                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                         May-June, 1988

                    Kenneth Jernigan, Editor


     Published in inkprint, Braille, on talking-book disc, 
                        and cassette by 


              THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 
                     MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT 
 


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                   Baltimore, Maryland 21230 

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ISSN 0006-8829

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                          CONTENTS


                                                MAY-JUNE 1988

FURTHER OUTRAGE IN THE AIRLINE MADNESS:  PEGGY PINDER ARRESTED
by Kenneth Jernigan

ARREST PUTS FOCUS ON RIGHTS OF BLIND

FOR THOSE WHO HATE
MORE ABOUT THE AIRLINES
by Kenneth Jernigan

LETTER FROM JUSTIN DART

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CARL'S JR. RESTAURANTS

THE RICHMOND WORKSHOP: BAD MANAGEMENT, "QUALITY SERVICES," AND
NAC
by Charlie Brown

UNDER ONE ROOF
by Stephen Benson

FOCUS ON THE EDUCATION OF BLIND CHILDREN by Kenneth Jernigan

MANY VISUALLY IMPAIRED YOUTHS SPURN LEARNING BRAILLE

BRAILLE ON THE JOB
by Alfred Maneki

SUPPLY OF BRAILLE BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE BY BLIND
INDIVIDUALS MAY SOON INCREASE

RESPONSE TO RADIO READING ARTICLE

THE PROMISE OF CYCLOSPORINE

LETTER FROM THE PHILIPPINES

BACK DOOR POLITICS AND HIDDEN AGENDAS

THE BLIND GAIN INCLUSION IN THE CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW AND
THE SOUTHLAND CORPORATION LEARNS ABOUT BLINDNESS by Sharon Gold

SOCIAL SECURITY: EMPHASIS ON VENDORS,
BUT FACTS EVERY BLIND PERSON SHOULD KNOW
by James Gashel

HOWARD BARTON'S CONTACT WITH SOCIAL SECURITY

SOCIAL SECURITY AND TRIAL WORK: FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW by James
Gashel

SPORTS WRITER GETS RESPONSE
by Kenneth Jernigan

ON THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE
WHAT PARENTS AND CHILDREN NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT BLINDNESS AND INDEPENDENCE
by Barbara Cheadle

GAME AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER AVAILABLE TO THE BLIND

COMMENTS ON MAX RAFFERTY, RICHARD HOOVER, AND FATHER CARROLL

JAMES DAVIS
by Curtis Chong

WILLIE LUMPLUMP SPECIAL

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES

  Copyright, National Federation of the Blind, Inc., 1988

FURTHER OUTRAGE IN THE AIRLINE MADNESS PEGGY PINDER ARRESTED
by Kenneth Jernigan

Thursday, March 31, 1988, began as a normal day at the National
Center for the Blind in Baltimore. Jim Gashel and President
Maurer were scheduled to participate in a press conference at the
Capitol to discuss improvements in federal rehabilitation; orders
of appliances and materials were being packaged for shipment
throughout the country; work was going forward on the May
Monitor; plans were being finalized for the national convention
in Chicago; I was dealing with correspondence and telephone
calls; and the place was alive with the usual stir of bustle and
activity.  All of that was to change, however, before the
beginning of another day.
Some time after I got home Thursday evening, I received a call
from Peggy Pinder.  She said she was at police headquarters at
Washington National Airport, having just been arrested and bodily
removed from an airplane.  My first concern was to determine
whether Peggy had been physically abused or injured.  Then, I
asked for the facts.  Peggy had been in Washington on Thursday to
talk to the Republican National Committee about how participation
by blind persons in the mainstream of American life could be
increased.  At the time she had no idea that before the day was
finished she would be a graphic illustration of what she had been
talking about.
She was scheduled to leave Washington for Chicago on Midway
Airlines at something after six o'clock in the evening.  When she
arrived at Washington National, she found that Midway had
overbooked its earlier one o'clock plane and that frustrated
passengers who had hoped to go to Chicago on that flight were
still waiting.  Midway had also oversold its mid-afternoon
flight, adding anger and numbers to the confusion.  One does not
have to have a vivid imagination to picture the scene at Midway's
counter as the time for the six o'clock flight approached. Midway
officials must have received more than one abusive
tongue-lashing, which they felt powerless to do anything about.
Then, comes Peggy Pinder (a blind person).  She was already
ticketed, so she went directly to the gate area, where she was
told that there would be open seating (passengers could sit where
they liked) and that she would be preboarded.  She politely
replied that she would take her place in line and board with the
rest of the passengers.
While she was in line, Midway officials came three times to
demand (with ever increasing loudness and anger) that she allow
them to preboard her.  The third time she was told that she would
either allow herself to be preboarded immediately or that she
would be refused passage at all.  In view of the
antidiscrimination legislation passed by Congress last year and
the fact that there is no federal rule or Midway policy requiring
preboarding, this was undoubtedly (whether we can get it enforced
or not) a violation of federal law.
Nevertheless, Peggy (wishing to avoid trouble and needing to
return home) bowed to the pressure, left her place in line, and
walked onto the plane.  However, she told the flight attendant at
the door that she felt Midway had no right to subject her to
public abuse and humiliation in the presence of other passengers
and to force her (in violation of federal law) to preboard
against her will.  The flight attendant had only an angry sputter
for answer, but by the time Peggy had got halfway toward the back
of the plane, Midway had rallied its force.  A flight attendant
blocked the aisle to give her an unwanted and untruthful lecture. 
She said that the reason it was necessary for Peggy to be
preboarded was so that she could be given a special briefing,
which is very elaborate and time-consuming.  This, of course, as
any experienced air traveler knows, is nonsense.  The so-called
special briefing which flight attendants sometimes insist on
giving to blind persons may (if one is slow about it) take twenty
seconds, not to mention which Peggy Pinder has probably flown
more miles and is more familiar with the emergency features of
commercial airplanes than most flight attendants.
Seeing no point in engaging in an argument, Peggy simply moved by
the flight attendant and proceeded toward the back of the plane,
where she met still another flight attendant who was standing in
the aisle giving a speech to a group of high school students  who
had also been preboarded.  She said that Peggy could sit where
she was, but Peggy indicated that she wished to go on to the back
to sit in the smoking section.  The flight attendant then moved
aside, and Peggy went to the smoking section and took her seat. 
While she was still in the gate area (before ever boarding the
plane) Peggy had met a student from the Naval Academy at
Annapolis, who had walked onto the plane with her and who
continued with her until the plane left.
After she and the naval student were seated, a man identifying
himself as the captain approached her.  Without preamble or
explanation he told her in a loud angry voice (this is a
paraphrase, not an exact quote):  You will sit wherever you are
told, and I don't intend to debate the matter with you.  To this
rather astonishing performance Peggy responded by asking for his
name, which he angrily gave her.
After this self-announced captain left, another Midway official
angrily ordered Peggy to move to another seat, one near to an
exit.  When she said that there was no law or regulation
requiring her to move, he replied (again, a paraphrase, not a
quote): You heard what the captain said.  I don't intend to
debate it with you.  You can either move or get off the plane.

As Monitor readers know, airline officials ordinarily try to
order blind people not to sit in exit rowsand sometimes not even
near exit rows.  Therefore, if one were to try to explain
rationally the order of the Midway official, it would be hard to
know how to begin.  But one of the few virtues of arbitrary
behavior  is that it requires no explanation, rational or
otherwise.  In any case Peggy declined to move.  Some time during
these events one of the flight attendants came to Peggy's seat
and attempted to apologize for the unpleasantness which had
occurred, but this was not the general pattern.  Soon police came
onto the plane, and Peggy was bodily carried off.  While this was
happening, she heard one of the high school students exclaim in
astonishment that it was reminiscent of the 1960's.  Also, one of 
the passengers had a camera and took pictures.  The police asked
the passenger for his name and his intention.  The passenger
declined to give either, and the police desistedunlike their
treatment of Peggy.  Peggy was removed from the plane without her
cane or luggage and left traumatized to lean against the way in
the jetway.  The naval student brought her cane and luggage to
her and apologized for not  staying with her through the
remainder of the ordeal.  He said that it was necessary for him
to take the flight.
Peggy was taken to police headquarters in the airport, kept
waiting for an hour, and then charged with criminal trespass.
At this stage she was permitted to call me.  We agreed that she
could come to the National Center for the Blind to spend the
night and that we would do what we could to alert the press and
the public to what had happened.  Charlie Brown, President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Virginia, contacted a
Washington Post reporter, who in turn called Peggy.
On Friday morning (perhaps not inappropriately, April 1st) Peggy,
President Maurer, and Jim Gashel considered what to do. We agreed
that we would divide the task.  Peggy, Jim Gashel, and President
Maurer would go to Washington, and I would remain at the center
to deal with the press.  Friday was a busy day.
As Federationists know, Senator Hollings and six other senators
and Congressman Traficant and more than seventy other members of
the House have introduced  our bill to make it illegal to
determine where a person may sit on a commercial aircraft on the
basis of visual acuity.  One of the things which Peggy and the
others hoped to accomplish in Washington was to alert the members
of Congress to what had happened.  Also, Peggy would attempt to
return to the Republican National Committee to tell them her
story.  Then, there was the meeting at 2:00 with Secretary of
Transportation James Burnley.
The meeting with Secretary Burnley had been scheduled earlier so
that we could seek his support in our battle against airline
discrimination, but that meeting had been canceled and
rescheduled for April 1st.  It now seemed only sensible for Peggy
to accompany Jim Gashel and President Maurer to Burnley's office. 
If there was ever a graphic illustration of the problem, surely
this was it.
The group left for Washington; Mrs. Maurer began to call members
of the press; and I settled down to begin a nonstop fielding of
incoming calls.  During the day I spoke several times with the
Associated Press, United Press, the Christian Science Monitor,
the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, ABC, and too many
others to remember.  Some of the media representatives began to
give me Midway's version.  The airline claimed that they had been
reasonable and had tried to persuade Peggy but that she had been
hostile and rude.  They said she had refused to let them give her
a briefing.  They said they were merely concerned with her
safety.
Some time during the course of the day Steve Benson, President of
the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois, told me that he
had reason to believe that Neil Hartigan (the Attorney General of
Illinois) would be interested in investigating the matter since
Midway is headquartered in Chicago.  It will be remembered that
Attorney General Hartigan ruled several months ago that seating
restrictions by airlines based on blindness are a violation of
the law.   How refreshing it would be if a public official would
disregard society's misconceptions and pressure by the airlines,
choosing instead to enforce the law and treat blind persons like
other American citizens.  Attorney General Hartigan may be the
person do it.
It is now Saturday, April 2, 1988, and I am riding in a car
toward Chicago writing this article.  I carry with me an
affidavit from Peggy Pinder.  It will be given to Steve Benson
for delivery to Attorney General Hartigan on Monday morning.  I
have not seen the results of our efforts with the press; and, of
course, I do not know what the outcome with the attorney general
will be.  We take it day  by day, and we do what we can.
I have related these events in as straightforward and unemotional
manner as I know how.  This does not mean that I take lightly the
gravity of the situation.  If what happened to Peggy Pinder can
go unchallenged and unpunished, no blind person in this country
is safe from the whim and caprice of arbitrary treatment.  Any
blind person who thinks that he or she is free from the taint of
second-class citizenship is engaging in self-delusion.  We have
advanced far enough up the stairs toward equality that we are now
at a crisis point, and even if we wanted to, we could not long
remain where we are.  We will either fairly soon make a
breakthrough and move on toward the top, or we will be pushed
back toward our ancient depths of second-class status.
The issue is not simply where we sit on a plane or even the
overall pattern of airline discrimination but whether sighted
society can be persuaded to accept us as ordinary capable human
beingswith all of the rights, dignity, and responsibility which
that concept implies.  The fact that I have spoken without
passion does not mean that I feel any less deeply.  If I thought
it would do any good, I would take to the streets with club and
fist, but I know that it would not.  Somehow we must get people's
attention and make them stop long enough to examine the facts and
think rationally.  If we can do this, we will be all right.  When
people understand, they support what we are doing and work with
us.  The prejudice and misconceptions come from ignorance, not
malice.  It is up to each of us to work on a daily basis to
create the climate of acceptance which we seek and deserve as
free American citizens.
As I conclude this article, I want to share with you Peggy
Pinder's affidavit.  Her understatement does not conceal the
indignity, outrage, and pain to which she was subjected.  As you
read, ask yourself (if you are a woman) how you would have felt
if you had been handled by the policeman in the way that she was
handled, and with no more provocation than she gave.  If you are
a man, ask yourself the same question.  Go a step beyond:  Ask
yourself what you would have done in the circumstances.  What
would the cost to you emotionally have been if you had behaved as
Peggy behaved?  Alternatively, what would it have been if you had
meekly submitted?
There are no easy answers, and there is no way to avoid the
issue.  Based on our action or lack of action, we will be judged
by those who come after us, by our fellow blind, and (perhaps
most important of all) by ourselves.  That which distinguishes
human from animal is delicate and irrevocable.  Here is Peggy
Pinder's affidavit.  Read it, and decide for yourself in your own
conscience what you must do or refrain from doing:

AFFIDAVIT

Comes now Peggy Pinder and deposes and states as follows:
(1) My name is Peggy Pinder.  My address is 814 4th Avenue, Suite
200, Grinnell, Iowa 50112.
(2)  I am totally blind.  I use a long white flexible travel cane
to assist me in moving independently.  I travel anywhere I want
to unassisted.  I fly on commercial airlines frequently.
(3)  For several years I have been involved in the Republican
Party.  On Thursday, March 31, 1988, I went to Washington, D.C.,
to meet with the chairman and staff of the Republican National
Committee.  The meeting was called by the chairman. A discussion
was held to explore ways of increasing participation of disabled
persons in Republican Party activities and of increasing party
involvement in issues of interest to disabled persons.
(4) My departure from Washington was scheduled for Thursday
evening March 31, at 6:30 p.m. on board Midway Airlines Flight
179, from Washington National Airport to Chicago.  But flight
personnel of Midway Airlines denied me the air transportation for
which I had made proper payment.
(5)  Shortly before the flight was expected to be announced for
boarding I joined the line of other passengers who were preparing
to board.  Seating was open on the flight.  On at least three
occasions agents for Midway Airlines had suggested that I
preboard Flight 179.  I informed each of them that I was capable
of boarding with all of the other passengers and would not
require any assistance.  Eventually while I was standing in line
an agent from the airline approached me and insisted that I come
with her in order to preboard the aircraft.  I told her that
preboarding would not be necessary, and I could walk on with all
of the other passengers.  But the agent responded by insisting
that preboarding was necessary.  She told me that the flight crew
would not allow me on the flight unless I boarded before all of
the other passengers.  She said that twice.  Under this threat I
left the passenger line and accompanied the agent, passing by all
of the other passengers ahead of me in the line.
(6) One of the people that I had met in the boarding area
accompanied me on board the plane during the preboarding.  His
name was Ted Alexander.  He was traveling to Chicago from the
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.  When we arrived on board
the aircraft I was met by two female members of the flight crew
who lectured me about the need to preboard as I was doing.  They
also said that I would have to receive a special briefing by
federal law.  I stated that I objected to preboarding and that it
was not a legal requirement.  I did not comment on the issue of a
briefing.
(7)  I proceeded to locate a seat near the back of the aircraft
in the smoking section.  Ted Alexander accompanied me.  We seated
ourselves two rows from the back of the plane.  A flight
attendant who was standing nearby informed me that the seat I had
chosen was in the smoking section, which I wanted.  I was in the
window seat on the left-hand side as you approach the back of the
plane.  I sat down and buckled my seatbelt.
(8)  Several minutes then passed during which everything on the
airplane seemed peaceful.  As far as I was concerned the
unpleasant incident was over.  The seat I had chosen was not near
an overwing exit.  I knew of no issue that could possibly be made
of my seat selection.  My objective was simply to sit in my seat
and fly to Chicago.  One of the flight attendants from the front
of the plane actually came back to my seat to offer an apology
for the preboarding unpleasantness.
(9) After a delay of several minutes during which the other
passengers were boarding, a person who identified himself to me
as the captain of the Midway flight came back to talk to me.  He
told me in a loud voice that I would have to sit wherever the
flight crew told me to sit, otherwise I would not be allowed to
fly on his plane.  I responded to the captain by asking for his
name. He told me it was Captain DeRoule.  I was surprised at his
reference to a seating requirement since there had not been a
dispute over my seat selection.
(10) I made no reply to the captain.  He repeated his message and
left abruptly.
(11)  Then another agent for the airline came to instruct me to
move to a seat near a floor-level exit.  I asked why, and the
agent replied that he did not have to give me a reason as the
captain had already told me, and he was not going to argue with
me.  I must either move or leave. I explained that as an attorney
familiar with the law I knew there was no legal requirement for
me to move to another seat.  The agent said again that he would
not argue the point.  He said that both you and I heard the
captain and that was the end of it.  I would have to move.  This,
I said, was not required.
(12) By this time I believe that there were two police officers
on board the aircraft.  They entered into a discussion with the
Midway personnel.  They were trying to find a company policy that
I was violating.  They were flipping pages through what was
referred to as a policy manual.  Someone said, Try under safety. 
Finally they brought me a policy that stated that the blind
should be seated next to a floor level exit.  This policy was
shown to Ted, who proceeded to point out that the policy said
should, not must.  At some point around this time, a flight
attendant tried to explain to me why sitting on the aisle was for
my own safety.
(13) At this point one of the officers approached me and entered
the row in which I was seated.  The officer asked me if I would
move, and I responded with the same answer as previously
described.  The officer then placed his hand on my shoulder as if
to require me to stand and said, Stand up.  I did not move.  He
then reached over and unbuckled my seatbelt.  He lifted me from
my seat and physically moved me into the aisle.  At this point I
stood up and waited for the officer's next action.
(14) The officer positioned himself behind me and lifted me from
the floor.  He accomplished this by reaching his arms around me
from behind and placed his hands on my breasts.  From this
position he lifted me from the floor and carried me off the
plane, at one point saying Jesus Christ.
(15) When we reached the jetway, just outside the aircraft, the
officer put me down.  Ted Alexander, who had been seated next to
me and had accompanied me on the plane, brought my baggage off
and put it beside me in the jetway.  Throughout the incident he
was very disturbed with the behavior of the airline personnel. 
He apologized to me for leaving me at this point, explaining that
he needed to take the flight.
(16) The officer escorted me from the jetway to the police
station in National Airport.  Captain DeRoule had made the
complaint that led to my arrest.  More than an hour passed while
the officers did paper work.  I was charged with criminal
trespass and released.
(17)  While asserting my legal rights on board the air plane, I
maintained a posture of calmness.  I found the personal
confrontation emotionally upsetting.  I was also upset by being
physically carried from the plane and having my breasts grasped. 
I did nothing to provoke this physical abuse and violation of my
person, yet the officer took control over my body.
(18)  To the best of my recollection, the foregoing statements
accurately describe the events that occurred when I was denied
transportation on Midway Airlines Flight 179.

Peggy Pinder
Dated at Baltimore, Maryland, this 1st day of April, 1988.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

State of Maryland, City of Baltimore.

On this 1st day of April, 1988, before me, the undersigned
officer, personally appeared Peggy Pinder, known to me (or
satisfactorily proven) to be the person whose name is subscribed
to within this instrument and acknowledged that he executed the
same for the purposes therein contained.
In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and official seal.

Mary Ellen Thompson
NOTARY PUBLIC
My commission expires July 1, 1990


ARREST PUTS FOCUS ON RIGHTS OF BLIND


(This article appeared in the April 3, 1988, New York Times.)

Removed From Airliner
After Refusing to Change Seats,
Lawyer Vows to Fight

Advocates of rights for the blind, angered by what they contend
is the government's failure to enforce an anti- discrimination
law, said they will make a test case out of the arrest of a blind
lawyer who was forcibly removed from an airplane when she refused
to change seats.
The lawyer, Peggy Pinder of Grinnell, Iowa, was arrested at
National Airport outside Washington on Thursday.  She was charged
with criminal trespassing for declining the captain's order to
sit at the front of the aircraft near an emergency exit.  Miss
Pinder said she preferred to stay seated in the smoking section
at the rear of the DC-9 aircraft.
Miss Pinder, a vice president of the National Federation of the
Blind who is active in Republican politics, was in Washington to
discuss with national party officials the problems blind people
face when they travel by air.

A Question of Seating

Seating policies that discriminate against the blind are not
unusual, Federation officials say.  Many airlines contend that
blind people should not be seated near emergency exits where they
could impede the safe evacuation of other passengers in a crisis.
Blind people say they should have the right to sit anywhere on a
plane and note that a 1986 federal law bars airlines from
discriminating against the handicapped.
Miss Pinder's case is unusual because Midway Airlines, the
airline on which she was flying, wanted her to sit near an exit
door where an airline spokeswoman said she could easily escape in
an emergency.
A Midway Airlines spokeswoman, Sandra Allen, said it is the
airline's policy to seat all handicapped people in the first row
of the plane near where they can be easily evacuated.  According
to both the spokeswoman and Miss Pinder, after she refused to
switch seats the airport police were called to remove her from
the plane.  The flight took off without her after the delay.

Dozens of Arrests

Whether it's a test case or whether we picket the airlines, it's
got to stop so we can fly like other people, said Miss Pinder,
34, who has been blind since she was a teen-ager.  She was on
Midway Flight 179 to Chicago on her way home to Iowa.
In the last several years dozens of blind airline passengers have
been arrested and hundreds of others have been forcibly removed
from planes in disputes over seating, Federation officials said. 
None of those arrested have been convicted, they said.
Marc Maurer, President of the Federation, said the organization
hopes the courts would decide through Miss Pinder's case whether
airlines have the right to instruct blind passengers where to
sit.
The federal law preventing discrimination against the disabled by
airlines has not been put into effect because the Department of
Transportation has not issued regulations for it.

Talks Collapse

In November representatives of the Federation walked out of
government-sponsored negotiations with the airline industry that
were being conducted to formulate the regulations.  The
Federation said the Federal Aviation Administration acted in bad
faith by declaring the matter a safety issue and saying it would
eventually formulate its own rules on seating policies.
Meanwhile the agency recommends that blind people not be seated
in next-to-emergency exits, an FAA spokesman, Fred Farrar, said.
On Friday Mr. Maurer, Miss Pinder, and another Federation
official met with Transportation Secretary James Burnley to try
to resume the discussions.  Mr. Burnley asked the Federation to
continue negotiations but did not promise that the department
would issue regulations prohibiting airlines from seating blind
people, said Matthew V. Scocozza, the department's assistant
secretary for policy.
Mr. Maurer said he was disappointed with the outcome of the
forty-minute meeting.  I think it is reasonable for the
Department of Transportation Secretary to say he will enforce the
law, he said.  If the government will not respond to a law passed
by Congress, you wonder why you've got the government.
Miss Pinder is scheduled to appear on May 19 in Arlington,
Virginia, for arraignment on the trespass charge.


FOR THOSE WHO HATE
MORE ABOUT THE AIRLINES
by Kenneth Jernigan


We have often said that no group ever goes from second-class
status to first-class citizenship in society without passing
through a period of hostility.  It was true of the blacks (and
still is, to some extent); it was true of the Irish in America,
and also the Jews; and it is certainly true of the blind.
As long as we who are blind stay in our places (being very meek,
very docile, very grateful, very humble, and very pooryes, that
too), no one will hate us.  In fact, they will, in a twisted sort
of way, love us.  But when we begin to say that we want the right
to earn a dollar instead of just being given a quarter, the
situation changes.  Indeed, when we talk about rights at all, a
certain percentage of the population will get its hackles up. 
After all, who do blind people think they are?  From the way they
talk these days, you would think they thought they were equal to
the sighted.  Well, yesas a matter of fact, we do.
When members of the general population start down this road
(whether they are dealing with the blind, with blacks, or with
some other minority), they pass quickly from mild hostility to
downright hatred and bitterness.  In fact, the hatred and
bitterness are likely to be in direct proportion to the progress
which the minority is making and the decreasing numbers of the
haters.  And history teaches us that there is no way for the
members of a minority to avoid this period of hatred on its road
from inferior status to equality.
We who are blind are now passing through this period of social
hostility, and (far from being discouraged by it) we should
recognize it as a mark of our progress.  Regardless of how gently
or courteously we express our belief that we are entitled to the
same rights and privileges as other Americans, we are bound to
create a certain amount of resentment.  It is not that we want
people to hate us.  It is simply that the alternative is worse. 
And on the other side of hostility is first-class citizenship;
for when sighted people understand who we are and what we are
trying to accomplish, they invariably support us and wish us
well.  It has happened over and over in individual cases, and it
is beginning to happen with society as a whole.  All one need do
for evidence is to consider where we are today and where we were
ten years ago.  There is no comparison.  Of course, the National
Federation of the Blind is the force which has made it all
happen.  Therefore, naturally the National Federation of the
Blind is the focal point for the hostility and hatred.  How could
it be otherwise?  So let us rejoice not because a certain number
of people hate us but because the number is diminishing, and
because, hopefully, we will soon be through the zone of hostility
and moving forward on the other side.
Why have I given you this miniature treatise on sociology?  Not,
you may be sure, just to generalize.  I have done it to place in
perspective a letter which I have just received concerning our
dealings with the airlines.  Increasingly the letters and
reactions we get on that topic are positive and
favorablenoticeably so, not just from year to year but even from
month to month.  However, there are still those who express
bitterness toward us because of our attempts to achieve equal
treatment.  Observe the classic signs of bigotry and cowardice in
the following letter.  The individual refuses to give his or her
name and heaps abuse upon the heads of the blind as a class.  We
are morons, and sighted people will not want to stay in the same
hotel with us.  You will observe that the person also tells me I
will not want to print his or her letter in the Monitor.  To
which I reply:
Wrong!  I want to print it for all to read.  The blind are
finished with humbly taking abuse and not making public response. 
Whoever you are, your letter will be read by tens of thousands of
Monitor readers.  It will stand as a memorial to the bigotry and
prejudice which we continue to fight, our determination to
achieve equal status in society, and to the progress we are
making.  You have made our case better than we could have made it
ourselves.  Read your own words, and see whether they inspire you
with pride.  Certainly we who are blind will read themand they
will blaze forth as a rallying point.
One thing more:  We do not return hate for hate and bitterness
for bitterness.  We wish you well and hope life will be good to
you.  On the off chance that you may be blind instead of sighted,
we especially wish you well.  We understand why certain blind
people still cling to the old ways and why they feel hatred
toward us.  Whichever way it is, you have our good wishes.  Here
is your letter, just as you wrote it:
____________________
Postmarked March 29, 1988
Tyler, Texas

Postmarked on the other side of the envelope March 31, 1988
Macon, Georgia

BRAILLE MONITOR:
I know that you will not print this letter in the Braille Monitor
but I have to write it anyway.
Mr. Robert Greenberg's article on February-March page 119 to 122
My Flight From Discrimination has set back the efforts of blind
citizens wanting to be part of America's mainstream by at least
ten years (my guess).
Top right hand paragraph page 121.  The general public will not
be ashamed laterthey will repeat the account about missing their
connections, their appointments, etc.  to families, friends, etc. 
spreading the story far and wide about what self centered, unreal
people, the blind actually are in contact with their peers.
Top left page 122 as if the whole world turned dark with
hatredthat is Mr. Robert Greenberg's contribution toward
improving the rights of the blindturn the sighted world against
the blind.
It's no wonder that many sighted people stay away from the blind,
in stores, on street corners, etc.  They may run into a real
creep like Mr. Greenberg.  I hope that I never fly on the same
plane, go into the same store, or attend anything that Mr.
Greenberg or anyone like him may attend.  People will begin
checking into airlines and hotels like get me a flight or/and
hotel without blind people because of Mr. Greenberg's article. 
He has no consideration of other persons rights.   His right had
to supersede 200 other persons on that flightwhat a selfish brat! 
His mother should be slapped for bearing him.
I will not sign this as I do not give my name to persons that I
do not want to be associated with based on their morronic (sic)
actions.  Sign me,

Staying Away From Stupidity


LETTER FROM JUSTIN DART

(As Federationists know, Justin Dart spoke at the convention of
the National Federation of the Blind last summer in Phoenix.  At
that time he was Federal Commissioner of Rehabilitation.)

Washington, D.C.
April 2, 1988

Mr. David Hinson
President
Midway Airlines
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Mr. Hinson:
It is my understanding that on the evening of March 31 Ms.  Peggy
Pinder was arrested and physically removed from a Midway Airlines
Chicago flight at Washington National Airport when she refused to
move to another seat.  I understand that she was clearly entitled
to the seat she was occupying and was asked to move only because
she is blind.  Ms. Pinder, a distinguished American who is Second
Vice President of the National Federation of the Blind, was in
Washington to represent her organization at a meeting with
Republican National Committee Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf.  It
would appear that Ms. Pinder's personal dignity and basic human
rights have been violated.
As the coordinator of the meeting she had attended, I am
profoundly embarrassed.  As a person with a disability who has
served in five state level and three Presidentially appointed
positions in the area of disability policy, I know that millions
of Americans with disabilities will never be able to achieve
their legitimate goal of productive independence until this
nation recognizes that disability is a normal characteristic of
the human process and that people with disabilities have the same
rights and the same responsibilities as other people.
I urge you to take whatever action is necessary to effect maximum
justice in the case of Ms. Pinder.  And I urge you particularly
to join with all who love the great dream of 1776 to make the
changes in attitudes, public and private policy, law, regulation,
and practice necessary to insure that people with disabilities
are liberated from the ancient bonds of prejudice, paternalism,
and pity and enabled to achieve their full potential as
productive citizens of the first class.
I would be happy to discuss specific opportunities with you at a
time of mutual convenience.

Sincerely,
Justin Dart, Jr.


EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CARL'S JR. RESTAURANTS

This article appeared in the Summer, 1987, Blind Citizen, the
publication of the National Federation of the Blind of
California.

Carl Karcher Enterprises, owner of Carl's Jr. Restaurants, is
interested in offering more of its positions to blind people and
is working with the National Federation of the Blind of
California to accomplish this goal. Bruce Raterink, Director of
Management Development for Carl Karcher Enterprises, attended the
1987 convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
California and spoke concerning the efforts of Carl's Jr. to
create employment opportunities for the blind.  Here are Mr.
Raterink's remarks:

I am not going to tell you what the government is or is not
doing.  I'm going to tell you about big juicy hamburgers and
crisp french fries and cold cokes.  I would like to talk to you
about our company (who we are and where we have restaurants) and
to describe for your our menu and our preparation procedures. 
Then I'll tell you about some of the experiences we've had with
the employment of the blind in our restaurants.
Unfortunately we are still in the infancy stage in terms of
employment of the blind, but I am really encouraged by some of
the things which are happening.  After speaking with some of the
people in the NFB of California, I now know we can do a lot more
than what we have done in the past.  First of all, we are a chain
of 380 company-owned restaurants and approximately 45 franchise
restaurants in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Oregon.  Our
basic menu is predominantly hamburgers, but we also cater to a
wide variety of tastes with roast beef sandwiches, fish
sandwiches, and our stuffed baked potatoes.  A year and a half
ago we introduced our charbroiled chicken sandwiches, which have
been a big hit with the American Heart Association because of the
skinless charbroiled chicken used in these sandwiches on honey
wheat buns.
We have a wide array of side orders such as deep-fried zucchini,
french fries, and onion rings.  We also have a serve-yourself
salad bar, and we are introducing serve- yourself drink stations. 
We have a full breakfast menu with scrambled eggs served with
bacon or sausage, as well as a sunrise sandwich served on an
English muffin with egg and a choice of bacon or sausage.
Some of our restaurants are open twenty-four hours. The majority
open at 6:00 in the morning, close at 10:00 or 11:00 in the
evening, later on Friday and Saturday nights.  Our restaurants
are designed with an inside dining area, as well as a
drive-through service.  We charbroil our sandwiches on a
conveyorized charbroiler.  What that means is that you do not
have to put the meat on a charbroiler, watch it to see when to
turn it, and time it.  We set the meat on a conveyorized belt
that travels between flame burners which cook the meat on both
sides at the same time, and the meat comes off at the other end. 
This makes for consistency and an easier operation.
We also have deep fat fryers in which we cook our french fries
and other side orders.  We use microwave and conventional ovens,
as well as a breakfast grill on which we cook our bacon, eggs,
and sausages.
Each restaurant employs from thirty to forty people.  There may
be as many as eighteen to twenty people during a busy period or
as few as three during a slow periodin the late nights or the
middle of the afternoon.
Our employees take an order on a computerized cash register
system that compiles the order and automatically relays it to a
printer on our back line.  This cash register system also
controls all of our labor and food cost information and prints
management reports for the manager of each restaurant.  Through
our telephone lines the system transmits the management reports
from our local restaurants to Anaheim, where the reports are
printed for use in our corporate headquarters.
Of course, we have employees at the various stations in the
restaurants from the cook's corner, to french fries, to our
dining room service.  We are unique in the fast-food industry in
that once you have placed your order at the counter we give you a
table number that you set on your table so we can bring the food
out to you when it is ready.  Usually, all of our employees start
as entry-level employees at minimum wage positions, which we
traditionally fill with high school students.
One of the reasons I am here today is because Sharon Gold called
me and asked me to talk about some of the things we are doing at
Carl's Jr. in the employment of the blind.  Statistics show us
that the rate of growth of all the fast-food restaurants, which
traditionally employ high school students, is growing at a rate
faster than the number of available high school students.  By the
year 1990 we are going to be at odds with employment.  We need
more people, and that is why I am hereto talk about some of the
opportunities available.  Our restaurants also employ restaurant
managers, assistant managers, and crew leaders, depending on the
sales volume of the restaurant.
Our experience with employment of the blind goes back about six
or seven years.  We were contacted by a young blind lady in
Anaheim who came through a local agency.  We said, We think there
is an opportunity here.  Are you willing to work with us? 
Fortunately, we had a restaurant manger who was very excited
about hiring her and said, Let's see what we can do.  I'm not
sure, but let's try.
Our computerized cash registers utilize a plastic overlay on the
keyboard that we can easily change and update as we change menu
items or products.  A Braille overlay was made.  The blind lady
took the overlay home and learned where the different items were
on the keyboard.  This blind lady came to work during one of our
slow periods and began learning to use our drive-through intercom
system.  The blind lady started by taking orders.  In other
words, as a car pulled up, she was the person who answered the
telephone.  She would then ring the order into the cash register. 
This blind lady is still with us.  She now might be in the back
cutting up vegetables for the salad bar, in the storeroom getting
cups and lids to bring up front, making drinks for the
drive-through, or taking items out to stock the salad bar. 
Gradually, we have learned that some of the limitations about
blind persons that we automatically imposed in our minds aren't
really there.
I do not have the exact number of our restaurants that employ the
blind, since employment of the blind happens naturally, and we
just don't know about them.  I personally know of half a dozen. 
I was the regional director in Orange County for the fifty-five
restaurants in that area, so I met some of the blind employees
working there.  So far we are experimenting with voice
synthesizers on our cash registers.  When an item is pressed, the
synthesizer tells the blind person the item and the total.  The
voice output is working pretty well, but we have had some
mechanical problems on which we are working.  We also have a bill
identifier in that restaurant, so now the blind employee is
taking orders, passing out food, and making change.  She also
very much wants to be a crew leader.  I'm going to be very honest
and tell you that we are not sure, so we are taking it one step
at a time.  She is learning all that she needs to do as she goes
along.  We are still in the infancy stage in working with the
blind, but we are very encouraged by what we see.  From what you
have said to me, I know you will appreciate that any employment
opportunity with Carl's Jr. is open to anyone who has the
capabilities.  We are not automatically going to employ someone
because he or she is blind, but we will not automatically not
employ someone because of blindness.  Obviously we are looking
for employees who are friendly, outgoing, and have the ability to
communicate with the customers.  These qualities will decide
whether that person is employed or not.
Hopefully I have been able to share with you a little of what we
are doing to open up opportunities of employment not only with us
but perhaps with other fast food restaurants as well which may or
may not employ the blind.  If other fast- food restaurants in
your neighborhood haven't employed any blind yet, tell them what
Carl's Jr. is doing and get them on the bandwagon.
One of the things that one of our blind employees is doing now
with her bill identifier and voice synthesizer is taking orders
at the front counter, not just the drive-through.  We have found
her to have a real advantage in the drive-through using the
phone, because she is used to talking to people she cannot see. 
She sells better using her voice than sighted employees who
cannot communicate as well using the phone device.  When she
works the front counter, we note that there are many people who
get in her line, since they are fascinated with her work.


THE RICHMOND WORKSHOP:
BAD MANAGEMENT, QUALITY SERVICES, AND NAC
by Charlie Brown

This article appears in the January, 1988, Newsletter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Virginia.  As Federationists
know, Charlie Brown is NFBV President.  The information and
statistics revealed in the article should be the occasion for
shock and surprise.  The fact that they are not is indicative of
the widespread problems which exist in the sheltered workshops
for the blind throughout the country.  Moreover, it is not at all
surprising that Virginia Industries for the Blind is accredited
by NAC (the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving
the Blind and Visually Handicapped.  In view of NAC's history for
the past twenty years one would be surprised if it were
otherwise.  How long must the blind of this nation endure the
kind of conditions which are the everyday commonplace in the
shops and which are blessed by NAC in the name of
professionalism!  It is no exaggeration to say that the term
professional, which should be positive and complimentary when
applied to employees of programs that are designed to give
service to people, has become to the blind of this country a
virtual swear worda bitter term of mockery and disillusionment. 
Here is Charlie Brown's article.

Some time ago Ed Peay, President of our Richmond Chapter, wrote
to George Kogar, Deputy Commissioner of the Department for the
Visually Handicapped, and asked him thirty questions about the
Virginia Industries for the Blind facility located in Richmond. 
Mr. Kogar answered Ed's questions in a letter Ed received at the
end of November of 1987.  We think many of you will be interested
in Mr. Kogar's responses to the questions.
According to Mr. Kogar's letter, there are thirty-three blind
workers and two trainees employed in the workshop.  All of the
blind workers are employed in direct labor.  All of the
supervisors and management personnel are sighted.  Only fifteen
of the thirty-five blind workers receive the federal minimum
wage.  All of the sighted production workers, of course, must
receive at least the federal minimum wage.
Mr. Kogar also states that The average annual earnings of a
production worker is $6,676.80 per year.  Remember that this
figure includes the relatively higher earnings of the sighted
production workers who must be paid the minimum wage.  Mr. Kogar
goes on to say that The average for nonproduction workers is
$11,264.26.  Again, remember that all of these folks are sighted. 
One sometimes wonders if the Virginia Department for the Visually
Handicapped is operating a sheltered shop for the sighted rather
than a sheltered shop for the blind.
There is the additional matter of layoffs.  Mr. Kogar informs us
that the industry has laid off blind employees on two occasions
over the past three years.  No sighted employees were laid off
during this time period.  The average duration of a layoff for a
blind employee would be about eight weeks of intermittent work.
In his cover letter Mr. Kogar, to his credit, concedes, The
Industry has not been managed well for a long period of time.  It
will be a slow process to correct all of the problems of the
past.  In this regard the workshop director was let go last year.
Long-time Federationists know that we have been pointing out
problems in the workshop for years.  Officials have promised us
that things would get better.  They have not.  During all of this
time, anyone who pick us up a VDVH brochure or sees the agency
letterhead finds proudly displayed the NAC symbol.  This symbol
proclaims that the agency, and its workshop, was fully
accredited.  Everything was deemed to be okay.  We the blind are
just troublemakers.  NAC, everyone was told, would assure that
blind people would receive quality services.  Without NAC who
knows what might happen to the VDVH programs?  Well, for one
thing, people might have paid attention to the problems that
exist in the Richmond workshop at lot sooner if VDVH had not
chosen to hide behind the fictitious NAC shield.  But all that is
water over the dam.  Yet, what are we, the blind of Virginia, to
believe when in spite of everything VDVH Commissioner McCann
tells us that he is wedded to NAC?


UNDER ONE ROOF
NFB CONVENTION WEEK JULY 2-9, 1988

by Stephen Benson


(This article, with minor changes and additions, appeared in the
November, 1987, Month's News, the publication of the National
Federation of the Blind of Illinois.)

In 1975 the NFB's national convention was held at the Palmer
House in Chicago.  At that time it was the largest gathering of
blind people in American history.  It was a splendid convention. 
The Palmer House was, and still is, regarded by many as the
aristocrat of hotels.  With 2,300 rooms, it was certainly one of
the largest hotels to have hosted our convention.
To get some flavor of this convention listen to the 1975 banquet
speech, Blindness: Is the Public Against Us.  Measure its
contents against what is occurring today.  You will be impressed
by the progress we have made.  You will, at the same time, be
struck by how very much work is yet to be done.  As we prepare
for our 1988 national convention, it would be a good idea to
reread all the banquet speeches since 1975 and the resolutions
passed by conventions since 1975.  Our organization's history is
chronicled in those documents.
National conventions are very different today from 1975.  They
are longer, larger, and generally more complex.  There are more
divisions and committees.  Attendees are older and younger.  More
and bigger scholarships are presented.  More people are directly
involved in the work of the conventions.  In 1988 our national
convention will be at the Chicago Hyatt Regency Hotel.  The
facilities are outstanding.  As the host affiliate, we will try
to make the convention the best we've ever had in every way
possible.  If we all do our parts, it could be the biggest
convention of blind people in the history of this or any nation.
Here is what the hotel has to offer.  It consists of two towers,
one thirty-six stories, the other thirty-eight stories.  It
contains 2,033 guest rooms and 202 luxury suites.  There are five
restaurants and three lounges.  Believe it or not, the Chicago
Hyatt Regency Hotel contains 185,000 square feet of meeting and
exhibit space.  The Grand Ballroom (in the east tower) is 24,500
square feet.  The Regency Ballroom (in the west tower) is 6,500
square feet.  Wacker Hall, the hotel's exhibition hall, contains
70,000 square feet.  There are sixty meeting rooms of all sizes,
most of them on three levels below the street.  There is an
underground walkway (one level below the street) and a skyway
(one level above the street) that join the two towers.  It is a
massive property, but it is all laid out sensibly, mostly in
straight lines, and it is all under one roof.
The east tower's four-story glass house lobby is a dazzling
expanse of light, greenery, waterfalls, a 4,000-square-foot
lagoon, and constant motion.  On the plaza, or street, level are
two restaurantsStetson's (for gourmet dining), and Scampi (a
twenty-four-hour, 258-seat European style cafe, serving ethnic
and American fare and set on an island in he lagoon); the Center
Club (an elegant and intimate lounge); and a gift shop.
On the skyway level, just above the plaza, are the hotel
registration area, the concierge, gold passport desk, and bell
stand.  Between the plaza and skyway levels is Rumors, a
multi-level lounge.  This very comfortable setting is accessible
from both plaza and skyway levels.  To all of this splendor is
added the full, rich sounds of a grand piano.  Tuxedoed pianists
provide continuous background of classical and popular
selections.  It lends a genuine touch of class.
On the skyway between the two towers is a small restaurant called
The Skyway.  It is open for breakfast and lunch.  Among its
specialties are fantastic omelets.
Just inside the west tower, on the skyway level, is Mrs. 
O'Leary's delicatessen and bar.  It features fresh seafood and
homestyle dishes in a decor that is reminiscent of a
turn-of-the-century Chicago tavern.  The French onion soup is out
of this world.
On Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. the plaza level of the
west tower becomes Captain Streeter's Champagne Brunch.  The
musical background is some of Chicago's finest live jazz.  Oh,
and the food is very good.
The Hyatt Regency is an integral part of the Illinois Center, one
of the largest commercial/office/residential developments in the
nation.  More than 30,000 people occupy luxury condominiums, and
more than 35,000 Chicagoans work in several office buildings each
day.  The entire complex is connected by indoor and outdoor
concourses.  There are many eating establishments at Illinois
Center, as well as a wide variety of other shops.
The hotel is just minutes from an incredible variety of
restaurants and tourist attractions.  It is almost equidistant
from the Loop and the Magnificent Mile, North Michigan Avenue. 
There is much to see and do in Chicago.  The facilities are
tremendous, giving ample proof to Chicago's claim as the
convention capital of the world.
FOCUS ON THE EDUCATION OF BLIND CHILDREN by Kenneth Jernigan

There was a time when the education of blind children seemed
rather straightforward and uncomplicated.  In almost every state
there was a residential school, where blind children were
educated.  The child left home when he or she was six years old,
went to the residential school, came home at Christmas (and maybe
once or twice besides during the school year), spent summers at
home, and graduated from the twelfth grade.  In general (and
admittedly it is a generality) the academic training was good;
the vocational prospects were bleak; and the social contacts with
members of the opposite sex were nonexistent or clandestine. 
Speaking again in generalities, the blind teenager left high
school with a pretty good knowledge of history, geography, and
how to use the language; with not much chance for remunerative
employment; and with even less chance for a lifetime of normal
man-woman relationships.  Of course, the average sighted American
hasn't done all that well with the man-woman relationships
either.  In any event it should not be necessary to have to make
a choice between a decent education and a decent social life. 
With respect to career, the schools (whether residential or
otherwise) can hardly be blamed for the fact that most of the
working-aged blind of a generation ago didn't find a job. 
Although the vocational situation is somewhat better for the
blind today than it was then, it still has a long way to go, and
such progress as has been made can hardly be credited to the
schools.  In the mid-forties and early fifties the simplicity and
straightforwardness were suddenly gone from the education of
blind children.  As with most things, the reasons were
undoubtedly numerous, but the principal factor can probably be
encompassed in a single term: retrolental fibroplasia.  In
unprecedented numbers premature babies were suddenly becoming
blindif not at birth, then shortly after; and nobody knew why. 
By the time it was determined that it had to do with oxygen in
the incubators, there were thousands of blind youngsters going
through the population in a waveand the educational system was
simply not adequate to deal with them.
The residential schools had had a stable or slightly declining
population for decades, and with a few notable exceptions the
public schools were not taking blind children at all.  Now, all
of a sudden, the choices were stark and immediate:  Either the
physical facilities and training resources of the residential
schools would have to be expanded six- or seven-foldand at once;
the public schools would have to try to do the job; or the
children would have to go uneducated.  Since a high survival rate
among premature babies was not one of the characteristics of
low-income groups in the 1940's and 50's, the parents of the
retrolental fibroplasia babies had clout as a group, and they
were not about to permit their children to go uneducated.
The question was not whether but howand not even would there be
quality or effectiveness or a workable approach:  just that
something be done, and immediately.  The parents were scared, and
at the gut level their expectations for their children were low
since they regarded blindness  as an unmitigated tragedy.  Into
this vacuum stepped some of the larger agencies for the blind. 
They  worked with colleges and universities to establish teacher
training courses and sought to make the parents a political
instrument to build their prestige, advance their causes, and
enlarge their budgets.  The parents were vulnerable and
desperate, so it is not surprising that (by and large) they
accepted and believed what they were told.  It is not, for the
most part, that the agencies were cynical or deliberately
manipulative but only that they were administered and staffed by
humans, who rationalized their own self-interest into a virtue
which it often lacked.  As was said of the early missionaries who
went to Hawaii, they came to do good and remained to do well.
That was more than thirty years ago, and since that
time a whole system and an entire way of thought concerning the
education of blind children has developed (some of it
constructive and some irrational) but the totality sanctified by
the word professional.  As the colleges and universities pumped
out graduates, a corps of so-called professionals was built.  The
teachers and the teachers of the teachers had to publish in order
to survive and gain recognition, so a body of professional
literature was written.  Again, it must be emphasized that, with
some exceptions, most of this has not been done cynically or to
manipulate.  Nevertheless, the end result has often been (and is
today) at variance with common sense and reality and extremely
destructive to the blind children who are supposedly the
beneficiaries of the professionalism and its trappings.
With a straight face many of the educators who have
come through the system, attended the conferences, and read the
literature now advocate practices and techniques which not only
defy reason but contradict the experience of the majority of
successful blind adults.  Consider these examples:  They resist
teaching Braille to children who have such limited eyesight that
reading print (even large print with a magnifier) is virtually
impossible.  In one instance, when a teacher who had resisted
teaching Braille to a blind child was ordered to do it, she
attempted to comply with the order in a way which would seem
laughable if it were not so painfully tragic.  The child had
almost no sight.  Yet, she tried to teach him Braille by using
flash cards with large print representations of Braille dots.
In another case an educator argued that if a child  has some
sight, it is destructive for that child to try to learn both
Braille and print since only a certain amount of learning can be
done and teaching both systems would cut the progress of each in
half.  That educator went on to say that it is not necessarily
essential for a teacher of young blind children (even a teacher
who is responsible for teaching reading to those children) to be
proficient in the use of Braille.  When he was asked how such an
argument was different from saying that a French teacher did not
need to know French or a math teacher math, he simply responded
with angerperhaps understandably since there would seem to be no
logical answer that could have been given.  It is not only
Braille but also mobility which gets peculiar treatment. 
Mobility instructors often try to prevent blind children from
learning to travel with a cane.  They do this in spite of the
fact that they themselves teach cane travel to blind adults, that
many blind children successfully learn cane travel techniques,
and that parents want their children to be taught such
techniques.  The reason given for not letting the child carry a
cane or learn to use it has frequently been that the child will
appear more normal if he or she is not carrying a cane especially
if the child has even a small amount of sight.
One has to be deeply concerned about the damage which is being
done to blind children who are exposed to this
pseudoprofessionalism.  What sort of image are they being given
about blindness and about their own potential?  How will they
cope when they become adolescents and have to deal with the
troubled years of the teens?  How comfortable will they be with
their blindness and how effectively will they manage their lives
when as adults they meet the competition of the everyday world?
While it is true that the traditional training of the residential
schools of the 1940's and earlier left much to be desired, it can
convincingly be argued that we have merely swapped one set of
problems for another and that the former system (with all of its
disadvantages) may well have had the edge over what is being done
now.  There can be no doubt that the vocational prospects for
today's blind youngster are better than they were forty years ago
and that the public attitudes and social acceptance are also 
better, but these advances should not be nullified by blighting
the academic competence of blind children and conditioning them
to believe that it is not respectable to be blind.
All of this was brought into focus for me recently by a letter
from the mother of two blind children.  She has the right
instincts, and she is doing what she can to create a climate of
positivism and opportunity for her children; but she faces
formidable obstacles.  And the sad part of it is that those
obstacles come not from the blindness itself or from the
misconceptions of the uninformed public  but from the very people
(the professionals) who are supposed to be helping her. 
Fortunately she has found the National Federation of the Blind
and its Parents Division.  She will meet successful blind adults
and learn from their experience.  She will also meet other
parents and draw strength from them.  Here in part is what she
says:  ____________________
I am writing this letter to ask for your help.  I am the mother
of ten childrenthree by adoption, with special needs, and two of
them blind.  I lose many hours of sleep over the discrimination
they face.  I'm trying to gain support for my position on their
rights.  I have been dismayed for eight years over what goes on. 
I have run into a brick wall every time.  It is the only thing in
parenting that I may lose my sanity over.  (I love all other
aspects of being a parent.)  You seem like an organization that
can help. HELP!
These are just some of the things my blind kids have encountered. 
The list is long!
Tim is eighteenadopted at age ten; Ronnie (Renita) is fourteen
and a halfadopted at age nine.
Ronnie (immediately upon arriving at her new school) was stripped
of cane and any Braille skills already achieved.  As her teacher
put it, she needed to be taught the right way.  She was put into
a developmentally disabled class (sneakily) and with no knowledge
of parents.  I found out when I went in to volunteer to help kids
read.  A sign was on the door, which read: Miss Tanner's
developmental class.
The kids I tried to help were trying to read regular print by
turning their magnifiers every which way but inside out to be
able to see the words.  I asked the teacher on the way out why
they did not use large print books.  She replied that they were
too expensive.  There were two Braille students, Ronnie being
one.  Along with others who should have been Braille students,
they were trying unsuccessfully to read print.
Goals on the IEP (Individualized Education  Program) have been
repeated three years in a roweven after being successfully
completed.  They are put on as the same goals for next year, and
I am presumably to thank them for being concerned.  Many times I
am condescended to with phrases such as Now, Mrs. ---, don't you
remember?  We went over this last year.  Apparently not only
blind children but also their parents aren't too smart!  In
frustration I contacted the state department of education.  I was
told that I should ask for more specifics on the IEP.  I was told
that I should and could ask them to list completion of books as a
goal on the IEP.  It's no fun to get jumped on to by a principal,
a director of special education for two school districts, and a
teacher who says, We will not list books!  Furthermore, we don't
have to.  I called the state department of special education
back.  It almost sounded as if they had made a deal.  The whole
story was changed.  The state sided with the school.  No, we
can't make them list books on an IEP, they said.  Did you think I
told you that?
Most recently Ronnie is to have phys ed.  Last year it was on the
IEP, but since they did not think she could do any of the
activities, she didn't get it.  She did some exercises with a
teacher instead on an irregular basis.  This year she still has
been excluded from at least one gym class to go to study hall.
A teacher of social studies told me Ronnie runs out the door and
out in the hall after class.  He doesn't want her to do this. 
She might get hurt, he said.  I said, Oh, Ronnie runs?
Well, no, he said, but she walks too fast for her safety.  God
forbid!  So my child walks too fast!  She is disobedient, isn't
she?
She is, as they put it, mainstreamed in this class, and all other
children in this class have a book.  She has a tape.  She is to
review her lesson, and then she gets ten minutes by herself with
the instructor.  Why bother mainstreaming her?
My son Tim is also facing the same kinds of problems.  One year
he was not allowed to go down the steps alone.  Safety reasons. 
He changed schools this year and was not allowed to go to the bus
by himself.  The teacher, as she put it, did not know he could do
it on his own.
Ronnie belongs to drama club.  They were having a talent show
some time before Christmas.  She practiced and was very excited
about playing her guitar and singing.  When I picked her up after
the meeting when the talent show was to occur, I asked how it
went.  She said, I didn't play. I said, Oh, why not?
First she said, I guess they didn't have enough time.  And then
she said, We had to sign up to be in the show, and no one signed
me up.
This is occurring again.  They are doing a play.  A note was sent
home with names of characters and parts to be played.  She could
choose.  She later decided that since she did not know what the
play was about, she didn't want to be in it.  She had such a
change of heart it seemed as if she was being influenced.
I am so tired of trying to defend her.  I just quit trying.  She
has lost heart, and so have I.  She is in the developmentally
handicapped classes, and time after time teachers want to make
sure that we both know our places.  The kids have one of the few
trained orientation and mobility instructors in the state, so I
presume we should be pleased.   However, she has been very
skilled at keeping us uninformed.  These are some of the
wonderful things she has said:  Signing an IEP does not mean
approving an IEP.  It just means you were present.  There is no
one in this area who can teach you (parents) Braille. This is
what she says, but I am learning that many of the blind are
willing to teach us.  This instructor was overheard at church
saying:  Can you imagine?  They are considering hiring blind
instructors. ____________________
This is what one mother of two blind children says, and much can
be read between the lines.  If her story were an isolated
instance, it would be bad enough; but since it is the rule rather
than the exception, it demands attention.  The National
Federation of the Blind faces no single problem of more crucial
importance than the mess which is being made of the education of
blind children. We absolutely must find a solution, and we must
do it with minimal delay.  Morally and ethically (even if not
biologically) these are our children, and we must not fail them.


MANY VISUALLY IMPAIRED YOUTHS SPURN LEARNING BRAILLE

(This article, written by Beth Daley, appeared in the March 19,
1988, Boston Globe.)

Seven years ago Mike McDermott read so much that his parents had
to pry books away from him so he would go to sleep at night.
A year later, after a brain tumor took his sight, Mike could not
read anymore.
He survived the tumor, but lost all of his sight in one eye and
almost all of it in the other.  What he can see now is the
equivalent of peering through a straw.
Mike, now fifteen, is on the honor roll at Cambridge Rindge &
Latin School for the sixth time.  He does his homework on a
talking computer that reads back his written work.  Until
recently he refused to learn Braille, saying he would not need
it.  His parents and teachers agreed, saying he should use what
little sight he had.
But the painful truth is that, despite all his drive and academic
achievements, Mike still cannot read.
Mike is one of an increasing number of visually impaired children
in the Boston area who cannot read Braille, a trend that has
Braille advocates concerned.  They feel Braille is discouraged
because educators and parents see it as an added stigma for
visually impaired children.
Some advocates for the blind say visually impaired children who
cannot read Braille face a bleak future in higher education and
in the professional world.  In Massachusetts the Braille literacy
rate has dropped forty percent since a 1974 state law
mainstreamed handicapped children into public schools.  Out of
the approximately 935 legally blind children in Massachusetts
public schools, only about 65 can read Braille, according to
figures released by the state Department of Education's
Vision/Education Center.  If partially sighted children don't
learn Braille, that's not letting them read the best they can,
said Priscilla Ferris, President of the National Federation of
the Blind of Massachusetts.  And you can't get anywhere in the
professional world if you can't read.  Tape recorders and
cassettes only take you so far.  You need to communicate in other
ways.
Chapter 766 calls for educating all special needs students in
public schools.  That includes mentally retarded and emotionally
disturbed students and those with physical and sensory handicaps.
At the same time the state also stopped funding private schools
for special needs students.  Many of those students subsequently
entered the public schools.  There are now no facilities in the
Boston area specifically for visually impaired children.  The
Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown and other similar
programs have turned into facilities for the multihandicapped,
catering primarily to blind children who also have other
handicaps.
If visually impaired kids are sitting in a college classroom and
want to take notes, they can't if they can only scrawl a couple
of words per page, said Diane Kroft, who works at the National
Braille Press in Boston.  They need to take down notes
comprehensively so when they go back they can read them over. 
Braille can do just that.
Not everyone agrees that all legally blind children should learn
Braille.
Legally blind does not mean anything, said Tony Caetano, director
of the Vision Research library in the Vision/Education Center. 
It is simply a test that is administered, like an eye chart at a
doctor's office.  It does not measure individual vision
capabilities.  For that you need individual tests.  That is why
you cannot say every visually impaired child should learn
Braille, some just don't need it.
Although there is disagreement on the extent that Braille should
be taught, all sides agree that most public schools do not have
the resources to determine which children need to learn Braille
and which ones do not.

Part-Time Learning

Because visually impaired children are rare, public school
systems usually employ just one teacher who works with them
part-time in several schools.  There is often neither the time
nor the know-how to determine whether the students should learn
Braille or, if necessary, be tutored.  If a kid needs to learn
Braille, two hours a week is not going to keep them interested,
Richard Jackson, associate professor and director of Visually
Handicapped Studies at Boston College, said.  That's the real
problem, just recognizing which kids need Braille. Also, Ferris
said, teachers are certified in teaching the visually
handicapped, but these certifications require no renewals.
Mike McDermott began learning Braille two months ago, after he
and his parents decided that he needed to learn it because Mike
intended on going to college.
When Mike first began to lose his sight, Mike McDermott Sr. said,
People were telling us that he should use what sight he had. 
They all said that Braille was too hard to learn.  It wasn't
until we met up with other organizations of the blind that we
began to realize that perhaps Mike needed to learn it.  They told
us:  If you're blind, you're blind; and if you can read a bit,
that's good.  But to have Braille is even better.'


BRAILLE ON THE JOB
by Alfred Maneki, Ph.D.

(This article was taken from the Summer, 1987, Braille Spectator,
the newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland.  Dr. Maneki is one of the leaders of the National
Federation of the Blind of Maryland.  He is also a person with an
important job in a very sensitive area of government.  His
opinions as to what techniques blind persons need to use to
function effectively deserve careful attention.)

I recently assumed responsibilities in a new position at the
Department of Defense, where I have been employed as a
mathematician since 1974.  This job, unlike my previous job,
requires the reading, editing, and analysis of complex computer
programs consisting of numerous lines of computer codeaggregates
of non-English combinations of letters of the English alphabet,
numbers, and other symbols.  I learned quite quickly that, even
for the initiated, the task of comprehending computer code by
listening to it read by the synthetic speech of a personal
computer is at best tedious and inefficient.
What is really needed for this work is good, old-fashioned,
hard-copy Brailledots perforated on good, old-fashioned Braille
paper.  By judiciously using synthetic speech, I can identify the
portions of a computer program which I need to review in Braille. 
By blocking a portion of computer code with my screen editor (a
task requiring only a few keystrokes) and one instruction (two
key strokes) to the Braille printer linked to the same computer,
I have hard copy Braille within a few minutes.
Now that I have hard-copy Braille, what do I do with it?  I have
an exact copy of computer code, not an interpretation rendered by
an imperfect synthetic speech processor.  This aids immensely in
understanding the logic of a computer program.  I can scan
Braille and locate a needed line of code quickly.  (Haven't we
all been frustrated by trying to locate a passage in a book read
on audio cassettes or on discs?)  Even with a screen editor's
search function, locating anything through synthetic speech is
impossible unless I know exactly what I am looking for, which is
not always the case.  By keeping my index finger of each hand on
separate lines, I don't have to read in linear computer code. 
This is impossible to do with speech.
We should not be fooled by the claims of Dr. Welsh of the
Maryland School for the Blind and others that Braille is
inefficient, and that some of us learn more efficiently from the
spoken word, and that for some Braille takes time away from other
learning experiences.  Barring other physical limitations, all
blind persons, regardless of the degree of vision loss, should be
proficient in Braille.  Surely not all of us would care to do the
work that I do.  But there are many exciting jobs requiring the
use and handling of information which blind persons could do,
given proficient Braille skills.
By teaching me a new philosophy about blindness, membership in
the National Federation of the Blind has been important to me in
realizing my potentials as a blind person.  Through collective
action, the National Federation of the Blind has improved the
quality of life for all of us.  However, there is still much to
be done.  Discrimination against the blind still exists, programs
are still inadequate, and too many of us remain unemployed. 
Whether for the personal growth or for the possibilities of
collective action, all blind persons have something to gain from
membership in the National Federation of the Blind.


SUPPLY OF BRAILLE BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE BY BLIND
INDIVIDUALS MAY SOON INCREASE


Washington, D.C.
January 19, 1988

Mr. Arthur S. Kleinpell
President
Triformation Braille Service, Inc.
Stuart, Florida

Dear Mr. Kleinpell:
I am writing in Jackie Wintle's absence.  In late 1985 I asked
her to arrange to promote Braille book sales by our producers.
In June, 1986, an agreement was completed between Triformation
and NLS permitting you to sell to individuals Braille copies of
books originally transcribed for us.  We were of the opinion that
you entered into this agreement openly and enthusiastically.
We are reviewing the file of agreements with the thought of
renewing them with all the cooperating Braille producers.  In
looking at your records we note that to date we have had no
reports of any books actually being sold by Triformation.  Though
we have received copies of copyright permission clearances, we
are not aware of any publicity on the availability of the cleared
books.  For example, you were offered space in Braille Book
Review to announce Braille books for sale but have never provided
us with copy.  Since you received the greater share of the
Braille book production this year, we are concerned about your
lack of activity in Braille book sales.  We are particularly
concerned with your manager's indifference to this project.  As a
nonprofit organization serving the blind community, we believe it
is incumbent on you to find ways to make an extra effort to offer
such services.
We will shortly be issuing revised and extended agreements.  We
hope that you will once again sign and then voluntarily take
positive action to identify books that would be suitable for
sales to individuals, obtain copyright permissions as you have in
the past, actually produce copies for sale, and make their
availability widely known.  You may count on Braille Book Review
for publicity.  If you are having difficulty establishing a
procedure for arranging for the overruns and sales, you might
consult with Lois Mandelberg of our staff and with Phyllis
Campana of National Braille Press, which has had considerable
success in Braille book sales.

Sincerely yours,
Frank Kurt Cylke, Director
National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped
____________________
Stuart, Florida
March 11, 1988

Dear Dr. Jernigan:
As you may be aware, Triformation Braille Service has been
earnestly communicating with the National Library Service
concerning the outside sale of Braille publications to private
blind consumers.
Through the research involved in this effort, many minor but
troublesome complications have arisen.
The process begins with receipt of books to be produced in a
given year for the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped and its network of libraries.  These
titles are sorted and randomly grouped according to presumed
salability; children's books, computer information, how-to
guides, and cookbooks seem to be of greatest interest.
Written copyright permission must then be requested from
respective publishers and upon receipt forwarded to the National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. 
Permission by the publisher may or may not be given.  If it is,
the number of copies to be pressed is increased.  Several 1988
books have already been prepared for overruns.  We cannot
advertise titles as yet, while we are awaiting copyright
permission.
TBS has very few marketing avenues, as it is geared toward mass
Braille production.  Your affiliation with the National
Federation and influence in the blind community could prove a
great asset toward making the books available for purchase.
Prices will of course vary, but cost per copy is based on paper
used, pressing and binding time, and style of binding (the
hard-cover type being most expensive).  An average three-volume
book would be approximately $20 to $35.
Any assistance the National Federation of the Blind could give in
advertising the availability of these books to blind readers
would be gratefully appreciated.

Sincerely,
Arthur S. Kleinpell, Owner
Triformation Braille Service, Inc.
____________________
Baltimore, Maryland
April 5, 1988

Dear Mr. Kleinpell:
I am somewhat mystified as to how to answer your letter of March
11, 1988.  Although the National Federation of the Blind as an
organization and I as an individual believe there should be more
Braille books available to blind persons who want to purchase
them, and although we would welcome availability of such books
from Triformation Braille Service and would be more than happy to
advertise such availability in the Braille Monitor and otherwise,
your letter does not give me much help in knowing how to do it.
It seems to me that the most effective way for us to do such
advertising would be to list specific books and their prices in
the Monitor with the announcement that they can be purchased from
you.  If this is not practical, we might say that you have a
catalog of Braille books and prices, which can be had upon
request.  Failing this, we could make the general comment that
Triformation Braille Service is willing to sell Braille books to
blind individuals but that we do not have information as to what
titles will be available at what price or when.
Obviously if we pursue this latter course or some variant of it,
Triformation's volume of sales and bookkeeping chores will not
constitute a problem.  Perhaps I am missing something in your
letter, but I have perused it in vain to find what it is.
I should think the only way that Triformation Braille Service can
make outside sales is for you to produce a few extra copies of at
least a reasonable number of books and allow us to advertise
their availability.  Of course, this will involve some risk and
require the use of a certain amount of space, but not a great
deal of either.  If the project succeeds, it could be of great
advantage both to the blind and Triformation Braille Service.  If
it does not, no great amount of effort or capital will have been
wasted, and possibly something will have been learned.
It could be (assuming, that is, that the project fails) that you
selected the wrong titles or made some other mistake.  Also, it
could be that blind individuals in this country will simply not
buy enough Braille books to sustain the kind of effort we are
talking abouteven if those books are well selected and reasonably
priced.  It could be, but I doubt it.
However, I don't know for certain, and I don't think anybody else
does.  Whatever has occurred in the past, the economics, the
technology, the competing activities, and the climate of today's
America make what we are discussing speculative.  Certain things
I know.  The Braille Monitor is the largest and most influential
publication in the field of blindness today.  It is widely read
and much discussed.  Anything which appears in its pages will be
known by a sizable number of the blind of the nation.  We believe
that individual blind persons should be able to purchase Braille
books at an affordable price, and we will do whatever we can to
help make this possible.  If you wish us to carry announcements
and advertisements for you, we will gladly do it, frequently and
without any charge.  This only leaves the question of how and
when.  As I say, I am not sure from your letter how to proceed. 
I will begin by informing Monitor readers of this correspondence
and will hope we can devise a workable mechanism for getting the
project underway.

Sincerely,
Kenneth Jernigan
Executive Director
National Federation of the Blind


RESPONSE TO RADIO READING ARTICLE

Our article on radio reading services for the blind in the
February-March, 1988, issue evoked widespread response, much of
it from the managers of radio reading services and some of it
from others.  Here are two typical letters:

Chicagoland Radio Information Service, Inc.  Chicago, Illinois
March 11, 1988

Dear Mr. Jernigan:
As both a board member of the Association of Radio Reading
Services (ARRS) and General Manager of the Chicagoland Radio
Information Service, Inc. (CRIS), I found your article Radio
Reading Services for the Blind: Service or Boondoggle
(February-March, 1988) quite interesting and insightful.  I would
like to make a few observations of my own regarding the failure
of the National Office, illiteracy issue, and the Association's
political past.
ARRS is made up of over a hundred individual services run by
idealistic and strong-willed individuals.  If they weren't, they
wouldn't be in the business.  Unfortunately, most of us live
hand-to-mouth, whether associated with a library, state agency,
university, National Public Radio station, or operating
independently.  In Chicago we operate twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week, with a paid full-time staff of six and a
volunteer staff of 500Stan Potter's dream come true.  Most radio
reading services, however, are one- to two-man operations that
primarily broadcast their local newspaper a few hours a day.  Our
budgets are small in comparison to most other services for the
blind.
It is my opinion that the ARRS National Office has not been able
to survive because no one would take the responsibility to
fundraise for it.  Initial one-time grants were made, but the
persons running the offices did not pursue continuing funds. 
Board members have trouble meeting their own budgets, let alone
raising funds for the national one.  Also, all services for the
most part are competing for the same slice of the funding pie as
the national headquarters.
During my five years in radio reading, I've seen more than my
share of politicking and internal turmoil.  But times are
hopefully a-changing.  Past ARRS presidents were very strong
forces in ARRS and, for the most part, ran the organization
rather dictatorially.  (The Tape Exchange relocation is one
example.)  In 1987 the assembly of voting members of ARRS rallied
and successfully replaced some of the old core with new blood.
Can we put the illiteracy issue in its final resting place!  As
the program chair of last year's conference, I can assure you
that the illiteracy idea was put in front of the group by the
opening speaker, who really was advocating the need of this
service for the reading disabled (due to an organic reason).  No
consideration was ever given to including the illiterate by the
board of directors.
Finally, you are absolutely on target when you say that it's
ultimately the blind that will determine the success of radio
reading services.  At CRIS we raise thousands of dollars each
year from an On-Air Listening Fund Drive.  Some listeners have
found apartments and employment through CRIS's broadcasts of the
classified ads.  Others have enrolled in rehabilitation and
training programs featured on CRIS.  Certainly our listeners are
not in need of gadgets and a rocking chair, nor do we promote it
as such.  The whole concept of radio reading is to fill a need by
providing a segment of society with information to help them lead
lives that are more independent by knowing what is on sale at
their grocery or finding a joband fulfilling by having access to
editorial opinions or local activities that pique their interest. 
Hearing the newspaper is not important to some blind people,
while to others it is a true godsend.  The purpose of our
existence:  giving the blind the choice.  A choice that without
reading services they would not have.

Sincerely,
Julie Coleman
General Manager
Chicagoland Radio Information Service, Inc.
____________________
Newspapers for the Blind, Inc.
Burton, Michigan
March 17, 1988

Dear Dr. Jernigan:
Regarding your article on radio reading services in the
February-March issue of the Braille Monitor, I thought a response
to your essay might shed some additional light on the controversy
as well as afford me an opportunity to introduce readers of the
Braille Monitor to a remarkable new reading service for the blind
recently created in the state of Michigan with the direct
assistance and guidance of the National Federation of the Blind
of Michigan and the American Brotherhood for the Blind.
As a former broadcast journalist who has spent seventeen years in
radio news (both as a reporter and as a news director), I feel
qualified to make some basic observations about presenting
information to the public.
Perhaps the most important and basic point to make right off is
that the biggest gap in the availability of printed material for
the blind is current, so-called time sensitive information,
primarily newspapers.  Even though some sixty-five million
newspapers are sold in this country each and every dayand
provided free of charge as a community service through thousands
of public librariesnot one newspaper is produced in a format
accessible to the blind or physically disabled.  Access to
newspapers is generally considered to be a cornerstone of a free
society.  It follows then that anyone prohibited from using and
benefiting fully from the news, information, and opinions
contained in newspapers is likewise prohibited from participating
fully and effectively in the free exchange of ideas critical to a
healthy society.  On a more pragmatic level, anyone prohibited
from using and benefiting from access to newspapers is also
denied critical information about employment, education,
political participation, health care, recreation, personal and
family finances, to name just a few.
Which brings me to the concept of doing newspapers on radio.  As
you pointed out in your previous article on the subject, most
everything presented by radio reading services beyond daily
newspapers and other current information is duplicative to one
degree or another.  You also covered quite well the technical and
political problems facing radio reading services.  But there is
an additional much more fundamental problem with the idea of
broadcasting newspapers.  Newspapers are selective reading
material.  By that I mean what interests you as a readerwhether
it be sports or editorialsmay not interest me.  Newspapers are
designed to appeal to a wide range of interests, often
conflicting interests.  The individual reader is expected simply
to read what he chooses and skip the rest.
Radio on the other hand is passive and nonselective.  The user
has absolutely no control over what is read or when it is readand
there lies the dilemma.  Radio is a very poor medium for
presenting the lengthy and varied material in a newspaper that
virtually demands the ability to select individual sections and
items to be read.  It would take an estimated fifteen solid hours
of nonstop reading aloud to cover the contents of an average
daily newspaper.  And, of course, no one is going toas you put it
so well, Dr.  Jernigansit in a rocking chair with a gadget for
hours and hope someone reads something that interests them.
How have radio reading services responded to this dilemma? 
Generally speaking, by limiting reading of newspapers to about
one hour to an hour and a half at most.  That represents only
about ten percent of the content of each newspaper being read,
and that, in turn, means someone is doing the selecting for
youone size fits all.  One local radio reading service even has
the audacity to proudly promote the fact that it reads eight
local newspapers each day!  In reality what it provides is a
grand total of fifteen minutes of material from yesterday's
edition of each paper.  That is like saying, while flying nonstop
from New York to Los Angeles, you visited dozens of cities, when
all you really did was fly over them for a few seconds.
There is a better way.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this
letter, a new reading service has been created in Flint,
Michigan, with the guidance and assistance of the National
Federation of the Blind of Michigan.  The Newspapers for the
Blind concept is a completely different approach that highlights
instead of sidesteps the length and variety of the material
contained in local daily newspapers.  With recent advances in
computer and telecommunications technologies, it is now possible
to provide a spoken version of daily newspapers via telephone to
people unable to read regular print editions due to blindness or
physical handicaps.
Newspapers for the Blind, Inc., a nonprofit organization, has
successfully completed a one-year demonstration of the talking
newspaper concept.  Beginning February 9, 1987, and each day
thereafter Newspapers for the Blind has been providing a spoken
version of the local daily newspaper, The Flint Journal, to the
print-disabled residents of metropolitan Flint, Michigan
(population approximately 400,000).  This innovative service is
available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and
includes approximately eighty-five percent of the content of the
regular print edition of the newspaper.
The talking newspaper service is in fact the only system in the
nation providing print-handicapped people with on-demand access
to a local daily newspaper.  For the very first time ever, those
unable to read print are now able to read what they want from
local newspapers when they want.  It works this way:  Each day a
group of volunteer readers gather at the NFTB office and read
aloud the contents of the local newspaper.  Their voices are
recorded by a specially designed bank of digital recorders, which
in turn are connected to local telephone lines.  Nothing more
costly or complex than a common push-button telephone is needed
to use the talking newspaper.  When a print-handicapped
subscriber calls one of the digital units, the caller is first
asked to enter his or her code number.  (Each subscriber is given
an individual code number.  The talking newspaper is not
available to the general public.)  After the code number is
verified, the caller is then asked to enter the index number of
the section of the newspaper he or she would like to read.  (Each
section has a number.  For example, local news is number 12,
state news is number 13, and so on.)  The digital unit then
begins to play back the first item from that section of the
newspaper.  At any time the caller may choose to go on to the
next item in that section of the newspaper by simply pressing any
button on the telephone.  The user has total control, listening
to as little or as much of any item as he or she wishes. 
Virtually the entire newspaper is available, including such
things as grocery store inserts, help wanted listings, letters to
the editor, columnists, community calendars, and senior citizens
activity announcements.
Again, referring to your article, it is indeed nearly impossible
to gauge the usage of radio reading services, for as you pointed
out they only count the number of receivers distributed, not how
often they are used.  In contrast, Newspapers for the Blind
carefully counts every single call to the talking newspaper
systemsome 25,000 so far!  In a few weeks we hope to begin
serving the metropolitan Detroit area, and even though we have
not as yet publicized or promoted the talking newspaper service
in Detroit, we have received over one hundred unsolicited
requests for service.
Dr. Jernigan, the final sentences of your Braille Monitor article
bear repeating at this point:  The decision concerning the future
of radio reading (and here I will take the liberty of also
including our talking newspaper service) will be made by the
blind.  It will depend on whether they believe the program is
basic or peripheral, substance or fluff.  I couldn't agree more. 
It was with the strong encouragement of the NFB of Michigan that
we created Newspapers for the Blind and its talking newspaper
service in the first place, and it will only be with the clearly
demonstrated, ongoing support of the blind that it will continue
and expand to other communities.  Again, thank you for this
opportunity to address what is a most important issue facing the
blind community.

Sincerely,
James E. Doherty
Executive Director
Newspapers for the Blind, Inc.


THE PROMISE OF CYCLOSPORINE

The following has been condensed from The Promise of
Cyclosporine, an article by David L. Winter, M.D., Director of
Medical Research for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.  It appears in the
Winter, 1988, Voice of the Diabetic, the publication of the
Diabetics Division of the National Federation of the Blind.
Diabetes is the largest cause of new blindness in the United
States today.  It is characterized by deterioration of the
capillaries in the eyes and the kidneys, and while one can live
without eyesight, he or she cannot live without kidney function. 
Until recently the principal method of dealing with kidney
failure in the diabetic was dialysis, which is still widely used. 
Dialysis, which involves drawing the blood from the body through
a filter to extract the poisons and then sending the purified
blood back into the body, must be done at frequent intervals and
is a very debilitating and time-consuming process.  At best it is
a delaying action.  More recently, kidney transplants have been
attempted, and with increasing success.  One of the reasons for
this success has been the discovery of a drug (cyclosporine)
which keeps the body's immune system from rejecting the new
kidney.  Cyclosporine is comparatively new and is still quite
expensive.  However, it seems to offer great hope for the
diabetic and for others who need organ transplants.  Not only
have diabetics been helped by kidney transplants but also now, in
some instances, by pancreas transplants as well.  Since the
pancreas produces insulin and since the failure of the body
properly to produce and regulate insulin is the cause of
diabetes, the pancreas transplant program offers tremendous hope. 
Of course, cyclosporine has implications which go far beyond
diabetes.

In view of the increasing number of diabetics in the population
and the part which diabetes plays in causing blindness, it seems
appropriate to inform Monitor readers about cyclosporine, so here
is a brief summary and overview:

What is Cyclosporine?

Cyclosporine, a powerful, selective suppressor of the body's
immune response system, has transformed the field of organ
transplant surgery.  Like another revolutionary drug, penicillin,
cyclosporine was discovered quite by accident when a vacationing
scientist from Sandoz Limited in Switzerland gathered some soil
samples from a Norwegian fjord for company use.
Microbiologists at Sandoz found a new strain of fungi imperfecti. 
One of the samples that they discovered contained a material
which was active in killing other types of fungi.  Although the
discovery was interesting, the material was not considered to be
of any medical importance and was not actively explored.
In 1972 Jean Borel, a Sandoz biologist, re-examined the material
and found that there was some medical significance in it.  She
noticed the chemical properties of the material had an effect on
the immune system which suppressed it.  By 1974 the chemical
compound had been termed cyclosporine and had been shown to be an
effective immunosuppressant.  Most important was the discovery
that the drug was not toxic to bone marrow or cells in the body;
when cyclosporine is no longer administered, the white blood
cells which it suppresses resume their bodily functions.
Investigators began long-term studies and experiments with the
drug on animals in 1976.  The first studies on humans were
conducted in England, and the success there brought the drug to
American transplant centers.  In 1983 the drug was approved by
the U. S. Food and Drug Administration for general use in kidney,
liver, and heart transplantation.  The trade name for the drug is
Sandimmune.

What Does the Drug Do?

When a transplant is performed, a doctor places a donor organ
into the patient.  The organ is foreign to the patient's body,
and when it is placed there, it evokes a complex immune response. 
White blood cells are activated to kill the foreign invader. 
Most interesting is the complex procedure which leads to this
rejection of a foreign object.  There are many types of white
blood cells, and they all have a different function in this
process.
Lymphocytes are the cells which locate the foreign object and
insure that only the object is attacked.  Without these cells our
entire body might be rejected in an immune response.
Macrophages, polymorphonuclearleukocytes and monocytes are the
cells which initiate an attack on the invader and control the
intensity.
While the white blood cells are attacking the intruder, they
produce chemicals called antibodies.  Through the cooperation of
these antibodies and the other white blood cells, the immune
response is complete.
Rejection of a transplanted organ can be severe, or it can never
happen at all.  This can be affected by two factors:  If the
organ being transplanted is genetically similar to the body it is
being placed in (i.e. the organ is from a close relative or it is
tissue that has been removed from the patient and then replaced),
then there is less or even no chance of rejection.  The second
factor depends upon the immune response level of the patient.
Cyclosporine is important because it lowers the immune response
level of the patient by suppressing the white blood cells.  As
mentioned earlier, the added importance of the drug is that the
white blood cells start working again to protect the patient from
other intruders once cyclosporine is no longer administered.

How Much Has the Drug
Improved Survival Rates?

Controlled studies of kidney transplant patients were conducted
at major institutions in the U. S., Canada, and Europe between
1978 and 1982.  Patients were chosen at random to receive either
cyclosporine or azathioprine, a conventional immunosuppressant. 
The results from all trials were quite consistent: The
transplanted kidneys of patients receiving cyclosporine survived
significantly longer.  In addition, the patients experienced
fewer rejection episodes, fewer infectious complications, and
shorter hospital stays.  In combined averages from five studies
of patients on cyclosporine and azathioprine, those on
cyclosporine had a one-year transplant survival rate of eighty
percent compared with sixty-one percent for those on
azathioprine.  All transplants used kidneys from cadavers.
Today cyclosporine is widely considered the drug of choice for
kidney transplants.  By early 1985 more than 8,000 kidney
transplant patients had received cyclosporine.

Are There Side Effects?

In animal studies, cyclosporine produced only minor side effects. 
Nevertheless, the animal work failed to warn of a number of side
effects that appeared once the drug was tested in humans.
Kidney damage is the most significant side effect of the drug,
but it has been found that lower doses of cyclosporine can
eliminate the danger of any damage.
Liver damage affected some early transplant patients.  Once again
the dosage of the drug was lowered, and the problem decreased
sharply and is no longer considered a major concern.  Hirsutism,
or increased hair growth, appears in about one of four patients
taking the drug.  Overgrowth of the gums, high blood pressure,
and tremors have been noted in ten to thirty percent of patients.

What Is the Future of Cyclosporine?

Cyclosporine potentially represents the first in a new class of
drugs.  As an immunosuppressant, its activity is unique and will
certainly stimulate the research for other immunospecific agents. 
We can look forward to many more specialized immunosuppressive
drugs in the future.  It is hoped a form of cyclosporine may be
developed which will destroy parasites without suppressing the
entire immune system, leaving the patient vulnerable to other
infections.  The prospect of such achievements is extremely
exciting to the scientists working on cyclosporine today as well
as to the practitioners and beneficiaries of modern medicine.


LETTER FROM THE PHILIPPINES

Manila, Philippines
February 17, 1988

Dear Dr. Jernigan:
This is to thank you most heartily for the cassette tapes you
sent us of the highlights, including the main speeches at the
annual conventions of the U. S. National Federation of the Blind
together with cassette tapes and printed issues of The Braille
Monitor.  We started playing tape recordings of your national
conventions for the benefit of our trainees and workers, most of
whom are blind.  We recognized the familiar attitudes about
blindness that you and your crusading colleagues are fighting to
correct.  It may take much longer for us in this country to get
to where you are now in this worthy crusade.  We are a passive
people.  You may have heard how long we endured the abuses and
the lies of our greedy politicians.  But the hearing and reading
about your fruitful efforts may be a good start for us here.
Another idea that the materials you sent us is driving home is
the value of being a strong and united national federation in
achieving our goals.  A national conference of leaders of the
blind here scheduled for March may be an initial step in the move
toward a national federation of blind Filipinos.  When we finally
reach those distant goals for our blind that in America are
virtually within your grasp, we recognize that much of the
initial push came from excellent model that has come to us
through your recorded and printed materials.  We are also
indebted to the hospitality you have accorded to observers at
your conventions from the Philippines.
For all this and for the materials you have sent us, thank you
very much.

Very sincerely yours,
Amando R. Lerma
Executive Officer
Videre, Inc.

BACK DOOR POLITICS AND HIDDEN AGENDAS


As Monitor readers know, Justin Dart was fired as federal
Commissioner of Rehabilitation late in 1987, receiving what some
called a premature Christmas present.  His dismissal came in the
midst of a squabble between him and his boss, Madeleine Will,
Assistant Secretary for Special Educationf and Rehabilitative
Services in the U. S.  Department of Education.  As best anyone
could determine, the quarrel had to do with a power play for
position and authority.  The nation's rehabilitation
establishment (which had never shown much love for Dart)
apparently had even less for Willso the state directors and
others began to say that Dart was the greatest discovery since
apple pie.  President Reagan did not heed the clamor to reinstate
Dart.  The rehabilitation establishment has a strong (one might
almost say a controlling) voice in the affairs of the President's
Committee on Employment of the Handicapped.  In light of all of
this, the following news release has at least a modicum of
interest.  It leads one to interesting speculations about who
said what to whom and what they were really trying to accomplish
or whom they were trying to embarrass.  One also has to wonder
how President Reagan (if in the midst of summitry, Iran, the
contras, and such like he ever hears of the matter at all) will
feel about the awarding of the President's Trophy.  Ah, well,
rehabilitation always was a highly specialized business.  Here is
the news release:

Texan to Receive Presidential Award

For Release: a.m., Tuesday, March 15, 1988

Washington, D.C.The President's Committee on Employment of the
Handicapped today named Justin W. Dart, Jr., a well known
advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, as the 1988
Handicapped American of the Year.
Mr. Dart, disabled by polio at eighteen, will receive the
President's Trophy, America's highest honor given a person with a
disability, on May 4 during the Opening Session of the
Committee's three-day Annual Meeting at the Washington Hilton
Hotel in Washington, D.C.  The award will be presented by
Committee Chairman Harold Russell and a White House
representative.
The fifty-seven-year-old advocate won the award for his
continuous battle against the inequalities that people with
disabilities face and for his determination in overcoming his
disability.
Chairman Russell, in making the announcement, said he knew
personally of Justin's dedication to the democratic process and
his zeal for improving the lives of others.  I feel Justin is an
excellent choice to represent the potential and capability of
people with disabilities throughout our nation and the world.
Mr. Dart, formerly the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation
Services Administration, U. S. Department of Education, is
meeting with others interested in disability issues to devise
ways to mobilize and unite people with disabilities to fight
effectively for their rights.  He says that participating in the
campaign process and voting is one way to help increase the
quality of life for people with disabilities.
As Vice Chairperson of the National Council on the Handicapped
from 1982-1985, Mr. Dart was instrumental in writing Towards
Independence, a report from the National Council to the President
and Congress outlining the need of people with disabilities.
Before serving on the National Council, he was Chairman of the
Texas Governor's Committee for Persons with Disabilities
(1980-1985) and continues to serve as a member of the Texas
Council on Disabilities.
For more than thirty years Mr. Dart has been active in the human
and disability rights movement.  In the 1950's he organized the
first integration club at the then- segregated University of
Houston, promoted students' rights in Mexico, women's rights in
Japan, and disability rights throughout the United States,
Mexico, Japan, and Viet Nam.  Over the years, he and his wife
Yoshiko have opened their home to seventy-seven foster children,
many of them disabled, providing them with love and the
opportunity to advance through education and employment.
An astute businessman, he founded Japan Tupperware (a division of
Dart Industries, now Dart and Kraft) in 1963 and served as its
president until 1965.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, and a resident of Ft. Davis, Texas,
Mr. Dart received his B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University
of Houston and attended the University of Texas Law School.  He
has written papers on the philosophy and administration of
independent living programs.  Presently living in Washington,
D.C., Mr. Dart is a life member of the Ft. Davis Historical
Society and of Friends of Ft. Davis.  He has worked closely with
such independent living centers as the Westside Center for
Independent Living in Los Angeles, California; and the Center for
the Independence of the Disabled in New York.  He has been active
in numerous organizations such as the National Paraplegia
Foundation, the National Easter Seal Society, and American
Council of the Blind.
Mr. Dart has received many awards including the Meritorious
Services Award from the National Rehabilitation Association,
Southwest Region (1983), Outstanding Achievement Award from the
National Council on Independent Living (l984), and the Volunteer
of the Year Award from People-to-People Committee for the
Handicapped (1985).
The three-day annual meeting of the President's Committee is
expected to attract 4,000 participants, including people with
disabilities, from the United States and other countries.


THE BLIND GAIN INCLUSION IN THE
CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW AND THE SOUTHLAND
CORPORATION LEARNS ABOUT BLINDNESS
by Sharon Gold


One of the long-term goals of the National Federation of the
Blind has been the extension of equal protection to the blind
under civil rights laws.  In furtherance of this goal, the
National Federation of the Blind of California, in early 1986,
asked Elihu Harris, Chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee,
to introduce legislation to extend the California Civil Rights
Act to include protection for blind and disabled citizens. 
Assemblyman Harris agreed to provide help to the blind of
California through the National Federation of the Blind of
California and introduced this legislation which would prevent
discrimination against blind citizens residing in California when
engaging in business transactions, in the granting of franchises,
and in the purchasing of real estate.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 4260, passed through the Assembly
with a unanimous vote.  This legislation met with opposition when
it came before the California Senate Judiciary Committee.  The
Southland Corporation, owner of the nationwide chain of 7-Eleven
Stores, opposed the freedom of blind and disabled persons to
engage in the business of buying and operating a franchise.  On
July 3, 1986, Kathy Letterman, Zone Manager for 7-Eleven Stores
Zone 2219, wrote to Assemblyman Harris:
____________________
I write you today in opposition to A.B. 4260.  This bill would
force The Southland Corporation to accept any and all blind and
handicapped franchise applications.
The Southland Corporation and 7-Eleven Stores require in every
instance that the franchisee be an owner/operator.  That is, the
franchisee must have control of the store and it's (sic)
operation on a daily basis.  As you may be aware from your
conversations with Marc Aprea, you know that the 7-Eleven system
is a very complex one.  It requires an understanding and ability
to implement many different tasks.  Should A.B. 4260 be enacted,
denying an unqualified prospective franchisee on the basis of
blindness or physical disability would violate the Unruh Civil
Rights Act.  This would place The Southland Corporation, and
other franchisors that require owner/operator franchisees, in the
untenable position of having to choose between granting a
franchise to someone who is blind or physically disabled and
unqualified or violating the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
I do understand your very noble desire to ensure that the blind
and the handicapped are not unduly discriminated against. 
However, I hope that you will understand that handicapped and
blind people cannot operate a 7-Eleven Store and therefore would
be inappropriate.  It is for those reasons above that we must
oppose your legislation. ____________________
Following Kathy Letterman's letter, The Southland Corporation
sent its highly paid and influential lobbyist to visit California
legislators and to offer testimony against Assembly Bill 4260. 
The instruction to the lobbyist was to kill the bill.
In an effort amicably to resolve the problem, the National
Federation of the Blind of California attempted to communicate
with The Southland Corporation through Southland's President,
Jere Thompson:
____________________
Sacramento, California
August 6, 1986

Jere Thompson, President
The Southland Corporation
Dallas, Texas

Dear Mr. Thompson:
This letter will acknowledge and respond to the letter written to
the Honorable Elihu Harris of the California State Assembly from
Kathy Letterman, Zone Manager, 7-Eleven Zone 2219, Lafayette,
California, (copy enclosed) concerning California Assembly Bill
4260.
Assembly Bill 4260 is authored by Assemblyman Harris at the
request of the National Federation of the Blind of California for
the purpose of including the blind and disabled among those
classes of persons protected by the California Civil Rights Act. 
This legislation (copy enclosed) includes within it an amendment
to Section 51.8 of the California Civil Code prohibiting
discrimination against the blind and physically disabled in the
granting of franchises.
According to Ms. Letterman's letter, The Southland Corporation
and its 7-Eleven Stores discriminate against the blind and
physically disabled in the granting of franchises because the
corporation believes that the blind and physically disabled
cannot operate a 7-Eleven Store.  Thus, Ms. Letterman continues,
we must oppose your (Mr. Harris's) legislation.
Ironically, this letter from your corporation in opposition to AB
4260 is direct and incontrovertible testimony to the absolute
need for AB 4260.  It is both unfortunate and unconscionable that
in the 1980's a corporation such as The Southland Corporation,
with its nationwide franchise chain of 7-Eleven  Stores, would
engage in the practice of such blatant and unmasked prejudice and
discrimination.
In earlier times, the same letter might have been written in
response to legislation to equalize law and eliminate prejudice
and discrimination from the lives of women or blacks.  As it has
been said of the blind and physically disabled by The Southland
Corporation, so also has it been said before of women, blacks and
other minorities that the system (7-Eleven Stores) is a very
complex one.  It requires an understanding and ability to
implement many different tasks  denying an unqualified
prospective franchisee on the basis of blindness or physical
disability would violate the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Surely, The Southland Corporation cannot seriously think that
blind persons are incapable of dealing with complexities. 
Surely, The Southland Corporation cannot seriously think that
blind persons are incapable of dealing with the implementation of
different tasks.  And, surely, The Southland Corporation cannot
seriously think that the inclusion of blind people in the Civil
Rights Act would mean that blindness, in and of itself, would
automatically make the prospective franchisee qualified to own
and operate a franchise.
The prohibition of discrimination against women, blacks, and
other ethnic and racial minorities, which is currently contained
within the Civil Rights Act, does not make the presence of
womanhood, or skin color, or ethnic descent, or religious
affiliation the qualifying factor for becoming a franchisee.  It
is, therefore, ludicrous to suggest that to be blind is to be
qualified.  On the other hand, it is equally ludicrous to suggest
that to be blind is to automatically become an unqualified
prospective franchisee.  Today, blind persons own, operate,
manage, and work in every type of business, concession, or
profession imaginable.  Blindness does not stop us, but the
attitude of corporations like The Southland Corporation does. 
Like sighted people, we dare to hope and dream of success and
prosperity and, like sighted people, we seek opportunity to
exhibit our abilities.
Often prejudice and discrimination against the blind arise out of
ignorance.  Perhaps The Southland Corporation is ignorant of the
qualified blind business persons who are self-employed or manage
businesses for others.  Such highly motivated and successful
blind persons are assets to a corporation such as The Southland
Corporation.  Deliberately to eliminate a prospective franchisee
because he or she happens to be blind is to run the risk of
denying the corporation a valuable asset.
Whether Ms. Letterman's letter is written out of ignorance or
whether The Southland Corporation really practices such blatantly
prejudiced attitudes toward the blind, I trust that you will
think about this letter and reconsider the position of The
Southland Corporation expressed by Ms.  Letterman in her letter
concerning Assembly Bill 4260.
I shall appreciate hearing from you regarding this matter.

Very truly yours,
Sharon Gold, President
National Federation of the Blind
of California
____________________
Mr. Thompson declined to respond to this letter.  Despite the
influence of the National Federation of the Blind of California
and Assemblyman Harris, it was apparent that the disagreement
over this legislation would result in its demise.  Therefore, at
the request of the National Federation of the Blind of
California, Assemblyman Harris withdrew Assembly Bill 4260.
One of the assets of the National Federation of the Blind is our
ability to organize and demonstrate our collective strength. 
What affects the blind in California affects the blind across the
nation.  Working hand in hand, our state affiliates provide
strength to each other and assistance in the time of need. 
United, our affiliates provide a front which is changing what it
means to be blind across the entire nation.
The National Federation of the Blind of California contacted
other NFB affiliates which were planning Fall conventions.  Our
Illinois affiliate, Stephen Benson, President, and our Maryland
affiliate, Sharon Maneki, President, responded by adopting
resolutions speaking to The Southland Corporation and its
7-Eleven Stores concerning prejudice and discriminatory behavior. 
These affiliates planned to submit the resolutions to the local
news media.
Before the Maryland and Illinois resolutions could be
implemented, the media blitz, which was going on in California,
got the attention of The Southland Corporation.  Pete Dexter, a
nationally known writer and political columnist for The
Sacramento Bee, wrote an article concerning the opposition of
Southland to Assembly Bill 4260.  Other articles appeared in
newspapers including The San Francisco Chronicle, which began by
saying:  7-Eleven, the country's largest chain of convenience
stores, is fighting an attempt to allow blind and physically
handicapped people to own and run its stores.
In early October of 1986 The Southland Corporation requested a
meeting with representatives of the National Federation of the
Blind of California.  We agreed to meet but only if The Southland
Corporation President, Jere Thompson, attended the meeting or
sent an official designee who could engage in binding
policymaking decisions for the Corporation.
On October 15, 1986, a meeting was held in the law office of
Assemblyman Harris in Oakland.  Attending this meeting were
representatives of The Southland Corporation, including Michael
Click of Dallas, Texas, the official designee to the meeting by
the President of The Southland Corporation, and two California
based representatives of The Southland Corporation.  Also present
were Assemblyman Harris and members of his staff.  Members of the
National Federation of the Blind of California attending the
meeting were Sharon Gold, President; First Vice President James
Willows; Todd Elzey, President of the NFB of the Bay Area; and
Sheryl Pickering.
The purpose of the meeting was to resolve Southland's opposition
to Assembly Bill 4260.  For more than an hour, we discussed
blindness and the abilities of blind business persons.  Before
the meeting ended, Mr. Click had promised the California
Federationists and Assemblyman Harris that The Southland
Corporation would provide total support for legislation similar
to Assembly Bill 4260 for the 1986-1987 legislative year.  As a
part of this meeting, Mr. Click accepted an invitation to visit
the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore and agreed that,
in the future, The Southland Corporation would rely on the
National Federation of the Blind as a consultant on blindness.
On November 11 and 12, 1986, Mr. Click met with Dr. Jernigan and
NFB of California President Sharon Gold at the National Center
for the Blind, where Mr. Click gained more insight into the
abilities of blind persons in the business world.  Mary Ellen
Reihing, Assistant Director of Job Opportunities for the Blind
(JOB), took him on a tour of the Center.  Mr.  Click saw movies
on blindness and heard banquet speeches delivered by Dr.
Jernigan.  He spent an evening at Dr.  Jernigan's home with Dr.
Jernigan, Mrs. Jernigan, and Sharon Gold, where many hours were
spent discussing blindness.  At the conclusion of his stay in
Baltimore Mr. Click was an enthusiastic supporter.  In fact, Mr.
Click said that he had never met a blind person until the October
15 meeting, when he met with California Federationists.  He
promised that Southland would afford fair and equal treatment to
blind persons when interviewing for jobs at Southland and when
being considered as prospective franchisees.
On January 6, 1987, Assembly Bill 4260 was reintroduced into the
California Legislature by Assemblyman Harris as Assembly Bill
181.  Assembly Bill 181 had overwhelming support, with
thirty-four co-authors from the Assembly and thirteen from the
Senate.  The Southland Corporation made clear the withdrawal of
its opposition to the inclusion of the blind and disabled in the
Civil Rights Law.  In a letter dated March 18, 1987, to
Assemblyman Elihu Harris, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on
the Judiciary, the Southland Corporation made clear the
withdrawal of its opposition to the inclusion of the blind and
disabled in the Civil Rights law:
____________________
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide you Southland's
support on Assembly Bill 181.
The Southland Corporation is the oldest and largest operator and
franchisor of convenience stores, having pioneered the
convenience store concept in the 1920's.  Currently there are
approximately 8,000 7-Eleven stores in the United States serving
seven million customers a day.  We have over 1,200 7-Eleven
stores in California.  Approximately 1,100 of those stores are
operated by local independent franchisees.  Southland is
committed to fairness and opportunity irrespective of race,
color, religion, sex, national origin or blindness or other
physical disability.  Southland's employment and franchise
practices and policies are unquestionably clear on that point.
Our position of support on A.B. 181 is an extension of and
consistent with those policies and practices.  So long as a
prospective franchisee meets the qualifications and standards of
the franchisor (financial, technical, business experience, etc.),
we do not believe that any franchisor should discriminate against
individuals solely because of their blindness or physical
disability.  Our only concern is to assure that franchisees have
the opportunity to succeed in the operation of their franchise.
Thank you again for providing me this opportunity to support A.B.
181.
Kindest personal regards.

Sincerely,
Marc A. Aprea
Senior Government Affairs Representative
Western Region
The Southland Corporation
____________________
As Assembly Bill 181 moved through the legislative process,
members of the National Federation of the Blind of California
worked diligently to increase the momentum and support for this
legislation.  The California School Employees Association, the
California Teachers Association, and the Disabled in State
Services were among the other organizations which wrote letters
in support of Assembly Bill 181, while the California Association
of Affirmative Action Officers asked to co-sponsor the
legislation.
At the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee which
considered Assembly Bill 181, the National Federation of the
Blind of California was proud to have the Office of the
California Attorney General and the Committee on Human Rights of
the State Bar of California stand with us in testifying for this
legislation.
On July 14, 1987, George Deukmejian, Governor of the State of
California, signed Assembly Bill 181 into law and filed this
legislation with the Secretary of State, who chaptered the bill
as Chapter 159 of the California Statutes of 1987.  Several
months have now passed since this antidiscrimination bill became
law.  More important than the adoption of the legislation itself
was the contact with and education of the officials of the
Southland Corporation.  This is a prime example of the National
Federation of the Blind at work, doing its job to make life
better for the blind and open new opportunities to them.  There
are 7-Eleven stores throughout the nation, and it is now time for
interested and qualified blind persons to begin to consider
seeking franchises.  The way is open, and it happened because of
the coordinative and determined effort of the National Federation
of the Blind.


SOCIAL SECURITY: EMPHASIS ON VENDORS,
BUT FACTS EVERY BLIND PERSON SHOULD KNOW
by James Gashel

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program pays
monthly cash benefits to people under age sixty-five who have
worked a sufficient amount of time in Social Security- covered
employment or self-employment, provided they are blind or
disabled under the law.  Licensed vendors in the
Randolph-Sheppard program are presumably blind under the Social
Security Act since the definition of blindness used in both laws
(Randolph-Sheppard and Social Security) is identical.  However,
that does not mean that every blind vendor automatically
qualifies for an SSDI check.
This article is written to respond to the many questions which
continue to arise from vendors or persons assisting them in
determining their potential eligibility for SSDI checks.  In many
respects the circumstances under which vendors operate and
receive their income are unique and have unique implications that
must be understood to deal effectively with Social Security
issues.  Social Security personnel can apply the requirements of
the law correctly only if we are able to give them the facts they
need to evaluate income and earnings.  This is particularly
important for vendors and their advocates.  However, many of the
facts and concepts presented here apply to all blind persons in
dealing with Social Security.  Nevertheless, we will highlight
the particular considerations that apply in the case of vendors.

Being Fully Insured

For the blind there are three principal eligibility factors which
are necessary to entitle an individual to receive SSDI benefits:
blindness, being fully insured, and having stopped doing
substantial work.  For those who are not blind, there is a fourth
requirement, being recently insured.  You need to have worked the
required time under Social Security-covered employment or
self-employment.  The amount of past work required of any blind
person is a matter of individual determination, depending on when
the person became age twenty-one and the year in which blindness
began, or (if blind before or while working) the year in which
the person stopped doing substantial work.  For blind people who
became age twenty- one in 1950 or later, quarters of coverage are
calculated as follows: one quarter is needed for each year
elapsing after the year age twenty-one was attained, up to and
including the year before the person became blind or stopped
doing substantial work, whichever occurred later.  For blind
people who became age twenty-one before 1950, the years that are
counted to have enough quarters of coverage begin with 1951 up to
the year before blindness or the loss of substantial work
occurred, whichever came later.  It is not required that quarters
of coverage be earned in any particular year.  It is only that
the number of quarters (regardless of when earned) needs to total
the number of years required for each individual.  Younger people
who became blind or stopped doing substantial work in their
twenties, for example, can qualify with as few as six quarters,
but no less.  Older people will need substantially more quarters.
Any blind person who has enough quarters of coverage as described
here is called fully insured.  The Social Security Administration
will tell you how many quarters of coverage you have.  During
1988 a quarter of coverage is credited for earnings of $470.00
received during a calendar quarter.  Four quarters are credited
with earnings of $1,880.00 for the calendar year 1988, regardless
of when the money is earned during the year.  The amount needed
to earn quarters of coverage for 1989 or later years will be
higher.  Increases take effect each January.

Being Recently Insured

Being blind and being fully insured are the first two important
eligibility conditions for SSDI checks.  Disabled people who are
not blind must also meet a third condition, which is called
recently insured.  They must have worked enough to earn quarters
of coverage in at least twenty out of the most recent forty
quarters.  This means that a substantial number of their quarters
of coverage must have been earned during at least five  out of
the most recent ten years.  Social Security personnel sometimes
erroneously apply this recent work requirement to blind people. 
But remember, the blind need only be fully insured, not recently
insured.

Substantial Work

What does it mean when we say that a blind person has stopped
doing substantial work?  In addition to blindness and being fully
insured, not doing substantial work is the third principal
condition of eligibility for SSDI if you are blind.  Generally,
any blind person whose countable income is less than $700.00 per
month in 1988 is not doing substantial work.  The amount of time
spent at work and the amount of actual labor or management work
done does not count.  Only income is evaluated in the case of
blind people applying for SSDI benefits.  Seven hundred dollars
is the monthly amount allowed for countable income during 1988. 
In 1989 (and beginning in January of each succeeding year) the
monthly amount allowed will increase.  The law requires this
annual adjustment.

Countable Income

All income is not necessarily countable income. Your real income
before taxes may be much higher than $700.00 per month (or the
higher monthly amount allowed during any year after 1988). 
Deductions to reach countable income may bring the income below
the monthly amount allowed.  If someone helps out in a vending
business but is not paid, the reasonable value of the unpaid help
should be deducted from the vendor's income to reach countable
income.  The unpaid help is a bonus that must be subtracted to
find the vendor's countable income.  The vending machine income
that some vendors receive from machines that they do not operate
or service should also be subtracted to reach countable income. 
This money does not reflect the level of the vendor's work
activity.  The vending machine income is entirely excluded
because it is a subsidy.  But that is not true of income from
vending machines that the blind vendor services.  It must be
counted.
Unincurred business expenses are another form of subsidy that
must be excluded from real income to reach countable income. 
Although space for the vending facility is provided without
charge in most instances, the value of the space is an unincurred
business expense.  Without the contribution of the space, the
vendor would have to pay the cost; so the free space artificially
inflates the vendor's income.  Its value should then be
subtracted from the vendor's real (before taxes) income.  The
building management should be able to provide an estimate of the
charge per square foot if the space had to be rented.  Free
utilities are also an unincurred business expense.  Their value
can be determined.  It is the amount of the utility costs (even
though the vendor does not pay them) that should be subtracted
from the vendor's income.
Impairment-related work expenses should also be considered and
subtracted from the vendor's income.  Paid help for clerical
assistance, reading, driving, and other services of a work- and
impairment-related nature can be deducted to determine countable
income.  Buying devices that are blindness-related and used in
part (or entirely) for work is another form of impairment-related
work expense.  Monthly installment payments on accounts for
equipment purchases can be subtracted to reach countable income. 
So can care of a dog guide or the purchase of some medications. 
Special transportation services, such as taxi fares when public
transit is not available or cannot be used, are also deductible. 
Impairment-related work expenses can actually be any costs
resulting from blindness and necessary (at least in part) for
work.
In sum, real (before taxes) income is not necessarily countable
income, especially in the case of blind vendors.  The Social
Security Administration is only interested in identifying
countable income and will exclude other income that is not an
accurate measurement of work.  The exclusions include any
subsidies, the reasonable value of unpaid help, unincurred
business expenses, and impairment-related work expenses.  Once
these standard deductions have been made, countable income that
is below $700.00 per month during 1988 (or a greater amount
beginning in 1989 and increasing each year thereafter) will not
be called substantial gainful work.  If countable income is above
the monthly amount allowed after all of the deductions have been
made, substantial gainful work has been achieved, and eligibility
for SSDI checks will stop after a trial work period is over.  The
trial work period will normally be over if there have been
earnings of $75.00 in any month for nine months, not necessarily
consecutive months.
Social Security Disability Insurance is insurance, not welfare. 
You have to earn entitlement by working and paying in during
enough calendar quarters.  Once you meet the eligibility
conditions, benefits can then be paid.  Being poor is not one of
the conditions.  Rich people also qualify for Social Security. 
The question of whether one agrees or disagrees is not really
relevant.  The law is the law.  While the Social Security Act is
not everything that it might be, the work incentives we have won
give blind people the opportunity to get a foothold and begin to
support themselves without abrupt termination of their Social
Security benefits.  Whatever one may think of the law, it is
certainly better for the blind than it used to be.  And the blind
are not now lumped with other groups of the disabled, something
which resulted from NFB efforts.  Disabled people who are not
blind can only earn $300.00 per month before their SSDI checks
are terminated.  Moreover, they have a much harder time than the
blind in establishing initial eligibility for benefits.
In numbers there is strength, but numbers alone are not enough. 
Knowledge and concerted action are also required.  The National
Federation of the Blind is a force to be reckoned with.  It grows
stronger each day.  What would life for the blind of this nation
be like if the National Federation of the Blind did not exist,
and never had existed?


HOWARD BARTON'S CONTACT WITH SOCIAL SECURITY

Howard Barton is the administrator of the Idaho Commission for
the Blind. In 1985 he contacted federal officials to complain
about Social Security policies concerning the earnings of blind
vendors.  We learned of this contact by obtaining a copy of a
memorandum from the regional office of Social Security in Seattle
to the headquarters office of Social Security in Baltimore. 
Barton and others may some day learn that they cannot act against
the blind without our learning about it.
Barton complained that blind vendors are allowed to deduct from
their monthly earnings the value of any unincurred business
expenses.  The unincurred deductible costs in question include
free rent and free utilities.  These services (rent and
utilities) are contributed to the vendors and, thereby, increase
their income over what it would otherwise be.  Barton was upset
that blind vendors in some instances continue to receive Social
Security Disability Insurance benefits while they are working. 
He complained that the Idaho Commission cannot claim
reimbursement for rehabilitating these vendors.  Therefore, he
wanted the Social Security Administration to stop their
disability insurance checks.  Then the Idaho Commission for the
Blind could be paid for providing rehabilitation to them. 
Officials of the Social Security Administration in Baltimore
responded to Barton's challenge by defending the policy of
deducting unincurred business expenses since that is what the law
requires.  The idea of Social Security is not to limit an
individual's income.  Even very rich people can and do receive
Social Security Disability Insurance or retirement benefits. 
Actual earnings are measured.  Then those actual earnings are
used by Social Security to determine a blind person's ability to
work.  But only actual earnings are used.  When earnings are
inflated by subsidies (free rent and free utilities, for
example),  the inflated portion of the earnings must be
identified and excluded.  This is the only way that Social
Security can fairly and legally measure a blind person's work
activity and the actual value of the work.  Subsidies must be
discounted, whether Howard Barton likes it or not.
It is interesting to reflect upon Barton's motives and
behaviorupon what he was trying to do and why.  As a group, the
blind of this country are far more unemployed, underemployed, and
economically disadvantaged than administrators of rehabilitation
agencies.  Those administrators are employed for the specific
purpose of helping the blind improve their economic condition. 
Yet, here is an administrator who is not only willing but
actively engaged in an attempt to reduce the income of an entire
segment of the blind population.  And why?  For the noble and
unselfish purpose of making his statistics look better.  And, of
course, it was done secretly and without fanfare.
Still, there are those who keep telling us that there is no need
for a watchdog organization, a National Federation of the Blind. 
After all, they say, how could there possibly be any difference
in the objectives of the agencies established to serve the blind
and the blind themselves?  Let's get together.  Aren't we all
working for the same thing?
To which we answer:  Sometimes, and with some of you.  Meanwhile
we will keep our independence, our alertness, and our watchdog
posture.  We will work cooperatively with those individuals and
agencies that are truly interested in the well-being of the
blindand we will deal with the others as we should.


SOCIAL SECURITY AND TRIAL WORK: FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW by James
Gashel

An inquiry from a woman in Rupert, Idaho, brought home to me the
need to explain the Social Security policy on trial work.  She
said she was calling for her husband.  He is blind and receives
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.  She asked:
Can he work?
The caller said she had asked someone at the Social Security
office the same question.  Her husband had been offered a job as
a dispatcher.  It would be part-time work during the holidays. 
He expected to work three weeks, all in one month.  For this he
would be paid $660.  He had never worked before while receiving
SSDI benefits.  How, she asked, would the temporary work affect
his checks, or would it?  That was the question the caller had
raised with the Social Security office.
But the answer she got from someone at the Social Security office
was troubling to her.  She said she was told that her husband
definitely could not work.  If he did, his checks would stop, or
so she had understood.  She asked me to comment on the answer and
help her set the matter straight.  Could her husband work?
In the circumstances I have just described, the caller from Idaho
and her husband would not need to worry.  Working would not stop
the checks.  The work in question, with earnings of $660 or more,
would only be counted as one month of trial work.  That's all.
The rule is that a month of trial work is counted when earnings
from the work are $75 or more.  The trial work months need not be
consecutive.  Nine months of earnings over $75 will be evaluated
to see whether a beneficiary is able to perform substantial
gainful activity. Applying this rule, it is possible to use up an
entire trial work period even though earnings may be intermittent
and relatively low.  Then, if a real job comes along, the
beneficiary may be surprised to learn that all of his or her
trial work months have been used.  In the example from Idaho,
that would be the only disadvantage of accepting the dispatching
job.  Otherwise, working would have no actual effect at all on
the continuation of the checks or on their amount.
Something else you should know: After nine months of trial work
have been used, the beneficiary who continues to work is still
entitled to receive at least three more checks.  These cover the
tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months after work first begins. 
Remember, the first nine months may be interrupted by short or
long gaps between periods of work.  After the twelfth month of
work, entitlement to benefits is suspended if the work continues
to represent substantial gainful activity.  In the case of anyone
who is blind, substantial gainful activity will not be found if
earnings are less than $700 per month during 1988.  (See other
articles in this issue.)  This monthly amount increases each
year, beginning in January.  Benefits will continue indefinitely
after the twelfth month and beyond for any blind beneficiary who
is earning less than $700 per month of countable income.
Blind people who earn more than the monthly amount allowed cannot
receive checks after the twelfth month of trial work.  However,
if work stops (or earnings fall below the monthly amount allowed)
any time during a thirty-three-month period (after the first
twelve months of work), benefit reinstatement is automatic.
When someone at the Social Security office says that you cannot
work, it helps to understand the context of the answer.  It
really means that you cannot continue to perform substantial
gainful activity after twelve months of trial work.  Anyone who
can perform substantial gainful activity is working, according to
Social Security.  Anyone who cannot perform substantial gainful
activity is not working, and is (according to Social Security
rules) unable to work.  But in the real world, outside of the
rules of Social Security, you can work and have earnings of any
amount during a trial work period of twelve months and up to $700
per month of countable income thereafter (at least in 1988). 
Higher earnings will be allowed in 1989.  Those are the facts.


SPORTSWRITER GETS RESPONSE
by Kenneth Jernigan


Steve Bisheff is a sportswriter for the Orange County,
California, Register.  His columns are snide, cutsie, and without
much content.  It is hard to see why the newspaper continues to
keep him on since surely most people would not be annoyed or
amused but just bored by his writing and would turn to something
else.
But in his February 20, 1988, column Bisheff struck a spark, one
that he probably never expected.  In the midst of would- be
sophisticated and humorous comments about the Winter Olympics in
Calgary he said this:

The most heart-rendering medal ceremony of the Games has been for
the blind skiers.  It was done in Braille.

Under date of March 31, 1988, I received the following letter
from Dr. Owen Clayton, a Federationist from California:
____________________
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
Enclosed are two clippings from the Orange County Register.  One
is a sports column by sports writer Steve Bisheff, published
February 20, 1988, and the other is my response.  Apparently
William Buckley isn't the only writer to put his foot in his
mouth when commenting on the capabilities of blind athletes. 
Though, to be sure, Bisheff is not intellectually in Buckley's
league.
I would like to call on all Federationists who are also competing
blind athletes to deluge Bisheff (c/o Sports Department, Orange
County Register, Post Office Box 11626, Santa Ana, California
92711) with letters of testimony on the breadth of athletic
competition among the blind and the various adaptive methods used
therein, and information on where he can see blind athletes in
competition, the better to strengthen his easily rent heart for
the next time he puts his foot in his mouth.

Sincerely,
Owen G. Clayton, Ph.D.
____________________
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
February 28, 1988

Bisheff Comment on Blind Skiers
Is Way off Course

Dear Editor:
Will somebody please remove Steve Bisheff's foot from his
mouth again?
I refer to comments in his (February 20) column about an Olympic
medal ceremony for blind skiers being heart- rendering and done
in Braille.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering his snide remarks
several weeks ago twitting 70-year-old Greeks Al Campanis and
Jimmy Snyder for their tasteless remarks about the capabilities
of blacks in sports.  Being legally blind from birth, I cannot
let the present comment go without a rebuttal.
I suppose if one had no idea that blind people could ski let
alone ski competitivelyone would get a lump in one's throat at
seeing blind skiers awarded Olympic medals.  But Bisheff
compounds his ignorance by going on to say that the ceremony was
done in Braille.  I have no idea what he meant by that.
Braille is a writing system, and (to my knowledge), having
watched Olympic medal award ceremonies before, the giving out of
written certifications is not a part of them.  Thank heaven we
were spared an account of how the blind skiers made it onto and
off of the victors' platform.  (I suppose they used white canes
or dog guides, as most independent blind people do; come to think
of it, some of those skiers might have been less than totally
blind, since the definition in law of blindness covers vision
ranging from the abysmal to the nonexistent.)
Bisheff should be made aware that there are athletically inclined
and capable blind people out there, who have to make only minor
adjustments (as by using a buddy system in skiing or golf) to
compete comparably with the sighted.  He should ask around and
seek some of them out.  He might learn something, and now would
not be too soon to start.

Owen G. Clayton
Mission Viejo


ON THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE
What Parents And Children Need To Know
About Blindness And Independence
by Barbara Cheadle

In the movie, Places In The Heart, Sally Field is a widow trying
to hold on to her little farm during the depression of the
1930's. Early in the movie, she is persuaded by the banker who
holds the mortgage on her land to take in his war-blinded brother
as a boarder.  The banker assures her that his blind brother,
Will, can pay his own way (he canes chairs and makes brooms) and
won't bother or interfere with her household in any way.
As the movie unfolds, Will gradually becomes accepted as a
contributing member of the household. He rescues Sally's daughter
when an approaching tornado blows a tree branch into the little
girl's upstairs room. When harvest time comes and the push is on
to win the prize money for the first bale of cotton picked in the
county (without the prize money Sally will lose her farm), Will
takes over the kitchen chores. We see him baking corn bread,
cooking on the stove, and snapping green beans. The dialogue even
suggests that he is a better cook than Sally.  Furthermore, he
actually gains some mobility through a system of clotheslines
strung from the house to the cotton fieldsa system he uses to run
and warn Sally that the truckloads of cotton pickers from the
south have arrived to pick her neighbors' cotton.  For the time
and circumstances, Will seems to be quite independent. He has
work and therefore his own source of income.  He demonstrates
competence in an emergency, and he pulls his own weight in
household responsibilities. But is he really independent?
In one tension-filled scene Sally Field is trying to convince
Will and Rosie (the black farm hand) that going all out to win
the prize money is the only way to save the farm.  Without malice
(only speaking a truth that everyone already knows) she tells
Will that if she loses the farm, it is the home (institution) for
him.
And she's right. For all his independence Will ultimately has no
control over his own destiny. He is blind.  Though he can pay his
own way, it is someone else (his brother) who will determine his
fate. If Sally Field can achieve financial security (keep the
farm), then she has won her independence. That's not so for Will.
He is blind.  Independence for the blind, then, is more than a
matter of skills, personal competence, or even financial security
(though these have their place). Independence is control. 
Independence is an attitude. Independence is opportunity.  On
Saturday, July 2, 1988, at the National Federation of the Blind
convention at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Wacker Drive in Chicago
we will be hosting our seventh National Seminar for parents of
blind children. The theme will be, On the Road to Independence:
What Parents and Children Need to Know About Blindness And
Independence.
We will specifically focus on how parents can help their children
grow in independenceand, for that matter, what independence is.
We will discuss what skills are needed for independence and how
we can learn them and teach them (or see that others teach them)
to our children. We will talk about how we can foster a spirit of
independence in blind children of all agestoddlers to teen-agers
(i.e.  getting your children to speak up for themselves and solve
their own problems.) The role the NFB has played in creating
opportunities for independence for blind children will be
examined in light of what it means to our blind child.  College
students from the NFB Student Division will be there to talk
about what helped or hindered them when they left home for the
first time. We will also focus on the problems blind parents
encounter as they guide their sighted children toward
independence, problems our own children will someday face. The
agenda obviously has appeal to blind teen-agers, and even mature
children of eleven or twelve. If your teen- ager or older child
is coming with you, then plan for him or her to participate in
the seminar with you. It will be a good experience for the whole
family.
For your younger children (ages five through ten) we are planning
an all-day field trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  (The children may
also take a side trip to a nearby children's museum.) For
children ten and older, we will have organized adult supervision
for walking trips to one or more of the following: Planetarium,
Shedd Aquarium, and Museum of Natural History. There will be some
cost for these trips, and pre-registration is required.  Children
who are not pre- registered will be taken only on a
space-available, first- come, first-served basis.  For
information about pre- registration or other matters concerning
the seminar contact:  Mrs. Debbie Hamm, Secretary, Parents of
Blind Children Division, 747 West Pilger, Roseburg, Oregon 97470. 
Telephone (503) 673-5510.
Child care will also be available during the Saturday seminar,
during the regular convention sessions, and during the evening of
the banquet. A set fee is not charged for this service, but we do
ask that parents make donations to cover the costs.  We hire
qualified child-care workers to supervise the children and the
volunteer aides.
The registration fee for the seminar is $8.00 per family.  This
entitles the family to a print or tape subscription to Future
Reflections, our magazine for parents of blind children, and to
membership in the NFB Parents of Blind Children Division.
Pre-register, and save yourself that long wait in the
registration line.  When the seminar breaks at noon, you will be
on your own for lunch. There are a number of restaurants and fast
food places within easy distance of the hotel, so this should not
present any problems either in terms of time or finances.
Activities for parents at the National Federation of the Blind
Convention will not end on Saturday with the workshop.  An
Individualized Education Program (IEP) Workshop will be held on
the following Tuesday (July 5) evening from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00
p.m.  We had an excellent workshop and turnout for this program
last year. We anticipate doing as well, or even better, this
year.
The annual meeting of the NFB Parents of Blind Children Division
will be held Monday afternoon, July 4. At the business meeting we
will hear reports from our state and local parent chapters and
divisions. Last year many parents were disappointed that we did
not have enough time to hear from all the groups. We will attempt
to hear from all this year. We will also elect officers, discuss
old and new projects, and take up any other business we have. For
example, the status of efforts of NFB affiliates to pass
legislation providing for the opportunity for legally blind
children to learn Braille will certainly be on the agenda.  The
blind have come a long way on the road to independence since the
depression days depicted in the movie Places In the Heart. The
National Federation of the Blind has been the key element in
making it happen.
Come to the 1988 National Federation of the Blind convention, the
seminar for parents of blind children, and all of the other
meetings and activities at the Hyatt Regency Chicago from July 2
to July 9, and learn what you can do to help your blind child
achieve true independence.


GAME AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER AVAILABLE TO THE BLIND

(From the Editor: Some time early this year Mr. Ronald Morford,
President of Automated Functions, Inc., came to my office to show
me a computer game for the blind.  He asked that the Monitor
carry an article about it, and I told him we would be glad to
consider it.  Since there are those who persist in saying that I
make a virtue of claiming computer illiteracy, I will only say
that my success with the game was indifferent, short-lived, and
thoroughly unspectacular.  However, I must go on to say that I
found it interesting and believe many people would enjoy it
immensely.  Be that as it may, the blind of the nation should
know about it. Therefore, here in edited form is the article
which Mr. Morford submitted to me for publication.  Incidentally,
he says he will be at the national convention in Chicago to
demonstrate his product.)

A new game center enables a visually impaired person to play
highly interactive talking games.  The game center is a regular
typing keyboard with a slot in its right side.  Plastic
cartridges are slipped into the slot, and the fun begins.  All of
the games talk, and many use sound effects.  The games have
different levels of difficulty.  In this way they do not become
boring.  The game center is called Game and Educational Machine
(GEM).  The system weighs only two pounds and is fourteen by ten
by three inches.
The games come on plastic cartridges, which are the size of an
audio cassette.  GEM uses both speech and sounds for games.  Any
regular television set may be connected to receive visual output. 
The visual output enables blind and sighted people to play
together.  [The Editor interpolates that it is also possible for
sighted people to play by sound, but back to Mr. Morford's
article.]  The visual output does not give any advantage to the
sighted player.  Unless the visual output is wanted, GEM requires
no television set.
GEM sells for $399.00, which includes the game system and an
introductory cartridge.  The games sell for between $29.00 and
$40.00 each.  Typical games are: Tug of War, Monster Shoot,
Submarine Hunt, Bowling, Casino, Wheel of Fortune, Concentration,
and others.  Some of the games challenge your memory, while
others depend on your quickness and ability to react to different
sounds.  The games can be played with other people or alone.
GEM also has educational cartridges.  These include a talking
scientific calculator, a math tutor, states and capitals, nations
and capitals, and more.
GEM is produced by and available from Automated Functions, Inc.,
6424 North 28th Street, Arlington, Virginia 22207.  Phone
703-536-7741.  In order to hear a demonstration of the GEM
Bowling game call the number listed.
COMMENTS ON MAX RAFFERTY, RICHARD HOOVER, AND FATHER CARROLL
From the Editor: As Monitor readers know from long experience,
the letters we receive in the National Office of the NFB are many
and varied.  It is not necessary for the Monitor Editor to agree
or disagree with what a letter says to print it.  It is only
necessary that the letter be instructive or interestingor, in the
alternative, entertaining.  Sometimes, of course, a letter has
the virtue of demonstrating all three characteristics.  With that
introduction here is a letter.  The reader may classify it
according to his or her own predilections: ____________________
Cleveland, Ohio
March 30, 1988

Dear Dr. Jernigan:
Dr. Max Rafferty, formerly  Superintendent of the California
State Department of Education, died in New York City in 1986.  I
am told that he was killed in an accident.
A friend, Mrs. Angela Tanner, is quite upset that no one in the
blindness field took notice of the death of this great American,
who did so much to promote the employment of blind teachers in
the public schools of California.  His research helped prove that
blind persons made good teachers, both of sighted and blind
children.  He urged local school systems to give blind teachers
an opportunity to be employed.  Even though he was very
conservative in his outlook, he believed in the ability of the
blind.  He was a progressive in that respect.  He believed in
giving an equal chance to all human beings, including the blind.
It is true that (under the leadership of Dr. Jacobus tenBroek and
others) the National Federation of the Blind had a lot to do with
opening up these opportunities, but it is also true that Dr.
Rafferty was the right person at the right place to be of great
help.  Therefore, he should receive recognition and credit for
his bold stand.  Most college and university teachers (especially
those who were training teachers of the blind and other educators
at that time) strongly and publicly opposed encouraging (or, for
that matter, permitting) the blind to work as teachers.  Even
Perkins Institute (with all of its reputation for pioneering and
progressive thought) had a requirement that any blind person
applying to  enter their teacher-training program must first have
the definite assurance of employment at the end of the course. 
This was not required of sighted applicants, and it was
discriminatory and wrong.
Dr. Richard Hoover, Father Thomas Carroll, and others in the
blindness field were only advocating that blind persons not be
employed to work with the blind.  Dr. Hoover's reason was simple. 
He said that the blind cannot see.  Therefore, it follows that
they cannot teach.  We know that funds were not made available to
blind applicants to train as mobility teachers and for other
instructional positions.
An article in the November 23, 1962, Newsweek magazine was right
on target with this way of thinking.  It indicated that the blind
do not make good teachers and pointed out  the fact that the
mobility training program at Western Michigan University, as well
as other such programs, would not accept blind trainees but only
the sighted.  After all, the professionals in the field ought to
know; and if they do not believe that the blind can teach, surely
that settles the matter.
In the face of all of this negative thought on the part of the
professionals in the blindness field, the university professors,
and the general public Dr. Rafferty was still prepared to believe
in the capabilities of the blind, and he had the courage to stand
up and say so with a high profile.  His experience in California
became a model for other states.  Blind persons could point to
California as an example and ask other state and local education
systems for teaching positions.  Dr. Rafferty was a far-sighted
man, who in a brief space of time made advances in California
which required decades to achieve elsewhere.  He was a real
friend of the blind, one who truly believed in their ability.  It
is ironic  that when Dr. Richard Hoover died in 1986, many in the
field wrote long articles about his achievement in pioneering the
use of the long cane and his work, along with Father Thomas
Carroll, in getting the federal government to provide funds for
training mobility teachers for the blindteachers who had to be
sighted.  Despite the praise of Hoover and Carroll, their work
closed opportunities for the blind in the field of teaching. 
Hoover and Carroll were eulogized as great friends of the blind,
who cared for their needs and made mobility possible for them. 
No one talked about the damage which they did to the self-esteem
of the blind by denying them work in various fields.
The recent self-assertion of the deaf (in demanding a college
president who is deaf and can communicate with the deaf
community) is in the spirit of the present world.  It comes at a
time when the blind community needs to make it clear that all of
what is done in the name of the blind by agency administrators
and boards is not always necessarily in the best interest of the
blindespecially, the run-of-the- mill blind person.  Both Father
Carroll and Dr. Hoover are cases in point.  They were thought to
be speaking for the blind as well as about the blindand, indeed,
they did a certain amount of good work.  Yet, though both of them
were honored as friends of the blind, they did much harm to the
blind.
There are striking parallels between what has happened to the
deaf and the blind.  During most of the nineteenth century the
deafness field was largely led by people who themselves were
hearing impaired.  Then, during the latter part of the nineteenth
century and the early part of the twentieth century a struggle
took place between the deaf and the hearing as to who made better
teachers of the deaf and better workers in the field in general. 
You guessed it.  The hearing felt that they should staff the
schools for the deaf, become agency managers, and in general
receive the preferred positions.  At an international conference
of deaf and hearing teachers of the deaf in 1900 the hearing did
not want to sit in the same room with the teachers who were deaf,
saying that they had nothing in common with them.  In some ways
work with the blind has followed this same route.  However, both
the deaf and the blind now have their own organizations and can
speak for themselves.
There are, of course, many sighted persons who have the best
interest of the blind at heart and are thoroughly honest in their
approach.  They do not claim to know everything that is good for
the blind and do not attempt to dominate them.  They believe in
self-assertion and self- determinationfor all human beings,
including the blind.  In some respects they are like the whites
who helped the black civil rights movement in the fifties and
sixties.  Once the blacks got their own leadership and got up on
their own feet, these people waved them on to equality and
independence.  Such persons have an abiding faith in human
equality, justice, and individual capacity to manage one's own
life.  Max Rafferty was one of these.  May his memory survive,
and may he receive from the blind the recognition and credit
which he deserves.

Sincerely,
P. C. Stone


JAMES DAVIS
by Curtis Chong

(This article appeared in the Winter, 1987, Minnesota Bulletin,
the publication of the National Federation of the Blind of
Minnesota.)

We in the National Federation of the Blind maintain that it is
respectable to be blind.  More than that, we have stated on
numerous occasions that given proper training and opportunity, we
can compete on terms of absolute equality with our sighted peers. 
We have said that we have the ability to work with the sighted,
live with the sighted, and participate as active members in our
communityalong with the sighted.
In the National Federation of the Blind we don't just talk about
our philosophy of blindness.  We live that philosophy.  An
example of our philosophy in action can be seen in James Davis.
James Davis is currently employed as a Taxpayer Service
Representative by the U. S. Internal Revenue Service.  He lives
in St. Paul, is married, and has two children (Quana, who is
seven; and Aisha, who is two).  He is active in (and helped to
found) the Twin Cities Church of Christ.  He also holds the
office of second vice president in the Metro Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. Finally, he has
the unique distinction of belonging to two minority groups: He is
blind and black.  Those are the essential facts about the man. 
How, you might ask, did he achieve this relatively ordinary
lifestyle?  How did he manage to become one of the twenty-one
percent of the working-age blind who happened to be employed? 
What motivated him to seek out a life as a tax-paying citizen
instead of deciding to live on welfare?
Davis spent the first eleven years of his life in a small town in
Mississippi.  His family made its living sharecropping.  He
became blind at the age of nine.  He then spent two years at the
Mississippi State School for the Blind in Jackson.  At that time
there were actually two schools for the blind: one for blind
children who were black and the other for blind children who were
white.  It was at the school for the blind where he first learned
to read.  In fact, he learned Braille there.
In 1965 when Davis was thirteen his family pulled up stakes and
moved to Chicago.  There he entered public school.  Like many
other blind children of that era, Davis commuted back and forth
each day to a centralized school, where a resource room for blind
children and a special education teacher were available.  Also,
as was true for other blind children of the time, official
orientation and mobility training for Davis did not commence
until the eighth grade, at which point he began using public
transportation to travel to and from school.
Davis spent the last two years of high school in the Reserve
Officers Training Corps (ROTC), where he rose to the rank of
sergeant-major.  They didn't give me any problem about my
blindness, he said.
From 1978 to 1977 Davis attended Illinois State University,
training to become a teacher.  My mother was always big on
education, he said.  However, his experiences in the classroom,
combined with the lack of encouragement from college faculty
members, convinced him that he didn't really want to teach.
He then determined to leave school for a time.  He spent two
months working in the sheltered workshop at the Chicago
Lighthouse for the Blind and then decided to acquire training as
a darkroom technician.  This he obtained by spending a quarter at
the University of Illinois Circle Campus, after which he spent
nine months as a darkroom technician working for a hospital.
Not satisfied with his situation in life, Davis then decided to
return to college.  In 1980 he acquired his degree in human
services at Northeastern Illinois University.  Armed with this
degree, he held a variety of jobs, including one as a social
worker at the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind and another as a
coordinator for disabled students with Chicago City Colleges.
Eventually Davis wound up working for the U. S. Internal Revenue
Service as a Taxpayer Service Representative (TSR).  It is
interesting to note that he was the first blind TSR to be trained
by the IRS in that regiontraining he received with pay.  In other
words he was not required to attend the TSR training program
operated by Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind in which the blind
trainees are not paid.
Last year Davis and his family moved to the Twin Cities as a part
of a mission team to found the Twin Cities Church of Christ. 
Although Davis decided to give up his job with the IRS in Chicago
so that he could make the move, he was fortunate enough to obtain
a TSR position with the St.  Paul office of the IRS.  In October
of 1987 he was promoted to a Grade 7 level.
My involvement in the Federation began when I was a student, he
said.  When I worked in the shop I saw a lot of blind people who
had been there for thirty or forty years.  They simply didn't
believe in themselves.  I found that people in the Federation had
pride and a sense of direction.  They knew what they wanted and
had confidence in themselves.
I guess my philosophy has always been in line with that of the
Federation, he said.  Other organizations simply aren't as
positive.


WILLIE LUMPLUMP SPECIAL

Recently, a number of Federationists have received a form letter
from the office of Senator Robert Dole.  Senator Dole was asked
to bring discriminatory airline practices to an end.  He promised
that he would do so, but he failed to do anything to try to keep
the promise.  Among other things, Senator Dole said that he would
introduce legislation in the Senate which would prohibit airlines
from adopting discriminatory seating policies.  The bill was
never introduced.  Instead, the form letter has come from Senator
Dole's office saying that he is quite concerned and that he hopes
for the best.
After receiving this letter, Willis Gene Saunders of Point
Pleasant, West Virginia, wrote President Maurer a letter: 
____________________
Washington, D.C.
February 29, 1988

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Saunders:
I greatly appreciate your letter concerning access to air
transportation for disabled individuals.
It was out of concern for the often poor treatment afforded
disabled individuals by airline personnel, that I introduced the
Air Carrier Access Act of 1986.  This bill, which was passed and
signed into law in the fall of 1986, requires the Secretary of
Transportation to promulgate regulations to ensure
non-discriminatory treatment of qualified handicapped individuals
consistent with safe carriage of all passengers on air carriers.
Representatives of airline industry associations and disability
organizations joined the Department of Transportation (DOT) in
regulatory negotiations on the assumption that better rules would
result if they were negotiated than might have been developed
through the usual process.  Many issues were resolved through
these negotiations, but unfortunately they broke down in December
of 1987, before agreement was reached on all the concerns.  Even
though the parties are no longer negotiating, regulations on the
Air Carrier Access Act will be developed by DOT as is required by
law.  DOT will be issuing draft regulations in the near future.
Though I do not expect any problems, some may arise if DOT or the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) place any restrictions on
access for disabled individuals because of safety concerns.  It
is important for you to know that, because of the legislation I
introduced, neither DOT nor FAA may restrict access to air
transportation because of safety, unless they can clearly
demonstrate the existence of a safety problem.
I am confident that DOT will issue regulations on the Air Carrier
Access Act that will safeguard the rights of disabled
individuals.  If not, then you have the right, as part of the
regulatory process, to make appropriate comments concerning their
proposed rules.  If you believe the final rules are
discriminatory, you will have the right to file suit in federal
court, if you are denied access based on those rules.
I look forward to a time when disabled persons may travel freely
by air without being subjected to arbitrarily interpreted or
applied policies.

Sincerely yours,
BOB DOLE
United States Senate
____________________
Willis Gene Saunders had this to say about Senator Dole's
letter.
____________________
Point Pleasant, West Virginia
March 9, 1988

Dear Mr. Maurer:
On December 1, 1987, I wrote to Senator Robert Dole of Kansas,
suggesting that he use his influence to attempt to get a law
passed which would prevent airlines from discriminating against
the blind in the area of emergency exit seating, solely on the
grounds of blindness.
On March 4, 1988, I received the enclosed letter from Senator
Dole's office.  I was informed by a sighted friend that it looked
like a copy of a form letter.
The contents of the letter remind me of an old Red Skelton radio
skit in which Willie Lumplump meets two spies in a bar.  The
spies, thinking Willie is a lot smarter than he is, try to pump
him by buying him drinks.  When he's asked what he wants to
drink, he answers, A Willie Lumplump Special.  They quickly order
it and then remember to ask what it is.  He replies, A half a
glass of hot water with half a glass of cold water and two ice
cubes.  He then adds as an afterthought, Boy, that's a lot of
nothin', isn't it?  Do you think this letter falls into the same
category as a Willie Lumplump Special?

Yours in Federationism,
Willis Gene Saunders


R E C I P E S


The following recipes are submitted by Jenny Smith and Sue Ribet
of the Anderson Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind
of South Carolina.

BARBECUE POTATO SALAD
by Sue Ribet

Soak Overnight:
3 tablespoons vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 teaspoon celery seed

Next day:
5 cups cooked potatoes (diced)
2 hard-boiled eggs (diced)
1/2 cup green onions (diced)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix vinegar, seed, and 3/4 cup mayonnaise together and pour over
potato mixture.  Toss.  It's very good.


CHOCOLATE CHESS PIE
by Sue Ribet

1-1/2 cups sugar
2 heaping tablespoons cocoa
2/3 stick melted margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon plain flour
3 eggs (slightly beaten)
5 tablespoons water
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Mix sugar, cocoa, and flour.  Combine margarine, eggs, water, and
vanilla.  Mix with dry ingredients, blending well.  Bake thirty
to thirty-five minutes in 350-degree oven.


CABBAGE CHOWDER
by Sue Ribet

2-1/2 cups finely chopped cabbage
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 medium potato diced in small cubes
1 cup water

Cook above ingredients until tender.  Add two cups milk and four
ounces Swiss cheese (cut in small pieces).  Heat just enough to
melt cheese.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Very good.  Can be
frozen.


APPLE CUSTARD PIE
by Sue Ribet

1-1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 eggs (well beaten)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups golden delicious apples (peeled and diced fine)
1 deep-dish pie shell

Combine all ingredients (except apples) and mix well.  Add
apples, and stir to coat well.  Set aside while preparing the pie
shell.  Pour mixture in pie shell and bake ten minutes at 425
degrees.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake thirty minutes
longer.  Bake on lower rack of oven.  Very good served warm with
ice cream.


BLACK WALNUT POUND CAKE
by Jenny Smith

3 cups sugar
1/2 pound butter
1/2 cup Crisco
5 extra large eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons black walnut flavoring
1 cup black walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients as listed.  Grease, flour, and spray Pam on a
tube pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for one hour or until done.  May
be frosted with a mocha frosting or eaten plain.


JENNY'S PECAN PIE
by Jenny Smith

1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter or good quality margarine
1 cup pecans (chopped)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 cup corn white syrup
1 pie crust

Bake at 300 degrees for approximately one hour.


ORANGE SLICE CAKE
by Jenny Smith

2 sticks margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 cups flour
1 can coconut
1 pound orange slice candy (chopped)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1-1/3 cups buttermilk
2 cups chopped nuts
1 cup raisins or dates

Mix ingredients, as any other cake, adding coconut, candy, nuts,
and raisins last.  Pour into a well-greased, floured, and
Pam-sprayed tube pan.  Cook in preheated 300-degree oven for one
hour or more.  Pour a glaze of one small can frozen orange juice
and one pound ten-x sugar over hot cake.  Very good.


JAPANESE FRUIT PIE
by Jenny Smith

6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup raisins
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 stick melted margarine
1 cup nuts
1 cup coconut
2 pie crusts

Mix and pour into two pie crusts.  Cook at 350 degrees for thirty
minutes or until done.


* * * M O N I T O R   M I N I A T U R E S * * *


**Grandparents:
On March 4, 1988, Don Capps called the National Center for the
Blind to say that he and Betty had just become grandparents.  At
12:40 that morning the Cappses daughter Beth gave birth to a
healthy baby boynine pounds, nine ounces, twenty-one inches long. 
His name is Aaron David Holdcroft.  His father and mother (David
and Beth) live in Rochester Hills, Michigan, where David is a
minister.  The Cappses were in Rochester Hills to celebrate and
give assistance.  Congratulations to the Cappses and the
Holdcrofts.

**For Sale:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  I would
like to submit hi tech items for sale in the Monitor.  All of
these items are designed for operation in Apple 2-E Transend
Modem/both card and software.  Including manuals in print and
tape.  Parallel printer card with cable.  I would appreciate your
placing these items in your next Monitor.  They may call or write
to me in print, Braille, or on tape.  Contact: Mae Jones, 700
North Denning Drive Apt. 101, Winter Park, Florida 32789;
telephone (305) 628-0484.

**Elected:
Laurie Eckery writes:
I would like to announce the results of the February, 1988,
elections held by the National Federation of the Blind of
Nebraska, Omaha Chapter: President, David Robinson; First Vice
President, Lonnie Merritt; Second Vice President, Henry Vetter;
Secretary, Laurie Eckery; Treasurer, Floyd Bolden; Board Members:
Edna Allen, Dan Marshall, and Marie Bolden.

**Aprons:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
The Jefferson City Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of Missouri is selling fund-raising aprons.  These aprons
are made of sturdy canvas with waist ties.  These aprons are
off-white with a bright blue logo and National Federation of the
Blind across the front.  Two pockets are useful for holding
brochures and money for fund-raising.  They are also useful as
carpenter aprons and clothespin aprons.  They may also be used
for holding cleaning materials while dusting around the house and
other handy uses.  Aprons may be purchased at: 1-10, $4.00 each;
11-25, $3.50 each; 26-50, $3.00 each; 51-1,000, $2.50 each.  Make
check or money order payable to: NFB of Jefferson City.  Please
call or write in advance of order for availability of quantities: 
Betty Walker, 1826 Mississippi Street, Jefferson City, Missouri
65101, (314) 634-7969.

**Dies:
From the Editor: I have just learned of the death on March 22,
1988, of C. Stanley Potter, who was for many years head of the
Minnesota State Services for the Blind.  When I was Director of
the Iowa Commission for the Blind, I had frequent contacts with
Stan.  I did not always agree with him, but we came to be close
friends.  In fact, on more than one issue we fought together as
allies.  A notable instance of this was the battle we waged in
the mid-1970's to preserve the independence of the National
Council of State Agencies for the Blind.  Stan Potter was a
gentle soul, who made more than the usual efforts to avoid
anything resembling controversy, with the result that he
sometimes found himself embroiled in more conflict than he would
if he had charged straight ahead.   Be this as it may, I found
Stan to be a person with genuine concern for the well-being of
the blind and a warm heart.  I am sorry that he is no longer with
us.

**Matters of the Heart:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  Remember
your loved one with this unique book of poetry; or maybe you just
want to treat yourself with a very special gift.  Matters of the
Heart, by Marita Lyn Tabron.  Cassette and print copies are $8.00
each, and Braille copies (on durable plastic paper) are $20.00
each.  Send your check or money order to: Mary Walker, Post
Office Box 497446, Chicago, Illinois 60649.

**Free Bible Cassettes:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
The Bible on audio cassette is available free of charge as a gift
to every person who is of low vision, visually impaired, or
blind.  Those who are print handicapped also qualify.  These
cassettes are provided to those who desire the Scriptures and
furnish valid certification of the visual impairment or
disability.
This is not a lending program.  All materials are free of charge
and meant to be kept.  The New Testament has been recorded in
twenty-five languages.  Portions of the Old Testament, Bible
Studies, and Bible Messages are also available in several
languages.
One set of Bible cassettes and Bible Studies is offered to each
eligible person in the language of his/her choice.  All that is
needed is a request from the individual with a certification of
the impairment from a source recognized by the National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.  Organizations
of and for the blind, doctors, nurses, rehabilitation workers,
and librarians are some of the recognized sources.  Professionals
who work with the visually impaired or print handicapped may
request Scriptures directly for their clients by using their
agency letterhead stationery.  All materials will be shipped Free
Matter for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
Orders with valid certification or requests for further details
may be directed to Bible Alliance, Inc., Post Office Box 621,
Bradenton, Florida 34206, USA, a nonprofit and nondenominational
organization.  Telephone (813) 748-3031.

**Elected:
Steve Zielinski writes:  The 1988 elections for the Detroit,
Michigan, Chapter were recently held, with the following results:
Donald Drapinski, President; Steve Handschu, First Vice
President; Angela Curvin, Second Vice President; Raymond
Roberson, Secretary; Donna Posont, Treasurer; Charlie Horton,
Board Member; John Scott, Board Member; and Eugene Payne, Member
at Large.

**Children's Books:
Sister Agnes Windolph of Dubuque, Iowa, writes:
I make illustrated Braille books for blind children.  First,
there are the extremely simple A-B-C books.  These have a large
simulated Braille letter, silhouette, and the Braille word
(first-grade Braille) and the numbers from one to ten, suitable
for a pre-school child, one who has had no Braille at all.  On
the next level the A-B-C book has more than one picture and word
per letter.  The next level of difficulty has simple sentences
with each picture.  The last level consists of descriptive
sentences and paragraphs with each letter.  I also make Christmas
books of different kinds, including one very simple (first grade
Braille) comparable to the simple A-B-C one.  I will gladly send
these, free of charge, to any blind children who would like a
book of their very own.  If wished, a silhouette of the child,
provided by you, will be included in the book with the name of
the child underneath.  Having given many away, I still have some
on handfirst come, first serve.  If I know the age, sex, and
amount of Braille known, I can adapt the book somewhat to the
child as I make it.
For information contact: Sister Agnes Windolph, 1001 Davis
Avenue, Dubuque, Iowa 52001.

**Affiliates Take Heed:
We learn from the February, 1988, Palmetto Blind (the publication
of the NFB of South Carolina) that the South Carolina affiliate
has chartered two large buses to take members to the NFB
convention in Chicago.  As the editor of the Palmetto Blind says,
The NFB of S.C. is determined to be at the top or near the top in
attendance at the Chicago convention.  Never take idly what the
South Carolinians say.  Other affiliates take heed.

**JAWS:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: 
Henter-Joyce, Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida, announces a new
product for the blind and visually impaired.  JAWS (Job Access
With Speech) is a software package designed to give blind
computer users the flexibility needed to insure productivity. 
JAWS includes features such as a dual cursor design, built-in
macros, windows, and a Lotus (TM) style pop-up menu system.  JAWS
will work with the popular speech synthesizers.  JAWS sells for
$495 and is available from Henter-Joyce, Inc., 7901 - 4th Street
North, St.  Petersburg, Florida 33702.

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  For
Sale: Total Talk, in mint condition, $2,000 or best offer, write
Rob McIninch, 16 Harrison Street, Calais, Maine 04619.

**Adopts Policy:
About a year ago, President Maurer became a member of the Braille
Authority of North America.  Last fall at its meeting in New York
City he was elected Vice Chairman.  The minutes for the meeting
of the Braille Authority of North America for the fall of 1987
contain the following:
M. Maurer discussed the possibility that BANA should be the
organization that takes a hand in recommending teachers for
visually impaired students to have the capacity to teach Braille,
and the programs for educating those teachers be structured so
that Braille is something they actually learn and not just hear
about.  And, secondly, that Braille be a part of the curriculum
for blind students.  M. Maurer feels that with the above done, we
can begin to work to increase the use of the very subject we
spend our whole time speaking about.  M. Maurer discussed his
concern that Braille was not being taught properly.  M. Maurer
made a suggestion that the policy of BANA be that reading and
writing are essential skills for teachers of the visually
impaired; that teachers of the visually impaired should be able
to perform those functions; that adequate instruction in Braille
reading and writing should be available to blind students.
Moved, seconded, and carried THAT:  we adopt the above
recommendation and that BANA follow through with a research
study.
When Federationists become a part of a program dealing with the
blind, somehow policies begin to appear which are truly
beneficial for the blind people being served.

**Senator Remembers:
Under date of October 14, 1987, Senator Strom Thurmond wrote to
David Houck, Director of the Federation Center in Columbia, South
Carolina:

Dear Mr. Houck:
Recently I was presented with the first Braille and tactile map
of the United States Capitol and Mall area.
This map was produced and funded by the United States Department
of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services.
Knowing of the dedication and commitment of your organization to
the blind in South Carolina, I thought you would like to have
this map for the benefit of your membership.
You and your organization are to be commended for the outstanding
service to the blind in our State.  Accordingly, it is a pleasure
to provide you with this map.
Please be assured of my deep concern over the welfare of our
blind citizens.  Anytime I can be of further service as your
United States Senator, please do not hesitate to contact me. 
With kindest regards and best wishes.

Sincerely,
Strom Thurmond

**Dialysis at Convention:
Karen Mayry, President of the Diabetics Division of the National
Federation of the Blind, writes:
Dialysis will be available at North Western Memorial Hospital,
Wesley Pavilion, Room 434, Superior Street at Fairbanks Court,
Chicago, Illinois, 60611, telephone number (312) 908-3328, during
our 1988 convention in Chicago, Illinois.  Individuals requiring
this service should contact Ms. Nancy Zotto-Vanek to obtain a
transient patient packet.  Patients must fill out information
forms and physicians' statements prior to dialysis treatment at
North Western.
The hospital is located approximately one mile from the Hyatt
Regency Hotel.  Cab fare is approximately $4.00 each way.  Buses
are available one block from the hotel and stop at the entrance
to North Western Memorial.  Bus fare is $1.00 each way.  The
dialysis unit is open for night hours, as well as the usual day
schedule.
Fees required by North Western Memorial are a one-time $50.00
charge plus $25.00 per treatment.  Please contact Nancy
Zotto-Vanek as quickly as possible to make your arrangements.

**Nobody's Friend:
We are indebted to the Palmetto Blind, the publication of the NFB
of South Carolina, for this gem:

My name is gossip.  I have no respect for justice.
I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives.  I am
cunning and malicious and gather strength with age.  The more I
am quoted the more I am believed.  I flourish at every level of
society.
My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves against
me because I have no name and no face.
To track me down is impossible.
The harder you try, the more elusive I become.
I am nobody's friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.  I topple
governments and wreck marriages.
I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartache, and
indigestion.
I spawn suspicion and generate grief.
I make innocent people cry in their pillows.
Even my name hisses. I am called Gossip. Office gossip. Shop
gossip. Party gossip. Telephone gossip.
Before you repeat a story, ask yourself, is it true?  Is it fair?
Is it necessary? If notSHUT UP.

**Job Opening:
We have recently been contacted concerning the upcoming vacancy
in the position of managing director of Leader Dogs for the Blind
in Rochester, Michigan.  The vacancy will occur July 1, 1988, and
an active search is now being made to find a suitable candidate. 
Those interested should contact:  Educational Management Network,
Post Office Box 792, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

**Roy Miller Dies:
Roy Miller, President of the Sheltered Shop Employees Division of
the National Federation of the Blind, died from heart failure and
complications of diabetes on February 29, 1988.  He was elected
president of the Sheltered Shop Employees Divison at the NFB
convention in Minneapolis in 1982 and was the first division
president to die in office.  There are many things for which Roy
Miller will be rememberedcourage, loyalty, willingness to work,
and a wish to earn his own way.  But above all, he will be
remembered as one who wanted fair treatment, not only for himself
but for other blind people as well.  He was the driving force in
organizing the workers at the Houston Lighthouse for the Blind
and, thereby, in setting in motion the movement of blind shop
workers to organize throughout the country.
He was quiet, modest, and unassuming; but those who mistook those
characteristics for cowardice or unwillingness to stand up for
what he believed often came to regret it.  He was much loved by
the blind of Texas and the rest of the country.  Roy Miller's
death is a great loss to the blind of the nation.  He was truly a
manone to be respected and remembered.

**Oglesby Fitness Center:
Federationist Bob Oglesby has for many years been manager of the
Health Club at the YMCA in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Recently
he received an honor which gives testimony to the high esteem
which he enjoys in the community.  The Spartanburg YMCA family
center has the highest number of members per capita of any YMCA
in the United States, with one out of every eight persons in
Spartanburg using its programs. Not surprisingly, the Spartanburg
YMCA has found it necessary to embark upon an expansion program,
and the Robert L. Oglesby Fitness Center of the Spartanburg YMCA
was dedicated in November of 1987.

**To Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  I have
two items for sale.  These are: 1.  VersaBraille cassette storage
unitModel P2D.  Includes VersaBraille unit, input/output serial
port computer cable, master overlay cassette for operating unit,
and both operating instruction manuals.  2. Optaconan R1C model. 
It is, unfortunately, inoperable at this time, due to the fact
that the retina modules need repair and to be upgraded to an R1D. 
The buyer would have to obtain the upgrade on the retina module
from TSI.  For information and prices contact: Karin Williams,
2379 St. George Drive, Concord, California 94520, 415-687-2920
(home), 415-646-4883 (work).

**Reappointed:
Governor Carroll Campbell has reappointed NFB of South Carolina
President Donald Capps to the Board of Commissioners of the South
Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.  The appointment is for a
six-year term.  Capps, who was initially appointed by Governor
Riley to a six-year term in 1981, will now serve until his term
expires in 1993.  At a December, 1987, meeting of the Board of
Commissioners of the School the nine-member board unanimously
re-elected Capps as Vice Chairman of the Board.

**Surgery:
As of this writing (Monday, March 21, 1988) Karen Mayry,
President of the National Federation of the Blind of South Dakota
and the Diabetics Division, is between two minor surgeries on her
wrists.  On March 14 she had surgery on her right wrist to repair
a condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome.  The same procedure
is scheduled for March 28 on her left wrist.  Karen reports that
she is recovering smoothly from the first surgery and anticipates
the second surgery to go as well.  According to Karen, the
surgery is a half-hour outpatient procedure, which relieves
abnormal pressure on a major nerve in order to restore hand
function.  As Monitor readers would expect, Karen has not allowed
either the condition or the surgery to slow her down.

**Expert on Blindness:
As Monitor readers know, the Idaho Commission for the Blind in
1984 dismissed its blind director and its two blind supervisory
staff.  It has had only sighted supervisory staff since.  These
dismissals resulted in protracted legal action, which has still
not been settled.  In January of this year, at the trial
involving the dismissal of the two blind supervisors, the current
administration of the Idaho Commission for the Blind made clear
its philosophy, its integrity, and its capacity to help the
blind.  We quote from the Spring, 1988, Gem State Milestones, the
publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho:
At another point Ed Easterling, Chief of Rehabilitation Services
who is supposed to have replaced both Smith and Martin, testified
that he had a good understanding of blindness.  He gave two
reasons for this:  First, he may lose his vision some day. 
Second, he is handicapped.  When asked the nature of his
handicap, he said that he could not turn his head without moving
his whole body because of arthritis.  This handicap causes him to
know all about blindness.

**Baseball:
Steve Benson, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of Illinois, wishes to inform those who care to know that the
Chicago White Sox will be in town during the week of the National
Federation of the Blind convention this summer.  He does not say
which days, but as Federationists know, the convention week is
Saturday, July 2, to Saturday, July 9.

**Computer Talk:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Please print these items:
Item #1:
I would like to donate to a nonprofit educational institution or
library or any approved tax-exempt facility serving the blind
four pieces of talking software which run on the Apple 2-E series
of computers.  These are major pieces of applications software
with a retail value of $800.  They come complete with recorded
and printed documentation.  All I require is the payment of
shipping from Tampa, Florida, to destination, suitable insurance,
and a letter suitable for Internal Revenue Service for income tax
deduction for the taxable year 1988.
Item #2:
For sale: The Compuserve Users Information Guide.  Current
edition on two four-track cassettes, $25 delivered.  High quality
lifetime guarantee double-sided disks with sleeves and labels,
package of ten $10 delivered.
Item #3:
I would like to start corresponding with other users of IBM
compatible talking computers in order to compare experiences with
different screen readers and to exchange share-ware software. 
Prefer to correspond on cassette tape.
For information on any of these items write to: Mr. Tandy Way,
8909 Peppermill Court, Tampa, Florida 33634.

**Alumni:
Timothy Hendel of Miami, Florida, writes: The Alumni Association
of the New York State School for the Blind is having its annual
reunion June 17-19 at the Treadway Inn in Batavia.  We hope some
people who have not attended in a while will come, as we would
like to have more members in the association.  For more
information or to pay your $3 annual dues and get the Alumni
Bulletin, contact: Betty Wiley, 20 Clare Avenue, Albany, New York
12202; (518) 449- 7264.

**For Sale:
Dave Hyde, President of the National Federation of the Blind of
Oregon, suggests that we include the following announcement: 
Braille calendars, 1988, with holiday inscriptions, $1.00;
Braille and print playing cards, $2.50; Braille and print
pinochle cards, $3.50.  Please send your check or money order to:
Doug Lee, 1076 Ruge Street, N.W., Salem, Oregon 97304.  Call
(503) 362-0179.

**No Knowledge About Blindness:
The February, 1988, Observer, the publication of our Montana
affiliate, says: Luther B. Prickett of Louisiana will be the next
Superintendent of the Montana State School for the Deaf and
Blind, effective on or before July 1, 1988.  He was selected by
the Board of Education at their February 4 meeting in Great Falls
and agreed to accept a salary of $41,500.  Prickett was the child
of deaf parents, and his background is in the field of work with
the deaf.  He is currently Director of Student Life at the
Louisiana State School for the Deaf.  Although Prickett may have
great empathy for all handicapped children, it appears that he
has had no previous experience or contact with the blind.  Once
again, the blind have been relegated to no man's land.  We wish
Mr. Prickett much success in his new position, and we will
certainly endeavor to cooperate with him in upgrading education
for blind children in the state.  We just have to hope that this
man will be willing to learn about blind children, their needs,
and abilities; and when the next superintendent is chosen, the
law will require some background experience in work with the
blind, as well as the deaf.  This will be so only if we make it
happen.

**A Sign of Our Progress:
The following article (dated March 26, 1988) was widely printed
in the press throughout the country:

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla.Members of a condominium association say
they were mistaken in refusing to let a blind man rent an
apartment.
We're hoping he's going to move in and be a neighbor.  If he
moves in, he's going to be two doors from me.  We're hoping this
can end up a positive thing from a negative thing, Morris
Barnett, director of the Keswick B Condominium Association at
Century Village, said.  Larry Tomecek, 35, whose lawyer filed a
discrimination complaint March 4, said he didn't know whether he
would accept the offer.
The president of the condominium association, in a letter to the
owner of the unit that Tomecek was planning to rent, had said he
was rejected because he unfortunately is blind.

**New Baby:
Chris and Doug Boone of Portland, Oregon, announce the birth of
their baby, Edward William, on March 17, 1988.  Edward William
weighed seven pounds, four ounces, and was twenty- one inches
long.  As Federationists know, Chris was formerly President of
the NFB of Nebraska, and Doug worked for a time at the Nebraska
agency.  Congratulations to Chris and Doug, and also to Edward
William.

**When Presidents Marry:
We have just received word of the wedding of Joan Abraham,
President of the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada, and
John Tait on April 15 at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas. 
Joan has been President of the NFB of Nevada for almost two
years, and John is a long-time leader of the affiliate.  We also
note the joining in matrimony of Gary Wunder, President of the
NFB of Missouri, and Sue Micich, President of the NFB of
Wisconsinone more incentive to become a state president. 
Congratulations to the presidents and to all who succeed them.

**Pledge:
How many of us have committed the National Federation of the
Blind pledge to memory?  Some local chapters and state affiliates
begin each meeting by repeating the pledge.  It is a good idea. 
Here it is:

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 programs and policies of
the Federation; and to abide by its Constitutuion.

**Hams:
We have been asked to announce that the Courage Center, 3915
Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota 55422, telephone
(612) 588-0811, has produced on tape a number of publications of
interest to amateur radio operators.  Publications include: ARRL
1987 License Manual With Questions and Answers, Running Your Own
Ham Station, ARRL Net Directory.  The Courage Center will supply
print catalogs upon request.

**21st Century Federationist:

Cincinnati, Ohio
April 3, 1988

Dear President Maurer:
Sure hope I got your name right.  You see, I just came home from
the hospital yesterday.  I was born March 31 at 8:52 a.m., my
weight was six pounds five ounces, and I was nineteen inches
long.  My grandparents, Paul and Bernie Dressell, said that you
would want to know all about me, so they told me to write to you.
They have been telling me about the NAC Tracking demonstrations
and the Marches on Washington in which NFB has been participating
for these many years.  They sound like a lot of fun, so please
don't stop them until at least I have had a chance to be a part
of them.
My grandparents have also told me about the other leaders in the
movement, such as Dr. Jernigan, Barbara Pierce, Bob Eschbach, and
countless others.  I am looking forward to meeting all of you;
but being threeor is it fourdays old, I imagine it will be a
while before that happens.  Until such time I wish all of you
well.

Cordially,
James Edward Dressell

P. S.  Since I have been born, all and sundrymy parents as well
as grandparentshave been telling me what I should do.  I am
already getting tired of that, but possibly that might be the
first step to being a Federationist.

**Dies:
We learn from the Winter, 1987, Minnesota Bulletin of the death
in December of Archie Erickson, former leader and president of
the Minnesota state affiliate.  Archie, who died at age
eighty-two, lived a long and full life.  He was from an earlier
era in our movement, a time when the blind were far less strongly
organized than we are today, but he did what he could to open
doors and create opportunities.  Andy Virden's tribute in the
Minnesota Bulletin is eloquent.

**Appendectomy:
On Tuesday, April 12, 1988, Barbara Walker, President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska, was taken to Bryan
Memorial Hospital in Lincoln for an emergency appendectomy.  The
appendix was so inflamed that it was near to rupture.  Mrs.
Walker returned home on Sunday, April 17, and when your Editor
talked with her on April 19, she was still very much in the
process of recovering.  However, there is every indication that
she will soon be back to her usual level of energy and vitality.

**Appointed:
Seville Allen, President of the Potomac Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Virginia and one of the long-time
leaders of the state affiliate, was appointed March 19, 1988, to
a three-year term on the Arlington County Commission on the
Physically Disabled.  The Commission advises the county
government on matters ralating to the handicapped.

**Elected:
At the convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
Mississippi held in Jackson on the weekend of April 8-9, the
following people were elected to office: James Moore, Hazelhurst,
President; Sam Gleese, Jackson, First Vice President; E. U.
Parker, Laurel, Second Vice President; Gwen Stokes, Jackson,
Secretary; and Doris Keith, Jackson, Treasurer.  Board Members
are: Richard Paine, Hazlehurst; Sarah White, Jackson; Mary Reed,
Jackson; and Hugh Barlow, Jackson.

**Child Care:
Mary Wurtzel, who chairs the Committee on Parental Concerns,
writes as follows:  Child care will once again be provided during
our 1988 NFB convention.  It will be available beginning Saturday
morning for the parents' seminar.  Child care is also provided
during the Committee on Parental Concerns meeting Sunday evening. 
It is helpful for planning if people let us know how many
children you are bringing and their ages.  Federation leaders can
help by making sure more people actually get this information to
me.  If your child needs more intense care and does not function
in a larger group, you will need to provide your own child care. 
Parents, please make a donation to child care part of your
convention budget.  You did better last year, but much of our
costs are still covered by other chapters, affiliates, and our
national office.  Thank you Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan,
Missouri, Kansas City, and Wichita, Kansas, chapters for past
support.  Send information or inquiries to: Mary Wurtzel, 1918
Kingswood Drive, Lansing, Michigan 48912; phone (517) 485-0326.

**Carol Anderson Dies:
Karen Mayry, President of the Diabetics Division of the National
Federation of the Blind, writes as follows:

Carol Anderson became familiar with the National Federation of
the Blind in 1985 through our Diabetics Division.  She wrote to
me regarding her need for a kidney transplant, after which we
conversed by phone and wrote to one another.  I found her to be
an exciting person, willing to help where needed and interested
in the work of the National Federation of the Blind.
Following several illness-related delays, Carol received her
kidney.  It worked wonderfully well for her, and she and I met at
our 1986 March on Washington.  By then she had become involved
with our organization in both New York and New Jersey.  Her
interest had compelled her to attend the March on Washington
despite a sprained ankle.  As roommates and individuals who
shared a kidney transplant, we developed a special bond with one
another.
Carol was involved in several volunteer positionsRed Cross,
sports for kidney transplant patients, and church.  She also
served as treasurer of the NFB Diabetics Division during the past
two years.  Many, many individuals have been touched by her
lively spirit, concern about good diabetes control, and
compassion for all diabetics.  Death struck Carolage thirty-three
through a massive heart attack Sunday, April 10, 1988.  She
understood how complications of diabetes can affect one's life. 
She will remain in our hearts as a person whom we loved and
cherished.

**Bartlett's Quotations:
The following press release was issued jointly by the National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and the
National Federation of the Blind in October of 1987.  We reprint
it with an addendum as a reminder:

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped (NLS) and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB)
announce the availability of the first ever, mass- produced
Braille edition of John Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.
Blind writers, students, and other interested readers now have
access to this important reference tool, which lists more than
22,500 quotations, sayings, and writings of English and American
authors.  A detailed index serves as a key to locating and
identifying passages in the book.  Braille production of
Bartlett's is a joint effort of NLS and NFB with the permission
of Little, Brown, and Company, the print edition publisher.  Gift
funds from the estate of Leonard R. Stachura were used to
purchase the metal plates needed to produce the 105-volume set.
NLS has distributed copies for reference use in forty-three
cooperating Braille-lending libraries around the country.  NFB is
offering the set at cost in soft-bound and hard-bound editions. 
Individuals and schools or other organizations may purchase the
soft-bound edition for $230 and the hard- bound edition for $630
directly from NFB at: 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland
21230.
Addendum: The soft-bound edition requires thirteen feet, two
inches (158 inches) of shelf space, and the hard-bound edition
requires seventeen feet, six inches (210 inches) of shelf space.
