[Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, April 2015
Brian Buhrow
buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Wed Apr 1 00:54:58 PDT 2015
BRAILLE MONITOR
Vol. 58, No. 4 April 2015
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
Mark Riccobono, President
telephone: (410) 659-9314
email address: nfb at nfb.org
website address: http://www.nfb.org
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Letters to the President, address changes, subscription requests, and
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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 KNOWS THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT THE
CHARACTERISTIC THAT DEFINES YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. EVERY DAY WE RAISE THE
EXPECTATIONS OF BLIND PEOPLE, BECAUSE LOW EXPECTATIONS CREATE OBSTACLES
BETWEEN BLIND PEOPLE AND OUR DREAMS. YOU CAN LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT;
BLINDNESS IS NOT WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK. THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND-IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR
OURSELVES.
ISSN 0006-8829
© 2015 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 2015 NFB Convention
The 2015 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take
place in Orlando, Florida, July 5-10, 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 2015 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $82; and triples
and quads, $89. 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 $95-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 June 1,
2015. 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, 2015, 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 2015 convention is:
Sunday, July 5 Seminar Day
Monday, July 6 Registration Day
Tuesday, July 7 Board Meeting and Division Day
Wednesday, July 8 Opening Session
Thursday, July 9 Business Session
Friday, July 10 Banquet Day and Adjournment
Vol. 58, No. 4 April
2015
Contents
Illustration: 2015 Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Seminar
The Deaf-blind Dilemma
by Cathy Guillory Miller
Accessibility at Microsoft: More Challenges than Victories
by Curtis Chong
Service Animal Laws Challenged in Arizona
by Donald Porterfield
South Carolina: An Affiliate with Treasures, Traditions, and Targets for
Future Accomplishments
by Gary Wunder
Blind Bookie Caught in Braille Trap
Maurer Devotes Career to Serving Blind Americans
by Josh Stow
A Review of Friendships in the Dark: a Blind Woman's Story of the People
and Pets Who Light up her World
by Donna W. Hill
Dr. Joanne Wilson Retires: Another Jernigan Pioneer Enters a New Phase of
Life
by Jim Omvig
Window into 1957: Pima County Club of the Blind
by Anna Kresmer
Local Author to Be Featured in ABA Journal
The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund
by Allen Harris
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures
[PHOTO CAPTION: Natalie Shaheen leads one of the participants in the
Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Seminar in a cane travel exercise.]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Steve Booth instructs participants in the positions of a
Braille cell.]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Seminar participant uses a click ruler to measure a piece
of wood.]
2015 Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Seminar
For a few years now staff members of our National Federation of the
Blind Jernigan Institute have conducted Transformational Seminars that are
designed to recalibrate the expectations community leaders have of the
abilities of the blind. The goal is to empower these leaders with education
and a positive perception of blind people, with the hope that they will go
back and spread this mindset with others in their community. The primary
participants in these seminars have come from the members of the Greater
Baltimore LEADERship group, an annual leadership training program that
boasts Dr. Betsy Zaborowski, Rosy Carranza, and President Mark Riccobono as
past graduates, and Anil Lewis as a member of the current class.
The transformational experience begins with a human guide activity
where the participants are led under sleep shades to the conference room
where the seminar will take place. The goal of this is not to simulate
blindness, but to make them understand that this activity can only give
them the experience of losing sight, not the experience of living with the
loss of sight. We briefly discuss their perceptions, their assumptions,
their fears, and their altered self-concept.
This is where we begin the transformation, substituting their fears with
our experience.
Over the next three hours participants are exposed to the training
that would be essential for them to regain their independence: cane travel,
Braille, access technology, home economics, and a simple woodshop
experience. We stress that, in addition to skills development, our goal is
to teach problem-solving skills and to build self-confidence. We describe
our structured discovery and immersion approach to training and explain
that our adult rehabilitation training programs usually last from six to
nine months.
The cane travel, home economics, and woodshop activities are
conducted under sleep shades to demonstrate that it is possible to perform
these tasks without sight. We do not use sleep shades for the Braille and
access technology activities because we want the participants to gain a
true understanding of the effectiveness of these tools regardless of their
finger sensitivity or keyboarding proficiency. Each activity is conducted
in a different location throughout the Jernigan Institute, providing the
participants an opportunity to tour our world-class facility.
Throughout the entire process we provide an education about the
National Federation of the Blind, encourage candid conversations about
blindness, and promote our philosophy of independence and full
participation. We bring the experience to a close by providing lunch while
facilitating a free flowing discussion about the experience and answering
any questions they may have about blindness.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Cathy Guillory Miller]
The Deaf-blind Dilemma
by Cathy Guillory Miller
From the Editor: In the October 2014 issue we ran an article of
particular interest to people who are deaf blind about the service
iCanConnect. In trying to edit that article, I found that there was much I
did not know about the deaf blind. I consulted with Joe Naulty, and he
recommended that I speak with Cathy Guillory Miller. I wanted to understand
more about the conventions regarding the words deaf blind and the reason or
reasons why the words were written differently. Sometimes they were written
as two separate words, sometimes they were hyphenated, and sometimes they
were written in upper case, lower case, or a mixture. Was it simply a
matter of preference, style, or was there something more important for me
to know as I edited the article? The letter Cathy wrote to me explained so
much that I asked her permission to run it as an article in the Braille
Monitor. She gave her permission, and I offer this with the hope that it
will be as helpful to our readers as it has been to me. As you read it, I
think certain parallels will become obvious. Here is what she says:
In the community we have a very rich history, including two distinct
cultures which have been so severely separated from one another by their
language that there doesn't seem to be any evidence they were even aware of
one another's existence until sometime after the rise of the information
age.
First there is the Deaf-blind, with a capital D. These are folks from
the Deaf culture who, for one reason or another, have become blind. They
may have been born into deaf families and later experienced the loss of
vision. People who self-identify as Deaf with a capital D consider
themselves part of a relatively isolated nondisabled community. They are
isolated by their language from the community at large. They often are able
to communicate with members of the hearing community through various
adaptive means but choose to maintain close association among themselves.
Part of the reason for their choice to isolate themselves lies in the
history of Deaf people in this country. At one time educators believed that
using hand signs was a lower form of communication--not fit for humans.
Hearing teachers at residential schools for the Deaf forced Deaf children
to read lips and to practice using their voices. Deaf students spent long,
weary hours working with speech therapists and were forbidden from using
their language of choice. Because of this oppression, which continued for
years, American Sign Language (ASL) was nearly extinguished. A whole
generation of Deaf students kept the language alive by sneaking signs with
each other at night in their dormitory rooms.
If a student had any amount of residual hearing, he or she was forced
to wear hearing aids. Hearing aid technology was not very evolved during
this time; the devices were not very useful, plus they were highly
uncomfortable. It was a tradition among Deaf children upon completing
school to throw away their hearing aids in celebration of their new
freedom.
Because of all the oppression by the hearing educators, this
generation of Deaf people learned to distrust the hearing community. That
distrust continues today and is perpetuated by incidents such as the
failure of institutions such as hospitals and the judicial system to hire
qualified interpreters when serving a Deaf person, resulting in horror
stories about wrongful incarceration, withheld medical treatment, etc. A
common cruelty involves police officers restraining the wrists of a Deaf
person, who then is unable to use his or her hands to communicate with an
interpreter if one is present.
Such distrust and animosity between the Deaf and hearing cultures
extends to blind folks who, for various reasons, have lost their hearing.
This group of deaf-blind people [deaf-blind being hyphenated but in lower
case] do not naturally self-identify as deaf-blind. They have likely
started to come to terms with their blindness through association with
groups such as the NFB. The tragedy here is that, in the past, the true
model of the independent vanilla blind did not include anyone who had
"something else wrong with them." If one had a hearing loss, one might as
well remain in an institution or on the street corner holding out a hat.
The "hearing" deaf-blind person was not likely to speak out and self-
advocate. The deaf-blind from the hearing culture were not seen any
differently from the hearing population in general in the eyes of the Deaf
and Deaf-blind from the Deaf culture.
Furthermore, since the deaf-blind with a lower-case D did not learn
to use ASL, communication between the two deaf-blind cultures was, for all
intents and purposes, impossible. In rare circumstances, where the two
groups were placed together, the result was extremely uncomfortable. Each
group ignored the other. The act of ignoring was interpreted by the other
group as snobbery.
I am a deaf-blind person who is from the hearing culture. My hearing
loss was so severe that I made the choice to study at a total immersion
facility for several months in order to learn sign language. All my
teachers were Deaf. Upon completing my course of study, I had regained the
ability to communicate; yet I could still not communicate with anyone I had
known before I began my study. Hence I would need to choose the culture to
which I would belong. Should I say good-bye to all my friends and family?
They were not about to learn to sign.
I was very fortunate that, within two or three years of learning ASL,
I was given the opportunity to qualify for cochlear implants. They were
both successful, and I have my life back as a blind person. But most others
are not so fortunate.
So now we have two different groups of DB [deaf blind] folks who
can't communicate with each other. They have the same disability. Both have
a combined vision and hearing loss, both can benefit from an SSP [Support
Service Provider], and both can benefit from Braille. There are some DB
folks who cross over the culture line. We see them at our DB Seminar during
our NFB Convention. We cannot ignore them. They cannot ignore us. They need
the NFB philosophy. We need them behind us and with us when we go to
Capitol Hill someday to ask for a national SSP Program. When I go to one of
their meetings, because they know me as one of their supporters, they
provide me with a voice interpreter. The NFB has begun providing
interpreters for DB attendees who use ASL. The DB Division is agonizing
over the cost of ASL interpreters.
But relationships between these two groups are very difficult to
forge. These relationships must be developed over time, with patience
enough to allow the formulation of trust. As Pam Allen has said to me
regarding the differences that set us apart, the key is education. We will
not overcome the damage that history has done unless we first understand
what will be required to heal the wounds.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Curtis Chong demonstrating tech at 2015 Alabama state
convention]
Accessibility at Microsoft
More Challenges than Victories
by Curtis Chong
From the Editor: Curtis Chong is the president of the National
Federation of the Blind in Computer Science, and in this capacity he is on
the frontline when it comes to hearing about technical problems and being
expected to offer some fix, work around, or political way to address
problems that keep blind people from being as productive as they must in
order to compete. Because most of the desktop and laptop market is
dominated by Microsoft products, and because Microsoft has had more
experience in dealing with accessibility issues than any other company, it
is not surprising that the president of the computer science division hears
frequently about user frustrations, lost jobs, and opportunities never
pursued.
Although we are currently engaged with Microsoft in a dialogue
expected to result in some advances in accessibility, this article is
appropriate in expressing the frustration that members and nonmembers alike
have when they try to use products that are essential at home, at school,
and in the places they work. Here is what Curtis has to say:
There can be little doubt that Microsoft products are widely used
today in almost every aspect of life. The majority of employers in this
country require their employees to use programs from Microsoft (especially
programs that are part of Microsoft Office) to accomplish the tasks they
perform every day such as sending and receiving email, creating and editing
documents, administering databases, managing projects, and so on. At home
many people have personal computers that run the Microsoft Windows
operating system and possibly Microsoft Office. At my doctor's office I
cannot avoid the sound of the mouse clicking as my doctor reviews my
medical chart using a computer powered by Microsoft Windows. While
computers made by Apple arguably are gaining market share, Microsoft
programs continue to maintain a highly visible presence in our lives. For
those of us who are blind, access to Microsoft products is not just
something that we would like to have. Rather, full nonvisual access to
Microsoft products is essential if we are to have any hope of being able to
compete in today's technology-driven labor market, let alone maintain
parity with our sighted neighbors at home.
For more than two decades the Microsoft Corporation has had a team of
individuals responsible for promoting and assuring the accessibility of its
various products to people with disabilities, including the blind. You
might assume, therefore, that after more than twenty years of effort,
Microsoft would stand out as a leader in the world of accessible software
and that all (or at least most) of the programs it sells would be
accessible to and usable by the blind. If so, you would be wrong! After
twenty years of effort, Microsoft's accessibility team is still unable to
serve as a gatekeeper to prevent Microsoft from releasing blatantly
inaccessible products.
The frustrating reality is that the accessibility effort within the
Microsoft organization has not been given the power and influence it must
have if the goal of ubiquitous accessibility is ever to be achieved. In
other words a Microsoft product is accessible today-not because it is
required to be so; it is accessible because the accessibility team was able
to persuade a specific product group to do what is necessary to make its
product work for people with disabilities.
Today only a small percentage of Microsoft products are regarded by
the blind as comfortable and intuitive to use. Examples include Windows
Explorer (referred to as File Explorer in Windows 8), most of the Microsoft
Office Suite, Internet Explorer, and several (but not all) functions of the
Windows operating system. Even for these supposedly accessible programs,
accessibility and efficiency have deteriorated as newer versions of
software are released. Consequently, whenever we who are blind hear about a
new Microsoft product, we feel a certain amount of skepticism about the
ability of that product to work with our screen-access technology and are
pleasantly surprised if, in fact, the product turns out to work for us.
Below are seven examples of how Microsoft has fallen short of what
seem like very realistic accessibility goals. As you consider these
examples, bear in mind that this list represents a tiny fraction of the
scope of the problem and that well over 80 percent of Microsoft products
remain inaccessible to nonvisual users.
. A concrete example of a product that simply cannot be used by
the blind, but which is an integral security component used in
employment situations, is Microsoft's BitLocker software, which
provides full disk encryption. BitLocker requires the user to enter a
PIN (personal identification number) before the full Windows operating
system is started. While competing full-disk encryption programs have
offered the ability to generate an audible tone that can be used to
alert the blind user that information needs to be entered, BitLocker
offers no such indication. Despite years of repeated entreaties by
blind people for Microsoft to fix this problem, we have yet to see a
version of BitLocker that addresses this issue. A blind employee who
is required to use a computer with Microsoft BitLocker installed will
be unable to turn the computer on and get it running-not to mention
use it.
. Microsoft SharePoint, a program used by many institutions
(many of which employ the blind), is not fully accessible to the
blind. SharePoint has been found to be so frustrating for the
nonvisual user that a third-party vendor believes that it can sell an
add-on solution to large enterprises (e.g., state or federal agencies)
that costs as much as $12,000 for a single user license. If
Microsoft's accessibility effort were working, a product that is as
widely used as SharePoint would already be as convenient and effective
for the nonvisual user as it is for everyone else.
. There does not appear to be any user-experience research being
conducted by Microsoft into improving efficiency for keyboard-only
users, including the blind. This has already had a negative impact on
keyboard-only users of the spell checker in Word 2013, which no longer
provides accelerator keys to speed up the selection of options when
spelling errors are detected.
. Microsoft struggles to implement an API (application program
interface) which makes it easier for screen-access software to get
information about application states, messages, and controls.
Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) and User Interface Automation
(UIA), two examples of existing accessibility APIs, have existed
within the Windows operating system for many years, but they have
apparently not done much to solve the accessibility problem. While I
applaud the fact that Microsoft has worked hard to ensure that Windows
Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 have worked with updated releases of
screen-access software on the day they were released to the public, it
must also be recognized that, in order for this to have happened, the
screen-access software vendors (very small companies in relation to
Microsoft) had to devote considerable resources to make this happen.
It would be better if these relatively small companies could spend
more time and effort coming up with innovations that improve the
efficiency and productivity of blind users of their software.
. For years Microsoft has left the blind with no access to
Windows phones. Given that iOS and Android phones have had some form
of nonvisual access for years, we find this frustrating, if not
shameful. It is even more disheartening when we remember that, when
Windows Phone was first released to the market in 2010, Microsoft made
a very clear business decision not to include or support a screen
reader for the Windows Phone platform.
. Unlike its main competitors on desktop and mobile platforms,
Microsoft has failed to provide built-in support for refreshable
Braille displays to be connected to and used on its various platforms.
This is particularly vexing for users who are both deaf and blind for
whom refreshable Braille displays are the only way to interact with
computer software. The Apple Macintosh and the Apple iPhone support a
variety of refreshable Braille displays without requiring the customer
to install device-specific drivers, and these products entered the
market well after Microsoft began working on accessibility.
. The maintenance, setup, and recovery of Microsoft Windows
continue to be inaccessible to the blind. Consequently, there is an
added cost in time and/or money to the blind user, who has to bring in
(and often pay for) sighted assistance to install, upgrade, or repair
a Windows system. This situation is unacceptable-especially given the
fact that Apple OS X and iOS operating systems incorporate
accessibility tools that enable the blind computer user to perform
maintenance, upgrade, and recovery tasks without sighted assistance.
Moreover, this problem curtails the ability of the blind to accept
Windows system support jobs in information technology.
Year after year, the National Federation of the Blind and the
Microsoft Accessibility Team engage in active and ongoing communication,
and year after year, we have communicated our frustrations and concerns to
this team. I and other leaders of the NFB in Computer Science have met at
many national conventions with Rob Sinclair, the head of Microsoft's
accessibility team. Although our meetings are very positive and our
relationship with Mr. Sinclair extremely collegial, the reality is that we
see far more accessibility challenges with Microsoft products than
victories. Perhaps this is because, at Microsoft (as with too many other
companies), accessibility continues to be a matter of education and
persuasion and not something that everyone within the company is required
to achieve. How different the situation would be if Microsoft had in place
a policy which required accessibility instead of merely encouraging it.
As Microsoft products move from the desktop to the cloud and as its
corporate customers move in this same direction, it is vital that nonvisual
users be able to move with them; our jobs and our independence demand it.
Now, the $64,000 question is, how can we get Microsoft to deliver
ubiquitous accessibility and usability to everyone-including the blind?
----------
Service Animal Laws Challenged in Arizona
by Donald Porterfield
From the Editor: Donald Porterfield is the first vice president of
the National Federation of the Blind of Arizona and serves as its
legislative director. Recently he found out about a proposal to eliminate
protections for service dogs, including guide dogs for the blind. Here is
an email he distributed in late February, supplemented by an interview I
had with him:
On Tuesday, February 17, 2015, the National Federation of the Blind
of Arizona and other disability groups were alerted that an amended bill
was scheduled for a committee hearing in the Arizona House of
Representatives at 9:00 AM on the 19th. The bill (HB 2179) included a
"Strike all" amendment, meaning that the original language of the bill
would be replaced with new and unrelated language. If the bill were passed
out of committee and subsequently passed into law, it would have
fundamentally altered Arizona's service animal law (A.R.S. §11-1024).
Proposed changes would have:
. Required that individuals who use service animals obtain a permit
from the Arizona Department of Health Services in order to take their
service animal into a public place and that such permit be renewed on
a regular basis
. Required that, as part of the permit process, an individual be
required to apply to the Arizona Department of Health Services and
provide documentation from a medical professional certifying the
applicant has a disability
. Required that a service animal wear a vest, also issued by the
Arizona Department of Health Services, at all times when in a public
place and that this vest display permit information
. Allowed restaurants to block access for persons with service animals
in order to meet local and/or state health code regulations
. Required the Arizona Department of Health Services develop a sign
for restaurants to display indicating that service animals are not
permitted and that a separate sign for other public businesses not
serving food be created that indicates service animals are allowed
. Required the Arizona Department of Health Services to petition the
United States Department of Justice requesting that the Americans with
Disabilities Act be updated to comply with state law.
The National Federation of the Blind of Arizona (NFBA) and several
other disability groups reacted quickly and organized an effective response
to the proposed legislation. NFBA has an active legislative committee, and,
along with members from the Tucson, Phoenix, and East Valley chapters, all
of us appeared at the Arizona State Capitol building prior to the start of
the meeting in order to register as many people as possible to speak
against the bill in the committee hearing. In addition, the NFBA
legislative committee appealed to affiliate members who could not
personally attend the meeting and asked them to email the committee chair
and other committee members urging them to vote against the legislation. We
were able to send out approximately thirty emails before the committee
hearing started.
During the hearing the committee chair made it clear that his intent
was not to pass legislation that imposed greater restrictions on persons
with disabilities who require the use of service animals. He said that he
intended to craft a bill that punished "bad actors," or those individuals
who masquerade their pets as service animals for the sole purpose of taking
them into places that prohibit pets. This intent was not evident in the
wording of the bill. The impetus for this legislation, according to the
representative, was a constituent recounting his visit to a restaurant
where someone was accompanied by a small dog and the constituent's family
member was sneezing and alleging that he had an allergy to dogs. The
representative never inquired about whether the dog was a service animal.
The customer doing the sneezing never complained to the restaurant. The
restaurant never questioned whether the animal it had admitted was a
service animal. The representative admitted that it was not so much the
specifics of this incident that caused him to act but his conjecture that
this kind of abuse might be occurring somewhere in his state. Do we now
base major changes in state law on hypotheticals and what ifs? Are we no
longer motivated by the expressed concerns of our constituents but by our
intuition that we should act on their behalf whether or not they have the
good sense to ask us? Should we act on behalf of businesses we perceive to
be aggrieved even though they have made no request of the Arizona General
Assembly?
Many members of the NFBA and the other disability groups testified in
opposition to the bill. All testimony given by the public indicated that
the stated intent differed from that of the actual bill and that, as
written, this bill violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Testimony
suggested that, rather than advance a bad bill, a bill should be written
that focused on the "bad actors" rather than persons with disabilities.
At one point during the hearing the process became so confused that
the sponsor of the bill thought it had been passed by a vote of two to
zero. So disturbed were committee members by the confusion and the supposed
vote that the Speaker of the House entered the hearing room, talked with
the chairman, and observed as the vote was once again taken.
Due to effective grassroots advocacy by the NFBA and other disability
groups, this bill was defeated by a unanimous vote of eight to zero. The
committee members who commented on their votes cited the testimony given by
the public as strongly influencing their votes.
My thanks and gratitude go out to everyone who participated in the
committee hearing, sent emails, and made phone calls. Sometimes we are
asked why it is important to be a part of an organization of the blind and
whether such organizations really have any influence in the halls of power.
Both of these questions were answered at a House hearing in Arizona, and
all of us, guide dog or cane users, are the better for our diligence,
commitment, and ability to mobilize and articulate our position in a way
that is both credible and understandable.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Frank and Shelley Coppel]
South Carolina: An Affiliate with Treasures, Traditions, and Targets for
Future Accomplishments
by Gary Wunder
From the Editor: President Riccobono mentioned on a recent release
that we would like to highlight programs of our affiliates and asked that
information be sent that we could use for this purpose. Here is the first
in what we hope will be a series of miniatures and articles that bring to
light affiliate treasures that should be shared nationally.
On Thursday, December 11, 2014, I had the pleasure of traveling to
Columbia, South Carolina, to visit with members of the National Federation
of the Blind. I was met at the airport by Parnell Diggs and his niece and
within the hour met two strong Federationists, Frank and Shelley Coppel,
who acted as my hosts while in Columbia.
What a pleasure it was to attend the Christmas party celebration of
the Columbia Chapter. This was not a unique experience for me since I
belong to the Columbia Chapter and have attended many a Christmas party,
but my Columbia is in Missouri, and this one was farther south and has
traditions that predate the chapter I love in the Middle West.
Not only do tremendous spirit, warmth, and love typify the Christmas
season, but these three words accurately sum up what I found at the chapter
meeting on this Thursday evening. I was privileged to sit at the head table
with President Diggs and the former president of the South Carolina
affiliate, Dr. Donald Capps. One cannot help being impressed with the work
these two men have done. The record of Dr. Capps's longtime commitment to
his affiliate and our Federation is evident in the Federation's Columbia
office, in the Rocky Bottom Retreat and Conference Center of the Blind
(RBRCCB), and in his tenure over many years on the board of the National
Federation of the Blind.
Similarly one cannot but be impressed with the work of President
Diggs, whose work to carry on in the tradition of his mentor and teacher is
evident, as is his commitment to move the Federation forward in the twenty-
first century. President Diggs is now a member of the national board, and
his work in supporting the work of our national body philosophically,
financially, and legislatively speaks for itself. Not only is this
president gifted with political skills, but he is quite the musician, as
all who were at the Christmas party can attest. Parnell had attended four
chapter meetings in the week that witnessed our dinner meeting. This is all
the more amazing given his role as husband, father, and head of his own law
firm. No doubt his accomplishments mean that he practices what he preaches,
that he is a man of action, and that he is living the life he wants.
But back to the meeting and the genuine love and warmth I felt there: Being
a part of this gathering was certainly one of the highlights of my
Christmas season and will be an event I will long remember.
On Friday morning members of three important boards were on the road
to the RBRCCB. With a meal stop it took us about five hours to make the
journey, but that time wasn't wasted in boredom or in counting the passing
miles. All of us took turns asking questions about one another, expressing
our views about the traditions of the Federation statewide and nationally,
teaching one another little tips about our technology, and sharing some of
our favorite music thanks to the magic of the internet and our iPhones. I
had a captive audience while I shared some of my favorite folk singers and
even got people to join with me in celebrating the life and music of Glen
Campbell.
Going to Rocky Bottom is a test of one's faith in physics,
engineering, and the design of the motor vehicle while van and luggage
trailer first climb a mountain and then steeply descend into the valley.
Whether this turbulent ride is due to the incline of the terrain or the
bumpy ride one would expect in a time machine, I cannot say, but soon we
are taken from the twenty-first century and the civilization familiar to
those of us who work in the information age as our cell phones read zero
bars, our phone service is gone, the internet belongs to the rest of the
world, and the familiar chime that indicates a newly received text message
goes silent. In their place we find ourselves in a time that permits us to
enjoy the silence, engage in reflection, and revisit times in our lives
when conversations between human beings sharing a parlor took center-stage
and opinion and fact could be uttered without constantly trying to verify
them through Bing or Google or by asking Jeeves. It was what my grandparent
would have called a typical front porch evening, and it was fantastic.
Saturday morning began with some exercise as we walked from our cabin
to the cafeteria. Those hills that tested our brakes the evening before now
tested our leg muscles as we climbed our way to the first meal of the day.
The volunteers who made our meals did us proud, and no one went away
hungry.
Gathered around a conference table, coffee well within reach, we
settled in for the first of three board meetings that would occur before
the work was over and another party would begin. This meeting was for the
board of directors of the Rocky Bottom Retreat and Conference Center of the
Blind, and it was chaired by Former President Capps. The Rocky Bottom
facility was secured by the National Federation of the Blind of South
Carolina in 1978 and came as a direct result of a good turn by Dr. Capps
for one of his company's insurance customers. This customer suffered a loss
while at a mental hospital when someone shut his hand in a door. While
technically his policy denied coverage when one was receiving medical care,
Dr. Capps reasoned that the accident had nothing to do with being in this
hospital and everything to do with an accident that could have happened
anywhere. He authorized payment of the claim. He did write a letter noting
that, according to the policy, the company assumed no liability but was
paying the claim because it was the right thing to do.
Later that satisfied customer looked up Dr. Capps, expressed his
admiration for what he had done, and offered him an opportunity to take his
family to a place Capps had never heard of before, Rocky Bottom. Feeling it
would be inappropriate for him to take advantage of a vacation opportunity
that came from the settlement of a claim, Capps thanked the customer but
said he could not ethically take advantage of the offer. Not easily
dissuaded, the man went to the president of the company who, after hearing
his story, not only told Capps he should take advantage of the vacation
opportunity but commended him on his moral courage and decision-making as
one of its senior officers.
Capps fell in love with the facility and visited it for more than a
decade. But as fine as the countryside was, little effort was being made to
maintain the facilities, and the county found itself on the verge of
condemning the property. Seeing an opportunity for the Federation to start
a project that would benefit the blind, Capps made a proposal to the county
commissioner and later the full commission, committing to restore the
buildings if the county would give the property to the National Federation
of the Blind of South Carolina. This was done in 1978, and the Rocky Bottom
Retreat and Conference Center has been serving the blind ever since.
Following a splendid lunch, a meeting of the Federation Center of the
Blind board was conducted by Chairman Frank Coppel. The center building is
located in Columbia and traditionally was the property of the Columbia
chapter. It has for some time been the state office of the Federation, so
its board has now been expanded to include members in addition to those
living in Columbia.
The Federation Center not only serves as the statewide office for the
National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina, but is used for various
meetings of the blind, including the Columbia Chapter. It also has a
contract with the South Carolina Commission for the Blind for the teaching
of technology.
Sometime ago the Federation Center for the Blind was damaged, when a
vehicle driven by a drunk driver crashed through a wall and destroyed a
significant part of the conference room. Some irreplaceable portraits were
irreparably damaged and office chairs and tables were destroyed. A good
inventory and the legal skills of President Diggs have resulted in a
settlement that will cover those things that can be replaced, the loss of
revenue in not being able to rent the building for other activities, and
the Federation's cost in having to relocate its meetings to other
facilities. Determining the true cost to the Federation also had to include
the increased cost of utilities during the coldest months of the winter,
given that the insulation and one of the walls were destroyed.
The last formal meeting of the day was held by the board of directors
of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. Much of the
agenda was devoted to a discussion of activities surrounding our seventy-
fifth anniversary convention and the efforts the affiliate would make to
get people to Orlando. Issues to be covered at the Washington Seminar were
discussed, as was our work on branding and the messages associated with it.
Like every conscientious affiliate, the NFB of South Carolina is
concentrating on building its membership, which involves reaching out to
new people and then establishing the human connections that make them feel
a part of what we do and cement their desire to remain involved.
Since these meetings fell in the middle of the holiday season and
Christmas was close at hand, we concluded our evening with a banquet, and
those who prepared the food received a rousing round of applause, and many
thank-you messages found their way into the evening's festivities.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: David and Darlene Houck]
After three inspiring but long and tiring meetings, many in the group
left the banquet and immediately fell into-no, not bed, but party mode. The
comradery was wonderful.
No report concerning the NFB of South Carolina would be complete
without mentioning the name of David Houck. He works for the affiliate and
heads its office. He serves in several capacities on behalf of the
Federation Center's board, manages the building, and oversees many of the
fundraisers, grant applications, and publications that get distributed for
all three entities discussed here. He has worked for the NFB of South
Carolina for more than thirty years and, when asked about his job, says,
"If I wore any more hats, I'd have to get a set of antlers."
As Parnell Diggs wisely observes, his job as the president of the
affiliate is to preserve the traditions that have made the National
Federation of the Blind of South Carolina what it is, while at the same
time ensuring that it has the vision and exercises the judgment to meet the
needs of the blind in the second decade of the twenty-first century. "We
have many programs that other affiliates don't have, but we can't let this
stop us from embracing new ones, especially national ones. We are
enthusiastic about BELL, and we want to be a part of every national program
sponsored or supported by the national body. Just as the Federation must be
an agent for change in work with the blind, I must be an agent for change
in our affiliate-treasuring our past, managing our present, and planning
for the future-and I am honored that members of the National Federation of
the Blind of South Carolina have entrusted me with leading our effort. I
will do my best to make them proud in the tradition of those who have come
before, and I will do my best to see that we remain as vibrant and as
relevant as we were when we were founded. I know that, with the help of my
brothers and sisters here in South Carolina and across our great nation, we
will make life better for the blind than it has ever been before."
----------
Blind Bookie Caught in Braille Trap
From the Editor: Last year we ran an April Fool's joke about training
hawks to serve the blind. It was received with mixed results. Some people
thought it was innovative, some thought the Jernigan Institute had no right
to start a new program without at least discussing it with the membership,
some saw it for the gag it was, and many gingerly asked their friends "What
was that thing about the hawk?" So here we are, April once again, and you
are no doubt wondering what nod we will make to April fools. No doubt with
a little creativity we could try to throw you Monitor readers another
curve, but sometimes what they say about fact being funnier than fiction is
true. See what you think. This article originally appeared in Inside News,
Washington, DC, January 1967 and was reprinted in the April 1967 issue of
the Braille Monitor:
The cops had been trying for three years to get the goods on Paul
"Big Boy" Pugh, forty-eight, a suspected bookie who was blind. But though
they raided his apartment several times over the years, they never found
anything upon which to build a case.
Then an alert rookie cop discovered that Pugh-who has been blind
since birth-was recording bets in Braille, the written language of the
blind.
Arrested with Pugh in a raid on his New York apartment were twenty-
eight-year-old Danny Brookes and thirty-year-old Bing Goff. Both of the men
were charged as accomplices in what police say was a $100,000-a-year
illegal betting operation.
Pugh, police charged, was the mastermind, kingpin, and top dog in the
ring. He allegedly took bets on everything from horse races to elections to
the weather. The cops had been onto him for years but, without definite
physical proof, they were powerless to put him out of circulation. Each
time they raided his apartment, all they found were several books with
their pages punched in Braille. Thinking these were innocent reading
matter, the cops ignored the books, turning the premises inside out in
search of recognizable betting slips or other records which could be used
as evidence in court. On each occasion, no luck.
Then, Patrolman Frank Stevens, twenty-three, joined the raiding
party. Stevens, who had just become a member of the force a year ago, was
told that the raid was just a routine harassment procedure. "This guy's too
cagey to leave anything lying around," said a veteran officer, "so don't
expect to find anything." While the blind bookie sat solemnly by, a
sarcastic smile playing on his lips, the cops went through the motions of
searching the place, knowing in their hearts they'd leave empty-handed. But
this time, thanks to rookie Stevens, they were in for a pleasant surprise.
Stevens, who had once been a volunteer worker at the local rehabilitation
center for the blind, began rifling through one of the Braille books on
Pugh's desk. And his trained fingers, which were able to read the Braille
impressions, discovered that the books were full of betting records.
Instead of keeping slips in the conventional manner, Pugh simply purchased
bound books with blank pages. At the top of each page, in Braille, was the
date of the entries. The bets themselves were recorded in Braille below.
Released after posting $5,000 bail, Pugh complained to reporters:
"These cops are just picking on me because of my handicap. All I was trying
to do was make a decent living. What did they expect me to do-spend the
rest of my life selling pencils?"
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Young Marc Maurer]
Maurer Devotes Career to Serving Blind Americans
by Josh Stow
From the Editor: This article about Immediate Past President Marc
Maurer is reprinted with the kind permission of the Notre Dame Alumni
Association. A link to their newsletter can be found at
<http://my.nd.edu/s/1210/myND/interior-
2col.aspx?sid=1210&gid=1&sitebuilder=1&pgid=23642>. Here is the well-
deserved tribute:
How on earth was a blind young man going to grill burgers for his new
friends?
That's the question Marc Maurer (class of 1974) pondered after he was
asked to cook after a meeting for blind people. He'd dealt with his lack of
sight since birth, but he was about to learn just how little it limited
him.
Kenneth Jernigan, who would become his mentor, showed him how to
grill. First, Maurer learned to pour lighter fluid and drop a match on the
coals. After they were hot, he pulled on a pair of fireproof gloves and
gently stirred them to distribute the fire. Now he was ready to cook
dinner.
"I found out there's lots to blindness I didn't know. The limitations
are much less if you know how to handle them," Maurer says, recalling how
that moment with Jernigan changed his life. "He told me, 'Lots of people
will tell you that you can't do things, but you'll find out that you can,
if you'll just learn the techniques.'"
That moment cemented Maurer's relationship with Jernigan, who would
lead him to Notre Dame and help him grow into a leader who offered hope and
opportunity to countless others as president of the National Federation of
the Blind.
A Sense of Possibility
Maurer, who was born prematurely, became blind shortly after birth
when he was overexposed to oxygen. He grew up in Boone, Iowa, in a family
of six children, where money was tight, and he and his siblings held odd
jobs to help make ends meet. He began by baking bread and selling it around
the neighborhood, then opened a business selling garter belts designed to
help pregnant women wear stockings more comfortably.
He became involved with the Iowa Commission for the Blind, where
members encouraged Maurer to think about further education, even arranging
for him to take the college entrance exam in Braille.
Grilling burgers was just the start of his hands-on, can-do
education. In a group-sponsored shop class, he learned how to overhaul a
car engine. "I did it because the guys at the program told me, 'if you want
to do something, we'll help you learn how to do it,'" Maurer says.
He first considered attending St. John's University in Minnesota after a
parish priest urged him to visit. But Jernigan suggested he consider Notre
Dame and helped him find a scholarship when he was accepted.
Embracing the Power of Ideas
Maurer, who lived in Sorin Hall, was used to navigating city streets
with a cane, but, after arriving on campus, he had to learn his way around
all over again. "It was magnificent fun and also scary as all get-out," he
recalls. "I got some people to tell me where things were some of the time.
I had to wander around quite a bit to figure out where I was going."
Initially he planned to study mechanical engineering, but a talk with
Jernigan after the first semester nudged him in another direction. "He told
me, 'You can be an engineer and you can build things and they'll be good,
but if you really want to change the course of society, you need to study
the Great Books,'" Maurer says.
So Maurer enrolled in the General Program (now the Program of Liberal
Studies), exploring a variety of academic fields with his classmates.
"The people in the program were fun, they were curious, they were
challenging, many of them had read quite a bit," he says, "and the books
were of a wide enough range that you got the idea that one discipline isn't
enough, that you needed to develop a comprehensive view of the world."
This perspective, he says, helped him believe that he could create
change, paving the way for his work as a civil rights attorney and his role
with the National Federation of the Blind.
Learning to Lead
After graduating from Notre Dame and earning a law degree at Indiana
University, Maurer handled a variety of cases dealing with employment law,
including some that dealt with discrimination based on blindness. The
National Federation of the Blind sometimes hired him to handle cases, and
Jernigan, who had become the organization's leader, convinced him to join
as legal counsel.
Over time Jernigan helped Maurer hone his leadership abilities and
invited him to consider serving as president. He was elected in 1986 and
set a record by leading the organization until 2014. During his tenure he
oversaw construction of the Jernigan Institute, which offers education,
services, and products for the blind. He tackled a variety of other
initiatives such as putting a blind driver in a car on the Daytona Motor
Speedway-memorable experiences in a long career of service. "When do you do
something like that?" Maurer says. "You can't try everything all at the
same time, when do you need a new challenge, and how do you bring the
resources together to make this challenge happen? These are the things you
need to learn how to do if you're going to run an organization."
Beyond managing multiple projects and priorities, Maurer drew on the
power of ideas to help drive change. "The president has to figure out how
to put together dramatic, challenging texts that say to people, 'there's
something you don't know that we can do together to make the world a better
place than it's been so far, and here's how we'll get there,'" he says.
Now, as he reflects on his work to help the blind, Maurer credits
Notre Dame with inspiring him to make a positive impact. "There were lots
of us when we got to college who wanted to change the world. We wanted it
to be different, we wanted it to be better," he says. "In my life I've done
that. The inspiration I got from the university was part of it. I learned
not to give up on the notion that we can build a world that is more
interesting and fun and accepting, and that includes a belief system that
supports people.
"Blindness is often a hidden matter. People who become blind often
don't want to tell people. They don't know what to do with their lives and
what the future can be. Tell them to get in touch with us, because we can
help them. We're in the business of hope."
----------
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 training 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.
----------
A Review of Friendships in the Dark: A Blind Woman's Story of the People
and Pets Who Light up her World
by Donna W. Hill
From the Editor: This book review was initially published on
Goodreads and to Donna's blog at
<http://donnawhill.com/2014/09/29/friendships-in-the-dark-by-phyllis-
campbell-a-book-review/>. Donna Hill is a member of our affiliate in
Pennsylvania, and Phyllis Campbell is a member in Virginia. Here is Donna's
review:
When you read the subtitle of Friendships in the Dark, what do you
think you'll be getting? Stories about great people? Great animals? If so,
you would be correct; this book has awesome dogs, cats, and people in
spades. It's an excellent read on so many levels-not the least of which is
that it gives us a glimpse into the world of America's "Greatest
Generation" from the perspective of someone who witnessed its realities as
a child.
Each chapter begins with a quote-always a crowd-pleaser for me. My
favorites are: one, "No one ever gets far, unless he accomplishes the
impossible at least once a day," by Elbert Hubbard. Two, "Hope against
hope, and ask till you receive," by James Montgomery. Three, "Our greatest
glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall," by
Confucius.
If you stumbled over the part about a "blind woman," however, you may
be wary, worried that you just don't want to read something that makes you
feel sorry for someone's problems or that, whatever compensations that may
have come into this woman's life, you would find small comfort in them. If
that's the case, my sympathies, because you are woefully off base.
"I have never felt cheated of the rich beauty the world has to give,"
writes Campbell, who was born totally blind, "For as long as I can
remember, I have reached out to the world around me, giving and taking all
the good things life has to offer."
Friendships in the Dark is the story of exultant joy in the midst of
life's challenges, the power of dedicated teachers, humor, and a casual
honesty brought to life for the reader by a master writer. Campbell's prose
is playful, happy without being sappy, poignant without being morose, a
perfectly balanced view into the best of family, community, and the
triumphant splendor of the human spirit.
Phyllis Campbell was a child living on a Virginia farm during WWII,
the youngest of four children. It's a home filled with love, concern for a
brother going off to war, and the determination of a mother that her girls
were going to be successful and independent, despite what the neighbors
think.
Yes, Phyllis wasn't the first blind kid in the family. Seven years
her senior, Inez was also blind, and she teaches Phyllis Braille and
awakens in her a love of reading that would guide her throughout her life.
When it's time for Phyllis to join her sister at Virginia's
residential school for the blind, their older sister Fay gets a job there
to be with them. Six-year-old Phyllis falls ill and experiences the
problems that faced children needing procedures at a time when the doctors
were overseas. Soon her father leaves the farm he loves and takes a job in
town so the family can be closer. The cows and horses can't come, but can
her parents bring young Phyllis's beloved dog and cat?
Campbell shows us dogs and cats like no one else can-how they
interact differently with blind and deaf children, how they befriend
mentally ill patients at the hospital where her father works, and how they
purr and wag their way into even the most reluctant hearts.
This is the story of a young girl growing into a mature, loving,
talented, and independent woman; the story of how music, flowers, and a dog
bring that woman and the love of her life together; and the story of
countless improbable but true ways that dogs and cats play vital roles in
the lives of their people. It is also the story of how a guide dog named
Leer gives a woman independence even as she loses sight of its true
meaning.
There is sadness, but Phyllis is optimistic and confident from the
beginning, largely protected from the humiliation, despair, and isolation
many blind people experience. Her story is a reminder to those who have
experienced it and an awakening to those who haven't of the incredible joy
which is possible when we reach out to one another as equals, embrace
family and community, and are reassured that, whether or not our prayers
are answered, they are always heard.
Phyllis Campbell, a member of the NFB Writers' Division who writes
two bi-monthly columns for the Our Special magazine (National Braille
Press), serves as organist at Faith Lutheran Church in historic downtown
Staunton, Virginia. She teaches piano and voice, specializing in Braille
music.
Born in Amherst County, Virginia, Phyllis moved to Staunton at age
seven. She is a graduate of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind
and went on to study at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and
Dunsmore Business College in Staunton. She took further courses from the
Hadley School for the Blind (Winnetka, Illinois). In 1989 she received
their Lifelong Learning Award. She has worked as a music teacher, peer
counselor, computer tutor, and as youth transition coordinator.
Phyllis has been writing since the 60s. Her first novel was Come Home
My Heart (Avalon Books, 1986). Friendships in the Dark (Brett Books, 1996),
her memoir about growing up blind, was picked up by St. Martin's Press
(1997) and translated into Chinese (Sea Breeze, China, 1998). Who Will Hear
Them Cry? and A Place to Belong were self-published in 2012.
Her most recent release is the suspense novel Out of the Night
(2014), available from Smashwords as electronic downloads in a variety of
file types including .mobi (Kindle), .epub (Apple, Nook, Sony, etc.) and
.rtf (accessible for readers with print disabilities):
<https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/405450>. Or, find it on Amazon at
<http://www.amazon.com/Out-The-Night-Phyllis-Campbell-ebook/dp/B00IA04IXW>.
Come Home My Heart and Friendships in the Dark are available on BARD.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Joanne Wilson]
Dr. Joanne Wilson Retires
Another Jernigan Pioneer Enters a New Phase of Life
by Jim Omvig
From the Editor: Joanne Wilson is one of the finest Federationists
I've ever known. She is friendly, outgoing, energetic, and inspirational.
Her brains and her energy have served the Federation well, and it is
fitting that a friend such as Jim Omvig take on the task of sharing a
little about Joanne in these pages.
But before we get to Jim, the first memory I have of meeting Joanne
was on a convention elevator. Almost every Federationist who attends a
national convention has an elevator story, but the elevator Joanne and I
shared stopped between floors, and one of the passengers was quite upset
and scared. My job was to calm him down and to work on using the telephone
in the elevator to get us help. Now I wasn't the first Federationist to
hold Joanne's new baby (more about her in Jim's article), but I bet I was
the first person other than Joanne to hold her while on a stuck elevator.
Such is my claim to fame. Here is what Jim has to say about a wonderful
person who has blessed us with so much of her time, talent, energy, and
enthusiasm:
Dr. Joanne Wilson of the Federation's National Center staff in
Baltimore retired as of December 31, 2014. Newer members of the Federation,
newer Monitor readers, newer chapter members, or newer state or national
convention attendees are more than likely familiar with her recent life as
a National Office staff member but probably not with her earlier years.
Newer readers may not think of her as one of the Jernigan Pioneers.
She joined our national staff in March of 2005 and among other things
has served as head of our Affiliate Action unit; as a leader of many
seminars both in Baltimore and at national conventions; as a presenter
about Federation philosophy and training at various functions around the
country; as an advocate with US congressmen and senators at many of our
Washington Seminars; and as one of our national representatives at many
state conventions through the years. All would agree that she is a
wonderful woman and a fine leader.
This all sounds terrific, doesn't it? But there's more, much more.
So, now, as Paul Harvey used to say, "I want to tell you the rest of the
story." This is what one might call a teachable moment. I urge those of you
who are newly blind, parents of a blind child, or the friend of someone who
has not adjusted effectively to his or her blindness, to dig in your mental
heels and read and re-read this profile until you understand and believe.
Joanne Wilson was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 29, 1946. She
was Joanne Zeihan (pronounced Zion). She tells me that, by the time she was
three years old, it was clear to her parents and her doctor that she had a
severe visual impairment. Her problem turned out to be retinitis pigmentosa
(RP). For those who are not familiar with this eye disease, it causes a
gradual narrowing of the field of vision (tunnel vision), a degeneration of
the retina itself, and also what is commonly referred to as "night
blindness." One who has RP can see fairly well outside in good daylight,
but, when you come indoors, you are almost instantly totally blind. And of
course it ultimately leads to total blindness.
Joanne's parents knew nothing about blindness. They wanted to help,
but they didn't know what to do. They had originally come from Webster
City, Iowa, and, after they learned about Joanne's poor eyes, they reasoned
that a young visually impaired child would probably have a much better
chance for decent help in rural Iowa than in the hustle and bustle of
Chicago. So, when they got the chance, which was when Joanne was seven
years old, they returned home to Iowa. What a fateful decision that turned
out to be! Kenneth Jernigan would also come to Iowa only five years later.
Joanne describes her childhood as dreadful. She started school in a
parochial school and attended it until the time came for high school. Her
vision continued to deteriorate, but the school had no help for her. She
read print very slowly and spent an inordinate number of hours reading each
day just trying to keep up with her fellow students.
She confesses that, because of her tunnel vision and night blindness,
she also developed an intense fear that she would trip and fall and either
hurt herself or be embarrassed in front of others. And every time she had
to go to an unfamiliar place, she worried whether there would be sufficient
lighting for her. And also of course, as many of us with failing vision
did, she faked sight whenever she thought she could get away with it.
This bleak pattern of life continued throughout her elementary,
Catholic schooling, her attendance at Webster City Public High School, and
another two years when she attended Webster City Junior College. But an
Iowa Commission for the Blind Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Don
Bell, began visiting her and trying to convince her that she should come to
a new school for blind adults in Des Moines. This new school to which Bell
referred was the new Orientation and Adjustment Center for Blind Adults
that Kenneth Jernigan had established in 1960 as a part of the Iowa
Commission for the Blind. But Joanne wouldn't come. She didn't want to be
around those blind people. If she would be walking home from school and see
Bell's car at her parents' home, she would go somewhere else and stay away
until he was gone.
But finally in the fall of 1965 she relented and agreed to come to a
one-day event at the Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, where this new
commission director, Kenneth Jernigan, was holding what he called College
Day for the commission-sponsored college students. This was the day when,
at age nineteen, Joanne Wilson was introduced to a new philosophy of
blindness and also learned about the National Federation of the Blind. This
was the day when her life began to change completely and forever.
Joanne Wilson Meets Kenneth Jernigan
By this time Kenneth Jernigan had established what he called
Commission for the Blind College Day each fall. He wanted to have the
chance to prepare blind clients for their college years. But he also wanted
to use the day to recruit current college students to the Orientation and
Adjustment Center if they had not previously had the chance to attend it.
Counselor Don Bell knew this and pressed hard to get Joanne to attend,
which she finally did.
Joanne says, "The day was amazing. The commission's conference room
was full of students. I had never had much of anything to be happy about,
but these students were laughing and joking and teasing one another and
having a great time. And Dr. Jernigan and other commission staff members
were also a significant part of the fun."
Joanne also confesses this heartfelt emotion, "I found the students
I met actually to be free inside, and they were not worried about their
blindness. They were not all wadded up inside like I was."
A part of the custom of College Day also had to do with the evening
meal. After the long, hard day of work and fun, Dr. Jernigan typically
entertained the students for the evening meal at an elegant place called
the Embassy Club. Counselor Don Bell arranged it so that Joanne Wilson sat
next to Dr. Jernigan at dinner. Ingenious! I'm sure that some of you old
timers have had the experience of being worked over for an hour or two by
Dr. Jernigan. Think about it!
When the dinner was over, Joanne had one more major problem with
which to deal. It was now totally dark, and, because of her night
blindness, she couldn't see a thing. Somehow she had to get back to the
commission, where she would sleep that night. What to do? She finally
accepted an offer and took the arm of a totally blind student who was a
trained cane user and let herself be led. The trained white cane user who
had led the helpless, frightened Joanne was Federationist Ramona Walhof.
After the entire day, and then after that last humbling experience with
which to end it, Joanne began to think.
She tells me that that day she had also met and had instantly become
friends with another untrained college student, Mary Ellen Halverson.
Eventually they talked and made a pact: "If you will go to the Orientation
Center, so will I. These students who have had the Jernigan training
obviously have something, and we need it too. And this National Federation
of the Blind that they all talk about really sounds neat."
So the decision was made. Joanne Wilson became a Kenneth Jernigan
student at the Iowa Orientation Center in June of 1966, following the
completion of her second year at Webster City Junior College. She continued
to be a center student for the next nine months.
It would be impossible for me to detail those nine months of training
in this article. Suffice it to say here that during those nine months of
what later came to be called structured discovery learning, Joanne Wilson's
life was changed completely and forever. She became personally empowered;
she knew what it felt like to be free; and she also developed a passion for
justice for the blind, and that deep passion continues to this day as
evidenced by her many years of volunteer work in the National Federation of
the Blind. It should also be noted that Joanne and Mary Ellen Halverson
remain close friends to this day.
I will summarize the next forty-eight years of this blind woman's
life. She graduated from the Iowa Center in March of 1967 and immediately
enrolled at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. While she was a center
student, she determined that she wanted to be a public school elementary
teacher, and it was with this goal in mind that she entered Iowa State in
March. (Iowa State operates on the quarter system, which explains college
classes beginning then.)
The Jernigan alternative techniques worked splendidly for her, and
that part of the college life was no problem. But there was another
problem: a big one. When it came time for her to arrange for practice
teaching, the dean of education said she could not do it. "Since you're
blind, you won't ever be able to get a job anyway, so why go to the
trouble?"
She finally settled him down to discuss the issue and asked, "If I
find a school that will allow me to practice teach, will you send me?"
The Dean agreed that he would, so Joanne got hold of Dr. Jernigan for
help in finding a school that would accept her. She knew that by this time
he and the Iowa Commission for the Blind had become famous in Iowa, so she
assumed that he could help.
What she didn't know was that he had also become an active Lion in
the Des Moines Downtown Lions Club and that the superintendent of the
Urbandale, Iowa School District was also a club member. Dr. Jernigan spoke
with his club friend, and the practice teaching assignment was arranged.
And there is even more to this story. The Iowa State University
Department of Education had tried for several years to get Urbandale to
accept its education students for practice teaching assignments, since it
was one of the finer schools in the state, but Urbandale would not agree.
After it accepted Joanne Wilson and she performed splendidly, it also began
routinely to accept sighted Iowa State students for their practice teaching
assignments.
The year 1969 was a very big year in the life of our heroine. She
successfully completed practice teaching; after many interviews she got
that first teaching job - teaching second grade right there in Ames, Iowa;
and she got married to Joseph Fernandes, an Iowa State professor. She
taught second grade for two years, and then she switched to fourth for
another two.
Joanne was the second blind Iowan to secure a public school teaching
job in an elementary school. The first, also helped greatly by Kenneth
Jernigan, was Judy Young. (For this entire story, see my article, "An
Affectionate Validation," in the November 1995 issue of the Braille
Monitor.)
Joanne says, "By this time I was having babies, so I needed to stay
home and be a mom." She quit her fourth-grade teaching job. (A little later
I'll touch briefly upon the fantastic story of the birth of the last, the
fifth, baby.)
But even with busy motherhood, her passion for justice for the blind
did not wane. She helped organize an Ames Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Iowa and became its first president. She was
also elected as one of the vice presidents of the NFB of Iowa. Through
these years she did what she could to help other blind people and also to
support Dr. Jernigan and the Iowa Commission.
In 1978 Joanne's then husband was offered a teaching position at
Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, and the couple and their
children moved South. Joanne went on to tell me what I and others like us
had already experienced. She said, "Dr. Jernigan and others always told us
that Iowa is different and better than other state rehab programs, but I'm
not so sure I believed it. Since the Iowa Commission for the Blind was so
fantastic, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that all state services
these days would be just as good?"
But she learned when she got to Ruston that Louisiana services and
conditions for the blind were absolutely atrocious. So, as Joanne would
naturally have done, she involved herself immediately in the activities of
the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana. But what do you know:
The Federation affiliate itself turned out to be no better than other
programs for the blind in that state.
A lesser woman than Joanne might simply have given up and busied
herself being a mom, but not our friend, colleague, and fellow
Federationist. She thought, "I'm really needed here." So she joined the
affiliate. Suffice it to say that she saw that both the affiliate itself
and state services for the blind needed fixing, so she decided to do it.
Think about it: She had worked on new membership and chapter-building for a
couple of years "lying on her sofa" and talking on the phone for hours and
hours, convincing people that they should join and participate. By the time
of the 1982 state convention, her new recruits showed up, and she won the
presidency. Yes, she won, but there were problems. She worked vigorously
for the next two years building the affiliate and strengthening the
membership. By the time of the 1984 national convention in Phoenix, she was
able to set another record. She brought 149 Louisiana registrants to the
convention-by far the largest registration Louisiana, or virtually any
other state, had ever brought.
In 1984, when Joanne came to Phoenix, she was very pregnant with her
fifth child. Actually, she probably shouldn't have come at all. During the
night before opening session, she went into labor. Her fifth child,
Jennica, was born at a Phoenix birthing center. But Joanne was so proud of
all of the new members she had brought to the convention that she vowed to
be present at opening session to introduce them. So she registered baby
Jennica so that, when she proudly responded to the president's request for
Louisiana in the Roll Call of States, the Louisiana affiliate record
attendance that year was actually 150, not the 149 I mentioned earlier.
All five of Joanne's children attended conventions from birth to
adulthood. What a record of pride and accomplishment! Also her first
national convention was in 1966 when she was an Iowa Orientation Center
student. Then, because of college and teaching and because her passion was
not yet as intense as it ultimately became, her attendance at national
conventions was sporadic before she moved to Ruston. But she has attended
every national convention since that time. In the Federation we frequently
speak almost religiously about dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. Here
they are.
LCB Is Established
"I'm free! I know what it feels like to be free, and, if I can have
this freedom, why shouldn't all blind people have the same chance as I?"
Joanne hadn't been in Ruston long before she realized just how bad adult
state services for the blind really were. So, as she worked on building the
affiliate and other activities, she also began to dream. Before long, other
things began to fall into place. Having been trained by Dr. Jernigan in
Iowa, she knew what adjustment-to-blindness services could and should be.
Her notion always was, "If I could receive such fantastic services, why
shouldn't others have the same chance?" So she began thinking and dreaming
about, not just repairing the disastrous existing state services, but
actually trying to fix them.
She mused, "Why not establish a new, privately run orientation and
adjustment center, based upon the Iowa model, right here in Ruston? I know
what a center needs to be, and it could be managed and run by the National
Federation of the Blind of Louisiana."
In the spring of 1985, when Joanne was working with members in the
Louisiana State Legislature to improve conditions for the blind in the
state, she met a state representative named Mary Landrieu, who later became
a US Senator. Joanne told Representative Landrieu of her dream, and she
arranged a meeting with then Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. They met,
talked, planned, and, when the meeting ended, Governor Edwards told Ms.
Landrieu to put a line item in his budget for Joanne's center, and it was
done.
Also in the spring of 1985, I was working hard at my desk in
Anchorage, Alaska, one morning when my friend Joanne called and asked:
"Jim, how do I set up a nonprofit corporation to run an orientation
center?"
"Joanne," I replied, "You are truly in luck. I have just finished re-
doing my articles of incorporation and my bylaws for the Alaska Center for
Blind Adults. If you like, I'll send you copies," and I did. I gather she
used them in Louisiana.
Then things moved rapidly. When Joanne was at the 1985 NFB National
Convention in Louisville, she learned that the Louisiana Legislature had
approved the governor's request for her funding. Using the NFB network of
friends, she had already identified and spoken with some possible startup
staff members. She had been referred to Jerry and Merilynn Whittle and
Susanne Mitchell of South Carolina.
They talked. And Joanne says they were all willing to dream and to
gamble. They knew Joanne had only a one-year budget, but they were
Federationists with dreams and a lot of guts, and they were willing to take
the risk. The result of the dream, the Louisiana Center for the Blind
(LCB), opened its doors on October 1, 1985. LCB started with a little
rented house for offices and classrooms, and she also rented apartments for
the students. That first teaching team was Joanne, Jerry Whittle, Merilynn
Whittle, and Susanne Mitchell. How the world has changed since then.
Before long Joanne needed a student activity center. By this time the
people and businesses of Ruston were so excited about the new Center for
the Blind that they pitched in with dollars and the actual hands-on labor
to build it. And LCB flourished. Two other Federation affiliates got
excited about what Joanne had done in Louisiana, so private, nonprofit
centers were established in Colorado and Minnesota, based on the Louisiana
model.
Before very many years had passed, Joanne had purchased new buildings
and new apartments for the Center, and also the staff was filled out
completely with highly qualified Federationists from around the country.
Joanne says, "I learned how to do it from those who had walked before me."
In March of 1991 Joanne married Harold Wilson, and the two have worked
together as a team ever since to make things better for the blind of
America and the world. Part of that service was Joanne's presidency of the
NFB of Louisiana for twenty-seven years and as a member of the national
board of directors for fourteen years, a notable contribution.
Once the adult center itself was up and running well, Joanne began to
think of expansion. She added kids programs for the summers: the Buddies
Program for younger children, and the STEP program for youths of high
school age. She then added an infants and toddlers program and a program
for seniors.
A New University Training Program Is Established
Beginning as far back as the 1950s, university programs to train and
educate future teachers of the blind were established around the country.
But the sad truth is that they were all operated on the tired, old theory
that the blind are helpless and pitiful creatures who mostly need to be
taken care of and who can never truly expect to be independent or self-
sufficient. And the follow-up sad truth is that, therefore, the people who
graduated from those programs mostly hurt rather than helped blind people.
Ruston also has a fine college, Louisiana Tech University. So in the
early 1990s Joanne began discussions with University officials about the
possibility of starting a teacher training program for professionals in the
blindness field right there at Tech. She reasoned that, if the Federation's
positive philosophy about blindness worked so dramatically in adult
orientation centers, why wouldn't it be equally effective in training
future teachers of the blind? Those positive teachers could then pass on
their understanding and beliefs about blindness to their students.
So by 1996 another of Joanne's dreams became a reality: she
established the Professional Development and Research Institute on
Blindness at Louisiana Tech. She began with one major program: teaching
what we call travel, what the professionals call orientation and mobility
(O and M) to students from throughout the country. Her tech program was
different from all of the others in the country in two critical respects.
First, it used the truth about blindness as developed and proven by the
National Federation of the Blind as its belief system. And, second, it
accepted blind as well as sighted students into its program. Immediately it
flourished.
And before long a research program was added. The Institute has been
directed by such notables as Dr. Fred Schroeder and Ron Gardner and for the
past many years Dr. Edward Bell. In recent times it has also established a
program to train teachers of blind children and another to train
rehabilitation teachers.
A New Professional Certification Is Established
There were two major problems with the traditional professional
certification program offered by AER (the Association for Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired). First, since the
philosophy of the traditional schools was so poor and so negative, one
certified by them could be expected to hurt rather than help blind
students. And, second, since the philosophy about blindness of those
running that certification was so negative, they refused to certify blind
travel teachers at all.
Joanne, always determined to fix things, talked with Dr. Jernigan and
other Federation leaders about the possibility of establishing our own
professional certification. It took some time and some convincing, but by
2000 Joanne was able to persuade the Federation leadership to do it.
I recall well sitting at a meeting in Baltimore in Dr. Maurer's
office in 2000 when we discussed the new certification and what we would
call it. Finally Dr. Maurer said in the discussion, "What would you say
we're going to do?"
Joanne answered, "It's simple: we're going to certify blindness
professionals," so Dr. Maurer followed thoughtfully with "Then why don't we
just call it the National Blindness Professional Certification Board
(NBPCB)?" and we did. I served as its president for the first several years
to get it up and running and accepted in the states, and I happily continue
as a board member to this day.
Presidential Appointments And Other Honors
In 2001 Joanne Wilson received not one but two Presidential
appointments. First, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve
as commissioner of the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration of
the US Department of Education; and, second, she was appointed by President
Bush for a five-year term to one of the fifteen positions on the
President's Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled. So she resigned from the NFB of Louisiana presidency and the
national board, and she and Harold left Ruston and moved to Washington.
Joanne worked it out so that Pam Allen, one of her former LCB
students, became the second ever director of LCB. Pam has done a fabulous
job since she assumed her duties. And Pam's husband Roland is also a valued
member of the team.
As I began working on this article to honor Joanne, I asked Pam how
many adult students have been trained at LCB in its nearly thirty years of
existence. After doing some checking, Pam tells me that there have been
more than eleven hundred students at the adult training center. Just think
about the lives that have been dramatically touched by this remarkable
institution and the hundreds more who have been touched by the programs for
babies, children, teens, seniors, and university students. And it continues
its fine work every day of every year.
Sometime during those Washington years, Joanne received two
additional honors. First she was presented with an honorary doctorate from
Menlo College in Atherton, California; and, a little later she was honored
similarly by Louisiana Tech University.
In 2005 the now Dr. Joanne Wilson left her federal position in
Washington and joined our National Center staff in Baltimore. And it was
there that she performed her recent work for us.
Sometime in the 1970s, Dr. Jernigan began talking about "The
Pioneers" when he was discussing his early Iowa Commission students, and we
made brief recorded clips, which were sent to radio stations across the
country. Then we were referred to as "The Pioneers," and Joanne was one of
them.
As I write this article in early 2015, Joanne and Harold spend part
of their time back in Ruston and part in Alexandria, Virginia. Harold
continues to manage his Virginia vending facility. But they are not
finished giving to the cause yet. The last I heard, they were working with
others to create a new NFB of Virginia chapter in Alexandria.
And as I wrap up and think deeply about Joanne Wilson, I am reminded
of a marvelous quotation about "Giving" penned in a work called The
Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. He writes:
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you
give of yourself that you truly give.
There are those who give little of the much which they have-and they
give that for recognition; and their hidden desire makes these gifts
unwholesome.
There are those who have little, and give it all. These are the
believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never
empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their
baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they
seek joy, nor do they give with mindfulness of virtue; they give as in
yonder valley the flower breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these, God speaks, and from behind their
eyes, He smiles upon the earth.
For it is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked,
through understanding.
Joanne, thank you for your generosity of giving through
understanding, and God bless you!
----------
Window into 1957: Pima County Club of the Blind
by Anna Kresmer
From the Editor: The following is another in our series of historical
documents in the Jacobus tenBroek Library. Anna Kresmer is the librarian
for the Jacobus tenBroek Library, and she provides an introduction and some
historical context for this document:
The 1950s were a tumultuous time for the National Federation of the
Blind. Not only would the decade see the Federation grow larger than it
ever had before, with forty-seven state affiliates, it would also see the
very foundations of the organization shaken by what would come to be known
as the NFB Civil War. Perhaps the best example of both the highs and lows
that the organized blind of America experienced in this decade can be found
in the records for a comprehensive history of the NFB that never came to
fruition.
Readers of the Braille Monitor may remember that back in January
2013, we highlighted a letter from Dr. Jacobus tenBroek in 1955 asking
affiliate presidents to appoint a state historian and submit detailed
histories of the organized blind movement in their states. It was his
intention to compile and edit these documents into an extensive history to
mark the occasion of the NFB's twentieth anniversary. Unfortunately this
appeal went out shortly before the internal struggles of the Civil War
began to heat up. As a result this book was never written and, until
recently, it was unclear whether any affiliate histories were ever
submitted.
As so often seems to happen in the NFB archives, while looking for
something else entirely, a cache of chapter histories sent to the
president's office in 1957 was discovered in the Jacobus tenBroek
Collection. It appears that, instead of submitting histories at the state
level, some affiliates chose to let their individual chapters speak for
themselves. These documents provide a unique look at the formation and
activities of the NFB at the local level in a time when the outlook of and
expectations for the blind were very different from what they are today.
Each story is different and yet very familiar.
Here is an example from the NFB of Arizona, known at the time as the
Arizona Association of the Blind. Please note that writing styles have
changed since 1957. To preserve the historical authenticity of the
document, the text, including spelling errors, has been transcribed exactly
as it appeared in the original:
December 1, 1957
PIMA COUNTY CLUB OF THE BLIND
TUCSON, ARIZONA
HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION
The Pima County Club of the Blind grew out of the attempt on the part
of a few blind people and a few sighted friends to provide social activity
and to teach Braille and crafts to some other blind persons in the
community. It grew rapidly at first, as it was about the only outlet for
many blind people in the immediate area. It began in 1946 and has continued
to the present. Its membership fluctuated considerably, but its average
membership stays at approximately twenty-five.
In 1947 Arizona blind began to hear of the National Federation. The
Tucson club, which by that time had adopted the name of Tucson Club of
Adult Blind, became interested in the activities of the NFB, and we began
reaching out to contact other blind people in the state with a view to
forming a state organization which could then become affiliated with the
NFB. Contact was made with a blind attorney in Prescott, Arizona, who, with
the help of a sighted friend, Mrs. Jessie Griswold, had formed a small club
in that town. Mr. Rush probably deserves more credit than any one [sic] in
the state for the formation of the Arizona State Association of the Blind.
He made numerous trips at his own expense to Tucson and Phoenix in an
effort to interest people in a statewide organization. Richard Stotera was
at that time the first president of the Tucson club and joined Mr. Rush in
his organizational work in Phoenix. By 1947 three clubs were established
and the state association was formed and affiliated with NFB. Since that
time two more clubs have been added so that the Pima County Club of the
Blind is one of five affiliated organizations. Unfortunately as the Tucson
club became larger, it drew in people who were more interested in social
activities than in any political or economic advancement. More recently,
however, emphasis has again been placed on the more serious aspects--
community and national life as it affects blind citizens. Richard Stotera,
who had been out of the state for several years, returned in the summer of
1956 and was elected president of the club in January, 1957. The following
month, February, the club, which had lapsed into a very loosely organized
form of social club, was reorganized under the name of the Pima County Club
of the Blind and given a constitution, a copy of which is enclosed.
A brief glance at the Constitution will indicate the aims of the
present organization. Since January, 1957, the club has lost two members
through serious illness but has gained three who promise to be active, and
at this time another blind person is seeking membership. The total
enrollment is now twenty-five. Members range in age from twenty to sixty-
five or seventy. These are people who come from various walks of life and
have varied interests. It is a representative group, a cross-section of the
blind of the community, and a serious effort is being made to integrate
blind people into community life and through the state and national
organizations to interest them in assuming their places as self-respecting
citizens.
ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION
The Pima County Club meets on the second Thursday of each month
except July and August. Meetings usually open with a prayer by one of the
members; the business meeting usually lasts an hour, during which time an
effort is being made to acquaint all members with the activities of the NFB
and any community movements in which the blind may take part; meetings
usually close with a period of entertainment, consisting for the most part
of musical programs provided by various sorority and high school groups.
A great deal of credit should be given to the Tucson Downtown Lions
Club, which provides transportation to and from club meetings for those who
need it and who are becoming increasingly amenable to the idea that working
with the blind is far more beneficial to all concerned than working for the
blind.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard Stotera, president
Pima County Club of the Blind
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Donna W. Hill poses for camera crew from the ABA Journal]
Local Author to Be Featured in ABA Journal
From the Editor: This article was originally published December 12,
2014, in the Wyoming County Press Examiner (Tunkhannock, PA) print edition:
The ABA Journal, the publication of the American Bar Association, did
a photo shoot this past week in Auburn Township for an upcoming article
featuring local author Donna W. Hill. Hill, author of the novel, The Heart
of Applebutter Hill, is an advocate for the full inclusion of people with
visual impairments in society. She visited Lackawanna Trail and Elk Lake
High Schools earlier this fall and is a consultant to the law firm
Disability Rights Advocates, which filed a suit against the electronic
library Scribd on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind in July.
"Failing to make websites accessible to people with print
disabilities is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act," Hill
said, "But there's no remedy for digital access issues equivalent to
building permits which ensure that new brick and mortar structures have
wheelchair ramps and elevators. The only way the law is enforced is when
someone files a complaint, so it's always after the fact, and it's harder
for everyone that way."
Despite advances in technology making it possible for books,
magazines, and other publications to be made available in formats that
blind people can access with text-to-speech software (aka screen readers)
and digital Braille displays, only 5 percent of books are available in
accessible formats. This book famine, along with an increasing problem with
website accessibility, is one of the major contributors to the high
unemployment rate among otherwise able-bodied blind adults, most of whom
have never had a full-time job.
Scribd boasts 40 million titles for a monthly subscription fee of $8.
In contrast, only 80,000 titles are included in the Talking Book Program,
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (a
division of the Library of Congress). Learning Ally and Bookshare, which
cater to students with print disabilities, have circa 80,000 and 300,000
titles, respectively.
Hill, who is not a plaintiff in the action due to the restrictions in
Scribd's terms of service, tried to use the Scribd site to advance her
writing career. The Heart of Applebutter Hill is carried by the electronic
book aggregator Smashwords, and Smashwords placed it with Scribd, along
with other titles included in Smashwords's extended distribution program.
Hill, along with the other Smashwords authors, received a free one-year
subscription to Scribd and was looking forward to networking with other
authors by reading and reviewing their books on her website. Scribd,
however, is inaccessible and has not responded to requests to fix the
problems.
"It feels so unfair," Hill said, "Promoting a book is really
difficult for anyone, but there are so many examples like this, where I
can't even take advantage of the benefits other writers have, simply
because so many websites don't bother using the series of ones and zeros
that would make them accessible."
----------
The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund
by Allen Harris
From the Editor: Allen Harris is the chairman of the Kenneth Jernigan
Fund Committee and was one of the people who came up with the idea of
honoring our former president and longtime leader by establishing a program
to promote attendance at the national convention, where so much inspiration
and learning occur. Here is Allen's announcement about the 2015 Kenneth
Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund Program:
Have you always wanted to attend an NFB annual convention but have
not done so because of the lack of funds? The Kenneth Jernigan Convention
Scholarship Fund invites you to make an application for a scholarship
grant. Perhaps this July you too can be in the Rosen Centre Hotel in
Orlando, Florida, enjoying the many pleasures and learning opportunities at
the largest and most important yearly convention of blind people in the
world.
The three biggest ticket items you need to cover when attending an
NFB national convention are the roundtrip transportation, the hotel room
for a week, and the food (which tends to be higher priced than at home). We
attempt to award additional funds to families, but, whether a family or an
individual is granted a scholarship, this fund can only help; it won't pay
all the costs. Last year most of the sixty grants were in the range of $400
to $500 per individual.
We recommend that you find an NFB member as your personal convention
mentor, someone who has been to many national conventions and is able to
share money-saving tips with you and tips on navigating the extensive
agenda in the big hotel. Your mentor will help you get the most out of the
amazing experience that is convention week.
Who is eligible?
Active NFB members, blind or sighted, who have not yet attended an
NFB national convention because of lack of funding are eligible to apply.
How do I apply for funding assistance?
1. You write a letter giving your contact information, and your local NFB
information, your specific amount requested, and then explain why this is a
good investment for the NFB. The points to cover are listed below.
2. You contact your state president in person or by phone to request his or
her help in obtaining funding. Be sure to tell the president when to expect
your request letter by email, and mention the deadline.
3. You (or a friend) send your letter by email to your state president. He
or she must add a president's recommendation and then email both letters
directly to the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund Committee.
Your president must forward the two letters no later than April 15, 2015.
Your letter to Chairperson Allen Harris must cover these points:
. Your full name, and all your telephone numbers and label them - cell
phone, home, office, other person (if any).
. Your mailing address and, if you have one, your email address.
. Your state affiliate and state president; your chapter and chapter
president, if you attend a chapter.
. Your personal convention mentor and provide that person's phone
number.
. Your specific request: Explain how much money you need from this
fund to make this trip possible for you. We suggest you consult with
other members to make a rough budget for yourself.
The body of your letter should answer these questions:
How do you currently participate in the Federation? Why do you want to
attend a national convention? What would you receive; what can you share or
give? You can include in your letter to the committee any special
circumstances you hope they will take into consideration.
When will I be notified that I am a winner?
If you are chosen to receive this scholarship, you will receive a
letter with convention details which should answer most of your questions.
The committee makes every effort to notify scholarship winners by May 15,
but you must do several things before that to be prepared to attend if you
are chosen.
1. Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from
attending, you can cancel the reservation. (Yes, you may arrange for
roommates of your own to reduce the cost.)
2. Register online for the entire convention, including the banquet,
by May 31.
3. Find someone in your chapter or affiliate who has been to many
conventions and can answer your questions as a friend and advisor.
4. If you do not hear from the committee by May 15, then you did not
win a grant this year.
How will I receive my convention scholarship?
At convention you will be given a debit card or credit card loaded
with the amount of your award. The times and locations to pick up your card
will be listed in the letter we sent you. The committee is not able to
provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state
affiliate to assist you by obtaining an agreement to advance funds if you
win a scholarship and to pay your treasury back after you receive your
debit or credit card.
What if I have more questions?
For additional information email the chairman, Allen Harris, at
<kjscholarships at nfb.org> or call his Baltimore, Maryland, office at (410)
659-9314, x2415.
Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first
convention on the national level and join several thousand active
Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. We
hope to see you in Orlando.
----------
Recipes
This month's recipes come from members of the National Federation of the
Blind of Tennessee.
Chocolate Chip Bars
by Wendy Bergman
Wendy Bergman is a member and supporter of the NFB. She is also the
girlfriend of James Alan Boehn, the secretary of the Tennessee affiliate of
the NFB as well as the president of the Tennessee Association of Guide Dog
Users (TAGDU). She says about the recipe, "I hope you all enjoy these. I've
been making them for my students and family for eleven years or so. There
are no nuts in this recipe, for those who have allergies. I tell people,
one way to show someone you love them is by using the best, Ghirardelli
milk chocolate chips. People also like the butterscotch chips in them. Let
me know how yours turn out, or if you come up with a fun variation."
Ingredients:
1 stick margarine (they turn out better when I use margarine instead of
butter)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (do NOT forget this - it's very important)
1 3/4 cups of flour
3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips (Ghirardelli blue bag is the best and
sometimes on sale)
1/2 bag butterscotch chips (any brand is fine)
PAM® spray to grease the bottom of a 9-by-13 inch pan
Method: Take stick of margarine out of the refrigerator. Place
margarine in microwavable mixing bowl and put into the microwave set on
high for exactly twenty-two seconds to melt the margarine a bit.
Afterwards, the margarine should be partially melted, but not fully liquid.
If it melts too much, you may need to add more flour later. Add white
sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla to the margarine. Mix with a strong spoon,
not an electric mixer. Add the egg, making sure it is mixed completely.
Next stir in just 1/2 cup of the flour and the baking soda. Mix completely.
The mixture should still be sticky. Now add another 1/2 cup of flour and
keep stirring. Finally, add the last 3/4 cup of flour. Dough should be less
sticky now. Finally, add most of the 3/4 bag of chocolate chips and the 1/2
bag of butterscotch chips. My Russian friends encouraged me to use my hands
to mix these in, a way to put your heart and soul into your cooking
(optional, of course). Please leave a handful of chocolate chips nearby in
a little cup for later. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease the bottom
of a 9-by-13-inch pan with PAM spray, scoop batter into the pan, and then
spray your fingertips with PAM in order to push down the mixture into the
pan evenly. Scatter the last few handful(s) of chocolate chips on the top
of the mixture in the pan evenly; gently push them onto the top of the
cookie bar mix. This makes the bars have the same amount of chocolate and
look perfect from the top. Bake for eighteen minutes, though you will want
to check to see if they need a few extra minutes. Take them out when they
are light brown on top if the top feels rather firm and a toothpick
inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the bars plenty of time to
cool before cutting. Cut into squares, size depending how many people you
intend this to serve. For smaller kids or dipping into milk or coffee,
longer rectangles instead of squares are easier to hold.
----------
Skillet-Fried Cornbread
by Loretta Brown
Loretta Brown is an active member and supporter of the Stones River Chapter
of the NFB.
Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising cornmeal
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 tablespoon shortening (enough to grease the skillet)
Method: Mix all ingredients together except shortening. Use
shortening to grease the skillet; get the skillet hot. Spoon the mixture
out into hot skillet with a large spoon and form into circular patties. Fry
each side until golden brown, flipping them like pancakes. Makes about
eight patties.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Brenda Johnson]
Spinach Salad
by Brenda Johnson
Brenda Johnson is the wife of Dwight Johnson, the treasurer of the Stones
River Chapter in Murfreesboro. She says that the hardest part of making
this salad is getting your serving.
Ingredients:
1 bag of clean spinach
Fresh strawberries (washed and quartered)
1 can of sugar-free mandarin oranges
1/4 cup poppy seed dressing (more if you want)
Method: Mix all ingredients together and eat up.
----------
Pasta Salad
by Brenda Johnson
Ingredients:
1 box of bowtie pasta, cooked according to package directions
Chopped chicken, cooked (amount to your preference)
1 can or so of pineapple pieces, drained
Grated onion to taste
Diced celery to taste
Slivered almonds or other nuts, if you like
Dressing Ingredients:
2/3 cup white vinegar
2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons celery seed
2 teaspoons salt
Method: Toss all salad ingredients together. In a separate bowl,
blend all dressing ingredients. Pour dressing over salad. It helps to blend
in a little mayo; this makes the dressing stick to the pasta. Note the
measurements are not precise. This allows for easy adjustments to suit your
family's preferences.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: The Meredith Family]
Ten Ways to Spice up Your Life
by April Meredith
April Meredith is the mother of three and the wife of David Meredith.
She is a member and supporter of the Stones River Chapter in Murfreesboro.
Below I give you simple but creative ways to take your traditional
menu favorites and kick them up a notch. After all, a little extra spice is
nice!
. Deviled Eggs: Instead of an olive, use a jalapeño slice. Another
spicy option is to mix in a little wasabi with your mayonnaise,
mustard, and egg yolks or add a little cayenne to your paprika mix.
. Apple Pie: Instead of the traditional bland pastry, try flattening
cinnamon rolls to use as your crust.
. Ramen: Spoon in minced garlic and squirt in sriracha sauce to make
this college staple more interesting and flavorful.
. Water: Mix in a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, about one
teaspoon of honey, and a pinch of cinnamon into a cup of warm water to
transform regular water into a nutritious beverage. Note that the
water cannot be too hot or it eliminates the health benefits of the
vinegar.
. Meatloaf: Whether you mix in, bake on, or serve with catsup, instead
use your favorite BBQ sauce. I like the Kraft Bull's-Eye Thick n
Spicy. Alternatively I have heard of some people using Heinz 57 or a
mixture of catsup and spicy mustard.
. Burgers: Whether you prefer soy-based veggie burgers or ground
chicken, turkey, or beef, adding a little A-1 Sauce and Worcestershire
Sauce will make any burger better.
. Hummus: Many hummus recipes call for garlic powder, but in addition
also add several heaping teaspoons of minced garlic, giving the hummus
an extra pop that goes well with any vegetable or chip. For an
additional pop add half a teaspoon of cayenne.
. Pizza: Drizzle a little Tabasco or Texas Pete hot sauce on each
slice, which will actually motivate you to eat more salad to
neutralize the burn. This is one of my favorite suggestions because it
not only adds heat but also cuts calories in my diet.
. Cornbread: Spoon in three or four tablespoons of cheddar jalapeño
nacho cheese into your batter to make loaves or muffins that will soon
become a family favorite. For the braver souls with high tolerance out
there, instead of the nacho cheese you can add shredded cheddar cheese
and ghost peppers chopped and sautéed in butter.
. Chocolate Cake: Most people have heard of chocolate covered coffee
beans, but how about coffee infused chocolate cake? Spoon in one
tablespoon of your favorite black instant coffee into your batter and
mix well. Though not exactly spicy, it will add richness to your
chocolate cake recipe that will have your guests wondering what your
special secret is. If you don't have instant coffee, you can use one
cup of cooled, strong, black liquid coffee in your batter. Using the
liquid coffee will make the batter a little runny, which is okay, or
you may prefer to add some peanut butter to thicken it.
----------
Fried Ramen
by David Meredith
David Meredith is the father of three and the husband of April
Meredith. He is a school teacher as well as a member and supporter of the
Stones River Chapter of the NFB in Murfreesboro. Ramen is the
quintessential college food, but here's a way to make it a little more
interesting:
Ingredients:
1 package instant Ramen
1 tablespoon oil (I prefer grape seed or olive.)
Garlic powder to taste
Onion powder to taste
Method: Take a bag of instant Ramen and boil the noodles until they
come apart; do not overcook. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or frying
pan. Drain noodles, then toss in wok with flavor packet, adding garlic or
onion powder to taste. Toss noodles often to avoid sticking, but cook until
thoroughly mixed. Serve on a plate and finish with sriracha sauce, an over
easy fried egg, and a few leaves of romaine lettuce. (That's how I like it
anyway.)
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Lenora Norman]
Savory Cashew Patties
by Lenora Norman
Lenora Norman is the wife of Steve Norman, who is the editor of The
Tennessee Voice, the publication of the NFB of Tennessee. She has been a
vegan for almost four years.
Ingredients:
1 cup sea-salted cashews
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Chicken Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground flax seed
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion and bell pepper
1/4 cup oats
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Oil to cook them in
Method: Mix all ingredients together until texture is blended but not
creamy. Heat oil in pan. Spoon out heaping tablespoon-sized portion of
mixture into hot oil. Cook on one side and turn. Ensure both sides are
browned, or skillet oil sound decreases. Remove from oil and place on paper
towel to drain and cool. Serve with favorite side dishes.
----------
Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
Accessibility of Common Core Assessments
As students participate in PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of
Readiness for College and Career) and Smarter Balanced assessments this
spring, we ask that parents, students, and teachers take time to complete
the NFB's Common Core assessment online survey. In particular we want to
know when and where accessibility and accommodation failures happen so that
we can help ensure that any problems are fixed. Please take time to
complete this important survey.
To learn more about the Common Core State Standards, PARCC, Smarter
Balanced, and the NFB's efforts regarding each, see the NFB's Common Core
State Standards Testing Accessibility webpage, which can be found at
<https://nfb.org/common-core-state-standards-testing-accessibility>.
Fair Wages Now:
Many readers will remember that at the 2013 convention of the
National Federation of the Blind we heard from Harold and Shelia Leigland.
Sheila was a former employee of Goodwill who decided she would not work for
the low wages they paid. Harold wanted better wages but was still working
for Goodwill.
Recently Joy Breslauer, president of the National Federation of the
Blind of Montana, sent the following note to President Riccobono:
"I am writing to bring to your attention an email I received this
morning from Sheila Leigland, one of the delegates from the National
Federation of the Blind of Montana with whom you met on January 27. You may
remember that her husband, who is blind, currently is employed by an entity
which holds a special wage certificate allowing him to be paid subminimum
wages.
Sheila gave me a few more background details to include in her email
below. I send it to you with her permission.
'My husband had a thirty-minute timing at work last July that raised
his wages from $4.33 an hour to $7.61 an hour. He had a timing yesterday
that took over four hours, and as a result of that timing he is now making
$2.75 per hour for the next thirty days, a training wage. A committee of
fourteen people revised the way the timing was done. The timing consisted
of doing tasks that he does not normally do on his job. He has requested a
new timing based on these results. In this timing he was to place five toys
in each bag, and he was to find toys that have at least some way in which
they were alike or could be matched together. There were items that he
couldn't identify, and even some people with vision had no idea what they
were. We believe the timing is discriminatory. I don't know of any
nondisabled person who would accept this kind of treatment. He has
requested another timing, and they have proposed doing a timing to see how
many Beanie Babies he can place in bags in thirty minutes. If he doesn't
receive an appropriate timing, he will be deciding what his next step will
be. He only gets twelve hours at work as it is, and that barely covers his
transportation costs, especially at $2.75 an hour. This is an excellent
example of why Section 14(C) of the Fair Labor Standards Act needs to be
totally abolished.'"
Sachin Dev Pavithran Elected Chair of the US Access Board:
The US Access Board unanimously elected Sachin Dev Pavithran as its
new chair on March 11. Pavithran of Logan, Utah, is program director of the
Utah Assistive Technology Program at Utah State University's Center for
Persons with Disabilities. He was named to the Access Board by President
Barack Obama in 2012.
"It is an honor to chair an agency that has done so much over the
years to make equal access for people with disabilities a reality,"
Pavithran stated. "Our buildings, transit systems, and information and
communication technologies are more accessible and inclusive because of the
work of the Board and the guidelines and standards it has established."
In addition to his membership on the Access Board, Pavithran serves
on the Association of Assistive Technology Act Program's national board,
Senator Orrin Hatch's (President Pro Tempore) Disability Advisory
Committee, the Research and Development Committee of the National
Federation of the Blind, and the National Multicultural Council of the
Association of University Centers for Disabilities.
The Board also elected as vice chair Sue Swenson, who serves as
acting assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services at the US Department of Education. Board officers
serve for a term of one year.
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.
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.
Computers for the Blind:
Computers for the Blind (CFTB) is a volunteer-based nonprofit
organization that strives to provide high-quality refurbished computers
with accessibility software that will enable a person who is blind or has
low vision to use his or her computer to complete the same tasks as sighted
persons. We are celebrating twenty-five years of service to the blindness
community and have shipped over 7,400 computers throughout the country.
Who qualifies? People with visual impairments that make it impossible
to use computers unless they have screen readers or screen magnification
installed qualify. They have to be committed to learning how to use the
computer as well.
What kind of computers do you distribute? Depending on donations, we
ship Pentium 4 or Dual-Core - 2GHz computers. The minimum configuration
that is shipped is:
. Processor - 2GHz, 2GB of RAM, 80 GB hard drive
. CD-R/RW and DVD-ROM, sound card, speakers, and broadband
network card
. Keyboard and mouse
. For those with low vision, 17-21 inch LCD monitor; for people
who are blind, 15-17 inch LCD monitor
For a list of all software included go to our website
<http://www.computersfortheblind.net/weprovide.html> .
Do computers come with any screen-reading software? CFTB Computers
have the following software included:
. NVDA (Nonvisual Desktop Access)--screen reader software
. JAWS trial version--screen reader software
. MAGic without speech fully licensed version by Freedom
Scientific valued at $395
. Typeability Demo version - typing tutorial.
What is the cost to the blind person? The processing fee is as
follows:
. $110--Desktop with monitor and all the items listed above. No
cost for shipping.
. $160--Laptop computer with all the items listed above.
. Computers generally ship within one week of receiving the
processing fee.
We accept purchase orders from state agencies that can purchase the
computers for the price above.
Do you offer any training? We do our best to pair recipients with
mentors or service providers if they believe they need training.
Scholarships Available:
The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) administers a scholarship
program for deserving students. Each year individuals who are legally blind
can apply for financial awards to support their post-secondary education.
Seven scholarships are offered through this program with a potential of
eleven recipients. The application can be filled out online at
<www.afb.org/scholarships.asp>. The 2015 scholarship program began on
February 1 and will end on the deadline of May 31, 2015. If you have
questions or comments, contact: Tara Annis by telephone at (800) 232-5463,
or email at <tannis at afb.net>.
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 or Trade:
I am selling a PAC Mate Omni QX400. I am asking $500 or would be open
to trade for the right equipment. Things for which I would trade include a
Braille Lite 40, an older Braille embosser, a netbook with carrying case,
or a couple of Braille 'n Speaks with disk drive. Contact Melody Edwards or
Charles Leanza by phone at (336) 293-7450, or by email at
<infowarrior at samobile.net>.
Beginner Music Courses Taught Completely "By Ear":
At Music for the Blind we have beginner courses for over a dozen
musical instruments. These courses use no Braille, no print, no music, and
no video. This format allows almost anyone to start playing a favorite
musical instrument right away with only a standard CD player.
Come to our website to hear sample lessons from these courses and see
how easy it is to learn this way <http://www.musicfortheblind.com>, or call
us at (888) 778-1828.
----------
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.
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