You will find on this web site an eclectic collection of material. However, there are common themes like: human rights, empowerment and the advancement of consumer efforts of persons who are blind in particular and persons who are disabled in general.
To sum the material here may be dismissed as outdated. However, we believe the material is as relevant, revealing, and important today as when it was first written. The entries on this site are not easily available else wear. The mainstream sources have an interest in minimizing the impact consumer advocacy and self empowerment have had on advances in social well being and improved circumstances for people who are blind. Much remains to do. The goal of equality is far in the future. The motivation for this site is to document some of the important milestones on the road to acceptance for all
We shamelessly promote the concepts of self determination, self reliance, independence, the right to choose the concept of service satisfaction, the importance of self advocacy, and the importance of equal opportunity. We have strived to live our lives by these concepts. We appreciate the genuine help and advice we have received over the years. Equally, we have objected and resented the efforts of many others who have tried in the name of making choices for us by deciding what is best for us, trying to profit from our expressions of need for their own Aggrandizement and the efforts to discredit us as human beings who happen to be blind but disagree with their concepts of what is good for us in a democratic society.
The material of a historic nature is posted regardless of its origin. We feel it important that persons who are blind have as thorough a knowledge as possible of our history as an element of society.
Considerable instructional time is spent by professionals who help individuals obtain the necessary skills to cope with the effects of blindness. The traditional approach to this training has been to emphasize the technical aspects of skills development such as: braille reading and writing, touch typing, orientation and mobility. Gradually, this approach is being modified to include an exposure to the emotional, ethnic, spiritual and historical aspects of blindness. Greater efforts are now being made by many blind persons to take expert care and training of the image of blindness and the impression created by the term. Blind persons are acquired an acquaintance with our evolution in society and the importance of our past as a road map to our future.
We have made a very modest contribution to this work. We want to share what we have done, written and what like minded persons who are blind have written.
Also, don’t forget to check out my two books:
THE BRAILLE JAIL ANTHOLOGY, A History of the Halifax School for the Blind (HSB) By Chris Stark . It is a look at the rise, success, decay and fall of the Halifax School for the Blind. As researched and viewed from a social historical perspective of a person who lived much of that experience.
Get Book: The Braille Jail Anthology: A History of the Halifax School for the Blind By Chris Stark
BLIND-SIDED: EXPERIENCES FROM BEHIND THE GLASS EYE My Life and Times at the Halifax School for the Blind (HSB) By Chris Stark. A biography Of Day to day life at the Halifax School For The Blind A regimented life that gradually weakened from harsh oppression to enlightened incarceration during my schooling.
