From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Fri Jan 4 14:04:01 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 14:04:01 -0800 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, January 2013 Message-ID: <201301042204.r04M41hb012359@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 1 January 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots-- the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. [PHOTO CAPTION: Palm-lined drive leading to front entrance to Rosen Centre Hotel] Orlando Site of 2013 NFB Convention The 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Orlando, Florida, July 1-6, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234. The 2013 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $79; and triples and quads, $85. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $90-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before May 13, 2013. The other 50 percent is not refundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2013, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon. Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe; coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award- winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport. The schedule for the 2013 convention is: Monday, July 1 Seminar Day Tuesday, July 2 Registration Day Wednesday, July 3 Board Meeting and Division Day Thursday, July 4 Opening Session Friday, July 5 Business Session Saturday, July 6 Banquet Day and Adjournment Vol. 56, No. 1 January 2013 Contents Illustration: Parents and Blind Children at an Adventure Camp Ten Million Books and Counting by Gary Wunder Serving in His Shadow by Anil Lewis A Colleague's Salute to Jim Omvig by Jim Kesteloot Life-Changing Events by Bob Deaton Crying My Eyes Out by Kate Smith Do Diabetes Companies Have a Blind Spot? by Mike Hoskins Equal Access for the Blind: Airfare, Hotels, Cruises--Savings With Travelocity by Steve Dumaine Court Orders DCA to Accept Prisoner's Braille Filing by Jan Pudlow Bitten by the Space Bug by Chelsea Cook The Secret to Winning a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship by Patti S. Gregory-Chang Ask Miss Whozit Newel Perry: Teacher of Youth and Leader of Men by Jacobus tenBroek An Appeal from the Past by Anna Kresmer Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris Recipes Monitor Miniatures Parents and Blind Children at an Adventure Camp Believing as we do in shattering the limiting conceptions about what blind people can do, the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri periodically sponsors a weekend-long adventure camp. Mission Believe brings together children and their parents for concurrent sessions featuring educational activities for the parents and fun and adventure activities for their children. In August of 2012 students experienced the necessity of teamwork; learned to walk on a plank bridge; felt the exhilaration of rock climbing; and thrilled at the challenge of traversing ladders, climbing poles, and walking along a thin wire, all for the joy of getting thirty-five feet above ground, then gliding back to earth on a zipline. [PHOTO CAPTION: Amber Attaway, above it all, walks along a bouncy skybridge made of planks and wires.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Seven campers, age nine to eighteen, practice teamwork on long skis made of two by fours.] [PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Seven young people stand in a line, left feet on a two- by-four plank, right feet on a parallel two-by-four plank, each side controlled independently by ropes held in the students' hands. The object is to walk forward by picking up each side in turn, which requires concentration and much cooperation.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Neil Grunig scales a rock wall.] Ten Million Books and Counting by Gary Wunder When I was growing up, one thing that irritated me about being blind was that I could not pick up the newspaper delivered to my father or the magazine that came for my mother and just read them. I loved reading Braille, but it was in short supply, and what I got through my fingers was far from current news or celebrity news that provided for good conversation. Even today, with all of the technology we have to make more books accessible, what is readily readable by blind people is about 7 percent of the material available to the sighted. We now have a better chance of getting a best-seller before history decides it is a classic or a trashy fad, but ninety-three of every one-hundred books are impossible for us to read without some significant effort on our part, such as hiring a human reader; scanning the book; or asking that some agency transcribe, scan, or record it. In 2004, Google, the company best-known for its search engine, declared its intention to digitize every book in the world. This mammoth undertaking required taking a picture of each page, storing the image, and then extracting and storing the text. Only if the text has been extracted from the picture of each page can the material be searched electronically for words and phrases. Google began by building partnerships with publishers and libraries, predominantly university libraries. What Google offered was to digitize every book in the library's collection, provide the libraries with a digital copy, keep another copy on Google's own computer equipment, and return the original print volume. So how did this lofty goal of digitizing every book in the world benefit the various stakeholders? The advantage to Google was that people could use its search tools to locate material heretofore available only on paper and therefore not searchable electronically. Although the Google project did not envision providing a link to the material searched, it could give the location of the book, the library where it could be found, and the pages on which the search terms were found. Google's search engine would be enhanced by having searchable material no one else in the industry could match. The libraries had much to gain by partnering with Google. The dream of digitizing books has been widely shared, but the physical task of doing so ensured it would remain only a dream for some time to come. The University of Michigan, with a longtime commitment to digitizing books for its blind students, estimated it would take well over a thousand years to scan all the books in its collection with the current technology and staff available. What Google offered was the resources to see this project completed, not in ten centuries, but in less than ten years. Other advantages accrue to the libraries. While we usually think of what is written as timeless, books are printed on paper, and paper degrades, ink fades, and important works disintegrate. Controlling temperature and humidity helps to slow this process, but the acidity of paper means that even in the most suitable environment, age will destroy the best-kept papers and books. If a work is rare, a library may have only one copy. If it is handled and used, there is always some risk it will be damaged-a torn page or pages that come lose from their binding. As reprehensible as it is, competition to get into and do well in medical school and other competitive fields has sometimes meant the willful destruction of required reading. Digitization does away with the problem of having only one fragile copy, and the ability to store several digital copies at different sites further protects against the loss of a work due to a natural or man-made disaster. Libraries also realize that having lots of information is of little value if it is hidden away where people can't find it. What pearls of wisdom were offered by Benjamin Franklin? If something he said has been captured by a popular biographer in a best-selling book, many know about it, but what about the quotation that made its way into a scholarly book long since published but never embraced by a large segment of the reading public? Digitization allows for searches, and these can identify the location of long-hidden treasures. When Google made its offer, several interested libraries partnered to create a repository for the digital treasures they would soon inherit. They created the HathiTrust, an organization charged with collecting material, working out procedures for its secure storage, and devising policies for the way the digital books would be used. A good deal of the material digitized is covered under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. Protecting the rights of publishers and authors and the reputation of the institutions making contributions to the HathiTrust is of the utmost importance. In Michigan procedures to comply with the spirit and letter of the copyright laws were so strenuous that, when someone borrowed a digital copy of a book, the physical copy would be removed from the shelf until the electronic copy was returned. This ensured that, when only one copy of a work had been purchased by the library, only one copy was being used. In response to the creation of the HathiTrust, the Author's Guild, Inc., similar associations in other countries, and a dozen authors filed suit in the Southern District of New York. Defendants included the HathiTrust; Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan (UM); Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California; Kevin Reilly, president of the University of Wisconsin System; Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana University; and Cornell University. The case was assigned to Judge Harold Baer Jr. The claim of the Authors Guild and other plaintiffs was that digitization by Google was unlawful because it created at least two additional copies of each book held by the libraries and that digitization posed a substantial risk to authors because their intellectual property would be shared in ways that would prevent them from being compensated. The cooperating university libraries and the HathiTrust countered by saying that materials were stored securely, that institutions and even individuals have the right to make a copy of materials they own, as long as the copy is not used commercially, and that, in making the copies, Google did not intend to share the digitized texts but only to search them and point interested people to the location of the books they might need. So how do blind people emerge as interested parties in this struggle? When a book is digitized with text extracted, it is readable using devices that convert information into Braille, large print, or audio. The work done by Google and the HathiTrust in creating the Hathi Digital Library (HDL) would make millions of books available and would create a unique opportunity for the blind. Typically, a blind person had to request a book and then someone had to find the resources to transcribe it, usually with significant delay; the mass digitization project (MDP) by Google would mean that these books would be available when we wanted them and not at some time in the future after we had requested their transcription. This would bring us one step closer to the immediate access sighted people enjoy when using a university library. The operative word in the last several sentences is "would," for, if the Authors Guild and the other plaintiffs had their way, the digital copies made by Google would be impounded and perhaps destroyed. It is possible for interested persons or organizations to ask the court for permission to intervene by filing a friend of the court brief as a way of getting the court to take notice of information the organization considers important. In the action between the Authors Guild and the HathiTrust, the National Federation of the Blind did not ask to submit a brief as a friend of the court but to become involved as a defendant. This is rather bold and unusual because filing as a friend of the court does not make one liable, but being a defendant certainly does. If the Authors Guild prevailed, they might be awarded attorney's fees, for which all of the defendants would be liable. On the other hand, the NFB's intervening as a defendant meant the court was required to decide the arguments made on behalf of the blind and print-disabled, and submitting the Federation to this risk indicated to the court the importance we attached to this matter and strengthened our ability to ensure that our arguments would be heard and could be forcefully advanced. An argument that proved central in this case was that blind people and those who are print-disabled have a right under the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act to have access to print information that is digitized. Moreover, the court held that under the Chafee Amendment, the universities can choose to make their digitized copies available to all blind Americans, not just the students and faculty at that institution. Federationists will remember that in 1996 an amendment was made to the Copyright Act, allowing authorized entities to make copies of copyrighted material in formats the blind and print-disabled could use. The Chafee Amendment, as it was known when we fought for its adoption, was revolutionary because if someone wanted to reproduce and distribute a book in an accessible format exclusively for the blind and not take the risk that a court might not call that fair use, the entity would first seek permission from the copyright holder before printed material was converted into an accessible format. Sometimes, though, the copyright holder could no longer be identified. The Chafee Amendment freed up entities like the National Library Service and Bookshare to provide accessible copies without fear of being sued. When a case is filed, much of the preliminary paperwork focuses on whether the court has the right to make decisions about the issues under discussion. If it decides it has jurisdiction, it then must decide whether the parties bringing the case have standing. If someone steals a dollar from me, I have standing to sue that person to reclaim my property, and he has standing to make arguments asserting he didn't steal it. If a friend sees a dollar being taken from me, the court considers her an uninterested party in as much as she cannot bring suit to recover my dollar. I may call her as a witness, but she cannot initiate activity the court will consider. In lay terms, she has no dog in the fight. Once the court concludes it can decide a case and the parties that will be involved, the participants file briefs with the court outlining their arguments. Responses from each side to what the other has written are advanced. Before a trial is scheduled, one or both sides may make a motion for summary judgment. In this request the court is told that the case made by one side is so persuasive that the outcome of the trial is a virtual certainty. The argument is also made that the evidence offered by the other side is so wanting that the court will reach the same decision. The motion for summary judgment suggests that the court may as well save its time and the time of the plaintiffs and defendants by making a ruling on what has already been submitted. The language used isn't anything like what you see here. Instead, both sides outline their arguments, relying heavily on previously decided cases. The plaintiffs, the persons or organizations bringing the suit, argue that a case similar to theirs was decided in the affirmative and assert that the cases cited by the defendants are different from the defendant's interpretation of them. The defendants make the same claims about the arguments advanced by the plaintiffs. After a review of the motions and arguments submitted, a judge may set the case for trial or may award summary judgment. In the case of the Authors Guild vs. the HathiTrust, the judge ruled, among other things, that the Americans with Disabilities Act and the United States Copyright Act certainly permit the digitization of books for the use of the blind and print-disabled. The arguments supporting the requirements of the ADA relating to access to information will be straightforward to most readers. Arguments supporting the mass digitization project under the laws governing copyright protections may be less clear. At the heart of the copyright argument is the concept of "fair use" and whether the books digitized represent a "transformative use" of the works. Making digital copies to share with those able to read the printed volumes would not be transformative because the copies would serve the same purpose as the original volume. Making a copy available to the blind and otherwise print- disabled is transformative in that the material as created was not intended to serve this population. Similarly, the intent of the hardcopy books was not to make possible an electronic search or to allow data mining, an interesting concept that explores the use of words and the way phrases and concepts evolve over time. An example of data mining cited in the judge's opinion would be searching texts in order to compare the use of the verbs "is" and "are" when used to refer to the United States-one nation or a group of states which, for specific purposes, are united. Returning our focus to concerns of the blind, the judgment further stipulates that university libraries are authorized entities which can convert and distribute digitized information in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act. Although many if not all universities have realized they have an obligation to convert print to something that can be used by the blind, many were uncomfortable assuming that the library might undertake digitization beyond the specific and identifiable needs of blind students matriculating there. In his ruling Judge Baer singled out George Kerscher, Dan Goldstein, and Marc Maurer for convincingly describing the essential role of information in the lives of the blind and their struggle to get meaningful access to printed materials. Short excerpts from his opinion, edited to remove citations and other material relevant only to the court, follow: In an eloquent oral argument by Mr. Goldstein as well as in Mr. Kerscher's declaration, Defendant Intervenors spelled out where blind scholars stood before digitalization: Prior to the development of accessible digital books, the blind could access print materials only if the materials were converted to Braille or if they were read by a human reader, either live or recorded . . . Absent a program like the MDP [Mass Digitization Project], print-disabled students accessed course materials through a university's disability student services office, but most universities are able to provide only reading that was actually required. Print-disabled individuals read digital books independently through screen-access software that allows text to be conveyed audibly or tactilely to print-disabled readers, which permits them to access text more quickly, reread passages, annotate, and navigate, just as a sighted reader does with text. Since the digital texts in the HDL became available, print-disabled students have had full access to the materials through a secure system intended solely for students with certified disabilities. Many of these works have tables of contents, which allow print-disabled students to navigate to relevant sections with a screen reader just as a sighted person would use the table of contents to flip to a relevant portion. In other words, academic participation by print-disabled students has been revolutionized by the HDL. This is what the judge came to understand as a result of this case and a part of what he recorded for the legal practitioners who will further clarify how technology, with its ability to copy and transform material, will shape copyright law. The part played by the National Federation of the Blind is unquestionably significant, given how much of the judge's decision relies on fair use, the transformative nature of the digitized material, and its value to the print-disabled. The University of Michigan's leadership in asserting the rights of the print-disabled is impressive, and the work of Jack Bernard, their counsel, is courageous and significant. George Kerscher's longtime leadership in creating electronic books readable by the blind is a testament to his exceptional work to address the deficiencies he found in the books available to him in the pursuit of his graduate degree, and his service in the cause of making the printed word accessible is nothing less than stellar. All of the libraries, universities, and those who lead them deserve credit for their commitment through participation in this project to meet the spirit and the letter of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This judgment has been appealed, but the arguments articulated in our filings and in the judge's decision will serve us well. We know that the distance traveled on the road to equality is seldom traversed in one step. We have been a part of a marathon that began in 1940 and will continue until blindness becomes as insignificant as the color of one's hair or the length of one's stride. Through this case the National Federation of the Blind has made it clear that, not only do we insist on the same book at the same price and at the same time it is available to others, but we also insist that the libraries of the world be open to us, that our access to information be timely, and that one day soon we live in a world in which we no longer have to ask for a book and wait for its transcription but can decide to read it and then check it out just like anyone else. We know that poor design can sometimes result in technology that limits our independence: household appliances that are unusable unless one can see a visual display provide just one example. But we also know that, when designed creatively and with the needs of the blind in mind, technology can transform the way we interact with the world. On both fronts, expanding access when information is not accessible and preserving access when someone tries to take it away, the National Federation of the Blind continues to be the strongest force pressing for equality of opportunity and the recognition that we are and shall be treated like the first-class citizens we are. We should demand nothing less from our society, and it should demand nothing less from us. This is the contract we share, the blind and those who help us, and this is the way we will make the future we dream of become reality. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Mary Ellen Jernigan hugs Jim Omvig at his birthday celebration at the Center.] Serving in His Shadow by Anil Lewis >From the Editor: Anil Lewis is director of strategic communications at the Jernigan Institute for the Blind. Recently his efforts have focused on the rights of people who work in sheltered shops and specifically on the fact that it is legal to pay them less than the minimum wage. His work has earned him a seat on the federal AbilityOne Commission, where he follows in the footsteps of another Federationist we commemorate in this issue. Here is Anil's tribute to a colleague, a friend, and a loyal soldier in our movement: Every day members of the NFB formally and informally contribute their time and talent to assist others in reaching their full potential. One man who has committed his life to this service is a man it has been my pleasure to know and work with now for several years. I am proud to have gotten to know one of our most outstanding members, James Omvig, and to follow him in a part of his work that has meant much to him and to blind people throughout the nation and the world. The author of Freedom for the Blind: The Secret is Empowerment, Mr. Omvig has helped me to understand that I must recognize that it is OK to be blind; I must master the alternative skills of blindness; I must effectively cope with public attitudes about blindness; I must successfully blend in as a productive member of society; and I must freely and generously give back to others. He has integrated these five elements of success into the core of his being, and as a result he is a recognized trailblazer in securing the rights of blind people throughout America. I am honored to serve in his shadow, embracing these elements of success as I continue blazing the trail toward our full participation in society. A longtime leader of the National Federation of the Blind, James Omvig was Dr. Kenneth Jernigan's student at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in 1961. He has amassed a legacy of personal and professional accomplishments and has dedicated his life to fighting for equality and full participation of the blind. The first blind student ever accepted into the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, Mr. Omvig was the first blind attorney ever hired by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He worked for the NLRB, where he learned about and became expert in the federal processes of employee unionization before becoming deeply committed to vocational rehabilitation and residential orientation and adjustment centers for the blind. Today we take for granted that a blind man like Jim Omvig has capacity and is able to compete on terms of equality with the sighted. However, despite personal and professional success, Mr. Omvig has never been a stranger to the plight of those paid subminimum wages. In 1964 he was paid 75 cents an hour as a production-line worker at the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. Without acquiring the essential elements of success, James Omvig could have spent his remaining years toiling away at pennies an hour, and the Federation would have lost a champion for justice. Fortunately, with his personal experience of the way that limited opportunities, lack of training, and managerial perceptions of incapacity can lead to the overwhelming underemployment of the blind, Mr. Omvig accepted the challenge of improving the work environment of blind workshop employees. As a member of the NFB, he fought from the outside to change the discriminatory practices of the sheltered workshops for the blind. He was instrumental in the efforts of blind sheltered shop workers to unionize. The following is an excerpt from the June 2009 Braille Monitor article, "More Progress in the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program." That briefly describes, in his own words, how dogged persistence and collective action secured rights, privileges, and protections for the blind workers of the Chicago Lighthouse: On the issue of unionization in Chicago, I told the blind employees that the struggle would be hard and long and that it would also be complicated. They would first have to select a union to represent them. Then they would have to request a National Labor Relations Board election so they could vote as to whether or not they wanted union representation.... The sheltered shop employees did decide to form an NFB Division, and the Chicago Lighthouse employees did decide to seek union representation. And, happily, in late June of 1976, the ruling came. The Board overturned the old 1960 decision and ruled that, henceforth, blind workers would enjoy the same rights, privileges, and protections as those enjoyed by sighted workers [working for the same lighthouse]. The Chicago action also encouraged blind workers across the country, and before long several of the agencies were unionized. I believe it is fair to say that from then on management began to view blind workers differently. Not only did management begin to view blind workers differently, blind workers began to view themselves differently. More and more blind supervisors, managers, and executives obtained employment through the AbilityOne program than ever before. Through persistent advocacy by the NFB, blind workshop employees made significant progress toward the goal of equal employment, but many hurdles remained. Mr. Omvig realized that in order to effect systemic change, a blind person must be at the table where policies are created. So in 2002 he accepted a presidential appointment and took his seat at the table of the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled. Known today as the AbilityOne Commission, this fifteen-member, presidentially appointed committee administers a program under the Javits- Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act, in which specific products and services are procured by federal agencies from businesses in which 75 percent of direct labor is performed by qualified people with disabilities. The nonprofit agencies of the National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH (formerly National Industries for the Severely Handicapped) manage the activities between the federal agencies contracting for supplies and services through the program and the community rehabilitation programs employing workers with disabilities to produce the products and provide the services. Mr. Omvig eventually became the vice chair of the AbilityOne Commission, and in that role, through a strategy of rational instrumentalism, he has been able to effect significant positive change in the program. Along with the development and implementation of several management training programs, he has been a champion in the development of the quality work environment initiative that improves working conditions, job opportunities, and wages for employees with disabilities under both the NIB and NISH programs. His success was chronicled in the February 2007 Braille Monitor article, "It's Not Your Grandfather's NIB Anymore," in addition to the June 2009 Braille Monitor article, "More Progress in the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program." James Omvig has left his mark on the JWOD program and has the respect of every member of the AbilityOne Commission, the AbilityOne Commission staff, and the staff of both NIB and NISH. Now, as his term on the AbilityOne Commission comes to an end, he will pass the torch on to another to continue his good work. I am honored and a little intimidated to have been chosen. Both my personal and professional lives have allowed me to focus on the competitive integrated employment of people with disabilities. I have come to know that, when provided the proper training, opportunity, and support, people with all types of disabilities can be competitively employed. In my current role as director of advocacy and policy for the NFB, I am primarily responsible for our efforts to repeal the unfair, discriminatory, immoral provision in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act that allows employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. I am grateful to have a mentor like James Omvig in this work. My personal experience with the subminimum wage workshops is through my brother and sister. They both worked for the Georgia Industries for the Blind (GIB) and were paid subminimum wages. In fact, when I became blind, I thought that would be my future as well. Although my brother and others were successful in their efforts to require GIB to pay their blind employees a competitive wage, he never received the training and encouragement to secure gainful integrated employment in a career that capitalized on his unique skills, talents, and abilities. I often consider the impact he would have had on the self-esteem and self-confidence of students if he had capitalized on his athletic talents and people skills to become a coach or physical education instructor. I also think of how many more otherwise successful individuals we have lost to the disabling low expectations of the subminimum wage workshops. I am thankful that my sister was successful in her career transition and is currently working as a supervisor for the General Services Administration. However, far too many others have been unsuccessful, and as a nation we are diminished as a result. Think of how much we would have lost if Mr. Omvig had succumbed to the workshop's claim of incapacity masked as compassion and therapy. Mr. Omvig and others have provided me encouragement and support. President Obama recently appointed me to serve as a member of the AbilityOne Commission. This is a five-year-term, part-time position that allows me to maintain my dream job as a member of the staff of the National Federation of the Blind. Now it is my turn to sit at the table, and, thanks to the National Federation of the Blind, I know that I am well equipped for the challenge. As Jim Omvig's term as a member of the AbilityOne Commission ends and mine begins, I take great honor in serving in his shadow. I will work to usher the JWOD program into the new era of Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities. We work diligently in the shadow of many leaders in the Federation, and, although they have made our path a little easier, we must work just that much harder to be sure that our own light shines bright. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jim Kesteloot] A Colleague's Salute to Jim Omvig by Jim Kesteloot From the Editor: Jim Kesteloot, a former director of the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind, made a presentation at the 2011 national convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Orlando, Florida. He spoke about the need to change the law permitting payment of less than the minimum wage to people who are blind or otherwise disabled. He also talked about his service on the AbilityOne Commission and about the fine work of one of his colleagues, James H. Omvig. In July of 2012 Mr. Omvig retired from the AbilityOne Commission, and here, lightly edited, is what Mr. Kesteloot had to say in honoring James Omvig at that ceremony: When I think of Jim, I think of three things: he's tall, handsome, and brilliant. Jim, did I say that the way you told me to? Seriously, the three things I think of are: 1. Here is the AbilityOne annual report that was just handed out this morning. Its front cover says "National Treasures." On the cover is a picture of the Statue of Liberty. When I think of Jim, I think of Jim as a national treasure; no one knows more about adjustment to disability, rehabilitation, and motivation than Jim Omvig. As he leaves AbilityOne, he will be hard to replace. Oh sure, another good person will be appointed, but there will be only one Jim Omvig. In our industry, he's like a priest, minister, and rabbi all rolled into one. In my own service I have always sought his counsel and guidance. My wife Barb told me that Jim is like the Dalai Lama. Jim has wisdom. He is a philosopher. You know, Barbara Walters interviewed the Dalai Lama in early July on ABC's 20/20. Walters asked the Dalai Lama whether he thought he was God. The Dalai Lama said, "No. I don't think I'm God. I am not God. I'm a teacher." That's Jim, a teacher. In my service here I have so often found myself thinking, "What would Jim do; what would Jim say; how would Omvig handle this?" Jim Omvig, a teacher and national treasure! 2. When I think of Jim Omvig, I think of QWE, a Quality Work Environment: CRP employees being paid not just minimum wage but living wages, employee satisfaction; a safe and comfortable working environment; opportunities for advancement/upward mobility; employees provided decent benefits; having opportunities for a career rather than just a job; access to further training and so much more. You know, in the late nineteenth century and twentieth century there were some great civil rights leaders: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and others. In our industry Jim Omvig is this caliber of leader-Jim Omvig, a national treasure! 3. When I think of Jim, I think of love. Jim loves Sharon. Sharon and Jim love each other. In our industry you need to know how to love. If I have learned anything over my forty-five years in the field of rehabilitation, it's that love is the most important ingredient in rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is gaining or regaining the capacity to live independently: independently to one's maximum potential. It's hard enough to adjust to the onset of a severe disability. How can you adjust if you are not loved and lacking such support? I always feel this sense of love when I'm around him. Jim Omvig, a national treasure! ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Bob Deaton] Life-Changing Events by Bob Deaton From the Editor: This article originally appeared in the fall edition of Expressions in Independence, the newsletter of the Nebraska Orientation Center for the Blind. Bob Deaton, an assistant director of the program, offers real insight into his adjustment to blindness. Here is what he says about losing his self-worth, his struggle to regain it, and his journey in coming to see himself, not as a broken person, but as a person with much to give: I was twenty-two years old when an ophthalmologist told me that I had retinitis pigmentosa (RP). I was slowly going blind, and probably in another fifteen years or so I wouldn't see at all. I knew that I had tunnel vision and couldn't see well at night, but I had no idea that my vision was slowly changing for the worse. All at once my world changed and the future looked bleak and uncertain. The year was 1972. I thought I was the only blind person or going- blind person in all of northern Wisconsin. What I thought I knew about blindness was frightening and disturbing. Blind people were helpless, unable to do anything for themselves; they certainly didn't work. Blind people were to be pitied and taken care of. That's how I thought others would come to regard me. I look back on those times with considerable detachment now; it's as if it happened to someone else. There was the feeling that everything was changed forever, my personal self-concept shattered. At first I dealt with it by not dealing with it. I could still read with the central vision I had, recognize faces, and get around pretty well, at least during the day. Most people didn't realize I had problems seeing, or so I liked to think. Maybe the doctor was wrong. Maybe my vision wouldn't get any worse. I could deal with that. Before long reality intruded. Things that were once easy for me became more difficult. Traveling at night or in dark places provoked anxiety. Things looked blurry, particularly at a distance. Colors were not so bright. It was with great dismay that I finally gave my tennis racket away, realizing that I would never play the game again. By the time I finished college and began working towards a graduate degree in social work, life seemed pointless. I was working toward a career with no confidence that I could make it work. I suppose I felt some anger with my situation. Maybe I considered medical solutions; I think that there was supposed to be some remarkable treatment for my kind of problem in Russia. What I clearly remember is sinking into a deep depression that settled in for the long haul. I don't believe anyone who has been spared chronic depression can know what it is like. The sense of powerlessness is pervasive, persistent, and relentless. Each day is as empty of purpose as the day before, and there is no reason to believe that things will get any better. I couldn't concentrate on graduate school, dropped out, and went to work in a local factory. If you ever want to stop the world and get off for a while, try working on an assembly line. As long as you show up for work and do your job reasonably well, you don't have to engage your mind much. That's exactly what I wanted, but the depression continued. I was drifting with no destination in mind. After a couple of years the oppressive, unchanging regularity of what had become my life proved too much for me, and my thoughts turned to suicide. It seems incredible to me now to think that I once had a suicide plan, but it's true. For me that was the low point of my life. As I thought about how I would end it all, I scared myself badly enough to want to do something about it. Life was pretty bad and didn't look much better down the road, but I wasn't ready to give up yet. I had slowly withdrawn from most of the people I knew, but fortunately a few friends wouldn't let me slip away. One in particular helped me get back on track. He convinced me to join him on a ten-speed bike trip through northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The bike trip lasted seven weeks. It was an amazing experience. Each new day had to be negotiated. What did we want to see? Where did we want to eat? Should we find a campground, or did we want to stay in a motel? Everywhere we went people were interested in who we were and where we were heading. For the first time in a long time I had the sense that I was in control of where I was and what I did. In many ways that bike trip never ended. My life opened up to possibilities I had thought unthinkable a short time before. Instead of the day-to-day decisions of the trip, I began to consider longer-range perspectives. I decided then that I would never again let circumstances dictate my course in life. And just what did I want out of life? I decided that I did still want to work with people. I resolved to finish my graduate degree in social work, and I did, earning almost straight A's in the process. I was still not sure about how I would deal with future vision loss, but until that happened, I would do the best I knew how. The job search came after I graduated. In the late 1970s it seemed that every social work position I applied for required a driver's license, to say nothing of experience. I had no driver's license, of course, and the internship and practicum experiences during graduate training were my only experience. But more than that, I really did not believe in myself. When I interviewed for a job, I did not project the kind of confidence employers expect of job applicants. I knew that I was visually impaired and would only become more so. I saw myself as damaged goods. If I was truthful, I would not have hired myself. It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. After two years of a fruitless job search, I enrolled in a graduate program of vocational rehabilitation counseling with a focus on vocational evaluation and work adjustment. This time I chose a field of study in a career that was less likely to require extensive driving. I was determined to graduate at the top of my class and did pretty well, getting nearly all A's once again. My vision continued to worsen, of course. In fact I knew I should have started using a white cane long before I did. The decision to begin using the cane was not easy. I did not look forward to explaining to everyone why I was using the cane when I was "not blind." The day I started using the cane was the same day I started graduate school. My classmates and instructors did not know me from before and so acceptance was immediate. I still had to deal with my family and friends when I went home on weekends, but this was manageable. Before long everyone seemed comfortable with the new order of things. I was using a magnifying glass to read regular print, but I started thinking about what I would need as a blind person, not a high partial with pretty good functional vision. I wanted to prepare for what was sure to come. My vocational rehabilitation counselor referred me for a week-long assessment at the Visually Impaired Program (VIP) at the technical college in Wausau, Wisconsin. From the start I said I wanted to prepare for blindness, and I wanted to know how I could engage in a professional career as a blind person. To assess my cooking skills, I was given a TV dinner. I read the instructions on the box (without the magnifying glass), put it in a microwave, and set the controls. After removing the cooked meal from the microwave, I ate it. My skills in this area were deemed adequate for survival, and no training in compensatory skills was indicated. Braille was not recommended since I could read print with magnification if needed. For mobility I was taught to hold the cane diagonally in a fixed position across the front of my body. I was advised to travel at night only in well- lit areas or with assistance. Essentially the instructors at VIP believed that compensatory skills training would be a waste of time since I would only have to be retrained later when I experienced more vision loss. Needless to say an assessment like that was not only a huge disappointment, it was an abysmal waste of my time. It also made me think that there was not much I could do to prepare for the future until I actually lost more vision. When I got my graduate degree in vocational rehabilitation counseling, nine years had passed since I had learned of my eventual blindness. It pleases me to say that I took the white cane with me to my first job interview after graduation. I got that job, and I worked there for nearly three years. Let me say that self-confidence goes a long way in a job interview. I knew that all sheltered workshops in the state of Minnesota had three years to become CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) certified. I knew that the Achievement Center (TAC), where I interviewed, was not CARF certified. If TAC did not achieve standards acceptable to CARF, it would not receive state funding. This knowledge served me well in the interview. I said that I could help TAC get ready for CARF and that I knew what would be required. Later on I learned that I was the only applicant who knew anything about CARF, and that was why I was hired. I did well at TAC; my graduate training was put to good use. Still vision loss continued inexorably. I went through a series of different devices with higher magnification and lighting. I thought I might prepare for encroaching blindness while still on the job. I became a client of the Minnesota Services for the Blind, and a mobility instructor came out to work with me using the white cane. She thought my method of holding the cane diagonally across my body was fine; that didn't need to change. However, she thought impaired hearing created a safety problem. I have 50 percent bilateral hearing loss, and I was advised not to cross any busy streets, except intersections with traffic lights. She also recommended that I not travel unattended at night or in dark places. She thought I would do well to make more use of sighted guides. I listened to what she had to say; she was the expert after all. The time for making decisions was not far off: visual ways of doing things were breaking down, and it was taking longer and longer for me to get things done. I asked my VR counselor what I should do since I didn't believe visits by my O&M instructor would be enough. He told me about the Minneapolis Society for the Blind (MSB), and I sent away for more information. I also inquired about training programs in other states such as Lions World in Arkansas and a new program in Idaho. My VR counselor, however, did not encourage this exploration. If I pursued training anywhere outside the state, I would lose any assistance I might otherwise get. In other words, it was MSB or nothing. I met the newly hired director of an independent living center for people with disabilities during this time of uncertainty and indecision. She was totally blind and the first positive role model I had met since being told that I would be blind myself. This was not because I avoided contact with blind people; in fact my VR counselor in Wisconsin knew I wanted to meet other blind people and arranged for me to meet some of her clients. There was the man who had lost all his vision in a plane crash three months before. He was very angry and believed life was over for him. The strength of his despair blew me away. Then there was the blind housewife. She also had RP and was totally blind. She had a woodshop in the basement of her home, and the tools she showed me for measuring were intriguing; however, she did very little outside the home. She gave effusive thanks for her husband, without whom she said she would be completely lost. These encounters did not encourage me, and I didn't ask for any more introductions. My new friend was a member of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota (NFBM). With her encouragement I attended an NFBM state convention in Minneapolis. The experience was stunning. More than a hundred blind people were at that convention engaged in all manner of endeavor. I heard the message that blindness was in fact manageable. If I wanted to continue my career in rehabilitation, there was no reason why I shouldn't-- provided I had the proper training and opportunity. I asked about MSB and heard very little positive about it. As it turned out, my friend was once employed as the home management instructor at the Nebraska Orientation Center for the Blind in Lincoln. It sounded like just the sort of program I was looking for. My friend and I arranged for a tour, and I quickly concluded that this was where I needed to be. I told my VR counselor of my plans, and my case was closed. My resignation from TAC was bittersweet, but I knew it was time to move on. By the way, TAC earned CARF certification the month before I left. The training at the Orientation Center for the Blind was without a doubt a life-changing event. After years of experience in the field, it is now possible for me to compare the Orientation Center with other training centers for the blind. Many training centers provide basic skill instruction in the alternative skills of blindness over a period of three months or so, but that is as far as it goes. If the purpose of training is simply to teach the basic alternatives needed for travel, communication, and activities of daily living, the case can be made that three months of training is enough. It is my contention, however, that many graduates of centers like this do not go on to complete vocational training or obtain high-quality employment. In fact many return for more training in the skills of blindness, particularly if they lose more vision. Center training is successful if the trainee has gained the basic alternative skills of blindness, problem-solving skills adequate for managing situations faced by blind people every day, and a positive understanding of blindness and belief in oneself as a blind person. The approach to training is called "structured discovery." Through exposure to a series of gradually more complex learning situations, trainees develop confidence in their ability to apply the alternative skills of blindness and come up with solutions. Seminars during center training provide frequent opportunities for trainees to examine their personal attitudes and beliefs about blindness. As skill levels rise, trainees often change their ideas about what is possible after center training. To realize success, training is longer than it is at most other centers. It has to be. If alternative skills are to be applied with confidence in a way that promotes full participation in the life of our communities, more time is necessary. An intellectual understanding about what blind people can do is not enough; it needs to be experienced at a gut level; it needs to be lived. I could go on about the value of each class I participated in during my center training, but I won't. Suffice it to say that every class contributed significantly to my personal growth. I was finally getting what I needed in preparation for life as a totally blind person. At that time I was still what some people referred to as a "high partial." As such, my training was completed under sleepshades. Sleepshades were never a problem for me. There were enough times when my diminishing vision simply did not work well, and nonvisual alternatives were the way to go. I could still read print with a magnifying glass, and I could still recognize faces, but I knew that wouldn't be the case in another few years. As long as my vision worked for some things, I used visual strategies, but I didn't want to repeat center training if my vision got worse, as I knew it would. Sleepshades made sense. I quickly got with the program, as my fellow trainees would've said back then, and my progress was rapid. The ten months I spent in training in 1984-1985 were the most important time of my life. I owe the center a great deal, but center training was not the most important thing that happened to me then. The connections I made with other blind people, at the center and through the NFB-Nebraska local chapter, did more than anything else to help me realize my own potential and grow as a blind person. Fourteen years had passed before I could connect with positive blind role models, something that should have happened when I first learned I was becoming blind. I can't say enough about how important this was to me. In fact, even though I had been a client of two different state vocational rehabilitation agencies, my real rehabilitation as a blind person did not begin until I came to Nebraska and joined the society of other blind people, people who were not extraordinary or exceptionally advantaged, people I could relate to. The range of possibilities became much wider, and I came to feel more secure about myself and where I was going. I want to say one other thing. During the years I struggled with blindness, my family and friends felt my pain, sometimes more than I did myself, or so it seemed. They wanted to help but didn't know how. Since I hated the idea of being dependent on others, I resisted any of their attempts to do things for me. This created an awkward situation. Whenever I was clearly experiencing difficulty, no one knew exactly how to act. At other times I would begin some undertaking only to encounter expressions of disapproval or even fear. That was the situation I faced when my family learned of my plans to begin the bike trip mentioned above. They thought I would have an accident for sure, probably on the first day-never mind that I had been biking around town for years. After center training I was much more relaxed around people-family, friends, or strangers. I conducted myself differently, and those who knew me appreciated the difference. I had more confidence, more self-assurance. Once my family realized that I was not an accident waiting to happen, they relaxed and became less nervous. My relations with friends also improved. Not everyone I thought of as friends stuck by me; some bailed out pretty quickly, and that hurt. Maybe that was for the best. The friends that hung in there, however, will be dear to me for as long as I live. I didn't really think about how my relationships with the people closest to me would change as a consequence of training. It was a benefit totally unexpected. In fact, I didn't anticipate just how much training would change my view of the world and what it had to offer. It came as a pleasant surprise-and a revelation. What we do in life is up to us. That's true. But we are social animals after all. My journey would not have been possible without the people I met along the way. I owe a lot to a lot of people. I worked a temporary position as an outpatient social worker at a Veterans Administration Hospital in Wisconsin after my center training. That might have led eventually to a permanent job in the federal government, but then a position for a vocational rehabilitation counselor opened at the Nebraska Services for the Visually Impaired (now the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired). That was twenty-five years ago. I am totally blind now, but that's okay. I am comfortable with who I am and where I am. More important, I can now give back to others as others gave to me when I needed it most. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Kate Smith sits in the dining room of the Louisiana Center for the Blind reading a Braille book while wearing the sleepshades used in training.] Crying My Eyes Out A Chronicle of My Experience with Structured Discovery by Kate Smith From the Editor: Kate Smith is a middle-aged woman from Alabama who is currently receiving training at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. Here is her story about what many experience in making a successful adjustment to blindness: Anyone who has experience with visual rehabilitation as a rehabilitator or a rehabilitatee knows that professionals disagree about whether people with low vision should be trained to use methods to optimize their vision or trained to do what they have to do without vision. I think the person who is living with low vision should be the one who makes this choice. But many people with low vision resist training methods that require them to wear a blindfold and work without sight. I am here to convince everyone with low vision to try training under a blindfold a few times before making a decision. I have struggled for many years with fading vision. Like most people I know with low vision, I mostly tried to ignore my limitations. Whenever I found a task that I could no longer do efficiently or optimally, I searched for magic glasses or a magic surgery or a magic machine that would allow me to keep on pretending that I was still able to function visually in a visual world. My method worked for quite a while. But then it didn't. At some indefinable point I crossed a visual line and stepped into a confusing world of shifting shadows, glaring light, and fuzzy, diffuse edges. I started having conversations with coat racks. I visited men's rooms. I spilled fine wine in posh restaurants. I tripped and fell too many times to count. In short, I lost control of my life. So by the time I recognized I needed vision rehabilitation, I was fed up with my vision, and I was fed up with vision aids. I was desperate to learn how to get along without my eyes. I eagerly accepted the opportunity to work with a blindfold. I was ready for the darkness-or so I thought. I cried uncontrollably the first time I put on a blindfold; I cried the second time too. I was surprised the first time I cried, and equally surprised the second time. Now, knowing what I know, I think the most surprising thing is that I actually thought I wouldn't cry. You see, I thought this was a rational decision, and I am pretty good at rational decisions. I am a rational, educated woman. So, once I had accepted that I needed to learn how to function without my vision, the next rational step was to blindfold myself and get a teacher to show me how to function that way. Isn't that the rational thing to do? But the rational, educated woman had failed to consult the rebellious, terrified child within; I had been ignoring her for years. She was still sure she could see if she tried hard enough. She was pretty sure there were monsters in the dark. She was scared, and she was having none of this blindfold business. So there I was, educated woman and terrified child, crying in front of my brand-new cane travel instructor, crying on a public street, crying my eyes out. This wasn't new-this public humiliation--I'm the woman who hangs out in men's restrooms--but it was still surprising. Because this time I had decided; I had taken control of my destiny. Me, the grown-up- rational, educated woman-and I couldn't figure out why I was crying. My instructor, Chantal, allowed me to continue my first cane travel lesson without the sleepshade. But the second time, when the tears surprised me again, the sleepshade stayed on. We both just pretended the tears weren't there. By the third lesson the tears were gone and the grown-up was firmly in control. The worst was over, or so I thought. I started a new phase of rehab training-the independent living class. The teachers, Carol and Sue, told us we would spend part of each class day working under sleepshades. I smugly informed them that I had already worked under a blindfold and I was comfortable with the experience. I grandly announced to the class at large that, in my opinion, structured discovery was the best form of rehab and the blindfold was the best teaching practice available. We were lucky, I said, to have teachers willing to guide us through the process. I assured everyone who could hear me that the fear would subside quickly. And then another student, Janet, started to cry, and then I cried-again. So much for the grown-up, rational, educated woman. But, as I write this, we are almost finished with the independent living class. Janet and I don't cry anymore. We ironed shirts under sleepshades, and we didn't cry. We cooked spaghetti under sleepshades, and we didn't cry. We have even been able to laugh some days-almost every day. So here's what I learned under the sleepshade: I learned to walk with a cane; I learned to eat without spilling; I learned how to cook spaghetti. The blindfold helped me to turn off my eyes and learn things in a nonvisual way-important stuff. But even more important was the stuff my terrified inner child learned from the blindfolds. She learned that I can still do the things I need to do; she learned that I am still going to laugh; she learned not to be afraid of the dark; and she learned that sometimes you just have to cry your eyes out. ---------- 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: Eileen and Tom Ley, with their children, JonCarlos and Maria] Do Diabetes Companies Have a Blind Spot? by Mike Hoskins From the Editor: On September 27, 2012, Tom Ley, a former president of the Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind, was interviewed by Diabetes Magazine. The interview set the stage for him to attend a summit in November when he would pose the question "Do Diabetes Companies Have a Blind Spot?" The magazine staff appeared to be delighted with Tom's message and his hope that the industry would wake up and take notice that blind diabetics have needs that their products should address. The questions asked by Diabetes Magazine are prefaced with DM and Tom Ley's answers with TL. We hope to follow up after the summit to report on Tom's progress to eliminate this blind spot. Here is the interview: Welcome to the latest in our series of interviews with the ten winners of the 2012 DiabetesMine Patient Voices Contest, who were announced back in June. This time we're chatting with Tom Ley, who has a unique story in that he's not only been living with type 1 diabetes for most of his life but has also been blind for much of his life. Despite his inability to see, Tom's visionary thinking on D-innovation has the potential to impact many in the diabetes community. Not only is Tom a PWD [Person with a Disability] himself, but he also has a young son who was diagnosed at age four. His winning contest video was titled "Access Denied" to illustrate how PWDs with vision impairments aren't offered the same access to tools like insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) as everyone else. To Tom these twenty-first-century D-devices should be offering the same availability to the blind as ATMs and blood pressure meters. A catchy line in his video that we can't get out of our minds: "Do diabetes technology companies have a blind spot?" Great point, Tom. Now we're wondering that ourselves... Before we get to the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit in November, where we can ask vendors that question directly, Tom takes a few minutes to share his story and what's led him to this point in his life: DM: Tom, can you start by sharing your unique diagnosis story? TL: Actually my diabetes story consists of one diagnosis after another. I developed diabetes when I was seven, lost my vision from diabetic retinopathy during my senior year of high school, experienced both kidney failure and a successful kidney transplant while in college, and developed mild gastroparesis in my mid-twenties. Thankfully my heart, hands, and feet are great. DM: What was it like being diagnosed so young? TL: I think my T1D [type 1 diabetes] diagnosis story is typical. I first learned that I had diabetes in July 1974. During that spring my second-grade teacher complained to my parents that I was leaving class frequently to go to the bathroom. The first time I recall realizing something was wrong was during a family day trip to Toledo Bend. I was incredibly thirsty. I can remember gulping down large glasses of lemonade and still being thirsty. I had to ask my dad to stop the car several times so I could go to the bathroom. Of course it was summertime in Shreveport, Louisiana, so no one was surprised or concerned about my thirst. But my parents noticed my dramatic weight loss. They could literally see my ribs. Finally, I was so weak, tired, and nauseous that I could hardly move, so my parents took me to the emergency room. By then I was in ketoacidosis; my blood sugar was 550 mg/dL. Back then diabetes management was rather minimal. My pediatrician's goal was that I never experience hypoglycemia. I would go to the pediatrician twice a year for glucose testing and insulin adjustment, and I monitored my urine daily for sugar. I never experienced low blood sugar as a child. DM: You mentioned in your video that you are completely blind and that your wife has low vision. Can you tell us more about how your blindness affects your life with diabetes? TL: Blindness doesn't really change the tasks one does. Rather it changes how one goes about accomplishing them. I have a wonderful family life and professional career because I got the training I needed to succeed as a blind person. Shortly after losing my sight, I received world-class blindness rehabilitation from the Louisiana Center for the Blind. There I developed the inner confidence and practical skills of blindness, skills like Braille literacy and independent cane travel. These allow me to live a full and productive life. I have a challenging and rewarding career as a business analyst at UPS. I am married and have two children. I met my wife Eileen at the National Federation of the Blind annual convention. She was born blind but has low vision. Together we work on diabetes and disability rights advocacy and consult on the development of the only completely accessible and affordable glucose meter for the blind-the Prodigy Voice. In my video I explain some of the challenges blind diabetics face. In diabetes self-management the biggest obstacle I have is insufficient access to information. For example, consider food labels. When I need to calculate carbs, I either have to have someone read a food label to me, or I need to check an online resource using assistive technology like an accessible computer or my VoiceOver-enabled iPhone. (DM Editor's Note: Eileen also submitted a great video for the Patient Voices Contest, but alas, we could only choose one from the family.) DM: Besides the Prodigy, are there other good diabetes tools designed for the blind? TL: Most diabetes technology is not particularly accessible to blind users. Sometimes I can access a limited set of features nonvisually. But, so far the Prodigy is the only meter I can use. For dosing insulin there are a number of accessible methods for those not using a pump. Insulin pens are accessible, and there are gadgets that allow blind people to fill insulin syringes from a vial. Consider my insulin pump. I can't use the meter remote for my pump because it is not accessible. I have learned to change my pump set independently: I can prime the pump, use the audio bolus features, and even suspend my pump. But I need a sighted person to change my basal rates, set a temporary basal, use the built-in bolus calculator, determine IOB (insulin on board), check the battery status, read error messages, figure out how much insulin remains in the cartridge, or take anything other than a simple bolus without sighted assistance. Basically the advanced features that make pumps so wonderful are not accessible to me. The same goes for my CGM. I can insert and start the sensor. I can hear the alarms, so I can take action when I rise above or sink below targeted ranges. However, I cannot independently enter the twice daily calibration BG readings. Nor can I access my current CGM BG reading or determine if my numbers are rising or falling. Nor can I enter events into the CGM (ate 25g, exercised, etc.) or access any of the trend graphs without sighted assistance. DM: There have been some exciting new advancements in diabetes technology overall, like the iBGStar, which you received. What did you think of the iBGStar? TL: I think the iBGStar is a brilliant innovation. I gave mine to my eleven-year-old son, JonCarlos, who developed diabetes when he was four years old. (Like other parents with diabetes I watched for diabetes symptoms like a hawk, so we caught his diabetes fairly quickly.) He loves the meter because of the coolness factor. He also likes the app for logging his numbers. DM: How accessible is the iBGStar for you? TL: So far the iBGStar is not particularly accessible to blind users, but it has great potential. Obviously I cannot use the iBGStar at all as a standalone device. I did, however, test the iBGStar for several days in conjunction with my CGM. The iPhone has built-in accessibility features such as VoiceOver, so with enough persistence I was able to test my BG with the meter when it was attached to the phone. I was also able to enter some data into the meter when it was connected to my iPhone, but as a blind person I found the meter rather tedious to use. The interface for the iBGStar iPhone app leaves much to be desired in usability for someone using the iPhone's accessibility features. However, these are likely software barriers that an accessibility consultant could help the company effectively address quite quickly and cost-effectively. DM: What kind of diabetes device would help you the most as someone with vision loss? TL: Like most every other diabetic, I am looking forward to using the artificial pancreas currently under development. As a blind diabetic I long for equal access to the same state-of-the-art technologies sighted diabetics are using and will use in the future. In my mind, separate is not equal. The only cost-effective way to create access for everyone is to build it into the products as they are developed. This principal is called "universal design." One great example of universal design is the iPhone. Every single iPhone comes with built-in accessibility features that can be activated right out of the box. Now all iPhone users can activate accessibility features whenever they encounter a temporary or permanent visual disability. This should be the case for all diabetes technology too. Accessible diabetes technology is sorely needed. The sad truth is that diabetes is still a leading cause of blindness, and, as the incidence of diabetes soars, so does the incidence of diabetes-related vision loss. Moreover, as the population ages, the incidence of vision loss from other conditions also grows. It is clear the world needs diabetes technologies that everyone can use. DM: What are you most excited about going in to the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit? TL: It seems as though the feedback from PWDs is very important to the Summit attendees from industry and government. And it also appears as though there may be people in attendance with the power to influence decisions. If this is true, then I'm excited to be able to tell our story, with the hope that positive change will happen. Blind diabetes advocates have shared our stories for decades with industry representatives in sales and marketing at national diabetes events, but, although the reps listen, nothing has ever changed. The chance to talk directly to decision-makers is truly exciting. DM: What would you most like to see the Summit achieve? TL: I have now been blind from diabetes for around thirty years. During all this time I, and thousands of other blind and low-vision diabetics, have never had access to the diabetes innovations available to other diabetics. For decades we have been advocating for equal access to diabetes treatments. Our hope is that my participation will help persuade decision-makers to commit to ensuring equal access to care for all blind diabetics. This means that we would have access to the same technological advancements everyone else gets to use and have them at the same time. We are tired of feeling like second-class citizens. DM: We couldn't agree more, Tom! We are excited to have you as a part of the Summit and look forward to hearing more about universal design. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Steve Dumaine] Equal Access for the Blind: Airfares, Hotels, Cruises--Savings with Travelocity by Steve Dumaine >From the Editor: Steve Dumaine is senior vice president of global strategy and product innovation at Travelocity Global. He addressed the national convention on Wednesday afternoon, July 4, 2012, and pledged to partner with the NFB to see that the travel experiences of blind people are as good as those for the sighted, beginning with booking and continuing throughout the trip. As advertised on NFB lists earlier in the year, the company offered convention-goers a promotion code good until September. The code is no longer valid, but the gesture was meaningful enough that it has been left in these remarks. Here is what Steve Dumaine said: On behalf of Travelocity's twenty-seven hundred employees around the world and the four hundred and fifty based here in our DFW headquarters, welcome to North Texas. Thanks to all of you for spending your Independence Day with us here at the Anatole, one of Dallas's premiere convention hotels. Like the NFB, Travelocity is fortunate to count Hilton as a partner, and we've really enjoyed the atmosphere here and appreciate the attentiveness of the Hilton team. Over the next few minutes I'm going to tell you a few stories. My overarching objective with this opportunity today is to share with you why our team believes travel is such a foundational element, and we want everyone to have the opportunity to play a role in its ecosystem. At Travelocity, simply stated, we believe everyone deserves life-enriching travel experiences. Having spent my career in the military and in the travel industry, I've had the good fortune to see the world over. So I want to begin with a personal story of what travel means to me. Back in 1999 my son, who was eight years old at the time, and I backpacked across Indonesia. Many of you know that Indonesia is an archipelago, and our plan was to work our way over land and water from the island of Tamar to the island of Komodo, which is famous for its Komodo dragons. This island is, however, very remote. We had reached a place called Lara Tuba, which is on the far end of the island, just to the east of Komodo Island. In planning the trip, I had looked at the map, and it appeared to be approximately sixteen miles by bus to our next stop. I had interpreted this as a relatively short ride, a couple of hours at most. The once-daily bus was scheduled to depart at 8:00 a.m., and so we arrived at the bus stop, and we waited. Then we waited, and then we waited some more. Finally a bus that looked like something pulled right out of the movie Back to the Future pulled up. The bus, as it were, appeared to be a Winnebago with cutouts for windows and a steel bar exoskeleton. We piled in and were able to get the last two seats in the back. The bus was packed with locals, and we were seated next to the live chickens. Now, after picking us up, the bus circled around town, picking up more passengers, who were climbing on that steel bar exoskeleton. Our lesson that morning was that in Indonesia the bus leaves when it's full, not when it's scheduled. As we left town, the driver picked out a cassette tape-hopefully some of you will remember what those are-and popped it into the player, and this is what we heard: "I'm a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world; Life in plastic, it's fantastic," a Danish pop band called Aqua with their big hit, "Barbie." Needless to say, dance pop music was not part of my expectations for the trip. While we felt like we were riding in the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine, as the ride progressed, we met three Dutch nationals who had been traveling in Indonesia for several months, and we made fast friends. For the rest of our trek they taught us a lot about how to navigate the country, and to this day my son and I fondly remember that ride, a sixty- mile ride that incidentally took more than twelve hours due to road conditions. So this anecdote encapsulates much of what we believe at Travelocity. First, travel opens doors to unforgettable experiences. We like to say that life isn't about acquiring possessions; it's about collecting memories. Every day we help millions of customers connect with thousands of travel suppliers so that our customers can have new experiences and collect new memories. Second, the Travelocity team firmly believes travel is an inalienable right. Everyone, regardless of circumstances, should have the opportunity to experience something as unforgettable as riding a bus across Indonesia. [Applause] Third, we acknowledge that travel can be very challenging, and being able to take advantage of others' expertise can improve the experience. At Travelocity we live these beliefs every day by being the traveler's trusted guide. It revolves around a philosophy deeply ingrained in our company's DNA. We aspire to be the customer's champion twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. As a traveler's trusted guide Travelocity empowers its customer service team to make it easy for shoppers to find the right trip that's right for them at any time. We market this through our Travelocity guaranty, but I can assure you that this is not just some slickly worded ad copy. Rather, it is something that every one of our employees around the world believes is part of the job. A couple of proof points for your consideration: Travelocity ranks number one in 2012 among its peers in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The ACSI survey showed that Travelocity led the pack in quality, loyalty, and expectations. Travelocity is a full- service travel agency and not just a website. We are staffed twenty- four/seven with experts on hand to help customers book their dream vacations to destinations like Las Vegas; Orlando, Florida; New York; Mexico; the Caribbean; and Hawaii. So how do we personify this? Several examples come to mind. As you know, we are currently in the throes of hurricane season. Each year these storms wreak havoc with the travel plans of thousands of our customers who book summer vacations to the Caribbean, Mexico, and the Gulf Coast. When these storms pop up, we don't wait for those affected to come to us for help with their travel plans. We instead take it upon ourselves to contact them proactively and advise them of their options. For some no action is required. For others it may be more complex and involve changes to flights, hotels, and/or car reservations. Anyone who has ever travelled knows that such a sequence of events can cause headaches. What we've learned, however, is that, when we anticipate our customers' needs in such times, the headaches are far less severe. Of course some situations test our ability to go above and beyond the call of duty. I am sure all of you will recall the tragedy involving the cruise ship Costa Concordia near the island of Giglio in Italy earlier this year. Sadly, not only were the travel dreams of thousands thrown into complete and utter disarray, lives were lost. We had two of our customers traveling together on the Concordia who made it off the ship safely and ended up in Paris following the accident. Our customer care team tracked them down and found out that they had reached the City of Lights with nothing. At that point our team on the ground in Paris stepped in and delivered a thousand Euros to help cover any short-term expenses. We also contacted the hotel where they were staying and gave them authorization to charge meals and other sundries. Needless to say, our customers were very thankful for the assistance we provided. Once they had regained their bearings, they actually continued their tour of Europe. [Applause] While we know our future success will be grounded in excellent customer service, we also know that part of being a great retailer means offering competitive pricing and great deals. As a traveler's trusted guide, Travelocity makes it easy for shoppers to find the trip that's right for them and at the best value. There are several ways we do this. First, Travelocity guarantees that customers will not find lower prices anywhere else, and, if they do, the company will refund the difference and provide the customer with a $50 promo code for a future booking. Booking a dynamic flight plus a hotel vacation package with Travelocity can save customers up to $525 compared to booking the flight and the hotel separately, while also giving them added convenience and flexibility. With Travelocity's top secret hotels, consumers can save up to 55 percent off three- to five-star hotels. Above and beyond everyday great deals, I have a special exclusive deal for all of you here today. [Applause] Between now and September 4 we are offering the three thousand attendees of the NFB conference a special promo code for $200 off a three- night flight and hotel vacation package. You'll want to take note of this. The code is NFB2012. It can be entered in at checkout. If you have any questions about the code, feel free to let me or another Travelocity team member know. Remember, it's redeemable for a three-night flight, hotel, and vacation package, $200 off, and the code expires September 4 [2012]. We hope that many of you can take advantage of this offer. [Applause] Hopefully you now have a better idea of why I am here today, why members of my team have been attending sessions here at the Anatole over the past few days, and why we deemed it important to engage with the NFB in such a meaningful way. We are passionate about travel, and we want everyone to be able to enrich their lives through its wide lens. Making travel fully accessible is completely consistent with these values. You see, we want the amazing experience of travel to be accessible and available to everyone, whether young or old, sighted or not sighted. With that, I'd like to give an update on our Road to Accessibility full disclosure. When we first started working with the NFB in 2011, our site wasn't accessible. While we're not quite where we want to be, we have made significant progress, and we are very close to becoming fully accessible, unlike the other major online travel companies. Throughout the entire process we've worked hand in hand with Dr. Maurer, Anne Taylor, and the entire NFB staff. In just eighteen months we have transformed Travelocity. I am proud to say that Travelocity is the only major online travel company and one of the first e-commerce companies committed to making its website fully accessible to blind people. [Applause] Our project started with the simple milestone to ensure that our home page and each of the home pages for our major travel services, particularly hotels, flights, and vacation packages, were accessible. We completed that effort last year, but then the real work began. We spent the first half of this year making our hotel, vacation package, and flights paths accessible, from the time you search, all the way through to the booking. Our site is a large and complex one, and the project called for us to change hundreds of web pages. Additionally, Travelocity has an accessibility coordinator who reports directly to me and an accessibility committee in place within our company so that it receives the constant attention that it deserves from key stakeholders. Finally, and in my opinion, most important, a wide range of our team members in customer service, technology, and design have undergone hours of accessibility training. Many of them have been here at the conference this week. But we still have more work to do. As we head into the second half of the year, here is what we are planning to achieve. As I speak, we're in the midst of completing and releasing accessibility changes to our site. Once those changes are in place, we anticipate that our hotel, vacation package, and flight shopping will offer an accessible path for you to plan and book your next vacation using screen readers. So, if you are thinking about travelling this summer or over the Labor Day weekend at the end of summer, please think about shopping at Travelocity, and don't forget about that $200 promo code. [Applause] Our next milestone calls for cruise shopping and booking to be accessible by the end of 2012, just in time for the beginning of next season's wave season when the cruise lines offer up their best deals of the year. We also plan to have our other high-traffic transactional and promotional pages accessible in that same timeframe. Again, when all the work is completed, we will be the first and only online travel company to make its site fully accessible to blind people. [Applause] I hope you find all these developments as exciting as we do. Before I wrap up, I thought you'd like to know that our work with the NFB is making an impact on our team. Here's a quote from Fernando, one of our developers: "After listening and learning in more detail about the aspects of travel that worry or impede blind travelers or travelers with low vision, I understand now how many different things can make travel feel difficult or take the enjoyment out of the experience. There are so many more factors that blind people need to account for when going through each of the steps to plan, book, and take a trip. The best thing we at Travelocity can do is to make the booking process as easy and fast as possible. I don't think I would have really understood this had I not attended the conference this week. Up until now I didn't really have a good sense of the different people who wanted to use our site. This week has definitely changed my perspective and will help my work on this important project moving forward." [Applause] I want to reiterate that we would not be where we are today without the collaborative spirit of our counterparts at the NFB. They have provided an immense amount of feedback and direction on matters like testing tools, coding best practices, and even implementation solutions. Working so closely with them has made us better and of course helped solidify our commitment to accessibility. As evidence of our commitment, I have some additional breaking news for you. First, as a token of our goodwill, we are giving away a hotel stay in Miami at tomorrow's banquet, so be sure and make it. [Applause] Second, Travelocity will be a platinum sponsor at next year's conference in Orlando. [Applause] We will have a team onsite, providing a series of training workshops and break-out sessions for conference attendees. [Applause] We look forward to demonstrating our site to the NFB members next year when the entire site is accessible. I'll leave you with three points. First, we realize that accessibility for Travelocity's site is a journey, not a destination, and we've committed to making that journey. We're making travel accessible to everyone and look forward to maintaining a strong partnership with the NFB. We would love your feedback on our site, so feel free to contact us at . Second, a reminder that you have two months to use the promo code NFB2012 to save up to $200 when you book a three-night flight plus a hotel vacation package with us. Finally, should you ever need to catch a bus in rural Indonesia, remember the bus will depart when it's full, not when it's scheduled. [Applause] ---------- Court Orders DCA to Accept Prisoner's Braille Filing by Jan Pudlow, senior editor >From the Editor: This article is reprinted with permission from the Florida Bar News, where it appeared on September 15, 2012. The fight for Braille frequently occurs in schools, sometimes in libraries, and sometimes in businesses and other places where the public is invited. Readers will find this most interesting; perhaps it portends a wider acceptance of Braille by government at the local, state, and federal levels. It doesn't matter if he's a blind guy locked in prison for life with a penchant for papering the court with pro se filings. He still has the right to equal access to the courts, like anyone else. In this case that means the clerk of the Fourth District Court of Appeal should have accepted his letter in Braille, rather than simply writing on a form: "We are unable to accept your Braille correspondence." That's what a unanimous Florida Supreme Court said in a recent decision in Demetrio R. Gabriele v. State of Florida (Case No.: SC09-993) when it held Gabriele was entitled to mandamus relief. The quietly released unpublished opinion, ending more than three years of litigation, was discovered by Miami disability rights attorney Matthew Dietz while doing research on cases under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.540. "This was so brand new. I thought, 'Oh, my God! This is great how the court gave it a huge boost by saying this is not only the rule, but also essential to due process. It's something that we should be proud of. All of the [participating] justices put their names on this decision, which gave it more of a directive that the court was not going to tolerate the denial of due process,' " Dietz said. At the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, Director of Public Relations Christopher Danielsen said, "I would say it's very unusual for a court to do this and not something we would demand as a blanket rule." But, with a pro se litigant stuck in prison, Danielsen said, "His reading and writing medium is Braille, and he doesn't have a way to get his pleadings to court in print, then it is a pretty important accommodation." Gabriele's case was handled pro bono by Stephen Senn and Timothy Kiley of Peterson & Myers in Lakeland. "Access to the courts is what it's all about," said Senn, a member of the Florida Bar's Appellate Practice Section. "The Florida Supreme Court did what the Fourth DCA should have: they found somebody who could translate the Braille and interpreted it as a writ of mandamus to require the DCA to accept his Braille filings." At first the pro bono appellate lawyers met with resistance from the Attorney General's Office, who called their client a pesky liar who should be disciplined in prison. "Gabriele has misrepresented his need for accommodations to this court. Gabriele's own hand-written filings have been accepted by the Fourth District Court of Appeals for over twenty-five years. The Fourth District appropriately rejected Gabriele's attempt to amuse himself and inconvenience the court through the use of Braille filings," Special Counsel Lisa Raleigh wrote in the attorney general's response. "Gabriele requires no accommodation to access the courts, and, even if he did, the law does not require the exact accommodation requested by Gabriele. It is sufficient that the courts accept his hand-written pleadings." Raleigh argued, "the most appropriate remedy is to both request discipline by the Department of Corrections and to bar further unrepresented litigation." But, as Senn and Kiley were able to show through DOC records, Gabriele's eyesight had worsened over time to the point he was deemed "legally blind" in 2007, and prescription glasses provide no help. His most effective way to communicate is by using a Braille typewriter, they said. "Simply because Mr. Gabriele can, with difficulty and using large-lined paper, scrawl out a letter, he is not thereby barred from protection of the ADA," Senn and Kiley wrote in court documents. The AG's office eventually stipulated that Gabriele is indeed blind. "Because he is incarcerated in state prison, Mr. Gabriele cannot seek other forms of accommodation, such as voice-recognition computer software or other technological accessories," Senn and Kiley wrote in their amended petition for writ of mandamus. "His ability to be heard rests substantially upon the Fourth DCA's acceptance without prejudice of his Braille documents." The Florida Supreme Court agreed. "The substantive merit or lack of merit in the petitioner's underlying claim does not determine the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] analysis," the justices said. "The Fourth District has refused to provide the petitioner with an accommodation as mandated by the ADA and the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration.... The petitioner has no remedy available other than to petition this court for relief." Because the Supreme Court had accepted jurisdiction, it exercised its discretion also to address the substantive merits of Gabriele's post- conviction claims, and denied relief. "Therefore, we withhold issuance of the writ because we have resolved this case on the merits and trust the Fourth District Court of Appeal will fully comply with the dictates of this order when presented with similar situations in the future," wrote Chief Justice Ricky Polston, with Justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, Jorge Labarga, and James E.C. Perry concurring. Kiley, a member of the Bar's Young Lawyers Division, called the ruling fair but not surprising. "I don't think it came as a tremendous surprise, given the court's focus on accommodation issues lately. Justice Lewis spent a lot of time talking about this issue. And Florida's courts have shown an interest that persons with disabilities have access, particularly since the move to electronic filing," Kiley said. "I think the Supreme Court sent a little bit of a message to the courts in Florida--really, any court in Florida--to take these things seriously." ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Chelsea Cook] Bitten by the Space Bug by Chelsea Cook >From the Editor: Chelsea Cook is a blind college student living in Virginia. She read testimony in Braille which was presented to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and a number of his colleagues. She has long been fascinated by space travel and in this delightful article explains how she came to be bitten by the space bug and what she is doing to make space travel for her and other blind people possible. Before getting to her article, let's get to know some of the real and fictional characters she mentions. Noreen Grice is an author who has worked to make many objects viewable using only telescope images made touchable for blind people. Jimmy Neutron is a cartoon character featured on the Nickelodeon Television Network. He is a boy genius, but his intellect doesn't make him popular. With this background, enjoy what Chelsea has to say: Jimmy was about to go on another adventure. Without his parents' permission. In a homemade rocket. To a galaxy no human had ever visited. And I was coming with him. To my ten-year-old mind, there was nothing more thrilling than watching Jimmy Neutron. Even without audio description I could still follow enough to be infatuated with the idea that a fictional boy genius the same age as I was could accomplish all these amazing feats. He didn't always fit in, so I could relate to him. His sheer boldness and confidence inspired and showed me that with hard work I could do just as well in math and science. But, most important, he showed me I could go to the stars. Certainly most kids have the fantasy when they are young of becoming an astronaut. That dream never died for me. At the same time that Jimmy was rocketing around town and galaxy, I picked up Noreen Grice's Touch the Stars II, and read about Kent Cullers, the first blind radio astronomer. As the Braille graphics whisked me off to the constellations, planets, galaxies, and star clusters, it dawned on me that a career in some sort of astronomical field was no longer just a childhood dream. It could become reality--and had for other blind people. I thought, "If he could do that, so could I." Now I had to work to join those ranks. Once I was bitten by the space bug, it wouldn't let go. I attended NASA workshops for youth, dragging my parents to Saturday morning lectures about Mars, impact craters, and the basic characteristics of flight. I took advanced math in fifth grade, catapulting me into algebra for seventh and eighth. I couldn't get enough of the sciences surrounding astronomy. When the Braille eighth-grade science physics and chemistry book was ordered instead of the seventh-grade biology one, I let no one know that I sneaked three volumes out every weekend, devouring under the covers the inner workings of laser technology and neutron stars. I found a way to get my hands on every book that Noreen Grice produced. When I entered high school, I used to joke that my idea of spending a perfect Friday night was to stay up late watching Discovery Channel documentaries about black holes and dark matter or to surf the NASA website when my parents had gone to bed and the pages loaded quickly. Most of my science education was self-driven. I had to fight to take Advanced Placement calculus and physics my senior year. People thought I was an amazing blind person for wanting to go into a scientific field. How great it was that I wanted to learn these hard, abstract concepts that sighted peers would have no idea about. But it was much more than that: a drive and a thirst for knowledge propelled me. I am convinced that early Braille reading was the catalyst for all my other adventures. Jimmy Neutron and Noreen Grice came along at just the right time to spark my love of math and science. For the longest time I thought I would combine astronomy and chemistry...until I took physics in tenth grade. My teacher expected nothing less from me than any other student, though he would give me a fair advantage. Every demonstration we did, I got my hands dirty: pushing bowling balls up for pendulums, having graphs drawn into my hand, playing with slinkies to simulate wave properties, being rolled around in a swivel chair to appreciate negative acceleration. I loved physics so much and felt its absence in junior year so greatly that I had to listen to calculus- based lectures on the Internet. I could generally follow what the professors were saying and would get in a few problems at the lunch table. Even though I hadn't had formal training in calculus, physics, which was connected to astronomy, was all I cared about. Then came my Sweet Sixteen. Most girls want a party, or boys, or (for the sighted folks), a car. I really didn't know what I wanted, but what I got was beyond anything I could have expected. The NFB national convention was in Dallas that year, and my mom had dismissed the idea of going to Houston early on, so I was not expecting a recording from her on my birthday: "We have a problem. The tickets aren't for Dallas. You're going to Houston!" For two days I toured the Johnson Space Center campus, but another surprise was coming my way. I had a private tour, and one place we visited was Mission Control. This was not a glassed-in view, nor one from a movie or photograph. This was the actual room used from 1965 to 1995 to control all of America's space missions. Astronauts of all eras, flight controllers of all competencies, and flight directors of all ranks had stood and sat where I currently occupied the universe for the better part of twenty minutes. "Awe- inspiring" was too weak a word to describe the flood of overpowering emotion that took hold while I stood in that large, all-encompassing chamber. I sank down in front of one of the work stations, the cushion accepting that a new occupant had come along. Still not believing my circumstances, I looked out over the darkened consoles to the giant black screen at the front of the room, imagining controllers filling every one of these seats. I thought of myself in Gene Kranz's position and wondered if I had a right to fill his enormous shoes. I had heard his voice many times over the years (Apollo 13 is my favorite mission), but I couldn't fathom the fact that I was actually sitting in his chair. Now I am in college, pursuing my dreams for real. Freshman year totaled four astronomy courses and a space survey course. I am currently in an astrophysics sequence. I have Braille math and physics books, readers well versed in their fields, and professors who understand that I can learn the material; sometimes all it takes is a different way of presenting. But the connections and influences made when I was ten are still present. I have all five of Noreen Grice's books sitting on my shelf at Virginia Tech, and I have many megabytes on my computer devoted to the boy genius with the ice-cream hairdo (think dipped cone on top of large head). I still listen to his soundtrack when solving especially difficult calculus or physics problems; something about that carefree time when I first realized anything is possible helps the answer come. And I always dream of that day when I will no longer be bound by Earth's gravity; I will be in a place where the scope of the universe is as limitless as my imagination. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Patti Chang introduces scholarship recipients at the 2012 NFB Convention banquet.] The Secret to Winning a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship by Patti S. Gregory-Chang >From the Editor: Patti Greggory-Chang chairs the NFB's scholarship committee. She is herself a past scholarship winner. Here is what she has to say about applying for NFB scholarships: Let me begin with the exciting announcement of a brand new scholarship donated by Oracle. Students can apply for the Oracle Scholarship using the same process as they do for our other twenty-nine scholarships. Special thanks go to Oracle for its belief in blind students. Each July at our national convention the National Federation of the Blind gives a broad array of scholarships to recognize achievement by blind scholars. We offer thirty scholarships ranging in value from $3,000 to our $12,000 Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship, which is the largest. The NFB Scholarship Program is our investment in the future of blind people who demonstrate scholastic aptitude, leadership, and service. I encourage every blind college student to apply. I am sometimes asked what the secret is to winning an NFB scholarship. I am going to tell you the secret. First of all, applicants must meet the eligibility requirements to receive a scholarship. All applicants for these scholarships must be legally blind; must reside in one of our fifty states, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico; must be pursuing or planning to pursue a full- time postsecondary course of study in a degree program at an accredited United States institution in the fall of the 2013-2014 academic year; and, if chosen, must participate in the entire NFB national convention and in all scheduled scholarship activities. Many think the key to becoming a winner is a high grade-point average. Others believe it is based on participation in extracurricular activities. Still others think it is one's level of commitment to the NFB. While grade- point average is important because it demonstrates the ability to learn and be successful academically, it is not the only attribute that influences the scholarship committee. Participation in extracurricular activities is important in portraying oneself as a well-rounded person; it is not sufficient in itself to justify a scholarship award. Committed members of the organization recognize the attributes that are important to committee members when determining who wins a scholarship. The scholarship program is a tremendous tool for us to develop future leaders of the National Federation of the Blind, but scholarship awards are not restricted to members of the organization. The National Federation of the Blind is an organization dedicated to creating opportunity for all blind people. To that end, recipients of NFB scholarships need not be members of the National Federation of the Blind. Many of our past winners were not even aware of the NFB before they applied for our scholarships. When you check the records for past winners, you will see that students of all ages and in widely differing fields have won over the years. The class of 2012 included students entering their freshman year on up to older students who were nearly ready to write their PhD dissertations. The winners of 2012 are currently working toward credentials for employment in diverse fields. There is truly only one way to win an NFB scholarship, and that's to apply. Each November the new, updated scholarship application form is posted on the web at along with important information about the contest, links to information on past winners, and a page of frequently asked questions. The application form for 2013 is already online. It will remain up until March 31st, 2013. The process can be initiated with an online application, which we prefer, or students can ask for a print application by contacting our scholarship office at or (410) 659-9314, ext. 2415. A complete application consists of the official application form and a student essay (limited to 700 words or less), plus these supporting documents: student transcripts, two letters of recommendation, and proof of legal blindness. The student must also complete an interview with the affiliate president of the applicant's state of residence or the state where he or she will be attending school. High school seniors must also include a copy of the results of their ACT, SAT, or other college entrance examinations. Unfortunately, some applications are incomplete, so the committee is unable to consider them fairly. Applicants should be sure to provide all the requested information along with supporting documentation to our scholarship office either online by midnight March 31, 2013, EST, or by mail postmarked by March 31, 2013. They should carefully consider who can do the best job of writing their letters of reference. Letters should support the application by being full of facts and observations that will help the members of the committee see the applicant as a smart, active student and citizen. Students can write their essays using word-processing software. They should remember to use the spell checker (or a human proofreader) before uploading, printing, or copying and pasting it into the online application form. In an effective essay the applicant will talk about his or her life in a way that gives the committee insight into him or her. The essay should cover the ways in which one lives successfully as a blind person and describe one's personal goals for the future. Information about positions of leadership is especially helpful. Committee members give the essay a great deal of attention. The NFB scholarship committee is comprised of dedicated, successful blind people who will review all applications and select the top thirty applicants as the scholarship class of 2013. Note that students submit just one application to the program; the scholarship committee will choose the thirty winners from all applications received. These thirty scholarship winners will be notified of their selection by telephone no later than June 1. Finally, during the annual convention from July 1 through July 6, 2013, in Orlando the scholarship committee will decide which award will be presented to each winner. Attending the entire NFB national convention is one of the requirements to become an NFB scholarship winner. Of course attending the convention with our financial assistance is also a significant part of the prize. This is the largest gathering of blind people to occur anywhere in the nation each year, with 2,500 or more people registered. Those chosen as scholarship recipients will have the opportunity to network with other blind students, to exchange information and ideas, and to meet and talk with hundreds of blind people who are successfully functioning in many, many occupations and professions. Our past winners often comment that the money was quickly spent, but the contacts they made and the information they gathered at convention have continued to make their lives richer than they ever imagined. Often students apply more than once before winning a scholarship, so applicants are encouraged to reapply. The NFB may award three or even more scholarships to men and women who have already received one Federation scholarship in the past if enough strong and worthy candidates apply. Individuals receiving a second NFB national scholarship are recognized as tenBroek Fellows. The secret, if there is one, to winning an NFB scholarship is to read carefully the application on our website and then provide all of the required information and supporting documentation before the deadline of March 31, 2013. However, I actually maintain that there is no secret. The only way to win an NFB scholarship is to apply. ---------- [GRAPHIC/DESCRIPTION: A formal place setting, complete with placecard bearing the Whozit logo and the words, "Miss Whozit."] Ask Miss Whozit >From the Editor: From time to time Miss Whozit answers reader questions about etiquette and good manners, particularly as they involve blindness. If you would like to pose a question to Miss Whozit, you can send it to the attention of Gary Wunder, 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, or email me at . I will pass the questions along. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Here are the most recent letters Miss Whozit has received: Dear Miss Whozit, I am a sociable fellow, but I feel overwhelmed in a loud crowd. I've occasionally tried the bars, but the noise is so loud that conversing is a major effort, no matter how much or little I drink. My hearing is good, but pulling out the conversation from the background noise is difficult. How can I more fully participate in the after-work celebrations and feel included? Eager to Join in Dear Eager, Miss Whozit sympathizes with your problem. The truth is that most sighted people in loud bars do a lot of lip reading in order to follow the conversation. This is one reason why you will find that most blind people avoid loud social scenes whenever possible. The solutions are no secret. The most obvious one is to attach yourself to a group planning to go to the party or bar, and be sure to do your share of standing rounds. It is easy to commandeer someone to go with you to the bar to help carry drinks back since you obviously have to use one hand for the cane or dog harness. This will help you return to your table efficiently. If a large group of your acquaintances is together at a bar, do your best to find a couple of interesting people to hang with at the tables. You may decide that getting to know folks at a bar is a good way for you to strike up friendships. If so, give some thought to choosing a bar without loud music, perhaps even one with carpeting or acoustical tiles to absorb the noise. Then return frequently enough to get to know the clientele and the layout of the room. In this way you will get to know voices and move around confidently. If you are at ease with the general social situation, others will relax and give themselves a chance to get to know you. ---------- Dear Miss Whozit, In my job attendance at dinner parties is sometimes required. I work in sales and support, so developing relationships is important. The parties our company hosts are meant to provide people like me with a chance to form relationships that inspire trust. As a blind person how can I seek out people with whom to converse? I sometimes walk up to others in conversation, but I am never quite sure when this is socially acceptable and when I may be intruding. How would Miss Whozit conduct herself at such social events, making the most of them as my company intends, but not posing a problem for my coworkers and our current and potential customers? Nervous in New York Dear Nervous, Company dinners can be very different from each other. If someone is organizing the seating, you may be able to speak with him or her about helping you meet the people you need to meet by seating you at the same table. If you discover when you reach the restaurant that a seating chart is posted, grab someone you know to tell you where you have been assigned and who else is seated at the table. When seating is completely unstructured, stake out a place for yourself at a table you like and let other people come to you. To make a social success of such occasions, it is important to practice the rules of social interaction and etiquette: do not encroach on other people's space, which in the U.S. means standing no closer than eighteen inches to two feet from the person with whom you are chatting. Try your best to get the other person to talk about himself or herself. Express interest in what other people are saying. Laugh at their jokes. Respond thoughtfully to their comments. Be prepared with amusing anecdotes of your own or interesting facts or stories that you have heard recently. People who are good listeners are usually thought to be excellent conversationalists. You can acquire such a reputation if you work at it. These skills do not emerge fully developed from your mouth. You must practice the art of conversation, including dealing quickly with and then dismissing questions about blindness. If you make it clear that you are not interested in the topic and substitute something that is engaging or humorous, other people will drop the subject, and you can get on with your effort to get to know them. Miss Whozit has often noticed that conversations in groups that include a blind person frequently focus on blindness. She suspects that the sighted people presume that the blind person has no other interests and the blind person stays with the topic because he or she is the expert and so feels confident with the subject. Everyone in such groups needs to discover that blind people can and do discuss other topics. ---------- Dear Miss Whozit, I love your columns and wish they appeared more frequently. The problem as I see it is that you don't get enough thoughtful questions from readers. How can I help? Straw Man in Stratford Dear Straw Man, As you imply, the solution is for readers to sit down and write out their questions and send them to the editor. That is the only way for more columns to appear. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured here are left to right: Jacobus tenBroek; Jacob Fried; Russell Kletzing; and Kenneth Jernigan. Dr. Jacob Freid is holding the Newel Perry Award certificate. Photo taken 1963.] Newel Perry: Teacher of Youth and Leader of Men Address by Professor Jacobus tenBroek at a Memorial Convocation for Dr. Newel Perry at the California School for the Blind, Berkeley, March 25, 1961 >From the Editor: Last month the Braille Monitor concluded the serialization of an oral interview with Dr. Newel Perry. It seems fitting to follow this with the eulogy for Dr. Perry which was delivered by Dr. Jacobus tenBroek. Here is his tribute. I come before you today--indeed we are all gathered here--to discharge a public duty and to honor a private debt. Newel Perry was a public figure. To us he was also a personal friend. We can appraise his public contribution. We can only acknowledge our private obligation and personal attachment. We can detail his public record, define his influential role, itemize his accomplishments, recount his deeds, enumerate his statutes, specify his doctrines, disentangle the elements of his social philosophy, identify the general and the institutional fruits of his life's work, analyze and psychoanalyze the personality traits that made him a leader. Upon the life we shared, we can only dwell in memory, sifting through the loose meshes of the mind the hours, the days, the nights, the months, the years of our common experience; the fears, the travails, the aspirations, the laughter that were ours together. We were his students, his family, his intimates, his comrades on a thousand battlefronts of a social movement. We slept in his house, ate at his table, learned geometry at his desk, walked the streets interminably by his side, moved forward on the strength of his optimism and confidence. The boundless devotion to him of his wife Lillie (to whom he was married from 1912 until her death in 1935) spilled over onto us to balm our institution-starved spirits, to lighten with gentle affection the bewilderment of our eccentricity and the unnatural confinement of our segregation. Upon a later generation of us, after the death of Lillie, the same bounty was conferred in her turn by his sister Emma Burnham, who lived with Doctor during the last twenty-one years of his life. As a forward youngster of twelve, who made so bold as to address him as "Doc," I was once thrown out of a class by Doctor with such a lecture as still rings in my ears. As a somewhat older youngster still forward but now also bored by the slow pace and the unimaginative techniques of high school, I was expelled by him altogether for incorrigible recalcitrance. Eventually, despite these unpromising beginnings, I did graduate from high school. With plenty of ambition but no money I prepared to enter the university. At that point I was denied state aid to the blind, a program then newly instituted as a result of Doctor's efforts in sponsoring a constitutional amendment and a comprehensive statute. The reason was not that my need was not great. It was that I intended to pursue a higher education while I was being supported by the state. That was too much for the administrative officials. Almost without discussion, Doctor immediately filled the gap. Just as Warring Wilkinson had earlier done for him, he supplied me with tuition and living expenses out of his own pocket for a semester while we all fought to reverse the decision of the state aid officials. It was ever thus with Doctor. The key to his great influence with blind students was, first of all, the fact that he was blind and therefore understood their problems and, second, that he believed in them and made his faith manifest. He provided the only sure foundation of true rapport: knowledge on our part that he was genuinely interested in our welfare. Aside from these immediate personal benefactions, there were three habits of life--one might almost say three elements of personality--which I formed out of his teaching and example when I was an adolescent in his charge. First, an attitude toward my blindness, a conception that it is basically unimportant in the important affairs of life. A physical nuisance, yes. A topic of unembarrassed conversation, a subject of loud questions by small children in the street as you pass, certainly. But not something which shapes one's nature, which determines his career, which affects his usefulness or happiness. Second, a basic assumption that sighted people generally have boundless good will toward the blind and an utterly false conception of the consequences of blindness. It is their misconception about its nature which creates the social and economic handicap of blindness. Third, public activity as a rule of life, a sense of responsibility to exert personal effort to improve the lot of others. While I was still a lad in my teens, I was attending meetings and doing work that Doctor assigned me in the blind movement. He was a social reformer. He made me one too. Through participation with him, these attitudes and practices became habits of my life. So deeply instilled were they that they have remained ever after an almost automatic behavioral pattern--potent and often governing factors in my outlook and activity. Mature reflection in later years could only confirm through reason what his influence had so surely wrought in my youth. It is altogether fitting that we should hold this memorial convocation at the California School for the Blind. It was here that Newel Perry came in 1883 as a ten-year-old boy--penniless, blind, his father dead, his home dissolved. Two years earlier he had lost his sight and nearly his life as the result of a case of poison oak, which caused his eyeballs to swell until they burst and which held him in a coma for a month. It was here at the school that Warring Wilkinson first met and took an interest in him, laying the basis for future years of intimate relationship and mutual endeavor. Warring Wilkinson was the first principal of the California State School for the Deaf and the Blind. He served in that capacity for forty-four years, from 1865 to 1909. With his characteristic interest in his charges, he soon saw young Newel's full potentiality. He sent him from here to Berkeley High School to complete his secondary education. It was he who overcame the numerous obstacles to this arrangement, so fruitful in its understanding of education and of the needs of the blind. Newel continued to live here at the school while he attended the University of California from 1892 to 1896. Again admission had to be secured over strong resistance. Again Wilkinson was the pathfinder, Newel his willing and anxious instrument. Wilkinson's role in Newel's life as a youth can hardly be overestimated: father, teacher, guide, supporter-in Newel's own words, "dear Governor." As this institution was not only the school but the home of his boyhood and the foundation of his manhood, so sixteen years later, in 1912, at the age of thirty-nine, Newel Perry returned here to take up his permanent career as a teacher. He remained in that post until 1947-a third of a century. It was here that his life's work was accomplished. It was from this place as a base that he organized and conducted a movement for social reform. It was here that many of us first met him as his students. It was here that his impact upon us first made itself felt. It was here that our lifelong association with him began. How often in these halls have we heard his footsteps? How often in this chamber, his voice? The sound of those footsteps and that voice have now gone from the world as a physical reality. How often hereafter will they continue to sound in the halls and chambers of our lives? In the years between departure from the school in 1896 and return to it in 1912, Newel Perry devoted himself to further education and to the search for an academic job. He took graduate work at the University of California, meanwhile serving successively as an unpaid teaching fellow, a paid assistant, and finally an instructor in the department of mathematics. In 1900, following a general custom of that day, he went to Europe to continue his studies. He did this for a time at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and then at the University of Munich in Germany. From the latter he secured the degree of doctor of philosophy in mathematics with highest honors in 1901. He lingered in Europe for a time, traveling and writing an article on a mathematical topic which was published in a learned journal. He then returned to the United States in 1902, landing in New York, where he was to remain until 1912. He had about eighty dollars in capital, a first-class and highly specialized education, and all the physical, mental, and personal prerequisites for a productive career, save one, visual acuity. During this period he supported himself precariously as a private coach of university mathematics students. He applied himself also to the search for a university position. He had begun the process by mail from Europe even before he secured his PhD. He now continued the process on the ground in New York. He displayed the most relentless energy. He employed every imaginable technique. He wrote letters in profusion. In 1905 he wrote to five-hundred institutions of every size and character. He distributed his dissertation and published articles. He haunted meetings of mathematicians. He visited his friends in the profession. He enlisted the aid of his teachers. He called on everybody and anybody having the remotest connection with his goal. Everywhere the outcome was the same. Only the form varied. Some expressed astonishment at what he had accomplished. Some expressed interest. One of these seemed genuine-he had a blind brother-in-law who, he said, was a whiz at math. Some showed indifference, now and then masked behind polite phrases. Some said there were no vacancies. Some said his application would be filed for future reference. One said-ironically, "as an encouragement to men who labor under disadvantages and who may learn from it how much may be accomplished through resolution and industry." Some averred that he probably could succeed in teaching at somebody else's college. Many said outright that they believed a blind man could not teach mathematics. Many of these rejections were, of course, perfectly proper. Many were not. Their authors candidly gave the reason as blindness. We know about this period of Newel Perry's life from reports of contemporaries or near contemporaries such as Hugh Buckingham, a student at the school from 1896 to 1900 during Doctor's absence, who has prepared a manuscript about Doctor's boyhood and youth. We know about it from what Doctor told many of us in later years. But we know about it in all its poignancy, desolation, and bleakness from Newel Perry's own intimate accounts written at the time to his old mentor and true friend, Warring Wilkinson. These accounts, with copies of many of the letters of rejection, have been preserved by the Wilkinson family through the intervening years. In the last two weeks they have been opened to my inspection by Wilkinson's granddaughter, Florence Richardson Wyckoff, who is here with us today. I have dwelt on this period and these experiences for several reasons. They reflect, they accurately portray, a phase of all of our lives as blind people. In fact, thirty-five years later I personally received identical letters from many of these same institutions. It was almost as if a secretary had been set to copying Doctor's file, only changing the signatures and the name of the addressee. Yet great progress has been made. Many of us are now teaching at colleges and universities around the country and filling many other jobs hitherto closed to us. Doctor Perry's reaction to this decade of defeat and privation was remarkable. He did not break. He did not resign. He did not even become embittered. Discouragement, frustration, a sense of wrong and injustice, certainly these; but never collapse. He was not licked. We see in these bitter years of hunger and rejection the source of true knowledge about the real problems of the blind and an ineradicable determination to do something about them. Here was a mainspring of social reform, an ever- flowing motivation to redirect public attitudes and actions toward the blind. To this was added the thrust of an active and restless disposition and the wit to perceive remedies and adapt them to the need. Out of these elements of mind, personality, and experience were compounded the public career of Newel Perry; and out of these elements also were constructed the programs the initiation of which made that career publicly significant. First of all the distress of poverty must be relieved. The necessities of life must be available. The minimum essentials must be assured. So much in some way had been provided in the Anglo- American system for three centuries before Newel Perry faced near starvation and economic exclusion in New York City. The Elizabethan poor laws did it in one way. County direct relief, instituted in California in 1901, did it in another. The almshouse and the county hospital and poor farm did it in still other ways. At the very minimum it had to be done better. It should be done by a system of cash grants, adequate in amount to maintain standards of decency and health, receivable upon fixed and uniform standards of eligibility, made generally applicable by state participation and control, and expendable by the recipient through a free exercise of self-management and consumption choice. To bring this about, however, prohibitions in the state constitution would have to be removed by the arduous process of a people's amendment, an organic statute would have to be lobbied through the state legislature, faithful administration would somehow have to be secured. Year by year and session by session into the indefinite future, the myriad minor corrections and major improvements made necessary by time and disclosed by experience would have to be worked through the legislature and the administration. And so indeed it came to pass in California. Secondly, much more had to be done than merely relieve the distress of poverty. Security is a necessity. As an unmixed blessing, however, it is a stultifying concept. An indispensable ingredient of any welfare system is opportunity. One of the objects of public aid must be to stimulate and enable people to become independent of it. Accordingly, their initiative must not be hemmed in. The means of productive activity must not be withdrawn or denied. Independence of action and self-reliance must be encouraged. Legal liability of relatives must be relaxed so as not to spread poverty, increase dependence, and disrupt family life. Economic resources, reasonable amounts of real and personal property, must be devotable to plans for self-support instead of being required to be consumed in meeting daily needs. Incentive to earn must be constructed out of retention of the benefits of earning. And this too presently came to pass in California. The new system took cognizance of the need of the blind for adjustments on the social and psychological as well as the physical level. It permitted and encouraged them to strive to render themselves self- supporting. It applied the democratic principle of individual dignity to an underprivileged class of American citizens. It guaranteed them a fair measure of independence and self-respect in the conduct of their lives. The California system, the Newel Perry system, was thus far in advance of its time. It is still envied and emulated throughout the nation. Thirdly, the reintegration of the blind into society on a basis of full and equal membership could only be achieved if they had a chance to earn their daily bread as others do in the community. Accordingly, action must be taken to eliminate restrictive barriers and legal discriminations. The main channels of opportunity must be swept clear of artificial and irrational obstructions. The public service, private employment, the common callings, the ordinary trades and occupations, the professions must be rescued from arbitrary exclusions based on blindness when blindness is not a factor bearing on competence and performance. Doctor was a prime mover in securing legal, constitutional, and other provisions which protect the right of the blind to enter a number of professions; forbid arbitrary discriminations against us in the state civil service and in secondary teaching; enable blind college students to pursue their studies with the aid of sighted readers hired by the state; bring the blind in an ever- increasing stream into the colleges and universities of the state and thence into the higher callings. These achievements-legal, social, economic, and political-have been the fruits at once of Dr. Perry's leadership and of the collective self- organization of the blind which that leadership engendered. More than any other person it was Doctor who implanted and nurtured among the blind of California the sense of common cause, the spirit of collaborative effort in seeking solutions to our problems. More than any other person it was he who taught us that the blind can and must lead the blind, and the sighted too, when dealing with the problems of the blind. More than any other person it was he who made us aware that to go on unorganized was to remain disorganized, that only through concerted action can the blind hope to convert and enlist the power of government and to defeat the thoughtless tyranny of public prejudice and opportune ignorance. Newel Perry was a teacher: a teacher of subject matter and a teacher of men. He taught his specialty of mathematics and taught it very well indeed; but he taught his pupils even better. To be sure, not all the students who came his way during his thirty-five years on this campus were wholly inspired by him. His personality was vigorous and his standards rigorous. But for many of us who attended the school during those three and one-half decades, it was Dr. Perry who furnished the impetus and incentive, the goad and the goal, that would light our later lives and nourish our careers. Our bond with him was not broken when our schooldays ended. We went on to become his comrades and colleagues in the cause which was always his true vocation. Newel Perry was, in short, both a teacher of youth and a leader of men. These two roles were not, however, quite separate. For the secret of his success in both of them lay in this: that his teaching was a kind of leadership, and his leadership a kind of teaching. In his pedagogical method as well as his social purpose Doctor was thoroughly Socratic. His classroom manner was essentially that of the Platonic dialogue: dialectical, inquiring, insistently logical, and incessantly prodding. In this Socratic combination also lies, I think, the secret of Doctor's success as the leader of a social movement. Just as in the classroom he taught his students by leading them, so as the pioneer of the organized blind movement he led his followers by teaching them. His power, like that of all leaders, rested in the last analysis upon persuasion. His triumphs, however, were not the product of oratorical or literary skill, although he had a notable gift for trenchant and incisive phrasing, the epigrammatic thrust which distills the essence of a complex issue. His persuasive power was not that of the demagogue but of the pedagogue. And it was not only his followers who learned from him. He educated the blind people of the state to an awareness of their capabilities as individuals and of their powers as a group. He educated the legislators in the state capitol by dint of dogged, relentless, well-nigh incorrigible campaigns of persuasion carried on year after year and decade after decade. He educated the general public, by his preachment and his example, to regard the blind not in the traditional terms of charity and custody but in the realistic terms of normality and equality. And, most of all, in his role as leader Newel Perry educated, indoctrinated, and persuaded a distinguished group of cohorts to join him in carrying on the struggle and carrying out its goals. Those whom Doctor gathered around him were other blind men and women, mostly former students, whose special talents and professional positions uniquely supplemented his. Raymond Henderson: By profession an attorney, self-taught, by preoccupation a reformer, with poetry in his soul and literature in his stylus. Born in 1881, he attended this school from 1889 through high school and continued to live here until his graduation from the University of California in 1904. He practiced his profession in Bakersfield, California, from his admission to the bar until his death in 1945. Raymond came to the organized blind movement in his maturity from a long background of experience in other causes. He brought to it a notable array of personal abilities, a high degree of professional skill, a fine spirit of humanity, and the enrichment of wide and intensive activity. Leslie Schlingheyde: Also by profession an attorney, gentle and religious by disposition, practical rather than reflective in frame of mind, with a brilliant academic record and a liberal outlook. He was born in 1893, attended this school from 1906 to 1913, and thus came under Doctor's influence in the year of his graduation. He received a J.D. from the law school of the University of California in 1920 and from that time until his death in 1957 practiced his profession in Modesto, California, and served the blind movement all over the state. It was Raymond Henderson and Leslie Schlingheyde who were primarily responsible for handling cases in court, for preparing innumerable legal briefs and arguments, for drafting projected bills and constitutional amendments, for continuous legal counsel during the insurgent and formative years. They were in a real sense the legal arm of the organized blind movement. Ernest Crowley: Again by profession an attorney but distinguished for his service in another arena. He kept a law office open in Fairfield-Suisun from the time of his graduation from the University of California Law School in 1923 until his death in 1952. To him, however, the law was only a necessary and not a particularly attractive means of earning a living. His law office was a cover for his real love and active life-the practice of politics. He was born in 1896 and attended this school from 1910 to 1916. He was thus under Doctor's tutelage as a student for four years. His significant contribution was made as a member of the state legislature from 1928 to 1952. It was he who introduced and skillfully maneuvered through to passage the memorable bills which are now the statutory landmarks of our movement. In a very real sense he was the legislative spokesman and arm of the movement. Perry Sundquist: Social worker and public administrator by profession, bringing to his work a sympathetic personality, an unshakable faith in blind people, and skillful management of administrative techniques and devices. He was born in 1904 and attended this school from 1918 to 1922. For exactly twenty years now he has been chief of the division for the blind in the state department of social welfare. During those two decades he has translated the principles of the organized blind movement into concrete administrative action, from legislative parchment into practical reality. Under his direction programs for the blind have multiplied and prospered, services have been expanded, and their benefits spread. Most important of all, the working philosophy of the movement has been transformed into a working practice. In a very real sense he has been the effective administrative arm of the movement. Through the years this little band grew in numbers and evolved in normal structure. It formed the nucleus of the California Council for the Blind, which came into being in 1934 with Doctor Perry as its first president. For nineteen productive years, until his retirement in 1953 at the age of eighty, Doctor forged and shaped the Council on the anvil of his own will into an instrument larger and more formidable but essentially similar to the informal group from which it originated. Doctor's social vision in the field of blind welfare outdistanced his time and placed him in the advance guard of thought and planning. His liberality on these matters gains rather than loses in significance when it is placed alongside his broader attitudes toward politics and human affairs; for, in matters unrelated to the blind, Doctor was fully an heir of the nineteenth century, conservative, even reactionary by nature, often inflexible and not without a touch of old-fashioned nationalist- imperialism. When it came to the cause to which he was most committed, he was far less a Victorian than a Utopian, less a standpatter than a restless progressive in search of new horizons. How shall we sum up a man's life? How capture the essential quality of a human career? How convey the inward meaning, the imponderable and intangible qualities of will and heart and spirit? There are the vital statistics. But they are more statistical than vital. All that they can tell us of a man is that he was born, he lived, he loved, he died. For Newel Perry we must amend the litany at least this much: he lived, and he brought new life to many; he loved, and he was beloved; he died, and he will not be forgotten. On the day following the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Walter Lippmann wrote some words about him which might also stand as an epitaph to the leader and comrade whom we honor today: "The man must die in his appointed time. He must carry away with him the magic of his presence and that personal mastery of affairs which no man, however gifted by nature, can acquire except in the relentless struggle with evil and blind chance. Then comes the proof of whether his work will endure, and the test of how well he led his people.... The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on." ----------- An Appeal from the Past by Anna Kresmer >From the Editor: The following is another in our series of historical documents in the Jacobus tenBroek Library collection. Since November of 2010 the Braille Monitor has featured a series of special items from the archives at the Jacobus tenBroek Library. These have included documents as varied as Thurgood Marshall's 1953 letter to NFB founder Jacobus tenBroek, Federationist Margaret Warren's newsy letter to current President Marc Maurer in 1981, and most recently an endearing letter from a beloved guide dog in 1976 to past President Kenneth Jernigan. Each of these items provides a unique look into the history of the NFB, and each survives to this day because someone sent them to the archives. As a result the tenBroek Library is one of the leading resources on the organized blind movement in twentieth-century America and is undeniably the best resource on the history of the National Federation of the Blind. Unfortunately, there are some gaps in our records. For decades the NFB Records Center, which was the predecessor of the archives here at the tenBroek Library, dutifully preserved the interactions between the national headquarters and NFB affiliates across the country. However, no effort was made systematically to collect the records that document the grassroots activities of affiliates and chapters until 2009. As a result pieces of state- and chapter-level history have been lost. But with your help we can begin to fill in some of the missing pieces. The archives at the Jacobus tenBroek Library are committed to preserving the history of the NFB at all levels. Whether your files are from 1955 or 2010, if you have newsletters, announcements, meeting minutes, or significant correspondence that documents the history of your state affiliate or chapter, we ask that you contribute them to the NFB institutional records. Help us to ensure that the legacy of the Federation is well documented for future generations. Please contact NFB Archivist Anna Kresmer at or call (410) 659-9314, ext. 2310, for more information. The NFB has always been conscious of its place in history, so gathering and preserving its records and those of its affiliates is nothing new. This awareness is evident in Dr. tenBroek's plea to NFB state historians in this letter from 1955. In hopes of publishing a comprehensive history of the NFB and the organized blind movement in time for the twentieth anniversary convention in 1960, he turned to Federationists for help. Sadly, the late 1950s proved to be a turbulent time for the NFB, and this book was not published, but the importance of tenBroek's request is still applicable today. Here is what he wrote: THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND Office of the President March 28, 1955 2652 Shasta Road Berkeley 8, California CIRCULAR LETTER TO ALL STATE HISTORIANS Dear Friend: The following is intended to indicate the general scope of the state history and the character of data and materials to be collected for use in connection with the preparation of an over-all history of the National Federation of the Blind. At this early stage of the development of the project, it is of course impossible to tell just how the state histories will be incorporated into the final work. It is believed therefore that we should prepare as complete state histories as possible and, after that has been done and other work on the over-all history has been completed, to determine how much state history to include and how to integrate it into the total work. Each state historian should therefore: 1. Collect, write up, and send to me general data about the state affiliate. When was it formed? What were then and what are now its purposes and activities? What changes has it undergone during the years of its existence? What programs has it carried out? Who have been the leading personalities in it? 2. What has been the history of the development of public and private programs for the blind in your state? Indicate what those public and private programs are, where they have been instituted, what their progress has been, what their objectives are, and the extent to which they have achieved those objectives. In the case of public programs indicate the statutes upon which they are based and the important changes made in those statutes from time to time. Mark out the role of the state affiliate in relationship to those public and private programs and agencies. Which ones did they fight? Which ones did they agree with? Which ones came into existence as a result of their efforts? What impact have they had? 3. Obviously, information bearing upon the subjects listed under 1 and 2 can be gathered from a number of sources. Some of it exists within your own knowledge and experience. Some of it can be collected by personal conversations with other blind persons in the movement or other persons in the community. Still more of it, however, must be dug out of the documentary record. It is essential that you verify all information to the greatest possible extent. Dig through the files of the affiliate. Secure access to letters and correspondence of persons who have engaged in the movement or in other programs over the years. If there are several versions of various events, set them all down, giving your evaluation of each and the source of your information about them. 4. As you collect this information, write it down, and send it to me along with as many supporting documents as you can lay your hands on. I will go over the material you sent me from time to time and write you suggesting areas that need verification, gaps that need filling, and additional lines of inquiry that should be pursued. It is expected that this work will take a good deal of time. We have therefore set as a general target date for the production of the final work the twentieth anniversary of the National Federation of the Blind, namely 1960. It is necessary, however, to begin collection of data immediately if we are to do a thorough-going and solid historical job. The project has exciting possibilities. If successfully carried out, it will be not only the history of the blind movement in this country but the history of blindness in recent times in this country. It will reveal in ways which cannot be refuted the character of the democratic impulse which lies behind the claims of self-determination by the blind and which supports our organizations. It will be a public educational instrument which can be drawn upon to meet all sorts of Federation needs. It will above all tell the story of the accomplishments which the blind themselves have wrought. Cordially yours, Jacobus tenBroek President ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Allen Harris] Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris >From the Editor: Allen Harris chairs the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund committee. He has an important announcement for those who would like to attend this year's national convention but find themselves short of funds. This is what he says: The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund is looking for individuals who can use some financial assistance to attend our national convention in Orlando, Florida. At the 2012 convention in Dallas we were able to assist sixty-three people. In 2013 our convention will begin on Monday, July 1, and run through Saturday, July 6. The convention is a day shorter than you might expect, ending with the banquet Saturday evening. Who is eligible to receive a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? If you are a member of the National Federation of the Blind who has not yet attended a national convention, you are eligible to apply. What do I have to do to apply for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? You must do the following and are responsible for meeting these application requirements: 1. Each individual who applies for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship must write a letter to the selection committee. You will send your letter of application to your NFB state affiliate president. A list of state presidents is posted on the NFB website . He or she will forward your completed application, along with his or her recommendation, to the committee at . You and your state president should make contact by telephone so that he or she is well aware of your financial need and your wish to attend the convention in Orlando. If you have questions, you may also send a message to the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship chairman by addressing your email to the scholarship submission email address. 2. You must write a letter to the Kenneth Jernigan Fund committee expressing the reasons why you want a scholarship. Describe your participation in the Federation and what you think you would contribute and receive at the convention. 3. You must register for and attend the entire convention, including the banquet. What else must I do to insure that my application will be considered? We must have all of the following information: 1. Your full name 2. Your address 3. Your telephone numbers (home, business, and cell) 4. Your email address (if you have one) 5. Your state president's name and the name of your local chapter, if you attend one. All applications must be received by April 15, 2013. How do I get my scholarship funds? You will get a debit card at the convention loaded with the amount of your scholarship award. The times and locations to pick up your debit card will be listed in the notice you receive if you are a scholarship winner. The committee is not able to provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state affiliate to assist you by advancing funds you can pay back when you receive your scholarship. When will I know if I have been selected as a Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship winner? The committee makes every effort to notify scholarship winners by May 15, but you must do several things to be prepared to attend if you are chosen: 1. Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from attending, you can cancel your reservation. 2. You will receive a letter with the convention details which should answer many of your questions. It is also helpful to find a mentor from your chapter or affiliate to act as a friend and advisor during the convention. Although you will not know officially whether or not you have been selected until mid-May, you must make plans to attend and then adjust your arrangements accordingly. Last summer in Dallas the Jernigan Fund scholarship committee awarded sixty-three Kenneth Jernigan Scholarships. Grants ranged from $400 to $500. The amount we can give will depend on the funds available; we attempt to award additional funds to families. You can include in your letter to the committee any special circumstances which the committee may choose to take into consideration. Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first convention and join several thousand other blind Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. If you have questions or need additional information, call Allen Harris at (205) 520-9979 or email him at . We look forward to seeing you in Orlando. ___ Recipes This month's recipes are offered by members of the NFB of Kentucky. Barbecued Pork Chops by Denise Franklin Denise Franklin has been an active member of the NFB for forty years and has served on the board of the NFB of Greater Louisville in various offices during that time. She is currently secretary of the chapter and a member of the NFB of Kentucky board of directors. She says that she firmly believes that the best recipes are the simple ones that make people think you've been working in the kitchen for hours. These two recipes are examples of that type. Ingredients: 6 pork chops 1 tablespoon oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/3 cup celery, chopped 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce Salt and pepper to taste Method: In a large skillet with a tight lid, brown chops in oil over medium heat for five minutes on each side. Pour off fat. Sprinkle celery, brown sugar, lemon juice, and dry mustard over chops. Pour tomato sauce over all and add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour until chops are tender. ----------- Creamy Corn Scallop by Denise Franklin Ingredients: 1 can condensed cream of celery, chicken, or mushroom soup 1 tablespoon onion, minced Dash of pepper 1 can whole kernel corn, drained 1 cup soda crackers, crumbled 2 tablespoons butter or margarine Method: Combine soup, onion, and pepper. In a one-quart casserole arrange alternate layers of corn, soup mixture, and cracker crumbs. Dot with butter and bake open at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve immediately. ---------- Hanky Pankies by Nickie Pearl Nickie Pearl lives in Louisville. She is a lifelong NFB member, thanks to her mother, Cathy Jackson, NFB of Kentucky president and member of the national board of directors. She served as Greater Louisville chapter president for five years and in other board positions for another five years. Nickie reports that she enjoys working for the greater good of blind people and striving to change what it means to be blind. She offers recipes for an appetizer and a dessert although her husband could make a meal of the appetizers! Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef 1 pound sausage meat 1/2 log of Velveeta cheese 2 teaspoons dried oregano 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper 2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 loaf cocktail rye bread Method: Cook ground beef and sausage separately. After meat is cooked and drained, combine in a large mixing bowl. Add the oregano, crushed red pepper, and garlic powder to meat and toss together well. Cut Velveeta cheese in small cubes and place in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave carefully to melt. Once cheese is melted, pour it over meat mixture. Thoroughly combine the cheese and meat. I use my hands for this step, but please note that the cheese can be very hot, so be careful. Now it's time to build the hanky pankies. Place the desired amount of meat and cheese mixture on a slice of cocktail rye bread. I use about two full tablespoons on each slice. Place the open-face sandwiches on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven for ten to twelve minutes. These little treats are still good the next day warmed up again in the oven. ----------- Caramel Apple Salad by Nickie Pearl Ingredients: 8 ounces cream cheese 8 ounces sour cream 16 ounces whipped topping 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 8 to 12 apples 2 to 3 cups seedless grapes Raisins and pecans, optional Method: Combine the sour cream and cream cheese. Dice apples to a desired size and cut grapes in half. Mix the brown sugar with the cream cheese and sour cream. Add the apple, grapes, and optional ingredients to that mixture. Finally fold the whipped topping into the apple mixture. Chill and serve. ---------- Pimento Cheese by Joan Balot Joan Balot, longtime member of the Louisville Chapter of the NFB of Kentucky, is famous for her culinary talents. She is known around the state of Kentucky for her pimento cheese. Ingredients: 1/2 cup Miracle Whip 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 pounds Velveeta 8 ounces cream cheese 8 ounces pimentos, drained and chopped 10 sweet pickles, chopped fine Method: Bring all cheese to room temperature. Combine cheese, chopped pimento, and pickles and mix well. Add mayo and Miracle Whip and whip until completely incorporated. Spoon into serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until ready to use. Spread will be most flavorful if served at room temperature. ---------- Mom's Fresh Apple Cake by Denise Bourne Carnes Denise is a longtime member of the NFB of Kentucky. Her parents are founding members of the Louisville Chapter. Ingredients: 2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cup oil 3 eggs 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup chopped pecans 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups self-rising flour 1 cup dates, chopped 3 cups apples, peeled and diced Method: Cream oil and sugar together. Fold in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Mix together flour, cinnamon, dates, and pecans and then stir them into the creamed mixture. Fold in apples. Batter will be thick, but juice from the apples will thin the batter as it cooks. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Pour in the batter and bake one hour at 325 degrees. Note: coating dates and pecans with flour keeps them from settling to the bottom of the cake. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family National Federation of the Blind Congratulates Dr. Fredric K. Schroeder: The National Federation of the Blind recently announced that Dr. Fredric K. Schroeder has been elected as first vice president of the World Blind Union (WBU). Dr. Schroeder, who also serves as first vice president of the NFB, was elected to the position at the Eighth General Assembly of the World Blind Union, recently held in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We congratulate our longtime friend, colleague, and leader Fred Schroeder on his election as first vice president of the World Blind Union. Fred will bring invaluable skill, experience, and knowledge to the many challenges faced by blind people throughout the world, as he has done so capably for blind Americans throughout his career." Dr. Schroeder said: "I am honored to have the opportunity to represent the blind of the United States within the World Blind Union, and I look forward to helping to advance the WBU's important agenda to improve the lives of blind people across the globe. I thank the members of the WBU for placing their trust and confidence in me." Dr. Schroeder has a long and distinguished career in service to the blind. He served as the first executive director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind. His success in making its rehabilitation and employment programs the most successful in the country led to his appointment in 1994 by President Bill Clinton as commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) in the United States Department of Education. Following his service as RSA commissioner, he joined the faculty of the Interwork Institute at San Diego State University. He now works as a research professor specializing in leadership and public policy in vocational rehabilitation and also serves as president of the Virginia affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. [PHOTO CAPTION: Joe Money, January 15, 1950, to November 5, 2012] In Memoriam: With deep regret we report the death following a massive heart attack of Indiana Federationist Joe Money. He was a deeply committed member of the NFB of Indiana for forty years. For six years he served as affiliate president, and current Indiana President Ron Brown reports that at one time or another he held just about every other affiliate office. Joe was a Randolph-Sheppard vendor who was always actively working in the legislature. Single-handedly he fought for and obtained funds for NFB- NEWSLINE in Indiana. He worked on the Braille bill and many other pieces of state legislation, and he missed only two Washington Seminars. Joe quietly worked for the NFB, wherever the work took him. He helped members of the Federation family physically or financially whenever he saw a need. We offer our deepest sympathy to Joe's wife Debbie and his affiliate family. Elected: On October 27, 2012, the National Federation of the Blind of Maine elected its new board of directors. Elected were president, Leon Proctor Jr.; first vice president, Patricia C. Estes; second vice president, Roger Cusson; secretary, Faith Armstrong; treasurer, Curtis (Skip) Estes; and board members, David Van Wickler, Lee Ann Nelson, and Walter Woitesek. Pennies for Pages: Support Braille Literacy: The National Association of Blind Students (NABS) is proud to be holding our fourth annual Pennies for Pages fundraiser to support Braille literacy. Students and supporters from across the country are reading in the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest and soliciting donations for pages read. If you haven't yet had the chance to support a reader, it's not too late. Please go to the following URL and make a pledge for pages read or a fixed donation to the state or student of your choice: . We can accept credit cards, checks through postal mail, or cash in person at the Washington Seminar. Your donation of any amount will go a long way toward helping NABS to carry out the important work of the Federation. If you have any questions, please contact NABS President Sean Whalen at or by calling (608) 332-4147. We are extremely grateful to all who have donated or will donate. 2013 NFB Writing Contest: The annual youth and adult writing contests sponsored by the Writers' Division of the NFB opened January 1 and will close April 1. Adult contests, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and stories for youth are open to all entrants eighteen years of age and over. The youth writing contests, poetry and fiction, are to promote Braille literacy and excellence in creative writing. Entries will be judged on creativity and quality of Braille. The age groups for these authors is divided into grade levels: elementary, middle school, and high school. Prizes for contest winners range up to $100 in adult categories and up to $30 in youth categories. All contest winners will be announced at the Writers' Division business meeting during the NFB national convention to be held in Orlando, Florida, the first week of July, 2013. In addition, shortly after convention a list of winners will appear on the Writers' Division website, . First-, second-, and third-place winners in each category will be considered for publication in the Writers' Division magazine, Slate & Style. For additional contest details and submission guidelines consult the Writers' Division website. 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. Message of Hope Ministry: Unity's Message of Hope ministry, serving the blind and visually impaired, has the following products and services available free of charge: 1. "Daily Word" in Braille--bimonthly, one Braille volume. 2. "Daily Word" on CD. Two CD's, bimonthly. 3. A virtual library of downloadable Braille Unity publications, available free of charge to anyone with access to a computer, Braille notetaker, or digital Talking Book player at 4. An audiobook lending library. Contains Unity publications on audiocassette and CD. To request a catalog, call (866) 421-3066 or email . 5. Hardcopy Braille book lending library. Unity publications in Braille. To request a catalog, call (866) 421-3066, message us on Facebook at or email . Visit the Message of Hope Facebook page at: to stay updated on new books and other materials that become available in our various accessible libraries. Visit the Message of Hope website at . News from the Braille Authority of North America (BANA): BANA circulated the following press release in November 2012: BANA Adopts Unified English Braille (UEB) for United States On November 2, 2012, the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) set a new course for the future of Braille in the United States when it adopted Unified English Braille (UEB). The motion, which passed decisively, specifies that UEB will eventually replace the current English Braille American Edition and that the U.S. will retain the Nemeth Code for mathematics and science notation. The transition to UEB will not be immediate and will follow a carefully crafted timeline. Implementation plans will be formulated with the input and participation of stakeholders from the consumer, education, rehabilitation, transcription, and production communities. Plans will take into consideration the various aspects of creating, teaching, learning, and using Braille in a wide variety of settings. The plans will be designed to provide workable transitions for all involved in Braille use and production and to minimize disruption for current Braille readers. UEB is based on the current literary Braille code and was developed with input from many people, primarily Braille readers, who worked to achieve an optimal balance among key factors including keeping the general- purpose literary code as its base, allowing the addition of new symbols, providing flexibility for change as print changes, reducing the complexity of rules, and allowing greater accuracy in back translation. Letters and numbers will stay the same as they are in the current literary code. There will be some changes to punctuation, but most will remain the same. Some rules for the use of contractions will change. Nine contractions will be eliminated, and some will be used more often. A FAQ providing more detail about changes is available on the BANA website. After implementation the official Braille codes for the United States will be Unified English Braille; Nemeth Code for Mathematics and Science Notation, 1972 Revision and published updates; Music Braille Code, 1997; and the IPA Braille Code, 2008. More detailed information about UEB and the motion that BANA passed can be found on the BANA website at . The Board of BANA consists of appointed representatives from fifteen member organizations of Braille producers, transcribers, teachers, and consumers. The mission and purpose of the Braille Authority of North America are to assure literacy for tactile readers through the standardization of Braille and tactile graphics. BANA promotes and facilitates the use, teaching, and production of Braille. It publishes rules and interprets and renders opinions pertaining to Braille in all existing codes. It deals with codes now in existence or to be developed in the future, in collaboration with other countries using English Braille. In exercising its function and authority, BANA considers the effects of its decisions on other existing Braille codes and formats, the ease of production by various methods, and acceptability to readers. Attention Prospective NASA Student Interns with Disabilities: NASA hopes to increase the number of students with disabilities pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers through our internship programs. NASA has a 2 percent hiring goal for employment of people with disabilities, and internships are a good way to get experience. Students can apply for summer internships now. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, March 15, 2013, and we will begin extending offers to students as early as February 2, 2013. We encourage you to apply early because the best opportunities are likely to be filled quickly, and your likelihood of being selected decreases the longer you wait. You can register for an account and look for internships anytime at the One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI): NASA Internships, Fellowships, and Scholarships (NIFS) at . Summer 2013 internships run for ten weeks for college students and six to eight weeks for high school students, from early/late June through early/mid-August. College students receive a stipend of $6,000 and high school students $1,800. As an intern you are responsible for your own housing. NASA internships for college students are also offered during spring, fall, and year-long sessions. NASA has internships for high school students and for rising freshmen through doctoral students in STEM fields. A rising freshman is a high school student who has been accepted to an accredited institution of higher learning, i.e., a college or university, at the time of the internship. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, with a minimum GPA of 2.8 for college and 3.0 for high school; however, applicants must understand that the competition for internships is keen. High school students must be at least sixteen years old at the time the internship begins. Internships are available at all NASA centers nationwide. Students can submit a completed application whether they apply to an opportunity or not. However, applying to opportunities has the advantage of allowing applicants to be considered by mentors who work in disciplines of interest and at a particular center. Applicants may apply to as many as fifteen posted opportunities. For example, an opportunity having to do with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will be at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland because SDO is located there. Not applying to an opportunity means that prospective interns will be hoping that a mentor happens to read their applications rather than directing their applications to mentors in fields and at centers of interest. Students who are selected for summer internships will receive an offer letter by email sometime after February 1, 2013. They will then have five days to accept or reject the offer through their OSSI: NIFS account. The offer will automatically expire after five days if no action is taken. Please feel free to contact me for more information or help with applying: Kenneth A. Silberman, Esq., U.S. Supreme Court, Maryland, and Patent Bars B.A., M.Eng., J.D., NASA Engineer & Registered Patent Attorney, Office of Education, Code 160, NASA/GSFC, Mailstop 160, Bldg. 28, Rm. N165, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Voice: (301) 286-9281; Fax: (301) 286-1655; Email: Disney's The Lion King and Newsies to Offer New Accessibility Services on Broadway: Supported by funds from the City of New York Theater Subdistrict Council, LDC, and the City of New York, Disney's hit musicals The Lion King and Newsies have joined the Broadway Accessibility/Audience Expansion Initiative, which creates collaboration between producers and accessibility specialists at all stages of production. The Initiative is a partnership between Inclusion in the Arts, a New York-based not-for-profit, and G-PASS, a service company using technology from Sound Associates Inc., in collaboration with Disney Theatrical Productions. This historic initiative provides theater-goers with disabilities a theater experience as complete and captivating as that enjoyed by non-disabled audience members. The services are I-Caption for deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons and D-Scriptive for blind and low-vision patrons. I-Caption, a revolutionary text-based system by Sound Associates Inc., provides the entire script of the show--including character names--as it unfolds in performance, via a handheld polarized video screen. D-Scriptive provides an extremely thorough audio description of a show on a handheld unit for blind and low-vision patrons. Both services are integrated into the show's light and electrical cueing system so that the commentary keeps pace with the action onstage. These services are provided for every performance and evolved from the Infrared Listening System, for which Sound Associates Inc. won a Tony Award in 1979. With the addition of The Lion King and Newsies, Inclusion in the Arts and G-PASS expand access to Broadway audiences of all ages in unprecedented ways. The Initiative is particularly proud to showcase Broadway as a welcoming entertainment option for all family members at every show. New Perkins SMART Brailler? Opens Braille Learning and Teaching to All: Learning to read and write has just become easier for students who are blind, and that process can now smoothly include their teachers, families, and friends. For the first time since Louis Braille created his namesake writing code more than 200 years ago, people who are sighted can instantly understand the tactile reading system used by people who are blind with the new easy-to-use, portable Perkins SMART Brailler. Until now only specialists or those trained to read the configurations of raised dots could understand Braille. Today the SMART Brailler allows a classroom teacher, a parent of a child who is blind, or a sighted classmate to hear and see what is being Brailled instantly with built-in audio and visual output. Perkins Products, a division of Perkins, developed the new device and is ready to ship to schools, rehab centers, and individuals. The Perkins SMART Brailler, from the maker of the world-renowned Perkins Brailler?, provides audio and visual feedback coupled with hardcopy output so that everyone can learn Braille together--students, teachers, parents, and adults losing their vision. The new product enables a student to use Braille more independently. A proprietary electronic device displays large-print and simulated Braille images and provides audio output in English and a range of other languages using Acapela text-to-speech software developed by Perkins Products in conjunction with the American Printing House for the Blind. Perkins Products Vice President and General Manager David Morgan says, "We are convinced that this truly levels the playing field and demystifies the Braille code to allow a shared learning experience for all--student, parent, teacher, friend." For a child who is blind or partially sighted, learning Braille is equivalent to a sighted child learning to write letters and read back words and sentences. The SMART Brailler is unique in its multi-function, multi- sensory output using the standard Braille keyboard. Because the device is built around a next-generation Perkins Brailler, hardcopy Braille is also generated simultaneously. It not only functions as a mechanical Brailler, it allows a student to save and transfer electronic documents via USB and to edit documents. Even more important, with the audio feedback and the screen which displays what is being Brailled, a sighted classmate or parent can work alongside the student. It makes inclusion of students who are blind into mainstream classrooms far more possible than ever before. The SMART Brailler comes with a quick start guide and an audio overview. Free training videos will be available online. See the SMART Brailler in action on YouTube: (90 sec.); for more details: (4 mins.). For more information and to keep abreast of availability of this and other Perkins Products, visit or email . NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Thu Jan 31 19:11:35 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:11:35 -0800 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, February 2013 Message-ID: <201302010311.r113BZeT029580@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 2 February 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Palm-lined drive leading to front entrance to Rosen Centre Hotel] [PHOTO/CAPTION: Members attending the 2012 convention check out the sculptures outside the Gossip Bar] Orlando Site of 2013 NFB Convention The 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Orlando, Florida, July 1-6, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234. The 2013 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $79; and triples and quads, $85. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $90-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before May 28, 2013. The other 50 percent is not refundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2013, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon. Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe; coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award- winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport. The schedule for the 2013 convention is: Monday, July 1 Seminar Day Tuesday, July 2 Registration Day Wednesday, July 3 Board Meeting and Division Day Thursday, July 4 Opening Session Friday, July 5 Business Session Saturday, July 6 Banquet Day and Adjournment Vol. 56, No. 2 February 2013 Contents Illustration: NFB Protest at Amazon Headquarters Information and the Right to Live in the World: The Challenge for the Blind of the Twenty-First Century by Gary Wunder The Braille Symposium: Providing High-Quality Braille Instruction to Blind Children and Adults by Natalie Shaheen My Love Affair with Braille by Sandy Halverson Code Master Methodology for Teaching Braille to Adults by Emily Wharton and Ryan Strunk Beginning with Braille: Challenges and Choices by Anna M. Swenson Teaching English to Blind Immigrants and Refugees by Sharon Monthei Setting up Teachers for Success in Their University Braille Courses: Creating and Maintaining High Standards by Sheila Amato Braille and Technology by Jennifer Dunnam How Braille Saved a Blind Chemist by Henry Wedler Braille and the IPA: Empowering Careers in the Language Sciences by Robert Englebretson Is Braille Still Relevant? by Buddy Brannan Make the Scene in 2013! by Dan Hicks Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris Recipes Monitor Miniatures NFB Protest at Amazon Headquarters On December 12, 2012, blind people from around the nation converged on Seattle to say no to Amazon's plans to place inaccessible electronic reading devices into the K-12 classrooms of the nation. The Kindle, a machine capable of letting people read books, listen to music, and watch movies, is unfortunately not usable by the blind. After years of sharing our expertise and making clear the importance of accessibility for the blind only to have our heartfelt concern fall on deaf corporate ears, the National Federation of the Blind finally took its message to the streets. Though the weather was damp and dreary, the spirits of the blind Americans who assembled were not. Shown here are people with dogs, canes, signs, and a determination to ensure that our blind children who are K-12 students will not be left behind to satisfy Amazon's short-sighted attempts to dominate the electronic book market. [PHOTO CAPTION: Line of protestors carrying signs in the Amazon protest] [PHOTO CAPTION: Gary Wunder] Information and the Right to Live in the World: The Challenge for the Blind of the Twenty-first Century by Gary Wunder To kindle is "to arouse or inspire," a fine name for a product intended to transmit knowledge. But the name makes a promise to some, while denying that promise to others. Several large companies are currently competing for dominance in the marketplace for the distribution of electronic books: who will publish them and in which proprietary formats? Where will people buy them, and what devices will they use to display them? These questions are setting the course for some of the largest technology companies in the United States and the world, and the blind have a major stake in the outcome of the struggle. Amazon is the largest print bookstore in the world; it is also one of the nation's largest retailers, certainly the largest in the online arena. The Kindle is Amazon's device for reading the electronic books it publishes, and, just as it has done in print, the company is trying to become the dominant retailer of electronic books in the format it has developed. The Kindle has gotten favorable notice by the public for several reasons. One is its relatively low cost. Amazon has chosen to sell versions of the Kindle at a loss. The strategy is not unique to the company. Many computer printers are sold at a loss because the company knows it will make a profit on the ink or toner required to use them. Amazon believes it will recover the cost of its book reader as customers purchase Kindle books. The Kindle is also known for the realistic way it displays books. So intent are the designers of e-book readers to emulate the reading of a printed book that turning a page has the look of doing it with paper. So elaborate is this scheme that one can even simulate the wrinkling of a page, a concept completely foreign to the e-book but frequently experienced by the reader of a traditional paper book. To gain and retain market share, Amazon has made a significant effort to enter the public schools. If textbooks and recreational reading in the classroom are made available using a Kindle, children will come to associate the device with the joy of reading in the same way many associate that pleasure with the touch or the smell of a bound volume. Amazon believes so strongly in this strategy that it has not only offered its products to schools at a loss but offered to give Kindles to schools if they will purchase books from the company. So what do blind people have against the Kindle and its introduction into the public schools: in a word, inaccessibility. The Kindle is advertised as having the ability to turn text into speech; Amazon therefore argues that this makes its device and its books accessible. Unfortunately that argument is flawed, and it is the job of the National Federation of the Blind to tell Amazon and the general public why. Since 2009 Kindle has indeed had the ability to speak, but early on it made an agreement with publishers to disable its speech if a publisher requested it be disabled. Authors and publishers argued that the sales of audio books might be diminished if the Kindle could provide narration through its text-to-speech option. Anyone who has heard the quality of synthetic speech and really wants a quality audio experience will understand that this concern has no merit. Even blind people who read using synthetic speech overwhelmingly prefer human narration when it is available, and few sighted people can come to understand the synthetic voices used on handheld devices without hours of exposure and concentration. The second flaw in Amazon's argument that the Kindle is accessible is that the menus used to operate the product do not reliably speak. Before one can read a book, he or she must be able to open the book shelf (the Kindle can also play music and movies), find the desired book, open it, and activate the function to start playing it. Only after these steps can a reader take advantage of the book's contents. But reading, especially reading textbooks, is more involved than starting and stopping narration. A student must be able to review a passage he or she has already read, sometimes examining it sentence by sentence, word by word, and even character by character to determine the spelling of a word. None of these functions can be performed on most versions of the Kindle, and few can be performed on the most current model. To simplify the comparison between the Kindle and other e-book readers on the market, the NFB prepared a chart which lists ten features each device should have and then identifies which of the units being compared can perform that function. The products compared are the Kindle, the iBook, and Blio. In all ten cases the Kindle cannot perform the identified function, while the iBook produced by Apple and Blio, book-reading software that runs on many platforms, can. Since it is the schools that are being asked to embrace the Kindle, each function is connected to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. These are the standards by which students and their schools are evaluated. . The first function is to read character by character. This aids a student in learning grammar, including punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and contractions. A student can also learn word spelling and develop phonetic awareness and decoding skills. . The second function is to read word by word. Using this feature enables a student to dissect sentences to locate phrases, clauses, and modifiers, all of which leads to mastering sentence structure. It allows a student to comprehend word order, to decode sentence meaning, and to appreciate the author's semantic and cultural nuances. . The third function is to use a built-in dictionary. Use of a dictionary built into a reader gives the student the tools to learn grade-level vocabulary as well as identify synonyms and antonyms or resolve issues of complex or contested word use. . The fourth function is to use a built-in encyclopedia. To have access to an encyclopedia while reading encourages a student to explore surrounding issues while reading as well as to develop essential age- appropriate research skills. This in turn encourages the student to become digitally literate. . The fifth function is to allow the student to highlight text. This allows a student to select text for closer inspection (e.g., main ideas, comparisons, and contrasts). Without this function a student cannot mark specific text to return to at a later time, such as when researching. . Following closely is function six, the ability to make notes. Being able to take notes in the text allows a student to make connections between or within texts. Note taking can also be used as a reading- retention strategy. . The seventh function is the ability to connect to a Braille display. This function converts reading from a passive to an active skill. It also allows deaf-blind students to access the material. . Function eight is to navigate the table of contents and select sections to read. This function allows a student to keep up with classmates, achieve understanding of a book and its layout, and use the book for study or research. . The ninth function is closely tied to the eighth, because it is the ability to find a specific text and navigate directly to it. This allows a student to locate references and key words and skim text effectively, and it increases overall comprehension of the text. . The tenth function is to bookmark in order to navigate to specific, nonconsecutive pages. This function is crucial if students are to follow teacher directions to find passages or locate relevant information for essay assignments. It is also necessary for older students who need to cite appropriate pages when writing research papers. There you have the comparison, but wait: Amazon advances another argument to support the use of its books in the public schools. It has developed software called Whispercast that will allow its books to be read on other devices such as the popular iDevices from Apple and the Android devices from Google. The pitch is "Let the students bring their own devices," a bonus to the schools who won't have to buy them. Since Android and iOS devices have been built with accessibility for the blind in mind, one might assume that the inaccessible Kindle e-books would be accessible when transferred by Whispercast to one of these, but the sad truth is that they are not. After years of discussion between the National Federation of the Blind and Amazon, meetings characterized by promises of access soon to come and subsequent releases of devices that still did not talk or allow access with refreshable Braille devices, last fall the Federation decided it was time to act. Marketing a book-reading device that the blind couldn't use was bad enough given how easily computing devices can be made to talk and work with Braille displays, but pushing to get them into our nation's schools crossed a line that the blind dared not ignore. On December 5, 2012, we paid to publish an ad in the magazine Education Week. The goal was to reach teachers and school administrators and remind them that both the Department of Justice and the Department of Education have jointly written and signed a letter saying that devices used in K-12 schools must be usable by blind students and staff. We wrote and distributed press releases with the same message. Keeping the promise we made in the release, on December 12, 2012, nearly a hundred Federationists and supporters took our message to Amazon headquarters in Seattle by carrying signs and shouting chants to make it clear that blind people will not stand for technological inequality for our children and will not let Amazon turn our schools into places where blind people go to observe passively while others read, write, and learn. Here is the press release issued before the Amazon protest in Seattle. National Federation of the Blind Condemns Amazon's Push to Put Kindle E- books in Schools Blind Americans Will Protest at Amazon Headquarters In protest of a recent push by Amazon.com to put Kindle e-books, which are inaccessible to blind students, into K-12 classrooms across the country, members and supporters of the National Federation of the Blind will conduct an informational picket at the company's headquarters on Wednesday, December 12. The action comes on the heels of Amazon's launch of Whispercast, a system designed to allow teachers and school administrators to push Kindle e-books to different devices, theoretically allowing the sharing of content among devices brought to school by the students. Kindle content, unlike some other e-book products, is not accessible to blind students, even on devices that are themselves accessible to the blind, such as personal computers and iPads. This is because Amazon makes Kindle content available only to its own proprietary text-to-speech engine, if at all, rather than to accessibility applications of the reader's choice. Furthermore, the limited accessibility features that Amazon has implemented do not allow for the kind of detailed reading that students need to do in an educational setting. Although the books can be read aloud with text-to-speech, the student cannot use the accessibility features of his or her device to learn proper spelling and punctuation, look up words in the dictionary, annotate or highlight significant passages, or take advantage of the many other features that Kindle devices and applications make available to sighted students. Kindle e-books also cannot be displayed on Braille devices, making them inaccessible to blind and deaf-blind students who read Braille. Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "Amazon has repeatedly demonstrated utter indifference to the recommendations of blind Americans for full accessibility of its Kindle e- books and failed to follow the best practices of other e-book providers. Blind Americans will not tolerate this behavior any longer. While we urge Amazon to correct the many obvious deficiencies in its implementation of accessibility and remain willing to work with the company to help it do so, we will oppose the integration of these products into America's classrooms until Amazon addresses these deficiencies. Putting inaccessible technology in the classroom not only discriminates against blind students and segregates them from their peers but also violates the law." For more information on this important issue, please visit . So said the release, and so too said those who came to Seattle with the message that blind people are not willing to be consigned to lives of idleness and illiteracy. For three hours Amazon employees and those on the street where the building was located saw signs with messages on both sides saying: Fix Kindle Books Now! Don't Leave Blind Kids Behind! Equal Access in the Classroom! Make Kindle Books Accessible! Stop Segregating Blind Students! Stop Sending Broken Books to Schools! Echoing the same themes, pedestrians and drivers with their windows open got a bit of Christmas cheer with a song created for the occasion (sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells"). Kindle books, Kindle books, we should have them too/Without access for the blind, the Kindle is boo-hoo/Amazon sells e-books, but keeps them from the blind/But when those books are used, the schools are truly in a bind/Blind kids wish to read, but Bezos tells them no/Amazon please fix your books or they will have to go/Dashing through the school, with a Kindle in their hand/O'er the words they go, this device should be banned/Cannot really learn, making blind kids struggle/But oh what fun it would be if it were accessible. For a little more holiday cheer and information we sang: All I want for Christmas is a Kindle I can read, a Kindle I can read, a Kindle I can read; All I want for Christmas is a Kindle I can read, so I can read along with my peers. I'm dreaming of an accessible Kindle, just like iBooks on the Blio,/Where I navigate freely, and read seamlessly/All of my core curriculum. All we are saying, is we want to read. [PHOTO CAPTION: Marc Maurer leads people of all ages to demonstrate for the right of K-12 students to be literate and to read alongside their sighted classmates.] Of course what is a protest without a few chants? Two, four, six, eight, whose e-books do not rate? Amazon, Amazon, Amazon What e-books discriminate against the blind: Kindle,/Who should fix them: Amazon. No access to Whispercast speaks louder than words! Kindle teaches inequality in the classroom! Inaccessibility equals inequality! Amazon's whispered message is inaccessibility! More books for us!/More money for you!/Why not do what you're supposed to do! Amazon has books!/Blind guys have money!/The lack of access isn't even funny! Four, three, two, one!/Whose e-books are no fun?/Amazon's, Amazon's. Mid-way through our three-hour visit, NFB President Marc Maurer, NFB Director of Strategic Planning John Par?, and NFB General Counsel Mehgan Sidhu delivered fifteen letters addressed to Jeff Bezos, the president and chief executive officer of Amazon. These had been written by students, parents, and others concerned that blind students be provided an equal chance to read and write. One of those letters was written by Carlton Ann Walker, the parent of a blind daughter. Here is what she said to Mr. Bezos: November 27, 2012 Dear Mr. Bezos, I write to you concerning Amazon's efforts to deploy Kindle devices, e-books, and related software in elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States. I am both an attorney and a teacher of students with blindness/visual impairment. I am also the mother of a blind child. While I enjoy e-books and recognize the value of technology in the classroom, I am concerned that Amazon Kindle products are not accessible to individuals who are blind. "What's the problem?" some may ask. Can't blind children just use other, accessible technology, even if it doesn't contain all the features of the Kindle products? No. "Separate but equal" has been discredited as an effective educational methodology. When our blind students are excluded from the general curriculum by inaccessible technology, they are excluded from the education to which they are entitled. Federal law prohibits school districts from utilizing inaccessible technology. Through this program Amazon is inducing school districts into illegal action. Surely Amazon does not want to engage in such dubious behavior. This matter hit home with me just a few months ago. Prior to the start of sixth grade, my daughter came to me crying. In addition to the typical fears of entering middle school, she was petrified of her school's plan to utilize Kindle technology throughout her classes. She knew that Kindles are inaccessible to her. She knew the Kindle e-books are inaccessible, even when she attempts to use them on her accessible devices. My little girl saw Kindles as yet another way she would be excluded from her peers. Please make the Kindle and its e-books accessible so that my daughter may experience the wealth of learning and collaboration opportunities Kindle and its associated products offer. The saddest part of this whole matter is that accessibility is not difficult to achieve. Even extremely visual technologies, such as the iOS GUI, have been made accessible to individuals who are blind/visually impaired. I simply cannot understand why an innovative company such as Amazon has not yet built accessibility into its products. I hope that Amazon will soon do so. Technological accessibility is no different from the physical accessibility offered by wheelchair ramps. Despite early concerns that wheelchair ramps would not integrate well into our society, we now know that ubiquitous wheelchair ramps have proven a boon to all. They have even spawned an explosion of products, such as wheeled suitcases and rolling carts that utilize the omnipresent ramps. My request for an accessible Kindle is no different. By creating accessibility with universal design in mind, Amazon can and should produce a better, more desirable product for all its consumers. Thus Amazon will be providing accessible technology, helping schools comply with the law, including all students in the benefits of the technology, and innovating beyond its competitors. Win, win, win. I thank you for your attention to my letter. Please feel free to contact me with any questions and/or concerns. I am Very truly yours, Carlton Anne Cook Walker President, National Organization of Parents of Blind Children Attorney at Law Teacher of Students with Blindness/Visual Impairment No protest would be complete without a little street theater, so the Grinch who stole Christmas made an appearance, took some questions from the crowd, and in his answers conveyed the attitude all too typical of Amazon and its leadership: our product is accessible, and, if it isn't, that's too bad. You say you don't remember The Grinch Who Stole Christmas? Let's review the story as it was presented on the streets of Seattle. The Grinch Who Stole E-Books Every blind kid in school liked reading a lot, But the Grinch who ran Amazon thought the blind weren't so hot. The Grinch blocked access, he thought the blind were teasin'! Now please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason to recall, May have been that his wallet was too fat after all. But whatever the reason, His shoes or his bucks, He blocked their books, thought that the blind were just stuck. Amazon's Grinch thought the story was done, But the blind and their books were not to be shunned. The blind wrote letters, made videos, sent Tweets, And surprised the Grinch by showing up on the streets. Yes, that Grinch Bezos had thought he knew best, But the blind would continue to pursue access with zest. Will our Grinch change his mind, Or will his unfair practice put the business behind? The blind want to read and compete with them all, We won't let our kids be left in the hall. To Bezos we say, "Don't you have a heart?" To show us, equal Access to Kindle would be a good start. We will not rest until books we have too, The blind of the nation are here to face you. If you insist on keeping us out, We'll have no choice but to shout. We will block Amazon from selling to schools, We will not let the public be played for fools. We are done for today, but we will not stop, For access to reading we all want a lot. Now is the time for access to come true, And, Jeff Bezos, until you do, We will not trust Kindle Books from you! The question that must be asked after all of the letters, the press releases, the protest, the signs, and the chants is, did the press get it and communicate it to the public. National Public Radio got it. So too did the Seattle Times in an article that appeared on December 12, 2012. It said, in part: The push to use technology in the classroom may have a downside for blind students if the technology favored in schools is one that is less accessible, as Amazon's push to put Kindle e-books in K-12 classrooms demonstrates. Carrying a sign that read "Equal Access in the Classroom," former New York Governer David Paterson joined about seventy members of the National Federation of the Blind outside Amazon.com's Seattle headquarters Wednesday to urge the company to make its Kindle e-books fully accessible to blind students. The protesters argued that, while Kindle books can be read aloud with Amazon's text-to-speech engine, they lack key features available in other products, including Apple's iBooks. Those features include the ability to annotate important passages and check spelling or punctuation. They also said Kindle books, unlike iBooks, cannot be read with a Braille display that connects to devices, hurting students who are both blind and deaf. The two-hour protest came on the heels of Amazon's recent launch of an online tool called Whispercast, which partly seeks to raise its presence in schools by enabling teachers to push Kindle books to different devices. "Disabled people are more disoriented than ever as we shift to technology that leaves them out," said Paterson, only the second legally blind governor of any state in U.S. history. Now that the protest is behind us, what is Amazon's reaction, and what plans do we have? Amazon no longer claims that it is working with us to make its products accessible. Officials have gone so far as to say they will no longer meet with us. No doubt this is our punishment for speaking out, but continued contact with Amazon would be meaningful only if it led to products the blind could use. Since 2007 we have offered our best technical people, have met with their engineers, and have tried to persuade their leadership. The result has been products that keep coming to the market that are of no use to the blind and an attempt by Amazon to pretend that this doesn't matter. To the libraries they go-to the grammar schools and the high schools, to the colleges and universities, and never a thought do they give to what it is like to be a blind student confronted with its technology and the demand to be productive with it. When those with whom we work have a genuine desire to make products we can use, we get behind them and lend our name to their effort. When it becomes apparent that we are being played and used, we press for change from without. The law is on our side, and the industry has clearly demonstrated that accessibility is not only a possibility but a reality. Apple with its products that use iOS and KNFB Reading Technology with Blio have set the bar. Products using the Android operating system are striving to reach it, and so too is Barnes and Noble with its recent release of an iOS app that allows reading the books it produces for the Nook with the speech built into the Apple line of products. It is commonly accepted that the pace of change in technology is almost overwhelming, yet with all this progress how often are we who are blind asked to wait, wait, wait? Access will come soon, they say, but soon will be far too late if we have children who don't learn to read and aren't encouraged to read because the preferred device in their schools doesn't work nonvisually. If we let Kindle become the device on which reading is done and it is not usable by the blind, the major message education will send is that it is the role of the blind to be spectators while others take the field, get the glory, take home the memories, and go on to better things. The hope of blind people to assume our place as normal and capable human beings rests on a good education and the opportunity to pursue the jobs it should secure. E-books can and will be a part of our education and a part of the education received by all Americans, but none of us should settle for tools that keep out those who are willing and able to learn and who are anxious to make their financial and spiritual contribution to the world. The blind will not settle for such an outcome, and neither will the sighted once they come to understand that a company's short-term determination to dominate the market is undermining the contract the public has made with the blind: "We will rehabilitate and educate you, and in turn you will work for the benefit of us all." ---------- 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 mentoring and 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: Natalie Shaheen reading Braille] [PHOTO CAPTION: Natalie Shaheen works with a student on cane travel at the West Virginia School for the Blind.] The 2012 Braille Symposium Providing High-Quality Braille Instruction to Blind Children and Adults by Natalie Shaheen From the Editor: Efficiently reading and writing Braille is crucial for blind people, so determining a way to get quality Braille instruction is essential. Helping a motivated student become a competent and enthusiastic teacher of the blind who believes in Braille requires coordinating the work of many organizations and those members who set policy. Too often there is a lack of critical communication among all of the parties required to bring Braille to literacy-hungry blind students, so one of the reasons for the symposium was to bring together blind consumers, teachers of the blind, college professors, and K-12 school administrators. Much of this issue is devoted to covering the Braille Symposium that took place in the fall of 2012. Here is what Jernigan Institute Education Director Natalie Shaheen, who organized the conference, has to say about the participants, the reason for conducting it, and the strategies agreed upon to increase both the quality and quantity of Braille instruction: Thanks to the efforts of knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers, some blind children and adults in this country have access to excellent Braille instruction; however, this is not good enough. It shouldn't be just the lucky students like those who attended the Braille Symposium who have access to great Braille instruction; all blind students, young and old, should have such opportunities. To encourage progress towards this end, the NFB Jernigan Institute hosted the 2012 Braille Symposium to promote the promising practices used by creative educators, to develop solutions to long-standing problems that create barriers to providing quality instruction, and to share the daily life experiences of blind people who use Braille. This event, which was held in late September, was unique in format and diverse in audience. A discussion-based model was adopted for the Symposium to allow all participants-blind people, teachers, university faculty, parents, and librarians-to share their knowledge and experience. The goal was not only to communicate information but to come together to create new knowledge and understanding. The sessions offered at the Symposium came in three varieties: promising practice sessions, problem/solution sessions, and vignettes showing the way Braille is used daily by blind people. The sessions and the related discussions were moderated by Mark A. Riccobono, executive director of the NFB Jernigan Institute, who urged and ensured that conversations go beyond defining problems and remain focused on solutions. The Symposium was effective in creating greater understanding among diverse groups of people passionate about Braille and in developing plans for systems that can provide high-quality Braille instruction to blind students of all ages. Some highlights of the innovative ideas that were born of the conversations at the Symposium follow. Many blind people around the country are fluent Braille readers, and some of them hold the National Certification in Literary Braille (NCLB). It would be advantageous for teachers and Braille-literate blind Americans to establish connections so that they can impart knowledge and communicate with each other to strengthen instruction for blind students. Blind people could serve as Braille tutors and mentors for struggling and beginning readers or provide enrichment for students who excel in reading Braille. Federationists from several affiliates already successfully work with teachers and students in this way; expanding this work would be beneficial to all parties. One idea for facilitating connections between Braille- literate adults and teachers would be to ask a question on the NCLB test about whether the test-taker is interested in being a resource to teachers of the blind. When trying to make these connections, both parties, the blind adult and the teacher, must remember that relationships are easier to build in neutral spaces with no conflict. That is to say, it's hard to build a relationship in a conference room during a contested IEP meeting. Many educators are required to take an introduction to special education course that covers all areas of disability, including blindness. The professors who teach these courses frequently know little about blindness and as a result do not like to lecture on the topic. A Blindness 101 YouTube video or lecture on iTunes U could be created for this purpose. Then information about it could be disseminated to university faculty. This would help raise general awareness and foster a positive attitude about blindness and Braille among the general teacher population. Mainstream literature and research about reading almost never mentions Braille as a means for literacy. Working with authors and researchers to increase the discussion of Braille in mainstream texts about reading would help raise awareness about Braille. Much time is spent debating what percentage of students are not getting Braille. Let's stop debating and instead focus on doing something about the outrage that many students who should be taught Braille do not have that opportunity. Enrichment programs like the NFB Teacher of Tomorrow program are helpful in providing future teachers of the blind with rich experience interacting with blind people of all ages. Directors of special education frequently oversee teachers of the blind, yet they rarely know much about blindness and the critical role of Braille. Making an effort to get to know directors of special education programs and teaching them about blindness, the importance of Braille, and the amount of time needed to provide quality Braille instruction will significantly improve the instruction blind students receive. Knowledgeable administrators are more likely to provide their teachers with adequate supports and listen to those teachers when they argue for for hiring additional teaching staff to ensure that the school is providing adequate support to its blind students. Many high school students and college underclassmen who are considering education as a profession don't know about teaching blind students and what a difference good teachers of the blind can make. Additionally short lessons about Braille taught to elementary school classes by a teacher of the blind or a blind person are great for sparking early interest. Laws that govern the size of a class in a given grade exist in many states. Similar statutes that regulate the maximum number of students a teacher of the blind may have on his or her caseload would make it easier for school administrators to justify hiring badly needed teachers of the blind. The articles that follow address a good deal of the material that was covered at the Braille Symposium. To educate yourself on the latest research on Braille and the promising practice, be sure to read the other articles from the Symposium. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Sandy Halverson] My Love Affair with Braille by Sandy Halverson From the Editor: Sandy Halverson is a Federation leader who now lives in Virginia. Braille has been an integral part of her working and recreational life since she first learned to read. She established the positive tone that characterized the Braille Symposium by describing her use of the code throughout an active and useful life. This is what she said: I am totally blind and always have been. I am literate because teachers like some of you in this room made me learn, sometimes ad nauseam, that the i goes uphill and the e downhill, and, no matter how many tears I shed on any given day, I would learn the differences between f, d, h, and j. I knew things had come full circle when I observed my sighted son's frustrations as he was learning handwriting--printing and cursive, upper and lower case letters. I figured I had had it easy because of that little dot six [the capital sign]. In elementary school, if I couldn't be the best at anything, I didn't bother with it. For example, I hated making my bed. There was just too much sheet. Today I would probably be signed up for occupational therapy to strengthen my hands so that I could grasp the sheet, give it a proper fling over the bed, and make all those trips around or over the bed to make sure the sheet was even, tuck it in, and do the next piece of the job. But I loved Braille and became the fastest reader and writer with the Perkins Brailler. However, imagine my annoyance at poor, innocent Judy Brisbine, a new fourth- or fifth-grade student who came from Iowa and could write faster with a slate than I. How dare she. My only excuse was that I was exhibiting normal adolescent behavior. She wrote those dots so quickly that I just had to work harder so that she wouldn't be better than me! The slate and stylus became my pen and paper, but I was also building literacy skills. Judy and I did become friends because I remember her showing me her slate with the four-line section that can be opened so you don't have to take the paper out to read what you have written. Of course I had to buy one, and I thought of her whenever I used it. During my high school years I remember newly blind students who came to the Maryland School for the Blind. Their initial experiences with Braille were not nearly as much fun as mine. My regret is that I lacked the maturity to have a positive impact on the development and strengthening of their literacy skills. Yes, I used a slate and stylus with regular, cheap spiral-bound notebooks for note-taking. I got really fast at removing the slate from the bottom of one page, flipping the next page to the left, and clamping the slate to the top of the new sheet during my four-year college psych degree and court reporting classes. My battery never ran down, and I didn't have to worry about that cussed power cord or use structured discovery to find the nearest electrical outlet. During my work as a rehabilitation teacher, I used Braille to label client files, and, as good as I am at problem-solving, I cannot figure out how an iPhone would help with that. I also have some pretty well-used Braille knitting patterns, and I just can't see keeping my Braille Sense in my knitting bag. During my employment as both a court official and a freelance court reporter taking depositions, I had to maintain Braille notes. My steno machine was connected to a computer which was connected to a Braille display for read back purposes when requested by judge or attorney. If you've ever spent time in court, you know how quickly cases are called. I was lucky to have time to write on my Braille notetaker the last names of the defendant and his attorney and the time the case was called. It was easier and faster to maintain this separate list for my records rather than trying to search across the computer task bar looking for my list and trying to get back to the transcription document in time for the first question. Braille was a much better tool in my tool box. In my current work as a medical transcriptionist, there are conflicts between the Word Clone transcription software we use and Microsoft Word, so during transcription Microsoft Word documents may not be accessible. I have a Braille Sense notetaker file with orthopedic, cardiac, and neurosurgical terms and the names of specialty knives, saws, needles, hemostatic agents, and related data so I won't have to remember all that vocabulary. That's my hardcopy medical dictionary, pharmaceutical reference, etc. It's all in one file, no need for volumes and volumes of hardcopy Braille that cannot be updated. The only job I ever had in which I did not have to convince my employer of the benefits of Braille was when I worked as the receptionist at the National Federation of the Blind headquarters, but I still had to figure out how to keep track of who was in the building, take and deliver phone messages, and do related clerical tasks. Thirty years ago some parents of blind children among others (I was not a part of the group then) designed the NFB Braille Readers Are Leaders children's reading contest. Teachers and parents were concerned that the only Braille materials to which their children or students had access were textbooks, and they probably weren't on time unless they came through APH quota funds for residential schools. In the early 1990s I was asked to serve as a judge for that contest. Imagine my surprise when I came home from work one day to find a post office mail bag with hundreds of pieces of print and Braille contest-related correspondence. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of that because it was a most impressive obstacle blocking my front door. The children who were not winners in their grade categories were probably not as excited about the contest as the winners, but the teachers and parents had finally identified something that would motivate their students and children to want to read Braille for fun. Reviewing book lists and other contest data made me want to go to my nearest library to read long-forgotten favorites, but the real message was that there simply was not enough Braille for blind kids. I served as a judge for several years. It was exciting to observe gains made as students increased the number of pages read and demonstrated through community service projects how their knowledge of Braille was helping with their integration in their local communities. Several participants recognize this contest as having encouraged them to become excellent Braille readers and writers. They recognize that the high expectations of teachers and parents led to their academic and employment successes. Two of my colleagues this weekend were participants in that contest and are now proficient young adults recognized for their Braille reading prowess. Our contest will soon have a much different look, and the hope is that parents and teachers will find it easier to involve their Braille-reading students and that the students will network in different ways with their peers from other parts of the country. Some of you in this room have either been involved in or heard of our Braille Enrichment Through Literacy and Learning (BELL) programs in several states throughout the country. This program continues to grow. For two weeks each summer blind and low-vision students spend a minimum of six hours a day learning Braille using a combination of reading, Perkins and slate writing, games, contests, Braille musical chairs, body Braille--which has nothing to do with piercing--and field trips organized and led by blind role models, where students look for Braille in public places like restroom signs, elevators, McDonald's cup lids, and the DC metro. The self- confidence these kids gain in two weeks has to be seen to be believed. I live in Virginia, and teachers have commented to me on the gains some of our BELL participants have made. While our BELL programs are great for the youngest among us, we still have a lot to do, and I want to be a part of making positive change in the literacy rates of blind students and helping to get them motivated to see the importance of reading and writing Braille, not only to do well academically, but to increase their employment opportunities. Our National Association to Promote the Use of Braille listserv can make you weary because of the volume when you open your inbox, but the discussions are thought-provoking. Recently a blind man has asked how he can increase his slate speed, admitting that he did not do well in college because he didn't have access to hardcopy math and foreign language materials and was not fast enough to create his own. A woman sought suggestions regarding Braille access technology to use with her iPhone, or there may be a request for foreign language Braille instructional materials for use with ESL individuals. It's free, and our moderator does a wonderful job limiting posts to Braille-specific topics. Six years ago I was contacted by the grandmother of a legally blind child. She was a retired public school teacher, and the mother had taught for a couple of years and decided she preferred being a stay-at-home mom. The child who was then four, could recognize large print letters, was inquisitive, and loved books. The mom and grandmother thought that was all well and good but recognized that she would not succeed with print only; at four, she was slow, so I was asked if I would tutor this child during the summer. Both adults knew I have no teaching credential, but I do know Braille, have a sighted child who is fortunately a literate adult, and they liked what I proposed to do for short, thirty-minute lessons. The child liked flash cards and silly sentences, and, if she did really well, I would let her write things on my BrailleNote with the speech on so she could listen to the speech and check her accuracy on the Braille display. It was simply a way to make Braille fun. Imagine how surprised I was to get a call from her first teacher of blind students who said I had done everything wrong. I didn't insist on proper posture with feet on the floor. I didn't use the Sally Mangold series or any other Braille teaching curriculum. And what could I possibly have been thinking to let this child get her hands on a BrailleNote. Our conversation ended after I politely replied that my chairs are no longer child-friendly; they're adult chairs. Neither of my parents was an educator. They introduced my sighted siblings to letters and words through cereal boxes, signs observed while driving down highways, and lots of other places where print is abundant. No one told them they shouldn't be teaching their children print. After I hung up, I thought about how fortunate I was not to have had her as a Braille teacher. One of the things I do in Virginia is work with parents who find the IEP process frustrating and service delivery abominable. They want help getting the proper services to meet specific educational goals. We do have some great teachers in Virginia, and my regret is that there simply is not enough time to talk with them long enough or often enough for me to learn what they do and how I might be able to help. I'm glad to be here this weekend. By Saturday evening we'll have identified more resources than can be Tweeted-I hope that's the correct verb tense, so you now know something else I don't do yet. We won't solve all the issues we will be considering, but what a great beginning! Thank you. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Emily Wharton] Code Master Methodology for Teaching Braille to Adults by Emily Wharton and Ryan Strunk From the Editor: Emily Wharton and Ryan Strunk are both employed by BLIND, Incorporated, the NFB training center located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Emily is the Braille instructor, Ryan the technology instructor. Both are dedicated to helping blind people graduate as literate adults. For a long time complaints about materials for teaching Braille to adults have been a topic of discussion between blind adults and their instructors. Emily has tried to address this by creating a new system for teaching Braille. The system includes a textbook, but it is far more than just another book on teaching Braille. Because using new technology is a part of this system, Ryan's role has been critical. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with Braille, here are some pointers and definitions. Words in Braille can be written letter by letter, as they are in print, or can be represented by contractions and short forms. Some commonly used words are represented by dot combinations that are not already used for numbers, letters, or punctuation. Words such as with, of, for, were, and was are represented in this way and are called contractions. A short form is a letter standing by itself that represents a word. The letter b standing by itself is the word but, the letter c the word can, and the letter d the word do. Every letter represents a word. If a letter standing by itself is not intended to be a word, it is preceded by a special symbol called a letter sign. This makes it possible to represent a list in which a is the first item, b the second, and z the twenty-sixth. A peg slate is used to introduce students to Braille. Pegs are inserted into the holes of a board to make the shapes of the Braille symbols. Here is the written version of the remarks presented by Ryan and Emily at the Braille Symposium on September 28, 2012: Introduction When I began teaching Braille in the adult comprehensive program at BLIND, Incorporated, in March 2009, our students had a generally negative attitude about Braille and were performing below expectation in Braille reading and writing proficiency. They complained that Braille was hard and not useful for them in their daily lives. These adults complained of feeling like a first grader and acted as if using a slate and stylus was a punishment. They were also taking five months or more to learn the Braille code and budgeting very little time to work on building speed and fluency before they completed the program. In short, we had a bad Braillitude going on, and we needed to turn it around. Reflecting on my own experiences as an adult Braille learner and consulting with other Braille enthusiasts who learned Braille as a teenager or adult, I [Emily] began work on a new method for teaching Braille to adults. In order to address the problems I was seeing, I needed for this method to incorporate the following elements: decrease stress and increase enjoyment, make studying outside class easy, show how useful Braille is, teach to the student's learning style, focus on "sight words" and context to increase fluency, leverage the power and promise of technology, foster mastery motivation, and customize material to the student's interests. I was teaching Braille using this method by the fall of 2009. I completed the first version of the Code Master textbook around this time, and we have been using it as our primary teaching text since then. In January of 2010 we combined Braille and technology into a single class called Communications, and I instructed my colleague Ryan Strunk on implementing this method. Ryan and I have been using it since with all Braille learners in the general adult comprehensive program. Overview of the Method The Code Master Adult Learning System consists of five components: 1) the Code Master Adult Learning System manual, 2) a three-ring binder for customized notes, 3) an audio CD or MP3 files for textbook tutorial, 4) instructions for customizing the curriculum for students, and 5) methods for incorporating technology into Braille instruction. The following sections explain these components more completely. When students begin the program knowing no Braille, they start by learning the dot configurations. They work on this orally and using a peg slate. On day one they learn the first ten letters. Students are given textbooks, peg slates, and audio materials. They receive instruction in reading technique and are encouraged to work on reading the textbook and touch pages outside class, but the method and overall class structure are discussed so that students understand the process and know that reading technique will not become a focus of lessons until later in the course. Generally, within the first two weeks students know the alphabet, numbers, basic punctuation, and alphabet signs. They have also learned to write using a Braillewriter and Braille notetaker. They then move immediately to learning contracted Braille. This is done orally and by writing words and sentences. The class time is divided between writing words and sentences and drilling signs. The proportion of time spent on each depends on the student's learning style. Students learn to use the slate and stylus in the third or fourth week and begin turning in out-of-class slate assignments. After students have assimilated the concepts of contractions and short forms, they begin working on reading Braille on a refreshable Braille display. Reading from the display is generally easier for students because they learn to distinguish the shapes made by the dots and also build confidence. The students then begin reading double-spaced Braille in the textbook and worksheets. Timing for these transitions depends on the individual student's performance and initiative. The method and materials are designed to teach the entire code in six weeks; however, this can be achieved sooner by more motivated students. Generally students with below average or low motivation levels tend to finish within eight to ten weeks. After learning the code, the students begin reading articles and books of their choosing outside class. They read self-selected and instructor-selected material in class. Students can choose any book in the library, request an article on a particular topic, or request a book from BARD or Bookshare to be embossed or read on a refreshable Braille display. The goal is to get students started reading actual material that is interesting to them and from which they can use context to increase their reading speed and fluency as soon as possible. Braille reading speed is increased by reading, so we want to get them reading at the earliest possible moment. Braille embossing, Braille displays, and the Internet have made nearly infinite quantities of Braille available, and the sooner people can dive in, the better. Implementation Decrease Stress and Increase Enjoyment This method breaks down the process of learning to read and write Braille into its two basic parts. When an adult student approaches a page of Braille, she is asking herself two questions: "What dots am I feeling?" and "What do those dot configurations mean?" These questions can be addressed separately, and, by so doing, we can spread the stress over a larger period of time and substantially decrease the student's frustration. This creates more positive feeling, which in turn leads to more time spent studying outside class. Introducing the Braillewriter first and then working on using the slate and stylus after learning the alphabet also redistributes frustration and creates a more positive view of the slate. Students can see more advanced students using slates and can look forward to receiving theirs as a mark of progress. Make Studying Outside Class Easy Out-of-class study is an essential component of the Braille learning process. However, it is often difficult for instructors to get students to spend their out-of-class time studying. When I asked students why they weren't working more in the evenings, I was told, "I don't have time," "My book is too big to carry around," "I tried, but I got stuck on this word," and "I'm just brain-dead at the end of the day." I wanted to take away these rationales and give students so many ways to work on learning Braille and make it so convenient that they would have no excuses for failing to study outside class. The Code Master Adult Learning System textbook was designed to group the signs in a way that would make them easier to memorize. Short forms, which are typically easier for adults to remember, are introduced immediately after the alphabet. The contractions are introduced in an order that highlights the basic logic of the code. The use and repetition of sight words is both in line with whole-word reading pedagogy and extremely useful for cementing signs into a student's memory. The book also contains mnemonic sentences like "Brice has a boundless passion for country dance." and "Science movements require usefulness, clarity, and strong direction." These sentences contain all of the dot four-six and dot five-six signs respectively. The book was created for a thirty-cell Braille line so that it would fit in a standard three-ring binder. It is important that students be able to take their books with them in a backpack or briefcase or remove pages to study while on the bus or in a doctor's waiting room. The binder is divided into three sections, with dividers to make things easier for a new Braille reader to find. The first page is a grid of the print and Braille alphabet and digits. I first made these sheets for our seniors program but realized they would be a useful reference for both Braille learners who learned to read print and native Braille readers who needed to learn the shapes of print letters and numbers. After this page is the textbook itself. In the second section are touch pages. These are lines of Braille characters that students can use to practice tracking lines and developing their sense of touch. We point out that this is a less mentally taxing way to get more practice in at the end of a long day. The third section contains references and charts listing the various contractions and punctuation. I remembered being terribly frustrated as a Braille student trying to find a particular sign in my textbook when I couldn't remember how it was made or used. I wanted to give students reference materials they could use while reading and writing, as well as raised-line charts, which are useful for people with a visual or other special learning style. An essential component of the textbook is the audio materials. The binder also contains two CDs. One CD is a recording of all of the dot configurations as they appear in the textbook. Students use this for memorizing signs as well as for looking up signs they may not remember. They can use this CD to study while they are doing dishes or folding laundry. A sighted agency staff trainee told me that she listened to this CD as she drove to work. The other CD, in MP3 format, contains a recording of the entire textbook. Students can use it to get themselves unstuck when they are reading at home. They can also read along with the CD to build speed. A common problem for new Braille readers is running across a sign that they do not recognize and lacking the context to deduce the meaning. This CD allows students to overcome this problem independently. It is also very useful for people wishing to brush up on rusty Braille skills on their own. A couple of our alumni who wanted to strengthen their knowledge of the Braille code have used the book and CD combination without wasting time and expense hiring an instructor. These audio files are also available as MP3 files, so students can transfer them to their iPods or other audio devices. We are currently working on converting them into DAISY files that can be played on the NLS players for greater access and easier navigation. The added markup will allow navigation by page and by line. It will also be easier to change playback speed to make it simpler for students at all levels to follow along with the recording. Another idea for future consideration is an iOS app that would play the audio files as well as provide quizzes on each lesson. Teach to the Student's Learning Style Students with an auditory learning style excel at memorizing the dot configurations and learn well from the drills and CDs. Students with a kinesthetic learning style retain the signs by typing words and sentences on a Braille notetaker. Students with a visual learning style respond well to the peg slate and reading from Braille displays and books. We make a point of talking about both the dot numbers and shapes of the signs until we figure out which makes the most sense to the student. We then tailor the classwork accordingly. Everyone has to learn to read and write, but focusing on the best method to increase retention makes the learning process faster and more efficient. Focus on Sight Words and Context to Increase Fluency The textbook contains the thousand most common words in the English language, broken into individual lessons dealing with the signs they contain. These words only appear correctly contracted so that students get used to seeing them correctly. Most lessons contain numbered sentences to increase recognition of numbers and show the rules in action. The sentences are generally simple and contain as many sight words as possible to increase exposure to these essential words and make the textbook useable by anyone with at least a high school reading level, possibly lower. Leverage the Power and Promise of Technology Some people say that technology is making Braille obsolete; however, it is actually the opposite. Technology is making Braille abundant and providing new possibilities for Braille teaching. Typing on a Braille notetaker with a Braille keyboard gives students instant audio feedback on what they are writing, as well as the ability to read what they have written on the Braille display. Having a student read from a Braille display while the instructor types the lesson on the computer allows an amazing and immediate level of customization. The instructor can drill on a particular sign that is giving the student trouble or can write out song or movie titles to sustain the student's interest. We have found that Braille on a Braille display is generally easier for new readers to read and is an effective way of easing students into standard-sized Braille. By the time students are reading on the display, they have learned enough signs to build many common words that allow them to create engaging lessons. These techniques have also served to show students that technology and Braille are actually complementary rather than an either/or choice. It encourages them to want to use a Braille display with a computer or mobile phone instead of relying solely on speech. Foster Mastery Motivation Mastery motivation is the intrinsic confidence and desire to learn Braille that stem from the rapid mastery in learning the code much more quickly than using previous instructional methods. Because mastery of the code is gained much faster than in traditional methods, the student's confidence is increased, and the motivation to continue mastering Braille is increased as well. Telling students that they will learn the Braille code in six weeks has helped them realize that learning Braille really isn't as hard or complicated as some people suggest. When they hear that it has been done and see others doing it, they generally rise to the occasion. Many people, especially book lovers, are thrilled to be reading again quickly. We make it very clear that they won't be reading fast at this point and that building speed will take time, effort, and mileage under the fingers, but they will be reading, and they will be reading real books and articles instead of just lessons in a textbook. Customize Material to the Student's Interests The only way to become a better reader is to read, and the best way to get people to read is to give them something that they want to read. This is the whole point behind getting people through the code quickly. While students are given specific pieces to read in class to build particular skills, they take home material they choose and select projects that are interesting and useful to them. This builds intrinsic motivation and creates a situation in which instructors need to provide less external motivation, which is generally less effective in the long run. Not every student enjoys reading books. A good number of our students have never read for pleasure and have no desire to do so. Our goal is to make it possible for them to read books if that is what they need or want, but at a minimum we want them to obtain the functional literacy that is critical to success in school and the workplace. We emboss many short articles on topics such as sports, history, or gardening for students who request them. We show students that they can read newspapers and magazines on a Braille display using the NEWSLINE app and that they have this material on the same day those articles are released. While access to Braille embossers and displays makes this easier, the techniques can be used by resourceful instructors who do not have access to these tools to obtain or create customized material. A greater degree of planning and resourcefulness is required to get materials from different sources. The new talking Braille writer developed by the American Printing House for the Blind accomplishes the same audio feedback during writing as writing on a Braille notetaker, but at a fraction of the cost. Getting donations of older Braille notetakers is often possible. The relative lack of bells and whistles they have makes the older models perfect for use in these exercises, and people who upgrade often appreciate the tax credit they can get for donating them. Show How Useful Braille Is Students are required to complete three small projects and one large project as part of their communications responsibilities. These projects can be chosen from a list of suggestions or proposed by the student and approved by the instructor. The small projects often include things like Brailling a deck of cards, creating a Braille address book or password list, keeping a journal in Braille, finishing a book or a certain number of pages within a given time, and other practical projects. Final projects are more complicated. These show how useful and relevant Braille is to daily life. Providing Braille reference sheets of computer commands helps reinforce the convenience of having a hard copy available for quick reference, as well as increasing retention of the computer commands. Observations While we were not equipped to keep statistics or produce hard data, after three years of implementing this teaching method, we have been able to observe the following: Students have a better attitude toward Braille. This is evidenced by the following: More students purchase additional slates and styluses, especially full- page slates and card slates. Students volunteer to read aloud more often in seminar. Students do not complain about reading Braille recipes in home management or writing measurements with a slate and stylus in industrial arts. Students show as much pride in their Braille projects as they do in other accomplishments, such as their preparation of large meals or their independent mobility drop-offs. Students encourage each other to do homework and teach newer students how to use the slate and stylus. We see very little conflict between Braille and technology. Very often people say that they don't need Braille because they have technology. The integration of Braille displays and notetakers has demonstrated that Braille and speech are not mutually exclusive. The fact that they are taught in the same room by the same instructor shows that they are complementary rather than oppositional. The same is true of high- tech versus low-tech Braille. They are both shown to be useful in different situations. While many students still prefer to use a computer rather than a slate and stylus, they know that they can use both, and they aren't bound by the battery life of the high-tech devices. Students' difficulties are easier for instructors to pinpoint and correct. Breaking the learning process down in the way that we have makes it much easier to know if a student is having difficulty with retention or touch. It is very easy to tell if the student is unable to remember the sign or unable to feel the dots correctly. If the issue is retention, we can see it right away. We can shift the emphasis from writing to drills or from drills to writing. If the trouble is with touch, we will know it with greater certainty and can proceed from this point. This has been extremely useful with students who have educational deficits, memory loss, and neuropathy. Figuring out the exact nature of a student's difficulties makes dealing with them much easier for both the instructor and the student. Knowing what the specific problem is and having specific exercises to address the problem makes working through challenges less frustrating for adult students. We have seen improved performance in students with high motivation and work ethic. While we have not been able to keep statistics, we have observed generally faster reading speeds and improved fluency among those students with high motivation and strong work ethic compared with the levels we were seeing before we began using this method. These students tend to reach a reading level where they can fully process what they are reading and follow the story of a text (generally around twenty to thirty words per minute) sooner than such students did using the traditional method. Students with average or below-average motivation and work ethic seem to show a small improvement over previous levels. Braille reading mileage is the biggest factor in Braille reading success, and those who don't put in as much effort outside class will always be at a substantial disadvantage. However, the more positive outlook and reduced stress do seem to make these students more likely to put in time reading outside class. This method also appears to make a more noticeable difference with students who have higher levels of educational achievement. The logic behind the method seems to appeal to students with better analytical skills. The lack of difficult or obscure vocabulary in the textbook makes it much easier for students with educational deficits to study than the book we previously used. Conclusion Over the past three and a half years we have seen a remarkable improvement in our students' Braillitude. They are excited about Braille and about how it can improve their lives. They are also more positive and efficient in their learning of the Braille code. We hope to be able to produce and sell our system within the next year so that others can implement it. We also hope this will enable us to gather data and continue to improve and refine the system to make it as effective as possible. ---------- Beginning with Braille: Challenges and Choices by Anna M. Swenson >From the Editor: Anna Swenson is a Braille literacy consultant in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Public Schools. She delivered the following paper at the 2012 Braille Symposium sponsored by the NFB Jernigan Institute. For a list of references used in the original paper, contact . This is what she said: Five-year-old Ally sits with her teacher of the visually impaired, Kelly James, at a table just outside her kindergarten classroom. Much of the time she's learning with her classmates, but this is her daily individual lesson time. She's excited to have me as a visitor and eager to show off a new book that she's writing about sandwiches. Each page, shaped like a slice of bread, features a Braille description of the ingredients written phonetically by Ally on her Mountbatten Brailler. "Pickles and butterflies," reads Ally, as her thumbs glide across the words. "Ketchup and dragonflies." She smiles broadly. "Cheese and ladybugs." A burst of giggles. On the next page she hesitates momentarily, considering the "p" at the beginning of the word. "Peanut butter and mosquitoes?" she asks. "Yes," answers Ms. James. And, turning to me with an enticing grin, Ally says, "Do you want to eat it?" Listening to Ally's joyful rendition of her silly sandwich book reminds me of several important aspects of teaching Braille to young children. The first is the highly individualized nature of our work. Ally, for example, has only two fingers on each hand, so she is learning to read Braille with her thumbs. Today we are teaching Braille to dual media learners, beginning English speakers, children with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities, and many others. Each child deserves a specially crafted, individualized plan to meet his or her potential as a reader and writer. The second aspect of teaching that Ally's lesson brings to mind is the power of motivation. If instruction is meaningful to students, if there is a connection with their lives, they will engage with us and persevere when the going gets tough. How do we foster motivation in children? The secret is knowing our students well and integrating their interests into our instructional plan. Quite apart from the issues of caseloads and service time, teaching Braille to young children involves instructional challenges. How do we build a solid foundation in literacy skills at the preschool level? How do we meet the literacy needs of non-traditional learners? How do we balance the benefits of the inclusive setting with students' need for specialized instruction? There is no single curriculum or right way to teach Braille literacy skills, but we do know that meaningful instruction and motivation contribute significantly to children's success in learning to read (Gambrell and Marinak, 2009). And, as in Ally's case, it is apparent that teaching Braille to a young child involves countless thoughtful instructional choices by the Braille teacher in collaboration with classroom teachers, specialists, and families. The ABC Braille Study Findings from the Alphabetic Braille and Contracted Braille Study (the ABC Braille Study) have added new urgency to the challenge of teaching young Braille readers. This was the first longitudinal research to follow children's acquisition of beginning reading skills in Braille (Emerson, Holbrook, and D'Andrea, 2009). The study took place from 2002 to 2007 and included a total of thirty-eight participating students, none of whom had a disability other than blindness. Its original purpose was to compare the literacy outcomes of students who started formal literacy instruction with fully contracted Braille and those who started with uncontracted Braille. Results indicated that most of the participants learned the Braille code with relative ease; those who learned more contractions earlier scored higher in the areas of vocabulary, decoding, and comprehension, regardless of whether they initially began with contracted or uncontracted Braille. However, a more critical finding was that Braille readers started out on level with their sighted peers in basic reading skills like phonemic awareness and phonics, but fell farther and farther behind in reading as the years progressed. By the end of the study over half the students were reading below grade level, with vocabulary and comprehension the major areas of deficit. The ABC Braille Study findings have significant implications for teachers in the field. To begin with, they reinforce the importance of teaching the Braille code to young children within the context of reading instruction. Teachers of beginning Braille readers are also teachers of reading, and it is essential that they incorporate basic literacy processes into their Braille lessons. These include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and written language, all of which can be taught simultaneously from the very beginning. Braille teachers also need to understand where their students are performing in each area of literacy by analyzing results from a broad range of assessments. These consist of Braille-specific measures, e.g., the number of contractions a child has mastered, and those tracking progress in general literacy skills, which are often administered in conjunction with a classroom teacher. Finally, the poor performance of many study participants in the areas of reading vocabulary and comprehension point to the importance of concept development and listening skills long before children begin formal reading instruction. Early Emergent Literacy Literacy growth is now viewed as a lifelong process that begins early in life and continues throughout adulthood (Dooley, 2010). Children benefit from building a strong foundation of literacy skills during their preschool years, a goal that is often more challenging for young Braille readers who lack access to the incidental learning readily absorbed by typically sighted children. Young children who are learning to read in Braille need to develop two types of concepts: those based on a general knowledge of the world around them and those specifically related to literacy. Families, classroom teachers, and specialists sometimes need guidance in knowing when and how to take advantage of real world learning opportunities. The article, "Dad, Where's the Plunger?" (Holloway, 2011), written by the father of a young Braille reader, offers numerous suggestions for hands-on learning, including trips to Home Depot; it can serve as an excellent resource for members of the IEP team and is available at . Linking real-world knowledge to literacy by creating books with young children provides a motivating way of reinforcing literary concepts, such as identifying the parts of a book, turning pages, and relating Braille words to objects or tactile pictures. For example, a Home Depot book might feature a zipper bag on each page with an object inside, such as a light switch or a small piece of carpet, with a Braille word or simple sentence underneath (Smith, 2011). Real world and literacy concepts are also developed through interactive read-alouds, another area in which families may need modeling and guidance to ensure that their child participates in the activity. Reading aloud to children in an interactive way helps them acquire vocabulary and concepts, develop higher-level thinking skills, and become familiar with the book language they will encounter later on when they read by themselves. Young children require maximum meaningful hands-on Braille time. Modeling Braille reading and writing behaviors and allowing children to imitate them are critical to building a strong literacy foundation. All members of the IEP team can ensure that this happens by becoming familiar with the basics of Braille, although of course the very best role models are those who are proficient Braille readers. Adults can model Braille reading by tracking the text in teacher-made or commercial books with the child's hands on top of theirs. They can model writing lists, birthday cards, letters, labels, journals, and stories. Parents and teachers can encourage the child to scribble on the Braillewriter or pretend to read a familiar book with tactile pictures. These approximations of reading and writing behavior are an important part of a child's literacy foundation. For many children, beginning formal literacy instruction in Braille should not wait until kindergarten. Literacy expectations for kindergartners have been increasing and will continue to do so with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Hatton, Erickson, and Lee (2010) report that most sighted children already know fifteen letters of the alphabet when they enter kindergarten. In contrast, they found that most children who are blind know none in Braille, placing them at a disadvantage at the beginning of formal schooling. Introducing children to key words of interest to them is a motivating way to begin reading instruction at the preschool level. One three year old who was fascinated by insects learned "ant" and "spider" as her first Braille words, long before she knew any letters of the alphabet. These two words were easy to tell apart, and, with the addition of some common alphabet letter contractions, she was soon reading short, meaningful phrases like "go go spider." After she had mastered a foundation of tactile sight words, the student began learning letters, starting with those in her key words--and by the time she entered kindergarten, she could identify nearly all the letters of the Braille alphabet and read simple sentences and teacher-made stories. Children with additional disabilities may not learn Braille as early or as quickly as typical learners, but they too can benefit from starting with key words of interest to them. The Individualized Meaning- centered Approach to Braille Literacy Education, or I-M-ABLE (Wormsley, 2011), offers a structured, highly motivating process for teaching Braille to nontraditional learners. Literacy Learning in Kindergarten and the Early Primary Grades: Incorporating Braille Instruction into the Standard Curriculum Braille teachers who work with students in inclusive settings often feel challenged by the need to balance time in the general education classroom with individual instruction in specialized skills. They recognize that the social nature of language arts instruction in the early grades is extremely important. Children learn from each other as they talk about books, share writing, participate in reading groups, and work on group projects. On the other hand, individual instructional time is needed to reinforce aspects of the Braille code (within the context of reading), preview classroom assignments, and address the goals and objectives of the Expanded Core Curriculum. The eventual goal for each child in an inclusive setting should be meaningful group participation, whether in a general education class or in a specialized setting, if the student has additional disabilities. Sometimes, however, it takes more individual instruction at the beginning to ensure that the student masters the skills needed to participate independently in a group setting later on. Ongoing, broad-based assessments in each area of literacy, careful documentation of progress, and regular consultation with the classroom teacher(s) and other members of the IEP team all help to determine the appropriate balance between inclusion and individual instruction at any given time. Facilitating Inclusion: Tips for the Braille Teacher 1. Prioritize positive collaboration with the classroom teacher(s): Establishing a positive relationship with the classroom teacher(s) provides the Braille student with maximum benefits in the areas of academics, socialization, and self-determination. In the inclusive setting, step back whenever possible to allow the classroom teacher to take ownership of the student--and explain why you are doing this. At the same time offer to contribute to the learning of other children in the class through Braille-awareness lessons, games, and general assistance, such as helping another child with writing while your student is working independently. Assess and evaluate Braille students' progress with classroom teachers, and listen carefully to their concerns. 2. Provide teachers and classmates with access to students' work: Teach keyboarding early and use the visual display function available on most note takers to allow teachers and classmates to see the Braille user's written work on a monitor. This removes the Braille teacher as an intermediary and allows direct, real-time communication between the student and classroom teacher. 3. Take advantage of instructional materials that facilitate inclusion: High-quality materials such as the Word PlayHouse and the Early Braille Trade Books, available from the American Printing House for the Blind, include both print and Braille and are ideal for blind and sighted students to use together. 4. Promote independent work habits: Avoiding learned helplessness is one of the greatest challenges the Braille teacher faces. Provide opportunities for even the very youngest students to work independently during individual lessons, and transfer these expectations to the regular classroom. 5. Advocate for technology: Many of our beginning Braille readers are stuck in a technological Stone Age with only the traditional Perkins Brailler available for writing. While young students definitely benefit from hardcopy Braille when learning to read and write, they also need hands-on time with devices such as note takers with refreshable Braille that allow them to master beginning technology skills--just as their sighted classmates are doing. In Closing Like the "peanut butter and mosquitoes" in Ally's sandwich at the beginning of this article, good teaching is a combination of common sense and creativity. Of course young beginning Braille readers require thorough assessments, careful lesson planning, and close collaboration among members of their IEP teams. However, they also thrive on instructional choices that reflect their own interests and spark their imaginations. Whether the child is a preschooler eagerly exploring the pages of her Home Depot book or first grader writing a story about his favorite superheroes, motivation is the key to their future success as readers and writers. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Sharon Monthei] Teaching English to Blind Refugees and Immigrants by Sharon Monthei From the Editor: Sharon Monthei works at BLIND, Incorporated, one of the three training centers operated by the National Federation of the Blind, where she teaches English to refugees and immigrants. Monitor readers are familiar with her work as an author of several books on teaching and Braille. Here are the remarks she made at the Braille Symposium that describe the challenging job she has and the way Braille makes it possible for her to offer students the gift of literacy: In this paper I want to discuss issues in teaching English to our blind new Americans. This issue was brought to my attention when I was asked to attempt to improve relations between Minnesota State Services for the Blind and local programs working with blind immigrants and refugees. Our Braille section, where I worked part-time, provided Braille materials to programs serving blind students. However, there were issues with integrating these students successfully into their classes. The problem that these blind immigrants and refugees experienced when attempting to learn English was that their teachers, who know how to teach English, didn't know how to teach Braille or to work with this population. Conversely, Braille teachers don't know how to teach English. However, one thing they share is the knowledge that reading constitutes literacy. For blind students that means Braille. After coming to understand the difficulties beginning English learners were experiencing at a local English Language Learning (ELL) program, I went to Seattle for a week to receive training in the way to teach English to our blind new Americans. When I got back, I realized I did not know enough, so I enrolled at Hamline University in St. Paul to learn how to do it and spent a year taking courses. Unfortunately for blind students, English Language teachers are taught to use nonverbal methods to communicate with their students, especially in the lower levels. Pictures and drawings are prominent, and teachers use gestures and mime to get their point across. Two examples illustrate this. When I was taking courses in English Language Learning, the teacher brought in what she called "realia" [objects or activities used to relate classroom teaching to real life-the bag contained receipts] to show the class. To me it was a bag of paper. Then there was the demonstration lesson which included mime interspersed with Russian words. I had no idea what she was doing. The rest of the class appeared to learn the words. I already had considerable experience in teaching Braille, but this was different. Not only did many of my students not know Braille or English, they had also never learned to read in any language. Humans learn to read once in their lifetimes, and this skill is transferable to other languages they may learn. But if they never learned to read, that skill must be taught as well. This may seem impossibly hard, but sighted immigrants learn to read print and speak English all the time, whether or not they were literate in their native languages. Armed with all of this background, I began teaching English to blind immigrants and refugees in the summer of 2008 at BLIND, Incorporated. So how is it done? I start with an interpreter for a period of time ranging from a few days to three weeks. The interpreter helps me and my students establish some words and concepts so I can communicate with them. I begin by getting a cane and showing the student how to get around inside our building, including how to go up and down the stairs. I want them to begin their independence immediately. I have a wide variety of objects which I use to develop vocabulary. These include vehicles, animals, cooking items, basic shapes, and toy replicas of people and furniture. I use a modified version of a book which Jan Bailey and Chris Cuppet wrote for teaching seniors uncontracted Braille. I teach the letters without being too concerned about the meanings of the words they are reading. I do begin to teach the various sounds of each letter at that time in a general way, understanding that the vowels are the hardest and that people learning English may not be able to hear all of the sounds of English. I also begin to teach the student how to use a Braillewriter while I have an interpreter. Writing is a key part of learning English, and I want them to write a lot to help them remember the words that they are learning. Then I use a beginning book which I transcribed into uncontracted Braille in double-spaced format. It covers chapters on personal information, family relationships, rooms and furniture, things in the classroom--including counting, clothing, and food. I also use a book called English in Action which I read to begin to teach common English sentences and to practice speaking and listening. Because it takes as much as forty- two repetitions of a word to make it part of a student's vocabulary, I repeat and repeat basic words in complete sentences orally, and I have students read them and write them. Sometimes we even act out some concepts like in front of, behind, beside, and under. The more senses that are engaged, the more learning takes place. After this I use parts of a book called Personal Stories, which I got from another ELL teacher, and a series of books called Talk of the Block. All of these books were designed for adults. Topics covered include family, home, shopping, and health. I also use parts of a phonics book, a grammar book, a vocabulary book, and a math book designed especially for new English learners. Many of my students have also never learned to do math, so we begin with counting and learning the names of the numbers and addition facts. These are some things to keep in mind in teaching beginning English: . There is often a silent period at first in which the student is listening and learning but doesn't feel confident or comfortable enough to talk. . Don't correct spoken English at all. Communication is the important thing. Correct tenses and syntax will come in time. . Speak slowly and clearly at first. . English has sounds that speakers of other languages may not be able to hear, and other languages have sounds that the teacher will not be able to hear. . Talk to students a lot, even though they may not always understand. After a while they will. Speak in complete sentences. . People learn to read once in their lifetimes. If they are literate in their own languages, they will be able to transfer the skill to English, and this is a great advantage for them. . Humans are hardwired to learn spoken language, not so with reading and writing. . A few adults, especially older adults and those with learning disabilities, may not be able to learn to read. However, there isn't any way to determine this in advance. There is no test of mental function for English Language Learners at this time. Most students will still be able to learn to read, especially if they are of working age. . Contracted Braille demands too much decoding for beginners, so delay this until they have a good working knowledge of English. . For adults, developing good touch may be the single most challenging part of learning Braille. . Much time must be devoted to having students read aloud in order for them to develop speed and good pronunciation abilities. . Alternate reading and writing exercises. Writing will reinforce the spelling and word acquisition. I cannot teach students all of the English that they will eventually need to know, so I also teach basic computer skills, which include typing, writing, and basic document editing. I also teach students to use email if they are interested. The Internet is beyond my beginning students, because they do not possess the vocabulary to understand what's happening on most webpages. Students will need to have a computer to take to class so that their later English teachers can read what they write in order to critique the work. At BLIND, Incorporated, I begin working with students before they enter the full program. This may take from three months to a year, but more typically six to nine months. Then they begin cane travel, and, if that goes well, they transition to the full program from one to three months after that. There they acquire survival English in a very practical way. I teach some math to my students because many of them do not have a math background. Money is an excellent way to start-counting various coins and discussing our base ten system. If I have time during the training process, I use a math book called Number Sense which was designed for this population. What equipment do new English learners need? . White cane . Braillewriter . Braille slate . Braille paper . Recording device with long-playing capability After the first few months, when computer instruction begins, students need a portable computer with adaptive software-they will need it for use in mainstream ELL classes to write so that they can receive feedback from their teachers. They need to be able to touch type and use a word processor for writing and editing documents in class. The Importance of Immigrant and Refugee Status . Refugees are eligible for SSI immediately; for state or federally funded rehabilitation programs; and for adult basic education, public housing, and healthcare. Other immigrants are not eligible for SSI for five years. They are eligible for state or federally funded rehabilitation programs and for mainstream adult basic education and public housing. Whether they are eligible for healthcare depends upon the state. . People granted asylum are eligible for SSI, Medicaid, public housing, and rehabilitation services. However, those in the process of getting asylum status are not eligible for SSI, but they are eligible for rehabilitation services and emergency healthcare. . Illegal residents are not eligible for state or federally funded programs. They are eligible for adult basic education and mainstream ELL programs. They may or may not be eligible for public healthcare services beyond emergency services. I may be contacted at if readers want to ask questions or get a resource list that I have developed. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Sheila Amato speaking at the 2012 Braille Symposium] Setting up Teachers for Success in Their University Braille Courses: Creating and Maintaining High Standards by Sheila Amato From the Editor: Dr. Sheila Amato was the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award presented by the National Federation of the Blind. She has recently retired after a thirty-eight year career teaching blind students and those with other impairments. What Dr. Amato wrote was tailored for academic publications. We have changed the text in which she refers to herself in the third person and have made other edits to conform to Monitor practice. Here is the paper she submitted after the Braille Symposium: Beginning in 1989 with a presentation at the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind, Dr. Susan Spungin identified her perceptions on eight major reasons for the increasing illiteracy of people who are blind. One of these concerns involved the lack of standardized Braille teaching methods and of quality control to ensure high standards of teaching. Seven years later Spungin wrote an article, "Braille and Beyond: Braille Literacy in a Larger Context," in which she outlined concerns related to the inadequacy of Braille instruction provided to blind children. Spungin noted at that time that Braille illiteracy is a major symptom of a larger problem. One way to address the problem identified by Spungin is to examine the practices of university programs that prepare teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs). Intrigued and concerned by Spungin's comments, in 2000 I explored the practices of university programs in meeting professional standards in literary Braille. I conducted a descriptive study of standards and criteria for competence in Braille literacy in teacher- preparation programs. In this I explored the specific roles played in the achievement of proficiency in Braille literacy by university teacher preparation programs in blindness and visual impairment and concluded that there was "widespread diversity and a lack of consistency" in the way that professionals are prepared in literary Braille. I called for the development of objective outcomes for university graduates to ensure that their students are taught by professionals who are competent in the Braille code. For more than a decade this work was not expanded by university programs that prepare teachers of students with visual impairments. Then in 2010 Rosenblum, Lewis, and D'Andrea confirmed my findings and reiterated the need to establish minimum levels of Braille competence for graduates of university preparation programs. Their research attempted to establish the content validity of several performance statements associated with basic knowledge, production, and reading of Braille by beginning teachers. Implications for Practitioners The implications of this work support the premise that the identification of content-valid performance standards establishes a stronger research base on which to create voluntary standards for defining the Braille competence of future TVIs who complete university programs. The adoption of such standards can reduce inconsistencies among university programs and to increase the proficiency of program completers in their ability to read and produce literary Braille. The writings of Spungin (1989, 1996), Amato (2000), and Lewis et al. (2012) are examples of the handful of attempts by professionals in the field of education of individuals who are blind/visually impaired to identify both problems and solutions in this vital area of education: that of literacy for individuals who are blind. It is now 2012, nearly twenty-five years since these problems were voiced by Spungin at the NFB convention: a lifetime for the blind young adults who are now entering college or the workforce with often inadequate literacy skills. Yet twenty-five years later we are still identifying these same problems. What are the solutions to assure that those who use Braille as their literacy medium have qualified professionals to teach them to read and produce Braille? The topic of ensuring that pre-service teachers of the blind have a firm understanding of the Braille code was presented during the Problem Solution Session titled "Setting up Teachers for Success in Their University Braille Courses: Creating and Maintaining High Standards," which was held on September 28, 2012, from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. in the NFB of Utah Auditorium at the Jernigan Institute. I was the presenter at this session, a university teacher trainer and retired teacher of students with visual impairments. The session was moderated by Mark Riccobono, executive director, Jernigan Institute, National Federation of the Blind. In this session I identified thoughts on perceptions why future teachers of students who are blind are (or are not) receiving proper instruction in Braille and thoughts on strategies that could be implemented to increase their competence in Braille literacy tasks. Participants, led by moderator Riccobono, discussed possible solutions. We traveled the road from where we are, through where we need to be, to how we are going to get there. Shifting paradigms of education lead us to identify continued new challenges. During my talk I described five concerns for university programs preparing TVIs. At the conclusion of the presentation audience participants were given the opportunity to comment on how these concerns could be addressed. The first concern was recruitment. In the current model there is a documented shortage of TVIs in our nation. Participants in the session suggested the following strategies could be used to improve recruitment . Find out why people go into this field of education of children/adults who are blind in the first place. How do they find out about it? . Include parents of blind children, who are often passionate about the education their children are receiving. . Encourage current teachers to return to school for add-on endorsements in blindness education. . Reach out to high school programs; teach Braille to high school students to pique their interest in Braille. . Support enrichment programs such as the Teacher of Tomorrow Program. . Offer scholarships for future TVIs based on academic ability; fund after the fact, not before. . Encourage TVIs to conduct lessons on Braille for regular education students. . Invite guest speakers who are Braille users to go to university programs to speak with future TVIs. . Build into the National Certification in Literary Braille (NCLB) a question about candidate willingness to become a mentor for a future TVI or to become a member of a pool of resources. . Investigate having our organization (NFB) connect more with teachers. . Pursue innovative ways to show the general public what Braille is. . Address special education administrators about the literacy needs of blind children. The second concern was related to geography. There is limited access to education and training for future TVIs in diverse geographic regions that do not have teacher training programs. The online method of education is one method of service delivery with promise, but it is still problematic in areas without high-speed Internet access or when the platform used by the college or university does not afford full accessibility. Participants in the session suggested the following strategy be used to improve accessibility to such educational programs: . Consider summer institutes in which students come to campus for a period of weeks during the summer and do other parts of the program online. Hybrid online instruction with face-to-face requirements is already occurring at many universities. The third concern, about time, with its many broad definitions, involved the following: . Clarify online instruction and daily coming-to-class requirements and interaction with the professor and classmates; many university students just do not put in this time. . Support the varying time management strategies used by future TVIs in training. . Advise university students about the challenges of courses while holding down a job and/or caring for a family. . Pursue discussion of whether the typical university semester provides an adequate time in which to learn the Braille code to a high level of proficiency. The fourth concern was the future TVI's array of personal skills: . Advise future TVIs on knowing their own learning style and choosing a program that is a good fit. . Advise future TVIs on issues of time-management skills, self- discipline, self-motivation, organizational skills, and study habits required for successful study. . Assess future TVIs' knowledge of English grammar, spelling, and sentence structure before enrollment in the program. . Assess future TVIs' computer skills in navigating course websites, creating files, and using email before their enrollment in an online program. . Provide reasonable accommodations for future TVIs with disabilities; this does not mean lowering the standards. The fifth area of concern identified was technology: . Continue discussion of teacher preparation on the best method(s) to use for Braille instruction-Perky Duck simulated Braille program vs. Perkins Brailler. . Continue to work towards the full accessibility of online platforms. . Explore better ways to communicate Braille across the Internet. . Ask ourselves what drives our service delivery? Does the fact that we can offer online courses mean that we should do so? Participants in the session suggested that the following strategies could be used to address some of the issues in technology: . Use of video technology to demonstrate pedagogical skills such as inserting paper into the Brailler or proper hand position for reading Braille. . Use of video technology in Braille instruction. . Use of mobile devices to access course materials. . Use of social-networking sites to support learning. . For the past twenty-five or more years we have continued to identify these same concerns about literacy instruction for both TVIs and their students. The future is in our hands. It will be up to us to continue such collaborative sessions with the ultimate goal of developing solutions so that our blind children will be empowered with the literacy skills they need to be successful adults. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jennifer Dunnam at the 2012 Braille Symposium] Braille and Technology by Jennifer Dunnam From the Editor: Jennifer Dunnam is the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, a member of the Braille Authority of North America representing the National Federation of the Blind, and a person who clearly spends a lot of time thinking about the role of information and how important Braille is in acquiring it. Here is what she said to the Braille Symposium: The following has fascinated me ever since I heard it delivered as part of a speech back in 1990. The speech may be familiar to some of you, and it starts like this: "If the engineers of 1800 had possessed complete drawings for a transistor radio (one that could be bought today for $10), they couldn't have built it, not even if they had had billions or trillions of dollars. They lacked the infrastructure--the tools, the tools to build the tools, and the tools to build those; the plastics, the machines to make the plastics, and the machines to make the machines; the skilled workforce, the teachers to train the workforce, and the teachers to train the teachers; the transportation network to assemble the materials, the vehicles to use the network, and the sources of supply. All of this is generally recognized, but it is far less well understood that what is true of material objects is also true of ideas and attitudes. In the absence of a supporting social infrastructure of knowledge and beliefs, a new idea simply cannot exist." The speech, delivered by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the National Federation of the Blind, goes on to discuss ideas and the progress in opportunities and attitudes that has been made for blind people through our self-organizing and application of our collective experience. "The Federation at Fifty" is worth reading for anyone. Although it is intriguing to contemplate the evolving infrastructure in the realm of ideas, at the time I first heard the speech I found it equally fascinating to give thought to where we have come from in material objects. Of course the infrastructure has further evolved since he gave that speech a short twenty-two years ago; we now have objects and infrastructure that we might never have imagined then. In 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act had not yet become law. The Internet was available to only a few people and bore little resemblance to the rich venue that we use now. The music we bought was all on vinyl records or cassettes or compact discs. Most people did not have mobile phones, and the phones that did exist were meant for making and receiving telephone calls. Life was different in countless ways. To think about these technological changes in conjunction with Braille brings a sense of wonder. Not only have the changes of the last twenty years made a difference in the ways we can use Braille, but they have the potential to change for the better the way that we think about Braille and its role in bringing about the integration of blind people in society. The frequently used phrase "technology cannot replace Braille," while certainly well-intentioned, sets up a false distinction, equating "technology" with "audio." Braille can and should be as integral to and indivisible from technology as is the screen. Sighted children become fluent readers by being immersed in print all around them. It is on everything in our world. It is becoming possible to have a similar immersion experience in Braille, and it will get even more possible still-- not just for the learner, but for any Braille reader. Sometimes I wish I could show my younger self how things are now-the many things I used to wish for but could not imagine coming true ... Upon getting up in the morning, many may read the daily newspaper with their morning coffee (whether on paper or online). I can now do this in Braille as well, using a refreshable Braille display with NFB-NEWSLINE? or other online newspapers. This means literally hundreds of newspapers or other periodicals at our fingertips, available to Braille readers at the same time as to print readers. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I was fortunate in that most of my school books were transcribed into Braille. However, if the class was assigned to read an article from the newspaper about a current event, I needed to have someone read it to me. While this was certainly doable, it meant that I did not do much reading of the daily papers outside of class assignments except when someone felt like reading aloud what they happened to be reading. Some of the happiest moments of my life came when I received magazines in Braille--it didn't matter that they were two-month-old issues. Likewise I received Braille library books in the mail, but it was usually months or years between the publication of a print book and the release of the Braille version. What a difference now to be able to download a book the day it is released to the public and read it in Braille--even to purchase that book at the same price as the print reader pays. I keep my calendar in Braille on an iPhone, connected to a refreshable Braille display, which also syncs with my computer. Certainly Braille calendars are not a new idea, but never has there been such flexibility. Now others can propose meetings on my calendar, whether they know Braille or not, and I can view the calendars of others. I can get a quick overview of the appointments for the week or month using the grid layout of the calendar on the touch-screen. I can easily access any number of city bus schedules in Braille using the smart phone as well. I can also communicate using Braille with any number of friends and colleagues on email, social media, and text messaging. When I was a child and teenager, hardly any of my friends knew Braille unless I taught it to them, so my written communications with friends were rare. In my work I use Braille all day long, not only to write notes for myself, but in a variety of interactive ways-emailing, taking down info from calls, writing documents, proofreading documents, looking things up in online references, and using a variety of websites. If I collaborate with colleagues on something, we use the exact same file, not a separate copy for me. I can read and type in it in Braille while they read and type in print. As a child I wrote all of my homework and took all of my tests in Braille, which was vital to my development of literacy. However, in order for others to read it, someone else had to write out a print version of my work, or, as I got older, I did so myself on a typewriter. Computers with speech access came into widespread use long before refreshable Braille was widely available; Thus during that time it became easier simply to skip the step of Brailling the work and instead type it directly using the computer. It is fortunate for my literacy that such an option was not available to me as a student in school. In college I studied several languages and did not have access to books in Braille. The literature classes proved to be the most challenging. On occasion the books were available in audio format. Often the readers read at a normal speaking pace, but my knowledge of the language was not always up to the task of understanding at that speed. If the book was not available on cassette, I needed to find a reader who could read so I could understand. I depended heavily on class discussions and was able to do well in the classes but certainly would have benefitted from Braille books. Also a portable dictionary is an invaluable tool when working to learn a language. Now downloads and scanning/OCR technology make these books and dictionaries far easier to get. If during work I should happen to go to lunch with colleagues, the restaurant menu may be available in Braille on paper, but more often it can be viewed online in refreshable Braille, again through a mobile device. Back at work I can access meeting agendas and reports, take notes, and run slide presentations using refreshable Braille. If another speaker uses a slide presentation, there is even software that lets me view the information in Braille as the slides change. Refreshable Braille can facilitate participation in all kinds of other activities. For example, during choir practice I can easily find the correct page in the music and make notes directly in the music as the director points out things for us to remember. If a new piece is passed out during a rehearsal which was not available to be Brailled in advance, I can quickly type the words while the group is singing through it for the first time so that I can still participate in further rehearsal of the piece. Certainly I did all these things using a slate and stylus on paper before refreshable Braille, but the technology makes for a quick and smooth experience. Embossed Braille cookbooks have been available for many decades. However, an infinite number of recipes are now easy to find online. To avoid damage to the technology while cooking, the Braille-using cook can place the refreshable Braille display in a plastic bag and feel the dots easily through the plastic. For those who may want to spend a bit of time on the couch in front of the TV or listening to music after a long day, a bluetooth Braille display can be used much like a remote control if connected to an iOS device plugged into a larger entertainment system. One can scroll through options of movies, music, or television shows, reading the names and information in Braille, and control the playback. Online shopping can be accomplished all in Braille as well. Certainly there is still much to do to ensure that Braille readers can operate on an equal footing with print readers. Today's Braille displays, although becoming more economical over the past few years, are still beyond the price range that many can afford. Many websites, documents, programs, and other print material are designed in a way that makes them unusable by people who read using assistive technology. Sometimes issues of incompatibility arise between mainstream technology and screen readers. Still Braille is more widely available than ever before in history, and the direction of the future holds much promise because of the focus, passion, and know-how of people who recognize that Braille is as essential as literacy. The technological realities of today seem amazing when viewed from the perspective of decades past. They will likely seem primitive a few years from now. During a recent airline flight a fellow passenger who saw me reading asked me about the purpose and use of my Braille display. A few minutes after we finished the conversation and settled back into our individual activities, she suddenly asked: "May I read along with you?" For a moment I was puzzled, since she had made it clear that she knew nothing about Braille. Then, realizing what she meant, I gladly agreed that she could read along; my iPhone, on which I had downloaded the book, was on the tray next to my Braille display. She could see the very same book in print on the screen. What a pleasant sign of the possibilities for integration with society. If we keep our focus on thinking about and pushing for this type of integration, things will only get better. ---------- [Photo/Caption: Henry Wedler] How Braille Saved a Blind Chemist by Henry Wedler From the Editor: Henry "Hoby" Wedler is an NFB tenBroek Fellow, having been awarded NFB scholarships in 2005 and 2011. He told the Braille Symposium attendees a bit about how useful he finds Braille as a doctoral student in organic chemistry. This is what he said: Contrary to social perceptions, blindness is not what holds us back. Rather it is low societal expectations about what blind people are capable of. We must believe in ourselves and hold high expectations. Dr. Maurer recently told us that we don't need a consensus or a study to tell us how many blind people in the United States are literate or are employed. The National Federation of the Blind knows that these statistics are dismal. Not enough blind people read Braille, and not nearly enough are employed. We are here this weekend to change these sad facts. Braille provides blind people with independence. Before we had ready access to Braille, we were dependent on print readers to read us materials aloud or audio recordings. Using Braille, we are able to read what we want to, when we want to. Blind Americans must strive to use Braille to maintain high expectations for ourselves and ultimately to take responsibility for our successes and failures. With the availability of Braille a blind student, for instance, cannot say, "I couldn't complete the assignment because I couldn't find someone to read it to me." With Braille blind students and blind professionals are expected, as they should be, to read and not use excuses for not being able to access materials. Though we still have a long way to go before Braille is as widespread as we would like, we must acknowledge that because of technology advances we can have Braille at our fingertips. It is possible, for instance, to go to a restaurant with a Braille display, read the menu using a smart phone, and order with no sighted intervention. As Jennifer Dunnam accurately pointed out, a blind chef can put his Braille display in a plastic zip-top bag and use it to read recipes in a kitchen, in which the display could be significantly damaged if not properly sheathed. I love events like this one because the information provides me with ideas as a blind chemist. Blind students can get protective sleeves for Braille displays or hardcopy Braille documents and read them in the laboratory around chemicals that one would not want to contaminate notebooks or Braille displays. These simple yet genuinely creative ideas inspire everyone here to be innovative. I have a Braille embosser, so, if I choose, within minutes I can have any accessible text from the Internet Brailled as a hard copy that I can take wherever I want. Therefore, despite the many Braille challenges still facing us, technology does make Braille documents readily accessible. My Story Unlike most other blind children in the United States, I had parents who have held extremely high expectations of me and my abilities for as long as I can remember. My sighted brother and I were held to the same standards. We all worked together on projects around our home. We did our homework together, and our parents expected both of us to do very well in school. They established a model of parenting which should be adopted for both blind and sighted parenting. They respected my brother and me tremendously and expected excellence of us. They displayed excellence to us and expected it back. Ultimately my identity was not the blind kid in the family; I was Hoby Wedler, who happened to be blind. My mother is a teacher of the visually impaired and orientation and mobility specialist of twenty-five years who steadfastly supports the work of the National Federation of the Blind. She and my father knew that, in order to be successful in the world, I would have to be literate. I thus began learning Braille at three years old and am always grateful that I learned it proficiently so early. This has helped and will undoubtedly continue to help me for the rest of my life. I found the NFB at the first Rocket On! Science Academy, held at the then new Jernigan Institute in 2004. As a partnership between the NFB and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, this week-long program paired blind high school students interested in science with blind mentors. I never knew blind professionals in the sciences before this experience. I wanted to pursue a chemistry degree in college, but, until this academy and my grand introduction to the NFB, I didn't know it was possible. I use Braille and tactile figures daily as a graduate student in organic chemistry at the University of California, Davis. When I arrived at Davis, I was put in contact with a wonderful reader and assistant, Sarah Cohen, who knew very quickly that I would need high-quality tactile figures to tackle organic chemistry and upper-division mathematics courses. She and I worked together to develop a method of tactile figure-making in which an image is drawn about double the size of the print representation on smooth heavy-weight twenty-four-pound laser printer paper. The sheet of paper is then flipped over and placed on a soft surface like a notebook or rubber mat. The image from the facing side is then traced with force using a pen. These figures hold up very well and are the very best I have found because they optimize speed, durability, and accuracy. I've also found that Braille holds up on this paper very well; thus the figures can be easily labeled. When I came to Davis, Cohen also realized that no good system was in place for Brailling exams. Remarkably, she learned Braille in less than six months and Brailled all of my chemistry, physics, and mathematics exams as well as quantum mechanics lecture notes when I was an undergraduate student. I used and still use Braille every day to survive as a graduate student. As a blind organic chemistry student I must visualize complex figures generated by a computer. Thus, we are working hard to implement a successful three-dimensional printing system that is fully accessible to me. The research that we do in Professor Dean Tantillo's lab requires us to look at geometries of organic structures as they are optimized energetically by our quantum mechanical calculations. We often observe chemical reactions and transition state structures between reactive intermediates. These transition states often have bonds that are longer or shorter than average. For a blind student to be successful, he or she should feel these structures in three dimensions in order to fix the figure in his or her mind. Hence we are developing a three-dimensional printing system that will print atoms as spheres and sticks connecting them to represent bonds. This system will soon apply Braille labels (also generated by the 3-D printer) on the structures, indicating atom labels. We are also devising ways to put notches on chemical bonds to be used as a ruler for me to observe as a bond lengthens and shortens. Another inaccessible part of computational organic chemistry is inputting large complex structures in the computer program we use. We are thus discussing and soon will be implementing a three-dimensional scanning system that will scan structures built by me with RFID scanning tags on the pieces. We will build a custom molecular model kit for constructing these models. The RFID tags will be adhered to critical parts of the model before scanning. Since my theme is Braille, we are also looking into brailling labels on these RFID matrices and having the labels I make scanned into the system, recognized, decoded, and placed as labels on the structure, eventually to be shown on the computer screen. Ultimately, this idea revolves around scannable Braille morsels on RFID tags. You may know that I collect wine and have something of a collection. I learned very early on that having to ask someone over and over what type of wine I had and not ever getting the right bottle on the first try became tedious. Thus I label each of my bottles using a Braille labeler when I stock it. This method paired with some crucial organization skills allows me to manage my wine collection completely independently, again thanks to Braille. I also cook extensively and use a similar system for labeling things that are difficult to identify in my kitchen. Ultimately, as with anything else, we need to use what makes us most efficient and most successful in the long run. If you know Braille and can use it quickly enough to make it effective, use it. If audio works better for you, use it. Use whatever makes you an efficient, productive member of society. I use a combination of Braille and audio to access materials for my work and personal life. Braille is extremely useful, but sometimes, for instance when I need an organic chemistry handout or document read, Brailling it would take four hours and reading it aloud would take four minutes. Clearly I'll choose to have it read aloud to save time. Braille is extremely important and should be taught to blind Americans much more than it is being taught. We have heard at this symposium many ways Braille has been advanced in the past few years. I am always elated by our innovation because I honestly don't know what Braille will allow us in the next five, ten, or twenty years. Groups like ours dream and think together and come up with the most exciting and innovative uses for Braille in our futures. We still have a long way to go, but we should all leave this evening knowing how far we have come. We will turn dreams into realities using our high expectations of ourselves and using Braille. Always hold high expectations of yourself, whether you are sighted or blind. Never lower the bar. Take responsibility for your successes and failures. With our hard and steadfast work, the blind will find and hold on to equality in society. Keep working hard and never ever stop dreaming up new and exciting ideas. Thank you very much; this has been a fantastic symposium. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Robert Englebretson] Braille and the IPA: Empowering Careers in the Language Sciences by Robert Englebretson From the Editor: Dr. Robert Englebretson is an associate professor of linguistics at Rice University. He is the author and editor of several books and research articles and teaches a broad range of linguistics and cognitive science courses. His primary research areas include discourse and grammar, language in social interaction, American English, and colloquial Indonesian. Additionally, Englebretson seeks to promote Braille as a relevant and fruitful research topic for the cognitive sciences and, vice versa, seeks to highlight the relevance of general findings from linguistics and cognitive science for ongoing research on Braille. He developed and taught an upper-level course on this topic at Rice University in 2009 in conjunction with the bicentennial celebration of the birth of Louis Braille. Englebretson has served as the U.S. representative to the International Council on English Braille's Foreign Languages and Linguistics Committee, under whose auspices he published the current Braille system for representing the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA Braille). He currently serves on the Research Committee of the Braille Authority of North America. I learned to read when I started school in the mid-1970s, and I soon became quite a bookworm. At the time Braille seemed completely unremarkable to me. It struck me as basic common sense that, while sighted classmates learned to read and write print, I would learn to read and write Braille. This was simply how things worked--and I never realized until much later what an amazing gift this actually was. In general I had excellent teachers with high expectations. And, most important, I had supportive parents with even higher expectations, who understood that Braille is the key to literacy, education, and employment. I believed then, as I do now, that Braille is both normal and necessary. Whatever task a sighted person accomplished using print, I expected to accomplish the same task using Braille. Of course I knew there were differences-books were much larger and heavier and came in multiple volumes, and I soon learned to use books on audio cassette when Braille was not available. But, while I recognized the importance of being flexible and acquiring a virtual toolbox of alternative techniques, I did not change my core attitude, valuing Braille as both normal and necessary. When I started college in 1988, students had no support for obtaining university textbooks and course materials in Braille. As we all did in those days, I relied on cassettes; live readers; and, much later, a computer with a scanner and speech synthesizer-and finally a Braille notetaker and display. I continued to use Braille for my own notes, for writing paper drafts before typing them on the computer, and for the occasional bit of leisure reading whenever time allowed. One of the courses I signed up for on my very first day on campus was an introductory linguistics course. In fact it is a course that I have now taught at least a dozen times. And after that course I was hooked. Linguistics is a broad and fascinating field that approaches language from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. I was fascinated by the questions linguistics was asking, such as what language is; how it works; in what ways the grammars of the world's languages are similar and in what ways they differ; why specific languages are the way they are; and, ultimately, what kinds of things languages teach us about the human mind, societies, and cultures. I was also drawn to the idea of doing fieldwork far away from the United States, to find out more about other languages- something which I eventually did, when I lived in Indonesia in the mid- 1990s doing research for my doctoral dissertation. One of the first things a student in an introductory linguistics course must learn is the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). The IPA is an internationally adopted set of symbols recognized among professionals in the language sciences. It is developed and maintained by the International Phonetic Association, and its goal is to represent unambiguously all of the sounds in the approximately six thousand languages spoken on earth today. By "unambiguously" I mean that the IPA is not tied to the writing system or the spelling system of a specific language, rather an IPA symbol has the same pronunciation regardless of which language it is notating. In fact it is often used when working with speakers of languages that have no writing system at all. The IPA comprises nearly two hundred unique symbols. These include symbols for consonants (including a number of rare consonants like clicks, ejectives, and implosives), vowels (including the sixteen or so that are used in American English, and many more that show up in other languages), suprasegmentals (tone, stress, and other features of intonation and prosody), and a number of diacritics (symbols that indicate a modified pronunciation of a sound, such as lengthening a vowel, aspirating a consonant, and so on.) Typically a student learns a basic version of the IPA in an introductory course, just for the sounds of English, and then will go on to take a series of courses in phonetics that go into depth about all of the sounds notated by the IPA and will learn about the physiology and acoustics of speech. The IPA is used in numerous language-related endeavors for a range of purposes. Field linguists use it when documenting and describing endangered languages. This is of particular focus and humanitarian interest right now, since it is widely estimated that over half of the world's nearly six thousand spoken languages will become extinct by the end of the twenty- first century. There is currently a good deal of collaboration among linguists and indigenous communities to document and describe languages before they disappear. Sociolinguists use the IPA when studying regional varieties of English or other languages, when it is necessary to capture exact pronunciations. Clinicians, specifically speech and language pathologists, use the IPA when diagnosing and treating voice and communication disorders. Computational linguists often use the IPA when working on speech synthesis and recognition. The IPA is used for teaching purposes, such as in many pronunciation guides and textbooks, and in some ESL and second-language learning materials. The IPA is also used in the performing arts, for vocal music pedagogy as well as in accent training for actors. And, by the way, Wikipedia uses the IPA to show pronunciation in Wikipedia entries-and they usually do a fairly good job with it. In short, the IPA is required in any endeavor in which it is desirable or necessary to capture specific nuances of pronunciation, voice quality, and intonation. For those of us who are blind and who work or are studying in these fields, a Braille notation of the IPA is crucial. So one of the first things I wondered as a freshman student sitting in an introductory linguistics course was: "How do you do this in Braille?" Given my belief that, if a sighted person could do something using print, a blind person could likewise accomplish the same task using Braille, I figured there must certainly be a Braille notation for the IPA. And indeed there was, except I soon discovered that the situation was complicated by the unfortunate fact that the available IPA Braille notations were incomplete and out of date. The earliest Braille notation of the IPA was Merrick and Potthoff (1934), published in London by the organization that is now called the Royal National Institute of Blind People. This volume was developed by an international council that met in Vienna in 1929; W. Percy Merrick (the lead author) was a British musicologist who was well known for compiling a collection of folk songs, was an Esperanto proponent, was a world traveler, and happened to be blind. He was traveling and working in a time when most blind people were not. Merrick and Potthoff worked with Daniel Jones at the University College, London, who was one of the best known phoneticians in the early twentieth century. They collaborated to develop the 1934 IPA Braille notation in order to open up language-related fields to blind people. [Editor's Note: In the following sentence the author presents a sample of the IPA Braille code. We have inserted a representation for our Braille readers, a different one for our print readers, and yet another for readers of the audio edition.] A review of the Merrick and Potthoff notation (Quick 1936) in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association concluded: "[??s buk ?z ?? r?z?lt ?v m?t? pe??nt t??l ?nd w?l h?lp t? me?k p?s?bl f? bla?nd stjudnts ? st?d? f? w?t? ?e? me? bi pri- ?m?n?ntl? sjut?d]" (Quick 1936: 51). {This book is the result of much patient toil and will help to make possible for blind students a study for which they may be preeminently suited.} Of course from our early twenty- first century perspective, the idea that blind people might be "preeminently suited" for a particular career would rankle most of us as being both limiting and stereotypic-but, I would contend that in the late 1930s it was quite radical even to mention Braille in a mainstream academic journal, much less to suggest, as this review overtly does, that this Braille system would enable blind people to engage in study and work. Potential stereotypes aside, Merrick and Potthoff, as well as the review's author, clearly recognized the importance of Braille. The 1934 Merrick and Potthoff Braille IPA notation was adopted in the UK, in most countries in Europe, and in North America. It was the version reproduced in the 1977 Code of Braille Textbook Formats and Techniques (AAWB 1977: Rule XIX, section 45), which I discovered when I sought to answer the question of how to represent the IPA in Braille, and it was the version that I tried to use throughout my undergraduate and graduate coursework. Reprinted versions were available from the RNIB in London, from the Blindenstudienanstalt in Marburg, Germany, as well as from other libraries around the world. However, serious problems had begun to emerge regarding the Merrick and Potthoff notation. First, it was poorly publicized and not well known. I was never able to find a Braille transcriber who would transcribe linguistics material using it. Several blind individuals I have met over the past two decades have told me that they tried to take a linguistics course in college but found the IPA too daunting, and a couple of students insisted to me (despite evidence to the contrary) that it was impossible to represent the IPA in Braille. Second, the Merrick and Potthoff notation had not been updated to reflect the additions, deletions, and major changes to the print IPA during the course of the twentieth century. While the core of the system remained relatively stable, there had been major revisions to the print IPA since the 1932 chart that the Merrick and Potthoff notation was based on. By 2008, when I oversaw the publication of a fully updated and revised Braille notation, the Merrick and Potthoff system was seventy- six years out of date. Numerous print symbols had no Braille counterpart, and conversely numerous Braille symbols had print equivalents that had become obsolete and were no longer used. There was no way that the Merrick and Potthoff notation could be used in advanced linguistics work. I and other blind linguists tended to make up our own symbols and techniques on the fly-which of course meant material could not be shared and was often inconsistent. Finally, in 1997 the situation got even more complicated with the publication of a completely unrelated Braille notation for the IPA, in Braille Formats (BANA 1997: Rule 18). No linguist that I know of ever used it, and it was already based on an out-of-date print IPA chart when it was published. It also led to the unfortunate situation that the International Phonetic Alphabet was no longer remotely international, since the US and Canada were now officially using a different Braille IPA system from the UK and most of Europe, which were still using the Merrick and Potthoff notation. In 2005 I was invited to work with ICEB (International Council on English Braille) to serve on the Committee on Foreign Languages and Linguistics. One of the main goals of this committee was to unify the Braille IPA notation used in the US with that used in the UK and much of the rest of the world. I began by seeking input from other Braille-reading linguists. All of us had been inventing our own idiosyncratic systems as needs arose, based loosely on the Merrick and Potthoff 1934 notation. I aimed to ensure that the revised Braille IPA notation was fully usable, international, and as broadly available as possible. I announced the Braille IPA project widely on linguistics and phonetics e-mail lists for public comment and received feedback and suggestions from both sighted phoneticians and, most important, other Braille readers. I piloted the revised system with blind students in university-level linguistics courses, including one that I taught at Rice University. As much as possible the revision kept the core of the Merrick and Potthoff notation, since that was clearly the system that Braille IPA users were the most familiar and comfortable with, although the notation for diacritics and suprasegmentals had to be completely revised. Another goal was to ensure that the updated Braille IPA notation was fully computable, was Unicode compatible, and was able to be forward-and-back-translated between print and Braille. The end result was published in a two-volume set (Englebretson 2008), with a foreword by Dr. Fredric Schroeder. The full citation and URL are listed in the references of this article. It is freely downloadable from the ICEB website and can also be obtained in hard copy. The first volume contains an introduction to the IPA and a complete overview and explanation of IPA Braille. It includes tables of symbols, typographic and articulatory descriptions of each symbol, and the corresponding Unicode codepoints. The second volume consists of tactile illustrations of each print IPA glyph, side by side with the corresponding Braille symbol. After publishing the revised IPA Braille notation in 2008, the next step was to make the wider community of linguists and phoneticians aware of it. To this end I wrote an article about IPA Braille (Englebretson 2009), which was published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association, one of the top peer-reviewed journals in the field. The goal of this article was to call professional awareness to IPA Braille so that, when blind students enroll in linguistics courses, their instructors will easily be able to refer their students to IPA Braille, and students will be able to locate it easily without having to dig through Braille codebooks. IPA Braille is also included in recent releases of the Duxbury Braille Translator. It was adopted by BANA as the official code for transcribing IPA in the US and Canada and is being used successfully in the UK and in other ICEB member countries. Those who would like more information about IPA Braille can contact me directly at the e-mail address at the end of this article. My website, also listed there, contains links to a number of resources. These include information for configuring screen readers (such as JAWS) to read IPA symbols and links to Unicode fonts, keyboard mappers, and other technology for reading and typing IPA. This paper has been about extending Braille into new arenas in order to facilitate people's studying and working in a variety of language- related careers. It is amazing that the six dots of Braille are used for such a diverse variety of purposes and can empower us in so many different ways. In conclusion, for those seeking careers in the language sciences, IPA Braille enables us to do the same tasks as those who use the print IPA. Returning to the core belief about Braille that I grew up with, Braille is both normal and necessary-and IPA Braille is simply an extension of this basic value. Dr. Englebretson may be contacted at the Department of Linguistics, Rice University, by calling (713) 348-4776 or by writing to him at . We are not reprinting his extensive list of references, but they can be sent to anyone who requests them by writing to . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Buddy Brannan] Is Braille Still Relevant? by Buddy Brannan From the Editor: Buddy Brannan is a member of the National Federation of the Blind and serves as the vice president of the Erie chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania. Most of the articles printed in the Braille Monitor are written specifically for our magazine; some we reprint from other publications. Some items come to our attention through email posts and, though not intended as articles, they articulate something so important that it should be captured and shared with our readers. The following email remarks by Buddy Brannan, which were circulated in June 2012, reflect the frustration some of us feel acutely when a method for reading and writing using the sense of touch is greeted with skepticism while a method for getting information through the eyes is accepted without question. Here is one blind man's reaction to the notion that audio devices may be robbing the sighted of the ability to spell while simultaneously being proposed as the way to free blind people from the need to learn Braille. Perkins just asked in an email they sent out if Braille is still relevant in a high tech world. They said the answer was a resounding yes, as it certainly should be, but here is my response which I sent to Perkins and posted to my blog: Hi, First, do I love my Perkins Brailler? Of course I do. I don't really want to talk about that, though. Rather I want to address the question you posed: is Braille still relevant in a technological world? Of course you got the answer, and in my view the correct one, but what disturbs me is that the question was even asked in the first place. I think it is the wrong question. In short, what happens if you replace the word "Braille" with the word "print"? Does the question change? Does the relevance of the question change with the medium? Does the answer change? What about the perceptions of the question--do those change? A couple of weeks ago, I was a fill-in host on the Serotek podcast, where we discussed an article about the decline in spelling skills among today's youth. However, I didn't take away what was probably the intended message of the article. I took away a double standard. Now that it's sighted children who use print and are losing the ability to spell, form proper sentences, and so on, we have a tragedy, and our electronics-centric lifestyle is to blame. Think of texting as the most often blamed culprit. Yet where was this outcry for our blind kids twenty years ago, when as now we were told that talking computers and recorded textbooks are good enough? Double standard? Why is it, do you suppose, that learning to read print and having access to print are essential to teach sighted children the fundamentals of grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but such skills are adequately taught to our blind kids with talking computers and recorded textbooks? Or is it that our blind kids and their skills and abilities in these areas just aren't important enough to give the same amount of attention or priority? Why is--pulling a number out of the air here--a 10 percent illiteracy rate among the sighted a national tragedy, yet a 10 percent literacy rate among the blind acceptable? If you gather that I'm angry, you're right. I am absolutely livid. This is only one example of this double standard where blind and sighted people are concerned. The thing is, it's a huge example, and it doesn't even seem as though we ourselves always recognize it for what it is, because we still ask questions like "Is Braille still relevant?" As long as literacy is relevant to gainful employment, career advancement, educational opportunities, and all the other things life has to offer, the answer should be obvious. As I said, you're asking the wrong question. There are probably a lot of right questions, but the one that comes to mind, setting aside the obvious one, "Why is this double standard acceptable?" is, "How do we get Braille into the hands of more kids and get more of our kids learning it, and more of our teachers teaching it?" Let's start there; there's much, much more that we should be asking as follow-ups to that. Parenthetically, I note that the word "Brailler" was flagged by my spell checker. Moreover, it was autocorrected to "broiler." That speaks volumes. ---------- [PHOTO/CAPTION: Dan Hicks] [PHOTO/CAPTION: Four youngsters joyfully explore the hotel at the 2012 convention of the National Federation of the blind.] Make the Scene in 2013! by Dan Hicks From the Editor: Dan Hicks is the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida. Here is what he has to say about our upcoming convention in Orlando: Some of you are reading this with your heat running, or wrapped in a blanket, or maybe both. This is a good time to stop thinking about the snow on the ground and the ice on the sidewalk and to start dreaming about the warm, sunny weather in Orlando, Florida. For the second time this decade, the NFB's Florida affiliate wants to invite each and every one of you to take part in the 2013 National Federation of the Blind Convention at the Rosen Centre Hotel on World- famous International Drive in Orlando. The convention will take place from July 1 through July 6 and will include all of the usual convention events that make our annual gatherings the envy of other groups. The Central Florida Area, which is where you will find Orlando, is home to many outstanding theme parks and recreation areas, such as Universal Studios Florida, Disney World, and Sea World, just to name a few. Orlando is less than a two-hour drive from the award-winning Busch Gardens Tampa and Florida's version of Legoland. Come a day or two early or stay a couple of days late. Play tourist for a while. Florida is the only state in the Continental United States to have two coasts. Enjoy either or both. Come help the members of the NFB of Florida celebrate the summer. We promise you sunshine, fun, and lots of chances to get wet. We are always looking for door prizes. Remember that they should have a value of at least twenty-five dollars, should be something that people can transport home. Please send them to Dan Hicks, president, National Federation of the Blind of Florida, 3708 West Bay to Bay Blvd., Tampa, FL 33639. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Allen Harris] Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris From the Editor: Allen Harris chairs the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund committee. He has an important announcement for those who would like to attend this year's national convention but find themselves short of funds. This is what he says: The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund is looking for individuals who can use some financial assistance to attend our national convention in Orlando, Florida. At the 2012 convention in Dallas we were able to assist sixty-three people. In 2013 our convention will begin on Monday, July 1, and run through Saturday, July 6. The convention is a day shorter than you might expect, ending with the banquet Saturday evening. Who is eligible to receive a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? If you are a member of the National Federation of the Blind who has not yet attended a national convention, you are eligible to apply. What do I have to do to apply for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? You must do the following and are responsible for meeting these application requirements: 1. Each individual who applies for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship must write a letter to the selection committee. You will send your letter of application to your NFB state affiliate president. A list of state presidents is posted on the NFB website . He or she will forward your completed application, along with his or her recommendation, to the committee at . You and your state president should make contact by telephone so that he or she is well aware of your financial need and your wish to attend the convention in Orlando. If you have questions, you may also send a message to the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship chairman by addressing your email to the scholarship submission email address. 2. You must write a letter to the Kenneth Jernigan Fund committee expressing the reasons why you want a scholarship. Describe your participation in the Federation and what you think you would contribute and receive at the convention. 3. You must register for and attend the entire convention, including the banquet. What else must I do to insure that my application will be considered? We must have all of the following information: 1. Your full name 2. Your address 3. Your telephone numbers (home, business, and cell) 4. Your email address (if you have one) 5. Your state president's name and the name of your local chapter, if you attend one All applications must be received by April 15, 2013. How do I get my scholarship funds? You will get a debit card at the convention loaded with the amount of your scholarship award. The times and locations to pick up your debit card will be listed in the notice you receive if you are a scholarship winner. The committee is not able to provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state affiliate to assist you by advancing funds you can pay back when you receive your scholarship. When will I know if I have been selected as a Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship winner? The committee makes every effort to notify scholarship winners by May 15, but you must do several things to be prepared to attend if you are chosen: 1. Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from attending, you can cancel your reservation. 2. You will receive a letter with the convention details which should answer many of your questions. It is also helpful to find a mentor from your chapter or affiliate to act as a friend and advisor during the convention. Although you will not know officially whether or not you have been selected until mid-May, you must make plans to attend and then adjust your arrangements accordingly. Last summer in Dallas the Jernigan Fund scholarship committee awarded sixty-three Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarships. Grants ranged from $400 to $500. The amount we can give will depend on the funds available; we attempt to award additional funds to families. You can include in your letter to the committee any special circumstances which the committee may choose to take into consideration. Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first convention and join several thousand other blind Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. If you have questions or need additional information, call Allen Harris at (205) 520-9979 or email him at . We look forward to seeing you in Orlando. ---------- Recipes This month's recipes are contributed by members of the NFB of Louisiana. [PHOTO CAPTION: Krystal Guillory] KG's Red Beans and Sausage by Krystal and Eric Guillory Krystal and Eric Guillory are active at all levels of the Federation. Krystal serves as a teacher of blind students and an early interventionist in northern Louisiana, and Eric is director of youth services for the Louisiana Center for the Blind. Both are officers of the National Organization of Professionals in Blindness Education (PIBE). They are the proud parents of Austin, age seven, and Brilyn, age four. This dish is a tasty way to economize and is a wonderful entr?e for large gatherings. While it is a nice option all year, it is particularly great during these chilly winter months. Ingredients: 1 large bag of dry red beans 2 pounds beef, pork, or turkey sausage, or to taste, sliced into bite-size pieces 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 2 large bell peppers, coarsely chopped 2 dill pickles, coarsely chopped (or dill relish) Salt and pepper to taste Note: We like Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning better than salt and pepper but realize that it is not easy to obtain in other parts of the country. Method: Place dry beans in a large covered saucepan or stock pot and soak in water for at least five hours to soften. Drain beans and replace water, bringing the beans to a medium boil. Use lots of water since much of it will evaporate during cooking. Continue this medium boil for at least an hour, stirring occasionally to prevent burning or sticking. While the beans are boiling, brown the sausage and onions in a frying pan. Once browned, add these to the boiling pot. Next add the dill pickle and bell pepper to the mix. When the beans are done, reduce the boil to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Allow the beans to simmer for at least two hours. For a creamier texture place a ladle-full of beans into a separate bowl and mash smooth and return them to the simmering pot. Serve over your choice of rice or simply enjoy as a standalone dish. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Eric and Krystal Guillory with their children, Brilyn and Austin.] Ruby's Banana Pudding by Krystal and Eric Guillory Named in honor of Eric's mom, this recipe gives a twist to a recipe popularized by Chef Paula Deen. Ingredients: 2 boxes French vanilla instant pudding 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened 8 ounces condensed milk 1 12-ounce container Cool Whip 3 7.25-ounce packs Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies 4 bananas, sliced Method: Prepare the pudding as directed. Blend together the condensed milk, cream cheese, and Cool Whip. In a large mixing bowl fold blended mixture into pudding and mix thoroughly. In a 9-by-13-inch pan layer cookies, sliced bananas, and pudding mixture, ending with cookies. Cover and refrigerate. Serve cold and enjoy. ---------- Bacon-Wrapped Cajun Jalapenos by Jewel Ardoin Jewel Ardoin is originally from Lafayette, Louisiana, Cajun country. Jewel is a technology instructor at the Louisiana Center for the Blind and an active leader in the affiliate. As well as being an outstanding cook, she is also famous for her massage fundraiser at the state convention. She is a certified massage therapist. Ingredients: 8 large jalapeno peppers 1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning 8 thick-sliced peppered bacon strips 16 toothpicks Method: Cut 8 jalapenos in half lengthwise; remove seeds and center membranes. In a small bowl combine the package cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and Cajun seasoning. Stuff about 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls cream cheese mixture into each pepper half. Cut bacon strips in half widthwise. In a large skillet cook bacon part way. Wrap a half bacon slice around each stuffed pepper; secure ends with a toothpick Place wrapped peppers on a wire rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for twenty- five to thirty minutes or until bacon is crisp. Discard toothpicks and serve immediately. Yield: sixteen appetizers. Note: Wear disposable gloves when cutting hot peppers; the oils can burn skin. Avoid touching your face. You can use doubled muffin papers instead of toothpicks. The best ones to use are the ones that have foil on the outside and paper in the inside. This makes it easy to serve the bacon- wrapped stuffed peppers and easy to clean the baking pan. ---------- Potato Chip Cookies by Jewel Ardoin Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup potato chips, crushed 1/2 cup pecans, ground 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup confectioners sugar Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. With the mixer at low speed add potato chips and pecans and mix until fully incorporated. Add vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in flour and mix the flour until just combined; do not over-mix. Using a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 tablespoons), shape dough in one-inch balls and place them two inches apart on lined baking sheets. Slightly flatten each dough ball with the bottom of a glass dipped in confectioners sugar. Bake in a preheated oven for twelve to fifteen minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about twenty-four. Roll cooled cookies in confectioners sugar. If desired, garnish cooled cookies with a drizzle of melted chocolate and a sprinkling of fine sea salt. ---------- Cereal-Crusted Chicken with Curry Cream by Jack Mendez Jack Mendez joined the LCB staff in November 2012 as director of technology. He is a committed Federationist who is eager to share his positive philosophy about blindness with others. Jack loves to cook and experiment with all types of cuisine. He and his fianc?e, Maryann Topolewski, will be married in April. Jack made this recipe as part of his meal for eight at LCB when he was a student, and it received rave reviews. Jack says, "Take this breakfast treat to a new level. You can use any unsweetened cereal, granola, or oats when you want to explore new flavors. (For best results place the cereal in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin until coarsely crushed, or give it a quick spin in the food processor.)" Ingredients: Cooking spray 2 cups crushed unsweetened cornflakes cereal 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/4 cup orange marmalade Ingredients for Curry Cream: 1/2 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon curry powder Pinch of paprika Method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the crushed cereal in a shallow dish and set aside. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and brush marmalade over both sides. Add the chicken to the cereal and turn to coat completely. Arrange the chicken pieces on the sprayed cookie sheet and spray the surface of each with cooking spray. Bake until the crust is golden brown and chicken is cooked through, about twenty-five minutes. Meantime in a small bowl whisk together the sour cream, curry powder, and paprika. Serve the chicken with the curry cream spooned over the top or on the side. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jerry Whittle] Jerry Whittle's Famous Carolina Hash A beloved Federation leader, Jerry Whittle has served for years in many capacities in South Carolina and Louisiana. He is currently the president of the Greater Ouachita Chapter of the NFB of Louisiana and vice president of the affiliate, along with being state fundraising chairperson. This dish is always a favorite. Ingredients: 2 packages boneless ribs 2 jars of Cattleman's Carolina Barbecue Sauce or any other Carolina Barbeque Sauce Salt to taste Black pepper to taste 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional) 1 1/2 cups cooked rice Method: Cook ribs overnight in a crock pot on low with onion, jalapeno pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. Cool ribs and chop meat, returning it to the pot. Add sauce and rice to crock pot. Reserve about a half jar of sauce to add as needed. Cook covered for 4 hours on low. Enjoy! ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Roland and Pam Allen] Chocolate Kahlua? Cake by Roland Allen Roland Allen has served the Federation at many levels. A gifted mentor and cane travel instructor, Roland enjoys sharing the message of the Federation. This is one of his favorite recipes and always a crowd-pleaser. Ingredients: 1 box devil's food cake mix 1 small box instant chocolate pudding 2 cups sour cream 4 eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1/3 cup Kahlua 1 cup mini chocolate chips Glaze Ingredients: 1 cup powdered sugar 4 tablespoons Kahlua Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all cake ingredients except chocolate chips and mix or beat until thoroughly combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan. Bake for one hour. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes. Turn out cake on cooling rack to cool completely. Whisk together powdered sugar and Kailua until smooth. Drizzle over cake. ---------- Broccoli Salad by Pam Allen Pam Allen is president of the NFB of Louisiana and director of the Louisiana Center for the Blind. Ingredients: 2 bunches broccoli florets, washed and cut into small pieces 10 strips of crisp bacon, crumbled 1/2 cup onion, diced 2/3 cup Craisins? 1/2 cup sunflower seeds Dressing Ingredients: 1 cup Miracle Whip? 1/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Method: Combine ingredients for dressing in a small container and refrigerate overnight. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add as much dressing as desired and lightly toss. ---------- Shrimp Creole by Cathy Guillory Cathy Guillory is the president of the Lake Areas Chapter. As a deaf- blind woman she is also a strong advocate for deaf-blind issues. Ingredients: 1 onion, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil Wondra? flour 1/2 small can Ro*Tel? tomatoes (You can substitute a mixture of stewed tomatoes and minced chili peppers if you can't find the Ro*Tel brand.) 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce Peeled and deveined shrimp Method: Saut? onion, bell pepper, and garlic in oil until tender. Sprinkle Wondra flour over the oil-and-vegetable mixture, stirring constantly, until it is the consistency of watery oatmeal. Add Ro*Tel and stir until all ingredients are well blended. Add tomato sauce and then fill the tomato sauce can with water. Pour the water into the mixture, scraping can well, and stir. Bring to a boil and then quickly lower heat to simmer. Simmer for at least 20 minutes without covering the pot. Add enough peeled and deveined shrimp for two people. Cook only until shrimp is done. Although some measurements have been included, none of the ingredients need to be measured precisely in this recipe. Creole cooking, like any art, is highly subjective. Play with it and develop your own favorite combination of ingredients. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family Announcing Indy Super BLAST 2013: Mark your calendars. Plan to join us for education, motivation, and the largest trade show for blind entrepreneurs and others interested in building small business opportunities for the blind. The National Association of Blind Merchants, a strong and active division of the National Federation of the Blind, is pleased to announce that the BLAST (Business Leadership and Superior Training) conference will return to Indianapolis, Indiana, in May 2013. After much negotiation and consideration of the top conference and hospitality venues across the country, contracts have been signed with the magnificent Indianapolis Marriott Downtown. The BLAST conference has become the principal conference for blind vendors and state licensing agency management and staff over the past decade. Each year we have expanded curriculum, sought out the most dynamic speakers, added networking opportunities and team-building exercises, and scheduled top-notch tours and entertainment. In 2013 we are moving this conference to the spring. In light of the recent far-reaching memorandum issued by President Obama and the recent launch of our National Federation of the Blind Entrepreneurial Initiative, we have much work ahead of us. Recent BLAST training conferences have also included a track for blind individuals who wish to develop small business opportunities in addition to or beyond Randolph-Sheppard. This effort will continue during Indy Super BLAST 2013. How can a rehabilitation agency help you start a business? What role can the Small Business Administration play? What is SCORE? How do you increase active participation between blind vendors and a state licensing agency? What are the best social media strategies to help build your business? How do you get started in franchising? What are the latest healthy vending and food service approaches? What are best human resource practices? What are the latest and greatest accessible business technologies? Join us as we answer these and many other questions at Indy Super BLAST 2013. Register now at . The conference registration fee is $200, or save $50 with early bird registration by registering before April 15, 2013. For assistance with registration and for further information, call (866) 543-6808. Reserve your room at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown by calling (317) 822-3500. Rooms are available at the low rate of $124 per night plus applicable taxes. Room rates are effective from Friday, May 17, through Thursday, May 23. NFB of West Virginia Announces Braille Tutoring Program: In conjunction with Louis Braille's birthday the West Virginia affiliate announced the establishment of a pilot project to teach Braille to interested adults across the state. The press release was picked up by various news organizations. Here is the release: [PHOTO CAPTION: Charlene Smyth teaches Charles Powell Braille.] New Program Offers Literacy Training for Blind Residents The National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia is marking the anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille with the announcement of a statewide initiative aimed at helping blind adults gain literacy skills. The project matches blind adults who read and write Braille with other blind adults who wish to learn it. Louis Braille is the Frenchman who invented the system of reading and writing by touch, using raised dots. He was born 204 years ago, Jan. 4, 1809, and the code which bears his name is now used by blind people around the world. "We know that literacy is vital to success in virtually every aspect of life, whether it be education, employment, or simply being good citizens of our communities," NFBWV President Charlene Smyth said. "For those of us who are blind, literacy means the ability to read and write Braille. This project allows us to share our knowledge of Braille with others who can benefit from learning it." Last spring a dozen blind persons from throughout the state volunteered as tutors for the project and received some basic training in the best ways to teach others to read and write Braille. About half of them are currently working with students, and those interested in learning Braille are encouraged to take advantage of the program. The project has received a grant from the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services for the purchase of books and other learning materials. The funds will also assist with transportation costs when tutors and students must travel some distance to meet with each other. NFBWV Second Vice President Sheri Koch, who recently retired as a supervisor with the Division of Rehabilitation Services, was instrumental in planning and launching the project. She recognizes that losing one's vision is often a traumatic experience. "It can complicate even the simplest of tasks, like following a recipe, writing down a phone number, or finding the right elevator button," Koch said. "Learning Braille can help a person with vision loss to regain independence, confidence, and self- respect. It can also be the key to finding and retaining a job." The training is offered to any adult who has experienced vision loss affecting his or her ability to read and write. Persons with some basic knowledge of Braille who want to improve their reading and writing skills can benefit from the project as well. To learn more or to register as a student, contact NFBWV First Vice President Ed McDonald at (304) 788-0129 or email him at . 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. Maps of South Carolina Available: The Princeton Braillists have recently completed a volume of Maps of South Carolina. This single volume includes an overview of the state, followed by individual maps of cities, rivers, counties, highways, farm and mineral products, yearly precipitation, and average temperature. More detailed maps show the vicinity of Charleston and the vicinity of Hilton Head Island. The package comprises twelve maps, thirty-three pages total. The price is six dollars and we use shipping by free mail where eligible. To order, please send check or purchase order to The Princeton Braillists, 76 Leabrook Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540. For further information contact Ruth H. Bogia, (215) 357-7715, or Nancy Amick, (609) 924-5207. Lighthouse International and Creative Mobile Technologies Headed to Washington, D.C. for Prestigious Board Appearance: Lighthouse International in partnership with Creative Mobile Technologies, LLC (CMT) announced today that it has been invited by the United States Access Board to appear at its Tuesday, January 8th meeting held in Washington DC to showcase taxicab improvements for the visually impaired community. The Board is structured to function as a coordinating body among Federal agencies and to directly represent the public, particularly people with disabilities. Half of its members are representatives from most of the Federal departments. The other half is comprised of members of the public appointed by the President, a majority of whom must have a disability. Both Mark Ackermann, president and CEO of Lighthouse International, and Jesse Davis, president of Creative Mobile Technologies (CMT), will address the board on the groundbreaking software enhancements designed to enable blind and visually impaired taxi riders to independently access the credit card payment system and other technology features in New York's yellow medallion taxicabs as well as taxi fleets around the nation. CMT created adaptive software that will allow blind or visually impaired taxi passengers to hear the fare changing in regular intervals during the trip and facilitate all aspects of the credit card or cash payment functions upon reaching their destination including selection of payment options, verification of fare, and selection of tip percentages. VIP Mobile, CMT's audible touch screen feature, can be activated by a special card, a multi-tap on the top right of the screen, or by simply asking the driver. The feature transforms the screen into large, easy-to- navigate sections that are operated by touch and prompted by step-by-step spoken instructions. This software is critical to the blind and visually impaired community's ability to independently pay taxi fares. Prior to implementation of this new software, blind and visually impaired passengers who chose to use credit cards were forced to rely on cab drivers to swipe their card and enter the correct amount, including tip. Not only is this a violation of current New York City TLC rules, but also it exposes the visually impaired passenger to the potential for fraudulent transactions, including overpayment. In addition to its New York City rollout, CMT plans to introduce software in 4,500 credit card and payment systems in taxis around the country. "CMT's adaptive software will ensure that the millions of people who are blind and visually impaired in New York City, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, as well as nine other major U.S. cities, will be a part of a community that benefits from independent payment and other technology in taxi fleets around the nation," said Jason Poliner, vice chairman and chief operating officer, Creative Mobile Technologies. "We are proud to have worked closely with Lighthouse International to bring these benefits to visually impaired communities across the country and look forward to sharing CMT's experience and best practices with the U.S. ACCESS Board." Lighthouse International estimates that the prevalence rate of vision loss in New York City is 362,000. This number will only increase because of the aging population and age-related causes of visual impairment and blindness, as well as blindness due to uncontrolled diabetes. "This is an excellent example of the private sector working with government leaders and advocates to voluntarily change a system that has excluded the independent participation of millions of people who are blind or visually impaired for far too long," said Mark G. Ackermann, president and CEO of Lighthouse International. "We are delighted to have played a role in this nationwide initiative and will continue working to ensure that every taxi in the nation is accessible to people with a visual impairment." About Lighthouse International [formerly known as the New York Lighthouse for the Blind]: Founded in 1905, Lighthouse International is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to fighting vision loss through prevention, treatment, and empowerment. It achieves this through clinical and rehabilitation services, education, research, and advocacy. For more information about vision loss and its causes, contact Lighthouse International at 1-800-829-0500 or visit . About Creative Mobile Technologies (CMT): Founded in New York City in 2005 by taxi industry leaders, Creative Mobile Technologies (CMT) provides more than 20,000 taxicabs in 60 cities and 35 states with a variety of taxi technologies and enhancements including credit and debit card processing, media and advertising content, text messaging, interactive passengers maps, GPS, electronic trip sheets and back-office fleet management systems. CMT has more than 6,600 units in New York City alone. CMT's unique "for the industry, by the industry" business model has empowered taxi fleets and individual taxi operators throughout the country with customized solutions born out of the company's deep roots in the taxi industry. CMT's FREEdom Solution integrates all of the technology including dispatching, banking and media components that has helped to bring the American taxi industry into a new era of efficiency and innovation. Monitor Mart The notices in the 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. For Sale: Perkins Brailler, standard, brand new condition, in original packaging. Includes dust cover and manual. This Brailler has been used exactly four times. It is in excellent condition. I thought I would use it, but I found that I don't really need it. Retails for $750. I'm asking only $450. PayPal available. Call Deanne (619) 600-2501, or email . For Sale: HIMS Braille Sense Plus with qwerty keyboard and thirty-two cell Braille display for sale. It is in perfect condition, rarely used, about a year and a half old. It comes with the original packing materials, leather carrying case and a thirty-two gig compact flash card already installed. $3,500 or best offer. Please contact me at my cell number: (903) 285-2519. For Sale: New, still in unopened box: Window-Eyes 7.5.3. Value is $895. Will sell for $600 plus shipping/handling. Call (702) 631-9009 or email . Victor Stream for Sale: I am selling a Victor Reader Stream that is in excellent condition. It comes with all original materials/items. I am asking $150 or I will consider trades. If you are interested, call (734) 658-2919 or email . ----------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Mon Mar 4 23:01:47 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 23:01:47 -0800 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, March 2013 Message-ID: <201303050701.r2571lrt029750@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 3 March 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Orlando Site of 2013 NFB Convention The 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Orlando, Florida, July 1-6, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234. The 2013 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $79; and triples and quads, $85. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $90-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before May 28, 2013. The other 50 percent is not refundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2013, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon. Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe; coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumpliks award-winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport. The schedule for the 2013 convention is: Monday, July 1 Seminar Day Tuesday, July 2 Registration Day Wednesday, July 3 Board Meeting and Division Day Thursday, July 4 Opening Session Friday, July 5 Business Session Saturday, July 6 Banquet Day and Adjournment NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 201 3 National Convention Preregistration Form Please register online at or use this mail-in form. Print legibly, provide all requested information, and mail form and payment to: National Federation of the Blind Attn: Convention Registration 200 East Wells Street Baltimore, MD 21230 Please register only one person per registration form; however, one check or money order may cover multiple registrations. Check or money order (sorry, no credit cards) must be enclosed with registration(s). Registrant Name ______________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________ City ______________________ State _____________ Zip ___________ Phone ____________ Email ____________________________________ ___ I will pick up my registration packet at convention. or ___ The following person will pick up my registration packet: Pickup Name ______________________________________ Number of preregistrations x $25 = ____________ Number of pre-purchased banquet tickets x $50 = ____________ Total = ____________ PLEASE NOTE: 1. Preconvention registration and banquet sales are final (no refunds). 2. All preregistration mail-in forms must be postmarked by May 31. Vol. 56, No. 3 March 2013 Contents Illustration: The Fully Accessible Interactive Bulletin Board in the Betsy Zaborowski Conference Room The 2013 Washington Seminar in Review by Gary Wunder Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans: Priorities for the 113th Congress, First Session The Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act 2012 The Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act Equal Access to Air Travel for Service-Disabled Veterans (HR 164) Blindness and the Message of Dr. King by Ed McDonald Oh Where, Oh Where, Oh Where are the Braille Books? by Jan A. Lavine Reading, Reading, Actually Reading the News by Nijat Worley Accessible Astronomy by Glenn Chaple NHTSA Proposes Rules for Automakers to Add Sound to Hybrids by Gabe Nelson Blind Community Calls Plea Bargain for Blind Thief from Rumford Outrageous by Terry Karkos My Dream, My Business, and My Life by Vincent M. Tagliarino Interns Efforts Broaden Access to Vital Historical Documents by Doug Moore The Role of Labor in My Life and in the Progress of the Organized Blind Movement by Ivan Weich My Experiences in the National Federation of the Blind by Janice Toothman Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris Recipes Monitor Miniatures Illustration: The Fully Accessible Interactive Bulletin Board in the Betsy Zaborowski Conference Room The Betsy Zaborowski Conference Room in the NFB Jernigan Institute features a fully accessible, interactive bulletin board. Developed by the Institute's Education team, the bulletin board serves two purposes: to showcase what the NFB Jernigan Institute is doing and to demonstrate for teachers how to make a fully accessible and attractive bulletin board. This quarter the title of the bulletin board is WE LOVE BRL; YES WE DO! WE LOVE BRAILLE; HOW ABOUT YOU? This quarters board proclaims our love for Braille to the world. The title for this display is a spinoff of a ditty President Maurer frequently sings which begins, I love Braille: yes I do!/ I love Braille. The associated audio clip, which visitors can hear by pressing the button to the right of the board, features Dr. Maurer singing his Braille ditty. The boards valentines theme featurs red, white, pink, and purple hearts of all sizes. The plain black background of the board allows the hearts to take center stage. Each phrase of the title appears on its own large heart. The four large title hearts are clustered somewhat randomly in the center of the board. Scattered around the title are twenty-six hearts featuring the letters of the alphabet in raised print, standard Braille, and simulated Braille, with small tactile hearts representing the dots in each letter. The alphabet hearts are diverse in construction. The red, white, pink, and purple base hearts are made from craft foam or balsa wood or small cardboard heart-shaped boxes. The simulated Braille dots of each letter are foam and rhinestone hearts and heart-shaped brads. Scattered around the alphabet hearts are other tactile hearts of various sizes made from the materials mentioned above. The heart theme is carried all the way to the border, where multi-colored tactile hearts frame the display. A message on the board invites guests to take a heart-shaped card from the supply provided at the bottom of the board to write (in Braille or print) a message about why they love Braille, and pin it to the board for others to read. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Two hands writing Braille notes used in chronicling the Washington Seminar. The 2013 Washington Seminar in Review by Gary Wunder >From the Editor: Gary Wunders writings are sometimes found in the pages of the Braille Monitor, but his unfortunate tendency to turn exciting meetings into dull prose frequently shortchanges the national events that represent the best of our history and tradition. Lacking anything else to substitute as a lead for this month, we reluctantly give readers of the Monitor the following: I frequently talk with my school-age children and grandchildren about school; they are excited about science, like reading, and enjoy English. Unfortunately history and civics are two classes they don't like, and, when asked to describe them, they use words such as boring, stupid, and a waste of time. How different might those classes be if some part of them were devoted to the study of blind people and the formation and work of the National Federation of the Blind? Throughout the 1940s and 1950s some in society openly questioned the right of the blind to create their own organizations. Didnt professionals already speak for them? Was it healthy to let defectives try to speak for themselves? Wasn't it obvious that the blind would always fall into that class of unfortunates who would require the care and supervision of their family, friends, and government? Consider the change todays students would see, from the days of arguing for the right to speak for ourselves to the days when our annual visit to Capitol Hill is anticipated by the 535 most powerful elected men and women in the nation. What a contrast they could observe between the pitiable and helpless wards we were once considered to be and the people we are today. Today the blind have formed a group which has compiled a legacy of legislative accomplishments that rival those of any group of citizens in America: the White Cane laws that exist in every state, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the inclusion of the blind in the Voting Rights Act, and most recently the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act. How could anyone be apathetic or long entertain the thought that personal responsibility and collective action don't matter? What better example could we find to convince our children that they can influence their future and the future of those around them through citizen involvement and participation in our representative democracy? But it is not enough to recite the history of the blind when so much remains to be done if the equality of opportunity America proclaims and seeks to deliver is to be more than words. With this in mind blind people from every state in the nation converged on Washington, DC, for the NFBs annual Washington Seminar. So long have we met at the Holiday Inn Capitol that it seems like our second home. "Welcome back, the bell captain said. I have been here twenty-five years, and you were coming even before I started working with this hotel." Tell the staff what the blind will need? Forget it! They already know. Occasionally there are those little glitches, like not having the traditional peanut butter pie on hand, but these problems are soon handled, and off to the Hill we go to take on larger issues. On the weekend preceding our work on Capitol Hill, the legislative directors or presidents of state affiliates met with our national staff responsible for advancing the legislative priorities of the Federation on Capitol Hill. Members were taught how to help draft bills, find senators and representatives to sponsor them, create brief but effective presentations, develop a state legislative agenda, use legislative technology, and make effective use of the media. [PHOTO CAPTION: Tom Brown, Kathryn Carroll, Terrin Barker, and other representatives of the National Association of Blind Students line up to report on progress in their states.] The Washington Seminar began on Monday, February 4, 2013, with meetings of the National Association of Blind Students, the state presidents of the National Federation of the Blind, the cash and caring committee, and finally the great gathering-in annual meeting at 5 p.m. To understand the mood and feeling of those attending, remember that on the previous day the Baltimore Ravens had beaten the San Francisco Forty-Niners in Super Bowl XLVII. The many who were elated frequently mentioned this victory, and those who favored the Forty-Niners responded with groans and a promise that next year things would be different. [PHOTO CAPTION: President Maurer shows his pride in the Baltimore Ravens by wearing his Joe Flacco jersey.] [PHOTO CAPTION: President Maurer addresses the great gathering-in meeting.] After the falling of the gavel and the roar of the crowd, President Maurer began the great gathering-in by saying: "We come to Washington; we come to the Capitol of the United States; we come to the place where power is located because we intend to participate in that power. We come to talk about things that matter." As the evening would soon reveal, the things that matter included fair wages for blind people, access to usable technology in our colleges and universities, and the right of disabled veterans to fly on military aircraft under the Space Available Program. Before addressing these three issues, President Maurer began by announcing an agreement between Monster.com and the National Federation of the Blind that will result in the accessibility of the nation's primary website for listing and finding jobs. The long-term benefits for blind people will be immense, and those needing skilled employees will benefit significantly from the people they will find. The proposed regulations to implement the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act have been published. They will implement the law passed in 2010 to ensure that vehicles generate enough sound that they are not a hazard to pedestrians, blind or sighted. It took a tremendous effort to create public awareness of the danger posed by vehicles too quiet to hear, to gain the support of the automobile industry, and to get the attention of a Congress opposed to creating any new regulations; but the National Federation of the Blind promised we would do it, and we did. In 2008 amendments were added to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act proclaiming that Braille would be the presumed reading medium for blind students. Sometimes, however, legislation is not enough, and the rights declared must be established by precedent and enforced by binding agreements. For three years the National Federation of the Blind has been fighting to see that Hank Miller, a blind student from New Jersey, will receive Braille instruction. At our meeting President Maurer read an announcement which said: "The New Jersey affiliate will meet in this room immediately following the great gathering-in meeting. This note, written in Braille, was signed by Hank Miller. Last year the National Federation of the Blind worked to defeat legislation that would have devastated the Randolph-Sheppard program that gives blind people priority in running vending businesses on federal and state property. The amendment that would have significantly eroded that priority was defeated in the United States Senate by a vote of eighty-six to twelve. In recognition of the Federation's work to preserve these business opportunities, the National Association of Blind Merchants presented a check for $40,000 to the national organization. The applause from the audience was not only for the money but for the working relationship the donation represents and the desire of the merchants division to give back part of what has so willingly been given in support of blind entrepreneurs. [PHOTO CAPTION: Representative Tom Rice of the Seventh District of South Carolina] At last year's great gathering-in meeting Parnell Diggs announced that he was running for a seat to represent South Carolina in the nation's House of Representatives. He did not win that election, but his influence as a representative of blind people brought his opponent to speak to the National Federation of the Blind. The Honorable Tom Rice, from the Seventh District of South Carolina, said he was honored to be a part of our meeting and that he recognized a bond between us. He said that people who run for congressional seats are often characterized as fighters because they have to deal with the unexpected and do what is required to win, but Congressman Rice believes that the blind of the nation truly deserve the title "fighters" for the flexibility we demonstrate in meeting each day's challenges and our determination to show the world that we can compete on terms of equality. Before being elected to Congress, Representative Rice practiced as an attorney in South Carolina, and he said it was an honor for him to know a fine and honorable colleague, Parnell Diggs (who is also a lawyer). The Congressman concluded by saying he would see all of us on the Hill and pledged to do everything he could to help us. [PHOTO CAPTION: John Par?] John Par? was welcomed to the podium to introduce the legislative agenda of the National Federation of the Blind for 2013. He said that, in keeping with the traditions of the Federation, we would explain to the political leaders of America what the blind needed and would do so with our characteristic resolve to be persistent, professional, and polite. He emphasized the need to be clear but concise, to structure presentations so that they would take no longer than fifteen or twenty minutes, and to lead with the issues in which the member of Congress is likely to have the most interest and influence, based on their committee assignments. [PHOTO CAPTION: Anil Lewis] Anil Lewis addressed the gathering and began his remarks by asking the crowd to join him in the message we want to send about Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act: "That's not work; that's not training; that's not right!" For almost seventy-five years labor law in this country has allowed the payment of subminimum wages to disabled people, assuming that we are innately less productive than our coworkers. The system that has developed to take advantage of this exemption from the minimum wage defends its practice of paying low wages by saying that a primary focus of its work is training. When statistics clearly demonstrate that fewer than 5 percent of those employed in sheltered workshops transition to other employment, a poor training record for any institution, the workshops change the argument and say they are not primarily for training but for production and that the majority of those they serve are not trainees but workers. When asked why they do not pay their workers at least the minimum wage, though they pay no taxes, are the recipients of preferential government contracts, receive state and federal subsidies, and solicit direct contributions from the public, the shops revert to the argument that they are not places of employment but institutions dedicated to the training of their disabled consumers. We have heard these arguments for almost three quarters of a century, and the National Federation of the Blind and fifty other disability organizations intend to tell the Congress that Section 14(c) has to go! Last year we had eighty-one cosponsors of the Fair Wages for People with Disabilities Act; this new session of Congress means we start over with a new bill number and the need to find a lead sponsor and cosponsors once again. [PHOTO CAPTION: Lauren McLarney] Lauren McLarney was introduced to talk about the Technology, Education, and Accessibility in Colleges and Higher Education (TEACH) Act that we are seeking to have introduced. After some humorous banter about the victory of the Baltimore Ravens, Lauren began her remarks by saying the following: "In 2008 the National Federation of the Blind went to Congress, and we said that technology has altered the landscape of postsecondary education. Traditional instructional materials are being replaced with digital books, courseware, online library databases, web-based content, and mobile applications. We said that, while innovations in accessibility may be evolving and nonvisual accessibility may be available, manufacturers are not embracing these solutions. The lack of supply is compounded by the fact that colleges and other institutions of higher learning are not demanding that educational technology be accessible. This is creating barriers for blind and other print-disabled students, and something has to be done about it. Congress listened to us and amended the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act to create the Advisory Committee on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities. That's a really long title, so we just call it the AIM Commission. This commission brought together government leaders, representatives from institutions of higher education, the Association of American Publishers, and the National Federation of the Blind. In 2011 the AIM Commission issued its report, and guess what it found? It found that inaccessible technology permeates higher education, that blind and other disabled students have to bear the burden of going to their school and asking it to buy a separate and therefore unequal technology, while the mainstream students use inaccessible devices. The report also found that blind students don't have to be treated differently from mainstream students. Manufacturers need guidance on how to make their equipment accessible, and schools need to demand that the marketplace provide accessible products. This demand should be accompanied by a commitment to buy only those devices that are accessible. This year the American Association of Publishers said it wanted to partner with us on the very first recommendation made by the AIM Commission: to establish accessibility standards for instructional materials used in postsecondary settings. The partnership thus established has resulted in the TEACH draft bill. It does not seek to preclude manufacturers from building and selling inaccessible technology; it does seek to ensure that any technology that colleges and universities procure meets the accessibility standards proposed in the AIM Commission report. "Congress undoubtedly has questions we will need to answer. Will this proposal result in additional expense for colleges and universities? The answer is that this act will lower the cost of accessible technology by creating a market that has not existed before. The expense to colleges and universities will be far less than what they incur now as they continue to duplicate accessible instructional materials for blind students one college or university at a time." Lauren concluded by urging that we go forth and teach about TEACH. [PHOTO CAPTION: Jesse Hartle] Jesse Hartle was next introduced. He amused the crowd by saying that for several weeks he had been feeling ill and presumed he had some form of the flu, but he has finally come to understand that his physical discomfort comes from being around so many Ravens fans. After all of the previous references to the awesome Ravens, Forty-Niner fans enjoyed this quip immensely. The briefing Jesse came to provide was about H.R. 164, an act to amend Title X of the United States Code, to permit veterans who have a service-connected, permanent disability rated as total, to travel on military aircraft in the same manner and to the same extent as retired members of the Armed Forces entitled to such travel. This issue, brought to us by the NFBs National Association of Blind Veterans, would let those who left the service as a result of blindness or some other disabling condition take advantage of the Space Available Program operated by the Air Command within the Department of Defense. This bill is being sponsored by Congressman Gus Bilirakis, and the chance to show our support for and help blind and disabled veterans was one the crowd clearly embraced with enthusiasm. At the time of our meeting the bill had nine cosponsors. That number would change significantly by weeks end. Jesse concluded his remarks by saying: "At one time in their lives they answered the call of Semper fi or Hooah; sometimes they said `Anchors Aweigh; and sometimes they said `Off We Go; and off they went to defend the rights of all Americans, blind and sighted. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time that off we go to defend the rights of disabled veterans." Chris Danielsen, the director of public relations for the National Federation of the Blind, emphasized that the job of promoting our legislation must not only focus on Senators and Representatives but come to be a part of the public's consciousness. This is done by sharing our proposals with family and friends and then by making sure they get out to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. He concluded by saying, "Let's really make it known to the world that we're in Washington, that we're fighting against separate-but-equal, and that we're going to change the lives of blind Americans." [PHOTO CAPTION: Tom Allen] President Maurer next introduced former Congressman Tom Allen, who now serves as the president of the Association of American Publishers. Mr. Allen noted that this is not the first time the Federation and the Association have worked together. "Our first collaborative effort culminated in the passage of the Chafee Amendment, but that was seventeen years ago. We next worked together on the IDEA amendments of 2004, which accelerated the ability of K-12 students to get instructional materials. That legislation created the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standards (NIMAS) to ensure uniform standards of accessibility for students with print disabilities. ... AAP and NFB next worked on the Higher Education Amendments of 2008, which authorized the AIM Commission that produced the Consensus Report we've talked about this evening." Mr. Allen went on to say that the issue is no longer how to convert print books into something blind people can read, as it was seventeen years ago, but how to deal with the digital technology that is coming to dominate the publishing industry. He said that during the long and sometimes laborious process followed by the AIM Commission, the major stakeholders, including the National Federation of the Blind and the Association of American Publishers, agreed on the goal that published products should be available in the marketplace and accessible to the print-disabled at the same time they are to others. The publishers not only support this goal, but they have concerns of their own. Some of the Association's members still have the concern that a system which allows for the reproduction of copyrighted material in specialized formats could allow the diversion of materials intended for the blind and print-disabled to be made more broadly available to the larger public free of charge, thus weakening publisher markets. The sooner accessible materials are readily available in the marketplace, the sooner publishers can cease to worry about the diversion of their materials to others without special needs. We have the same goal, you and I: As soon as possible, make materials available and accessible to the print-disabled when they are first sold to the public at large. Our particular challenge, yours and ours, is to bring along the software and hardware industries, including those which manufacturer e-readers and similar platforms without which our products cannot be fully accessible." Mr. Allen concluded by noting that we share a vital common interest during this Congress, and that interest will continue as long as there is a need to make materials accessible to and therefore purchasable by the blind. President Maurer next introduced Representative Gus Bilirakis, the primary sponsor of H.R. 164. The Congressman said, "It is an honor to join you in promoting initiatives that ensure a high quality of life for all disabled persons. I want to tell you that I am visually impaired-the font has to be very big here for me to see. I am also hearing impaired, but, you know, we can do anything if we put our minds to it.I would especially like to recognize the efforts of your president, Dr. Maurer, whom I met with last week, and Dan Hicks, your president in my home state of Florida. I wish all of you an enjoyable trip to Washington. Enjoy yourselves, let's get some work done, and let's go get em!" Jim Gashel, the secretary of the National Federation of the Blind, talked with us about the Jacob Bolotin Awards that are presented each year in recognition of the pioneering efforts of Dr. Jacob Bolotin. This year we intend to award more than $50,000 to deserving individuals and organizations who have made a significant contribution to advancing the cause of the blind. Nominations will be accepted until March 31 and can be submitted online at . Though the committee prefers that applications be made online, they can be sent using email by writing to or through the U.S. Postal Service by writing to Bolotin Award Committee, National Federation of the Blind, 200 E. Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230. Mark Riccobono came to the microphone to say that, while he didn't want to mention the Baltimore Ravens specifically, he did want to observe that the National Federation of the Blind is different from either of the teams who played in the Super Bowl because we keep marching, even when the lights go out. Of course this was a reference to the power outage that took place at the Superdome in New Orleans and temporarily halted the game. Mark said, "We are powerful! We are powerful because we imagine a future full of opportunity; we are powerful because we imagine a future in which every blind child gets Braille; we are powerful because we imagine a future in which we have the same book at the same time and at the same price as everybody else. We imagine a future in which blind parents don't have to worry about retaining custody of their children simply because those parents are blind; we imagine a future in which technology is designed from the beginning to be accessible to all of us; we imagine a future in which every person is guaranteed the minimum wage; we also imagine a future in which a blind person can win a Nobel Prize in physics." He went on to observe that, not only do we dream of and imagine a future full of opportunity for blind people, but we actively work to build that future. One of the greatest investments we make is in our youngest blind members. Despite the funding difficulties we now face, we are going to have a program for young people that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is really exciting to realize that some of the first beneficiaries of our STEM programs are now teaching them. To fund these innovative programs for young people, we must find a way to increase our contributions from the public. Each affiliate is being asked to contribute something of value from its state that can be used in a Cyber Monday auction following Thanksgiving. Mark closed with a plea to help the student division with the fundraiser that was taking place during the seminar. He encouraged contributions to President Sean Whalen's fundraising bucket. He then reluctantly revealed that his plea to help Sean was as much personal as financial; the person whose bucket contained the most money would get a pie in the face later in the evening, and President Whalen's two competitors were Anil Lewis and Mark Riccobono. President Maurer next introduced Scott LaBarre to say a word or two about the Preauthorized Check Program. He reported that PAC pledges and contributions are at an all-time high but that this might be the last time he appeared at the Washington Seminar on behalf of the Preauthorized Check Program. This is so because we need to change its name to reflect the way financial transactions now occur. Most are now electronic, and, though we have grown attached to this name and have even honored it with a song, the word PAC is too often thought to mean that the National Federation of the Blind sponsors a political action committee. Scott and his committee will soon be announcing a contest to come up with a new name for the most successful membership-financed tool in our history. Please look for contest rules in an upcoming issue of the Braille Monitor, and help us come up with a fitting name for the successor to the Preauthorized Check Program. The great gathering-in meeting concluded with announcements about the upcoming national convention, a generous donation of doughnuts by the District of Columbia affiliate for those trudging off to Capitol Hill in the early morning, and some logistical information about the hotel from Diane McGeorge. For the first time in the history of the great gathering-in meeting, we adjourned before 7 p.m. On the first day of meetings with the 113th Congress, Federation members had significant progress to report, and this they did at the 6:00 p.m. meeting. Ramona Walhof began with an announcement from the cash and caring committee. One way we may be able to generate some badly needed funds for the Federation and have a good time while doing it is to take the quiz on blindness which can be found at . In addition to teaching people about blindness through this graded quiz, it will give participants the opportunity to make a donation to support the programs of the National Federation of the Blind and will be a part of a drawing to win $100. Not only should all of us take the quiz, but we should tell our friends and neighbors about it, including those who follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Congressman Greg Harper, representing the Third District of Mississippi, has agreed to sponsor the Fair Wages for People with Disabilities Act in the United States House of Representatives. Several affiliates reported being greeted by their Senators and Representatives with the comment, "You are here to talk about fair wages, aren't you?" Before our march to Capitol Hill, H.R. 164 had nine cosponsors. By the end of our first day we had more than doubled that number. The Honorable Thomas Petri, representing the sixth district of Wisconsin, came to express his support for the principle that educational materials used by colleges and universities should be as usable by the blind as they are the sighted. Congressman Petri serves on the Education and Workforce Committee, was the sponsor of the Accessible Instructional Materials Act in 2003, was a significant player in 2008 in getting language included in the Higher Education Reauthorization Act which created the Accessible Instructional Materials Commission, and has been a longtime supporter of the National Federation of the Blind. He reaffirmed his commitment to accessibility, his determination to involve all of the major stakeholders in arriving at a solution that will provide accessible hardware and software for the blind, pledged to do his best to keep this from becoming a partisan issue in which the merits of the legislation can become secondary in the fight to get the bill enacted into law, and pledged his support to do whatever he could to get the ball across the goal line for the blind. At the end of our second day on Capitol Hill, Federationists gathered for our 6 o'clock meeting. When Diane McGeorge gaveled the meeting to order, those assembled applauded with vigor and yelled her name in recognition of her long years of service in coordinating the logistics for the Washington Seminar. Diane acknowledged the appreciation but said that she would be remiss were she not to mention the stellar work of Lisa Bonderson, who takes calls several months before the seminar to make sure that the reservations get made and that roommates are found for those who want them. Lauren McLarney reported that our day on the Hill generated more interest in the TEACH proposal, and the search for cosponsors is encouraging. Of course there can be no cosponsoring until the bill is dropped, but Congress seems to understand the imperative that equality of opportunity for blind students include equivalent access to the technology used by their peers. One congressional staffer said that many proposals are prematurely brought to the Congress before all of the parties involved have tried to work out a resolution. She said that too often the assumption is that Congress should tell business what to do, when business has never been afforded the opportunity to speak to the issue. She asked whether we had been involved in negotiations with providers such as Amazon, and, when she realized that collaboration had been ongoing since at least 2008, her support for our cause and admiration for our work were quite evident. Two more cosponsors were added to include disabled veterans in the Space Available Program, H.R. 164, and two of the representatives who pledged their support serve either on the Armed Services Committee or on the Veterans Affairs Committee. As the seminar concluded, I was reminded of the question I so often get about what part of the blind population the National Federation of the Blind represents. Sometimes the question is asked in all innocence; at other times it is asked with the intention of asserting that our organization represents only the super blind, the elite, and that, in so doing, it shuns those who have multiple disabilities, are less educated, are more economically disadvantaged, or are nontraditional students. It is hard to make that case when one reflects on the Federation's legislative agenda for 2013. Our concern for blind students at all levels is undeniable; our concern for those who work in the sheltered shops and our willingness to champion their cause is unmatched by any organization of or for the blind in the nation; our concern for blind veterans goes beyond honoring them for their service, by affirmatively embracing one of their issues and making it our own. The legislative agenda of the National Federation of the Blind does not begin to encompass all of the programs and activities we undertake, but it clearly shows our commitment to all of those who are blind and to their aspiration to make the most of their God-given assets in the America we call the land of opportunity. For thousands of blind people we are making the dream come true. And for thousands upon thousands of sighted people we are demonstrating that the course of history can be changed and the theories contained in the civics books are just as vital and relevant as the framers of our Constitution envisioned. With willing hands, willing hearts, and an unquinchable desire to better our lives, the blind of America concluded our Washington Seminar and vowed to travel the long and winding road that leads to equality. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Michael Hingson, Congressman Eric Swalwell, Brian Buhrow, Mary Willows, and Jennifer Holloway, a group from the NFB of California, visit about the issues important to the blind and leave their Congressman with our legislative agenda and factsheets.] Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans: Priorities for the 113th Congress, First Session The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the nations oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people. As the voice of the nations blind, we represent the collective views of blind people throughout society. All of our leaders and the vast majority of our members are blind, but anyone can participate in our movement. There are an estimated 1.3 million blind people in the United States, and every year approximately 75,000 Americans become blind. The NFBs three legislative initiatives for 2013 are: ? The Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act This legislation phases out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows employers to pay disabled workers subminimum wages. If Congress ends this exploitative practice, disabled Americans will receive equal protection under the law to earn at least the federal minimum wage and reach their full employment potential. ? The Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act Electronic instructional materials and related technology have replaced traditional methods of learning in postsecondary settings. Although it would be inexpensive to create e-books, courseware, applications, and other educational devices and materials in accessible formats, the overwhelming majority of these materials are inaccessible to disabled students. This bill calls for minimum accessibility standards for instructional materials, ending the separate-but-equal approach to learning. ? Equal Access to Air Travel for Service-Disabled Veterans (HR 164) The Space Available Program allows active-duty military, Red Cross employees, and retired members of the armed services to travel on military aircraft if space is available. HR 164 reverses the exclusion of 100 percent service-disabled veterans who were discharged before retirement and entitles them to the programs privileges. The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight; it is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exist. Given the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance. Blind Americans need your help to achieve these goals and reach economic security and full integration into society. Supporting these measures will benefit more than just the blind because promoting our economic welfare increases the tax base. We urge Congress to hear our demands for equality and support these legislative initiatives. ---------- The Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013 Current labor laws unjustly prohibit workers with disabilities from reaching their full socioeconomic potential. Written in 1938, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) discriminates against people with disabilities by allowing the secretary of labor to grant Special Wage Certificates to employers, permitting them to pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage. Despite enlightened civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, this antiquated provision is still in force, with some disabled workers making only three cents an hour. The subminimum wage model actually benefits the employer, not the worker. Subminimum wage employers receive taxpayer and philanthropic dollars because the public believes they are providing training and employment for people with disabilities. The executives use the substantial proceeds to compensate themselves with six-figure salaries on the backs of disabled workers they pay pennies per hour. People who raise their own standard of living while taking advantage of those who do not have the same rights as every other American are engaging in discrimination, not charity. This discrimination persists because of the myths that Section 14(c) is: Myth 1a compassionate offering of meaningful work. Although the entities that engage in this practice demand the benefits that come from being recognized as employers, subminimum wage work is not true employment. These so-called employers offer days filled with only repetitive drudgery for which workers are compensated with third-world wages, leading disabled employees toward learned incapacity and greater dependence on social programs. Myth 2an employment training tool for disabled workers. Fewer than 5 percent of workers with disabilities in subminimum wage workshops will transition into integrated competitive work. In fact data show that they must unlearn the skills they acquire in a subminimum wage workshop in order to obtain meaningful employment. Therefore Section 14(c) is a training tool that perpetuates ongoing underemployment. Myth 3a controversial issue among the disability community. More than fifty disability-related organizations and counting support the repeal of Section 14(c) of the FLSA, and many former subminimum wage employers have abandoned the use of the Special Wage Certificate without terminating anyone. Only entities profiting from this exploitive practice refuse to acknowledge that it is discrimination. The Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013: Discontinues the practice of issuing Special Wage Certificates. The secretary of labor will no longer issue Special Wage Certificates to new applicants. Phases out all remaining Special Wage Certificates over a three-year period. Entities currently holding Special Wage Certificates will begin compensating their workers with disabilities at no less than the federal minimum wage, using the following schedule: ? private for-profit entities certificates will be revoked after one year; ? public or governmental entities certificates will be revoked after two years; and ? nonprofit entities certificates will be revoked after three years. Repeals Section 14(c) of the FLSA. Three years after the law is enacted, the practice of paying disabled workers subminimum wages will be officially abolished, and workers with disabilities will no longer be excluded from the workforce protection of a federal minimum wage. STOP THE DISCRIMINATION. Create opportunities for real work at real wages. Cosponsor the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act. For more information contact: Anil Lewis, Director of Advocacy and Policy National Federation of the Blind Phone: (410) 659-9314, Extension 2374 email: ---------- The Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act (TEACH) Inaccessible technology in the classroom creates a separate-but-equal approach to learning that discriminates against disabled students. The evolution of technology has fundamentally changed the education system. The scope of instructional materials used to facilitate the teaching and learning process at institutions of higher education has expanded. Curricular content comes in the form of digital books, PDFs, webpages, etc.; and most of this content is delivered through technology such as courseware, library databases, digital software, and applications. These advancements have revolutionized access to information, but the majority of these materials are partially or completely inaccessible to students with disabilities. Barriers to access for disabled students create a separate-but-equal approach to learning. According to a 2009 Government Accountability Office report, approximately 10.8 percent of students enrolled in postsecondary institutions had some disability. The mass deployment of inaccessible electronic instructional materials creates barriers to learning for millions of disabled students. When a website is not compatible with screen-access software, a blind student is denied access to online course information; if nondisabled students are using an inaccessible e-reader, a student who cannot read print has to petition the school for an accessible device and thus potentially different content. This approach to access is discriminatory and places unnecessary barriers in the way of students with disabilities. Technology exists to remedy this discrimination, but postsecondary institutions are not investing in accessibility. Innovations in text-to-speech, refreshable Braille, and other technologies have created promise for equal access for disabled students; yet an unacceptable number of postsecondary institutions do not make it a priority to purchase accessible technology. Schools are buying inaccessible instructional materials and then separate, accessible items on an ad-hoc basis for students with disabilities. Some resort merely to retrofitting the inaccessible technology, which sometimes makes accessibility worse. Until postsecondary institutions harness their purchasing power, the market for accessible instructional materials will remain limited, and disabled students will continue to be left behind. Equality in the classroom is a civil right. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. The deployment of inaccessible instructional materials violates these laws. Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act: Develops accessibility guidelines for instructional materials. The Access Board will consult experts and stakeholders to develop technical specifications for electronic instructional materials and related information technologies so that those materials are usable by individuals with disabilities. Establishes a minimum accessibility standard for instructional materials used by the government and in postsecondary academic settings. The Department of Justice will implement the guidelines developed by the Access Board as enforceable standards applicable to all departments and agencies of the federal government and institutions of higher education covered in Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Promotes competition while ensuring equality. The guidelines provide guidance to manufacturers on how to develop products that are fully accessible to disabled users, and the required standards will ensure that all colleges, universities, and federal agencies procure and deploy only fully accessible instructional materials, ending the separate-but-equal approach to learning. PROTECT EQUALITY IN THE CLASSROOM. Cosponsor the Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act (TEACH). For more information contact: Lauren McLarney, Government Affairs Specialist National Federation of the Blind Phone: (410) 659-9314, Extension 2207 email: ---------- Equal Access to Air Travel for Service-Disabled Veterans (HR 164) The Space Available Program denies 100 percent of Service-Disabled Veterans the opportunity to participate. Discharged service-disabled veterans are not entitled to air travel privileges to which other members of the military have access. The Space Available Program allows members of the active military, some family members, Red Cross employees, and retired members of the armed services to travel on military aircraft if space is available. However, members of the military who are 100 percent service disabled do not qualify for this program because they do not fall into one of those categories. This unintentional exclusion denies discharged service-disabled veterans a privilege to which they would be entitled had they not been disabled during service. Those service members who are disabled during active duty and are medically discharged do not have the chance to stay on active duty or fulfill the twenty years requirement to become qualified for this program. Had they not been medically discharged, 100 percent service-disabled veterans are likely to have served until retirement. These men and women have earned the right to space-available travel just as others have because they have defended our country. Equal Access to Air Travel for Service-Disabled Veterans would: Provide travel privileges to totally disabled veterans. This bill amends Title X of the U.S. Code, to permit veterans who have a service-connected, permanent disability rated as total to travel on military aircraft in the same manner and to the same extent as retired members of the Armed Forces entitled to such travel. HONOR OUR SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS WITH PRIVILEGES THEY ARE ENTITLED TO. Cosponsor HR 164. To cosponsor the bill, contact: Mirium Keim, Legislative Assistant Office of Congressman Bilirakis (R-FL) Phone: (202) 225-5755 email: mirium.keim at mail.house.gov For more information contact: Jesse Hartle, Government Affairs Specialist National Federation of the Blind Phone: (410) 659-9314, Extension 2233 email: ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Ed McDonald] Blindness and the Message of Dr. King by Ed McDonald >From the Editor: Ed McDonald is a past president of the National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia and a former member of the National Federation of the Blind board of directors. He is kind, thoughtful, and reflective. He has been a keen observer of the times in which he has lived, remembering his reactions as a child to historic events and weighing them now as an adult. In January of 2006 the Braille Monitor printed remarks Ed had made a year earlier for a Martin Luther King Day observance. The following remarks are different enough that we think readers will benefit from reading them. They were made on the day before the first black president was inaugurated in the United States; and, given this months focus on activism, speaking about the truth of our lives to those in power, and the inauguration of our forty-fourth president for a second term, they seem quite appropriate to appear in this issue. Fellow Federationists: Martin Luther King Day has always been a special day for Karen and me. Each year I do a radio show featuring music that I hope reflects the message of Dr. King. This year Karen sang with and accompanied a community choir which presented a special program for the occasion. In addition, on Martin Luther King Day I am always reminded of how much we as Federationists share with all of those who have struggled for civil rights. With that in mind I thought I would share with you some remarks I presented four years ago at another MLK Day program in our community. It was the eve of President Obama's first inauguration, so perhaps that gives the remarks a bit more relevance today. Some of you may have read them before, and I apologize if they become long and boring. Nevertheless-at the risk of personal grandstanding-I hope a few of you may find in them some renewed reasons to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Tri-Towns Ministerial Association Westernport, MD Today is the day we observe a national holiday to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. I am sure that for some the occasion may be little more than a day off from work or school, but for many-including those of us who are gathered here this evening-it's a significant occasion. This year it's especially significant because four score years have passed since Dr. King was born. Adding to the significance is the fact that tomorrow we will experience a landmark event in the fulfillment of the dream that we often associate with Dr. King. Today, no doubt, we have celebrated this day in many different ways. Perhaps the media have reminded us of the basic facts of Dr. King's life, and we might even have heard a few seconds of that magic voice talking about his dream. Many of us will sing songs and say prayers together, and a few of us will stand up and make speeches that try to give some meaning and perspective to the occasion. I won't even pretend to offer new insights or understandings about Dr. King, his life, or the spirit of the holiday. I can only share with you a few personal thoughts about how the principles that he talked about and lived by make sense to me as a member of a social minority. Unlike Dr. King, I am not African American, so I really don't know how it feels to be rejected for a job; to be denied the opportunity to live in the home of my choice; to be taunted, scorned, feared, or hated because of the color of my skin. However, as a blind person I do know something about what it's like to be regarded as virtually helpless; to be denied educational opportunities; or to be turned down for jobs that I know I'm qualified to do, simply because I happen not to see. Just like the people Dr. King inspired to take a firm stand for freedom and human dignity, I too am a member of a minority group within American society-a minority whose members have often been denied the rights of first-class citizenship, not because we are inferior, but simply because of a personal characteristic over which we have no control. With that in mind it has become increasingly clear to me over the past four decades that what Dr. King had to say, the principles that he fought for, and the strategies he used to bring about change were as relevant to me as they were to those who marched in Montgomery or Selma. But I must admit that's not something I have always understood. When Martin Luther King was killed in April of 1968, I was a high school senior preparing to graduate from the West Virginia School for the Blind. Like the rest of America, I listened to the news accounts of the assassination and its aftermath. But, having grown up in what I realize now was a rather racist family environment, I really didn't feel as though the death of this black leader-I may have even regarded him as a troublemaker-had any real impact on me. A few months later I went off to college and discovered people my own age embracing the civil rights movement, protesting the Vietnam War, and expressing all sorts of other radical ideas that sounded foreign to me. Some of my most fundamental values and beliefs were being challenged by new ideas. In the midst of all of this I was invited to a meeting of a group called the National Federation of the Blind-men and women who were trying to create an organization of blind college students in West Virginia. Until then I didn't know there was any kind of organization of blind people and really didn't know why there should be, but they persuaded me to become secretary of this new student division, and thus began my lifelong involvement in the organized blind movement. The following summer I attended the state convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Incidentally, that was forty years ago this summer, and I haven't missed a convention since. The featured speaker was the national president of the Federation, a man named Dr. Kenneth Jernigan. I didn't understand it all right away, but that convention introduced me to a man who was intelligent, articulate, successful, and blind. As I read more of his essays and listened to more of his recorded speeches, I realized that Dr. Jernigan's role in the lives of blind people was a lot like that of Dr. King in the lives of African Americans. I learned from Dr. Jernigan that the real issues we faced as blind people had little to do with our physical lack of eyesight and a lot to do with the myths, misunderstandings, and prejudices about blindness and blind people that have existed for centuries. I learned from Dr. Jernigan that, if we as blind people wanted to break down the barriers that keep us from first-class citizenship, we needed to join together and do what we could to change public attitudes about blindness. Dr. Jernigan helped us understand how much we had in common with the civil rights movement in which African Americans were most prominent, and he encouraged us to respect ourselves and not be afraid to stand up for the things we believed in. That sounds a lot like Dr. King, doesn't it? Like Dr. Jernigan, Dr. King understood and articulated the barriers that relegated most African Americans to something less than first-class citizenship, and he was able to inspire large numbers of people to join together to destroy those barriers forever. I am sure that, as a result of Dr. King's life, many other black Americans were inspired to remain involved throughout their lives in the struggle for justice and equality for themselves and their brothers and sisters. In much the same way Dr. Jernigan's message has inspired me to stay involved for the past four decades in an organization that remains dedicated-as we often say-to changing what it means to be blind. As a result I have written resolutions and press releases; carried banners and picket signs; raised money and raised cane, so to speak; chaired meetings and conventions; and met with lawmakers in Charleston and Washington as a member of the National Federation of the Blind. Twenty-five years after he spoke at my first convention, Dr. Jernigan asked me to serve on the Federation's national board of directors, and it was a privilege for me to do so for three years. The issues and problems, the solutions and strategies, the tactics and of course even the leadership of the organized blind have evolved over those four decades, but the basic purpose of the movement remains the same-security, equality, and opportunity for all blind Americans. Surely the experience of black Americans over those same forty years has been very much the same. Public education is just one example of an area in which black people and blind people have shared a similar experience. Until 1954 segregated education was the norm for African Americans, and we know that segregated schools usually meant an inferior education for a variety of reasons. Thus integration into the educational mainstream offered African Americans a better chance of becoming integrated into the social and political mainstream as well. But the court decisions outlawing segregated schools were not absolute victories. African Americans are still working hard to ensure equal treatment and equal opportunity in the nation's education system, and I understand further that the elimination of all black schools may have contributed to the erosion of some of the solidarity that unified and strengthened the African American community. So it has become necessary to find new ways to nurture that sense of community. Similarly, until the early 1970s, segregated institutions were the norm for the education of blind children-state-run residential schools, where blind kids lived in dormitories, often separated from their families for months at a time. The education offered by these institutions was based largely on the use of Braille as the means of reading and writing, and without them most blind people would have remained illiterate and otherwise uneducated. Both my wife Karen and I attended such a school, and, if we hadn't done so, the two of us would never have met. So I have no real complaints about my segregated education. It is true, however, that these schools for the blind were, simply because of their relatively small size, unable to offer the breadth and diversity of educational opportunities that most kids would experience in the public school mainstream. Thus it was a major step forward as more and more blind children were integrated into the public school system, but I believe this trend has also contributed to the loss of some sense of community. What's more, since Braille in the public schools is the exception rather than the rule, the rate of Braille literacy among blind children has actually declined over the past three decades. This year of 2009 is the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, the young Frenchman who invented the system of reading and writing that I'm using right now. As part of the bicentennial celebration, we're not just telling the story of our hero, Louis Braille, but we're launching a long-term campaign to make sure blind people of all ages are not denied the opportunity to learn to read and write. This is of course yet another example of a group of people identifying a real problem and then working together to solve it. So what's the point of talking about these parallels and commonalities between black people and blind people? Well, in many ways it seems we live in a time when division and polarization have come to dominate our society. However, as a blind person, taking time to recognize the many common experiences that I share with my African American brothers and sisters-not to mention my two African American step-sons-reminds me that more things unite us than divide us. What's more, I know that black people and blind people are not the only two minorities that share these common experiences. Whether we face injustice resulting from race, ethnicity, disability, gender, or any other characteristic, we can all gain knowledge, understanding, wisdom, strength, courage, and commitment from the words and the example of Dr. Martin Luther King. His message was simple yet universal, but the business of really believing it, understanding it, and living it is not always easy. In a few minutes we'll join together and sing a song that thousands, indeed millions of people have sung together over the years in their struggle for freedom and human dignity. In the words of that song we find the fundamental truths that guided Dr. King and that continue to guide and inspire all of us who really care about matters of justice, equality, and opportunity. We shall organize; we'll walk hand in hand; we're not afraid; and someday we will all be free because deep in our hearts we really do believe that we shall overcome. It's important for us to sing these words together. The more we repeat them, the more we know they're true. I remember, when I first heard Dr. Jernigan say that it was respectable to be blind, that with proper training and opportunity blind people could compete on terms of equality with sighted people, and that we really could achieve first-class citizenship, his words made more sense than anything I had ever heard before about blindness; but deep in my heart I'm not sure I really believed it. I had to hear and say those words over and over again, and with time I have come to believe them at a much deeper level. Even after forty years I'm still learning and understanding more and more about what it means and, for that matter what it doesn't mean, to be blind. And each of us can have a similar experience. Those who marched with Dr. King did not do it because they took some pleasure in fighting a losing battle. Similarly my commitment to the organized blind movement has not been a forty-year walk through the wilderness with no hope of reaching the Promised Land. Like Dr. Jernigan and Dr. King, I know and you know deep in our hearts that we can and we shall overcome. Dr. King gave us not only a dream to believe in but also the tools to help make it come true. During recent years we've come through some hard times in pursuit of that dream, but the historic event that the entire nation will experience tomorrow should remind us that the dream is still very much alive. Of course we all know that the inauguration of a black man as president of the United States will not bring about a sudden and immediate solution to all of our problems. Nevertheless it should be for every one of us an occasion for hope, inspiration, and a renewed commitment to pursue and fulfill the dream. Thank you for the opportunity to share this evening with you. As Dr. Jernigan often said at the close of a speech, and I know Dr. King would agree: "Come, join me on the barricades, and we will make it come true!" ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jan Lavine] Oh Where, Oh Where, Are the Braille Books? by Jan A. Lavine >From the Editor: Jan Lavine received the 2011 Braille Student of the Year Award from the Hadley School for the Blind. She loves Braille so much that she became a National Library Service patron, a certified Literary Braille transcriber, and a certified Braille proofreader. Jan was asked to help provide hands-on Braille instruction to adults at the Edmond Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Oklahoma starting in the spring of 2010. She continues to teach and mentor new Braille readers. Here is what Jan has to say: I was a print reader until things changed in my life on March 27, 2006. After a day filled with working on house projects, I jumped into the shower and was giving my eyes a good rubbing, when I heard and felt a "pop," and it was not a champagne bottle. The next day I noticed my vision had started to deteriorate rapidly due to leaking blood vessels behind my retina, filling the pigment epithelial detachment (PED), which was the "pop." Within seventeen hours I could not read those huge highway signs on the interstate, and within weeks I could not make out the golden arches. All I had was a small area of clear undistorted vision in which I could see only three small print letters at a time while reading. There was no way I was going to be reading print competently at that rate. I knew at some point that even that small window would disappear; would I really have to give up reading? Although I had never known any blind people, I did know they used Braille to read. What I didn't know was where to find Braille instruction. The NFB has a brochure, "New Approaches to Consider: Suggestions for Individuals with Recent Vision Loss," by Ramona Walhof. What a great brochure for people like me! In this brochure the Hadley School for the Blind is listed as a resource offering correspondence courses in Braille reading and writing. I contacted Hadley for a catalogue and learned that its courses were all free. With over ninety years of experience Hadley definitely knows how to create and teach Braille correspondence courses. I had taken correspondence courses years ago for my job, so I knew I could do this. First I had to fill out an application and get my eye doctor to sign the Hadley eye report. Then I was ready to start to learn Braille. For its students without any Braille or tactile experience, Hadley offers six easy lessons providing practice for hand movements and to start the brain-hand tactile awakening. This is part one of a four part series called "Braille Literacy." All the Hadley Braille literacy courses arrive with Braille workbooks and audio cassettes, which contain all the information and lessons. Since a tremendous advantage of correspondence courses is the ability to work through them at your own pace and in the privacy of your own home, I would sit down comfortably in my recliner with a Braille workbook in front of me and put on a cassette. It felt as if the Hadley Braille instructor was right there with me, providing hints, suggestions, and encouragement to improve my Braille skills. With the tapes I could stop the lesson temporarily when I needed to think or rewind it whenever I wanted to hear something again. It was easy to complete sections in approximately fifteen minutes. Success often depends on making things bite size, and fifteen minutes each morning to learn Braille was quite doable. This was easy. After I finished a lesson, I had to complete a short assignment to send off to my instructor for grading. One must submit an assignment at least once a month, but it was so easy that I could get many done in thirty days. In no time I was ready for Braille Literacy 2, the class in which you learn the Braille alphabet and how to make Braille labels to use around the house. This was tremendous, but I wanted a real Braille book that I could search through to find the letters and words I was learning. Where could I find Braille books? I went to our public library: no Braille books. I went to new and used bookstores in our city and in larger ones nearby: no Braille books. We even took a trip over to the city that housed the school for the blind: no Braille books there either. Okay, I hear you laughing, but keep in mind I was new to blindness and to Braille. I was accustomed to finding print anywhere I went; why would Braille not be the same? Finally I found our state library for the blind. After another application signed by my eye doctor, I registered to get access to Braille books from the National Library Service (NLS). Concurrent with working through Braille Literacy 2 I requested an uncontracted Braille book. NLS sent me Cinderella, but at the time I sat down to read it I didn't yet know its title. I had just gone through the first lesson in Braille Literacy 2, learning the Braille letters l, c, a, and d. With the NLS book on my lap, my fingers were on the search for those first letters. Lo and behold, my fingers found a c, d, and lla. It was almost certain that this word was "Cinderella." I was ecstatic to find my first word but then shocked to find that the Braille word "Cinderella" filled most of a Braille line. Braille Literacy 3 is the class in which the real work of reading and writing uncontracted Braille occurs. And here I was, getting ahead of myself by trying to read, though I hadn't yet learned more than twenty letters of the Braille alphabet. It didn't take me long to see that most Braille books are published in contracted Braille. Now I needed to take the Hadley Braille Literacy 4 course in order to learn the 189 Braille contractions. This course has thirty lessons. It might sound like a lot, but it wasn't-it was fun. I found that my instructor would grade three assignments at a time. It took ten days for the assignments to make the round trip: leave my house, travel in the mail, get graded, and finally be returned to me. Within ten days it was easy to complete another three lessons. When I began this course, I found that NLS had my favorite cookbook in Braille, so, inspired, I spent my mornings doing my Hadley lessons and my afternoons brailling recipes. I Brailled enough recipes to fill five volumes. Braille consumed my every waking moment. I fell in love with Braille and with Hadley. But I still wanted my own Braille books, books I didn't have to Braille myself or borrow from the NLS and then return. I attended my first NFB national convention in 2008 in Dallas. The Hadley School for the Blind had a booth in the exhibit hall. Who was at the Hadley booth? Why, it was my first Braille instructor. It was exciting finally to meet her in person. What was even more amazing was the high percentage of people passing by the Hadley booth who also turned out to be her Braille students. Had they all read Ramona Walhof's brochure? The biggest draw for me to attend my first NFB national convention was the Braille Book Fair presented by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) and the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille (NAPUB). Why, it was just what they advertised it would be: an opportunity for me to obtain "free, gently used Braille books," to read. I would have Braille books all to myself. Waiting in the long line to get into the Braille Book Fair seemed to take forever, but, wow, was it ever worth it. Adult books were on one side of the room, children's books on the other. I went on a mad dash for the cookbooks. Oh do I love cookbooks; I happily picked up one for preparing recipes using a Crock-Pot?. At the adult book area I found a Sudoku puzzle book by Will Shortz and an all-time favorite, The Bridges of Madison County. My arms filled with books, I headed over to the volunteers who packed up my new treasures for shipping. About thirty minutes later when the crowd around the children's book area was gone and so too were most of the books, I made my way over there and managed to pick up yet another armful. Oh, the joy of having my very own Braille books and all those pages to turn. During the national convention I attended the meeting of the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille. At this meeting I learned about , the NFB website for exchanging Braille books. As soon as I read one of those books I had gotten at the Braille Book Fair, I decided to share it, and no sooner had I posted it on the site than a person wanted it. What a great way to exchange and keep those Braille books moving into other people's hands. Through Hadley I obtained Braille skills. Through the NFB I obtained Braille books to satisfy my thirst to read in Braille. Braille allows me to keep reading and keep turning those pages, albeit in a different format. Someday I hope to find a copy of that first book, Cinderella, at the Braille Book Fair or on . Over 10,000 students annually take courses from Hadley, ranging from art to container gardening. And, if you missed the chance, you can even get your high school diploma through Hadley. But guess which courses are the ones with the highest enrollment? You got it, Braille. For more information contact the Hadley School for the Blind, 700 Elm Street, Winnetka, Illinois 60093. Call toll-free at (800) 323-4238 or visit the website at . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Nijat with his morning coffee and NFB-NEWSLINE on his iPhone] Reading, Reading, Actually Reading the News by Nijat Worley >From the Editor: Nijat Worley is a recent college graduate who now works at the National Center for the Blind as the manager of marketing and outreach for sponsored technology. He was born in Azerbaijan, and his appreciation for a free press and the importance of journalism is instructive for those of us who take them for granted or malign them when they make us uncomfortable. Here is what Nijat has to say, not only about the virtues of a free press, but also about the service that helps him enjoy it: I have always been somewhat different from my peers. I dont like loud parties; I dont like to go to bars to drink; and I avoid getting into dangerous and rash situations such as slacklining (walking on a rope similar to tightrope walking, except that there is less tension on the line, so the rope bounces and makes the task more difficult), skiing, snowboarding, or any other dangerous sport for that matter. This may be unusual to hear from a guy in his early twenties, but I am disappointed to say that these are some of the activities that people my age enjoy the most. I wish more of my peers would spend a Sunday afternoon like me, reading the news and becoming informed about the political and environmental happenings in the world. Before you make comments about ivory towers, please let me explain. I have always been a bit different from my peers. While most of the kids my age sat in the other room and played video games, I would sit with the adults as they drank coffee and discussed politics, international relations, and the rules of war and peace. I dont know why, but I have always enjoyed philosophy, politics, history, and social studies. These interested me the most, and they still sustain me in my free time, which is why I love reading news and current events. This is why NFB-NEWSLINE? has come to play such a big role in my life. I have been an NFB-NEWSLINE subscriber for over ten years now, and I use it religiously every day to read my favorite publications because I enjoy knowing about politics and events taking place all over the world. Did you know that there was an attempted coup by the military in Eritrea yesterday? How many of you even know where Eritrea is? No, it is not a de facto independent region on the eastern tip of Canada. Well, you get my point. NFB-NEWSLINE makes it very easy for me to have up-to-the-minute access every day without even thinking about it. Unlike my older colleagues who once complained that the lack of access to quality news was a significant problem in their lives, I simply take it for granted that I should be able to wake up in the morning and listen to the New York Times while I am exercising, eating breakfast, or riding the bus to work. Some might say, You dont have to use NFB-NEWSLINE to get news and information. There are many other methods for accessing them through television, radio, the Internet, and thousands of applications and programs on mobile devices. NFB-NEWSLINE is not the only way for a blind person to receive news in the twenty-first century. These people are right, but none of those other methods of accessing news reports provide me with as many choices and as much flexibility as NFB-NEWSLINE. This versatile service gives me one place to go to access content from over three hundred publications, all guaranteed to be readable from my home phone, on my iPhone connected to a Braille display, or using my home or laptop computer with the screen reader of my choice. Half an hour of broadcast news on television provides the listener with only half a page of newsworthy information, because in the thirty minutes devoted to a news broadcast, two or three commercial breaks interrupt the news segments. Dont even get me started on the opinions and commentary of the reporters and news anchors that get slipped in between the news reports! I find it impossible to make sense of the important issues and the relevant material I should know to really comprehend them given the sensational celebrity gossip and thirty-second sound bites that precede every segment of a news report. Anyway, before I rant about the deficit of professional journalism in the media culture of the twenty-first century, lets return to the importance of reading printed news from highly regarded publications such as the New York Times. I value excellence in journalism and the painstaking process that journalists go through to bring us valuable news reports from the center of the action. Whether it is from the midst of the violent protests in Tahrir Square in Egypt, the frontlines of the war in Afghanistan, the boiling political inquiries of the White House press room, or the center of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New Yorks Financial District, real live journalists put themselves in danger every day to bring us information from every corner of the world about the events that matter the most. This is why I owe it to them to honor their work by taking the time to read what they have gathered and synthesized. One of the tenets of democracy that we hold dear in this country is a free press, which is more than the Eritreans can say. The purpose of a free press is to provide unrestricted reporting of the issues that concern us as citizens and allow us to have a public discourse on those issues and come to some consensus. I cannot tell you how thrilling and emotionally moving it is for me to read public responses to an editorial on an important political issue such as gun control in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. I believe that I fulfill an important duty as an active citizen when I closely read and analyze well-written news reports by intelligent professionals trained in providing accurate reports right from the heart of the action. Perhaps the most subtle and yet the most important benefit of reading newspapers and magazines on NFB-NEWSLINE for me is the ease with which I am able to navigate through thousands of different articles from hundreds of different publications right from my telephone or my iPhone. I would not find the experience nearly as enjoyable if I had to read the same material while tied to my desk by a desktop computer or was limited to reading on a laptop while sitting in a chair. Instead I read what I want to read while eating breakfast at the table or while lying in bed with the earpiece of my phone pressed against my pillow. Sometimes the way one reads and the environment in which he reads can make all the difference in whether the experience is arduous or pleasurable. NFB-NEWSLINE gives me the freedom to choose from hundreds of publications and to move effortlessly among their sections. It gives me important information on images and the captions for those images; it allows me to read every detail of an article from the funny spelling of a word to the playful placement of a punctuation mark for emphasis; nothing escapes me when I am reading newspapers on NFB-NEWSLINE. Therein lies the true value of NFB-NEWSLINE. It allows me, a blind person, fully and independently to access enormous amounts of information at the simple touch of a few buttons on a home phone or a few taps on a touchscreen at my leisure. I dont have to be in a specific location; I dont have to read the news according to somebody elses time; I can easily and fully independently read all my favorite print publications from the comfort of my armchair, the waiting room of my doctors office, or the noisy cabin of a Boeing 747 cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet. Thanks to the work of the National Federation of the Blind and the work we do in this organization to improve the lives of the blind in America, I am able to participate actively in the public discourse in this country. The NFB has promoted the rights of the blind in America for seven decades now, and bringing access to printed media is just one small part of that effort that has drastically changed the lives of blind people like me. Can I live without NFB-NEWSLINE? Of course I could, but my life would not be as enriched and as fulfilling without this excellent service bringing me so much information every day. NFB-NEWSLINE allows me to gain knowledge and have intelligent conversations with the people that I interact with on a daily basis. That is why I am so thankful for it and cherish it. Oh, and just so you know, Eritrea is a small country about the size of Pennsylvania in eastern Africa bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan. It has a population of six million and no political freedoms whatsoever: hence the lack of a free press. So the next time you want to talk about international affairs or have an intellectual political discussion, feel free to call on me. Thanks to NFB-NEWSLINE, I can be certain that I will be ready to go toe to toe with you. Just do me a favor; dont try to entice me to go water skiing or mountain climbing. Id rather spend my Sunday afternoon reading editorials and writing responses. Although I have to say that going skydiving does sound like fun. For more information; go to . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Glenn Chaple] Accessible Astronomy by Glenn Chaple, Astronomy Magazine >From the Editor: This article first appeared in the August 2012 issue of Astronomy magazine. The author dedicated it to Ellie Isaacs, whose pen-and-ink portrait of Stephen Hawking appeared in the May 2012 issue of Astronomy. Chaple makes the point that having any sort of disability shouldnt prevent anyone from actively participating in astronomy activities. Here is what he says: Imagine this. You are standing at your telescope waiting for the next interested person to take a peek, when you notice someone in a wheelchair approaching you. All you can think of is What should I do?? (Noreen Grice, Everyones Universe: A Guide to Accessible Astronomy Places, You Can Do Astronomy LLC, 2011) What would you do? Approximately one in five individuals copes with a disability such as visual and/or hearing impairments, communication challenges, or wheelchair confinement. None of us is immune. An illness, accident, or simply the aging process can leave a once able-bodied person with a disability. And its quite possible that such an individual will show up at a public star party you or your club is conducting. Having a disability shouldnt prevent anyone from active participation in astronomy. In fact many have overcome handicaps to make notable astronomical contributions. In 1783 astronomer John Goodricke, who was deaf-mute, was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society of England for his work on variable stars. Until 1932 Edwin Frost was both director of the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin and editor of The Astrophysical Journal despite having become blind 11 years earlier. Blindness is no hindrance to modern-day astronomers. For example, Wanda Diaz-Merced, though blind, is an active radio astronomer with NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and a PhD student at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. But perhaps the most celebrated astronomer (well, physicist) with a mobility and communications disability is Stephen Hawking. Despite being confined to a wheelchair and dependent on a computerized voice system to speak (a result of having contracted Lou Gehrigs disease), Hawking has used his mathematical genius to probe some of cosmologys greatest mysteries. Modern technology has brought research astronomy into our homes-a boon to individuals with disabilities. Computer users with mobility or hearing problems can access robotic telescopes or work on Internet projects like Zooniverses Galaxy Zoo, Moon Zoo, and Planet Hunters. To support the upcoming Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission, NASA is asking volunteers to make meteor counts using FM radio receivers. Find details of this project, a nice fit for visually impaired space enthusiasts, at . But back to the original question: what would you do should a person in a wheelchair approach you at a star party? Noreen Grice has some answers. She became an advocate of astronomy for visitors with disabilities after a planetarium show she conducted for a group of children who were blind. An assessment of the program according to the kids? It stunk! Spurred by the incident, Grice began to research strategies for presenting astronomy to individuals with a variety of disabilities. Ultimately she established You Can Do Astronomy LLC-a company whose mission is to make astronomy and space science accessible to people of all abilities. Her book Everyones Universe: A Guide to Accessible Astronomy Places is a must-read for anyone involved in astronomy outreach and should be in the possession of every astronomy club and science facility. Everyones Universe is designed to educate both astronomy clubs and participants with disabilities. Suggestions for accessible outreach efforts include eyepiece extenders for those using wheelchairs, tactile books like Grices Touch the Stars (National Braille Press, 2002) for readers who are visually impaired, picture boards to assist individuals with communication challenges, and simple paper and pen or iPad to interact with a person who cannot hear. Everyones Universe also provides a state-by-state listing of accessible astronomy facilities, such as planetariums and observatories. But why wait for a person with a disability to show up at your star party? Be proactive and organize an accessible star party in your community! In Everyones Universe, Grice spotlights Project Bright Sky, developed by the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers (PVAA) in California. Through this project, the PVAA conducts private star parties for those who are visually impaired and offers tactile astronomy classes at local Braille Institutes. For more on You Can Do Astronomy and Project Bright Sky, visit and , respectively. As we strive to infuse the excitement of astronomy into the public, we mustnt neglect the 20 percent of the population suffering from some kind of disability. Who knows? That person approaching your telescope might be a potential contributing member of your astronomy club, possibly even a future scientist. You can help make the universe more accessible! Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email me at . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: The 2012 Toyota Prius, the first model year to make an electronic whirring sound automatically when traveling at speeds below fifteen mph as a standard feature.] NHTSA Proposes Rules for Automakers to Add Sound to Hybrids by Gabe Nelson >From the Editor: The following story appeared in Automotive News on Monday, January 7, 2013. The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, but it appears that pedestrians actually will get the protection from silent cars that we have been fighting for. Here is the story: Automakers would need to make hybrids and electric vehicles emit sound under rules that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed on Monday. The rules, ordered by Congress three years ago, are meant to protect pedestrians and bicyclists from vehicles that make little sound when using electric power. NHTSA says that designing the vehicles to make noise at speeds below eighteen mph would prevent about 2,800 injuries over the life of each model year of vehicles. Adding the needed speaker system would increase the cost of manufacturing a car or light truck by about $30, the agency estimates. NHTSA estimates it would cost the whole industry $23 million in 2016, once the rules are in effect. "Our proposal would allow manufacturers the flexibility to design different sounds for different makes and models while still providing an opportunity for pedestrians, bicyclists, and the visually impaired to detect and recognize a vehicle," NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in a statement. Before finalizing the rules NHTSA must publish them in the Federal Register and address any problems that are brought up during a subsequent sixty-day public comment period. The rules would apply to passenger cars and light trucks, as well as motorcycles, heavy-duty trucks, and buses. Adding Speakers To meet the requirements automakers would need to add speakers that are audible from the street but still protected from the elements. These speakers would need a digital processor so that they would play the chosen sound--often a humming noise similar to that of a gasoline-burning engine--only at low speeds. Beyond the cost of those components the added weight would increase fuel costs by about $5 over the lifetime of a light vehicle, NHTSA says. That, combined with the $30 in components, means the total cost of a vehicle would increase by about $35. Automakers have started adding speakers to hybrids and electric vehicles. The 2013 version of the Chevrolet Volt, the best-selling plug-in hybrid on the market, lets the driver activate a warning sound using a button on the end of the turn signal lever. The Nissan Leaf, the best-selling battery-electric vehicle, has a similar system that plays a sound at speeds of up to eighteen mph. It plays automatically, but a driver can deactivate the sound by pressing a button beneath the navigation screen. And, starting with the 2012 model year, all U.S. versions of the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gasoline-electric hybrid, automatically make an electronic whirring sound. The sound plays at speeds below fifteen mph. Toyota does not let drivers disable the sound on its hybrids, as advocates for the blind and the elderly have insisted is necessary. Compelling Argument Regulators said on Monday that they find that argument compelling. During a visit to the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind, NHTSA officials tried to cross city streets while blindfolded. They "found the sound of idling vehicles necessary for determining whether there was a vehicle present at the intersection and whether it was safe to cross," the proposal says. Under the proposal drivers would not be able to deactivate a warning sound while a vehicle is in motion, which NHTSA says "would compromise pedestrian safety." But the proposal says regulators have not yet decided whether vehicles should be required to make noise while idling. Though some drivers have chafed at hearing noise instead of near-silence, automakers have largely recognized the risk quiet cars can present to pedestrians. Yet the rules will require some automakers to add more equipment and others to change how they design their warning systems. Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the group had no immediate comment because it is still reviewing the proposal. She wrote in an email on Monday: "We have been working closely with the blind community and NHTSA on this issue for several years and are continuing to do so to achieve a balanced and effective rule." ---------- Blind Community Calls Plea Bargain for Blind Thief from Rumford `Outrageous by Terry Karkos >From the Editor: A major focus of the programs of the National Federation of the Blind is justice for blind people. When we talk about rights, we also talk about responsibilities; when we talk about equality of opportunity, we do not mean preferential treatment, but fair and just treatment under the law. When the blind of Maine heard about a blind mans stealing more than ten thousand dollars from his neighbor drawing no jail time and being required to pay back less than a tenth of what had been stolen, they reacted by expressing concern to the prosecutor, the court, and the newspaper which originally reported the case. This article first appeared on the Bangor Daily News website on December 3, 2012. It is reprinted with permission. An Oxford County Superior Court felony theft case earlier this month has raised the ire of members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maine. Theyre incensed that a man considered legally blind by the court would receive no jail time and be required to reimburse the victim only a fraction of the value of her household belongings he admitted stealing. On November 14 Charles E. Hamilton, forty-seven, of Rangeley Place in Rumford pleaded guilty to stealing items valued at eleven thousand dollars from his neighbors house in May. As part of the plea bargain, a felony burglary charge was dismissed. Justice Robert W. Clifford gave Hamilton a two-year deferred disposition. That means he must make restitution of twelve hundred dollars at fifty dollars a month through the district attorneys office and refrain from committing another crime. When the case began, Hamilton gingerly approached his court-appointed lawyer Maurice Porter and Clifford, sweeping a walking cane for the blind from side to side ahead of him. Prosecutor Joseph OConnor acknowledged during the bench trial that Hamilton is legally blind and on disability. Clifford said the restitution amount is based on Hamiltons financial condition. If he fails to meet the obligation, he faces up to five years in prison and a five thousand dollar fine. When asked Friday if he had any regrets or had received any reaction from the public since pleading guilty, Hamilton said he couldnt comment, because his case was still before the court. I dont know what Im allowed to say, he said. Even though Hamilton pleaded guilty and received a deferred disposition, he is correct. The case is still before the court, Rosemary Reese, legal secretary for the district attorneys office in Paris, said Friday. She said that if Hamilton makes the required restitution, commits no further crime, and abides by the conditions of the disposition, he will be allowed to plead guilty to a Class D misdemeanor theft and any other charges would be dismissed. Speaking on behalf of OConnor, Reese said the plea bargain and deferred disposition were not based on Hamiltons being legally blind or on disability income. According to OConnor Reese said the victim knew Hamilton and let him live in her house. And she allowed him to take some things, so there was a whole bunch of issues with proof on this case. Reese said some items were recovered and some were not. There was insufficient evidence, Reese said. Basically, (OConnor) could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Patricia Estes and Mark Tardif of the National Federation of the Blind of Maine and Steve Hoad, a former member, said they believe blindness did factor into the courts decision. They contacted the Sun Journal and said they were outraged after learning about the cases outcome during a discussion about it on November 15 at a Federation meeting. Estes, of Auburn, is the Federations vice president. Estes, Tardif of Grand Isle, and Hoad of Windsor are blind. The outrage that someone can weasel out of felony theft with no time served and next to no compensation is the same outrage anyone would feel upon hearing such a miscarriage of justice, Estes stated Tuesday by email. Blindness had no business factoring into the case at all, she said. That it did is all the more outrageous. In my opinion Hamilton should have been punished to the full extent the law allows, Tardif wrote in a letter to the Sun Journal published Tuesday. Unfortunately, the legal establishment and Hamilton used stereotypes regarding the blind that responsible blind people have been trying to show are just not accurate. Hamilton seems to have the idea that, because he is blind, the consequences of his criminal behavior should be lessened for him, Tardif said. The circumstances may be a real pitfall in the meting out of justice, Hoad said Thursday by email. Blind people, whether partially sighted or not, can and do work, Hoad said. Although the unemployment rate is high among the blind, there are many well-trained and capable individuals ready for the workforce whose reputation may be negatively affected by any inference that pity rather than justice was involved in this case. Tardif said the National Federation of the Blind of Maine is a consumer organization of blind people and their sighted supporters whose intention is to empower blind people to live independent, integrated lives as much as possible. Estes and Tardif said theyve been working for years to change perceptions about the blind. Maine, however, is behind the curve, Estes said. The pity for this blind thief was not based on fact, it seems to me, and the next potential employer, admissions office, or job training program will find it hard to accept the blind of Maine who have tried so hard to work, to be educated and trained and to be respected as an individual. Most of us are law-abiding, responsible citizens who expect to be treated on an equal basis with the sighted, Tardif said. Hoad agreed. We are not interested in pity, Hoad said. We are living in the real world where reality is exactly the type of treatment we expect. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Vincent Tagliarino] My Dream, My Business, and My Life by Vincent M . Tagliarino >From the Editor: Most articles that come to my attention are in an electronic format. Occasionally I get an article in Braille, but less frequently do I get one in print. Never does anything these days come from a typewriter, with the mistakes and strikeovers that are so easily corrected with a word processor. This one did, but I hope you will agree it was well worth the effort to transcribe and edit. Some of the history we have covered in recent issues has emphasized the importance of a university education, but a valid question that blind people whose strength isnt found in books repeatedly ask is What's out there for me? Vincent's story shows that success comes in many forms and doesn't always require a college education or an advanced degree. What is required is identifying ones talent, exercising the discipline to develop it, and creating the opportunity to try to succeed in making a dream come true. Here is how it happened for Vincent Tagliarino, a charter member of the Buffalo Chapter of the NFB of New York: Most of my relatives and friends call me Vinny. I had sight until I was eleven years old. Then I started having problems reading the blackboard at a distance. The eye doctor told my parents that I should not strain my eyes, so a friend who had the same eye condition (retinitis pigmentosa) told me that there was a school for the blind in Batavia called the New York State School for the Blind. My parents applied on my behalf, and off I went. The school made me repeat fifth grade because I had to learn how to read and write Braille. They said that it would take me about a year to do it well. I am extremely happy they made me learn Braille because to this day everything I do revolves around being able to read and write. Unlike the situation for today's school children, I had no choice; Braille it was. In addition to the normal subjects one studies in school such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and history, the school gave students the opportunity to learn several trades. It offered courses in music, piano tuning, woodworking, poultry (yes, the care and feeding of chickens), home economics, and others I don't now remember. I knew what I wanted to be; my dream was to become a musician and own a music store. In elementary school I signed up for piano lessons and band. After I entered high school, I signed up to learn how to be a piano tuner. They offered excellent training, and I was impressed by the fact that my piano-tuning teacher was partially blind. After five years of piano lessons I was able to sign up to learn to play the pipe organ. I stayed in Batavia for two extra years to learn other skills that would help me in starting and running a business: how to keep the books, make out bills, and write business letters. The year I graduated I had to put on a graduation recital using the pipe organ and the piano. The public was invited, and my family came up from Buffalo to hear me play. After graduation I got a scholarship to a summer music camp and enough money for the first semester at Hartwick College in northeastern New York State. Unfortunately my parents did not have enough money for me to continue my college education, so I returned to Buffalo to live. The first thing I had to do was join the musicians union in order to play in hotels and banquet facilities. The union listed me in the union directory as a piano, accordion, and organ musician. I was also listed as a piano tuner and technician. The latter was a fortunate listing because it helped me meet many piano players who needed someone to tune their instruments. In my second year out of school and still with no work, I was fortunate to audition for a quartet that played on the road. They knew I was blind and didn't care; all they cared about was that I play well enough to be in their band. I traveled extensively in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York State. Not only did I earn some money and do some traveling, but I proved that I could sell myself as a blind person and as a musician. This gave me the confidence to keep on trying when times got tough. It confirmed for me what the National Federation of the Blind said about blind people, and I have spent most of my life trying to communicate that message to blind and sighted people alike. After six months on the road I was offered a job playing piano six nights a week in Buffalo. I took that job because the band did not always have work, and this job let me stay home and avoid the expenses that came with traveling. A blind friend who also graduated from the school for the blind in Batavia was teaching organ and piano lessons in the Wurlitzer Music Store in downtown Buffalo. He was able to get a grand piano to work on and asked me if I could help him recondition it to sell. His idea was that in this way we could both make some money for ourselves. At no charge the store gave us a spot where we could recondition it, and we went to work. While at the store I met the other piano tuners who worked there and also got to know the salesmen. Six months later one of the piano tuners retired, and I was offered a full-time job as the inside piano tuner for this five-floor music store. Needless to say, I was very happy. In my four years working in the store, I met many musicians and people who wanted me to tune their pianos. These became my private customers, and I handled their business on evenings and weekends. In 1960 I left the store and started my own business doing piano tuning. My mother helped me by driving three days a week, and I hired a part-time driver for the other two days. When I branched out and started to get busy doing repair work, my father let me use his workshop in the basement. Before long I got so much work that I needed more space. The work was starting to take over the house, so I asked my parents if I could build a shop in the back. They said okay, and I immediately went to the bank for a loan. I hired my uncle to do the work. He knocked down the old garage and built a thirty-by-thirty building. With this space I was able to bring in bigger items to work on, and I also started buying used pianos to recondition and sell. Soon I got into the business of selling new pianos. Before long I once again needed more room. About a block away from my shop, I saw a for rent sign on a storefront property. I signed a one-year lease with the option to renew it for a second year. I soon realized I needed more money to buy merchandise and equipment to operate the store and made an appointment with the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped to see if they could help me purchase these things. After I filled out the paperwork and waited several weeks, the Buffalo office of the agency okayed my application and sent it off to Albany, where the higher-ups had their headquarters. A few weeks later I received disappointing news; my request for money to expand my business had been rejected. Now what could I do? I had already rented the store and ordered the merchandise to fill it. I and those from whom I had purchased my stock had assumed approval from the district office was sufficient. The warehouse had shipped my showcases and other equipment to the store. This was quite a blow to me, so I went to the owner of the warehouse and described my predicament. He felt very sympathetic and understood my situation. He made a deal with me. He asked how much money I could come up with, and, when I told him, he agreed to make me a loan from his own pocket at no interest. Even with this help I had to borrow more money from the bank, but I was able to open the store. After a year I decided not to renew the lease. The expenses were a little too high. I moved back into my original shop, but several of my friends were excited about what I was doing and wanted to help me meet other people who might increase my business. I was encouraged to join an exclusive business club that offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. In exchange for playing piano at their parties for no charge, I would not have to pay their membership fees, and I would get drinks and food at no cost to me. What a deal! I met a lot of great business people, and, as my friends had expected, this paid off. Eventually I was fortunate enough to get a franchise on new pianos. Again I started running out of room, so I asked my parents if I could put a storefront on the house and open the whole downstairs area to the public. They said all right, and again I got a contractor to make the needed modifications to the building. Money being tight, I asked an aunt, with whom I was close, if I could borrow some money to pay the contractor, and she said yes. Once again my business was growing and prospering. Some eight years later I told my wife that I wanted a bigger store near the University of Buffalo. I found a store for sale on Main Street across from the University. Because of a fire in the building, it needed a great deal of remodeling, both inside and out. My wife joked that only a blind guy would buy it, but I saw visions of what this building could be when I was done with it. So I put in a bid and got the building. To buy the building and remodel it, I went to the Small Business Administration for a loan and eventually got it. What helped this business grow was the name. I named my business Buffalo Piano Sales and Tuning, Inc., with Tagg's Music as a division of the corporation. I thought that with a big name like that I would get a great deal of business, and I did. Three large school systems, several nursing and assisted living facilities, a number of churches, and many residential customers came to trust me to do their work. My business soon employed three professional servicemen, including me. One tuner worked in the shop, one did the residential calls, and I did the commercial work. Because I could do anything required to service a piano, I did more concert work than any other piano tuner in western New York. I can say this with confidence because I worked with one promoter who sponsored concerts six nights a week, Monday through Saturday, and a different concert on Sunday. Many of these concerts were held in a large tent that held about 3,300 people. I had to tune every Monday before the opening night and Sundays before the evening concert. There were about fifty to sixty tunings in the summer alone. Two other big promoters held their concerts at the football stadium. Working for them meant I met many stars. I came to feel very good about myself, knowing I could compete quite successfully with sighted tuners and still manage to build a successful business. In my many years in business I have learned that it is essential to know your profession thoroughly and to do anything you must do to satisfy the customer. This I was and still am able to do. In addition to tuning and repair, I write up insurance estimates on damaged pianos and give second opinions to many customers who have problem pianos and have been discouraged from fixing them. Many of these I am able to repair. Back in 1956 I was involved in starting the Buffalo Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. At that time it was called the Empire State Association of the Blind. I was a charter member, have been a member for fifty-seven years, and have been on the board of directors for most of that time. In 1977 I became president of the chapter and served for twenty-two years until 1999. At that time I asked the chapter to vote in my vice president as our leader; they voted me in as vice president, and I am still proudly serving today. Since I joined as a charter member, this organization has been very dear to me. I have worked with Dr. Jernigan; Dr. Maurer, for whom I have tremendous respect; and James Gashel, who taught me much about how to work with other people who are blind. When we had a lawsuit against the Blind Association of Western New York, Mr. Gashel and I were on television several times. I was also on the radio for four hours talking about our issues concerning the blind in the sheltered shop. One thing I learned in working with James was that blind people, like sighted people, are quite different from one another, that we all have different wants and needs, and we all bring differing abilities to the world. I learned to understand blind people as individuals. In the fifty-seven years I have been a member of the Buffalo chapter, the NFB has given me many awards. In 1982 I received my first plaque for distinguished service. In 2006, at our NFB state convention, the Buffalo chapter gave me a plaque for fifty years of service, for being a charter member, and for outstanding service working with the blind. In 2008 the National Federation of the Blind of New York gave me a plaque for my volunteer service. I have long believed what the Federation says about getting out and mixing with the sighted public to demonstrate that blind people are capable, so I have made an effort to be involved in several activities outside my business. I have belonged to the Lions Club for fifty-six years, and in that time have received awards at all levels from my club, my district, and our International Lions Clubs. I also belong to the Lancaster Depew Chamber of Commerce and was nominated for the businessman of the year award in 2006. On December 9, 2011, the Herald Tribune magazine and the front page of the New York Times newspaper ran an article about a famous jazz musician, Boyd Dunlop, who is in a nursing facility. He is from Buffalo and played in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other large cities. The nursing home had a piano which was in bad shape, and I was called upon to replace two keys and tune it back to pitch. Mr. Dunlop was so happy that he put my name in the write-up with him. I received calls from friends in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina teasing me about being a celebrity. What fun! I like the philosophy that the National Federation of the Blind has taught me: as a blind person you can do it. I have often been encouraged by this and have tried hard to give that encouragement to others. When people care enough to help other people, wonderful things can happen. My story demonstrates it; my life is better for it; and because of my work the world is just a little more in tune. For further information on the profession of piano tuning, contact: NFB's Piano Technology Group Don Mitchell, chairperson Home: (360) 696-1985 E-mail: ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Sierra Gregg at the 2012 National Convention in Orlando where she received a scholarship.] Intern's Efforts Broaden Access to Vital Historic Documents by Doug Moore >From the Editor: Sierra Gregg was a winner of a National Federation of the Blind scholarship in 2012. She is an impressive young woman, as the article that appeared in St. Louis Today for January 6 attests: Sierra Gregg was excited about her internship at the Office of Presidential Libraries in Washington. Her task in the summer of 2011 was to help beef up the offices social media presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. As the twenty-first anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act was approaching, Gregg, a student at Truman State University, began looking for records to feature but found only two, neither of which was a copy of the law that changed the way those with disabilities are treated in the U.S. And neither was in a format that would allow software or reading equipment used by those visually impaired to be of use. I was shocked and kind of mad, I guess, because, of all the events Id been covering and researching, this was the one I was looking forward to the most, said, Gregg, twenty-one, who grew up in the small St. Louis County community of Oakland, near Kirkwood. So I mentioned this to my supervisor, that I wanted more ADA records to be digitized. And we came up with the idea to create a webpage to feature these records. Greggs passion for making more documents accessible to those with disabilities is understandable. She was born with a rare birth defect that left her legally blind. On July 26, the twenty-second anniversary of the signing of the ADA, the National Archives launched Greggs new webpage, which contains fifty-six newly digitized documents. The records include letters Helen Keller wrote to President Herbert Hoover and a letter written in Braille by a thirteen-year-old boy to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, a year before Gregg was born. I have grown up in a world where my visual impairment is not a hindrance to my success, only a characteristic of who I am, said Gregg, who went to Ursuline Academy and is now working on a computer science degree at Truman State. Jeannie Chen, social media coordinator for the Office of Presidential Libraries, a part of the National Archives and Records Administration, said Greggs passion brought to light the shortage of documents readily accessible. We had hoped to find more of those records already scanned and online, Chen said. Sierra helped us realize this was an area where we could serve more people. Presidential Gems Gregg began looking through the websites for the thirteen presidential libraries. Documents already online were not always in a format that could be manipulated to be read more clearly. So the office, with the help of other summer interns, began transcribing them so they could be digitally formatted. Doing so allows the text to be greatly magnified online for the visually impaired. The records Gregg helped collect for the site, archives.gov, go beyond the ADA. For example, there are documents from the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had polio and started what is now the March of Dimes. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn elevated awareness of mental health care. And President John F. Kennedys sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, was the driving force behind the creation of the Special Olympics. This was a great project because it broadened the types of records we have. Sierra worked on making things more accessible in general, Chen said. The site explains the highlighted documents this way: From personal letters to historic legislation, these records provide insight into efforts over the past century to establish programs and to protect the rights of people with disabilities. Greggs efforts were noted on the White House Blog, where she detailed her internships during the summers of 2011 and 2012. Susan K. Donius, director of the Office of Presidential Libraries, introduced Greggs blog entry, saying the college student recognizes the importance of sharing presidential records related to disability history. She has been closely involved in a project to make a selection of these documents accessible to a wide audience. In the blog post Gregg said at least one record from every presidential administration since Hoover is included on the site, including her favorite, a letter from a sixth-grade boy to Eisenhower in 1956, offering advice for his re-election campaign. Dear Ike, the letter from John Beaulieu, a student at a Massachusetts school for the blind, begins. I decided to write you a little speech which might help you to win the election. Little it was. Vote for me. I will help you out. I will lower the prices and also your tax bill. I also will help the Negroes so that they may go to school. Eisenhower, who won re-election, replied to Beaulieu: Dear John: It was nice of you to send me a little speech to help win the election. I wish I were able to write back to you in Braille also, but I am sure that one of your teachers will be happy to read this to you. In her blog post Gregg also noted that two letters written to President Hoover by Keller are among the documents on the site. Gregg said Keller wrote letters to eight U.S. presidents, starting in 1903 with Theodore Roosevelt, and met with thirteen presidents, from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson. I must admit to feeling a twinge of envy when I learned that during a visit to the White House, she investigated her historic surroundings with touch. She even identified a bust of George Washington with her fingers, Gregg said of Keller. Culture Shock John Thompson, president of Lighthouse for the Blind--St. Louis, which provides various services to the visually impaired, said Greggs efforts are impressive, especially given her personality. I remember when I first met her; timid is putting it mildly, said Thompson. Gregg went through Lighthouses three-week residential program for teens, stressing independence, including communication and social skills. There is a tendency for so many kids who are visually impaired to not go out to get the experiences that sighted kids get, Thompson said. As they go through adolescence, they tend to become an island into themselves. Gregg said she recalled getting an email accepting applications for the internship and thought it would fit nicely with her plans to go to graduate school for a library science degree. But she admits Washington was culture shock for her. Her commute to work included crowded buses and trains. Using public transportation is something encouraged in the Lighthouse program Gregg participated in. Had she not gone through the program, I would never have made it in D.C., Gregg said. Lighthouse also provided scholarships to help with her housing costs in Washington. As Gregg works to complete her studies with an eye on library management, Chen says she is glad the young woman from St. Louis spent two summers in Washington. She brought such a strong interest, Chen said. As a result we were able to create a really wonderful resource at the agency that will end up being valuable to the general public. If you are interested in reading more blind history, check out the offerings on The Blind Cat at . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Ivan Weich] The Role of Labor in My Life and in the Progress of the Organized Blind Movement by Ivan Weich >From the Editor: Ivan Weich is president of the National Association of Blind Public Employees and the chapter president of the Kitsap County Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington. He also works full-time for the federal government. As part of his job he is a national union representative. Last year he was elected national fair practices and affirmative action coordinator for the American Federation of Government Employees District Eleven, which covers eight states of the Pacific Northwest. His union represents over six hundred thousand federal employees and employees of the District of Columbia. It is clear that Ivan feels passionately about his union work, an emotion any of us who feel dedicated and passionate about what we do and why we do it will have no trouble understanding. No matter ones position on the contentious issues that sometimes divide labor and management, all of us can be proud that a blind person has found yet another place to shine in the diverse workforce of America. This is what he says: Before I proceed, I want to say that this article is about the U word-union. I know that some people do not like to talk about unions, but we have to discuss them here. Unions are an institution in this country, and, like the Federation, unions are here to stay. As a matter of fact, the Federation has a great deal to be thankful for from the unions. Dr. Jernigan reminded us on many occasions that we in the National Federation of the Blind have the right to select our representatives to present our views and grievances, and we have the right to assemble peaceably to air them. These are the same rights given to unions. When I first joined the Federation in the 1980s, the NFB was referred to by some as "the evil ones," "that militant organization," and "that bunch of radicals." Fortunately many have now come to understand what we have known all along: that the NFB is an incredible organization with integrity, clout, and respect. Before my government career I worked in private industry, where we had no unions and where I was treated quite unfairly. Even so, back then my impression of unions was dismal. All I had to go on were the images of union picketers disrupting work, stories about arson and assaults for which they were blamed, and service delays during strikes which of course were the fault of those greedy people pushing for more and more. Sometimes I made legitimate complaints about service delays, only to be told by company representatives that they were because of the union. On the first day of my federal career, I took my loyalty oath and minutes later was addressed by the union steward. It felt awkward and struck me as ironic that first I had taken an oath not to strike against the government and then I was addressed by the employees' union. It made no sense to me; I didn't think we could have a union because we couldn't strike, which was what I thought the union did. Over time I have learned that we can accomplish a great deal without a strike or work stoppage. After two years on the job with the government, I went to my union steward to file a grievance because my supervisor and manager had passed me up for a temporary assignment in a field office. After the steward called my manager on it, I got a duty assignment to an office near my home. I was so happy that I started assisting the union and then became a union steward. Six months later I was asked by my local president to prepare an appellate brief to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, since my background and training were in legal research and writing. About ninety days later we received a decision on the appeal, and the Commission ruled in our favor. In 1994 my local president asked me if I would be willing to serve as a union official. I thought about it and said yes. My family kept telling me that I was making a big mistake. I told them that I had not been getting anywhere without the union, and, if I did not speak up for myself and others, I would always be beaten down, and so would others. My union responsibilities include meeting with employees, determining their issues, and developing the evidence. I also prepare a reply to any proposal from management. My work is similar to what is done by an attorney, but of course I cannot give legal advice. By 1999 I had become the secretary/treasurer of my local, I was being considered for national representative, and I was doing the full range of union representation. In November of 1999 I had to give all of that up when I transferred to Washington State to care for my father, who was dying of cancer. In my nine-year absence from union leadership, I still kept up on the laws that affect union representation and federal employment. In 2007 I was elected as a delegate to my new local in Washington State, and I was a unit delegate to the Central Labor Council in my town. In 2010 I was elected as sergeant at arms of my local and resumed union work almost immediately. In 2011 I was asked to run for fair practices affirmative action coordinator for District Eleven. I was surprised because I thought I had to wait five years before I could be nominated for anything. I gave it some thought, ran for the position at the district caucus, and was sworn into service minutes after the results were announced. My position requires serving as a resource person for equal employment opportunity and affirmative action issues. Doing the job involves teleconferences, meetings, travel, and time away from my usual work. In some cases I make referrals to our union's attorneys for assistance. As part of my job I provide training on basic federal EEO law and representation. My position puts me on the national Human Rights Committee for the union. In this group we focus on issues of human rights, civil rights, and worker rights. In order to do my job, I have several alternative skills. First, I use adaptive technology. I have an iPhone so I can stay up-to-date on my email. I also have a backup system in case the computer is down and needs its Prozac. That backup is an At-A-Glance 8.5x11 appointment book to keep track of appointments, meetings, and travel. When I travel to other cities, arrangements are made ahead of time for a local union officer or staffer to pick me up at the train station or the Dog House [the Greyhound station]. When I work out of the national office, I am provided a computer with adaptive software, and, when attending national-office-sponsored training, I am assigned an intern who serves as my reader. Handouts, forms, and worksheets are produced in large print for me. Most of the time I book my own travel through our contracted travel agent. Since I have been in office, we have made significant strides on behalf of disabled members, staffers, employees, delegates, and representatives. We are introducing two resolutions this year at our national convention. The first one is to establish a disabled employees coalition. The second is to ensure that materials are made available in alternative formats (including Braille) for attendees, delegates, staffers, representatives, officers, and employees when they attend conventions, caucuses, training classes, and national meetings. Organized labor is like any large organization or employer-we need good people to work for us as employees. Some positions require an advanced degree and/or professional license as in the case of an attorney, accountant, or economist. Some positions require a four-year degree in journalism, finance, labor studies, human resources, or political science. Some positions are program-specific, and an applicant must have both education and experience in a special field such as EEO or health and safety. Unions also need office professionals and secretaries. They hire organizers for membership and mobilization. These are sales jobs requiring one to meet goals for recruiting new members and helping locals retain them. Like the NFB, our union has national resources that are generously shared with the local labor organizations. National representatives work in each district to help locals with representational issues. These include helping to organize elections to determine whether employees want to join a union and handling disputes that sometimes occur during those elections. Representatives also provide basic steward training, advanced litigation training for seasoned stewards, and leadership training for local leaders. To become a national representative, one must start out as a local officer and then be selected after years of experience in the diverse demands placed on union officials. Just as in the Federation, union employees serve at the pleasure of the national president. The best way to compete for union work is to master your union job. All employees must have a strong interest in organized labor. No matter what position one occupies, part of the job is selling the union to a prospective member. So sold are we on collective bargaining that even employees of unions are themselves represented by a union. If you are interested in organized labor and if you are in college and studying labor, law, accounting, journalism, or political science, you can inquire about internship programs at any unions national office. You can also check with your adviser or school placement office for union opportunities in your area. Being a union officer is no popularity contest. A good union officer must be able to 1) manage a local in order to represent the needs of all covered employees, 2) lead in a fair and equitable manner (including financial management), 3) be a leader, 4) be a good listener, 5) be willing to challenge questionable decisions of the employer, 6) be willing to sacrifice your time and resources to benefit your covered employees, and 7) be able to sell your union to potential members. The parallel is clear; one could easily insert Federation in place of union in this list and it would be every bit as appropriate. The National Federation of the Blind has benefited a great deal from organized labor. Aside from the Labor Day holiday, the creation of the Social Security Act, and the overtime law, the Federation has benefited from the traditions the union has established and perfected to communicate with the public. Public meetings, rallies, pickets, and the right to present our views were all made acceptable by organized labor, and, when called upon to take our message to the public, the Federation has made good use of these tools. Labor too has been influenced by the National Federation of the Blind. It has become an excellent career opportunity for talented people, including those who are disabled. As the blind become ever more visible in the work of the unions, we become more integrated into the mainstream of society, demonstrating our energy, our competitive spirit, and our social conscience. I think this is what our founders had in mind, and I am grateful to play a part in our ongoing struggle to gain the equality of opportunity and the security to which we commit ourselves each time we recite the Federation pledge. ---------- [Photo/Caption: Janice Toothman] My Experiences in the National Federation of the Blind by Janice Toothman >From the Editor: The following article first appeared in the newsletter of the Washington Metropolitan Association of the Deaf-Blind. It was reprinted in the the summer 2012 issue of the Blind Spectator, the publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. According to the editor, Janice Toothman is a hard worker and embodies the spirit of the Federation in many ways. She is not afraid to take on new challenges and doesn't give up when the going gets tough. Here is her story: In 2006 I had been blind for two years. However, I was feeling pretty isolated and alone, not being able to work and not feeling confident enough in my cane skills to go out and walk as I used to do. I learned about the National Federation of the Blind when I received a letter asking me if I would like to meet other blind people to learn independence skills and how the NFB works to benefit the lives of the blind. It was at that meeting that I met the Sligo Creek Chapter president, Debbie Brown, and the vice president, Pauline Johnson. Both of these women were working full-time and supporting themselves. I was glad to meet other blind women whom I could talk to and get to know. I was overwhelmed when I went to my first national NFB convention in Atlanta in 2006. My parents took me, and we stayed for only the first three days. We went to the technology seminars but did not go to the general sessions. I had not yet become a member of the NFB. In the coming months I went to the Sligo Creek Chapter monthly meetings. By this time I had become a member. That fall I was not confident, so I did not participate in any of the activities or fundraising events. In the spring of 2007 I took my first steps toward empowerment. I wrote letters to senators, delegates, and Congressmen asking for their support for bills that the NFB was trying to pass to benefit the blind. Debbie, the chapter president, was teaching me and three other women from the chapter to read and write Braille. We met once a week on Sunday afternoons for two years. By the time we were finished I had learned contracted Braille. Since those early years I have blossomed into an active member of the NFB. In 2009 I received the Anna Cable Award at the Maryland state convention for achievement and excellence in acquiring independence skills and encouraging others toward independence. I am now a board member of the Sligo Creek Chapter. I am also the secretary for the deaf-blind division in the NFB. I am also trying to establish a guide dog division in the state of Maryland. I value the friendships that I have with many blind men and women. In particular I appreciate getting to know other deaf-blind individuals within the NFB and helping them get the most out of conventions. I also feel it is imperative that we work toward legislation to improve prospects for the blind and deaf-blind. Fundraising has given me more confidence to go out into the world and show people that despite being deaf-blind I can be independent. Through my association with the NFB I have learned that the deaf-blind are not second-class citizens. The NFB has taught me to ask for the accessibility tools I need in my everyday life activities. In joining the NFB, I recognized that as a deaf-blind person I must advocate for change on both the state and national levels so that the deaf-blind can enjoy more opportunities in employment and greater access to technology. ---------- Giving a Dream One of the great satisfactions in life is having the opportunity to assist others. Consider making a gift to the National Federation of the Blind to continue turning our dreams into reality. A gift to the NFB is not merely a donation to an organization; it provides resources that will directly ensure a brighter future for all blind people. Seize the Future The National Federation of the Blind has special giving opportunities that will benefit the giver as well as the NFB. Of course the largest benefit to the donor is the satisfaction of knowing that the gift is leaving a legacy of opportunity. However, gifts may be structured to provide more: ? Helping the NFB fulfill its mission ? Realizing income tax savings through a charitable deduction ? Making capital gain tax savings on contributions of appreciated assets ? Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or beneficiary ? Eliminating or lowering the federal estate tax in certain situations ? Reducing estate settlement costs NFB programs are dynamic: ? Making the study of science and math a real possibility for blind children ? Providing hope and programs for seniors losing vision ? Promoting state and local programs to help blind people become first-class citizens ? Educating the public about blind peoples true potential ? Advancing technology helpful to the blind ? Creating a state-of-the-art library on blindness ? Training and inspiring professionals working with the blind ? Providing critical information to parents of blind children ? Mentoring blind job seekers Your gift makes you a partner in the NFB dream. For further information or assistance, contact the NFB planned giving officer. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Allen Harris] Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris >From the Editor: Allen Harris chairs the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund committee. He has an important announcement for those who would like to attend this year's national convention but find themselves short of funds. This is what he says: The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund is looking for individuals who can use some financial assistance to attend our national convention in Orlando, Florida. At the 2012 convention in Dallas we were able to assist sixty-three people. In 2013 our convention will begin on Monday, July 1, and run through Saturday, July 6. The convention is a day shorter than you might expect, ending with the banquet Saturday evening. Who is eligible to receive a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? If you are a member of the National Federation of the Blind who has not yet attended a national convention, you are eligible to apply. What do I have to do to apply for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? You must do the following and are responsible for meeting these application requirements: 1. Each individual who applies for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship must write a letter to the selection committee. You will send your letter of application to your NFB state affiliate president. A list of state presidents is posted on the NFB website . He or she will forward your completed application, along with his or her recommendation, to the committee at . You and your state president should make contact by telephone so that he or she is well aware of your financial need and your wish to attend the convention in Orlando. If you have questions, you may also send a message to the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship chairman by addressing your email to the scholarship submission email address. 2. You must write a letter to the Kenneth Jernigan Fund committee expressing the reasons why you want a scholarship. Describe your participation in the Federation and what you think you would contribute and receive at the convention. 3. You must register for and attend the entire convention, including the banquet. What else must I do to insure that my application will be considered? We must have all of the following information: 1. Your full name 2. Your address 3. Your telephone numbers (home, business, and cell) 4. Your email address (if you have one) 5. Your state president's name and the name of your local chapter, if you attend one All applications must be received by April 15, 2013. How do I get my scholarship funds? You will get a debit card at the convention loaded with the amount of your scholarship award. The times and locations to pick up your debit card will be listed in the notice you receive if you are a scholarship winner. The committee is not able to provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state affiliate to assist you by advancing funds you can pay back when you receive your scholarship. When will I know if I have been selected as a Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship winner? The committee makes every effort to notify scholarship winners by May 15, but you must do several things to be prepared to attend if you are chosen: 1. Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from attending, you can cancel your reservation. 2. You will receive a letter with the convention details which should answer many of your questions. It is also helpful to find a mentor from your chapter or affiliate to act as a friend and advisor during the convention. Although you will not know officially whether or not you have been selected until mid-May, you must make plans to attend and then adjust your arrangements accordingly. Last summer in Dallas the Jernigan Fund scholarship committee awarded sixty-three Kenneth Jernigan Scholarships. Grants ranged from $400 to $500. The amount we can give will depend on the funds available; we attempt to award additional funds to families. You can include in your letter to the committee any special circumstances which the committee may choose to take into consideration. Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first convention and join several thousand other blind Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. If you have questions or need additional information, call Allen Harris at (205) 520-9979 or email him at . We look forward to seeing you in Orlando. ---------- Recipes This months recipes come from members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maine. [PHOTO CAPTION: Leon Proctor, Jr.] Stuffed Rigatoni by Leon Proctor Leon Proctor is president of the NFB of Maine. He has been a member for one-and-a-half years. He lives with his wife Suzanne in Lewiston. He says, I created this recipe about eight months ago. We think it is very tasty. Ingredients: At least 1 pint ricotta cheese 1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef 1 large bag shredded mozzarella cheese 1 pound box rigatoni 2 large jars spaghetti sauce Method: Brown ground beef in a 10- to 12-inch skillet on medium heat. Be sure to separate meat well with a spoon as it cooks to be sure that it is all thoroughly cooked. Drain fat and set aside. In large pot bring water to boil and cook rigatoni according to package directions. While waiting for water to come to a boil, in large mixing bowl mix a pint of the ricotta cheese, two cups mozzarella cheese, and cooked ground beef. Mix till all ingredients are well combined. When rigatoni is just cooked, drain water and return rigatoni to pot. Fill a pastry bag with the cheese and meat mixture and then fill each rigatoni noodle by hand. (This takes some time, so, if you have a spouse or friend willing to help, feel free to ask.) After filling rigatoni, place noodles in a lasagna pan with spaghetti sauce covering the bottom of the pan. Halfway through filling lasagna pan, add more sauce. Stir gently till pan is filled with rigatoni and sauce all mixed together. Top the stuffed rigatoni with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes at 350 degrees, till cheese is melted and mixture is bubbly. Let dish stand for fifteen to twenty minutes before serving. If you like lots of cheese, use more of either or both. ---------- Italian Chicken by Leon Proctor Ingredients: 2 bags of frozen mixed vegetables (wax beans, string beans, and carrots) 2 16-ounce bottles or 1 large bottle of zesty Italian dressing Family package of boneless chicken breasts, cubed Method: Place both bags of frozen vegetables and cubed raw chicken in Crock-Pot?. Then pour at least a whole bottle of Italian dressing over the top. (You may need both bottles; use your judgment.) Cover Crock-Pot and cook on high for four hours. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Patricia Estes and NFB of Georgia President Garrick Scott outside Beckys Diner] Tourti?re, Traditional Franco-American Pork Pie by Patricia Estes Pat Estes is first vice president of the NFB of Maine. She and her husband Skip are longtime Federationists and live in Auburn. Pat explains that tourti?re is a traditional French dish that is served to this day in eastern Canada and the many Franco-American settlements in Maine. It is a meat pie, usually pork, served at the feast called "Reveillon," which occurs after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. However, Pat grew up not waiting to feast, and this is the recipe she has settled on over the years. It is most like her M?m?re's, who just giggled when Pat asked her for her recipe. Here is Pats version: Ingredients: One pound lean ground pork and 1/2 pound lean ground beef or all ground pork 1/3 cup onion, finely chopped 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1 cup water 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1 to 2 cups mashed potatoes without milk Method: Combine first five ingredients in pot and cover. Cook slowly for forty-five minutes to an hour. Add cinnamon and cloves and cook for fifteen minutes longer. Add one to two cups mashed potatoes without milk to the meat mixture and simmer very slowly for two hours. Let meat filling cool. Meanwhile, roll out bottom crust and line a nine-inch pie plate. Fill this unbaked pie shell with meat mixture and cover with top crust. Score the top and seal edges of pie. Bake at 400 degrees for forty-five minutes. Remove from oven and brush crust with butter or milk. Serve hot with the following simple side salad. ---------- Side Salad On each plate arrange two or three bright green leaves of romaine lettuce. place one unsweetened canned peach half on lettuce bed and top with softened cream cheese. ----------- Hot Fudge Sundae Cake by Pat Estes This family favorite is mixed, baked, and served in the same pan. Ingredients: 1 cup flour 3/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup milk 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional) 1 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup cocoa 1 3/4 cup hot water Method: Sift or mix together with fork the dry ingredients in a 9-by-9-inch baking pan. Then stir in milk, oil, and vanilla until smooth. Add nuts and stir to mix. Spread batter evenly over bottom of pan. Mix brown sugar and quarter cup of cocoa together thoroughly and sprinkle over batter. Then gently pour water over entire surface. Do not stir in. Bake cake in preheated 350-degree oven for forty minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. ---------- Spinach Dip in Bread Bowl by Bobbie LaChance Bubier Bobbie Lachance Bubier is a romance novelist, and she is the affiliate's queen of door prizes. Bobbie and her husband Richard live in Auburn and have been members for two years. Ingredients: 1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 1 can water chestnuts, drained 16 ounces sour cream 1 envelope Knox vegetable soup mix 1 cup mayonnaise 1 round loaf bread, hollowed out Raw vegetables Crackers Method: Mix first five ingredients together and chill for at least two hours. Serve in bread bowl with a selection of veggies and crackers for dipping. ---------- Peanut Butter Pie by Bobbie LaChance Bubier Ingredients: 4 ounces cream cheese 1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 2 tablespoons milk 8 ounces Cool Whip 1 9-inch chocolate graham cracker crust pie shell Method: Combine and beat together first four ingredients until smooth and well mixed. Fold in Cool Whip. Pile into pie shell and chill for at least four hours. ---------- Bean and Rice Soup by Faith Armstrong Faith Armstrong is secretary of the NFB of Maine. She and her husband John Smythe live in Sabattus and have been NFB members for almost a year. John is a Brit, and his dry sense of humor fits right in here in Maine--if he would only stop fighting the war. Ingredients: 2 slices bacon, chopped 1 onion, chopped 1 rib celery, chopped 4 cups water 1 16-ounce can small white beans, undrained 1 16-ounce can pinto beans, undrained 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup Minute Rice Method: Cook chopped bacon in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until meat is done. Add chopped onion and celery, cooking and stirring until tender. Add water, beans, tomato sauce, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Add rice and stir. Cover pan again and remove from heat. Let stand for five minutes. Serve immediately. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family [PHOTO CAPTION: Robert M. Eschbach, August 26, 1932, to January 22, 2013] In Memoriam: It is with deep sadness and profound respect that we report the death on January 22, 2013, of a longtime Federation leader, the Rev. Robert Eschbach. Here is a tribute written by his friend and colleague, Barbara Pierce: Bob Eschbach was a musician, social worker, ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, blindness agency administrator in two states, NFB affiliate president, member of the NFB board of directors, and president at one time or another of both the National Association of Guide Dog Users and the Deaf-Blind Division. Wherever he went, Bob was a voice for calm reason and Christian love. Bobs parents were missionaries in the Philippines when he was born. Because of his blindness and hearing loss, he was sent home to Ohio to attend the Ohio State School for the Blind. After graduating from Otterbein College, he earned an MDiv from the United Theological Seminary, and a masters of social work from the University of Kansas. He worked in community mental health and pastored five United Methodist churches in Ohio before going into work with the blind. During these years he discovered the National Federation of the Blind and quickly rose to the presidency of a then troubled affiliate. Under his leadership the NFB of Ohio became a strong and committed part of the NFB. In 1974 Dr. Jernigan called Bob to tell him that an energetic young woman in Oberlin had written to him with plans to organize an NFB chapter in Lorain County, Ohio. Bob called me and offered both friendship and wise advice about writing a constitution. He asked to come visit, arriving in time for dinner. After a meal that he continued to rave about throughout our long friendship, we discussed Federation philosophy and the Ohio affiliate. By the time he left the next morning, I was committed to his vision of the work to be done in the state to improve the lives of blind Ohioans, and I was eager to get started as a member of his team. Bob served as president of the NFB of Ohio from 1973 to 1984, when he became assistant director of the Ohio Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired. For sixteen years during the late seventies and eighties he was also a member of the NFB board of directors. In recent years Bob and his wife Pat lived in Arizona, where he generously made his years of experience available to the Arizona affiliate. The Eschbachs were planning to return to the Otterbein Retirement Community in Ohio early this year. A week before his death, doctors discovered cancer throughout his body. He died quietly at home with his family around him. Bob is survived by his devoted wife Pat, his children Mary and Fred, and Marys two sons Jason and Ian. Also surviving him are a legion of his friends and colleagues, who will miss his wisdom and humor. Elected: The Central Idaho Chapter is pleased to announce the results of its most recent elections, held November 26, 2012: president, Chris Jones; vice president, Glade Whiting; secretary, Judy Jones; and treasurer, Jacque Whiting. Elected: At its January 2013 meeting the Clark County Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington elected the following: president, Betty Watson; vice president, Don Mitchell; secretary, Maurice Mines; and treasurer, Doug Trimble. Congratulations to the new officers. Les Fitzpatrick, who has served as the chapter president for several terms, and the other outgoing officers are to be commended for their outstanding service to the chapter, to the state affiliate, and to the National Federation of the Blind. Election: At its monthly meeting on Saturday, January 12, 2013, the Des Moines Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa held its annual elections for officers and board members with the following results: president, Cindy Ray; vice president, April Enderton; secretary, Curtis Chong; treasurer, Mary McGee; and board members, Sharon Omvig, Jill Clausen, and Kasey Walker. Elected: The newly reorganized Greater Ouachita Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana has held elections, and the following officers were elected: president, Jerry Whittle; first vice president, Gary Kammerer; second vice president, Don Russ; treasurer, Kristen Sims; secretary, Paula Williams; and board members, Laronica Coleman and Afia Kammerer. Elected: During its meeting on January 19, 2013, the Greater Seattle Chapter of the NFB of Washington conducted elections with the following results: president, Marci Carpenter; first vice president, Mike Mello; second vice president, Noel Nightingale; secretary, Mary Helen Scheiber; treasurer, Cindy Bennett; and board members, James Janney and Jacob Struiksma. Congratulations to the new officers and board of directors, and a hearty thanks to the outgoing officers and board members for a job well done. Elected: On October 21, 2012, the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan elected its current board of directors: president, Larry Posont; first vice president, Mike Powell; second vice president, Joe Sontag; secretary, Terri Wilcox; treasurer, Mark Eagle; and board member, Mary Wurtzel. The Ann Arbor Chapter also had elections and called upon the following members to serve and lead: president, Terri Wilcox; vice president, Nick Wilcox; secretary, Gloria Kolb; and treasurer, Larry Keeler. Deaf-Blind Division Officer Candidates Needed: The Deaf-Blind Division will be holding elections of all officers in Orlando, Florida, in 2013. If anyone is interested in running for president, first vice president, second vice president, treasurer, secretary, or the two board positions, contact either Scott Davert or Cathy Miller of the nominating committee at or . The Division will be selling 50/50 raffle tickets for $2.00 a ticket and the Braille alphabet T-shirts at the Orlando Convention in 2013. NFB Travel and Tourism Division 2013 Las Vegas and National Parks Tour: We are offering a great rate on a fabulous tour package for Las Vegas and nearby national parks. The tour runs October 9 to 13, and the package covers the tour bus, tour guide, hotels, all meals, entrance fees to the parks, and taxes. Not covered in the package are expenses to and from Las Vegas and the tip for the tour guide at the end of the trip. If you are totally blind and worried that the tour will be too visual to be worth it, dont be! We are working with both the owner and the manager of Scenic Tours to make sure that this doesnt happen. We want everyone to enjoy the trip and will ensure it stimulates all of your senses. You must pay 20 percent of the cost of the trip at booking. Payment plans are available. The amount of the full deposit is due by 8/1/13, and the final payment is due by 9/1/13. Rates per person are as follows: single occupancy, $860, $172 due at booking; double occupancy, $721, $145 due at booking; triple occupancy, $625, $120 due at booking. Itinerary: Day 1: Las Vegas, NV: Fly into Las Vegas. You will be met at the airport and shuttled to your hotel downtown. You will have the evening to explore and catch some sleep before our big trip. Lodging will be at Ballys Resort. Day 2: After an early breakfast we will depart at 7:00 a.m. to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. We will cross over the new bridge in front of Hoover Dam and catch the famous Route 66 in Kingman, AZ. After a short break we will continue down Route 66 to Williams, AZ. >From there we will enter into the national park. We will make three stops along the rim and view this natural wonder of the world. We will also enjoy lunch inside the park before we move on. After leaving we will cross the Navajo Indian Reservation on our way to Page, AZ, where we will stay the night at the Quality Inn. Day 3: We will depart Page for Zion National Park. Once we arrive, we will enjoy lunch at the Zion Canyon Lodge. After lunch we will enjoy the Zion Canyon and the picturesque oasis within, as well as seeing the east bench of Zion. It is a unique area that offers a different view of the sandstone cliffs that make up this park. We will then depart and go to Bryce Canyon National Park. In Bryce Canyon we will visit Fairyland, Sunset, and Bryce Points. Afterward we will check into Rubys Inn for the evening. Day 4: After a delicious breakfast, we will depart Bryce Canyon and travel down one of the most beautiful highways in America, Highway 12. This road provides you with a view of the sandstone canyons and the wonders of mountain vistas. We will then travel to Capital Reef National Park. In the park we will visit some petroglyphs, the old school house, and the capitol dome. Once we have finished our tour of Capital Reef and a delicious boxed lunch, we will depart for our return journey to Las Vegas. We will travel through the Aquarius Plateau and then get back to the I-15 corridor. We will stop in St. George, UT, for a final dinner and a pleasant walk in town. After dinner we will travel to Las Vegas where we will spend the night. Day 5: Breakfast and returning to the airport. For more information and to book your trip, please contact Cheryl Echevarria, president of the NFB Travel and Tourism Division at (631) 456-5394 or email Writers Division Critique, Now an Ongoing Service: Have you just written a masterpiece? Would you like a seasoned writer to evaluate your material? The Writers Division of the National Federation of the Blind has established an ongoing editorial service to critique your writing. For $10 you will receive a written evaluation of your short story (max of 3,000 words), first chapter (or first twenty pages) of your novel, up to three poems (thirty-six lines max per poem), childrens story (max of 3,000 words), memoir (first twenty pages max), or nonfiction article (first twenty pages max). The critique will contain feedback on the format, mechanics, and overall quality of your work. Those interested should submit their work by email as an attachment in MS Word format and double spaced. Send it to Robert Leslie Newman, president, NFB Writers Division, . Material may be submitted at any time. Critiques will be emailed back within thirty days from when the reviewer receives the material; our pool of qualified editors is small, and sometimes a submission will need to wait for a short time until an editor is free. Make your $10 check out to NFB Writers Division, and send it to Robert Leslie Newman, 504 S. 57th St., Omaha, NE 68106; or use PayPal on the Writers Division website, . A Group in the Planning: My name is Alexander Scott Kaiser. I'm a young blind adult with cerebral palsy. I am forming a group for blind and visually impaired individuals who have cerebral palsy. This groups purpose is to provide support, mentoring, and legal advocacy. From problem-solving rehabilitation issues to civil rights challenges unique to those with both CP and visual impairment, this group will provide support from others who understand. Meetings will be held by conference call on the first Sunday of the month, starting April 7, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time. To access the conference, dial (567) 314-1708 and use access code 999999#. If you are interested in joining the group, contact me by postal mail at 3928 Northwest 89th Avenue, Coral Springs, Florida 33065; send me email at ; or call me at (954) 594-2710. 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. Help Needed with Software and Accessibility: I am interested in learning about scoping software. If anyone has learned either Eclipse or Case CATylist with JAWS and would be willing to answer some questions to help me, please email David Faucheux at . Asking for Magazines: I live in Macedonia and am asking readers to help me get several magazines regularly. I find Readers Digest, Ladies Home Journal, Newsweek and the New York Times particularly interesting and informative. I would appreciate your help. These magazines would also help my students to practice their Braille skills and would help them with English. If you can send them to me regularly in any format except four-track tape or large print, please email me at . Monster.com Now Accessible: Here is a press release distributed on January 31, 2013, reporting an important accessibility breakthrough: Monster.com First in Industry to Make Website Accessible for Blind Users Effort a Result of Agreement between Monster Worldwide, the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office, and National Federation of the Blind; First Job Search Website to Be Fully Accessible The popular job search website Monster.com will be the first job search and recruitment website in the industry to provide blind job seekers with full and equal access to all of its products and services, including mobile applications, Attorney General Martha Coakley, Monster Worldwide, Inc., and the National Federation of the Blind announced today. The announcement is the result of an agreement with the AGs Office and the NFB and provides meaningful benefit to blind or visually impaired people nationwide, including more than 35,000 residents in Massachusetts. As part of the agreement Monster will contribute $50,000 to the Commonwealth that will be used to fund the Massachusetts Commission for the Blinds job internship program. Monster will also make a $50,000 contribution to the NFB and serve as the title sponsor of the NFBs annual convention in 2013. Unemployment and underemployment in the blind community are significant problems, and, given the extent to which computers and the Internet have become integral to our daily lives, it is essential that websites be accessible to everyone, AG Coakley said. We are pleased to have worked with the NFB and Monster to make the companys valuable products and services accessible and to provide better employment opportunities to job seekers who are blind, are visually impaired, or have other print disabilities such as dyslexia. We are hopeful that with the ability to access written information in an audible text-to-speech format, these users will now have access to jobs, and better jobs, than ever before. We want technology to improve peoples lives, not create obstacles or barriers. Over the past year a team at Monster has been working closely with teams from the National Federation of the Blind and the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office to enhance our Monster.com website in a way that will provide more opportunities for blind job seekers to find jobs, said Mark Conway, chief information officer, Monster Worldwide. Although portions of our site were already accessible, we all agreed we could do more. Based on the work of these teams, the Monster.com site will be enhanced to make its website and mobile applications accessible to blind job seekers. This has been an enormous undertaking and is an exciting accomplishment for which we can all be proud. The National Federation of the Blind works for full and equal access by blind Americans to all forms of digital information, said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. Access to digital information and applications is critical to success in the twenty-first century in all areas of life, including searching and applying for career opportunities. We are therefore pleased that Monster is making this commitment to full and equal access to its website and mobile applications. We also thank the attorney general of Massachusetts for being such a strong partner and advocate for accessibility. We are excited to partner with Monster and the National Federation of the Blind to provide access to job opportunities available to individuals who are blind, said Commissioner Janet LaBreck of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. The MCB internship program gives individuals the opportunity to access early work experience. Using accessible technology available on Monsters website to conduct a job search ensures that individuals who are blind can independently and successfully perform the same tasks as other job-seeking candidates. To make its website and mobile applications accessible to blind job seekers, Monster is making them compatible with innovative technology called screen-access software that renders on-screen information into Braille or speech so that blind people can use keyboard commands to access the same information as sighted users. In accordance with the agreement Monster is in the process of making its desktop and mobile websites fully and equally accessible and will have its mobile applications accessible within two years. Monster has also ensured that the templates employers use to post job advertisements on its site will be fully and equally accessible within six months. Monster will also train its customer service representatives to assist blind users and will establish a standing committee to oversee implementation of the agreement and other issues related to accessibility in the future. In addition, Monster has agreed to work with the NFB to encourage higher education programs to incorporate accessible design and assistive technology in their core curricula. The agreement is the most recent result of collaboration between AG Coakleys Office and the NFB. Past collaborations have included making Apples iTunes services and Cardtronics ATMs fully and equally accessible to the blind. State and federal laws not only prohibit disparate treatment of individuals with disabilities in employment and housing, but also require that all businesses operating places of public accommodation provide people with disabilities with full and equal enjoyment of their goods, services, and facilities. Monster.com is the worldwide leader in connecting people to jobs and provides a full array of job-seeking, career-management, recruitment, and talent-management products and services in more than forty countries. This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Genevieve C. Nadeau and Paralegal Bethany Brown of Attorney General Coakleys Civil Rights Division and Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey, Chief of Attorney General Coakleys Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau. 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. For Sale: I have in mint condition an HP netbook with Microsoft Windows 7. The unit has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and has three USB connections, an SD card slot, and a connection for a VBA monitor. Software includes Window-Eyes 7.2, including the Window-Eyes instruction manual, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 10. The unit also includes a Logitek wireless headphone/microphone headset, an external USB powered HP CD/DVD reader, and a carrying case. This computer was used for about fifteen hours. The asking price of $1,200 includes insured shipping by UPS. For more information call Steve at (517) 347-7046. ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Sun Mar 31 22:53:21 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:53:21 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The braille Monitor, April 2013 Message-ID: <201304010553.r315rLu3010796@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 4 April 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Orlando Site of 2013 NFB Convention The 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Orlando, Florida, July 1-6, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234. The 2013 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $79; and triples and quads, $85. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $90-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before May 13, 2013. The other 50 percent is not refundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2013, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon. Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe; coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award- winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport. The schedule for the 2013 convention is: Monday, July 1 Seminar Day Tuesday, July 2 Registration Day Wednesday, July 3 Board Meeting and Division Day Thursday, July 4 Opening Session Friday, July 5 Business Session Saturday, July 6 Banquet Day and Adjournment NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 2013 National Convention Preregistration Form Please register online at or use this mail-in form. Print legibly, provide all requested information, and mail form and payment to: National Federation of the Blind Attn: Convention Registration 200 East Wells Street Baltimore, MD 21230 Please register only one person per registration form; however, one check or money order may cover multiple registrations. Check or money order (sorry, no credit cards) must be enclosed with registration(s). Registrant Name ______________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________ City ______________________ State _____________ Zip ___________ Phone ____________ Email ____________________________________ ___ I will pick up my registration packet at convention. or ___ The following person will pick up my registration packet: Pickup Name ______________________________________ Number of preregistrations x $25 = ____________ Number of pre-purchased banquet tickets x $50 = ____________ Total = ____________ PLEASE NOTE: 1. Preconvention registration and banquet sales are final (no refunds). 2. All preregistration mail-in forms must be postmarked by May 31. Vol. 56, No. 4 April 2013 Contents Illustration: Read Across America 2013 Technology, Law, and Culture by Marc Maurer An Ordinary Sort of Courage by Shawn Mayo The Courage to Fight for Chocolate Cake by Haben Girma Independence: To Have and to Hold by Christine Boone Blindness and the Value of Life by Gary Wunder Change Our Lives-Why I Go to National Convention by Chris Kuell My First Flying Pig Half Marathon by KathyMaria Badalamenti Meeting Life's Challenges by Emilie Gossiaux The Passing of Russell Kletzing by Marc Maurer Obituary of Russell Kletzing Russ Kletzing Honored by Newel Perry Award What Makes an NFB Affiliate? by Anna Kresmer NFB Camp Convention Adventures by Carla McQuillan Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris Recipes Monitor Miniatures [PHOTO CAPTION: Jesse Hartle reads with his two-year-old daughter, Kayla. You're never too young to appreciate Braille.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Adhithi Baskar soaks up the sun as she reads her Braille book.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Marcus Lewis investigates the metal Braille strip on the sign in a local Louisiana playground. The sign shows the alphabet and the words "I feel good" in both Braille and large-print letters.] Read Across America 2013 Each year an event called "Read Across America" is conducted near the time of Dr. Seuss's birthday. In 2013 it was held on March 2, and, as part of the nationwide event to highlight literacy, the National Federation of the Blind participated by highlighting Braille. For this event a special poem was written by the participants in the Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) program seminar: Dale, Gale, and Their Braille Tale by the NFB BELL Team I am Dale and I read Braille. I am Gale. What is Braille? Braille is dots, lots and lots. Each dot has its special spot. "Why read Braille?" inquires Gale. "I'd rather climb a mountain trail. Dale, these dots are hard to see. Large print is fine, so let me be." "I do not have vision, Gale. That is why I must read Braille." "Would you read Braille here or there?" "I could read Braille anywhere. O dear Gale, I love my Braille." "Would you read it in a house? Would you read it to a mouse?" "I do read it in my house. I do read it to my mouse. I do read Braille here and there. I do read Braille anywhere. O dear Gale, I love my Braille." "How about that silly print? Could you read it in a tent? Could you read it in the night? Could you read it without light?" "I could read Braille at the park! I could read Braille in the dark! I do read Braille here and there. I do read Braille anywhere. O dear Gale, I love my Braille!" "Would you read Braille in a box? Would you teach Braille to a fox?" "I could read Braille in a box. I couldn't teach Braille to a fox." "Why can't you teach it to a fox?" "He couldn't feel it through his socks. I could teach it to a girl. Hey, look at that, there goes a squirrel. We could read it in a tree. You could read Braille, don't you see? I do read Braille here and there. I do read Braille anywhere. O dear Gale, I love my Braille!" "My darling Dale, I think I see. Won't you teach that Braille to me! They tried to teach me in the school. But I told them it wasn't cool. But I was wrong and don't want to fail! I think it's time I learned my Braille! We do read Braille here and there! We do read Braille anywhere! Bumps and dots are cool to read. With this Braille we will succeed!" Technology, Law, and Culture by Marc Maurer From the Editor: On February 20, 2013, President Maurer addressed the First International Conference on Technology for Helping People with Special Needs (ICTHP-2013) at the Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His was the keynote address for the two-day conference, and here is what he said: An important element of American life is literacy, the ability to read. The foundation document for the legal system in the United States is the Constitution. This document contains provisions that guarantee to people in the United States many rights, but the right to read is not among them. The right to have and to maintain property is covered in several places, and rights to life and liberty are enumerated more than once. The Constitution does contain a reference to copyright, the protection of written material against unauthorized taking. However, the people of the United States are not guaranteed the right to be able to read the documents that are of such value that they are offered copyright protection in the most basic document created to govern our country. At the time of the founding of the United States, part of the population was enslaved. In many places teaching slaves to read was prohibited. If slaves learned to read, they could communicate with each other over long distances and over long time periods. They could learn of the promise contained in the Constitution that persons in the United States had rights. They could plan effective campaigns to change the circumstances in which they lived. Reading was considered a means to power, and the thought process of those who controlled slaves was that they should be kept powerless. The United States Constitution has now been amended to prohibit slavery, and at least one provision of the Constitution has been employed to declare that equality in educational opportunity for people with different identifiable characteristics is required. However, the implications inherent in slavery have not been completely eliminated. Assigning people to different classifications in the legal structure of American law with only the most minimal demonstration that the classifications are relevant to the restrictions or privileges associated with them is still permitted. For example, in 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act became law in the United States. This act declared that all workers were entitled to receive no less than the statutory minimum wage. However, a provision of this law exempted individuals with disabilities. Furthermore, in 1927 and in 2001 the Supreme Court of the United States declared that provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution do not apply to disabled individuals even though the plain language of the amendment declares that the rights enumerated are for all persons. In other words, disabled individuals are not persons for purposes of interpreting the Constitution and laws of the United States in quite the same way that nondisabled persons are. The notion that arbitrary classification can be tolerated-the pernicious assertion that some classes of individuals are somehow superior and some are inferior that came from the practice of slavery-remains an element of American law today. In addition, the right to read is not protected in American law. In the past in my country education was often provided to boys but not to girls. Men could vote, but women could not. Because men were often expected to participate in politics and business, they needed the power and the skill that came with literacy, but women (it was thought) did not. It seems ironic to me that a woman, Jeannette Rankin, was elected to Congress from the western state of Montana prior to passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees women the right to vote. Among the most important resources of a country are its people. Some cultures encourage productivity by individuals from groups identified by widely-varying characteristics while others do not. When slavery was being encouraged in the United States, most enslaved individuals were prevented from developing their intellectual capacity. Furthermore, when slavery came to an end, this group of people who had been prevented from getting an education could not easily exercise the rights and privileges of freedom. Not only did the denial of an education diminish the intellectual capacity of an entire class of people, it also crippled economic development for the United States. It created a system of thought damaging to the society. If a misguided effort had been undertaken to provide an education to slaves, it was thought, they would not be able to benefit from it because their intellect was inferior to that of others. Furthermore, denying them an education was a positive benefit to them because they would be pathetically out of place in educational institutions. Sometimes this attitude of mind is plainly evident in conversations involving education for the blind. The first organized efforts at education for the blind in the United States occurred in 1829 with the establishment of an institution now known as Perkins. However, a federal law declaring that all disabled people (including the blind) are entitled to an education was not adopted until 1975. Although some educational experiences for blind people in the United States have been good, many others have not. At the moment fewer than 50 percent of blind students in high school graduate, and approximately 10 percent of blind students in school are being taught to read Braille. Why are the numbers so low? If teachers and administrators in a school system think that the students they are teaching are likely to make a significant difference in the world, the students will get enormous attention and substantial resources. If, on the other hand, the teachers and administrators think their students are likely to fail, the educational experience will be approached in a most undemanding and unproductive way. Unfortunately, many administrators and teachers expect almost nothing from their blind students. Sometimes they get exactly what they expect. In 1940 the National Federation of the Blind was created by a blind professor, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, and a handful of others. Prior to the establishment of this organization, such programs for the blind as existed were directed largely by sighted people. When the National Federation of the Blind came into being, an increasing number of blind people themselves began to take action to alter the patterns of participation and acceptance for the blind that existed. In the early 1970s computer technology was becoming familiar on college campuses. The computer had been known in earlier decades, but the technology was complex and expensive. Nevertheless, computer classes were being taught at most universities by the time I entered college in the early '70s. The method of approach to these machines was to type commands on punch cards. When the stack of cards had been created, they were run through a card reader that read the computer commands. The output was created on a piece of paper that came from a printer-sometimes a large sheet but sometimes a paper tape. Blind students who were part of the National Federation of the Blind and who were attending one of the universities wondered if the computer could be directed to create results in Braille. A paper tape printer was modified by placing a piece of elastic under the paper tape. The computer was programmed to create dots on the paper by making the period strike heavily upon the paper tape. By controlling the pattern of dots, the result could be displayed on paper tape in Braille. It is common today to imagine that computer programs must display information on a computer screen. However, the screen came after the computer. The results of a calculation for a computer application may be displayed in print on a screen, or they may be displayed in tactile form using a refreshable Braille display or a Braille printer. They may also be produced in audible form. In the mid-1970s the National Federation of the Blind supported an effort by Ray Kurzweil to build a reading machine that would make print material hearable. The project came to fruition in 1975 with the development of the first optical character recognition system that would read most fonts and produce speech in a computer voice. The device to do this was about the size of a washing machine. Today the reading machine is a program that will operate on a cell phone. Ray Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind created a company to produce and distribute the knfbReader Mobile, which has been developed for a number of Nokia phones, the Android operating system, and (soon) the iOS platform. At the very beginning of the 1980s, the first screen readers were being developed-computer programs that could read aloud information from some specialized applications on the computer. The National Federation of the Blind built a piece of hardware, the Speaqualizer, that captured digital information from the computer bus and made it audible. The Speaqualizer was not limited to any specific application. It could make most computer information accessible to the blind. The personal computer began to appear in offices, and screen reading software to make the digital information in such products hearable was developed. In the early 1980s a member of the National Federation of the Blind from Kentucky, Tim Cranmer, invented a device called the Pocket Braille. This was a tiny digital machine that could accept and reproduce information from a set of Braille keys. The prototype had a space bar and six keys, one for each dot in the Braille cell. Deane Blazie, an engineering friend of Tim Cranmer's, examined the device and decided that he could build a portable data assistant for the blind with this design. His first product was the Braille 'n Speak. With its invention, Deane Blazie created the notetaker industry for the blind. In 1988 George Kerscher, a blind person living in the western part of the United States, had trouble getting all of the information he wanted in classes at the university. He noticed that books were being produced by first having them drafted using computers, but he could not read the material in the computer formats then being used. To address this problem, he developed digital books. A digital book is writing contained in a file that can be presented auditorily or with Braille-either on paper or in refreshable form-and that can be navigated with accessible commands so that the blind person using the book can find headings; read by sentence, paragraph, word, or letter; identify and read footnotes; and annotate the text. A refreshable Braille display is a device with moving pins that represent Braille. In the 1990s the National Federation of the Blind created NFB- NEWSLINE?. This service currently provides three hundred newspapers in digital form each morning to blind people by telephone, by computer, or by portable device such as the iPhone. NFB-NEWSLINE? also makes available dozens of magazines and a substantial amount of other content-job listings, a guide to television programming, and other material. The Americans with Disabilities Act became law in my country in 1990. This law declares that disabled people in the United States must be accepted on terms of equality in government programs, public accommodations, and employment. However, it does not require manufacturers of products to build them with accessible controls or programs. One of the results of the adoption of this law is that bank machines must be accessible to the disabled because they fit the definition of a public accommodation. Although the legal structure creates a peculiar result, the banks that deploy bank machines must install accessible ones. However, the manufacturers of the devices are not required to build them. A public accommodation (in this case I mean a bank machine) must be accessible to the user. But a product manufactured for sale to a bank (in this case I mean a bank machine) is not required to be accessible. If a bank machine is a product, it need not be accessible. If it is a means to provide a service to the public, it must be. Despite the legal provision requiring bank machines to be accessible to the blind, such machines were not being used by the banks. When we asked banking officials to use accessible bank machines, they told us that they would do so, but bank machine manufacturers did not sell them. When we asked the bank machine manufacturers why they didn't build accessible machines, they said that they would do so but no banks ordered them. A dozen years ago we discovered that, in a limited number of places, manufacturers were deploying their own bank machines. We demanded that these be usable by the blind, and the shift in building accessible bank machines began. Today I am told that all manufacturers build accessible machines. Not all banks deploy these machines with accessibility enabled as the law requires, but all machines manufactured in the United States can be deployed in this way. In 2002 Congress adopted the Help America Vote Act, which requires accessible voting machines that can be used nonvisually. This law applies only to federal elections, but in each voting district at least one voting machine must be usable without requiring sight. During the first decade of this century, books and other teaching material began to move rapidly to digital form. The Apple company built computers, but they also made portable devices that play music and other recorded matter. iTunes was the music distribution system created by Apple. When iTunes U began to be used to distribute course material for college, the National Federation of the Blind sounded the alarm. If inaccessible technology could be used in college, blind students would no longer have the ability to get an education. The first digital books had been created by blind people, but the Apple company was presenting digital information in an inaccessible way. The digital content is created in computer machine language that can be represented visually, audibly, or tactually. Although the computer machine language is, at its most fundamental level, made up of ones and zeros, the interpretive programming employed to present the digital information that was added to the computer machine language made the presentation available only in visual form. In my capacity as president of the National Federation of the Blind, I wrote to the presidents of 285 universities to tell them that their use of this inaccessible technology on college campuses violated the nondiscrimination provisions of the law. When the level of complaint became sufficiently great, we entered into an agreement with Apple to make iTunes and iTunes U accessible to the blind. We also indicated that we wanted accessibility to Apple products. Within a short time an accessible iPhone was produced. The method for achieving accessibility was to create gestures that could be used on flat screens. With the appropriate gesture and with a speech program included in the flat-screen device as part of the manufacturing process, the information contained in the product can be spoken aloud or presented in Braille on a refreshable Braille display. Appropriate gestures may include a one-finger, two-finger, or three-finger tap, upward or downward swipe by one or more fingers, and similar movements. The cell phone, which was once used only to make telephone calls, became the device to provide access to the Internet, access to banks, access to libraries that had been digitized, and access to the credit and investment markets of the world. You could also read books with it or study course lectures. Hundreds of thousands of applications have been built for the iPhone, and many of them are accessible to the blind. Although standards have been created to assure accessibility, no system for enforcing these standards has been created. Some estimates say that only half of the iPhone apps are accessible to the blind. I have been informed that the method of providing equal access to the content of Apple's products is being challenged in Europe. A competitor to Apple is claiming that the access system used by the Apple company violates a patent. Having accessibility built into devices that can be implemented out of the box is highly desirable. Consequently, it is important to protect this level of accessibility. Google has created an operating system which has not been accessible until recently, and the level of accessibility is not yet adequate. However, Google is telling us that it is working to "bake in" accessibility to its operating system and to its other products. A number of book producers have recently decided to make their books digital. When Amazon created the Kindle, we pointed out that the device would be much enhanced if it included text-to-speech technology. Reading could be accomplished auditorily as well as visually. Amazon accepted this suggestion, but, when the text-to-speech program became a part of the Kindle, the blind could not use it. Amazon had neglected to make the controls for the text-to-speech program accessible to the blind. On the other hand, the digital book reader produced by the K-NFB Reading Technology Company, the Blio, is accessible. Blio is a multi- platform digital book reader that operates on desktops, laptops, handheld Android devices, and products using the iOS program. Blio works with a library digital access program called Axis 360. More than 750 thousand books are currently available through the book store associated with Blio, and the information presented through Blio can be heard or read through touch using a refreshable Braille display. The iBooks offered by Apple are also hearable using VoiceOver, the screen-reading program included in the Apple products. Apple offers support for refreshable Braille as well. In 2008 the Higher Education Opportunity Act became law, which incorporated amendments requiring the Department of Education of the United States to establish a commission for the purpose of determining how accessible instructional materials could be produced for students in college. The National Federation of the Blind had sponsored these amendments, and one of our members, Mark Riccobono, served on the commission. The report of the commission was issued in 2011. Unsurprisingly, it found that accessible higher education materials were not readily available to blind students and professors. It found that such materials could be produced with modern technology, and it recommended that Congress consider legislation to ensure that blind students had access to course materials, books, course management software, journal articles, and other matter used for classes in college. A draft proposal for legislation to authorize a government entity in the United States to create enforceable standards for instructional materials in college is now being circulated in Congress by the National Federation of the Blind. The Association of American Publishers has worked with us to create such draft legislation. In 2002 the Google company embarked upon the Google Books Project. Libraries at major universities throughout the United States and in some other nations offered Google copies of their printed books for digitization. In return for the loan of these books, Google offered to return them to the libraries along with scanned copies of the books. Of course, Google would keep a scanned copy. Google's stated purpose was to permit scanned copies of the books to be used in Google searches. Google would not sell the books or give them away. Instead, it would let individuals seek snippets of information contained in the books, and it would inform those individuals where the books could be found. The National Federation of the Blind sought urgently to be a part of this project. Our stated objective was to gain access for the blind to the content of all the books. Digitized books can readily be presented in print, in audible form, or in a tactile representation. When much of the Google content had been created, the Authors Guild sued Google. It said that it wanted the content of the scanned material destroyed or permanently restricted from use because creating a digital version of a printed document violated copyright. Eventually an agreement between the Authors Guild and Google was reached. Google would be authorized to sell the books. It would pay the Authors Guild 69 percent of the funds received for sales. Google would have two years to make the digital material accessible to the blind and print disabled. Before the agreement became final, the United States Justice Department became a part of the lawsuit because it said that Google might be creating a monopoly. If Google created a monopoly, this action might violate the antitrust laws of the United States. The agreement was modified to satisfy the Justice Department's concerns about the antitrust laws. However, when the agreement was presented to the court for approval, the judge rejected it. The reason for the rejection is that some books in the digital collection have been written by individuals who cannot now be found. These are known as "orphaned books." Because there is no recognized owner of the orphaned books, there is no recognized person to receive the 69 percent of the revenue that would be collected and distributed by the Authors Guild. Consequently, a violation of copyright has occurred because somebody is being enriched without paying the author. In the meantime a number of the libraries with scanned material from the Google Book Project created an entity called the HathiTrust. This entity planned, on behalf of the university libraries, to manage the scanned material. The Authors Guild once again sued the HathiTrust over copyright. The National Federation of the Blind intervened in the lawsuit. We argued that, if the books have been digitized, these materials can be presented accessibly to blind students and professors at the universities where they are located. Either the fair use doctrine incorporated in copyright law or the special exception to copyright provided by the Chaffee Amendment authorizes the HathiTrust to make digitized materials available to blind students and professors. The Chaffee Amendment, adopted in 1996, declares that government or nonprofit organizations may make books available to blind individuals in formats other than print without seeking copyright permission. If the HathiTrust wished to do so, it could provide digitized materials to blind individuals throughout the United States, not just to blind students in college or blind faculty members. The decision of the court, which was issued in October 2012, declares that these books can be distributed to blind people under the provisions of copyright law. How the distribution is to take place is not yet determined, but recognition that it can be done has now been established. Another manufacturer of book reading technology is Barnes & Noble, which created the Nook, a small hand-held device that presents book text visually. When Barnes & Noble attempted to cause libraries and school systems to use the Nook for reading books, once again the National Federation of the Blind took action. The Nook was created without a program to provide the visual information in any other way. Books could not be heard or read by touch. Consequently, blind people who wanted to get books from libraries or read them in school would be prevented from having equal access to the same information available to the sighted, even though having equal access is readily achievable. Barnes & Noble has been trying to capture the campus bookstore market. Its products are mostly not accessible, its website cannot easily be used by the blind, and the books it sells are almost entirely unusable by blind people although small changes in recent months indicate that Barnes & Noble may be making some changes to provide increased accessibility. This inaccessibility is particularly worrisome because the stated objectives of many chief executives for schools, colleges, libraries, and political jurisdictions in many parts of the United States have indicated that they are going 100 percent digital. An entity created decades ago called the DAISY Consortium (DAISY stands for Digital Accessible Information System) has worked closely with the National Federation of the Blind and the International Digital Publishing Forum, along with publishers, to create an automated accessible digital publishing standard. This standard, denominated EPUB 3, has been drafted, and the automated computer programs to implement it are being written. This standard will result in the publication of digital materials that are designed from the beginning to be accessible to the blind. The National Federation of the Blind, which has strongly supported this standard, has encouraged publishers to participate in the process. The final product will be good for the blind and beneficial to the publishers because they will not be required to create one product for the sighted and another for the blind and print-disabled. Of course, no digital publishing system has adequately addressed all aspects of printed representation. Graphs, charts, and pictures must be alt- tagged with descriptive comments. Some of these visual elements-fancy borders, some pictures, and striking or unusual formats-are included in printed material to make it look prettier. However, some of the printed material presents the primary message of the topic being displayed. Although economics books could be written only with words, the custom has been adopted to present information in graph form. The graphs provide information that the words do not. Consequently, it is important to develop a method for presenting this information in standard nonvisual form. Just as a visual image can be displayed with accepted normative elements to demonstrate perspective, a standardized method of describing an image must be developed. In addition, it is highly desirable to seek a method for creating tactile forms of visual images that incorporate the fundamental knowledge contained. With current memory storage available, creating a dictionary of images identified for nonvisual presentation is practical. However, many new images will be drawn. Consequently, inventing a method for presentation of them that does not rely on previous description is also needed. Plato wrote in the Republic thousands of years ago that forms exist in the mental comprehension of human beings. He asserted that all reality is recognized by human beings because it approaches the mental image of these forms. Whether Plato's comprehension is universal or not, visual representations have repetition in them. A program to recognize the repetition and present the information is urgently required for the implementation of nonvisual access. In 2010 the National Federation of the Blind announced that it was in the process of working with engineers to build an automobile that could be operated nonvisually. We speculated that we would be able to demonstrate this automobile publicly in 2011. At the end of January 2011, one of our members, Mark Riccobono, who is a blind man, drove the blind-drivable car on the racetrack at the Daytona International Speedway. In doing so, he demonstrated the ability to avoid both static and dynamic obstacles and to operate alongside other moving vehicles safely and independently. The speed achieved during this demonstration was modest, twenty-seven miles an hour. Further development of this type of technology is required, but the first demonstration has been made. As driverless vehicles are developed, it is of importance that the tools to manage these machines be built in a form that is accessible to the blind. Google has built what has been called a driverless car. I have informed officials at Google that we who are blind want to drive it independently. In this technical age we the blind are in a race. Technology can be built so that we can use it effectively and independently. However, it can also be built in a manner that will prevent us from understanding it or using it. If the people who build and deploy such technology understand that nonvisual access will help them to sell more products and to engage more people in productive endeavors, then we will be able to use our abilities to enhance the societies in which we live. We will also gain independence. Cultural expectations drive the development of technology. If the culture of a society expects groups of the people within it, such as the blind, to be passive and unproductive, the technology produced in that culture will be made so that blind people cannot use it or cannot use it well. However, if participation, independence, and productivity are demanded, both programs and technology will be built so that all can get at them and use them. The customary name for the plan to build for all is known as "universal design." In the National Federation of the Blind of the United States, we expect blind people to be productive, capable, self-sufficient. Consequently, we insist upon a technology that will permit productivity and independence. Technology begins with a thought. That thought is, "How can I use the value of the capability that is inherent in the people for whom this technology is built?" Ray Kurzweil, the futurist and inventor who built the first reading machine for the blind, said that the first thing to do when inventing a technology is to write the advertising brochure. This document will tell you what the device is supposed to do and who the members of the audience are who will pay money to get it. If the inventor believes that the customers are capable of complex thought and behavior, the device will contain characteristics that take advantage of complexity. But it all depends on believing in the people who will pay for the device. The second thing to do when inventing a new product is to employ people to help get it built who will want to use it. When it was time to build the reading machine, we said to Ray Kurzweil that we would assist with financial resources as long as he employed blind engineers to help build the machine. He told us later that this was one of the most valuable pieces of advice he had been given. When he later wanted to build a digital piano, he insisted that the engineers who worked on the project be musicians. Both the reading machine and the digital piano show the advantages of this procedure. In contemplating the work we have done with Ray Kurzweil, it is well to remember that our efforts have changed technology not just for the blind but for everybody. The optical character recognition system built into the reading machine evolved into the scanning technology that has changed communications systems all over the world. The reading machine took a visual image and altered it so that you could hear it. Reversing this effort, Ray Kurzweil created a dictation machine that would make voice into print. First deployed in hospitals to assist medical staff in keeping records, elements of this system are now part of the Dragon Dictate software that can be purchased in marketplaces all over the world. This is only one example of the change that we caused to occur, bringing greater opportunity first to the blind and then to an entire population. We believe that blind people can handle all of the complexity that has been produced for anybody else. However, the manner of handling the complexity must be managed in ways different from those employed by the sighted. Alternative techniques used by the blind to get to the same place that sighted people reach with visual techniques are not inferior to those used by the sighted, but they are different. We also believe that the intellectual ability of blind people is equivalent to that of the sighted, and we insist that the endeavors that take advantage of intellectual ability be open and available to us. We believe that the physical capacity of blind people is as great as that possessed by the sighted, except for the ability to see. And we believe that the ability to see is not required to manage the tasks that must be accomplished to take advantage of all this ability. For these reasons we have become a participant in the development of the technologies that are used in our country, and to some extent in many other parts of the world, to bring greater opportunity to the blind. I am also pleased to note that, when we expand opportunity for the blind, we also expand it for the sighted, and we enhance the society in which we live. Blind people matter, and we are on the move. We are looking for partners to build a better culture, and we have a great deal to offer to those who accept our partnership. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Shawn Mayo at her desk in the library of Pillsbury Mansion.] An Ordinary Sort of Courage by Shawn Mayo From the Editor: The following article is the winner of the NFB of Minnesota's 2012 Metro Chapter essay contest. It was published in the Winter 2013 issue of the Minnesota Bulletin. Shawn Mayo is the executive director of the NFB of Minnesota's adult rehabilitation center. This is what she says: I was in an airport recently, buying a breakfast sandwich to take to my gate, when a woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "What is your name?" I immediately started worrying that I was supposed to remember her from somewhere and slowly replied, "Shawn." But, before I could ask her anything in reply, she said, "Shawn, your courage has inspired me today." Now I was really speechless. It is not as if I have never been told how amazing I am because I am blind and yet manage simple daily tasks, but to me courage has always been such a large and abstract term, suitable for battlefields and burning buildings, that I really couldn't find anything resembling courage in obtaining a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant. I felt as if I was in one of those Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials-as if an announcer should be saying: "And here's to you, blind airport traveler," and I had to fight back a laugh. The woman and I were witnessing the same simple scene--Blind Woman Gets Breakfast, but analyzing it in two totally different ways. To me, even though it was a delicious sandwich, it was the most ordinary thing in the world to stand in line, ask what they have, make a selection, pay for it, and walk away. I do it fifty times a year. Most of the blind people I know do the same. But I may have been the first blind person she ever saw do it. To her this was highly unusual. Maybe she has never met a blind person, maybe she has met only blind people who didn't travel alone. Regardless, we were starting with different preconceptions and therefore getting totally different interpretations. But, when I got home, I looked up the word "courage." Here is Merriam- Webster's definition: "mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty," and I started to understand that her word choice might not have been as overly dramatic as I had thought. Nowadays, more than fifteen years after my adjustment to blindness training at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), Inc., my personal store of courage is tapped for other parts of my life. But back then it did take courage to get on a plane by myself, get up from my seat in the gate area to go find food, and explain to the TSA screener that I am in fact a big girl who goes places all by herself. It then occurred to me that courage is exactly what it takes to put blindness in its proper place. I then looked up the word "encourage," and realized that this is the definition of what we do at BLIND, Inc. It's a shame that "courage" is a noun; it really ought to have a verb form. But, since it doesn't, I am going to make one up to describe what our students do. They courage up. It's not unlike the phrase "cowboy up" or "cowgirl up." It is also not unlike "leveling up" used in role-play gaming. Let me now go back to the definition of "courage" to show how it plays out. In this definition of "courage" it entails three kinds of strength-to venture, to persevere, and to withstand danger or difficulty. I'm not a fan of the word "withstand" here. I think a better word would be "take on"-it's more active. So let's start with this: "to take on danger and difficulty." Going out into the world as a blind person isn't inherently dangerous. But a number of the things we do often appear superficially dangerous, which can generate fear that can cause difficulty in its own right. In addition there are practical difficulties such as how to read, how to get around, how to use a computer, how to take care of your home, and how to do a job. Folks take these on in each of their classes. Gradually they reduce each of these things from a difficulty to an ordinary part of life. The next part of this definition is "to persevere." Reducing each of these difficulties to the ordinary doesn't happen overnight. It also doesn't happen as quickly as anyone wants. It would be wonderful if we could download all of the blindness skills we teach directly into our students' heads just the way Keanu Reeves learned Kung-Fu in the movie The Matrix, but that's not possible. We have been working hard to develop methods of teaching Braille faster and more efficiently, but it still takes time and hard work. Our cane travel instructors show students solid strategies for dealing with various situations, but mastery is measured in miles, not feet. Some things come more easily than others, and some things will be more enjoyable than others, but often, when students reach the end of their training, they admit that the most enjoyable accomplishments are those that took the most effort. I think it was Woody Allen who said, "Ninety percent of success is showing up." I would take this a little further to say that it's showing up when you don't feel like it, when you are exhausted or frustrated, or when it's snowing. It's putting the miles on your cane and beneath your fingers when you would really rather be watching TV or eating ice cream. The last element is "to venture; to take a risk." The biggest risk our students take is the loss of their comfort zones and the likelihood that they will be different people in some ways when they finish. At student graduations people often comment: "When you first started, you were so quiet, but now you are outgoing." Or "You used never to want to go out, and now you're going all over the city." Usually, when people come to training, it's because they find that they are in a box that had become too small. They have been limiting their life and activities. And, while they know the box is too confining, it is often a cozy place. It's comfortable, and there's actually plenty of room for excuses and justifications, just not much room for anything else. So, when people start working their way out of their boxes, they find new interests and passions. They make new friends. They become more assertive and sometimes more outgoing and social. They change their lives and some really noticeable parts of their personalities. Their core personality remains the same, but they act differently. This is a big change. It's a change for them and for their families and friends. It's a positive change and ultimately a good thing. But everyone has to come to terms with the fact that this blind person doesn't need the kind of help that she used to: she doesn't need to take an arm to get through the parking lot. This changes the dynamic of relationships. It is also a risk to your pride to admit that maybe you aren't as competent, efficient, or great as you thought you were and that you could do better. One of our instructors says that she entered training thinking she would finish in three months and run circles around everyone else, only to be left behind her first night. She found herself standing at an intersection like a lost puppy because she couldn't keep up with the other students. Of course they came back and got her, and, when they did, she could walk faster since she was carrying a lot less ego. But that was tough to take. It took courage. So the best way I can describe what we do as instructors and staff at BLIND, Inc., is to say that we encourage. "Encourage" can be seen as an intransitive verb. Not to get too grammatical here, but this means that we aren't the ones doing the action. The students are couraging up. We are just giving them the time, space, tools, and support to do it. They do the work. Our work is merely to support their work and make ourselves gradually less necessary. When our students accomplish a significant task or reach a milestone, they ring the freedom bell, and everyone comes, asks them what they did, and congratulates them. The instructor hands the student the bell, shakes hands, and walks away, leaving the student to explain why he or she rang the bell and to receive the encouragement. Instructors may ring the bell if they earn a new certification, win an award, or something like that, but the students' successes and failures are their own. They are the ones taking all the risk, and they therefore deserve all the reward. Our reward comes from knowing we've done our job well when they don't need us anymore. This enables us to push people to break out of their comfort zones, to go farther and do better than they think they are capable of, and to reach their real potential. Nothing is more awesome to us than when a student flies right over what we thought was a high bar, then grabs the bar and sets it higher-turning in eight pages of slate work when they were required to do only three; walking home under sleepshades without being assigned to do so; decorating the lunchroom in the theme of their large meal. This is couraging up, and witnessing it is the best part of my job as executive director of BLIND, Inc. So I wish I had had the time and presence of mind to explain this to the woman in the airport. I would like her to know that she was right. It did take courage to get from where I was to where I am now, but it isn't any sort of extraordinary courage. Many people have it, and, if we keep encouraging, more and more people will find it, and it will become more and more ordinary. This is what we are about in the Federation. This is what we are about at BLIND, Inc.-encouraging, striving, and expecting more from others and ourselves. We take on difficulties; we persevere; and we venture. This is how we change what it means to be blind. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas posed with Haben Girma] The Courage to Fight for Chocolate Cake by Haben Girma From the Editor: Haben Girma is currently a law student at Harvard and has just been recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change. She was recently singled out by Justice Clarence Thomas, but let me not interrupt her story. Here is what she said at the mid-winter meeting of the National Association of Blind Students in Washington, DC: Last week Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas paid a visit to Harvard Law School. During a public talk he gave before the whole school, Dean Martha Minow asked him to name his heroes. He named his grandparents and one of his law clerks, and then he said, "I saw a young woman this morning. What's her name?" Dean Minow immediately understood. "Haben." Justice Thomas continued, "Haben. I admire her. I admire that kind of courage." Justice Thomas was among the first African Americans to go to Yale Law School, and I am the first deafblind student to attend Harvard Law School. I would not go so far as to compare the challenges I faced to those Justice Thomas encountered growing up with Jim Crow laws in Georgia. When he graduated from Yale, he struggled to find a law firm that would hire a black man. By contrast, I have not finished my last year of law school yet, but I already have a job lined up, despite being a woman, black, and deafblind. While I was fortunate not to have grown up battling blatant and fiery racism, I do agree that it requires courage to become an attorney with disabilities. I have a little vision and a little hearing, but, to avoid perpetuating hierarchies of sight or hearing, I describe myself as deafblind. When I thought about possible careers during my high school years, the prospect of going to law school seemed incredibly difficult, stressful, and downright crazy. I knew there were blind lawyers, but I had never heard of a deafblind lawyer. In order to become an attorney, I would have to pioneer my way through a thousand big and small obstacles. In the many times I have needed to advocate for myself to get to where I am now, I have relied on courage. As we advocate for blind Americans on the Hill tomorrow, we'll need courage. Being a disability rights advocate starts with self-advocacy. There are two very important components to self-advocacy: the first is being able to educate people about the legal rights of people with disabilities; the second requires creative problem-solving skills to find alternative techniques for accomplishing tasks. I'll use stories from my own life to illustrate each point. After graduating from high school in Oakland, California, I attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. My college experience was good overall, except for some initial challenges with the cafeteria. The college cafeteria had several food stations that served different items each day, and the printed menu hung on the wall by the entrance. I tried asking people to read the menu to me, but, with the noise level in the cafeteria, hearing people read the menu proved nearly impossible. At first I quietly approached a food station, accepted a plate from the staff behind the counter, and then discovered what they were serving only when I sat down to eat. As a student with a busy schedule, I felt frustrated that I did not have access to the cafeteria menus. I then asked the cafeteria's manager to email me a copy of the menu before each meal. Since the cafeteria always had its menus in electronic format, emailing them to me involved only copying and pasting this information. The manager agreed to email me the menu since it was simple and easy enough. I still remember the excitement of getting those first few emails. Instead of picking a station at random and taking whatever the staff behind the counter put on my plate, I could finally actually choose what I wanted to eat! If the menu said station three was serving fried rice and eggrolls, I could skip stations one and two and go straight to station three. And of course I was thrilled to have choices for dessert! Whenever the cafeteria emailed me the menu, life was delicious. But every other day the staff would forget. I stopped in their office one day to remind them politely that I needed those emails. They said they were very busy but would try to send the emails consistently. Unfortunately they continued to forget to send the menu nearly every other day. As a busy student with a full load of classes, I found eating well very important. I explained the situation to the heads of the Student Life Department and Student Support Services. They told me the cafeteria was operated by an outside company and was out of their control. So I wrote an email to the manager of the cafeteria explaining that since I paid to eat at the cafeteria like all the other students, I needed access to the menu so I could fully use the services I was paying for. The manager responded saying that the cafeteria was very busy, that they were doing me a big favor, and that I should stop complaining and be more appreciative. I don't know about you, but, if station four has chocolate cake and no one tells me, I'm definitely not feeling appreciative. Remembering a disability rights workshop I attended back in high school, I decided to invoke the power of the ADA. In my email response to the manager of the cafeteria, I cc'd several others in the management team to make sure they learned about the ADA. I explained that Title III of the Act requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities; if the cafeteria refused to do this, I would sue. To tell you the truth, I had no idea what I was saying. How exactly was I going to sue anyone? I couldn't afford a lawyer. I could file a complaint with the Department of Justice, but what if they thought my issue was trivial? What if a judge decided that emailing me a menu before each meal was not a reasonable accommodation? Part of me was nervous and worried, but another part of me was excited. I had a dream of joining the civil rights movement, a dream of pushing aside barriers for students with disabilities, a dream of eating my chocolate cake. While I was eating dinner the next day, the cafeteria manager came over to apologize and promise that I would receive menus for each meal in a timely manner. And you know what? He actually kept his promise. I couldn't believe how much he'd changed, how much my life had changed, all because of the phrase, "I'm gonna sue." The threat of a lawsuit seemed as powerful as actually filing a lawsuit. By invoking the ADA, I forced him to set aside his attitude toward blindness temporarily and instead consider whether my request was reasonable. He originally thought providing access for blind students was an act of charity, a favor he could do when he had a free moment and was in the right mood. Slowly the ADA is teaching people to change their attitude so that granting equal access to people with disabilities becomes the normative attitude. Threatening to sue is a very effective strategy for combatting discrimination, but it is really only a last resort. Lawsuits are complicated, long, and expensive. Countless times I have requested and received accommodations through friendly discussions. The college I attended provided nearly every accommodation I needed, and most of the staff was very welcoming. The second component to self-advocacy is creative problem-solving skills. Once you overcome discrimination, once people have changed their attitudes about disability, you will need a technique for getting the job done. Technology is constantly providing new tools with which blind people can accomplish tasks. While some accommodations require the development of complex software, such as VoiceOver on the iPhone, other times the solution is simple, like using Braille labels to distinguish between similarly sized bottles. Growing up, I had many wonderful teachers who taught me many of my most valuable skills: Braille, cane travel, and an attitude that creative thinking would overcome any obstacle. Several years ago I was part of a rock-climbing club for blind students. Rock climbing is an accessible sport for blind students; by feeling for handholds and footholds, you can pull yourself up the rock wall. We all learned to climb and belay. The belayer is the person who holds the climber's ropes. To my surprise the instructor told me I could not belay since I would not hear a climber telling me to lower him from twenty, thirty, forty feet in the air. Although I understood his concern for safety, I felt frustrated that the other blind students were allowed to belay. The instructor could not think of an alternative technique for deafblind belayers, and unfortunately I couldn't think of any either. However, the fact that he and I couldn't figure it out didn't mean someone else couldn't. As in many other areas of life, if you can't solve a problem, you look for an expert in the field. If your bike breaks, you take it to the bike shop. Since I was looking for a rock-climbing technique that would allow a deafblind person to belay safely, I contacted a rock-climbing expert. The solution we came up with was brilliant: when a climber is ready to come down, he tugs on the rope several times to send a clear signal to the belayer. Since the belayer is holding the other end of the rope, the belayer instantly feels the signal. Finding creative solutions for people with disabilities can be challenging. It's easy to dismiss something as impossible. Many of you live with sighted family members, sighted teachers, and sighted friends; for this reason you may feel pressure to act as the sole expert on blindness. I want to remind all of you that you don't have to be an expert on blindness. When you run into an obstacle, contact an expert in a related field to develop innovative solutions. Once you've learned to advocate for yourself, the natural next step is advocating for others. We are all here to advocate for blind Americans. If the thought of meeting legislators makes you feel nervous, find your inner courage. Advocating for seemingly trivial things like the right to eat chocolate cake develops an inner courage, and that courage will serve you in the quest for greater rights. Remember that advocating for others starts with learning to advocate for yourself. When you assert your dreams, your needs, and your rights, opportunities become limitless. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Christine Boone with husband Douglas.] Independence: To Have and to Hold by Christine Boone From the Editor: I have been a reader of the Braille Monitor for at least forty years, and many articles it has carried have shaped the way I think about myself and the condition of being blind. This is one of my favorites. It not only talks about the process of gaining independence but describes just how difficult it can be to hold onto it. The honesty and capacity for self-reflection captured here make it timeless. Here is how it was so eloquently introduced in February of 1992 by then Associate Editor Barbara Pierce. From the Associate Editor: Christine Boone is an independent young wife and mother who has worked hard for the Federation wherever she has lived since she first found the organized blind movement. She has learned the truth of the poet's statement that "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage." The most formidable limitations that stifle humanity are chains that bind the spirit, and most of these are forged in the human mind itself. Independence is a subtle and often misunderstood treasure. People who are losing their sight frequently rail at their loss of independence, by which they mean their inability to do things in the same old way. And, if they refuse to master the skills that will enable them to carry out their daily responsibilities using alternative techniques, they are correct, for they will be forever dependent on those around them. We humans don't like change, especially change imposed on us against our wills, so it frequently happens that we focus our dislike on the manifestations of our altered condition: "I wouldn't be caught dead using a cane." "I don't need Braille." And gradually the prison walls rise around us, cutting us off both from what we have been and from what we have the power to become. But independence is also a slippery thing. Even when we think it is safely and permanently in our grasp, it can ooze away without our having noticed what was happening. The National Federation of the Blind has always expended a good deal of energy breaking down all kinds of prison walls and striking off the chains that bind blind people. Sometimes the job requires that we insist on the right to good rehabilitation training. Sometimes we must fight for legal protections for those demanding equal treatment. And sometimes we are called upon to struggle against the temptation to sit back and let others do things for us. Here is Christine Boone's story of such a struggle: The first white flakes of winter swept past us on the wind as my children and I hurried along the sidewalk toward home. As we reached the corner, I took a small hand in each of mine, listened carefully above the sound of the wind, and asked my son Edward if he thought it was safe for us to cross. "Yes, Mommy, it's cold!" I admonished, "Look to your left; do you see that car coming?" "Oh yes, we have to wait, Mommy. I knew that." "Well, if you knew that, why did you say we could go?" I asked as the car sped past on the already-damp street. "I don't know; I just did," he replied in the matter-of-fact tone of a three-and-a-half-year-old. I bent down and repeated the old "Stop, look, and listen" routine for what seemed like the hundredth time. Then we crossed the street together, hurried the last quarter block, and stepped gratefully into the snug warmth of our home. Later, as I baked a batch of Halloween cookies while Edward and Katie took afternoon naps, I pondered the events of the morning. Was there anything so unusual about our walk together? Not really, these walks had become something of a routine since my decision to take a year off from work and stay home with my little ones. It was a good routine at that--one which we all treasured. There was a bouquet of fall leaves on the buffet-- leaves gathered lovingly by the children and carried carefully home, where I arranged them in a basket which was proudly displayed for all to see. Edward and Katie did not wonder at the ability of a blind mother to make a fall decoration or to keep them out of harm's way during a walk along the highways and byways of Albuquerque. Nor should they wonder about such things. For me, as for countless other blind men and women today, the absence of eyesight is an inconvenience at times but nothing more. But it had not always been that way for me. In 1977 I entered college at the University of Colorado. To say that I was painfully shy would be the understatement of the decade. Julie, my roommate, was also not long on courage, but people seemed to warm to her somehow, while I, in my need to exhibit an independence which I did not feel, tended to push people away without realizing it. At any rate, there we were, both blind but neither choosing to admit it. We shuffled around campus, never of course carrying canes; yet somehow, by the grace of God and our fellow students who occasionally took pity on us, managing to make it to most of our classes. As the months passed, we grew more accustomed to the layout of the campus and a little less frightened about venturing forth. Then we began receiving phone calls about an organization of blind people which met every month in Boulder. At first we had no intention of associating with "those blind people." But the woman who called us--Anne was her name--was always so kind, and it never seemed to offend her that we didn't attend her meetings. So after a few months we broke down and said yes. How well I remember that first meeting. It was run very efficiently by a blind president. The books seemed to be well kept by a blind treasurer. The minutes were thorough and were quickly read in Braille by a blind secretary. Most impressive of all, however, was what happened after the meeting adjourned. All of those blind people left for their homes; they just left! It was dark outside, and I, caneless, was feeling a bit nervous about walking the three blocks to my sorority house. And here were these blind people just tapping their canes in front of them and heading off down the street or to the bus stop, without concern or hesitation. That night marked the beginning of a richer life for me, a life full of freedom and adventure. Julie and I both began to use canes. She was already enlightened enough to use Braille regularly and well, and she encouraged me to use it too. I had learned the system in high school but had never really used it in my daily life. Our other Federation friends taught us the finer points of cane travel, and we soon began taking part in national conventions, Washington Seminars, NAC-tracking, and other Federation activities. Before we quite knew what had happened, we were confident, competent blind people, graduating from college. The year was 1981. In 1982 I moved to Nebraska to take a job with the Nebraska Services for the Visually Impaired, and before long I was teaching cane travel to blind adults in the Orientation Center there. While in Nebraska, I met and married my husband Doug. Because Doug is also a cane travel instructor and a truly enlightened sighted person, he expected and demanded that I, as a blind person, live what we taught in the Center; and this belief in me, together with my continued work as a travel teacher, brought me to the pinnacle of my own independence. There was really nothing I thought I could not do and nowhere I thought I could not go. It was a wonderful feeling, one I thought I would never lose. Then, in the winter of 1987, we moved to the wild Pacific coast of Oregon, where Doug had taken a job with the Oregon Commission for the Blind. For the first time in my adult life, I found myself unemployed and living in a small town with no public transportation. True, Lincoln City did have a cab--one little car, driven by one man who routinely left town for a day or two at a time, taking with him my only transit. Furthermore, though the town was only a half mile wide, it was seven miles long, which meant that walking to most stores and other businesses involved trekking two or three miles each way, usually in the rain--an exercise I did not relish. Well there I was, watching the cold, gray winter change imperceptibly to the cold, gray summer and wondering what to do with myself. I went to the nearest unemployment office (forty miles away) and filled out applications. I sent out resumes, had some interviews, became pregnant, and volunteered two days a week at the local Chamber of Commerce as a tourist information specialist. After ten months on the coast, we were transferred to Portland, where I immediately lumbered to the nearest bus stop and rode off in a state of exhilaration to visit my obstetrician. In the weeks that followed, I traversed the hills of Portland, both on foot and by bus. Then Edward was born, and I settled into a routine which did not involve much in the way of independent travel. It was very easy for me to rationalize this new behavior. There were no sidewalks in our part of town, and we lived near a busy street. It would be extremely dangerous for me to wheel Edward in his stroller along Garden Home Road with its speeding drivers, steep ditches, and sharp curves. Of course the bus stop was on our corner, and I did not even need to transfer to reach the grocery store, the mall, or the downtown area beyond. Nevertheless, I generally confined myself to walking the quiet streets of our neighborhood, taking the bus only once to the grocery store, and riding downtown or to the mall only if I had a very pressing reason. Then it was time for the national convention in Chicago, and we packed up the baby and set out, ready to see old friends and learn new things. When we arrived, I was unprepared for the feelings of insecurity which overwhelmed me as we stepped through the door of the Hyatt into that throng of Federationists. No, it was not my first convention, far from it. I had participated in conventions for years, teaching cane travel seminars, working crowd control, and helping people to learn their way around the hotels and surrounding areas. Yet this year was different--gone was the confidence which I had once taken for granted, and I slipped almost unconsciously into the pattern I had begun to follow at home. I went everywhere with Doug, not using sighted guide technique, of course, but following him or waiting for him to tell me which way we needed to go. Even more startling was the fact that he was as unaware of the change as I and did nothing to encourage me to strike out on my own. The decrease in my independence had occurred so gradually that neither of us recognized the change. You see, it is true: skills which we do not use, we begin to lose. It becomes all too easy to rationalize this loss of independence and, almost inevitably, of the self-worth that accompanies it without realizing the extent to which in so doing we jeopardize our own self-respect as well as the respect of others. Fortunately for me my colleagues in the National Federation of the Blind are the best kind of friends anyone could have. They were not about to let me compromise the independence which I had worked so hard to attain. It was about the third day of the convention, and I was having lunch with Rosemary Lerdahl. Rosemary had been my supervisor when I taught in the Orientation Center, and she is a dear friend and a wonderful person. She began asking me about the things I had done since coming to Chicago. After listening to my answers, she suggested that I take in the exhibit hall, the Taste of Chicago, and the shopping when convention wasn't in session. I explained how difficult it was to do all those things with a baby along, and she looked over at Edward, who was intermittently watching the waterfall and smiling at passers-by. She calmly remarked that he might enjoy some of those attractions too, and besides, there was childcare. What could I say? I summoned up all of my nerve and asked quietly, "Rose, do you think I'm incompetent; I mean, have I lost my skills?" "Well I have noticed that they seem a little rusty, and I think you have lost a little of your self-confidence." Her reply confirmed my worst fears. My independence was gone, and everybody knew it. Federationists are not oblivious; they know when a colleague who once traveled independently and well ceases to do so, but neither are Federationists judgmental or critical. We stand ready to lend help and support in enabling one another to be the best we can. In keeping with this precept, Rosemary did not criticize me or ask how I could have let my independence slip and my confidence erode. The next morning, when we left our hotel room, Doug walked silently beside me, stopping whenever we came to a turn to let me decide which way we needed to go. Lo and behold, we made it to breakfast quickly and without incident. Afterward I found the Oregon delegation, went to work at the information desk, and at noon went off alone to find lunch for my fellow workers. No, these were not milestones; indeed I have done all of them at conventions since without giving them a second thought. But that day marked the beginning of my return to excellence--the excellence I must maintain if I am to serve as a representative of the National Federation of the Blind. At the end of the day I was exhilarated. I had not lost my independence forever; it had merely taken a back seat for a time, and as a result I had begun to feel unsure of myself. I thank Heaven for that lunch with Rosemary and for her honesty and encouragement. I returned to Portland and set to work removing the tarnish from my travel skills. Edward and I went to the mall to buy a birthday gift for Doug. We took the bus downtown and met him for lunch. Edward even came along while I taught cane travel to some Federationists in the Portland area. A few months later we moved here to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Doug joined Fred Schroeder's team at the Commission for the Blind, and Edward and I hit the road again. After all, there is much to be done when you move to a new town. Yes, I had a few butterflies the first time we set out for the bus stop, but we traveled around the city easily and without incident as Edward rode comfortably on my back, dozing in our warm New Mexico sunshine. How fortunate I am to be a part of the National Federation of the Blind. It was through the NFB that I first learned about independence, acquired a long white cane, got my first real job, and met my fantastic husband. When I unwittingly let my skills grow rusty and my confidence seep away, it was the Federation that got me back on track again. Independence is a treasure, a hard-earned reward for a job well done. Whether we know it or not, in everything we do, we teach. So let us all protect this hard-won treasure and pass it on whenever we can. ---------- Blindness and the Value of Life by Gary Wunder Readers of the Braille Monitor know that what they find in this magazine generally falls into one of three categories: reports of what the Federation is doing, other happenings in the field of blindness, and firsthand stories about problems blind people have faced and how they have dealt with them. This piece is different because it speaks to something we must think about, rather than something we have long since discussed among ourselves, arriving at a decision that reflects our collective experience. In short, this is an editorial. What follows does not instruct readers on Federation philosophy, attempt to lecture on moral rightness, or pretend that this issue is like others and therefore has been clearly resolved in Federation tradition or policy. Instead it is a plea for you to search your heart and soul, to use your rational mind, and to help us decide what we should communicate to the public about what it means to be blind. Sometime in December of 2012, middle-aged deaf twin brothers in Belgium chose to end their lives because they suffered from glaucoma, which would inevitably lead to blindness. They were supported by their family and assisted by a doctor who described their last hours by saying that they both drank coffee, dressed themselves in new suits and shoes, waved to those around them, and smiled as they received a lethal injection. Euthanasia, the practice of doctors actively participating in the death of a willing individual, is legal in Belgium, but normally requests such as the one made by the twins are honored only if a terminal illness is causing significant pain. The doctor, the twins' brother, and the parents have all agreed that no pain was associated with the illness that would eventually destroy their vision. According to a brother, the family tried to talk the twins out of ending their lives but eventually consented when they decided the twins were resolute in their decision. The surprising and alarming thing that many Federationists observed in reading the coverage was reporters' and commentators' passive acceptance of the twins' decision to die because of the prospect of becoming blind. Certainly the reality most of us experience makes us as reluctant to face death as our sighted friends and neighbors, but nowhere in this coverage could one find the slightest suggestion that blind and deafblind people have any quality of life. Nowhere was there a contrast between the life the twins thought they must avoid and the life many deafblind people live. Let us admit from the outset that we do not know much about the lives of these brothers. Although it was not clearly stated in some of the earliest articles that appeared, later ones suggest that the twins had other medical complications that made it difficult for one or both of them to sleep. One article suggested that the twins could communicate only by using a language that they and their family had developed, and it is unclear whether this presumably visual language could have readily been adapted to a tactile form. We do not know whether the twins knew how to read and write in the conventional sense and whether their communication with a self-developed language was a matter of choice or of not knowing the Belgian equivalent of American Sign Language. With these questions, and perhaps fifty more that will remain unanswered, it still seems fair to ask whether a choice to die rather than face blindness is rational and defensible. Washington and Oregon recognize terminal illness and suffering as reasons to consider allowing a citizen to take his or her life. Courts have even upheld the rights of several severely disabled people to refuse treatment that would extend their lives on the grounds that they are so disabled that their quality of life would argue against intervening to save them. State-of-the-art medical practice forces us to confront possibilities that go to the root of our most strongly held beliefs. What is blindness, and in the broader sense what is disability? What should the people involved be expected to know about blindness before the state is willing to sanction death because of it? A medical doctor may be qualified to predict the loss of eyesight, but is the medical profession well suited to judge blind people's quality of life? The profession has not shown that it knows much about rehabilitation and has failed to offer much in the way of encouragement to people once one of its practitioners has determined that he or she can do no more to save a patient's vision. For the last two decades the world has been fascinated by analyzing DNA and decoding the genome. Medical science can now conduct prenatal testing to determine the likelihood of several disabilities, some of which can result in blindness. When one of these tests indicates that a child will be born with a disability, a genetic counselor gives this information to the parents and talks with them about the choices they face. As it is with doctors and nurses, so it is with genetic counselors: they understand the diagnostic tools that can reveal a disability, but few of them have any life experience or education that will lead them to accurate conclusions about what it is like to live as a disabled person or to be the family member of one. In more than 90 percent of the cases in which prenatal testing is done and reveals the likelihood of disability, the decision of the parents is to abort the fetus, a scary statistic for those of us who believe that most disabilities do not preclude an acceptable, enjoyable, and enriching quality of life. Without treading on the rights of would-be parents to take advantage of what medical science can offer them, is it reasonable to suggest that the counseling they receive include not only a discussion about the likelihood of a disability but information about that disability from the perspective of people who live with it? Should people making the decision of whether or not to bring a life into the world at least consider the experience and opinion of blind people and their families that life is as sacred and meaningful to us as it is to any other human who has walked the earth and fretted about the day when he or she will walk no more? It can be dangerous to see everything that happens in the world as a slide down the slippery slope to oblivion, but surely it is reasonable to sound an alarm when blindness can be used as a reason to end one's life or terminate a pregnancy. Unchallenged, might the assumptions underlying these actions someday be the basis for determining what kind of life-saving procedures will be used for you or me? If I am in a hospital suffering from pneumonia, I don't want my blindness to factor into the decision about the quality of my life and to what extent medical practitioners should try to save me. If I suffer kidney failure, I don't want to be placed lower on the transplant list because someone believes my quality of life is less than that of a person with normal vision. The message we work tirelessly to send to society about our capabilities has traditionally been motivated by our desire to participate in the mainstream of life: to be educated, trained, and allowed to participate as fully contributing citizens. How close might we be to the time when the message we send to society must be to make the case that we deserve a chance at life and deserve to receive every medical procedure to enhance and preserve it? People wishing to read more should study articles by Dr. Adrienne Asch, a bioethicist who is blind, is an active member of the Federation, and is committed to seeing that these discussions have a disability perspective. Two articles will serve as a place to start: "Recognizing Death while Affirming Life: Can End of Life Reform Uphold a Disabled Person's Interest in Continued Life?"; and "Disability, Bioethics, and Human Rights." Most conditions that cause blindness do not result in lifelong pain, are not terminal, and need not result in a diminished quality of life, as long as people receive effective training and opportunity. It would be hard to find someone willing to argue that blindness is a superior characteristic, but my observation is that most blind people are as grateful for their lives as the sighted are for theirs. Shouldn't those of us who are the experts on living with blindness be the ones educating hospitals and their ethics committees, making presentations to medical students as they matriculate, and getting published in journals read by doctors, bioethicists, and genetic counselors? While all of us can enthusiastically support the efforts of the medical profession to increase longevity and improve the quality of life, shouldn't those of us who are blind take a dim view of allowing blindness to be a factor in determining whether we get a life or how long that life will be? ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Chris Kuell] Change Our Lives-Why I Go to National Convention by Chris Kuell From the Editor: This example of how attending the NFB national convention has changed the lives of many of us is reprinted from the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of the Federationist in Connecticut, a publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut which is edited by Chris Kuell. He is the president of the Danbury chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut. Most of us who faithfully attend NFB annual conventions have stories about the impact our first convention had on us. This is what Chris says about attending his first national convention: In the summer of 1998 my wife and I entrusted the care of our kids to my brother and his wife, said a few prayers, and headed to Dallas for our first NFB national convention. My gut was full of anxiety, both because it was our first time leaving the kids for more than a few hours and because of the unknown that the convention was to me then. I really had no idea what to expect, except that a blind friend named Betty Woodward had encouraged us to go. She told us it would change our lives. Since my entire life had been overturned in the previous year after I lost my vision, I figured any further change could only be positive. We caught a shuttle van from the airport to the hotel. A guy on the seat next to me asked if I was going to the NFB convention, and I said, yes, how about him? He told me he was going to his fifth convention. His name was Ed, and he was from Detroit. I asked whom he was traveling with and got my first shock of the week. "Nobody" he said. "Nobody?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around this concept. I had received a white cane from our state agency for the blind and even knew my way to my kids' school and the local Rite-Aid, but the concept of traveling to another state alone was beyond my comprehension. How could you find the door? How could you find the front desk to check in--or your room, for that matter? My brain nearly burst with questions. I held my wife's elbow tightly as we checked in at the front desk, surrounded by blind people. Several asked my wife for directions, which she gave. We had to walk down a long hallway to another building to get to our room. As we walked, I heard little feet and kids laughing as they sprinted by. "You won't believe it," my wife said. "That was three blind kids, racing with their canes down the corridor." Blind kids, running? Once again my mind was filled with one question: how? We spent the afternoon listening to talks. I popped into a meeting of blind diabetics and another full of blind scientists and engineers. Before dinner we went to the pool for a swim. There I met Dan, a blind computer teacher who answered some of my many questions about JAWS. We spoke with two women who had driven down from upstate New York with a van full of kids. I talked with a blind single mom who was raising a daughter the same age as my son. She worked as an accountant at a company in Virginia. My wife wanted to clean up before dinner, and she turned the TV on for me before showering. I listened as a man with a strong voice and a slight Tennessee drawl spoke about a blind man who was sitting at home waiting for someone to help him. He said the guy called and called his state agency for the blind, but they rarely called him back, and, when they did, they rarely did anything for him. They reminded him of all the things he couldn't do. The man felt worthless, he felt afraid, and he lost all hope for the future. As I listened, tears began to stream down my cheeks. The man on the television said he was talking about a guy named Bill, but I didn't think that was the case. He was talking about me. After dinner we went to the bar, where I learned another truth-blind people like to drink. I talked with a guy named Mike from Canada and a man named Felix from San Diego, who had lost his sight, had it restored through surgery, and then lost it again. I heard stories of frustration, stories of adventures, and stories that made me laugh so hard my belly hurt. I felt more relaxed than I had since the day the doctor had removed the bandages from my eyes and I couldn't see anything. After a week we left Dallas, and both my wife and I had changed. She didn't want me clutching her elbow anymore, and she wanted me to try doing more things by myself. Rather than my questioning how other blind people did things, I thought to myself-if they can do it, I can do it as well. In 1999 we brought the kids with us to the convention in Atlanta, and in 2000 I attended the national convention by myself. I've been to conventions in Philadelphia, Louisville, and back to Atlanta again. With each convention I meet new people, make more friends, and come home reenergized to make a difference in the world. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: KathyMaria Badalmenti running in the Flying Pig Half Marathon] My First Flying Pig Half Marathon by KathyMaria Badalamenti From the Editor: A consistent message from the National Federation of the Blind is that living and working with the sighted is normal, that isolation is limiting and even smothering, and that moving beyond one's comfort zone is sometimes necessary to live the lives we are entitled to enjoy. This message is easy to articulate and repeat; it is harder to live. In this article KathyMaria Baladamenti has a goal; she is nervous and unsure, but she decides to participate in a race to help others. With humor, wit, humility, and determination, here is what she says about her experience: On Sunday, May 6, 2012, I meet my team in the lobby of a hotel in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, at 5:00 AM for team pictures. My team is raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and we have trained hard for this cause. All of us wear purple shirts with our team name on them, which we have personalized by writing names of sponsors and heroes. My cousin Judy was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and underwent treatment while I was training for the race. I am wearing her name in my heart and on the back of my shirt. She is my hero. After pictures are taken, we walk over to the Paul Brown Stadium to face other teams. In this crowd of three thousand are teens ready to sprint, people in wheelchairs, a person with a walking stick in each hand, blind runners tethered to a sighted person, and people of all ages from children to teens to young adults to seniors. Many in this heterogeneous group are dressed in pink in celebration of their newly acquired pighood. Eight pig pens are set up for us to use in lining up for the race. We are assigned a wait pen according to our predicted race time. That is, the fastest group is assigned to pen one, the slowest group to pen eight, and all the others somewhere in between. It might look like the starting gates at the Olympics, except that a herd of us were stuffed into each pen. I was assigned to pen number eight, the only one from my team to be there. So here I am, walking past pens one through eight, while the instructor chants "Keep on going" and my fellow teammates enter pens along the way. This means I have to go further than anybody else just to get to the start of the race. I walk a mile to be assigned the pig's tail. On top of all this I end up in the back of pen eight behind two runners dressed in pink tutus and sporting curly wire tails that dance in my face. I stand in my place, alternately batting away the curly pig tails and hitting the button on my talking watch, wondering when I get to start. I know I'm the last of thousands of people, and that's all I do know. At 6:00 AM we are all lined up and ready to go. The weather is absolutely beautiful, and I am grateful not to be carrying extra gear. The plan for nasty weather is to purchase extra coats, jackets, and other warm clothing at the thrift store and layer it over our running clothes. Then, as the weather improves, we peel off layer by layer and pitch it along the route for volunteers to gather up and take back to the thrift store. In this weather I need no coat or jacket. I am ready to go, but we are not moving. Over the loud speakers we keep hearing a voice telling everyone to get into their pens. That voice wants three thousand pigs locked in their pens. Who is that voice? Who knows? I can't even tell you where it's coming from. Maybe from the sky, hmm? Is it God? Yes, Lord, I'm ready, and there are two pigs in front of me. Then the program begins. We hear words from the person who started the Flying Pig Runs fourteen years ago, and from the person in charge this year, and a prayer is said by a priest, and the American flag is presented, and our national anthem is sung. Now it is 6:30 AM. Mr. Sun is smiling but not blowing any hot air. The first pen is opened; the race begins. I am standing still. The good thing is nothing hurts yet; the brace on my right knee is holding; my Depends is dry. I will spare you the openings of the next six pens and get down to the important one. At 6:48 AM the last pen opens, and off I go, just 13.1 miles to go before lunch. The first 6.8 miles are pretty good. The temperature is rising, but it's not too bad yet. I am running and walking in my intervals and enjoying the scenery. There are what are known as water stops along the way where people are offering us Gatorade and water, and before long the path is covered with discarded paper cups--kind of like a minefield of cups. I step on a few to hear them pop, and then I decide to play "dodge the cups." That is a fun game when you are bored. Try it at your next yard party. There are spectators and lots of shouts of "go team," "you're doin' good," and "thank you," and people were holding up signs, which I understand had some neat things written on them. Maybe you can find someone else to tell you what they said. I would tell you if I knew, but I can't see well enough to read unless my face is right in the words, and I can't take time to run over to the signs and get real close. Yep, the sidelines are blurry at best. I don't know what they are doing on the sidelines. I miss the beer stop. Just a shot, but still I miss it. Might be good beer, too. I don't know. After one hour, forty-two minutes, and twenty-two seconds, I cross the 6.8 mile mark. At this pace I could finish the race by 10:04 AM. I figure that is too early for lunch, so I think I will just slow 'er down and stroll along. So there I was, like being in a parade, waving at the spectators and thanking them for coming out to support us. There are handshakes and high fives with many well-wishers. I go through a water stop, where people are holding out water hoses for what I thought was what the coach meant by "misters" but, when I held my hand out to feel the cool water, I felt my shoe get wet, and I remembered Coach Stan saying, "Avoid getting your feet wet." Oh no! What is going to happen now? Will my feet shrivel up? Too late, just keep moving. Yeah, I am really enjoying myself. Another runner offers me a peanut butter cracker, and I eat it, hoping that it will not ruin my appetite for lunch. I don't know where I am at this point, but I keep moving, and then I decide to play a little leap frog. I run to pass some people, and then I walk until they all pass me up, and then I run again to get ahead of them. It is lots of fun and makes the miles pass. Mile marker nine, just 4.1 miles to go; it is getting pretty warm, and every inch of my clothing is soaking wet. Maybe I am delirious! I decide to remove the sweatband from my head and ring it out. As I attempt that trick while jogging, I drop my glasses and partially step on them. I stop and pick them up. They are a bit cattywampus, and I am afraid to twist them too much, so for the rest of the race I am looking through the bottom of the right lens and the top of the left lens, which makes me feel like the road is tilted to one side. I take what I see and follow the crowd. Somewhere along the route, people jump out of the race to get their picture taken with Elvis. I give someone my phone and ask him to take my picture with Elvis. The nice fellow takes the picture for me and then hits the wrong button so the picture is not saved on my phone. I sit down on the grass to try to see my phone better and realize that my foot is killing me. I get my reading glasses on to find that the bottom of my foot has a blister rubbed by my compression stocking. By this time Elvis has left the vicinity, my foot hurts, and I have messed up my time. Not to waste more of it, I proceed with one sock on and one sock off. My right hand is numb, so I keep shaking it, and, when I look, it is swollen and discolored. My wrist band and watch have cut off the circulation, and I must remove them. Now I am carrying them and wondering if I will lose my right hand, or did I remove the culprits in time? Then how would I type this story, which I have been constructing in my head as I deal with the challenges of the day? All is well. I finish the race in three hours, twenty-four minutes, and eight seconds. I place twentieth out of the fifty in my division, female 61-65. Not so shabby, eh? It's over. Here I am in my thermal wrap, my medal around my neck, happily eating up all manner of sweets. It's a perfect day! Humor aside, the best part is that I am able to raise $1,544.20 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and more specifically for the people for whom leukemia and lymphoma are a personal thing, those who stood at the sidelines and cheered us on--like the one little kid in a wheelchair who reaches for me. I can't see her, but her father says to me, "She wants to touch your hand," and then he reaches out and brings my hand to hers. Then there's the man whom I can't see but whose voice I hear coming from the side of the road saying, "Thank you so much. I have leukemia." And finally there's the lady who just finished the whole marathon, who says to me, "Twenty years ago I had leukemia, and my parents were told I would not grow up." Yep, I'd do it all over again. I'd do it for all of those people who need the cure my money is meant to bring, and I'd do it all again for me. Talking the talk may be the first step, but walking the walk is the ultimate journey. ---------- Meeting Life's Challenges by Emilie Gossiaux From the Editor: Emilie Gossiaux gave this address at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), and repeated it at the 2012 semiannual convention of the NFB of Minnesota, while she was a student at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND). She has now graduated and returned to her studies at the Cooper Union in New York, using the new skills and confidence she gained at BLIND, Incorporated. We are reprinting her remarks from the Winter 2013 issue of the Minnesota Bulletin, the publication of the NFB of Minnesota. This is what Emily said: Good evening, friends, family, teachers, faculty, and the graduating class of 2012. Before I begin, I want to thank the NOCCA Institute and NOCCA's president, Kyle Wedberg, for inviting Alan and me here tonight as guest speakers. I am honored to share my story with you. The first part begins nine years ago in 2003, when I was thirteen. I started attending classes at NOCCA. I remember feeling mesmerized by the beauty of the campus and the city. It became my second home, a haven where I could do anything and express myself freely in any way my heart desired amongst other young, blooming artists, musicians, singers, dancers, writers, and actors. NOCCA opened doors, gave me dreams, and helped me set my goals for the future. Ever since I was a young girl, I have been a high achiever. To be accepted into NOCCA was my first big accomplishment. I believe I inherited this characteristic of perseverance from my early childhood hearing disability. When I was five years old, I put on my first hearing aids. I saw my hearing loss as something I would grow out of, as if it were an illness that would just get better over time. Unfortunately this was not the case. My heart broke when I found out that my hearing was not going to get any better and would most likely only deteriorate further. By the time I got to middle school, I was trying my hardest to conceal my hearing disability to fit in with everyone else, but I always felt that I was different. I never knew anyone or talked to another person with the same disability as mine, so I felt quite alone. I became quiet and terribly shy unless I was with my close friends, and when I wasn't, I drew. It was something I was proud of, something I felt I was good at. After being accepted into NOCCA, I no longer felt alone or different. I knew I wanted to be an artist. It was here that I learned about the Cooper Union for the Advancement in Science and Art in New York City. I remember my mom coming home one night after a parent-teacher meeting and telling me that it was the most prestigious art school in the country. Right then, in my thirteen-year-old mind, I made a promise to myself that I would go there. I want to talk to everyone tonight about what is most important when one wishes to become a successful artist. Talent, which I'm sure all of you have, is important of course, but, if you do not have a strong work ethic, the motivation, or the self-discipline, then it really doesn't matter how talented you are. This is the one thing I learned during my years at NOCCA, and I applied it, not only to my career as an artist, but also to everything in my life. After graduating from high school, I was accepted into my dream school, the Cooper Union, and it was there that I became a full-fledged workaholic. This time I just wanted to be the best. The second part of my story begins in the summer of 2010. Before I started my senior year of college, I underwent a surgical procedure called a cochlear implant to improve the hearing in my left ear. After the surgery I decided to take a semester off from school. That fall I got an internship working for an artist in Brooklyn and continued creating my own paintings in my studio apartment. I rode my bicycle to work every morning and rode it home every night. I felt as though my life was finally falling into place, exactly the way I wanted it to be. I had a job I loved, I had a beautiful studio loft in Brooklyn, I was living with the most loving and supportive boyfriend imaginable, and I had the comfort and ease of riding my bike whenever I needed to go somewhere. Only nine months after I started dating Alan, four months after I had my surgery, and one month after getting my job, everything-my entire life- turned upside down. On the morning of October 8, 2010, I got on my bike to ride to work, kissed my boyfriend goodbye, and rode off. Merely ten minutes after I took off, an eighteen-wheeler semi hit me. Six weeks later I woke up in a hospital with Alan and my mother by my side. My mother told me my accident was a traumatic brain injury (TBI), that I had a stroke in the emergency room, and that my right arm was paralyzed. My left femur was shattered in the accident and had been replaced with a titanium rod. I was also told that the optic nerve in my left eye was severed from the impact of the truck to my left side, and my right optic nerve had atrophied from the swelling in my brain. Due to my injuries, I could no longer see, I could not walk, and I had very little control of my right arm. From there on I went through many months of physical and occupational therapy as an inpatient at the hospital. It's a strange and funny thing that when I awoke from my drug-induced coma and realized that the accident had blinded me, I wasn't afraid, and I didn't cry. Once again, I believed it was something that would come back to me and would gradually get better with the help of developing medicine and technology. However, I soon realized that I couldn't wait around and rely on that glimmer of hope. Instead I took action. In order to regain my independence as a blind woman, I started taking Braille classes along with cooking and white cane travel classes in New York City. The words "stop" and "give up" never once occurred to me. But I would be lying if I told you that I never doubted my capabilities. There I was, partially deaf, unable to walk, and now blind. The thing that scared me the most was the thought of going back to Cooper and completing my senior year as a visual art student. I was afraid of what people would think of me. How could I make art if I couldn't see? How could I ever enjoy it again? What else could I do if it was the only thing I had ever done and the only thing I was good at? The artist in me needed the most time to heal. It took many months and the help of many friends before I felt confident enough to become an artist again. During these past four months I have been working alongside another blind artist/craftsman in his wood shop. He was born blind and has been designing and building his own furniture since he was nineteen. This man has given me a priceless gift and has shown me an invaluable lesson: that sight has nothing to do with making art; it's the vision within that matters. My dream was to graduate from the Cooper Union and to be a successful artist in New York City, and it still is. Not only was this traumatic experience horrifying beyond imagination, it was also an enlightenment. This past year I have learned more about myself, which I probably would never have known otherwise. Because of my hearing disability, I always saw myself as being the weaker link, since I was always competing with the rest of the hearing world. However, I have discovered all of my strengths. I have learned that I have a strong will to succeed, and I have found that I have more discipline than anyone else I know. Through this experience I have also found true love and have realized who my true friends are, without whom I would not be where I am today. You never know what kind of challenges life will throw at you or where you'll end up, but you must never forget who you are, and you must always hold on to your dreams. My mobility instructor, when teaching me how to walk with a white cane, taught me how to maneuver around objects, such as newspaper stands, bus stops, or trees, when confronted with them. I also apply his advice to how we can handle the things life puts in our way. He told me, "We must walk through life like water in a stream. When the water hits a rock or a tree in its path, it doesn't stop; it gracefully moves around that object and finds its way back on track." This is also my advice to you. Don't let life stop you from achieving your dreams; take it as a challenge, something from which you can only gain. You must remember there is no wrong or right way, and it doesn't matter how you get there. The only thing that matters is that you get there. And now congratulations, class of 2012; I wish you all happy travels on your journey through life. Thank you. ---------- Giving a Dream One of the great satisfactions in life is having the opportunity to assist others. Consider making a gift to the National Federation of the Blind to continue turning our dreams into reality. A gift to the NFB is not merely a donation to an organization; it provides resources that will directly ensure a brighter future for all blind people. Seize the Future The National Federation of the Blind has special giving opportunities that will benefit the giver as well as the NFB. Of course the largest benefit to the donor is the satisfaction of knowing that the gift is leaving a legacy of opportunity. However, gifts may be structured to provide more: . Helping the NFB fulfill its mission . Realizing income tax savings through a charitable deduction . Making capital gain tax savings on contributions of appreciated assets . Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or beneficiary . Eliminating or lowering the federal estate tax in certain situations . Reducing estate settlement costs NFB programs are dynamic: . Making the study of science and math a real possibility for blind children . Providing hope for seniors losing vision . Promoting state and local programs to help blind people become first- class citizens . Educating the public about blind people's true potential . Advancing technology helpful to the blind . Creating a state-of-the-art library on blindness . Training and inspiring professionals working with the blind . Providing critical information to parents of blind children . Mentoring blind job seekers Your gift makes you a partner in the NFB dream. For further information or assistance, contact the NFB planned giving officer. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Russell Kletzing presses for the right to enjoy an amusement park as four security guards forcibly remove him.] The Passing of Russell Kletzing by Marc Maurer From the Editor: President Maurer has written a tribute to former NFB president, Russell Kletzing. It is followed by his obituary as it appeared in the Sacramento Bee for March 3-4, 2013: Russell Kletzing (Russ), who died February 15, 2013, served as president of the National Federation of the Blind from 1962 until 1966. He was a lawyer trained in California who worked for much of his career for state government. He came to his appreciation of the law-and he got a lot of his training-from Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, the first president of the National Federation of the Blind. Dr. tenBroek was Russ's mentor, his friend, and his leader. He also supported Kletzing's election for president of the National Federation of the Blind. During the time that Dr. Kenneth Jernigan served as a member of the faculty of the newly established California Orientation Center in Oakland, from 1953 to 1958, he and Russ became good friends. At the time Dr. tenBroek was, of course, president of the Federation. He had a group of leaders who worked with him to build the organization and to manage its affairs. Russ Kletzing, Tony Mannino, Muzzy Marcelino, Perry Sundquist, and Dr. Jernigan were all part of this group. Russ became president during a time of turmoil in the Federation, and he brought stability to the organization at a time when its governance had suffered from chaotic conditions. During his presidency there was a period of rebuilding and slow but steady growth. I never met Russ Kletzing, but I have heard his voice, and I participated in the 1969 convention, at which I believe he was present. Russ ceased to be a political factor in the Federation beginning in about 1970. After I had become president of the organization, I invited him to visit the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore, but he never accepted the invitation. Although Russ ceased to be a political factor in the organization, he never sought to disrupt it. In the 1990s he offered us some of his recollections in an oral history. Russ Kletzing is remembered for a very practical approach to the politics of blindness and to the operations of the Federation itself. When Dr. tenBroek was thinking of resigning from the presidency, Russ Kletzing remarked, "The only thing you get by resigning is out of office." This direct, practical approach to the politics within the organization is what Russell Kletzing is noted for pursuing. He benefited from the Federation; he served as our leader for four years; his life was enriched by his experiences in the organized blind movement; and he did what he could to contribute to it. The presidency of the Federation is a most demanding and challenging position. It changes the people who take the job. I appreciate Russell Kletzing's willingness to attempt to manage the administration of the Federation during a period of trial, and I am a little sorry that he did not accept the invitation to visit our headquarters, to share ideas, and perhaps to be willing to become active in the organization once again. I respect him for the positions he took and the leadership he offered. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Portrait of Russell Kletzing taken in 1968] Obituary of Russell Kletzing >From the Editor: The newspaper obituary for Russell Kletzing does not mention his blindness directly. He became totally blind at about eighteen months of age, which means that, like Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan, and President Maurer, his impressive list of life accomplishments was completed as a totally blind man. Here is the obituary for Russell Kletzing as published in the Sacramento Bee for March 3 and 4, 2013: KLETZING, Russell 1925 - 2013 On the morning of February 15, Russell Kletzing passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home at the age of eighty-seven. He will be greatly missed by his wife Ruth of 59 years of marriage and close friendship, and his son Craig and daughter-in-law Jeanette, and son James. He will also be missed by Quang Huynh, who has been like a third son, and his family, as well as Julie Mandarino, who spent much of her growing-up years with the family, and his nephew Roger Peterson and nieces, Janis Lord and Nancy Barr and grand-nieces, Amanda and Emily Barr. He was preceded in death by his brother, Gene and two sisters, Elizabeth and Marion. Russ graduated with a degree in chemistry from U.C. Berkeley, in 1945, followed by a year at the University of Chicago for his first year of law school. He completed his law degree at Boalt Hall, U.C. Berkeley in 1948. He worked for the State of California, Department of Water Resources for thirty years, retiring as assistant chief counsel in 1988. During those years of working, he was very active in the organized blind movement, serving as president of the local and state chapters, and then was president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) from 1962 to 1966. Many blind leaders in other countries had attended an NFB convention in Arizona during those years, so, following his presidency, the NFB sent Russell and his wife, Ruth, on a round-the-world trip for six weeks to those countries to be of service and education to them. After retirement Russ was a volunteer with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). He was also very active in the Renaissance Society of Sacramento at CSUS [California State University, Sacramento], serving on its board for several years. Many thanks go to Russ' former caregiver, Deanna, who returned to be of much help. A Celebration of Life will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento on Saturday, March 9, at 2:00. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to CASA at CASA Program, Inc., P. O. Box 278383, Sacramento, CA, 95827 or any charity of one's choice. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jacobus tenBroek, Jacob Fried, Russell Kletzing, and Kenneth Jernigan in 1963 as Fried was presented with the Newel Perry Award.] Russ Kletzing Honored by Newel Perry Award From the Editor: As President Maurer has said, many of us know little about former President Russell Kletzing because his significant involvement predates our own. To get a sense of how this leader was regarded in the time when he was active and at the center of the movement, we reprint the following from the August 1966 issue of the Braille Monitor: "Under his presidency, we have regained unity, vigor, and renewed dedication. Because of him we are stronger as a movement and better as men." With these words the Federation's leader, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, bestowed the Newel Perry Award upon its chief executive of the past four years, Russell Kletzing, in a ceremony highlighting the convention banquet on the evening of July 7 [1966]. Kletzing was described in the speech of presentation as "the active agent of rehabilitation and reunion" who in 1962 "took arms against a sea of troubles, internal as well as external." Dr. tenBroek went on to recall his acquaintance of more than twenty years with the Federation's outgoing president. "I first met Russ in the years of World War II when I was a lowly instructor and he was a high- minded student at the University of California at Berkeley," he said. Pointing to Kletzing's rapid rise in the California Department of Water Resources--"where he has won several achievement awards and a rapid succession of promotions leading to his present eminence as assistant chief counsel"--Dr. tenBroek observed that his professional advance "has been more than matched by his rise in the leadership ranks of the organized blind movement. In 1959 he became president of the California Council of the Blind and held that position until the Federation's national convention chose him for the presidency in 1962 and reelected him in 1964." Prior to presenting the Newel Perry Award to Kletzing, Dr. tenBroek called attention to the "unique significance" of the award: "In our field, as in the military services, there are basically two kinds of citations. Most of them are simply `good conduct' medals--that is, rewards for cooperating with the powers that be and not rocking the boat. "The other kind of citation--unfortunately much more rare--is that which is given for valor in combat. The Newel Perry Award is such a citation. It is presented not for good conduct but for outrageous behavior. It is a testimonial to the voice that cries untiringly in the wilderness-- like Jacob Freid's in the Jewish Braille Review. It is a tribute to the maverick who kicks off the custodial traces and breaks new orientation and rehabilitation ground--like Ken Jernigan in Iowa. "It is a celebration of the independent statesman who leads better than he follows--like Vance Hartke, Cecil King, Jennings Randolph, Walt Baring, and that well-remembered young man who authored the Kennedy Bill," Dr. tenBroek said. "The Newel Perry Award is a means of expressing our appreciation to the intrepid adventurers and missionaries of Federationism--like Isabelle Grant. It is a way of thanking those quiet warriors of welfare who continue year after year to fight the good fight--like Perry Sundquist in California and John Mungovan in Massachusetts. "The Newel Perry Award is for those who, being unafraid to walk alone, march together with us in our forward movement--or who run ahead on the Biblical mission of removing the mines and stumbling blocks from the path of the blind. "The man we honor tonight," he said with reference to Kletzing, "the recipient of the Newel Perry Award for 1966, is that kind of person." ---------- What Makes an NFB Affiliate? by Anna Kresmer From the Editor: The following is another in our series of historical documents in the Jacobus tenBroek Library: All members of the Federation know that the NFB is made up of fifty- two affiliates, including one for each state, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico. Each of these affiliates is modeled after the national organization with elected officers, a board of directors, constitution or by-laws, divisions which represent member interest groups, appointed committees, and annual conventions, where resolutions are passed by the will of the assembled membership. Apart from some subtle variations, the make-up of the modern NFB affiliate has remained relatively unchanged since 1982, when the current format of the NFB charter of affiliation was adopted by all NFB affiliates, excluding Montana, which chose not to sign, and Puerto Rico, which did not become an affiliate until 1992. But 1982 can be a misleading date. In truth the development of the affiliates that make up the NFB today evolved over forty years. So how did we get here? The answer, of course, can be found in the archives at the Jacobus tenBroek Library. In the earliest days of the Federation what would be identified as an affiliate today was simply called a member, and the requirements for membership were basic. As stated in the original version of the NFB constitution, drafted at the founding meeting in 1940: Article III. Membership: Section a) The membership of the National Federation of the Blind shall consist of delegations from each of the states of the United States. Section b) Each state shall have one vote. Section c) Delegations shall represent organizations of the blind controlled by the blind; but individuals may be admitted to membership with all the privileges and duties of representative members except that they shall not be entitled to vote or hold office. In the interest of quickly building a nationwide, coordinated movement of organized blind people, the founders left much to be defined about the way in which an affiliate organization should be run and how its relationship to the national office should work. No one had ever tried to coordinate a national disability rights movement before, and it was crucial to keep up the momentum. As a result some organizations were allowed to join the Federation who, for one reason or another, would not have been admitted if they applied today. Unsurprisingly, as the Federation grew and its framework developed, ensuring that the original intent of its founding- to create a national organization controlled by blind people to treat collectively with the federal government for the economic and social welfare of all blind Americans-became an increasingly unmanageable task. To combat this problem, in 1954 the Executive Committee (a precursor of the NFB board of directors) created a committee on affiliate standards, the task of which was to define the requirements for and outline the powers of a state affiliate. The committee's first act was to create the NFB's first affiliate standards report, the recommendations of which were formally adopted in a resolution at the National Convention in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1955. Over the next twenty-seven years, the relationship between the national and affiliate organizations would continue to evolve into the system still used in 2013-with many peaks and valleys along the way. But the foundation for the affiliates that together are the National Federation of the Blind today was undoubtedly laid in 1955. Here is the text of that report: Report of the Committee on Affiliate Standards of the National Federation of the Blind Adopted at the Omaha Convention, July 18, 1955 PREFACE: Since the establishment of the National Federation of the Blind in 1940, many questions have arisen regarding the relationship between the Federation and its affiliates. These questions arise most frequently on the subject of organization and program standards within the respective state affiliates. Because many of these questions could not be directly answered, the Federation's executive committee in July of 1954 created this Committee on Affiliate Standards to make a study of this subject and to make recommendations which, if adopted by the convention, would serve as guides for affiliated organizations. The Committee on Affiliate Standards is composed of: Durward K. McDaniel, Chairman Jacobus tenBroek George Card Clyde Ross, and Kenneth Jernigan. The Committee met in Chicago at the end of October, 1954. The nature of the task requires that the product of the committee's work be made in the form of a Statement of Policy which will become official when and if it is adopted by a Federation convention. Statement of Policy Applicable to Affiliate Standards 1. The National Federation of the Blind has grown from the base up, and by its structural nature is the sum of its component state affiliates. Independence, representation, and democracy are the fundamental qualities which inspired its formation and which justify its existence and growth. Since the Federation derives its existence by reason of its components, it follows that the preservation of these qualities depends upon their existence within the Federation's affiliates. An affiliated organization of the blind should be independent of other organizations and interests, and it should be truly "of the blind." By this is meant an affiliated organization of the blind must be controlled by blind people themselves. "Control" does not require exclusion from membership of all persons who are not blind. Rather, control can best be measured by the leadership of the blind members within the organization who must exercise a dominant role in the formulation and execution of program and policy. Certainly, a majority of the members within an organization must be blind persons, and a higher ratio is recommended. Likewise, a majority of the members of an executive board must be blind persons. It is mandatory that the president and the vice president, as executive officers, be blind. 2. Organizations of the blind frequently criticize programs and policies of agencies for the blind. It is increasingly true that blind persons from within our organizations are being employed by agencies for the blind. These persons should not be denied membership by reason of their employment. As a practical matter, however, a blind employee of an agency who has been elected to an executive office may find it difficult, if not impossible, to represent forcefully the position or program of his organization when it is at variance with his employer's policy or desire. There is potential educational value in having both blind and sighted agency employees eligible for membership. 3. In order to more adequately fill its representative role, each organization should continuously strive through an organized plan to enlarge its membership. It should endeavor to inform unorganized blind people of its purposes and functions. The organized blind men and women within these organizations have found common bonds of philosophy and objectives. Our strength and effectiveness depends upon our ability to bring others within this common bond. It is much easier and more desirable to settle our differences of opinion as equal members within one organization than it is to compete publicly as rival groups. Representation requires more than a membership. It requires that each organization of the blind formulate and actively present its program and criticism to its state legislature, to administrative boards, and to public administrators. It is essential that each organization have a legislative committee, board, or officer expressly charged with the responsibility for carrying out its legislative function. It is only through the Federation and its state affiliates that blind people can effectuate their programs and philosophy both at the state and national levels. The Federation's national program is formulated by the collective will of its affiliates. After the national program is formulated and implemented, the National Federation of the Blind must depend upon the active support of its state affiliates in order to successfully achieve the program objectives. It is only through the dedicated work and cooperation of members and organizations that the inferior, dependent ward status of the blind can be replaced by equality, dignity, and right. Any enterprise or project which is dedicated to the advancement of our common cause and to the achievement of first class citizenship for the blind deserves the support and active participation of all organizations of the blind. 4. Organizations of the blind should be managed and operated democratically. This standard requires adherence to the principle that the membership is the primary authority of the organization. Preferably, a general convention of the membership or elected delegates of the membership should be held annually. To assure democratic control, the membership of a state affiliate must meet and its principal executive officers must be elected at least once in every two years. There can be no closed memberships. Procedures for internal discipline should apply equally to each member. Each organization must have a written constitution or bylaws setting forth the structure of the organization, the authority of its officers and representatives, and their terms of office. 5. Organizations of the blind have found that operating funds are necessary to carry on their constructive programs and projects. In the spending of contributed funds, no affiliate shall divide publicly contributed funds among individual members on the basis of membership. Each affiliate must maintain adequate records of publicly contributed funds and must be able to account for the expenditure of such funds in accordance with the stated purposes given in the solicitation of such funds. 6. Participation in and representation at the national conventions are important duties and functions of each affiliate. In recent years, the National Federation's greeting card sales program has resulted in the disbursement of considerable sums to its participating affiliates. Current prospects are that future disbursements will be much larger. Since such disbursements are more than adequate to send at least one representative from each participating affiliate, such representation at national conventions, commencing with 1956, shall be required as a condition precedent to each participating affiliate's right to its disbursement in the following year; provided that a deprived affiliate shall be entitled to an appeal to the Executive Committee or to the convention. An affiliated organization which fails to be represented at three consecutive national conventions may be considered inactive and may be suspended as an affiliate by the Executive Committee. 7. The moneys disbursed by the Federation to its affiliates are received on a basis of representations made to the public. It is therefore made a condition precedent to such disbursement that the affiliates make a full report to the Federation of their use of these funds and establish proper accounting procedures, the adequacy of the reports and accounting procedures to be determined by the Executive Committee of the Federation. --------- NFB Camp Convention Adventures by Carla McQuillan If you are between the ages of six weeks and twelve years, NFB Camp is the place to be at national convention this year in Orlando. During meetings and general convention sessions NFB Camp will be open for fun. Our camp rooms are divided by age with toys and activities appropriate to the ages served in each room. We have rooms for infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. The infants and toddlers spend much of their time in the room with occasional walks around the hotel and stories read from Braille books. The preschool group will enjoy Braille story time, arts and craft projects, and small group play on the hotel lawns. The school-age children will have special-guest presentations on writing stories, science and technology, music and movement, and blind people employed in different professions. In addition, we will have daily excursions to the hotel lawns for outdoor games and water play. Field Trips to Monkey Joe's Just down the street from the hotel is an indoor fun house called Monkey Joe's. This air-conditioned party room has several giant inflatable structures with slides, obstacle courses, bounce houses, and ball pits. In addition there are several carnival and arcade games. We will be taking small groups of children to Monkey Joe's several times throughout the week. The cost will be ten dollars per child, which includes transportation on the local shuttle that runs up and down International Drive and admission to all the attractions at Monkey Joe's. Children must be between the ages of five and twelve, and priority will be given to children enrolled in NFB Camp for the week. Look for sign-up sheets at the NFB Camp registration desk when you get to the convention. Banquet Night NFB Campers will enjoy their own banquet night activities beginning with their meal. After dinner the children will enjoy games and win prizes at the camp carnival. NFB Workers NFB Camp is under the supervision of Carla McQuillan, president of the NFB of Oregon, and a longtime member of the Federation. Carla is the executive director of Main Street Montessori Association, operating three Montessori schools and a teacher-education program. She has directed NFB camp since 1996. Alison McQuillan serves as the activities and staff coordinator for camp. She monitors the daily programs, the drop-off and pick-up of children, and the staff-to-child ratio. She also ensures that only parents and authorized adults are allowed into camp rooms. Each of the three camp rooms has a supervisor who is responsible for the activities of that room's age group. These leads are chosen because of their experience and demonstrated capacity to handle groups of children and workers. Other workers and camp volunteers are drawn from within the organization. We usually have a mix of blind and sighted teens and adults who work with the children. Blindness Professional on Staff Michelle Chacon is a certified Orientation and Mobility instructor and a teacher of blind children. She will be available throughout the week to consult with parents and staff, as well as to provide some individualized instruction for our campers. Babysitting List NFB Camp maintains a list of people who are interested in providing care outside of the scheduled hours for camp. The list is at the check-in desk for NFB Camp. Parents are welcome to review names on the list if they are in need of caregivers during off hours. NFB Camp and the National Federation of the Blind are not responsible for the actions and behavior of those on the babysitting list. We do not screen the people; we merely maintain a central list for the convenience of convention attendees. Preregistration Because of limited space we require that parents wishing to enroll their children in NFB Camp complete and return the registration form that follows no later than June 15, 2013. You may also email or call to reserve your child's or children's space: or (541) 653-9153. Any questions can also be directed to Carla McQuillan at the same mailing address, email, and phone. NFB CAMP REGISTRATION FORM Completed form and fees must be received on or before June 15, 2013. Parent's Name________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________ City__________ State___________ Zip______ Phone _______________ Cell Phone _______________ Cell Phone _______________ Child or children's Name(s) ___________________________ Age_____ Date of Birth___________ ___________________________ Age_____ Date of Birth___________ ___________________________ Age_____ Date of Birth___________ Include description of any disabilities or allergies we should know about: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Who, other than parents, is allowed to pick up your child or children? ________ ____________________________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- PER WEEK: $100 first child, $75 for each sibling. (Does not include banquet) First Child = $ 100 # of additional siblings ____ x $75 = $ ________ TOTAL for the week = $ _______ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Or PER DAY: $25 per child per day: (Does not include banquet) M T W TH F S (circle) ($25 x ____ # of children) = $ _______ x ______ # of days = TOTAL $________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- BANQUET: $25 per child. ___ # Turkey Sandwich. ____# Cheese Sandwich. # of children ___ x $25 = $ ________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- TOTAL CAMP FEE: $ __________ We understand that NFB Camp is being provided as a service to make our convention more enjoyable for both parents and children. We will pick up children immediately following sessions. We understand that, if our child or children do not follow the rules or if for any reason staff are unable to care for our children, further access to childcare will be denied. Parent's Signature _____________________________________ Date ______________ Make checks payable to NFB Camp. Return form to NFB Camp, 5005 Main Street, Springfield, OR 97478; (541) 726- 6924; and . NFB CAMP SCHEDULE NFB Camp will be open during general convention sessions, division and committee meeting day, and the evening of the banquet. The hours for NFB Camp are tentative. The actual hours will be based on the beginning and ending of sessions so that parents can drop off their children thirty minutes before the start of session and must pick up their children within thirty minutes of the end of session. On occasion the actual end or beginning of session may be earlier or later than the agenda indicates. We charge a $10 per quarter-hour per child late pick-up fee. NFB Camp provides morning and afternoon snacks. You must provide lunch for your children every day. Date NFB Camp Hours Monday, July 1st 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 2nd Camp is closed. Wednesday, July 3rd 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4th 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday, July 5th 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 6th 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Banquet 6:30 p.m.-30 minutes after adjournment. Additional forms (emergency info, waivers, etc.) will be mailed or emailed after we receive the completed registration form. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Allen Harris] Convention Scholarships Available by Allen Harris From the Editor: Allen Harris chairs the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund committee. He has an important announcement for those who would like to attend this year's national convention but find themselves short of funds. This is what he says: The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund is looking for individuals who can use some financial assistance to attend our national convention in Orlando, Florida. At the 2012 convention in Dallas we were able to assist sixty-three people. In 2013 our convention will begin on Monday, July 1, and run through Saturday, July 6. The convention is a day shorter than you might expect, ending with the banquet Saturday evening. Who is eligible to receive a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? If you are a member of the National Federation of the Blind who has not yet attended a national convention, you are eligible to apply. What do I have to do to apply for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship? You must do the following and are responsible for meeting these application requirements: 1. Each individual who applies for a Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship must write a letter to the selection committee. You will send your letter of application to your NFB state affiliate president. A list of state presidents is posted on the NFB website . He or she will forward your completed application, along with his or her recommendation, to the committee at . You and your state president should make contact by telephone so that he or she is well aware of your financial need and your wish to attend the convention in Orlando. If you have questions, you may also send a message to the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship chairman by addressing your email to the scholarship submission email address. 2. You must write a letter to the Kenneth Jernigan Fund committee expressing the reasons why you want a scholarship. Describe your participation in the Federation and what you think you would contribute and receive at the convention. 3. You must register for and attend the entire convention, including the banquet. What else must I do to insure that my application will be considered? We must have all of the following information: 1. Your full name 2. Your address 3. Your telephone numbers (home, business, and cell) 4. Your email address (if you have one) 5. Your state president's name and the name of your local chapter, if you attend one All applications must be received by April 15, 2013. How do I get my scholarship funds? You will get a debit card at the convention loaded with the amount of your scholarship award. The times and locations to pick up your debit card will be listed in the notice you receive if you are a scholarship winner. The committee is not able to provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state affiliate to assist you by advancing funds you can pay back when you receive your scholarship. When will I know if I have been selected as a Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship winner? The committee makes every effort to notify scholarship winners by May 15, but you must do several things to be prepared to attend if you are chosen: 1. Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from attending, you can cancel your reservation. 2. You will receive a letter with the convention details which should answer many of your questions. It is also helpful to find a mentor from your chapter or affiliate to act as a friend and advisor during the convention. Although you will not know officially whether or not you have been selected until mid-May, you must make plans to attend and then adjust your arrangements accordingly. Last summer in Dallas the Jernigan Fund scholarship committee awarded sixty-three Kenneth Jernigan Scholarships. Grants ranged from $400 to $500. The amount we can give will depend on the funds available; we attempt to award additional funds to families. You can include in your letter to the committee any special circumstances which the committee may choose to take into consideration. Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first convention and join several thousand other blind Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. If you have questions or need additional information, call Allen Harris at (205) 520-9979 or email him at . We look forward to seeing you in Orlando. ---------- Recipes This month's recipes have been contributed by members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. Many appearing this month can be found in the cookbook created by the affiliate. The book is called Serving Our Best: Great Foods to Cheer You Right Up! The book is available in Braille, in print, and on CD as a Word document and BRF file. It is $10 and includes over seventy-five recipes of all types. To order, visit the NFB of Maryland website and pay using Paypal. Alternatively, email to place an order, or write a check payable to National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, and send it to 1026 East 36th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Easy Crock-Pot? Cream of Crab Soup by Will Schwatka Will Schwatka manages the recording studio at the Jernigan Institute and is the voice of the Braille Monitor, Future Reflections, and other publications produced by the NFB. He is a member of the Greater Baltimore Chapter. Ingredients: 3 cans condensed cream of potato soup 2 cans condensed cream of celery soup 4 large cans evaporated milk 1 stick butter 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 8 ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed 1 pound crab meat, shell bits removed Old Bay seasoning to taste Method: Combine all ingredients except Velveeta, crab meat, and Old Bay and heat on low in crockpot until hot, about an hour. Add cubed Velveeta, crabmeat, and Old Bay to taste. Heat on low until Velveeta has melted, about a half-hour. Serve. ---------- Meatball Stroganoff by Carylin Walton Carylin Walton works in the NFB Jernigan Institute's Outreach Department. She is a member of the Greater Baltimore Chapter. Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, 80/20 % 1/2 cup onion, chopped into small dice 3/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon McCormick Hamburger Seasoning 1 tablespoon McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 2 small eggs 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup 1 tablespoon sour cream Method: In a large bowl combine ground beef, onion, breadcrumbs, seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, and egg, and mix gently until well blended. If mixture is too moist, add more breadcrumbs. Form mixture into medium-sized meatballs and place on a baking sheet lined with heavy aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for forty-five to fifty minutes or until done, and remove from oven. Place meatballs in separate bowl, cover with foil to keep warm, and reserve two tablespoons of drippings. In a large nonstick pot, combine the two cans of mushroom soup, sour cream, and reserved drippings, and heat on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally until smooth and creamy. Add meatballs and continue to stir over low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve with baked potatoes, egg noodles, or white or brown rice. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Janice Toothman] Honey Dipped Chicken by Janice Toothman Janice Toothman is a member of the Sligo Creek Chapter of the NFB of Maryland and is in charge of the guide dog committee there. Readers may recognize her name from her article in the March 2013 issue of the Monitor. Ingredients: 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup prepared mustard 1 teaspoon curry powder 1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Place butter in the baking dish and put into the preheated oven to melt. Check the butter frequently so that it does not burn. This takes five to eight minutes, depending on your oven. Remove the baking dish from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Add the curry powder and prepared mustard; stir until smooth. Add the honey and stir well. Place the chicken in honey mustard sauce and coat evenly on both sides, taking care that pieces do not overlap. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for twenty minutes. Baste chicken with honey mustard sauce and bake for an additional fifteen to twenty-five minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken pieces. Remove to a cooling rack and baste chicken with honey mustard sauce. Serve this dish with rice or accompanied by vegetable side dishes. Note: I use orange blossom honey because it provides extra flavor and contrasts nicely with the curry, but any type of honey will do. If you are watching carbohydrates, substitute water for half the honey. It tastes the same. Just add the water with the honey. ---------- Mouth-Watering Cheese and Macaroni by Tracey Hall-Hennigan Tracey Hall-Hennigan has been a longtime member of the NFB of Maryland. She is on the board of directors of the Greater Baltimore Chapter and is an advisor to the Maryland Association of Blind Students. Tracey loves to cook, and we have all enjoyed her cheese and macaroni at chapter gatherings. Ingredients: 1 1-pound box elbow macaroni 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese 8 ounces Velveeta Cheese 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese 8 ounces Muenster cheese 1 8-ounce container sour cream 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups half-and-half 1 stick butter 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place large pot of water with seasoning salt over high heat. Once water comes to a boil, add vegetable oil, then elbow macaroni. Cook about 10 minutes (do not overcook.) Rinse pasta in cold water and drain well. Return to pot. In medium saucepan melt butter; add flour and one cup half-and-half. Stir constantly to prevent lumping. When mixture thickens, add all cheeses, eggs, and the remaining half-and-half. Stir until cheeses are melted. Add seasonings and sour cream. Stir well. Add sauce to macaroni and mix well. Pour into casserole dish. Spread evenly and cover. Bake until bubbly around the edges, about forty-five minutes. Serve hot. ----- Viking Sauce for Vegetables and Meats by Lorraine Rovig Lorraine Rovig joined the NFB in 1975 after being hired as a librarian at the Iowa Commission for the Blind. She now works at the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore, where she proofreads many of the documents produced by the staff before they leave the building. She also assists the chair of the NFB scholarship committee. Lorraine says many dishes from Scandinavia add a dash of nutmeg, which led her to develop this one. Ingredients: 1 small container low-fat sour cream (not the no-fat kind) 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg (or to taste) Method: Stir nutmeg into the sour cream. Heat the opened container in the microwave until hot. Stir again. Serve in an attractive serving dish. Now spoon this low-calorie sauce over vegetables or meats for a nice kick of flavor. ----- Aunt Edith's Recipe for Barbeque by Mary Ellen Thompson Mary Ellen Thompson was a longtime staff member at the National Center for the Blind. We are now extremely lucky to have her talents as an assistant to the Maryland Affiliate. She has been an active member of the Greater Baltimore Chapter for decades. This recipe can be doubled or even tripled to feed a large crowd. Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef 1/2 cup onion, chopped 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons Crisco or other solid shortening 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 cup catsup 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon vinegar Method: Place ground beef in frying pan and cook on low with onion until lightly cooked but not browned. Add all other ingredients and simmer for at least one hour. Serve on buns. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Melissa Riccobono with husband Mark and son Austin.] Grandma Lehman's Cocoa Brownies by Melissa Riccobono Melissa Riccobono is president of the NFB of Maryland. Her grandmother's brownies are in high demand at affiliate bake auctions every year and at gatherings at her home. This recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9- by-13-inch pan. Ingredients: 1/3 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup pure cocoa powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional) Method: Beat shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add flour, cocoa, and salt. Stir until smooth. Add nuts if desired. Pour into a greased 9-by-9-inch square pan. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for twenty-five minutes. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family [PHOTO CAPTION: Donna Hill playing guitar for group of education majors.] Federationists Speaks to Education Majors: Blind NFB volunteer publicist Donna W. Hill visited the University of Scranton Wednesday, February 20, 2013, to speak to education majors about the NFB Writers' Division and issues surrounding sight loss. Hill's novel, The Heart of Applebutter Hill, which comes out this spring, has received prepublication endorsements as a tool for promoting full inclusion of students with vision loss and as a tool to promote anti-bullying from professionals in education, rehabilitation, and the arts, including University of Scranton assistant professor of education Dr. Patricia Gross, LCB Braille instructor Jerry Whittle, Future Reflections editor Deborah Kent Stein, and Writers' Division President Robert Leslie Newman. Hill (seen here playing guitar) read the novel's first scene, which she hand-Brailled, and sang songs from the book. She plans to submit The Heart of Applebutter Hill for publication on Bookshare and Learning Ally shortly after the print and e-book versions hit the market. She will be putting proceeds from the sale of commercial versions aside to have a hard- copy Braille version published. More information about the novel, including an introduction for educators by Dr. Karen Squire (Chicago Lighthouse optometrist/low-vision specialist) is at: . To contact Donna, email , call (570) 833-2708, or write to 605 Overfield Rd., Meshoppen, PA 18630 National Association of Blind Office Professionals Announcement: The National Association of Blind Office Professionals (NABOP) will hold two meetings this year at our convention in Orlando, Florida, at the Rosen Centre Hotel. The first meeting will be held Monday, July 1, with registration beginning at 6:30 PM and the meeting beginning at 7:00. This will be a time of learning about assistive technology in the workplace, training opportunities, job announcements if any, and announcement of the upcoming Braille proofreading seminar to be held on Friday, July 5, beginning at 7:00 PM and ending at 9:00. Have you always wanted to get a feel for what it's like to do Braille proofreading? This is your chance to get hands-on experience. Mary Donahue and Lisa Hall, who will be conducting the seminar, hope that many fluent Braille readers will take advantage of this opportunity. If you are a parent of a blind child, teacher of the blind and visually impaired, or a rehabilitation teacher, or if you are just interested in learning what's happening in the Braille field, now is the time to join in the fun. If you are planning to participate in this seminar, let us know by June 15 so that we can get a count of Braille and large-print copies to produce. Membership dues are $5 a year. Contact Lisa Hall, president, 7001 Hamilton Avenue, Unit 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231; home phone: (513) 931- 7070; cell phone: (513) 550-5155; email: . Mary Donahue, vice president, can be reached at 8800 Starcrest Drive, Apartment 226, San Antonio, Texas 78217; home phone: (210) 826-9579; cell: (210) 445- 6356; email: . Dues can be sent in advance to Debbie Brown, treasurer, 11923 Parklawn Drive, Apartment 104, Rockville, MD 20852; home phone: (301) 881-1892; email: . We look forward to seeing everyone at this year's meetings in Orlando, Florida. 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. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Conducts Survey: The Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) is conducting a survey to understand how to serve better the needs of Braille and Talking Book readers. Take the survey now to let your opinions be heard and help us serve you better. To take the survey online or to learn more about it, go to or call (866) 545-1618 to schedule a time to take the survey over the phone. You do not have to be a current NLS reader to take the survey. The twenty-five minute survey is designed to learn more about your experiences with Talking Books and Braille, what types of Talking Book and Braille materials and services you are looking for, and what NLS can do to interest you in the free Library of Congress Talking Book and Braille program. If you aren't currently using NLS, let us know what services you want and how we can add you to our list of NLS readers. If you are a current NLS reader, let us know what we are doing well, where we can improve, and what new services you would like NLS to offer. Your answers to the survey questions will be kept confidential. Take the survey now to help Library of Congress NLS better serve all readers who use Talking Books and Braille! Join a Free Voice Chat Community on the Web: Would you like to have lots of fun and meet other blind or visually impaired people from across the country and around the world? Do you like challenging interactive games, old time radio, adaptive cooking techniques, a book club, chess instruction, product presentations, real-time technical assistance with your computer, Bible study, a weekly talent showcase, programs to learn about the iPhone, and more? Our community is made up of a set of free voice chat rooms that are extremely user friendly, and all you need is a microphone to get started. To become a member and join our Out-of- Sight free chat community, go to the website . Hope to see you soon! "Catch the vision--it's out of sight!" New Support Provided by Microsoft: Microsoft has launched a new support channel offering tailored support to people with disabilities and customers using our accessibility features. Every customer is important to us. We're passionate about providing the best possible experience for all our customers, including those with disabilities, to help them get the most out of Microsoft products. There are over fifty-eight million people with disabilities in the U.S. and one billion globally. Connecting customers with disabilities to experts who can guide them in using accessibility features and help get the best from their devices and software is a top priority for Microsoft. For the last several months Microsoft Customer Service and Support has been piloting a new support offering that provides a tailored experience for people with disabilities and customers using our accessibility features. Starting February 1, 2013, this experience is now available throughout North America, providing support specialists trained on accessibility and disability. The service is available using the telephone and email. Even though customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive during the pilot, we know we still have a lot to learn. After a support interaction, customers will be asked to complete a short survey providing us with additional and ongoing feedback on how we can continue to improve our support. The support desk for people with disabilities and/or assistive technologies is available in North America from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM PST during the week, and 6 AM to 3 PM on the weekends, English language only. If you want to try out the service, the direct telephone number is (800) 936-5900, and the web address is . We're passionate about supporting all our customers around the globe and being able to provide the same level of guidance to those who speak other languages. We will be rolling out support desks for people with disabilities and/or assistive technologies over the next year. More information on these areas will be available as they near launch. While our goal is to help all customers be successful with their software and devices, support for third-party technologies will continue to come directly from those partners. Microsoft will help you with those connections whenever possible. Currently there is no charge to use the accessibility service, although this is subject to change. All support services are aligned to current product and service warranty terms and pricing. Ongoing feedback is the key to improving this experience for people with disabilities over time. After a support call or email, Microsoft will contact you with a short survey to capture your feedback, allowing us to continue learning and growing this support environment. In addition, customers can provide feedback at any time by completing this survey. For more information visit the website . IRS Online Services for People with Disabilities: It's tax time again. Check out the many IRS online products and services available to taxpayers with disabilities. Individuals who are blind or visually impaired can now download hundreds of the most popular federal tax forms and publications from . These products range from accessible PDFs to e-Braille formats and are accessible using screen-reading software and refreshable Braille displays. Visit the page to download these forms and publications. View that highlights IRS products and services available for people with disabilities; also watch YouTube videos in American Sign Language (ASL). Discover the latest tax information for veterans with disabilities and more. Tax Return Preparation Help Also Available: People who are unable to complete their tax returns because of a physical disability may get assistance from a local IRS Tax Assistance Center or through a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance or Tax Counseling for the Elderly site (VITA or TCE). To find a Tax Assistance Center near you, go to , click on "contact IRS," and then select "contact your local IRS office." You can also find a nearby VITA or TCE location by calling (800) 906-9887. Publication 907, Tax Highlights for Persons with Disabilities, explains the tax implications of certain disability benefits and other issues and is available at . Visit and enter "accessibility" in the search box for more information. Camping Opportunity Available: Camp Abilities Nebraska is a week-long residential sports camp for youth ages nine to nineteen who are blind, visually impaired, or deafblind. The camp, held from July 21 to 26, will be a place where youth can explore sports and recreational activities in a safe environment with instructors who have experience in adaptive techniques. Camp Abilities Nebraska is cosponsored by Boys Town National Research Hospital and Outlook Nebraska, Inc. The cost is $300; scholarships are available. Nebraska residency is not required. Camp registration ends May 1 and is limited to twenty campers, so prompt enrollment is suggested. Volunteers in the areas of adaptive physical education and special education are needed; orientation is July 20 and 21. For more information or to make a donation to Camp Abilities Nebraska, contact Kristal Platt, camp director at (402) 498-6365, , or visit . National Deafblind Equipment Distribution Program: We would like to pass along the following information to our deafblind members. We encourage all NFB members to share this information about the National Deafblind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP), promoted by iCanConnect, a program established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to distribute assistive technology to people with combined hearing and vision loss who require special equipment to make a phone call, send an e-mail, or access the Internet. Working in conjunction with the FCC, Perkins School for the Blind, and the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults (HKNC), iCanConnect will connect people who are deafblind with the proper equipment and training on how to use it. iCanConnect was mandated by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act and provides a wide range of hardware, software, and applications to suit the varying communications technology needs of people who have hearing loss plus visual impairment. Who can benefit from iCanConnect? Here are just a few examples. . A recent college graduate who is deafblind and wants to use Monster.com to search for a job . A young girl with combined hearing and vision loss who wants to use Skype to connect using sign language with her grandmother . A man who has lost sight and hearing as a result of aging and wants to use email and Facebook to reconnect with friends and family Who is eligible? Any individual who meets the definition of deafblindness in the HKNC Act and has an income that does not exceed 400 percent of the federal poverty level can qualify to receive telephone, advanced communications, and information services equipment. Communication is essential for staying healthy, holding a job, managing a household, and participating in the community. If you know someone who might benefit from the iCanConnect program, please call (800) 825-4595 or visit the new website . ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Mon May 6 00:01:23 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Mon, 6 May 2013 00:01:23 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, May 2013 Message-ID: <201305060701.r4671NhW026782@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 5 May 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Orlando Site of 2013 NFB Convention The 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Orlando, Florida, July 1-6, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234. The 2013 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $79; and triples and quads, $85. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $90-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before May 13, 2013. The other 50 percent is not refundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2013, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon. Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe; coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award- winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport. The schedule for the 2013 convention is: Monday, July 1 Seminar Day Tuesday, July 2 Registration Day Wednesday, July 3 Board Meeting and Division Day Thursday, July 4 Opening Session Friday, July 5 Business Session Saturday, July 6 Banquet Day and Adjournment Requests for Accommodations Based on Disability: The convention of the National Federation of the Blind is designed and implemented to be accessible especially to blind people in that materials are offered in accessible formats and other nonvisual aids are provided. Therefore special requests for these items are not required. If you require specific accommodations based on your disability other than the blindness-related accommodations mentioned above in order to participate fully and equally in the convention, we urge you to let us know as soon as possible. Specific accommodations for which requests are required include requests for deaf or deafblind interpreters. Due to the size and complexity of this convention, as well as the need to plan appropriately for additional human and other resources, requests for specific accommodations must be submitted no later than May 31, 2013. In order to make a request, please 1) Preregister for the convention by visiting ; and 2) send your specific request for accommodations in writing to the NFB Jernigan Institute by email at . Please include your name, the dates you plan to be at the convention, information on the best way to follow up with you, and your specific request. Vol. 56, No. 5 May 2013 Contents Illustration: NFB Sponsors Family Engineering Day Section 508 and the Blind: One More Battle in the Fight for Equality in the Workplace by Gary Wunder How Braille Turned Me into a Purse Junkie by Audrey T. Farnum My Historic Recollections of the NFB by Jean Dyon Norris Kenneth Jernigan Library for Blind Children from The Zine Line Calling in the Cars by Joanne Wilson My Search for Accessibility by Robert Kingett >From the President's Mail Basket A Blind Senior's Journey to Independence by Diane McGeorge Deep Sea Fishing Adventure by Gordon Chan No Limits! 2013 National Organization of Parents of Blind Children Conference by Carlton Walker Recipes Monitor Miniatures NFB Sponsors Family Engineering Day On February 16, 2013, the Jernigan Institute Education Department of the National Federation of the Blind participated in National Engineers Week by hosting a Family Engineering Day. Its two-fold purpose was to introduce engineers and would-be majors in science, technology, engineering, and math to some of the devices of special interest to the blind and to encourage blind students to pursue careers in these fields. Of special interest to attendees were the blind-drivable vehicles created for the Blind Driver Challenge and the interfaces used to communicate nonvisually those elements in driving that currently come through vision. The interface was demonstrated to eager children and adults through the Blind Driver Simulator (BDS). To keep the masses entertained while they waited their turn for the BDS, the NFB took the opportunity to introduce the critical tool of Braille to sighted adults and children through sim- Braille worksheets and crayons, allowing people to write their names or short messages. [PHOTO CAPTION: Mark Riccobono hands out I love the Blind Driver Challenge bumper stickers to children waiting in line to try their hand at the BDS. [PHOTO CAPTION: Anil Lewis helps a pre-teen boy put on the BDS gloves.] [PHOTO CAPTION: A young girl uses a crayon and a sim-Braille worksheet to write her name while she waits.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Susie Stanzel discussing Section 508 at the 2013 NFB of Missouri convention.] Section 508 and the Blind: One More Battle in the Fight for Equality in the Workplace by Gary Wunder Like many other blind people of my generation, I grew up with a fascination for radio. Before the days when satellites, fiber optics, and the Internet made a call across the world as easy as a call across the street, people were fascinated by distance. The idea that we could listen to music while driving down the road without one single wire connecting us to a radio station some twenty miles distant gave the mind pause. We were amazed that at night a young lad could sneak a handheld radio under his covers and listen to stations it would take hours or even days to reach by car. In looking for far away stations I would sometimes come across familiar voices-late-night talk show hosts, popular disc jockeys, and occasionally a blind man with a very professional-sounding voice delivering a commercial about the National Federation of the Blind. It was inspiring to hear a pleasant and authoritative voice and to know it came from a blind man, but equally impressive was his message, heard again and again: "We are blind, but we are just like you." That line was most certainly intended for the sighted, and I appreciated its being sent to the nation, but it also had a special place in my heart because it affirmed for me that I wasn't so very different from the people who made up the world where I hoped I would soon be taking my place. When we think about meaningful statements that sum up who blind people are and why we have organized for action--"We are blind, but we are just like you"--doesn't usually make the list of statements that encapsulate our philosophy. But to me that statement has always been magical in its ability to communicate in a brief, clear, and memorable phrase what it is that brings us together and what we hope to help the rest of the world to understand. Being just like you says that we have the same needs, desires, and dreams as everyone else; we want to be loved, respected, and needed. We want to provide for ourselves and our families, give to our neighbors and our communities, and be seen first and foremost as human beings with talents and thoughts and emotions that together make us an asset in the world. To become what we want requires some effort on our part and some effort on the part of the society in which we live. We have to be willing to dream and to work to make our dreams come true. Society has to acknowledge that blindness presents some very concrete challenges, but that meeting them can help make blindness one of many characteristics, rather than the most predominant; it can help in determining whether in America blindness will be a tragedy or an inconvenience that can be handled without much bother. One challenge facing blind people today is access to the technology used at home and in the workplace. Government and industry have been slow to acknowledge the technological challenges the blind are beginning to face as we perform the routine duties of keeping a house and cooking our meals, but as early as 1998 the federal government acknowledged the need for technology usable by the blind in places of employment by adopting Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In a nutshell the law says that anything built or purchased by the federal government must be accessible to people with disabilities, including the blind. The law covers everything from office computers to the copy machine, but the reality of federal compliance falls far short of the promises so eloquently proclaimed in the statutes of our land. Many of us have learned from bitter experience that the government continues to buy whatever it wants and assumes that some kind of adaptive technology will be created to work with whatever it purchases. The federal government buys most items only after an agency issues what is called a request for proposal (RFP). In theory this document does not specify a brand or even a specific device but outlines the need that the product or service must meet. An agency would not ask for a Hoover vacuum cleaner but would specify that it needed a device capable of removing dirt, lint, and dust from surfaces. It would then specify: wood, carpet, and tile, to name a few. Not all of the items the government wants and lists in an RFP carry equal weight. Some are requirements and are mandatory, some are highly desirable, and others fall under lesser categories which indicate they would be nice to have but not essential. A requirement for a vacuum cleaner might stipulate that any device purchased must remove 98 percent of the debris from a carpet and must hold that debris in a reusable canister for later disposal. Other features might be less rigid and reflect desirable characteristics such as how much dust the device should remove from the air, how much the machine should weigh, how much noise it could make while in operation, and how far it could be moved from a power source and still be operational. I used to write these proposals for the University of Missouri, and you can see how carried away by abstraction one can get when using complicated language to avoid saying how long the power cord must be. When agencies receive responses to their request for proposal documents, a system for evaluation is employed to determine who will be the supplier or vendor. Failure to meet anything appearing under the requirements section is in theory removed from consideration. Then come the desirables, and each desirable is assigned a point value. Generally, accessibility is listed in this section, and its point value is often so low that purchases can be made even when the item sought is clearly not usable without vision. When accessibility is actually given a weight that means it might matter in a purchase, bidders may initially claim features they don't have in the hope that the agency has no intent to evaluate or way of assessing their statements. Alternatively they may claim that their current product falls short of the specifications in the RFP, but in their next release the product they are selling will be fully compliant. This is my understanding of the way federal agencies procure inaccessible hardware and software. There are probably variations I'm not aware of or ones I've heard about but forgotten. It offends my optimistic point of view to admit that perhaps sometimes it is as simple as the government deciding beforehand what it wants and then just making the purchase, but this is a view all-too-often echoed by the section 508 coordinators, one for each agency in the federal government. From discussions held on Section 508 listservs and other forums, it is clear that at best coordinators are asked after the fact how to make a purchased item compliant, more commonly than they wish they are asked how to make it minimally accessible, and all too frequently they are asked to sign-off on items they know are not at all usable, their endorsement intended to cover for higher-ups who want to say that the person responsible for assuring accessibility signed off on the acquisition. However the inaccessible technology finds its way into the federal government, the consequences for the blind person are consistently negative. At a minimum, blind employees must work harder to accomplish tasks that have been created to be performed visually, and at worst the systems the blind are required to use won't work at all with any assistive technology existing today. Signing on to government systems may be as simple as entering one's user identification code and a password of one's choosing or as complicated as allowing the machine to attempt a retinal scan to determine if one is authorized to access the system. Recording work activity may be as straightforward as completing a simple document containing the date, the hours worked, and the tasks accomplished or as difficult as accessing a system that provides no auditory or Braille response to presses of the tab key, arrow keys, or specially assigned screen reader keys created to extract information and present it to a blind person. Sometimes buttons on a screen used to initiate functions are clearly labeled, sometimes they appear without labels but can be identified by their position on the screen if one can tab or arrow to them, and sometimes they register not at all and are completely invisible to the blind person and the screen-access program he or she is using. In today's work environment it is common to get one's assignments by signing on to a system containing work lists, current projects, their due dates, and a place to record progress. These systems also provide for assigning parts of a project to other work teams, following their progress, and escalating critical problems to management. Before the days of the ever-present computer, meetings were scheduled by conversations in the coffee room, by walking from office to office to invite meeting participants, or by using the telephone to bring people from distant locations together. Now scheduling meetings is computerized and involves looking at the calendars of meeting participants and then requesting their presence at a time when all of them are available. When such systems make no provision for alerting a blind employee that he is adding a participant to a meeting who is already booked for the proposed time, the result is irritation by all involved because all of their calendars must be changed to accommodate the now rescheduled gathering. Though these auxiliary systems are likely not the ones used to do the real work one has been assigned, cumulatively the inability to use them interferes substantially with the ability to do the essential functions of one's job, interrupts the flow of work in the office, and puts the blind employee in a position of having to ask for help in doing tasks that fellow employees consider routine. For the office worker, training is becoming an annual part of the performance appraisal. Almost everyone in government must take classes prior to each evaluation on sexual harassment, cultural diversity, and quality customer service. Training once accomplished by sending workers to seminars and short courses or by bringing in outside experts is now done through computer instruction. More often than not this instruction is also inaccessible. Some systems are so inaccessible that they offer screens which appear to be blank to screen-reading programs; some programs allow signing in but do not allow sequential reading of training texts, and still others allow reading of the text but will not allow the trainee to take the exam or acknowledge with a push of a button that they have read the required material. Not only are computer workstations sometimes inaccessible, devices as seemingly simple as the telephone can offer functions that exclude the blind. Some phones in government offices use a flashing light or a special icon on their screens to indicate a waiting voicemail; the stutter dial tone commonly found on home voicemail systems is not incorporated into these business phones. The audible caller ID often found on the least expensive cordless telephones is similarly absent, and nonvisual ways to program frequently called numbers to the many onscreen buttons that make up the business handset simply don't exist. Audible alerts signaling that the photocopier or printer is out of paper or needs ink or toner are also too often absent, and the question one must ask in these days when even a birthday card can talk and sing is why we would waste the potential of productive employees with disabilities when our technology clearly provides a way for them to thrive and make significant contributions to America's economy and her government. Reasonable accommodation may be made for the blind employee by having someone take on parts of the job he or she cannot do because of the shortcomings in purchased technology. This is called job restructuring. The concept is appealing in theory but is quite difficult to implement in practice. Occasionally a coworker will be asked to help a blind worker by filling out a printed time sheet, solving a visual captcha, or pressing a button that appears on a screen but is not detectable by a screen reader because the program displaying the button has not followed standard conventions for displaying this visual item. Occasionally the blind employee can offer something of equal value to the helpful coworker by freely giving advice in his or her area of expertise, but the effectiveness of asking for this help and being able to offer similarly beneficial help depends on how often one encounters a task that requires vision and for which no other alternative technique is available. In the workplace the experience of many blind people and those who work with them is that the brainpower needed to do the job is abundantly present, the attitude to perform the job is clearly above average, and the gratitude for having the job often exceeds that of the coworker who believes, rightly or wrongly, that there are a hundred other places she could use her talent if she tires of this job. But though brains, attitude, persistence, and flexibility are essential, they cannot compensate for equipment that fails to present needed information in Braille or audio. When no alternative techniques exist and when the employer will not follow the law and expects that somehow the blind person will come up with another solution, discord, tension, and unhappiness are bound to occur on both sides. When work assignments are given, the blind worker's supervisor must take into account what part of the job to be done will require access to equipment the blind employee cannot use. The blind worker who is told about new and improved software that will help him and his colleagues do their jobs with less effort and greater efficiency on the one hand is excited at the possibilities the new systems will bring, and on the other hand almost immediately wonders whether the features that sound so helpful and liberating will be accessible or will place yet another obstacle in his path. If her job is encumbered only slightly by the need to ask for help and if she is well liked, fellow employees and her supervisor may be glad to help and feel good about the kindness they have done. If the requests are frequent, the assignments that can be given are limited, and the time to complete them exceeds what is considered reasonable, those good feelings soon turn to resentment, and the consequences are felt by everyone, most especially the blind employee. Not only is Section 508 skirted, ignored, or relegated to relative insignificance by too many agencies in the federal government, but its effectiveness is hampered by one other factor. If discussions with superiors and their management fail to bring about accommodations that will let the blind employee be the productive worker he or she can be by virtue of God-given and cultivated talent, the only avenue open to him or her is to sue the employer for violations of federal law. Consider the stress caused by filing a lawsuit against people who have been your colleagues for years and trying to convince them that fighting for the right to do your job requires that you file a complaint or even sue them. Try sending this message while striving to keep uppermost in their minds that you are still, first and foremost, a team player who is dedicated to the goal of making your team, your office, and your department the best they can be. Consider the tension this creates between the blind worker, the supervisor, and the layers of management with whom he must work. People recognize that they may be defendants in a suit that will call them to testify, not only about any involvement they have had with this blind employee in the past, but on every action they take between the time the suit is filed and is settled. For many blind employees the cost of testing the law and making it deliver what it was designed to provide in the way of equal treatment and workplace equality is just too much. The blind worker often decides to settle for lower evaluations, management settles for less productivity than it wants and deserves, and all parties consciously or unconsciously start thinking about the countdown clock ticking toward the time when early retirement or the choice to take disability is exercised. This is not what anyone envisioned with the passage of Section 508, and it certainly isn't the vision that the blind student had when she moved into the work-a-day world with visions of climbing the ladder of success. Occasionally circumstance and character intersect, and someone who has given his or her best concludes that, for the law to mean anything, it must be enforced. This convergence is the subject of the article you are reading, and in future articles the Braille Monitor will highlight federal workers who have given their best and tried to be team players but who have reluctantly concluded that going along to get along doesn't solve the problems that stand between giving the most they can to their agencies and maximizing their productive capacity. Neither does going along to get along further the promise we have made to future generations, a central one being that they will find greater opportunities to thrive, live on their own, and have a better than equal chance of becoming a part of loving and enriching marriages, making enough money to support their children and sometimes their grandchildren, and being the role models on which others pattern their lives and judge their success. One federal employee seriously contemplating the filing of a complaint is Susie Stanzel, a blind information technology specialist employed by the Department of Agriculture, the sixth largest government agency in the country. She is not by nature a complainer. Her thirty-nine-year career with the USDA, complete with numerous promotions, raises, and awards, is a testament to her tenacious work ethic and whatever-it-takes attitude. Never has she been a forty-hour-a-week clock-watcher. Instead, one of the more significant stresses in her life has focused on balancing being a wife and mother of three and working many weekends and holidays to meet department goals and honor her personal commitment to her coworkers, direct supervisors, and managers. It would not be an overstatement to say that she has regarded as false any prioritization between her work and her family, knowing that without her successful career she could not have given to those she loves the resources to succeed and the example to follow that makes them what they are today. Susie has not encountered all of the technological barriers elaborated here, but her case is one of several the National Federation of the Blind may pursue in an effort to make the promises of Section 508 a reality for blind employees. As events proceed, the Braille Monitor will have much more to say about this case and others like it in which blind employees find themselves confronting attitudes and technology that hinder them as much as help in attempting to fulfill the expectations of their employers and themselves as highly productive workers. Section 508 must make real in the federal workplace the promises it boldly proclaims as the law of the land. Current federal workers must benefit from its protection, and future employees must know that their education and training can reasonably be expected to lead to opportunities for success that only usable technology can ensure. Only one organization has the commitment, the technical expertise, and the legal knowhow to make this happen. The National Federation of the Blind championed the rights of blind people long before the days of digital domination in the workplace, and no matter the technical or legal complexity, we will stand strong to see that the blind can work alongside the sighted and share in the opportunity of what it means to be a citizen of our great land. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Audrey Farnum slipping her Braille display into one of her many new purses.] How Braille Turned Me into a Purse Junkie by Audrey T. Farnum From the Editor: This delightful article is reprinted from the Winter 2013 issue of the NFB Ok Today, a publication of the NFB of Oklahoma. It, like Audrey, is a gem. Enjoy: January 4, 2013, would have been Louis Braille's 204th birthday. As I read many comments on Twitter and Facebook about the occasion, I started thinking about how much Braille has revolutionized my life over the past few years. Although I have been legally blind since birth, I was a very high partial who was mainstreamed in public schools and got by with reading print. I occasionally relied on large print, and, as I got older and my reading load increased, I turned to audio books to help me keep up with my sighted peers. No one ever suggested that it might be beneficial for me to learn Braille, and, to be honest, had it ever been suggested to me, I probably would have fought against it with every fiber of my being. I was young and insecure and trying to hide my blindness so I could fit in. I have no doubt that I would have been horrified by the idea of using Braille at school. Looking back on it, I probably would have received more acceptance in school had I embraced my blindness. At least then my peers would have understood the reasons for the behaviors for which I was frequently ridiculed. Instead I largely kept to myself and clung to a small group of friends who accepted me without question or need for an explanation. I always felt awkward, out of place, and ashamed because I was different, but I survived and made it through school. I went on to college, then law school. While the pressure to fit in decreased with age, I still did everything I could to cover up my blindness. Then, in 1999, the retina in my left eye detached, and I lost all my vision in that eye. I was twenty-five at the time and fresh out of law school, looking for my first job as an attorney. When I lost the eye, I remember thinking that I was probably on borrowed time with my remaining eye and learning Braille would be wise. But after the initial shock wore off and I got used to working with my one eye, I reverted to my old ways and stuck to print and some audio. Finally, February 2006 rolled around, and I had just had a second vitrectomy on my right eye to try to repair a detached retina. I went to the doctor the day after surgery to have my bandage removed and get some post-surgery follow-up. This second vitrectomy involved putting some silicon oil in my eye to hold the retina in place, so there was no waiting for a gas bubble to disappear with the hope of my vision returning to pre-detachment quality. When the patch came off, I knew that was the best things were going to get. I thought I was ready for it, but, when I opened my eye for the first time and all I could see was distorted wavy shapes-light and colors that were all wrong-I came to the terrifying realization that I was no longer going to be able to glide through life, acting as if I were sighted. I was blind, and a lot of things were about to change. Of all the things that I could no longer do, the thing that was most upsetting to me was the inability to read. I could no longer read print, and I had never learned Braille. With all my education and the fancy degrees hanging on my wall at work, I was functionally illiterate. It was a soul-crushing development for me. While I knew that the other blindness skills I was learning in rehabilitation were important and essential to independence, I needed Braille most of all to restore my sense of self- worth. I was scheduled to go to a rehabilitation center for twelve weeks of training to learn Braille, among other skills. When I went to this center for a two-week evaluation in June of 2006, I was told all the usual nonsense about how hard it is to learn Braille as an adult and not to expect too much from myself. Basically, the vibe I got from this place was that I should focus on learning to use audio for all my reading needs. Fortunately, the best way to get me to do something is to tell me it can't be done. So I went home and resolved to get a head start on Braille. I was told it would take the whole twelve-week training program to learn uncontracted (grade 1) Braille. That wasn't good enough for me. If that's all they wanted to teach me, then I decided I'd learn uncontracted Braille before I went back to the center in September so that I could force them to teach me more. I found a Braille teacher in Oklahoma City who got me started, and in four weeks I was reading uncontracted Braille. I couldn't read fast, but it was an encouraging start, and it was proof to me that the rubbish that had been fed to me during my evaluation was wrong. I went back to the center in September 2006 for my twelve weeks of training. One of the biggest highlights of the experience for me was sitting down for my first Braille lesson. I was paired up with another student who had no Braille experience and a bad attitude to boot. As the teacher was handing us uncontracted Braille lesson books, I spoke up and told her that I had learned it over the summer and wanted to move on to contracted Braille. My declaration was met with stunned silence. After a few moments passed, she flipped open the book to a lesson at the back and told me to read it. I oozed arrogance and confidence as I accepted her challenge and read the passage she indicated. It was all I could do to keep myself from doing a victory dance on the table. My fellow classmate with the bad attitude dropped out of the program the next day, and I conveniently found myself in a one-on-one contracted Braille class. I was the only client at the center who learned contracted Braille during my time there. About ten weeks into the program, my Braille teacher gave me my first Braille book to read, Horton Hears a Who. She was very excited about my progress and told me that in her years at the center she had never had the opportunity to teach contracted Braille to someone. She had done some touch- up with people who had learned Braille in school but were rusty from nonuse, but she had never taught a newly blind adult. I was stunned by this and questioned her more about it. She said that most of her students never even finished uncontracted Braille because they thought it was too difficult and preferred relying on speech. I found this revelation disheartening and depressing, and I couldn't imagine why, barring some other condition or medical complication, someone would choose not to read Braille. It seemed to me that the expectations for newly-blind adults were very low, and that made me sad. Only after a couple of years would I find the NFB and discover that there were people with higher expectations and people who truly believed in the capacity of the blind. I left that rehab center with the false belief that what I had accomplished in my Braille training was unusual. I later learned from my NFB family that it was not and that I could do more. So I learned Braille and read a children's book. Big deal. I couldn't read very fast, and it was useless to me except for labeling and writing short notes to myself. It was a start, but not enough. I wasn't using it at work. I was devouring audio books, but I wasn't really reading Braille. At my first NFB national convention in 2009, there was a panel discussion about Braille literacy. Anil Lewis talked about his experience with learning Braille and how he came to the realization that he needed to learn it. He read his remarks in Braille and commented that he had been inspired to learn to read it after stumbling through a speech a year earlier. Much of what he described sounded eerily familiar to me. Suddenly it dawned on me that memorizing a code does not make me literate. I couldn't read Braille enough for it to be useful, and I couldn't write more than a label or quick note. I was still functionally illiterate, and that center I went to did me no favors by giving me the false belief that I was somehow special. I resolved then and there that I would make more of an effort to read Braille. I went home and ordered myself a Braille book. I tried to read for at least an hour a day. Because of working full time and other stuff going on in my life, I didn't always make that goal, but I kept reading and getting faster. I finished that book and another one after that, and my speed gradually improved. Eventually I decided to get a refreshable Braille display to use with my iPod Touch. I found the experience of reading refreshable Braille to be more satisfying, since it removed the extra distraction of trying to keep my place on a page. I turned off the speech on my Read2Go Bookshare app and read. Later I discovered that reading newspaper articles with the NFB-NEWSLINE app was a great way to practice since I could read a short piece and feel like I was accomplishing something every time I finished an article. I would also read Twitter updates as a way to make myself read but keep things short so I could manage my frustration level. My efforts paid off, and I started to feel comfortable reading. I was reading well enough that I could now go into a restaurant and read a Braille menu in a reasonable amount of time. This was encouraging, and I was starting to feel better about my skills. I was in store for yet another humbling experience when I attended a leadership seminar at the NFB Jernigan Institute in the fall of 2012. I was asked to write a brief assignment, and my work could be handwritten or written in Braille. I have no confidence in my handwriting anymore, so it was Braille or nothing for me. I had the option to have someone Braille the assignment for me, but I'm stubborn and decided it would be a good experience to do it myself. I started out with a slate and stylus, but it was taking forever, and I knew I'd never get any sleep if I kept that up. I had used a Perkins Brailler a couple of times during my rehab training, but I didn't even remember how to load the paper correctly. Fortunately, my NFB family is a helpful and encouraging bunch, and one of my fellow seminarians gave me a refresher course on Brailler basics. Then I began the process of laboriously typing my essay. I discovered that, while I could read contracted Braille, I apparently had been picking up a lot of what I was reading from context. When I actually had to type in contracted Braille, I couldn't remember about half the contractions I needed. I felt like an idiot. With help from my new friend, who patiently sat with me during the whole process to tell me contractions I couldn't remember, I finally finished my six-sentence essay. It's an exaggeration even to call it six sentences. A third of the way through I gave up and broke my thoughts down into a list so I wouldn't have to write so much. The whole thing barely filled half a page. It took about an hour to write that little masterpiece with the Brailler, and that's not counting the hour and a half I spent composing my rough draft on my computer and the numerous attempts I made to write the assignment with a slate. It was embarrassing to observe how deficient my writing skills were, and I can't imagine the patience it took for my friend to sit with me while I demonstrated my incompetence. Shortly after my writing fiasco, the cell phone I had been using for years finally kicked the bucket, and I ended up with an iPhone. While I was already a seasoned VoiceOver user with my iPod Touch, I had resisted getting an iPhone because I preferred the text-entry method on my Nokia N86 and wanted to stick with it as long as possible for texting and Twitter. I love VoiceOver on the iPhone, but I do find the process of typing with a touch screen to be tedious at best. After several unsatisfying experiments with different QWERTY Bluetooth keyboards and with my writing failure fresh in my mind, I decided it was time to learn how to type with the Braille keyboard on my Braille display. It was slow going at first. I recall spending about thirty minutes typing a short status update on Facebook. But after a week or two I was typing at an acceptable speed with the Braille keyboard and wondering why I hadn't tried that sooner. I can now type faster with my Braille display than I could if my iPhone had a physical keyboard instead of a touch screen. A great side effect of learning to type with my Braille display was that it helped me to read better and made me faster with a slate and stylus. I am now addicted to that Braille display as much as I am to my iPhone. The two items are inseparable in my opinion, and I don't go anywhere without them. I felt so strongly about wanting my Braille display with me at all times that I actually went out and bought a purse specifically to carry it. Not just any purse, mind you--I ended up with a three hundred dollar Coach purse. I rationalized this expenditure by telling myself that my newly treasured Braille display deserved to be carried around in style. This may not sound like a big deal until you realize that, in my thirty-nine years of life, I have rarely carried a purse. I'm a low-maintenance kind of girl, who values comfort and convenience over fashion and social conventions. I have never felt the need to lug around a bunch of extra stuff. I was of the opinion that, if I couldn't fit what I needed in my pockets, I didn't need to take it with me. I thought women who spent hundreds of dollars on purses were idiots. Now, because of the Braille display, I not only carry a purse, but I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Coach and had a blast doing it. I now have multiple purses to suit different occasions and carrying needs and can't resist cruising by the purse department every time I go to the mall. Everyone who knows me well is shocked by my sudden purse addiction. This really is a major development in my life, and it is all because Braille has become an essential part of my daily existence. Not only is typing on my iPhone now a pleasant experience, but I also appreciate the Braille display for giving me a way to use my phone in noisy environments. Sometimes at concerts or noisy sporting events I might as well not even have a phone because it is too loud to hear VoiceOver through background noise. With Braille, background noise is no longer a problem. The first time I made a Facebook post completely with Braille and with no help from VoiceOver, I honestly got a little teary. I suppose it's silly, but using Braille at a noisy football game so I could use Twitter and Facebook during the game made me feel normal. It was ironic to me that, after spending the majority of my life trying to hide my blindness and feel normal, I suddenly achieved the feeling of normalcy by using Braille. After observing how Braille has improved my quality of life and changed the way that I think about myself and my blindness, I often wonder how much better my life might have been had I learned Braille as a child. It was assumed by teachers, my parents, and even me that, since I could read print, that was the best option for me. But looking back on it, I think about all the eye strain, the neck and back pain from hunching over my books, and the extra hours it took me to read because my low vision made reading slower for me. I also think about the shame and embarrassment I felt when I had to give presentations and had to hold my notes a few inches in front of my face. I was always self-conscious about the fact that my audience was seeing the back of my notes and not my face. I'm not pointing fingers or placing blame. I do believe that I had enough vision to warrant learning print, and it was a tool that I needed. But Braille would have been a nice extra weapon to have in my arsenal of skills. I have no doubt that, had I started as a child, I would have ended up reading Braille as fast as my sighted peers read print. When I think of all the times Braille could have helped me, the first situation that comes to mind is an experience I had during law school. I had to do an oral argument in front of a mock appellate court. I spent the whole semester preparing my case, and the trial would determine my grade for the class. I showed up to the oral argument in a spiffy new suit thinking I was prepared and ready to wow the judges with my brilliance. I thought I had planned ahead to deal with my note-reading issues. I knew I would be too nervous to rely solely on memory, so I put all my notes in large print on index cards and was certain I would be able to look down at the podium to read them. I don't know if it was nerves, different lighting from my practice runs, or both, but, when I looked down, my notes were a blur. I didn't want to hold the cards in front of my face, so I tried to go from memory. Ultimately my oral argument was a complete disaster. I got trounced by my opponent and looked like a stammering idiot. I got a C minus in the class, the lowest grade I would receive in law school. It was one of the three low points of my law school career, all of which had direct ties to my blindness. It was also the exact moment I decided I did not want to be a trial attorney. In hindsight I understand how valuable Braille would have been to me in my oral argument. My Braille notes could have rested comfortably on the podium while I read them, likely unnoticed by the judges or anyone else in the courtroom who witnessed my debacle. I would have appeared more normal by embracing a blindness skill instead of trying to rely on vision as the only answer, and I know I would have received a higher grade. On more than one occasion I have heard statements like "Don't make that child look blind by forcing him to read Braille. Print is more normal." My experience is a classic demonstration that this belief is wrong and harmful. It teaches a blind child to be ashamed of blindness and is a sure-fire way to cripple confidence. Braille should not be thought of as something that only totally blind people use. It is not an inferior alternative to print that should be taught only if there is no other option. Braille is a tool to attain literacy and independence. We should teach our blind children to be proud of Braille and see the value of literacy. Studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between Braille literacy and employment. Blind children have enough obstacles to deal with as it is. We shouldn't rob them of an additional tool to overcome educational and employment barriers just because they can read large print by straining and taking extra rest periods. While a low-vision child is resting his eyes so he can start reading again, his peers are leaving him behind. My journey with Braille is still in its infancy. I have made tremendous progress over the past couple of years, but I know that I can still do better. I still find myself regularly falling back to audio alternatives because I am in a hurry and want to get things done faster. There are going to be plenty of times when audio is simply more efficient for me, and it will always be a part of my life. However, I have found ways to make Braille useful to me by using it in practical situations that are interesting and meaningful to me. I will likely never be a fast Braille reader, but I cherish Braille. I am so thankful that it is a daily part of my life. I still need to practice, but I am glad that I made the choice to learn and put forth the effort. I am thankful to my NFB family who humbled me and encouraged me to embrace Braille. And mostly I am thankful to Louis Braille, who as a teenager created this life-changing code because he rightly believed that literacy and knowledge were essential to independence for the blind. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jean Dyon Norris addressing a group in the 1950s] [PHOTO CAPTION: Jean Dyon Norris addressing a group in the 1960s] [PHOTO CAPTION: Jean Dyon Norris in her office in the 1990s] My Historic Recollections of the NFB by Jean Dyon Norris From the Editor: Jean Dyon Norris has been an active volunteer and supporter of the National Federation of the Blind for more than fifty years. For decades after she invented and began producing Twin Vision books for blind and sighted parents and children, she headed the Tarzana office of the American Brotherhood for the Blind-now the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. She is a Californian, so a good bit of Federation history has necessarily flowed around her, and she has a wonderful collection of stories and memories about the organization and its early California and national leaders. She recently wrote down a number of her recollections of Jacobus tenBroek and the NFB. What follows is a selection of these stories, somewhat edited and reorganized for clarity. In 1958 I was looking for volunteer work to do. When I was looking through my newspaper, I saw a notice of a rummage sale to benefit the local blind organization. I had never known any blind people, but I decided to gather up some rummage and go help. I discovered a group of normal folks whose only problem was that they could not see. We had a great time, and they invited me to their weekly meetings. The main NFB chapter met monthly about twenty miles away. Tony Mannino was president of that group. I drove Tim McGinnis, president of the local group, and several club members to the monthly meetings. Tim gave me an issue of the Blind American, the forerunner of the Braille Monitor. The featured story in that issue was by Dr. Jacobus tenBroek. TenBroek's father immigrated from Holland to Canada during the first decade of the twentieth century. He built a cabin on the plains of Alberta. TenBroek's mother arrived in Canada on a bride ship and married tenBroek senior the day they met. When Jacobus was seven, he and a friend made themselves bows and arrows. They used a piece of burlap with a hole in the center as a target. Tragically, Jacobus put his eye to the hole from behind the target at the very moment that his friend shot an arrow and hit the bull's eye for the first time that day. Young tenBroek lost that eye immediately and the other a few years later from sympathetic ophthalmia. Reading that story moved me so much that I decided to join the organization that he had founded and was now the president of, the National Federation of the Blind. I wrote to the Berkeley office to subscribe to the Blind American and received a warm acknowledgement from Dr. tenBroek's wife Hazel. TenBroek's family had moved to California when Jacobus was young because Canada had no provisions for educating blind children. Jacobus was enrolled in the California School for the Blind, where Dr. Newel Perry was a remarkable teacher. Many of my blind friends had been taught by Doctor when they were students at the school. Muzzy Marcellino recalled that Dr. Perry carried a ruler around and did not hesitate to whack the hand of any student who he considered deserved it. Dr. tenBroek reported that, when Dr. Perry visited his parents, he warned them not to treat Jacobus as if he were blind. He should be expected to get up, dress, make his bed, and do any chores assigned to him. I became an active member of the local chapter and decided to learn Braille. One day I overheard a member, Audrey Hebner, telling friends that her children could not understand why she could not read their print storybooks to them. She wished out loud that someone would put Braille on the pages so that she could read the books. I went home that day and duplicated some of my own children's books and placed Braille on the pages. I gave Audrey the books, and immediately other parents asked me to make books for them as well. At that time Dr. tenBroek was president of the American Brotherhood for the Blind (ABB). The organization had become pretty inactive, but it still had about $5,000 in its treasury. Some members approached Dr. tenBroek about my print/Braille books, a project that interested Mrs. tenBroek. Dr. tenBroek sent Kenneth Jernigan down to interview me. When I mentioned that Audrey Hebner had given me the idea, he commented that they had gone to school together at the Tennessee School for the Blind and that there had been very few Braille books for the children to read. It seems fitting that decades later our print/Braille library was renamed the Kenneth Jernigan Library for Blind Children. Jumping forward many years, one day I answered the phone at the Tarzana office and took down a request from a grandmother who wanted some Twin Vision books to read to her grandchildren. She gave her name as Audrey Hebner. I asked excitedly if she were the Audrey Hebner who had given me the idea for Twin Vision books, and she was. We talked for a long time, and I gave her the news that Dr. Jernigan was gravely ill. She called him immediately, and the old friends talked for an hour. At any rate, Dr. tenBroek decided that creating print/Braille books was a worthy project for the ABB to undertake; it just needed a name. My suggestions were "Dots for Tots," "Double Vision," and "Twin Vision." We settled on this final name, and it is now trademarked. During those early years of my involvement with the NFB, I did a lot of driving for the organization. Efforts were being made to organize up toward Santa Barbara. Many blind people had just given up, but a few were interested in changing things. I drove Tim McGinnis, Tony Mannino, and once even Perry Sundquist to monthly meetings. One of the people I drove was Ms. Cruz Blackburn. She was a special friend of Frances Blend, who had founded the Frances Blend School for the Blind in Los Angeles. The three of us had lunch together one day, and they told this story: Ms. Blend was researching the addresses of blind children in Los Angeles. She made an appointment to talk with one mother who did not want it known that she had a blind daughter. So, knowing the time of the appointment, the mother put little Cruz under the bed, which was in sight of the living room. When Ms. Blend asked about a blind child in the household and began describing how wonderful a school for blind children would be, suddenly two little arms began waving from under the bed as a child emerged shouting, "I want to go to school; I want to go to school." When Jacobus tenBroek died on March 27, 1968, I received a telegram with the sad news. Because he and the Federation had made a profound difference in my life, I decided to attend the funeral. Hazel tenBroek's father, a rabbi, conducted the service. The procession of cars driving to the cemetery was very long. The grave was at one edge, and no grass was yet growing on any of that rough ground. I stood at the foot of the casket as it was lowered into the grave. I looked down and saw a small flat stone on the ground in front of me as though Dr. tenBroek were standing on it. I picked the stone up and took it home and kept it on my desk until I presented it to President Maurer. The sign I made for it to lie on says in print and Braille, "Built on a rock, the movement stands." When Dr. Maurer accepted the stone, he told me that he would have it displayed in a safe place in the tenBroek Library, where I presume it now resides. After the funeral Mrs. tenBroek invited people to her home for conversation. She mentioned that their great Dane would stand beside her bed each night with his head just where Dr. tenBroek's head would have lain. She somehow felt as if she were being watched over. At an NFB of California convention sometime later, Mrs. tenBroek talked to me about her husband's death. She was standing outside his hospital room waiting to return to his bedside when a nurse came out and rather abruptly announced, "Mr. tenBroek has expired." When I marveled at his willingness to trust me when I was so green, that he even let me make mistakes, she paid me the most meaningful compliment I have ever received. She said quietly, "He knew his people." Because of Dr. tenBroek's foresight and support, my Twin Vision books have grown into many other things, and as a result this is a better world, not only for the blind, but for the sighted world in which they live. ---------- Kenneth Jernigan Library for Blind Children February 28, 2011 from The Zine Line From the Editor: reproduced here is a notice from The Zine Line, a newsletter from then Councilman Dennis P. Zine of Los Angeles, California. At a special gathering last Monday Mrs. Jean Dyon Norris was recognized for her decades of service and outstanding contributions as director of the Kenneth Jernigan Library for Blind Children in Tarzana. Also in attendance and flying in from Baltimore, Maryland, was Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind () and executive director of the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults (), who recognized the retiring director for her exceptional contributions and partnership. Mrs. Norris is credited for inventing the Twin Vision (print/Braille) format that, according to incoming Director Ms. Lucille Abbazia, enables a blind parent to read to a sighted child and also allows a blind child to follow, therefore reducing barriers in reading lessons. The Kenneth Jernigan Library for Blind Children provides reading materials to children and young adults and is run mainly by volunteers who help in all aspects of the library's operations. The library does not sell books, nor does it operate like a traditional walk-in library, but exclusively mails Braille books free of charge to either the reader's home or school by calling the library at (818) 343-3219. For more information about this and other services or to volunteer, please visit . Thank you, Mrs. Jean Dyon Norris, for your wonderful contributions, and we wish incoming Director Ms. Lucille Abbazia the best in her new position. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Joanne Wilson] Calling in the Cars by Joanne Wilson From the Editor: Joanne Wilson is a longtime Federationist who has served with distinction in many capacities whenever the organization has asked or whenever she has seen an unmet need. She went to Louisiana and transformed our affiliate from a brooding, fighting, and suspicious group dominated by localitis and an us-and-them mentality into one of our most dynamic affiliates. She founded the Louisiana Center for the Blind, served as the head of the Rehabilitation Services Administration under President George W. Bush, and currently serves as the director of affiliate development for the National Federation of the Blind. Like the rest of us she is putting a lot of effort into figuring out how to fund the programs we operate that are essential in advancing the agenda of blind people. Here is what she has to say about a new weapon in our fundraising arsenal: The National Federation of the Blind always steps up to get the job done. Many affiliates are actively working to assist in finding new financial support for our national movement, and we have just launched a new program that should allow each of our affiliates to make a difference. The National Federation of the Blind has launched a vehicle donation program which allows us to accept car donations anywhere in the United States. Our national office and our affiliates have been turning car donations away because we have not had an effective program for managing these donations and turning them into cash for the organization. We have now solved this problem, and we need your help to take advantage of this opportunity. After extensive research the Federation has made an agreement with Vehicles for Charity to process our car donations. Besides cars we also accept vans, RVs, motorcycles, dirt bikes, boats, trucks, and tractors. However, it is up to us to capture the donors by promoting the fact that we can accept vehicle donations and finding creative ways to get the word out. I am asking you to take some immediate steps to help with this effort: 1. Spread the word in your affiliate that the NFB is now accepting vehicle donations. Encourage members to send all referrals to the page on our website or to our toll-free vehicle donation number, (855) 659-9314. 2. Consider placing information in your newsletters and other publications. 3. Promote this in your social media channels. 4. Consider volunteering to help your affiliate president if you are looking for this kind of opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the movement. We need Federationists who can find creative ways to get the word out and who will uncover opportunities to promote this throughout the country. 5. Share with me ideas you have about how we can get the word out about this program. As we move into spring, we will be building this program and providing you with more details, including supporting materials. We are starting with the tried and true Federation local outreach to get the word out. As we build success with this venture, we will have the capacity to consider other forms of promotion such as advertising. Consider this notion: If fifty-one of our affiliates (unfortunately we cannot operate the program in Puerto Rico) generate ten referrals with an average donation value of $500, we are talking about better than $250,000. This is easily within our capacity in 2013. Maryland has already generated one donation, and all we did was answer the phone and have the ability to say, "Yes, we can take your donation," rather than turning it away. Imagine what we can do with some Federation creativity and enthusiasm. Let's start calling in the cars! ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Robert Kingett with his trusty laptop] My Constant Search for Accessibility by Robert Kingett From the Editor: Robert Kingett is a film critic, performing arts critic, and motivational speaker living in Chicago. He has cerebral palsy, is blind, and is a technology enthusiast. The screen-reading program he reviews is quite impressive. It is fast and easy to use and comes at no cost to blind people, although donations are requested for its support. As a former computer programmer I feel strongly that it is just as important to compensate intellectual activity as it is physical effort. I also believe that, when we are asking for specialized software and hardware, our small numbers will likely require some additional cost to meet our needs. Nevertheless, I have left in Robert's comments that make it clear he believes most screen readers are significantly overpriced and beyond the ability of many blind people and the agencies that serve them to purchase. Here is what he says: The constant search for equal access has plagued my life even though I live in a day and age when technology and digital material are ubiquitous. I remember the computer classes in high school back in 2006, where I'd wonder why schools for the blind such as mine didn't have the latest versions of the screen readers on the market. I understood the reason after looking at the price of the screen reader my school used called Window- Eyes, developed by GW Micro. I didn't understand about industry prices, so I felt what they call sticker shock at the individual price for blind people to use computers to do our schoolwork. $1,250 was, in many cases, equal to the cost of the actual computer used to run the screen reader and far in excess of most other software we were using. Thinking there must be an alternative, I wondered why my school didn't turn to Freedom Scientific. With a bit of research on my part, I was sadly surprised to find that its screen-reading software cost $895, still quite expensive from my point of view. I couldn't understand why blind people had to pay such a high price just to look at a screen, something that sighted people did every day without any money out of their pocket. I didn't see either of these commercial alternatives as practical, so I turned to a Google search to seek out a free screen reader. I found one that I happily use today, the free, open source screen reader developed by NV Access, called NVDA-Non-visual Desktop Access. NVDA is the most feature- rich free screen reader that I have found. This software is updated frequently as evidenced by its publicly available list of changes and enhancements. Providing feedback through synthetic speech and Braille, NVDA allows blind and visually impaired people to access and interact with the Windows operating system and many third-party applications. I was immediately hooked and soon began installing NVDA everywhere that I could-on my school's laptops, on my desktop at home, and even on a USB flash drive in case I needed to use a computer at the library. Now, for the first time, I didn't have to worry about computers having JAWS or Window-Eyes. I had accessibility in my pocket. One impressive fact about NVDA is its support for multiple languages. I have a firm belief that it is important that people anywhere in the world, no matter what language they speak, get equal access to technology. Besides English, NVDA has been translated into thirty-six languages, including Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. In addition to providing its messages and its interface in many languages, NVDA also enables users to read content in any language, as long as they have speech synthesizers that can speak that language. NVDA is bundled with eSpeak, a free, open-source, multi-lingual speech synthesizer. Additionally, it can use both SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 speech engines to provide speech output, and with an add-on NVDA can now speak with the ETI-Eloquence synthesizer. Governmental and private rehabilitation agencies for the blind have traditionally had to purchase expensive screen-access software, but, when I was asked if I wanted a commercial screen reader, I said no. I believe that accessibility should be inclusive and not determined by one's financial status. I've been a user of NVDA for many years, and the one thing that really attracts me to this screen reader is that it is not driven by profit, nor is it constrained by a need to follow market trends and demands. This allows for the freedom to research, experiment with, and implement new and innovative techniques to improve accessibility for blind and visually impaired users, as well as enabling features desirable to minorities within the blind community that aren't met by commercial offerings. Since NVDA debuted in 2006, it has blossomed into a fluid and efficient screen reader, now complete with user-created add-on support developed both by NV Access and by the community. This means that contributions to its evolution can come from anyone who knows how to program. Any blind person with a Windows-based computer can use NVDA because it runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems starting with Microsoft Windows XP and continuing through Windows 8. NVDA has no additional hardware requirements and needs only fifty megabytes of disk space. Since NVDA doesn't rely on any specially installed display driver to retrieve information, this gives it an advantage over several of the traditional screen readers, which install software that sometimes conflicts with factory-provided software and hardware. When one is using Mozilla applications, NVDA improves the reading flow. The wide range of screen- reading settings in the options menu is a nice touch, and so are the easily accessible menus that don't overburden computer resources. The best news of all is that, if you use the portable NVDA release on a USB stick, your voices and settings travel with you, so you can make any computer your own by simply inserting your flash drive. When people ask about NVDA, they are often interested in how it compares to JAWS for Windows. As originally packaged, NVDA possesses fewer features than JAWS, but a quick search query using "NVDA add-ons" in Google will present free opportunities to expand NVDA's capabilities. Add-ons give NVDA the ability to use optical character recognition (OCR), to track changes in Microsoft Word, to use the popular Team Viewer software for sharing screens and keyboards with other users, and to track weather around the world without the difficulty of navigating websites that are not user- friendly for screen reader users. Two websites that offer add-ons are: http://stormdragon.us/nvda/ and http://addons.nvda-project.org/. Using NVDA isn't hard at all. For the most part it uses the JAWS for Windows desktop keyboard layout. However, in a recent update, support for laptop keyboards has changed, and those who prefer the traditional desktop keyboard experience should not use it. Since NVDA is receiving sponsorship from Mozilla Corporation and Adobe Systems, NVDA works best using those platforms, but it is quite flexible. It works just fine with Internet Explorer. The instant messengers that NVDA works with out of the box are Yahoo! Messenger and Miranda IM, a small, universal instant messenger client. Microsoft Office compatibility is quite good, with support for PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and all other suites. Of course, as with most open-source software, you get what you put into it. Users who want to have more features included in the next release should donate to the project and should make known the features they want to see in the next version. NVDA has traditionally upgraded three times a year, with over twenty new enhancements and thirty bug fixes in each release, all heavily detailed in a revision history. While NVDA doesn't have as many document formatting detection features as the most current release of JAWS 14, I'm sure that, with programmers and scripters who are enthusiastic about creating the newest and best, someone will incorporate these features into the upcoming releases of NVDA. Obviously NVDA's strength is customization that is community driven, but it isn't without its faults. If you're a low-vision user like me and you choose to turn off NVDA while using Internet Explorer, turning it back on again will cause your session to crash, and you will once again have to navigate to the Internet site and page you were using. A few years ago, while I was listening to a podcast about inclusion and accessibility, I dreamed of a day when we would have universal PC accessibility. For a while I believed that equal access on a Windows machine could never happen. I believed that we Windows users would simply have to envy people who were rich enough to afford Macs. NVDA gives the Windows user screen access without the need to spend hundreds of dollars on adaptive software, and shows that the needs of users can actually drive the development of screen access software. NVDA isn't the perfect solution for everyone, and it isn't as feature- rich in functionality as other screen readers on the market today, but it's my top pick. I am so sold on this program that I have every computer at my college's computer lab equipped with NVDA. It has saved the school a few dollars, and it opens up many doors for new blind students who attend there. A few years ago equal and affordable access was something I only dreamed about, but today, thanks to NVDA, I can enjoy the world that has been opened to me by services such as Bookshare, Learning Ally, and NLS BARD. If I ever need to remind myself of those long ago days when we had to beg our state rehabilitation agency for the blind to pay a huge sum of money just so we could write a college essay, all I have to do is reach down into my pocket and curl my fingers around a flash drive that, through the determination of a few developers, harnesses the technology to allow me to walk up to any Windows PC, even at a library, and show the world what universal computer accessibility really means. ---------- From the President's Mail Basket From the Editor: One of the major tasks undertaken by the president of the National Federation of the Blind is managing the hundreds of letters and emails that arrive each month and that must be appropriately directed or responded to personally. Sometimes these letters are routine acknowledgements, sometimes letters of appreciation, and sometimes letters clearly articulating NFB policy. The letter reproduced below definitely falls into the latter category, uses compelling language to argue for accessibility, and begins to answer the question frequently asked following our protest at Amazon headquarters: "What's next?" Marc Maurer, President National Federation of the Blind Baltimore, Maryland Sent via first class mail and email March 11, 2013 Betsy Landers, President Eric Hargis, Executive Director National Parent Teacher Association Alexandria, Virginia RE: Amazon's Sponsorship of the National PTA's Family Reading Experience Program Dear Ms. Landers and Mr. Hargis: It has come to my attention that your organization has selected Amazon as the exclusive sponsor of your new Family Reading Experience program. While the aspirations of this program are noble, you should know that the use of Kindle e-books will seriously compromise the education of children who are blind or have other print disabilities. This is so because, unlike other e-books, Kindle e-books do not afford children with print disabilities the same reading and learning experience as their fellow students. As a result local PTAs that accept donations of Kindle devices or encourage the use of Kindle e-books in their schools will, as detailed in this letter, be helping to put those schools in violation of federal law. In today's world equal opportunity requires equal access to information. Unlike print, digital information is not inherently visual; it can be made available visually, aurally, and tactilely all at the same time and from the same original digital source. Thus digital information can be the great equalizer, offering mainstream access to all, without regard to whether the reader has a sensory disability. For decades the blind have used a variety of technologies to make e-books accessible. To read electronic texts, blind students use either text-to-speech software that vocalizes the words, letters, and characters on a page or a refreshable Braille display that renders the words, letters, and characters into Braille. Fortunately a number of technology developers and content providers have designed their products and services to put sighted and blind users on an equal footing. With the advent of commercial e-books some developers, including Apple iBooks and Blio books, have made their e-books and reading applications accessible so that everyone, including blind students and others with print disabilities, can read and use them effectively. Unfortunately Amazon is not such a company. It has made a conscious decision to exclude the blind from reading and studying with its Kindle e- books. Among other barriers blind students using Kindle e-books cannot (1) read character by character and thus learn to spell, punctuate, and distinguish homophones; (2) navigate usefully through the text of a Kindle e-book to keep up with the rest of the class; (3) interact with the Kindle e-book's content through the dictionary, highlighting, search, or note- taking features; or (4) access any content in Braille through their refreshable Braille displays. In sum, blind students attempting to use Kindle e-books are effectively precluded from developing phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary, which are the stated goals of your Family Reading Experience program. To illustrate the barriers Kindle e-books create, I have attached a chart to this letter showing the various functions that Kindle e-books offer sighted students and deny blind students. The chart reflects the best access Amazon offers, using a Kindle Keyboard (also called Kindle 3G) or using the Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin to read Kindle e-books. All other devices and platforms for reading Kindles are completely inaccessible. By way of comparison, the attached chart also shows other reading platforms, such as iBooks, that offer blind students all of the functions that Amazon reserves for the sighted. For your convenience we have also tied those features to the Common Core State Standards to demonstrate specifically how the access barriers of Kindle e-books inhibit blind students' educational opportunities. [Editor's note: The chart discussed previously was reproduced in full in the February 2013 issue of the Monitor.] In short, although blind readers do have some rudimentary access to Kindle e-books when using platforms that permit that rudimentary access, it is not nearly enough [access] to use the books for anything but the most casual reading, much less the intense, challenging reading that characterizes the academic environment. Hence the implementation of Kindle e-books proposed by the Family Reading Experience program will relegate students with print disabilities to second-class status and unnecessarily exclude them from benefiting from the program's goals and objectives. Moreover, the limitations of Kindle e-books will inhibit print-disabled children from developing those grade-appropriate reading skills that are set forth by the Common Core State Standards and that are vigorously advocated by your organization. Not only does the use of Kindle e-books in the public school classroom inhibit the educational development of print-disabled students, it is also a violation of federal law. This is so because use of Kindle e- books discriminates against students with print disabilities by denying them equal access to educational programs. Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, public schools must not deny students with disabilities the benefits of their programs and activities. Therefore public schools that choose to use Kindle e-books will be violating federal law, and PTA organizations that encourage the use of Kindle e-books in their local schools will be assisting those schools in that violation. In 2009 and 2010, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education resolved complaints against five postsecondary schools that used the inaccessible Kindle DX e-reader device in their classrooms with agreements that required these schools not to purchase any e-reader device for their classrooms or require use of any device unless or until such electronic book reader is fully accessible to individuals with visual impairments. An electronic book reader is fully accessible only if all uses of the device that are available to individuals without disabilities are available to individuals with visual impairments in a manner which ensures that its use in the university setting is equally effective for individuals with visual impairments as it is for others. In 2010 the Departments of Justice and Education jointly issued a letter to the postsecondary educational community, explaining that, when it comes to e-book readers and e-book content, equal access is the law. In 2011 the Department of Education again made clear that elementary and secondary schools likewise must refrain from using technology that will deny students with disabilities equal access. If we can further assist you in understanding which e-books and e- book platforms are accessible and compliant with federal and state law, or provide further information about the deficiencies of Kindle e-books, please do not hesitate to contact us. The National Federation of the Blind, whose 50,000 members comprise not only blind people of all ages and backgrounds but also parents of blind children and others who support equal opportunity for blind Americans, has as its ultimate goal the complete integration of the blind into society on an equal basis with our sighted peers. We are fortunate to live in an age in which that ideal has been written into law. Amazon's deliberate choice to scorn that ideal and ignore the needs of blind readers does not give public schools a free pass to discriminate on the basis of disability by purchasing and using Kindle e-books in their classrooms. Nor should your organization be party to such discrimination. Your position statements emphasize the special needs of underserved populations including children with disabilities, and you have assumed the role of being a powerful voice for all children. We look forward to your cooperation in this matter and are confident you will raise your powerful voice in support of the rights of our nation's blind and print-disabled students. Sincerely, Marc Maurer, President NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Reuben Hernandez walking confidently with his cane.] A Blind Senior's Journey to Independence by Diane McGeorge From the Editor: Diane McGeorge is a Federationist who probably needs no introduction. She has been in the Federation since the 1950s, served on the national board of directors, been a national officer, served as the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, and founded the Colorado Center for the Blind (CCB). Now she works as a volunteer in the Center's Senior Program. One of my volunteer jobs in the Federation is serving as a member of the board of directors of the CCB. At a recent in-person meeting of the board I was invited to sit in on a meeting of the Senior Program, where I heard the story Diane McGeorge recounts here. I was so impressed that I asked Diane to work with Ruben Hernandez to put it on paper. Here is what she has written: At our training centers we are often asked what students do during training time and what they do in their off hours. The premise of the question, of course, is that there is distinct school time and off time, and, although the Colorado Center for the Blind does have training hours, the division between off and training time is not obvious-learning at the CCB is always happening, and this is the beauty of a program in which a job is more than a job and one in which staff and students together are involved in life-changing experiences. Ruben Hernandez is an enthusiastic student who participates in the CCB's senior program. His vision loss started when he was an active member of the United States Marine Corps, and after about ten pairs of glasses, each improving for a time what he could see, he was finally discharged. Following his time in the service he became a general contractor, building dry cleaning establishments. This meant performing and supervising work done involving plumbing, electrical wiring, steam fitting, concrete work, roofing, venting-anything that had to do with constructing buildings he did. He also trained and hired his sons, nephews, and brothers-in-law, who all worked for him in the business. When his sight got so bad he could no longer drive, he hired a driver. Still he was the boss and made the decisions and assignments, and most of the people for whom he worked never realized he couldn't see. Occasionally awkward situations would arise when he would run into a closed door or try walking through a window, but these he laughed off by letting people think he had had a bit too much to drink the night before or by convincing them he was deep in thought working to solve a complicated design problem. In his mid-sixty's Ruben decided he had lost enough sight that he needed some help. Six years ago he went to the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Scheduled there for six weeks, he left after three because he was told he was suffering from lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes), that he had about a year to live, and that he should spend that time with his family. Sadly, the man who gave him that advice died four years ago; but Ruben is alive and well after two lung surgeries. Wanting to learn how to type so he could use a computer, believing he could use more training to deal with his decreasing vision, and always on the lookout for activities to stimulate his mind and keep him active, Ruben signed up for the Seniors' Program at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Like the programs for younger adults, the Senior Program teaches cane travel, Braille, and daily living skills. Ruben was an enthusiastic participant in all of these, and, though he has memorable stories about his formal training and his interaction with other students, the story I want to share is about the day after Thanksgiving when Ruben forgot that the Center would be closed and dutifully reported for class. Still in the holiday spirit, Ruben starts his Friday morning by reporting to the CCB for senior training. He is sure there will be some kind of Thanksgiving celebration, and the good food and fellowship offer great promise that this will be a memorable day. At this point he has no idea just how memorable it will turn out to be. When Ruben arrives at the building, he is surprised to find the main doors locked. Undeterred, he goes to the doors on the kitchen side and finds they too are secured, with no evidence of anyone in the building. Worrying that perhaps he has been wrong in assuming the Center will be open for business, he makes a search of the parking lot and finds it empty. Since this is Denver, he has a fresh snow to contend with, and under it the ever-treacherous ice. Stepping off the curb, Ruben begins sliding uncontrollably downhill and crashes face-first into a ten-foot snow bank created by the snowplows that cleaned the street and the parking lot. After getting up and dusting himself off, he has to find his cane. Where it has gone is not immediately apparent, but eventually he discovers that the snow bank that threatened to swallow him has captured it. Once rescued, together they go in search of more adventure. Deciding he might as well go back home, Ruben sets off for the light rail. Public transportation is still new to him, but he prefers it to the paratransit and other door-to-door services that have left him waiting while appointment times come and go. He likes the control that taking the bus and the train give him. They run on schedule, which means he runs on schedule, and for Ruben punctuality and self-reliance are what it means to be independent. As he starts down the steps to the train, he can just make out its approach. Throwing caution to the wind, he increases his speed, pays less attention than he should to what his cane is telling him, and trips down the last two steps leading to the car. This time, when he picks himself up, he finds he has torn pants, sore knees, and a concerned driver who waits until Ruben is on board and seated. But Ruben's problems aren't over simply because he has reached the relative safety of the train car-it is warm, it is dry, but it soon becomes apparent to Ruben that it is going in the wrong direction and is not getting him closer to home. He ends up at Mineral Station. As Ruben sits there rubbing his knees and looking at his torn pants, the conductor comes along and announces that this car has reached the end of the line. Deciding that the train will eventually turn around and take him back in the direction he needs to go, Ruben waits for the car to move. In a while it does, but soon he hears the announcement that the train he is riding is Train C bound for Union Station, not his destination; he needs to go to Auraria. Getting his bearings, Ruben exits at Englewood and decides to catch the next train. When it comes by, he asks if it goes up by the college, is told that it does, boards the train, and again hears a troublesome announcement: this train is headed for the depot. All of his questioning and planning have once again gotten him on the C train, so at Alameda he exits and waits. When the next car arrives, he asks a fellow passenger if this train goes to the college, is told that it does, boards the car, drifts off into thoughts about this most eventful day, and doesn't pay attention to where he is. Jarred out of his reflections when a fellow passenger tells him he has arrived at the college, Ruben jumps off the train, looks around, and soon concludes he is not at Colfax but some place entirely unfamiliar. Remembering what he has heard about the value of asking questions, Ruben decides his best source of information will come from inquiring about his location from passing cars on the street. He approaches stopped vehicles for information and finds them unwilling to open their windows and engage in conversation. "This is Denver, and I think they have the idea I want to attack them," he says. Finally someone cracks a window about an inch, and he asks where Colfax is. He is told that it is on the other side of the college and that he must travel through the campus to get where he wants to go. He knows no landmarks; pedestrian campuses offer fewer of them than traditional streets, and this is the day after Thanksgiving, so no students will be there to offer helpful directions. Add to all of this an overcast sky that means it is getting darker and making it harder for Ruben to use what little vision he has, and you begin to get a picture of what he refers to as "quite a little challenge." With only one alternative open to him, Ruben starts his trek across campus, realizing that, though he has been proudly carrying his cane, he has only a few weeks of instruction and that most of the teaching he has received has come from the VA and the rolling canes they assigned their students. He now holds an NFB cane, but he is still so new to training that instruction in its use is still sometime in the future. Eventually he comes to a major street, sees a light off to his right, proceeds to the end of the block, and meets a girl on a bicycle asking if he needs help. He tells her he needs to find the bus stop on Colfax. She tells him he is on Colfax, that he is close to the bus stop, and that she will be glad to show him where it is. Ruben catches the bus; he takes it to Pierce; and, when he gets off, he now finds it is completely dark-not overcast dark, but night-time dark. Never has he traveled by himself at night, always making certain that any night trips occur in the company of someone with sight. But this is not an option, so he decides that he must see for himself just what this cane can tell him. The street he is traveling is not ideal for an introductory cane travel test. The part he must initially travel has no sidewalk, and fresh snow is on the ground. If he ventures too far left, he runs the risk of being hit by traffic, and if he drifts too far to the right, he will slide down a steep embankment, which at times resembles a cliff. Swinging the cane to the left to find a walkable path and to the right to ensure he does not slide down the embankment, Ruben walks until he eventually reaches a sidewalk. He finds the street crossing he needs, locates the ramp used for entering his building, takes the elevator, finds his room, and opens his door. He enters, drops to his knees, kisses the floor, and yells out, "Darn, I can do this!" Of his adventure he says, "I learned three things that day: Don't get in a hurry-that's why I fell; pay attention to what you are doing-that's why I got on the wrong tram; and, most important, learn to trust what you get from that cane. I never had that confidence before. Now I'm not one to brag, but I tell people that, if I can do it, they can do it. What they need to do is get over their poor-me syndrome. Your eyes aren't going to get any better, so you might as well take advantage of what time you've got, and learn what you can. When you finally become totally blind, then you'll know what to do. I tell people that my life has taught me that you have to fight what you have to fight, whether it is seeing flashes from a foxhole and hoping that the blast doesn't get you or taking on the problems of blindness and learning how to handle them." What I find so moving about Ruben is not just his story but the man it reveals and the influence he has on others. He does not preach; he would not claim to teach. But example is a tremendous teacher, and the words he uses have meaning because they capture that example and make it come alive for others. At the CCB we have helped Ruben, but he has been much more than a student, amplifying what we say and what we teach in ways we could never hope to do on our own. One of the things I love about the Senior Program is the gratitude that is evident in the people we serve. I'm not saying that our younger students don't appreciate what they get from us; I am saying that they often take the programs we have for granted, just another in the array of services they have a right to and can expect. Perhaps this is because of our emphasis on the strides we have made in creating laws and the services we pledge to provide; perhaps it is because they have had to fight less to get what they have needed. I'm no philosopher, so I'll leave it to others to figure out why our seniors seem to be emotionally moved and spiritually uplifted by their programs and are so willing to embrace attitudes, tools, and techniques that give them back freedom they thought was forever lost to them. Teach a senior he can do a thorough job cleaning his apartment, and you have given him back the respect that comes from knowing he can invite anyone at any time to the place he treasures and not be ashamed of how it looks. Teach the same skill to some of our young folks, and they act like you have saddled them with yet another unwanted chore. In my almost sixty years in the Federation, I've been a part of many a battle to help blind people, but nothing I've done has been more enriching than the role I'm able to play now in helping our blind seniors. Some of my feelings about this no doubt come from my husband Ray's love of our Senior Program and my desire to carry it forward because of him. But the experience of giving back the independence and self-reliance for men and women of a generation known for both is difficult to put into words, so I have left it to Ruben through his story to explain once again why I am proud to be a Federationist. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: After a successful fishing trip, Gordon Chan stands victorious on the right, while his friend Alex triumphantly displays the day's catch in the center, with Captain Mike on the left.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Gordon fights the pull of the tuna on his line.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Gordon reels the tuna in, while Alex holds the net ready to pull it on deck.] Deep Sea Fishing Adventure by Gordon Chan From the Editor: Gordon Chan is a new Federation member who lives in California. He has been blind since the age of four but resisted being around other blind people because he thought he was too busy being a husband, a father, and a businessman. He joined due to the persistence of a friend and his own reluctantly acknowledged conviction: "My helping is long overdue; I have been very fortunate, and it is time for me to give back." On joining, he warned his chapter that they shouldn't expect too much of him: "I'm pretty busy. I ski the second weekend of the month, which conflicts with your chapter meeting, so you'll probably see me no more than four times a year." That warning notwithstanding, Gordon now has willingly taken on the chairmanship of the sports and activities committee and the best in tech committee. He is also one of the most active members of the membership committee and the fundraising committee. "I guess you could say I went from zero to sixty pretty fast," he says. For those of us who aren't familiar with some of the vocabulary, Gordon has helped with the definition of a few phrases: "awww, fresh one" means "I have hooked one." "Fish on" and "hook up" mean the same thing. "Sawed off" means that the friction from another fisherman's line has cut your line. Now, here is what Gordon has to say about his deep-sea fishing adventures: The boat trolls, or pulls tuna feathers, and the anglers wait for the fishing reels to go off with their clickers screaming out an alarm. Suddenly, the corner rod goes off, and someone yells "Hook up." All the fisherman grab their fishing rods, race to the bait tank, and start throwing out their lines with a sardine pinned to each hook. I am somewhat slower and at a severe disadvantage in selecting the choicest bait or finding an open spot in which to cast out. Another angler to my right yells out "fresh one." My adrenalin starts to increase just being in the fray and having the opportunity to fish for tuna or yellowtail. I feel my bait begin to feed out and a slight tap; then my line begins to accelerate rapidly. This is a critical moment because, if I try to set the hook too soon, I will pull the hook out of the fish's mouth. I put my reel in gear; feel the line go tight; lift my rod; and, as it begins to bend, I set the hook hard and fast. The initial pull of the bluefin bends my rod to its limit. The drag on my reel screams out an intoxicating whiz and hums as line is peeled off. I yell out "fish on." My fish pulls me hard to the left, and the deck hand yells at me to move left and follow my fish. "Go over this guy, over another, and under the next," he instructs. My fish then decides to pull me to the right, and this dance will continue until I get him to the boat or he breaks off. I have been fighting my fish for about thirty minutes, and my hands are sore and tired. The end of the rod is jammed against my stomach, which is also beginning to become extremely sore. Another fisherman who is fighting his own fish tells me he needs to come under me, and, as I attempt to step back, my fish pulls hard, and I bump him hard on his back and mutter a quick apology. I feel a friction on my line and say, "I have a line on me." The deck hand cuts the other person's line, and I continue to fight the fish. I ask people around me, "Do you see color?" Someone says, "You have deep color." I ask the deck hand for the gaff, and he coaches me to stop reeling and lifts the beast onto the deck where I hear his tail flapping the deck. "That's a nice one," someone exclaims. And my friend confirms this by saying, "What a beauty! That's about a thirty-eight-pound bluefin." The action continues all around me as I hear another "hook up," and "awwww, fresh one." The deck hand says, "You are clear, so grab another bait and get it out there." For the next three hours we are in a wide-open bite, and the entire boat is filled with running feet, flapping tails, and the laughter of happy anglers. Intermixed with the excitement are some groans of disappointment and outright cursing. I can tell that some fish are sawed off and others have broken the anguished angler's line. Tuna fishing is among the most challenging, and bluefin can be some of the most line shy or finicky when it comes to bait presentation. Being totally blind has not stopped me from learning all about deep sea fishing. I have learned about different hook types and sizes and what weight of line to match to the hook in relation to the bait. I have gathered knowledge about the different types, lengths, and composites of rods; when to fly line; and when to use a sliding weight or a torpedo weight. Each species of fish requires a different game plan. I have caught calico bass, barracuda, halibut, white sea bass, yellowtail, dorado, Wahoo yellowfin tuna, albacore tuna, and bluefin tuna. The captain steers the nose of the boat out of the harbor. He increases throttle, and the diesels begin to hum. I feel the sun and the sea breeze on my face. A slow smile lights up my face as the realization comes over me that once again I am chasing the tuna. I am deep sea fishing, and this is a joy I hope my example and this article can bring other blind people to share. ---------- No Limits! 2013 National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) Conference for Families and Teachers by Carlton Walker From the Editor: One activity that makes our convention unique is the annual program sponsored by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. No other conference in the world does as much to provide programming for blind children and their parents. Here is the list of activities they will enjoy this summer in Orlando: Shortly after my daughter Anna Catherine turned three, an ophthalmologist told me that she was legally blind and had central vision loss. I was surprised, but I was not particularly worried. At that point I had not noticed any evidence of her visual impairment. Besides, blindness was nothing compared to what she had already faced. Anna Catherine's first year of life had been filled with multiple hospitalizations, endless painful procedures, and tube feeding through a port in her stomach. Just before her first Christmas, her doctors warned us that our nine month old might not live another year. They said we would be lucky if she lived to be five or six years old. Thankfully they were wrong about her diagnosis, but Anna still had much to overcome. When she was one year old, she was finally strong enough to begin the physical milestones of infancy such as rolling over and sitting up. Shortly after her second birthday a month-long stay at a feeding clinic taught her how to swallow. She spent the next year trying new foods and liquids, and we went a whole twelve months without a visit to a hospital emergency room. Thus, even though I was not expecting the legal-blindness diagnosis, I was not really worried. Anna acted just like most three-year-olds. Nevertheless, I began to research what this term "legally blind" meant. I found out that central vision loss can significantly impair one's ability to read print. I wondered whether she should start learning Braille. I wondered what her future would hold. I soon found, however, that many people thought my ideas about Braille were simply wrong. Anna's ophthalmologists and optometrists downplayed my thoughts about her using Braille, "She should be able to read print, so she won't need Braille." Anna's educators conveyed a certainty that she would not be a candidate for Braille. They told me that she would need large print (thirty-six- to forty-eight-point font) and as a result would be a slower reader. I wondered why these people who said she didn't need Braille were telling me about what she couldn't do because of her limited vision. Wouldn't Braille help? Even in our own family no one seemed eager to admit that Anna's life would be affected in any way by "her eye issues." My husband retreated from any talk about Braille or canes, while other family members expressed great sadness about her vision. One close family member was downright hostile and even forbade me from saying the "B" word-blind-in front of Anna. Despite all this, eventually I knew that my little girl needed more than she was getting. I noticed that Anna was not as independent as her peers. My fearless toddler was becoming a fearful preschooler. One day, while walking home from the library, I made Anna let go of her fierce grip on my hand. None of the other children at the library story hour held their parents' hands as tightly. Two steps later, Anna walked right into a telephone pole and ended up with a walnut-sized lump in the middle of her forehead. I immediately felt terrible and went back to holding her hand all the time. It seemed that her limited vision was truly going to limit her. Fortunately, through a series of coincidences, I found out about the National Federation of the Blind and a conference being held in just a few weeks. Somehow my husband agreed to take off work to go to this conference for parents and blind kids-even though he knew that Anna wasn't one. In May 2005, at that conference in Baltimore, Maryland, everything changed. We met successful blind adults who showed us that blindness was not the tragedy we had been led to believe. We heard that blindness skills could "reduce blindness to the level of a physical nuisance." We learned that our little girl need not be defined by her visual acuity or her visual field. Before the conference we had believed that the amount of vision Anna had would determine how far she would go in life. Instead we began to understand that having the skills to do the task at hand, not level of vision, would be the most accurate predictor of future success for our young daughter. At that 2005 conference I also came to know the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). In addition to successful blind adults we had the support of parents from all over the nation. While each family has its own story, we remain together in believing that our children can be as successful and as independent as they would be with full sight. With the help of successful blind adults, our children are reducing blindness to the level of a physical nuisance and tearing down the artificial vision-focused barriers erected by others. Now, as NOPBC president, I have the great honor and pleasure of welcoming you to our No Limits conference. No Limits means sharing information, ideas, and dreams. No Limits means mastering the skills needed for independence and self-determination. No Limits means the amount of eyesight our children have will not be the determining factor in how far they go in life. No Limits! The thirtieth annual NOPBC conference, No Limits, will take place from Monday, July 1, to Saturday, July 6, 2013, at the national convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Orlando, Florida, at the Rosen Centre Hotel. We look forward to seeing you at our full-day seminar on Monday and at our many activities, listed below, which continue all week. Preregister (forms below) or register on-site in Orlando. Hope to see you there. No Limits! 2013 NOPBC CONFERENCE Schedule of Activities for Parents, Teachers, Children, and Youth Please Note: NOPBC children's activities will take place in NFB child care throughout the week. Be sure to register your child for child care. (NFB child care has separate registration and fees-see the article in the April issue.) MONDAY, JULY 1: Full-Day Seminar for Parents and Teachers 7:30 AM to 8:45 AM-Registration 9:00 AM to 10:45 AM-General Session Welcome-Carlton Walker, president, NOPBC Kid Talk with Dr. Marc Maurer-Kids get a chance to speak to the president of the National Federation of the Blind about anything on their minds. No Limits!-Anil Lewis, director of advocacy and policy, National Federation of the Blind Braille Readers Are Leaders Recognition Life without Limits-Dr. Jessica Ewell, opera singer; Lindsay Yazzolino, MIT cognitive neuroscience researcher No Limits for These Kids!-The students speak. 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM-NOPBC Children's Activity Music and Movement with Conchita Hernandez, special educator (ages 5-12, in NFB child care) 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM-NFB Youth Track Session (ages 11-18) Sponsored by NFB Jernigan Institute Children who would like to take part in the Kid Talk with Dr. Maurer and Youth Track participants will begin the day in the general session, after which they will be escorted to child care or their activity. 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM-NOPBC Concurrent Sessions-Parents and Teachers Access Tech: Apple Products Come see how the accessibility of iPhone, iPad, iPod products, accessories, and apps could work for your child/student. Instructor: Dan Wenzel, manager, youth services, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM). Note: This workshop repeats at 2:00 PM. Early Childhood Language and Play Learn how to create a stimulating environment for the development of language and play in the young blind/visually impaired child. Instructor: Heather Field, special educator The Inclusive Classroom How to set up the classroom and what the classroom teacher needs to know for the student's full participation throughout the day. Instructors: Denise Mackenstadt, NOMC; Kristen Sims, teacher of blind students Making and Understanding Raised-Line Drawings Participants will use raised-line drawing (RLD) boards to create, erase, and revise images through free-hand sketching and more formal manual drawing methods needed for STEM curriculum content. Staff will share tips for improving student ability to read RLDs by touch and understand their content. Instructors: E.A.S.Y. LLC Staff Social Skills for the Teen Years Looking good, making friends, dating, and other concerns of the teen years. Instructor: Deja Powell, cane travel teacher. Fashionista: Garrick Scott, president, NFB of GA, and youth mentor 12:15 PM to 2:00 PM-Lunch on your own Pick up children ASAP from NFB child care at 12:15. 1:30 to 4:30 PM-NFB Youth Track Sessions (ages 11-18) 2:00 PM-NOPBC Children's Activity Hands-on Art with Ann Cunningham, tactile artist (ages 5-12, in NFB child care) 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM-NOPBC Concurrent Sessions-Parents and Teachers Access Tech: Apple Products Come see how the accessibility of iPhone, iPad, iPod products, accessories, and apps could work for your child/student. Instructor: Dan Wenzel, manager, youth services, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) (Repeat of morning session) What's Available? What tools and materials are available for my child's use for access to a full education? Where can my school get them? Instructor: Eric Guillory, director of youth services, LA Center for the Blind Movement and Exploration for the Young Blind Child How can you get your child moving and exploring the world? What if your child has delays? Would a cane be good for your child? The session will be appropriate for families with children with or without additional disabilities. Instructor: Mary Jo Hartle, NOMC, teacher of blind students Aiming for Independence Independent living skills for home, school, and community. Instructor: Melissa Riccobono, president, NFB of MD, school counselor The ABCs of Braille A hands-on workshop for adults that will teach the beginning of Braille reading and writing. Instructor: TBA 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM-NOPBC Concurrent Sessions-Parents and Teachers Technology: Where Do I Start? This session will explore the basics of access technology for blind/VI children. Instructor: Jack Mendez, director of technology, LA Center for the Blind Social Skills for the Younger Years: Interaction and Play How parents and teachers can facilitate the development of age- appropriate social skills in the younger blind/VI child. Instructor: TBA Out and About: Independent Mobility for Your School-Aged Child High expectations, real-life goals, and how to achieve them in independent travel. Instructor: Denise Mackenstadt, NOMC Self-Advocacy: A Critical Life Skill We want our children to be able to take charge of their own lives as adults. This workshop will explore the importance of self-advocacy and provide suggestions for teaching children to speak up for themselves effectively. Instructor: Arielle Silverman, doctoral student, University of Colorado Persuade, Negotiate, Collaborate Choosing your battles and resolving conflict at IEP meetings so that your child can benefit and make the most progress. Instructor: Sharon Maneki, NFB of MD, advocate 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM-NOPBC Family Hospitality Relax, chat, meet new families, and connect with old friends. Veteran parents will be on hand to welcome you and provide information. TUESDAY, JULY 2 No NFB child care on this day 7:00 AM to 8:45 AM-NOPBC Board Meeting 8:45 AM to 10:30 AM-CANE WALK Session I 11:00 AM to 12:45 PM-CANE WALK Session II Learn and experience the structured-discovery method of travel at these special workshops. Parents, teachers, blind children, siblings welcome. Instructors: Jeff Altman, NOMC, and cane travel instructors 2:45 PM to 4:00 PM-NOPBC Youth Style Show This is an opportunity for your aspiring model to take a walk down the runway in a favorite outfit from his or her closet. Contact Kim Cunningham at (713) 501-9659 or for more information and to sign up. 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM-NFB Youth Track Session (ages 11-18) WEDNESDAY, JULY 3 10:00 AM-NOPBC Children's Activity Astronaut Activities with Noreen Grice, accessible astronomy educator (ages 6-12, in NFB child care) 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM-NFB Youth Track Session (ages 11-18) 12:45 PM-NOPBC Children's Activity Beep Kickball with Judy Byrd, Beep Kickball Association (ages 5-12, in NFB child care). You can drop off your child early at child care on this afternoon so that you can attend the NOPBC annual meeting. 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM-NOPBC Annual Meeting: Options and Opportunities Keynote address by the 2013 Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award winner, special guest speakers, news from NASA, cutting-edge information on products and services, summer programs for our kids, Parent Power, business meeting, elections, and much more 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM-Braille Book Fair A book lover's dream! Browse tables of new and used Braille and print/Braille books. Volunteers will box your books, and the post office will deliver them to your home as Free Matter. Books are free; donations are encouraged to help support our Braille programs. Cosponsored by NOPBC and NAPUB. Coordinator: Krystal Guillory, teacher of blind students, NFBL BELL Coordinator 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM-NFB Youth Track Activity (ages 11-18) 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM-Dads' Night Out All dads, sighted or blind, are welcome. Call Jim Beyer at (406) 239- 2057 for location. 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM-Convention 101 Facilitated convention experience for tweens and teens. Facilitator: Carlton Walker, president, NOPBC THURSDAY, JULY 4 7:00 to 9:00 AM-NOPBC Board Meeting 8:45 to 9:20 AM-Convention 101 Facilitated Convention experience for tweens and teens. Facilitator: Carlton Walker, president, NOPBC 10:00 AM-NOPBC Children's Activity, Making Raised-Line Drawings with Staff of E.A.S.Y. LLC (ages 6-12, in NFB child care) 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM-Convention 101 2:00 PM-NOPBC Children's Activity, NASA at Your Fingertips with David Hurd, NASA scientist (ages 5-12, in NFB child care) 5:10 PM to 5:35 PM-Convention 101 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM-NOPBC Children's Activity Crafts and Games-For children whose parents are attending NOPBC evening workshops. (ages 5-12) 7:00 PM to 9:45 PM-NOPBC Concurrent Sessions-Parents and Teachers 7:00 PM to 8:15 PM-Homeschooling a Blind/Visually Impaired Child Come network with other homeschoolers to share information and tips and discuss the challenges and satisfactions of homeschooling. Instructor: Heather Field, special educator 7:00 PM to 8:15 PM-IEP Basics for Parents of Blind/VI Students The sections of the IEP, essential assessments, how assessment information is used, how to be an active and effective participant. Instructor: Carlton Walker, attorney, teacher of blind students 8:30 PM to 9:45 PM-IEP Development and Legal Process Overview Do's and Don't's for the IEP meeting; preparing for possible mediation, due process, appeal, etc.; overview of the legal process; how to prepare for a due process hearing so you don't have to have one. Instructor: Carlton Walker, attorney, teacher of blind students NFB Youth Track Activity (ages 11-18) -Time TBA FRIDAY, JULY 5 8:15 AM to 8:50 AM Convention 101 Facilitated Convention experience for tweens and teens. Facilitator: Carlton Walker, president, NOPBC 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM-Convention 101 5:10 PM to 5:35 PM-Convention 101 SATURDAY, JULY 6 8:15 AM to 8:50 AM-Convention 101 Facilitated Convention experience for tweens and teens. Facilitator: Carlton Walker, president, NOPBC 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM-Convention 101 5:10 PM to 5:35 PM-Convention 101 NOPBC INSIDER INFORMATION National convention is a complicated week of events. Here are a few tips to help you stay organized and take advantage of the many opportunities that will be available. Registration Information . The NOPBC conference takes place within the larger NFB convention. The NOPBC conference, the NFB convention, and NFB child care all have separate registrations and fees. . The NOPBC conference registration form and workshop sign-up form appear at the end of this document. Register early to save money. . To receive the special NFB room rates, you must also register for the NFB convention. Preregister (and save money) before June 1 for the NFB convention at . Activities for Children and Youth; Child Care Information . This year we'll be taking a trip to Gatorland on Sunday afternoon, June 30, the day before the seminar. Details below. . NOPBC Children's Activities take place in NFB child care. If you would like your child to participate in an NOPBC Children's Activity, you must register your child for child care for that day. NFB Child Care information, registration forms, and fee info appeared in the April issue. . This year's lineup of children's activities includes art and drawing, music and dance, beep kickball, and space exploration. . Child care will be provided by the NFB for children 6 weeks to 12 years of age each day except Tuesday, July 2. Child care will also be available on banquet night, Saturday, July 6. . The Youth Style Show will take place on Tuesday afternoon, July 2. . Teen Room (ages 14-18) and Tween Room (ages 11-14) will be available for chaperoned, informal activities at various times during the week. Schedule to come. . On Wed., Thurs., Fri., and Sat., July 3-6, we will feature Convention 101, informal facilitated discussions in which young NFB members learn about topics being presented on the NFB convention floor. Participants gather before Convention sessions and sit together in their own section with the facilitator. Ages 11 to 15 (interested older students may participate). Seminar Day Information . On seminar day (Monday, July 1) adults, children, and youth start the morning together at the No Limits seminar. At the end of the general session, children who are preregistered for child care will be escorted to the child care area, and youth 11-18 will be escorted to Youth Track activities. At the lunch break pick up your children for lunch on your own. After lunch there will be concurrent workshops for adults, a Youth Track activity, and activities for children in the child care rooms. Other Activities Going on All Week Long In addition to the special NOPBC activities for parents, children, and youth listed in this article, other activities that you and your child may be interested in attending will be going on all week. Often activities are going on at the same time, and you and your child will have to make choices. Here is a sampling: . NFB convention sessions Thursday, Friday, Saturday . Karaoke Night, the mock trial, the talent show, a play written and performed by blind people, open houses of our blindness skills training centers, technology demos . Meetings of divisions such as blind students, sports and recreation, performing arts, writers, blind educators, office professionals, lawyers, computer science, employment, guide dog users, agriculture and equestrian, and classic car lovers . NFB banquet and scholarship presentations . Our incomparable exhibit hall NOPBC Family Outing to Gatorland Gatorland has made it possible for NOPBC families to visit the park on Sunday, June 30, at a discounted rate. Please note, this is the day before our full-day seminar. We will meet in the lobby of the Rosen Centre Hotel at 1:00 PM on Sunday and then carpool or cab-pool to Gatorland, which is a short distance from the hotel. We can then enjoy the park from 1:30 to 5:00 or 6:00 PM, depending on its closing time that day. Cost of the discounted tickets will be $17.49 for adults and $10.75 for children 3-12 years. Children under 3 are free. Visit the Gatorland website at to see all the fun-filled activities it offers. REGISTRATION NOPBC 2013 CONFERENCE-NO LIMITS! Make check payable to NOPBC and mail with forms to: Pat Renfranz, NOPBC Treasurer 397 Middle Oak Lane, Salt Lake City, UT 84108 Save money by preregistering. Preregistration must be postmarked by June 15. After June 15, please register on-site in Orlando. | |By June 15 |On-site in Orlando | |Adult |$30 |$35 | |Child/Youth (up to 18 |FREE |FREE | |years) |Children are free, but | | | |please list names and | | | |ages below | | Adult Name ____________________________________________________ [ ] parent [ ] professional [ ] other____________________ Adult Name ____________________________________________________ [ ] parent [ ] professional [ ] other____________________ Please list additional adults on a separate sheet. Address ______________________________ City _____________________ State _______ Zip _____________ Phone ___________________ Email _______________________________ Alt. phone ________________ Child/Youth 1-Name (first and last), age, brief description of vision and any additional disabilities: _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Child/Youth 2: ___________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Please list additional children/youth on a separate sheet. How many? Prereg. by June 15 On-site reg. Adults _____ @ $30 = $______ or @ $35 = $______ Child/Youth _____ FREE = $__00__ Total enclosed: $_________ ___ I receive Future Reflections ___ This is my 1st national convention ___ I am a member of my state NFB/POBC If not, how many national conventions have you attended? ______________ PLEASE NOTE: Preregistrations postmarked after June 15 will be returned. Also, remember that registrations for the NOPBC conference and NFB child care are separate and must be mailed to different places. WORKSHOP and ACTIVITY SIGN-UP SUNDAY, JUNE 30 (Day before conference begins) 1:00 PM-Trip to Gatorland (Please list how many will attend) _____ Adults _____ Children 4-12 years _____ Children 3 and under (Payment is due the day of the trip.) MONDAY, JULY 1 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM (Please mark how many will attend each session) _____ Access Tech: Apple Products _____ Early Childhood _____ Inclusive Classroom _____ Raised Line Drawings _____ Social Skills-Teens 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM (Please mark how many will attend each session) _____ Access Tech: Apple Products _____ What's Available? _____ Movement and Exploration for the Young Blind Child _____ Aiming for Independence _____ ABCs of Braille 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM (Please mark how many will attend each session) _____ Technology: Where Do I Start? _____ Social Skills-Younger Children _____ Out and About: Independent Mobility for Your School-Aged Child _____ Self-Advocacy _____ Persuade, Negotiate, Collaborate CHILDREN-You must register your child for NFB child care for the day for child to participate. Child care has separate registration and fees. (See article in the April issue.) Please mark how many children will attend each session _____ 11 AM to 12:15 PM: Music and Movement (ages 5 - 12) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ _____ 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM: Hands-On Art (ages 5 - 12) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ TUESDAY, JULY 2 8:45 AM to 10:30 AM: Cane Walk Session I _____ adults _____ children _____ youth _________ ages _________ ages 11:00 AM to 12:45 PM: Cane Walk Session II _____ adults _____ children _____ youth _________ ages _________ ages 2:45 PM to 4:00 PM-Youth Style Show Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ WEDNESDAY, JULY 3 CHILDREN- You must register your child for NFB child care for the day for child to participate (separate registration and fees). Please mark how many children will attend each session _____ 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM-Astronaut Activities (ages 6-12; mature 5-year-olds may attend) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ _____ 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM-Beep Kickball (ages 5-12) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ THURSDAY, JULY 4 CHILDREN-You must register your child for NFB child care for the day for child to participate (separate registration and fees). Please mark how many will attend each session. _____ 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM-Making Raised-Line Drawings (ages 6-12) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ _____ 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM-Space Exploration (ages 5-12) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ ADULTS 7:00 PM to 8:15 PM (Please mark how many will attend each session) _____ Homeschooling _____ IEP Basics for Parents of Blind/VI Students 8:30 PM to 9:45 PM (Please mark how many will attend) _____ IEP Development and Legal Process Overview CHILDREN (ages 5-12 years) Please note: Sign your child up for this activity only if you will be attending NOPBC workshops that evening. _____ 7 to 10 PM Crafts and Games (Please mark how many will attend) Name _____________________ Age_______ _____________________ Age_______ NOPBC 2013 CONFERENCE OVERVIEW Gatorland trip is Sun., June 30. Teen Room and Tween Room schedules to come. Monday, July 1 9:00 AM to 10:45 AM No Limits Seminar (Adults, Children, Youth) 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM NOPBC Children's Activity in Child Care 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM Youth Track 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM NOPBC Concurrent Workshop Sessions 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM Youth Track 2:00 PM NOPBC Children's Activity in Child Care 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM NOPBC Concurrent Workshop Sessions 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM NOPBC Concurrent Workshop Sessions 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Family Hospitality Tuesday, July 2 7:00 AM to 8:45 AM NOPBC Board Meeting 8:45 AM to 10:30 AM Cane Walk Session I (Adults, Children, Youth) 11:00 AM to 12:45 PM Cane Walk Session II (Adults, Children, Youth) 2:45 PM to 4:00 PM Youth Style Show 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Youth Track Wednesday, July 3 9:00 AM NOPBC Children's Activity in Child Care 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Youth Track 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM NOPBC Annual Meeting-Drop kids in child care early 2:00 PM NOPBC Children's Activity in Child Care 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Braille Book Fair 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Youth Track 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM Dads' Night Out 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM Convention 101 Thursday, July 4 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM NOPBC Board Meeting 8:45 AM to 9:20 AM Convention 101 meets 10:00 AM NOPBC Children's Activity in Child Care 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM Convention 101 meets 2:00 PM NOPBC Children's Activity in Child Care 5:10 PM to 5:35 PM Convention 101 meets 7:00 PM to 9:45 PM NOPBC Concurrent Workshops 7:00 to 10:00 PM Children's Activity for children whose parents are in the NOPBC workshops Time TBA Youth Track Friday, July 5 and Saturday, July 6 8:15 AM to 8:50 AM Convention 101 meets 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM Convention 101 meets 5:10 PM to 5:35 PM Convention 101 meets ---------- Recipes This month's recipes are contributed by members of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Dan Flasar] Sweet and Sour Spinach and Tofu Salad by Dan Flasar Dan Flasar is a member of the Lewis and Clark chapter of St. Louis, Missouri. One of his major contributions to the affiliate is to act as our official photographer. Ingredients: 1 8- or 10-ounce package unfermented tofu 1 8- or 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar or one tablespoon white vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar 4 or 5 drops sesame oil Method: Leave package of frozen spinach to thaw overnight in refrigerator. Remove tofu from package, drain and rinse. Cut into ?-inch cubes or smaller if preferred. Remove the thawed spinach from package, draining excess water, and place in a glass or porcelain (not metal) bowl. Add tofu cubes to spinach. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, pour over the tofu and spinach, then stir to mix. Stir the sesame oil into the mixture, one drop at a time. Let salad stand covered in the refrigerator. The salad is ready to eat when the ingredients have blended, at least an hour, but overnight is best. Makes five three-ounce servings. Notes: The only item you might have a little problem finding is sesame oil. You need only a drop or two, a bottle will last a long time, and it's not expensive. Most large grocery stores stock it in the Chinese food section. It's also good on ramen noodles and in stews and soups and as an unusual note in barbecue sauce. It does not need refrigeration if kept tightly capped. Rice vinegar can also be found in the Chinese or Japanese food section ---------- Ham and Potato Crockpot Soup by Rosina Foster Rosina Foster is the parent of two exceptionally fine children, is the newly elected president of the Missouri Parents of Blind Children, and is an energetic and enthusiastic participant in anything she undertakes. Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes 1/3 cup celery, diced 1/3 cup onion, finely chopped 3/4 cup cooked ham, diced 3 1/4 cups water 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste 5 tablespoons butter 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups milk Method: Combine ham, potatoes, celery, onion, water, bouillon, and salt and pepper in a Crockpot and set it on low. After the Crockpot has cooked for seven hours, in a saucepan melt butter and whisk in flour until smooth and add to Crockpot. After this thickening is mixed in, slowly add the milk while stirring constantly. Turn off Crockpot and let soup stand for fifteen minutes. Enjoy. This is a great way to use leftover ham. ---------- Sicilian Casserole by Dave Hutchins Dave Hutchins is a member of the Kansas City chapter, holds a board position, is an automobile enthusiast, and is the president of the CARS (Classics, Antiques, and Rods) division. Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef or turkey 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 6-ounce can tomato paste 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce 3/4 cup water 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, 1 8-ounce package 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, cubed 3/4 cup milk 1/3 cup sour cream 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile brown ground meat, onion, and garlic in heavy saucepan, stirring to break up meat. Add pepper when meat is almost cooked; continue to simmer until meat is done. Drain well. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, and dried Italian seasoning and stir well to blend. Let simmer for 10 minutes to blend flavors. Meanwhile cook elbow macaroni in salted water as directed on package. While macaroni is cooking, combine cream cheese and milk in medium bowl. Cook in microwave on medium power for two to three minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Remove from microwave and stir with wire whisk until mixture thickens and blends to form a smooth sauce. Drain macaroni and add to cream cheese sauce along with sour cream and half cup Parmesan cheese; stir to combine. In two-quart casserole dish place all of cream cheese mixture. Top with all of the ground meat mixture and sprinkle with remaining quarter cup Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for twenty to thirty minutes, until casserole is bubbly. Note: To freeze, add 1 tablespoon cornstarch to the cream cheese sauce. Prepare casserole as directed, but instead of baking, chill in refrigerator. Wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator. Bake covered for twenty-five to thirty- five minutes, then uncover and bake five to ten minutes longer, until bubbly. ---------- Chicken Linguini with Ranch Dressing by Dacia Luck Dacia Luck has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind for most of her life, having joined at age six. She is currently the president of the Columbia Chapter of the NFB of Missouri and serves as the affiliate's corresponding secretary. Ingredients: 2 to 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, grilled or 2 6-ounce packages of Tyson's grilled chicken breast 1 pound linguini, cooked al dente 1 large red or yellow pepper, grilled, or 1 jar roasted red peppers 1 pound broccoli crowns, cooked for 2 to 3 minutes 1 large bottle ranch dressing Grated Parmesan cheese to taste Method: Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain. Meantime grill the chicken and cut into bite-size pieces. Cook the broccoli. Mix pasta, peppers, chicken, and broccoli together in large serving bowl and coat with the bottle of ranch dressing. It sounds like a lot of dressing, but there are a lot of ingredients to cover. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and serve hot. This dish goes well with garlic bread. ---------- [PHOTO/CAPTION: Cora Underwood] Cora's Chocolate Sheet Cake by Cora Underwood Ingredients: 2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 2 sticks margarine 6 tablespoons real cocoa 1 cup water 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla Method: Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, and baking soda in large mixing bowl. In a saucepan melt margarine and add water, stirring to mix well. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Do not let liquid heat far enough to cook the eggs. Just warm should be fine. Pour liquid over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased and floured cookie sheet with sides. Bake at 350 degrees for fifteen to twenty minutes. While cake is baking, make icing. Icing Ingredients: 1 stick of margarine 4 tablespoons cocoa 5 tablespoons buttermilk 1 pound box powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup chopped nuts Method: Melt margarine in saucepan. Add cocoa powder, buttermilk, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and nuts and mix thoroughly. When the cake comes out of the oven, pour icing over warm cake and spread evenly. ---------- [PHOTO/CAPTION: Debbie Wunder] Spinach Casserole by Debbie Wunder Debbie Wunder is the president of Missouri's Diabetes Action Network, the vice-president of the Missouri Association of Dog Guide Users, and the head of Community and Special Projects for the Missouri Affiliate. Ingredients: 4 9-ounce boxes of frozen chopped spinach 16 to 20 slices American cheese (I prefer Kraft) 2 eggs 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese, drained 1 teaspoon flour 1 clove garlic, minced (optional) Method: Drain spinach in a sieve and squeeze dry, removing all extra water. Next break up cheese into small pieces and mix thoroughly with spinach. Beat eggs and add the flour and garlic. Mix all ingredients together, making the cottage cheese the last ingredient to be added. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish with Pam and pour mixture into dish. Spread mixture evenly and bake forty to forty- five minutes. Serves ten. This is a family favorite at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. ---------- [PHOTO/CAPTION: Grace Warn] Strawberry Bread by Grace Warn Despite having been friends with Dacia Luck since they were both six, Grace joined the NFB only this past December. Coincidentally, this was the same time she became reader/assistant to the Monitor editor. Ingredients: 2 cups fresh strawberries 3 1/8 cups flour 2 cups plus a spoonful sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 1/4 cup chopped pecans Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. Slice strawberries and place in medium bowl, sprinkle lightly with sugar, and set aside. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in large bowl; mix well. Blend oil and eggs with strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to dry ingredients, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Add pecans, stir, and divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake forty to forty-five minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center of each loaf. Let cool in pans on wire rack for ten minutes. Loosen edges and turn loaves out to cool completely. For an even sweeter treat, add chocolate chips before baking. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family Braille Book Fair 2013: Calling all Braille readers, teachers, and parents! It's that time again: time to sort through all those boxes of Braille books and donate gently used but no longer needed Braille books to the 2013 Braille Book Fair sponsored by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Our primary goal is to get more Braille books into the hands of children, youth, and beginning adult readers, so here's what we need most in our books in good condition: print-Braille picture storybooks, leisure reading (fiction or nonfiction) books, cookbooks, and books about sports. Children are so hungry for their very own books that every year, despite generous donations of books, most of our books for young children are gone in less than an hour. So begin your search through the boxes in your basement and spare room and get those books shipped to UPS, Braille Book Fair, Attention: Milton Bennett, 8901 Atlantic Ave, Orlando, FL 32824. This year's coordinator is Krystal Guillory. If you have any questions, contact Krystal Guillory at (318) 245-8955 or . This year's event is slated to take place on Wednesday, July 3, 2013, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Please check the convention agenda for location. Resolutions for Convention: Here is a message from Sharon Maneki, who chairs the NFB resolutions committee: Do you think we should change a government policy, take a stand concerning an agency for the blind, or create new regulations? If you do, consider writing a resolution. At the 2013 national convention the resolutions committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 2. The committee will debate and discuss resolutions on a wide variety of subjects. If passed by the Convention, these resolutions will become the policy statements of the organization. To ensure that your resolution will be considered by the committee, please send it to President Maurer or to me by June 18, two weeks before the committee meeting. If you send a resolution to me by email and do not receive a response acknowledging your email in two or three days, please call or send it again. If you miss the deadline, you must get three members of the committee to sponsor your resolution and then get it to the chairman before the meeting begins. I will be pleased to accept resolutions by email, ; fax, (410) 715-9597; or snail mail, Sharon Maneki, 9013 Nelson Way, Columbia, MD 21045. How to Pay for Your Hotel Stay in Dallas: Here is some advice about paying for your hotel stay: Every year at our national convention we have serious trouble with use of debit cards or cash payments at hotel check-in, and, having worked to solve these problems for years, I can tell you they can nearly ruin the convention week for those experiencing them. Planning to attend our national convention should therefore include thinking seriously about how to pay the hotel, and I cannot urge you strongly enough to avoid using cash or a debit card as your payment method. Doing so may seem convenient, but you should not do so. If you do not have a credit card of your own to use, prevail upon a close friend or family member to let you use one just for convention. Here's why: If you are paying in actual currency, most hotels will want enough cash up front at check-in to cover your room and tax charges for the entire stay, plus a one-time advance incidentals deposit to cover meals, telephone calls, Internet service, and other things you may charge to your room. The unused portion of the incidentals deposit may be returned at check-out or by mail after departure. Understand, however, that, if your incidentals charges exceed the incidentals deposit credited, you are responsible for payment of the full balance at checkout. The total can end up being a very large sum indeed. If you use a debit card, however, you are really at a potentially painful disadvantage. The hotel will put a hold on money in your bank account linked to the debit card to cover the estimated balance of your stay-that is, for the entire week's room and tax charges plus a one-time incidentals deposit to cover meals, movies, and so on charged to your room. You should be aware that the hold can therefore be a considerable amount of money and that you will not have access to that amount for any other purchases or payments with your card. (Hotels sometimes also put authorizations on credit cards, by the way, but those are not often a problem unless they exceed your card's credit limit.) Holds can remain in effect for three to five days or even a week after you check out. If you have pre-authorized payments from your bank account, for example your monthly mortgage payment, or if you try to make a purchase with your debit card and it's refused, the hold from the hotel can cause you trouble or result in very large overdraft fees for payments you thought you had money in your account to cover. I have seen this hit some of our members in the form of hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. This means that, if you use a debit card, you would have to be certain you have a high enough balance in your checking account when you come to convention to cover any debit card holds. This is a perilous practice since charges may exceed your estimate by a considerable amount. (Some frequent travelers even open a separate checking account used only for debits like these.) Remember, a hold is going to be placed on your debit card regardless of how you end up paying the bill, and the hold is not necessarily released right away, even if you pay with a credit card or cash when you check out of the hotel. Planning ahead in this area can ensure an untroubled week at convention, leaving you free to enjoy fully the world's largest and most exciting meeting of the blind. See you as usual in the lobby at check-in- using a credit card, I hope. Instructor Turns Novelist: Federationist Jerry Whittle has published two novels, costing $7.99 each, available on Amazon at the Kindle Store and online at Barnes and Noble. Slingshot, a baseball novel, and Standing with Better Angels, a novel about a blind minister who works at a homeless shelter in New Orleans, are the two titles. Federationist Kenneth Silberman Honored: Captain Kenneth Silberman of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) earned CAP's prestigious Charles E. 'Chuck' Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement Award on March 15, 2013. He earned this award, named after the man who first broke the sound barrier, after having served as an assistant aerospace education officer for the Bowie Composite Squadron of the Maryland Wing since January 14, 2013. The Yeager award recognizes CAP officers who have demonstrated a thorough knowledge of aerodynamics, navigation, weather, and the history of both civilian and military aviation. New Chapter: We are excited to announce the formation of a new Federation chapter in Jackson, Michigan. The Jackson Area chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan was formed in January of 2013 and currently has sixteen members. The new officers and board of directors are president, David Robinson; vice president, Rusty Higgins; secretary, Mary Ann Robinson; treasurer, Kristen Wilson; and board members, Pat Feldpausch and Travis Wilson. 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. NLS Sponsors Braille Summit: NLS invites you to participate in the NLS Braille Summit at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, June 19 to 21, 2013, to help determine the best ways for libraries to promote and support Braille literacy. The conference will bring together librarians, Braille literacy professionals, Braille readers, and other stakeholders. Braille is the only true form of literacy for people who are blind. It increases access to education, allows for fuller participation in society, and drastically increases the odds of employment. Yet studies suggest that fewer than 10 percent of people who are legally blind in the United States can read Braille, and many children who are blind have no opportunity to learn it. As leading providers of Braille reading materials, libraries are poised to play a key role in the fight to reverse this trend. NLS is committed to increasing Braille literacy as part of its strategic plan. The conference will allow participants to gather lessons learned from across America and around the world; assess the present state of Braille literacy, technology, and access; and make recommendations that will shape Braille programs and priorities for the future of the NLS network of cooperating libraries. The conference will cover five major themes: Braille Readers, Library Selection and Collection Development, Braille Production, Braille Technology, and Promoting Braille Literacy and Awareness. Participants will have the opportunity to listen to expert speakers in each subject area and then engage in facilitated discussions with their peers, during which they will identify strategic issues and recommend solutions for implementation. We hope that you will join us to lend your own knowledge and experience. The Crowne Plaza Boston-Newton, selected as the host hotel, is offering a rate of $159 per night. Attendees are responsible for arranging and covering their own lodging and transportation expenses. NLS will provide breakfast and lunch, as well as transportation from the host hotel to the conference facility. Registration form and conference information available online: . Please note that attendance is limited and registration will be closed when capacity is reached. For more information contact: Judith Dixon, consumer relations officer, Braille Pal Wanted: I am finishing the study of contracted Braille, thinking about trying grade three, and am contemplating a purchase of a Brailler. It would make Braille writing a lot easier and faster than using a slate and stylus. However, the cost of a Brailler did concern me, especially because I could not think of many reasons why I would have to use it. Then someone mentioned that I could use it to write letters to others who are blind, and that led me to another thought: it might be fun to have Braille pen pals to correspond with. Writing letters with a computer using a screen reader is ok, but I do want to keep up my Braille skills. If you are interested in being a Braille pal, you can write to me in Braille, and I can write back to you. I am a senior but would also enjoy corresponding with younger people. I suppose we would need someone to address envelopes for us, but it is good to keep in touch with the sighted community too. My name and address are Estelle Shukert, 2924 S. Ingalls Way, Denver, CO 80227. Pen Pal Wanted: A friend of my father lives in Poland and is legally blind and retired. He speaks Polish, German, Esperanto, and some English. He would love to learn the American Braille Code and is looking for a pen pal. He is very musical and used to tune pianos and guitars. Can someone direct me to older blind people who would like to communicate with my father's friend? If anyone can help, please write to Martina Stroup, . Science Sense Tours at the American Museum of Natural History: Blind and partially sighted visitors are invited to attend this program, held monthly in the Museum galleries. Specially trained Museum tour guides highlight specific themes and exhibition halls, engaging participants through extensive oral descriptions and touchable objects. Science Sense is free with Museum admission. Sunday, May 19, 10:00 AM: Scales of the Universe Explore the Scales of the Universe, a 400-foot-long walkway that hugs the glass curtain wall along the Rose Center for Earth and Space, which introduces visitors to the relative sizes of galaxies, stars, planets, and atoms through text panels, interactive terminals, and models. Wednesday, June 12, 2:30 PM: Living Large Join us on a big expedition throughout the Museum as we discuss and examine several larger-than-life icons such as the blue whale, the giant sequoia, dinosaurs, and the 63-foot-long Great Canoe. Saturday, July 13, 10:00 AM: Ocean Life Plunge into the ocean to explore aquatic habitat dioramas in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Thursday, August 15, 2:30 PM: North American Mammals Discover the dioramas in the stunningly restored Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals, which offers a snapshot of North America's rich environmental heritage. Science Sense tours are available to individuals or groups. Space is limited, and advance registration is required. Programs may be subject to change. For additional information or to register for a Science Sense tour, call (212) 313-7565 or email . Reunion: If you attended The Ohio State School for the Blind (OSSB) and are interested in attending the biennial reunion/business meeting, it will be held at 5220 N. High Street, Columbus, Ohio, from June 7 to 9. If you have not updated your mailing address, phone numbers, and/or email address, please do so ASAP if you want to attend so we can send out the necessary invitation to you, your family, and friends. Please send contact information to or call at (614) 882-8370. You can also call our information line and leave your contact information there. The telephone number is (206) 279-6833. Lions World Song Festival for Blind Singers: Four Lions Clubs in Krak?w, Poland, part of LCI District 121, are in the process of organizing a Lions World Song Festival for the Blind. The event, called "Sounds from the Heart," will be held in Krak?w from November 18 thru 20, 2013. The primary purpose is to give talented vision-impaired singers a chance to be heard on a world stage. At the same time the organizing clubs want to raise awareness among the general public about the needs and difficulties that severely sight-impaired people face. All proceeds will benefit LCIF's SightFirst programs. The Festival will take the form of a competition among the participants. Participation will not only create a bond among the artists but will also give them a worldwide stage. It also demonstrates to the world how Lions from all parts of the globe can work together to address great humanitarian needs and achieve successful outcomes. The Festival will demonstrate again to the world that the Lions are still fully committed to the eradication of preventable blindness, to research into the various causes of severe eye diseases, and to assisting those who are blind in any manner possible. The Song Festival initiative was first presented at the European Lions Forum in September 2012. It was met with great enthusiasm on the part of the attendees. In October 2012 the National Lions Convention in Zakopane, Poland, threw its full support behind this initiative of the four Krak?w clubs. Participation in the festival will involve four steps: 1) initial qualification of applicants to participate, based on submitted DVD's 2) two-day auditions of invited applicants in Krak?w and selection of finalists 3) finalists' performances with accompaniment by Krak?w orchestra 4) announcement of winners The competition is intended to give talented vocalists who are blind or sight impaired an opportunity to perform for a large and diverse audience. Only amateur musicians will be invited, although participation may lead to a professional career. The venue for the festival will be the Grand Opera in Krak?w, a city selected by the European Commission to receive the Access City Award 2011 in recognition of its initiatives to make life easier for the severely handicapped. One of these initiatives is a special tourist route using three-dimensional maps and GPS technology to make access to the city's cultural and historical heritage easier for blind and vision-impaired people. Lions Clubs from around the world are invited and encouraged to join the Krak?w clubs to participate in this important service project. It will involve identifying vocally talented people from their geographic area who are blind or sight impaired, assisting them to create an original song with the help of local composers and lyrics writers, and sponsoring them to make a recording in a professional studio. The Krak?w Lions are confident that the idea of promoting young, talented vision-impaired musicians to become respected and appreciated artists will be supported by the entire Lions community. A little push from their Lions friends may be all that's needed to get them on stage. Stevie Wonder and Andrea Bocelli may not be the exception after all. The Lions of Krak?w will be happy to assist any club willing to participate in this joint Lions project. Details about the Festival are shown on the website: . 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. For Sale: Ann Wasserman has a BrailleNote Empower thirty-two-cell refreshable display with a Braille keyboard. It is gently used, having been owned for just over a year. Asking $1,500. She can be reached at (732) 222-3510. For Sale: AmbuTech Mobility Aid iGlasses ($80), PowerBraille 81 Braille display ($500), and Juliet Classic Braille Embosser ($500). All prices negotiable and do not include shipping. All items come with accessories. If interested, call (519) 669-1456 or email . ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Mon Jun 3 22:03:43 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2013 22:03:43 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, June 2013 Message-ID: <201306040503.r5453hDj010330@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 6 June 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Orlando Site of 2013 NFB Convention The 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Orlando, Florida, July 1-6, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234. The 2013 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $79; and triples and quads, $85. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $90-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before May 13, 2013. The other 50 percent is not refundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2013, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon. Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe; coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award- winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport. The schedule for the 2013 convention is: Monday, July 1 Seminar Day Tuesday, July 2 Registration Day Wednesday, July 3 Board Meeting and Division Day Thursday, July 4 Opening Session Friday, July 5 Business Session Saturday, July 6 Banquet Day and Adjournment Vol. 56, No. 6 June 2013 Contents Illustrations: The NFB Scholarship Committee at Work The Rehabilitation System in Oklahoma: Progress, Setbacks, and the Hope for Greater Opportunities by Gary Wunder The Power to Live in the World by Jonathan Young Compassion Can Be Discrimination: Sign the Petition Against Subminimum Wages by Anil Lewis A Seventh-Grade Perspective on Blindness by Jordan Diggs ALT: A Very Helpful Software Package by Robert Jaquiss and Gary Wunder Auditor Flags Purchases for Former Director of the Iowa Department for the Blind by Barbara Pierce Children of Blind Mothers Learn New Modes of Communication by Elizabeth Norton >From Doubt to Dedication: My Journey in the Federation by Chris Nusbaum Why I Like Being a Blind Person by Agnes Allen Natalie Shaheen Honored by her Alma Mater Edna Schmidt: A Federation Fundraiser Goes to Washington by Anna Kresmer Recipes Monitor Miniatures The NFB Scholarship Committee at Work For a long time now the National Federation of the Blind has presented scholarships to the thirty most deserving blind students in the country. Federationists who can attend the convention get to hear from them at the board meeting on the day preceeding the first general convention session, and the winner of the Kenneth Jernigan scholarship will address the banquet. What is less well-known is that selecting the thirty most deserving students in the country requires hard work by a committee that must choose these winners from a pool of hundreds of applicants. This year brought us more than 700 applications. Some of our work is done in subcommittees and some by the full committee. Shown here are the full committee and one of the eight subcommittees that selected the scholarship class of 2013. [PHOTO CAPTION: The entire thirty-member committee stands posed in the large conference room where the all-important decisions were made.] [PHOTO CAPTION: At a smaller round table, a subcommittee of six tackles a thick stack of applications.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Michael O'Brien] The Rehabilitation System in Oklahoma: Progress, Setbacks and the Hope for greater Opportunity by Gary Wunder In the early 1960s, when the National Federation of the Blind was torn apart by what many call "the Civil War," the American Council of the Blind was born. The organizations have coexisted with various degrees of harmony and discord and with differing levels of contact and involvement in the Oklahoma agency for the blind. Passions about the organizational split have continued to run high in the state, and our affiliate has had to struggle to have meaningful contact with Oklahoma's Department of Rehabilitation Services and specifically the division under it called Visual Services, a somewhat odd name for an agency that exists to serve those who are blind. Although having had to struggle in the past, the affiliate's efforts have begun to show significant change in the perception of the Federation, which has grown in numbers of members, chapters, and those receiving appropriate services in the skills of blindness. The last few years have witnessed a positive change in Oklahoma. In 2009 Dr. Michael O'Brien was hired to head Oklahoma's Department of Rehabilitation Services by the Rehabilitation Services Commission. In 2011 he hired Dr. Michael Jones to head Visual Services. The appointments of both O'Brien and Jones were announced by the Oklahoma Division of Rehabilitation Services in press releases circulated throughout the state. Here, in part, is what was said about O'Brien: Dr. Michael O'Brien is currently the executive director for the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services and has more than thirty- five years of experience in vocational rehabilitation. He is adjunct faculty at Langston University. He has an Ed.D. from Oklahoma State University in occupational and adult education and an MA in education from Chadron State College in career/vocational guidance. He is a certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC) and certified vocational evaluation specialist (CVE). He is a former Council on Rehabilitation Counselor Commission (CRCC) commissioner (where he chaired the Standards Committee and served on the Exam and Research Committee) and currently serves as a Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) board member, executive board member of the Consortia of Administrators of Native American Rehabilitation (CANAR), and a member of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) executive committee (currently president-elect). He is a published author and has more than 130 international, national, regional, and state presentations/publications to his credit. He is a four- time Institute for Rehabilitation Issues (IRI) national scholar and served as the chair of the Thirtieth IRI, A New Paradigm in Vocational Evaluation, and the thirty-seventh IRI, Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on the Employment and Independence of Individuals with Disabilities. The National Rehabilitation Counseling Association has recognized him with the Presidential Citation, and CSAVR has awarded him the national President's Award. Prior to coming to DRS, Dr. O'Brien was an associate professor of rehabilitation and special education and acting department chair for counseling, special education and rehabilitation at New Mexico Highlands University. He previously served as clinical affiliate professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He has been married to his bride Jan for more than thirty-five years. They have four grown children and eight grandchildren. The arrival of Jones was hailed soon after he assumed his position. Here, in significant part, is the way the agency introduced Oklahoma to its new director of Visual Services: OKLAHOMA CITY - Dr. J. Michael Jones was recently selected as administrator for Visual Services, a division of the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS). Visual Services' programs offer employment development, independent living training, library services, business ownership, educational materials, and technology for Oklahomans with low vision or blindness. Jones' career in services to people with disabilities has spanned more than twenty-five years on four continents. "What attracted me to Oklahoma is the broad scope of DRS' responsibilities," Jones said. "I have the operational freedom in Visual Services to use my skills and experience to help our customers become masters of their own destiny....When our customers are educated, have some wealth and political clout or personal influence, then they are controlling their own destinies and have achieved social justice for themselves," he explained. He served seven years as a rehabilitation program administrator, ten years as a rehabilitation counselor, seven years as a university instructor, and three years working in international rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities. He was previously employed as senior professor of special education in Lushoto, Tanzania, in Africa and administered two federal programs as executive director for the Division of Rehabilitation in Hawaii. While supervising rehabilitation programs in Hawaii, Jones launched new employment programs for youth with disabilities, created cutting-edge technology programs for children with disabilities living on rural islands, and mentored professionals in rehabilitation techniques. He was elected six times to serve as president of the National Federation of the Blind of Alabama and led Alabama's Braille literacy movement, culminating with administrative rule changes requiring that Braille be taught and emphasized in Alabama's school system. He was the creator of the Braillewriters for Blind Children Program, which gave a free Braillewriter to every blind student in Alabama. Braillewriters are Braille typewriters that enable people who are blind to take notes or communicate by typing keys that correspond to the six dots used in Braille code. Jones spearheaded local transit programs to connect isolated communities, he established a network for parents of blind children, as well as established a diabetes action network throughout Alabama. Additionally he served as the chair and principal lobbyist for the legislative action committee representing all disability groups from across Alabama and was appointed by the governor to represent all citizens with disabilities on Alabama's Help America Vote Act committee. Dr. Jones's international work has included building university teacher training programs in special education in East Africa, staff training in rehabilitation techniques to assist persons who are blind in both Northern and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. Additionally Dr. Jones built a community rehabilitation program in Bangladesh that today because of his leadership and continued guidance has grown to serve more than three-hundred people with rights-based education and work skills programs. Jones was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised on a farm in Butts County, Georgia. Blinded at age eleven, he continued to work the farm until his family moved to Alabama. His public school education included five years in a residential school for the blind and seven years at a local public school. Upon graduation from Pell City High School, he entered Auburn University and in 1985 earned a degree in rehabilitation. He earned a doctoral degree also from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in 2008. Dr. Jones is the father of sixteen-year-old Laura. "I am most proud of training individual blind people to use the tools that free them from the disabling aspects of blindness," Jones said. This is how Oklahomans received word of their new directors of rehabilitation from the Department of Rehabilitation Services. Two national searches had resulted in two highly motivated and credentialed men to oversee and direct rehabilitation in Oklahoma. Among those familiar with the blindness field in the United States, Dr. Michael Jones is known as an intelligent man who is deeply committed to and knowledgeable about rehabilitation and the good it can bring to the lives of blind people. He is also known as a man with a volatile temper that sometimes causes problems in his making maximum use of his ambition and talent. Some who know Jones and O'Brien say they have much in common: energy, intelligence, and a clear sense of where they wanted to take their agencies. They are also said to share the less flattering qualities of arrogance, impatience, and a dismissive attitude toward those they consider inferior either in intelligence, technical competence, or life experience. Those who admire both men describe the tension they sometimes felt while watching them function in their professional capacities: amazement at the changes and the good they could accomplish, but wondering when some indiscreet action or remark would derail the good they were trying hard to do. Visual Services in Oklahoma is known by some blind Oklahomans for its willingness to provide services. However, others would say that this is arguable, maintaining that allocation of resources and services varies extensively and arbitrarily by region and on personal perspectives of the rehabilitation counselor working with each individual. Services often require strenuous advocacy by many. Jones and others say that the problem has never been in a reluctance to spend money to help blind people but in the narrow range of services offered to most of the agency's consumers. Traditionally Visual Services has had a large number of closures, but most were for homemakers and helping blind people with daily living skills. The Division has fallen short in teaching the attitudes and skills that lead to an education and employment. Jones is credited with changing the agency's focus. He says he was pleasantly surprised to find that, not only did the blind people who were served get excited about this change, but many within the agency also embraced the ideas he brought. Admittedly some staff could not or would not embrace the change, and during his tenure Jones reports that sixteen counselors, about 60 percent of the rehabilitation counseling staff, either left or were dismissed for lack of performance. After a negative review of the Business Enterprise Program (BEP) in Oklahoma by the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration, blind vendors operating under the state's Business Enterprise Program say that Jones was quite helpful in bringing operating rules to the program and in seeing that those rules and the ones that predated him were known and followed. Selection to be in the program and awarding of facilities had too often been perceived as arbitrary decisions made by the agency, but Jones impressed the blind merchants with his commitment to creating and overseeing an orderly and understandable process. On the issue of the Business Enterprise Program, we are told that some distance existed between Jones and O'Brien, with the latter suggesting that a program in which several blind managers made more than he, a high-level administrator supervising more than a thousand employees, might need to be changed. Whatever their differences, Jones credits O'Brien with generally supporting him and letting him do his job as the head of programs for the blind. On Friday, April 5, 2013, the National Federation of the Blind of Oklahoma was beginning its annual convention. Jones had been invited to address the convention in his capacity as the head of Visual Services. He encouraged our affiliate president, Jeannie Massay, also to invite O'Brien, and she did. However, late in the afternoon on Friday, during the annual Rehabilitation Professionals Conference, President Massay was informed that Dr. Jones had resigned. Before the reception that evening, President Massay informally met with O'Brien and asked him to speak the next day during convention in place of Jones. O'Brien agreed and said he would make the presentation for Visual Services that Jones had been scheduled to make. There is no question that the resignation of Dr. Jones was forced: resign or you will be fired by the end of the day. Though no one from the Department of Rehabilitation Services will talk about personnel matters, it is widely believed that Jones was dismissed as a result of comments made to a staff member in the agency who uses a wheelchair. Our best information is that Jones repeatedly asked this staff member how his chair performed on stairs. One version of the story says that, when Jones came to his job, the staffer wanted to go to lunch with him so they could get to know one another. Jones reportedly said that all the lunch places he liked had stairs and asked how his coworker would deal with that. The clear impression was that Jones had no interest in going to lunch, and, though the coworker was perplexed at the rebuff, he continued to try to get to know and work with Jones. A more sinister account alleges that recently Jones missed a meeting and that the coworker, who uses a wheelchair, told him he had missed it and offered to review what had happened. Jones was reportedly angry about the mention of the meeting and allegedly said in a menacing voice that he would take the coworker's chair to the stairwell, push it down a couple of flights of stairs, and see how well the coworker and his chair would handle them. Jones says that he made indiscreet remarks but that they were perceived humorously by all who heard them. But people within and outside the agency say that the coworker, whose complaint may have forced Jones to resign, is not the kind of man who would be quick to complain, overreact, or resort to official action in haste. Only if he felt threatened or concluded that this humiliation could not continue would he have brought this behavior to his superiors. The Braille Monitor sought to interview the target of these remarks, but our calls were not returned. While it might have been comforting to know from the source whether Jones was threatening or simply obnoxious, the behavior still falls far short of what one expects of public officials and especially officials who work in the field of rehabilitation. Whether threat or jest makes little difference. By way of an analogy, a blind person in an office environment who says he would like a meeting with the boss and is told that the boss will put corks in the employee's ears, put tape on his fingertips, and take away his cane and then see how well he can get to the boss's office would have every right to be offended. This is so whether the boss was physically intimidating and could carry out his threats or a frail or petite colleague who had no chance of making good on them. On Friday evening the newly formed Oklahoma Association of Blind Merchants, a part of the National Federation of the Blind of Oklahoma and the National Association of Blind Merchants, held a reception to kick off the Oklahoma convention officially. O'Brien was asked to speak briefly at the reception. Instead of the expected "Thank you for having me, and now let's enjoy the evening," O'Brien gave an extended speech, saying that Jones had resigned, that a new director for Visual Services would be hired, and that some changes in the state Business Enterprise Program might have to be made. Some assumed that this unclear reference was to the aforementioned concern about several lucrative facilities in the Business Enterprise Program. O'Brien had sometimes been perceived and characterized as arrogant and insensitive, and his decision to deliver these remarks to this audience during what was to have been a festive and informal occasion, sponsored by people he had several times said were making too much money, only reinforced this perception. His remarks complete, O'Brien decided to enjoy the liquid refreshment and mingle. One drink followed another, and with each drink his behavior became more unacceptable. Those who liked O'Brien but thought he had a problem with the bottle tried to suggest he go home given that the party was winding down. He replied that he was waiting for a ride from his daughter and that she would be along soon. He continued to drink, and people began to complain that he was taking liberties by inappropriately touching women. Eventually this escalated to kissing on the lips, placing his tongue in one woman's ear, and pulling at least one woman onto his lap. Some of his victims were blind vendors; some were the wives of blind vendors. Whether O'Brien thought himself so irresistible that the women would not object, considered that the blind people who depended on him for their business opportunities would timidly watch as their wives were manhandled in this way, or assumed that, because they were blind, they wouldn't know what he was doing is anybody's guess. What we do know is that people did notice, did object, and did have the presence of mind to make several videos capturing his inappropriate behavior. Following the events of Friday evening, a DRS official was warned that O'Brien's behavior had been noticed; that it had been captured on video; and that, if he failed to resign, the videos would be given to the governor. Dr. O'Brien resigned on Sunday evening, April 7. Since the agenda for the open meeting of the Rehabilitation Services Commission on Monday, April 8, had been compiled before O'Brien's misbehavior, officials decided that it was not appropriate to raise it for discussion or action at the regularly scheduled meeting. Although his resignation and rumors of his behavior on the previous Friday were known to members of the Commission, to some in the agency, and to many in the audience attending the meeting, the open meetings law in Oklahoma required that a separate meeting with a published agenda be called, and that meeting was scheduled for Friday, one week after the actions that made his resignation necessary. Several sources tell us that Dr. O'Brien has entered a rehabilitation facility and is being treated for his problems with alcohol. Compassion and an appreciation of his drive, creativity, and dedication to rehabilitation all lead us to hope he is successful in conquering his addiction. Turning once again to Dr. Jones, he says he is not disappointed to leave Oklahoma, because he believes he was able to do good work and feels pride in the job he did. His goal is to travel to a country where progress in building a rehabilitation system is easier to see and where he will be less encumbered by paperwork and the constraints of an already-in-place system. One cannot help wishing him well and hoping that the light within may someday shine without the encumbrance of temper, arrogance, and impatience for change. Oklahomans interviewed for this article seem to be of one mind about the events recounted here. They have no interest in seeing O'Brien or Jones reinstated, but they hope that the misconduct of two leading officials in Oklahoma's rehabilitation system will not cause the gains made since 2009 to be reversed. Neither do they want visionaries with energy and commitment to avoid coming to Oklahoma, for much work still remains to be done to improve the lives of blind residents of the state. Blind people need services that lead to an education and employment. Consumers must continue to play an active role in deciding their futures, and the staff who have embraced a more enlightened vision of what blind people can do must be encouraged to bring all of the energy and creativity they can to this noble task. The Oklahoma Affiliate has grown significantly over the past three years. In 2012 the Oklahoma Association of Blind Students and the Oklahoma Association of Blind Merchants were formed. To date in 2013 two new chapters have been formed with a third identified. Oklahoma Federationists are coming together not only to demand better opportunity but to be a part of building the foundation for this to occur. The members of the affiliate are committed to empowering all blind Oklahomans to pursue vigorously the skills of blindness that will ensure educational and vocational success and independence. They are also committed to supporting those working within the agency to shift the paradigm of rehabilitative services to one that encourages equality, education, and employment. In researching and interviewing for this article, we have seriously considered whether it should be written at all and what purpose it might serve. The argument that the blind of the nation have a right to know about programs operated on their behalf is compelling, but so too is our desire not to add to the problems blind consumers and agency staff face in continuing their progress to secure greater opportunities through improved rehabilitation. A major reason to publish involves the way public agencies have decided to respond to information requests and references for all former employees. Standard policy for most public agencies is to confirm only the dates when a staff member became employed and left the agency. The reason for this practice of providing limited information is the conviction that disclosing more could subject the agency to a lawsuit from those who have been terminated or resigned. The result is that potential employers are never given a clue about the performance of those they are considering for employment or the reasons why they no longer work for the former employer. Whatever legal arguments one can muster for this approach, it fails the public and the agencies who serve us. The Braille Monitor has a responsibility to tell the truth even when the truth is complicated, controversial, and difficult to attach to sources willing to be identified by name. For decades the Monitor has tried hard to determine the truth, report it accurately, and then let the pieces fall where they may. That is what we have done with the Oklahoma story, and we trust that the truth will help blind Oklahomans set themselves free. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jonathan Young speaking at the 2013 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium.] The Power to Live in the World by Jonathan Young From the Editor: The following remarks were delivered as the keynote address at the 2013 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium on April 18, 2013. Jonathan Young is a partner and general counsel at FoxKiser and the former chairman of the National Council on Disability. This is what he said: I am truly honored to join you here today and pay tribute to one of our movement's pioneers and greatest thinkers, Jacobus tenBroek. And I am pleased to have an opportunity to offer some of my thoughts on this year's theme: Push Forward and Push Back: Continuing the Struggle for the Right to Live in the World. Let me begin with the words of Jacobus tenBroek: He introduced his seminal article, "The Right to Live in the World," by stating, "Nothing could be more essential to personality, social existence, and economic opportunity than the physical capacity, the public approval, and the legal right to be abroad in the land." TenBroek was a man ahead of his time. He articulated the tenets of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) long before it was conceived, let alone enacted. Today, "The Right to Live in the World" is known and appreciated for its masterful effort in harnessing the common law of torts as a means to ground the right of people with disabilities to participate in all aspects of society. As he said by way of conclusion: "The right to live in the world...entails at least a right of free and safe physical access to it through the use of streets and sidewalks, roads and highways, and the common modes of transportation, communication, and interchange. It includes as well full and equal access to places of public accommodation, places designed to accommodate men in the course of gaining access to the world." In keeping with today's theme of pushing forward and pushing back, I want to push boundaries. My goal is to revisit tenBroek's article from a different angle: through the lens of "power" rather than "right." Hence the title of my remarks, "The Power to Live in the World." Power was implicit in tenBroek's framework. But we don't give power enough attention in our current disability rights discourse. My central thesis is that the rights we have admirably secured cannot be exercised fully, absent individual and collective power, and that dwelling on rights to the exclusion of power imperils the goals of the ADA. Power versus Right Let me begin by explaining what I mean by "power" versus "right." First let me note that the true value of either power or right lies most not in its intrinsic value but rather in its utility in achieving a desired outcome. My right to vote, for instance, has little value if I decline to exercise that right in casting my vote. Now an individual can have the power to do something but not the right, or the right to do something but not the power. One does not always need to have both right and power to achieve one's goal. However, an exercise of power without right or right without power does not always ensure sustainable achievement of one's goal. TenBroek hinted at the concept of power when he talked about physical capacity along with public approval and legal rights as having overlapping effects on the end goal of integration. Thus tenBroek asked, "To what extent do the legal right, the public approval, and the physical capacity coincide? Does the law assure the physically disabled, to the degree that they are physically able to take advantage of it, the right to leave their institutions, asylums, and the houses of their relatives?" TenBroek largely took as a given that individuals had the physical capacity of being integrated and focused his attention on whether the law, and to a lesser extent public attitudes, inhibited people from using their physical capacity to be integrated. TenBroek's genius was to recast the common law of tort as a regime that should not focus merely on objective standards of human behavior and assessing whether a blind person should be held to the same standard of contributory negligence as a sighted person. In tenBroek's words, "The question to be asked is not whether the defendant created an unreasonable risk of harm, but whether he interfered with the effectuation of the policy of the social integration of the disabled; not whether the plaintiff conducted himself as a reasonable man of ordinary prudence acting in the light of all the circumstances, but whether he acted pursuant to his right to be a part of his community." In other words, the law of tort must be adjusted to accommodate the capacities of people with disabilities and promote integration. TenBroek was right to focus on the right to live in the world. But I submit to you that's not enough to achieve the goal of integration. Friends, we need power along with rights. Let me use a simple example to illustrate. One does not have a "right" to drive a car until an individual has reached a certain age and passed certain tests to obtain a driver's license. But the "power" to drive a car really has nothing to do with rights. Countless people under the legal driving age have demonstrated the power to drive by borrowing their parents' cars in the dark of night for a joy ride. I suspect there are many people in this room, sighted and not, who have driven a car without a license, without a right to do so. Others have a right to obtain a drivers' license but haven't ever learned how to drive a car; they don't have the power to drive a car, or are at least unwilling to exercise their potential power. Now consider the potentially revolutionary impact of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge to develop nonvisual interfaces that will allow a blind driver to operate a vehicle independently. During the passage of the ADA, advocates tried to allay employers' concerns with a simple and compelling illustration that the "essential functions of a job" requirement meant a blind person couldn't be a qualified person with a disability for a job that required driving because obviously a blind person couldn't and wouldn't ever be able to drive. Clearly people didn't know that Mark Riccobono would be driving at the Daytona International Speedway less than twenty-five years after enactment of the ADA. Mark has successfully navigated a car equipped with nonvisual technology for 1.5 miles. He has demonstrated the power of a blind individual to drive a street vehicle in public without the assistance of a sighted person. People who are blind are on the cusp of having the capability-the power-to drive a car independently and safely on highways and byways as well as driveways and racetracks. Some fun court cases lie ahead. The Blind Driver Challenge example illustrates how power and right must be paired to achieve goals on a lasting basis. Technological capacity may help give people who are blind the power to drive just as hand controls gave new power to people with physical disabilities. But Mark Riccobono won't escape getting pulled over and possibly arrested while driving his car until legal rights are established to permit blind people to drive a car. I have no doubt that the NFB will ensure that those rights are secured. The point again is this: one can have the power to do something, but not the right; or one can have the right, but not the power. As a community we will be strongest with both. Political Power Let's talk about political power. In an essay published last summer on disability and politics in the Oxford Companion to American Politics, I described political power as "the perceived ability to move people and money." Moving people relates to showing up at the polls. Moving money is about fundraising. There is irony in the history of the disability rights movement. Our legislative victories have come in the absence of substantial political power. I don't mean to minimize the extraordinary role of disability rights advocates who deftly shepherded the ADA and other laws through Congress, but reflect for a moment on a string of legislative achievements stretching from the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 through the ADA of 1990 and beyond. Consider just how few people were engaged on a grassroots basis in contrast to the groundswell that paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The contrast between the broad-based social disruption wrought by the civil rights movement and the below-the-radar advance of disability rights reveals that other forces besides traditional political power were at play. At every step along our path to securing rights to live in the world, our community has benefitted from individuals in positions of power who were able to translate movement ideas into enforceable rights: George H.W. Bush, Tony Coelho, Tom Harkin, Steny Hoyer, Ted Kennedy, Dick Thornburgh, to name just a few. These were not people who were put in power at the behest of a burgeoning political force in the way that the LGBT community and the Tea Party Movement have put people in places of power. Rather, these were individuals who came to power independent of disability but had personal connections to disability and supported the cause. In a real sense we have repeatedly secured rights before the political power typically needed to secure those rights. There is nothing wrong with leveraging the power of people in positions of influence, but there are risks. First, legislative victories like the ones we have enjoyed can lead to a misplaced illusion of political power. It is great that elected and appointed officials have carried our mantle because they felt a connection and wanted to help. But that's different from having elected officials feel compelled to act because of political strength and being able to take some credit for the fact that they are in office. That's a far cry from the long-term efforts other communities have undertaken to elect leaders from within their communities. Second, we should remember that most of the disability rights victories we have secured have come without substantial resource allocation. Indeed, when it comes to things like the ADA, policymakers thought it would save the government money rather than require the government to spend more money. It is easier for policymakers to grant deficit-neutral rights than dedicate (or sustain) potentially deficit- growing funds. Budget decisions are influenced more by typical traditional power than by political largesse. Moreover, we don't have anywhere near the number of champions that we've had in the past, and we aren't backfilling the recent departures of leaders like Senators Tom Harkin and Ted Kennedy. Lack of political power during far-reaching budget debates is dangerous. Finally, and most important, we must remember that rights secured can never be taken for granted-not only in terms of keeping the law on the books but also in ensuring that we continue to build on our rights amidst changing circumstances. Rights are not perfected at their creation. They must be cultivated, sustained, implemented, and enforced. Only then do rights have meaningful effect. This requires ongoing political engagement. Friends, we need to cultivate and wield sustainable political power. Economic Power Political power is important. In the end it serves only a subordinate purpose-as a means to an end. We can all agree that one of the most important measures of our strength as a disability community is economic power, or, to couch it in more typical policy terms, employment. During his last inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously proclaimed: "True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence." Put another way, the right to live in the world doesn't result in true integration absent economic security. In his 1944 State of the Union Address, FDR laid out a powerful vision for an economic bill of rights that included, among other things, "the right to a useful and remunerative job." Unfortunately, in our American political tradition, civil rights have vastly more traction than economic rights. The continued battle over health care (another element of FDR's bill of rights) reveals just how much support there is for a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps capitalism and how much skepticism there is toward ensuring any basic modicum of economic well-being. Then there's Mitt Romney's disdain for the 47 percent of Americans who benefit from public supports: "There are 47 percent who are...dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it - that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them." Friends-we don't want pity. We are not victims. But we do have a responsibility-to one another-to give all of our brothers and sisters a chance to reach their potential. There is a role for government in giving life to FDR's economic bill of rights. There is a battle for our country's future, and we need to wield power to show that we belong in that future and have opportunities to thrive in it. Speaking of FDR, consider an important contrast between FDR's and Barack Obama's presidencies. The disability rights movement was built on the ideological framework of the civil rights movement. "Same Struggle, Different Difference," was the title of my dissertation on the history of the disability rights movement and the ADA. But contemplate this. Most Americans across the political spectrum have applauded the significance of the Obama presidency as evidence of our progress on racial discrimination. It is downright inconceivable that President Obama could have been elected half a century ago, prior to enactment of the Civil Rights Act. It has taken generations to transcend a powerful legacy of abject and overt discrimination of people of color enough that a solid majority of Americans could elect a person of color as president of the United States. Legal rights prohibiting discrimination didn't guarantee election of a person of color. But those rights were a necessary prerequisite to transforming the landscape of what is possible. Contrast this experience with the election of a person with a disability as president in 1932-more than three decades before the Civil Rights Act and nearly sixty years before the ADA's enactment. Sure- attitudes of the day compelled FDR to hide his disability. Not everyone knew the extent of FDR's paralysis because he hid it and media honored that hiding. But his disability was also no mystery. And he was elected not just once or twice but four times-more than any other U.S. president. How could FDR be elected president in 1932, in 1936, in 1940, and again in 1944 when people with disabilities purportedly didn't secure their basic civil rights until enactment of the ADA? The answer lies in understanding the difference between power and rights. Countless people with disabilities have been able to wield real power in the absence of any formal or explicit rights giving them license to wield such power. Thus Stephen Hopkins, a person with "shaking palsy," could be a signatory to the Declaration of Independence in a way that a woman or an African American could not have been. This is not to say that discrimination against people with disabilities hasn't been real. It has been degrading, destructive, hostile, inhumane, and unacceptable. In some ways disability has been even more insidious than other forms of discrimination because of so-called benign neglect. However, discrimination against people with disabilities has been selective. Disability is the category from which someone can be exempted. "I don't think of so-and-so as 'disabled,'" we often hear people say. What does that mean? People often associate disability with incapacity. Consequently, people who are not perceived as incapable often escape the discrimination that comes from the disability label. FDR, in other words, was a person with a disability. But he was not identified as disabled. By contrast, President Obama could not transcend the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination until nondiscrimination on the basis of color was the law of the land and applied to a class-not just single individuals. What does this have to do with power and rights? When Chai Feldblum addressed this symposium several years ago, she talked about how nondiscrimination laws will not-cannot- eradicate discrimination. The ADA may drive discrimination underground, but discrimination endures. An employer won't likely tell you that you didn't get the job because you're blind. Instead you'll be told it was because of some other purportedly objective criterion beyond the reach of law and evidence. Someone else had more experience or went to better schools. You can fill in the blanks. Make no mistake. We need our rights. It is high time for the U.S. to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. But as a community we must not fall into the trap of thinking that rights can stand alone without power. President Obama didn't become president as a matter of right. He became president because of the extraordinary power he was able to wield as a candidate in an environment where equal opportunity is the law of the land. FDR was elected president because-notwithstanding his disability and despite powerful discrimination against people with disabilities-he demonstrated unrivalled power and effectiveness on the world's stage during one of humanity's greatest acts. The NFB has established eradication of the subminimum wage as one of its top priorities. The NFB is right to highlight the injustice of the subminimum wage. This antiquated policy is inconsistent with the principles of equality of opportunity, independent living, full participation, and economic self-sufficiency. Put aside for the moment the question of whether we as a community have the political power sufficient to leverage a change in policy. There is a more fundamental question of capacity: not narrowly physical capacity, as tenBroek phrased it, but more broadly the capacity to secure earnings at no less than minimum wage on an individual and systemic level. Today, thanks to the lingering effects of the so-called Great Recession, millions of Americans have the right but lack the power to earn the minimum wage. This recession has had a dreadful impact on people with disabilities. The ADA was supposed to deliver a new era of decreased dependence on entitlement programs because an end to workplace discrimination against people with disabilities would lead to more people with disabilities going to work and becoming more self-sufficient. Instead we have witnessed a surge in the number of people with disabilities receiving income support and an unemployment rate among people with disabilities that, at best, has remained flat in the quarter century since enactment of the ADA. We cannot say that no progress has been made on employment. Limits in available data prevent us from having a complete picture. However, there is clearly no evidence that we have made significant progress. Throughout the past three decades the labor force participation rate data have remained largely constant. This means that, at any given moment over the past three decades, about 78 percent of people with disabilities have not been working. Presently, the labor force participation rate among people without disabilities hovers about 70 percent compared with about 22 percent for people with disabilities. There is no easy silver lining here. It should give all of us pause. This is unacceptable. The problem is it's been unacceptable for decades. More than 3.5 million American jobs were lost between 2008 and 2010-a catastrophic figure by any measure. Here is what is particularly troubling: people with disabilities accounted for 5.5 million of 150 million jobs in July 2008 and less than 5 million by the close of 2010. While the nondisabled workforce declined by about 2 percent during this period, the disabled workforce declined by more than 10 percent. In other words, people with disabilities left the workforce at a rate of about five times that of their nondisabled coworkers. Last to be hired, first to be fired. It's not just a question of whether people with disabilities work, but how much they work and how much they get paid. In 2010 about 32 percent of people with disabilities were working part-time, compared with 19 percent of their nondisabled peers. In addition, the median annual earnings for people with disabilities of $19,500 represented just two-thirds of the $30,000 of people without disabilities. People with disabilities also experience a higher rate of poverty: 27.3 percent compared with 12.8 percent of the general population. The employment picture is even worse when we take into account trends in income support. While labor force participation among people with disabilities has stayed largely constant for several decades, we have witnessed significant growth in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. The program has grown from 1.5 million to 8.2 million beneficiaries from 1970 to 2010 with a corresponding cost increase from $18 billion to $128 billion when holding dollars constant. The ADA has apparently had no beneficial impact. Between 1989 and 2009 the percentage of working-age Americans on SSDI grew from 2.3 to 4.6 percent. The cash transfer in today's dollars grew from $40 billion to $121 billion for SSDI and from $18 billion to $69 billion for Medicare costs for people on the SSDI program. The estimated present value of a combined award of SSDI and Medicare for a person with a disability is about $270,000. Among 8.2 million SSDI recipients, that's a whopping present value of over $2 trillion. Clearly it's in the national interest from an economic perspective, let alone a disability rights perspective, that people with disabilities be gainfully employed, tax-paying citizens. In debates around subminimum wage, proponents of eliminating the 14(c) program often point to anecdotal stories of people who were once in a sheltered workshop and have been liberated to earn minimum wage in the community. These are powerful examples of the capacity-of the power-of countless people with disabilities to succeed in the community if only given a chance. Yet our current legal regime does not prohibit people with disabilities from earning minimum wage in the same way that, by extreme contrast, African American slaves in the antebellum South were stripped of virtually all substantive social and economic legal rights. Indeed the anecdotal stories used to illustrate why subminimum wage should be ended also underscore how, for many people with disabilities, the right to earn minimum wage is alive and well if they can find economic opportunities in the community. Wielding the power to command good jobs is an indispensable part of the equation. I am reminded of advice from disability historian Paul Longmore many years ago about succeeding as a person with a disability in academics: you need not just to meet standards but exceed them because of lingering discrimination. Wielding economic power means being able to demonstrate you are the best candidate among many and then to perform on the job. Again, let me emphasize that the NFB rightly points to the subminimum wage as an anachronistic policy out of step with the ADA. My challenge to all of us is to recognize that eliminating subminimum wages would not, of its own accord, translate into individuals actually earning the minimum wage. Particularly in an economy where millions of able-bodied Americans who have not had to endure years of menial work in a sheltered workshop are unable to find work, we must recognize the limits of changing the legal regime. Prohibiting subminimum wages, critical as it may be to creating new opportunities for some people, is not the same thing as achieving the ADA's goal of economic self-sufficiency, of achieving FDR's dream of individual freedom marked by economic security. We need more jobs and need to sustain high expectations along with adequate resources to enable more people with disabilities to develop the requisite skills and experience to succeed in those jobs. What should be done? I wish I could say there were easy answers to the stubborn persistence of high unemployment and underemployment and sub- standard compensation of people with disabilities. Anyone who tells you otherwise has to account for how myriad efforts over several decades before and after the ADA have failed to move the employment rates among people with disabilities. But let me offer one thought as a bridge between political and economic power. As a community we need to cultivate real political power so that we can help grow the economy in ways that provide more people with disabilities opportunities to earn a living wage, using community-based tools and efforts that have been proven to work. We have entered an era of sequestration and austerity of yet-to-be-determined length and impact. And yet we know that equipping people with disabilities with the skills and experiences they need to succeed and providing the supports they need on the job and in the community often require significant resources in technology, in human capital, in transportation, and in other ways. We know what works on a case-by-case basis, but we lack the resources to make things work more often for more people on a sustainable basis. We also know it's worth the investment, because the alternative to earning one's own living wage is relying on income support financed from other people's wages. And of course we know it's the morally right thing to do because, as FDR understood, the right to inhabit the world is a fleeting victory if one can't afford to live in the world. Conclusion I've focused my time more on highlighting the challenges we face as a community than prescribing solutions. My goal has been to push us to be vigilant in cultivating power as well as rights and to think creatively about how to cultivate the power to live in the world. By way of closing, let me focus on one key building block to wielding power: "individualized empowerment," as the late and great Justin Dart Jr. called it. "Only you (and I) and thousands like us have the power to make the dream of individualized empowerment live in every life," Dart wrote. As Dart conceived it, a culture of individualized empowerment would "provide all human beings the customized education and services and the customized tools to meet each of their distinctive needs and to maximize each of their distinctive abilities." I applaud the NFB for its efforts in supporting countless individuals whose lives have been transformed by an ideology of individualized empowerment. Set aside for a moment the NFB's legacy of proclaiming, securing, and advancing a host of legal rights for people with disabilities- which merits praise in its own right. When I hear people like Anil Lewis tell their personal stories of what it meant to encounter the NFB and throw off long-held stereotypes of what blind people can't do, and hear the strength in his voice, and witness the confidence in his every step-not just in walking but metaphorically-I behold power in action. The power that the NFB effectively wields begins with the individual journeys its members take to recognize and channel the power that lies within and the power that can be harnessed through the support of our peers and mentors. Yes, we need to secure our rights. Yes, we need to enforce our rights. But let's not wait on rights to exercise power wherever and whenever we can, and let's not allow ourselves to think that rights alone will sustain us individually or as a community. Instead, let us show that we can develop and leverage the power to live in the world and thus enjoy more fully the right to live in the world that Jacobus tenBroek so capably established for all of us. Let us unleash the culture of "individualized empowerment" envisioned by Justin Dart. Acquire power. Then use it to live in the world. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Anil Lewis] Compassion Can Be Discrimination: Sign the Petition Against Subminimum Wages by Anil Lewis From the Editor: Anil Lewis was born in 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia. Lewis was diagnosed at age nine with retinitis pigmentosa, although his vision was fairly unaffected until 1989. He has a master's in business administration in computer information systems and a master's in public administration from Georgia State University. He has developed a job placement program for people with disabilities, represented people with disabilities in a law office, and has been president of the Georgia affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. Today he lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the director of advocacy and policy at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute. He works with the NFB's governmental affairs team to eliminate subminimum wages and the antiquated notion that blind and disabled people cannot be productive members of society. He is also the proud father of Amari, his bright, ambitious son. Reprinted from . Most theological references to people with disabilities portray us as broken people in need of healing, who are dependent on the benevolence of others. Also most faith traditions have a moral imperative to seek salvation by caring for the less fortunate; and people with disabilities, being deemed less fortunate, are therefore tokens for that salvation. The false perception of brokenness, coupled with the misapplied moral edict, results in a "compassionate discrimination" that limits the potential of every person with a disability. Compassionate discrimination, like other types of discrimination, springs from ignorance and deprives us all of the value each person and group of people have to offer. But unlike the abusive treatment of slaves resulting from racial discrimination and unlike the chauvinistic treatment of women resulting from gender discrimination, compassionate discrimination is cloaked in sympathy and good intentions. The segregation of African- Americans in educational, employment, and living environments is unlawful and universally censured-no questions asked, no exceptions. Conversely, the segregation of people with disabilities in school, work, and home is justified as the creation of safe environments where we are nurtured and protected. The 20 to 30 percent wage disparity between male and female employees is considered a discriminatory practice in the workplace. But, perversely, the disparity between an executive's $500,000 salary and the 22-cent-per- hour wage of the worker with a disability is considered reasonable. Work at such wages is even promoted as an opportunity for the disabled worker to experience the tangible and intangible benefits of work. Given this confused moral perspective, it is almost understandable why public policies have been developed that continue to limit people with disabilities from reaching our full potential. In 1938 policymakers, acting on a laudable desire to integrate people with disabilities into the workforce, made a huge mistake when they enacted Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act . That provision authorizes the U.S. Department of Labor to issue Special Wage Certificates to employers, permitting them to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. As a result of the erroneous belief, commonly held in 1938 but long since disproved, that people with disabilities cannot be productive employees, employers are permitted to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages that are supposedly based on our productivity. This denial of fundamental wage protections to workers with disabilities, although masked as a compassionate offering of a work opportunity that would otherwise not be available, leaves over 300,000 people with disabilities employed at subminimum wages, some as low as three cents per hour. A person with a disability is not less valuable than any other person, and, although employing that person may require the use of nontraditional training and employment strategies, a worker with a disability is not inherently less productive than a nondisabled worker. Section 14(c) is a poor public policy that perpetuates compassionate discrimination and harms people with disabilities by denying us proper education and training opportunities and by prohibiting most of us from obtaining competitive, integrated employment. It is true that over 70 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, but current segregated subminimum-wage work environments have proven that they are not the solution to this dilemma. We must understand that it is not the disability itself that causes this circumstance. It is the lack of understanding about the true capacity of people with disabilities that results in the misperception that we cannot be productive. Once this misperception has been embraced, it is difficult if not impossible for us to obtain real opportunities to demonstrate that we have that capacity. Rather than challenging the mistaken status quo, society's "compassionate" remedy is to continue to create "safe," segregated living, educational, and work environments for people with disabilities. In order to implement a real solution to the unemployment problem, we must remove the mask of compassion from the discrimination we face. We must eliminate the separate-but-equal environments, and we must repeal the discriminatory policies that are founded on the flawed assertion of incapacity. We can achieve this goal. Congressman Gregg Harper has introduced the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013 (H.R. 831) to repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and an online petition that you can sign to support the repeal of Section 14(c) can be found at . We are not broken. Our disabilities are neither a curse from God nor penance for our sins. They are a manifestation of the life with which God has blessed us, and, although the vessels which contain them are different, we have the same needs, desires, and abilities as everyone else. People with disabilities are not passive recipients of benevolence; we are also benevolent. We clothe the naked, we feed the hungry, we care for the sick, and we demonstrate the capacity to believe, to have faith, and to worship God. We demand to be fully participating members of society, and we refuse to be reduced to the status of tokens for the salvation of others. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jordan Diggs (far right) with his parents Parnell and Kim, giving a bottle to a tiger cub spread over their laps.] A Seventh-Grade Perspective on Blindness by Jordan Diggs From the Editor: Jordan Diggs is the son of Parnell Diggs, a member of the NFB board of directors and the president of the NFB of South Carolina. He is in the seventh grade, and this year he was assigned to write a paper that required research. The topic he chose was blindness: one about which he already had a considerable amount of information. Even so, the subject required both reflection and research. He included a few statements based on his father's technological preferences, but he got most of the facts and the positive philosophy right. Very few sighted adults could have done as well. This is what he had to say: Blindness is a topic that is very misunderstood. Many people believe it is a horrible disease that will make life completely miserable. But is it really that bad? Blind people can do anything sighted people can do, but few sighted people understand this. Most sighted people misunderstand blindness. First of all, almost all sighted people are very scared of blindness. They think being blind is unbearable. If someone else is blind, they assume that they need to help them with everything they do and that the blind person cannot do anything alone. Many people say that they fear blindness more than any other condition, and it is on many peoples' top ten fears list. Most people are stunned when they see blind people do things like walking up stairs because, even though it really is not anything special, they believe it is a miracle. One of the main reasons that sighted people may react this way is that they have never met any blind people. Do they really have the right to make judgments about people they have never actually met? They make assumptions based on what they have heard from others (which can easily be incorrect or exaggerated) and what they hear from the media. For example, a movie called Blindness was created. It portrayed blind people very poorly and made them look like uncivilized, dirty people who cannot do anything on their own. This is completely untrue. People make bad assumptions about blind people because they think sight is required to do everything, and they have no evidence to prove otherwise. Blindness is not as dreadful as some people say it is. Blind people are not limited by their eyes. They can do anything sighted people can do. Many buildings and hotels have elevators, bathrooms, and other areas that contain two types of signs: print signs and Braille signs. Braille is a series of raised dots, with a maximum of six dots in each cell, that allow blind people to read. Numerous companies print books in Braille so they can be read by blind people. Also blind people can read by listening to audio books. Many well-known books are now sold in audio form at book stores. Another topic that is misunderstood is the fact that blind people can use canes to navigate. Many people believe that blind people are using canes for support. But the canes used by blind people are white, thinner, and taller. They are not used for support (they would break if someone attempted to do this), but they are used as probes to extend the sense of touch. Canes are one of the most commonly used navigation tools by blind people. Another navigation method used by blind people is guide dogs. Guide dogs are dogs that have received special training to help blind people traverse. And like canes guide dogs are misunderstood. Some people believe that guide dogs stop when a car is coming or when there is a sign that says not to walk. This is incorrect. Guide dogs have received special training, but they do not know to stop when cars are coming; they are just canines, after all. Guide dogs are aware of oncoming traffic but exercise with their handlers decisions about moving into oncoming traffic. There is another reason why guide dogs are good: they also make excellent pets. Many new technological developments have been created to help blind people do things that would be difficult for them otherwise. For example, a program called JAWS has been created to read words on the computer to blind people. While sighted people stare at the computer screen to find out what it says, blind people listen to it, because they are unable to see the screen. JAWS can speak at the speed of a normal human voice, but many people who are experienced enough to understand what it says prefer to listen to it many times the speed of a human voice. This allows them to save time and read documents much faster than human eyes would allow sighted people to. Blind people can also access the Internet with a PAC Mate. PAC Mates are Braille laptops, and, instead of reading the words on the screen, there is no screen, and Braille appears through holes at the bottom of the keyboard. These laptops can access the Internet and read articles on many websites. They have been mass produced and sold. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has promoted PAC Mates extensively. Many members of the large organization use PAC Mates. The National Federation of the Blind also has an agreement with Apple. Because of this agreement, iPhones have VoiceOver that works almost exactly like JAWS. Another thing about blindness that is commonly misunderstood is the fact that sighted people think that blind people need help with very effortless tasks. When blind people say that they do not need help, the other people try to debate the matter and convince them that they do require assistance but do not know that they need it. Parnell Diggs says, "People misunderstand blindness, and people don't think I know if I need help. For example, in an airport people ask if I need help. I tell them no. They always say `Are you sure?' They then debate the issue. Sometimes people compare me to a relative, such as somebody with dementia. But I know where I'm supposed to be and whether I need to ask how to get there. It's not that I'm too proud; I welcome help when I need it, but I should be the one to decide when I need it." Many sighted people also believe that being blind is like putting on a blindfold. This is incorrect. Parnell Diggs says, "Blindness isn't like putting on a blindfold. After forty years you learn a lot about being blind. People also think your senses are better, which isn't true. You use your other senses more, but they're not better." If you put on a blindfold, you may not know any blindness skills. If you are blind, you have more time to learn blindness skills. This is a fact that very few sighted people consider when they think about being blind. Many blind people are unemployed. This is not because they cannot do their job. There are two reasons why blind people could be unemployed. One is that they do not want to get a job. They may live with someone else who is working, and they have enough money, or they might just not want to work (which is unwise, because they will most likely not have enough money to live). The second, more common reason is that employers do not hire them because they do not believe they can work well. This is completely incorrect. Under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the government can issue certificates that say that employers can pay blind people below minimum wage. Goodwill, a charity store, is one of the biggest users of these certificates. If blind people are lucky enough to be hired, which is rare, they are often paid below minimum wage. Many stores do this, which makes it hard for blind people to find a well-paying job. Some careers are so low-paying that it is not worth their while to work. This is why many are unemployed. There are also many organizations that are fighting for equal rights for blind people. One of the biggest ones is the National Federation of the Blind. Since the 1940s the NFB has done things like teaching Braille, selling PAC Mates, fighting for equal rights and fair laws for blind people, and, most important, educating the public. To read the website, go to . Blindness is a topic that is extremely misunderstood by most sighted people. Even though many people do not know it, blind people are just as intelligent and hard-working as most sighted people. Blindness does not limit your abilities; it just makes you unable to see. Blind people are not limited by their eyes, but by the limits that society places on blind people. After all, blindness is just a characteristic. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Robert Jaquiss] ALT: A Very Helpful Software Package by Robert Jaquiss and Gary Wunder From the Editor: Robert Jaquiss is a member of the National Federation of the Blind Research and Development Committee. He has been a staff member of the International Braille and Technology Center and has run his own business putting materials into Braille and tactile graphics. Recently he and I have been testing ALT, and we decided to jointly write a review about this powerful program to increase the productivity of blind people who use the Microsoft Windows operating system: A blind person functioning in a world constructed for sighted people soon learns that it is possible to do almost everything that is done with sight by using alternative techniques. Some are more efficient than the techniques used by our sighted friends and family, some are about the same, and others are slower. In employment, efficiency is the name of the game, so part of what we must do is, not only demand accessible hardware and software, but find ways to make it efficient. Sometimes this is accomplished by working with designers to ensure that we can do with a series of keystrokes what is done with a mouse or some other pointing device. Sometimes it is done by special software that bypasses the visual paradigm altogether. This article discusses one productivity tool blind people can use at home and in the workplace to perform often-repeated tasks efficiently. ALT is a program developed in Germany by Dr?ger & Lienert Information Management, and distributed in English-speaking countries by U-R-Able. ALT was specifically developed for the blind by developers who are blind. Briefly described, it is productivity software that simplifies repetitive tasks, provides keyboard shortcuts for complex operations, and provides keyboard commands to emulate mouse functions. ALT works with all screen readers. For JAWS, Window-Eyes, and the Cobra screen-readers, ALT has over 200 built-in functions to direct the screen reader programmatically. It will work with any Windows-based software. Some examples of how ALT is used are shown below. ALT is activated, as you might expect, by pressing the Alt key on the PC keyboard. Since Alt by itself is already used to perform many functions, the ALT program actually requires two taps of the key, followed by the command ALT is to perform. Suppose you have trouble remembering the website for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Braille and Audio Reading Download, BARD. An ALT accelerator can be defined and given this address once, and from then on all one need do is press Alt twice and enter BARD or NLS or whatever mnemonic one wishes to assign for getting to the service. An accelerator can also be activated with additional information. For example, the accelerator for BARD could be called "bard." The bard accelerator would be supplied with a user name and password. For example, "bard booksplease". ALT will bring up the BARD site and log the user in. The same trick will work for Bookshare. Two presses of the Alt key and the letters "bs" followed by Enter will bring up Bookshare, and this can be configured to load the login page, a search page, or any number of other options Bookshare offers to use its service. The neat part of the ALT accelerators for screen reader users is that all the "journey steps" we're so used to hearing are silent with ALT. I personally use Google at least ten times a day: how does Freedom Scientific spell "PAC Mate" or Humanware spell "BrailleNote," in what issue did we last run a story about Christine Boone, or when did we give Ramona Walhof the tenBroek Award? I could enter or could put Google in my favorites list; or I could use a nifty ALT command that not only takes me to Google but lets me enter my search term and even positions the reading cursor at the results of my search. A command such as "gs Jacobus tenBroek born" tells me that he was born in 1911 and died in 1968. The search is quick and easy and takes less than ten seconds to type and find the answer. Of course ALT cannot guarantee that the search criteria will lead directly to the desired item, but it can make the process of initiating that search quick and easy. The same method used with web addresses will also work in searching for commonly used files and folders. If I want the telephone directory used at the Center, I use the word "center" and the name of the person for whom I am searching, and instantly the Braille display contains his or her name and extension. More complex tasks can also be assigned to ALT. If one wishes to sign into his bank account and determine what the bank believes to be the account balance, ALT can be programmed to go to the bank's website, login with the ID and password of the account holder, press the buttons or activate the links necessary to display the balance screen, and then search for the text that appears before that all-important number. For the professional ALT can be a real time saver. For example, when composing email, I can have various text modules for inserting contact information at the end of a letter. If I type "rsj" my contact information is inserted. I could have another module to insert contact information for both my wife and me. Yet another module could be created to insert a signature for a business. ALT accelerators can be used to perform tasks for Microsoft Word. I can press ALT twice followed by "word," and Microsoft Word will start. I have accelerators for using Microsoft Word. The accelerator "inddec" will decrease the left margin. "Indinc" will increase the left margin indent. "Wcen" will center the current line. Other accelerators can adjust JAWS, the screen reader I am using. There are accelerators to adjust the announcement of access keys and tutorial messages, and for controlling a Braille display. ALT will also work with ZoomText. Users have the choice of purchasing packages of accelerators or creating their own. A very important feature of ALT is that I don't have to be at the Desktop. ALT will work from anywhere on a PC. They call this "beaming", moving from any starting location to a final destination in a single step. I have found that ALT is a powerful productivity tool. Presentations on ALT will be conducted at our upcoming national convention. For more information on ALT, contact one of the following: For North America and other English-speaking Countries, contact Federation member Rob Nevin U-R-Able, phone: (347) 688-9991, email: , web: For non-English users contact Dr?ger & Lienert Information Management, Hilfsmittel f?r Blinde, Stadtwaldstr. 62, D 35037 Marburg, Germany, phone: +49 6421 165555, fax: +49 6421 165556, email: , web: . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Karen Keninger] Auditor Flags Purchases for Former Director of the Iowa Department for the Blind by Barbara Pierce The director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped since late March of 2012 has been Karen Keninger, formerly the director of the Iowa Department for the Blind. In an April 22, 2013, article in the Des Moines Register, a reporter, Jason Clayworth, disclosed that Iowa's auditor has taken issue with expenditures made on behalf of Keninger while she directed the agency. While still an employee, Keninger had a case worker open a rehabilitation case for her, and, using the standard combination of state and federal funds, the Department bought $21,000 worth of equipment and clothing for her. State auditor David Vaudt noted, "It's never a good practice to have subordinates approving the requests of the director of their department." Although retention of and advancement in employment are legitimate uses of rehabilitation funds, it is all but certain that Keninger could have gotten any computer equipment required for her Iowa job through routine purchases for state agency employees. By the same token her employment by the Library of Congress to head the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped would have included the purchase of any required assistive technology to do her job as a part of reasonable accommodation. Sometimes as post-employment services a rehabilitation agency buys assistive equipment for a customer who needs it and who is working for a small employer who would have no use for it if the job does not work out. But this was clearly not the situation in Keninger's case. However reasonable the argument for requesting blindness-related equipment using vocational rehabilitation funds might have been in this case, one wonders about the ethics of asking the agency to pay $2,000 for clothing for an official who is already drawing a salary of $94,500 annually from the Iowa Department for the Blind. This revelation of agency expenditures is particularly difficult for Iowans to take at a time when the agency reports significant financial problems that have recently resulted in the dismissal of four fulltime staff members and two who worked part-time. The purchase of clothing for a person with what many would consider a generous salary also undercuts one of the major arguments used to justify vocational rehabilitation, namely that, by going to work, one moves from government support to economic independence and eventually repays many times over the amount spent for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is billed by its advocates as a one-time boost up, making it possible for a disabled job-seeker to acquire formidably expensive equipment that an employer cannot or will not purchase. The Des Moines Register says that the state auditor has reported these expenditures to state and federal authorities since the vocational rehabilitation program is jointly funded through federal and state grants. He speculates that a refund may be requested. Michael Barber, president of the NFB of Iowa, provided the Braille Monitor with the following statement when asked for a comment: We believe that Keninger's actions were ill-advised, leading to unnecessary and unwanted scrutiny of the Iowa Department for the Blind at a critical time, when members of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa and others in the blindness community have been working vigorously to achieve the necessary funding for the Department in order to preserve programs for the blind in Iowa. She has always maintained that you should not do anything you wouldn't want printed in the Des Moines Register. We only wish that in this case she had followed her own advice. ---------- Children of Blind Mothers Learn New Modes of Communication by Elizabeth Norton From the Editor: The following article appeared on April 10, 2013, in the online publication, Science Now. It may report a small study, but it corroborates our conviction that blind people can be as effective parents as any other loving, determined, and conscientious parents. Here is the article: A loving gaze helps firm up the bond between parent and child, building social skills that last a lifetime. But what happens when mom is blind? A new study shows that the children of sightless mothers develop healthy communication skills and can even outstrip the children of parents with normal vision. Eye contact is one of the most important aspects of communication, according to Atsushi Senju, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist at Birkbeck, University of London. Autistic people don't naturally make eye contact, however, and they can become anxious when urged to do so. Children for whom face-to-face contact is drastically reduced-- babies severely neglected in orphanages or children who are born blind--are more likely to have traits of autism, such as the inability to form attachments, hyperactivity, and cognitive impairment. To determine whether eye contact is essential for developing normal communication skills, Senju and colleagues chose a less extreme example: babies whose primary caregivers (their mothers) were blind. These children had other forms of loving interaction, such as touching and talking. But the mothers were unable to follow the babies' gaze or teach the babies to follow theirs, which normally helps children learn the importance of the eyes in communication. Apparently, the children don't need the help. Senju and colleagues studied five babies born to blind mothers, checking the children's proficiency at six to ten months, twelve to fifteen months, and twenty-four to forty-seven months on several measures of age-appropriate communications skills. At the first two visits babies watched videos in which a woman shifted her gaze or moved different parts of her face while corresponding changes in the baby's face were recorded. Babies also followed the gaze of a woman sitting at a table and looking at various objects. The babies also played with unfamiliar adults in a test that checked for autistic traits, such as the inability to maintain eye contact, not smiling in response to the adult's smile, and being unable to switch attention from one toy to a new one. At each age the researchers assessed the children's visual, motor, and language skills. When the results were compared to scores of children of sighted parents, the five children of blind mothers did just as well on the tests, the researchers report today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. [Proceedings is a journal produced by the Royal Society, a worldwide fellowship of scientists. This journal is focused on topics of biology.] Learning to communicate with their blind mothers also seemed to give the babies some advantages. For example, even at the youngest age tested, the babies directed fewer gazes toward their mothers than to adults with normal vision, suggesting that they were already learning that strangers would communicate differently than would their mothers. When they were between twelve and fifteen months old, the babies of blind mothers were also more verbal than were other children of the same age. And the youngest babies of blind mothers outscored their peers in developmental tests-especially visual tasks such as remembering the location of a hidden toy or switching their attention from one toy to a new one presented by the experimenter. Senju likens their skills to those of children who grow up bilingual; the need to shift between modes of communication may boost the development of their social skills, he says. "Our results suggest that the babies aren't passively copying the expressions of adults but that they are actively learning and changing the way to best communicate with others." "The use of sighted babies of blind mothers is a clever and important idea," says developmental scientist Andrew Meltzoff of the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences in Seattle. "The mother's blindness may teach a child at an early age that certain people turn to look at things and others don't. Apparently these little babies can learn that not everyone reacts the same way." Meltzoff adds that there are many ways to pay attention to a child. "Doubtless, the blind mothers use touch, sounds, tugs on the arm, and tender pats on the back. Our babies want communication, love, and attention. The fact that these can come through any route is a remarkable demonstration of the adaptability of the human child." For more detail about this study, read the original article in Proceedings of Royal Society B: Biological Sciences at . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Chris Nusbaum] From Doubt to Dedication: My Journey in the Federation by Chris Nusbaum From the Editor: Chris Nusbaum is finishing his freshman year at Francis Scott Key High School in Taneytown, Maryland. He was recently featured by Nick News on the Nickelodeon television network, and his was by far the most positive and articulate portrayal of blindness on the show. Chris will be entering STEP, the Summer Training and Employment Project at the Louisiana Center for the Blind this summer. Here is what he has to say about an earlier summer program and how it almost kept him from becoming a contributing member of the NFB. Not long ago I participated in a lengthy and thought-provoking thread on one of our listservs. This thread began as a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of our NFB model of training over the traditional methodology used by other adjustment-to-blindness training programs. But the topic soon changed to the value of the National Federation of the Blind itself and the choice that blind people must make: to join or not to join. This change in the conversation was caused by one contributor's to the list's expressing reservations about joining the Federation, let alone attending one of our centers. When I asked him to elaborate, he told me his doubts were mostly due to what he saw as a closed- minded approach to issues affecting blind people. I wrote back and told him that, although this is true of a few of us, my experience tells me that a majority of Federationists (including most of our leaders) do not subscribe to this my-way-or-the-highway philosophy about blindness. I certainly don't. As the discussion went on, I found myself reflecting on my own journey in the Federation. The posts from various contributors, members and nonmembers alike, called up in my mind memories of all the experiences which have taken me from wanting no part of the organized blind movement to being an active participant in it. If sharing my story here serves any purpose other than to satisfy my own desire to open my mouth, I hope it demonstrates the effect the Federation can have on one blind person's life and why I am so active in the movement today. In short, I hope it demonstrates why I am a Federationist. On paper I have been a member of the National Federation of the Blind since I was a baby. When my parents were first dealing with the reality of their son's blindness and were looking for resources, our family was fortunate enough to find the NFB and the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) through a wonderful teacher who has always been active in the Federation. The teacher was Ray Peloquin, a man who spent some time as a valued employee of the National Federation of the Blind. My family attended our first state convention in 2000, when I was two years old and our first national convention in 2001. My parents often tell the story of an incident that happened at an NFB of Maryland convention when I was about five years old. I had gone with them to a few sessions presented by the Maryland parents division. In our room that night my mother asked me what I had learned. Without hesitation I replied, "Mommy, I learned that it's okay to be blind." Looking back, I count it as one of my many blessings that my family found the Federation so early in my life. When I was six years old, I went to a camp sponsored by Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM). It was the first time I had been away from home for any extended period of time, aside from occasional sleepovers at my grandparents' house. As you can imagine, the thought of going to this camp for a week with people I didn't know was an alien and somewhat nerve-wracking prospect. Unfortunately, the experience I had there did not help to calm my nerves. Let me just say that I did not have a good experience there at all. More specifically, I didn't like the style of teaching used at that program, nor did I learn much from it. To me they expected us to know what we were doing rather than actually teaching us. I know now that they were trying to introduce us to the guided-discovery [normally referred to as structured-discovery] training method. The problem, however, was that there was no guidance, only discovery. Let me give you a few examples that I remember especially clearly. On the first day of the program, as we walked into the building and registered, a BISM employee was standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the dorm rooms, quite literally shooing our parents away. I remember my parents' trying to help me heft my bag up the stairs, and this BISM employee calling back, "Let that boy carry his own bag! He's got to learn how to do this on his own." Now I have no problem with independence or with learning how to do things on my own-quite the contrary. Anyone who knows me knows this to be true. I have traveled many times since, and I handle my own bag. However, there was one problem my parents and I saw with what this camp counselor was doing: I was six years old. The suitcase weighed more than I did! How could she expect a six year old, even using all the strength someone of that age can muster, to carry more than his body weight, especially up a flight of stairs? Another example of the no-guidance, only discovery style used by the instructors at BISM's Kids Camp happened on the last night of the program. We had a campfire that night which included a visit from the children's librarian at the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (LBPH), who came to tell stories. The camp counselors must have realized by that point that cane travel was one of my weaknesses. The camp director decided to try remedying this. When we were in our dorms getting ready to go to the campfire, she told me that she was going to give me a little challenge: she and the other counselors would go out to the campfire, and I would meet them there. She told me she wanted to see if I could make it by myself without any information from anybody. I was definitely nervous, but she encouraged me, and I accepted her challenge. What else was there to do? Now the dorm building at this camp was an old one with many staircases, winding corridors, and other nooks and crannies. Since I was a first grader with very little training in orientation and mobility, I had no idea what I was doing. I used my cane as best I could, but I didn't know which staircases to climb and which hallways to enter. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was completely and totally lost. Even scarier, I realized that I was utterly alone in that building. These were not comforting realizations for someone of my age and experience. I remember being relieved and grateful when I finally heard the familiar voice of a friend: Kit Bloom, the librarian from the state library for the blind. Noticing I was not out at the campfire, she had gone into the building looking for me. When she found me, I was terrified. I will never forget how much solace one voice brought me that night, and I am very grateful to Kit for going out of her way (and perhaps breaking a camp rule) to search for me. You might wonder what all this has to do with the Federation. To answer that question, I would like to point to the philosophy classes which were held each day during the camp. You see, throughout these classes we were told that the program they were conducting was being guided by the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. We were also introduced to Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, who we thought was some dead blind guy who gave a lot of speeches. They told us that it was he, not BISM, who developed the teaching practices used at the camp. After all that I had experienced at BISM Kids' Camp, I returned home determined that I would never support an organization or a philosophy which promoted that kind of so-called teaching. In short, I resolved never to join or be active in the National Federation of the Blind. I stuck to this decision for another seven years. Through all of elementary school and most of middle school, I remained an outsider to the organized blind movement-and that's how I wanted it. I attended state conventions with my parents, but mostly I stayed in the hotel room with my dad while Mom went to her parent sessions. The only time I attended a general session was when Sharon Maneki asked me to sing the National Anthem before the meeting started. Even then I walked in, sang, and walked out. Introducing me that morning, Sharon called me "a future leader in the NFB." I wondered then, as I do now, how she figured this, considering my lack of activity and interest in the organization as a rank-and-file member. I suppose she saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. All this changed in four days in April of 2011. It was my seventh grade year, and I was attending the Jernigan Institute's Leadership and Advocacy in Washington (LAW) Program. The LAW Program was my first Jernigan Institute education event. In fact, this was my first NFB-related program since Kids' Camp. I was a little nervous about how this would go but excited at the same time because I would be able to participate in the politics I enjoy following so much. The program exceeded my greatest expectations. I know this phrase has become an overused clich?, but I think it is adequate to say that the LAW Program changed my life. In those four days I honed my blindness skills, met successful blind role models, discovered the value of the Federation, and returned with renewed motivation to learn the skills of blindness and to increase my activity in the organized blind movement. Here is how I described it in a speech I gave about the LAW Program at the 2011 NFB of Maryland convention: "Another thing our mentors did which has changed my life for the better was to introduce me and the other participants to the National Federation of the Blind, a strong and influential organization working every day to better the quality of life for the blind and a big family which is here to help each and every one of its members. The Federation has always been a part of my life from as far back as I can remember, ever since my first TVI introduced the NFB to my parents. But I was never really that involved in it and didn't really become interested in being an active member until the LAW Program. Since the program I have discovered the true value of the Federation and the network of resources it provides." I remember this change becoming especially apparent to me while we were on Capitol Hill, meeting with our representatives in Congress. The thought hit me suddenly as I walked out of then-Congressman Roscoe Bartlett's office. I had just finished leading a meeting in which our group was advocating for the Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind with one of Congressman Bartlett's legislative assistants. At that moment I thought, "I want to be a part of this!" Here was an organization in which I could help to fight discrimination and increase opportunity for all the blind. Although I was only a middle school student, I could participate actively in this movement for civil rights and equal opportunity. Wait a minute, I thought: this is the NFB, the same organization I had been so adamant about not supporting for so long. Now here I was feeling this longing to be a part of it. It was at that point that I realized that the BISM Camp counselors had been wrong. Their teaching was based on their own philosophy, not the Federation's. In reality, what had steered me away from the movement for so long had nothing to do with the organization; it had to do with some members of it who represent the opinions of the minority. Armed with this newfound information, I returned home wanting to learn more. I spent most of the next weekend scouring the NFB website, reading and listening to all I could find: banquet speeches, presidential releases, Monitor articles, Kernel Books, etc. For some reason a speech delivered in 1993 called "The Nature of Independence" caught my attention. This speech remains my favorite national convention address to this day. [] In it I found a definition of independence I wholeheartedly agree with. Incidentally, this definition was eloquently articulated by Dr. Jernigan, the same man who was credited by the counselors at Kids' Camp for inventing the teaching methods used there. I was also encouraged by the very positive reaction to Dr. Jernigan's remarks from an audience filled with Federationists, indicating that his views are shared by most of us. If you have not read or listened to this remarkable speech, I strongly encourage you to do so. During the two years since the LAW Program, my activity in the Federation has steadily increased. About a week after I returned from Baltimore, I subscribed to several listservs on NFB-Net. I have since become an omnipresent (perhaps even annoying) contributor to these lists. My activity in the national organization and our Maryland affiliate has also greatly increased. At state conventions I now attend general sessions and state affiliate board meetings. During last year's convention I was elected to serve on the board of directors of the Maryland Association of Blind Students (MDABS). I am still honored to serve now as a board member and the co-chair of the public relations committee. Last year I also attended an NFB training center for the first time when I went to the Louisiana Center for the Blind's Buddy Program. This was a very rewarding experience for me and one which has allowed me to start really living my Federationism. It is probably accurate to divide my work in the Federation into two time periods: before the LAW Program and after it. And what a rewarding experience the after phase has been and continues to be! Although there are ups and downs to the story I have related to you, I have learned much from the good times as well as the bad. More than anything I have learned the true philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. It is not about one specific technique for travel, nor is it that all true Federationists must think identically or even similarly on every issue that affects blind people. It is not that our model of training is the only way, nor is it that our leaders are always perfect. The true philosophy of the Federation is exactly what we say it is; given the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance. I have also come to understand the value of this philosophy on a personal level. It can truly change one's life; indeed, it has changed mine. Our philosophy is a freeing one. If put into practice, it can open innumerable doors for blind people and give them hope for the future; it has done these things for me. I believe that each Federationist has his or her own personal story which explains why he or she is passionate about the Federation and its work, and this is mine. For me it all lies in a change in attitude about the Federation. Once I was doubtful, now I am dedicated. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Agnes Allen] Why I Like Being a Blind Person by Agnes Allen From the Editor: One of the controversial beliefs espoused by the National Federation of the Blind is that blindness is but one of many characteristics and that to spend much time trying to figure out what one might or might not have done had he had sight makes little sense. One might as well speculate about what she might have done had she been given fifteen extra points on the IQ test or whiter teeth. One can't pick and choose these things, so the best we can do is get along with our lives, capitalizing on our advantages and figuring out ways to make our perceived disadvantages work for us. Agnes Allen has not only reconciled herself to being blind but says she likes it. In her long and varied career, she has been an educational consultant for blind children in New Jersey, a home teacher for the rehabilitation agency in Pennsylvania, has raised three children, has retired, and is currently helping a blind woman study for her GED. In her spare time she enjoys her grandchildren as they grow. Here is how she describes coming to live the philosophy that blindness is a part of her life, but not the ultimate defining part: The concept of whether I like or dislike being a blind person has never given me pause for serious reflection. Would I love to see the faces of my daughters or the smiles of my nine grandchildren? Of course I would. Have I wished I could view the heavenly universe with its stars at night, the bright sky, or springtime flowers? Indeed I have. But the reality is that I cannot see any of these things. I accepted this long ago as a child of five when sight was first denied me. Perhaps this acceptance entrenched itself deeply in my psyche through the process of osmosis. A loving family, a school for blind children, and a welcoming and forward-looking college and university conspired to build my self-esteem, which ultimately led to my well-being as a blind person. The opportunities I enjoyed fostered feelings of usefulness and self-worth. Through them I could reach out to others and give back what I had received. Were it not for the positive direction in which my life unfolded, I could have remained a helpless and dependent individual, unhappy with blindness and a burden to family and society. This was not the case. I choose two significant ways to illustrate how faith in God and becoming Braille literate provided the motivation to reach my major goals. A strong religious faith has lent itself to overcoming major obstacles inherent in blindness. Without faith no other achievement in life would have meaning. In addition to blindness, God willed that I deal with, and accept, a major hearing loss. Hopefully my core values have wielded a healthy influence on my family, friends, students, clients, and many members of the blindness community. At the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind in Pittsburgh, I mastered the art of reading and writing Braille. This major accomplishment laid the foundation for my future education. With Braille I gained much independence and success. I became a competitive student, competent teacher, practicing social worker, proficient proofreader, responsible mother of three, and caring grandmother. As Grandma I read stories to my grandchildren, who did not seem amazed that I could read those dots with my fingers but who simply enjoyed listening to The Tickle Tree or The Five Little Monkeys. Can there be a more bonding experience? I could go on and on singing the praises of Braille and its advantages. I have described two of many areas which have made the condition of blindness more bearable and yes, even comfortable. To be blind has not been the end of the world but has led to the entrance to a whole new world, which, if I could see, I would never have known. Within this world I have encountered many people and demonstrated to them the joys and happiness of a person who just happens to be blind. ---------- Giving a Dream One of the great satisfactions in life is having the opportunity to assist others. Consider making a gift to the National Federation of the Blind to continue turning our dreams into reality. A gift to the NFB is not merely a donation to an organization; it provides resources that will directly ensure a brighter future for all blind people. Seize the Future The National Federation of the Blind has special giving opportunities that will benefit the giver as well as the NFB. Of course the largest benefit to the donor is the satisfaction of knowing that the gift is leaving a legacy of opportunity. However, gifts may be structured to provide more: . Helping the NFB fulfill its mission . Realizing income tax savings through a charitable deduction . Making capital gain tax savings on contributions of appreciated assets . Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or beneficiary . Eliminating or lowering the federal estate tax in certain situations . Reducing estate settlement costs NFB programs are dynamic: . Making the study of science and math a real possibility for blind children . Providing hope for seniors losing vision . Promoting state and local programs to help blind people become first- class citizens . Educating the public about blind people's true potential . Advancing technology helpful to the blind . Creating a state-of-the-art library on blindness . Training and inspiring professionals working with the blind . Providing critical information to parents of blind children . Mentoring blind job seekers Your gift makes you a partner in the NFB dream. For further information or assistance, contact the NFB planned giving officer. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Natalie Shaheen] Natalie Shaheen Honored by her Alma Mater From the Editor: On April 19, 2013, Natalie Shaheen, director of education at the Jernigan Institute, was given an award by her alma mater, the Ohio State University. The College of Education and Human Ecology New Leader Award is presented to an EHE alum under the age of thirty-seven in recognition of significant early accomplishments in his or her profession. We share OSU's admiration of Natalie and are delighted to showcase the praise people had for her. Reprinted here are several letters. The first is the letter nominating Natalie written by Dr. Tiffany Wild, a professor at OSU; then a letter of recommendation submitted by Mark Riccobono, executive director of the Jernigan Institute; and then the letter confirming Natalie's selection to receive this award. Last are Natalie's own words, answering questions about what she's done so far and how much more she plans to do to further the work she loves: Nominating Letter from Dr. Tiffany Wild Dear Members of the Alumni Awards Committee: I am writing to offer my strongest recommendation for Natalie Shaheen to receive the New Leader Alumni Award offered by the College of Education and Human Ecology. I am acquainted with Ms. Shaheen through her time as a graduate student at the Ohio State University and more recently through the cutting-edge science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs she has facilitated at the NFB Jernigan Institute, at which I was able to conduct research. Ms. Shaheen brings enormous energy, passion, and leadership to the educational programs that she directs, which serve thousands of blind and visually impaired children across the United States each year. In all of the programs she facilitates-particularly the STEM programs-Ms. Shaheen uses innovation and research-based pedagogy for engaging her students in learning, helping her students to realize that a visual impairment will not impede STEM education opportunities. She allows the curriculum to come alive and provides hands-on experiential learning not normally available to students with visual impairments. Merely adapting existing textbook-based curricula for learners who are blind or visually impaired is not enough. Ms. Shaheen brings the element of fun into STEM education. Ms. Shaheen is committed to ensuring that all visually impaired children have access to high-quality learning opportunities. Numerous times I have called Ms. Shaheen, only to find her still at her desk well after her agency has closed, finishing a project or curriculum plan. She has also been known to take supplies home for a curriculum instructional activity she will be doing at the center with blind youth. Ms. Shaheen is also very diligent in sharing the wisdom she gains from the programs she directs with fellow educators. She acts as a resource to and supports the work of the up-and-coming leaders in the field of blindness education-the fellows of the National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities. Ms. Shaheen has even offered her assistance to acquaintances in the field who train teachers of the blind and visually impaired abroad. Ms. Shaheen took it upon herself to provide current and pre-service teachers the opportunity to have live-feed chats about educational issues in the field of visual impairments from her home in the evenings outside of her standard workday. Students in the current OSU teacher preparation program in visual impairments have benefitted from that live-feed chat and have commented on how well it was executed by Ms. Shaheen. Natalie Shaheen is a born leader. The best leaders know that one of the most valuable contributions they can make is to nurture the growth and development of the next generation of leaders. Understanding that the skills one needs to become a leader must be fostered from a very young age, Ms. Shaheen provides the youngest blind students-like those who attended her most recent STEM program-with the opportunity to develop problem- solving and decision-making skills by allowing students to direct their own learning. Ms. Shaheen models for her students the skills a good leader must possess and, perhaps most important, she shows the youth that her blindness does not impede her ability to make a difference. Upon learning of this award, the first name to come to my mind was Ms. Natalie Shaheen. She embodies all aspects of the qualities of a new leader in our field. I feel Ms. Shaheen is an outstanding candidate for the New Leader Alumni Award. I believe she will continue to be a force for development in education. By recognizing her achievements to date, Ohio State will bring credit to the tremendous foundation it provides for the growth of leaders from diverse backgrounds who work with under-served populations. Please contact me if you would like additional information on Natalie Shaheen. Sincerely, Tiffany Wild, PhD Assistant Professor Program in Visual Impairments Coordinator Middle Childhood Math/Science Education The Ohio State University Letter of Recommendation from Mark Riccobono Dear College of EHE Awards Committee: I am writing in support of the nomination of Ms. Natalie Shaheen for the New Leader Alumni Award. For the past three-and-a-half years I have had the opportunity to work directly with Ms. Shaheen, observe her growth as well as her positive impact on others, gain inspiration from her passion and ideas, and enjoy her constant promotion of Ohio. I first got to know Ms. Shaheen in the spring of 2009 when we hired her to work on a national demonstration project teaching Braille to blind students during the summer. It was immediately clear that her passion for education was not confined to the classroom. It carries through everything that she does. She is constantly seeking opportunities to improve her own learning as well as that of those around her. Ms. Shaheen's initial work with us was under contract for the summer only. After observing her in action with students, we recognized that she would be a tremendous asset to our education team here at the NFB Jernigan Institute. One unique attribute we discovered in Ms. Shaheen was her passion for the intersection of technology and education and the way the two could be effectively used together. She has a strong belief in the important role technology can play in the learning process and an appreciation for the role the educator needs to play in conjuction with the use of technology. Furthermore, Ms. Shaheen's experience educating a variety of children in a variety of settings gives her a unique perspective on how to understand what is happening in a classroom. Ms. Shaheen has taken that passion for education and technology and is building national programs that were previously unimagined. The 2009 pilot program that she participated in has now spread to eleven states with six [now eleven] more coming on board in 2013. Ms. Shaheen has been the primary leader of the program and its curriculum development, including finding innovative ways to promote and fund the program (not something that she was ever trained to do). When Ms. Shaheen is confronted with a challenge, she does not run from it. Rather she studies it and figures out the most effective ways to tackle it. In 2011 she was promoted to be director of education here at the NFB Jernigan Institute-the youngest person we have ever had in that position. She is quickly becoming the best director we have ever had (in full disclosure, I once had that position myself, but I am not ashamed to say that Ms. Shaheen brings skills and perspective I did not possess). Last year, despite personal health struggles that kept her out of the office a significant amount of time, she built and executed a new summer program that many educators told her could never work. NFB Project Innovation was a huge success and changed many lives. Ms. Shaheen exemplifies a high standard of personal and professional integrity and excellence that any university should want to acknowledge. And she makes it very clear to everyone she meets where she received her education. Considering that Ms. Shaheen works with many young blind kids who have constantly been told that they can't do this or that, her impact when she tells them they can and tells them she got her skills from OSU adds extra inspiration. I add this last note to bring up that Ms. Shaheen also possesses the characteristic of being humble. She understands that she has had opportunities because someone invested in her, and she takes every day as a chance to cultivate new opportunities to invest in others. Her impact is now felt across the country, but she will not be satisfied until she finds a way for every child to have the quality education she knows he or she deserves. It is not about her; it is always about the kids. I believe Ms. Shaheen's qualities are an example of what this committee seeks in a nominee. You will not be disappointed by selecting Ms. Shaheen, and I believe the university will gain tremendously from acknowledging the current and future achievements of this new leader. Sincerely, Mark A. Riccobono, M.S.Ed Executive Director, Jernigan Institute National Federation of the Blind Letter Confirming Selection for New Leader Award Dear Ms. Shaheen, It is my distinct honor to confirm in writing your selection for a College of Education and Human Ecology New Leader Award. This honor is presented to EHE alumni, age thirty-six or younger, for significant early accomplishments in business or professional life. A nomination was submitted on your behalf by Dr. Tiffany Wild. One comment from your nomination that resonated with me states, "Ms. Shaheen uses innovation and research-based pedagogy for engaging her students in learning, helping her students to realize that a visual impairment will not impede STEM education opportunities. She allows the curriculum to come alive and provides hands-on experiential learning not normally available to students with visual impairments." The Hall of Fame reception, dinner, and induction ceremony will take place at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center on April 19, 2013. The Blackwell is located on the Ohio State University campus at 2110 Tuttle Park Place. The reception will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by dinner and the induction ceremony. Valet parking will be available. At the induction ceremony you will be invited to make acceptance comments of approximately two minutes. In previous ceremonies this has been an extremely enjoyable time of storytelling about the inductees' perspectives on their professions. Sean Thompson is coordinating the event. If you have any questions concerning the event, please feel free to call or email Sean. If he has not already done so, Sean will be contacting you to discuss planning for the ceremony. I look forward to celebrating this honor with you on April 19th. Sincerely, Cheryl Achterberg Dean In Her Own Words: Natalie's Answers to the Award Committee Prompts 1. For the New Leader Award - Summarize what you consider to be your most significant accomplishments in your business or professional life or in service to our college. The fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) will have an increasing impact on the world in which we live as today's youth become tomorrow's workforce. Consequently, all children should be provided with rich educational opportunities in these fields to foster the development of the skills that will eventually allow them to make life- changing contributions to science or to apply these valuable skills to analogous tasks in other disciplines. More and more, STEM education is being offered to our youth in formal and informal settings. Unfortunately- due to common misconceptions about blindness-blind and visually impaired children are not afforded the same opportunities as their sighted counterparts. The greatest accomplishment of my career to date has been the development and implementation of national multi-disciplinary STEM programs that serve blind and visually impaired youth in elementary through high school. The 2010 NFB Junior Science Academy, the 2011 NFB Youth Slam, and NFB Project Innovation, held in the summer of 2012, have all carried forward the mission of the National Center for Blind Youth in Science: empower blind and visually impaired youth, through engaging learning opportunities and mentoring, to believe that vision is not a requirement for success in STEM. In these programs blind youth learn inquiry, design-thinking, problem- solving, and the alternative techniques needed to perform tasks in the lab nonvisually. The instructors who facilitate this learning are predominantly STEM professionals-who happen to be blind. The impact of these programs does not stop at the hundreds of youth who have had the opportunity to attend; the knowledge that is developed through each program is disseminated to teachers, blind students, parents of blind children, and STEM professionals across the country. Therefore, when a university professor of biology who has a blind student in his class wants to know how the student can participate in dissections, he can capitalize on knowledge developed at the aforementioned programs. Likewise, when the advisor of a high school engineering club wants to know how the blind student in her club can precisely measure materials to be used in the construction of a bridge, she can draw from the knowledge base created by these programs. The scientists who will develop the most progressive technologies in the next half century might be blind. Educational opportunities like the ones I develop and implement ensure that blind children do not dismiss a career in STEM for fear that the subject matter is too visual. 2. For New Leader Award Only - You are 36 years old or younger; what do you envision your impact or legacy to be? It is my firm belief that the misconceptions that exist about blindness are the largest barrier to the success of blind children. These misconceptions, which are rooted in a lack of information, are widely held by people from every subset of society, including blind people themselves. It is challenging for society to understand how a person can complete a task without the use of vision and do so accurately. I want to retire with the knowledge that I effected change in societal attitudes about blindness. As a teacher I know that the best tool for combating misguided beliefs is education. Through public educational outreach for the youngest to the oldest in our society, I will work to change the way the public views blindness. By providing rich educational opportunities that include mentoring from successful blind adults, I will empower blind youth to believe in their own abilities. By disseminating the knowledge created in programs I facilitate and by creating forums where teachers and parents can share their wisdom, I will raise the expectations parents and teachers have for our blind youth. If I can help the world come to know what I know about blindness, our blind children will know no barriers. 3. How did your OSU experience/roots impact your later accomplishments? Born and raised in Columbus by an entire family of Ohio State University graduates, I was a Buckeye in spirit and values long before I enrolled in classes. My parents-both OSU alumni-instilled in me a love of learning, a love that was deepened by my experiences as a graduate student at Ohio State. I have fond memories of the learning I engaged in within the numerous libraries on campus, many of which occurred even before I graduated from high school. I learned early on from my parents that, if research was to be done, the Ohio State University was the place to go. Ultimately, I became a teacher because I loved learning, and most of all I loved learning with others. I believe that, to be a good teacher, one must be a lifelong learner. But for Ohio State, I would not be a teacher of the blind and visually impaired. It was not my experience as a blind child that sparked an interest in teaching blind students; it was the coursework and practicum experiences that comprised my master's program that helped me realize how much I enjoyed working with blind children. From middle school on I knew I would become a teacher, but, until I enrolled in the graduate program at OSU, I had no interest in working with blind students like me. I am forever indebted to the Ohio State University for helping me to realize my true calling. ---------- Edna Schmidt: A Federation Fundraiser Goes to Washington by Anna Kresmer From the Editor: The following is another in our series of historical documents in the Jacobus tenBroek Library: Since the founding of the National Federation of the Blind in 1940, fundraising has been the engine which makes the Federation run. The charitable donations from members, corporations, and the general public allow the NFB to advocate for blind people in countless ways, from providing legal and legislative representation in the courts and Congress to creating innovative education programs like NFB Youth Slam. As with most nonprofit organizations, the quest for funding has always been a part of the work of the NFB, and over the years Federationists have come up with some creative ways to accomplish this vital task. But what strategies did the fledgling Federation employ to raise the money needed to put its ambitious programs into action in the 1940s? Meet Edna Schmidt (1898 to 1986), who, for the first decade of the NFB's existence, was arguably the public face of the organization. A blind native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Schmidt was the principal fundraiser for the Federation, as well as one of its first paid employees. For thousands of sighted people throughout the United States, she was their first encounter with the power and potential of the organized blind movement. Appointed by the executive committee and the convention in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1942, Schmidt was granted the title of public relations director. Constantly traveling the country long before the days of the Interstate Highway System, she spent the next ten years presenting the ideals and goals of the Federation to the numerous labor unions and professional associations that once dotted the American landscape. According to a 1955 interview for the Regional Oral History Office at the University of California, NFB founder Jacobus tenBroek said that the reason for approaching the unions was straightforward: "Our appeal to them was based on the proposition that we have similar problems and similar organizations; that we are a people's movement and they are a people's movement; that we are organized on a federation basis, local, state, national; they are organized along the same principles. For much of our history they were a disadvantaged part of the population-unequal opportunities and rights-as we are. So that in effect a very good case could be made out which had a great deal of appeal for labor unions." Schmidt made her presentations nightly by making direct personal solicitations for money and political support at union meetings. This support usually took the form of letter-writing campaigns in favor of legislation engineered or endorsed by the NFB. In the midst of World War II and the lingering recovery from the Great Depression, Schmidt was able to bring in roughly $16,000 to $18,000 a year. Because of her efforts the NFB was able to contribute to the travel expenses of volunteer organizers, mail informational bulletins to its growing membership, and send representatives to state conventions. These funds also paid for the NFB's legislative supplement in the American Brotherhood for the Blind's All Story Braille Magazine, later taken over by the Federation and renamed the Braille Monitor. But perhaps most important, with this income the NFB was able to send its own legislative representatives to Washington, DC, for a portion of the congressional session each year. Long before the establishment of the NFB Washington office in 1957 and the first March on Washington in 1973 (now known as NFB Washington Seminar), this was the primary way in which the Federation accomplished one of its central goals: lobbying the federal government for favorable legislation for blind Americans. In 1952, after years spent mostly on the road, Schmidt was no longer able to continue in this way. She took a position as the first blind resource teacher for blind students in the Milwaukee Public Schools and continued her fundraising work by mail. However, this proved less successful than face-to-face solicitation and was eventually replaced by other fundraising methods. Schmidt was later a director of the Badger Home for the Blind in Wisconsin and became an active member of the American Council of the Blind. She passed away at the age of 88. Schmidt got to enjoy the fruits of her fundraising labors on the part of the NFB in the spring of 1945, when she was sent to represent the legislative interests of the Federation during the first session of the seventy-ninth United States Congress. Arriving in Washington exactly two days before the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, Schmidt had her work cut out for her and a lot to report back to the NFB leadership. Here's what she wrote to Dr. tenBroek a few days after her arrival: 3800 Military Road, N.W. Washington 15, D.C. April 14, 1945 Dear Dr. tenBroek: This is the continuation of my report. I have been down on the Hill every day making such contacts as I could. I have only talked with four senators. In a number of cases where it seemed to be impossible to see the senators, I have talked with their secretaries. That, of course, isn't as satisfactory; but if the secretaries are interested, it will no doubt help some. Everyone is very polite and courteous. In my last report I mentioned that I had talked with LaFollette. The other three senators are Bushfield of South Dakota, Butler of Pennsylvania, and Magnuson of Washington. I have called at the offices of all of the members of the Finance Committee and then started on the others. Next week I intend to spend a great deal of time in the House. The senators with whom I have talked seem to be sympathetic toward our cause. They realize the need of improvement in the Social Security. Bushfield says he thinks a blind person should be permitted to retain all of his earnings and get a pension besides. They all seem to feel that the states should have the authority to determine the needs of their blind. None of them gave me much time, and Bushfield and Butler were rather reserved. I liked Magnuson best of the three. He says they have improved the pension system in his state. He was very informal. He said he knew all about this business of caseworkers snooping around back alleys, etc. When I spoke to him, he had just come from having lunch with Truman after the president's death. He said that Truman had told him that, as soon as he gets some of these war situations cleared up, he would go into the Social Security. All of these senators said they would study the bills when they came up in the Senate. I have explained our program to secretaries of the following senators: McMahon, Gerry, Lucas, Guffey, Bailey, Ball, Kilgore, Green, Fulbright, Mead. In most cases the secretaries took notes on what I told them. Every one of them says his senator is sympathetic toward our cause and will do all he can for us. In several instances the American Foundation was mentioned. One secretary told me she had sent contributions to the Foundation. I felt like telling her we needed the money too, and she might as well make out a check to us. Senator Mead of New York is ill. Senator Bailey's secretary told me that there was no use in my explaining our program to him because, by the time this legislation got to the Senate, both he and the senator would forget everything I told him. And in a way this would seem to me to be the case with all of them. They have so much on their minds, and sometimes I wonder just how much good I can really do here. That is what I think when I get depressed, and one cannot help but get depressed when it is so hard to see the senators. But when I hear the experience others have, I feel a little more encouraged because they seem to have the same difficulties that I do. Naturally the death of the president has upset everybody here. I couldn't do as much yesterday as I would ordinarily have done. I left the Hill about three o'clock. Many of the senators had cancelled all appointments for the remainder of the week. There was only a short session of the Senate yesterday noon, a sort of memorial service for the president. I attended that session. I probably will not be able to do much on Monday. Truman is going to address Congress Monday noon. If I can get in, I will go to that session. I called Fenton's office yesterday. He is not in town but made an appointment to see him next week. I thought possibly he might help me to get an interview with Green. Today I had a letter from UAW [United Auto Workers] in Detroit, Mr. Addes. He sent me the name of their legislative representative. I called that office this morning, but this being Saturday, not many were in the office. They suggested that I call Monday morning for an appointment Monday afternoon. From the contacts I have made, I feel that we have a good chance to get some favorable action when this thing gets before Congress. The Labor Building, where the railroad unions have their offices, is very close to the new House. I have been over there several times. Those representatives over there are so cordial to me. They told me I could drop in any time I wanted to. I ran into one of them in the Capitol the other day. He stopped and talked and was very friendly. I realize that my reports are rather detailed, but you might as well know just how things are going here. About getting the two employment bills introduced into the Senate, I don't think I will have much success because the senators are so hard to see. That is something that I will have to work on next week and Senators Pepper and Myers return to Washington. Will write again in a few days. Sincerely, Edna H. Schmidt ---------- Recipes This month's recipes have been contributed by members of the National Federation of the Blind of Mississippi. Chili Mac by Allen Gales Allen Gales is a member of the Jackson Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Mississippi. He has been a member for four years. He is also the proprietor of a cafeteria in the Walter Sillers Building in Jackson. Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef 1 small onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, pressed 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes 1 14- or 15-ounce can tomato sauce 4 tablespoons chili powder 3 to 4 cups cooked macaroni 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated Method: Brown ground beef in a large skillet. When it is about half done, press garlic into pan and add diced onion. Cook until ground beef is done; onions should be transparent. Drain the grease. While cooking ground beef, cook macaroni according to package directions and drain. Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to meat and stir. Add chili powder and stir. Stir in drained macaroni. Transfer to a baking dish and top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees till heated through and bubbly. Cheese will be melted. ---------- No-Bake Sugar-Free Cheese Cake by Allen Gales Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup butter 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 6-ounce package sugar-free lemon-flavored Jell-O 1 cup boiling water 1 8-ounce package reduced fat cream cheese 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup frozen light whipped topping, thawed Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and cinnamon. Mix well and press into the bottom of a nine-inch square pan. Bake in preheated oven for eight to ten minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Dissolve lemon Jell-O in boiling water. Let cool and then chill until thickened but not set. In a large bowl beat cream cheese and vanilla extract until smooth. Blend in thickened lemon Jell-O, and then fold in whipped topping. Pour filling over crust. Sprinkle top with additional graham cracker crumbs. Refrigerate overnight. ---------- Pistachio Salad by Allen Gales Ingredients: 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained 1 3-ounce package instant pistachio pudding mix 1 8-ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed 1/2 10.5-ounce package miniature marshmallows Method: In a large bowl combine the drained pineapple and dry pistachio pudding mix. Fold in thawed whipped topping and half-package marshmallows until well mixed. Refrigerate until chilled and serve. ---------- Baked Fried Chicken by Allen Gales Ingredients: 3 to 4 pounds chicken pieces 1/4 cup flour 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/3 cup butter or margarine Method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towels. In a pie pan combine flour, paprika, salt, and pepper and coat chicken pieces with the flour mixture. Place butter in a shallow baking pan and put the pan in the oven to melt. When butter is melted, arrange chicken in the baking pan in a single layer, skin-side down. Bake for thirty minutes; turn and bake for fifteen minutes longer, or until chicken is tender and done. This recipe serves four. ---------- Sherbet Frosting Punch by Allen Gales Ingredients: 2 46-ounce cans tropical punch 2 6-ounce cans frozen lemonade two quarts ginger ale 2 pints pineapple sherbet Method: Combine and chill punch and lemonade concentrate to almost slush. Add ginger ale and sherbet and stir. To serve, ladle from a punch bowl into cups. ---------- Breakfast Casserole by Allen Gales Ingredients: 1 2-pound package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed 1 pound bulk pork sausage 1 small onion, diced 5 eggs 1/2 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 12 ounces shredded cheddar cheese Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2-quart baking dish. Place the hash brown potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish. Heat a skillet over medium heat and cook and stir the sausage and diced onion until the sausage is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink; drain. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, milk, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and pour over the potatoes. Layer on half the cheddar cheese, the sausage mixture, and the remaining cheddar cheese. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for an hour. Remove foil, return casserole to oven, and bake until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, about ten minutes. Let dish stand for five minutes before serving. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Barbara Hadnott] Egg and Sausage Casserole by Barbara Hadnott Barbara Hadnott is first vice president of the Mississippi affiliate. She is also a member of the Jackson Chapter, where she serves on the membership committee. She is employed at the Addie McBryde Rehabilitation Center for the Blind, where she teaches computer and assistive technology classes. She serves on several state and local boards as well. Ingredients: 6 eggs 2 cups milk 1 pound bulk sausage 3 slices bread 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated Method: Butter a 9-by-12-inch casserole dish. Tear up bread into bite- size pieces and place in bottom of buttered baking dish. Fry and drain sausage and spread on top of bread. Sprinkle grated cheese on top of sausage. Beat eggs, milk, and a little salt and pepper. Pour this liquid over the layered mixture in dish. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for about thirty-five minutes, until surface is lightly browned and mixture feels set when lightly touched in the center. ---------- Hot Bacon Cheese Dip by Barbara Hadnott Ingredients: 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 2/3 cup mayonnaise 4 to 5 green onions, chopped 1 jar real bacon bits Garlic salt to taste Ritz Crackers Method: Mix all ingredients except crackers together and place in Pyrex pie plate or other shallow baking dish suitable for serving in. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for twenty to thirty minutes or until dip is bubbling. You can crumble a few Ritz Crackers on top during the last few minutes of baking. Serve with Ritz or your favorite crackers for dipping. ---------- Mandarin Orange Pie by Barbara Hadnott Pie Ingredients: 1 graham cracker crust (the one with two extra servings) 1/2 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk 1/4 cup Tang breakfast drink 1 8-ounce carton sour cream 1/2 can or 1 fruit cup mandarin oranges, drained 1 8-ounce container Cool Whip Method: Mix milk and Tang together well. Add sour cream and drained orange slices cut in small pieces. Fold in Cool Whip and slide filling into graham cracker crust or vanilla wafer crust which follows. Ingredients for Vanilla Wafer Crust: 1 large box vanilla wafers, crushed 1 stick butter, melted 1 tablespoon sugar Method: Crush wafers in a food processor or plastic bag, using a rolling pin. Melt the butter. Meantime, add sugar to crumbs and mix well. Add the melted butter and stir well. Press the crumbs into two nine-inch pie pans and press evenly across bottom and up the sides. Bake for eight to ten minutes in a preheated 375-degree oven. Makes two crusts. ---------- Hazelnut Mocha by Gwendolyn Byrd Gwendolyn Byrd is a longtime member of the NFB of Mississippi. She has held various positions, including affiliate vice president and Jackson Chapter president. Presently she is the state legislative coordinator. Using a coffee mug, stir two tablespoons of a chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella into one cup hot brewed coffee until blended. Top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. For a variation, make a mocha latt? by topping drink with ice milk. ---------- Homemade Chai by Gwendolyn Byrd Ingredients: 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup milk 1 chai bag, paper label removed 2 cinnamon sticks Honey Method: In a small saucepan combine milk, water, chai bag, and one cinnamon stick. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, and remove from heat. Steep for five minutes, longer for a spicier taste. Remove and discard tea bag and cinnamon stick. Pour into a mug and sweeten with honey. Garnish with an additional cinnamon stick. Serves one. Variation: you can omit the honey and sweeten with the following simple syrup, flavored with vanilla extract. In a small saucepan combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. Heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, coconut, rum, or cinnamon extract. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. ---------- Too-Easy-to-Believe Coconut Pie by Gwendolyn Byrd Ingredients: 4 eggs, well beaten 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup Bisquick 1/2 cup sugar 2 cups milk 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 cup flaked coconut Method: Mix first three ingredients together, then add the remaining ones. Mix well and pour into greased nine-inch glass pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for fifty minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. When it's done, the pie will have its own crust, a custard filling, and browned coconut on top. ---------- Dump Cake by Patrina Pendarvis Patrina Pendarvis is an active member of the Mississippi affiliate. She serves on several statewide committees. She is very active in fundraising, advocacy, and information referral. She currently serves as the president of the Jackson Chapter. Ingredients: 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple 1 20-ounce can apple pie filling (optional) 1 box yellow or butter recipe cake mix 1 stick butter or margarine Method: Dump the crushed pineapple directly into a greased 13-by-9- inch cake pan. Spread evenly across bottom. Cut apples in the pie filling while filling is still in the can, then dump them over the pineapple, and spread evenly. Do not stir. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the contents of the cake pan. Dot with cut-up pieces of butter or margarine. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, until the crust is lightly brown. Serve warm with Cool Whip or ice cream. Note: You can use blueberry pie filling, strawberry filling, or peach pie filling. Be creative and have fun. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family 1Touch Self-Defense Project at Convention: Since 2010 the 1Touch Project has offered self-defense workshops at the National Federation of the Blind national conventions. Due to public demand in 2012 we held a total of eight training sessions. Once again we will be sponsored by the Sports and Recreation Division at the 2013 national convention in Orlando. The 1Touch Project is self-propagating and empowering, certifying blind and sighted instructors to spread the benefits of safety, confidence, mobility, rehabilitation, and self-discovery. The 1Touch Project will offer introductory workshops. Our intention is to participate in the Youth Track again. In the past we received overwhelming interest and support among those who attended our workshops as well as from people we spoke with outside of training. The consensus among our coaches is that presenting to the Youth Track, both eleven to fourteen and fifteen to eighteen, was the most rewarding part of our effort and a lot of fun. The 1Touch moves and techniques are described aurally and demonstrated hands-on. This system was designed specifically for the blind. Age, strength, and gender need not be a barrier. In the first lesson three elements--balance, coordination, and dexterity--along with situational awareness are emphasized and promoted, with simple exercises and drills at the beginning progressing to more complex techniques over time. Appreciation of the benefits of 1Touch, both personally and collectively, include more independence, self-confidence, and increased self-perception. The project's goal is to establish a network of instructors in the United States so that 1Touch can be self-perpetuating. The 1Touch Project is approved by local and international organizations including the International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity. For information about upcoming workshops at national convention and how to register, email LisaMaria Martinez or call (510) 289-2577. To learn more about the 1Touch Project or how to become a coach, email or visit . Community Services Meeting at Convention: Hello service-minded Federationists! The Community Service Group is excited to announce our second annual community service seminar. This event is to take place during the convention of the National Federation of the Blind on Monday evening, July 1, from 7:45 PM to 10:00 PM. If you were at our last seminar, you know that we had a great time and gained a lot of tips and inspiration. Expect no less this year! We are also planning a small service project to coincide with the Braille Book Fair. Our project will take place on Wednesday of the convention from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, with a group gathering at a restaurant to follow. Should you have any questions about the project or wish to be involved, please contact Chris Parsons at . If you would like to learn more about the Community Service Group or the seminar, please contact Darian Smith . We look forward to meeting with you, learning with you, and serving with you. Let's get involved together! [PHOTO CAPTION: Newlyweds Joe Shaw and Karen Zakhnini] Wedding Bells: James Brown, president of the NFB of Tennessee, reports with delight that Karen Zakhnini, a former longtime staffer at the National Center for the Blind, and Joe Shaw were married on February 27, 2013.They met when Joe went to Baltimore from Tennessee for blindness training. They are now both members of the Nashville Chapter, and Joe is the Tennessee legislative chair. Congratulations to the Shaws and to the Tennessee affiliate, which now has been strengthened by a dynamite couple. Elected: The new officers of the Potomac Chapter of the NFB of Virginia are as follows: president, Corbb O'Connor; first vice president, Tajuan Farmer; second vice president, Joe Hobson; recording secretary, Sandy Halverson; corresponding secretary, Mary Ann Kessler; treasurer, Sean McMahon; and board members, Tracy Soforenko, Nancy Yeager, and Deepti Devarabhotla. Airport Discount Available: All convention attendees can receive a $4 discount on transportation services courtesy of SuperShuttle by going to . Use discount code TVYK5 when booking. Discounted rates vary based on hotel location and are $16 one way and $28 roundtrip per person. The rate for an exclusive van (eight passenger) is $100 or $12.50 per person one way. Visit for more information or to book a shuttle. For large groups call (407) 513-0224. Video Description Focus Group Participants Needed: 2013 NFB National Convention: The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute is again collaborating with the Smith-Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center to host a stakeholder focus group on advanced concepts in video description. The focus group will be held during the 2013 NFB national convention in Orlando, Florida. This year there will be two sessions for slightly different audiences with space for only ten attendees in each session. Participants must register in advance for this important meeting. Both sessions will be held Monday, July 1. Session I will be from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and session II will be from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. (the exact meeting room will be announced prior to the convention). Those interested in participating in this focus group should send an e-mail to Beth Braun at the NFB Jernigan Institute with the following information: . Your full name . The best e-mail address to use in communicating with you prior to the convention . A cell phone number that can be used to reach you at the convention . Are you blind? . Are you fluent in English? . Are you a nonnative English speaker? . An indication of which of the following categories applies to you (include all that apply): . K-12 student . Undergraduate student . Graduate student . Teacher of blind students . Rehabilitation professional . Educator not working with blind students . Parent of a blind child . Consumer of video description . Professional not working in a blindness- or education-related field Session I: An opportunity for sighted amateur describers to evaluate YouDescribe-Smith-Kettlewell's new web-based video-description tool for YouTube. Participants will test the system by recording their own descriptions for selected videos and report on their experience. Session II: An opportunity for blind video description consumers to evaluate YouDescribe-Smith-Kettlewell's new web-based video-description tool for YouTube. Participants will test the system by navigating the website to listen to selected described YouTube videos and will report on their experience. Participants in Session II will need to provide their own Windows 7, Apple, or Chrome laptop and must be familiar with their screen-reading software and web browser. The laptops must have Wi-Fi connectivity (hotel will provide Wi-Fi). They will also need to provide their own headphones. Please respond with your interest no later than June 10. Note that we will not pick participants on a first-come-first-served basis but rather to ensure that the focus group has a good mix of perspectives. If you are unable to e-mail your interest in the focus group, you can reach Beth at (410) 659-9314, extension 2369. Thank you for your interest in shaping future developments in the description industry. Assistive Technology Trainers' Division Meeting: The Assistive Technology Trainers' Division will have several wonderful presenters at this year's meeting. Cathy Anne Murtha of Access Technology Institute will discuss her unique techniques for training students. John Panarese of Mac for the Blind will offer ideas and tips for where to begin when training on OS X. Pratik Patel, founder and CEO of EZFire, will present an overview of tablets, from Android to Windows RT. Serotek will be announcing its new service for assistive technology trainers. There will also be a discussion about choosing the right device for each person. We look forward to your attendance and participation. 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. NLS Audio Magazines Now Available in Digital Format: "Our audio magazines are now available on digital cartridge," announced Karen Keninger, director of the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. "Cartridges mark a new reading experience for our subscribers. They'll have access to more magazines, higher quality sound, and more fine-grained navigation tools. We're also asking patrons to participate in the new recycling program." The transition of audio magazines from cassette to cartridge completes the digital conversion of the NLS talking-book program begun in 2009. Cartridges offer superior sound quality and more in-depth navigation. They can hold multiple magazines or books and are delivered to patrons faster than cassettes. NLS has devised a circulating magazine system that will be cost effective and responsive for patrons who subscribe to magazines. As part of this system subscribers will return each cartridge as soon as they've finished reading the magazines. Recycling cartridges will keep costs down and allow NLS to continue and potentially expand its magazine program. NLS audio-magazine subscribers like John Eccles, a fifty-nine-year-old residential life counselor for the Washington State School for the Blind in Vancouver, are raving about the advantages of the new digital format. Eccles said, "I received my first digital magazine, and what a difference a format makes! I was really struck by how the navigation tools of the advanced digital talking-book player altered the magazine-reading experience. It allows blind and low-vision readers to be targeted readers- reading through more periodicals in less time." By June 30, 2013, all subscribers to the NLS audio-magazine program will have been moved from cassettes to the cartridges. Patrons should return cartridges based on their subscriptions: weekly magazine readers must return their cartridges every week, while monthly and bimonthly magazine readers must return their cartridges every month. The NLS talking-book and Braille program is a free library service available to U.S. residents or American citizens living abroad whose low vision, blindness, or physical disability makes reading a regular printed page difficult. Through its national network of regional libraries, NLS mails books and magazines in audio and in Braille, as well as digital audio players directly to enrollees at no cost. Music instructional materials are available in large print, Braille, and recorded formats. Select materials are also available online for download. Further information on eligibility requirements and enrollment procedures for the program is available at or (888) NLS-READ, that is, (888) 657-7323. Earn a Master's Degree: Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to earn a master's degree? The Institute on Blindness is looking for individuals who are seeking a meaningful and rewarding career in the field of blindness. We are offering scholarships on a limited basis 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 that are founded with a philosophy of personal empowerment from the perspective of individuals who are blind. We invite all qualified individuals who have positive attitudes about blindness and 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 field of blindness 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 by calling the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at (318) 257-4554 or by writing us at . Research us on the web at . Walmart Expands Program to Provide Talking Prescription Containers: Need information about how to order talking prescription containers for prescription medication obtained from Walmart? You'll find everything you need in this post. In June, 2012, Walmart became the first national pharmacy retailer to offer talking prescription containers free of charge to people with visual impairments. The ScripTalk Talking Prescription program is being offered to customers across the country through Walmart mail order. In addition to the national mail order program, Walmart now offers ScripTalk at thirty-three stores around the country. A list of stores where ScripTalk is available, as well as instructions for ordering, appears below. Read the June 2012 Walmart press release announcing its ScripTalk initiative. To order ScripTalk talking prescription containers for use with prescription medications obtained from Walmart, you must first contact Walmart. For mail order, Walmart has a dedicated toll-free phone line for ScripTalk requests. The toll-free number is (888) 227-3403. You may also contact any of the stores listed below directly for information on receiving ScripTalk containers from those stores. To listen to the talking label provided by Walmart, you will need a reading device from Envision America, the company that makes ScripTalk. The device, called the ScripTalk reader (or the ScripTalk machine or device), is available free of charge to blind Walmart pharmacy customers. After you have contacted Walmart, you will need to contact Envision America to order your device. Envision America has a dedicated toll-free line for requests and for general ScripTalk service and inquiries. The toll-free Envision America number is (855) 773-2579, that is, (855) SPEAK-RX. You need to order the device only once; it will work with any talking prescription label you receive from Walmart. Walmart is currently also offering the talking prescription labels in thirty-three stores across the country. As with mail order, you will need to contact both the Walmart store (for the prescription medication) and Envision America (for the ScripTalk reader). If you are a Walmart customer with a visual impairment, contact Walmart at (888) 227-3403 to inquire if your local Walmart is participating or to request that the ScripTalk containers be offered at your store. We also welcome your feedback about the Walmart Talking Prescription Container initiative. To contact the Law Office of Lainey Feingold, please use the contact form on this website. To contact co-counsel at Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian and Ho, please call toll free at (800) 822-5000. Eyeglasses Read to the Blind: The following information is taken from a press release issued by Florida International University. It describes yet another way for blind people to read. Here, in part, is what the release says: A unique pair of eyeglasses developed by a Florida International University student team could revolutionize the lives of the blind, enabling them to walk into a library or a store, pick up any book or a can of soup, and read it. The Eyetalk concept, initially conceived for a student competition in social entrepreneurship, has been hailed by venture investors as a potentially breakthrough product that could make a difference for disabled people worldwide. This week it was recognized as one of twelve semi-finalists in the FIU Track of the Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge. By using a pair of eyeglasses and lightweight components, Eyetalk will allow a blind user to access printed material while walking around a store or library, which now requires bulkier, more expensive equipment. The Eyetalk, still in its development stage, is designed to be portable and affordable and operate without requiring an Internet connection. Future versions of Eyetalk will target a global market and enable users to hear information aloud in one of many languages. The project began with a challenge issued by FIU College of Business faculty member Seema Pissaris, a successful entrepreneur who founded Games Trader, a company that went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Last fall Pissaris urged students in several of her classes to think about developing a social entrepreneurship project. FIU students Maria Pia Celestino, Viurniel Sanchez, Jesus Amundarain, and Esam Mashni came forward and started working with Pissaris on a technology that had the potential to help people and turn a profit. Focusing on the breakthrough innovation of a pair of glasses that could read to the blind, engineering student Viurniel Sanchez began to explore a target-recognition technology that he and two of his classmates had developed in a research project funded by NASA and the Department of Defense. He thought it might be reconfigured to help the blind navigate their environment. The human inspiration for the product's development came from Miami social entrepreneur Michael Arbitman, a computer engineer who lost his sight in his 20s. He created Imuneek.com, a website designed for the disabled to share resources and connect with service providers. He met the team, heard their concept for a pair of glasses that would read, and was amazed by the potential of their technology. "A product like this," he said, "could give me my freedom back." The FIU team's early prototype, known as the "FreedomLens," was one of sixteen semi-finalists chosen from twenty-nine nations to present at the 2013 Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC), February 25 to 30 at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business in Seattle. The team from FIU, one of only four U.S. universities chosen to present, received an outstanding reception at the conference, where one judge said it had the potential to bring "disruptive technology" and create an entire new market. "The students realized that they didn't have to reinvent the wheel," Pissaris said. "They are customizing a technology to meet a global social need and creating a market-based solution." ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Wed Jun 26 23:15:02 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 23:15:02 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, July 2013 Message-ID: <201306270615.r5R6F2wd010831@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 7 July 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Vol. 56, No. 7 July 2013 Contents Illustration: Braille Brings Music to Life Singing Our Story: Federation History in Song by Barbara Pierce The Nature of Independence by Kenneth Jernigan Randolph-Sheppard: Our History Calls Us to Action by James Gashel Me, Myself, and Seattle by Emily Zitek Technology for the Blind: Blessing or Curse? by Gary Wunder An American Hero Remembered by Jim Omvig Low-Vision Specialists: An Impediment to Meeting Patients' Rehabilitation Needs? by Sean Ziadeh Rehabilitation: A Contract Between America and Her Blind Citizens by Gary Wunder I Was Reported to the Police for Crossing the Street by Glenn Ervin Hiring Blind: The Misconceptions Facing America's Visually Impaired Workforce by Belo Cipriani What Did You Say? What's That? Say it Again? by Agnes Allen Recipes Monitor Miniatures Braille Brings Music to Life [PHOTO CAPTION: Caleb proudly shows off The Shapes of Music, the Twin Vision book he recently received.] In the May issue we published an article about Jean Dyon Norris and her work in creating Twin Vision books, provided by the Kenneth Jernigan Library, which is operated by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. Caleb Hyndman is a student finishing kindergarten at Webster Elementary in Lewiston, Idaho. His teacher, Nora Mayton, signed him up for services from the library. In an end-of-year report she mentioned his interest in music and asked that the Library look specifically for books about music for next year. A few weeks later a book showed up with a note from the Library director that Caleb could keep the music book she sent. Nora explains: "He was absolutely delighted. He immediately began jumping up and down and took the book into his classroom, where he shared it with other students. His grandmother tells me that he keeps it on his piano at home and looks at it often." [PHOTO CAPTION: Caleb reading his new book in the classroom] [PHOTO CAPTION: Barbara Pierce] Singing Our Story Federation History in Song by Barbara Pierce From the Editor: Barbara Pierce has been involved with this publication for at least twenty years, and for most of that time she served as the editor-looking at every word, touching ever so lightly to add the special shine we have come to expect from the Braille Monitor. In this issue we feature her tribute to songs of the Federation as our lead article, and, for those receiving the recorded edition, we have included performances in lieu of the text. Songs performed in the audio edition are marked with stars for the convenience of those who wish to go to the web to enjoy them. Here is what Barbara has to say about our Federation history in song: For almost forty years I have been a Federationist. While a number of organizational traits have endeared the NFB to me-care for individual blind people, the passion to fight injustice and discrimination, and the mutual devotion of the Federation family, to name a few-the role and importance of NFB songs in our life together is virtually unique in the blindness field. In the seventies and eighties we were still defining our movement and establishing our voice. The first songs I became aware of were those that identified and defined what we began calling "the organized blind movement." ** Battle Song of the NFB Tune: "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" Words by Floyd Fields and Josephine Huff 1. Blind eyes have seen the vision of the Federation way. New White Cane legislation brings the dawn of a new day. The right of the blind to organize is truly here to stay. Our cause goes marching on. (Refrain:) Glory, glory, Federation, Glory, glory, Federation, Glory, glory, Federation, Our cause goes marching on. 2. We have seen it in the action of four hundred chapters strong. Good leadership and courage have righted many a wrong. Let's aid NFB's program and join in its battle song. Our cause goes marching on. (Refrain) 3. TenBroek has sounded trumpet which shall never sound "retreat." We have sifted out the hearts of blind before our judgment seat. Oh, be swift all blind to answer, and be jubilant your feet. Our cause goes marching on. (Refrain) 4. To aid the blind's long struggle we have formed the NFB To free them from their bondage of workshop and agency, To give a hand to all the blind wherever they may be. Our cause goes marching on. (Refrain) We Shall March Together Words and original tune by James Omvig We shall march together to gain equality. Through our common effort we'll make opportunity. When we reach our goal of security, brave effort we'll applaud. We shall march together "Within the Grace of God." At about the same time as I learned these songs, a group of workshop songs and what one might characterize as songs about ineffective rehabilitation began appearing. These resonated in the hearts and minds of thousands of Federationists, so we sang them whenever numbers of us got together. **I've Been Workin' in the Workshop Tune: "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad" I've been working in the workshop All the livelong day, And with the wages that they pay me It's just to pass my time away. And when I ask about more money, They give me the big lie. "We'd like to give you lots of raises, But you'd lose your SSI." "Work is therapy," They keep telling me. I've heard it till I've had my fill. 'Cause if it's therapy, I wish they'd let me be. This therapy's a bitter pill. **Blind Workshop Blues Tune: original Words by Arthur Segal 1. When you're working in the workshop, you've got no money in your pants, For the bosses in the workshop don't give a blind guy a chance. (Refrain:) Baby, I've got those blind workshop blues. 2. You're dining on steak and salad like a mogul at the Ritz. Blindness lands you in the workshop, and you're eatin' greens and grits. (Refrain) 3. The bosses in my workshop drink champagne before they sup, But the workers in the workshop wind up with an empty cup. (Refrain) The Rehab Song Words and music original Today I am happy. Today I am glad. I finished my five-year course in rehab. I've learned chair caning. I've learned basketry, And now there's not a damned soul who wants to hire me. (Repeat) Rehab, I'm glad, rehab. **The Bureau Song Tune: "In the Garden" Words by Ted Young 1. I went to the bureau alone Straight from school and a little bit nervous. I asked for a job, then the counseling slob Signed me up for two years rehab service. (Refrain:) Then they tested me, and they rested me, And they told me there was some hope. With the anger I bear as I tarry there No blind guy should have to cope. 2. I took all my medical exams And the best eye tests I could get. Then they tested my means, which was four cans of beans, Three cans of beer, one cassette. (Refrain) 3. I finally got a job on my own Breaking loose from the bureau's long tether. I called and said, "I found work," and the counseling jerk Said, "Close case, 'cause we've done this together!" (Refrain) Though it was written much later and comments on unwise use of technology as powerfully as it does on inept efforts at rehabilitation, "A Technology Song" also belongs in this category. By the way, this was one of Dr. Jernigan's favorite songs. He was especially moved by the ending. A Technology Song Tune: "The Marvelous Little Toy" 1. When I wrote my rehab plan, my counselor promised me The hottest screen access program of the twentieth century. I waited for six months, then gave my counselor a call; He said, "Our budget's frozen; you must wait until next fall." (Refrain:) It went zip! when it moved and pop! when it stopped, and whir! when it stood still. I've never done a thing with it, and I guess I never will. 2. When my equipment finally came, my counselor explained That I couldn't get my hands on it till I'd been thoroughly trained. I said, "Let's start tomorrow!" but my counselor told me, "We have a six-month waiting list at our facility." (Refrain) 3. I said I'd get trained on my own, but rehab made a fuss. They said, "You won't get funding, unless it's done by us." Now my training's finally done, and I've come home to wait. If I ever get a job, my skills will be out of date. (Refrain) 4. Today I had an interview, but I didn't get to go; I called for paratransit, but my vehicle didn't show. The finest new technology won't help us, it's quite plain, Without good blindness training and a thirty-dollar cane. (Refrain:) It went zip! when it moved and pop! when it stopped, and whir! when it stood still. I've never done a thing with it, and I guess I never will. I've never done a thing in life...and I guess I never will. The largest group of Federation songs emerged out of our decades-long battle to rid the blindness field of the devastatingly dangerous influence of NAC, the so-called accrediting body created solely to provide its seal of approval to any school for the blind, workshop for the blind, or rehabilitation agency serving the blind that was prepared to pay colleagues to step in and apply accreditation standards that blind consumer representatives had had no part in developing. During the decades when NAC tried to "take over the field," the NFB showed up to picket on the street and talk to the press every time a large NAC gathering took place. Those who participated in these exhausting picket lines remember them with great fondness and much laughter. We walked the line for three or four hours at a time, up to three times a day, and we did so in biting cold, pouring rain, or stifling heat. **We Shall Not Be Moved Tune: civil rights song of the same name Original words 1. We shall not, we shall not be moved. We shall not, we shall not be moved. Just like a tree standing by the water, we shall not be moved. 2. NAC shall be, NAC shall be removed. NAC shall be, NAC shall be removed. Just like a tree that's fallen in the water, NAC shall be removed. 3. We blind guys, we are on the move. We blind guys, we are on the move. Just like a ship that's plowing through the water, we are on the move. 4. We're moving, we're the NFB. We're moving, we're the NFB. We're going to lead the blind through troubled waters; we're the NFB. The next song was one of the most singable on the picket line. To understand the first line, you need a couple of pieces of information. One effort in the eighties to work around the NFB was the formation of the Affiliated Leadership League of and for the Blind (ALL). Mostly these were big agencies and NAC, but the ACB eagerly aligned itself under the ALL banner. And because it so often allied itself with any blindness group that opposed the NFB, the ACB often found itself singled out in our songs, as it did in this one: **So Long to NAC and the Council Tune: "So Long, it's Been Good to Know You" Words by Carol Hawk and Lee Kerr 1. I'll tell you of NAC and the Council and ALL, How they act just like babies; they scream and they squall! They know they can't beat us; they're not very strong; And we'll be without them before very long. (Refrain:) So long to NAC and the Council, So long to NAC and the Council, So long to NAC and the Council, It's been too long a time, and you're still here, And we wish you'd be movin' along. 2. There're prisons and dungeons of all different kinds, But none can be worse than the shops for the blind. They'll work you for nothin', and they'll tell you why: If we give you more money, you'll lose SSI! (Refrain) 3. We go to the workshops to slave every day. We don't want their handouts; we just want our pay. An honest day's wages for an honest day's work, And here's what we say to those agency jerks! (Refrain) **With A Little Bit of NAC Tune: "Little Bit of Luck" Words by Jim Erhard and Maureen Sheedy 1. They say that blind guys have trouble with employment. It appears to be a problem with the eye. They say that blind guys have trouble with employment, but With a little bit of NAC, with a little bit of NAC, You can live your life on SSI. (Refrain:) With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little NAC you'll live on SSI. With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little bit of bloomin' NAC. 2. They say the agency has got the finest people. The staff diplomas clutter up the wall. They say the agency has got the finest people, but With a little bit of NAC, With a little bit of NAC, They will be no help to you at all. (Refrain:) With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little NAC, they'll be no help at all. With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little bit of bloomin' NAC. 3. They say a blind guy could be a secretary If someone sighted will read the printed page. They say a blind guy could be a secretary, but With a little bit of NAC, with a little bit of NAC, You would only get a workshop wage. (Refrain:) With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little NAC, you'd get a workshop wage, With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little bit of bloomin' NAC. 4. They say that blindness is such a tragic hassle. We need that extra expert help to get along. They say that blindness is such a tragic hassle, but With a little bit of NAC, with a little bit of NAC, You'd get milk and cookies and a song. (Refrain:) With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little NAC they'll sell you for a song. With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little bit of bloomin' NAC. 5. They say that blind guys have trouble with our travel. We get lost no matter where we try to roam. They say that blind guys have trouble with our travel, but With a little bit of NAC, with a little bit of NAC, You'd get lost while you're inside your home. (Refrain:) With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little NAC you're lost inside your home. With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little bit of bloomin' NAC. 6. They say that blind guys must have the best of training. On this one point, I most certainly agree. They say that blind guys must have the best of training, but With a little NAC, with a little NAC, You get sighted people who can't see. (Refrain:) With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little NAC the sighted folks can't see, With a little NAC, with a little NAC, With a little bit of bloomin' NAC. Like getting to national conventions, getting to NAC-tracking events meant lots of driving for many of the picketers. One year, perhaps it was the trip to St. Augustine, the Maryland affiliate sent two vans. The vehicles maintained contact with each other using the radios that would later keep us organized on the picket line. The passengers in van 2 entertained themselves on the trip by writing a song and singing it to those in the other van. To its creators and their friends, the following song was known as "The Van 2 Song." **Oh, NAC, You'll Learn to Be Humble Tune: "Oh, Lord, It's Hard to Be Humble" Oh, NAC, you'll learn to be humble While falling apart at the seams. We're glad to give you trouble By ruining all of your schemes. To know us is to fear us; We get more determined each day. Our NFB is a winner! The blind are here to stay! (Repeat) Somewhere along the line NAC moved its annual meeting from the fall to just before Christmas. Who knows why that decision was made; at the time we simply assumed that it was in an effort to cut down on the numbers of picketers outside the meeting to at least fewer than the number of attendees inside the meeting. If that was NAC's hope, it was a forlorn one. Our numbers were always close to a hundred, and the longer we carried out our demonstrations (we called them the primary event of the NFB fall social season), the fewer members attended the NAC meetings. The great thing about a December meeting was that we could and did create what we called "NAC Carols." At this time the head of NAC was a man named Dennis Hartenstein. **Dennis Hartenstine Looked Out To the tune of "Good King Wenceslaus" Words by Peggy Elliott Dennis Hartenstein looked out Oozing sanctimony. The blind were marching all about, Picketing that phony. We had come from far and wide Though the winds were cruel To proclaim the truth to all: A NACster is a fool! **We Have Come to Greet the NACsters To the tune of "Deck the Halls" We have come to greet the NACsters, Falalalala, lala la la. Agency money is what they're after, Falalalala, lala la la. Quality ethics and standards are lacking, Falalalala, lalala, la la la. That is why we go NAC-tracking, Falalalala, lala la la. **Hartenstine Hurts the Blind To the tune of "Jingle Bells" Hartenstein hurts the blind; NAC should go away. Many of their agencies are not with them today. Hartenstein hurts the blind; NAC's standards are a waste! The NFB will help you see For NAC there is no place. In Little Rock we could walk from our block of hotel rooms to the banquet space where the Saturday evening NAC dinner was being held while we remained cozily indoors. By that time, after eight hours or so of singing NAC carols on the picket line, our voices were shot, but we certainly did have the words of the carols down pat. Late in the afternoon someone ran out to buy tiny flashlights that looked like candles, so we dressed as nicely as we could and set out for the space outside the banquet room, singing NAC carols, carrying our flashlight candles, and using our white canes and well-behaved dogs. People in the lobby of the hotel who looked up to see where the Christmas carols were coming from, obviously thought they were watching an inspirational choir of blind people walking and singing. We really did not sound very musical, and of course they could not hear the scathing words we were singing, so they applauded us madly, much to our amusement and probably the frustration of the NAC guests who were gathering at the time. Another battle that inspired songs through the years was a fight we called "the cane wars." The airlines were determined to stow our canes in coat closets, make us demonstrate our ability to fasten our seatbelts, and occasionally sit on blankets in case of incontinence. And of course they did not want us sitting in exit rows, even when they had assigned us those seats. The first airline song was the following: **We Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease Tune: "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" United Airlines and the old FAA Say blind folks can't carry their white canes today. They say they're a hazard and get in the way, But we say our white canes will stay. (Refrain:) We fly through the air with the greatest of ease. Our white canes won't shatter in emergencies, So take your hands off of my cane if you please. United, we are NFB. At the height of the cane wars in the eighties, the 1985 national convention took place in Louisville. On Wednesday afternoon lots of NFB members toured the Ohio River on the paddle wheeler, "The Belle of Louisville." Waiting in a very long line to board the ship, a group of Federationists wrote this airline favorite: **Let's Go Out to the Airport Tune: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" 1. Let's go out to the airport. We're just part of the crowd. If you insist on preboarding us, The NFB will make a national fuss. So let's go down to the jetway. It's time for us to go, And we'll keep our canes and our dogs in the exit row. 2. We are all in our seats now. The plane is still on the ground. If you say that moving is best, We will stay till we're under arrest. And then the blind will gather. We'll come from all around. And we'll win the seat of our choice When we close you down. Skeptics may wonder about the promise made in that last line to close down an airline. But, following the 1985 Washington Seminar, a group of Federationists accompanied Russell Anderson to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where their sit-in inspired U.S. Air to close its gate for some little time. The demonstration took place because airline personnel would not allow Russell to sit in the exit row seat to which he had been assigned. Our problems with hybrid and electric cars capable of moving silently gave birth to a couple of NFB songs, though the loss of opportunities to learn NFB songs has meant that they never became familiar. The Hybrid Car Song Tune: "Surry with the Fringe on Top" Words by Mary Ellen Gabias Copyright 2007, National Federation of the Blind Kids and dogs won't know when to scurry. Silent death arrives in a hurry. All who walk have reason to worry 'Bout the hybrid car. We all want to stop the polluting, Save a lot of gas while commuting. If they made sound, there'd be no disputing With the hybrid car. Saving the planet we all hold dear, Nobody wants to destroy it. Please make cars pedestrians can hear 'Cause we want to be 'round to enjoy it. We don't need a noisy vrum-vrumming, Just a simple audible humming, So that we can know when you're coming In a hybrid car. Then we all can walk with safety on the street Without fear that we will accident'lly meet a hybrid car. The Quiet Car Song Tune: "Found a Peanut" Words by Sandy Halverson 1. I was walking down the sidewalk Thinking of what I would eat When I got up to the restaurant And the friends I was to meet. 2. I was so close I could smell it. Didn't have to go that far When my life was quickly altered By that sneaky quiet car. 3. I approached my destination When my cane broke at my feet. Never heard the car approaching-- I was lying in the street. 4. Heard the siren of the ambulance As it carried me away. Lost my hunger in the ER. Guess we'll meet another day. A number of blindness topics have resulted in a single, memorable song. Perhaps the most popular is "The Library Song," reputedly a favorite of longtime NLS head Frank Curt Cylke. **The Library Song Tune: "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching" Words by Curtis Willoughby 1. At the mailbox I sit thinking of the book I need, And the library so cold and far away. And the tears they fill my eyes 'spite of all that I can do When I think of what the library will say. (Refrain:) "Wait, wait, wait, your book's not in yet. We'll try to have it next year without fail. We are not your corner store. We cannot do any more. After all, we know just one percent read Braille." 2. 'Cause they're running out of space. "For your book there is no place. The demand for it, you see, is far too low. How about a light romance or a novel set in France, For we mostly serve the elderly, you know." (Refrain) 3. So at home and on the job I am waiting for the day When the mailman will come up to my door With the book that I have sought and not the one they thought That my profile showed I should be asking for. (Refrain) In the 1980s the NFB took on the U.S. Department of State over the question of whether or not a blind person could qualify to serve the country in the Foreign Service. We won that battle, and this is the song that emerged from the tussle. **The State Department Song Tune: "Yankee Doodle" Words by Paul and Mary Ellen Gabias 1. The State Department keeps us out. They say that we're not able. They won't let our readers in to read their secret cables. (Refrain:) State Department, let us in. We want to serve our nation. We will fight until we win 'cause we're the Federation. 2. They say that we can't go abroad. They say we'll be in danger. They tell us we will be attacked by every foreign stranger. (Refrain) 3. The blind have traveled far and wide to every state and nation. We can serve in every post and every foreign station. (Refrain) We may have more than one song about Braille but this is by far the most familiar: **Ode to the Code Tune: "Jingle Bells" Words by Lloyd Rasmussen, Judy Rasmussen, and Debbie Brown 1. Going to the school to write an IEP-- The teacher says, "Use print because your child can see." The equipment is too big, and large print is too rare, And fifteen words a minute will not get you anywhere." (Refrain:) Oh, Braille is here, Braille is here. Braille is here to stay. We will keep on using it. We don't care what you say. Braille is here. Braille is here. We will sing its praise. It's the system for the blind to get a job that pays. 2. They say that Braille's too tough to teach the newly blind. Its codes and its contractions discombobulate the mind. Contractions we've learned all, and codes we've mastered too, For blindness has no negative effect on our IQ. (Refrain) 3. They say that Braille's complex. They say that it's too slow. They say that new technology's the only way to go. But we'll keep using Braille because it is the key To making sure that blind folks will be literate and free. (Refrain) Once the NFB adult rehabilitation centers began graduating blind people who were both competent and confident, it was no surprise for NFB songs to begin reflecting this new approach to the world and disdain for the old custodial model of rehabilitation. Happy Home for the Blind Tune: "Home on the Range" Words by Students at the Louisiana Center for the Blind 1. Oh give me a home where the blind people roam, And the canes don't see traffic all day, Where never is heard an encouraging word >From the certified staff with high pay. (Refrain:) Happy home for the blind, where we sit around on our behinds, Just listening to tapes, never touching our slates, 'Cause Braille's slow and tough on our minds. 2. The day starts at ten, or whenever I get in On the arm of some sighted guide. I don't know my way, so it takes me all day. Maybe next week they'll let me outside. (Refrain) 3. At noon they serve lunch to the whole helpless bunch While we sit there and wait to be fed. They carry our trays through the long lunch line maze, And they serve twenty napkins per head (Refrain) 4. In classes we're shown how to dial a phone, And to tell apart nickels and dimes. How to shake hands and clap, how to take a sponge bath, And to punch talking clocks for the time. (Refrain) 5. When I do graduate, well for me it's too late 'Cause for me half my life's passed me by. They say I'll find work, but I don't trust those jerks, And now my best hope's SSI. (Refrain) (the sound of all yawning) Probably since the beginning of Federation history NFB members have been frustrated and annoyed by individual blind people who affiliate themselves with agencies rather than with the blind people trying to bring about reform of worn-out ideas and ineffective rehabilitation methods. The following song has always been popular generally, since even nonsingers can join in by adding pig snorts at the end of the first line of the refrain. **Big Old Blind Uncle Tom Pig Tune: "Truck-Drivin' Man" Words by Ted Young (Refrain:) He's a big old blind Uncle Tom pig. (snort, snort) He hangs with the sighted. That makes him feel big. They think he's the best they can find, A model and an expert on all of the blind. 1. As a child he sold out his soul. He learned and adopted the agency role. And as he grew older, he earned his reward; He's got a big spot on an agency board. (Refrain) 2. He's learned every sighted clich?, (You're amazing!) And he lives them all in his own special way. He's the first to jump up and to follow a plan As long as the planner is some sighted man. (Refrain) 3. He's been known to feel somewhat maligned When he tries to advise and be nice to the blind. But the blind, they laugh at him. They know he's abused When the sighted parade him, and he's being used. (Refrain) Not many years ago the Louisiana Center students arrived at the Washington Seminar with a new song. The Blind Go Marching Tune: "The Ants Go Marching" Words by Louisiana Center for the Blind Students 1. The blind go marching one by one, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching two by two, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching three by three, We're making NFB history, As we all come together at Washington Seminar. (Refrain:) tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap 2. The blind go marching four by four, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching five by five, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching six by six, We're shaping national politics, As we all come together at Washington Seminar. (Refrain) 3. The blind go marching seven by seven, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching eight by eight, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching nine by nine, We're keeping Jernigan's dreams alive, As we all come together at Washington Seminar. (Refrain) 4. The blind go marching ten by ten, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching ten by ten, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching ten by ten, And next year we'll be back again, As we all come together at Washington Seminar. (Refrain) 5. The blind go marching all as one, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching all as one, hoorah, hooray. The blind go marching all as one, And we won't give up till the job is done, As we all come together at Washington Seminar. This compilation of NFB songs could go on for pages. Though we have more than scratched the surface, we have quoted many fewer than half the NFB songs that have been loved and sung through the years: "Where Have All the NACsters Gone?" "I Broke my Neck in San Francisco," "Amazing Grace," "The Paratransit Song," and so on. No doubt the favorite songs of many did not make the cut for this article. We will close with a recent song that deserves to be better known than it is. And of course there are hundreds of songs still to be written. But we will close with "The White Cane Freedom March." The White Cane Freedom March Tune: "As Those Caissons Go Rolling Along" Words by the Sligo Creek Chapter of the NFB of Maryland 1. Over hill, over dale, we have hit the concrete trail, As our white canes go tapping along. Down the block, cross the street, walking on our own two feet, As our white canes go tapping along. On the job or at home, wherever we may roam, Yes, independent and free, NFB! We can find our way at night or in the day, As our white canes go tapping along. 2. On a bus, on a train, even flying on a plane, As our white canes go tapping along. As we board, find our seat, no great danger shall we meet, As our white canes go tapping along. We're the able blind, so leave your carts behind. Don't put us in your holding tanks. No Thanks! We'll meet no harm. Don't view us with alarm. As our white canes go tapping along. 3. On we go at full speed, no contraptions do we need, As our white canes go tapping along. No rough tiles for our feet, nor the traffic signal's "tweet," As our white canes go tapping along, No PhD's, just skillful travelers, please, Teaching blind people to be free, NFB! And the rehab snobs can go and find real jobs As our white canes go tapping along. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Kenneth Jernigan at the 1993 annual convention] The Nature of Independence by Kenneth Jernigan From the Editor: Given the number of articles the Monitor has run lately about the issue of independence, it seemed appropriate to look back at this address delivered to the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind held in Dallas, Texas, in 1993. Never has there been such a cogent argument differentiating the tools and techniques to achieve independence from the attitudes and behaviors that express true independence. Here is what Dr. Jernigan said to the spellbound audience who responded enthusiastically to his remarks: Shortly after last year's convention, I received a number of letters from students at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. It was clear that the letters were written as the result of discussions held at the Center and that, although the apparent topic was independent mobility, the real issue was independence in general, and how blind persons should live and behave. I want to share those letters with you, then tell you how I answered them, and finally say a few things about what I think independence really is. The letters are all dated July 23, 1992. Here is a composite of them: Dear Dr. Jernigan: I am a sophomore in high school. Right now, I am in a teenage program that the Louisiana Center for the Blind is sponsoring. It is the STEP program. That means Summer Training and Employment Project. We are allowed to get jobs and make money as well as have classes. A few weeks ago I attended the national convention. I really enjoyed all your speeches and everything. People noticed that you and Mr. Maurer walked sighted guide sometimes, [I interrupt to call your attention to the almost code-word use of the term "sighted guide." Not "walking with a sighted guide" or "walking with a sighted person" or "holding the arm of a sighted person," but "walking sighted guide." This makes it clear that the concept of "sighted guide" has been the topic of considerable conversation. But back to the letter.] and we thought you all would never walk sighted guide, because you all are so highly involved in the NFB. I never thought sighted guide was OK until then. So why did you all use sighted guide? I know there are many reasons why this might be. We discussed this in one of our talk times and came up with one reason this might be. We know that you all have to be at meetings all the time, and it would be faster if you would use sighted guide. [I interrupt again to call your attention to the use in the following sentences of the depersonalized "it." Now, back to the letter.] I am sure you don't use it so much that you lose your cane travel skills. I am not trying to say this is wrong. I was just wondering why you do this. Someone brought up that if we, as the people being trained at the moment, were caught using sighted guide, they would fuss at us. And I realize that you are not the one in training, so it is not wrong. We couldn't use sighted guide, because we might want to use it more than the cane if we use too much of it. Yours truly, Dear Dr. Jernigan: During this past convention in North Carolina some of us noticed that you did not walk with a cane. I do not understand this at all. I can understand that you have to be in many places in a short amount of time at the conventions, and that might be the reason you went sighted guide. But I also know that when you came for a tour of the Center, you also went sighted guide. We do not understand this. We all have our own theories as to why you went sighted guide, but we want to get the correct answer straight from the horse's mouth. Your fellow Federationist, That's a very clear-cut letter, and I am pleased to be called that end of the horse. Here is the last one: Dear Dr. Jernigan: This year I came to Charlotte to attend my third national convention of the NFB. I am currently a student at the Louisiana Center for the Blind in the STEP program for blind teenagers. This program stresses cane use, Braille literacy, employment readiness, and self-confidence based on achievement. While at the convention I heard from a friend that you were never actually seen using your cane. I discussed this with a group of friends, and it was decided that you most likely had many places to go and had to get to them quickly. This made sense, and the question seemed settled. Then one of the group remembered you using sighted guide during a tour you took of the Center while passing through Ruston on the way to the Dallas convention in 1990. This was such a hectic situation, and the question was no longer settled because the only alternative travel technique anyone noticed you using was sighted guide. I do not mean this letter to imply any disrespect towards you, the Federation, or its many achievements. If the Federation had not pushed so hard for independence for the blind, I would have no grounds on which to write this letter. It is because of my own personal convictions about independence that I ask why the figurehead of the NFB is not himself using the alternative techniques that his student, Joanne Wilson, has been teaching for nearly ten years in Ruston. I would prefer to end the letter on a positive note. I realize that you are responsible for the training I am currently receiving, and I am grateful for it. I am not implying that you have no cane skills, because I do not honestly know. Sincerely, These are straightforward letters, seriously written. They raise fundamental questions, questions that deserve a reasoned answer. Here is the expanded substance of what I wrote: Baltimore, Maryland July 29, 1992 Under date of July 23, 1992, the three of you wrote to ask me why I didn't travel alone with a cane during the national convention in Charlotte and why on a visit to the Louisiana Center in 1990 I took a sighted person's arm instead of walking alone with a cane. I appreciate your letters and will tell you why I do what I do. In the first place let us assume that I didn't have any cane travel skills at all. This might be comparable to the situation of a parent who had no education but dreamed of an education for his or her child. That parent might preach the value of education and might work to send the child to high school and then to college. The parent might, though personally uneducated, feel tremendous satisfaction at the learning and accomplishment which his or her effort had made possible. In such circumstances what attitude should the child have toward the parent? The child might be critical of the parent for his or her poor grammar and lack of education and might even be ashamed to associate with the parent-or the child might feel gratitude for the sacrifice and the work that had made the education possible. This is not an apt analogy since I have perfectly good cane skills, but it has elements of truth about it. When I was a child, there were no orientation centers or mobility training. The only canes available were the short heavy wooden type, and we youngsters associated carrying a cane with begging, shuffling along, and being helpless. It was not until I finished college and had taught for four years in Tennessee that I first carried a cane. It was made of wood and had a crook handle. I might also say that it was longer than most of those in vogue at the time, forty inches. I started using it in 1953, just before going to California to work at the newly established state orientation center for the blind. The Center had been in operation for only a few months and had enrolled only four or five students by the time of my arrival. In those days the California Center was using forty-two-inch aluminum canes. They were a tremendous improvement over the forty-inch wooden cane I had been carrying, and I immediately adopted the new model. Even so, it seemed that something better was needed. I worked with the person who had been employed as the travel teacher, and we experimented with different techniques and canes. In the mid-1950s the solid fiberglass cane was developed. It was first made by a blind man in Kansas, but we at the California center popularized it and brought it into general use. We also worked to improve the tip. Our students received intensive training, those with any sight using blindfolds (or, as we called them, sleep shades), and our students and graduates were identifiable in any group of blind persons because of their competence and ease in travel. Since they had enjoyed the benefit of our study and experimentation, as well as intensive instruction and the time to practice, many of them probably became better travelers than I-and I felt pride and satisfaction in the fact. We were advancing on the road to freedom and independence. In 1958 I went to Iowa as director of the state commission for the blind, and I carried with me the experience and knowledge I had acquired in California plus a 48-inch fiberglass cane and a head full of new ideas and hopes for the future. I hired a young sighted man who had no experience at all with blindness and spent several days giving him preliminary instruction in mobility, using blind techniques. First I had him follow me all over Des Moines, watching me use the cane while crossing streets and going to various places. Then, he put on sleep shades, and I worked with him to learn basic skills. Next I sent him to California for three or four weeks to gain further experience and to compare what I had taught him with what the California Center was doing. Finally he came back to Des Moines, and I spent several more weeks working with him until (though sighted) he could (under blindfold) go anywhere he wanted safely and comfortably using a cane. During all of that time I worked with him on attitudes, for unless one believes that he or she is capable of independence as a blind person, independence in travel (as in other areas) is not truly achievable. This travel instructor's name is Jim Witte, and he developed into one of the best I have ever known. Iowa students rapidly became the envy of the nation. You could single them out in any group because of their bearing, their confidence, and their skill in travel. As had been the case in California, some of them undoubtedly traveled better than I, and I felt a deep sense of fulfillment in the fact. Joanne Wilson (the director of your own Louisiana Center) was one of those students, and I am sure she has told you how it was at the Iowa Center-how students were treated, what was expected of them, the relationship between staff and students, our dreams for the future, and how we set about accomplishing those dreams. Arlene Hill (one of your teachers) was also an Iowa student. Both Joanne and Arlene are living examples of what we taught and how it worked. So are President Maurer, Mrs. Maurer, Peggy Pinder, Ramona Walhof, Jim Gashel, Jim Omvig, and at least fifty others in this audience. It was in Iowa that we developed the hollow fiberglass cane. It was an improvement over the solid cane, lighter and more flexible. We also gradually began to use longer and longer canes. They enabled us to walk faster without diminishing either safety or grace. As I have already told you, I started with a 40-inch wooden cane. Then I went to 42-inch aluminum- and after that to solid fiberglass, then to hollow fiberglass, and (three or four years ago) to hollow carbon fiber. As to length, I went from 40 inches, 42, then to 45, 48, 49, 51, 53, 55, and 57. At present I use a 59- inch cane. It seems about right to me for my height and speed of travel. Will I ever use a still longer cane? I don't know-but at this stage I don't think so. Obviously there comes a time when a longer cane is a disadvantage instead of a help. I've told you all of this so that you may understand something of my background and approach to independence in travel, and independence in general. The doctors who established the medical schools a hundred years ago were (with notable exceptions) not generally as competent and skilled as the doctors they trained, for they did not have the benefit of the kind of concentrated teaching they themselves were providing. Obviously they could not stand on their own shoulders. Through their students they extended their dreams into the future, building possibilities that they themselves had not known and could never hope to realize. So it is with me in relation to you. You are the third generation of our mobility trainees, having the benefit of what I have learned and also of what Joanne and the other Iowa graduates have learned. Unless you make advances over what we have done, you will, in a very real sense, fail to keep faith with those who have gone before you and those who will follow. In this context I would expect and hope that some of you will become better travelers (and, perhaps, better philosophers and teachers) than I, and if you do, I will take joy in it. Having said all of this, let me come back to my own travel skills. During the 1950s I traveled completely alone on a constant basis throughout this entire country, going to almost every state and dealing with almost every kind of environment-urban area, city bus, taxi, complicated street crossing, rural setting, hired private car, country road, and almost anything else you can imagine. During late December and early January of 1956 and 1957, for example, I traveled alone to fourteen states in eleven days, writing testimony for the NFB's Right to Organize bill. It was no big deal, and not something I thought about very much. It was simply a job that had to be done, and the travel was incidental and taken for granted. I have taught travel instructors and have developed new techniques and canes. I travel whenever and wherever I want to go in the most convenient way to get there-and sometimes that means alone, using a cane. Once when I was in Iowa, students observed that I walked to a barber shop one day with another staff member, and they raised with me some of the same questions you have raised. That afternoon in our business class (you may call it by some other name-philosophy or something else) I dealt with the matter. I told the students some of the things I have told you, and then I went on to say something like this: "Although what I have told you should mean that even if I couldn't travel with much skill at all I might still not merit your criticism, we don't need to leave it at that. Follow me. We are going to take a walk through downtown traffic-and see that you keep up." I took the lead, and we walked for eight or ten blocks at a fast clip. When we got back to the classroom, I didn't need to tell them what kind of travel skills I had. They knew. Then, we talked about why I had walked to the barber shop with another staff member. In that particular instance I had matters to discuss, and I felt I couldn't afford the luxury of doing nothing while going for a haircut. As a matter of fact, in those days I often made a practice of taking my secretary with me to the barber shop and dictating letters while getting my hair cut. Of course, I could have made a point of walking alone each time just to make a visible demonstration of my independence, but somehow I think that such insecurity might have made the opposite point and would certainly have been counterproductive. In the Iowa days I was not only director of the state Commission for the Blind but also first vice president and then president of the National Federation of the Blind. Both were full-time jobs, requiring me to use to best advantage every waking minute. I was up before 6:00 to go to the gym with the men students; I wrote over a hundred letters a week; I entertained legislators and other civic leaders an average of two or three nights a week to gain support for our program; I traveled throughout the state to make speeches; and I spent long hours working individually with students. Besides that, I handled the administrative details of the Commission and the NFB on a daily basis. At the same time I was doing organizing in other states and dealing with problems brought to me by Federationists throughout the country. In that context it would have been a bad use of my time (and both Federationists and Iowa students and staff would have thought so) for me to spend much of my day walking down the street to make a visible show of my independent travel skills. I traveled alone when I needed to, and I gave demonstrations to students, legislators, and others when I needed to do that-but I never did either to convince myself or to establish in my own mind the fact of my capacity or independence. It didn't seem necessary. So what about the NFB convention in Charlotte? I was in charge of convention organization and arrangements, and there were a thousand details to handle. There were four hotels and a convention center, each with its own staff and each requiring separate handling and a myriad of decisions. Sometimes I had not only one but two or three people with me as I went from place to place, talking about what had to be done and sending this person here and that person yonder. Even so, I might (you may say) have refused to take the arm of one of the persons with me and used my cane to walk alone. But for what reason? When a blind person is walking through a crowd or down a street with somebody else and trying to carry on a meaningful conversation, it is easier to take the other person's arm. This is true even if you are the best traveler in the world and even if both of you are blind. In fact, I contend that there are times when refusing to take an arm that is offered may constitute the very opposite of independence. If, for instance, you are a blind person accompanying a sighted person through a busy restaurant closely packed with tables and chairs, do you create a better image of independence by trying to get through the maze alone, with the sighted person going in front and constantly calling back, "This way! This way!" or by simply taking the sighted person's arm and going to the table? What is better about following a voice than following an arm? From what I have said, I presume it is clear which method I favor. Of course, if no arm is conveniently available, you should be prepared to use another method, regardless of how crowded the restaurant or how labyrinthine the path. In either case you should do it without losing your cool. But back to the convention. When you are trying to get through crowds quickly to go from meeting to meeting, and possibly also trying to find different people in those crowds in a hurry, the efficiency of sighted assistance multiplies. Incidentally, even if I were sighted and doing the things I do at national conventions, I would want two or three persons with me-to look for people in crowds, to send for this and that, and to talk and advise with. As an example, consider what happened at last year's convention with respect to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander. He has normal eyesight and is in every other way, so far as I know, able-bodied and energetic. I am sure that he can drive a car and walk vigorously. Yet, he sent an assistant to Charlotte a day in advance of his arrival. The assistant scouted out the convention and then went to the airport to meet the Secretary. The assistant drove the car from the airport to the convention, accompanied the Secretary into the meeting hall, went with him to the platform, met him at the edge of the platform when he finished speaking, and drove him back to the airport. If the Secretary had been blind, I wonder if somebody would have said, "Just look! He's not independent. He has to have a sighted person with him at all times, accompanying him everywhere he goes and driving his car." Since I am not a student trying to learn to travel independently or to establish within my own mind that I can compete on terms of equality with others, and since I can and do travel by myself when that is most convenient, I feel no particular obligation to make a demonstration when it is more efficient to do otherwise. If I were a student, I should and would behave differently. As an example, I think a student should always use a rigid (not a collapsible) cane. But I generally use one that is collapsible. Why? Students often are uncomfortable with canes, and if they are allowed to use those that fold or telescope, they may tend to hide or conceal them because they think (even if subconsciously) that it will make them look less conspicuous. I have carried a cane for so long that I would feel naked without it, and I always carry one whether I am with somebody or not. Because they were so rickety, I refused to carry a collapsible cane until we developed the telescoping carbon fiber model. I pull it to such a tight fit that it doesn't collapse as I use it, and I almost never collapse it unless I'm in close quarters. Again, it is a convenience, and my sense of independence is not so brittle that I think I have to carry the rigid cane to prove to myself or others that I am not ashamed to be seen with it or uncomfortable about blindness. When I was teaching orientation classes in California and Iowa, I often said to those in attendance that students at a center tend to go through three stages: fear and insecurity, rebellious independence, and normal independence-FI, RI, and NI. During fear and insecurity one tends to be ultra-cautious and afraid of everything, even if at times putting on a good front. During rebellious independence one tends to be overly touchy, resenting anybody who attempts to offer him or her any kind of assistance at all, even when the assistance is appropriate and needed. In the rebellious independence stage one is likely to be a pain in the neck, both to him or her and others-but this is a necessary step on the road from fear and insecurity to normal independence. Unfortunately some people never get beyond it. Hopefully one will eventually arrive at the stage of normal independence, with relatively little need constantly to prove either to oneself or others that one is capable of independence and first-class citizenship. This means maturity in dealing with condescending treatment and it also means flexibility in accepting or rejecting offers of assistance, kindness, or generosity. Sometimes such things should be graciously or silently taken, sometimes endured, and sometimes rejected out of hand-but the reason should never be because you doubt your own worth, have inner feelings of insecurity, or wonder whether you are inferior because of blindness. Normal independence also means not rationalizing your fear or inability by saying that you are just doing what is convenient and efficient and that you don't feel the need to prove something when in reality you are just covering up the fact that you are as helpless as a baby-and it means not going so far the other way and being so touchy about your so-called independence that nobody can stand to be around you. It means getting to the place where you are comfortable enough with yourself and secure enough with your own inner feelings that you don't have to spend much time bothering about the matter one way or another. It means reducing blindness to the level of a mere inconvenience and making it just one more of your everyday characteristics-a characteristic with which you must deal just as you do with how strong you are, how old you are, how smart you are, how personable you are, and how much money you have. These are the goals, and probably none of us ever achieves all of them all of the time. Nevertheless, we are making tremendous progress-and we are farther along the road now than we have ever been. I am pleased that you wrote me, and I am especially pleased that you are able to receive training at the Louisiana Center. It is grounded in Federation philosophy, and it is one of the best. You are getting the chance while you are young to learn what blindness is really like, and what it isn't like. You have the opportunity to profit from the collective experience of all of us-the things we tried that didn't work, and those that did. On the foundation of love and organizational structure which we have established, you can make for yourselves better opportunities than we have ever known-and I pray that you will. The future is in the hands of your generation, and I hope you will dream and work and build wisely and well. Sincerely, Kenneth Jernigan That is what I wrote, and there have been a number of subsequent developments. One person, hearing these letters, said, "I can see your point, but don't you think you should try to be a role model?" To which I replied, "I thought that was what I was doing." Then, there was the letter I got about a month ago from a person who attended a seminar at the National Center for the Blind last Christmas. She said in part: The discussion about the letter from the students at the Louisiana Center for the Blind has stuck with me and helped me in two ways. I no longer feel the deep embarrassment I had been experiencing about being unable to read Braille and having less-than-perfect travel skills. I remain painfully aware that I could be much more efficient than I am, particularly if I could read and write Braille, but I no longer feel that I am less worthy because of the lack. And, by the way, I hope to take care of my deficiencies in that area soon. The discussion also helped me better to appreciate and respect my dad, who was blinded by an on-the-job accident when he was 26. After he became blind, he went to law school, and I have always admired his relatively quick adjustment to blindness. On the other hand, I have always felt somewhat embarrassed that when traveling he uses a sighted guide the majority of the time. (For instance, I was horrified and disbelieving when I heard my dad flew to Alaska by himself to go fishing without his guide dog or a white cane!) He has a guide dog but only used him when he was going to work. I have never seen him use a white cane although I have just learned that he used one while in his office at work. However, the seminar discussion helped me to understand that everyone's situation differs and that the opportunities available are not uniform. My dad has accomplished a lot: He was an administrative law judge until he retired last month; he is an avid fisherman; and he is as pro-Braille as anybody I have ever met. That is what the seminarian wrote me, and her letter makes a point. It is simply this: We absolutely must not become so rigid and dogmatic about the means and precise details of achieving independence that we make ourselves and everybody else around us miserable. Down that road lies bigotry, as well as the loss of any real independence or true normality. Usually when I go to bed at night, I read myself to sleep with a recorded book. A few months ago somebody took me to task for this. The person said something to this effect: "You should not read recorded books. You should use Braille. After all, the Federation advocates Braille literacy, and if you use tapes and talking books, you decrease the circulation of Braille from the libraries, and you also set a bad example. What kind of statement are you making? What kind of image are you creating? You have an obligation to serve as a role model." I didn't argue with the person. It wouldn't have done any good. Yes, I use Braille; and as you know, I find it helpful. More than that. My life would be poorer without it. But Braille is a means. It is a vehicle, not an article of faith. I am conscious of the fact that I have an obligation to be a role model, and I do the best I can to meet the requirement. But the kind of role model I want to be (for anybody who cares to see me that way) is that of a competent, well-balanced human being, not a caricature. The fact that I don't want to die of thirst doesn't mean that I want to drown. What is independence? I would define it this way. With respect to reading, it means getting the information you want with a minimum amount of inconvenience and expense. For me that means Braille, but it also means using live readers, recordings, and (despite my limited competence in that area) a certain amount of work with computers. For somebody else the combination may be different, but any active blind person who lacks skill in Braille will be limited-not necessarily unable to compete but definitely limited. As to travel, independence is the ability to go where you want when you want without inconvenience to yourself or others. Probably none of us (blind or sighted) ever fully achieves that goal all of the time-and almost all of us achieve at least some of it some of the time. Usually we are on a continuum. If I could not travel by myself without discomfort or great expense, there are times when it would be a real problem. What about the trip I made to Kansas City in May of this year to meet with local Federationists and speak at a JOB seminar? My wife had other things to do, and it would have been inconvenient to take somebody else. I went alone. Did I have any assistance during the trip? Yes. At times-when it was convenient for me and not inconvenient to others. What about the time last month when I was called for jury duty? It would have been very difficult for a guide to have accompanied me to the jury box or the jury room-so, of course, I went by myself. Does that mean that nobody showed me where the jury box was or gave other assistance? No. It means that I went where I needed to go without inconvenience to me or those around me. That is what I call independence. Just as with the sighted, there are times when you as a blind person want privacy-want to go somewhere (to see a boyfriend or girlfriend, for instance) without being accompanied by your daily associates, want to buy a present for a friend or a loved one, or just feel like following a whim. In such cases a dog or a cane is helpful. On the other hand, there are times when the assistance of a sighted person is extremely beneficial. Taken by itself, the use or lack of use of a sighted guide has very little, if anything at all, to do with real independence. In fact, the whole notion of independence (not just in mobility but also in everything else) involves the concept of doing what you want when you want, and doing it without paying such a heavy price (either monetarily or otherwise) that the thing is hardly worth having once you get it or do it. In conclusion, I say to each member of this organization: Hold your head high in the joy of accomplishment and the pride of independence-but not because of dog or cane or human arm, and not because of your ability to read Braille or use a computer. These are the trappings of independence, not the substance of it. They should be learned, and used when needed-but they should be regarded only as means, not ends. Our independence comes from within. A slave can have keen eyesight, excellent mobility, and superb reading skills-and still be a slave. We are achieving freedom and independence in the only way that really counts-in rising self-respect, growing self-confidence, and the will and the ability to make choices. Above all, independence means choices, and the power to make those choices stick. We are getting that power, and we intend to have more of it. That is why we have organized. That is why we have the National Federation of the Blind. We know where we are going, and we know how to get there. Let anybody who doubts it put us to the test. My brothers and my sisters, the future is ours! Let us meet it with joy; let us meet it with hope; and (most important of all) let us meet it together! ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: James Gashel] Randolph-Sheppard: Our History Calls Us to Action by James Gashel From the Editor: Jim Gashel is the secretary of the National Federation of the Blind, vice president in charge of marketing for KNFB Reading Technologies, and former director of governmental affairs and later head of strategic initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind. To newer members of the Federation, Jim is best known as the man who is always talking about books and reading technology, but to longtime members, and especially to those who have long been active in the Randolph-Sheppard Program, he is probably best known for his creative leadership in crafting legislation and implementing regulations to advance the rights of blind entrepreneurs. The following remarks were delivered at the 2013 Business Leadership and Superior Training (BLAST) Conference, a place where the fruits of Jim's work are made manifest in the lives of hundreds of blind businessmen and businesswomen. Here is what he said to conference participants: Thank you very much. What a pleasure it is for me to be back at BLAST, not to mention having the special privilege of being asked to speak to the whole crowd, and I don't think I am expected to talk about books or to demonstrate any technology. Wow! All I have to do is relax and say something meaningful about blind people succeeding in business-that I can do. Although BLAST reflects an interest among blind people that goes beyond the operation of vending facilities alone, these business leadership gatherings certainly have a rich tradition of speaking to the needs of blind vendors. And, by the way, how about getting our more modern term, "blind entrepreneurs," officially adopted to express who we are and who we have become? According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, an entrepreneur is "one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise," and the same source defines "vendor" as "one who sells" or "vending machine." So here's your choice: you can organize, manage, and assume the risk of a business, on the one hand, or, on the other, you can be a vending machine-take your pick. Now the Randolph-Sheppard Act was originally written in 1936 when two members of Congress-Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard-put their heads together to back an historic economic opportunity bill for the blind. Jennings Randolph served as a member of the House of Representatives from West Virginia, and Morris Sheppard represented Texas in the Senate. Their vision was to create business opportunities for blind people by means of a preference for vending stands run by the blind to be set up in federal buildings; the concept was really quite simple and amazingly elegant. Elegant? I think so. Remember, we are talking about a bill developed in the 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression. Few blind people had jobs outside of working in workshops or making brooms or rugs at home. The chance to have a small business if you were blind at that time was all but unheard of, and here were two visionaries in the Congress working to create a business program for the blind. Even more amazing, they were working to create this program a full four years before the founding meeting of the National Federation of the Blind in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Imagine if Messrs. Randolph and Sheppard could be present here at BLAST 2013, how proud they would be; their vision lives in us. But the vision that Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard had in 1936 was not the only vision for the blind at that time. In 1938 Congress passed two other laws about employment of the blind, and both are still on the books. One of these was the Wagner-O'Day Act, providing sheltered work opportunities for the blind to make products needed by the government. This is now called the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, and the program is known as "Ability One." The second law enacted in 1938 was the Fair Labor Standards Act, for the first time setting up a minimum wage for all workers in the U.S., except for workers like the blind, who were presumed to be unable to be productive. Unlike the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which focused on enlarging economic opportunities, the abilities of the blind, and striving to become self-supporting, the Wagner-O'Day Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act focused on disabilities and limitations, promoting sheltered jobs at substandard wages for the blind on assembly lines but no jobs in the front office. All jobs in the executive suite were reserved for the sighted. This vision for the blind reflected a plantation mentality. So what are the results of these visions from the 1930s three-quarters of a century later? Annual gross sales reported by blind entrepreneurs in federal fiscal year 2010-the most recent year available-$792,613,306, with net earnings to the blind of $134,412,036, and average earnings of $56,168. Although blind people can certainly find jobs individually that are more lucrative, as a group blind entrepreneurs do better than any other single subset of blind people in the U.S. and probably around the world as well. Turning to Ability One, $557,700,000 was paid out in wages to 48,816 blind and disabled employees in fiscal year 2012. These 48,816 employees worked a total of 47,700,000 hours during the year, with the average number of hours being 977, or on average less than half-time employment. With an average hourly wage of about $11.24, the average annual compensation of Ability One employees was $10,983 and change during 2012. Now remember that the average net earnings of blind Randolph-Sheppard entrepreneurs was more than $56,000 even two years before these official figures from Ability One. In Randolph-Sheppard, blind people are the managers, but not so in Ability One, where the amount paid to sighted, non-disabled managers is not even disclosed except through occasional press reports and annual charity filings. Imagine what life would be like to be the president and CEO of Goodwill International, perhaps the largest of the mega charities with contracts through Ability One. According to Goodwill's form 990, filed with the Internal Revenue Service for 2012, the president and CEO received an annual salary of $434,252 and total benefits and other compensation of $99,513, as well as retirement and non-taxable benefits of $103,554. Added all together, his total compensation and benefits package amounted to $637,319 in 2012. Also his eight other colleagues in the executive suite with pay high enough to report, collectively received salaries and benefits totaling $1,815,770 as a group. And all of this to produce average annual wages of less than $11,000 for their blind and disabled employees; and they wonder why we call it exploitation! Looking at the results, the vision of Randolph-Sheppard, focusing on ability, has clearly delivered better opportunities for blind entrepreneurs than the so-called "Ability One" program has done with its focus on disability and limitations of blind and disabled workers. The reason why is not a mystery. If you're looking for the secret sauce that makes the Randolph-Sheppard vision work, look no further than the spirit of an entrepreneur-not to mention the collective power of several hundred entrepreneurs assembled for this conference and hundreds more working to support one another through the National Federation of the Blind and our merchants division. To be fair, the Randolph-Sheppard program does provide blind entrepreneurs with space, resources, and support (including money) needed to set up shop. This help is vital, but businesses succeed over time with smart management, strategic planning, hard work, dogged determination, and serving the customer first to sustain and build demand. State agencies do not-cannot-provide these essentials, but all of them are job one for blind entrepreneurs. In 1974 the law on federal property was changed to convert a preference for the blind when feasible into a priority, meaning a first-in- line status or prior right for blind people over other competing interests. The 1930s term "vending stand," was replaced by a far broader definition of vending facility, incorporating gift shops, cafeterias, and other services not thought of as falling within the more limited scope of a vending stand. The point is, blind people had outgrown the original concept of a single vendor in a small stand and were demanding more lucrative business opportunities. In 1966, when a new federal building was constructed in Des Moines, Iowa, a great kerfuffle ensued over how food service would be provided to employees and the public. As late as the 1950s (according to the minutes of the Iowa Commission for the Blind), popcorn stands were the most common form of business operated by the blind in the state, so the idea that a blind person would operate the cafeteria in the new federal building was unthinkable, and the law did not support this outcome. But the fact that the blind had popcorn stands but not cafeterias did not stop Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and the blind of Iowa. Never mind the limitations of the Randolph-Sheppard Act at that time; the tide of change was rising, and the newfound voice of the blind-the organized blind-would not be denied. So, when the cafeteria opened on the first day, Sylvester Nimmers, a blind person, was in charge. Regardless of the limits of the Randolph-Sheppard Act, and over the objections of the U.S. General Services Administration, a way had been found to honor the preference for the blind. Rather than calling the food service a cafeteria, which it was-no question- a permit was granted for operation of a manually operated snack bar. That's what they called it on the books at the GSA in Washington, DC, but in Des Moines this business was a cafeteria. Call it by any name you want-call it George or Kevan if you want-but this business was a cafeteria. The rising expectations of the blind would not be denied. So it was by no means an accident that, when the 1974 amendments to the Randolph-Sheppard Act were written, cafeterias were specified as covered under the priority for the blind. Through our advocacy in Congress we made that happen. Today, although the Ability One executives don't like it, cafeterias even include military troop dining services. The businesses resulting from these contracts keep faith with the Randolph-Sheppard Act objective to support blind people in achieving their maximum vocational potential. In fact some blind entrepreneurs show higher annual earnings than the sighted executives at Ability One and its affiliates. Need I add that they do this without exploiting their blind or disabled employees? Business opportunities awarded to blind entrepreneurs resulting from the vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard are among the best business opportunities available to blind people anywhere in the world. And what of our counterparts, the state agencies and the Department of Education? Clearly some of the state agencies are our partners and stand with us in promoting the vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard. Some of those agencies are represented at this conference, and others would be here, state funds and travel restrictions permitting. To those who support us and work with the blind to expand opportunities we say: your support deserves our support. When times get hard, when jobs are on the line and budgets get tight, you can count on our support, and you have nothing to fear from the blind. But, I think I have to say this: there are other agencies that have turned their backs on blind entrepreneurs and view the Randolph-Sheppard program as an annoyance. Rather than taking pride in the success achieved by blind entrepreneurs, their administrators and staff resent the blind and especially resent those whose earnings exceed their own. Rather than sharing the entrepreneurial spirit of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard, they view the blind as subservient. And to these agencies and their resentful staff we say: your days are numbered. Although you may not understand or believe this fact, the jobs you have depend on us. Trample on the blind if you will, but we will not forget what you have done. To the Department of Education for failing in its statutory stewardship on behalf of the Randolph-Sheppard vision and mission we say: shame on you. Shame on you for putting bureaucratic inertia-the desire to go along and get along-ahead of doing your duty to build more opportunities and better lives for the blind. And shame on you especially for tying the hands of our friends and colleagues both inside and outside of the Department who share the vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard. To the blind it matters not whether your failure comes from ineptness, indifference, or a conscious disregard of the law; the result for the blind in lost opportunities and wasted lives is all the same. Finally, what of ourselves-America's blind entrepreneurs and our friends? To this group-growing in numbers and firm in purpose-we say: on behalf of the blind we salute you. In business and in life you are the finest examples of success and tenacity. Because of you the vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard is still alive. For the blind of the present generation and the generations to come, we thank you. Through your entrepreneurial spirit you are changing what it means to be blind. ---------- Me, Myself, and Seattle by Emily Zitek From the Editor: the following article is reprinted from the Spring 2013 Minnesota Bulletin, a publication of the NFB of Minnesota: When I think of taking a trip or vacation, I think of going somewhere nice with the family or my husband. Together my husband and I have traveled all over the United States and even to Mexico for our honeymoon. Until now, any time I have taken trips, they have always included at some point during the trip at least one other person I already knew. Often I have taken a plane to a specific place where I would be meeting with a specific group of people. All I had to worry about was getting there, and the itinerary for the week or weekend had been set up for me. But I never imagined taking a trip out of the state, totally by myself. In mid-August of 2007 I had been teaching a life-skills class at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), Incorporated, where I had been working for almost ten years. After class that day Shawn Mayo, the executive director, asked if I would be interested in attending a seminar in Seattle about how to teach English to blind immigrants. The prospect seemed quite interesting, not only because of what I would be learning, but because I would be traveling completely alone to a new city. The other woman attending the seminar was someone I had known for quite some time, but I wouldn't be traveling with her or even staying at the same hotel. I recognized that this would be a challenge, something new that I would remember forever. I told Shawn that I needed to think it over, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how exciting and challenging it would be to travel completely independently as a blind person. At first little voices in my head were nagging me with questions: what would I do to occupy myself during the days when the seminar wasn't going on? Would I just sit in my hotel? Would I be able to find stores and places to eat? What would happen if I got off the bus in the wrong neighborhood on my first night in Seattle? I am sure these are fears that sighted travelers also face when going to a new place by themselves, so I knew it had nothing to do with being an incompetent blind person. Despite all my anxieties regarding the trip, I told Shawn that I would attend the seminar. Of course she had considered asking others, but I knew that this was an opportunity I would regret passing up because this kind of challenge might never come my way again. Ever since I was a little girl, whenever I put my mind to something, I could do just about anything. After all, I told myself, this trip would be fun. The seminar was to take place Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week I would be in Seattle, and on Tuesday and Thursday I could set up my own itinerary of things to do and explore. Shawn told me to do some online searches for reasonable airfares and book my own flight. Then with the help of one of my longtime friends in the Federation, I got the names of decent hotels in Seattle. The hotel I chose wasn't very close to the seminar location, but I got the phone number for the transit center in Seattle, which is almost as efficient as the one in the Twin Cities area. After I made my flight and hotel reservations, I began making plans for what I would do with my free time. By two days after I was invited to go on this trip, I had information about how to get from the airport to my hotel and then to and from my hotel and the Kaizen Center, where the seminar would be held. In fact, the people at the hotel were very friendly and helpful over the phone and gave me the names and addresses for some great restaurants and diners, and even a supermarket and drugstore within walking distance of the hotel. By the time I left for Seattle, I felt more confident than ever, and an overwhelming sense of excitement had taken me over, especially when my week in Seattle started. I couldn't believe how simple it was to get around the city using the buses and how informative the people had been over the phone. I had a great time that week. I had almost forgotten how much fun it was to sit up late watching my favorite TV shows and talking on the phone without worrying about disturbing somebody else trying to sleep. Married people don't always have the luxury of sitting up late at night, going out to dinner at midnight and coming in late from listening to a jazz band, or working out in the hotel's workout room whenever you want, even at 5:00 in the morning. As planned, I took the seminar on the designated days and learned a lot, and on the other days, when I wasn't studying, I ventured out to Pike Place Market and the Space Needle, and I went on a two-hour cruise around the lake, where I listened to detailed descriptions of different historical things we passed during that cruise. I found a nail shop and hair salon and spent an afternoon getting pretty. I visited many shops at Pike Place Market and bought a few souvenirs to bring home with me, and there I ate some of the best fish I'd ever eaten. Sharon (the other woman taking the seminar with me) and I met once for dinner at a New Orleans-style restaurant we had heard about, but other than that I was completely on my own, and I came home with a great deal of enthusiasm about the trip and self-confidence, because all my fears about traveling alone had been washed away by nothing but great experiences. If you're ever up for a challenging adventure, I recommend taking a little trip by yourself if you haven't done so before. Even if the trip you take has no specific purpose, I can assure you that it will be very rewarding and will give you a great sense of freedom and independence. Even if you only have a day or two to spare and only want to go to the nearest big city, go ahead and do it. You'll realize how nice it is to take time out for yourself and set your own itinerary and schedule, and doing so will make you want to try it again. Doing research about the place you choose beforehand is a big help. Talk to friends, family, or other acquaintances who have gone there. This is where I began my research. Researching online was also helpful, but the things that made this trip so successful were my determination and ambition. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: HAL 9000, the iconic artificial intelligence from the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey that killed to protect itself from being deactivated by the human crew] Technology for the Blind: Blessing or Curse? by Gary Wunder Just this morning I read an article from a blind journalist who talked about questions blind people are asked and how stupid or offensive they often seem. For example, when he was recently asked how he could be a blind journalist, his first reaction was to be offended that anyone would assume blindness would keep him from pursuing this profession, and he wanted to withdraw from the questioner and suspend the conversation. Happily, his better angel took over, and he decided to answer the question as honestly as it had been asked. Before I discuss his answer, I'd like first to reflect a little about the reasons we are offended at questions about blindness when we loudly proclaim that one of our roles as blind ambassadors dedicated to changing the world is to educate the general public about blindness. It may sound trite to point out, but isn't the only bad question the one not asked? Whether the silence comes from fear, political correctness, or arrogance born of unwillingness to admit that one simply doesn't know, the result is the same: the question not asked is the one not answered, and the question not answered is the stereotype that goes unchallenged, the opportunity missed, the possibility to instill a new paradigm lost, and the chance to build or strengthen a friendship based on mutual understanding thwarted before it can begin. I certainly know how much fun it can be to sit in a group of like- minded people and marvel at the stupidity of the outsider, but do we really mean what we say when we exchange barbs about the silly or stupid people we meet? Are we simply having a little harmless fun, or are we actually forming and expressing our view of what the outside world thinks of us and how we should react to it? The woman who asks how we know whether our infant's diaper is wet or dirty might reasonably be expected to realize that the answer is as close as her nose, but, if we were bounded by her world, a world in which marketers develop disposable diapers that change color when they are wet, would her question seem quite so unreasonable? When a person depends upon vision to determine whether or not it is safe to cross the street, should we be surprised when she comes running up to us to tell us that the light is against us? The initial reaction is one of compassion and concern based on what she has seen and the first thoughts that come to her mind. Although it makes for interesting conversation around a table of blind or enlightened sighted people, is it fair when we decide how informed or uninformed other people are about our condition and then use that judgment to decide how involved we will be with the so-called sighted world? Isn't it inconsistent to be shocked and put off by the questions we are sometimes asked, and at the same time be critical of the sighted mother who hushes her child when she asks why we are carrying that stick or why that dog has a handle? Getting back to the article I received this morning, the man who decided to answer the question about how he could be a blind journalist did so by explaining that he could because he had a Victor Stream, a laptop, and a Braille display. Is this really the case? Is it the technology I am using now that allows me to write this article, or is it what exists in my brain that makes what I am saying understandable and hopefully interesting? Certainly the technology makes it easier for me to put what I am thinking on paper, but could technology alone communicate my concerns and concepts to those who read my words? I love the technology that lets me speak into a microphone and have what I say appear on a Braille display and a screen. I love the technology that lets me sit on my back porch enjoying the springtime weather, free from the prison of my office, but does the article come from the notetaking device, or is that simply the mechanism I use to put my ideas in readable form? The Braille Monitor devotes an enormous amount of space to the subject of making technology accessible, not so much because for the first time this technology makes things possible for blind people, but because technology is what our world uses today to communicate with others. The Braille Sense, PAC Mate, and BrailleNote are phenomenal devices for blind people, but they do not allow us to read and write--they are only devices that allow us to read and write using personal data assistants equivalent to those available to people who read and write print visually. I am highlighting what may seem nitpicky differences because I think that our focus can easily be on technology when it should be on ourselves. Technology may be the most efficient way to accomplish something in our lives, but it is important that we ask ourselves whether it is the only way to do those tasks. If it is, all of our hopes and dreams for equality rest in the hands of creators of technology and in their ability to make it accessible. If, on the other hand, technology or a given piece of it is simply one alternative, then our hopes and dreams still rest in our own creativity, our ability to problem-solve, and our ability to find solutions for the problems that living in a predominantly sighted society throws at us. As much as I enjoy technology, I want it to be my slave and not my master. I want to marvel at the size and the power of the hardware and software that make up the iPhone, but I want to marvel even more at the fascinating piece of biological technology we wear atop our shoulders. The well-constructed house is fundamentally the product of the creativity and craftsmanship of those who built it and not of the hammers and saws used in its construction. Similarly, I believe that the lives we make for ourselves are fashioned by what we want them to be rather than by what technology makes it easy and convenient to do. Of course blind people must play an active part in shaping the technology that is developed for us while simultaneously carrying the message of accessibility to technology we want to use to the designers of technology for the sighted. But let us always keep in mind that we are the reason for and the masters of technology, and it is our minds and our creativity that make technology valuable. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Shown here are, from left to right, Sharon Omvig, Jim Omvig, Jim Burke, Ashley Kielty (the scholarship recipient), and Mark Saunders at an awards ceremony at which the Judith Young Scholarship was presented.] An American Hero Remembered by Jim Omvig From the Editor: Jim Omvig is one of the longtime leaders of the National Federation of the Blind. He has served as the director of both the Orientation and Adjustment Center operated by the Iowa Commission for the Blind, and the Alaska Center for Blind and Deaf Adults. His pioneering work at the Social Security Administration, his work with the National Association of Insurance Comissioners, and his contributions as an author only hint at the depth and commitment he has to better the lives of blind people, a passion he has demonstrated for more than fifty years. Jim and his wife Sharon now live in Des Moines, Iowa. Here is what he has to say about a gifted Iowan who was encouraged to follow her dreams, who had the courage to do it, and whose work has been recognized by the University of Iowa with a scholarship lovingly endowed by members of her family: It has been said that "The key to immortality is living a life worth remembering." Such a life was lived (all too briefly) by a young Dunkerton, Iowa, woman named Judy Young (she later became Judy Saunders). Because of the purposeful life she lived, the University of Iowa School of Education has established a scholarship, the Judith Young Saunders Scholarship in her name and memory. My wife Sharon and I recently attended the 2013 awards presentation. What a marvelous experience it was. As longtime Monitor readers know, Judy was totally blind. She was an Iowa Commission for the Blind, Kenneth Jernigan student in the early 1960s, and like many of us she believed Dr. Jernigan absolutely when he said, "Judy, you can be anything you want to be." Following her Jernigan "empowerment," the bold young Judy decided that she wanted to teach young children in the public schools, but she soon learned that, to that point in our history, no blind elementary teachers were working in Iowa. Then, to make matters worse, it wasn't much later that she learned to her dismay that the University of Iowa refused to accept blind students at all into its School of Education. Its administrators and faculty argued that one must have sight in order to teach young children competently and safely. (For the complete Judy Young Saunders story and what Kenneth Jernigan did to get her the opportunity for acceptance into the University of Iowa's School of Education and then to get her the opportunity for her first public school teaching job, see the article, "An Affectionate Validation," in the November 1995 issue of the Braille Monitor.) Judy did complete her Jernigan training; she did get into the University of Iowa; she did complete the School of Education's rigorous programs successfully; and then she did become Iowa's first blind elementary public school classroom teacher. In 1967 she traveled to Los Angeles to attend the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind. While there, she met a young blind chiropractor from North Dakota by the name of Curtis Saunders. Eventually they married; Judy moved to North Dakota; and, before long, what do you know?--Judy became North Dakota's first blind elementary public school teacher, too. Wow, what an amazing accomplishment! The popular couple soon had three children-all boys. Life was good in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Also before long Judy began providing incredible inspiration for the many blind public school teachers who were to come after her. Then tragedy struck. Judy developed cancer, and she died in 1981, at the age of thirty-six. Only a few short years later (1994), Curt also developed cancer, and he too died rather quickly. By 1995 Judy's remarkable story had become ancient history and almost folklore in the National Federation of the Blind, when I made a trip from Tucson to do some staff training for Minnesota State Services for the Blind in Minneapolis. But, on my flight home to Tucson, I had an amazing experience. By chance I sat beside a young Minneapolis businessman named Mark Hewitson. Judy Young Saunders had been his fourth-grade teacher in Devils Lake, North Dakota. I had always known what a wonderful teacher she had been and also what a tremendous role model she was for the blind who would come after her in the blind civil rights movement. I had often used her success story in teaching and stimulating others. But what a heartwarming experience it was to have my personal knowledge validated by one of her enthusiastic and appreciative students. We had a joyous talk on our trip from Minneapolis to Arizona. It was this experience that moved me to write the article, "An Affectionate Validation." But now you need to know, as Paul Harvey used to say, "The rest of the story." For Judy's story doesn't end with the 1995 Braille Monitor article either. Judy's mother Kathryn continued to be a loyal Federationist and a Braille Monitor reader long after Judy's death. She saw the article, and, after she read it, she circulated it throughout the entire Young family. Eventually the article and the Braille Monitor itself became the impetus for the establishment at the University of Iowa of the Judith Young Saunders Scholarship. The scholarship was established and funded in 2011 by Judy's uncle, James H. (Jim) Burke, and her brother, Richard J. Young. Jim Burke tells me that the family had always been proud of Judy and her many achievements (she was the family hero), but it was only when they read the Monitor article that they understood that Judy was actually an American hero. They decided then and there that it would be appropriate to create and fund a scholarship in Judy's memory for future blind students in the School of Education at the U of I. Late last year I had to be in Iowa City for some medical care. Though Jim Burke and I had spoken by phone several times through the years, we had never met in person. So Sharon and I took this opportunity to get together with him for lunch. Jim is one very proud uncle. He told us that a scholarship luncheon and award ceremony would take place on Friday, April 5. He said that the dean of the School of Education, Dr. Colangelo, hosts this event each year both to honor the donors of the scholarships and to announce and recognize the new winners. He asked Sharon and me to come, and of course we were honored to do so. So on April 5 we drove the 120 miles from Des Moines to Iowa City to attend and participate in the event. It was a fine affair. Sharon and I were proud to be able to sit with Uncle Jim Burke and the 2013 Judith Young Saunders Scholarship winner, Ashley Kielty, who is earning her master's degree in English and Spanish at the U of I. She was blinded in one eye in an automobile accident. We also had a very special surprise. I wrote earlier that Judy had three sons. Her middle son Mark, who lives and works in the Minneapolis area, was able to attend and participate. He was on a business trip from Minneapolis to Chicago and was able to squeeze in both a visit with his great uncle and attendance at the awards luncheon as a part of his trip. Sharon tells me that Mark looks remarkably like his mom and that he is one handsome young man. His attendance and participation made our day complete. Talking with Mark, we learned much more than we had already known about Judy and her life. This should conclude the saga of Judy Young Saunders, and perhaps it will, but perhaps it won't either. What a wonderful tribute it would be both to Judy and to the Braille Monitor if, like "Validation," this story were to motivate a family member or friend from another family to establish a similar university scholarship in the name and memory of yet another blind American hero! Who knows? Strange and unusual things do happen, don't they? Finally, Jim and Richard, we of the National Federation of the Blind wish to thank you sincerely for establishing and funding the Judith Young Saunders Scholarship at the University of Iowa. What a fine expression of generosity, kindness, and love your action was. And Judy, as I remember and think about you, I shall never forget the emotions and words of that former student of yours when he said at the end of our plane ride together, "Without a doubt, she was the best teacher I ever had; I just loved her!" ---------- Giving a Dream One of the great satisfactions in life is having the opportunity to assist others. Consider making a gift to the National Federation of the Blind to continue turning our dreams into reality. A gift to the NFB is not merely a donation to an organization; it provides resources that will directly ensure a brighter future for all blind people. Seize the Future The National Federation of the Blind has special giving opportunities that will benefit the giver as well as the NFB. Of course the largest benefit to the donor is the satisfaction of knowing that the gift is leaving a legacy of opportunity. However, gifts may be structured to provide more: . Helping the NFB fulfill its mission . Realizing income tax savings through a charitable deduction . Making capital gain tax savings on contributions of appreciated assets . Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or beneficiary . Eliminating or lowering the federal estate tax in certain situations . Reducing estate settlement costs NFB programs are dynamic: . Making the study of science and math a real possibility for blind children . Providing hope and programs for seniors losing vision . Promoting state and local programs to help blind people become first- class citizens . Educating the public about blind people's true potential . Advancing technology helpful to the blind . Creating a state-of-the-art library on blindness . Training and inspiring professionals working with the blind . Providing critical information to parents of blind children . Mentoring blind job seekers Your gift makes you a partner in the NFB dream. For further information or assistance, contact the NFB planned giving officer. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Sean Ziadeh] Low-Vision Specialists: An Impediment to Meeting Patients' Rehabilitation Needs? by Sean Ziadeh From the Editor: Sean Ziadeh is a relatively new member of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois. As he relates in the following article, he knew he had a problem before the medical profession did, and, once they understood that they could not give him back his lost vision, they were done with him. We have heard this story many times, and the problem for most blind people is, not that they have been told that their vision can't be restored, but that they are shown to the door with no discussion of resources, no examples of successful blind people, and no instructions about where to turn for information and inspiration. Here is how this story played out in Sean's life: I was eight years old when it became apparent that I had a vision problem. Our family eye doctor was puzzled. He could not detect an issue with the eye. Based on my reading of the eye charts, however, he claimed that I should not be able to see an eighteen-wheeler coming down the street. He could not reconcile his test results with my mother's testimony that I rode my bike throughout the neighborhoods, played video games, and was an avid racquetball player. His conclusion: I must be lying about what I could see to gain special attention from my parents. Unwilling to believe my poor vision was an elaborate hoax for attention, my mother took me to various vision specialists. For the next three years I was drawn out of school for an array of tests--everything from having probes attached to my temples, to immobilizing my head before a monitor for hours at a time, to CT scans. Often my mother dealt with a young child frustrated by having to go to another appointment. I did not understand what they were doing to me; all I knew was that I wanted it to end. I was about thirteen years old when my parents and I received the definitive answer from a neuro-ophthalmologist. I was diagnosed with congenital optic nerve atrophy. Basically there was little function in my optic nerve, which conducts signals from the eye to the visual cortex in the brain. The bad news was that I am legally blind. The good news was that this specific cause of my low vision should not get worse. The low-vision specialist remarked that we must be happy to have a diagnosis finally. He then uttered what may have been the most unfortunate words. He wished us luck and directed us to the check-out window. After all the years of uncertainty and unpleasant tests, we were left with nothing more than a diagnosis and a final farewell. For the next few years I struggled to get through school as the amount of reading increased and textbook fonts decreased, aided by nothing more than drugstore- purchased magnifiers. My grades were very poor, in significant contrast to those of my two older brothers, who excelled in their studies and extracurricular activities. For my part, not much was expected. I was just different. As so often happens in life, coincidence and plain luck finally brought me some hope when I was approaching the latter part of my junior year in high school. For reasons I cannot recall, I was in the school library, which I seldom visited since reading was not my favorite task. It just happened that the regular school librarian was sick that day, and the substitute librarian was a former employee of the Michigan Commission for the Blind. When she saw me struggling to read, she approached me and asked what the problem was and whether she could help. I could explain very little since little had ever been explained to me about my condition. This kind woman requested a meeting with my parents. She asked several questions regarding my condition and what assistance I was receiving, which was none. This was before the Internet and Google made researching medical conditions and available resources much easier. She was concerned and upset that we were not notified about the services and organizations available for the visually impaired and their caregivers. She made certain that for my final year of high school I would receive large-print books and become a client of the Michigan Commission for the Blind. Although there was some delay in my receiving the large-print books at the beginning of my senior year, I was admittedly excited about my ability to read assignments quickly and more accurately than I had been able to do with the drugstore magnifiers. This improvement was reflected in my grades as well. My grade point average before large-print books hovered around 2.0. My grades quickly rose to over 3.7 my final year. I also recall taking a national standardized chemistry test during my senior year, which was offered in large print. I scored in over the 90th percentile, and I did not even enjoy chemistry. Being impressed by my academic achievement once I had been provided with some accommodations for my vision, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor accepted me into its undergraduate program. My grades improved significantly once large-print text books were provided. However, I might have leveraged other skills and accommodations if only they had been offered. A closed-circuit television, audio books, reader services, cane travel training, and screen-magnification devices could have helped me. Rehabilitative services would have introduced me to these items and many other skills useful for the blind and visually impaired much earlier in life. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had not entered the library that day in high school and had a chance encounter with a former Michigan Commission for the Blind employee. I predict I would not have earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and then go on to receive both a law degree and an MBA from Michigan State University. In fact, I have no idea what would have happened to me at all. One thing is certain: too often a significant gap in our health care system occurred for ensuring that individuals diagnosed with legal blindness or visual impairments are properly and expeditiously directed to rehabilitation services. Patients would be better served and their difficulties might be mitigated if rehabilitation occurs soon after diagnosis. Vision specialists are on the front line in suggesting opportunities to address the functional and psycho-social ramifications of living with low or no vision. Steps must be taken to ensure that all those newly diagnosed with visual impairments are headed in the right direction for available resources. Personal experience and conversations with other legally blind friends and colleagues suggest that little if any direction is being given to patients. Theories offered for this lack of direction include: It is not the role of low-vision specialists to prescribe rehabilitation services. Their duty consists of making the diagnosis of the vision impairment, and no more. Another possibility is that doctors feel personal and professional failure when they cannot correct vision deficiencies. It is as if what they cannot cure, they will ignore. Other explanations for why low-vision specialists are not ensuring a seamless transition from diagnosis to rehabilitation may exist. However, understanding the motives of the vision specialists is of less importance than trying to change this tendency. To influence change in the profession, low-vision specialists should consider this statistic: in 2011 the unemployment rate among the visually disabled was as high as 73 percent, depending on the location within the United States. These people were twice as likely to be below the poverty line.[1] Half of people with a visual impairment suffer from alcohol abuse, and 35 percent experience drug abuse.[2] More than a third of blind and visually impaired people may suffer from depression[3] and face an elevated risk for suicide.[4] If made aware of these secondary diagnoses, the professionals diagnosing the onset of low vision or blindness would likely try to do more for their patients. If not, an argument could be made that these doctors are violating the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath, vowing to do no harm. Unfortunately it appears the practice of leaving their patients without advice on rehabilitation opportunities continues. In a recent visit to my low-vision specialist in January of 2013, I inquired about this issue. It was her opinion that, once she makes the determination of legal blindness, it is the responsibility of school districts to provide the necessary accommodations. Problems exist with this position, however. She did not elaborate on the accommodations that she might recommend or agencies that might help ensure that necessary accommodations are actually provided in a timely manner. And, if the patient is not of school age, she might not make any suggestions for rehabilitation at all. Even more important, providing accommodations for performing well in school does not address the many psycho-social and emotional aspects of living as a blind or visually impaired person, particularly at the time of the first diagnosis. It is time for a change. Advocates for the blind and visually impaired must call upon low-vision specialists to direct their patients to crucial rehabilitation services. This could help patients face the new challenges of living with low or no vision and live a more fulfilling, independent, and productive life. Bringing awareness to the professional organizations or associations these doctors belong to is a start. Approaching state legislatures may be another avenue to follow, leading to implementation of public policy requiring counseling about rehabilitation options once a diagnosis is made. A consultation as short as ten minutes and the provision of pamphlets to the patient or parents of the patient may go a long way toward improving the outlook for the patient. The key to such consultations is emphasizing the importance of rehabilitation and the negative impact vision loss may have on an individual if proper post-diagnosis measures are not taken. The financial expense of providing such direction is minuscule, but the devastating costs to the patient lacking necessary services after diagnosis may be immense. So what can we do to effectuate this change? It is an issue too important to be ignored any longer. ---------- Rehabilitation: A Contract between America and Her Blind Citizens by Gary Wunder From the Editor: This presentation was made on April 5, 2011, at the statewide staff meeting of the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Bob Deaton, the assistant director of the agency, heard a version of these remarks at the 2010 national convention and thought agency staff would benefit from hearing them. They still seem relevant, so here they are: I want to begin by thanking Bob Deaton for asking me to come. It's flattering when someone says he wants to hear you speak, and this is all the more exciting when he's already heard a version of it once and apparently likes it enough that he wants his colleagues to hear it as well. I don't often give the same speech twice. For starters, I question how many people want to hear me speak the first time, and frankly I get bored with speeches I try to do more than once. When I was invited to speak to the rehab people last summer at the national convention, I was elated. I've never taken a single class in the field, and, unlike many who have been asked to address that conference, I have no certification demonstrating expertise. What I was given then, and what you are giving me today, is a wonderful chance to say thank you for something I value more than anything except the life given me by God and the love and support I get from my family and the parents who raised me. This is how much rehab has given to me, and only someone completely oblivious to the blessings he has been given could be anything but honored by the chance to express this gratitude. As a customer who has benefited immensely from the rehabilitation system, I have learned a great deal about the good things America can bring to her citizens when she decides they are deserving and worth the investment. Unfortunately I've also learned how the granting of some money, a title, and a little bit of power can turn some very angry and bitter people, who believe they are generally underappreciated anyway, into real abusers of the students they are supposed to serve. I should preface my remarks about rehab by saying that I have experienced it in only one state, Missouri. Some of you know that Missouri has a pretty bad reputation in certain quarters of the National Federation of the Blind because of its decision to block the distribution of our free literature to its clients, simply because the ACB, which has no similar information, claims that the agency's giving out our material amounts to proselytizing. Putting all of this aside for a moment, over the last twenty to thirty years we have pressured the Missouri agency into sending people almost anywhere they want to go for an education and buying them any kind of equipment they need in order to be successful. I know this is not true in all states, but, if anything, my state goes overboard to say yes when asked to provide an education and the blindness-related equipment to make it happen. When I came to the rehab system in the early 1970s, the general orientation was that we were spending tax money and therefore were handling a very limited resource for which agency officials were reluctant to risk their necks. Seldom were services just offered; if you needed something, you had better be prepared to argue for it. In many cases the argument had to go well beyond making a coherent case to your counselor. Getting what you wanted required that you engage in meetings with higher-ups, formal appeals, fair hearings, and the enlistment of an advocacy organization to help you. Over the years, with changes in the law and repeated beatings which we have administered to the agency, Rehabilitation Services for the Blind in Missouri has done an about-face. There is trust where once there was suspicion. We call the agency director our friend, and he welcomes the opportunity to visit with us as a reprieve from his administrative duties and a chance to mix with the people he really is working to serve. Mark Laird would rather be a counselor or a job specialist, but he is too competent for his superiors to let him stay there, so he finds himself at the helm. Contrary to the practices of the past, the orientation of our Missouri agency is to give people what they want when they want it, with little regard for whether or not they are really ready to handle the rigors of the educational experience using the blindness skills they possess. If I could change the direction of rehabilitation and have a say in the way decisions get made, I would opt for a system which would almost never say no but which would much more frequently say "Yes, but after...." and then require and provide the blindness services necessary to ensure that a student's performance is based on his or her ability and not some deficit in the skills of blindness. Dr. Jernigan used to tell us that everybody has the right to fail, but there's a tremendous difference between having the right to fail and being set up to fail when an agency abandons its responsibility to help a client determine whether or not he or she is really ready to face the challenge of technical training or college. It is my observation that far too many students fail in their attempts because, when they say they don't have time to learn the skills of blindness, we acquiesce and send them into an environment where they are ill-equipped to cope. If you know that a client is unable to write you a literate letter requesting service, why in the world would you send him to a college or university which will presume a minimal level of competence even in its beginning English composition classes? If you have someone who clearly cannot travel from point A to point B in an area which should be familiar to her, how can you expect that she will succeed on a university campus where students routinely have to travel a quarter of a mile or more between classes in less than ten minutes? Some failures provide tremendous learning experiences, but some forever close doors. You won't be a clinical psychologist, a veterinarian, or a psychiatrist if after thirty hours of classes you are forced to withdraw from school. Why not condition vocational training on the completion of an intro to writing class and on a bit of O & M training? For some clients the key is a stay at a quality rehabilitation center, and we shouldn't be reluctant to say so and to put some teeth into what we say. I suppose the system that seems to say yes at every opportunity is better than the one that once took every opportunity to say no, but I think there is a wiser in-between course that would serve everyone involved better. If you've managed to stay with me so far, then you've heard the worst I have to say about your profession. When I look at my own rehabilitation experience, I have to say that rehab ranks right up there with the National Library Service in proving that some government programs can and do work, that good things can happen when we decide collectively to invest in our fellow human beings, and that there is something magical in the contract we create when blind people and the rehabilitation system enter into an agreement which says, "I believe in you enough to invest a significant amount of money and time, trusting that in turn you will make this investment worthwhile by living the full and rich life desired by all Americans." I like to tell the story of rehabilitation at its best, for my own political view is that we spend far too much time kicking government and being sarcastic and degrading when we speak of programs that should belong to us. Too often we also fail to say good things about genuinely dedicated people who make their living by really trying to do good and changing lives for the better. I understand that we in the Federation take our fair share of shots at the rehabilitation system, but I believe we do so for constructive purposes that not only serve to focus public attention on the shortcomings of the system, but also highlight how we can make it better. It may also be that the rehabilitation system sometimes serves as a convenient whipping boy: a group of agencies powerful enough to do good or cause harm, but not so powerful or high up in the government that they can simply ignore what we say and go on about their business. I began by saying that my dealings with the rehabilitation system revealed to me the best and the worst in people. The best came through when a rehabilitation counselor assured me that I could indeed live alone, manage my own grooming and house cleaning, label my food, and learn to cook it. This was good news for a boy whose grandmother had told him that he was very smart but that the Welfare would still have to come in each day to make sure that he had brushed his teeth and washed his face. I can't tell you how liberating it was when I started carrying around a writing pen rather than a signature stamp and a bulky and leaky ink pad because somebody in rehab said I could learn to write my name and taught me to do it. I don't have the best signature in the world, but it's good enough for most of the card companies in the country, and the utility companies never reject my checks. On the not-so-positive side of my experience with rehab was the raw exercise of power which became clear to me as a high school senior when I received a letter saying I must attend a summer orientation program in Columbia, Missouri, some hundred-fifty miles from where I lived. My plan for the summer between high school and college was to go to the Seeing Eye to get a dog, for which I'd waited more than a year and a half. I was an early registrant, scheduled to attend in July of 1973, but the letter I received in May declared that the summer orientation program was mandatory. Being young, determined, and rather full of myself in the belief that I could persuade anybody to do anything I wanted, I set up a meeting with the district supervisor for the Kansas City office to discuss this letter and my summer plans. When my mother and I entered the building, we were ushered into an office where the district supervisor pointed us to chairs, went behind his desk, reclined in his own swivel chair, put his feet up on his desk, and said, "Well, young man, let's hear it." I went through a well-rehearsed speech about how I came to find out about guide dogs, how I already had summer plans to go and get one of these magical creatures, and how I was certain that this form letter, while well meant, could not have been written with the intention of changing my long- held dream to go to Morristown. At the end of my presentation the district supervisor removed his feet from his desk, sat straight up in his chair, looked directly at me, and said, "Young man, you say you want to get a dog. Now why you would want to get one of those things is beyond me, for, if you can travel with a cane, I think it would be nothing but a nuisance in your life. Let me tell you a thing or two about your magical creatures. Dogs stink. Dogs shed. Dogs make messes you have to clean up or other people have to walk around. Dogs make other people uncomfortable. Few people will offer you rides in their cars. You'd be better off without a dog, but the real issue is that our agency has sent you a letter saying you're going to an orientation program in Columbia. Now, young sir, if your parents have the means to pay for your college tuition, your books, and your housing, then you're free to do whatever you wish with your summer. But, if you intend to attend college under the auspices of the Bureau for the Blind, you will be in Columbia from early June through the beginning of August. Go home; talk it over with your parents; the decision is up to you." When my mother and I left that meeting, I was humiliated. I had never heard the word "auspices," but it was perfectly clear to me that I had not won the day. What bothered me more than that the decision hadn't gone my way was the arrogance and tone of the meeting. This man was not friendly. He was not courteous. My mother was ashamed and almost in tears. Never in her thirty-eight years had she been treated so dismissively by a person she was inclined to respect because of his position. Neither of us came away feeling that the man who had just spoken with us respected us or felt we had anything of consequence to say. By disposition my mother was mild compared with my father. My dad didn't take guff from anyone, and, truth be told, he felt it his right to administer guff in whatever portion he pleased. So, with my confidence rising as we drove home, I thought about the anger which would be provoked in this strong giant of a man, my father, and, though I was saddened by the fact that I couldn't sell the idea of my summer plan on my own, I rather looked forward to the confrontation I was sure was to come. What I really looked forward to was the spectacular butt-kicking that would occur when District Supervisor Cordle met Mr. John Wunder. That would be a day one cocky state employee would remember. When Dad got home after a twelve-hour workday, my mother and I barely gave him time to eat before we began talking about our visit to the rehab agency. His reaction was one I didn't expect. He let a bit of time go by, absorbing what we said in silence, and then, in a subdued tone, he said, "Son, I understand that what you went through today wasn't what you expected. The man you talked with should have treated you better, whether or not he agreed with what you had to say. Now I know you're ready for me to go down there and set things right, but son, the truth of the matter is that the state of Missouri is offering you something that I just can't give you. If that man says you have to go to a program and wait on getting your dog so you can get a college education, then that's what you have to do. Sometimes you have to play by other people's rules. I was in the army and the merchant marines. I got busted twice for trying to play by my own rules, so, believe me, I know. If you don't like that man's rules or the way he treated you, you go through school, get yourself a college education, and then see what you can do to fight with that man when he no longer has the upper hand." That day changed my life forever. I was a reader of the Braille Monitor in 1973, and, to tell you the truth, I found it very entertaining but not very credible. So protected was I that I just couldn't believe the events chronicled there really happened to blind people. Either the people who were discriminated against were people who couldn't argue their way out of a paper bag, or the Federation was just making a lot of noise about nothing so they could raise a little money. But, when I learned that someone could shut me down with a word and treat me as if I were some kind of a fool whose opinion was worth far less than his time, I went back and reread those old magazines, and this time it was easy for me to substitute Gary Wunder as the main character in many of the stories. Some of you who are still awake might be saying to yourself, I see a contradiction in what he's saying. He starts by arguing that the rehabilitation agency too often says yes, when the proper response should be first to require a bit of extra training to increase the chance of success. Now he's telling us that he became a committed member of the Federation, precisely because somebody made him take that extra training. I readily concede the point, noting that my failure to get my way was far less difficult to swallow than was the way I was told no and to get about my business. You see, I did have skill deficits which the summer program helped me identify and begin to address. My original plan, almost laughable now, was to go off and get my dog (something I still think was a good idea), and then go back to the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where I would go to school during the day, go home to live with my grandmother at night, and visit with my parents every weekend. When I got to Columbia, Missouri, a town which I now modestly claim to be the hub of the universe, I decided that Grandma's house was no place to spend the evening, and going home for the weekend was something I should try to work in once every four or six weeks, whether I could really spare the time or not. This fantastic city actually allowed me to walk from my dormitory to my bank, to restaurants, and to the local record store, which managed to get more than its fair share of my monthly SSI and maintenance checks. When I moved from the small town of Cleveland, Missouri, which at the time boasted a population of two-hundred and sixteen, the only place I could walk was the post office. Well, in fairness there was the gas station, but back then gas stations were really just gas stations and not the convenience stores we see today. Being able to walk from place to place brought another change in my life, and it was probably the real reason I didn't want to go home to Grandma. When you live in a little town like Cleveland, the only way you can take a gal out on a date is to pick her up from her house and deliver her home again. Being blind made that impossible without a chauffeur or a chaperone, and on my family's budget it would have been a chaperone, my mother, and that was not, let me repeat, not cool. When you live in a town like Columbia and can walk everywhere you need to go, suddenly transportation isn't a barrier to dating, and, if you're Gary Wunder, you soon realize that girls are not repulsed by you, and, believe it or not, some of them even want to spend time with you. I will admit here to becoming a bit carried away with the romance part of things that summer. Once I even decided to live really on the edge and scheduled three dates in one night. If you start early and finish late and if you're willing to lie shamelessly to girls one and two about your crushing study schedule, it can be done. Yes, I was a jerk and I loved it! Before I close today I want to thank you for something else. I looked for the words to say this when I gave my speech in July but couldn't find them. Maybe, thanks to David Foster Wallace, I have them today. I want to thank you for making my life difficult. When I was in high school, I thought I knew a lot about the world. I knew about people of different races who said they were treated unfairly and who rioted and burned cities to show their displeasure; I knew about women who demanded equality with men, when everybody in my small universe knew women had the world by the tail; I knew about patriotic people who went to war and those others of the same age who had the opportunity to go to college and wasted their time in public demonstrations and destroying the campuses we built for their education. I knew about the odd people who were confused about their sexual identity and the sex of those they should love. I knew about the dissatisfied of the world and wondered why they made so much noise. Then you people decided I should go away to the big university and meet some of these weird and different human beings. Slowly you made me confront and eventually question many of the things I had known to be true. I was forced to read books by people I had never credited with a reasonable point of view. Not only did I have to read their books, but I had to demonstrate an understanding of what they said. Dr. King preached nonviolence. Malcolm X was more than a radical spouting hate and leading demonstrations. Gloria Steinem had a reason for her anger and, horror of horrors, she was articulate. I still love one of the quotes attributed to her: "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." She popularized that statement, but it was first coined by Irina Dunn, a spirited Australian who served for a time in the senate of her country. Thanks for robbing me of the superiority I was convinced belonged to me in the same way kings believed they were the superiors of others, by divine right. Thanks for seeing that I was paired with a black man when it came time in my class on electricity to wire a house and for revealing that his was a kinder, gentler soul than the soul of his partner. He was also better at figuring out the power required to run our house and what circuit breakers to use in which parts. Thanks for introducing me to women whose mothers did the same jobs as men and made two-thirds of what they did. Thanks for shattering my image of the ill-tempered easterner by seeing that I hired a gal from the Bronx to work with me in computer science classes. She never once lost her temper when having to read lines of code over and over again or when she had to help me retype those old punch cards we used before there were computer terminals. "You can learn this, Hon," was her constant refrain as she gently encouraged me to try again. Oh, she was also the first person who tried to teach me to dance, and I'll never forget the warmth and tenderness of that embrace. We can sing about country girls if that's what sells records, but wow-what a woman this city girl was, and no, it never went further than the dance. Mostly I thank you for putting me in touch with people who were less interested in telling me what to think than in showing me how to think; people who were less interested in my opinions than in how I came to them; people who cared less about whether I shared their view than they did how I had come to mine and whether those views could stand the light of day; the constraints and rules dictated by reason; and fair consideration for the feelings, wants, and needs of others. You made me look into the soul of the young man who functioned too much from default behavior and not nearly enough from a thoughtful and compassionate point of view. David Foster Wallace expresses this far better than I can, but you believers in the normality of blind people made me join a wider universe and helped to show me that I was not the center of it, the keeper of the keys to all wisdom, and the superior human being I thought I was because I was male, white, middle class, heterosexual, Christian, and from the Midwest. You put me in an environment where I had no choice but to consider points of view as something other than strange or bizarre or foolish or weird or perverted. My church taught me to recite the Golden Rule; your giving me exposure to a world far different from the one I had known taught me something about how to practice it. Some people claim that college robs people of their values and turns conservatives into liberals. I disagree. College didn't convert a conservative into a liberal. It made me confront beliefs I thought so elemental and self-evident that they needed no defense. The college experience helped me become a man who tends to believe that "conservative" and "liberal" are labels that only hint at the complicated beliefs we employ. I am leery of the people who believe all the answers can be found in experiences of the past and equally leery of those who believe all good comes from collective action or a changed human nature which has advanced as a result of evolution. My time is nearly exhausted, and so too is my audience, I'm sure. I want to thank you for the good you do, for your ability to take people who would otherwise sit at home and endure the passing of time and help them make something of that time. I want to thank you for being representatives of a government program that brings credit to the idea of a state-federal relationship that works to help her people become all that their drive and talent will let them be. Thank you for enduring the jokes about the government bureaucrats as you quietly go above and beyond the forty-hour week to change people's lives. Last but not least, let me thank you personally for what you have done for me. You took a kid who knew his family's work ethic demanded he make something of himself, and you gave him the means actually to do it. What more could any American ask, and what greater gift could any group of professionals give to America's citizens? You folks really shine, and I am blessed because you've given me that same opportunity. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Glenn Ervin] I Was Reported to the Police for Crossing the Street by Glenn Ervin From the Editor: Sometimes it is tiresome to be blind: the extra effort required to read and label items, to get material in a form we can read, or to get where we want to go when we want to go there. But one other thing makes being blind difficult-the knowledge that we are always being observed. Whether this results from the curiosity of the sighted or a concern that we will need help, the outcome is the same. Sometimes even well-intended concern can get to be too much, as we see in this article in which Glen Irvin describes an evening walk that turned out to be more than he bargained for. Here is what he says: We are fortunate to live in a country in which all citizens have the right to pursue the vocation of our choice and recreational activities, as long as they are legal and do not infringe on the rights of others. As pedestrians we have the right to travel in areas that are open to the public whenever we choose. But I was recently reminded that some people seem to think that these rights are not for everyone, namely the disabled. I am a counselor with the state of Nebraska, and my job is to teach blind Nebraskans the alternative skills that will enable them to live independently, such as Braille, cooking and cleaning, and walking with a long white cane. One reality that I explain to my clients as well as to people who can see is that the most difficult aspect of blindness is not that we have little or no eyesight but that every day we have to deal with people who are unfamiliar with blindness and who don't know that we can do pretty much anything we want other than driving a motor vehicle. The other day I was taking my usual evening five-mile walk. Sometimes along my walk I cross a fairly busy street to do business in a particular store. When I was finished with my errand that day, I crossed back to the other side of the street, where I was called over by a couple of police officers who told me that they had been called because I was crossing the street. They had observed me, realized that I was safe, and concluded that they did not need to have been called. Often crossing a street takes a blind person a bit longer than it would take a sighted person to do visually because we rely on interpreting the sound of traffic. Sighted and blind folks with normal hearing can hear traffic blocks away and can determine its speed by the sound of the engines. When a car passes, blind pedestrians must wait until the vehicle is far enough away that its sound does not interfere with hearing oncoming traffic. This is not an amazing skill; it is just a technique people can easily develop if they give it the proper attention. I teach this skill along with the use of the long white cane, which when held upright should reach from the ground to one's chin in order to give proper warning of objects in the path. I must admit that I am outraged that this incident escalated to the point of sending officers to the scene. They clearly had more important things to do than making sure I was safe crossing a street. I know that some people think it must be difficult to do anything without sight or that they could never do the things they see blind folks doing and therefore assume that blind people must need assistance. At the beginning of blindness training it is understandably difficult for someone who used to have normal sight to adapt to doing things nonvisually. But, when blind people are out walking with a white cane, they are doing so because they have made the decision to travel independently, whether they are new at it or are skilled travelers. This is an individual choice, and happily people have the right to choose where they walk in this country. Others, blind and sighted, make the decision to take on far more dangerous activities, such as climbing a mountain or jumping out of airplanes, and we don't call the police to check on them, because we live in a society where people have the right to choose their activities, whether or not others think they are dangerous. It seems to me that the person who made the call to the police should have been asked whether the blind pedestrian being reported was using a long white cane or a dog with a harness. In my case the caller should have been informed that the police had no business offering assistance to the blind person unless contacted by the person himself or notified that he appeared to be under attack or injured. I want the public to know that, if blind people need assistance, we are totally capable of asking for the help we need. This may seem obvious, but surprisingly the public practices discrimination every day against the blind without even realizing it. This is why the difficult aspect of blindness is not that we don't see, but that people treat us with little respect. This is largely why folks who should be using a white cane refuse to do so, preferring to fumble around like the cartoon character, Mr. Magoo. For example, I am frequently at a restaurant with a sighted person, and the server refers to me in the third person with statements like "Would he like a Braille menu?" or "What would he like to order?" Another example of this lack of simple respect comes when people put their hands on me without asking. How often do people put their hands on a perfect stranger? Yet blind people are often grabbed and pulled somewhere, even though they haven't asked for help. This is not to say that people who are blind don't ever need assistance, but I believe that the experience of blindness would be far easier if others would just allow us the dignity of asking for assistance when we want it. A simple "hello" provides the opportunity for a blind person to ask for assistance or to provide the person wishing to help the assurance that it isn't needed. We all know that the pedestrian has the right of way in traffic. But something that most people don't know is that since the 1960s the White Cane Safety Laws in every state give the blind the same rights as other pedestrians as long as they are using white canes or service dogs. Governors frequently recognize this law each year on October 15, in the form of a proclamation. But teaching the public about blindness requires more than proclamations-it requires personal contact. For this reason I have offered to do in-service training for our police department, for the emergency dispatchers, and for any other branch of local government that may be called upon to help the blind. My goal is someday to live in a society in which a blind person crossing a street is commonplace and hardly garners a second glance. Making this dream a reality will require work. This work is part of what I do, and the belief that it will make a difference is an important part of who I am. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Belo Cipriani] Hiring Blind: The Misconceptions Facing America's Visually Impaired Workforce by Belo Cipriani From the Editor: Belo Cipriani is a freelance writer, speaker, and author of Blind: A Memoir. Belo was the keynote speaker for the 2011 Americans with Disabilities Act celebration in San Francisco and was a guest lecturer at both Yale University and the University of San Francisco. Amber Clovers, his first work of fiction, will be published in 2013. He welcomes anyone to contact him at , or on Twitter @Beloism, and Google+. The following piece is reprinted from . As a recruiting manager staffing for clients such as Google and Apple, I was concerned about three things: experience, unemployment gaps, and the probability of the person becoming a long-term employee. I interviewed few disabled candidates and rarely considered their job prospects. As a recruiter I rarely debated if or how they would perform the duties of a position. I soon found a new perspective-one that changed the way I viewed both the role of the recruiter and the place of people with disabilities in the job market. A Shift in Thinking I was attacked more than six years ago-a beating that caused severe retinal trauma which left me blind. A year after the attack I found myself at California's Orientation Center for the Blind, learning new ways to complete necessary daily tasks. Most significant, I learned that, while I had helped place hundreds of people in positions at top companies, my own opportunities and chances of finding a job were slim. Members of the blind community warned me that I would need a lot of patience when I began my job search. I now belonged to a group of people erroneously viewed by recruiters as unskilled, unproductive, and more difficult. I didn't need my guide dog Madge to sniff out the irony of my new situation. According to University of Illinois at Chicago professor and disabilities studies scholar Dr. Lennard Davis, these stereotypes exist in part because people's misconceptions of the blind are split between thinking they're completely helpless and brimming with superpowers. These misconceptions carry over into the business world and can seriously confuse potential employers. The Misconceptions of Managers According to a recent study done by the nonprofit National Industries for the Blind (NIB), out of 3.5 million blind Americans of working age, a walloping 70 percent are not employed. And of the 30 percent working, the majority work for blind organizations. One major reason blind people struggle to find employment is that public misconceptions of the blind affect hiring managers' perceptions of potential candidates who are visually impaired. I'd like to break down a few of these reasons-put out by the NIB study-and discuss why these misconceptions are fallacies. According to the NIB study: "Among hiring managers, most respondents (54 percent) felt there were few jobs at their company that blind employees could perform, and 45 percent said accommodating such workers would require `considerable expense.' " The reality is that a blind person can do any job that involves a computer, and there are a slew of adaptive tech toys that make most jobs accessible, such as a portable scanner to read printed material. As for the purported expense, according to the American Foundation for the Blind, most accommodations cost less than $1,000, a negligible amount for a serious business. "Forty-two percent of hiring managers believe blind employees need someone to assist them on the job; 34 percent said blind workers are more likely to have work-related accidents." This fear can be attributed to some of our common idioms, e.g., "It's like the blind leading the blind." This phrase implies poor navigation skills, when the reality is that blind people often have superb orientation skills due to hours of training by mobility experts. Far from being clumsy, the visually impaired have an attention to detail that most sighted people lack. Insurance statistics back this up: blind people actually have better safety records than their sighted colleagues. "Nineteen percent of hiring managers believe blind employees have a higher absentee rate." In reality blind people don't actually miss more time from work. A DuPont study, completed during a twenty-five-year span, found that disabled people in general have better attendance than 90 percent of their nondisabled colleagues. The Realities of 2013 The disabled did not get their rights during the Civil Rights movement and had to wait until the 90s for the Americans with Disabilities Act to pass. Even now many people assume the blind are unemployable. As a former recruiter I realize different requirements and considerations need to be addressed when hiring a visually impaired individual, but, without changing our perspective on the capabilities of the blind, we can never end the discrimination that still takes place. Some companies such as Google, Apple, and Yahoo! routinely hire visually impaired employees. The U.S. government-especially the CIA, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and the Social Security Administration-also hires many visually impaired people. Jobs capitalizing on the unique skills the blind develop are also being created. Givaudan, a company in the fragrance and flavors business, has developed a special internship program designed to give the blind work experience. Participants evaluate fragrances, detecting subtle differences that aid the creative team. It will take some time to abolish blind stereotypes. However, both blind and sighted people can contribute to the shift. How Managers Can Improve Inclusivity Prejudices toward the blind workforce are not beyond repair. In addition to a lead-by-example role that managers can take, they can also become more inclusive by reaching out to groups that cater to the blind to recruit for potential new hires. Encourage your human resources department to diversify its pipeline of candidates by recruiting from employment programs at organizations such as LightHouse in San Francisco and The Lions Center for the Blind. Hiring a blind person for an internship not only gives him job experience but also will encourage others to be more open to considering a person who is blind for a position in the future. If a company is serious about inclusivity, then it is also very important that its website and job application portal be ADA compliant. Companies can also demonstrate a commitment to diversity by portraying blind people in their recruitment advertising. How the Blind Can Increase Their Chances of Hire The reality is that we live in a sighted world, and stereotypes pervade the workplace. People without sight should bring their adaptive equipment along to interviews to demonstrate how they would complete required tasks to give the hiring manager the insight he needs to make a decision. Blind job applicants should network in the blind community and get to know people in their line of work. When they know of a blind person doing a job similar to the one they are applying for, they should get advice from him and obtain a reference if possible. Telling a hiring manager about another blind person in a similar role can help land the job. Finally, no one should hesitate to report a company if he or she believes discrimination took place. How Sighted People Can Help If you work for a company that does not feature people with disabilities on its employment page, let your employer know he is not being inclusive. You can also ask your employer, school, and friends what they are doing to acknowledge disability awareness month in October. Education helps young people crush outdated beliefs at an early age. In California the FAIR Education Act, which passed in 2011, requires public schools to include disability education. If you are a parent outside of California, demand that your school district add disability studies to its curriculum. Finally, perform a quick Google search any time a disabilities stereotype crosses your mind. Educating yourself on the truth about disabilities is the best way to eliminate outdated stereotypes. It will take time to change the collective consciousness of society and root out wrongful discrimination against people with disabilities. However, people can help by educating themselves about issues facing blind people today, discouraging outdated stereotypes, and working to encourage inclusivity in their workplaces. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Agnes Allen] What Did You Say? What's That? Say It Again? by Agnes Allen From the Editor: In the April 2013 issue we published an article entitled "Blindness and the Value of Life," in which we discussed the decision of two deaf-blind men to end their lives. Since that time we have received several letters and articles affirming the value of life as people who are deaf-blind. Here is the one we chose to print. The author, Agnes Allen, will be familiar; she had an article in the June issue. Here is what she says: I ask you to look up at the moon and the stars-how shining and bright they are. I ask you to listen to a Beethoven symphony-how majestic and grand it sounds. Taste a sweet, juicy orange-how succulent. Come smell a lovely blossoming rose-how fragrant. Pet a soft, furry kitten-how silken. Can you imagine for a moment what it is like to be bereft of any of our five remarkable senses? I would like to share with you some of the ways in which I have personally experienced the loss of two of the sentient gifts bestowed upon mankind: total vision loss and partial but moderate to severe hearing loss. Most people take sight and hearing for granted, and to be without one or both of them seems unthinkable. I have been totally blind since early childhood and have lived with a major hearing deficiency for much of my adult life. Since I lost my sight very young, my adjustment to my predicament was a relatively simple matter. Training and education made it possible to live normally and actively in my world. But developing a hearing impairment along with blindness as an adult was devastating. I was neither psychologically nor emotionally ready to cope with this double whammy, nor could I have foreseen adapting to it in the future. I could not make eye contact with someone, nor would I be comfortable in communicating freely with others. Yes, wearing hearing aids to a degree enhanced the hearing I had left, but that is just what they are: hearing aids. I find them to be of very little help in certain situations. If a person speaking to me turns his or her head even slightly so as not to face me directly, the spoken words become unintelligible. I cannot understand what the person sitting across the table is saying if any other noise is occurring simultaneously, for example in a restaurant, where talking and clattering music create background noise. At a social gathering or a meeting, when a joke or funny remark is being passed along, I cannot join in the ensuing laughter; I sit in silence and let the whole episode pass me by. The pastor of my church has kindly installed an audio system especially designed to improve the auditory quality of the mass or other services. When the system is working efficiently, I can clearly hear the homily and other parts of the mass. Prior to the traumatic change in my life engendered by the hearing loss, I was a successful student, productive employee, and dedicated mother of three girls. But with the onset of my hearing difficulty I was compelled to meet new challenges. One of the most important of these was to search for employment in which sight and hearing were not absolutely crucial. The skills of Braille literacy had become second nature, and a friend who was a professional Braille proofreader suggested that I try to find employment as a proofreader for a nonprofit agency for the blind in Philadelphia. I followed up on my friend's suggestion and arranged an interview with the head of the department. After serving in the field of Braille proofreading, I found employment as a tutor of two blind students in the Vineland, New Jersey, public schools. From time to time I am invited to speak to various groups about blindness and Braille. Often, if the audiences wish to follow up with questions or comments, I am besieged by the nagging fear that I will be unable to hear or understand. To alleviate this anxiety somewhat, I like to ask someone in the front to repeat what was said when I cannot hear the original speaker clearly. I am certain it would be less stressful to remain at home and avoid such situations, but how could I live as a recluse and remain happy? I would become less a person for doing so. It is very easy to isolate oneself and begin to question, "Why me, Lord?" and feel inferior to those around me who can see and hear. At such times I must take stock of my own talents and capabilities, focusing on what I can do, not what I can't do. A sense of humor lightens the pain of most hardships. It softens the vicissitudes imposed by the condition. This is no less true of deaf- blindness. For example, Bill, a hearing-impaired man said to his friend, "Joe, I just received a new hearing aid, and it is simply wonderful!" Joe replies, "Oh, yeah, what kind is it?" Bill responds, "2:30." Then there was John, who said to his wife, "Susie, go do the bills." Susie retorts, "Did you say, `Go take a pill?'" In the foregoing witticisms unintelligible speech is the culprit. Hearing technology seems to be keeping moderate pace with general technology. I have benefitted exceedingly from digital hearing aids, comparatively speaking. Without them the hearing world shuts down. My digitals contain a built-in switch which, when activated, allows my hearing to adjust to different environments. When the switch is on program one, it sets the tone for normal conversation. When on program two, it reduces background noise. This mechanism homes in on the targeted voice. When I am riding in an automobile or a bus, my digitals can be set to diminish the roar of outside traffic, making it easier to converse with the driver. Once I attended a wedding reception at which the surroundings were so fraught with noise that I could scarcely hear what was being said by the woman sitting next to me. I could hardly await the return to my peace and quiet at home. If an interesting topic is introduced at a meeting or social gathering, it is difficult for me to follow the discussion, no matter how much I would like to contribute. In such a situation I feel isolated and excluded. If I ask a question or make a comment, I do not know whether what I say has any relevance. My tendency is to remain quiet in order to stave off embarrassment. The acoustics of a room can affect the quality of hearing. An entire lecture or discourse can be lost or muffled. A sighted and hearing person may be able to salvage some of the information by watching the speaker's gestures and other visual clues, but not me. When speaking to someone by telephone or face to face and I miss a word or sentence, I may ask the person to say it again or question, "What's that?" My companion may patiently repeat the missed word or phrase the first time, but on the second or third try I sense mounting frustration for both the other person and me. When I am on the telephone and listening for an important number, I can write down a wrong number because a nine and a five, for instance, contain the "i" vowel and are easy to confuse. Consonants are not always clear. When one learns that someone has a hearing difficulty, the tendency of the person communicating is to raise the voice when all that is needed may be a clear, modulated voice and clearly enunciated consonants, because loudness can distort the sound. High frequencies in some women's higher pitched voices can play havoc with communication. Although the human ear has never been replicated, the miracles of technology are phenomenal. Hearing technology has really made great strides over the past decades. Gone are the days of old-fashioned hearing contraptions, which little improved the hearing of the affected individual. As sophisticated and revolutionary as modern hearing technology has become, it has yet to transform the original and natural hearing function of the human ear. Nor do I ever expect it to do that. Of course no one can predict the future. Who can tell what miracles may be produced for people with hearing loss? I look forward to a time when it will no longer be necessary for me to ask, "What's that?" or "Say it again?" or "Beg pardon?" How spectacular that day will be! ---------- Recipes This month's recipes come from members of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. [PHOTO CAPTION: Becky Bergmann] Boboli Spread by Becky Bergmann Becky Bergmann is the home management instructor at BLIND, Incorporated, the NFB's adjustment-to-blindness training center in Minnesota. Federationists who have bought items from the NFB Store at national convention have likely met her since she is one of those who take the payments for purchases. Ingredients: 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 4 to 6 ounces (1/2 to 3/4 cup) prepared Hidden Valley ranch dressing, to taste 1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped 1 large Boboli pizza crust Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cheeses, dressing, and artichoke hearts in bowl. Spread on pizza crust. Bake for twenty to thirty minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Allow to sit about five minutes before slicing. Slice into pizza-style wedges before serving. ---------- Cheese Scalloped Carrots by Becky Bergmann Ingredients: 12 medium carrots, sliced and cooked till just done 8 ounces American or cheddar cheese, shredded 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup) 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1/4 cup flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard 1/8 teaspoon pepper 2 cups milk 1 cup buttered bread crumbs Method: Alternate layers of carrots and cheese in a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish or two-quart casserole dish. In a medium saucepan melt butter and cook the onion, stirring often, until tender. Stir in flour, salt, mustard, and pepper and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat; gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling again over low heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for one minute. Pour sauce over carrots. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake at 350 degrees for thirty-five to forty-five minutes. Serves 10. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Joyce Scanlan] Mini Quiches by Joyce Scanlan Joyce Scanlan served on our national board and was the NFB of Minnesota's president for many years. She is the president of our seniors division. Dinners at Joyce's house are a real treat, and the bidding goes quite high when such a dinner is auctioned off at our state conventions. Ingredients: 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (or one 17.3-ounce package of refrigerated biscuit dough) 2 cups cooked ham, diced 2 cups cheddar cheese, coarsely grated 1 cup sliced mushrooms, cooked 6 large eggs 1 splash of cream or half-and-half Ground black pepper and salt to taste Method: Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Cut puff pastry sheets into four- inch squares or separate individual biscuits. To make the biscuit dough go further, you can cut each buscuit in half at this point. Press puff pastry squares or biscuit dough into well-greased muffin tins, forming a cup in each compartment with your fingers. Fill with ham, cheese, and saut?ed mushrooms or any other ingredients you like, leaving a half inch at the top. Whisk eggs and cream with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon egg mixture over toppings in each pastry cup. Bake until pastries are puffed and golden and toppings are set, about 25 minutes. ---------- White Bean Chicken Chili by Sheila Koenig Sheila Koenig teaches English to ninth graders. She serves on our affiliate board and chairs our scholarship and social media committees. Ingredients: 1 to 2 pounds chicken (I use boneless, skinless chicken breast) 1 48-ounce jar Great Northern Beans 1 16-ounce jar salsa of your choice 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon or so of cumin 1 can chicken broth 2 cups or so of shredded cheese Method: Simmer the chicken until cooked. Let cool and chop. Combine chicken, beans, salsa, cumin, and chicken broth. Let this mixture simmer covered on top of the stove for ninety minutes and then add the cheese before serving. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Sheila Koenig] Almond Poppy Seed Bread by Sheila Koenig Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups sugar 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil 3 eggs 3 tablespoons poppy seeds 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups 2 percent milk Glaze Ingredients: 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar 1/4 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract Method: In a large bowl combine the sugar, oil, eggs, poppy seeds, lemon juice, and extracts; beat until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; alternately add dry ingredients and milk to sugar mixture, beating just until moistened. Pour into two greased 8-by-4-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for fifty-five to sixty minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Meantime, combine glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over hot loaves. Cool for ten minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: two loaves (sixteen slices each). ---------- Monster Cookies by Sheila Koenig Ingredients: 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 pound margarine 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 3 eggs 4 1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal (not instant) 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/4 pounds M&Ms Method: Combine all ingredients and mix well. Shape into cookies and place at least two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for ten to fifteen minutes. These cookies should be large. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family [PHOTO/CAPTION: Hazel Staley, August 17, 1916 - May 30, 2013] In Memory of Hazel Staley: We have received news of the death of Hazel Staley from James Benton of North Carolina. This is what he has to say about a wonderful American and a dedicated Federationist: The passing of an icon--for more than seven decades she stood on the front lines, defending the rights of people who are blind and visually impaired in the state of North Carolina. Sadly, her journey has ended. On Thursday, May 30, 2013, Ruth Hazel Staley was lifted from this world to take her place with the angels above. Hazel was a graduate of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind, then known as the State School for the Blind, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. With support from Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, Don Capps, and others from the National Federation of the Blind, Hazel formed the North Carolina affiliate of the NFB in 1969. Living most of her life in Charlotte, Hazel did everything she could to embody and embrace the signature mission of the NFB: security, equality, and opportunity for all blind or visually impaired people. In 1989 she won the tenBroek Award, which is the highest award given by the Federation. She has touched the lives of many over all these decades and made North Carolina a greater place, a richer place, a deserving place for those of us with visual disabilities. With sadness we say goodbye to Ms. Staley, and we will all work together to enhance the legacy she left us. Anyone wishing to make a donation in her memory is urged to contribute to the Robert and Hazel Staley Scholarship Fund. Be sure to make checks payable to the NFB of North Carolina, mark all such donations clearly, and send them to Boyce Locklear, P.O. Box 2633, Lumberton, NC 28359. That was what James Benton eloquently wrote. We conclude our tribute to Hazel by including a letter she wrote to Dr. Jernigan a month before his death: Ruth Hazel Staley Charlotte, North Carolina September 3, 1998 Dear Dr. Jernigan, For the past year I have prayed hard daily for your recovery, but apparently that was not to be. Now I try to console myself with the belief that God has something very special in heaven that He wants done, and, having carefully surveyed the whole world, He chose you as the person most likely to do it and do it well. I know you will serve Him well there as you have served Him and us here. I can't imagine life without you. You have been there so many times for me when I needed help or encouragement. I probably don't have many more years here myself, so I shall look forward to meeting you again when my turn comes. I have been where Mrs. Jernigan is now, and I know the pain and frustration she is experiencing. Please convey to her for me that, if she ever needs a shoulder to cry on or just an understanding friend to talk to, I will be here. Until we meet again, I am Ruth Hazel Staley In Memoriam Dorothy Kirsner Dies: On Monday, May 20, 2013, Dorothy Harriett Kirsner died at the age of ninety-four. In 1958 Dorothy Kirsner chaired the three-person Iowa Commission for the Blind board that hired the young Kenneth Jernigan to run the Iowa Commission for the Blind when it occupied three rooms in a rundown state office building in Des Moines. At the time the Iowa Commission was independently rated as among the worst agencies serving the blind in the nation, according to the Mallas Report. Under the leadership of Kenneth Jernigan as director and Dorothy Kirsner as Commission chair and employing the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind, the Commission transformed itself and its programs until in 1968 a federal official said in an award presentation, "If a person must be blind, it is better to be blind in Iowa than in any other place in the nation or the world!" As a young woman in the early forties, Mrs. Kirsner qualified as a Braille transcriptionist. These volunteers were so highly prized that her certificate was actually signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Early in her career she transcribed a long textbook for Kenneth Jernigan, then a college student in Tennessee. That was the beginning of a long association between the two. In 1958, when Dr. tenBroek and his chief lieutenant Kenneth Jernigan were looking for a larger platform than a regional adult training center on which to demonstrate convincingly the effectiveness of the NFB's rehabilitation ideas, the Iowa agency's director's job opened, and Dr. Jernigan noticed that his old friend, Dorothy Kirsner, was chairing the commission that would hire the new director. With extraordinary energy and creativity Dr. Jernigan contrived to get himself to Des Moines with a majority of the Commission for the Blind ready to vote for him as the new director. Thus began the most exciting transformation of a rehabilitation program for the blind that this country has yet seen. In 1966 the conference room beside the director's office at the Commission was officially named the Dorothy Kirsner Conference Room. In addition to transcribing books into Braille herself, Mrs. Kirsner and a friend established a program at the Fort Madison Penitentiary to record and transcribe books into Braille for the blind. For a number of years she was a member of the board of the Iowa Radio Reading Information Service. She is survived by Alvin, her husband of seventy-two years, her four children, four grandchildren, and one great-grandson. Federationists everywhere salute the life and work of Dorothy Kirsner and offer our sympathy to her family and friends. Son of Longtime Federationists Honored: Steve Benson is a former member of the national board of directors and served for a long time as president of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois. He and his wife Peg are the proud parents of Patrick, who teaches music in a Chicago high school. Recently Steve sent along this note about an honor Patrick has received: Patrick has made a significant difference in the music program at Hubbard High School, and it has been recognized by a number of people, including the president of his college. At Hubbard's spring concert the senior class paid tribute to his effectiveness by presenting him a snare drum with the signature of each band member on the drum head. The formal presentation brought tears to Patrick's eyes, and several of the band members began crying. As Patrick described the scene while driving home, I could tell that he teared up again. It was very moving for Peg and me-I guess one could say we're just a little proud of that young man. He is only in his fifth year of teaching; it is all quite remarkable. [PHOTO CAPTION: Denise Brown making remarks after she received her award] Honored: As we were going to press, we learned that Denise Brown, president of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the NFB of Pennsylvania and a member of the affiliate board of directors was selected by the Quaker City Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as its awardee at the eighth annual Greek Gala on Friday, May 3, 2013. The award was for outstanding social action in the community. Congratulations to Denise. 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. Correction: In the May 2013 issue we published an article entitled "My Constant Search for Accessibility" by Robert Kingett. In it the author says his research while in high school led him to believe the cost of Window-Eyes was $1,250. The good folks at GW Micro have requested that we explain that this figure represents the cost of Window-Eyes when purchased on a payment plan with a concurrent Software Maintenance Agreement. They correctly state that they have always charged less for their screen-reading program than their competitor, JAWS for Windows, developed and marketed by Freedom Scientific. In response to the same article we have also received a note of concern from the developers of NVDA suggesting that the use of Eloquence through the plug-in that the article referred to may constitute a violation of copyright. Short of a finding by a court, we have no way to verify this opinion, but we pass along their cautionary note. New iOS/iPad User Guide Available: iOS technology is a game changer. School districts across the country are purchasing and deploying iPads to students across grade levels-even integrating them into classroom curricula. But how many teachers and parents are ready to ensure that their blind students have equal access to all the iPad has to offer? iOS Success: Making the iPad Accessible-A Guide for Parents and Teachers, written by Larry L. Lewis, a blind iPad user and instructor, gives step-by-step instructions for every pertinent accessibility feature the iPad has to offer-including getting acquainted with VoiceOver and Zoom, setting accessibility options, pairing external devices such as keyboard and refreshable Braille displays, setting up Apple accounts to buy apps, use iBooks, the Cloud and Dropbox, and much, much more. The last chapter includes tips from blind students who use their iPads daily and one very committed parent who is mastering iOS technology alongside his blind sons. The book assumes that the reader has never used an iPad. Although it is geared to parents and teachers, there is plenty of useful advice for blind users as well. Join the iOS revolution! Order online from National Braille Press at , or call toll-free (800) 548-7323. Large- print edition costs $28; in Braille, eBraille, DAISY, ASCII, MP3, or Word, cost is $20. Video about Inaccessible Websites Available: We recently received the following announcement from Dr. Jonathan Lazar, a Shutzer Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University who is currently on leave from his duties as a professor in computer science in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and Universal Usability Laboratory at Towson University. He has worked closely with the National Federation of the Blind to study and highlight access problems that limit opportunities for the blind. Here is his announcement: I am pleased to announce that the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has posted a video (fully captioned) of my fellowship presentation on February 13, 2013, titled "Locked Out: Investigating Societal Discrimination Against People with Disabilities Due to Inaccessible Websites." The video is at . BANA Accepts Two New Member Organizations, Approves Addition to Nemeth Code: We recently received the following press release from the Braille Authority of North America: The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) held its 2013 spring meeting April 11 to 13 in Washington, DC. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a BANA member organization, hosted the meeting at the Library of Congress. During its three-day meeting the BANA board reviewed and acted on semiannual reports from its eighteen committees, considered committee recommendations, and deliberated issues and challenges facing Braille users and producers. The UEB Task Force reported on the development of a plan for the transition to UEB in the United States as well as the collaborative steps that have been taken to initiate dialogue and planning among the various Braille communities that will be affected. Actions taken at the board meeting included the following: the review and approval of a major revision of the organization's entire set of bylaws and policies as recommended after intense study by the BANA Bylaws Committee. Approval of the applications for two new member organizations: the Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB) and the Hadley School for the Blind. BANA welcomes both of these organizations and looks forward to working with them. Approval of a recommendation from BANA's Braille Mathematics Technical Committee that the following be added to the Nemeth Code: Rule XIV, ?86c. When the expression being modified is a single digit or a letter, lower- case or capitalized, from any alphabet, and in any type form, and when the modifier is the horizontal bar directly under such a single digit or letter, the digit or letter, followed by the directly under symbol and the bar, serves to express the modification. This construction should be regarded as a contracted form of expression and must be used whenever applicable. If the modification includes a superscript, subscript, or prime, the five-step rule of "a" above must be followed. The five-step rule may be used in conjunction with the contracted form without fear of confusion. On Saturday morning BANA hosted an open forum at the Arlington Public Library, Arlington, Virginia. The forum was quite well attended by DC-area Braille readers, students, and teachers. Participants also traveled from West Virginia and Maryland to attend. BANA board members and forum participants engaged in a dialogue that centered on the characteristics of UEB and the coming transition. The tone of the forum was extremely upbeat with numerous questions and comments about the importance and future of Braille; the well-spoken students added their individual and open-minded perspectives. For additional resource information visit . ---------- NFB Pledge 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. ----------------------- [1] See Cornell University, Disability Statistics, accessed at , last visited February 14, 2013. [2] Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse as Coexisting Disabilities: Considerations for Counselors Serving Individuals Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, Koch et. al. (2002), accessed at . [3] Cardiff researchers study blindness and depression link, BBC News Wales, September 24, 2011 accessed at , last visited February 14, 2012. [4] Reported Visual Impairment and Risk of Suicide: The 1986-1996 National Health Interview Surveys, Lam et. al., JAMA Ophthalmology, July 14, 2008, Vol 126, No. 7 accessed at , last visited February 14, 2013. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Thu Sep 26 16:40:03 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 16:40:03 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, October 2013 Message-ID: <201309262340.r8QNe3JS014591@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> THE BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 9 October 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Vol. 56, No. 9 October 2013 Contents Illustration: 2013 Convention Activities for Parents and Children The Blind Driver Challenge, the Quest for the Salt, and the Continued Journey of Innovation and Adventure by Mark A. Riccobono Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL): Changing Educational Expectations for the Blind of America by Mark A. Riccobono, Sandy Halverson, Kayleigh Joiner, and Raveena Ali A Teacher in the Movement Who Believed in Blind Children and Taught the Legislature to Share Her Faith by Casey Robertson Another Perspective on KIDS Camp by Sharon Maneki Ending Legalized Discrimination in Wage Payments for Disabled Americans by Gregg Harper Our Efforts in Washington on Behalf of the Blind by John Par?, Anil Lewis, Lauren McLarney, and Jesse Hartle A Commitment to Equality of Opportunity: A Report from the Department of Justice by Eve Hill The Blind at Work in an Unusual and Demanding Profession by Cassandra McNabb-McKinney Recipes Monitor Miniatures 2013 Convention Activities for Parents and Children [PHOTO CAPTION: President Maurer sits on the floor with children at the start of the 2013 convention] On seminar day at each national convention the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children works overtime to host activities of interest to blind children and their parents. The day often begins with the children visiting with President Maurer and asking him questions that range from, "Do you like animals," to, "Do you really think I need Braille even though I can see some print?" [PHOTO CAPTION: Kids playing with maracas] After this early morning meeting, activities split into presentations for the parents and entertaining activities for the children. These range from making their own maracas (much to their parents' delight, we're sure), to quieter entertainments. A variety of toys was available, including the stretchy yo-yo that Chloe Darlington is having fun with in the third photo. [PHOTO CAPTION: Chloe Darlington playing with a stretchy yo-yo] [PHOTO CAPTION: Mary Jo Hartle holds daughter Kayla] But at the end of the day, you can't beat a ride with mom back to the room for a bit of rest before rejoining the unique experience of an NFB national convention, as Kayla Hartle will agree. The Blind Driver Challenge, the Quest for the Salt, and the Continued Journey of Innovation and Adventure by Mark A. Riccobono From the Editor: In a world where there is always more need than resource, an oft-repeated question we must address is how best to use our limited money and talent to advance the cause of blind people. Some argue for the bold and suggest we focus on those projects others dare not attempt; others suggest that, as long as the blind face so much poverty and unemployment, we should focus our efforts exclusively on improving education and rehabilitation. Acknowledging the arguments on both sides and those arguments that fall between, we strive to meet the needs of today while looking to the future we want to see for the blind. Mark Riccobono is the first blind person ever to drive a vehicle without sighted assistance in front of thousands at a public event. Here is his most recent experience, this time as an observer, as we try incrementally to tackle one of the most persistent barriers faced by the blind-transportation: [PHOTO CAPTION: Dan Parker and Mark Riccobono pose with the motorcycle that made Salt Flats history.] In 2011 we held the first public demonstration of technologies built under the Blind Driver Challenge (BDC) of the NFB. It took almost a decade of dreaming out loud, tolerating friendly nods by individuals who thought we were out of our minds, and overcoming our own uneasiness before we were able to secure partners to work with us on the vision for blind drivers that our president, Marc Maurer, laid out for us. When we finally had the breakthrough with bright partners who were prepared to go the distance with us, we knew we needed a place for the first demonstration that fit the significance of the moment. The famed Daytona International Speedway had the type of reputation equal to the challenge, and we prepared for a public demonstration that would help the rest of the world notice our capacity as blind people. Federationists came from all parts of the country to share the moment, even though some were still uncertain about the outcome and whether it was worth the sacrifice of resources that might be used for other important goals. As you know, at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 29, 2011, I jumped into our NFB Blind Driver Challenge car, gave a thumbs up, honked the horn, and drove 1.5 miles of the Daytona road course. People often ask me, "What was it like to drive at Daytona?" And I still have trouble describing it exactly. Until this week I never fully understood why. This article is partially a report on the progress of our Blind Driver Challenge initiative, partially the story of our second critical milestone in that effort, and partially an open reflection of why the Daytona question has been hard to answer. Since the Daytona demonstration we have continued to present our vision for the "intersection of innovation," wherein blind people actively participate in building cutting-edge technologies side by side with the most creative inventors we can find. Sometimes we have discussed the next component needed to make blind driving a reality for all. At other times we have speculated about how our experience and perspective will intersect with the general direction of driving technology (both in the driverless car movement and within the traditional model of today's transportation systems). We have talked with universities, technology companies, designers, car companies, and hundreds of individuals whose perspective has been changed as a result of getting to know our blind driver work. Flying airplanes, riding bikes, and enhancing traditional navigation techniques are just some of the topics we have explored. While many ideas continue to get kicked around, some proposals slowly circulate, and an increasing number of important connections get made every month, there is not an immediate Daytona-like milestone identified in the immediate future. The true innovative nature of the Federation is that we are always seeking to expand the horizons of independence. It is our organizational readiness that allows us to quickly take advantage of the right strategic partners when they come. Enter Dan Parker-a sighted drag racer who hit a wall at 175 MPH on March 31, 2012, leaving him completely blind, along with other significant injuries. After eight months of recuperating and lying around not knowing what he could do as a blind person, Dan made up his mind. He had been riding motorcycles since he was eight, and he had extensive experience around, on, and in cars and motorcycles. He had always had a dream of racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Dan decided that the way to overcome the fears and limitations he had associated with blindness was to pursue his quest for the Salt-to build and independently run his own motorcycle out on the Salt Flats at a sanctioned event. Dan wrote to me because he wanted to learn more about our Blind Driver Challenge work. Before I could get back to Dan, he got in touch with Joanne Wilson. Joanne called me and asked if I would talk to Dan. Knowing that Joanne is not fooled easily, I said I would call him. Admittedly, the only thing that stuck in my head was that a guy went blind not long ago, has had no training as a blind person, and wants to race a motorcycle. I wondered to myself whether this guy was just trying to avoid the fact that he was blind or whether he really had a good plan. It did not take long during my first telephone conversation with Dan to realize that I was speaking to a guy who is humble, driven, ready to learn, and eager to give back. Since that first call I have had the opportunity to break bread with Dan, talk in depth about his quest and his hopes for the future, and speculate with him about where we might go next. Dan quickly found his local NFB chapter in Columbus, Georgia, and his spirit, actions, and words naturally resemble those of longtime Federationists even though he has known the organization for only a short time. For true racers "running at the Salt" is a big deal. The Bonneville Salt Flats is a densely packed salt pan that sits at an elevation of 4,219 feet in northwestern Utah. The area is said to be a remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, and, at forty square miles in size, it is the largest of many salt flats located west of the Great Salt Lake. The property is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and it was first tested for driving in 1907. The first land speed record was set at Bonneville in 1914 by Teddy Tetzlaff. The Bonneville Speedway-as it is commonly known-is frequently misunderstood to be a space for drag racing. Since the salt is somewhat slick, maintaining traction is a major concern of every racer. Therefore, the salt surface is not ideal for the objective of drag racing-rapid acceleration over a short period of time. The objective for racers at Bonneville is tremendous speeds achieved over great distances. Cars start slower than many expect, but they ultimately achieve mind-blowing speeds. With the tremendous open space at the flats there is plenty of room to get up to speed and decelerate safely. Five major land-speed events take place at the Bonneville Salt Flats (many other club and private events take place during the year). Three of these events welcome cars, trucks, and motorcycles-Speed Week (mid-August), World of Speed (September), and World Finals (early October). World records are contested at the Mike Cook ShootOut in September. The fifth event is the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials, which is exclusively for motorcycles. A series of timing associations organize events and certify speed records. Dan came to the NFB Jernigan Institute to learn more about the techniques and technologies used in our Blind Driver Challenge vehicle. Dan shared his quest with Dr. Maurer, including his plan to build his own customized motorcycle (doing the design and machining himself), equipping it with a GPS guidance system allowing him to drive the two-mile course independently, and entering it into the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials. No blind person had ever entered the BUB event, and Dan had already successfully lobbied the organizers of the event to accept his application. After meeting with Dan extensively and recognizing that his quest fit within the vision for our NFB Blind Driver Challenge initiative, Dr. Maurer agreed to the NFB's sponsoring Dan's quest. While Dan had made significant progress on his own, he credits the NFB sponsorship for giving his quest the resources it needed to make it the final mile and giving him a support network and credibility that are unparalleled. At Dr. Maurer's direction I began working closely with Dan, providing him with the experience of our previous blind-driver work and receiving regular updates on his testing. About one week out from the BUB event, we all agreed that Dan and his machine were ready for prime time. I made my plans to head to the Salt Flats, along with Ilana Posner from our Jernigan Institute staff. Despite our advance work we really had no idea what to expect. Events at the Salt are different from anything I have ever encountered. It starts with the drive to the Salt. We took Interstate 80, exit 4, toward Bonneville/Speedway. We turned left on Leppy Pass Road. Then we made a slight right onto Bonneville Speedway Road-which stretched out for five miles, at which point the ground around us was desert-like. The five-mile trip brought us to a cul-de-sac where we had to secure admission to the BUB event. At that point we were permitted to enter the Salt, which started out slightly bumpy but quickly smoothed to a relatively flat, hard surface. Ilana said she could not see anything in the distance besides the white salt stretching on for miles. The only objects visible on the surface were the orange cones that were strategically placed to guide cars to the pit area. In the middle of nowhere on the salt we found a temporary racing community. A pit area stretched on for a mile. The tech area could be found at the end of the pits. Tech was where motorcycles were reviewed and approved to run. Beyond tech was the pre-staging area where motorcycles, trailers carrying motorcycles, chase trucks, and other support vehicles lined up before going to the final staging before their run. In the far distance a five-mile and seven-mile straight-line track was set up to accommodate one racer at a time. A short, ten-foot-high observation tower sat on the side of the track for race officials. A small food area and even a radio station booth could also be found in the pit area (event activities were broadcast on the local 89.7 FM station). The salt itself is hard packed and gets on everything. Coats of sunscreen are needed to protect from the sun and the reflection of the sun. Lots of drinking water is required since just being out there you can taste the salt on your lips. When the wind picks up with any gusto, you can imagine what happens. Dan explained to me that, after running his motorcycle on the flats, he will have to replace all of the bolts because of the tremendous corrosion caused by the salt. Dan's first task was to get approval from the tech officials for him and his motorcycle to run. High speed is what events on the Salt are known for, and safety is a central issue for all drivers. Having a blind man wanting to drive independently on the track raised a lot of questions. It took all of the first day (Sunday) to get the motorcycle ready and tested before the tech folks were prepared to look at it. One advantage of the Salt is that there is a lot of open space. The tech officials allowed the team to set up a temporary quarter-mile track for Dan to practice on and to demonstrate the motorcycle to the tech officials. Dan designed the motorcycle in his head based on his experience with vehicles and after talking to experienced Salt riders. The motorcycle was a beautiful, red, three-wheel-trike configuration. Dan machined much of the frame himself. His machine included an Aprilia RS50 engine, a five-speed transmission, and all Airtech streamlining. A small disc-shaped GPS unit was mounted on the front of the motorcycle. Sponsor logos, including those of the NFB and our Blind Driver Challenge, were displayed prominently on the body of the machine. The bike is driven with the rider lying on his chest in a racing position. A chest pad supports the weight of the upper torso, freeing the rider's arms to feel the bike's movements for better control. Small supports provide comfort to the rider's shins. The seat of the motorcycle is also red and in Dan's words "is not built for comfort." [PHOTO CAPTION: Dan Parker on his bike] On Sunday afternoon we observed Dan on his machine for the first time. Sporting a cool set of protective leathers with the NFB logos, including Whozit, Dan climbed on his machine and prepared to ride. This time I was the spectator, and I began reflecting upon all of my own feelings when learning to master driving with the blind driver technologies. All of us who were on Dan's team believed in what was possible, but I wondered whether the officials would have the same faith in a blind guy. When Dan cranked up and took the quarter mile at a speed slightly better than thirty miles an hour, I knew that, if the officials were open-minded, there was a good chance Dan would be permitted to run. After he took a number of other practice rides, my excitement grew, anticipating the real event to come. Late Sunday evening, after the official BUB events were over for the day, Dan had the opportunity to demonstrate his skill and approach. Now is the time to pause to say that all of the event staff and officials from the BUB, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), and the The F?d?ration Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM-International Motorcycling Federation)- who interacted with the Parker team were extremely professional, helpful, and keenly interested. It was clear that some were not really sure why a blind person would want to do what Dan was seeking to do. It was equally clear that some did not know exactly how to deal with this first-ever set of circumstances. At no time did I sense that any of the race officials were reluctant to let Dan into the event based on blindness. If Dan could demonstrate that his approach worked and that adequate safety controls were in place, they would give him a chance based on a strong code of conduct among the racing community at the Salt. Dan's demonstration runs in front of the officials had two distinct disadvantages. The first was the roughness of the Salt. While the Salt is relatively flat, it is not well-groomed like the official track area. The second disadvantage was the wind. As evening draws closer, the winds at the Salt pick up-most riders try to make their runs early in the morning to avoid wind interference with their speed-record attempts. Dan would have to demonstrate his motorcycle at 7 p.m. when a fair amount of crosswind was blowing. Despite these two disadvantages, Dan showed true Federation determination and confidence. After explaining the system, the safety fallbacks, and the machine's components, Dan mounted for his demonstration ride. Dan's guidance system is comprised of a GPS unit programmed to keep him on the centerline of his track. As he veers to the left or right of the centerline, an increasingly louder frequency sounds in the left or right ear, indicating which side of the centerline he is on. If Dan drives too far off the centerline, the motorcycle automatically shuts off. The guidance approach is effectively the audio equivalent to the drive grip in our BDC car. Since Dan would have a closed course with no obstacles, his primary job was to drive as straight as he could to find a groove where he could get the speed up as high as possible. Dan nailed the first demonstration run, and the officials asked him to do it again. On the second run Dan just tripped the outer limit of his left boundary and the motorcycle automatically shut off. It turned out that this was useful because the officials wanted to know that this safety feature worked as the team claimed. On the next run they had the motorcycle intentionally driven toward the boundary to confirm that it would again shut down automatically. Then a couple of the officials tested the bike and Dan's navigation system. The event officials were impressed, and they quickly approved Dan to make an official pass on Monday. On Monday the team got to the Salt early. After prepping the motorcycle and testing all of the components, the team headed to the pre- staging area. Dan would be followed on the course by a chase truck. The primary purpose of the chase truck was to deliver the motorcycle to the starting line and get it off the course as soon as the run was over. However, the chase truck also allowed the team to monitor the system for problems and to be close to the action. Dan would have to drive a two-mile- long stretch. Mile one is to build speed, while the actual speed of the run is measured based on the start and end times achieved in mile two. Plenty of room is available after mile two to come to a safe stop. During mile one the chase truck would be directly behind Dan, but the truck would have to pull to the side before mile two to avoid tripping the timing devices. I was honored that Dan offered me a seat in the chase truck, along with Ronnie, a key team member and the driver of the chase truck; Jennifer, Dan's girlfriend; Patrick, the engineer who built the guidance system; and Matthew and Terry, who provided support for the motorcycle. The staging area was a classic case of "hurry up and wait." Once the line of riders in front of us began making runs, things started happening very quickly. It reminded me a lot of waiting and waiting in the pits at Daytona until 10:55 a.m. came and things moved without any time to think. The symbolism was not lost on me as the clock advanced towards 11 a.m. local time and Dan's turn approached. Let me return to Daytona for a moment. People often ask me about the experience of driving at Daytona. It was truly unparalleled. It was one of the most intense, yet one of the calmest moments of my life. Maybe it is hard to describe because the adrenaline was flowing so intensely. Maybe it is difficult to articulate because I had a job to do, and, while it was fun, it was also the most pressure-filled assignment Dr. Maurer has ever given me. Maybe it is hard to capture in words because it just cannot be adequately described. All of those things are probably true, but, as I sat in the chase truck, I reflected on how different the world is after Daytona. People asked me what I was going to say when I got out of the car at the finish line in Daytona, and I had a stock of great one-liners. When the real moment came and I hit the brake, put the car in park, and honked the horn, no words were equal to the demonstration itself. As I sat with the next person to advance our blind driver work, I finally understood why I could not adequately answer that question about Daytona. The reason is that my own thinking about the world transformed in that 1.5-mile drive around the Daytona road course. When I got out of the car and met Dr. Maurer, I no longer knew what the limits are for us as blind people. My perspective on the world changed during that drive. My understanding of the capacity we have as blind people, the tremendous imagination and innovation we can harness when we work together in the Federation, and the faith we share with each other in testing those limits transformed my whole outlook on where we can go next. In fact, it focused me on what is next and how we get there. I cannot answer the Daytona question adequately because Daytona is not the biggest thing we have done. The biggest thing is yet to come, and, if we spend too much time looking back, we might miss what is coming next. As I ran through these reflections in my mind, I pulled my Louis Braille coin out of my pocket. I reflected that, in the moments before the drive at Daytona, I was keenly aware that I was the only person that could screw the whole thing up, but that there could be no greater opportunity than to be a pioneer. That coin was with me during my drive at Daytona. I quietly handed Dan my Braille coin and asked him to carry it with him as a symbol of the bond of faith that we share with each other in the Federation. At approximately 11 a.m. mountain time on Monday, August 26, Dan Parker kicked off from the starting line and headed off on mile one. He started at a steady pace and, as he approached the beginning of mile two, he began to find his groove. He was going fast enough that the chase truck had lost pace and needed to hustle to catch back up. Early in mile one Dan was, at most, fourteen feet off the centerline. During mile two Dan stayed within four feet of the centerline, and toward the end he began to "let it out" and push his bike to go faster. He completed the first historic independent run by a blind person at Bonneville with an officially recorded speed of 55.331 MPH. This blind driver was inspired by what I witnessed on the Salt that day. Dan handed me my coin back, and I wondered where we might go next. Dan and I spent some time speculating about creating a Blind Driver Challenge Racing League out on the Salt, getting a junior dragster equipped with technology so blind youth could run the Salt, and all sorts of other wonderful ideas. Dan never did get to make a second run due to time constraints, and I am certain he would have bettered his speed by at least ten miles per hour on the second pass. Nevertheless, we had an opportunity to speculate about what is ahead for us as blind people and how we might get there. In Dan's words, "We achieved what we came to do, and we can now begin thinking about what is next." I did not bother to press Dan on what it felt like to race Bonneville. In one sense I am certain it was one of the most thrilling experiences he has ever had in his life. In another sense I am certain that he will not be able adequately to articulate it. Dan Parker is a member of the NFB. His spirit, determination, and eagerness to give back radiate from every conversation. I am quite certain he is focused on what is next. If I were willing to bet my Louis Braille coin on it, I am certain that the blind will not be disappointed with the road ahead. Our Federation continues our journey of innovation and adventure. We can now add high- speed racing to our suite of blind driver achievements and a new Federationist ready to put his foot on the accelerator of progress. When you meet Dan Parker at an upcoming Federation event, remember to welcome him to the Federation before you press him on what it was like to run the Salt. [PHOTO CAPTION: Dan poses triumphantly with his bike and his long white cane.] ---------- Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL): Changing Educational Expectations for the Blind of America by Mark A. Riccobono, Sandy Halverson, Kayleigh Joiner, and Raveena Ali From the Editor: Mark Riccobono is the executive director of the Jernigan Institute, the husband of the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, and the father of three children, two of whom are blind. He was the moderator of the panel on Saturday, July 6, 2013, that discussed one of the most exciting programs the Federation has devised and run. Here is what he and other members of his panel said to the convention: [PHOTO CAPTION: Mark Riccobono at the 2013 convention] Mark Riccobono: "It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting." This quote is taken from author Paulo Coelho's book The Alchemist-a novel that is now described as an eternal testament to the transformative power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts. The Alchemist was first released when I was a rising senior in high school. At that time my vision was not much better than today-20/1000 on a good day in one eye-but I did not think of myself as a blind person. I did not read The Alchemist when it first came out because reading was a painful strain for me. I did not know what my dreams were because in my heart I did not believe that I had the ability to pursue them. I did not accept the opportunity to learn Braille because I did not have any idea why I would want to learn it. That year was the first time a teacher had ever raised the idea of Braille with me. The expectation was not that I would learn Braille but simply that they could teach me Braille if I wanted to learn it. Why would I want to? What would I gain? How would it help me pursue my dreams? No one presented answers to these mysterious questions. I was left with a riddle that had no obvious answer. Three years later I found the National Federation of the Blind, and instantly I had a circle of blind friends who took the time to teach me that I had something to offer, that I could pursue my own dreams, and that there were many great reasons to want to learn Braille. In The Alchemist Coelho writes, "When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too." This sentiment articulates my experience with the love and faith I found in members of the Federation and their expectations for me as a blind person. One of the many gifts I will always treasure from this organization is that my blind friends took the time to teach me why I would want to learn Braille and then to teach me how to read and write the code itself. Since learning Braille more than fifteen years ago, I have joined my blind brothers and sisters in seeking innovative ways to change the expectations related to Braille instruction for children and adults. In the journey presented in The Alchemist, we find that, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." This is true of our movement as well-maybe the way to state it is "When you dream of something, all the Federation conspires in helping you to achieve it." Members of our Maryland affiliate were tired of blind children being refused Braille instruction, and they had a dream of raising the expectations for these youth. In fact, it was Jackie Anderson, this year's NFB Distinguished Educator of Blind Children, and another blind mom who feared the low expectations the school system would have for their children and dreamt of building a better model for Braille literacy through the Federation. In the summer of 2008 the first Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) program was held in Maryland, and it was immediately clear that this program had the potential to change expectations for the education of blind children around the country. BELL is a two-week summer program to provide young blind and low-vision children with fun, intensive Braille instruction in an environment of high expectations and positive attitudes with role models from the National Federation of the Blind. In The Alchemist we are offered the observation that "Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time." After witnessing the impact of the first BELL Program, we brought the model into the Jernigan Institute, added some new components, hired some quality Braille instructors, and piloted our approach in Maryland and Georgia during the summer of 2009. Two affiliates were still not enough. Today we find rising expectations around Braille with the NFB BELL Program being offered this summer in almost 40 percent of our affiliates, but we will not have realized the transformative nature of our dreams until the bell rings for Braille literacy throughout every affiliate in our Federation. This morning we offer you different perspectives on the BELL Program to demonstrate why we all should be proud of our accomplishments and committed to the progress yet to be made. Our first presenter represents the long-time committed members of the Federation who understand the importance of Braille and who want to change the expectations. For even the most committed, the notion of undertaking the BELL Program may feel daunting. Here to share her experience, to invite you to raise your own expectations for what we can do together, and to confront your fears about leading the way with the NFB BELL Program is the president of the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille and the lead coordinator for the NFB of Virginia BELL Programs, Sandy Halverson. [PHOTO CAPTION: Sandy Halverson at the 2013 convention] Sandy Halverson: I'm going to tell you how I went from skeptic (which I'm usually not) to sold on BELL, which I totally am now-how blind kids benefit and why your state should find ways to become a part of our National Federation of the Blind BELL ringers. The NFB of Virginia first began to consider conducting a BELL Program near the end of 2009. After a conference call to discuss some of our concerns with the Jernigan Institute education team, we decided that we simply couldn't afford to participate. So I was thinking we were done with all that BELL business when our president, Fred Schroeder, said, "Sandra..."-I knew what was coming because he never calls me Sandra-"I want a BELL Program in 2010, and I want you to coordinate it." So I said, "All right," but I was sure he was crazy, and I was certain it would not work. Throughout the BELL volunteer coordinator training weekend at our National Center, we talked about funding-we will never raise that much. We talked about recruiting five or six students from ages four to eleven for two weeks-we will never find them; we talked about the supplies, food, and volunteers that would be needed-not happening. However, since problem-solving is one of my strengths, and I like the challenge of a project with lots of detail, I ditched my negative thinking and decided to act positively. After all, if I could come up with the hardcopy Braille system we have used since 1980 for tracking Washington Seminar appointment and report data collection, surely I could whip this BELL project into shape. So what does the coordinator do? Identify members in your affiliate, including your parents of blind children division-people who are passionate about blind kids; like fundraising; enjoy being out in the community; and have good Braille, travel, and organizational skills. Someone in that group is likely to be a member of a church that has school and playground facilities that meet our needs, and lots of churches do not charge for their use, though, like the NFB, they appreciate donations. Our members who manage vending locations will often contribute water, snacks, lunch, or whatever else they can; ask them. Become very familiar with the curriculum. You won't be teaching all the classes, but the reading, writing, blindness skills, cooking, and craft projects will determine the supplies, transportation, and volunteers you need. Our funding comes from local Kiwanis and Lions Clubs, our local chapters, the board of the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired, one school district-a first-time occurrence for us-and this year for the first time a mayor's commission on the disabled has said that they will cover the participation cost of two children in one of our programs this summer, a contact made by our scholarship winner, Tasha Hubbard. I certainly had never thought of that committee, but will from now on. The coordinator recruits a teacher of blind students and helps find parents. Before you decide you don't know any teachers of blind students or parents with blind children, our national office maintains databases of Braille Pals families, Braille Readers Are Leaders contest participants, free white cane recipients, Future Reflections readers, and those who receive American Action Fund Free Braille Books. Your library for the blind and state rehabilitation agency will often mail to families in targeted zip codes, but you get only the names of those who choose to register or contact you directly. Our Jernigan Institute staff will also help with information about teachers of blind students. Our first Virginia BELL Program did happen in 2010, and Virginia has been ringing bells throughout the state ever since. Jackie Otwell, whom many of you know, was a godsend to Mike Fish and me that year because Mike was a new teacher of blind students, and I was a first-time coordinator. Jackie Anderson, Casey Robertson, and Sheena Manuel are honorary Virginians and phenomenal teachers who are passionate about their work, believe in our positive philosophy of blindness, and love working with blind children. So what did we do in our first program? None of our students had been to a library containing a large collection of children's Braille books, so we decided to go to the Martin Luther King Library in DC. Our six kids, ranging in age from four to eleven, and lots of volunteers, one per child, used our canes to walk the two blocks to the bus stop, boarded a bus, got off at a Metro station, had lunch at McDonald's, where our bill was so high I had to run my debit card twice, and rode the Metro. Our students used canes for the first time on escalators and walked several blocks, only to learn that we were in the wrong place. I think the adults had more trouble with the ninety-plus temperature and equally high humidity than the kids did. But retracing our steps and walking even farther was not a good option, so I started handing out money like a drug dealer, organized our crowd in cabs, and off to the library we went. The kids had a great time and were absolutely worn out by the time their parents took them home at the end of the day. Our youngest student Hannah said, "I went on a bus, the Metro, and a cab. I want to ride in an airplane." I told her she'd have to talk with her mom about that. One of our kids ate kosher meals and snacks, so her parents packed her lunch items separately so that she'd have to put her sandwich together like everyone else. Kosher ingredients were used in our cooking projects as well. We also went to a museum, a farmers' market, a local chocolate shop, and a boat ride to learn about Eastern Shore of Virginia water life. One of our kids was spotted in the grocery store with his mother using the cane he had resisted at the beginning of our program. The field trips were not organized by the sighted for us; we did that ourselves. We didn't drive the bus or other transportation, but we talked about how, as blind people, we could get the information we needed and how we would transact our business with the drug store proprietor; McDonald's; and Wal-Mart, where we bought ingredients for our closing ceremony ice cream social using Braille cards indicating each student's purchase. We're teaching blind kids how to have fun and build self-confidence in their home and school lives. So what's in it for the kids? Karman and Jada, two of our NFB of Virginia participants, are here attending their first national convention. They do not attend the same school and never met until last year at BELL. Now they talk to each other every day, probably more often than their parents know. They will be participating in our 2013 Virginia Beach BELL Program. Recruiting is part of everything we do. Each of us was recruited by someone to become a part of this organization, so I was pleased to recruit Diane McGeorge after our first year of BELL and have gone on to talk with folks from Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, and California, to name a few states. I cannot commend our Jernigan Institute staff enough for their commitment to this program--the curriculum and the resources are always available to us. Coordinating a successful program takes time-talking with parents on multiple occasions until their child has been registered, recruiting volunteers, finding the location, reviewing IEPs and consent forms, resolving food and transportation concerns, and all the other stuff, but a good coordinator delegates and follows up, confirming that all tasks have been completed. You get those guidelines from the curriculum, too. Thank you, Dr. Maurer, for your support of and commitment to this program to bring our message of hope to the next generation of young blind children. Thank you, Fred, for causing me to do something I didn't think would work, and thank you, John, for not complaining when I have one more call to return, more BELL supplies are on our front porch, and you'll have to bring home dinner again. This is why we do what we do, and may there be more of us next year singing "Ring My Bell!" Thank you. Mark Riccobono: Our BELL Programs create opportunities to engage with outstanding Braille instructors who had not known the Federation previously and provide a means for us to train future teachers whose broader impact on the educational system will be the change we want to see. Our next presenter is one of those future teachers who will bring the spirit and high expectations of the NFB BELL Program to her work in the field. A blind woman, who herself has had to overcome not receiving early Braille instruction in the educational system and whose mentoring and passion for Braille now helps fuel our NFB of Texas BELL Program, here is Kayleigh Joiner. [PHOTO CAPTION: Kayleigh Joiner at the 2013 convention] Kayleigh Joiner: Like many other students in this country, I wasn't taught Braille because of my limited amount of residual vision. My TVI deemed me a visual learner, which made me feel like a broken sighted student. Secretly I began teaching myself Braille, through distance education courses from the Hadley School for the Blind, when I was thirteen years old. My TVI chastised me for teaching myself Braille. After a five- year battle with the school district, I finally received Braille instruction my senior year of high school. During this battle I realized that I wanted to become a TVI so that I could make sure that no other blind students would have to go through the same struggles I did. I know firsthand the challenges that come with visual learning for blind students. In the beginning of fourth grade my mom began to doubt whether large print would be effective for me. She saw me struggle to keep up with my sighted peers. When she approached the school district about these issues, she was blamed for these troubles because she wanted me to do the same amount of work as my sighted peers. The school district wanted to exempt me from standardized testing and reduce the amount of work as a solution. They never considered Braille as an option or an equalizer. She was told, "You don't want her to look different." (As if having my face an inch from the book didn't make me look different already.) In junior high and high school it would take me anywhere from four to six hours to complete my homework every day. The IEP team wanted to blame the time spent on the fact that I was taking several AP classes, instead of placing the blame where it belonged: on the choice of reading medium. This is why I am so passionate about the BELL Program. I want to help reverse the Braille literacy crisis by teaching Braille and other blindness skills to all students, including those with residual vision. I want to ensure that our future generation of blind students is literate. I want my students to believe in themselves. I want to lead by example to show that blind people can be independent, productive members of society. Even today blind students are being told that Braille is hard to learn. However, through activities such as Braille Twister, drawing pictures with your Perkins Brailler, and beach-ball Braille, the students in the BELL Program realize that Braille is fun and not hard to learn. Some students may be told that Braille is slow; however, in the BELL Program students hear competent blind adults reading Braille and realize that Braille is anything but slow. Through the Captain Whozit skit the students learn that the long white cane is a symbol of independence. They also learn about the positive and negative ways that blind people can be portrayed in books and other media. It is our goal for the students to leave the program with improved skills and a brighter outlook on their future. I first got involved with the BELL Program in 2010 and 2011 when I shadowed Emily Gibbs, our lead teacher of blind students. In 2012 Richie Flores gave me the opportunity to teach at our three BELL Programs. During that summer, not only was I teaching blind students Braille, but I was also learning how to be a better teacher. This program has reinforced my belief that even students with additional disabilities can still benefit from learning the alternative skills of blindness. One student that I had last summer didn't believe that he could successfully pour water wearing sleepshades due to his cerebral palsy. Because of my belief in him and his abilities, he was able to accomplish the task with great pride. Another student who was cutting up fruit for a fruit kabob didn't think that blind people could be chefs. This student didn't consider that cutting up fruit was something that a chef would do. I was proud to help broaden her mind about the jobs that blind people have. This summer I had the opportunity to teach nonvisual skills in our two BELL Programs in Texas. During the beginning of the week I noticed that one student was showing some resistance when it came to wearing sleepshades. He was on the verge of tears. I explained to him that wearing sleepshades helps develop our other senses. Lo and behold, by the end of the week during our sound scavenger hunt this student kept his sleep shades down, and his confidence in using his cane grew. It brings me such joy to see the growth in the students from the beginning to the end of the program. Some students are using their canes more than before, while others have gone from knowing no Braille letters to learning the first five. One aspect of the BELL Program that distinguishes it from other programs is that blind adults are teaching and modeling the skills of blindness for the BELL students. This program is different from other day programs for blind children because the staff has high expectations for the students and they encourage the students to be independent. The BELL Program is a great opportunity for those who want to pursue a degree in education. This program allows future teachers to gain experience in working with young children, implementing classroom management techniques, and planning curriculum. Working the BELL Program is one of the highlights of my summer. By providing these students with a foundation in Braille, we are helping to ensure that they have a bright future, full of limitless possibilities. These students are the future of our organization, and I am proud to do my part in giving them the skills they will need to succeed and live an independent life. Mark Riccobono: My wife Melissa became president of our Maryland affiliate shortly after the first BELL Program, and Braille enrichment has been a significant part of our summer ever since. We did not know that two years later we would find an even deeper reason to build the dream of the NFB BELL Program. Our first daughter Oriana was born in May 2010, and, when the doctor first mentioned to me that her eyes did not respond as they expected, I immediately remembered the pain of my own struggle for literacy. The difference this time was that I already knew why Braille was important to learn and that the NFB BELL Program had raised the expectations for early Braille instruction. Our daughter is now three, and we are beginning to teach her the code. Next summer we expect her to be ringing the bell in our Baltimore BELL Program. Before I introduce our last speaker and our reason for building this movement, let me take a moment to thank my brothers and sisters in the Federation for giving me literacy, and on behalf of my family I want to publicly thank Jackie Anderson, Sharon Maneki, and the other members of our Maryland affiliate who have made it possible for our daughter to ring the BELL someday-you have helped ensure that my daughter has greater opportunities than I had, and that is why Melissa and I will not stop until all blind children have the same opportunity. Now for our star BELL ringer. A rising second grader at Springdale Park Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia, who knows that Braille is knowledge and knowledge is power. Here to tell us about what the NFB BELL Program means to her is Raveena Alli. [PHOTO CAPTION: Raveena Alli speaking at the 2013 convention] Raveena Alli: Good morning, my Federation family. Hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful week so far. I know I did. My name is Raveena Alli, and I am six years old, but very soon to be seven; my birthday is on July 22. I am about to enter second grade at Springdale Park Elementary, which is in Atlanta, Georgia. So in my hand I am holding a peach: can I hear it for my Georgia family please! So, first of all, before I get started, I have three jokes to share, are you ready for this....I can't hear you....Are you ready for this? Jokes: Why did the boy bring a ladder to school? He wanted to go to high school. Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because: 7 8 9. Where do pencils go for vacation? Pencil-vania. So today I am here to talk to you about the BELL Program. As you heard, BELL stands for Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning. Say it very slowly. The BELL Program teaches and supports Braille literacy among blind children like me. I attended my first BELL Program two years ago when I was four, and it was so much fun. The two-week summer program introduced me to that super heavy piece of machinery called a Braillewriter. The Braillewriter is now and will always be one of my very best friends because it has taught me how to write Braille. I also played with muffin tins and balls to help me learn the Braille cell. That was really cool. It took a little while for me to learn my alphabet, but now I have moved onto contracted Braille, and I can even make birthday cards and holiday cards with my Braillewriter. I really enjoyed the BELL Program because, in addition to learning Braille, we did arts and crafts, a Braille dance which I would really like to show you, but I might fall off the stage, and we wouldn't want that. I also enjoyed chatting as you can see and meeting new friends, and we talked a lot at lunchtime, and we went on field trips like to the Children's Museum. Besides learning to read and write Braille, the teacher and volunteers taught us about confidence and making sure we use our canes at all times to get around. They said we have to be independent, independent, Independent! At camp we also did a lot of role plays, teaching others to be polite and courteous, for example, letting people at the grocery store know that it is ok to talk directly to me. They don't have to talk through my mom to ask about me or my cane. I can politely answer and speak up for myself. We also did role plays to teach a sighted person to ask if help is needed and not just grab my arm; that's not really cool. I might need to take their arm, not the other way around. Please stand up and repeat after me: Braille is cool! It's a wonderful tool. I like BELL. Can't you tell! A special shout out to my Georgia president--Mr. Garrick Scott. [applause] [PHOTO CAPTION: Raveena Alli leaving stage] Mark Riccobono: There you have the journey of the NFB BELL Program. You do not have to be an alchemist to turn dreams into reality. You need the love, faith, imagination, and commitment that we find in this convention hall-the dynamic combination of elements that come together to make up the National Federation of the Blind. Let the word go out from this day forward that we will not stop until the bell rings for literacy, freedom, and higher expectations for the blind in every community in our nation. Let's go for Braille! ------------------- 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! ---------------------- Editor's Note: nineteen affiliates conducted BELL Programs during the summer of 2013. Those affiliates are California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. ---------- A Teacher in the Movement Who Believed in Blind Children and Taught the Legislature to Share Her Faith by Casey Robertson From the Editor: Casey Robertson is a teacher of the blind who lives in Mississippi. Active followers of our Internet mailing lists will remember the updates about the campaign in that state to pass a Braille bill and about a video generated for the Mississippi Legislature featuring young children reading Braille. Casey Robertson was a primary mover in that effort. She was slated to speak later on the convention agenda but, as happens from time to time, agenda items get moved, and she was called ahead of time to make her presentation on July 5. Here is what she said to the 2013 convention and the remarks President Maurer made immediately following: [PHOTO CAPTION: Casey Robertson speaking at the 2013 convention] Good morning, Federation family and friends. I am here this morning, but, if you look at your agenda, you might see you were supposed to hear about surviving potential disaster. Well I think my story goes right along with that because, if we do not change the way students in our country are taught, we are headed for disaster. [applause] I am Casey Robertson, a teacher of blind students with a master's degree from Louisiana Tech, [applause] and I am currently a doctoral student at Walden University. Last year a dream came true for three women in our affiliate and was backed by a great state president, Sam Gleese. We wanted to change the way blind students were taught in Mississippi. We were met with a lot of opposition. We were told, "We do not believe that blind students learn as much or as well as their sighted peers." I ask you today, do you believe in blind students? [scattered cheers] That wasn't strong enough. Do you believe blind students can learn? [applause] I thought maybe you might've been taking a drink of your coffee or something, so I was going to check by asking again. We approached the legislature and asked them if they would work with us on a bill. The response was, "Well, we have a state school for the blind. Don't they meet our blind students' service needs?" Our answer was, "No, they do not, but, even if they did, what we want is to improve services for blind students in public schools." So a legislator, Tom Miles, was gracious enough to meet with us. As we sat down with him, I realized education began right there. He was not aware that we had blind students in public education, so we knew we had a challenge from the beginning. We started teaching legislators about blindness. We did this through emails, through meetings, through posts, through flyers-we taught them everything there is to know about blind students and how they learn. One of our most successful strategies was to let blind students speak for themselves. [cheers] As a teacher of the blind I can do many things, but I cannot speak as a blind child speaks. So I gathered blind students, and we went to the state capitol. We had meetings with legislators. When they said, "But Braille is slow-your opposition is saying Braille is too slow for us to invest in," I let my students read for them. [cheers] Some members of the education committee exclaimed: "I can't read print that fast." So we killed the myth that Braille is slow, again by letting the students show their stuff. [applause] The second argument advanced by the opposition was, "We don't have the teachers. We can't proclaim that these kids need Braille because we don't have teachers to serve them." Our answer was "That's not our problem." That's what we were there to change. Soon the legislature began to see the wisdom of our beliefs, and I will never forget the ah-ha moment when one of them called me one night at home. He said, "Casey, I get it. I finally get it. These kids can learn; these kids are the same as their sighted peers. What have we been doing?" [applause] Suddenly he was a man on a mission. Before our bill hit the floor, it had twenty-six bipartisan cosponsors. When it passed in the Mississippi House of Representatives the first time, the vote was a unanimous 100 percent support. Now many of you are thinking, "Well, we have a Braille bill in our state; what makes yours so special?" Let me tell you some of the important parts it contains. Our bill now requires, just as federal law does, that all students who have 20/200 vision and are legally blind receive Braille while they're waiting on assessments. [cheers] Our teachers can no longer just give any type of assessment. They have to give a research-based assessment for blind and low-vision students. This is important because the National Federation of the Blind worked with Louisiana Tech and the Institute on Blindness to develop the very first research-based tool, the National Reading Media Assessment. I kind of knew ahead of time (but they didn't know) that we had the only research-based assessment. Now they use our assessment to decide whether students receive Braille or not. [applause] A battle that the National Federation of the Blind has fought for many years is to guarantee textbooks on time. Our bill says that it is against the law for students not to have textbooks at the same time (on the first day of school) as their sighted peers. It's good to talk the talk, but have they followed through? I can assure you that my students have their textbooks at their home school right now, and most were delivered before school was out last year for this coming school year. We had never gotten workbooks in the state of Mississippi. I have workbooks for my students to start school with in August. [applause] One of the greatest battles we had to fight was to require that teachers show proficiency in Braille. We actually had teachers show up and fight against the legislation by saying that they did not need to be proficient in Braille to teach blind students. We asked the teachers and the legislators, "How can you teach something that you are not proficient in?" [applause] I looked at the legislators, many of whom had kids of their own, and I said, "Would you allow your student to be taught by a teacher who could not read?" There was absolute consensus that they would not. They expected their children's teachers to be very competent and efficient in the tasks that they were teaching, especially something as fundamental as reading and writing. So from now on, in the state of Mississippi, you cannot become a TVI (teacher of the visually impaired) unless you have shown proficiency in Braille literacy. [applause] Because of surgery, I was unable to be there the day that the bill was passed on the floor of the house, but I made sure beforehand that our gallery was filled with blind students and blind adults. When the bill was passed, we had a standing ovation from the floor, which rarely happens in the legislature. One legislator asked to address the floor and was given permission. He looked up to the gallery, turned to the blind people, and said that, in his thirty-seven years as a representative, these were the most well-informed advocates he had ever seen, that they made it clear what they needed and what should be done, and that this was one time when it was really clear to him how he could vote to improve education. He concluded by saying that he was grateful for the advocacy, grateful he could help, and grateful that he could now say that he believes in blind children. Unlike most bills, ours did not contain a request for money. We gave the legislature ways that they could provide students with an effective education with the money they were already spending through the state school for the blind and the textbooks they were receiving. However, because our bill was so well constructed and well received, we had members of the financial committee approach us, and through their initiative they added to our bill a fifty-thousand-dollar appropriation each year to train teachers who are in the field but who are not currently proficient in Braille. [applause] Now let's look at what has changed for those students who gave me a reason to believe that blind children could learn: my fifteen-year-old deaf- blind child who was sitting in a public school and was illiterate because no one believed she could read-she is now reading Braille; my third grader, who was hanging in a world between print and Braille and was not literate in either one, is now proficient in Braille. Because of our bill the two sixth graders who had never had Nemeth math are now proficient in reading and are at grade level in their math classes. [applause] Our bill also requires that the state department of education recognize Braille and orientation and mobility as subjects in their core curriculum. No longer can a student be in high school and be denied orientation and mobility or Braille during the school day based on the argument that it takes away from core curriculum classes. Many of our students are helped by the National Reading Media Assessment. Without this research-based assessment we are neglecting a lot of students who are in schools and using large print, struggling with large print, and really need to change their reading medium. The third grader I spoke of, who is now reading Braille-the school did not know what to do with her. The National Reading Media Assessment showed that she was a Braille reader, and, once we changed her reading media, she was able to become proficient and literate, where she had never been able to read before. At the time we thought that this was a very small part of our bill- to ask for a research-based assessment-but it turned out to be huge. The teachers in our state are now having to go back and retest their students with low vision and blindness to see where they fall in the reading media assessment. Our federal quota numbers are coming up because we're finding more students who were in the wrong medium and struggling, but now we can allow them to be successful readers. A team made up of staff from the National Federation of the Blind and Louisiana Tech will be presenting the National Reading Media Assessment this July at the National Special Education Conference to teach special education leaders about how to assess a blind student properly and incorporate Braille into the curriculum. I ask you now, do you believe blind children can learn? [loud cheers] My belief in blind children and blind people came from the National Federation of the Blind. I look at the adults here, and I see what my students need to know to be successful blind adults. I want to thank each and every one of you for being here and helping us change what it means to be blind in Mississippi and across the nation. [cheers and applause] I also urge you not to sit still. Natalie told us yesterday about how sitting still is killing us. Well, sitting still in our affiliates is killing the chance that you can change your state law. I ask you not to wait on the National Federation of the Blind at the national level to fight every battle for us. I want you, as members of your affiliates, to get together a group to look at your Braille bill, see what needs to be changed, contact me or the Mississippi affiliate; and we can help you rewrite your bill and tell you the steps to get it changed. Don't sit and wait for someone to change what it means to be blind in your state-get moving, and make that change happen. [applause] You might say, "As an affiliate we don't have the money to change the Braille bill." Well I can tell you that, for less than a thousand dollars, we changed the entire educational system for blind students in Mississippi. [cheers] Our bill is not only helping blind students, it's also helping all students because they're learning more about blind people in their schools. As the result of our bill, our current school for the blind is being reorganized. Not only did we affect the public school system, we affected the state school for the blind and all blind students in Mississippi. I'm asking you to look at your state education acts as they pertain to blind people, seek out help if you need it, and make the changes that need to be made so that your students are getting the best possible instruction in Braille, large print, or whatever their reading medium is. Make reading a core curriculum subject. Thank you today for listening to my story and to my thoughts as to how you can change what it means to be blind. I often have people ask me, "How did you learn so much about blindness?" I say, "Well, number one, I watch blind people, and, number two, I was trained by the best in the country- Louisiana Tech." I ask you to go out, believe in blind children, and make a change. President Maurer concluded this presentation by saying: So here you are, a teacher of the blind, a parent of a deaf-blind person; you write a proposed law, and you cause it to be introduced in the legislature. You get it adopted unanimously, you get it funded, you have a standing ovation on the floor of one of the legislative bodies-we need you in Washington DC. And all of this you did because you believe in the people who needed you. I cannot but admire that kind of courage. ---------- Another Perspective on KIDS Camp by Sharon Maneki From the Editor: In June of this year we published an article by Chris Nusbaum entitled "From Doubt to Dedication: My Journey in the Federation." Chris's recounting of events that happened to him when he attended a camp sponsored by Blind Industries and Services of Maryland has occasioned several responses, some from the staff of BISM, whose perception of the camp differs greatly from Chris's. Two questions have been respectfully put to me. One is why I ran such an article without first fact- checking it. The second is whether running the article means that this is the Federation's view of the camp and of Blind Industries and Services of Maryland. When we run an article in the Monitor that we consider an investigative piece, we do our best to determine that all of the statements made are factual. Of course only a small number of articles fall into this category. Many clearly are opinion pieces-here was my day participating in a walk to fight leukemia, and here is how it felt as a blind person; here was my trip through an airport with the reactions of one woman to my journey. I published the article by Chris Nusbaum believing it was clear that this was an opinion piece being told from the perspective of a teenager and relating his perceptions as a child of six. Had I made this clear in the headnote, no one would have considered that this might be a Federation assessment of Blind Industries and Services of Maryland or the camp Chris attended. I consciously refrained from adding this cautionary note because my intention was to let Chris's article be read without apology or distance. Sharon Maneki has written to provide a different perspective about the camp, and, in the interest of fairness and in an attempt to paint a clearer picture of the camp, I gladly print it here: A competent historian tries to get as many perspectives or views as possible when writing about a particular event. When writing about specific events in the US Civil War, a historian may not limit himself to describing the perspectives of Union soldiers, but may also include those of Confederate soldiers as well as slaves and plantation owners. Although the article "From Doubt to Dedication: My Journey in the Federation," by Chris Nusbaum, in the June 2013 issue of the Braille Monitor, was intended as a personal reflection rather than historical commentary, I would like to offer another perspective on KIDS Camp (Kids Independence Development Summer Camp) that differs from Chris's perspective. KIDS Camp was a one-week, overnight camp sponsored jointly by Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) and the Parents Division of the NFB of Maryland. KIDS Camp began in 1996 and ran consecutively for about ten years. I believe Chris was enrolled in KIDS Camp in 2004, when he was six years old. As the president of the Maryland affiliate during the years when this program was offered, I always visited the camp to work with the children and to support camp staff. I genuinely enjoyed my time at KIDS Camp. I was present on the night that Chris described in his well-written article. As Chris mentioned, it was the last night of the program. At that time Chris was a timid traveler, as are many six-year-old children. Chris would stand and wait for direction and was reluctant to move at all. Camp staff wanted him to walk out to the campfire on his own. Contrary to his recollection, he was never left in the building by himself. Loretta White, the director of the program, was always nearby, waiting for Chris, and other reluctant souls, to inch their way forward. I observed Loretta bringing Chris to the campfire. She knew that, even though Chris did not accomplish the task of independent travel that night, he needed his supper. She also knew how much Chris enjoyed stories read by Kit Bloom, the Children's Librarian at the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Loretta White is an excellent teacher. She is also the mother of several severely disabled children. Because of her guidance and leadership, many blind students acquired skills and confidence at an earlier age. Today her children are remarkably independent adults despite their disabilities. The BISM staff members who assisted Loretta were top notch. Differences of opinion about past events as recalled by a young child and a teacher are not uncommon. Some children respond to a teacher's guidance immediately, some may remember a teacher's actions and may benefit from them years later, and some children may never remember a teacher's influence at all. As I look back on my KIDS Camp experiences, perhaps Chris simply was not ready for KIDS camp at that time. But we must not give in to our doubts; we must be willing to expect more from our children than they sometimes believe they can do. I am very glad that we were able to have the KIDS Camp in Maryland. I was sad to see it discontinued. I am grateful that today we have the Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) Programs nationwide and that BISM offers programs for older blind children. I regret that Chris feels that he had a bumpy start on his Federation journey. However, I stand by my earlier prediction that Chris Nusbaum will grow, mature, and become an effective leader in our movement. ---------- Ending Legalized Discrimination in Wage Payments for Disabled Americans by Gregg Harper From the Editor: Congressman Gregg Harper is the lead cosponsor of the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013. Through the courageous act of sponsoring this long overdue reform, we see his commitment; in the presentation he made on the afternoon of July 5, we see his passion. Here is what he said to the 2013 convention: [PHOTO CAPTION: Gregg Harper] Thank you so much, God bless you. Wow, what a great introduction and what a warm welcome. I'm so glad to be here with you today, and what an incredible group. I'm telling you-this is amazing. What a great turnout, and to be here with so many of you-I can't tell you how excited my wife Sydney and I are to be here. Sydney is seated on the front row just to my left, and she's the one in our family who always does the heavy lifting. Looking at your program, my goodness, what a great lineup it is. And to see friends around the room-this is a special time for me. Sydney and I left this morning about six o'clock to fly here and be with you today. I have to say this: that is probably the best reception that any member of the Congress has gotten in a long time. Now this may come as a little bit of a surprise to you, but Congress is not real popular right now. It's true. In fact, I was on a flight home a couple months ago, and somebody asked what I did, and I told them I was a lawyer. I know we've got a great group here from Mississippi, and I notice we've got people from all fifty states here-everybody's here. Is it okay if I say "ya'll"? Now some of you that don't have the privilege of being from the Deep South, I'm going to help you just a little bit, okay? If I say "ya'll," that can be singular or plural. If I say "all ya'll," that's plural. Now if I say "all ya'lls'," that's plural possessive. You know I have to say that when I first arrived in Washington, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many organizations there are that are devoted to working on disability issues. A few organizations stand out within the advocacy community-the National Federation of the Blind is one of those groups. Now in fairness, Rev. Sam Gleese of Mississippi deserves much of the credit for making your organization's priorities known in my office. Like many of you, Sam grew up not quite understanding low vision. In fact as a child he thought that everybody had difficulty seeing. But it was only after Sam fully lost sight that he comprehended the value of encouraging others to overcome their struggles through persistence and devotion. And it is this commitment that has made Sam one of my home state's most respected and esteemed self-advocates. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Sam Gleese! I noticed on the program Ms. Casey Robertson. Is Casey Robertson here in the audience somewhere, or maybe coming in? You know, that's another great person we'll hear from from Mississippi, Hamilton, Mississippi, which is special to me because my PawPaw and MeMaw lived just north of there. My first time I ever drove as a kid, I drove his pickup truck when I was fourteen to Hamilton to get his hair cut. So I'm looking forward to that. I've also been inspired by the selfless advocacy demonstrated by Anil Lewis; what a great friend. Many of you know Anil's story about how he has not allowed his own visual impairment to slow his goals and aspirations and how he tirelessly fights for disability issues on Capitol Hill. But you should also know that his personality and warmth are unmatched in Washington. It's quite refreshing to work with someone overflowing with optimism. Ya'll, I have to say, help me thank Anil for his great commitment. Now, if I may, I'd like to share just a little bit about my family's story. You know there's always something personal that always drives us, isn't there? As you know, my job as a father has challenged me to help individuals living with disabilities. My son has inspired my mission as a lawmaker to promote innovative federal policies. My wife Sydney and I celebrate thirty-four years of marriage this August. We actually dated five and a half years before we got married. We would've got married sooner, but we were afraid to stay by ourselves. I will have to tell you that we did not want children. We wanted grandchildren. We are blessed with two children: our son Livingston, who is twenty-four, and our daughter Maggie. Maggie, age twenty-one, is one of the most caring and driven individuals that I've ever known. In fact she's so motivated to begin her career that she recently graduated a year early from Mississippi State University [cheers from the Mississippi delegation]. I see we've got some Bulldog fans back there in the Mississippi section. But she's spending this summer interning at a law firm in Mississippi with former Governor Haley Barber, and in just a few weeks Sydney and I will put Maggie on a plane to France, where she'll work with EuroCopter as an intern for six months. While we're thrilled about this opportunity, like all parents we're having to adjust to the reality of her being so far away from Mom and Dad. Now our son Livingston (twenty-four) lives with a situation called "fragile X syndrome." It's a genetic abnormality which affects over a hundred thousand Americans and is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disabilities. He recently completed his second year at Mississippi State University in a special program called the Access Program. This curriculum provides students with intellectual disabilities on-campus instruction and independent living, employment, and social skills. This summer Livingston's working two jobs at our local public library and the parks and recreation department. But during the school year he's living in the dorm at Mississippi State, eating in the cafeteria, going to classes-we think-he says he is. In large part, our life journey of raising a special needs child is why Sydney and I are here with ya'll here today. As I mentioned, Livingston has fragile X syndrome. It took my wife and me a long time to accept the diagnosis, but, once we did, we began to see our son for who he is, for all of the exceptional qualities he holds as an individual, for the positive impact and the blessing he is to so many people that he comes in contact with each day, and for the many lessons that he has taught both of us in our journey as parents. We're taught that the Lord is no respecter of persons. I learned that from my son firsthand, because all during school, during inclusion classes-he treated the superintendent or the principal of the school the same as he treated the worker in the cafeteria. We've come a long way-thank goodness-since the days when institutionalization was the predominant path for citizens with significant disabilities. But even today, after many advancements, additional public policy reform is required with respect to working, earning a living wage, saving for your future needs, and pursuing your own self-directed personal and professional goals that individuals without disabilities enjoy. Real transformation of publicly-financed supports for children and for people with disabilities not only requires a major shift, but it also requires bold, courageous, and innovative leadership. We must foster leaders at every level of government who not only share a common-value framework that believes in the competency and full citizenship of people with disabilities but also possess the courage to stand up to those entities and individuals who continue to perpetuate the old model of cyclical poverty and dependency. This means calling out those entities who continue to push for the preservation of their own financial self-interest at the expense of citizens with disabilities. This means making tough choices in the face of adversity. This means taking risk in order to build a better future for the next generation of citizens with disabilities. I believe that everyone- where appropriate, where it makes sense-should have the opportunity to pursue a post-secondary educational experience. Even more important, they should have a fair shot at an integrated employment opportunity as an adult. This is why I joined the dialog on Capitol Hill about the importance of creating a comprehensive approach to the investment of public resources aimed at successfully transitioning youth with significant disabilities into adulthood. This effort has been initiated by an organization called the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination, a coalition of over a dozen disability groups. And a conversation that has been taking place for three years-over three years-evolved into three pieces of legislation that I've filed that are collectively known as the Transition Toward Excellence in Achievement and Mobility, or the TEAM Act. These three bills, which separate and propose how to modernize education, employment, and empowerment, impact these disability laws, collectively seek to promote transition from secondary school to meaningful post-secondary educational and employment opportunities with an emphasis on the eventual outcome leading to sustained full-time employment in an integrated setting at a livable wage, long-term career development and growth, and inclusion in the community setting through independent living and social engagement. Given my strong interest in ensuring that every disabled worker has the opportunity to earn fair and moral pay, I joined the NFB-led initiative to eliminate a seventy-five-year-old labor law that allows employers to pay subminimum wage. This dated waiver program has left some disabled employees making pennies on the hour. At the same time some of these companies are paying their executives significant sums. Now I don't have a problem with a company CEO making an excellent wage, but not on the backs of those who are getting paid subminimum wage. We cannot allow this confused moral perspective to continue. Now you may be thinking, "How is that taking place?" The answer is a 1938 labor law, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, that allows employers to receive special wage certificates. These US Department of Labor waivers permit companies to pay disabled workers less than the federal minimum wage, and in many situations much less than that. Over three-hundred-thousand-approaching four-hundred-thousand-individuals perpetually depended and are dependent upon social programs. By authorizing subminimum wages, the federal government is in essence forcing the disabled to rely on public benefits. Some of you have experienced discrimination because of low vision. I know that Sam Gleese has shared stories with us. Early in his career employers lost interest in Sam after learning about his medical history. All Sam wanted to do was to earn a fair salary; like every husband he just wanted to provide for his wife and his daughter. This discrimination is backwards. The myth that disabled workers cannot be productive employees is awful and incorrect. Congress should be encouraging independence, not forcing disabled workers into an endless cycle of government dependence. It's simple: Meaningful work deserves fair pay. This dated provision prohibits workers with disabilities from reaching their full potential, and it must be repealed! This effort has evolved into the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, a bill that I've authored to end subminimum wage discrimination. We must shift away from the old paradigms of incapacity. Our public policies should support programs with positive, sustainable outcomes. Congress must eliminate the silos that exist within our current laws. Now don't take my word alone. Anil Lewis, who has become a very dear friend of mine-and certainly in our office-once wrote brilliantly, "Our disabilities are neither a curse from God nor a penance for our sins. They are a manifestation of the life with which God has blessed us. And although the vessels which contain them are different, we have the same needs, desires, and abilities as everyone else." Well said, Anil, well said. It's your needs, your desires, your abilities-for all of your strengths you deserve equal treatment. And each person in this room, every disabled worker in America, deserves a fair wage. The political will, timing, and dynamics seem to be converging in a way that makes action inevitable. True reform in this case is likely to entail not so much revolution but evolution, one that may take place over a number of years. But to fully realize our common goals, we must become and continue to be passionate advocates, both for ourselves and for our loved ones living with disabilities. This is why conventions just like this are so important. They raise our self-awareness, our visibility, and our effectiveness, and it certainly provides great, great motivation. But search no further than my own son's experience to see the potential of individuals living with disabilities. My son's disability happens to be an intellectual disability. After Sydney and I read books and looked at all the literature on fragile X, we decided it was way too depressing, so we threw it away, and we decided that our son would live in a normal world and do the very best that he could. We've seen Livingston overcome hurdle after hurdle, and, may I just confess that many times I was the one guilty of putting a ceiling on our own son? I'll say, my wife Sydney here is the one that did all the heavy lifting. She's the one who took him to every speech therapy, every occupational therapy-all the things that had to be done. And never tell her that our son can't do something. We went through our struggles when he was little, and we were told that he had something wrong. It took us a couple of years to find out what it was. For us, much like what Anil wrote, we always claimed John chapter nine, verse three, as our promise. If you remember, that's where Jesus was going through and there was the man that was born blind, and the disciples asked, why was this man born blind? Was it because he sinned or his parents sinned? And what did Christ say in verse three? He said, "Neither. It happened so that, in him, the power of God might be demonstrated in his life." And we have seen that. And another thing, too, is we look forward on how we change the hearts of people in the country as we work on this legislation, but we also work on how we make it better for each of us. In the last three years or so, before I came to Congress, our law office was close to the local high school, just five minutes or so away-we hired students out of the special ed department to come work part-time in my law office. When I came to DC, well they have a regular college student intern program, but they had nothing for students with intellectual disabilities. Three years ago we started a pilot program with a few offices and a few students from George Mason University out of the Mason Life Program. Three years later it's a permanent program; more than twenty House and Senate offices, Republicans and Democrats, are helping to make those options available to these students with intellectual disabilities. I want to share a quick story, if I may. Our son Livingston, who, if he came in here you'd want to take him home with you, sweetest young man you'd ever meet-except for about thirty minutes a day--we just give him his space on that time. Livingston was the only student with special needs who sang all during junior high and high school choir. We had an incredible choral music program at our school. Livingston loves music. During his ninth-grade year of high school, we were actually watching a New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox playoff game. [Scattered cheers from the crowd] I'm not sure who was pulling for whom there, but that's a big game. So it's the seventh inning stretch, and we hear this most incredible voice singing "God Bless America," and it's Daniel Rodriguez, the singing policeman who became famous after 9/11, a beautiful tenor, who came to all the memorial services and sang different songs. We were just mesmerized by what happened. So I found out Daniel's schedule, and Livingston's surprise present that Christmas: four tickets to hear Daniel Rodriguez and the Atlanta Symphony do the Valentine's Day concert. It was a huge arena, we had tickets on the fourth row, and Daddy found out who his publicist was and made arrangements for him to meet Daniel Rodriguez at his hotel before the concert. Guess what, I thought we'd just go in, get a quick picture, he'd sign an autograph, and we'd be done. Daniel Rodriguez sat down with Livingston for forty-five minutes, and they just talked like they'd been friends forever. We went to the concert that night, and they're two songs into it-beautiful music, as you can imagine- and Daniel Rodriguez, between songs, says, "I met the most amazing young man I've ever met today. Life had thrown him a curveball; he could have been bitter and angry, but he was the sweetest, happiest young man I've ever met, and he came all the way from Mississippi to hear me sing. Livingston Harper, where are you?" He had him stand up, and of course Sydney and I are sitting there crying; there's thirty-five hundred people in the arena, and everybody claps for my son. Beautiful concert: We get to the end of the concert, and Daniel says, after the final standing ovation, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to sing one more song. Orchestra, relax-I don't have any more music, and I know you don't. But I'm going to sing a cappella because today, when I was talking to Livingston, he asked me if I was going to sing "God Bless America," and I told him I would. So I'm going to sing that a cappella as we go." He walked over to our side of the stage and he said, "Livingston, I want you to remember what I told your daddy. One day you're going to let me know when you're doing a concert at Pearl High School in Mississippi, and I'm going to fly in, and you and I are going to sing together." Two years later, Livingston's eleventh grade year, Daniel Rodriguez kept that promise and came to Pearl High School. When Livingston came out, you would have thought Elvis Presley had walked out on the stage. Fifteen hundred people in the auditorium-packed-we got to hear my son do a duet with Daniel Rodriguez, so listen to this: [The recording was played, and afterwards the convention audience enthusiastically applauded.] God bless you. We're in this together. You inspire us. God bless each of you; thank you. ---------- Our Efforts in Washington on Behalf of the Blind by John Par?, Anil Lewis, Lauren McLarney, and Jesse Hartle From the Editor: On Friday afternoon, July 5, 2013, John Par? and his very competent team came to talk about advocacy for the blind and the efforts of our Advocacy and Policy Department. His presentation immediately followed the moving remarks of Congressman Gregg Harper. Here is the report from his team: [PHOTO CAPTION: John Par?] John Par?: Good afternoon, fellow Federationists. That was such a great talk we just heard. If someone could pass me a box of Kleenex that would probably be good. If we had more members like that Congressman, we'd have a better country. I want to tell you a little bit about what we do. The Advocacy and Policy Department is responsible for NFB-NEWSLINE?, public relations, and governmental affairs. We have a great team, and I want to thank them for all of their work. Let me talk about Newsline. NFB-NEWSLINE is the largest and most successful audio newspaper service anywhere in the world. It is available in forty-six states plus the District of Columbia. We have over 100,000 subscribers, 327 newspapers, forty magazines, TV listings, job listings, advertisements, and English- and Spanish-language content. Publications are available over the phone, through email, through an iPhone app, and for download to a variety of devices, including the NLS Digital Talking Book Player. Since the 2012 convention NFB-NEWSLINE subscribers have enjoyed over 38 million minutes of news, made over 2 million telephone calls, received over 2.3 million email messages, and had access to over 6.8 million newspapers. On August 29, 2012, we announced a collaboration with AccuWeather to provide emergency weather alerts to NFB-NEWSLINE subscribers. This service provides emergency alerts on such things as flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and natural disasters, and I've heard from many of our members that they relied on this service when Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast last fall. On November 20, 2012, a new category was added to NFB-NEWSLINE called Breaking News Online. There are four publications available: BBC, CNN, FOXNews, and the Huffington Post. Earlier this week we released information about new features on Newsline, including expanded weather information, five more newspapers, expanded national papers, and expanding breaking news. To find out more about that, please listen to Newsline, push option number one, and again option one for the weather information. NFB-NEWSLINE is expanding every day, and I really appreciate the work that the team does in that area. I would like to mention several volunteers. We could not do the work we do without hundreds of volunteers who help us each year; many of these are in this room right now. There are four volunteers I would like to highlight at this time for answering hundreds of NFB-NEWSLINE calls and helping members all across the country. They are David Meyer of Illinois, Peggy Chong of Iowa and now New Mexico, John Glisson of Kentucky, and Michael Barber of Iowa. I would also like to thank Lee Martin from Indiana. When the Indiana legislature said that they were going to reduce the NFB- NEWSLINE budget from $38,000 to $36,000, we took action. When he was done, the legislature decided to increase the budget to $100,000 per year. Our public relations team continues to advance our legislative initiatives, policies, and programs. The NFB has been mentioned, quoted, or featured in over 3,350 news stories over the past year; here are a few examples. On August 25, 2012, the National Federation of the Blind conducted over ninety informational protests at Goodwill thrift stores across the country. The protests were very successful and resulted in a widely disseminated Associated Press article as well as twelve other articles appearing on websites such as Yahoo, Michigan Live, and CBS Denver, and in newspapers including the Des Moines Register, and the Albany Times Herald. The NFB has long advocated for making the World Wide Web accessible for blind users. On September 11, 2012, Computerworld magazine, at the instigation of the National Federation of the Blind, ran an in-depth report on the current status of the web and beyond. On December 12, 2012, we held an informational protest regarding the distribution of inaccessible Kindle e-books to K-12 school districts across the country. The protest occurred outside the headquarters of Amazon in Seattle, Washington. The protest included a surprise visit by the Grinch, or should I say Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon. We have a short clip from the protest; let's play that: [Those reading the audio edition heard the live feed, but for those reading using other methods, the playing of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," was accompanied by the announcement that Jeff Bezos was coming to meet with us. This was followed by the announcement that it was not Mr. Bezos but the Grinch.] I want to thank Mike Freeman for his work there; he was walking in with one of the most wonderful Grinch costumes and a big sign that said "Jeff Bezos." It was covered on television, and the folks there did a great job. Prior to the protest Education Week ran a story in its publication regarding our Kindle books initiative. On the day of the protest several Seattle television stations ran stories with live video from the event, and the day after the protest the Seattle Times ran an in-depth story about what we did. We swept the media before, during, and after the protest. Since the protest Amazon has released two new versions of their iOS app. What a coincidence! The app is substantially improved, but still has some deficiencies. President Maurer, I think we might need to go back to Seattle, Washington. The public relations team continues to work to strengthen the National Federation of the Blind's social media's presence and to drive traffic to our website. Over the past year we have increased our Facebook fans to 2,887 and our Twitter followers to 3,575. We typically have about 8,000 visitors to our website each week. Our governmental affairs team tracks all federal legislation that might affect the lives of blind people. We endorse legislation that will improve our lives and shut down legislation that will set us back. The National Federation of the Blind successfully advocated for the passage of the Pedestrian Enhancement Safety Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. On January 15, 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued its proposed regulation to implement this critically important law, which ensures that hybrid and electric vehicles make enough sound to be safe. The National Federation of the Blind commented on these proposed regulations, and our comments were endorsed by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in all areas except the stationary sound and when the sound should be turned off. Now, as you can imagine, the National Federation of the Blind is advocating for a stationary sound and for the sound to be turned off no sooner than eighteen MPH. In two weeks Jesse Hartle and I will be meeting in Washington with members of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and with members of the United Nations working on a global technical regulation. How many people have heard about the NBC Rock Center video? [Applause] We have here Harold Leigland, and it took a lot of courage for Harold, who works at Goodwill, to get up and speak-to speak for all of us- and talk about the unfair and immoral activity that Goodwill is doing. Here, to introduce the video, please welcome Harold Leigland: Thank you, my fellow Federationists. Good afternoon. I was quite surprised to be asked to participate in this; I want to thank Anil, and I want to thank Anna Schecter and Harry Smith from NBC. They did a marvelous job on it. The article, if you haven't seen it, is on our website, and you can sign the petition if you haven't. In 1980 I participated in the little hubbub we had in Minneapolis [a protest on behalf of the workers and the lack of representation by blind people on the governing board of the Minneapolis Society for the Blind]. I was going to the airport on my way home, and you might remember a fellow named George Wallace, who ran for president of the United States. He said, "If you want to know what's going on in America, talk to the taxi drivers." Well, the taxi driver I had that day said, "Why are you in Minneapolis?" I explained it to him, and he said, "You know, for six years I have taken those poor devils to work for the Minneapolis Society for the Blind, and they act like they own them-own them." I can tell you that Goodwill Industries has much the same idea. The basic emphasis since I have been working there has been that, in a city of 60,000 people, Goodwill employees must produce not $8,000 a day, not $9,000 a day, but more than $10,000 a day in product. Goodwill Industries is competing against at least two other charities. Nevertheless, their emphasis is not on the meaningfulness of work that their employees get versus their pay; it's on productivity. So, with this in mind, very carefully watch the video, with special attention to what Mr. Gibbons has to say. Thank you. [The Rock Center piece was shown and can be found at . Following the presentation of the video, Anil Lewis came to the microphone and said:] [PHOTO CAPTION: Anil Lewis speaking at the 2013 convention] There's no better place to be than right here with my Federation family, especially around this issue. You heard about the legislation from Congressman Harper; you've heard about this issue in detail; what I need you to understand is that we don't do this alone. I am proud to be part of the governmental affairs staff under John's direction and under Dr. Maurer's leadership and to work with my colleagues, Lauren McLarney and Jesse Hartle. We work on behalf of every person in this room, every blind person in our nation, and in fact every person with a disability in this country. We are proud to do this, but we don't do it alone. This point is clearly demonstrated in the Rock Center video-you didn't see me in that video-you saw Harold and Sheila Leigland on that video, and without them our message would not be as strong. I'm probably going to make some people upset-that's what I do, but it's all about relationships. I can't get out and meet everybody, but the people in this room can. By developing those relationships, we can make things happen. Sometimes we develop good relationships, and sometimes we develop bad relationships, but in all of the relationships we make our conscious efforts at building a coalition to positively change the life experience for blind people throughout this country. I thank Harold and Sheila Leigland for being on the front lines, putting their lives into the living rooms of US citizens so they could understand the true plight of people who work in sheltered workshops and what they have to deal with. So I want to talk a little bit about relationship-building. You heard Pennsylvania mentioned in the Rock Center video. I don't know why Anna Schechter chose that particular state, because this is pervasive throughout the country-except for the state of Vermont, which has no special wage certificates and no subminimum wage payments. Still some people argue that Vermont is such a small state that they really can't be used as an example for the rest of the country, as though people with disabilities in Vermont are not the same as people with disabilities in Arizona, California, Washington, Georgia, or Florida. So what did we do about it? How did we effect a change in Pennsylvania? Well, we teamed with our members like Michelle McManus and Zach Brubaker, who knew that Congressman Thompson in the last Congress came on our fair wages bill and then got off our fair wages bill. They knew he had expressed an interest, and someone changed his mind-probably someone like Jim Gibbons. So we had to change his mind back. How do you do that? You do it by developing relationships. Michelle and Zach set up a meeting; I was able to fly in and meet with the Congressman. We met in front of the Workforce Investment Board, and I want you guys to get to know your Workforce Investment Boards. None of them were aware of the 14(c) provision. We convinced them that it was wrong-that wasn't easy- but we had to do it. By the time we left, they knew it was unfair, discriminatory, and immoral; the Congressman was in the room, and he signed on to the bill and Congressman Thompson is on the bill to stay. We developed relationships in Texas. Tony Jones in Texas, I met him through Jos?. It turns out that he has a relationship with his Workforce Board as well. Through his relationship with the Workforce Board, Tony was able to take a $50 million contract that Goodwill was getting ready to take advantage of and snatch it from their hands. Tony says they were a little upset, but I think it's time they started experiencing the anger that we feel about this exploitive provision. We'll continue to hit them where it hurts. I love the irony-it's ironic that these entities who say that they are doing a good thing take the wages they should be paying people with disabilities and instead pay lobbyists to come to DC to continue this exploitative provision. That to me is a sad irony, and I love the fact that we're engaging in poetic irony, because we're engaging in a thrift store program that is going to take even more money from Goodwill Industries and put it into places where it can remove this discriminatory provision for everyone. They will wake up, and they will understand. Tony also told me something very interesting in a phone call I had with him over lunch. It appears that God loves the Federation. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is going to be meeting sometime soon. I don't know how he did it, but this is going to be part of their agenda- ending subminimum wages has become a part of the Catholic agenda. So we'll continue to develop relationships, but there are relationships that are still pending. We don't know if they will be good or if they will be bad; we are friends with everyone who wants to be friends with us, so let's see if the members of the US HELP Committee want to be our friends and develop good relationships or bad relationships. They are at it again; they are reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act. They are putting together Section 511, which we believe is a prescription for rehab professionals to employ people with disabilities at subminimum wages. We won't tolerate it; we want to be your friend; we want to develop good relationships, but we will use the tools that we have to use. We may not have the money to pay lobbyists in the way Goodwill Industries does, but we can put our members on your front steps to see that the world knows that this is wrong. So, here again, they're not going to know me, but we're going to get them to come to know the Federation. After enthusiastic applause following Anil's speech, John next introduced Lauren McLarney. Here is what she said: [PHOTO CAPTION: Lauren McLarney at the 2013 convention] Good afternoon, fellow Federationists. I'm really happy to be here, but let me ask you, are you having fun? As I said on Tuesday in our legislative seminar, this is a legislative presentation, not a vegetative presentation, so let's keep the energy up throughout. Before I get started on TEACH, I wanted to talk a little bit about missed opportunities. With technology in the classroom we know that blind students have always faced unnecessary barriers to education and were segregated from mainstream students, partly because of misconceptions and low expectations, and partly because the print world is just inherently different, separate, and inaccessible for blind students. But now the intersection of technology and education has created this opportunity to expand the circle of participation and allow universal access to mainstream products for everybody, for all students, disabled or not. Curricular content that was once available only in textbooks and during lectures can be disseminated through electronic books, web content, digital library databases, advance software, and mobile applications. But, instead, inaccessible technology has permeated the classroom, segregating blind students more now than ever before. That opportunity has been missed. Rather than leveling the playing field, technology has created a whole slew of challenges to replace the old ones. The mainstream students use one type of technology, and then the blind student has to go to the office of disability services to explain that it's inaccessible, and then that technology is modified or the student is provided with some accommodation or separate, accessible device. The sad thing is it doesn't have to be this way. There have been many more opportunities to fix this oversight, and those opportunities have been missed too. In 2008 NFB went to Congress and we said we were noticing a problem, that instructional materials were increasingly digital and that those materials were inaccessible to blind students. They commissioned the Advisory Committee on Accessible Instructional Materials for Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education, and that was five years ago. Since then not much has happened. So that's five years of missed opportunities. In 2010 the Department of Education and the Department of Justice sent a Dear Colleague to presidents of institutions of higher education clarifying their obligation under the law to provide equal access to blind students. That was three years ago. Since then only a handful of universities have stepped up to the plate; only a handful are investing in accessibility. That's three more years of missed opportunities. In 2011, just to set the record straight, the DOE (Department of Education) released a follow-up to the Dear Colleague, a Frequently Asked Questions document, and that was two years ago. Technology has evolved exponentially in those two years, but we still aren't seeing accessible technology in the classroom. Two more years of missed opportunities. In late 2011 the AIM Commission published its report. That report said blind students face overwhelming barriers to their education across the board because of inaccessible instructional materials and that opportunities to succeed in college are undermined and missed because of inaccessible technology. The burden to fix that falls on the blind student; it doesn't fall on the institution, not the manufacturer, but the student. The report also gave recommendations for exactly how to fix the problem. That report was issued two years ago-two years ago. Nothing has happened. That's two more years of missed opportunities. A Supreme Court justice said, "It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity...is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." He concluded that "in the field of public education, the doctrine of `separate but equal' has no place." Same rhetoric as the AIM commission's findings, as the Dear Colleague, as the FAQ, only the justice's comment was said sixty-five years ago. Now I ask you, how fast does technology evolve? How many innovative, revolutionary changes have we seen in the last five, three, two, one, or sixty-five years? After being presented with this great opportunity and all this time to take advantage of it, why is the majority of digital instructional material still inaccessible to blind students? This is why we drafted the Technology, Education and Accessibility in College and Higher Education (TEACH) Act, a bill that calls on the Access Board to develop accessibility guidelines for instructional materials used in postsecondary education so that those materials are fully accessible to disabled students. The bill also calls for those guidelines to be adopted as standards, providing direction for schools on how to meet their legal obligation to provide equal access under the ADA. If TEACH passes, 1) Institutions of higher education will no longer put emphasis on modifying and accommodating for disabled students. Instead they will have clarity for what mainstream accessibility looks like. Since all institutions will be following the standards, the availability of accessible products will increase and the cost will decrease. 2) Manufacturers will have incentive to embrace accessibility solutions. 3) The burden will no longer fall on blind students. Students will be able to use the same materials, the same content, and get the same access as mainstream students. Blind students are and will be mainstream students. Since Washington Seminar we have been working hard behind the scenes to get this bill introduced. First, we have the endorsements of the Association of American Publishers (who we are partnering with on this bill, and you'll hear from their CEO tomorrow), AAPD (Association of American People with Disabilities), the Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf, NCIL (National Council on Independent Living), and tons of other groups who have endorsed this bill before it's even dropped. We are also getting a lot of press, something very unusual for a bill that hasn't even dropped. There have been two articles in the online newspaper Inside Higher Education, and I just got an email before I came up here that USA Today plans to run an article on the TEACH bill. As Dr. Maurer said in his presidential report, Congressman Petri will likely drop the bill in the next month or so, and we are optimistic. We are working on finalizing language and negotiating with stakeholders. This critical, yet kind of cringe-worthy task is slow but important. Sometimes the power of the Federation is loud and pushy, bringing surge to a bill after it has been dropped. Other times it is subtle and firm, building relationships (Anil's favorite thing) and closing deals with players behind the scenes. So we want to drop a bill that has widespread support, that says exactly what we want it to say, and that we know will pass. That's what we're working on right now with TEACH. When talking about this bill, we will always get the same two questions, and we have two good answers. First, is it even possible to make that stuff accessible to blind students? I get asked that a lot. Well, I can ask a two-by-five, eight-ounce robot to find me a restaurant, give me directions, call the restaurant to make a reservation, tell me what's on the menu-if phones can give you the weather in Texas while you play Tetris, it's not that outrageous to expect technology to be accessible to blind users. The other question is, why should everybody be denied use of a product just because the blind student can't use it? I get that one probably even more. Well, first, it's discrimination. It's morally wrong. And, second, because it doesn't have to be that way. Blind access and mainstream use do not have to be mutually exclusive. As a society we have collectively decided that we philosophically and fundamentally believe that education is only good when it is fair and equal and that discrimination because of inaccessible technology just isn't necessary. Most people don't realize how bad this situation is, and it's prime time we fix it. We have the data to back this up, we have industry support, we have a thoroughly developed bill. The tide is turning. Now let me ask you, are we willing to wait any longer for technology to be accessible? Now let me ask you, can I count on the full Federation gusto when TEACH is finally introduced? [strong, affirmative applause] Dr. TenBroek pointed out that some problems inherent in blindness are "to some extent increased, to some extent diminished, by the structures and conditions of modern urban life and activities." Modern urban development of technology in education is an opportunity to diminish any problems created by separate but equal education, and this is an opportunity that we won't miss. Thank you. Jesse Hartle was next introduced to talk about the Space Available Act and other legislation that must be passed to ensure that we may live on terms of equality with the sighted. Here is what he said. [PHOTO CAPTION: Jesse Hartle speaking at the 2013 convention] Good afternoon. I want to take just a brief moment to recognize the fifth member of the advocacy and policy team. Last fall Kristian Kuhnke left the National Center for the Blind to pursue her education at the University of Maryland, and she left behind some very big shoes. Those shoes have been filled by Taeler Lottino, who keeps Anil and Lauren and John and me straight, and I want you to recognize her work. [Applause] "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith in the allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me according to regulations and the uniform code of military justice, so help me God." This is the oath of enlistment for individuals entering into the military service of the United States of America. It was taken by those who went to Baghdad, Falluja, and Nasiriya. They took it before serving in Kamdesh, Mazari Sharif, and Takur Ghar; in the Gulf of Tonkin, Long Khanh, and Long Tan. On the ground of Inchon, Pusan, and Seoul. They were at Guadalcanal, Manila, and Omaha Beach to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. Many brave men and women lost their lives defending our rights, and many more became disabled doing so. Today I'm going to address the concern raised by the National Association of Blind Veterans. Last fall Dwight Sayer, the president, brought to our attention the Space Available program operated by the United States Air Mobile Command. The Space Available program allows active duty members, some members of the reserve component, family members, emergency workers, and retirees to fly on military transport flights if there is space available. It does not allow currently those individuals who were disabled in the service of our country. One hundred percent disabled veterans cannot benefit from this program. At the Washington Seminar many of you came to me and said, "This is going to be a slam dunk issue for the Congress. Who can say no to disabled veterans?" Well, in the 110th Congress the late Senator Inouye of Hawaii introduced a bill to allow service-disabled veterans to participate in the space available program. That bill went nowhere. In the 111th Congress the late Senator Inouye introduced a bill to allow 100 percent service-disabled veterans to participate in the Space Available program. The bill went nowhere. In the 112th Congress Senator Daniel Inouye introduced the bill to allow 100 percent service-disabled veterans to participate in the Space Available program and he did it early in that Congress. At the end of the 112th Congress, that bill had two cosponsors. On January 4, 2013, at the very beginning of the 113th Congress, Congressman Gus Bilirakis of Florida introduced H.R. 164, a bill that would allow 100 percent service-disabled veterans to participate in the Space Available program. That bill has the support of 169 members of the House of Representatives. We have heard from two of them today. On June 13 H.R. 164 was amended into the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act H.R. 1960, and on June 14 H.R. 1960 was passed by the entire House of Representatives with the language of H.R. 164 included. In the United States Senate, Senator Jon Tester of Montana introduced S. 346 on June 14. This is a companion bill to H.R. 164. Senator Tester's bill currently has fourteen cosponsors, and Senator Tester has already agreed to offer an amendment to the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act when it comes to the floor later this year with language identical to the amendment offered by Congressman Bilirakis in the House bill. We must now work to increase support on S. 346 in order to ensure that the Senate leadership will allow this bill to be offered as an amendment during Senate consideration. If anyone is wondering what changed from the last three sessions of Congress to today, look around this room. The organization that changes what it means to be blind stood up and pledged to support and defend the rights of blind and otherwise disabled veterans. Fellow Federationists, this issue has become a slam dunk for Congress for one reason: the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind have made it one. The exclusionary policy is going to be changed, and it's going to be changed soon. One hundred percent service-disabled veterans will take their seats on Space Available flights because of your work. Mary Jo and I had our lives changed on April 7, 2011. At 1:05 in the afternoon we welcomed Kayla Elizabeth Hartle into our lives. She was 21 1/2 inches long, and she weighed just over nine pounds. This was one of the greatest days of our lives, and later this year we'll have another of these life-changing experiences as we will welcome our first son into this world. While the birth of any child should be a cherished day for the parents of that child, we know that is not always the case. Today, twenty-two years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States of America, the misconceptions about the blind continue to be used as a weapon to deny blind individuals the right to be parents. We have seen it in Missouri; we have seen it in Maryland; we've seen it in Texas. Two thirds of state laws allow for disability to be used as a reason to deny custody or to terminate parental rights of blind Americans. Disabled parents often find it difficult or impossible to adopt because of discriminatory practices of adoption agencies. They tell us we cannot be competent parents; after all, how would a blind parent know if his/her child was in danger? How would we know if our child was hungry or a diaper needed to be changed? They say the blind cannot be competent parents; I say, tell it to the Carranzas, to the Bureshes, to the Maurers, to Anil Lewis, to the Riccobonos, Lisa Maria Martinez, to the Fredericks, Pierces, Diggs, Worleys, Schroeders, Changs, Wunders, Browns, Elders, and Wilsons. The list of blind parents goes on and on. We in the National Federation of the Blind know the truth about blindness, and the truth is that blindness does not prevent a person from being a competent parent. It is time that we deal with the issue of discrimination against the rights of blind parents-and we do it now-there is no other organization that can lead the charge for equal rights for blind parents like the National Federation of the Blind can. If a state law needs to be changed, let it be the National Federation of the Blind that changes it. If the federal law needs to be amended or passed, then let the National Federation of the Blind march on Capitol Hill and put that legislation on the president's desk. You can rest assured that, wherever discrimination appears against the blind, the National Federation of the Blind will be there, and we will win. Many individuals seem to think that the blind should just be allowed to exist in the world. We will not just exist! Fellow Federationists, the blind have a right to live in the world, to live on equal terms with our sighted peers, to live with equal pay for equal work performed, to live with equal access to educational information, to live without the threat of our parental rights, or any other rights being denied on the grounds of blindness. This right will be achieved and it will be achieved through the collective action of the National Federation of the Blind. Our cause is just; our cause is right; and our cause goes marching on. God bless you. ---------- A Commitment to Equality of Opportunity: A Report from the Department of Justice by Eve Hill From the Editor: Eve Hill is the deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Federationists first met Ms. Hill when she worked for Dan Goldstein at the law firm of Brown, Goldstein, and Levy, and she has addressed our convention several times. She is a champion for civil rights, and here is what she said to the 2013 convention: [PHOTO CAPTION: Eve Hill speaking at the 2013 convention] Thank you all so much for having me here today. That was the first time my new title has been announced in public, and it sounds good-I like it. It is really an honor for me to be here today; I'm only disappointed that my friend, Dan Goldstein, is unable to join us this year, but I think he's listening, so I want all of you to join me in a shout-out to Dan. [Applause] Despite being entitled "A Report from the Department of Justice," I'm really going to talk about the theme "The Tyranny of Low Expectations." For many people with disabilities, including people with vision disabilities, the tyranny of low or no expectations has cut off the opportunity to work, learn, play, and contribute alongside those without disabilities, and that tyranny of low expectations is something we in the Civil Rights Division see every single day: in the assumptions often written into law that tell people with disabilities what they can't do and that they can't participate in the world, in the so-called special programs that are described as opportunities or preparation for full participation, but then become permanent, segregated prisons, and in the barriers that stand in the way of allowing all people to maximize the contribution they can make to society. So we're working very hard to change those expectations, open up full participation, and break down those barriers that stand in the way of people with disabilities. Just this last year, just in FY [fiscal year] 2012, the Disability Rights Section alone filed twelve lawsuits and twelve amicus briefs and entered into fourteen consent decrees, forty-nine settlement agreements, and 162 informal resolutions under the ADA, and we're well on our way to beating those numbers this year. The Division's disability rights work is not done just by the Disability Rights Section. The Special Litigation Section, the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, the Voting Section, and the Educational Opportunity Section also do disability rights work. This crosses all of our sections more than any other area of our civil rights work. I want to talk today about a couple of the things the federal government has been doing recently on behalf of people with vision and other disabilities to combat the tyranny of low expectations. I'm following a lot of great technology speakers today, which is a little intimidating for me-just a lawyer. We know that modern technologies can pose significant challenges, and we must ensure that those new technologies don't leave individuals with disabilities in their wake. One underlying theory of the Americans with Disabilities Act was that we wouldn't make the existing world accessible all at once, but, as new things replaced old things, the new things would be accessible, and gradually everything would become more accessible. New technology is where the rubber meets the road for that theory [applause]. Technology is revolutionizing our economy and culture, making communication and getting information, entertainment, education, and goods easier and more efficient. But many of these technologies from websites to cell phones, from ticket kiosks to TV set-top devices are either wholly or partially inaccessible to people with vision impairments. The current transition from printed materials to digital materials creates incredible opportunities for people with visual disabilities finally to use the same products as their peers at the same time and for the same price as everyone else. The emergence of electronic book readers holds huge potential to place students with disabilities on an equal footing with other students. But our traditional approach to the effective communication obligation under the ADA has been a one-at-a-time, on-request approach. That one-at-a- time, on-request approach we're finding isn't working in a number of contexts; so, if governments don't design our zoning laws or our parking lots from the beginning with room for people with disabilities, if schools and restaurants and doctors don't already have a contract with a sign language interpreter, and, if theaters and stadiums and playgrounds don't already build in accessible seating and features, then, when a person with a disability asks for an accommodation, it won't happen, either at all or on time. This is really true in the area of technology. Providing special electronic texts or captioning or retrofitting technologies to work with screen readers takes too long or doesn't happen at all when it's not built in from the beginning. Even when it does happen, it requires a level of begging or confrontation that people with disabilities aren't comfortable with and shouldn't have to go through. In keeping with the disability community's movement away from charity- based thinking and towards rights-based thinking, we're seeing more and more demands to require covered entities to be prepared for people with disabilities to be their customers, their employees, and their constituents all the time. Proactive digitization, proactive arrangements to buy accessible technology are more and more called for in order actually to achieve the ADA's goal of equally effective communication, and DOJ is working to make such proactive accessibility the norm [applause]. I think you've heard me talk about websites probably every time I've been here, and I'm still not sick of talking about it, so I'm going to. Website accessibility is now a central and standard requirement of our Project Civic Access investigations and settlement agreements. These are compliance reviews of local governments that look at a variety of accessibility needs. For example, just this year, in May 2013, the department reached a settlement with the city of West Columbia, South Carolina, that requires the city of West Columbia to make its web content accessible to people with vision disabilities. That's the third of those agreements that we've reached in 2013 to require city web content to be accessible. In fact, since 2008 the Justice Department has reached Project Civic Access agreements with fifty jurisdictions to remove architectural barriers and make their online content accessible for people with vision impairments. We're still fighting over accessible websites, particularly to online- only businesses. We recently pursued two statements of interest in National Association of the Deaf versus Netflix. The National Association of the Deaf sued Netflix to require captioning on its online watch-instantly movies, and our brief made clear that Title III of the ADA applies to online-only businesses and requires their online services to be accessible. Netflix is responsible for that, and the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act doesn't preempt the ADA. The Massachusetts District Court agreed and held that Title III covers online-only businesses, covers online services even if they are accessed only from people's homes, that the copyright law doesn't necessarily preempt Title III, and that the CVAA doesn't preempt Title III. This case recently settled with an agreement that Netflix will make 100 percent of its streaming videos accessible by 2014. Now moving to education: many colleges offer degree programs online, some schools exist only online, and massive open online courses are increasingly prevalent. Today colleges rely on the Internet and other technologies for course assignments, discussion groups, and a variety of administrative functions. Schools are starting to offer online document sharing, web conferencing, streaming video, social networks, and even virtual reality programs-can you imagine the virtual campus? And accessibility of those technologies to students with disabilities is essential. We're looking right now at accessibility of those educational technologies, and you can expect to hear more from us pretty soon. As you know, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal government technology to be accessible, and I'm not afraid to talk about our own obligations in the federal government. Despite a requirement that a survey of federal agency compliance be conducted every two years, that survey had not been done since 2003. But early last fall the Department of Justice published the results of the survey, and we're now working with other agencies to implement cross-agency-consistent practices, as well as working with other agencies to develop shared tools and best practices to increase our ability to meet our Section 508 obligations consistently, all the time. We're also engaged in rulemaking-I know you've been hearing about this since 2010-but we really are. There are a variety of technology rulemakings upcoming. We issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on accessibility standards for websites and expect to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking this year. We also published an ANPRM for accessible movie theaters, including both captioning and audio description at movies, and we expect an ANPRM this fall. Now my most recent piece was very much responsive to what you specifically have asked for. You, advocates for people who are blind or have vision impairments, have demanded an end to the book famine, and, thanks to the efforts of advocates like your Scott LaBarre and Fred Schroeder, we're going to do just that. Just last week I was honored, unbelievably honored, to work with Justin Hughes, Terry Ray, and Sherea Purlmutter and others from the Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the Department of State, the copyright office, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the US trade representative to negotiate the Miracle in Marrakesh. President Obama, in April 2012, expressed the United States' commitment to a treaty that ensures that copyright is not a barrier to equal access to information, culture, and education for visually impaired persons and other persons with print disabilities-and just last week we made good on that promise. This World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty, negotiated by over 150 countries-picture 150 countries trying to negotiate over the word "this" or "that"-this treaty will expand the availability of accessible works worldwide, while staying true to basic international copyright norms. Under the treaty, ratifying countries will ensure that their copyright laws domestically allow the creation and distribution of accessible books without prior authorization of copyright holders and will allow cross-border exchange of accessible books without prior authorization by copyright holders. The treaty will become effective when twenty countries ratify it, so we've got to get started on that. This is a real step to ending the book famine for some three hundred and forty million people across the world who are blind, have vision impairments, or have other print disabilities, but it's only one step. We get to celebrate, and Stevie Wonder got to give a concert, which was great. This is an accomplishment. But it's one step on the road to ensuring that people who are blind have a chance to get the information and education they need to live independently and function as full citizens in their communities. In the US the treaty will go into effect only when the president signs it and it is ratified by the Senate. So now we know where our efforts are going. And even then there's more. Even once member states ratify the treaty, additional authorized entities will have to be established and build their capacity, and confidence in cross-border exchange of accessible format copies will have to increase as the new standards set in. People with print disabilities will have to raise their expectations and demand access to every book, from See Spot Run to Harry Potter to my book, Disability Civil Rights Law and Policy (I know you're all running out to buy that). We are looking forward to working with all of you to accomplish these next steps. Only then will we have moved closer to a future for persons with print disabilities in which, as Jacobus tenBroek said: "The aspirations and achievements of each of us are to be limited only by the skills, energy, talents, and abilities we bring to our communities." As you know, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was not ratified last winter. However, the administration remains committed to ratifying the convention because it's important. US ratification will make clear that the United States supports inclusion and nondiscrimination and that it supports our over fifty million Americans who have a disability, who want to serve, study, work, travel, or retire overseas. Right now that kind of living overseas or traveling overseas is simply not a realistic option because we can't take advantage of those educational, economic, and cultural opportunities because the accessibility is not similar to ours or not up to par. Ratification will help ensure that Americans with disabilities have equal access throughout the world, and that will change the low expectations of the entire world. Now you've probably also heard me talk about Olmstead. We are continuing to work to end the low expectations that result in people with disabilities being unnecessarily segregated in sheltered workshops and other institutions. I know you all are doing this work too. In 1999 the Supreme Court recognized that the ADA creates a right not to be forced to live in an institution but instead to be integrated into our communities whenever it's appropriate. It was called the Brown vs. the Board of Education of the disability rights movement. Three weeks ago we showed once again that separate is not equal and separate employment services cannot be the expectation for people with disabilities. We announced a landmark, first-of-its-kind settlement agreement between the United States, the State of Rhode Island, and the City of Providence that vindicates the rights of approximately two hundred people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Our investigation found that for too long the state and the city had allowed their low expectations to create a system that left people with disabilities no choice but to enter sheltered workshops. As a result one of the largest employment providers for people with IDD in Rhode Island, called Training Through Placement [TTP], grew fat from state payments and the work of about a hundred people with disabilities who were paid on average $1.57 an hour, and one as low as fourteen cents an hour. We also discovered a sheltered workshop in a Providence high school called Birch, where students with IDD worked one to two hours a day, every day, from age fourteen to age twenty-one. They were paid between zero and two dollars per hour, regardless of what they were doing or how productive they were at it. They were doing the same tasks, often even subcontracting for the adult sheltered workshop. So-no surprise-when they graduated, they went straight to TTP and stayed there for decades. Under our settlement agreement both the school and TTP have stopped sheltered workshop operations, and both will dedicate themselves over the next year to providing all two hundred people with supported employment placements-real jobs, at or above minimum wage. Those jobs will average at least twenty hours a week, and, when they're not working, they'll be in integrated day activities; no longer playing cards or coloring or talking to their coworkers with disabilities at the same facility where they worked. The students at Birch will now receive transition services that are designed to prepare them for real jobs, including internships and trial work experiences and placements when they graduate. We were not alone in this. The Wage and Hour Division at the Department of Labor is demanding back wages for the workers at TTP for wage violations under Section 14(c). Meanwhile our investigation of the state- wide system as a whole is continuing. Now we'd all like to think that exploitation like this is an anomaly- just a rare bad apple-but it's not true. The same low expectations, assumptions, and prejudices that led to the creation and continuance of TTP and Birch underlie similar sheltered work systems all across the country. That's why we've also issued a letter of findings and intervened in a lawsuit in Oregon, challenging its overreliance on sheltered workshops to provide employment services to individuals with disabilities. I'm incredibly proud of this work. I'm incredibly proud to be part of this very powerful disability community. So my expectations are high and keep rising. I know you have high expectations of me and of DOJ, and we don't plan to disappoint those expectations. Thank you very much. ---------- The Blind at Work in an Unusual and Demanding Profession by Cassandra McNabb-McKinney From the Editor: On Saturday afternoon, July 6, Cassandra McNabb- McKinney captivated the audience with her remarks. In introducing her, President Maurer said: "Blind people work in unusual professions. We have one today who is in just such a profession, which is also a demanding one. She is a funeral director and embalmer, and she is also president of the National Federation of the Blind of New Hampshire. Here is Cassandra McKinney": [PHOTO CAPTION: Cassandra McNabb-McKinney speaking at the 2013 convention] Good afternoon, fellow Federationists. I'm glad that you're all here- alive and breathing-and enjoying this convention. Before I begin my talk today, I'd like for you to do an activity. It's a hands-on activity. I'd like for you to take your index finger and place it at the top of your nose, and then take your thumb and place it under your nose. And then I would like you to keep your fingers right as they are and move them over to your ear, and it should be the same length. If it's not, well, nobody's perfect. I'll be sharing some more interesting facts about landmarks on your face a little bit later in my presentation. In order to tell about my unique career, I think it's important that I tell you two stories. The first story is how I came to the Federation, and the second story is about the day that changed my life, the day I became an embalmer. I came to the Federation in 2003 at eighteen years of age. I had never been around a group of such enthusiastic, encouraging blind people. It changed my life. At that time I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I started as a chemistry major at a college in Tennessee, because that's my home state. I soon found out chemistry was not for me because calculus was just not my friend. I decided to attend mortuary school and to pursue a career in something I felt strongly in my heart. It wasn't about being a part of something that was unique as a career, but it was about following my calling. The journey through mortuary school was difficult. It was full of challenge because I was the first legally blind student to attend John A. Gupton College of Mortuary Science. I remember the first day of embalming class; my professor and I were having a conversation about adaptation, and I asked him, "How close am I going to be able to get to these people that I'm going to be embalming?" I wanted to make sure I'd be able to get close. His response shocked me. He said, "Well, Cassie, you can get as close as you can handle." I learned in my first day of clinicals how close that was. It wasn't as close as I originally thought. I went on to graduate second in my class, and, following graduation, the real work started. Where does a young woman in a career that is not really open to women, who is also blind, find a job? My pursuits led me to a friend who owned a corporation of funeral homes. I sent my resume to him, and he offered assistance. He said, "Are you willing to relocate?" I said, "Sure." A week later I received a call from Mr. Robert Di Luzio in Keene, New Hampshire. I didn't even know where New Hampshire was. I grew up in west Tennessee; it was hard enough to figure out where Nashville was, much less another state. So I got on an airplane, and I flew, for the first time, to New Hampshire. I started working there two weeks later, and I've been there for six and a half years. Now I guess I should get back to the Federation part of this story. In 2009 I had been an apprentice for two-and-a-half years. Apprenticeship is a difficult challenge; every funeral director must serve an apprenticeship before being licensed to serve families. It had been two-and-a-half years of tears and struggle. There were accomplishments along the way. That summer, in July, I got up early. We were going to march in Detroit. We marched for independence that day. For me it wasn't just a march for independence; it was a march for self-knowledge. During the march I received a bell; I have it with me today. I don't think there were very many of these bells made, so I count it as a very special symbol. When I returned home to New Hampshire, I placed the bell on my desk, and many people would ask what it stood for. I said that it stands for independence. My boss, Mr. Di Luzio, heard this so many times he was starting to tell people this story. When I would have a bad day, when the struggle of the apprenticeship would get too much, I would go to my desk and pick up the bell and ring it. I could remember the sound of them ringing that hot July day. The work that we were doing in the Federation, the inspiration of the people who had come before me--it helped me go on. Now the second story: it was January 29, 2010. This is a special day for two reasons: first, it was my birthday; and second, it was the day I became an embalmer. In the state of New Hampshire you have to perform a practical exam in front of a board member for the New Hampshire Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, and they examine every process that you do in embalming a body-no pressure. So I got up in the morning, and I knew that this was the day: I knew that it was going to be a day that would change my life. I arrived at work, I made all the proper phone calls to notify the board member that I had the gentleman to embalm, and she informed me that I should go ahead and do the first steps of the process. I want to explain to you, very briefly, what those processes are. [nervous laughter] This is what you've all been waiting for, right-and right after lunch. Okay, so, nonvisual techniques of embalming: here we go. I had never shaved a man before I became an apprentice embalmer. And so I thought, Oh my goodness, sharp object, a person that everybody's going to see; this could be interesting. I learned that gentle strokes are best, and I also learned that, after you've finished, if you gently run your hand across someone's face, you can tell if you missed anything. This is what I do to this day-I do it this way. So I did this portion: I closed the person's eyes and mouth (I won't tell you how we do that-many of you probably don't want to know). This is all part of the beginning processes to make them appear as they did. Then comes the surgical portion. Now, I'm only going to tell you a little bit because it's important. When doing the surgical portion, there are two main vessels that you have to locate: the carotid artery and the jugular vein. They are identifiable by touch. For those of you who have never felt an artery, it feels like a large rubber band, and the only way I can describe how you know where the vein is to say that it is colder than anywhere else that you're touching. See, that wasn't too bad, right? So the board member watched. I remember that, as I was doing the exam, we were talking about how to make chicken and dumplings. I explained that my mom owned a restaurant. Most of you might not know my mom, but some of you do-her name is Sharon Treadway. She is a Randolph-Sheppard vendor and also a member of the board of directors for the National Merchants Division. So she taught me how to make chicken and dumplings. At the end of the exam I thought it went very well. At the end of the exam the board member doesn't tell you if you passed. You either get a "you've passed," or "we'll see you in six weeks." So she had Mr. Di Luzio come down and they walked out-didn't say anything. People always ask me, "Do you ever talk to the people?" And that day I did. I remember saying, "I think we did pretty good." So Mr. Di Luzio came back. He had been working with me for three years. He walked across the room, and he gave me a hug. I was crying, of course, overwhelmed. And he said, "You passed." I got even more overwhelmed then. After I collected myself I looked at him and I said, "You know we just made history, right?" And he said, "We did." It wasn't that I was doing something extraordinary; it was that I was doing something as a pioneer, that there weren't other embalmers in New Hampshire who were legally blind. Now this knowledge of being a pioneer-I think of it as a responsibility. I have a responsibility to the generations after me to show them that anything is possible, that you might not become an embalmer, but you can do anything that you can imagine. I also want to speak for just a moment to the parents who are here. I am blessed with parents who supported me, who never told me that my dreams were impossible. The fact that you are here for your children shows that you believe that their dreams are possible. My father is sighted. He knew when I was born that the world would be different for me. But he didn't let that stop his dreams and his aspirations for his little girl. I have one short story that deals with my dad, and then I'll conclude. When I was three, we lived in west Tennessee, and in our backyard was a swamp. There were these turtles that would come up, and my father thought it would be awesome if his little girl could see what these turtles look like. So he caught one one morning, put it in an old swimming pool, and charged my mom with the job of making sure it didn't leave the pool. Then he got me up-it was probably like eight o'clock in the morning-he got me up and he brought me outside to the pool. He was so proud. And he showed me the turtle. I was able to see what it looked like; I was able to touch it, and I still remember what it looked like. My father didn't know about the Federation until almost twenty years later, but he had the philosophy-both of my parents did-and I don't think that I would be the young professional that I am today if it hadn't been for my parents. I promised you that there'd be some more landmarks. In the geography of your face your face is five of your eyes wide if you measure from left to right, and you are exactly six-and-a-half heads tall. That's just Jeopardy information for you. I am honored that Dr. Maurer has asked me to speak to you today. It is an honor to stand here and be able to tell you my story. I hope that it is a positive influence; I hope that it inspires you to pursue your dreams, to go out and do whatever it is that you would like to do with your life. Dream big, work hard, and someday maybe you can say that you've made history. Thank you. ---------- Recipes This month's recipes come from members of the NFB of Nebraska. Peach Salsa by Nancy Oltman Nancy Oltman currently serves as second vice president of the Nebraska affiliate. She also sits on the board of commissioners for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She is an award-winning cook and baker, and her cakes bring high-dollar during our annual auction at state convention. She says, "Since I am working with home-grown peaches this week, I will submit one of my favorite peach recipes. I do tend to use only two jalapeno peppers and increase the honey to 1/4 cup." Ingredients: 6 cups (3 pounds or 12 medium) peaches, peeled, seeded, and chopped 1 1/4 cups red onion, chopped 4 jalapeno peppers (or less) to taste 1 red pepper, chopped 1/2 cup loosely packed, finely chopped, fresh cilantro 1/2 cup white vinegar 2 tablespoons honey (or more) to taste 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin Method: Blanch, peel, pit, and chop peaches. Measure six cups fruit and combine with onion, peppers, cilantro, vinegar, honey, garlic, and cumin in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Boil, gently stirring frequently for five minutes. Cool and chill in the refrigerator. Great with tortilla chips or as an accompaniment to grilled chicken. Salsa can be cold packed about twenty minutes for pint jars or ten minutes for half-pint jars. ---------- Runza Casserole by Glenn Ervin Glenn Ervin is a longtime member who submits a family favorite. He works as an orientation counselor and home teacher at the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This is a recipe he often uses with clients. Ingredients: 2 pounds hamburger 1 onion, finely chopped 4 cups shredded cabbage or bag of coleslaw mix Salt and pepper to taste 2 tubes of refrigerator crescent rolls 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded 1/2 pound Monterey jack cheese, shredded Method: Brown hamburger and onion; drain. Place cabbage on top of meat and cover pan with lid to steam for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper. Using one tube crescent roll dough, arrange dough pieces over the bottom of a 9- by-13-inch pan, pressing edges of rolls together to make a solid sheet. Spread the hamburger and cabbage mixture over the crescent rolls. Add a layer of cheese. Using the other tube of crescent rolls, form a top crust over the cheese, using the same method. Bake in 350-degree oven for thirty- five to forty minutes, covering with foil the last ten minutes to soften the crust. ---------- Apple Crisp by Audra Kramer Audra Kramer is the treasurer of the Lincoln chapter. She enjoys fundraising and is employed at the Department of Labor. Ingredients: 3 cups Jonathan apples, peeled and sliced 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon flour 1/3 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 cup quick oats 3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 tablespoon cinnamon Method: Mix apples, sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1/3 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and put in a 9-by-9-inch baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients until crumbly, and pat over apples. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Double ingredients for a 9-by-13-inch pan. ---------- Peppermint Marshmallows by Karen Anderson Karen Anderson is the president of the Nebraska Association of Blind Students and vice president of the National Association of Blind Students. Karen enjoys baking in her spare time. Here's a yummy fall/winter treat. If there are images in this attachment, they will not be displayed. Download the original attachment Ingredients: 3 packages unflavored gelatin 1 cup ice-cold water, divided 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 to 1 teaspoon peppermint extract, to taste 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch Butter for coating baking dish Method: Place a half cup very cold water in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Sprinkle gelatin over the surface; don't mix yet; allow gelatin to soften while you prepare sugar syrup. In a small saucepan combine remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Cover saucepan with lid and heat mixture over medium heat for three to four minutes. Uncover saucepan and cook mixture, without stirring, until mixture reaches exactly 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Once mixture reaches 240 degrees, immediately remove from heat. Turn stand mixer on low speed, and, with mixer running, slowly and carefully pour the hot sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once all the syrup has been added, increase mixer to high speed (I set mine on level 8 of the KitchenAid stand mixer) and whip mixture until it is lukewarm, very fluffy, and very thick, about twelve to fifteen minutes. Add the peppermint extract during the last minute of mixing. While the mixture is blending, in a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar and cornstarch, then run a stick of butter along the bottom and edges of an 11- by-7-inch baking dish (making sure you coat all areas, including corners, to prevent sticking). Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture over the buttered baking dish and tip dish back and forth to coat evenly, then shake off excess. Coat a rubber spatula with butter, then pour whipped mixture into prepared baking dish using the coated spatula to scrape mixture out. Spread mixture into an even layer in baking dish using butter-coated spatula. Sprinkle top lightly and evenly with powdered sugar mixture, reserving remaining sugar mixture. Allow marshmallows to rest uncovered at least four hours or up to overnight. Turn the set marshmallows out onto a cutting board (you will likely have to run something around the edges and slightly along the bottom to help the marshmallows drop), and cut marshmallows into squares using a pizza wheel dusted with powdered sugar mixture (I cut mine into eight rows then each row into four because I wanted them tall for dipping, but you could cut them smaller if you wish). Place cut marshmallows in powdered sugar mixture and turn to coat all sticky sides, dusting off excess (dust them off well if dipping/spreading with chocolate, or it won't stick well). Store in an airtight container for up to three weeks. If you are making marshmallows to dip into hot cocoa, I would recommend the full 1 teaspoon peppermint extract; if you are making them just to eat on their own, I suggest using 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract. You can add 1/2 teaspoon first, then taste a bit, and, if you want a stronger peppermint flavor, add another 1/2 teaspoon. ---------- Peppermint Bark Marshmallows by Karen Anderson Ingredients: 12 ounces chopped chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips or almond bark 3/4 cup crushed candy canes 1 recipe peppermint marshmallows, earlier (store-bought marshmallows would work fine too) lollipop sticks or straws Method: Spread a sheet of wax or parchment paper on counter (this is where dipped marshmallows will set). Melt chocolate in microwave on 50 percent power in thirty-second bursts, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Spread a layer of melted chocolate over bottom half of marshmallow, then dip chocolate-coated portion in crushed peppermint. (Alternately, you can dip the marshmallows in the melted chocolate. I found spreading it on worked better for me. It seemed too thick and messy, so I just used an icing spatula to spread it on instead. Almond bark may work better for dipping because it is thinner.) Then place each coated marshmallow, chocolate-coated side down on wax paper. If desired, insert a lollipop stick through the top center of each marshmallow. Then let rest at room temperature until chocolate has set, about one hour. Store in an airtight container. ---------- Stephanie's Get Lucky Beef Jerky by Stephanie Wagle Stephanie Wagle is a college student attending the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She serves on the board of the Lincoln chapter and the board of the Nebraska Association of Blind Students. Ingredients: 5 pounds top round, trimmed of fat and sliced by the butcher (You can choose a higher grade beef, but this works fine.) 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons brown sugar 3 teaspoons cumin 3 teaspoons minced garlic 2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper Method:If there are images in this attachment, they will not be displayed. Download the original attachment Buy a dehydrator. I have a Ronco brand dehydrator that I purchased at Wal- Mart. It is important to follow the manual for your brand of dehydrator, but I don't see why my recipe shouldn't work or couldn't be altered slightly to work using any dehydrator. But I'm not a dehydrator maker, so please read your manual. This recipe will make a one-gallon Ziploc bag of jerky. You can substitute raw roast beef instead of top round, but keep in mind that it is more expensive. I slice each slice into strips. Combine all marinade ingredients and meat into a large covered bowl and refrigerate for twenty-four to forty-eight hours. I recommend forty-eight hours, but, if you are pressed for time as I was the first time I made jerky, twenty-four hours makes tasty jerky. When the marinade stage is complete, sprinkle cracked black pepper evenly over each side of jerky and drizzle honey evenly over both sides as well, before placing strips onto the trays. What makes my jerky so lucky? After the meat has marinated for forty- eight hours, I twist two pieces of beef together before putting them on the trays, and they dry out in tight little curly q's. These are my two lucky pieces. Whoever gets either of these twisted pieces will be lucky all day long. If you get both pieces, you have two whole days of good luck. Arrange strips on the trays of the dehydrator, not letting the strips touch each other. Dehydrate for twenty-four to forty-eight hours, rotating trays every one to two hours as consistently as possible. The tray closest to the bottom will receive the most heat, so rotate the trays to distribute the heat evenly. I leave my dehydrator on overnight, obviously not rotating the trays in my sleep, so, when I am home during my waking hours, I turn the trays every two hours or as needed, checking the meat and rotating more often nearer to the end of the drying time. ---------- Italian Love Cake by Jeff Altman Jeff Altman is the first vice president of the Nebraska affiliate. He is NOMC-certified and employed as the cane travel instructor at the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Ingredients: 1 package chocolate cake mix 2 pounds ricotta cheese 3 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3/4 cups sugar Topping Ingredients: 1 (4 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding 1 cup cold milk 1 container whipped dessert topping Method: Prepare cake mix according to package directions and pour into greased 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Mix cheese, eggs, vanilla, and sugar; pour on top of cake batter. Do not mix into batter. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour, checking frequently near the end to be sure that it does not overbake. Cool and refrigerate; best overnight. Prepare pudding according to package directions and mix all topping ingredients together before frosting cooled cake. ---------- White Chocolate Cherry Banana Cupcakes by Bridgit Pollpeter Bridgit Pollpeter is a member of the Omaha chapter and an accomplished writer. She has her own blog at . Ingredients: 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 ripe bananas 1/4 cup sour cream 2 eggs 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups flour 1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped 1/3 cup white chocolate chips Method: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a twelve-cup standard muffin tin with muffin papers. In a large, heavy saucepan melt the butter over medium heat and remove from heat. Add the sugar, vanilla, and bananas, and mix together, mashing the bananas with the back of a fork until mostly incorporated. Stir in the sour cream and eggs. Add the baking soda and baking powder in pinches, breaking up any lumps with your fingers. Stir in thoroughly. Stir in the flour, just until blended. Stir in the chopped cherries and the chips. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each cup almost full. Bake for fifteen to eighteen minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy when gently pressed and fully puffed. Cool on a rack for five minutes. Lift out the cupcakes and cool on the rack for at least ten minutes more. Note: If you're feeling especially decadent, top these with white chocolate cream cheese icing. ---------- Five Minute Cranberry Walnut Cobbler by Barbara Loos Barbara Loos is a longtime leader in the NFB. She has been president of our affiliate and now serves as president of the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. Ingredients: 2 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries 3/4 cup chopped walnuts 1/2 cup plus 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1 cup all-purpose flour Pinch of salt Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a nine-inch pie pan combine cranberries, walnuts and 1/2 cup sugar; toss until coated. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, melted butter, remaining sugar, and almond extract until blended. Fold in flour and salt until combined. Pour the batter over the cranberry mixture. Bake for forty minutes, until crust is golden and fruit bubbles. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serves six to eight. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family First Annual Bid for Equality Online Auction: It is time to get ready to celebrate the holidays and reflect on your accomplishments over the past year. This year you can enjoy the holidays and continue to contribute to the National Federation of the Blind's (NFB) powerful cause by joining us in our first annual Bid for Equality online auction. This exciting new online auction features several unique packages from our extremely dedicated affiliates. The items range from paintings and gift baskets with unique state-specific items to helicopter tours, airline tickets, and weekend get-aways. What a great way to show the special people in your life that you care, while supporting the NFB at the same time! Get excited, the auction will begin on Black Friday, November 29, 2013, and conclude on Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The future is in your bid. We appreciate your support. Please contact Ilana Posner at the National Office at (410) 659-9314, extension 2283, for more information about the Bid for Equality online auction or with any questions. Another Kernel Book in the Works: Starting in 1991, the NFB began producing paperbacks of less than one hundred pages relating the experiences of blind people in their own words. The goal was to create something small enough that people would carry it and interesting enough that they would read it. We have published thirty of these, and, to commemorate our upcoming seventy-fifth anniversary, we are going to publish another. So what is a Kernel book? As Dr. Jernigan said in the first one: "We wanted to go to the very heart of blindness, trying to show our readers what it's really like; and, for that matter, what it isn't like." He went on to explain that many times we are asked about our lives as blind people, but, in the short conversations we have on the bus or while boarding an airplane, we usually can't do a very good job of explaining it. The Kernel Book gives us this opportunity. To understand the Kernel Book series, look at the thirty we have at . Then think about your story, think about the part the NFB has played in your life, and think about writing your story or an anecdote about how the Federation has shaped your outlook for our seventy-fifth anniversary Kernel Book. Submissions should be sent to Gary Wunder at 3910 Tropical Lane, Columbia, MO 65202 or sent by email to . This is a wonderful opportunity to explain what it means to be blind, the challenges we face each day, and the way we overcome them. Be a part of history, and tell us about your life. Where the Blind Work: The Jernigan Institute, the Employment Committee, and the Writers' Division have a joint project, and we need your help. We are building an employment resource of job descriptions and how the blind compete within them. Where the Blind Work is a great informational resource to assist youth to plan for future employment and for adults hoping to change jobs or careers. We would be happy to accept a description of your present job, one you had recently, or both. The collection of descriptions is divided into twelve categories: Administrative and Office Careers; Business/Entrepreneurial Careers; Computer Specialists; Customer Service; Education Careers; Financial Careers; Government Careers; Human Services; Law Enforcement and Legal Careers; Media, Marketing, and Public Relations; Medical Careers; and Vocational Jobs. Your description must be fewer than 1,000 words and must follow the five-question format below. When completed, please email them to : (* indicates a required field.) 1. Personal information: *Name *Industry in which you work (example: financial services) *Job title Employer Your street address (work or home) City, state, zip code Phone number (work, home, or cell) Email (work or home) *2. Please explain what any worker would do on this job. (Specialized blindness alternatives will appear in the next question.) *3. To what extent are you blind, and what special adaptations do you use on the job? (Give the medical term for your blindness and extent of limitation; list the type and name of any special low- or high-technology equipment or procedure you use to perform your job duties, describing where and how you use it.) *4. Please let us know of any required special training, education, certificates, or experience needed for this job. *5. Please tell us about anyone or anything that aided you to be successful. Note: To aid in the construction of your description, read several of the earlier postings from the Where the Blind Work page: . 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. Maps of Kansas Available: The Princeton Braillists have recently completed a volume of maps of Kansas. This single volume includes an overview of the state, followed by individual maps showing cities, rivers, counties, highways, farm and mineral products, and yearly precipitation. A more detailed map shows the vicinity of Kansas City. The package comprises eleven maps, forty-two pages total. The price is six dollars, and we use shipping by free mail where eligible. To order, please send check or purchase order to the Princeton Braillists, 76 Leabrook Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540. For further information contact Ruth Bogia, (215) 357-7715, or Nancy Amick, (609) 924-5207. Former NLS Librarians Nussbaum and Lewis Receive ASCLA Awards: Ruth J. Nussbaum, retired reference librarian, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress, and Jill Lewis, retired director of the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (MDLBPH), an NLS network regional library, are recipients of two Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) awards. ASCLA, a division of the American Library Association, selected Nussbaum for the 2013 Cathleen Bourdon Service Award and Lewis for the 2013 Francis Joseph Campbell Award, which recognizes a person or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of library service for the blind and physically handicapped. The Cathleen Bourdon Service Award, formerly the ASCLA Service Award, was renamed in 2007 in honor of the departing ASCLA executive director Cathleen Bourdon. It is presented to an ASCLA individual member for exceptional service and sustained leadership to the division. This includes participation in activities that have enhanced the stature, reputation, and overall strength of ASCLA and have also cultivated the division's relationship with other appropriate organizations, institutions, or government agencies. Nussbaum worked as a reference librarian at NLS from 1987 to 2012. An ASCLA member since 1990, she has been chair of the Librarians Serving Special Populations Section of ASCLA, a member of the Century Scholarship committee, a representative to the ASCLA Board of Directors, chair of the Francis Joseph Campbell Award Committee, a member of the ASCLA Awards Committee, and representative to the ASCLA board. Nussbaum also served as an ALA councilor-at-large from 2004 to 2007 and has long been involved in the American Indian Library Association. She has made significant contributions to professional documents and guidelines, including accessibility policies for both ALA and ASCLA, fact sheets, bibliographies, and other publications addressing library services for people with disabilities. The Francis Joseph Campbell Award was named after Campbell (1832 to 1914), an American who lost his sight at the age of five. He was the music director at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and the Perkins Institution for the Blind and was also instrumental in the founding of the Royal National College for the Blind. The award, which consists of a citation and medal, is presented to a library or person who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of library service for the blind and physically handicapped. This contribution may take the form of an imaginative and constructive program in a particular library; a recognized contribution to the national library program for blind persons; creative participation in library associations or organizations that advance reading for the blind; a significant publication or writing in the field; imaginative contribution to library administration, reference, circulation, selection, acquisitions, or technical services; or any activity of recognized importance. Lewis served as the director of the MDLBPH from 2003 to 2012. Under her leadership the library developed partnerships that provided a community center for library users with print disabilities. The center includes adaptive technology, cultural programs, and an interactive children's reading center. She previously worked as a reference librarian for NLS, where she conducted a study of educational reading services for individuals with print disabilities and prepared publications for the Reference Section. In 2012 Lewis was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland and presented with a Governor's Citation for Outstanding Service. She has been active within ALA and ASCLA since the 1990s and serves on the board of the Montgomery County Public Library in Maryland. Both women were presented their awards during the ALA 2013 Conference at the ASCLA/COSLA reception on Saturday, June 29, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. NLS administers the Braille and Talking-Book Program, a free library service available to US residents and American citizens living abroad whose low vision, blindness, or disability makes reading a regular printed page difficult. Through its national network of regional libraries, NLS mails books and magazines in digital audio and Braille formats, as well as digital audio equipment, directly to enrollees at no cost. Selected materials are also available online for download, and music instructional materials are available in large print, Braille, and recorded formats. For more information visit or call 1-888-NLS-READ (1- 888-657-7323). Tape Discussion List Available: Cassette tapes may have been invented in the 1960s, but people still use them, even today, especially the blind and visually impaired. Though Braille is very useful and popular among the blind, audio books are also prevalent and useful. Though the Digital Talking Books program exists, there is still an audience among blind audio book listeners for cassette tapes. Did you tape fans ever want a discussion list to talk about tapes with other tape users, especially blind ones? Well, that's Prosomawi Media's latest endeavor: TapeVille. So what is TapeVille? Simply put, it is a blind-accessible forum where people who like tapes chat with other people who like tapes. All cassette-related topics are allowed, including the conversion of cassettes into digital format. Send an email to with the word "subscribe" in either the subject or the body of the email. If you ever decide to leave TapeVille, do the same, just replace the word "subscribe" with "unsubscribe," though we really hope you don't. When you're ready to introduce yourself, post a tape question, tape information, tape news, etc., send an email to with your message. HAI Describe-Live Audio Description in NYC: If you like Broadway and Off Broadway shows, but have crossed them off the list because of a visual impairment, you're going to love this. Check out Describe from the Healing Arts Initiative. The Healing Arts Initiative (HAI) is a New York City non-profit committed to making art and culture accessible to blind and visually impaired residents and visitors. Describe is a service offered by HAI that provides live professional description services to blind theater-goers. Trained describers speak live through a small ear-piece and offer blow-by- blow description of stage settings, live action, costumes and scenery. Anyone interested in getting more information on HAI's Live Describe program can call or email to be added to our mailing list and learn about upcoming performances. If you would like to learn more or be added to our mailing list, please send an email with your contact information to or call (212) 575-7660 and ask about our Describe program. You can also visit us on the web at , like us on Facebook at , or follow us on Twitter <@hai_nyc>. 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. For Sale: I have a Permobil C300 model power wheelchair for sale. The seat depth is seventeen inches, back to front; the seat is fourteen inches wide. The seat can be raised or lowered. The system has a caretaker control box on the back, with the same control on the front left side, plus a joy stick. It also has a laser locator that sounds an alarm when it detects obstacles in front of or behind the chair. The chair is about five years old, but has been used only about ten times, all inside the house. It is in excellent condition, and the gel battery has been replaced once. I am asking $1,500 or best offer, and transportation of the chair must be covered by the new owner. For more details call Carol (610) 734-1037, or email For Sale: I am selling a HIMS Braille Sense Plus qwerty notetaker. It is rarely used and comes with original packing materials, manuals, and a leather carrying case. The unit is in like-new condition and comes with the latest version 8.0 firmware and a 32 gig flash drive already installed. I am asking $2,000. Contact John by phone at (903) 285-2519. ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Thu Oct 31 00:52:37 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:52:37 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, August/September 2013 Message-ID: <201310310752.r9V7qbBH016081@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> [Note from the e-mail distributor: No, you do not need to adjust your e-mail program. The subject is correct. Due to a distribution error, the August/September issue of the Braille Monitor was delayed in arriving. We apologize for the out-of-order delivery of this issue, but hope you'll enjoy this jam-packed issue full of news of our 2013 convention anyway. -Brian] BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 8 August/September 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Vol. 56, No. 8 August/September 2013 Contents Illustration: Braille Book Fair Convention Roundup by Gary Wunder Presidential Report 2013 by Marc Maurer Awards Presented at the 2013 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind The 2013 Bolotin Awards by James Gashel Meet the 2013 National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Class The Power of Belonging by Marc Maurer Themes in History and the National Federation of the Blind by Raymond Kurzweil Reinterpreting and Expanding "The Right to Live in the World" by Adrienne Asch Literacy for the Blind Without Borders: Ending the Book Famine by Fredric K. Schroeder Literacy Without Borders: The Road to Marrakesh by Scott C. LaBarre Perseverance, Progress, and Possibilities: The 2013 Convention Resolutions by Sharon Maneki The 2013 Resolutions of the National Federation of the Blind Convention Miniatures [PHOTO/CAPTION: Joey Niebrugge and her son Teague] [PHOTO/CAPTION: Raveena and Bryan Alli] [PHOTO/CAPTION: Taengkwa Sturgell] [PHOTO/CAPTION: Alyssa Mendez] Braille Book Fair One of the highlights of the national convention for parents and children alike is the Braille Book Fair. Each year the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children and the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille collect donations of gently used Braille books of all genres and age levels. New (to them) books encourage young readers to learn and use Braille, while donating books they've outgrown creates room on the shelf to buy newer and more advanced works. Volunteers at the fair will box up and ship your purchases home to you, so travel space is no limit to how many new books you can find a home for. Business is brisk as parents and children search for just the right books. Joey Niebrugge and her son Teague debate choices in the first photo. In the second photo, Bryan Alli and his daughter Raveena glance over a find. There's quite a crowd at the Book Fair, as Taengkwa Sturgell from Indiana can confirm. In the third photo, she's browsing a table as parents reach for books all around her. The last photo is Alyssa Mendez from Georgia, triumphantly carrying her three new books away. The 2013 Convention Roundup by Gary Wunder I joined the National Federation of the Blind in 1972, but it was not until 1977 that I was able to attend my first national convention. That year we met in New Orleans, and I believe my roommates and I had to save long and hard to pay the ten-dollar-a-day fee for our hotel room. Those were exciting times for me: making my airplane reservation; thinking how much fun it would be to fly; realizing I had never stayed in a hotel for a week and looking forward to it with great anticipation; planning to meet the president of the National Federation of the Blind, Kenneth Jernigan; and shaking the hand that was attached to that voice who told me there was no shame in being blind and that the blind could be educated, articulate, and, when we needed to be, forceful. Since 1977 I have missed two national conventions, one to care for an ill loved one, and the other to fill my responsibilities as a project manager when my employer decided to implement a financial accounting package at the beginning of the fiscal year. Missing those two conventions was very difficult for me, and I spent my days at home and at work tracking what would be happening in Baltimore and in Dallas, respectively. I was missing the meeting of the Resolutions Committee; President Maurer was giving the Presidential Report; I was at home watching Thursday evening television, but I should be in the banquet hall listening to the banquet speech. Those experiences have helped me to appreciate national convention in the same way that a person appreciates being pain-free after a migraine or healing from a painful bone break. Still, the repetition of thirty-four years does tend to dim what was exciting and make it routine and even a bit burdensome. "I'm going to make my first airplane reservation" can easily turn into "I have to book another flight." "I'm going to make a reservation at a fancy hotel" can easily become "I'm not sure if my credit card can afford it, but I better book a room before rooms in the main hotel are gone." This year something special happened to me that once again transformed the mundane and routine into something extraordinary and almost magical. After leaving my grandson at home for the 2012 convention, we promised he could join us in Orlando in 2013. We would fly on an airplane, go to a big hotel, meet lots of influential people, and perhaps set aside a couple of days to do some touring in Orlando. When the spring came round and July became more than a far-off promise, every week or so my grandson would burst into the room and ask, "Are you excited, Grandpa?" Now Grandpa isn't always too quick on the uptake, so the first time this happened I asked, "Excited about what?" His reaction was typical of the eleven-year- old who can't believe that a grandpa can get so old and still be so unaware of the important things in the world. "Our trip to the convention," he said. Then I got it: it isn't just the going that is wonderful but the thinking, the planning, and the countdown to making the dream reality. "Are you excited" became the $64,000 question around our house, but if this had been the experience of only one grandpa, grandma, and grandson, I wouldn't have used it to introduce our convention roundup. No, excitement wasn't just in the mind of a little boy named Ethan Perry Sutton and his grandparents; excitement was what I observed everywhere at the 2013 convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Orlando, and excitement is what I have read in the many emails that have come from convention attendees who want to share what they experienced this year. This was the Federation's second visit to a Rosen property. In 2011 we stayed at the Rosen Shingle Creek, and this year we savored the experience of staying at the Rosen Centre. Often the large facilities we use are a uniquely challenging travel experience for me. Gone are the lower ceilings, close walls, and ninety-degree turns that normally give lots of clues in maintaining good orientation during indoor travel. By contrast, the Rosen Centre was easily learned; we came armed with good written instructions about the layout of the hotel, and within two days most of us were going from point A to point B without the irritating exits and detours we have come to expect. The weekend of June 29 and 30 found the hotel lobby full of dogs, canes, and happy shouts of "Hello, friend; good to see you. We'll have to get together for a meal." But for all of the longtime convention goers who crowded the lobby and elevators, a really exciting part of this year's convention could be heard in the enthusiasm of those who were attending their first national convention. At check-in time some of them were overwhelmed: "I've never been around so many blind people. How in the world am I going to find my way?" By the time convention got into full swing, it was more common to hear "I've never been around so many blind people. This is really cool. They just pick up their canes and go, and I can do it too." Although the convention is officially in session for only three days, anyone familiar with our work knows that it begins long before the fall of the gavel on convention opening day. This year activities started on July 1 at 7:30 in the morning with the meeting of the Amateur Radio Division and continued late into the night with the NFB's version of American Idol in the form of karaoke night. In between there were meetings of blind students, blind professionals in rehabilitation, parents of blind children, a meeting of those seeking employment who attended an employment seminar, a job fair, and a training session held by the largest online job service in the world, Monster.com. The Jernigan Institute was busy with technology training sessions, and many of the major vendors selling technology for the blind hosted sessions devoted to training and to advertising the features that would soon be found in their newest incarnations of products. The problem for convention attendees was not "Can I find something of interest to attend?" but "How can I decide what is of most interest to me, and can I find people who attended the seminars I couldn't and get them to tell me what was covered?" As video presentations become more important in the classroom and as television shows and movies become ever more visual, the need for descriptive video becomes critically important. For this reason the Smith- Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center and the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute have partnered to train video describers. On Monday morning participants tested the system and their skill in using it by recording their own descriptions of selected videos from YouTube and other sources. Technology used to communicate with the deaf-blind was demonstrated by the Jernigan Institute. Blind youngsters could attend seminars on everything from learning appropriate social skills to creating and reading raised line drawings. Pearson, one of the largest educational publishers in the world, was present to invite students to test its MyLab products. In this presentation students were encouraged to have a hands-on experience in learning math, English, information technology, and business courses. Of course, by far the most active division of the National Federation of the Blind on seminar day is the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Readers of the May 2013 issue will remember the fourteen- page agenda filled with activities for parents and children of all ages, and those parents and children were very much in evidence in the halls and meeting rooms of the 2013 convention. But we know the convention isn't just about young people; our seniors are the fastest-growing segment of the blind population, and part of our job is to introduce them to the growing array of senior services available to them and to show through example the coping strategies that work for us. One of the most meaningful pieces of legislation passed thus far in this century is the Help America Vote Act. Through technology usable by the blind and sighted, the blind are able to cast a truly secret ballot. Several machines are now used throughout the country, and several more are under development. The Dominion Voting Hospitality Suite gave voters an opportunity to see the ImageCast Evolution Tabulator, a precinct-level optical scan ballot counter, which provides all voters an opportunity to vote privately and independently. The company not only got valuable advertising for its product but learned from the blind themselves exactly what blind people like and do not like in an electronic voting machine. Monday evening saw meetings of the National Association of Guide Dog Users; the National Association of Blind Office Professionals; the Living History Group, dedicated to recording, preserving, and appreciating the Federation's history; and the Community Service Group, created to demonstrate that blind people not only need help and support from our communities but are active contributors to the places where we live and work. Traditional meetings such as the White Cane and Affiliate Finance Committee, the Rookie Roundup, and the first meeting of the scholarship class of 2013 helped to round out our first day of convention activities. For many this day started early and ended late-a practice that would continue until the adjournment of the banquet on Saturday evening. Activities began promptly at 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning with convention registration and banquet ticket sales. At one time standing in the registration line provided an opportunity to visit with old friends, make new ones, and speculate about what would be found in the agenda handed out at the end of the registration process. But the days of the registration line are gone. Now registration and banquet ticket sales involve walking up to a table, giving your name, being handed your registration packet, and hearing "I hope you have a wonderful convention" from a member of the cheery registration staff. The Independence Market, formerly the Materials Center, opened promptly at nine, and so too did the exhibit hall, where sponsor-level exhibitors had two hours to demonstrate their products and services. Our convention sponsors for 2013 were Accessibility Champions: Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Deque Systems Inc.; Title Sponsor: Monster Worldwide; Platinum Sponsors: UPS, HumanWare, Oracle, and Travelocity; Gold Sponsors: Brown, Goldstein, and Levy, LLP; Google; Market Development Group Inc.; Silver Sponsors: AT&T; Freedom Scientific; Pearson Higher Education; Bronze Sponsors: Blackberry; C and P-Chris Park Design; IBM; VitalSource Technologies; White Cane Sponsors: Courseload; En-Vision America; HIMS Inc.; eBay Inc.; Sprint; MegaVoice; SSB Bart Group; and Learning Ally. At 11:00 AM the convention hall opened to all exhibitors, including NFB affiliates and divisions. Other meetings occurred throughout the day, including the Blind Musicians Group, the Travel and Tourism Division, the National Organization of Professionals in Blindness Education Division, the Kenneth Jernigan Fund Committee, and of course the meeting of the Resolutions Committee, chaired by our most capable Sharon Maneki. In addition to these formal activities, one could attend a goalball workshop; a self-defense workshop; a presentation and training session on "Books, Music, and More," presented by K-NFB Reading Technologies; and a presentation by Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. discussing circadian rhythm and sleep-wake disorders with expert Dr. Stephen Lockley, associate professor of medicine, Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, at the Harvard Medical School. The National Organization of Parents of Blind Children held a style show, an opportunity for aspiring young models to take a walk down the runway in their favorite outfits. The Division, in conjunction with the Writers' Division, also sponsored "Writing Your Own Script," a youth-track activity for young people ages eleven to eighteen. Of course there was the much anticipated sixteenth annual mock trial, sponsored by the National Association of Blind Lawyers, and, as we have come to expect, it was a hit. The evening session began with a meeting for affiliate presidents and treasurers, and, as the night progressed, there were meetings of the Kurzweil 1000 User Group; the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille; the National Association of Blind Students; the Public Employees Division; the NFB Krafters Division business meeting; a presentation by NFB- NEWSLINE? entitled "Taking Mobile to a New Level"; and an innovative presentation by our governmental affairs staff entitled "State and US Capitol Hills and Bills." The National Association of Blind Veterans held its meeting, as did the Library Services Committee, the Blind Parents Group, and the Committee for the Promotion, Evaluation, and Advancement of Technology. The Membership Committee held a seminar entitled "New Generation: Solutions for Growing Our Affiliates and Chapters - Removing Old Barriers." A special Paralympic panel presentation was held in which former and current Paralympic and international blind athletes explained how they persevered to get to the top, and a special gathering of the Spanish Translation Committee was held to discuss how best to share the benefits of the Federation with those who speak Spanish. Wednesday morning activities began at 9:00 AM with the NFB board of directors meeting, which was open to all. When the gavel fell, a tremendous cheer erupted from the hall, and a roll call of the board found all members present. Sam Gleese was in attendance even though his wife Vanessa had, only the day before, been released from the intensive care unit of a hospital in Mississippi. A moment of silence was observed in memory of those no longer with us. Of the many who had died, those recognized by name included Lev Williams of Tennessee; Hazel Staley of North Carolina; Buck Saunders of West Virginia; Frank Lee of Alabama; Herman Gruber of North Carolina; Robert Hunt of West Virginia; Bob Eschbach of Arizona, who was formerly a resident of Ohio, a national board member, and the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio; and Joe Money of Indiana. The silence in the hall was a testament to the work of these fine men and women and the esteem in which they are held by those who, because of their example, have taken up the task they considered so dear-to carve out a better future for the blind of our nation and the world. President Maurer took a moment to review information about convention registration. As of the close of business on the prior evening, we had visitors from thirteen other nations in attendance. There were seven from the Bahamas, two from Barbados, eighteen from Canada, one from the Czech Republic, one from India, four from Israel, ten from Kyrgyzstan, one from Nigeria, three from Panama, one from Saudi Arabia, two from Trinidad, one from Trinidad Tobago, and two from the United Kingdom. This means that at the beginning of the board meeting we had fifty-three registrants from other nations, and at the time of this meeting, 2,233 people were registered. The president reported that the board positions needing to be filled at the convention were currently held by Parnell Diggs of South Carolina, Sam Gleese of Mississippi, Ever Lee Hairston of California, Cathy Jackson of Kentucky, Mika Pyyhkala of Massachusetts, and Joe Ruffalo of New Jersey. Other members of the board who would not stand for election in 2013 were Marc Maurer, president, from Maryland; Fred Schroeder, first vice president, from Virginia; Ron Brown, second vice president, from Indiana; James Gashel, secretary, from Colorado; Pam Allen, treasurer, from Louisiana; and board members Amy Buresh from Nebraska; Patti Chang from Illinois; Mike Freeman from Washington State; John Fritz from Wisconsin; Carl Jacobsen from New York; and Alpidio Rol?n from Puerto Rico. Mika Pyyhkala called for the floor to announce that he would not accept nomination for another term on the board. Mika is widely known for his pioneering work in bringing accessibility to cutting-edge technology, and, though he will continue to be a strong advocate in this and other arenas, he does not wish to continue the added responsibilities that come from being a member of the board. President Maurer thanked Mika for his service and especially his groundbreaking work in the area of helping to make technology accessible. He concluded by saying, "It is a pleasure to have you as a colleague and a friend." [PHOTO CAPTION: Dan Hicks] Dan Hicks, the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida, was next invited to the podium for welcoming remarks to the board of directors and the convention. Given that Orlando is a magical place, boasting Disney's magical kingdom and the Orlando Magic basketball team, President Hicks began his welcome with a magic trick. His was not a visual trick or an auditory trick; instead, it was a magic trick of the mind, and we were all invited to participate. Here were his magical instructions: Think of a two-digit number. Add together the digits of your two-digit number. Take the resulting number and subtract this number from the number you started with. Take the two-digit number that results and add those two digits together. If you still have a two-digit number, add those digits, coming up with a one-digit number. NFB has three letters, so subtract three from your number. Now pick the letter that corresponds to that number-if your number is one, you would pick the letter a; if it is seven, you would pick the letter g. Now think of a state that begins with that letter. Since NFB has three letters, take the third letter of the state you are thinking of, and then think of a city that starts with that letter. Congratulations, folks: you have now arrived in Orlando, Florida. The success of this trick was affirmed by laughter and applause, and with that Dan urged that we make this the best ever convention of the National Federation of the Blind. President Maurer announced that a newly organized group of blind people has asked for admission to the National Federation of the Blind and has submitted its constitution for approval. Having reviewed the constitution, he recommended to the board of directors that it admit and charter the National Federation of the Blind of Montana. The board unanimously approved a motion to admit the newly formed group and to charter it at the annual banquet on Saturday evening. The crowd, knowing of our long struggle truly to incorporate the Montana Association for the Blind, cheered enthusiastically when the motion was passed. Anil Lewis has been appointed to chair our Imagination Fund Committee. He began his presentation by suggesting that, if we were not on the Preauthorized Contribution Plan, we should immediately go back to the table and sign up; if we were already on the plan, we should go back to the table and increase. He then emphasized to the group that the purpose of the Imagination Fund is not to take money from our own pockets, as we do in the Preauthorized Contribution Plan, but to solicit support from friends and neighbors who care about us and therefore care about the things important to us. When we think about the Imagination Fund, we often imagine the things we want to do and why we should raise money to do them. Anil asked us to think about the world without the Federation, what it would be like for blind people, and with that thought uppermost in our minds, to go forth and ask those with whom we have relationships to help us with this important cause. We are building a team of imaginators, people who are not afraid or ashamed to ask for donations to support our noble efforts. Let people see, through our asking and our good works, that we are about ensuring that blind children get to read Braille, that blind adults get remunerative employment opportunities, and that the world is a better place because blind people are in it and fully participating members of it. He encourages everyone to contact him at or to call him at our national headquarters. Kevan Worley and Anil Lewis have been asked by President Maurer to reestablish the Blind Industrial Workers of America Division of the National Federation of the Blind. This group will be critical in helping us repeal the laws that permit the payment of subminimum wages to blind people. Because of our commitment to Braille, the National Federation of the Blind runs a program funded by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults dedicated to the creation and distribution of Braille books for children. We distribute approximately 2,000 free books each month, and anyone who knows a blind child who could benefit from a new book is encouraged to contact Mrs. Patricia Maurer at the National Center for the Blind. President Maurer announced that the 2014 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will be in Orlando. This will be true for the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 conventions as well. We may be in different hotels, and we may vary the dates of the convention, but they will be held on Rosen properties, and we will enjoy the fine facilities they have to offer. [PHOTO CAPTION: Cathy Jackson] Cathy Jackson was introduced to present the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award. The 2013 winner is a deserving teacher from the state of Georgia, and the award presentation can be found elsewhere in this issue. Scott LaBarre took the floor to talk with the board and those attending the meeting about the Preauthorized Contribution Program. While for some time now we have had an annual giving rate that was at or above $400,000, we came into the convention with annualized giving of $398,450.16. Although this is above where we were last year at this time, it does not represent the yearly high that we had in December of 2012, and it is clear that we can do much better. Chairman LaBarre suggested that we set ourselves the task of raising our annualized contribution to at least $425,000 by the end of convention. Sandy Halverson took the floor to talk about the Shares Unlimited in the National Federation of the Blind (SUN) Fund. This is a savings account or a rainy day fund to which we make contributions as a hedge against the day when we may face a substantial financial crisis. If the time comes when we are in desperate need of funds, we will spend the interest from this program. If our circumstances are dire, we will then use the principal. Currently we have over $1 million in the fund, and our hope is to get all of the states to make contributions to ensure that we can weather any financial adversity that comes our way. [PHOTO CAPTION: David Ticchi] Dr. David Ticchi, the chairman of the Blind Educator of the Year Award Committee, was introduced for a presentation. He presented a much- deserved award to a woman from Pennsylvania. His remarks and those of the recipient appear elsewhere in this issue. By long-standing policy, chapters, state affiliates, and divisions share their good fortune with the national treasury. Anytime a bequest is received, half of that bequest is granted to the national body. President Maurer recognized Julie Deden and Scott LaBarre to make a presentation, and they presented a check in the amount of $750,000 to support the work of our national body. They were followed by Jennifer Dunnam, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. On behalf of her affiliate she presented a check in the amount of $205,000. Rena Smith, the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada, was introduced in recognition of previous contributions her affiliate has made throughout the year. She surprised us with the presentation of yet another check, this one in the amount of $50,000. President Maurer concluded this part of the presentation by acknowledging a check for slightly under $200,000 from the affiliate in Connecticut. He thanked our state president, Beth Rival, and the audience showed its appreciation with a round of applause. Joanne Wilson addressed the group to discuss our newly created Vehicle Donation Program. We accept cars, trucks, vans, boats, motorcycles, airplanes, and anything else that has wheels and can be towed. Our job is to make the public familiar with this program so that people will call our donation center when they have a beloved vehicle that can do one more good deed in its metallic life. Public donations can be taken by going to the website or by calling (855) 659-9314. For their donation, donors are given a tax-deductible certificate and a letter of appreciation, and the National Federation of the Blind receives about $500 for each donated vehicle. If each of our states can generate ten vehicle donations in the course of the year, this will make a significant contribution to our effort to find new and creative means of raising money for the organization. In addition to starting our Vehicle Donation Program, we have also made a commitment to go into the thrift store business. We will begin in the eastern states, and, when these programs are successful, it is our intention to branch out and cover every state in the country. We are working with the organization GreenDrop, and this too can be a significant source of income if we get out the word and let people know that we are looking for clothing, household appliances, and other items of value that they can no longer use. [PHOTO CAPTION: Patti Chang] Patti Chang came to the platform to introduce the scholarship class of 2013. This class represents one of the best we have ever had, and their remarks to the board of directors and the speech of the 2013 Jernigan Scholarship winner are found elsewhere in this issue. So impressed was the board of directors by the presentation of this class and in the success of the scholarship program that it voted unanimously to continue it next year. For the second year in a row the board meeting adjourned on time, and the assembled prepared for an afternoon filled with division, committee, and group meetings. Nothing is a greater testament to the diversity of interests and accomplishments of the blind than the division meetings held on board meeting and division day. There are the meetings of the Sports and Recreation Division, the Diabetes Action Network, the National Association of Blind Lawyers, the NFB in Computer Science, the National Association of the Blind in Communities of Faith, the Seniors in Charge program held by the Seniors Division, the Public Relations Committee meeting, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, the Performing Arts Division, the National Association of Blind Educators, the National Association of Blind Merchants, the National Association of Blind Rehabilitation Professionals, the Human Services Division, the Writers' Division, the Piano Technology Group, and the Cerebral Palsy and Blindness gathering. For those who didn't find themselves in a division or committee meeting, there was training to use the NFB-NEWSLINE? service; a session for Inspiring Artists, Beginners to Professionals; and activities sponsored by the Sports and Recreation Division, which included a self-defense workshop and a fundraiser in which challengers could take on officers of the Sports and Recreation Division board in arm wrestling, push-ups, or other challenging activities. Of course, as important as these activities were, many of the blind children who attended were not particularly interested in the division meetings that occupied the afternoon. They had their hearts set on the Braille Book Fair cosponsored by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children and the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille. In this program children can browse through a large number of donated books, choose the ones they want, and then have those books sent to their homes by volunteers who will box and ship them. This is a splendid activity which allows gently used books to find new and loving homes, is a delight to the fingers of young Braille readers, and furthers our goal of increasing literacy through Braille. As the evening progressed, there was a meeting of blind academics; the National Association of Guide Dog Users; the Science and Engineering Division; the Assistive Technology Trainers; the National Association of Blind Automobile Enthusiasts; the Committee to Empower Underserved Populations; and the Webmasters Group for chapter, affiliate, and division webmasters' education and collaboration. If these items didn't pique the interest of convention attendees, there was always the Daisy Book of the Holy Bible seminar at which the King James Version of the complete Holy Bible (narrated by Alexander Scourby) was demonstrated to be navigable down to the verse using a Victor Reader Stream or similar Daisy book player. At a party sponsored by Bookshare, members could connect with Bookshare staff, meet other Bookshare members, and learn about the latest news and updates available through the service. Music enthusiasts could attend the Music Tech and You Workshop to learn about composing, recording, and mixing using state-of-the-art technology. Teachers of blind children could learn about the National Reading Media Assessment, a new chapter in the story of literacy for the blind. "Self-Advocacy in Higher Education: Knowing Your Rights and Getting It Done," provided a workshop for current or soon to be college and postgraduate students, where they could learn about their legal rights and how to employ effective strategies for self-advocacy in obtaining accommodations, accessing instructional materials, and requesting accommodations in high-stakes testing. [PHOTO CAPTION: Four members of the Louisiana Center for the Blind perform Golden Moments] No convention would be complete without a first run play written by Jerry Whittle and presented by the Louisiana Center for the Blind. This year the play was entitled Golden Moments, and at the end of the play its author and producer was surprised by a special party thrown in honor of his retirement and that of his wife, Merilynn. It is doubtful that one could find two finer Federationists in the country, and this recognition of their service was well deserved. When the gavel fell on the first official session of the seventy- third convention of the National Federation of the Blind, the crowd answered with a tumultuous roar. President Maurer began by giving us a bit of history. He read from a document which began: The Florida Federation of the Blind Preconvention Bulletin June 16, 1960 We have set the stage for a wonderful and big twentieth anniversary convention of the National Federation of the Blind to be held at the Everglades Hotel, Biscayne Blvd., Miami, Florida, July 1 to 4. If you have not made your reservations, please do so now. The rates at the Everglades are as follows: singles, $5.50; doubles, $7.00; triples, $9.50. This drew an envious cheer from the crowd and paved the way for Dan Hicks to welcome us to Florida. He took the microphone to offer us yet another magic trick, but, in the middle of his convoluted explanation, the stage was filled by a cast of characters who unarguably know more about magic than our esteemed state president. He was joined by Harry Potter, his friends, and a host of dignitaries from the Hogwarts School of Magic, who decided to attend the convention to learn something about the art of fundraising, their school having fallen on financial hard times. In the Harry Potter series, new students attending Hogwarts are assigned to their dormitories by a magical piece of clothing known as a sorting hat. In the Hogwarts ceremony, each new student approaches the hat, which calls out his or her name and place of residence. In the ceremony conducted in Orlando, however, students approached the hat to ask their proper role in the organization, and each was told that it was to assist in fundraising so that the Federation might continue to carry out its noble work. This introduction was nothing if not unique, and its message couldn't have been timelier. [PHOTO CAPTION: Air Force Honor Guard enters with flags] [PHOTO CAPTION: Honor Guard prepares to post the colors] After the magical characters of Hogwarts went off to see other sights in Orlando, the stage was taken by Dwight Sayer, who began the morning's festivities to honor our nation's veterans. This commenced with a presentation of the colors by the Air Force Honor Guard from Patrick Air Force Base. When they reached the stage, the convention joined in the Pledge of Allegiance on the 237th birthday of our nation and then joined Father John Sheehan and Dr. Jessica Ewell as they led us in the singing of the National Anthem. [PHOTO CAPTION: Veterans stand to be recognized] Those who served our country in the armed forces were invited to introduce themselves with name, rank, branch of service, and state of residence. The first four to introduce themselves were members of the Veterans Initiative Program we created to assist in bringing them to this convention. Thirty-eight veterans introduced themselves, and all were greeted with an enthusiastic round of applause. The ceremony was concluded in song. The medley performed is captured in the audio version of this issue and may be found, along with other audio highlights of the convention, at . President Maurer noted that he had applied to be a member of the United States Armed Forces and was rejected on the basis of blindness. He affirmed our commitment that one day this will change. Diane McGeorge talked briefly about our Cyber Auction, which will occur on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Each affiliate is being asked to make a pledge to the Amazing Online Auction, and it is needed by September 1. This project represents another effort to reach out to the public and to gain the support we need to fund the valuable work we do. The chairman of the Jernigan Fund Committee, Allen Harris, explained the role of the fund in raising scholarship money and expressed his pride in our being able to help more than sixty Federationists attend the convention this year. The next item on the morning's agenda was the roll call of states. Because illness prevented Joy Harris, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Alabama, from joining us, Cindy Jones of Alabama answered the roll call, asked that we all join in saying good morning to Joy as she listened to the convention stream, and welcomed for the first time the president of the Alabama school for the deaf and the blind, Dr. John Mascia. Cindy concluded her remarks by chiding President Maurer on Notre Dame's football loss to the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The president emotionally opined that he had enjoyed the Notre Dame season up to that point. Arizona came to the microphone to announce that it had in its delegation fifty-one first-timers to the national convention. This was the largest number of first-timers recorded in the roll call, but clearly evident in almost every report from the states was an impressive number of newcomers to our annual convention. When the roll call of states reached Colorado, President Scott LaBarre recognized the Colorado Center for the Blind and said that it would soon be celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, a quarter of a century that has witnessed positive change in the hundreds of students who have passed through the Center's doors. The president of the National Federation of the Blind of Georgia boasted seventy-three Georgians at the convention, with twenty-two first- time convention attendees, seven sets of parents of blind children, one Braille Challenge winner, one teacher of blind students (an award winner this year), two dogs, one goat, and a chicken. Though the Braille Monitor seldom turns away from the dirty work of investigative journalism, we made no attempt to confirm the nonhuman census provided by the gentleman from Georgia. President Michael Barber of Iowa explained how much teamwork can do when the affiliate of his state helped secure $150,000 in excess of the governor's budget request to support the programs of the Iowa Department for the Blind. The president of the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky, Cathy Jackson, announced that the prize the Kentucky affiliate would give for the Amazing Online Auction would be four grandstand tickets to the Kentucky Derby. President Larry Posont of Michigan announced the death of Michigan's longest-serving member of the Federation, Dorothy Eagle Scott. She had been a member of the National Federation of the Blind since 1941 and was active until several months before her death. The convention erupted in cheers when Travis Moses, the president of the newly-formed National Federation of the Blind of Montana, stood at the microphone to deliver his report. The audience was again moved to enthusiastic applause when Carl Jacobsen took the microphone as the president of the National Federation of the Blind of New York. In January of this year he went into the hospital with chest pain and found himself the recipient of double bypass surgery. Not content simply to be a patient, President Jacobsen put on his Federation hat and began talking to the senior vice president of the hospital about how it could improve accessibility for blind people. "He was in his three-piece suit, and I was in one of those gowns that fasten from the back, but here we were, carrying on the business of the Federation," he said. Carl concluded his report by saying that, thanks to the generosity of Cheryl Echevaria, the New York affiliate would be donating a trip with a value of at least $2,000 to our upcoming Cyber Auction. President James Brown of Tennessee came to the microphone to say that, four days previous, a law was enacted in Tennessee to protect the rights of blind parents against seizure of their children based on blindness. The Tennessee affiliate is also being paid by the Department of Children's Services to train all of their 2,300 workers so that they know blind people are capable of being good parents. The morning session concluded with President Maurer asking for a shout-out from those who attended their first convention in the decade of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, the first decade of the twenty-first century, and finally, the most enthusiastic roar coming from those attending their very first convention of the National Federation of the Blind. On Thursday afternoon the session began with the 2013 Presidential Report. In just over one hour and three minutes our president managed to discuss the programs of our Federation, the challenges we have faced, the victories we have won, and the commitment we have to shaping a future that holds greater opportunity for the blind of the nation and the world. He concluded his report with these remarks: "We have programs, financial resources, facilities, influential supporters, and technologies that we have built or caused others to create. But the most important thing we have is each other and the faith that we inspire in ourselves to use our strength for a common purpose and a shared goal. We have promised that we will believe in each other, and we always keep our promises. Our spirit makes us what we are, and our combined energy comes from the spirit that lives in the hearts of each of us. This spirit is unquenchable, and, because it is, our future is assured. This is what you, my friends in the Federation, have told me; this is what I have come to know in the depth of my being from listening to you; and this is my report for 2013." President Maurer's remarks will appear in full immediately following this report. Traditionally everyone who follows President Maurer's report publicly complains about their place on the agenda, saying that he is a hard if not impossible act to follow. Of course they are correct. The Presidential Report is one of the highlights of the convention. The convention hall is uncharacteristically quiet, except when it erupts in applause for the victories we have achieved or to affirm our resolve to meet the challenges ahead. This year the speaker who took the stage after President Maurer was our own Dr. Adrienne Asch, director of the Center for Ethics and the Edward and Robert Milstein Professor of Bioethics at Yeshiva University. Her topic was "Reinterpreting and Expanding the Right to Live in the World." She asked the convention to consider what we were prepared to do to see that the prenatal testing that is now being offered will not be used to prevent the birth of people who are blind, what we will do to see that blindness does not figure prominently in the end-of-life care we receive, and how we will make our voices heard as agencies at all levels of government consider how medical care will be apportioned to United States citizens in the event of a pandemic. Though the professor spoke at a time when many take the opportunity to catch their breath, talk with a neighbor, or run some kind of convention errand, her topic and presentation were so engaging that you could've heard a pin drop in that large convention hall. Her remarks appear in full elsewhere in this issue. [PHOTO CAPTION: Mark Conway] A major focus of the Federation has always been and will continue to be employment. As President Maurer observed in his introduction of the next presenter, in order to have equal opportunity for employment, one must find a job. In the twenty-first century most job searches are conducted online, and the day of sending out hundreds of paper r?sum?s has long since passed. Monster.com is the largest online job search company in the world, and to speak with us on the topic of "Equal Access for the Blind to Job Searches on the Internet" was Mark Conway, chief information officer, Monster Worldwide. Mr. Conway said that "Monster pioneered the notion of helping people get more out of work by showing them that there's a better job out there. We started the business of digital recruiting in 1994, and today we're the only online recruitment provider able to service customers on a global basis. Monster has an unparalleled international reach, with a presence in over forty countries in the world. And we enjoy the number one and number two positions in the major markets of the world in which we operate.... At Monster we don't just sell better jobs; we help people live better lives, we inspire people to improve their lives. Because, in the end, the better job is more than that: a better job is a better experience, an experience that leads to better possibilities, better opportunities, better relationships, and better perspectives. We have enhanced our mission through our collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind. Earlier this year in Boston we announced that, working together, Monster.com would be the first job search and recruitment website to provide blind jobseekers with full and equal access to all our products and services. Let me focus on how we got there. "Over the past year a team at Monster has been working closely with the National Federation of the Blind to enhance our Monster.com website in a way that will provide more opportunities for blind jobseekers to find jobs. Although portions of our site were already accessible, we realized we could do more. Therefore Monster went through the process of redesigning and updating key pages and flows on the site to ensure accessibility to our site for blind seekers.... These changes allowed blind jobseekers not only to find great jobs but to engage with employers, to apply for jobs, and to leverage the full benefit of Monster services." Not only has Monster.com improved its site, but in conjunction with these enhancements Monster has also focused on the education of the blind job seeker and developed an accessibility center for its website. "To continue to enable people to find better jobs, Monster has provided the National Federation of the Blind with a five-year grant of free job postings on Monster to allow the national organization to hire the best talent through Monster.com. In addition we made a donation of $50,000 to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to support programs to promote education and employment of blind persons and other persons with disabilities. We look forward to continuing this critical work with the National Federation of the Blind." At the end of Mr. Conway's remarks, President Maurer said, "I was distracted during part of your presentation, so I may have missed it. I heard you talk about that gift you gave to Massachusetts, but I didn't hear you say that you gave us $50,000 to be a Title Sponsor for this convention. The idea is that we can build better things together than either of us can do alone, and this is a great thing for us-we love it, and we're glad to have you here." As we have often noted in these pages, a significant problem for blind people is that we are told to sit down and wait. Some of this we reject, but some of it we take to heart. Like our sighted counterparts, many of us spend too much time sitting and fail to get the exercise critical to good health. To help address this issue, the next item appearing on the afternoon agenda was "The Poetry of Motion, the Grace of Movement, the Delight of Physical Expression: Blindness No Barrier." The panel was moderated by Natalie Shaheen, director of education at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute. Her remarks and a summary of those made by her fellow panel members will be reprinted later in the fall. [PHOTO CAPTION: Gilles Pepin] The final item of the afternoon session was entitled "The Newest Digital Book Player with Added Connectivity and Other Revolutionary Technology," and was presented by the chief executive officer of HumanWare, Gilles Pepin. He discussed the newest incarnation of the Victor Reader Stream, which is smaller, lighter, and louder than its predecessor and includes the ability to communicate wirelessly. This means that no longer must one connect the unit to a computer in order to download books, music, and other information of interest. Through an agreement with the National Federation of the Blind, the new Stream will allow information from NFB- NEWSLINE? to be directly downloaded to the player so that the blind person who owns one of these devices can wake and find his or her newspaper ready to read. With the new Stream, readers will have access to 327 national and local newspapers and forty magazines without a computer or telephone. The device will also provide access to books from the National Library Service, Bookshare, and (thanks to the efforts of Curtis Chong in his capacity as the head of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science) the Audible service will be accessible as well. Not content with providing reading material, updates will soon be provided allowing access to stock quotes, weather forecasts, podcasts, Internet radio, and other music services. Of course HumanWare is not interested in audio only; its strong commitment to Braille is demonstrated by its extensive line of Braille products. As Mr. Pepin says, "As you know, HumanWare is all about Braille and its future. In the last twenty-five years we have been committed to Braille literacy. We've always had a complete line of state-of-the-art products, including our very popular BrailleNote and Brailliant flagship products. We are great believers that Braille is the only path towards literacy for our children. We know that Braille readers are the leaders in this community, but in the recent past Braille has been losing ground. Education budgets have been cut; the number of available teachers of Braille is decreasing; there is often an unfortunate belief that more affordable mainstream solutions based on speech are enough for our children, but they are not. These and other reasons are contributing to the decline in Braille literacy, and we must fight back! . . . At HumanWare we believe our contribution should be focused on three critical elements: we want to make Braille more affordable, more portable, and more connectable to this digital world. . . together with NFB and others, we will increase the use of Braille worldwide, and Braille literacy will prevail." Mr. Pepin concluded by discussing the soon-to-be-announced Prodigi, a device that will bring the world of closed-circuit television technology into the twenty-first century and give those with low vision a simple, affordable, portable device. This will allow a blind person to hear the contents of a document spoken aloud, view it on the screen, or wirelessly download it for later review. At the conclusion of the afternoon session, plenty of activities awaited the spirited and energetic crowd. There was an opportunity to record a professionally mixed and edited demo of one's favorite song; an open house sponsored by the Colorado Center for the Blind; a chance to visit the exhibit hall; and a meeting of the Employment Committee to learn about resources to help with career planning, job seeking, and getting that first job. Those interested in homeschooling their children could learn all about it from instructor Heather Field, those wanting to learn about the basics of the Individualized Education Plan could be schooled by Carlton Walker, and parents wanting to know more about the legal process could also benefit from her knowledge as a lawyer and first-class advocate. Those wanting to learn how to work with their state and local boards of elections to eliminate barriers that prevent blind and visually impaired voters from casting private and independent ballots could attend a seminar, and those wanting to know about the contribution of the National Federation of the Blind in researching and developing new technology could attend a meeting sponsored by the Research and Development Committee. Finally, those interested in a little less work and a bit more play could attend the annual Monte Carlo Night sponsored by the National Association of Blind Students. However people chose to spend the evening, they managed to find their way back the next morning to the grand ballroom for the 9:00 AM fall of the gavel. The morning session began with a financial report delivered by President Maurer. In last year's report he told us that there had been a significant alteration in our income and that changes would have to be made. This year we find that our expenses still exceed our income by some $700,000. We have initiated a number of new fundraising activities, which were discussed earlier in this article, and we continue to look for ways to cut expenses while preserving and expanding our programs. There is reason to believe that our balance sheet for 2013 will be better at the end of the year than it now appears, but it is absolutely essential that we continue to look for ways to fund this movement. The convention next turned its attention to elections and filling the terms expiring at the end of the convention. The Nominating Committee report recommended Parnell Diggs; Sam Gleese; Ever Lee Hairston; Cathy Jackson; Jeannie Massay, president of the NFB of Oklahoma; and Joe Ruffalo. The Convention accepted the report of the Nominating Committee, President Maurer conducted the election, and each member nominated by the committee was elected. In introducing the next presentation, President Maurer said: "We now take up an item that we were thinking of doing tomorrow, but we are fortunate to be able to do it today. This is being presented by a teacher of blind students from Hamilton, Mississippi. This is a story worth knowing, a spirit worth feeling; this is a teacher in the movement who believed in blind children-and not only believed in blind children, but she taught the legislature to share her faith. It is my great good fortune to welcome for her presentation Casey Robertson." [PHOTO CAPTION: Casey Robertson] Here is how Casey began her remarks: "Good morning, Federation family and friends. I am here this morning, and if you would look at your agenda, you might see that you were supposed to hear about surviving potential disaster. Well I think my story goes right along with that, because, if we do not change the way students in our country are taught, we are headed for disaster." With these attention-getting remarks, Casey went on to deliver a stellar presentation that will appear in a future issue of this magazine. [PHOTO CAPTION: Daniel Webster] "Supporting the Blind of America in Congress" was next presented by the Honorable Daniel Webster, United States House of Representatives, from the Tenth Congressional District of Florida. Congressman Webster congratulated us on the work we do, stressed the value of not-for-profit organizations such as ours, and talked about the greatest obstacle he finds in Congress today-finding common ground, developing trust, listening, and uniting to take action. He said one of his first acts after being elected in 2010 was to call three of his fellow Congressman of the opposite party to ask that they sit with him at the State of the Union speech. The first to return his call was Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. Through this encounter he learned about an annual softball game between women in Congress and members of the press. He was asked to coach the congressional team, accepted the challenge, and helped his team to a late-inning five to four victory. After his team's triumph, while walking to catch the Metro for a ride home, he began to think about how special that night was and how the unity among conservatives, moderates, liberals, Republicans, Democrats, men, and women turned out to be more important than their differences. His hope was that he could do something to try to instill this spirit into the United States Congress, and to this end he has established bipartisan dinners, which continue to grow in popularity and have, as their most important dinner activity, sharing experiences, stories, victories, and defeats, in the hope that the result will be relationships based on trust and the creation of an environment where people who share significant differences can still come together for the common good. At the conclusion of the Congressman's remarks, President Maurer said, "Thank you for that profound message, and I appreciate the profound observations about needing to listen. I have a question for you, however. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act was adopted. In 1938 it included a provision that said that employers did not have to pay disabled Americans the minimum wage. It still says that. We have caused a bill to be introduced in Congress-this is H.R. 831-and we are looking for people to help us get rid of this legalized discrimination against blind Americans. We'd like to ask you to do it with us." Congressman Webster said, "Thank you for that question, and another shout out to our Florida friends: they have been in my office, they've explained this to me, and, as a matter of fact, they pointed out to me people I would've never have imagined would be a part of that conspiracy. I was shocked. I support your bill; I think that people should get just compensation for what they do, and I look forward to working with you in an even more substantive way in bringing this to the floor and making it happen." President Maurer concluded the presentation by saying: "I said to Anil Lewis, when I asked him to go down and work on this in the Congress, to find people in Congress who have courage. I think we have one with us!" "The Electronic Brailler of Tomorrow Here Today: Distance Learning and Braille Production in One Device" was next presented by David Pillischer, the president of Electronic Brailler LLC, and Peter Sullivan, vice president of software development for Duxbury Systems Inc. For all of the advancement we have seen in reading and writing Braille with notetakers and refreshable Braille displays, relatively little progress has been made in modernizing the traditional Braillewriter, which, by printing on paper, can make possible the reading and writing of multiple lines of Braille and thus enable its use in mathematics and in other arenas where understanding the layout of rows and columns is required. The electronic Brailler which has been produced provides the functionality of the traditional Perkins Braillewriter, along with the state-of-the-art technology to store what is written, to translate and back translate the information entered into it, and to produce Braille so quietly that it can be used in the classroom without interrupting the work of other students. Its ability to use the Internet means that a student can work with a teacher who is not physically present but can provide instruction, review the work, and even send material to be transcribed for the student. Following these remarks, President Maurer said: "Distance education is vastly needed in this arena because there aren't enough teachers in this area, and the teaching is always interrupted by something. This is a great thing, I look forward to it, and, David, it's been great having you here." Many of Mr. Pillischer's remarks will appear in an upcoming issue. [PHOTO CAPTION: Preety Kumar] Our next program item was entitled "Equal Access to Digital Information: Tools that Help in Getting it Done." To make this presentation we welcomed an Accessibility Champion for the 2013 convention and a longtime sponsor, the chief executive officer of Deque Systems, Preety Kumar. This company and its founder are dedicated to access for the blind and have developed an interface called Amaze, which is capable of providing quality access to Facebook for users of screen-reading technology, no matter the screen reader one chooses. For this program the company has won the Computer World Innovation Award, significant recognition by a mainstream newspaper which holds a preeminent position in the world of computing technology. Preety asked for our help in letting the world know that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to technology and that the higher-paying jobs in today's world all revolve around it. [PHOTO CAPTION: Robert Repella] The Friday afternoon session of the convention began promptly at 2 PM, and after a generous door prize President Maurer introduced Robert Repella, chief commercial officer and senior vice president of Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. to discuss the topic "Exploring Pharmaceuticals in Partnership with the Blind." For some time now Vanda Pharmaceuticals has been exploring the relationship between the ability to differentiate between light and dark and the sleep patterns of blind people. They have been seeking volunteers to participate in testing to determine whether its new drug, Tasimelteon, is effective in treating sleep disturbances that appear to occur in the blind. Having successfully completed these tests, the manufacturer hopes to receive approval for its drug in six to ten months, and Mr. Repella expressed his appreciation for the help of the National Federation of the Blind in researching the issue, in helping to solicit volunteers, and in publicizing the results of the studies. His hope is that, when we next meet in Orlando, Vanda will be close to announcing something for the market to help with the sleep disturbances that have been observed. [PHOTO CAPTION: Greg Harper] "Ending Legalized Discrimination in Wage Payments for Disabled Americans" was the next item on the agenda, and it was presented by the Honorable Greg Harper, United States House of Representatives from the Third Congressional District of Mississippi. Congressman Harper is the lead sponsor of H.R. 831 in the United States House, and his remarks will appear in full in a later issue. Though what he has to say is impressive in written form, the audio presentation has much to recommend it. These remarks and many other audio highlights can be found at . When I was a young lad in high school and the fall would bring the convention issue of this magazine, one of the highlights for me was always the presentation made by Jim Gashel, the Washington Report, delivered in his capacity as the head of our Washington Office. This is now known as the Advocacy and Policy Report and is currently presented by four articulate warriors who take our message to Capitol Hill each day. They are John Par?, Anil Lewis, Lauren McLarney, and Jesse Hartle. Their report will appear in the October issue. At the end of their presentation, President Maurer said: "As you can tell, we have a very good and very effective team working to get our legislation adopted. It is especially good and especially effective because we have members in every state prepared to do what is needed to get the work done. We are the most effective nonprofit in the nation because we have the team we do and because we have you!" The remainder of the afternoon was spent in reading and discussing the resolutions that set the policy of the National Federation of the Blind in this and future years. Twenty-four resolutions were brought to the floor; twenty-three of them were passed. A full report from the chairman of the Resolutions Committee and the texts of the resolutions that passed can be found elsewhere in this issue. When the gavel fell on the last morning of the 2013 convention, 2,429 Federationists were registered. Although our numbers have sometimes been higher, one would be hard pressed to find a more enthusiastic crowd than the one filling the hall and anxiously waiting for the first presentation of the morning. "Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL): Changing Educational Expectations for the Blind of America" was moderated by Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute. He was joined by Sandy Halverson, president of the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille and the lead coordinator of the Virginia BELL Programs; Kayleigh Joyner, a junior at Stephen F. Austin State University; and Raveena Alli, a second grader at Springdale Park Elementary School. These presentations were excellent, no summation could do them justice, and therefore they will appear in their entirety sometime in the fall. Before the days of digital deployment in the classroom, the biggest challenge for blind people in school was in getting their books on time and insuring that their instructors provided appropriate verbal feedback when drawing on the chalkboard. But now school is a different place, and much of what came from the textbook, the chalkboard, and the lecture is now gotten through what are known as "learning management systems." They offer tremendous resources for today's students, but, as with other technology, they can present real barriers to blind people when our needs are not taken into consideration in the design and implementation of these systems. [PHOTO CAPTION: Dennis Kavelman] "Accessible Education That Works: a Commitment from Desire2Learn" was presented by Dennis Kavelman, the chief operating officer of this innovative company. The creative force behind Desire2Learn was John Baker, a student at the University of Waterloo, who believed that sitting through lectures and hearing what he was supposed to have read in textbooks was a waste of time. Instead, he envisioned an environment where reading and lectures would be done before class time, allowing time with the professor to be spent in asking questions and going beyond the written and oral material. A hot topic and a current theme in education today is individualized learning, and this is greatly enhanced by software that can watch a student learn, periodically check her understanding, and reinforce those ideas which her answers indicate she does not fully comprehend. Mr. Kavelman described his company's evolution in developing a product usable by the blind this way: "Our deep commitment and understanding didn't happen overnight. Back in 2006, like many companies in our space, we didn't really appreciate how certain coding decisions had inadvertently created barriers for persons with disabilities. We thought we were doing pretty well because we had added alt text to our images. A local accessibility consultant showed us how nonvisual access users need much more than alt text. She showed us how screen access software works, attempted a number of common tasks in the system, and really struggled in some areas. At the end of the day people had a deeper appreciation for what a good screen-access experience looked like and resolved to do better. Since then we have been working really closely with people with disabilities to refine our software. These interactions have completely changed our approach to designing and delivering products. We don't just think about `Does this have the right markup?' We go much further to ask whether our products are designed to recognize the uniqueness and dignity of our users ...We are proud to have found a partner in the NFB that is deeply committed to these principles ... Desire2Learn is proud to be the only learning management system to have multiple nonvisual accessibility certifications from the NFB. We began working with the Access Technology Team at the NFB Jernigan Institute back in 2010. They have reviewed the nonvisual experience of our learning management system based on common use cases for students and instructors such as taking quizzes, grading, and creating activities within the system. They focus on the user experience, which sets a very rigorous standard." Again, in the words of the company's founder, "Accessibility is an organization-wide mandate and is a critical element in all of our R&D efforts. We are committed to ensuring that we are the industry leader in this very important field." [PHOTO CAPTION: Anil Lewis] "Valuing the Talent of Disabled American Workers: Ending Subminimum Wage Payments" was the title of our next presentation delivered by a panel moderated by Anil Lewis, director of advocacy and policy for the National Federation of the Blind; Sheila Leigland, a former worker at Goodwill Industries, who was being paid less than the federal minimum wage; Serena Lowe, senior policy advisor, Office of Disability Employment Policy for the United States Department of Labor; and Allison Wohl, executive director, the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination. Anil asked us to recognize that for many in the world an active, thriving, and productive group of blind people runs contrary to what they believe. The idea that we could travel independently to a new city, organize this convention, formulate policy, and then see to its implementation just isn't something they consider possible. He noted that one of our greatest challenges is to recognize that we sometimes get so lost in our success that we miss the fact that there is still a fight to fight. [PHOTO CAPTION: Sheila Leigland] Sheila Leigland hails from Montana, where she formerly worked for Goodwill Industries. After taking time off for surgery, she was informed by the management of Goodwill's sheltered workshop that she could return to the facility, but her pay would be reduced to $2.71 an hour, the rate paid to all new disabled employees of Goodwill Industries. When she calculated the cost of her transportation to and from work, she decided it made no economic sense to go back. Sheila made it clear that, while Jim Gibbons, the CEO of Goodwill, may say it is all about informed choice, for her and a large majority of the labor force in the United States, it's about money. Not only is it about money, but it's about dignity: the dignity that is eroded when one enters an environment where she is told she is not productive on the line where clothes are sorted; dignity that is eroded when she is told that, despite her college education, she doesn't qualify to be a telephone receptionist or for any other job that might harness her God-given talents; and dignity that is eroded when the very people who tell her she is not productive are themselves blind and make their living by making public pronouncements suggesting they are worthy of the hundreds of thousands of dollars they receive in compensation, while labeling as unproductive those who provide the direct labor that makes those salaries possible. [PHOTO CAPTION: Allison Wohl] Speaking on behalf of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD), Allison Wohl reminded us that "Subminimum wage on its face is a problem because it places a lesser value on the work of citizens with disabilities. There is a clear relationship between disability and poverty. For ten years in a row people with disabilities have experienced the highest levels of poverty in the United States. Three-hundred thousand Americans with disabilities are in sheltered workshops, in segregated workplaces, doing piecework for pennies a day in some cases. Between 500,000 and 600,000 people with disabilities are in nonwork settings, and, because of the many restrictions around receiving SSI and Medicaid, they are not allowed to earn, they are not allowed to save. Yet, the United States government spends about $400 million a year on disability payments with an additional 71 billion from the states. What does that money go to? Forty-one percent of it goes to cash payments, which is otherwise known as welfare or income support. Fifty-five percent goes to Medicaid, and less than 1 percent of those dollars is spent on training, education, and employment. What would happen if we turn that model around and that money and the incentives to providers would be on real work at real wages in competitive environments with nondisabled workers like everybody else? This is what we're here to do.... "I loved the Rock Center piece, and thank you to NFB for working so hard to get that piece aired. What Mr. Gibbons talked about was that it was okay to pay these folks less because it was part of their program, and to me that was one of the most hideous things he said. What he meant was that we should not pay people with disabilities more than subminimum wages because they are on welfare. That is an outdated paradigm, and it needs to change! ...CPSD's long-term goal is not just employment but economic self- sufficiency. We recognize that there will always be some dependence on public support, but we need to move from this model of cyclical dependency to self-sufficiency. Economic self-sufficiency starts with schools placing high expectations on students with disabilities and preparing them for a life of work, not segregated nonwork. We cannot force another generation into poverty, and our loved ones with disabilities will never get out of poverty under this outdated model of dependence. Laws have not kept pace with what we know about Americans with disabilities, and our system must be modernized. Seeing the repeal of 14(c) (which allows organizations to pay their workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage) and a phase-out of sheltered workshops are both obvious and powerful first steps in creating a system of economic self-sufficiency for Americans with disabilities." [PHOTO CAPTION: Serena Lowe] Serena Lowe was the next member of the panel to take the microphone. She began by reiterating the position articulated by Anil Lewis earlier in the day when he defined the battle to eliminate subminimum wages as the great civil rights issue of our day for people with disabilities. She went on to say, "No matter who you are or where you're from, work is about some very basic things: it's about dignity, it's about respect, it's about economic stability. You can't have that if you're being paid subminimum wages. Whether or not you believe in the nation's minimum wage, the reality is that we have it, it's law, and it should be for everyone-no exceptions, no ifs, no ands, no buts. Americans with disabilities are no different from Americans without disabilities when it comes to our collective view of the American dream of wanting to pursue work, to generate an income, to earn a livable wage, to be a productive citizen in society, to contribute as taxpayers-these are all important to all of us." She went on to note that several myths permeate society that are used to justify the payment of subminimum wages for citizens with disabilities. One is that disabled persons cannot be productive, another that employers would not hire them unless they were able to do so at less than the minimum wage. Another myth is that it is more costly for the employer to hire someone with a disability, though fourteen years of research has proven this to be a fallacy. The last myth that continues to dog our progress holds that the debate over sheltered workshop employment revolves around informed choice, the assumption being that people choose to hold jobs, knowing they will be paid below the national minimum wage. In reality there is no informed choice; the choice about what workers in the workshops are paid is being made by the managers of the workshops who benefit from the low wages they pay. Furthermore, as Ms. Lowe reminds us, "Informed choice is not limitless. If you are using public dollars, they should help you to be as economically self-sufficient as possible, not stick you somewhere where you're not being valued, you're not playing to your strengths, and you're being cyclically dependent. That's not what publicly financed supports are about! ... It's very important that I make something clear for you: government is a myriad of contradictions, and the Department of Labor is no exception. Right upstairs, four floors above us, is the Wage and Hour Division, and, as part of their many enforcement roles, they are required to enforce section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The reality is that this is the law. Just because it's the law doesn't make it right. So the Office of Disability Employment Policy says that employment, as we define it, means work paid directly by employers at the greater of minimum or prevailing wages, with commensurate benefits, occurring in a typical work setting where the employee has the opportunity to interact continuously with coworkers, both with and without disabilities, has the opportunity for advancement and mobility, and is engaged preferably full- time. That's integrated employment; that's what we support. We need NFB's help to make sure that the laws reflect that evolution in our psyche as Americans. Without your help, 14(c) still stands; it is still federal law. There's nothing I can do about that, there's nothing Wage and Hour can do about that-it is federal law, and that is why the work you are doing is so critically important." When the panel concluded, President Maurer addressed those assembled with these remarks: "Last November I went to Montana; I sat down in a room and started talking with my buddies about how to build an affiliate of the Federation. And there were the Leiglands, and they were working for subminimum wages. Now a lot of people who deal with workshops have said, `Yeah, there aren't many blind people being paid subminimum wages; why do you care; it's just a couple of them, just a few.' I don't care if there's only one: one is too many! So I called Anil and I said, `Get hold of these guys. They've got to be on the front lines. They are the example we need.' And he and Jesse and John got hold of NBC, and pretty soon they are in our building taking film, and you know what happened next. I admire John and Jesse and especially the leader of this particular task, Anil Lewis. We're going to get it done." "Literacy for the Blind without Borders," was the title of the next presentation, and its presenters were Frederic K. Schroeder, research professor, Interwork Institute, San Diego State University Research Foundation, and the first vice president of the National Federation of the Blind; and Scott LaBarre, Esq., LaBarre Law Offices, and president of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. Their efforts to secure the passage of a treaty allowing the cross-border sharing of books energized the crowd, and what they said appears later in this issue. [PHOTO CAPTION: Lesley-Anne Alexander] The morning session ended with a presentation entitled "Creating Opportunity for the Blind of the United Kingdom, Building Partnerships with Like-Minded Blindness Organizations Around the World," and its presenter was Lesley-Anne Alexander, chief executive officer of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). She began her remarks by saying, "Colleagues from the UK who have been to the convention before me have always come back and described the convention as awesome, and they clearly weren't lying to me. I think this is perhaps the most amazing gathering of blind and sighted people I have ever had the honor to stand in front of." Ms. Alexander explained the role of the RNIB, noting that in America we make more of a distinction than they do in Britain between consumer organizations and service providers. The RNIB is both, but it is slowly moving from service delivery to what it calls campaigning, our word for the concept being "advocacy." One of the goals of the Institute is to change the perception about blind and partially sighted people so that government and other decision-makers absolutely understand that we have a right to things, rather than being seen simply as the recipients of the good works of others. In closing, Ms. Alexander said, "It is genuinely an honor to be in this room with all of you, who display such fantastic and significant leadership in your own way. But it is also an honor to be in this room with some of the greatest leaders in the world of blindness. It's invidious to single out individuals, but I simply can't leave this platform without publicly thanking some of your great leaders. I'd like to thank Fred Schroeder; I'd like to thank Scott LaBarre; I'd like to thank George Kerscher; I'd like to thank James Gashel; but most of all I'd like to thank one of the bravest and perhaps most fearsome leaders of all, your own Dr. Marc Maurer." [PHOTO CAPTION: Jan R. Frye] To kick off the afternoon session, we took up the topic "A Partnership with the Organized Blind Movement: Creating Employment Opportunities in the Department of Veterans Affairs," presented by Jan R. Frye, deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Acquisition and Logistics for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Frye came to know about the employment challenges faced by the blind when he met James Omvig, and, through knowing Jim and learning about our organization, Mr. Frye has concluded that blind people represent a significantly under-used pool of talent for his department and for the federal government. Not being content simply to make the observation, he has decided to do something about this. He says, "I started a three-tier plan. First, I hired blind persons to work on my personal staff. About three weeks ago Meleah Jensen and Evelyn Valdez began their work in the heart of Washington, DC.... And they are here today." One of the things Mr. Frye has learned, much to his surprise and annoyance, is that his office is not totally Section 508 compliant. Some of the equipment that should be accessible is not, and even the new telephone system that has just been installed creates problems he is committed to see his department address. "The next step in this three-tiered program is to hire blind persons as part of our Warriors to Workforce program. This is a program we set up eighteen months ago-we already had an intern program, but I wanted to be able to bring wounded warriors in and train them to be contracting officers." Mr. Frye went on to say that the piece that is now missing involves recruiting and training blind veterans, and this he hopes to do in six to eight months. "My vision is to start training the blind to become government acquisition professionals in the VA, but I have a broader vision, and that is to take this spark in the VA and light lamps of understanding across the federal government. Blind people are capable, and they must be hired....We will not pigeonhole blind employees in positions defined strictly for blind people. Blind employees will be mainstreamed, and never will they be marginalized!...I'm largely ignorant about the issues blind people face in employment discrimination, but I know they exist. I simply have an idea and a modest plan for action; I aspire to learn quickly; I need your help. I want to take this small spark we're kindling and turn it into a thousand points of understanding across the federal government." Mr. Frye invites anyone who wishes to talk with him about improving the hiring of blind people in the federal government to write to him at. The next person to come to the podium was the recently elected president from New Hampshire, Cassandra McKinney. The title of her presentation was "The Blind at Work in an Unusual and Demanding Profession." Cassandra is a funeral director and embalmer, and her remarks will appear in an upcoming issue. [PHOTO CAPTION: Roberta Shaffer] With all of the technology for reading books and all of the publishers seeking to make their materials more accessible, the National Library Service of the Library of Congress is still the source that most blind people turn to to meet a majority of their pleasure reading needs. In 2012 Ms. Roberta Shaffer, the associate librarian for library services, came to tell us about the library's plans for the future. This year her topic was "Access for All: the Library of Congress in the Twenty-First Century." Ms. Shaffer said that the federal government has made many cuts this year, but this has not stopped the Library of Congress from working to meet its essential goals. She said there were three new programs she wanted to discuss. The first is a program to bring readers into the library so that the staff of the National Library Service will have a better pipeline to its consumers. The second initiative is to reach out to other libraries and services to make more materials available for readers. There is a myth that the Library of Congress has everything, but the truth is that a goal of the library must be to achieve greater collaboration so that what they don't have they can help their consumers find. This commitment to collaboration also involves going beyond books, film, and recorded sound. Library services must expand to include social media and big data, and these cannot be excluded simply because they are difficult to catalog and control. The third initiative of the Library is to digitize more material without falling into the trap of choosing quantity over quality. The Library of Congress still wants to be the gold standard for library service in the nation, and, though it expects to produce much more material through greater digitization, the result will not be a reduction in the quality we have come to expect. The work that the library is doing with publishers has, as its primary goal, bringing books to its readers as contemporaneously as they are brought to other communities. Making NLS books available on platforms other than those specifically created for the program remains a priority, and the plan is to have software that will run on the iOS platform available before the end of 2013 and on the Android operating system in the winter of 2015. Ms. Shaffer concluded by asking for our help in advertising the services of the National Library Service because she believes that far more blind and physically disabled people qualify for the service than are using it now. [PHOTO CAPTION: Peter Chapman] When the NFB envisioned developing a reading machine we could hold in our hand or place in our pocket, we asked for the help of Ray Kurzweil in developing it and jointly created a company called K-NFB Reading Technologies. This company created the first handheld reading machine, then the first reading machine to work on a cell phone. It then created Blio, a piece of software that would run on many electronic devices and allow for the retrieval and reading of books. K-NFB Reading Technologies has now merged with eMusic to create a new company called Media Arc. The president of the newly-merged company is Peter Chapman, and his topic was "The Cutting Edge: Accessible Technology that Provides Greater Opportunity Than Ever Before in History." Mr. Chapman began by reminding us that K-NFB Reading Technologies is special in that it combines the engineering and technical expertise of Raymond Kurzweil with the strong consumer voice and technical advocacy of the National Federation of the Blind, together making an unprecedented commitment to accessibility. "As part of our mission we are focused on creating products to meet the needs of people who are blind and others with reading disabilities. We also encourage other companies to make their products accessible too. As an example, last year we intervened in a large sale of Amazon Kindles to the government. We did so because the Kindle device does not provide accessibility. Our intervention, combined with the complaints of the NFB, stopped the sale. Actions like these are putting pressure on these large companies to meet their legal and moral obligations to the blind. "Very soon blind people should have access to digitized collections of eighty-four of the world's finest and most complete academic research libraries. In the future, because of the copyright laws, you might actually need to hire a blind person to do research, because you guys will be the only ones who have access to all this content.... With the partnerships being developed by Media Arc the blind should soon have access to twenty- eight million pieces of digital content: more digital content than Amazon. Every one of these will be totally accessible to blind and sighted people." Media Arc will soon have more movies and television shows than Hulu and Netflix combined. "Our goal in working with the NFB is to make `The Library Song' a thing of the past." Jim Gashel followed Peter Chapman to the microphone to demonstrate some of the accessibility features found on the Google Nexus 7. This is one of Google's offerings in the handheld tablet market, and Jim was able to demonstrate its ability to read, download books, play news stories, and even listen to music. All of this was done using a touchscreen and was fully accessible. [PHOTO CAPTION: Ray Kurzweil] Following Jim was a man who has been coming to our conventions for almost four decades. His topic was "An Alternative Method of Thought: Adding Power to the Human Mind," and no one will be surprised when I say that the presenter was Ray Kurzweil. In the last year Ray has taken a position as the director of engineering for Google Inc. In this new role he has the ability to do tremendous things to encourage accessibility and can expand on his interest in the human brain by figuring out how to replicate its extreme power and flexibility in the hardware of today's machines. Ray has been thinking about how the human mind works for more than fifty years. He began by writing a paper at the age of fourteen that was so well received that it won him national recognition and a chance to meet President Lyndon Johnson. The theory he advanced at age fourteen was that the human brain was comprised of a series of pattern recognizers, which gave human beings, and to a lesser extent other mammals, the ability to learn how to learn. The theory he advanced then was based entirely on his observations about how he thought and the behavior he saw in others. The theory he articulates in his latest book is much the same as his original one, but now he has the benefit of science and the ability to watch the brain in action to substantiate his earlier speculation. As powerful as the brain is, there are a number of things it does not do well. It cannot perform calculations as fast or accurately as a computer; its memory is much less reliable than the memory in a cellular phone or other handheld device. The computer is already being used as a brain extender, letting us tap into information from thousands of databases, while harnessing the power of hundreds of computers to meet our information needs. As we use computers to supplement our minds, it will be important that blind people be involved in the process of ensuring that we have access to the technology that allows this to happen. As a final thought, Ray noted that "It's true that you are what you eat, but it's even more true that you are what you think, so be careful who you hang out with-I think if you hang out with other Federationists, you'll be doing very well." For a long time now we have had a solid working relationship with the Association of American Publishers. As far back as 1996 we collaborated on and won the passage of the Chafee Amendment, which allows books and other printed materials to be transcribed into formats blind people can read without first securing the permission of the publisher. Since then there have been a number of equally significant victories, and, through our collaboration with the Association of American Publishers, we have been able to work together in ways that benefit both the publishing industry and the blind. This year Thomas H. Allen, the president and CEO of the Association brought us a presentation entitled "A Collaboration That Enhances Opportunity: the Association of American Publishers and the National Federation of the Blind Change Possibilities for Literacy." Mr. Allen's remarks will appear in a future issue. The next person to come to the microphone is no stranger to the National Federation of the Blind. She is Eve Hill, and we first came to know her through our work with Brown, Goldstein, and Levy. Ms. Hill is now the deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, and the presentation she made to the convention was "A Commitment to Equality of Opportunity: a Report from the Department of Justice." Her remarks will be reprinted later in the fall. Our closing item of business for the afternoon was the presentation of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin awards. James Gashel is the chairman of this committee, and this presentation appears elsewhere in this issue. On Saturday evening the banquet of the National Federation of the Blind was held, with Dr. Fred Schroeder acting as master of ceremonies. After the invocation and the drawing of some generous door prizes, Scott LaBarre was called to the microphone to discuss the Preauthorized Contribution Plan and the progress we made during the week in helping to support our movement. Scott said, "We came into the convention with an annualized pledge of $398,450.16. We're leaving this convention at $431,810.16. This is by far the largest single increase in PAC at the convention ever. Let's hear it for the largest single increase!" Several drawings were next held by our divisions. Then HumanWare gave away four Victor Reader Streams, the Jernigan Fund conducted its two annual drawings, and Jessica Ewell led the banquet crowd in singing happy birthday to newly reelected board member Joe Ruffalo. Following an introduction of the head table, Fred Schroeder introduced President Maurer to deliver the banquet speech with these words: "At this time in our banquet we hear from our national president. It is a time of reflection; it is a time of inspiration; it is a time to chart the future of this organization and to lay out the challenges that lie ahead. It is a time we all look forward to because it reminds us of the meaning of the National Federation of the Blind. To present this year's banquet address I present to you the president of the National Federation of the Blind, Dr. Marc Maurer." In his annual address President Maurer discussed the nature of power, whether it is finite or can be expanded by the creativity of the mind and the creation of goods and services heretofore unknown. If it is finite, the blind will have to fight hard to extract our share; if it is expandable, then the possibility exists that, through our own motivation, creativity, and hard work, we can gain some of it and be respected for the people we are rather than being categorized socially and economically by the physical sense we lack. President Maurer's remarks appear in full later in this issue. Ray Kurzweil came to the podium, and, following on the president's discussion of power and history, he offered three great themes that our country stands for. His remarks will appear in a future issue. President Maurer returned to the podium and asked that Travis Moses, the president of the newly formed National Federation of the Blind of Montana, join him on the podium. Since the 1970s we have undertaken to have all of our affiliates incorporate the name of the National Federation of the Blind as their own. For several decades the Montana Association for the Blind refused to do this and regarded itself as only marginally involved with the National Federation of the Blind. When it became obvious that the former group would never come to see itself as a united part of the Federation, the National Federation of the Blind of Montana was created and, by presentation of this charter, was officially accepted as our affiliate in Montana. Patti Chang came to the stage to announce the awards presented to the 2013 class. In addition to a scholarship award, each of the thirty winners received a $1,000 check and plaque from Ray Kurzweil; a Google Nexus 7 tablet which is fully accessible to the blind with the Blio e-book reader from K-NFB Reading Technology Inc.; and a $1,000 cash award from Google. A full report of the scholarship presentation is found elsewhere in this issue. The chairman of the Jacobus tenBroek Award Committee came to the stage and introduced the winner for 2013. This presentation appears elsewhere in this issue. Dr. Schroeder invited Mr. Gashel to the podium for a joint presentation, the first of its kind. Their purpose was to present the first ever Federationists' Federationist Award, and this presentation is also found elsewhere in this issue. The president of our host affiliate brought the sorting hat from Hogwarts to the podium, and, to prove that it was magical, he revealed that it held $2,000, which would be our final door prize of the evening. With the winning of that door prize by one happy woman from Michigan, the president took the gavel, asked for one more victorious roar from the assembled, and declared the convention adjourned. Sometimes a convention is remembered for its sequence and how it falls in the year of an important Federation anniversary. At other times it is remembered for celebrating the passage of significant legislation, the implementation of important regulations, or even our development of some new and important piece of technology. These, however, are not the truly important milestones we use in measuring the progress brought about by the National Federation of the Blind. The real changes we celebrate are the ones we bring about in the hearts and minds of the blind and the sighted. We celebrate when we teach a blind person who believes that a significant obstacle in his life stands between him and the fulfillment of a life goal that there are ways to surmount that obstacle. Sometimes what is needed is the encouragement to remove the obstacle, sometimes the courage to climb over it, and sometimes the wisdom to figure out a way to go around it. In the movie Lincoln, which debuted in 2012, the president says, "A compass, I learned when I was surveying-it'll point you True North from where you're standing, but it's got no advice about the swamps and deserts and chasms that you'll encounter along the way. If, in pursuit of your destination, you plunge ahead, heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp-What's the use of knowing True North?" Indeed the Federation is a compass, and it points to True Equality for the blind. But, even as it holds out the possibility of and works for true equality of opportunity, it embraces the value of thinking strategically, listens to the goals and aspirations of its members, and helps us figure out both where we are and the journey we must take to get to where we want to be. This was the promise offered to the excited first- timers who entered the doors of the Rosen Centre Hotel, and this is the promise all of us who stood and made our pledge to the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the National Federation of the Blind proudly affirmed. ---------- [PHOTO/CAPTION: Marc Maurer] Presidential Report 2013 An Address Delivered by Marc Maurer National Federation of the Blind Orlando, Florida July 4, 2013 This year our progress has been astonishingly good, even though there have been a number of challenges. We continue to be the most forceful leader in matters dealing with blindness in the United States, and we are joining with others in lands beyond our borders to create a climate of opportunity for the blind. Perhaps the most famous blind person from China is Chen Guangcheng, a man who was imprisoned for challenging the repressive patterns of government in his own country. He came to the United States seeking asylum and an education in law. With the help of the State Department and others, he has been studying law in New York. I was invited to visit with him along with Dan Goldstein, who has served as counsel for the Federation for more than a quarter of a century, and Dan's partner Andy Levy, who is himself disabled. During the meeting, we talked about the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind, the methods we use for challenging the status quo, the techniques we employ for changing the law to recognize human rights for blind people, technology that offers access to information for the blind, and the urgent need in our country as well as others for self-organization by the blind. Freedom is gained not because somebody else gives it to us. Freedom is gained because we demand that it be our own. This was the spirit of the meeting that took place not quite a year ago in New York City with the blind Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng. The Google Books Project, which began almost ten years ago, seeks to create digitized versions of books. It is estimated that more than ten million books have been digitized. The library collections from many universities have been scanned. The digital versions of books from this effort are being maintained by Google, but digital copies along with the print editions have been returned to the universities. Many of the universities have placed digital versions of their books into an entity named the HathiTrust, which is charged by the universities with the task of managing this collection. The Authors Guild sued Google and the HathiTrust demanding that the digitized books be destroyed. However, the potential value of this collection was great enough that we felt an urgent need to protect it. The National Federation of the Blind intervened in the lawsuit as a defendant to assert the right of blind people to equal access to this information. Last October the federal district court in New York issued a decision in our favor. Although this decision is currently on appeal in the 2nd Circuit (an appeal in which we are defending our opinion vigorously), current law states that blind students and professors at the universities holding this material have a right to equal access to the information. Furthermore, those holding material may distribute it to other blind people in the United States without violating copyright. Both we and the HathiTrust want all blind Americans to have equal access to this collection of material. We believe that we can create a mechanism to distribute the books. Blio, the accessible book reader, manages digital content very well. When we complete the plans for this joint project, every blind student in the United States, every blind professor in the United States, and every other blind person in the United States will have full access to an academic library containing the books and reference materials of the finest academic and research institutions in the world. We may also be able to obtain books from sources around the world other than the Google Books project. We have been collaborating with others to promote a treaty proposed in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a part of the United Nations, that would authorize the distribution of books in specialized formats to the blind and print disabled across country borders. A full report of our work with WIPO will occur later during this convention, but it is worthy of note that we have met with many individuals to urge support for this treaty. The president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Senator Christopher Dodd, has crafted a joint statement with us in support of the treaty. This joint statement has been circulated widely, and it has generated substantial support for our cause. Fred Schroeder and Scott LaBarre have been managing this part of our effort, and they will appear on the agenda later this week. With respect to books from some other sources, we have been less successful. A number of years ago we indicated to senior personnel at Amazon that incorporating voice output in the Kindle would enhance its usability for everybody and would offer auditory reading for the blind. Amazon took our advice in part. It created a text-to-speech program in the Kindle, but it neglected to make the controls operable by blind people. When we urged that changes be made, Amazon first promised, then complained, then stopped responding in any way. When Amazon introduced the Kindle onto college campuses, we filed complaints and stopped it. When Amazon made a deal with the State Department to sell the government thirty-five thousand Kindles, we filed a complaint and stopped it. Amazon has now established a digital book distribution system for grade school and high school. This distribution system cuts blind students out of education. Our protests to Amazon have met with complete silence. Amazon officials think that if they will just ignore us long enough, we will go away. On December 12, 2012, we held an informational picket regarding the distribution of inaccessible Kindle e-books. We held it outside of Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Stories about our protest appeared in Education Week, the Seattle Times, and on Seattle television stations. Amazon remains uncommunicative, but apparently it got at least part of the message. In April 2013 I received a letter from a lawyer for Amazon telling me that Amazon's practices do not violate nondiscrimination law and that Amazon is in the process of fixing the problems. Shortly thereafter, Amazon released an application that runs on a number of Apple products that incorporates some accessibility for blind and print disabled people. However, the Kindle remains inaccessible, and Amazon's program to distribute the Kindle in public schools continues. Amazon may not believe us when we say these things, but we hereby make them a promise. We will find a way to challenge the discrimination-we will find a way to guarantee that blind kids in school have the same opportunity to get the same book that other people get at the same time and at the same cost. We have also initiated talks with Barnes and Noble, and they seem to be somewhat productive. Last year we filed complaints against the Sacramento Public Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia. They were distributing books on inaccessible NOOKs to their patrons. We resolved both of those complaints with commitments from the libraries to phase out their inaccessible e-book reading machines and to replace them with reading machines that everybody can use. Because of these complaints and other efforts by the Federation, Barnes & Noble has begun working on accessibility for the blind. NOOK Books are accessible on at least one Apple application. We will be working with officials of Barnes & Noble in the upcoming months to expand accessibility of their products. Google has several million books. At one time senior personnel of the Google Books Project responded positively to demands from the National Federation of the Blind that these books be usable by blind people. However, the Google page to get at the books no longer has accessibility built into it. Furthermore, a number of other Google applications remain inaccessible to the blind. Google Docs is inaccessible, Google Calendar is inaccessible, elements of Gmail are inaccessible, and now Google is planning to release a product for elementary and secondary school called Google Play, which remains inaccessible. Last year the state of Colorado announced that it would be fully implementing Google Apps for Government to handle the vast majority of the information technology tasks performed by state employees. Google Apps for Government is not fully accessible. We wrote to Colorado Governor Hickenlooper. I am happy to report that Google Apps for Government has not been fully implemented, and blind employees of the state of Colorado are still able to perform their jobs independently. But it was a close shave, and in many other places Google is being used to create barriers for the blind to employment, to education, and to full participation in other activities of life. Will we be obliged because of Google to sue every state government, every school district, and every university? If Google achieves accessibility in a product, is there any assurance that the product will remain accessible? We have been talking with Google officials for more than two years. Last fall we welcomed a Google engineer at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute for more than a week of collaboration. Last December Ray Kurzweil became a senior Google employee with the title director of engineering. The people at Google tell us that accessibility for the blind is a priority for Google. They tell us that they create interesting products and release them to the public even though they know their products are not perfect. They tell us that when they find bugs, they fix them. Ray Kurzweil is enormously committed to the accessibility of products for blind people, and I believe that he will have a positive influence at Google. However, I believe that Google must change its policy regarding accessibility, and I call upon the company to do so. Inaccessibility for blind people of products created by Google is not a bug; it is a systemic failure. The promises to incorporate accessibility for the blind into Google products must be kept. We have exercised considerable patience with Google, but patience can run out. We cannot permit Google to take our jobs, take our opportunities for an equal education, and take our participation in other activities in society. I think the new team of experts at Google will do better than the ones that we have met with in the past, but the time for action is right now. In 2003 we initiated a project with Ray Kurzweil to build what has become the K-NFB Reader Mobile. The company we founded together later created a reading program to serve not just the blind but all populations. This technology, the Blio, is an accessible digital reading system consisting of software running on many platforms that provides books in print, in auditory form, in Braille on a refreshable Braille display, or in all these forms. In March the K-NFB Reading Technology company merged with eMusic to form a digital content provider called Media Arc. The objective of Media Arc is to distribute books, music, magazines, and perhaps other digital content such as applications or movies to individuals throughout the world. Already this company has hundreds of thousands of books and millions of tracks of music for sale. Accessibility of the content and the distribution process is a commitment of this company, and it will remain one. Ray Kurzweil is chairman of the board, and Jim Gashel is the person with the responsibility for testing accessibility of all products at Media Arc. I serve as a member of the board of directors. Our influence in matters involving disability has been recognized not only in the United States but in other nations as well. I was invited to deliver an address at an Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University conference entitled the "First International Conference on Technology for Helping People with Special Needs" in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The topic was technology that helps disabled people. Although tools are useful, the people who use them are more important than the tools themselves. Consequently, my inability to build technology did not inhibit the presentation significantly. If the people who use the tools will make dramatic contributions to a society, it is important to assure that those people have the best tools. Blind people are participants in our society, and we expect our tools to be top notch. This is the message delivered at Imam University. Once again this year the National Federation of the Blind participated in the quadrennial convention of the World Blind Union. Held in Bangkok, Thailand, this meeting elected one of our own, Fred Schroeder, to serve as first vice president of the world organization. Dr. Schroeder, who has served as the highest government official in the United States dealing with rehabilitation of disabled people, had already been representing the National Federation of the Blind (and sometimes the World Blind Union) in international negotiations. Dr. Schroeder brings the spirit of independence that we know in the National Federation of the Blind to blind people around the world. The National Federation of the Blind successfully fought for the passage of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. On January 15, 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued its proposed regulations to implement this law, which requires that new vehicle technologies, such as hybrid and electric engines, will be audibly detectable by pedestrians. We have been working closely with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers to support the proposed regulations. The manufacturers are resisting the proposal that the emission of sound remain active while a vehicle is stationary and that the sound continue until a vehicle reaches a speed of eighteen miles an hour. We believe that these regulations will remain in substantially the form they currently exist when they are finally adopted. The significance of these regulations is enhanced because they will serve as a model for similar regulations adopted worldwide when the United Nations creates a world standard governing vehicle sound to protect pedestrians. Fred Schroeder and John Par? are serving as our primary negotiators in Geneva and other parts of the world. Several years ago, while I was planning the national convention, I asked several of my colleagues to tell me who was providing leadership in education of blind students in the United States. My question met a profound silence. Although many dramatically-committed well-educated teachers can be found, school districts where systematic top-quality education of blind students occurs are not numerous. Consequently, the National Federation of the Blind began to address topics in the area of education for the blind. We have created many programs and stimulated a lot of education since that conversation took place. In July 2012, the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute hosted a new program, NFB Project Innovation. The program served twenty junior innovators from grades 3-6 and ten senior innovators from high school. Each of the thirty students designed a science project to answer a question intriguing to the student. As a result, at NFB Project Innovation we had thirty unique scientific inquiries taking place. It's not often that blind students get to tell the teachers what they are going to learn on a given day, and it's not often that blind students get to teach others. Both things happened at our program, and the students left knowing not only that they can do science but that they have the ability to teach others to know that they (and people like them) can also do science. Our BELL program, Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning, began in Maryland six years ago as a project of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. It has now expanded to nineteen states. We noticed that Braille is sometimes hard to get and Braille instruction is even more difficult to find than Braille. After years of demanding that the educational system give blind children Braille, we decided to undertake programs of our own. Some Braille instructors in public schools believe that learning the Braille code should require a desultory teaching schedule of two years or longer. We are not limited by the disadvantages of low expectations that some of these teachers have. We know that Braille can be learned much more quickly than some of them believe possible, and we also know that reading it can be a lot of fun. As we have said more than once, if the schools will not teach our children, we will do it ourselves, and we will do it in Braille. Integrating Print and Braille: A Recipe for Literacy is a free electronic book for parents and teachers. Edited by Sharon Maneki, it shares practical wisdom about techniques and strategies for teaching and learning print and Braille together to achieve literacy. Two examples of chapter topics are "Enhancing Vision Through Touch" and "Creating the Dual Media Integration Plan." We give these books away. You can get a downloadable version on our website. In September of 2012, blind people, university faculty, teachers, and others interested in Braille instruction gathered for the NFB Braille Symposium to discuss the most innovative work being done to provide high- quality Braille instruction to blind children and adults. One of the presentations, delivered by Emily Wharton, an instructor at BLIND Inc., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, indicated extraordinary success in teaching Braille by combining Braille itself with additional instruction in technology. The techniques developed for classes directed by Emily Wharton have won an award from National Braille Press. Braille is, of course, a tactile form of reading. Other presentations during the symposium indicated that it can be incorporated into tactile instruction with three-dimensional printing. Instruction in science, in geography, or in other classes that require illustrations can be enhanced by Braille, by modified tactile forms that incorporate Braille, or by three-dimensional structures that stimulate learning in connection with Braille. As the medium of tactile instruction expands, methods for creating additional symbol sets that can be incorporated into Braille are needed. This also was a subtext for the Braille Symposium. In April of 2013 the Federation hosted its first-ever tactile graphics conference. With thirty-four sessions and 120 participants from fourteen countries, the conference covered expanding education through tactile learning. Numerous methods for creating high-quality graphic presentations were described from three-dimensional printing systems to the creation of artifacts with milling machines. How do blind people appreciate shadows, the difference in perceived shades of color, and perspective-the change in the perceived size of an object with distance? All of these elements are important in appreciating visual illustration, and tactile graphics must find a way to reflect this knowledge. All of this was part of our tactile graphics conference. We are using what we learned in this conference to create models of claws from the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex that we will be using in science classes later this summer. Congressman Gregg Harper, who will be with us later during this convention, introduced the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, HR 831, on February 27, 2013. This legislation, once enacted, will immediately discontinue the issuance of new special "subminimum" wage certificates; phase out the use of existing certificates over a three-year period; and repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the legal provision that authorizes subminimum wages for disabled Americans. The special wage certificate is a document issued by the Department of Labor authorizing a particular employer to pay disabled Americans wages below the federally- guaranteed minimum. We have made significant progress toward the passage of this legislation. More than three dozen members of Congress have cosponsored it. Over fifty organizations of people with disabilities support the passage of this legislation. A number of employers that formerly paid subminimum wages to workers with disabilities have also indicated their support. Goodwill Industries is one of the largest entities that pays disabled workers less than the minimum wage. We conducted protests against this unconscionable practice in front of ninety-two Goodwill thrift stores across the country, and we called upon the public to boycott Goodwill Industries. We distributed press releases about our support for the fair wages bill to the media. We distributed press releases about the unfair working conditions at Goodwill to the media. We distributed press releases about our public protests regarding the unconscionable wage practices at Goodwill to the media. Reporters at NBC read them. NBC's Rock Center interviewed me, other Federationists, and dozens of other people for a major story about subminimum wage payments at Goodwill in the United States. A major nationwide news story, which was also carried by numerous NBC affiliates on the nightly news, appeared on Rock Center Friday, June 21, 2013. NBC reported that workers at Goodwill are receiving as little as 22 cents an hour. The Goodwill CEO, who was also interviewed, offered the opinion of Goodwill that wages are not the important part of employment for workers with disabilities. He said, "It's typically not about their livelihood. It's about their fulfillment. It's about being a part of something, and it's probably a small part of their overall program." At 22 cents an hour, it must be admitted that this assessment is correct. It is a small part of whatever program these disabled workers have. A full year's employment at this rate comes to $457.60. A story released by NBC that is associated with the broadcast reveals that the most recent public statistics indicate that the CEO received annual compensation of $729,000. This particular CEO is a blind person, but of course, wages are not the important part of employment of disabled workers. We prepared a digital news release for a satellite tour to be presented in conjunction with the NBC story. Now it is up to us to ensure that each member of Congress is aware of this unfair, discriminatory, and unconscionable practice, so that they vote to pass the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is preparing to introduce legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, which includes the reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act. Proposed new Section 511 of this act delineates the mechanism required for rehabilitation counselors to shove their clients into subminimum wage jobs. The last time this legislation was proposed, members of the committee refused to discuss Section 511 with us. Because they would not discuss it with us, we conducted protests at the district offices of Senate Committee members to express our vehement opposition to the language in Section 511. As I was preparing for our 2013 convention, this bill was again being circulated with precisely the same language included in it. This outrageous proposal was unfair the last time, and it is just as unfair today. We are not prepared to tolerate added legal authority to discriminate against disabled Americans. We will stand in the streets if we must; we will block the corridors of power if no other way exists to get this message across; we will talk if we can, but we will fight if no other avenue exists for us to challenge a declaration in law that disabled Americans are a subclass with subnormal rights--not entitled to the same protection available to everybody else. The United States military currently operates a program known as Space Available, which allows military personnel to fly on military aircraft if there is room. Although retired military personnel are entitled to fly on these planes, individuals who became disabled in the service but were mustered out without being eligible for retirement cannot. The National Federation of the Blind has proposed legislation to permit men and women disabled in the service to gain access to the program. The House of Representatives has adopted our proposal, and fourteen Senators are co- sponsoring it. We expect this legislation, which has been incorporated within the National Defense Authorization Act, to reach the desk of the president of the United States within the next few weeks. In September of 2012, Federation leaders met at our headquarters to discuss education reform. One of the action items that came from this meeting was ensuring that e-books, digital libraries, websites, and other electronic instructional materials would become fully accessible to blind students. Working with the Association of American Publishers, we drafted the Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education (TEACH) Act. We have reason to believe that sponsors of this legislation will introduce it in the House of Representatives within the next few weeks. The president of the Association of American Publishers will be with us at this convention to talk about the work we are doing together to increase opportunities for the blind and print disabled. On April 18, 2013, we welcomed to the Jernigan Institute 176 participants for the sixth Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium. Over ninety academic, government, corporate, and advocacy organizations were represented. The keynote speaker, Rebecca Bond, chief of the United States Department of Justice, Disability Rights Section, indicated that equal opportunity for disabled Americans is a commitment of the Department of Justice. In interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Supreme Court has stated that segregation is evidence of discrimination. The decision of the court had been applied to housing, but presentations at the Symposium indicated that it also applies to sheltered employment. Another important topic presented by Dan Goldstein, counsel for the National Federation of the Blind, and Arlene Mayerson, directing attorney at Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, concerned websites as places of public accommodation. Places of public accommodation may not be constructed in a fashion that will discriminate against disabled individuals. The first case to address the topic was brought by the National Federation of the Blind against the Target Corporation. As you know, that lawsuit was successful. All of this represents the work we are doing with our Law Symposium to expand recognition of civil rights for disabled Americans. This year we reached an historical agreement with Monster to make its website, phone apps, and mobile apps accessible. We were assisted in our negotiations by the attorney general of the state of Massachusetts, who is most understanding of the need for equal access to information. However, I want to be clear that when the problem was brought to the attention of Monster, officials at the company wanted very much to find ways of solving the problems we had identified. You will hear the details about this agreement from Monster itself, the title sponsor of this year's convention. Last year I reported to you about our victory for Hank Miller. Preventing him from receiving instruction in Braille denied him a free and appropriate public education. The school district is responsible for its bias against Braille, but officials in the district were aided and abetted in their unlawful behavior by officials of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind. I am glad to say that we who funded the Hank Miller case will be reimbursed for our lawyer costs and expert witness fees. The first check for $175,000 arrived earlier this year, and the total will be $300,000. Travis Moses serves as president of the Montana affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. He was also a student at the University of Montana, where he faced numerous instances of discrimination because he did not have equal access to information. His textbooks and the learning management software used at the university were both inaccessible. Because he was not able to succeed at the university with these barriers as obstacles, Travis Moses came to us for help, and we secured an agreement with the University. He will have equal access to technology, access to digital content in all of his classes, access to course management software, reimbursement for expenses he paid for matriculation while the University was inaccessible to him, and a new advisor-one without a built- in bias against the blind. The National Federation of the Blind will receive 100 percent of the fees spent on behalf of Travis Moses. However, this is not the complete report. The University of Montana has recognized that it must be accessible to blind students. It is cooperating to complete a broad-scale agreement that addresses the systemic problems of inaccessible technology on campus. George Kerscher, a blind Montanan and member of the Federation, who was unable to get his texts at the University of Montana in 1988, has been hired by the University to offer guidance on how to remove technology barriers in Montana. We were surprised to learn after last year's convention that a company called Courseload, working with others, was conducting a pilot program of completely inaccessible textbooks on college campuses. The surprise came when we learned that Courseload claimed to be working with us and that officials of the company believed a pilot program is exempt from the law. We explained to Courseload, to its partners, and to the field of education that we had not been working with Courseload and that we did not believe pilot programs are exempt. Although Courseload did not seem impressed by our explanations, its partners understood what we were saying. Courseload has been replaced with a vendor whose books are accessible to the blind. Getting a job, getting out of college and into graduate school, getting out of graduate school and into employment, all require testing. Last year, I reported to you about our lawsuits involving the bar exam. We won, the applicants were permitted to take the exams, and we received dramatic payments for our attorney's fees and costs. The National Conference of Bar Examiners has recently announced that it will no longer oppose the practice of blind persons' using screen readers to take its tests. However, there are other tests. Pearson VUE provides many of them. Over the last two years, we have received a number of complaints that Pearson VUE's software did not allow blind applicants easily to take its tests. Each one of those complaints has been resolved successfully. We have been working with Pearson VUE to remove all of the barriers in their exams. Today most job tests are administered online, and most are offered by two companies, Kenexa, now owned by IBM, and Taleo, now owned by Oracle. Both offer inaccessible tests. We have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for Eric Patterson against an employment agency using Kenexa's inaccessible tests, and we will be filing more of them this summer. Kathy Roskos is a totally blind Florida student pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology at Argosy University. She planned to take several standardized college-level examinations to test out of certain classes. When she applied to take the first examination, she was told that the exam is not offered in Braille and that she could only choose between a human reader and large print. Keep in mind that she is totally blind. She took the first exam with a reader and managed to pass. The second exam contained complex equations and charts, which the sighted reader, who had less education than Ms. Roskos, could not read. Because the information in the testing documents was unavailable to her, Ms. Roskos failed. We have assisted with negotiations with the College Board, which offers the examinations. They have agreed to provide all of the examinations to Ms. Roskos in Braille. They have also cooperated with us to improve the accommodations process for blind test takers for all of the tests they offer. Many cities are now requiring that taxi cabs have touchscreens in the back seat so that passengers (at least passengers who can see) can pay for their rides. Some cities prohibit drivers from taking cash or credit cards from passengers. The blind passenger who enters a taxicab with cash and credit cards to pay for the trip arrives at a destination. The passenger cannot use the technology installed in the cab, and the driver is prohibited from taking the cash or managing the transaction using the credit card of the passenger. One of the largest developers of taxi touchscreen technology is CMT, which has worked with us to build an accessible solution. However, VeriFone, another developer of this technology, has refused to do so. Last summer, the District of Columbia awarded a contract to VeriFone to install its passenger service units in every single taxi cab in the District of Columbia, some 6,500 vehicles. The contract VeriFone signed with the District stated that it would make the units accessible to the blind. However, VeriFone had no plans to achieve accessibility, and its machines failed the accessibility test. Consequently, we fought the implementation of this VeriFone contract. In November of 2012, the DC Contract Appeals Board threw out the VeriFone contract and ordered the District to seek another bid. VeriFone has been installing thousands of inaccessible touch screen units in taxicabs in Boston. We have filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Mika Pyyhkala is one of the complainants. He will be a star witness on the side of effective accessibility. Kenneth Agni was a student at the State University of New York-Westchester Community College, where he was pursuing his bachelor's degree. He enrolled in an anatomy and physiology class, which included a lab that required use of a microscope. Mr. Agni requested as an accommodation a sighted lab assistant to describe the visual information displayed in the microscope. The college not only denied his request but told Mr. Agni that because he could not see the specimens in the microscope, he could not fulfill the course requirements. Officials at the college withdrew him from the class, without discussion and without his consent. Mr. Agni filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. The Office for Civil Rights agreed with the college. Blind students, they said, cannot study science because they are blind. When we heard this much, we became a part of the case. We filed an appeal. It is obvious that the Office for Civil Rights is wrong. The thousands of blind people practicing in scientific disciplines all over America demonstrate this. It is hard to imagine how the Office for Civil Rights could come to this conclusion. Did they not ask any questions about the other blind scientists working in our country? We will produce the evidence that we have the ability to be a part of this intellectual community, and we expect to win. We continue to give free white canes to blind people in the United States- 30,065 of them since the program began, and 7,226 in the last year. Many of the people who have received their canes came to our headquarters to get them. More than 3,500 visitors arrived at our Jernigan Institute during the last year. We continue to maintain the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind, in which we have added fifty-eight new products during the past year. The overhaul of this center is now complete, with all sixteen testing computers being replaced and the Brailling area refurbished. Our technology experts made dozens of presentations to entities as diverse as the Interactive Learning Forum sponsored by Tata Motors; the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Annual Meeting; the California State University, Northridge, CSUN Conference; and the M-Enabling Summit. Our bulletin board, NFBnet.org, hosts 172 public listservs and 35 websites for divisions, chapters, and affiliates of the Federation. We manage approximately twenty-five thousand e-mails a day. Our discussion lists now live in the "cloud." Topics covered on our lists include classic cars, blind public employees, guide dogs, blind musicians, origami for blind people, blind student matters, and quiet cars. During the last year we have had a diminution in the amount of our fundraising, which has required reconsideration of our programs, our management, and our fund generation projects. We are doing things differently from the way we did a year ago, but we are pursuing the same goals that we had in the past with the same vigor and the same spirit. We have also initiated new programs to attempt to address the revenue shortfall. Some of these are internal, including a committee of our staff members seeking to find ways to generate funds. Some of them are external. Car donations are being accepted by the Federation through an initiative recommended by our Colorado affiliate leadership and managed by Joanne Wilson. Although many people accept automobiles in their fundraising programs, we have the significant advantage that our chapter members cover the nation. Through our own friends and acquaintances, we can stimulate the donation of automobiles and other vehicles to support our work. Another effort recently undertaken is our collaboration with a company named GreenDrop that solicits donations for 2nd Ave Value Stores. Currently being conducted in seven states and the District of Columbia, this program is also being supervised by Joanne Wilson. More than seven decades ago a handful of blind people brought our Federation into being. At the beginning it was tiny, and although many plans were proposed, the resources to put them into effect did not exist. Our organization advanced primarily on hope and such meager contributions as those who participated in it could afford to make. Today the difference is startling. We have hundreds of programs and the capacity to create more of them. When I come to the convention, I know that we must find a way to cause greater opportunity to come to individual blind people than has been true for us in the past, but I also know that we will do it. We have programs, financial resources, facilities, influential supporters, and technologies that we have built or caused others to create. But the most important thing we have is each other and the faith that we inspire in ourselves to use our strength for a common purpose and a shared goal. We have promised that we will believe in each other, and we always keep our promises. Our spirit makes us what we are, and our combined energy comes from the spirit that lives in the hearts of each of us. This spirit is unquenchable, and because it is, our future is assured. This is what you, my friends in the Federation, have told me; this is what I have come to know in the depth of my being from listening to you; and this is my report for 2013. ---------- Awards Presented at the 2013 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind From the Editor: In the National Federation of the Blind we present awards only as often as they are deserved. This year two were presented during the annual meeting of the NFB board of directors, and two more were presented during the banquet. In addition the Bolotin Awards were again presented, and a complete report of those presentations appears elsewhere in this issue. Here are the reports of the educator awards, the tenBroek Award, and a special award made to Patricia Maurer: Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award presented by Cathy Jackson [PHOTO CAPTION: Jackie Mushington-Anderson] Good morning, fellow Federationists. If our winner will come to the stage, I would like to present this award. This is my fourth year as the chair of the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award Committee, and I am just as excited and thrilled as I was in 2010. I can tell you the selection process does not get any easier- just ask Laura Bostick, Mary Willows, and Mark Riccobono. We certainly know firsthand the quality of teachers that we have. We gather all of the background information that gives us insight into the candidates' employment history and educational background, and we read all these letters of support from coworkers and others who know about their field- they know firsthand what good teachers they are for our students. We read the personal essay that the teacher must submit. Then we reread all of the letters of support, the background information, and the essays. Then we go over the note cards that have been covered with yellow highlighters, and we select our winner. I think my favorite part of the application process is reviewing the personal essay. We get to know the teachers as people, and this is a very important connection we need to make in order to arrive at our selection. This year's recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award says: "My decision to teach blind students is personal." She talks about the many experiences that molded her into the teacher that she is. She credits both the negative and the positive in helping her become the teacher that she is today. Our winner is blind. Her daughter is also blind. She's had a lifetime to learn about this thing called blindness, beginning as an infant in Jamaica. Our winner is a teacher in the resource room at Russell Elementary School in Cobb County, Georgia. You've got to be more than a teacher to get this award. Our winner was the force behind the NFB of Maryland's first developing the Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning Program, and the Maryland affiliate president, Melissa Riccobono, says, "She makes herself available to attend IEP meetings, where she can lend her expertise and make my job as an advocate easier." I know you're sitting there saying, "Well, I thought teachers of the blind were supposed to attend IEP meetings." Well, she's attending IEP meetings for students that are not in her classroom. She is helping other students who might be struggling to achieve their goals, making sure that they have Braille and other tools they can use to become productive students. Garrick Scott, president of the Georgia affiliate, says, "She has come in and opened up her heart to the Georgia affiliate, with her family following her lead." So, on that happy note, I am proud to present the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award to Jackie Mushington- Anderson. And along with this beautiful plaque that she's holding comes a thousand dollar check. Now I want to read the inscription on the plaque; it says: The National Federation of the Blind honors Jackie Mushington-Anderson Distinguished Educator of Blind Children For your skills in teaching Braille and Other alternative techniques of blindness, For graciously devoting extra time to meet The needs of your students, and for empowering Your students to perform beyond their expectations. You champion our movement. You strengthen our hopes. You share our dreams. July 3, 2013 I'd like to introduce you to Jackie Mushington-Anderson and let her say a few words to you. Wow. Good morning, fellow Federationists. It is a privilege and honor to stand before you to accept this award. When I've been asked about my reaction when I received the call notifying me of this award, I have said that I was stunned and honored because I've been in this organization and have observed the many education leaders who have accepted this award and have seen and have experienced their teaching and their leadership. I am humbled to be put into such a category, so thank you very much. ---------- The Blind Educator of the Year Award presented by David Ticchi [PHOTO CAPTION: Harriet Go] Thank you, President Maurer. Good morning, everyone. I want to begin by saying that it is a pleasure and a privilege to serve as chair of this committee, and I want to begin by thanking members of the committee: William Henderson of Massachusetts, Sheila Koenig and Judy Sanders of Minnesota, and Ramona Walhof of Idaho. This award was established by the National Organization of Blind Educators to pay tribute to an outstanding blind teacher for his or her classroom performance, community service, and commitment to the National Federation of the Blind. In 1991 this became a national award because of the importance and impact of good teaching on students, faculty, community, and in fact all blind Americans. It's presented in the spirit of the educators who founded and nurtured our movement, educators like Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan, Dr. Maurer, and many others who have generously given of their time to help our movement do the necessary civil rights and advocacy work that we do. That is the nature of the award. The award is presented annually, assuming that we find a suitable recipient, and it's not an easy search, as Cathy Jackson mentioned in her presentation. It's not easy to select someone for this award, but this year we believe we have found a meritorious candidate. The winner of this year's award is Harriet Go of Pennsylvania. Harriet, please come forward. I'll tell you a little something about Harriet, and I had to do some undercover reconnaissance work with her state president, Jim Antonacci, to get some background while keeping the secret from her and her family and friends. I hope we were successful in that endeavor. Harriet is a 1996 graduate of the St. Lucy's school in Philadelphia, where she developed terrific Braille and O&M skills. She went on to the Philadelphia public school system and graduated from Philadelphia Central High School, which is one of the more prestigious schools in the Philadelphia school system. From high school she went on to Temple University, majoring in education and special education in 2004. As part of that program she did student teaching despite some challenges. She subsequently got a job and is employed at the Richmond Elementary School in Philadelphia, working as a teacher in the resource room. She has responsibility for IEPs and administrative duties as well as teaching. While working full time, she is also earning her master's at Walden University. As you can see, she has a very strong work ethic. Here are a few things about Harriet's involvement with the NFB: she is a member of the Keystone Chapter in Pennsylvania and is active in the state affiliate. She has also been active in the BELL Program and in the Youth Slam program. She attends state and national conventions and has received state scholarships and two national scholarships, which makes her a tenBroek Fellow. Now, before I present the plaque, I want to tell you what it says: BLIND EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND PRESENTED TO HARRIET GO IN RECOGNITION OF OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION. YOU ENHANCE THE PRESENT YOU INSPIRE YOUR COLLEAGUES YOU BUILD THE FUTURE JULY 3, 2013 I just handed Harriet the plaque, and next I'm going to hand her an envelope containing a check for $1,000, and, Harriet, here's the microphone. Please say a few words. Thank you, Dr. Ticchi. Thank you to the Blind Educator of the Year Award Committee. Thank you, Dr. Maurer, and thank you especially to my National Federation of the Blind family. I was so surprised to hear my name being called, and I am truly humbled and honored and blessed to receive this award. I started with the Federation about 2002, and I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I'm glad I stayed. I want especially to thank the members of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania because you guys believed in me from the very beginning, and I could not have done what I've done and continue to do what I'm doing if it wasn't for your support. Thank you very much, and thank you to the National Federation of the Blind for this very special award. Thank you, everybody. ---------- The Jacobus tenBroek Award presented by Ramona Walhof [PHOTO CAPTION: Art Schreiber] Tonight it is my pleasure to present the Jacobus tenBroek Award to a man whose accomplishments are unsurpassed. Yet most of you will be surprised to learn of some of them. Our beloved founder, Jacobus tenBroek, stood for excellence in his employment for decades as professor at the University of California at Berkeley, in his writing of five books and hundreds of articles, and in his leadership of the NFB. He was our founder, our president, and our principal leader for more than a quarter of a century. We have named this award for him both to honor our founder and to honor those who receive it. Tonight will be the thirtieth time we have presented the tenBroek Award. Our honoree has been a leader since he joined the Federation thirty years ago. Previous honorees have lived in eighteen states, but tonight we have chosen a man from a new state. He has been president of the affiliate in his state and head of the commission for the blind there, as well. He has chaired the commission's administrative board, and he has directed the programs on a daily basis. But, like Dr. tenBroek, this gentleman has had another outstanding career, both before and after blindness, one you will enjoy knowing more about. Art Schreiber, will you please come to the platform? Art Schreiber grew up on a farm in Ohio, received a bachelor's degree from Westminster College in Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and continued to do graduate work at Kent State University. Later he participated in a seminar for broadcasters at Harvard University. He began his career in journalism in the 1950s and was soon traveling with and reporting on famous people. He traveled with the John F. Kennedy for President campaign and reported on Kennedy's election and his funeral. Art Schreiber reported on the Lyndon B. Johnson White House and on Martin Luther King Jr.'s activities as he led the civil rights movement, especially in the South during the 1960s. Perhaps the most memorable reporting Schreiber did was with the Beatles on their first tour of the United States. He spent many evenings playing Monopoly with John Lennon and George Harrison. He traveled to foreign countries and reported as he went. In 1972 Art was one of the founders of Commuter Computer in Los Angeles and later became its CEO. It is the nation's largest ride-sharing organization and was one of the first partnerships in the nation between the public and private sectors. From 1960 until 1991 Art was vice president and general manager of a group of radio stations in New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque. He moved to New Mexico in 1982 to manage station KOB AM and FM, and soon afterward he lost his vision. Art Schreiber credits the National Federation of the Blind with turning his life around after he became blind. He took some time for rehabilitation then returned to managing station KOB. When the New Mexico Commission for the Blind was created in 1986, Art Schreiber was appointed by the governor to serve on its board. He retired as manager of KOB in the early 1990s so that he could run for mayor of Albuquerque. Since he did not actually become mayor, he accepted a position as director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and directed it for two years. In this capacity he was innovative and strong. Among many other things he established one of the first digital newspaper-reading systems for the blind. During the twenty-first century, although he was past the ordinary retirement age, Art continued to host a radio talk show until 2011. Art has served on numerous boards and received many awards. Notable among these are: in 2009 he received the Lovola Burgess Lifetime Leadership Award from the New Mexico Conference on Aging. He was chosen New Mexico Broadcaster of the Year by the New Mexico Broadcasters Association in 1990. He received the DuPont Award presented by the Columbia School of Journalism; the National Gold Medallion for Humanitarianism Award from the American Lung Association. He served on the Board for Albuquerque Economic Development; the Better Business Bureau; the Coalition for Children; Crime Stoppers of Albuquerque; Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce; Natural History Museum Board; New Mexico Chapter of the American Lung Association; New Mexico Health Net; Samaritan Counseling Center, where he was president as well as board member. Art has served on the Southwest Neuro- Rehabilitation Institute board from 1998 to the present. He was United Way of Albuquerque communication chair in 1992. Art taught at Muskingum College in Ohio and the University of Southern California and lectured at the University of Oklahoma. At age eighty-five he is cutting back. He is still second vice president of the NFB Senior Division and chairman of the New Mexico State Rehabilitation Advisory Committee and continues to serve on the board of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind. How could we find a more outstanding leader to honor tonight? Art Schreiber (or Uncle Arthur as he is often known), we give you the highest honor we can give a member of the NFB tonight, with respect and with love. Here is the text of the plaque presented: JACOBUS TENBROEK AWARD NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND PRESENTED TO ARTHUR SCHREIBER FOR YOUR DEDICATION, SACRIFICE, AND COMMITMENT ON BEHALF OF THE BLIND OF THIS NATION. YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS MEASURED NOT IN STEPS BUT IN MILES, NOT BY INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES BUT BY YOUR IMPACT ON THE LIVES OF THE BLIND OF THE NATION. WHENEVER WE HAVE ASKED, YOU HAVE ANSWERED. WE CALL YOU OUR COLLEAGUE WITH RESPECT. WE CALL YOU OUR FRIEND WITH LOVE. JULY 6, 2013 Art Schreiber: Thank you very much. I have had many, many honors, but this is the finest and the most loved that I have ever received. And I offer great thanks to the man who first told me to get in touch with Fred Schroeder, and that is David Ticchi of Massachusetts. I got in touch with Fred, and the rest-thank goodness to him and his family and Sue Benbow-they got me into the National Federation of the Blind. It truly has changed my life. I say to all of you: I am grateful, I am honored. Dr. Maurer, I am so proud to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind. Thank you all. ---------- The Federationist's Federationist Award [PHOTO CAPTION: The First Federationist's Federationist Award] [PHOTO CAPTION: Patricia Maurer] Fred Schroeder: Mr. Gashel and I would like to make a unique presentation. It is an award that has never been given before. We considered long and hard what to call this award, and finally we said it's the Federationist's Federationist Award. It is an award that is given in recognition of an individual who lives Federationism each and every day, an individual who encourages others, who inspires others, who is gentle and patient with others, an individual who through act and deed embodies the very best of what we are. The recipient of this award is many things. She is a mom with two beautiful adult children. She is the voice of encouragement that people hear when they call our National Center desperately seeking information and hope. She is the director of reference for the Jacobus tenBroek Library. She has been a full-time volunteer for the National Federation of the Blind for over twenty-five years. She is our own Patricia Maurer. [applause] Jim Gashel: Fred and I have collaborated in introducing this Federationist's Federationist Award. I want to say a few things about Mrs. Maurer. I've known Patricia Maurer-Ms. Maurer-I've known you since 1968. Pat Maurer: I was a child. Jim Gashel: Yes, a mere child. I was a child then, too, almost. And you know, if somebody were to ask me what it means to be a Federationist, the definition I would give would begin with two words: Patricia Maurer. I mean that. We elected Dr. Maurer to be our president in 1986. He went into this job with his eyes wide open; he knew Dr. Jernigan and what demands were placed upon the president of the National Federation of the Blind. It is a sacred trust, and, if you're the president of the National Federation of the Blind, you agree to give up a major portion of your life to serve us. Now Mrs. Maurer didn't necessarily sign up for that, and we didn't elect her. But in 1987 she left the career she had in education and rehabilitation and became a full-time volunteer, standing by Dr. Maurer's side day after day after day and serving us, and she had a family to raise too. Together the Maurers have raised a wonderful family. Not just their own family, but our whole Federation family. So, I don't know, I'm only the secretary of the National Federation of the Blind, so I don't know if I have the power to propound motions or anything like that. But I would just say to you, that, were I able to do that-I know we designate Mrs. Maurer as the first lady of the National Federation of the Blind-but I'm going to suggest that we designate Mrs. Maurer as the first Federationist of the National Federation of the Blind, and here is Fred Schroeder to present the Federationist's Federationist Award to the First Federationist. Fred Schroeder: What we have-and I'm going to unveil it right now-it is a book made of glass. It is an open book, and it has an inscription on both sides of the page in print and in Braille. The right-hand page reads as follows: "Presented to Patricia Maurer in loving appreciation for your steadfast dedication and tireless efforts on behalf of the blind. July 6, 2013." The left-hand side of the page, also in print and Braille, has the Whozit logo and the following quote from Maya Angelou; it says this: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Mrs. Maurer, here you are. Pat Maurer: I am not the one in the Maurer family who makes the speeches. So I will simply say I am very deeply touched and honored to receive this award. I appreciate all of you and what you do to make the Federation what it is. So next week or maybe the week after, if you give me a call, I'll be over there on the other end of the phone. I love you all very much, and I thank you very much. ---------- The 2013 Bolotin Awards From the Editor: Late Saturday afternoon, July 6, Jim Gashel, NFB secretary and chairman of the Bolotin Awards selection committee, came to the platform to present the 2013 Bolotin Awards. Here is that presentation: Thank you, Dr. Maurer, thank you, fellow Federationists, and thank you again for the high honor of being able to present the Dr. Jacob Bolotin award this year on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust. A biography about Dr. Bolotin has been published by Blue Point Books. It's called The Jacob Bolotin Story, and it's available from our Independence Market. The most important thing for you to know about Jacob Bolotin is that he was born in 1888 and he died in 1924. Although he had a few short years of life, his accomplishments were many. He started off selling brushes and even kitchen matches door to door. Then he went to medical school, he practiced medicine, and he even taught medicine in Chicago. And you know what? He did all that before there was the Rehabilitation Act. There was no ADA; there was no Section 504; there was no Eve Hill; there was no NFB. We honor his memory today because he blazed a trail for us. That's why we're here and why we honor Jacob Bolotin. Funds to support these awards are provided from a bequest to the Santa Barbara Foundation and the National Federation of the Blind from Rosalind Perlman, Jacob Bolotin's niece. This year we are awarding $50,000 to these winners. Each award includes a cash award (which I will specify), but it also includes a plaque. I'm going to read the plaque; here is the text on the plaque. It says: Presented to [name of the recipient] National Federation of the Blind and the Santa Barbara Foundation July 2013 A medallion is suspended above the plaque, and the medallion is a special commemorative award. The text on the obverse side reads, "The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award." Then the logo of the National Federation of the Blind appears, and immediately below that logo are these words, "Celebrating Achievement, Creating Opportunity." On the reverse side of the medallion appear these words: "Dr. Jacob Bolotin, 1888 to 1924," then reads, "Celebrating His Life /The Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust." Now for the 2013 Jacob Bolotin Awards. For our first recipient, representing blind individuals of excellence, we recognize James Kubel with an award of $5,000. According to the National Eye Institute, 4.1 million people aged forty and over are affected by diabetic retinopathy, so this is a significant population. Insulin pumps are needed by this population. But, if you look at the totality of all of the insulin pumps on the market today, none of them, not a single one, is fully accessible to blind people, which means that, if you use insulin and you use an insulin pump, somebody else has to help you do it. Enter James Kubel and the PumpMate. This is an audible remote control that enables a blind diabetic to administer insulin successfully using Medtronic insulin pumps, and to do it without sighted assistance. When you think of blind people who look at a problem and say, "I can solve it," when you think of creative engineering and people who say "yes," when everybody else is telling you just to give up, think of the PumpMate and its inventor, James Kubel. Here is James Kubel to accept his Jacob Bolotin Award. [PHOTO CAPTION: James Kubel] James Kubel: Well, thank you very much. I'd like to thank the NFB; I'd like to thank my associate, Phil Brooks, who worked with me; and I'd like to thank my wife for standing behind me while I fought and fought and fought to get this product on the market. I will continue to fight until I do get it there. Jim Gashel: I want to thank you for being so short and concise. Now, for our second recipient, this year we have chosen to recognize two organizations for their partnership to improve opportunities for blind youth. These organizations are the National Federation of the Blind of Utah and the Utah Department of Workforce Services, recognized jointly for their groundbreaking Project STRIVE. Let's hear it for the National Federation of the Blind of Utah and for the Utah Workforce Department. [applause] The $10,000 cash award will be made to the National Federation of the Blind of Utah, but this joint award goes with our deepest thanks and appreciation for the leadership and financial participation of the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Project STRIVE is a mentoring program that links up blind people age thirteen to twenty-six with blind adults experienced in such things as orientation and mobility, things like Braille, things like jobs and managing homes and so forth. In other words, we teach each other how to live lives of success. When you think of reaching out to pave the way for blind youth, when you think of investing in our future, and when you think of public-private partnerships that really work to put blind people to work, think of Project STRIVE and its partners: the NFB of Utah and the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Here to accept this joint award is Adam Rushforth, director of Project STRIVE and Jeff Lanword, deputy director of Workforce Services. Gentlemen, you can take about thirty seconds. [PHOTO CAPTION: Adam Rushforth] Adam Rushforth: Thank you. As he said, this is a collaborative effort between Workforce Services and the NFB of Utah. We've been doing this for several years now, and I want to spend a second just giving a special thanks to our Project STRIVE participants, many of whom are here today, as well as our instructors: Cheralyn Creer, Barbie Elliott, Brook Sexton, Mike Harvey, Tara Briggs, and many, many others. Thank you. [PHOTO CAPTION: Jeff Lanword] Jeff Lanword: Thank you very much for this award; thank you for the recognition. At the Department of Workforce Services in Utah, we have a lot of projects and a lot of funding we put out there. Once in a while there comes one that you know can unleash incredible potential: this is it. So thank you very much for the recognition. Jim Gashel: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Now, for our third recipient, this year we have also chosen to recognize a partnership of a prominent state agency and an affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. These organizations are the NFB of Texas and the Texas Workforce Commission, recognized jointly for working to create and conduct Project CHANGE. Although the cash award of $10,000 will go to the NFB of Texas, this joint recognition expresses our deep appreciation and thanks to the encouragement, leadership, and financial support provided by the Texas Workforce Commission. In 2010 Larry Temple, the executive director of the Texas Workforce Commission, came to our convention in Dallas, and a year later Project CHANGE was created. I won't say any more. You all had a part in this by helping to create the understanding that blind people know best how to solve our problems and address our needs. Larry Temple is a believer, and the Texas Workforce Commission and the governor of Texas have helped to back the project. It's again a mentoring project, linking up blind youth ages fourteen to twenty-four with blind adults (doesn't specify what ages for the blind adults) to work in fields such as science, technology, engineering, math, education, rehabilitation, mass media communications, jobs in food service, and more. When you think of believing in blind people and creating opportunities for success, when you think of tearing down barriers and opening doors to the future, and when you think about government agencies believing in blind people and understanding that we know best how to meet our needs, think of Project CHANGE and the partnership between the NFB of Texas and the Texas Workforce Commission. Here to accept the award are Kimberly Flores, president of the NFB of Texas, and Larry Temple, executive director of the Texas Workforce Commission. Kimberly. [PHOTO CAPTION: Kimberly Flores] Kimberly Flores: Opportunity is missed by many because it shows up wearing overalls and looks like work. Larry Temple is an expert in overalls of all shapes and sizes, and he loves the style of the National Federation of the Blind. Without him Project CHANGE would not have been possible. This has been a wonderful learning opportunity, we've been blessed and honored, and we are truly humbled by this recognition. Thank you so much. I would like to thank Norma Crosby for her tireless effort writing and revising this grant for us and for her love and support. I want to thank Richie [Kim's husband] for his leadership, and I want to thank Emily Gibbs for her support as well. Thank you to all of our participants who have been in attendance throughout the convention as well. Here is Larry Temple. [PHOTO CAPTION: Larry Temple] Larry Temple: Thank you very much. Actually, I didn't have much choice; I got outnumbered last year. Ron Gardner, Kimberly, Richie, Kristin Cox from out in Utah-they called and said, "This is a great project, and we need to work on it." I do want to thank Kristin for introducing me to this organization, and I'm proud to be here. Come on back to Texas! Jim Gashel: Dr. Maurer says we may do that. For our fourth recipient we turn to a corporation of excellence with leadership on behalf of the blind, and we recognize Desire2Learn with an award of $10,000. This morning we heard all about its technology. For those of us who grew up in the 1960s, the 1970s, or maybe a decade or two beyond, we used to communicate with our teachers by passing hardcopy paper back and forth. But today they don't do that in education. So we learned today that you communicate over the network, and you use systems that are called LMS systems. LMS systems are the means in education for teachers and the like to register students, to monitor their progress, to issue grades, etc. So no longer do we get to rush to the bulletin board to check our grades. We have to get onto Desire2Learn and hope it's accessible. In this case it is, although most of these systems are not accessible, and I've actually said that most of them should get a grade of F. Desire2Learn is about the only one of the group that really gets a grade of A-and not just once, but consistently. In fact, Desire2Learn has won for the last several years the NFB's gold certification for accessibility of LMS systems. Anne Taylor says it's a model of accessibility, and I believe it is. Here to accept the award is Dennis Kavelman, but I want to say first, that, when you think of modern accessible technology used in education, when you think of equal opportunity to compete and to learn, and when you think of a core company value having accessibility in that value, think of Desire2Learn. Here to accept the award is Dennis Kavelman, chief operating officer, Desire2Learn. Dennis Kavelman: Actually, the real person who is going to accept the award is Karen Hedrick, who really led the efforts at Desire2Learn, and here she is. [PHOTO CAPTION: Karen Hedrick] Karen Hedrick: Okay, I guess the Student Division knew I was here the whole time, but now you all know I'm not just in the video. I just wanted to say it's been seven years of hard work, working with developers who have great passion for this and are extremely motivated. I wish they could all be here to just breathe in the awesomeness that is in this convention. We are going to keep it going, and we're going to make sure that it stays accessible for all blind users. So that includes blind students, blind instructors, and blind administrators. Thank you so much for this. Jim Gashel: Thank you, Karen, and thank you, Desire2Learn. Now, finally, our fifth recipient, representing blind individuals with imagination, innovation, and just plain good sense--we recognize Emily Wharton with our highest award this year, an award of $15,000. Now literacy is, I would say, the most fundamental building block of success. Literacy for blind people means competence in reading and writing Braille. Aside from having literacy skills in Braille, no other factor has more impact on whether or not a person will succeed. Emily Wharton understands this. It's one thing to learn Braille as a child and use it every day in school. But it's a challenge of a different magnitude to learn Braille as an adult and then try to make it relevant and useful as a tool in your daily life. Most of us understand this, and we just give up. But Emily Wharton decided to do something about it. Emily is a communications instructor at BLIND, Incorporated, in Minneapolis. So she's had a firsthand opportunity to observe her students there. And Emily observed what she came to recognize among those students as a poor "Braillitude." She decided to help them get a good Braillitude, and she created Code Master. Code Master follows the techniques used in teaching sighted people to read, that is, to recognize not just characters but words, whole words. She has people reading within weeks of having the opportunity to learn the Braille code. Not only that, but she incorporates the use of technology into the process, emphasizing the use of Braille displays. More than that, she is making Braille relevant to blind adults, and they are learning to use it right away. When you think of innovative problem-solving, when you think of first- class training, and when you think of literacy education for all-no excuses for being a blind adult, we can learn Braille too-think of the Code Master System, and think of Emily Wharton, its inventor. Here to accept the award is Emily Wharton. [PHOTO CAPTION: Emily Wharton] Emily Wharton: Thank you so much to the Bolotin Committee, to my Federation family, to Dr. Maurer for challenging us to think about ways of innovating Braille, to all the people along the way who've been helpful with this: Peggy Elliott; Shawn Mayo; Dr. Bell; everybody at BLIND, Incorporated: Sharon, Ryan, Helen, and Chris. If you want more information about what we're doing, it'll be on our website shortly: . Thank you all so much. Jim Gashel: Thank you, Emily, and thanks to all of our award winners. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards class of 2013. I want to thank Mary Ellen Jernigan and Ron Brown for helping me out in reviewing all these applications and for their intelligent evaluation. Mr. President, this concludes my report on the Jacob Bolotin Awards for 2013, and I thank all of you for listening. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: The 2013 scholarship winners (left to right): Back Row: Fredrick Hardyway, Al Elia, Mark Colasurdo, Chopper Johnson, Alex Loch, Conrad Austen, Brooke Lovell, Matthew Yeater Middle Row: Kristin Fleschner, Tasha Hubbard, Jeri Siquerios-Ramirez, Tyler Kavanaugh, Disa Muse, Mona Minkara, Steven Phelps, Cody Bair, Kathryn Webster, Julie McGinnity Front Row: Heather Rasmussen, Stephanie DeLuca, Molly Faerber, Danielle Burton, Angela Dehart, Kaitlin Shelton, Ivy Wanta, Mi So Kwak, Stephanie Zundel, Treva Olivero] Meet the 2013 National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Class From the Editor: With every passing year we recognize the increasing value of the National Federation of the Blind's scholarship program to our national organization. Members of previous scholarship classes stream back to take part in convention activities and assume responsibility, doing anything that they can see needs to be done, including serving as mentors during the following year for the members of the current scholarship class. Each July everyone looks forward to meeting the new scholarship class and to hearing what its members are doing now and planning to do in the future. On Saturday evening, July 6, toward the close of the banquet, Patti Chang, chairperson of the scholarship committee, came to the podium to present the year's winners and announce which scholarships they had been awarded. This year each winner shook hands with President Maurer and Ray Kurzweil before they took their places across the back of the platform. In addition to the NFB scholarship, each of the thirty winners received a $1,000 check and plaque from Ray Kurzweil; a Google Nexus 7 tablet for access to the Blio ebook reader from K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc.; and a $1,000 cash award from Google. This package of gifts added over $2,000 of value to every scholarship award. The final award was the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship of $12,000, presented to Jeri Siqueiros-Ramirez, who then spoke briefly to the audience. Her remarks appear later in this article. But earlier in the week, at the meeting of the NFB board of directors, the thirty 2013 NFB scholarship winners, including five tenBroek Fellows, who were receiving a second NFB scholarship, came to the microphone to speak directly to the Federation. Following is what they said about themselves. The speakers were introduced by Patti, who announced their home and school states after their names. Conrad Austen, Maryland, Maryland: Good morning, Federation family. I want to take this time to thank each and every one of you for fighting for ever-increasing opportunities for me and thousands upon thousands of other blind students to succeed. I'm a senior at St. Mary's College of Maryland studying history, and I plan on getting a doctorate in history and becoming a professor researching and teaching disability history. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, and until then I hope you continue to have a wonderful convention. Thank you. Patti Chang: When students win more than one of our scholarships, they are dubbed "tenBroek Fellows." The first of five this year is Cody Bair, Colorado, Colorado: Good morning, it's a pleasure to stand in front of you today as a tenBroek Fellow. I'm a student at the University of Northern Colorado, and I'll be a senior in the fall. I'm majoring in accounting, and it's my career goal to obtain my CPA and practice in tax. This summer I'm working an internship for EKS&H [Ehrhardt, Keefe, Seiner, & Hottman], which is a large accounting firm in Colorado. I'm specializing in real estate and partnership tax. This is my third convention, and I have the pleasure of serving as the president of the Greeley Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, the treasurer of the Colorado Association of Blind Students, and as of last night a board member of NABS. It is my goal this convention to develop as a stronger leader because I know that, while as a Federation we have accomplished a lot, we still have a lot more to accomplish, and I'm committed to working and putting in tireless hours until what we want to accomplish is accomplished. Thank you. Danielle Burton, Kentucky, Kentucky: Good morning, everyone. I am a freshman this fall, and I am going to major in elementary and special education with an emphasis in moderate to severe disabilities. I plan to teach students who are blind and visually impaired. I chose to do this because I want students to have more opportunities, and I want them to have some things I did not have as a student myself. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today and this week, and I hope to meet everybody. Thank you very much. Mark Colasurdo, New Jersey, New York: Hello, everyone. My name is Mark Colasurdo, and it is an honor to be here as a scholarship winner. I want to thank the committee for this wonderful opportunity. I first came to the NFB in 2009 during the Youth Slam event and have been a student and mentor at various other STEM events since. I am currently the vice president of the New Jersey Association of Blind Students. In the fall I will be a junior at Cornell University, studying bioengineering. This summer I am doing a research internship up there funded by the National Science Foundation, where I am doing original research studying tissue engineering. In the future I hope to be a PhD scholar and research scientist in the field of biomedical engineering and to continue to participate actively in the National Federation of the Blind. Thank you. Angela Dehart, Kentucky, Kentucky: Good morning, fellow Federationists. Thank you, scholarship committee and board of directors. It is an honor to be here this week. This fall I will be a senior in a program leading to dual certification in elementary and special education, with an emphasis in teaching students who have moderate to severe disabilities. My career goal is to teach students who have autism. Teaching is my passion. It is my job to educate, encourage, and inspire my students. My philosophy of teaching is the same as my philosophy of blindness. If there is one thing I want my students to learn from me, it is that their disability need not limit them, and anything is possible with enough dedication and perseverance. Thank you all. Stephanie DeLuca, Tennessee, Tennessee: Good morning, everyone, I am honored to be here as a tenBroek Fellow this year. I am currently the president of the Tennessee Association of Blind Students. I am also hoping to defend my doctorate next spring, and with that doctorate I'd like to pursue a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) policy or STEM education policy because I believe very passionately and strongly that everyone, including the blind and visually impaired who are often ignored, have the right to a quality education, and that is how we can move up in the world. So I am looking forward to learning from all of you and learning to be a trailblazer and a leader. Thank you. Al Elia, Massachusetts, Massachusetts: Hello, everyone. Thank you to the committee, and thank you to all of you for supporting this organization that can therefore support this wonderful class that I'm honored to be a part of. I have to confess that I took for granted for many years the rights that I have as a blind person. Then, in the late 2000s, I discovered the NFB and how much I owe to this organization for all the rights that I've had my whole life. And I realized that we're still doing that work, especially Massachusetts. You know, I think a lot of people here probably have iPhones-yes? That's the NFB and Massachusetts. And the ATM machines that we all use that talk to us now? That's the NFB and Massachusetts. So I decided that, after fifteen years out of school and working as a software developer, I was going to go to law school. So that's what I'm doing now, and I hope to continue to do that sort of work, fighting in Massachusetts along with the NFB to increase our rights going forward. Thank you very much. Molly Faerber, Rhode Island, Rhode Island: Good morning, everyone. Thank you to the members of the scholarship committee and the members of this class for giving me my first national convention. It's been astonishing so far. I'm currently a grad student at Brown University in the department of literary arts, concentrating in fiction writing. In the fall or in this upcoming academic year I'll be teaching two fiction-writing classes at Brown, and I'll also have the chance to teach a group of blind high school students a writing workshop as well. I'm going to steal something that Julie said last night that I think was really great. She said that blind people deserve to be on the stage as much as sighted people do, and I completely agree. I believe that the opinions, the experiences, and the perceptions of the world that blind people have deserve to be written, published, and read by everyone, and I am dedicated to doing everything in my power to make that happen, especially after only these few days of convention. Thank you very much. Kristin Fleschner, Massachusetts, Massachusetts: Good morning, everyone. I'm so honored and privileged to be here. I'm a third-year law student at Harvard Law School. I've been extremely privileged to have a lot of rich educational and cultural experiences along the way. I did my undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University, where I received a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science. Vanderbilt then sent me to Africa, where I researched violence against women and traveled to over eighteen countries. When I returned, I had the opportunity to work for the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, and since that time I've been a federal government employee. In that capacity I've had the opportunity to testify before Congress and brief some of our most senior policy members. But along the way I lost my vision, and I had a lot of self- doubt. The morning that I actually received my admittance letter to Harvard Law School, I wasn't sure I was making the right decision, and I wasn't sure I should even be going to law school. I actually happened to make one of my first trips to the NFB in Baltimore that day to do a training session that Scott LaBarre was putting on for blind lawyers, and I left that meeting after spending a few hours with about forty blind lawyers wondering if I shouldn't get only my JD at Harvard but whether I should also get my PhD. I think that this is what this organization has the capacity to do, so I'm here this week to learn from all of you and the rest of the scholarship team here, and I look forward to meeting the rest of you this week. Juna Gjata, Massachusetts, Massachusetts: Hello, everyone. My name is Juna Gjata. I am seventeen years old and will be attending Harvard as a freshman this fall. I have the privilege of being here for the first time this year, and it's so exciting. Over the past four years I've interned at a law firm and an investment agency and as a research assistant, and they have only reaffirmed in my mind that I want to be a concert pianist in the future. I have been attending a conservatory for eight years now and have had the honor of playing with six different orchestras and playing Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall, so my dream is to be a pianist without a day job- sorry Papi. Fredrick Hardyway, Kansas, Washington: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for this opportunity; this has been wonderful. This is my first convention, and I'm just so amazed. I'm going to Washington State and getting my doctorate in world history with a primary emphasis in African history. My goal is to become a professor. I guess I found out among the scholarship winners that I'm the eldest, so thank you for the opportunity. Tasha Hubbard, Virginia, Virginia: Hello, Federationists. I am a student at Liberty University getting my masters in professional counseling and life coaching. With that I will be counseling people who have gone through traumatic experiences that left them disabled. My goal is to give them back their hope for life and to teach them that their life isn't over now that they're disabled. I am also the president of the Peninsula Chapter in Virginia. I am the coordinator for the Peninsula BELL Program. I am on the McDonald Fellowship Committee, and I will be running for a position in the Human Services Division later on today. My theme here is giving back. Chopper Johnson, South Carolina, South Carolina: Hi, folks, it's good to hear a little bit of South Carolina in the house. After starting my undergraduate in the early 90s, I'm finally getting around to graduating with a double degree in secondary education and history in May from the College of Charleston. This is thanks to the scholarship committee. This is my first NFB national convention; it's been a long couple of days already; I look forward to a long couple of more. So that's me. Tyler Kavanaugh, Kansas, New York: Good morning. Thank you, scholarship committee, board of directors, Mr. President, Madame Chair. It is a great honor for me to be here this morning. I'm going to be a sophomore at the Rochester Institute of Technology, studying software engineering. This is my first national convention, and I hope to become even more involved in the Federation because I only really got kind of involved with it at the state convention in New York last November. Mi So Kwak, California, California: First of all, I am so honored and humbled to be here today. Throughout my life I have been blessed with incredible mentors and experiences: teachers in Korea who always encouraged me to think bigger, a high school teacher who opened my mind to chemistry, a guidance counselor who gave me an opportunity to speak to a local Cub Scout pack about blindness, band directors who gave me wonderful opportunities such as being a section leader for marching band performing in a concert as a member of Southern California Ambassadors of Music, and marching in the Tournament of Roses Parade as a member of Bands of America Honor Band, and finally many of my NFB mentors whom I have met throughout this week. This fall I'll be a freshman attending the University of California, Los Angeles, and am considering a double major in music history and communication, and a minor in education. Although I'm not sure about the specifics of my career, I would like to become a teacher who could open students' minds and strengthen their self-belief, just like my teachers have done for me. Thank you. Domonique Lawless, Louisiana, Louisiana: Good morning. I am very honored to be here as a tenBroek Fellow. I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, currently living in Ruston, Louisiana, where I am attending Louisiana Tech, finishing my master's degree in teaching blind students orientation and mobility. I've been in the National Federation of the Blind for thirteen years. In 2005 I founded the Tennessee Association of Blind Students and had the opportunity to serve as its president from 2005 to 2011. I also served on the state board for the Tennessee affiliate as well as served on the National Association of Blind Students board from 2007 to 2012. Although I hold no current board positions, I love working behind the scenes in various education programs, like the BELL Program in Louisiana and soon the BELL Program in Virginia. I look forward to doing anything I can to help the Federation, and I'm looking forward to the rest of convention. Alex Loch, Minnesota, Minnesota: Hi, everyone. My name is Alex Loch. I'm a third-year grad student at the College of St. Scholastica earning a doctorate in physical therapy. I will own my own practice-a physical therapy clinic-one day. I live in Duluth, Minnesota, and we're in the process of getting a chapter started in Duluth; so any tips are welcome. In Minnesota we have these things called "Ole and Lena jokes," so I'm going to tell you one: Sven was walking down the street, and he noticed his buddy Ole standing by the jewelry store. He said, "Hey, Ole, Vhat you doing?" Ole said, "Oh, it's Lena's birthday, and she asked for something with a lot of diamonds." Sven said, "Yah? Vell, vat'd you get her?" Ole said, "Vell, I got her a deck of cards." Thank you all so much; have a lovely convention. Brooke Lovell, Utah, Utah: Hello, everyone, I'm so thankful to be here today. I'm an incoming freshman at Brigham Young University, and I will be majoring in psychology. I plan to become a marriage and family counselor. This summer I'm interning at a counseling office in Salt Lake City, and I absolutely love it. I have been involved with the NFB for coming up on three years now. I had the opportunity to attend Washington Seminar, and that was right after I became involved with the NFB. Then I was on the founding board of our local chapter and served as the secretary there for two years. I am currently treasurer of our student division, and I have had the opportunity to serve as a junior mentor at the BELL Program and in Project STRIVE in our state. I'm so thankful for all these awesome opportunities that I've had to give back, because I have received so much from the NFB and from my mentors and from you my Federation family. I hope you all have a very happy day. Thank you. Julie McGinnity, Missouri, Missouri: Hi, everyone. First of all I would like to thank Patti Chang and the rest of the scholarship committee for giving me this opportunity once again. I'm having a great time. I would also like to thank Lorraine Rovig for all the work she's doing; it can't be easy to be with us all the time. I was recently told that I could only be a blind character in an opera because I'm blind, and all the sighted people are supposed to play the sighted characters. Yeah, unfortunately this is something that we face every day. Many of us in this room have faced this attitude, and for my part I would like to become an accomplished performer and be a professor of voice. I would like to teach all kinds of students performance techniques. I would also like to advocate for blind performers because that attitude is wrong, and we need to fix it, guys. Thank you. Mona Minkara, Florida, Florida: Hi, everyone. I'm actually originally from Boston; I moved down here for graduate school. I am a third-year at the University of Florida, part of the Quantum Theory Project. I am studying computational chemistry. I graduated with my undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in 2009 with a double major in chemistry and Middle Eastern studies. Then I was really fortunate to get a Howard Hughes Medical Institution grant to do a year of pure research, and I decided this is what I want to do with the rest of my life-I love it. Unfortunately, growing up I wasn't really involved with the NFB or anything involved with blind associations. I was not taught Braille, and I did not have enough vision to read large print. I've done everything auditorily, but, coming here, I've decided I'm going to learn Braille. Actually, Julie McGinnity-who just spoke-she just showed me the alphabet; I was able to read a couple of sentences on her BrailleNote, so I'm really excited to see where that takes me. Thank you. Disa Muse, Oklahoma, Oklahoma: Thank you. My associate's and bachelor's were in areas of law, and I honestly just had a mild plan of being a paralegal. But, as I was going through school during the last two years, I've faced more battles than I've ever faced in my life. It was the first time I'd gone to college blind. I battled one professor one semester. I thought, "Good, that'll never happen again." No, next semester, major battle, semester-long. Then voc rehab, and, by the end I said, "Do you know what: they don't seem to understand, I'm part of the NFB, and I don't take no for an answer." I'm now dedicating my life to that type of service for others. Thank you. Treva Olivero, Louisiana, Louisiana: Hello, everyone, thank you. I am very honored and blessed and humbled to have this opportunity. This is my tenth convention. In the past I haven't been able to go to school to get a scholarship, but currently I am attending the Louisiana Tech master's program for teaching blind students. I'm very excited, and what sparked an interest in teaching was my experience with the Louisiana and the Maryland BELL programs and also the Braille Rocks Program in Maryland. I'd like to thank my mentors from the NFB of Indiana and the NFB of Maryland for all their support. Thank you so much for believing in me and giving me this opportunity so that I can go and teach future Federationists. Steven Phelps, Utah, Utah: Good morning, fellow Federationists. I am a member of the Utah affiliate, and within that affiliate I am the president of the Utah Valley Chapter. I am in my final year of study at the University of Utah. I am working on two master's degrees, one in social work and the other in public administration. I'm also working on a graduate certificate in disability studies. With this combination of degrees and a certificate, I will be able to provide relief and initiate necessary changes for people with disabilities through advocacy, legislation, policy efforts, and administrative leadership. I believe that I can make a difference in people's lives, and this belief has been furthered during recent national conventions, Washington Seminar, and activities within the Utah affiliate. I am committed to furthering the mission of the National Federation of the Blind and its programs and affiliates. Thank you. Heather Rasmussen, Tennessee, Washington, DC: Hi. I've been in the NFB for several years, about six, I think. I owe a lot to this organization. I went to the Colorado Center for the Blind in 2009-2010. It was a truly life-changing experience. That being said, I've never been able to come to a national convention before, and I'm really truly grateful to be here; it's amazing. I have a bit of a different background; I grew up on a goat farm-yes, a goat farm-in Tennessee. I am now at American University in Washington, DC; I'm majoring in international studies with a focus in conflict resolution because it's really hard to get anything done in terms of development if you're being shot at. I'm minoring in Spanish because it's awesome and criminal justice because I have a passion for US prison reform. Coming from an under-served population-being blind-I feel empathy with that population because they're very neglected in this country. For the last year I studied abroad in the University of Ireland in Galway, and I love dogs. Kaitlin Shelton, Ohio, Ohio: Hello, and good morning, everyone. This fall I will be a sophomore at the University of Dayton, where I am majoring in music therapy with a minor in psychology. I have yet to decide what specific population I want to work with, but I'm considering concentrating in work with teens with all sorts of disabilities; substance abuse and recovery; medical patients; or music therapy in a pediatric hospital. I've had a couple volunteer internships, including one at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and I hope to get more in order to sort of figure out my niche and see where I want to go. I'm pretty active on campus. I do several activities, including volunteer organizations, two fraternities, marching band, and a bunch of musical ensembles. As far as the Federation goes, I am active in the Ohio Association of Blind Students, where I currently serve as secretary, and the Community Service Group, and I hope to become more involved as the week goes on. This is my first convention, and I'm really excited and honored to be here. I'm really thankful for this opportunity, so thank you to everyone who's made this possible, as well as everyone here for working for a better future for blind people. Thank you. Jeri Siqueiros-Ramirez, California, California: Good morning, fellow Federationists. First off, I am very blessed. I feel very blessed to be part of the scholarship class this year, and it is with great humility that I say thank you to each and every one of you, as well as the scholarship committee. I am a graduate student at Cal State University, San Bernardino. I am earning a master's degree in rehab counseling. I currently work as a service coordinator at the department of rehab in California. Rehab is very near and dear to my heart. But I am more than that. I am also a mother, a wife, and a Federationist. I have the privilege of working in the great state of California next to some seasoned mentors. I serve as treasurer of our student division and vice president of our diabetes division, and I am president of the Southwest Riverside County Chapter. But my privilege extends beyond the California borders. I get to work alongside all of you, and I get to be part of the difference we are going to make in this world. Again, I thank you, and I look forward to meeting more of you. Everybody have a great convention. Thank you. Ivy Wanta, New York, Connecticut: Hi, everyone. I'm so grateful to be here as a scholarship winner. I'm starting at Yale University this fall, hoping to major in physics and planning to have a future in alternate energy sources. I'm also incredibly involved in theater. Throughout my high school career I acted in, directed, or wrote seventeen different plays and musicals. This is my first convention, and I really do feel like this scholarship has given me the gift of the NFB, and I can't wait to take that gift home and get involved in my state affiliate. Thank you so much. Kathryn Webster, Connecticut, North Carolina: Good morning, my new Federation family. This is my first national convention, and my name is Kathryn Webster. I am originally from Florida, live in Connecticut, and will be starting my freshman year of undergraduate at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. I plan on pursuing a double major in mathematical business and economics with a minor in health and human services, hopefully. My career goal right now is to be an actuarial scientist and a motivational speaker. I am new to the Federation-fairly new- but I am looking forward to this week, and I am loving it. And I just wanted to give a shout-out to Justin Salisbury because he convinced me to highly consider going to the LCB, and he has definitely been a great mentor throughout this whole process. I can't wait to keep on being a Federationist and getting involved. Thank you. Matthew Yeater, Indiana, Indiana: Good morning, Federationists. I, too, would like to say thank you so much to the scholarship committee for your hard work and dedication, and the board of directors. On behalf of all of us, all of you affiliate leaders, without you guys we wouldn't be where we are, so thank you very much. I graduated from Indiana Bible College last year and am a first-year grad student at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. I've been part of the Federation for five years, recruited by Ron Brown. My first convention was part of the College Leadership Program four years ago, so this is my fourth convention. The leadership seminar changed my life, really. I went back home with a new perspective and an open understanding. During my senior year of college I started the National Federation of the Blind of Michiana, a newly formed chapter. I serve on the building committee where we're celebrating that just last week we got a building donated to us--office space--so we're really looking forward to that. We have a couple of grant writers-one of whom works with the International Rotary--he's a gifts manager, his major is corporate sponsorship-so we're excited for the new developments. Thank you guys for all that you do for us. Stephanie Zundel, New Jersey, Tennessee: Good morning, my Federation family. I am so thankful, blessed, and honored to have been awarded one of the NFB's scholarships. I will be attending Vanderbilt University in the fall as a freshman. I will be double majoring in speech pathology and psychology. I have also just decided to minor in something that has to do with animals, since I absolutely love animals. I attended the Youth Slam in 2011, and I also just graduated from the LEAD Program, which is led by Joe Ruffalo and Jerilyn Higgins. I just have one quick story to share on why I absolutely love the NFB and why it is such a great organization. This year I was in an AP government class. All the students in this class belong to a national e-Congress, which is a website where students from all over the country create their own laws. These laws are sent to other classrooms across the country, where they either pass or fail. I made a law about how I think there should be a way that blind people can distinguish between money, other than using money readers. It is fine if people disagree with my ideas, but the way these people failed was unbelievable. They told me that blind people never go to stores without a sighted companion. This is why I do boxing--because of my anger--and also why I joined the NFB. The NFB is here to fight for our equality because we know that blind people can accomplish everything that sighted people can. Thank you. There you have the 2013 scholarship class. On Saturday evening, July 6, toward the close of the banquet, Patti Chang presented this year's scholarships. Then Jeri Siqueiros-Ramirez, winner of the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship, came to the podium to speak a few words. This is what she said: [PHOTO CAPTION: Jeri Siqueiros-Ramirez] I'm trying to catch my breath right now and stand at the same time, so excuse the shaking in my voice, please. Good evening, my Federation family. Words can never express the thanks or even the feelings I have right now. In 2007 I sat on the side of the road-devastated--realizing that I was blind. My car was parked; I had called my brother for a ride because I had almost hit a car. In 2009 I had the opportunity, the blessing, to attend my first national convention in Detroit. I partook in our walk, in our March for Independence. I left that convention changing the word "devastation" to "determination"--to dare to dream. It is with great humility that I stand here before you this evening, again truly thanking each and every one of you. I may not know you personally, but we are working together, and that is all I need to know. Thank you, my Federation family. It is my privilege to walk with you as we go to Washington each year and as we walk the streets and show society what it means to work together in changing what it means to be blind. Thank you. Following is the complete list of 2013 scholarship winners and the awards they received: . $3,000 NFB Awards: Conrad Austen, Cody Bair, Danielle Burton, Mark Colasurdo, Albert "Al" Elia, Juna Gjata, Fredrick Hardyway, Natasha Hubbard, Tyler Kavanaugh, Mi So Kwak, Domonique Lawless, Alex Loch, Disa Muse, Steven J. Phelps, Heather Rasmussen, Kaitlin Shelton, Ivy Wanta, Matthew Yeater, and Stephanie Zundel . $3,000 Charles and Melva T. Owen Scholarship: Treva Olivero . $3,000 E.U. and Gene Parker Scholarship: Angela Dehart . $3,000 The Oracle Scholarship for Excellence in Computer Science: Stephanie DeLuca . $5,000 Charles and Melva T. Owen Scholarships: Mona Minkara and Kathryn Webster . $5,000 Larry Streeter Memorial Scholarship: Chopper Johnson . $5,000 The Mimi and Marvin Sandler Scholarship: Molly Faerber . $7,000 NFB Scholarships: Brooke Lowell and Julie Ann McGinnity . $10,000 Charles and Melva T. Owen Scholarship: Kristin Fleschner . $12,000 Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship (funded by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults): Jeri Siqueiros-Ramirez. ---------- The Power of Belonging An Address Delivered by Marc Maurer at the Banquet of the Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind Orlando, Florida July 6, 2013 One misunderstanding about the nature of power is that this commodity is finite, limited in quantity, and shared only by the fortunate few. To get power, it is (according to some) necessary to seize it from the hands of others. An example of this form of thinking may be observed by contemplating the seats in Congress. There are only 535 of them. Anybody who wants to exercise power from one of these seats must compete with others to get it- often seizing the opportunity from somebody else who already has it. From this form of thought comes the concept that a society consists of people who are constantly at war with one another to get for themselves the limited resources that will never be adequate for all. In 1851 the English philosopher Herbert Spencer said: Pervading all nature we may see at work a stern discipline, which is a little cruel that it may be very kind. That state of universal warfare maintained throughout the lower creation, to the great perplexity of many worthy people, is at bottom the most merciful provision which the circumstances admit of. The poverty of the incapable, the distresses that come upon the imprudent, the starvation of the idle, and those shoulderings aside of the weak by the strong, which leave so many "in shallows and in miseries," are the decrees of a large, farseeing benevolence. It seems hard that an unskillfulness which with all its efforts he cannot overcome, should entail hunger upon the artisan. It seems hard that a laborer incapacitated by sickness from competing with his stronger fellows, should have to bear the resulting privations. It seems hard that widows and orphans should be left to struggle for life or death. Nevertheless, when regarded not separately, but in connection with the interests of universal humanity, these harsh fatalities are seen to be full of the highest beneficence-the same beneficence which brings to early graves the children of diseased parents, and singles out the low-spirited, the intemperate, and the debilitated as the victims of an epidemic. It must be conceded that Spencer spoke his mind without trying to sugarcoat the message. I suspect that he would apply some of his terms to members of the National Federation of the Blind-the incapable, the weak, the low-spirited, the debilitated, the victims. As misleading and as annoying as these characterizations may be, they are a distraction from a more important observation. Spencer misunderstood at least one aspect of the fundamental nature of power itself and the character of the people who possess it. His assertion that power is limited is not only false but also an invitation for tyrannical misapplication of power by the uninformed, if not the deliberate manipulation of power against disadvantaged individuals by insidious scoundrels. These scoundrels gain economic, political, or personal advantages from a putative position of benevolent superiority. Our benevolent superiors (self-appointed, self-governing, self-important, self- willed) have determined that a wage structure in our country that offers to pay us less than the federally-guaranteed minimum wage available to everybody else has been established for our own good. They plan to maintain this structure because in their superior, benevolent wisdom they tell us that they know better than we do what our lives should be and what compensation is fair for us to get for the labor they extract from us. They tell us that our lives have been improved through this system of government- authorized discrimination, while they collect their six- and seven-figure compensation packages. Such arguments from our benevolent superiors remind me of a statement made by Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He said: I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. So said Abraham Lincoln almost 150 years ago, and I believe the principles he espoused should work equally well today. Those managers who want to pay wages to workers that are below the federally-guaranteed minimum should receive compensation similar to that which they pay the workers. If this kind of wage structure is good for blind workers, is it not equally good for management? Let us not keep all of the good for ourselves; let us share it with them. However, Herbert Spencer and the managers of workshops who exploit the blind have misunderstood the nature of power itself. If power is not always a finite, limited commodity, if it can be expanded by ingenuity and industry, if its limits are imposed only by the breadth of human imagination and the determination to put that imagination to work, power itself is expandable; and it becomes available to those who seek to know it. Inventive individuals in our own time have established companies that create technology which manages information. Some of these companies have become enormously popular and fabulously wealthy. Those who constructed them have dramatic amounts of economic power and sometimes a substantial portion of political power as well. Some of these entrepreneurs undoubtedly possess greater power than some elected officials. They took their power from nobody. The ingenuity and energy they put to work expanded the sum of the power available within our society. In 1958 John Kenneth Galbraith wrote: People are the common denominator of progress. So . . . no improvement is possible with unimproved people, and advance is certain when people are liberated and educated. How many people can be improved, and to what degree? Galbraith does not say, but he offers the mechanism for advancement with two concepts, liberty and education. Through reflection upon such thoughts and observation of the activities of others, it seems evident to me that freedom creates power. My freedom, properly exercised, adds to yours-and yours to mine. Furthermore, we develop our own freedom partly through personal choice and partly through imitation of others who exemplify the characteristics that signify freedom. In developing our own freedom, we simultaneously instill in ourselves an added measure of power. We in the National Federation of the Blind have long ago expressed the aspiration that we may participate fully in our society on terms of equality with others and that misunderstanding has kept us from doing so. We have felt that we are on the edge of society attempting to gain full participation. But this is only part of the pattern. Those who have created the systems of exclusion have erected barriers to our participation that make it virtually impossible or impractical for us to invite them to be fully a part of the society in which we live. We have not easily been able to gain access to the power that they possess, but they have not been able to gain access to the power that we possess. Often they do not know it exists. They have not understood that our equal participation enhances the fullness of their lives. One element of the misunderstanding about blindness is that we live in a sighted society. Although many sighted people live in our society, it is more accurate to say that the society in which we live belongs to all of us, and we belong to it. Because we belong in this society, we expect to be welcomed within it. Because others belong to this society, we expect to welcome them. We do not accept exclusion from any element of our culture. We belong within the political, economic, legal, educational, and scientific arenas. We belong in all elements of our society of every kind and description. We have helped to make it what it is, and it belongs to us. We cannot be (and we will not be) extracted from it. We give this society richness, depth, and a level of experience and understanding that cannot be had without us. Some may try to shoulder us aside into low-grade, shabby lives, but this is not enough. We own our freedom; we have power; and we know what to do with it. Our society belongs to us; we will not be shut out; we belong! A persistent rumor exists that blind people are fundamentally different from sighted people, less capable than sighted people, and affected by blindness in ways beyond just the inability to see. This assertion of incapacity is bolstered by some blind people who want to use the characteristics of blindness that they perceive in themselves to shock, amuse, or excuse bizarre behavior. On May 18, 2012, This American Life, a program distributed by Public Radio International, featured a presentation by Ryan Knighton, a blind author living in Canada. Knighton declared that the experience of being blind places a blind person in "a completely different physical reality." In an extensive segment, lasting more than fourteen minutes, Knighton described his experiences-among them being in unfamiliar hotel rooms. Here is some of what was said. Note the use of slightly salacious language to attempt to make the description humorous: And so I walk into the room and I find the bed. And then to the left of the bed, I feel along and I find this nightstand, which is where I expect the phone to be. And so I feel up the nightstand and there's no phone. Fine. So I reach across the bed to the other side and find the other nightstand. And I feel that one up, and there's no phone. . . . And so I turn to where I think there might be a table, and poof! There's a coffee table. So I grope this coffee table for a while and there's no phone on it. . . . So I'm left to my last blind guy resort, which is I go back to the beginning. Back to the bed and I find the wall. And I start Marcel Marceauing the walls. I'm wiping them up and down. And I round the fourth corner and I get to the bathroom, and I go past the bathroom and there's nothing. And I feel behind me again and the bed is back behind me again. So I've circled this room . . . . So I circle the room two more times this way, wiping it down. And I check the coffee table again. I check the desk again. And I just figure, forget it. I'll just go to bed and try again tomorrow. . . . [I interrupt Knighton's description to tell you that the report indicates that the next morning, Knighton is awakened by the sound of a ringing telephone.] And the phone [Knighton continues] is on a coffee table. Now I know I felt that thing up to an illicit degree. I mauled that coffee table, and there was nothing on that table last night. And so I answer the phone and it's my wife. And she says, why didn't you call me last night? And I said, well there was no phone. But there is now. . . . And so we talk. And then I hang up the phone, and I go to get back into bed, and there's now a wall there. . . . And I'm totally disoriented at this point. Like it's funny, and it's also sort of terrifying. Because I know the bed was there, and now there's a wall. And I keep touching the wall, thinking maybe this time it'll go away. And I go to the left, and there's another wall now. And I'm a grown man, and I'm lost in a hotel room. . . . This is part of the description of the experience of a blind man carried on This American Life, and I wonder is this an accurate portrayal of the American life that you experience? Do your beds turn into walls? Do you keep touching the walls hoping they'll go away? An occasional disorientation in a strange location is part of life. Most people (maybe all people) have experienced disorientation. Even Mark Twain wrote about it-being disoriented in a hotel room-in his book A Tramp Abroad. However, Knighton's description is nothing short of bizarre, and he attributes it to his blindness. This American Life put the description on the air. Knighton, of course, may have whatever opinions suit his convenience, but for a major media outlet to portray his opinions as reality when they are based in something quite different is the height of irresponsibility. Why is this man's story worth reporting? Why do millions need to know that a blind man in a hotel room could not find the phone? Why is this depiction of incapacity worth wasting one minute of anybody's time? Do the officials who put this program together want to make fun of the blind? Is making fun of blind people good journalism? Can respect for blind Americans exist when bigotry is permitted to masquerade as journalism? However, Knighton and his so-called friends who work for the media are not the only ones who portray the blind. We have a very personal interest in publicity about us, and we will tell the story as it truly is. We are a part of this society, and we expect to be welcomed within it, not made the butt of somebody else's so-called humor. Very few blind journalists work for Public Radio International. Maybe we should demand that we get an equal opportunity to write the stories, host the programs, and report the reality as we know it to be. Blind people do face problems, and they should be reported. Have the officials at This American Life taken note of the books we cannot read because they're presented in an inaccessible format? Have they noticed the two-class system that guarantees minimum wage for some yet leaves us out? Have they any idea that many of the problems faced by the blind are part of a classical struggle for equal rights and equal opportunity? We deserve respect, but we also deserve more than that-we deserve equal time. Public Radio International must stop its practice of excluding us. We must be welcomed as part of the journalism community. We are not there yet, but we are coming. We own our freedom; we have power; and we know what to do with it. Our society belongs to us; we will not be shut out; we belong! Another argument that occurs frequently about what happens to people who become blind is that the abilities we possess are enhanced by blindness. Among these can be found assertions that blind people hear better, exercise the sense of smell more acutely, and appreciate the world more effectively by touch than sighted people do. Perhaps we should advance the argument that blind people are more effective as wine tasters than the sighted. It is fair to say that some blind people have become quite adept in this arena. These arguments can become complex because blind people often do hear or feel what others miss. However, I suspect that the evidence will show that the added abilities in hearing or touch are attributable to training and practice rather than enhanced capacity. However, it may be that practice offers enhancement in sensitivity. The capacity to hear or sense objects in the path of a blind person has been called "facial vision." A blind person can "feel" an object in space by appreciating its approach through pressure exerted upon the skin of the face. Is it possible to hear space? Undoubtedly. A person who steps into a closet knows by the sound that it is small. The sound of a cathedral is noticeably and dramatically different. I have observed blind people walking down the street identifying parking meters and light poles as they pass them without ever touching these objects. I have done some of this myself. For me this takes quite a bit of concentration, and it is often unreliable. A cane in my hand tells me of objects in my path with much more certainty than the alteration in sound pattern or the change in air pressure. However, all three methods of identifying objects are effective to some degree, and other methods for doing so may exist. It comes as no surprise to me that a recent study conducted at the University of Southampton and the University of Cyprus concluded that blind people can sometimes identify the distance to objects through echolocation. What did come as a surprise to me is that reports about this in the press carried statements that suggest that the National Federation of the Blind opposes research in this arena. We do not oppose competent research about blind people. We do oppose incompetent assertions about alterations in our being based upon false assumptions. Can I as a totally blind person hear the difference between a wall and an open door? Much of the time I can. When I am seeking to find my coffee cup, can I hear where it is on the table or which direction the handle is pointing? I have never been able to establish sufficient capacity to hear my cup. I am not saying that no blind person can manage this feat, but I am saying that it is outside my experience. I am also saying that additional research competently conducted in alternative methods of knowing the world in which we live is an advantage. Furthermore, much of the foolishness that masquerades as science about the blind occurs because sighted people without experience imagine what blindness entails and design research without ever including the personal experience of blind people. Research about the blind is best performed with blind people helping to design and conduct it. However, competent research would necessarily require a certain standard of excellence. Picking only one blind person (say, for example, a blind guy who makes his living by telling others about how terrified he was in a hotel room because the bed had suddenly disappeared) will not do. In August 2012 the online magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, EyeWorld, published an article entitled "Ophthalmology's bright future . . . No kidding." [This is the actual title of the article, including the "no kidding" part. I have not been editorializing.] The article describes a conference of medical professionals that focused upon regeneration of sight. To indicate the importance of the topic under discussion, the author of the article included a definition of absolute blindness. He said: Absolute blindness-what J. Lawton Smith once referred to as not being able to see an atomic flash in a coal mine-is not a disability. Absolute blindness is life in the eternal darkness of death . . . This definition gives the flavor of the report in this ophthalmological journal. However, in addition to comparing blindness to death, the author provides additional detail about just how debilitating blindness is. He tells us: The demands of life, both primitive and modern, necessitate that vision keeps us informed, safe, productive, reproductive, and alive. According to this author, writing from a scientific perspective less than a year ago, we who are blind are not informed, safe, productive, or even, in any meaningful sense, alive. He even claims to know that something in our blindness has inhibited our reproductive faculty. I believe there is adequate medical evidence to disprove the claims here presented. It seems fair to say that this doctor has permitted prejudice to become a part of his thought process about blindness. In ophthalmology there are virtually no blind people. We must find a way to become an element of the medical profession in which eye diseases are studied and treated. It is not only in other areas of scientific endeavor where we belong. Those of us who find the subject of greatest interest must also be welcomed as part of the field of ophthalmology. Our participation will add to the perspective of the profession. This, too, is a segment of society where we belong. One observation from this author is accurate and worthwhile. Blindness [he tells us] is a topic best entrusted to the National Federation of the Blind. A book entitled Recent Advances in Reliability and Quality in Design, published in 2008, contains Chapter 22, "Quality in Design: User-oriented Design of Public Toilets for Visually Impaired People." In the book it is revealed that thoughts about the need for special design in public toilets for the visually impaired were generated at the 2005 World Toilet Summit held in Belfast. The World Toilet Summit is an event conducted by the World Toilet Organization, a nonprofit established in 2001 with its headquarters in Singapore. It may have been thought that an entire chapter of a book on design would be adequate to address completely the topic of publicly- available toilets for the blind. However, we now learn of a project in design from Hong Kong Polytechnic University entitled "BrailleWise aircraft toilet." A news organization called PhysOrg, owned by Omicron Technologies of Great Britain, distributed a description of the project along with the report that the design for aircraft toilets for the blind has already won awards in China, Germany, and the United States. What's wrong with the toilets we have on airplanes now? What design features will offer improvement? The report from PhysOrg tells us. The professor who led the design team says: Using the toilet in public places is not that straight-forward for the visually impaired. Finding their way around in unfamiliar territory is a big challenge for them. That's why they would usually avoid using public toilets by not eating and drinking. But it is not healthy. The press release associated with the professor's argument tells us: With good bearings, one can move around freely and independently with greater confidence without relying on a guide. A guide in an airplane bathroom, what a concept. The design of BrailleWise, this new product, consists of tactile markings that offer raised lines at a waist-high position in the bathroom. The person seeking information permits the fingers to travel along the raised line to locate arrows that point to the toilet, the sink, or the flushing mechanism. Apparently Braille is incorporated in the design to tell what each indicated item is. I admit that I like Braille a great deal, and I am pleased to have it incorporated into the design of anything. But I find it hard to fathom why a professor would believe that locating the toilet in an airplane bathroom is hard. The toilet takes up most of the space. The flushing mechanism is installed in different locations from one design to another. If a standard location for it were selected, it would be simpler to find, but even this feature has not escaped my notice so far. Adding Braille signage to a publicly-used space is a valuable addition. Telling the airlines, the public, engineers in a school of design, and the World Toilet Organization that blind people cannot manage to get around in an airplane bathroom is not. Perhaps the designers of new technology should undertake to solve problems that we actually have, not the ones they believe we have or think they would have if they were blind. On March 18, 2013, the Wall Street Journal published an article on the Internet entitled "When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias." The article reported that a study conducted by NIB (formerly National Industries for the Blind) asked four hundred human resources and hiring managers about hiring practices and opinions regarding blind employees. Although the title of the article suggested that bias exists against blind employees, much of the article restated the opinions of these human resource and hiring managers. It said in part: When it comes to hiring blind employees, many employers remain skeptical. Bosses often assume blind workers cost more and produce less . . . They also believe blind workers are more prone to workplace accidents and less reliable than other workers. . . . . Among hiring managers, most respondents (54 percent) felt there were few jobs at their company that blind employees could perform, and 45 percent said accommodating such workers would require "considerable expense." . Forty-two percent of hiring managers believe blind employees need someone to assist them on the job; 34 percent said blind workers are more likely to have work-related accidents. . One-quarter of respondents said blind employees are "more sensitive" than other employees; the same percentage said they were "more difficult to supervise." . Twenty-three percent of hiring managers said blind employees are not as productive as their colleagues, and 19 percent believe these employees have a higher absentee rate . . . Such is part of the language from this Wall Street Journal article, and although the stated purpose is to demonstrate bias, if the assertions of these hiring managers are correct (and nowhere in the article is a systematic refutation of such statements), the article leaves a different impression. Few jobs can be done by blind employees, says the article. Accommodations are expensive and very often required, somebody is essential to assist the blind person to do the work, blind workers are more accident- prone and more difficult to supervise, and besides they're not as productive or as reliable as their sighted colleagues, and they have a higher absentee rate. What sensible hiring manager would want one? The Journal did urge people to believe that insurance rates are not automatically increased by hiring blind people and that sometimes blind workers are more loyal than their counterparts. The article also contains a statement by NIB's president asserting that very few jobs exist that cannot be performed by a blind employee. If an employer with no (or even very limited) experience with blind employees reads this article, I suspect that the response will not be outrage at prejudice and false statement but a sympathetic understanding of the unfortunate hiring managers who are faced with the challenge of dealing with a class of people who they believe cannot perform the work that the companies are trying to get done. Is it reasonable to suppose that four hundred hiring managers are wrong? This impression comes from an article intended to show unfairness and bias. The president of NIB said the findings were a "terrible surprise." But NIB permits the agencies that get contracts through NIB to pay their workers less than the federal minimum wage. This continues to be done even though NIB has adopted a policy that urges support for payment of at least the federal minimum wage. The 70 percent unemployment rate often associated with blind employees in the United States may not be attributed to only one factor, but prejudice against blind workers practiced within entities that serve the blind is certainly one element that contributes to the dramatic rate of unemployment for blind people. In the United States we have a legal system that presumes a person is innocent of crime unless proven guilty. Our civil structure is somewhat more complex, but it presumes that all who seek retribution before the courts are treated in the same way and that a court will order money to be paid or action to be taken if those before the court can prove they deserve it. In using this system, our laws and judges have not always abided by these legal principles. The possession of a single characteristic has sometimes permitted prejudicial classification of individuals. Race classification is probably the most notorious example, but prejudice based upon gender, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability have been sufficiently widespread that they are addressed in the laws of the nation. It is a violation of the law today to classify a human being for certain purposes based upon blindness without additional information. The laws that have existed in many states declaring that no blind person may serve on a jury may be challenged because the possession of this single characteristic is insufficient to establish the unsuitability of a person for jury service. In the case of employment, the principles of the law for covered entities declare that an employee may not be denied employment on the basis of disability (including blindness) if that person appears to possess characteristics indicating that the person has the bona fide occupational qualifications to do the work. Even if the person does possess these qualifications, if the employer can demonstrate that permitting that person to work would create a safety threat to that person or to others in the workplace, the employer may deny employment. However, possession of the qualifications to do the work is sufficient to require the potential employer to demonstrate by evidence that the danger exists. The assertion of danger alone is not enough. There must be evidence showing that something really is dangerous, not just a claim that somebody is worried that it could be. Well over 90 percent of employment cases brought on behalf of disabled workers are lost. Consequently, any lawyer who brings an employment case faces an enormous challenge. The statistics are sufficiently dismal that very few lawyers bring the cases. In 2011 the National Federation of the Blind brought a case of discrimination on behalf of a blind employee, Frank Hohn, who had been fired by his employer, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railways, because they said he was blind, and his blindness created a danger in the workplace. Scott LaBarre, a blind lawyer from Colorado who is a leader of the National Federation of the Blind, did the legal work. After a trial that lasted seven days, the case was lost. In the court of appeals, the case was lost once again. The evidence in the case showed that Frank Hohn had been working for Burlington Northern doing machinist repairs on locomotives for seven years. He had an excellent safety record on the job. He did his work well and in a timely manner. However, although the trial court refused to admit this piece of evidence, Frank Hohn did disagree with a supervisor about safety. The safety he had in mind was that involving a locomotive upon which he had worked. He thought it was unsafe to be used in commerce, and he said so. He was ordered to put the locomotive into service, and when he filed a complaint about this order, the company discovered that he was blind and fired him. No evidence came out at trial that his safety record was poor, that he had been injured on the job, that anybody else had been injured on the job because of him, or that his performance had created the likelihood of injury on the job. However, three doctors who had never observed this employee doing his work testified that it is unsafe for a blind person to do it, and the jury believed the doctors. When it came to the court of appeals, the judge who wrote the opinion said, "A reasonable jury could find that Hohn's vision impairments precluded him not only from performing the essential functions safely, but from performing them at all." Blindness alone can be cited, according to this court, as a valid challenge to employment-at least employment working to repair locomotives. It is fair to presume that the judges who heard this case know relatively little about repairing locomotives, less about blindness, and nothing at all about how blind people repair locomotives. The same is undoubtedly true of the jury. The members of the jury know about doctors, and much of the time they trust them. However, although the doctors know something about diseases of the eye, they know nothing about blindness and the talents of blind people. This is not their area of knowledge and expertise. The conduct of the judge at trial was prejudicial and reprehensible. The judge should have excluded the testimony of the doctors. They did not observe Frank Hohn, and they had no basis for testifying about his work. They are not experts who can offer qualified opinions about employment of the blind. Their expertise is in some other area. Admission of their testimony was prejudicial and not in accordance with an accurate interpretation of the law. The judge should have known this and should have taken action to prevent the error. The judges in the court of appeals should also have known this and reversed the decision of the lower court. The conclusion is inescapable-the decision in the trial court rested not on evidence but on prejudice. If this prejudicial standard of practice is followed, all the employers need to do to win their cases is hire a few of the white coats, and they know they have a fair chance with the jury. All that counsel for the plaintiff needs to do is change the prejudicial thinking in the minds of the judge, the jury, and the witnesses for the defense based upon thousands of years of misunderstanding. The challenge is an enormous one, but it must be accepted. Lawyers hate to lose. We in the National Federation of the Blind hate to lose. Employees who have a livelihood at stake hate to lose. But we are not prepared to give up without a fight. We must find a method to bring this prejudice clearly to the public mind and to the minds of judges who decide the cases we bring. If we determine that we will never challenge the discrimination, it will continue unabated. If we let the judges exercise their prejudices without challenge, they will continue to have them. A case involving a blind employee is, for many judges, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If we refuse to increase this number for the judges, they will never come to have the depth of experience that gives them adequate background to make decisions without prejudice. We must get the judicial branch of government to know that we exist, that we have rights under the law, and that we have talent that demands to be expressed. The Law School Admissions Council has tried to keep us out of law school, but we are in the process of defeating this prejudice. Precious few of us have ever been called to sit on the bench in court, but this must change. Sometimes we will lose even when we should not, but we cannot let fear of loss prevent us from joining battle. We must accept the challenge to defeat the prejudices that lie buried deep in the minds of the judges. Beyond all of this, some of us must become judges ourselves because this also is a part of the society where we belong. Not all cases involving employment and disability are lost. A case in Iowa was brought against Henry's Turkey Service by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for thirty-two disabled workers. The evidence at trial showed that the employees were held in a dormitory owned by the employer, that they were picked up by the employer's vehicle each day and transported to the workplace, that they were returned to the barracks each night, that they were prevented from determining to live anywhere except in the employer's barracks, that at least one of them was handcuffed to his bed at night, that they were disciplined by being required for no purpose to carry heavy weights, that they were required to march around a pole while being kicked and beaten by their supervisor, and that they were paid an average of 41 cents an hour. The testimony indicated that the abuse and neglect of these disabled workers and others lasted for four decades. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can only claim damages for a period of two years. On May 1, 2013, a verdict was returned for these employees awarding them $240 million. At the time the verdict was announced, news reports indicated that it is the largest verdict on behalf of disabled workers ever granted. However, the government has reported that it is able to seek enforcement of this judgment for only $1.6 million, less than 1 percent of the jury verdict. The response of members of Congress to this outrageous case has been to draft a provision incorporated within a proposed reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act to specify how rehabilitation agencies must proceed when they are placing individuals in subminimum wage employment. Some members of Congress think that adding additional government regulations will protect workers from the subminimum wage abuse. Senator Tom Harkin (who is himself from the state of Iowa, and who has knowledge of the facts in this case) has refused to support a proposal to eliminate subminimum wage authorization from American law. Senator Harkin favors the approach that we should take things slowly and that we should add additional governmental regulation that might be used to protect workers from exploitation. However, the Department of Labor had known about the abuses in the Iowa case for fifteen years and had cited Henry's Turkey Service for violations of fair wage provisions. No fines were imposed; no penalties assessed; no orders to alter conditions for the workers were presented. The Department of Labor was apparently unable to change this abuse. Our response to the plan of members of Congress to add subminimum wage provisions to the Rehabilitation Act is a very forceful demand that additional legal authorization for subminimum wages not be permitted and that the current authorization in law be removed. What we say to the shop managers, to the Department of Labor, and to the members of Congress is stop the exploitation, stop the exploitation now, stop the exploitation 100 percent of the time in 100 percent of the jobs! Beyond that, create penalties for those who persist in seeking to pay subminimum wages. It is worthy of note that the Constitution of the United States was amended in 1865 to declare that involuntary servitude may not be tolerated in the United States. Power is not a limited commodity, or if it is, the limit is a long way off. Knowledge and liberty combined with energy increase it. One element of this knowledge is the realization that we possess power, and that we can get more of it. We belong in our society, and it belongs to us. Part of this belonging demands that the power within our society, at least in part, also belongs to us. We must claim our property. We must take control over what is ours. We must resist those who want us to accept their formulation that low-grade, shabby lives are good enough for us. This American Life does not believe in our power and declares that we are befuddled fools suitable for the amusement of others. But we reject this warped perspective. The Wall Street Journal, even when it is trying to help, does not believe we have power. It records statistics that challenge our capacity to be productive in the workplace. However, our productive capacity is prodigious, and we can demonstrate it. Burlington Northern denies that we have power and diminishes its productive workforce through prejudice even though we have demonstrated capacity in the machine shop. Then, there are the toilet designers and the ophthalmologists. They, too, cannot imagine our capacity to exercise power. The ophthalmologists are not sure that we are even alive. If the civil rights struggle to bring equality of opportunity to the blind and otherwise disabled were not as exciting as it is, the summation of these presentations would be downright disheartening. However, the laws to protect our interests are better than they have ever been even though much remains to be accomplished. These laws improve when we exercise power to make them improve. The number of foolish presentations about us by the press is smaller than was true in past decades, and we are regularly challenging those who assert that we are inferior. The educational opportunities for us are greater today than in former times, and the amount of information we can obtain is expanding at an astonishing rate. We have taken a hand in developing the tools that cause this expansion to occur. Misunderstanding about us and denial of opportunity remain elements of our lives, but the countervailing currents which bring genuine understanding and goodwill are also increasingly evident. The misunderstandings about what we are signal a direction for us to take, and they create a challenge that we willingly accept. We belong within our society even though many members of it have not yet recognized that we belong. We also belong to each other-to our families and to the members of our Federation. This belonging adds to our strength and increases our power. Our talent, our power, is within our hands, and our tomorrows do not belong to the ill-informed. Rather, they belong to us. Gaining the recognition that must be ours will require all that is best within us, but we have the strength we need. With the determination inherent in our power, nothing can stop us. We own our freedom. We will achieve equality; we will win our independence. Our plans have been developed; our decisions have been made; our declarations have been proclaimed. We have the power, and we will make the joy of our future come true! ---------- Themes in History and the National Federation of the Blind by Raymond Kurzweil From the Editor: Ray Kurzweil is more than an inventor, more than a scientist, more than the inventor of the first reading machine for the blind. To be sure, he is all of these, but to the National Federation of the Blind he is family, one of us, and he sees the people who make up our movement as more than a market. He understands our struggles, understands and embraces our philosophical underpinnings, and often helps to put them into a broader context-what is happening in the world, where is our place in the big changes occurring in it, to what extent do we drive that change, and how are we likely to benefit from it. Because he is part of our family, certain benefits and drawbacks come from his position in it. He isn't the president, so he doesn't give the banquet speech; he is a good speaker, however, and his ability to synthesize what the president has said and to add his own insightful remarks means he often follows the president to the podium. Here is what he said after the 2013 banquet speech: Because Dr. Maurer is more than a hard act to follow-really an impossible act to follow-I've learned to listen carefully to what he has said for my own sake and also in trying to offer thoughts at this time. Dr. Maurer talked about equality, and he framed it in the history of our country. So I'd like to offer some reflections on three great themes that our country stands for. The first is summed up by the statement, "All men are created equal." Now Thomas Jefferson wrote that in the Declaration of Independence almost two-hundred and fifty years ago. The statement was far from perfect at the time. We notice in the statement itself the reference to "men," and you know that sometimes people today use the word "men" to refer to people, but that was not the case in this document. Women did not have the vote, and they lacked many other rights. Even more salient, many men and women were slaves, hardly equal. Thomas Jefferson had some himself. Treatment and attitude towards the blind and towards people with other disabilities reflected thousands of years of prejudice and were far worse than they are today. But the country was devoted to this ideal; it came to symbolize the nation. Gradually we've moved towards this ideal, and we're still not there. But we had a great civil war which emancipated the slaves. We had the suffrage movement, which gave women the vote. We had the feminist movement, which gave many other rights to women. We had the civil rights movement, which, as I mentioned earlier today, I had a very small part in as a high school kid going to the South to participate in marches that have provided or have attempted to provide, and made great progress in providing, equal rights to African-Americans and to other ethnic groups. We see a movement today to provide equal rights to people regardless of sexual orientation. And there's been a great movement to provide equal rights to those with disabilities-equal access to opportunity, equal access to information. Information is opportunity. As Lao Tzu said, "Information is power." And the National Federation of the Blind has been in the leadership, not only for those with visual impairment, but for those with other disabilities. Jim Gashel, for example, wrote many key provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The fight for equal rights for those with disabilities has been one of the great battles for achieving equal rights for all Americans. It's not finished- none of these movements are finished. But great progress has been made, and I've been very honored and proud to be part of it for these past forty years. The second theme is the great frontier. It started as a geographic frontier as the nation moved west, but it quickly became a symbol for pioneering new ideas of all kinds: the light bulb, the airplane, the Internet. And the National Federation of the Blind has been in the forefront of this theme as well by fostering liberty; education; employment; and, as has just been mentioned, technological advancement. Take for example the idea of cars that don't require a sighted driver. Google has been experimenting with this of late, but the National Federation of the Blind thought of it and worked on this and pioneered this many years earlier. Finally, the third theme is inclusion. This is a nation of immigrants. We understand the world's people because they're all here. That's, I think, the main reason why America is as influential as it is, why our music and our popular culture influence the world the way they do. The theme is that everyone has something to contribute, and the NFB certainly embodies that idea at its very core. It has therefore been a great honor for me to be involved with and a friend of the National Federation of the Blind for these past forty years and to have known and to work with you. It has inspiring leaders, Dr. Jernigan and Dr. Maurer. You are all part of a great movement, a movement that is at the core of these three great themes of the American Dream. Thank you very much. ---------- Reinterpreting and Expanding "The Right to Live in the World" by Adrienne Asch [PHOTO CAPTION: Adrienne Asch] From the Editor: Dr. Adrienne Asch is the director of the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University and the Edward and Robin Milstein Professor of Bioethics. These are her titles and the positions she holds, but much more demands to be said about her. She has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind since the early 70s, and she has lived our message and spread it to audiences who can be reached only by someone with her accomplishments and credentials. We strive for integration and seek to take our message to places where it is seldom heard and to places where it can be discussed with those who don't agree with it. Adrienne has tirelessly done this, and the result is that Federation ideas and beliefs are topics for discussion throughout the world. But her role goes far beyond being a spokesman for our cause because her journey into ethical discussions also gives her a message to bring to us. This is what she did in her convention presentation on the afternoon of July 4, 2013. Here is what she said: It is a tremendous honor, privilege, and responsibility to be here with you today, following a stirring description of all that the NFB has worked for over this past year. I know that every year I have been distressed by the problems our members face and moved by the struggles NFB takes on every day to change what it means to be blind that I wind up making my way to the back of the room to the PAC and SUN tables to increase my pledges. This year will be no exception, and I'll understand if some of you are doing that now and not necessarily paying undivided attention to what I'm going to be talking about today. When our founding president wrote his justly famous article "The Right to Live in the World," he was talking about the right to move about in the world, the right to be employed in that world, the right to have an ordinary place in the common life of the community and nation. But what I'm talking about today is yet one more arena in which individuals within our organization and our organization as a whole may become more involved. As medical science learns about how to extend life after injury and illness or learns how to detect someone's future amount of illness or disability, we will confront ever more moments when assumptions about what blindness means for a person's future, for her or his "quality of life" will be used to decide whether that person should continue to "live in the world." In the past forty years a host of questions have emerged for individuals, families, medical professionals, and the larger society. Here are some examples: parents of premature infants must decide whether or not their infants should enroll in a study to determine the appropriate level of oxygen the infant should receive to try preventing blindness caused by retinopathy of prematurity. How should the researchers describe the consequences of blindness or vision loss to these parents? Or, imagine that you, sometime later in your life, having been blind for many years, acquire some other set of disabling conditions as the result of a car accident or a stroke. Should you continue to receive life-sustaining treatment, or should blindness, when combined with the new disabilities, justify having family or doctors provide less treatment or different treatment than would be provided to a person with sight who sustained the same new illness or injury? Suppose a person who has been deaf his whole life learns that he will become blind within the next few years. He decides to go to Oregon, Washington, or Montana-where it is legal for physicians to aid a person in dying-with the request that physicians give him medications that will end his life so that he doesn't have to live for years as a person who is both deaf and blind. To take just two more situations that people already face: prospective parents, eagerly anticipating the birth of their first child, learn through genetic testing that the child-to-be is very likely to have an inherited condition called retinitis pigmentosa. Should the parents continue the pregnancy, knowing their future child will probably be blind, or should they decide to end the pregnancy? What information will help them make a good decision? As I said, these are questions that have come up over the past several decades. President Maurer discussed some of them during his 2003 banquet speech. Just this past April Gary Wunder wrote an editorial in the Braille Monitor suggesting that this might become a new arena for NFB discussion and action. It was during the early 1980s that I first discovered these bioethical questions. I had been investigating discrimination cases for the New York State Division for Human Rights for ten years. I had been a member of the NFB for fourteen years when I went to my first bioethics meeting at the Bar Association of the City of New York. The topic being discussed was whether parents and doctors should be allowed to withhold life-saving treatment from a baby born with spina bifida or Down syndrome. The treatment would lessen, but not cure, the disabilities; without the treatment the baby would probably die. There were four experts speaking: two urging that the baby receive treatment over parental objection; two supporting the right of parents to make what was a life-and-death decision for their newborn child. During the question-and-answer session, I stood up and said something very close to these words: "These talks have been very thoughtful and careful. But none of the speakers here is either a person with a disability or a person who is the family member of someone with a disability. The perspective of people with firsthand knowledge of disability is absent from this conversation. It shouldn't be." I didn't have firsthand knowledge of Down syndrome or spina bifida, but I did have firsthand knowledge of one disability, blindness; and I did have years of political, professional, and NFB experience that insisted that the voices of those affected by decisions had to be present when such decisions are made. Now I have to say that these few sentences, sentences that sound pretty obvious and commonsensical to us, made a frighteningly big impression on many of the people in the room. The next thing I knew, someone came over to me and said: "How do I get in touch with you? I need to invite you to a conference." One of the speakers urged me to contact the Hastings Center, the premiere bioethics think-tank in the country at that time, to join their project on decision-making for "imperiled" newborns. I did join the project and go to the conference. Soon I was going to more and more bioethics conferences. At those conferences I was listening to people who considered themselves "experts" say things like: "If you're paralyzed and can't run through the woods, it's worse for you and others than if you can run through the woods." "It is a tragedy to have a disease like muscular dystrophy." My question: "Have you ever met or spoken to anyone who has muscular dystrophy?" "No, but I know that it has to be terrible." "You consider yourself a scholar," I said. "You believe in making arguments with evidence. Where are you getting your evidence about muscular dystrophy?" A few years later Dan Brock, a philosopher who writes about bioethical issues and whose ideas Dr. Maurer discussed in his 2003 banquet address, wrote the following: The controversy concerns genetic diseases that result in serious disabilities but that still leave the persons who have them with valuable lives well worth living (Brock, 2005, 70-71).... My concern is with the middle category of genetic diseases and disabilities that most people would consider serious, but neither devastating nor minor. As examples of serious disabilities, I shall use blindness and serious mental impairment or retardation, though recognizing that some would judge blindness to be sufficiently minor to not warrant reproductive testing (71).... For example, if a person has been blind from birth, she may never fully understand the experiences she is missing from not being sighted. Nevertheless, there will be valuable human activities requiring sight that will not be possible for her, or that will be more difficult and less successful without sight, such as visual experiences and the pleasures or work or recreational activities requiring sight, and the potential loss or limitation of those activities in her life may be reason enough to attempt to prevent her disability when that is possible (72). Now here's an interesting thing about the field of bioethics. The first philosophers, lawyers, doctors, and clergy who got involved in bioethics wanted to foster the rights of patients going through the medical system and dealing with the often patronizing attitudes of doctors. Very similar to our views in the NFB, bioethicists espouse views like "patient choice" and "self-determination" and "autonomy." They argue that no medical procedures should be done without receiving "informed consent" from a patient. So here's a little story about the collision of NFB philosophy and bioethics when it comes to informed consent. In 1993 I was attending a bioethics conference known as Bioethics Summercamp. At this four-day conference 120 bioethicists got together for discussions of emerging issues; leisurely meals; drinks by the pool; conversation; hiking; and, in this instance, whitewater rafting. About eighty of us signed up to go whitewater rafting. Now I want you to picture this scene: eighty men and women between the ages of mid-thirties to seventies. Philosophy professors aren't known for their athletic prowess. Most of us had never done whitewater rafting; most of us were both curious and a little nervous about what awaited us. How rough were the rapids? What were the chances of falling out of the raft? Would the raft topple everyone? Riding over to the rafting, we all read and signed the informed consent, assuring the rafting company that we knew rafting had its dangers, that we knew we might sustain injury in an accident, that we knew water was wet, and rafts might capsize. I read and signed the same informed consent as all my bioethics colleagues, and all of us carefully read over and criticized every word in and all the words out of the informed consent document. We discussed how we, as experts, would rewrite it. And then we got to the rafts and the professionals from the company who were going in every raft with the six aging professors. A doctor--a psychiatrist--took it upon himself to speak to the person leading our raft to call attention to the fact that I was blind, a fact that should have been obvious from the presence of my cane. "You can't paddle the raft," he said to me. "You have to sit in the middle." I ignored these admonitions as much as I could, doing some paddling, but all I got for it was the displeasure of my colleagues, who accused me of going in the raft to prove a point, not because I was interested in having a new experience. The next year we had another whitewater rafting session, and a colleague rushed over to me upon seeing me arrive to say: "Adrienne, you can't go in the raft! Alta fell in yesterday." My reply: "Are you telling everyone else not to go in the raft?" So much for autonomy, self-determination, informed consent, and the acceptability of taking risks! In all too much of the bioethics establishment, they know better than we do about how bad our lives are and how much we don't understand the ordinary hazards of life-whether it's cooking on a stove, crossing the street, or riding in a raft. So we have a lot of work to do, and here's some of what I think NFB members, who are experts in what it means to live as a blind person, can do to educate the world of bioethics about blindness. There are medical schools throughout the country, one in nearly every state. NFB members could reach out to medical schools to offer to speak with medical students, residents, and doctors-not just in ophthalmology but in any field-about what it means and doesn't mean to be blind. Every hospital has some kind of ethics committee, where difficult cases get discussed. These ethics committees need community members, people who are not medical professionals but people who bring dedication and commitment to getting the views of the public into ethical deliberations. People who are blind or who have other disabilities have often been excluded from these deliberations; they have not been considered part of "the public." But of course, we are, and our voice needs to be heard. Similarly, a great array of genetic conditions can now be detected in embryos and fetuses. When people who are thinking of becoming parents learn that a potential child might have a genetic condition that would result in blindness, these people deserve to get information, not only about the medical facts of retinitis pigmentosa, Leber's congenital amaurosis, retinoblastoma, or some other condition. They need to know how children, adults, and their families live their lives on a daily basis. What are the resources available to children and their families? Can parents expect that their potentially blind child will have a life that will include school, friends, love, work, and life as a parent? For just the same reasons that the Federation works hard with the NOPBC, the Federation and NOPBC need to work so that genetic counselors and doctors can give prospective parents of blind children the opportunity to learn from experts in blindness what might be in store for them and their children. Let me conclude by challenging us with some questions that are just starting to get bioethical discussion. These are questions that could provide us with plenty of opportunity for reflection and conversation. Resource allocation in an emergency is a big topic in bioethics these days. Different states, professional societies, and the federal government are trying to decide who will get ventilators in a serious flu pandemic when there are not enough ventilators for everyone. Various allocation schemes have been discussed: only people above or below a certain age will get them, knowing that the very young and the very old might die without them; only people with dependents will get them, so that children will not lose parents, aging parents will not lose children who are caring for them, people will not lose their spouses; only people with a certain estimated quality of life before and after the ventilator use will get them; and people whose quality of life is considered lower for some reason will not get them. Again, that might be blind people, because blindness is considered a deterrent to a life of quality. Conversely, blind people, as those "worse off" should get ventilators first because they deserve compensation. Do we want to get priority for ventilators by claiming we've been "worse off" all the rest of our lives? Is that a price we want to pay for the privilege of staying alive? As people who believe it is respectable to be blind, legitimate to be blind, we may believe that blindness should not disqualify people from the right to live in the world. But suppose genes could be modified before birth or visual implants could be given after birth or during a life to preserve or restore sight? Is blindness a characteristic that is incidental or central to anyone's self-definition? How should we help parents contemplating sight-restoration techniques for their children or people contemplating sight-restoration for themselves? I don't know how we as individuals or we as an organization will choose to answer these questions. I do know that, just as we've worked to change laws and practices in education, rehabilitation, technology, employment, and child custody, we must take our place in the bioethics debates now and in the future. Although some of these questions may challenge us deeply to think about what it means to be blind, we are up to that task. Reread Dr. tenBroek's historic article with these questions in mind. Go back to Dr. Maurer's 2003 banquet speech; reread Gary Wunder's editorial in the April, 2013 Braille Monitor. They can guide us as we go into this new intellectual and practical territory. And, as someone who's been doing this work for about thirty years, often feeling as though I'm alone on the barricades, I'd like your company. Thank you. Reference Brock, D. W. (2003). "Preventing Genetically Transmitted Disability While Respecting Persons with Disability." in Quality of Life and Human Difference, edited by David Wasserman, Jerome Bickenbach, and Robert Wachbroit. (New York: Cambridge University Press), 67-100. ---------- Literacy for the Blind without Borders Ending the Book Famine by Fredric K. Schroeder From the Editor: Dr. Fred Schroeder is first vice president of the National Federation of the Blind and the first vice president of the World Blind Union. Following is the speech he delivered on July 6, at the NFB convention. This is what he said: I am pleased and proud to tell you that we have an international book treaty for the blind. On Thursday, June 27, 2013, a diplomatic conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted a treaty entitled the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. The treaty contains two major provisions. First it calls on nations to amend their copyright laws to make it easier to produce more books for the blind. As you know, for many years United States law has allowed books to be produced in Braille and other accessible formats without first having to obtain the permission of the copyright holder. This authority, known as the Chafee Amendment, has been the law for the past seventeen years, and it has worked well--very well--and the United States is not the only nation that has a copyright exception for the blind. Today fifty-seven nations around the world have copyright laws similar to our Chafee Amendment. The book treaty for the blind will expand this authority. As each WIPO member nation ratifies the book treaty for the blind, it agrees to change its national copyright law to permit books to be produced in accessible formats without having to seek the prior permission of the copyright holder. This will greatly increase the production of accessible works around the world. But producing more books is only the first step in ending what many have called the book famine. The second major provision contained in the treaty is the authority for nations to share accessible books across national borders. Before the book treaty for the blind, countries could not share books with blind people living in other countries. That meant that, if a popular book were published such as a new Harry Potter book, the United States had to record it for the use of its blind citizens and only its citizens, and every other English-speaking country that wanted the book had to record it over again-the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and so on. You may be surprised to learn that no fewer than sixty nations around the world have English as their official language-sixty countries, all recording Harry Potter books over and over again. And that is just Harry Potter. Think of 50 Shades of Gray. Now, that's a lot of embarrassed narrators. Not only did books have to be recorded over and over again in every English-speaking country, they also had to be produced in Braille, large print, and any other accessible format. What a waste. But all that will now change as a result of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. This has been a long process. For many years the National Federation of the Blind, together with the World Blind Union (WBU) and its member organizations, has been working with WIPO on the book treaty for the blind. There have been many heroes along the way, not the least of whom is our own Scott LaBarre. Scott's command of the highly technical provisions of the treaty together with his ability to articulate our position clearly and convincingly was critical throughout the treaty negotiations. In addition there are a number of individuals from the international community who stand out as deserving of public recognition and thanks. First is Chris Friend from the United Kingdom. Chris, who chaired the WBU's Right-to-Read Campaign until his recent retirement, was an early leader in the treaty effort. Other important leaders included Dan Pescod, also from the United Kingdom, who is the vice chair of the Right-to-Read Campaign; Francisco Mart?nez Calvo from the National Organization of the Spanish Blind (ONCE); and Pablo Lecuona from Argentina. And then there is Maryanne Diamond of Australia. During the time Maryanne served as the president of the WBU, she made the book treaty for the blind an international priority and mobilized the blind of the world behind the effort. These individuals together with many others worked hard, and as a result of their efforts we now have an international treaty that does not just allow but encourages the production and cross-border sharing of accessible books. It was always our intent that the book treaty for the blind respect the right holder's intellectual property. Our goal was neither to strengthen nor to weaken international copyright law. Nevertheless many right holders, including some patent right holders who produce no books at all, believed the treaty posed a threat to international intellectual property law. As a result they sought to include a number of provisions that would strengthen the protections of right holders. The problem was that these provisions would have made the book treaty for the blind so cumbersome and bureaucratic that it would have been entirely unworkable. Fortunately the right holders did not prevail, and we have a book treaty for the blind that achieves all that we could have hoped for. After the diplomatic conference adopted the book treaty for the blind, each of WIPO's 186 member nations was invited to sign the treaty as an expression of the country's intent to seek its formal ratification. Thus far the support of the world community has been overwhelming. On the last day of the diplomatic conference, 51 WIPO member states (countries) signed the book treaty for the blind. But why do blind people and others with print disabilities need a special treaty at all? Is it simply to cheer our otherwise desolate lives? Is it to give us a few more novels and magazines to help pass our lonely days? Or is there a more serious purpose? Of course there is. According to the World Health Organization, there are 285 million blind and low-vision people in the world, and of these 90 percent live in developing countries (World Health Organization Media Centre. (June 2012) Visual impairment and blindness. Fact Sheet No. 282. Retrieved from ). The most optimistic estimates project that today blind people have access to no more than 5 percent of books and other published works, and that is in the industrialized world. For the 90 percent of blind people living in developing nations, access to the written word is less than 1 percent. (World Blind Union, Right to Read Committee. (2011). Right-to-Read Campaign - fall 2011 update: Will the EU and USA join the rest of the world and finally agree [to] a binding book treaty for blind people this November? Retrieved from ) You can imagine the impact this has on education. We do not know the number of blind children in the world who have access to a good education-- particularly the 90 percent living in developing nations. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) does not report data disaggregated by disability type; nevertheless UNESCO reports that in developing countries 98 percent of children with disabilities do not attend school-98 percent! And, according to UNESCO, in developing nations 99 percent of girls with disabilities are illiterate (Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities Education Task Force. (2012). Background Note for the Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities Task Force on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Retrieved from . What a waste of human potential. Access to literacy is not something that blind people should have to request-not a gift doled out according to the benevolence of others. It is a civil and human right, and it must be treated as a right. It is time to demand that we be taken seriously. As long as society believes that blind children cannot learn, accessible books remain an act of charity. As long as society believes that blind adults cannot work, nothing beyond kindness justifies the production of books in Braille and other special formats. As long as society believes that blind seniors are doomed to live out their lives in institutions or in the care of their families, accessible books are nothing more than a palliative to ease their suffering. But blind children can learn, and blind adults can work, and blind seniors can continue to live full, active, productive lives. But, to do so, we must have the same opportunities as others, and that means we must have access to the written word-not just to a few of the books available to others but full and equal access. The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled is a monumental step toward full and equal opportunity, but it is only a step. Now we must work on its implementation. We must put our full and concerted effort into urging the president and the United States Senate to ratify the treaty and to do so without delay. Blind children cannot wait; blind adults cannot wait; blind seniors cannot wait; justice cannot wait. We, the National Federation of the Blind, we the collective voice of the nation's blind, we who believe in blind people, will wait no longer. The treaty must be ratified. As we have done throughout our seventy-three-year history, we will continue to press for equality-for full and equal access until the day comes when all blind people are able to live as others, able to learn and work as others, able to live as fully integrated, productive, active members of society. That is what we have always done, and that is what we will continue to do. It is who and what we are; we are the National Federation of the Blind. ---------- Literacy without Borders The Road to Marrakesh by Scott C. LaBarre From the Editor: Scott LaBarre is president of the NFB of Colorado and the National Association of Blind Lawyers. He practices disability law in Denver, and for four years now he has been working with others around the world to make it possible for blind people to reach across national borders to read accessible books. One of the most exciting presentations at this year's convention was heard on July 6 when Scott reported on events that occurred just before the convention in Marrakesh, Morocco. This is what he said: When I lost my vision due to a childhood virus at age ten, my life radically changed. I had always loved to read. When I first lost my sight, I thought that all the books had been cruelly yanked from my hands. Slowly I realized that, by using Braille and audio books, I could restore some access, but it was incredibly limited and slow. What I did not know at the time was that, even though we live in one of the richest nations on earth, less than five percent of published works are available to us in accessible formats. And, as you have heard, that figure drops to less than one percent in the developing nations of our world. That is why the adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty is such an historic landmark victory in our right-to-read campaign. It will not only change the lives of those blind people living in developing nations but will also help us right here in America. Soon, not only will we have access to what all the other English-speaking countries are producing in accessible formats throughout the world, but we will also be able to put our hands on hundreds of thousands of books and more publications in foreign languages. This capacity would have been very helpful to me while I was attending St. John's University in Minnesota. Originally I had planned on a double major in government and Spanish. Ultimately I dropped that Spanish major precisely because I could not get access to Spanish novels and other materials. The road to Marrakesh has been long and at times arduous. I suppose that the first reason for this difficult journey is that any process involving the United Nations brings with it frustrating procedures and related eccentricities. For example, matters are rarely decided on up-or- down votes but rather through consensus. I recall one meeting in Geneva where it took almost two whole business days to adopt the agenda for the meeting just because a handful of nations was resisting the order of items. I also fondly remember that the United States introduced a proposal entitled a "Non-paper," which was handed out in hard copy and contained eleven pages of print. I felt it. It had weight and substance, and yet it was a non-paper. The road has also been tough because this treaty represents the first time ever that an international instrument exclusively addressed exceptions and limitations to copyright law. Previously any international agreement granted exceptions and limitations only as part of a much broader scheme to protect the intellectual property rights of creators and other rights holders. As a result, you can imagine that rights holders of all kinds and sizes expressed great concern and fear about adopting a binding international instrument that did not set out to enlarge their rights but arguably to contract them. These rights holders were not so much afraid of market erosion from the blind, because we represent such a tiny percentage of the world's population; rather they feared that this was the proverbial camel's nose getting under the tent. Well, my friends, on the desert plains of Marrakesh, we were able to accommodate that camel's nose, and it did not tip over the tent. Originally the world's largest corporations and associations either expressly opposed the treaty or offered alternative language that would have made the treaty unusable and ineffective. These entities included, but were not limited to, Exxon Mobile, GE, Caterpillar, Adobe, IBM, Association of American Publishers, International Publishers Association, the Motion Picture Association of America, and many, many others. Additionally, very influential blocs of nations like the European Union and the United States were essentially blocking our efforts. How in the world could a group of blind people fight such large corporations and strong nations? You know how. It was the hope and belief we had in ourselves, our unshakable faith in the capacity of the blind. No amount of money and power could hold us down. By the end either we had to find a way to get these corporations, nations, and associations to work with us, or we had to render them silent. We did so because of the power we possess, the power of collective action, the power of the National Federation of the Blind. Although efforts have been made on and off for nearly thirty years to help end the book famine for the blind, this treaty campaign began in earnest during 2008 when the Federation met with the World Blind Union and Knowledge Ecology International in Washington, DC. You will be pleased to know that our very own James Gashel helped write the first draft of the proposed treaty text. When Dr. Maurer first asked me to work on this matter in 2009, I appeared at a hearing before the Register of Copyright at the Library of Congress where the US government wanted to collect the opinions of US blindness organizations about this treaty proposal. At first the United States government and the European Union attempted to convince us that we really didn't want or need a binding international treaty. We should first pursue a "soft law," joint recommendation, and then, some day way off in the future, seek a binding international accord. They tried to tell us that our problems would be solved more quickly that way and that treaties were difficult if not impossible to achieve. I don't believe that these governments meant to insult us, but, when you think about it, their message was incredibly insulting and demeaning. Their message was that the blind can wait. Our problems are second-class problems and deserve second- class treatment. Are we willing to wait? Will we be denied first-class citizenship? The NFB adopted a resolution in 2010 calling upon the US government to work hard towards the adoption of binding international norms, in other words, a treaty. Our work and our perseverance ultimately led to the United States changing its position and supporting the convening of a diplomatic conference to conclude a treaty. This did not happen out of thin air. It happened because of the National Federation of the Blind and our unwillingness, our refusal to be treated as second-class citizens! As Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan, and Dr. Maurer have taught us, freedom for the blind is not granted out of charity and bestowed upon us. We must demand it and then earn it. We must lead the effort to emerge from the chains of second-class status to the unlimited liberty of first-class citizenship. If adoption of this treaty was to become a reality, it was incumbent upon us to lead the way, and lead the way we did. Leadership requires creativity and the ability to think out of the box. As we headed towards Marrakesh, rights holders were doing their best to protect their own turf. Highly paid lawyers and lobbyists were bombarding the Obama Administration with letters and phone calls urging either outright US opposition to the treaty or the introduction of language into the text that would greatly limit its effectiveness. We knew we had to find ways to push back. That is why we called upon all of you to sign petitions and contact various legislators. That is why we ran messages on our giant 12 by 40 NFB electronic billboard calling upon Exxon and GE to stop blocking books for the blind, a billboard seen by tens of thousands of drivers each day as they headed down I-95. That is why we joined with Bookshare and worked with Stevie Wonder and his management team to get Stevie involved in these talks. Stevie is recognized as an ambassador of peace by the United Nations and originally appeared before the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) General Assembly in 2010 to call for adoption of this treaty. That is why we asked many of you to record videos explaining your personal stories about why we desperately needed access to more books. That is why we issued a joint statement with the Motion Picture Association of America calling upon international negotiators to get back to basics and get a meaningful treaty adopted. As we started our travels to Marrakesh, thirty-seven distinct issues remained unresolved, without consensus, in the treaty text. To give you some perspective, at a diplomatic conference in Beijing, China, last year to conclude work on a treaty for audio visual performers, there was only one unresolved matter as the negotiators started that conference. As the Marrakesh Conference began, new, unresolved issues emerged, and it appeared that we were headed backward and that the conference would fail. At one plenary session of the Conference, Mustafa Kalfi, Minister of Communications for the Kingdom of Morocco, who had been elected as president of the diplomatic conference, delivered an impassioned speech urging the negotiators to get busy making decisions and to stop dreaming up new issues and controversies. He threatened to close all the airports and means of transportation out of Morocco until a strong treaty emerged. Stevie Wonder chimed in with a video message that he would come and perform for the delegates only if a strong, meaningful treaty were adopted. Of course the WBU and Federation added our voices to this chorus and urged the negotiators not to let the blind of the world down. Late in the evening of Tuesday, June 25, we heard the words that we had all been hoping and waiting to hear. One of the negotiators from Brazil stepped out of a closed room where a small group of key negotiators had been deliberating and said, "You have a treaty." The hallway erupted in cheers, and joy surged in our hearts. Believe it or not, my Federation friends, even I was left speechless. Words could not express the scope of what we had accomplished. The Marrakesh treaty represents the first time that a binding international accord exclusively addresses the issues faced by the blind. We changed the world! Although my body was there in Marrakesh, Morocco, my heart was home, home here with my Federation family. Credit for this historic accomplishment belongs to many: with the WBU and its member organizations who advocated zealously with great effect; with the US government delegation who worked with us effectively and tirelessly; and with many rights holders like the Motion Picture Association of America and the Association of American Publishers, who stepped up ultimately and did the right thing. But let there be no mistake. The Federation exercised leadership at critical moments, and we changed the world. This could not have happened without all of you. Without your love and support, your collective action through a willingness to sign petitions, make calls, and do whatever it took, Fred Schroeder and I could not have achieved success in Marrakesh. We are only two individuals, and we do not possess nearly enough power or persuasion to change the world as we have for the blind. As Dr. Jernigan said, "We change what it means to be blind through individual actions collectively focused." Similarly, Helen Keller said that "The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." It is only fitting that the delegates to WIPO officially adopted this treaty on June 27, Helen Keller's birthday. On Monday, June 24, the WBU held a press conference in front of the Palais des Congres, where the conference took place, and our very own Fred Schroeder spoke eloquently about the urgent need to end the book famine and to end it now. In front of Fred and the other speakers stood a pile of 200 books, 198 of which were wrapped in chains and secured with a padlock, the two unchained books representing, of course, the one percent of published works to which we actually have access. The adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty represents the unlocking of the padlock. However, the chains are still there. Our freedom is still imprisoned. We must celebrate this great victory, but we must not rest. The book famine still exists, and our hearts and minds are starved for the information we need. Information is power, and we must never stop acquiring more of it. We cannot rest until every child, like Raveena Alli from Atlanta, who spoke so powerfully this morning about the importance of literacy, has access to all the books and information available. We must now redouble our efforts and get President Obama to sign the treaty and our United States Senate to ratify it. This will not be easy, but difficulty has never deterred us. We know how to cast off the chains and assume our rightful place in society. No power on Earth will bind us and keep us down. We will be free, my brothers and sisters, we will be free! ---------- Perseverance, Progress, and Possibilities: The 2013 Convention Resolutions by Sharon Maneki From the Editor: Sharon Maneki is the longtime chair of the Resolutions Committee, and her annual performance leaves no doubt why. Here, introducing and explaining the twenty-four resolutions presented to the 2013 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, is Sharon's article. Since our national convention was held in Orlando, Florida, a place that revolves around Walt Disney Enterprises, a comparison of Walt Disney's philosophy and NFB philosophy as represented by its resolutions is in order. Some lessons from Disney movies are: don't be afraid to take a stand; dream big and have goals; work hard and always persevere no matter the challenge. In the 1994 film, The Lion King, a young lion named Simba is blamed for his father's death and leaves his homeland. Simba eventually agrees to fight for his kingdom, taking a stand for what he believes. Simba battles Scar, his evil uncle, and learns his father's death was Scar's fault, not his own. Simba prevails and takes his father's place as rightful king of his homeland. The 2009 movie, The Princess and the Frog, is also a good illustration of these lessons. A young girl named Tiana loves to cook and dreams of owning and operating her own restaurant. Although there are many twists and turns in the plot, Tiana fulfills her dreams through hard work and perseverance. Resolutions of the National Federation of the Blind represent our dreams and goals for blind people and our willingness to take a stand. Resolutions also demonstrate our perseverance and hard work. Let us examine the twenty-three resolutions passed by the Convention to see how they illustrate our dreams and the possibilities for blind people and our perseverance and progress in reaching our goals. Unlike Disney movies, there is nothing magical about the creation and passage of NFB resolutions. Resolutions are created by careful thought about how to solve problems or expand opportunities. Debate is one of the highlights of the resolutions process. During the Resolutions Committee meeting on July 2, debate was lively and intense. Marsha Dyer, committee secretary, and I were kept on our toes, reading and rereading parts of resolutions so that the committee could determine precisely what the resolution stated or should state. As committee chairman I welcome committee discussion because it is most important to make sure that policy statements of the Federation are clear. Debate continued on the afternoon of July 5, as the Convention considered each resolution. The voice votes were so close that we needed to have two roll call votes to determine the outcome. In one of these roll call votes the Convention defeated Resolution 2013-03. The Transportation Security Administration operates a Pre( program that allows qualified pre-screened airline travelers, who are considered to be a low security risk, to move through security check points more easily. In this resolution we urge the Transportation Security Administration to expand its criteria to permit qualified deaf-blind travelers to be accepted into this program. While the Convention was sympathetic to the added communication barriers that deaf-blind people face, the majority felt that deaf-blind people should use existing channels to gain acceptance into the program. Janice Toothman, secretary of the Deaf-Blind Division, sponsored this resolution. Disney artists pride themselves on their animation skills and their ability to create just the right image. In the National Federation of the Blind, we strive to create a positive image that emphasizes the capabilities of blind people. With so many forms of communication and social media, this is a daunting task. Resolution 2013-22, regarding the portrayal of blindness, illustrates this point. The website eHow.com claims to bring together professionals to offer "expert" advice. However, as explained in the resolution, eHow.com demonstrates "its archaic and negative attitudes about blindness by featuring articles with titles such as `How to Feed a Visually Impaired Person' and `How to Set a Table for Blind People.'" Doris Willoughby was the primary sponsor of this resolution. In 1990 Doris received the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award. She is a renowned author of such classics as the Handbook for Itinerant and Resource Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students. Of the twenty-three resolutions passed by the Convention, Resolution 2013-23 is the best example of dreaming of possibilities for blind people. The NFB negotiators for the Marrakesh Treaty, Fred Schroeder, who also serves as first vice president of the NFB and president of the NFB of Virginia, and Scott LaBarre, who serves as president of the National Association of Blind Lawyers and as president of the Colorado affiliate, proposed this resolution. The resolution reads in part: "We salute the international community of nations, the World Blind Union, and intellectual property rights holders for coming together and securing an international treaty that will dramatically open the flow of information to the world's blind." The National Federation of the Blind began working on this issue with the World Blind Union in 2008. We passed two earlier resolutions, one in 2010 and the other in 2011. This demonstrates our perseverance and hard work. Our dream of the possibility that the worldwide book famine faced by blind people could be reduced through the cross-border exchange of accessible texts is now a reality. Since its inception the National Federation of the Blind has been making the dream of independence a reality for blind people. We persist in our dreams and find new expressions of them each year. Among the resolutions passed this year, Resolution 2013-13 is the best example of our quest for independence. Service Support Providers enable deaf-blind people to participate in all aspects of community life by facilitating communication and by providing environmental and situational information. Only half of the states have some type of Service Support Provider program. In this resolution we strongly urge the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Congress to immediately take all necessary steps to establish a national Service Support Provider program so that deaf-blind people can maintain independence. Janice Toothman, a member of the board of directors of the Sligo Creek chapter of the Maryland affiliate, proposed this resolution on behalf of the Deaf-Blind Division. Taking a stand is nothing new in Disney movies and certainly is nothing new for the NFB. A new problem that came to our attention this year was addressed in Resolution 2013-01, proposed by Dwight Sayer, president of the National Association of Blind Veterans and first vice president of the Florida affiliate. Veterans who have a 100 percent service-connected disability are not allowed to participate in the Space Available program because they did not have enough time in the military to reach retiree status. Congressman Bilirakis of Florida introduced H.R. 164, and Senator Tester of Montana introduced S. 346 to correct this exclusionary policy. The language of H.R. 164 was included in the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. In Resolution 2013-01 we call upon both houses of Congress to work diligently in conference committee in order to pass the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act with the language from Congressman Bilirakis and Senator Tester's bills. Newcomers to the Federation may be surprised at some of our resolutions. Who would expect that the NFB must protect the rights of blind parents to raise their own children? Who would expect that agencies that exist to serve blind and other people with disabilities must be called to task because of their detrimental actions? Several of our resolutions describe these insidious types of discrimination. Mark Riccobono, executive director of the Jernigan Institute, and Melissa Riccobono, president of the Maryland affiliate, sponsored Resolution 2013-09. Their sponsorship was most appropriate given that they have three children. Despite many years of education and advocacy and the passage of state laws that make it illegal for courts to consider disability in custody and adoption cases, children are still being unjustly removed from their parents' custody, and potential parents are being refused the right to adopt children solely because they are blind. In this resolution we "call upon members of the United States Congress and federal agencies to work closely with the National Federation of the Blind to take immediate and appropriate action to secure through legislation and regulation the right of blind Americans to be parents." Actions at Guide Dogs for the Blind caused the Convention to pass Resolution 2013-24. In it we "call upon the corporate board of Guide Dogs for the Blind to require that a minimum of 51 percent of its directors be consumers and immediately establish stronger linkage between Guide Dogs for the Blind consumers and the corporate board." Michael Hingson, first vice president of the National Association of Guide Dog Users and a longtime leader in the Federation, proposed this resolution. One of the most egregious practices by some agencies who serve people with disabilities is continuing to pay disabled workers subminimum wages. In Resolution 2013-02 we "condemn and deplore the actions of all employers that take advantage of the unfair, discriminatory, immoral provision found in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act." Michelle McManus, president of the Happy Valley chapter of the NFB of Pennsylvania, introduced this resolution. Michelle also worked to make sure that her Congressman cosponsored H.R. 831, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013. Although we have a long way to go to achieve victory in eliminating payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities, we are making progress. Anil Lewis, director of advocacy and policy for the National Federation of the Blind, sponsored Resolution 2013-15. In this resolution we commend the Washington State Labor Council AFL-CIO for adopting a strong resolution supporting the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act. Given our commitment to access to employment, access to education, and access to information, it is no surprise that these subjects frequently appear in NFB resolutions. Resolution 2013-20 will help to expand entrepreneurial opportunities for people with disabilities. Kevan Worley, executive director of the National Association of Blind Merchants, was the main sponsor of this resolution. In it we urge Congress to pass legislation that creates an entrepreneurial component to the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act. The Convention passed six resolutions concerning access to education. Two of these deal specifically with Braille instruction, while the remaining resolutions deal with access to educational technologies. Resolutions 2013-05 and 2013-18 cover Braille instruction. Sandy Halverson, president of the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille and a leader in the NFB of Virginia, introduced 2013-05, regarding literary Braille certification for professionals working with the blind. "We urge the US Department of Education, all state departments of education, all school districts, and all public and private agencies that work with the blind to adopt the National Certification in Literary Braille test as the gold standard for all those who are hired to teach Braille reading and writing, in order to provide equality, consistency, and protection to all consumers, assuring that they are receiving training by instructors who have demonstrated a consistent standard of Braille competency." Richie Flores, an educator who directs Youth Services for the NFB of Texas and was a national scholarship winner in 2004, sponsored Resolution 2013-18. On June 19, 2013, the US Department of Education sent a letter to state education agencies to reinforce the importance of the Braille provisions in IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In this resolution we not only commend the US Department of Education for its action to combat the Braille literacy crisis, but also call on the Department to take further steps to provide training and technical assistance to educational entities to ensure quality Braille instruction for all blind and visually impaired students. The use of graphics is becoming more and more important at all levels of education. Dr. Al Maneki, a longtime leader in the NFB of Maryland and treasurer of the Science and Engineering Division, proposed Resolution 2013- 08. Now that more tools are available to create tactile graphics, students at all levels of education should be instructed in their use. This resolution encourages the development of tactile fluency skills, not only for students in educational institutions, but also for students in rehabilitation training centers. The Convention passed three resolutions concerning education technology. In Resolution 2013-06 we urge Congress to enact legislation that will "put a stop to the separate approach to education that is continually and unnecessarily perpetuated by inaccessible educational technology." Jordan Richardson, president of the Minnesota Association of Blind Students, introduced this resolution. In the remaining two resolutions we commend the good work of some higher education institutions and chastise others for their recalcitrance. Dr. Cary Supalo, who has been an NFB leader in every state where he has lived and who won two national scholarships, one in 1994 and the other in 2001, was the sponsor of Resolution 2013-11, which praises the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This university "delivers classroom content through eText, an accessible and interactive platform of its own making that provides textbooks and other materials to all students in the same manner and at the same time." Kyle Shachmut, president of the NFB of Massachusetts and winner of national scholarships in 2009 and 2011, introduced Resolution 2013-04. The resolution states in part that all schools must "commit from the top levels of administration to procure, offer, and deploy only accessible educational technology and digital information...." In February 2013 the National Parent Teacher Association announced that it had selected Amazon as the exclusive sponsor of its Family Reading Experience program. Mary Fernandez, who won a national scholarship in 2010 and has been an NFB leader in New Jersey, Georgia, and now Maryland, sponsored Resolution 2013-17. In this resolution we "condemn and deplore the actions of the National PTA for knowingly encouraging the use of a product that is inaccessible to blind students, ignoring the National Federation of the Blind's admonition that its program is discriminatory, and disregarding the right of blind students to equal access in the classroom." The Convention passed seven resolutions concerning access to information. The refrain "When will they ever learn?" in the 1960s anti-war folk song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" expresses the sentiment in many of these resolutions. From its first release in 2006, the Sony Reader system has been inaccessible to the blind. In Resolution 2013-19 we "demand that Sony move urgently and decisively to provide access to its e-readers and e-books." Ben Dallin, president of the Nevada Association of Blind Students, sponsored this resolution. The Convention passed two resolutions about Microsoft. Curtis Chong, president of the NFB in Computer Science, proposed Resolution 2013-07. As each new version of Microsoft Office has been released, the number of keystrokes needed to perform some tasks has increased. We express our frustration and disappointment over this trend. The resolution states that "we call upon the Microsoft Corporation to move quickly to develop initiatives, approaches, and strategies that will enable keyboard-only users to use its software with the same productivity and efficiency as traditional mouse users." The second Microsoft resolution was proposed by Bryce Samuelson, president of the Rochester chapter of the NFB of Minnesota. In Resolution 2013-21 we urge Microsoft "to make accessibility a priority in all aspects of its Windows 8 operating system and all future operating systems." In Resolution 2013-12 we "urge Apple to expand accessibility fully to its productivity suite, iWork, and specifically to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, so that blind students and professionals everywhere can make full use of all aspects of the Apple line of products." iWork is used on Mac computers. Everette Bacon, president of the Utah affiliate, sponsored this resolution. Resolutions about eBooks and eReaders have become expected subjects at NFB conventions. The first resolution about Amazon was passed in 2009. This year, as usual, we have resolutions about Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google. Although the resolutions urge these companies to improve accessibility, they also recognize some progress. This is testimony to the effectiveness of our persistence. Nikki Jackson, a member of the board of directors of the NFB of Georgia, introduced Resolution 2013-10. In it we commend Amazon for the improvements that it has made to its Kindle app for iOS. We also urge Amazon to broaden the ways in which blind consumers can access Kindle books. In Resolution 2013-14, we commend Barnes & Noble for beginning to provide some access to its Nook iOS app and demand that it finish the job by providing full access. We also urge Barnes & Noble to provide access to all of its products. Gabe Cazares, president of the Texas Association of Blind Students, sponsored this resolution. Dee Jones, president of the Vermont affiliate, introduced Resolution 2013-16. In this resolution we commend Google for making some accessibility improvements. The resolution also resolves that: "this organization affirm its demand that Google make a serious, identifiable commitment to accessibility that includes deadlines for accessibility in all of its services and a commitment to avoid the future release of inaccessible services to its blind users." This article is merely an introductory discussion of the resolutions considered by the Convention. By longstanding tradition the complete text of each resolution that was passed is reprinted below. These resolutions outline the possibilities that we seek and are the catalyst to make our dreams a reality. Readers should study the text of each resolution to understand fully our policy on these subjects. ---------- National Federation of the Blind Resolutions for 2013 Resolution 2013-01 Regarding Space Available Travel for 100 Percent Service-Disabled Veterans WHEREAS, the Space Available program, operated by the Air Mobile Command, allows members of the active military, family members of active military, members of the reserve military, emergency workers, and retirees to fly on military aircraft if space is available; and WHEREAS, this program does not include servicemen and servicewomen who have become disabled while serving in the military because they do not have enough time in the service to have retiree status; and WHEREAS, many of these brave individuals would have reached retiree status if they had not become disabled during service to their country; and WHEREAS, the National Association of Blind Veterans, a division of the National Federation of the Blind, believes that 100 percent service- connected disabled veterans should be allowed to participate in the Space Available program; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind worked to have legislation introduced by Congressman Bilirakis of Florida in the United States House of Representatives, H.R. 164, and by Senator Tester of Montana in the United States Senate, S. 346, to correct this exclusionary policy; and WHEREAS, the Space Available program was authorized by the United States Congress in the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act; and WHEREAS, on June 11, 2013, Congressman Bilirakis submitted H.R. 164, a bill supported by 169 cosponsors, as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act; and WHEREAS, on June 12, 2013, the Rules Committee voted to allow H.R. 164 to move to the floor for consideration as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act; and WHEREAS, on June 13, 2013, the United States House of Representatives voted to accept Congressman Bilirakis's amendment, thereby including the bill language of H.R. 164 in the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act; and WHEREAS, on June 14, 2013, the United States House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 1960; and WHEREAS, the United States Senate is currently working on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act; and WHEREAS, Senator Tester's bill, S. 346, has received support from fifteen cosponsors: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization call upon the United States Senate to include Senator Tester's bill, S. 346, in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, to allow 100 percent service-connected disabled veterans to participate in the Space Available program; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind call upon both houses of Congress to work diligently in conference committee in order to pass the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind commend Representative Bilirakis and Senator Tester for their leadership in support of blind and other disabled veterans. ---------- Resolution 2013-02 Regarding Ending Subminimum Wage Payments to Workers with Disabilities WHEREAS, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), founded on the erroneous belief that people with disabilities lack the capacity for competitive, integrated employment, currently permits approximately 3,000 employers to obtain Special Wage Certificates allowing them to pay over 400,000 workers with disabilities wages that are less than the federal minimum wage, herein referred to as "subminimum wages," some as low as 3 cents per hour; and WHEREAS, employers who pay subminimum wages to people with disabilities, arguing that the Special Wage Certificate is an essential tool for employing workers with disabilities, threaten that an increase in employee wages would require them to terminate their workers with disabilities, but these same employers have enough revenue to pay their executives six-figure salaries and pay professional lobbyists to advocate for the perpetuation of this discriminatory provision; and WHEREAS, other employers of people with disabilities operating in similarly situated industries, working with comparable populations of employees with disabilities, are able to maintain successful businesses without the use of the Special Wage Certificates, proving the assertions and threats of subminimum wage employers to be false; and WHEREAS, Goodwill Industries admits that 101 (almost two-thirds) of its 165 affiliates pay their workers with disabilities the federal minimum wage or higher, while the remaining sixty-four affiliates take advantage of the Special Wage Certificates to pay their workers with disabilities immorally subminimum wages, illustrating the hypocritical and unjustifiable position of employers who pay subminimum wages to their disabled workers; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind is joined by our Fair Wage partners-over fifty other national and local organizations of and for people with disabilities-in our effort to support the policies and programs that work to end the payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities and aggressively to oppose the development and implementation of policies that would perpetuate the use of this discriminatory provision; and WHEREAS, Congressman Gregg Harper has introduced the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, HR 831, which, when enacted, will immediately stop the issuance of new Special Wage Certificates, responsibly phase out the use of the Special Wage Certificates over a three-year period, and finally repeal Section 14(c) of the FLSA; and WHEREAS, despite substantial research validating the benefits of new, innovative strategies to train and employ workers with disabilities at competitive wages and demonstrating the waste and harm caused by subminimum- wage employment, preliminary Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization discussions propose language in Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act that links Section 14(c) of the FLSA to the Rehabilitation Act and allows the obsolete practices of employers who pay subminimum wages to be considered viable training and job-placement-service providers for people with disabilities: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that we condemn and deplore the actions of all employers that take advantage of the unfair, discriminatory, immoral provision found in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we continue to encourage the public to discontinue donating to, shopping at, or partnering with Goodwill or other subminimum-wage employers, until they discontinue their use of the Special Wage Certificates and pay every employee at least the federal minimum wage; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we commend all of our Fair Wage Partners, Congressman Gregg Harper, and all cosponsors of the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, HR 831, for their courage and support of our efforts to repeal Section 14(c) of the FLSA and that we call on all other members of the US House of Representatives to exercise the same courage by supporting the passage of HR 831; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on the members of the US Senate to refuse to integrate subminimum wage language in the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act that perpetuates the use of Section 14(c) of the FLSA and to work toward the introduction and passage of legislation to end the payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities. ---------- Resolution 2013-03 was defeated. Resolution 2013-04 Regarding Educational Institutions' Commitments to Accessible Technology WHEREAS, access to information is critical to education, career advancement, independence, and living a well-informed personal and professional life; and WHEREAS, in the past decade the shift from print to digital information in educational institutions has been transformative; and WHEREAS, digital technology and information have become an essential and integral part of education today; and WHEREAS, unlike print, digital information is inherently accessible to the blind, and accessibility is particularly easy to achieve when considered in the design phase of the technology; and WHEREAS, the shift from print to digital information and technology in education should therefore provide blind students with equal access to information and inclusion in education; and WHEREAS, instead, the proliferation of inaccessible educational technologies and their adoption and use by our nation's educational institutions have largely locked out the blind from receiving an equal education; and WHEREAS, the civil rights offices of the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter dated June 29, 2010, reminding higher education institutions of their legal obligation to procure and deploy accessible educational technology; and WHEREAS, despite this clear message from the Departments of Education and Justice, the vast majority of educational institutions continue to ignore their obligations to procure and deploy accessible educational technology; and WHEREAS, to ensure that they meet their obligations and provide equal opportunities for blind students, educational institutions must commit to accessibility from the top rather than delegating accessibility to a single and usually powerless low-level administrative office or position; and WHEREAS, several institutions of higher education have become pioneers and role models in committing to accessibility and taking steps from the top levels of administration to ensure that campus-wide digital educational technology and information will be accessible to their blind students and faculty; and WHEREAS, these institutions include the California State University, Pennsylvania State University, and George Mason University: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization commend these schools for their leadership in recognizing the critical importance of accessible educational technology and digital information and for taking concrete steps to ensure that blind students have equal access to education compared to their sighted peers; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind condemn and deplore the actions of those educational institutions that continue to violate the law by ignoring their obligation to procure and deploy accessible educational technology, thereby excluding blind students from equality in education; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon all schools to commit from the top levels of administration to procure, offer, and deploy only accessible educational technology and digital information and encourage schools to work with the National Federation of the Blind to ensure that all blind students have equal access to educational technology and information. --------- Resolution 2013-05 Regarding Literary Braille Certification for Professionals Working with the Blind WHEREAS, research repeatedly indicates that blind people who use Braille every day are far more likely to be successful in community life and to find high-paid employment, making an average of $11,000 more per year than employed blind people who do not use Braille; and WHEREAS, according to a 2011 survey conducted by the Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University, only 37 percent of working-age blind adults nationwide are currently employed full time; and WHEREAS, this dismal employment statistic is unlikely to improve because too many blind and visually impaired students exit their school systems without literacy skills, since only 10 percent of today's blind students under age twenty-two receive instruction in Braille as their primary reading medium; and WHEREAS, professionals employed by school districts or public or private rehabilitation agencies charged with the responsibility of teaching the reading and writing skills associated with the Braille code to either children or adults do not currently have to meet a national standard to certify that they themselves can read and write Braille; and WHEREAS, each university professional preparatory program establishes its own arbitrary requirements for meeting levels of Braille proficiency, and, while some programs are rigorous, others are lax in their expectations of student Braille competency; and WHEREAS, standards even within specific university professional preparatory programs fluctuate depending upon the capabilities of the individual teaching Braille courses, which results in graduates having a wide range of Braille skill levels; and WHEREAS, the National Blindness Professional Certification Board currently administers the National Certification in Literary Braille (NCLB) test, a five-year renewable certification; and WHEREAS, the NCLB test is the only examination specifically designed to evaluate those who teach Braille reading and writing, and it has been independently validated by a third party to measure the competency of the test takers; and WHEREAS, valid national standards are the only consistent means of assuring employers, school administrators, colleagues, consumers, families, and other professionals that blindness professionals possess appropriate Braille knowledge and skills; and WHEREAS, under the leadership of the National Federation of the Blind, a group of organizations including the American Council of the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Blinded Veterans Association, the Canadian Council of the Blind, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped came together and eventually developed the NCLB test: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization strongly urge all university programs that prepare professionals to work with the blind to adopt the NCLB test as the exit criterion or comprehensive exam for all teachers of the blind and visually impaired; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge the US Department of Education, all state departments of education, all school districts, and all public and private agencies that work with the blind to adopt the NCLB test as the gold standard for all those who are hired to teach Braille reading and writing, in order to provide equality, consistency, and protection to all consumers, assuring that they are receiving training by instructors who have demonstrated a consistent standard of Braille competency; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge that all blindness organizations that were involved in the creation of the NCLB test vigorously promote it as a necessary certification for all professionals working with blind children or adults in the reading and writing of the Braille code. ---------- Resolution 2013-06 Regarding the Technology, Education and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act WHEREAS, the integration of technology in the educational sphere has fundamentally altered the teaching and learning processes, allowing curricular content once available only in textbooks and during lectures to be disseminated through electronic books, web content, digital library databases, advanced software, and mobile applications; and WHEREAS, this intersection of technology and education creates opportunity to expand the circle of participation by print-disabled students and allows universal access to mainstream educational products for all students; and WHEREAS, in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, Congress authorized a commission, the Advisory Committee on Accessible Instructional Materials for Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education (AIM Commission), to look at the status of accessible educational technology in postsecondary education; and WHEREAS, in 2011 the AIM Commission published its report, finding that manufacturers have failed to embrace accessibility solutions for their products; institutions have failed to minimize the impact of inaccessible technology on their disabled students; and, because of this proliferation of inaccessible materials, blind and other print-disabled students experience a variety of challenges including blocked access to enrollment and educational opportunities; and WHEREAS, in the five years between the AIM Commission's authorization and the issuance of its report, technology has evolved rapidly, creating more and more innovative solutions for accessibility and full participation; and WHEREAS, the Commission's findings show that manufacturers and institutions of higher education have completely failed to take advantage of this opportunity and are perpetuating the separate-but-equal approach to education; and WHEREAS, this missed opportunity and widespread inaccessibility in the educational sphere have put huge, unnecessary burdens on blind and other print-disabled students, a fact illustrated by the findings of the AIM Commission report; and WHEREAS, in a 2010 Dear Colleague letter addressed to all presidents of institutions of higher education, the US Department of Education and the US Department of Justice asserted that equal access to technology in the classroom is a civil right guaranteed by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act; and WHEREAS, the condition of inaccessible technology in college classrooms has not improved since the 2010 Dear Colleague letter or the publishing of the AIM Commission Report in 2011, demonstrating that more action must be taken in order to remedy this problem; and WHEREAS, technology exists to make digital instructional materials and their delivery systems fully accessible, but most postsecondary institutions are claiming that technology is too expensive, while manufacturers are saying there is no demand for it; and WHEREAS, the AIM Commission report recommends correcting this problem with the development of accessibility guidelines for instructional materials, which would provide guidance to manufacturers and serve as requirements for postsecondary institutions, ensuring that all products would be fully accessible to blind and print-disabled students; and WHEREAS, in response to this recommendation the National Federation of the Blind has drafted model legislation called the Technology, Education and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act (TEACH), which calls on the US Access Board to develop accessibility guidelines for instructional materials used in postsecondary education and then requires the Department of Justice to establish those guidelines as enforceable standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations; and WHEREAS, the model language of TEACH has been endorsed by the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Association of the Deaf, the National Council on Independent Living, the Association of American Publishers, and seven other organizations; and WHEREAS, senior members of the House Education and Workforce Committee and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have shown significant interest in the bill but have yet to commit fully to being sponsors or introducing the bill: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization strongly urge the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to introduce and pass the Technology, Education and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act to protect the civil rights of blind and print-disabled students fully and to put a stop to the separate approach to education that is continually and unnecessarily perpetuated by inaccessible educational technology. ---------- Resolution 2013-07 Regarding Declining Productivity for Blind Users of Microsoft Office WHEREAS, for more than a decade the Microsoft Office suite of software has been an essential productivity tool for blind users of the Windows operating system who perform tasks such as word processing, e-mail, spreadsheet creation and editing, and database management; and WHEREAS, in many employment settings, blind and sighted employees alike are required to use Microsoft Office programs to perform their work; and WHEREAS, blind users of the Windows operating system who rely on screen access technology for independent access to the computer use the keyboard to tell computer programs what to do; and WHEREAS, as each new version of Microsoft Office has been released, the number of keystrokes needed to perform some tasks has increased, as illustrated by the following examples: 1. With the release of Outlook 2007, the minimum number of keystrokes required to insert a signature or an attachment went from two to three. 2. In Microsoft Word 2013, the latest version to be released, it is no longer possible to press shortcut keys such as ALT+A or ALT+I to act upon a word that has been flagged by the spell checker; instead, the user must tab repeatedly until the appropriate button has obtained focus and then press the Enter key. 3. In Microsoft Word 2013 the traditional Open and Save As dialogs can be found only by drilling down through another dialog or by using different, less-well-known keystrokes; and WHEREAS, considered individually, each task that requires an additional keystroke may not seem significant, but, taken together, all of these tasks result in an overall productivity drain for one who uses keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse; and WHEREAS, while the Microsoft Corporation conducts extensive market research and studies to maximize the ability of traditional mouse users to be productive using its software, it has historically done nothing to develop more efficient approaches and strategies to improve the speed and efficiency of keyboard-only users of its programs; and WHEREAS, the Microsoft Corporation, a self-proclaimed supporter of accessibility for people with disabilities for more than two decades, should have developed enough familiarity with the blind community and the screen-access technology used by the blind to understand the importance of the keyboard and the critical need to ensure maximum productivity for keyboard-only users; and WHEREAS, as important as it is to determine what a specific object on the screen is (i.e., accessibility), it is arguably more important for a blind person to be able to use technology at a level of efficiency that is equal to if not greater than that enjoyed by sighted computer users: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization express its strong frustration and disappointment with the Microsoft Corporation for releasing versions of its software that reduce the productivity of keyboard-only users; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Microsoft Corporation to move quickly to develop initiatives, approaches, and strategies that will enable keyboard-only users to use its software with the same productivity and efficiency as traditional mouse users; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge the Microsoft Corporation, in furtherance of this effort, to work with the National Federation of the Blind, an organization that has established a wealth of knowledge and experience in this area that is deeply rooted in practical experience. ---------- Resolution 2013-08 Regarding Tactile Fluency WHEREAS, it is commonplace for sighted students to acquire both literacy and drawing skills through a gradual progression of improvement, beginning at the earliest possible age, resulting in adults who have developed proficiency in literacy and graphics; and WHEREAS, in the blind population, not only is insufficient attention given to Braille instruction, but virtually no attention is given to exploring our environment by touch and representing our tactile observations in a tactile medium; and WHEREAS, competence in tactile graphics refers collectively to the techniques of drawing raised lines, circles, and other curves; developing the ability to feel and interpret a tactile image efficiently; developing an understanding of three-dimensional objects drawn in two dimensions; and, finally, appreciating inherently visual ideas of perspective and scale; and WHEREAS, the combination of proficiencies in Braille and tactile graphics is expressed by the term tactile fluency; and WHEREAS, the historic lack of emphasis on tactile graphics was due partly to the general unavailability of simple devices on which tactile images could be drawn, edited, transmitted, and reproduced; and WHEREAS, the ability of blind people to read Braille and to create and interpret tactile graphic images is highly relevant in modern society; and WHEREAS, the widespread belief that blind people are innately less able to construct and interpret graphic images is a misconception resulting from the lack of opportunities to develop a facility with graphics, and not due to the mere lack of eyesight; and WHEREAS, E.A.S.Y., LLC, has recently released products for sale that will facilitate the creating, editing, digitizing, transmitting, and multiple reproduction of graphic images by blind people; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind was influential in the formation of E.A.S.Y., LLC, and the development of its products: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization urge colleges and universities to revamp their curricula for teachers of blind students to require them to demonstrate competencies in both Braille and the graphic aspects of tactile fluency; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge the instruction in tactile fluency for all blind children to begin at the earliest possible age; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge rehabilitation agencies serving the blind to provide their counselors with a thorough appreciation of the need for tactile fluency and up-to-date information about the latest tactile fluency devices and techniques; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we continue to work with E.A.S.Y., LLC, other private companies, and interested parties in the development of more advanced tactile fluency tools. ---------- Resolution 2013-09 Regarding a National Right to Parent WHEREAS, more than four million Americans with disabilities, including Americans who are blind, are parents; and WHEREAS, this number will unquestionably increase as more people with disabilities exercise a broader range of lifestyle options as a result of social integration and civil rights; and WHEREAS, no research exists to support the proposition that children of parents who are blind or who have other disabilities are in more danger of being injured, mistreated, or neglected than children of parents without disabilities; and WHEREAS, despite the lack of support for the proposition that parents with disabilities cannot raise children safely and competently and despite the fact that the Americans with Disabilities Act has been the law of the land for over two decades, parents with disabilities are the only distinct community of Americans who must struggle to retain custody of their children; and WHEREAS, research validates the experience of parents with disabilities by demonstrating extremely high rates of reported discrimination and removal of children from the home; and WHEREAS, the legal system is not protecting the rights of parents with disabilities and their children, since two-thirds of dependency statutes allow the court to reach the determination that a parent is unfit (a determination necessary to terminate parental rights) on the basis of the parent's disability; and WHEREAS, since 1940 the National Federation of the Blind has provided leadership in educating both blind and sighted people about the nonvisual techniques that blind parents use to manage their households and provide appropriate care for their children; and WHEREAS, the NFB has vigorously protected the rights of blind parents in the face of a variety of discriminatory practices; and WHEREAS, despite this education and advocacy and the passage of state laws that make it illegal for courts to consider disability in custody and adoption cases, children are still being unjustly removed from their parents' custody, and potential parents are being refused the right to adopt children solely because they are blind; and WHEREAS, on September 27, 2012, the National Council on Disability (NCD) transmitted a report to the president entitled Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children; and WHEREAS, this report further confirms that the child welfare system is ill equipped to support parents with disabilities and their families, resulting in disproportionately high rates of involvement with child welfare services and devastatingly high rates of parents with disabilities losing their parental rights; and WHEREAS, the NCD report calls on the United States Congress and federal agencies to take immediate and strong action to secure the right of disabled Americans to be parents: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization call upon members of the United States Congress and federal agencies to work closely with the National Federation of the Blind to take immediate and appropriate action to secure through legislation and regulation the right of blind Americans to be parents. ---------- Resolution 2013-10 Regarding Accessibility of Amazon Products WHEREAS, in its release of May 1 of this year, Amazon made its Kindle app for iOS significantly more accessible to VoiceOver so that its large repository of books is now available to blind consumers who use the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch; and WHEREAS, further improvements to the Kindle app for iOS have been implemented since that release, including some improvements to Braille navigation and the table of contents; and WHEREAS, the current version of the app still contains many barriers to use, especially in professional and educational settings, presenting problems with functions such as text selection and not offering either speech or Braille access to the endnotes and footnotes; and WHEREAS, the Kindle hardware remains inaccessible in its current generation as it has been in previous generations, and Kindle apps for Windows and Apple computers remain largely or completely inaccessible, excluding users who do not use Apple products or who wish to use a computer or dedicated device; and WHEREAS, many of the Kindle devices, such as the Kindle Keyboard and the Kindle Fire, contain text-to-speech capability and could be made more accessible without requiring hardware changes simply by maximizing the availability and functionality of the present text-to-speech capability: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization commend Amazon for the improvements the company has made to its Kindle app for iOS and urge Amazon to improve this app and to broaden the ways in which blind consumers can access their Kindle books, including on computers and Kindle devices. ---------- Resolution 2013-11 Regarding the University of Illinois eText System WHEREAS, full and timely access to textbooks is a necessary precondition to the success of a student in higher education; and WHEREAS, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana delivers classroom content through eText, an accessible and interactive platform of its own making that provides textbooks and other materials to all students in the same manner and at the same time; and WHEREAS, eText offers not only accessible text, but also other tools needed for academic success, such as note-taking, highlighting, bookmarking, and glossaries; and WHEREAS, students can customize the book display in eText in a variety of ways-such as choosing margin widths, fonts, and display colors-depending on their preferred method of access and their environment; and WHEREAS, math equations in eText materials are displayed in text-based MathML, which can be rendered by text-to-speech applications without further intervention, and in Braille where supported-a very welcome feature that even many mostly accessible platforms struggle to implement; and WHEREAS, eText can be used on a mobile or desktop device with an HTML5- compliant browser, giving all students a way to use this platform when and how they choose: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization highly commend the eText Group, part of CITES (Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services) at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, for leading the way in higher education by showing other institutions and learning management systems the full power of a flexible, interactive, and well-supported platform that is accessible to the blind and geared to a variety of learning styles and abilities. ---------- Resolution 2013-12 Regarding the iWork Suite from Apple WHEREAS, Apple has a proven and much respected track record in creating groundbreaking, built-in accessibility for its operating systems (both Mac OS and iOS), for use in devices such as the iPod and iPhone and the lineup of MacBooks and iMacs; and WHEREAS, the accessibility features Apple has implemented have convinced many blind consumers to switch to Apple over the various kinds of personal computers (PCs) for their computing and mobile needs; and WHEREAS, the core productivity software provided for the Mac in its iWork suite, which consists of Pages, a word processor; Numbers, a spreadsheet; and Keynote, a slide presentation tool, poses significant accessibility challenges, including inconsistent reporting of column and row headers in Numbers and unreliable review of formatting in Pages on both the Mac OS and iOS platforms; and WHEREAS, the iWork suite is central to consumers' ability to employ their Macs in professional and educational settings, and the current versions make such use very difficult and inefficient: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization urge Apple to expand accessibility fully to its productivity suite, iWork, and specifically to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, so that blind students and professionals everywhere can make full use of all aspects of the Apple line of products. ---------- Resolution 2013-13 Regarding Support Service Provider Programs for Deaf-Blind People WHEREAS, deaf-blind people rely on Support Service Providers (SSP's) to reduce reliance on family members and friends by facilitating communications and by providing environmental and situational information so that they can participate in all aspects of community life; and WHEREAS, the SSP's are not responsible for providing personal care or serving as the interpreters required by law at legal and medical appointments, i.e., must serve only as facilitators, not decision makers; and WHEREAS, it is estimated that there are 45,000 to 70,000 deaf-blind people in the US, a statistic that will rise because people are living longer and will experience sensory losses as part of the aging process, necessitating the need for more SSP's; and WHEREAS, according to a 2012 survey by the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults, only ten states have state-wide programs to provide SSP's, and only fourteen states and the District of Columbia have smaller, regional SSP programs, and the remaining states have no SSP programs at all; and WHEREAS, in addition to the lack of availability of SSP's in many states, the level of service in states with some programs fluctuates because the state or region determines who are eligible for the service and how many hours they receive; and WHEREAS, since some SSP programs such as those in Louisiana, Connecticut, and Washington State, are under the jurisdiction of an office or department for the deaf, these programs frequently discriminate against deaf-blind people by requiring them to communicate by using American Sign Language, which is more visual, rather than the communication method of their choice such as oral English, English Sign Language, or tactile sign language; and WHEREAS, since SSP's are vital to the independence of all deaf-blind Americans, the federal government should implement a national program that will eliminate discriminatory practices and provide a higher level and greater uniformity of service: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention on this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization strongly urge the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Congress to immediately take all necessary steps to establish a national SSP program so that deaf-blind individuals can maintain independence and become productive citizens. ---------- Resolution 2013-14 Regarding Barnes & Noble NOOK Study and NOOK Devices WHEREAS, with the release on November 26, 2012, of Barnes & Noble's NOOK app, it became usable with VoiceOver on iOS, opening the library of NOOK Books to blind consumers for the first time; and WHEREAS, the current version of the application does not provide access to textbooks, and the textbook platform that Barnes & Noble uses, NOOK Study, is PC and Mac only and provides no Braille support and no capacity for fine-grained navigation, highlighting, or taking notes (though all of these features are available to sighted users), making the product useless to blind students; and WHEREAS, NOOK Study allows the publisher to disable the use of text-to- speech for its textbooks; and WHEREAS, the NOOK readers, such as the NOOK HD and the NOOK HD+, remain inaccessible in their current versions and in all preceding versions, although text-to-speech is built into the underlying operating system, Android; and WHEREAS, significantly greater access could be provided to the NOOK reader by using the accessibility features offered in Android, such as the ability to use text-to-speech in every area of the device: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization commend Barnes & Noble for the improvements to its NOOK app for iOS and demand that it deepen the accessibility features in the NOOK for iOS app so that all features available to the sighted are available to the blind and that it provide access to hardware readers and the NOOK Study app for Mac and PC. ---------- Resolution 2013-15 Regarding the Washington State Labor Council's Advocacy for Securing Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities WHEREAS, the Washington State Labor Council, the Washington branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the passage of the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011, a landmark piece of disability civil rights legislation that unfortunately did not pass before the end of the 112th congressional session; and WHEREAS, the resolution recognized that "the labor movement must reflect the full diversity of the labor force, supporting the full and equal participation of workers with disabilities"; and WHEREAS, the resolution describes the discriminatory nature of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which allows employers to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages, and further states that "the ability to legally pay subminimum wages to any worker threatens the wage security of all workers, and the only method of ensuring that this regulation is not abused to the detriment of workers with disabilities is to repeal Section 14(c) of the FLSA and to revoke every special wage certificate granted under that provision"; and WHEREAS, the Washington State Labor Council and its affiliates resolved to call upon the United States Congress to pass H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011, "which phases out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act and revokes the certificates issued under that provision so that workers with disabilities are guaranteed the same workforce protections afforded nondisabled employees"; and WHEREAS, Congressman Gregg Harper has introduced the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, H.R. 831, in the 113th Congress, which has the same language and prescribes the same remedy as H.R. 3086 of the 112th Congress: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization commend the actions of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and its affiliates for adopting such a strong resolution supporting the passage of the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011, H.R. 3086, and respectfully request that they continue their support of the current legislation, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, H.R. 831; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we support the efforts of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, to advance its resolution to the AFL-CIO for consideration at its national convention. ---------- Resolution 2013-16 Regarding Inaccessibility of Google Services WHEREAS, Google is one of the leading technology companies in the United States and the world; and WHEREAS, it offers many digital and electronic services, including a suite of cloud-based applications known as "Google Apps," which replaces traditional desktop functions such as e-mail, collaborative word processing, spreadsheets, and calendars and which is available free or at low cost to businesses, educational institutions, and government entities; and WHEREAS, Google Apps for Education is widely used by educational institutions, serving over twenty-five million students in two hundred countries across the globe, seventy-four of the top hundred universities in the United States, and many large public school systems; and WHEREAS, Google Apps for Government is currently used by forty-five out of fifty state governments and numerous federal agencies and local governments as the primary application suite for government employees; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has for several years insisted that Google make Google Apps fully accessible to the blind; and WHEREAS, in response to the National Federation of the Blind's demands, Google has met with our organization on several occasions; and WHEREAS, in 2012 Google's accessibility team met with the National Federation of the Blind's access technology team to address the inaccessibility of Google Apps and services, an effort that resulted in some improvements to the accessibility of Google Apps; and WHEREAS, despite these efforts many of the Google Apps services continue to pose significant accessibility barriers, particularly when used outside of Google's proprietary devices; and WHEREAS, as more and more governments and educational institutions adopt Google Apps, the number of blind students and employees who experience significant barriers to their education and employment will increase; and WHEREAS, Google is further expanding inaccessible technology in education with its launch of Google Play for Education, which will enable K- 12 schools to offer students educational apps, many of which are completely inaccessible; and WHEREAS, after many years of effort and demands by the National Federation of the Blind, many Google technologies continue to be inaccessible, and the accessibility of other Google services is inconsistent; and WHEREAS, after many years of effort and demands by the National Federation of the Blind, Google has failed to exhibit an identifiable, top- down commitment to accessibility across its products and services; and WHEREAS, Google has repeatedly failed to provide a comprehensive plan for accessibility or offer timelines, deadlines, or details regarding its commitment to accessibility: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization commend Google for the efforts its accessibility team has made to improve the accessibility of Google Apps, while standing firm in our resolve to hold the company accountable for its failure to commit to a demonstrated policy of accessibility; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization reaffirm its demand that Google make a serious, identifiable commitment to accessibility that includes deadlines for accessibility in all of its services and a commitment to avoid the future release of inaccessible services to its blind users; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization caution all schools and governments that Google Apps have known accessibility barriers that exclude blind people and that, until Google removes these barriers, adoption of Google Apps is a violation of the law. ---------- Resolution 2013-17 Regarding the Parent Teacher Association's Promotion of Amazon Kindles in its Family Reading Program WHEREAS, in February 2013 the National Parent Teacher Association (National PTA) announced that it had selected Amazon as the exclusive sponsor of its family reading program, the Family Reading Experience, which allows local PTAs to apply to the national organization for donations of Kindle devices to be used at home or in local schools; and WHEREAS, despite repeated efforts to urge Amazon to do the right thing, most Amazon Kindles are completely inaccessible, and the only Kindle that offers text-to-speech capability is not fully accessible to the blind and other print-disabled users; and WHEREAS, on March 11, 2013, the National Federation of the Blind sent a letter to Betsy Landers and Eric Hargis, respectively president and executive director of the National PTA, informing them that Amazon Kindles are inaccessible and that their proposal unnecessarily excludes students with print disabilities from benefiting from the Family Reading Experience program's goals, relegating them to second-class status; and WHEREAS, the March letter also warned the National PTA that the use of inaccessible Kindle devices in public school classrooms is a violation of blind and print-disabled students' rights to equal access under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act; and WHEREAS, the National PTA did not respond to the NFB's letter with an acknowledgement of receipt, official correspondence responding to our letter, or change in policy regarding its partnership with Amazon; and WHEREAS, the National PTA informally and indirectly responded to the NFB letter in an article in Special Ed Connection?, by downplaying the role of the Kindle in the program, claiming that it was not a requirement of the program; and WHEREAS, this statement in no way addresses the discrimination brought to light in the NFB letter nor shows any cooperation or effort by the National PTA in making accessibility a priority in its partnerships: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that we condemn and deplore the actions of the National PTA for knowingly encouraging the use of a product that is inaccessible to blind students, ignoring the National Federation of the Blind's admonition that its program is discriminatory, and disregarding the right of blind students to equal access in the classroom. ---------- Resolution 2013-18 Regarding the Department of Education's Letter on Braille Instruction WHEREAS, Section 614(d) of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that, in order to provide a free and appropriate public education to disabled students, school districts in each state develop an individualized education program (IEP) for each disabled student; and WHEREAS, an IEP is a written agreement outlining that child's levels of academic achievement and his or her annual academic and functional goals, an agreement developed by a team of the student's parents, regular education teachers, teachers of blind students, special education teachers, and representatives of the local educational agency; and WHEREAS, the law specifically instructs the IEP team to consider special factors for blind students, specifically that a blind child receive instruction in Braille; and WHEREAS, this means that all blind children will receive Braille instruction as part of their IEP by default, and Braille instruction should be removed or not included in the IEP only if an evaluation of the child's reading and writing skills, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media indicates that Braille is not appropriate; and WHEREAS, the regulations issued by the Department of Education implementing this statute specifically repeat the IDEA statutory language regarding Braille instruction, reinforcing the intent that Braille instruction be provided to blind students by default; and WHEREAS, despite the law and regulations, the overwhelming majority of blind students in the K-12 educational system are not receiving any instruction in Braille, and very few receive adequate instruction in Braille, resulting in less than 10 percent of all blind children being fluent Braille readers; and WHEREAS, some members of the IEP team reject the idea of Braille instruction for a variety of inappropriate reasons, including the lack of a qualified educator to teach Braille in the district or a bias against Braille based on myths about stigma and effectiveness; and WHEREAS, even though 90 percent of blind students are not learning Braille, 85 percent of employed blind people know the code, demonstrating a direct correlation between learning to read and write Braille and attaining and retaining employment; and WHEREAS, after advocacy and urging from the National Federation of the Blind, twenty-six members of the United States Senate recognized this crisis and widespread violation of the law by sending a letter to the Department of Education, urging it to take action; and WHEREAS, the Department of Education agreed that action was needed and wrote a letter to states clarifying their legal obligations under the IDEA to provide Braille instruction by default to all blind students; and WHEREAS, on June 19, 2013, the Department of Education issued the letter, signed by Michael Yudin, acting assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, and Melody Musgrove, director of the Office of Special Education Programs, reminding states of the background and statutory provisions of the IDEA that require Braille instruction for blind and visually impaired students; and WHEREAS, the letter clarifies that the only reason blind students should not receive Braille is if the IEP team determines it is inappropriate based on results from an evaluation of the child's current and future reading and writing needs; and WHEREAS, the letter further clarifies that "factors, such as shortages of trained personnel to provide Braille instruction; the availability of alternative reading media (including large print materials, recorded materials, or computers with speech output); or the amount of time needed to provide a child with sufficient and regular instruction to attain proficiency in Braille, may not be used to deny Braille instruction to a child": Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization commend the Department of Education for taking action to combat the Braille literacy crisis and providing affirmative leadership to local education agencies through its June 19 Dear Colleague Letter regarding Braille instruction; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on the Department of Education to take further steps to provide training, professional development, and technical assistance to local education agencies, teacher preparation programs, administrators, and teachers to ensure that educational systems are adequately prepared to implement Braille instruction appropriately; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on state education agencies to take action to ensure that adequate professional development, technical assistance, and resources are available to local education agencies in properly implementing services outlined in the recent Dear Colleague letter on Braille; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization invite educators to call on members of the Federation to assist in disputes about Braille, serve as Braille mentors to young Braille readers, support training and professional development efforts, and otherwise be partners in resolving systemic issues related to educating blind children adequately in reading and writing Braille. ---------- Resolution 2013-19 Regarding Nonvisual Access to the Sony Reader WHEREAS, from its first release in 2006, the Sony Reader System has been inaccessible; and WHEREAS, Sony has released seven versions of its reader, yet the current Sony Reader still has no accessibility features whatsoever, and Sony has made no attempt to correct the situation; and WHEREAS, even with the need for continued improvement on most platforms, usable books are now available from most major digital booksellers, including Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble NOOK, Apple iBooks, Blio, and others; and WHEREAS, blind people deserve access to the same books at the same time and at the same price as sighted users and deserve a way of reading and navigating these books along with full access to the other features available on the Sony Reader: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization condemn and deplore Sony's ongoing discrimination against the blind because the company has knowingly and purposely developed and launched models of the Sony Reader that are completely inaccessible, despite its awareness of solutions; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that Sony move urgently and decisively to provide access to its e-readers and e-books. ---------- Resolution 2013-20 Regarding Support for Legislation to Create Entrepreneurial Opportunities for People with Disabilities WHEREAS, chronic unemployment or underemployment is a serious problem among the disabled, denying people with disabilities the opportunity to earn a living and live independent lives; and WHEREAS, creating entrepreneurial opportunities for people with disabilities is one way to help reduce unemployment and underemployment for them; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind believes that blind people and others with disabilities are capable of owning and managing successful businesses; and WHEREAS, except for the Randolph-Sheppard Program, not a single government program exists specifically to encourage entrepreneurship by people with disabilities; and WHEREAS, opportunities within the Randolph-Sheppard Program continue to decline because of the downsizing of government, noncompliance by federal entities, and complacency of some state-licensing agencies; and WHEREAS, there is no requirement for the federal government or those who contract with it to subcontract with companies owned by people with disabilities; and WHEREAS, there are requirements that federal agencies contract with businesses owned by other disadvantaged groups such as minorities, women, or other groups; and WHEREAS, the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act created what is today referred to as the "AbilityOne Program," which requires the federal government to award contracts on a priority basis to nonprofit organizations that employ people with disabilities; and WHEREAS, the JWOD Program was created in 1938 but has changed very little in the seventy-five years since its enactment; and WHEREAS, this program has no entrepreneurial component; and WHEREAS, the JWOD Program offers the perfect vehicle by which the federal government could set aside contracts to be awarded to companies owned by people with disabilities, including businesses owned by blind people; and WHEREAS, adding an entrepreneurial component to the JWOD Program would demonstrate a belief in the ability of people with disabilities to do more than work as hourly workers, in some cases earning less than the federal minimum wage; and WHEREAS, such a change in the JWOD Program would be welcomed by many organizations of and for people with disabilities; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has developed draft legislation that would require that a minimum percentage of new contracts awarded by AbilityOne be awarded to companies owned by people with disabilities; and WHEREAS, this draft legislation specifies that any federal contract related to food service shall be awarded to a state-licensing agency or to a company owned by a blind person; and WHEREAS, such legislation would create new entrepreneurial opportunities for blind people and prevent the loss of gainful employment that results when state-licensing agencies fail to act on options in the law to provide employment for blind business owners: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization urge Congress to pass legislation that creates an entrepreneurial component to the JWOD Program; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon other organizations of and for people with disabilities to join with us to work for the enactment of this important legislation. ---------- Resolution 2013-21 Regarding Access to the Windows Operating System by Microsoft WHEREAS, in today's technology-based society, a computer is no longer a luxury but a necessity; and WHEREAS, blind people have the same right as their sighted peers to access vast types and amounts of information using computers; and WHEREAS, the Windows 8 operating system by Microsoft uses UI Automation, which limits nonvisual access by blind users because they must wait many months for updates to their screen-reader programs before they can use the new operating system; and WHEREAS, immediate access by blind people to operating systems is achievable as demonstrated by other operating systems such as the Mac OS, which provides nonvisual access through embedded accessibility technologies such as VoiceOver: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization urge Microsoft to make accessibility a priority in all aspects of its Windows 8 operating system and all future operating systems; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge Microsoft to ensure that nonvisual access is incorporated into the design of its operating systems during the conception phase rather than addressed after the product is released to the public. ---------- Resolution 2013-22 Regarding the Portrayal of Blindness on eHow.com WHEREAS, in today's society more and more people rely on the Internet as a major source of information for many subjects, including blindness; and WHEREAS, eHow.com, a website now owned by Demand Media, a content and social media company, claims to be a "one-stop resource for life's challenges" where "professionals in every field come together to offer expert advice"; and WHEREAS, to cite one instance of unacceptable material contained there, the article entitled "Activities & Daily Living Skills for Blind People" by Sara Janis, contains a powerful statement of NFB philosophy about the real problem of blindness by "Dr. Jacobus," but also contains nonsense such as "You can no longer make a mental map of how to get where you need to be and the mobility of getting there. Having furniture rearranged for clear paths and then practicing navigating those pathways helps"; and WHEREAS, a review of Ms. Janis's professional qualifications reveals no prior experience or training in blindness other than what she may have culled from random website searches, a clear violation of eHow's claim of providing "expert advice"; and WHEREAS, Ms. Janis's article further demonstrates unprofessional authorship by failing to provide links to additional resources; and WHEREAS, eHow further demonstrates archaic and negative attitudes about blindness by featuring articles with titles such as "How to Feed a Visually Impaired Person" and "How to Set a Table for Blind People"; and WHEREAS, this negative portrayal of blindness on the Internet is extremely damaging to newly blind people and their families, who have no way of knowing how to evaluate the accuracy of the information contained on this website; and WHEREAS, Demand Media, the parent company of eHow, exercises considerable influence on the so-called experts it selects to write eHow's articles but is inconsistent in providing links for complaints or corrections to its articles: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization urge Demand Media to take immediate steps to promote modern, positive attitudes and accurate information about blindness on its eHow.com website; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge Demand Media to work with the National Federation of the Blind to remove objectionable articles on blindness from eHow.com and to develop a new set of articles that provide blind consumers with truly valuable information and the general public with a positive view of blindness; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, should our call for the presentation of more accurate and positive information go unheeded by eHow, this organization contact the operators of the world's major search engines to urge that they emphasize other sources of information about blindness and lower the ranking given to eHow.com. ---------- Resolution 2013-23 Regarding the Adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled WHEREAS, the right to access information through reading is a fundamental human right; and WHEREAS, the blind have long been significantly denied the right to read as reflected by the fact that less than 5 percent of published works are available in accessible formats in the United States and less than 1 percent throughout the vast majority of the world, creating a book famine for the blind; and WHEREAS, it has been necessary to establish exceptions and limitations to copyright law because permission by rights holders to reproduce published works in accessible formats has traditionally been denied or has taken far too long to acquire; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind led an effort in 1996 to pass the Chafee Amendment, which allows US authorized entities to reproduce copyrighted materials in accessible formats; and WHEREAS, only one-third of the world's nations have exceptions and limitations to copyright law like those in Chafee, and it has been unlawful to exchange accessible format copies of works across international borders; and WHEREAS, on and off for nearly thirty years, the World Blind Union (WBU) has called for worldwide exceptions and limitations for the blind; and WHEREAS, most recently, in 2008, the NFB worked with the WBU to draft a treaty proposal that would create exceptions and limitations in copyright law throughout the world and allow for the cross-border exchange of accessible format copies; and WHEREAS, the WBU secured the countries of Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay to table this treaty proposal in 2009 before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations; and WHEREAS, the NFB has worked tirelessly with the WBU to get this treaty proposal adopted in the face of stiff opposition from intellectual property rights holders and many nations; and WHEREAS, the WBU and the NFB scored a major victory in December of 2012 when WIPO's General Assembly called for the convening of a diplomatic conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, to conclude and adopt an international treaty; and WHEREAS, WIPO did in fact convene a diplomatic conference from June 17 through 28, 2013, at which the international community on June 27 formally adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled; and WHEREAS, this is the first international instrument exclusively addressing the needs and issues faced by the blind; and WHEREAS, the Marrakesh Treaty represents a major step forward in ending the book famine faced by the blind: now, therefore BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that we salute the international community of nations, the World Blind Union, and intellectual property rights holders for coming together and securing an international treaty that will dramatically open the flow of information to the world's blind; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we express our gratitude to the other members of the WBU, the United States government delegation to Marrakesh, and certain rights holders like the Motion Picture Association of America for working closely with the NFB to achieve this important victory; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon President Obama to sign and the United States Senate to ratify this treaty without delay. ---------- Resolution 2013-24 Urging the Corporate Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind to Instate Appropriate Leadership WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind was formed by the blind of the United States to represent blind Americans in order to secure equality, security, and opportunity for all blind people in the United States, including ensuring their full and active participation in agencies and organizations serving the blind; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest organization of the blind in the United States; and WHEREAS, the NFB is concerned when agencies and organizations purporting to serve the blind systematically exclude blind stakeholders from true involvement and participation; and WHEREAS, Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) has recently taken actions that negatively affect its blind consumers; and WHEREAS, GDB asserts that it has always been about relationships, 1. Matching just the right guide dog with the right person for safe, independent travel; 2. Building relationships with graduates in the field while providing excellent and comprehensive follow-up services; 3. Creating opportunities for relationships between handlers and their guides and puppy raisers and fostering appreciation of contributions of money and service; and WHEREAS, its current leadership has unjustly laid off many highly respected employees whose considerable expertise and experience have provided outstanding graduate services and who deserve credit for making GDB the fine organization it is today; and WHEREAS, the number of field area managers has been cut from twelve to six, dramatically increasing the number of graduates assigned to each, creating fewer opportunities for relationship-building with unconvincing assurances that a call center staffed by six can adequately handle the highly individualized needs of over 2,000 working teams; and WHEREAS, the reorganization plan will decrease the time field representatives can spend with individuals in their regions because of the layoffs and early retirement of highly respected professionals who have played major roles in creating and setting high industry standards; and WHEREAS, in the past positive staff/consumer relations have made Guide Dogs for the Blind a safe place, where clients have been able to trust that their best interests and individual needs would be respected and receive prompt attention; and WHEREAS, the current management's recent actions represent an unwelcome return to the paternalistic decision-making that the blind had hoped was behind us; and WHEREAS, it is time for consumers' points of view to be more powerfully represented, heard, and acted upon; and WHEREAS, GDB's current leadership has demonstrated its lack of awareness of the organization's unique corporate culture by failing to address serious consumer concerns while continuing to assert that all is well; and WHEREAS, by enacting unpopular and sweeping changes before analyzing the results of a recent graduate survey, current leadership clearly indicates its lack of understanding of and concern for the consumer point of view; and WHEREAS, the leadership of GDB has removed blind employees from jobs they had held for more than ten years and performed well, moving them to a new backroom call center rather than allowing them to function in jobs for which they were trained while serving as visible positive role models for the blind and the general public, an act that calls into question the value GDB leadership places on blind employees; and WHEREAS, GDB's mission is not being fulfilled when current senior management: 1. Suddenly lays off excellent employees who for many represent the voice and face of GDB; 2. Reduces the number of graduate support field managers from twelve to six; 3. Creates a new customer call center that is expected to provide the same personalized graduate support previously accomplished by the twelve outside field support staff; 4. Fails to recognize the high importance of having blind people employed in all areas of the organization including jobs that keep them in meaningful positions interacting with tourists and other visitors to the campus; and WHEREAS, only the board of Guide Dogs for the Blind can remedy the leadership problems that threaten the future integrity of GDB: Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2013, in the city of Orlando, Florida, that this organization condemn and deplore the actions of the current leadership of Guide Dogs for the Blind; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this organization call upon the corporate board of Guide Dogs for the Blind to take the necessary actions to put in place qualified, appropriate leadership to restore the trust which has been deeply eroded by unjustified layoffs and devastating cuts to consumer support services; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon Guide Dogs for the Blind not only to return its relocated blind employees to the jobs they were performing until they were moved to the backroom call center but also to increase the number of blind employees throughout every department at GDB; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this organization call upon the corporate board of Guide Dogs for the Blind to require that a minimum of 51 percent of its directors be consumers and immediately establish stronger linkage between GDB consumers and the corporate board. ---------- Convention Miniatures 2013 Division Election Results: The following divisions have notified us of the results of elections conducted during the 2013 national convention: The National Association of Blind Veterans Elected at this year's convention were president, Dwight Sayer (FL); first vice president, Gene Huggins (SC); second vice president, Larry Ball (FL); secretary, Patty Sayer (FL); treasurer, Allen Bornstein (FL); and board members, Debi Black (AZ), Clinton Grimsley (AL), Nancy Hester (FL), Brad Loos (NE), Cory Keith (GA), and national chaplain and board member, Father John Sheehan (NY). ---------- The Human Services Division The following officers and board members were elected: president, Merry C. Schoch (FL); first vice president, David Stayer (NY); second vice president, Amalia Veliz (AZ); secretary, Nicole Yarmolkevich (IL); treasurer, JD Townsend (FL); and board members, Tyrone Bratcher (MD), and Denise Shaible (CA). ---------- Writers' Division The following people were elected: president, Robert Leslie Newman (NE); first vice president, Chelsea Cook (VA); second vice president, Eve Sanchez (AZ); secretary, Katie Colton (UT); treasurer, Bonnie Newman (NE); and board members, Myrna Badgerow (LA), Kim Valco (VA), Antonio Guimaraes (RI), Thomas Taylor (CA), and Lori Stayer (NY). ---------- The Travel and Tourism Division The division elected the following officers: president, Cheryl Echevarria (NY); and new board member, Tracie Inman (FL). All other officers remain the same. ---------- The National Association of Guide Dog Users Elections were held for the offices of vice president, treasurer, and one board position. The NAGDU board of directors is now as follows: president, Marion Gwizdala (FL); vice president, Michael Hingson (CA); secretary, Sherrill O'Brien (FL); treasurer, Toni Whaley (PA); and board members, Margo Downey (NY), Julie McGinnity (MO), and Tina Thomas (CA). --------- National Association of Blind Lawyers The following individuals are all elected to fill two-year terms expiring at convention in 2015: president, Scott LaBarre (CO); first vice president, Ronza Othman (MD); second vice president, Timothy Elder (MD); secretary, Ray Wayne (NY); treasurer, Larry Povinelli (AL); and board members, Patti Chang (IL), Parnell Diggs (SC), Noel Nightingale (WA), Randy Farber (TX), Anthony Thomas (IL), and Denise Avant (IL). ---------- NFB Krafters Division This year two new board members were elected: Lisamaria Martinez (CA) and Theresa Taylor (MN). ---------- The National Organization of Parents of Blind Children The NOPBC proudly announces the members of its 2013-2014 board: president, Carlton Anne Cook Walker (PA); first vice president, Andrea Beasley (WI); second vice president, Kim Cunningham (TX); secretary, Pamela Gebert (AK); treasurer, Pat Renfranz (UT); president Emerita, Barbara Cheadle (MD); and board members, Jean Benning (MN), Laura Bostick (LA), Denise Colton (UT), Bill Cucco (NJ), Rosina Foster (MO), Teresa Graham (MD), Stephanie Kieszak-Holloway (GA), Belinda Martinez (NV), Holly Miller (NJ), and Sandra Oliver (TX). ---------- The National Federation of the Blind in Communities of Faith The division held elections, and the following officers were elected by acclamation: president, Tom Anderson (CO); vice president, Rehnee Aikens (TX); secretary, Linda Mentink (NE); and treasurer, Sam Gleese (MS). ---------- National Organization of Parents of Blind Children: This year the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) celebrates thirty years of service to families. The continuing hard work and dedication of past and present board members allow the NOPBC to support parents in helping their children change what it means to be blind. At the NOPBC annual meeting on July 3, 2013, a new board was elected. The NOPBC thanks outgoing board members Jim Beyer, Wingfield Bouchard, Amber Hall, Dave Hammel, Zina Lewis, and Trudy Pickrel and welcomes six new members and our returning members to the board. ---------- Report from the Blind Parents Group: Debbie Stein reports that the meeting of the Blind Parents Group heard from Bookshare, explaining how parents can access Bookshare titles to read with their children. Representatives from the One-Touch Self Defense program invited parents to learn more during convention and beyond. The bulk of the meeting consisted of a discussion of strengths and challenges that blindness may bring to the parenting experience. Angela Frederick, a doctoral candidate who is conducting research on parents with disabilities, was there to listen and learn. Several parents spoke candidly of painful experiences involving child protective services that were generally triggered by a report from a neighbor or total stranger. Participants were thrilled by the NFB's resolution to pursue passage of legislation prohibiting discrimination based on blindness that is carried out by social service agencies and in custody disputes. ---------- Report from the National Association of Blind Veterans: The group set up its table and banners in the exhibit hall, including a nine-foot banner over the table that was "superb and made it very impressive," according to Mrs. Jernigan. On Tuesday night, July 2, at 7:00 PM, the division held its business meeting with many presenters as well as the bi-annual elections. The meeting closed with presentations by vendors providing prosthetics and equipment to the VA. During exhibit hall hours the division sold NABV license plates; the 2013 patriotic pin, a gold shield with red, white, and blue drapes on either side and the words "One Nation Under God" in the center of the pin. The NABV 50/50 raffle netted $1600. The drawing took place Saturday, July 6, at noon. Harold Wilson of Baltimore was the winner of $825. Congratulations, Harold. On Thursday, July 4, was the celebration of freedom with the United States Air Force providing the color guard from Patrick Air Force Base. A big thank you goes to the men from Patrick Air Force Base for a job well done. Father John Sheehan and Dr. Jessica Ewell provided our musical celebration. There were veterans from one side of the stage to the other and wrapped around the end of the stage. All veterans were presented with a red, white, and blue ribbon to attach to their convention badges. In the center of the ribbon the word "Veteran" was inscribed. The vets introduced themselves and announced their branch of service. The division presented President Maurer and Mrs. Maurer with 2013 patriotic pins, and the celebration closed with a reminder that freedom isn't free. President Sayer reminded everyone that, while remembering the men and women of the armed forces, we must remember their families as well because they wait, watch, wonder, and pray that their loved ones will come home safe and sound. ---------- Report of the Job Seeker Seminar, Job Fair, and Employment Committee: Dick Davis, chairman of the NFB Employment Committee, provided the following report: I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this year's Job Seeker Seminar and Job Fair at the NFB convention. Approximately eighty-five people attended the Job Fair. This was back-to-basics year, so we worked with attendees on knowing the fundamentals of career preparation and job- seeking skills. Many thanks to Employment Committee member Robert Leslie Newman for coordinating the Job Seeker Seminar. I would also like to thank committee members Bethel Murphy, Brenda Mosby, Dave Hyde, David Ticchi, Fatos Floyd, and volunteer Susan Clark for their work. For the first time we had a breakout session, which seemed to go very well, so that will no doubt be a feature of future seminars. The breakout presenters and attendees felt the time spent was worthwhile. One of the attendees set up a LinkedIn account for himself and discovered that it has a reference letter feature, so he immediately asked me to do one for him. To be honest, I had not known about that feature. Since a number of employers check LinkedIn before hiring a person, having letters of reference on it seems like a great idea. The one-hour walk-through of the newly accessible Monster.com by Ilya Shubik was also well received. Well over two hundred attended the Job Seeker Seminar, where fourteen employers were present. The room was mobbed for the first two hours of the Job Fair, and one employer even ran out of business cards and brochures and had to borrow a pen because her's ran out of ink. Every employer brought away stacks of r?sum?s. Fourteen employers were present: Benetech; Cleveland Sight Center Call Center; Hadley School for the Blind; Industries for the Blind, Inc.; Minnesota State Services for the Blind; National Statler Center/Olmstead Center for Sight; New Mexico Commission for the Blind; all three NFB training centers--BLIND, Inc., the Colorado Center for the Blind, and the Louisiana Center for the Blind; Perkins School for the Blind; the Piano Technology Group; SSB BART Group; the US Coast Guard; Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired; and World Services for the Blind. Many thanks to Suzanne Turner, committee member and Job Fair coordinator, and the people from the Cleveland Sight Center, who held practice sessions for those needing to polish their interviewing skills. Based on the huge response from job seekers and employers in this first year, I think we will need to double the size of the room next year to accommodate the crowd. I am sorry to report that the file we created of job fair attendees became corrupted and was unusable. We intended to get feedback from all the attendees through a follow-up survey, but that is now impossible, so I am asking people who went to the Job Fair to give me feedback by emailing me at . We will still be able to send feedback forms to the employers, because we have all their contact information. The Employment Committee meeting had around thirty attendees. This year it was more loosely structured than in the past, but we had presentations from Mississippi State University, the Cleveland Sight Center, Minnesota State Services for the Blind, Robert Leslie Newman of the Writers' Division on "Where the Blind Work," Clovernook, and other organizations and individuals. Jobseekers wanted to talk about what they could bring to an employer. I think I have mentioned everyone, but, if I did not, please accept my apologies. All in all it was a great convention for NFB jobseekers. If anyone has suggestions for how we can do things even better next year, please send them to me at . ---------- The National Association of Blind Automobile Enthusiasts Division: The division had many small trucks and cars donated to it. According to Division President Dave Hutchins, the highlight of the division's activities this year was the sale of small cars for $5 each or four for $15. The division conducted its annual seminar and business meeting, with two speakers each from the Model A Club and the T-Bird Club. Having sold out of the complete inventory of model cars, the division will have a new inventory next year. ---------- Report of the Cash and Caring Committee Meeting at Convention: Ramona Walhof reported as follows on the work of the cash and caring committee at convention: The meeting had more than fifty people, I am sure. There was standing room only for a while, and I collected more than fifty cards with names and email addresses. Parnell Diggs, Scott LaBarre, Richie Flores, and Joanne Wilson gave talks, and of course we did not have enough time for discussion. We challenged states to establish a fundraiser with a goal of raising at least $5,000 by the third year or expand an existing effort by $5,000. Quite a number of people took this challenge. We talked about the importance of sharing income with the national treasury, and I think virtually everyone accepted that as a major need. We will make a network of the names and emails of those who attended to provide a means of sharing experiences, successes, and suggestions. We will send the toolkit that we first distributed at Washington Seminar to everyone who came to this seminar, and we will continue to add information to it. We heard examples of events that raised $5,000 or more, talk about making state conventions into means of raising funds from nonmembers as well as members, and a list of the ways the NFB helps every blind person in the country. Hopefully, the next two additions to the toolkit will be Parnell's description of how the Columbia Chapter raises $24,000 with a chicken dinner and a contribution from Scott LaBarre on estate planning. ---------- 2013 NFB Communications Committee Meeting Highlights: The focus of this year's agenda was how to disseminate our message and news in changing times efficiently and affordably to membership and beyond. Each affiliate and division was asked to present and address what affiliates and divisions are doing now, why, and how. The majority present expressed problems and needs and were given useful suggestions by NFB colleagues. Concerns included lack of funding to produce multiple formats-- many giving up audio recordings and several eliminating print hardcopies. All use email, most post a website version, a few still offer audio, and a Braille edition was available in half the 22 affiliate newsletters. Placing state communications on NEWSLINE is yet to be fully used by affiliates with the service available. New communications yet to be embraced more fully are Facebook and Twitter. This committee is looking for additional members. If interested in the committee's work, contact chairman Robert Leslie Newman. ---------- The National Federation of the Blind in Communities of Faith: The NFB in Communities of Faith held its meeting on Wednesday, July 3. We first listened to presentations from those who produce Christian material for the blind. Craig Leeds from Braille Bibles International and Darrel Templeton, president of Megavoice, spoke about the availability of Bibles on NLS cartridges and a player using solar energy. The King James and the New Living translations of the Bible are available on cartridges. There are five translations available using the solar energy player. These players cost $35. Father John Sheehan from Xavier Society for the Blind assured us that his organization could produce Christian materials in Braille, which could be kept by the user. He indicated that this is cheaper than maintaining a library. We also heard from Keith Elliot, director of field services for Christian Record Services for the Blind, and from Mike Smith from the International Christian Braille Mission. A representative from Bookshare described its work in making books available for blind people. A substantial collection of Christian literature is now available through Bookshare. Plans are in the works to organize Communities of Faith divisions in various states. Devotions were held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings one hour before the opening of the morning session of the NFB convention. We had lively music, excellent solos, and messages presented by Sam Gleese, Mike Smith, and Tom Anderson. ---------- Report of the Human Services Division: The meeting of the Human Services Division was held on Wednesday, July 3. During the meeting Mike Truelock, a blind massage therapist, conducted chair massages as a fundraiser for the division. The board of directors and members are very grateful for Mike's hard work during our meeting as well as at our table in the exhibit hall. Thank you, Mike. The division had several informative presentations: ."Thoughts on Genetic Counseling as a Blind Person," presented by Ronit Mazone, genetic counselor at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center ."The Journey to Private Practice," presented by Merry Schoch, division board member ."The Human Services Professionals of Tomorrow," a presentation from members of our 2013 NFB scholarship class The business meeting resulted in an amendment to the division's constitution regarding membership dues. Elections were then conducted. Our members range from interested high school students to seasoned professionals in such varied careers as psychotherapist, occupational therapist, life coach, speech/language therapist, massage therapist, and music therapist, to name a few. Anyone in a career track that leads to being a professional in the human services field is welcome to join our membership. Just write a check payable to NFB - Human Services Division and mail it to the treasurer, JD Townsend, 1598 Riverside Drive, Holly Hill, FL 32117. ---------- Tidbits from the Krafters Korner: The division celebrated its fifth year, and we are excited about the number of telephone classes that are expanding to include a variety of crafts. Classes range from knitting and jewelry making to many types of beading. Another great event at the convention was our craft sale, held on Monday, July 1, from noon to 6:00. Quite a few people wandered through and purchased handmade items. We also had some free make-and-take items such as a pony-bead butterfly and an origami box. Krafter Korner had volunteers helping anyone who wanted to try a hand at making these items. We had visitors ranging from young children to seasoned crafters. It was a great time to meet new friends and catch up with old ones. It was also a great opportunity for parents of blind children to understand their youngsters' potential. ---------- NAGDU at National Convention: The National Association of Guide Dog Users, Inc. (NAGDU) is a strong and proud division of the National Federation of the Blind. We hold our annual meetings each year over two days during the NFB convention. On Monday, July 1, after our packed room of convention delegates introduced themselves, we accepted our treasurer's and secretary's reports. We then read, discussed, and passed a resolution concerning Guide Dogs for the Blind. You can read this resolution elsewhere in this issue. Access to zoos with our guide dogs is an ongoing concern for NAGDU and its members. With a wide diversity of policies among zoos in the United States, NAGDU contends that many of these policies are not compliant with the ADA. In keeping with the adage, "It is better to educate than to litigate," we invited top officials who are in a position to help us make changes to address our membership. Among these were Mark Jones, manager of domestic services for guests with disabilities for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts; Steve Olson, vice president of federal relations for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA); and Mark Trieglaff of ACT Services, who serves as an accessibility consultant to AZA. Each panelist discussed how the organizations they represent can affect policies to comply with their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and some of the challenges zoos face with service animals on their premises. The discussion was productive and laid the foundation for future collaboration with the organizations represented. On Wednesday, July 3, our meeting reconvened with committee reports, including updates on the NAGDU Information & Advocacy Hotline; our social networking efforts; enhancing our website; and a report on our advocacy efforts over the past year. Each of the chief executive officers of the guide dog training programs in the United States was personally invited to attend our meeting with the express purpose of providing their comments on the Guide Dog Users' Bill of Rights we passed during our 2011 annual meeting. We attempted to solicit these comments during our 2012 meeting; however, all the training programs avoided this request. This year we advised the training programs that the only comments we would permit were those concerning the Bill of Rights. Some of these reports were in-depth, while others could be charitably described as dismissive, evasive, and nonsubstantive. Nonetheless, the National Association of Guide Dog Users demonstrated that we are actively shifting the paradigm in the guide dog movement in the United States and around the world. Transcriptions of the training program comments, along with commentary from the NAGDU board will be made available on our blog, which you can view at . ---------- Eleventh Anniversary Meeting of the NFB Travel and Tourism Division: The division started as a group to discuss why blind people should travel for leisure to places like Ireland or Walt Disney World or take a cruise. The division has advocated for the rights of blind people who want to cruise without sighted companions or work in the travel industry as a travel professional or an outside business development manager. We reviewed the division's history. Ms. Stephanie Nelson founded the division. In 2001 she talked with President Maurer about having a travel division, and in 2002 Doug Johnson of California was elected as the first division president. Don Gillmore of Illinois also served as president, and now Cheryl Echevarria from New York has been president since 2011. The other officers are currently vice president, Maurice Shackelford (GA); secretary, Margo Downey (NY); treasurer, Milton Taylor (UT); and board members, Jemal Powell (IL) and Amy Baron (MN). Secretary Margo Downey told the division about problems she and others had with Southwest Airlines while flying to convention. The flight attendants and gate agents in Buffalo, New York, did not understand the Air Carrier Access Act and FAA regulations and tried to require passengers with guide dogs to sit in bulkhead seats. This has been an issue with Southwest Airlines for some time now. There is an Air Carrier Access Hotline. The phone number is (800) 778-4838. Anyone can file a complaint with the federal Department of Transportation by going to its website at . There is a link giving information about filing a complaint. The only reason a passenger can legally be required to sit in a certain seat or certain type of seat is to prevent something from blocking the aisle or exits. This is an FAA regulation. Steve Olsen from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums urged us to let his organization know of any concerns we have while visiting zoos or aquariums. The AZA has been around since 1929 and began accrediting in the late 1970s. AZA now has 221 members. President Cheryl Echevarria urged people to let her or Marion Gwizdala, president of the National Association of Guide Dog Users, know about any zoo problems. Mr. Olsen's association is willing to work with us to ensure enjoyable and problem-free visits to zoos, aquariums, and related venues. The new Travel and Tourism website is . Starting in September we will hold a monthly teleconference call for members, people thinking about becoming members, and anyone else interested in travel. Please make sure you register on the nfbnet.org and sign up for the travel and tourism talk list, to keep up with information. Jessica Snyder from the NFB of New York described her trip to China. In the 1990s China began to develop more comprehensive accessibility laws. About 60 million people are considered disabled. China does have services for blind children with mainstreaming and special classes. Elderly and disabled citizens have a right to material assistance from the state and society. Jessica had no problems as a blind person traveling in the country. Rob Nevin from U-R-Able, a company in Canada, spoke. It is concerned about the underemployment and unemployment of blind people and seeks to make employment more accessible. Along with JAWS its product makes using software easier and more efficient with fewer steps. People can use this accessibility software in call centers. Lawyers can use it, and so can many other people. A person can use JAWS, a refreshable Braille display, and the Alt software for work acceleration. Blind people can outperform sighted people using this threefold approach and have even more chances to get the jobs we want. The Alt software uses something called "beaming." It takes the user from where she/he is to the end destination in a single step. Mr. Nevin demonstrated the software for us. Margo Downey presented a report on the Travel and Tourism working tour of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. We used the way-finding and description devices and were updated on Disney's accessibility features. Disney cast members asked for our feedback in an effort to continue to improve accessibility for all. Mark Jones, manager for domestic services for guests with disabilities at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, presented to the group. There are over 130,000 cast members (employees) at Disney properties and on Disney cruise ships. Sixty thousand cast members work at Walt Disney World. Blind people are employed at Disney. He told us about the way-finding devices that audibly update you as you walk through the parks and then describe attractions. He also mentioned that the service dog relief areas are now inside the parks and that any open grassy area can be used by service animals in the parks. Mr. Jones welcomes suggestions, problems, and compliments. ---------- Announcement about the United Blind Industrial Workers of America: Thomas Stivers writes as follows: It is my honor to have been elected as the chairman of the steering committee for the newly reconstituted United Blind Industrial Workers of America. We will work together to eliminate all subminimum wage payments on the basis of disability, ensure equal opportunities for advancement for all blind workers, provide adequate training to blind workers in sheltered employment who are seeking mainstream jobs, and defend the rights of blind workers who are abused by those who claim to be their protectors. As of now the UBIWA is in its earliest stages, and we are looking for members to give of their time, talent, and eventually treasure to make this developing division of the Federation one of our strongest. Join the mailing list by sending a blank message to or visit our website at to keep up with developments as they occur. On behalf of the committee I offer thanks to the merchants division, the Federation as a whole, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, and the lawyers division for their generous contributions, which will make this organization possible. ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Thu Oct 31 00:54:40 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:54:40 -0700 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, November 2013 Message-ID: <201310310754.r9V7seVw011910@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 10 November 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Vol. 56, No. 10 November 2013 Contents Illustration: The Blind in Science: From Spectators to Innovators Dr. Abraham Nemeth: Inventor, Professor, Hebrew Scholar, and Federationist dies at 94 by Deborah Kendrick The Dawn of the Age of Tactile Fluency: Let the Revolution Begin! by Al Maneki BELL Rings in Ohio by Barbara Pierce We Rang the BELL Again by Diane McGeorge The BELL Rings in Pennsylvania by Michelle McManus and Harriet Go A BELL Rings in Oklahoma by Tamala Young The Poetry of Motion, the Grace of Movement, the Delight of Physical Expression with Blindness No Barrier by Natalie Shaheen, Jerry Whittle, Maurice Peret, Lou Ann Blake, Matt Simpson, Lisamaria Martinez, and Greg DeWall Experiencing the Magic by Cheryl Echevarria and Margo Downey Of Parallels and Justice by Jim Marks A Collaboration That Enhances Opportunity: The Association of American Publishers and the National Federation of the Blind Change Possibilities for Literacy by Tom Allen The New Victor Reader Stream: In Many Ways Better Than the Original by Curtis Chong Old-School Braille Needs Image Update by Deborah Kendrick Dr. Jacob Bolotin-the California Connection by C. Edwin Vaughan When Santa Lost His Eyesight by Alex Castillo Recipes Monitor Miniatures The Blind in Science: From Spectators to Innovators The STEM-X Program was held on the campus of Towson University in Baltimore from July 29 to August 3, providing unique learning opportunities to fifty high school students from around the country. The "X" in the program's name is inspired by the aerospace community, where missions have used the letter as an abbreviation for "exploration," and as a statement of their intent to seek new solutions and new information that would push the current boundaries of known science. Participants in the STEM-X program certainly had the enthusiasm as they explored their chosen focus discipline. Each student chose a focus: chemistry, computer science, engineering, robotics, or space science. While each student has a chosen focus, the students are encouraged to work collaboratively across specializations, taking the different approaches of the diverse disciplines to create synergy and original thinking in the problem-solving challenges. Students work with blind and sighted STEM professionals as guides in their summer learning. [PHOTO CAPTION: Hoby Wedler demonstrates one of the labs to two of his chemistry students.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Keby Young reads the Braille label on her skeleton in the human physiology class.] Students are encouraged to get hands-on in their STEM explorations. Whether it's reading Braille labels on skeletons, building models, testing the stability of those models, or other activities, participants aren't sitting quietly waiting for someone to tell them what they can do. [PHOTO CAPTION: Alexander Richmond walks across the bridge he built with his peers in the civil engineering class to prove its strength.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Mark Riccobono takes a spin in the spacecraft designed by the aerospace engineering class.] Mark Riccobono stopped by, and ended up taking a tour of a different sort of blind driver-designed vehicle than he's used to: a mock spacecraft designed by the students in the aerospace engineering class. [PHOTO SHOWCASE: Dr. Abraham Nemeth] Dr. Abraham Nemeth: Inventor, Professor, Hebrew Scholar, and Federationist Dies at 94 by Deborah Kendrick When I was in college, I once had to take an incomplete in an algebra course. The problem wasn't my ability to comprehend math. Rather it was my inability to read and write the mathematical equations the course required. I'd had no textbooks in Braille in college, but this time I scrambled to find a Braille transcriber to put the book into Braille for me. At first I felt like a kindergartner as I sat with the friend who was going to tutor me. I could read literature at an easy four hundred words per minute, but this stuff was like Greek to me. It was, it turned out, not Greek, but the Nemeth code. I had heard of that code, heard of the famous blind man who had written it, but, little did I know at the time, that decades later I would be asked by the National Federation of the Blind's president, Dr. Marc Maurer, to write the biography of the brilliant inventor who, by creating the Nemeth code, would enable countless blind people around the world to pursue passions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I have spent many hours in the Southfield, Michigan, apartment of Dr. Abraham Nemeth in the last few years, listening to his stories, his memories, and his piano playing. October 2, 2013, exactly two weeks shy of his 95th birthday, the world lost a brilliant inventor, mathematician, musician, and devout follower of the Jewish faith. Those of us who are blind have lost one of the greatest treasures in our expansive family, and it is vital, not only that we remember him and his Braille system for science and mathematics, but that we know him for the warm, generous, and extraordinary man that he was. When Abraham Nemeth was growing up, blind children were taught to weave baskets and cane chairs. The social expectation was that, if a blind man were to have any gainful activity beyond begging, it would be in menial tasks and manual labor. But Abraham Nemeth's Jewish immigrant parents either didn't know or care about those social expectations. His father walked with him in their New York tenement neighborhood, encouraging him to touch raised lettering on mailboxes to learn the shapes of printed letters and to note whether they were walking east or west as they chatted. His mother sent her blind six-year-old son to the grocer around the corner (who happened to be his grandfather), entrusting him to remember the bread, the butter, and the measure of sour cream. His grandfather spent hours with him in the temple, teaching him the lessons every boy would need one day for bar mitzvah. Each of them taught him that there was nothing he could not do. Abraham went to school, learned to read and write Braille, and in his teens developed a passion for mathematics. As a student at Brooklyn College he was advised by an expert in blindness to pursue a degree in psychology. Mathematics, he was told, held no future for a blind man. When he couldn't find a job as a psychologist after his 1940 graduation, he was advised to make himself more professionally appealing by earning a master's degree in psychology. So in 1942 he graduated with that degree from Columbia University. A self-taught musician, he picked up jobs playing piano in clubs around Brooklyn, and in 1944 he married Florence Weismann. Still unemployed, he took a job at the American Foundation for the Blind, where he stitched pillow cases, loaded boxes of talking book records onto trucks, and counted phonograph needles into envelopes. His passion for mathematics, however, never wavered. In his free time he took every math course offered by first Brooklyn College and then Columbia University, seeking relaxation in mathematics in the same way, as he would often put it, "that other guys enjoyed pinochle or a night of bowling." He volunteered to tutor returning soldiers in calculus after World War II, and it was this generosity that led to the first real break in pursuing his dream. As he wrote equations carefully on the chalkboard circling the room, patiently explaining each step of the process, he was unaware that another professor was observing him. One Friday night he received a telegram that would remain a milestone in memory throughout his life. A teacher in the mathematics department had become ill, and Abraham Nemeth was being asked to fill his place. Meanwhile he continued seeking employment as a psychologist, but there were no more jobs for blind psychologists than there were for blind mathematicians. Finally his wife put the question to him: "Wouldn't you rather be an unemployed mathematician than an unemployed psychologist?" With that he quit his day job and began work on a doctorate in mathematics at Columbia University. Florence went to work to support them, and Abraham Nemeth was on his way to fulfilling his dream. Early in his pursuit of sophisticated mathematics, he had begun developing a private code to keep track of complicated calculations. There was no Braille code to support any math beyond basic arithmetic, because social expectations of blind people did not require a means of writing complex equations. Although Nemeth was blessed with a prodigious memory, even he needed a means of recording complicated mathematical computations and, as he would so often do when no existing means was available, he invented one for himself. At the American Foundation for the Blind, Abraham Nemeth had become acquainted with another blind man, also an exception of the era, who came to his friend Abe in desperate need of a table of integrals. "I have one," Nemeth told Clifford Witcher, "But it's in my own private code. You wouldn't be able to read it." Witcher persuaded Nemeth to teach him the code and was an immediate convert. Cliff Witcher happened to serve on the Joint Uniform Braille Committee (the 1950 equivalent of the Braille Authority of North America) and invited Nemeth to prepare a report for that committee to review. He made his report one morning in 1951, and by afternoon the Nemeth code, as it was immediately and forever thereafter called, was unanimously adopted. The work ethic and spirit of self-reliance Abe Nemeth learned from his parents was always evident. When he was offered part-time teaching jobs or one-time piano gigs, it never occurred to him to decline. He traveled throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, using subways and buses, memorizing routes, using the orientation skills his father had instilled in him as a child, and somehow did it all without a white cane. Long white canes simply were not routine tools for blind people in the 1930s and 1940s. Remarkable though it seems today, Abraham Nemeth simply used the tools he had-his good mind and remaining senses--to travel where he needed to go. He would not have a white cane until 1955, when at last he landed a full-time teaching position, and he and Florence moved to Detroit. In 1955 Nemeth was hired by the University of Detroit, where he spent thirty years teaching graduate and undergraduate mathematics courses. While there he completed his doctoral work at Wayne State University and received his Ph.D. in mathematics. In the 1960s he inaugurated the computer science department at the University of Detroit and would continue to teach in both disciplines till his retirement in 1985. Retirement for Dr. Nemeth was not a time to relax but rather a time to pursue other scholarly and advocacy interests. He had always been aware of the National Federation of the Blind and became an active member in 1985, when his schedule finally enabled him to attend the national convention. He attended every national convention from 1985 through 2011. He continued to work on a uniform Braille system, combining existing forms of Braille notation for mathematics, literature, and computer notation, which he called the Nemeth Uniform Braille System (NUBS). He worked for five years in conjunction with JBI International (formerly the Jewish Braille Institute) to reorganize Jewish prayer books, in English and Hebrew, so that a blind person going to synagogue would need only one volume rather than nineteen in order to participate in any service. He was an active advocate for blind people in Michigan, helping to pass the Braille bill in that state to ensure that all blind children would have the opportunity to learn Braille and was fond of saying that, even though he was a Democrat, a Republican governor appointed him to chair the Michigan Commission for the Blind. As sharp and brilliant at age ninety-four as any ordinary mortal one- third his age, his reservoir of memories and jokes seemed bottomless. "Will that one get in the book," he asked me more than once after regaling me with a joke or pun, limerick or riddle. He loved playing with words almost as much as numbers. Called a true Renaissance man by David Sachs, who wrote the obituary for the Detroit Jewish News, Dr. Nemeth was a math professor, Hebrew scholar, gifted musician, and charismatic storyteller. Among numerous honors over the years, he was named a Thousand Points of Light Award winner by President Bush, and that light seemed apparent even at his funeral service. With waning strength to speak in his final hours, Dr. Nemeth murmured a comment to his friend and study partner, Abe Pasternak, which Pasternak gave to the rabbi for inclusion in Dr. Nemeth's eulogy. That final comment contained the opening Hebrew words of the silent Amidah prayer, the translation of which is, "O Lord, open my lips, so that my mouth may declare Your praise." Before Rabbi Yoskowitz spoke, a wind blew the scrap of paper into the grave, before the casket was lowered. In forty years and one thousand funerals, the Rabbi said he had never seen anything like it. It was a mystical moment indeed and reflective of the kind and brilliant man who always had one more thing to say. In his apartment, surrounded by his Braille books - Jewish prayers, mathematics, philosophy, and economics - and his numerous awards and honors (a bust of Louis Braille among his favorites), he frequently quoted his beloved grandfather to me. "It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark," was his most often quoted wisdom from his grandfather. The one that rings most true for me today, however, now that Dr. Nemeth is no longer with us, is his grandfather's comment about time. "What do you mean you don't have time?" his grandfather chided. "You have all the time God created." I don't know much about "all the time God has created." I do know that, no matter how much larger than life a person may be, time here eventually runs out. Blind physicists and engineers and math teachers and software designers everywhere thank Dr. Nemeth and bless his name daily as they run fingers across lines of complexity written in Nemeth code. As I finish the book, I'll be thinking about them, but mostly I'll be thinking about what humility and genius look like when they merge in one human being. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. Al Maneki] The Dawn of the Age of Tactile Fluency Let the Revolution Begin! by Al Maneki >From the Editor: Dr. Al Maneki is a longtime member of the National Federation of the Blind who has a strong commitment to improving the education of blind children through new and innovative techniques for teaching what has too often been considered difficult or impossible. He has a PhD in mathematics which he earned in 1970 from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He taught on the faculty of North Dakota State University until 1974 and was then hired by the Department of Defense, where he worked as a research mathematician until his retirement in 2007. The following article is an expanded and revised version of a talk he gave at the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children Annual Conference at the NFB national convention in Orlando on July 1, 2013. His remarks have been edited by Carol Castellano, a person whose commitment to the education of the blind is similarly strong and worthy of our praise and admiration. Here is what Al had to say: Up to now parents of every blind child have inevitably run up against this vexing problem: "My blind child will be taking geometry next year. How will we handle all of those drawings?" Back in my student days that question didn't arise until the second or third year of high school. Today this question is more likely to come up in middle school. In my day, from the administrator's point of view, the answer was simple: "We will exempt your child from this required course." As simple as this answer is, it is never the right answer. Yet most parents, including mine, accepted that answer because they knew of no alternative. We all knew that it wasn't right, but we accepted it anyway. When I studied at the University of Hawaii, I figured out a way to handle the diagrams in a standard geometry class. I discovered the Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit. Because I lacked the motor skills to draw diagrams on this drawing board, my professors or fellow students drew the diagrams for me. When the time came for me to demonstrate mastery of the subject matter, I verbally described the pictures that other students were drawing. If my descriptions were satisfactory, my professors accepted my answers to their test questions. Fortunately, today there are better solutions, and fewer parents are saying "yes" to exemptions from required courses. The blind children of today cannot afford to wait until the start of their geometry classes or the start of their college studies to learn graphic skills. It is beginning to be understood that, just as Braille is best mastered if it is taught at an early age, we must also begin teaching graphic skills to blind children at an early age. Braille and tactile graphics are inseparable. They belong to the same tactile medium. To describe competence in the tactile medium, whether it is in the form of Braille dots or raised lines, my colleagues and I have coined the term tactile fluency. In a real sense Braille and raised-line graphics are part of the same medium for learning and self-expression. In the sighted world written language and pictorial representations exist because some ideas are better communicated in words and others in pictures. The two complement each other. Sighted people can be equally at ease expressing their thoughts in words or in pictures, depending on which is most suitable to the situation. Blind people should be equally at home reaching for a slate and stylus or reaching for a raised-line sketchpad. We blind people are too accustomed to the idea of expressing in words what is best described in pictures. Often it is time-consuming and inefficient to express in words what is best conveyed with diagrams or drawings. This inefficiency must cease! If blind people are to be tactilely fluent, we must be proficient in drawing and interpreting diagrams as well as in Braille reading and writing. We encourage our sighted children to start reading and drawing before kindergarten; we must encourage our blind children to do likewise. Their first efforts at drawing the simplest objects may appear crude. Yet, with encouragement and more practice, their skills will improve. Tactile graphics technology has advanced to the point where we can produce satisfactory diagrams with embossing devices and incorporate these diagrams into Braille textbooks. However, the ability of blind people to draw their own diagrams lags far behind. The Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit, the APH Draftsman, and other devices still exist. However, the potential to teach blind people to sketch on these boards or to use them as a medium of self-expression has been given minimal emphasis. Furthermore, there has never been an effective way to perform erasures and make changes to tactile sketches. When future historians examine the records, I think they will conclude that the revolution in tactile fluency began in 2008. In other articles I've described my first meeting with Mike Rosen and Mike Coleman, two professors in the School of Engineering at the University of Vermont. In the freewheeling way that scholars, scientists, artists, and engineers can let their imaginations roam, we conjured up the inspiration for developing an eraser for the raised line drawing board. After all, who can imagine using pencils without erasers? In this light the idea of creating an eraser for the drawing board was compelling. To Rosen and Coleman, the design of an eraser was a perfect fit for the School of Engineering's required course, the Senior Experience in Engineering Design, or SEED. The National Federation of the Blind is an organization that never hesitates to take bold action when it can support a good idea. When I explained the SEED project and the minimal funding it would require to President Marc Maurer, he immediately said "yes!" The payoff from our SEED investment was immediate. At the 2009 convention in Detroit we showed the first prototype of our thermal eraser. This was only the beginning. Today, not only do we have a sleek battery-powered thermal eraser, but we now have the beginnings of an entire line of products that allow for the creation, editing, reproduction, and digital transmission of raised-line drawings. By the spring of 2011 our work in tactile graphics had outgrown the scope of the SEED course. At this point Mike Rosen, Mike Coleman, SEED graduate Joshua Coffee, and I decided that tactile graphics had matured to the point where its work should be organized as a separate corporate venture. With support from NFB and the University of Vermont, early in 2012 we founded E.A.S.Y. LLC, Engineering to Assist and Support You. I want to say a few words about our company and its four principals: Rosen, Coleman, Coffee, and me. We are deeply committed to the revolution in tactile fluency. Since I have written much about myself elsewhere, I will say here only that I serve without compensation as the chairman of E.A.S.Y. LLC's board of advisors. Rosen and Coleman have given up most of their teaching duties and a good part of their secure university salaries to devote more of their time to our company. Joshua Coffee could have accepted a much better paying position with a well-established company but chose instead to cast his lot with us. E.A.S.Y. has been organized as a for- profit company. Its mission statement (available at ), however, commits us to providing remarkable functionality at affordable prices. We couldn't have chosen a finer group of people to join us in the tactile fluency revolution. Both Mikes cut their eye teeth on our movement, not only by exhibiting the first prototype in 2009, but also by enthusiastically taking part in our March for Independence in Detroit that year. Mike, Mike, and Josh understand the benefits of an NFB partnership in product development. They are working with us in the best traditions established by our historical relationships with Ray Kurzweil and Deane Blazie. At the NFB national convention in Orlando this past summer, the E.A.S.Y. staff presented sessions for parents, teachers, and children to show the line of products, collectively known as inTACT, which are either available for sale or under development. We demonstrated how easy it is to use our drawing board and how effortlessly blind persons of all ages can construct many images, some simple, others more complex. With inTACT there will be no excuse for exempting blind students from geometry and other classes requiring the construction of graphic images. There will be no excuse for not requiring blind students to submit the same drawings that are required of their sighted peers. Classroom teachers and teachers of blind students will be able to grade and return corrected drawings to blind students. At the NOPBC session for parents and teachers entitled "Making and Understanding Raised-Line Drawings," I used the inTACT digitized sketchpad to construct the Feuerbach Circle for an acute triangle. The purpose of this construction was not to delve into the intricacies of the Feuerbach Circle, but to show how our sketchpad could be used efficiently in a classroom or in a staff briefing. With our digitized sketchpad and software, the triangle and circle not only appeared on my sketchpad as I drew them, but also simultaneously appeared on the projection screen so the audience could view what I was drawing. At that very moment I could not help experiencing sadness and satisfaction about now having the capacity to perform a task I could never do during my student days and working career. I also thought about my early teachers who said that a blind person could never do mathematics because of the drawing and the writing of equations that the discipline entailed. The memory of the many who might have scoffed inwardly at the thought of a blind person doing mathematics is bittersweet. At the convention E.A.S.Y. was also invited to hold a session at NFB Camp to teach tactile graphics to blind and sighted children. Ten youngsters took part in our session. Since we did not know what to expect, we were most surprised when all of the students started to draw their own pictures as soon as we explained how the sketchpad works. Although we adults were not always able to know what the drawings represented, all of the youngsters could tell us what they were drawing when we asked them. What we intended as a one-hour session lasted well over two hours. It became very clear to us from our NFB Camp experience that tactile graphics skills can be taken up very easily by blind or sighted children if we afford them the opportunity. Not only will tactile graphics tools be valuable to blind children, they will also be valuable to sighted children with blind parents. I am convinced that the inTACT line of graphics products is just the beginning of tactile graphics tools. The early successes of the revolution in tactile fluency may spawn competing products. We at E.A.S.Y. welcome the competition, and we will do our best to stay ahead of it. One idea that E.A.S.Y. looks forward to developing, for example, is a way to integrate Braille labeling and raised-line drawings on a single board. But we will not wait for the arrival of the ultimate tools to start the tactile fluency revolution. We will take the tools we have now and use them to the benefit of our blind students. All of us-E.A.S.Y. staff, families, teachers, and students-are vital participants in the revolution in tactile fluency. We must inform teachers of blind students and school administrators about the new products in tactile graphics and how important it is for our schools to teach tactile fluency. Along with ensuring that our blind children learn Braille, parents must place drawing boards in their hands at the earliest possible age. Just as we encourage sighted children to draw what they see, the mantra for our blind children will be, "Draw what you feel." With these early beginnings it will become natural for parents to insist that their blind children receive appropriate graphics instruction throughout their school years. We must insist that this instruction be specifically included in every IEP. We are currently in discussions with the NFB Jernigan Institute to include graphics units in all of our BELL summer programs beginning in 2014. Our NFB training centers should incorporate graphics training into their programs as well. I deeply regret that the revolution in tactile fluency did not arrive over sixty years ago when I was in my formative years and could have benefited from it. I'm sorry that I couldn't integrate text and graphics to deepen my comprehension of many technical subjects. Above all, I know that my career as a mathematician would have been much more rewarding if I had had both Braille and graphics tools at my command. However, I am optimistic about the prospects for blind students today. Because of the dual facility in Braille and graphics that they will be able to develop, career prospects for them, especially in STEM areas, will far exceed what we think is possible today. Without further delay, let the tactile fluency revolution begin. ---------- BELL Rings in Ohio by Barbara Pierce >From the Editor: Barbara Pierce needs little in the way of an introduction. She was the editor of this magazine for more than fifteen years, served as the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio for many terms, and was incredibly active and innovative as our chairman of public relations before that job became demanding enough to require someone full- time. Here is what Barbara and her crew have to say about the BELL Program in Ohio: Beginning July 15, Columbus was the site of a two-week program unlike anything ever tried in Ohio before. Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL), the NFB's ten-day intensive introduction to Braille and much more, debuted in Ohio. For the most part blind Federationists organized and staffed the program. Eric Duffy coordinated the entire effort and, thanks to the generosity of the Wright State University Research Institute, he was able to be on hand for almost every minute of the program. Debbie Baker was the lead teacher, and she planned the instruction and directed the staff of willing volunteers. Ohio was especially lucky because Maryanne Denning and Shelley McCoy, who are both gifted teachers of blind children in their own right, were also part of the staff. We had a couple of children who needed one-on-one supervision and instruction, so we were able to offer truly first-class staffing. In addition to six other blind volunteers, Carol Akers, co-president of the Parents of Blind Children Division in Ohio, was there every day, and her son Dustin made friends with all the children. Shelbi Hindel's twelve-year-old daughter Aliyah was a steady volunteer with boundless energy and good temper. She was amazingly mature and helpful to us all. Seven families signed up for the BELL program, though because of personal complications two of the children came for the first week only. The program was originally created and designed to help low-vision kids who were not getting the Braille they need during the school year, but we just couldn't turn away young Braille readers who we know would benefit from the entire range of skills being taught and modeled in this program. We were lucky to receive permission to conduct the program at the Glenmont School, which is now the headquarters for the Autism Association of Ohio. This was a wonderful place for us to work, and the staff could not have been more welcoming or helpful. We had the use of two good-size classrooms and the hallway and kitchens. The kitchens were useful for storing food and preparing lunch every day. Annette Lutz and Shelbi Hindel chiefly organized and prepared the food. This saved us a great deal of money and meant that the students and staff had very tasty meals every day. The Ohio State School for the Blind (OSSB) jumped onto the BELL bandwagon as well by allowing five of the volunteers who needed housing to stay in one of the new cottages for the duration of the program. OSSB was only a few-minutes cab ride from the school, so the location was ideal. The heart of the BELL Program, however, is the curriculum. Much of the time staff and students were encouraged to wear sleepshades so that the kids got used to paying attention to what their fingers, toes, and ears were telling them. Not surprisingly the children with some useable vision grumbled at being unable to see when the sleepshades were on, and the ones with no vision could not understand why we often insisted that they wear sleepshades. We spent a good bit of time finding the sleepshades and storing glasses before we could begin an activity. The most interesting part of the exercise, however, was their reaction every time they discovered that we were also wearing sleepshades. They were not at all used to having teachers who were blind. In fact one staff member overheard a child saying wonderingly to himself, "So teachers can be blind." Again and again during the program the kids kept rediscovering that we were blind too. We started each day by listing our bell ringers, that is, ringing our bells every time a child or staff member reported on something that he or she had done the day before that was worthy of pride. Some of the children did not like the sound of loud bells at the start of the program, but by the close they were all ringing their bells enthusiastically. We then sang two songs: "Ring my Bell," which allowed us to ring bells throughout the song, and "The Braille Rap Song." This is a clever rap song written and recorded by the American Printing House for the Blind that goes through the alphabet reviewing the Braille dot numbers of each letter. The kids loved dancing and shouting along with the song, and some mornings we paused the song at each letter and had the children take turns giving us the dot numbers and the whole-word Braille abbreviations for each letter. We had learning centers at which kids could practice pouring, spreading cream cheese and peanut butter on bagels and bread, making party mix, and forming Fruit Loops, miniature marshmallows, and mini M&Ms into Braille letters. One day we made ice cream and each child and some staff members made cakes in a cup. These eatable projects were very popular. We learned to fold currency and sort coins. And we played various games which required reading and writing Braille letters. [PHOTO CAPTION: Passing around the Braille beach ball was a popular activity] The group activities included scavenger hunts of various kinds that pitted teams of children against each other. We tossed a Brailled beach ball back and forth, reading the letters and words stuck on the ball's surface that we first touched; and we played Braille musical chairs, in which each child who found a chair had to read the Braille word taped to the back. We had a fine game, called odd ball, which required players to match pairs of balls of different sizes and textures. Through the two weeks we taught the kids strategies for identifying pairs of balls, and they improved amazingly at doing the job. Perhaps the most popular game was Braille Twister. We had giant Braille cells laid out on poster board, with each large Braille dot made of a different textured fabric. The caller gave instructions like left foot on dot 3, right foot on dot 4, left hand on dot 6, and right hand on dot 1. The result was lots of laughter and learning of Braille letters. The game Stay out of My Bubble was also popular. The children wore Hula Hoops suspended from straps over their shoulders. Then they moved around, practicing courteously requesting that others "Please stay out of my bubble." At the same time they were also learning how close they could get to other people without making them uncomfortable. Jim Debus came one day and taught the students the rudiments of goalball and later introduced them to the cardinal directions. Another day a fire crew brought a truck to the school and showed the children all the special fire protection clothing that firefighters wear. Then the kids got to crawl around the truck. One of the firefighters was a woman, which impressed students and staff alike. Another day a police officer came to talk about safety and introduce the children to the police car. Eric Duffy has a wonderful way with children. On the first day of BELL he announced that he was King Eric and that everyone would have to follow his rules during BELL. This decree provided an ongoing source of jokes and teasing back and forth for the entire program. The children announced almost every day that he was fired and that they were taking over. Eric would respond by threatening to put them in jail. When volunteer Kaiti Shelton devised a set of words to the old camp song, "There's a hole in your bucket," the kids were delighted. Our version began, "There's a crack in your crown, King Eric, King Eric," and went downhill from there. By the end of every day and certainly by the close of the program everyone was exhausted. But we were also thrilled to observe the changes in the youngsters. They still dropped their canes whenever possible and forgot where they were lying, but they were remembering that they should have them and even got better at using them. They developed strategies for assessing things tactilely. They began asking to use the slate and stylus and to take turns reading the Braille books that surrounded them. Our very quiet child had learned to speak up because his blind teachers didn't notice his problems when he was silent. Our extravert began to learn that we were not impressed with her just because she was blind. The staff learned lots as well. We learned to work together as a team. Some of us discovered how much fun it is to read Braille books to children. We learned how to teach under sleepshades, and we rediscovered how much fun it is to play on the floor. A photo gallery of the BELL Program in Ohio appears on our website, . Here are the comments of some of the staff: [PHOTO CAPTION: Mackenzie reading a Seedlings book] Debbie Baker: We in the NFB of Ohio offer our gratitude to the generous anonymous donor who contributed $200 to each of the nineteen 2013 BELL programs to be used to purchase books from Seedlings Braille Books for Children. It was a delight to choose a variety of Braille and Braille-print books for our program from Seedlings. We sent goodie bags home with each student at the end of the program. These included two Seedlings books selected by each child; his or her long white cane, sleepshades, and Freedom Bell used daily to celebrate students' successes; a slate and stylus; a Pop-A-Cell from the American Printing House for the Blind, with which students can practice forming Braille symbols; and various edible or craft projects completed during the program. Students practiced learning the cardinal directions as well. Each worked with a blind adult partner to locate or to move toward the north, south, east, and west walls of the classroom in which we worked. Of course we used these same directional referents as we moved around inside the school. One morning we took students outside to locate the morning sun in order to find east. Then students applied cardinal directions as they traveled with their canes outside the school. The students journaled at the close of each day. An adult partner helped with spelling and advice on sentence structure and correcting errors, and generally tried to protect the Perkins Braillers. This activity included writing thank-you notes to the firefighters who visited during the first week, to Jim Debus for his help with goalball and orientation and mobility, and to the school custodian, who cleaned up after us and answered our requests for general assistance. Deborah Kendrick: What's not to love when you combine children and Braille in one program created by the National Federation of the Blind? In other words, I knew when I first heard about BELL (Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning) that I was eager to see it come to Ohio and eager to be a part of it. Of course what no one could know in advance was the shape and feel of our particular BELL program, since each program in each state takes on the personalities of the children and adults who come together in it. The children were precious. From vibrant fashionista Mackenzie, age six, who announced emphatically when I shook her hand on the first day, "I'm the smartest kid here," to dog-lover Aidan, age ten, who really worked hard to learn Braille and always had an adorably quirky smile in his voice. Jayden and I bonded the first day, first around our hearing aids and next through a kind of secret understanding about what each of us could see. He saw a fair amount with his eyes, and I see nothing physically. Yet he caught on quickly through a game we played that I could see many things by using my other senses-and my brain. We practiced using clues like detectives to see without eyesight, and I do hope he is still practicing. I learned about my fellow Federationists too. We've all known for years that Debbie Baker was a teacher, but seeing her in action was truly a treat. Our college students, Kaiti and Aleeha, suddenly seemed like full- blown professionals in their interactions with the kids. Somehow, almost magically, every adult fell into a designer niche-from preparing our lunch to directing games to reading stories-and it was simply a fabulous experience. Naturally there were things we figured out that maybe we don't need to do next year and others that we should expand. But our first Ohio BELL program was a huge success, and I personally wouldn't miss the next one. P.S. I am still waiting for my bell. Carol Akers's parent perspective: It was interesting to watch the families as they entered hesitantly on the first morning, probably wondering if they were doing the right thing by entrusting their blind children to strangers. After all, not only were these people strangers and in a building unfamiliar to the children, but, most of the people in the room were blind themselves. Parents were nervously trying to explain some of their children's needs, their supplies, and the amount of assistance they required. Fast forward two weeks. The children arrive on the final day, excited to be here. Parents are smiling, knowing their kids are happy to be a part of this experience, in which they are with their peers, playing games competitively, and sharing tasks with people who understand their desire to be included in everyday activities like making snacks, mixing up a cake in a cup, and knowing how to pour their own drinks. Parents are no longer hesitant to leave their children because they are now convinced that blind people are responsible and capable and that parents can have an honest, open dialog about their children with people who really understand the situation. What a difference two weeks can make. We watched each child emerge and change as the kids expanded their knowledge of Braille through many games and types of exposure. Children of all abilities shared those opportunities, and each one was affected in a different way. Some children had had more exposure than others, but only through reading books. Little did they know how many other ways they could incorporate Braille into their lives. Parents also began to see differences: they heard their children talk about each day's activities, using their canes to discover sounds for a sound scavenger hunt, identifying the sounds they hear and learning more about them, an object scavenger hunt identifying items and objects that might obstruct their paths on any day and how to maneuver around them safely using their canes-all information useful in helping them become more independent. After all, isn't that what most parents desire for their children but just aren't sure how to accomplish? [PHOTO CAPTION: Parents of BELL participants donned sleepshades to receive a mini orientation and mobility class.] Comments from families were positive. At the end a mini orientation and mobility lesson gave parents more insight into how their children perceive their environment when learning to navigate in and around it. I think they came away realizing that their blind children are capable of much more than they give them credit for. They can have high expectations for their children because with proper instruction their children are capable. They can have dreams of a bright future for their kids. And, most important, they don't have to accept the limitations set by society for their blind children. What a wonderful experience BELL was--successful in accomplishing what we set out to do by making a lasting impression on young lives through Braille and daily living skills and most of all sharing the NFB with them. Shelbi Hindel: As we planned for the BELL Program, we knew that lunch preparation for such a large group (usually about twenty) would be challenging. The word "challenging" was replaced by "daunting" as soon as we learned that we would not have the use of a stove. But, as we always do in the National Federation of the Blind, we pulled together and made it work. Almost anyone responsible for the daily preparation of meals can relate to the feeling of "Oh no, what am I going to fix today? Nothing sounds good, or it is so close to what we've just been eating!" Our effort to feed the masses was aided by a generous donation of food and drinks by the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission. One of the cafeterias operated by the Business Enterprise Program closed, and we were able to use the remaining inventory. We want to thank Kevin Miller and Mindy Duncan for making this very generous gift possible. Annette Lutz had much of the responsibility for the lunch arrangements, but it was a true team effort. Barbara Pierce and my daughter Aliyah were also a tremendous help. I enjoyed working with them and getting to know them better. We all did things in slightly different ways, but we found that each of our techniques worked. In this case I would not say that there were too many cooks in the kitchen. We all ate very well over the two weeks. I appreciate that no one complained and that the people I have not mentioned here helped out when they were asked or saw a need. Perhaps the most cheering part of this element of BELL was that every morning the children enquired with real enthusiasm, "What are we having for lunch?" And whether it was sloppy Joe, chicken and noodles, marzetti, hotdogs, or toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, they asked for seconds. Marianne Denning: I volunteered to help at the BELL Program this summer and met wonderful children and volunteers. I made new friendships and learned more about the philosophy of the NFB. The children took on new challenges and loved to come to camp every morning. I received an email from one of the parents who said that his TVI noticed improvement in his cooperation in Braille. He will begin kindergarten this fall, so he is just beginning to use touch-and-learn Braille. His parents are thrilled with BELL. I love Braille, and I am always excited when children learn and love it too. How the BELL Resonates for a Teacher by Kaiti Shelton Like many other children with partial vision, I began my academic career by pressing my face into a print book to read words in twenty-point font. I knew how to read basic words, but my nystagmus and limited field of vision made it difficult for my eyes to focus on the page long enough to read a word in one glance. I managed to go through kindergarten reading books in this way, with my teacher and parents thinking that large print was truly the least restrictive mode of reading. That changed when my perceptive first grade teacher intervened. She knew I was smart for my age and feared that reading print would only hold me back. She pushed for me to be re-tested, and this time Braille was shown to be the least-restrictive reading medium for me. Although from that point on I was always given access to Braille materials, the first few years of Braille instruction were rough for both me and my teachers. At first I resisted learning Braille, doing everything I could to regain the print books that made me feel similar to my sighted classmates. I kicked and screamed on the way to Braille lessons, had meltdowns during spelling tests because I felt self-conscious about using the noisy Perkins Brailler, and once tried to break the Brailler so that I would have to use pencil and paper to write my work. I put up the best fight a six year old could, but somehow my teachers had more patience than I gave them credit for. Gradually I got over my insecurities and began to realize that I liked reading and I liked Braille. By third grade I was reading books at a sixth-grade level, and my mother and her Seedlings catalog could barely keep up with me. But I had to learn the importance of Braille and how enjoyable it could be the hard way. I am truly glad that the students at the NFB BELL Program have the opportunity to learn Braille in fun and exciting ways which make them want to read and succeed from an early age. Braille Twister, Tasty Dots, and the other games and drills were exciting and interesting for students and adults alike. As a teacher it was also gratifying to see the students so enthusiastic about learning and their achievements. Overall the students made great strides throughout the program, and everyone had fun. [PHOTO CAPTION: Stay Out of My Bubble was a fun game that helped the kids learn polite personal space.] I also appreciated the lessons in nonvisual techniques and blindness etiquette. Games like Stay Out of My Bubble were great for teaching the students to address an issue of social interaction from a blindness perspective. The nonvisual technique lessons in pouring and cane travel under sleepshades were educational for the students, and each one made improvements. Perhaps the biggest lesson in blindness for them was to learn that successful, Braille-reading adults travel independently, teach, and have families and careers. One student said she didn't know teachers could be blind, and it was good for her and the parents of the students to see successful role models in action. Overall it was a very enjoyable two weeks, and I hope to participate again in the future. I had a lot of fun working with the students, and it was great to see them develop academically and socially. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Mikayla rings her bell at the Colorado BELL Program] We Rang the BELL Again by Diane McGeorge >From the Editor: This is how the BELL program happened in Colorado. Relating the story is Diane McGeorge, the former president of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, the former director of the Colorado Center for the Blind, and a very active member in her chapter, her affiliate, and the national organization. Here is what she says: In July of 2013 we held our third BELL program in Colorado. For those of you who may not have heard of BELL, it is a wonderful program developed by the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute that emphasizes the importance for young children of learning Braille. BELL stands for Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning. We recruit children from the ages of four to eleven for an exciting two-week program in which the importance of Braille is stressed throughout the day. We do lots of activities, including independent travel using the long white cane. For some of these little guys the long white cane isn't very long, but they rapidly come to understand what it can tell them when they are walking around the classroom, playing outside, or going on bus trips around the metro area. One of the highlights this year was a scavenger hunt on the Boulder Mall. Kids, teachers, and volunteers took the RTD bus to Boulder, where teams were formed. Each team was given Braille clues to find items on the Boulder Mall. They had pizza for lunch and took the bus back to the Rocky Mountain MS Center, where classes were held each day. Kids learned that vision isn't all one can use to find interesting things on a scavenger hunt. One of the activities was to bring back a card from a coffee shop, which they had no problem sniffing out. Each day the youngsters kept a journal of their activities in Braille. They decorated their journals with art projects. They made tactile identifiers for their canes so there wouldn't be any doubt about who got whose cane. One of the best parts of the day was getting into a circle on the floor and telling everyone about what we called their BELL moments. Every youngster told about something he or she did that day for the first time. BELL moments could range from making a sandwich for lunch to helping another child find his or her Braille name on a locker. [PHOTO CAPTION: Volunteer Ann assists camper as he measures flour] The program ran from July 15 through July 26, and every day the program was filled to capacity. The Rocky Mountain MS Center has been a wonderful partner for the last three years, and we can't thank them enough for the warmth and hospitality shown to our students and volunteers. Speaking of volunteers, we asked each parent to volunteer for at least one day or one activity, and as usual we had a wonderful response. We also had blind teenagers from the Colorado Center for the Blind, the Colorado Parents of Blind Children Division-if I start naming names, I'll leave somebody out-so let me just say how grateful we are to all who volunteered. I also want to express our thanks to the Colorado Center for the Blind for its contribution, as well as the NFB of Colorado and the many individual chapters who helped make BELL possible again this year. This program is funded through contributions and grants, and all of our members worked hard to make it a success. If the support keeps coming in, we hope to expand to another part of the state next year, God willing. I can't imagine it won't; in Colorado we know what our priorities are. One of our top priorities is serving blind children. This is evidenced by the outstanding work of the Colorado Center for the Blind, our partnership with the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, our support from our teachers of the visually impaired, and of course our BELL program. Eleven children this year are many steps closer to realizing that it is respectable to be blind. The world is waiting for them, and we in the National Federation of the Blind will make it a better world. ---------- The BELL Rings in Pennsylvania >From the Editor: Here are two articles written about the BELL Program in Pennsylvania. One is told from the perspective of the BELL coordinator and the other from the perspective of a public school teacher. Michelle McManus is a member of the board of directors of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania and the president of the Happy Valley Chapter. She has a master's degree in the education of blind children and currently works for Penn State University to improve accessibility. Monitor readers will remember Harriet Go, who appeared in the August-September issue when she received the Blind Educator of the Year Award at the national convention. Here's what they had to say about this summer's BELL Program in Pennsylvania: The Other Bell in Philadelphia by Michelle McManus I began my journey to BELL on Valentine's Day, when I was asked to coordinate Pennsylvania's BELL program. I've been a certified teacher of the blind for many years but hadn't actually had the opportunity to teach blind children. My experience working with children has been through Girl Scouts and in daycare settings. I had a great team of volunteers throughout the process, including our lead teacher, Harriet Go, the National Federation of the Blind 2013 Blind Educator of the Year, and James Antonacci, the NFB of Pennsylvania state president. I wasn't entirely sure how all aspects of the program were going to fit together, but having good volunteers to work with gave me more confidence. We held our program for two weeks in July in Center City, Philadelphia, at the Library for the Blind. When the children arrived on the first day, they seemed excited for the chance to come-probably most had never been to a summer camp before. They ranged in ages from five to fifteen, and many already knew one another because they attend school together in the Philadelphia area. Planning was fairly simple-it was just a matter of making selections of activities to try out using the curriculum. Once we spent some time with the children, we got a better sense of which activities would work best for our group. Most were group-oriented, though some lessons were independent. Categories included nonvisual techniques, Braille reading, and travel skills. One of their favorite games was Braille baseball. The kids were divided into two teams. They'd take turns reading questions aloud for their own team to answer-they were "at bat." A wrong answer was an "out." A correct answer was a "hit," and three in a row would make a "run." They wanted to play longer than time allowed. A valuable part of the camp was that it gave kids the chance to learn things they don't in school-the practicalities of everyday life, like passing items to others at the lunch table and navigating on their own. For example, one child, about six years old, asked what a grate was when we walked over it on the sidewalk during a field trip to the Free Library of Philadelphia. They all asked a lot of questions, and it was fun showing them new skills. Overall, the program was terrific and we already have ideas for ways to improve it for next year. We were blessed to have many pairs of helping hands, and it was a little challenging to keep everyone organized and useful. Still, we were really glad to have them. Those two weeks were fun and educational for all involved. It was exciting to watch kids learn new ideas and techniques. The best feeling for me was when all of the children said that they definitely want to return next year. Keep ringing those bells! The First BELL Program in Pennsylvania by Harriet Go This past July the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania held its first-ever Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) Program. This program, which was designed by the National Federation of Maryland in 2008, has rapidly spread to NFB affiliates throughout the country with the aim of providing intensive Braille instruction to blind and visually impaired children who are not receiving adequate Braille education during the regular school year. As a means to tackle the Braille literacy crisis in America, in which 90 percent of all blind children do not read Braille, the BELL Program helps to promote Braille literacy experiences through fun and engaging activities. This year we had seven students participate in the two-week-long program. Lessons focused on developing skills in reading Braille, writing Braille, using nonvisual techniques, and travel with a long white cane. In between, students learned to prepare sandwiches and snacks, took field trips to the local library and a local Braille production facility, were exposed to competent blind role models, and engaged in discussions geared toward building a positive philosophy about blindness. Students came to the program with different levels of Braille experience, from those who were able to read contracted Braille to those who were just beginning to learn the alphabet, but each student learned something new. One of the highlights every day was something called BELL ringers. In this activity, students took turns to share with the rest of the group something they felt they did successfully. Then each student rang his or her own bell to celebrate their achievement. On the last day parents of the BELL students attended a parent seminar at our affiliate headquarters to learn about how they can help their children to continue strengthening Braille literacy skills once BELL was complete. After that each student had the opportunity to say what the BELL program had meant to them during the closing activities. After awards were handed out, pictures were taken, and students received Braille books to take home, everyone rang their bells in unison for the final time. The ringing of the bells symbolizes all that the students had accomplished during the program, and it was quite clear that the inaugural year for the BELL program in Pennsylvania was a huge success. ---------- A BELL Rings in Oklahoma by Tamala Young >From the Editor: Tamala Young is a bright, energetic, and motivated lady, whose years of experience as a teacher in the Head Start program made her a perfect fit for the job coordinating the first BELL Program in Oklahoma. Here is her account of the life-changing two-week program: Well, as you have probably heard by now, our first BELL has been rung in Oklahoma, and what a joyful resounding noise it made! Our BELL program was held June 10 through 21 at the Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The library staff continually commented on what a Joy it was to have the kiddos around, bringing laughter and excitement to those who had the privilege to come in contact with us. They said it was a welcome change. We had four children from ages seven to ten participate this year. There were fifteen people who contributed time to participate in the program, some daily and some as they could break away from other commitments, as well as staff at the library whom we asked for help. These volunteers included: Linda Raleigh TVI, Sandy Chappell, Callie Chappell, Jan McEver, Ronya Caraway, Audrey Farnum and her friends at the boathouse, Glenda Farnum, Jeannie Massay, Cristin Lockwood, Coach Carolyn and Coach Bob (OSF blind fencing instructors), Vicky Golightly, Tanya Skelly, coach Christy (goal ball instructor), and Anne Parret. There was a diverse group of people and organizations who donated items that contributed to the success of the program: the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, Don LaPorte, the Chesapeake Boathouse, Oklahoma Science Museum, Seedlings Braille Books for Children, McDonald's, Burger King, MiMi's Caf?, Millie's Table, Sandy Chappell, Taco Bell, Grandy's, and Pizza Hut. [PHOTO CAPTION: Elbin and Gianna in a Braille race] Now for the fun part, the two weeks of BELL were action packed: we started each day with Braille races in which the children raced against their own time each morning to try to improve their speed, and improve they did! The children also raced their own time on Braille tracking skills, and each of them improved greatly on that as well. But the fun didn't stop there, we also played body Braille, hula hoop Braille, Go Fish (with Braille cards), a Braille fishing game, Fruit Loop Braille, and so many other fun Braille activities. During some of these games the children used a slate and stylus, some for the very first time. [PHOTO CAPTION: TVI Linda helps Gianna use a slate and stylus] Besides Braille activities we also had blindness skill activities in which the children were allowed to prepare their own snacks and lunches. Ronya Caraway provided mobility lessons in and around the library, and we had so many fun field trips. Some of the field trips came to us and some we went to. Goalball and blind fencing both came to us and were greatly enjoyed by all. We took field trips to the Oklahoma Science Museum, McDonald's, the Chesapeake Boathouse, and the Harn House Museum- unbelievable excitement with each field trip. The children were allowed to go into the recording studio at the library where the books on tape are recorded and make a recording of a poem that I wrote for them to recite at the program on the last day: Your view may be different from what I see, But nothing in the world is going to stop me! For knowledge and power I have a yearning, Thanks NFB Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning! I know that I am a little biased, but I measure the success of this inaugural program by some of the comments that I heard from the kiddos and the parents: When we went out on the Dragon Boat, Elbin said, "My dream has finally come true." When Annie had to pack up to leave for England at the end of the first week she said, "I don't want to go to England, I want to stay here. I wish we could start over so we would still have two weeks." After Teague got the opportunity to make his first peanut butter sandwich he said he made his dad a peanut butter sandwich at home. This last one sounds sad but read through the sadness. After knowing Gianna for only two weeks she wept on the last day of camp. I mean she sobbed uncontrollably and that is when I knew that the State of Oklahoma BELL committee 2013 had not only enriched the Braille and blindness skills for this group, but we had truly touched lives and made a lasting difference to some young people who now know that they can do anything and that knowledge is power! ---------- The Poetry of Motion, the Grace of Movement, the Delight of Physical Expression with Blindness No Barrier by Natalie Shaheen, Jerry Whittle, Maurice Peret, Lou Ann Blake, Matt Simpson, Lisamaria Martinez, and Greg DeWall >From the Editor: As blind people we are encouraged to use our minds and to exercise them. This is all to the good, except one reason for the emphasis on mental activity is the widely held belief that we cannot enjoy and participate in physical activity. When we who are blind buy into this misconception, the result is that we spend far too much time engaged in mental activity and far too little time engaged in physical pursuits. To discuss how blind people can lead more physically active lives, a panel appeared near the end of the afternoon on the first day of the 2013 convention. It was comprised of Natalie Shaheen, director of education at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute; Jerry Whittle, first vice president, National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana and the former Braille instructor at the Louisiana Center for the Blind; Maurice Paret, lead cane travel instructor, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland; Lou Ann Blake, project manager of the Help America Vote Act project and coordinator of the annual tenBroek Law Symposium at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute; Matt Simpson, membership and outreach coordinator, United States Association of Blind Athletes; Lisamaria Martinez, president, Sports and Recreation Division, National Federation of the Blind; and Greg DeWall, rehabilitation, orientation, and mobility instructor, Society for the Blind, Sacramento, California. Here is what the panel, moderated by Natalie Shaheen, had to say: [PHOTO CAPTION: Natalie Shaheen at 2013 national convention] Natalie Shaheen: "Sitting is killing us." That is what Nilofer Merchant tells the audience in her TED Talk, "Got a Meeting? Take a Walk." A body of research supports her statement. For example, did you know that we sit an average of 9.3 hours a day? This is almost two more hours a day than we sleep. The harmful effects of sitting include obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and breast and colon cancer. We sit so much, and so does everyone around us, that we do not even realize that it is a problem. In that way, Nilofer says, sitting is the smoking of our generation. Our society in general is happy to have blind people sit. "Just sit here and wait," we are too often told. But we do not need to sit, and we do not need to wait. We can move as well as anyone else, and I think we should start right now. I would like to invite you all to participate actively in this panel. To encourage you all to get moving, we're going to play a game you might recall from your college days. I do not know that this game has a name, but here's how it works: every time you hear a specified word, you perform an action. Instead of taking a sip of your Kool Aid, in this iteration of the game we're going to move. Does this game ring a bell? For the next forty- five minutes, every time you hear the word "blind" (or a variation of that word), feel free to stand up, reach your hands as far over your head as possible, stretching up onto your toes, and then sit back down. I do note that Dr. Maurer just stood up. And any time you hear the word "move" (or another form of the verb) stand up, turn around three hundred and sixty degrees, and then sit back down. Feel free to modify these movements as necessary so that they work for you. If you are concerned that you are going to look a bit silly playing this game, remember that sitting is killing you, embrace your inner five year old, and embrace the silliness. Now don't forget to move when you hear the words "blind" and "move." I was always an active child, though you wouldn't have guessed that from my physique; I guess not much has changed. I learned to swim when I was only two; a few years later I joined the swim team and continued to swim competitively for most of my childhood. In addition to swimming, I tried my hand at ballet, tap dancing, soccer, tennis, water polo, volley ball, goalball, and lacrosse. Though I enjoyed all of these activities, I did not excel at any of them. This was frustrating because it was clear that I had some athletic talent; I just could not find the right sport. The struggle in finding my athletic niche was twofold: first, my particular athletic talent is one that our society does not usually find as desirable in a female. Popular sports for girls focus on endurance, grace, speed, and flexibility. Few popular women's sports focus on sheer strength, my particular talent. The second piece of my struggle, which I did not uncover until I came to know the Federation, was that I did not know how to play any of the aforementioned sports as a blind person. I now know that blind people can and do excel at all of the sports I tried out as a child, but I did not know that as a budding athlete. Consequently, I did not think to develop nonvisual techniques for playing those sports, and as a result I never reached my potential. It was not until high school that I found my sport. I was in the weight room with the other girls on the lacrosse team when one of the track coaches, who was also in the weight room, noticed I was significantly stronger than the other girls on the lacrosse team. He convinced me that I was playing the wrong sport and recruited me to join the track team as a thrower for the following season. I had finally found my home as an athlete: throwing heavy things. I finished out my high school career on the track team. In college I continued to compete as a shot put and hammer thrower on the track team at Ohio University. Since college I have continued my athletic pursuits as a competitive Olympic-style weight lifter, when I'm not on the injured reserve, anyway. As it turns out, the sports I am best suited to as an athlete, those that focus on strength and explosive movement, require no accommodations in order for a blind person to compete. The toe board, a raised metal platform at the front of the throwing circle, clearly indicates the direction the shot put is to be thrown. In weight lifting, the signal that indicates that your lift is complete and you may set the weight down is both visual and auditory. The alternative techniques needed for these sports show up more in training than in competition. A sighted lifter analyzes his lift by watching film or looking in the mirror. I know that my pull is good because the bar rattles in a certain way. Similarly, the slap of my wood-soled lifting shoes on the wood platform helps me to critique other aspects of my lift. I am excited to be joined today by six other active blind people who are going to share their passion for recreation and movement, highlighting the alternative techniques they have developed or borrowed so that they may participate fully in their preferred activity. Here to share with us how to play the all-American sport of football is Mr. Jerry Whittle, first vice president of the NFB of Louisiana. [PHOTO CAPTION: Jerry Whittle at 2013 national convention] Jerry Whittle: Are you ready for some football? Friday night party! I want to thank Dr. Maurer first of all, because he really believed in what we were trying to do and made a donation from the NFB to allow us to buy some football uniforms we didn't have. We initially started trying to play football without pads, just flag football, using a cowbell and a beeping football. Lisamaria Martinez, who's on this panel, got a black eye, and we had a student named Louise Walch who got a knot on her head, and a student named Heath Topping (a rather intriguing name)-he had lips like Mick Jagger when we got through. So we decided we'd better wait on the uniforms. We started raising some funds, some people in the local area donated money to us, and the local chapter donated money. We went out and bought thirteen uniforms: helmets, shoulder pads, and jerseys. I'm wearing an actual game- used jersey that says "NFB Football" on it. The only problem with it, somebody knocked the "f" off of this "football"---it's got "ootball" on there; the "f" is gone. It's got a number four on the back, it's royal blue with white lettering, and our helmets are royal blue. The game has evolved quite a bit from what we first started out doing. We have a fifty-yard field. The field is fifty yards long, it is fifteen yards wide with a ten-yard-deep end zone. We run toward the sound of a radio--we put the radio at the back of the end zone. Each team (the white team and the blue team, we'll call them) gets ten tries to get a touchdown. If they get stopped, then the other team takes over, and they get ten tries to get a touchdown. If they score, they have a choice between going from five yards out for one point or ten yards out for two points. So five yards out you get one point, ten yards out you get two points: and that's usually what the game comes down to, who makes those extra points and who doesn't. We allow only the quarterback to run with the ball. He or she has a cowbell around the neck [holds up bell]. It's the actual one they use. It's got "NFB Cane Challenge," which used to be on the old NFB canes. We put them all together, kind of made a necklace. I'm wearing an NFB necklace here. This is what the quarterback wears, and he or she also wears jingle bells and uses a beeping football. Now Mr. McGirr, who used to work for the Jernigan Institute, made us a real nice football, and it's still working, still going strong. So we use that every time. Sometimes we don't use the beeper because the teams prefer to hear just the cowbell and the jingle bells. So the quarterback is going down the field jingling and jangling as he or she goes along, drawing a lot of attention, believe you me! Are any NFB football players here today? [cheers] Oh, wow, they're still here to tell the story. It's a lot of fun. I didn't want to play something as simple as beeping badminton or talking tiddlywinks. People want to have something that is really physical and everything. One of the greatest joys I had as a child was playing sandlot football, playing flag football, and then playing some organized football with pads and everything. The game is much safer with a helmet and pads--nobody gets hurt too bad, you get some bruises and dings. I think the worst anybody ever got hurt was when he was running out of bounds and ran into a hurricane fence; he didn't stop, but kept running. One time I was standing on the sidelines, and a guy ran over me and cut me a flip backwards. And the lady next to me lost her eyeglasses, couldn't find them for a while. So it's kind of dangerous on the sidelines sometimes, but most of the guys get behind the hurricane fence when we play. But we have a lot of fun, and I guess the greatest pleasure that I get is from being there and watching them play. I don't play anymore. One of the young guys asked, "Why don't you play, Mr. Whittle?" I said, "I'm sixty-six years old." I thought that was a pretty good excuse, but they didn't buy it. The greatest pleasure I get from it all is just seeing everybody after the game talking about it. The old war stories, the sound of the pads clanging together, the helmets cracking together, and a real solid hit. Old Sean Whalen out there, he laid the wood on somebody, and it was one of the nicest sounds I've heard in a long time. He got a charge out of it too. It's a lot of fun; nobody's really been hurt so far. Now I want to say, we had a guy playing last time-we played right before the convention-he was 6'4", and he ran over Jessica Scannell, who is from New Jersey. She's about 4' 12" or something. She was lying on the field, and I just knew this was our first casualty. I said, "Are you okay?" Everybody was saying "Can you wiggle your toes, can you wiggle your fingers?" She jumped up and said, "I'm going to kill him." Let me just say this: whenever the teams line up, the offense has to say who they are or where they're set. In other words they come out blocker, blocker, blocker, and then the quarterback says "quarterback," and they have to stay in their position. The referee says, "Is the offense set?" And the captain says, "offense set." Then the defense can move around anywhere they want to; they don't have to say anything. They can set up anywhere they want, and then the defensive captain says "defense set." Then the referee hands the quarterback the football, and all they have to say is "go." And, when they go, you better move it, move it, move it. Everybody's coming after your blind behind. So there's a lot of movement involved in the game, and a lot of blind guys have a wonderful time playing the game. Thank you. Natalie Shaheen: The lead cane travel instructor at Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, Maurice Peret, teaches by example, traveling anywhere and everywhere, cane in hand. From the foothills of Mount Everest to the Appalachian Trail, Maurice has hiked it all, and he's here to tell us how. [PHOTO CAPTION: Maurice Peret at 2013 national convention] Maurice Peret: Thank you, Natalie. You know I was never good at competitive sports, and I'm sure not going to compete with Jerry Whittle over here, so I'm taking a hike. Warm embrace to my Federation family and everyone who's with us this week. Where are my colleagues from Blind Industries and Services of Maryland? [cheers] Oh, good, they are here! We're a dynamic, exciting, innovative company, and we provide structured- discovery, blindness cutting-edge training, that's what we do, and I'm so proud to be part of that. The Federation touches hearts, souls, and lives across this country. But we also find ourselves in some interesting places on this planet. Twelve years ago the symbol and spirit of the National Federation of the Blind found its way to the top of the world on Mount Everest. There it was, the flag of the NFB, and I was there to observe and document what was happening during that expedition, which required me to hike some thirty-five miles and ten thousand feet in altitude without crying or dying in the process. When I came back, lots of people asked me, "Would you do it again?" I didn't have to think about it-no way! But, as the passage of time, fading memory, and the physical effects of high altitude waned, I came to know the beautiful and talented Ms. Lou Ann Blake, and suddenly I rediscovered how much I loved hiking, isn't that something? So we spent a part of our honeymoon on the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. It was awesome. So we thought-Lou Ann and I-much of our lives is shared with our Federation family: our love, our passion, the things that we do. We want to spread it out, so we tried to think up ways-how can we get people out here? We're not going to suffer alone, after all. We tried to think up ways to get our Federation family out there. So we devised a plan. We came to know a very special person and a champion, Tom Johnson from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, whom Sharon Maneki knew and worked with. He believed in our purpose, and our cause, in what we wanted to do. He said, "How many blind people you think we can get out there for this first attempt at this hike? Three or four, half a dozen?" I said I thought we could get twenty or thirty. Well, on May 11 in 2011, we got fifty Federationists out there on the Appalachian Trail hiking and about eight rather overwhelmed members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club-what are we going to do with these blind guys? We've done hikes since then. We got young scientists from Project Innovation out there on the trail hiking during that program, and we've been doing it ever since. We did a hike a couple months ago involving some twenty blind people, and we're going to do some more before it's all over. Here's my challenge for our Federation: you know the Appalachian Trail on the East Coast goes from Georgia to Maine, it's only about eleven hundred miles or so. I think there's a similar trail out on the West Coast, the Pacific Crest Trail. The Federation has been to Everest. We have been to some exciting and remote places on this planet. Why can't the National Federation of the Blind hike the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails? Why can't we do it? Now Lou Ann has the idea that maybe we'll do the one- hundred-mile trail in Virginia. I'm not sure we're up to doing the whole entire Appalachian Trail, but we're not going to try to do it alone. What if all our Federation affiliates got together as a fundraiser? What if we went to National Geographic and said that the Federation is going to hike from Georgia to Maine and the Pacific Crest Trail? Let's do it. Let's raise money. Thank you, Natalie. That's my challenge. Natalie Shaheen: Exotic locations and expensive equipment are not required for all forms of recreation. Lou Ann Blake, HAVA project manager and law symposium coordinator at the NFB Jernigan Institute, is going to tell us about yoga, a sport you can do from the comfort of your home. [PHOTO CAPTION: Lou Ann Blake at 2013 national convention] Lou Ann Blake: Good afternoon, Federation family. Are you ready for some yoga? I've been doing yoga for about seven years, and I've also done aerobics, weight machines, treadmills, Nordic Track, and I did competitive horse showing for a couple of years. But I have found that yoga is the best way to strengthen your body, increase your flexibility, and quiet your mind. Best of all, it's something that everybody in my Federation family can do. You don't need a lot of equipment to do yoga, as Natalie mentioned. All you need is a mat and some loose-fitting clothing. I would suggest that all of you try some beginner-level classes at first. Beginner level classes are very accessible for blind students; the teacher will audibly describe each pose as the class moves through its practice. And, if you can't do all the poses to the fullest extension, that's fine, because there are always alternatives and variations for each pose that will enable any blind student, no matter what your fitness level or physical ability, to be able to do all the poses in the practice. Once you get used to the poses and you know what you're doing, just get some DVDs and do it at home, save yourself a little money rather than spending it on a class. Another great thing about yoga is that you can do it anywhere. Maurice and I have done yoga on the beach in Key West, Florida (great place to do yoga). You can also do yoga while you're standing in line. So, when you're standing in line at one of the restaurants here waiting for dinner or waiting in registration, do your yoga. There's also office chair yoga, so, while you're sitting at work, you can do yoga. There is, believe it or not, in-flight yoga, so, when you're going home from convention, you can do it. And, believe it or not, there is also bed-top yoga. Now can anyone think of a place to do yoga that I haven't mentioned yet? [enthusiastic cheering suggesting she had covered most of the bases] Yeah, how about NFB convention yoga? Let's make the NFB convention the largest indoor yoga class in Florida! Those of you who can stand, who have room, do feel free to stand. Those of you who prefer sitting can still join us. Try not to bump your neighbor, but we're going to start off with the basic standing pose, which is mountain pose. Stand with your feet together, or if you need them to be a little bit apart for stability, that's fine-that's just a variation. With your hands down at your sides, fingers relaxed, looking straight ahead with your chin parallel to the floor, that's where we start every standing pose from. Now we all probably carry a lot of stress in our shoulders and our necks. We're going to work on our shoulders first, so let's squeeze your shoulders up towards your ears and then drop them down. Squeeze your shoulders up to your ears, and then drop them down. And one more time we'll squeeze our shoulders up to our ears, and then drop them down. When you're standing in mountain pose, you want to make sure that you've got your shoulders down and back. You don't want your shoulders up towards your ears or slumping forward. You've got to be standing straight. Next thing: our neck. Our neck is another place where we carry a lot of stress. We want to tilt our head forward, putting your chin on your chest. And then just slowly rotate your chin towards your right shoulder and then back down to your chest. Then up toward your left shoulder, and then just down to your chest, and very gentle. Then up to your right shoulder, down back to your chest. Up to your left shoulder, down to your chest. Back up to your right shoulder, down to your chest, and back up to your left shoulder, then down to your chest. All right, does that feel good? [cheers] Okay, another thing we can do: we actually were already doing it. We raise our hands up above our heads, stretching as far as we can. Then we're going to alternate our right hand stretching up further, then lower, and our left hand stretch up further. And then our right hand up far, as far as we can reach, reaching those fingers up. Then our left hand, reaching as far as we can, stretching, stretching. Our right hand back up, stretching. Then our left hand back up and stretching as far as we can. All right, thank you, and back to mountain pose. Now traditionally a yoga class will end with everybody's hands in prayer position at our chest, and thank you, my Federation family, for participating in this brief yoga practice and for letting me be your teacher. I hope that you will continue to explore yoga and enjoy its many benefits. Namaste. Natalie Shaheen: Next up is a sport I've been privileged to coach but never lucky enough to play competitively. Matt Simpson, membership and outreach coordinator for the United States Association of Blind Athletes [USABA], is going to share his experiences playing one of my favorite sports: goalball. [PHOTO CAPTION: Matt Simpson at 2013 national convention] Matt Simpson: Good afternoon. I enjoyed that little bit of yoga practice. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be able to do a goalball practice in here today. We're not going to be able to make that happen, but I did happen to notice that, when Natalie was introducing the sports, goalball got the loudest cheer-thank you guys for that-so I know I'm already preaching to the goalball choir over here, I know everybody loves the game. For those of you who don't know what goalball is, I want to give a really brief explanation. It's a sport involving six players. Everyone is blindfolded all the time; there's no visual advantage. You have a ball with bells inside of it that weighs approximately three pounds. You play on a court that is tactilely marked with lines, and you have goals for orientation. The point of the game is to throw the ball as hard as you can down the court and past the opponent into their goal. The goal is thirty feet wide, and the court is sixty feet long, and you're volleying the ball back and forth. Goalball is not specifically a contact sport like football- or NFB football-but, if you've ever blocked a goalball going forty-five miles per hour, you know that it is in fact a contact sport. Besides being the membership and outreach coordinator for the United States Association of Blind Athletes, which is the governing body for goalball in the United States, I'm also a member of the men's national goalball team. I've had the opportunity to play goalball all over the world and all over the United States, which has been an incredible experience. I'd like to tell you a little bit about why goalball is awesome. If you are a member of the NFB, you know the skills that are invaluable: spatial awareness, orientation and mobility, auditory skills of location and tracking, echolocation. Goalball was created in the 1940s as a means of rehabilitating blinded war veterans, to teach all of those skills. And, if you've ever been on a goalball court, you know just how valuable those skills can be to you: orientation on the court, communication with your teammates. Unfortunately those are skills that we all too often miss out on with team sports. But goalball is a sport that was created for us and that we can play at any time on any level. If you were at the goalball demonstration on Tuesday, thirty guys and girls showed up to play goalball, and we played on a carpeted floor in a room over there in the convention center. So, no matter what you're doing or where you are, you can enjoy goalball. I know those guys are probably still recovering from their rug burns. I know I certainly am. I was foolishly convinced to play with those guys. We have our Pan American competition next week, so I'm worried I'll have to show up and tell my coach I can't play Brazil because the skin on my wrist hasn't grown back yet. Goalball is played all over the United States on teams of three to six people. If you have never had the opportunity to play, I strongly encourage you to bug three of your sighted or blind friends and get out. Find somewhere to play, pick up a ball, and do your best to make it happen. Playing with your peers is hugely beneficial. Like I said, the skills that you can learn on a goalball court can be learned there better than almost anywhere else that there is. If you have questions about where you can find a team in your area, we have dozens of teams all over the United States that compete in USABA competitions. I'd love to talk to you about the game, how you can start a team, where you can play, how you can play, so please shoot me an email. Our website is ; you can find me there, or you can find me around here for the next two days. So thank you all so much for allowing me to talk to you guys, and go play goalball. Natalie Shaheen: The martial arts have been a popular form of recreation for decades. Lisamaria Martinez, president of the Sports and Recreation Division, is an accomplished athlete in several sports. Today she is going to share her various athletic pursuits, including her successful career in judo. [PHOTO CAPTION: Lisamaria Martinez at 2013 national convention] Lisamaria Martinez: From 1977 to 1981 my father served this country as a scout sniper in the US military. He was a Marine. He was a tough dude. Being a tough dude, would you be surprised to learn that this dude wanted to raise tough, independent, and fearless children? I was born to two incredible people; some of you have met them, Cookie and Greg, my parents-- you can attest that they are pretty cool people. Three years after my birth my sister was born, and two years later my twenty-seven-year-old parents had to face a pretty tough challenge: how to raise their eldest daughter, how to ensure that she would grow up tough, independent, and fearless, even though she had just become blind. So, what did they do? They made me make my bed. That is to say, my parents decided that the best thing they could do for me was to treat me the way they would treat my sighted sister and later down the road my sighted brother. I grew older and was a pretty happy child, despite having to go through the tortures of making my bed and doing the dishes and all other chores my parents could dream up. To make a long story short, as my brother and sister and I got older, my dad wanted us to learn, not only how to be tough, independent, and fearless, but how to be safe and to be able to handle ourselves in any type of situation. So we were all enrolled in judo. You might be sitting in your seats wondering how a blind person can do judo, and I'm here today to tell you how. If judo sounds interesting to you, listen up, here I go, listen carefully. All you need to do is find a dojo, walk in, put on a gi, and go. It's that easy. Judo is one of those sports that blind people can do with very little adaptation. When it was time to learn a new pin, a new choke, a new armbar, I simply volunteered to be the sensei's partner so that I could know what was being taught. And, if that wasn't feasible, I would ask a higher-ranking classmate what to do. The only other accommodation I needed to implement was during a sparring match, and more specifically how I would start a match with another competitor. Instead of bowing and starting from afar and grappling for a grip, I would bow and start with my hands on the lapels of my opponent-that equaled the playing field. There's not much else I can tell you about adapting judo. You don't need sight to flip, pin, choke, armbar, and generally kick-well, be tough, independent, and fearless. So if you are ready to step it up, to challenge yourself, and judo sounds like the right fit for you, I invite you to don a gi and get started. I'm Lisamaria Martinez, and I'm the president of the Sports and Recreation Division. I'm from California, and I'm tough, independent, and fearless, and I am blind, with no barriers. Thank you. Natalie Shaheen: To round out our impressive panel of active blind people is another accomplished and well-rounded athlete. Greg DeWall, our rehabilitation, orientation, and mobility instructor at the Society for the Blind in Sacramento enjoys ballroom dancing and is passionate about recreation for everyone. [PHOTO CAPTION: Greg DeWall at national convention] Greg DeWall: How are you, folks? I was hoping in five minutes to have you all prepared for Dancing with the Stars. Are you ready? As Natalie said, I'm heavily involved in recreation. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so I spent my youth and many of my college days scaling rocks and bridges, cliff jumping into water. I wrestled my way through college, I even got heavily involved in wakeboarding and waterskiing. And then I found judo, and my adrenaline kept going. Judo took me around the world and all across the country, even with Lisamaria, and I walked out of Beijing with the bronze medal. Then I met my wife, Stacy Cervenka, and became civilized. Now I'm doing ballroom dancing. Since this is a crowded environment, instead of getting up and having everybody do the tango and having everybody waltz and cha cha, we're going to have a little sing-along, just to find the rhythm. The hardest thing about ballroom dancing-for me anyway, I'm white, come on, give me a break- is finding the rhythm. So if you can find the rhythm, regardless if you have two left feet and two right shoes, you're going to be able to dance. You've heard "Bingo" right? Let's turn that into "Tango." T-A-N-G-O, T-A-N- G-O, T-A-N-G-O. There you go--you've got it--that's the five-count for the tango. It's not that difficult. Now let's go to the waltz. Okay, it's a little three-count rhythm [counts off rhythm]. All right, and you add a little box step to that, you start bebopping a little bit, you've got the waltz down. My wife and I did a very lovely waltz for the first dance at our wedding. I really enjoyed it. Then we can go into the swing. Everybody likes the East Coast swing. Big band: you've got the horns, you've got all the brass playing, you've got the Dick Tracy type. Give me a one, two, rockstep; one, two, rockstep; one, two, rockstep; one, two, rockstep; one, two, rockstep; one, two, rockstep; one, two, rockstep-very good. That's all you've got to do--be able to find that rhythm. And I strongly encourage all of you to either find a friend who may be involved in ballroom dancing or just look up your local ballroom club. It's not that hard, you go in, like many other people up here have said, like Lisamaria said. You talk to your instructor, let your instructor know that "Hey, it's okay if you need to put my hand here, or put my foot there." Let them know that you just might need a little extra description. It's nothing we haven't done before; it's just a different setting. And I promise you, if you've got the skills to get yourself to the ballroom, you've got the skills to dance. So keep moving, keep playing, find a ballroom, find a dojo, find a goalball club, find a hiking trail, find a yoga club. It doesn't matter, just keep moving and stay active. Natalie Shaheen: Are there activities, resources, or programs the Federation could facilitate to empower blind people to be active in all stages of life? How can we ensure that young blind children get connected to active blind adults so that they know that they too can be active? I hope you'll be in touch with your ideas. I hope you will take the techniques that these active blind folks have shared with you today and find a way to get moving. If you're looking for a way to stay active here at convention while maintaining your commitments to the work at hand, instead of having your next meeting at the coffee shop, consider taking Nilofer's suggestion and have a walking meeting. Thank you. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Members of NFB Travel and Tourism Division and Disney cast members posed in front of Cinderella's castle. Back row left to right: Maureen, Margo Downey, Jo Taylor, Milt Taylor, Cheryl Echevarria, Nelson Echevarria, Anahit Labarre, Greg. Front row: Nicole, Mark Jones, Catherine] Experiencing the Magic by Cheryl Echevarria and Margo Downey >From the Editor: the NFB Travel and Tourism Division is not just about leisure travel. The division works to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind in all things travel. They also work with people wanting to go into the travel industry as either travel agents or those wanting to work with places like Disney Corporation. The division has monthly teleconference meetings at 8:00 PM eastern time. Check out for more information. Here is what Cheryl and Margo have to say: A little over a year ago the president of the Travel and Tourism Division got in touch with Mark Jones, manager of Domestic Services for Guests with Disabilities for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. His job is all about accessibility at all Disney parks: Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida; Disneyland in Anaheim, California; the Disney Cruise Lines and their many international ports; the new Aulani Resort in Hawaii; and the international Disney parks in Japan, France, and soon China. Cheryl had Mark on the phone at one of our board meetings and interviewed him on her radio show on the WTOE Network, , which airs the first Wednesday of every month. Mark is a hearing child of deaf parents whose brother is also deaf. On July 1, 2013, he gave officers of the NFB Travel and Tourism Division an experience at Walt Disney World (WDW) that brought to life the magic of the Magic Kingdom and demonstrated the kind of respect for blind people that has too often been lacking in the amusement park experiences we have had to chronicle in the pages of the Braille Monitor. The first thing we should explain is a few terms unique to Disney that shape the entire experience. The employees at Disney are called "cast members," no matter whether they're playing a princess or a janitor. When you go to a Disney park, you are not a customer, you are a guest. The difference is significant because a customer is someone you have to deal with to make money, while a guest is someone you value and take care of. Backstage is an area of the park not usually seen by guests, where necessary tasks can be done without being visible, preserving the magic of the park experience. On July 1, Cheryl and Nelson Echevarria, Milt and Jo Taylor, Margo Downey, and Anahit LaBarre headed out to experience a day of Disney magic. We were joined by Mark Jones and three members of his team for people with Disabilities: Greg, Nicole, and Maureen. These people are the ones who make the changes and listen to our advice on what we need, and we were happy to have them with us. After this day we are also happy to call them friends of the National Federation of the Blind. [PHOTO CAPTION: Cheryl, Margo, Milt, Jo, Anahit, and Mark stand at a bus shelter at the Transportation and Ticket Center] At 7:00 that morning those of us leaving from the hotel took a town car from the Rosen Center to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), a transportation hub just across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. As the town car took us onto Disney property, we passed many of the Disney resorts and other properties, such as the kennels, firehouse, medical emergency center, and ESPN Wide World of Sports resort. Walt Disney World is not just the four parks, it is a large community encompassing thirty-two resorts, two water parks, four theme parks, and more-which means that it has the support industries that you would find in any normal town. The TTC is the crossroads connecting many WDW journeys. You can take a boat across the lagoon to the Magic Kingdom or one of the four Disney resorts that also sit along its shores. The TTC is also where the two loops of the iconic monorail system connect. One loop of the monorail serves three resorts and the Magic Kingdom, while the other takes guests to EPCOT. There are large parking lots for those who drive in from off-property, and this is also the location of the lost and found office. We took a van from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom, disembarking in a backstage area. They set up and distributed the assistive technology devices (ATDs) we would use that day. The ATD is slightly larger than an iPhone, with buttons at one end. The buttons are different shapes, similar to those one would find on an NLS player. There are two volume buttons, an audio menu with four arrows and a center select button, a repeat last update button, and a help button. While the ATD provides audio for the blind, the device also has a screen that can be set up to provide closed captioning for the deaf. The ATD has an outdoor feature and an attractions feature. The outdoor feature describes where one is located as she walks through the park and will be updated soon to give more specific information. The attractions feature describes the attractions one is addressing. The audio menu gives more detailed information. It can describe what foods the various restaurants serve, where bathrooms are located, and other important details. At the moment WGBH in Boston [a pioneer in descriptive video] has done the human-narrated descriptions on these devices, but Disney is working to make items on the audio menu use synthetic speech so that new text can be made available immediately. WGBH will still handle things that change less frequently or are less suited to synthetic speech. The ATD hangs around the neck on a lanyard, and one can request either a single-piece or double-piece earphone to use with it. Alternatively, you can bring your own earphone since the ATD has a universal headphone jack. To get an ATD at any of the WDW parks, customers with tickets go to Guest Services, where a $25 deposit is collected and given back when the unit is returned. Make sure that you test it before you leave Guest Services to ensure it is programmed to provide the service required. Each of the Disney Parks has Braille guide books, and they are working on portable maps for visitors to take with them. For now each park has a large tactile map on display near the entrance. The guide books and ATD devices are park-specific, so, if you decide, for example, to leave Magic Kingdom and go to EPCOT, you must turn in the ATD at Magic Kingdom and get a new device at EPCOT. The Disney team is working on an option for guests staying on-property so that you can have one device for the duration of your stay, but there is currently no date when that option will become available. Guide dogs are allowed at all the parks and resorts, as long as they are on leash or harness at all times. Guests with service animals should follow the same attraction entrance procedures as those with wheelchairs, and, due to the nature of certain attractions, dogs may not be permitted to ride. A member of the guest's party must remain with the dog or must ask a cast member to put it in the portable kennel. This may take a few minutes to arrange, and other riders may go ahead until the needed accommodations are set up, but the intent is that guests with dog guides not be separated from family and friends who have come to Disney to enjoy the experience together. This is a new offering by the Disney parks for people with service animals. While service animals are allowed in all areas, there are issues a dog owner might wish to be aware of, such as cautions about roller coasters or those where there are no straps or restraints that can be used to secure a dog guide. Dog relief areas are inside the parks, and Disney personnel will gladly assist in finding them. They are boxes, much like the ones we have at our national convention. Use common courtesy and follow normal procedures for pickup; trash receptacles are located near the relief areas. Disney policy also allows for dog relief in grassy areas of the parks. [PHOTO CAPTION: Receiving instruction on ATDs backstage] So, after all this lovely information about the park and the new technology, you may wonder what we actually did at Magic Kingdom. We walked from the backstage area into Tomorrowland. This was impressive. We were in a quiet area, then there was a wall, and all of a sudden we heard the music and sounds of Tomorrowland. It was amazing. The ATD first said "Tomorrowland," then it gave us the option of listening to what is in that area-Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Stitch's Great Escape, Tomorrowland Speedway, Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, or the Carousel of Progress ride. The ATD also listed bathrooms, restaurants, and souvenir shops-quite wonderful to hear it all. [PHOTO CAPTION: The group walks from Tomorrowland towards Fantasyland] From Tomorrowland we moved into Fantasyland, and again the ATD was right on point. It said, "You have now entered Fantasyland." Fantasyland is undergoing a major renovation that will double its size. Part of Fantasyland reopened in early 2013, while other rides are still being worked on and will open in 2014. We rode the new Ariel Under the Sea ride, which tells the Little Mermaid story from the movie. Maxx (Cheryl's dog) and Arrow (Margo's dog) rode all the rides with us. The description was great, and we could hear it as well as the music and the sounds around us. The dogs didn't mind the ride, even the slide backward under the sea and the slide back upward to the surface again. There is no water, just the description and feeling of being underwater, then back on top again. We also rode the Hundred Acre Wood Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride, which is part of the original Fantasyland. The description was even more detailed on this ride, and it was Maxx and Arrow's favorite. The ride has a locking T-bar mechanism, and Disney wanted to test whether the dogs would still fit comfortably on the floor after the bar was down to lock us onto the ride. The dogs fit fine, and they didn't mind when we went bouncing through the woods after Tigger. Arrow and Maxx were reluctant to get out of the car; I think they wanted another round of that one. We had our pictures taken with two of Cinderella's court and had several photos taken of us by Cinderella's castle. We also met a very nice princess, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. Nelson Echevarria was our photographer for the day, and these pictures will be available on our website and our Facebook page, NFB Travel and Tourism. We then walked to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion. It's worth mentioning that at Disney there are music and other auditory clues that you can use as great landmarks for orientation. Liberty Square was interesting because on one side you could hear the screams and ominous music from the Haunted Mansion, and on the other side you heard the lively, happy-go-lucky music of the riverboat ride in Frontierland. It was quite a contrast. The description on the ATDs varied quite a bit for the Haunted Mansion. Some people got the whole description, some got most of it, and some were a long way into the ride before they got any information from it. Greg and the staff promise to get this figured out and fixed. It was still a lot of fun, and the dogs didn't get scared at all, even when the hitchhiking ghosts sat with us hoping for a ride out. Of course this is the Disney version of scary: it is for families, and it tells a story with some laughs as well. We don't want to scare off any of those little ones that want to go to Disney World in the future. At the end of our adventure we watched part of a Main Street USA parade and talked about our tour with the cast members. We were asked whether an app would be better than the device so that people could bring their own devices to use. We told the Disney folks that we think both are good. Some people don't use iDevices, and some don't want to take the time to learn to use an app but would rather use the ATD. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Disney World's Magic Kingdom and felt welcomed and valued by Mark Jones and the other cast members. We thank them for their efforts and for their eagerness to listen to our opinions. Those thinking about traveling to any Disney park should check out , an independent, unauthorized site that has lots of information about the parks, including details about Disney resorts, park hours, restaurant menus with prices, and much more. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Jim Marks] Of Parallels and Justice by Jim Marks >From the Editor: Jim Marks is a longtime NFB leader from Montana. He works as the administrator of the Disability Employment and Transitions Division for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. On August 28, 2013, he circulated the following message to personnel in his department. It provides perspective on our on-going struggle to outlaw subminimum wages for disabled workers. He can be reached at . This is what he wrote: "The legitimate purpose of society and its governments is not to govern people and to promote the good life for them, but to empower them to govern themselves and to provide the good life for themselves and their fellow humans." -- Justin Dart This is an update from me, Jim Marks, to the staff members of Disability Employment and Transitions. Please let me know what you think. The parallels between the civil rights movements of African Americans and Americans with disabilities are astonishing. Today's anniversary and a work of fiction reminded me of the similarities. The Help, which was written by Kathryn Stockett in 2009 and later became a movie, tells the fictional stories of African American housemaids working for middle-class whites in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. The maids work under segregation and for subminimum wages, and their tales evoke powerful ideas and emotions. One maid, referring to her white employer, said that her boss didn't pick her life; it picked her. The maid coached her boss's daughter, who was suffering from low self-esteem, to make a different decision by asking, "Am I gonna believe all them bad things them fools say about me today?" This means, in part, that the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed is stuck. To get unstuck, individuals have to re-define life in non-oppressive, non-victimizing ways. Change occurs only when the victims choose fairness and start living life under their own terms. Segregation and subminimum wages are present-day realities for many people with disabilities. It's more than something from the history books, because it happens each day and in most of our communities on a consistent, routine basis. Although segregation and subminimum wages are legal for people with disabilities in the US, our country has been moving towards integration and fair wages for decades. Recently the issue heated up, and we appear to be approaching a tipping point. To end the injustice, people with disabilities must take steps to change what it means to have a disability. Fortunately, many are picking their own lives. Momentum is building, and it's only a matter of time before segregation and subminimum wages become part of the history books for people with disabilities. Resistance to the change sought by African Americans and people with disabilities is remarkably similar. Justification for the segregation and subminimum wages cloaks itself in good intentions. People say that such working conditions are in the best interests of the workers. They talk about how people "choose" to work in separate environments for less money because, although not perfect, the conditions beat the alternative of unemployment. They claim that many workers prefer the "protections" of the segregation and subminimum wages. They label the situation as necessary and dismiss ideas of integration and equality as dreams that might be realized in a distant future. They even go so far as to claim that the situation is natural and cannot be helped. Sheila Leigland from Great Falls is one Montanan with a disability who is standing up and demanding change. She quit her job with Goodwill Industries when the company dropped her hourly wage to $2.75. Sheila tells her story to all who will listen, and many throughout Montana and the US are paying attention. Many of us saw the NBC Rock Center broadcast and read the Forbes magazine article on Sheila and others who, like the housemaids from The Help, are re-framing their lives. Today is the fifty-year anniversary of the March on Washington and the delivery of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, "I Have a Dream." King said a lot that day, but perhaps the most notable message was his outline of a positive future of justice. We all need to keep our eyes on the prize so that individuals and society improve. Recognizing where we were, where we are, and where we are going are all essential elements of change. Disability Employment and Transitions must pay attention to the progress happening all around us. We cannot be at the lead of the advocacy because we carry out social policy and do not create it. Our role is to serve as a foundation and to build competitive integrated options as well as informed choices for people with disabilities. With this understanding we can, should, and will contribute by building opportunities for the people we serve. That's our job. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Tom Allen addresses the 2013 national convention] A Collaboration That Enhances Opportunity: The Association of American Publishers and the National Federation of the Blind Change Possibilities for Literacy by Tom Allen >From the Editor: Tom Allen is the president and the chief executive officer of the American Association of Publishers (AAP). He is a former Congressman and has worked cooperatively with us on a number of important initiatives. Here is what he said to the convention of the National Federation of the Blind on Saturday, July 6, 2013: Thank you, Dr. Maurer. It is absolutely terrific to be here. I'm a little overwhelmed by what I just heard from Ray Kurzweil. I don't know how to follow that kind of speculation because my assignment is to talk about the work that we're doing with the US Congress and with public policy advocacy generally, which is a much slower road than Google's technology. But I am delighted to be here at the NFB's 2013 national convention. NFB's record of advocacy and accomplishment for its members is absolutely remarkable, and your attendance here today reflects an admirable commitment to public advocacy for the blind and print-disabled across this country. I'm just awed by the range and diversity of speakers and programs at this convention. This is simply a great learning opportunity, and I am proud to be here. Before I discuss the history of our AAP/NFB collaborations, I want to explain the reasons why they take hard work and goodwill. NFB, I'm told, has fifty-thousand members with some similar issues and some different issues, and they have a variety of opinions. Well, the Association of American Publishers has nearly three hundred publisher members, some very large, some very small. They serve somewhat different markets or sometimes both, and they compete with each other. They have different resources and different business models. Most significantly, the antitrust laws bar them from agreeing on common business practices. The AAP exists to serve the book publishing industry's public policy interests. And I will say that sometimes it's hard to separate them. Accessibility is one of those- although we certainly do it and I think do it effectively. But, trust me, it's not always easy to build consensus on those issues within our own members at the AAP. But what we've learned over the years is that it's better for NFB and AAP to be in the same room, working together on our common challenges, and that's why I'm proud to be here with you today. As I said, we have a long history of working together, and, although not always able to resolve all of our issues, we often collaborate with remarkable success. For example, the Chaffee Amendment of 1996 was partly the product of our joint efforts. Eight years later we worked together on the IDEA Amendments of 2004, which accelerated the ability of K-12 students to get accessible instructional materials. That legislation created the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standards-that's a mouthful, I know-the National Instructional Materials Standards (NIMAS) to assure uniform standards of accessibility for students with print disabilities. It also established NIMAC, the repository or one-stop shop for maintaining accessible publisher files, so that, when any school district in the country was searching for an accessible file, it would have one place to turn to. AAP and NFB next worked on the higher education amendments of 2008, which authorized the creation of the AIM Commission-that's the Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials-let's just say that that was a long and complicated collaborative process between our organizations. We have been working with your leadership-Dr. Maurer, John Par?, Mark Riccobono, Lauren McLarney, Jim Gashel, and others-to develop proposed legislation to implement the principal recommendations of the AIM Commission. During the long and occasionally laborious commission process, the major stakeholders (including NFB and AAP) agreed on the goal: that publisher product should be available in the marketplace and accessible to the blind and print-disabled when they come to the public at large. You know the technological changes in reaching that goal have been significant, but recent developments such as EPUB3 and HTML5 can bring accessible products to market much faster than in the past. After lengthy negotiations the AIM Commission produced a consensus report, which included the recommendation that the US Access Board (a federal agency) should develop guidelines to help all stakeholders understand when publisher products were accessible. Out of that agreement has come the TEACH Act, which has been drafted by AAP and NFB staff. We are working with members of Congress to get that bill introduced, and that's a complicated process. We know that this draft bill will undergo some inevitable changes to accommodate the concerns of others. But I can tell you that, when I was walking-again- through the halls of Congress (I spent twelve years there).... When I was walking down to meet with Tom Petri of Wisconsin, it was good to be there with Lauren McLarney and John Par?. It was good to be going in to members of Congress together to make sure that we can ultimately get the result that you need and we want. There's always been some concern among publishers that accessible products made available under Chaffee would somehow get out and be widely available to the public who didn't have a burning need for those products. But you know it's great news coming, and Ray just scratched the surface. Jim Gashel's demonstration of the new Google product is an example that, the sooner that accessible materials are readily available in the marketplace, the sooner publishers will cease to worry about the diversion of their materials to others without a special need. We have the same goal: as soon as possible, make materials available and accessible to the print- disabled when they are sold to the public at large. I was going to say, before Jim's demonstration, that we have to work on all of those manufacturers of eReaders because publisher materials can't be fully accessible for you unless the devices on which you're looking at our content are navigable by people with print disabilities. But there's good progress being made there at Google, as Jim and Ray pointed out. I want to talk briefly about our latest initiative, and this is something we're really excited about. I mentioned the critical role of digital formats in expanding accessibility. Many of you are probably familiar with the EPUB format, now the standard for packaging, delivery, conversion, and direct rendering (where enabled) for eBooks. The current version of EPUB is now widely used in the trade or consumer eBook market and is rapidly expanding across all markets. The potential of EPUB3, the next generation, is much greater. It's designed for tablets and other multimedia devices. Perhaps more important, it now robustly supports an increased number of accessibility features. We're already seeing many trade, scientific, technical, medical, and higher-education publishers implementing EPUB3. But EPUB3 has a problem: it can't thrive in a vacuum. It needs commitment to establishing it as the standard global distribution format, especially one that provides greater access for persons with disabilities. It needs momentum, it needs leadership, and the member publishers of AAP have been striving to meet these needs. For the past two years publishers have been working together in a variety of ways to advance EPUB3. Great gains have already been made toward a standard-based approach with publishers working in partnership with the International Digital Publishing Forum, the DAISY Consortium, reading systems developers, and retailers. Over the past few months we've begun designing a new initiative to complete the transition to EPUB3. This effort will identify the core set of EPUB3 baseline features for accessibility by blind and print-disabled users and in turn encourage publisher and retail support. To accomplish these goals we are forming a working group of experts representing the disabilities community (including Anne Taylor of NFB. [cheers] Thank you, Anne), publishers, eBook retailers, and reading systems providers, with a target completion date of February 2014. This team has set an ambitious three-part agenda. 1) It will develop baseline accessibility requirements, define which accessibility features of EPUB3 are most critical to users (all of you) which can be provided by third parties, and how to incorporate them into the eBook file for consistent expression and functionality across multiple systems. 2) It will convene a day-long workshop this fall for all stakeholders to develop a strategic roadmap of actionable products to support these baseline requirements. 3) We hope that AAP member publishers will have the ability to begin introducing large numbers of accessible EPUB3 files starting in early 2014, and we have a lot of publisher support toward that end. If I can take the liberty of quoting the man sitting to my left, Dr. Marc Maurer, here's what he said about this initiative: "The adoption of EPUB3 will produce significant benefits for blind readers, including the production of books that can be easily embossed or displayed in Braille and which can include both text and audio. We are pleased that America's publishers, as represented by the Association of American Publishers, are making a firm commitment to this robust standard with a defined goal for implementation. We look forward to working with the AAP and other stakeholders to make a joyous future full of digital books that can be read by everyone, including the blind, come true." Thank you, Dr. Maurer [applause]. Dr. Maurer says he believes every word; I know he does. So one more quotation from an important supporter, George Kerscher, secretary general of the DAISY Consortium and president of IDPF, said: "The DAISY Consortium and the International Digital Publishing Forum really welcome this initiative. We are eager to assist in ensuring that we optimize the reading experience for people (whether they read with their eyes, ears, or fingers) and that publishers can easily deliver the really exciting content that challenges the current generation of eBooks. From the beginning the EPUB3 Standard has been engineered by the leading reading accessibility experts in the world. The adoption of EPUB3 for all kinds of publications will help drive this inclusive publishing initiative so that publishers can maximize their potential audience, and everyone, especially the blind and print-disabled, can enjoy them." So why is this initiative important? Very simply, it will help create a more efficient supply chain, one that will enable publishers to deliver the same file to all accounts for the broadest possible distribution to readers with all mainstream and assistive systems worldwide. It will bring consistency in user experiences across retailers and devices, increase the number of available titles in EPUB3, and enable greater interactivity. That's a tall order, but the publisher support of EPUB3 and our commitment to this initiative align with our dual roles both as content creators and as technological innovators. Let me finish by saying this: we do share common interests, and, during this convention and beyond, the AAP and the NFB will continue working together to shape public policies that move the country as rapidly as possible to enjoy widespread availability of market products with content, software, and hardware which are all accessible to people with print disabilities. The work that we do together, beyond helping the members of our two organizations, can expand opportunities for millions to learn, to work, and grow to their full potential. That's a goal worth fighting for. And we have learned from our past that we, AAP and NFB, are better together. I do believe that's our future, too. Thank you all very much; have a great convention. ---------- The New Victor Reader Stream: In Many Ways Better Than the Original by Curtis Chong >From the Editor: Curtis Chong has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind since 1969. He has worked in private industry, in an agency for the blind, as the director of the NFB's International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind, and now as the coordinator of independent living technology for the New Mexico Commission for the Blind. Although Curtis is probably best known for his work in computer technology, he has a particular fascination with digital recorders and players, including those specifically modified to meet the needs of the blind and the specialized formats provided to us. Here is what he has to say about the newly released Victor Stream: On January 29, 2013, HumanWare announced the new Victor Reader Stream, declaring it to be "smaller, smarter, and wireless." You can read this announcement at . As a longtime user of the Victor Reader Stream (I have been using this media player since its original release in 2007), I had been looking forward to this announcement. After all, five years without a significant hardware change is an eternity in a world where three months is considered to be an Internet year. I was also concerned that HumanWare might choose to forgo the development of a newer, more modern Victor Reader Stream because of a misplaced belief that the majority of blind people would prefer to read books and listen to music on the Apple iPhone (admittedly a very accessible and sophisticated piece of technology that has gained wide acceptance within the blind community). I, for one, am glad that HumanWare has chosen to invest time, money, and effort in the development of a newer Victor Reader Stream, and, as I hope to demonstrate in this article, the new Stream is, overall, a definite improvement over its predecessor. The physical hardware of the new Stream is definitely smaller and more compact than the original. The keys and buttons on the new Stream are in the same place as they were in the original, and there is an additional button (to support Wi-Fi) just above the Number 2 key. The headphone jack has been moved to the top edge of the unit, and the battery is now part of the Stream's case. The speaker in the new Stream is quite a bit louder than it was in the original unit. Finally, the USB port and the AC power jack have been combined, and you can use the same cable to recharge the battery or connect the Stream to a computer or external storage device. Things That Haven't Changed If you have a Victor Reader Stream and have mastered its many features, you will be pleased to know that you won't have to learn much more to use the new Stream. All of the Stream's functions are executed exactly the same as they were in the original. You press the same buttons to record and play back audio notes, change the speed, and traverse the bookshelf. You use precisely the same folders on your SD card to hold books, podcasts, music, and text files. You can update the Stream's firmware using the same procedure as with the original Stream. The new Stream continues to support downloading of described videos for authorized subscribers to Serotek's System Access Mobile Network. Finally, the Stream reads exactly the same type of books as its predecessor-including books from Audible.com, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, and Bookshare?. "Well," you might ask, "if this is all true, then why should I even bother buying a new Victor Reader Stream?" Stream Enhancements Perhaps the most noticeable change in the new Victor Reader Stream is the new text-to-speech engine, which uses the Acapela voices instead of Nuance Vocalizer. People who are not happy with the Nuance Vocalizer text- to-speech engine will probably find the Acapela voices more to their liking. As with the original Stream, you can choose between a male or female text-to-speech voice. The new Victor Reader Stream now sports a clock. This is something which a lot of Stream users have been asking for. You can interrupt the playing of a song or the reading of a book and ask the Stream to tell you the current time and date. However, this is not an alarm clock. When recording a lecture or notes, you can now plug in a headset and monitor the recording. The original Stream did not have this capability. Also recordings can now be produced in the MP3 format without the need to purchase additional features. You can now connect an external microphone to the Victor Reader Stream and create a stereo recording; and you can configure the stream to accept an in-line connection and record content from another audio device. Wi-Fi is arguably the most significant if not the most noticeable enhancement provided in the new Victor Reader Stream. Wi-Fi requires the user to have an Internet connection and a router or modem with active Wi-Fi support. Through the Wi-Fi interface, Stream users can . Update the Stream's firmware; . Install the user authorization key to read digital Talking Books from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped; . Download content from NFB-NEWSLINE?; and . Search for and download DAISY books from Bookshare. To download NFB-NEWSLINE and Bookshare content through the Wi-Fi interface, the Stream user must be authorized to use these services, and the Stream must be connected to a wireless network that it knows about. Wi- Fi is easily enabled or disabled by pressing and holding a single button. If Wi-Fi is on (disabling Airplane Mode), content from NFB-NEWSLINE is automatically synchronized when the Stream is powered up. Books from Bookshare are downloaded manually whenever the user requests Bookshare content. Once downloaded, NFB-NEWSLINE and Bookshare content can be read regardless of whether Wi-Fi is on or off. Areas of Concern In the interest of fairness I must point out two deficiencies that I have encountered with the new Victor Reader Stream. While these deficiencies do not detract from the Stream's ability to read books and play music, they do affect the Stream's Notes recorder. 1. Longtime Stream users who have been accustomed to using the Notes recorder to capture lectures or meetings will be disappointed to learn that the new Stream's Notes recorder, as it now functions, is more suited to recording personal notes than to large meetings. The sensitivity of the built-in microphone is definitely less than the built-in microphone on the original Stream. When I listen to the recorder using a pair of headphones, I hear a constant tone in the background, which becomes a part of the recording. You don't hear this tone in recordings made on the original Stream. I don't know whether or not a simple firmware update of the Stream will be enough to resolve this issue, but I do know that HumanWare is fully aware of the problem. 2. The new Victor Reader Stream is supposed to be capable of recording from an external stereo microphone. In my testing of this feature, I discovered that the sensitivity of the external microphone was lower than that necessary to produce a recording of acceptable quality. I used a professional-quality stereo microphone on the new Stream and compared this with a recording made using an Olympus digital recorder. While the Olympus recorder produced a very good recording with this microphone, the recording I got from the new Stream was too low in volume to be useful except as a means of dictating a personal note into the Stream-something that is more easily accomplished with the built-in microphone. Conclusion The new Victor Reader Stream continues the tradition established by its predecessor. It excels as a player of audio and text media. Its controls are easy to operate by touch-even for people with dexterity issues. It has a very long battery life-more than ten hours of continuous reading or playback. The potential of the Stream's Wi-Fi interface has just begun to be explored. If you already own a Victor Reader Stream, you should definitely give the new Stream a thorough examination and decide for yourself whether or not to make the investment. I think you will find it well worth your time and money. ---------- Old-School Braille Needs Image Update by Deborah Kendrick >From the Editor: Deborah Kendrick is a member of the National Federation of the Blind who lives in Ohio. She is a prolific writer whose articles appear both in blindness-related publications and in the mainstream media. Much of her work focuses on explaining blindness and the tools blind people use in ways that are novel and dramatically different from what we too often see in the public media. Here is one example of the artistry Deborah brings to her work. It is reprinted with the permission of the author from the Columbus Dispatch, June 30, 2013. Who was Helen Keller? We know the answer, and yet the answer has changed with time. Thursday marked the 133rd anniversary of her birth. While most of us are familiar with the story of the miracle that occurred when a little girl who was both deaf and blind suddenly grasped the power of language, Helen Keller's image has transformed dramatically over the decades. Her only access to classroom lectures and textbooks was the relentless interpreting of her teacher, spelling into Helen's hand. She graduated with honors and became internationally known as an author, speaker, and humanitarian, but her image was once a bit removed from regular people. She was a phenomenon, yes, but society also viewed her as a kind of freak of nature, a paragon untouched by the more common human needs. Her image has changed-and for the better. Today we know that she was a complex, multi-dimensional woman-not asexual or unaware of earthly matters, but rather a feminist, a socialist, an advocate for disability rights-and a flesh-and-blood woman whose one true romance was thwarted by her "handlers" just short of her elopement. You might say that, with time and more knowledge of her humanness, Helen Keller has gone beyond legendary and remarkable; she has become cool. This same transformation has occurred with our perceptions of other disability trappings. American Sign Language (ASL), once perceived as that odd business of a couple of people frantically, silently waving their hands around in public, is now recognized by all immediately as just another way of talking. Mothers teach it to their babies. Colleges and universities offer it for credit. Most people think that to know at least a few words and phrases in ASL is decidedly, yes, cool. At the first-ever Braille Summit last week, a conference organized by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (a division of the Library of Congress) and that same Perkins School, where Helen Keller was a student, one hundred of the most passionate advocates for Braille literacy from throughout the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France gathered to talk about the future of literacy for people who can't read conventional print. The problem is of crisis proportions. Although we recently celebrated the two hundredth birthday of the blind Frenchman who invented the tactile system of reading and writing for blind people, only 10 percent of blind people currently use it. Schools often assign a low, if any, priority in lieu of teaching blind kids to use their ears to listen to recorded texts and computerized voices. Adults losing sight consider it a badge of failure, so they learn it only if they have the good fortune to find a teacher who knows its value. Without Braille a person who cannot effectively read or write print is illiterate. Although employment rates for blind adults are deplorably low (about 30 percent), 85 percent of those who are employed use Braille on the job. "So how do we fix it?" was the question posed to those gathered at the Watertown, Massachusetts, event. A solid list of solutions was developed, a list for the Library of Congress staff and others to contemplate and try to implement. But one of the leading suggestions was this: Braille needs a better marketing campaign. It needs to be perceived as cool. For those of us fortunate enough to use it, of course it's cool. Reading and writing and language are recognized universally as keys to information, knowledge, and success. Braille is just another literacy medium, a system of dots rather than lines and squiggles. You see it on elevator panels and restroom doors. Why not look it up in the encyclopedia and puzzle out those numbers and letters? Teach it to your children and grandchildren. It can be a fun tool for writing secret messages. That's how it began, after all. Nineteenth- century French military developed "night writing" as a way for soldiers to relay messages after dark. One of them shared it with a school for the blind; young Louis Braille got his hands on it and turned it into a system that could convey to the fingertips any text ever written. Every word I've ever written was read by me in Braille. It's not quirky or complicated or obsolete. It's just literacy-and that is 100 percent cool. Like Helen Keller and American Sign Language before it, Braille needs to be seen in a more positive light; it needs an image makeover. Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati writer and advocate for people with disabilities. You may contact her by writing to . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. C. Edwin Vaughan] Dr. Jacob Bolotin-the California Connection by C. Edwin Vaughan >From the Editor: Dr. C. Edwin Vaughan is a retired professor of sociology from the University of Missouri--Columbia. He has authored several books and articles on blindness but now spends his time trying to build and strengthen his chapter and affiliate. Here is what he says about the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards presented annually at the convention of the National Federation of the Blind: The first Dr. Jacob Bolotin awards were presented at the 2008 convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Six awards totaling $100,000 were presented to organizations and individuals for their outstanding contributions to the well-being of blind people. Most of us at that convention did not know about Jacob Bolotin before the appearance of his biography, The Blind Doctor. His is a remarkable story, the more so because it was an earlier time in the struggle of blind people to find jobs and to participate in the wider community. Jacob was born into a low-income Jewish family in Chicago in 1890. He was the last of six children. He, his brother, and one sister were all born blind. By age four he had demonstrated remarkable intelligence and determination. After one year of public school he and his brother Fred were sent to the Illinois School for the Blind at Jackson, Illinois, where he lived from age five until his high school graduation. He was class valedictorian. After high school he encountered the usual problem-no employment opportunity. He began by selling pencils door to door, and moved up to selling brushes and later typewriters. During his successful time as the leading seller of typewriters in the Midwest, he developed a deep passion for becoming a physician. He saved money sufficient for one year's tuition at medical school. He was admitted, and his biography describes the many ways he overcame challenges while on route to earning the highest marks in his graduating class. His accomplishments occurred before tape recorders and the many electronic devices we now take for granted. He achieved this before any federal rehabilitation programs, long white canes, guide dog schools, or the National Federation of the Blind. Bolotin had to volunteer his medical work in tuberculosis clinics because he could obtain no medical position. For an entire year no patients came to his office, and he continued to sell brushes at night to support himself. He would not give up on his dream of becoming a successful physician. Gradually his abilities were recognized, and he became a specialist in diagnosing tuberculosis and other heart and lung disorders. He was widely sought as a consulting physician and a public speaker. In addition to teaching at three medical schools in Chicago, he was invited to speak at hundreds of college graduations, Kiwanis and other civic organization meetings, and medical society conventions. At the expense of his health he accepted these public opportunities to help the public understand the obstacles that blind people and poor people in general face as they seek employment and other opportunities. He was invited to speak at the International Kiwanis Convention in Toronto in 1922. He particularly enjoyed the steamship trip from Chicago to Toronto, relishing the new experiences of ocean-like waves and the smells and sounds of a ship passing through large bodies of water. While en route he tried writing poetry. It wasn't great, but many of us can identify with the problems he described: To Kiwanis Kiwanis says, "We build!" Kiwanians will never shirk. The blind man wants to help, But the public won't let him work. It's up to you, Kiwanians, Don't sympathize or sob. Just put your shoulder to the wheel, And find the blind a job. More than money, more than fame, Will be to me the day, When every sightless, jobless man Will draw his first week's pay. Jacob Bolotin's greatest talents were not in poetry. However, it appears that he enjoyed expressing some of his philosophy and sentiments in rhyme. I Do The Best I Can I don't always find things easy, And many times I foil, When the wind's too strong one way, I simply change my soil. When sorrow strikes or bad luck hits, I do the best I can, And when I win the battle, I'm a stronger, better man. One of his favorite projects was his effort to develop and lead a Boy Scout troop for blind youth. He led Troop 300, and, as his health began to fail, he asked his brother Fred to take over troop leadership. Fred was also blind, and he led the troop for over twenty years after Jacob's death. Jacob could not turn down the large number of speaking requests because they gave him a chance to talk about the difficulties confronting blind people and the difficulties faced by children living in poverty. He gave enormous amounts of energy, sometimes around the clock service, to helping patients during the influenza epidemic of 1919. His demanding work schedule as physician; his work as lecturer in three different medical schools; his work in many public organizations, including his Boy Scout troop; and his extensive public speaking schedule gradually took its toll on his health. After an illness lasting several months, he died peacefully on April 1, 1924. His funeral was attended by more than five thousand people in Chicago, and his life was celebrated in newspapers nationwide. The Bolotins had no children of their own. Helen's widowed sister and her son Alfred Perlman moved in with the Bolotins during the last four years of Jacob's life. Alfred, himself a teenager, became a frequent companion and reader for Dr. Bolotin. Later Alfred Perlman married Rosalind, who in her late years became the author of the book The Blind Doctor, published by Blue Point Books in 2007. After Alfred Perlman returned from serving overseas in World War II, the couple moved from Chicago to Santa Maria, California, where Alfred taught high school. Rosalind taught speech and drama at Hancock College for the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts. She became a journalist, writing columns for the Santa Maria Times. Rosalind and Alfred always dreamed of writing a book about Dr. Bolotin to share the story of this amazing man who had devoted the last third of his short life to changing society's perception of what a blind person could do. Based on Alfred's vivid memories, those of his Aunt Helen, other friends and family members, as well as media clippings, photos, and other documents, Rosalind wrote many drafts of the book before her husband died in 2001. After Alfred's death, she devoted the rest of her life to making sure the book was completed. Rosalind died in 2004. The Perlman estate was given in a trust to the Santa Barbara Foundation. The trust, through this foundation, makes annual awards to individuals and organizations that significantly contribute to enriching the lives of blind people. The Santa Barbara Foundation is one of the oldest and largest of the more than 700 community foundations in the United States. It is Santa Barbara County's largest private source of funding for nonprofit agencies, having awarded $23 million to area nonprofits and $2.3 million to area students in 2006. From the Santa Barbara Foundation's website, you can learn much more about Rosalind Perlman's life and her contribution to the Santa Barbara community. The final paragraph below, taken from the Santa Barbara Foundation website, summarizes Rosalind Perlman's trust: Rosalind accomplished much, but toward the end of her life one thing remained unfinished: honoring the accomplishments of her husband's uncle, Dr. Jacob Bolotin. Born in Chicago in 1888, totally penniless and completely blind, Dr. Bolotin fought his way into medical school and graduated with honors in 1912, becoming the world's first and only blind physician fully licensed to practice medicine. Rosalind had searched for some time for a "well-established, highly respected organization" to present an annual award, the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for the Blind, which would be given to a visually impaired man or woman who has made a significant impact within the blind community, who has done extraordinary things for others. The Santa Barbara Foundation came to her aid. Rosalind left a $1 million bequest in the name of the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust. The Foundation worked with the National Federation of the Blind to formulate the award and to produce her book on Dr. Bolotin's life. ---------- Giving a Dream One of the great satisfactions in life is having the opportunity to assist others. Consider making a gift to the National Federation of the Blind to continue turning our dreams into reality. A gift to the NFB is not merely a donation to an organization; it provides resources that will directly ensure a brighter future for all blind people. Seize the Future The National Federation of the Blind has special giving opportunities that will benefit the giver as well as the NFB. Of course the largest benefit to the donor is the satisfaction of knowing that the gift is leaving a legacy of opportunity. However, gifts may be structured to provide more: . Helping the NFB fulfill its mission . Realizing income tax savings through a charitable deduction . Making capital gain tax savings on contributions of appreciated assets . Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or beneficiary . Eliminating or lowering the federal estate tax in certain situations . Reducing estate settlement costs NFB programs are dynamic: . Making the study of science and math a real possibility for blind children . Providing hope for seniors losing vision . Promoting state and local programs to help blind people become first- class citizens . Educating the public about blind people's true potential . Advancing technology helpful to the blind . Creating a state-of-the-art library on blindness . Training and inspiring professionals working with the blind . Providing critical information to parents of blind children . Mentoring blind job seekers Your gift makes you a partner in the NFB dream. For further information or assistance, contact the NFB planned giving officer. ---------- When Santa Lost His Eyesight by Alex Castillo >From the Editor: Alex Castillo is a disability advocate from New York City. He has been a past president of the NFB's New York student division and has participated in and led multiple events for students with disabilities in New York. After graduating from Hunter College with a BA in political science and psychology, he left city life to attend the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston, where he discovered a love for crawfish and po'boys. He later moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and worked for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired as a resource and orientation counselor. It was while he was in Nebraska that he wrote this article for the blog of the Nebraska Commission for the Blind. Alex now lives in Washington DC, where he plans to attend graduate school and continue to contribute to the NFB through our affiliate in the District of Columbia. Here is his story, based on a play written by Jerry Whittle: Most people know about Santa Claus. He's the jolly old fellow who, along with a team of flying reindeer and tireless elves, works year round so that on one night out of every year they can bring presents to children and adults all over the world. What many people are not aware of is that one year Santa began noticing that his vision was not what it used to be. Of course he did not want to admit it to himself, but driving that sleigh at night and being up there in the sky with all of those airplanes zooming by made him feel quite unsafe. It was no surprise when gossip at the North Pole had it that Santa had gone blind and that he was quitting the holidays. He became depressed, and without his work he lost his sense of purpose in life. The man was a sad mess. One holiday night everything started going downhill and just got worse and worse. The naughty and nice lists were becoming a blur, and he handed out the wrong toys to more than one billion children. I know what you may be thinking at this moment: if Santa had gone blind, you would surely have heard about it. I'm not saying this is all true, but was there one year in which you received absolutely the most unlikely gift ever? Well, if the answer is yes, then this story might make a little sense. After getting home that night, Santa could do little more than lock himself up in his office at the toy factory. No matter how hard everyone tried to cheer him up, he could do absolutely nothing for a very long time. This is the story I heard last year when I was visiting friends in Ruston, Louisiana. They say that, a year after he had lost his vision, Santa came down there to receive training at their blindness center. "He could barely even see Rudolph's nose," they said, "He had lost about seventy-five pounds when he first arrived and wouldn't even touch a cookie." "He'd get real close to ya when he was talking," they would all whisper, "Couldn't tell north from south even if he was holding a compass, bless his heart." Apparently the entire town knew about this phenomenon. So well known was the story down there that a writer by the name of Jerry Whittle wrote a play about the whole ordeal, and everyone in town came to see the production. When I asked how come Santa didn't choose Nebraska to come and train-after all, we have an awesome center right here, and it would seem the rational choice with all the snow, howling winds, and freezing weather we get-the answer I received was: "Well, Nebraska? With all that snow up there, he'd be recognized in a heartbeat if he stepped outside dressed all in red in his Husker gear. Down here he's just another blind guy with a beard." The more I thought about the story, about this blind and depressed Santa Claus, the more sense it made. Often, when people start to lose their eyesight, they feel ashamed and even worthless. People find themselves helplessly transformed from productive and contributing members of their families and communities to people who just sit passively, watching life and everyone else pass them by. We often confuse the inability to do with the inability to see, when all that it takes for us to get back into our routine, or even find a more exciting and challenging one, is simply to understand that with some blindness training many doors open up with the promise of opportunity. No training center can create Santa Claus, but a good one can help Santa figure out how he can do his job as a respectable blind person-nonvisually. As I recall, the play ended with Santa making the decision to keep the toy factories open and to stay in his job-something for which the world continues to be grateful. He arrived at the North Pole to continue his yearly duties, with some new blindness skills and alternatives. It was truly a happy ending. But the people in Ruston tell a different story. They say that he didn't go back to the North Pole right away. "Oh, he had some trouble with the training," they said. "At first he was always lifting those sleepshades. They said he would use the excuse of being overheated to lift them and peek during every class. He didn't like travel very much," they said. "Oh, Santa, Santa! You would see him just hiding when it was time for travel class." But what surprised me the most was when they told me, "The first time Santa stepped into the wood shop and heard those live blades running, he almost fainted." One would think that someone who has been working with factory machinery his whole life would be able to handle an arm saw. As time went by, Santa settled into the Center and became an excellent student. But after training he didn't go back to the North Pole right away. First he wanted to try out a new career, so he went to work at this Cajun restaurant in the next town as a cook. During training Santa had discovered that he had let Mrs. Claus do all the cooking their entire marriage, but he was surprised to learn that he actually enjoyed working in the kitchen. "Could you imagine that," they said, "Santa a cook in a Cajun restaurant?" I suppose he just felt like he wanted some independence. Like many people after they finish blindness training, he must have felt a bit rebellious and must have wanted to prove to anyone that he could go far beyond the common expectations for a blind person. It wasn't until the missus threatened to come and get him that he decided to go back up north. Sometimes the path to independence isn't obvious and clear. Sometimes, like Santa, we need to figure ourselves out, and this takes a little while. Sometimes blindness gives us an opportunity to learn and make decisions that vary greatly from our past and that we would never have thought possible if we hadn't lost our eyesight. Sometimes we just get a stronger sense of who we are. But the first step toward independence and starting your life or getting it back is recognizing when it's time to receive training and then going through that training in a program that will allow you to fully realize that you are a person worthy and deserving of respect. After all, this is your life, and you live through your choices. As for Santa, you can decide to believe this story or not, but the children and grownups are still receiving presents on time and without any strange mix-ups. Polls show that he's been doing a better job year after year. And just the other day I read a review about some new restaurant opening up at the North Pole which specializes in Southern cuisine. ---------- Recipes This month's recipes come from members of the National Federation of the Blind of Montana. Chicken, Broccoli, and Cheddar Cheese Casserole by Joy Breslauer Joy Breslauer married into the Federation in 1997; her husband Bruce has been a member since 1974. He is an O&M specialist and regional manager of the Great Falls office of Blind and Low Vision Services, and she is a customer service representative for National Electronic Warranty. They have two grown children, five grandchildren, and two guide dogs. Ingredients: 4 chicken breasts or at least 4 cups diced cooked chicken 1 large bunch fresh broccoli or 2 packages frozen broccoli florets or chopped broccoli 1/2 brick (2 cups) cheddar cheese, shredded 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup 3/4 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup white wine, optional Method: Steam broccoli until tender crisp; drain and set aside. Boil uncooked chicken for twenty minutes; drain and set aside. Cut steamed broccoli and cooked chicken into bite-size pieces. In saucepan heat soup, mayonnaise, and wine, stirring to combine. In 13-by-9-inch baking dish layer a third of the sauce, half the chicken, half the broccoli, half the cheese, half the remaining sauce, chicken, broccoli, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese on top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for twenty to thirty minutes or until heated through and sauce is bubbly. Serves six to eight. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: George Kerscher] George's Goulash Soup by George Kerscher George Kerscher is in his fourth year on the Guide Dogs for the Blind board of directors. He works on establishing standards in the digital publishing industry. He is secretary general of the DAISY Consortium, is president of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), and serves on the National Museum and Library Services (IMLS) board. He is employed by Learning Ally, a national nonprofit providing services to students in the US. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 to 4 cloves garlic, crushed 3 to 4 pounds stew meat, cut into sugar-cube-size chunks, or smaller 1 large onion or equivalent amount of leek 2 16-ounce cans of beef stock (can substitute bouillon cubes and water) 1 16-ounce can of tomato sauce 1 16-ounce can of crushed, stewed, or whole tomatoes (if whole, chop) 2 tablespoons paprika Lots of pepper (1/2 tablespoon) 1/2 tablespoon chili powder 6 medium carrots, cut into sugar-cube-size chunks or smaller 4 medium potatoes, cut into sugar-cube-size chunks or smaller 2 cups frozen peas Up to 1/2 cup barley, optional (if used, reduce the amount of potatoes) Up to 1/2 cup potato flakes, optional (use to thicken if desired, other thickening--flour or cornstarch--is OK) Method: In large pot heat vegetable oil and crushed garlic over high heat. When the garlic is fragrant, add onion or leek, followed by meat. Brown and simmer for ten to twenty minutes, stirring often. Add beef stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, paprika, pepper, and barley, if desired, and simmer for at least an hour over low heat. The mixture should be on a low simmer. Add carrots, and simmer for an hour on low. Add potatoes and simmer for another hour (potatoes need a higher temperature to cook). Add peas and simmer for thirty minutes or until potatoes, carrots, and peas are soft and perfect. Thicken with potato flakes or other thickening agent. Serve with freshly baked bread or rolls. Sour cream may be added at the table. ---------- Split Pea Soup by Jim Aldrich Jim Aldrich is the new president of the NFB of Montana. Ingredients: 1 1-pound package split peas 1 pound carrots 2 packages of cubed ham or one package of ham hocks 1 large can chicken broth 1 onion, cut into bite-sized pieces Method: Combine all ingredients in a Crock Pot and cook on high for four to five hours. Remove ham hock and dice meat, discarding fat. Return meat to pot. Soup will get thick; keep cooking it till it is of desired thickness. It is delicious. ---------- Seven-Layer Dip by Joy Breslauer Ingredients: 1 16-ounce can refried beans (I like the ones with diced green chilies.) 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix 1 cup sour cream 1 cup thick and chunky salsa 1 cup shredded lettuce 1 cup finely shredded Mexican 4-cheese blend 4 green onions, sliced 2 tablespoons sliced black olives Tortilla chips for dipping Method: Stir together refried beans and taco seasoning mix; spread mixture in bottom of a shallow pie pan or quiche dish. Spread sour cream evenly over beans. Spoon on a layer of thick and chunky salsa. Sprinkle on a layer of shredded lettuce, then a layer of shredded cheese. Sprinkle on sliced green onions and sliced black olives. Refrigerate several hours or overnight--the longer the better. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping. ---------- Easy Clam Dip by Joy Breslauer Ingredients: 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature 2 cans minced clams Method: Open cans of minced clams and drain juice; reserve. Stir clam juice slowly into cream cheese till smooth and of dipping consistency. This should take a little less than half the juice. Stir in minced clams. Cover and refrigerate several hours--the longer the better. The colder the dip is, the thicker it will be. Serve with chips or vegetables for dipping. This is a family favorite for holidays. ------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family Bid for Equality: Our Bid for Equality online auction is fast approaching. If you have not already done so, please visit to pre- register. Pre-registering on will ensure you are ready to bid as soon as the auction goes live. To preview our exciting donations prior to the auction, please visit our auction homepage at . You can even add items to your cart to access them easily at a later time. Don't miss this opportunity to show the special people in your life that you care, while supporting the work of the NFB at the same time. If you're looking for a special getaway, we have vacation packages to Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Illinois, just to name a few. If you're looking for a unique experience, we have a Nevada helicopter tour and a Wisconsin boat tour. Moreover, we also have several exciting state-specific gift baskets and restaurant gift cards from which to choose. We truly have something for everyone. In order for the auction to reach its full potential, we need your help. Inform your network of friends, family, and acquaintances of our Bid for Equality online auction, beginning on Black Friday, November 29, 2013, and concluding on Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2013, and encourage them to register and participate. The Future is in Your Bid. We appreciate your support. ThruOurEyes Programming Guide: The Northeast Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey established Thruoureyes on March 25, 2005. With hundreds of interviews conducted and thousands of podcasts and archives of the interviews available, we are making a difference. The baseball season has ended; however, you can still get the best sluggers on our WTOE radio. WTOERadio/TV, at , is proud to announce its NFB Wednesday night line-up. WTOERadio/TV has scheduled a series of broadcasts not to be missed, so mark your calendar and tune in for its NFB live streamcast each Wednesday night at 8:00 PM eastern time. Here is the line-up of our NFB sluggers: Leading off the first Wednesday night of each month is the Echevarria Travel Show. Cheryl Echevarria and her guests share ideas and techniques to help blind and visually impaired people travel more effectively. This show will help you to travel more safely and often. Please remember to return each month to learn more from Cheryl. On the Bright Side hits the ball out of the park on the second Wednesday night of each month with the effervescent banter of co-hosts Jane Degenshein and Jerry Moreno. If you are looking for a pick-me-up or just some good old fashioned encouragement, motivation, and inspiration, simply tune in for this spirited and uplifting broadcast. This is good stuff with personal stories, anecdotes, trips down memory lane, tech tips, and a book corner to boot. Lots of laughs. Very funny. And special guests pinch hit in key situations--not to be missed. Next in the NFB power line-up on the third Wednesday night of each month is Thruoureyes with member of the NFB board of directors and New Jersey affiliate President Joe Ruffalo serving as program anchor. Joe provides insight into pressing issues and concerns of the NFB, engaging national guests with expertise in subjects most important to the blind and visually impaired. Given the direct impact and benefit to you and your well-being, these broadcasts need to be marked as a high priority on your monthly events calendar. Batting clean-up on the fourth Wednesday night of each month is the offering Looking Good without Looking, hosted by Linda Zani Thomas and Johanna Baccan MD (Makeup Diva). Do blind folks really care about how they look? You bet we do. And this show provides expert advice on beauty, style, and current fashion trends modeled on the system created by fashion diva Linda Zani Thomas, producer of the fashion show conducted at the NFBNJ state convention, which featured sixteen blind or visually impaired models. If you want to feel good, look good. Be there every month with Linda and Johanna. About WTOERadio Network programming The WTOERadio/TV Network supports broadcasts devoted to entertainment, education, and health issues tailored to the needs of the blind and visually impaired. A loyal and vibrant community of sighted people find value in this programming as well. Following are various options for accessing and listening live to these broadcasts: . No Internet is required; just use your phone and dial (347) 215-7037. Toll charges may apply. . With Internet access for live or previous shows: . . For JAWS and other screen-reader users: . . To watch LIVE shows, go to . . To listen to archived audio podcasts, click or enter on the listen button. . To get the audio only or to watch video of past shows, go a bit further down the page for the view, and click or enter there for audio and video. . To phone in with a suggestion, a comment, or just a shout-out, call toll- free (888) 572-0141. We look forward to having you join us live, but, if you can't listen or view as programming airs, you can subscribe to the podcasts by the following links: subscribe to audio podcasts: . Subscribe to video podcasts at . Happy listening and viewing. Syracuse Chapter Election: The Syracuse chapter of the NFB of New York held elections at its September meeting, and here are the results: president, Lucy Marr; vice president, Melissa Thomas; secretary, Don Marr; and treasurer, Linda Webb. Bloomington/Normal Chapter Election: On September 13, 2013, the newly organized Bloomington/Normal chapter of the NFB of Illinois was organized. Elected to serve as its chapter officers are the following: president, Cary Supalo; vice president, Charles Smith; secretary, Courtney Hummel; treasurer, Janet Shobe-Smith; and board member, James Dunnington. Elected: The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa held its annual state convention over the weekend of October 4 to 6 at the Adventure Land Inn in Altoona. It was a real treat to spend the weekend with Dr. and Mrs. Maurer. The Federation spirit is definitely alive and well in Iowa. Our very first Diabetes Action Network and At Large Chapter annual meetings were held and were a real hit. The following people were elected to two-year board positions: Karen Clayton, Eugene Kleinow, Cindy Ray, and Sandi Ryan. David Hammel was elected to serve the remaining year as treasurer to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of our previous treasurer, who found a different job in New Mexico. Appointed: On September 24 we received the following notice from Kathy Beachem of the Office of the Commissioner at the New Jersey Department of Human Services: I am pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Frye as the new executive director of DHS's Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBVI). He will start on October 21, 2013. Daniel will fill the vacancy created by Vito DeSantis' retirement last June. Daniel comes to us from Maryland, where he served as a management and program specialist with the Rehabilitation Services Administration with the US Department of Education. There he was responsible for the national administration of the federal Randolph-Sheppard program and the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults. Prior to his employment with the US Department of Education, Daniel served in successive management positions on the national staff of the National Federation of the Blind and as national advocate for the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand. Daniel earned his juris doctorate at the University of Washington School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree at Erskine College in South Carolina. He is a certified mediator and has authored several publications and articles. New Email Group for Beading Enthusiasts: BeadingInTheDark is a new email group formed to discuss beading techniques, projects, supplies, and all things beading from a blindness perspective. Our primary focus is making beaded jewelry, but other beading projects are welcome for discussion. To subscribe, visit . For more information contact Lucy at . Earning Money Online: My name is Marcia Baran. I'm looking for a way to earn some extra money online. I don't want to start a business. I have explored survey sites, and they are not blind accessible. Any suggestions are welcomed at . My cell phone number is (860) 997-2234. New Chapter: James Brown, president of the NFB of Tennessee, reports that he traveled to Johnson City in August to establish the Northeast Chapter of that affiliate. They had a good mix of parents, blind children, teachers, and blind and sighted people at the first meeting, and they have already planned their first fundraiser to take place during Meet the Blind Month. Randy "Rooster" Atkins is the new president. Congratulations to the new chapter and to the Tennessee affiliate. 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. New TSA Procedures at Airports: Travel and Tourism Division President Cheryl Echevarria passes along the following information: People who travel with dog guides or who have external medical devices they must take through security are often asked to step to the side after going through security, and their hands are checked for residue used in making weapons and bombs. We do not know why this is triggered by the use of dog guides, but we do know it applies to anyone traveling with pets and anyone who brings an external medical device through security. Cheryl notes that there is nothing here that singles out the blind. Seedlings Braille Books for Children's 2014 Catalog Now Available: Seedlings is excited to announce that its 2014 catalog is now available, and fifty new book titles have been added, along with a new Braille puzzle. The new book list includes everything from Animal Noises (a print- Braille picture book for toddlers) to Hunger Games Book 2: Catching Fire (a 500+ page Braille fiction book for young adults). The new books are listed on its website at and are ready to be ordered today. Seedlings is also featuring the Chunky Shapes Puzzle with Braille by Melissa & Doug for just $9. Children can learn their shapes by playing with these fun, chunky puzzle pieces and by reading the names of the shapes that are printed on the board in print and Braille. The uncontracted Braille is laser-cut into the wood. Visit its website at and click on the "What's New" section! If you would like to receive a print copy of the 2014 Seedlings catalog in the mail, please send your name and address to: or call: 800-777-8552, or you can download the text file version from the website at: . 2013 Book Angel Program-Register Now: Seedlings' Book Angel Program is open to visually impaired children who live in the US and Canada, and through this program each child can receive two free Seedlings books each year (you list four books from our catalog, and we will send two of them). If you haven't registered yet in 2013, please visit Seedlings' website at: and click on "Book Angel Program." Seedlings Braille Books for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the opportunity for literacy by providing high-quality, low-cost children's literature in Braille. Volunteers, grants, and donations make it possible for us to offer our books at a fraction of the production costs, and prices have not been raised for over twenty-five years. 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. New Voice-Command Internet Service: Imagine accessing the Internet without a computer, when you are on the go, stuck in traffic, or just away from your computer. Sounds like science fiction? Not anymore, using InternetSpeech's netECHO?, the only voice Internet service to give you access to the entire web, no computer needed. You can surf any website, listen and respond to your email, search any word, listen to music, and much more. Pretty much anything that you can do on a computer with a visual browser can now be done with any phone and your own voice. If you have a phone, you have access to the Internet, no computer needed. InternetSpeech brings Internet to you using the most natural user interface, your voice, and the most ubiquitous device, a simple phone, effectively bridging the digital and language divides. Each plan starts with a one-time set-up fee of twenty dollars. Plan A gives you unlimited use for fourteen dollars per month. You simply call a toll number in the 408 area code. Plan B gives you five hours of use for $23 per month, five cents per minute for additional minutes (in the US and Canada), and you call a toll-free number to use the service. Plan C gives you unlimited use, and you call a toll-free number (in the US and Canada) for seventy-five dollars per month. Streaming audio is $6 extra. For more information check out our website at . To learn more or sign up, call (877) 231- 9286 or (408) 532-8460. For Sale: I am selling my Aladdin Personal Reader for $500 plus shipping costs, though I would be willing to negotiate a little on the price. It is an older model I bought for $1,795 new, but I have had it totally refurbished at considerable cost. The color settings on it are full color high contrast, full color photo mode, yellow on blue, green on black, amber on black, and white on black high contrast negative. It has a 14-inch screen. Contact me by phone at (631) 473-7194, or by email at . ---------- NFB Pledge 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. From buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org Sun Dec 8 22:16:03 2013 From: buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org (Brian Buhrow) Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2013 22:16:03 -0800 Subject: [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, December 2013 Message-ID: <201312090616.rB96G3kE024784@lothlorien.nfbcal.org> BRAILLE MONITOR Vol. 56, No. 11 December 2013 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 telephone: (410) 659-9314 email address: nfb at nfb.org website address: http://www.nfb.org NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org NFB-NEWSLINE? information: (866) 504-7300 Letters to the president, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES. ISSN 0006-8829 ? 2013 by the National Federation of the Blind Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped. You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device. Vol. 56, No. 11 December 2013 Contents Illustrations: No Tricks, Just Treats from the NFB Halloween Party Convention Bulletin 2014 A Journey of Success by Julie Deden Of Parallels, Learning, and New Paradigms by Carlton Anne Cook-Walker Producing Tactile Materials, an Update by Robert Jaquiss Social Security, SSI, and Medicare Facts for 2014 by Lauren McLarney Blind War Hero's Next Fight is in Court by Tim Elder A Season for Gratitude by Barbara Pierce Strong People Cannot Be Defeated by Dolores Reisinger Santa's Little Helper by Darrel Kirby A Thank-You From a Reader by Estelle Shukert Federation of the Blind Honors Keyser's Edgar McDonald by Barbara High New Mexico Federationists Change What It Means to Be Blind by Curtis Chong Ask Miss Whozit The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards by Jim Gashel The 2014 Blind Educator of the Year Award by David Ticchi Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award for 2014 by Cathy Jackson >From the President's Recipe File by Marc Maurer Recipes Monitor Miniatures No Tricks, Just Treats from the NFB Office Halloween Party Halloween is fun. This is true whether one's age is measured in single or double digits. Here we see staff members at the National Center for the Blind celebrating the holiday with a brief morning break before going back to their work to create greater opportunities for all of us. [PHOTO CAPTION: John Berggren plays it cool with a Mad Hatter top hat.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Nick Lambright salutes the camera with his coffee, while wearing on his head a unique hat, a panda with devil horns.] [PHOTO CAPTION: Joanne Wilson's witch's hat with artfully draped cobwebbing- positively bewitching] [PHOTO CAPTION: Nijat Worley dressed as Harry Potter] [PHOTO CAPTION: Sonia Little strikes a sassy pose in her cat costume. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Palm-lined drive leading to front entrance to Rosen Centre Hotel] Convention Bulletin 2014 Rosen Centre Hotel It is time to begin planning for the 2014 convention of the National Federation of the Blind. We are returning to Orlando for our second stay at the beautiful Rosen Centre Hotel this year, July 1 through 6. Once again our hotel rates are the envy of all. For the 2014 convention they are singles and doubles, $82; and for triples and quads, $88. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which currently is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested. Please note that the hotel is a no- smoking facility. For 2014 convention room reservations you should write directly to the Rosen Centre Hotel, 9840 International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. You can call the hotel at (800) 204-7234 after January 1. At the time you make a reservation, a $95 deposit is required for each room reserved. If you use a credit card, the deposit will be charged against your card immediately, just as would be the case with a $95 check. If a reservation is cancelled before May 28, 2014, half of the deposit will be returned. Otherwise refunds will not be made. Guest-room amenities include cable television, in-room safe, coffeemaker, and hairdryer. Internet access is available in each guest room, and currently it is offered without charge. Guests can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award-winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, we will have an array of dining options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. See later issues of the Monitor for details and information about other attractions in the Greater Orlando area. The 2014 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will be a truly exciting and memorable event, with an unparalleled program and rededication to the goals and work of our movement. Make plans now to be a part of it. Preconvention seminars for parents of blind children and other groups and set-up of the exhibit hall will take place on Tuesday, July 1. Adjournment will be Sunday, July 6, following the banquet. Convention registration and registration packet pick-up for those who preregistered will begin on Wednesday, July 2, and both Wednesday and Thursday will be filled with meetings of divisions and committees, including the Thursday morning annual meeting, open to all, of the board of directors of the National Federation of the Blind. General convention sessions will begin on Friday, July 4, and continue through the banquet on Sunday, July 6. Monday, July 7, will be available for tours for those who enjoy getting to know something about our convention city. To assure yourself a room in the headquarters hotel at convention rates, you must make reservations early. The hotel will be ready to take your call or deal with your written request by January 1. Remember that as usual we need door prizes from state affiliates, local chapters, and individuals. Once again prizes should be small in size but large in value. Cash, of course, is always appropriate and welcome. As a general rule we ask that prizes of all kinds have a value of at least $25 and not include alcohol. Drawings will occur steadily throughout the convention sessions, and you can anticipate a grand prize of truly impressive proportions to be drawn at the banquet. Prizes should be sent to Dwight Sayer, First Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Florida, 12516 Hammock Pointe Circle, Clermont, FL 34711. Dwight can be reached on his home phone by dialing (352) 988-5583, and can be contacted using email at . The best collection of exhibits featuring new technology; meetings of our special interest groups, committees, and divisions; memorable tours suggested by the host affiliate; the most stimulating and provocative program items of any meeting of the blind in the world; the chance to renew friendships in our Federation family; and the unparalleled opportunity to be where the real action is and where decisions are being made-all of these mean you will not want to miss being a part of the 2014 national convention. We'll see you in Orlando in July. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Diane McGeorge (left) and Julie Deden are shown at the banquet celebrating the Colorado Center for the Blind's twenty-fifth anniversary.] A Journey of Success The Colorado Center for the Blind Celebrates Twenty-five Years by Julie Deden From the Editor: We who are members of the National Federation of the Blind have been called dreamers. We were thought to be half crazy when we said that we should organize and speak for ourselves, a bit more crazy when we began defining the most significant problem of blindness as the social reaction to it, and thought to have gone completely around the bend when we boldly stated that, with the proper training and opportunity, blind people can do almost anything we want to make our way in the world. When we were small and disorganized, people weren't very interested in or threatened by what we thought. If we wanted to meet periodically and discuss our little fantasies, what would it hurt except to create false expectations for the gullible? But, when we began to say that our dreams and expectations must go beyond our meetings and that they should be reflected in programs of education, rehabilitation, and employment policies, the agencies who saw their role being to take care of us reacted bitterly against the criticisms we leveled at their programs. Some were outright hostile and forbade their patients/clients/students/consumers from associating with us. Others were less extreme but proclaimed that, when the day came for us actually to try educating and rehabilitating blind people, we'd sing a different tune, one more in keeping with what their experience taught them to expect. So it is that the National Federation of the Blind had to become more than just a consumer organization, urging funding for and critiquing the programs of others. The challenge was to put up or shut up, so, through a few state programs and later centers of our own, we have taken our dreams, have molded them into strategies, and have actively undertaken the work of providing direct service to blind men and women who want to be normal, capable, contributing members of society. One of the centers we started was the Colorado Center for the Blind in 1988. The center has been changing lives for a quarter of a century, and here to commemorate this special anniversary is an article written by our executive director of the center, who daily soldiers on with the rest of her dedicated staff to see that blind people come to think of themselves as normal and not as damaged and broken sighted people: On a cold and snowy Sunday evening in January of 1988, I had the honor and the privilege to attend a Thanksgiving meal complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing to welcome the first five students at the Colorado Center for the Blind. We gave thanks for the National Federation of the Blind, for without the NFB we would not be opening up a center filled with promise for the future of blind people. Diane McGeorge and her husband Ray, along with several of us from the Colorado affiliate, had a dream: a dream to take control of our own destiny. For many years we had attempted to work with the state rehabilitation center to see if we could shape it into one where blind students would be challenged and where they would have high expectations placed upon them in order to excel. We came to the conclusion that this was not possible. So, at age fifty-five, Diane McGeorge made the commitment to direct the Colorado Center for the Blind. She, along with Tom Anderson and Duncan Larsen, started it all. I was a rehabilitation counselor for the state of Colorado at the time and the president of the NFB of Denver. I will never forget how I felt that evening as we talked to our five students, letting them know that we believed in them, that we expected them to succeed, and that we would be there with them every step of the way! I felt proud, elated, excited, and appreciative and could not wait to see what would happen. Twenty-five years later I am now the director of the Colorado Center for the Blind. I still feel honored and privileged every day to be a part of this magical adventure. Our three NFB centers [in Colorado, Minnesota, and Louisiana] have provided training to hundreds of blind people in these years. The training has been guided by the beliefs and the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. We have truly revolutionized training for blind people of this country. Today Diane McGeorge chairs the board of the Colorado Center for the Blind. She volunteers every week with our seniors, but her first love is working with all of our students to instill belief in blindness in each of them. At this writing we have twenty-nine students enrolled in our full- time program from all over the country. Our students expect to be challenged each day, whether it is crossing a busy intersection, skiing, or meeting an employer for the first time. The center has programs for blind youth of all ages and also programs for seniors. We most recently began providing intensive training to blind college students. On Friday, September 13, and Saturday, September 14, we all gathered together to celebrate twenty-five years of progress at the Colorado Center for the Blind. [PHOTO CAPTION: Ann Cunningham unveils new artwork in the Colorado Center for the Blind.] Friday, September 13 As some of you may know, Colorado had the worst flood in a century in September, and the Littleton area was in the thick of it. The rain stopped and the sky cleared for a few hours on Friday, September 13, 2013. The calm lasted just long enough for the opening ceremony of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration, along with tours of the center and rides in the National Federation of the Blind's Blind Driver Challenge? car. Guests also enjoyed bratwursts grilled by current center students. Distinguished guests at the morning ceremony included Littleton's mayor, Debbie Brinkman; National Federation of the Blind first vice president, Frederick K. Schroeder; NFB of Colorado president, Scott LaBarre; and founder and long-time director at the center, Diane McGeorge. The ceremony also included the unveiling of Colorado artist Ann Cunningham's remarkable stone bas relief of the Front Range, the rivers that flow out onto the Great Plains from the mountains, and the cities that stretch from the southern border with New Mexico to the northern boundary with Wyoming. Later in the morning center graduate Mark A. Riccobono, executive director of the Jernigan Institute at the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore, took advantage of the short stretch of good weather to give nearly sixty attendees a short ride around the block in the National Federation of the Blind's Blind Driver Challenge car. The BDC is the perfect symbol of the Colorado Center for the Blind's twenty-five years of success-our training puts blind people into the driver's seat of their own lives. [PHOTO CAPTION: Blind driver, Mark A. Riccobono, takes celebration attendees for a spin in the NFB's Blind Driver Challenge car.] Saturday's Gala On Saturday evening the crowd reconvened with many more friends and alums at the Denver Renaissance Hotel for a gala evening of food, more memories, and dancing. NFB President Dr. Marc Maurer addressed the nearly 160 in attendance. He said the purpose in starting the three NFB training centers in 1987 and 1988 was to put into practice the NFB's philosophy of self-determination: to raise the bar for training centers in general; and, through these changes, to raise the expectations of and for the blind. But, on a more practical level, establishing our centers was to start "turning a lot of confident, capable blind people loose," people who would begin to make things happen for themselves and for the blind in general. Thus one of the purposes was to start a revolution in the blindness world. That revolution continues to this day. Recognizing that our students are central to what we do, we heard from a number of them. "Without the training I received at the center," said Jim Barber of the call he received to take a job on the West Coast a dozen years ago, "I wouldn't have had the confidence to pick up and move to a new city in a different state so far from family and friends." Jim was one of the original five students at the center, and his r?sum? includes Google, Yahoo, and Qualcomm. At every student graduation, when the bell of freedom is rung, I have a feeling of pride and exhilaration right along with the graduating student and everyone else in the room. Together we are "changing what it means to be blind." Think about what the next twenty-five years will bring! ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Carlton Anne Cook-Walker] Of Parallels, Learning, and New Paradigms by Carlton Anne Cook-Walker From the Editor: Carlton Anne Cook-Walker is an amazing woman whose motivation, education, and insights are invaluable. Here is a speech she recently made at a luncheon for parents of blind children in Iowa: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for having me here. It is indeed an honor to be in this Hawkeye state that holds so much history of the blind with individuals like you, who represent the future. I serve as the president of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. This marks my fifth year of working as an itinerant teacher of blind students in south central Pennsylvania, and I continue to operate my law practice on a part-time basis. But to explain better where I want to go, I need to let you know where I have been. I am a native North Carolinian, so, if you ask me where I'm from, the answer is Raleigh, North Carolina. However, in 1995 I met an incredible gentleman. He was a widower and the father of two lovely children, Kenny and Stephanie. Despite the fact that he was also a Yankee, we married, and I moved up to Pennsylvania, where we all now live. In March of 2001 our family grew with the birth of Anna Catherine. She was a healthy, full-term baby, weighing eight pounds, twelve ounces-but health problems soon developed. As many first-time mothers do, I had heavily researched the benefits of breastfeeding. Unfortunately, Anna could not latch on well, and after our first hospitalization I ended up feeding her my milk in a bottle. This worked well for a couple of months-then she developed severe reflux. Our next three hospitalizations ended with surgery to treat the reflux and the placement of a feeding tube. Again we muddled through as a two-pump family-my breast pump and her feeding pump. Just after Thanksgiving, when we returned from our first family vacation, Anna's lips started turning various shades of blue. Another two weeks in the hospital, and we came home with two oxygen tanks and an overnight monitor. We were also told that this first Christmas with Anna Catherine might well be our last. In February Anna started vomiting blood. We again rushed to the emergency room but this time at a different hospital, Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. Everything was different. In Pittsburgh Anna was not treated as a pulmonary case or a neurology case. Anna was a sick little girl who needed to get better. Anna Catherine was sicker than she had ever been before, but these doctors believed that she could and would improve. They learned that she could no longer tolerate any proteins, so she could no longer have my milk. Instead she needed a very elemental formula, made in England, that contained only amino acids, which her body would then form into proteins. I had to throw out my preconception of the superiority of breast milk. No matter how I changed my diet, I could no longer provide what she needed. I had to give up what I wanted in order to give my little girl what she needed. Anna's early health issues hampered the development of both her macula (used for central vision) and her retina (used for peripheral vision). Nevertheless, early educators steered us toward large print-after all, three-year-old Anna could read seventy-two-point font at four inches. Through an improbable series of events I found the National Federation of the Blind. We attended the first Beginnings and Blueprints conference in Baltimore in 2005; we attended the 2006 NFB convention in Dallas, and we fell in love. We realized that our new NFB family could provide Anna Catherine with the skills, tools, and mentoring that we, as her sighted parents, could not. As I reflect on the first fifteen months of Anna's life, I am struck at the parallels between my journey and those of parents of blind children- especially blind children who have some functional vision. I had researched the benefits of breast milk, and I did everything in my power to ensure that Anna got it. Parents of children with low vision are bombarded with information about maximizing vision. Just as I did with breast milk, parents and professionals bend over backward to maximize use of vision-even when the child is harmed in the process. I remember vividly how hard it was for me to give up nursing and move to formula-you can probably hear in my voice how emotional a decision it was. Thus, it should not surprise us that sighted parents and professionals cling steadfastly to their misconceptions about the superiority of vision in all circumstances. It takes time to change attitudes and transform belief systems; and our support and patience are vital. We know the utility of nonvisual techniques, and parents' minds will be changed when they witness the increased capabilities and independence of their blind children who use them more efficiently and effectively than those vision-maximizing methods. Anna Catherine is now a healthy twelve-year-old seventh grader. She describes herself as blind with some functional vision. She reads Braille and uses a long white cane for travel. In truth she has several long canes, none of which are white-each is decorated in different colors and with different patterns-a pre-teen girl needs to match her cane to her outfits, you know. Also Anna has always been a "math girl," and we had the pleasure of meeting the late Dr. Abraham Nemeth on several occasions at NFB conventions and at the Braille coin launch in 2009. We mourn his passing this week. I truly shudder to think of where Anna would be had we not found the Federation. Anna would not be able to keep up with her studies if she was reading print, and she would be constrained to mental math. Instead of walking home from school and walking to the grocery store (sometimes without my knowledge), she would be fearful of moving around independently. Thanks to the skills, tools, and mentoring of our Federation family, my Anna Catherine is a headstrong, math-loving, fashionista-just as she should be! When your president, Mr. Michael Barber, invited me to come to Iowa, I was excited. I have never been here before, but I know my NFB history, and I know that our past president, Dr. Jernigan, molded many past and current Federation leaders, including our current president, Dr. Maurer, here in Iowa. I was also excited to come to the home of Meredith Willson and the site of his beautiful love letter to his home state, The Music Man. This incredible musical is one of my favorites, and my family watches it often- both live local performances and the movie versions. Life being what it is, I soon had my own Music Man experience. I had the opportunity to lead two summer programs: one for deaf and blind students and one for blind students only. In both programs we had staff with and without experience in working with blind children. I explained that we need to teach nonvisual skills under sleepshades and that we, as sighted individuals, must practice these skills under sleepshades before we attempt to teach them to our students. My viewpoint was a revelation to them. Some of the sighted people with experience teaching blind children had never used sleepshades before-for themselves or for their students. Some argued that sleepshades are not really necessary; they were convinced that one can learn and teach nonvisual skills while using vision. This struck me as a modern-day implementation of the "think system." In The Music Man, a traveling salesman, Professor Harry Hill, holds himself out as an expert in forming boys' bands. He sells townsfolk the instruments, instruction books, and uniforms, with promises of forming their young children into the River City Boys' Band to entertain their community at the upcoming Fourth of July celebration. Unfortunately, Professor Harry Hill does not know how to teach or even play these band instruments. He cannot even read music. Professor Hill does not let this stop him. He develops a "think system," a process by which the children do not touch their expensive instruments; instead, they "think" the music. Isn't this very much like teaching nonvisual skills with the use of vision? Just as one cannot learn to play an instrument without touching the instrument, one cannot learn efficient and effective use of nonvisual skills while employing vision. Just as Professor Hill hid his incompetence in music instruction by teaching his think system, too many teachers of blind students avoid instruction in blindness skills (such as Braille reading and cane use) by substituting instruction in techniques that maximize vision but do not maximize students' performance and independence. Just as Professor Hill's ineffective methods failed to produce competent musicians, overreliance on vision in the instruction of blind students fails to produce competent or confident blind adults. We know the risks of over-reliance on vision. While I do not suggest that we tar-and-feather these vision-centric instructors, I do believe that we, as Federationists, can help them improve. We can educate parents and professionals about the increased functionality nonvisual skills provide. We can mentor blind adults and children and provide a positive blind role model in their lives. We can gently but firmly insist on teaching nonvisual skills nonvisually. We can, and we must. Let us join together to transform the think system into the do system. Just as Professor Hill abandoned his flawed plan, we can help blind adults, parents, and professionals realize the shortcomings of a vision- maximization approach. We must help individuals maximize efficiency, maximize effectiveness, and maximize independence. And-together we will! ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Robert Jaquiss] Producing Tactile Materials, an Update by Robert Jaquiss From the Editor: Robert Jaquiss is a longtime member of the Federation who has lived in several states and has participated actively in each of them in our National Federation of the Blind affiliates. He is passionate about the need for tactile materials and shares the views of many who have recently written for this magazine that learning to use tactile graphics should be a part of any young student's experience as he or she matriculates through school. As a member of the Committee for Research and Development, Robert has been following and actively encouraging developments in this field since 1993. He is now a director of the recently announced 3D Tactile Graphics Division of the American Thermoform Corporation (ATC). ATC is selling the equipment described in the following article. Here is what he says: In the April 2012 issue of the Braille Monitor I wrote an article entitled "Technology for Producing Tactile Materials." The technologies described are often referred to as 3D technologies. Products are improving and prices are decreasing-developments that will have a major effect on the education of the blind. Now a teacher can find an image using the Internet, download it, and produce a model for his/her students. Blind and low-vision students can more easily understand the concepts being taught and will be able to feel models of cultural artifacts. I will describe two devices: the 2BOT and the MakerBot Replicator 2. It should be noted that both the 2BOT and Replicator 2 are most likely to be used by sighted teachers and transcribers. The software requires the user to view an image on screen in order to produce it. [PHOTO CAPTION: The 2BOT] The 2BOT is an easy-to-use, computer-controlled milling machine that connects to a PC with a USB cable. This machine uses blocks of foam measuring 12 by 13 3/4 inches and up to 2 inches thick. The foam blocks are inexpensive, ranging in price from $4 to $28 per piece depending upon the type of foam used. To operate the 2BOT, the user removes a frame from the 2BOT, installs a piece of foam in the frame, and inserts the frame back into the 2BOT. The software is started, an image selected, parameters set, and the job started. When the first side of the model is complete, the foam dust is vacuumed out, and the frame is removed, flipped over, and inserted back into the 2BOT. The job then resumes, cutting the back side of the model. When the job is complete, the model is detached from the remains of the foam block. Depending on the size and complexity of the model, a job can take anywhere from twenty minutes to three hours. The 2BOT sells for $5,995. A complete turnkey system, including a supply of foam and an industrial vacuum cleaner, sells for $6,595. [PHOTO CAPTION: The MakerBot Replicator 2] The MakerBot Replicator 2 is a 3D printer that uses spools of ABS filament to construct models by melting and then depositing drops of molten plastic under computer control. The Replicator 2 can create models impossible for a milling machine to produce. The build volume is in inches: 11.2 long, 6 wide, and 6.1 high. Like the 2Bot, the Replicator 2 is also easy to use-it connects to a PC using a USB cable. The models are built in layers: imagine building a loaf of bread standing on its end. The loaf could be built by stacking up the slices of bread until the loaf is complete. The process is similar for the Replicator. The user starts the software, selects an image, sets parameters, and starts the job. When the job is complete, the model is removed from the Replicator, and any support material is removed. Support material is necessary when a model has an overhang, for example the head of an animal. The Replicator can deposit material either on its base plate or on previously deposited material. If a model of an animal is needed, support material is produced to hold up the animal's head. The Replicator 2 sells for $2,400. American Thermoform Corporation is proud to sell these fine products. Anyone with questions should contact the author by writing to Robert Jaquiss, Director, 3D Tactile Graphics Division, American Thermoform Corporation, 1758 Brackett Street, La Verne, CA 91750; or by phone at (909) 593-6711, ext. 107; by email at ; or check out the website . ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Lauren McLarney] Social Security, SSI, and Medicare Facts for 2014 by Lauren McLarney From the Editor: Every December we publish the Social Security figures that have been announced for the coming year. Here is the 2014 information as prepared by Lauren McLarney, governmental affairs specialist, NFB Advocacy and Policy Department: Another year, another set of annual adjustments to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicare programs. The updated amounts for 2014 are listed below. These numbers include new tax rates, higher exempt earnings amounts (substantial gainful activity), and cost-of-living increases. They also include deductible, premium, and coinsurance amounts under Part A and B of Medicare. Tax Rates FICA and Self-Employment Tax Rates: The FICA tax rate for employees and their employers is a combination of payments to the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Fund, and the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, from which payments under Medicare are made. In other words, the tax rate is the combined rate for Social Security and Medicare. The total tax rate for 2013 was 7.65 percent for employees and their employers and 15.3 percent for self-employed workers. These percentages are unchanged for 2014. Please note that as of January 2013 individuals with earned income of more than $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly) pay an additional 0.9 percent in Medicare taxes. The tax rates listed above for 2013 and 2014 do not include that additional 0.9 percent. Ceiling on Earnings Subject to Tax: In 2013 the ceiling on taxable earnings for contributions to the OASDI Trust Fund was $113,700. For 2014 the maximum amount of taxable earnings will be $117,000. All earnings are taxed for the HI Trust Fund. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Quarters of Coverage: Eligibility for Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits is partially based on the number of quarters of coverage earned by any individual during periods of work. Anyone may earn up to four quarters of coverage in a single year. The rationale behind the quarter-of-coverage concept is that a person must have contributed to the system before being eligible to collect benefits from it. The quarters of coverage are a way of measuring how much one has contributed to the system. In 2013 a quarter of coverage was credited for earnings of $1,160 in any calendar quarter. Anyone who earned $4,640 in 2013 (regardless of when the earnings occurred during the year) received four quarters of coverage. In 2014 a quarter of coverage will be credited for earnings of $1,200 during a calendar quarter. Four quarters will be credited for annual earnings of $4,800. Trial Work Period Limit: The amount of earnings required to use a trial work month is subject to annual increases based on changes in the national average wage index. In 2013 the amount was $750. This amount will increase to $770 in 2014. In cases of self-employment a trial work month can also be used if a person works more than eighty hours, and this limitation on hours worked will not change unless expressly adjusted. Exempt Earnings: The monthly earnings exemption is referred to as Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). This is a measurement used to determine whether a beneficiary is earning enough income that he or she may be deemed ineligible for benefits, and is calculated as a person's monthly income before taxes, minus any unearned (or subsidy) income and any impairment- related work expense deductions. In 2013 the SGA for a blind person receiving disability benefits was $1,740. In 2014 this number will increase to $1,800 per month. This means that in 2014 a blind SSDI beneficiary who earns $1,801 or more a month (before taxes but after subtractions of subsidy incomes and impairment-related work expenses) will be deemed to have exceeded SGA and will likely no longer be eligible for benefits. Social Security Benefit Amounts: There will be a 1.5 percent cost-of- living adjustment (COLA) for beneficiaries in 2014. Increased payments to beneficiaries will begin in December of 2013 and will apply to everyone receiving benefits in 2014. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Standard SSI Benefit Increase: Beginning January 2014 the federal payment amounts for SSI individuals and couples are as follows: individuals, $721 a month; SSI couples, $1,082 a month. Student Earned Income Exclusion: In 2013 the monthly amount was $1,730, and the maximum yearly amount was $6,960. In 2014 the monthly amount will be $1,750, and the maximum yearly amount will be $7,060. The SSI program applies strict asset limits of $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples, which can be changed only by Congress. Medicare Medicare Deductibles and Coinsurance: Medicare Part A coverage provides hospital insurance to most Social Security beneficiaries. The coinsurance amount is the hospital charge to a Medicare beneficiary for any hospital stay. Medicare then pays the hospital charges above the beneficiary's coinsurance amount. The Part A hospital inpatient deductible was $1,184 in 2013 and will increase to $1,216 in 2014. The coinsurance charged for hospital services within a benefit period of no longer than sixty days was $0 in 2013 and will stay at $0 in 2014. From the sixty-first day through the ninetieth day, the daily coinsurance amount was $296 a day in 2013, and will slightly increase in 2014 to $304 a day. Each Medicare beneficiary has sixty lifetime reserve days that may be used after a ninety-day benefit period has ended. Once used, these reserve days are no longer available after any benefit period. The coinsurance amount paid during each reserve day used in 2013 was $592. In 2014 the coinsurance for each reserve day will be $608. Part A of Medicare pays all covered charges for services in a skilled nursing facility for the first twenty days following a three-day in- hospital stay within a benefit period. From the twenty-first day through the one hundredth day in a benefit period, the Part A coinsurance amount for services received in a skilled nursing facility was $148 in 2013 and will increase to $152 for 2014. Most Social Security beneficiaries have no monthly premium charge for Medicare Part A coverage. Those who become ineligible for SSDI can continue to receive Medicare Part A coverage premium-free for at least ninety-three months after the end of a trial work period. After that time the individual may purchase Part A coverage. The premium rate for this coverage during 2013 was $441 a month. In 2014 the premium rate for Part A coverage will reduce to $426. The annual deductible amount for Medicare Part B (medical insurance) in 2013 was $147. That amount will not change in 2014. The Medicare Part B monthly premium rate charged to each new beneficiary or to those beneficiaries who directly pay their premiums quarterly for 2013 was $104.90 a month, and again that amount will not change in 2014. For those receiving Social Security benefits, this premium payment is deducted from your monthly benefit check. Individuals who remain eligible for Medicare, but are not receiving Social Security benefits because of working, must directly pay the Part B premium quarterly-one payment every three months. Like the Part A premiums mentioned above, Part B is also available for at least ninety-three months following the trial work period, assuming an individual wishes to have it and, when not receiving SSDI, continues to make quarterly premium payments. Programs That Help with Medicare Deductibles and Premiums: Low-income Medicare beneficiaries may qualify for help with payments. Assistance is available through two programs-the QMB (Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program) and the SLMB (Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary program). To qualify for the QMB program in 2013, an individual's monthly income could not exceed $978 and a married couple's monthly income could not exceed $1,313. A note on the Medicare website says: "These amounts may increase in 2014." Under the QMB program states are required to pay the Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance) premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance expenses for Medicare beneficiaries who meet the program's income and resource requirements. Under the SLMB program states pay only the full Medicare Part B monthly premium. Eligibility for the SLMB program may be retroactive for up to three calendar months. Both the QMB and SLMB programs are administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in conjunction with the states. The rules vary from state to state, but the following can be said: Resources, such as bank accounts or stocks, may not exceed $4,000 for one person or $6,000 for a family of two. Resources are generally things you own. However, not everything is counted. The house you live in, for example, doesn't count; and generally one car also doesn't count. If you qualify for assistance under the QMB program, you will not have to pay the following: Medicare's hospital deductible amount, which will be $1,216 per benefit period in 2014; the daily coinsurance charges for extended hospital and skilled nursing facility stays; the Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) premium, which will be $104.90 a month in 2014, unless you are currently receiving benefits from Social Security and the agency is automatically withholding your Part B premiums; the 2014 $147 annual Part B deductible; and the 20 percent coinsurance for services covered by Medicare Part B, depending on which doctor you go to (these services include doctor services, outpatient therapy, and durable medical equipment). If you qualify for assistance under the SLMB program, you will be responsible for the payment of all of the items listed above except for the monthly Part B premium, depending on your circumstances. If you think you qualify but you have not filed for Medicare Part A, contact Social Security to find out if you need to file an application. Further information about filing for Medicare is available from your local Social Security office or Social Security's toll-free number (800) 772- 1213. Remember that only your state can decide if you are eligible for help from the QMB or SLMB program and also that the income and resource levels listed here are general guidelines with some states choosing greater amounts. Therefore, if you are elderly or disabled, have low income and very limited assets, and are a Medicare beneficiary, contact your state or local Medicaid office (referred to in some states as the Public Aid Office or the Public Assistance Office) to apply. For more information about either program, call the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on its toll-free number (800) 633-4227, or go online to . ---------- Blind War Hero's Next Fight is in Federal Court From the Editor: the following is reprinted from a press release posted October 17, 2013, which we received through the courtesy of Tim Elder. It outlines the legal battle against a loan company by Army Sgt. Major Jesse Acosta, who was blinded in combat in 2006. Following the original press release is an update about the outcome of the suit from Tim on October 25, 2013. Army Sgt. Major Jesse Acosta's latest fight is against his bank, which denied his approved and fully executed loan only after finding out that Sgt. Major Acosta is blind. In 2006 Sgt. Major Acosta was hit by a mortar while leading his men on a mission in Iraq. He returned to his job at SoCal Gas Company in Garden Grove with a Purple Heart but suffering with Traumatic Brain Injury, severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and without his eyes. On Tuesday, October 22, 2013, Sgt. Major Acosta will ask a federal jury to find that Huntington Beach-based NuVision Federal Credit Union ("NuVision") refused to fund a $20,000 loan they offered him after he went to sign loan documents and the bank realized Sgt. Major Acosta was blind. NuVision reneged on the fully executed loan and told Sgt. Major Acosta, "You didn't tell us you were blind; that's a problem." NuVision claimed that Sgt. Major Acosta had to produce a valid driver's license to qualify for a loan. In a move reminiscent of the 1950s, when women could not borrow money without their husbands or fathers co-signing loans for them, NuVision's manager told Sgt. Major Acosta to get a co-signer for a new loan. The only qualification Jesse's co-signer needed, according to NuVision, was a valid driver's license-the one qualification no blind person could ever meet. Since returning from Iraq, Sgt. Major Acosta, a father of four, has been a leader in advocating for the needs of returning disabled vets: testifying before Congress, speaking at the White House, and working with injured vets. Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Unruh Act, businesses cannot discriminate on the basis of a person's disability. Sgt. Major Acosta will prove that NuVision denied him a loan because he was blind and not on the basis of a legitimate business purpose. This is "the first time I was made to feel that I was less of a person because of my disability," stated Sgt. Major Acosta. He has been battling depression, anger, and severe episodes of PTSD that cause him great physical and mental anguish, as he relives the helplessness he felt in dealing with NuVision's denial of his loan. Sgt. Major Acosta's anger and depression have turned into a new mission to stop NuVision's discrimination and teach business that discrimination injures returning vets. Sgt. Major Acosta was referred to civil rights attorney Patricia Barbosa, the founder of Barbosa Group, who has twenty-six years of experience enforcing civil rights. "NuVision's policy-that blind customers must have valid driver's licenses-is discrimination on its face and violates the ADA and California's Unruh Act," said attorney Barbosa. "I want to vindicate Jesse's belief that he is a full member of society, even if he is disabled," said attorney Barbosa. The jury trial will be heard by Judge Margaret Morrow in the Roybal Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles October 22-24. "I want NuVision to understand that discrimination is wrong and is not just business as usual," said Sgt. Major Acosta. Tim Elder says: "For those who saw the press release I posted earlier this week about a trial in Huntington Beach on behalf of a blind veteran denied a loan because he did not have a driver's license, I'm told the jury found in his favor. They awarded him $160,000 in damages. The attorney is also filing proposed changes to the lender's policies for court enforcement. Any federal jury finding in favor of a blind person is a good thing." ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Barbara Pierce] A Season for Gratitude by Barbara Pierce From the Editor: the article which follows was originally printed in December of 1990. It beautifully illustrates how often those of us who are blind are encouraged by our families to be givers, but how difficult it is to give in a world which expects little giving from us, and sometimes frustrates us when we try to be more than passive spectators. Here is what Barbara has to say: My parents always made a conscientious, though all too often futile, effort to teach my brother and me that the Christmas season was a time for reflection, for reassessment, and for gratitude, not only for the blessings we had received, but also for the opportunities to give. We understood about joy, after December 25, at least, but gratitude smacked unpleasantly of thank-you notes and visits to old ladies, where lively children were expected to sit still, answer silly questions, endure being patted on the head, and refrain from swinging their legs or squabbling. My adult understanding of this holiday season is far nearer to that of my parents than to my own youthful views. And, if I am honest, I must admit that I have not been noticeably more successful in conveying this more meditative approach to the holidays to my children. I remember the year that each family member drew the name of another every week leading up to Christmas and then tried secretly to do kind things for that person every day. We placed a cradle in front of the fireplace and added one piece of hay for each good deed. The children loved the idea and even tried to remember to be thoughtful, but I'm afraid that the Christ Child did not have a luxuriously soft bed of hay by Christmas Eve. The fact remains that both the Jewish and Christian faiths encourage us at this season of the year to reflect upon the blessings we have been given and the uses we have chosen to make of them. My trip to Jamaica this past fall and the deprivation I saw there have been a poignant reminder to me of just how much progress Americans in general and the blind in particular have made. Despite the great distance we still have to travel to achieve true equality, all of us have much for which to be grateful. But I have been thinking recently of how lucky we are to be able to give. For much of the history of blind people, no one in society was particularly interested in anything we had to offer. Preoccupied with what we could not do-or what they thought we could not do- members of the community taunted or ignored or practiced charity upon us. Today, however, thanks to Braille, good travel skills, and increased technology, but most of all, thanks to the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind, blind people in increasing numbers are demonstrating to society that we do have many things of value to offer to our communities. All this is important, and it is necessary that we take stock of such progress and be grateful for it. But we must also recognize how lucky we are to be able to help other blind people. How empty of satisfaction life would be, how distressing our encounters with one another if we had no encouragement, expertise, or support to offer to those who are coming to terms with blindness for the first time. The fact that we do possess a gift that is infinitely valuable to people who are desperate for even a little hope, dignity, and self-respect is a great blessing. Being a part of the National Federation of the Blind enables each of us to help other people every day. Each time we staff an information table in the rain, take part in a fundraising project, or work to get our literature placed in libraries, we are offering the philosophy that rescues lives to people who need to know about it. Somehow it is all too easy to forget about this aspect of the work we do week in and week out. These were the thoughts that ran through my mind as I read the following letter. It just appeared in the mail at the National Center for the Blind one day this fall. Each of us stands a little taller because of it. Here it is. Happy holidays to each of you. October, 1990 Dear Mr. Jernigan, I recently lost enough vision in my one remaining eye to be considered legally blind. This all started last December. My goal was to return to work this September. I was, however, worried about my ability and needed some advice. The people at the Lighthouse advised me to get "legal status" with the state. I set up an interview with one of their counselors. To my amazement the counselor told me to "quit work." He told me "I was a smart young man." As a shop teacher I would be placing myself in danger of losing the rest of my sight, going blind. I would be placing my students at risk. I would be doing a disservice to my family. I was bewildered. I was forty years old and on my way to applying for SSDI. At the Social Security office I was told about social welfare. That evening I came home and told my wife the news. I should quit work, retrain to become a counselor, go back to school; she must find work, and keeping the house seemed iffy. I called my uncle that night. He went blind due to a chemical accident when his kids were small. He told me that newly blinded people are likely to accept anything that people tell them. He said, "Don't believe any of that crap!" He got the same treatment. He told me to call the NFB. He told me the "OF" in National Federation of the Blind was very important. They are blind people helping each other. There is a difference. The woman I spoke to in the Baltimore office was great. She told me how to get in touch with a member of the Federation in my state, and ten minutes later I was talking with him. In a few minutes more we were on a conference telephone call with a Federationist in another state who works in one of the Federation centers and knows about what the blind can do with machinery and shop work. We spoke about shop and my skills as a shop teacher. It gave me a new perspective and showed me possibilities. Later that morning I called the state agency for the blind. I asked my counselor if he could legally stop me from working. He said no. I told him I would be returning to work. He told me again how foolish I was. He told me I'd be back when I saw things his way. I tell you, I pray to God each day to watch over me. I also pray to be smart. I teach safety first. I maintain discipline. I ask for help with heavy things which have to be moved. In this way I provide for my family. I do the work I'm qualified for. I maintain my independence. I know that I have a long way to go. I'm joining the NFB, and I am learning. Sincerely, ---------- Giving a Dream One of the great satisfactions in life is having the opportunity to assist others. Consider making a gift to the National Federation of the Blind to continue turning our dreams into reality. A gift to the NFB is not merely a donation to an organization; it provides resources that will directly ensure a brighter future for all blind people. Seize the Future The National Federation of the Blind has special giving opportunities that will benefit the giver as well as the NFB. Of course the largest benefit to the donor is the satisfaction of knowing that the gift is leaving a legacy of opportunity. However, gifts may be structured to provide more: . Helping the NFB fulfill its mission . Realizing income tax savings through a charitable deduction . Making capital gain tax savings on contributions of appreciated assets . Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or beneficiary . Eliminating or lowering the federal estate tax in certain situations . Reducing estate settlement costs NFB programs are dynamic: . Making the study of science and math a real possibility for blind children . Providing hope and help for seniors losing vision. . Promoting state and local programs to help blind people become first- class citizens . Educating the public about blind people's true potential . Advancing technology helpful to the blind . Creating a state-of-the-art library on blindness . Training and inspiring professionals working with the blind . Providing critical information to parents of blind children . Mentoring blind job seekers Your gift makes you a partner in the NFB dream. For further information or assistance, contact the NFB planned giving officer. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Dolores Reisinger at the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa's state convention] Strong People Cannot be Defeated by Dolores Reisinger From the Editor: Dolores Reisinger is a longtime member of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa, and these are the remarks she delivered at the affiliate's 2013 convention: The popular American author, Danielle Steel, once wrote: "Strong people cannot be defeated." Perhaps her words can be applied to all of us here today. They certainly express my point of view and reflect my experiences. I am a native of Brazil and grew up in a city that today is the most important industrial complex in Latin America. Sao Paulo City has a population of over twenty million people, and it is the leading car manufacturing center of Latin America. I was six months old when my parents learned that I was blind as a result of the atrophying of my optic nerve. They were not rich, and they didn't have college educations. However, they didn't give up; they didn't lose confidence. Of course they knew that I was blind, but they also knew that I was a normal person, capable of learning through my remaining senses and, above all, using my mind. I was allowed to grow, not only physically but mentally, emotionally, and intellectually. My parents taught me very valuable and important lessons. They were very strong people. Therefore, they were never defeated. Years later I left home and went to a special school for blind children. It was a Catholic school run by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. They played an important part in the development of my positive attitudes toward life during my early years. After my elementary and secondary education was completed, I spent four years at the University of Sao Paulo State, where I graduated with a master's degree in history. I taught in Brazil until 1968, when I was invited by the US State Department and the International Federation of the Blind to come to America for two months in an exchange program. The purpose of my trip to this country was to visit and observe schools and rehabilitation centers for blind Americans. The following schools and agencies serving the blind were on my schedule: the American Foundation for the Blind, the Jewish Braille Institute, the Library of Congress, the Hadley School for the Blind, the American Printing House for the Blind, and the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines. While at the Commission I had the opportunity to visit with the director, Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, the staff, and students who were taking training at the Orientation and Adjustment Center for Blind Adults. My future husband, Jack Reisinger, was one of the students taking training at the orientation center. When my exchange program ended, I had to return to Brazil. The country was politically ruled by the army. There was no freedom of the press; there was no freedom of speech. We were not allowed to conduct public meetings and could not voice our opinion. Thankfully I managed to leave the country. However, the generals remained in power for almost sixteen years until 1985 when the nation finally held democratic elections. The army domination of Brazil began in 1963 and ended twenty-two years later. During that period a whole generation of children grew up under a very oppressive military regime. College students, teachers, lawyers, political leaders of the congress, and other professional people disappeared overnight, and they were never found. Popular Brazilian singers who tried to express their sentiments through music were exiled. They were sent to France and returned to Brazil only when democracy was reestablished. So in 1969 I left Brazil and flew back to this country, where I decided to live and to work. Later I learned that my Brazilian degree was not completely recognized in the United States. I went back to college at the University of Northern Iowa, where I obtained my teaching certificate and a master's degree in Spanish. I taught languages in college and Spanish at Columbus High in Waterloo, and then in 1976 I went to work for the Iowa Commission for the Blind as a vocational rehabilitation teacher. For more than eighteen years I worked with blind people in eleven counties. I helped them in acquiring the skills of daily living so that they could retain their independence. I also helped them understand that blind people, given an opportunity, can overcome the inconvenience of the loss of sight and that the real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. Instead, it is the misunderstanding and the lack of information which exist. The real problem of blindness is quite often caused by public attitudes, misconceptions, and social prejudices. [PHOTO CAPTION: Dolores demonstrates a Braillewriter to three children at a Meet the Blind Month event.] After having worked for two decades for the Iowa Commission for the Blind, which is now the Iowa Department for the Blind, I finally retired. For the last eighteen years I have done volunteer work for the City of Cedar Rapids. I was a commissioner for the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission, and in this volunteer activity I read and discussed with the director of the commission the cases for which I was responsible. On October 15, 2012, a White Cane Safety Day proclamation was signed and presented to me by the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Ron Corbett. I was on the task force for the Help America Vote Act in Linn County. Our task force looked at machines from three vendors: Election Systems and Software, Diebold Election Systems, and Sequoia Voting Systems. I was a presenter at classes held for precinct election officials to make them aware of the needs of people with disabilities and tell them how to address questions and problems that might arise at the polls on election day. I have helped with the teaching of English as a second language at Kirkwood Community College, where I have taught Portuguese. Quite often I speak to groups about blindness and the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. Since 2006, Meet the Blind Month programs have been presented to the public in eastern Iowa. March 2012 marked the beginning of my ministry at All Saints Parish. I serve as a lector in front of the congregation, and I'm also a member of the Shawl Ministry. I must conclude my remarks by saying to you that, if you have determination, you will succeed in your endeavors; if you have courage, you will face the problems of life, and you will find ways of solving them; if you are strong people, you will never be defeated, and you will see that your dreams will become reality. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Darrel Kirby] Santa's Little Helper by Darrel Kirby From the Editor: In looking for some holiday cheer to put into our December issue, we came across this little gem that seems just as appropriate now as it did when it was originally run in 2004. Here is how Editor Barbara Pierce introduced it: From the Editor: For obvious reasons I have been saving this delightful little story for several months. Darrel Kirby was the 2004 Kenneth Jernigan Memorial Scholarship winner. He is a graduate student at the University of Iowa and president of the Old Capitol Chapter of the NFB of Iowa. Here is his Christmas story: Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. The holiday season was always a joyous time for my family. Each year I waited anxiously for Thanksgiving, knowing that the following weekend would include walking through the snow to find a real Christmas tree in the woods near our farmhouse. A tree with no gaps and a triangular shape was a lucky find. We did our best to make the tree look beautiful by decorating it with colorful lights, icicles, and an assortment of ornaments. My mother attempted to make the tree more attractive with a set of blown glass ornaments with gold accents, but each year the tree was crowded with school-made decorations created by my three brothers and me. Like diamonds in a dime-store display, the glass ornaments, beautiful and fragile, stood out from the sturdy, homemade ornaments made of Popsicle sticks, colorful yarn, and Elmer's glue. My three brothers and I differed in personality and interests, sharing only the Kirby nose and hand-me-downs. We all had our personality quirks, and I was notorious for being hyperactive and excited by many things, especially Christmas. My three brothers and parents would rather have received a full night's rest on Christmas Eve, but I could not wait for the festivities to begin, so I pulled them out of bed every Christmas morning to gather in the living room. One advantage of being an over-active child growing up in a house full of shy boys was that the extrovert got most of the attention on Christmas day. I was happy to be the boy who enjoyed the spotlight on those brisk Iowa mornings. Over the years I evolved for myself the role of Santa's little helper. The presents with their colorful ribbons and bows sat under the three-week-old evergreen, waiting for me to distribute them to their anxious recipients. I discovered that, if I grabbed the Santa Claus hat that sat under the tree and handed out the gifts to my brothers and parents, they would begin opening their presents first, and I could watch my gifts pile up in a designated area of the living room. After my parents and brothers opened their gifts, all eyes were on me, which met my need for attention. Naturally enough I grew to love handing out gifts on Christmas morning. Although the scene I am describing from my childhood sounds like something I would eventually outgrow, my job as Santa's little helper continued into adulthood. It was this way each year of my life, even after I went off to college. I never lost my enthusiasm for Christmas and handing out gifts. However, things were drastically different on Christmas morning four years ago. When I was twenty, I began losing my sight from diabetic retinopathy. Three weeks after being officially pronounced "legally blind" by the eye doctors, I returned home for Christmas. After becoming blind, I believed my life was over. Christmas no longer seemed so wonderful. That Christmas morning my family sat in silence around me as I stared at the blurry lights of the Christmas tree. The silence in the room seemed louder than all the laughter of other years combined. My younger brother cleared his throat and somberly asked, "So who is going to hand out the presents?" I felt a tear well up in my eye. I did not want to ruin Christmas for my family, but my sadness inevitably placed a damper on the day for everyone. It was clear that Santa's little helper was not able to see the names on the gift tags. Not wanting my family to see my tears, I turned away from the lighted tree and looked out the window. Something on the tree caught a ray of sunlight and focused my attention. It was one of the glass ornaments with the gold accents that my mother loved. Through the years some of them had broken in the rough-and-tumble play of the four boys. Mom had always warned us to be careful around the glass ornaments. This year the warning was to be careful around me, for I was so fragile that I too might break. I lost my sight in the middle of my college career and was forced to withdraw from classes. Having been able to see for twenty years and not knowing how to be blind, I discovered that my life had significantly changed in a span of two months. My family recognized that I was unhappy after losing my sight, and with no exposure to blind people, they did not know how to help me. They made sure not to talk about my eyes or blindness, thinking that it would pain me to talk about the thing that made me sad. I believed that blindness would take away my strength and that I would no longer be a confident young man, full of energy and plans for the future. It would be a while before I realized that my life was not fundamentally different just because I was blind. The next year brought more changes and adjustments. As Christmas drew near, I had lost the remainder of my sight. I had accepted that I was blind but believed I was limited by my blindness. I tried to enjoy my second Christmas as a blind person, but I was still saddened not to wear the Santa Claus hat and hand out presents. I had my mother place me in a chair near her and describe the gifts I received. I was not accustomed to accept my gifts passively from someone else. Somberness loomed in the living room, and I continued to feel as breakable as my mother's glass ornaments. Although I had begun to accept my blindness, I had not found the National Federation of the Blind and thus did not understand that my life need not be limited by blindness. During the following year I would attend the Iowa Department for the Blind's Orientation Center, return to college as a full-time student, and discover the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. I attended my first national convention and became active in my local NFB chapter. I met thousands of people who were not letting blindness stop them from accomplishing their goals. The success of the blind people I met inspired me to challenge myself. I was proud to graduate from the University of Iowa in December after completing a semester full of difficult classes. My performance in those classes was far better than any other semester's performance-even those in which I could see. My success in college was just one part of my success in life. In that year I grew as a person and gained back all the strength and confidence I had lost. For the first time in two years I was hopeful about the future, and I understood that most problems are only problems until one finds the solution. With this new philosophy I knew that if blind people were finding ways to be doctors, engineers, and lawyers, there was bound to be a way for me to be Santa's little helper. The next Christmas Eve I pulled out my slate and stylus, hurried my mom to the kitchen, and revealed my plan to her. I would Braille labels for all of the gifts under the tree. Excitement radiated from my mother as she slipped into the living room to retrieve some of the presents. We worked for about an hour, labeling all of the gifts in Braille. My mother recognized the significance of Braille as she saw how easy it was to label the things I had once read with my eyes. Braille would save the day. Christmas morning came, and I waited in anticipation just as I had when I was five years old. In the past year my brother and his wife had had a son, and I wanted my nephew's first Christmas to be like the ones I grew up with. I searched for the Santa Claus hat and put it on. I reached for a present and felt the familiar dots of my name. A smile crossed my face as I thought of the gifts that would pile up in my designated area. Although some of the attention was on my new nephew, I could feel the pride in the room as my family recognized what I had accomplished in the last year. It was not long before I heard my mother express her worry that my nephew would grab one of her glass ornaments. She would hate for any more of them to break and for him to get hurt. My mother's concern reminded me that I had felt like one of those glass ornaments just a year earlier. The National Federation of the Blind has shown me that blindness does not weaken a person; it had only made me stronger. I was no longer a delicate glass ornament, but a stronger version of the boy who had demanded that he be Santa's little helper. ---------- A Thank-You from a Reader by Estelle Shukert From the Editor: One of the benefits of being the editor of the Braille Monitor is the occasional note of thanks that comes from people whose lives have been made better by our publication. Sometimes I read them, write a brief reply telling them how much I appreciate the note, and file it away. Sometimes I send it to President Maurer if I think it is something he ought to see. In this case, however, I thought sharing it with readers of the Braille Monitor appropriate, so here it is: October 22, 2013 To the Editor of the Braille Monitor, First I would like to thank you for the Braille Monitor. I receive it on the thumb drive and enjoy the stories and articles. I would like to thank you for including one of my articles about three or four months ago. I was looking for Braille Pen Pals or Braille Buddies to help me use and keep up my Braille skills. Because of your article I currently have two Braille Buddies from Hungary, one possibly from Poland, and a Pen Pal from Nebraska. It's a wonderful way to meet others and share concerns and successes. I attend the senior program at the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton, Colorado. I still have a fair amount of vision but am trying to get prepared for the time when I will need to depend on the Braille and other skills we learn at the center. The support and encouragement we get at the center is very helpful, and they have definitely become a second family for me. I have a request. I am interested in buying a Braille dictionary. I know some of them include many volumes and are quite expensive but wondered if someone might have a set that they no longer need. If so, they are welcome to call me at (303) 789-7538 or send me an email: so we could discuss the possibility. Thank you again for helping so many of us feel connected to the world. Blessings and best wishes, Estelle ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Edgar McDonald] Federation of the Blind Honors Keyser's Edgar McDonald by Barbara High From the Editor: Ed McDonald is no stranger to members of the National Federation of the Blind, and word of his entry into the National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia's Hall of Fame comes as no shock to us. What makes this event meaningful to Ed is the recognition given by his colleagues; what makes it even more special is that now the public in Ed's hometown know about the honor, and through this message they now know more about the National Federation of the Blind. With permission we are gladly reprinting this article, taken from the Mineral Daily News Tribune: The National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia got a new member in 1969-Edgar McDonald. What they didn't know at the time was that they had gained a loyal member who would bring about great change over the next forty four years. It is McDonald's hard work and dedication that recently earned him an induction into the National Federation of the Blind's Hall of Honors. McDonald says the induction meant a lot to him because it is people he has worked with and been friends with over the years who voted him in. "The fact that they think enough of me to vote for me means a lot; it's significant," he said. McDonald says it has meant a great deal to him to be involved in the organization. "I learned about being blind as a political issue rather than a medical one," he said. McDonald said that he has tried to change social "barriers" and the public's view on the blind. "I came to understand that by talking to other blind people and working collectively, you get more done." Getting more done is exactly what McDonald has done in his years of service to the organization. McDonald served as president of the West Virginia affiliate from 1991 to 2002. Under his leadership NEWSLINE for the Blind? was brought to West Virginia with the addition of the Huntington Herald Dispatch. McDonald was also a driving force in getting the Braille Bill pushed through the West Virginia Legislature and signed into law. McDonald also had the distinction of serving on the national board of the National Federation of the Blind from 1994 to 1997. He currently serves as chairperson of the Agency Partnership Committee and is also serving as the first vice president of the National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia and as president of the Members-at- Large Chapter. "It's humbling in a way," says McDonald. "But now that I got that to live up to, if I don't step it up they might kick me out," he laughs. McDonald's nomination said he was an integral and essential part of the Federation family and most deserving of the honor for changing what it means to be blind. For McDonald, that is just a part of everyday life. "I try to live my life in a way that says I am blind and still out living my life. Being blind is a part of my life, a big part," says McDonald, "but I am not a blind guy, I am a guy who happens to be blind." ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Curtis Chong, Lucy Alexander, and Solidad and Adelmo Vijil hold the NFB banner and lead the group down the streets of Albuquerque.] New Mexico Federationists Change What It Means to Be Blind We Marched in the State Fair Parade by Curtis Chong From the Editor: When I joined the National Federation of the Blind back in 1972, one of our major affiliate projects was to build a float and march in the annual American Royal Parade. The reactions we got were uniformly positive, but we discontinued our annual participation because it seemed to us that showing the public we could walk in a parade was less significant than it once was. Reading this article from Curtis Chong causes me to question our decision and reveals just how surprised and excited the public is to see us participating in public events and walking proudly on our own. Curtis Chong has lived in many states, and, wherever he goes, he is an active part of chapter and affiliate activities. He now lives in New Mexico and has taken on the task of writing about the affiliate's participation in the New Mexico State Fair. Here is what he says: In the National Federation of the Blind we have a motto which says, "We are changing what it means to be blind." We give substance to this motto through the many local, state, and national activities we undertake in the Federation to educate the public about the true nature of blindness. We want the public to abandon the perception of blindness as symbolizing hopelessness, helplessness, and dependence; we work to promote the image of the average blind person as someone who can work hard, contribute to the community, move about independently, and take leadership. Since 2005 the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico has been creating new public perceptions about blindness by marching in the annual New Mexico State Fair Parade. Each September, as the New Mexico State Fair gets under way, Federationists from across the state come to Albuquerque to march in the annual parade and by their participation demonstrate to the public that blindness does not prevent a person from walking the two-mile route-and at a rather fast clip at that. We are proud that in 2006, 2009, and 2011, we were awarded for being the largest non- high school marching unit in the parade. [PHOTO CAPTION: Members of the NFBNM riding the diamond float] September 14, 2013, began as a cloudy, rainy day. This did not dampen the spirits of our State Fair marchers. Preparations for the parade started the night before when a hard-working crew, led by Alexia Switzer (our Parents of Blind Children division president), decorated our diamond float- diamond representing the seventy-fifth year of the New Mexico State Fair. In addition to its flashy appearance, the float was large enough to accommodate those among us who would have difficulty walking in the parade given the two-mile route and the fast pace of the march. This year was the first in which Federationists who used wheelchairs were able to participate. Sixty-three Federationists and one guide dog arrived at the New Mexico State Fair early Saturday morning to participate in this year's march. We chartered two small buses to make it easier for Federationists to gather together and get themselves organized for the trip. The bulk of our group met at a shopping mall, climbed aboard our two buses, and negotiated the chaotic throng of people and vehicles to get to our spot in the parade line. There were four families with blind children who participated, proudly walking with their white canes. Marchers carried signs saying things like "NFB," "Meet the Blind," and "Success." Some signs had a foot- high picture of Whozit on them. Leading the charge was our blue National Federation of the Blind banner, carried by four Federationists, among them Adelmo Vigil, president of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico. The banner prominently displayed our Whozit logo and the name National Federation of the Blind. Behind the banner was our twenty-foot float, surrounded by Federationists who walked in front of, alongside, and behind it. It took about forty-five minutes for us to complete the route, walking at a fairly fast pace. We were well received by the crowd lining the route. Many people shouted "Good morning," or "Nice job," as the marchers passed by, and we were often greeted with enthusiastic applause. Federationists smiled and waved to the crowd even though, toward the end, some of us were beginning to feel a little tired. Although there is a lot of work involved in planning for and marching in a parade of this type, we believe that it is well worth the effort. The crowd who comes out to watch the parade is always friendly, and it's a great way for us to show them who we are. Many of these people have probably never met a blind person, but, because we're out and marching, they see a group of enthusiastic, mobile, and independent people who just happen to be blind-just another way to change what it means to be blind. [PHOTO CAPTION: Bringing up the rear of the group is the past president of the NFBNM, Christine Hall, accompanied by Peggy Chong and one family from the NMPOBC division.] ---------- [GRAPHIC/DESCRIPTION: A formal place setting, complete with placecard bearing the Whozit logo and the words, "Miss Whozit"] Ask Miss Whozit From the Editor: From time to time Miss Whozit answers reader questions about etiquette and good manners, particularly as they involve blindness. If you would like to pose a question to Miss Whozit, you can send it to the attention of Gary Wunder, National Federation of the Blind, 200 East Wells Street, at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, or email me at . I will pass the questions along. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Here is the most recent letter Miss Whozit has received: Dear Ms. Whozit, I have an issue that has troubled me for years and has recently surfaced again. I have been blind from birth and have never observed the beauty of a smile except when touching the happy, upturned cheeks of a child. My question, almost too embarrassing to ask, is, how does one appropriately smile? Some would say that a smile is natural, but my experience suggests that this isn't necessarily so. More broadly, how does one ensure that the emotion felt is being appropriately conveyed visually? Two stories will explain what motivates my questions. When my daughter was applying to colleges, she was turned down by some and accepted by others. Her SAT score was low, and one of the schools that accepted her did so because she was classified as a minority and did so despite their published SAT score requirement. They followed up with letters saying how they really wanted her to be one of their students and couldn't wait until she became a bear-their team mascot. Believing that I should tell her what I thought she was up against, I tried to explain that her low SAT score might mean she would have trouble at this prestigious school. Her answer was, "But, Dad, can't you see by these letters that they want me?" Feeling terrible and trying to express myself as clearly and sincerely as I could, I explained that the letters resulted from the calculated use of an automated tool and that no one was really sitting down to write with her specifically in mind. As I was saying all of this, she jumped up and yelled, "Dad, why are you smiling? Do you think this is funny?" In tears she ran to her room-almost in tears I sat immobile, trying to figure out what I had done wrong and what I might have done differently. What skill had I failed to employ? I had broken myself as a child of the hand-in-the-eye and the head-down or on-the-desk behaviors because I was told that they were odd or disrespectful to the person I was speaking with. Had I ignored some other advice that might have saved me this smiling heartbreak? My second problem is much the same and has to do with taking pictures. I am always told to smile, but, if I really try to produce the smile that conveys the happiness I'm feeling and therefore trying to express, I am likely to receive comments like "Now, be serious," or "When you smile like that, you look like a monkey or a grinning little boy." Again, what did I miss, and, rather than crying over these problems, how can I learn what others seem to expect as instinctive behavior? Puzzled but still smiling Dear Puzzled, Well you do have yourself in a stew. The good news is that I think that your two experiences are manifestations of one difficulty: judging how much and when to smile. The first thing to remember is that human beings fall along a spectrum of how and how much they smile. Some people hardly ever crack a smile, while others smile almost all the time, and the good news is that, as far as Miss Whozit can tell, where a person falls on this continuum has nothing to do with blindness. You may have to ask a trusted friend for feedback about how much you smile, but you can try sneaking up on yourself mentally when you are at rest. When it occurs to you to conduct the experiment, freeze your mouth in its relaxed position, and check on whether or not you seem to have the corners of your mouth tucked up in a smile. If so, you will probably be told that you generally look pleasant or that you mostly smile. If you are among the poker-faced, you will feel it unnatural to contract those smile muscles. Once you are familiar with how it feels to smile, you can check yourself in serious conversations to be sure that your mouth has not tightened up into a smile. I suspect that your painful experience with your daughter had much more to do with the overwrought emotions of a teenager hearing painful truths than with inappropriate smiling on your part. If you still lack confidence in your ability to judge the presence and size of your smile, spend time listening to the voices of other people. You can often actually tell from a person's voice how broadly he or she is smiling. A common piece of advice given to people who talk a lot on the telephone is to smile before picking up the receiver. You can hear a lilt and warmth in the voice of someone answering the phone. See if you can reproduce that lilt while smiling into the phone. Listen to the voice of a person telling a funny joke. You can hear the smile gathering and bursting into a laugh. Listen to people talking with babies. They almost always automatically smile at the baby. You will do so as well if you try talking to a baby. If you pay attention to others' voices as they are smiling, you will come to understand how to reproduce the various degrees of smiles. You can always check out your impressions with an honest friend. He or she can tell you if you smile appropriately or how to modify your smiling to fit social norms. As for smiling in photographs, Miss Whozit has observed that many people struggle with artificial expressions on their faces during a photography session. A good photographer can catch you at the moment when you relax into a natural expression. People who do not like to have their picture taken usually fall into this group. Trying to force a smile is usually disastrous. It may be, however, that you will find that all this analysis of degrees of smiles will teach you how to reproduce a pleasant rather than a goofy smile on demand. You did not mention whether you are totally blind. I suspect that you are and that you may also benefit from considering whether or not you keep your eyes open when having a photo taken. This is a problem for many people, and some totally blind people have simply given up the struggle to keep their eyes wide open for photos. Miss Whozit's only comment is that having our eyes open during photography sessions makes our loved ones very happy. Learning to do so may be worth the effort. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: James Gashel] The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards by James Gashel From the Editor: James Gashel is secretary of the National Federation of the Blind and chairs the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards committee. Here is his announcement about the 2014 Bolotin Awards program: The National Federation of the Blind is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards. These prestigious awards, granted each year as funds permit, recognize individuals, corporations, organizations, or other entities for outstanding work of excellence on behalf of the blind in the United States. The public recognition ceremony will be held during the 2014 annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Orlando, Florida. Each recipient will be given a cash award in an amount determined by the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Committee and will also be honored with an engraved medallion and plaque. Dr. Bolotin was a pioneering blind physician who practiced in the early twentieth century, and the awards which now bear his name are made possible through the generosity of his late nephew and niece. Their bequest, the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust, allows the National Federation of the Blind to recognize and support the most outstanding individuals and projects working to improve opportunities for blind people in the United States, consistent with Dr. Bolotin's pioneering example. As chronicled in his biography, The Blind Doctor by Rosalind Perlman, Bolotin fought ignorance and prejudice to gain entrance to medical school and the medical profession. He became one of the most respected physicians in Chicago during his career, which spanned the period from 1912 until his death in 1924. He was particularly known for his expertise in diseases of the heart and lungs. Bolotin used his many public speaking engagements to advocate for employment of the blind and their full integration into society. Interested in young people in general and blind youth in particular, Dr. Bolotin established the first Boy Scout troop consisting entirely of blind boys and served as its leader. Jacob Bolotin's wife Helen had a sister whose husband died suddenly, leaving her to raise a son, Alfred Perlman. The Perlmans moved in with the Bolotins when Alfred was eleven, and for four years (until Jacob Bolotin's untimely death at the age of thirty-six), "Uncle Jake" became Alfred's surrogate father. Alfred later married Rosalind, and the couple worked on a book about Dr. Bolotin's life. After Alfred's death in 2001, Rosalind dedicated the rest of her life to completing and publishing the book. Then upon her death and as part of her will, Rosalind left a bequest to the Santa Barbara Foundation and the National Federation of the Blind to produce Dr. Bolotin's biography and establish the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award program. Her book, The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story, has been published by and is available from Blue Point Books . Award Description In 2014 the National Federation of the Blind will again recognize individuals and organizations that have distinguished themselves in accordance with the criteria established to receive the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award. The committee will determine both the number of awards and the value of each award presented. The Federation determines the total amount to be distributed each year based on income received from the trust supporting the award program. The award categories for each year are blind individuals, sighted individuals, and organizations, corporations, or other entities. Individuals may apply on their own behalf or may submit a third party nomination, or the committee may also consider other individual or organizational candidates. Who Should Apply? Individuals: Only individuals over eighteen years of age may be considered for a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award. Applicants must demonstrate that they have shown substantial initiative and leadership in improving the lives of the blind. Examples of such initiative include but are not limited to developing products, technologies, or techniques that increase the independence of the blind; directing quality programs or agencies for the blind; or mentoring other blind people. All individual applicants or third- party applicants nominating other individuals must demonstrate that the work to be recognized has been conducted within the twelve months preceding the application and/or that the work is continuing. Applications by or on behalf of individuals must include at least one letter of recommendation from a person familiar with or directly affected by the work to be recognized. Organizations: Organizations may apply for a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award in order to further programs, services, technology, or techniques of unique and outstanding merit that have assisted and will continue to assist the blind. Applications from third parties nominating an organization will also be considered. The organization category includes corporations, nonprofit organizations, or other entities, such as a specific division within an organization. Organizations or third-party applicants must demonstrate that the programs or services to be recognized include substantial participation by blind people as developers, mentors, administrators, or executives, and not merely as clients, consumers, or beneficiaries. For example, an organization operating a program for blind youth might demonstrate that a substantial number of the counselors, teachers, or mentors involved in the program are blind. The organization or third-party applicant must demonstrate that it has substantially aided blind people within the twelve months prior to application and that an award would support efforts to build on previous successes. The application must also include at least one testimonial from a blind person who has benefited substantially from the programs or services. To qualify for an award both individuals and organizations must be headquartered in the United States of America, and their work must primarily benefit the blind of the United States. Procedures More information, including an online application, can be found on the National Federation of the Blind website at . Online submission of nominations, letters of support, and other relevant materials is strongly encouraged, but applications sent by mail and postmarked by the deadline will also be accepted. The 2014 deadline for application submission is March 31. Recipients chosen by the committee will be individually notified of their selection no later than May 15. Receipt of all complete applications will be acknowledged; only those applicants chosen to receive an award will be contacted by May 15. All decisions of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award committee are final. The awards will be presented in July during the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Individuals selected to receive an award must appear in person, not send a representative. Organizations may send an individual representative, preferably their chief executive officer. Recipient candidates must confirm in writing that they will appear in person to accept the award at the National Federation of the Blind annual convention. Failure to confirm attendance for the award presentation by June 1 will result in forfeiture of the award. Ineligible Persons Those employed full-time by the National Federation of the Blind may not apply for a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for work performed within the scope of their employment. Students may not apply for both a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award and a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship in the same year. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: David Ticchi] The 2014 Blind Educator of the Year Award by David Ticchi From the Editor: Dr. David Ticchi is an experienced educator in his own right. He was named Blind Educator of the Year in 1998. He chairs the 2014 Blind Educator of the Year Award selection committee. This is what he says: A number of years ago the Blind Educator of the Year Award was established by the National Organization of Blind Educators (the educators division of the National Federation of the Blind) to pay tribute to a blind teacher whose exceptional classroom performance, notable community service, and uncommon commitment to the NFB merit national recognition. Beginning with the 1991 presentation, this award became an honor bestowed by our entire movement. The change reflects our recognition of the importance of good teaching and the impact an outstanding blind teacher has on students, faculty, community, and all blind Americans. This award is presented in the spirit of the outstanding educators who founded and have continued to nurture the National Federation of the Blind and who, by example, have imparted knowledge of our strengths to us and raised our expectations. We have learned from Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, and President Marc Maurer that a teacher not only provides a student with information but also provides guidance and advocacy. The recipient of the Blind Educator of the Year Award must exhibit all of these traits and must advance the cause of blind people in the spirit and philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. The Blind Educator of the Year Award is presented at the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Honorees must be present to receive an appropriately inscribed plaque and a check for $1,000. Nominations should be sent to Dr. David A. Ticchi, Newton North High School, 457 Walnut Street, Newtonville, MA 02460. Letters of nomination must be accompanied by a copy of the nominee's current r?sum? and supporting documentation of community and Federation activity. All nomination materials must be in the hands of the committee chairman by May 1, 2014, to be considered for this year's award. For further information contact David Ticchi at (617) 559-6253. ---------- Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award for 2014 by Cathy Jackson From the Editor: Cathy Jackson chairs the committee to select the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children for 2014. The National Federation of the Blind will recognize an outstanding teacher of blind children at our 2014 convention next July. The winner of this award will receive an expense-paid trip to the convention, a check for $1,000, an appropriate plaque, and an opportunity to make a presentation about the education of blind children to the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Anyone who is currently teaching or counseling blind students or administering a program for blind children is eligible to receive this award. It is not necessary to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind to apply. However, the winner must attend the national convention. Teachers may be nominated by colleagues, supervisors, or friends. The letter of nomination should explain why the teacher is being recommended for this award. The education of blind children is one of our most important concerns. Attendance at a National Federation of the Blind convention will enrich a teacher's experience by affording him or her the opportunity to take part in seminars and workshops on educational issues, to meet other teachers who work with blind children, to meet parents, and to meet blind adults who have had experiences in a variety of educational programs. Help us recognize a distinguished teacher by distributing this form and encouraging teachers to submit their credentials. We are pleased to offer this award and look forward to applications from many well-qualified educators. Please complete the application and attach the following: . A letter of nomination from someone (parent, coworker, supervisor, etc.) who knows your work; . A letter of recommendation from someone who knows you professionally and knows your philosophy of teaching; and . A letter from you discussing your beliefs and approach to teaching blind students. In your letter you may wish to discuss topics such as the following: o Your views about when and how students should use Braille, large print, digital recordings, readers, magnification devices, computers, electronic notetakers, and other technology. o Your method of deciding whether a child should use print, Braille, or both. o Your timetable for recommending that your students begin instruction in the use of a slate and stylus or a Braillewriter. o Your process for determining which students should learn cane travel (and when) and which should not. o When keyboarding should be introduced. o When a child should be expected to hand in print assignments independently. National Federation of the Blind Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award 2014 Application Deadline: May 15, 2014 Name:_______________________________________________________ Home address:_________________________________________________ City, State, Zip:_________________________________________________ Phone: (H)____________________(W)____________________________ Email:______________________________________________________ School:______________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________ City, State, Zip:_________________________________________________ Use a separate sheet of paper to answer the following: . List your degrees, the institutions from which they were received, and your major area or areas of study. . How long and in what programs have you worked with blind children? . In what setting do you currently work? . Briefly describe your current job and teaching responsibilities. . Describe your current caseload (e.g., number of students, ages, multiple disabilities, number of Braille-reading students). Email is strongly encouraged for transmitting nominations; letters of support and other relevant materials should be included as attachments. Applications sent by mail and postmarked by the deadline will also be accepted. Send all material by May 15, 2014, to Cathy Jackson, Chairperson, Teacher Award Committee, or by mail to 210 Cambridge Drive, Louisville, Kentucky 40214-2809; (502) 366-2317. ---------- From the President's Recipe File by Marc Maurer Recently I obtained a pumpkin and cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, and baked it in the oven until the flesh of the pumpkin was tender. I scraped the flesh out of the skin and made a pumpkin pie with part of it. I mentioned this to my daughter Dianna, emphasizing the unused portion of the pumpkin, and she sent me the following vegetable pumpkin soup recipe: Ingredients: 1 onion, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 can navy beans Kernels of 3 ears of corn cut off the cob or a medium bag of frozen kernel corn 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced 5 small potatoes, peeled and cut in bite-size dice 1 small bag of baby carrots, sliced 1 teaspoon dried sage 1 1-pound can pumpkin pur?e (or 2 cups of fresh pumpkin if you have it) 4 cups chicken stock 1 cup skim milk Salt and pepper to taste Method: In oil saut? chopped onion and red pepper for about two minutes. Add corn, mushrooms, and navy beans and cook for another two minutes. Then add remaining ingredients and cook for twenty-five minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with crusty Italian bread. ---------- Recipes This month's recipes have been provided by members of the NFB of Nevada. Spinach and Artichoke Dip by Anthony Pascual Anthony Pascual is the president of the Henderson Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada. Ingredients: 1 jar or can artichoke hearts, drained and diced 1 box frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and chopped 1 8-ounce package cream cheese Garlic powder Method: In a mixing bowl place cream cheese, microwave for one minute, and add drained and diced artichoke hearts and spinach. Mix well. Sprinkle on garlic powder to taste. I enjoy this with garlic bread, but you can get creative with chips or crackers. Serves four. ---------- Fettuccini Alfredo Sauce by Anthony Pascual Ingredients: 1 quart heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup romano cheese, freshly grated 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated 4 ounces cream cheese Garlic powder to taste Method: In a medium saucepan pour whipping cream and heat on medium until warm enough to melt cheeses. Pour all cheeses into cream and stir gently until well blended. Sprinkle in garlic powder to taste. Serves four. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: William Harmon] Chicken Main Dish by William Harmon William Harmon is a past president of the NFB of Nevada. Ingredients: 3/4 cup uncooked rice 1 cut-up chicken or equivalent amount of chicken pieces 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup 1 envelope dry onion soup 1 soup can of milk ? cup cooking sherry, optional Method: Place the rice in a large, greased casserole dish. Arrange the chicken pieces on top. Mix the soup, milk, and sherry together and pour over the chicken. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours. Uncover and bake 30 minutes more to brown the chicken. Serves 4. ---------- Saucy Baked Pork Chops by William Harmon Ingredients: 4 to 6 pork chops 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup 1 cup onion, chopped 3 tablespoons ketchup 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce Method: Brown the pork chops in a skillet. Drain excess fat. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chops. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for forty-five minutes or simmer on top of range for thirty minutes. Serves 4 to 6. ---------- Pizza Dip by William Harmon Ingredients: 1 pound Velveeta cheese 1 can tomato soup 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated Method: Grate Velveeta or cut into small pieces. Place cheese in saucepan. Add remaining ingredients and cook over low heat until cheese melts. Stir occasionally. Serve warm with pizza or meatball-flavored crackers. ---------- [PHOTO CAPTION: Rena Smith] Garden Greens by Rena Smith Rena Smith is president of the NFB of Nevada. She reports that her grandmother, who never measured anything, taught her to cook. She does not care for cooking, but it's healthier and less expensive than dining out. She comments that, if you are a greens lover, this recipe is for you. Ingredients: 1 bunch kale 1 bunch collard greens 1 bunch turnip greens 1 bunch mustard greens Turkey or ham hocks stock 1 stick butter Crushed red pepper to taste Method: Wash greens thoroughly. Cut them up and place in a pot of boiled smoked turkey parts or ham hocks. Add crushed red peppers to taste and butter or margarine. Let greens simmer until tender, about three hours. ---------- One-Egg Cornbread by Rena Smith Ingredients: 1 egg 2 cups yellow corn meal 1 cup flour 1 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar, optional 2 cups milk Method: Mix all ingredients until smooth, Pour into a greased bread pan and place in 350-degree oven for about thirty minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Both these dishes can be served with a pot roast or fried chicken. ---------- Kaoyum by Elsie Spell Elsie Spell is the daughter-in-law of Rena Smith. She says this recipe is delicious: Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 onion, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons green curry paste 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 15-ounce can coconut milk 1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced 4 ounces thin rice noodles, broken into pieces 2 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), very thinly sliced crosswise 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro Method: Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about eight minutes. Add the garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, one to two minutes more. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce; cover and bring to a boil. Add the bell peppers and noodles and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente, about three minutes. Add the chicken and simmer until just cooked through, about three more minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add more fish sauce and lime juice if desired. Serve immediately. ---------- Monitor Miniatures News from the Federation Family 2014 Washington Seminar: This notice comes to the Braille Monitor courtesy of Diane McGeorge. The 2014 Washington Seminar will be held on Monday, January 27, through January 30, 2014. As in previous years it will be held at the Holiday Inn Capitol at 550 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20024. The Great Gathering-In will begin Monday afternoon at 5:00 PM in the Columbia Room on the first floor of the Holiday Inn Capitol and will adjourn at 7:00 PM. Legislative appointments should be made for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in the Senate and House office buildings. Meetings for NFB members to review the legislative progress and provide guidance will occur Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Room rates at the Holiday Inn Capitol are $177 for single, double, triple, or quad rooms with a 14.5 percent tax per night. Please do not contact the hotel to make your reservations. To make your reservation, you may call (303) 778-1130, extension 219, or email Lisa Bonderson at . Room reservations must be made by December 17, 2013. If you wish to have room space for meetings prior to or during the seminar, please have those requests in to Lisa Bonderson by December 17, 2013. National Federation of the Blind Deaf-Blind Division Launches Operation Outreach: The Deaf-Blind Division has been hard at work since the National Convention putting together a plan to advance our deaf-blind projects. Before the 2014 convention the division intends to: 1. Identify more people with deaf-blind issues 2. Ensure that all eligible people are aware of and have applied for equipment under the iCanConnect program 3. Help people with deaf-blind concerns communicate with each other 4. Encourage membership in the NFB 5. Ensure interested deaf-blind citizens understand the resources available to them-they may need guidance in working with the agencies responsible to provide their services. To make all this happen, we need two things: first, we need the help and support of every state affiliate. Second, we would appreciate names, addresses, and email addresses so we can make contact to determine the level of interest on the part of each deaf-blind individual in each state affiliate. We want to keep it simple. We have been fortunate that members of the Deaf-Blind Division have stepped forward and have offered their assistance and dedication to Operation Outreach. The board could not have done this without their support. We need every helping hand. We have been excited by the progress we have received so far. People are starting to take notice of the deaf-blind and their issues. Each member of the Deaf-Blind Division who is participating in Operation Outreach has been given the names of state affiliate presidents to contact. Affiliate presidents now have the opportunity to name a person to be committee chair for their affiliates, keep in contact with the Deaf- Blind Division, and be responsible for Operation Outreach in their state, as well as assisting the affiliate in establishing a committee and eventually a division in that state. At this time all fifty state affiliates have been contacted. All affiliate presidents who were present at the national convention were given introductory letters introducing them to Operation Outreach. They were then contacted post-convention to establish a relationship with their national Deaf-Blind Division contact person and to answer any questions they may have or discuss the logistics of establishing a committee in their state. Operation Outreach is a very important project for the NFB and the Deaf-Blind Division. It will help to address the needs of the deaf-blind and ensure them equal access. As we say in the NFB Deaf-Blind Division, "We're changing what it means to be deaf-blind." Thank you to all who support Operation Outreach. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at any time. President Joe Naulty can be reached at (321) 768-9500 or . Elected: The New York Association of Guide Dog Users held elections recently with the following results: president, Jessica Snyder; first vice president, Margo Downey; second vice president, Joyce Carrico; secretary/treasurer, Lucy Mar; and member at large, Cheryl Echevarria. [PHOTO CAPTION: Cover art for The Heart of Applebutter Hill] Blind Author Offers a Book to Change Attitudes: Ever wish you could do something to make sighted people just get it? What would it take to create a quantum shift in the level of fear, pity, low expectations, and negativity regularly displayed by the sighted world? Try giving them a good story for the holidays, like The Heart of Applebutter Hill by Donna W. Hill (http://donnawhill.com/). An adventure- mystery for general audiences, it features a 14-year-old legally blind heroine. The Heart of Applebutter Hill is not a "coming-to-terms-with- blindness story." The adventure could have happened to a sighted kid. If the author, who was born legally blind, had been willing to write blindness out of the story, she wouldn't have had to self-publish it. The Heart of Applebutter Hill has received recommendations from professionals in the fields of education, rehabilitation, and the arts as a valuable resource for diversity-inclusivity and anti-bullying initiatives in colleges and secondary schools. Recommenders include Louisiana School for the Blind Braille teacher and author Jerry Whittle, NFB Writers' Division president and chair of the NFB's Communications Committee Robert Leslie Newman, Future Reflections editor and novelist Deborah Kent Stein, and web accessibility expert Dr. Brian Wentz. You can read their comments at: . The holiday shopping season is upon us, and you have a great opportunity to influence public opinion, support a blind author, and share an exciting adventure-mystery. The proceeds from The Heart of Applebutter Hill provide Braille books for blind students. Throughout history, from Uncle Tom's Cabin and Oliver Twist to Roots and Children of a Lesser God, fiction has played a major role in enlightening the general public about social justice issues. The privacy and intimacy inherent in reading will provide a safe place for people to confront their own prejudice and to develop an intuitive understanding that blind people have valuable and unpredictable contributions to make in all aspects of life as employees, students, coworkers, citizens, and friends. You may obtain a copy of this book from Amazon and/or Bookshare. Buy, share, and read. 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. To Prospective NASA Student Interns with Disabilities: NASA is looking to increase the number of students with disabilities pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers through our internship programs. NASA has a 2 percent hiring goal for employment of people with disabilities, and internships are a good way to get experience. Students can apply for summer 2014 internships right this very minute. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, March 14, 2014, and we will begin extending offers to students as early as Monday, February 3, 2014. We encourage you to apply early because the best opportunities are likely to be filled early. Plus, your likelihood of being selected decreases the longer you wait. You can register for an account anytime at the One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI): NASA Internships, Fellowships, and Scholarships (NIFS) at . However, students will not be able to see Summer 2014 opportunities until November 1. Summer 2014 internships run from early June until early August for college students and from late June until early August for high school students. All student interns get paid. For example, last summer at Goddard college students received a stipend of $6,000 and high school students $1,800. As an intern you are responsible for your own housing. NASA internships for college and high school students are also offered during spring, fall, and year-long sessions through the OSSI website. NASA has internships for high school students and for rising freshmen through doctoral students in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] fields. A rising freshman is a high school student who has been accepted to an accredited institution of higher learning, i.e., a college or university, at the time of the internship. Applicants must be US citizens, with a minimum GPA of 3.0 for college and 3.0 for high school; however, applicants must understand that the competition for internships is keen. High school students must be at least sixteen years old at the time the internship begins. Internships are available at all NASA centers nationwide. Students can submit a completed application, whether they apply to a specific opportunity or not. However, applying to opportunities has the advantage of allowing applicants to be considered by mentors who work in disciplines of interest and at a particular center. Applicants may apply to as many as fifteen opportunities. For example, an opportunity having to do with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will be at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland because SDO is located there. Not applying to an opportunity means that prospective interns will be hoping that a mentor happens to read their applications rather than directing their applications to mentors in fields and at centers of interest. Students who are selected for summer internships will receive an offer letter by email sometime after February 3, 2014. They will then have five days to either accept or reject the offer through their OSSI: NIFS account. The offer will automatically expire after five days if no action is taken. Please feel free to contact me for more information or help with applying: Kenneth A. Silberman, Esq. Education Office Code 160 NASA/GSFC Mailstop 160 Greenbelt, MD 20771 Voice: (301) 286-9281 Email: Email is preferred. Ski for Light is Alaska Bound. Applications Are Due November 2013: The 39th annual Ski for Light International week will be held in Anchorage, Alaska, from Sunday, February 23, through Sunday, March 2, 2014. Join over 200 active blind and sighted adults from across the U.S. and around the world who pair up for what many have called the experience of a lifetime. We will stay in downtown Anchorage at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center and ski at nearby Kincaid Park. This year's event fee, including hotel accommodations for seven days, all meals and other extras will be $850. Financial stipends may be requested when completing the application, and applications are due this month. For more details and to submit your application, please visit the fully accessible web site at . If you need more information, please contact the Visually-Impaired Participant Application Coordinator in Michigan: Lynda Boose, (906) 370- 7541, or by email at New Speak To Me Catalog: Give the gift that says something; check out our new Fall/Winter 2013 catalog, packed with exciting gift-giving ideas. This catalog is focused on some of our newest arrivals, products that didn't appear in our summer catalog. We are introducing a special new category of products for those of you with mobile devices that need to take your sounds on the go. You'll find keyboards for your phone, headsets and earphones, and ways to charge and carry your books or music. Order early: this is the busiest time of the year for us. We want to make sure that all of your gift-giving desires are met with no disappointments if stock should become limited. Call us at (800) 248-9965 or visit our website at to place an order online. 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. For sale: I have several items for sale: first, a PAC Mate Classic with 40-cell Braille display in good condition. The PAC Mate comes with a case. I am asking $1,700 (plus shipping). Second, I have a talking MaxiAids Super Cube clock for which I am asking $20 (plus shipping). Next, I have a cigarette lighter charger for the PAC Mate and mini USB cable for flash drives, and I'm asking $5 for each (plus shipping). Last, I have two one-gigabyte compact flash type II cards, for which I'm asking $5 each or both for $10 (plus shipping). Contact Jeff Rutkowski by phone at (651) 756-8684 or using email at . ---------- NFB Pledge 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.