by Paul Edwards
I am actually writing this message in early May because I wrote the June message and thought I might as well try to do this related message while I was on a roll. It is very hard to think coherently because a small cat is perched on the arm of my chair demanding attention. She keeps pawing my face and, occasionally, steps onto the Braille Lite on which I am composing this message. If you came to visit here, you would probably not meet Baby since she is a shy and retiring sort of cat. But, when there are not a lot of people around, she is demanding, mischievous and as friendly a cat as you would ever want to meet.
Last month I said that I would say a few things about my presidency in this, my last message. As a historian by training, I am conscious that it is far too soon for anyone to assess the impact of my six years in office. I am probably a little less than objective too. I do want to reflect a little on the office itself and to place on record some of what I tried to do. By the time you read this, I will no longer be president of ACB. All the elections will be over so that what I say here will have no impact on the political process. That is as it should be. The term limits that ACB imposes on its president and all its officers mean that each of us who reaches the end of our terms has a chance to reflect on what we have done.
In fact, term limits are one of the things I want to talk about for a minute. Six years is a nanosecond of history, but it is a long time to be president. I congratulate our leaders on the perspicacity they showed in limiting officers to three terms of two years. That is quite enough time for a volunteer to try to juggle his or her life around to be president. While there have been times when I have thought that six years is too long, I am now convinced that it is really about right. There is certainly a learning curve involved and, for someone like me, adjusting to running an organization with a million-dollar budget and 25,000 members was no easy task. Especially during my first year, I came very close to simply giving up and quitting. This was because I tried to live up to the expectations that others had of me rather than taking control and setting my own course. So, to any new or prospective presidents who may read this, I offer you a few pieces of advice.
First and foremost, recognize and live with the fact that you won’t please most of the people most of the time. If you did, you would probably not be doing enough. Whether others like it or not, you must set the agenda for the organization and let democracy modify it. (I took a very long time learning that, once you set the agenda, you had better make sure to get it to the board on time.) Things also only got better when I recognized that the best way to lessen opposition is to share responsibility. So, give your officers and board members lots to do.
As I have said in this space before, the president of ACB is not very powerful really and that is just fine. It means that he or she must make certain that the agenda can be sold to all the players. Believe me, that is a lot harder than it may seem. It means that the president must work to convince the board, the executive director and the membership that the direction he or she proposes is appropriate. Though this slows down decision-making, it also assures that the president is fairly circumspect about turning in new directions. Let me hasten to add that our process does not preclude new directions or strong presidential leadership. It simply requires that the president recognize the system of governance with which he or she must work and spend time building support for what he or she believes is appropriate.
I began my presidency convinced that the role of the executive director must be enlarged and continue to believe that is the right way for ACB to go. We are a national organization and must continue to create a larger and larger presence every day of the year. That can only be done by making our national office and its leader more central to what we do.
I also began my presidency firmly convinced that ACB needed to act to build consensus within the blindness community and needed to reach out to the broader disability community as well when we could. I believe we have done well working with other disability groups when we could. I am deeply saddened by the degree that consensus building within the blindness community has proved elusive and illusory. I am particularly sad that our efforts to work more closely with the National Federation of the Blind have failed. Perhaps my successor will be more effective than I have been at finding ways to allow people who are blind to speak with one voice.
I remain absolutely convinced that all of us are hurt by the ability of others to say that blind people don’t agree among ourselves. While I unequivocally urge ongoing dialogue with the Federation, I also believe that ACB must continue to champion our issues regardless of who doesn’t like it. Somehow ACB must continue to communicate to those who will listen that we are not engaged in a consumer war. The issues on which there is disagreement are philosophical and, for the most part, the blindness community has worked with us to forward our issues. The NFB is the odd man out.
As I leave the presidency, I am proud of where the American Council of the Blind is and where it is going. We have demonstrated that democracy works. We have championed the right of each blind person to be valued as he or she is. We have repeatedly asserted the right of blind people to demand that society adapt so it is more open to people who are blind. I know that ACB will continue to praise those who work to make life better for those who are blind and will continue to identify barriers to our inclusion and knock them down. These values will persist no matter who is president!
Our other cat, Carousel, has just climbed onto my lap as if to tell me that there are things that are far more important than any discussion of the presidency. I think she is right. So let me end this message by saying that it has been a privilege to serve you. I will miss the chance these messages have given me to share my thoughts with you. Many of you have told me that you have enjoyed reading them. So Carousel, Baby and I say thank you and good-bye to all who will read this, my final “President’s Message.” I leave it to cats and time to put my presidency into “purrfect purrspective!”