by Ron Brooks, chairman, ACB Board of Publications
For almost 60 years, the ACB has welcomed people with diverse backgrounds, points of views and philosophies about blindness. And over the years, we have come to love and respect the full range of diversity that is represented in the blind community. Affiliates and committees represent the unique perspectives and concerns of just about any group one can name — from women, to seniors, to families, to students, to young professionals, to people of color. All of this diversity makes us stronger, makes us more real, and gives us the broad range of perspectives that we must have to address the full range of concerns of blind and visually impaired Americans — all blind Americans from backwater towns in the upper Midwest to the teeming cities of the east and west coasts and everywhere in between.
In this edition of “The ACB E-Forum,” we are celebrating the wonderful diversity that makes ACB so strong. We have profiles of affiliates and committees that work among our diverse membership, articles about blindness from an international perspective, from the perspective of a young author with a rare disorder, and so much more. It is our hope that this diversity will surprise you, impress you, encourage you, and challenge you to embrace as much diversity of perspective, thought, age, gender, skin color, ethnicity, etc., as you can. Because if we are able to respect and embrace one another while celebrating our differences, we will all become so much stronger as we work together on behalf of all blind and visually impaired people throughout the USA and the world at large.