                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                         September, 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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                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
                         SEPTEMBER 1989

WHO ARE THE BLIND WHO LEAD THE BLIND

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER DIABETES HORMONE
  by Malcolm Ritter, A.P.

STUDENTS SEEK ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT BLINDNESS
by Randy Black

BACK TO THE REAL POTATO
  by Lauren L. Eckery

GROWING UP BLIND
  by Jan Bailey

HATS OFF TO MARY BRUNOLI

FEDERATIONIST RETIRES AFTER FIFTY YEARS ON THE JOB
by Donald C. Capps

WHAT THE NFB MEANS
  by Seville Allen

MY JOURNEY INTO BLINDNESS
  by Claire McCuller

A COMPLIMENT AND A CHALLENGE
  by David A. Ticchi

IS IT A FISH OR A FISHING POLE?
  by Sheena Sethi

CONUNDRUM

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES

Copyright National Federation of the Blind, Inc., 1989

                        WHO ARE THE BLIND 
WHO LEAD THE BLIND 

                          INTRODUCTION

The National Federation of the Blind has become by far the most
significant force in the affairs of the blind today, and its
actions have had
an impact on many other groups and programs. The Federation's
President, Marc Maurer, radiates confidence and persuasiveness.
He says,  If I can find twenty people who care about a thing,
then we can get it
done. And if there are two hundred, two thousand, or twenty
thousand well, that's even better.  The National Federation of
the Blind is a civil rights movement with all that the term
implies.
President Maurer says,  You can't expect to obtain freedom by
having somebody else hand it to you. You have to do the job
yourself.  The French could not have won the American Revolution
for us. That would merely have shifted the governing authority
from one colonial power to another. So, too, we the blind are the
only ones who can win freedom for the blind, which is both
frightening and reassuring.  If we don't get out and do what we
must, there is no one to blame but ourselves. We have control of
the essential elements. 
Although there are in the United States at the present time many
organizations and agencies  for  the blind, there is only one
National Federation of the blind. This organization was
established in 1940 when the blind of seven states Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and California
sent delegates to its first convention at Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania. Since that time progress has been rapid and steady.
The Federation is recognized by blind men and women throughout
the entire country as their primary means of joint expression;
and
today, with active affiliates in every state and the District of
Columbia, it is the primary voice of the nation's blind.
To explain this spectacular growth, three questions must be asked
and answered: (1) What are the conditions in the general
environment of the blind which have impelled them to organize?
(2) What are the purpose, the belief, the philosophy of the
National Federation of the Blind? (3) Who are its leaders, and
what are their qualifications to understand and solve the
problems of blindness? Even a brief answer to these questions is
instructive.
When the Federation came into being in 1940, the outlook for the
blind was certainly not bright. The nation's welfare system was
so discouraging to individual initiative that those who were
forced to accept public assistance had little hope of ever
achieving self-support again, and those who sought competitive
employment in regular industry or the professions found most of
the doors barred against them. The universal goodwill expressed
toward the blind was not the wholesome goodwill of respect felt
toward an equal; it was the misguided goodwill of pity felt
toward an inferior. In effect the system said to the blind,  Sit
on the sidelines of life. This game is not for you. If you have
creative talents, we are sorry, but we cannot use them. 
The Federation came into being to combat these expressions of
discrimination and to promote new ways of thought concerning
blindness, and although great progress has been made toward the
achievement of these goals, much still remains to be done.
The Federation believes that blind people are essentially normal
and that blindness in itself is not a mental or psychological
handicap.  It can be reduced to the level of a mere physical
nuisance. Legal, economic, and social discrimination based upon
the false assumption that the blind are somehow different from
the sighted must be abolished, and equality of opportunity made
available to blind people. Because of their personal experience
with blindness, the blind themselves are best qualified to lead
the way in solving their own problems,
but the general public should be asked to participate in finding
solutions.  Upon these fundamentals the National Federation of
the Blind predicates its philosophy.
As for the leadership of the organization, all of the officers
and members of the Board of Directors are blind, and all give
generously of their time and resources in promoting the work of
the Federation.  The Board consists of seventeen elected members,
five of whom are the constitutional officers of the organization.
These members of the Board of Directors represent a wide cross
section of the blind population of the United States. Their
backgrounds are different, and their experiences vary widely; but
they are drawn together by the common bond of having met
blindness individually and successfully in their own lives and by
their united desire to see other blind people have the
opportunity to do likewise. A profile of the leadership of the
organization shows why it is so effective and demonstrates the
progress made by blind people during the past half-century for in
the story of the lives of these leaders can be found the greatest
test of the Federation's philosophy. The cumulative record of
their individual achievements is an overwhelming proof, leading
to an inescapable conclusion.

                      DR. JACOBUS tenBROEK
                   Author, Jurist, Professor,
                         Founder of the
                National Federation of the Blind

The moving force in the founding of the National Federation of
the Blind (and its spiritual and intellectual father) was Jacobus
tenBroek.  Born in 1911, young tenBroek (the son of a prairie
homesteader in Canada) lost the sight of one eye as the result of
a bow-and-arrow accident at the age of seven. His remaining
eyesight deteriorated until at the age of fourteen he was totally
blind. Shortly afterward he and his family traveled to Berkeley
so that he could attend the California School for the Blind.
Within three years he was an active part of the local
organization of the blind.
By 1934 he had joined with Dr. Newel Perry and others to form the
California Council of the Blind, which later became the the
National Federation of the Blind of California. This organization
was a prototype for the nationwide federation that tenBroek would
form six years later.

Even a cursory glance at his professional career showed the
absurdity
of the idea that blindness means incapacity. The same year the
Federation was founded (1940) Jacobus tenBroek received his
doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of California,
completed a year as Brandeis Research Fellow at Harvard Law
School, and was appointed to the faculty of the University of
Chicago Law School.
Two years later he began his teaching career at the University of
California at Berkeley, moving steadily up through the ranks to
become full professor in 1953 and chairman of the department of
speech in 1955. In 1963 he accepted an appointment as professor
of political science.
During this period Professor tenBroek published several books and
more than fifty articles and monographs in the fields of welfare,
government, and law establishing a reputation as one of the
nation's foremost scholars on matters of constitutional law. One
of his books,  Prejudice, War, and the Constitution , won the
Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Political Science
Association in 1955 as the best book of the year on government
and democracy. Other books are  California's Dual System of
Family Law  (1964),  Hope Deferred:  Public Welfare and the Blind 
(1959), and  The Antislavery Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment 
(1951) revised and republished in 1965 as  Equal Under Law .
In the course of his academic career Professor tenBroek was a
fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences at Palo Alto and was twice the recipient of fellowships
from the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1947 he earned the degree of
S.J.D. from Harvard Law School. In addition, he was awarded
honorary degrees by two institutions of higher learning.
Dr. tenBroek's lifelong companion was his devoted wife Hazel.
Together they raised three children and worked inseparably on
research, writing, and academic and Federation concerns. Mrs.
tenBroek still continues as an active member of the organized
blind movement.
In 1950 Dr. tenBroek was made a member of the California State
Board of Social Welfare by Governor Earl Warren. Later
reappointed to the board three times, he was elected its chairman
in 1960 and served in that capacity until 1963.
The brilliance of Jacobus tenBroek's career led some skeptics to
suggest that his achievements were beyond the reach of what they
called the  ordinary blind person.  What tenBroek recognized in
himself was not that he was exceptional, but that he was normal
that his blindness had nothing to do with whether he could be a
successful husband and father, do scholarly research, write a
book, make a speech, guide students engaged in social action
movements and causes, or otherwise lead a productive life.
In any case, the skeptics' theory has been refuted by the success
of the thousands of blind men and women who have put this
philosophy of normality to work in their own lives during the
past fifty years.

Jacobus tenBroek died of cancer at the age of fifty-six in 1968.
His successor, Kenneth Jernigan, in a memorial address, said
truly of
him:  The relationship of this man to the organized blind
movement, which he brought into being in the United States and
around the world, was such that it would be equally accurate to
say that the man was the embodiment of the movement or that the
movement was the expression of the man.
 For tens of thousands of blind Americans over more than a
quarter of a century, he was leader, mentor, spokesman, and
philosopher. He gave to the organized blind movement the force of
his intellect and
the shape of his dreams. He made it the symbol of a cause barely
imagined before his coming: the cause of self-expression,
self-direction, and self- sufficiency on the part of blind
people. Step by step, year by year, action by action, he made
that cause succeed. 

                        KENNETH JERNIGAN
                 Teacher, Writer, Administrator

Kenneth Jernigan has been a leader in the National Federation of
the Blind for more than thirty-five years. He was President (with
one brief interruption) from 1968 until July of 1986. Although
Jernigan is no longer President of the Federation, he continues
to be one of its principal leaders. He works closely with the
President, and he continues to be loved and respected by tens of
thousands members and non-members of the Federation, both blind
and sighted.
Born in 1926, Kenneth Jernigan grew up on a farm in central
Tennessee.  He received his elementary and secondary education at
the school for the blind in Nashville. After high school Jernigan
managed a furniture shop in Beech Grove, Tennessee, making all
furniture and operating the business.
In the fall of 1945 Jernigan matriculated at Tennessee
Technological University in Cookeville. Active in campus affairs
from the outset, he was soon elected to office in his class and
to important positions in other student organizations. Jernigan
graduated with honors in
1948 with a B.S. degree in Social Science. In 1949 he received a
master's degree in English from Peabody College in Nashville,
where he subsequently completed additional graduate study. While
at Peabody he was a staff writer for the school newspaper,
co-founder of an independent literary magazine, and a member of
the Writers Club. In 1949 he received the Captain Charles W.
Browne Award, at that time presented annually by the American
Foundation for the Blind to the nation's outstanding blind
student.
Jernigan then spent four years as a teacher of English at the
Tennessee School for the Blind. During this period he became
active in the Tennessee Association of the Blind (now the
National Federation of the Blind
of Tennessee). He was elected to the vice presidency of the
organization in 1950 and to the presidency in 1951. In that
position he planned the 1952 annual convention of the National
Federation of the Blind,
which was held in Nashville, and he has been planning national
conventions for the Federation ever since. It was in 1952 that
Jernigan was first elected to the NFB Board of Directors.
In 1953 he was appointed to the faculty of the California
Orientation Center for the Blind in Oakland, where he played a
major role in developing the best program of its kind then in
existence.
From 1958 until 1978, he served as Director of the Iowa State
Commission for the Blind. In this capacity he was responsible for
administering state programs of rehabilitation, home teaching,
home industries, an orientation and adjustment center, and
library services for the blind and physically handicapped. The
improvements made in services to the blind of Iowa under the
Jernigan administration have never before or since been equaled
anywhere in the country.
In 1960 the Federation presented Jernigan with its Newel Perry
Award for outstanding accomplishment in services for the blind.
In 1968 Jernigan was given a Special Citation by the President of
the United States. Harold Russell, the chairman of the
President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, came to
Des Moines to present the award. He said:  If a person must be
blind, it is better to be blind in Iowa than anywhere else in the
nation or in the world. This statement,  the citation went on to
say,  sums up the story of the Iowa Commission for the Blind
during the Jernigan years and more pertinently of its Director,
Kenneth Jernigan. That narrative is much more than a success
story. It is the story of high aspiration magnificently
accomplished of an impossible dream become reality.  Jernigan has
received too many honors and awards to enumerate individually,
including honorary doctorates from three institutions of higher
education.  He has also been asked to serve as a special
consultant to or member of numerous boards and advisory bodies.
The most notable among these are: member of the National Advisory
Committee on Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
(appointed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare),
special consultant on Services for the Blind (appointed by the
Federal Commissioner of Rehabilitation), advisor on museum
programs for blind visitors to the Smithsonian Institution,
and special advisor to the White House Conference on Library and
Information Services (appointed by President Gerald Ford).
Kenneth Jernigan's writings and speeches on blindness are better
known and have touched more lives than those of any other
individual writing today. On July 23, 1975, he spoke before the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and his address was
broadcast live throughout the nation on National Public Radio.
Through the years he has appeared repeatedly on network radio and
television interview programs  including the  Today Show,  the 
Tomorrow Show,  and the  Larry King Show. 
In 1978 Jernigan moved to Baltimore to become Executive Director
of the American Brotherhood for the Blind and Director of the
National Center for the Blind. As President of the National
Federation of the Blind at that time, he led the organization
through the most impressive period of growth in its history. The
creation and development of the National Center for the Blind and
the expansion of the NFB into the position of being the most
influential voice and force in the affairs of the blind stand as
the culmination of Kenneth Jernigan's lifework and a tribute to
his brilliance and commitment to the blind of this nation.
Jernigan's dynamic wife Mary Ellen is an active member of the
Federation.  Although sighted, she works with dedication in the
movement and is known and loved by thousands of Federationists
throughout the country.

Speaking at a convention of the National Federation of the Blind,
Jernigan said of the organization and its philosophy (and also of
his own philosophy):
 As we look ahead, the world holds more hope than gloom for us
and, best of all, the future is in our own hands. For the first
time in history we can be our own masters and do with our lives
what we will; and the sighted (as they learn who we are and what
we are) can and will work with us as equals and partners. In
other words we are capable of full membership in society, and the
sighted are capable of accepting us as such and, for the most
part, they want to. .
 We want no Uncle Toms no sellouts, no apologists, no
rationalizers; but we also want no militant hellraisers or
unbudging radicals. One will hurt our cause as much as the other.
We must win true equality in society, but we must not dehumanize
ourselves in the process; and
we must not forget the graces and amenities, the compassions and
courtesies which comprise civilization itself and distinguish
people from animals and life from existence. 
 Let people call us what they will and say what they please about
our motives and our movement. There is only one way for the blind
to achieve first-class citizenship and true equality. It must be
done through collective action and concerted effort; and that
means the National Federation of the Blind. There is no other
way, and those
who say otherwise are either uninformed or unwilling to face the
facts.  We are the strongest force in the affairs of the blind
today, and we must also recognize the responsibilities of power
and the fact
that we must  build a world that is worth living when the war is
over and, for that matter, while we are fighting it. In short, we
must use both love and a club, and we must have sense enough to
know when to do which long on compassion, short on hatred; and,
above all, not
using our philosophy as a cop-out for cowardice or inaction or
rationalization.  We know who we are and what we must do and we
will never go back.  The public is not against us. Our
determination proclaims it; our gains confirm it; our humanity
demands it. 

                           MARC MAURER
                     Attorney and Executive

Born in 1951, Marc Maurer was the second in a family of six
children.  His blindness was caused by overexposure to oxygen
after his premature birth, but he and his parents were determined
that this should not prevent him from living a full and normal
life.
He began his education at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving
School, where he became an avid Braille reader. In the fifth
grade he returned home to Boone, Iowa, where he attended
parochial schools. During high school (having taken all the
courses in the curriculum) he simultaneously took classes at the
junior college.
Maurer ran three different businesses before finishing high
school:  a paper route, a lawn care business, and an enterprise
producing and marketing maternity garter belts designed by his
mother. This last venture was so successful that his younger
brother took over the business when Maurer left home.
In the summer of 1969, after graduating from high school, Maurer
enrolled as a student at the Orientation and Adjustment Center of
the Iowa Commission for the Blind and attended his first
convention of the NFB. He was delighted to discover in both
places that blind people
and what they thought mattered. This was a new phenomenon in his
experience, and it changed his life. Kenneth Jernigan was
Director of the Iowa Commission for the Blind at the time, and
Maurer soon grew to admire and respect him. When Maurer expressed
an interest in overhauling a car engine, the Commission for the
Blind purchased the necessary equipment. Maurer completed that
project and actually worked for a time as an automobile mechanic.
He believes today that mastering engine repair played an
important part in changing his attitudes about blindness.  Maurer
graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1974. 
As an undergraduate he took an active part in campus life,
including election to the Honor Society. Then he enrolled at the
University
of Indiana School of Law, where he received his Doctor of
Jurisprudence in 1977.
Marc Maurer was elected President of the Student Division of the
National Federation of the Blind in 1971 and re-elected in 1973
and 1975. Also in 1971 (at the age of twenty) he was elected Vice
President of the National Federation of the Blind of Indiana. He
was elected President in 1973 and re- elected in 1975.
During law school Maurer worked summers for the office of the
Secretary of State of Indiana. After graduation he moved to
Toledo, Ohio, to accept a position as the Director of the Senior
Legal Assistance Project operated by ABLE (Advocates for Basic
Legal Equality).
In 1978 Maurer moved to Washington, D.C., to become an attorney
with the Rates and Routes Division in the office of the General
Counsel of the Civil Aeronautics Board. Initially he worked on
rates cases but soon advanced to dealing with international
matters and then to doing research and writing opinions on
constitutional issues and Board action. He wrote opinions for the
Chairman and made appearances before the full Board to discuss
those opinions.
In 1981 he went into private practice in Baltimore, Maryland,
where
he specialized in civil litigation and property matters. But
increasingly he concentrated on representing blind individuals
and groups in the courts. He has now become one of the most
experienced and knowledgeable attorneys in the country regarding
the laws, precedents, and administrative rulings concerning civil
rights and discrimination against the blind.  He is a member of
the Bar in Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Maryland; and he is a member
of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.  Maurer has
always been active in civic and political affairs, having run for
public office in Baltimore and having been elected to the board
of directors of the Tenants Association in his apartment complex
shortly after his arrival. Later he was elected to the board of
his community association when he became a home owner. From 1984
until 1986 he served with distinction as President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland.
An important companion in Maurer's activities (and a leader in
her own right) is his wife Patricia. The Maurers were married in
1973, and they have two children David Patrick, born March 10,
1984, and Diana Marie, born July 12, 1987.
At the 1985 convention in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Kenneth
Jernigan announced that he would not stand for re-election as
President of
the National Federation of the Blind the following year, and he
recommended Marc Maurer as his successor. In Kansas City in 1986,
the convention elected Maurer by resounding acclamation, and he
has capably served as President ever since.

                         DIANE  MCGEORGE
             Medical  Secretary and Agency Director

Diane McGeorge was born in 1932 and grew up in Nebraska. She was
blinded by meningitis at age two. She says that she was  slightly
educated  at the Nebraska School for the Blind. Upon graduating
she learned that no blind person  regardless of how
well-qualified has an easy time in the job market. She enrolled
in a Denver business
college to learn typing and transcribing before going on to the
University of Colorado to train as a medical secretary, her
profession for a number of years, with time away to raise her
family.
McGeorge spent eight years as a full-time homemaker and mother,
including stints as den mother, Sunday school teacher, and PTA
officer. Throughout these years she was a passive member of the
Federation. She served on committees and prepared refreshments,
but she did not consider
that she had any part in the struggle of the blind against
discrimination.  Her husband Ray was much more active in the
Federation. She ignored or overlooked the instances when she had
been turned down by landlords or barred from restaurants because
of her dog guide, describing her actions as  looking on the
bright side. 
However, McGeorge attended the 1973 NFB convention in New York
City and discovered for herself the power and commitment that
derive from shared experience and determination to alter the
status quo. From that moment her life began to change. This is
the way she tells it:

 One bitterly cold day in December, Ray and I stopped at a
run-down coffee shop. It was the only warm place available, or we
wouldn't
have set foot in it. We did so, however, and when we did, the
proprietor told us we couldn't bring my dog in. I was so furious
I almost burst
into tears. I walked out, but I thought and thought about that
experience and I said, deep in my heart, that nobody was ever
going to make me feel that way again. I had been a coward to let
it happen.
 About six months later we attempted to go to a movie, and the
manager said we couldn't bring the dog into the theater. I was
well-acquainted with Colorado's White Cane Law, so we had what
turned out to be a two-hour battle over the issue. I came away
from there not feeling cowardly or guilty or as if I were not
quite as good as the manager because he could see and I couldn't.

In 1976 Diane McGeorge assumed the state presidency of the NFB of
Colorado, and she has been returned to office in every election
since.  Under her leadership the NFB of Colorado has become one
of the strongest state affiliates in the Federation. Recently the
NFB of Colorado took a giant step forward in serving the blind of
the state. In January
of 1988 the Colorado Center for the Blind with Diane McGeorge as
Executive Director opened its doors for business. Four students
enrolled initially, and the numbers have been growing ever since.
These students learn the skills of blindness from teachers who
believe in the fundamental competence of the blind. But even more
important, they learn positive attitudes about blindness.
 In 1977 McGeorge was elected to the Board of Directors of the
National Federation of the Blind, and in 1984 she was chosen as
the organization's First Vice President. In 1982 Diane and Ray
McGeorge were presented with the Jacobus tenBroek Award for their
work in improving the lives of the blind of the nation.
McGeorge says of her life since 1973,  These years have been more
stimulating and rewarding than any previous period in my life. I
don't wish to imply that I was unhappy prior to my becoming
active in the Federation quite the contrary. I was busy, and the
things I was doing were important. But they were not as important
as the Federation's agenda. Each thing the NFB does affects tens
of thousands of people.  Part of what I have learned is that what
I do matters.
 I suppose,  she says,  it is a commentary on the way I used to
feel about myself; but until the last few years, it never
occurred to me that anyone could do what I am now doing let alone
that  I  could. I would have been astonished to learn that
thousands of blind people could and would work together to make
real changes that affect all of us profoundly. 

                          PEGGY PINDER
              Attorney, City Councilman, Politician

Born in 1953 and raised in Grinnell, Iowa, Peggy Pinder attended
regular schools until the middle of the ninth grade. When her eye
condition was diagnosed as irreversible decline into total
blindness, her father cried for the first and only time in her
life at least, as far as she knows.
Pinder then spent what she characterizes as two and a half
unhappy years at the Iowa school for the blind. Academically she
learned nothing that she had not already been taught in public
schools. The students were discouraged from learning to use the
white cane and were never allowed off campus unless they were
accompanied by a sighted person.  But most soul-destroying of
all, the students were discouraged from aspiring to success or
from setting themselves challenging goals.  Pinder resisted the
stifling atmosphere and drew down upon herself the wrath of the
school administration, which refused to permit her
to complete high school there, forcing her to go back to public
school.

Knowing that she was not prepared to make this transition, she
and her parents sought help from Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, then
Director of the Iowa Commission for the Blind. Pinder enrolled at
the Orientation and Adjustment Center, where she mastered the
skills of blindness and explored for the first time the healthy
and positive philosophy of blindness that has subsequently
directed her life.
Pinder went on to Iowa's Cornell College, where she achieved an
excellent academic record and edited the  Cornellian , the school
newspaper.  She then completed law school at Yale University,
receiving her J.D.  Degree in 1979.
After graduation from law school, Pinder passed the Iowa Bar in
January, 1980. She then began a difficult job search. Although
her academic standing at Yale was better than that of most of her
classmates, she
did not receive a single job offer as a result of the intensive
interviewing she had done during her final year of law school.
Virtually all Yale-trained attorneys leave the university with
offers in hand. The inference was inescapable: employers were
discriminating against Pinder because of her blindness. She
eventually was hired as Assistant County Attorney for Woodbury
County in Sioux City, Iowa, where she prosecuted defendants on
behalf of the people.
Pinder's lifetime interest in helping to improve the world around
her has been expressed in politics as well as in Federation
activity.  In 1976 she was a delegate to the Republican National
Convention in Kansas City.  During the Convention she appeared on
national television and in a national news magazine, taking the
occasion to acquaint the public with the philosophy of the
National Federation of the Blind and the real needs of blind
people. At the end of the convention, she was chosen to second
the nomination of Senator Robert Dole to be the candidate of the
Republican Party for the Vice Presidency of the United States.
In 1986 she completed a campaign for the Iowa State Senate in
District 27 (East-Central Iowa) on the Republican ticket. She won
the Primary and campaigned hard in a district eighty by thirty
miles in size and containing about 60,000 residents, a distinct
minority of whom are Republican. From April through November she
made hundreds of public appearances and managed an efficient
campaign. Like many candidates, Pinder was not elected in her
first bid for public office, but she made a very strong showing
and is often asked when she will run again.  Her interest in
participating in her community continues today through
her service on the Grinnell City Council and in other community
organizations.

Pinder's work in the National Federation of the Blind has been as
impressive as her professional career. She held office in the NFB
Student Divisions in Iowa and Connecticut, and then served as
President of the national Student Division from 1977 to 1979. In
1981 she was elected President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Iowa, an office which she continues to hold. Pinder was
first elected to serve on the NFB Board of Directors in 1977, and
in 1984 she was elected Second Vice President.
For the past several years Pinder, a 1976 winner herself, has
chaired the Scholarship Committee of the National Federation of
the Blind.  Every year approximately twenty- five scholarships,
ranging in value from $1,800 to $10,000, are presented to the
best blind college students in the nation.

                         JOYCE  SCANLAN
                   Teacher and Agency Director

Joyce Scanlan was born in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1939. She
received her elementary and secondary education at the North
Dakota School for the Blind. Having a strong love of reading and
theater, she went on to earn a B.A. in English and History and a
master's degree in English at the University of North Dakota.
For the next five years she taught these subjects, along with
social studies and Latin, in high schools in North Dakota and
Montana. Then glaucoma took the rest of her vision, and Scanlan
lost her self-confidence.  She says,  I quickly fled from the job
because I had never known a blind teacher in a public school, and
I had had such a struggle those last few weeks in the classroom
that I was positive no blind person could ever teach sighted
children. 
She had trouble finding another job, but as she points out, her
own attitudes were as bad as those of her prospective employers.
She told a counselor who visited her in the hospital:  I've never
seen
a blind person amount to anything yet, so there's no reason to
think I can. 
In 1970 the National Federation of the Blind convention was in
Minneapolis, and Scanlan attended the meeting of the NFB Teachers
Division. She says:  I met many teachers there who were blind. In
fact, I met blind people from all over the country who were
engaged in a great variety of occupations. I learned what the NFB
was all about and realized what blind people working together
could do.  At that convention she also met Tom Scanlan, whom she
married four years later.
Joyce Scanlan became active in the NFB in Minnesota. In 1971 she
organized a statewide student division. In 1972 she was elected
vice president of the NFB of Minnesota and president in 1973.
That same year she
was appointed to a newly created Minnesota Council on
Disabilities the only representative of a consumer organization
on the Commission.  Until 1988 she served on the advisory council
to State Services for the Blind, a body established in large
measure because of the work of the NFB of Minnesota.
The most exciting undertaking of the NFB of Minnesota, however,
has been the establishment of its own rehabilitation center for
the adult blind, with Joyce Scanlan serving as its executive
director. BLIND, Inc. (Blindness: Learning In New Dimensions)
admitted its first class, consisting of two students, in January
of 1988. This center is establishing a new standard for
rehabilitation services in the Midwest. It is easy to understand
why the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota enjoys both
respect and prestige. It is also easy to understand why Joyce
Scanlan is regarded as able, tough, and determined.  Scanlan was
elected to the NFB Board of Directors in 1974 and has continued
to serve in that capacity ever since. In 1988 she was elected
Secretary of the organization. She says:  The Federation has made
a great difference in my life. I still try to spend time
attending the theater and reading, but I want to give as much
time as possible to working in the NFB. I wish I had known about
it before 1970. I want to be sure every blind person I ever meet
hears all about the Federation. If I have any skill as a teacher,
I'll use it to benefit the Federation. 

                          ALLEN HARRIS
                   Teacher and Wrestling Coach

Allen Harris of Dearborn, Michigan, was elected to the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind in 1981. In
1985 he became Secretary, and in 1988 he was elected Treasurer.
He says,  I take some satisfaction in many of the things I have
accomplished in my life, but nothing has given me more pleasure
and reward than my work in the Federation. 
Harris may well take satisfaction in his accomplishments. Blind
since birth in 1945, he completed high school at the Michigan
School for
the Blind in Lansing. He says of this period,  The two most
valuable things I learned in high school were wrestling and
typing. Although I could have used some other things, these two
skills have served me well ever since.  Allen Harris was a
championship wrestler throughout high school and college. He was
also a champion debater at Wayne State University and graduated
magna cum laude in 1967.  Harris then began looking for a
teaching position and enrolled in graduate school. At that time
high school teachers were much in demand.  He sent out 167
applications and went to 96 interviews without receiving a single
job offer. After a year of futile search Harris was depressed,
and his friends were outraged. One friend went to a meeting of
the school board of the Dearborn Public School System. She spoke
openly about the blind applicant for a teaching position who was
so well qualified, yet was being ignored by scores of school
districts.  The tactic worked. Officials of the school district
said that they
were unaware of Harris's candidacy although he had submitted an
application.  He was called for an interview and hired to teach
social studies.  In addition to a full-time teaching schedule, he
coached high school wrestling, as well as swimming and wrestling
for boys from age five to fourteen. He has coached at least six
high school wrestling teams that have won league championships
and one high school state championship team. His age group
swimming teams have won five state conference championships, and
his age group wrestling teams have won six. Harris also worked
for several years in the administration of the age group program,
and the Dearborn teams continued to excel.
In 1982 Allen Harris became a social studies teacher at Edsel
Ford
High School in Dearborn. He became head of the social studies
department in 1984. Because of limited time, he gave up the head
coaching job and now works only with ninth graders, who have not
lost since he has been their coach. In 1985 Harris was selected
by the National Council of Social Studies as one of two
outstanding teachers of social studies in the state of Michigan.
Harris says that he was aware of some Federation materials at the
time he was looking for his first teaching position and that he
found them helpful, but his real knowledge of and involvement in
the Federation began in 1969 when an organizing team came to his
door to pay a visit.  They told him there was to be a state
convention of the Federation that weekend in Lansing and that he
should go. He did, and he was elected secretary of the NFB of
Michigan. He served as president of the Detroit chapter of the
NFB from 1970 to 1975 and has been the president of the NFB of
Michigan since 1976.
During the years of Allen Harris's presidency, services to the
blind
in Michigan have been consolidated into a single and separate
commission for the blind, a major victory indeed. In 1983 Harris
was appointed by the governor to the board of the Michigan
Commission for the Blind, and he was reappointed in 1985 and
1988. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Board.

                        STEPHEN O. BENSON
              Teacher,  Rehabilitation Specialist,
                        and Administrator

President of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois,
Stephen
O. Benson was born in Kewanee, Illinois, in 1941. Blind from
birth, he attended the Chicago Public Schools using large print
books through the first four grades. He was not excited about
attending Braille classes the next year, but he did so and for
the first time in his life learned to read well. He also began to
learn the other skills of blindness, which he found more
efficient than using sight. In high school Benson was barred from
taking physical education although he would have liked to do so.
He found this prohibition disturbing and nonsensical since he was
permitted to take the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC)
course, swimming in the same pool that the physical education
classes used. In fact, in Boy Scouts he was able to earn his
swimming merit badge and took life saving. Benson found ROTC a
positive experience and enjoyed scouting, but he never could
understand why regular physical education classes were off
limits.
In 1965 Benson graduated from De Paul University with a major in
English and a minor in education. Before he decided to specialize
in English, he had intended to major in psychology. The state
rehabilitation agency for the blind threatened to cut off
financial assistance to him because of his change in plans.
According to the experts, blind people could
not teach in public schools, and as a result, the rehabilitation
officials refused to finance such an absurd major. Benson
remembers that his attitude at the time was  I dare you to try to
stop me!  and the government agency backed down.
After graduation he prepared himself for the usually difficult
task of job-hunting. Surprisingly, he found employment rather
quickly, however, as a tenth-grade teacher of honors English at
Gordon Technical High School in Chicago. But teaching was not
satisfying to Benson.  In 1968 he sold insurance while looking
for another job. He took one in 1969 with the Veterans
Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois, teaching Braille and
techniques of daily living. His title was Rehabilitation
Specialist. He continued to work at Hines Blind Rehabilitation
Center, Veterans Administration Hospital, until 1983. In 1984 he
became assistant director of the Guild for the Blind in Chicago.
Benson married Margaret (Peggy) Gull in 1984. They have one
child, Patrick Owen, born in 1985.
Benson first joined the National Federation of the Blind in 1968
when
a new affiliate was being formed in Illinois. He was immediately
elected to the state board of directors. From 1974 to 1978 he
served as President of the Chicago chapter, after which he became
President of the NFB
of Illinois, a post which he has held ever since. He was first
elected to the Board of Directors of the National Federation of
the Blind in 1982.
Benson has received many honors and appointments. In 1963 and '64
he was president of Lambda Tau Lambda fraternity. From 1976 to
1981 he served on the governing board of the State Division of
Vocational Rehabilitation in Illinois. He has served on the
Advisory Board of the Illinois State Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped and on the Advisory Board to the Attorney
General's Advocacy for the Handicapped Division.
 Although I have had good blindness skills for many years, 
Benson says,  my involvement in the NFB has imbued me with
confidence and perspective on life and blindness that have
focused my activities and energized my efforts on my own behalf
as well as for other blind people. 

                        CHARLES S. BROWN
                  Attorney and Federal Official

With a Bachelor's Degree from Harvard and a law degree from
Northwestern, Charles Brown should have found the job market both
exciting and receptive in 1970, a year of expanded economy and
bright prospects, but this was not the case. He had impressive
credentials and good grades, but he didn't. He was blind. It was
not the first time he had observed adverse and extraordinary
treatment of the blind, but it was the first time he had
personally faced such serious discrimination. It took him an
entire year and more than a hundred interviews before he found a
job.
In 1971 Brown became a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL), and he has received regular promotions ever since.
Today he is Counsel for Special Legal Services in the Office of
the Solicitor at DOL. The Department has presented Brown with
achievement awards five times in 1979, 1985, twice in 1986, and
1987. In 1982 he was presented with the Distinguished Career
Service Award, one of DOL's highest honors often presented at the
time of retirement.  But Attorney Brown was chosen for this honor
after only eleven years of service.
Born blind in 1944 with congenital cataracts, Charlie Brown
entered
a family that expected success from its members, and he met the
expectation.  He attended Perkins School for the Blind until the
eighth grade. Brown then attended Wellesley Senior High School in
Wellesley, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1963, going
immediately on to Harvard. When he applied to Northwestern Law
School, questions were raised about blindness.  He answered them
satisfactorily and believes he was one of the first blind law
students ever to study there.
During summer jobs in 1966, 1967, and 1968 at agencies serving
the blind in Chicago, Brown learned firsthand of the abuses of
the sheltered workshop system for the blind in this country. It
was also at that time that he met Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and made
his initial contact with the National Federation of the Blind.
Jernigan was speaking at a national conference, which (among
other things) was considering
ways of improving methods of instruction and increasing the
availability of Braille. After the meeting Brown talked with
Jernigan and began
to subscribe to the  Braille Monitor , the Federation's magazine. 
It was not until 1973, however, when Brown received a personal
invitation from a chapter member in Northern Virginia, that he
went to a Federation meeting.
Through a chapter in Northern Virginia Brown officially joined
the Federation in 1974 and later that year was elected to office.
In 1978 he became president of the National Federation of the
Blind of Virginia and has been re-elected to that position for
successive two-year terms ever since. He was first elected to the
Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind in
1984.
Brown has always taken an active part in the life of the United
Church
of Christ. He teaches Sunday school and serves energetically on
committees at the Rock Spring Congregational Church and has
served generously at the Church's national level. In 1979 he was
elected a corporate member of the United Church Board of Homeland
Ministries (the body that oversees the missions work of the
United Church of Christ). Within two years he was named Chairman
of the prestigious Policy and Planning Committee and a member of
the Executive Committee, both positions that he filled with
distinction for four years.
Brown met his wife Jacqueline during law school, and the couple
now has two sons, Richard (born in 1974) and Stephen (born in
1978).  Brown says:  I used to believe that one had to overcome
blindness
in order to be successful, but I have come to realize that it is
respectable to be blind. Our challenge as Federationists is to
persuade society of this truth. 

                         DONALD C. CAPPS
              Insurance Executive and Civic Leader

Few more compelling examples of personal independence and social
contribution can be found among either sighted or blind Americans
than Donald C.  Capps of Columbia, South Carolina. Since the
inception of the National Federation of the Blind of South
Carolina in 1956, he has served nine two-year terms as president
and presently holds that office. Capps was elected to the second
vice presidency of the National Federation of the Blind in 1959
and served in that capacity until 1968. In that year he was
elected First Vice President and served with distinction in that
position until 1984 when, for health reasons, he asked that
his name not be placed in nomination. In 1985 Capps (restored in
health) was again enthusiastically and unanimously elected to
membership on the Board of Directors of the National Federation
of the Blind.  Born in 1928, Capps was educated at the South
Carolina School for the Blind and later in public schools.
Following his graduation from high school he enrolled in
Draughon's Business College in Columbia and, upon receiving his
diploma, joined the Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company
of Columbia as a claims examiner trainee. By the time of his
retirement, he had risen to the position of Staff Manager of the
Claims Department.
Capps first became interested in the organized blind movement in
1953 and by the following year had been elected president of the
Columbia Chapter of the Aurora Club of the Blind (now the NFB of
South Carolina), which he headed for two years before assuming
the presidency of the state organization. Under Capps's energetic
leadership the NFB of
South Carolina has successfully backed twenty-three pieces of
legislation concerning the blind in the state, including
establishment of a separate agency serving the blind. Capps edits
the  Palmetto Blind , the quarterly publication of the NFB of
South Carolina, articles from which are frequently reprinted in
national journals for the blind.  In 1960 Capps directed a
campaign which led to construction of the National Federation of
the Blind of South Carolina's $250,000 education and recreation
center, which was expanded in 1970, and again in 1978.  He now
serves as a member of its Board of Trustees. In this role he has
been instrumental in establishing full-time daily operation of
the Federation Center. In addition, Capps has served for more
than thirty years as the successful fundraising chairman of the
Columbia Chapter. In 1963 Capps was appointed to the Governor's
Committee on the Employment of the Physically Handicapped.
In December, 1972, the Colonial Life and Accident Insurance
Company presented Capps with an award for  twenty-five years of
efficient, faithful, and loyal service  in his managerial
capacity. In 1984 Don Capps retired from the Colonial Life and
Accident Insurance Company after thirty-eight years of service.
In 1965 Donald Capps was honored as Handicapped Man of the Year,
both by his city of Columbia and by his state. In 1967 he was
appointed
to the Governor's Statewide Planning Committee on Rehabilitation
Needs of the Disabled. Capps was elected president of the Rotary
Club of Forest Acres of Columbia in 1974. In 1977 he was elected
Vice Chairman
of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind Consumer Advisory
Committee.  Also in 1977, at the annual convention of the
National Federation
of the Blind, Don Capps received the highest honor that can be
bestowed by the organized blind movement, the Jacobus tenBroek
Award.  Honor and recognition continue to come to Donald Capps.
In 1981 he was appointed by the Governor of South Carolina to
membership on the Board of Commissioners of the South Carolina
School for the Blind, a body on which he now serves as Vice
Chairman. In September, 1988, Donald Capps was a member of the
NFB delegation to the Second General Assembly of the World Blind
Union held in Madrid, Spain.
Betty Capps has been an active Federationist as long as her
husband has. The Cappses have two grown children, Craig and Beth,
and two grandchildren. Although Donald Capps has retired from
business, he continues to be as active and effective as ever in
the Federation, exemplifying leadership and confidence. His
ongoing dedication to
the National Federation of the Blind provides inspiration and
encouragement to his many colleagues and friends within and
outside the Federation.


                          GLENN CROSBY
                Businessman and Community Leader

The President of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas is
Glenn Crosby of Houston. He was first elected to that position in
1968 and served until 1970. He was again elected in 1978. Crosby
is a successful restaurant owner and manager, having opened his
first snack bar in 1968. During the past twenty years he has
owned food service businesses at five separate locations, usually
two or three at a time. He has served on the school board of All
Saints Elementary Catholic School, been a director of the Houston
Heights Little League, and been active in several city and county
political campaigns.
On April 15, 1989, Glenn Crosby and Norma Beathard were married.
Norma is the capable President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Houston.
Born in 1945, Glenn Crosby was blinded at the age of three by an
accident.  He was educated at the Texas School for the Blind. He
says that there were so many restrictive rules at that school
that the students learned to defy them.  It was the only way to
survive,  he says.  We learned (for better or worse) to take
risks when we were still young. 

The only dating permitted was expeditions to school socials.
Students could leave the campus only in groups and only on
Saturday afternoons twice a month unless they had specific
parental permission for additional trips. Crosby graduated in
1963. The preceding year half the senior class was not graduated
because they had left campus a few days before the ceremony for a
celebration. The message to the Class of '63 was perhaps not what
school officials had intended. The students did not forego their
party; they merely took pains to insure that they were not
caught. Crosby's assessment of the school's curriculum is that
the classes were not bad but that the courses that would have
allowed admission to the best colleges and universities were not
available.
He earned state championships in wrestling and was offered the
opportunity to compete for the Olympics in 1964. Crosby believes
that blindness
was the reason he was not offered a wrestling scholarship at a
prestigious school.
Poor as his education was, Crosby is grateful that he was among
the relative handful of blind Texans who were educated at all at
the time.  Many blind youngsters were sent to the school for the
blind as teenagers to learn a trade if they could, and most of
these people are now employed in the state's thirteen sheltered
workshops, frequently earning painfully low wages. It is not hard
to understand why Glenn Crosby devotes a large part of his time
and energy to the National Federation of the Blind the consumer
organization working to improve the lives and prospects of blind
people.
Crosby's first job was with the Poverty Program. The only blind
people he knew who earned a decent living worked in food service
under the Randolph-Shepherd Program. His parents had been in
business and had done some fast food service. Crosby did not want
a business run by the state commission for the blind. He believed
that he had had enough experience with state bureaucracy at the
School for the Blind. Besides, he had learned to take risks
young. Crosby does not doubt today that he made the right
decision.
 If I had not seen it for myself, it would be hard for me to
believe that the blind have made as much progress as we have
since I have been a part of the Federation a little more than
twenty years.  There are still thousands of blind people in Texas
(and I am sure
even more throughout the country) who have never had much of an
education or much constructive help. The quality of their lives
is poor. One day at a time I try to do my part to help improve
the quality of life for all of us who are blind. 

                       ROBERT M. ESCHBACH
                   Clergyman, Social Worker, 
and Administrator

In 1932 Robert Eschbach was born in the Philippines, the son of
missionary parents. He spent much of his childhood traveling
around the world, returning to the United States in 1941 to
settle in Michigan. Two years later he lost his sight.
He attended public school in Detroit before entering the Ohio
State School for the Blind in the ninth grade. He graduated from
Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, with majors in
theoretical music and English; and in 1958 he received a Master
of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton,
Ohio.
The Reverend Eschbach served for nine years in the parish
ministry.  Then, in 1966, he accepted a fellowship in the
Division of Religion and Psychology at the Menninger Foundation
in Topeka, Kansas. The experience persuaded him to begin a career
in social work, and he remained in Topeka to earn an M.S.W.
degree at the University of Kansas before returning to Dayton in
1969. Eschbach then accepted a job as a therapist at the Eastway
Community Mental Health Center in Dayton.  His responsibilities
were gradually increased until he became community services
director.  When the character and scope of the agency changed,
Eschbach decided to return to the ministry. He and his wife Pat
served two churches before he was appointed in 1985 to the
position of assistant director of the Ohio Bureau of Services for
the Visually Impaired.

Bob Eschbach became acquainted with the Federation in 1969 when
he was invited to join the Dayton Chapter. He immediately
concluded that he had discovered an entirely new way of
approaching blindness. He became progressively more involved and
committed in his local chapter, and in 1972 he attended the NFB
convention in Chicago. It was his first exposure to the national
movement, and he returned to Dayton feeling he had discovered the
place where he wanted to be. He served as president of the NFB of
Ohio from 1973 until 1984. During those years the state affiliate
made great strides in unity and achieving progress for the blind.
Bob Eschbach has served as a member of the NFB Board of Directors
since 1974. He has chaired several committees and currently is
President of the National Association of Dog Guide Users, the dog
guide division of the NFB.
Other appointments include: member of the Consumer Advisory
Council to Rehabilitation Services Administration of the State of
Ohio; member of the Task Force on Disabilities for the Ohio West
Conference of
the United Methodist Church; and member of the Disabilities Task
Force for the Ohio Council of Churches. Bob Eschbach is also an
active member in Lions International, and he and his wife Pat
have each participated in the Columbus, Ohio, Area Leadership
Program. In 1982 Eschbach chaired the Citizens With Disabilities
for Celeste Campaign for Governor.  Eschbach says:  The National
Federation of the Blind is an important part of my life. Being
part of an organization which is concerned about what happens to
blind people has demonstrated to me the way service ought to be
given and responsibilities shared. It is an easy and natural
follow- through to my personal faith. 

                        JOANNE FERNANDES
                   Teacher and Agency Director

Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1946, Joanne Ziehan Fernandes moved
with her parents to Webster City, Iowa, when she was seven. When
she was 3, doctors had discovered that she had Retinitis
Pigmentosa. She remembers everyone's attitude toward her poor
eyesight. No one regarded her as blind, but everyone knew her eye
condition could lead to blindness, a fact which friends and
family did not want to confront. The whispers taught Fernandes
that this being  blind  was a dreadful thing.  She learned to
pretend she could see to avoid the pity that would
follow if she could not. And she learned to avoid thinking about
blindness.  It was too awful. Never once can Fernandes remember
discussing blindness with a teacher or friend at school. She
never met a single blind person.  All she knew was that she did
not want to be blind or think about it. Being blind wasn't
respectable.
After Fernandes graduated from high school, she enrolled in a
junior college. At that time the Iowa Commission for the Blind
conducted a career day for blind students, which she attended.
For the first time she met blind people. They were confident and
capable. She decided that at the end of her second year of junior
college she would take time out to attend the Orientation and
Adjustment Center. Those nine months she describes as  the most
exciting time of my life. I found freedom, and it wasn't always
easy. 
In 1969 Joanne Fernandes graduated with honor from Iowa State
University, where she received a B.S. in Elementary Education.
During one quarter she was selected as a Merrill Palmer Scholar
to do advanced work in education in Detroit, Michigan.
For the next four years, Fernandes taught elementary school
(second and fourth grades) in the Ames, Iowa, public school
system. In 1971 she received a Master's degree in Guidance and
Counseling. During this time Fernandes helped to organize the
North Central Iowa Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind, and she served for several years as its president. From
1977 to 1979 she was first vice president of the National
Federation of the Blind of Iowa.
In 1973, Fernandes had stopped teaching to begin a family. She is
now the mother of 5 children ages 5 to 15. In 1979 she and her
husband moved to Louisiana, and here she continued her Federation
work. In 1981, Fernandes led the formation of a new NFB chapter
in her hometown of Ruston, Louisiana, and forty people attended
the first meeting.  It was the eighth chapter in the state. Today
in Louisiana there are twenty-one chapters.
Joanne Fernandes was elected President of the NFB of Louisiana in
1983 and has been elected for successive two-year terms ever
since.  In 1985, Governor Edwin Edwards recommended to the State
Legislature that money be appropriated directly to the NFB of
Louisiana for a training center for blind adults, and the
prestige and reputation
of the organization were such that the legislature responded
affirmatively.

The Louisiana Center for the Blind opened in October of 1985 with
Joanne Fernandes as its director, and the program which has been
built is rapidly coming to be recognized throughout the nation as
a model.  More than a hundred students have now enrolled in the
program, and
they graduate ready for competition in the mainstream of society
and they graduate not only believing but knowing that it is
respectable to be blind.

                        PRISCILLA FERRIS
              Homemaker, Girl Scout Administrator,
                     and Community Volunteer

In 1938 Priscilla Pacheco Ferris was born in Dighton,
Massachusetts.  From the time she was a small child, she knew she
had weak eyesight, but she and her family did not know that the
condition, Retinitis Pigmentosa, would deteriorate into total
blindness. During her early school years Ferris used print, but
three years later, when her brother (who had the same eye
condition) entered school, the staff refused to teach two blind
children. So the Pacheco youngsters enrolled in the Perkins
School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.
When Ferris entered Perkins, she was beginning the fourth grade,
and  she was expected to learn Braille immediately even though
she could still read large print. She remembers that it took her
about a month. She didn't feel put upon; it was simply a
challenge. Today she recalls this when she must deal with debates
about whether a blind child should read Braille or print.  Teach
both,  Ferris says unequivocally.   Low-vision children were not
too stupid to learn both when I was a kid, and things haven't
changed that much since.  After high school graduation in 1956,
Priscilla Pacheco worked in a curtain factory for a year. She
would have liked to go to college but did not have the money.
Then she worked for five years in a cookie factory, doing
whatever needed to be done, including assembly line work,
packaging, and packing. She married Jack Ferris in 1961, and in
1963 she resigned to begin a family. The Ferrises now have two
grown daughters.
In 1977, Priscilla Ferris finally had an opportunity to attend
business school, where she earned a degree and graduated with
distinction.  Then she found a job as secretary for the Fall
River Public Schools.  By the time funding cuts eliminated her
position, she was too busy with community activities and work for
the Federation to look for another job.
Ferris led her first Girl Scout troop while working at the cookie
factory in the 1950's. From that time until her own daughters
were
in Scouts she led troops from time to time. In 1974 she began
fourteen years as town Administrator for the Girl Scouts in
Somerset, Massachusetts, a job in which she was responsible for
the entire scouting program for the city. She quips that, not
only can she light a fire in the rain, raise a tent in a storm,
and dig a latrine almost anywhere,
but she can teach anyone else to. In 1986 she was elected to the
Board of Directors of the Girl Scout Council of Plymouth Bay, and
she has recently been elected to another three-year term.
Ferris's contribution to scouting was recognized by the Council
when it presented her with an award as the Outstanding Adult in
1986.
Ferris first heard of the National Federation of the Blind when a
new chapter was formed in her area in 1961. She was mildly
interested, but she did not join the Federation until 1974,
shortly before losing the remainder of her eyesight. In 1976
Ferris was elected president of the Greater Fall River Chapter of
the NFB of Massachusetts. She has been re-elected president every
year from that time until the present.
In 1977, Ferris was elected second vice president of the NFB of
Massachusetts and in 1981 first vice president. In 1985, she was
elected President of the National Federation of the Blind of
Massachusetts, and she has been re-elected for succeeding
two-year terms ever since. She was elected to the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind in July of
1987.

                            FRANK LEE
                            Minister

In Huntsville, Alabama, the pastor of Lakeside United Methodist
Church is the Reverend Frank Lee. Lakeside claims one of the
best-educated congregations of United Methodist churches in
Alabama. The Reverend Lee has experienced far more discrimination
and misunderstanding within the church and outside it because of
his blindness than because of
his race. When he first became an ordained minister ready for
assignment to a church, the conference leadership planned that he
would be a conference evangelist serving without salary. He
objected because the church to which he hoped to be assigned was
being left without a minister. There was no escaping the
conclusion that the conference leaders believed a blind person
could not handle the responsibilities of a church pastor. Church
members in all but one of the churches to which the Reverend Lee
has been assigned have also objected at first to having a blind
minister, but Lee has always won their love and respect in short
order.
In the United Methodist Church in the mid-seventies it was not
customary for the pastor to request a particular church. Rather,
the conference bishop and district superintendents conferred with
local churches to make assignments. The Reverend Lee found that
he must depart from this practice and make the request. As a
young minister, he had to challenge the decisions of his
super-iors, something not calculated ordinarily to gain their
confidence and respect, but it was necessary.  Winning the trust
and affection of church leaders and parishioners has taken time,
but Lee has done it.
Frank Lee was born in Semmes, Alabama, in 1942. Soon afterward,
his family moved to Dothan. He found himself in the middle of a
farm family of fifteen children. When he was six, one eye was
injured in an accident.  The medicine available to the Lees at
the time could not prevent infection from spreading to the other
eye, causing total blindness within a few months.
Lee feels fortunate that his family learned about the school for
the blind in Talladega, and he went there a year later. He
remembers crying when he had to leave home and return to school.
He also remembers that it was the only way for him to get an
education. The academic curriculum was quite good. Lee
participated in many sports, including baseball and volleyball,
as well as singing in the choir from elementary through high
school.
The school Lee attended was the Alabama Institute for the Deaf
and Blind, which consisted of four separate schools: the white
deaf, the white blind, the black deaf, and the black blind. The
campus for the black blind was very small, and it was separated
from all the others.  Frank Lee remembers things that were
exciting opportunities to him at the time. In 1952 he was the
first child in his part of the school to use the Perkins Braille
Writer. In 1962 he was in the third class to graduate from the
black blind school. Prior to 1959 there were so few black blind
high school students that they took courses in a public school in
Talladega, receiving high school diplomas there.  While most
schools for the blind in the 1950's and early 1960's were just
getting a good start at integrating blind youngsters into public
school classes, Lee's school was just getting enough blind
students to offer a complete high school curriculum. Integration
of the races was still almost a decade away.
Between 1962 and 1966 Frank Lee spent twenty-one months operating
a vending facility under the Randolph-Sheppard program, but he
wanted to go to college. He had earned good grades, but not until
1966 could he convince the state rehabilitation agency for the
blind to help
him. In 1970 he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from
Talladega College. During these years Lee worked periodically as
a camp counselor and in vending facilities. He was also active in
church work. He had been singing in church choirs for years, and
in 1962 he preached his first sermon. In 1973 he completed
studies at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
He also studied at Colgate Rochester Divinity School in
Rochester, New York.
In 1976 Frank Lee married Frankie Boyd, whom he met in college.
Lee joined the National Federation of the Blind in 1982 and was
elected Treasurer of the NFB of Alabama in 1985. In 1986 he was
elected to the National Board of Directors and re-elected in
1988.  

BETTY NICELEY
                   Rehabilitation Instructor 
and Outreach Educator

Born in 1934, Betty Niceley was largely raised by her
grandparents, who managed a series of country stores in Kentucky.
She remembers three of these, each one larger than the one
before. The family lived beside the stores, doing whatever needed
to be done. It was all part
of the family lifestyle stocking shelves, filling orders,
cashiering and it was good experience for a blind child who might
have had trouble finding work elsewhere.
At the age of nine, Betty Niceley left home to attend the
Kentucky
School for the Blind in Louisville. There she believes she got a
reasonably good education. However, she transferred back home to
Bell County High School, where she graduated. Her senior class
chose her queen and the person most likely to succeed.
 Niceley attended Georgetown College in central Kentucky where
she
received a Bachelor's degree in English and a secondary teaching
certificate.  It was at this time that she met her husband
Charles. The Niceleys now have a daughter and two grandsons.
Her first real job after graduating from college was with the
American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville. She did
public relations and development work as well as filling in
wherever Braille expertise, poise, or common sense were needed.
After thirteen years at the Printing House, she changed jobs and
began teaching Braille at the Rehabilitation Center operated by
the Kentucky Department for the Blind. When the state's
Independent Living Center opened in the fall of 1980, she joined
the staff and again found herself doing whatever needed to be
done. She teaches people of all ages Braille, techniques of daily
living, and rudimentary travel skills. She also does virtually
all the outreach education for groups who need instruction about
blindness and dealing with blind people.
Betty Niceley first joined the Federation in 1968, although she
had known about it for a long time without, as she puts it, 
finding the time to get involved.  Then, she joined and it was
not long before her commitment and performance were such that she
was elected Secretary of the National Federation of the Blind of
Kentucky. At
about this time she was also President of the Greater Louisville
Chapter, a position she held until 1975. Niceley has served as
President of the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky
since 1979.
In 1977 the State of Kentucky created a separate Department for
the Blind, responsible directly to the Governor. Niceley points
to this as one of the NFB of Kentucky's many accomplishments of
which she is especially proud.  When my poor vision worsened and
I became totally blind in my senior year of college, I had little
trouble adjusting.  I had learned to read and write Braille as a
child and kept up both skills. That is one of the reasons I have
been so excited about the National Association to Promote the Use
of Braille (NAPUB).  Betty Niceley was elected its first
president, a position which she still
holds. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the National
Federation of the Blind in 1985 and re-elected in 1987 and 1989.

                         FRED SCHROEDER
                    Teacher, Administrator, 
and Government Official

Fred Schroeder, the youngest member of the Board of Directors of
the National Federation of the Blind, was born in 1957 in Lima,
Peru.  His parents decided that he and his brother (six years
older) would have better opportunities growing up in the United
States, so they took steps to make it happen. By the time he was
two, Fred had been adopted by Florence Schroeder of Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
When he was seven, Schroeder developed an obscure little-known
disorder known as Stephens-Johnson's Syndrome, which caused a
gradual deterioration of eyesight and other serious physical
problems. By the time he was sixteen, he was totally blind.
In order to do his school work during junior high and high
school, he used a combination of taped materials, live readers,
and simply not doing homework. He was able to take extra courses
during these years and still maintain above-average grades. In
spite of worsening eyesight, he resisted the idea of learning to
read and write Braille.  By the time he was a senior in high
school, however, he had changed his mind and taught himself to
read and write it. He used Braille constantly throughout college.
Schroeder received a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1977 from
San Francisco State UniversIty. In 1978 he earned a master's in
elementary education and qualified for a California teaching
certificate. He had then just turned twenty-one.
By 1977 Fred Schroeder had attended several conventions of the
National Federation of the Blind of California, and in that year
he was elected president of the Student Division in that state.
He attended his first national convention in Baltimore during
July of 1978. While there,
he was offered a job as travel instructor at the Orientation and
Adjustment Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Initially Schroeder
turned the job down, preferring to teach children. By the time he
received his master's
in August, however, he had decided to take the job and move to
Nebraska, where he worked for two years. During this time he met
Cathlene Nusser, a leader in the NFB of Nebraska, and the two
were married in January of 1981.
Also during these Nebraska years, Schroeder took course work  at
San Francisco State University to strengthen his credentials as
an instructor in orientation and mobility.
In September of 1980 Schroeder moved back to Albuquerque, New
Mexico, where he became an itinerant teacher of blind children
for the Albuquerque Public Schools. He worked for a year in this
job before being promoted
to the position of Coordinator of Low-Incidence Programs for the
Albuquerque Public School System, a job he held with distinction
for five years.  In 1986 he was appointed director of the
newly-established New Mexico Commission for the Blind. In that
position he has earned a nationwide reputation as one of the most
dynamic and innovative administrators in the field of work with
the blind. Schroeder has completed course work for a Ph.D. in
educational administration from the University of New Mexico. He
is currently writing his dissertation on teacher evaluation.
Schroeder has served his community and state in a number of
positions.  He was a member of the Braille Authority of North
America from 1982
to 1986 and served as Vice Chairman during part of that time. He
served on the governing board of the Registry of Interpreters for
the Deaf in New Mexico beginning in 1984. Schroeder represented
the Braille Authority of North America and the National
Federation of the Blind at the International Conference on
English Literary Braille in London, England, in 1988. Since 1987
he has served on the New Mexico Governor's Committee on Concerns
of the Handicapped.
In 1980 Schroeder was elected to the Board of Directors of the
National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico and in 1982 became
the president of the organization, a position he held until 1986.
In 1984 Schroeder was elected to the Board of Directors of the
National Federation of the Blind. From 1983 to 1989 he served as
president of the National Association of Blind Educators.
Schroeder remembers:  In 1978 I was getting a master's degree
in the education of blind children, a field in which there was a
nationwide shortage. After thirty-five or forty interviews, I
didn't have a single
job offer. I had to deal first-hand with the very real fact of
discrimination against the blind. It is hard to keep an
experience like that from eroding your self-confidence. It makes
you question whether as a blind person you can compete in
society, whether you can get past people's expectations and
prejudices to show them what you can really do. The National
Federation of the Blind makes the difference. It provides
a way for blind people to give each other moral support,
encouragement, and meaningful information. It helps people who
are coming along to have advantages we didn't and in the very act
of encouraging and supporting others, we sustain and nurture our
own morale and self-belief. 

                          RAMONA WALHOF
                       Business Woman and 
Public Relations Executive

Born in 1944, Ramona Willoughby Walhof was the second in a family
of three blind children, but the word  blind  was never used when
they were small, especially by the ophthalmologists.
Nevertheless, even the large print books ordered for the children
by the schools
did not make reading possible. In the competitive world of the
classroom the truth could not be avoided they were blind. So they
were packed up and taken more than two hundred miles away from
home to enroll in the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School.
Walhof remembers that her parents found facing this alternative
easier than struggling with a public school system that could not
find a way to teach three bright youngsters who could not see
print. A school for the blind was better than a school that
didn't educate.
Walhof remembers learning to lie about what she could see. She
didn't think of it as telling falsehoods, but she says,  It made
adults happy when they thought I could see things, and at school
(even though
it was supposedly a school for the blind) one had privileges and
responsibilities to the same degree one had usable eyesight. 
During the summer following second grade Walhof commandeered her
brother's Braille slate and stylus and taught herself to write
Braille because the school considered her too young to learn it.
She was taught to read using Braille, but she understood from the
beginning that reading print (if only she could have managed to
decipher it) was better.

In 1962 Ramona Willoughby graduated from high school,
valedictorian of her class, but she says  with an extremely
limited education and very little experience.  Between high
school and college, she took a short course of training at the
Iowa Commission for the Blind Orientation and Adjustment Center.
It was then that she met Kenneth Jernigan, the Commission's
Director. She refused to learn much about the NFB although she
now says,  The Federation had already begun to have a profound
influence on my life.  She found college difficult, she says, 
because her academic background was so weak. Nevertheless, Walhof
graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1967
with a degree in Russian language.
In 1968 Ramona Willoughby married Chuck Walhof of Boise, Idaho.
During the next several years she was busy. She and her husband
had two children, and she taught two sessions of Headstart and
one course in college Russian. She also managed two vending
facilities. After the death of her husband in 1972 she returned
to Des Moines, Iowa, first as a teacher and then as an assistant
director at the Orientation and Adjustment Center of the Iowa
Commission for the Blind.
In 1979 Walhof moved to Baltimore, Maryland, to take a position
at the National Center for the Blind as the Assistant Director of
the Job Opportunities for the Blind Program, operated jointly by
the NFB and the U.S. Department of Labor.
In 1982 she returned to Idaho to assume the position of Director
of the state Commission for the Blind. Her reputation for
innovative approaches and dynamic forthrightness soon reached far
beyond the
borders of Idaho. In 1984 the blind of the state recognized her
achievements by giving her an award in public ceremonies.
Later that year she left government employment to go into private
business. Today she operates extensive multi-state public
relations and community outreach programs for the blind and other
groups.  Ramona Walhof has written widely on topics relating to
blindness, including the following books:  Beginning Braille for
Adults ,
(a teaching manual);  Questions Kids Ask about Blindness; A
Handbook for Senior Citizens: Rights, Resources, and
Responsibilities ; and  Technical Assistance Guide for Employers
.
In 1988 Walhof became president of the National Federation of the
Blind of Idaho and was also elected to membership on the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind.

                           GARY WUNDER
                  Senior Programmer Analyst and
                    Electronics Technologist

Gary Wunder was born three months prematurely in 1955, the oldest
of four children. His family lived in Kansas City, Missouri, and
Wunder remembers that since he was blind from birth, he managed
to persuade everyone in his family except his father to do
precisely what he wanted.  It would be many years before Wunder
could appreciate his father's instinctive understanding that Gary
had to learn to do things for himself.
Wunder tells with amusement the story of his dawning awareness of
his blindness. When he was two, his home had sliding glass doors
separating the living room from the patio. When those doors were
closed, he could not hear and therefore did not know what was
happening on the other side and assumed that no one else could
either. One day he found several soft drink bottles on the patio
and broke them. His father then opened the doors and asked if he
had broken the bottles. Gary said he had not and that he did not
know how they had been broken. His father then astonished him by
saying that both his parents had watched him break the bottles
and that his mother was now crying because she had thought surely
her baby couldn't tell a lie. Gary's response was to say,  Well,
she knows better now. 
Wunder attended grades one through five at a Kansas City public
school.  When he was ten, a boy who attended the Missouri School
for the Blind persuaded him that he was missing real life by
staying at home. At the school, his friend told him kids rode
trains and buses. They could bowl and swim and didn't have to
listen to parents. As a result, Wunder did some persuading at
home and was on hand for sixth grade and some necessary but
painful lessons about that real world.
At the close of seventh grade Wunder returned to public schools,
having learned several vitally important lessons: He knew the
basics of using a white cane; he recognized that his father's
demands on him had sprung from strong love and eagerness for his
son to succeed; and he understood that people beyond his own
family had worth and deserved his respect.  But he had also
learned that the school for the blind was not the promised land,
and he was delighted to be once more in public schools for eighth
grade and high school. He was elected to the National Honor
Society his senior year but struggled with the mechanics of
getting his work done. Braille was not readily available, and
readers were hard to recruit without the money to pay them.
Wunder planned to attend the University of Missouri at Kansas
City in order to live with his grandmother, but after a taste of
freedom at the orientation center in Columbia, Missouri, the
summer before college he decided to enroll at the University's
Columbia campus, where everyone walked everywhere and where he
could contrive as many as three or four dates an evening if he
hurried from place to place.

Wunder enjoys recounting the adventure which  persuaded him that
a blind person should always carry a white cane:  I was having
dinner with a young woman who lived near me, so I had not brought
my cane, figuring that I wouldn't need it. To my consternation
and her distress, my plate of liver and onions slid into my lap.
She asked if I wanted her to walk me home so that I could change.
I was already so embarrassed that I assured her I would be right
back and that I did not need her assistance. The busiest
intersection in Columbia lay between me and clean slacks, and
after I successfully survived that street crossing, I swore that
I would never again be caught without my cane.  Wunder decided to
major in political science and philosophy because he felt
compelled to avoid the science and math that he loved but feared
to take. During his sophomore year he met a professor from
Central Missouri State University who suggested that he was
ducking the challenge. Together they explored the question of
whether or not
a blind person could follow schematics and read volt-meters. The
answers seemed to be yes, so Wunder transferred to Central
Missouri State, where he graduated in 1977 with a degree in
electronics technology.  He had done well with the courses, but
he did not see how he could run a repair shop with its
responsibility for mastering hundreds of schematics for
appliances. He could teach electronics, but the professors from
whom he had learned the most were those who had firsthand
experience.  He didn't want to be the theory-only kind of
teacher.
Wunder looked for interim jobs after graduation while he tried to
decide what to do, and he discovered the hard way that blind
job-seekers have to be better than the competition in order to be
considered at all. He vowed to become so well-trained at doing
something that would-be employers could not ignore him. Wunder
enrolled in a ten- month course
in computer programming offered by the Extension Division of the
University of Missouri. No blind person had ever entered the
program before, but Wunder completed it successfully and was
hired immediately (in the fall of 1978) by the Pathology
Department of the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics in
Columbia. Years and promotions later, Wunder is successfully
working at the hospital and is now a Senior Programmer Analyst in
the Information Services Department.
Wunder first learned about the National Federation of the Blind
the summer before his senior year of high school. He says,  In
the beginning I thought this talk about discrimination was a
pretty good racket. No one did those things to me, and I assumed
that all this Federation talk about jobs' being denied and
parents' having children taken away from them was an effective
way of raising funds. I didn't realize that my father's name and
reputation in my hometown were protecting me from the worst of
real life. So far I had gotten what I wanted, including a
motorcycle to ride on our farm and my own horse. It was some time
before I recognized that these talented and committed blind
people whom I was getting to know in the Federation were trying
to teach me about the world that I was going to inherit. They
frightened me a little, but more and more I wanted to be like
them. 
In late 1973 (several months after Wunder started college in
Columbia, Missouri, a Federation organizing team arrived to
establish a new chapter, and he took an active part in the
preparations. Wunder was elected President, and when he
transferred to Central Missouri State two years later, he
organized a chapter in Warrensburg. In 1977 Wunder was elected
First Vice President of the NFB of Missouri, and in 1979 he
became President. Except for one two-year term, he has continued
in that post ever since. Wunder was elected to the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind in 1985.
Wunder is a devoted family man. He is married to the former Sue
Micich, who was at the time of their marriage President of the
NFB of Wisconsin.

Looking back reflectively over the years of his involvement with
and commitment to the Federation, Wunder says:  Of all I learned
from
my parents about honor, responsibility, and the necessity to be
competent, what I could never get from them was a sense of where
blind people fit in a world composed mostly of sighted people.
Friends and loved ones had always told me how wonderful I was
(wonderful for a blind person, that is), but until I came to know
members of the National Federation of the Blind, no one had the
experience or knowledge to say how I could expect to measure up
alongside the sighted. The NFB
was the first place where I didn't get a round of applause for
performing the routine activities of life. If I wanted my
Federation colleagues' recognition and admiration, I had to merit
this attention. It sounds contradictory, but while I was learning
that I wouldn't be applauded for insignificant accomplishments, I
was also learning that I didn't have to possess special
compensatory senses or talents to make my
way in the world. When you think that your only opportunity for
success lies in being a musician, when you know that your only
musical talent is in listening, and when you suddenly find that
you are capable of doing the average job in the average place of
business, your sense of freedom, hope, and possibility know no
bounds. 
              SCIENTISTS DISCOVER DIABETES HORMONE
                     by Malcolm Ritter (AP)
 The following article is reprinted from the Spring, 1989,
edition of  The Voice of the Diabetic,  the publication of the
Diabetics Division of the National Federation of the Blind. It
first appeared
in the December 17, 1988, edition of  The News-Leader  of
Springfield, Missouri. 

Scientists say they have isolated a hormone that may play a key
role in causing the most common form of diabetes, a step that
might lead to new treatments.
The hormone appears to be responsible for the obesity, reduced
insulin secretion and reduced effectiveness of insulin observed
in Type II diabetes, said researcher Garth Cooper.
Currently, obesity is considered a major contributor to the
disease rather than a symptom of it.
Cooper, a New Zealand biochemist, is working with researchers at
Oxford University. He said the substance, which the researchers
named amylin, is normally undetectable but was found in high
levels in the pancreases of diabetics.
The work is  a very important finding  if amylin truly blocks
insulin and appears in abnormal amounts in diabetics, said F.
Xavier Pi-Sunyer, an authority on Type II diabetes.
Scientists already knew of another pancreatic hormone that blocks
insulin, but it is not found in abnormal levels in diabetics,
said Pi-Sunyer, director of the endocrinology, diabetes and
nutrition division at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New
York.
Insulin normally controls the level of blood sugar. In Type II
diabetes, also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, the body's
insulin is not effective and blood-sugar levels rise too high.
Complications can include kidney disease, blindness, and
gangrene, which can require a leg and foot amputation.
Type II diabetes afflicts the vast majority of the nation's
estimated 11 million diabetics, according to the American
Diabetes Association.  It often can be controlled through diet
and exercise.
The amylin research  opens the door to the scientific study of
the disease at a level that wasn't possible before, and
potentially the mechanisms that we uncover may be very wide
ranging,  Cooper said.
He said researchers hope to develop substances that block
amylin's secretion or action, opening the possibility of
treatment. He also said researchers hope to develop a test to
detect diabetes very early in its development.
                     STUDENTS SEEK ANSWERS 
TO QUESTIONS ABOUT BLINDNESS
                         by Randy Black
 From the Editor:  Randy Black, who is the supervisor of the
registrar's information desk at the University of Wisconsin at
Madison, is president of the Dane County chapter and a member of
the board
of directors of the National Federation of the Blind of
Wisconsin.  He frequently gives presentations to public school
students in the lower elementary grades to teach them about
blindness.  The following article recently appeared in  Education
Forward,  a publication of the Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction. 

Americans fear blindness more than any other disability.  This
isn't surprising; for thousands of years, blindness has been
associated with helplessness, darkness, and begging.  Blindness
has been thought of as a punishment for sin.
Promoting a positive attitude about blindness is one of the goals
of the National Federation of the Blind.  The philosophy of this
organization is simple:  It's respectable to be blind.  With
proper training in alternative techniques such as using Braille,
and cane and dog guides, the average blind person can work and
live in society as an equal with the sighted.
Educating children about blindness is one way to combat the
negative attitudes many people have about this condition. 
Discrimination against the blind will end only when children
learn to think of blindness positively.
I spoke to Arlene Pullara's second-grade class at Glenn Stephens
Elementary School in Madison early in 1988.  Her students were
full of questions, and the presentation went well.  I was invited
back to talk about blindness to each of the school's K-5 classes
on December 10.
In each of the classes, I began by asking the children what they
thought blindness was like.  The most interesting concept came
from a little
boy who said blindness was being  up in space without any
gravity.   Most of the children had very similar ideas about
blindness.  Some said
being blind was like having your eyes glued shut without ever
being able to open them.  Others said it means always having to
to ask other people to do things for you.  A few felt blindness
meant never knowing what other people looked like.  Nearly all
the children felt being blind meant a lack of awareness about
your environment.
None of these ideas was surprising; many adults have the same
fears and misconceptions.  People of all ages commonly think that
blindness means darkness, and this was the standard response from
the children
at Glenn Stephens.  I told them that many blind people have some
residual sight and that only a small portion of the
visually-impaired population is totally blind.  The true test of
blindness is not always the amount of vision a person has, but
whether the individual must use alternative techniques to
accomplish a task.
Visual aids make any talk more interesting, and I made sure I had
plenty to show.  To demonstrate the concept of Braille, I used a
six-hole muffin tin. The response of sighted people to the idea
of blind people reading  those tiny bumps  of Braille is almost
always the same they are amazed that blind people can  read  the
dots with their fingers.
When I discuss independent travel, my dog guide Ivan is the best
visual aid available.  Children are fascinated by dogs, and they
are curious about how Ivan can get me from place to place even
though I can't see where he's taking me.  It's essential children
understand that Ivan doesn't have a little map inside his head
that determines where we're going; I have to give the correct
commands, and we have to work as a team or else we won't get to
our destination.
I'm never quite sure what questions children will ask, and they
always have a few surprises.  At Glenn Stephens, one child asked
how I knew what kind of breakfast cereal I ate.  Another asked
how I learned to tie my shoes.  I've already been asked how I
know what day of the week it is.
Some might find these questions cute, and I always respond to a
child's curiosity.  But these are the same kinds of questions
adults will ask about blindness.  A friend once remarked how well
I poured soda from a pitcher into a cup.  A news director at a
Milwaukee radio station asked if I was afraid of getting lost in
a newsroom the size of a small apartment living room.  And more
than a few people have asked how I know which bus I'm riding or
how Ivan knows when a stoplight turns green.
The point I try to make when answering these questions is that
blindness doesn't prevent a person from thinking clearly and
coherently.  Sight is a nice sense to have; treasure it.  But
sight in and of itself doesn't make tying shoes or pouring soda
into a glass any more or less difficult these tasks are done with
your hands.
What did I accomplish by speaking to the students of Glenn
Stephens Elementary School?  I think I helped to dispel some of
the myths and fears about blindness.  I also think I helped to
break up a portion of the circle of discrimination blind people
face every day.
Part of my  pay  came in the form of some wonderful thank-you
notes from the students and teachers of Glenn Stephens School. 
On one, the student cleverly tried to approximate Braille words
with drops of dried glue.  Another note had a silhouette of a dog
cut out of felt.  Two notes in particular touched me.  One said
the class  better understands blindness now.   The other said I
had  taught [them] a lot about being blind. 
If I'm to believe the children at Glenn Stephens, today's
youngsters understand that it's respectable to be blind.  If they
do, the blind of tomorrow will learn about discrimination from
history textbooks, not from their daily encounter with the
sighted.
                     BACK TO THE REAL POTATO
                       by Lauren L. Eckery
 As,  Monitor  readers know, Lauren Eckery is a thoughtful and
dedicated Federationist, who often writes with wit and insight
for  News from Blind Nebraskans,  the newsletter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Nebraska. She and her husband Jerry
participate fully in the life of their community, always making
efforts to educate the public about the abilities of blind
people. The latest chapter in their adventures is reprinted here
from the Winter-Spring, 1989 edition of the Nebraska newsletter: 

Many of us who venture frequently from the comfortable and safe
surroundings of our own homes find discrimination running
rampant, sometimes in the most unlikely circumstances. Take for
example eating out. When I have recounted some of my experiences
to others, including some who are blind, they think that I am
exaggerating, fabricating, or being paranoid in short, they make
any explanation that will allow them to duck the poignancy and
the reality of the situation. They cannot recognize that these
incidents often occur because of other people's
less-than-positive attitudes toward blindness.
Many of the blind people I know either do not eat out or else go
with those who are sighted and therefore are much less likely to
have such experiences. They say,  That's never happened to me.
You and Jerry must have done something to bring it on. 
What are some of the things which have happened to us in the past
several years in our attempts to eat in various restaurants?
Sharing
our adventures may comfort other people who have had similar
experiences.  I trust that they will amuse and educate those who
have not.
We are often seated at a table near the door on the assumption, I
suppose,  that this is easier for us. It has happened so often
that now we state our preference for a secluded table the minute
we suspect that we are being led to a table near the entrance.
One restaurant actually refused to serve us because  we don't
have a table near the door.  They would seat us nowhere else, so
we gave them no business. On some occasions, we have been led to
a particular table because so-and-so (another blind person) likes
it it's  their favorite, so we'll give it to you.  These folks,
like many others, have a hard time understanding that we prefer
to decide for ourselves where we will sit.
In another restaurant we were told that we could not be served
because they didn't have menus in Braille. We tried to explain
that we usually handle this by having someone read the menu to
us, but they wouldn't have it! We have also had the opposite
experience. Our requests to Braille the menus have been met
defensively because  After all, you don't need the menu in
Braille. We would be glad to read it to you. 
Often we are confronted with the assumption that we are merely
children.  The waiter speaks too loudly, tries to decide for us
what we want to order, asks a sighted person with us what we
want, warns us that the food is hot when the plate is brought to
the table, and insists (despite our protests) on describing the
location of the food on the plate. On one occasion a server
handed the print menu to our daughter Lynden when she was only
two years old, expecting her to read it to us. We have had people
suggest that we not order a certain item because it cannot be
eaten with the hands.
Then there's the charity problem. Several times we have been
approached by the waiter, informing us that our meal has been
paid for by a gentleman across the way  who admires you.  We do
not like to accept such a gift because to us it connotes pity. To
make matters worse, we rarely are able to explain our position to
the charitable person because he has already left the restaurant.
We have tried to instruct the management of favorite restaurants
not to allow this charity, only to be told that so-and-so, who is
blind, eats there often and apparently appreciates other people's
generosity more than we do.  If we are accompanied by a sighted
friend, the server automatically assumes that he or she will pay
the bill. Once, when I was a graduate student at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha, a student friend and I went to lunch
together. She had asked if blind people were ever treated rudely
in restaurants. I replied that she would probably find out
firsthand. I warned her not to be surprised if she were asked
what I wanted to order. This did indeed occur, and my friend
roared
with laughter, and said,  Ask her! How do I know what she wants! 
Later, we were giggling over the question of whether the waiter
would give the check to her or to me. I was paying the bill that
day. In our jocularity, we made a bet of a dessert that the check
would be given to her. Indeed, the check came to her, and she
laughed again.  I pulled out my bills and was paying the check,
when my friend quite suddenly became quiet. When the waiter
walked away out of earshot, she said,  Lauren, you should have
seen the look of shock on his face. First he looked like he felt
sorry for you. Then he looked at me sternly like, 'Is this some
kind of game?' Then he looked at you with the longest stare of
disbelief as you held and held and held your hand out with the
money.  She suddenly realized that this was no laughing matter;
it was something I deal with every day. She had heard me talk
about discrimination several times in class and had thought she
understood what I was saying. But it was on this day that she
actually witnessed it first-hand. After this experience, she
began to recognize many acts of discrimination toward me some so
subtle that she hadn't noticed them before, and others so blatant
that previously she would have looked away in order to avoid
them.  These incidents do not occur every time we go out to eat.
Many people have been very reasonable and gracious with us and
make it obvious that they want our business. We usually return to
their establishments.  But recently we had what seems to me to be
the epitome of bizarre restaurant experiences, and it all
occurred in twenty minutes' time.  Jerry and I (without Lynden)
walked into a restaurant in Benson, a section of Omaha. First
they panicked because the floor was not level, and they were
afraid we might fall (the tables were on slightly elevated
terraces). Then we waited for a long time while in the kitchen
the staff discussed what to do with us. Finally a waitress came
to our table, asking  What are we hungry for today?  The use of
the word  we  in this case was certainly inappropriate. This
question is asked of us often, and it is difficult for some
people to understand that we cannot tell them what we want until
we know what they have.  This waitress did not like the idea of
reading the menu, since that would take too long.  Do you want a
burger?  she asked. (Well, that was one clue. They had burgers!)
When we concluded that they didn't have time to serve us, another
young woman bounded across the room yelling,  I'll take care of
you! I'll take care of you! Don't leave!  She read the menu to us
and started to decide for us what we wanted. We made our own
choices, in spite of her efforts to control the situation.
She brought our drink glasses only half filled, probably on the
assumption that we would spill them if they were full. She placed
mine where it belonged without incident, but when she brought
Jerry's, she made a big scene about where she was going to put
it. She grabbed his hand to show him where the glass was, and
when he tried to get free, the glass slid to the edge of the
table. She yelled,  You're gonna spill it! You're gonna spill it!
I'm trying to show you where it is, but you won't let me! 
Other patrons (thank goodness, not many) were, of course,
fascinated by this exchange. We were becoming embarrassed and
outraged and were rapidly losing our appetites. The young woman
began telling us that she was glad she was not blind but that she
wanted to help those who were and that she would do anything we
wanted her to. She mentioned
a relative or friend who was blind and could not get around by
himself and assured us that she was always glad to help him. We
have heard this kind of story often. It was interesting that she
never raised the question of how we got to the restaurant by
ourselves.
When we were told that our order was number four and that it
would be almost half an hour before it would be ready, we had had
it! We got up to settle our bill and leave, but our waitress
insisted on paying for our drinks  for all the trouble.  She had
finally realized that she was not handling things well and that
we were very uncomfortable. We tried to explain that blind people
are not helpless, to which she replied that she had never said we
were helpless, and that we shouldn't take things so personally
just let people help us. We put our money on the table and
stepped off the incline as the woman yelled,  Don't fall!  We
probably escaped far faster than she expected two blind people to
move.
We had shopped in this part of Omaha before and had visited the
restaurant U.S. Potato on several occasions. The owners had
initially been uptight and overprotective of us but had listened
when we explained about our blindness. They eventually welcomed
us and remembered what we liked but always reread the menu so
that we could make our own choices.  This restaurant was a block
and a half away from the one we had just fled, so we knew we had
an alternative.
To our relief we did have a fine lunch at U.S. Potato, where we
received the kind of treatment we expect at a restaurant. We told
the owners about our recent experience, hoping they would
understand how much we appreciated their business and good food.
We were  back to the real potato,  and it was wonderful!
                        GROWING UP BLIND
                          by Jan Bailey
 The following remarks were made at the parents' seminar
conducted
May 19, 1989, in conjunction with the convention of the National
Federation of the Blind of South Dakota. Jan Bailey is one of the
leaders of the NFB of Minnesota and works as a counselor for the
rehabilitation agency in that state. As you will note, she also
has remarkable parents.  It is not difficult to understand why
Jan Bailey has grown up to be such a well-adjusted, sensible
person. Her parents certainly deserve much credit for employing
practical good sense and acting on their conviction that their
little daughter was, when all was said and done, a normal child.
Meet Mr. and Mrs. Bailey as the South Dakota parents and teachers
did. Here is the tribute their daughter paid to them: 

I am the fourth of nine children, and prior to my birth, my
parents had very little knowledge about or exposure to blind
people. I once asked my mother how she learned that I was blind.
She told me that she took me for a check-up when I was four or
five months old and mentioned to the doctor that I did not appear
to look at things. He examined my eyes and told her that I was
blind. Afterward, my mother
got on the streetcar to go home and suddenly began to panic. She
wondered what she would do. For a split second she considered
putting me down on the seat and leaving me there. Then, she
remembered a blind man she had known. He had led a very normal
life. He was married, had children, and held a job. She decided
that if that was possible for him, then it would be possible for
me.
This anecdote illustrates my belief that it is desperately
important for parents of blind children to have contact with
capable blind adults.  We can be role models for your children
and can help you as that blind man helped my mother. The National
Federation of the Blind is an excellent resource for parents
because our membership is made up of thousands of blind people
who are leading normal lives.
Like many parents, mine went from doctor to doctor trying to have
my sight restored. Part of the problem was that all of the facts
about my blindness were not known at that time. The experts did
not all recognize that my blindness was caused by receiving too
much oxygen in the incubator. Finally, when I was about a year
old, my parents took me to a renowned specialist in Salt Lake
City, Utah. The doctor examined me and then told my parents, 
Quit going to doctors.  There is nothing that can be done for
your daughter's eyes. She will always be blind. Take her home and
treat her just like the rest of your children.  To the best of
their ability, they did just that.  One of the first discoveries
my parents made was that I was afraid of a number of things. I
disliked anything fuzzy, I did not like loud noises, and I was
terrified of the grass. My mother just kept exposing me to fuzzy
objects, and one good thing came out of the phobia before I was
cured of it. I had developed a habit of throwing my empty bottle
out of the crib every night. Since they were made of glass, each
night the bottle broke. My mother decided to remedy this
situation by wrapping my bottle in a diaper and putting rubber
bands around it, but I would have nothing to do with it. I was
now afraid of my fuzzy bottle, and I never drank from one again.
My mother, however, was persistent and kept exposing me to soft,
fuzzy objects, and I soon outgrew that fear.

Since that time I have met a number of blind children with
phobias,
and I often find that their parents give in, removing the feared
objects from their vicinity. My mother theorized that some of my
fears developed because I did not see others around me handling
objects. She also concluded that when I went to new places and
heard noises I had never heard before, I was frightened because I
couldn't associate the sound with anything I recognized. She kept
exposing me to the things I was afraid of, explaining them and
making me touch as many of them as possible. Her theory was that
most babies and small children are attracted by what they see.
They want what they observe others using. She made a point of
taking me everywhere and making me do things. She says
I would have been perfectly content to sit in a corner and play,
but she would not allow me to do so. She, my father, or one of my
brothers or sisters would make me play with them.
Once my father had accepted my blindness, he decided to order
some literature about blind children. He received a book in the
mail that said:  Put your blind child in a cardboard box in a
dark room.  Your blind child is very fragile. Let your child
explore the box and then the room.  My father threw that book
away and told my mother that if that was what the experts had to
say on the subject, he figured he could manage on his own. He
said common sense told him that was the worst piece of advice he
had ever received.
When I was two years old, I suddenly stopped talking. I had
spoken
a few words, but then I quit. After several days, my father said
that he'd had enough. He went over to the high chair where I was
sitting, picked me up, and sat me down hard.  Say Mama,  he said.
I said it. Then he picked me up again and sat me down hard and
said,  Say Dada.  I said it, and from then on I had no more
difficulty talking.
At around the same time, my father told me that he was going to
show me where things were in the house. He said that I could not
be running into them and that I must learn my way around. He took
me through all of the rooms and showed me where everything was.
Then he said,  Now, when I tell you `Keep your eyes open,' you'll
know that
I mean to keep your feelers working and your smeller working and
your ears working. It would sound funny if I said that, so you'll
know what I mean when I tell you to keep your eyes open. 
A short time later I came running into the dining room from the
kitchen where I had been playing. I hit my forehead hard on the
dining room table, fell down, and began to cry. My mother jumped
up to comfort me, but my father told her to let him handle it. He
went over, picked me up, gave me a swat on my back end, and said 
Now, don't you remember, I showed you where that table was. You
can't be running into things. Next time, keep your eyes open.  My
mother told him she thought he was being too hard on me, but he
said I had to learn.  I soon stopped crying and went back to
playing. A few minutes later, I came running into the dining room
again. My father said that you could hardly have put a hair
between my forehead and that table before I swerved. I never ran
into the table again.
As I mentioned earlier, I was terrified of the grass when I was a
young child. Each time my mother went out to hang clothes, she
took me with her and put me down on the lawn. I always crawled
over onto the cement or gravel, preferring that to the grass.
Eventually my father told my mother that he was going to do
something about the situation. He took me out to the back yard
and proceeded to roll me around on the grass. I began to scream,
and the neighbors came running.  They told him that he was cruel,
but he ignored them. He took me back into the house and told my
mother not to say anything more about the grass. I pouted for a
few days before coming to my mother one day and asking for my hat
and coat. That meant I wanted to go outside to play. She helped
me to put on my things and watched me as I went out. I went over
to the grass and cautiously extended my toe and touched it. I
waited for a second and then explored it with my foot. Soon
I was rolling around on the lawn and after that had no fear of
grass.  When I was quite young, I remember hearing my mother tell
someone that one day she had gone to the store with my father, my
brother and sisters, and me. A woman was giving out samples of
cheese and crackers. She asked if we would like some, and my
mother said we would.  The woman proceeded to give us each a
cracker. When my turn came, my mother told her that I was blind
and just to put the cracker into my hand. The woman began
lamenting about how awful it was. My mother simply said,  You
don't have to feel sorry for her; just give
her the cracker.  As young as I was when I first heard this
anecdote, it still told me that my parents did not want others to
pity me and that they wanted me to be treated like everyone else.
My father has often told me that when I was small, I had some
rather strange ideas. One day I handed him a chicken bone from
which I had eaten all the meat and asked him to put some more
chicken on it. Another day I asked him to lift me up so I could
touch the sky. On such occasions he tried to explain the true
nature of things so that I would not continue to have
misconceptions about my surroundings. He did have quite a time,
though, making me understand that I couldn't touch the sky,
because he always made a point of letting me touch things in
order for me to learn about them.
Once I wanted to touch an elephant at the zoo. My father
persuaded the zoo keeper to let me go into the cage and touch it.
He didn't
want to give me preferential treatment, so he persuaded the poor
keeper to let my brothers and sisters go in also.
When I was quite young, a woman from the welfare department who
had learned I was blind came to visit my mother. She showed my
mother
a large wooden shoe and some pieces of cloth with buttons,
buttonholes, and snaps on them. She tried to persuade my mother
that she needed
to purchase these things to teach me to tie my shoes, button my
dress, and snap snaps. My mother told her that first, she didn't
have the money to buy those things, and second, she didn't see
any need for them. She said that when I needed to learn these
things, she would teach me using my own clothing.
When I was ready to go to kindergarten, I announced that I wanted
to learn how to zip my jacket. I told her that I didn't want to
have to ask the teacher to do it for me. I was to go to
kindergarten at noon, and I pestered her all morning until I
finally learned how to zip that jacket.
In the first grade I began to learn to read. I was very anxious
to master this skill because I had heard some talking books, and
I wanted to read just like the readers on the records. One day,
however, I came home from school in tears and told my parents
that my teacher had said that I would not be allowed to check out
library books while in first grade. My father could not
understand this and so decided to phone the principal. Neither
the principal nor the superintendent would overrule my teacher.
So, my father called her directly. He tried calmly to persuade
her that I should be allowed to check out library
books. Finally in exasperation, he said,  Do you have any
children? 

 No,  said the teacher.
 Well,  he retorted,  I have six of them, and I know that when
children are anxious to learn, you shouldn't discourage them. 
But the teacher wouldn't be moved, so my father told me to go and
talk to the librarian. She asked me if I knew what a little white
lie was. I told her I didn't. She said that it was a lie that
wouldn't hurt anyone. She then told me to tuck a book under my
coat and bring it back when I was finished reading it, and she
would give me another one. I secretly read library books all
during first grade.
Then there was the matter of my walking to school. I announced
one
day when I was six or seven years old that I thought I should be
allowed to walk to school since my brothers and sisters could.
Moreover, I wanted to walk by myself. I did not have a cane; back
then children didn't use them. My father said that he would show
me the way to school, and I could go by myself. After a couple of
weeks, I again announced one morning at breakfast that I wanted
to walk to school by myself.  My father replied that I had been
doing so.  No, I haven't,  I said.  You've been following me.  He
admitted that he had been, but he promised that that morning he
would not. I could walk to school all by myself.
That night, I came home in tears and told my parents that the
superintendent had come out to meet me at the driveway of the
school when he saw that my father was not following me. That was
not the end of it. A few days later my father got a phone call. 
Mr. Bailey,  the superintendent said,  You are causing a problem
in our school.  You are allowing your daughter to walk to school
by herself. She has told the other students about it, and now
they want to do the same thing.  I should point out here that I
was attending the Washington School for the Blind in Vancouver,
Washington, but I was a day student.  There were many other day
students in town, and it was their parents who had complained. My
father refused to comply with the request.
He told the superintendent to tell those parents that they could
raise their children the way they wanted to, and he would raise
his the way he wanted.
At the age of seven or eight, I told my father I wanted to roller
skate. He told me that he would take me out and put a pair of
skates on me and take them off again, once. If I could get them
back on, I could go skating. I don't suppose he thought I would
be able to do it, but we went out and sat on the steps. He showed
me one time how to clamp the skates on, how to use a skate key,
and how to buckle the straps. After he removed the skates, I put
them back on myself.  Then he told me I had some boundaries. I
could go around the block.  If I wanted to roller skate, I had to
stay within my boundaries. I skated for hours. That night, the
neighbors complained about it. They told my father that it was
dangerous and that I would hurt myself.  They said it wasn't safe
for me to go skating around the block by myself. Again, my father
ignored their advice. He told them that if I hurt myself too many
times, I would give up roller skating. I did fall down
repeatedly. In fact that first day, my legs were bleeding badly
when I was through, but I persisted and soon rarely fell.
I also rode my tricycle around the block another thing the
neighbors didn't approve of. Soon, however, I wanted a bicycle. I
worked hard to master the skill, but I soon tired of falling off
and gave it up.  I guess my father's theory was right. When I
hurt myself enough, I made my own choices about what I would and
could do.
At age ten or eleven, I became a Campfire Girl. Each year after
that my sister and I went door to door selling candy. She went
down one block, and I went down another. One year we sold enough
candy to earn a campship, which meant that since both of us
planned to attend, our parents would have to pay half the cost
for each of us. After we had successfully sold all of the candy,
my Campfire leader told my parents that I would not be allowed to
attend camp because I was blind. They pointed out that my sister
could use the whole campship. My father would have none of it. He
told the Campfire officials that if I was good enough to sell
their candy, then I was good enough to go to their camp. He
suggested that they let me come to their camp, and if I caused
any problems, he would come and pick me up. I went off to camp
and had a great time.
When I was twelve or thirteen years old, I told my mother I
wanted her to teach me how to iron. She said that I could not do
so because
I might burn myself. I recognized that she believed my blindness
prevented my learning. This made me angry. I went to my father
and tried to get him to intervene, but this time he sided with my
mother. One day when they had gone downtown, leaving my older
sister in charge, I saw my opportunity. I told her that if she
would show me how to iron, I would press all of her clothes. When
my parents returned home, there I was, ironing. They never said
another word about it.
We moved to Minnesota when I was twelve. There I attended the
Minnesota Braille and Sight Saving School until I was a
sophomore. That year I took half of my classes at the public high
school. The next year
I told my parents that I wanted to go to public school. Since we
lived in Faribault, where the Braille School was located, the
public school denied me entrance. They did admit a partially
sighted student. However, they said that I would not be able to
read the books in their library, and that I would use all of my
energy trying to find my way around the school. I would be too
tired to study. I had gone to Minneapolis the summer after my
sophomore year to a rehabilitation center to learn how to use a
cane. So I took a day off, returned by bus to Faribault by
myself, and went to call on the Superintendent to plead my case. 
He refused to see me. The school district took the position that
since the schools for the deaf and blind were in Faribault, they
did not have to let disabled students attend public schools. This
was before the passage of Public Law 94-142.
I wrote to my state senator and representative, my United States
senator, and to the governor of the state. But they all wrote
back to say that they were sorry but my problem was out of their
jurisdiction. Since my parents had very little extra money, they
could not afford to hire a lawyer. I wish I had known then about
the National Federation of the Blind. When I was going through
that struggle, I felt very alone.  I didn't know that other blind
people had similar problems.
My parents heard that a Catholic school in Faribault (Bethelehem
Academy) had enrolled deaf students since the public schools
would not admit them either. My father and I went to Bethelehem
Academy and persuaded the principal to admit me. My parents had
eight children at the time and did not have the two hundred
dollars for my tuition. That summer my mother went to work in the
corn canning plant to earn enough for my tuition and uniform, and
in the fall I entered Bethelehem Academy, where I was on the
honor roll.
During my sophomore year in college I came home and told my
parents that I wanted to move off campus into an apartment with a
friend.  They said that they would not allow me to do so, and
despite my many arguments, they did not relent. When I returned
to school, I wrote them a letter reminding them that they had
always taught me to be independent and giving them many reasons
why I felt they should let me move into an apartment. My mother
wrote back and said that anyone who could think up that many
arguments and present them so eloquently should win the point.
They relented and let me move in with my friend.  When I
graduated from college, my rehabilitation counselor encouraged me
to go to graduate school to become one myself. I resisted doing
this because I wanted to get a job in social work, for which I
had been trained. I think in the back of my mind I also wanted to
know for a certainty that I could compete in something other than
work with the blind. Five years later I left Las Vegas where I
had been working in a nursing home as a social worker and
returned to Minnesota.  I heard about a job opening in the
Rochester district office of Minnesota State Services for the
Blind, applied for it, and was hired. I decided to take that job
because I knew that there are many blind people who have not had
good opportunities and I wanted to have a hand in making some
changes in the rehabilitation system.
I realize that I was fortunate to have the parents I had, who
taught me early in life that they had high expectations for me
and that I could live a normal and productive life. That is my
hope for you today:  that you will have high expectations for
your children and that you will let them know you believe they
can succeed.
                    HATS OFF TO MARY BRUNOLI
 Mary Brunoli retired March 31, 1989, from her vending facility
in the Hartford, Connecticut, State Office Building. Pleasant and
interesting as this fact may be to her and her friends, this
piece of news would not ordinarily find its way into the pages of
the  Braille Monitor.  But Mary has conducted business at one
vending stand for longer than any other vendor in the state of
Connecticut, and perhaps longer than any other vendor in the
country. However, (see next article in this issue) she does not
hold the record for the longest unbroken service as a vendor.
Until April 1, 1989, Mary Brunoli opened her stand every day for
forty-seven and a half years!  She took vacations our national
conventions wouldn't be the same without her and she missed work
a total of four days because of illness. There are not many
people anywhere who have compiled such an impressive record of
faithful service. Here is what the newspaper and the Governor of
Connecticut had to say on the occasion of her retirement: 

                                           Office of the Governor
                                            Hartford, Connecticut
                                                   March 30, 1989

Dear Mary:
It is indeed a high privilege for me to extend my best wishes to
you
on the occasion of your retirement.
As the first vending facility operator for the Board of Education
and Services for the Blind, at the number 1 station, for 47 and
one half years, you have served the people of Connecticut with
dedication and courtesy. You have made a tremendous contribution
to the people of our State but more importantly, as a role model
and mentor to our blind citizens throughout the State and nation.
Your outstanding record of performance and dedication and the
quality of your work certainly reflect the highest standards of
professionalism.
You can take great pride in having played a significant role in
State government. I join with our many friends and associates in
wishing you continued good health and reward in the years ahead. 
With all good wishes to you and your family, I remain

Sincerely,
William A. O'Neill
                                                         Governor
____________________

 From the March 29, 1989, edition of  The Hartford Courant : 

                   Wrapping Up Her Long Stand
                     Candy, Notions Vendor 
to Retire After 47 Years
                      by Charles F.J. Morse

Mary Brunoli of Hartford is one of the state's sweet historic
landmarks.  She has never seen Connecticut but has served it with
cheer and grace from a corner pocket of the State Office Building
on Capitol Avenue.  For 47 1/2 years she has offered a
7-by-18-foot oasis of candy, razor blades, batteries, cough
drops, cigarettes, and whatnot on the massive building's lower
floor.
 This vending facility is Mary's Canderia,  the hand-drawn sign
on the wall behind her proclaims with a dash of wit.
There are Tootsie Rolls at 2 cents apiece. She's sold lottery
tickets to two $10,000 winners and offered pork rinds years ahead
of George Bush.
When she began in September 1941, the candy stand was a way to
meet
the world, to gain confidence. Brunoli remembers that as a shy,
26-year-old woman fresh out of the Connecticut School for the
Blind now Oak Hill School she was called mousy.
The pay was $8 a week.
In the years since then, she thinks she missed as many as four or
five days of work, not counting vacations.
 I just felt people depended on me being there,  she said earlier
this month, behind the landmark smile and the dark glasses with
the perky white frames.
Friday will be her last day of work. She will retire to work on
her Braille; to play again on the piano her beloved Chopin; to
give more time to the National Federation of the Blind and even
more to her church, the Church of the Immaculate Conception on
Park Street, where she is a proud and articulate lector.
She also plans to work on  The Wedding of the Pencil and the Pen, 
a musical she wrote and calls an  operatina. 
In addition to the piano, she plays the organ and accordion. At
home, her day begins with public radio, from Morning Pro Musica
on. At work the radio beat is a little less classical.
She has heard a lot at her job it has lasted through the terms of
12 governors, from Robert A. Hurley to William A. O'Neill but she
never became a talker on the job, not even with the scores of
state commissioners she greeted as customers.
Yet she is known for tossing bon mots. To those who might be
calorie-conscious, she's likely to tout a candy bar:  High in
cal, high in morale.  When the business is quick service, there
just isn't time for long conversations. But she has heard the
changes in lifestyles reflected in the language and attitudes of
the many state workers she regards as friends. She is troubled by
so much complaining and denigrating.  She still remembers a young
woman's voice, in all seriousness, asking for a  drop dead  card.
Brunoli's challenges included trying to dispel the stereotypes of
blindness. She remembers her sister telling her how much she
hated to walk down the church aisle with her  Because people
always stare at you. 
She lives by herself, occasionally walks to work, reads a great
deal and cheerfully volunteers her many talents.
She'll have more time for that come Monday, the day she misses
perhaps her sixth day in nearly half a century of service to the
state.FEDERATIONIST RETIRES AFTER FIFTY YEARS ON THE JOB by Donald C.
Capps
 It never rains but it pours. We received the information about
Mary Brunoli's retirement and, knowing nothing to the contrary,
presumed that it marked the close of the longest career in the
nation's vending programs. (See the preceding story in this issue
of the  Monitor.)  Then the May, 1989, edition of  The Palmetto
Blind,  the publication of the National Federation of the Blind
of South Carolina, arrived. It announced Anderson Bishop's
retirement after fifty years of service as a vendor. It seemed
appropriate to reprint this tribute as well as that to Mary
Brunoli. The blind of the nation join with the blind of South
Carolina in congratulating Mr. Bishop. Here is what Don Capps
wrote: 

During the presidency of one of the nation's greatest leaders,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an employment opportunity for
America's blind came into being.  In 1936 the Randolph-Sheppard
Act was adopted by Congress,
providing for vending facility operation in certain governmental
installations.  This program has provided employment for
literally thousands of blind Americans for more than a half
century.  In the 1930s under the jurisdiction of the South
Carolina Department of Public Welfare Division for the Blind, a
vending facility program was established.
Anderson Bishop of Cayce, South Carolina, was one of the first
participants in the new program.  Shortly after graduation from
the  South Carolina School for the Blind, Anderson went to work
in January 1939 as a vending facility operator in the old Chicora
College Building in Columbia, where the South Carolina Department
of Public Welfare was housed.  In 1940 Anderson became the
operator of the vending facility located in the old Standard Oil
Building on Gervais Street in Columbia and remained at that
location for 17 years until 1957.  For the next 32 years, between
1957 and 1989, Anderson was the operator of the vending facility
in the Veterans Administration Regional Office in Columbia. 
Thus, Anderson's service in the vending facility program spanned
fifty years 1939-1989.  In March, after fifty years on the job,
Anderson called it quits,
retiring with many pleasant memories and a lifetime of
independence matched by very few.  He was honored at luncheons
given by employees at the Veterans Administration Regional Office
as well as by fellow blind vendors.  Anderson was paid high
tribute by the City of Columbia when he was presented with a Key
to the City by City Councilman and Mayor pro tem, the Honorable
William Outz.  Possessing a very pleasant personality, Anderson
has made many friends throughout his long career.  Both sighted
and blind persons have worked with him and enjoyed their
association.   Bishop,  as he is affectionately called by his
many friends, is a charter member of the Aurora Club of the
Blind.  He joined the organization when it was established in
Columbia in 1947 and subsequently served as president.  In 1987
Anderson participated in the Fortieth Anniversary banquet of the
Aurora Club, now operating as the National Federation of the
Blind of South Carolina.  In 1964 the Aurora Club sponsored
legislation which abolished the Division for the Blind's
practice of imposing set-aside charges upon all vending facility
operators.  Anderson has been particularly grateful for this
legislation because he believes
the 1964 law saved him more than $25,000.
He and his very fine wife, Genevieve, have been blessed with
three children, all of whom have been successful, undoubtedly as
a result
of loving and caring parents.  Annette McAlister is a teacher in
Asheville, N.C. Mary Caldwell is a pharmacist in Colorado
Springs, Colorado.  Benjamin is a Navy chaplain and is stationed
in Newport, Rhode Island. Anderson is also a proud grandfather.
Although on the job every day for fifty years, Anderson has
always found time for his church.  For more than forty years he
has been attending Cayce United Methodist Church.  He taught
Sunday School
for several years.  Highly respected by members of his church,
Anderson was elected to the Board of Stewards for several terms. 
He served as Chairman of the Board of Stewards for two terms.
While Anderson does not have any specific hobbies, he is
interested in sports and is an avid Gamecock fan.  The National
Federation of the Blind of South Carolina salutes Anderson
Bishop, not only for fifty years of successful employment, but
for being a gentleman and
an outstanding citizen. Enjoy your retirement, Anderson you
deserve it.
                                 
WHAT THE NFB MEANS
                        by Seville Allen
 Seville Allen is one of the leaders of the National Federation
of the Blind of Virginia. Writing in the March, 1989, NFB of
Virginia  Newsletter,  she says this: 

Many of us are looking forward to attending our state convention
in Lynchburg March 31 through April 2. Each time we meet we have
the opportunity to renew old acquaintances, make new ones, and
work to improve our lives as blind people. As I prepare for this
convention, I stop and think about why I spend time doing
Federation work. The answer didn't take much thought. It is
obvious to me that my work contributes to making more
opportunities for me and other blind people.  I joined the
Federation almost exactly fourteen years ago. When I joined, I
had thoughts of helping  them.  Looking back, I didn't see myself
as one of  them.  I had the image of myself as better than other
blind people. I was an exception after all, that's what I had
been told for the first thirty years of my life.
The Federation taught me otherwise. I have been treated as a
second-class citizen both before and after I joined the
Federation. But after fourteen years of being a Federationist, I
know that it is respectable to be blind. And that is the key to
success, whether working to achieve equality as a blind person
through Federation work or pursuing other life ambitions. Before
I knew the Federation, I was constantly confused about who I was
and what I was doing. While I was dissatisfied with my life,
everyone around me told me that I should be happy because I was
doing well. Then I felt selfish and remained dissatisfied for
several years.
In 1974 I let myself be talked into attending a Potomac Chapter,
NFB meeting, although at the time I figured I could find
something better to do. Much to my surprise, I found competent
blind people speaking about issues I had thought about. These
folks had families, jobs, and had direction in their lives.
Sighted people in the group didn't tell them what to do and did
not treat them like children. I liked what I saw and became part
of the organization in 1975. Since that time I have learned that,
not only is blindness just a characteristic that is inconvenient
for example, when a personal letter comes in the mail the day
after a scheduled reader but I learned that it is unacceptable
for others to set our limitations based on their perceptions of
the capabilities of blind persons.


                    MY JOURNEY INTO BLINDNESS
                       by Claire McCuller
 Claire McCuller is currently a student at the Louisiana Center
for the Blind, the training center for blind adults run by the
National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana. She is a talented
and sensitive elementary school teacher. When she began to lose
her sight, her common sense told her that there were ways to
combat her blindness. Here
is her description of her struggle to find the answers she was
seeking.  It is reprinted from the January, 1989, issue of  The
Pathfinder,  the newsletter of the NFB of Louisiana. 
My journey into blindness began in 1979 when I was diagnosed as
having Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The diagnosis itself was
somewhat difficult to obtain. After I had repeatedly asked my
ophthalmologist for an explanation of my inability to see things
in my apartment that I knew were there, he finally asked me,  How
many fingers am I holding up?  When I answered that I couldn't
see his hand, much less his fingers, my journey began.
After tests, consultations, and large expenditures of money, I
knew for certain that I was going to be blind though no one could
tell
me exactly when or how rapidly my loss of eyesight would occur.
Furthermore, those people who consented to discuss the problem
with me could not (or would not) tell me about options or advise
me about what I should do next. A friend told me that there were
agencies in the area that worked with the blind and suggested
that I might receive support and services from them.
I made the necessary contacts, and one afternoon a counselor came
to see me. The first thing he told me was that all blind people
were retarded. In a few carefully chosen words (that I shall not
repeat in this article) I told him that someone had messed up
profoundly
since I had just received my master's degree in educational
administration.  The meeting was quickly terminated.
Apparently wishing to make amends, the counselor called inviting
me to come in and review the career file available in his office.
On
my arrival he suggested that I review the information about
appropriate jobs available in the area. He especially advised me
to look at the employment file card entitled  Baker's Assistant. 
Another meeting was quickly terminated.
Even at this time I recognized that, as my sight worsened, I
would eventually need to learn new skills and have to make
changes in my life. I wanted someone to tell me what those
changes should be and how to implement them. Unfortunately it
seemed that, no matter where
I turned, no one was able to give me the information that I was
seeking.  For the next eight years I continued in my search for
an intelligent solution and a rational approach to my problems.
Along the way I wrote letters to people who were supposed to know
about rehabilitation and blindness, and I gathered and read
information about as many different options as I could. My
journey was mostly along dead-end paths.  The two through streets
I did find were an RP Research Center in Houston, Texas, and Dr.
Charles Garcia, through whom I received accurate information
about my eye disease and extremely blunt advice about what I
could and could not expect in the future.
As a finalist in Louisiana's Elementary Teacher of the Year
contest, I had the pleasure of appearing on local television with
my students.  One of the questions the reporter asked me was 
What are your goals and plans for the future?  I responded that
because of the progression of my eye disease, I did not know how
much longer I could remain in the regular classroom.
Enter Joanne Fernandes, President of the National Federation of
the Blind of Louisiana, and the staff at the Louisiana Center for
the Blind. I received information from the Center after the
broadcast of my television interview. And I immediately wrote a
letter to Mrs.  Fernandes, who serves as Director of the Center,
expressing eight years' worth of uncertainty and frustration. She
then called me at home. After talking to her, I realized that my
journey into blindness had not come to a dead end; rather, it was
about to take me to a smooth highway leading to useful
information and intelligent solutions.
At the time of this writing I have been at the Center in Ruston,
Louisiana, for two months. In this short time I have begun my
study of Braille and computers and have become a more accurate
typist. I am gradually overcoming my fear of travel under sleep
shades using a white cane.  I have been introduced to the
National Federation of the Blind and
have adopted its philosophy as my own. However, perhaps the best
education I have received at the Center has come from my
observation of successful blind individuals associated with the
Center. As I return to my teaching career this coming fall, my
renewed self-confidence is allowing me to pursue new challenges
in the field of education. I have decided to teach seventh and
eighth grade gifted students in a new school rather than the
fourth graders I have been teaching. My journey into blindness
has not been without its bumps and detours, but now I can say
that through my own persistence and curiosity and through the
support I have received from the NFB at the Louisiana Center for
the Blind, my journey continues in a positive direction.
                  A COMPLIMENT AND A CHALLENGE
                       by David A. Ticchi
 The following remarks were delivered as the keynote address at
the state convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
Massachusetts in October, 1986. David Ticchi is one of the
leaders of the NFB of Massachusetts. 

When I thought about what remarks I would make this morning, I
remembered the words of a high school speech teacher on the
subject of speaking in public. She said,  Don't have any theme in
your presentation which could not fit on a bumper sticker.  It
seems to me that there is some wisdom in that statement, and so I
have entitled my remarks  A Compliment and a Challenge. 
I begin with the compliment directed to our national founders and
our national leadership. Before 1940, despite the problems facing
the blind of this nation, there was no National Federation of the
Blind. The organized blind movement, which Dr. tenBroek and
others started in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1940, has had an
impact on the lives of all blind people, whether they realize it
or not.
So certainly a compliment is due to Dr. tenBroek, to the others
gathered at Wilkes-Barre, and to the national leadership we have
been blessed with over the years. Dr. Jernigan, who is here with
us today, is to be commended for his leadership and for his
unselfish work on behalf of the blind. I would also like to offer
a compliment to the founders of the NFB of Massachusetts and to
their predecessors, the Associated Blind of Massachusetts.
Without their commitment and effort we would not be here today.
In 1975 I didn't know anything about the organized blind
movement.  In fact, I didn't know much about  the blindness
system. 
As a result of research I did while studying for my doctorate, I
became aware of both the NFB and the ACB. Knowing very little
about either organization, I decided to attend both national
conventions, and I
began to read Federation literature and to discuss it with
Federationists.  After thinking about the issues, I joined the
National Federation of the Blind. It was apparent to me that the
NFB had a philosophy, a body of literature, and a history of
accomplishment. Through the concerted action of its leaders and
members, its programs and divisions, the NFB had become the most
potent and most purposeful force in work with the blind. That is
why I joined the Federation, and that is why I began my address
today by paying compliments.
The people of the first and second generations of the Federation
have given us a heritage of growth and achievement. The NFB is an
increasingly vital movement in this country as Dr. Jernigan has
often said, and he has often reminded us of the challenges which
lie ahead. There are still difficulties facing us which have
confronted us for years, and as we proceed and make progress, we
continue to encounter new problems. What precisely is our most
compelling challenge?
I see it as  education . Why education? Our goal is to have every
blind person in this nation be treated as a first-class citizen
and to be integrated into every aspect of life in his or her
community.  As Federationists we believe that the greatest
problem facing blind people is not the lack of sight, but the
attitudes of the sighted public and, as a result the attitudes
which we the blind hold about ourselves.
The work of changing attitudes has an educational and cognitive
dimension.  We must provide people with information so that
policies, strategies, decisions, and programs will have the
proper leadership, direction, and acceptance.
But education of whom? To begin with, education of ourselves. We
have often said that unless we as Federationists take the
responsibility to do our work as a consumer group, who will?
Indeed, would it even be reasonable to expect anyone else to do
it? Certainly not! If we are to be an effective consumer advocacy
organization, we have to
do it ourselves. Is there another consumer group or in fact any
organization in the blindness field that has such a clearly
delineated philosophy
and such a body of literature as the NFB does? Absolutely not! I
encourage, I urge you to read NFB literature and ACB and agency
publications if you can locate them. Think about and compare
them.
 Our literature has a point of view, a perspective, a consistent
philosophy.  It covers a wide variety of subjects, ranging from
jobs to resources
for parents and educators of the blind to the pros and cons of
preferential treatment. Our literature has substance, and that is
one of the reasons why this organization has succeeded. Each of
us should read it. After all, it is one thing to point to its
existence; but it is quite another to read, to discuss, and to
reflect upon it to live it. How many of us can honestly say that
we read the  Braille Monitor  every month? We may subscribe, but
do we read? We all know that the NFB was founded in 1940 and that
in the early 1960's a splinter broke away to organize the
American Council of the Blind. But how many of us know the
history of that schism, documented in  The Man and the Movement ?
Wider forms of education are also critically important education
of the general public, of families with blind members; of the
parents
of blind children; of educators of the blind; of administrators,
teachers, and counselors; of public officials and the media. If
we are going
to change society's attitudes, we must provide the right kind of
information.  As individual members of the Federation, it is our
responsibility to know and understand that information and to be
able to articulate and discuss it. If we are going to work with
the public, we must know what we are talking about! In other
words, not only is it necessary to educate the public to
recognize the rights and the capacities of the blind, it is our
responsibility to do so.
How do we meet this challenge? The pieces are in place. We have a
philosophy which works and an ample body of literature. Within
our organization we have a growing number of divisions and
committees, truly representative of our membership and of society
at large.
I doubt that there is any secret about what we have to do. The
key
to our success is work. We must regard it as very, very serious
business.  It is vital because it affects not only our lives and
the lives of all blind people, but also the lives of future
generations of the blind.
As you consider this work, I ask you to think about it this way:
we have often said that the blind represent a cross section of
the whole of society, a subgroup that includes a full range of
personalities, intelligence, motivations, talents, skills, and
interests. In this
room this morning there are excellent writers, musicians, and
scientists.  There are teachers and successful business people,
people with good public speaking and organizational skills. There
is a tremendous amount of valuable ability and experience right
here.
We must each consider how we as individuals can contribute to our
organization. How often do you hear people ask,  What can I do? 
Well, there is plenty to do and ample talent with which to do it. 
We each need to find our niche.
I am not suggesting that everyone must spend X number of hours a
week or a month solely dedicated to the NFB. We all have lives
beyond the Federation. These lives and community activities can
help us strengthen our own organization. We cannot segregate
ourselves and live our lives in a vacuum. We have to strike a
balance.
But I believe we should treat our Federation time and business as
an occupation. Treat your Federation responsibilities like a job
in which you are required to invest quality time and full effort.
We all know it is much easier not to. After all, we are not being
paid, at least not in a monetary way. On a cold winter day it is
much easier to sit at home than to attend a board or chapter
meeting. However, each of us is needed when Federation gatherings
take place. Each of us has a unique contribution to make. But not
all our work goes on at board or chapter meetings. In fact most
of our work takes place
as a part of our daily lives and requires a great deal of
self-discipline.  Yes, we have work to do, but we are willing to
do it because we have dreams. Like Martin Luther King, we blind
people have dreams, for ourselves and for others:

- That the parents of blind children will have the same
expectations for them as for their sighted children.
- That blind parents will no longer have to fight for the custody
of their children, and that if they choose to adopt, they will be
able to do so, just like anyone else.
- That employers in this country will regard blind people as a
valuable human resource and afford us equal opportunity to reduce
our 70% unemployment rate.
- That the blind who are employed will not have to fight for the
minimum wage or against under-employment.
- That public officials won't speak of the blind in emotional,
sentimental, and stereotypical terms, but that they will work for
constructive legislation and enforce policies which will improve
the quality of our lives.
- That educators, both public and private, will recognize that
blind students are not fundamentally different from other
students.
- That blind students, who will of course have different needs
and use different learning techniques, will be able, with proper
training and opportunity, to compete on terms of equality with
their sighted peers.
- That the business sector of our society will regard us as
paying customers, so that we may travel freely, dine in
restaurants, shop at stores, and use banks without being pitied
or condescended to.
- That the blindness system will be truly responsive to the needs
of consumers.
- Finally, that blind people will be fully integrated into
society on terms of equality.

These dreams can and will come true.
I would like to conclude by suggesting that all of us think about
our participation in the Federation and reassess and reconfirm
our commitment to the organization. Think about your niche; think
about what you can do to make the NFB better. This is the final
part of the challenge: to commit ourselves to do our part of the
work to the best of our ability.
We are all leaders in our own way, every single one of us. In an
essay on Franklin D. Roosevelt, Walter Lippmann said,  The true
test
of any leader is that he leave behind a man with the will and
conviction to carry on.  Dr. tenBroek and the others at
Wilkes-Barre did
that. Dr. Jernigan has done that. The founders of the NFB of
Massachusetts have done that. Each of us, too, can leave behind
someone with the will and the conviction to carry on.
                 IS IT A FISH OR A FISHING POLE?
                         by Sheena Sethi
 Arlene (Sheena) Sethi was a 1987 NFB scholarship winner. Here
are her reflections on a subject which is often controversial: 

A poor man sat at the edge of a lake, hungry and weak. He wore
nothing but a torn shirt with a ragged pair of jeans and an old
greasy baseball cap. Another man, sitting nearby, whistled some
old tunes while fishing.  Beside him lay a container full of fish
which he had caught during the course of the day. As dusk
approached, the fisherman became weary and began to gather his
things in order to go home and cook a fresh hot meal. He noticed
the poor man staring hungrily at his container, and so he offered
him some of his catch. The poor man looked at him with those sad,
hungry eyes. The words that came to his lips in response to this
offer were:  Give me a fish and I will eat for a day;
but if you give me a fishing pole, I will be full for a lifetime. 
These wise words of the poor man came to me this past winter when
I attempted to lock my window. No matter how hard I tried, I was
unable to lock it, and my apartment became steadily colder. In
order to solve this problem, I asked a next-door neighbor to
teach me how to lock the window. Her response to my request was
to go over to the window and lock it. You might say I have a very
kind neighbor; but I, like the poor man, was a little offended. I
asked to be taught how to lock the window in order that I would
be able to do it in the future. The locking of the window by my
neighbor was the giving of a  fish.  If she had taught me how to
lock the window, she would have been giving me something more
beneficial, a  fishing pole. 
The difference between a  fish  and a  fishing pole  is very
significant. A  fish  is a handout, which is demeaning because it
supports a belief that the receiver of the  fish  is not as
capable as the giver of the  fish.  A  fishing pole  on the other
hand is a tool by which the disadvantaged individual is given an
opportunity to become equal to the rest of society. With a 
fishing pole,  an individual becomes more self-confident and, as
a result, self-reliant.
The wise words of the poor man can also be applied to issues
pertaining to those who are blind. For centuries the blind have
received  free fish,  which helped them survive for a day or two
but never permitted them to become productive or independent. For
example, the blind were placed under the wardship of society and
cared for like children rather than taught skills that would make
them independent. Finally, a few decades ago things began to
change. The blind learned to insist on  fishing poles  or tools
with which the same opportunities became available. While the
poor man demanded a  fishing pole,  the blind demanded education
and training by which they could become equal to others in
society. The poor man would be able to fish for his own food like
the fisherman; the blind person became skilled in the  games 
that sighted people play.
Blind people across the country may send Braille, large print, or
taped letters to anyone (sighted or blind) without paying
postage.  Other specialized materials for the blind may also be
sent free. A sighted person, on the other hand, may not send the
same material postage free to a blind person or another sighted
person. To use the free postage privilege all the blind person
has to do is write  Free Matter for the Blind  on a parcel, and
the parcel will be delivered to any destination free of charge.
One might consider this gift from the federal postal service as
being helpful to blind people. I see this service as an offer of 
fish,  a handout to the blind community. Accepting this  fish  or
free postage has not helped the blind man or woman, because it
only reinforces society's notion
that blind people are less than self-sufficient. This handout is
demeaning to the blind; it reinforces a belief that the blind are
second-class and inferior. Accepting this handout does not
improve the confidence or in any way increase the capabilities of
blind individuals.
On the other hand, when the blind accept  Free Matter for the
Blind  in the case of library materials and aids, it is not a
handout, or a  fish.  Instead, it is a  fishing pole  because it
provides the blind with the same tools that sighted people use to
better themselves. It is only fair that the blind be able to
use these same resources at the same price (nothing) in order to
educate themselves. With the same access to education as the
sighted, blind individuals gain self-confidence in their own
capabilities. Using  Free Matter for the Blind  for educational
materials enables the blind to become as independent as the
sighted.
When  Free Matter for the Blind  is used as a freebie or for free
postage, it is not something which helps the blind. It only
hinders their progress. When  Free Matter for the Blind  is used
for library materials and aids, it promotes the advancement of
the blind and, therefore, is an opportunity by which the blind
can compete with the sighted. Blind people must be careful as to
what kind of services are  fish  and which are  fishing poles, 
which are freebies and which are helpful tools. It is only with
helpful tools that blind people can begin to compete with the
sighted and demand first-class citizenship.
                            CONUNDRUM
First person: With respect to the first Miniature in the July,
1989,  Monitor , are you really sure you got it?
Second person: Well, at first I thought I did, and I'm good at
riddles and crossword puzzles--but the more I think about it, the
more I'm puzzled. It just doesn't make sense.
First person: Since you say you are good at riddles and crossword
puzzles, let's treat it like a puzzle. I'll give you some clues:
1) The pun is double, and the key is the pronunciation, not the
spelling.  After all, you can't make a  flower , but you can make 
flour .
2) What relates to the mouth? You could say  vocal , but that
isn't it. Why don't you just read the Miniature again? 3) You
need
to read the rest of the July, 1989,  Monitor  to get the context. 
It all fits together.
                             RECIPES 
                         by Gail Bryant
 

                        DIABETIC  COOKIES 

Ingredients: 
1 cup chopped apples
1 cup chopped dates
2 cups chopped raisins
2 cups water
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 cup Crisco
6 tablespoons liquid or dry sweetener
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups chopped nuts

 Method:  Boil or microwave first four ingredients for three
minutes, making sure that dish placed in microwave is covered.
Remove from heat. Add Crisco, sweetener, and vanilla. Cool
thoroughly and add rest of ingredients. Cool in refrigerator.
Drop by teaspoonful
onto ungreased sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for twelve to fifteen
minutes.


                     DIABETIC  CARROT  BREAD 


 Ingredients: 
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup quick-cooking rolled oatmeal
1/2 cup bran cereal
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon baking soda
artificial sweetener
(equal to 1 cup sugar,
depending on brand)
1 cup shredded raw carrots
(use strained baby carrots,
such as Gerber, to avoid grating)
1/2 cup chopped nuts


 Method:  Combine flour, bran, oats, and soda. Set aside. In
large mixing bowl add margarine and sweetener and beat well. Add
eggs, milk, vanilla, orange peel, and mix well. Stir in carrots.
Add flour mixture one-third at a time, beating well after each
addition. Stir in nuts. Bake in eight- by four- by two-inch loaf
pan at 350 degrees for fifty-five to sixty minutes or until
toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Freezes well. Makes
18 slices. Exchanges: 1/2 bread, 1/2 vegetable, 1-1/2 fat.
Note: Although the taste tester for  The Voice  enjoys this
recipe,  Monitor  readers may sample it first, since it has not
appeared in  The Voice .

             PEACH  COBBLER  DESSERT FOR DIABETICS 
 
 Ingredients: 
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 3/4 teaspoon
liquid sweetener
1/2 cup water (or juice from peaches if you use canned) 4 cups
fresh sliced peaches (if peeled)
(or 2 16-ounce cans sliced peaches
if water packed)
1 cup packaged Bisquick
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon peel


 Method:  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine cornstarch, one
tablespoon sweetener, salt, and water in 1- 1/2 quart casserole.
Stir in peaches in medium mixing bowl, mix Bisquick, cream,
vanilla, 3/4 teaspoon liquid sweetener, and lemon peel until
smooth. Carefully spread over peaches. Bake forty minutes
uncovered or until golden brown. Peaches should be bubbly and
tender. Makes 8 servings. Exchanges:  1 bread, 1 fruit, 1 fat.
                    ***MONITOR MINIATURES*** 
**New Chapter:
Hazel Staley, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of North Carolina, writes: The Triad Chapter of the National
Federation
of the Blind of North Carolina was organized on May 6, 1989. The
significance of Triad is that it is located in an area where
there are three major cities. The following officers were elected
and will serve until November:  President, Debra Harris;
Secretary, Mary Horne; Treasurer, Angie Stewart.  The chapter
meets the first Saturday afternoon of each month. We welcome this
group into our affiliate.

**Transcendental Meditation:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  My name
is Kim Cole, and I am a Federationist and transcendental
meditator.  I would like to correspond with other Federationists
who are involved
in TM and those who wish to know more about it. TM is a simple
relaxation technique which helps to develop one's full mental
potential. Please write me at: Kim Cole, MIU Box 1136, Fairfield,
Iowa 52556. Letters may be in Braille. 

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: For sale: 
A two-year-old, little used TSI VersaBraille II with disk drives,
software disks, and manuals. It is in excellent working
condition.
A printer is available at extra cost if desired. Unit will be
shipped at our expense. Price: $2,695. Contact: Jeanie or P. C.
Wood, 8103 Viola Street, Springfield, Virginia 22152; (703)
569-6676.

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

**Lifeskills:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
ANNOUNCING:  Lifeskills: A Can-Do Program for Living With
Blindness  This book, written by an experienced teacher of blind
adults, will give those new to blindness, and professionals
working with them,
a positive approach to a new way of living. The author, who has
been blind since infancy, believes fervently that there are very
few things a blind person cannot do safely and efficiently. Learn
how to grill
meats over flaming charcoal, how to light a pilot light, mark a
thermostat, apply make-up, test home-made candy for doneness,
turn a sizzling, broiled steak. Topics are arranged
alphabetically from abacus
to writing (print). A  miscellaneous  section covers material
that does not fit easily into other sections. Topics include
baking, frying, laundering, labeling clothing, identifying money
and managing bank accounts, typing, cleaning, travel basically
all of those things we all do on a day- to-day basis. There is an
updated resource guide and a bibliography at the back of the
book.
Besides being a how-to manual, this book addresses some of the
negative information in recent books and articles written by and
about blind people. Those new to blindness need to know that they
can cut up their meat when eating at a restaurant, travel about
their community without waiting for a sighted guide and can live
independently and work competitively, for a full and happy life.
Lifeskills is available on four-track cassettes and in print for
$19.95 with a $3 shipping charge for the print only. The price
includes at least three biannual updates of resources and
information, sent to you in the same format as your original
order. The cassette edition is tone-indexed; the print is
packaged in a loose-leaf binder so that new information sheets
can be easily added. Send check or money order to: Janiece
Betker, 1886 29th Ave. N.W., New Brighton, Minnesota 55112;
Phone: (612) 639-1435. Agency purchase orders accepted, payment
net 30 days.

**Blind Without Glasses is Not Blind:
The following news story, which was widely circulated throughout
Minnesota in early June of 1989, has interesting implications:

                  Court: Blind Without Glasses 
is Not Disabled

 Associated Press.  ST. PAUL A person who is considered legally
blind without corrective lenses is not a disabled person and
entitled to employment protection under the Minnesota Human
Rights Act, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The high court, in a 5-2 ruling to be filed June 2 rejected the
contention of the state Human Rights Department that Allan Tervo
was discriminated against by Hennepin County because he was
denied a position as a detention deputy on the basis of his
faulty vision.
According to court documents, Tervo has uncorrected distant
vision of 20-200 and corrected vision of 20-15. However, the
Hennepin County Sheriff's Department requires uncorrected vision
of 20-100 in each eye for deputies.
Tervo was among 30 finalists for the deputy position from a field
of 900 applicants before he was notified that he was
eliminated....

**Ski for Light:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
 The fifteenth annual international Ski for Light week will be
held from Sunday to Sunday, February 25 to March 4, 1990, near
Brainerd, Minnesota. The organization is especially interested in
reaching blind people who have not yet attended a Ski for Light
week. The program consists of one-to-one instruction by
experienced cross-country skiers, optional clinics and seminars,
and a variety of social and cultural activities. Participants do
not need to be athletes or skiers, merely people interested in
learning to cross- country ski. The cost for
the week is $425 (double occupancy), which includes room, board,
ground transportation to and from the airport, and a registration
fee. Air fare to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport is the
responsibility of the individual. A limited number of stipends
will be available for first-time participants. For more
information contact: Alan Schlank, Selection Coordinator, 4019
North River Street, Arlington, Virginia 22207; or telephone him
at (703) 538-4713 before 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. 

**APH Report:
The American Printing House for the Blind has asked us to carry
the
following announcement:
The  Annual Report  of the American Printing House for the Blind
(APH) is now available in an audio version. APH is offering its
fiscal year 1988 report on a single cassette recorded on four
tracks at 15/16 inches per second. The cassette is free of
charge. The APH  Annual Report  is published each year after the
annual meeting of ex officio trustees. It incorporates reports on
the proceedings of the annual meeting, detailed information on
the registration of students eligible under the federal quota
program, and extensive financial information, including the
official accountant's statements. To receive either an audio or a
print copy of APH's  Annual Report , please write or call APH
Consumer Information Services at: American Printing House for the
Blind, 1839 Frankfort Avenue, Post Office Box 6085, Louisville,
Kentucky 40206-0085; phone (502) 895-2405.

**Hawaii:
Floyd Matson, Treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind
of Hawaii and long-time leader of the Federation, reports that on
May 13, 1989, at the convention of the National Federation of the
Blind
of Hawaii, the following people were elected: Ricky Melchor,
President; Nani Fife, First Vice President; Gail Hall, Second
Vice President; Francine McLaine, Secretary; and Floyd Matson,
Treasurer.
Dr. Matson is no stranger to Federationists. He has been involved
in the Federation for over thirty years. He and Dr. tenBroek
worked together on many publications and dozens of Federation
projects.

**South Dakota Convention:
Karen Mayry, President of the National Federation of the Blind of
South Dakota, reports that the 1989 state convention held May 19
and 20 was a resounding success. Jan Bailey, one of the leaders
of the
NFB of Minnesota, and Barbara Pierce, Associate Editor of the 
Braille Monitor  and this year's National Representative, took an
active part in a day-long seminar for parents and educators of
blind children on Friday. James Knoechne, age 7, and Rory
Hoffman, age 11, received awards from the South Dakota affiliate
in this year's Braille Readers are Leaders Contest. NFB members,
state officials, four state library representatives, and
Congressman Tim Johnson gathered on Saturday to discuss vendors'
issues, library services, legislative changes, and NFB concerns.
The affiliate presented two $500 scholarships to outstanding
college students.
**Social Security:
J. Kenneth McGill, External Affairs Officer at the Social
Security Administration in Baltimore, writes as follows:
The Family Support Act of 1988 requires that 1989 tax returns
show the Social Security numbers (SSNs) of claimed dependents who
are age
two or older. This law amended the Tax Report Act of 1986, which
required that tax returns show the SSN of any claimed dependent
age five or older.
Under the new law we estimate that at least half the children age
two through four (over 2.7 million) will need Social Security
numbers.  We are seeking your assistance and cooperation in
advising parents whose children do not yet have SSNs that they
should apply for the numbers as early as possible and well before
the end of the year to avoid any worry about this matter when
they file their tax returns
next year. Parents will be pleased to know they can utilize the
telephone and the mail to obtain an SSN for their child. The
phone number is listed in your telephone book under Social
Security Administration.  There is no need to visit an office to
obtain an SSN for anyone under eighteen.

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
VersaBraille Classic for sale. Two adapters, overlay tape,
microphone, earphone, Braille and print manuals. Asking price:
$1,200 or best offer. Also
for sale a Smith Corona large print typewriter with cartridges.
Contact:  Isaac Obie, 55 Waverly Avenue, Apt. 210, Watertown,
Massachusetts 02172; (617) 923-3050.

**Action from Braille Action:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  The
Braille Action Lab has for sale Braille copies of many texts
which are usually found only in print. These include technical
manuals, appliance manuals, cookbooks, songbooks, and paperbacks.
Please contact us about your Brailling needs. Send for a free
catalog to: Braille Action Lab, 358 Life Sciences Building,
University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292; phone (502)
588-8258. 

**MOBILITY:
Dr. Charles Hallenbeck, one of the leaders of the National
Federation of the Blind of Kansas, writes as follows: This
announcement from KANSYS, Inc., 1016 Ohio, Lawrence, Kansas 66044
A software product
in preparation at KANSYS, Inc., called  MOBILITY  is a
text-adventure game based on cane travel techniques and dog guide
practices. It is our collective experience that mobility is not
only possible but can even be enjoyable. The challenge of blind
mobility in a game format provides a welcome change for  ZORK 
and for  DUNGEONS
AND DRAGONS  fans and spreads the word that it is okay to be
blind.  Write for more information or call Dave at (919) 843-0351
or Chuck or Cindy at (913) 842-4016.

**New Chapter:
Hazel Staley, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of North Carolina, writes as follows: I am delighted to announce
that we have a new chapter, the Furniture City National
Federation of the Blind, in High Point, North Carolina. It was
organized on May 23, 1989, with sixteen charter members. Its
officers are: President, Bettye
J. Austin; Vice President, James Lilly; Secretary, Mary Clyburn;
Treasurer, Mary Weeks; and Board Members Daniel David and Wesley
Whitsett. In the organizational meeting these people asked some
very intelligent questions and expressed genuine interest in
working in our movement.  I believe this chapter will be a great
asset to our state and national organization. I am grateful to
Dottie Neely, our state membership co-chairman, for her help in
getting this group together.

**Canadian Braille Authority:
We recently received a press release which said in part:  The
Canadian Braille Authority was created May 29, 1989, in response
to the demands of teachers, producers, and consumers of Braille
to ensure consistency in the production of Braille from coast to
coast in both official languages. Until now there has been no
formal, unified Canadian authority on the use of Braille,
although there has been general acceptance of codes and
standards. The Canadian Braille Authority will serve as a guide
for people teaching and producing Braille and will, as a result,
ensure that blind people across Canada will be learning and
reading standard Braille in both French and English. The Canadian
Braille Authority is an independent group, chaired by Arnold
Jones, Superintendent of the Atlantic Provinces Special Education
Authority.  The members of the Canadian Braille Authority include
Braille educators, consumers, and producers, including the
Canadian Council of the Blind, the Canadian National Institute
for the Blind, and L'Institut Nazareth et Louis Braille. 

**Diabetic Breakthroughs:
The Summer, 1989,  Voice of the Diabetic  (the publication of the
Diabetics Division of the National Federation of the Blind, says
that researchers in California have  found a new way to prevent
diabetes in mice. First, the animals' white blood cells are
incubated with cyclosporine and the immune hormone interleukin 2,
then treated cells are injected back into the animals. The
treatment may work, because it fosters the growth of suppressor
cells, which call off the attack against the pancreas. After
further study, the two plan
to test the treatment on children in the early stages of Type I
diabetes.  Liming Hao, M.D., and Kevin Lafferty, Ph.D., of the
Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Denver have
uncovered evidence that, in diabetic mice, the pancreas itself
may be responsible for provoking the immune assault on
insulin-making cells that result in Type I diabetes.  Scientists
crossed non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice with a strain of
non-diabetic mice, then transplanted fetal pancreases from each
of
the parent strains into their offspring. The pancreases from the
non-diabetic mice developed normally while the pancreases from
the NOD mice were stunted in growth and often contained cyst-like
malformations. The researchers plan to study the genetics of the
NOD mice for clues to the pancreatic abnormality. 

**New Job With Pride:
Having a job is a good feeling. Roger Eggerss, a member of the
NFB of Iowa, can speak from firsthand experience. He has a job,
and he is proud of it. In a letter to the Editor he says:
 Please publish the following announcement in the  Braille
Monitor . I found a job. I'll be a telemarketer for a company
called Pioneer Tele Technology (PTT), which is in Sergeant Bluff,
Iowa, near Sioux City. I'll be selling MCI long distance services
over the telephone.  I took the test and scored 96 out of 100.
I'm looking forward to the job. Thank you very much for
publishing this announcement.  

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: For Sale: 
Optacon, purchased in 1978 but in excellent condition. Price $700
or best offer. Contact in any form at any time: Ms. Pat Smolak,
77 Linwel Road, Unit 65, St. Catharines, Ontario, CANADA L2N 6R1;
phone 416-646-3996.

**Progressive Step in Montana:
The following item is taken from the June-July, 1989,  Montana
Observer , the publication of our Montana affiliate:
 For the first time since 1947 the organization's annual
convention was not held on the Montana State University campus in
Bozeman. Nobody was sure what would happen if we went to another
location, but last fall it was time to make a decision, and the
Board of Directors chose Great Falls since it has the largest
chapter and had more willing
hands ready to go to work. May 26-28 was the date. Several times
throughout the weekend people were asked to comment on the time
and place of this year's meeting. No one offered any criticism
whatever; and, quite the contrary, there seemed to be unanimous
support for moving the convention from city to city in the
future. As a result, the Capital City Chapter in Helena will host
the 1990 convention, and Billings was tentatively selected for
1991. 
Comment by the  Monitor  Editor: The reason for the connection
with Montana State University is that our Montana affiliate holds
a six-week orientation program there each summer. I have attended
Montana conventions, and the serious business of the state
organization has tended to be upstaged by the details of the
training program and the social activities. Even the annual
banquets have often concentrated on local color instead of a
Federation focus. The decision to have
the convention move to different parts of the state is a sign of
progress and shifting emphasis.

**Maine Convention:
Sandy Sanborn writes: The National Federation of the Blind of
Maine held its annual convention in South Portland on May 20,
1989. NFB Secretary Joyce Scanlan was the national
representative.  A principal focus of the day's program was the
discussion with Gary Nichols, director of the Maine State
Library. That institution has closed its regional library
sections and centralized all operations in Augusta, and there
were concerns about the program's remaining effective and
responsive to the blind reader. Major emphasis was given to
Braille literacy through speeches and a workshop. We feel
strongly that there is no substitute for reading and writing
Braille. There was also a demonstration of the Kurzweil Reading
Machine and other technology.  We discussed the bill we caused to
be introduced in the legislature to have blind children educated
like all other children by the Department of Education.  In Maine
the Division of Eye Care of the Department of Human Services
still controls the education of blind children (or, sometimes,
lack thereof).
 The following people were elected: Pat Estes, President; Connie
LaBlond, Vice President; Sandy Sanborn, Secretary; and Mike
Jacuabois, Treasurer.  In addition to the officers, those on the
Board are: Jeanne Hume, Robert McInitch and Roger Cusson.

**Correspondence Requested:
Gertrude Van Tassel Ward writes to say:  I would like to hear
from people in other parts of the United States, especially
Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia.  If you wish to correspond with
her, the address is: Mrs. Gertrude Van Tassel Ward, 1801 Hamilton
Terrace, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania 18411. Correspondence should
be sent in Braille.

**Elected:
On June 12, 1989, the Greater Brockton Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts elected officers for
two-year terms:  Donna Silba, President; David Holden, Vice
President; Alice Maynard, Secretary; Dorothy Doyle, Treasurer;
Peter Passalaqua, Sergeant-At-Arms; and Linda Hayward and Mary
Szczerba, Lay Members.

**Appointed:
We have been informed that NFB of Wisconsin board member Bob
Raisbeck
has been appointed to serve on the Advisory Committee of Wausau,
Wisconsin's Visually Impaired Persons program at North Central
Technical College.  The purpose and responsibility of this
committee is to advise the coordinator and staff on issues
affecting the program and the state's blind community. At the
present time both a committee and a subcommittee have been
appointed to address the problem of student housing for the
program.

**Fifty Years a Federationist:
 From the President:  Mabel Nading was for a great many years the
Braille teacher in Iowa under the leadership of Dr. Jernigan. 
Recently I received a letter from her. I found it particularly
moving, because Mabel helped teach me the spirit and the
fortitude that are
so much a part of the movement. She has been a member in the
Federation since before we came to organize in 1940. Here is her
letter:

                                                 Des Moines, Iowa
                                                     June 1, 1989

Dear Marc:
Enclosed is a check for fifty dollars, one dollar for each of the
fifty years that I have been a member of the organized movement.
On June 6, 1939, I joined the Iowa Association of the Blind. The
dues were twenty-five cents a year. I just happened to have a
quarter in my pocket when Miss Bess Arthaud, the treasurer, asked
me to join.  So I joined; but as for being a Federationist, I was
not.
When I married Gene I belonged to an organization man with roots
in the union labor movement. So my interest began to grow.
In probably 1952 Mr. Archibald came to the state convention. I
had a long discussion with him and, in light of what happened
with him in the future, it was strange that I came out of that
discussion a Federationist. I still am one.
I attended my first convention in 1946 in St. Louis. The next
convention was in 1953 in Milwaukee, and after that I never
missed a year until bronchial asthma caught me in 1982. Now I
don't respond well to tension, crowds, and smoke; but I could not
let this fiftieth anniversary go
by without doing something. Put the money to use wherever it is
needed.  Of course, I knew you would do that.
Special love to Patricia, David, and Diana.
                                                       Sincerely,
                                                     Mabel Nading
A COMPLIMENT AND A CHALLENGE
by David A. Ticchi
 The following remarks were delivered as the keynote address at
the state convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
Massachusetts in October, 1986. David Ticchi is one of the
leaders of the NFB of Massachusetts. 

When I thought about what remarks I would make this morning, I
remembered the words of a high school speech teacher on the
subject of speaking in public. She said,  Don't have any theme in
your presentation which could not fit on a bumper sticker.  It
seems to me that there is some wisdom in that statement, and so I
have entitled my remarks  A Compliment and a Challenge. 
I begin with the compliment directed to our national founders and
our national leadership. Before 1940, despite the problems facing
the blind of this nation, there was no National Federation of the
Blind. The organized blind movement, which Dr. tenBroek and
others started in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1940, has had
an impact on the lives of all blind people, whether they realize
it or not. So certainly a compliment is due to Dr. tenBroek, to
the others gathered at Wilkes-Barre, and to the national
leadership we have been blessed with over the years. Dr.
Jernigan, who is here with us today, is to be commended for his
leadership and for his unselfish work on behalf of the blind. I
would also like to offer a compliment to the founders of the NFB
of Massachusetts and to their predecessors, the Associated Blind
of Massachusetts. Without their commitment and effort we would
not be here today.
In 1975 I didn't know anything about the organized blind
movement. In fact, I didn't know much about  the blindness
system.  As a result of research I did while studying for my
doctorate, I became aware of both the NFB and the ACB. Knowing
very little about either organization, I decided to attend both
national conventions, and I began to read Federation literature
and to discuss it with Federationists. After thinking about the
issues, I joined the National Federation of the Blind. It was
apparent to me that the NFB had a philosophy, a body of
literature, and a history of accomplishment. Through the
concerted action of its leaders and members, its programs and
divisions, the NFB had become the most potent and most purposeful
force in work with the blind. That is why I joined the
Federation, and that is why I began my address today by paying
compliments.  The people of the first and second generations of
the Federation have given us a heritage of growth and
achievement. The NFB is an increasingly vital movement in this
country as Dr. Jernigan has often said, and he has often reminded
us of the challenges which lie ahead. There are still
difficulties facing us which have confronted us for years, and as
we proceed and make progress, we continue to encounter new
problems. What precisely is our most compelling challenge?
I see it as  education . Why education? Our goal is to have every
blind person in this nation be treated as a first-class citizen
and to be integrated into every aspect of life in his or her
community. As Federationists we believe that the greatest problem
facing blind people is not the lack of sight, but the attitudes
of the sighted public and, as a result the attitudes which we the
blind hold about ourselves.
The work of changing attitudes has an educational and cognitive
dimension. We must provide people with information so that
policies, strategies, decisions, and programs will have the
proper leadership, direction, and acceptance.  But education of
whom? To begin with, education of ourselves. We have often said
that unless we as Federationists take the responsibility to do
our work as a consumer group, who will? Indeed, would it even be
reasonable to expect anyone else to do it? Certainly not! If we
are to be an effective consumer advocacy organization, we have to
do it ourselves. Is there another consumer group or in fact any
organization in the blindness field that has such a clearly
delineated philosophy and such a body of literature as the NFB
does? Absolutely not! I encourage, I urge you to read NFB
literature and ACB and agency publications if you can locate
them. Think about and compare them.
 Our literature has a point of view, a perspective, a consistent
philosophy. It covers a wide variety of subjects, ranging from
jobs to resources for parents and educators of the blind to the
pros and cons of preferential treatment.  Our literature has
substance, and that is one of the reasons why this organization
has succeeded. Each of us should read it. After all, it is one
thing to point to its existence; but it is quite another to read,
to discuss, and to reflect upon it to live it. How many of us can
honestly say that we read the  Braille Monitor  every month? We
may subscribe, but do we read? We all know that the NFB was
founded in 1940 and that in the early 1960's a splinter broke
away to organize the American Council of the Blind.  But how many
of us know the history of that schism, documented in  The Man and
the Movement ?
Wider forms of education are also critically important  education
of the general public, of families with blind members; of the
parents of blind children; of educators of the blind; of
administrators, teachers, and counselors; of public officials and
the media. If we are going to change society's attitudes, we must
provide the right kind of information. As individual members of
the Federation, it is our responsibility to know and understand
that information and to be able to articulate and discuss it. If
we are going to work with the public, we must know what we are
talking about! In other words, not only is it necessary to
educate the public to recognize the rights and the capacities of
the blind, it is our responsibility to do so.
How do we meet this challenge? The pieces are in place. We have a
philosophy which works and an ample body of literature. Within
our organization we have a growing number of divisions and
committees, truly representative of our membership and of society
at large.
I doubt that there is any secret about what we have to do.  The
key to our success is work. We must regard it as very, very
serious business. It is vital because it affects not only our
lives and the lives of all blind people, but also the lives of
future generations of the blind.
As you consider this work, I ask you to think about it this way:
we have often said that the blind represent a cross section of
the whole of society, a subgroup that includes a full range of
personalities, intelligence, motivations, talents, skills, and
interests. In this room this morning there are excellent writers,
musicians, and scientists.  There are teachers and successful
business people, people with good public speaking and
organizational skills. There is a tremendous amount of valuable
ability and experience right here.
We must each consider how we as individuals can contribute to our
organization. How often do you hear people ask,  What can I do? 
Well, there is plenty to do and ample talent with which to do it.
We each need to find our niche.
I am not suggesting that everyone must spend X number of hours a
week or a month solely dedicated to the NFB. We all have lives
beyond the Federation. These lives and community activities can
help us strengthen our own organization. We cannot segregate
ourselves and live our lives in a vacuum.  We have to strike a
balance.
But I believe we should treat our Federation time and business as
an occupation. Treat your Federation responsibilities like a job
in which you are required to invest quality time and full effort.
We all know it is much easier not to. After all, we are not being
paid, at least not in a monetary way. On a cold winter day it is
much easier to sit at home than to attend a board or chapter
meeting. However, each of us is needed when Federation gatherings
take place. Each of us has a unique contribution to make. But not
all our work goes on at board or chapter meetings. In fact most
of our work takes place as a part of our daily lives and requires
a great deal of self- discipline.
Yes, we have work to do, but we are willing to do it because we
have dreams. Like Martin Luther King, we blind people have
dreams, for ourselves and for others:

- That the parents of blind children will have the same
expectations for them as for their sighted children.
- That blind parents will no longer have to fight for the custody
of their children, and that if they choose to adopt, they will be
able to do so, just like anyone else.
- That employers in this country will regard blind people as a
valuable human resource and afford us equal opportunity to reduce
our 70% unemployment rate.
- That the blind who are employed will not have to fight for the
minimum wage or against under-employment.
- That public officials won't speak of the blind in emotional,
sentimental, and stereotypical terms, but that they will work for
constructive legislation and enforce policies which will improve
the quality of our lives.
- That educators, both public and private, will recognize that
blind students are not fundamentally different from other
students.
- That blind students, who will of course have different needs
and use different learning techniques, will be able, with proper
training and opportunity, to compete on terms of equality with
their sighted peers.
- That the business sector of our society will regard us as
paying customers, so that we may travel freely, dine in
restaurants, shop at stores, and use banks without being pitied
or condescended to.
- That the blindness system will be truly responsive to the needs
of consumers.
- Finally, that blind people will be fully integrated into
society on terms of equality.

These dreams can and will come true.
I would like to conclude by suggesting that all of us think about
our participation in the Federation and reassess and reconfirm
our commitment to the organization. Think about your niche; think
about what you can do to make the NFB better. This is the final
part of the challenge: to commit ourselves to do our part of the
work to the best of our ability.
We are all leaders in our own way, every single one of us.  In an
essay on Franklin D. Roosevelt, Walter Lippmann said,  The true
test of any leader is that he leave behind a man with the will
and conviction to carry on.  Dr.  tenBroek and the others at
Wilkes-Barre did that. Dr.  Jernigan has done that. The founders
of the NFB of Massachusetts have done that. Each of us, too, can
leave behind someone with the will and the conviction to carry
on.


IS IT A FISH OR A FISHING POLE?
by Sheena Sethi
 Arlene (Sheena) Sethi was a 1987 NFB scholarship winner.  Here
are her reflections on a subject which is often controversial: 

A poor man sat at the edge of a lake, hungry and weak. He wore
nothing but a torn shirt with a ragged pair of jeans and an old
greasy baseball cap. Another man, sitting nearby, whistled some
old tunes while fishing. Beside him lay a container full of fish
which he had caught during the course of the day. As dusk
approached, the fisherman became weary and began to gather his
things in order to go home and cook a fresh hot meal. He noticed
the poor man staring hungrily at his container, and so he offered
him some of his catch.  The poor man looked at him with those
sad, hungry eyes. The words that came to his lips in response to
this offer were:   Give me a fish and I will eat for a day; but
if you give me a fishing pole, I will be full for a lifetime. 
These wise words of the poor man came to me this past winter when
I attempted to lock my window. No matter how hard I tried, I was
unable to lock it, and my apartment became steadily colder. In
order to solve this problem, I asked a next-door neighbor to
teach me how to lock the window. Her response to my request was
to go over to the window and lock it. You might say I have a very
kind neighbor; but I, like the poor man, was a little offended. I
asked to be taught how to lock the window in order that I would
be able to do it in the future. The locking of the window by my
neighbor was the giving of a  fish.  If she had taught me how to
lock the window, she would have been giving me something more
beneficial, a  fishing pole. 
The difference between a  fish  and a  fishing pole  is very
significant. A  fish  is a handout, which is demeaning because it
supports a belief that the receiver of the  fish  is not as
capable as the giver of the  fish.  A  fishing pole  on the other
hand is a tool by which the disadvantaged individual is given an
opportunity to become equal to the rest of society. With a 
fishing pole,  an individual becomes more self-confident and, as
a result, self-reliant.
The wise words of the poor man can also be applied to issues
pertaining to those who are blind. For centuries the blind have
received  free fish,  which helped them survive for a day or two
but never permitted them to become productive or independent. For
example, the blind were placed under the wardship of society and
cared for like children rather than taught skills that would make
them independent. Finally, a few decades ago things began to
change. The blind learned to insist on  fishing poles  or tools
with which the same opportunities became available. While the
poor man demanded a  fishing pole,  the blind demanded education
and training by which they could become equal to others in
society. The poor man would be able to fish for his own food like
the fisherman; the blind person became skilled in the  games 
that sighted people play.
Blind people across the country may send Braille, large print, or
taped letters to anyone (sighted or blind) without paying
postage. Other specialized materials for the blind may also be
sent free. A sighted person, on the other hand, may not send the
same material postage free to a blind person or another sighted
person. To use the free postage privilege all the blind person
has to do is write  Free Matter for the Blind  on a parcel, and
the parcel will be delivered to any destination free of charge.
One might consider this gift from the federal postal service as
being helpful to blind people. I see this service as an offer of 
fish,  a handout to the blind community. Accepting this  fish  or
free postage has not helped the blind man or woman, because it
only reinforces society's notion that blind people are less than
self-sufficient. This handout is demeaning to the blind; it
reinforces a belief that the blind are second-class and inferior.
Accepting this handout does not improve the confidence or in any
way increase the capabilities of blind individuals.
On the other hand, when the blind accept  Free Matter for the
Blind  in the case of library materials and aids, it is not a
handout, or a  fish.  Instead, it is a  fishing pole  because it
provides the blind with the same tools that sighted people use to
better themselves. It is only fair that the blind be able to use
these same resources at the same price (nothing) in order to
educate themselves. With the same access to education as the
sighted, blind individuals gain self-confidence in their own
capabilities. Using  Free Matter for the Blind  for educational
materials enables the blind to become as independent as the
sighted.
When  Free Matter for the Blind  is used as a freebie or for free
postage, it is not something which helps the blind. It only
hinders their progress. When  Free Matter for the Blind  is used
for library materials and aids, it promotes the advancement of
the blind and, therefore, is an opportunity by which the blind
can compete with the sighted. Blind people must be careful as to
what kind of services are  fish  and which are  fishing poles, 
which are freebies and which are helpful tools. It is only with
helpful tools that blind people can begin to compete with the
sighted and demand first-class citizenship.


CONUNDRUM

     First person: With respect to the first Miniature in the
July, 1989, Monitor, are you really sure you got it?
     Second person: Well, at first I thought I did, and I'm good
at riddles and crossword puzzles--but the more I think about it,
the more I'm puzzled. It just doesn't make sense.
     First person: Since you say you are good at riddles and
crossword puzzles, let's treat it like a puzzle. I'll give you
some clues: 1) The pun is double, and the key is the
pronunciation, not the spelling. After all, you can't make a 
flower , but you can make  flour . 2) What relates to the mouth?
You could say  vocal , but that isn't it. Why don't you just read
the Miniature again? 3) You need to read the rest of the July,
1989, Monitor to get the context. It all fits together.


RECIPES
by Gail Bryant
 Gail and Ed Bryant are Federationists from Missouri.  Diabetic
himself, Ed is Editor of  The Voice of the Diabetic,  the
publication of the Diabetics Division of the National Federation
of the Blind. Here are recipes for diabetics submitted by Gail. 

DIABETIC COOKIES

 Ingredients: 
1 cup chopped apples
1 cup chopped dates
2 cups chopped raisins
2 cups water
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 cup Crisco
6 tablespoons liquid or dry sweetener
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups chopped nuts

 Method:  Boil or microwave first four ingredients for three
minutes, making sure that dish placed in microwave is covered.
Remove from heat. Add Crisco, sweetener, and vanilla. Cool
thoroughly and add rest of ingredients. Cool in refrigerator.
Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees
for twelve to fifteen minutes.

DIABETIC CARROT BREAD

 Ingredients: 
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup quick-cooking rolled oatmeal
1/2 cup bran cereal
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon baking soda
artificial sweetener
 (equal to 1 cup sugar, depending on brand)
1 cup shredded raw carrots
 (used strained baby carrots, such as Gerber, to avoid grating)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

 Method:  Combine flour, bran, oats, and soda. Set aside. In
large mixing bowl add margarine and sweetener and beat well. Add
eggs, milk, vanilla, orange peel, and mix well. Stir in carrots.
Add flour mixture one-third at a time, beating well after each
addition. Stir in nuts. Bake in eight- by four- by two-inch loaf
pan at 350 degrees for fifty-five to sixty minutes or until
toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Freezes well. Makes
18 slices.  Exchanges: 1/2 bread, 1/2 vegetable, 1-1/2 fat.
Note: Although the taste tester for  The Voice  enjoys this
recipe,  Monitor  readers may sample it first, since it has not
appeared in  The Voice .

PEACH COBBLER DESSERT FOR DIABETICS

 Ingredients: 
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 3/4 teaspoon liquid sweetener
1/2 cup water (or juice from peaches if you use canned) 4 cups
fresh sliced peaches (if peeled)
 (or 2 16-ounce cans sliced peaches if water packed) 1 cup
packaged Bisquick
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon peel

 Method:  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine cornstarch, one
tablespoon sweetener, salt, and water in 1- 1/2 quart casserole.
Stir in peaches in medium mixing bowl, mix Bisquick, cream,
vanilla, 3/4 teaspoon liquid sweetener, and lemon peel until
smooth. Carefully spread over peaches.  Bake forty minutes
uncovered or until golden brown. Peaches should be bubbly and
tender. Makes 8 servings. Exchanges: 1 bread, 1 fruit, 1 fat.


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

**New Chapter:
Hazel Staley, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of North Carolina, writes: The Triad Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of North Carolina was organized on May 6,
1989. The significance of Triad is that it is located in an area
where there are three major cities.  The following officers were
elected and will serve until November: President, Debra Harris;
Secretary, Mary Horne; Treasurer, Angie Stewart. The chapter
meets the first Saturday afternoon of each month. We welcome this
group into our affiliate.

**Transcendental Meditation:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:   My name
is Kim Cole, and I am a Federationist and transcendental
meditator. I would like to correspond with other Federationists
who are involved in TM and those who wish to know more about it.
TM is a simple relaxation technique which helps to develop one's
full mental potential. Please write me at: Kim Cole, MIU Box
1136, Fairfield, Iowa 52556. Letters may be in Braille. 

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: For sale:
A two-year-old, little used TSI VersaBraille II with disk drives,
software disks, and manuals. It is in excellent working
condition. A printer is available at extra cost if desired. Unit
will be shipped at our expense. Price: $2,695.  Contact: Jeanie
or P. C. Wood, 8103 Viola Street, Springfield, Virginia 22152;
(703) 569-6676.

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

**Lifeskills:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: 
ANNOUNCING:  Lifeskills: A Can-Do Program for Living With
Blindness 
This book, written by an experienced teacher of blind adults,
will give those new to blindness, and professionals working with
them, a positive approach to a new way of living. The author, who
has been blind since infancy, believes fervently that there are
very few things a blind person cannot do safely and efficiently.
Learn how to grill meats over flaming charcoal, how to light a
pilot light, mark a thermostat, apply make-up, test home-made
candy for doneness, turn a sizzling, broiled steak. Topics are
arranged alphabetically from abacus to writing (print).  A 
miscellaneous  section covers material that does not fit easily
into other sections. Topics include baking, frying, laundering,
labeling clothing, identifying money and managing bank accounts,
typing, cleaning,
travel basically all of those things we all do on a day- to-day
basis. There is an updated resource guide and a bibliography at
the back of the book.
Besides being a how-to manual, this book addresses some of the
negative information in recent books and articles written by and
about blind people. Those new to blindness need to know that they
can cut up their meat when eating at a restaurant, travel about
their community without waiting for a sighted guide and can live
independently and work competitively, for a full and happy life.
Lifeskills is available on four-track cassettes and in print for
$19.95 with a $3 shipping charge for the print only. The price
includes at least three biannual updates of resources and
information, sent to you in the same format as your original
order. The cassette edition is tone-indexed; the print is
packaged in a loose-leaf binder so that new information sheets
can be easily added. Send check or money order to: Janiece
Betker, 1886 29th Ave. N.W., New Brighton, Minnesota 55112;
Phone: (612) 639-1435. Agency purchase orders accepted, payment
net 30 days.

**Blind Without Glasses is Not Blind:
The following news story, which was widely circulated throughout
Minnesota in early June of 1989, has interesting implications:

Court: Blind Without Glasses is Not Disabled

 Associated Press.  ST. PAUL A person who is considered legally
blind without corrective lenses is not a disabled person and
entitled to employment protection under the Minnesota Human
Rights Act, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The high court, in a 5-2 ruling to be filed June 2 rejected the
contention of the state Human Rights Department that Allan Tervo
was discriminated against by Hennepin County because he was
denied a position as a detention deputy on the basis of his
faulty vision.
According to court documents, Tervo has uncorrected distant
vision of 20-200 and corrected vision of 20-15. However, the
Hennepin County Sheriff's Department requires uncorrected vision
of 20-100 in each eye for deputies.
Tervo was among 30 finalists for the deputy position from a field
of 900 applicants before he was notified that he was
eliminated....

**Ski for Light:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:   The
fifteenth annual international Ski for Light week will be held
from Sunday to Sunday, February 25 to March 4, 1990, near
Brainerd, Minnesota. The organization is especially interested in
reaching blind people who have not yet attended a Ski for Light
week. The program consists of one-to-one instruction by
experienced cross-country skiers, optional clinics and seminars,
and a variety of social and cultural activities. Participants do
not need to be athletes or skiers, merely people interested in
learning to cross- country ski. The cost for the week is $425
(double occupancy), which includes room, board, ground
transportation to and from the airport, and a registration fee.
Air fare to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport is the
responsibility of the individual. A limited number of stipends
will be available for first-time participants. For more
information contact: Alan Schlank, Selection Coordinator, 4019
North River Street, Arlington, Virginia 22207; or telephone him
at (703) 538-4713 before 10:00 p.m.  Eastern Time. 

**APH Report:
The American Printing House for the Blind has asked us to
carry the following announcement:
The  Annual Report  of the American Printing House for the Blind
(APH) is now available in an audio version. APH is offering its
fiscal year 1988 report on a single cassette recorded on four
tracks at 15/16 inches per second. The cassette is free of
charge. The APH  Annual Report  is published each year after the
annual meeting of ex officio trustees. It incorporates reports on
the proceedings of the annual meeting, detailed information on
the registration of students eligible under the federal quota
program, and extensive financial information, including the
official accountant's statements. To receive either an audio or a
print copy of APH's  Annual Report , please write or call APH
Consumer Information Services at: American Printing House for the
Blind, 1839 Frankfort Avenue, Post Office Box 6085, Louisville,
Kentucky 40206-0085; phone (502) 895-2405.

**Hawaii:
Floyd Matson, Treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind
of Hawaii and long-time leader of the Federation, reports that on
May 13, 1989, at the convention of the National Federation of the
Blind of Hawaii, the following people were elected: Ricky
Melchor, President; Nani Fife, First Vice President; Gail Hall,
Second Vice President; Francine McLaine, Secretary; and Floyd
Matson, Treasurer.  Dr. Matson is no stranger to Federationists.
He has been involved in the Federation for over thirty years. He
and Dr.  tenBroek worked together on many publications and dozens
of Federation projects.

**South Dakota Convention:
Karen Mayry, President of the National Federation of the Blind of
South Dakota, reports that the 1989 state convention held May 19
and 20 was a resounding success. Jan Bailey, one of the leaders
of the NFB of Minnesota, and Barbara Pierce, Associate Editor of
the  Braille Monitor  and this year's National Representative,
took an active part in a day-long seminar for parents and
educators of blind children on Friday. James Knoechne, age 7, and
Rory Hoffman, age 11, received awards from the South Dakota
affiliate in this year's Braille Readers are Leaders Contest. NFB
members, state officials, four state library representatives, and
Congressman Tim Johnson gathered on Saturday to discuss vendors'
issues, library services, legislative changes, and NFB concerns.
The affiliate presented two $500 scholarships to outstanding
college students.

**Social Security:
J. Kenneth McGill, External Affairs Officer at the Social
Security Administration in Baltimore, writes as follows:  The
Family Support Act of 1988 requires that 1989 tax returns show
the Social Security numbers (SSNs) of claimed dependents who are
age two or older. This law amended the Tax Report Act of 1986,
which required that tax returns show the SSN of any claimed
dependent age five or older.  Under the new law we estimate that
at least half the children age two through four (over 2.7
million) will need Social Security numbers.
We are seeking your assistance and cooperation in advising
parents whose children do not yet have SSNs that they should
apply for the numbers as early as possible and well before the
end of the year to avoid any worry about this matter when they
file their tax returns next year. Parents will be pleased to know
they can utilize the telephone and the mail to obtain an SSN for
their child. The phone number is listed in your telephone book
under Social Security Administration.  There is no need to visit
an office to obtain an SSN for anyone under eighteen.

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: 
VersaBraille Classic for sale. Two adapters, overlay tape,
microphone, earphone, Braille and print manuals. Asking price:
$1,200 or best offer. Also for sale a Smith Corona large print
typewriter with cartridges. Contact: Isaac Obie, 55 Waverly
Avenue, Apt. 210, Watertown, Massachusetts 02172; (617) 923-3050.

**Action from Braille Action:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:   The
Braille Action Lab has for sale Braille copies of many texts
which are usually found only in print. These include technical
manuals, appliance manuals, cookbooks, songbooks, and paperbacks.
Please contact us about your Brailling needs. Send for a free
catalog to: Braille Action Lab, 358 Life Sciences Building,
University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292; phone (502)
588-8258. 

**MOBILITY:
Dr. Charles Hallenbeck, one of the leaders of the National
Federation of the Blind of Kansas, writes as follows: This
announcement from KANSYS, Inc., 1016 Ohio, Lawrence, Kansas 66044
A software product in preparation at KANSYS, Inc., called 
MOBILITY  is a text-adventure game based on cane travel
techniques and dog guide practices. It is our collective
experience that mobility is not only possible but can even be
enjoyable. The challenge of blind mobility in a game format
provides a welcome change for  ZORK  and for  DRAGONS AND
DUNGEONS  fans and spreads the word that it is okay to be blind.
Write for more information or call Dave at (919) 843-0351 or
Chuck or Cindy at (913) 842- 4016.

**New Chapter:
Hazel Staley, President of the National Federation of the Blind
of North Carolina, writes as follows: I am delighted to announce
that we have a new chapter, the Furniture City National
Federation of the Blind, in High Point, North Carolina. It was
organized on May 23, 1989, with sixteen charter members. Its
officers are: President, Bettye J.  Austin; Vice President, James
Lilly; Secretary, Mary Clyburn; Treasurer, Mary Weeks; and Board
Members Daniel David and Wesley Whitsett. In the organizational
meeting these people asked some very intelligent questions and
expressed genuine interest in working in our movement. I believe
this chapter will be a great asset to our state and national
organization. I am grateful to Dottie Neely, our state membership
co-chairman, for her help in getting this group together.

**Canadian Braille Authority:
We recently received a press release which said in part:   The
Canadian Braille Authority was created May 29, 1989, in response
to the demands of teachers, producers, and consumers of Braille
to ensure consistency in the production of Braille from coast to
coast in both official languages.  Until now there has been no
formal, unified Canadian authority on the use of Braille,
although there has been general acceptance of codes and
standards. The Canadian Braille Authority will serve as a guide
for people teaching and producing Braille and will, as a result,
ensure that blind people across Canada will be learning and
reading standard Braille in both French and English. The Canadian
Braille Authority is an independent group, chaired by Arnold
Jones, Superintendent of the Atlantic Provinces Special Education
Authority. The members of the Canadian Braille Authority include
Braille educators, consumers, and producers, including the
Canadian Council of the Blind, the Canadian National Institute
for the Blind, and L'Institut Nazareth et Louis Braille. 

**Diabetic Breakthroughs:
The Summer, 1989,  Voice of the Diabetic  (the publication of the
Diabetics Division of the National Federation of the Blind, says
that researchers in California have  found a new way to prevent
diabetes in mice.  First, the animals' white blood cells are
incubated with cyclosporine and the immune hormone interleukin 2,
then treated cells are injected back into the animals. The
treatment may work, because it fosters the growth of suppressor
cells, which call off the attack against the pancreas. After
further study, the researchers plan to test the treatment on
children in the early stages of Type I diabetes. Liming Hao,
M.D., and Kevin Lafferty, Ph.D., of the Barbara Davis Center for
Childhood Diabetes in Denver have uncovered evidence that, in
diabetic mice, the pancreas itself may be responsible for
provoking the immune assault on insulin-making cells that result
in Type I diabetes.  Scientists crossed non-obese diabetic (NOD)
mice with a strain of non-diabetic mice, then transplanted fetal
pancreases from each of the parent strains into their offspring.
The pancreases from the non-diabetic mice developed normally
while the pancreases from the NOD mice were stunted in growth and
often contained cyst-like malformations. The researchers plan to
study the genetics of the NOD mice for clues to the pancreatic
abnormality. 

**New Job With Pride:
Having a job is a good feeling. Roger Eggerss, a member of the
NFB of Iowa, can speak from firsthand experience. He has a job,
and he is proud of it. In a letter to the Editor he says:
 Please publish the following announcement in the  Braille
Monitor . I found a job. I'll be a telemarketer for a company
called Pioneer Tele Technology (PTT), which is in Sergeant Bluff,
Iowa, near Sioux City.  I'll be selling MCI long distance
services over the telephone. I took the test and scored 96 out of
100. I'm looking forward to the job. Thank you very much for
publishing this announcement. 

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: For Sale:
Optacon, purchased in 1978 but in excellent condition.  Price
$700 or best offer. Contact in any form at any time:  Ms. Pat
Smolak, 77 Linwel Road, Unit 65, St. Catharines, Ontario, CANADA
L2N 6R1; phone (416) 646-3996.

**Progressive Step in Montana:
     The following item is taken from the June-July, 1989, 
Montana Observer , the publication of our Montana affiliate:
      For the first time since 1947 the
organization's annual convention was not held on the Montana
State University campus in Bozeman. Nobody was sure what would
happen if we went to another location, but last fall it was time
to make a decision, and the Board of Directors chose Great Falls
since it has the largest chapter and had more willing hands ready
to go to work. May 26-28 was the date. Several times throughout
the weekend people were asked to comment on the time and place of
this year's meeting. No one offered any criticism whatever; and,
quite the contrary, there seemed to be unanimous support for
moving the convention from city to city in the future. As a
result, the Capital City Chapter in Helena will host the 1990
convention, and Billings was tentatively selected for 1991. 
     Comment by the  Monitor  Editor: The reason for the
connection with Montana State University is that our Montana
affiliate holds a six-week orientation program there each summer.
I have attended Montana conventions, and the serious business of
the state organization has tended to be upstaged by the details
of the training program and the social activities. Even the
annual banquets have often concentrated on local color instead of
a Federation focus.  The decision to have the convention move to
different parts of the state is a sign of progress and shifting
emphasis.

**Maine Convention:
Sandy Sanborn writes: The National Federation of the Blind of
Maine held its annual convention in South Portland on May 20,
1989. NFB Secretary Joyce Scanlan was the national
representative.  A principal focus of the day's program was the
discussion with Gary Nichols, director of the Maine State
Library. That institution has closed its regional library
sections and centralized all operations in Augusta, and there
were concerns about the program's remaining effective and
responsive to the blind reader. Major emphasis was given to
Braille literacy through speeches and a workshop. We feel
strongly that there is no substitute for reading and writing
Braille. There was also a demonstration of the Kurzweil Reading
Machine and other technology.  We discussed the bill we caused to
be introduced in the legislature to have blind children educated
like all other children by the Department of Education. In Maine
the Division of Eye Care of the Department of Human Services
still controls the education of blind children (or, sometimes,
lack thereof).
 The following people were elected: Pat Estes, President; Connie
LaBlond, Vice President; Sandy Sanborn, Secretary; and Mike
Jacuabois, Treasurer. In addition to the officers, those on the
Board are: Jeanne Hume, Robert McInitch and Roger Cusson.

**Correspondence Requested:
Gertrude Van Tassel Ward writes to say:  I would like to hear
from people in other parts of the United States, especially
Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia.  If you wish to correspond with
her, the address is: Mrs. Gertrude Van Tassel Ward, 1801 Hamilton
Terrace, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania 18411. Correspondence should
be sent in Braille.

**Elected:
On June 12, 1989, the Greater Brockton Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts elected officers for
two-year terms: Donna Silba, President; David Holden, Vice
President; Alice Maynard, Secretary; Dorothy Doyle, Treasurer;
Peter Passalaqua, Sergeant-At-Arms; and Linda Hayward and Mary
Szczerba, Lay Members.

**Appointed:
We have been informed that NFB of Wisconsin board member Bob
Raisbeck has been appointed to serve on the Advisory Committee of
Wausau, Wisconsin's Visually Impaired Persons program at North
Central Technical College. The purpose and responsibility of this
committee is to advise the coordinator and staff on issues
affecting the program and the state's blind community. At the
present time both a committee and a subcommittee have been
appointed to address the problem of student housing for the
program.

**Fifty Years a Federationist:
 From the President:  Mabel Nading was for a great many years the
Braille teacher in Iowa under the leadership of Dr. Jernigan.
Recently I received a letter from her. I found it particularly
moving, because Mabel helped teach me the spirit and the
fortitude that are so much a part of the movement. She has been a
member in the Federation since before we came to organize in
1940. Here is her letter:

Des Moines, Iowa
June 1, 1989

Dear Marc:
Enclosed is a check for fifty dollars, one dollar for each of the
fifty years that I have been a member of the organized movement.
On June 6, 1939, I joined the Iowa Association of the Blind. The
dues were twenty-five cents a year. I just happened to have a
quarter in my pocket when Miss Bess Arthaud, the treasurer, asked
me to join. So I joined; but as for being a Federationist, I was
not.
When I married Gene I belonged to an organization man with roots
in the union labor movement. So my interest began to grow.
In probably 1952 Mr. Archibald came to the state convention.  I
had a long discussion with him and, in light of what happened
with him in the future, it was strange that I came out of that
discussion a Federationist. I still am one.  I attended my first
convention in 1946 in St. Louis. The next convention was in 1953
in Milwaukee, and after that I never missed a year until
bronchial asthma caught me in 1982. Now I don't respond well to
tension, crowds, and smoke; but I could not let this fiftieth
anniversary go by without doing something. Put the money to use
wherever it is needed. Of course, I knew you would do that.
Special love to Patricia, David, and Diana.
Sincerely,
Mabel Nading
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