[Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, November 2012
Brian Buhrow
buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Thu Nov 1 17:10:27 PDT 2012
BRAILLE MONITOR
Vol. 55, No. 10 November 2012
Gary Wunder, Editor
Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash drive
(see reverse side) by
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Marc Maurer, President
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© 2012 by the National Federation of the Blind
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Vol. 55, No. 10 November 2012
Contents
Illustration: The October-December Accessible Bulletin Board in the
Betsy Zaborowski Conference Room at the NFB Jernigan Institute
The Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium: A Forum for Collaboration
in the Struggle for the Right to Live in the World
by Lou Ann Blake
Democratizing Braille: A World View
by Kevin Carey
My Journey to Genetics: Changing What it Means to Be a Blind Genetic
Counselor
by Ronit Ovadia-Mazzoni
The DAISY Consortium Global Partnership:
Working with the NFB to End the Book Famine
by Stephen King
The Federation in Your Journey: The Courage to Try
by Mary Ellen Gabias
The New iBill®:
Is it Worth the Extra $20?
by Curtis Chong
A Reader Takes the Braille Monitor to Task
Working with Blind Seniors in Support Groups
by Rebecca Irvin
Learning to Use a White Cane as a Senior
by Jonathan Ice
Remembering the Nickel
by Judy Sanders
Axis 360: Making Books Accessible at a Library Near You
by Michael Bills
Paw Prints on the Barricades
by Anna Kresmer
A Library for the Price of a Book
Newel Perry: More Profiles and California School for the Blind Politics
An Interview with Newel Perry
Conducted by Willa Baum
Bob Hunt Dies
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures
The October-December Accessible Bulletin Board in the Betsy Zaborowski
Conference Room at the NFB Jernigan Institute
Playing off a popular series of children's books (Flat Stanley), the
title of the latest bulletin board is "Follow Flat Whozit," which
highlights the 2012 NFB BELL (Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning)
Programs.
This Whozit-color (red, purple, blue, white, and yellow) themed board
is flanked by pictures created by students in the various NFB BELL Programs
after reading the story of Flat Whozit. A scalloped blue border defines the
top and bottom edges of the board. The title, "Follow Flat Whozit,"
serpentines across the top left corner. At the end of the title is a
tactile Whozit made from colored craft foam. To Whozit's right is a craft-
foam cut-out of Maryland, representing the beginning of Whozit's journey.
Observers can chart Whozit's journey through all eleven BELL states by
following the string, adorned with mini bells, which starts at Maryland and
stops at each of the eleven states in the order they joined the BELL choir:
Maryland, Georgia, Utah, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, Idaho,
Nebraska, Massachusetts, and Louisiana. Each state is made of craft foam,
and above it is a list of statistics in print and Braille about that
state's programs, including location of the program(s), the 2012 dates of
the program(s), the year the state hosted its first BELL program, and the
number of students this year. The path of Whozit's journey snakes across
the board from right to left and back again. Scattered around the board are
pictures from various BELL programs featuring children playing Braille
games, learning to use the slate and stylus, and reading Braille. At the
very bottom, in the middle of the board, is a pocket folder holding Braille
and print versions of the Flat Whozit story the students in the BELL
programs read this summer, which visitors can enjoy if they have time.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Attendees of the 2012 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law
Symposium interested in civil rights for the disabled listen attentively as
authorities in the field address equality of opportunity for the disabled.]
The Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium: A Forum for Collaboration in
the Struggle for the Right to Live in the World
by Lou Ann Blake
From the Editor: Lou Ann Blake is an attorney and works as the HAVA
Project manager and Law Symposium coordinator at the Jernigan Institute.
Here is her unique perspective on our founder's work and the role of the
National Federation of the Blind in addressing the legal concerns that were
at the center of his life:
For the past five years the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan
Institute has hosted the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium. Since
the inaugural event in 2008, disability rights lawyers and advocates have
traveled to the Jernigan Institute from throughout the United States,
Canada, and Europe to hear nationally and internationally recognized
disability rights advocates discuss the current status of disability rights
and how the struggle continues for the right of people with disabilities to
live in the world. With planning of the 2013 Jacobus tenBroek Disability
Law Symposium well underway, it seems like an appropriate time for
reflection on why the symposium is important, why it is important that the
National Federation of the Blind host this event, and how the symposium can
help facilitate change in disability law.
Why the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium Is Important
The Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium provides disability
rights advocates an opportunity on a national level and cross-disability
basis to gather together to discuss the status of disability law in the
United States. Over a hundred-fifty advocates representing more than eighty
academic, government, corporate, and advocacy organizations attended the
2012 symposium. The organizations represented included Disability Rights
Iowa; the American Diabetes Association; the National Association of the
Deaf; Jacksonville Area Legal Aid; Disability Rights Advocates; Yale Law
School; Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; National Disability Rights
Network; and Google, Inc. International organizations represented at the
symposium have included the National University of Ireland, Galway; the
City of Paris; and ARCH Disability Law Centre (Canada).
Through the discussions that occur at the symposium, relationships
are built and attendees discover that, on a cross-disability basis, we have
many issues in common. When we work together on these common issues, the
disability community as a whole is much stronger. The 2012 tenBroek
Symposium included a workshop on litigation strategy planning among
disability rights organizations. This workshop was co-facilitated by Scott
LaBarre, principal of LaBarre Law Offices and president of the NFB of
Colorado, and Howard Rosenblum, chief executive officer of the National
Association of the Deaf. This workshop resulted in a commitment by the
participants to continue the discussion on how disability rights
organizations can work together after the symposium. The relationship-
building that occurs at the tenBroek symposium also provides an opportunity
for the NFB to foster understanding of our view on blindness-specific
issues, and we gain a better understanding of issues specific to other
disabilities.
Honoring and celebrating the genius of our founder, Dr. Jacobus
tenBroek, is one of the primary reasons why the NFB hosts the symposium.
Most members are aware that Dr. tenBroek founded the National Federation of
the Blind in 1940. However, many of our members may not know that Dr.
tenBroek's legal scholarship helped to set the stage for the civil rights
movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and was instrumental in changing the
treatment of disability rights to a civil rights issue rather than an issue
of special privilege.
The legal scholarship of Jacobus tenBroek on the interpretation and
application of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to
the United States Constitution changed the way that American courts analyze
a discrimination case. In "The Equal Protection of the Laws," a 1949
California Law Review article, co-authors tenBroek and Joseph Tussman
developed the analysis that is used by American courts today to determine
if a law improperly discriminates by including or excluding a class of
people. Coupled with the analysis of the historical origins and meaning of
a law developed in Dr. tenBroek's The Antislavery Origins of the Fourteenth
Amendment, Jacobus tenBroek's scholarship helped to establish the equal
protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as the primary tool used by
the courts for remedying historical patterns of discrimination.
One of the earliest and most significant applications of Dr.
tenBroek's equal protection scholarship was that of the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund in the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of
Education. An August 18, 1953, letter to Dr. tenBroek from Thurgood
Marshall, then the director and counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
acknowledged their use of Dr. tenBroek's scholarship in preparation for the
reargument of Brown before the United States Supreme Court. On May 17,
1954, the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Board of Education that
segregation by race in the public schools was unconstitutional because the
"separate but equal" doctrine failed to meet the requirements of the equal
protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Thus Dr. tenBroek's
scholarship was instrumental in creating a new era in American civil
rights.
With the publication of his 1966 California Law Review article, "The
Right to Live in the World: The Disabled in the Law of Torts," Jacobus
tenBroek established himself as a founding father of American disability
law. In this seminal article Dr. tenBroek demonstrated that, based on the
self-care and self-support provisions of the Social Security Act, the
rehabilitation programs of the states, programs to educate disabled
children in the public schools, and the opening-up of civil service jobs to
the disabled, the integration of the disabled into the community was the
policy of the United States. Therefore, Dr. tenBroek argued, the disabled
had the same right to the use of public streets and sidewalks, common
carriers, public buildings, and other public accommodations as their
nondisabled peers. With this reasoning Jacobus tenBroek helped to shift the
perception of disability rights from that of an issue of special privilege
to one of civil rights.
Dr. tenBroek's analysis of state tort law in "The Right to Live in the
World" revealed a wide variation in substance and in its application by the
courts to the disabled. For example, Dr. tenBroek noted that the majority
of courts did not find a blind person to be negligent simply because she
was walking down a street unaccompanied when she fell into an unprotected,
open trench and became injured, while other courts did find negligence. In
response to this inconsistency Dr. tenBroek drafted the model White Cane
Law, which established the right of blind and other disabled Americans to
be in the world and to use public streets and sidewalks, all modes of
public transportation, and public accommodations. Today most states have
passed the model White Cane Law in some form. The shift to Dr. tenBroek's
view of disability rights as a civil rights issue is also reflected by the
passage of federal legislation such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Because of Dr. tenBroek's
influence, the barriers that have prevented the disabled from living in the
world are being removed, and his vision of equality of opportunity for all
is closer to becoming reality.
Why It Is Important that the National Federation of the Blind Host the
tenBroek Symposium
The National Federation of the Blind is a strong, national
organization with resources that are unmatched by other disability rights
groups. Our grassroots organization is strong, with over 50,000 members
representing affiliates in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico. The Jernigan Institute, with its large meeting space and
capable staff, is an ideal setting for a disability law symposium. By
bringing other disability rights advocates, both disabled and nondisabled,
to the Jernigan Institute, we show them what is possible when the disabled
are in command of their own destiny and expectations are high.
Since our founding by Dr. tenBroek in 1940, the National Federation
of the Blind has been a leader in the disability rights movement. In the
early days the fight was for the right of blind Americans to teach in the
public schools, travel unaccompanied, and obtain federal Civil Service
jobs, among others. Today, in addition to fighting for the rights of blind
citizens to have equal access to educational materials, access to
appropriate test accommodations, and access to the Internet, our battles
for civil rights also include some that have a cross-disability focus. In
2009 the National Federation of the Blind played a leadership role in
founding the Reading Rights Coalition, a group of thirty-one organizations
representing the print-disability community, to demand equal access to
electronic books and ebook readers for all individuals with print
disabilities.
Our leadership role in the disability rights movement has continued
in 2012 as we spearhead the effort to eliminate subminimum wages paid to
workers with disabilities. The National Federation of the Blind is leading
the cross-disability push for Congress to pass H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages
for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011, which would phase out the
payment of subminimum wages to disabled workers, currently permissible
under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Other disability
organizations that have joined us in this fight include the Autistic Self
Advocacy Network, United Spinal Association, National Down Syndrome
Congress, National Association of the Deaf, American Association of People
with Disabilities, and Little People of America.
Through our strength and leadership the National Federation of the
Blind has changed and continues to change what it means to be blind in
America. When we have issues in common, such as the right to read and the
right to be paid a fair wage, the National Federation of the Blind also
takes a leadership role to change lives in the cross-disability community.
Hosting the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium is one of the ways we
develop the relationships with other disability organizations that enable
the NFB to take a leadership role in the disability community as a whole.
This role as a leader in the cross-disability community makes us a stronger
organization in our relations with lawmakers and corporate executives as we
work to bring Dr. tenBroek's vision of equal opportunity for all citizens
closer to its full realization.
How Can the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium Facilitate Change in
the Law?
The thoughts and ideas expressed at the tenBroek symposia are made
available to all for citation in court documents and in scholarly
publications. Recordings of all of the plenary sessions from the first five
symposia are available free of charge on the NFB website. In addition,
articles based on presentations from the 2008, 2009, and 2011 symposia have
been published in the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, a
publication of the University of Texas School of Law. Thus the ideas
generated at the symposium may influence disability law and policy when
lawyers and judges cite these articles and recordings in their court briefs
and opinions or when legal scholars cite them in their writings.
One of the most important ways the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law
Symposium can effect change in the law is through inspiring the next
generation of disability rights advocates. Every year the tenBroek
symposium provides a growing number of law school students with a unique
opportunity to network with leading disability rights advocates from
throughout the United States. An intern from Disability Rights Iowa who
plans to attend law school said of the 2012 symposium, "I learned so much
and met so many amazing people. It really was an inspiring event...."
Inspiring law school students to become disability rights advocates with
Dr. tenBroek's vision of equality of opportunity for all citizens and the
NFB's example of what is possible when expectations are high will help to
move disability law in a direction closer to his vision.
Continuing the Struggle for the Right to Live in the World
The sixth Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium, "Push Forward
and Push Back: Continuing the Struggle for the Right to Live in the World,"
will take place on April 18 and 19, 2013. The symposium will provide
disability rights advocates a forum in which to discuss topics such as the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the
impact of the Olmstead case on employment, litigation strategies in
kindergarten through secondary education, and the International Treaty on
the Right of the Print Disabled to Information. As a consequence of the
leadership role of the National Federation of the Blind in bringing
together the cross-disability community through the Jacobus tenBroek
Disability Law Symposium and the resulting relationships and
collaborations, we are able to carry forward Dr. tenBroek's work toward
achieving for all citizens equal opportunity for full participation in the
society in which we live.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Kevin Carey]
Democratizing Braille: A World View
by Kevin Carey
From the Editor: Kevin Carey is the chairman of the Royal National
Institute for Blind People, headquartered in London, England. He delivered
a somewhat abbreviated version of the following paper on Thursday morning,
July 6, to the 2012 convention of the National Federation of the Blind. His
remarks were controversial if not revolutionary, but, as he points out,
they arise from many years of experience, not ivory tower theorizing. We
decided that what he had to say was important enough that it deserved
consideration of his unexpurgated text. Here it is:
Introduction
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and friends: First of
all, let me thank you for receiving me here today. I am deeply conscious of
the honor and hope that you will not mind the frankness of a guest. On a
more general note, I am no stranger to the United States since I was a
student at Harvard after graduating from Cambridge University in England,
but I am delighted to have the opportunity to visit Texas for the first
time.
Before I address my theme, perhaps a few words about myself would be
helpful as background. I was born nine weeks premature at three pounds two
ounces in 1951, and the oxygen that kept me alive gave me retinopathy of
prematurity, blinding my right eye and leaving me with a tiny degree of
residual vision in my left, which I ultimately lost in my mid-twenties. I
learned to read uncontracted and then contracted Braille, going through a
major code revision at the end of primary school. Over the years I acquired
a knowledge of Braille codes for French, German, Spanish, Italian, two
music codes, two mathematics codes, and two computer Braille codes. After
university I joined Sight Savers International and worked in former British
colonies designing education, training, and rehabilitation programs for
incurably blind people; and the achievement of which I am most proud was
the development of the first major computer-driven Braille production
system outside the Western World, the African Braille Centre, which started
life before the Internet couriering Braille books on floppy discs to
embossers in a number of countries. During that period I worked in more
than fifty countries and was involved in Braille policy and production in
almost all of them. Later, after leaving Sight Savers to run my own IT
consultancy, I chaired the United Kingdom Association of Braille Producers,
sat on the Braille Authority of the United Kingdom, and took an early
interest in the Unified English Braille (UEB) code. I also edited the UK
peer-reviewed journal on blindness, the British Journal of Visual
Impairment, which is very similar to your Journal of Visual Impairment and
Blindness, which brought me into contact with many teachers of blind
children, and I have taken a very special personal interest in libraries. I
say all of this because, although I cannot hope to convince everybody of
the rightness of what I am going to say, at least I am speaking from
practical experience and not as a theorist.
The Global Braille Crisis
Braille is on the verge of a global catastrophe as great as that which
the music industry faced in the late 1990s and as great as that now being
faced by conventional book, magazine, and newspaper publishers; and, if we
do not do something radical to save it, we, the baby boomers, will be the
last generation to take Braille seriously.
There are five major clusters of issues feeding into this crisis:
. The emergence of analogue audio products and then text-to-speech (TTS)
and the explosion of spoken-word broadcasting
. The decrease in congenitally blind people with no other disabilities
. The mystification and professionalization of Braille teaching and the
concentration on coding issues
. The exorbitant cost of Braille production and consumption and
. Pressure on public sector and philanthropic budgets
Audio: The appeal of analogue audio was obvious from the start, and to
its many virtues we can now add the cost reduction and flexibility of
interaction provided by TTS. The last two decades have also seen an
explosion of factual spoken-word broadcasting. The problem here is that,
as the result of sloppy thinking, some educators think that audio text is
equivalent to the Braille reading experience. But there is something very
particular in our culture about text before our eyes or under our fingers
quite distinct from the audio experience. Facility with symbolic language
is a basic literacy which access to audio cannot readily provide, but the
initial cost differential between audio and hardcopy Braille production
is now being further widened by the falling cost of TTS.
Epidemiology: In most developed countries the number of blind
children with no additional disabilities is falling while the number of
blind children with additional disabilities is rising. For the past 120
years the life force behind Braille has been congenitally blind children.
Some adventitiously blind people have learned Braille, but many of the
small number with the inclination have been alienated by the pressure for a
contracted Braille default. Many blind children with additional
disabilities will manage uncontracted Braille at best. This is a global
trend which has begun in the West but will rapidly extend as a consequence
of improved medical services in such countries as China, India, Brazil, and
South Africa.
Mystification: I use the term "mystification" to cover a large and
complex problem area, but let me try to separate this into the following
four elements:
. Contracted Braille
. Single signs with multiple meanings and therefore
. Complex rules and
. Reversibility problems
This has meant that the major focus of Braille advocates and Braille
authorities, teachers, and publishers, has been on rather arcane coding
issues when they might have concentrated their energies on:
. Simplified coding and layout
. Teaching and learning materials and
. Promotion and marketing.
Indeed, in recent months I have received enquiries from some of the poorest
countries in the world asking if they should establish Braille authorities
to deal with coding issues when most of their blind children have no access
to any kind of Braille. This orientation means that the gateway to learning
Braille has been operated by professionals instead of being an easy-access
mass-market product.
Cost. Nobody contemplating the budgetary tribulations of California
and, at the other extreme, the decision of South Korea to phase out all
paper books in its education system by 2015 can doubt that the cost of
Braille is going to put it under pressure with a public sector preference
for text-to-speech and, exceptionally, for the use of refreshable Braille
displays. Put bluntly, Braille--and particularly hardcopy contracted
Braille--will be perceived to be the province of a dying elite.
Democratization
My broad, conceptual proposal for saving Braille is to democratize it, to
take Braille out of the hands of professionals and put it into the hands of
the people, and to this end I have six proposals:
. Default Braille teaching to uncontracted
. Provide code choices where this is possible
. Promote multi-modal self-tuition
. Create a market in Braille products
. Promote end-user Braille embossing
. Slash the cost of refreshable Braille display technology
In turning to the two major contemporary issues of Braille coding, it
is, sadly, necessary for me to begin with an emphatic warning. When I made
a similar speech to this one in Leipzig last September, those who disagreed
with me quite deliberately misunderstood what I was saying. The key words
in my two proposals are, "default" and "choice." At this point I am tempted
to say, "Read my lips," but instead I will simply say as slowly and clearly
as I can that I am not proposing to abolish contracted Braille or to
prevent anybody who wants to learn and use it from being taught and having
access to text in it! I am saying:
. First, educators should not automatically swallow huge quantities of
curricular time by insisting that all blind children learn contracted
Braille but should consider it in the context of all the child's
competing needs and in the context of the child's aptitude and life
chances. Where such advanced tuition is justified by the child's
prospects, of course it should be taught, but I suspect from all my
travels that the advocacy for contracted Braille is deeply bound up with
the professional self-identity of the special teacher. It's what marks
them out; it's what makes them different. They are rightly proud of
acquiring this difficult skill, but that should not get in the way of
dispensing it judiciously. It is also important to note that all the
research points in one direction: uncontracted Braille is easier to learn
and does not retard reading speed.
. Second, current IT now allows us to give people a choice of contracted
and uncontracted Braille, but I propose the uncontracted format because,
by and large and contrary to popular belief, uncontracted Braille is
cheaper than contracted for all but documents with very long runs,
because the increased cost of proofreading outweighs the savings on
paper. The space saving on contracted Braille is almost always
exaggerated. This establishes the principle that technology allows us to
create a market in Braille products, a subject to which I will return
momentarily.
Code Choices: In discussing code choices, I want to use Unified
English Braille (UEB) as an example. The single major virtue of UEB is that
it provides a transparent, reversible relationship between print and
Braille symbols. The advantages of this are easy to explain:
. First, blind children are not confronted with the additional learning
hurdle of having to assign meanings to signs based on context. Many
teachers want to keep Braille teaching as simple as possible because
there are many competing demands on teacher and pupil time.
. Second, complex rules with equally complex exceptions can be abandoned,
making it much cheaper to put Braille-translation software into generic
products.
. Third, the English-speaking world can organize its Braille file access
around a single code.
. The general principle is that, if the initial reasons for contracted
Braille, lower metal plate input and some space-saving, are now
redundant, the need for print/Braille automated reversibility is such an
important factor that to over-ride it there must be even more compelling
reasons.
Braille Market: Frankly, on both sides of the Atlantic we have made
fools of ourselves over these issues. We have made the mistake of the
visual impairment sector down the ages, the same mistake we made over
residential education and mainstreaming, the same mistake we made over
sheltered and open employment, the same mistake we made over the relative
merits of Braille and large print. The mistake is that advocates on both
sides of the arguments have wanted a universal adherence to their point of
view, so opponents have fought each other to a standstill. In spite of
this, both sides have continued to behave as if an overwhelming victory and
the power of imposition are possible.
How can it be in the United Kingdom and the United States, with our
belief in markets and choice, that we haven't allowed the market to show us
customer preference? The hand-to-hand fighting over mathematics coding in a
top-down hierarchical structure makes nonsense of what technology can offer
and what we all believe about choice and markets. I realize that unchecked
market theory is as damaging as unchecked autocracy, so we need to achieve
a balance and opt for practical, perhaps less elegant, less clear-cut
solutions to our problems. In the case of UEB, for example, it might be
somewhat inelegant to propose its use in the English-speaking world for all
literary Braille but to allow some latitude in mathematics as a temporary
measure; this will disentangle majority use from a perfectly understandable
concern with an important but nonetheless minority concern. It is time for
the experts to put their own concerns into the context of a broad and
diverse educational and cultural ecology; it is time for the consumer voice
to be heard in support of decisions which will broaden and simplify access
and cut costs.
So where does this leave Braille authorities? Well, you have probably
gathered by now that I am not very keen on self-appointed bodies with self-
appointed powers telling me or anyone else what I can and cannot do or
have. But there are still jobs to be done which Braille authorities might
do better than individual organizations of or for the blind:
. First, there are coding questions in some countries which need
national or language-group consensus, but the emphasis should be on
identifying suitable codes rather than trying to impose single codes.
. Second, there should be a concern about how Braille codes interact
with automated translation software to provide two-way translation
with digital print text. This also requires a much greater concern for
Braille layout macros, which do not necessarily mimic the conventions
of print that appeal to the eye. A good example of this is print
centering, which is not always appropriate in Braille, particularly
for sub-headings.
. Third, there should be much more emphasis on promoting and marketing
Braille as a means to education, employment, and culture.
Underlying these proposals, I believe that all Braille authorities
should be radically democratized so that consumers and those speaking on
behalf of potential consumers--those who are alienated from Braille reading
because of current barriers and constraints--should have strong
representation. Self-appointed oligarchies of experts are not generally
sensitive to either their existing or potential markets but are wrapped up
in their own concerns. In a parallel proposal I believe that we should
create a market in Braille products that reflects cost and quality,
approximately in ascending order of price, as follows:
. Uncontracted digital files
. Contracted digital files
. Uncontracted hardcopy
. Contracted hardcopy
For half a century most alternative-format publishers in the world
have offered their customers or beneficiaries a choice between very
expensive and subsidized hardcopy, contracted Braille, and real audio.
Digital alternatives are now possible, and the issue for most publishers is
whether they are able to disentangle their book sales from their free
lending model. There may still be some latitude in lending, but my own
experience is that it will steadily decline in richer countries, and in
poorer countries the cost of hardcopy publishing and lending has to be
balanced against the Internet transmission of digital files. The fly in
this lovely pot of ointment is of course copyright, but I suspect that
publishers would be less hostile if the global blindness community was more
sympathetic to paying publishers than paying lobbyists to get free product.
Another dimension in quality and time, again in ascending price, is:
. Immediate delivery, simultaneous with print publication--unproofread
. Later delivery of proofread files or hardcopy
In England, a quarter of a century after the first Braille translation
software, RNIB was still offering only real audio books and proofread
hardcopy Braille, delivered up to two years after print publication. Is
that true here? And is it, as I suspect, true almost everywhere? Customers
should be allowed to purchase on the basis of quality, price, and
timeliness. We at the RNIB are also considering issuing unproofread fiction
simultaneously with print publication, giving our readers product vouchers
for logging errors.
Multi-Modal: I want to begin my remarks on multi-modal Braille
learning, i.e., learning to read dots with simultaneous support from speech
and on-screen magnified print, by telling two stories. In a small school
for blind children in the shadow of the Himalayas, I saw blind children,
like monks from the Middle Ages, copying old Braille texts with stylus and
frame, replicating previous mistakes and adding their own new ones. Perhaps
one in twenty of them would graduate to be the class teacher of the next
generation of child monks. At the other end of the sophistication spectrum,
somewhere in Scandinavia, I recently visited the most sophisticated
rehabilitation center in the world. There I saw Braille learners studying
alone from hardcopy sheets. Meanwhile, in the next room newly blinded
adults with residual vision were learning how to use screen magnification
on lovely computers which ironically were equipped with refreshable Braille
displays. Without being explicit, Braille had become associated with
failure and isolation, which might explain its declining popularity. We're
selling it, not as a new opportunity but as a last resort. But the
Scandinavian experience also gave me the worrying thought that teachers who
self-identify through their Braille teaching somehow think that adopting a
multi-modal approach is a form of cheating since it makes it easier to
learn Braille. There is every educational reason why children and adults
should learn Braille on refreshable displays with TTS and screen
magnification so that Braille is acquired within a supportive environment.
If we look at Braille as a commodity, then we can say that it is:
. Difficult to learn
. Supplied by a cartel of instructors and producers
. Expensive
. Narrow in product range
. Insensitive to consumer preference
. An elitist, exclusive product
. A symbol of failure
This leads me to two economic recommendations:
End User Braille Embossing: one element of market choice that should
be considered is end-user Braille embossing. Many Braille users have the
expertise and the time to run files through their computers and send them
to an embosser. This will require a heavy subsidy on Braille paper, but for
books on demand with short runs, it would be cheaper to supply the file and
the paper to the end user, supplying cheaper paper for products that end
users say will be read only once and then recycled. Connected with this is
the whole economic question of the advantages and disadvantages of
libraries versus nonreturnable Braille-on-demand for certain genres. I have
recently been studying this subject, and the real problem of reaching a
conclusion is that many practices in Braille production are products of
history rather than rational analysis. "Why do you do that?" I asked at a
European Braille press. "Because we do," is the answer.
Refreshable Braille: Apparently the single largest obstacle to
providing a tactile alternative to hardcopy Braille production and
distribution is the cost of refreshable Braille. I say "apparently"
because, as I have just noted, extracting figures from Braille production
houses about their real costs is difficult. I do know that the production
of a single title in many cases can be as expensive as a 32-cell Braille
display, but, if the cost of the display really is the barrier to Braille
access, we need to tackle this subject as a matter of urgency so that
Braille readers can take advantage of the ebook revolution, leaving
specialist blindness agencies with the budget to handle more complex books
with savings from supplying hardcopy light fiction.
I am pleased to say that your president and I are of one mind on this
issue, and he and his senior officers are joining a global initiative to
identify a low-cost solution which will form the basis of products from a
very simple single line display with minimal controls to be used in
developing countries and to be used by readers of straightforward text to
multi-line or whole page displays for students.
This leads me to Braille as a global phenomenon. Our discussions over the
English Braille Code and our efforts to attain a level of digital file
interchange between organizations serving blind people have shown us that
we need to pool expertise to advance the cause of Braille, particularly in:
. Developing simple Braille-making tools
. Developing teaching and learning materials
. Creating promotional and marketing expertise
What we don't want is a world body that replicates our historical
mistakes by trying to develop global coding rules. Overall these proposals
not only constitute a flexible strategy, they allow the rational allocation
of price subsidy by suppliers.
That, if you like, is the nuts and bolts of my presentation, but I want
to end on a higher note: freedom. I believe that Braille has been the
prisoner of a congenitally blind, highly educated elite for too long and
that, if it stays that way, it will die with us but that, if we are as
passionate about its future as we are about its present and even its past,
then we have a duty to do for Braille what the digital recorder did for
music and what the word processor did for publishing. The mistake of both
industries was to see the future in terms of the past rather than in its
own terms, and they will recover fully only when they see the new situation
as an opportunity. We should turn our tradition on its head and make
Braille a consumer-focused entity, easy to learn, flexibly available, and
responsive to market forces. We have spent far too long burying our heads
in our code books, oblivious of the changing world which will not wait for
us. In a manner which is repeated over and over again in history, we have
adopted the classic defensive posture of the besieged, arguing over ever
more arcane points as the enemy's grip tightens. It is time to break out.
It is time to abandon old quarrels and let the citizen and the consumer
decide; it is time to abandon old prejudices and read and respect research;
it is time to recognize the new technologies for Braille production; and it
is time to plan for an era when public sector expenditure will decrease and
when philanthropy might falter. Above all, it is time to think of
ourselves, not as the custodians of a precious past, but as the advocates
for an exciting future.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Dominic and Ronit Ovadia-Mazzoni and their son Alex]
My Journey to Genetics: Changing What it Means to Be a Blind Genetic
Counselor
by Ronit Ovadia-Mazzoni
From the Editor: Ronit Ovadia was a 2005 NFB scholarship winner and is
a former member of the National Association of Blind Students board. She
currently lives in California with her husband and son. In this article,
which first appeared in the Summer 2012 Student Slate, she talks about her
unique career choice and the techniques she uses to accomplish her goals.
The first question people always ask me when I tell them I am a
genetic counselor is "What is that, and do you counsel genes?" The next
question is "And how do you do that as a blind person?" Before I talk about
being a blind genetic counselor, I'd like to give a quick description of
what a genetic counselor does. We are healthcare professionals who talk to
patients about genetic risks for themselves and their family members. There
are three types of counseling: prenatal, pediatric, and cancer. In prenatal
counseling pregnant patients are told of the risks for birth defects for
their child, and, if there is a test which indicates a higher risk for a
genetic condition, counselors educate them about these risks and offer
further testing. In pediatric counseling children with developmental delays
or medical problems suggestive of a genetic condition are evaluated and
tests are offered. In cancer counseling families are evaluated for a
possibility of a genetic predisposition to cancer.
I found out about genetic counseling in high school, and, after job
shadowing a genetic counselor to learn more about the profession, I decided
that I wanted to pursue this as a career. In college I majored in biology
and psychology to prepare myself for a master's in genetic counseling. I
went to Northwestern University for my master's and spent two years
rotating through various hospitals and clinics getting my training. I then
worked for two years in a prenatal clinic in southern California before
deciding to take a short break to stay at home with my son, who was born
last year.
So how do I perform the visual parts of my job? Actually, genetic
counseling is mostly nonvisual; however, some things do make it a little
more challenging. For example, genetic counselors obtain family history
information from patients and are expected to draw a pedigree, which is a
visual representation of this information. The pedigree has circles
representing females, squares representing males, and lines connecting the
people to show relationships. Text is written to describe any medical
problems that may be present in the family. In order to do this, I asked my
now husband, who is a computer programmer, to write me a program to create
these drawings for me based on the text information I enter. The program
creates a drawing which can be printed out and put in the patient's chart.
The only other issue that sometimes comes up is obtaining information
from patient charts. Depending on whether the chart is electronic or on
paper, I use a combination of technology, scanning, and hiring a human
reader to read to me. During my two years at my first job, I hired a reader
who helped me with this task. I worked at a very busy clinic, seeing twelve
to fifteen patients a day, which is quite a lot for a genetic counselor.
The most challenging part of being a blind genetic counselor is not
the logistics of the job itself. Rather, it is convincing others that I am
capable. Disabled people who work in healthcare are not very common, so
most people don't have a lot of experience with capable disabled people. In
addition, the medical model is to cure disabilities, so naturally most
people think that a blind person would not be able to work in a healthcare
setting. In addition to wondering about how I use computers and read
charts, people are always curious about how patients react to having a
blind genetic counselor. This has been a positive for me because I am able
to provide details from my own life which help patients realize that
disabled people can live full, productive lives.
Constantly having to convince others that I am capable can get
exhausting, and I often have to step out of my comfort zone and act
confident even when I don't feel it. However, I always try to keep in mind
a few things. First, I always have the National Federation of the Blind as
a support network. Second, I never lose sight of why I entered the field in
the first place: because I love science, and I want to help people
understand their medical situations and make informed choices. Whenever I
get frustrated, I remember that my determination has gotten me further than
I ever thought possible, and I want to be a successful genetic counselor
more than anything. I hope that, after reading my story, you too will have
the courage to dream big and have the determination to follow those dreams
because as blind people we can do anything we set our minds to.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Stephen King]
The Daisy Consortium Global Partnership:
Working with the NFB to End the Book Famine
by Stephen King
From the Editor: On Wednesday afternoon, July 4, 2012, Jim Gashel was
asked to come to the national convention podium to introduce Stephen King,
the president of the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY)
Consortium. The NFB is a member of this group, dedicated to getting more
books for the blind to read with our fingers, ears, or eyes. Here is what
Mr. King has to say about the book famine in the U.S. and the U.K.:
Good afternoon, friends. It's great to be here in Dallas. This is my
first visit to Texas, so it's fantastic. Thank you, Dr. Maurer and Jim for
inviting me. What I am going to do in fifteen minutes, because I promised
Dr. Maurer I shan't be any more than fifteen minutes, is to tell you who
the DAISY Consortium are. I want to bring you some good news about the book
famine and tell you there's light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a
train; it's some ebooks, and it's going to load Braille on that train too.
I also want to tell you about our gift to the world.
Do you remember the fountain pen? Do you remember the typewriter? Do
you remember optical character recognition that Ray Kurzweil brought us?
Well the ebook, the great navigable ebook, is also our gift to the world,
and I want to tell you about the way the DAISY Consortium wants to make
sure that Braille readers are not left behind in the ebook revolution as
well. [Applause] Last, I want to tell you your support underscores your
leadership team, who have been fantastic, and we really need that to
continue, and thank you for your continued support.
I don't have to tell you about the reality of the book famine. Fewer
than 5 percent of books are available in any sort of accessible format.
Here in the U.S. that finding was based on some studies in 2004 and similar
in the UK. You heard Maryanne Diamond, president of the World Blind Union,
tell us we're really well off here; it's much worse elsewhere. That means
that the World Blind Union set out something called the Right to Read
Campaign, and here in the U.S. I believe that's called the Reading Rights
Coalition. We want the right to read the same book at the same time and at
the same price as everybody else. [Applause] That's what we want.
[Applause]
Who are the DAISY Consortium, and what's our role in making that a
reality? We're the consortium of not-for-profit organizations serving
people with disabilities and their friends, and the technology companies,
and increasingly the publishing companies as well. We've got worldwide
membership. We have fifty countries involved in our consortium from the
U.S., Latin America, the EU, China, Africa, and Asia. We've got all
continents, barring Antarctica. But we do have Iceland. We're looking at
Antarctica; there must be some blind people there too, but all we find is
penguins at the moment. [Laughter]
Here in the U.S. the National Library Service, Learning Ally,
Bookshare, the National Federation of the Blind's NEWSLINE, lots of
universities: they're all part of the DAISY Consortium, and they are all
using the technology and the standards that we have developed to deliver a
better way to read. A better way to read is solving only part of the
problem. Actually we need a better way to publish. Publishers need a better
way to publish, and that is what our vision is. So the vision of the DAISY
Consortium is that people have equal access to the information and
knowledge, regardless of their disability, and our job is to create the
best way to read and publish for everybody in the twenty-first century by
delivering a global partnership. That's the official vision and mission of
the DAISY Consortium.
We started with transforming talking books services, but what we
realized is that these assistive services are great, but we're never going
to break that 5 or 10 percent of all books available. We've got to tackle
the ninety percent that are not available. That means we've got to
transform mainstream publishing, and that's what we do.
First we started, as we should, by asking people with print
disabilities what they wanted, and they said very straightforward things-
the things you know. I want to easily find publications I can read. I want
far better availability of Braille and talking books. I want more
publications I can read with accessibility built in. I want a great reading
experience, whether I read with my eyes, ears, fingers, or any combination
of all of those. Last I want affordable reading technologies. So this is
the journey we are setting out to tackle, and I'm going to tell you there
is good news on that journey.
We also talked to authors and publishers, and they said to us,
"Actually we want to reach a wider audience. We want to reach everybody."
We talked to my namesake, Stephen King. He doesn't want you guys not to be
able to read his books. He wants you to be able to buy them and read them
like everybody else. Publishers: they want to sell you books too. They want
to profit from you just like they do from everybody else. They're good
people too, but actually they don't know the way, so they asked us to give
them a way to do this.
When we talked to governments, we got the U.N. Convention on the
Rights of People with Disabilities. Governments want a solution to this,
and they pass inclusive laws, but actually they struggle to find a way to
deliver it. They also want effective use of their funds. So everybody wants
an inclusive publishing model, but how do we do it?
Well, for us the opportunity is in the ebook revolution. You may not
know about it; it's happening all around us; it's happening particularly in
the English-speaking countries as we speak, but, interestingly, more ebooks
were sold this year than print books. So we've gotten to the stage that
fifty percent of everything that's sold is already an ebook, and it's only
just beginning.
Last year Dr. Maurer heard me say that in the U.K. people with print
disabilities are increasingly able to enjoy the same book at the same price
and place as everybody else. If you want to actually see some blind people
talking about the revolution in their reading that ebooks has caused, then
go and Google on YouTube, look for the terms "ebooks" and "RNIB," and
you'll find a video of them talking about their experience.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, because we've done some
research. It is based in the U.K., but we're pretty similar to lots of
other well-developed countries, particularly here in the U.S. That study
said that the 5 percent of books that were available last year moved to 7
percent this year. But, when we looked at the top one-thousand books
published in 2010, more than half were readable with your eyes, ears, or
fingers. [Applause] I can tell you now that we reran that survey in January
of this year, and nearly 70 percent of those top one-thousand bestsellers
in 2011 you can read with your fingers. That's fantastic progress and
evidence.
But there's loads more to do. There are huge problems still to solve,
and that's what we're doing. The opportunity, though, is that the
publishing industry is undergoing great change, massive change, a
disruptive change--so now is the opportunity to help them shape their
industry for the future. This includes all of us in this room, whether we
read with our eyes, our ears, or our fingers. [Applause]
So we've got the attention of the publishing industry who say, "Yes,
help us"; we've got the attention of governments. The really cool thing is
that we've got great people in key positions in the consortium. We're led
by George Kerscher, who is in this room, from Missoula, Montana. Many of
you know him. He is the president of something called IDPF, International
Digital Publishers Forum, and they're setting the standards for ebooks.
Marcus Gylling, who is the technical director of the DAISY Consortium, is
also the technical director of IDPF. We have Maryanne Diamond, whom you met
this morning, who's working very hard at the WIPO (World Intellectual
Property Organization) reforming the copyright law.
We have great people in pole positions, and, last, we've got the
technology that publishers need. You guys have been ebook readers for
years; and you know about navigation, you know about multimedia, and you
know what a great reading experience that can be. Actually the general
public is beginning to wake up to that. Publishers are beginning to realize
that they can deliver fantastic books with that technology.
So the fountain pen, the typewriter, the long-playing record, speech
recognition, and speech synthesis--all developed for blind people--to this
we can add navigable ebooks. I want to say to industry that we need to
build in accessibility right now, but we need to ask the question,
accessible to whom? Accessible to people who can use assistive technologies-
that's great-but many people still struggle with assistive technologies, to
use them and to afford them. We have to deliver accessibility to them.
I think we're still going to have what I call "customized books":
some Braille books, books with picture descriptions, books with narration-
all are still going to be needed. We have to build that into our model. But
we've got to put our own house in order too. We can't go on duplicating.
The DAISY Consortium did a study on Harry Potter-you remember the Harry
Potter books? [Yeah] Well, did you know that across the world we managed to
transcribe the Harry Potter books seven times into English Braille and
seven times into talking books. What a waste. We could have done it once
and used all those resources to do more books. We have to solve that
problem.
We also need a Braille code which faithfully translates ebooks both
backwards and forwards. You heard a colleague over there say, "If I enter
it in Braille, will it render properly into print?" We need a Braille code
that works, and I know great leaders here are beginning to tackle that
problem.
We need a low-cost Braille display that will allow people to read
ebooks. [Applause] I salute the work that Deane Blazie and company have
done to bring down the cost of Braille displays, but we need to bring that
down from $2,500 to $3,000. [Applause] Today the Consortium is doing this
as a major project, and to do that we're bringing in colleagues from
developing countries as well because there are huge numbers of Braille
readers in India in particular. They all speak English and use it in their
education. So, by bringing them into the market and increasing the volume
enormously, we think we can change the cost of Braille displays by creating
a simple display, and that's our job. [Applause]
My job is to make sure that people can read what they want, when they
want, and how they want, and I think it's deliverable. But the National
Federation of the Blind's leadership role is vital. On the board we've got
Jim Gashel, whom you heard, and I'm very grateful to Dr. Maurer and your
colleagues for tackling publishers who don't think about people with print
disabilities. We've got the support of George Kerscher, our secretary
general, and we had Anne Taylor organizing a crucial publisher conference
in New York just a couple of weeks ago. Thank you for that really steadfast
support, and please help continue your support of the DAISY Consortium,
because together we can actually end the book famine. [applause]
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Mary Ellen Gabias]
The Federation in Your Journey: The Courage to Try
by Mary Ellen Gabias
From the Editor: Mary Ellen Gabias is a leader and a founding member
of the Canadian Federation of the Blind. Before marrying Dr. Paul Gabias
and moving to Canada, she was a member of the National Federation of the
Blind and was employed at the National Center for the Blind. Readers of the
Monitor will appreciate once again her insightful writing, her clarity, and
her conviction. Here is what she says:
Journeys make me think about travel and moving around. The notion of
travelling represents a metaphor for how I live my life and what the
Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) and the National Federation of the
Blind (NFB) mean to me. Over the years I have discovered that the stories I
tell myself about what has happened to me shape my destiny more than the
happenings themselves.
First Paradigm: Don't move. When I was five, a buddy knocked on my
door and asked me if I could go outside to play cops and robbers. My mom
said yes, but she asked me to stay in the backyard. "Don't go near the side
yard. Workers are repairing the septic tank," Mom said.
If I had listened to my mom that day, I wouldn't be telling this story
now. All I can say in defense of my five-year-old self is that, when Elliot
Ness was in hot pursuit of Al Capone, he probably didn't remember
everything his mother told him either. I will spare you the details, except
that, when I was running full speed ahead and suddenly there was no ground
under me, it felt like I was flying--until gravity won. My mother stated
the lesson from that event simply: "You pay a price when you don't pay
attention." How grateful I am that was her message. It so easily could have
been "Don't run; it's too dangerous."
My parents encouraged me to move on my own, but unfortunately other
people and several circumstances did not. My brothers usually parked their
bikes in the wrong places; it is amazing how many bruises one can get from
falling over a bicycle. Many people said, "Don't worry; I'll do it; you
might fall; just sit there." So the idea that moving was scary entered my
consciousness.
A long white cane would have made things easier for me, but my parents
told themselves a story that, along with a tin cup and a handful of
pencils, the cane was part of the beggar's badge. So I became afraid to
move because I lacked that tool.
Second Paradigm: Exploring is fun. In grade two I learned about
explorers: Christopher Columbus, Magellan--those brave people who went out
and discovered new continents. Our school's acreage was relatively small,
but it felt enormous. I set out to explore every inch of it--charting
unknown territories. Without a cane to check out the ground ahead of me, my
explorations were more arduous than they needed to be. Even so, I began to
believe that life was fun; getting around was an adventure. Then home to
Mom's cupcakes--no starving in the wilderness! So the idea that exploring
was a joy became part of my life.
Third Paradigm: Am I good enough? I heard the family of another blind
student talking about cane travel. They said of their child, "He moves as
fast as a sighted person." I wanted that. I begged for cane travel lessons
and insisted that my parents change their story about what it meant to use
a white cane.
I was instructed by an orientation and mobility specialist trained in
Boston. She called herself a "peripetologist"--a pretentious and
intentionally manufactured Greek word, meaning the science of getting
around. I learned the two-point touch, three-point-touch, touch-and-slide,
touch-and-drag. I learned to go with a sighted person the first time I went
anywhere to make sure the new route was safe.
The third paradigm became: "Am I doing it right? Am I a good traveler
or a bad one?" All of these paradigms existed simultaneously. Sometimes I
was scared to move, sometimes I was excited, and sometimes I wondered if I
was good enough. Then I became involved with the National Federation of the
Blind--a growing, changing and dynamic organization in the U.S. My first
trip to a Federation convention, where hundreds of blind people gathered
together, helped me understand my paradigms better and changed the stories
I told myself.
At convention in 1972 far too many people still believed that
independent travel meant that not everyone had his or her own sighted
guide; independence meant that one guide worked with five or six people.
Groups of us travelled by train--not Amtrak or light rail--but a train in
which the sighted person guided five or six blind people who hung on for
dear life. Heaven help you if the trains got tangled up. The sighted people
would get into arguments about who had the right of way and which train
should move. The blind people stood patiently waiting, while the sighted
settled the matter.
I also encountered a new and exciting spirit at that convention. Canes
tapped; people walked by themselves with their heads high, with speed, with
joy. Sometimes one person linked arms with a less confident colleague, or
sweethearts held hands. I deliberately followed those confident travelers
around the hotel and the downtown Chicago streets and imitated everything
they did. I added yet another paradigm to my list.
Fourth Paradigm: "Of course, I travel; I've got places to go, and I'm
going to get there." Blind people live with all of these paradigms of
travel and life. Yes, sometimes moving seems too dangerous; sometimes it is
an adventure to explore and try new things; sometimes self-doubt stops us
from trying at all. But more and more, because of the Canadian Federation
of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind, blind people travel
because they have places to go. The techniques are the same; the stories
are different. Federation conventions change your life. You cannot imagine,
until you go, the many empowering stories you will hear and the way these
stories will change your life and the lives of others in many subtle ways.
That day, when I was playing cops and robbers, if my mother had said,
"Don't move, it's too dangerous," my plunge into the septic tank would not
have been just a humorous story. It would have ended my desire to move and
dream on my own. I would have become afraid that independent action would
lead me into the mire, instead of learning that, when you pay attention,
you don't have to pay a price. I am grateful to my parents and to everyone
in the Federation for helping me understand those lessons, for teaching me
the way, and for sharing my journey.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Curtis Chong]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Shown here is a picture of the newly designed iBill]
The New iBill®:
Is it Worth the Extra $20?
by Curtis Chong
From the Editor: Curtis Chong is second to none in his knowledge of
technology and his ability to write about it. He is president of the
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science and works for the Iowa
Department for the Blind as the director of field operations and access
technology. Here is what he has to say about the latest incarnation of the
iBill money reader:
It never ceases to amaze me how many people believe that for the blind
the independent management of paper money is a daunting task. I have been
totally blind since I was born, and I have been using paper money ever
since I was able to scrape enough together to change ten dimes into a
dollar bill. It never even occurred to me that I shouldn't be handling
paper currency simply because I couldn't see it.
Of course everyone who is blind has run into those situations where
someone hands you a bill, and you have no way of knowing what it is. Have
you ever been standing at a bus stop and had a fellow passenger ask you if
you had change for a five? Before currency identifiers came on the scene, a
blind person had to trust that indeed he or she was being given a five-
dollar bill.
The problem becomes more acute if you are selling items to customers
over the counter. My first real job was the operation of a newsstand at an
airport. People handed me paper money all the time, and there were many
occasions when I had to trust that I was being given a five, ten, or twenty-
dollar bill. I am happy to report that only in a very small number of cases
did someone actually try to deceive me.
How is this different today? Aside from the fact that more business
now seems to be conducted using credit or debit cards, a number of devices
now on the market help the blind identify paper currency. Those of you who
use the Apple iPhone can use the $10 Money Reader program developed by
Looktel, which identifies American and foreign paper currency with
incredible ease. However, if you don't have an iPhone and are looking for
affordable technology to help you identify American paper currency, have
you considered the iBill®, developed and sold by Orbit Research?
On September 18, 2012, Orbit Research announced the availability of
the new iBill, which is priced at $119. When the original iBill was
released in late 2009 for $99, I thought then that the company had a real
winner. Back then other currency identifiers were priced over $300, and
they were too large-so large, in fact, that they could not fit in your
pocket. The original iBill, on the other hand, was light, small, and priced
under $100. Moreover, it could speak, beep, or vibrate; and people who were
deaf and blind could use it.
Often, when companies extol the virtues of their products, my
skepticism kicks in, and I choose to wait until I can verify the company's
assertions through personal experience. In the case of the iBill, Orbit
Research claimed that it was able to identify paper currency in less than a
second and that it was better than 99.9 percent accurate. In my experience
the iBill has never misidentified paper currency; the worst thing that
happens is that you get a message which says "error," which means that you
should try reading the currency again, and this happens so rarely that I
can't remember the last time it happened to me. For the hundreds of times I
have asked the iBill to read paper currency, it has always come through in
less than a second.
As good as the iBill was back in late 2009, two problems were
frequently reported. First, some people thought that the iBill needed an
earphone jack to support private announcements about currency
denominations. Second, while it was very easy to insert newer currency into
the reading slot, older paper money would often not slide in quite so
easily, making the reading experience more than a little frustrating. I am
pleased to report that both of these problems have been quite handily
solved with the second generation of the iBill. Moreover, the new iBill
comes with other improvements as well.
* The buttons on the new iBill are recessed so that they cannot be
inadvertently pressed when it is in a purse or pocket.
* The new iBill has an earphone jack, meaning that you can now have
your currency read out loud without other people listening (an earphone can
be obtained from Orbit Research).
* A new and improved reading slot makes it easier to insert older
currency.
* The volume has been enhanced so that it can speak louder than ever.
The bottom line for me is that, even though the price of the new
iBill is $20 more than the original, it is still well worth the price-that
is, if you are looking for a reliable, long-lasting, and durable currency
identifier. I know that those of you who use the iPhone will tell me that
you have an app that is far less expensive than the iBill. Yes, this is
true. But, if you are not one of those people who have been fortunate
enough to afford the iPhone, the iBill is there for you-and at an
affordable price.
The iBill can be purchased directly from Orbit Research through its
website: <http://www.orbitresearch.com>. For more information contact Orbit
Research, 3422 Old Capitol Trail, Suite 585, Wilmington, Delaware 19808,
Phone: (888) 606-7248; email <information at orbitresearch.com>.
Comments From Orbit Research
Orbit Research would like to thank our customers for providing
invaluable feedback that enabled us to make the new model even easier to
use than the original one. We believe this model will also be more user-
friendly for seniors. We have also made its design sleeker and rounded to
make it even more convenient to carry in a pocket or purse. A ring now
comes installed for attaching it to a key-ring or lanyard. A custom-
designed leather case is also available, providing protection and the
ability to clip on to a belt or purse strap. The unit is fully upgradable
to accommodate new banknote designs. We offer a thirty-day money-back
satisfaction guarantee and back the product with a one-year warranty
covering manufacturing defects.
---------
A Reader Takes the Braille Monitor to Task
From the Editor: The public is interested in blind people. It is a
good thing they are, for that interest fuels public support and offers us a
listening ear when we want to tell the world that what they think about our
lives doesn't square with our reality. One unfortunate aspect of this
public interest is that almost any blind person with anything to say is
quoted and is often portrayed as offering the definitive word on the
experience of being blind.
In 2007 a young man named Ben Underwood got significant coverage for
his use of echolocation, a way many of us can listen to reflected sound and
detect buildings, parked cars, and other objects that are otherwise silent.
When coupled with the use of a dog or cane, echolocation can be very
helpful, but most blind people cannot use it without the aid of another
tool to find curbs, steps, or small obstacles such as poles or signs. It is
a wonderful supplement but does not replace the primary travel tools that
make independent mobility possible. When Mr. Underwood got some significant
publicity for his use of the technique and was portrayed as believing
echolocation made unnecessary the other tools most of us depend upon for
independent travel, Chris Danielsen tried to provide some adult perspective
on facing the world as a blind person. Most of us know the difficult
journey we had in finding a travel tool and then in selling it to families
who weren't happy about anything that made us look blind. We remember how
the blind man with the cane too often conjured in our friends and loved
ones the memory of a blind beggar they had seen and their resolve to see
that we would inherit a better future. Chris tried to address these
concerns and in articulating them upset a gentleman who came across the
article. Here is what Kai Zander wrote in an email probably intended to
reach the Monitor editor--with slight editing to correct punctuation for
clarity--followed by President Maurer's response.
From: Kai Zander
Subject: Braille Monitor article "What It Means to Walk with a White Cane"
by Chris Danielsen
To whom it may concern:
I am doing research for a project and just came across a 2007 article
in the Braille Monitor entitled "What It Means to Walk with a White Cane"
by Chris Danielsen. While this is a five-year-old article, there are
comments written by Mr. Danielsen that I cannot shrug off. I am floored
that NFB would allow an adult to make fun of, insult, and criticize a child
in a published article.
Allow me to backtrack: I am not blind. I do not pretend to understand
the struggles the blind and visually impaired must endure on a daily basis.
I am not writing you today to slight those difficulties. I came across the
article while doing research for a picture book manuscript that I am
working on. My main character happens to be blind. As I do not wish to
insult or stereotype the community, I have spent countless hours reading
articles, watching documentaries and YouTube videos about the blind--
specifically blind children. Unsurprisingly, I came across a few articles
and documentaries about Ben Underwood, the boy who could "see" with his
ears using echolocation instead of a white cane to get around. It's one of
those stories that remind people that 1) we haven't seen it all, 2) the
(seemingly) impossible is possible, and 3) believing in yourself and having
a positive attitude can change your world. It is a powerful lesson, and Ben
Underwood is (despite his untimely death in 2009) a symbol of hope for a
lot of people--blind, sighted, old, young, black, white, etc.
Because of his unique ability, Ben Underwood got a lot of attention.
He was interviewed by many people and was the subject of many articles and
news stories. Apparently fourteen-year-old Ben Underwood said some things
that greatly offended the adult writer, Chris Danielsen, and Mr. Danielsen
responded and let the world know what he thought of young Ben Underwood:
"Young Mr. Underwood did not seem to have any qualms about making a show of
himself or about being compared to bats or aquatic mammals" said Chris
Danielsen.
Having just watched the documentary, I feel this statement is both
cruel and misguided. While Mr. Danielsen also says that the general public
considers blind people to be helpless and incompetent-- he bashes a kid for
being independent and determined. So the kid isn't doing things the
traditional way--did a child deserve such disrespect? Mr. Danielsen
basically called him a cocky, uninformed teenager who will soon "have to
discover for himself the limits of his own capabilities." The subtext here
reeks of a desire for this kid to fail.
I am not trying to disrespect the blind community on behalf of every
kid that thought the seemingly impossible, every kid who dared to see what
others couldn't--why is there such an urge to take that optimism out. That
optimism is one of the most wonderful things we have in this world, but
according to Chris Danielsen it's wrong.
So the kid said he would never use a white cane. How is that different
than Muhammed Ali saying "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew
I was"? If that's what it took for Ben Underwood to accomplish what he did,
then who cares? I don't think he said, "Anyone who uses a cane is horrible"-
-he just said that HE wouldn't. Mr. Danielsen took the comments personally
and reacted too strongly to a child's comments.
I'm angry that this article still stands on the bulletin. Shouldn't
NFB advocate embracing all philosophies? Instead it seems you allowed an
adult to target a child. In my book that is unacceptable. It would be
different if the scientists who wanted to study Ben Underwood were targeted-
-but they weren't. It would even be different if the article was written as
an open letter to Ben Underwood's family explaining (nicely and
respectfully) that the white cane is not a sign of weakness, but they
weren't. The article easily could've attacked the media, but it didn't. The
comments targeted a minor as the problem-maker; it's a 14-year-old's fault
why people think the white cane is a sign of weakness. A part of your
community that you all should be protecting the most was fair game for
attacks because why? He was on Oprah? He said something you didn't like?
Ben Underwood will never be able to respond to Chris Danielsen's comments
as a peer, because he will never be an adult.
I get what Mr. Danielsen was trying to say, but the part about "making
a show of himself" and saying basically that he's just another cocky, dumb
teenager who doesn't get it was cruel. The article could have been written
so much better. Educate us on the power of the stick, without needing to
take away Ben Underwood's power.
I do not know the world of the blind, but I do know bullying when I
see it. You all let Chris Danielsen target a kid. And three years after his
death, Ben Underwood's inspirational story is stained by this article.
South African double amputee and Olympian, Oscar Pistorius said, "You
are not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the
abilities you have". Ben Underwood had an ability. Why does the community
seem so determined to deny him of this?
Kai K. Zander
There you have Mr. Zander's email. Here is what President Maurer wrote in
response:
SENT VIA E-MAIL
August 17, 2012
Mr. Kai K. Zander
Dear Mr. Zander:
Thank you for the thoughts contained in your letter dated August 15,
2012. As you might expect, I disagree with many of the conclusions you
reach. I know Chris Danielsen to be a gentle man and a gentleman. I don't
think your characterization of him as a bully is warranted.
One of the problems with blindness is that, unless a blind person
conforms to an image of inability and isolation, it is not possible to
remain anonymous. In other words, all of us who express individual
characteristics are on display and under examination much of the time. Any
blind person who demonstrates unusual characteristics becomes the subject
of public comment. Those who make outrageous statements are regarded as
setting standards that others who are blind must meet. That Ben Underwood
did this made of him a public figure. He was regarded as exemplifying a
standard that other blind people must emulate. Chris Danielsen disagreed
with the standard, and he said so. He had no wish to do any damage to Ben
Underwood, but he did wish to behave in such a way that Ben Underwood did
no damage to him.
The white cane is a symbol of independence. Ben Underwood did not
know this. He caused other people to believe that the white cane is a
symbol of dependence and inability. This is wrong, and public comment to
say that it is wrong is fair. It might be unfortunate that Ben Underwood
did not have the option of anonymity, but it is nonetheless true. Because
he was not anonymous and because his comments affect others who are blind,
it is reasonable for others who have opinions about his advocacy to express
them.
I hope one day you will have the opportunity to meet Chris Danielsen.
He is generous and gentle. He also has a very good mind and a wish to be of
help to his fellow human beings. He has helped thousands of other blind
people to achieve opportunities that they might not have had without him.
Sincerely,
Marc Maurer, President
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
----------
Working with Blind Seniors in Support Groups
by Rebecca Irvin
From the Editor: The following remarks were made at the 2011 meeting
of the National Federation of the Blind Senior Division and are reprinted
from the spring/summer 2012 issue of the Division's newsletter. Everyone
understands the need to ensure that blind children get the education and
services that they need to succeed for a lifetime. We recognize how
important it is to make inroads in the staggering unemployment rate that
plagues blind adults. But perhaps the fastest growing and least effectively
addressed need the NFB faces is blind seniors' lack of skills and
increasing hopelessness. What follows is one woman's description of what
she is doing about this problem.
I lost my sight at age fifty-three. I woke up one morning, and
everything had gone black. I simply did not know what to do. The only thing
I saw in my blind future was death. Finally I came out of my coma and went
to a blindness-skills training center. One of the most important things I
learned along with the skills was that I could in turn give back to other
seniors losing vision.
I tell them my story with a sense of humor and how I gave in and
learned the skills of blindness. I frankly answer their questions, and I
make them feel that, if I could learn, and I really resisted, they can too.
I met the sister of Joe Ruffalo. She told me that I needed to meet Joe and
get involved with this nationwide blind organization. Of course I was very
impressed, have joined, and have started a chapter.
I go out and find older blind people who have simply been sitting
around the house. I get them going again. I travel by myself, and I tell
everyone I meet that it is true that I am blind, but so what? The rest of
my body parts all work. I used to love reading. Now I have mastered
Braille, so I have taken up reading again. Now I teach others to read
Braille.
I have support groups. I let each person bring a concern to the
table. We all talk it over and find a solution to the problem. At one group
we talked about reading mail. Many said a family member would read the mail
to the blind person only when he felt like it and would only read what the
family member thought was necessary. We all decided it would be much better
to find a nonfamily member to do that task. Then we discussed how to find a
reader. Some have found readers who do not charge, by putting a note on a
bulletin board at a senior center, a library, or place of worship.
I am thrilled to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind;
others have given to us, and now we turn around and give to others. It's a
great feeling.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Jonathan Ice]
Learning to Use a White Cane as a Senior
by Jonathan Ice
From the Editor: Jonathan Ice is a cane travel instructor with the
Iowa Department for the Blind. He is a longtime Federationist and delivered
the following remarks at the 2011 convention seminar of the NFB Seniors
Division. They were reprinted in the 2012 spring/summer issue of the
Division's newsletter. He began by pointing out that this was the first
time he had given a presentation using Braille notes. He said he had been a
high partial and was just now learning Braille. This is what he said:
I am not going to make the assumption that all of you are experienced
cane users. I want to talk about the value of the cane and how it is best
used. I did not use a cane until I was in mid life, although my vision has
not changed. Let me explain why I started using the white cane. Most of the
time I could get around all right; my central vision is missing, but I can
see around the periphery of my eyes. So what if I cannot see things
directly in front of me.
It wasn't until I finally went to an NFB training center and used a
cane under sleepshades that I realized that I had been fooling myself. I
couldn't read signs, which caused me a lot of problems. I was trying to get
around as a sighted person, but I had to ask questions, which confused
sighted people. They thought I was really odd for asking about signs and
things that were right in front of my face.
The first answer to the question of why use a white cane is for
safety. If a person cannot always see stairs or curbs, the cane is a
necessity. I know that I have saved myself from some nasty falls. Also, no
matter how blind a person is, when you ask for help, the sighted person
will usually give detailed directions instead of saying that something is
over there, which has no meaning to a blind person.
Basically, the cane acts as an antenna. It alerts the blind person of
a change in the space ahead, on, or near the ground. With practice the
blind person learns to move into the safe space. One doesn't want to swing
the cane in too wide an arc because this provides unnecessary information
and does not provide the data in front of the cane. When the cane does find
something in the path, a turn or stop is essential. Besides depending on
the cane, the traveler can use hearing to assist. But those who have poor
hearing can touch things in the environment with the cane or even the hand
to aid them. It is important to keep the cane on the ground during each
step. If it is in the air, you can miss a curb or step-down.
I have been asked if I use the same methods when teaching seniors.
Since I'm older myself, I realize that I have to use more repetition with
older folks. I also stay closer to the senior. If I'm working with a person
who is eighty and he or she falls, it might mean a broken hip. A younger
person would probably get up and go on.
I teach my students that, if we make a right turn at the corner, a
left turn will be required when we turn around to retrace our steps.
Sometimes I notice that older people think they know something when they
really don't. I just let the senior make the mistake and then figure out
that it was not a good choice. When I get a new student, I realize that he
or she usually has a lot of fear of being injured or simply being watched
as a blind person for the first time. However, after a while these problems
usually abate.
People have inquired about using sleepshades with older students. I
have found that, if I don't use them, the older person does not learn
because he or she is using limited vision even though it did not work well
in the past. At one point I was teaching a group of seniors. The star of
the group was eighty-nine. She was safely crossing streets after only four
days. She was highly motivated, but she always kept safety in mind. She
told the others that, if she could do it, they could too.
I had one older person who had serious problems, and I thought she
would have a hard time learning, but she proved me wrong. The part of her
brain which had been injured was not involved in travel. Another of my
older students was having trouble finding her way around her kitchen, and I
was about to give up on her, but one day she got the hang of the layout.
Then we progressed out to the porch, then down the steps and finally around
the neighborhood. Visiting neighbors was her goal.
If any of you at this meeting have not used a cane before, now you
have heard all these stories and might want to give it a try. Everyone I
know agrees that the NFB cane with its metal tip is the best. For most
seniors, using a backpack or bag with long handles is best for carrying
things because they leave the hands free.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Judy Sanders]
Remembering the Nickel
by Judy Sanders
From the Editor: Judy Sanders is secretary of the NFB of Minnesota and
an active member of the Metro Chapter. The following article appeared in
the Summer 2012 issue of the Minnesota Bulletin, a publication of the NFB
of Minnesota. This is what she says:
Ah, the wonders and excitement of the Minnesota Great Get-Together! I
listen to the sounds-the music, the children laughing, the vendors selling,
and the food frying. I smell the food-the grilling, the popcorn, and Sweet
Martha's hot chocolate chip cookies. I'm happy and hungry. So I decide to
venture through the fairgrounds to find one of the new food items this year
sold by Famous Dave's. They're pork cheeks. I'm taking a chance that they
taste better than they sound.
We in the National Federation of the Blind have a lot of work to do.
Still too many blind people do not know that they can enjoy the fair by
themselves. In addition, most members of the public can't imagine how we do
it.
I begin by asking at an information booth about where the Famous
Dave's dining area is located. I then head in that direction. Using a long
white cane at the fair is very handy as it is in any other travel
situation. Some people get out of the way; others don't. But everyone is in
a good mood, and no one seems to mind when he or she encounters my cane.
Periodically I ask for directions to make sure that I am still headed the
right way. I arrive and wait in line to place my order. The paper tray in
which my feast is sitting is quite heavy. Is it all the food or the stick?
I sit down and tentatively check out what I have. It is several huge
chunks of tender pork with lots of gooey barbeque sauce on it. I dig in and
discover that it is delicious. But I need to ask another customer where I
might find a supply of napkins. Finishing all of it, I am thinking that I
really should stop eating. But then I think about the roasted corn and the
fact that it is the last day of the fair and my last chance to indulge.
So I reverse my steps to find the corn. I think I am close and decide
to confirm my impression. An older couple resting on a bench confirm that I
am heading in the right direction and offer to go with me. I tell them that
it is not necessary, smile, and keep going. The corn is just across the
street.
There are two lines at the corn booth: one for purchasing a ticket and
one for getting the corn. I am listening to determine which line gets me a
ticket when the lady from the bench comes up to me and says that her
husband is getting me a ticket. I know they are trying to be kind, but I am
embarrassed to accept the gift. So I ask her to tell her husband not to
bother, but she says it is already done. What to do?
My initial reaction was to get three dollars out of my wallet and give
it to them. But I had only a twenty, and I could hardly ask them for
change. I then remembered Dr. Kenneth Jernigan's eloquent Kernel Book
story, "Don't Throw the Nickel," in Wall-to-Wall Thanksgiving. He talked
about recognizing the right time to accept a gift gracefully that has been
given in kindness. So I smiled and said thank you.
Why did they buy the corn? Did they think to brighten my day? Did they
think that I could not afford the corn? Whatever their motive, it could not
have been because of high expectations for blind people. The corn didn't
taste as good as it might have. As I say, we have lots of work to do in the
Federation.
Have we made no progress in changing public attitudes? We've made
plenty. I think of the number of people I passed at the fair who felt no
obligation to help me. Others were courteous when asked for directions.
There were curious children who asked their parents about my long stick,
and I found a teachable moment. I hope I always remember the nickel but
never lose sight of the important lessons we teach and learn through the
National Federation of the Blind.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Michael Bills]
Axis 360: Making Books Accessible at a Library Near You
by Michael Bills
From the Editor: Citizens can get books by purchasing them or
borrowing them from a library. To have access similar to that enjoyed by
the sighted, blind people must work on both fronts. Blio is software that
works on many different machines and with many different operating systems
to make books available to the book-buying public, and it is accessible by
the blind. Now Blio is extending support to libraries. Here is what Michael
Bills, director of sales, digital products, Baker and Taylor, has to say
about the effort:
Ever since the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg
in 1450, the ability to see and read words printed with ink on paper has
been essential for reading books unless the books have been modified or
reproduced in an accessible large-type, audio, or Braille format. Therefore
people who are blind or visually impaired have had few options for finding
and enjoying books and have often been forced to wait many months or even
years before an accessible version becomes available. But, with modern day
production of books now in an historic transition from ink on paper to
digital bits and bytes, that's beginning to change. Now libraries across
the country are expanding their circulating collections with electronic
books and are using technology to make their digital material compatible
with screen readers so people with visual impairments can enjoy reading the
newest popular fiction and nonfiction titles.
In May Baker & Taylor, the world's largest distributor of print and
digital books, released a fully accessible version of its Axis 360 digital
media library, making this important ebook service fully compatible with
the leading screen-reader technologies such as JAWS, Window-Eyes, NVDA, and
System Access to Go. This new service provides libraries with a complete
solution for patrons that meets accessibility requirements in accordance
with the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal
and state laws. When combined with the free Blio eReading app--designed by
Ray Kurzweil and K-NFB Reading Technology--patrons who are blind, or those
with other reading disabilities, are able to navigate the Axis 360 website
and explore their library's digital collection, easily find and borrow
items of interest, and have them read aloud using Blio running on Windows
PCs or on Apple or Android mobile devices.
Issuing a statement to announce the new release of Axis 360, NFB
President Marc Maurer said: "We are thrilled that the Axis 360 platform
will enable libraries to open up the world of ebooks to the blind and to
millions of other persons with reading disabilities throughout the United
States. There is no other solution libraries can offer that provides the
full spectrum of content choices, tools, and ease of use for people who
have difficulty reading or people who cannot read ordinary print. We are
eager to work with libraries across the country to ensure that they fully
exploit what Axis 360 can uniquely offer."
The availability of new content is important to people such as
Lisamaria Martinez, thirty-one, who works at the LightHouse for the Blind
in San Francisco. Like many blind people who enjoy books, Lisamaria
receives digital editions of books from the National Library Service's
Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) website. She listens to three to
five books a week, mostly as she rides to and from work on the bus.
"My only issue is that they don't always have books that I want to be
reading," she says. "I'm totally about popular fiction, while they're
uploading a lot of political books or biographies. For people who like
those subjects, that's great, but for people who don't, I think, `Please
download more popular fiction!'"
She hasn't tried ebooks from her library, she says, because she
suspects librarians would steer her toward ebooks for eReading devices that
lack talking menus and accessible text. But she says she just stumbled
across news about Axis 360 and Blio and plans to give it a try.
George Coe, president of Library & Education for Baker & Taylor, says
developing technologies for the visually impaired helps libraries ensure
that they are fulfilling their charter to serve every member of the
community. "We all know that interest in ebooks is surging," he says. "But
we want to make sure no one who wants to take advantage of ebooks is left
behind. Now visually-impaired individuals can share in the convenience,
excitement, and enjoyment of the newest and best digital content."
For more information about the free Blio eReading software and to
establish a free Blio account for use on up to five PC or mobile devices,
please visit <http://www.meetblio.com/>. For more information about Baker &
Taylor's Axis 360 service for libraries, visit <http://www.baker-
taylor.com/axis360/>. Above all, be sure to ask your public library about
plans being made to offer ebooks through Axis 360.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Diane McGeorge and Kenneth Jernigan]
Paw Prints on the Barricades
by Anna Kresmer
From the Editor: The following is another in our series of historical
documents in the Jacobus tenBroek Library.
Diane McGeorge has been a fixture of the Federation for many years,
during which time she has served the movement in many ways. The lengthy
list of leadership roles she has occupied for over thirty years includes
affiliate president of the NFB of Colorado (1976 to 1991 and 1995 to 2005),
member of the NFB board of directors (1977 to 2004), NFB first vice
president (1984 to 1992), and long-standing logistical overseer of the
Washington Seminar. In addition to this she is the dynamic founder of the
Colorado Center for the Blind, a training facility rooted in the positive
philosophy of the NFB, which she directed from its founding in 1988 until
1999. These days McGeorge may be best known as the door prize maven-and
President Maurer's main competition for the microphone-during the general
session of the NFB annual convention. But no matter which role she has
played in your life, it is safe to say that few if any NFB members today do
not know of Diane McGeorge, her bright smile, her warm voice, and her
tireless work for the organized blind movement.
What newer Federationists may not know is that during the early days
of her involvement with the NFB, McGeorge's outgoing personality was at
times upstaged by her faithful and precocious guide dog Pony. With a name
like "Pony," perhaps inevitably this guide dog made a big impression on
people everywhere that he went, and even now the simple mention of his name
calls forth fond memories. Patricia Maurer recently remarked that McGeorge
has always done a wonderful job handling her guide dogs, but, "Pony once in
a while was just a dog. I remember Pony eating a stick of butter from the
bottom shelf on a cart during a dinner event. At a state convention Pony
snatched a doughnut from a chair. After all, it was at Pony's level." But,
in spite of these canine antics, she remembers Pony as a good, well-trained
guide dog who knew how to work and was loved by many.
Even Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, known to prefer using a cane, was moved to
comment about this friendly creature in the May 1976 edition of the Braille
Monitor. He declared that, "[A]lthough I do not use a dog myself,
(preferring a cane), I am not `anti-dog.' Ask Diane McGeorge. She can tell
you that I would fight for Pony, and (by the way) he would fight for me."
Given such a touching declaration, it wasn't long before Dr. Jernigan
received an undoubtedly unexpected response innocently tucked behind an
update on the state of the Colorado affiliate from McGeorge on May 25,
1976. Now, carefully preserved as part of the institutional records of the
National Federation of the Blind, here is the letter:
Dear Mr. Jernigan,
I want to thank you for being so kind as to mention me in the May
Monitor as well as on the presidential release. (Bark, bark). In addition,
I feel it is my duty to report on Diane's progress as state president, so,
if I say anything self incriminating, please be prepared to rush to my
defense. (Lick, lick). There have been no threats of chapter dissolution,
so I suppose she's doing a fairly decent job, and, though making herself
heard is the least of her problems, she relies heavily on her ghost writers
to assist in correspondence etc., but please remember, all this is in the
strictest confidence. After all, if I don't stay in her good graces, she
might cut down on my chow rations, and I don't have to tell you how
unbearable that would be.
I will continue in advising her on the most important issues, and
hopefully she will be wise enough to follow my suggestions. I am a quiet
soul, but a loving one, and it has been my experience most people respond
to love. This is not to say that I would ever walk away from the
barricades. I am a Federationist through and through, and I am constantly
doing my best to live down my humble beginnings in that unmentionable
training school [Leader Dogs of Michigan, immortalized in Federation
history by inclusion of the song, "Leader Dawg," which is often played as
part of the wake-up concert at the National Center for the Blind.].
Since this is my first attempt at self expression, I'm about to drool
on the paper from fatigue and excitement, so I shall close for now. I'd
hate to spoil my message with paw prints.
Affectionately,
Pony
----------
A Library for the Price of a Book
From the Editor: Richard Seltzer's little publishing company has been
providing classic books in plain text format for the blind for nineteen
years. Now they have opened a new download ebook store, Quench Editions,
<http://www.samizdat.com/quencheditions/>, so you can get organized book
collections directly online. Here is his description:
We have been selling books in plain text format since I met Diane
Croft, then an editor at the National Braille Press, and she explained to
me how important plain text books are to the blind. Rather than go through
the time-consuming and constraining process of trying to set up a nonprofit
company and seek grants, I simply did what I thought should be done, the
way I thought it should be done, setting up a self-sustaining business that
provided classic books for pennies a piece. That became part of the small
publishing business that I already ran with my wife Barbara--B&R Samizdat
Express. (B stands for Barbara, R for Richard [me], and Samizdat is Russian
for "self-published.")
First we provided individual books on diskette; later we migrated to
large, organized collections of books on CD and DVD. Now, while continuing
to sell the CDs and DVDs through our Yahoo Store
<http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/>, we offer similar collections by
download. That means that the blind no longer have to deal with storing,
finding, and using physical objects. With the high speed of today's
personal computers and the Internet and with the huge storage space
available on hard drives and other memory devices, CDs and DVDs are
becoming obsolete. Downloads are now quick and easy. Many sighted people
now use eReaders (Nook, Kobo, Sony, Kindle, etc.), and we wanted to serve
them. But we also wanted to continue to serve the blind. And, when we asked
our blind customers, they told us overwhelmingly that, despite advances in
technology, plain text books are still important to them. So, in addition
to selling single books and small groups of books in e-reader formats
(ePub, PDF, and PRC), we converted many of our plain-text book-collection
CDs to downloadable files. Over 20,000 books are available in these
collections, and, if you like, you can buy all of them in a single
transaction.
The customer gets a zipped file, with books organized in folders and
subfolders by author or category. The file names are the book titles, not
codes or abbreviations, and there's an index document, listing all the
hundreds or thousands of books in that collection, with active links to
every book. These books are all available free over the Internet, from
sites such as the Gutenberg Project. Our value-added is in selection and
organization and in editing and formatting that eliminate unnecessary
characters (like underscores) and irrelevant text (like ads for other books
and lists of illustrations in books that have no illustrations). All of
this makes the books easier to read. The books are not encrypted. You can
use them with devices that convert text to speech or to Braille. If you
open them in a word processor, you can copy and paste excerpts; you can
highlight and annotate them and save what you have added (for instance, a
marker where you last stopped reading).
For PCs and Macs, when you unzip or extract the download, all the
subfolders and files are located in the same folder, and you can use the
index document to click and open the individual books, or you can browse
through the folders and open the books directly using any word processor or
web browser. Each book is a separate file that you can edit, print, or
highlight or from which you can copy and paste excerpts; and each sub-
folder has the works of a particular author or books on a common topic. In
other words, you can creatively control these files. None of the major
ebook retailers has offerings of this kind.
Our store uses a no-frills web design with minimal graphics (just the
company logo). Payment is by PayPal®. We are not set up like the monster
online stores that have millions of titles and are automated, depending on
search engines and data bases. These books are hand-selected and hand
organized. (My hands.)
If you would like free samples, send me an email at
<mseltzer at samizdat.com>, and ask to be added to the distribution list for
"Free Ebook of the Week" and/or "Free Kid's Book of the Week." We've been
sending out selected classic books as email attachments for eight years.
This is a labor of love. I'm an obsessive and omnivorous reader. I've read
many of the books that I publish. Since I was twelve years old (back in
1958), I have kept a list of every book I have read. The complete,
frequently updated list, is on the web at
<http://www.samizdat.com/readall.html>. For what I've read so far this
year, check <http://www.samizdat.com/read2012.html>. For a list of the
downloadable book collections, with links to the complete tables of
contents of each, please go to
<http://www.samizdat.com/quencheditions/plaintext.html>.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Newel Perry at about the time he joined the faculty of the
California School for the Blind]
Newel Perry: More Profiles and California School for the Blind Politics
An Interview with Newel Perry
Conducted by Willa Baum
From the Editor: Thanks to Federationist Bryan Bashin, we recently
received a scanned copy of an in-depth interview with Newel Perry archived
in the Bancroft Library of the University of California General Library,
Regional Cultural History Project. Willa Baum conducted the interview in
Berkeley, California, in 1956. The interview is so lengthy that we have
been forced to serialize it. The first installment appeared in the July
2012 issue. The second section, covering graduate school in Europe and the
New York years, appeared in the October issue. This third installment
includes discussion of notable figures in the blindness field and the
internal struggles in the California School for the Blind that brought
Perry back to California.
Charles Campbell
Baum: Did you come into contact with Charles Campbell? I think he's
the fellow who founded Outlook for the Blind.
Perry: Campbell? Oh, I know who you mean. Yes, I knew Charles
Campbell very well. He was the son of a blind man. His father was an
American and became quite a prominent musician, and he went on tours
through England, where he would give musical performances. England wanted
to do something to improve the lot of their blind, and they decided to
build an institution, a school, so they asked him to take charge of it.
(Francis Campbell, Sir Francis. His wife was Lady Campbell.) He was a very
competent man. His blind pupils were noticeably successful. He was quite a
hand at propagandizing. He told wonderful stories about his students. A
great many people criticized him as being an exaggerator--he undoubtedly
was very intensely interested in helping the blind, and collecting money in
England was a little slow, but he did build up an institution there that
was very much respected.
His son Charles grew up with an interest in the same thing, and he
became a propagandist and traveled around the country here lecturing. He
married a very lovely woman. She was in California when I first knew her. I
was in New York when they were booming the idea of having these shops for
the blind. Charles was engaged in that sort of work in Boston, but he came
to New York to lecture. Charles Campbell was a very efficient man too. He
was enthusiastic, a good talker, and he was very optimistic about it.
Many of the people who were connected with the blind were not
optimistic. That was the one trouble with the schools that we had. The
superintendents were selected, evidently, in a very careless way, and none
of them were particularly men of ability, and some of them didn't have much
of an education. Those men rather belittled Charles Campbell. They said he
was just a hot-air artist making a big noise and that a great deal of what
he said was not reliable. That's because they couldn't believe it.
You see, our schools for the blind were filled with people who didn't
understand the blind and didn't believe in their capabilities at all. At
that time the feeling generally was that the blind couldn't do anything
anyhow, but it was very wonderfully nice of certain people to come and help
the blind. The teachers of the blind were looked upon as sort of saints and
missionaries, and they were quite willing to accept that admiration. But
they were not progressive nor imaginative. I don't know that they are yet.
Baum: Well you must not have agreed with Charles Campbell on the shop
idea.
Perry: Oh, I didn't bother much about it. I wasn't working for it in
any way. I was friendly to him. I didn't mind their building shops for the
blind if they wanted to, but I had the feeling that fifty years from then
the people would not have acquired independence through self-support. And I
don't think they have. These shops don't develop men of ability; they don't
try to. They are frequently run by men who don't know anything about it.
Then the blind themselves did nothing, said nothing, were not articulate--
they were afraid to talk. As a result very little was accomplished. That is
what we, in the past few years, have done. We deliberately and with
forethought planned to make the blind assume the responsibility of
bettering the condition of the blind.
Baum: Did you know Charles Campbell and his wife as personal friends,
or did they ask you for advice?
Perry: Yes. Well, they did sometimes. No, I think they were possibly
inclined to give me advice.
Baum: You liked them?
Perry: Yes, I thought they were very nice people. Of course, they
were not interested in the subject I was interested in. You see, you can't
do everything. You can't start a group of people who will devote their time
to entertaining and trying to supply the blind with some amusement, take
them out riding...I don't want to belittle that, that's all right, but five
hundred years from now they'd be doing the same thing. Those blind people
that they attend are not independent and never will be and don't
particularly want to be.
Baum: Well Campbell didn't do that, did he?
Perry: No, no. Campbell was interested in helping the blind, but it
was largely teaching them trades. The idea of a blind man getting an
education and becoming a doctor or lawyer or something like that, that was
something like a Cinderella story. He didn't take it seriously, and no one
else did. When I came to New York, I could find only one blind man who had
ever gone to college.
Baum: Is that right? No wonder it sounded like a fairy story.
Perry: New York is just packed full of colleges, so I thought, when I
came, that there must be quite a number of blind college graduates. I
couldn't find any. I'd ask about them, and no one had ever heard of one.
But there was one man who had gone to college. He was a classmate of the
man who was president of Columbia at that time. He tells the story that at
the graduation from college this blind boy and this future president of
Columbia were the two contestants for being the most outstanding student of
the class, and the president got it. This blind man went into mathematics,
gave lectures at Columbia University.
Baum: What was his name?
Perry: I can't think of it.
Robert Irwin
Baum: Did you know Robert Irwin then? He went to college, didn't he?
Perry: Yes, Robert was from the state of Washington, went to the
school for the blind there, and later went through the university. Then he
moved to New York and started the plan of sending blind children, not to
residential school, but to the public schools. He then went to Ohio, and
he'd get classes started in the public schools for the blind. He did that
in two or three of the cities there. Then he came to New York City and got
interested in starting the American Foundation for the Blind. He was quite
an able man and made a real success out of the creation of this foundation.
It's done a great deal for the blind, I think. Of course, they don't run
shops. They try to help all the activities for the blind throughout the
country. They've now gotten fairly well established. I expect their yearly
expenditures run up close to a million dollars.
Baum: Did Robert Irwin favor college education for blind people?
Perry: Oh, I think so. I don't think he was as enthusiastic as I was.
Many of the things that I had to work for, which were new and people
couldn't understand, nowadays they just take as a matter of course. A blind
boy in former days couldn't go to college, didn't have the money, and
didn't think he could work his way through college. They could, I guess. I
earned most of my way through college. So did Robert Irwin. He had to go
around and peddle things from house to house. He had great difficulties
going to college. They had no reader bill. He had to try to get people who
were willing to help him a little bit to read to him.
Baum: I heard somewhere that you and Robert Irwin worked together to
defeat a movement for a national college for the blind.
Perry: I don't know as we did very much about it. I guess we both
would oppose it.
Baum: Did you do any work together on it?
Perry: Well, we talked about it and evidently thought about the same
thing and probably expressed ourselves. I know, I wrote to some of the
different people about it. The contention to have it was not very strongly
pushed. It's an absurd idea.
Baum: It's an idea that has come up again and again, hasn't it?
Perry: Oh, I don't think it will come up any more, not seriously,
anyhow. What would a college for the blind be? They get in college, and
with their reader funds, they're just like anybody else. They are at no
disadvantage. They can go to Columbia or the University of California. They
can have the best of teachers. Now, if the federal government started a
college for the blind, they wouldn't have men like Einstein teaching in it.
It would be a mediocre, insignificant thing where they would give out
degrees because they were blind people, I expect. No, I think after a blind
person reaches the eleventh or twelfth grade, it's better for him to work
with sighted people. He's got to live with them. He's not going to make any
money off of blind people. If he's going to get ahead in the world, he
wants to have the ability to approach sighted people.
Baum: I wondered what you thought of Robert Irwin.
Perry: I think he did good work. He built up the American Foundation
for the Blind quite well.
Baum: Was he ever a member of the National Federation?
Perry: Oh no.
Baum: He didn't approve of that?
Perry: Well it worried him a little. He would come to the meetings,
but usually just to see me.
Baum: You were friends?
Perry: Yes. But he was afraid that the Federation was going to hurt
the Foundation. I don't know why it should; but they both feel that way.
Baum: Both?
Perry: Both the Foundation and the Federation. The Foundation is
trying to antagonize and oppose the Federation, and the Federation
criticizes the Foundation a lot.
Baum: Do you think it's a valid criticism? Of the Foundation?
Perry: I never heard any systematic criticism. Just that they don't
like them. I don't know why. I don't see any occasion for them to criticize
one another adversely at all.
Baum: You think the Foundation does good work for the blind?
Perry: It doesn't do the work that the Federation is doing, but it
doesn't try to. Different kind of work; their policies are different. The
Foundation likes to play with the agencies. It isn't built on the principle
of the National Federation. The Federation says to the blind, "If you want
something, it' s up to you to go and get it. You've got to quit depending
on someone else; you've got to organize yourselves and go get it." And I
believe that. I think that's right. The Foundation is interested in
psychology of the blind, or something of that kind. Personally, Irwin was
self-centered and a selfish individual. I don't know that many people
aren't. He was very much interested in himself and was quite an efficient
man and, from his point of view, very successful. He died a rich man.
Started out as a boy with nothing. Intensely interested in his own welfare,
which is all right, I guess.
Walter Holmes
Baum: Did you know Walter Holmes while you were in New York?
Perry: Walter Holmes? Very well. He wanted to start a Braille
magazine. He was not blind, but he was very much interested in the blind.
Wonderful fellow. We met in a library and became great friends. He got Mrs.
Matilda Ziegler, a widow whose husband had been a very wealthy explorer to
the North Pole, to put up the money for the magazine. Of course, now there
are a great many magazines for blind people.
Baum: Is that called the Matilda Ziegler Magazine?
Perry: Yes. [Shows Braille magazines.]
Baum: Did you think this Matilda Ziegler Magazine was a good one?
Perry: It's better now than it was. It was very popular; they must
have had ten or fifteen thousand readers. Holmes had been a newspaper man.
He had a blind half-brother in whom he took a great deal of interest. The
blind boy wasn't particularly bright or talented or trained for anything,
and it used to worry Holmes. The father said, "Don't bother him; just be
kind to him and let it go at that."
Holmes took out a lot of insurance on himself with the blind boy as
beneficiary, but the blind boy died first, and Holmes lived to be quite
old. Wonderful man. He somehow understood the blind thoroughly. While most
sighted people want to be kind to blind people, they don't understand them.
Holmes was a bachelor; he devoted all his life, morning, noon, and night,
to helping blind people.
This Ziegler magazine was the first Braille magazine in this country.
Holmes thought it was quite important that blind people have a magazine
because they can't pick up as much through experience as other people.
Holmes was not interested in making a profit; he just wanted to help the
blind. A man once wanted him to leave the magazine for the blind and come
in with him on another business. Holmes said, "I'm not interested in making
money."
The other man said, "I am; I've made a whole lot of money, and I don't
know what else to do but keep on making money." Holmes turned him down. So
the fellow went on with his plan and made two million dollars in the next
year and a half. Then he asked Walter Holmes if he were sorry he hadn't
gone in with him. Holmes said no, he wouldn't know what to do with a
million and a half if he had it.
Baum: Did he favor your reader's bill?
Perry: Yes.
Baum: Did he give you any publicity in his magazine?
Perry: He would have, but I told him I didn't want any. I had gone
before to The Outlook--that magazine has been discontinued--I don't mean
Outlook for the Blind, but The Outlook, a weekly magazine. Theodore
Roosevelt was the editor on The Outlook for a while. The real editor, who
wrote editorials in The Outlook, was a very famous editor, Lyman Abbott. So
I gave him a summary of what the reader bill was, and he wrote an editorial
on it, quite a lengthy one. I gave him a copy of my letter to the governor,
and he referred to that a good deal in the editorial. (Outlook, Vol. 86, p.
938, August 31, 1907) It was an extremely popular magazine all over the
country....After the bill was signed, he wrote an article about it. He was
a very brilliant man.
Major Migel
Baum: Was Major Migel working for the blind at the time you were in
New York? Migel of the American Foundation for the Blind?
Perry: When I first got up that club I organized for blind people--
Miss Holt's blind people--she came to the meeting (she would always bring
some guests with her, society people) one time and brought Migel. Migel got
very much excited. He was very much taken with me; we were great friends,
for the moment, anyhow. He wanted me to come down to his office. He turned
out to be a very wealthy man, a silk merchant. So he said, "If you would be
interested in this--I've got to go to Europe for a couple of months--but if
you would hunt out these blind people that you think are desirable for us
to do something for them, educationally or otherwise, get familiar with
their names, so that when I come back, we'll go over it and see what we can
do." Well, that was really a wonderful proposition because he was a man who
was intensely interested in the blind, and he had the money and the desire
to help. So I said that I would try to, but of course I was tutoring and
had limited time. But he insisted.
Miss Holt heard about this. Of course she was up in arms. In the
first place she had introduced me to Migel. But, when Migel was thinking of
doing something that wasn't in her line, she was worried. She was very fond
of newspaper publicity and loved to read about what she had done, while
Migel would just as soon his name never occurred in the paper. That
wouldn't interest him at all. She was so antagonistic to him in talking to
me that I could see that, if I went on with what Migel wanted, I'd have to
stop doing things that I had been doing for her.
That would be a very undesirable thing, so I decided to tell Migel
that I was giving all my time to Miss Holt. So I rang up one of his
lieutenants and told him that I would have to postpone any work or let it
go. The man said, "Of course, I have no authority in this matter, but I do
know that Mr. Migel would be very disappointed if you didn't work for him."
Of course Migel didn't understand and wouldn't understand my
relationship with Miss Holt particularly, so I told the man that it would
be impossible for me to do it until Migel got back. When he got back and
was told by his informants that I had withdrawn from that work, I suppose
he just thought that was the end of it. I didn't keep up my acquaintance
with him anymore. Robert Irwin came along then and got in touch with Migel,
and Migel did a great deal helping him start that American Foundation,
still does.
Conflict within the School for the Deaf and Blind, 1912
Baum: After your stay in New York you came back to the school for the
blind in Berkeley. I believe about the first thing you did was to get
married.
Perry: Yes, I think April 19, 1912.
Baum: How was the school in 1912? Was it improved from the time you
left?
Perry: Some of the old teachers were gone, and they had new ones.
Nobody seemed to be doing much work. There was less zeal in the school. The
School for the Deaf and Blind had been disorganized by political
interference. Dr.Wilkinson resigned a couple of years before. He had been
principal for forty some-odd years.
Baum: Why did he resign? Old age?
Perry: Yes.
Baum: Wasn't any political trouble, though.
Perry: Not that. Two or three of the different employees wanted to
succeed Dr. Wilkinson. They had some students, too, who made trouble. There
was Miss Mary White Eastman, a blind graduate of the School, who was a
teacher of the blind children, little children, in what they called an
"opportunity group" for retarded children. She was a woman who had never
had any experience or training except that she was naturally a very good
teacher. She was very ambitious and wanted to be made the head of the blind
department. Then there was Mr. Douglas Keith, an Englishman, who had been
the secretary to the principal for many years, and a teacher of the deaf,
Francis E. H. O'Donnell, a Scotsman, who wanted to be appointed. The school
was run by a board of five members who were prominent people, and they
served without compensation. They were the people who would select the
principal. So they appointed Mr. Keith.
Baum: Had Keith done any teaching?
Perry: He had done teaching before he came there. A good many of the
teachers got playing around among the politicians, complaining about the
school, that it wasn't being run properly, and so forth. Some of them got
the children excited. The place was terribly demoralized.
Baum: This was after Mr. Keith had been appointed?
Perry: Yes. The people that had been disappointed were complaining.
Finally the appeal was made to the Governor, Hiram Johnson, and so he
ordered an investigation. I suppose it lasted for a month or two. I wasn't
here then. There were also a great many complaints about Mr. Wilkinson,
though he had left. The investigators came down every day and had a hearing
and everybody was called in to talk, tell his story, the older boys and
some of the alumni. Some of the alumni wanted jobs up there, and they
didn't get them; I guess they should not have had them. They began to feel
their oats.
Well, it was made very hard for Mr. Keith. He decided to resign. He
sent me a telegram to come out and take the position as head of the blind
department. He was going to leave on a certain day, but he stayed until he
got my reply that I would come. So I simply took the train and came out.
Baum: Had you been corresponding with the school while you were in
New York?
Perry: Not much. Once in a while. Mr. Keith and I had been very close
friends while I was here. He was a fine man, but he got into the wrong
mess. There was so much jealousy and hard feeling that it looked as if it
would be a hard thing to handle. So the governor's recommendation was that
Mr. Keith should be removed and that the board should get a new man. Things
got hotter, with everybody trying to get the governor to get him in. The
board was in favor of Mr. Keith. It didn't want to get rid of him, but the
governor insisted.
When I came out, they had a teacher of the deaf as acting principal,
not one who had been a troublemaker at all, but one of the head men,
William Andrew Caldwell. He had been there for many years and was
practically the head of the deaf department. He was a great friend of Mr.
Wilkinson too. The board complained to the governor that they didn't know
any good man to get. The governor said that he had received word from
several men in the East that wanted the job, and he thought some of them
were very good.
There was a man who had been in the Colorado State School for the
Deaf and Blind. L. E. Milligan was his name. He came out and took the job.
He had a good deal of trouble, too, to start with because everybody was
wanting a higher position. He was very tactful in many ways. He of course
got into this political mess that was going around, and there was a good
deal of ill feeling.
Baum: Did the two teachers stay on--Miss Eastman and--
Perry: Yes, Miss Eastman stayed. And O'Donnell. That was a mess. Mr.
Caldwell kept his position as head of the deaf department. He tried not to
make much trouble. They were all very embarrassed because of the
politicians.
Baum: Who do you mean, politicians?
Perry: Real politicians, members of the legislature, people who were
friends of the governor.
Baum: You mean this group that had been investigating?
Perry: Yes. But Milligan kept them pretty quiet.
Baum: Was Mr. Keith still working at the school?
Perry: No, he left. When I got here, he was a man without a job. The
row had spread to the Oakland Home for Adult Blind, and they investigated
down there for a year or so too. The Home was run by a very capable blind
man, Mr. Joseph Sanders, who became ill and died about that time. The Home
was directed by a board. They came to see me to find out whom I would
suggest as the new director. I recommended Mr. Keith and pointed out that
he was a very capable man and that he had lost his job rather unfairly
because of a political upset and [through] no fault of his own. They
offered me the job instead, but I turned them down; there was nothing
educational about it. So they appointed Mr. Keith, and he did a good job
down there.
When they were having their investigation, the alumni split. A few
were in with the politicians, but the alumni that I had organized before I
left in '98 upheld Mr. Keith. So when Milligan came, of course, he had to
make up his mind whether he was going to be a friend of these alumni or of
the ones that had been making the trouble. He didn't want to be an opponent
of the governor, for, if it hadn't been for the governor, he wouldn't have
gotten his job, so he joined the wrong party, the governor's party. But all
the progressive blind, whom I had organized before, were friends of Keith,
and, instead of the trouble dying out, it got worse and worse.
When I got here, I tried to bring the two groups together, but I
couldn't get anywhere. The other group were people with no education and no
ability of any kind; they were nobodies. They had no ideas on how to
improve the situation and I guess didn't particularly care. One of them,
the leader, Mr. Don Darrow, wanted a job at the school. He was a man of no
education beyond graduating from the school. No college. He was not
esteemed by anybody. I guess Mr. Milligan would have been very glad to give
him the job, but he was afraid because it would start the other blind
people, my group, up in arms. The feeling between them was very intense.
We got up a club and had both groups meeting together until Darrow's
group made it impossible, and so we just gave up the attempt. We were
trying to help the alumni get jobs and get started in business. I remember
that once the alumni wanted to have some money to do something with, so I
gave them a donation, I think $100. Then when we found the two groups of
alumni couldn't get along, we dropped out and didn't do anything further
with Darrow's group. Next thing I heard, they had taken the $100 that was
to be spent on trying to help some of the fellows get started in business
and used it to give themselves a picnic and ride around San Francisco Bay.
Baum: That group didn't have any ambition for improvement!
Perry: Oh no, they didn't have any ideas. The school had run down
very much. The boys grew up and were rather rough and rude and had
evidently not studied anything; they had very few textbooks.
Baum: Was Mr. Milligan able to improve things?
Perry: Well, he tried to, but he...you see, the children that had
been there had been under the influence of the people who had been making
the trouble. They still tried to associate with the children. That caused
trouble. They were in opposition to anything that I wanted to do.
Baum: Did Mr. Milligan stay on as principal?
Perry: Yes, he stayed until he died, which was quite a while later.
Baum: What did he think of your organization of alumni?
Perry: I think he thought it was a very fine thing but that the
organization did not support him very strongly. I believe a lot of them
thought he wasn't overly fond of me. I don't think he had any feeling
against me. He simply was a little afraid to be over-friendly because he
was afraid of this other mob. Since the governor had removed Mr. Keith, it
looked as if Darrow's crowd was the right crowd, so I can understand how he
would think that he had to line up with that bunch of people. He made a
mistake because all the progressive blind were on the other side.
Baum: Was he progressive in his ideas?
Perry: Well. (hesitates) He was no great champion of anything. He was
just a man who wanted to run the school and get his salary. I never heard
of his springing any new ideas on anybody.
Baum: Was he aware of the problem of making a living that his
students would have when they graduated?
Perry: No, I don't think so. I don't think he ever thought about it.
Separation of School for the Blind and School for the Deaf
Baum: How did the separation of the school for the deaf and the
school for the blind come about?
Perry: My old organization, which still exists, got up a plan to see
if it could do something to separate the blind school from the deaf school.
So we started propagandizing for it. Also there was a movement to have the
school taken away from the board that governed it and have it become a part
of the public school organization, be under the superintendent of
education.
Baum: Did you favor that?
Perry: Yes. We all did. And propagandized for it. And eventually got
it through.
Baum: How did you propagandize for it?
Perry: We wrote articles in the newspapers advocating it, and
eventually we had a plan to be put on the ballot if we could get enough
signatures, and have it enacted.
Baum: When did you start all this?
Perry: 1912. The movement to do away with the board--that was passed
by the legislature, so the old board withdrew. That didn't happen for two
or three years.
Then we worked on a plan to separate the two schools. The idea was to
have the school up here where we have both of them now and build a new
school for the deaf. The deaf are much more numerous than the blind. We
wanted the blind to stay here. We advocated getting a big piece of land for
the deaf where they could learn, in addition to academic subjects, trades
and farming. It always struck me that farming was a thing that the deaf
could do as well as anybody. There was nothing for them here that they
couldn't get out in the country just as well. They used moving pictures;
they could use them up in the country just as well. I wanted the blind to
be near, where they could go to musical concerts and go to college. I
thought Berkeley was an ideal place. I wanted the Deaf School to move to
the country.
Baum: You weren't able to accomplish that, were you?
Perry: I got the act written, and then we had to get signatures. We
had no money or any great number of people that agreed with us. Teachers at
the school didn't want anything of that kind. They wanted things left
alone. None of them understood what it meant, anyhow.
A few young alumni, maybe eight, went out and tried to get
signatures. Ernest Leslie and Leslie Schlingheyde were among them. I'd take
them down to the crowded Tenth Street Produce Market in Oakland. Then I'd
address the crowd, and they would be there with the petitions to be signed.
On one Saturday we got more than 11,000 signatures. We did very well, but
we had no statewide team and no money. We had to hire someone to look up
every signature and find out what precinct the voter came from. I used up
all my war stamp savings for that purpose, and it took me two years of
monthly payments to pay off the printer's bill on our advertising.
We didn't get enough signatures. We were 10,000 short of what we
needed, but that was a very good showing. There was so much propagandizing
along with it that a great many people had joined our idea. So I really was
going to run it again, the year following, but I didn't have the time. I
thought I'd let it go for a while.
The legislature was finally convinced that they should be separated
somewhat. Instead of following what we suggested, they kept the two schools
here but separated them administratively. They are separate but on the same
ground, which I don't think is really good for the deaf, and I don't
believe there's enough ground allotted to the blind. But they were
separated and have separate principals.
Baum: I have a note that the separation was in 1921.
Perry: Yes.
Baum: Think that was largely due to the propagandizing of the Alumni
Association?
Perry: Yes.
Baum: It sounds as if your alumni group was quite active.
Perry: It became very active.
Baum: Had they been active while you were in New York and Europe?
Perry: No, they had gone to sleep. But, when they understood that
Keith wanted me to come, they got very active. They went to the board then
and insisted that it take Mr. Keith's recommendation and have me come.
Baum: But ordinarily they didn't do anything unless you were right
there keeping them moving?
Perry: Well, not very much. You had to have someone around to drive
them. Of course, now things are somewhat different. Some of those boys have
gone to college and have training, they have jobs, they're lawyers. Now we
have lots of blind people who are holding good positions, and they are all
interested in the progress of the blind. And now it's been made a national
movement instead of a local one.
Baum: Now you have lots of leadership material.
Perry: Yes. Now we have clubs for the blind. My Alumni Association
for the Blind was the only club that existed for a long time. Then we
formed the Council for the Blind in 1934, and we encouraged the creation of
local clubs of the blind to be run by the blind entirely. That was a new
idea. No one had ever thought of the blind running a campaign for
themselves; they always waited for someone to direct them.
Baum: Then you sort of trained the leadership that is available now?
Perry: Oh yes, they're all my boys. Dr. tenBroek, Robert Campbell,
George Fogarty, Ernest Crowley, Ernest Leslie, Leslie Schlingheyde were my
boys.
Baum: Is this mainly in California?
Perry: I did a good deal of that sort of thing in New York when I was
there too. That's what my reader bill was supposed to do.
----------
Consider a Charitable Gift
Making a charitable gift can be one of the most satisfying
experiences in life. Each year millions of people contribute their time,
talent, and treasure to charitable organizations. When you plan for a gift
to the National Federation of the Blind, you are not just making a
donation; you are leaving a legacy that insures a future for blind people
throughout the country. Special giving programs are available through the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB).
Points to Consider When Making a Gift to the National Federation of the
Blind
. Will my gift serve to advance the mission of the NFB?
. Am I giving the most appropriate asset?
. Have I selected the best way to make my gift?
. Have I considered the tax consequences of my gift?
. Have I sought counsel from a competent advisor?
. Have I talked to the NFB planned giving officer about my gift?
Benefits of Making a Gift to the NFB
. Helping the NFB fulfill its mission
. Receiving income tax savings through a charitable deduction
. Making capital gain tax savings on contribution of some appreciated
gifts
. Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or other
beneficiaries
. Eliminating federal estate tax in certain situations
. Reducing estate settlement cost
Your Gift Will Help Us
. Make the study of science and math a real possibility for blind
children
. Provide hope for seniors losing vision
. Promote state and chapter programs and provide information that will
educate blind people
. Advance technology helpful to the blind
. Create a state-of-the-art library on blindness
. Train and inspire professionals working with the blind
. Provide critical information to parents of blind children
. Mentor blind people trying to find jobs
Your gift makes you a part of the NFB dream!
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Robert L. Hunt (May 22, 1924, to July 20, 2012), stands at
the podium during the 1971 convention of the National Federation of the
Blind in Dallas. To his left are Isabelle Grant of California and
internationally known Rienzi Alagiyawanna from Ceylon, who was then first
vice president of the International Federation of the Blind.]
Bob Hunt Dies
From the Editor: We are indebted to Ed McDonald of West Virginia for
this information about longtime Federationist Bob Hunt, who died on July
20, 2012. He was strong and independent at a time when blind people were
expected to sit quietly and wait for someone to notice them. Ed McDonald
has known and worked with everyone in the West Virginia affiliate for
decades. Here are some of his memories of Bob Hunt:
Bob Hunt lost the vision in one eye and three fingers on his left hand
at the age of eleven in an accident with a dynamite cap. He lost his
remaining sight two years later. He earned a master's degree from what is
now Marshall University and did extensive work toward a doctorate at the
University of West Virginia. As a young man fresh out of college, he earned
his living as a merchant and cab dispatcher and even dabbled in the
trucking business as a coal hauler. At the age of twenty-four he was
elected to the first of two two-year terms in the West Virginia House of
Delegates, representing his home county. Several years later he taught for
two terms in the public schools of Lincoln County. Then in 1959 he joined
the faculty of West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, where he
served as a professor of history for nearly thirty-five years.
Bob joined the West Virginia Federation of the Blind (now the National
Federation of the Blind of West Virginia) during the early 1960s. He was a
leader of the newly formed Morgantown chapter while attending West Virginia
University. He served as second vice president and then first vice
president of the state affiliate before succeeding to the presidency upon
the death of NFBWV pioneer Chris Cerone. He was then elected to the
presidency in 1967 and held that position--except for one year--until 1979.
Since then he has remained active in the organization as a member of
the board of directors, president of the Members at Large Chapter, and
member of the legislative and agency relations committees as well as in
various other capacities. His pioneering spirit of independence and self-
confidence as a blind person; his keen sense of universal justice,
equality, and human dignity; his strength as a leader; and his commitment
to lifelong learning are just some of the personal qualities that made him
worthy of respect and recognition--not just by the National Federation of
the Blind, but by anyone who had the good fortune to know him as a student,
a colleague, or a friend.
For example, consider the evolution of his spirit of independence and
self-confidence as a blind person. At the time Bob lost his sight, the
creation of a social action organization of blind Americans (the National
Federation of the Blind) was still just a dream in the mind of a scholar
and visionary named Jacobus tenBroek. Bob's parents had no National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children to turn to for guidance about how
to help their son who had suddenly become blind. The only blind person Bob
himself had ever seen was a street musician with a tin cup attached to the
neck of his instrument. Otherwise, during those pre-war depression days,
opportunities for a blind person to live an independent and productive life-
-especially in rural West Virginia--were virtually nonexistent.
Neither of Bob's parents had even a high school diploma. Nevertheless,
they recognized the importance of a good education and developing a strong
sense of personal responsibility. They made sure their children did well in
school and had chores to do at home. Even after the explosion had destroyed
some of Bob's vision, they insisted that he remain in school and complete
eighth grade. In addition, Bob's father, who worked as a coal miner, set a
personal example of courage and determination by becoming involved in the
labor union movement--an unpopular and sometimes even dangerous thing to do
at that time.
Even after his father died prematurely in 1939 at the age of thirty-
seven, his mother insisted that Bob continue his education at the West
Virginia School for the Blind in Romney, the only viable educational option
available to him at that time. Despite the school's strong academic
program, it was at the School for the Blind that Bob first encountered
attitudes of low expectations and inferiority regarding blind people--even
the unspoken but very real notion that totally blind people were somehow
inferior to those with so-called partial vision. But he also learned from
his fellow students the many things that blind people really could do, and
he discovered new and effective ways to bolster his own self-confidence.
One of those techniques for building self-confidence involved what he
described as "breaking the rules of the institution," a technique that he
occasionally employed in his adult life as well. Things like venturing off
campus without the requisite sighted guide; finding ways to buy beer at a
downtown restaurant; and daring to walk across the railroad trestle that
spanned the South Branch River--these activities were strictly forbidden by
school rules. Nevertheless, engaging in such activities--even at some risk
to one's safety--was one way for a blind teenager to assert his
independence and strengthen confidence in his own inherent abilities.
Bob would be quick to remind us that behavior which others may regard
as simply a display of self-assurance on the part of a sighted person may
be interpreted as arrogance or conceit when displayed by a blind person.
Nevertheless, this spirit of self-confidence--call it conceit if you want
to--served him well after graduating from the School for the Blind.
Pursuing a college education was not common among young blind people in
those days, and the matter of starting a small business was even less
common. But conducting a campaign, getting elected, and serving in the
state legislature is still a pretty remarkable accomplishment for any young
man in his early twenties--not to mention a young blind man in 1948.
In 1959, when Bob joined the faculty of West Virginia Wesleyan
College, blind people throughout the nation were still struggling to secure
the fundamental right to organize. Dr. tenBroek and a few others had worked
their way into academia, but teaching at the college level was not, by any
means, a common profession for blind people. It is therefore a testament to
his persistence and determination as well as his academic credentials that
Bob was able to secure such a position and make it his life's work for more
than three decades.
He held his employer to the same standards of nondiscrimination that
he would have expected from anyone else. Although he had not earned a PhD,
he became eligible after fifteen years of teaching for advancement to the
rank of full professor. Years passed, however, and he received no such
advancement while colleagues in similar situations were becoming full
professors. He recognized a blatant case of discrimination based on
blindness and carefully considered how to respond. Finally--despite advice
from friends and colleagues not to make waves, he decided to file a
complaint with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission, a right that had
been secured several years earlier through the efforts of the Federation.
The Commission ruled in his favor, and the college complied.
It was virtually inevitable that Bob would become involved in the work
of the National Federation of the Blind. His father's example as a union
miner taught him the value of collective action as a way to solve social
and economic problems and bring about needed social change. His legislative
experience taught him how to bring about change through the political
system. What's more, that sense of independence and self-confidence assured
him that the principles which the Federation fought for were indeed right.
He led the organized blind movement well in West Virginia--expanding the
membership and forming new chapters, raising the necessary funds to support
the organization, raising public awareness of blindness issues and the
accomplishments of blind people, and supporting the passage of vital
legislation in such areas as basic human rights for blind West Virginians.
One of his crowning moments occurred when he confronted Governor Arch
Moore in a public forum. While Moore addressed a statewide gathering
leading up to the White House Conference on Disability, Bob challenged the
governor's alleged acts of political cronyism that had seriously weakened
the state's Randolph-Sheppard vending program, a major source of employment
for blind West Virginians.
On a personal level, Bob and Ruth were successful in navigating the
process of adopting two children. In the 1960's and even today, this is an
area in which blind people often face unwarranted challenges and
discrimination. Robert Hunt's life stands as both a positive example and an
inspiration for blind people everywhere. It seems almost prophetic that the
letter L, the middle initial in his name, stands for Loyal. Throughout his
life he remained loyal to those fundamental principles of equality and
justice that sustained him and gave him the strength and determination to
achieve so much.
----------
Recipes
This month's recipes come from members of the National Federation of
the Blind of Iowa.
Ham Balls
by Sandra Ryan
Sandra Ryan is the newly elected president of the Diabetes Action
Network division in Iowa. In the Ryan household Thanksgiving is not about
turkey and stuffing. Our family and guests (sometimes we serve twenty or
more) love roast beef with carrots and potatoes and also the following two
recipes. These two are the reasons my granddaughters, Shelby and Kaylee,
love us.
Ingredients:
3 pounds ham loaf mix (1 pound each ground beef, ground pork, and ground
ham)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 sleeves saltine crackers, crushed
Sauce Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white cider vinegar
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish (not sauce)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ham ball ingredients
thoroughly and form into twenty to twenty-four balls. Place in greased 9-
inch by 13-inch baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake forty-five
minutes. While the ham balls are baking, prepare the sauce. Uncover pan and
turn ham balls. Pour the sauce over them.
To make sauce, mix sauce ingredients and cook, stirring constantly,
over medium-high heat until sauce boils. Stop stirring and continue to boil
sauce for one minute. Remove from heat and pour over partially baked ham
balls.
Return ham balls uncovered to oven and bake forty-five minutes more,
basting occasionally with sauce. Yum!
----------
Easy Cheesy Potatoes
by Sandra Ryan
Ingredients:
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 10 3/4-ounce can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cubed potatoes in the
bottom of a greased 9-by-13-inch baking pan or dish. In a medium bowl mix
together the remaining ingredients, using only one cup of the cheese. Pour
mixture over potatoes and stir to mix well. Bake uncovered for about forty-
five minutes, or until edges are brown and sauce is bubbly. Remove pan from
oven and sprinkle with an additional cup cheddar cheese. Return to oven and
bake until cheese melts.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Peggy Chong]
Asian Beef Slaw
by Peggy Chong
Peggy Chong is a longtime Federationist whose interest in Iowa
history and particularly the history of blind Iowans is well-known.
Ingredients for Steak Marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 pound top sirloin, cut into 1-1/2-inch cubes
Sesame seeds for garnish
Dressing Ingredients for Slaw:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
Slaw Ingredients:
1 bag broccoli slaw mix
3 scallions, sliced
Method: In small bowl combine marinade ingredients. In a large bowl
cube the steak and toss with marinade. Let stand for twenty minutes.
Combine dressing ingredients and pour over slaw mix and scallions, which
you have tossed in a salad bowl.
Before serving, drop the meat cubes into a hot pan coated with cooking
spray. Cook meat till done. Remove from heat and sprinkle with sesame
seeds. Add meat to the slaw and serve.
----------
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A link to Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Bundles was e-mailed
Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus Bundles
by Peggy Chong
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds asparagus spears, trimmed 4 to 5 inches back from tips
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
A few grinds black pepper
4 slices thick-cut bacon
Method: Preheat oven, if using, to 400 degrees. Lightly coat asparagus
spears in extra-virgin olive oil. Season the asparagus with black pepper or
lemon pepper. Take a quick count of the spear tips. Divide the total number
by four. Gather that number of spears, and use a half slice of bacon to
wrap the bundle, and keep those spears together. Repeat with remaining
asparagus and bacon.
To grill, place bundles on hot grill and cover. Cook ten to twelve minutes
until bacon is crisp and asparagus bundles are tender.
For oven preparation, place bundles on slotted broiler pan. Bake 12
minutes. Even Curtis eats these.
----------
Cheddar Potato Soup
by Peggy Chong
Ingredients:
4 or 5 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup baby carrots, cut
1 tablespoon dried minced onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
Pepper to taste
Method: Place potatoes, carrots, onion, and salt in a large soup pot.
Cover vegetables with water and bring to a boil. Simmer over medium heat
about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain. In a separate pan melt butter and
whisk in flour, making sure that lumps do not form. Then whisk in milk and
chicken broth. Cook stirring over medium heat until liquid thickens. Pour
into cooked vegetables. Over low heat stir in cheese and pepper. Serve hot.
----------
Impossible Pie
by Dolores Reisinger
Dolores Reisinger is a longtime Federationist from Cedar Rapids. She
is responsible for conducting close to one-hundred Meet the Blind Month
activities in her area in the past 6 years. She has also been a great
fundraiser for the NFB Imagination Fund. Dolores says this pie makes a
great Thanksgiving dessert.
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
A half-stick butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 cup coconut
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Method: Mix together all ingredients well. Pour into a 9-inch pie
plate. Bake at 350 degrees for fifty minutes or until knife inserted in
center comes out clean. This pie is delicious!
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Michael Barber]
Dad's Spaghetti Sauce
by Michael Barber
Michael Barber is president of the NFB of Iowa. He sends a favorite
passed on to him by his father, Alex.
Ingredients:
4 29-ounce cans tomato sauce
1 29-ounce can tomato puree
1 29-ounce can crushed D'Italia tomatoes
2 6-ounce cans tomato paste
1 pound ground chuck
1 pound Graziano sausage (or more)
1 large onion, chopped
Salt to taste
2 or 3 handfuls of Italian seasoning from Graziano's
Garlic powder to taste
Sugar or Splenda (when I use Splenda, I use about 8 of the individual
packages or more if needed.)
Method: Sauté chopped onion with ground meat. Stir frequently until
meat is browned. In a large pot combine all ingredients. Do not add
mushrooms or peppers to this sauce; they alter the taste. Bring the sauce
to a boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer it slowly most of the day. This
sauce freezes well.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: April Enderton]
Pumpkin Surprise
by April Enderton
April Enderton is the newly-elected first vice president of the
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa and the president of the newly-
formed At-Large Chapter of the Iowa Affiliate. April also runs a business
called BRL, which sells print/Braille children's books. She is a strong
advocate for Braille.
Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin pie filling
1 package yellow cake mix
1 stick butter or margarine
Chopped nuts, optional
Method: Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Pour pumpkin pie filling
into pan. Scatter cake mix over pie filling. Top with pats of butter. Bake
at 350 degrees for an hour.
When buying ingredients for this recipe, be sure to get pumpkin pie
filling, not canned pumpkin. If you use the latter, you will have to add
spices, eggs, and milk for this dessert to taste right. To make cherry
cobbler, substitute cherry pie filling for the pumpkin pie filling.
----------
Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
National Federation of the Blind Scholarships Available:
From the Editor: Patti Chang chairs the National Federation of the
Blind's scholarship committee. Here is what she has to say about the 2013
scholarship program:
Are you a student in need of money? If so, you should visit
<www.nfb.org/scholarships> soon. The National Federation of the Blind
annually awards thirty scholarships based on merit. Applications can be
submitted anytime after October 31 and will be accepted until March 31.
Last year we awarded more than $122,000 in academic scholarships to blind
students across the country. You can't win if you don't apply.
Elected:
The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa held its annual
convention September 28 to 30. The following people were elected:
president, Michael D. Barber; first vice president, April Enderton; second
vice president, Darrel Kirby; secretary, Scott Van Gorp; treasurer, Curtis
Chong; and board members, Tai Blas, Ted Hart, Miranda Morse, and Donna
Prime.
The affiliate also formed a Diabetes Action Network division and
elected the following: president, Sandra Ryan; vice president, Michael
Stout; secretary, Janice Borgwardt; treasurer, Mary L. McGeek; and board
members, Bitrus Gwamna and Heidi Van Gorp.
Earn a Graduate Degree:
The Institute on Blindness in Ruston, Louisiana, is looking for people
seeking a meaningful and rewarding career in the blindness field. We are
offering a limited number of scholarships to qualified applicants for the
master of arts in industrial/organizational psychology with concentration
in orientation and mobility (O&M), the master of arts in teaching blind
students (TBS), and the master of education in teaching blind students.
Louisiana Tech University offers the only programs in the country
founded on a philosophy of personal empowerment from the perspective of
blind people. We invite all qualified candidates with positive attitudes
about blindness who would like to teach cane travel or Braille to blind
children or adults to apply for our programs. We are also interested in
speaking with anyone who may want to pursue a career teaching in the
blindness field in any capacity. The Institute on Blindness does not
discriminate against any applicants and actively recruits people who are
blind, sighted, and of diverse backgrounds.
Contact us today to find out more about earning your master's degree.
The Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness can be
contacted at (318) 257-4554; email us at <ebell at latech.edu>, or visit our
website at <www.pdrib.com>. You can change what it means to be blind.
Adult Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest Begins:
It's time to start reading. The reading period for the annual Braille
Readers Are Leaders contest for adults begins November 1. Registration for
the contest is now open. You can register at <www.nfb.org/BRAL> now through
the end of the contest, January 4, 2013.
The contest is for adults who read Braille. There are categories for
all levels of Braille readers, from beginners to experts. Participants read
for prizes, practice, and pleasure. Whether you love the competition or are
spurred on simply because it's a great way to promote and refine your
Braille skills, this contest is for you.
For more information check the website, <www.nfb.org/BRAL>. There you
will find all the forms and reading logs you will need to participate. If
you still have questions, contact the Braille Readers Are Leaders team at
(410) 659-9314, extension 2312, or email us at
<BrailleReadersAreLeaders at nfb.org>. Put your fingers to the paper and start
recording what you are reading today. Braille rocks!
In Brief
Notices and information in this section may be of interest to Monitor
readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the information; we
have edited only for space and clarity.
Hadley Diploma or Credit Transfers from Hadley:
Each year students who would not have been able to graduate from high
school otherwise receive high school diplomas from the Hadley School for
the Blind. Students as young as eighteen and those well into their
seventies have received diplomas through our school. Frustration with local
schools' not offering quality vision services or accessible course formats,
difficulties passing the state-required exit exam for graduation, inability
to travel long distances, or simply losing interest in high school are some
of the reasons our students have given for pursuing the Hadley diploma. Our
diploma program allows these students to accomplish their lifelong goal of
earning a diploma at home at their own pace.
What about students currently enrolled in local schools? What do we
offer to help keep them in school and on track with their sighted peers? We
offer visually impaired teenagers who want to graduate from their home
schools the ability to transfer high school credits to a local high
school. This little-known program has helped many blind and visually
impaired teens graduate with their peers. Here are three ways that blind
and visually impaired teens have used our high school courses to help them
cross that home-school stage at graduation:
* Transfer Credits--The local school considers many factors when
allowing a transfer of credit from another school. The local school
typically selects courses that are not available through its curriculum. In
addition it considers the student's abilities and disabilities and his or
her individual schedule for completion. It carefully considers how students
can use their time productively to reach their graduation goals, such as
during the summer months when some courses may not be available. The Hadley
High School Program works well for these students since Hadley enrollment
is open year round. The local school is required to approve the course(s)
taken prior to submitting the Hadley enrollment application to apply.
Courses in the areas of history, math, science, and electives are all taken
by these students, and they are counted for credit at the local school.
* Preparatory Work--Students who need to brush up on some skills or
want to learn the basics can take courses such as basic English skills 1
and 2, prealgebra, or technology courses. Those who want to improve their
communication skills may take Braille, keyboarding, or effective listening.
Most students take these courses during the summer. This way, when they
start a similar course in the fall, they already know the basics and are
able to excel. Some even take these courses during the school year while
attending their local school. They may transfer these credits if the local
school approves the course. Sometimes this allows students to take more
advanced courses at their home schools after taking a basic course with us.
* Home School Opportunities--Many parents choose to homeschool their
children. They may want some help teaching some of the high school
curriculum or wish to provide a variety of learning experiences. The
student who is blind or visually impaired may choose to take a self-paced
course with Hadley. Parents and the Hadley instructors strive to ensure
that high school students have the opportunity to learn, comprehend, and
master the tools they need to succeed. We are very proud of our high school
courses and the graduates who have taken advantage of them. The courses
meet the DETC and NCA accreditation standards, are self-paced, and are
taught by our well-credentialed instructors. Courses are available on DTB,
online, in large print, or in Braille. All high school courses are tuition-
free and are open to anyone who is age fourteen or over and legally blind.
For more information or to enroll, visit <http://www.hadley.edu> or
contact Hadley High School Coordinator and Director of Student Services
Karen Woodfork at <woodfork at hadley.edu> or (800) 323-4238.
Braille Magazines Needed:
The director of the rehabilitation center for the blind in Sofia,
Bulgaria, Jordan Mladenov, has contacted us with the following request. "We
are organizing English language courses for our blind and partially sighted
customers. We have textbooks and teaching materials in Braille, but we need
some Braille magazines in English so that our advanced students will have
access to more Braille literature. We invite your readers to send us
magazines they don't need any more. We are very interested in reading
National Geographic, Readers Digest, and other magazines. We would be very
happy if you could help us solve this problem."
Braille magazines can be sent to Jordan Mladenov, Center for Social
Rehabilitation and Integration for Visually Impaired People, Ul. "Tsar
Simeon" 110, 1202, Sofia, Bulgaria. For more information contact him at
email <rehcentre at gmail.com>, or Skype reh_center_sofia.
Remote and In-Person Assistive Technology Training Available:
Blind Access Training supplies quality training to individuals, state
agencies, and other institutions for PC-based assistive technology, web
design, and Apple products. Our main office is in Washington state. We also
have satellite offices and team members in other locations around the
world.
Along with providing assistive technology, web design, and Apple
products training, Blind Access Training also provides guidance and
mentoring for blind and visually impaired individuals. All of our team
members are blind or visually impaired and have faced a variety of
challenges as a result of their disabilities. They have worked hard to
become respected members of their communities and are eager to share their
knowledge by mentoring other blind people. We hope to become the leading
resource to the blindness community as well as to professionals serving the
blind in assistive technology.
If you would like more information or would like to sign up for
training, call us at (877) 774-7670 and press option 1. To read more about
us, visit our home page at <http://www.blindaccesstraining.com/>.
Monitor Mart
The notices in this section have been edited for clarity, but we can
pass along only the information we were given. We are not responsible for
the accuracy of the statements made or the quality of the products for
sale.
Brailler for Sale:
Perkins Brailler, standard, brand new condition, in original
packaging. Includes dust cover and manual. This Brailler has been used four
times. It is in excellent condition. I thought I would use it, but I found
that I don't really need it. It retails for $750. I'm asking only $550.
PayPal® available. Call Deanne at (619) 600-2501, or email
<papersforme at gmail.com>.
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I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National
Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for
the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to
abide by its constitution.
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