                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                         December, 1997

                     Barbara Pierce, Editor


      Published in inkprint, in Braille, and on cassette by

              THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

                     MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT


                         National Office
                       1800 Johnson Street
                    Baltimore, Maryland 21230
                   NFB Net BBS: (612) 696-1975
              Web Page address: http://www.nfb.org



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             should be sent to the National Office.




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


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



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


ISSN 0006-8829


THE BRAILLE MONITOR
PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

                            Contents
                                                   December, 1997

The City and the Fear
     by Marc Maurer

Microsoft Takes A Big Step Backward
     by Curtis Chong

The Owner-Executive Running the Montessori School
     by Carla McQuillan

Advancing Science Through the Legal Profession
     by Charles Brown

The Blind Lawyer Shaping Policy for the Nation's Power Companies
     by Bruce Gardner

Food for Thought: Experience of a Blind Dietitian
     by Lynn Mattioli

Parents Win Fight with School Board in Virginia

NFB Sues Law School Admissions Council

Setting the Record Straight about Sensory Safari

Living by the Numbers
     by Susan J. Spungin, Ed.D.

The Other Side of the Mule
     by Randy Cox

Seeing No Limits
     by Don Melvin

Now Blind Can Scan the Newspaper
     by Cala Byram

Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award for 1998
     by Sharon Maneki

The 1998 Blind Educator of the Year Award
     by Stephen O. Benson

Recipes

Monitor Miniatures

        Copyright  1997 National Federation of the Blind


[DESCRIPTION OF LEAD PHOTOS: Three photographs appear on this
page. The first is a decorated tree with gifts beneath it in the
reception area at the National Center for the Blind. The second
shows a man gathering up gifts and placing them on a cart. The
third photo shows a number of people seated at long tables in the
Harbor Room. The tables are covered by white cloths and are
decorated with candles, greens, and ribbon. Some people are
opening gifts and others are examining their gifts on the table
in front of them. CAPTION: Each year a live Christmas tree graces
the reception area at the National Center for the Blind. In the
days preceding the staff Christmas party, presents for the gift
exchange begin to accumulate around the tree. On the night of the
potluck party, someone gathers up the gifts and takes them all to
the Harbor Room where Santa's helpers pass them out. Mr. Ray
(above right) is shown gathering up the gifts. Center staff
members and their guests (below) enjoy a festive meal together
and then take turns displaying and describing their gifts to the
entire group.]
[
PHOTO/CAPTION: Marc and Patricia Maurer with their son David
Patrick and daughter Dianna Marie.]
                      The City and the Fear
                         by Marc Maurer
                           **********
     From the Editor: The following Christmas story first
appeared in Like Cats and Dogs, the eleventh in the NFB's Kernel
Book series of paperbacks. We reprint it here along with our wish
for a joyful holiday season for all Monitor readers. We begin
with Dr. Jernigan's introduction:
                           **********
     A knowledge of the meaning of blindness is not automatic; it
must be learned--or, in many cases, unlearned. When childhood
fears are added to the mix, the combination can lead to
frustration and anxiety.
     Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the
Blind, has two young children. Regular Kernel Book readers have
followed the birth of his son David, their adventures in Cub
Scouting, camping, cutting fire wood, and repairing the roof.
Through all of it Marc has simply been David's father--who
happens to be blind. But now David is approaching his teens. As
he begins to absorb society's traditional attitudes about
blindness, how will his father protect the relationship and keep
it from deteriorating? In his heartwarming account of a family
holiday trip, President Maurer explores this issue. Here is what
he has to say:

     In the Maurer household there are two adults and two
children. My wife Patricia and I are both blind, but our
children, David and Dianna, are not. David is thirteen and Dianna
is ten. We are a family in the traditional sense--we go places
together; perform family projects together; cook, clean, repair
our home, and maintain our yard together; attend church together;
and explore new horizons together.
     We almost never discuss blindness. We don't forget it, but
it is rarely a topic of conversation. Of course in the planning
for our activities we remember that blindness is a factor. We do
not own an automobile because none of us can drive it. So travel
plans include hiring taxis, buying airplane or railroad tickets,
renting automobiles and hiring drivers, calling upon friends and
colleagues who have cars, taking buses, walking, using the
subway, or some combination of these methods.
     Then there is mowing the lawn and maintaining the yard. We
do this as a family. My part of the job includes maintaining the
lawn mower and other gardening equipment. We have a hedge, which
runs along the front edge of our property. I keep this clipped,
using a gasoline-powered hedge trimmer. If you touch the trimmer
in the wrong place, it will trim your fingers along with the
hedge--so I don't.
     I also spend part of my time mowing the grass. However, this
job is usually performed by David. My wife and daughter undertake
to pick up the sticks and stray papers in the yard. The
combination of effort gets the job done.
     David and I mow the grass differently. He is sighted, and he
watches what the lawn mower is doing. I am blind, so I use other
techniques. I often mow under low-hanging trees and shrubs. David
finds this frustrating because he finds it difficult to see what
he is doing. I can follow the shrub line or use the branches to
tell me where I am and how much of the space has already been
mowed. He uses one technique, and I use another. Working
together, we keep the yard neat and tidy.
     Inside the family there is no misunderstanding about who is
in charge or how responsibilities are determined. The parents
make decisions, and the children must follow direction. If the
children misbehave, they are reprimanded or punished as
circumstances warrant. They are given assignments and expected to
carry them out, and they must seek permission to go visiting or
engage in other activities away from home. This arrangement is
stable, and predictable.
     Outside of our family this understanding is not always
shared. From time to time we have encountered remonstrances from
strangers. They tell my children that they must take care of
their parents. They will stop my son or daughter on the street
and tell them to be careful that I don't run into a telephone
pole.
     If I do run into a telephone pole, a thing which almost
never happens, the children are sometimes chastised by strangers
for their supposed neglect. My sighted children have been
repeatedly told that they are responsible for their blind
parents.
     Sometime during the fall Dianna asked me if we could go to
New York. I was surprised. I have been to New York many times,
and of course at one level of my mind I knew that she hadn't but
I simply wasn't thinking in those terms. "Would you like to go to
New York?" I asked.
     "Yes," she replied. "I'd certainly like to go. Can we?"
So we planned to take a trip to New York City.
     Since I love my daughter, and since I like to please her, we
began planning the trip immediately. The questions were numerous.
When would we go? What would we do? What would the trip cost?
Could we afford it? I considered waiting until another year.
Expenses during the past few months had been heavy, and I
wondered whether the budget could take any more travel. However,
I am particularly fond of my family, and I want very much to give
them the experiences they want if we can afford them. Besides, I
am aware that postponed promises are often never kept.
     There is always something more important that interferes, or
the yearning that caused the request to be made in the first
place dries up before the promise is carried out. With all these
thoughts in mind, I decided that we should travel to New York
right after Christmas. The Christmas decorations would still be
in place, and maybe the crowds would be a little smaller after
the holiday had passed.
     Dianna was delighted, but David was not. He did not want to
go. He asked if we could invite someone else to go with us. As
the time for the trip came nearer, he became less and less
enthusiastic.
     He wondered aloud if there wouldn't be some work assignment
that would prevent me from going so the trip would need to be
canceled. He told his mother and me that there wasn't anything in
New York that he wanted to see. He said that he would just stay
in the hotel and watch television. He worried about how we would
get to the train station and what we would do to find our way
around New York City. Finally he became unresponsive and
irritable when we discussed the upcoming trip. I wondered why,
and when he asked once again if we could take somebody with us,
the answer became clear.
     David, my sighted son, was worried that he would be expected
to serve as the responsible leader of our family--that he would
be called upon to know what to do and where to go--that he would
be required to make decisions and plan the trip. He felt that he
was inadequate to meet the challenge and that he would be
expected to shoulder responsibilities that were beyond him. He
was worried that he might fail his parents and that his failure
would cause distress or danger. Even if there were no danger, he
thought the trip might be a failure because he would not know
where we should go, therefore making the excursion to New York a
disappointment, a disappointment that would be his fault.
     As soon as I understood the problem, I knew what we must do.
We would travel to New York and have a wonderful time. We would
go together as a family, and we would do it alone--two blind
parents--protecting, shepherding, guiding, and caring for our two
sighted children. I decided not to tell David that I thought he
might learn from this experience and ultimately profit from it.
Instead I reminded him about all of the wonderful places there
are to visit in New York. But it didn't seem to cheer him up at
all.
     On a Thursday morning, the day after Christmas, we boarded a
train in Baltimore and headed for New York. I had hoped that the
crowds would have diminished because we were traveling after
Christmas. However, this was not the case.
     The train was jam-packed. We had hoped to find four seats
together, but no such luck. We settled for two. Mom, Dad, and
David sat in the two seats; and Dianna sat on the suitcases at
our feet. There was nowhere else to go and nowhere else to stow
the luggage. You could say it was cozy, but you might also have
called it cramped. Fortunately the train ride from Baltimore to
New York takes only a little over two hours, and the excitement
of planning the next few days kept us occupied.
     We had tickets for the Thursday evening performance of the
Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. We talked about
visiting Rockefeller Center to see the tree and watch the ice
skating. David wanted a chance to visit the toy store, F.A.O.
Schwarz; and Dianna expressed a wish to shop at the Warner
Brothers store because she especially likes Tweety Bird.
     As the train halted in Pennsylvania Station in New York
City, we stepped out into the cold air and followed other
passengers up the escalator. As we left the station, I welcomed
the children to the sidewalks of New York--sidewalks as crowded
as I ever remember them in the Big Apple. We found a taxi and
loaded our bags into it. In a short time we reached the hotel,
where we would stay for the next three days.
     Our room was what you would expect in a decent New York
hotel, but David (still mistrustful) wanted to know why it was so
small and why it didn't have fancier amenities. He had seen the
Plaza in a movie, and he thought we ought to go there. I told him
to quit griping and put his bag away so that we wouldn't stumble
over it during our stay.
     I also told him to get ready for lunch, but he told me he
wasn't hungry. I got the idea that he was more nervous than ever.
But I was not prepared for his nervousness and irritability to
become the controlling factors in the trip. I gave him his
instructions: hungry or not, he was going to have lunch; so he
had better get ready. I wondered whether the trip had been a
mistake, but we were in the Big Apple, and I intended to do all
that I could to make our stay there enjoyable and memorable.
     So the first order of business was lunch. In the hotel
coffee shop Dianna and her brother both ordered chicken noodle
soup, and they were warmed as much by the familiar food as by the
steaming broth.
     After lunch it was time to explore the city. We were
planning to attend the early evening performance of the Christmas
Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, so on our way to the show
we decided to stop by Rockefeller Center (across the street from
Radio City) to see the enormous Christmas tree and watch the ice
skaters.
     I asked the doorman at our hotel to give me directions to
Rockefeller Center. We were on 47th Street, not far from
Broadway. The doorman told me I should walk up Sixth Avenue to
49th and I would see it. He said we could get there in about ten
minutes, so we started out.
     The afternoon was chilly, and there were people everywhere.
Street vendors offered us hot roasted nuts, hot dogs, soft
pretzels, and hard goods such as sunglasses and electronic
watches. But we were not yet acclimated to New York, so we kept
on our way without stopping to bargain or buy. I was in the lead,
walking with David, and Patricia followed with Dianna.
     When we came to the corner of 49th and Sixth, we did not
find Radio City, but somebody told us, if we kept on for a block,
we'd be there. And a block later there it was. On 50th Street we
came to the skating rink. The crowds were enormous, and the line
for admission to the rink was exceedingly long. We watched the
skaters and admired the dazzling Christmas tree, decorated with
hundreds of colored lights and a big white star at the top.
     As the afternoon became evening, we joined the line for the
Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. The story of
Christmas is timeless, but there are many ways to present it.
Santa Claus told us that he couldn't do his work in one night all
by himself, so he recruited helpers. In a few moments there were
sixty Santas on the stage. A moment later Dianna laughed in
astonishment when animated Christmas trees danced in time to the
music. Then there was the story of the Christ child. My small
daughter confided to me that she thought the camel (a real one),
which was part of this segment of the performance, looked unhappy
and confused.
     David enjoyed the show too, but he still seemed nervous.
When we started back for the hotel, he thought we were going the
wrong way. He imagined that we were getting more and more lost in
this big strange city, but I told him we were all right, and,
sure enough, we were soon in familiar territory. When he saw the
nut vendor outside our hotel, he obviously began to feel relaxed.
He said to me that we had found the place, and without telling
him that we had never lost it, I agreed.
     The next day we started out for the toy stores, Warner
Brothers and F.A.O. Schwarz. They are within a block of each
other on Fifth Avenue, and across the street is the Plaza. This
hotel, featured in the movie Home Alone, fascinated the children;
and I promised to take them there for lunch. We did not merely
eat; we dined. The children asked for spaghetti, which did not
appear on the menu, but the waiter said they would find some. The
surroundings were elegant; the service was impeccable; and the
bill, when it came, was as impressive as everything else.
      Then it was off to the Empire State Building. More than
fourteen hundred feet in height, this tallest of New York
buildings has an observation deck on the 102nd floor, from which
we could see a cruise ship in the distance. A short walk from the
Empire State Building is Macy's Department Store, a central
feature in the Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street. On the way
there we passed more street vendors. Dianna bought a beret, and
David purchased a Nike watch.
     On Saturday morning we set off for the Statue of Liberty.
This symbol of American freedom is over a hundred years old. We
hired a taxi for the ride to the harbor, but we were puzzled
about the place the ferry docked. I asked David if he saw the
spot to board, but he did not. I told him I would ask some of the
passersby where it was. He argued with me, telling me that they
were ordinary tourists, not public officials. I said that they
didn't need to be public officials to give us information and
that they might know the answers to our questions. When I asked,
they told us what we wanted to know. David was astonished and
relieved to discover that this simple technique worked so well.
     The method for finding your way is much alike for both the
blind and the sighted. In an unfamiliar place it may be necessary
to ask for directions. If the directions are correct and
complete, this solves the problem. If not, a request for more
information may be made. This is how all of us learn how to get
where we want to go.
     On our ferry boat ride to the Statue of Liberty, we were at
peace and enjoying the sightseeing as a family. David had stopped
worrying that everything would go wrong. He had been reminded,
not in words but by example, that blindness does not prevent his
parents from managing the family and protecting him and his
sister. He came to recognize that he was not responsible for his
parents but that the responsibility ran the other way. He felt
good about this, and he relaxed.
     In our walk around the base of the Statue of Liberty, a
piece of history and the hope of the future came together. I
could not help reflecting that the lessons learned by my children
on the trip to New York are a small part of the process that will
bring understanding and opportunity to all of humankind,
including not only the blind but also the sighted.
     Through the years blindness has often been misunderstood,
and that misunderstanding has prevented those of us who are blind
from achieving our full potential. However, working together, we
can change the negatives that have so frequently been associated
with blindness. Sometimes it is done on the job, sometimes in a
television appearance, and sometimes by what is written in a
newspaper or a magazine. Sometimes it is done by a walk around
the base of the Statue of Liberty on a holiday trip to New York.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTOS: Curtis Chong is seated at his desk talking on the
telephone. CAPTION: Curtis Chong.
PHOTO/CAPTION: Chuck Oppermann
PHOTO/CAPTION: Gregg Lowney]
               Microsoft Takes A Big Step Backward
                         by Curtis Chong
                           **********
     From the Editor: Curtis Chong is the President of the
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science. Here is
some recent correspondence he and others have had with people at
Microsoft together with his comments:
                           **********
     Almost everybody who has anything to do with computers knows
the name Microsoft. Most of the computers we run today have
Microsoft software running on them. For the blind the name
Microsoft has been linked with the graphical user interface
(GUI), Windows(R), icons, the mouse, and just about everything
else involving computers that has made our lives a challenge.
     When blind people first began dealing with Microsoft,
individually and collectively, the company was generally regarded
with cynicism and more than a little dislike. Some asked why this
juggernaut insisted upon foisting graphics on to the computer
screen, thereby making the lives of blind people more difficult
than they needed to be. What was wrong with the good old Disk
Operating System (DOS)? some people wanted to know.
     As Microsoft began to reach out to the blind community, more
and more people began to understand exactly what the company was
doing. We learned about Active Accessibility(R), a Microsoft-
developed programming interface designed to permit software such
as word processors, spreadsheets, web browsers, and the like to
pass important information to screen reading systems for the
blind. We learned about Microsoft's Windows Logo(R) program and
how the company was placing increased emphasis on accessible
software as one requirement for earning the logo. And over time,
starting with an Accessibility Summit held by Microsoft in 1995,
we began to recognize that within the company there was a
dedicated group of people (Microsoft's Accessibility Team) which
really wanted to make Microsoft and other software accessible to
the blind. Moreover, as time went on, some hope was expressed
that we might have turned the corner in our ability to use
Microsoft Windows(R) and the programs running under this
graphical operating system.
     Slowly, grudgingly, and with no small amount of skepticism,
consumers and vendors alike began to accept Active
Accessibility(R) as a viable means of dealing with our software
accessibility problems. Developers of screen reading systems for
the blind began to incorporate Active Accessibility(R) into their
software. Our optimism was strengthened even further by three
events:
1.   Internet Explorer(R) Version 3, Microsoft's World Wide Web
     browsing software, was released with Active Accessibility(R)
     and keyboard navigation features built in. (Keyboard
     navigation makes it possible to run the software without a
     mouse.)
2.   Office 97(R), Microsoft's newest suite of office products,
     was released with Active Accessibility(R) built in.
3.   The actual Microsoft Active Accessibility(R) application
     programming interface software was released for general
     distribution. In other words, instead of just talking about
     Active Accessibility(R), Microsoft delivered some real live
     code.
     Relations between Microsoft and blind consumers reached a
high point just last summer. When Charles Oppermann, Manager of
Microsoft's Windows Accessibility Team, came to speak at the 1997
meeting of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer
Science, he was warmly received; and although he did get a few
direct questions, everybody felt that finally Microsoft was
headed in the right direction in making its systems and software
accessible to the blind. In fact, when the merits of various
Windows-based Internet Web browsing programs were discussed at
the meeting, it was generally agreed that Microsoft's Internet
Explorer(R) Version 3 was the best Web browser for blind people
to use with their screen-reading systems.
     Then in early October word began spreading through various
Internet mailing lists that Microsoft had released Version 4 of
its Internet Explorer(R) Web browsing software. To everyone's
dismay, this newer software turned out to be less useful to blind
people than its predecessor. Earlier in the year reports
circulated that preview versions of Explorer 4.0 did not contain
Active Accessibility(R). However, people were assured on more
than one occasion that the final release of Explorer(R) 4.0 would
contain Active Accessibility(R).
     When we learned that this was not to be, people hit the
roof. Around the world on several Internet mailing lists people
expressed frustration and bitter outrage at this shabby
treatment. Unfortunately, many people seemed bent upon showering
complaints upon the Microsoft Accessibility Team, which in this
instance appeared to me more victim than culprit. One of the most
literate and compelling of these postings was written by Jonathan
Mosen, National President of the New Zealand Association of the
Blind and Partially Blind. Here it is:
                           **********
The following is the draft text of a letter being sent to
appropriate authorities and media, including New Zealand's
Commerce Commission and Human Rights Commission. Basically the
blind consumer movement in New Zealand won't tolerate this
behavior any more.

Re - accessibility of Microsoft Internet Explorer(R) 4.0

     I write on behalf of the New Zealand Association of the
Blind and Partially Blind, the blind speaking for themselves in
New Zealand. Blind people use computers with the aid of a voice
synthesizer, Braille display, or large image system. In most
cases software known as a screen reader is also used, so the
synthesizer or Braille display can receive instructions as to the
information the user requires.
     With the advent of the Microsoft Windows(R) operating
systems, access to software which is essential for blind people
to obtain or retain employment has been difficult and
challenging, although access to Windows 95(R) has improved
substantially over the last year as screen readers have become
more sophisticated. Microsoft, however, has now developed its
Active Accessibility add-on to Windows 95(R), which will come
bundled with Windows 98(R). In brief, Active Accessibility(R) is
a way of passing information to a screen reader which allows the
screen reader to provide information in a helpful, intelligible
way to a blind person.
     Adaptive technology vendors have made considerable efforts
to incorporate hooks for Microsoft's Active Accessibility(R) into
their screen readers. It is important to emphasize that the mere
inclusion of Active Accessibility(R) in a screen reader is not
sufficient. The software application itself, such as the word
processor, spreadsheet package, database management software, or
Web browser, must also expressly support Active Accessibility(R).
     Last week Microsoft released its long-awaited Internet
Explorer(R) 4.0. Blind people had been advised that it would not
be appropriate for them to download the platform preview
releases, since Active Accessibility(R) was not incorporated in
these previews. However, on several Internet e-mail lists
frequented by blind people interested in access technology, we
were advised that Active Accessibility(R) would be incorporated
in the released version of Internet Explorer(R) 4.0.
     Many blind people downloaded Internet Explorer(R) 4.0 last
week, only to find that Active Accessibility(R) had not in fact
been included. We therefore wish for Microsoft to be investigated
under New Zealand's Fair Trading Act and either fined or the
product removed from shop shelves and Web sites in New Zealand
until the breach has been remedied by the inclusion of Active
Accessibility(R). We were given an assurance by a Microsoft
employee which has not been met, and therefore the product has
been downloaded or, in some cases, purchased on CD-ROM under
false pretenses.
     We also wish to lodge a formal complaint against Microsoft
under the Human Rights Act 1993, on the grounds that Microsoft
has discriminated against people with disabilities. The
technology now exists for Microsoft to make its products
accessible. Indeed Microsoft has told people in the adaptive
technology field that incorporating Active Accessibility in
application software is a fairly simple process. As a leader in
the computing marketplace, Microsoft must follow the standards it
seeks to set for other software manufacturers.
     Now that such technology does exist, it is entirely
inappropriate for the blind to be treated like second-class
citizens by Microsoft. Microsoft would not dream of releasing a
product in which the ability to use a mouse was not yet working,
yet its blind customers are told that we must wait until they get
around to releasing a patch to the software before we can use it.
     We trust that this matter will be given urgent
consideration. Media statements will be issued advising of our
complaint.

                                                 Yours sincerely,
                                                   Jonathan Mosen
                                               National President
                             New Zealand Association of the Blind
                                              and Partially Blind

As president of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer
Science, I discussed the problem with members of the Microsoft
Accessibility Team. Although everyone was apologetic, it was
clear to me that the team had been overridden by the Internet
Explorer(R) development team, which appeared to be more
interested in adding new features and shipping software early
than in ensuring that Explorer(R) 4.0 remained as useful to the
blind as Explorer(R) 3. Clearly Microsoft as a corporation had
made a decision to release Explorer(R) 4.0 without all of the
necessary accessibility components.
     Here is an exchange of e-mailed letters between Charles
Oppermann (Program Manager, Accessibilities and Disabilities,
Microsoft Corporation) and me that encapsulates the discussion:
                           **********
                                                  October 7, 1997
                           **********
Hello Chuck:
     As you know, there have been many messages floating around
about the problems involving Microsoft Internet Explorer(R)
Version 4. As I am sure you understand, Microsoft is going to
take a lot of heat on this one--mostly from individuals who (with
some justification) feel betrayed and more than a little
frustrated with the way this entire affair was handled. The
reason I am writing to you privately and directly is to let you
know where I stand on this issue and where I intend to focus the
energy of the NFB in Computer Science.
     First let me say that I do not intend to be critical of
anyone on the Accessibility Team. As Bruce Maguire so eloquently
stated on the GUISPEAK list, there are people at Microsoft who
are genuinely and deeply committed to equal access. I count you,
Luanne, and Greg among those people; and I am certain there are
many others as well. Perhaps the only criticism I might add to
the many others you have doubtless received is that you could
have been more frank with the community at an earlier point.
However, I fully appreciate that you may not have been permitted
to be frank with us because of overriding corporate concerns.
     What we have here is a case of other corporate priorities
outweighing the priority of accessibility. It is as simple as
that. The reason why IE4 [Internet Explorer(R) 4.0] does not work
as well for the blind as IE 3.02 is that it was more important
for Microsoft as a corporation to release IE 4 than it was to
hold up the release to ensure maximum accessibility. So what are
we to do about this?
     To be honest, I am not sure. I am well aware that the level
of cynicism and mistrust toward Microsoft within the blind
community has been elevated due to recent events. It has taken
many years for people even to begin to listen (not to mention to
believe) anything that Microsoft says regarding accessibility. I
think that, when you came to the NFB in Computer Science meeting
in July, people were feeling quite optimistic about Microsoft and
welcomed you with warmth and good will. Do you remember the
meeting you attended in 1995, when you took a lot of criticism
about the off-screen model? The gains made in two years have, I
feel, been virtually wiped out because of the way IE 4 and the
issue of accessibility were handled. It is going to take a long
time for things to get back to where they were scant months ago.
>From Microsoft's point of view this may well be a cost that the
company is willing to pay. But then again, perhaps not.
     I want you to know that I have no intention of deflecting
any of the fire that others will want to throw at Microsoft.
Frankly, upper management deserves it. However, I do want you to
know that I intend to ensure that energy is properly focused and
directed toward appropriate parts of the company. The
Accessibility Team tried its best on this issue but was
prevented, due to circumstance and overriding corporate priority,
from completing the job. If nothing else comes out of all of
this, I hope that it causes management to realize that trust is
an extremely delicate and hard-won asset. Microsoft will have to
work extremely hard and deliver concrete results to win back what
has been so precipitately lost.
                           **********
                                                 Yours sincerely,
                                                     Curtis Chong
                                                        President
                                 National Federation of the Blind
                                              in Computer Science
                           **********
                                                  October 8, 1997
                           **********
Curtis,
     Thanks for the intelligent message. I have forwarded this to
the appropriate people in the Internet Explorer(R) team. A big
failure on our part, for which I personally am to blame, is the
lack of advanced notice to the blindness community at large
before the release of Internet Explorer(R).
     We will try not to repeat that mistake again. I agree that a
lot of our progress has been wiped out by this situation. I spoke
at the NFB of Washington convention over the weekend and answered
a lot of questions about this and our Java(R) efforts.
     We'll keep working hard and trying. Your feedback is
essential, and I appreciate it very much,
                           **********
                                                Charles Oppermann
                                  Windows NT User Interface Group
                                            Microsoft Corporation
"A computer on every desk and in every home, usable by everyone!"
                           **********
     That was my exchange with Chuck Oppermann. The following is
a letter I wrote to Bill Gates, the chief executive officer of
Microsoft. Its message is as clear as I could make it. Here it
is.
                           **********
                                                 October 15, 1997
                           **********
Dear Mr. Gates:
     My name is Curtis Chong. I am the president of the National
Federation of the Blind in Computer Science (NFBCS). This
organization is a division of the National Federation of the
Blind, a nationwide organization of blind men and women with more
than 50,000 members throughout the fifty states, the District of
Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Since its inception NFBCS has worked
hard to improve the ability of persons who are blind to program
and use computers without sighted assistance. Over the years we
have worked with a variety of companies in the computer industry,
Microsoft being the most recent.
     I am writing to you because I think it is important for you,
as the chief executive officer of Microsoft, to understand
exactly what it is that the company has lost due to the most
recent debacle with Internet Explorer(R) Version 4.0, otherwise
known as IE4. Time and time again, at conferences and on a
variety of Internet mailing lists, blind people were advised
that, when IE4 was released in its final form, it would contain
Microsoft's Active Accessibility(R).
     As you may know, Active Accessibility(R), which Microsoft
took years to design and develop, represents a way for
application programs running under Windows to pass important
information to third-party accessibility aids--among them screen-
reading programs for the blind. If an application is coded to use
Active Accessibility(R) and if a screen reading program is
written to take advantage of this interface, the blind computer
user can be provided with critical information about what the
application is doing and is therefore in a better position to use
the application independently. Well, as it turns out, although we
were promised Active Accessibility(R) with IE4, the final version
ultimately released did not fully implement this feature. There
are those who say that Active Accessibility(R) was totally
eliminated in IE4.
     Internet Explorer(R) Version 3.02, which contains keyboard
navigation capabilities and Active Accessibility(R), is quite
useful to the blind; it works very well with the screen readers
we use. IE4, on the other hand, is far less accessible--in short,
virtually useless to someone who is blind. A blind computer user
who migrates from Version 3.02 to Version 4.0 is, in effect,
taking a step backward. Given this information, it is easy to
understand why blind people around the world feel more than a
little betrayed by the release of IE4.
     Why is this significant? Ever since Windows(R) and
Microsoft's efforts to promote this graphical operating system
began to be recognized as a problem within the community of blind
computer users, Microsoft was always viewed with mistrust,
cynicism, and, in some quarters, active dislike. In 1995, at its
Accessibility Summit, Microsoft unveiled its corporate
Accessibility Policy. To be frank, no one from outside the
company was enthusiastic about it, regarding it as a marketing
ploy and an attempt by the company to save face.
     Nevertheless, as Microsoft employees--particularly people in
its Accessibility Team--kept on promoting the policy and
demonstrating that Active Accessibility(R) was really more than
just vaporware, people began to feel that perhaps Microsoft was
truly interested in accessibility after all. This feeling was
strengthened when, in May of this year, the actual application
programming interface code for Active Accessibility(R) was
released. People felt that at long last there was some code for
programmers to get their teeth into. When the manager of
Microsoft's Windows Accessibility Group spoke at the 1997 NFBCS
meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, he was warmly received. The
discussions which took place were upbeat and optimistic.
     Mr. Gates, all of this optimism and good will, all of the
trust that has been gained so laboriously over the past two
years: all of this has been wiped out because the Internet
Explorer(R) development team made a decision to release IE4
without full support for Active Accessibility(R). By releasing
IE4 the way it did, Microsoft has convinced every naysayer in the
world that, as far as Microsoft is concerned, accessibility is
nothing more than a sham. At best accessibility cannot compete
effectively with other corporate priorities.
     In the public announcement about IE4 released by Microsoft
on the World Wide Web, we are told that "Microsoft Internet
Explorer(R) 4.0 introduces a number of advances that make the
World Wide Web more accessible to computer users with
disabilities." The term "accessible" is particularly ironic in
this context when one reads the injunction contained in the same
announcement, "Users who are blind may want to remain with
version 3.0 for the time being." How long, we ask? And does IE4
really make the World Wide Web more accessible to the blind? In
truth, it doesn't.
     The bottom line here is that Microsoft has lost a good deal
of trust and good will in the blind community. To say that the
level of cynicism has been heightened is an understatement. It
may well be that Microsoft is quite willing to pay this cost.
After all, the blind do not represent a significant share of the
market. If this is the case, we may have no choice but to seek
redress through other channels. On the other hand, it may well be
that you and Microsoft as a company really are interested in
making software accessible to us. If so, then you should know
that you have taken a significant step backward.
                           **********
                                                 Yours sincerely,
                                          Curtis Chong, President
                                 National Federation of the Blind
                                              in Computer Science
                           **********
     That was my letter to Bill Gates, and it wasn't long before
Carl Augusto, President of the American Foundation for the Blind,
and Paul Schroeder, Director, AFB National Technology Program,
decided that they, too, had better weigh in with something on the
subject. On October 28 they wrote a three-page letter to Bill
Gates and circulated it pretty widely on the Internet. On October
31, Gregg Lowney, Senior Program Manager, Accessibility and
Disabilities Group at Microsoft, called me to ask what I thought
about the AFB letter. Here is the e-mail message I sent Greg on
Monday, November 3:
                           **********
Hello Greg:
     On Friday, October 31, you and I spoke regarding the letter
sent by the American Foundation for the Blind to Bill Gates about
the IE4.0 debacle. I finally had a chance to read that letter and
herewith submit my thoughts concerning the nine recommendations
it makes. I will reproduce each recommendation and insert my
comments after each.
                           **********
     1.   Commit to the full implementation of MSAA [Microsoft
          Active Accessibility(R)] in Internet Explorer(R) 4.0 to
          ensure full accessibility by December, 1997.
                           **********
My belief is that Microsoft already made this commitment in the
announcement (on its Web site) about IE 4.0. Here is an excellent
opportunity to (1) deliver on a public commitment and (2) clarify
that full accessibility to IE 4.0 may not be achieved without
some cooperation from the screen-access software vendors.
                           **********
     2.   Ensure that MSAA is part of the standard or typical
          installation of all future Microsoft operating systems,
          including Windows NT(R), CE(R), and the successor to
          Windows 95(R).
                           **********
I believe that Microsoft may already have made this commitment
with regard to Windows 95(R) and NT(R). I am not sure about
Windows CE(R). It is my fervent hope that something will be done
about this latter operating system as it relates to the issue of
access to consumer electronics, which many of us are concerned
about.
                           **********
     3.   Commit to comprehensive use of standard Windows(R)
          controls [using standard Windows(R) functions to
          display buttons, menus, and the like on the screen]
          (preferred), or full implementation of MSAA in all
          future releases and upgrades of key products, beginning
          with business, reference, education, and home
          productivity products.
                           **********
I think this recommendation is fairly clear. But whether
Microsoft will really commit to it is another matter. I hope that
it can. In fact, if its credibility is to be restored in a
meaningful way, it really must do so. Of course, commitment is
one thing, concrete results another.
                           **********
     4.   Maximize accessibility of Microsoft products by
          continuing to develop full keyboard access to all
          features, customizable display appearance, and audio
          input/output.
                           **********
One might argue that this is already well under way. However, the
point is valid nevertheless. I personally believe that a stronger
commitment from the company, along with concrete deliverables
[actual programs that reflect this commitment], is in order here.
                           **********
     5.   Substantially increase the number of staff with
          responsibility for accessibility efforts across
          Microsoft product lines, especially in key product
          areas such as Windows(R), Office, IE, and education.
                           **********
This strikes at the very heart of the problem we have with
Microsoft--that is, the perceived lack of corporation-wide
commitment to accessibility. Everybody wants Microsoft to devote
more staff to accessibility. Although some people might argue
that this is an unrealistic recommendation, I would say that a
significant increase in the number of staff devoted to
accessibility concerns would go a long way toward restoring
Microsoft's credibility.
                           **********
     6.   Provide full support for MSAA in all developer tools
          and include accessible design as an important element
          in your presentations to software developers.
                           **********
I agree with this wholeheartedly and would also point out that
Microsoft has not demonstrated nearly as much skill in marketing
accessibility issues as it has in marketing Windows(R) and its
suite of Windows(R) applications.
                           **********
     7.   Draw upon the resources of organizations representing
          the interests of people with disabilities, especially
          those who are blind or visually impaired, to provide
          training in the access needs of persons with
          disabilities to Microsoft staff across all product
          lines, including research staff.
                           **********
I would say that this recommendation should be considered
seriously. The problem, as I see it, is that very often Microsoft
personnel speak one language while people in the blindness field
speak another. Microsoft talks about device drivers, Windows(R)
applications, hooks, protocols, etc. We talk about accessibility,
compatibility with screen-access technology, and simply getting a
piece of work done on the computer. It is vital for the two areas
to communicate in a meaningful way if any progress is truly to be
made.
     I think there is a generally held belief that Microsoft,
even today, simply doesn't get it. I know that some of you, after
years of contact with the blind community, have come to
understand and appreciate the problems we have in access to
computers. However, as this recommendation suggests, there are
too many staff people at Microsoft who do not possess fundamental
knowledge about blind people and our needs with respect to
technology.
     Another point must be made with regard to this
recommendation--namely the distinction between organizations of
the blind and agencies serving the blind. While the American
Foundation for the Blind may be well intentioned and as
interested in access issues as blind consumers themselves, it can
in no way be characterized as a representative organization of
the blind. Rather it is an agency doing work in the field of
blindness. On the other hand, the National Federation of the
Blind is an organization of the blind; its members elect people
to represent them. It is vital that Microsoft understand this
distinction.
                           **********
     8.   Strengthen the accessibility provisions as requirements
          of the Windows(R) logo program [the Microsoft
          certification process for application programs saying
          that they are Windows-compliant] and make compliance
          and support of MSAA a mandatory requirement for any
          application seeking authentication as a Windows-
          compliant application.
                           **********
I believe this effort is well under way, if what I heard at CSUN
last spring is any indication. It would help if Microsoft would
provide concrete statements about what it plans to do to
accelerate this effort. And in my view this effort should be
accelerated, in light of recent events of which both of us are
well aware.
                           **********
     9.   Improve Microsoft's technical and other support
          provided to screen-reader developers.
                           **********
Frankly I don't know where the Foundation is going with this
recommendation. I have not heard any complaints of substance
regarding a vendor's inability to get appropriate technical
support from Microsoft.
                           **********
     Before closing, I would like to suggest a few priorities of
my own:
     First and foremost, Microsoft should deliver the promised
patch to IE 4.0 without delay. Failure to keep the commitment to
deliver the patch before the end of the year will be devastating
to the company's credibility among blind people.
     Second, Microsoft should concentrate on ensuring that
application programs which blind people really need to use on the
job are fully compatible with screen-access technology. Attention
should be devoted to making Microsoft Word(R) as useful to the
blind as WordPerfect(R) 5.1 for DOS, a program which is still
fondly regarded by many MS/DOS adherents. Microsoft should ensure
that its software used to access the Internet is fully compatible
with screen-access technology for the blind. This includes Web
browsing software as well as e-mail, FTP, TELNET, TN3270, and
other clients. Similar attention should be given to other text-
based Microsoft applications such as Excel(R) and Microsoft
Access(R). I am sure you would be pleased to hear one day that
for blind people Microsoft applications are the programs of
choice when it comes to ease of use with screen-access
technology.
     Finally, I think that you and I need to find ways to
communicate with each other in a more meaningful way. There are
lots of things that we can do if we exchange information in a
more timely fashion. I do not promise to support Microsoft 100
percent of the time. Nor do I promise to apologize for Microsoft
when it makes a clear tactical blunder--as it did with IE 4.0.
However, I promise that I will do my best to understand and
articulate the company's point of view--particularly if I am
assured that you and others from Microsoft will respond in kind.
     Speaking more broadly, Microsoft needs to do a better job
communicating with the National Federation of the Blind. I
suspect that very few people at Microsoft know who the President
of the Federation is. (Incidentally, the Federation's President
is Marc Maurer.) Even fewer have taken the time to talk with
President Maurer directly. The Federation is a major force in the
affairs of the blind today. This is not an exaggeration. Just ask
people in the field of work with the blind what organization
saved the rehabilitation system when it was about to be shut down
by Congress. They will tell you that it was the National
Federation of the Blind.
     Greg, everyone agrees that Microsoft is a key player in the
computer industry today. Consequently it touches the lives of
many people, some of whom are blind. Through its actions the
company can either be a force for good or one which destroys the
lives of individual blind people. I trust that as a corporation
Microsoft will choose to be a positive influence on the lives of
those of us who happen to be blind.
                           **********
                                                 Yours sincerely,
                                                     Curtis Chong
                                           Director of Technology
                                 National Federation of the Blind
                           **********
     Frankly, I don't know what effect any of this correspondence
will have. I do know that Microsoft really has taken a big step
backward in its credibility with the blind. Trust is extremely
difficult to earn. It is far easier to lose. In this case
Microsoft may not yet know exactly what it has lost. But we do.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Carla McQuillan]
        The Owner-Executive Running the Montessori School
                       by Carla McQuillan
                           **********
     From the Editor: On the afternoon of Friday, July 4, 1997, a
group of Federationists told convention delegates about their
jobs and the ways in which their Federation philosophy has
influenced their work. Following are the remarks of four of them.
The first is Carla McQuillan, President of the NFB of Oregon.
this is what she said:
                           **********
     I am the owner and director of a Montessori school. We
currently serve seventy students ranging in age from two-and-half
to eight years. We offer a preschool program, an early elementary
program, and child care for those working parents who have
children enrolled in our school. Our facility is 3,752 square
feet. We have three classrooms. It sits on about an acre of land.
I supervise nine staff members, three of whom are here at
convention this year. I have Mary and Margaret, who are working
in NFB Camp, and we also have Gary Jeffries, who is the blind
cook at my school, serving lunches and snacks to our children
every single day. I think, if you asked the children, Gary is the
most popular staff member we have.
     The responsibilities of a director are many and varied. It's
kind of like a compact disk player that's been set on a random
song-selection. You never really know what tune is going to pop
up next. So sometimes I'm a janitor; sometimes I'm a cook or an
accountant, a nurse, a stern principal, a receptionist, a
supervisor, a cop (that's my personal favorite), a therapist, a
friend, and always a juggler. There are a lot of exciting events
that happen around our school. In fact, one of the most recent
happened just on Monday. I got an emergency phone call from the
school. It seems that one of the popcorn poppers set off the fire
alarm; and, while all of the fire engines were screeching into
the parking lot, none of the staff there had the code to turn off
and reset the alarm. They are laughing about it now, I hope.
     Some of my responsibilities are just short of heart-
wrenching. As a child care professional I am required to report
any suspected child abuse. This last year a five-year-old boy
came to me and disclosed that his father was sexually abusing
him.
     I have some unnerving responsibilities. I fired a teacher in
March for throwing a pair of adult scissors across the room with
a group of children assembled and then had the honor of replacing
her in the classroom for the last three months of the year, just
in time for NFB Camp registration to start up.
     I'd like to tell you a little bit about how I got to where I
am today in my business. Some of you may ask why I chose to get
to where I am. When I was a young teenager and knew nothing about
the Federation, I believed that working with young children was
something that a blind person could do. When I was a senior in
high school, I acquired a job as a preschool teacher at June Bug
Preschool and was pretty much a glorified baby sitter. There
wasn't a lot of teaching going on. My freshman year in college I
taught music in a Montessori school and was just amazed at the
difference in the behavior of the children. The Montessori
children were attentive. They were well-mannered. They were well
behaved, and they were extremely bright, curious, and
inquisitive. I enrolled in a Montessori teacher-training program
figuring I didn't know what it was those teachers were using, but
whatever it was, I wanted to have some of it.
     Montessori for those of you who don't know is a very self-
paced, individualized type of instruction, and it's the use of
the Montessori materials as they are manipulated that helps to
teach the child different concepts. In fact, Montessori said that
the more senses you incorporate into any learning experience, the
higher the retention level and the more effective the learning.
This also makes this method of education much more accessible for
blind children, which I'll talk about later. The overall
philosophy of the Montessori method is that of teaching personal
responsibility, respect, independence--all of which develops self
confidence in the children. Montessori children, by and large,
are self-starters. They have a natural thirst for knowledge and
information, which is of course extremely delightful for the
teachers who work with them.
     In 1988 I was the recipient of a National Federation of the
Blind of Illinois scholarship, and at that point I came to learn
some very strange and wonderful things about myself, my peers,
and my philosophy on human development. As I came to work more
and more with the Federation, I came to believe in myself and to
believe that I didn't need to work for somebody else, but maybe
it would be okay for me to work for myself and that I could be
successful in the endeavor. So I ran a home-based Montessori
program for three years until my son was old enough to
participate, and then he decided that I was Mom and not a
teacher, and he wasn't having any part of it. So the next step
was to go in search of a facility for us to start our own school.
In that pursuit we found a building for lease with a capacity of
forty-five students. I applied for an Oregon Economic Development
Loan that was designed specifically for disabled people wishing
to start their own businesses. And guess what? Oregon didn't
think that I could make this business fly. Oregon denied the
loan, but I found out that the National Federation of the Blind
did believe that I could be successful, and I secured a small
business loan from this organization.
     But it's the skills that I have learned through the work of
the Federation that have really gone far beyond the seed money in
the way of helping me to become successful. Children's Choice
Montessori School is unique in its philosophy even from other
Montessori schools: philosophy that is developed by and large
through participation on my part with this organization. When I
take prospective parents through the school to decide whether or
not our facility is appropriate for their children, of course I
go around and show them the classroom and make sure that they
understand that it's a safe and comfortable and warm and loving
environment. But I also emphasize to the parents two goals that
we have at our school for each of those children.
     1) The children will learn to work and play well with
others. Even if they don't want to go out and play on the
playground with all of their classmates, we require that they be
respectful and coexist peacefully while they are in the
classroom. How many times have we seen Dr. Jernigan, Mr. Maurer,
and other leaders of this organization faced with the task of
dealing with individuals who are perhaps not our favorite people,
who don't see things exactly the way we do? In fact, at one point
Diane McGeorge said to me, after having spoken to a state agency
director, "You get done talking to him, and you just feel like
you want to take a shower." But throughout the course of her
conversation, not an inkling of that sentiment came through. She
was respectful. She was courteous, and that's exactly what we are
trying to teach the children at our school.
     2) We teach the children to be responsible for their
actions. This entails recognizing that there are consequences for
their actions and for their inactions. We also believe that this
perspective will ensure that the children will never grow to
believe that they are victims of their circumstances. Dr.
Jernigan was talking the other night to this scholarship class
and saying how we are in a society and a generation (both sighted
and blind) who are looking for someone else to blame for the
position they are in today. We need to resist that temptation. It
is my firm belief that this philosophy needs to be instilled at a
very early age and brought all the way through life, and that's
exactly what we are trying to do.
     At Children's Choice we are teaching life skills. This is
not something that most of the other programs are doing. They are
looking to resolve today's problems without any look towards
where those children will be in the future. I believe our
decision has contributed greatly to the success of the school.
     One of the other things I have learned that has been
invaluable to me is that there are insufficient hours in the day
to do everything that we would like to do. I do not waste a lot
of time and energy on those things that I cannot affect. I try to
spend my time resolving and solving all the problems I can do
something about. This is particularly helpful when I take on
added responsibilities such as NFB Camp, which by the way I love
doing.
     Last year I applied for and received a Small Business
Administration loan so that we could purchase the land and
construct the building in which we now operate our school. There
was a bit of discussion between the builders and me about the
Americans with Disabilities Act, particularly with regard to the
size of the handicapped-accessible bathrooms. Using the skills
that I have learned through the Federation, I researched the
regulations, and I challenged the builders at their
interpretation of those regulations. After I threatened to fire
them, they finally agreed to reduce the size of each handicapped
bathroom by eighteen square feet, freeing up enough classroom
space to add two students more than their plan allowed, and now I
understand that they're circulating our blueprints to other
people who are thinking of building schools as a model school
environment. By the way, the obligatory handicap-accessible
bathroom sign that needed Braille--we have that. I have the
technology to produce that myself without any additional cost,
and the Braille on that sign reads, "Deposits only, no
withdrawals." The city inspector came by, ran his fingers over
that Braille, and we all sat and smiled.
     But I believe probably the most exciting part of what we are
doing at the school happens when the Federation work and the
Children's Choice work merge to form a more perfect union. This
summer the Oregon Commission for the Blind has placed a high
school student, through its summer work-experience program, to be
employed at Children's Choice Montessori. Clarissa is learning a
lot about how to work with children when you are a blind person,
and she is learning a lot about the National Federation of the
Blind. In the fall we will have a three-year-old blind child
starting in Mary's classroom. Instead of being threatened and
upset, Mary is delighted because she has worked at NFB Camp for
the last two years. I am also told that there is a nine-month-old
blind child in the community whose mother has already told case
workers that her son will be at our school when he comes of age.
     Every day the compact disk sets on random song-selection;
and we walk in, prepared for the dance; and through the waltzes
and the jigs and the dirges and the ballads, occasionally we are
uplifted by "Glory, Glory, Federation." Thank you.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Charlie Brown]
         Advancing Science Through the Legal Profession
                        by Charles Brown
                           **********
     From the Editor: Charlie Brown is a member of the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind and President
of the NFB of Virginia. He is also Assistant General Counsel at
the National Science Foundation. This is what he said:
                           **********
     It is indeed a pleasure to be here, and since I reside and
have for the last twenty-five years or so in our nation's capital
area, I bring you greetings from America's largest and most
interesting theme park. I'm really honored today to talk with you
as a fellow Federationist about what I do to earn my daily bread.
     I work for the National Science Foundation, and it truly is
an exciting place to work. Although in many ways we operate like
a private foundation, we're actually established as a federal
agency. We're located in Arlington, Virginia. The Foundation's
primary mission is to support (that means send money out to)
science and engineering research and education efforts carried
out mostly by the colleges and universities around the country.
We also run the U.S. Antarctic Program, including our three bases
in Antarctica. Many of you may know us best from the science
underwriting we do for National Public Radio and Public
Television.
     Let me make it very clear to you that I am not a scientist
myself, so it's a real challenge to interact every day with a
truly outstanding staff. That's half the fun of being there. Our
average professional staffer is a Ph.D. scientist or engineer
with numerous years of research and teaching experience acquired
before coming to the NSF. We have hardly any professional entry-
level positions.
     Here's where I fit in. In recent years Congress has tried to
focus accountability by identifying particular individuals in the
government who are responsible for performing particular critical
tasks (at least what Congress believes to be critical tasks) so
that one person will be answerable as to whether it's done right
or not done right. For instance, every agency has an inspector
general to ferret out fraud, waste, and abuse. Each agency is
required to have a chief financial officer. And each federal
agency, including NSF, is required to have someone called in the
statute "a designated agency ethics official," responsible only
to the agency head, whose job is to direct that agency's employee
ethics and conflict-of-interest-prevention efforts. That's my job
at NSF.
     NSF spends about three billion of your tax dollars every
year--that's billion with a "b." Almost all of it is spent on
peer-reviewed research and education grants and cooperative
agreements. But even with as much as three billion to spend every
year, the problem is that lots more folks want money from NSF
than can get it, so the competition is fierce. It's not really a
question so much of weeding out unworthy science from worthy
research; the real issue is picking out the best science we can
buy from the merely good. To the extent that we can do this well,
we earn the confidence of the scientific community--the community
we serve on a daily basis, as well as the general public and the
Congress. I think we can say that we have done this over the
years because at the bottom line Congress has supported NSF very
well where it counts, in the appropriations process.
     My mission is to protect NSF to see that its procedures
guarantee integrity and fairness in the review process, that
people don't participate in the decision-making process when they
have improper, even inappropriate, relationships, affiliations,
or financial interests that could be affected by what we're
trying to do with that particular program. Yes, at NSF we have to
adhere to a whole bunch of federal ethics regulations, but we
have to do so in an environment which is different from that in
the typical federal agency or office.
     For instance, we are managed by a twenty-four-member, part-
time, Presidentially-appointed National Science Board that is
deliberately set up to come from and represent the science
community we fund. We have to watch out and make sure that we
avoid conflicts of interest with their particular home
institutions. Unlike full-time agencies' board members like the
Federal Communications Commission, or something like that, these
people are specifically not asked to give up their outside
interests or affiliations to assume their part-time duty. We want
them to be true representatives of the outside. They are mostly
college presidents, deans, and corporate R&D people. Another
thing that is different about us is that at any given time our
professional staff is composed of 30 percent people visiting NSF
as rotators for only a year or two. We have to make sure that
these people don't put their thumbs on the scales to help their
universities back home get some unfair advantage.
     Another distinguishing feature is that we use 6,000 panel
peer-reviewers a year to evaluate grant research proposals. Those
folks, too, have to be conflict-screened to make sure that
they're going to judge on the basis of scientific merit and not
on the basis of their old buddies or where they have a buck or
two invested.
     Now, with all that said, in 1991 the National Science
Foundation decided that it needed to conduct a nationwide search
for a new ethics official. I ended up getting that job. It was
truly an unusual application and interview process that even
involved my teaching a sample seminar and interviewing all manner
of people. My friends joked that, if I interviewed one more
person to get this job, it would be the Vice President. Anyway, I
got it, and there were a bunch of other people who wanted it, so
I was happy to get it--a little bit surprised because I had some
ethics role in the Department of Labor, where I had been for
twenty years, but most of my job with Labor actually involved the
Department's legislative activities on the Hill. As it turned
out, I guess they thought I had a pretty decent background. In
addition to my twenty years with Labor, I do hold my
undergraduate degree from Harvard, and my law degree is from
Northwestern.
     So what I do in the ethics business--I'm a counselor--I
advise people how to get through the complicated ethics laws. I'm
often a judge saying, "You may do this, and you may not do that."
I issue hundreds of written opinions a year. I'm part of the
management team. Some of these big projects that we fund (we had
a 350-million-dollar one that I was involved in and got a big
cash award for how I handled it this year) have so many
universities involved that I'm basically working on the project
right alongside the scientists every day.
     I deal with the White House on our Presidential appointees
and nominees and often am the first to know who is going to be on
the National Science Board or who is going to be Director or
Deputy Director. I'm also our liaison person with the U.S. Office
of Government and Ethics. I have a great deal of sympathy for
those in the private sector because I too am in a regulated
industry, and they come and audit us and make sure that we're in
compliance with all the governmental and ethics enactments.
     I don't do this work alone. I have four other folks in the
general counsel's office who spend at least some of their time
assisting me. I spend a lot of time keeping our various division
directors and deputy division directors up-to-speed and up to the
latest on both our own procedures and NSF procedures. Many of
those procedures and regulations I wrote myself. I published two
sets of NSF-specific ethics regulations in the Federal Register
last year.
     People ask me what alternative techniques I use--not many
really, I guess. I do have a CCTV in the office, and I use screen
enlargement software on my computer, and I use Braille a lot.
That's important. I obviously have residual vision, but one of my
critical jobs is that I must train about 700 of our staff in two-
hour training sessions every year. I do it in small seminar
groups of about thirty-five apiece, scheduled about twice a
month. I just couldn't do two-hour training sessions with case
studies without my training outlines and all my other training
materials available in Braille.
     People also ask me, "Was blindness an issue in getting this
job?" The answer is, "Yes, it was." The people who interviewed me
probably violated all kinds of EEOC rules (and I'm glad they did)
by asking me, "How are you going to handle computers around NSF?"
I knew the answers because I had checked it out. I had been down
to the exhibit hall. I knew about that kind of stuff and how much
it cost. What I didn't tell them was that I had no idea how to
use a computer in the first place. I figured, what the heck; if I
got the job, these are just machines anyway, and I know how to
use machines. I learned some about computers, as much as I needed
to learn.
     The only other issue about blindness was that early on there
was some chatter about how could they give this much unreviewable
responsibility to a blind person? That came back to me through
third parties. Thankfully, and I hope through my good efforts, we
no longer hear that kind of stuff around NSF. I'm proud of the
job I do; I'm proud that it helps keep our science the best in
the world. I'm especially blessed to have the opportunity to come
here to talk to you for a few minutes about what I do because I
do think it's important.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Bruce Gardner]
The Blind Lawyer Shaping Policy for the Nation's Power Companies
                        by Bruce Gardner
                           **********
     From the Editor: Bruce Gardner is the President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona. At the 1997
convention he was elected to a seat on the NFB Board of
Directors. This is what he said:
                           **********
     I am a senior attorney with Arizona Public Service Company
(APS), a major corporation in Arizona. I am one of ten attorneys
who serve as in-house counsel for the company. APS is not a
municipality or government agency; it is a publicly-held
corporation and the largest electric utility company in Arizona.
So what do I do as a senior attorney with a major corporation? I
practice law, of course. But if all you know about attorneys and
the practice of law is what you have learned watching Perry Mason
reruns or the O.J. Simpson trials, you won't know what I mean
when I say, "I practice law."
     Just as most physicians are not surgeons, most lawyers are
not litigators. In fact, it has been years since I have jumped to
my feet in righteous indignation and shouted, "Objection, your
Honor, that's hearsay." If most of us lawyers are not litigators,
then what do we do? As I said, we practice law. What does it mean
to practice law? We were told in law school that it means to
think like a lawyer. I recall the dean of the law school telling
all of us first-year law students that we would be required to
take classes in many legal subjects such as contracts, torts,
civil procedure, criminal procedure, Constitutional law, criminal
law, evidence, tax, etc., and that we would, of course, be
required to learn the laws in each of these subjects and develop
skills in legal research, legal writing, oral advocacy, and other
procedural aspects of practicing law. But he said the fundamental
purpose--the real purpose--of going to law school was to teach us
to think like lawyers.
     An incident that happened to me early in law school should
illustrate the three aspects of legal training: learning laws,
developing skills, and, most important, beginning to think like a
lawyer. In the first year of law school, we were required to take
the criminal law class. The criminal law professor had served for
over twenty-five years as a renowned criminal prosecutor in
southern California. In his class, when he called on you, you
were required to stand and attempt to answer his barrage of
questions while he systematically pinned you to the wall.
     To make things worse, the whole procedure was videotaped,
and you were later required to review the videotape with the
professor. One of his purposes was obviously to get us used to
responding on our feet while under pressure--as I am now. While
reviewing the videotape, the professor would critique our
posture, gestures, and facial expressions, saying such things as
"Look, you licked your lips. What did you do that for?" "What is
your hand doing in your pocket?" "Why are you grimacing? You look
like a scared rabbit." One day, in the first week or two of law
school, the professor asked a question based on a substantial
reading assignment. He asked about the six elements of the common
definition of burglary, which is the breaking and entering of the
dwelling of another at night time with the intent to commit a
felony. He then asked for the common law definition of "night
time," and no one he called on knew the answer. He glared at us
and growled," Didn't anyone read the footnotes?" The answer was
given in one little, obscure footnote in one of the many cases
that made up the previous night's reading assignment.
Fortunately, I had read the footnotes; unfortunately, I raised my
hand. I was so dumb I didn't know you didn't raise your hand in
Mr. Dean's criminal law class. With obvious pleasure the
professor said, "Mr. Gardner, stand up." That's the way he
sounded when he was about to eat a first-year student. Well I
stood up, and he said, "What is the definition of night time?" I
replied with the definition given in the footnote, "The time
between sunset and sunrise when it is too dark to recognize a
man's face." The professor then moved in to pin me to the wall.
He said, "Mr. Gardner, what if there is a full moon and it is a
clear night so that you can easily recognize a man's face a block
away?" Without really thinking, I replied, "Mr. Dean, I'm blind.
It doesn't matter how bright the moon is; I could never see a man
a block away, never mind recognize him." The whole class burst
out laughing. The professor, with a chuckle in his voice, said,
"Okay, Mr. Gardner, sit down. I can tell when I have been
beaten."
     Despite the fact or maybe because of the fact that I had
inadvertently won the first round, I was given many opportunities
along with my peers to engage in mental jousting with my criminal
law professor. Although no one has ever explained to me what it
means to think like a lawyer, I believe it means that, when faced
with a situation, and keeping in mind the laws he has learned, a
lawyer should look at the matter from all possible angles,
creatively brainstorm and identify all of the positives and
negatives that could conceivably result from the situation, then
carefully analyze, critique, and evaluate each of the positives
and negatives identified, throwing out those without any merit.
The remaining pros and cons are then carefully reviewed and
analyzed so that ways can be found to minimize the minuses and
capitalize on the pluses. Now I recognize that this is probably
an overly simplified explanation of what it is to think like a
lawyer. However, that is what I do daily for APS in a variety of
areas.
     For example, I handle the legal real estate matters for the
utility company. Since APS is the largest property tax payer in
Arizona, it is safe to say the company has its share of real
estate issues. Nearly every day I handle power line easement and
right-of-way matters such as how and where the utility company
should build its power lines in light of concerns that
electromagnetic fields (EMS), which emanate from power lines,
might cause adverse health effects.
     Additionally, I handle the legal aspects of buying and
selling real property. For example, when the company outgrew its
corporate headquarters building and it was decided that for
political reasons it should lease rather than own new office
space, I negotiated all of the legal aspects of the construction
and lease of our new twenty-story corporate headquarters
building. I drafted and negotiated the multi-million-dollar
contract for the sale of the old office building.
     However, real property issues are only a small part of what
I handle for the company. I also oversee all of the numerous tort
and commercial litigation cases. It is my job to select the
litigators who will try the cases for the company, and I oversee
their actions to assure that sound legal analysis and advice are
being provided. This means that I must carefully analyze the
strengths and weaknesses of the company's position in each case
as well as evaluate the legal skills of the litigators I have
retained. There are many millions of dollars at issue in each of
these cases.
     As the coordinator of litigation cases, I also direct the
legal investigation of accidental electrocutions and other
serious accidents which could result in lawsuits being filed
against the utility company. Additionally, I handle a substantial
number of miscellaneous matters, such as the legal aspects of
selling electricity in Mexico. It has been my job to guide the
company through the legal administrative and bureaucratic mazes
required to obtain the Presidential permits, licenses, and other
authorizations necessary to construct power lines across the
international border into Mexico. Many approvals are required
from numerous federal, state, and local governmental agencies in
addition to the International Boundary Commission and the Mexican
government. As a result of these efforts, last year APS became
the first United States company to sell electricity directly to a
retail customer in Mexico. I both drafted and negotiated that
contract.
     It is company policy at APS that no major decision is to be
made without the benefit of legal analysis and advice.
Consequently, on a daily basis I receive a variety of e-mail
messages and telephone calls from numerous clients throughout the
company explaining their situations and asking for advice. I
outline their various options and explain the pros and cons and
legal ramifications of each.
     Although I feel rather uncomfortable speaking about myself,
I have shared with you a glimpse of what I do for a living, not
to be boastful, but to make a point. The fact is that my
blindness is irrelevant to my clients. They come to me because I
look at their problems and opportunities from all angles and can
spot issues and can see solutions. They come to me because I
think like a lawyer.
     However, and this is the point I wish to make, I simply
would not be as successful if I did not also think like a
Federationist. In fact, I doubt that I would have gone to law
school if I had not first learned the truth about blindness and
begun overcoming the low self-esteem and low expectations I
developed as a blind child. Until I learned the truth about
blindness from the National Federation of the Blind, all I knew
about blindness was what I had absorbed from society.
Unfortunately, society's notion of blindness is one of
helplessness and dependence. Blind people are generally thought
of as not being capable of doing much of anything. Therefore,
although my parents were as positive and optimistic as they could
be under the circumstances, growing up I had low self-esteem and
low expectations.
     I remember going to the eye doctor as a child and hearing
him tell my parents that, because my blindness was probably
hereditary, they should make sure that I never got married or had
children. I recall my mother sobbing and feeling that it was
somehow her fault that I was blind. The clear message I absorbed
from the doctor was that blindness was a terrible tragedy and
that it would be better not to be born than to be born blind. The
cartoon show Mr. Magoo helped to create and expand the shame and
low self-esteem I felt inside. I refused to admit that I was
blind because blindness meant helplessness. Blind people were
bumbling, fumbling, Mr. Magoos, or worse, helpless dependents who
sold pencils on the street corner. Blind people were inferior,
dependent, and helpless folks to be pitied and cared for.
Therefore, I tried to deny my blindness because I could see light
and dark, general shapes, and movement with my peripheral vision.
But the feelings of inferiority and shame would not go away. And
of course I did not use any of the useful alternative techniques
of blindness such as Braille and cane travel. To do so would have
been to admit that I was blind.
     In high school I signed up for AP English. I was in all
respects qualified for the advanced course; however, the teacher
told me that I could not take the class because I was blind. She
told me that there would be too much reading and that I wouldn't
be able to keep up. She said that because of my blindness I
should take the minimum of English classes. Of course she knew
nothing about talking books and other alternative techniques used
by the blind. This well-intentioned but uninformed teacher was so
convinced and my self-esteem and expectation were so low that I
followed her advice and took the bare minimum of English classes
in both high school and college.
     It was not until I was in law school that I realized what a
mistake I had made in listening to her. She didn't have any idea
what too much reading was because she had never been to law
school and tried to keep up with the reading requirements there.
I realized that I should have at least minored in English to help
me in the practice of law. In fact, I still feel that I am
playing catch-up on the English classes I should have taken. For
example, to this day I have a propensity to inadvertently split
my infinitives.
     Fortunately, in college the National Federation of the Blind
found me, taught me the truth about blindness, and helped me
overcome my low self-esteem and low expectations. The NFB helped
me develop the confidence I needed to go to law school. Thanks to
Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and the National Federation of the Blind, I
have come to learn the truth about blindness, which is that the
real problem is not the lack of eyesight but rather the public's
lack of insight regarding blindness. In other words, it's not a
physical disability but a social handicap, society's attitude,
that is the real problem.
     It was Henry Ford who said, "If you think you can or you
can't, you're right." Given opportunity and training, a blind
person can find alternative techniques for doing just about
anything he would have done with eyesight and therefore be
successful doing whatever he decides to do. For me that means
practicing law. I am paid to think like a lawyer, but regardless
of how we earn our daily bread, it pays to think like a
Federationist. For this reason I will do everything in my power
to share Federation philosophy with others so that they too can
benefit from knowing and living the truth about blindness.
                           **********
                           **********
                           **********
     Planned giving takes place when a contributor decides to
leave a substantial gift to charity. It means planning as you
would for any substantial purchase--a house, college tuition, or
car. The most common forms of planned giving are wills and life
insurance policies. There are also several planned giving options
through which you can simultaneously give a substantial
contribution to the National Federation of the Blind, obtain a
tax deduction, and receive lifetime income now or in the future.
For more information write or call the National Federation of the
Blind, Special Gifts, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland
21230-4998, (410) 659-9314, fax (410) 685-5653.
                           **********
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Lynn Mattioli]
        Food for Thought: Experience of a Blind Dietitian
                        by Lynn Mattioli
                           **********
     From the Editor: Lynn Mattioli was a 1987 NFB scholarship
winner. During the years since that first introduction to the
organization, she has moved around the country gathering the
necessary academic, professional, and blindness tools to do her
life work. At the 1997 convention she told delegates about her
adventures in the past ten years. This is what she said:
                           **********
     Imagine a young woman, wearing a hair net, dashing around to
deliver meal trays to sick patients confined to bed, prodding
them to eat their chicken soup and lime-flavored Jell-O. When
people ask me, "What do you do all day?" frequently this is what
they have envisioned. However, it is not 100 percent accurate. I
wear a lab coat, not a hair net, but I do encourage my patients
with poor appetites to eat well.
     I work as a clinical dietitian at a 250-bed hospital in
South Baltimore. I cover several areas of the hospital, including
cardiology, orthopedics, and neurology. So I spend my day working
with patients who have heart problems, those who have had surgery
to repair broken bones or replace a joint such as the knee or
hip, and those who have had strokes. I also cover a sub-acute or
extended-care facility (ECF) affiliated with the hospital.
Patients go to the ECF when they have recovered enough to leave
the acute-care side of the hospital but need more time before
they're ready to go home.
     Altogether I am responsible for sixty to seventy-five
patients on any given day. Basically what I do is gather
information about my patients to identify those people who are at
nutrition risk. Then I assess the situation and implement
strategies to increase food intake or recommend an alternative
route of feeding when necessary. The most technical part of my
job is calculating the appropriate composition of solutions used
to feed patients intravenously. The solutions are approved by the
physician and then prepared by the pharmacy.  I am also
responsible for teaching my patients about their diet. Nutrition
education is tailored to meet each individual's needs. Heart-
healthy eating and eating for optimum management of diabetes are
the two topics I cover the most.
     People often ask me, "What do you need to do to become a
registered dietitian?" First let me clarify: there is a big
difference between being a nutritionist and being a registered
dietitian. Anyone of you here today could claim to be a
nutritionist. Those people wearing white lab coats at the health
food store in your local mall may have been working selling shoes
last week.
     In order to be a registered dietitian, you must first have a
bachelor of science degree in nutrition. In college you will
study anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, food science, and
nutrition science. Accounting, economics, business management,
and social science courses are also required. Then you must
obtain hands-on experience through a year-long internship
program. Finally you must pass a national registration
examination and fulfill continuing lifelong education
requirements to maintain your credentials. Depending on what you
want to do as a dietitian, advanced education might be good. I
decided to obtain a master of science degree in nutrition because
I plan to teach at the university level one day. So you can see
that it is more challenging than just putting on a white lab
coat.
     While I was in college, no one ever suggested that I
couldn't be a dietitian because of my blindness. The faculty was
very supportive. I used alternative techniques such as readers
and lab assistants when needed. I had numerous externship
experiences while I was in college, so I was able to explore the
profession a bit before I graduated. When it came time to apply
for my internship program, I decided to set my sights high. I
applied for several of the most prestigious programs in the
country. There is a limited number of internship programs, so
entrance is very competitive. I also decided to apply for some
programs that seemed a little more attainable, just in case.
     On the application form I did not mention my blindness
because I didn't really think it mattered. I didn't want to be
excluded from a program because of misconceptions about
blindness. Internship directors are looking for reasons to
exclude candidates. I didn't want my blindness to be the issue. I
was ecstatic to learn that I had been accepted at the
Massachusetts General Hospital, a 1,000-bed Harvard-affiliated
teaching hospital in Boston. I did tell them about my blindness
after I accepted their offer.
     I arrived in Boston a few weeks before the program began, to
give me time to move in. I made an appointment with the
internship director to discuss the program with her in more
detail and to have a tour of the huge facility. I wanted to help
her to feel comfortable with my blindness. I remember the details
of that afternoon as if it were yesterday. I had my tour; then I
was introduced to Helen, the head of the department. Helen
invited me into her office to have a little chat. After I sat
down, she said to me, "Lynn, I want to be honest with you: I
don't think a blind person can be a dietitian. I think it would
be easier for a deaf person or a person using a wheelchair to be
a dietitian than it's going to be for you." We spent an hour
discussing how I was going to accomplish specific tasks related
to my job. "How are you going to use the meat slicer?" "How are
you going to take apart the food chopper so you can clean it?"
"Can you turn the knob?" "How will you know if the employees are
stealing food or dealing drugs?" "How will you know if a patient
is awake when you go into the room?" I answered her endless
string of questions to the best of my ability. After the
questions were finished, I explained to her that we were going to
need to figure out some things when we got to them. I didn't know
exactly step-by-step how I was going to clean the food-chopping
machine, but I knew how to clean my own food processor. So to me
it was the same equipment, only ten times bigger.
     As I was leaving the meeting, Helen left me with some
friendly advice. "You'd better go home and pray." I remained
composed until I returned to my apartment, and then I did what
most young adults would do: I called my mother in tears. She was
as shocked as I was. We were Federationists by this time in my
life, so we knew that discrimination could happen, but now it was
happening to me. I'm certain that they would have terminated me
from the program if they could have, but I think they were smart
enough to know that I wouldn't have left quietly.
     I had two choices: I could agree that a blind person
couldn't be a dietitian and return home to Pennsylvania; or I
could stand my ground, which is what I did. But I needed people
to help to keep me standing. I immediately contacted Job
Opportunities for the Blind and got in contact with a blind
dietitian in Iowa. We talked on the phone. I don't think she told
me anything I didn't already know, but she gave me the gift of
reassurance that a blind person could do and accomplish what I
was setting out to accomplish myself.
     I wasn't alone. Throughout that year I had the support of
the Massachusetts affiliate and the Cambridge chapter. At the end
of the year, though, my confidence was lacking. My supervisors
had encouraged me to do my job in the same fashion as my sighted
counterparts. It was as if they wanted me to be that sighted
person they thought they had accepted into the program. I was
uncomfortable trying many alternative techniques for fear my
performance might be judged harshly. I knew at the end of that
year that I was a good dietitian. I had the knowledge, and I had
experience, but I couldn't hope to be an excellent dietitian
unless I attained more confidence in myself as a blind person and
better blindness skills.
     After attending one of the top internship programs in the
country, which turned out to be a living nightmare, it was time
to attend one of the top adult rehabilitation programs in the
country, the Louisiana Center for the Blind. (We all know where
the other top programs are located.) This was a dream come true.
I was a different person when I left Ruston. An amazing thing
happened when I went for my job interview at Harbor Hospital.
This was the first real job interview I had as a professional. My
blindness didn't seem to matter to my future boss one bit. We
talked about it. I remember her saying, "Obviously you know you
can do this job, or you wouldn't be here." It will be wonderful
when every job interview is like that.
     I know that I would not have been able to become an employed
registered dietitian if it hadn't been for two things. For these
blessings I am grateful--for my parents who were Federationists
long before we discovered the organization and for the National
Federation of the Blind. As an organization the Federation paved
my way by changing society's views of blindness, insuring
security, equality, and opportunity. As individuals many of you
have personally changed my life. You have been my friends and
mentors. I am thankful. If it hadn't been for you, I might have
told Helen that she was right. Instead we did not give her that
satisfaction.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Vickie Messick (seated) talks to Hailee Linhart
of Washington (left) and her daughter Briley Pollard (right).]
         Parents Win Fight with School Board in Virginia
                           **********
     From the Editor: It is always heartening to hear of a
victory by the good guys in a fight over the rights of blind
children. As the following article makes clear, Hampton,
Virginia, school officials now seem to understand that their past
struggles to provide only the barest minimum of services to blind
students enrolled in city schools have done incalculable harm to
youngsters who were already facing heavy odds against their
success. Once again we see the damage done by imposing the
failure model on the education of blind children. Waiting for the
child to fail using one set of supports before permitting more
useful ones to be tried virtually insures that the student's
self-confidence will evaporate a little more with every poor
grade or uncompleted assignment.
     Hampton parents, with help from the parents division of the
NFB of Virginia and its active President Vickie Messick, forced
school officials to change things for the future and correct past
mistakes as far as possible. Here is the story by Sandra Tan as
it appeared in the August 7, 1997, Daily Press.
                           **********
             Hampton to Hire Third Staffer for Blind
                Schools to Offer Makeup Services
                           **********
     Theresa Brooks sat in her car as the rain turned the cold
February night colder. She had just left a school board meeting
to speak on behalf of her visually impaired daughter, but no one
seemed to hear. Her husband had died several months earlier and
could lend no comfort. So she prayed.
     "Lord, I'm tired. I feel like I'm all alone. What I said,
did it go into people's hearts? Is anybody listening?"
     Someone finally listened. Brooks's daughter and other
visually impaired students in Hampton City Schools will be
getting more help.
     "I don't know what did it, said Vickie Messick, president of
Parents of Blind Children, a local chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind. "It could be God; a lot of people have
been praying."
     After more than nine months of complaints and lawsuit
threats, Hampton City Schools administrators agreed to make up
for some incomplete and incorrect special education guidelines
that parents say robbed their children of adequate instruction
for years.
     Since November parents have complained that their children
were illegally denied preschool instruction because of their age,
that unqualified administrators were making decisions about their
children's schooling, that the number of school vision
specialists was grossly inadequate, and that the guidelines used
to determine a student's right to services were too narrow.
     Most of all, parents complained that school administrators
didn't seem to care whether they were doing the right thing for a
group of children that make up less than two-tenths percent of
Hampton's overall student population. These complaints were
finally addressed in meetings with parents and parent advocates
over the last two weeks.
     Given a pending suit filed with the U.S. Department of
Education's Office of Civil Rights and more protests brought
before the local school board, school officials have now promised
to hire more specialists and offer make-up services to children
whose parents said were wrongly denied instruction
     "A lot of parents had threatened to go to due process
hearings, basically take them to court," Messick said. "I have no
desire to go to court. If we can make progress another way, so be
it."
     Superintendent Billy Cannaday conceded that the school
system could have done a better job of addressing these parents'
complaints from the start. Instead of wasting time arguing about
who was technically correct according to state and federal
regulations, the school system should have taken a closer look at
the potential harm being done to visually impaired children, he
said.
     "We only looked at the letter of the regulations, not the
intent of the regulations, which is to serve children," he said.
"When it came down to doing what's best for students, it became a
much easier issue to resolve."
     As part of the solution, the Hampton City School Board voted
Wednesday to hire a third vision impairment specialist to help
work with about thirty-five children. Last year the school system
had only one specialist working with more than twenty-five
children. In December of 1996, the board approved another
position, but the second specialist was not actually hired until
last month. In addition to increasing staff size, the school
system has agreed to offer more than 600 hours of makeup services
to children who received inadequate vision instruction in their
earlier years.
     Cannaday said some personnel changes will also be made to
insure that such students are never overlooked or shortchanged
again. Money will be reallocated to meet the agreements reached
with parents, Cannaday said, but that the amount will not stress
the existing budget approved by City Council.
     Parents and advocates praised the school administrators and
board members for their actions but still wondered at the time it
took for those actions to come about.
     "I'm very happy that they finally, finally are giving the
services that Christina needed and deserved," said Brooks, in
regard to her fifteen-year-old daughter, a tenth grader at Bethe
High School, "I thank God, I really do." Christina, an albino
with severely impaired vision, received no school vision
assistance until she nearly failed the second grade, Brooks said.
     Brooks's daughter will receive 345 hours of makeup tutorial
and counseling services. "Even though they're the educators,
we're both on the same team," Brooks said. "It's a partnership,
raising a child."

                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Ross Kaplan
PHOTO/CAPTION: Latonya Phipps]

             NFB Sues Law School Admissions Council
                           **********
     From the Editor: On April 4, 1997, the National Federation
of the Blind filed suit against the Law School Admissions Council
(LSAC) on behalf of three blind students. The students (Ross
Kaplan, Latonya Phipps, and Shannon Dillon) argued that the
reasonable-accommodations and equal-access protections afforded
disabled people under the Americans with Disabilities Act had
been denied them when they attempted to take the Law School
Admissions Test (LSAT), administered by the Law School Admissions
Council.
     Kaplan and Phipps were denied the right to bring trained
readers of their own choice with them when they took the grueling
law school entrance examination. LSAC officials insisted that
they use readers assigned by the Council to take the test.
Despite the fact that proctors are always present to insure that
no inappropriate communication takes place between reader and
blind student, the LSAC officials maintained that using readers
who were familiar with legal vocabulary and had experience
following the students' instructions constituted a breach of test
security.
     Dillon was refused the right to use a Braille writer and
paper during the LSAT even though sighted students may write in
the margins of test pages and on blank pages in the test book.
She requested permission to use her Brailler several weeks ahead
of the test, but LSAC officials insisted that she had not done so
soon enough.
     The lawsuit also argues that the LSAC's policy of sending a
letter to each law school to which a blind student's scores have
been sent invalidates the student's LSAT scores. The letter in
question explains that the blind student took the LSAT in
"nonstandard" conditions and therefore the LSAC cannot predict
how accurate an indication the test will be of the student's
ability to do the work in law school. The complaint points out
that blind law graduates have been taking and passing the bar
examination for years without anyone's raising a question about
their ability to practice law merely because they used Braille,
readers, large print, or other reasonable accommodations to take
the test.
     The April 21, 1997, edition of The National Law Journal was
only one of a number of publications to carry a story about this
suit. The Journal article, written by Joseph Slobodzian, was the
most accurate and comprehensive one that appeared. Here is the
story he wrote:
                           **********
                 Blind Test-Takers: LSAC Failed
                 to Comply with Disabilities Act
                           **********
     Three aspiring pre-law students who said they were unfairly
treated by that grueling rite of passage, the Law School
Admission Test, have shown that, regardless of their scores, they
know what a real lawyer would do.

     They sued.
     Specifically, the trio sued the Law School Admissions
Council, which administers the test, contending LSAC violated the
federal Americans With Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate
the three students who are blind.
     The students--Ross Kaplan of Washington, D.C.; Latonya
Phipps of Atlanta; and Shannon Dillon of Rohnert Park,
California--contended in their suit filed April 4 in U.S.
District Court in Philadelphia that all were top-scoring
undergraduates who were sabotaged on the LSAT by the council's
refusal to let them use their own human readers or Braille note-
taking equipment. Forced to take the test without the use of
aids, the suit said, all three did poorly, damaging their chances
of being accepted by a top law school. Kaplan v. LSAC, 97-cv-
2350.
     The lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia because the council is
located in Newtown, about thirty miles north in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania. Scott C. LaBarre, a lawyer with the National
Federation of the Blind in Denver, who filed the suit with New
Hope, Pennsylvania, lawyer Martin J. King, said he believed the
suit was the first challenging a standardized test for violating
the federal disabilities law.
     The suit asks for an order to prohibit LSAC from
discriminating against the blind and to let the three students
retake the LSAT at no cost and "free of the discriminatory
policies set forth above." LSAC counsel Joan Vantol said she was
prohibited from commenting on complaints involving individual
students or on pending litigation.
     The suit says LSAC offers some accommodations to blind
students, such as providing the test in Braille, providing human
readers for the exam, providing the test on cassette tape, and
offering the blind additional time to take the test. But those
accommodations do not remedy the hurdles the test presents to
individual blind students, the suit maintains.
     Mr. Kaplan, for example, the lawsuit says, took the LSAT
October 5 at American University in Washington, D.C., and asked
the LSAC if he could use his own human reader and a CCTV, a
television device the legally blind use to magnify print.
     The council allowed Mr. Kaplan to use his CCTV but rejected
as a security breach his own reader. LSAC said he could use a
council-supplied reader.
     The suit says Mr. Kaplan took the test under protest with an
LSAC reader and did "very poorly," scoring a 143, which ranks in
the 21.9th percentile of those taking the test.
     Mr. LaBarre said the relationship between a blind person and
reader is so individual that using a strange reader is "like
forcing somebody who needs eyeglasses to take the test wearing
the wrong pair of glasses."
     Ms. Phipps, for example, took the LSAT last October at Clark
Atlanta University and reluctantly agreed to use an LSAC reader,
who Mr. LaBarre said, was inexperienced with legal terminology
and obviously had never worked with a blind person.
     Ms. Dillon, the suit continues, took the exam last December
at the University of California, Hastings College of Law in San
Francisco and sought permission from the LSAC several weeks
earlier to use a Braille typewriter to make notes during the
exam, maintaining that sighted students are allowed to make notes
in the margin of the test paper. The LSAC refused, although it
relented when she retook the test earlier this year.
     Mr. LaBarre said the LSAC's refusal to accommodate the
twenty-five to fifty blind students who annually take the LSAT
negated the test's purpose: "It's no longer testing the ability
to succeed in law school. Instead it's trying to find out which
blind person can train and work with a reader on the spur of the
moment."
                           **********
     There you have the story as it appeared in April. The case
is now scheduled to go to trial in late December. Depositions are
currently being taken, so, assuming that no postponements take
place--always a large assumption--we can hope for an early
decision in this matter.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Don Morris
PHOTO: A little boy examines a mountain goat. In the background
other animals are visible. CAPTION: David Seyfarth of Mississippi
examines a mountain goat with the help of a friend.]
        Setting the Record Straight about Sensory Safari
                           **********
     From the Editor: At almost every National Convention since
1991, we have enjoyed interesting displays of mounted bird and
animal trophies provided by members of Safari Clubs
International. Volunteers from the group also conduct individual
or small-group tours of the mounts, pointing out interesting
details and offering tidbits of information about the species at
hand. Those who have taken advantage of these opportunities have
found the experience enlightening and fun. The Sensory Safaris
have been particularly helpful to blind children through the
years since they are certainly unlikely to learn in any other way
exactly what a mountain lion looks like, how large an elephant's
foot is, or how wide a wolf's mouth actually opens.
     Members of Safari International are understandably proud of
their contributions of trophies and volunteer effort to help
blind people appreciate the beauty and power of wildlife. Not
surprisingly the group's magazine, the Safari Times, carried a
story about the New Orleans Sensory Safari in its August, 1997,
issue. Also not surprisingly, they got some of the facts wrong
and inflated the centrality of the exhibit that its Louisiana
members put together for our convention. Don Morris, one of the
leaders of the NFB of Maryland, read the article and was moved to
set the record straight. This is what he wrote:
                           **********
                                                  August 14, 1997
                           **********
S.J. Sagi
Safari Times Editor
Tucson, Arizona
                           **********
Dear Mr. Sagi:
     My son Kirk, who is an avid hunter and a member of the
Safari Club International, shared the August, 1997, Safari Times
with me.
     I read the article about the Sensory Safari (page 16) with
interest. I have been a member of the National Federation of the
Blind since 1967 and on several occasions have gone through the
terrific exhibit put on by SCI. Your club and its members are to
be commended for sharing their enjoyment of the hunt as well as
sharing their knowledge of these fine specimens.
     Not to be critical but from the perspective of a purist, I
would like to correct and add a few elements to your article.
First, the 1997 convention of the National Federation of the
Blind was the largest gathering of blind people ever assembled
anywhere on earth. We registered 3,346 conferees. Our convention
lasted not only from June 30 to July 1, when the Sensory Safari
was present, but through a full slate of day-long meetings from
June 28 to July 6, 1997.
     In this age of political correctness I noted Mr. Stroup's
reference to our members as "sight impaired." In fact, we believe
it is okay to use the word "blind." Often euphemisms are offered
so as not to offend or embarrass. However, we who are blind do
not require such niceties. We believe that blindness need not be
more than a physical characteristic. It is not a condition which
embarrasses us. It does require us to learn alternative
techniques in order to compete on the basis of equality with our
sighted peers.
     Please see the enclosed article as an additional eye-opener
about blindness. I am sending a reprint from the Braille Monitor,
the monthly publication of the National Federation of the Blind,
about a blind Federationist from Waterloo, Iowa. Ted Hart is a
competent, confident, creative, and enthusiastic person who has
not let blindness stop him from accomplishing his goals. The
article describes how Ted, a totally blind person, acquired his
own personal trophy.
     Thanks again to your club and its members for bringing
examples of wildlife that we can discern tactilely. Your efforts
help broaden our experience and knowledge. We look forward to
seeing you in Dallas.

                                                    Best regards,
                                                 Donald J. Morris
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Susan Spungin]
                      Living by the Numbers
                   by Susan J. Spungin, Ed.D.
                           **********
     From the Editor: Dr. Susan Spungin is Vice President,
National Programs and Initiatives Group, American Foundation for
the Blind. She is also knowledgeable and articulate about Braille
and its importance to blind people. Dr. Spungin addressed the
1997 convention of the National Federation of the Blind on
Friday, July 4. This is what she said:
                           **********
     A drunken researcher dropped a dime in the middle of a dark
street late one night. His friend asked why he was looking for
the dime under the street lamp, far from where it had landed. The
answer: "Because it's too dark over there."
     The image fits some people (most are neither researchers nor
drunk) who seek to locate the effects of disability policy.
Policy watchers, perhaps figuratively intoxicated by deep gulps
of newfound power, are looking where the light is--that is, where
data currently exist. A bit of sober thought should suggest that
is not likely to work.
     Living by the numbers. What does that mean? It means as many
different things as the number of people you ask. Some examples
are the lottery, gambling, accounting--well, you get my point.
But today, in this presentation, it means accuracy of existing
statistics and demographics. The term "statistics" refers to
numbers as a way to describe something. It is to provide a
detailed picture of the social situation of people who have
difficulty seeing or who are unable to see. We use numbers (i.e.,
statistics) to develop that picture, like threads in a tapestry.
     Now, before you tune me out of your consciousness, let me
say that, unfortunately, in the blindness field demographics,
identifying the number and characteristics of blind people in the
United States, at times appears to be some kind of a gamble or
lottery game because the numbers never really seem to add up. Yet
policy is based on these numbers. Why should we care? Let me tell
you why with a real life example, the results of which affect all
children who are blind or visually impaired in this country.
     Every year the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) and American Printing House for the Blind (APH) require
counts of children who are blind or visually impaired. The major
difference is that APH uses the restricted definition of legal
blindness of 20/200 or less, etc., and IDEA requires the broader
functional definition that can include those children that are
totally blind or legally blind as well as those who often see as
well as 20/60 or 20/70, frequently referred to as partially
sighted or low vision. In summary, the APH federal quota
registration requires legal blindness for eligibility, a more
restrictive requirement than IDEA's requirement for a visual
impairment that affects the ability to learn. Yet the annual
count of students with visual impairment served under IDEA has
totaled less than the federal quota registration since 1977.
     In the 1994 APH census, the count for children was 53,576
using legal blindness for eligibility. In 1993-94 the OSEP or
IDEA child find count was 24,892. The annual count of children
with visual impairments served under IDEA for the 1993-94 school
year comprised only 46.5 percent, or less than half, of the
Federal Quota Registration maintained by the American Printing
House for the Blind. For years the field has relied on the
federal estimate of the population of children with visual
impairments--that is, one-tenth of one percent of the school-age
population--first articulated by Jones and Collins in 1966, some
thirty years ago. There are now more recent estimates ranging
from .2 percent to as high as 1 percent. Using these projections,
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's count fails to
identify over 80 percent of students with severe visual
impairment. Even APH's registry, using these more recent
estimates, may fail to account for over 60 percent of students
with severe visual impairment.
     Why is this? Why is it that, since the implementation of
IDEA in 1976 until 1994, IDEA's numbers--remember the broader
definition--have gone from 38,000 down to 25,000 as compared to
APH's count in the same time period going from 32,000 up to
55,000. What is wrong with this picture? Might it be that some
blind children are classified as another disability, e.g.,
learning-disabled, because the district has no teacher for blind
kids and doesn't wish to spend the money, or no teachers are
available? Might it be that our multiply handicapped blind
children are not classified blind but some other disability
because they cannot be counted twice; e.g., a child with a
physical handicap and blindness is seen as a child with only a
physical handicap? Even with the multiply handicapped population,
including the deaf-blind categories first reported in 1978, it
still makes no sense. So what! Well, the so what is that, like it
or not, we live by the numbers in order to justify funding for
training programs, teachers, vocational rehabilitation, Social
Security benefits, to mention just a few. We cannot continue to
accept or ignore the lottery-like approach we have when
describing the demographics of our field. We are gambling with
the quality of life for blind people of all ages since this
problem intensifies as one goes up the age range.
     Again, I can't help but ask, why are there discrepancies?
Shall I put my New York City paranoia hat on and suggest it is
purposeful? Unfortunately, the answer is not that easy--it really
comes down to how we and others define the blindness population.
I'm sure you have heard the old joke that people are blinded more
by definition than any other eye condition, or to continue the
theme of a drunken researcher: he uses statistics as a drunken
man uses a lamp post--for support rather than illumination.
     Depending on who is counting--the blind person is defined
differently from agency to agency--be the agency from the federal
or private sector--or even two agencies in the same sector, such
as, two federal agencies, namely the Bureau of the Census and the
National Center on Health Statistics.
     The Bureau of the Census in the Survey of Income & Program
Participation asks the questions: with glasses do you have
difficulty, or are you unable to see words and letters? Those who
answer "difficulty" are 9.7 million people; those who answer
"unable" are 1.6 million.
     The National Center on Health Statistics asks the question
this way: "Can you see to read ordinary newsprint?" getting a
response of 4.3 million people. Now these questions sound
similar, but if you look closely, the Bureau asks about seeing
words and letters, and NCHS asks about reading newsprint, which
could be interpreted as a measure of literacy. Hence different
answers to seemingly similar questions. The difference between
9.7 million visually impaired people versus 4.3 million visually
impaired people is more than double! The problem is in the
details-details-details. However, may we never be so indifferent
to believe what Joseph Stalin said: A single death is a tragedy--
a million deaths is a statistic. Let us never forget that these
numbers represent people like you and potentially even me--
depending on how well I age in my sunset years.
     Anyone advocating for funding for services for people who
are blind or visually impaired, or anyone who tries to judge
whether these services are successful needs timely, reliable
statistics about the number, background characteristics, needs,
and achievements of the visually impaired population in the U. S.
The only plausible source for such statistics is the federal
government, which is able to mount large-scale surveys and get
respectably high response rates, ensuring that an accurate
picture emerges.
     Unfortunately, there are only two federal surveys looking at
all the age ranges--one conducted by the Bureau of the Census and
the other by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)--
that even occasionally collect the kind of statistics that we
seek about people who are blind or severely visually impaired.
And, while they define the same concept of visual impairment--
print reading disability--these two surveys generate
substantially different results because of differing methods used
to collect data. We are getting beyond the point of advocacy in
which we can ask for action simply because it's the right thing
to do. We're being asked for information. We need to be sure the
information is the right type--that it is what we need.
     To address this problem, the National Library Service for
the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) requested the World
Blind Union/North American-Caribbean Region to submit a proposal,
partially funded by NLS, to deal with the problem of accurate
counts and comparable data of blind people. A proposal was
submitted to NLS entitled Federal Statistics About People Who Are
Blind or Visually Impaired: A Project to Improve How Data Are
Collected and Used.
     The proposal suggested a way to improve how data about
blindness and visual impairment are collected and used by asking
both the Census Bureau and NCHS to work together. The goal is to
develop recommendations for how federal surveys can better phrase
survey questions on visual impairment so that respondents provide
unambiguous answers--which should clear up many of the
discrepancies. In addition, AFB plans to conduct workshops for a
wide variety of blindness constituencies--agencies, schools, and
consumers, for example--in order to make sure that we all make
good use of the improved statistics coming out of this research.
     Funding for this project reflects an innovative
collaboration between consumers and service providers and public
and private sectors. As mentioned earlier, major funding was
provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress, which paid for
the part of the project conducted by the Census Bureau and NCHS.
Additional activities conducted by AFB are supported by a
generous grant from the National Federation of the Blind,
augmented by contributions from the National Industries for the
Blind, the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the
Blind and Visually Impaired, the American Council of the Blind of
Wisconsin, and AFB, with additional funds anticipated from other
blindness organizations.
     At the present time AFB is in the process of working with
the research staff of the Bureau for the Census and the National
Center for Health Statistics in order to get higher-ups in these
two agencies, and possibly other agencies, to pay attention to
the study recommendations and actually adopt their practice
regarding the wording of the vision question. (If you are in a
federal agency or have worked with one, you readily understand
that such change is not automatic or easily achieved.)
     The study approach is called "cognitive interviewing." After
the respondent answers, the interviewer asks the respondent to
explain in detail how he or she understood the question and what
he or she was thinking while deciding on the answer. The
objective is to gain insight into what people mean when they
answer the two seemingly similar question wordings that the
Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics have
used.
     The main product will be a written report in which the
federal researchers detail what they found and what implications
they see for future questionnaire design. It is our hope that one
or more questions will emerge that are easily understood and
consistently answered to allow for more accurate and comparable
statistics.
     Would it not be wonderful to get the Bureau of Census and
NCHS to agree on one preferred wording for the print-disability
measure of visual impairment to use whenever and wherever
disability measures are used? We would also want the Bureau of
Labor Statistics or any other federal agency that may begin to
include questions and measures on types of disabilities to use
the same preferred wording as well. This means we all need to
promote the outcomes of this project and strategies for its
implementation.
     I would like to thank the core working group which works
with us in this project (with special recognition to the NLS and
NFB). The group consists of the following organizations:
          American Council of the Blind
          Association for the Education & Rehabilitation
          of the Blind and Visually Impaired
          American Foundation for the Blind
          American Printing House for the Blind
          Blinded Veterans Association
          Canadian National institute for the Blind
          National Federation of the Blind
          National Industries for the Blind
          National Library Service for the Blind &
               Physically Handicapped
     I would like to conclude with the hope that one, you're
still awake; two, you have learned something of the demographic
dilemma in our field; and three, I haven't confused you even more
than you might have been before.
     I have always found statistics hard to swallow and, on first
hearing, impossible to digest. The only one I can ever remember
is that, if all the people who go to sleep in church were laid
end to end, they would be a lot more comfortable. Thank you.
                           **********
                           **********
                   The Other Side of the Mule
                          by Randy Cox
                           **********
     From the Editor: Randy and Kristin Cox are active members of
the National Federation of the Blind of Utah. The following
article first appeared in the fall, 1997, edition of Insight, the
publication of the NFB of Utah. This is what Randy says:
                           **********
     I suggest that there are two main steps in solving a
problem: 1) correctly perceiving what the problem is; and 2)
using the right method to solve it. The first step largely
determines the second. Let me illustrate this with an example.
     A Zen master is walking through a small town when he comes
upon a group of irate people arguing. He asks a person at the
center of the fray what the commotion is about. He is told that a
mule is in the middle of the street, kicking people as they walk
by. The crowd is trying to determine how to get past the mule
safely.
     The Zen master watches as several strong young men try to
walk by the mule holding boards up as a shield only to have the
board shattered and their arms hurt by the mule's hooves. He
overhears an optimist declare that they just need the right
attitude and then observes him walking down the street and being
kicked as well. He turns to see a group of intellectuals bringing
a chalkboard onto the nearby shop's front porch while they
discuss the reasons why the mule may be kicking and the impact of
each kick. Many conclude with solemn faces that they will be
unable to go down that street anymore.
     A tranquil smile crosses the Zen master's face as he rises
from his seat and quietly begins walking down the street. Slowly
the villagers become aware of the old man and stop their chatter
to see what he will do. They watch as the master makes a left
turn several yards in front of the mule onto a cross street. They
watch until he disappears. As they look around, they suddenly see
him reappear from the left but several yards past the mule. As it
dawns on the crowd what the man has done, they notice him stop to
wave before he continues serenely on his journey.
     This story illustrates the two points about problem-solving
I mentioned earlier. The villagers perceived the problem to be
the mule. Consequently, that is where they focused their
attention. Some tried to force their way past the obstacle. Some
tried to change their attitude. Some tried to analyze the
problem. Some just gave up. But the mule kept kicking.
     The Zen master, on the other hand, realized that the problem
was not the mule but the route. As a result he focused on finding
a path that would get him where he needed to go without meeting
the mule. I am reminded of a comment Albert Einstein made once:
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same
level of thinking we were at when we created them."
     What does all this have to do with blindness in general and
with the National Federation of the Blind in particular? Let's
say that someone has recently become blind. For the sake of this
example, we'll call him Johnny. He experiences the usual
frustration of not being able to read and do well in his work. He
has difficulty getting around town as easily as he used to. Tasks
that used to be simple he now perceives to be hard. In other
words, he now finds himself with a problem.
     Let's go back to the two-step process mentioned earlier.
Step one is correctly identifying the problem. If Johnny
perceives the problem to be blindness itself, this obviously has
a large impact on his approach to step two: applying the right
solution. If he thinks blindness is the problem, he may try to
continue doing things the way he did before he was blind and
force his way along. He may try to ignore the reality of his
situation and just work on his attitude. Perhaps he studies the
causes of blindness, various degrees of vision, the impact of
blindness on those confronted by it, etc. He may just put his
life on hold and simply wait for his blindness to be cured. But
after all of his effort, Johnny is still blind, still unable to
read, and still prevented from traveling effectively.
     To continue our example, let's say Johnny meets a member of
the NFB whom we will call Sue. What does Sue think Johnny's
problem is? For starters, she does not identify blindness as the
problem. She recognizes that Johnny's perception that blindness
is the problem is actually most of the problem. The remainder is
his lack of proper training and opportunity largely resulting
from society's misconceptions and ignorance about blindness.
     Since Sue sees the problem differently, her approach is
different as well. Instead of encouraging Johnny to read print,
she teaches him Braille. Instead of watching Johnny get lost and
bump into things while working to keep a good attitude, she shows
him how to use a long white cane. Instead of allowing Johnny to
sit home asking "Why?" she introduces him to people who are
saying, "This is how."
     In my experience the NFB is the only organization with the
correct perception of and approach to blindness. Some may argue
that we are wrong, But they argue as they watch blind people wave
back to them from the other side of the mule.
                           **********
                           **********
                        Seeing No Limits
                          by Don Melvin
                           **********
     From the Editor: The following article appeared in the
Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution on Saturday, August
23, 1997. The subject of this story, Amanda Wilson, is a very
determined Federationist who has read the Braille Monitor for a
number of years and clearly understands the importance of having
high expectations. Here is the article about her:
                           **********
     Despite losing her sight and borderline retardation, Amanda
Wilson has managed to attain her master's degree.
     Don Wilson doesn't remember anyone speaking the words aloud,
but he remembers what the tests showed.
     His daughter Amanda, though, remembers.
     She was ten years old, maybe a little older. Steadily,
inexorably, she was losing her sight. And tests conducted at the
Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon showed she was borderline
retarded.
     She was not college material, she was told. Her best bet was
to pursue a career as a vendor or perhaps as a telephone customer
service representative.
     "I told them I wanted to work with children," she remembers.
"And they said, `You can't do that.'"
     Sunday, Amanda Wilson, now twenty-eight and nearly totally
blind, will be awarded her master's degree in special education
from the State University of West Georgia in Carrollton. With
honors.
     She plans to work with children--to encourage them, she
says, rather than discourage them.
     "I want them to hear that, if they apply themselves and get
proper training, they can be whatever they want to be," she said.
     Wilson has suffered from retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary,
progressive eye disease, and is legally blind. She struggled
through grade school and even high school, sometimes bumping into
things, sometimes not seeing the blackboard.
     This May she returned to the Georgia Academy for the Blind
to apply for a job as a teacher. She was asked, she said, whether
her Seeing Eye dog, a black Labrador retriever named Sison, would
be a distraction in the classroom or whether he had ever shown
aggression toward children.
     Wilson did not get the job, but she said she does not know
the reason.
     Her father was incensed.
     "I guess I thought that they, of all the people in the
world, should be aware of what a Seeing Eye dog is and what it
helps a person accomplish," Don Wilson said. "And I was
frustrated, amazed, and angry."
     Richard Hyer, the director of the academy, said he does not
believe such questions were ever asked. He would not comment on
the academy's evaluations of Amanda Wilson's potential.
     "I don't have any comment," he said. "I'm not going on the
record with you at all."
     Amanda's anger only fueled her desire to succeed.
     She has lived independently in Carrollton, using Sison to
guide her.
     People read course material to her, her computer speaks, and
the university has a scanning machine that reads printed material
aloud.
     Neither she nor her father ever accepted the evaluations of
experts regarding her potential.
     "I'm redheaded and hard-willed and stubborn," Don Wilson
said. "And we always said we don't really care what the experts
say. This is what we're going to do."
     He would like to take credit for his daughter's success, but
he said he can't.
     Fortunately, Amanda plans to return to her parents' home in
White, a town in Bartow County northwest of Atlanta, and look for
a job working with handicapped children.
     "I think I'm a determined person who would like to show
disabled people they can be who they want. They can be
independent. It doesn't matter what your disability is; you have
to be a person first."
     Her father, meanwhile, expects to shed tears of pride Sunday
when his daughter receives her master's degree.
     "I'm more glad than I can live with, almost," he said. "I'm
very proud of her."
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Ron Gardner]
                Now Blind Can Scan the Newspaper
                          by Cala Byram
                           **********
     From the Editor: As local service centers offering NEWSLINE
for the Blind(R) proliferate around the country, stories like the
following are written. This one appeared on October 15, 1997, in
the Deseret News, one of the local newspapers available as part
of the Utah NEWSLINE(R) service. Here it is:
                           **********
     Attorney Ron Gardner browsed a local newspaper on his own
for the first time in his forty-six years last week. Gardner,
blind since birth, picked up his telephone, made a local call,
and instantly had access to things those in the sighted world may
take for granted: flipping through a newspaper, scanning
headlines, and reading stories at will.
     The Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune are now
available, in fully automated form, to the blind. The newspapers
are shipped electronically to Baltimore and shipped back minutes
later, translated into synthesized speech. The service is still
in a testing period and won't be available on a larger scale for
about a month. But, for people like Gardner who can access the
service during the test run, the opportunity is literally the
first in a lifetime.
     By pushing the phone's numbers, the computer voice reading
the paper can be sped up or slowed down. Gardner can pick a
female or male voice. There are a high-pitched voice and a deep,
rough voice he could choose but doesn't. And, if he doesn't
choose one of the two Utah dailies, he can read the Chicago
Tribune, USA Today, and the New York Times. Before NEWSLINE(R),
local newspapers were accessible to those without sight only over
the radio. There's no choice but to listen to whatever is being
read, and there is no skipping straight to the latest article on
the Jazz or bypassing Dear Abby for the obituaries.
     It is a beneficial service. But Gardner, legal director for
the Disability Law Center, didn't have the time to sit by a radio
waiting for a certain story to be read. "It is indescribable . .
.. to be able to pick up a newspaper," Gardner said. "There is a
huge door opened to my world to be able to read a newspaper."
     The National Federation of the Blind created NEWSLINE(R) in
1994. Since then a majority of states have adopted the service,
which is available from thirty-five sites nationwide and serves
more than 10,000 people, said spokeswoman Pat Maurer. The state's
Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired paid to
bring NEWSLINE(R) to Utah last year. The Utah State Library for
the Blind put up $14,000 to get the local newspapers on
NEWSLINE(R). The service is free to those who apply through the
state or the Utah Federation of the Blind and live within a local
calling area. So far, local numbers are available for people
living in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, and Weber counties. Others will
have to pay the long-distance charges to access NEWSLINE(R).
     Kristen Jocums, president of the Utah Federation of the
Blind, is thrilled with the service and the ability to flip
through local news daily. "I have been loving it," Jocums, an
attorney, said. "It's much more like reading the paper is for a
sighted person. You can slow it down, speed it up, and skip
forward." NEWSLINE(R) is also beneficial because people who use
the service can access it in any state or city that has the
service. "You can pick up a newspaper anywhere," Jocums said. The
Utah State Office of Rehabilitation estimates 15,000 to 20,000
Utahns are legally blind. The newspapers are just another way
they can be independent, Gardner said.
     That kind of independence will be celebrated during White
Cane Day today. Governor Mike Leavitt will sign a proclamation
Thursday heralding the independence of the blind and visually
impaired. White canes are about 1/4 inch in diameter and made of
aluminum, graphite, or fiberglass. They generally extend to a
person's shoulder, a length that allows a blind person to walk at
a normal pace with time to react if the cane hits an obstacle.
Robert A. Day, a state orientation and mobility specialist, said
white canes may be simple and inexpensive, but they give
mobility. "They mean a world of freedom," Day said. "They allow
people to go to the grocery store, go to work, feed their family.
They allow blind people to get along as well as anybody." Dr.
Richard Hoover developed the modern white cane during World War
II when soldiers came home blind and wanted independence. He
began a training program in Hines, Illinois, in 1948.
     Gardner has used a white cane for about twenty years. He
says white canes and services like NEWSLINE(R) are all about
accessibility and independence. "I've been practicing law for
nineteen years and never had the opportunity to read local
newspapers," he said. "This is just another large step toward
independence."
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Sharon Maneki]
                     Distinguished Educator
                of Blind Children Award for 1998
                        by Sharon Maneki
                           **********
     From the Editor: Sharon Maneki is President of the National
Federation of the Blind of Maryland. She also chairs the
committee to select the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children
for 1998.

     The National Federation of the Blind will recognize an
outstanding teacher of blind children at our 1998 convention July
4 to 11 in Dallas, Texas. The winner of this award will receive
an expense-paid trip to the convention, a check for $500, an
appropriate plaque, and an opportunity to make a presentation
about the education of blind children to the National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children early in the
convention.
     Anyone who is currently teaching or counseling blind
students or administering a program for blind children is
eligible to receive this award. It is not necessary to be a
member of the National Federation of the Blind to apply. However,
the winner must attend the National Convention. Teachers may be
nominated by colleagues, supervisors, or friends. The letter of
nomination should explain why the teacher is being recommended
for this award.
     The education of blind children is one of our most important
concerns. Attendance at a National Federation of the Blind
convention will enrich a teacher's experience by affording him or
her the opportunity to meet other teachers who work with blind
children, to meet parents, and to meet blind adults who have had
experiences in a variety of educational programs. Help us
recognize a distinguished teacher by distributing this form and
encouraging teachers to submit their credentials. We are pleased
to offer this award and look forward to applications from many
well-qualified educators.


                NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
         DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD
                        1998 APPLICATION


Name:

Home address:

City:                             State:         Zip:

Day phone:                     Evening phone:

School:

Address:

City:                            State:          Zip:


List your degrees, the institutions from which they were
received, and your major area or areas of study.






How long and in what programs have you worked with blind
children?




In what setting do you teach?     residential school classroom

    special education classroom     itinerant program

    other, please explain.


How many students do you teach regularly this year?


What subjects do you teach?




How many of your students read and write primarily using:

    Braille      large print     closed circuit television

    recorded materials     regular print


     Please complete this application and attach the following: a
letter of nomination from someone who knows your work, one
additional recommendation also from someone who knows you
professionally and knows your philosophy of teaching, and a
letter from you discussing your beliefs and approach to teaching
blind students. You may wish to discuss topics like the
following:
*    What are your views on the importance to your students of
     Braille, large print, and magnification devices; and what
     issues do you consider when making recommendations about
     learning media for your students?
*    When do you recommend that your students begin the
     following: reading Braille, writing with a slate and stylus,
     using a Braille writer, learning to travel independently
     with a white cane?
*    How should one determine which children should learn cane
     travel and which should not?
*    When should typing be introduced, and when should a child be
     expected to hand in typed assignments?

     Send all material by May 15, 1998, to Sharon Maneki,
Chairwoman, Teacher Award Committee, 9736 Basket Ring Road,
Columbia, Maryland 21045; telephone: (410) 992-9608.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Steve Benson]
            The 1998 Blind Educator of the Year Award
                      by Stephen O. Benson
                           **********
     From the Editor: Steve Benson is a member of the Board of
Directors of the National Federation of the Blind and President
of the NFB of Illinois. He also chairs the committee charged with
identifying each year's Blind Educator of the Year. Here is what
he has to say:
                           **********
     Several years ago the Blind Educator of the Year Award was
established by the National Association of Blind Educators (the
teachers division of the National Federation of the Blind) to pay
tribute to a blind teacher whose exceptional classroom
performance, notable community service, and uncommon commitment
to the NFB merit national recognition. Beginning with the 1991
presentation, this award became an honor bestowed by our entire
movement. This change reflects our recognition of the importance
of good teaching and the impact an outstanding blind teacher has
on students, faculty, community, and all blind Americans.
     This award is given in the spirit of the outstanding
educators who founded and have continued to nurture the National
Federation of the Blind and who, by example, have imparted
knowledge of our strengths to us and raised our expectations. We
have learned from Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, and
President Marc Maurer that a teacher not only provides a student
with information, but also provides guidance and advocacy. The
recipient of the Blind Educator of the Year Award must exhibit
all of these traits and must advance the cause of blind people in
the spirit and philosophy of the National Federation of the
Blind.
     The Blind Educator of the Year Award is presented at the
annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind.
Honorees must be present to receive an appropriately inscribed
plaque and a check for $500.
     Nominations should be sent to Steve Benson, 7020 North
Tahoma, Chicago, Illinois 60646. Letters of nomination must be
accompanied by a copy of the nominee's current rsum and
supporting documentation of community and Federation activity.
All nomination materials must be in the hands of the committee
chairman by May 15, 1998, to be considered for this year's award.
                           **********
                           **********
                             Recipes
                           **********
     This month's recipes are provided by members of the National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). This NFB
division publishes a quarterly magazine called Future
Reflections. Families with blind children and professionals who
work with blind children and students and who embrace the NFB's
positive philosophy about the abilities of and possibilities for
blind youth belong to this nationwide organization and the many
state and local groups that comprise it.
                           **********
                        Santa's Whiskers
                         by Yvette Woods
                           **********
     Tom and Yvette Woods are the parents of Jessica, six, who is
blind, and Katie, two. Tom is the active President of the New
Mexico parent division.
                           **********
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped red or green candied cherries
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut
                           **********
     Method: In a large mixing bowl beat butter or margarine till
softened. Add sugar and beat till fluffy. Add milk and vanilla
and beat well. Add flour and beat till well mixed. Stir in
cherries and pecans. Shape into three 7-inch rolls. Roll in
coconut to coat. Wrap in waxed paper and chill for several hours
or overnight. Cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place on an ungreased
cookie sheet. Bake in a 375-degree oven about twelve minutes or
till done. Remove and cool. Makes about eighty cookies.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO: A woman sits with a little girl in her lap and a boy
standing beside her. CAPTION: Debbie Day sits with daughter
Brianna on her lap and son Tim beside her.]
                   Chicken and White Bean Stew
                          by Debbie Day
                           **********
     Debbie Day and her family, including son Tim, live in
Washington State. She chairs the Home-Schoolers Network in NOPBC.
Debbie says that the following recipe is a one-dish chicken stew
that makes its own gravy.
                           **********
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 chicken thighs or enough chicken to feed four
4 small red-skinned potatoes (about 1 pound)
3 cloves garlic
1 14-16-ounce can chicken broth
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
approximately 2 pounds canned white beans
                           **********
     Method: Pour olive oil into a Dutch oven. Set on medium-high
heat and add chicken thighs, skin side down. While they brown,
cut the potatoes into 1-inch chunks and add to the pan. Peel and
mince garlic and add to pan. When chicken is a deep brown, turn
it over and add chicken broth, paprika, cumin, chili powder, and
salt. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered thirty
minutes, stirring occasionally to keep potatoes submerged in
juices. Drain white beans and add them to mix. Simmer five
minutes more. Serve in wide bowls. Makes four large servings.
Serve with slices of French bread for dunking and carrot sticks
for crunching.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Jude Lincicome hands a glass of punch to a child
at the Braille Readers Are Leaders party in the dining room at
the National Center for the Blind.]
                    Green Tomato Pie Filling
                        by Jude Lincicome
                           **********
     Jude Lincicome is Second Vice President of the Maryland
Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Jude has several
adopted children with disabilities. Jeremy is blind. The two
recipes she submitted were childhood favorites prepared by her
mother. She says, "Having grown up enjoying these dishes, I can
personally guarantee that both the pie and pudding are
unbelievably delicious."
                           **********
Ingredients:
3 cups green tomatoes
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 or 2 thinly sliced lemons
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon finely crushed cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
                           **********
     Method: Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. (A rolling
pin works well for crushing cinnamon sticks.)
     Use your favorite pastry recipe or the Bisquick recipe. This
is a two-crust pie. Roll pastry 1/8-inch thick. Fit bottom crust
into 9-inch pie pan. Sprinkle a tablespoon of flour on the bottom
crust to absorb juice in baking. Spoon filling into shell. Dot
filling with about half a stick of butter and cover with top
crust. Seal edges and pinch one vent hole in center of top crust
and five holes peripherally around the edge. Bake ten minutes at
400 degrees; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for thirty-five
to forty minutes more.
                           **********
                           **********
                        Persimmon Pudding
                        by Jude Lincicome
                           **********
     Use native persimmons, not the store Orientals. Gather one
to one and a half gallons of persimmons only after a good frost,
and test one or two by taste before using. (You will know why if
they are not ripe.) This is an old American Indian recipe. Wash
persimmons and squeeze out the seeds. One cup of persimmon pulp
makes two puddings.
                           **********
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nuts, preferably black walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup seeded persimmon pulp
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
                           **********
     Method: Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Grease two one-
pound coffee tins (or equivalent vessels) and fill each half to
two thirds full of mix. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour (and
lick your chops). This is wonderful served warm with your
favorite cold hard sauce as a topper.
                           **********
                           **********
                       Chicken Mozzarella
                       by Danielle Becker
                           **********
     Danielle and Dan Becker have been active members of the
Maryland parents division for six years. Their daughter Rachel is
blind. Danielle has recently chaired the fund-raising effort in
her state division and was just elected First Vice President of
the Maryland Organization of Parents of Blind Children. The
following two recipes are family favorites.
                           **********
Ingredients:
boneless chicken breasts
jar of spaghetti sauce
sliced mozzarella cheese
                           **********
     Method: Brown chicken breasts in a small amount of oil in a
pan until the chicken is cooked through. Spread some sauce in the
bottom of the baking pan. Then place chicken in pan. Cover the
chicken with more sauce, then arrange the slices of cheese on top
of the chicken. Place the baking pan in a 350-degree oven for
about 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and the sauce is
bubbly. Serve with noodles or spaghetti and the remaining sauce.
We enjoy garlic bread with this meal.
                           **********
                           **********
                          Banana Bread
                       by Danielle Becker
                           **********
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 bananas--mashed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
cinnamon and ground cloves to taste, optional
                           **********
     Method: In mixing bowl, using electric mixer, combine all
ingredients in the order listed. Pour batter into a greased and
floured loaf pan and bake in a 300-degree oven for one hour to
one hour and 15 minutes. A toothpick inserted in center should
test clean. Allow loaf to cool a little in pan before removing to
cool completely on a rack.
                           **********
                           **********
[PHOTO/CAPTION: TJ Dixon and his stepson Brian Watts.]
                          Tingly Candy
                      by Cathy and TJ Dixon
                           **********
     Cathy Watts Dixon is a past member of the NOPBC Board of
Directors, and TJ is President of the Missouri parents division.
Cathy's son Brian took part in the panel discussion, "Fun,
Friends, and Fitting in," which appears in the introductory issue
of Future Reflections. These two recipes are great projects for
kids, blind or otherwise, to make.
                           **********
Ingredients
6 ounces butterscotch chips
6 ounces chocolate chips
4 cups crisp rice cereal
                           **********
     Method: In a 1-quart bowl microwave chips at fifty percent
power for four to six minutes, stirring after three minutes. Add
cereal, stirring well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.
Chill in refrigerator until cool. Store covered.
                           **********
                           **********
                         Peppermint Bark
                      by Cathy and TJ Dixon
                           **********
Ingredients:
1 pound almond bark
7 ounces peppermint candy
                           **********
     Method: Break bark into pieces and place in 3-quart bowl.
Microwave at fifty percent for five to six minutes, until pieces
are soft. Stir after three minutes. While bark is melting,
process candy in food processor until it is a fine powder. Add
candy to melted bark and stir well. Spread on waxed paper 1/8- to
1/4-inch thick. Cool in refrigerator until hard. Break into
pieces. Store covered.
                           **********
                           **********
                     Seven-Flavor Pound Cake
                        by Loretta White
                           **********
     Loretta White is a long-time leader of the parents division
in Maryland. This year she is serving as the organization's
treasurer. Monitor readers are familiar with the Whites' ongoing
struggles to get their daughter Niki the education she deserves
in her local school district.
                           **********
Ingredients:
2 sticks margarine or butter
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon rum flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon pineapple extract
1/2 teaspoon brandy flavoring
Note: the last five flavors can be any that you like; however,
these are the five I recommend.
                           **********
     Method: Stir soda into sour cream. Set aside. Separate the
eggs and set aside yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together. Add the egg yolks to the butter
and sugar mixture, blend well. Add a couple of spoons of cake
flour to the mixture and blend. Add the seven flavorings and
blend. Alternate adding the cake flour and sour cream mixture,
blending after each addition. Finally, fold in the beaten egg
whites. The cake rises very high, so use an angel food cake pan
or a bundt pan. Bake at 300 degrees for one hour and fifteen
minutes. Let stand for ten minutes before removing from pan to
cool completely on rack.
                           **********
                           **********
                       Monitor Miniatures
                           **********
Spanish Language NFB Publications Available:
     The National Federation of the Blind's Materials Center now
carries several publications and articles in Spanish on 2-track
cassette. Available are "Blindness: Handicap or Characteristic";
"A Definition of Blindness"; "Blindness: A Left-Handed
Dissertation"; What Color Is the Sun?; The Freedom Bell;
combination cassette of "Blindness: Handicap or Characteristic"
and "Blindness: A Left-Handed Dissertation"; the 1997 NFB Banquet
Address, "The Day After Civil Rights"; and the 1990 NFB Banquet
Address, "The Federation At Fifty." As with all Kernel Books,
there is a minor charge--the Spanish versions on 2-track cassette
cost $5 each. To order any or all of the cassettes, contact the
Materials Center, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230,
or call (410) 659-9314, Monday through Friday between the hours
of 12:30 and 5:00 p.m. EST.
                           **********
For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have the following items for sale:
PCMCIA Keynote Gold voice card, $850; German Braille writer,
$100; Index Basic D interpoint Braille printer (under warranty
until April, 1998), $3,000. All prices negotiable; make an offer.
Contact Sharon Klug, 4951 Collett Little Road, Lot 59, Fort
Worth, Texas 76119, (817) 561-4616.
                           **********
New Chapters:
     Allen Harris, President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Michigan, reports that two new chapters were organized
in the state during the fall. On September 20, 1997, a group
gathered to create the Kalamazoo Chapter. John Czrneki is its
President. On October 4 the Western Michigan Chapter of the NFB
of Michigan was organized. The President is Darren Warren.
Congratulations to both these new chapters and to the Michigan
affiliate.
                           **********
For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have a Braille 'n Speak 640 and the disk drive that goes
with it, both with carrying cases. They are in excellent
condition. I also have the cables and manuals for both. Asking
$800 for everything. Please contact Mrs. Lillian Scott at (410)
298-4527 or (410) 298-2302.
                           **********
Silk Flower Arrangements:
     John TeBockhorst, who with his brother Tom is an active
Federationist, has asked us to carry the following announcement:
     For an alternative to fresh flowers, try silk flower
arrangements for all occasions. A new company, Send Our Silks
(SOS), offers eleven products in its catalogue, ranging in price
from $15 to $40 including shipping and handling. SOS ships
anywhere, using United Parcel Service. Call toll free (888) SOS-
7760, fax (319) 322-3299, or Web site:
http://www.sosendoursilks.com
Credit card orders, checks, or money orders are acceptable.
                           **********
Piano Tuning Training:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Piano tuning and related technologies have been viable
vocations for blind men for over 150 years. In the last twenty-
five years both men and women--most of them sighted--have been
flocking to the profession. Now visually impaired men and women
can learn the art and craft of piano technology at the Emil Fries
Institute of Piano Tuning and Technology.
     If you would like to learn more about this business
opportunity and how you can receive the training necessary to
start your own piano-tuning and service business, please contact
the Emil Fries Institute of Piano Tuning & Technology, 2510 E.
Evergreen Boulevard, Vancouver, Washington 98661, phone (360)
693-1511, Fax (360) 693-6891, e-mail dsmitch@pacifier.com
                           **********
Fellowship Available in Rehabilitation Research:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness
and Low Vision at Mississippi State University (MSU) offers the
Anne Sullivan Macy fellowship for a doctoral student interested
in pursuing a career in rehabilitation research in the area of
blindness or low vision. The amount of the fellowship is $700 per
month plus tuition beginning in August, 1998. All applicants must
be accepted into the doctoral program in the Department of
Counselor Education and Educational Psychology at MSU. The
deadline for applying to the Graduate School is March 1, 1998.
Send all inquiries to J. Elton Moore, Director, Rehabilitation
Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision, P.O.
Drawer 6189, Mississippi State, MS 39762, (601) 325-2001, fax
(601) 325-8989, TDD: (601) 325-8693, or e-mail:
jemoore@ra.msstate.edu
                           **********
Tutorials Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Introducing a new service providing specially designed
cassette tutorials on using computer software. A few are also
available in large print, in Braille, and on computer disk.
Subjects covered include DOS, Windows(R) 3.1, Windows 95(R), most
phases of the Internet, Microsoft Word(R), WordPerfect(R),
Telecommunication programs, and a seminar on running your own
home business. Free shipping and handling are offered as a
special introduction. Contact John Harden, Hear and Know, 1741
Decree Avenue, West Columbia, South Carolina 29169, or call (803)
796-4887 or e-mail to jharden@gte.net
                           **********
Computer Baseball Game:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Version 12 of the World Series Baseball game and Information
System is now available. Played on IBM-compatible computers with
screen readers and synthesizers, Version 12 comes with 139 teams,
including the 1997 pennant winners and all-star teams. There are
two baseball games and ten information programs. The cost is
still $15 to new users, $5 for updates. Send checks to Harry
Hollingsworth, 692 S. Sheraton Drive, Akron, Ohio 44319 or call
(330) 644-2421.
                           **********
PHOTO/CAPTION: $50 bill]
Redesigned U.S. Currency:
     Based on recommendations from the National Academy of
Sciences, the U.S. Government is redesigning U.S. currency to
make it easier to read and to reduce the chances of
counterfeiting. The new $50 bill was issued in October, 1997; the
$20 note is scheduled for release in 1998. The Series 1996 $50
bill, and all redesigned currency to follow, will be notably
different from any other previously issued by the U.S. Treasury.
     These notes will incorporate a new feature--a large, dark
numeral on a light background--making it easier to identify. The
low-vision feature will become standard in the design of future
denominations of U.S. currency and will not result in any
devaluation or recall.
                           **********
Special Offer:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     The holidays have arrived, and so has the Reading Technology
difference. From now until the end of January, 1998, receive a
free HP 5P scanner or WindowEyes screen-reading software with the
purchase of a fully loaded Arkenclone system, including at least
an Arkenclone computer, Double Talk or DECtalk hardware
synthesizer, and Open Book 3.5 OCR software. This offer must
accompany your order. Orders must be prepaid, no post office
boxes please. Call (619) 685-7323 or (619) 685-READ.
                           **********
Accessible Science Fiction Publications Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Ed Meskys, longtime Federation leader in New Hampshire,
points out that another Federation was founded in 1940--the
National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F). This is a correspondence
and service organization for SF and fantasy fans, which is making
a major effort to make its services accessible to blind members.
Its principal publications (the National Fantasy Fan and
Tightbeam) are available on cassette and computer disk
respectively, and most bureau heads will make their services
available in accessible format. Their blind services bureau will
circulate magazines about SF fanzines and SF books not otherwise
available to blind members. Give the organization a try by
sending $18 (one year's dues) to William Center, 1920 Division
Street, Murphyboro, Illinois 62966-2320. Make checks payable to
Mr. Center. The N3F has about 500 members and engages in many
interesting projects.
                           **********
Alexander Scourby Reading Available on the Internet:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Alexander Scourby was the first to record the Bible back in
the forties. Now this legendary recording is available on the
Internet, along with a large-print edition of the King James
translation of the Bible. This recording is also available as
commercial software. The Internet address is
http://www.audio-bible.com
                           **********
Braille Transcription Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Ferguson Industries, a division of the Massachusetts
Commission for the Blind, is now producing Braille. We will
Braille documents in standard English for $.60 a sheet of double-
sided copy on computer-sized Braille paper. There is a setup fee,
and binding is extra. For further information contact Ferguson
Industries at (617) 727-9840, or call their consultant, Rich
Wood, at (508) 668-5412.
                           **********
Happy Ending:
     In the July, 1997, issue of the Braille Monitor we reported
on the struggle Loretta and Joe White have had getting the
instructional services their daughter Niki was entitled to. They
eventually filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights,
Department of Education, which brought the school district to
heel pretty quickly as measured in bureaucratic time. The
National Federation of the Blind supported the Whites every step
of the way. Here is the letter Loretta White wrote to President
Maurer on September 20:
                           **********
Dear Mr. Maurer,
     At long last we have reached a settlement with Anne Arundel
County for the compensatory education owed to our daughter Niki.
And finally the county has paid up in the amount of $12,500.
Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your help. Without the
help of the National Federation of the Blind, we would never have
been able to receive compensation for the education services the
county failed to provide over the course of three years.
     Since there is no gag order, I hope the Federation will be
able to use our experience to help other families in similar
circumstances.
     Again, please accept our thanks.
                                                       Sincerely,
                                         Loretta and Joseph White
                           **********
                           **********
                           NFB Pledge

     I pledge to participate actively in the effort of the
National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality,
opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies
and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.
                           **********
                           **********
In Our Prayers:
     President Maurer reports that as the Braille Monitor was
being completed Dr. Jernigan was admitted to the hospital in
Baltimore, Maryland.  He had spent some time in the hospital in
Paris, France, where he underwent treatment for a blood clot in
the leg.  Doctors have now discovered a tumor in his lung, which
must be removed.
     Although surgery is always difficult, when I last spoke with
Dr. Jernigan, he was in good spirits.  The surgery will take
place shortly.
     We will keep Dr. Jernigan in our prayers, and we will wish
him a complete and speedy recovery.
