate to advise the Administration and Congress on disability
policy and that they hold certain principles dear in conducting
their analysis and development of that advice. Then they go on
to list the basic tenants of the independent living philosophy
such as consumer control, empowerment, cross-disability and
preference for integrated service delivery models.
What has really occurred here is that the National Council
on disability has abandoned its responsibility to develop policy
recommendations from a broader view than the constraints imposed
by an extremist interpretation of the independent living
ideology. Rather than listening to and abiding by the demands of
the blindness community, they have hidden behind some notion of
equity for all disabilities without any regard for the unique
circumstances and self-determination of discrete groups of
people.
Make no mistake that NCD by its own hand is now advocating
for a service delivery system that sinks to the lowest common
denominator and would likely have severe negative impact upon
groups with unique needs. the real truth with respect to blind
people is that NCD clearly has adopted an elitist position that
somehow they get to decide what is good for the blind whether the
blind like it or not.
American democracy was born from suspicion of the kind of
ideological thinking going on at NCD where the individual is
discounted in submission to the good of the whole, or what was
called at that time "the tyranny of the majority." Moreover our
founding fathers established separation of powers to prevent
consolidated governmental powers from destroying the liberties of
the people. It is therefore of no trivial concern that a federal
agency has seen fit to declare a "holistic" approach to
"integrated" service delivery as a conclusion drawn from
principles they hold dear; despite the outrage of the people they
are supposedly set up to represent.
Those who buy the line that we blind folks are just one of
many disabilities and have therefore no right to determine our
own future unless it meets some misapplied "cross-disability"
standard, can rest assured that NCD is working for you! For
those who insist that we the blind speak for ourselves and will
not be treated in the way NCD has done, then contacting your
Senators and Representatives in Congress is necessary to make
sure government is working with us rather than against us.
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