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                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                          January, 1995

                     Barbara Pierce, Editor


     Published in inkprint, Braille, on talking-book disc,
                        and cassette by


              THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
                     MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT



                         National Office
                       1800 Johnson Street
                   Baltimore, Maryland 21230

                             * * * *



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

                             * * * *



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


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

                             * * * *

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



ISSN 0006-88299
THE BRAILLE MONITOR
A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

                            CONTENTS
                                                    January, 1995

REFLECTIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE WORLD BLIND UNION
by Kenneth Jernigan

WORLD BLIND UNION OFFICERS MEET IN JORDAN
by Kenneth Jernigan

FROM THE TRICYCLE TO THE COOKIE JAR
by Barbara Pierce

MAKING SENSE OF A SIMULATION EXERCISE
by Anna Cheadle

A WIFE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT BLINDNESS
by David and Theresa House

ANOTHER WIFE SAYS WHAT'S ON HER MIND
by Carol Lemieux

THE OTHER HALF OF THE EQUATION: PC-BASED READING SYSTEMS
A  COMPARATIVE REVIEW
by David Andrews

BLINDNESS: A PERSPECTIVE FROM CHINA
by C. Edwin Vaughan, Ph.D.

EXPLORE YOUR LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY
by Priscilla Hudson

A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE GRAND CANYON
by Deborah Hartz

NO CANE, NO DOG!
by Bill J. Isaacs

MY NFB CONVENTION EXPERIENCE
by Jaclyn L. Kusters

CHICAGO NOTEBOOK
by Stephen O. Benson

SOCIAL SECURITY, SSI, AND MEDICARE FACTS FOR 1995
by James Gashel

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES

        Copyright ■ 1995 National Federation of the Blind
[LEAD PHOTOS/CAPTION: The National Federation of the Blind has
its headquarters in Baltimore at the National Center for the
Blind. The building not only serves as a focus of organizational
activity but also as a symbol of the long struggle of the blind
to achieve full citizenship and first-class status in society.
What once was a factory building is now a thoroughly beautiful
and modern facility. Here is the front entrance of the National
Center for the Blind. [Photo: Dr. Jernigan stands at a podium. Caption: Kenneth
Jernigan]

       REFLECTIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE WORLD BLIND UNION
                      by Kenneth Jernigan

     At the end of the second World War America, England, and the
countries comprising the British commonwealth were riding high.
There seemed to be a feeling that a new day of progress and
prosperity was dawning and that the English-speaking countries of
the world were destined to lead the way in achieving it (and
also, by and large, in paying for it). In this universal spirit
of hope and brotherhood (no, not sisterhood--we hadn't got to
that point yet) all were to receive assistance. There were
Marshall Plans, foreign aid, and the United Nations.
     Nobody was to be forgotten--and, of course, that included
the blind. So in 1949 the World Council on the Welfare of the
Blind was established. It met in Rome; elected Colonel Baker (the
head of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind) as its
president; and planned to meet again in five years, leaving
interim matters to its officers and executive committee. The
organization (generally called the WCWB) claimed to represent not
only the governmental and private agencies but also the blind.
And, indeed, there were organizations of the blind in its
membership, including the National Federation of the Blind.
     The problem was that many of the European organizations were
hybrids. They called themselves organizations of the blind, and
their claim had legitimacy. They had blind members; they had
elections; and mostly they had blind officers. But they were also
agencies, in that they provided rehabilitation and other services
to the blind--very often the only such services in their
countries. Moreover, their principal financing usually came from
government, and their leaders were paid as service providers.
This is not the place to discuss whether that was a better or
worse model than we were using but simply to note that it was
different. There were obvious advantages to the hybrid model--a
steady source of income, paid leadership with time to develop
programs, and a rather persuasive method of recruitment. In fact,
when I was in Denmark four or five years ago, I asked how many
members that country's organization of the blind had. I was given
an answer. I then asked what the total blind population of the
country was, and again I was given an answer. The two numbers
were virtually the same.
     On the other hand, there were disadvantages. If a blind
person is dissatisfied with the behavior or services he or she
receives, how can an effective appeal be made? The entire
atmosphere of the operation will discourage appeals, as well as
the very notion of adverse interests or freedom of choice.
     Whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages is a
question that can be argued, but one thing is indisputable. When
a group of representatives from different countries gather to
talk about methods and procedures, communication is made
difficult by the different kinds of organizations that call
themselves organizations of the blind. Sometimes the subject can
be touchy. I remember, for instance, a meeting in London a few
years ago at which I said that in the United States an
organization of the blind would not be defined in the same way as
it would in some European countries, and I received an angry
response from one of my esteemed European colleagues--which, of
course, changed nothing since the facts are still the facts.
     But back to the World Council on the Welfare of the Blind
(the WCWB). In its early years it was largely run by the American
Foundation for the Blind, the CNIB, and the British. It was
characterized by quinquennial conventions, agency control, and
professional articles and papers. It wielded relatively little
influence in the blindness field in the United States--taking a
backseat, for instance, to the American Foundation for Overseas
Blind, which later split away to become Helen Keller
International.
     During the 1950's and 60's the participation of the National
Federation of the Blind in WCWB activities was constant but
mostly perfunctory. By the mid-1960's we felt that a worldwide
organization of the blind should be established--not just an
organization composed of and led by the blind but also an
organization undiluted in its purpose of representing the blind.
We were not seeking to build a force that would be hostile to the
agencies but the establishment of a world organization that would
avoid combining the functions of both service provider and
service receiver--an organization that would serve as a balance
to the agency-controlled WCWB. As I have often said, the
organized blind of the United States do not wish actually to
administer the agencies. If we did, another organization would
have to be formed to serve as a watchdog on us and to represent
the interest of consumers in dealing with us.
     Much of the spadework in creating the new international
organization was done by Dr. Isabel Grant, who traveled
throughout the world to promote the establishment of independent
organizations of the blind. At the 1964 convention of the
National Federation of the Blind in Phoenix, Arizona, the
preliminaries were commenced, and later that summer in New York
the International Federation of the Blind (the IFB) was brought
into being. Dr. tenBroek became its first president, and I
drafted its constitution.
     From the beginning it was touch and go with the IFB, for
many of its members were also members of the WCWB. More
important, their primary identification was with the agencies and
service providers. Of course, the NFB was also a member of the
WCWB, but its distinction from the agencies was more pronounced
than that of organizations of the blind in many other countries--
particularly some of those in Europe.
     Let me not be misunderstood. A number of the organizations
of the blind in Europe (particularly, those in England) did not
perform agency functions. They were, by the most rigorous
definition, organizations of the blind, representing the blind.
But the English organizations were weakened by being specialized-
-one serving as a labor union and another as the rallying point
for blind people in the professions.
     Despite its problems, the International Federation of the
Blind (IFB) had a promising beginning. New organizations of the
blind began to emerge throughout the world, and a convention was
planned for 1969 in Sri Lanka (at that time Ceylon). But in 1968
Dr. tenBroek, who had been not only the president of the IFB but
its driving force, died. Almost immediately the IFB went into a
sharp decline.
     With Dr. tenBroek's death I became president of the National
Federation of the Blind, and my time for the next few years was
spent in building and expanding the NFB. Technically I served as
the NFB's delegate to both the WCWB and the IFB, but any real
participation on my part was virtually nonexistent. So was any
meaningful influence by either the IFB or WCWB on matters dealing
with the blind in this country. There were no regular meetings of
U.S. delegates, no exciting proposals or initiatives, and no
tangible programs or results.
     Meanwhile, the IFB increasingly moved into the WCWB's orbit.
First there were suggestions and then a growing pressure to merge
the two organizations. What was contemplated was not a true
combining of equals but a takeover of the weakened IFB by the
WCWB. This move was resisted by some of the independent
organizations of the blind, especially some in Asia and Africa.
It was also resisted by us, but our resistance was at the token
level, lacking priority or a sense of urgency. Through the decade
of the 1970's we were chided by a number of blind leaders
throughout the world for not taking leadership and rallying the
forces of the International Federation of the Blind to bring to
fruition the work we had started a decade earlier. Whether we
should have adjusted our priorities and given emphasis to
international affairs is probably not worth debating in the
present circumstances. The fact is that we didn't.
     By the early 1980's it was clear that the IFB would be
absorbed by the WCWB and that our choices were to accept the
situation or form a new international organization of the blind
with safeguards to prevent subversion. In 1984 a joint meeting of
IFB and WCWB was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the purpose of
merging the two organizations. As a symbolic statement for the
record, the National Federation of the Blind withdrew from the
International Federation of the Blind prior to the Riyadh
meeting, but we retained our participation in the merged
organization by continuing to be members of the WCWB. It seemed
to be an honest recognition of the actuality of the situation.
     We did something else, which in retrospect was probably a
mistake. We declined to go to the Riyadh meeting, which combined
the IFB and the WCWB to create the World Blind Union (the WBU).
The American Foundation for the Blind also boycotted the meeting.
In the vacuum, the representative of the American Council of the
Blind, Grant Mack, was elected president of the newly established
North American region (later the North America/Caribbean Region)
of the World Blind Union. The Mack presidency was an interim
matter that lasted for a few weeks until permanent elections
could be held.
     That was the situation in the fall of 1984 when the six
delegates from the United States and the four from Canada met in
a hotel in Washington to conduct the first regional meeting of
the WBU on this continent. The newly written WBU constitution
emphasized geographic regions, and North America was one of
seven--the other six being Africa, Asia, East Asia Pacific,
Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
     At the Washington meeting Bill Gallagher, who at that time
was head of the American Foundation for the Blind, was elected
regional president. Incidently and for the record, I nominated
him. I did it despite the fact that the American Foundation for
the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind had
traditionally disagreed, sometimes rather stridently. Relations
between the two organizations had begun to thaw in the early
'80's, a process which was in its early stages in 1984 but which
would continue through the rest of the decade and beyond. Bill
Gallagher played a major part in the improving cooperation, and
it seemed fair to me to recognize the fact. That was one, but
only one, of my reasons for nominating him.
     It was at that Washington meeting in 1984 that I first met
Dr. Euclid Herie and that our cooperative relations with the
Canadians began. It was also at that meeting that the basic
outlines of our regional WBU structure and procedures were
established.
     In 1986 the World Blind Union executive committee met in New
York, and a number of Federationists (including Marc Maurer, who
had just been elected president of the NFB) attended. It was the
first time that I really got to know Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ghanim of
Saudi Arabia, who served as WBU president from 1984 to 1988. The
Sheikh wears well, and my respect for his competence and
integrity has steadily increased as the years have passed.
     In 1987 Bill Gallagher resigned as regional president, and I
was elected to finish his term. I was reelected in 1988 and again
in 1992. Sometime during the '80's the English-speaking countries
of the Caribbean joined our region. Thus, we had (and still have)
twelve WBU delegates--six from the United States, four from
Canada, and two from the Caribbean.
     The regional structure of the World Blind Union has served
as a principal vehicle for the growing harmony in the blindness
field in our country--a process which began in the '80's and is
today a dominant theme. As to the situation with respect to the
World Blind Union at large, the circumstances are totally
different. The allocation of WBU delegates and the overall
functioning of the organization are not in accord with reality.
Therefore, it is not surprising that some of the results have
been what they have been and that strains exist. Europe, for
instance, has more than ten times as many delegates as our entire
region. Yet, it would be hard to make a rational argument that
Europe (with all due respect to its admitted greatness and
traditions of excellence) is ten times stronger, wiser, or more
virtuous than we are. Certainly it does not have ten times our
population, and while we are on the subject of population, Europe
has more delegates than Asia.
     The allocation of delegates is not the only problem. The
functioning of the organization is such that it is virtually
impossible to bring about change by amending the constitution.
Officers' meetings often seem hampered by personalities,
procedures, and questionable issues (see the following article in
this issue of the Braille Monitor).
     Even more serious, perhaps, is the seeming tendency of some
of the leaders to flirt with what has been called the cross-
disability or pan-disability movement--the notion that all
disability groups should come together in a common effort to
approach problems. Through a resolution initiated by our region,
the 1988 World Blind Union assembly in Madrid voted unanimously
that we should not merge with other disability groups but should
clearly keep our separate identity and concentrate on problems
faced by the blind. Despite this fact and the fact that all of
the WBU leaders insist that they support this policy, the trend
of the organization seems otherwise.
     A good example is the WBU's dealings with the United
Nations. The WBU does not insist on separate negotiations with
the UN but combines with other disability groups. It does this on
the grounds that the UN won't have it any other way. Yet, this
pressure to merge (this insistence that we pretend that all
disability groups have common interests and common problems) is
no different from the pressure the NFB constantly faces from
Congress, state legislatures, and the general public. But we
don't surrender to it, and our resistance is successful. It is
more than that. It is one of the principal sources of our
strength. I think the WBU could do likewise if it were determined
and if it were convinced of the justice of its cause.
     Another prime example is the case of the International
Disability Foundation (IDF), which I discussed at length in the
April, 1994, Braille Monitor. Through the leadership of Arne
Husveg, President of the European Blind Union, the WBU officers
and executive committee have decided to take office space in the
proposed International Disability Center that the International
Disability Foundation intends to establish in the Netherlands at
The Hague. If the WBU takes office space with other disability
groups in the so-called International Disability Center and
shares staff with them, I don't see how the organization can be
perceived as maintaining a meaningful separate identity.
Moreover, I don't see how the WBU can reasonably object to fund
raising in the name of the blind by the IDF. Explanations or
anger won't change the reality of what is occurring. In fact, I
question the legality of the decision to participate in the IDF
in view of the Madrid resolution on maintaining separate
identity.
     With regard to IDF fund raising in Canada and the United
States, the organizations of and for the blind in our region are
solidly united. In that connection, the following letter to David
Blyth, president of the World Blind Union, is self-explanatory:

Baltimore, Maryland
November 22, 1994

Dear David:

     As you will see from the enclosed minutes, the North
America/Caribbean region met on November 4, 1994. Among other
things, we discussed the International Disability Foundation and
its fund-raising activities. As regional president, I was
instructed to write this letter to you and to state in the
strongest possible terms our determination not to have the IDF or
any other group raise funds either directly or indirectly in the
name of the blind in the United States and/or Canada without our
prior consent. We feel that the IDF's own literature makes it
clear that IDF is raising funds in this region on a continuing
basis and that action must be taken to put a stop to it.

     Perhaps the determination and concern of the region can best
be shown by calling your attention to the following portion of
the minutes of our recent regional meeting. Item IV says in part:

     A discussion was held concerning the International
     Disability Foundation (IDF) and the fund raising it is
     doing. Mr. Sanders said that perhaps we should write a
     letter to the World Blind Union president, reviewing the
     Melbourne discussion concerning IDF and the fact that it is
     WBU policy that funds may not be raised in a country without
     the consent of that country's delegation. Dr. Jernigan asked
     whether the delegates wanted him to send a letter to
     President Blyth concerning the matter. It was moved by Mr.
     Sanders and seconded by Mr. Cylke that such a letter be
     sent. The motion carried.

     Dr. Herie said that the WBU president, like all of the rest
     of us, is bound by the policy adopted in Madrid in 1988 and
     that if IDF should come to Canada with cross-disability fund
     raising, CNIB would publicly and vigorously oppose it. Dr.
     Herie said that mega fund-raising campaigns serve no useful
     purpose. The United States delegates strongly agreed and
     were unanimous in feeling that if IDF is raising funds in
     the United States, there must be determined and concerted
     public opposition. Dr. Spungin said that she did not want
     our letter to be too weak. Mr. Sanders said that we should
     remind the WBU president of the policy concerning fund
     raising and request that an official letter be sent to the
     International Disability Foundation saying that the North
     America/Caribbean region has not approved IDF fund raising
     in our countries and that such fund raising must cease
     immediately if it is now in progress and must not be
     undertaken without our written consent. There was unanimous
     approval of this course of action, and Dr. Jernigan said
     that he would write such a letter, first reviewing its exact
     wording with other regional delegates so that there could be
     no mistake that it represented the determined and concerted
     opinion of all of us.

     Dr. Jernigan outlined the letter as he proposed to write it:
     We feel that fund raising is occurring, and we ask the WBU
     president to write a clarifying letter that it should not go
     forward.

     Dr. Herie:  Add that if it goes forward, our region will
     take steps to let the public and government know that we do
     not sanction it.

     Mr. Sanders: And we will circulate our letters.

     Mr. Magarrell: Make it clear that it is a total regional
     position.

     Mrs. Braak: Also reiterate this issue involves the cross
     disability policy adopted by the 1988 General Assembly.

     Mrs. McCarthy moved and Dr. Spungin seconded that our letter
     be to this effect. The motion carried unanimously. Dr.
     Jernigan appointed Mrs. McCarthy, Dr. Spungin, and Dr. Herie
     to work with him on the wording of the letter to the World
     Blind Union president.

     This is what our minutes say, and I think the unanimity and
intent are clear. As to our evidence of IDF's fund-raising
activity, I was surprised at the recent Amman meeting that there
was even any question about it. The IDF's own summer, 1994,
publication lays it out in plain language. Here is what it says:

                     SHARING KING OLAV'S CAR

     [Photo: The restored Cadillac limousine of King Olav V will
     be on permanent display in the Norwegian-American museum at
     Vesterheim in Iowa.]

     Companies on both sides of the Atlantic are contributing to
     the joint IDF project to place King Olav's 1951 state car in
     the Norwegian-American museum in the USA.
     The car was donated by King Harald, and all proceeds will go
     to the Foundation's work. "It will be a permanent tribute to
     a great monarch and humanitarian," said Hans Hoegh.
     Norwegian companies have already made contributions, ...
     plus a number of donations from private individuals.
     Interest now moves to the USA where full page adverts have
     been gifted by The Norway Times and The Western Viking.

     This is what the IDF's publication says, and if "interest
now moves to the U.S.A.," if there have been a "number of
donations from private individuals," and if "all proceeds will go
to the Foundation's work," it is hard to see how this can be
called anything else except fund raising. Of course, there is all
manner of other evidence: talk of art sales, individual contacts,
and much more. Yet, when I raised the question in Amman, it was
simply brushed aside as if the person responding didn't know what
I was talking about.

     David, we want to work cooperatively with you and do what we
can to help promote the objectives of the World Blind Union. We
are not seeking confrontation. We want to do our part in helping
fund the activities of the organization. At the same time, we
think it is reasonable to insist that the policies adopted by the
WBU General Assembly be strictly and scrupulously followed. We
are asking you to send to the IDF and anybody else who is
concerned a straightforward, unequivocal letter setting forth the
policy about fund raising and saying that the policy will be
enforced. We would like a copy of that letter so that the
organizations in our region may be reassured.

     If this can not be done, quickly and clearly, then the
organizations in our region will feel that they have no choice
except to take immediate, widespread, and determined public
action.

Sincerely,
Kenneth Jernigan, President
North America/Caribbean Region
World Blind Union

     Under date of December 1, 1994, I received a letter from
Pedro Zurita, Secretary General of the World Blind Union,
enclosing information calculated to show that the IDF is not
raising funds in the United States. Canada was not mentioned. The
letters were from Mr. Hans Hoegh, Secretary General of the
International Disability Foundation, and from someone named Rio
D. Praaning, whose title is not given but who is described as
speaking for the Building Foundation for the International
Disability Centre in The Hague. It will be seen from the dates
that the letters sent me by Mr. Zurita could not be in response
to my November 22 letter to David Blyth. Rather, they are
attempts to answer questions I raised about the IDF at the WBU
officers meeting in Amman, Jordan, September 26-28, 1994.
According to my reading, the letters do not satisfy the concern
but confirm it. Here they are to speak for themselves:

Geneva, Switzerland

24 November 1994

To: Mr. Pedro Zurita
    Secretary General World Blind Union
Re: Your Letter dated 14 November 1994
Subject: IDF Fund-raising in the USA

IDF:
His Majesty, King Harald donated his father's Cadillac from 1951
to the IDF. We sold shares in this car to Norwegian Americans.

American Friends of IDF:
no fund-raising

Building Foundation of The Hague:
On our request Rio Praaning has sent you a report on the fund-
raising activities of the Building Foundation in the United
States.

Yours sincerely
Hans Hoegh
Secretary General
The International Disability Foundation

Brussels, Belgium
22 November, 1994

Dear Mr. Zurita,

Through Mr. Hans Hoegh I received your request for information
concerning the fundraising for the construction of the
International Disability Centre through the Building Foundation.

Please be informed that we have focused our activities on the
Middle East and Asia. However, some interested multinational
companies in the U.S. may provide a variety of forms of
assistance to the centre, particularly due to their interest in
Europe.

After the first donation of His Majesty the Sultan of the
Sultanate of Oman - the sum of USD 300,000,= will be transferred
to our account this week - we have been informed that the Gulf
Cooperation Council is considering a major donation to the
Centre. Contacts in Hong Kong and Japan have indicated similar
positive positions. We expect final and formal decisions in
December 1994/January 1995.

I trust this will satisfy your request, but I should be happy to
provide you with further information at your request.

Yours sincerely,
Rio D. Praaning

     These are the letters, and I don't see how they can be
interpreted to mean anything else but fund raising. If Norwegian
Americans are, as it is put, sold shares in a car for charitable
purposes, does their descent from Norwegian stock make them less
American, or the solicitation less a solicitation? Does the fact
that, as it is said, certain "interested multinational companies
in the United States may provide a variety of forms of assistance
to the Centre, particularly due to their interest in Europe,"
make that assistance not be a fund raising activity? I wonder
whether the Norwegian Americans will claim their purchases of
shares in the car as deductions on their federal income tax. I
wonder whether the multinational companies will do the same with
respect to their "assistance" to the IDF. And I also wonder
whether the authorities that regulate charitable activities in
the various states will want registration of these transactions
as charitable solicitations.

     With all of these problems, the WBU is still the only
organization today which has worldwide membership and claims to
speak for the blindness field. Our choices are simple. We can
form a new international organization of the blind with
appropriate safeguards to prevent subversion, and either stay in
the WBU or get out of it; we can withdraw from the WBU and
concentrate on regional affairs; we can maintain nominal
membership in the WBU but limit our participation and largely
write it off; or we can continue to participate and try to reform
and improve the organization. Whatever we do, our actions should
be upbeat and positive, but this does not mean that we should
allow ourselves to be intimidated or dissuaded from expressing
our opinions or seeking change because somebody may accuse us of
being negative or disruptive. Our conduct should be orderly and
courteous--but it should also be honest, vigorous, and
purposeful. We should remember that by not following one course
of action we necessarily follow another. Above all, we should not
just drift into whatever we do. We should do it deliberately and
with planned precision.

[Photo: David Blyth and Euclid Herie sit at a table looking at
the camera.
Caption: World Blind Union
David Blyth (right), President; and Euclid Herie, Treasurer]

            WORLD BLIND UNION OFFICERS MEET IN JORDAN
                      By Kenneth Jernigan

     The officers of the World Blind Union usually meet twice
each year, once in the spring and once in the fall. The most
recent meeting was held September 26-28 in Amman, Jordan, and
Mrs. Jernigan and I went. Flying is always difficult for me, and
this was no exception. It took about eight hours from Dulles
Airport to Paris and another six or seven to get to Amman. The
return trip was about the same except that I stopped off in Miami
to make a speech to a district meeting of Rotary.
     As to our stay in Amman, Sheikh Al-Ghanim was his usual
courteous and considerate self. Mrs. Jernigan and I visited in
his home. We also spent an evening at the Saudi embassy, where a
reception was being held to commemorate the founding of the Saudi
kingdom. On another evening all of us went to the home of the
brother of the king of Jordan for conversation and an outdoor
dinner.
     As to the meetings, I can do no better than give you
excerpts from the report I gave at the North America/Caribbean
regional meeting held in Washington on November 4, 1994. What I
am about to say is neither chronological nor definitive. I am
simply bringing you certain observations and conclusions. Here,
therefore, is the major part of what I said at the regional
meeting.
     Perhaps the place to begin (for purposes of indicating the
tone of the Amman meeting, if nothing else) is with a
comparatively unimportant event involving Sir Duncan Watson. At
the WBU Officers and Executive Committee meeting in Melbourne
last January, Mr. Watson was discussing what he called "The
Standard Rules." I asked him (and I did it with courtesy) what
the Standard Rules were. He seemed to take offense at the
question and said that I had been at enough meetings to know what
the Standard Rules were and that he wouldn't tell me. Being
accustomed to Mr. Watson's personality and proclivities, I wrote
the matter off to ill temper, poor digestion, or some other
untoward event and forgot about it. During one of the breaks at
the Amman meeting I tried to rally Mr. Watson about the matter,
but it was immediately clear that he was not prepared to treat
the subject lightly. He went into a rage and was quite abusive.
As one might say, he told me off properly.

     It caused me to reflect on the outré quality of certain
aspects of human nature. If we put a good deal of time and effort
into a thing, we are likely to think it is very important, not
only to us but to everybody else. I gather that Mr. Watson has
done a lot of work on these "Standard Rules," and I suppose he
thought I was making light of him and really knew what they were.
The truth is that I wasn't and didn't.

     Because of the context of Mr. Watson's comments in
Melbourne, I assumed that the Standard Rules dealt with the
United Nations and pertained to one of the following: 1. UN rules
involving the relationship between the World Blind Union and
other disability groups; 2. UN rules involving the relationship
between disability groups and the UN; or 3. UN rules involving
the relationship between the UN and one or another (or, perhaps
all) of its various agencies.

     The laugh was on me, for I later learned that I had been
mistaken on all counts. Pedro Zurita, Secretary General of the
World Blind Union, told me that these mysterious Standard Rules
were recommended rules, and I quote, on the "Equalization of
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and Other Resolutions
Concerning Disability and Social Development." He said they were
meant as UN guidelines for governments throughout the world. He
even went so far as to send me a copy in Braille, which I glanced
at but confess that I did not read. I observed in the table of
contents under Roman numeral III the item "Recommendations of the
Third Committee." I tremble to think what would happen if I were
to ask some of my more touchy WBU colleagues what the Third
Committee is or was--or, for that matter, the Second or the First
Committee. And then, there is the General Committee, which is
mentioned in the introduction to this 126-page Braille document.
There may also be other committees, but I quietly closed the
volume and wrote the whole business off to experience.

     Amusing as the controversy concerning the Standard Rules may
be, it has its serious side, one that points up the difficulties
that some of us sometimes have with our colleagues in the World
Blind Union. I know that the United Nations, with all of its
various ramifications and edicts, is perceived as extremely
important by a number of individuals and countries throughout the
world, just as other things are regarded as important by some of
the rest of us. The truth is that the United Nations rarely makes
headlines in the United States, and even when it does, the
coverage is usually generalized and brief. The UN is simply not
very high on the list of priorities. If this is not the way it is
in other parts of the world, or if this is not the way it should
be in the United States, anger and abuse will not change the
situation. Goodwill and an effort at understanding would be more
productive. Likewise, we should take a lesson from our own book
and try to be considerate of opposing views and emphases. For my
part I have resolved to treat Mr. Watson with more care and
gentleness in the future and to say no more about the Standard
Rules.

     Let me turn now to the question of the International
Disability Foundation (the IDF). Since I wrote extensively on the
subject in the April, 1994, Braille Monitor, I will not go into
the background of the situation. At the Melbourne meeting of the
WBU Executive Committee last January, the North America/Caribbean
delegates unanimously voted that the WBU should not associate
itself with the IDF or take space in its proposed Center at the
Hague. However, we were in the minority. To be more precise, we
stood alone with the exception of a few abstentions by
individuals in other delegations. At the Amman meeting President
David Blyth said that he had met with Hans Hoegh and others and
that he thought we should proceed with the plan to participate in
the activities of the IDF, including accepting space in its
Center. He said that the IDF would go forward with or without us
and that we should, therefore, be associated with it. I asked if
I could know whether the IDF is now raising funds in the United
States and, if so, how and to what extent. Mr. Arne Husveg,
President of the European Blind Union, said that if I would
provide him with details, he would ask the question and get
answers.

     I said that I was not making any charges, that I just wanted
to know whether funds were being raised. Mr. Husveg said that he
would get the question answered as asked. Mr. Husveg also said
that he believed all of our concerns raised in Melbourne had been
satisfactorily met. I said that I had the same concerns that I
had raised earlier but that I could count votes and, therefore,
would not take the time of the officers to discuss the matter
further. Without objection the officers voted that the WBU should
go forward in its plan to associate with the IDF.

     I believe this is a serious mistake. The major questions are
still unanswered. It is WBU policy that funds may not be raised
in a country without the consent of that country's delegation. I
believe that the IDF (according to its own literature) has been
raising money in the United States, has been raising it in the
name of the blind, and is still doing so. I believe that part of
the fund raising involves an automobile formerly owned by the
King of Norway and that there are other activities as well. I
seriously doubt that we will get a responsive answer to the
question concerning the matter formally and officially raised by
me as President of this Region. Time will tell, and we either
will or we won't. Meanwhile, if fund raising continues in our
country in the name of the blind in connection with WBU
activities without our consent, we will probably need to take
whatever steps are necessary to put a stop to it or discredit it.
We cannot allow the WBU policy to be evaded by the device of
using the IDF or any other entity as a vehicle.

     On another topic, I read with interest portions of a
document we were given in connection with the Amman meeting which
was entitled "President's Committee; Rome, Italy, 19-20 June;
Action Sheet." Section 20 of the document deals with the
"Commission on Blindness and Aging" that has been established by
the World Blind Union. Section 20.2 talks about the composition
of the Commission and states that one of the members will be
"Ruth Machobane (black lady from South Africa)." I told the
Secretary General, who had prepared the document, that I thought
the wording was unfortunate. I asked him what he thought the
reaction would be if he were to specify that one of the members
would be a white male. He said that there had been white rule in
South Africa for so long that this was simply an attempt to show
that blacks were to be represented. I said I thought we should
avoid racism in all of its forms, but I did not make an issue of
the matter during the meeting. However, this is something I think
we should watch in future WBU activities. As far as I am
concerned, racism is not acceptable whether it be black, white,
or some other color.

     Also in connection with the Amman meeting the officers were
given a document entitled "WBU/ICEVI Joint Educational Policy
Statement." The document says in part:

          The World Blind Union and the International Council for
     Education of People with Visual Impairment join together in
     this statement to:
     A. Urge governments to:
     ...
          2. place the educational services for blind and
     visually impaired children under the same general governance
     as that of children without visual impairment.

     This language could be read to mean that a residential
school for the blind is not an appropriate setting for the
education of blind children. I am sure this was not the intent,
but I think consideration should be given to different wording.

     Concerning another matter, the officers discussed the
relationship between the World Blind Union and DPI (Disabled
Persons International). Mr. Husveg said that the WBU has really
made no progress at all in its efforts to get DPI to stop saying
that it represents the blind of the world. He said that DPI will
only say that WBU has the right to speak for its members and that
DPI has the right to speak for its members, including its blind
members. The officers discussed whether some sort of UN statement
could be had to the effect that the UN recognizes DPI to
represent other groups but not the blind, and the WBU to
represent the blind. Mr. Husveg said that DPI and the UN often
take the position at the local level that DPI represents the
blind and all others. It was felt that a statement of support
from the UN would be of real benefit. Mr. Blyth said he did not
know whether we could get such a statement but that he would try.
He said that WBU has the same status with the UN as DPI and that
this was not the case until two years ago.

     A discussion was held concerning Puerto Rico. Under date of
August 24, 1994, the following letter from Enrique Ellisalde,
President of the Latin American Union of the Blind, was sent to
me as President of the North America/Caribbean.

     Dear Dr. Jernigan,

          One of the members of your region, Puerto Rico,
     has approached the Latin American Union of the Blind
     some time ago stating that they would like to belong to
     it, due to historic and cultural links--language is by
     no means to be forgotten. They even said and wrote that
     they are ready to lose their present relationship to
     North America.
          We have accepted their membership just as
     observers for the time being and would very much
     appreciate your comments on this matter to see whether
     we can reach some acceptable solution for all the
     parties involved.
          Looking forward to hearing from you,

                              With warm regards,
                              Enrique Ellisalde
                              President
                              Latin American Union
                               of the Blind

     Under date of September 9, 1994, I responded as follows:

     Dear Enrique:

          This will reply to and thank you for your fax of
     August 24, 1994, concerning the status of Puerto Rico
     and whether it should be part of the Latin American
     Union of the Blind or the North America/Caribbean
     Region. As you know, Puerto Rico is part of the United
     States. In fact, the National Federation of the Blind
     has a Puerto Rican affiliate. It is true that many of
     the people in Puerto Rico speak Spanish, but it is also
     true that many of them speak English. Likewise, many of
     the people of Florida, New Mexico, and California speak
     Spanish. Many of them also speak English.
          Puerto Rico is not an independent country. My
     reading of the constitution of the World Blind Union
     does not indicate that a state, a province, a
     territory, or any other part of a country in one region
     can be accepted as a member country of another region.
     If that were true, the North America/Caribbean Region
     might enter into negotiations with a province of
     Argentina or Uruguay or Brazil. Ultimately, of course,
     anything is legal (whether right or wrong, sensible or
     otherwise) if a sufficient majority of the electorate
     votes it that way. I think the legalities under the
     present constitution and rules are clear, but I have no
     idea how my fellow officers or the members of the
     Executive Committee might view the matter. It seems to
     me that the dismemberment of countries because of
     preference or political consideration would be a
     dangerous precedent. I would contend that Puerto Rico
     by virtue of its affiliation with the National
     Federation of the Blind is now as much an integral part
     of the World Blind Union as any other part of the
     United States and that membership is through the North
     America/Caribbean Region.
          I am, of course, aware of the fact that some in
     Puerto Rico talk of seceding from the United States,
     but such has not yet been the case. Other Puerto Ricans
     just as vehemently want to become one of the states. If
     secession should succeed, then I think we would have a
     legitimate question as to what region Puerto Rico
     should belong, but until or unless the separatist
     movement is successful by force of politics or arms, I
     see no legal way to permit Puerto Rico to have more
     representation in the World Blind Union than it now
     has.
          As you can imagine, I would be glad for the World
     Blind Union to treat each state and territory of the
     United States as a separate country. It would tend to
     redress some of the imbalance in the voting procedures.
     But again, unless such a situation occurs either by
     force of politics or arms, I think we are stuck where
     we are.
          These are my thoughts on the question you have
     raised, and I shall share them with President Blyth and
     others.

                              Sincerely,
                              Kenneth Jernigan, President
                              North America/Caribbean Region
                              WORLD BLIND UNION

     The Constitution of the World Blind Union provides in Item
"h" of Section 1 of Article III on Membership that "Where an
application for membership is received from a dependent territory
which apart from its dependent status is otherwise qualified for
membership, the assembly in consultation with the national member
concerned may admit that territory to whichever category of
membership it considers appropriate upon payment of the
appropriate membership fee." Some discussion was held concerning
the Puerto Rico matter. Mr. Blyth said that it was strictly a
question of the Constitution; that no application had been
received; and that, therefore, the officers could not properly
deal with the matter. In any case Puerto Rico is in the North
America/Caribbean Region since regions are defined by the WBU
Constitution as specific geographic areas of the globe. Mr.
Zurita tried to discuss the matter further, pointing out that
Puerto Rico is similar in language to much of Latin America--but
Mr. Blyth ruled him out of order, saying that language was not an
issue with respect to the WBU Constitution. There was some
additional spirited exchange between Messrs. Blyth and Zurita,
and then the meeting proceeded.

     There was a considerable amount of discussion about the
Louis Braille birthplace. Dr. Herie said that we should deal
directly with the Commune of Coupvray instead of the French
National Committee and various other French groups. He said that
we should also change the designation from the Louis Braille
Museum to the Louis Braille Birthplace and Memorial. Mr. Zurita
thought we should research further the effect of such a change
with French interests to see if there would be funding
implications. It was noted that the question is probably academic
since the World Blind Union does not own the Louis Braille
property. It is owned by the Commune of Coupvray. If the Commune
does not agree with the changed designation, it probably can't be
done. The word "museum" carries with it certain implications
concerning a curator and other matters. With the comment that the
French already mostly refer to the building as "The Birthplace,"
Dr. Herie moved that we try to achieve the changed designation,
and the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Blyth asked me to contact
the mayor of Coupvray directly to try to get things moving.

     On another subject, I asked whether a person could continue
to serve on a committee or in any other position in the World
Blind Union if that person had lost the confidence of the
national delegation. Mr. Blyth said that there was no formal rule
to that effect but that the practice was that such a person could
not continue to serve. I said that I thought a formal policy to
that effect should be adopted, and Mr. Husveg agreed. Mr. Blyth
said that a proposal should be brought to the next General
Assembly.

     The WBU will now present a research award. A discussion was
held as to whether the award should be given for accomplishment
or to encourage future breakthroughs. It was decided that the
award should be to encourage and stimulate research rather than
to reward the past. The motion was unanimously adopted.

     A discussion was held concerning the establishment of a
World Blind Union Foundation. This would be a non-profit
organization. Its purpose would be to provide long-term, stable
funding for the World Blind Union. Dr. Herie moved that
authorization be given to set up in Canada a WBU Foundation to
establish a capital fund to earn revenue to be spent on programs
authorized by WBU. Mr. Husveg seconded the motion, and it was
unanimously adopted. As with the International Disability
Foundation, the WBU Foundation would not be able to raise funds
in a country without the consent of that country's national
delegation. This is a policy adopted by the General Assembly.
Therefore, it cannot be altered by the officers or Executive
Committee.

     In view of the fact that the officers voted to rescind the
decision to hold the 1996 General Assembly in Hong Kong, we
should consider whether North America would like to submit an
invitation. I have told Dr. Herie that I hope Canada will make a
bid. If Canada is willing to do so, I feel that all of us will do
everything we can to assist. This is a topic which we must
discuss at this meeting.

     The next meeting of the WBU officers will take place on
April 7-8, 1995, in Caracas, Venezuela.

     As will be seen from this report, I came away from the Amman
meeting with a number of unresolved questions. Because of
improved technology and transportation, the world is, in effect,
growing smaller. Obviously we neither can nor want to live in
isolation, but this does not mean that we should allow others to
pressure us into adopting their agenda. We do not want to
establish priorities and policies for other regions, and we will
not permit others to do so for us. Our region now has more unity
and strength than it has ever had, and it must evaluate on an
ongoing basis its relationship with the World Blind Union. The
inequity in the number of votes allotted to the different regions
is not simply a formality or happenstance. It was done
deliberately, and it translates into policies that may not be in
the best interest of the blind of our region or, for that matter,
the world. The imbalance is, of course, of relatively little
consequence as long as the World Blind Union remains
comparatively weak; but if the WBU becomes truly strong and
viable, we cannot permit the imbalance to continue unless we are
prepared to allow others to determine our destiny, and unless we
are willing to accept second-class status in world affairs. More
to the point, we have the means to remedy the situation, whether
through the World Blind Union or otherwise.

     These are my observations concerning the Amman meeting, and
I give them to you for whatever they may be worth.





[Photo: The Pierce family is pictured in their yard when the
children were in
high school. Caption: The Pierce family is shown here in the side
yard of
their home.  They are: Bob (back left), Margy (center), Anne
(back right), and
Barbara and Steven (front)]

               FROM THE TRICYCLE TO THE COOKIE JAR
                        by Barbara Pierce

     From the Editor: The following article is taken from When
the Blizzard Blows, the latest in our Kernel book series of
paperbacks. Though it addresses one of the most vexing problems
facing blind parents, it also demonstrates the important role
family members can play in educating the public about the
abilities of blind people. The article begins with Dr. Jernigan's
introduction. Here it is:

     What special problem does a blind parent face? You might
guess a thousand times without coming up with the problem many
blind parents consider toughest. Barbara Pierce has been blind
from childhood and is the mother of three children, who are now
adults. Here she writes about her efforts to overcome a
particularly worrisome problem--the one you probably didn't
guess.

     All parents who take their responsibilities seriously are
concerned about how to help their children grow up to be
disciplined, honest, compassionate, and organized and to develop
all the other virtues. But blind parents have one more
responsibility: to keep their youngsters from absorbing the
general public's poor attitudes about blindness and blind people.
     My husband and I have raised three children, and in their
formative years we tried hard to teach them that as their mother
I was like other moms--helping with homework, fixing their
favorite meals as birthday treats, and making them pick up their
coats and books from the living room sofa. In our family there
was always a division of labor: Dad drove and played catch; Mom
baked cookies, bread, and apple pies. Dad trimmed hair and
decided when fingers were infected; and Mom ironed clothes, sang
songs, and sewed on buttons. Both of us listened to problems and
helped to work out solutions.
     Yet from the time the children were small, I knew that the
world outside our happy home was lying in wait to complicate our
lives. Evidence of this fact began piling up early and usually
when I least expected it. I remember a day when Steven, our five-
year-old, was at kindergarten. The baby had an appointment with
the pediatrician, and I told Anne, then three, that she could
ride her tricycle, which she had recently learned to pedal, to
visit the doctor. I put baby Margaret into her backpack, grabbed
my long white cane, locked the front door, and prevented Anne
from riding her tricycle down the seven steps of the front porch.
Once we were safely on the sidewalk, we started the three-and-a-
half block expedition with Anne in front and me right behind,
reminding her about stopping at the corner.
     The first two streets we had to cross were very quiet, with
cars seldom driving through the intersection, particularly in the
early afternoon. Anne did well at the first crossing, stopping at
the curb and waiting for my go-ahead before pedaling straight
across to the other side. As we neared the second street, I
dropped back a little to let her feel that she was making the
decision of where to stop on her own. No cars were coming, so she
was safe, and I was close enough to stop her if she decided to
bolt for freedom.
     She halted at the corner, and I was opening my mouth to
praise her when I realized that an older man had materialized
beside her and was bending down to talk earnestly to her. To my
horror I heard him saying, "You must take very good care of your
mommy because she needs your help."
     I was humiliated to realize that he believed I was incapable
of keeping my daughter safe and furious that he presumed a
sighted toddler was more competent than I to walk the streets of
our small town. I made a brief comment to the effect that in our
family the parents cared for the children and whisked Anne across
the street. I have always been grateful that I did not recognize
that neighbor, for it would have been hard in later years to be
civil to him.
     When we reached the other side, I asked Anne if she knew
what the man had said to her. She shook her head vigorously and
hopped off her bike to pick up a feather dropped by a passing
bird. It was clearly more interesting to her than the
conversation of an old man, and I was profoundly grateful.
     The situation was a good deal different a few years later
when our family visited a nearby amusement park. I rather like
rides that swoop and twirl, and my husband absolutely does not.
So I was the one designated to take the girls on the swings, a
ride in which each person sits in a separate swing, is firmly
strapped in, and then is whirled high into the sky for several
minutes. We found three swings close together, and I made sure
that each of the girls was strapped down before climbing into my
own seat.
     When we landed again, the attendant handed me back my cane,
and I gathered up the girls and herded them down the exit ramp.
When we reached the bottom, a woman hurried up to them and knelt
down, fumbling with her purse. I asked her if there were some
problem. And she explained rather hastily that she just wanted to
give "these dear children some money," because she had been
watching us, and she was so touched by the loving way they took
care of me. She probably noticed my expression, for she quickly
explained that they were so attractive and well behaved that she
thought they deserved some reward for taking me on the rides. I
said that I did not permit my children to accept anything from
strangers and that, if she wanted to do something constructive to
help the families of blind people, she could make a contribution
to the National Federation of the Blind. I hurried the girls
away, but they were unhappy. After all, that woman had been going
to give them money, which was more than they could usually
persuade me to do. I hardly knew what to say to them. Finally I
explained that she had wanted to pay them for taking care of me;
but that, since they didn't take care of me, it wasn't fair to
take her money. They thought about that for a moment; then Anne
summed the matter up with, "That's weird. Everybody knows that
Moms take care of kids." I told her she was exactly right, and
the lure of the roller coaster ended the conversation.
     I was beginning to learn that, when I was around at the
moment people did odd things because of my blindness or suggested
to my children that I was not a proper mother, I could combat the
problem. But I worried about what was happening to them when I
was not present. One day, when Steven was in fifth grade, he came
home to say that he had had a fight on the playground because a
kid had called him a liar when he described his mom's homemade
pizza. (It's a recipe from northern Italy, given to me by a
friend, and my family has always loved it.) But this boy said
that a blind mom couldn't cook. Another time Anne's teacher
suggested that perhaps the room mother could supply cupcakes for
Anne's birthday treat so that she wouldn't feel left out.
Meanwhile Margy began sitting close to me when we watched
television together in order to "explain what's happening." When
I questioned her about why she had started doing this, she
admitted that her friend's mother had told her that Margy's mommy
couldn't understand "Sesame Street" unless Margy told her what
was happening. I realized that something had to be done.
     I went to the children's teachers and asked for a chance to
talk to each of their classes about blindness. In Margy's class
we played games that taught the children just how much they could
tell about the world by listening and sniffing and feeling with
their hands and feet.
     They discovered that there are lots of ways to tell what's
going on. I showed the older children how to read and write
Braille and taught them how to offer assistance to a blind person
who needs help crossing the street, and I explained how I crossed
streets without any help. I brought home-made treats to all three
classes and talked about how blind people cook and take care of
their families.
     That seemed to dispose of the negative comments from friends
and teachers; but, as the children grew older, I became aware
that they were increasingly disturbed by the way strangers stared
at me when we were out in public. I should explain that, like
many other competent blind people, I use my cane even when I am
walking with a sighted person, so there are lots of opportunities
for people to see me using my cane.
     The youngsters began to resent the stares that I received,
and they decided to take matters into their own hands. They
thought the staring was rude, and they appointed themselves the
official phalanx of stare-backers. They were prepared to stare
down anyone who began staring at me as we passed. I tried
explaining that these people had probably never seen a blind
person using a white cane correctly and they did not know what to
make of the situation. But the kids agreed with each other: it
was rude to stare at anyone; it was even more rude to stare at a
person who did not know what you were doing. They believed they
had a perfect right to call such rudeness to the attention of the
person practicing it. Perhaps I should have protested and
forbidden them to continue their campaign, but I decided that
they needed to feel that they were doing something to counteract
an activity they felt was inappropriate, unfair, and rude to me.
     As the years passed, I continued to wonder from time to time
whether the children's attitudes about blindness and me as a
blind person had been negatively affected by the peculiar notions
of other people. Then, when Anne was a junior in college, I
received my answer. A friend who teaches in elementary school had
asked me to come speak about blindness to all the sixth grade
classes in her school. I was happy to do so, and, because Anne
happened to be at home at the time, I asked her to drive me to
the nearby town where the school was located. At the close of my
talk I asked if anyone had questions about what I had said. My
daughter had been introduced, and one child asked her what it was
like to have a blind mother.
     Anne, who ran the citywide summer swimming program during
college and had a way of making friends with youngsters, strolled
to the front of the room and sat down on the edge of the
teacher's desk beside me. She draped her arm across my shoulder
and said quite seriously:
     "It is really terrible having a blind mother! Do any of you
have to do the dinner dishes sometimes?" A number of students
groaned enthusiastically. "And does your mother expect you to
clean up the kitchen too--I mean wiping off the counters, washing
out the sink, and cleaning around the burners of the stove?"
Again a chorus of agreement answered her. "Well, I discovered a
long time ago that my friends only had to clean up enough to have
things look okay. But, when you have a blind mother, you have to
get things really clean because she doesn't inspect your work
from the doorway; she comes in and touches everything. It has to
be clean!
     "And that's not all. Do any of you have cookie jars in your
house?" A number said that they did. "We had one, too, and it was
always full of cookies, which was nice for us when we could get
at them. But we three kids learned when we were very little that,
as long as Dad was the one watching us, we had a chance of
sneaking cookies, if he wasn't looking. But when you have a blind
mom, she hears the cookie jar lid no matter where she is in the
house! It's terrible having a blind mother."
     By this time they were all laughing with her and me. They
had gotten Anne's message, that really life was no better and no
worse with a blind parent, just a little different. And they were
right.
     I left the school smiling that day. My lovely,
compassionate, talented daughter had demonstrated without even
thinking much about it that she does know that blindness doesn't
have to be a big deal. Together we had come a long way: from the
tricycle to the cookie jar.

[Photo: Portrait. Caption: Anna Cheadle]
              MAKING SENSE OF A SIMULATION EXERCISE
                         by Anna Cheadle

     From the Editor: Members of the National Federation of the
Blind get used to finding opportunities to educate the public
about blindness and the abilities of blind people. We sometimes
forget, however, that our friends and families can also play an
important part in this vital work. I have often found that my
children can have a powerful impact on the attitudes of others
when they set out to educate their friends and co-workers, and I
know that our family is not alone.
     Anna Cheadle is now twelve. Her older brother Charles is
blind, and both her parents work at the National Center for the
Blind. In addition, her mother serves as President of the
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a division of
the National Federation of the Blind. Last summer Anna had two
experiences that demonstrate what an important role knowledgeable
sighted family members can have in educating the public about
blindness. Anna loves horses and has taken riding lessons at a
nearby stable which also does work with disabled people,
including students from the Maryland School for the Blind. She
was interested in working with the blind riders, so she signed up
for special training as a volunteer.
     Not too surprisingly, one of the components of this training
turned out to be blindness simulation. All the trainees were
blindfolded in turn and instructed to get on the horse and see
what it was like to ride when you couldn't see where you were
going. It goes without saying that no one bothered to talk to the
volunteers about blindness and the alternative techniques
available, and no one reminded them that successful riders depend
largely on feeling what the horse is doing. This horse was by
nature calm and easy-going, but after enduring a number of
frightened riders, he began to get nervous. By the time it was
Anna's turn, he was clearly skittish, but she swung into the
saddle and started off. Because she knows about blindness and
therefore was not frightened, she was able to quiet the animal
and complete the course without incident or panic.
     Then she told the organizers what she thought of the
exercise. She pointed out that the other trainees knew nothing
about blindness, so they had caused their own problems--problems
that the blind youngsters were unlikely to share unless the
volunteers communicated their own fear and pity to them. She
reported that, once she had brought the horse under control, the
exercise had provided her with no insight because riding
blindfolded was pretty much like riding using sight, particularly
when someone else was leading the horse around the track.
     At almost the same time Anna had the experience she recounts
in the following article. She was attending the church camp she
goes to every summer, and the staff there too decided to educate
(or mis-educate) the campers about disabilities by conducting an
exercise in disability simulation. By this time Anna was an old
hand at taking charge of the situation. This is the way she tells
it:

     "Anna? Anna, are you there?"
     "Yeah, just a sec; my thumbs are being taped."
     This is how my camp friend Beth and I conversed at around
10:30 last Saturday morning. We were both at a weekend retreat at
Camp Mary-Mac, where I attended Chi Rho Church camp this summer.
We had been separated into groups of five or six, and each person
in a group was assigned a handicap. Two people in my group had no
arms. One had legs tied together; a boy named Ryan was mute; I
had no thumbs; and Beth had been blindfolded. Have you seen the
flaw in this? Blindfolds teach people fear, not the competence
that many blind persons have. There were three or four other
blind people in the large group, and, of course, none of us was
given any information about our handicaps and how to make them
work for us, instead of inconvenience us.
     So, considering my background with the National Federation
of the Blind and my parents' jobs for as long as I can recall, I
obviously wanted to do something to help the people who were
suddenly blind.
     First, I searched around and found a long, wooden pole for
Beth to use as a cane. After this I taught her how to swing it
back and forth in front of her properly and avoid obstacles.
After a while the other blind people caught on, and they were all
using their own canes. Second, I had her take my elbow--the way
that any blind person would do. But I didn't let her depend
totally on me. As we walked and talked, I provided her with
information about blindness and blind people--how they read, how
they get around, and other things that promoted a good attitude
and some understanding about the competence of blind people.
     "Ugh!" A heavy pile of rocks had been dropped into my arms
by the mute boy, Ryan. Beth was standing next to me, and all of
the groups were having a race to see who could collect the
largest number of dinner-plate-sized rocks in a certain amount of
time. Ryan began urgently pointing down the hill towards the fire
circle, where all of our pile was being watched by a person with
no arms.
     "Can I help?" asked Beth. She wanted to contribute to our
group. In the beginning she wasn't sure, but after a while she
realized that, if she didn't say something, no one would listen.
In other words, people immediately assumed she was helpless. With
the extra confidence of knowing what my brother had done and what
my parents' boss had done, she was able to stick up for what was
right: a group where everyone contributed.
     Of course, compared to a person who'd been blind their whole
life, this wasn't a very long time, but for the kids at camp,
having these handicaps for four hours was quite enough. In the
middle of those four hours, we were having lunch. You can imagine
how well some of the no-arm people were getting along, as well as
us non-thumb people, who were slightly annoyed at the menu choice
for the day--sandwiches. (Ever try to hold a sandwich with no
thumbs?). But after lunch was over, some people went outside to
play football.
     "I think I'll take a walk outside," said Beth.
     "I'll go with you," immediately replied another girl, who
had automatically assumed that Beth would need someone to help
her every inch of the way.
     "No thank you," said Beth, with her new-found independence;
"I can do it by myself." So she left the dining hall, going
around the tables and finding the door with her cane and feeling
the wall.
     "So, ah, how do you think people interacted with all these
handicaps?" This was the head counselor, Jason. We were having a
reflection time, without handicaps, before dinner. Among other
responses, I felt particularly good when I heard Beth's.
     "Anna was really helpful. At first I was scared, but she
helped me around and gave me a cane; then she told me things
about blindness and other blind people that I didn't know
before."
     Needless to say, Beth was still glad when the blindfold was
taken off. But she had also learned from the experience, as had
we all, and I am glad of that.

[Photo: Portrait of the House family. Caption: Theresa and David
House are
pictured here with their children, David, Jr.; Chris; Patrick;
and Veronica]
                A WIFE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT BLINDNESS
                   by David and Theresa House

     From the Editor: There is a strong temptation, particularly
for those who are losing vision as a result of one of the
degenerative eye disorders, to focus their energies on keeping
the enemy at bay, battling every complication, and denying the
inevitable outcome. Of course scientific research into the causes
and prevention of such disorders is important, especially for
patients in the next generation; but most of us have found that
we can successfully get on with the interesting business of
living a full life only after we have put aside the emotional
warfare against blindness, come to terms with the realities of
vision loss, and set about to master the skills of blindness.
Then we discover that, having abandoned the struggle to use the
tools of vision with very little of that commodity available, we
are suddenly free to learn to be efficient again through using
the alternative techniques of blindness.
     It sounds sensible and simple, but for most people it is
not. Such a decision requires large measures of honesty and
courage. We must stop pretending that we can see what is only a
blur; admit the fact that we sometimes need help; begin using a
white cane; and even, perhaps, learn to use Braille. We must also
start carrying our share of the load in our homes and families
and on the job. It takes determination and energy to stop loved
ones and colleagues from doing your share of cooking, cleaning,
laundry, yard work, and job-related tasks because they believe
it's easier for them. Anger and depression focused on one's
blindness make it easier to sit back and let others, rather than
learn to master the skills of daily life again.
     What happens when a group of competent, confident, active
Federationists decide to carry the NFB message of optimism and
hope into a gathering of several hundred people dedicated to and
completely focused on fighting degenerative eye disease?
Naturally they discover many distressingly negative attitudes
about blindness, but they also find a rich harvest of people
eager for good news and hope. They also discover opportunities to
educate blind people and their families. That is what seven
determined members of the National Federation of the Blind of
California found in mid-November. David and Theresa House are
active members of the San Diego Chapter of the NFB of California.
Here is their adventure as David reported it in a letter to
President Maurer and Theresa shared it that day in her remarks as
part of a panel of significant others:

                                            San Diego, California
                                                November 22, 1994

Dear President Maurer:
     Every two years, the RP Fighting Blindness Foundation has a
national conference which has an attendance of nearly a thousand
people. The intent of the conference is to bring everyone up to
date on the latest research in finding a cure for retinitis
pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and Usher's syndrome. This year
the conference took place in San Francisco, California, November
18 through 20.
     I am pleased to report to you that board members from four
different chapters of the NFB of California participated in this
conference in a big way. Our strategy was to show attendees that
accepting blindness rather than fighting it is the appropriate
choice on an emotional and personal level. We tried to convey
that the fighting should be done on the scientific level. We were
very successful in getting this message across.
     Two of the Bay Area chapters shared equally in the cost of
$100 to have a booth in the exhibit hall, which was open the
first two days of the conference. Over a thousand pieces of
literature promoting NFB philosophy were given out at this booth.
This included hundreds of our standard brochures, 300 copies of
the book, If Blindness Comes, 200 cassettes of Dr. Jernigan's
speeches, fifty Future Reflections magazines, and dozens of
brochures on our NFB training centers around the country. We were
overwhelmed with the number of requests to receive the Braille
Monitor on cassette. I have enclosed a comprehensive list of more
than 450 names and addresses which are alphabetized according to
the state in which the individual resides.
     Two of the southern California chapters had members actually
participate in the conference by attending the numerous seminars.
Our job was to promote NFB philosophy by speaking up during the
discussion period of these workshops. We also distributed many
copies of the book, If Blindness Comes, along with dozens of the
NFB Braille alphabet cards. This task was definitely not easy. At
times it was very discouraging, encountering so many people that
equated blindness with hopelessness. We heard one story after
another about how people were going to give up their careers
because they were going blind. Resistance to learning Braille was
prevalent, and others claimed using a cane was socially
unacceptable. There we were, seven Federationists among eight or
nine hundred people. I kept telling myself the harvest is great,
but the laborers are few. We valiantly hung in there all weekend,
whether we were walking alone or marching together.
     My wife Theresa and I were asked to speak at separate
workshops which ran simultaneously on Saturday afternoon,
November 19. They extended this invitation to us, not realizing
we were members of the Federation. We decided to make the most of
this opportunity and tried to give our listeners some hope. I
have enclosed cassette copies of these two panel sessions for
your review. You will note that we covered much of the same
material in our presentations. I am extremely proud of my fully
sighted wife, who put her whole heart and soul into this
presentation. Her delivery was so powerful that there was not a
dry eye in the room by the time it was over. I lost count of the
number of people who came up to her throughout the rest of the
weekend, thanking her for such an inspirational speech. Without a
doubt she is a true friend and staunch supporter of the NFB.
     In conclusion, I want to say that I am very grateful for the
existence of the Materials Center at the National Center for the
Blind. It has been an invaluable resource for every project our
chapter has undertaken. With our literature this past weekend
hundreds of people losing their eyesight found out for the first
time that it is respectable to be blind. There is no doubt in my
mind that the RP Fighting Blindness Foundation knows loud and
clear that we, the Federation family, are changing what it means
to be blind.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                      David House

     That was David House's letter; here is the transcription of
Theresa's presentation to the RP Fighting Blindness Foundation.
She was part of a panel of two wives, one husband, and a sister--
all of whom had loved ones with degenerative eye disorders. This
is what Theresa said:

     My name is Theresa House; I am thirty years old; and I have
been happily married for ten and a half years. I have four
wonderful children--three, five, seven, and nine. My husband
David was diagnosed with juvenile macular degeneration at the age
of five. He is now thirty-seven and has some remaining peripheral
vision in each eye.
     I knew my husband for several years before we actually began
dating. His sister was my best friend in grade school, and as a
teenager I was a member of the church youth group that Dave was
in charge of. During the course of our friendship I was always
impressed to see that Dave would never let his blindness stop him
from anything he undertook. A good example of this determination
was the high school youth group of over a hundred teenagers that
he managed for nearly four years. Those years are very dear to
me. That group had the reputation of being one of the biggest and
the best among the Catholic churches throughout San Diego. At the
same time that Dave was our church's youth director he was
attending San Diego State University.
     After graduating from college, Dave made the decision to
attend a residential training facility for blind adults in
northern California. This was to learn Braille, cane travel,
cooking, and independent-living skills. He believed that it was
very important to learn the alternative techniques used by blind
people before he lost his vision completely. Dave said that he
was tired of faking and bluffing his way through awkward
situations using his partial vision. He wanted to stop pretending
that he could function normally in the sighted world by denying
his blindness.
     A year later Dave returned home to San Diego, well-equipped
with the skills of blindness, full of confidence, and ready to
hit the job market. By coincidence we began dating the same month
he was hired by Catholic Community Services. This was February,
1982. One of the fondest memories I have of the early days of our
courtship was going out on dates riding double on my moped
scooter. Dave did not drive, and I didn't own a car at the time.
I was eighteen, and he was twenty-four. We still laugh today when
we look back at that crazy and romantic time.
     One of the more challenging aspects of our relationship was
my family's prejudice about blindness. My parents did not approve
of our courtship. They felt--and they still do, even though he
has proved them wrong--that a man who is going blind does not
have a bright future ahead of him. All this only convinced me
that people's attitudes about blindness can be more of a problem
than the actual loss of eyesight.
     In 1983 we became engaged with plans for a June wedding in
the following year. My family continued their resistance to my
fiance. They constantly reminded me that any of our possible
offspring could be blind as well. I told them that I was well
aware of this possibility. I said that, if Dave could function
successfully with his blindness, my children would have the
perfect role model to emulate in their father. Even after we were
married, I remember visiting my grandparents one day. They were
holding our first-born, who was still an infant. I saw my
grandfather wiggling his fingers in front of my two-month-old-
son's face, trying to decide whether he could see. It was one
more reminder to me that blindness was very much feared and
misunderstood by my side of the family.
     When we got married in 1984, we were both working forty
hours a week. I had a great-paying job as a medical unit clerk in
our local hospital. Dave had obtained his broker's license and
was in the process of making a career change from social work to
real estate. A year later David, Jr., was born, and I cut my work
schedule in half, to twenty hours a week. In 1987 our second son
Christopher was born, and I reduced my work schedule to sixteen
hours a week. Then in 1989 our third son Patrick was born. I
decided to stop working completely to be a full-time mother and
homemaker. I made this decision in the confidence that my blind
husband was quite capable of being the sole bread-winner in our
family. My confidence was further reinforced in 1991, when we
decided to have a fourth child. I was determined to fulfill my
lifetime dream of having a daughter. My wish came true that year,
and we named our beautiful little girl Veronica. For the past
five-and-a-half years I have not worked outside the home because
my husband has done such a great job of supporting us
financially.
     In our home, raising the children is truly a fifty-fifty
partnership. After our youngest was born, Dave urged me to find a
hobby so that I could take a well-deserved break from the kids in
the evenings. For three years I took martial arts, earning a
second-degree green belt in Tong So Do Karate. I am at the
halfway mark of becoming a black-belt, which I intend to
accomplish. Also I am going to college at night, working to
become certified as a floral designer. I plan to operate my own
business out of my home doing floral arrangements for weddings.
     None of this would be possible without the full support of
my husband. Dave serves as an evening and weekend babysitter
whenever I have outside activities. My husband is no slouch when
it comes to taking on his share of the chores and
responsibilities at home. Each day he helps me get the children
ready for school by waking them up, feeding them breakfast, and
preparing their baths. This allows me enough time for exercise
each morning. I enjoy jogging. While Dave is getting ready for
work, I make the lunches, help the children dress, and take them
to school.
     In the evenings after work, Dave assists me in getting the
kids through their homework. While I am preparing dinner, he
unloads the dishwasher and sets the table. After supper he clears
the table, takes out the trash, and feeds the dog. In the
meantime I am doing the dishes. Together we tuck the children
into bed and then do paperwork, like paying bills and going
through the mail.
     My husband has found that keeping household items organized
and orderly cuts down drastically on the frustration that can
accompany vision loss. He has certainly proven this true by
taking charge of the laundry for our family of six. Dave has used
his Braille label-maker on the washing machine and does a great
job of keeping the clothes clean and neatly sorted. My job is to
fold and put them away.
     David makes blindness his responsibility and not an undue
hardship on the family. For example, at home he has the choice of
using his cane or possibly tripping over toys, shoes, or anything
else inadvertently left on the floor. (We encourage our children
to pick up after themselves, but in reality this does not always
happen.)
     Since I am the only driver in our family, I have been
unanimously elected the family chauffeur. Dave himself makes it a
point not to rely on me as his only mode of transportation. He
makes his own arrangements to get to and from work, and he uses
public transportation whenever necessary. He also enjoys walking
places to stay in shape.
     Dave no longer uses large print for reading because it is
too much of a strain and too time-consuming. He says that, by
learning Braille, he has kept himself from becoming illiterate.
There are countless examples of how Dave uses Braille in his
daily life. I have already mentioned the Braille label-maker,
which he uses both at home and at work. My husband orders
stories, called Twin Vision Books, which have both Braille and
print as well as the illustrations. He really appreciates having
the ability to read these books to our younger children. To help
our older son, Dave orders a book in Braille that we can also
find in the public library in print. This allows my son to
practice reading aloud while my husband follows along in Braille,
correcting him whenever necessary.
     One favorite family outing is trips to the Price Club. My
husband always brings an itemized grocery list in Braille to
prevent us from spending too much money. Dave also receives the
Sunday mass readings in Braille, which he takes to church each
week. He is a voracious reader, and between Braille and cassette
recordings he manages to read a weekly newspaper, three monthly
magazines, and a couple of books a month. I firmly believe that
my husband is a living example of how blindness can be reduced to
the level of a physical nuisance. In the event that total
blindness comes, I know that he will be well prepared.
     Dave is competent in the skills of blindness, and he
certainly has the right attitude. I have a gift for each of you
here today. It is a large-print book entitled If Blindness Comes.
It is published by the National Federation of the Blind. My
husband is quite active in the Federation, which has over fifty
thousand members across the United States. I can honestly say
that the NFB has been instrumental in making my husband the self-
confident, independent, capable individual he is today. The
benefits and support Dave has derived from this organization have
done wonders for his self-image and self-esteem. I would highly
recommend the National Federation of the Blind to anyone who is
struggling with losing eyesight. There is a table in the exhibit
hall with all kinds of free literature about blindness. The
representatives there would be more than happy to listen to your
personal story and experiences and answer any questions about the
NFB. Be sure to check the table out.
     I have really appreciated the opportunity to speak with you
this afternoon. If I could pick only one thing for you to
remember from my talk, please don't ever forget that it is
respectable to be blind.



[Photo: Portrait. Caption: Tom and Carol Lemieux]
              ANOTHER WIFE SAYS WHAT'S ON HER MIND
                        by Carol Lemieux

     From the Editor: At the 1994 convention of the National
Federation of the Blind of Connecticut last fall, one of the
agenda items was a panel presentation by sighted partners of
blind Federationists. All of the presenters were themselves
active Federationists, a fact which undoubtedly accounts in
significant part for the excellence and good sense of their
remarks. Carol Lemieux was the panel moderator and one of the
presenters. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Hartford Chapter of the NFB of Connecticut. Her husband Tom is
chapter Treasurer. Both are longtime, knowledgeable
Federationists. Here is what she said:

     On November 17, 1994, Tom Lemieux and I will celebrate our
fifteenth wedding anniversary. Either to our faces or behind our
backs, everyone said it wouldn't last. Well, our marriage has
lasted, and we are very happy.
     When I married Tom, I didn't give much thought to what
people would think of us. I guess I was young and idealistic.
Though I'm no longer young, I think I am still idealistic. But
back then we spent more time worrying about and figuring out how
to pay the rent and the bills than worrying about what people
thought of us.
     But, as time passed, I started to realize that people were
looking at us and saying things that sounded kind of crazy. We
didn't hear of the Federation until the early eighties, and I
guess we both just tried to grin and bear the remarks.
     Looking back and even today, I can divide the public into
two groups. The first think I am a saint. They are usually older
people or, more precisely, people from the old school of thought,
who think blind people are the most helpless group of people to
roam the earth. I have heard more "God bless you's" than I can
count and have been told how great and what a saint I am so many
times that I'm tempted to believe it! But those who know me know
I'm no saint.
     The second group of people we encounter on a regular basis I
find much harder to accept because most of them should have
better sense. Here are a few examples of the type I mean: This
past spring Tom and I were at a dinner where we met a psychiatric
nurse from the Institute of Living. After chatting for a few
minutes, she asked Tom which group home he lived in. She thought
I was a group home worker who had brought Tom out for the dinner.
     A few years ago Tom got a new counselor from the state
vocational rehabilitation agency. Without knowing either of us,
the counselor, who was blind, walked into the room and said to us
(but I think really for my benefit), "If you want a sighted
counselor, say so right now."
     Or there was the woman, who herself used a wheelchair, who
asked me if I got up every morning to dress my husband for work.
And my former boss, who wanted to know what I'd do with my
husband if I were to travel on business, which probably explains
why I never went out to a field office.
     Numerous times people ask if I'm Tom's sister or, even
worse, his mother. I am three-and-a-half years older than Tom,
but I don't think I look old enough to be his mother!
     Generally speaking, people believe that blind people never
get married or only marry another blind person. All of us in the
Federation know better. And as Federationists we have taken on
the responsibility of educating the public so blind people can
exercise their rights to opportunity, security, and equality.
     Now let me tell you the truth about being married to a blind
person. My husband is multi-handicapped. In addition to being
blind, he has traumatic brain injury. While his intellect is not
impaired, his short-term memory and cognitive skills are affected
to some extent, and he is not a fast person because of the TBI.
His blindness is a result of the TBI as well. He has between one
and three degrees of tunnel vision. The blind skills Tom has are
good. Since he hasn't worked in several years, Tom has taken on
most of the housework. He makes his own meals during the day,
travels around the Hartford area on public transportation, and
goes alone to his own doctor appointments whenever possible. He
also goes grocery shopping with me and on all the errands we need
to do.
     Tom didn't marry me to be his caretaker or his chauffeur. He
does need a little extra help sometimes because of his memory
loss, especially when learning a new route he has to travel or in
strange places, such as this hotel. Believe me, there are many
times I wish Tom could jump in the car and run an errand or pick
me up at work when I don't feel like waiting for the bus. But he
can't, and that's okay.
     I often feel hurt when people think I married Tom to attain
sainthood or because I have some deep psychological need to take
care of people. I feel pain when someone makes a ridiculous
remark, even though it's well intentioned, because it makes me
look like a shallow person.
     The National Federation of the Blind has taught me to stand
up for what is right. I try not to be rude to or embarrass people
when they treat Tom and me as if we were something different. But
neither can I stand in silence and let people think that the
blind need caretakers and will marry a sighted person to ensure a
life of pampering and supervision.
     The NFB has taught us not to grin and bear the ridiculous
remarks made by the public. Rather we both try to educate people
about blindness. We had to tell the deacon at our former church
that blindness is not an infirmity, as he told the whole
congregation in church one weekend; we have made it clear at the
restaurants we frequent that I don't order for Tom and that he
can read the menu. We've also had to make it clear that, when Tom
pays for something in a store, he gets the change, not me. When
Tom was working, I could have driven him to work and back each
day, but I didn't. And, in fairness, I take the bus whenever
possible.
     I suppose that being married to a blind person is no
different from being married to a sighted person. Yes, I do wish
Tom could find a job and make a good salary or could relieve me
of some of the driving responsibilities. But generally we have a
balanced marriage--each of us sharing in the responsibilities and
chores that go along with every marriage. And each of us shares
in the companionship and joy that should also be a part of every
marriage.
     So, while I am certainly no saint for marrying a multi-
handicapped, blind person, I am blessed.

[Photo: The main hall of the International Braille and Technology
Center
displaying many of the Center's equipment workstations. Caption:
The
International Braille and Technology Center]

                 THE OTHER HALF OF THE EQUATION
                    PC-BASED READING SYSTEMS
                      A COMPARATIVE REVIEW
                        by David Andrews

     From the Editor: David Andrews is the Director of the
International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind at the
National Center for the Blind. In the August, 1993, issue of the
Braille Monitor he offered his evaluation of stand-alone reading
machines. This is what Mr. Andrews now has to say about PC-based
reading systems:

     In mid-1993 the International Braille and Technology Center
for the Blind conducted comparative reviews of stand-alone
reading machines--that is, computer-like devices that scan
printed pages and turn their contents into synthesized speech. At
that time we found that for simplicity of operation and ease of
comprehension of the spoken word, the Reading Edge was probably
the best buy. If, on the other hand, the user needed to read more
complex documents with difficult layouts and a range of font
sizes and print clarity, An Open Book was probably the best
choice. This summary of our evaluation results is oversimplified
and does not take into account the fact that updated software for
a third machine, the Readman, is now available, which might
change our conclusions if the assessment were repeated today.
     Now we have completed reviews of the three major PC-based
(as opposed to stand-alone) reading systems sold today for use by
blind people. We will review all three in this article: An Open
Book Unbound from Arkenstone, Inc.; OsCaR from TeleSensory, Inc.;
and the Reading AdvantEdge from Xerox Imaging Systems, Inc. One
additional system has been shown at the past two NFB conventions,
the Rapid Reader from Blindness and Visual Systems of Baltimore,
Maryland. We ordered this system over a year and a half ago and
still have not received delivery. It is impossible to review a
system which you don't have and unwise to recommend a company
with such unreliable business practices.

               What is a PC-Based Reading System?

     A PC-based reading system is similar to a stand-alone
reading machine in that it scans the page (takes an electronic
picture of it), analyzes that picture, and converts the text on
the page into synthesized speech. Unlike a reading machine, a PC-
based reading system, however, can do other things because it is
based on an existing computer. All of the systems reviewed here
require at a minimum a 386 computer with at least 8 megabytes of
memory and adequate hard disk storage space to store the program
and scanned documents. We recommend a minimum of twenty-five
megabytes of free hard disk storage as a starting point. More
free space is desirable since documents, image files, and swap
files can get quite large.

     While a 386-based computer will do the job, a 486 will be
better, and a Pentium-based system will be better yet because the
reading process consists of three main steps. First, an
electronic picture of a printed page is taken by the flatbed
scanner. Second, this electronic image is transferred to the PC
and analyzed, and any text is extracted. Finally, this text is
converted into synthesized speech, refreshable Braille output, or
large print output by the user's access device. The second step,
the analysis of the image, is the difficult one--the one that
relies on the power of the PC. So the faster the processor, the
more quickly the analysis will take place.

     Using a Hewlett Packard Scanjet IIp flatbed scanner (the
most common scanner around today), the scanning phase takes
approximately fifteen seconds. A faster computer will not speed
up this step. On the other hand, the page analysis can take
anywhere from a second or two to several minutes. Factors
affecting the length of time include the speed of the computer,
the quality of the printed page, the amount of text on the page,
the number of fonts employed, the size of the print, the presence
or absence of graphics, the complexity of the layout, and more.
Processing times on a 386 computer will seem painfully slow when
compared to a fast 486 or a Pentium. We found that, when we used
a ALR Pentium 90 with thirty-two megabytes of RAM, most pages had
been processed and were being read before the HP scanner had
returned the scanner head to the home position, and no page
analysis took longer than about ten or fifteen seconds. If you
are going to do a lot of reading, get the fastest computer you
can afford. You will spend much less time waiting for the
computer to process pages. With the use of the new Pentium
computers, the scanning stage, not the analysis, becomes the
time-consuming step. It used to be the other way around.
     For most people there are a number of advantages to using
PC-based reading systems. If you already have an adequate
computer and an adaptive access system, it saves money. If you
wish to scan documents and save them as files for archival or
editing purposes, then PC-based systems have an advantage over
dedicated reading machines. PC-based systems allow you to use
whatever access device or devices you already have--speech
synthesizers, refreshable Braille displays, or large print
display software and hardware. With most systems it is even
possible to use multiple display methods simultaneously such as
speech and refreshable Braille, or speech and large print. If you
already have an adequate computer and an access device, it is
clearly cheaper to purchase a PC-based system. Even if you don't,
but you are prepared to shop wisely and take advantage of falling
computer prices, you can still save money starting from scratch
with a PC-based system rather than investing in most stand-alone
reading machines. Moreover, you will have a fully functional
computer that can be used for other purposes such as writing,
doing your finances, or accessing the information superhighway.
Finally, when manufacturers update their systems, PC-based
reading systems are easier to upgrade than most stand-alone
reading machines.

                      Why A Special System?

     In the International Braille and Technology Center for the
Blind, we are often asked, why do blind people need special
reading systems like An Open Book Unbound or Reading AdvantEdge?
Are they as good as the commercially available scanning products
used in most offices? The answers to these two questions are
related.
     Virtually all of the commercially available optical
character recognition (OCR) software--the part of the package
that extracts text from the page image--runs under Microsoft
Windows. Until recently blind people have not been able to run
Microsoft Windows. While there are now six Windows access
programs on the market (with others due out in the near future,
possibly even by the time you read this article), the programs
have some rough edges and are still experiencing growing pains.
Running an OCR system under one of them, while possible, would be
difficult or impossible for the average user. The access
companies (including Arkenstone, Xerox, and TeleSensory) have
taken commercially available OCR systems and written their own
control software that is speech-friendly. This is the software
through which you initiate scanning, set and change options, read
documents, etc. All of the companies use commercially available
OCR engines. Arkenstone uses software from Calera Recognition
Systems, which is also used in Calera's Wordscan Plus. The
Reading AdvantEdge uses the same engine found in Xerox Imaging
System's Text Bridge, and TeleSensory uses Omnipage Professional
Version 5 from Caere Corporation in its OsCaR product. So systems
for blind users offer the same OCR capabilities as their
commercially available counterparts used by the sighted but are
easier for us to use.

                        What Do You Get?

     Arkenstone, Xerox, and TeleSensory wish to sell you an
entire reading system, which includes a flatbed scanner, an
interface card that goes inside your PC, and a cable to attach
the two together, as well as all the software needed to control
the scanner, perform OCR tasks, read documents, and set options.
Each of the companies will sell you its software alone, which may
save you a few dollars. If this is the route you decide to go,
you must provide your own scanner, interface card, and cable; but
these are all readily available in the commercial marketplace.
     Below we will describe each system, its layout, and
operation. While not every feature will be mentioned or
described, we will try to provide you with descriptions of the
significant features and operations and to give you an overall
feel for the operation of the software. Many of the features are
similar, and all the systems scan fairly well, so some of the
differences are subtle.

                      An Open Book Unbound
                        Arkenstone, Inc.

     Arkenstone calls its PC-based system "An Open Book Unbound"
to differentiate it from their stand-alone product, which is
called "An Open Book." The two products are virtually identical.
An Open Book Unbound software-only package costs $995, while the
software with a Hewlett Packard Scanjet IIIp scanner costs $1590.
     The Open Book Unbound system differs in one major way from
its competitors. It takes direct control of your speech
synthesizer or Braille Display and does not use your existing
screen-review program or Braille-display control software. An
Open Book Unbound actually runs under Microsoft Windows Version
3.1, although the user is never aware of this fact. The system
provides him or her with speech-friendly or Braille-friendly
prompts and output and takes care of all matters dealing with
Windows itself. This is the reason, though, that conventional
DOS-based access products are bypassed. Consequently, you must
use a speech synthesizer or refreshable Braille display supported
by Arkenstone. These include synthesizers in the Accent, Apollo,
Double Talk, and Keynote Gold lines, as well as all of the Blazie
products and the Audapter, DEC-Talk PC, Echo, Infovox, Sounding
Board, and transport.
     The Artic SynPhonix line is not supported, although drivers
have been promised since the beginning. Jim Fruchterman,
President of Arkenstone, has assured us that Artic drivers are
near completion. He says that they are waiting for software from
Artic Technologies that supports indexing--a way for a
synthesizer and its control software to communicate with each
other about what each is doing. He further says that Arkenstone
has hired a consultant to create its own software in the absence
of software from Artic Technologies. Supported Braille displays
include models from Alva, Baum, E.H.G., Frank Audiodata,
Pappenmeier, TeleSensory, and Teiman. Fruchterman says that any
Braille display that doesn't shut down when Windows is invoked
should work. Further, any large-print display system that works
with Windows should also work. Fruchterman says that they have
made changes to support the Zoom Text product from AI Squared.
     An Open Book Unbound is controlled by using a series of
menus. The functions of the system are normally controlled by
using keys on the seventeen-key numeric keypad found on the right
side of standard 101-key keyboards. Choices on Open Book menus
are accessed by using four keys on the keypad, which represent
arrow keys. The user moves up and down between items much as with
many PC applications. Once an item is selected, its individual
choices are accessed by using the right and left arrow keys.
Choices are made by hitting what is called the Select Key, which
is the five key--the one with the raised dot in the middle of the
numeric keypad. The system has Beginner, Intermediate, and
Advanced menus. The Beginner and Intermediate menus do not make
all options available to the user and may be useful to the new
user since there are fewer choices to confuse him or her. The
sub-menus of the main menu include Read a Document; Library
Options (where documents are stored, converted, and exported to
floppy disk); Scanning Options (where contrast, page size, and
the like are controlled); and Open Book Options (where you choose
the menu level, set voice characteristics, exit the system,
etc.).
     One drawback to this system, as it is currently designed, is
that it takes a number of keystrokes to change some items. One
must select an item, move to an individual choice, select that
choice, and then press the Escape Key the proper number of times
to back out of the menu system. Unlike An Open Book, An Open Book
Unbound can also use regular keys on the alphanumeric keyboard.
You can, for example, hit "O" for Open Book Options, "s" for
Scanning Options, etc. You can also use the regular Escape Key
for the Escape function and the regular Enter Key as the Select
Key. The use of the regular keyboard is especially appreciated
for typing document names, which is a tedious process at best on
An Open Book Unbound. Once you know the system, these shortcut
keys do help immensely.
     An Open Book Unbound has three basic modes: the Reading
Mode, the Scanning Mode, and the Control Menus. When reading a
document, one has to hit the Escape Key to leave the Document
Reader prior to hitting the Scan Key to scan another page. Since
the Scan Key is a dedicated key, it should be possible to go
directly from Reading Mode to Scanning Mode at any time, but it
is not. In fact, it should be possible to Scan at any time you
are in the system. Jim Fruchterman, President of Arkenstone,
assures us that this and other problems will be addressed in an
upcoming Version 3. We were also assured by Arkenstone that some
of the command awkwardness and oddities would be addressed in
Version 2.0, which did not happen. In fact, changes have been
promised since version 1.1. It is beginning to look as though
changes will never be made and as though the longer the time and
the more systems sold, the less likely are interface changes.
     An Open Book Unbound does have the ability to control
contrast automatically. A Hewlett Packard Scanjet II or III
series scanner is necessary to use this feature. Arkenstone was
the first to offer this feature, and it generally works well and
is very useful. You can also control the contrast manually for
problem pages. There are a hundred levels of adjustment available
when you choose a custom setting. There are also settings for
Normal Contrast, Darken Page, and Lighten Page. The unit can also
determine the direction in which the print goes on the page and
read it, no matter what its orientation. This is a great
time-saver for a blind person working alone. While it adds a few
seconds to the recognition process, it is well worth the time to
most of us, and the feature can be turned off. Different voices
can be assigned to indicate normal, underlined, bold, and italic
print. A different voice can also be assigned to the Menus.
     The Arkenstone software also has provisions for batch
scanning--that is, one can scan (take pictures of) a number of
pages all at once, then have An Open Book Unbound do the
character recognition at a later time--like when you are at
lunch. This feature can be valuable for big jobs, on slower
computers, or to people with automatic sheet feeders.
     Once any text is scanned and recognized, it is automatically
saved on the computer's hard disk. It is then possible to name a
document and save it in a category. The software comes with a
number of categories already set up, such as bills, books,
brochures, general, letters, manuals, and recipes. It is possible
to establish your own categories as well. The software should,
however, be able to save or export files to a floppy disk. A
number of steps are now required.
     In addition to batch scanning, An Open Book Unbound can scan
and recognize a page, then read it or use the Quick-Speech Mode,
in which speech is supposedly generated faster. However, it does
not work very well. It is choppy and doesn't save much time.
While the initial speech starts more quickly, the pauses and
general choppiness use up any time savings.
     The software can save files in a variety of word-processor
and other application formats--over fifty-five of them. One
useful and unique feature of An Open Book Unbound is the ability
to adjust the speed of reading on the fly, while it is reading a
document, without losing your place.
     On the whole, installation is not a problem with this
software, with two possible exceptions. The drivers for a number
of speech synthesizers are on a supplemental disk, which you must
put into the disk drive when prompted. You must then type in the
name of the proper driver, including any serial port needed. If
you do not know this information exactly, you can't proceed.
Second, the installation of a flatbed scanner will be a problem
to some. For more information see the "Strengths and Weaknesses"
section at the end of this review.
     The software comes with an adequate manual in print, on
tape, on disk, and in Braille upon request. The system also has a
key-describer mode, which will be useful to new users, and the
help system is good.


                              OsCaR
                        TeleSensory, Inc.

     TeleSensory, Inc., has just released Version 4.0A of its PC-
based reading system, OsCaR. This version offers a number of
improvements over version 3.0, including an improved menu
structure, better optical character recognition, and some
interesting new features, most notably the ability to correct
individual words while reading a document.
     The OsCaR software costs $995, and the system costs $1,595
with a Hewlett Packard IIIp scanner. Supported scanners include
the HP line; the GS Plus scanner from Datacopy, which is sold by
Xerox Imaging Systems; and two Panasonic models. OsCaR, which is
DOS-based, uses the facilities of your regular access system,
regardless of whether it is a speech synthesizer and screen
review program, a refreshable Braille display, or large-print
software. However, the system does work best with one or more of
TeleSensory's own products--Vert Plus, Vert Pro, Soft Vert,
Screen Power, Power Braille, or the Navigator. We tested the
system using Vert Plus and an eighty-cell Navigator refreshable
Braille display, and the system tracked the menus flawlessly. In
addition, the Braille display worked well and was always
synchronized with the speech. We found it enjoyable to use the
speech together with the Braille. The speech was good for long
listening, and the Braille provided accuracy and precision in
editing.
     The menu structure and operation of the OsCaR are more
straightforward and easier to use than that of An Open Book
Unbound. The up and down arrow keys move between main groups or
among sub-menus and from item to item, while the right and left
arrows show the options within each item. Once you move the right
or left arrow to your choice, you don't have to hit Enter to
select it or Escape to leave it. You can hit the down-arrow key
to go to the next item. The previous choice remains in effect as
it was left. When you get to the bottom of a sub-menu, the
software beeps and wraps back to the top of that sub-menu.
Further, when you first enter a sub-menu from the main menu, only
the command letters are shown--that is, the first letter from
each choice on that menu. If you know your choice, you can type
that letter. However, if you are not sure, just hit the down
arrow, and the letters will be expanded into words as you move
past them. There are also function key choices to invoke some
common operations from most points of the program, such as F4 to
scan and F10 to quit.
     The first sub-menu on the main OsCaR menu allows the user to
modify settings that affect accuracy. These include single or
multiple columns; type of text (regular print, dot-matrix print,
or faxes); page orientation; contrast; etc. Having all of these
settings in one place is a good idea and a great improvement over
Version 3.0. The next sub-menu is Advanced Scanner Settings.
These include scanning mode, primary and secondary language
choice, scanning from or to images on disk, page borders, etc.
The secondary language option is an interesting innovation. It
allows you to install a dictionary for a second language, like
French or Spanish. If words in that language appear on a page
with English words, the accuracy of their recognition should be
improved by the presence of the dictionary. This feature should
be a boon to those who handle bilingual materials.
     There are also primary dictionaries for U.S. and U.K. legal
and medical terms, which should help people working in those
fields. The Advanced Settings Menu is the place you can invoke
batch scanning, in which you can scan images of a document or
series of documents and do the recognition at a later time. OsCaR
has an interesting feature for this process. If you scan with
Batch Separators and put a blank sheet between the documents in a
large batch, OsCaR will break the individual documents down into
separate files. This feature would be useful to anyone reading a
number of small documents--a student with a series of handouts,
for example.
     Scan and Recognize is the next choice on the main menu. When
OsCar is set up to scan and read a page, it does one thing
differently from the other reviewed systems. It scans and
recognizes the top of the first page, showing you the first few
lines, and presents you with a sub-menu of choices which include
reading the entire page, continuing to scan additional pages, and
saving the current page. In some instances this is a useful
feature because it allows you to see quickly whether you are
getting useable text or garbage. However, there seems to be no
way to defeat this feature, and with those documents in which you
have no doubt about the useability of the scan, it can be
annoying.
     Next on the Main Menu is Convert. This choice allows you to
convert a scanned document to a specified file format. A full
complement of programs and versions of programs are supported
with over eighty-five choices. There is support for all versions
of WordPerfect, including those for the Mac and Microsoft
Windows; Microsoft Word (all versions); Lotus 1-2-3; Dbase;
ASCII; and much more. Output can even be sent directly to a
Braille translation program. Duxbury, Hot Dots, and Mega Dots are
supported.
     The Files Menu is next. OsCaR allows you to do file
management from within the program--that is, to change
directories, copy and delete files, view ASCII files, save or
print files, and more. You can also run an external program from
this sub-menu, such as a word processor. Of course, you can also
specify what file will be loaded into the program as it runs.
These features work well and will be useful to some people.
     The next sub-menu retrieves and saves settings. The settings
file maintains the choices made in all the menu options we have
been discussing. It is possible to have separate settings files
for different kinds of work.
     The next choice on the OsCaR Main Menu displays OsCaR
settings. This gives you information about what the system is
currently doing and about the page being scanned.
     The next-to-last sub-menu is Other. Here you can halt
scanning, erase the current page, or manage your custom
dictionary. If you encounter a word or phrase regularly that the
system has trouble dealing with, you can enter it in the Custom
Dictionary to improve the speed and accuracy of recognition. The
final choice on the Main Menu is Quit OsCar.
     OsCaR comes with a good manual (available in print or
Braille or on disk or tape). The help system is context-sensitive
and quite good. The installation process was also easy to
understand and went without problems. The software is copy-
protected. It allows two installations. There is also an
uninstall process so you can move the software from one computer
to another, perhaps new, computer.

                       Reading AdvantEdge
                      Xerox Imaging Systems

     The Reading AdvantEdge (pronounced advantage) is the PC-
based version of the Reading Edge, the company's successful
stand-alone reading machine. It uses the same OCR core
technology. However, unlike the Reading Edge, which strives to be
simple, the Reading AdvantEdge packs a lot of power and many
options into a conventional menu system.
     The manual for the Reading AdvantEdge is detailed and
straightforward. It will provide too much detail for an
experienced user but will be helpful to a new user. It comes in
print and Braille and on cassette and disk. The installation
process for the Reading AdvantEdge was easy to follow and went
well. We initially had some difficulty installing a GS Plus
scanner, which ultimately proved to be defective. The company
replaced it quickly and without questions.
     The Reading AdvantEdge will work with any access system,
since it is a DOS-based program. It supports two scanners that
Xerox Imaging Systems sells, the GS Plus and the SA4-3. The GS
Plus was originally manufactured by Datacopy, a company Xerox
acquired several years ago. Though the scanner has now been
discontinued, Xerox still has a number on hand and sells them at
a relatively good price. The other scanner Xerox sells is the
SA4-3. This is the large bookedge scanner that was used with the
old Kurzweil Personal Reader. The Reading AdvantEdge also
supports the Scanjet line of scanners from Hewlett Packard.
     The software-only version of the Reading AdvantEdge is
priced at $795; the price with a GS Plus scanner is $1,295; and
with a SA4-3 scanner the system will set you back a whopping
$2,995. Unless you need a bookedge scanner, get an HP scanner on
your own. The GS Plus scanner is slow, and with the drop in price
of the HP IIIp scanners, it is no longer such a good deal. The
list price for the HP scanner is $595, and a good shopper could
find it for $500 or less.
     The Reading AdvantEdge uses a conventional menuing system
with a Main Menu and sub-menus subordinate to it. In some
instances sub-menus go three or four layers deep. Menus are
navigated using up and down arrow keys or Tab and Shift-Tab keys.
With some screen review programs you get double speech--that is,
lines repeating themselves when the arrows are used. The use of
the Tab and Shift-Tab keys as an alternative prevents this and is
a convenience. There are also alternative keystrokes in other
places to avoid speech problems. Once you reach an item you wish
to change, the Enter key displays possible choices.
     Because of the number of sub-menus and, in some instances,
sub-sub-menus, it would take several pages to describe the
Reading AdvantEdge and all of its choices completely. Suffice it
to say, it is a powerful and complete text and imaging scanning
system with a full set of features and options. The software
offers the user many more options if needed or desired. However,
you do not have to delve into this complexity unless you wish.
     The Main Menu has seven choices: Scan, Batch Facilities,
Utilities, Applications, Options, Help, and Quit. The first
choice is Scan. When you press "S" or hit "Enter" to choose it,
the system says "scanning Idle Menu" and starts scanning. We find
this a little misleading. Reading AdvantEdge says "Scanning Idle
Menu" because you can do a few things while there--abort the scan
and enable or disable the Speak-Immediately utility. However, the
primary purpose is to scan, and we were initially confused by the
message, particularly in light of the fact that there is a long
pause before the GS Plus scanner begins. We would prefer a
"Scanning, Please Wait . . . " or similar message.
     As mentioned above, you can have the system speak
immediately or go back later and read the scanned document. The
manual says that the reading may not be quite as accurate with
the Speak-Immediately utility because the decolumnization and
other page formatting steps may not be as accurate. We believe
that this is also the case with the other reviewed systems. Once
in the utility, you can move around using the arrow keys or Alt-
Key combinations. The utility also has the ability to search in
either direction for text strings.
     Next on the Main Menu is Batch Facilities. Like the other
reviewed systems, Reading AdvantEdge has the ability to scan
(record images of) the pages and process them separately. These
procedures are set up and initiated from this Main Menu choice.
     The next choice is Utilities. This is where you save and
retrieve settings, read ASCII files, and do file management tasks
such as copying and deleting files. Applications is the next
choice on the Main Menu. the first application is the Text
Browser, a program which reads ASCII files. There are also four
blanks for plugging in the names of applications you wish to run
from within the Reading AdvantEdge. These could be a word
processor, Braille translation program, etc. You can also
automatically or manually specify a filename at the time the
program is loaded. You can invoke any of the applications using
Function Keys from anywhere within AdvantEdge.
     Options is next on the main menu. This area is probably the
most complex area of the system since some of the choices go down
several layers. There are sub-menus for Text Scanning Options,
Formatting Options, and Image Scanning Options. Under Text
Scanning Options, for example, there are sub-menus for
Recognition Options and Formatting Options. Under Recognition
Options you can set document type, brightness, text type, user
lexicon, language, questionable character threshold, eliminate
halftones, and maximum point size. This list of choices
illustrates the power of the system. The User Lexicon is a user-
defined dictionary for acronyms or other words that the system
might have problems with. The text type can be set to Alpha-
numeric, that is letters and numbers; Numbers Only; User Lexicon
Only; or User Lexicon with Numbers. For example, let us say that
you work in a warehouse and have to scan inventory sheets. You
could define the items you stock in a User Lexicon and set the
Text Type and Filter options so that only numbers and your parts
showed up in the scan. As you can see, there is lots of power and
sophistication in the software.
     Under the Page-Control Options, which is under Text-Scanning
Options, you can set Page Orientation, Document Feeder Presence,
Columns, Cropping Window, Units of Measure, and Width and Height
of the page. Some of these choices can also be set in other parts
of the software, such as in Batch Facilities, adding further to
the number of possible choices.
     Under Formatting Options, which you recall is one of the
three main choices on the Options Menu, you can pick one of
forty-six possible file conversions. There is a good selection of
applications and file formats available. You can also control how
formatting information in the source document is handled in the
output. There are choices for centering, spaces and tabs, end of
line and end of page markup and many other things. The creative
hacker could tinker and perform some pretty specialized
formatting with these options. It would, for example, probably be
possible automatically to substitute the codes used by a Braille
translation software program for formatting information found in
a document.
     The final choice on the Options Menu is Image Scanning. The
software handles TIFF and PCX files, and a full set of options is
available. The last two choices on the Main Menu are Help and
Quit. The help system is context-sensitive and complete.

                        Scanning Results
     Now let's get to what most people consider the important
part of our testing: how accurately these software packages scan
and read documents. We have developed a set of standard documents
that we use to test optical character recognition products. Those
used here are the same as the ones we used in our previous tests
of stand-alone reading machines. These include a poor-quality,
dot-matrix printout--one produced with a 9-pin printer and bad
ribbon; a letter-quality printout; a laser-printed sheet with
different sized serif and sans serif fonts, ranging from six to
fourteen-points in size; a fax; a flyer from Egghead Software;
and a page from a bank statement. The flyer has three columns,
graphics, multiple fonts, and different colors and represents a
fairly complex page layout. We have added some additional pages,
which include letter-quality text skewed at an angle of five,
ten, fifteen, and twenty degrees to test how well the systems
read crooked documents. While these tests are not exhaustive
(they do not test how well the systems preserve formatting
information, for example,) they are practical. The test pages
represent a cross section of the kinds of documents each of us
wants to read.
     For these tests we have also instituted a scoring system.
Scanning most printed pages produces text that falls into one of
five possible categories:
1. Garbage: random characters and indecipherable results.
2. Poor text: mostly garbage with a few understandable words
sprinkled randomly throughout.
3. Fair text: mostly understandable text, but still a relatively
high number of mistakes. Familiar or simple text can be followed,
but unfamiliar or difficult material or material with numbers or
computer commands may not be useable.
4. Good text: very understandable results with only a few
mistakes; problems may occur only with numbers or computer
commands and the like.
5. Excellent text: few if any mistakes, no more than one or two
per page.
     We scanned each page and assigned the appropriate number to
the results. For the typefaces page, which has ten print style-
size combinations, and the skewed pages, which have four results,
a result number was assigned to each combination or page; and the
resulting scores were added together and divided by the number of
items in the group (ten and four respectively) to determine the
composite score. We scanned each of these pages with each
machine. We started with the default settings and changed them
only if the results were bad or if there was a specific setting
for the type of page being scanned (fax or dot-matrix, for
example). So, unless otherwise indicated, brightness, contrast,
and print style settings are at their default or automatic values
for all tests.
 Finally, we scanned all pages with the Reading AdvantEdge three
times. Like previous systems from the company, the software does
better once it has trained itself on a page. Multiple scans
seemed to have no effect with An Open Book Unbound and OsCaR.
     To end the suspense, here are the scores. Then we will try
to explain the results. The winner, with 30.8 points, is
Arkenstone's Open Book Unbound. The second place system, with
26.8 points, is OsCaR from TeleSensory; and Reading AdvantEdge,
with a score of 22.8, came in third. While these differences may
seem significant--and there certainly were some notable
differences--we stress that our results should not be regarded as
the last word. Depending on the kinds of documents you regularly
read, these results may be meaningless to you. To be certain, you
should conduct your own test on all three machines, using a set
of documents you normally read.
     Below is a table listing the results for each machine and
test:

                             SCANNING TEST RESULTS

     (note)  The columns in this table follow each other in this
order:  Open Book; OsCar; Reading Advantage.
Letter-quality:  5; 5; 5
Dot-matrix:  5; 5; 4
Fax:  4; 4; 4
Flyer:  4; 4; 3
Typefaces:  4.8; 4.2; 3.8
Skewed Pages:  4; 2; 1Bank Statement:  4; 2; 2
Totals:  30.8; 26.2; 22.8

     As you can see, all of the systems read the letter-quality
page perfectly. They also read the dot-matrix quite well,
although the Reading AdvantEdge stumbled a little, even though we
changed it to its dot-matrix setting and ran the page through
three times. All of the packages did pretty well with the fax,
stumbling a little on the letterhead and at the bottom. Each
received a score of 4. The Open Book Unbound and OsCaR received a
score of 4 on the Egghead Software flyer, and the Reading
AdvantEdge got a 3. They all had trouble at the top, but in
general it was possible to follow the sense. Overall, the Reading
AdvantEdge missed more words, which resulted in its lower score.
The type faces page had two columns, one of Roman type, one of
San serif type, ranging in size from six to fourteen points. In
general Open Book Unbound, which received a 4.8, read the smaller
sizes better and had no problems with decolumnization. The OsCaR
system got a 4.2 and had a little decolumnization trouble. It
didn't do as well with the smaller sizes. Reading AdvantEdge,
which received a 3.8, had some decolumnization problems along
with problems in the smaller print sizes, and it also stumbled
some right up through the Roman ten-point size, which the other
systems were able to handle.
     With its Version 2.1, Arkenstone says that it can handle
skewed pages up to fifteen degrees. We could only get it to
handle a ten-degree skew, which resulted in a score of 4. OsCar
was able to handle a five-degree skew, netting it a score of 2,
while Reading AdvantEdge couldn't read any of the skewed pages,
resulting in a score of one.
     Finally, there was the infamous bank statement. As you may
recall from the stand-alone tests, the results were
disappointing. This time An Open Book Unbound scored a 4. While
we would still not recommend using the results to reconcile your
bank account, it did read the majority of the information
accurately and did a considerably better job than the other two
systems, which each received a score of 2.

                    Strengths and Weaknesses

     As we pointed out earlier, our scanning tests should not be
regarded as conclusive; you should certainly conduct your own if
possible. Each of the systems has its own strengths and
weaknesses. Further, there are other considerations, such as
price, special discounts, the reliability of your local dealer,
the equipment your friends are using, the access equipment you
have, your experience with systems at work, and more.
     An Open Book Unbound from Arkenstone is relatively easy to
use. It is easy to set up and get into service quickly. This
reflects the stand-alone-reading-machine origins of the product.
The system did win our scanning tests, and in day-to-day use and
demonstrations with a variety of materials brought in by people
on tour, we have found the system to be slightly more accurate
overall. On the negative side, the menu system seems somewhat
cumbersome to use when making changes to the system, and your
speech synthesizer may not be supported, although most are. Also
it is not very easy to save and export files, and some may find
the Library system of pre-defined categories awkward or
restrictive.
     The OsCaR system from TeleSensory is particularly strong
when it is used with the company's own access systems. Everything
speaks well and is exactly synchronized. Overall, the system has
good accuracy, and the revised menu structure is an improvement
over version 3.0. The word correction feature can be quite
useful, as can the user dictionary and second language. On the
negative side, TeleSensory is a company in flux. The company has
changed management twice in less than two years, and rumors
persist that the blindness-products division will be spun off or
sold. Some people have reported support and service problems with
TeleSensory, though we have not had any such problems. If you ask
around enough, you will hear good and bad stories about any
company, particularly the larger ones. The representative in the
Baltimore area has been willing and helpful, although this varies
from place to place. Finally, it may take a little work to get
OsCaR or Reading AdvantEdge to behave with your speech system,
although on the whole they do well.
     Reading AdvantEdge is a sophisticated and powerful system.
There are dozens of settings that can be user-adjusted if you
wish, but they don't have to be. If you wish to tinker, this is
the system for you. While Reading AdvantEdge didn't do as well in
our scanning tests, it read basic materials well and would
probably do a good job for most users. Greg Guidice, marketing
manager for the product, reports that Xerox is continuously
working on optical character recognition improvements, which will
be offered as upgrades as they become available. On the down
side, the number of menus and choices may not appeal to everyone.
We found it easy to get lost at times. It can be difficult to
find one obscure setting if you are not sure where you are.
     Stephen Baum, the author of the software, has made a real
effort to ascertain what blind people want. He is, or at least
was, active on NFB NET, CompuServe, and other BBS's and tries to
respond to questions and input. He has also written some useful
utilities which have been released to the public domain,
including a program to identify money and a utility to strip
headers and footers from text files. Baum has left the company,
although he says that he still might be working with Xerox on a
consulting basis.
     One possible drawback with all the systems is the need to
install a scanner and its interface card. This can be tricky
because the interface is achieved by what is called a SCSI card,
(pronounced scuzzy) which stands for Small Computer Systems
Interface. SCSI adapters require their own memory addresses,
interrupts, and the like. Further, the memory space they use may
have to be excluded from the addresses controlled by a memory
manager such as EMM386 or QEMM. If this all sounds like Greek,
you will probably need some help installing your scanner. The
Open Book Unbound manual provides little assistance in this area
although there are some examples, and many dealers will do
installation for you. The OsCaR and Reading AdvantEdge manuals do
provide some assistance, particularly the Reading AdvantEdge
manual for the scanners the company sells. In fact, there is a
separate installation manual, which is available in Braille.
     As mentioned above, some dealers will help you with scanner
installation. If you don't know something about installing
expansion boards in your computer and about memory management,
you really should plan to seek assistance from a friend, co-
worker, or dealer.

                           Conclusions

     We are asked almost every day, "What should I buy?" Well, it
depends. As you can see from the above reviews, there are many
factors to be considered. There is no one system right for
everyone. That in fact is part of the reason that the National
Federation of the Blind created the International Braille and
Technology Center for the Blind. We have and use all of the
systems under one roof so that we can work with them and get an
idea of their individual strengths and weaknesses. We can then
write reviews like this one and help you decide what is the best
system for you.
     There has been more change in the scanning and OCR area than
in any other arena in the access technology field. Prices have
steadily dropped, both for stand-alone machines and for PC-based
systems, and the technology has improved dramatically. Overall,
all of the scanning results were somewhat better than those we
obtained a year and a half ago when testing stand-alone reading
machines with the same documents.
     The OCR field is in flux at present. In late November an
announcement was made that Caere Corp., the company that provides
TeleSensory's OCR engine, had bought Calera Recognition Systems,
the company that provides Arkenstone's OCR engine. Jim
Fruchterman, President of Arkenstone, admitted that they are
certain that they will get Calera's next upgrade, which will be
used in Arkenstone's Version 3.0, but after that they just don't
know. No announcement has been made about the future of Calera's
products and whether or not they will be maintained as separate
lines. What this merger means to us as blind consumers is
impossible to determine at this point.

                     For Further Information

     For further information or to find out who your local dealer
is, you can contact one of the following:

     Arkenstone, Inc., 1390 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, California
94089; [phone] or [phone].
     TeleSensory, Inc., 455 North Bernardo Ave., P.O. Box 7455,
Mountain View, California 94039-7455; [phone] or (415)
960-0920.
     Xerox Imaging Systems, Inc., 9 Centennial Park Drive,
Peabody, Massachusetts 01960; [phone] or [phone].

     For further information or data on updates and recent
developments, you can also contact the International Braille and
Technology Center for the Blind. You can reach us at the
International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind,
National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore,
Maryland 21230; [phone]. You can also reach us through NFB
NET, our computer bulletin board system, by calling (410) 752-
5011. You can also reach David Andrews via Internet at
[e-mail].
     Reprints of the stand-alone reading machine reviews can
still be ordered in Braille or print from the NFB's Materials
Center or the entire Braille Monitor for August, 1993, can also
be ordered for $2, in print or Braille or on cassette or talking-
book disk. The Braille Monitor and the reprint can also be
downloaded from NFB NET.

[Photo: Ed Vaughan speaks at microphone. Caption: Ed Vaughan]
               BLINDNESS: A PERSPECTIVE FROM CHINA
                   by C. Edwin Vaughan, Ph.D.

     From the Editor: Dr. Edwin Vaughan is Professor of Sociology
at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He delivered the
following remarks near the close of the Wednesday afternoon, July
6, general session of the 1994 convention of the National
Federation of the Blind. This is what he said:

     It is an honor for me to speak to an organization which I
dearly love and am proud to be a member of. The topic, China,
might seem far removed from the previous discussion [on Braille],
but in one sense it isn't. I think all of us who have thought
much about blindness, at least in our organization, have come to
the conclusion that, whatever else it is, blindness is largely a
social phenomenon, not an intrinsic personal tragedy. Our success
depends on what we make of the situation, and that's why we say,
"We're changing what it means to be blind."
     Political, economic, cultural, social, medical--all kinds of
social perspectives go into the kind of presentations we have
heard this afternoon as competing interest groups propound their
definitions of and solutions for the problems facing the blind.
Sometimes it's refreshing to look at a totally different culture
and civilization to see how blindness has developed there,
perhaps to give us a broader vantage from which to look at our
own situation.
     In the past four years I have had the pleasure and privilege
of making three extensive visits to China, once for a year and
then for seven weeks during each of the last two summers. The
first time, as far as I know, I was the first blind teacher at
the university level in China, but I'm not sure about that. The
last two summers I took a group of college students on study
tours in China. My research interest has been on higher education
in China and particularly how higher education is responding to
the current economic reforms. My real interest was to learn about
blind people in China. To that end I visited every blind school I
could, and I interviewed fifty or so individual blind people, all
of whom I think you would be proud to have as members of this
Federation.
     It's awfully hard to talk about another culture in ten
minutes and not give the wrong impression. I'm a great admirer of
China--of its antiquity, of its civilization. I'm also an admirer
of its revolution. I think no other developing country in the
world has done more for its poor people than did Chairman Mao and
the revolution in China. I'm not defending his mistakes after he
became the emperor in effect, but the period of struggle to make
China a new nation, free from colonial domination, and to make
the people proud of their heritage and give them a new start has
made China now one of the most powerful nations on the earth, the
third most productive in gross national product and one of the
world's most rapidly growing economies. It also has one fifth of
the world's population, and I am certain it has more blind people
than any other country on earth.
     In China blindness has a traceable history of more than
twenty-five hundred years. There were advisors to Confucius who
were blind, and there were famous poets, almost certainly from
the wealthy, landed gentry of feudal China. And through all the
intervening years since, there have been hundreds of millions of
very ordinary blind people living quiet lives. But in that
culture blind people developed four distinct kinds of employment:
fortune-telling, blind massage, singing, and begging--not an
unusual occupation in many Asian cultures. Blind people in China
organized themselves, as did all other people, into guilds, that
is, self-governing organizations. Even a thousand years ago there
were organizations of the blind in China in which people
regulated their own behavior and resolved their own problems of
conduct. For example, organizations of blind massage would settle
whose territory was whose, how much should be charged, and so on.
These guilds were not created by professionals or the government.
The members looked after their own interests to promote their own
economic and social well-being. This was true of all other
craftsmen and workers in societies around the world where
governments were not strong and people organized to protect their
own interests. I would guess that blind people in China lived a
quiet life. But they lived a life that was recognized within
China, at least, as an area in which they had a domain they
controlled themselves.
     There was no tradition of schools for the blind. There was
no humanitarian, civil-rights, human-rights philosophy in China.
These things are alien to that culture. Western missionaries, who
were part of the baggage of feudalism and colonialism, brought
the first schools for the blind to China beginning around 1880.
Those schools persisted even through the Revolution and the
Japanese War until 1949. But with the establishment of the
People's Republic of China, an effort at social control was
brought to bear as Chairman Mao tried to solidify and stabilize a
new and enormous country with more than half a billion people at
that time. Because of all the external pressure, including that
of the United States, the government became totalitarian and
oppressive, and every single independent organization was
abolished. That is, the state had a party member in every kind of
organization that it permitted. The former autonomous
organizations of blind people were gone. Now any organizations or
schools that existed were headed by political cadres, appointees
of the government, usually because of their personal connections
rather than their qualifications.
     Things went even worse for blind people during the period of
the Cultural Revolution. In 1966 Chairman Mao introduced a
program called the anti-four-olds program. He thought China could
only modernize and secularize if it could get rid of its feudal
past, which included getting rid of Confucianism, loyalty to the
family (rather than the state), superstitious things like
fortune-telling, and non-productive things like blind massage and
singing. When you think about it, the things he banned weren't so
different from many things in our country. We have television,
chiropractors, and new-age religion--things that roughly
correspond to what those blind people were doing in China at the
time of the Cultural Revolution. But they were persecuted, and
many were forced to cease their activities altogether and become
wards of the new socialist, humanist state.
     Chairman Mao died in 1976, and in 1978 Deng Xiaoping
initiated a new kind of open-door policy to the West, inviting
capital, modern technology, and new ideas to help improve China's
standard of living and to modernize China's society. That
included openness to people from this country and around the
world to bring technology and ideas about the education of blind
people. In the intervening years the number of schools for the
blind and deaf has mushroomed.
     There has also been an unusual development, perhaps peculiar
to China. Deng Xiaoping's son, Deng PuFang, was injured during
the Cultural Revolution. He fell from the third story of a
building as part of a political struggle session and had to use a
wheelchair for the rest of his life. While reflecting upon his
personal condition, he began to think of the absence of a set of
values in China in which a person with a disability has the same
right as anybody else to participate in society. So Deng PuFang
began to raise money because his father wouldn't give the money
from the state. He began to raise money to promote the cause of
handicapped people, and he also organized the China Disabled
People's Association, which has gotten a lot of publicity within
China about why people with disabilities ought to participate and
be included in society. Factories were started to employ
handicapped people. Much has been done. In fact, I think China
has done more than any other developing nation in the world to
promote the cause of handicapped people.
     Having said all these good things, I must also mention some
negative features. First of all, blindness is incorporated in
this larger umbrella organization and in my judgment is faring
quite poorly. In the traditional culture of China very little was
expected of blind people. Everyone I interviewed said that
employers would rather hire a deaf person or a mobility-
handicapped person, because they think that blind people can do
nothing. On my last trip, which ended two days ago, I interviewed
quite a few blind people in different parts of China that I had
not been in before. I interviewed two blind massage doctors as
they call themselves, who were doing blind massage outside the
hotel in Chengdu, where I was staying. I asked them why they were
doing this at ten or eleven o'clock at night. The answer was that
the public officials would not permit them to work during
daylight. They didn't want tourists to see blind people sitting
out there doing massages. They also said that, when government
programs were going on, big doings with high cadres in the city,
all blind musicians and other blind people were forced off the
streets because they are an embarrassment.
     My hope for China is that we can find ways to share at
culturally appropriate levels what we have learned. There is an
openness in China for this to happen. Many professional
organizations go there and have high level meetings. As a
sociologist I'm convinced that the best way to share knowledge is
by demonstration. Perhaps people like Fred Schroeder, Rami Rabby,
and James Gashel could find a way to convince our government or
foundations to establish a kind of Peace Corps of blind people.
The Peace Corps is now in China for the first time, and I'm
certain we could find ways to place blind Americans to teach
people in China independent living skills, mobility, and English
language skills. For example, Eileen Rivera's translation of our
Spanish colleague's presentation this morning is a perfect
example of what blind people in China could do if they had an
education comparable to that of other people.
     I look forward to the day when China will have its own
National Federation of the Blind and its Jacobus tenBroek. That
might happen because some of us, some of you, go to China or
South Africa or Guatemala or other countries and share, not in an
imperialistic way, but in a doing, teaching way, some of our
values about independent living, self-determination, and the full
realization of our abilities to participate in society. Thank you
very much.

                EXPLORE YOUR LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY
                       by Priscilla Hudson

     From the Editor: Priscilla Hudson is a long-time
Federationist and an active member of the National Federation of
the Blind of Colorado. She works as a librarian in Boulder.
Federationists probably know her best as one of the people who
work with Diane McGeorge on door prizes at National Conventions.
Last year she married Don Hudson, a member of the Board of
Directors of the Merchants Division. She addressed the Division
at its meeting last summer during the Detroit convention, and her
remarks were printed in the Fall, 1994, issue of the Merchants
Messenger, a publication of the Merchants Division of the
National Federation of the Blind. We would all do well to keep
abreast of changing library services in our local communities.
Here is Priscilla Hudson's report on what's new:

     Public libraries are everywhere. Small towns, neighborhoods,
big cities--all have public libraries, and there should be one
near you. To find out, check your local telephone directory.
Libraries are listed in most yellow pages with addresses and
telephone numbers.
     Today's public library is a magic place. No longer filled
with the somber, quiet atmosphere of studious research, libraries
have evolved into centers of activity and information-delivery of
all kinds. To acquaint you with some of the more interesting
services available at your public library, I have put together an
armchair-traveler's journey.

                       How Do I Get There?
     You can visit your public library three ways. You can go
there in person. Libraries are usually centrally located and
therefore close to public transportation services. You can call
your library on the telephone. Telephone services are available
during the hours the library is open for what is called
telephone-reference questions. Many libraries will fax
information to you.
     You can dial your library on your home computer. Many
libraries have their catalogue and often the catalogues of
adjoining library systems available through dial-up access. This
service works like any other computer dial-up service. You need a
personal computer, modem, and communications software.

                        What to See There
     In addition to books, libraries have all kinds of materials
these days. If you are visiting your library, ask about these
other collections. Most libraries have recorded materials,
including music and books on tape. Most have large video
collections. Most libraries are switching from music recordings
on long-playing records to compact discs. Opera, new age, rock,
jazz, classical, country are all to be found in the music section
of your library. Books on tape are a recent addition to the media
section of libraries. These audio cassettes are conventional
tapes that play on a standard cassette player. They are extremely
popular and often checked out.
     Audio cassettes providing foreign-language instruction are
also to be found in the library. My library, for example, has
instructional tapes for Spanish, French, German, Italian, Arabic,
Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, and some others, too.
     Public libraries subscribe to many magazines to provide a
wide variety of information to their patrons. Some libraries
allow magazines to be checked out, and some only allow them to be
used in the library. Ask your librarian about the magazine
section and the services offered there. My library in Boulder,
Colorado, subscribes to more than 1200 magazines, from Newsweek
to Ski Magazine.

                        What to Do There
     Programs open and free to the public are scheduled weekly at
public libraries. Story hours for children are probably the most
well known type of program, but most libraries today offer art
exhibits, film programs, concerts, lectures, discussion groups,
and community-participation workshops. Be sure to ask for the
library's activities and program calendar when you call or visit.

                       Services Available
     Inter-library loan is a service that has been around for a
long time. If you are in need of some book or other material that
is not available at your library, you may request that it be
located at another library and sent to you. There is no charge
for this service at most libraries.
     If the material you need is checked out to someone else, a
library will allow you to request that the item be saved for you
when it is returned. This is usually called a "reserve" or a
"hold." There is no charge for this service at most libraries.
     Libraries offer special services to meet the needs of their
particular communities. My library has a Braille-output Center,
where information is put into a computer, translated into Grade
II Braille, and embossed using a Braille printer. This service is
done on a request-only basis for the public at a cost of ten
cents per page to pay for the paper. My library also has an adult
literacy program, which offers one-on-one tutoring to adults
needing reading assistance or instruction. My library also
delivers books and other library materials to people who are
unable to come to us. This is called our Homebound program. Ask
your library about their special programs.
     Reference services are heavily used by all ages and
professions of patrons. The most widely asked-for information is
about education and business. Vendors in the Business Enterprise
Program for the Blind are independent business persons no
different from any other small business operator in the United
States. Successful and creative business people are always
searching for new markets, new products, new enticements for
their customers. Where does one find this information? Talking to
other vendors or using the wealth of information found at every
local public library around the United States.
     Do you know who your customers are? Men, women,
professionals, civil servants? Do you know what they buy? Of
course you do. But do you know what they buy when they aren't in
your establishment? You can find out at the public library.
     When you hear about a new product, do you wonder if it will
be popular with your customer base? When you hear about a new
product but your distributors don't carry it, you can find out
who does at your local public library. It doesn't take a genius
to know that, if you sell soft drinks, you must sell Coke and/or
Pepsi. But, if you want to offer a variety soft drink such as
grape or orange or root beer, do you know the brand that holds
the greatest market share in your geographical part of the
country, among the demographics of your customer base? You can
find out at your local public library.
     "Okay," you say, "I'll bite. What do I say when I call the
library or go there? Who do I ask? What do I ask for? I don't
want to look stupid." Every central library, but not all branches
of public libraries around the country, have what are called
reference librarians and reference materials. Some libraries have
more information than others, but all libraries can get the
information. If you call on the telephone, ask to speak to a
reference librarian in the business area. Telephone numbers for
libraries are listed in local telephone directories and are also
available from information assistance.
     Once you have the librarian on the line or, if you walk in,
once you are in the right department, ask the exact question you
want to know first. Reference librarians are trained to do what
they call a "reference interview." This means that librarians
will ask you questions about what you are looking for and
continue to ask you until you are satisfied that you have
received the information you were seeking. If you receive
information that is not quite what you need, say so. The
librarians will not mind because the mission of libraries is to
provide information. Sometimes the librarian will not be able to
find the information with the materials on hand and will need to
do further exploration for you. You need to leave your name and
telephone number so that the librarian can contact you when the
information is found.
     How is the library able to get all of this information? What
other kinds of information are in the library that people use
every day? These questions have never-ending answers, but to
explain it simply, today's libraries have connections, electronic
and others, with a great majority of the libraries around the
world. Libraries are committed to sharing their resources with
other libraries so that the public can receive information from
almost anywhere in a short period of time. Computer networks and
fax facilities allow for information to be delivered within
minutes. Reference libraries usually have a number of basic
resources in house for patron use. These resources include things
like Thomas Register, which lists products and their
manufacturers.

                     How Much Does It Cost?
     There is no charge for information. However, if you are
photocopying something or getting a fax or a printout from a
computer screen, there will be a minimum charge. The public
library is the best bargain around. So the next time you have a
question about something, try your library. You may end up making
it a habit.


              A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE GRAND CANYON
                        by Deborah Hartz

     From the Editor: When I was a Girl Scout, my troop
occasionally went camping at the local scout camp grounds.
Cooking was done over an open fire, but at night we unrolled our
sleeping bags on bunk beds and settled in for as much whispering
and as little sleep as the adults would let us get away with.
Each time my ambition was to sleep on one of the top bunks. But
every time we went through the same scenario: I made a bee line
for the bunk room and staked out my claim on a top bunk in the
middle of the room, where I wouldn't miss anything. But when we
went in to get ready for bed, I would find my bed roll on a
bottom bunk at one end or the other. The scout leader had come in
and seen the bunk I had chosen and had moved my gear to a safe
location. Not only did her action keep me close to the floor, but
by the time she had perpetrated the atrocity, all the centrally
located lower bunks had been taken, and some late-comer had
already snatched my central bunk.
     I was never able to convince any of the long line of scout
leaders to let me remain in the top bunk I had grabbed. In vain I
pointed out that I had never fallen out of bed. It didn't matter;
there was a first time for everything. I argued that all people
slept with their eyes closed, so I was no more likely than anyone
else to get hurt. I might as well save my breath to cool my
porridge--or more accurately, my slightly cooked pancake batter
with too much syrup. They had promised my mother they would keep
me safe, and they were going to take no chances.
     Today I laugh at those misguided efforts to modify camping
routine to make it safe and accessible to a blind child. And,
when I hear stories of the guide ropes and hand rails installed
in various facilities to assist blind campers, I often wonder if
we have made much progress during the years since my childhood.
Then I stumble on something like the following--a family engaged
in outdoor activity and naturally and sensibly finding ways to
include the blind child in all the fun, and I conclude that there
actually is hope. The article is reprinted from When the Blizzard
Blows, the most recent book in our Kernel series of paperbacks.
It begins with Dr. Jernigan's introductory note. Here it is:

     Deborah Hartz and her husband of Tucson, Arizona, decided
that their daughter's blindness was not going to be a barrier to
them or her in the enjoyment of a special vacation. They
explained to skeptical friends that there were more ways than one
to experience the Grand Canyon and that they intended to make the
most of the opportunity to see it in a different way. Here is
their story:

     We stop to rest at the edge of the Tonto Plateau. Andrea
tips back her canteen and drinks deeply. The water's hot from
hours in the sun. Before her spreads the wide canyon.
     Andrea listens. "I hear it. I hear the river."
     Her baby sister, Laura, bounces in my backpack.
     "Are you hot, Lolo? Here. I'll give you some water." Andrea
finds the baby's mouth under the wide brim of the sun bonnet and
tilts the canteen carefully.
     "OK, Mom, I'm ready." Andrea reaches for my wrist, and we
continue down the trail singing "Kookaburra." Soft dust puffs up
around our feet with each step. Below us a sheer cliff drops
away. Andrea is not bothered by the drop-off; she doesn't see it.
     Andrea Barker, an experienced hiker, is blind. At the time
of our Grand Canyon hike, Andrea was seven.
     "That hike was neat because Grandpa and Uncle Myron hiked
with us. My sister, Laura, was eight months old. She got to ride
in Mom's backpack," Andrea recalls. "Pack it in, pack it out,"
says the trail sign. On that hike we had four days of dirty
diapers to pack out.
     Our hike began on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Because
the South Kaibab trail is steep and deeply rutted, we often
modified our guide technique. Andrea walked directly behind me
and held onto the sleeping bag which was tied to the baby's pack.
Movement of my pack gave Andrea a good idea of the trail ahead. A
safety line connected the two of us.
     The night before our hike the temperature on the rim had
been close to freezing. It grew steadily hotter as we descended
into the canyon.
     "I was glad when we got to the tunnel," continued Andrea.
"It was cool, and I've always loved echoes. The suspension bridge
was fun, too. It swayed some, and our feet made neat noises as we
crossed--like the Three Billy Goats Gruff. The breeze from the
river felt good."
     The Bright Angel Campground at the bottom of the canyon was
a welcome oasis. Water, large trees, flush toilets, picnic
tables! A turkey wandered through the campsites ignoring the
campers. Andrea was asleep before the tents were up.
     In the morning we walked to Phantom Ranch, where Andrea
mailed a postcard to her teacher, written in Braille using a
slate and stylus. Mail from Phantom Ranch is packed out of the
canyon on mules. The lodge and restaurant at Phantom Ranch are
supplied by pack mules. We waded in the Colorado River and built
sand castles before beginning the long hike out of the inner
canyon.
     On the trail we made up stories and songs to keep us going
on the steep, uphill climb. One round was sung to the tune of
"Three Blind Mice." "Ringtailed cats, ringtailed cats. See how
they run. See how they run. They run up the packbars to get in
our packs. They eat all the fig bars that Grandpa has. Have you
ever seen such a sight in your life as ringtailed cats,
ringtailed cats."
     Would she want to hike the Grand Canyon again? "Yes,
definitely!" responds Andrea. "I'm in better shape now. It would
be easier. When someone tells you how big the Grand Canyon is,
you just can't understand it. You have to walk it yourself to
really understand the size."

[Photo: Portrait. Caption: Bill Isaacs]
                        NO CANE, NO DOG!
                        by Bill J. Isaacs

     From the Editor: The following article first appeared in
When the Blizzard Blows, the most recent in our Kernel series of
paperback books. It begins with Dr. Jernigan's introductory note.
Here it is:

     Today Bill Isaacs is a retired college professor and one of
the leaders of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois.
Now he helps others understand that it is respectable to be
blind. But it wasn't always like that. Here he tells of
experiences he had before he began carrying a white cane to let
others know that he had very limited sight. Bill now uses a guide
dog.

     I grew up with tunnel vision due to a congenital disease
known as choroidoremia. The females are the carriers, while their
male offspring are apt to become blind. I had a visual field of
about three to five degrees (twenty degrees or less is classified
as legally blind). I could see color; I could read a little,
although I could see perhaps only four or five letters at a time.
     On the farm I milked the cows; I worked in the garden; I
hoed in the fields; I set tomatoes behind a planter; I even drove
a Ford tractor with the wide front wheels, with which I plowed
and cultivated.
     Then, after graduating from high school, I went off to the
big city, where I attended a business college for twelve months.
Following the completion of my work at this college, I worked in
a private warehouse office for a couple of years, before taking a
Civil Service exam, which led to a job in the U.S. Treasury
Department, where I served as a claims examiner for corrections
on income tax returns.
      I was in my early twenties before I was even aware that I
was legally blind. It's one thing to know that you are legally
blind, but it's quite another thing to come to terms with it. I
knew I had poor vision and saw virtually nothing after dark. I
grew up in a small, quiet, rural community amidst a family of
sixteen children, where nearly everybody in the county knew some
member of the family. I never felt blind. I was usually with some
member of the family, for everybody else around understood my
situation better than I did myself.
     Later, however, things were different. I faced new
situations in the big city, where people didn't know me and I did
not understand my own limitations. Later still, seven years after
having graduated from high school, I enrolled in an out-of-state
college to prepare to become a history teacher. That is when the
bombshell really hit me.
     I found myself surrounded by numerous strangers and a new
environment which I did not know. It was not too difficult at
first since my younger brother came to college and shared my dorm
room, but after about six weeks, because of both homesickness and
lovesickness, he returned home and got a job and was soon
married. Mind you, I never used a cane, wore dark glasses, or
even dreamed of using a guide dog. I told no one that I was
blind.
     I got myself into awkward positions in crowded stairways and
hallways. My limited vision did not adjust well from a bright,
sunny day to the darkness of a building interior. I could not
read room numbers identifying classrooms. I found it embarrassing
and difficult to participate in activities after dusk. Games
involving motion (such as football or playing tag) were out for
me.
     The real shocker came one day, when a veteran student, who
had suffered torture in a Chinese prison camp during the Korean
War, rather bluntly made the following remarks to me: "Bill, why
do you come walking into the classroom each day as if you were
the king of the walk? You never greet anyone. You march to the
front of the room and across the front to the window side without
acknowledging anyone."
     I had to stop and analyze that comment a bit. I had to admit
that what he said was true. I nearly always sat in the front row
on the window side to get the maximum amount of light so I could
see to take notes. When my body is in motion, such as walking, I
have to concentrate all my powers on the tiny patch that I see
for mobility purposes.
     Consequently, I did not see anyone--or if I did, it was only
a small portion of their body, which was an obstacle to be
bypassed. I think you can begin to see the picture here. The
white cane would have been a silent answer to many questions. Out
of my frustration I went to my English professor, with whom I had
developed friendly relations.
     She encouraged me to talk about my problem as part of my
speech requirement in that class. I did that toward the end of my
first semester. Immediately thereafter, as news spread by word of
mouth to other students and faculty members, my isolation and
feeling of blindness evaporated.
     Whether I was at the college, on a bus, or at a terminal,
students and faculty alike understood my situation and often
offered their services to help when they thought I needed them.
Of course, that sort of thing can be overdone at times, but it
can also be rather comforting to know that they know you are
blind.
     As I look back, I realize how much easier it would have been
if I had carried a white cane to let people know I was blind. I
think particularly of an incident when I was working at the U.S.
Treasury Department. In this job I rode in a car pool, where I
was picked up at a busy downtown intersection. One Friday night,
when I thought everybody else was staying in town, a car pulled
up and parked, and I opened the door to enter. Just before
getting into the car, I heard a lady running up behind me towards
the car, so I let her get in first. Then I got in.
     After driving two or three blocks, the driver said, "Are you
going to go to the bank with us?" As soon as he spoke, I knew he
was not my driver. The lady thought I was with the driver, the
driver thought I was with his wife, and I had embarrassingly to
get out of the car at another busy intersection and get back to
my place in a hurry--and with considerable difficulty. The white
cane would have been the answer.
     I finally started using the white cane about twenty years
after I should have started with it, and now I wonder why I was
so foolish or so ill-informed about it. If you have restricted
vision, the general sighted public considers you blind, whether
you are or not. The white cane is not only a silent, explanatory
symbol that goes straight to the point, but it is a very useful
piece of equipment. It does, as it were, extend your fingers all
the way to the ground. It picks up many messages and relays them
to you better than the shuffling of your feet or the trailing of
your fingers.
     Of course you will have some embarrassment when you first
attempt to use a cane, but after two or three weeks of continual
use, picking up the cane becomes as routine as brushing your
teeth or putting on your glasses.


                  MY NFB CONVENTION EXPERIENCE
                      by Jaclyn L. Kusters

     From the Editor: The following article was first printed in
the Fall, 1994, edition of The Wisconsin Chronicle, the
publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin.
Jackie Kusters is a junior at the University of Wisconsin,
Parkside, working toward a bachelor of arts degree in elementary
education. She is a wife and mother of five children. She was the
1994 winner of the NFB of Wisconsin scholarship. As part of her
award she also received a scholarship to attend the 1994
convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Detroit.
She found the experience life-changing. I first met her early in
the convention after she had heard me talking with a group about
our effort to identify people interested in recording their
experiences learning (or being denied) Braille as children. We
were planning to make a videotape during the convention. Jackie
came to me and told me I must have been talking about her
experience when I was outlining the old familiar story of
instruction denied.
     Jackie turned up at the taping site at the right time and
talked about her education and how much difference learning
Braille would have made in her life. If you have watched our
video, That the Blind May Read, she is the young woman who
identifies herself as twenty-eight years old. As you will see,
the NFB and the convention have had a profound impact on her and
her future. This is what she says:

     On June 30 I boarded a plane, destination Detroit, Michigan,
and the 1994 National Federation of the Blind convention. I had
been fortunate enough to be awarded a $1,000 state scholarship
from the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin.
Attendance at the National Convention was part of the scholarship
award. At the very least I thought I'd have a great vacation;
and, with all expenses paid by the NFB-W, how could I possibly
lose?
     Well let me tell you--the Detroit convention was no
vacation. Instead it was a Mecca of sorts. For me it was truly a
spiritual endeavor. At first it was a chance to stand back and
observe. Then, as I became more enlightened, it became a chance
to inch forward slowly, embrace the Federation, and finally be
set free and allowed the privilege of carrying the Federation's
message to others.
     Throughout my stay at the convention I rode an emotional
roller coaster. For the first time I was able to immerse myself
in a setting as natural and comfortable to me as breathing. I
quickly found that my customary pretenses were not necessary
among my true peers. They saw me for who and what I really am,
not what I had always thought I was expected to be. Though I had
never met any Federationists before, they embraced me as brothers
and sisters. We were truly kindred spirits.
     Sometimes I also felt frustration and a hint of anger. Why
had I suffered alone for so long? Why hadn't anyone ever told me
that there was such a thing as the National Federation of the
Blind? Why had it come into my life now? I pushed these questions
from my mind until later when I would have a chance to give them
serious thought.
     After my return home I gave my feelings and questions deep
consideration. I accepted the fact that no child, even one with a
visual impairment, comes with a how-to or where-to guide. It was
unfortunate that I hadn't known the NFB existed until now, but
anger wouldn't change the fact. I had allowed society and myself
to turn me into a victim. I guess we are all victims of ignorance
in one way or another.
     I realized it was time to quit being angry, stop feeling
sorry for myself, and address my final question--why the NFB now?
I believe there is a time to every purpose. The NFB has come to
me at a time when I can be an asset to it as it will always be to
me. I have adopted a new attitude: you are only handicapped if
you allow society or yourself to think that you are! One of the
most important messages I gleaned from the convention came during
President Maurer's banquet speech. He talked about the flutter of
a butterfly's wing being powerful enough to cause a storm on the
other side of the world. I realized that he was talking about me!
It was a beautiful analogy of my convention experience. I had
been a caterpillar inching my way through life. I came to the
convention in my cocoon so nothing could harm me. Slowly I
emerged and, as I did so, a miraculous thing occurred; I became a
beautiful butterfly. I spread my wings and made ready to fly
forth with the message of the NFB. "We are the National
Federation of the Blind. We are not a group speaking for blind
people; we are the voice of the blind. We are the blind speaking
for ourselves!" Though my journey to spread the message may not
always be an easy one, I will prevail because I am strong and I
am not alone!
     I send a very special heartfelt thank-you to the Wisconsin
scholarship committee for allowing me the honor of being NFB-W's
1994 scholarship recipient. I also thank the National Federation
of the Blind of Wisconsin President, Bonnie Peterson. It is a
true gift to know her. I am honored beyond words to have her as
my mentor and, most especially, my friend.


                        CHICAGO NOTEBOOK
                      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 Illinois affiliate, which will host our 1995 convention
this coming July. This is what he has to say about the state we
will be visiting:

     Whenever I travel to another city, I try to learn something
of its history and its current climate. This helps to make the
place more real, tangible, a part of me; and it makes me feel a
part of it. I hope that this very brief description of Illinois
and Chicago will make your stay in the Windy City more memorable.
     Illinois was admitted to the Union on December 3, 1880. Its
name is the French form of the word "Illiniwek," the name of the
group of Indians who lived here before the arrival of the white
man. The name means "the men" or "the superior men." Illinois
makes its unique place among our fifty states because of its
location, natural resources, climate, and unusual people. Among
Illinoisans who have helped to shape our nation and bring us to
where we are are Jane Addams, social reformer; Nelson Algren,
writer; John Peter Altgeld, political leader; Sherwood Anderson,
writer; Philip Armour, head of one of the world's largest meat-
packing firms; Saul Bellow, winner of the Nobel Prize in
literature; Jack Benny, entertainer; Gwendolyn Brooks, Illinois
Poet Laureate; William Jennings Bryan, lawyer and politician;
Clarence Darrow, lawyer; Charles G. Dawes, financier, diplomat,
U.S. Vice President, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; John Deere,
inventor and manufacturer; Walt Disney, motion picture animator
and producer; Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, pioneer and trader,
first person to build a permanent house in what is now Chicago;
Enrico Fermi, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics and an
architect of the nuclear age; Marshall Field, merchant; U. S.
Grant, Civil War general and President of the United States;
Ernest Hemingway, writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in
Literature; John Harold Johnson, founder and President of Johnson
Publishing Company, the leading black-owned business in the
United States, and publisher of Ebony Magazine; Abraham Lincoln;
Vachel Lindsay, poet; Cyrus McCormick, inventor and
industrialist; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect; Dwight Moody,
evangelist and founder of the Moody Church and Moody Bible
Institute; George M. Pullman, railroad inventor and railroad
industrialist; Ronald Reagan, actor and President of the United
States; Carl Sandburg, poet, biographer; Joseph Smith, founder
and first president of the Mormon Church; Gustavus Swift, founder
of Swift & Company; A. Montgomery Ward, founder of the world's
first mail order business; Daniel Hale Williams, surgeon; Frank
Lloyd Wright, architect; and William Wrigley, industrialist. This
list represents only a handful of people who shape this state,
its economy, politics, literature, art, and culture.
     Let's look at some other interesting facts:
    The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1847.
    The Chicago Board of Trade, the world's largest trader
     of commodities was founded April 3, 1848.
    Northwestern University, one of the nation's top ten
     universities, was founded in 1881.
    David Kennison, who participated in the Boston Tea
     Party and was one of the survivors of the Fort Dearborn
     Massacre, died at the age of 115 and is buried in
     Chicago's Lincoln Park.
    Marshall Field opened his famous store at the
     intersection of Washington and State on October 12,
     1868. The growth of his business and his personal
     wealth made him at one time the largest single tax
     payer in America. He refused to be assessed by the city
     on more than 2.5 million dollars.
    Illinois Bell Telephone began service to Chicago in
     1878.
    Grant Park and the area on which the Chicago Hilton and
     Towers stands was lake bottom until the 1870's. These sites
     now occupy land created by rubble from the Great Chicago
     Fire of 1871.
    Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, published in 1905, exposed
     deplorable conditions in the meat-packing industry.
     Establishment of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration
     and federal inspection of all meat products were direct
     results of this expose. This book has been published in
     twenty-seven languages and more than 1,000 editions.
    The first Chicago radio station began broadcasting in
     1921 with the call letters KWY. In 1937 it relocated to
     Philadelphia. In 1922 radio stations WMAQ and WGN began
     broadcasting. One of WGN's first broadcasts was of the
     Scopes Trial in Tennessee. Clarence Darrow and William
     Jennings Bryan were opposing attorneys.
    In 1942 scientists led by Enrico Fermi achieved the
     world's first self-sustaining nuclear reaction under
     the grandstands of the University of Chicago's Stagg
     Field.
    By the way, the University of Chicago was founded by
     William Rainey Harper in 1891. Harper graduated from
     high school at the age of nine and from college at the
     age of thirteen. He earned a Ph.D. by the age of
     nineteen.
    In 1954 Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's hamburger
     stand in Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb northwest of
     Chicago.
     There are some who believe still that Chicago's only claims
to fame are its politics and its legendary criminals, but there
is ample evidence that Chicago's people have made significant
contributions in the arts, sciences, business and industry,
agriculture, entertainment, and indeed all facets of human
experience. Keep all of this information in mind as a foundation
for what you will read in future issues of the Monitor and for
what you will experience in July of 1995.

                 ******************************
     If you or a friend would like to remember the National
Federation of the
Blind in your will, you can do so by employing the following
language:
     "I give, devise, and bequeath unto National Federation of
the Blind,
1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, a District of
Columbia
nonprofit corporation, the sum of $_____ (or "_____ percent of my
net estate"
or "The following stocks and bonds: _____") to be used for its
worthy purposes
on behalf of blind persons."
                 ******************************


        SOCIAL SECURITY, SSI, AND MEDICARE FACTS FOR 1995
                         by James Gashel

     From the Editor: James Gashel is the National Federation of
the Blind's Director of Governmental Affairs.

     The beginning of each year brings with it annual adjustments
in Social Security programs. The changes include new tax rates,
higher exempt earnings amounts, Social Security and SSI
cost-of-living increases, and changes in deductible and
co-insurance requirements under Medicare. Here are the new facts
for 1995:
     FICA and Self-Employment Tax Rates: The FICA tax rate for
employees and their employers remains at 7.65%. This rate
includes payments to the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability
Insurance (OASDI) Trust Fund of 6.2% and an additional 1.45%
payment to the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, from which
payments under Medicare are made. Self-employed persons continue
to pay a Social Security tax of 15.3%. This includes 12.4% which
is paid to the OASDI trust fund and 2.9% which is paid to the HI
trust fund.
     Ceiling on Earnings Subject to Tax: During 1994 the ceiling
on taxable earnings for contributions to the OASDI trust fund was
$60,600. The taxable income ceiling for contributions to the
OASDI trust fund during 1995 is $61,200. As was true in 1994,
there is no ceiling on earnings that are subject to the HI trust
fund tax contribution of 1.45% for employees or 2.9% for self-
employed persons.
     Quarters of Coverage: Eligibility for retirement, survivors,
and disability insurance benefits is based in large part on the
number of quarters of coverage earned by any individual during
periods of work. Anyone may earn up to four quarters of coverage
during a single year. During 1994 a Social Security quarter of
coverage was credited for earnings of $620 in any calendar
quarter. Anyone who earned $2,480 for the year (regardless of
when the earnings occurred during the year) was given four
quarters of coverage. In 1995 a Social Security quarter of
coverage will be credited for earnings of $630 during a calendar
quarter. Four quarters can be earned with annual earnings of
$2,520.
     Exempt Earnings: The earnings exemption for blind people
receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits is
the same as the exempt amount for individuals age sixty-five
through sixty-nine who receive Social Security retirement
benefits. The monthly exempt amount in 1994 was $930 of gross
earned income. During 1995 the exempt amount will be $940.
Technically, this exemption is referred to as an amount of
monthly gross earnings which does not show "substantial gainful
activity." Earnings of $940 or more per month before taxes for a
blind SSDI beneficiary in 1995 will show substantial gainful
activity after subtracting any unearned (or subsidy) income and
applying any deductions for impairment-related work expenses.
     Social Security Benefit Amounts for 1995: All Social
Security benefits (including retirement, survivors', disability,
and dependents' benefits) are increased by 2.8% beginning with
the checks received in January, 1995. The exact dollar increase
for any individual will depend upon the amount being paid.
     Standard SSI Benefit Increase: Beginning January, 1995, the
federal payment amounts for SSI individuals and couples are as
follows: individuals, $458 per month; couples, $687 per month.
These amounts are increased from individuals, $446 per month;
couples, $669 per month.
     Medicare Deductibles and Co-insurance: Medicare Part A
coverage provides hospital insurance to most Social Security
beneficiaries. The co-insurance payment is the charge that the
hospital makes to a Medicare beneficiary for any hospital stay.
Medicare then pays the hospital charges above the beneficiary's
co-insurance amount.
     The Part A co-insurance amount charged for hospital services
within a benefit period of not longer than sixty days was $696
during 1994 and is increased to $716 during 1995. Beginning with
the sixty-first day through the ninetieth day, there is a daily
co-insurance amount of $179 per day, up from $174 in 1994. Each
Medicare beneficiary has sixty "reserve days" for hospital
services provided within a benefit period longer than ninety
days. The co-insurance amount to be paid during each reserve day
is $358, up from $348 in 1994.
     Part A of Medicare pays all covered charges for services in
a skilled nursing facility for the first twenty days within a
benefit period. Beginning with the twenty-first day through the
one hundredth day within a benefit period, the Part A co-
insurance amount for services received in a skilled nursing
facility is $89.50 per day.
     For most beneficiaries there is no monthly premium charge
for Medicare Part A coverage. Persons who become ineligible for
Social Security Disability Insurance cash benefits can continue
to receive Medicare Part A coverage premium-free for thirty-nine
months following the end of a trial work period. After that time
the individual may purchase Part A coverage. The premium rate for
this coverage during 1995 is $261 per month. During 1995 this
premium rate is reduced by 30% for individuals who have earned at
least thirty quarters of coverage under Social Security covered
employment. For such individuals the monthly premium rate for
purchasing Medicare Part A coverage during 1995 will be $183.
     The Medicare Part B (medical insurance) deductible remains
at $100 in 1995. This is an annual deductible amount. The
Medicare Part B basic monthly premium rate will increase from
$41.10 charged to each beneficiary and withheld from Social
Security checks during 1994 to $46.10 per month during 1995.
Medicare Part B coverage may be continued for persons who
complete a trial work period and become ineligible to receive
Social Security Disability Insurance cash benefits. This monthly
premium rate is $46.10, the same amount paid by Social Security
beneficiaries through withholding from their monthly Social
Security checks.
     Programs Which Help with Medicare Deductibles and Premiums:
Low-income Medicare beneficiaries may qualify for help with
payments. Assistance is available through two programs - QMB
(Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program) and SLMB (Specified Low-
income Medicare Beneficiary program).
     Under the QMB program states are required to pay the
Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical
Insurance) premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance expenses for
Medicare beneficiaries who meet the program's income and resource
requirements. Under the SLMB program states pay only the full
Medicare Part B monthly premium ($46.10 in 1995). Eligibility for
the SLMB program may be retroactive for up to three calendar
months.
     Both programs are administered by the Health Care Financing
Administration (HCFA) in conjunction with the states. The rules
vary from state to state; but, in general:

     An individual may qualify for the QMB program if his or
     her income is near the national poverty level,
     approximately $7,596 annually for an individual (about
     $633 per month) and $10,080 annually for a family of
     two (or $840 per month). These amounts apply for
     residents of forty-eight of the fifty states and the
     District of Columbia. In Alaska the income threshold
     used to define poverty is approximately $9,444 annually
     for an individual ($787 per month) and $12,540 annually
     for a family of two ($1,045 per month). In Hawaii the
     income threshold used to define poverty is
     approximately $8,712 annually ($726 per month) for an
     individual and $11,556 annually ($963 per month) for a
     family of two.
     For the SLMB program annual income must be 110 percent
     or less of the national poverty levels. Under both
     programs $20 in monthly income is not counted toward
     the limit.
     Resources--such as bank accounts or stocks--may not
     exceed $4,000 for one person or $6,000 for a family of
     two. (Resources generally are things you own. However,
     not everything is counted: the house you live in, for
     example, doesn't count, and, in some circumstances,
     your car may not count either.)

     Here's an idea of what the QMB program provides in 1995.
Under Part A the hospital insurance deductibles are $716 for the
first sixty days of a hospital stay and $179 per day for days
sixty-one through ninety in the hospital. However, to qualify for
help under the QMB program, you must file an application. If you
think you qualify but you have not filed for Medicare Part A,
contact Social Security to find out if you need to file an
application. Further information about filing for Medicare is
available from your local Social Security office or Social
Security's toll-free number, [phone].
     Remember, only your state can decide if you're eligible for
help from the QMB or SLMB program. So, if you're elderly or
disabled, have low income and very limited assets, and are a
Medicare beneficiary, contact your state or local welfare or
social service agency to apply. For more information about either
program, call HCFA's toll-free telephone number, [phone].

                             RECIPES
     This month's recipes come from the National Federation of
the Blind of New Hampshire.

[Photo: Portrait. Caption: Jody Ianuzzi]
                     REAL YANKEE BAKED BEANS
                       by Jody W. Ianuzzi
     Jody Ianuzzi is an active member of the NFB of New
Hampshire.

Ingredients:
2 pounds yellow eye beans (or soldier beans)
dash baking soda
1 large onion, diced
a piece of salt pork, cut in half
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup each brown and white sugar
salt to taste

     Method: Put beans in pot, cover with water, and soak
overnight. Then drain water. Replace beans in pot, cover with
fresh water, and add a dash of baking soda. Bring to a boil, then
remove from heat. Drain the water. Add half of onion and pork to
beans in pot. Cover with water. In a separate bowl combine
mustard, molasses, maple syrup, sugars, and salt. Add mixture to
beans. Place other half of onion and salt pork on top. Cover and
bake in oven at 250 to 350 degrees all day. Add water if needed.

[Photo: Portrait. Caption: Ed Meskys]
                      SCALLIONS WITH BACON
                          by Ed Meskys
     Ed Meskys is the immediate Past President of the NFB of New
Hampshire. He was given this recipe by his mother. He often
prepares this dish for lunch in the spring.

Ingredients:
6 bunches fresh scallions
6 slices bacon

     Method: Trim wilted ends from scallions and remove roots.
Cut into half-inch lengths. Cut bacon into quarter-inch squares.
In large frying pan rapidly saute bacon bits until some grease is
rendered and bacon begins to crisp. Add scallions and continue to
saute until it wilts down to a small fraction of its original
volume. Serve over real rye bread. Serves two.
     Note on the rye bread--if you are fortunate enough to live
in an area like New York City or Chicago, where you can buy
Lithuanian bread, get that. It can be found in Lithuanian,
Polish, and German meat markets and specialty stores. Otherwise
make do with as firm a Jewish light rye as you can find.

              MACARONI AND COTTAGE CHEESE CASSEROLE
                          by Ed Meskys
Ingredients:
1 24-ounce container cottage cheese
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 pound macaroni (elbows or springs)

     Method: Boil macaroni according to package instructions in
salted water and drain well. In large basin spread cottage cheese
and rub against bottom with soup spoon to break up curds. Add
salt, eggs, and mix well. Add macaroni, mixing well. Pour into 2-
quart casserole dish. Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees. Serve with
lightly salted sour cream. Serves four.

                       CHICKEN AND SHERRY
                          by Ed Meskys
Ingredients:
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, diced
1 large onion, cut into 8 pieces
1 cup (2 small cans) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 cup sherry
1 teaspoon powdered chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
 1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon parsley flakes

     Method: Stir all ingredients together in covered casserole
dish and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve over rice.

                           PIZZA LOAF
                          by Ed Meskys
Ingredients:
10 ounces ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1 cup tomato sauce
 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
 1/4 cup fresh basil and fennel
1/3 teaspoon oregano
3 ounces shredded mozzarella
1½ teaspoon oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground parmesan

     Method: In frying pan sprayed with cooking spray saute meat
with onion. Add tomato sauce and 1 tablespoon flour. Bring to
boil, add green pepper and all spices. Pour into greased loaf
pan. Sprinkle mozzarella over mixture. In bowl mix egg, milk,
oil, and salt. Add remaining flour, stir, and pour over contents
of loaf pan. Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake in 425-degree preheated
oven for 25-30 minutes.

                     ORANGE FANTASY COOKIES
                          by Ed Meskys
Ingredients:
1/2 cup real butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2½ cups flour
1 ounce orange extract (yes, a full ounce)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

     Method: Cream butter with sugar. Then add eggs and orange
extract. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix in nuts,
coconut, and chocolate. Drop by tablespoonfuls on cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes about 24 cookies.

                            KRUPNIKAS
                  (Lithuanian Christmas Liquor)
                          by Ed Meskys
Ingredients:
1/2 gallon 100-proof vodka, or 190-proof Ever-clear drinking
alcohol
1 ginger root, sliced thin
8 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon ground orange peel
1 tablespoon ground lemon peel
1 tablespoon mace
2 teaspoons whole cloves
5 pounds honey

     Method: Soak spices in vodka for at least one month, then
strain. Boil honey in one quart of water to dissolve. Mix with
flavored vodka. Let stand at least one week and siphon off clear
liquor. The remaining sludge does not look pretty, but is
excellent in coffee.

[Photo: Portrait. Caption: John Parker]
                          PETITE PIZZAS
                        by John E. Parker

     John Parker is President of the NFB of New Hampshire and
First Vice President of the Lakes Region Chapter.

Ingredients:
English muffins
Pizza, spaghetti, or barbecue sauce
Cheese (your choice) shredded or diced into small pieces
Your favorite meats, shopped into small pieces
fresh vegetables, chopped

     Method: Slice or fork split the English muffins, then toast
them. Ladle the sauce onto the muffins and spread. Sprinkle with
cheese and add any combination of toppings. Cook in microwave on
high for 30 seconds, rotate a quarter turn, and cook for 30
seconds longer. Your microwave may be different, so test one
before doing more. Toaster oven and broiler users, keep checking
until cheese is melted. These little pizzas make great
appetizers, midnight snacks, and quick meals.

                   ■ ■ MONITOR MINIATURES ■ ■

■ An Interesting Letter:
Miami, Florida, December, 1994
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jernigan,
     I don't know if you remember me. I was a scholarship winner
in 1988. I was very active until 1992, when I went to Russia for
a year. I am now in graduate school at the University of Miami,
specializing in Viking-Age Russian history. I have gone back to
Russia the last two summers to work at an archaeological
excavation called Old Ladoga. It has been difficult convincing
people that a blind person can be an archaeologist and read
ancient Russian texts, but I have drawn strength from the lessons
I learned from you and the Federation. A seminar has prohibited
my attending local chapter meetings in Miami this fall, but I
plan on becoming active in January. I miss the NFB a great deal.

Merry Christmas,
Heidi Sherman

■ Hoping to Buy:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Wanted: Talking Ultra Measurer in good working order. It is
used to measure room size and denote room temperature and is no
longer available through the American Foundation for the Blind. I
will pay original purchase price, plus a small finder's fee.
Please contact John Tait (collect) by calling [phone],
Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Pacific Standard
Time.

■ In memoriam:
     Seville Allen, one of the leaders of the National Federation
of the Blind of Virginia, recently wrote to report the following
sad news:
     The first First Lady of the National Federation of the Blind
of Virginia, Marion McDonald, died of cancer on October 14, 1994.
Marion was one of the founders of the Virginia affiliate in 1957.
She was Virginia's first secretary and served as affiliate
Treasurer for twenty-five years. She was Robert (Mac) McDonald's
right hand and support as he served as our first president for
many years. The Mac and Marion team provided the principal
leadership of the Virginia affiliate for the first twenty-five
years of its existence.
     Marion was a true friend and teacher to all of us. She lived
her Federationism. We affectionately called her Mama because she
deeply touched our lives and had such a profound influence on the
lives of the blind of the state. Marion saw to it that we kept
our movement financed by establishing an endowment fund. As a
tribute to her dedication, we named this fund the Marion McDonald
Endowment Fund at a recent NFB-V convention.
     Marion was denied opportunities herself, but instead of
becoming bitter and giving up, she worked hard and saw to it that
the blind who came after her would not have to face the pain of
discrimination that she had faced. She was successful in this
work, and as a result many of those opportunities denied her we
now take for granted.
     We gathered to celebrate her life and say goodbye at
services held on October 18. The chapel was packed with her
family and friends, including Federation leaders from around the
state and President Maurer from Baltimore.
     Marion McDonald left us a true legacy of love and positive
attitudes. We will miss Marion, but we have fond memories of her
laughter and wisdom, and her warm spirit will sustain us as we
continue the work that she began in 1957 in Virginia--that march
to first-class status.
■ For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Optacon R1D, excellent condition. Asking $800. Includes
Braille manual, charger, and padded carrying case. Also for sale
is TotalTalk talking terminal; make an offer. Contact Robbie
McIninch at 16 Harrison Street, Calais, Maine 04619; or call
[phone].

■ For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have for sale a Kurzweil Personal Reader, model 7315;
software 2.1; hand scanner; and table scanner with case
(reconditioned). Asking $1,500, If interested, call (602) 577-
6334.

■ Braille Transcription Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I am certified with the Library of Congress as a literary
and math Braille transcriber and a math proofreader. I have been
involved with producing Braille books for seven years, and I
truly enjoy it. I am presently incarcerated, but I have the use
of computers, several Braille programs, and a Braille printer. I
have recently started a Braille class. If you are interested in
having books transcribed (especially math), you can contact me by
writing Tyrone Howard, State Police Barracks, P.O. Box 6614,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70896.

■ Elected:
     The Business Division of the National Federation of the
Blind of Maryland elected officers for 1995 at the group's annual
luncheon on November 5, 1994. Re-elected to serve a second year
as President of the Business Division was Barry Hond. Other
officers include Fred Flowers, Vice President; Raymond Sewell,
Treasurer; Leon Rose, Secretary; and Holly Mooney and Raymond
Lowder, Board members. The Business Division is composed of NFB
of Maryland members concerned with the development of career and
entrepreneurial opportunities for the visually impaired.

■ Personal Alarms Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Crime prevention and personal security are growing concerns
for everyone. Lisa Ostrow is an independent distributor of
affordable, lightweight personal and home security products,
including the PAAL, a personal attack alarm that emits an ear-
piercing signal to deter crime. Priced from $30 to $40. Please
send $2.00 for a print catalogue or $3.50 for cassette (including
postage and handling) to Lisa Ostrow, 55 Countryside, Norwood,
Massachusetts 02062; or call [phone] for more information
or to place an order.

[Photo: Margaret Warren is seated on a patio chair with one hand
ready to read
her tellatouch machine. Caption: Margaret Warren is pictured here
on her
apartment balcony using her tellatouch machine]

■ Assistance for Deaf-Blind People Needed:
     Margaret Warren, one of the leaders of the NFB's Committee
on the Deaf-Blind, has asked us to carry the following
announcement:
     For three years the Deaf-Blind Committee has been working on
a project concerning the treatment of deaf-blind people in
nursing homes and care facilities. We have had difficulty
gathering useful information. I am now asking any Federationist
who hears of a deaf-blind person who is not happy or being
properly treated in such facilities to notify the local chapter
or leaders of the state affiliate so the situation can be
investigated and remedied if possible. After the NFB chapter or
affiliate has done whatever is possible to correct the problems,
please send a report in Braille to Miss Margaret Warren, 3520
Grand Avenue, Box 125, Des Moines, Iowa 50312.

■ Pen Pals Wanted:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I wish to correspond with people from America in Braille. I
am forty-three years old; am five foot two; and have brown hair.
I have five children--one stepson and four daughters. My hobbies
are knitting, cooking, and listening to talking books. You can
write to Catherine McManus, 17 Laura Street, Newtown NSW1042,
Sidney, Australia.
     Editor's note: Ms. McManus's announcement was written in
Grade I Braille.

■ 1995 Product Guide Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     The Mariano Pacini 1995 Product Information Guide is now
available in print and Braille. I deal exclusively in high-
quality, lower-cost mobility items. Products include ball
bearing, cylinder, marshmallow, metal glide-adaptor, and mushroom
cane tips; folding canes; and rigid canes. I even carry
replacement cap tips for those do-it-yourselfers who wish to
repair their own bearing tips. For more information or to request
a print or Braille 1995 Product Information Guide, contact
Mariano Pacini at Ren. Cen. Station, P.O. Box 43052, Detroit,
Michigan 48243-0052; or call [phone], weekdays; or (313)
885-7330, evenings and weekends. I have much information and many
problem-solving techniques that I'd like to share, so feel free
to call.

■ For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have a Perkins Brailler that is looking for a new home. It
is in excellent condition, having spent most of its life resting.
It was just cleaned and oiled. It comes with Braille instructions
and a carrying case. I am asking $250 for everything delivered.
Payment plan negotiable. Call Nino Pacini at [phone],
evenings and weekends.

[Photo: Rick Fox sits at a table. Caption: Rick Fox]

■ Appointed:
     We are delighted to report that Rick Fox, President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut, was recently
appointed by Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker to serve as a
member of the State Rehabilitation Advisory Council for
Individuals who are Blind as a representative of the National
Federation of the Blind for the term ending September 15, 1996.

■ AFB Discontinues ID Card:
     We recently received a press release from the American
Foundation for the Blind which reads in part: "The American
Foundation for the Blind (AFB) will no longer issue its
identification card, effective January 1, 1995. AFB's ID card
service was initiated over twenty-five years ago, in order to
provide people who are blind or visually impaired with a primary
form of identification comparable to a driver's license. In
recent years, however, the need for the AFB ID card as a primary
identification source has been reduced by the development of non-
driver ID cards issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles of
individual states, as well as by other sources of identification
that are more readily available now than when AFB's ID card
service was established. With the realization that the AFB card
was used most frequently as a secondary source of identification,
the decision was made to eliminate the service."
     As Sharon Gold, President of the National Federation of the
Blind of California, wrote in her December 1, 1994, communication
to state leaders ("The Clipboard"):
     We of the National Federation of the Blind have always
     taken the position that blind persons do not need and
     should not have identification cards especially issued
     for the blind, since the information from the cards
     could be used to compile a national, statewide, or
     local registry of the blind that could govern the
     activities of blind people. Now that AFB has eliminated
     its special identification card for the blind, perhaps
     agencies for the blind across the country will realize
     that they, too, are providing redundant services by
     issuing unnecessary identification cards that do not
     and cannot meet the modern standards of identification
     available to all citizens through the driver's licenses
     and identification cards issued by state departments of
     motor vehicles and through credit cards, especially the
     new ones bearing a picture of the cardholder. The
     discontinuation of the special identification card for
     the blind also eliminates an attempt to isolate the
     blind from the general public and takes us one step
     closer to first-class citizenship.

[Photo:  Portrait. Caption: Bob Burke]

■ Album By Federationist Available:
     Bob Burke, who was one of the winners at the showcase of
talent sponsored by the Music Division at the 1994 convention of
the National Federation of the Blind, has released a new album.
The name of the album is "Piano Moments With Bob Burke." The
cassette is ninety minutes long. Describing the recording, Bob
says, "At the beginning and end of the album I provide some
commentary with the piano in the background." The recording
contains twenty tunes, including "All the Things You Are";
"Memories of You"; "Misty"; "Memories," From the Show Cats;
"Wave"; "Lover Come Back to Me"; and many more. Bob Burke has
copies of the album for sale. The initial cost for each copy is
ten dollars plus a dollar for postage. Any members or affiliates
who wish to buy it may call [phone]; or write to Bob
Burke, 33 Teresa Road, Manchester, Connecticut 06040.

■ International Low-Fat Cookbook Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Gourmet cooks, health-wise homemakers, people who love good
food: now there's an international collection of low-fat recipes
in large print and Braille. The International Low-Fat Cookbook
uses twenty-two pastas, fruits, vegetables, beans, and dairy
products and fifty-three herbs and spices to deliver thirty-two
tasty, easily prepared, and inexpensive dishes to your home. Send
a check or money order for $4.95 to No Limits, Inc., 600
Cleveland Street, Suite 750, Clearwater, Florida 34615.

■ Computer Hardware and Software Available:
     Patricia Ferguson, a member of the National Federation of
the Blind of South Dakota, has asked us to carry the following
announcement:
     Are you looking for a low-cost computer from a reliable
source? Is it hard to decide which Screen Reader you need? Do you
need a reliable Speech Synthesizer that fits your budget and is
easy to understand? Are you in need of good off-the-shelf
software, but not sure whether it will adapt to speech? Perhaps
you are wondering what screen-magnification software is best for
you. Do you need material scanned onto computer disk? Are you
looking for a low-cost Modem or Printer? Do you want to access
CD-ROM's, but you're not sure they will work with speech? For all
your Computer hardware or software needs, call Ferguson
Enterprises--in business since 1978.
     Purchase your computer from us; we provide the best service
possible and twenty-four-hour turn-around time on all computer
repairs. We also have excellent monthly specials.
     For more information or for a free catalog on disk, in large
print, or on cassette, please call or write Ferguson Enterprises,
RR1 Box 238, Manchester, South Dakota 57353; Phone: (605)
546-2366, Fax: [phone] between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Central Standard Time, Monday through Thursday; Friday, 9:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m.; and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
■ Correspondents Wanted:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Correspondent wanted for a French blind person, thirty years
old, learning English, and wanting to exchange ideas with
Americans of the same age and situation. You may write to Jacques
Dumont at 39 bis, Rue Du General Leclerc, 92270 Bois-Colombes,
France.

■ Position Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Executive Director of non-profit agency serving those who
are blind and visually impaired in the State of Maine. Programs
include rehabilitation center, residence, industries program,
computer access and technology, and a statewide community
service/rehabilitation teaching program. Education required in
social services, rehabilitation, or related human service field
with prior administrative experience. Knowledge of personnel
administration, budgeting, fund raising, and grantsmanship
essential. Submit resume and salary requirements to Search
Committee, Maine Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 189
Park Avenue, Portland, Maine 04102. Equal Opportunity
Employer/Affirmative Action