                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                          October, 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 

                             * * * *



           Letters to the President, address changes,
        subscription requests, orders for NFB literature,
       articles for the Monitor, and letters to the Editor
             should be sent to the National Office. 

                             * * * *
 


Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about twenty-five 
dollars per year. Members are invited, and non-members are
requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be
made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: 
 

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

                             * * * *

THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION
SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES

ISSN 0006-8829

                  NFB NET BBS:  (612) 696-1975
               WorldWide Web:  http://www.nfb.org
                      THE BRAILLE MONITOR
       PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

                            CONTENTS
                          OCTOBER, 1989

CONVENTION ROUNDUP
by Barbara Pierce

PRESIDENTIAL REPORT
  by Marc Maurer

LANGUAGE AND THE FUTURE OF THE BLIND
by Marc Maurer

1989 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND AWARDS

THE CLASS OF 1989: 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

A MEDITATION ON MOORE'S MOUNTAIN
by Ramona Walhof

WHITE CANE THE SILENT ANSWER
by Bill J. Isaacs

TOOL OF THE TRADE
  by Nancy Scott

A CUT IN THE DARK
  by Wayne Davis

CROSSING THE JORDAN: MEMORIES OF TORGER LIEn
by Steve Jacobson

OF SYMBOLS AND GOOD SENSe

IT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU
  by Sharon Gold

OF YARD SALES, AIRLINES, AND THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES

RESOLUTIONS, 1989

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

                       CONVENTION ROUNDUP
                        by Barbara Pierce

Every National Federation of the Blind convention has a unique
character.  In times of particular challenge the mood is
concentrated, focused, and determined. Some years the enthusiasm
and energy have forced those chairing convention sessions and the
banquet to resort to steady use of the gavel. The mood of the
1989 convention in Denver, Colorado, was as clearly defined as
that of any recent gathering. It was joy the quiet joy one
sometimes stumbles upon in the midst of hard work and challenge,
a momentary pause in the frantic rush of activity, during which
one savors the contentment of a job well in hand and the love of
colleagues who share a dream.
Complications, worry, and deep sadness were, of course, present
at the convention. Several conventioneers were hospitalized,
including Gerry Burke and Bill Parker, both from Virginia and
both requiring emergency gall bladder surgery. The press of
Federationists coming and going was so great that the elevators
were slow, giving the delegates ample opportunity to get to know
each other while they waited.  Above all, the deaths during the
weeks immediately prior to the convention of Jim Walker (husband
of Barbara Walker, President of the Nebraska affiliate) and
Connie McCraw (widow of Maryland's Big John McCraw) were griefs
shared by the entire assembly. The most poignant moment of the
convention (and the one most eloquently illustrating the strength
and love which bind our movement together) came during the roll
call of states on Thursday morning, July 6, when Nebraska was
called. After providing the required information about who would
serve on the nominating committee, who was in attendance, and
when the next state convention would be held, Barbara Walker (the
state president, who with her two young children attended the
entire convention) spoke briefly as follows:

 I want to say to everyone here,  she said,  that our Federation
family does many things for many people. At this particular time
I want to thank everyone for the support that has been shown to
my family as we go through the most difficult thing I have ever
known. I want in particular to thank Fred Schroeder for the
eulogy he delivered on behalf of this organization at the
services for Jim.  It reached many people. I have received calls
from people who have opposed our organization on many occasions
who, I believe, were reached (and reached deeply) by the message.
As we continue in the various struggles which we have to face, I
will pledge to do my best to do the work which Jim faithfully
honored all the years of his life. I need our Federation family
very much right now, and everyone here is responding in a way
that is unbelievable to me. Thank you very much. 
President Maurer responded:
 We need you too, and we care for you as much as you do for us. 
Unlike Jim Walker's sudden and most unexpected death, Connie
McCraw's had been inevitable for some time. It had become clear
to her in May of 1987 that she did not have long to live, so she
arranged to take out a policy as part of the NFB's Deferred
Insurance Giving (DIG) Program. Connie died on June 1, 1989, only
a few weeks after her policy became incontestable that is, after
the Federation was assured of receiving the full $50,000 face
value.
In her memory the convention decided to establish the Connie
McCraw Memorial Fund in the DIG Program with a goal of one
million dollars so that chapters, state affiliates, and
individuals or groups could purchase $50,000 DIG policies on
people under the age of thirty-five at a cost of $3,000, to be
paid in full before the end of 1989. Throughout the week
announcements were made as policies were bought, and by the close
of the convention, the million dollar goal had been reached and
surpassed.  In fact, the entire DIG (Deferred Insurance Giving)
program which at the beginning of the convention had stood at
approximately seven and a quarter million dollars was by the end
of the convention approaching a record nine million dollars.
And there was more good news! The number of those making
contributions to the PAC (Pre-Authorized Check) Plan increased
from 1,164 at the start of the week to 1,255 at the close, and
the amount being contributed annually passed the $300,000 mark
for the first time ever, increasing from $278,000 to $303,000.
Given the expanding demand on our resources, this demonstration
of financial commitment on the part of the members was a message
from both the pocketbook and the heart.
On Monday, July 3, NFB divisions conducted several intensive
seminars and workshops, attended by hundreds of eager
Federationists.  Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker  was a
day-long seminar jointly sponsored by the NFB Parents of Blind
Children Division and the Job Opportunities for the Blind
Program. In addition, the Merchants Division conducted a seminar
on communications; and the Writers Division, the Computer Science
Division, and the Public Relations Committee all held intensive
workshops, which were enthusiastically attended.
On July 4 (now that the process has been computerized)
Federationists poured through the registration lines faster than
ever before. By the time of the Resolutions Committee meeting
that afternoon, more than 1,800 people had registered. They came
from every state and a number of foreign countries, and before
the week was out, more than 2,000 had registered.
The exhibits and items for sale this year were so numerous that
four large areas were required to contain them. Nowhere in the
country can a blind person learn so much so quickly about so many
aids and appliances as in the NFB convention exhibit area. Food,
clever t-shirts, new equipment, revolutionary software: all these
were to be found amid the throngs of Federation shoppers. The NFB
store and literature tables did a land-office business this year.
One of the most interesting products, however, was not sold in
the exhibit area at all. The NFB had produced sixty carbon-fiber
telescoping canes as an experiment, and the first sixty people to
reach the designated area on the convention floor on Friday
morning were able to purchase them. While it would not be
accurate to characterize the ensuing rush as a stampede, it could
certainly be said that the flow of traffic was lively and
congested.  The canes are lighter than the hollow fiberglas ones,
and they are advertised as being much stronger. They are also
more expensive, but eager purchasers were anxious to test them to
see if they are sufficiently tough and attractive to warrant our
producing them in quantity.  Hospitality throughout the week
occurred at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Denver, just three blocks
from the Radisson, headquarters for the convention. On Monday
evening the Colorado affiliate hosted a genuine western hoe-down,
to which the Coloradans (and a number of others) wore their
finest western duds, and Brian Johnson played blue grass and
country music interspersed with favorites requested by the
greenhorns.  On Wednesday a sell-out crowd enjoyed the music of
the Queen City Jazz Band, and Thursday at the annual reception
and dance everyone enjoyed the big band sound of a live
nine-piece ensemble. Although no hospitality had been planned for
Saturday evening following the banquet, an enthusiastic group
gathered around the Hyatt's grand piano to sing favorite
Federation songs and write a new one to the tune of  Yankee
Doodle,  commemorating our struggle with the U.
S. State Department.

 The State Department keeps us out;
 They say that we're not able; 
 They won't let our readers in  
 To read their secret cables. 


 (Refrain): 
 State Department let us in; 
 We want to serve our nation; 
 We will fight until we win 
 'Cause we're the Federation. 

 They say that we can't go abroad; 
 They say we'll be in danger; 
 They tell us we will be attacked 
 By every foreign stranger. 

 (Refrain) 

 The blind have travelled far and wide   To every state and
nation; 
 We can serve in every post 
 And every foreign station. 

 (Refrain) 

Thirteen committees and divisions held meetings on Tuesday, July
4, and seventeen did so on Wednesday, with several more meetings
scheduled later in the week. The Resolutions Committee
recommended nineteen resolutions for consideration by the
convention, and the Student Division conducted a workshop that
drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 250. As usual, the
problem was to decide which meetings to attend.

The annual meeting of the Board of Directors took place on
Wednesday morning, July 5, with a large and enthusiastic
audience. Peggy Pinder, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee,
introduced this year's group of scholarship winners. An article
about the class of '89 appears elsewhere in this issue.
The results of the past year's Associates contest were announced,
and the ground rules for next year's were laid down. In fact, the
clock is already running to recruit members-at-large as
Associates for the new contest. This year gold ribbons were
presented to the two best Associate recruiters: one to Tom
Stevens, Chairman of the Associates Committee, for recruiting 200
Associates, and one to Kenneth Jernigan for raising $7,856.
Eleven people were presented with red, white, and blue ribbons
for recruiting more than fifty Associates.  In ascending order
they are:
11. Norman Gardner, Arizona, 51 Associates; 10. Verla Kirsh,
Iowa, 64 Associates; 9. Dottie Neely, North Carolina, 71
Associates; 8.  Karen Mayry, South Dakota, 93; 7. Marc Maurer,
Maryland, 94; 6. Fred Schroeder, New Mexico, 106; 5. Frank Lee,
Alabama, 115; 4. Kenneth Jernigan, Maryland, 135; 3. Bill Isaacs,
Illinois, 189; 2. Betty Tetzlaff, Indiana, 191; and 1. Tom
Stevens, Missouri, 200.
Members of the NFB Research and Development Committee then
discussed two new projects they have been working on. The first
is a modification of a piece of equipment called the Pixelmaster,
which is used with a computer, enabling the user to draw raised
colored dots or lines of any shape. It lays down plastic material
on the page and can draw with great detail. With the NFB
modifications, it can now write Braille in addition to its other
type faces. Probably within a few months the NFB modifications
will be available to anyone purchasing the Pixelmaster machine.
Dr. Abraham Nemeth was present at the board meeting and briefly
described a program written by members of the Research and
Development Committee which creates a scientific calculator for
use with a talking computer.  Dr. Nemeth said that the calculator
is so powerful that it can express a ratio greater than that of
the mass of the known universe to the mass of a single electron.
It expresses numbers to fifteen places, and it is less expensive
than other, less powerful scientific calculators on the market.
The program, together with Braille and print manuals, is now
available from the National Office of the Federation for only
$40.
Also present at the Wednesday morning board meeting was Bill
Raeder, head of the National Braille Press. He presented Dr.
Jernigan with a copy of the new book written by Rami Rabby, one
of the leaders of the Federation, and Diane Croft. The title of
the book available in Braille, in print, and on cassette is  Take
Charge: a Strategic Guide for Blind Job-Seekers . Rami Rabby then
thanked the Federation, along with a number of other
organizations, for its financial support of this project. He
explained that the book applies the NFB's philosophy to the
specific challenge a blind person faces in finding a job. Mr. 
Rabby closed his remarks with a reference to Dr. Jernigan's
address  Blindness: Handicap or Characteristic  which points out
that though philosophy bakes no bread, without philosophy no
bread is baked.  Mr. Rabby warmly thanked the Board of Directors 
for the bread without which this philosophy would not have been
baked.  The opening general session of the 1989 convention began
on Thursday morning, July 6, in the Grand Ballroom of the
Radisson Denver hotel with a series of greetings by city and
state officials including the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado,
Mike Callahan; the Attorney General of Colorado, Duane Woodard;
Councilwoman-at-Large for the city of Denver, Cathy Reynolds; and
Mayor of Denver, Federico Pea. The remainder of the morning
session was devoted to the roll call of states.  As is
traditional, the Thursday afternoon session began with President
Maurer's annual report, printed elsewhere in this issue.
President Maurer reviewed the challenges and accomplishments of
the past year and charted the course ahead. In conclusion he
said:   On the road to equality there is frequently
confrontation. We regret the necessity for it, but we are simply
not willing to tolerate second-class status. That is why we have
formed the National Federation of the Blind. We who are blind can
and will help each other as brothers and sisters in the work
place, the school, and the home. No one can solve our problems
for us; we must do that for ourselves. We have made this
commitment, and we intend to keep it....There is a closeness in
this organization that is unparalleled. We expect much of each
other: ingenuity, energy, commitment, courage, but there is
another element. We have the capacity to care. 
The enthusiastic and deeply-felt response of the audience
demonstrated the organization's wholehearted support of the
President and its determination to pursue and achieve its
objectives.
The Honorable David Skaggs, Member of Congress from Colorado, had
the difficult task of following President Maurer on the afternoon
agenda. His title was  Equality on the Line: Congress Considers
the Rights of the Blind in Air Travel.  Congressman Skaggs is a
co-sponsor of our Air Travel Rights for Blind Individuals Act,
and his speech was sensible, eloquent, and filled with commitment
to protect the rights of blind citizens.
Dr. Jernigan then introduced his Excellency Sheikh Abdullah M.
Al-Ghanim, Immediate Past President of the World Blind Union, who
spoke about  The Blind in Developing Countries.  Sheikh Al-Ghanim
spoke in Arabic, and his remarks were simultaneously translated
so that the conventioneers could follow them using specially
obtained headsets.  This is the same system as the one used
during the Second General Assembly of the WBU held last September
in Madrid, Spain. The only two companies supplying these headsets
in the United States had to combine forces to provide the nearly
two thousand that were required.  Sheikh Al-Ghanim's remarks gave
a distressingly graphic summary of the plight of the blind of the
third world and described some of the
exciting programs that are now being conducted to alleviate the
situation particularly projects being undertaken by the Regional
Bureau of the Middle East
Committee for the Welfare of the Blind of the WBU.
Dr. Euclid Herie, Managing Director of the Canadian National
Institute for the Blind, then spoke about  Blindness The Canadian
Story.  He gave a short history of Canadian efforts to assist
blind citizens and described the work of the Canadian National
Institute for the Blind. Dr. Herie, who has been instrumental in
raising funds to support the Louis Braille Museum in France, then
presented Dr. Jernigan with a sterling silver medal which was
struck in 1952 when Louis Braille's remains were moved from the
quiet cemetery in Coupvray, France, to the Pantheon in Paris
where France's national heroes lie. In presenting the medal, Dr.
Herie said:  On behalf of all of us in Canada and the blind in
the world, those of us who will continue to work and promote and
use Braille, I want to give this silver medal to Dr. Jernigan as
a credit to him and his leadership.  Dr. Herie went on to say
that the medal pictures the bust of Louis Braille with his name
written in French Braille below it. On the reverse are the words 
Et La Lumire Fut  ( And There Was Light ). This was an inspiring
close to a memorable convention session.
The Friday morning session began with the election of members of
the Board of Directors. Six positions were open this year. They
were those held by Donald Capps, South Carolina; Joanne
Fernandes, Louisiana; Priscilla Ferris, Massachusetts; Betty
Niceley, Kentucky; Fred Schroeder, New Mexico; and Gary Wunder,
Missouri.  All six were re-elected by acclamation. The members of
the Board with one more year of their terms to serve are: Marc
Maurer, President; Diane McGeorge, First Vice President; Peggy
Pinder, Second Vice President; Joyce Scanlan, Secretary; Allen
Harris, Treasurer; and at-large board members: Steve Benson,
Illinois; Charles Brown, Virginia; Glenn Crosby, Texas; Robert
Eschbach, Ohio; Frank Lee, Alabama; and Ramona Walhof, Idaho. It
was clear from the consensus that the convention was pleased with
the leadership shown by the Board of Directors and looks forward
to the year ahead.
Following the elections Dr. Euclid Herie came to the podium
briefly to make an announcement of interest to the blind of
America. He explained that the Canadian National Institute for
the Blind has established and will present this year the Winston
Gordon Award (a gold medal) together with a $10,000 prize. It
will be given for the first time in September of 1989 for
contributions to the blind of the world in technology or
techniques of assistance to blind people, and the first to be
honored will be Dean Blazie for his creation of the  Braille 'n
Speak . The audience was delighted to congratulate Mr. Blazie,
who is one of our members and who was present in the room.  The
next agenda item was a series of presentations from a
distinguished panel of speakers on various aspects of Social
Security programs.  James Gashel, NFB Director of Governmental
Affairs and perhaps the most knowledgeable person in the country
today about the Social Security system, introduced the
discussion. Other panel participants were:  the Honorable Hank
Brown, Ranking Minority Member, Sub-Committee on Social Security,
House Committee on Ways and Means; and Rhoda Davis, Associate
Commissioner for Supplemental Security Income, Social Security
Administration.
The Honorable Patricia Schroeder, Congresswoman from Colorado,
then spoke to the convention. She is a long-time friend and
supporter of the NFB. Her title was  Who Speaks for the Blind of
America: Your Voice Counts in Congress.  Congresswoman Schroeder
began her remarks by paying tribute to Diane McGeorge and the
work of the NFB of Colorado.  She then presented the NFB of
Colorado with a check for $2,000 as her contribution to its work.
In accepting the check, Mrs. McGeorge made clear that she would
see that the gift would be used to help the blind of the entire
nation. Congresswoman Schroeder then delivered an impassioned
plea for the blind to continue to make our voices heard in
Congress.
The morning ended with a report from Frank Kurt Cylke, Director
of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped of the Library of Congress. Speaking on the topic 
World Literature and the NLS Book Collection,  he described the
recorded book exchange among the English-speaking library
services around the world that now enables a group of three
hundred NLS patrons to read works written and produced in other
countries. He said that in about a year this pilot project will
be expanded so that all NLS users will have access to these
books. As always Mr. Cylke fielded questions from the audience
and indicated that he would be available during the rest of the
convention for in-depth conversation and discussions. Friday
afternoon, July 7, was given over to tours, committee meetings,
and social activities.  The first item on Saturday morning was a
panel with the general title  The Blind at Work.  The
participants were: Homer Page, Commissioner, Boulder County,
Colorado; Dale Sheldon, Commissioner, Pondera County, Montana;
Craig Kenna, owner/operator of Craig's Snacks and Catering, Los
Angeles, California; and Eileen Rivera, M.B.A., Administrative
Director, Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center, Wilmer Eye
Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Both Dr. Page and Mr. Sheldon hold elective office, each being a
county commissioner; and although one of them (Dr. Page) must
deal with the problems of an urban constituency and the other
(Mr. Sheldon) with those of a widely scattered rural population,
many of the experiences they described were similar overcoming
the skepticism of the electorate concerning the ability of a
blind official to perform, handling the details and complexities
of the job, and meeting and keeping the voters happy.  Mr.
Sheldon discussed the challenges of his work and told the
audience that without the assistance provided to him by the
National Federation of the Blind he would be unable to perform
his job efficiently. Mr.  Kenna talked of his work as an
entrepreneur in the food service industry and made wide-ranging
comments on a variety of topics. As to the presentation of Eileen
Rivera, it can only be described as scintillating. We hope to
bring it to  Monitor  readers in its entirety in a later issue. 
After the employment panel, President Maurer then called Patricia
Munson of Albany, California, to the platform to present her with
a $500 prize as the Blind Educator of the Year. The award was
given to recognize Mrs. Munson's twenty-five years of outstanding
service as a junior high school teacher.
The remainder of the Saturday morning session was devoted to a
discussion of sheltered workshops and the problems faced by blind
shop workers.  First Glenn Crosby, President of the NFB of Texas
and a member of the National Federation of the Blind's Board of
Directors, and Fred Schroeder, Director of the New Mexico
Commission for the Blind and also a member of the NFB's Board of
Directors, described the situation at the Southwest Lighthouse
for the Blind in Lubbock, Texas, and our successful efforts to
win the workers' right to collective bargaining.

Then, Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio (Chairman of the
Sub-Committee on Labor of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human
Resources) spoke on  Implementing the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1986:  Changes in Sub-Minimum Wages for Blind
Workers.  His remarks, which were spirited and powerful, were
followed by a presentation from Beverly Milkman, Executive
Director of the Committee for Purchase from the Blind and Other
Severely Handicapped. Mrs. Milkman's title
was:  Upward Mobility and Employment for the Blind The
Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act.  As with so many other important items
on the convention agenda, the remarks of all of these speakers,
as well as the discussion that followed, will be printed in the 
Monitor  as space permits.

Dr. Abraham Nemeth (Professor Emeritus, University of Detroit)
was the first speaker at the afternoon session. His topic, 
Teaching Mathematics: One Career for the Blind,  was not only
informative but also lively and stimulating. Dr. Nemeth was
followed by Susan Jay Spungin, Ed.D, Associate Executive Director
of Program Services for the American Foundation for the Blind,
who spoke on the subject:   Braille Literacy Issues for Consumers
and Providers.  The next speaker was Dr. Tuck Tinsley, Executive
Director of the American Printing House for the Blind, who spoke
about plans and programs for the American Printing House for the
Blind. Dr. Tinsley assumed his duties in January of 1989 and
expressed his commitment to serving the blind in the months and
years ahead.
After Dr. Tinsley's address, the convention turned its attention
to the recent intensification of the conflict between the blind
and the U.S. State Department.  Rami Rabby reviewed his
unsuccessful attempt to become a United States Foreign Service
Officer in a speech entitled  The Blind Applicant Rejected: Why
Not Diplomacy for the Blind?  He was followed by the Honorable
Gerry Sikorski, Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Civil Service of
the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service of the United
States House of Representatives. His title,  Blind Persons in the
U.S. Foreign Service: A View from Congress,  underscored the
support which Congressman Sikorski has given to the blind of the
nation for many years and emphasized the continuing vigor of that
support. It is clear that he has grasped the principle that 
alternative  does not mean  inferior  and that the State
Department cannot be allowed to continue to conduct its business
above the law of the land.
In conversations with each of the members of Congress following
their addresses, leaders of our movement made one point. The
National Federation of the Blind (the largest organization of
blind people in the nation) is not currently represented on any
of the advisory bodies appointed to assist members of the
Executive Branch of the federal government in dealing with the
problems of the disabled. Every member was asked to do what he or
she could to urge that this situation be rectified and to
recommend NFB representatives. Though (as they were each quick to
point out) members of Congress do not have the power of
appointment to these bodies, their advice is seriously taken.
The Saturday afternoon session ended with an interesting and
inspiring talk by Dr. John Rowley, a blind research scientist
with the Los Alamos Laboratory in Nevada. Dr. Rowley lost his
sight several years ago and was on the verge of concluding that
early retirement was his only alternative. He then learned about
our NFB training programs, and after several months at the
Louisiana Center for the Blind, he was able to return to Los
Alamos and eventually to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he is now
working to solve a complex problem which will take him and his
staff another year to complete. He concluded his remarks by
asserting that without the NFB and its philosophy and training he
could never have returned to work. In closing he quoted from the
Bible a principle shared by scientists and members of the
Federation:   You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. 

The banquet was again what the banquet always is for the
Federation the apex of the convention, the high point of the
Federation year, the very touchstone of our movement. Cambridge
Chapter, NFB of Massachusetts, helium balloons festooned the
banquet hall, and the overflow crowd not only filled the tables
in the Grand Ballroom but also in the hotel lobby area.
Television monitors and giant speakers broadcast the proceedings
to all those who could not squeeze their way into the room. The
crowd was jubilant and strong-minded. At one point close to the
conclusion of the festivities Dr. Jernigan, who again this year
delighted everyone by acting as master of ceremonies, said:  Let
me now tell you what's next on this evening's agenda. We'll do
these things: We will present the scholarships; we will recognize
some other people from the head table; we will draw for the final
prizes; we will ask the hotel personnel to take a few minutes to
clear the tables; and we will then begin the morning session. 
A full report of the banquet appears elsewhere in this issue. It
is only necessary to say here that this year's address by
President Maurer,  Language and the Future of the Blind, 
galvanized the audience.  Laughter and pain, outrage and
compassion combined in this thoughtful yet impassioned speech to
challenge each of us to re-energized dedication and informed
commitment.
The Sunday convention session included the Washington Report
(presented by James Gashel, Director of Governmental Affairs) and
other business.  Nineteen resolutions (reprinted elsewhere in
this issue) were debated and passed.
And so with the drawing of a trip for two to Orlando, Florida,
donated by the Singer Travel Agency, the 1989 convention of the
National Federation of the Blind became history. The Mile-High
City, the convention hotels, and the Colorado affiliate had all
lived up to our expectations. For most of us the joy and
excitement of the week were tinged with sadness as we parted to
go our separate ways and resume our individual responsibilities,
but not for all. Both Joe Triplet and Janet Smith, and Beth Hatch
and Enrique Alleyne announced their engagements during the
convention.  For them and for all of us the Denver convention was
memorable.  Now begins the preparation for the fiftieth
anniversary celebration, the 1990 convention, July 1 to 8, at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas.  It is often said that everything
in Texas is a little (or a lot) bigger than in the rest of the
world. Glenn Crosby, President of the NFB of Texas, and the other
Texans promise that our fiftieth anniversary will be no
exception. Maybe with ten pushups a day and an extra hour of
sleep each night till then, we'll be equal to the occasion.PRESIDENTIAL REPORT

                NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 
                        DENVER, COLORADO

                          JULY 6, 1989

Last year, as we came together in our convention (the largest
gathering of the blind ever held in the history of the world), it
seemed to me that we had completed one of the most successful
years the National Federation of the Blind had ever had.  As I
come before our forty-ninth annual convention here in Denver, I
think the same statement is equally applicable.  Despite the
problems we have had (and there have certainly been many of
them), we, the organized blind, are stronger today, more unified
in our purpose, and more harmonious than we have ever been. 
Sometimes we have measured our growth by the increase in the
number of our publications, sometimes by the number of new
chapters or affiliates that have come into the Federation, and
sometimes by legislative or administrative achievements.  This
year we have not only been successful in strengthening our
programs and increasing our membership, but we have also gained a
deepened understanding of what we must do and how we must act.
Our public education programs (designed to inculcate in the
consciousness of the public at large the normality and productive
capacity of the blind) have received during the past twelve
months growing acceptance and support.  For the first time our
television public service announcements are being carried on all
of the major networks and a number of the cable channels ABC,
CBS, NBC, Cable News Network, Greater Media Cable, Manhattan
Cable, Tempo Television Network, Trinity Broadcasting, and WTBS
Cable.  We estimate that our public service announcements are
reaching the homes of over one hundred and twenty-five million
viewers.  In addition, our radio spots are being broadcast on
five different networks.  There are more than six thousand
individual radio stations in these networks three quarters of all
the commercial radio stations in the United States.  When the
subject matter deals
with blindness, there is one voice on the airwaves more than any
other shaping public attitudes, offering encouragement,
presenting information, and providing inspiration.  That voice
belongs to the foremost leader of blind people in our nation Dr.
Kenneth Jernigan.  That message belongs to the National
Federation of the Blind.
We have often said that if the public understood the real problem
of blindness, much of the exclusion which occurs would disappear. 
Our public education programs are central to this effort.  Each
time we show blind people crossing busy streets, working in
offices, and handling all the activities of daily life, some of
the prejudice and part of the fear about blindness are
eliminated.  In the past twelve months we have achieved real
progress toward this end.  In addition to our public service
announcements on television and radio, we have distributed
millions of letters describing the work that blind people do.  We
have placed messages offering assistance or information about
blindness in tens of thousands of businesses, and we have issued
hundreds of press releases about activities of the organized
blind movement.  These releases have been carried in newspapers
and magazines throughout the country.  All of this public
education has a direct impact on opportunities available to the
blind.
Not only has the significance of the organized blind been
recognized in the United States, but our unique programs have
also stimulated interest in a number of foreign lands.  Between
our 1988 and 1989 conventions, approximately fifty foreign
visitors have come to our headquarters, at the National Center
for the Blind.  These guests (from Ireland, England, Japan,
Australia, India, Korea, Canada, and the Caribbean) have come to
learn from the blind of the United States.  How did the blind
become organized?  What methods did we use to achieve the gains
we have made?  Why do the blind of our country possess such
independence?  How did it happen that the organized blind
movement is at the cutting edge of change in matters involving
blindness?  These are the questions that attract interest not
only throughout our nation but also from around the world.
Last September the second quadrennial convention of the World
Blind Union was held in Madrid, Spain.  Dr. Jernigan, President
of the North America/Caribbean region of the World Blind Union,
headed our delegation.  For over a week, representatives from
approximately one hundred countries met to consider the future
possibilities for the blind.  Although these meetings sometimes
seemed chaotic, our delegates brought a spirit of self-reliance
and self- determination which changed the emphasis and altered
the focus of the entire conference.  After the meeting in Spain,
we mailed several hundred issues of the  Braille Monitor  to
delegates all over the world.  The National Federation of the
Blind is leading the way for the blind of this country and also
for blind people throughout the world who are seeking
independence.  Dr. Jernigan also traveled last winter to the
United Nations to make a presentation on behalf of the
Federation.  Public documents and other materials are almost
never available in Braille.  The National Federation of the Blind
presented a computer, a Braille printer, and our own Braille
translation program to the U.N.   These gifts will be used to
produce documents in Braille for those who need them.  U.N. 
Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar personally accepted the
translation system on behalf of the nations of the world.
 Last summer, shortly after our convention, Dr. Jernigan appeared
in Montreal as a member of a panel consisting of representatives
of some of the major organizations of and for the blind in North
America.  The purpose of the discussion was to consider the
present circumstances and future prospects of the blindness
system in the United States and Canada.  As part of the give and
take of the meeting, Dr. Jernigan invited the organizations
present to a meeting at the National Center for the Blind in
Baltimore to consider the possibility of finding common ground
and taking (even if only in a limited way and on a few issues)
concerted action.  The invitation was accepted, and by the time
the meeting was held, all of the major organizations of and for
the blind in Canada and the United States had indicated their
wish to come.  Thus, the Ad Hoc Committee on Joint Organizational
Effort came into being and met this spring in Baltimore.  Those
present were:  the American Foundation for the Blind, the Blinded
Veterans Association, the Association for the Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Canadian
Council of the Blind, the Canadian National Institute for the
Blind, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped, and the National Federation of the Blind.
A number of projects were proposed and tentative understandings
reached.  Although it is too early to say what the final result
will be, certain things are obvious and beyond dispute.  This was
the first time since the beginning of organized work for the
blind that such a meeting had been held and it will be remembered
that it was called, sponsored, and chaired by the National
Federation of the Blind.  The meeting was historic.  It
symbolized the new reality in the affairs of the blind of this
country the tacit statement of our centrality in charting the
future, the recognition in tangible form of our growing prestige,
influence, and strength.
We have come a long way since the early beginnings of the 1940's. 
We are no longer an organization which asks, and hopes it will be
heard.  We are now a force which must be considered in any
decision affecting the blind or the blindness system.  This does
not mean that we should behave aggressively, arrogantly, or
without restraint.  Quite the contrary.  With power goes
responsibility, and we understand that.  At the same time we also
understand that the governmental and private agencies which
provide services in our field have a responsibility not only to
themselves and the public but also to the blind, the people who
are most affected by their behavior and not just to individual
blind people but to the organized blind as well.  Individuals can
be selected on the basis of docility or willingness to say what
is wanted.  We cannot.  Those agencies which provide good service
and treat the blind with dignity and respect can expect similar
treatment from us.  Those agencies which give poor service and
poor treatment to the blind should heed the Biblical injunction:
As ye do, so shall it be done unto you.  Indeed, we have arrived
at a new day in the affairs of the blind.
Approximately six thousand blind people are employed in sheltered
workshops throughout the country.  Very often, working conditions
are poor and wages are low.  Nowhere is this more dramatically
demonstrated than in the Southwest Lighthouse for the Blind in
Lubbock, Texas.  Last September I went to Lubbock to meet with
workers from the Lighthouse.  I discovered that most of them were
being paid two dollars and five cents an hour.  A few were
receiving even less some as little as eighty-five cents.  A month
earlier, the Lighthouse president had told the workers that the
agency was planning to begin deducting money from their pay
envelopes for their health insurance coverage.  Health insurance
had previously been provided by the workshop.  Most of the
workers barely had enough for their food and other living
expenses.  Nevertheless, agency officials insisted that these
employees must pay for health insurance or be fired.  Instead of
handing over a substantial portion of their meager wages, the
workers called on the Federation, and the blind took to the
streets.  The newspaper stories about the injustice in the
workshop spread over the nation, and both television and radio
carried the news of the exploitation.  The Lighthouse president
changed his mind.  The workers would continue to receive health
insurance, and the pay in their envelopes would not be cut.  We
won the first round.
Before the end of September, we had taken action to begin the
next step.  We hired a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and helped the
Lighthouse workers file complaints with the United States
Department of Labor.  The minimum wage is three dollars and
thirty-five cents an hour.  Most sheltered shop workers in
Lubbock are receiving two dollars and five cents.  Nevertheless,
they are expected to work a long day and produce results.  The
wages are artificially low and shamefully meager. So, we made
plans to bring pressure to change them.  We submitted complaints
to the Department of Labor.  These were the first appeals ever
filed under the 1986 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act,
and it will be remembered that they were filed by the National
Federation of the Blind.  Because of our efforts to educate
members of Congress in 1985 and 1986, all blind people receiving
subminimum wages have the right to challenge the fairness of
their pay. The lawyer we hired once served as the Assistant
Secretary of Labor.  In that position he learned about the
workshops and how they maneuver to violate the law.
In October of last year still another element was added to the
battle.  With our help, shop employees asked that they be
permitted to join a labor union.  The Lighthouse challenged their
right to organize.  By November we were preparing for a
full-blown hearing before an officer of the National Labor
Relations Board.  This hearing was of major importance because
several months earlier, a judicial decision had been issued by
the eighth circuit Court of Appeals saying that blind workers at
the Arkansas Lighthouse for the Blind could not join a union. 
The right of blind workers in sheltered workshops to organize was
being eroded.  After the setback in Arkansas, a highly visible
public counterstroke was required.  We needed to protect shop
workers, and Lubbock was the place to do it.  There will be a
full convention item to discuss this case later in the week. 
Without reviewing all the factors involved, let me just say that
the National Federation of the Blind knows about blindness and
the law.  We are also able to get things done.  On December 30,
1988, the workers voted.  The question to be answered was:  would
the workers join a union or not.  By the most overwhelming margin
ever recorded in any sheltered workshop election, the workers
gave their answer.  We won that round, too.  There is a union at
the Southwest Lighthouse for the Blind in Lubbock, Texas.
In addition to the administrative and legal proceedings involving
the rights of blind sheltered shop employees, we continue to make
other efforts to bring about improvements in the shops.  Beverley
Milkman, the new Executive Director of the Committee for Purchase
from the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped (the agency
responsible for distributing federal contracts to sheltered
workshops), has met with me at the National Center for the Blind. 
She will be participating in the convention program.  New
management brings with it an opportunity for a fresh start and a
reappraisal of philosophy.  Will this change bring increased
cooperation between the blind and workshop officials?  The answer
to this question is not clear.  Nevertheless, the executive
director of the Committee appears to be more responsive than
those who have held this position in the past.  If officials of
the Committee for Purchase use their influence to diminish the
exploitation of workers in Lubbock and elsewhere, the blind of
this nation will be pleased to work with them.  If they do not,
we will oppose them.
Learning Braille is vital to the education of blind children. 
Nevertheless, the attitude of teachers of the blind often
reflects the public misconceptions about blindness.  Because
teachers fear blindness themselves, and because they believe that
the blind are inferior, they attack (often without knowing it)
the special tools and techniques used by the blind.  Training
with a white cane is often discouraged for blind students, and it
is frequently the case that Braille is taught only when there is
no alternative.  Blind students are sometimes required to learn
print when Braille would be more efficient.  The Charles Cheadle
case is an illustration of the misunderstanding and prejudice
against the blind that exist in the schools.
Charles Cheadle is the blind son of John and Barbara Cheadle.  Of
course, as Federationists know, Barbara Cheadle is the able
president of the Parents of Blind Children Division and editor of 
Future Reflections , our magazine for parents and educators of
blind children.  John Cheadle is employed at the National Center
for the Blind.  The Cheadles are thoroughly knowledgeable about
blindness, and they are prepared to fight for a quality education
for their children.  Two years ago Charles Cheadle entered the
Baltimore County School System.  Although he had been receiving
Braille instruction from the educational institution he had
attended, he and his parents were informed that Braille would no
longer be available to him.  Not only would he receive no
instruction in its use, but he was also prohibited from having it
in the classroom.  As soon as it became clear that negotiation
would not bring results, we began the process of appeal.
School officials said that Charles made impressive scores on
achievement tests, that he could see well enough to read print at
least for a while, and that he could retrieve a pencil which had
been thrown across the room.  Therefore, they said, Charles did
not need to know Braille.  On the other hand, we pointed out that
Charles could not read print for very long at a time.  After only
a brief period of reading, he found it so difficult that his
interest in literature was declining.  Charles had progressed
through the early grades, and his reading and writing
requirements had become more demanding.  As he continued to
advance through school, he would no longer be able to keep pace
with the other students.  The size of the print in a
textbook for the middle grades is smaller than the print in a
primer.  Nevertheless, personnel in the school system ordered him
to read print and stated
unequivocally that he would be punished for reading Braille.  The
school system may try to punish blind students for not being able
to see, but we are prepared to take action to prevent it.  We
proceeded to a hearing before a state review panel in August,
1988, and again in January, 1989.  An independent evaluation
confirmed our view that Charles must learn Braille to perform
well in school.  The final order of the state hearing review
panel said that Braille instruction is required and that homework
assignments should be completed in Braille.  There was a time
when well-educated individuals were regarded with suspicion, and
books were considered the tools of the devil.  In our supposedly
enlightened age, we assume that this is no longer true.  However,
if the book is in Braille, it apparently may be regarded as a
sign of iniquity and banned from the classroom.  This is exactly
what happened in the Charles Cheadle case.  The representative
for the school system asked the hearing officer to believe that
Charles Cheadle was being damaged mentally and emotionally by the
very presence of Braille.  He suggested that teaching Charles
Braille was tantamount to child abuse.  However, ancient
prejudices cannot be permitted to restrict our opportunities.  We
insist on literacy and the fundamental right of blind children to
possess it.  That is one of the reasons why we have the National
Federation of the Blind.
We have also begun this year to take the issue of Braille
literacy for the blind to the United States Congress.  In March,
I testified before the Subcommittee on Select Education of the
House of Representatives.  The Education for All Handicapped
Children Act has been twisted by some educators so that it no
longer guarantees what it was intended to protect.  The language
of the Act says that handicapped children are entitled to an
appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.  Some
of those in the field of education claim that it is restrictive
to learn Braille because the number of print books is greater
than the number of Braille books.  Therefore, (they argue) the
least restrictive environment requires students to learn print. 
According to this theory, Braille (being more restrictive) is
prohibited unless the student has so little eyesight that print
is impossible.  In my testimony, I pointed out the fallacy of
this argument and urged the Select Education Subcommittee to
amend the law to encourage the teaching of Braille.  Some
problems with the airlines are still with us, but there are
significant developments to report.  The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) has issued a proposed rule seeking to
establish a federal prohibition against having blind persons
seated near emergency exits on aircraft.  The rule would apply to
all seats in rows near all exits on all flights.  The period for
submission of public comments on this issue ended in June.  I
responded to the FAA on behalf of the Federation.  As you know,
the rule would violate the nondiscrimination requirement of
the law.  It would also increase the danger for the flying public
especially the blind.  Of course, the most significant danger of
the proposal is that airline personnel would be sent an
unmistakable message by the government that discrimination
against the blind is all right.  However, prejudice and the
hidden fears of blindness harbored by airline personnel cannot be
tolerated.  S. 341, the Air Travel Rights for Blind Individuals
Act, was introduced by Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South
Carolina early this spring.  On March 14, Senate hearings were
held before the Committee on Commerce, Science and
Transportation, and Dr. Jernigan presented perhaps the most
powerful statement ever made about the rights of the blind in air
travel.  On the same day, I appeared for over five minutes on the 
Today Show.   Both Dr. Jernigan's testimony before the committee
and my interview on the  Today Show  have had a substantial
impact in raising the consciousness of members of Congress and
the public about the urgency of preventing discrimination against
the blind.  On June 14, less than a month ago, a guest editorial
by Dr. Jernigan appeared in  USA Today .  Next to Dr. Jernigan's
striking editorial was a weak (almost apologetic) argument by the
Air Transport Association (ATA).  Dr. Jernigan's editorial
contained a sworn statement by an airline pilot which said that
blind travelers present no hazard in flying.  The ATA said that
it had no evidence, but it hoped that common sense would show
that the blind are a threat.  When they have no evidence, they
call their prejudice common sense.
H.R. 563 (a bill identical to the one presented by Senator
Hollings) has been introduced in the House of Representatives by
Congressman James A. Traficant, Jr., of Ohio.  It has over 160
co-sponsors.  If we take the actions that we must, Congress will
pass the Air Travel Rights for Blind Individuals Act.  We have
every expectation that the Senate will approve the bill shortly. 
Senator Hollings has been a staunch and powerful ally.  He agrees
with us:  a person's blindness should not be the basis for
discriminatory seating on aircraft.  This is what the bill says. 
Let us work to see that it becomes law so that we can put
discrimination in the airways behind us forever.  Our efforts to
protect the rights of blind vendors are well known.  Even the
state agencies have learned of our effectiveness in support of
the blind vendor program.  Two state agencies (one in Michigan
and one in Minnesota) are currently receiving our help in
arbitration proceedings against federal property managers.  Some
people have claimed that the Federation is simply anti-agency and
that we cannot work with rehabilitation officials.  Of course,
that is not the case.  Here are two examples.
The Michigan case involves a large bulk mail facility near
Detroit.  The Postal Service has refused to issue a permit to
bring the facility into the vending program.  Vending machines
have been placed throughout the building.  The machines are
currently operated by a commercial vending company, which pays a
portion of the profits to a recreation fund established by the
postal workers.  We think the law is clear.  The profits (all of
them) should go to a blind vendor.  The Michigan Commission for
the Blind is pressing forward to obtain a permit to bring the
facility into the vending program, and we are helping with the
arbitration.  When agencies fight for greater opportunities for
the blind, they will
find the National Federation of the Blind with them in the
battle.  In Minnesota, officials of the Department of Veterans
Affairs (formerly the Veteran's Administration) claimed a virtual
exemption from the blind vendor priority granted under the
Randolph-Sheppard Act.  But last September, an arbitration panel,
convened by the Secretary of Education, found that the law
applies to veterans' hospitals just as it does to the rest of the
nation.
The specific issue in Minnesota involves one location currently
operated by Dennis Groshel.  Dennis is the only blind vendor at a
veterans' hospital.  Before this arbitration began, he was in
danger of losing the business altogether.  He was also being
required to pay as much as half of his income directly to the
Veterans Canteen Service.  Now, as a result of last September's
arbitration, the business he operates is secure, and no payments
are being made.  It is likely that there will be further
administrative or legal proceedings, but we will do what we can
to help.  In the meantime, all of the proceeds from the vending
facility belong to Dennis.  His income has been doubled.  It pays
to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind.  In
California, we are assisting Frank Rompal and Tom Linker with a
case against the Department of Rehabilitation, the state
licensing agency for blind vendors.  Last year, when the
Department awarded one of the best vending locations in the
state, rehabilitation officials disregarded their own rules. 
These require the appointment of a selection committee for
screening applications and interviewing candidates.  This was not
done.  Those with seniority and demonstrated performance records
were apparently not considered in the selection process.  A
hearing at the state level has been held, and an arbitration is
pending.  The state agency cannot act in violation of the law or
in disregard of its own procedures.  When it does, as in this
case, the National Federation of the Blind will stand with the
vendors and fight for their rights.

The Federation continues to provide personal assistance to blind
persons in resolving Social Security issues.  The case of
Sharlene Czaja is a good example.  Shortly before the national
convention last year, Sharlene was notified that she had been
overpaid $6,495.90 in Disability Insurance benefits.  We looked
at her situation and decided that the overpayment determination
was wrong.  A hearing occurred the day before Thanksgiving in New
York City.
Sharlene Czaja worked for a time as an investigator with the
human rights department in New York.  The Social Security
Administration said that she had not been entitled to disability
insurance benefits during the period of this employment.  The
judge at the hearing agreed with our argument, and the Social
Security Administration was reversed.  Sharlene Czaja had not
been overpaid.
Sometimes one appeal is not enough, but the National Federation
of the Blind is persistent.  We never give up.  A year ago,
Deborah Strother, a blind person from Louisiana, was waiting for
the results of a hearing concerning the denial of her
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.  Social Security had
refused to pay her because they thought she had too much money. 
The issue concerned the approval of a Plan to Achieve
Self-Support.

The decision issued last July was favorable, but the Social
Security Administration would not write the check for the full
amount of the back payment.  So, we helped with a second appeal. 
The Social Security Administration finally admitted that it had
made an erroneous determination.  Deborah Strother has now
received over $3,000.
In Florida, Louis Lombardo faced a denial of his Social Security
Disability Insurance benefits.  Louis was not a member of the
National Federation of the Blind at the time he contacted us for
help.  However, he had read some of the articles we have
published on Social Security.  Louis had received notices
requiring repayment of $31,407.80.  The Social Security
Administration wanted the money within thirty days.  When we
learned about the case, the initial proceeding in the appeal had
already occurred, and the decision had been unfavorable. 
Nevertheless, we agreed to do our best, and a hearing was held
early this spring.  If Louis Lombardo, a blind vendor, had not
known about the National Federation of the Blind and the work we
have done to assist with Social Security claims, it is a virtual
certainty that the facts would not have been gathered to present
and resolve this case.  How often do blind persons fail to
understand or appreciate the value of becoming involved with the
National Federation of the Blind?  Louis Lombardo knows of the
power of the Federation.  He will not be required to reimburse
the Social Security Administration, and he will continue to
receive benefits.  Gladys Penney, a blind person from Florida, is
fully insured under Social Security; but all of her previous
claims have been denied.  We are currently helping her with an
appeal.  If found eligible, Gladys may receive disability cash
benefits that she should have been paid for a period of more than
thirty years.  We believe that she became eligible to receive
them in 1956.  On the other hand, reconstructing the evidence
necessary to prove that she was entitled to benefits in 1956 may
not be possible.  One thing is clear:  Gladys Penney is not now
receiving disability insurance, and she is entitled to get it. 
The only question to be answered is how much we can help her
recover.
Rami Rabby has attempted to become employed in the service of the
United States as a foreign service officer in the State
Department.  In this position, he would be responsible for
working in a number of foreign countries.  He has passed all of
the required tests.  By now he would have been employed in the
foreign service if he had been able to see.  The only reason for
his rejection is blindness.  Last November, the State Department
announced that it had adopted a new policy.  Although the State
Department had never hired a blind person as a foreign service
officer, it had been accepting applications from blind people and
giving them the tests.  An official of the State Department said
that to deny the blind the right to sit for these examinations
would be discriminatory.  The State Department declared that it
would certainly not discriminate against the blind and that blind
people who could take the foreign service test under normal
conditions would be welcome to apply.  However, the test would
not be made available in Braille, and blind applicants could not
use readers to take it.  In other words, sight is required.  If
you cannot see, you will not be permitted to take the test.  No
discrimination, of course.  Just a little test to determine your
qualifications.  It is shallow, twisted logic like this that
causes so much mistrust of the government.  If the people
designing this State Department policy are charged with
international relations for the United States, it is no wonder
that we find ourselves in so much trouble around the
world. We are working with members of Congress to reverse this
policy.  Congressman Gerry Sikorski is leading the effort.  He
will be with us here at
the convention later in the week.
In Connecticut, Laurie Doyle wanted a job doing substitute
teaching in the East Hartford School District.  The District
hired her over the phone but withdrew the offer of employment
when it learned that Laurie is blind.  However, Laurie Doyle is
not the weak, helpless, insignificant person the school system
thought a blind person should be and she has over fifty thousand
friends.  When we questioned District officials, they sent a
written explanation claiming that sight is a bona fide
occupational qualification for teachers.  Tell that to the
thousands of blind people who are teaching successfully in the
public schools every day.  Tell it to the National Federation of
the Blind.  Tell it to the judge.  It didn't take long for
officials of the East Hartford School District to recognize that
they had made an error.  The decision was rescinded, and Laurie
Doyle was paid $3,000 in back wages.
In South Carolina, we have taken action to help Joe Urbanek bring
suit against the Carnival Cruise Lines.  For some time we have
tried unsuccessfully to work with Carnival Cruise Lines to obtain
a change in its policy concerning the blind.  Carnival Cruise
Lines officials insist that blind people may not travel alone on
a cruise.  Any blind person on a Carnival Cruise ship must be
accompanied by a sighted guide.  It has been a long time since I
have needed a baby sitter, and I suspect you feel the same.  We
have tried to avoid confrontation on this, but enough is enough. 
Carnival Cruise Lines must change this policy.  In short, a
lawsuit has been filed.  On land or sea, we will not remain idle
while blind people suffer discrimination.  That is why we have
the strength, the commitment, and the resources we do.  It is why
there is the National Federation of the Blind.  In another South
Carolina case, we have helped Michael Young with a custody
battle.  His right to rear his own children was being challenged
on grounds of blindness.  Frank Coppel, one of the Federation
leaders in South Carolina, testified in court on behalf of
Michael Young.  The substance of his testimony was that the blind
are neither unusual nor abnormal.  We have the same capacities,
hopes, dreams, and understandings that sighted people have.  Don
Capps, who is a member of the Board of Directors of the National
Federation of the Blind and who has been in the leadership of
this movement for over thirty years, also appeared on Michael
Young's behalf.  Don Capps described to the court his experience
as a blind father and his work with thousands of blind people
throughout the United States.  He told the judge that it is
unreasonable to break up a family because there are
misunderstandings about the ability of the blind.  The love of a
father for his children is no less significant because the father
is blind.  The decision of the court affirmed the rights of blind
parents.  Michael Young was granted custody.  There are new
developments to report this year about the National Accreditation
Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped
(NAC).  This so-called accrediting body was created as a
political tool and shield for the most regressive and least
effective agencies in the country, and it continues to be
unresponsive to the needs of the blind and unconcerned about the
quality of programs for blind people.  NAC's claim that it is a
reputable accrediting organization must be measured against the
impact of poor service to the blind and the shocking behavior of
some of the staff members at NAC-accredited agencies. 
Disclosures of child abuse at the Florida School for the Deaf and
the Blind, (a NAC-accredited agency) are only the most recent
revelations.  At this school the children were abused physically
and sexually.  One student died because those charged with her
care failed in their responsibilities.  We have, of course, been
actively working to try to change conditions at the Florida
School.  We do not believe (as NAC apparently does) that the
death of a child can be ignored.  Who with any decency at all
would try to defend an institution where such behavior is
permitted?  Today, most of us in this room are adults.  Once, we
were children.  How many of us had the power to defend ourselves
against the abuse that has been exposed at the School for the
Deaf and the Blind in Florida?  Who will protect the children if
the schools won't do it?  There is only one answer.  We must
accept the responsibility ourselves.  We have often said that
ours is very serious business.  It can become no more important
than the security and care of blind children our children.
There is more about NAC.  Many of NAC's adherents are beginning
to understand that accreditation by NAC is harmful to the blind. 
The American Foundation for the Blind has been the principal
funding source for NAC since 1967.  In all of these years, over
half of the NAC budget has come directly from the Foundation. 
The American Foundation for the Blind has quite literally kept
NAC alive.  From time to time, there are rumors that the
Foundation is ceasing its support of NAC.  One can only hope that
the administration of the American Foundation for the Blind has
the decency to cease supporting programs that defend and protect
agencies where child abuse occurs.
Last May, the Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped
took formal action against renewal of its NAC accreditation.  The
person who was the acting head of the Virginia Department at that
time has now become the Federal Commissioner of Rehabilitation
Services.  The Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind in Washington,
D.C., (one of NAC's earliest and staunchest supporters) has
withdrawn its accreditation.  In April, the Michigan Commission
for the Blind voted not to put rehabilitation money into agencies
that are NAC-accredited.  As might have been expected, NAC's
supporters (the few that are left) rallied to get the decision
reversed.  They have not succeeded.  At a meeting (billed as a
press conference by NAC supporters which, incidentally, was not
particularly well-attended by the press) Allen Harris, who is
treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind and a member of
the Board of the Michigan Commission for the Blind, was asked why
the Commission had taken its action.  He responded by saying that
NAC accreditation has never meant quality service, and he cited
the example of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. 
The NAC treasurer, one Gordon Steinhauer, is employed at a
hospital.  He was asked if the hospital was accredited.  When he
said that it certainly was accredited by a commission for
accrediting hospitals, one of the NAC officials followed up with
this question:   Has anyone ever died at your hospital?   Such a
question is as revealing as any commentary on NAC.  People who
are terribly ill are taken to the hospital.  Some of them
recover.  Some of them don't.  This is understandable but the
children at school do not ordinarily die.  If they do, something
is horribly wrong.  Nevertheless, NAC supporters gathered to
defend such behavior.  As I have said, Allen Harris is a member
of the Board of the Michigan Commission.  He and the organized
blind of that state have every intention of insisting that
programs for the blind provide real service, and not just talk. 
He has every intention of defending the blind of the state
against the activities of NAC and its associates.  And we have
every intention of standing with him to help him get it done. 
When we are finished, services for the blind will be improved,
and there will be no more NAC.
During the past half-dozen years we in the Federation have
conducted the most extensive scholarship program dealing with the
blind in the United States.  This has been one of the most
fruitful efforts we have made.  The success achieved by those who
have received scholarships shows just how effective this program
is.  Eileen Rivera has received one of them.  She is now the
Director of Low-Vision Programming for Johns Hopkins University. 
Christopher Kuczynski has gotten another.  He is becoming a
lawyer and will soon be taking a job with a prestigious law firm
in Pennsylvania.  Michael Bailiff has been awarded still another. 
He has just spent a year in Europe on a Watson Fellowship. 
Shortly, he will be entering Yale University to study law.  There
are dozens of other examples.  Our scholarship program has helped
bring educational opportunities not only to scholarship
recipients, but also to those who have been encouraged and
inspired by the Federation.  This one program is helping
significantly to change the meaning of blindness.  It is one more
reason for the National Federation of the Blind.  Of course, with
all of our growth, we continue with the fundamental activities of
the movement.  We are distributing literature and materials at a
record rate.  Approximately one and a half million items of
literature and other materials have been shipped from our Center
this past year.  Our distribution of aids and appliances has
almost doubled, and we have provided more canes than ever before. 
We have expanded the number of aids and appliances that we make
available to everything from travel aids to writing equipment,
from computers to clocks.  We now distribute over five hundred
different pieces of literature.  With approximately 30,000 copies
being produced each month, the  Braille Monitor  (published in
print, in Braille, on disk, and on cassette) is the most widely
circulated and thoroughly read publication dealing with blindness
in this nation.  We continue to produce  Future Reflections , the
magazine for parents and educators of blind children.  There are
over ten thousand readers.  We distribute the  Voice of the
Diabetic  to the blind and to interested sighted people.  We
circulated over 30,000 copies of a recent issue of this magazine. 
There are also the Student Division Newsletter, the  American Bar
Association Journal , the publication of the National Association
to Promote the Use of Braille, and a growing number of
newsletters from state affiliates and divisions.
A few months ago, our Committee on Research and Development (one
of the most able groups of blind scientists ever assembled)
developed software which makes a talking computer become a
scientific calculator.  I have been told that this calculator can
handle numbers so big that they exceed the number of atoms in the
whole known universe.  Blind scientists who need a
highly-developed calculator will be able to do much with this new
product.
During the past year we have continued to conduct seminars at the
National Center for the Blind, bringing state and local leaders
from throughout the nation to Baltimore for sessions of intense
training.  In addition, there have also been seminars for
educators of blind children.  In June, we hosted, in conjunction
with Johns Hopkins University, a symposium on the perceptual
ability of blind youth.  It has often been assumed that blind
people are severely limited in learning because much of human
knowledge is learned through the eye.  However, this symposium
focused on blind people's learning through raised pictures.  The
conclusion reached is that whether the perception is visual or
tactile, information is gathered in the same way and with the
same efficiency.  Blind people may learn by using a different
method, but the education is just as rapid, just as valuable, and
just as effective.
On June 2, 1989, an incident occurred in West Monroe, Louisiana,
which outlines with painful force the vital necessity for our
movement.  JoAnne Fernandes, a member of the Board of Directors
of the National Federation of the Blind and president of our
Louisiana affiliate, went with fifteen others to a nightclub
called Sugie's.  JoAnne is the Director of the Federation's
orientation center in Louisiana.  She teaches our philosophy
there and encourages blind students to become independent.  The
program she directs has had tremendous success.
 Fourteen of the sixteen people who tried to enter the nightclub
were blind.  As they stepped through the door, JoAnne and her
companions were met by one of the nightclub's owners.  There
ensued a confrontation which we had thought was far in the past. 
Sugie's owner said that the blind were not welcome unless they
agreed to be led to the bathroom because he thought they would
run into tables and spill drinks.  If drinks were spilled
(regardless of the circumstances), the blind must agree to pay
for them.  Finally, the owner said that all blind individuals
must sign a waiver of liability holding him blameless in case of
injury.  As self-respecting Federation members would expect,
JoAnne and the students with her refused.  When they tried to
discuss the matter with Sugie's personnel, the police were
called, and JoAnne and three students were arrested.  When the
newspapers reported the incident, they enlarged upon the
prejudicial attitude expressed at Sugie's.  Notice the
sanctimonious tone of the bar owner.  Here are excerpts of his
opinions as quoted in the newspaper.
 `I was looking out for their behalf, they won't use the aisle. 
They bump tables and spill drinks.  All I was trying to do was
help.  I
even help my drunks to the bathroom and back.  I take them home
sometimes.  That's the way I am.  I never told them they couldn't
come in at all.  I'm
looking at liabilities here.' 
So, that's what the bar owner thinks that blind people and drunks
are in the same category and should receive the same treatment. 
The bar owner may be expressing his sincere belief, but his
attitude does not reflect reality.  Furthermore, we are no longer
willing to tolerate lack of opportunity based on prejudice.  A
press conference was held in Ruston, Louisiana, and the
Federationists at the Louisiana Center told reporters what had
really happened.  The word spread throughout the state, and
public officials offered support.  In addition, a lawyer was
retained to defend the rights of the blind to enter Sugie's
nightclub.  The charges were dropped.  Ours is serious business. 
We know our rights, and we know how to get them.  However, on the
road to equality there is frequently confrontation.  We regret
the necessity for it, but we are simply not willing to tolerate
second-class status.  That is why we have formed the National
Federation of the Blind.  When members of the public think of
blindness, they should come to recognize that there is one
organization in our country speaking and acting on behalf of the
blind.  We who are blind can and will help each other as brothers
and sisters in the work place, the school, and the home.  No one
can solve our problems for us, we must do that for ourselves.  We
have made this commitment, and we intend to keep it.
As I reflect on the activities of the past twelve months, it is
clear to me that the Federation has never been in better health. 
There is a closeness in this organization which is unparalleled. 
We expect much of each other ingenuity, energy, commitment,
courage.  But there is another element.  We have the capacity to
care.  This year is one to remember.  All of us have made it that
way.  As President I have come to know the sacrifice and
dedication of the individual members of this organization.  Not
only do I feel humility at being entrusted with such
responsibility, but I hope that I may measure up to the honor you
have given.  There is one more thing.  I believe that everybody
in this organization every officer, every member can feel a
justifiable pride in our achievements during the past twelve
months.  If we do our work well (and I am absolutely certain that
we will), next year will be even better.  This is my report.

              LANGUAGE AND THE FUTURE OF THE BLIND
                    An Address Delivered by 
                          MARC MAURER 
          President, National Federation of the Blind 
             At the Banquet of the Annual Convention
                 Denver, Colorado, July 8, 1989

One of the most powerful instruments for determining the
prospects of an individual, the future of a social movement, or
the development of a culture is language the expression in
writing or speech of human thought. However, there is at least
one theory which maintains that language possesses its power
because the relationship between thought and speech is very often
misunderstood. According to this thesis these two (thought and
speech) are not separate entities at all. They are one. Thoughts
cannot occur without being verbalized (either physically or in
the mind), and words cannot be spoken or imagined without
expressing thought. The words and the thought are the same.
The historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle once noted that
language
is not the garment of thought but the body of it. Modern
anthropologists have advanced the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, which
declares that all of human culture is fabricated by language. The
poet Percy Bysshe
Shelley said that man was given speech,  and speech created
thought.   Samuel Taylor Coleridge observed that  language is the
armory of the
human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the
weapons of its future conquests.   Socrates asserted that
language is the guiding spirit of all human endeavor.  Such as
thy words are,  he said,  such will thine affections be; and such
as thine affections will be thy deeds; and such as thy deeds will
be
thy life.   If the language is modified, the thought is also
altered.  If the thought is shifted, the deed cannot remain the
same. Therefore, to change a pattern of behavior, we must change
the habit of speech.  If this theory is true, patterns of speech
are at least as important to the future of the blind as the
buildings possessed by the agencies, or the money appropriated
for rehabilitation, or the gadgetry designed to lighten the
burden of life for us. The policy statements, the laws, the
public pronouncements in print and on television, the scholarly
papers of those conducting so-called  research  into the nature
of blindness, the thought processes of employers and the
public-at-large (sometimes expressed in words but more often
simply internalized without being uttered), and our own words and
thoughts these will determine the future for the blind. If the
language is positive, our prospects will be correspondingly
bright. If the words used to describe the condition of the blind
are dismal, we will find that our chances for equality are
equally bleak. However, this is not a matter to be left to fate.
For thousands of years false and downbeat words have been forced
upon the blind words like  wretched ,  purposeless ,  unfortunate
. But we are no longer willing to abide such labels.  We are not
inarticulate. We will write our own story and use our own words.
Our thoughts will be the dreams of tomorrow, and the language
will say: success, independence, freedom!
In 1940, as the National Federation of the Blind was brought into
being, there was almost nothing in the language to combat the
erroneous but generally accepted view that blindness meant
ignorance and inability.  Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, the founder and
first president of the National Federation of the Blind, and the
handful who worked with him to pioneer our movement had to
commence the process of altering the patterns of thought by
correcting the language. He and those others had to begin to
create a literature of independence and freedom for the blind. 
In the 1950's Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, one of the most powerful
writers ever to consider the subject of blindness, joined Dr.
tenBroek in building a climate of understanding that would permit
the blind to achieve equality. A new language began to appear
with new adjectives for the blind. The words employed by Dr.
tenBroek and Dr. Jernigan were upbeat, shot-through with
vitality, and suffused with confidence.  This new method of
expression carried with it an innovative pattern of thought, and
the altered mental process brought action. No longer
were the old words permitted to stand alone. No longer were the
limitations of those words accepted without challenge. We came to
understand that
it is with the blind as it has been with other minorities: the
liberation of lives begins with the liberation of language.
Today, at our forty-ninth convention,  blindness  does not mean
what it did when the Federation was established. The word itself
has changed because the thoughts associated with it have changed.
In 1940 the dictionary definition was the only readily available
explanation of blindness, and the dictionary was entirely
negative. In 1989 there is a substantial body of literature which
indicates that the dictionary
is wrong. Blindness does not mean helplessness, lack of purpose,
inferiority, or absence of intelligence. The dictionary
definition will not stand
close examination, and we are not willing to let it serve as the
definitive statement of our hopes and aspirations. We are the
blind, with our own story and our own words and we intend to
speak for ourselves.  Recently an advertisement appeared from the
Carrollton Corporation, a manufacturer of mobile homes.
Apparently the Carrollton Corporation was facing fierce
competition from other mobile home builders, who
were selling their products at a lower price. Consequently, the
Carrollton Corporation wanted to show that its higher priced
units were superior.  In an attempt to convey this impression,
the company depicted the
blind as sloppy and incompetent. Its advertisement said in part: 
Some manufacturers put out low-end products. But they are either
as ugly as three miles of bad road, or they have so many defects
crumpled metal, dangling moldings, damaged carpet that they look
like they were built at some school for the blind.   What a
description!  There is the ugliness of three miles of bad road,
or crumpled metal, dangling moldings, and damaged carpet. The
slipshod work is all attributed to the incompetence of the blind.
It is not a portrayal calculated
to inspire confidence or likely to assist blind people to find
employment.  However, the work that we in the Federation are
doing is paying dividends.  When it was called to the attention
of company executives that the advertisement was negative and
harmful, they apologized for its publication and withdrew it. The
manufacturer changed its public representation because of the
protest of the organized blind movement.
It is not hard to imagine why a manufacturing company might
misunderstand the nature of blindness. Such companies do not have
routine association with us. Although their misrepresentation of
the abilities of blind people must be brought forcibly to their
attention, it is reasonable to suppose that the ignorance they
sometimes display stems from lack of information. The same cannot
be said of agencies for the blind.
They hold themselves out as knowledgeable about blindness and
thoroughly familiar with every aspect of our lives and behavior.
It is, therefore, ironic that some of the most false and damaging
literature written about blindness comes directly from these
agencies.
The Delaware Center for Vision Rehabilitation distributes a
brochure called  Images . This flier leaves no doubt about the
opinion
of the Delaware Center regarding the ability of the blind. The
grammatical construction is that of the agency. Here is a portion
of the language used:  The eyes and vision are priceless parts of
every person, shaping their attitudes, experiences, expectations,
and physical and mental capabilities.   As I read this statement,
I wondered if they could really believe it. Do our attitudes
differ from those of the sighted?  Do our physical and mental
powers change with the loss
of sight?  If our mental capabilities are altered, do they get
better or worse?  The brochure from Delaware does not say, but
the context leaves no doubt as to what they think.
On the other hand, an article appearing in the  Columbus  [Ohio] 
Register  about two years ago answers this question differently. 
The headline says:  Nearsighted found to have higher IQs.   The
article goes on to say:  While the nearsighted may need glasses,
their lack of perfect vision could be a sign of high
intelligence, say researchers who studied myopic Israeli
teen-agers. Doctors tested 157,748 Israeli military recruits,
ages 17 to 19, and discovered a link between nearsightedness and
high IQs. `There can be no doubt about the reality of the
correlation between myopia and intellectual performance,' wrote
Drs. Mordechai Rosner and Michael Belkin. Still, they wrote, the
'cause and effect relationship is not clear.'  This is what the
article says and of course, it does not go on
to claim that the more restricted your vision becomes, the more
intelligent you get until at total blindness you arrive at total
genius. But
it does suggest that there may be a correlation. Did the learned
doctors construct a faulty test?  Did they make a mistake in the
way they administered it?  Or did they simply fall victim to the
ancient stereotype that the blind are peculiar and possessed of
mysterious powers?  Who knows and in a very real sense who cares? 
We who are blind are neither specially blessed nor specially
cursed, and one misconception
is as bad as the other. Regardless of that and the claims of the
doctors, there has not been, so far as I know, a rush of
employers to hire
the blind because of our superior intelligence. Even if we were
smarter than the sighted (and I don't believe for a minute that
we are), the public attitudes about blindness would likely remain
just about where they are a lot of superstition, growing
enlightenment, and a long pull ahead.
A reporter from the  Chicago Tribune  recently said categorically
and unequivocally that:  A sighted person with the IQ of a genius
would be hard-pressed to make tuna salad while blindfolded.   In
other words, even if those who are blind have greater
intelligence, it doesn't really matter. Sight is essential. Those
who lack it cannot even get around their kitchens to make tuna
salad.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently
issued a tech brief on its newly developed    Public-Facilities
Locator for the Blind.   This is a device intended to help the
blind become more independent in daily travel. The document
describing the new aid is suitably couched in technical terms. It
says in part:   A proposed coded infrared transmit/receive scheme
would enable
a blind person in a building to detect and locate specific
`landmarks,' such as elevators, water fountains, restrooms, and
emergency exits.  A synthesized voice would announce a landmark.
Each landmark (the document continues) has a code. A pulse code
modulation (PCM) scheme transmits each one, the code being the
binary grey code (a one chip encode/one chip decode). The
transmitter gives out a burst of two identifications; for
example, `men's room men's room,' and repeats it continuously at
an even cadence.   That is what the tech brief says, and there is
more of this high-flown technological jargon in the NASA report.
Computer signals have been devised for the stairwell, the lady's
bathroom, the escalator, and the telephone. When we tell these
space technologists that their legerdemain is not only
unnecessary but harmful to the blind, they will probably say that
we are super-sensitive and that they are only trying to help.
They will not understand that the presence of such gadgetry will
encourage both the blind and the sighted to believe that we need
complex adaptations of the environment for the simplest acts of
our daily lives and that those who work in such modified
buildings will be quietly and inevitably indoctrinated to the
conclusion that blindness means abnormality and incompetence.  Of
course, there are dozens of ways in which technology can serve
our needs. However, if it is truly to be useful to us, its
designers must recognize the fundamental capacity of the blind
for full integration into society on the basis of equality.
Specialized aids and appliances must enhance independence, not
stand as a declaration that the blind are so lacking in
intelligence that we cannot even find the bathroom or the
telephone. How often we have been told that one of the major
problems of blindness is being able to find the bathroom.
One thing is certain the mickey mouse contraptions and the
prejudice against blindness that they represent must go!  We will
no longer
permit the scientists and engineers to imply that we are somehow
peculiar and strange. If necessary we will build the equipment we
need for ourselves. We the blind are abroad in the land, and we
will not remain silent while the technocrats combine antiquated
fantasy and modern science to form a spurious portrait of the
helpless blind. We have found our voice, and we know how to use
it. They cannot tell us how it is for the blind. For we (as was
said on another occasion) have been to the mountaintop, and we
know how it is for the blind. The technologists can work with us
if they will. But we know what we want and how to get it. And we
intend to speak for ourselves.
One of the oldest and tiredest jokes about the blind is that the
Braille system works better on a date. Now, there is a company
that has decided to try to capitalize on that sick so-called
sense of humor. An outfit calling itself Valley Enterprises
prints T-shirts with easily feelable raised dots. The name they
give to this printing is so predictable as to be both inevitable
and totally disgusting  they call it  Body Braille.   There are
six preprinted messages available on the back of their T-shirts
or sweat shirts. They will also print them on the front, if you
like. Blind people across the country have heard these messages
over and over again. Here are the six:  Out of Sight,   Keep in
Touch,   Touch of Class,   Hands on Experience,   Feeling Good, 
and  Handle with Care.   According to the maker of these shirts,
the purpose of the company is not merely to raise money for its
owners. Instead, they say:  `Body Braille' clothing is a unique
means of communicating self awareness and self expression for
individuals who are visually impaired, a means to raise the
consciousness of the sighted public,
and an avenue for all people to demonstrate their support of the
visually impaired. 
To which I reply:  Yuk and double yuk.  Why is it that this
company (and so many other people) feel that they have to offer a
socially acceptable justification for poking fun at the blind? 
Blind people do not make a practice of feeling one another up,
and we are unwilling for any other group to assume that we do or,
for that matter, that it would be all right if we did, or that it
is all right for them to do so with us as an excuse. Furthermore,
I, for one, am tired of the slightly off-colored humor that is so
often claimed to be funny. The blind are like others. We will
find the times and the places when intimacy is appropriate.
Otherwise, leave it alone, and do not talk or act as if we (like
the slaves of a bygone time) are generally available.
There is a well-known theory which holds that all blind people
require psychological counseling and adjustment. This bald
proposition has been given sufficient credence by certain
agencies for the blind that they have permanent psychologists on
staff to minister to the needs of their clients. Blind people
seeking assistance from these agencies are not asked whether they
want psychological services. It is simply assumed that all who
are blind need them. Often those who try to avoid the
psychologist are informed that the ministrations of this
specialist are part of the package if they want help in learning
the skills of blindness (such as Braille and mobility), securing
financial aid for college tuition, or gaining assistance in
locating a job. If the blind hope to receive any service at all,
they may have to endure the testing, the questioning, and the
probing into every corner of daily life and personal behavior.
Perhaps you imagine that this psychological review is of the
standard sort. Don't you believe it. Some of the agencies (no
doubt employing their years of experience and so-called research
tools) have decided
that the usual tests are insufficient. After all, the standard
psychological examinations are designed for the sighted. The
blind are different.  They are blind. Therefore, an alternative
series of tests (special tests just for the blind) has been
designed and is now in use.
The American Foundation for the Blind has produced a special
psychological test called  The Anxiety Scale for the Blind.  
Apparently
the putative experts believe that there is a need to measure
psychological stress in the blind and that no ordinary analysis
will do. Here is a sample of what the test designers say: 
Although there are a
number of general anxiety measures available, counselors and
psychologists working with blind clients may question the use
with the blind of instruments that have been constructed for the
sighted. The purpose of research on the Anxiety Scale for the
Blind (ASB) was,  they go on to say,  to provide a measure of
manifest anxiety which could be standardized on populations of
blind persons and which later
could have wide applicability in the field of work for the blind. 
 There you have it. It is necessary to test the anxieties of
blind people, and this is no ordinary task. The anxiety felt by
the blind is special.  It is certainly not the same as the
anxiety felt by the sighted. And these are the people who are
charged with providing services to the blind. We have many
hundreds of blind people meeting and enjoying themselves at this
banquet tonight. Forget your good spirits for a moment, and ask
yourself whether you have special anxiety. Do you feel it?  Well,
I don't either. And what kinds of services do you suppose will
likely be offered with this anxiety scale as a background?  The
next revelation of these so-called experts (from the American
Foundation for the Blind) is that they intend to test us all.
Psychological examinations have traditionally been given in this
country to select groups to achieve specific purposes. They have
not been given to entire populations for nonspecific reasons.
However, the designers of the Anxiety Scale for the Blind tell us
that its use is to be much broader.  Although the authors
developed this test with students attending schools for the
blind, they say:  Local norms should be established for blind
persons in various environmental settings such as the home, the
sheltered workshop, and the competitive work situation.   But
this is not all. They go on to recommend that there be, in their
words:   a study of the effects of manifest anxiety on the
academic achievement of blind students; a study of the effect of
anxiety on learning mobility skills; a study of manifest anxiety
in relation to social behavior in courtship and other social
situations; a study of the effects of anxiety on success in the
competitive work environment; and a study of manifest anxiety in
leadership potential among blind persons.  The environment of
George Orwell's  1984  has, I am glad to say, not yet been fully
imposed upon the general population, and we are
not going to have it for the blind either. We don't need special
testing beyond that given to others in our education, our jobs,
or our social lives. If we have reasonable opportunity and a fair
chance to compete for jobs on equal terms with others, we will
hold our own as well as the next person. We are not freaks; we
are not basket cases; and we are not so fragile that we will
break. Our problems are more in the area of civil rights and
vocational exclusion than maladjustment and the need for
counseling and don't you forget it.
But back to the testers and the anxiety scale. After informing us
that there is virtually no aspect of the daily lives of blind
people that should not be subjected to the rigors of this mental
measuring stick, the testers list seventy-eight statements. The
person being examined is expected either to agree or disagree.
Here is a sample from the seventy-eight. As you consider these
statements, ask yourself how much confidence is inspired by the
language employed.
Statement number two:  I almost always trust the people who guide
me. 
That statement assumes that the blind need guidance, that this
need causes dependency, and that the lack of freedom of movement
results in anxiety. The implication is that the blind person
cannot function without the superior knowledge or judgment of
somebody else and that a degree of decision-making power and
control will necessarily be surrendered. All people require
guidance from time to time. This is as true of the blind as it is
of the sighted. However, hidden in this statement is the
insinuation of an innate helplessness by the blind.  If this is
what they believe, they are not well acquainted with the energy,
the resourcefulness, and the self-reliance of blind people.  One
is tempted to reply with an answer like this:  I do almost always
trust the people who guide me, except when the guidance comes
from the people who designed this test.   But back to the
psychological examination. The statements go on. Here are some of
the others. Ask yourself what is meant by each and how you might
respond.
Number six:  I am uncomfortable when I must eat with sighted
persons.  Number ten:  I would say that blindness has completely
ruined my life. 
Number fifteen:  I refuse to carry a cane because it makes me
appear helpless. 
Number nineteen:  I would say that in most cases blind people
should marry other blind people. 
Number thirty:  I don't worry about being blind. 
I interrupt to ask how could one help it when the psychologists
are trying to ram it down our throats? But there is more to the
test.  Number thirty-one:  I would not date a sighted person. 
Number thirty-seven:  I would say that I often feel unwanted when
with my blind friends. 
Number thirty-eight:  Sighted people rarely make me feel useless. 
Number forty-one:  I often find it difficult to express my ideas
when in the company of sighted people. 
Number forty-nine:  Frequently, when I am with sighted persons I
have trouble with my words. 
Number fifty-one:  In familiar surroundings, I sometimes have a
feeling of being absolutely lost. 
Number fifty-five:  I have about the same number or fewer fears
than my blind friends. 
Number fifty-six:  I have to be cautious in the company of
sighted people. 
Number fifty-seven:  Because I cannot see, life is a constant
state of stress. 
Number sixty:  I constantly think and often talk about being able
to see well. 
Number sixty-four:  I am more irritable when I am with sighted
people than when I am with blind people. 
Number sixty-five:  I frequently feel uneasy about competing with
sighted people. 
Number sixty-eight:  I am overly sensitive about my physical
condition.  Number seventy:  Frequently, I feel that a familiar
room has changed shape. 
Number seventy-three:  I do not mind asking sighted people for
help. 
Number seventy-four:  I often worry about looking ridiculous to
sighted people. 
Number seventy-five:  Often I am not polite to sighted people. 
There is one statement among the seventy-eight which exemplifies
the approach of the whole miserable examination. It reads:  I
often feel under strain because I must stay alert.   Now, I ask
you, why is it necessary for the blind to be more alert than
others?  Are
blind people more likely to get into trouble?  Are we more
accident-prone?  Is there something about the blind that makes us
miss factual information if we do not concentrate more diligently
than others?  What could possibly be the need for this
extraordinary vigilance?  Have the testers really met the blind
and worked with us on a daily basis?  Can they
truly understand our fundamental ability, our wishes, and our
aspirations?  There must have been some reason for including this
novel suggestion. Perhaps the explanation is contained in
statement twenty-nine. It says:  I would say that blindness is a
personal punishment.   Did these psychological experts learn
their scientific principles from ancient mythology or venerable
lore?  Blindness, a punishment?  From whom
does the retribution come?  Such a statement, in a supposedly
even-handed psychological test, puts one in mind of the old
Middle Eastern proverb:   When you see a blind man, kick him. Why
should you be kinder to him than God has been? 
Dependence, rejection, uncertainty, frustration these are the
words associated with the portrayal of the blind in this test.
The Anxiety Scale for the Blind is certainly not a document that
will engender peace of mind. The set of idiotic statements is
well named.  It will certainly cause anxiety in the blind, in
those, at least, who are gullible, inexperienced, or beaten down
enough to take it seriously. And it will also cause anxiety in
the rest of us an anxiety to eradicate such misbegotten notions
as those advocated by the test.
The blind are not less secure or more sensitive than others. It
is
not reasonable to suppose that lack of sight indicates mental
imbalance.  The experience of tens of thousands of us shows that
it is not so.  This so-called scientific test is not really based
on evidence at all. It is a sham dressed up in the jargon of
science, and its image is harmful to the blind. Its symbolism is
the archaic language of deprivation and fear. We reject this
prejudicial, ridiculous document because it does not represent
blindness as it is.  We will not permit it to stultify our hopes
and curtail our opportunities. Instead, we will build our own
images and use our own words. The language will
be ours, and we will say it like it is. For the blind there will
be success, independence, freedom!
So often those who consider the subject of blindness focus on the
dining table. Everyone must eat, and the blind are no exception.
One company, Liblan, Incorporated, of Wheeling, Illinois, has
designed and patented a special dish and spoon for the blind.  In
a letter
to me Liblan's president says that his company has developed a
special  Plastic food container and utensil construction designed
for manipulation by the sense of touch only.   I was asked to
send letters of endorsement to major manufacturers so that they
would produce this special bowl and spoon for the blind. I leave
it to you to determine whether I did.
A report in the  Tulsa  (Oklahoma)  World  states that a
nonprofit organization called New View, Incorporated, has
established
a program to encourage awareness of blindness by inviting public
officials to breakfast and insisting that they eat blindfolded.
The results are predictable. All the misconceptions of blindness
are enhanced
and reinforced by the brief experience. Why are supposedly
knowledgeable people willing to believe that blindness can be
understood within half an hour?  The alternative techniques
required for a blind person to function (not to mention the
philosophical implications of blindness) are far more complex
than the skills required for perhaps a hundred other tasks.
Nevertheless, it is assumed that blindfolding a group
of public officials for an hour or less will teach them about
blindness.  These same public officials know that it takes longer
than that to learn how to drive a car or shoe a horse. Still,
they are urged to think that they know all about blindness with
absolutely no training.  Here is the way it appeared in the 
Tulsa World :

If you want a lifetime appreciation of sight, try life without it
for half an hour.
A dinner fork becomes a spear when you can't see it coming toward
your face. Rich foods make you thirsty, but you don't drink. A
glass is a water tower. A reach through the darkness could be a
spill and flood everyone's meal.
Coffee is drunk with hesitation. A sip can become a gulp. A gulp
can become a scald.
You make a lot of noise with eating utensils when you're blind.
You stick your fork heavily onto empty china, and with your
increased sense of hearing, it sounds as if you're beating drums
to everyone's annoyance.
You don't talk as much during a meal when you're blind. The loss
of one sense amplifies the others.
You hear more, and restaurant background music becomes blaring.
You think you're shouting just to speak above it.
You eat less when you can't see. To hunt for food is to push it
off your plate, onto the table, onto your lap. Scambled eggs can
burn like a brand.
One napkin isn't enough when you're newly blind. You wipe food
onto the napkin, then you wipe it back onto your face.
You know you're blind and suspect you're bothersome.
People who involuntarily lose their sight have a problem with
sorrow about what they can't do. People who voluntarily lose it
have trouble with guilt about what they can. When you're blind
you no longer care that the Russians boycotted the Olympics.
You can't even cut your food. Yet the real blind people shave and
brush their teeth. You finally think more about their braveness
and bravura than your own blindness.

The newspaper reporter tells us that the blind are brave for
shaving; that blind people cannot cut their food; that one napkin
is not enough for the newly blinded; that blind people eat less,
talk less, and make more noise than the sighted; that the loss of
sight heightens the other senses; that the blind are full of
grief, and the sighted full of guilt. All of this occurred
because an agency for the blind wanted to impress (and doubtless
get money from) public officials
by frightening them into believing that it was dealing with a
catastrophic situation. The inevitable result is that the agency
will receive deference and (no doubt) more sympathy for its
fund-raising efforts. But what will the blind receive?  More
public misconceptions to overcome; more difficulty in finding
jobs; and more problems in having the opportunity to live normal,
ordinary, everyday lives.
If these misstatements, false notions, and devastating
descriptions were not so serious, they might be downright funny.
However, they have a dramatic impact on the lives of each of us.
With this kind of public perception about blindness the job
market is closed. The professors at educational institutions may
not turn us away, but they
will not regard us as serious students. Service in positions of
responsibility in government or the private sector will not be
available. However, the article in the  Tulsa World , with its
mistaken notions about blindness, is only one of the public
utterances about the blind. There are many others. Our work in
the Federation has continued for forty- nine years, and there are
measurable changes.
For a number of years one of the problems facing the blind was
that we were banned from jury service because of blindness.
Indeed, in
some states the laws still specifically restrict us from being
selected.  However, the work of the Federation is bringing
change. In many states the laws now say that the blind cannot be
categorically excluded from jury service. One indicator of our
progress is shown by a poll conducted recently by radio station
WBZ in Boston. Ninety-five percent of those questioned said that
blind people should be allowed to serve on juries.  One word, one
image, one symbol, one thought at a time we are changing what it
means to be blind. One word, one image, one symbol,
one thought at a time we are achieving independence,
self-sufficiency, and equality. The day when the blind can no
longer be excluded from jury service is not a dream for the
distant future. It is within our reach. First, jury service.
Then, other rights the right to employment on terms with others,
the right to live peacefully in our homes without unwanted
interference from government officials, the right to travel
without harassment or intimidation the right to participate fully
in all the activities of daily life.
The psychological tests, the blindfolded public officials, the
patented dishes and spoons for the blind all of these have an
impact on our personal lives. Shortly after last year's
convention I received a letter which describes eloquently in
unadorned prose the problems
we face. The Federationist who sent it knows disappointment and
frustration firsthand. The letter contains an exceptional
poignancy, more for what it does not say than for what it does.
Here it is:

                                               September 30, 1988

Dear President Maurer:
Two years ago I decided to move back home for convenience
reasons.  In the past few months I have been treated worse by my
mother than by airline personnel or a stranger on the street. Let
me give you a few examples. I was asked to take a pot of coffee
from the house to my father's machine shop, which was only about
a four minute walk either by the road or through the trail in the
woods. Well, by the time mother had the coffee ready, and I was
ready to go, she changed her mind and said I might fall down with
it and hurt myself. Mr. Maurer, I have never fallen down on my
way from the house to the machine shop.

Another incident: Every time food is served at the table, whether
it be spaghetti or hamburger meat, it comes to me in a bowl. Not
only that, but with a spoon. I asked once, why the spoon?  She
replied, `I thought you could handle it better that way.'
The other night was better than that. I was served soup with
several sheets of newspaper under the bowl. I wanted to say
something about this, but we would both just get mad and have a
fight. I threw a spoon at her one time. And then, of course, I
felt embarrassed and humiliated afterward.
I am tired of my mother's negative remarks toward me as to what I
can and can't do as a blind person. It seems like, after 37
years, she ought to know damn well what I can and cannot do. Just
what can I do to change her attitude about blindness?
Well, tonight for dinner fried fish was served with tartar sauce. 
Then, I noticed she was laying paper down before she served the
plate.  I asked my father, 'Where is your paper for your plate?' 
He explained he didn't need paper. So, I just got up and walked
away.

What can I say to this Federationist?  How can I answer his
letter?  It is bad enough that the agencies promote negative
attitudes about us, that the advertisers belittle us in order to
sell their products, and that the newspapers misunderstand and
compound the problem. But it is even worse when the members of
our own families (conditioned by the words and thoughts of
society) do the same. It makes little difference that more often
than not the members of our families put us down and treat us
like children for motives of love. The tragedy, the pain, and the
loss hurt no less for the lack of malice.  Sometimes, in our
humiliation and frustration, we may think the first best step is
to leave the table hungry for a night but this is
no answer, no remedy, no solution to the problem. There must be
concerted action and coordinated effort to change public
attitudes and improve the social climate. And we are taking those
actions. We are making those efforts. The members of our families
are part of the general public, and so are the agencies and their
psychologists. For that matter, so are we.
For thousands of years we who are blind have been regarded as
incompetent, and for the most part we have accepted the legends
we have been taught.  But that time is at an end. It is true that
some still tell us that we cannot perform in the factory or
workshop; that we have an altered mentality; that we are unable
to handle routine tasks in the kitchen; that we require
extraordinary technological devices to help us find
the bathroom; that we need raised dot T-shirts to enhance our
self-awareness; that we suffer from special anxiety; that we
cannot use ordinary tableware; that, when we finally get to the
table, we will eat less, talk less, and make more noise than
others; and that our lives are filled with grief.
But it is equally true that these are not any longer the
predominant elements of our lives. In 1940 we organized to speak
for ourselves through the National Federation of the Blind, and
in the intervening half century the blind have achieved more
progress than ever before in all previous recorded history. We
have replaced the ancient terms of negativism with a new language
of hope, and society has increasingly come to accept us for what
we are normal people with normal aspirations and normal
abilities.
More and more the words (and therefore, the thoughts and the
deeds) of the work place and the home, the school and the church,
the street and the playground reflect this new mood. And
underlying it all, fueling the change and focusing the progress,
is (as it has been for the past half century) the National
Federation of the Blind. With all of the problems and all of the
work we still have to do, we come to this meeting tonight with a
feeling of hope and a mood of gladness. We come with a joy and a
certainty of triumph. At long last we know who we are and what we
must do. We are organized, confident, and prepared for what lies
ahead and no force on earth can turn us back. Our words, our
thoughts, and our dreams reach for a tomorrow which is bright
with promise, and the heart of that promise is the individual
determination of each of us and the unshakeable power of our
vehicle for collective action the National Federation of the
Blind. The past has belonged to others, but the future belongs to
us. Let us speak, think, and act in support of each other and we
will make it all come true!
          1989 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND AWARDS
An organization says much about itself by the awards which it
presents.  Elsewhere in this issue you will read about twenty-six
of the nation's most extraordinary post-secondary school
students, the 1989 NFB scholarship winners. Here is a summary of
the other awards presented at this year's national convention:

              The Blind Educator of the Year Award

Patricia Munson of Albany, California, has taught in a public
school system for twenty-five years. In presenting her with this
award during the Saturday morning convention session, President
Maurer said in part:
 Patricia Munson is a writer. She has written numerous articles
about blind people: their anxiety to do well and their capacity
to achieve. She is also a leader, not only in California, but
throughout the United States. This week she has been elected
President for the coming year of the National Association of
Blind Educators, a division of the National Federation of the
Blind. And the National Association of Blind Educators in
conjunction with the National Federation of the Blind has awarded
her the Blind Educator of the Year Award for 1989. I would like
to add our recognition in convention assembled
to that of the National Association of Blind Educators. And to
demonstrate that we mean what we say, I would like to present to
you, Patricia Munson, a check for $500 as the Blind Educator of
the Year.  Mrs. Munson responded as follows:
 I accept this check, not for myself, because I would not have
this job if it had not been for the National Federation of the
Blind.  It was Dr. Perry, Dr. tenBroek, Muzzy Marcelino, and Dr.
Jernigan, who opened up the teaching profession to the blind. In
the mid-fifties blind people could still not teach in public
schools. I came along later. I did not know about the Federation,
and I got a job. I thought I was wonderful; I had done it on my
own. But I had not done it on my own, and I would not have been
employed for twenty-five years had it not been for all of you and
all of those who came before who helped make this possible. And
believe me, I have taught in every aspect of education. When you
are a junior high teacher, you fill in for your colleagues, you
teach physical education, you teach art, you teach driver ed, you
teach whatever it is that has to be covered.
We can do it. I've done it, and you can too. In concert we work
together.  Thank you very much. 


                   The Distinguished Educator
                     of Blind Children Award

At the banquet Saturday evening Dr. Jernigan called Sharon
Maneki, President of the NFB of Maryland and Chairman of the
committee making this year's selection, to make the presentation.
She said:   It is most appropriate that we in the National
Federation of the Blind recognize a distinguished educator of
blind children. The blind children of this nation belong to us.
Their future is of prime importance. Tonight we honor Mrs. Kim
Bosshart, a vision teacher in the public schools of Fremont,
Nebraska.
 Kim Bosshart is a person who is changing what it means to be
blind for the children of Nebraska. She is a model for the
teachers of the entire nation. Tonight we present Kim Bosshart
with a $500 check and with a plaque that symbolizes our
confidence and support.  The plaque reads:

 National Federation of the Blind honors Kim Bosshart,
Distinguished Educator of Blind Children, for her skill in
teaching Braille and the use of the white cane, for generously
devoting extra time to meet the needs of her students, and for
inspiring her students to perform beyond their expectations. 

 Congratulations, Kim. 
Kim Bosshart responded:
 Thinking back on my first year teaching blind children, I
remember sometimes feeling very angry and frustrated with
teachers and parents.  Of course, he can use the stairs; he
doesn't need to use the elevator.  Yes, she can participate in P.
E. and Home Ec. It just seemed so logical to me. Expect from
these blind children what you would from any other child. But it
didn't always happen. Then the realization came to me that this
was not entirely their fault. I needed to take a leadership role
to help educate them about the abilities of blind people. It
was at that point that I began to develop a more community-based
program which culminated in my selection as the 1989
Distinguished Educator of Blind Children.
 I am extremely grateful for this award, and I know that it will
serve as an inspiration for me to continue to improve the quality
of education that I provide to blind children. Since you bestowed
this honor on me, I would like to share with you quickly my
approach to the education of blind children. It's based on the
mission statement of the Fremont, Nebraska, Public Schools, which
reads as follows:

 `The mission of Fremont Public Schools is to produce creative,
adaptable, productive, self-sufficient citizens, who are
committed to life-long learning and capable of effecting
responsible change, by providing a quality education that is
designed to meet the needs of individual students.'
 How will these needs be met? Well, after having been at this
convention all week, I can list three areas in my curriculum that
will definitely continue to remain strong. First, it will be
imperative to continue having realistic but very high
expectations, not only from the students I teach, but also from
their parents, the school staff, and the community in general.
Second, I will continue to seek out competent blind adults to be
role models for the students I work with and sources of valuable
information in the schools and community.  And third, a
well-rounded curriculum will continue to be offered;
very specifically but not inclusively this will include Braille
reading, beginning with toddler youngsters; Braille writing,
using a slate and stylus first and then the Braille writer; and
also, with support of the services in Nebraska, continuation of
early cane travel for students.
 The end objective will be for the students to have a sense of
self-esteem and dignity that will inspire their own motivation to
achieve. So with combined effort of all people who work with
blind children, we will ensure that every child is provided the
very best education possible, and we must all work together to
help produce creative, adaptable, productive, self-sufficient
citizens of the future.  Thank you. 

                   The Jacobus tenBroek Award

In making this presentation Steve Benson, Chairman of the Jacobus
tenBroek Award Committee and member of the Board of Directors,
said:   In 1940 the founding of the National Federation of the
Blind ignited the torch of freedom for the blind of this nation.
That torch
was carried high by Dr. Jacobus tenBroek. Dr. tenBroek was an
extraordinary man. His achievements as a scholar, teacher,
author, and civil rights advocate are part of what he was. He was
compassionate, tough when he needed to be, a man of high good
humor and dedication to improving the lives of all of us. His
concern about the condition of the blind was exceeded only by his
love for his blind brothers and sisters.  There is no doubt that
Dr. tenBroek's writings and speeches represent a very significant
chapter in the history of the blind of this nation.
The impact of his work is still being measured for his work ( our 
work) is not yet complete.
 Since 1974 the National Federation of the Blind has upon
occasion presented the Jacobus tenBroek Award. It is the highest
honor we can bestow upon one of our own members. Recipients of
this award must have demonstrated consistent, long-term
commitment to the philosophy of the Federation and to the
challenges that Dr. tenBroek so clearly defined for us to
fulfill. Recipients of this award must view our organization and
our work from a national perspective. Most of all, recipients
must love our movement and the blind of this nation.  All of this
is a reflection of the character and spirit of Dr. tenBroek.

 It is unusual for this award to be presented in two successive
years. However, the committee determined that one individual is
so extraordinary that the award should be presented again this
year.  Our winner has extended herself far beyond the expected to
change what it means to be blind. She has built and strengthened
chapters, worked to improve educational opportunities for blind
children, and begun to reshape the rehabilitation program in her
state. A resident of one of the thirteen original states, she
exhibits the resilience and determination of the hearty frontier
stock from which she comes.  Over the past twenty years she has
carried the torch of freedom high, in the manner and spirit of
Dr. tenBroek. She finds strength in our movement and in her God.
Her favorite Biblical verse is, `I can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me.' It gives me great pleasure and
genuine honor to present the 1989 Jacobus tenBroek Award to my
colleague in the movement, Hazel Staley. 
The plaque presented to Hazel Staley reads:

 National Federation of the Blind Jacobus tenBroek Award
Presented to Hazel Staley for your dedication, sacrifice, and
commitment on behalf of the blind of this nation. Your
contribution is measured not in steps but in miles, not by
individual experiences but by your impact on the lives of the
blind of the nation. Whenever we have asked, you have answered.
We call you our colleague with respect. We call you our friend
with love. July 8, 1989. 

Hazel Staley, who was overcome with emotion, responded:   Thank
you. I can't believe that this is really happening. For almost
fifty years many, many people have labored long and tirelessly to
bring about equality, opportunity, and security for the blind of
our nation and the world. I feel very proud and honored to be
deemed worthy to be numbered among that group. Ever since Don
Capps recruited me twenty years ago, the Federation's philosophy
and its programs and activities have been top priority with me,
and they will continue to be top priority as long as God lets me
live. I feel very honored to receive this award. I can't talk
anymore. Thank you. 

                      The Newel Perry Award

Donald Capps, member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of
its Newel Perry Award Committee, presented this award toward the
close of the banquet. He said:
 Dr. Jernigan, President Maurer, distinguished guests, fellow
Federationists Like the Nobel Peace Prize, the Newel Perry Award
is granted only as often as outstanding and distinguished
accomplishment merits. This highest award is given only to those
persons who have made significant contributions toward the
progress and independence of the blind. Since the Newel Perry
Award is the highest honor which
the organized blind of this country can bestow, it is treated
accordingly.  It is given sparingly with appropriate care and
with selectivity.  The last time the Newel Perry Award was
granted was seven years ago
in 1982. This highest recognition is truly reserved for those
distinguished Americans who genuinely merit the honor. Tonight we
are pleased and privileged to have this opportunity of honoring
another distinguished American. We take justifiable pride in
presenting the Newel Perry Award in 1989 to the Honorable Gerry
Sikorski.
 Congressman Sikorski is a distinguished member of the United
States Congress and proudly represents the great state of
Minnesota.  Throughout his brilliant service in the United States
House of Representatives Congressman Sikorski has clearly
demonstrated complete faith and confidence in the abilities of
the blind. In 1985 when leaders of the National Federation of the
Blind of Minnesota called upon Congressman Sikorski during the
annual Washington Seminar, he expressed interest in hiring a
qualified blind person to serve on the staff in his Minneapolis
office. A few months later, in October of 1985, our own Judy
Sanders was hired by Congressman Sikorski. Judy Sanders did not
remain in this position for very long, however, because she
progressed rapidly, competing successfully with others in the
process. Judy Sanders is
now the director in Congressman Sikorski's Minneapolis District
Office.  In this capacity Judy has overall office responsibility
for supervising eight additional staff members and scheduling all
of Congressman Sikorski's appointments and activities while he is
in the district.   Congressman Sikorski chairs several House
committees, including the Sub-Committee on Civil Service. In
February he held a hearing before this committee for the express
purpose of focusing Congressional attention upon the State
Department's discrimination against our own Rami Rabby. The 
Braille Monitor  very proudly featured the entire hearing, and
the transcript was read by thousands across the country and
throughout the world. Congressman Sikorski is pledged to remain
steadfast with the Federation in its fight to obtain from the
State Department for Rami Rabby the non- discriminatory treatment
accorded other qualified applicants and candidates for the
Foreign Service.

 Congressman Sikorski has been in the forefront in the National
Federation of the Blind's struggle to have all blind Americans
treated as first-class citizens in air travel by the airlines. He
is a proud co-sponsor of the Air Travel Rights for Blind
Individuals Act and is working actively with other members of
Congress seeking further support for this meritorious
legislation. At this midpoint in Congressman Sikorski's
distinguished career of public service, characterized by solid
and noble accomplishment, he joins with us in changing dreams
into reality. Congressman Sikorski, this is why we honor you
tonight.  We want you to know we want everyone to know that we
thank you for having joined with us on the barricades. And as a
tangible and lasting expression of our deep appreciation of your
service it
is my distinct privilege and honor at this time to present this
beautiful plaque inscribed:

 Newel Perry Award National Federation of the Blind In
recognition of courageous leadership and outstanding service, the
National Federation of the Blind bestows its highest honor upon
the Honorable Gerry Sikorski, our colleague, our friend, our
brother on the barricades. He champions our progress. He
strengthens our hopes. He shares our dreams. July 8, 1989 

Congressman Sikorski responded as follows:  A Polish thank you is
three things. It's an expression of words, and I give that to you
with a `thank you.' It's a feeling in the heart, and I truly have
that. It's also a promise of giving in return. I promise to
continue to be a brother on the barricades. I don't know when
I've had as much fun and as much education at one time as I've
had today and especially tonight in the wonderful words of Marc,
and of many, many others.
You know, number 51... [Congressman Sikorski is referring to a
passage in the banquet address concerning a psychological test
for the blind.] You know, a lot of people in Washington feel
confused in familiar rooms. And several of them have been elected
President of the United States.
 I was the fourth of four boys, and then they had a girl. I was
in the poor kid's hot lunch line, and that was my major source of
nutrition as I was growing up. I went to college on an Equal
Educational Opportunity Grant. I feel that it's my role and maybe
my chemistry to be a rabble- rouser, so as I was listening
tonight I thought of one of my favorite stories in the Bible.
It's the story of Joshua as he circles the walls of Jericho with
a band of rabble-rousers not
unlike us here tonight, but much smaller. He was given Mission
Impossible to bring down the walls and take over the city. But on
the seventh day, the seventh time around, and the seventh blast
of the trumpet, the walls came tumbling down.
 So I say to you: make the phone calls to those agencies, and
knock on those doors in Washington, and call the airlines on the
carpet, and take over the workshops or shut them down, and get
after the State Department, and take those t-shirt makers and
those mobile home manufacturers and the psychological testers and
kick their butts, and generally sound your trumpets. For every
time a human voice speaks out for human dignity, Joshua's trumpet
sounds. Every time a blind person moves from second-class citizen
to first-class citizen, Joshua's trumpet sounds. Every time a
blind person helps a sighted person and it's done many, many
times a day around the world Joshua's trumpet sounds. Every time
a blind person is judged for a job she's applied for on the basis
of her ability and not the so- called disability, Joshua's
trumpet sounds. Every time a plane takes off with a blind person
fully capable sitting right there, smack dab by the exit door,
Joshua's trumpet sounds. And every time a blind person manages
and runs a sheltered workshop, Joshua's trumpet sounds. And every
time that age-old myth that blind people live in some separate
world of shadows is dissipated, every time you lead us out of the
shadows of prejudice and stupidity into the bright sunlight of
human dignity, Joshua's trumpet sounds. And all those trumpets
from every state in
the Union and District of Columbia and many nations of the world
sounded together can bring down the mightiest walls of any
Jericho, a Jericho of injustice. Thank you. God bless you. 
                       THE CLASS OF 1989: 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
At the banquet of the National Federation of the Blind convention
in Denver, Colorado, on July 8, 1989, twenty-six blind men and
women received scholarships totaling $69,200. The scholarship
awards ranged in value from $1,800 to $10,000, but when one
includes the value of the expense-paid trip to the convention,
the monetary commitment that the NFB has made to these
post-secondary students exceeds $100,000 in 1989.
Considering the financial demands always facing the Federation
and the desperate requests for our help that appear in the mail
to the National Office every day, it is reasonable to ask whether
the size of this investment is justifiable each year. The answer
from all those who have observed the fruits of the scholarship
program over the last several years and who met the 1989 winners
is a resounding yes. Each year our past winners take an
increasingly active role in the work of the organization. Their
commitment to our cause of making life better for the blind and
their accomplishments provide a significant part of the energy,
direction, and increasing momentum of our movement as it begins
its sixth decade of life.
Taken together, this year's scholarship class is perhaps the most
impressive group of winners we have yet assembled. They come from
or study in twenty-one states, Puerto Rico, and the People's
Republic of China. On Wednesday morning at the Board of Directors
meeting each winner was given an opportunity to speak to the
convention. Here is what they said about themselves and their
plans:

 Michelle Abadia from Puerto Rico:   I'm attending Boston College
in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. I'll be a sophomore this year.
I'm majoring in French with pre-law counseling, and I intend to
become a lawyer. 
 David Arocho from New York:   I will begin classes at the Albany
Law School, and I hope to become a very good lawyer.   Johnnie
Burns from Louisiana:   I am attending Florida State University
in Tallahassee, Florida. I intend to pursue a doctorate in
special education, and I want to give back to the Federation what
they have given to me freedom. 
 Cheryl Cameron from Illinois:   I did my undergraduate degree at
Princeton University and am pursuing a graduate degree at Tufts
University in a program concentrating in Latin American History
and Development Economics. Right now I'm doing a summer job in
Washington D.C., and I hope upon completion of my program in the
next year to return to D.C. and pursue a full-time job in either
the U.S. Agency for International Development or hopefully by
then the NFB might have persuaded the State Department that they
should accept blind people as Foreign Service Officers. 
 Denise Clifton, Oregon:   I am attending the University of
Oregon. I will be a junior this fall. I am studying journalism,
and I plan to write for magazines and newspapers. Currently, I
work for the school newspaper, and I'm doing an internship for 
Oregon Business Magazine . 
 Christopher Craig, Missouri:   I am pursuing a specialist degree
at the School of Administration with plans to complete a Ph.D. 
at Missouri University in Special Education and Administration.  
John de Benedetti, California:   I graduated from Stanford
University with a degree in Human Biology, and I've been working
in the Biotechnology field. I'm going to Northwestern University
to the Kellogg School of Management to receive an M.B.A. degree,
and I intend to return to the Biotechnology field. I plan also to
be a leader in the blind community as well as the community in
general.   Ronald Dixon, Illinois:   I'm a fourth year sociology
student at the University of Chicago. My plans are to go into
law.   Tricia Ferrell, Kansas:   I'm planning on attending Baker
University in Baldwin, Kansas. I'm planning on pursuing a degree
in Engineering, specializing in Chemical Engineering. 
 Rudy Hirota, California:   I'm currently attending the
University of California, Bolt Hall School of Law. I will be a
third year student, and for at least one year after I graduate, I
intend to clerk for
the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena. If things go well,
maybe I'll be able to clerk for the Supreme Court. 
 Konnie Hoffman, South Dakota:   I'm attending Dickinson
State University in North Dakota, and I'm majoring in Elementary
Education.  I've been an active member of the NFB for a long
time, and I serve as Secretary of the South Dakota affiliate. I
know that the NFB can help me become a success in my life, and
I'm going to try to help the next generation to do the same. 
 Christopher Hsee, People's Republic of China and Hawaii:   I
just received my Bachelor's Degree from the University of Hawaii,
and I will be a first year graduate student at Yale University
majoring in Psychology. Here I would like to thank all of you,
especially four people who have made it possible for me to come
here, speak to you, and win this scholarship. Those four people
are Dr. Floyd Matson, Dr. Jernigan, Peggy Pinder, and Fred
Schroeder. This year I have won four national scholarships or
fellowships, but this one is the one I am most proud of. 
 Gerald Jeandron, Louisiana:   I am currently attending Louisiana
State University, pursuing a B.S. in Psychology. After
graduating, I plan to go to law school. I serve as President of
the Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind
and am also First Vice President of the Student Division in
Louisiana.   Barbara Jonsson, New York:   I'm at Columbia
University
in New York City, and I'm studying Health Administration for a
doctoral degree. I've been working for several years in the field
of nutrition.  I'm a registered dietitian. When I finish my
doctorate at Columbia, I've been admitted to a clinical nursing
program, which will train me as an RN and nurse practitioner. In
the future, I'd like to run a maternal and child health care
program. 
 Sandeep Kishan, Maryland:   I am going to be attending my
freshman year at Johns Hopkins University, seeking a Bachelor of
Science and Engineering degree with a double major in Computer
Science and Applied Mathematics. 
 Marsha Levy, Pennsylvania:   I'm a student at Bryn Mawr College,
Graduate School in Social Work and Social Research. I'm in the
clinical social work track and hope to maintain a private
clinical practice as well as teach on the University level.  
Craig Mallinckrodt, Colorado:   I am pursuing a masters and Ph.D.
degree at Colorado State University in a branch of animal
sciences dealing primarily with genetics. I hope to contribute to
that field as both a teacher and a researcher. 
 Brian McCall, Pennsylvania:   I'm entering my sophomore year at
Yale, and I plan my major course of study to be political science
and history. This summer I'm interning for Congressman Kurt
Weldon. While at Yale, I live in Davenport College, which is the
same residential college that George Bush was affiliated with
when he was
at Yale, and it's not the only house I plan to share with George
Bush.   Valorie McMillan, Arizona:   I'm currently pursuing a
career in psychology, specializing in developmental psychology,
and I plan to work with abused children. There are a lot of
people I would like to thank, but most importantly the Student
Division for last night.  All the time that I was in school there
was something inside of me that wasn't quite right, and I
couldn't figure out what it was. Well, now I know. I'm going to
learn Braille until the ends of the earth.   Valerie Negri,
Illinois:   I am going to be a sophomore at St. Xavier's College,
pursuing a major in elementary education and a minor in English.
For my goal in life, I would like to be the best teacher that I
can be because I think it's a great responsibility to teach our
nation's young people, and I always hope to be active
in the NFB so that I can give back to these people out here what
they've given to me. 
 Tami Rhymes, Illilnois:   I will be attending Wichita University
this fall, pursuing my graduate degree in opera performance. I'm
currently seeking a career not only on the operatic stage, but
the recital stage.  I am also preparing myself for extensive
research in the field of vocal science and its applications to
the art of vocal pedagogy.   Michael Seay, Tennessee:   I'm a
senior at LeMoyne Owen College, a small school in Memphis,
Tennessee, where I am President-Elect of the Student Government
Association as well as a major in political science with a
concentration in pre-law. I'm currently doing my internship with
the public defender's office of Shelby County, the oldest in the
United States. It is my hope and my ambition to become one of the
best attorneys this country has ever known. 
 Cynthia Simon, New Jersey:   I'm an entering sophomore in the
Rutgers College General Honors Program, seeking a bachelor's
degree in political science and an associate's degree from the
Eagleton Institute of Political Study. I hope to pursue a career
in public administration and eventually to be elected to the
United States Congress.   Mary Ward, Texas:   I'm pursuing a
degree in linguistics and the teaching of English as a second
language. I'm a returned Peace Corps volunteer, having served in
Ecuador for two and a half years.  I will be able to teach
English as a second language, but I intend to pursue a doctoral
degree in linguistics and study exotic languages and conduct that
type of research. I'd like to thank the members of the National
Federation of the Blind for showing me that I'll be able to do
what I really like to do instead of what I think a blind person
ought to be able to do. 
 William Warlick, Florida:   I'm on my way to the University of
Pennsylvania to start work on a Ph.D. in economics with a
specialty in international trade and monetary theory. After I've
finished, I'd like to pursue a career in University teaching and
research.   Matthew Weed, Colorado:   I will be at Yale College
this fall. I will hopefully be receiving my baccalaureate degree
in politics and economics in four years. I will then continue on
to earn a Ph.D.  in political economy. 

The Scholarship Committee deliberated long and agonizingly on
Friday afternoon, July 7, and during the banquet Saturday evening
the following awards were made:

$1,800 NFB Merit Scholarships: Michelle Abadia, Ronald Dixon,
Barbara Jonsson, Craig Mallinckrodt, Michael Seay, Cynthia Simon,
Mary Ward, Matthew Weed.
$1,800 Hermione Grant Calhoun Scholarship: Denise Clifton. 
$2,000 Francis Urbanek Memorial Scholarship: Tricia Ferrell. 
$2,000 Melva T. Owen Memorial Scholarship: Konnie Hoffman. 
$2,000 Ellen Setterfield Memorial Scholarship: Marsha Levy. 
$2,500 NFB Merit Scholarships: Cheryl Cameron, Christopher Craig,
Valerie Negri, Tami Rhymes, William Warlick.
$2,500 Howard Brown Rickard Scholarships: David Arocho, Rudy
Hirota, Gerald Jeandron, Sandeep Kishan.
$2,500 Frank Walton Horn Memorial Scholarship: Valorie McMillan. 
$4,000 NFB Merit Scholarships: John de Benedetti, Christopher
Hsee, Brian McCall.
$10,000 Ezra Davis Memorial Scholarship: Johnnie Burns.
At the close of the presentation of these awards, Peggy Pinder,
Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, addressed a few concluding
remarks to the class of 1989. She spoke for us all when she
summed up for the winners the true significance of what they have
been given. Here is what she said:

 Now that we have bestowed the 1989 scholarships, I want to say
just one final word to this year's winners. We have given to you
of our treasure, of our hard-earned income; but we have also
given to you something else. We consider our scholarships to you
only secondary to this. We have given you another and greater
gift as through the week we have spent time with you, attended
meetings with you, dined with you, played poker with you, talked
with you, laughed with you, danced with you, debated and
discussed with you. Through our common experiences we have showed
to you that which is most important of
all to us, the most precious thing we have, and the thing we now
offer to you our organization, the National Federation of the
Blind.

 We blind people first felt the need ourselves to establish an
organization because we did not have a common philosophy, a
structure through which to implement that philosophy, or the
policies that brought it into life. We have made that philosophy,
that organization, and
those policies, and we now offer them to you. But we ask you to
recognize with us that a philosophy, a structure, and policies in
common do not make the National Federation of the Blind. They are
merely the building above the ground. Underneath it is our
feeling for one another.  We do love one another. We do hurt when
one of us is hurt. We do comfort one another when hurt occurs. We
do fight for one another when one
of us is wronged. We do defend one another. We rejoice with one
another when achievements occur because they are the achievements
of each of us, not in some verbal sense, but really truly ours
because we
do love one another and feel that strength of attachment for one
another on which our philosophy, our structure, and our policies
are built.  We offer all of these to you, but particularly the
love. You have shown great achievement and shown that you can
give as well. We give our movement to you and ask you to love it
as we have, ask you to nurture it as we have, ask you to make it
grow as we have. We are proud of it just as we are proud of you.
 Scholarship winners, congratulations. Let's work together to
make all our futures come true. 
                A MEDITATION ON MOORE'S MOUNTAIN
 Ramona Walhof is President of the National Federation of the
Blind
of Idaho and a member of the Board of Directors of the National
Federation of the Blind. The following article appears in the
Spring/Summer, 1989,  Gem State Milestones,  the publication of
the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho. 

For the past several days I have been in Spokane interviewing for
a new office manager for our Community Outreach office. Yesterday
I talked with an absolutely delightful gentleman, who began by
stuttering and stammering about blindness. I did my best to put
him at ease.  One thing he told me was that he had seen an area
for the blind in a city park. It had special Braille signs.
Gently I suggested that
it is hard for blind people to find the Braille signs which are
scattered in parks. He assured me that there was a rope to follow
from sign
to sign. I did not (since I was considering the man for a job)
philosophize with him about how that had affected his attitude,
but I wonder how many sighted people visit that park and learn
just a little more to limit their expectations of blind people.
And I wonder how few blind people visit that park and enjoy the
Braille trail. The rope, of course, is not a solution. It
exaggerates the problem and it is right there in Spokane today.
That experience reminded me that I had promised Mary Ellen
Halverson that I would write about Moore's Mountain and the trail
for the blind established by the Department of Forestry (a
different kind of trail), so here it is.
One of my first experiences with nature trails for the blind
occurred in 1966 in London. I was spending a summer in Europe as
part of my studies for a degree in foreign languages, and while I
was in England, a friend invited me to go to a famous British
park to see a Braille trail. She was proud of it, and I went with
her partly out of politeness.  I appreciated the interest someone
had in the blind in constructing
such a trail, but I found what my friend had to say much more
interesting and complete than the limited information on the
Braille signs.  In the United States I have found the same thing
to be true. Where there are special trails or areas for the blind
in museums, blind persons are often not encouraged to visit the
rest of the grounds or facility. Sometimes we are forbidden.
Directors and curators feel pride in special adaptations for the
blind and often call attention to them for the wrong reasons and
in very demeaning ways, implying (even if it is seldom said) that
blind persons cannot appreciate museums and nature without
adaptations, which reflect negatively on public attitudes and job
opportunities for blind people.
Although ropes and Braille signs may not be the best way to help
blind persons enjoy nature and museums, often we may wish to use
different methods of  looking  from those employed by sighted
visitors.  I well remember visiting a place called Living History
Farms near
Des Moines, Iowa, where I took my children when they were quite
small.  There were live animals and old machinery to show how
farming was done in 1920, 1880, and 1840. I took advantage of the
opportunity to look (with my hands) at steers, which were being
used and cared for as oxen. They were huge and interesting. I
also enjoyed looking at old machinery, hands-on. My kids enjoyed
different things (such as pumping water from the well), and they
also had a good time. The whole place was accessible and
enjoyable to me as well as to thousands of others.
When I was working at NFB headquarters in Baltimore, I was
contacted about such matters. One call came from Judy Taylor (now
Judy Jones of Twin Falls, Idaho). She was then working in Florida
for a museum, and she had been requested as a blind staff member
to help make a
certain area enjoyable for the blind. I think she said they were
considering a Braille trail. She had some misgivings but wanted
to do what was good for the blind and the museum. If my memory is
accurate, she came up with some adaptations which were useful to
the blind without changing the character of the area and took the
occasion to insure that blind people would be encouraged to visit
the entire museum and grounds.  We understand that some items in
museums are (because of age or other conditions) fragile and
should not be handled, but many do not need this protection.
Recorded commentaries in art galleries are often
as interesting and informative for the blind as for the sighted.
Some tour guides give excellent descriptions, which are
appreciated by blind visitors. Accessibility for the blind may
consist of a variety of different approaches, most of which are
not exclusively for the blind.
A year or more ago Jan Gawith of the Western Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Idaho was contacted by staff
members of
the Forestry Department, which had some money to make a trail on
Moore's Mountain accessible to the blind. Fortunately they asked
us what to do. Jan and other members of the NFB came up with some
suggestions.  A tape would be made to carry on the trail, along
with a portable tape player, which would be available to borrow
at the beginning of the trail. Instead of a rope or hand rail,
there would be a rough wood border six or eight inches high along
the right-hand edge of the trail, which could be followed with a
white cane. The wood would look good since it would be taken from
the area and fit into the terrain.  This is truly a mountain
trail, 5,000 or 6,000 feet high, north of Boise above the Bogus
Basin ski area. The trail was nearly finished last fall, and
several members of the Western Chapter of the NFB of Idaho went
up and walked along it one Saturday in October. I regret to say
that I was out of town that day and did not get to go, but
I am looking forward to an opportunity to do it. Our members are
quite happy with the way it turned out, and so is the Forestry
Department.  On April 14, 1989, there was a meeting at Boise
State University to discuss  making the forest accessible to the
handicapped.  Our member, Dana Ard, who attended the meeting, was
pleased with the tone of the discussion. The goal of the group is
to make it possible for the handicapped, including those in
wheelchairs, to go into the forest to camp and relax with friends
and family. That would require leveling, widening, and paving
some walkways. Currently most campgrounds could not accommodate a
person in a wheelchair.
At the April 14 meeting there seemed to be a good understanding
that all handicapped people do not require the same adaptations
as those needed by individuals in wheelchairs. Dana felt good
about the meeting.  A few days later there was a news report on
KBOI radio, and obviously the reporter (who had not been at the
meeting) did not understand.  Her news story indicated that the
blind probably could not go into the forest without these
proposed accommodations. It is safe to assume that more people
heard the news story than attended the meeting, so we have some
work to do with the reporter and KBOI.
It is fair to say that some adaptations are useful to the blind.
I think of computers, for example. If a person needs to get
information out of a computer once a week and a sighted secretary
is using the computer frequently, it doesn't make sense to
install speech or Braille output. Having the secretary provide
the data would be better. On the other hand, when a blind person
is using the computer regularly and often, speech or Braille
output is the sensible way to go. Perhaps the situation is not
exactly the same with nature trails but I wonder.
A few years ago I went backpacking and camping with my teen-agers
and one of their friends in an area near Red Fish Lake. We had
planned to take a six-mile hike up the mountain to a small lake,
camp overnight, and come back down the next day. I was not
prepared for what I found.  I was carrying a forty-pound
backpack; was wearing tennis shoes instead
of hiking boots; and was somewhat overweight, inexperienced, and
physically out of shape and in addition, the trail was six or
eight inches wide. On the left was a drop-off toward a large
creek or river. On the right was a steep mountain going up. The
trail was rough, crooked, rocky, and beautiful. We were 7,000
feet above sea level. The air was thin, and the sun was hot. I
was with three sighted teen-agers, and blindness was not an
asset. We traveled about two miles along that trail, and for me
it was slow and painstaking. I appreciated the assistance of my
daughter, who went at my pace just in front of me while the other
two covered far more territory on ahead. After two miles of mixed
enjoyment and toil, I decided to turn back, to
the disappointment of three kids and, incidentally, me. That
decision was not made simply because of blindness, but blindness
was one factor in my ability to negotiate that trail. Along with
my inexperience, blindness helped to slow me down. We camped at
the bottom of the trail instead of the top.
I expect to find the trail on Moore's Mountain more pleasant. It
is wider, and the guiding border along the edge will make it
easier to follow. It is truly a mountain trail with all of the
rocks, plants, animals, insects, dramatic views, and general
atmosphere which cannot be found anywhere else.
However, I certainly would not want to be barred from doing
backpacking with my kids at Red Fish. Blind persons must insist
on their right to be included in all areas, not just certain ones
that have special modifications.
Like the sighted, the blind must have the right to make
decisions, attempt difficult feats and, yes, take risks. We must
insist on the freedom to reach for more than we can grasp, try
when we may not succeed, and learn for ourselves  with no more
interference than the sighted experience. That is the very
essence of learning, growing, and indeed a full life. How many
sighted mountain climbers would ever have reached the peaks if
they had been judged by the standards which society has
traditionally imposed on the blind? I wonder how many
of those who have been reading this article have already said
(either to themselves or others),  Well, naturally she couldn't
successfully compete on the trail at Red Fish. No blind person
could do it. Moreover,
this torpedoes her whole NFB philosophy of independence and
competitiveness. 

Those who have had such thoughts should read again and think
again.  They have not understood. Let them read on.
There are blind people in Idaho who go backpacking regularly and
are far more skilled at it than I. There is no question that
experience and equipment make anyone far more successful, so I
say that there is room for a variety of approaches.
Speaking of experience, consider the conditioning and
opportunities
which have traditionally been available to the average blind
child or, for that matter, the average blind adult. My son Chris
(sighted) first went backpacking with the Boy Scouts.  He has
become good at it and has the necessary equipment and confidence.
At a young age he learned to enjoy and respect the wilderness and
be quite self-sufficient.  My daughter Laura (also sighted) went
backpacking with a junior high church group for a week and also
learned to enjoy the wilderness.
 I wonder how many blind children have had these kinds of
opportunities, or are having them today, or will have them
tomorrow. In our state the Lions and the school for the blind
sponsor an annual winter camp for blind teen-agers. Blind kids
from throughout the entire state
go there and, I gather, have a good time. And they accomplish at
least two things:  First, they get to know each other. Most have
no contact with other blind people in their communities. Second,
they get some good outdoor experience, which may be rare for some
of them. But I wonder how many of those teen-agers would (even by
those who applaud their going to the special camp) be encouraged
to go camping in the wilderness with scouts or church groups.
To a large degree, wilderness opportunities for blind children
and
adults will depend on what you and I as members of the National
Federation of the Blind do. Working with the forestry department
on Moore's Mountain is part of it, and educating news
commentators is another. Meeting with other groups of handicapped
people who wish to make the forest accessible is still another.
Being vigilant  about attitudes and living active positive lives
will do even more. That is what the NFB is all about. We talk to
civic and school groups, sell cookbooks, work on legislation, try
to educate the airlines, and build better training and employment
opportunities for the blind. And we work to see that
opportunities are available for the blind in parks, museums, and
the wilderness. It is all part of what we are and what we do.
More and more people are coming to Idaho to go camping and
backpacking.  Wilderness backpacking trails are challenging and
scenic, and Idaho provides many unique and interesting
experiences. I myself have climbed down rocky and steep slopes to
wade in Indian bathtubs, hiked a very easy trail through the
Birds of Prey Reserve, walked and crawled in and out of caves at
the Craters of the Moon, and climbed the sand dunes at Bruno.
There are other places I have visited or still wish to see in
Idaho, and I am sure that many other blind people in this state
have done likewise. I am equally sure that many blind people have
been cautioned, discouraged, and prevented.
So while our chapter discussed the trail at Moore's Mountain, I
reflected and meditated. When I can find the time, I am going
hiking at Moore's Mountain and I may have another try at the
trail at Red Fish Lake.
                  WHITE CANE THE SILENT ANSWER
                        by Bill J. Isaacs
 From the Editor:  There are many different points of view about
how to use a white cane and the reasons for doing it. As  Monitor 
readers know, Bill Isaacs is one of the leaders of the National
Federation of the Blind of Illinois. Here is a glimpse into his
past and an account of some of his experiences in learning how to
be blind.  Not surprisingly, he begins his story at a National
Federation of the Blind convention. Here is what he says: 

It was on a mid-Saturday morning at a JOB seminar following a
week-long convention of the National Federation of the Blind that
I heard a
young man present the following question to one of the speakers: 
Should I bother to carry a white cane during the daytime when I
am seeking employment, since my main problem with blindness is
after darkness falls?  I think I had a plausible, if not a
perfect, answer to that question, but there was a line-up at the
microphone, and I had a plane to catch. I do not know what advice
that young man received that day, but I was left haunted with my
unanswered response. Here is my attempt to make up for that
information gap, and hopefully it will be meaningful to more than
just one young man with a question.  I grew up with tunnel vision
due to a congenital disease known as choroidoremia. The females
are the carriers, while their male offspring are apt to become
blind. I had a visual field of about three to five degrees
(twenty degrees or less is classified as legally blind). I could
see color, I could read, howbeit I could perhaps see only four or
five letters at a time. On the farm I milked the cows, I worked
in the garden, I hoed in the fields, I set tomatoes behind a
planter, I even drove a Ford tractor with the wide front wheels,
in which I plowed, disced, and cultivated. Then, after graduating
from high school, I went off to the big city, where I attended a
business college for twelve months. Following the completion of
my work at this college, I worked in a private warehouse office
for a couple of years before taking a Civil Service exam, which
led to a job in the U.S. Treasury Department, where I served as a
claims examiner for corrections on income tax returns. It was at
that office that I noticed people who were filing claims for
refunds because of blindness, including the restricted visual
field. It was not until I was in my early twenties before I was
even aware I was legally blind when the ophthalmologist charted
my legal visual field.
It's one thing to know that you are legally blind, but it's quite
another thing to come to terms with it. I knew I had poor vision
and saw virtually nothing after dark. I grew up in a small,
quiet, rural community amidst a family of sixteen children, where
nearly everybody in the county knew some member of the family. I
never felt blind.
I was usually with some member of the family, for everybody else
around understood my situation better than I did myself. Later,
however, things were different. I faced new situations in the big
city, where people didn't know me and I did not understand my own
limitations.  Later still, seven years after having graduated
from high school,
I enrolled in an out-of-state college to prepare to become a
history teacher. That is when the bombshell really hit me.
The college I chose to attend is a church-related college. I was
a new convert to that denomination, and I found myself surrounded
by numerous strangers and a new environment which I did not know.
It
was not too difficult at first since my younger brother came to
college and shared my dorm room, but after about six weeks
because of both homesickness and lovesickness, he returned home
and got a job and was soon married. Mind you, I never used a
cane, wore dark glasses, or even dreamed of using a guide dog. I
told no one that I was blind.  I got myself into awkward
positions in crowded stairways and hallways.  My limited vision
did not adjust well from a bright, sunny day to the darkness of a
building interior. I could not read room numbers identifying
classrooms. I found it embarrassing and difficult to participate
in activities after dusk. Games involving motion (such as
football or playing tag) were out for me. The real shocker came
one day when a veteran student, who had suffered torture in a
Chinese prison camp during the Korean War, rather bluntly made
the following remarks to me:  Bill, why do you come walking into
the classroom each day
as if you were the king of the walk? You never greet anyone. You
march to the front of the room and across the front to the window
side without acknowledging anyone. 
I had to stop and analyze that comment a bit. I had to admit that
what he said was true. I nearly always sat in the front row by
the window side to get the maximum amount of light so I could see
to take notes. When my body is in motion, such as walking, I have
to concentrate all my powers on the small little patch that I see
for mobility purposes.  Consequently, I did not see anyone or if
I did, it was only a small portion of their body, which was an
obstacle to be bypassed.  Furthermore, when I stopped to look
back on the situation, I could never recognize anybody by sight
until I had had considerable time
to observe them at my leisure. After viewing a person such as a
teacher or minister time after time, I could see that person as a
total mental image at a casual glance.
I think you can begin to see the picture here. The white cane
would have been a silent answer to many questions some of which I
was
aware and many, no doubt, of which I was not aware. Out of my
frustrations I went to my English professor, with whom I had
developed friendly relations. She encouraged me to talk about my
problem as part of my speech requirement in that class. That was
such great therapy! I did that toward the end of my first
semester. Immediately thereafter,
as news spread by word of mouth to other students and faculty
members, my isolation and feeling of blindness evaporated.
Whether I was at the college, on a bus, or at a terminal,
students and faculty alike understood my situation and often
offered their services to help when they thought I needed them.
Of course, that sort of thing can be overdone at times, but it
can also be rather comforting to know that they know you are
blind.
Earlier, when I was working in the U.S. Treasury Department, I
had to walk to various offices to obtain appropriate material for
the claims and correspondence which I was dealing with. Mailing
carts were often left in front of doorways in the hall area,
which I banged into time after time and kept my shins constantly
bruised. The white cane would have been the answer. I also rode
in a car pool at this job, where I was picked up at a busy
downtown intersection. One Friday night when I thought everybody
else was staying in town, a car pulled up and parked, and I
opened the door to enter. Just before getting into the car, I
heard a lady running up behind me towards the car, so I let her
get in first. Then I got in. After driving two or three blocks,
the driver said,  Are you going to go to the bank with us?  As
soon as he spoke, I knew he was not my driver. The lady thought I
was with the driver, the driver thought I was with his wife,
and I had to embarrassingly get out of the car at another busy
intersection and get back to my place in a hurry and with
considerable difficulty.  The white cane would have been the
answer.
While attending the liberal arts college, I located a summertime
job in a large trucking company office. I was having some
difficulty with the job because there were no windows in the room
for one thing, and all the office equipment was electronic. I had
been taught on manual typewriters. Before the first week was
past, I was asked to stay overtime and work in the evening. It
was dark after work, and I had to walk four to six blocks to the
bus station. It was a new part of town, I had no cane, it was
pouring down rain, and (to complicate matters worse) I ran into
road construction. Fortunately a kind soul came to my rescue and
got me back on the right course. Needless to say, the white cane
would have been the answer.
I finally started using the white cane about twenty years after I
should have started with it, and now I wonder why I was so
foolish
or so ill-informed about it. If one has restricted vision, the
general sighted public considers you blind whether you are or
not. The white cane is not only a silent  answering symbol  that
goes straight to the point, but it is a very useful piece of
equipment. It does, as it were, extend your fingers all the way
to the ground. It picks up many more messages and relays them
back to you than the shuffling of your feet or the trailing of
your fingers. Of course, you will have some embarrassment when
you first attempt to use a cane, but after two or three weeks of
continual use, picking up the cane becomes as routine as brushing
your teeth or putting on your glasses.
My first week in using a white cane was at the University of
Illinois during one summer session. The University of Illinois
rehab office applied a little pressure to get me to use the cane.
Either I used the cane or they would not help me with my other
needs there. Perhaps some of you need a  thumb in your back  such
as this to get started with a white cane. Leaving the dorm in
which I was living, I got the tip of the cane bent a bit in a
revolving door. A day or two later, in crossing a bike path along
Wright Street, I caught the cane in a bicycle wheel and threw a
girl and her belongings sprawling.  A blind friend attending the
same class I was in told me I had been duly initiated. From
experience, one learns how to use the cane more circumspectly in
difficult situations. In recent years I have been using a guide
dog considerably. Good cane skills are necessary to be able to
use a guide dog to greatest advantage. You pick up your
environment much better with a white cane, but the guide dog gets
you there quicker once you know where you really want to go.
There
are times, occasions, and places where the white cane is more
practical than a guide dog, or there might be a time when the
guide dog is ill
or there is a time lapse before a new dog is available as a
replacement.  In my opinion, if there is ever a time that a white
cane would serve a useful purpose for you, you should admit to
yourself that this is the case and learn not to be embarrassed
about it but to be  up front  about it with all of your
acquaintances.
                        TOOL OF THE TRADE
                         by Nancy Scott
  Nancy Scott, an active Federationist from Pennsylvania, was one
of the principal founders of the Writers Division of the National
Federation of the Blind. In the following article (which appears
in the June, 1989,  Blind Activist,  the publication of the
National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania) she couples her
own personal experiences with common-sense observations about
using a cane. Here is what she has to say: 

A cane is a piece of equipment designed to assist blind people in
finding and dealing with physical objects in the environment.
Often, though, the biggest problem for people who need a cane is
not their dealing with physical barriers. It is, rather, the
mental barrier of understanding that they need to use a cane. It
never ceases to amaze me just how far people will compromise
their dignity and often their safety not to take advantage of
what is, practically speaking, a tool that can make getting
around a good deal easier.
How far will people go? I have a friend who is losing her vision. 
About a year ago, it was suggested that she get some mobility
training.  She agreed, but expected the instructor to spend a few
hours with her and tell her she could use a magnifier and get
around just fine.  This is not what happened. He almost
immediately suggested a cane, and she burst into tears and
resisted. To his credit, the instructor talked her into cane
training and taught her, he says, to use the cane correctly. And
she did use it on lessons and at times when no one she knew was
with her. She wouldn't even bring it with her while she walked
with friends; not even when she walked with me and I used my
cane; not even when she followed me without holding my arm and
walked into door frames hard enough to hurt; not even when she
fell off a curb while following her niece in bright sunlight. Her
niece and I kept pointing out to her that she could minimize
these problems if she would just use her cane.
Several weeks ago, her niece took her to the drugstore, parked
the car, and said she would wait. My friend got out and, after a
few feet, walked into a telephone pole. Her niece, who had been
looking elsewhere, decided that enough was enough and insisted
that my friend carry and use her cane when she is with her.
Thankfully, my friend is using her cane much of the time now, but
it took a good whack on the head to get her to that point.
Even I have had my brushes with stupidity about using a cane.
When I first began working, I was told that using a cane would
make me stand out as different and that, therefore, I shouldn't
use it in the office. I agreed, since I didn't know any better. I
spent two years bumping my shins on chairs and reaching for desks
and doors.
I am sure that I looked more awkward than I would have using the
cane.  I certainly did not look any more  sighted.  I am not
sighted, and using or not using a cane cannot change that. Using
a cane, in fact, made me much less awkward, but I never used it
until we moved to a new building and I had to acclimate myself.
It was amazing. No more bruised shins. I could move much faster
and with more assurance.  Some people may have noticed the cane
and may have been more conscious of it (even perhaps a little
uncomfortable about it), but that was a problem of their
attitude, not my mobility.
I give you these examples so that you can avoid annoyance and
perhaps injury by starting out right and using a cane as it was
meant to be used. It is a tool, nothing more. It expresses your
desire to be as independent as possible in as safe a manner as
possible. It expresses your wisdom and common sense. So tap out
your message and be proud of it.
                        A CUT IN THE DARK
                         by Wayne Davis
 Wayne Davis is President of the Greater Miami Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Florida. His account of David
Melancon's successful effort to engage in the business of his
choice underscores the problems blind people face in dealing with
society and the agencies established to work with the blind. It
is (as the saying goes) an old story but one well worth
repeating. Here it is: 

I have a story to tell about a young businessman who lost his
sight in an accident about two years ago.  That's tough,  you
might say,  but a lot of blind people run their own businesses. 

The thing that made it hard for David Melancon was that he was a
hair stylist by trade. After going through the Miami Lighthouse
for the Blind (which is a rehabilitation center in Dade County,
Florida), he was referred to the Division of Blind Services.
David listened
to the negative things they had to say (the talk about being
realistic and understanding your limitations), but in his heart
he still wanted to operate his own style shop. After much
thought, he decided to pursue his dream. You see, several of his
old customers came to his house to get him to try to do their
hair, because they still believed in him. David picked up his
scissors and found that the skill was still there. His fingers
now gave him the information he used to get from his eyes.
 I'm going to open my own style shop,  he told me and I must
confess I never really thought he could pull it off. Once, twice,
he went to the Division of Blind Services, with proposals as to
how to set up his business. They turned him down both times.
Never one to give up, David worked out a third proposal and took
it back to DBS.
To make a long story short, if you're ever in Miami, stop by An
Eye for Hair. You'll see David there, with his guide dog Hawk. If
you need your hair cut or styled, he'll try to work you in. You
may have to wait, though, because David and his three hair
stylists stay busy.  So before you say you can't, remember David
Melancon, who said he could. Then, go give the world a good swift
kick in the backside, and fight for your dream. Who knows? You
just might win, too.CROSSING THE JORDAN: MEMORIES OF TORGER LIEN by Steve Jacobson
From the Editor: One part of my job as Editor of the  Monitor  is
to read the newsletters and other publications of our state and
local affiliates. This is a time-consuming but rewarding
activity.
It not only gives me material for the  Monitor  but also
acquaints me with facts I would otherwise probably never know.
Recently while I was reading the Fall/Winter, 1988,  Minnesota
Bulletin , the publication of the National Federation of the
Blind of Minnesota (yes, I got to it late), I read of the death
of Torger Lien. The article was written by Steve Jacobson, and it
caused me to reflect and remember. I am sure that some of my
observations and experiences parallel those of Steve.
You see, I knew Torger Lien and he was stubborn, determined to
have his say, and not deterred in the slightest if he found
himself in the minority. In fact, he spoke his peace even if he
knew that he was a minority of one and he would be heard. In
short, he had the characteristics which a true Federationist most
prizes and should possess.
In the later years of his life Torger found himself at odds with
the majority of Federationists in his state and was often a thorn
in their sides. I myself have felt the sting of his caustic lash.
On more than
one occasion I was, to say the least, annoyed by Torger's
behavior but all of that has absolutely nothing to do with his
sterling qualities and the contributions he made. He was jaggedly
honest in his beliefs (even when they were wrong), and he didn't
care whether others thought they were wrong or not.
In short, I respected Torger Lien not for what he believed on
occasion in his later years but for what he was and for what he
did to stimulate a spirit of independence among the blind of
Minnesota and (at least to some extent) the blind of the nation.
We should not forget the pioneers of our movement, and we should
not judge their contributions by the fact that their thinking and
philosophy were formed in an earlier day a day when conditions
were different, opportunities for the blind virtually
nonexistent, and organized effort by blind people only a hope and
a distant dream. If the blind of that day were to make progress,
they had to disturb the status quo and at times that meant being
abrasive, stubborn, and just plain muleheaded. Nothing else would
work. And Torger Lien fitted the image. As I have already said,
he should not be forgotten, and those who did not know him or
have never heard of him are poorer for it.
If Torger Lien had been born fifty years later, I believe he
would today be one of our strongest and most progressive leaders.
But whether he would or not, he would have had opinions, and he
would have insisted that they be heard. Whatever the
circumstances, he would not have
been intimidated or cowed. In the life of Torger Lien there is a
lesson for all of us who labor in the vineyards of the Federation
today not only for the leaders but also for the rank and file as
well. Who can say whether fifty years from now our views and
philosophy will fit
the mood and the needs of the time? I have no doubt that they
will but, then, perhaps I have a streak of Torger in me. I
remember him fondly.  Here is Steve Jacobson's article:

 Just keep your tongue straight in your mouth,  he would say, as
we approached an angled street crossing. Then he might issue what
was, to a fourth-grade boy, an awesome threat:  If you get off
of the crosswalk, I might have to get one of the girls to find
you.  Of course, it was not a threat, and those of us in Torger
Lien's travel class knew it. It was simply an example of his
uniquely gentle way
of telling us to concentrate. He would jokingly refer to 
crossing the Jordan,  but as children, we could not conceive of
it happening.  When I heard that Torger Lien had passed away,
these memories and more came back as clear as if 1960 were
yesterday.
As a capable blind teacher, his impact went far beyond the
boundaries of the classroom. He was the first person to make me
think that I could travel independently. He taught me the
importance of developing
a good sense of direction, listening for landmarks, and deriving
meaningful information from echoes. We would hear what to us were
wondrous tales of how Torger Lien rode alone on Twin Cities
buses. Of course, he was not the only blind person who did so,
but he was someone that we knew personally. It was through him
that we learned to dream that some day, as adults, we could do
the same.
My first exposure to the theoretical aspects of radio and
electricity was accomplished only through the dedication of
Torger Lien, and this gift is one that I still carry with me.
Besides teaching me some of
the theory, he showed me that blind people could wire electrical
circuits, make repairs to electrical equipment, and enjoy radio
and electronics as a hobby just as sighted people do.
Torger Lien was born in 1898 near Oden in southwestern Minnesota. 
He would explain that his sense of direction was developed
through the crossing of the open fields on his family's farm. He
graduated in 1918 from what was then the Minnesota Braille and
Sight Saving
School in Faribault. After earning a bachelor's degree from the
University of Minnesota, and after marrying Jennie Anderson in
1932, he returned to the Braille school as an instructor in 1934.
Torger stressed the importance of one's sense of direction and
one's hearing in the development of alternative techniques for
independent travel. As a result of his work in this area, he was
interviewed by  National Geographic  magazine, certainly not an
everyday occurrence.  After retiring from the Braille school in
1962, Torger and Jennie
moved to Minneapolis, where he remained active in the alumni
association of the Braille school and his church. In addition, he
served as president of the Minnesota Organization of the Blind,
which later became the NFB of Minnesota.
Torger died of a massive heart attack on October 13, 1988. The
death of my father last March should have reminded me how
suddenly death can come. I had always intended to explain to
Torger that my strong belief in the ability of blind persons to
live independent and full lives came from his example. I had
intended to tell him that, even with some of our political
differences, I had a great deal of respect for him. You could
rightfully say, therefore, that I am not writing this entirely as
a tribute to him. No, I have a somewhat selfish reason as well.
It is my hope that one way or another he will be able to read
this on his side of the Jordan.
                                 
OF SYMBOLS AND GOOD SENSE
 From the Associate Editor:  Patricia Morrow, the editor of the 
Blind Missourian,  the newsletter of the National Federation of
the Blind of Missouri, had never visited the National Center for
the Blind in Baltimore until her participation in the annual
Washington Seminar in February of 1989. She wrote about her
impressions in the April, 1989, edition of  The Blind Missourian. 
In large measure her description was what one might expect from
someone who was seeing the building and meeting our national
staff for the first time. The size and extent of the operation
surprised her, and she was impressed by the diversity of the
things being accomplished for all of us at 1800 Johnson Street.
But Pat Morrow is perceptive. She saw behind
the surface of the friendly, efficient, dedicated staff and the
programs they administer. She perceived the heart and soul of the
Federation.  In her article she put her finger on a truth and
expressed it by using a powerful but down-to-earth symbol. Here
is what she had to say: 

 I still haven't found a word that describes the spirit of the
place, [the National Center] but on thinking back I discover that
spirit was epitomized by lunch. Now, those of you who know me are
loudly laughing because you know that I attach a deal of
importance to lunch.  And to dinner. And to high tea as well. But
if you'll stop laughing, I'll try to suggest why that lunch was
symbolic of the atmosphere of NFB headquarters.
We didn't know that we were going to be provided with lunch, but
someone figured out that our return to Washington would be late
and some of us would not have time to eat and still meet our next
appointments.  So before we were ready to leave we were asked to
meet in the large conference room, where we began our tour. I
don't know who packed the lunches, but Dr. Jernigan and Mr.
Maurer brought them in on large trays. What business do you know
where the CEO brings in lunch to visitors? It certainly was not
for lack of other things to do. Both of them were traveling back
and forth to Washington and working on the legislation and the
congressional committee hearing to be held the next day.
But it was not only their presence that was significant; it was
what was in the brown bags also. Because I go to many
professional meetings, I eat a lot of packaged lunches. The last
one I recall was packed
in a box bearing the crest and name of the organization. It
contained a large napkin (another crest displayed on it), a very
skimpy slice of turkey on a once-pretentious but now dispirited
croissant. It cost over six dollars.
The NFB lunches contained sturdy, freshly-made sandwiches on
whole wheat bread, just-ripe bananas, this year's apples,
almonds, trail
mix, probably something else I've forgotten. Our brown bags were
solidly packed and no one went away from that room hungry. The
food was not fancy, but it was wholesome and tasty and the best
of its kind.
We were not asked to purchase the lunches, but we were reminded
that they were provided through the money earned by all of us at
whatever money-making project we had undertaken. In fact, the
sense of the Federation's belonging to all of us and of our
belonging to the Federation was pervasive. The episode exhibited
forethought, care, concern the same kind of concern one shows for
members of one's family who come to visit. No pretentious
offering, but the best of its kind. It is the same feeling that
prompts us to stand in the cold to sell candy, that keeps us in
communication with each other between cities and across state
lines, that suffuses the national conventions the greetings, the
songs, the applause for a victory won on behalf of sheltered shop
workers or for a major scholarship won by a student who has
demonstrated the capacity to use it well.
Can all that be symbolized by a brown bag lunch? Well, if you've
been welcomed at the national headquarters, you can decide for
yourselves whether you agree. If you have not, make an
opportunity soon to visit, and let me know what you think.
                     IT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU
                         by Sharon Gold
 As  Monitor  readers know, Sharon Gold is the President of the
National Federation of the Blind of California. 

The telephone rang at the National Federation of the Blind of
California office on May 15, 1989. The caller was excited yet he
was obviously upset. The gentleman, who left a message on our
telephone answering machine, identified himself by name but gave
no return telephone number.  He was calling to ask the Federation
to  do something  about what happened to the blind man as
reported on the front page of the  Daily Review . A search of our
computerized list of California newspapers revealed several
newspapers entitled  Daily Review , which made it difficult to
ascertain which newspaper was carrying the story about some
apparent mistreatment of a blind man.
By the next day, the story of David St. John was receiving
national publicity by the Associated Press. As local media began
to carry the story, it was brought to our attention by neighbors
of the NFB of California office. Soon Federationists from around
the country telephoned their concerns. With the added information
from the media, we began an immediate investigation of the
incident.
David St. John is a thirty-eight-year-old resident of Hayward, a
city in the San Francisco East Bay Area. Each day David leaves
his house and goes about his business much the same as the other
residents of Hayward; and, when his day is over, David travels
the streets and bus lines of the city to return home. The only
difference is that David is blind and uses a white cane.
As with most people, David's life is a routine and, as with most
people, David St. John takes each day with its expectations of
sameness and the challenges of the present. May 11, 1989, started
much the same as other days, but the events of that day have
resulted in lasting and scarring effects on David and the blind
of this country, and the sighted public has joined the blind in
outrage.
David stood at the bus stop awaiting the approach of the
scheduled bus. He was clad in blue jeans and a t-shirt since he
was on his way to participate in a sports event. In David's
pocket was his folded white cane. Two Hayward police officers
spotted the pocketed white cane and thought it to be nunchakus, a
martial-arts weapon which is illegal to carry in California and
which is made of two stout pieces of doweling connected by a
chain.
As we understand the subsequent course of events, two officers
approached David. One officer, who is a training officer and is a
five-year veteran
on the police force, asked  What do you have in your pocket?  
Simultaneously, and without identifying himself as a police
officer, the training
officer began searching David's waist for weapons. David, who
thought he was being mugged, put up a struggle which resulted in
the officer using his nightstick to beat David first about the
legs and later on the hands. When David took his folded white
cane from his pocket,
the trainee joined her superior and also struck David with her
nightstick.  The police only ceased beating David when witnesses
began yelling to the officers that David was blind.
Throughout the current decade, the NFB of California has received
a number of reports of abuse of blind persons by law enforcement
officers where there has been a mistaken identity of a white
cane. The abuse has usually been in the form of verbal abuse or a 
roughing-up of the blind person.  The David St. John incident is
the most brutal abuse of a blind person by law enforcement
officers that has been reported to us.
Over the years, the NFB of California has incorporated some
public education of the police through our October 15th White
Cane Safety
Day Awareness Programs. Unfortunately, this program has not had
sufficient impact upon the police to prevent such incidents as
the one endured by David St. John.
Realizing the additional need for training of its entire police
force, the Hayward Police Department contacted Mary Willows,
president of
the local chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of
California, for guidance. Mary, who also serves as an educational
consultant for the NFB of California, met with the Director of
the Officer Training Program for the Hayward Police Department to
discuss a suitable presentation by the National Federation of the
Blind of California. Paul Carver, a resident of Hayward and one
of our leaders, joined Mary on Monday,
May 22nd, to provide a comprehensive demonstration and blindness
awareness program for the Hayward Police Department. Mary and
Paul spoke of the need for police officers to identify themselves
to all persons since it is often difficult to determine that a
person is blind and thus unable to visually identify a uniformed
police officer.  Included in the program was a demonstration of
the various types of white canes which police officers could
expect to see carried by blind persons and the manner in which
those canes are carried. Mary even  whipped-out  a folded cane
from her purse and threw it open to demonstrate the body
movements which accompany such an act. Paul, who uses a dog
guide, discussed the training of these dogs and the proper
techniques to use when approaching a person using a dog guide. 
The entire presentation was videotaped and will be used as a
training film for all officers in the department.
Three hours after Mary and Paul completed their training session,
David St. John filed a complaint against the City of Hayward
claiming $200,000 in damages. One of the demands of David's
complaint is that the Hayward Police Department begin training
officers in proper methods of dealing with blind persons.
Our NFB of California office has now contacted all law
enforcement agencies in California suggesting the need of
in-service training
for all police officers so as to prevent the repeat of such an
incident as occurred to David St. John. At the time of the
writing of this article (June 5, 1989), law enforcement agencies
are responding favorably to our suggestion, and we are receiving
telephone inquiries from up and down the state requesting
assistance with blindness awareness training for police officers.
Mary Willows continues to coordinate this public education
program and already has scheduled a number of presentations for
police departments in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We are indeed saddened by the treatment of our blind brother
David
St. John. It emphasizes what we in the Federation have so often
said until we are all free, none of us is free. So long as David
St. John can be beaten by police officers for doing no more than
standing at a
bus stop with his white cane folded in his pocket, there is the
possibility for each and every one of us who is blind to suffer
such abuse at the hands of the police.
                    OF YARD SALES, AIRLINES, 
AND THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED
                                              Annandale, Virginia
                                                    June 26, 1989

Dear Dr. Jernigan:
You may wish to know that the semi-annual yard sale of the
Potomac Chapter, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia,
was very successful.  We have found it to be an effective
fund-raising tool and a fun-filled day for chapter members as
well. One of the highlights of this spring's yard sale was the
passing from us, after two years of companionship, of  Daphne .
The enclosed photograph pictures  Daphne  (right) and Bill Meeker
(left) and assorted yard sale objects (left and background). Lest
you draw the hasty conclusion of assuming that  Daphne  is simply
a dressmaker's mannequin, let me explain that she is in reality
the airline industry's quintessential handicapped air traveler.
In fact, her name is an acronym standing for Disabled Airline
Passenger Having No Extremities. Note the travel papers pinned to
her left shoulder for easy identification.  Daphne  is the ideal
airline passenger since she never talks back or sits anywhere
other than the place where she is put. She is very easy to store.
In fact, some of us wondered what she was doing associating with
such a group of recalcitrants
as the NFB, but she was silent on the subject, and since she was
bought (by an FAA or Air Transport employee?), we will never know
the answer.  We'll be watching for her in the next FAA passenger
aircraft disaster simulation.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                      Bill Meeker
                             RECIPES 
 From the Editor:  Two members of my family of whom I am very
proud are my daughter, Marie Antoinette Cobb, and my
sister-in-law, Mary Jernigan. As Federationists who come to
Baltimore know, Marie plans, arranges, and does on a volunteer
basis a good part of the cooking and food preparation for
seminars and other functions at the National Center for the
Blind. I know of my own knowledge (as well as the testimony of
others) that she is a good cook. 
 I can say the same of my sister-in-law Mary, who is the wife of
my brother Lloyd. In recent years Lloyd and Mary have been
attending NFB conventions, and many  Monitor  readers have come
to know them as friends. 
 Here are recipes submitted by Marie and Mary. I don't know where
they got them, but I am prepared to believe that they are good.
If
it seems more than coincidental that both Mary and Marie have
included recipes for Pear Preserves and Watermelon Rind
Preserves, that is because it is more than coincidental. I asked
each of them to find recipes for me for these items, and they
did. 

                      WATERMELON PRESERVES
                          by Marie Cobb

 Ingredients: 
1 pound watermelon rind cubes
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons lime (calcium oxide)
2 cups sugar
1 quart water
1/2 lemon

Method:  Trim off outer green skin and pink flesh, using only
greenish white parts of rind. Cut rind into 1-inch cubes and
weigh.
Soak cubes for 3-1/2 hours in lime water (2 quarts water and 2
tablespoons lime). Drain and place cubes in clear water 1 hour.
Again, drain off water and boil 1-1/2 hours in fresh water, then
drain. Make a syrup of 2 cups sugar and 1 quart water. Add rind;
boil 1 hour. As syrup thickens, add 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, for
each pound of fruit. When the syrup begins to thicken and the
melon is clear, the preserves are ready. Pack the preserves into
hot, sterilized jars. Add enough syrup to cover and seal.

                       BURGUNDY WINE JELLY
                          by Marie Cobb

 Ingredients: 
2 cups burgundy wine
3 cups sugar
1/2 bottle liquid pectin

Method:  Combine wine and sugar in top of a double boiler and
blend well. Heat over boiling water, stirring constantly until
sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add
pectin. Stir until well blended. Let stand a few minutes and skim
off foam with a metal spoon. Pour into hot sterilized jars and
seal with melted paraffin. Makes 5 6-ounce jars.

                     GREEN TOMATO CHOW CHOW
                          by Marie Cobb

 Ingredients: 
1 gallon green tomatoes
1 medium head cabbage
6 pods bell peppers
6 small hot peppers (red and green)
1 cup onion
3 cups vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons plain salt

 Method:  Bring vinegar and sugar to a boil. Combine other
ingredients and add together. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring often.
Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

                         PEAR PRESERVES
                          by Marie Cobb

The ingredients are pear slices, sugar, and water. The main thing
to remember is to use two cups of pear slices to one full cup of
sugar.  This ratio is really just right.
Pare the pears, slice them, measure two cups of pear slices and
one cup of sugar and place in a large pan. (I use the bottom half
of my turkey roaster.) Continue adding two cups of pear slices to
each cup of sugar until all pear slices are gone. Remember the
ratio of two to one if you only have a few pear slices left over.
After you have sliced and measured pears, put enough water in the
roaster pan to cover pear slices fully. Stir sugar around and
place on top of stove.  Turn burners on full to begin heating the
water, pears, and sugar.  After a full boil is reached, turn
burners down until a slow boil is reached. Continue stirring
throughout the entire cooking time.  Test frequently by removing
a spoonful of juice and cooling. A rich reddish brown color
usually indicates a good jar of pear preserves.  The time limit
varies depending on how full the pan is. When preserves have
finished cooking, run hot water over and in the jars you are
planning to use. Pour preserves, while hot, into jars. (Place a
spoon inside jar while pouring preserves.) Seal immediately after
filling. A gallon of fruit yields about 2 dozen pint jars.  

                         PEAR PRESERVES
                        by Mary Jernigan

 Ingredients: 
1 quart pears (sliced or chopped)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water or juice
2 or 3 slices lemon

 Method:  Pare fruit (if hard, cook until tender in water). Make
syrup of liquid and sugar, add fruit to partly cooled syrup and
bring gently to a boil. Add lemon, if desired. Boil rapidly until
clear
and tender, cool rapidly. Leave in syrup until fruit is plump or
semi-firm.  Pack fruit into sterilized jars and add reheated
syrup to within 1/2
inch of top. Seal immediately. Note: Honey may be substituted if
desired 1 cup honey for 1 cup sugar. Stir frequently during
boiling period since sugar substitutes cause more sticking.

                    WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES
                        by Mary Jernigan

Peel off all green portions, using only the white part of the
watermelon rind. Cut into small pieces. Soak in mild salt water
overnight (1/2 cup salt to one gallon water). Remove from the
salt water and cook in clear water for about 30 minutes or until
tender. Drain well. For 4 pounds of watermelon rind, make a syrup
of 9 cups sugar, 8 cups water, 4 lemons sliced, and add 4
teaspoons stick cinnamon, 4 teaspoons cloves (tie spices in
cheesecloth bag). Boil the syrup and spices
5 minutes before adding the rinds. Add rinds and cook until
transparent and clear. Remove spice bag, pour into sterilized
jars, and seal.  

                          CORN PUDDING
                        by Mary Jernigan

 Ingredients: 
1 can whole corn (drained)
1 can cream corn
1-1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
pinch of nutmeg

 Method:  Mix flour and sugar. Add beaten eggs, butter, salt, and
nutmeg. Stir in milk and corn. Mix well. Pour into buttered dish. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

                            MEAT LOAF
                        by Mary Jernigan

 Ingredients: 
2 pounds ground beef
1 onion (chopped)
1 cup carrots (shaved)
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
22 crushed soda crackers
A little pepper

 Method:  Mix together and bake at 350 or 375 degrees for 1 hour
and 15 minutes.


                  * * *MONITOR MINIATURES* * *  

**Corrections:
From time to time we make goof-ups, and when we do, we try to
correct them as soon as we know about them. In August, for
instance, we gave the address for Ackley Appliance Service as 627
East 57th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. The correct address is:
627 East 5th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Apologies to Mr.
Ackley. Also, we regret the error which we made in the caption
for Jim Walker's picture: We said:  Jim Walker (1943-1949).  We
should have said:  Jim Walker (1943-1989).  We discovered this
mistake in time to correct it in the recorded issue of the 
Monitor , but we were too late to do anything about it in the
print or Braille editions.

**Anonymous Letters:
From the Editor: I make a practice of disregarding all anonymous
letters.  If an individual is not courteous enough or brave
enough to sign his
or her name to a letter, that letter (at least, so far as I am
concerned) deserves no attention. It is like the coward who
strikes in the dark and runs.
All of this was brought to mind by two letters I recently
received in the same envelope and presumably from the same author
with the request that I pass them on to people who had written
articles for the  Monitor . Unsigned, the note which asked me to
forward these letters bore the initials RLC, and the envelope was
postmarked on June 30, 1989, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As to the
letters (which were written in Braille), they were filled with
Braille errors, characterized by illiteracy, pretentious, cutsie
without being witty, and filled with an overblown sense of
self-importance. As an example, one was signed "Needa Fax" and
the other "William Pitt of London." Not funny, not original, not
anything.
In the business of editing one expects a certain amount of
crackpot mail, and I have no hope that my comments will dry up
the stream.  Perhaps, however, they may help keep it to a trickle
and cause this latest would-be wit to see things in perspective.
After all, those who send me anonymous letters are at a
disadvantage, for if I choose, I can respond through the pages of
the  Monitor , knowing that they and many others will read the
answer. Incidentally, I did not forward the letters, so this
individual failed all around.

**Computer Baseball:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:  World
Series Baseball Game. For use with IBM PC's and clones, with
voice synthesizer and screen reader. Being used by blind baseball
fans from coast to coast. Comes with 36 of the greatest teams of
all time. Send $15 to: H. H. Hollingsworth, 692 South Sheraton
Drive, Akron, Ohio 44319; or call (216) 644-2421. Satisfaction
guaranteed or your money back. 

**Elected:
We are informed that the following people were recently elected
to office in the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania: President, Haydn Wyer;
Vice President, Lou McCarthy; Secretary, Joan Myers Goodman;
Treasurer, Celia Fowler; and Board Members: Lillian Wyer, Larry
Bush, and Judy Williams.

**Winston Gordon Award:
We recently received the following release from the Canadian
National
Institute for the Blind:

The Winston Gordon Award
                  For Technological Advancement
                         In the Field of
                 Blindness and Visual Impairment

The 1989 Premier Award winner is Deane Blazie for Braille 'n
Speak, a portable Braille input, voice output notetaker. 
Established by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in
1988 in memory of Winston Graham Gordon, a distinguished
Canadian.
THE AWARD: consists of $10,000 and a gold medal (24 k.); is
presented annually for the development of a technological
non-medical device, and/or the application of certain
technologies or techniques that provide specific practical and
useful benefits to blind and visually impaired persons.
ELIGIBILITY: The technological development must have occurred
within ten years prior to nomination and have a documented
benefit to blind and visually impaired persons. Individuals,
groups, or organizations (including corporations and academic
institutions) are eligible.  NOMINATIONS: must be received by the
Canadian National Institute for the Blind no later than January 1
of each year.
For further information and applications guidelines contact: John
R. Baker, The Canadian National Institute for the Blind, 1931
Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M4G 4C8; (416) 480-7580.

**Old-Time Radio:
Cassette Radio Network (Post Office Box 23276, Portland, Oregon
97223; phone: (503-639-1216) writes to say that it will provide
old-time radio programs to blind persons at discounted prices.

**President's Committee/Dart Appointed:
As  Monitor  readers know, Harold Russell has been the long time
chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of the
Handicapped.  Russell, who was known to the post-World War II
generation because of the movie  The Best Years of our Lives ,
has now sunk into almost complete anonymity. He was recently
replaced as chairman of the President's Committee, and the
Committee was given a new name.  In the lingo of the times it is
now the  President's Committee on Employment of People With
Disabilities  more words but the same announced functions. The
new chairman of the Committee is Justin Dart, Jr., who appeared
at the 1987 NFB convention in Phoenix. A recent press release
from the President's Committee said in part:
 On July 27, 1989, President George Bush appointed Justin W.
Dart, Jr. as Chairman of the President's Committee on Employment
of People with Disabilities.
 Dart's qualifications for the position include one congressional
and four presidential appointments in the area of disability
policy.  He served as Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services
Adminstration in 1986-87 at the request of President Ronald
Reagan. 

**Decatur, Georgia, Chapter:
The National Federation of the Blind of Georgia, Decatur Area
Chapter, recently elected officers. They are: Wayne High,
President; Vernon Cave, First Vice President; Annie Pearl
Shealey, Second Vice President; Lorie Walters, Secretary; Gladys
Taylor, Treasurer; Isabell Cave, Assistant Secretary; Lucille
Medlock, 1-Year Board Member; and Leotha Womble, 2-Year Board
Member. Our newest members to join the Decatur Area Chapter are
Lorie Walters, Max Walters, and Evelyn Cannon. At our 1989 NFB
state convention President High was elected to the state board.
To increase our membership the Decatur Area Chapter is
distributing
an informative membership appeals letter, the state brochure (
Where Is Today's Blind Georgian? ), and two national brochures (
Do You Know A Blind Person?  and  What Is The National Federation
of the Blind? ).
We also recently had a baby contest, and first place went to
Brandon Wilson, second place went to Christopher Walters, and
third place went to Caresio High.

**Want to Buy:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: I would
like to buy a used Perkins Brailler in good condition. Will pay
between $150 and $200 for it. For more information you may write
to Norm Peters at 618 Trenton Street, El Cajon, California 92019;
or call (619) 440-7593.

**Braille Sunday School Material:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement: Our
church
is looking into the feasibility of producing our Sunday morning
bulletin in Braille. The idea is that we might be able to provide
a more meaningful worship service for the visually impaired. The
purpose of this correspondence is to ask you to publish our name
and phone number and ask people in the North Houston area to call
or write if a service of this type would be meaningful to them.
Let me emphasize that we are not currently producing such a
bulletin but that we are exploring the demand for such a service.
Whether or not we proceed will depend upon the response we
receive from the community. Those interested may call or write
to: Reverend Darwood K. Galaway, Minister of Evangelism, Klein
United Methodist Church, 5920 F. M. 2920, Spring, Texas 77388;
(713) 353-8202.

**Contract Held Up:
The following Associated Press story was printed in the  St.
Petersburg, 
Florida,  Times  on June 17, 1989:

TALLAHASSEE The trustees of the Florida School for the Deaf and
Blind have refused to extend the contract of the school's
president.  However, William L. Proctor, vice chairman of the
Board of Trustees, said Friday that the board's refusal to grant
a new three-year contract should not be taken as an indication
that school president Robert
T. Dawson would be fired.
 It was not an expression of any lack of confidence,  said
Proctor.  The board has changed appreciably since the president's
contract was defined. They (board members) want a chance to
review all the occcurrences of the past year. 
A 9-year-old student, Jennifer Driggers of Ruskin, scalded to
death in a dorm shower last October, and in March a former dorm
supervisor was sentenced to life in prison for sexually
assaulting three deaf boys in his care.
One of the new trustees, Tallahassee lawyer Craig Kiser, moved to
have Dawson fired at the board's meeting last week, but that
motion
died without a second. A motion was then made to extend Dawson's
contract, but it also failed.

**Dies:
Pauline Gomez, one of the long-time leaders of the National
Federation
of the Blind of New Mexico, writes as follows:
Steve Sandoval, a staunch Federationist, died on May 27, 1989. He
resided in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is survived by his wife Eva,
four children, grandchildren, and great- grandchildren. Steve
lost his sight as a result of diabetes. Wanting to continue a
normal life, he sought the only orientation available at that
time. Later he received training with a dog guide. Steve was a
positive, responsible person and an excellent leader. He served
as president of the Santa Fe Chapter for one year in 1971, and
then served as president of the National Federation of the Blind
of New Mexico, from 1972 to 1976. He was active in promoting our
state legislation. He attended a number of national conventions
and made many friends. Steve will be remembered for his
exceptional sense of humor. He served in the United States Navy
during World War II. He was a torpedo man in the  U.S.S. Summers
, the  U.S.S. New , and the  U.S.S. Sussigs . He was an
administrative assistant for American National Insurance for many
years until his retirement.

**Moving North:
Dr. Paul Gabias has accepted an appointment as assistant
professor of psychology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton,
New Brunswick, Canada, beginning in September, 1989. As  Monitor 
readers remember, Paul Gabias and Mary Ellen Reihing were married
in January of 1989 in Baltimore. Mrs. Gabias served as Assistant
Director of the Job Opportunities for the Blind program from
October of 1982 until August of 1989. The Gabiases' address is:
820 Windsor Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 4G5.
We wish the Gabiases joy in their new home and only hope that the
Canadians recognize their luck in acquiring these fine
Federationists.

**Sell:
We have been asked to carry the following item:  I have for sale
a Wurlitzer organ, model 4480, with full double keyboard and full
pedals, in good condition. The cost is $800 before shipping. 
Contact Winifred Lippon at 3507 2 Mile Road, Bay City, Michigan
48706; (517) 684-1818.

**A Salute to Every-Day Heroes:
The July 10, 1989,  Newsweek  Magazine included an article paying
tribute to one American from each of the fifty states whose
volunteer
work is both an inspiration and a help to others. The New Mexico
representative was Pauline Gomez of Santa Fe, one of the founders
of and still a
leader in the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico, who
was honored for her work with the NFB and her no-nonsense
attitude about blindness.  Newsweek  called her a role model. We
are proud to call her our colleague and friend.

**New Baby:
Dennis and Carolyn Ranker, both leaders in the National
Federation of the Blind of West Virginia, proudly announce the
birth on July 22, 1989, of their son Dennis Paul, who weighed in
at five pounds, nine ounces, and was eighteen inches long.
Congratulations to all three Rankers.

**To Honor 85:
Long-time Federationist Eve Speciner of New York is one of my
favorite people. When (because of health reasons) she could not
attend the national convention in Denver, she found a way to
contribute just the same. In addition to her own donation, a
letter (which arrived too late to be read at the national
convention) came from her nephew:  

Dear Mr. Jernigan:
My Aunt Eve Speciner is unable to attend the NFB convention on
July 5 because her doctor states she is unable to travel due to
illness.  In honor of her 85 years, I wish to contribute the
enclosed check of $85 to be used for parents of blind children.
As you are probably aware, Eve is a member of the Sullivan County
Chapter of the New York State NFB.
Thank you for your acceptance of the enclosed and please inform
those at the convention that my aunt sends her best wishes. As a
past attendee of the NFB national convention these past few
years, I, too, shall miss attending and do wish all participants
a most successful time.

                                                Very truly yours,
                                                   BAUMANN & ROSE
                                               Stanley J. Baumann
                                                  Attorney at Law

**Outstanding:
Brenda Williams, who is a member of the Greater Baltimore Chapter
of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, recently
received a citation, which said in part:

Veterans Administration
                 Outstanding Rating Certificate

Presented to
                       Brenda L. Williams

who has made a significant contribution to the mission of this
Agency through exceptional performance for the rating period from
April 1, 1988, to March 31, 1989.
Given at VA Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, this 12th day of
July, 1989.

                                             Barbara L. Gallagher
                                          Medical Center Director
          RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE ANNUAL CONVENTION 
OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 
JULY, 1989
The policies of the National Federation of the Blind are
established
by resolutions adopted by the national convention. Each year the
Resolutions Committee meets early during the convention in the
presence of hundreds of Federationists, many of whom speak
concerning the matters under consideration. Resolutions are
discussed, revised, and ultimately withdrawn or recommended for
passage or disapproval by the full convention.  Here is a summary
of the resolutions presented at the 1989 convention in Denver,
followed by the full text of the resolutions which were adopted.

89-01: Expresses support for the  Americans with Disabilities Act 
only upon the condition that it is amended to prohibit rather
than legalize discrimination against the blind. When
anti-discrimination laws are enacted which lump the blind
together with all other disabilities, the result is generally
detrimental to the blind.  The emphasis of such generic laws is
often on physical access rather than attitudinal barriers. The
NFB plans to propose amendments to the bill which will give legal
recognition to the differences between blindness and other
disabilities.
89-02: Calls for the immediate abolition of all work activity
centers for the blind. People whose only disability is blindness
are sometimes placed in work activity centers rather than
sheltered workshops allegedly in order to provide training and
therapy for them. Since the U.S.  Department of Labor is unable
to monitor such placements adequately, many abuses result. This
deplorable situation can best be corrected through the abolition
of work activity centers for the blind.  89-03: Salutes the
Michigan Commission for the Blind for its policy of providing
only quality services to its clients and encourages other
agencies for the blind to follow the Michigan example. As of 1989
only the least effective agencies for the blind continue to try
to hide behind accreditation by the National Accreditation
Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped
(NAC) to suggest that they provide quality service, so the
Michigan Commission established the policy that it will not
contract for services with agencies which are NAC accredited.
89-04: Condemns and deplores the U.S. State Department for
discrimination against the blind in its testing for the Foreign
Service and calls upon Congress to correct this situation. The
State Department says that it does not discriminate on the basis
of blindness just that a person must have sight in order to take
tests for employment as a Foreign Service Officer.
89-05: Reminds the Committee for Purchase from the Blind and
Other Severely Handicapped of its obligation to establish
clear-cut objectives and upward mobility goals for the industries
programs with which it conducts business. Congress has directed
sheltered shops to expand employment opportunities for blind
employees through improved affirmative action and upward mobility
programs. Though the Committee has the responsibility for
carrying out this mandate, it has done nothing for more than a
year.
89-06: Calls upon public and private agencies to serve blind
individuals regardless of the cause of blindness. Some agencies
choose not to
serve people blinded as a result of grave and life-threatening
conditions.  89-07: Urges that state Departments of Education and
local school districts give graduation credit for instruction in
Braille. Most school districts do not emphasize Braille for blind
students. Giving credit for instruction in Braille toward
graduation would give blind students a greater incentive to learn
it.
89-08: Protests the misuse of public funds by National Industries
for the Blind (NIB) and recommends advising Congressional
Committees about NIB's actions. NIB derives its funds from the
labor of sheltered shop employees. Its Board of Directors has
decided to give more than $300,000 of these funds to NAC in order
to prop up this failing accrediting body for a little longer and
to forestall fiscal insolvency and total collapse. This means
that funds raised from the labors of the blind would be used
against them.
89-09: Acknowledges the interest of Congressman Steve Bartlett in
developing greater Social Security work incentives and invites
him
to join with the NFB in this objective. Congressman Bartlett
introduced a bill purporting to improve Social Security work
incentives for blind persons. While his intention was good, he
had not consulted with the NFB, and his bill would have resulted
in significant losses for blind beneficiaries. By working with
the NFB, Congressman Bartlett will have the necessary information
to promote legislation with real work incentives.
89-10: Encourages the establishment of business opportunities for
the blind at public airports by working with appropriate state
licensing agencies and airport authorities. Public airports
throughout the nation offer numerous business opportunities but
few such locations are occupied by blind operators. If state
licensing agencies and airport authorities can be persuaded under
existing laws to make such opportunities available to qualified
blind persons, many new and lucrative opportunities will result.
89-11: Demands that the Xerox Corporation and the American
Foundation for the Blind cease their false advertising by
withdrawing advertisements concerning a non-existent loan fund to
purchase Kurzweil Personal
Readers and sets forth other actions to be taken to achieve this
objective.  Xerox and the AFB have conducted a nationwide
advertising campaign claiming that low-interest loans are
available to blind persons for purchase of the Kurzweil Personal
Reader. Although these advertisements have appeared for more than
seven months, no loans have been made,
and blind people requesting applications are told that the loan
program will be starting  soon. 
89-12: Determines to inform the Congress of the Department of
Labor's failure to enforce minimum wage law provisions and
reaffirms the NFB's commitment to secure minimum wage protection
for all blind workers.  1986 amendments to the Fair Labor
Standards Act were designed to give sub-minimum wage employees
the right to contest illegal wage payments.  However, the
Department of Labor has failed to issue regulations to put the
1986 provisions fully into effect.
89-13: Calls for decisive action by Congress in support of air
travel rights for the blind. Air carriers continue to
discriminate against the blind in air travel. At the urging of
the NFB, the Air Travel Rights for Blind Individuals Act has been
introduced both in the Senate (S.341) and the House of
Representatives (H.R. 563). This proposed law correctly resolves
the safety versus civil rights debate.  89-14: Declares that
discrimination against the blind in adoption
is intolerable and pledges to eliminate forever this deplorable
mistreatment.  Even though the NFB has repeatedly established in
the courts the right of blind biological parents to rear their
children, certain adoption agencies continue to discriminate
against blind adoptive parents.  89-15: Condemns the practice of
the federal government in requiring that vocational
rehabilitation agencies must certify blind persons eligible for
excepted Federal appointments and urges that other programs such
as Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB) be given authority to
certify eligibility. Although blind persons may enter the federal
service through regular competitive examination, they may also be
employed non-competitively through an excepted appointment if a
state vocational rehabilitation agency certifies their
eligibility. Since not all blind persons are vocational
rehabilitation clients, it would be more appropriate for other
programs such as JOB to provide such certifications when they are
needed.
89-16: Was voted down by the Resolutions Committee and withdrawn
by the author.
89-17: Urges the enactment of a bill to improve the availability
of educational materials and equipment by permitting schools and
institutions to obtain such educational products from the
American Printing House for the Blind as well as from alternative
sources. Under current law Congress requires that only APH shall
provide educational materials and equipment to schools and other
institutions throughout the country (the APH quota). However,
many materials and pieces of equipment are available from other
sources. At the urging of the NFB, Congressman Kweisi Mfume has
introduced H.R. 1627 which would broaden this program to include
alternative sources.
89-18: Calls for prompt action on proposed legislation which
would permit blind persons being rehabilitated through the use of
Social Security funds to choose their own training programs.
Under current law a blind Social Security beneficiary may be
rehabilitated using SSA funds, but the services must be provided
by the agency for the blind in the state in which the beneficiary
lives. Since many state programs for the blind are ineffective,
many blind persons are severely harmed because of their inability
to seek more suitable services.  To remedy this intolerable
situation, H.R. 855 has been introduced
in the Congress. This bill would enable the blind beneficiary to
choose, design, and pursue his or her own rehabilitation program.
89-19: Was withdrawn by its author.
89-20: Requests a meeting between the Commissioner of the Social
Security Administration and the NFB to clear up a problem. Under
current law, blind SSDI beneficiaries are subject to the same
exempt earnings provisions as retirees presently $740 a month.
The NFB has learned that some Social Security Administration
personnel have proposed a change in the law so that the exempt
earnings for blind recipients would be tied to exempt earnings
for other disabilities. This would result in a significant work
disincentive. The meeting with the SSA Commissioner will attempt
to ensure that SSA personnel do not interfere with current law
but rather work to establish greater work incentives.  89-21:
Commends Frank Kurt Cylke, Director of the National Library
Service for the Blind for distribution of Grade III Braille
materials.  The NLS Grade III Braille collection was removed from
storage at the request of the NFB's Committee on Library Services
so that it is now available for direct borrowing from NLS.


                        RESOLUTION 89-01

WHEREAS, the blind have long sought coverage under Federal Civil
Rights laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
since discrimination against persons who are blind is largely
based on social prejudice as is discrimination on race, color,
creed, sex, and national origin; and
WHEREAS, unlike discrimination against the blind, discrimination
on the basis of other disabilities largely results from
conditions that prevent the disabled individual from gaining
physical access to the services and facilities available to the
non-disabled; and
WHEREAS, laws to provide access for the physically disabled may
effectively remove discriminatory physical barriers or may
overcome those barriers by providing the disabled with separate
services or different treatment; and
WHEREAS, grouping the blind with the physically and mentally
disabled
for purposes of coverage under a single, all-inclusive,
non-discrimination law reinforces existing social prejudices
against the blind and leads
to discrimination based on the presumption that the blind need
accommodation and special treatment rather than full acceptance;
and
WHEREAS,  separate  or  different  treatment (including
modifications to the physical environment) may be necessary to
prevent discrimination against some persons with disabilities,
but  separate  or  different  in the case of the blind is
generally in and
of itself an act of discrimination rather than an act to remove
discrimination; and
WHEREAS, the experience that the blind have had with Section 504
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, supports the
proposition that discrimination against the blind will result
from laws that set general non-discrimination standards for the
disabled as a single class; and
WHEREAS, examples of discriminatory treatment against the blind
resulting from Section 504 include:  (1) needless employment of
personnel assigned to design special programs for the blind in
order to meet their presumed needs without regard to their actual
needs, (2) installation near intersections of pathfinder tiles
erroneously thought to be essential in showing the blind where to
cross the street, and (3) the use of audible traffic signals
erroneously thought to be essential in telling the blind when to
cross the street; and
WHEREAS, Congress is now considering a new proposal called the 
Americans with Disabilities Act  which follows the harmful
approach of Section 504 presuming that the blind are
discriminated against by virtue of physical barriers just as in
the case of the otherwise disabled; and

WHEREAS, the blind know from long experience that the  Americans
with Disabilities Act  in its present form will become the legal
underpinning for discriminatory practices that deprive us of the
very independence and dignity that the bill purports to promote;
and WHEREAS, in order to achieve its objective of prohibiting
discrimination against all disabled persons without causing
discrimination against blind persons, the  Americans with
Disabilities Act  should specify the acts and practices which
constitute unlawful discrimination against the blind just as it
should and does specify the acts and
practices that constitute unlawful discrimination against the
disabled:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization insist that the
following standards defining discrimination against the blind be
included in the  Americans with Disabilities Act : (1) that, as a
matter of general policy,  separate  or  different  services,
treatment, or facilities be prohibited whether applied to the
blind as individuals or as a class, (2) that, with respect to
employment,  separate  or  different  services, treatment, or
facilities be prohibited except in those cases where alternatives
to the use of sight constitute reasonable accommodation, and (3)
that, with respect to public transportation,  separate  or 
different  services, treatment, or facilities be prohibited
except for those times and places where mainline transportation
services are not available to blind persons; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the support of this organization for
the  Americans with Disabilities Act  be conditioned upon
modification of the Act so that it prohibits rather than
legalizes discrimination against the blind.


                        RESOLUTION 89-02

WHEREAS, the United States Congress established work activity
centers in connection with workshops for the blind to provide
training and therapy for blind workers judged, by agency staff,
to be incapable of producing at workshop floor levels; and
WHEREAS, these persons in work activity centers must necessarily
be able to produce very little, since the judgment of agency
staff has long restricted the productivity of workshop floor
workers to a level far below the minimum wage; and
WHEREAS, Congress originally required that work activity centers
be physically separated from workshop floor production; and
WHEREAS, Congressional good intentions actually resulted in
removing constraints on agency staff, allowing them to abandon
all pretense of management; and
WHEREAS, at agency urging, Congress recently abolished the
separation requirement; and
WHEREAS, today, in work activity centers, blind workers who have
been judged unproductive work a two week pay period for mere
pennies, while agency staff draw embarrassingly high salaries
(one worker recently received a bi-weekly paycheck for 18 cents,
while agency staff undoubtedly drew a bi- weekly paycheck in the
thousands of dollars); and WHEREAS, workers in work activity
centers now work side-by-side with workshop workers and draw far
lower pay for the same work; and WHEREAS, the whole work activity
center structure encourages laziness, lack of planning, and a
general failure of management, resulting in a system riddled with
abuses; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Labor is charged with
the responsibility of insuring that blind workers are paid for
their work; and
WHEREAS, the staff of work activity centers know that the
Department
of Labor is overburdened and does not really understand the work
activity center, since no effort is made to enforce any pay
standard, freeing the agency to do whatever it likes:  Now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization demand the immediate
abolition of all work activity centers for the blind.


                        RESOLUTION 89-03

WHEREAS, the Michigan Commission for the Blind has decided to
follow a  no-NAC  policy for its contracts with other agencies;
and

WHEREAS, accreditation by NAC is not a sign of quality service
and the use of accreditation by many agencies is often harmful to
the interests of the blind by shielding agencies from objective
scrutiny; and
WHEREAS, this forthright stand of the Commission to renounce NAC
in Michigan is a correct and courageous action, deserving praise
and commendation by the organized blind of the United States: 
Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that we salute the Michigan Commission for the
Blind and the stand it has taken for quality service; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization encourage all other
agencies serving the blind to follow the example set by the
Michigan Commission in recognizing that NAC's form of
accreditation is a harmful and wasteful use of public funds.


                        RESOLUTION 89-04

WHEREAS, several blind persons have demonstrated their
qualifications for holding positions in the United States Foreign
Service; and
WHEREAS, the State Department has consistently refused to employ
qualified blind persons as foreign service officers with duties
involving overseas assignments; and
WHEREAS, on several occasions the State Department has made
commitments to adopt an affirmative action policy for employment
of the blind
in the Foreign Service, but each of these commitments has been
broken the next time a qualified blind applicant appears; and
WHEREAS, Avraham Rabby is the latest in a series of qualified
blind candidates for the Foreign Service, having passed all of
the required written examinations and oral assessments more than
once, but the State Department still refuses to employ him; and
WHEREAS, in refusing Mr. Rabby's latest application for an oral
assessment, the State Department introduced a new policy of
disallowing readers for the blind during examinations and
requiring blind candidates for
the Foreign Service to complete their examinations using  source 
(that is, print) documents; and
WHEREAS, the requirement that the blind be able to read print
documents is no more than a thinly veiled excuse for the
underlying prejudice of the State Department against the blind:
Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization condemn and deplore the
failure of the State Department to work constructively with the
blind to achieve a genuine policy of affirmative action and the
actual recruitment of blind persons in the service of our country
abroad; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Congress to take
prompt and decisive action on behalf of the blind, and especially
those who are qualified to serve in the Foreign Service, in order
that the State Department's position will be reversed.


                        RESOLUTION 89-05

WHEREAS, the Congress, by a concurrent resolution, has directed
sheltered workshops selling products to the United States
Government to expand employment opportunities for blind employees
through improved affirmative action and upward mobility programs;
and
WHEREAS, the Committee for Purchase from the Blind and Other
Severely Handicapped is responsible for initiating plans and
actions to carry out the directives of the Congress; and
WHEREAS, a full year has now elapsed since Congress declared that
upward mobility programs in the sheltered workshops should be
expanded, but in the course of the past year the Committee has
still issued neither policies nor regulations that give even the
slightest nod toward affirmative action for the blind:  Now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that we remind the Committee for Purchase from
the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped of its obligation to
implement the expressed
will of Congress by establishing clear-cut objectives and upward
mobility goals for the workshops to follow; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization offer the expert
consultation of its members and leaders in helping the Committee
to design the model affirmative action and upward mobility
programs envisioned by the concurrent resolution of the Congress.


                        RESOLUTION 89-06

WHEREAS, a number of grave or life-threatening conditions have in
common the fact that blindness may occur as the condition
progresses
(for example, tumorous cancers, cystic fibrosis, AIDS, multiple
sclerosis, and renal failure); and
WHEREAS, the onset of blindness in connection with these
conditions can occur years before death or recovery from the
condition, thus making the teaching of Braille and independent
cane travel skills desirable; and
WHEREAS, some public and private social service agencies for the
blind regularly and consistently refuse to provide these
desirable services to persons whose blindness results from a
grave or life-threatening condition:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization call upon public and
private social service agencies serving the blind to serve all
blind persons who desire to learn the skills of blindness
regardless of the condition that brought about the blindness.


                        RESOLUTION 89-07

WHEREAS, while Braille is the only effective reading and writing
method for people who are blind, most schools throughout the
nation do not emphasize the importance of reading and writing
Braille for blind students; and
WHEREAS, giving credit for instruction in Braille toward
graduation would give blind students a greater incentive to learn
Braille, which is a skill essential to their future; and
WHEREAS, additionally offering Braille as an elective for sighted
students would increase their awareness of blind persons and
would facilitate future communication between the blind and the
sighted:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization urge state departments
of education and local school districts to offer graduation
credit for instruction in Braille to blind students; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that instruction in Braille be extended to
sighted students as an elective course carrying graduation
credit.



                        RESOLUTION 89-08

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the National Industries for
the Blind (NIB) has decided to give financial support to NAC (the
National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and
Visually Handicapped); and
WHEREAS, NIB's financial commitment to NAC includes grants
totaling approximately $300,000, plus additional funding of NAC
through payment
of dues and on-site review expenses by NIB and its affiliated
workshops all of which is being done in conjunction with NAC's
long-time financier, the American Foundation for the Blind, in
order to forestall NAC's fiscal insolvency; and
WHEREAS, the funds which NIB now intends to divert to saving NAC
from total collapse come from the labor of the blind themselves
but will now be used against the blind in accordance with NAC's
harmful and long established policies; and
WHEREAS, NAC has used its resources to support litigation
campaigns against blind employees of workshops who want and have
sought union representation, and NAC has also continued to
support workshops that violate the Fair Labor Standards Act as
well as other federal and state laws; and
WHEREAS, the Committee for Purchase from the Blind and Other
Severely Handicapped, the federal agency to which NIB reports,
consulted with NIB and cooperated with NIB in making the decision
to finance NAC; and
WHEREAS, the diversion of these funds as herein described is a
misuse of public money since NIB is an officially designated
entity of the government set up specifically for the purpose of
working with the government to distribute government contracts to
the workshops and
deriving the vast majority of its funds from these government
contracts:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization take all steps necessary
to protest the NIB decision and the support given to that
decision by the Committee for Purchase from the Blind and Other
Severely Handicapped; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that our protest of the NIB decision to
finance NAC include advising appropriate Congressional committees
and members of Congress, presentations to the media, and all
other actions that may be necessary to halt this misuse of public
funds.


                        RESOLUTION 89-09

WHEREAS, Congressman Steve Bartlett has introduced the Social
Security Work Incentives Act (H.R. 8) in the first session of the
101st Congress; and
WHEREAS, in offering this legislation Congressman Bartlett is
seeking to rectify the work disincentives that exist in the
Social Security Disability Insurance program; and
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has also worked
hard for many years to improve work incentives for blind
beneficiaries of disability insurance, resulting in several
positive changes in the law; and
WHEREAS, the work incentive factors of H.R. 8 would severely
restrict the earnings allowed for blind beneficiaries of
disability insurance by reducing an individual's benefit in the
amount of $1.00 for every $2.00 earned, with a basic exemption of
$85.00; and
WHEREAS, the law currently allows blind persons to earn $740 per
month, far more than $85 as proposed in H.R. 8; and
WHEREAS, while Congressman Bartlett met with representatives of
the National Federation of the Blind early in the first session
of the present Congress on other of our concerns, he did not
consult with the Federation in the preparation of H.R. 8; and
WHEREAS, seeking the Federation's advice concerning the harmful
affect of H.R. 8 on the blind could have resulted in more
positive legislation to provide work incentives for the blind: 
Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization acknowledge the efforts
that Congressman Steve Bartlett is making to create more work
incentives for Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries
while strongly opposing H.R. 8 in the form it was introduced; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization invite Congressman
Bartlett to join with us in planning positive approaches that
will improve work incentives for all disability beneficiaries who
are blind.


                        RESOLUTION 89-10

WHEREAS, Federal and state laws require that the operators of
public buildings and facilities make vending facility space
available to the blind; and
WHEREAS, vending facilities operated by the blind in public
buildings help to promote employment of blind persons in many
areas; and WHEREAS, airports are publicly operated facilities and
generally have one or more food service or other businesses of
the type that blind persons normally operate in public buildings;
and
WHEREAS, state licensing agencies for the blind and airport
authorities should cooperate in opening up business opportunities
for the blind at airports in observance of existing laws to
expand such business opportunities for the blind:  Now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization encourage the
establishment of business opportunities for the blind at public
airports; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we work with airport authorities and
state licensing agencies to promote employment for the blind at
public airports by the establishment of vending facilities.


                        RESOLUTION 89-11

WHEREAS, it is vital that blind people have accurate information
about technological devices designed to assist them; and
WHEREAS, whenever unrealistic hope, false claims, and other
inaccuracies contaminate publicity about technology for the
blind, the credibility of all suppliers of technology suffers,
thereby making it more difficult to gain public support for
worthwhile research and development; and

WHEREAS, the Kurzweil Personal Reader (KPR) represents a
significant improvement over previous models; and
WHEREAS, while blind persons could benefit greatly by receiving
accurate information about the Kurzweil Personal Reader, the
Xerox Corporation and the American Foundation for the Blind,
rather than helping blind people get the facts about the KPR,
have chosen instead to publicize the machine in a way which
implies that it is the answer to all the reading needs of the
blind; and
WHEREAS, Xerox and the Foundation, through an advertising
campaign carried widely on television stations throughout the
country, have claimed that low interest loans are available to
blind people wishing to purchase Kurzweil Personal Readers; and
WHEREAS, though these advertisements have been appearing for more
than seven months, not one loan has been granted, and blind
people requesting applications are told that the loan program
will be starting  soon ; and
WHEREAS, such blatantly false advertising represents a cynical
disregard for the truth and a willingness on the part of Xerox
and the American Foundation for the Blind to exploit blindness
and the public fascination with reading machines for the blind
for corporate and organizational gain, no matter how much damage
such exploitation does to blind people:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
Convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this Federation demand that Xerox and the
American Foundation for the Blind withdraw all advertising of the
Kurzweil Personal Reader which mentions the non-existent low
interest loan program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we report the false advertising of
the American Foundation for the Blind to the Federal Trade
Commission and that we urge the Commission to investigate and
take appropriate action; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we inform all stations which air the
American Foundation for the Blind advertisement that it is
untrue, and urge these stations to cease broadcasting this
advertisement.


                        RESOLUTION 89-12

WHEREAS, subminimum wages paid to blind employees of sheltered
workshops are a form of pay inequity that the law continues to
permit; and WHEREAS, the United States Department of Labor is
responsible for compliance enforcement to assure that blind
persons are paid at least the wage that the law requires; and
WHEREAS, sheltered workshops that violate legally required pay
standards often do so with impunity from the Department of Labor;
and
WHEREAS, amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, passed and
signed into law in 1986, were designed to give subminimum wage
employees the right to contest illegal wage payments, but the
Department of Labor has not even issued regulations to put the
1986 provisions fully into effect; and
WHEREAS, the experience of the blind with attempting to obtain
fair enforcement of the law by the Department of Labor (or
through hearings required by the 1986 amendments) has been that
the exemption from
the minimum wage leads to wage exploitation in the case of blind
workers, and that the Department of Labor either cannot or will
not enforce the law to achieve a contrary result:  Now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization inform the Congress of
the Department of Labor's continued failure to enforce existing
requirements in the Fair Labor Standards Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we renew and reaffirm our commitment
to the objective of achieving, for every blind worker, the right
to be paid at least the minimum wage to the same extent as that
right already exists for all workers who are sighted.


                        RESOLUTION 89-13

WHEREAS, the Air Travel Rights for Blind Individuals Act (S. 341
and H.R. 563) has been introduced in Congress by Senator Ernest
F. Hollings and Representative James A. Traficant, Jr.; and
WHEREAS, opponents of this measure erroneously say that safety in
an aircraft emergency depends on passengers having sight; and
WHEREAS, excluding the blind as a class from seats near aircraft
exits expresses the false and prejudicial conclusion that the
blind as a class are always less capable than the sighted as a
class, especially in dealing with emergencies; and
WHEREAS, the ability which the blind have to function confidently
without sight would contribute to the safe evacuation of aircraft
in many instances; and
WHEREAS, scare talk from the airlines rings hollow in the ears of
the blind when the airlines themselves contribute to unsafe air
travel in many ways, most notably in serving alcohol to
passengers seated near exits, while all the time loudly
proclaiming that it is really the blind who are unsafe; and
WHEREAS, the Air Travel Rights for Blind Individuals Act
correctly resolves the safety versus civil rights debate by
permitting airlines
to apply all reasonable and fair safety standards that do not
discriminate against the blind:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization call for decisive action
by Congress in support of air travel rights for the blind; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Federation, together with its
affiliates, chapters, members and friends, urge all members of
Congress to vote  yes  for air travel rights for the blind.

                        RESOLUTION 89-14

WHEREAS, blind persons are successfully raising children
throughout
the United States; and
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has repeatedly
established in the courts the right of blind biological parents
to raise their children without interference; and
WHEREAS, blind adoptive parents, couples in which at least one of
the spouses is blind, suffer identical discrimination and adverse
treatment during their attempts to adopt children; and
WHEREAS, recent examples include (1) refusal by international
child placement agencies (such as the Korean Branch of  Holt
International) to accept applications from blind adoptive
parents, (2) the insistence by agencies placing children
nationwide that blind adoptive parents may receive only blind
children, (3) the refusal of domestic adoption agencies (such as
Western Association of Concerned Adoptive Parents) to facilitate
open or semi-open adoption (in which the adoptive and biological
parents communicate) on the ground that biological parents would
never choose blind adoptive parents for their children, and
(4) keeping approved blind adoptive parents waiting years longer
than similarly approved sighted couples; and
WHEREAS, this discrimination against adoptive parents who are
blind
is a pervasive, nationwide problem suffered by blind people and
requires the pooling of information and resources to remedy this
injustice:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization declare this treatment
of blind adoptive parents intolerable; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization take all steps
necessary to eliminate forever this deplorable mistreatment of
blind adoptive parents.


                        RESOLUTION 89-15

WHEREAS, the unemployment rate among the blind is estimated to be
70 percent; and
WHEREAS, the federal government has established the Selective
Placement Program to provide for affirmative action in hiring
blind and otherwise disabled persons; and
WHEREAS, the Office of Personnel Management requires that the
only means by which a blind or otherwise disabled person may be
qualified for federal employment through this program is by
certification from a state vocational rehabilitation agency; and
WHEREAS, this certification consists of (1) a letter stating that
the blind person is able to perform the essential functions of
the job, (2) that the job can be performed by a blind person
without the blind person being a safety risk to him/herself or
others, and (3) an on-site visit by the rehabilitation counselor
to recommend if any job site modifications are necessary in order
for the blind person to do the job; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the federal SF-171 application form is to
provide information to hiring authorities of a candidate's
qualifications for specific jobs, and, therefore, federal
personnel and management authorities will, in all circumstances
have the appropriate knowledge to determine if a blind person is
qualified for a specific job, just as these authorities determine
if sighted persons are qualified for specific jobs; and
WHEREAS, the Selective Placement Program appears to be based upon
the negative presumption that blindness or disability make it
necessary for a rehabilitation expert to affirm that the blind or
disabled person can perform a specific job when, at least for
blind persons, experience demonstrates that they can successfully
perform most jobs; and
WHEREAS, blind persons do not represent a hazard to others or
themselves, rehabilitation counselors do not have the necessary
expertise to make safety judgments, and ordinary safety related
hazards in an office are already regulated by existing federal
standards; and
WHEREAS, there are no architectural barriers faced by blind
persons in offices, thus making the site visit unnecessary; and
WHEREAS, since many state rehabilitation agencies will only
accept
a blind person as a client if he/she is unemployed, the under
employed but working blind person seeking federal employment may
not be able to secure the needed rehabilitation certification
since the rehab agency will say that no vocational handicap
exists and, therefore, such a blind individual is not eligible
for rehabilitation services; and
WHEREAS, rejection as a rehabilitation client precludes otherwise
qualified blind persons from participating in the Federal
Selective Placement Program:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization condemn and deplore the
practice of the Federal Office of Personnel Management in
requiring vocational rehabilitation certification before a blind
person may be hired by the federal government through its
Selective Placement Program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization do all in its power
to remove the monopoly of vocational rehabilitation for
certification of blind persons under the Selective Placement
Program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization do all in its power
to have other programs such as Job Opportunities for the Blind
given authority to certify eligibility of blind persons for the
Selective Placement Program.


                        RESOLUTION 89-17

WHEREAS, for 110 years, beginning in 1879, a federal law has
recognized the American Printing House for the Blind as the sole
supplier of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary educational
materials and equipment for the blind; and
WHEREAS, for many years after 1879 the American Printing House
was actually the only existing manufacturer and supplier of these
educational materials; and
WHEREAS, under the existing law Congress promotes the
distribution
of educational materials and equipment to the blind by annually
appropriating funds (approximately 5.5 million dollars per year)
to the American Printing House for the Blind; and
WHEREAS, this appropriation must be used by the Printing House on
behalf of qualified schools and other institutions to offset the
costs they would have in purchasing items produced at the
Printing House; and
WHEREAS, some educational materials and equipment for the blind
are now available from manufacturers that compete with the
Printing House, and in some instances the Printing House simply
does not have the best products for the money, or in other
instances the Printing House does not have the desired materials
or equipment for any price at all; and
WHEREAS, Congressman Kweisi Mfume has introduced legislation in
the form of H.R. 1627, designed to permit schools and
institutions to obtain educational products from the American
Printing House, as well as from alternative sources:  Now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization declare its wholehearted
support for Congressman Mfume's legislation to improve the
availability of educational materials and equipment to the blind;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that members and appropriate committees of
the Congress be urged to enact H.R. 1627 during the present
Congressional session.


                        RESOLUTION 89-18

WHEREAS, existing funding requirements in the Social Security Act
permit rehabilitation services to be financed with payments from
the
Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund or from general revenues
appropriated for Supplemental Security Income to the aged, blind,
and disabled; and
WHEREAS, blind persons who receive Disability Insurance or
Supplemental Security Income payments are also entitled to
rehabilitation services, with the proviso that the rehabilitation
services paid for with Social Security funds must be obtained
from a state vocational rehabilitation agency approved in
accordance with Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and
WHEREAS, this limitation often obstructs blind persons in making
efforts to become rehabilitated due largely to the preoccupation
that state agencies tend to have with protecting their narrow
bureaucratic interests, even if this means that the needs of
their clients are unmet; and WHEREAS, the National Federation of
the Blind favors a client-centered approach to rehabilitation, as
represented in H. R. 855, introduced in the 101st Congress by
Representative Harold Ford; and
WHEREAS, the idea of giving blind persons greater freedom to
choose, design, and pursue their own rehabilitation services is
gaining support in the Congress, so much so that the Social
Security Administration has now offered its own proposal for
accomplishing essentially the same objective:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization call for prompt action
on H.R. 855 and similar legislation now before the 101st
Congress; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Federation acknowledge the
interests of private agencies in providing direct services to the
blind under the Social Security beneficiary rehabilitation
program and that we support the interests of the private agencies
in this regard, so long as the principle is maintained that each
person has the right to choose among agencies.


                        RESOLUTION 89-20

WHEREAS, blind persons who receive Social Security Disability
Insurance benefits are subject to the provision of the Social
Security Act which establishes the amount of exempt earnings for
retirees aged 65 to 69; and
WHEREAS, the present monthly exempt amount, which is not
considered
to be substantial gainful activity for a blind person, is $740,
subject to annual increases at the beginning of each calendar
year; and WHEREAS, plans are underway in the Congress to increase
the exempt amount for the next two years beyond the annual
inflation adjustments; and
WHEREAS, the changes in law currently under review would continue
the relationship between exempt earnings of blind people and
those
of retirees, however, in some earlier proposals offered to the
Congress the relationship would have been broken, and the
earnings of the blind would have been subject to greater
restriction; and
WHEREAS, the Federation has been informed that the plan to break
the legal relationship between the exempt amounts for retirees
and for
the blind, respectively, originated with the Social Security
Administration and not with any particular member of Congress;
and
WHEREAS, personnel of the Social Security Administration should
not on the one hand promote work incentives for the disabled,
while on the other hand seek to undermine the exempt earnings
provision for
the blind, which is our most significant work incentive in the
disability insurance program:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization insist that the staff of
the Social Security Administration not attempt to alter the
exempt earnings principle for the blind that Congress first
directed in the 1977 amendments to the Social Security Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization request a meeting
between the Commissioner of Social Security and leaders of the
Federation to insure that future actions of the Social Security
Administration forthrightly promote even greater work incentives
for the blind.


                        RESOLUTION 89-21

WHEREAS, Grade III Braille is a long-recognized system of
contracted Braille used by blind persons; and
WHEREAS, instruction in the reading and writing of Grade III
Braille is occurring on an ongoing basis at adult rehabilitation
centers for the blind around the country; and
WHEREAS, the National Library Service for the Blind of the
Library of Congress (NLS) has a limited collection of books
transcribed into Grade III Braille; and
WHEREAS, at the request of the Committee on Library Services of
the National Federation of the Blind, this collection of Grade
III Braille has been removed from storage and made available for
direct borrowing from NLS by blind consumers:  Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in
convention assembled this ninth day of July, 1989, in the City of
Denver, Colorado, that this organization commend Frank Kurt
Cylke, Director, National Library Service for the Blind of the
Library of Congress, for responding to the request of the
Committee on Library Services of the National Federation of the
Blind by returning to circulation the existing collection of
Grade III Braille.
