                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                          August, 1988

                    Kenneth Jernigan, Editor


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


              THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 
                     MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT 
 


                         National Office
                       1800 Johnson Street
                   Baltimore, Maryland 21230 

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                National Federation of the Blind
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THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION
SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES

ISSN 0006-8829

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THE BRAILLE MONITOR
PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
CONTENTS
AUGUST 1988
"WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES" GIVES US SORE FEET
by Lauren L. Eckery
IEP'S: NO BRAILLE, NO CANE, AND ADVOCATES
by Patti Gregory
BRAILLE: PEDAGOGY, PREJUDICE, AND THE BANNER OF EQUALITY
by Fred Schroeder
BLIND STUDENTS' PARENTS CHARGE MEETING ILLEGAL
THE 2:00 A.M. BLUES
by Loraine Stayer
MY SPEECH
by Darrell Shandrow
TROUBLE SHOOTING INFOCOM GAMES WITH SPEECH
by Michael J. McDermott
FEDERATIONIST WINS BATTLE IN JOB DISCRIMINATION
by Cheryl Livingston
SENATOR THURMOND COSPONSORS S. 2098,
THE AIR TRAVEL RIGHTS FOR BLIND INDIVIDUALS ACT
HANDICAPPED FLY UNFRIENDLY SKIES
by Senator Howard Metzenbaum
ROUTINE AIRLINE EXPERIENCE
OF DOG GUIDES AND WHITE CANES
by Cherie Heppe
FLY LIKE A BUTTERFLY--STING LIKE A BEE
by Larry Lorenzo
BARTON GETS THE BOOT--MAYBE
by Kenneth Jernigan
SID ALLEN DIES
by Kenneth Jernigan
INDIANA REHAB FOR THE BLIND IN TURMOIL AGAIN
WILL THE NEW JERSEY COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY
IMPAIRED GET BACK ON TRACK?
by John J. Dragona
RECIPES
MONITOR MINIATURES
Copyright, National Federation of the Blind, Inc., 1988

WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES  GIVES US SORE FEET @AUTHOR = by Lauren
L. Eckery
 This article appears in the Summer, 1988,  News From Blind
Nebraskans,  the publication of the National Federation of the
Blind of Nebraska.  I always look forward to an article by Lauren
Eckery. What she says is so real and poignant that I wait to see
how she, Jerry, and Lynden are meeting each new challenge and
problem. I feel that I know Lynden personally, and if sensible
upbringing gives a child an added advantage in adulthood,
Lynden's future looks bright. We have often said that the
National Federation of the Blind is not an organization but an
attitude, a belief, and a way of life a faith in the innate
educability and goodness of people and of the capacity of the
individual. Nowhere is all of this better exemplified than in the
life and writings of Lauren Eckery. Here is what she has to say: 

One day last October a neighbor stopped by one who had seen us
around but had never met us. This woman's Camp Fire group was
studying disabilities, and she wanted us to talk to the seven-
and eight-year-olds about blindness. This we did in January, and
we enjoyed it immensely.  Back in September we had also been
approached by the president of
the PTA of Dundee Elementary School, who had seen the Channel 7
series we did with the Robinsons and Hank Vetter. The Girl Scouts
would be doing a badge called  Walk a Mile in My Shoes,  which
was intended to teach the girls to empathize more with people who
have disabilities. We were asked to give a presentation in March.
In the meantime I had been asked to talk to several Brownie and
Girl Scout troops at the school.
One invitation led to another, and the girls were going home to
tell their parents what they had learned. These were the same
parents who would not invite Lynden over to play with their kids
because they didn't want to reciprocate they believe that Lynden
is specially trained to live with blind parents. Reaching the
children first looked much more workable than dealing with the
parents directly.
March came, and we were indeed invited to participate in the
badge program. Jerry specifically mentioned that we did not want
to be a part of a program that involved blindfolds, tying a hand
back, using ear plugs, etc. We were assured that this was a
teaching workshop
and that we would not be doing these things. We attended, with
Lynden, who has attended almost all of the speaking engagements
we have done, so that she will know what her friends are being
told. We allowed her to go off and take part in the workshop at
which girls, in groups of ten, visited different classrooms and
learned abaout various disabilities at least, that's what we
believed when we allowed her to go.
We made a ten-minute presentation twelve times that day, using
part of the Channel 7 video for some of that presentation. This
was not enough time for information and questions, and we were
very rushed.  No other group seemed as rushed as ours.
At lunchtime our stomachs turned and our feet hurt as we
discovered what was happening, not only at lunch but in the other
classrooms.  The girls were to choose a disability and simulate
it during the day to find out how difficult it was to be
disabled. This was to help them empathize with disabled people.
We also discovered, much to our dismay, that in the other
classrooms the girls were not given presentations by other adults
with disabilities. They were given experimental exercises, such
as speaking into a computer and watching their speech patterns on
the screen, drawing with a stick held in the mouth, traveling in
a wheelchair, etc. These experiences themselves are fine. Lynden
was fascinated by them. However, they were not accompanied, in
most cases, by role model disabled adults who could explain how
they function in life, what they can do, and what their problems
really are, etc.  We realized that our presentation was unique in
its kind, much more positive and informative, and it allowed at
least minimal opportunity for direct questions. The Federation
can be proud of its being several steps beyond the other
disabilities represented at the workshop.
Once we were aware of the simulations, we spoke directly to that
issue.  At lunch we sat with a troop whose member, Molly, chose
to be blind.  She was yelling for her mother, asking where people
were, asking what she was eating, standing up and stumbling into
and on people and things until out of fear and frustration she
sat down and said,  I wouldn't want to be like that ever!  We
tried to explain what sounded like a good idea to most people but
turned out to be frightening and frustrating for the girls to the
extent that they saw disabilities as worse than they really are.
Do these experiences evoke empathy or pity? The answer was clear.
We explained that empathy involved not experiencing blindness as
they see it as having just gone blind but as we see it as having
skills in alternative techniques which can take us beyond the
fear and frustration. We also explained that how we are treated
is much more of a problem for us than the everyday how-to's of
blindness.
It would be very difficult for these girls to experience the
rejections, isolation, insults, doubt, fear, and general
underestimation that we receive from the general public for at
least two reasons: 1. Most of them could not practically simulate
the disability experience long enough to observe this; and 2.
They would always know that they could instantly break out of the
simulation. Therefore, the chronic endless nature of the negative
treatment could not be perceived realistically.  When we raised
questions at lunchtime about the disability simulations, the
leader at our table, whose troop had not visited our room yet,
grouched:  Well, we always do something wrong.  Others were
somewhat more receptive to our perspective.
Whether we will be invited next year or not, the program will
continue, not only here but all over the country since the badge
is of national scope the directions for earning the badge are in
the Girl Scout handbook.
We tried to empathize with the Girl Scout council who obviously
approved this badge and is proud of its addition to the more
long-standing badges. We are not sure if we can do anything to
make the earning
of this badge more reasonable for Girl Scouts nationally, but
possibly here in Omaha the Federation can have a positive impact.
We hope so, for our  feet  were very sore from trying to wear the
shoes they wanted us to wear. We were glad that we could wear our
own shoes in our own classroom.
We were very grateful to be Federationists, to have the knowledge
we have, to have the skills to present that knowledge, and the
opportunity to change people's attitudes about blindness. Finding
ourselves part of a questionable workshop is part of what we do
as long as we are able to make a positive contribution with
positive results. Our experience  at this workshop did, indeed,
have positive results, one which was very personal.
As many of you have read in previous articles, we have had quite
a problem getting parents to bring their children to Lynden's
birthday parties without their supervision. Several times we have
feared that we would have to tell Lynden that she could not have
a birthday party, because no one would come. This was a real
fear.
The attendance at our afternoon sessions at the workshop was
doubled.  Word had spread that ours was the presentation to see.
Our last group of girls was from Dundee School, and they were
assisted by parents.  Some of these girls had heard me speak. One
little girl asked the question of the day:  How do you have
birthday parties?  I believe that this question came from one of
the little girls Lynden had invited to her seventh birthday
party, which was to occur in one week. Possibly her mother had
told her she couldn't go because we were blind and couldn't watch
her. Finally, sensing that we had a reasonable audience, we
explained the entire problem of the past several years, and we
were relieved when we noticed the shock and then the support from
parents. Some of the parents in the room had no idea we were
having such a ridiculous problem. Others who were sitting there
were part of the problem. They saw their comrades' reactions. 
Interestingly enough, two of the parents whose little girls had
been invited to Lynden's party immediately responded to Lynden's
invitation, and their daughters were allowed to attend the party.
This was a direct and surprising personal response from this
workshop.
There are now plans in the works for us to speak about blindness
at the PTA-sponsored workshop next fall at Dundee School. This is
a goal we have wished to attain for at least a year and a half.
In spite of some of the bizarre events of the day, we did indeed
receive some amount of empathy. This is important. Not only do we
want to educate others so that they will not fear blindness so
much, but it is also perfectly okay for us to reap some of the
benefits from the education we give. This will make our  feet 
more comfortable we deserve that comfort. We deserve equal and
reasonable treatment. If more people walk with us rather than
away from us, this equality is much more possible.

@TITLE = IEP'S: NO BRAILLE, NO CANE, AND ADVOCATES @AUTHOR = by
Patti Gregory
 (This article appears in the June-July  Month's News,  the
publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois.
Patti Gregory is one of the leaders of the NFB of Illinois and of
the Student Division of the National Federation of the Blind.
Here is her article.)  The mother of a blind child called me this
morning. She said,  The school says no Braille.  Larry, her son,
can read print laboredly with a CCTV, so the experts are saying
no Braille. Larry has RP and is certain to lose the remainder of
his vision.
Last week another mother of a blind child called me. She said, 
They say no Braille.  Her son can see letters, and the school
says no Braille despite the fact that his field of vision is
limited to less than twenty degrees because he can't move his
eyes.
Many parents have called me with variations of the same problem.
Schools say  no Braille  and  no cane  all the time.
In rare cases a child is given Braille and cane training because
that child has absolutely no vision. Even then our kids are
expected to do less than their peers.
Yet, another mother called me recently. She told me that her
second grader reads from a primer. She found out from another
source that a primer is intended for kindergarten or preschool
use. No one was concerned that her child was reading two years
below grade level.  No one thought enough of it at the school to
tell this mother that her child was behind.
Our children are not being educated. They are systematically
pushed away from Braille and the use of a white cane. Even when
they are taught these skills, blind children are held to a
different standard of achievement.
Many blind people (especially those of us who have some vision)
are forced to go back as adults and try to relearn or learn the
skills that should have been taught in the first place. Blind
people should not be compelled to wait until they are adults to
learn to use a cane or read Braille. Like many things, both are
easier to learn as children.  Incalculable costs are paid for
years spent without mobility or ability to read.
Many of us have been victims of the double standard. When I
reached college, I realized I had never learned science. I think
I rode along on my partner's work in experiments, and I am sure
my teachers knew it. I am equally sure that I have still not
reached my potential in that area.
We, the members of the NFB and parents of blind children, must
take
an active role in the education of blind children. This article
outlines the process in place under federal law for determining
how to educate handicapped children. I have for a year now acted
as a parent advocate in the area of special education. I write to
share some of my experience and knowledge with you.
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act is a federal law
which provides for the education of all handicapped children in
the U. S.
and its territories. It mandates that first and foremost all
handicapped children have the right to be educated. The law
states that handicapped children are to be educated in the least
restrictive environment.  To determine where and how a
handicapped child should be educated, the school and other
interested parties, including the parents or guardian of a child,
decide what the child's needs are. The school
then decides which environments provide the most contact with
nonhandicapped peers, the education which the child needs in the
least restrictive environment, and thus the proper placement for
the child.
The least restrictive environment for a blind child is often a
public school. Services are provided by itinerant teachers,
teachers who cover several schools, or by resource room teachers,
teachers who have a classroom in a specific school and who work
with individual children for part of their day. In either case a
teacher who teaches blindness skills such as Braille and cane
travel should be trained
to teach blind children. School districts sometimes try to have
unqualified regular education teachers teach such skills.
Decisions concerning the eligibility of a child for special
education services and the general needs of the child are made
during a meeting which should be attended by school officials,
parents, and any other interested parties. The meeting at which a
child is first determined
to be in need of special education services is called a
multidisciplinary conference or a staffing. This meeting is not
usually complicated where blind children are involved, because
the handicap is obvious.  After a child is determined to be
handicapped, specific goals and objectives are decided upon.
Goals and objectives are developed during a meeting much like the
staffing or conference. This meeting is known as an IEP meeting.
In fact, the staffing and IEP meeting can be held at the same
time and often are. An Individualized Education Program (IEP)
must be developed at least annually for every handicapped child. 
An IEP can also be requested at any time by a parent.
The goals which the law contemplates are long term and general
while objectives are shorter-term and specific. For example, a
goal might
read like:  Sally will add two- digit numerals,  or even  Sally
will complete grade level math on schedule.  An objective reads
more like:  Sally will complete thirty two-digit arithmetic
problems in thirty minutes with ninety percent accuracy. 
It is important for parents to have an active role in these
meetings to insure that their children are being taught what they
need to be taught and to guard against improper expectations on
the part of school districts. A program cannot be put into place
without the signature of a parent except in very limited
circumstances. A bad program should not be signed. By signing,
however, parents do not bind themselves.  If a poor program has
been signed, another can be developed simply by calling for a new
IEP meeting.
Parents need to be informed and need to attend these meetings
with a strong idea of what the needs of their children are. Too
often the experts concerned with cost or inconvenience to school
systems railroad parents into agreeing to programs which are
wholly inadequate at best.  When an IEP is not signed and the
parents and the school cannot come to an agreement regarding
placement or an educational plan, the parent or the school can
request a hearing at which an impartial hearing officer will
preside and decide the controversy.
It is helpful to have an advocate attend IEP's and hearings. Even
the most informed parent can benefit from some outside support. 
I have provided basic legal advice during IEP's and hearings, but
this is certainly not the only service an advocate provides. I
often express my personal feelings about inadequate training and
my knowledge of how it affects other blind people. During the
last IEP I attended
I listened a lot. I heard that one of the teachers was feeling
overwhelmed and inadequate, and I think it helped when I
addressed this problem directly during the meeting.
At all stages of the process the NFB can  help. The NFB has
information about IEP's and the needs of blind children. The NFB
often sponsors parent advocates, or its members volunteer to
serve as advocates.  The NFB provides an essential support system
of people who truly care about blind children and want to help
their parents. (Editor's note:  You may contact Patti Gregory by
calling 312-787- 4928.) @TITLE = BRAILLE: PEDAGOGY, PREJUDICE, 
 AND THE BANNER OF EQUALITY
@AUTHOR = by Fred Schroeder
 (Fred Schroeder was formerly the Coordinator of Low Incidence
Programs for the Albuquerque Public Schools. He presently serves
as Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind (a
position he took on July 1, 1986). This address was given in
Toronto, Canada, on June 1, 1988, at a conference sponsored by
the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the theme of which
was  Braille: Future Directions. ) 

When speaking generally about Braille, it can be said without
controversy that Braille represents the means to literacy for the
blind. On its face it seems self-evident that for the blind to be
literate we must have a tactile method of reading and writing. As
with most truths that appear self-evident, our particular beliefs
and attitudes color our perception and affect the way in which
our beliefs are put into action. Although we flatter ourselves
with the belief that we are rational beings, we cannot ignore the
impact of prejudice on our behavior.  For this reason a
discussion of Braille must necessarily encompass a discussion of
societal beliefs about blindness, as well as our own beliefs as
blind people about blindness.
When I was seven years old, I lost the majority of my eyesight.
While not totally blind, I was no longer able to function
competitively using my sight. At that time in my life I did not
regard myself as
a blind person and if asked would have fiercely resisted viewing
myself as blind. The intensity of my aversion to thinking of
myself as blind was directly tied to my fear of blindness. While
recognizing that
I was no longer fully sighted, I would not think of myself as a
blind person since for me blindness conjured up images of
hopelessness and helplessness. I did not know what had shaped my
beliefs up to that time, but looking back I can identify many of
the events which helped strengthen my negative beliefs about
blindness. I was one of four children, and as in most families
various household chores were divided up among us. While never
explicitly stated, the chores I was assigned were those in which
my poor vision would cause me the least difficulty.  Both my
family and I assumed that the tasks around the house routinely
involving sight necessarily required sight and, therefore, none
of us sought alternative methods for me to do other jobs. Rather
than promoting confidence by giving me a belief that I could
contribute,
this practice led me to the conclusion that I could function
competitively only by means of my remaining vision. When I
returned to school, the same pattern continued. If I could not
see well enough to do a particular thing, I was either excused
from the assignment or paired off with a partner who generally
did the majority of the work. Whichever way it went, the belief
persisted that to see was to be competent and not to see was to
be incompetent.
During the time I grew up, it was believed that the more a person
used his or her remaining eyesight the sooner it would
deteriorate.  For this reason I was not encouraged to use print
for fear that it would cause a further decrease in my vision.
Since I was not using print, there seemed little need to teach me
to spell. As you can imagine, the effect on my academic training
of not reading was widespread and damaging. My mother, realizing
that I would not be using print and recognizing the need for me
to become literate, arranged for me to receive instruction in
Braille. It was at this point that my beliefs about blindness
began to surface in a tangible way. I resisted learning Braille
and applied great quantities of effort to insuring that I would
never learn it. I would read the dots with my remaining sight and
not by touch. I would refuse to practice between lessons, hide my
book before lessons, and in every way possible avoid contact with
Braille. I would argue with my mother that I did not need to know
Braille since more and more material was being recorded on tape.
In short, my beliefs about blindness were governing my attitude
toward Braille. By not wanting to think of myself as a blind
person, I resisted learning the skills I needed to function
competitively. My fear of being less capable prevented me from
learning the very skill which would have enabled me to function
on a par with my sighted peers.  Now that the sight-saving era is
behind us, I often wonder what would have happened to me in
today's educational system. Would I have been taught Braille, or
would I have been encouraged to read print with a closed circuit
television or other similar device? Unfortunately the answer is
all too easy to predict. The modern-day educational system does
not encourage teachers of blind children to concentrate on
Braille as a primary reading system for other than the totally
blind. Children with any remaining eyesight are pressed to read
print long past the point of reason and common sense.
In my professional life I started as a teacher of blind children.
I have observed children using print in situations and under
conditions which defy reason. In particular I can vividly
remember watching a child being instructed in print using a CCTV
at full magnification.  To complicate matters this child could
not see well if there was any glare in the room, so before he
started reading, the blinds were closed.  To complicate matters
further, this child could not read letters that were at all
stylized. Therefore, the teacher would first retype all of the
child's material, using a sans serif large print typewriter which
made very plain typewritten letters. After the teacher had
retyped the child's material, closed the venetian blinds, and
turned the CCTV to full magnification, this child was able to
read a few letters at a time with excruciating slowness.
Nevertheless, I was told that she was not being taught Braille
because her parents wished her to read print. When this child
became my student, I set about teaching her Braille and found
that her parents came to value her ability to read and take pride
in her newfound literacy. I firmly believe that their reluctance
to allow her to learn Braille was directly tied to their desire
not to think of their child as blind rather than to a belief that
print represented a more efficient means of reading for her.
I also believe that their negative attitudes were shaped by the
negative attitudes of the teacher.
When I first determined to become a teacher of blind children, I
took it for granted that Braille reading and writing would be
stressed.
My teacher preparation program required a one-semester course in
Braille with an optional semester course in Braille math and
music notation.  This limited amount of training in Braille is
disturbing enough. However, my program was, at that time,
regarded as placing more emphasis on Braille than most other
programs throughout the nation. Quantity of Braille instruction
alone was not the problem. Prospective teachers completing the
Braille course had only marginal reading and writing ability, and
if the course was taken early in their program, they might not
use Braille for several years before becoming certified as
teachers of blind children.
When I was student teaching, I needed to have large quantities of
material transcribed into Braille. To assist me I hired a woman
who
had just taken the Braille course the previous semester. She had
received an  A  in the course and, therefore, would (I assume) be
reasonably facile with Braille. The material she first
transcribed for me averaged sixteen Braille errors per page. I
was having this woman transcribe my material on eight and a half
by eleven inch paper. Figuring two
to two and a half Braille pages for each print page, this is
analogous to hiring a typist who had just completed a typing
course with an  A  grade who averages thirty to forty errors per
typewritten page. I believe it is fair to say that many teachers
of blind children are not skilled in Braille and, therefore, seek
alternatives to Braille in working with their students. I
remember when the Optacon was first introduced. The manufacturer
claimed that the Optacon would make Braille obsolete. The
manufacturer, in cooperation with leading professionals in the
field, developed a reading program adapted for the Optacon.  This
was not a program to teach a child who was already a skilled
reader to transfer that skill to the Optacon. Rather, this was a
program intended to teach children the skill of reading by means
of the Optacon.  If this belief were limited only to the wild
exaggerations of the manufacturer, it could be more easily
dismissed. Unfortunately, while going through my teacher
training, I had friends who seriously proposed eliminating
Braille as a requirement from the teacher preparation curriculum
since it would soon be obsolete.
Lack of use of Braille by the teachers compounds the problem. I
was once told by a leading professional that it is not uncommon
for an itinerant teacher to have periods of seven to ten years
without a single Braille student. I would argue that this would
not be the case if all children who should be taught Braille were
taught Braille.  Nevertheless, if it is the practice, it is easy
to see how a teacher's proficiency could easily deteriorate
assuming, of course, that the teacher had such proficiency in the
first place.
A fundamental question which must be asked is this: Which
children should be taught to read Braille, and which children
should be taught to read print? In my professional work I
developed a set of criteria which I used to answer this question.
I believe that if a child can read standard sized print (holding
it at a normal reading distance) and if that child can read for a
sustained period of time without eye strain, then it is
reasonable for that child to read print. In other words, if a
child has sufficient vision to function as a normally sighted
person, then it can be reasonably expected that the child will be
able to function competitively as a print reader. If the child
suffers eye strain and cannot read for sustained periods of time,
then it is reasonable for that child to learn Braille. All
children must have a reading method which allows them to be fully
literate.  I believe the criteria I have listed are really
nothing more than
a functional definition of literacy. While no one would argue
against literacy, the fact of teachers not receiving adequate
training in Braille (coupled with new technology, such as CCTV's)
has steered educational practice away from Braille and away from
literacy.  Four or five years ago a leading professional
organization in the United States circulated a proposed position
paper asking for comments from the field. This position paper was
intended to establish working criteria to settle once and for all
the question of which children
should read print and which children should read Braille. I was
astonished when I read that one of the criteria seriously being
proposed was that a child who was able to read print at ten words
per minute should continue to be a print reader and not be taught
Braille. To the best
of my knowledge this position paper was never formally adopted.
However, I was dumfounded that a leading professional would even
propose such a criterion.
I believe that there exists a prejudice against Braille and that,
as with most prejudice, it is not deliberately intended or, for
that matter, even recognized by those who feel it most deeply. I
believe the source of the prejudice is nothing deeper or more
mysterious than the public misunderstanding and misconceptions
about blindness. Dr.  Kenneth Jernigan, Executive Director of the
National Federation of the Blind, tells of visiting a classroom
of blind children and being told by the teacher:  This little
girl reads print. This little girl  has  to read Braille.  It is
human nature that prejudice (while irrational) is defended by
seemingly rational explanations.  This is certainly true with the
prejudice against Braille. We are told that Braille is too bulky
and too expensive to produce that it is limited in quantity and
that, therefore, to teach a child Braille is to limit what the
child will be able to read. We are told that it is better to
teach a child print, thereby making available great quantities
(virtually endless quantities) of reading material to the child.
Never mind that the child may be only able to read at ten words
per minute. Never mind that the child may suffer eye strain and
only be able to read for a brief time. While Braille is too
expensive, never mind the cost of Optacons, talking computers, or
CCTV's. While Braille is too bulky, never mind the size and
awkwardness of many low vision aids.
Several years ago I attended a professional conference and saw a
presentation on the mainstreaming of blind children into a
regular public school.  One of the slides showed a child with a
CCTV mounted on a cart, which he wheeled with him from class to
class. Yet, Braille is too bulky, too expensive, and too limited.
As an educator, I have seen low vision children with smudges on
their noses from trying to read their own handwriting their own
handwriting which was done with a soft lead pencil or felt tip
pen. Yet, somehow many of the professionals who shape the
thinking of society cling to the belief that to read print
is inherently better than to read Braille inherently  normal. 
Young blind children must be instructed in the skill of Braille
writing, not only by means of the Braille writer but with the
slate and stylus as well. Earlier in this century Braille writers
were in scarce supply, and generations of blind children grew up
learning to write with the slate and stylus from the time they
entered the first grade. Now we are told that young blind
children lack the fine motor control to use the slate and stylus
and, therefore, that this skill should not be taught until middle
school. When a child is in middle school, he or she must already
have a reliable means of taking notes. It is too late to be
introducing a notetaking system. Even though the slate has
represented an efficient notetaking system for generations of
blind people, modern day pedagogy suggests that the slate is too
slow and causes too much confusion to be a useful tool because it
teaches children to  write backward.  Many teacher preparation
programs introduce the slate as little more than a relic of
bygone days. Instead of being taught an efficient writing method,
far too many children are given soft lead pencils or felt tip
pens and are taught to handwrite notes which they can only
decipher with great difficulty if at all. How will these children
compete in today's society? How will they obtain a college
education when they are not able easily to read their own
handwriting? How will they make a class presentation or deliver a
speech without being able easily to read from a printed text? The
answer (Braille) seems obvious, and it is certainly available but
the simple truth seems to elude many of today's  professionals 
in the field.
What we need and must have is an understanding in ourselves and
in society that, as blind people, we must be able to compete on
terms of equality with the sighted. To compete we must be
literate, and to be literate we must be able to read and write
Braille. We must promote a belief and an attitude that it is
respectable to be blind and that there is no inherent inferiority
or second-class status in the methods associated with blindness.
As a child, when I resisted learning Braille, I was resisting
conceiving of myself as a blind person. I automatically assumed
that to be blind was to be inferior and, therefore, that to use
the tools of blindness was an acceptance of inferiority. By
rejecting blindness (and with it Braille) I was rejecting the
very skill which would have allowed me to compete on an equal
footing with my peers.
We cannot allow our attitudes and the attitudes of society to rob
us of our right to first-class status. We must press for greater
emphasis on Braille among our school children. We must press for
greater availability of Braille. Perhaps the greatest gift of our
high tech age is computer production of Braille, reducing both
cost and transcription time.  But above all, we must press for an
understanding that the tools we use as blind people are not the
badge of second-class status, but rather the banner of equality.

@TITLE = BLIND STUDENTS' PARENTS CHARGE MEETING ILLEGAL
 This article by staff writer Bob Forkey appeared in the June 1,
1988,  Portland,  Maine , Press Herald.  It details the ongoing
struggle of the National Federation of the Blind and the parents
of blind children in Maine to get a decent education for the
blind children of that state. Connie Leblond is the immediate
past president of the National Federation of the Blind of Maine.
She is also a woman of energy and determination. 
A Portland couple has filed complaints against the Portland
school system charging they were shut out of a meeting involving
the education of their blind daughter.
Robert J. and Connie C. Leblond, saying their exclusion from the
meeting violated federal law, have asked for investigations of
the incident
by the federal Office of Civil Rights in Boston and the Maine
Department of Educational and Cultural Services.
Portland school officials Wednesday denied any wrongdoing, saying
the  student study,  as the meeting was called, is common
practice among professional educators.
 They were not doing anything inappropriate,  said Assistant
Superintendent David N. LeGage.
But Connie Leblond said she and her husband  think this is an
issue that needs to be looked into... The student studies are
being held without (parents') knowledge. 
Leblond said she  inadvertently  found out about a May 19 meeting
where teachers and a representative of the Division of Eye Care
of the Department of Human Services' Rehabilitation Bureau were
to discuss her daughter, Hope, and her transition from elementary
to middle school next year.
Leblond said she was told by both Pupil Evaluation Team
chairwoman Bernadine Small and LeGage that she could not attend
the meeting.  Leblond said she and her husband could not even
find out where and when the meeting would take place. And once it
was held, she said, they had trouble getting a copy of the
minutes of the session. The copy they finally obtained was 
sketchy,  Leblond said.  LeGage said Wednesday,  I don't know too
much about the details of that.  But he said,  What she was not
invited to was what we call a `student study,'  which he said is
similar to doctors getting together at a hospital to consult
about a patient.  Professional educators often get together to
talk about an upcoming Pupil Evaluation Team meeting, where
decisions are made about special education students, LeGage said.
But LeGage contended no decisions are made and no votes are taken
during a  student study,  adding,  It's not even an official
meeting. 
LeGage said he took Leblond's calls about the student study in
place of Special Education Director Faye Y. Gmeiner, who is on
maternity leave.  I'm sure that student studies are legal, 
LeGage said, adding that Gmeiner would not allow such sessions if
they were not.  But Connie Leblond, who is Vice President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Maine, contends that  other
resources  have found student studies are  very illegal. 
Contacted in Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday, James Gashel,
Director of Governmental Affairs for the National Federation of
the Blind, said,  I don't care what they're calling it, it's
illegal.  Gashel said what is important is the nature of the
meeting, not what it is called.
The federal Education of All Handicapped Children Act prohibits
meetings that involve the assessment of, placement of, or
identification of services for a handicapped child unless the
child's parents are given notice of the meeting, Gashel said.
But Kevin Childers, public affairs specialist at the federal
Department of Education in Washington, said,  It really depends
on the exact nature of the meeting as to whether parents are
required to attend.  If the session is strictly to determine
eligibility for a program or make a placement decision, parents
are not required to attend, Childers said. But if the meeting is
to develop an individualized education program for the child,
parents must be there.
The Leblonds' complaints follow the recent passage of a
resolution by the National Federation of the Blind of Maine
demanding that the Portland school system  be made to abide by
the letter and the spirit  of the Education of All Handicapped
Children Act.  Parental involvement in educational decisions is
the cornerstone of that federal law, the resolution said, and
Portland schools should
be required to notify parents and include them in all meetings
concerning their children.
Patricia Estes of Auburn, President of the NFB of Maine, said the
Federation is concerned that meetings such as the one Portland
had May 19  will continue and become more clandestine unless this
issue is faced squarely now. 
Estes said copies of the Federation's resolution were sent with
cover letters to Governor John R. McKernan, Jr., Education
Commissioner
Eve M. Bither, members of the Portland School Committee, the
Legislature's Joint Committee on Education, and U. S. Senator
William Cohen.  @LINE = ____________________
Postscript: It should be noted that in the June 9, 1988, 
Portland Press Herald  an article appeared headlined  City Head
of Special Education Quits Post.  The one resigning was Faye
Gmeiner, referred to in the June 1 article. The June 9 article
says in part:  @LINE = ____________________
Special Education Director Faye Y. Gmeiner has resigned because
of
an administrative decision to eliminate special education as a
separate division within the Portland public school system.
Superintendent Rodney C. Hermes confirmed Gmeiner's resignation
Thursday, saying she cited the administrative reorganization  as
the reason of substance  for her quitting....
The special education division also has had its share of
controversy during Gmeiner's tenure.
In April, 1987, a mother's charge that her son had been strapped
in his wheelchair and tied to a radiator at Deering High School
touched off in-house and state investigations that both found,
among other things, the student's case managers had violated
regulations.
The parallel findings resulted in the development of a range of
new policies, and in disciplinary measures for the errant
staffers.
Last week a Portland couple filed complaints against the school
system charging they were shut out of a meeting involving the
special education of their daughter, who is blind.
Their exclusion from the  student study meeting,  as the special
education office called the session, violated federal law, the
couple charged. They have asked for investigations by the federal
Office of Civil Rights in Boston and by the Maine Department of
Educational and Cultural Services....
@NEW TITLE = THE 2:00 A.M. BLUES
@AUTHOR = by Loraine Stayer
 This article by Loraine Stayer, one of the leaders of the
National Federation of the Blind of New York, appears in the
March-May, 1988,  Associate Raiser.  It underscores something
which we should never forget. Although much of what we say is
(and certainly should be) upbeat, not every story has a happy
ending. Regardless of what we
do from this day forward, it is already too late for many of the
blind.  Potential careers have been ruined; dreams have been
shattered; and spirits have been crushed. Overprotective parents,
bad agencies, and wrong social attitudes have so twisted and
dwarfed many lives that no amount of enlightened counteraction
can undo the damage. This does not mean that it is ever too late
to make the situation at least a little better or that we should
feel gloom or despair. Far from it.  The work of the National
Federation of the Blind shows measurable progress every day, and
an ever-increasing number of the nation's blind are experiencing
opportunity instead of deprivation. 

No, we should not despair, but neither should we forget. These,
too, are our brothers and sisters. These, too, have dreamed and
longed
and wanted. These, too, might have had their place in the sun if
only   But, of course, that is why  we have the National
Federation of the Blind.  Here is Loraine Stayer's article:
@LINE = ____________________
 I'm restless, desperate, lonely. By night can't sleep, by day
can't stay awake. Stay away from the 2:00 a.m. blues if you can.
2:00 a.m. lasts til 4:00 p.m. and may decide to stay forever. 
With these words, part of a poem she wrote, Ginger Harms
describes her life. Because she is blind, her parents made a
decision when she was younger to protect Ginger from life.
Perhaps they meant well. Almost certainly they meant well.
However, the result is a mind- numbing routine of waking up,
helping out in the house, and watching other people's lives go
by. Ginger is an intelligent young woman of thirty something
(I've lost track), who has a college degree, an interest in Ham
Radio, and a boyfriend, who will never become a husband. She is
also a virtual prisoner in her home, not allowed to do anything
for herself, not believing in the things she can do. I don't
write about Ginger often, because I get too upset. In her shoes I
would long ago have gone insane, or at the least committed
suicide. Ginger has a secret life, I'm sure, lived mostly inside
her head, or on the Ham Radio network, or in the cassette letters
she sends to her friends.  Ginger's 2:00 a.m. blues  wrecks your
mind and rips apart your dreams and your spirit.  It long ago
ripped apart her spirit and buried it deep within.
Is Ginger alone? Distressingly not. The details vary. Tony has no
profession and has been placed in a sheltered workshop because
the agencies would prefer to do that rather than to deal with his
problems.  His parents don't let him go anywhere by himself,
except to work.  They seem ordinary people. If you met them on
the street with Tony, you would be surprised that he is their
son, because they seem so young and he does not.
Allyn lives in my town. She recently put an ad in the paper for a
female companion to take her out to dinner on Saturday
afternoons, provide transportation, cut her food, and otherwise
take care of her.  Allyn's parents never let her learn the skills
of blindness because they didn't like the Commission for the
Blind. Neither do I, but...
Louise would like to get married. She is twenty-four. But she's
never lived on her own and gets no confidence vote from her
parents, who have turned acid tongues against every man she's
ever dated. Why?  Protection, of course. How could any man take
care of her as well as they? But Louise is unhappy.
These are real people. I haven't made up the names or the
situations.  My imagination isn't that good or maybe I should say
that bad.  Perhaps if we could take these protective parents
aside and put these questions to them: What is the purpose of
life? What do you accomplish by protecting your son or daughter?
What if you were blinded tomorrow?  Perhaps then things might
change. But what happens when the people imprisoned by these
attitudes are the sons and daughters themselves?  The answer, of
course, is nothing happens. Ginger says it well:  ...  I feel too
much; too much pain and too little joy; too much emptiness and no
fulfillment.... Who has the new hot line number to God? And who
put me on hold and unconnected? 
@TITLE = MY SPEECH
@AUTHOR = by Darrell Shandrow
 (This article appears in the Winter, 1988, issue of  Future
Reflections,  the magazine for parents of blind children.) 

I was born on August 11, 1973, in Champaign, Illinois. At the
time of my birth I was a rubella baby and had congenital
glaucoma, a heart murmur, a bone deficiency, and was deaf. Now,
the murmur is gone, the bone deficiency is gone, and the deafness
is gone, but I am still blind. I have had numerous operations on
my eyes and three operations to cure my hearing problem.
I attended the Arizona State School for the Deaf and the Blind
for six years. After the fourth year in ASDB, I decided that I
wanted
to attend public school, but the local school district wouldn't
allow me to attend their schools. As a result, I am now attending
Pallaverty High School. Thanks to the National Federation of the
Blind, I am able to fight a case against Maranna School District
and hopefully make them pay for my education in Tucson Unified
School District.  One day at school I got an assignment in public
speaking class. I was supposed to choose and write and give a
speech on a topic. This speech was to be three minutes long. The
topic I chose was the NFB.  My grade on this speech was 94 out of
100 points, an  A.  I am proud of the National Federation of the
Blind. I would like to share my speech with the members of the
NFB.
What is the NFB? Who started it, and when was it started? Why is
there an NFB? What has the NFB already accomplished? What are its
future goals? Now, you're probably asking yourself,  What do the
letters NFB stand for?  Well, that's what I am going to tell you
all about.  The letters NFB stand for the National Federation of
the Blind. The National Federation of the Blind is an
organization of blind people helping each other. The NFB was
formed to fight the everyday discrimination against blind people.
The National Federation of the Blind is a nonprofit organization.
The NFB is not federally funded. It is funded by its membership
and by private donations.
The NFB was started by Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, who was blinded at
the age of six in a bow and arrow accident. Dr. tenBroek has five
college degrees. Two of them are doctorates. He received one of
them from the University of California and the other from Harvard
University.  He was one of the two highest ranking students in
the University of California.
The Federation was started in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, in
1940.  In the beginning it had about twenty-five members from
seven states.  At the present time it has over fifty thousand
members representing all fifty states.
Dr. tenBroek started the National Federation of the Blind because
he was blind himself, and he realized the problems that blind
people face.
Since the National Federation was started, it has accomplished a
lot.  It has won many court cases involving discrimination.
Because of the Federation the blind have more opportunities for
employment than ever before. Now the blind are employed in just
about every field imaginable.  The NFB has also accomplished a
lot in the way of education. More
and more blind children are now going to public school. The
Federation's accomplishments go on and on.
The NFB has not yet accomplished complete equality. The blind are
still discriminated against in many ways. The NFB still has many
goals that it is trying to reach. One of the problems that still
face blind people is education. Although the NFB has accomplished
much in this area, there is still work to be done. For instance,
some blind children are still denied the right to a public school
education in their local district. As a result, the family must
move to another school district that will accept blind children.
Another problem is the governmental and private agencies who
think they know what is best for the blind.  The truth is that
they hurt the blind more than help. They teach blind people to be
dependent. The NFB is making progress in stopping the agencies.
They are doing this through the courts. We have come a long way,
but we still have many problems to face.
The National Federation of the Blind, of which I am a member,
fights against discrimination. The Federation wants no
confrontation, but
the Federation will never give up on its cause. The Federation's
philosophy is that the blind should be classified on terms of
full equality with the sighted, and I agree with that philosophy.
@NEW TITLE = TROUBLE SHOOTING INFOCOM GAMES WITH SPEECH @AUTHOR =
by Michael J. McDermott
 This article appears in the Winter, 1988, issue of  Future
Reflections,  the magazine for parents of blind children. Michael
McDermott
is the son of the President of the Massachusetts NFB Parents of
Blind Children Division, also Michael McDermott. Michael (the
son) lost his sight a few years ago. He is now in high school, an
honor roll student, and, as his article indicates, something of a 
computer nut.  He hopes to work in the communications field and
would like to be a disc jockey some day. 

Playing games on a talking computer can sometimes be more work
than play. What I mean by this is that ever since I got my job at
Infocom as a game tester, it seems as if playing games has become
more of
a job than just a relaxing way to pass the time. Although I must
say the Infocom games are quite interesting, and I enjoy my work.
I was told about this job at Infocom by a friend of mine who gave
me the phone number of the person to contact. So one day I
decided to follow up on this lead and try my luck. I called the
person in charge of outside testing at the company. We had a
conversation over the phone about my computer knowledge and what
type of computer system I had. Everything went well until I told
her I was blind. However, I told her that testing these games
should present no problem, and this could serve as an interesting
experience for both the company and myself. That night I wrote a
letter to her:
 I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your
time, which I am sure you took away from your busy schedule, and
for our telephone conversation on February 23, 1987. As I
mentioned to you, I am fourteen years old and a freshman at the
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
 I am very interested in your computer game testing program.
Presently I work with an Apple II-E computer system, an Echo Plus
voice synthesizer system, a WordTalk word processor, and an Image
Writer II printer.   My visual impairment should not present any
difficulties for my testing your games. With my voice synthesizer
I can hear what is on the screen just as the sighted see the text
on the monitor. I would like to discuss with you at your
convenience any questions you may have concerning my computer
experience.
 I look forward to meeting you in the near future. Thank you
again for giving me this opportunity. I am sure this could be a
rewarding experience for both of us. 
A week later I received a letter telling me that I had the job
and would receive a game called  Word Play  to test. When I got
the game, I began to work on it. I found my first bug when I
noticed that the script feature on the game did not work. The
script feature allows everything going to the screen to go out to
the printer. The printer can also be a speech synthesizer like my
Echo PC, which I recently bought. The next day I called the
company and told them about this problem. They checked it out,
and a few days later I got a phone call telling me that this had
been a problem with other versions of the game. After they fixed
this problem, they sent me the same game
for further testing. When I completed my testing of that game, I
received a free game and a letter thanking me for my services.
During the summer of that year I got a phone call telling me that
I would get another game for testing. When I finished my work on
that game, I brought my reports to the company. When I went
there, I met the person that I had spoken to on the phone a few
months ago. We discussed my work, and she told me that she would
like to write an article on me and my testing techniques with a
voice synthesizer system.  This would be published in their
newsletter called  The Status Line , which is distributed to all
Infocom subscribers.  @TITLE = FEDERATIONIST WINS BATTLE 
 IN JOB DISCRIMINATION
@AUTHOR = by Cheryl Livingston
 This article appears in the Summer, 1988,  News From Blind
Nebraskans,  the publication of the National Federation of the
Blind of Nebraska.  Cheryl is one of the leaders of the NFB of
Nebraska. Here is what she says: 

I have worked for a number of years as an employee of the Social
Security Administration. I started my career with SSA in 1978 as
a teleservice representative after completing a training course
for the blind in Los Angeles.
In 1986 I decided that I wanted to advance within SSA, so I began
applying for a claims representative position, the next position
up from the teleservice position. I applied for approximately
sixty claims representative jobs in all. After a while I began to
feel that there was a problem somewhere.
I knew I was competent in my present job and felt that I could
perform the claims representative job as well as anyone.
In the spring of 1987 I applied again when several claims
representative vacancies were announced. Again, I was not
selected for the position.  I decided then that I had had enough
and that I was going to get to the bottom of why I wasn't being
selected. I had two choices. I could file a grievance within the
federal employees' union, or I could file a discrimination
complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission.  I chose the
latter, because I felt that discrimination had occurred.  In May
of 1987 I filed an informal complaint, the first step in the
complaint process. I kept every vacancy announcement and every 
sorry you didn't get the job  announcement I had received for all
the jobs I had applied for. I showed the whole depressing file to
the EEOC counselor and gave him information that I thought would
help my case. Of course, I also mentioned the NFB. I was fully
prepared
for a long, drawn-out battle. I feared retaliation from my
supervisors.  Fortunately the battle was short only a little over
a month. On June 9, 1987, I received a call from the counselor
advising me that I had been selected as a Title 15 claims
representative in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was so happy, I cried. On
June 15 I left for Kansas City, Missouri, to participate in a
nine-week training course along with other sighted trainees. I
began working as a claims representative on August 17, 1987.
My experience is only one of many that have been shared by blind
people across the country. We have a choice. We can sit back and
believe that sighted people know best what is good for us and
that maybe, after all, we do not deserve first-class citizenship
with all its privileges and responsibilities. Or we can forge
ahead, knowing that we are competent human beings and fight
whatever battles we must in order to take our rightful place in
society. Blind people have come a long way in employment with the
Social Security Administration, and the National Federation of
the Blind is the only reason why.
@TITLE = SENATOR THURMOND COSPONSORS S. 2098,  THE AIR TRAVEL
RIGHTS FOR BLIND INDIVIDUALS ACT @RIGHT = United States Senate
@RIGHT = Washington, D.C.
@RIGHT = May 5, 1988

@LEFT = Mr. Donald Capps, President
@LEFT = National Federation of the Blind
@LEFT = of South Carolina
@LEFT = Columbia, South Carolina

@LEFT = Dear Mr. Capps:
Thank you for your letter of recent date concerning S. 2098, a
bill to amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to prohibit
discrimination against blind individuals in air travel. I have
contacted Senator Hollings and advised him of my interest in
cosponsoring this measure.  Also, I appreciate your providing me
with the affidavit of Miss Peggy Pinder regarding her unpleasant
experience at Washington's National Airport on March 31, 1988. I
read with interest her account of this incident.
Please do not hesitate to contact me any time I can be of further
assistance as your United States Senator.

With kindest regards and best wishes,

@RIGHT = Sincerely,
@RIGHT = Strom Thurmond
@LINE = ____________________
@RIGHT = Columbia, South Carolina
@RIGHT = May 10, 1988

@LEFT = Dear Senator Thurmond:
Thank you very much for your nice letter of May 5, 1988.
We are very pleased and grateful for your cosponsorship of S.
2098.  Because you are held in such high esteem in the Senate,
your cosponsorship of S. 1098 is very helpful and meaningful.
On behalf of the blind of South Carolina and the nation, we again
thank you for your interest in and support of vital legislation
affecting the blind.

@RIGHT = Very sincerely,
@RIGHT = Donald C. Capps, President
@RIGHT = National Federation of the Blind 
of South Carolina
@NEW TITLE = HANDICAPPED FLY UNFRIENDLY SKIES
@AUTHOR = by Senator Howard Menzenbaum
 (This article appeared in the May 20, 1988,  Toledo Union
Journal.   Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum is one of the
cosponsors of S.  2098, the Air Travel Rights for Blind
Individuals Act. Step by painful step we who are blind are
winning our way to first-class citizenship.) 

 All we want to do is to be able to travel like other passengers. 
We're not asking to fly the plane. We just want the
responsibility to do what we know we can handle.  This is what
Judy Sanders told reporters after she was thrown off an airplane
and arrested for refusing to leave her seat near an emergency
exit. Judy is blind, and like many blind airline passengers, she
is angry at the way the airline industry has treated her.
Just a few weeks ago, another blind passenger was thrown off a
Midway Airlines airplane for refusing to move from her seat in
the smoking section to a seat near the emergency exit. This
happened right here in our Nation's Capital.
A blind couple from Minnesota was thrown off a plane for refusing
to move from the seats that had been assigned to them by airport
personnel.  They were arrested and taken to jail, where the woman
was partially strip-searched.
Hundreds of blind airline passengers have been forced off of
airplanes, and dozens have been arrested over seating disputes.
These disputes have resulted in delays, missed flights, and
controversy.
Blind airline passengers should not be thrown off an airplane and
arrested because they don't want to change their seat. The
airlines wouldn't treat sighted passengers that way, and they
shouldn't be allowed to treat blind passengers that way.
This inconsistent, arbitrary treatment is degrading to blind
passengers.  In fact, the only thing consistent about the airline
industry's policy toward blind passengers is its inconsistency.
Some airlines restrict blind passengers to rows near emergency
exits, or to the first row of the aircraft. This limits the
number of seats available to blind passengers.
Still other airlines don't allow blind passengers to sit in rows
near emergency exits, fearing that blind passengers might be a
hazard to themselves and other passengers in the event of an
emergency exit.  These same airlines have no such seating
restrictions for small children or adults who have had  one too
many  and would be more hazardous to other passengers in the
event of an emergency exit.
We must stop these arbitrary seating restrictions. Blind airline
passengers shouldn't be subject to a different seating policy
every time they fly a different airline. There shouldn't be a
limit on the number
of seats available to blind passengers, and there shouldn't be
restrictions which only allow them to sit in certain areas of the
plane.
I have cosponsored a bill which would resolve this dispute. The
bill would specify that air carriers cannot restrict seating on
the basis
of visual impairment. The purpose of this bill is to clarify and
strengthen the existing law which prohibits all air carriers from
discriminating against handicapped people.
The bill would prod the Department of Transportation and the
Federal Aviation Administration to develop and adopt policies to
insure that
all handicapped airline passengers including blind passengers are
treated in a respectable and dignified manner.
A woman put the seating war between blind airline passengers and
the airlines in perspective when she told reporters:  Our
blindness
is not what limits us. The impression that people have of our
blindness does.  But fear and lack of knowledge about the
capabilities of the blind should not bar them from enjoying the
privileges of air transportation and being treated with respect.
@NEW TITLE = ROUTINE AIRLINE EXPERIENCE
 From the Editor : On May 13, 1988, Dr. Stanley Greenberg,
Director of Development and Public Education for the Vermont
Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, visited me at
the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore. He had other
business in the area, and coming to the National Center was one
of several activities. Under date of May 20, 1988, he wrote me
about his experience in flying to and from Vermont. As  Monitor 
readers will see, the trip was about par for the course. Here is
what he had to say:  @LINE = ____________________
First, on Thursday, May 11, I flew from Burlington, Vermont, to
Washington, D.C., on USAir flight 687. The flight was scheduled
to leave Burlington at 3:00 p.m. and make a scheduled stop in
Boston on route to Washington National Airport. Upon checking in
at the ticket counter, I was asked by the agent if I had a seat
preference. I indicated that I preferred a window seat. When he
returned my ticket to me, he advised me that I had been assigned
seat 1-F. I asked him if that could be changed since I prefer not
to sit in the first row. He indicated that the only other window
seat was well to the rear of the aircraft. Since I prefer not to
sit back there either, I asked him to reassign me to an aisle
seat. Upon checking the computer, he found that there was one
remaining window seat further forward, seat 13-F. I accepted that
assignment.
The agent then asked me if I needed assistance to the gate, and I
told him I did not. I then walked to the gate area, waited for my
flight to be announced, and (when my row was called) walked down
the jetway and into the plane. The flight attendant greeted me,
and I
told him that I was sitting in row 13-F. He asked me if I needed
assistance to find my seat, and I advised him that I did not. He
said that he would follow me just in case. When I arrived at row
13, he said that he was going to change my seat assignment to row
12 or 14-F. I asked him why, and he said that row 13 was an exit
row. I said,  No problem,  and sat down in seat 13-F. The rest of
the flight proceeded without incident. I have no idea whether
there was any discussion among the flight attendants about my
seat assignment. Nothing further was said to me.
Secondly, on May 16, I flew from Washington to Burlington on
Piedmont commuter flight 5755. The flight was scheduled to leave
Washington
at 6:10 p.m., make a scheduled stop in Binghamton, and arrive in
Burlington at 8:40 p.m. Severe thunderstorms and a tornado
warning caused cancellation of some flights and delays of others
that evening. Mine was one of the flights which was delayed.
Piedmont ground personnel were particularly helpful during the
time I spent in the commuter terminal. I asked directions to a
restaurant, and since the route was extremely complicated, I
asked for assistance to find it. I was given that assistance in
an appropriate manner.
When I arrived at the restaurant, my guide asked me if I needed
assistance to return to the terminal. I told him that I did not,
and he was accepting.  Since there were a number of planes on the
tarmac, I accepted assistance in locating my particular aircraft.
The assistance was equally appropriate.  However, things changed
when I boarded the plane. The flight attendant, who identified
herself as Lia, insisted on instructing me personally about the
safety features of the aircraft even though I advised her that I
was familiar with them. She said,  I have to do it.  I simply
turned to the window and ignored her.
When we landed in Burlington, she approached me and indicated
that
I would be de-planing last. I told her that I would leave when I
chose, and a rather heated discussion followed. She indicated
that I had to do what she said because those were the rules. I
told her that I was not aware of any such rules and that I would
de-plane when I chose to do so. In fact, I was among the first
passengers to leave the plane, and no effort was made to stop me.
An agent was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and I walked
with her across the tarmac to the airport building. The agent
followed me to the baggage area
even though I told her that I did not need or want assistance. I
claimed my luggage and left the building.

@LINE = ____________________
This, in Dr. Greenberg's words, is what happened during his air
travel from Vermont to Washington and return. The fact that there
were no serious confrontations and no arrests does not diminish
the significance of what he has to say. Indeed, if anything, his
understatement emphasizes the unacceptable nature of what
occurred. Both he and the airline personnel probably regarded the
exchanges as routine. So it was with segregated restaurant
seating, separate bathrooms, and mandatory riding at the back of
the bus until conscience was raised. Then the world changed, and
everybody wondered why the former condition had ever been allowed
to exist.
@TITLE = OF DOG GUIDES AND WHITE CANES
@AUTHOR = by Cherie Heppe
 This article is reprinted from the Fall, 1986, issue of  The
Federationist in Connecticut,  the newsletter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Connecticut. The author, Cherie Heppe,
is a former NFB scholarship winner and is currently in school
studying to become a Chiropractor. She is also a dog guide user
of many years. 

This fall at our National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut
state convention we will be afforded a special opportunity to
learn more about traveling effectively as blind people. One of
the workshops will focus on good travel, with Fred Schroeder as
presenter. Among
his qualifications Fred has a master's degree in orientation, is
completing a doctorate in education at San Francisco State so he
can speak the language of  the field,  and has some practical
knowledge in traveling as a totally blind person.
Many of us still hold to the notion that only a few, somehow
specially gifted, people can achieve smooth, competent travel
skills. Many also believe that long cane travel and dog guide
ownership have nothing in common. However, more and more of us
are discovering the paradoxes and false thinking reflected in
these views.
For example, no one of us starts out knowing how to get around.
Sighted or blind, we all have to learn to crawl as babies, then
take our first wobbly steps with family members holding our hands
and encouraging us. I know of no one who has an instinctual
capability to get on a two-wheeled bicycle and ride it perfectly
the first time. And consider the attention given to driver's
education in high schools. We need proper training as blind
people to be able to travel comfortably and effectively in our
day-to-day lives. The good travelers have spent time and effort
practicing and polishing their travel skills and have retained
open minds to learn from others. The first time I traveled using
a long cane I felt awkward and out of place, not because my cane
use was so bad, but because others I knew who were sighted did
not use a cane, and I felt different. I wanted to conform and be
just like the other people. In time I discovered that my means of
getting around worked well for me and gave me an edge over my
previous uneducated place.
We who travel with dog guides need to examine our underlying
motivations for owning a dog guide and, perhaps, refresh our
skills in long cane use. Many of us took to working with a dog
guide because we experienced agency philosophy or training in
combination with less effective agency canes. Many of us chose a
dog as a buffer between what we or our families considered a
crime-ridden and frightening unknown world and ourselves. 
Unfortunately the insecurity of the owner transfers to the dog
and results in nervousness, aggressive or uncontrolled behavior,
and lack of direction. Dogs need to look to their human owner for
instruction, guidance, discipline, and direction. The dog that
does not find this in the owner will take the dominant part in
the relationship. In the 1920's when dog guide training first
came to the U. S., there was no way for blind people to travel
effectively, except on the arm of
a sighted friend or companion or, perhaps, a paid guide. The dog
guide schools did need to take people very soon after the onset
of blindness, before poor attitudes and lack of exercise and
training destroyed the individual's initiative.
Time and experience pointed to the success of the dog guide. The
public marveled that a blind person could walk down the street,
re-learn skills to keep a home, and hold a job. Agencies for the
blind envied the way the dog guide schools attracted the
financial support of the public and the loyalty and respect of
both recipients and the public.  Some agencies made an effort to
gain control of the dog guide programs, and the dog guide
schools, being largely performance oriented and practical,
remained autonomous. Word then began to be circulated about the
various inconveniences and drawbacks of dog guide ownership.
Also, some owners did not maintain their training and added fuel
to such criticisms by the evidence of their poor handling.
The Veteran's Administration worked to develop the long cane and
its use in the mid-1940's. This opened the door for everyone who
was blind and wanted to travel independently to be able to do so.
However, the long cane travel training fell almost entirely to
agencies and service providers, not to practitioners who were
blind. So many of limiting attitudes of agencies reflected
themselves in the way cane travel was taught.
We in the NFB have developed a practical, usable, and effective
long
cane, as well as various folding canes. More importantly, we are
developing a philosophy of using and traveling with a cane that
makes all the difference in how we get around. The world has
become more sophisticated and demands more of us, because we as
blind people expect more of ourselves.

@NEW TITLE = FLY LIKE A BUTTERFLY STING LIKE A BEE @AUTHOR = by
Larry Lorenzo
This article examines commercial messages and their impact on
society.  Particular attention is given to attitudes towards
blindness which are shaped by these messages.
About the author Larry Lorenzo has been blind since age two. He
has a degree in computer science and a master's in counseling. He
has worked as a programmer, mental health therapist, and clinic
coordinator.  He is currently writing his first novel. He is
President of the White Sands Chapter of the NFB and is a state
board member of the National Federation of the Blind of New
Mexico.

 Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can't hit
what your eyes can't see. At school, at work, and at play
improved vision means improved performance.  This was the text of
a local commercial promoting contact lenses. Is anything wrong
with this message?  Surely one cannot object to improving
eyesight, whenever such is possible.  The catchy wording helps to
get one's attention. What is wrong is that the statements are
simply  not true . An overly zealous blind person can walk into
the office and demonstrate that an object can be hit, without
benefit of sight. Potentially more damaging is the statement that
expresses an absolute relationship between degree of eyesight
(visual acuity) and level of performance. While better vision may
result in improved visual performance, there is no automatic
change in overall or general capabilities. Eye chart results
cannot be substituted for IQ or achievement tests.
Furthermore, this statement does not acknowledge the efforts of
thousands of blind and visually impaired persons people who have
attained high standards of performance through alternative
techniques. In other words success is determined by hard work,
persistence, and innovative thinking not visual acuity.
In a commercial, aired frequently during the Mutual Radio news, a
mythical Adam and Eve are used to promote a vitamin product for
women.  Eve states,  You know, we are different!  Adam responds, 
Eve, I'm naked, not blind! 
 Informed  persons may recognize this statement as a poor attempt
at humor. But the  uninformed  may not dismiss the implication
that blindness equals ignorance or lack of awareness. After
repeated exposure to this message, the uninformed may become the 
misinformed .  The effectiveness of a commercial message is due
to its repetition or reinforcement. The relentless bombardment of
this message impacts the subconscious. When the decision to
purchase a product is at hand, something triggers a flood of
images and information. Unaware of this influence, we make our
decision to buy.
But commercials do not sell products. They promote ideas and
concepts.  It is easy to imagine a prospective employer reviewing
job applications.  The top two applicants have similar
qualifications. One of them is blind with a very impressive resum
. The decision will be made the following day. On his way home
the employer listens to the news on the radio. He disregards the
vitamin commercial, except for the last line which cues the
continuation of the newscast.  I'm naked, not blind!  When he
selects the applicant who will assume the responsibilities of the
job, he will share in the success and failure of that employee.
While weighing their qualifications, another piece of information
will be included. A negative seed had been planted.  Blindness
equals ignorance... Without anyone suspecting, the commercial
message has become a factor.
The biggest obstacle to visually impaired individuals is not
their physical limitations. It is the barriers to opportunity and
growth which result from negative, regressive attitudes.
Society's values
and beliefs are learned phenomena. They are reinforced by daily
contacts and experiences. The format of commercials makes them
effective teaching vehicles. Producers of these idea capsules
must recognize this power and responsibility. While negative
messages travel the airwaves like harmless  butterflies , their
impact on some lives may be felt like the  sting of a bee .
@TITLE = BARTON GETS THE BOOT MAYBE
@AUTHOR = by Kenneth Jernign
On June 17, 1988, Howard Barton (Administrator of the Idaho
Commission for the Blind) was fired. The action occurred in the
midst of a rising tide of complaints and discontent on the part
of the blind of the state. The decision came at a meeting of the
three-member Commission board as the climax to five years of
controversy, and even the firing was not unanimous, being
accomplished by a two-to-one vote.
Before 1967 Idaho's services for the blind were virtually
nonexistent.  They were administered as part of a larger
department of state government and were generally agreed to be
inadequate and spotty. In 1967, as a result of efforts by the
National Federation of the Blind of Idaho (at that time the Gem
State Blind), a three-member commission for
the blind was established. It was responsible for providing
rehabilitation and other services to the blind of the state.
The new agency came into being in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and
hope, and mostly in those early years it lived up to the promise. 
From the time of the establishment of the Commission in 1967
until mid-1983 two of the three board members were always blind,
and the president of the National Federation of the Blind of
Idaho was always
one of the two. During those formative years an orientation and
adjustment center was established; the blind of the state
received meaningful training and rehabilitation; blind persons
began to find jobs; and Idaho was looked to as a leader and
tone-setter in the field.  Then, in the 1970's, Howard Barton was
appointed as administrator.
He was weak and rather colorless and was at first opposed by the
majority of the blind of the state, but the wish not to
jeopardize the gains
which had been made kept any large-scale overt opposition from
developing.  The Barton administration began to settle down to
what seemed to be a continuation of the partnership which had
existed between the the blind and the agency since the late
sixties. But the prestige and progress steadily eroded, and in
late 1982 Barton resigned.
Ramona Walhof (capable and energetic) was appointed as the new
administrator, and almost immediately she found herself coping
with the inevitable results of the Barton legacy. Time had begun
to catch up with the years of nonleadership. Also, it was clear
that Barton hadn't meant
it when he submitted his resignation, for he was soon fomenting
opposition and joining forces with any dissidents he could find.
Events followed in rapid-fire order. Jack Ugaki, a sighted man
who had no apparent qualifications except that he was the husband
of a former staff member who had left the Commission in unhappy
circumstances, was appointed to membership on the Commission
board in July of 1983. He replaced one of the two blind board
members, thus shifting the balance to a sighted majority for the
first time in the agency's history. The other two members were a
sighted automobile dealer and Dr. Norman Gardner, then President
of the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho.
By late 1983 attempts were being made by Idaho's governor to
abolish the Commission entirely. Clearly this was not what the
blind of the state wanted, and the effort to scuttle the program
failed in
part, at least, because of the strong public stand taken by
administrator Walhof. Barton and Ugaki were also working behind
the scenes, and in February of 1984 Mrs. Walhof was dismissed.
The agency now moved toward total chaos and nonperformance. In
July of 1984 the president of the NFB of Idaho was replaced on
the Commission board by Brian Wardle, a blind man who had been
part of the Ugaki- Barton cabal and who was generally regarded as
being distinguished only by bitterness and lack of personal
success.
The following months may well have constituted the agency's low
point.  It began to discharge blind staff members and to make war
upon the organized blind of the state. In particular Frank Smith
and Ray Martin (the only blind persons serving in a supervisory
capacity) were dismissed, in what can only be called unusual
circumstances. It was announced that an agency consolidation was
to occur and that the two supervisory positions were to be
combined into one. Martin and Smith (long-time civil service
employees) were technically offered demotions but were in reality
fired. These dismissals were the subject of a lawsuit, which is
still unresolved. And the firings were not all. They were only
symptomatic of the disintegration and dissension which tore at
the very fabric of the program.
It is too early to be certain, but the first step on the road
back
to sanity and normalization may have been the appointment to the
Commission board in July of 1985 of Walt Hine, one of the
officers and leaders of the National Federation of the Blind of
Idaho. He replaced the automobile dealer and brought personal
knowledge and experience to the task. At the time of Hine's
appointment this reversal of trend was certainly not apparent
since further turmoil was still to come
and since, in July of 1986, it was more of the same with the
reappointment of Jack Ugaki for another three- year term.
But the climate was changing, and matters were beginning to be
seen in perspective. In 1986 a new governor was elected in Idaho,
and in July of 1987 a major step toward the revitalization of the
Commission occurred with the appointment to the board of Marjorie
Moon. Ms. Moon (one of the long-time political leaders of the
state) replaced Wardle.  She was supported by the vast majority
of the blind, and she did not disappoint their expectations.
At the convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
Idaho in the spring of 1988 the outrage and determination of the
blind of the state finally came to focus. When the Commission for
the Blind was established more than twenty years earlier, the
Federation had been the only truly statewide, active organization
of the blind in Idaho. Such had continued to be the case through
the intervening time
and was still the case when the members assembled for the 1988
convention.  The blind were determined to reform and rejuvenate
the Commission and to make it responsible and responsive. They
began by passing a very simple and straightforward motion. It
said:  The National Federation of the Blind of Idaho calls upon
the board of the Idaho Commission for the Blind to take action
for the immediate dismissal of Howard H. Barton, Jr., as
Administrator.  That was all but it was enough.
Things began to happen. The Federation issued a press release
detailing Barton's inadequacies. The release said that Barton
should be fired because he had secretly attempted to disqualify
certain blind vendors from receiving Social Security Disability
Insurance benefits, because he had illegally assigned lucrative
vending facilities to certain blind people, and because his
testimony under oath had been impeached for contradictory
statements. The Federation charged that Barton had permitted an
adult male (sighted and single) to live in the women's dormitory
at the Commission's training center. The Federation further
charged that the Commission no longer had a job placement
specialist, that its rehabilitation program was deteriorating,
and that Barton had allowed (or forced) eight blind persons to
leave the agency's staff during a single year. Moreover, Barton
(according to the press release) was responsible for excessive
delays in providing services to the blind and for allowing the
training facility at the Commission to operate at less than fifty
percent of student capacity for extended periods of time. He was
condescending in his treatment of the blind, refused to help
qualified blind applicants, and lacked leadership and
administrative ability.
The board of the Commission held two lengthy executive sessions,
at
which intense discussion occurred concerning the performance and
nonperformance of Barton. Pursuant to the board meetings, the
following letter was distributed to the blind of the state:
@LINE = ____________________
@RIGHT = Boise, Idaho
@RIGHT = May 27, 1988

The Board of the Idaho Commission for the Blind is aware of
allegations and complaints directed against Mr. Howard Barton,
Jr., Administrator of the Idaho Commission for the Blind.  The
Board has found statements, pro and con, unacceptable as
presented; however, the charges are not being taken lightly and
are under investigation and consideration by the Board.
The Board is interested only in facts.  We welcome your personal
statement and request that each individual's statement include
the following:

1. Blind or sighted; 2. Length of residence in Idaho (present);
3.  Dates, times, places for each specific incident; 4. Names of
person(s) involved in each incident; 5. Witnesses to each
specific incident.  Each personal affidavit (statement) should
include your address and telephone number and must be signed
before a Notary Public.  Unsigned statements will not be
considered.  Your response must be received by June 22, 1988.The
affidavits may be in the form of complaints or support for Mr.
Howard Barton, Jr., as Administrator of the Idaho Commission for
the Blind.  However, please stick to the facts and be specific! 
Address your response to one of the following:

@LEFT = Idaho Commission for the Blind Board
@LEFT = 341 W. Washington St.
@LEFT = Boise, Idaho 83702

@LEFT = Mr. Jack S. Ugaki, Chairman
@LEFT = P. O. Box 1465
@LEFT = Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402

@LEFT = Mr. Walt Hine, Member
@LEFT = 251 Clinton Drive
@LEFT = Twin Falls, Idaho 83301

@LEFT = Ms. Marjorie Ruth Moon
@LEFT = P. O. Box  207
@LEFT = Boise, Idaho 83701

@RIGHT = Sincerely,
@RIGHT = Jack S. Ugaki, Chairman
@RIGHT = Idaho Commission for the Blind
@LINE = ____________________
Apparently Ugaki still supported his friend Barton, but he was
now
in the minority. Moon and Hine (the majority) wanted the next
Commission board meeting to occur June 23 and 24 so that time
would be allowed for the letters and affidavits to be received as
announced, but Ugaki still had a trick or two left up his sleeve.
After all, he was still chairman of the Commission board. Under
date of June 8, 1988, a notice was sent announcing a Commission
board meeting for June 17. The chairman was scheduling the
meeting in defiance of the will of the other two board members at
a time prior to the date the board had set as the deadline for
receiving the  facts.  Perhaps this would cause such confusion
that Barton could be saved.
In the context of these shifty tactics and in an atmosphere of
tension, the board met at the Commission building in Boise on
June 17. The meeting started at 9:00 a.m. and dragged on through
the morning. Lunch came and went, and the afternoon session began
in the same pattern.  Shortly after two o'clock Ugaki asked if
there was other old business, and obviously board member Hine had
had enough. As had been the case at the state convention of the
National Federation of the Blind in April, the action was
uncomplicated and straight to the point. Without fanfare or
preamble Hine moved for the immediate dismissal of Howard Barton
as Administrator, and Moon seconded the motion. The discussion
was brief. Moon and Hine voted yes, and Ugaki voted no. The board
then held a brief closed session, and when the public meeting was
resumed, Jim Monroe (the Commission's accountant) was named
interim director. It was announced that a nationwide search would
begin for a new permanent director.
With such decisive action it would seem that that was the end of
the matter, but things have a way of becoming complicated in
Idaho. On July 1, 1988, Walt Hine was replaced on the Commission
board by Dianne Milhollin, a blind employee of the state of Idaho
whose mother currently serves in the legislature. Ugaki had
obviously not given up, and he could count on the fact that
Milhollin was probably not familiar with all of the convoluted
background of Commission machinations. Ugaki called a Commission
board meeting for July 8, 1988, a time when he knew that the
convention of the National Federation of the Blind would be in
session in Chicago and many of the active blind of the state
would not be able to be in Boise.
When July 8 arrived, the Commission board went into executive
session, and it was later announced that Barton was now being put
on leave with pay, the leave to expire no later than November 11,
1988. It was not made clear whether Barton was being unfired,
whether he was still fired but being given a few extra dollars,
or whether he was being given a long paid vacation as a bridge
back to the position of administrator. The majority of the blind
of the state were, to say the least, displeased with the board's
action.
So where does all of this tragicomedy leave us? Mostly it leaves
us
with questions. The general opinion among Idaho's blind is that
Milhollin is fair and reasonable and that when she gets the
facts, she will be no supporter of Barton. Whether this opinion
is right, only time can tell. There is also a very widespread
feeling (a feeling which almost amounts to certainty) that Ugaki
will not be reappointed to the Commission board at the expiration
of his term in July of 1989.  Again, we must wait for the answer.
In any case the blind of Idaho feel hope and confidence for the
future. They believe (and apparently with good cause) that the
time ahead will be one of positive growth and increasing harmony.
The National Federation of the Blind of Idaho is stronger now
than it has been in many years (possibly stronger than it has
ever been), and costly lessons have been learned learned well and
indelibly imprinted on the collective conscience. One thing is
certain. Whatever Barton's fate may be during the next few
months, he has no future in Idaho's programs for the blind. He is
finished.  But meanwhile did he get the boot? Maybe.
@NEW TITLE = SID ALLEN DIES
@AUTHOR = by Kenneth Jernigan
At 6:00 a.m. Monday, July 11, 1988, Sid Allen of West Virginia
died of a heart attack. He is survived by his wife Margie, two
daughters, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, who was
born the day before Sid died.
Sid's involvement in the Federation goes back to the 1950's when
he joined the organization. He served for thirty years as
treasurer of the West Virginia affiliate and for two terms
(1983-87) on the Board of Directors of the National Federation of
the Blind. At the time
of his death he was on the State Human Rights Commission and the
State Library Commission.
He was a World War II veteran and was blinded in service. After
the War he was active in the civic affairs of his state, and he
engaged in a variety of different businesses, the most recent of
which was a used car business.
These are the bare facts, but they do not tell the real story or
capture the essence of the man. Sid Allen was one of the warmest
and most down-to-earth members of the Federation. If the term 
grass roots  has any meaning at all, Sid was it. I worked with
him, planned with him, socialized with him, and talked with him
about the future of
the organization. He cared. He cared personally, deeply, and
meaningfully.  When something needed to be done, Sid was ready to
help do it often with money from his own pocket; but he never
asked for credit for what he did. And very often he didn't get
credit.
When we needed a truck at the National Center for the Blind, Sid
found one. He reconditioned and refurbished it, brought it to the
Center, and gave it to us at a subsidized cost taking nothing for
his many hours of work on the project. In talking about the truck
(the name of which, incidentally, is  Bimbo ), Sid never
mentioned his contributions in getting it but always spoke as if
somebody else had made the whole thing happen. This is how Sid
was.
In 1979 he participated in what fondly came to be known as the 
Yeller Dawg  seminar at the National Center for the Blind in
Baltimore.  When a hook was needed for the door on the stall in
the ladies' restroom, Sid (in the midst of great merriment)
volunteered to buy one and he specified that it should be of the
finest quality that could be had. We searched hard and found a
hook of solid brass and high price.  Sid paid the tab and enjoyed
the joke at least as much as anybody else. The Sid Allen  hook 
is still remembered, discussed, and greatly cherished.
There are many things I could say about Sid Allen but above all,
he was my friend. He was loyal and hard-working, and he loved our
movement. Sid, may you rest in peace. Your contributions and your
friends were numerous. The Federation is a better organization
because you were part of it.
@TITLE = INDIANA REHAB FOR THE BLIND 
IN TURMOIL AGAIN
Indiana's state programs for the blind (see  Braille Monitor ,
January, 1984; December, 1985; and August- September, 1986) are
never tranquil. They simmer along from day to day and then
periodically boil over to scald somebody. And when there is a
fracas, the names of Jean Merritt and Fred Silver are likely to
figure prominently in it. Silver is the long-time, ineffective
head of state rehabilitation services for the blind, and Merritt
is (in one capacity or another) his perennial boss. And the blind
of Indiana are just as monotonously the perpetual losers in the
deal.
In 1984 it was an eleven-page letter from federal officials
concerning the civil rights performance (or lack of it) of the
state rehabilitation agency. In 1985 it was a messy business in
which the state agency had to be forced to abide by the federal
Randolph-Sheppard Act in dealing with the rights of a blind
vendor. In 1986 it was more of the same, with widespread
newspaper publicity and hoopla. But Merritt (whether as head of
the state department of rehabilitation or its umbrella overlord,
the Department of Human Services) and Silver seem always to be
present, principal actors in the petty drama. There is only one
word for it disgusting!
In the latest razzle-dazzle Merritt catches Silver in what she
believes to be a conflict of interest, cuts his salary by $14,300
a year, and demotes him; and Silver fights back with appeals to
the state ethics commission, the courts, and anybody else who
will listen. In the whole sorry business (and while all of the
maneuverings were and are taking place), one has to wonder how
much attention is being given to the average blind person wanting
to listen to the radio reading service or needing help in getting
training or finding a job the person for whom the agency was
supposedly established in the first place and for whom Merritt
and Silver ostensibly work. Ah, well! Indiana state services for
the blind is like that. Here is the way the situation was
reported in the July 17, 1988,  Indianapolis Star :

@CENTER = Demotion Sparks Agency Head's 
Ire With Ethics Panel 
by Kyle Niederpruem

A boss likes to have the last say in promoting, demoting, and
firing employees. But one state official knows that isn't always
the way it works.
Jean C. Merritt, commissioner of the Department of Human
Services, is still smarting from some second-guessing by an
ethics watchdog that monitors state government.
In a rare move, the State Ethics Commission lambasted Merritt for
going too far in demoting a top administrative aide and cutting
his salary by $14,300 because of an alleged conflict of interest.
She doesn't like being told she acted improperly.  This is why we
have mediocrity in state government,  Merritt complained.
Her demotion of Frederick A. Silver to staff instructor was
questioned when Silver asked the commission for an advisory
opinion.
The five-member commission issues opinions to state employees and
officials questioning possible ethical conflicts.
Last fall Silver submitted a grant request to his department on
behalf of a charitable group that provides reading services to
the blind.  He also happened to be president of that group
Central Indiana Radio Reading, Inc.
That fact apparently was not known by top officials in the
department, including Merritt, although it is listed on Silver's
resum . He has also been quoted in newspaper articles as a
spokesman for the group.
When his association with the group became known during the
application process, the grant for $8,000 was denied. The money
was to have been drawn from a private fund for services to the
blind that receives an average of $10,000 in annual donations.
The group has not applied for a grant since then.
 I hated this because we denied service to a lot of blind people, 
Merritt said.  I'm sorry about that. But on the other hand, in
order for me to stay here and try to affect what I can, I've
gotta make sure the perception of wrongdoing is not there,
either. 

The commission ruled in December that Silver acted unethically.
But
it also said the demotion was  a substantial reduction in
position  that was  grossly disproportionate to the act he
committed. 

The commission also noted that it has sole responsibility for
interpreting the State Ethics Code.
In June the State Employees Appeals Commission found there was a
preponderance of evidence to show Silver intentionally withheld
information concerning his relationship with the charity when he
submitted the grant application.

Silver, who is still president of the charitable group, continues
to challenge his demotion. His petition for judicial review is
pending in a Marion County court.
 I've never made any effort to cover this up,  Silver said.   The
system has not been objective. It's supporting an arbitrary
opinion.... We haven't had ample opportunity to go after this and
prove the facts. 
Merritt is concerned that agency directors, whom she thinks
should
be solely responsible for employee discipline, are placed in a
position of being second-guessed by the commission.
 If my people don't do right here, I have the authority and the
responsibility (to act),  said Merritt.  In my opinion this
commission overstepped its bounds. They had the right to say
whether this was an ethical or unethical act, and they did. They
went a step further and censured me as the department head. 
Alan K. Wilson, former chairman of the ethics commission, said
Silver's case is the first he can recall in which a disciplinary
action has been reviewed retroactively.
Wilson served almost a full four-year term as chairman of the
commission before resigning recently. He was replaced by James R.
Butcher, a former state senator and congressional candidate.
Normally employees ask the ethics commission for advice before
they find themselves in a compromising situation.
Merritt sought an opinion from the commission in August, 1986,
about Norma Bradway, a staff attorney. Bradway served on a board
for Middle Way House, Inc., a nonprofit shelter for battered
women in Bloomington.

The commission ruled there was no conflict of interest for
Bradway, but it said she should be prohibited from advising the
human services department about matters related to her
organization.
Wilson said the Bradway decision was another factor for the
commission to consider in the Silver case.
 We did not want to discourage state employees from donating
their time around the state,  Wilson said.  If we said no, we'd
be saying state employees could not serve on not-for-profit
boards if there was a chance any of those boards would be going
after state money. 
A commission that comments on all potential conflicts is bound to
draw fire, Wilson admitted, because not everyone will be happy
with the outcome.
 There will be times when the commission steps on people's toes. 
What we hope is before any administrator makes a decision based
on
an ethical infraction, that the commission be solicited for an
opinion,  he said.
Wilson remembered that in 1985 State Health Commissioner Woodrow
A.  Myers, Jr., declined to follow the commission's
recommendation for an alleged breach an employee committed ten
years earlier.
Myers politely informed the commission in a letter that a
memorandum would be placed in the employee's file but no
disciplinary action would be taken because so much time had
elapsed.
 At the very least, we'll be getting into some difficult
situations,  Wilson said.
Merritt initially wanted to fire Silver, a fourteen-year state
employee.  But she reconsidered and opted for the hefty demotion.
 Look, I respect the purpose and the mission of the State Ethics
Commission,  Merritt said.  I think it was appropriate even after
the fact to determine whether it was an ethical violation. I do
not think it was appropriate to decide on the discipline I meted
out as being appropriate or not appropriate. That is not their
mission. 

@TITLE = WILL THE NEW JERSEY COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND  AND
VISUALLY IMPAIRED GET BACK ON TRACK?
@AUTHOR = by John J. Dragona
Why has the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually
Impaired sidetracked itself by discriminating against its blind
staff?
This state and federally funded agency hires a few blind field
workers often only because they did better on Civil Service exams
than did their
fully sighted competition. Then these workers must visit the
homes of their clients with an agency-appointed driver, but not
until most of them travel to their offices to meet those drivers.
Nothing unusual so far, until we note that most of the
Commission's sighted field workers are provided (compliments of
the Governor) with state cars, fuel, maintenance, etc., and are
allowed to take those cars home, eliminating the cost of public
transportation to and from work, while those who have no state
cars may use their own vehicles and be substantially reimbursed
for mileage. Blind field workers,
on the other hand, while using public transportation to and from
work, are reimbursed nothing.
Most hurt by this unbalance are the blind and visually impaired
vocational counselors and home instructors, mainly because the
agency has not
been hiring blind people to fill other field positions. Blind
vocational counselors are a rarity unless they do so well on
Civil Service tests
as to make it impossible for the agency not to hire them. In all
fairness, though, it should be said that home instructors are
usually met at their homes by driver/aides; but when they are as
is often not available because of absence or other assignments,
the blind workers must get to their offices.
A blind Hudson County home instructor has to travel to New York
City to get another bus to her Patterson, New Jersey, office.
Expensive?  Not as much as it is for the visually impaired Morris
County home instructor, who travels to and from her Newark office
five days each week about $50. And how about the home instructor
in the southern part of the state, who uses four taxi cabs and
two buses for the round trip because she can't see well enough to
drive... all at their own expense. Yet, were they sighted, the
Commission would give them state cars or allow them to use their
own and be reimbursed for the miles they would claim to drive
during working hours.
So why is the New Jersey Commission for the Blind treating its
blind field workers unequally? Is it:  Make it tough for them,
and they'll leave?  And the state's Department of Human Services
allows this; and the state's Department of Labor allows this; and
the state's governor allows this; and, unfortunately, most of the
blind field workers are running so scared that they dare not buck
the system.
I bucked it and was fired, but the Civil Rights suits are still
pending.  In fact, the investigation for this one has just begun.
As part of my settlement I'm asking for retroactive reimbursement
for myself and all blind field workers who have been
discriminated against by the New Jersey Commission  for  the
Blind in the manner I have described. Now we'll see if civil
rights for the handicapped is really what it's cracked up to be.
@RECIPE =
@RECIPE = MONKEY CAKE
@RECIPE = by Tony Sohl
This recipe appears in the Winter, 1988, issue of  Future
Reflections,  the magazine for parents and educators of blind
children. Ruth Swenson, Tony 's mother and President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona, says that Tony has
come a long way. When she adopted him,
he was three years and seven months old, but he functioned at a
nine-month level. He was mostly bottle-fed, could not sit up by
himself, and
knew only five words. He was diagnosed as profoundly mentally
retarded.  He also was blind and had a growth hormone deficiency.
Tony is still blind and is shorter than most of his classmates,
but he is not retarded.  Today Tony is a very typical teen-ager.
He attends a public high school; and his hobbies are dancing,
football, computers, and ceramics. He enjoys taking his
girlfriend to the movies, hates homework, and likes
to cook. He reads and writes Braille proficiently and travels
independently with his long white NFB cane. Tony is one of the
children featured in the NFB Parents Division video  Kids With
Canes.  Here is what Tony has to say:
 My name is Tony Sohl. I am a member of the National Federation
of the Blind of Arizona. I am seventeen years old and in high
school.  I am sending one of my favorite recipes. I hope that you
will enjoy this. 

@LEFT =  Ingredients :
@LEFT = 4 cans regular refrigerator biscuits
(10 per can)
@LEFT = 1-1/4 cups sugar
@LEFT = 2 tablespoons cinnamon
@LEFT = 1 stick margarine

@LEFT =  Method :
1) Combine sugar and cinnamon in mixing bowl. 2) Open one can of
biscuits at a time. Cut biscuits into quarters. Coat well with
sugar/cinnamon mixture. 3) Place in tube or bundt pan. Continue
until all four cans of biscuits are used. Sprinkle remaining
sugar mixture evenly over biscuits. 4) Melt margarine and pour
over biscuits. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Immediately
turn on to dinner sized plate.
You may use nuts if desired. A bundt pan is the easiest pan to
use instead of a tube pan. Happy Eating!

@RECIPE = SEAFOOD SQUASH CASSEROLE
@RECIPE = by Pat and Trudy Barrett
Pat and Trudy Barrett, who until recently lived in Idaho, are now
located in St. Louis, where Pat is employed at ABLE, Alternatives
for the Blind in Living and Employment. The Barretts have been
active Federationists for many years. They have had many
opportunities to test their recipes at Federation gatherings. Pat
writes:  The three Barretts are doing just fine in St. Louis. I
have been wanting to send this recipe to you for the  Monitor .
It has been tested safe by many Federationists at various chapter
potlucks. 

@LEFT =  Ingredients: 
@LEFT = 1 7-1/2 ounce can salmon
@LEFT = 1 9-1/2 ounce can tuna
@LEFT = 1 small can crabmeat (if desired)
@LEFT = 1-1/2 cups cooked long grain rice
@LEFT = 2 cups squash, fresh or frozen
@LEFT = (summer squash flavors best)
@LEFT = 1 tear-jerking onion
@LEFT = 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
@LEFT = 2 tablespoons butter
@LEFT = 2 tablespoons Thousand Island dressing
@LEFT = 1 can cheddar cheese soup
@LEFT = Salt to taste

Cook rice and squash until both are tender. Drain seafood, then
combine with mayonnaise, onion, and dressing. In large mixing
bowl, add seafood mixture to rice and squash. Mix in remaining
ingredients. Place in pyrex baking dish to heat ingredients
together in oven for twenty-five minutes at 400 degrees. Yields
many servings. Tasty hot or cold.  @TITLE =  
@LEFT = **The Dog:
Some eat meat, and some do not but that's the way we are.
Recently Anna Dolceacqua of Santa Barbara, California, wrote as
follows:

Visually impaired persons like my roommate and me often
compensate by listening to sound. Only five feet away from my
bedroom window, in my neighbor's yard, dwells an animal whose
name, pedigree, and sex have been unknown to us for the past ten
years. We refer to it simply as  the dog. 
The saying  barking dogs do not bite  is a myth. This canine has
been reprimanded by the dog catcher for socializing with
passers-by.  On occasion it is also known to have scaled a
six-foot fence on the other side of which an unsuspecting tenant
at the dumpster of our apartment complex becomes rooted to the
spot, on the verge of cardiac arrest.
The shrill eardrum-splitting bark of  the dog  greets the
meter-reader once a month as he makes his way with trepidation to
the rear of our building, mace  at the ready. 
The clang-clang of the huge garbage truck on Mondays and
Thursdays alerts  the dog  to release its pent-up emotions for at
least ten minutes, giving us time to assemble our trash neatly
into a plastic bag for pickup.
On rare occasions, generally around midnight,  the dog  alerts
the neighborhood to the presence of a prowler or kinky voyeur. In
a second my left hand shoots up to press the lamp button, and my
right hand to 911 (our emergency  phone number to alert the
police). But it was only yesterday I realized how much  the dog 
was part of our lives. When I asked my roommate if the postman
had arrived, came the curt reply:  `The dog' has not barked yet. 

@LEFT = **Digi-Voice GlucoModule:
We recently received the following announcement from Science
Products:

A plug-in voice module is now available for several popular blood
glucose analyzers: LifeScan GlucoScan 3000, LifeScan One Touch,
Boehringer Mannheim Accu-Chek. Digi-Voice GlucoModule $420.00.
You must specify
unit to which the Digi-Voice will be attached: #1522: Digi-Voice
GlucoModule/LifeScan both models; #1524: Digi-Voice
GlucoModule/AccuChek.
Science Products views the new module as a giant step forward in
adaptive technology. It is no longer necessary for our
technicians to open the host unit, thereby violating the
manufacturer's warranty. Should the host unit fail, it can be
replaced without additional cost for the voice adaptation. Units
already owned can be used (provided they are the correct model)
without the need to purchase a new analyzer for adaptation.
The new unit is small, light, attractively housed in an off-
white box (6 x3-1/2 x1-1/4 ) with its own battery compartment,
making it easy to replace the single rechargeable 9v battery. 
Considering the fact that one Digi-Voice GlucoModule may well
outlast two or three glucose analyzers and can be repaired
inexpensively,
the price of the new unit is significantly less than previous
all-in-one units. In addition, should the voice module fail, the
user can keep the analyzer for use with sighted help while the
module is returned for repair. Alternatively, should the analyzer
fail, a new one can be obtained locally and therefore quickly to
replace it.
One of the major reasons we have seen for blood glucose analyzer
failure is excessive blood caked in and around the sensor area.
Although it
can be cleaned, such cleaning is costly and often only partly
effective.  Because application of blood by a vision impaired
person is more apt to be  sloppy,  this problem has created
significant expense in dealing with the old, combined units. It
can now be solved for
the cost of a new analyzer, or the analyzer alone can be cleaned
locally.  Our medical products have been registered with the FDA.
The talking blood sugar analyzer also has been recognized by
Medicare and is listed under Code #EO609.
Science Products, for customer convenience, makes blood glucose
analyzers available: #2410 GlucoScan 3000 $169; #2411 GlucoScan
One Touch $199; #2420 Accu-Chek w/port $189. As a convenience to
our customers, test strips for the LifeScan glucose analyzers may
be ordered for quick shipment: #2450 One Touch/50 $40; #2451
GlucoScan 3000/50 $40 ($37 per pack when ordered with Digi-Voice
Module), includes shipping and handling. To order or for
information contact: Science Products, Box A, Southeastern,
Pennsylvania 19399, (215) 296-2111.

@LEFT = **New Chapter:
Hazel Staley writes: Bylaws were adopted, and the Twin Rivers NFB
of New Bern, North Carolina, was formally organized on June 9,
with thirteen members. Its officers are: Diane Clark, President;
Peggy Sydnor, Vice President; Francetta Guion, Secretary; and
William Howard, Treasurer. Barbara Hansen is a board member. This
is a very enthusiastic group which seems genuinely interested in
the Federation. We believe that they will be a real asset to our
movement, and we welcome them to our state affiliate and our
national movement.

@LEFT = **A Role Model and a Civic Leader:
Writing in the Spring, 1988, Barricades (the publication of the
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa) Doris Willoughby says:

Recently I went to visit our President, Peggy Pinder, at her law
office.  I took with me one of my young students. I had arranged
for him to talk with Peggy about her work as a lawyer and about
her use of Braille and the white cane. It is extremely important
for young blind students to meet blind adults as role models.
As Peggy was describing her use of the white cane, I asked her to
name some specific places she might go, to help my student think
in specific terms. She mentioned airports, stores, banks, and...
the Grinnell City Council chambers.
Did you know the NFBI President is a member of the Grinnell City
Council?  I did not know until she mentioned it, casually and
modestly, as she described her daily activities to my student. We
were most impressed.  My student had, moreover, looked at the
room where the City Council meets, when he was practicing travel
in the community building on another day. All of this helped make
the daily use of a cane a reality for my student, along with the
understanding that a blind person can be a respected leader in
the community.

@LEFT = **Help Needed in Eye Research:
We recently received the following letter:
@RIGHT = Houston, Texas
@RIGHT = June 24, 1988
@LEFT = To The  Braille Monitor :
I am conducting a research investigation for visually impaired
infants and children, searching for the gene or genes which
affect certain specific hereditary diseases. We are searching for
families in which there are two or more affected individuals and
both of their parents are living and available for blood
sampling.
The diseases which we are covering include:
1. The Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome (with developmental
and intellectual retardation, retinitis pigmentosa, extra fingers
and extra toes, and kidney disease);
2. Stargardt's disease/fundus flavimaculatus syndrome (a form of
juvenile macular degeneration);
3. The Usher syndrome (with either preverbal hearing impairment
or postverbal hearing impairment and the subsequent development
of retinitis pigmentosa);
4. Rod monochromacy (complete congenital achromatopsia); and
5. Leber's Congenital Amaurosis (a variety of disorders affecting
infants and children with severe visual impairment from birth). 
Again, we are looking for families in which there are two
affected individuals, and both of their parents are living. Such
families are extremely difficult to find, and I would be grateful
if through your readership or communication with families you
would make my interest
in them known. I am available to you and to such individuals and
families at the Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine,
6501 Fannin Street, NC-206, Houston, Texas 77030, Attention:
Richard A. Lewis, M.D. (713-799-5942, central time, usual
business hours).  @LEFT = **Sense-Able Braille Books:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:

 Sense-Able Braille Books is a recently formed nonprofit
organization founded by a transcriber and his wife. Its aim is to
produce Braille books for young adults specifically seventh grade
through high
school. Books are produced on computer, and all copies are paper
originals no thermoform. If you would like to receive our first
catalog in September, please send us your name and address,
stating whether you would like our catalog in print or Braille. 
William Peary, Director/Manager, Sense-Able Braille Books, P. O.
Box 333, Ludington, Michigan 49431. 

@LEFT = **Wearability Status:
We are asked to carry many announcements. Here is one of them:

 Inventor looking for blind professional people to test, at no
cost to them, a wardrobe organizing system that will tell the
wearability status of clothing on hangers. If you are interested,
please contact
C. Mason at P. O. Box 1409, Murphys, California 95247, giving
name and address (I'm sighted no Braille, please). Or you could
call my voice-activated answering device at 209-728-3718. (It
will give no introduction and will buzz if you pause too long.)
If you don't hear back from me, I have enough testers. 

@LEFT = **AER But, Of Course:
WOMA (the Washington Orientation and Mobility Association), which
is affiliated with the Association for Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER),
publishes a newsletter which is sent to District of
Columbia-Maryland members. The June, 1988, WOMA newsletter
carries the following item:

@CENTER = A Canine Cane

When Cinder, a ten-year-old black Labrador Retriever, became
blind from retinal atrophy two years ago, her owner Richard
Ettelson could not stand to watch her bump into things. As a
result, he created a  cane  to help her get around. The design
consists of two semi-rigid plastic canes that are mounted to the
dog's collar. The canes extend past the nose on either side of
the head, making the dog feel a slight pressure against its
collar and hear a scraping sound when it's about to walk into
something. As for sudden drops such as stairs and porches, the
dog learns to point its head down and drag the canes on the floor
when approaching a drop-off. When the canes lose contact with the
ground, the dog knows to stop short, realizing that some sort of
drop-off is at hand. It took Cinder two weeks to learn how to use
her  canes.  Anyone wanting further information about how to
construct a special collar for a blind dog may write to: Richard
Ettelson, Box 54C, Waiteville, West Virginia 24984.

@LEFT = **Calcu-Talk:
Science Products recently sent us the following material:

Science Products has developed the Desktop/Business Calcu-Talk, a
talking 12-digit calculator with high speed printer, which will
be available June 1, 1988. This new talking calculator is a Canon
CP1211-D electronic model voice adapted in our shop.
The Desktop/Business Calcu-Talk is not a mass produced item. The
custom speech modification is done unit by unit by Science
Products' technical staff, implementing our Digi- Voice
technology.
When the calculator is in the talk mode, the Digi-Voice will
announce each numeric key (zero through nine) as entered as well
as the plus, minus, subtotal, and total functions. And with the
simple pressing of the  speak  button, the contents of the
digital display will be given.
The calculator will have an earphone jack for the convenience of
private listening. Cassette operating instructions also will be
included.

The Desktop/Business Calcu-Talk (#1510) sells for $649 (plus
$11.50 shipping/insurance). To place your order simply send your
check or official purchase order to: Science Products, Box A,
Southeastern, Pennsylvania 19399, or call our toll- free hotline
1-800-888-7400 to place your Visa or MasterCard order.

@LEFT = **New Chapter:
Under date of May 31, 1988, we received the following
communication:

The National Federation of the Blind of Alabama has a new
chapter.
On Saturday evening, May 28, the North Baldwin Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Alabama came into being.
Sixteen enthusiastic members comprised the new chapter, located
in Bay Minette. The new President is John Black, who along with
his wife Dorothy will attend the Chicago convention. Other
officers include Vice President, Mrs.  Lula Faye Bramlett;
Secretary, Mrs. Pearl Martin; Treasurer, Mrs.  Dorothy Black; and
Board Member, Doc Johnson. National board member Donald Capps and
his wife Betty were on hand for the joyous occasion.

@LEFT = **Horses and Federationism:
Here is how Federationism works. Hazel Staley, President of the
National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina, says:

On May 6, 1988, I received a call from Mr. Gashel, Director of
Governmental Affairs in our National Office. He said that a
student from Rutgers University in New Jersey had called him to
report that her roommate Kristen Knouse, who is totally blind,
was at the moment on her way to Laurinburg, North Carolina, with
her equestrian team to ride in a collegiate horse show to be held
on Sunday, May 8. However, people at Rutgers had just received
word that Kristen was not going to be allowed to participate
because she was blind. I called the Laurinburg newspaper, the
Raleigh  News and Observer , Human Relations, the Governor's
Council on the Disabled, and radio and t.v. stations
in the Fayetteville and Raleigh area to get as much coverage as
possible of this situation. After considerable effort, I was
finally able to talk with Bob Caccione, director of the
Collegiate Horse Association.  He said that the board of
directors of the Association had decided that it would be unsafe
for Kristen to ride; that there were trees in the ring; and that
there would be eleven other riders in the ring.  I said that she
had participated in a number of horse shows without an accident
and that they had no right to exclude her without even seeing her
ride or talking with her. I said that just because he did not
feel that he would be able to ride if he closed his eyes did not
mean that Kristen couldn't do it; that she had been blind all her
life and had been riding horses for ten years and had developed
techniques that he could not possibly know or imagine. He finally
agreed to let her do a trial ride Saturday morning. Apparently
she impressed them with her ability, as we were confident she
would. She won fourth place in the show. This is just one more
reason why we need the National Federation of the Blind.

@LEFT = **A Leg Up:
For more than three decades Ray McGeorge of Colorado has been one
of the most active and dedicated members of the organized blind
movement.  Whether working as President of the Denver Chapter,
handling the operation of the overseas Braille book project, or
taking time from his job to come to the National Center for the
Blind to organize and package material as a volunteer, Ray is
always busy and always doing something to help others. Moreover,
although he would probably deny it, he does not seek the
limelight and, therefore, is rarely at the center of the stage.
Yet, he is one of the staunchest and best people we have.  On May
24, 1988, Ray had surgery to straighten his leg. The operation
involved breaking and repositioning the bone. Even so, Ray
(complete with crutches and cast from toe to hip) was an active
participant in the national convention at Chicago. In a few days
(this is being written in mid-July) Ray is scheduled to have
similar surgery on the other leg.

@LEFT = **For Sale:
Constance Griesmer, 836-C Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena,
California 91101, writes:  For Sale: 12-volume hardcover
thermoform modern Hebrew-English dictionary, $100; 10-volume
Bible Concordance, hardcover, $50. Best offers accepted. Letters
may be sent on cassette, in Braille, or typed. 

@LEFT = **Catalogs Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  The
1988-89 Option Central catalog is available in all formats. Large
print is free, Braille costs $1, and the cassette version also
costs $1 (or
it is free if a blank C- 60 cassette is supplied). The catalog
includes:  greeting cards, housewares, cassettes, Braille writing
supplies, and talking products. To obtain a catalog, contact:
Option Central, Fred Sanderson, Proprietor, 1604 Carroll Avenue,
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54304, telephone (414) 498-9699. 

@LEFT = **TeleBraille:
We recently received a press release from Telesensory Systems,
Inc.,
which said in part:
 Telesensory Systems, Inc., and Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research
Foundation have announced a joint project which will result in a
new TeleBraille, a communication aid for deaf-blind people. The
current TeleBraille was introduced by TSI in 1984 and has been of
help to many deaf-blind people. Production of the current
TeleBraille was
put in jeopardy last year when a critical component became
unavailable.  This made redesign necessary before production
could be resumed. The small size of the deaf-blind population
appropriate for the TeleBraille precludes redesign on a
commercial basis. The TeleBraille enables face-to-face
communication between a deaf-blind person and a sighted person,
or telephone communication with anyone using a TDD for the deaf
or another TeleBraille at the other end of the line. In
California TeleBrailles are provided to qualified deaf-blind
individuals under
the Deaf Equipment Acquisition Fund (DEAF), which is funded by a
monthly charge of ten cents per end user access line. Several
other states (among them Washington, Florida, Illinois, Nevada,
Arizona, and Michigan) have similar funding programs, while
others are in the process of developing a system. 
Smith-Kettlewell will design the TeleBraille, and TSI will sell
it.  Certain new features will be incorporated in the redesigned
product.  TSI says that the new TeleBraille should be available
some time in 1989. For information contact: Jane Mott-Smith,
Telesensory Systems, Inc., P. O. Box 7455, Mountain View,
California 94039, telephone (415) 960-0920.

@LEFT = **Kaleyedoscope '89:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
The seventh Canadian interdisciplinary conference on the visually
impaired child, November 12-15, 1989, at the Skyline Hotel,
Toronto,
Canada. The themes for the workshop (The Child Options and
Responsibilities; The Child Holistic Approaches; The Child
Challenges of the Future) were selected to reflect the
interdisciplinary nature of working with sighted and visually
impaired children. Conference highlights:  keynote address by
David H. Warren, Ph.D., author of Blindness and Early Childhood
Development; keynote addresses by leading international
professionals in the field of blindness and visual impairment;
daily parents-meet-the-speakers sessions; simultaneous French
translation; exhibits of state-of-the-art technology, toys, and
adaptive equipment.  This conference will offer a wealth of
exciting and innovative concurrent sessions that will appeal to
parents, educators, and professionals alike anyone working in the
field of blindness and visual impairment.  For information
contact: Kaleyedoscope '89, Program Committee, 1929 Bayview
Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4G 3E8, telephone (416)
480-7618.
