                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                         February, 1989

                    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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made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: 
 

                National Federation of the Blind
                       1800 Johnson Street
                   Baltimore, Maryland 21230 

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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
FEBRUARY, 1989

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
by Kenneth Jernigan

COLORADO SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF AND BLIND CREAMED BY PRESS, 
AND NO ONE NOTICES

SOCIAL SECURITY, SSI, AND MEDICARE FACTS FOR 1989

AIR TRAVEL TO DENVER
by Kenneth Jernigan

VICTORY FOR WORKSHOP WORKERS AND THE 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IN LUBBOCk
by Marc Maurer

STATE DEPARTMENT DECLARES THE BLIND UNFIT
by Barbara Pierce

BLIND TO DIPLOMACY
by Gretchen Letterman

SHENANIGANS AT THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND: 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF SOUTH CAROLINA INSISTS 
ON HONESTY AND QUALITY SERVICES

PARTIALLY SIGHTED, REALLY BLIND
by Catherine Horn Randall

CIVIL WAR OR BACK-YARD SKIRMISH? 
BLINDED VETS TAKE TO THE FOX HOLES
by Barbara Pierce

AND BLINDNESS WAS NEVER AN ISSUE

RAMBLING NEAR GRAMBLING
by David Hyde

NFB'S FORTY-NINERS
by Steve Benson

COMMENTS ON CERTIFICATION IN BRAILLE
by Claudell Stocker

OF AGENCIES AND FOOTSTOOLS
by W. Harold Bleakley

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT

PROCLAMATION


OH, LORD, IT'S HARD TO BE HUMBLE

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES

Copyright, National Federation of the Blind, Inc., 1989

                   THE  SERMON ON THE MOUNT
                       by Kenneth Jernigan

When I was a boy at the Tennessee School for the Blind, one of
the more charming customs of the place was a Saturday morning
ritual involving the Scriptures. Shortly after breakfast the
small boys (I don't know what happened to the girls) were plopped
down on a bench and given the task of memorizing a chapter from
the Bible. It didn't do any good to protest, object, or try to
resist. You sat there until you memorized it, after which you
were free to go play.
One's religion had nothing to do with it, nor did one's interest
or aptitude. When you got the task done, you could go where you
pleased and do what you liked. Meanwhile, you couldn't. And any
time you spent trying to beat the system was just that much of
the morning gone.  I suppose I need not tell you that I quickly
concluded to learn my chapter with minimum delay, which I
religiously (no play on words intended) did. As a result, I have
been a devout Bible quoter ever since and much, I might add, to
my benefit and long-range satisfaction.  Ah, well, children are
not always in the best position to know what will stand them in
good stead.
If you wonder how I got started on this topic, it is because of a
letter I have just read. A woman from New Jersey (Mrs. Carol
Castellano) writes to tell me that she feels the National
Federation of the Blind has been a key factor in helping her deal
with her daughter's blindness.  Four years ago, when the child
was a baby and in the hospital for surgery, a social worker gave
Mrs. Castellano a strong warning against the Federation, told her
how radical and all-around scroungy we were, and advised her to
have nothing to do with us. However, while in the very act of
reviling us, the social worker gave Mrs. Castellano Doris
Willoughby's book,  A Resource Guide for Parents and Educators
of Blind Children . Before even leaving the hospital, Mrs.
Castellano began to read and understand. Ever since, she has been
a confirmed  Monitor  and  Future Reflections  reader, and she is
now writing to tell me what the Federation has meant to her and
her family.  As I pondered Mrs. Castellano's letter (which, of
course, gave me
a deep inner glow of warmth), I could not help remembering those
Saturday morning sessions of long ago and, particularly, verses
11 and 12 of the fifth chapter of Matthew, which say in part:

 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you... and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely... Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad.... 

Let me hasten to say that I am aware of the fact that I have
taken
these verses out of context and quoted them incompletely and
selectively.  Nevertheless, they came to my mind when I read Mrs.
Castellano's letter, and I think they have at least a modicum of
relevance. The Federation is often reviled, and evil is said
against us falsely. Moreover, we have certainly been blessed.
Even so, it is not always easy to rejoice and be exceeding glad,
but letters like Mrs. Castellano's help. Here is what she says:
____________________
                                              Madison, New Jersey
                                                 December 5, 1988
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
The time has come for me to thank and pay tribute to the NFB for
all it has given my family. My infant daughter was undergoing eye
surgery for ROP four years ago, when the hospital social worker
gave me a
copy of Doris Willoughby's  A Resource Guide for Parents and
Educators of Blind Children  along with a dire warning about the
NFB and its radical policies.
I read the book right there in the hospital room, and as I read,
I could feel the atmosphere changing. Suddenly there was a
context, a perspective, a way to look at Serena's blindness that
would keep us buoyant and afloat. Not only would we survive this
turn of events, we would prevail. It was clear to me right then
that we had been placed upon the path to success. I was uplifted
and have not been let down yet. As soon as we returned home, I
contacted the NFB, met Barbara Cheadle by letter and Florence
Blume over the phone, and joined the Parents of Blind Children
Division.
With few exceptions, all the helpful information we have received
has come from the NFB. It is the only organization that supports
parents who have high expectations for their children and does
not espouse the attitude that the blind should be grateful for
crumbs strewn by the larger society.
One evening in August my mother and I sat discussing the
education
of blind children. My mother found it impossible to believe that
people who worked in this field could be anything but high-minded
and goodhearted and correct in their assessments. After all, they
are trained professionals.  But I myself have seen the kind of
insidious and destructive attitudes that many of  the
professionals  demonstrate and that the  Monitor  and  Future
Reflections  relentlessly expose.  The following night I picked
up my July  Monitor , which I had brought along for vacation
reading. There, beautifully composed, were all the arguments I
had been trying to make, in Professor Charles Hallenbeck's
address to a graduating class. How inspired I was by his words!
How grateful I am to him, to you, to the NFB and all its members.
Thank you for being there. We, too, are committed to doing all we
can to effect change for the better.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                              Carol J. Castellano

COLORADO SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF AND BLIND  CREAMED BY PRESS, AND NO
ONE NOTICES
In the summer of 1987 Ted Delaney, a new reporter on  The
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph , approached the
administration of the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind with
an idea for a story.  He wanted to spend a year observing the
students and teachers at the School and then write a story on
what he had learned.  He talked about following new disabled
teachers as they began their work and adjusted
to their jobs, and he wanted to spend time with various students. 
School officials thought that this would be a splendid
opportunity to educate the public about the School and its work.
The article, all 16,500 words and twenty-four pictures of it,
finally appeared on October  9, 1988.  Actually, the piece (one
story about the Deaf Department and one about the Blind
Department) was so large that it constituted a separate section
of that day's Sunday paper.  The teachers and administrators of
the school and the members of the National Federation of the
Blind were, to say the least, not pleased when they read it. The
school's principal, James Osborn, characterized the staff's
reaction as ranging from depression to fury.  Jim Beal, President
of the Colorado Springs Chapter of the Federation, immediately
wrote a stinging letter to the  Gazette Telegraph's  editor; but
even so, on the Saturday following publication Delaney attended
the school's football game and, approaching the principal
expectantly, asked what people had thought of the story.  He was
shocked and dismayed when Osborn described the staff's distress
and anger.  The reporter had clearly learned nothing constructive
after a year of interviews and observation.  The school had lost
its chance to educate the community about its work.  But most
damaging of all, the public's myths and misconceptions about
disabled people (but chiefly about the blind) were immeasurably
reinforced.  Of the hundred or so people with whom Osborn has
discussed the article since October (people having no previous
association with the school) not a single one has found the
negative stereotypes and poor attitudes that riddled the article
disturbing.  They have consistently rationalized the tone of the
article by saying that the teachers and students in a school for
the deaf and blind  would have to be like that. 
What did the article actually say?  Was it really so bad?  Could
the school have done anything to prevent the fiasco?  Let us look
at the facts.
The Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind serves about 120 deaf
students and about 60 blind youngsters under the age of
twenty-one.  Many of these are multiply handicapped.  Because
Delaney found communication with people in the Blind Department
easier than talking with students and staff in the Deaf
Department, about two-thirds of his story and
more than half of his pictures were focused on a third of the
students.  In fact the communications problem with the hearing
impaired seems to have benefited the Deaf Department.  The
absolute otherness of the methods used in communication seems to
have satisfied Delaney's need
to underscore the differences between these students and normal
children.  As a result, the youngsters in the Deaf Department
survived the Delaney treatment more or less unscathed.
The pictures accompanying the articles upset the School's staff
perhaps more than any other part of the debacle.  The reporter
had come to his story convinced that the school was a bleak and
desolate place
and that the students and disabled staff were fundamentally and
irrevocably different from normal people.  He therefore chose
pictures that enhanced this preconception.  One depicts a child
who had left the school early in the academic year.  The fact
that the youngster was no longer a student at the school didn't
matter to the paper.  The picture is a full-face shot of the boy
without his prosthetic eyes.  Nothing
could more forcefully underscore the public's conception of the
emptiness and blankness of a blind person's life, unless it might
be the other truly distressing picture accompanying the story. 
This one shows a child gazing into a mirror while brushing his
teeth at a sink in the corner of his room at the school.  Osborn
explained that either the photographer had chosen the camera
angle very carefully or someone had rigorously cropped  the
picture in order to insure that it omitted the framed print
hanging on the wall and the rug covering the floor.  The caption
for this picture reads,  Scott Berry's dormitory room,
like those of most of the blind students,  was spare and
unadorned.  The premise of this story is that there is an
unbridgeable gulf separating these children from the rest of the
population.  In order to sustain his argument, Delaney had to
omit entire blocks of information that he had gathered.  His plan
seems to have been,  If it doesn't fit my preconceptions, I'll
leave it out.   The early childhood program and the community
outreach efforts that get most of the students into regular
schools for at least part of each school day were, therefore,
ignored.  The article leaves the clear impression that, once
consigned to the school, youngsters never escape except on
weekend passes home.  But for a reader knowledgeable about
blindness and convinced that destructive attitudes are the most
significant bar to achievement for the blind, the most pervasive
and disturbing problem with this article is something more
fundamental than the injustices and downright falsehoods already
mentioned.  The story is too long to reprint in full, but several
passages illustrate the underlying injustice.  Early in the
article Delaney describes in painful detail the efforts of a new
teacher to become familiar with the school's campus. Here (in
none-too-literate fashion) is how he does it:
 On a Saturday in August 1987, two days before he would begin
here as a teacher, Gerry Newell stood at its cusp.
 He swept his cane out widely and moved forward, counting paces,
letting the cane's nib scratch across the pavement.  Walking, he
tacked right.  His arm tightened with the chop of the cane upon
grass, and he divined his way back to the center of the cement
path.   The voice of his wife, Debbie was to his rear and left.
`The gym's on the right now,' she said.  His wife had come to
help him get a feel for the terrain: It would be unbecoming for a
35-year-old man to be led into school the first day.
 Though blind, he had light perception, the vague ability to tell
light from dark.  At this spot by the gym, he thought there would
be shade in the morning.  He counted steps until he got to the
other end of the building.  There, mornings, the sunlight would
snap on again.
 His forehead cooked in the heat.  The air was heavy with the
scent of fresh cut grass.  He walked the route again. And again,
a half-dozen more times.
 Now, Gerry and Debbie began to bicker about Debbie's inability
to find landmarks that suited Gerry.  Fatigue had set in. He
stalked off, muttering about having to do everything himself. 
Debbie retreated to a shade tree.
 Alone Gerry tried to retrace the way to school. He heard
sprinklers as he moved ahead. Then, abruptly, he was caught in
the cold shock of a swaying wash.  Soaked, he was running, his
cane slashing outward like a foil. Debbie watched, still sulking.
 `Good!' she shouted. 
This overdramatized and untrue-to-life prose is typical of
Delaney's tear-jerking smear job. Obviously Gerry Newell, this
first-year teacher, is not a competent cane traveler, but in
addition to his personal shortcomings we find all the usual,
unflattering ways of describing the actions of a blind person. 
Newell lets his cane  scratch across the pavement,  and he counts
paces.  Only because he has a little light perception can he tell
when he passes into or out of the sunshine.  However choppily he
uses it, Newell's cane becomes some sort of divining rod,
enabling him mysteriously to return to the center of the
sidewalk.  When he runs, his cane is  slashing
out like a foil.   And, yes, his sighted wife is, of course,
superior to him and scolds him like a child.
The second excerpt is taken from a long description of Gerry
Newell's Special Needs Class.  Early in the school year the group
had a lesson on making toast. Here is Delaney's treatment of it:
 Hyrum began to feel his way back.  But he bumped into an easy
chair, and tried to shove it away.  It didn't move. He let
himself fall into it. His bread dropped to the floor. He put his
head to his knees and began rocking. 
This is what Delaney says, and although it may make good reading,
it has at least one serious shortcoming. It doesn't track with
the truth. If the account is factual instead of fabricated, Hyrum
was obviously coping with profound emotional problems as well as
trying
to adjust to his blindness.  Within a few weeks of the episode
described here, this student was committed to a mental
institution.  All of the children in this class are apparently
multiply handicapped, but even though Delaney says this, he does
it in such a way as to leave the false impression that the
primary problem is blindness, not the total mix. Delaney
concentrates on this group of youngsters throughout the article,
probably because their behavior is particularly bizarre.  The
result is, however, that the uninformed reader inevitably assumes
that their actions are those of all blind students.
A particularly syrupy and subjective passage describes Gerry
Newell's feelings and behavior as he is warming up the car on a
winter morning.  Maybe he felt all of the things which Delaney
says he felt, but one has to wonder how Delaney knows. Here is
how he tells it:   As Gerry waited, he listened to the car radio. 
Sometimes as
he pressed the accelerator, he pumped it, feeling the surges of
power from the engine.  He held the steering wheel, and once in a
while he moved the gearshift, sensing the car exerting itself
against the parking brake.
 And sometimes he wondered what it would be like to simply get in
a car and drive off alone.
 Gerry accepted his blindness; he had come to have a self-assured
pride about who he was.
 But sometimes on these mornings, he would think about things
he couldn't do: Driving to work. Shopping, without help, at a
supermarket.  With this kind of writing as credential, a freshman
journalism major could expect to flunk the introductory course.
Who knows how much (if any) of this mournful daydreaming Newell
actually reported to Delaney and how much was the product of the
writer's own imagination?  Truly well adjusted blind people
rarely bother with such fantasies.  Why should they?  Life can be
(and generally is) full and complete as it is.  But what is the
general public to think when they read such drivel? It certainly
reinforces their perceptions of the blind as sitting around on
the edge of life, dreaming about being sighted.  Still another
typical excerpt comes from the description of Gerry Newell's high
school science class.  He does an adequate job of handling the
students, but given Delaney's treatment, Newell seems barely to
be in control.  It is impossible to tell whether anarchy is
really about to break out or the reporter is merely
overdramatizing again and distorting the truth. Here is how he
tells it:
 `Let's have the semi-sighted members of the class pair up with
the blind ones.' No one moved.
 `But suppose you guys go to college and you have a class with
microscopes. Allen let's say you have a lab partner who never met
a blind person. What are you going to say, to get that person to
help you?'
 Allen Colvin cleared his throat. `Uhhh... Excuse me, like, I'm
blind and since I can't see anything, uh, could you, like,
describe to me what's in there?'
 `Good, Allen.'
 A slide projector was also set up in the room.  He felt over
to the light switch and darkened the room.  Gerry's teaching
assistant, Burdine `Burt' Haas, turned the projector on. 
This is how Delaney writes it, and setting aside Newell's
invented term,  semi-sighted,  this passage would feel totally
different if Delaney had said that Newell  reached for the light
switch  or  moved to the light switch.  Sighted writers
(particularly, the uninformed) are especially fond of emphasizing
the fact that blind people locate things by feeling, as though
there was something subhuman about the sense of touch. One
regrets acutely the fact that Newell did not bother to turn on
his own slide projector if, indeed, he didn't. The whole episode
may be simply a fabrication, made up
out of thin air to create the effect which Delaney wants.  The
general reader is left with the subtle suggestion that blind
people need help in manipulating even the simplest equipment.
And finally, here is Delaney's description of the high school
graduation rehearsal and ceremony.  It is especially
hair-raising:
 The graduates were to enter the gymnasium through the second
door.  They would walk along an aisle that separated the rows of
folding chairs from the bleachers, circle to the front and sit
down in the front row.  When the diplomas were conferred, each
student would go up the ramp.
 As they practiced, Kevin was weaving badly, tacking one way
until he bumped into the bleachers, then another way until he hit
the folding chairs. He had told his teachers that he wasn't going
to use his cane for the ceremony. `I'd look like a geek,' he
said.
 But now it was apparent that Kevin was not going to be able to
find his way.  When it came time for him to go up the ramp, which
had no handrail, he put his foot up high, as if expecting a step,
then lost his balance and fell forward.
 Jim Osborn was concerned. What if Kevin fell off?  What a scene
it would be, a graduate crashing to the floor.  The two mobility
teachers, Kathy Kearney and Linda Witte, had walked over from the
blind building and were watching from the bleachers.
 `Kevin,' Jim said. `You don't look too good. How about using a
cane?'
 `No, thanks, I don't need one,' Kevin said.   Kathy, Linda and
Jim surrounded him.
 `Kevin,' Jim said. `I think you do need one. You are going to
get hurt.'
 `But Mr. Osborn....'
 `Sorry.'
 On graduation day, Kevin walked into the gym in a cardinal cap
and gown. He held his cane out in front and moved to his seat
without trouble.
 Shawn was the class's valedictorian. Before he entered the gym,
he had thrown away the speech that he and Michael Piet had
written together.  On the podium, he stammered and paused through
a speech
he made up as he went along. Michael Piet sat in the bleachers
massaging his temples. At least the speech was from the heart.
Shawn thanked his parents, `for what you went through having us.'
 Then it was time to hand out the diplomas. At the top of the
ramp, Jim Osborn gave each student a certificate, then stood with
the student as a photo was taken from in front of the stage.  
When Kevin's name was called, he put his cane out and walked,
somewhat gingerly, up the ramp. He took his diploma from Jim
Osborn and shook his hand.  When the photographer got ready to
shoot, Jim loosened his cane from Kevin's hand.  Then he slipped
it behind his back. 
This is Delaney's description of the graduation, and he seems to
relish calling attention to disabled youngsters who make unwise
decisions again, if, indeed, the account is factual in nuance and
detail. Shawn is not the first high school valedictorian to
discard a prepared text
with unfortunate results.  These moments are best forgotten by
everyone.  In reality this episode underscores the similarities
between these graduation exercises and those of a thousand other
high schools.  But who will remember that fact when squirming
with embarrassment for Shawn?  But Kevin is the true focus of
this passage.  Delaney spends a good bit of space in the article
talking about him.  His descriptions of Kevin's clumsiness and
discomfort with the cane are painfully graphic.  According to
Osborn, however, Delaney's description of the picture-taking
after Osborn presented Kevin with his certificate is less than
accurate.  When Kevin agreed to use the cane for graduation, it
was with the understanding that Mr. Osborn would take it so that
his senior picture would not include the cane.  Kevin handed it
to the principal before the picture was taken.
It is interesting to note that after he finished school last
June, Kevin became a student at the Colorado Center for the Blind
in late July.  Kevin is happily working under sleepshades and
using a cane wherever he goes.  He now readily admits that he is
blind, and he is learning the alternative techniques that he will
need.
That brings us to the obvious and inevitable question of how much
of the devastating message of this story is directly attributable
to the practices of the school and its teachers, how much to
Delaney's melodramatic lack of comprehension and search for
sensationalism, and how much to the truth.  Students must have
strong role models if they are to acquire healthy habits of
thought and action. With the exception of one partially sighted
teacher who had a good deal of eyesight, Gerry Newell was the
only blind teacher on the school's staff during the year Delaney
was observing classes. He has since left the job. If Delaney's
direct quotes can be believed, Newell's Braille and cane skills
are painfully inadequate, and despite his statement to the
contrary, one questions his whole adjustment to blindness.  The
mobility teachers knew enough to recommend that Kevin use a cane
during graduation, but in the pictures the canes in evidence are
the short, crooked ones that have gotten blind people into
trouble for years.  Given the students' obvious dread of canes,
one is left to
wonder how healthy the institution's attitudes about alternative
techniques actually are.
Does this mean that the school is the usual sorry collection of
teachers and administrators holding outmoded ideas coupled with
low expectations?  No, not at all. From my interview with him, it
is clear that Jim Osborn, the principal, is a caring, sensitive
professional with a background in work with the deaf.  His school
and his students are important to him, and he is working to
improve the quality of the one and the prospects of the other. 
Homer Page, First Vice President of the National Federation of
the Blind of Colorado, has served on the School's Board since
February of 1988, and as a result, its majority has recently
become sympathetic to the Federation's philosophy.
The Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind seems to be an
institution with a future, no thanks to the  Colorado Springs
Gazette Telegraph  and Ted Delaney.  This is a cautionary tale. 
One can never be certain as to what members of the press will
write when they set out to do a story about the blind.  Everyone
who talks with the press must be prepared to begin by explaining
and continuing to repeat the message that blindness need not be a
devastating tragedy and that there is nothing shameful about it. 
It is regrettable that Ted Delaney never understood this simple
truth. Despite his aberrations, he is a persuasive writer; and
that fact compounds the damage he has done to the school, the
blind, the public, and the truth.
                                 
SOCIAL SECURITY, SSI, AND MEDICARE FACTS FOR 1989
The beginning of each year brings with it some annual adjustments
in Social Security programs. The changes include new tax rates,
higher exempt earnings amounts, Social Security and SSI
cost-of-living increases, and changes in deductible and
co-insurance requirements under Medicare.  Here are the new facts
for 1989:
 FICA (Social Security) Tax Rate : The tax rate for employees and
their employers during 1988 (effective January 1) was 7.51%.  The
same rate applies in 1989.  The maximum FICA amount to be paid by
an employee during 1989 is $3,604.80, up from $3,379.50 during
1988.  The increase results from a higher ceiling in earnings
subject to tax, effective January 1, 1989.  Self- employment
contributions to Social Security will be at an effective rate of
13.02%, continued unchanged from 1988.  The maximum Social
Security contribution to be paid by self-employed individuals
during 1989 will be $6,249.60.
 Ceiling on Earnings Subject to Tax : Social Security
contributions will be paid during 1989 on the first $48,000.00 of
earnings for employees and self-employed persons.  This compares
to the 1988 ceiling of $45,000.00.   Quarters of Coverage :
Eligibility for retirement, survivors, and disability insurance
benefits is based in large part on the number of quarters of
coverage earned by any individual during periods of work.  Anyone
may earn up to four quarters of coverage during a single year. 
During 1988, a Social Security quarter of coverage was credited
for earnings of $470.00 in any calendar quarter.  Anyone who
earned $1,880.00 for the year (regardless of when the earnings
occurred during the year) was given four quarters of coverage. 
In 1989 a Social Security quarter of coverage will be credited
for earnings of $500.00 for a calendar quarter, and four quarters
can be earned with annual earnings of $2,000.00.
 Exempt Earnings : The earnings exemption for blind people
receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits is
the same as the exempt amount for individuals age 65 through 69
who receive Social Security retirement benefits.  The monthly
exempt amount in 1988 was $700.00.  During 1989 the exempt amount
will be $740.00.  Technically, this exemption is referred to as
an amount of monthly earnings which does not show  Substantial
Gainful Activity.   Earnings of $740.00 or more per month for a
blind SSDI beneficiary in 1989 will show Substantial Gainful
Activity after subtracting any unearned (or subsidy) income and
applying any deductions for impairment-related work expenses.
 Social Security Benefit Amounts for 1989 :  All Social Security
benefits (including retirement, survivors, disability and
dependents benefits) are increased by 4% beginning January, 1989. 
The exact dollar increase for any individual will depend upon the
amount being paid.
Here are some sample Social Security monthly benefit amounts
payable beginning January, 1989:  average Social Security
retirement check, $537.00; average benefit for aged couple, both
receiving benefits, $921.00; average benefit for widow or widower
and two children, $1,112.00; average check for disabled workers,
$529.00; average benefit for disabled spouse and children,
$943.00.  The maximum Social Security benefit for a worker who
retired in 1988 at age 65 will be $872.00 in January, 1989, up
from $838.00.
 SSI Resource Increase :  There is an annual increase, effective
January 1, 1989, in the amount of resources permitted for SSI
(Supplemental Security Income) recipients.  In 1988, individuals
could have resources of $1,900.00, and couples could have
$2,850.00.  These amounts are
increased in 1989 to $2,000.00 for individuals and $3,000.00 for
couples.  Resources include checking accounts, savings accounts,
cash value of insurance,
stocks, bonds, and similar assets.  Anyone who was previously
denied SSI benefits on the basis of excess resources may reapply
if current resources are within the 1989 limits.
 Standard SSI Benefit Increase :  Beginning January, 1989, the
federal payment amounts for SSI for individuals and couples are
as follows: individuals, $368.00 per month; couples, $553.00 per
month.  These amounts are increased from:  individuals, $354.00
per month; couples, $532.00 per month.
 Medicare Deductibles and Co-Insurance :  Medicare Part A
coverage provides hospital insurance to most Social Security
beneficiaries.  The co-insurance payment is the charge that the
hospital makes to a Medicare beneficiary for any hospital stay. 
Medicare then pays the hospital
charges above the beneficiary's co-insurance amount.  The basic
co-insurance amount for Medicare Part A was $540.00 for a
hospital stay in 1988.  If the hospital stay extended beyond 60
days but not more than 90 days, the co- insurance amount was an
additional $135.00.  In 1989, the
Part A co-insurance amount is $560.00.  There is no additional
co-insurance amount for hospital stays which are longer than 60
days.  This is
the first major change in Medicare coverage resulting from the 
Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988.   Other changes will
be phased in over the next five years.
The Medicare Part B (medical insurance) deductible is  $75.00. 
The medical insurance premium which Medicare charges for Part B
coverage increases, however, from $24.80 per month to $31.90 per
month.  This is the amount withheld from Social Security checks
for Medicare Part B coverage.  Four dollars of the Medicare
premium increase will go
to pay for the new catastrophic coverage.  The cost-of-living
increase for Social Security beneficiaries is greatly reduced by
this substantial increase in Medicare premiums.  Therefore, many
Social Security checks will not be increased very much in 1989
over the corresponding amount of the actual monthly benefit in
1988.
                      AIR TRAVEL TO DENVER
                       by Kenneth Jernigan
Now that 1989 is here, the time has come to make definite plans
for attending the National Federation of the Blind convention in
Denver this summer. As  Monitor  readers know, registration will
begin on Tuesday, July 4; the national board meeting will occur
on Wednesday, July 5; and the Opening General Session will be
held on Thursday, July 6.
We have made an agreement with Continental and Eastern to be our
official air carriers for the convention. The terms are very
favorable to us, and those traveling to Denver by Continental or
Eastern can make some real savings. Quoting from our contract:
Both Continental and Eastern  will offer a 50% discount off of
the full coach fare (seats must be booked in `B' class) and a 30%
discount off of the normal first-class fare. No other
restrictions apply. Continental and Eastern will offer a 5%
discount off of the lowest applicable round trip fare (some
short-term introductory and promotional fares may not apply). All
rules and restrictions will apply. All attendees will be eligible
for our ONEPASS travel reward program. 
This is what the contract provides, but when (as the saying goes)
you get to the bottom line, you can save at least five percent
off of the lowest discount fare available. That's hard to beat.
This program is being handled through the Singer Travel Agency
here
in Baltimore. Do not (I emphasize do not) contact Eastern or
Continental for these rates. Call the Singer Travel Agency. Their
toll-free nationwide number is: 800-522-4457. Their other number
is: (301) 655-1000. Ask for Karen Alexander. If she is not
available, ask for Marcella Giffin.  If you can't get her either,
ask for Vickie Singer.
Singer Travel has been very responsive to our needs, and I am
sure they will do a superb job in arranging our air travel.
Eastern and Continental are also giving us good cooperation and
will do everything they can to make matters go smoothly.
Denver in July is the place to be. The National Federation of the
Blind convention is where you will find the action. It will be
the biggest and most exciting we have ever had. Don't miss it.
See you in Denver.
                                 
VICTORY FOR WORKSHOP WORKERS AND THE 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IN LUBBOCK
                         by Marc Maurer
 Ten blind workers at a Lubbock workshop have filed wage
violation charges with the U.S. Labor Department, alleging they
were exploited by meager pay rates.  This was the lead in an 
Austin  (Texas)  American-Statesman  news story September 29,
1988. Not only does this statement signal the opening salvo in
another battle between a group of blind sheltered shop workers
and management, but it voices the frustration, anger, and fear of
thousands of others. The general
public can hardly credit the notion that blind people, working
competitively, can and often do receive less than the minimum
wage. The average American has difficulty realizing that the
sheltered shops are frequently prepared to spend large amounts of
money (money that the public has contributed to help the blind)
for legal fees to prevent the blind from organizing and bettering
themselves.
Today the front line of the battle for dignity and decent
treatment
for blind sheltered shop workers is Lubbock. Before that it was
Chicago, Houston, Cincinnati, Arkansas, North Carolina, and a
dozen other places.  The locale changes, but the struggle is the
same and the antagonists are also the same on one side are the
agencies which were established to serve the blind and which have
so run amuck that many of them are now only a caricature of what
they were meant to be; and on the other side is the National
Federation of the Blind, fighting for the right of the blind to
have first-class treatment, first-class opportunity, and
first-class pay. So the Lubbock headline was more than Lubbock,
more than the workers in a single shop trying to better
themselves through collective action. It was the expression and
synthesis of the move toward freedom of the blind of a whole
generation.
In December of 1987, in response to the broadcast of one of the
television public service spots of the National Federation of the
Blind, a worker at the Southwest Lighthouse for the Blind in
Lubbock, Texas, contacted the Federation to ask if there was
anything we could do to help.  Other workers began asking the
same question, and our Texas affiliate started talking with
individual workers encouraging, reassuring, and educating them
about their rights. By the summer of 1988, the workers were ready
to take action.
To understand what happened next, one must remember that in 1986
Congress, at the urging of the National Federation of the Blind,
adopted amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Before these
changes were made, blind sheltered shop employees, when they were
paid less than the minimum wage, essentially had no way of
appealing. All of that changed in
the fall of 1986. Shop workers who were being paid less than the
minimum wage were authorized (if they thought they had a case) to
file complaints with the Department of Labor (DOL), which in turn
was required to conduct a hearing to determine whether the
subminimum wage was justified.  The employer, not the blind shop
worker, had to prove that the subminimum wage was fair. If
administrators in the sheltered shop could not justify the wage
being paid to a blind worker, the employee would automatically
begin receiving pay at the minimum wage or above.
For two years after these 1986 amendments to the Fair Labor
Standards Act, nothing happened. Blind shop workers were
conditioned by long years of frustration to accept the
sub-standard working environment
and the subminimum wages established by management. But the shop
workers have also become increasingly conscious of the catalytic
force of
the National Federation of the Blind a force which resists
exploitation and promotes self-belief and collective action. We
encouraged shop workers to assert their rights, but many felt
that if they complained, they would lose what little employment
opportunity they had. A blind employee who filed a complaint with
the Department of Labor would, people said, become a target. Such
an employee might be branded as a troublemaker, be discharged
from the shop, and be unable to find employment in any other shop
program in the nation. Besides, no one could predict how the
Department of Labor would handle such complaints.  The first
blind worker to bring a test case to the attention of the
Department of Labor would have to have real courage. The law had
been changed in 1986, but it could not become effective until the
blind themselves raised the issue with the proper governmental
authorities.

This was the way things stood until shortly after the 1988
convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Chicago.
Then, in Lubbock (with the encouragement of the Federation) the
workers stood up to fight. We began to make plans. This would be
the first (and therefore the critical) effort to implement the
1986 amendments of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Although a
single employee in a sheltered shop could have raised the issue,
we and the Lubbock workers thought it would be better if a number
stood together. This would take the heat off a solitary shop
worker. If several employees filed a consolidated complaint, they
could support one another and exchange information.  They could
also work cohesively to prevent shop managers from taking
reprisals.
As legal counsel the National Federation of the Blind hired
former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Donald Elisburg, who
probably knows as much as anybody in the country about how the
federal Department of Labor functions. If we wanted to make a
successful challenge to the workshop practice of exploitation and
subminimum wages, this was the time to do it; and we needed the
best and most knowledgeable lawyer we could find. Donald Elisburg
seemed to be the man. During the Carter years he was a key figure
in administering the Fair Labor Standards Act. He studied it,
explained it, and lived with it on a daily basis.  Surely if
anybody could help us reform the shops, Donald Elisburg was the
man.
I asked him to join me in Lubbock, where Glenn Crosby (a member
of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind
and President of the NFB of Texas) had arranged for a meeting
with the shop workers. The meeting took place on Tuesday,
September 6, 1988.  A dozen workers and a number of their friends
came to talk about the shop and plan for ways to improve their
situation.
These were blind people who work on the assembly line. They
produce equipment to be used at military installations. Among
other products they make helmet liners and straps. These latter
are complicated pieces of webbing held together with rivets,
snaps, and buckles. The production standard at the shop requires
a blind worker to assemble four thousand of these straps each
day.
I asked each worker at the meeting what he or she was being paid
to
produce four thousand helmet straps.  The answer was always the
same $2.05 an hour, less than one half cent apiece. Once the
straps have been manufactured, workers are assigned to pack them
in cartons. The workers at the Southwest Lighthouse for the Blind
in Lubbock pack eight thousand straps a day. When they do, they
are entitled to $2.05 an hour.
A few days before I arrived in Lubbock, management had informed
the workers that the shop had fallen on evil times. Each employee
(blind workers on the line and sighted staff in the office) had
been receiving health insurance coverage paid for by the
employer. Shop management said this could not continue. From each
blind worker's meager paycheck $65 a month would now be deducted
to pay for health insurance coverage.  As I heard this story in
unemotional terms from the workers, I wondered how much would be
left in their pay envelopes. It was not difficult (even assuming
a full work week) to calculate a month's wages at $2.05 an hour
and subtract $65 for health insurance. The picture was not
pretty. In fact, it was very nearly desperate.
In Late August management refused to talk with a delegation of
workers who asked for an opportunity to discuss this and other
issues, so
the blind workers decided to picket the plant. The National
Federation of the Blind supported this effort. Reporters from
newspapers and local television stations came to learn about the
deplorable conditions at the shop. The story was distributed
nationwide and appeared in the press throughout the country.
Eventually management backed down
on its demand that workers begin paying for their own health
insurance, but before returning to work, each striking worker was
forced to sign an agreement stating that with thirty days'
written notice, management could cancel health insurance at any
time in the future. So the health insurance (the issue that had
been the final straw) was at least temporarily resolved, but the
Southwest Lighthouse workers were, in their view
and ours, still being exploited. The insurance was only a tiny
fraction of the problem.
On September 26, 1988, we filed a complaint with the Department
of Labor on behalf of ten employees of Southwest Lighthouse for
the Blind.  From all information we have been able to gather,
those in the sheltered shop perform at a rate that equals or
exceeds the productivity of sighted workers in the Lubbock, Texas
area. They should be receiving not only the minimum wage but an
amount above that. The prevailing wage standard for that part of
the country would, in our opinion, be an appropriate hourly wage
for the blind shop workers.
The complaint filed with the Department of Labor gives us our
first opportunity to test the 1986 amendments to the Fair Labor
Standards Act. We intend to ensure that blind workers in Lubbock
and elsewhere are paid an honest day's wages for a competitive
day's work. This article is being written in early January, 1989.
A few days from now (on January 17) an Administrative Law Judge
from the Department of Labor will hear this case. We are asking
the Department of Labor to order the Southwest Lighthouse for the
Blind to pay its blind workers at least the minimum wage. We are
also demanding back pay for them.

At the same time that the workers were beginning the process of
testing the effectiveness of the 1986 amendments to the Fair
Labor Standards Act, a majority of the blind and sighted
production, maintenance,
and housekeeping and janitorial employees signed pledge cards
designating the General Drivers, Warehousemen, and Helpers Local
Union 577 (affiliated with the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America) to be
their collective bargaining representative.  The Southwest
Lighthouse for the Blind refused to bargain with Local 577 on the
grounds that, as a rehabilitation facility rather than a
business, it could not be forced by the NLRB to allow workers to
join a union. With our help the Union filed a petition for a
hearing before the NLRB, which was granted. The hearing was held
in Lubbock
at the main courtroom/auditorium of the Texas Tech Law School on
November 10, 16, and 17, 1988. James Gashel, Director of
Governmental Affairs of the National Federation of the Blind,
conducted the hearing for
the union. An attorney acted for the Lighthouse, and the hearing
officer was appointed by the NLRB.
As in every other NLRB jurisdictional hearing involving a
workshop for the blind's refusal to allow its blind workers to
form a union, this case hinges on the question of whether the
Southwest Lighthouse
is an industrial program dependent on business and economic
considerations or a rehabilitation center striving to prepare its
clients for life and work outside the walls. In every such case
so far, the NLRB has found that it has jurisdiction and that a
union can appropriately become a bargaining unit for the workers.
Three of these cases have been appealed to Federal Circuit Courts
of Appeal. In the Cincinnati Association for the Blind case
(Sixth District) and in the Houston Lighthouse for the Blind case
(Fifth District), the courts found in favor of the NLRB, the NFB,
and the workers.  Lubbock is in the Fifth District.
Unfortunately in August of 1988, however, the Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals found that the Arkansas Lighthouse for the Blind
was a rehabilitation facility and that the NLRB did not have
jurisdiction
in any case involving shops for the blind. In view of these
contradictory court rulings we were prepared for the Lubbock case
to end up in federal court. Whatever the final outcome, the
evidence gathered in the November NLRB hearing would be extremely
important. Mr. Gashel's task was to build a clear case
demonstrating that the Southwest Lighthouse is a business.
Contrary to management's wishes, the testimony of the Lighthouse
staff went a long way toward proving our case for us.  Fred
Schroeder (Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind
and a member of the National Federation of the Blind's Board of
Directors) and Joe Cordova (Manager of the workshop associated
with the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and President of the
NFB of New Mexico) provided expert testimony.  They presented and
discussed seven criteria that can be used to identify an
industrial program and eight others that characterize a
rehabilitation facility.  After Mr. Schroeder's testimony, the
hearing officer told him that this material would be extremely
helpful in future deliberations.
Even if we set aside the technical arguments showing that the
Lighthouse is a business, a number of facts emerged that are
indicative of what is really happening in the Lubbock shop.  As
part of his testimony, Dale Odom (President of the Southwest
Lighthouse) stated clearly that everyone at the facility, blind
and sighted alike, was being trained in some way.
Did this include supervisors? Certainly it did. Did it include
Odom himself? Well, yes, but his training was of a different
kind.  He was then asked to list the supervisors working for him. 
He could
not do so without reading a prepared list.  The one person he
consistently forgot was the Vice President for Rehabilitation,
Kay Escolas.  One wonders how important rehabilitation is at the
Lighthouse when the president forgets the name of the program
supervisor.
Escolas's testimony disclosed highly illuminating information. 
She explained that her time is spent in the following way: 45%
doing vocational evaluations for the Texas Commission for the
Blind on people who are not otherwise associated with the
Lighthouse, 30% supervising work adjustment activities for those
who have completed the previously mentioned evaluation (only 50%
of these people will ever work at the Lighthouse), 15% conducting
job training for people who are preparing to begin work at the
Lighthouse, and the remaining 10% counseling current workers.
This last is the only one of her activities which could remotely
be construed as rehabilitation. When pressed, Escolas
acknowledged that the Texas Commission for the Blind closes as
successfully employed the cases of those who take jobs at the
Lighthouse. In her exact words,  I have to say they are employed.

As the ancient dictum has it:  If it walks like a duck and quacks
like a duck and looks like a duck, it probably is a duck. 
According to management testimony, Lighthouse workers punch a
timeclock, run machinery, are subject to disciplinary action, and
are given a handbook of policies. All of these activities are
characteristic of personnel procedures in manufacturing plants.
The Lighthouse has not placed a single person in a competitive
job in private industry during the past two years perhaps because
the Lighthouse has no placement program at the Lighthouse at all.
One worker, who has been looking for a job on her own was told
that she must punch out whenever she was going to a job interview
and that she could expect no help at all from Lighthouse staff in
her search. Odom himself admitted that economic pressures forced
him to propose the policy change of requiring workers to purchase
their own hospital insurance. Before the striking workers could
return to work, they each had to sign an agreement.  In labor
management parlance this condition is employed by management in a
lockout.
And a labor-management struggle is exactly what we have here. 
The regional NLRB hearing officer rendered his opinion on
December 9,
1988, and it was everything for which we could have hoped. The
Lighthouse had twenty days in which to file an appeal. Instead,
its Board of Trustees fired Dale Odom, the President. This action
took most people by surprise.  It is widely assumed that the
workers' allegations of mismanagement forced the Board to look
more carefully into Odom's business practices. Even in the
November hearing embarrassing matters had been disclosed.  For
example, the construction company owned by Donald Bundock, Vice
Chair of the Lighthouse Board of Trustees, had done $797,000 of
remodeling at the Lighthouse during the three years ending in
fiscal 1987. It is not clear how much more information a really
detailed court case would reveal, but the Board has chosen to
avoid further disclosures.
There is no doubt that the Lighthouse is in financial trouble. 
The
Board would be hard pressed to find the funds for a long appeal
regardless of how important to the workshop managers. As a matter
of fact, in December of 1988 the workers were told (not in
writing, of course, as the agreement had required) that their
health insurance was being canceled. The workers will undoubtedly
be interested in negotiating the return of their insurance when
they sit down to work out a contract at the bargaining table.
On December 30, 1988, the NLRB conducted an election in which the
workers chose by a vote of thirty-four to seven to be represented
by Local 577 of the Teamsters Union.
Presumably Odom's successor will be leading management's side in
the contract talks which are to come. We can only hope that he or
she will have more ability and experience than Odom, who ran a
gas station before becoming Vice President for Production and
then President of
the Lighthouse.  Southwest Lighthouse can make money, but the
administration will have to work if it is to be done.  Someone on
the staff will have to begin seriously looking for contracts. 
The plant makes a
profit even now, but administrative salaries eat up most of it
$420,000 a year. The production payroll is less than $200,000 per
year. These figures will almost certainly be discussed when the
union contract is considered and when the January 17 Department
of Labor hearing takes place.
Other things will have to change as well. The supervisor who,
according to the workers, routinely slaps blind and retarded
blind workers when she is frustrated will have to change her
ways. The other six supervisors will also have to begin treating
workers with courtesy. Union contracts protect workers from such
behavior, and so does the power of the National Federation of the
Blind.
Lubbock, Texas,  and the  Southwest  Lighthouse for the Blind
will not soon be forgotten. The blind will not forget, nor will
the other workshops throughout the nation. Injustice cloaked as
benevolence
and business (whether well or poorly run) masquerading as
rehabilitation do not leave a pleasant taste.
These are the hallmarks of the Southwest Lighthouse for the Blind
and, unfortunately, of too many other sheltered workshops
throughout the nation. Ask yourself where these or any other
blind shop workers would be without the National Federation of
the Blind. The Southwest Lighthouse is one more answer to the
question,  Why the National Federation of the Blind?  It is also
one more reason why each
of us must work as hard as we can to strengthen our movement and
fund its operation. First-class status cannot be given to us. If
we want freedom and dignity, we must win them for ourselves and
we must pay for them, too.
   STATE DEPARTMENT DECLARES THE BLIND UNFIT by Barbara Pierce
The United States of America is not universally respected among
the nations of the world. Its representatives have frequently
been accused of insensitivity, obtuseness, and arrogance in their
dealings with other nations. One would, therefore, presume that
if an applicant
for the Foreign Service came along who had graduated from Jesus
College at Oxford University having done distinguished work in
both French and Spanish, who had earned a Master Business
Administration degree from the University of Chicago, and who had
spent the eighteen years since in personnel and management work,
the State Department would be seriously interested. If that
candidate was also fluent in Hebrew and had spent years living in
Israel and Great Britain and had traveled widely in Europe, South
America, and the United States, he would seem to be even more
attractive. If finally this candidate had passed all of the tests
for the Foreign Service and had achieved a near perfect
score in the final written exam, he would appear to be well nigh
irresistible to the State Department's Director of Personnel.
He should, that is, unless he happens to be blind. This is the
story of what happened to Avraham  Rami  Rabby, President of the
National Federation of the Blind of New York City. It is
happening as well to all of us, but especially to those blind
Americans who dream of serving their country in the Foreign
Service.
Each year on the first Saturday in December, fifteen to twenty
thousand hopefuls sit down to take the four-hour-long qualifying
examination for would-be Foreign Service Officers. It tests one's
knowledge of general geography, history, politics, and management
and one's mastery of the international situation today.
Approximately 3,000 people survive this test with high enough
scores to proceed to the next step, the oral examination. In
December of 1985 Mr. Rabby passed the test using Braille and the
services of an assistant to write his answers. During the summer
of 1986, he took the oral examination for the first time.

This is a day-long exercise consisting of five parts. A panel of
interviewers questions the candidate about Foreign Service issues
and situations.  Then the applicant writes an essay chosen from
among several suggested topics. This takes about an hour. Next
the candidate reads a document of approximately 1,000 words and
writes a summary of about 200 words.  After this six candidates
are thrown together and given a packet of information about a
hypothetical American embassy. Facts are included about several
people on the staff and about a situation in which they find
themselves. The group then gathers with each person playing one
of the parts. Based on what they have been told about the
personalities and the situation, they negotiate the problem, with
evaluators watching.  The final test is called the in-basket
exercise. The candidate goes through a series of memos,
clippings, letters, and messages, telling the monitor what he or
she would do with or about each one.
Rabby passed this test, too, with flying colors even though only
about 600 applicants do so. He then began filling out a seemingly
endless parade of forms. The only hurdles left were a security
check, which could take up to a year, and a medical examination. 
Almost no one is removed from the process at this stage. The
forms were completed, the security clearance begun, and in the
fall of 1986 he arrived for
the medical examination. The doctor read him a paragraph in his
instructions which clearly said that insufficient visual acuity
constituted grounds for excluding a candidate. The physician
completed his examination
and made his report. Rabby lodged a complaint with the State
Department, based on the fact that he had been provided
appropriate assistance
in the testing procedure but was now denied the possibility of
passing his medical examination. The Director of the Board of
Examiners told him that he was dealing with two separate sets of
regulations and that the State Department could override the
medical report if it chose. He suggested that Rabby carry on with
the process and see what happened.
Rabby took the written test again in December, 1986, and improved
his score. The State Department routinely recommends that
candidates do this since the application process is so long. The
later scores are added to the candidate's file if they are better
than the previous ones. The name of an applicant who has cleared
all the hurdles is placed on a register for eighteen months. The
Department may offer him or her a job during that time. If not,
the name is dropped from the register, and there is nothing to do
but begin the process again.  That is why it is wise to take the
initial test every December until a job is offered or the
candidate tires of the game.
Rabby, still not having heard about the results of his security
check, took the oral test again in the summer of 1987. Again, he
scored higher than he had the year before. Shortly afterward,
however, he received a letter saying that he was  noncompetitive. 
He called to inquire what this term might mean. Was there
something in his security check that they didn't like?  Could it
be his blindness?  The Director of the Board of Examiners would
not respond directly, but he did say during the telephone
conversation,  Blindness could have been
a factor in the final review board's decision. They may have
thought, based on their experience in the Service, that a blind
person would not be able to cope.  The Director of the Board of
Examiners did
say that Rabby could get a copy of his file under the Freedom of
Information Act. He did so, though it took nine months. There was
nothing in it to suggest that the security check had caused
problems.
In the meantime Rabby had taken the written test again in
December of 1987. This time he achieved a near perfect score
proving, at least, that he is superbly capable of learning from
past experience.  In the summer of 1988 his case was turned over
to a legal advisor
at the State Department. This man told Rabby that because of his
case, an internal task force had been formed at State to review
all of the Department's policies with respect to disabled people.
He suggested that Rabby wait to see what the recommendations
were. Rabby was not reassured when the legal eagle hazarded the
comment that Foreign Service regulations require all officers to
travel to work by different routes every day and that a blind
person could obviously not do that.
Rabby was scheduled to take the oral test for the third time on
November 14, 1988. A few days before he appeared to take this
test, he received a phone call and then a letter informing him
that he could use neither Braille nor the services of a reader
during the examination. The letter which he received reads as
follows:
____________________
                                United States Department of State
                                                 Washington, D.C.
                                                November 10, 1988

Dear Mr. Rabby:
I refer to your Foreign Service Junior Officer candidacy and,
specifically, to the Oral Assessment which you were scheduled to
undergo on Monday, November 14, 1988, in Washington.
As explained to you today on the phone, it has been decided that,
henceforth, the Foreign Service selection process will serve not
only to test a candidate's knowledge and intellectual skills,
but, as well, to test a candidate's ability to work effectively
and independently from original source documents. As a
consequence, the Board of Examiners will not offer the Written
Examination in Braille nor will it provide the services of a
reader for visually impaired candidates at any stage of the
selection process, including the Oral Assessment.
In response to your question, it will not be possible for you to
bring a reader to assist your participation in the Assessment
Center.
If I can answer any questions you may have regarding the above,
please do not hesitate to let me know.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                      Paul Canney
                                                   Staff Director
                                              Board of Examiners 
for the Foreign Service
____________________
Not only Rabby, but every other blind applicant for Foreign
service work, was affected by this change in policy. Congressman
Bill Green of New York wrote a letter to the State Department
protesting this action and pointing out that United States law
requires the Federal Government and some other employers to
provide reasonable accommodation for disabled job seekers:
____________________
                           United States House of Representatives
                                                 Washington, D.C.
                                                 December 7, 1988
@LEFT =
George S. Vest
Director General of the Foreign Service
Department of State
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Vest:
I am writing to bring to your attention a specific case involving
a constituent of mine but impacting on a whole class of
handicapped citizens the blind.
It is my understanding that Mr. Avraham Rabby was recently
informed of a change in policy concerning the Foreign Service
test. Having passed the written exam three times and the oral
assessment twice, Mr. Rabby was informed a week before his third
oral assessment that the Foreign Service Board of Examiners would
no longer provide the services of a reader, would no longer allow
candidates to bring their own readers, and would no longer
provide the test in Braille.
The letter which Mr. Rabby received states that it has been
decided
to  test a candidate's ability to work effectively and
independently from original source documents.  Furthermore, when
a member of my staff followed up with personnel at the State
Department, she was
told that Foreign Service candidates must pass a  functional test 
which includes the ability to see in order to check original
source documents.
I would venture to say that all government agencies could
describe a job function which would be impossible for handicapped
persons to perform. But that is not the intent of the
Rehabilitation Act, according to my reading of it. I am sure you
are familiar with the Act, but
allow me to quote from just one section of it:  No otherwise
qualified individual with handicaps in the United States...
shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the
participation in... any program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance. 
I do not believe that it is the intent of the Foreign Service to
discriminate against the blind, but that is not enough. It must
be the intent of
the Foreign Service, as a government agency, to make special
accommodations to include the blind. I look forward to hearing
from you soon on this matter.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                       Bill Green
                                               Member of Congress
____________________
Rami Rabby is a Federationist. He is not a man to take quietly
the kind of injustice meted out by the State Department, and the
National Federation of the Blind does not stand by with its hands
folded when an agency of the Federal government makes a virtue of
breaking the law of the land. Immediately we began talking with
members of Congress who were likely to be interested in the
situation.
Rabby began fielding questions from the press and accepting
invitations to appear on news broadcasts. On November 29, 1988,
he was interviewed on the National Public Radio program,  All
Things Considered.  On the thirtieth he and George Vest, Director
of Personnel and Director General of Foreign Service, United
States Department of State, appeared together on the ABC program, 
Good Morning America.  On December 6, Charlie Rose of the CBS
program  Night Watch,  spoke at length with Rabby. In addition,
an Associated Press story went out across the country, and such
papers as the  New York Times  and the  Baltimore Sun  carried
stories.  The Federal Times  is a paper published for employees
of the Government, and its staff conducted the most in-depth
interview of all. Here are the story that appeared in the 
Federal Times  and the transcript of the  Good Morning America 
interview :
____________________
                      GOOD MORNING AMERICA
                             ABC-TV
                        November 30, 1988
                      7:00-9:00 a.m. (EST)

 Joan Lunden, Co-Host:  For years the State Department allowed
blind people to take its test for the Foreign Service. It even
helped them with materials written in Braille, with people to
read for them.  But recently the Department ended that help, a
decision which formalizes the policy of never hiring blind people
to service overseas. The decision also ended Avraham Rabby's
hopes of becoming a U. S. diplomat. Mr.  Rabby, who is blind, had
previously passed a series of tests for the Foreign Service. The
man who changed the rules for the tests is Ambassador George
Vest, the State Department's Director of Personnel and the
Director General of the Foreign Service, and he is joining us
this morning from Washington. Good morning to both of you
gentlemen.   George Vest (Director of Personnel and Director
General of Foreign Service, United States State Department): 
Good morning.   Avraham Rabby (Rejected for Foreign Service): 
Good morning.   Lunden:  Ambassador, what you and the Department
are really saying, of course, now is that blind people are not
suitable for foreign service. Why do you say that?
 Vest:  Because people who serve in the Foreign Service must be
prepared to serve overseas, do a diversity of jobs which we think
are either incompatible with being blind or dangerous to the
blind person him or herself.
 Lunden:  And what would constitute incompatible or unsuitable or
dangerous?
 Vest:  A person who's blind is asked to move into a foreign
community in an area where he or she is not familiar with the
locality, will have to deal with people who may be very hostile
(because there are many parts of the world that are hostile to
us), and will have to as well deal, among other things, with
classified documents and have no way on his or her own to know
what classification that is.  And it's similar in this country.
You don't ask a blind person to drive a bus or be a bank teller.
There are jobs which are dangerous or unsuitable for them. And in
the Foreign Service we're full of jobs like that.
 Lunden:  All right, Mr. Rabby. That's a lot to respond to. Why
don't you start off with some of the dangers that the Ambassador
cites.   Rabby:  Well, first of all, I and the National
Federation of the Blind very much appreciate Mr. Vest's appearing
on the program.  Of course, the reasons he gives have absolutely
no basis. In fact, when we look at the jobs that blind people are
doing both in the United States and in other countries, there are
a whole host of jobs and
a great variety of circumstances and environments. I very much
appreciate the danger issue. I remind you that for eleven years
I've lived in New York City, where there were 1,800 murders this
year (probably more than in any other city in the world), and I'm
still here. But
I do appreciate the safety issue. What I would like to do is to
debunk the stereotyped notion that just because you are blind you
are necessarily helpless and slow and inattentive and unsafe. You
know, the National Federation of the Blind is now battling over
that same stereotyped issue with the airlines, which prohibit us
from sitting in emergency exit rows. Now it looks like the State
Department is falling into that same trap (that same stereotype)
which associates and equates blindness with lack of safety.
 Lunden:  Let me bring up a couple of other points the ability to
determine whether you're dealing with classified information.  
Rabby:  Classified information is being dealt with by blind
professionals and management-level people in the rest of the U.
S.  government all the time. It can be classified information,
it's confidential information; and, yet, the rest of the U. S.
government has provided blind professionals and management-level
people with reading assistance.  There is absolutely no reason
why the State Department should not do likewise. There is an
analogy here with the interpreters that the foreign service
provides people in the foreign service who don't speak the
language of the country in which they are operating.   Lunden: 
Okay, Ambassador, here we have a situation where Mr.  Rabby would
not need those kinds of people, because I believe you speak
Hebrew, French, Spanish, and English. Is that correct?   Rabby: 
That's right.
 Lunden:  Do we not unavail ourselves of people with incredible
qualifications (such as a person like Mr. Rabby) by having rules
like this?
 Vest:  I have the greatest admiration for the clear
qualifications and unusual qualities Mr. Rabby has. But the
fundamental rule which is in the Foreign Service Act is anyone
joining our foreign service
must be worldwide available not just with extraordinary
qualifications to serve in one country or another country be
worldwide available,
and that is in the law.
 Rabby:  Mr. Vest, you would like to think that at any moment you
can pick up one Foreign Service officer in one part of the world
and switch him to another part of the world. The fact is, though,
that Foreign Service officers are not perfectly interchangeable
like that. Whenever you make a personnel decision, you look at
the experience of the individual, the language ability of the
individual, perhaps family circumstances, and so on; and there is
no reason why a blind person should not be subject to that same
kind of scrutiny and analysis.   Lunden:  Thank you both.

                          FEDERAL TIMES
                        DECEMBER 12, 1988
                   State's Ban on Braille Exam
               Shuts Out Foreign Service Applicant
                          by Leslie Aun

The State Department has rescinded a policy allowing people to
take the foreign service exam in Braille or with the help of a
reader, ruling that the blind do not meet the physical
requirements necessary to be diplomats.
Until now, blind people could take the examination but were never
granted the necessary medical exemption for acceptance to the
service.   They could request a waiver, but no blind people were
granted waivers. So we decided it didn't make sense to offer the
test in Braille and readers anymore,  said an agency spokeswoman.
 We're aligning our policy to our practices. 
The decision has greatly angered Avraham Rabby, who has passed
three State Department exams since 1985, and believes himself to
be extremely qualified for a position in the foreign service.
 It is absolutely absurd,  Rabby said from his home in New York
City.  The State Department likes to regard Foreign Service
Officers as kind of astronauts who have to work in extremely
hostile circumstances. They would like to think only the
physically perfect can perform the type of work they do.
 Diplomacy is nothing more than professional management-level
work. The only difference is that Foreign Service Officers do it
outside boundaries of the U.S.,  he said.
Rabby, 46, graduated from Oxford University in England with
degrees in Spanish and French and later earned a master's degree
in business administration from the University of Chicago.
He lived for 15 years in England and six months each in France
and Spain, and now operates a consulting business that helps
disabled people find employment. Rabby has been blind since age
8.  Declining to comment specifically on Rabby's case, the
spokeswoman said handicapped people are rarely admitted to the
foreign service because they would have difficulty performing
many diplomatic tasks.  Most Foreign Service Officers, for
example, begin their careers as consulate officers, granting
visas. A blind person would have difficulty identifying valid
documents and photographs, the spokeswoman said.  Security in
high-risk areas such as Central America and the Middle East could
also pose a problem, the State official said. Handicapped people
would be more vulnerable to physical threats and would be
difficult to evacuate in emergencies.
And all Foreign Service Officers are expected to be available for
worldwide assignment, she said, but many countries do not offer
the same accommodations for the handicapped that are found in the
United States.
 We feel it's real hard to put them in circumstances where they
move every two years. And some of these cultures don't give the
attention to these people that we do. 
One veteran Foreign Service Officer agreed with State's
assessment.   It's not just a matter of moving papers from your
in box to your out box,  he said.  What a diplomat does depends
where he is you may be called upon to get an American out of
jail, negotiate an arms treaty or trade agreement.
 Many foreign environments are very dangerous, and I would find
it hard to believe that one would be able to deal with some of
the situations you'd find abroad without sight,  he said.
Federal agencies are required to make reasonable accommodations
for disabled employees, and officials said Rabby could be sent to
safe posts and given manageable assignments. The real problem
would come later, they said, when he attempted to advance in the
service. The foreign service's  up or out  system selects out
officers who do not receive promotions in a certain amount of
time.
Rabby would be unable to serve in many of the assignments that
are considered key to a Foreign Service Officer's career.
 You do have to be able to take many different assignments needed
for advancement. He's not going to be able to serve in a trouble
spot.  He's not going to be able to see somebody raise a gun or
throw a bomb at him,  said one civil rights expert.  He won't
have punched his ticket, and they'll probably select him out when
it comes time.  Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation
of the Blind, accused State of making excuses to exclude the
disabled.
 Whenever people have wanted to discriminate against the blind,
they've always made these arguments,  Maurer said.  They always
think up some reason why whatever you want to do can't be done. 
Rabby is working with the Federation to decide whether he will
challenge the policy in court.
 There is a contradiction here on the kind of face the government
likes to present to the outside world,  Rabby said.  You would
think the Foreign Service would want to show the rest of the
world that we are a society of equal rights and that minorities
have an equal chance at the American dream. 
____________________
This is what the  Federal Times  said, and obviously the State
Department is convinced that its position on hiring blind Foreign
Service officers is the product of common sense, consideration,
and compassion for a minority group whose members do not know
their own limitations. It is the same old story; we have heard it
a thousand times before:  Never mind your demonstrated skills,
there are things that we believe can only be done using visual
cues. Disregard the fact that we make all sorts of accommodations
for other workers (secretaries, cars, language interpreters, even
electric lights).  You require some different equipment, and you
may use support staff differently, so we want no part in hiring
you. The blind can never be independent. You are dazzlingly
impressive, but there is no place for you here. 
All of these sentiments run through the portion of a press
briefing on November 30, 1988, in which a State Department
official fielded questions from one persistent reporter. This
Group W news man had been struck by the inconsistencies of the
Foreign Service's position in the Rabby case. He was looking for
reasonable explanations. He is still looking for them. The
spokesman's answers were rambling and nonsensical. One hopes that
United States foreign policy positions are more articulately and
convincingly presented abroad, but perhaps the spokesman's basic
problem was the absurdity of the position he was expected to
explain. Here is the relevant portion of this press briefing:
____________________
                        STATE DEPARTMENT
                        REGULAR BRIEFING

Briefer: Charles Redman
12:00 P.M. (EST)
Wednesday, November 30, 1988

 Reporter:  Mr. Redman, I'm sure you're aware in the news the
last couple of days, there's been a gentleman who's from New
York, named Avraham Rabby, who has written the Foreign Service
exam, has passed it twice. He was in the middle of taking it the
last  or this past year and he has been told that he would not be
hired by the Foreign Service because he is blind. And I wanted to
ask you, in reference to federal regulation barring
discrimination based on physical handicaps, how the State
Department can do that.   Redman:  First, I would have to refer
you to the real experts on regulations, if you want a technical
answer. But let me tell you in a general sense, that, to start
with, the Department hires many handicapped people, and I think
our record on that complies with all the regulations. We hire
them into the civil service, but we do not accept functionally
blind persons into the Foreign Service. The issue has to be
addressed in the context of the Foreign Service Act, which
statutorily directs all Foreign Service officers to be obligated
to serve worldwide.
The reason this issue has come up is because in recent years we
have offered the Foreign Service exam itself in Braille and have
provided readers to assist blind employees in taking it. But a
review of our system showed that we do not, in fact, hire blind
applicants because of our medical clearance requirements, because
of security concerns, the situation they would be put into
overseas, and anticipated problems that would arise in moving
blind persons into unfamiliar settings and cultures.
So what has been done here is to simply change our policy to what
we see as a more appropriate one, in the sense that we no longer
hire them that we don't hire them, we no longer offer the test.
It was a matter of rationalizing those two.
 Reporter:  Representatives for the blind would say that there
really isn't a security problem, that those things could be
worked
out as they have been in the workplace in a lot of other federal
agencies.  Why couldn't those measures be taken in the State
Department?   Redman:  Again, I'm not the real expert on those
kind of decisions, but there are number of categories of people
who are simply not eligible to serve in the Foreign Service. We
have people, for example, with severe mobility impairments and
total deafness. In addition to such disabled persons, applicants
with health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and
cancer don't meet medical standards and are not normally hired
into the Foreign Service. So the best I can say is that people
have to look at the requirements, the situation under which
people serve abroad, and as I said, some of those are statutorily
mandated in the sense that Foreign Service is a worldwide
profession.  That's the best answer I can give you.
 Reporter:  Chuck, just a quick follow on that. When did the
Foreign Service quit offering the exam in Braille or with a
reader?   Redman:  I don't know that I have the exact time, but I
believe that that is a new decision, which becomes applicable
this year.   Reporter:  Chuck, is it a historic fact that every
Foreign Service Officer serves overseas at some point in his or
her career?   Redman:  I can't tell you whether every single one
serves. I just don't know the answer to that. But there's
certainly no question that, as a general rule, people do, and
certainly they are expected to.
 Reporter:  Well, historically, what was the rationale for
offering the test in Braille, if it was policy not to hire them?  
Redman:  That's exactly what has been corrected in this case. 
People who looked at this anomaly decided that it would be a more
appropriate system to simply rationalize the two.
 Reporter:  But why, in the first place, did they not recognize
the anomaly and decide to start hiring them, if you're offering
the test and they're passing it, rather than stop offering the
test?   Redman:  The reasons we weren't hiring them were for the
reasons that I specified, which have to do with the basic ability
to serve in overseas assignments that Foreign Service Officers
are expected to fill. But as to why the test had been offered to
people in those categories who could not quality, however, on
medical grounds, I just don't know the history of that well
enough to explain why it had been offered.
 Reporter:  What happens in the case of a Foreign Service Officer
who loses his sight in the course of his service?
 Redman:  In that case let me see we acknowledge our
responsibility to employees who become blind and who can be
reasonably accommodated within the existing structure of the
Foreign Service.  They are retained as members of the Service and
provided with various forms of assistance, although they are
probably generally assigned domestic posts at that point....
____________________
This is what the State Department said in its briefing, and one
can only hope that the level of literacy and mental agility
displayed
by Redman is not typical of the Department as a whole. Myths and
misconceptions, injustice and inflexibility: We have fought these
every step of our way. The State Department has piled on, joining
the airlines, the FAA, and much of the general public, but we are
not discouraged. All minorities face these manifestations of
discrimination on their way
to freedom. Recognizing them for what they are is the first step
toward overcoming them. We have called them by their true name,
and we have recognized our own ability to order our destiny.
Unfortunately the Foreign Service is filled with people who have
an inflated idea of their own importance. Too many of them find
unnerving the notion that even a blind person might have the
capacity to carry out their jobs.  The State Department will have
to come to terms with reality.  We are simply no longer willing
to be second-class citizens.  We have a contribution to make, and
we will fight for the right to make it.  Make no mistake about
it. We will persist and we will prevail. 
BLIND TO DIPLOMACY
 This editorial by Gretchen Letterman appeared in the December 1,
1988,  St. Petersburg  (Florida)  Times.  Our efforts
at public education are increasingly effective. Here is a good
example. 

The late Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, holder of five college degrees,
Harvard professor, author of respected texts on constitutional
law and countless monographs, was blind. He founded the National
Federation of the Blind in 1940.
Charles Brown, counsel for special legal services at the U. S.
Department of Labor, supervises more than 30 other lawyers and
produces a great deal of research in the course of his job. He is
blind, too.  Kenneth Jernigan, Executive Director of the National
Federation of the Blind, edits an 80-page magazine, handles a
mountain of printed materials, and writes 100 letters a week, all
without the benefits of sight.
Listing accomplishments of the blind to illustrate that those who
cannot see are indeed capable of performing tasks commonly
thought to be visual is almost as patronizing as the ludicrous
assumption that blind people are less competent than sighted
ones. Yet, it is an appropriate response to the decision by the
State Department to prohibit a highly qualified applicant from
becoming a diplomat because of his blindness.
 This is a first-class case of discrimination,  says Jernigan,
whose organization is canvassing members of Congress to persuade
them to talk sense to the State Department. Wise senators and
representatives will act quickly to do so.
Are there things a sighted diplomat could do that a blind one
couldn't?  A look at three areas answers the question with a
solid  no.  Paperwork. Avraham Rabby, the man turned down by the
State Department, made high scores on preliminary entrance exams
the department allowed him to take before it declined to let him
complete further tests in Braille or with reading assistance.
There are countless examples like the ones above of blind people
who function normally in jobs that
are heavy with paper, even entry level jobs that provide no
secretarial help. In such jobs, Jernigan says, the employer
should make a reader assistant available to employees. In cases
where security clearance is not a problem, the employee could be
allowed to bring in his or her own reader. The department could
also invest in a reading machine, a fairly widely used device
that converts printed words into voice.  Negotiations. Avraham
received degrees in Spanish and French from Oxford University in
England. He earned his master's degree in business administration
from Chicago University. He runs a consulting business to help
the disabled find jobs. His credentials certainly suggest someone
well-versed in the art of diplomatic discussion. Jernigan offers
this personal example. One of his duties as the Federation's
Executive Director is negotiating contracts with hotels each year
for the group's annual conventions.  Sight has nothing to do with
making a man agree to the price I want,  Jernigan says.
Safety. Foreign diplomats are often the target of terrorists.  If
someone wants to shoot our diplomat,  Jernigan says,  they're
going to do it.  Taking reasonable precautions to secure one's
safety requires intelligence, not the ability to see someone
coming at you with a machine gun.
The State Department's decision is embarrassing justification to
harp on the obvious: Blindness does not hinder the capacity for
understanding and knowledge; to the contrary, there are times
when blindness can be an advantage. Jernigan recalls the story of
a blind member of the Federation's board who was a passenger on
an airplane that had to make an emergency landing.  The cabin was
in total darkness, and
there was this panic,  Jernigan says. Because he was used to
functioning in the dark,  This man led the others out. 
The State Department wouldn't speak except anonymously to
reporters about the case of Avraham Rabby. There are no
legitimate excuses for the decision to exclude him from the final
stages of qualifying to become a diplomat. There are, however,
plenty of legitimate reasons
to doubt the effectiveness of an executive department that would
operate on the principles of discrimination and ignorance.
                       SHENANIGANS AT THE 
SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND: 
 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 
OF SOUTH CAROLINA 
INSISTS ON HONESTY AND QUALITY SERVICES
 In the mid-1960's the blind of South Carolina asked the
legislature to remove programs for the blind from the state
welfare department and create a separate agency. Rehabilitation
and other services were performing at such a low level that
something obviously had to be
done, and the legislature (after establishing a study committee)
responded by creating the South Carolina Commission for the
Blind. The blind of the state rejoiced; and at first the new
commission performed well and made encouraging progress. 
 However, in recent years the earlier gains have been threatened. 
This has been particularly true since 1985 when William K. James
(current Commission director) was appointed. Although blind
himself, James
seems to have no respect for or understanding of the hopes and
aspirations of the people he is hired to serve. It is fair to say
that his failure to appreciate the attitudes and behavior of the
blind is more than reciprocated. 
 The November, 1988, issue of  The Palmetto Blind,  the magazine
of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina,
includes four separate stories devoted to Commission
mismanagement. The two which we are reprinting give a blueprint
for keeping state officials honest and making them responsive to
the wishes and needs of their constituents. The first article
exposes the behavior of Commission officials who have been
charging personal phone calls to Commission phone lines. The
second addresses the impropriety of hiring William
T. Putnam, former Executive Director of the South Carolina Budget
and Control Board, as a consultant for the Commission just at the
time when the state's Legislative Audit Council was conducting a
review of the Commission. Both articles are self-explanatory: 

                    Commission Official Pays 
for Personal Telephone Calls 
Billed to State

The National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina believes
in honesty in state government. High state agency officials
should be especially careful not only to exercise painstaking
care in avoiding impropriety, but to avoid even the appearance of
impropriety. While some may dismiss as unimportant state agency
officials' practice of making personal calls billed to the state
and paid for by the taxpayers, such a practice is less than
honest. For some time the NFB of SC has monitored Commission for
the Blind telephone billings. It is our contention, based upon
these telephone billings, that there has been abuse and misuse of
the state's telephone service.
In the May-June, 1988, issue of  The Palmetto Blind , the NFB of
SC reproduced the May, 1985, Commission for the Blind telephone
bill indicating that a Commission board member made 106
long-distance calls during that month, costing taxpayers $200.43.
The Commission
for the Blind's telephone bill for August, 1985, shows that
Commissioner William K. James made 21 long-distance calls on
August 9 and 10 from Columbia's Carolina Inn while attending the
1985 NFB of SC convention.  All of the 21 long-distance calls
that weekend by Mr. James were made to board members residing in
Aiken and Hartsville. Mr. James declined
to give the reasons for the 21 calls, but at the 1985 NFB of SC
convention Federation officials were very much concerned over
what they felt to be inappropriate involvement in convention
affairs by Mr. James and a couple of Commission board members.
Approximately 200 long-distance calls have now been made by Mr.
James to blind vendor John Ginn, at taxpayers' expense. The only
explanation uttered by Mr. James for these calls is that they
were made in  conduct of Commission affairs.  Mr. Ginn is not
even on the Commission's Business Enterprise Program Committee,
but is president of the splinter group, the American Council of
the Blind of South Carolina, which
is able to attract only a handful of persons to its annual
convention.

Recently, the NFB of SC wrote to Mr. James concerning another
development in the use of the Commission for the Blind's
telephone service. The letter is as follows:
____________________
                                         Columbia, South Carolina
                                                    July 29, 1988

Mr. William K. James, Commissioner
South Carolina Commission for the Blind
Columbia, South Carolina

Dear Mr. James:
The National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina continues
to have serious concerns over what appears to be ongoing abuse
and misuse of the state's telephone service. This includes, but
is not limited to, your continuing calls at taxpayers' expense to
Blind Vendor John Ginn, which you facetiously explain are  in
conduct of Commission affairs. 
According to the Commission's telephone invoice or log for June,
1988, Nancy Buchanan, Director of Client Services, made the
following calls at taxpayers' expense: On June 2 Mrs. Buchanan
called (704) 295-9301, talking for 10.9 minutes. This telephone
number is held by Chetola Resorts-Condos and Hotel in Blowing
Rock, North Carolina. Also, on June 2 Mrs. Buchanan called (704)
295-7960, talking for 4 minutes.  This listing is a private
residence in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, which has an office
managing some condos. Also, on June 2 Mrs. Buchanan called (704)
295-9341, talking for a total of 7.8 minutes. This phone
is listed under Meadowbrook Inn, located in Blowing Rock, North
Carolina.  Please advise us whether or not the above calls by
Mrs. Buchanan were of a personal nature or concerning Commission
for the Blind business.  If Commission business was involved,
please describe the nature of the business.

                                                Yours very truly,
                                       Donald C. Capps, President
                                            NFB of South Carolina
____________________
In a letter dated August 22, Mr. James declined to furnish any
information regarding the Federation's letter of July 29.
Subsequently, the NFB of SC advised Commissioner James that the
Commission's telephone bill showed that Mrs. Buchanan again
called Chetola Resorts on June 24.  We also advised Mr. James
that his failure to provide information regarding Mrs. Buchanan's
calls would result in our taking this matter to other state
officials and to members of the General Assembly. This got Mr.
James' attention. On September 13, 1988, Mr. James wrote to the
NFB of SC as follows:
____________________
                                         Columbia, South Carolina
                                               September 13, 1988

Dear Mr. Capps:
This is in response to your letter of August 22, 1988, which I am
liberally interpreting as a Freedom of Information Act Request. 
Enclosed is a receipt and a memorandum regarding reimbursement
for personal telephone calls which were charged to the agency.

                                                 Sincerely yours,
                                   William K. James, Commissioner
                          South Carolina Commission for the Blind
____________________
The memorandum referred to, from Mrs. Nancy Buchanan, reads as
follows:

____________________
                           Memorandum

Date: September 12, 1988
To: William K. James
From: Nancy L. Buchanan, 
 Director of Client Services
Subject: Telephone Bills

This memorandum is in response to your inquiry concerning recent
correspondence regarding long distance charges shown on my
telephone bill. Telephone bills contained detailed information
which the Agency staff have not been receiving since
approximately July, 1987.
Periodically, I find it necessary to use my telephone at work for
personal long distance calls. These calls are charged to my home
telephone by use of a long distance service billing code. In the
course of initiating and returning numerous calls daily, some
calls may be inadvertently charged to the wrong system.
After this matter was brought to my attention, I reviewed copies
of the Agency telephone charges through July, 1987, and I am
enclosing $40 to cover personal calls inadvertently billed to the
Agency. I also reviewed my personal telephone bills for the last
five months and identified over $20 in charges for Agency
business calls. I have not sought reimbursement for these calls,
and do not plan to do so.
In 1986 I addressed directory assistance charges for telephones
assigned to staff members who are blind. Although I understand
the Agency made further inquiries, the matter apparently remains
unresolved.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You may use this
memorandum in responding to any inquiries.
____________________
The payment of $40 to the Commission by Mrs. Buchanan clearly
indicates that more than a few of her personal calls were billed
to the Commission.  Whether or not Mrs. Buchanan inadvertently
billed so many personal calls to the Commission, a policy of
making repeated long-distance personal calls on the Commission's
telephone service is certainly
a highly questionable practice. Mrs. Buchanan has been with the
Commission almost from its beginning and is a senior official.
Further, she has been aware of the NFB of SC's long standing
criticism of Commission officials' use of its telephone service.
However, this did not deter her from making repeated personal
long-distance calls billed to the Commission. Even more
troublesome is the fact that Mrs. Buchanan's personal calls at
state expense apparently were made over an extended period of
time, and yet according to her memo she made no payment
to the Commission until September 12, 1988. We will never know
whether or not Mrs. Buchanan would have made any payment to the
Commission for the Blind for her personal calls had the
Federation not raised the issue. Because of Mrs. Buchanan's memo,
we wrote the following letter to Mr. James:
____________________
                                         Columbia, South Carolina
                                               September 29, 1988

Mr. William K. James, Commissioner
South Carolina Commission for the Blind
Columbia, South Carolina

Dear Mr. James:
Thank you for your letter of September 13, 1988, and enclosures
which arrived while I was out of the country attending the Second
General Assembly of the World Blind Union in Madrid, Spain.
While it is appropriate that Mrs. Buchanan has now reimbursed the
state for personal calls made at taxpayers' expense, it seems
clear
that no responsible Commission employee has been monitoring
long-distance calls made by staff to detect personal calls. In
order to assure us that this situation may not arise in the
future, please advise us what steps your office is taking to
monitor Commission long distance phone calls, including the name
of the staff member assigned this responsibility.

                                                Yours very truly,
                                       Donald C. Capps, President
                                            NFB of South Carolian
____________________
In response to the above letter, Mr. James wrote as follows:
____________________
                                         Columbia, South Carolina
                                                 October 10, 1988

Dear Mr. Capps:
In response to your letter of September 29, 1988, I am enclosing
a copy of page iv of the state telephone directory which is given
to all state employees, including employees of the S. C.
Commission for the Blind. This notice states in bold type:  USE
OF THE STATE TELEPHONE SYSTEM IS FOR OFFICIAL STATE BUSINESS
ONLY.  It further states:  Violators are subject to penalties as
provided by South
Carolina Law (16-13-400, 16-13-410 and others).  This is a
self-monitoring process.

                                                 Sincerely yours,
                                   William K. James, Commissioner
                          South Carolina Commission for the Blind
____________________
The existence of the state law referred to by Mr. James and
furnishing employees with page iv of the state telephone
directory have not resulted in monitoring Commission telephone
bills in the past. Thus, the NFB of SC fails to understand Mr.
James' logic that this state law will in some way serve as a
self-monitoring device, unless a responsible individual is
appointed and charged with this special responsibility.  The
former method has not worked in the past. The Legislative Audit
Council (LAC) spent about a year and a half at the Commission
auditing it. The LAC's report released last May indicated that it
found no wrongdoing or impropriety in the use of the Commission's
telephone service.
More than ever, the NFB of SC holds the position that the LAC
audit of the Commission's telephone service was perfunctory and
cursory rather than thorough and comprehensive.

 As has already been said, four articles in the November, 1988, 
Palmetto Blind  deal with the mismanagement at the South Carolina
Commission for the Blind. The revelations in the second article
that we are reprinting are at least as bad as those in the first.


                          Putnam Used 
 To Negotiate Results of Audit  
So Saith Mr. James

According to an article in the October 7, 1988, edition of  The
Greenville News , Commissioner William K. James told a newspaper
reporter that William T. Putnam, former Executive Director of the
Budget and Control Board, was hired and used to negotiate the
results of the audit of the Commission released last May by the
Legislative Audit Council (LAC). However, Mr. James has given
what appears to be conflicting information to  The Greenville
News  regarding the Commission's employment of Mr. Putnam. On
September 21, 1988,
in an article entitled  Retired Budget Board Director's Firm Gets
State Consulting Contracts,  Mr. James is quoted as saying 
William
K. James, the director of the Commission for the Blind, said his
agency hired Putnam for three months this year to develop `better
office procedures.' 
When contacted a second time by the paper, Mr. James provided
alternative explanations for employing Putnam. The October 7,
1988  Greenville News  article reads as follows:

                        Panel For Blind 
Charged With Wrongdoing 
by Tim Smith

The president of a state organization for the blind said the
State Commission for the Blind hired the former director of the
Budget and Control Board to help influence the outcome of a state
audit of the commission.
The retired budget board director, William T. Putnam, said the
charge was  ridiculous,  and the director of the Legislative
Audit Council said Putnam did not influence the audit of the
commission.  Donald C. Capps, president of the National
Federation of the Blind
of South Carolina, said the commission hired Putnam for 
influence peddling. 
He said the federation's position is that Putnam  used his good
contacts to substantially influence the final version of the
report on the Commission for the Blind released by the
Legislative Audit Council in May. 
William K. James, the commission director, denied Capps'
allegations.  He said Putnam was used in  negotiating the results 
of the audit.
James told  The News  two weeks ago that his agency paid Putnam
$2,747 in consultant fees in March and April to help develop
better office procedures and to act as a temporary administrator.
An itemized list of Putnam's activities supplied by Putnam to the
agency as part of his invoice shows that much of his time was
spent working on the audit.
Putnam, according to the document, met with officials of the
state auditor's office, had telephone conversations with the
audit council's staff and with members of the governor's staff.
The audit council review, while noting some administrative
problems,  found no evidence of a significant mismanagement by
commission staff,  as alleged by Capps' organization, according
to a copy of the final audit council report.
The audit also chided Capps' organization, although it never
mentioned it by name, saying the group had  interfered with the
conduct of commission activities, reducing time spent by staff in
providing client services and administering agency programs. 
James said he hired Putnam to act as agency administrator until a
director of administrative services could be hired. He said some
of his work involved a review of the draft report of the audit.
Asked whether Putnam was used to try to soften the final report,
James said,  No, not in a sense to try and soften the report. He
did work with me in negotiating with the LAC on the results of
this.  Putnam said he did not negotiate with the audit council.
He said he
met with the council's director, George Schroeder, and others to
correct errors in the draft report. He said he could not recall
the errors that were corrected.
 As far as using my former office, that is quite, quite untrue, 
Putnam said.  George Schroeder doesn't lend himself to that and
don't operate that way. 
Schroeder said Putnam did not influence the audit and there were
no substantial differences between the draft and final reports.
 He didn't have any influence on the audit in some sort of
sinister sense that I'm aware of,  Schroeder said.
____________________
There you have it first Mr. James said that he hired Putnam to
help with office procedures, but when contacted a few days later,
he said Putnam was hired as an agency administrator. Adding to
the confusion, Mr. James went on to say that Putnam was employed
to negotiate the results of the audit with the Legislative Audit
Council. Which was it, Mr. James? Helping out with office
procedures would be an unlikely way for the former Executive
Director of the South Carolina Budget and Control Board to spend
his time. Why would Putnam have been hired as Agency
Administrator when Mr. James already holds that position? The NFB
of SC believes that the most plausible reason is the third
explanation cited by Mr. James for employing Putnam that is,  To
negotiate the results of the audit. 
In the May-June issue of  The Palmetto Blind , we questioned the
advisability of the Commission's hiring Putnam and paying him $50
an hour to influence the outcome of the audit. As indicated in
the newspaper article, the itemized statement of charges
presented to the Commission by Putnam clearly shows that most
were for services related to the audit. The NFB of SC certainly
agrees that because
of his former high position in state government, Putnam was the
obvious person to negotiate the results of the audit, if
negotiations were required. But if all was well, why was it
necessary to negotiate the results of the audit? The audit should
have been non-negotiable.
The NFB of SC is strongly of the opinion that the state funds
appropriated to the Commission for serving the blind should not
be used to employ a high-powered former state official to
influence an audit. Fifty dollars an hour is certainly not
chickenfeed. Although the NFB of SC depends primarily upon
volunteers, we would have been pleased to have the opportunity to
work with Mr. Schroeder and the LAC to correct audit errors. The
NFB of SC was not even given an opportunity by Mr.  Schroeder and
audit council staff members to discuss the results of
the audit, much less negotiate its results. We believe Putnam's
involvement with the audit was a significant factor in the final
results, since he wouldn't have spent time working with audit
council officials and others, including members of the governor's
office, unless it was to some purpose.
The NFB of SC resents this third-party involvement and the
resulting expense to taxpayers. As indicated in the May-June
issue of  The Palmetto Blind , we believe that much of the audit
is highly suspect.  Among other things the NFB of SC strongly
disagrees with the LAC's recommendations that vending facility
operators should be penalized for success by adding another tax
on their earnings. Neither can any thinking, knowledgeable person
endorse the LAC's recommendation that
we turn back the clock by reinstituting a sheltered workshop or 
work shelter,  as one official phrased it. In many respects the
audit represents a disservice rather than a service to the blind
of South Carolina.
                 PARTIALLY SIGHTED, REALLY BLIND
                    by Catherine Horn Randall
 Catherine Horn Randall is First Vice President of the National
Federation of the Blind of Illinois and an Alderman serving in
the Jacksonville, Illinois, City Council. This article appeared
in the August, 1988, issue of  The Month's News,  the publication
of the NFB of Illinois. 

One rainy afternoon a young mother stood across the street from
Main Hall on the MacMurry College campus in Jacksonville,
Illinois, watching
the busy, laughing college co-eds come and go. She cried for her
four-year-old daughter who might not have the opportunity to go
to college or to lead a full life, because she only had partial
sight in her right eye. She was afraid and wondered about Cathy's
future, and all she knew to do was to have Cathy evaluated by the
professional staff of the Illinois Braille and Sight Saving
School in Jacksonville.
The professionals told her that Cathy had so much sight that she
wouldn't need to bother with Braille. The bewildered young
parents were grateful to the experts for their advice; who else
could they turn to? The school didn't tell them that the National
Federation of the Blind even existed. Cathy's parents took her
home, determined to enroll her in the sight saving program in
Quincy, Illinois.
From this point on, I shall tell my own story. As I look back at
the enormous implications to my life and to my education from
being denied the opportunity to learn Braille as a child, I am as
angry and frustrated now as my mother was afraid for my future in
1951,
I happen to be an only child, and I like to think that I was
constructively spoiled by my parents. They could not have been
more supportive of me. If they had received common-sense
guidance, I know I would have learned Braille. Whatever I needed
to help with my education, my parents enthusiastically provided.
If we had only known it, what we needed most was the National
Federation of the Blind, Braille, and cane travel skills.
Unfortunately for me, we used the term  partially sighted  while
I was growing up. I wasn't really blind, because I had some
sight. So I didn't think of myself as blind until I began losing
my remaining vision in my late twenties.
I was a blind child and a blind college student who was trying to
get along without either of the most important skills of
blindness, namely Braille and cane travel.
I took typing lessons when I was ten, and again in both junior
and senior high. Typing, I believe, is another essential skill
for blind and legally blind students.
A partially blind student who reads print and takes notes with
flair pens or markers and uses tapes is still greatly handicapped
if he
or she does not know Braille. I didn't have much confidence in
myself
in high school or college, and I think not having the skills of
blindness was part of the reason although I did not realize it at
the time.  Eye strain was a constant problem for me in school.
How wonderful
and practical it would have been to make an easy transition from
print work to Braille when I used my eyes too much.
For years my father tutored me every night in math. My mother
read to me so much that by my senior year in high school she had
damaged her vocal chords. I always loved school despite the hard
work. I was feature editor for both my junior and senior high
newspapers.
I earned a bachelor of arts degree from that same MacMurry
College, where my mother had despaired for my future nineteen
years earlier.  College took me four and a half years and four
straight summers to complete. I am now convinced that, if I had
had good Braille skills, I would have been able to handle four
courses a semester like everyone else instead of taking only
three. I had a totally blind friend a year behind me in college
who took full course loads each semester and used Braille.
To blind and partially blind students I would say this and I
would say it with every fiber of my being: Join and become active
in the NFB. It is the greatest gift you can ever give yourself.
Take the initiative to learn Braille and cane travel. This may
seem a tall order, but believe me, it is an essential one. You
will find the role models that you always needed in the NFB. You
will learn that it is respectable to be blind.
                CIVIL WAR OR BACKYARD SKIRMISH? 
BLINDED VETS TAKE TO THE FOX HOLES
                        by Barbara Pierce
The last two years have witnessed a nasty little battle between
the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) and the Blinded American
Veterans Foundation (BAVF), a group created by three disaffected
past employees of the BVA.  Citing dissatisfaction with the way
BVA spends its money, the three (John Fales, BAVF President;
Dennis Wyant, BAVF Secretary; and Don Garner, BAVF Treasurer)
founded the organization in 1985 and publicly announced its
beginning on June 12, 1986.  On March 8, 1987, Washington, D.C.
Federal District Court Judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, issued an
injunction forbidding BAVF to use the name  Blinded
American Veterans Foundation  or any name in which the words 
veterans  and  blinded  (or  blind ) are used together. The
BAVF has appealed this ruling, and things are at a standstill for
the moment.
This is the barest outline of the situation, but  Monitor 
readers know that such facts do not begin to tell the story.  We
are too familiar with complexity to say,  You two groups are both
working for the
rights of blinded veterans.  Why don't you forget your
differences?   Very often life is too complicated for such simple
solutions to be constructive.  Here are the details as the 
Braille Monitor  has been able to gather them.  Readers must
ponder them and judge for themselves.
The Blinded American Veterans Foundation is not a membership
organization.  The stated goal of its five Directors is  to
assist sensory disabled former United States fighting men and
women.  As their descriptive brochure says,  What we will strive
to accomplish is to become
a nationwide focal point and clearing house for research,
rehabilitation, and re-employment efforts and for information
dissemination and education programs. 
Those in government at one level or another are the target of
their educational efforts. According to the BAVF, the research
concentrates
on  sensory disabilities and prosthetic devices and sensory aids, 
as well as on  basic issues of personal importance  to veterans
with sensory disabilities  whatever that means. Formation
of a corps of volunteers  to help veterans with sensory and
communication disabilities  is also said to be part of the plan. 
This corps seems to be a network composed of the Directors'
friends, living across the country.
That is what the officers of the Blinded American Veterans
Foundation said they were setting out to do, and, according to
their press releases and annual report, it is pretty well what
they have spent their time and money doing.  With as much fanfare
as they could muster, they have presented awards to members of
Congress and reporters whom they have found to be sympathetic to
the BAVF and to veterans' concerns.  They have produced and are
marketing a red, white, and blue telescoping cane called the
Americane.  No one seems to know much about this device except
that it is subject to falling apart, but its name alone raises
eyebrows in some quarters.
A large chunk of the BAVF's 1987 budget went toward producing 
the U.S. Constitution and the Veterans Administration's 
Veterans' Benefits Handbook  in print and on flexible disc. These
were mailed to 17,000 blind and disabled veterans, and extras
were sent to radio reading services, the National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, and others.
Both Wyant and Garner hold jobs that, potentially at least,
provide
the BAVF opportunities for influence as well as for dispensing
largess.  Wyant serves as Director of the Veterans
Administration's Education and Vocational Rehabilitation
Counseling Service.  Garner is the Director for the Veterans
Administration's Blind Rehabilitation Service in
Washington, D.C.  There are four VA Blind Centers across the
country Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, and California. In its
annual report the BAVF said that it donated $500 to each of these
centers in fiscal year 1987 (its first year of operation) and
planned to contribute $2,000 to each in its second.
Parenthetically, it should be noted with commendation that BAVF
claims responsibility and credit for insuring that these four
centers did
not (as they had planned to do) seek accreditation from NAC (the
National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and
Visually Handicapped). According to President Fales, a $10,000
grant has also been awarded to George  Buck  Gillispie, one of
the BAVF's Directors, to cover the cost of touring these four
centers in order to assess their needs and encourage their
clients.
The question inevitably arises of where the Blinded American
Veterans Foundation gets its money. They say they have sought and
received
a number of in-kind gifts. Officers of the BAVF told the  Monitor 
that their office space is donated, and Kurzweil Computer
Products
and Anheuser Busch figure prominently in their literature as
contributors.  BAVF also seems to have received some corporate
contributions.  But the biggest source of income, and the one
that brought the wrath of the Blinded Veterans Association down
on BAVF's head, has been the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). 
This program is the method by which federal employees contribute
to the United Way plus others. Federal employees can give to any
or all of a long list of charities chosen by the CFC.  During the
1987 Combined Federal Campaign, the BAVF was
on the list, and federal employees contributed generously so
generously that by June of 1988 the BAVF had already raised
$35,000 $7,000 more than in the entire preceding year.
This was too much for the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA). Dr. 
Ronald Miller, BVA Executive Director, acknowledges that the
entrance on the scene of the BAVF has damaged the BVA's
fund-raising efforts.  He says he believes that people confuse
the two organizations. According to Miller, people who have
contributed to the BVA for years without paying close attention
to the exact name inadvertently designated BAVF as the recipient
of their CFC gifts in 1987.
BVA's funds and past fund-raising practices figure prominently in
the BAVF's dissatisfaction with the older group. The three BAVF
officers accuse BVA of not really helping veterans. They say that
a building fund just  lay in the bank  when it could have been
helping people. They also object to the image of blindness
projected by the
BVA's direct mail materials. Dennis Wyant characterized these as 
pitiful. 

The Blinded Veterans Association was chartered by Congress in
1945, and today it says it has about 6,800 members, most of whom
(according to BAVF) live in Florida, California, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, and New York. Those with service-connected injuries
may vote at national conventions.  In the past six years, the BVA
has worked hard to recruit new members.  As a result, Miller
estimates that the organization has enjoyed an 80% increase in
membership.
The BVA's programs fall into three areas. The Field Service
Program stations six Field Service Representatives across the
country to serve as role models for blind veterans and to counsel
them and their families about available services.  In partnership
with the federal Department of Labor (DOL) the BVA, according to
Executive Director Dr. Ronald Miller, conducts an employment
outreach program in which three (soon to become four) Field
Service Representatives around the country seek out veterans who
want to work and then help them find employment.  According to
Miller, in fiscal 1988 an experimental program in New York,
called Amer I Can, has proven particularly successful.  One of
the BVA's Field Service Representatives trained personnel from
the New York employment service and the DOL Veterans Employment
and Training Services so that they could work more effectively
with blinded veterans.  Miller says that in this first year,
twenty-nine veterans have returned to work in New York.  The
program will be expanded in the months ahead.
Miller says that the third element of the BVA's program is its
public information effort.  This includes publication of the  BVA
Bulletin , as well as mailings to veterans, and educational
mailings to the general public.
There are clearly hard feelings between these two organizations. 
BVA makes it fairly clear that Fales was forced to resign from
his BVA position in 1982. He is no longer a member of the BVA,
but both Wyant and Garner have continued their memberships.  To
everyone's credit
in this dispute, they have managed to contain the battle so that
blinded veterans who need help have apparently not suffered. The
students at the four Blind Centers supervised by Garner have not,
as far as Miller can tell, been discouraged from joining the BVA. 
And Miller
is careful to limit his comments to facts and to avoid character
assassination.

The conflict may be drawing to a close.  In September, 1988, the
BVA's summary motion, requesting the Appeals Court simply to
review the material in the Federal District Court case, was
denied.  On February 6, 1989, oral arguments in the BAVF's appeal
will be heard.  There
is no way of knowing how long the judges will take to make their
decision.  It could be as long as a year. In the meantime the
Blinded American Veterans Foundation continues to use its name,
but it was not listed as a charity in the 1988 Combined Federal
Campaign.  Both organizations have spent money on the court fight
money that could much better have been used to further their
goals.  We can only hope that the blind will benefit from the
eventual resolution of the dispute.
                AND BLINDNESS WAS NEVER AN ISSUE
Election day, 1988, did not hold many surprises for most voters
around
the country. There were the usual number of close counts and
come-from-behind victories, but mostly the candidates won or lost
with varying degrees of grace and style. In Boulder County,
Colorado, however, an upset occurred that had everyone talking.
The Deputy Mayor of Boulder, a liberal Democrat, beat an
incumbent County Commissioner, the only Republican on the board.
Everyone but the victorious candidate seems to have been
surprised by the outcome. The polls and pundits apparently
expected voters to preserve the voice of the minority on the
Board of Commissioners. The notion that the electorate might have
decided that choosing the best candidate was more important than
preserving the two-party balance didn't cross the experts' minds.
The winner in this Boulder County race was Homer Page, First Vice
President of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. He
was sworn in on January 10, 1989. We reprint here the news
stories
that appeared in the  Daily Camera  (the Boulder, Colorado,
newspaper) after the election and after the swearing-in ceremony.
Notice the handling of Page's blindness by the press; it isn't
mentioned.  In fact, it wasn't an issue in the election at all.
In 1985, when Page ran for Mayor, one of his opponent's
supporters brought up the matter of blindness, and Page dealt
decisively with the questions raised, but this time the press and
the public alike apparently decided that visual acuity was not an
appropriate measure of either candidate's competence. We are
clearly making progress in educating the public.  Boulder County
voters have gotten the message.
Here's what the  Daily Camera   had to say:

                      BOULDER DAILY CAMERA 
NOVEMBER 9, 1988
                Commissioners All Democrats Now: 
Page Ousts GOP's Smith; 
Stewart Re-Elected
                        by Sharon Gillen

Voters swept the lone Republican off the Boulder County Board of
Commissioners on Tuesday, replacing five-year Commissioner Buz
Smith with Boulder's Democratic Deputy Mayor Homer Page and
handing Longmont Democrat Ron Stewart his second term.
The election means that all three seats on the board will be
filled by Democrats for at least two years. It also leaves the
Democrats in control of all county elected offices.
The race between Smith and Page was close as late returns came in
from east county precincts, but Page held onto a lead inspired by
Boulder voters, winning the $41,500-a-year job for a four-year
term.  Page said he was not surprised by the closeness of the
race the results of which were unclear until after midnight. He
attributed
the narrow victory to the fact that he was running against an
incumbent.  He also remembered Smith's narrow victory in 1984.
Smith was at a loss to explain his defeat other than to say,  I
think I'm in the wrong party  to win in Boulder County. He noted
that almost 60 percent of the county's voters are unaffiliated,
and they  have a strong tendency to vote Democratic.  But he
added he would not consider switching parties.
Page said,  What really did it was our ability to convince the
public there was a difference on environmental issues between the
two of us, especially on open space. 
Page had said he would resign his seat on the Boulder City
Council if he won. The rest of the council then would appoint
someone to fill the vacant seat....
Smith, 50, a Boulder resident, was appointed a commissioner in
January, 1983, when Republican Bob Jenkins resigned. Smith was
elected to a four-year term in November, 1984.
He focused his campaign on his successes as the minority
Republican commissioner, on the need for economic growth and on
his roles as
a lobbyist and county representative on the state and national
levels.  Page, 47, has been a Boulder city councilman for seven
years and deputy mayor for three years. He is director of the
University of Colorado Office of Services to Disabled Students
and a teacher in the School of Education.
Stewart, 40, of Longmont, was first elected a commissioner four
years ago after an eight-year stint in the Colorado Senate,
including two years as minority leader.

                      BOULDER DAILY CAMERA 
NOVEMBER 10, 1988
                 GOP Feels Silenced by Dem Trio
                        by Sharon Gillen

A Board of County Commissioners filled with three Democrats won't
change the way county government is run, some party insiders say,
but Republicans fear they have lost a voice with the ouster of
Buz Smith.
Smith, the minority commissioner on the board for five years, was
defeated Tuesday in an upset by Democrat Homer Page, a Boulder
councilman.  As of the swearing-in ceremony in January, the board
will consist exclusively of Democrats for the first time since
1980. That's when Republicans put one member on the board, ending
six years of total Democratic domination.
But Democrats have held a majority since 1972 which limits the
impact of adding a third Democrat to the board. And Democratic
Commissioners Jose Heath and Ron Stewart, who was re-elected
Tuesday, say few of the day-to-day decisions in county government
are partisan issues.   Ninety-five percent of the decisions we
make are not partisan,  Heath said.
Still, local GOP members are wary that without a Republican to
carry their message, the views of a lot of county residents will
not be heard.
And some say the new board make-up proves a need to change the
system to force election of the three commissioners by
geographical districts rather than countywide. However, that
would be hard technically to
do since it would require passage of a home-rule charter or the
addition of two more commissioners an idea voters soundly
defeated in 1986.  The Democratic commissioners, trying to head
off charges that some residents will feel unrepresented, are
pledging to work even harder to listen closely to differing
opinions and to foster cooperation with all county communities.
 The real issue is not Democrat vs. Republican but style,
individual interest, and individual expertise,  said Page, who
plans to concentrate on  really getting in touch  with cities in
the county other than his hometown of Boulder. He plans to quit
his job as director of the CU Office of Services to Disabled
Students when he takes over the full-time commissioner's job.
Fritz Satterley of Boulder, a long-time Republican, explained
Wednesday what she and other local GOP members were thinking:
 There is a concern about the make-up of the new Board of County
Commissioners the ultra-liberal element that is going to be
representing the whole county now. We've certainly had enough of
that with the Boulder City Council. There will be no balance on
the Board of County Commissioners. 
She said that although Smith was in the minority,  at least he
was a spokesman for the opposition. He would bring things to the
fore that maybe the other two (commissioners) hadn't thought of.
Who's going to be the challenger now?
 When (the Democratic commissioners) take the oath, we have lost
the representation. 
But Stewart said,  I think you'll continue to see a healthy
discussion of issues,  noting that he and Heath sometimes see
things differently.  He said commissioners' daily decisions are
more often affected by public input than by political stances.
Martha Weiser, an environmentalist and government watchdog who
has seen Page on the council and the commissioners in action for
years, said she believes little will change in county government. 
People who think otherwise need to be reminded... their input
always will be heard and respected.
 I see more problems with public perception than with
performance,  of an all-Democratic board, Weiser said.
She also said issues such as open space will see more unanimity
and less controversy. But she, as well as the commissioners
themselves, doubt more county money will go toward open space the
budget, they agree, is stretched to the limit already.
Smith was attending a National Association of Counties meeting
Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

                      BOULDER DAILY CAMERA 
NOVEMBER 10, 1988
                      Page's Upset Victory 
Caught Council by Surprise
                        by Sally McGrath

Boulder City Council members had not thought much about who they
should appoint to replace their colleague Homer Page if he was
elected to the Board of County Commissioners.
No one thought he would win.
But Page's upset victory Tuesday over incumbent Republican Buz
Smith
Tuesday changed all that.
 I really didn't think Homer was going to win,  Councilman
Matthew Appelbaum said Wednesday.  I never worried about who we
were going to appoint when he left. 
Mayor Linda Jourgensen was not deluged Wednesday with calls from
interested applicants.
 I haven't heard from anybody,  Jourgensen said Wednesday
afternoon.  We'll encourage people to come fill out an
application if they are interested. 
Councilman Spence Havlick said he developed a list of possible
candidates Wednesday.
 It's the best upset of the 1988 campaign anywhere,  Havlick
said.  I thought a lot of people would assume Mr. Smith was
representing an unrepresented group in the county. 
Council members contacted Wednesday said they will look for a
replacement who shares Page's values.
 The environment, commitment to mediation, housing, and human
needs those are things Homer is very strong on,  Havlick said.  
It will probably be somebody relatively moderate,  Appelbaum
said.  That's fair. Homer was fairly good on the environment and
strong on human services. He was not an anti-growther but a
strong believer in the Comprehensive Plan. 
Page will resign at the end of the council's final meeting of the
year on December 20. The council will have 30 days to appoint a
replacement to fill his term, which expires in November, 1989....
There was one council member who wasn't surprised by Page's
victory Page.   I guess I did expect to win,  he said.
                     RAMBLING NEAR GRAMBLING
                          by David Hyde
 As  Monitor  readers know, David Hyde is the President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Oregon. He gets around and
enjoys himself wherever he is, but especially when he is with
Federationists.  This article is reprinted from the Fall, 1988, 
Oregon Outlook,  the  newsletter of the NFB of Oregon. 

There are things which those of you who have not been in
Louisiana
in August should know. During the day, the temperature and the
humidity vie for supremacy and the humidity generally wins;
Bourbon St. in New Orleans really is all that it is cracked up to
be; places like Patrick O'Bryan's really do exist, and hurricane
glasses do hold 32 ounces of refreshment. Hospitality is great,
Cajun food is wonderful, and the Republicans are not the only
ones who enjoyed Louisiana last summer.
I had the opportunity to attend the convention of a fraternal
organization there in August and, while in the neighborhood,
decided to spend several days at the Louisiana Center for the
Blind in Ruston, which is at the northern end of the state near
the Texas/Arkansas border. It is
a medium- small town and is the nearest neighbor to Grambling
University of football fame.
The Center for the Blind is located in downtown Ruston and is
comparatively small considering the amount of work that is done
there. The two-bedroom student apartments are located eight
blocks away from the center and are equipped, I am delighted to
say, with air conditioners.
I arrived in town on a Thursday evening, dropped off my bags, and
was whisked away to a meeting. Our topic for the evening, to my
delight, was a story by John Steinbeck. We read it and spent some
time discussing the characters' motivations, the theme, and the
tone of the work.  It reminded me of my college days, and, for
that matter, so did the students. Many were college-bound, either
returning to school or preparing to attend for the first time.
Most had been to the National Convention in Chicago, and all of
them made me feel welcome.
Friday's classes started at 8:00 a.m. Students (all but those who
were just beginning their stay at the center) walked there from
the apartment building. There are many routes from which to
choose, and
I never took the same one twice. They involve intersections with
traffic lights, intersections which should have traffic lights,
railroad crossings, and sidewalks which would do credit to a
roller coaster. The students help each other when asked and give
advice to newcomers. Since Ruston has no public transportation,
work with buses must be done in Monroe, which is about a
half-hour away. Shopping malls can also be found in Monroe. These
provide excellent travel routes. The outing begins as a group
excursion, and then each student or pair of students is given an
individual assignment.
Because the Louisiana Center is privately operated, sleep-shade
training is available and, in fact, mandatory. Using sleep shades
is not limited to private orientation centers, but it is not
available or even allowed in many rehabilitation facilities.
Students here learn cane travel, cooking, Braille, and other
skills under shades. At the Louisiana Center for the Blind, sleep
shades are worn by those students who possess any amount of
vision. The purpose of the shades is not to prepare students for
eventual total blindness, which may or may not occur, but to
enable them to place all of their trust in the alternative
techniques they are learning. When this trust is developed, a
student is able to function independently, using that combination
of visual
methods and blind techniques which gives him or her the greatest
efficiency.  Even after moving to a new house or losing more
vision, he or she will be able to use the skills learned in
training to continue living a successful, independent life. Use
of sleepshades is also available
at orientation centers in Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, and
Minnesota.   While learning mobility, I find that I function
better under shades in many situations than I ever did when using
my vision,  remarked one student.  It makes my night travel much
easier. I don't have to wait for my eyes to adjust to changes in
light, and my cane finds obstacles such as steps or the lake! 
All students learn Braille. They start with the slate and stylus
and Grade 1, working their way up to Grades 2 and 3. Grade 2
Braille, the most commonly used in books, enables students to
read the Braille materials available at the Center. Students also
use Braille for their grocery lists, recipes, and class notes.
They learn to cook both at the Center and in their apartments.
The facility has no central kitchen or dining room for serving
students.  As a result, cooking becomes a real survival skill.
The students share ideas, recipes, shopping chores, and dinners.
Lunch at the Center for those who have cooking class in the
morning is  a gastronomically profound experience. The morning's
classes have been hard at work, and samples are freely available.
During the last few weeks at the Center, students must prepare
two meals, one for four people, and the other for forty. I was
privileged to attend one of the former, prepared by a teacher
from Monroe. I heartily recommend her stuffed rigatoni, and I
hope her recipes will appear in future issues of the  Braille
Monitor . By the time students leave the Center, cooking has
become fairly easy. After all, if you can cook for forty people
and satisfy them, dinner for two is a breeze.
Both planned and spontaneous activities are always available.
While there, I enjoyed a roller-skating party organized by the
Center and took a trip to the horse races in Shreveport with a
number of students and staff. All are encouraged to find their
own recreational activities, and many do.
There is much camaraderie between the students and staff of the
Louisiana Center for the Blind. Barriers are quickly broken down,
and often it is hard to tell who is who. Staff do not work an
eight-hour day, and neither do students. Visiting one another's
homes, dinners in common, impromptu activities, and general
friendship are the rule.
Twice a week all students attend seminars, where many topics are
discussed.  Participation in the seminars is general and
enthusiastic.
Finally I would like to say a word about the townspeople of
Ruston, who also play an important part in the students' lives
while they are at the Center. I think of Sarah, who opened up her
restaurant
to teach jam and jelly making to the students, or the Mayor of
Ruston, who appeared in over 100 degree heat at the
ground-breaking ceremonies for the new student recreation center.
And there are the citizens of Ruston, who have been willing to
learn that blindness is not a big deal and that blind people
(whether students, staff, or visitors from the far Northwest) are
just people nothing more, nothing less. Like everything else, it
comes down to attitudes. The Center teaches that blind people can
and do succeed in life. Ruston has begun to believe in this
truth, and the students themselves are living proof of it.
                       NFB'S FORTY-NINERS
                         by Steve Benson
 As Federationists know, Steve Benson is a member of the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind and President
of the NFB of Illinois. He and the entire Illinois affiliate
worked with zeal and efficiency to host our 1988 national
convention. 

In late 1987 and early 1988, I contributed articles to  The
Braille Monitor  promoting our forty-eighth annual national
convention, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. I tried
to convey the ambiance of the headquarters hotel and its
restaurants, lounges, and public areas. I also attempted to
portray the atmosphere and spirit of Chicago vividly enough to
persuade Federationists and friends to attend the largest
gathering of blind people in history. Since I had made certain
predictions regarding attendance and registration, I approached
my writing with commitment and enthusiasm. It was great fun, made
more so by the tremendous turn-out.
On three previous occasions I had helped host national
conventions.  Hosting the 1988 convention was quite different
from the others. This was my eighteenth national convention.
There are common themes connecting and running through all of
them. Everything that the National Federation of the Blind is can
be found at the annual convention: hard work, commitment,
outstanding leadership, unity, determination, basic belief in the
competence of blind people, boundless enthusiasm, and love.
The National Federation of the Blind convention is a unique and
inspiring event. Its impact on the lives of those who attend,
especially for
the first time, is profound. All blind people (members and
non-members, friends or foes) benefit substantially and palpably
from what occurs.
All of that having been said, I can add one more very important
characteristic; the National Federation of the Blind convention
is fun.
Now that NFB of Illinois members have fully recovered from the
responsibility of hosting, the affiliate looks forward to 1989.
It would be so easy for us to sit back, relax, and watch the
Colorado affiliate perform what we know will be a superb
performance, but that won't work. Now that we know firsthand what
is involved in hosting a convention of the size and complexity of
ours, we plan to take an active part in making the 1989
convention the largest, most successful gathering
of blind people in history. Most Illinoisians have never been to
Denver.  We look forward to it with eager anticipation, and we
plan to move a large contingent west for our forty-ninth annual
convention.
The big difference between the forty-niners of the National
Federation of the Blind (as I have already said, this will be our
forty-ninth convention) and the forty- niners of the last century
in California is that we know we will strike it rich in Colorado.
If you hope to get a room in Denver in early July, you'd better
act today. I look forward to meeting all of you. I'm going to be
counting noses to see if any other affiliate can top Illinois'
attendance record of 1988.  See you in the Mile-High City.
              COMMENTS ON CERTIFICATION IN BRAILLE
                       by Claudell Stocker
 Claudell Stocker is the capable Head of the Braille Development
Section of the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress.  She
recognizes the value of Braille and is working to encourage
teachers to become certified in Braille through the Library of
Congress program.  Here is what she says about it: 

It is encouraging to note that the National Library Service for
the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (LC) is
receiving inquiries from two important potential sources for
Braille transcribers.  The Braille Development Section is
receiving requests from teachers of visually impaired and blind
students who wish to enroll in the LC literary Braille course,
and LC-certified teachers employed in graduate schools are
inquiring about certifying their student-teachers before
graduation.
This interest in LC certification has positive aspects for
teachers, future teachers, and students.  Teachers and future
teachers can look
forward to more thorough knowledge of the subject they are
teaching.  Certification will provide more credibility and
prestige to the teacher's credentials.  Students and parents will
feel they are in more competent hands with the knowledge the
teacher is LC-certified in literary Braille.  The special
education teacher will have the convenience of being able quickly
and accurately to transcribe class lessons, workbooks, and other
materials for the students, instead of having to do without or
send lessons to Braille groups who are already overworked trying
to keep up with textbook transcribing demands.  However, the
greatest benefit will be for young blind students and adults who
have recently lost their vision.  There is a direct correlation
between the proficiency of the teacher and the predictability of
a student's success.  In this case, it can make the difference as
to whether or not the blind student develops basic literacy
skills or remains in a veil of semi-illiteracy. 
 
OF AGENCIES AND FOOTSTOOLS
                      by W. Harold Bleakley
 As  Monitor  readers know, Harold Bleakley is the principal
owner of AIDS Unlimited, which provides a wide variety of
products to the blind. He is also a member of the Baltimore
Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. 
                                              Baltimore, Maryland
                                                November 25, 1988

Dear Dr. Jernigan:
Of all the issues of the  Braille Monitor  containing important
material, I believe that November 1988 has to be at or near the
top.  Of necessity, most of us spend the greater part of our time
with the
needs of the day. Consequently, it does our mind and spirit good
periodically to get out of the muck and mire of daily routine and
take the long view.  Of course, if we become too much absorbed in
the long view, we may get awfully hungry or trip over the
footstool right in front of us.  At the same time, life becomes
pretty dreary if all we think
about are footstools and lunch.  While the whole issue was
thought-provoking, one or two of the articles struck me the most.
One of the major subjects in the issue was Braille.  When I went
to the Pittsburgh School for the Blind at the age of 12, they
started immediately to teach me Braille.  I think I had never
heard the term before.  But my teacher explained that  Braille is
the way blind people read and write.  The teacher of Braille was
blind and had very high standards and a most positive attitude. 
All the other kids were reading and writing Braille.  I learned
it and used it, too.  That was when I was 12 years old, but it's
the same now.  If I lost it, I would feel the same as an
illiterate seeing person must feel.
I have never given very much thought to what is wrong with
Braille.  It does what I want it to do.  It is clear when I read
and clear when
I write. There are always fine points that a specialist in any
discipline can point out as needing improvement.  However,
Braille works for me, and it works for many other people that I
know who use it.  As far as I'm concerned, why try to fix it?  
It ain't broke.  Then there was the report of that meeting in
Canada.  There were so many top brass people there that, if it
had been a military meeting, they would have needed a hand-truck
to bring in the medals.  I am not one who says,  Get rid of all
the agencies.  I believe there are certain types of agencies
which, when operating in a field
of needed services and staffed and managed by persons with sound
attitudes, can be extremely helpful to many blind persons.  It
seems to me that the objective should not be to knock down the
agencies, but rather, as you have said so often, to change the
way many of the agencies deal with the problems of blindness and
blind people.
In reading the report of the meeting in Canada, my mind scanned
the history of my own experiences.  In the late 1930's, when I
was almost through high school, the major concern of most of my
colleagues was whether there would be a spot open for them in the
Pittsburgh Association
for the Blind sheltered workshop when they graduated.  The word 
consumer  was not in use. We heard the term  civil defense,  but
not
 civil rights.  The National Federation of the Blind had not been
formed.  As far as I knew, we as blind people were not expected
to go much of anywhere.  We were just to be kept safe and
protected.  We were told what to do, and we accepted it, because,
after all, the professionals in the Association for the Blind
knew much more than we did.
Then over the years, things began to happen.  Black people began
to raise a fuss; more blind people were employed; more blind
people went to college; the NFB was founded.   Civil rights  took
the
place of  civil defense.  Then came the concept of  input, 
borrowed from the computer field.  I believe that, in some
quarters, the  advisory committee  was conceived as a method of
fending off participation in important, real-world matters by
those persons whom the agency was set up to help.  The  advisory
committee  provided  input  for those who came to be called 
consumers.  Of course, the social planners had to balance things
off, so sometime before 1969, they invented the term  provider. 
Now, on the
one hand, we had the  consumer  and on the other the  provider. 
While in many places, this was a very sincere effort to change
things, unfortunately, all too often, it has been an attempt
merely to systematize the charade.
A typical example of the  systematized charade  occurred a number
of years ago when I was president of the Philadelphia Center for
the Blind, a quite substantial organization.  I was invited to
become a member of the  Governor's Committee on Relationships
Among Consumers, Private Agencies Serving the Blind, and Public
Agencies Serving the Blind.  The published purpose of the
committee (called the  mission ) was to improve relations. We had
a number of meetings, all of which were in Harrisburg,
necessitating my absence from the office for a full day for each
meeting.  Many fairyland ideas and high thoughts were expressed. 
The air in the meeting room was as thick with platitudes as it
was with cigarette smoke.  Members
of the committee were urged to refrain from specifics.  It would 
tend to divert the committee from its goals,  the chairman said. 
At the end a report-writing sub-committee was appointed.  The
report was written and approved by the majority of the committee. 
It then went to the governor's office where it died a quiet death
and was buried beside hundreds of other advisory committee
reports.  However, the  grass roots  had made their  input.  In
fact, the  grass roots  had gone through the ritual dance that is
all too fashionable.
The report in the November issue made me take the long view
instead of tripping over such footstools as the  governor's
committee  experience.  I thought about the fact that, without
the success of
the process going on in the Canadian meeting, there are only two
alternatives.  One is continued conflict, which diverts the
energy of both parties from the solution of the problems
confronting both blind persons and the agencies.  The other
alternative is for blind persons to become as docile as my
colleagues and I were when I was in high school at the Pittsburgh
School for the Blind.  In the interest of focusing twice the
energy on the solution of the other problems that confront us, I
devoutly hope that the Canada meeting marks the beginning of
the end of the punishing struggles I have seen down through the
years.  It goes without saying that, never again, will blind
persons return to the hopelessness of the days before 1940.  It
is a different world.  A number of the other articles in the
November, 1988, issue of the  Monitor  started me thinking, but I
must not get too absorbed in the long view. There might be a
footstool in front of me that I need to avoid.

                                                 Cordially yours,
                                                     Hal Bleakley
                      AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT
                      State of Connecticut
                        By His Excellency
                  WILLIAM A. O'NEILL, Governor
                      An Official Statement
@HALFLINE =
Through the years many organizations have developed programs to
promote self-confidence and pride among blind persons. The
National Federation of the Blind is one of these excellent
groups.
Founded in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind strives for
equality, security, and opportunity for all blind citizens in the
United States, and now has a membership of more than 50,000
individuals,  the blind speaking for themselves. 
Reorganized in our state in 1971, the National Federation of the
Blind
of Connecticut is committed to these concerns, offering hope and
encouragement to individuals adjusting to blindness and restoring
their self-confidence.  In the belief that the real handicap is
not the loss of eyesight but misconceptions and misinformation
about blindness, members of the Federation are changing that
perception via television, radio, newspaper, public speaking, and
distribution of source materials to schools, senior centers, and
Connecticut libraries.
To foster independence, the Federation helps blind men and women
obtain employment through its Job Opportunities for the Blind
(JOB) program.
The NFB of Connecticut acts as an advocate for equal rights and
non-discrimination under Connecticut law, and worked for the
successful passage of the
White Cane Civil Rights Act of 1973. Each year Connecticut
residents observe White Cane Safety Day in October to acknowledge
the accomplishments of blind persons and to increase public
awareness of the significance of the white cane and guide dog as
symbols of independence.
The NFB of Connecticut is holding its annual convention in New
Haven this year. Joyce Scanlan, President of the Minnesota
affiliate and board member of the NFB, will be the keynote
convention speaker.  Therefore, to welcome Joyce Scanlan, in
tribute to the dedicated members of the Federation, and in
appreciation of their vital work in our state, I am pleased to
designate October, 1988, as National Federation of the Blind
Month in Connecticut.

                                               William A. O'Neill
                                                         GOVERNOR
                          PROCLAMATION
 On the weekend of November 11-13, 1988, the NFB of Pennsylvania
held its convention in the city of York. The York Chapter, which
was only recently formed, is headed by Margaret Haas, who is both
personable and energetic. 
 In preparation for the state convention Ms. Haas talked to city
and and county officials concerning appropriate public
recognition.
As a result, the County Commissioners declared November, 1988, 
National Federation of the Blind Month.  The Mayor of York
proclaimed November 7-13  Blindness Awareness Week,  and the
proclamation which he issued showed that the York Chapter had
done its work well. Many older chapters would do well to study
the model and copy the example.  Here is the Mayor's
proclamation: 

                          Proclamation

Blindness strikes without prejudice. It is a condition that
strikes fear in many, misunderstanding in most. Many sighted
people would rather be dead than blind. It is this fear and
misunderstanding that cause some newly blinded to be unable to
cope with it. It is our hope that through  Blindness Awareness
Week  the community might better understand the nature and needs
of blindness.
Blindness, although a nuisance, is not an insurmountable
obstacle.  People adapt to their environment. With today's
technology, much of what a sighted person can do a blind person
can do as well. As resources for the blind increase, so do
opportunities. There are many blind individuals working in our
society today, including nuclear physicists, lawyers, and systems
analysts. As the public is educated about the abilities of the
blind to work and participate in the growth of our society, many
of the stereotypes of blindness are falling away.
The purpose of  Blindness Awareness Week  is to help alleviate
the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist in
relation to blindness.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, William J. Althaus, Mayor of the City of York,
Pennsylvania, do hereby proclaim the week of November 7 - 13,
1988, as

                    Blindness Awareness Week

in the City of York and urge all citizens to educate themselves
on the problems and concerns facing blind individuals in today's
society.

Given under my hand and the seal of the City of York this first
day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred
and Eighty-Eight.

                                        William J. Althaus, MAYOR

                OH, LORD, IT'S HARD TO BE HUMBLE

From the Editor: I am sure you remember the song, so I won't
waste your time repeating it. We try not to let mistakes get by
us in the  Monitor , but now and then we mange up. In the
January, 1989, issue (thank goodness, it only occurred in the
print edition and not in the Braille or recorded versions) we
printed an article entitled  Singing Freedom's Song.  In that
article on page 32 (remember this is the print edition) a
paragraph reads:

 The point of view is that of the workshop manager, and the tune
belongs to  Home, Home on the Range.  The final verse is the
cleverest, but to understand it the closure with successful
employment.  Here is how it goes. 

That is what we said, and when you get right down to it, it
doesn't make much sense. Here is how it should have read:

 The point of view is that of the workshop manager, and the tune
belongs to  Home, Home on the Range.  The final verse is the
cleverest, but to understand it the listener must know that the
McDonald's Corporation conducts a hire-the-handicapped program
called McJobs.  One must also remember that in rehabilitation
jargon, a 26 is a case closure with successful employment. Here
is how it goes. 

Without going into too many technicalities, let me say that we
have a computer program which is used for our final typesetting
in print, and this is where the goof-up occurred. But just to
show that the computer is not the only one that can make
mistakes, consider another one in the January, 1989, issue. On
page 70 in the recipe for  Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole  there
is a passage which says:  In one stick (one cup) butter saut
until tender.  It should have said:  In one stick (1/2 cup)
butter saut  until tender.  Two in one issue. Ah, well, as we
earlier opined, it's hard to be humble.

                          R E C I P E S

                          LAMB AND RICE
                        by Cynthia Handel

 Cynthia (Cindy) Handel is one of the leaders of the National
Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania. Here is a recipe she
recently sent, along with the following note: 

 This recipe for preparing lamb and rice is a Greek recipe. My
grandmother prepared it this way and taught my mother, who taught
me. I think it's very good, and I never use mint jelly! 
Cut all of the fat off of a leg of lamb. Season it with salt,
pepper, and oregano. Brown in a covered pan (I use an electric
frying pan),
and be sure that there is always a little water in the pan so it
doesn't stick. Turn the lamb frequently, and brown about half an
hour. Place in a roasting pan with about one cup of water. Cover
and roast slowly.  For a six- to seven-pound leg of lamb, I cook
it at 275 degrees for about three hours. Don't overcook so the
lamb gets dry.
Remove the cooked lamb from the pan, and keep it warm. To the
liquid in the pan add one cup of water and two cups of converted
rice and a little lemon juice about a teaspoon. Cover tightly and
turn temperature up to 350 degrees for one-half hour.
For Christmas dinner my mother serves this with tossed salad,
feta cheese, and Greek olives.

@BREAK =
                       CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
                        by Barbara Pierce

 The  Monitor's  Associate Editor does more than write. She also
cooks. 

Place 1/4 cup heavy cream in a heavy saucepan.  Reduce it to 2
tablespoons by simmering gently on medium heat.  Then add 2
tablespoons Grand Marnier or Chambord.  Then add 6 ounces of
German sweet chocolate and then whisk in 1/4 cup unsalted butter. 
As soon as mixture is melted and smooth, pour it into a shallow
bowl and allow it to set (approximately 2 hours).   Scoop the
mixture by teaspoonfuls and roll into balls with the hand.  Roll
in cocoa (if desired) and chill or freeze in tightly covered
container.  Makes approximately 1 1/2 dozen.

                        HOME-MIXED CURRY
                       by Patricia Woelfer

 Miss Woelfer is a staff member at the National Center for the
Blind. She handles mail, supervises the switchboard, and
otherwise assists President Maurer. She also does gourmet
cooking. 

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
@HALFLINE =
Method: Simply spoon each of the spices into a spice jar and
shake
well to mix.

                      HOLIDAY RAISIN BREAD
                        by Ramona Walhof

 Ramona Walhof is President of the National Federation of the
Blind
of Idaho and a member of the Board of Directors of the National
Federation of the Blind. She is also a first-rate cook. 

Dissolve two tablespoons yeast in 2 cups warm water. Add 1/3 cup
oil,
1/3 cup honey (or 1/2 cup sugar), 2 more cups warm water, 4 cups
wholewheat flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.
Mix well.  Now add 2 more cups warm water, about 6 more cups
wholewheat flour, 2 cups English walnuts in chunks, and 2 cups
raisins. Knead well.  Dough should be soft and elastic.
Oil outside of dough completely and let stand until double in
size.  Push down and shape into two large loaves or more smaller
ones. Grease loaf pans and place dough in them. Oil top of
loaves. Let rise until double in size.
Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Bread is done when sounds hollow
when tapped on top. Slice while hot if desired or slice and toast
for breakfast.  @TITLE =
**Area Code Handbook:
We are informed that AT&T and the National Braille Press have
joined forces to produce two items: The  Area Code Handbook  and
the  AT&T Consumer Resource Guide . The  Area Code Handbook 
contains the most recent area codes, listed by city and state. 
The AT&T Consumer Resource Guide contains useful tips, including
the
best times to call at the lowest rates; where to call for phone
repairs; and other services offered by AT&T.  Both of these items
are available free of charge from the National Braille Press, 88
St. Stephen Street, Boston, MA  02115, telephone (617) 266- 6160.

**Notice from Committee on Concerns on the Deaf-Blind:  Dear
Colleagues:  For the past two years the Committee on Concerns on
the Deaf-Blind has sent to affiliate presidents letters
requesting that each of you appoint someone within your state to
coordinate the work of finding deaf-blind people, interesting
them in the National Federation of the Blind, and recruiting
people to act as interpreters.  Some of you have done this, and
to you we say thanks.  To those who have not done this, we ask
that you find someone within your state to do
this because we feel that it would strengthen the movement as a
whole.  Please let me know the names and addresses of those that
you appoint, and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to
contact me (Braille letters preferred): Boyd C. Wolfe, Chairman,
National Federation of the Blind Committee on Concerns on the
Deaf-Blind, 1314 N. 1st Street, Apartment 214, Phoenix, AZ 
85004.

**WordPerfect:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  
WordPerfect product documentation is now available on IBM PC
computer disk.  WordCruncher, a text retrieval program, makes it
quick and easy to look up either specific or general information. 
Jump to any chapter, subheading or page in the book.  Look up all
references to any word.  Manuals
are available for WordPerfect 4.2, WordPerfect 5.0, WordPerfect
Library, WordPerfect Executive, DataPerfect, PlanPerfect.  The
cost is $40.  Shipping, cassette instructions, and
Braille-marking on both 5.25 and 3.5 inch disks are included in
the price.  Cassette and large print catalogues
are available.  Send check or money order or requests for more
information to:  Grassroots Computing, P.O. Box 460, Berkeley, CA 
94701, (415) 644-1855. 

**Appointed:
Barbara Pierce, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of Ohio and Associate Editor of  The Braille Monitor , has just
been named to a three-year term on the Advisory Committee of the
Ohio Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired. She joins
Barbara Fohl, a leader in the Ohio affiliate, on this committee.

**Dies:
We have just learned about the death after a long illness of John
Knall, for many years one of the leaders in the National
Federation of the Blind of Ohio. John's commitment to the
Federation and to all that it stands for was rock-solid. For many
years his memory was the final arbiter in all questions of
Federation history in Ohio. He served as President of the Mutual
Federation of the Blind for many years.  At the state level he
did an admirable job both as Second Vice President and as
Secretary.  His organizational ability was legendary. His loyal
and loving wife Mickey, the Cleveland chapter, the Ohio
affiliate, and all of us are diminished by John's passing.

**For Sale:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: Modified
monaural record player, capable of playing Library of
Congress-produced recordings; includes variable speed and
superior sound quality, $110. In any format contact: Darryl
Roberts, Post Office Box 665, Macomb, Illinois 61455.

**Information Wanted:
Marion Gwizdala, 4812-A Hidden River Court, Temple Terrace,
Florida 33617, writes:  Our state affiliate is preparing to
secure legislation to provide criminal penalties in cases where a
guide dog is attacked by a person or an animal under the control
of a person. Please place an announcement in the  Monitor  asking
people from other states to tell us if they have statutes of this
type. 

**For Diabetics:
Karen Mayry, President of the Diabetics Division of the National
Federation of the Blind, says:  The Diabetics Division has
compiled a list of aids and appliances for independent living by
blind diabetics.  The list is available in print and Braille
($2.00) and is updated approximately twice a year. In addition,
we now have the A.D.A. (American Diabetes Association)  Food
Exchange List for Meal Planning 
available for $15.00. Many individuals, as well as hospitals and
rehabilitation services, have ordered them.  These items may be
ordered from
the National Office of the Federation or by writing: Diabetics
Division, National Federation of the Blind, 919 Main Street Suite
15, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701.
**Elected:
Mark Harris writes: At its November, 1988,  meeting the St. Louis
Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
elected officers for 1989: President, Mark Harris; Vice
President, Susan Ford; Recording Secretary, Sue Null;
Corresponding Secretary, Janet Dew; Treasurer, Eunice Johnson;
and At-Large Board Member, Mark Dew.

**Letter to a Departed Friend:
From the Editor: Mary Main, one of the leaders of the National
Federation of the Blind of Connecticut, is about the finest
person I know. Her letter to her departed friend, Howard May,
reached me too late for inclusion in the January, 1989,  Monitor
, but she asked if I would print it  so, of course, I am doing
it. It is as timely now as it was a month earlier when she wrote
it and besides, Mary is Mary. Here is her letter:

 Dear Howard: 
 Some twelve years or more ago you called me on the telephone and
asked me if I would like to join the National Federation of the
Blind.  Had your voice been less warm and friendly you might
never have heard from me again; for I am no joiner, and the last
thing I thought I wanted was the companionship of others who are
blind. As it was, I raised every objection I could think of. How
could I get to Danbury, where the nearest meetings were held? You
told me patiently that there was a couple called Trueheart in
Stamford who would be glad to bring me with them to the meetings
and added that you were sure I would like them. I did. They
became close friends of mine. Before long I became addicted to
the NFB, my reservations worn down by the friendliness of the
Truehearts and others in the Danbury Chapter. It was a warmth and
friendliness which has pervaded our Connecticut affiliate and
which emanated from you, and which you have left to us as our
inheritance.   I wonder if you ever realized how much that
long-ago telephone call meant to me, how much interest and
activity and friendship it brought to a life which might well
have become static at that time?  I think of the many others who
must have been warmed by your voice.  You have left us, dear
friend, but you are not gone. You will live in our hearts for
many years. 

                                                      With love, 
                                                            Mary 

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  For
sale:  Classic VersaBraille with overlays and manuals, $500.
Visualtek Voyager, one year old, $900. Contact: Mike Reagan, Box
30807, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503. 

**Gospel Extravaganza:
Ernest Robbins, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of Georgia, and Tyrone Palmer, Secretary of the Chatham County
Chapter, write:
The National Federation of the Blind of Chatham County held its
gospel musical extravaganza on Sunday, November 20, 1988, at the
Bethlehem Baptist Church. The theme,  We Won't Give Up,  was very
appropriate for this particular occasion. Because not only did we
all get to hear some good gospel music, but the public got the
opportunity to see for themselves just how capable and productive
the members of the Federation are. Also during our gospel musical
extravaganza we crowned the winners of our 1988-89 Mr. and Miss
National Federation of the Blind of Chatham County Pageant. The
two runners-up were Mrs. Maggie Smart and Mr. Isaac Heyward. The
winners were Miss Denise Howard (who is only fourteen years old
and is a bright high school student) and
Mr. Clarence M. Green. We are proclaiming our Federation message
throughout the city of Savannah, which is:  It is respectable to
be blind. 

**Stainsbee:
Harold Carter, 111 West State #401, Rockford, Illinois 61101,
says that he would like to be contacted by anyone who has or
knows where
to get a Stainsbee Interpoint Writer. He says that he is not
interested in the interline writer but only the interpoint.

**Worcester:
We recently learned from Jack Carlo of the celebration last April
of the fortieth anniversary of the Worcester Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts. Mr. Carlo says
that over
a hundred people were present, including NFB of Massachusetts
President Priscilla Ferris and other leaders of the affiliate.
Some of those
in attendance have been active in the affairs of the Worcester
Chapter during the entire forty years of its existence.
Congratulations to the Worcester Chapter and thanks to Jack Carlo
for telling us of the celebration.

**Elected:
Tom Anderson writes: The National Federation of the Blind of
Mahoning Valley (which is located in Youngstown, Ohio) met on
Sunday, November 27, 1988, and held elections for 1989, with the
following results:  President, Louise Anderson; Vice President,
Rose Ann Kocher; Secretary, Theresa  Dolly  Andervich; Treasurer,
Thomas Anderson; Board of Directors (three-year term), Mary Lou
Cahill; Board of Directors (two-year term), Katherine Goldman;
and Board of Directors (one-year term), Helen Tabak.

**Shareware:
Charles Hallenbeck, one of the leaders of the NFB of Kansas,
writes as follows: This announcement from KANSYS, Inc., 1016
Ohio, Lawrence, Kansas 66044 - Shareware for your IBM compatible
computer. Try our read-only editor  RALPH The Reader  for reading
your WordPerfect, WordStar, or clear text file a screen at a
time, searching forward
or backward for desired information, or jumping directly to a
specific point. Maximum file size is limited only by your
computer's memory.  RALPH was downloaded by more than 200 persons
within the first two weeks of its availability on the boards. Get
your copy soon. Share it with your friends. Send us $10 if you
like it.

**Which Did He Mean:
From the Editor: Some do it for cosmetic reasons; some because of
sensitivity to light; and some (harking back to other days)
because they think it makes them look less conspicuous, less
blind, more in keeping with what is expected of them. Some don't
do it because they have no cosmetic problem and would find it an
inconvenience.  Some don't do it because they feel enough inner
security to regard it as a minor matter, bordering on the
stereotype. And some don't
do it for just plain cussedness, the determination to wear their
blindness like a badge and be damned to who doesn't like it.
Recently I received the following note. Such things spice up the
day. Here is what it said:
 Mr. Gernagan, please take this as constructive criticism, and
realize it is coming from a person who may some day be blind
also.  Blindness as a result of diabetes runs in my family.
Please suggest
dark glasses (as Stevie Wonder wears) for the blind out of
consideration for the seeing. Many blind have very offensive
looking eyes, empty sockets, eyes that wander, etc. This makes
for a distraction, discomfort, and may be a cause for ill
treatment. Just as we try to cover up scars/warts, replace
missing teeth, use prosthesis, etc., etc. (if at all possible) to
look more attractive why not do so? Please consider and pass on
to your organization. 

**The Duck:
We are informed by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Beach of the Vanderburg
Chapter of the NFB of Indiana as follows: The Duck went into the
drug store and bought a chapstick but he didn't pay for it. They
put it on his bill.

**Serendipity:
There are many things which come as extra benefits from being a
member of the National Federation of the Blind. For one thing,
your sighted family members tend to get more or less educated
about blindness.
For another they often (wherever they are in the country or the
world) contribute to the movement. The Pinder family is a case in
point.
Last year Peggy's sister Martha was living in Illinois. Here (as
reported in the August, 1988,  Month's News , the publication of
the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois) is what Steve
Benson had to say:  Another Tribute: Last fall (1987) the NFB of
Illinois became acquainted with a new secretary to the president.
Martha Pinder has been an excellent worker. Not only has she
provided superior secretarial services to
the president. She has done an outstanding job recording  The
Month's News . Her bright, clear reading style has brought verve
to the newsletter that will be missed. Martha Pinder is leaving
Illinois.  She will be entering a graduate program at Baylor
University in Waco, Texas, this fall. Martha, thank you for
spending some time with the Illinois affiliate, and thank you for
your hard work in the president's office. We wish you all the
best at school and in your chosen career.

**Elected:
Andy Rood writes: On Saturday, November 19, 1988, the
Jacksonville Chapter, NFB of Florida, held its election of
officers. Elected were:  Rhonda Moody, President; Bonnie Thrift,
Vice President; Dale Mahone, Recording Secretary; Andy Rood,
Corresponding Secretary; and Jim Bowen, Treasurer.
