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WINTER 1993-1994

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


Blind Washingtonian subscriptions cost the Federation about five
dollars per year.  Members are invited, and non-members are
requested, to cover the subscription cost.  Donations should be
made payable to National Federation of the Blind of Washington and
sent to:  National Federation of the Blind of Washington Post
Office Box 2516 Seattle, Washington 98111


Bennett Prows, President
Post Office Box 2516
Seattle,  Washington 98111
(206) 823-6380                          

Albert Sanchez, Editor
East 707 Garland
Spokane, Washington 99207
(509) 487-0809


Address changes, requests for editional coppies of this
newsletter, and articles should be sent to the Editor.           Never GIVE UP--A Report from the President
                        By Bennett Prows

Recently I heard a story about a graduation speech made in the
1940s by Winston Churchill.  The graduates, awaited Mr. Churchill's
comments with anticipation, and a bit of apprehension, knowing how
long these speeches could go on.  When Mr. Churchill was
introduced, he strode to the podium, looked out over the sea of
anxious faces who knew they were slated to help in the war effort,
and said:  "Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give
Up!"  Then he returned to his seat.  In those few words, Mr.
Churchill had done everything a graduation speaker is supposed to
do, and much more.  He had summarized the students experiences,
since they had succeeded in passing their courses and had not given
up on the rigors of school course work, and he had encapsulated the
key element of being successful throughout life.  He had given the
students words they would always remember, and given them all they
needed to overcome the adversity of war.  In short, Mr. Churchill
had presented the students with all they needed to accomplish every
goal, face every pitfall, and ultimately to triumph at whatever
they endeavored to do.  Without knowing it, Mr. Churchill also
captured the essence of the driving force of the National
Federation of the Blind.  Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan and now Mr.
Maurer have always said that we never lose a war, because we won't
quit until we win.  

One of the main differences between our organization and other
groups of and for blind people is that we will never, never, never,
never, never give up!  In the case of the National Federation of
the Blind, the sum is greater than the parts.  Our organization is
full of people who believe that we can accomplish every goal, if we
just keep on working.  All of us have experiences that we draw upon
that inspire us to new, meaningful and greater accomplishments for
the NFB.  My own example is illustrative. 

When I was a law student in the 1970s, I had to work hard to make
the grade.  I had to read over five thousand pages of text a
semester just to pass my courses.  In addition, I had to spend at
least 150 hours in the library, since nothing was computerized
then.  At one point during my law school career, I was overwhelmed
with the amount of work I had to do.  I became discouraged, bored,
angry, and ultimately I was quite depressed.  I made excuses about
why I was getting behind.  I finally had enough.  One Sunday night,
I had hit bottom.  I was so far behind I knew I could not catch up. 
I closed the books, rewound the tapes, packed the books away that
I had at home, and told my family I was quitting law school.  I
didn't know what I was going to do, but anything was better than
this.  

The next morning, I awoke to a bright sunny day.  I went to the law
school, attended class, and answered a complicated question posed
by a professor correctly.  I thought to myself, "Well, maybe I'll
go on a little longer.  Maybe I can make it."  I didn't give up! 
But the fight was not over.  That semester, I took an interim exam
in a class called "Wills and Trusts."  Not having studied the case
book for the class all semester, I tried to study the night before
using one of those commercially distributed course outlines.  After
taking the test, I felt pretty good.  I thought I had done a pretty
good job of finessing the answers during the three hour exam.  When
the grades came out several weeks later however, I found I was
sadly mistaken.  The professor had given me the lowest grade
recorded in school history in that class.   He did however, offer
me hope.  He reminded me that the second half of the course also
had an exam that could count toward a passing grade, if I came
through with a stelar performance.

After a soul searching talk with myself, and after a gut-wrenching
realization that I had almost flunked out of law school, I
challenged myself.  I worked hard, and late into the night, all
sixteen weeks of the second semester.    Amazingly enough, the
course work actually became interesting.  I stopped making excuses,
ranting and raving, and actually wanted to read more about the
legal planning for death and taxes.  And, when the final exam had
been graded, I received high marks for the overall course work.  It
is no coincidence that I had found the National Federation of the
Blind by that time.  I learned from the blind of the nation that
perseverance and self-confidence do indeed pay off.  I'm sure that
each one of you could relate your own story of perseverance.  This
organization is full of them, because the members of the National
Federation of the Blind, never, never, never, never give up!

During the past year, we have had numerous successes, and some
setbacks.  Our members have organized, sponsored and participated
in conferences for the parents of blind children. We attended a
conference organized jointly with the NFB of Oregon in March of
this year.  Parents and panelists came from throughout the
northwest, and we discussed key issues concerning the teaching of
Braille and cane travel, the teaching of academics, negotiating
Individualized Education Plans, acquiring role models of blind
adults, and many other topics.  In another conference later that
month, sponsored by the Washington Department of Services for the
blind, Suzi and I  talked about raising expectations for their
blind children.

At our State mini-convention, Barbara Freeman organized a round-
table discussion with blind adults and parents of blind children to
provide encouragement and support to parents who want and need our
philosophy of blindness. Partly because of that gathering, the
parents of blind children in this state are organizing a division
of the NFB in Washington State at this convention. 

But there have been set backs too. As most Federationists know, 
our Braille bill has been introduced in the Washington State
legislature over the past seven years.  Last year was no exception.
Our bill was introduced, and we went to Olympia to conduct a
Braille awareness day, distributing literature and talking to the
legislators and the public about our cause.   We had tremendous
support, and our sponsors this time have been very helpful, but the
bill died in committee again last spring.  It almost passed out of
one committee, but ultimately it was amended and revised to an
extent that was unacceptable. Despite the temporary set back, we
will prevail.  We must step back and resurrect the best aspects of
the legislation in the upcoming session. We will compromise where
necessary, we will negotiate where feasible, but we will not give
up or give away the principle that every blind student in this
state deserves--the opportunity to learn Braille. We must sharpen
our message to the representatives and senators.  We must arm
ourselves with loud and clear statements about the need for Braille
in the schools.  We will not quit, until all blind students are
guaranteed the same right to literacy as their sighted peers.  The
blind deserve first-class citizenship and we will have it.  Until
we do, we will never, never, never, never give up.

Despite the lack of funds, Barbara Freeman has maintained a cane
bank to lend canes to children in the State.  We have replaced
broken canes, and provided longer and longer canes to children as
they grow. Funding for that project is needed, and it is
worthwhile.  We have developed a considerable mailing list of
parents of blind children, and the message is getting to the
parents about the NFB.  The message says that even though there are
other organizations, mostly funded by custodial charitable
organizations, we the blind of the state and nation care about
their blind children.  When the parents join us, they won't receive
platitudes and promises, we want their children to succeed as
responsible citizens in society.  In short, we want them to have
what we seek also, first-class citizenship.

The Washington Association of Blind Students has been active also. 
Under the leadership of Dan Frye, the students have conducted
seminars to acquaint blind college students with significant
national and state legislation, to provide information on financial
aid and responsibility, and many other topics.  I am please to
report that Dan has graduated now, and we wish him luck in his
future endeavors.  He will always be a Federationist. At the same
time, we pledge our support to the new officers in the Student
Division.   

This year, the NFB handled numerous requests from elementary
schools in Seattle, Spokane and Vancouver for speakers about
blindness in general, as well as braille and travel techniques. 
Scout troops, and churches also received information and speakers
from the NFB in 1993.  Our members served as participants on task
forces and committees to various public and private organizations
to assist them to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
In Spokane, Vancouver and Seattle we have worked on committees of
city and county transportation authorities, as well as meeting with
employers and smaller state and local governmental agencies to help
with ADA advise and assistance. 




We have distributed literature to hospitals and clinics about
blindness, and about the ADA. We helped one hospital to obtain
information in order to transcribe its generally distributed
medical information to blind patients and the public in media other
than print. 

And then, there is the telephone.  Literally hundreds of calls have
come into the state office this year from all manner of people.  We
have answered questions, referred people to agencies for services,
given advise on blindness, written letters in support of requests
for help, obtained information about social security benefits, and
even provided instruction on how to use the telephone.  

This year we have gained experience and knowledge on dealing with
the state attorney general.  Our community outreach efforts have
been extremely successful.  One measure of this success is that we
have had contact from the Spokane office of the Attorney General. 
We have cooperated with the Spokane office, and also provided
material and information to the Seattle office in order to
demonstrate our good faith efforts to reach the public, and abide
by all laws that affect our efforts.

Our efforts at expansion and internal growth have met with mixed
results.  On the one hand, we tried and were unsuccessful in
organizing a chapter in Port Townsend.  Our Tacoma contacts have
not organized a chapter as yet, and we are still working on Olympia
recruits. 

But the good news comes from east of the Mountains.  Spokane is
another one of those stories of perseverance.  Just a few years
ago, the Spokane chapter, for all intents and purposes was
comprised of two or three people.  There were no chapter
activities, and monthly meetings were being canceled.  No one knew
that there was an NFB chapter there, except the members of the NFB. 
When we had mini-conventions in Spokane, we succeeded in getting
one or two people from the area to attend.  But Al Sanchez never
gave up.  He and Susan Phillipy have brought the Spokane chapter
from a small group of just a few to a membership that rivals the
other NFB chapters in this State.  What's more, they have told me
that they intend to surpass the Seattle Chapter in numbers, and to
just keep on growing.  The Spokane chapter report will tell it all. 
Suffice it  to say, that Spokane is now publishing the newsletter,
raising funds, providing grants to conventions, including grants to
this convention, distributing literature and recruiting new members
at a tremendous rate. I look for good things to come from the
chapter that wouldn't give up!

We have taken steps to increase communications with the chapters
this year.  I began recording Presidential updates for each of the
chapter presidents to play at meetings on a periodic basis.  These
updates are not designed to take the place of the all important
national presidential releases. They are a method of giving
everyone a summary of news from throughout the state.  

I also visited each of the three chapters this year.  In January I
went to Vancouver, where plans for several fund raising events were
taking shape.  In May I travelled to the Spokane chapter meeting,
and was pleasantly surprised by its vitality.  Of course, the
SEATTLE CHAPTER IS MOVING TOO.  Several new members have infused it
with a fresh spirit, and a  solid philosophy of blindness, and the
members will make it grow during the coming year.

To sum up the year in a few words, we had our ups and downs.  But
we never lost sight of the reason this organization was formed, and
is ever growing--we are the blind speaking for ourselves.  We have
a tremendous amount of work ahead, but we have never shrunk from
work.  In fact, we relish the challenges we face.  The NFB of
Washington is growing, our momentum is unstoppable, and we are
headed straight up the road toward first-class citizenship. 

There is much to do.  Each of us must re-examine our commitment to
the most vital organization in the field of work with the blind. 
We will not let others take control of our lives.  Let each of us
go forth from this convention with new energy to do the work that
has to be done.  And as my experience in law school taught me, we
must always, always take to heart the words of Winston Churchill. 
The members of the National Federation of the Blind will never,
never, never, never, never, never, never give up!



1994 NFB of WASHINGTON MINI-CONVENTION
BY Albert Sanchez

     It's time to begin thinking about this year's Mini-Convention
of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington!  This year's
celebration of Federationism will be held in Spokane, at
Cavanaugh's 4th avenue, East 110 4th avenue Spokane, WA 99202,
during the weekend of April 9 and 10, 1994.  We plan many
activities that are important to the blind population of this State
and of the nation.

     This year's national representative will be Barbara Pierce. 
Mrs. Pierce is President of the NFB of Ohio, and, for the last
several years she has also been editor of our Braille Monitor.  She
will be bringing up-to-date information on numerous activities of
importance to blind persons and, you won't want
to miss anything!

     The room rates are good, $49.00 per night for singles,
doubles, tripples, and quads, plus tax.  The registration price is
$25.00, this includes both lunch and the banquet on Saturday, and
breakfast Sunday morning.  For room registration contact President
Prows at (206) 823-6380.  We look forward to seeing you in Spokane,
so come join us!




                     Slow Down, Not So Fast!
                            By Noel Nightingale,

     (From The Editor:  Noel Nightingale is an active, thoughtful
and interesting person.  She is also Second Vice President of our
Greater Seattle Chapter.)
     Thursday afternoon, on the way from my apartment to the law
school at the University of Washington, I was crossing the
intersection at Forty-second and Brooklyn, ahead of a man who had
something quite revealing to tell me.  He came up beside me,
demanding I, "Slow down, slow down."  I looked around, expecting
someone else nearby to be the intended object of his advice.  The
case, however, was that I was the only person occupying that corner
other than himself.  This person had confused me.  Why did he want
me to slow down?  I had no reason to reduce my pace as the sidewalk
was free of obstructions:  people, potholes, or otherwise.  Why did
he say this?
     His words settled into a deep part of my head that I rarely
take time to explore.  As blind people, day in and day out we are
told in innumerable ways to slow down.  Perhaps because we are
excelling in careers, engaging in activities thought not to be
pursued by blind people, or merely leading "normal" lives, we are
subtly and not-so-subtly told to keep in our place.  Go slowly.  Go
without confidence.
     Our vigilance instructs us not to let this message become a
subconscious road map.  To do so would deny us the achievement we
all work toward.  Long before the aforementioned concerned citizen
felt it his duty to prescribe my speed, the same message had been
planted in that deep part of my head.  His message tells me two
things:  that blind people are not supposed to excel, and that we
are permitted not to do so because society expects very little of
us.
     When I was far away from the corner, nearing the law school,
I felt tears coming to my eyes as his words resounded in me.  Once
again, a chord of truth had been struck.

RESOLUTIONS 
by Albert Sanchez

     Resolutions adopted by the National Federation of the Blind
of Washington are written policy statements of the organization.
Each resolution is presented to the convention for discussion and
a vote. Prior to coming before the convention, resolutions are
ordinarily presented to the Resolutions Committee for discussion
and a recommendation. The committee may not block a resolution 
from coming to the floor, it may only recommend "pass", "not 
pass", or "no recommendation."  Any NFB of Washington  member may
present a resolution to the Committee and, through it, to the NFB
of Washington convention. If the presenter chooses to withdraw a
resolution based on committee discussion or for some other reason,
that is also possible.


    
     Six Resolutions came before the committee this year, one, 93-
06, was withdrawn by the author.

     I wish to thank the members of the Resolutions Committee and
all of you who worked on, and discussed  these Policy Statements.

RESOLUTION 93-01

     WHEREAS, Shirley Smith, Director of Services for the Blind of
Washington State, has offered to spend state monies to send members
of the Services Advisory Council to the regional National
Association of Parents of the Visually Impaired conference,
(NAPVI);  and
     WHEREAS,  NAPVI has no local membership organization, but
represents the interest of a few dying eastern based agencies
rather than the true interest of Washington state blind children;
and
     WHEREAS,  NAPVI is so out of touch with modern educational
practices that it stated in the Winter 1993 issue of Awareness,
(it's newsletter) in an article entitled "Special Needs of Low
Vision Children" that only children whose vision can be improved by
low vision aids should be allowed to attend mainstream education
programs;  and
     WHEREAS, Even though the National Federation of the Blind has
been holding national parents seminars for 11 years and local
parents seminars for 9 years, Services for the Blind has never
offered to pay the expenses of it's Advisory Council members to
attend any of them;  and
     WHEREAS, This favortism at the tax payers expense appears to
be an attempt by Services for the Blind to discredit the ever
growing voices of informed organized Washington state parents in
partnership with the organized blind in their call for quality
programs, reform and more vision teachers;  and 
     WHEREAS,  We fear that Advisory Council members attending the
NAPVI conference will be mislead as to the needs of Washington
state blind children: Now, Therefore,
     BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of
Washington in Convention Assembled this 17th day of October, 1993
in the City of Seattle;
     that we call upon State Services for the Blind to give locally
based and supported programs for blind children an equal chance at
support to state monies by sending it's Advisory
Council members to the spring Washington State Parents Of Blind
Children conference to be held in Seattle and to the national
Parents Of Blind Children seminar to be held in Detroit Michigan
this summer.
                        RESOLUTION 93-02

     WHEREAS, Counselors at the Washington Department of Services
for the Blind must provide meaningful assistance to program
participants to obtain and keep gainful employment;  and
     WHEREAS, in recent months the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind
has again laid off some of its blind workers;  and
     WHEREAS, many of these displaced Lighthouse workers are
desperate for employment for all the same reasons that unemployed
sighted workers need jobs;  and
     WHEREAS, in some cases Counselors at the  Department of
Services for the Blind have not been forthcoming with helpful
information about job leads and job training programs for displaced
Lighthouse workers, including the benefits of the services provided
by the NFB's Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB) program:  Now,
Therefore,
     BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of
Washington in Convention Assembled this 17th day of October, 1993
in the City of Seattle;
     that we strongly urge the Departments Counselors to implement
a specific program to assist displaced lighthouse workers to
acquire worthwhile employment, focusing on job development and
placement;  and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Counselors to
strongly encourage their participants to use the resources of Job
Opportunities for the Blind to the maximum extent during their job
search.

                         RESOLUTION 93-03

     WHEREAS, with the retirement of Carl Jarvis the Department of
Services for the Blind will have only one manager who is blind; and
     WHEREAS, in recent years a trend has been noted of a decline
in supervisory staff who are blind;  and
     WHEREAS, when highly qualified blind people apply for
supervisory positions they are rejected infavor of a sighted
person; and
     WHEREAS, this lack of blind persons in management positions
fosters an attitude in the agency of custodialism, paternalism and
a desensitization of DSB staff to the needs of blind people: Now,
Therefore,
     BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of
Washington in convention assembled this  17th day of October, 1993
in the City of Seattle;
     that the National Federation of the Blind of Washington call
upon the Department of Services for the Blind to actively recruit
nationwide for qualified blind people to hold management positions
within the Department of Services for the Blind; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Department of
Services for the Blind to institute a continuing program of
dialogue between all staff and blind consumers with major
constituencies on issues of real concern to blind clients and the
blind community; and

     BE IT Further Resolved that the National Federation of the
Blind of Washington call upon the Department to ask all staff to
participate in some manner in the blind community, e.g. attend
meetings of blind consumers.

                         RESOLUTION 93-04

     WHEREAS, several legally blind persons and persons with severe
eye diseases or a family history of genetic blindness have been
treated by Kaiser Perminente in a cavalier manner and with blatant
disregard for their health, comfort, and for possible loss of their
remaining sight, and the possible painful consequences of untreated
severe eye diseases during the last year; and
     WHEREAS, Kaiser Perminente is a Health Maintenance
Organization (HMO) working under the auspice of the Insurance
Commissioner of Washington State; and
     WHEREAS, society appears to be moving swiftly towards
government sanctioned and regulated health related health care with
emphasis on HMOS; and
     WHEREAS, prevention of blindness and further deterioration of
severe eye conditions should be a top priority of any civilized
society:  Now, Therefore,
     BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of
Washington in convention assembled this 17th day of  October, 1993
in the City of Seattle; 
     that we call upon the State Insurance Commissioner to work
with this organization to establish firm procedures and priorities
for the prevention of blindness and needless related pain and
suffering for all HMOS licensed in Washington State; and 
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon Kaiser Perminente to
quickly establish firm procedures and policies for the prevention
of blindness and needless related pain and suffering due to eye
conditions in consultation with the National Federation of the
Blind of Washington state.

                         RESOLUTION 93-05
     WHEREAS, Carl Jarvis has served as the Administrator of the
Washington State Department of Services for the Blind's Orientation
and Training Center (OTC)
since 1984, with a sabbatical to serve as Assistant Director of the
agency from 1988 to 1991;  and
     WHEREAS, Mr. Jarvis has served the blind community in other
capacities prior to taking the position of OTC Administrator,
including Business Enterprises Program Coordinator, instructor in
food service management, braille instructor, and founder of the
Lilac Blind Foundation in Spokane;  and
     WHEREAS, Mr. Jarvis is retiring from the State of Washington
on December 31, 1993:  Now, Therefore,
     BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of
Washington in Convention assembled this 17th day of October, 1993
in the City of Seattle;
     that the National Federation of the Blind of Washington
appreciates and thanks Mr. Jarvis for his service to the blind
community.NFB of Washington
 East 707 Garland
Spokane, WA 99207





ADDRESS CORRECTION  REQUESTED