Cream of the Crop 11/Cream of the Crop 11-1.iso/faq/brlm9512.zip/BRLM9512.TXT

Text File | 1995-12-09 | 201KB | 3,181 lines

                               THE BRAILLE MONITOR

                                 December, 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 0006-8829
THE BRAILLE MONITOR
PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

                                    CONTENTS
                                                                  DECEMBER, 1995

CHARLESTON'S ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND
RESURRECTS SEGREGATED SHELTERED
WORKSHOP CONTROVERSY
     by Donald C. Capps

A PROMISE OF HOPE: MY FIRST NFB CONVENTION
     by Susan Walker

CONVENTION 1996: WE GO TO ANAHEIM
     by Kenneth Jernigan

LOU AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
     by Don Morris

WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?
     by Toni and Ed Eames

LOVING ELIZABETH: BLIND COUPLE'S
STRUGGLE TO ADOPT A BABY
     by Nadine Jacobson as told to Bill Holton

TWIN REASONS TO CELEBRATE
     by Chris Shackleford

WHY THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND?
     by Sue Drapinski

SOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO USE
READERS MORE EFFECTIVELY
     by Jerry Whittle

THE AXE AND THE LAW BOOK
     by Marc Maurer

A LESSON FROM MARSHA
     by Barbara Walker

KEEPING THE RENT CURRENT
     by Hazel Staley

DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR
OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD FOR 1996
     by Sharon Maneki

THE 1996 BLIND EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
     by Stephen O. Benson

THE ORIGINALITY OF THE SPANISH MODEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PRE-AUTHORIZED CHECK PLAN
Can Your Chapter Achieve 100 Percent?
     by Jim Omvig

THE LOUISIANA CENTER FOR THE BLIND
CELEBRATES A DECADE OF SERVICE
     by Karl Smith

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES

               Copyright (c) 1995 National Federation of the Blind
[Lead: The lead photograph is a picture of the Christmas tree in the reception
area at the National Center for the Blind.
Caption: The December holidays are traditionally the season of peace and joy .
Each year at this time a decorated evergreen graces the reception area at the
National Center for the Blind. Its cheerful welcome and fragrant branches are a
reminder to everyone who enters that life is meant to be filled with promise and
hope for the future. May the coming year bring the whole world closer to true
peace and justice, and may blind people everywhere take their rightful place in
building the future. We wish each of you a joyful holiday season and a happy and
productive New Year.]


[Caption: Don Capps]
                     CHARLESTON'S ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND
                         RESURRECTS SEGREGATED SHELTERED
                              WORKSHOP CONTROVERSY
                               by Donald C. Capps

     From the Editor: A long-standing sheltered-workshop battle has now broken
out again in Charleston, South Carolina, and is raging with unrestrained fury.
The controversy involves a local agency, the Charleston Association for the
Blind. There was a day when sheltered shops were almost the only solution to the
employment problem for the blind, but that time is rapidly fading into memory.
     Through the years we have come to recognize and reject the widespread
injustice of restricted pay for blind employees, poor working conditions, and
unfair management practices designed to keep costs down and the blind in their
place. Blind people have also learned that they can compete on terms of equality
if only they are given the training they need and the opportunity to prove
themselves.
     As these things have occurred, progressive industrial plants employing
predominantly blind workers have gradually modernized--sometimes very slowly and
over towering managerial opposition. They have begun to treat their blind
employees with the respect that other workers in the American work force have
come to expect. The best of these sheltered industry programs dedicate a fair
amount of energy to helping people find work in the competitive market instead
of keeping them within the Javits-Wagner-O'Day system.
     All this being so, what would possess any agency purporting to serve blind
people in the late twentieth century to revert to the world of fifty years ago
in the name of giving blind workers the choice between finding a job in
competitive industry and doing so in the sheltered shop system? That, it seems,
is precisely what the Charleston Association for the Blind has decided to do.
     The idea of opening a new sheltered shop in the state was repugnant and
unacceptable to the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina three
years ago when it was first floated under the leadership of the Association's
previous director, Isabel Ewing. The Federation and the Association crossed
strongly worded views, if not swords, at the time; and Mrs. Ewing resigned,
taking her antiquated ideas with her, or so everyone in the blind community
hoped.
     But it was not to be. Bad ideas often exhibit a staying power out of all
proportion to their intrinsic worth, particularly when the idea happens to
reinforce the prejudices and ignorance of an uninformed public. In this case,
after a year or so under the leadership of a director who made no apparent move
to revive the sheltered-shop idea and who died suddenly last year, the agency's
board hired Roy Proffitt, lately retired from a stint as director at Volunteer
Blind Industries, Inc., (VBI) of Morristown, Tennessee--widely recognized within
the blind community as one of the more consistently reactionary sheltered shops
in the entire country. (See the January, 1984, issue of the Braille Monitor.)
     That is the background of the most recent struggle between the NFB of South
Carolina and the Charleston Association for the Blind. The following article is
taken from the August-September, 1995, issue of The Palmetto Blind, the
publication of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. Don Capps
is the President of the South Carolina affiliate and an experienced champion in
the battle for the rights of blind people everywhere. Here is the way he tells
the story in The Palmetto Blind:

     On May 18, 1995, Charleston's Post Courier published the following article:

     The Association for the Blind plans to leave Pitt Street, its Charleston
home for thirty-eight years, and move to another building with more space for
industrial shops.
     The move, which is not final, seems certain to revive a longstanding debate
as to whether workshops or industries for blind employees are really in their
best interest.
     "We're a little premature in saying too much about the move," said
Association Executive Director Roy M. Proffitt, who took over in December after
former Director Isabel Ewing resigned.
     However, Proffitt added, "You could say it looks promising."
     The Association has contracts to sell 41 Pitt Street, a former church, and
purchase the former Frasier Tire Services building at Petty and Mechanic Streets
near where Rutledge Avenue meets Interstate 26. Both deals could close within
two months.
     Proffitt said the move would increase the Association's space from 2,000 to
8,000 square feet, which would allow the group to increase the number of
employees from nine to thirty-five. Its budget, which was $4,185,000 last year,
also would soar.
     The new employees would work at several industrial tasks, including making
helmets under a possible $1.2 million contract through the National Industries
for the Blind.
     Ewing, who pursued such a plan before her departure last year, said she was
delighted to hear it was falling in place. As planned, the Association building
would be the only workshop for blind employees in the state.
     "A blind person should have a choice to go to a workshop or to find a job
in mainstream industries," Ewing, who now lives in Beaufort, said. "Right now,
they don't have a choice."
     But others said the workshops are relics, an outdated idea from a time
where blind people had no other opportunities.
     "It's just not in the interest of blind people to set them apart in a
sheltered or isolated situation like a sheltered workshop," said Donald Capps,
President of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. "Sheltered
workshops played a valid and valuable role fifty years ago when there were
little or no opportunities for the blind in the open job market, but that was
fifty years ago, and we have gotten beyond that."
     Capps said his organization has no veto power over the Association's plans,
but added, "We will do what we have to, legally and honorably, to stop it. I
don't think we have any choice."
     Nationwide, there are about 108 industries, or workshops, where most all of
the employees are blind. None of them exist in South Carolina and have not since
a Columbia workshop closed its doors thirty years ago, Capps said.
     Meanwhile, many blind residents have found employment in mainstream
businesses, but estimates indicate about 70 percent of the state's 55,000 blind
residents are still unemployed.
     The Association is a private, non-profit group chartered in 1937 to improve
the quality of life of blind Charleston residents. Some, but not all, of its
board members are blind.
     During its history the local group has provided training, social services,
and few minimal work programs, such as chair caning. The Association is
supported by the Trident United Way and is separate from the South Carolina
Commission for the Blind, a state agency formed to rehabilitate the legally
blind.
     In recent years the Association has employed a handful of people who cane
old chairs and make brooms, but it also plans to expand its business side by
transcribing medical recordings and starting up at least one other trade.
     Proffitt became the Association's Director in December, two years after he
retired from Volunteer Blind Industries, a Tennessee organization that grossed
$10.7 million in 1992.

     That is what the Post Courier reported. Three years ago, in 1992, Isabel
Ewing, then Executive Director of the Association for the Blind, spearheaded a
campaign joined by some board members, including members of the Advisory Board,
to establish a segregated sheltered workshop. This action stirred up the
proverbial hornets' nest within the state's blind community. In October of 1992
the Board of Directors of the NFB of South Carolina adopted a strongly worded
resolution opposing the establishment of a segregated sheltered workshop.
     Considerable acrimony developed between officials of the NFB of South
Carolina and the Association for the Blind of Charleston. The then Executive
Director Isabel Ewing, invited me as President of the NFB of South Carolina to
meet with her in Charleston to discuss the situation. However, I was ambushed
upon arriving in Charleston allegedly to meet quietly with Mrs. Ewing. Rather
than meeting alone with her as agreed upon, I was ushered into an office where
Mrs. Ewing and several Association board members had assembled unknown to me. I
vigorously protested this trickery, but the parties present refused to
acknowledge any impropriety. I reminded the group that, if I had known several
of the board members would be attending the meeting, I would have invited NFB of
South Carolina Board members to attend the meeting as well. Rather than the
Association's Executive Director's presiding over the meeting, Furgerson
Fulgram, a prominent Charleston businessman, made it clear that he had been
elected by the Association to chair the meeting. It was apparent that Mrs. Ewing
and Association board members had held a strategy meeting prior to my arrival to
discuss the tack they would take with me.
     From the outset Mr. Fulgram expressed hostility toward me personally, among
other things stating that he was going to record the meeting. I made it clear to
Mr. Fulgram and everyone else present that I would not participate in any tape-
recorded meeting. Notwithstanding this clearly stated position and unknown to
me, Mr. Fulgram proceeded to tape-record the meeting surreptitiously. Several
minutes later, in order to be certain that the meeting was not being tape-
recorded, I asked Mr. Fulgram to confirm that no recorder was running, whereupon
Mr. Fulgram admitted that he had indeed been recording the meeting but that he
would turn off the recorder. Because of this serious impropriety, which clearly
took advantage of my blindness, I vigorously protested, stating that I would no
longer participate in such a meeting, whereupon Mr. Fulgram said he would be
glad to show me to the door although my wife Betty was present. I requested that
the surreptitiously made tape be given to me, but Mr. Fulgram angrily declined.
     Subsequently there was considerable correspondence between the law firm
representing the NFB of South Carolina and Mr. Fulgram's attorney, in which we
strenuously argued that the tape existed only because of Mr. Fulgram's duplicity
and therefore we had a moral right to it. Once again our request was denied.
Rather than resorting to court action in an effort to secure the tape (an action
which would have been prohibitively expensive) the NFB of South Carolina decided
to drop the matter, leaving the tape and all of its implications of double-
dealing in the Association's hands.
     It is not entirely clear whether or not the infamous October, 1992,
meeting--including the surreptitiously recorded portion--halted the Association
for the Blind's efforts at that time to go forward with the establishment of a
segregated sheltered workshop. Soon thereafter, however, Mrs. Ewing resigned as
Executive Director of the Association, and apparently the project was placed on
the back burner.
     Unfortunately, this bitter controversy has again surfaced, according to
media reports and other information that the NFB of South Carolina has received.
     Following the Charleston Post and Courier story quoted at the beginning of
this article, the NFB of South Carolina provided the media with relevant
information, including the following brief statement:

     The National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina feels that it has no
choice but to oppose the establishment of a segregated sheltered workshop in
South Carolina. Approximately thirty years ago the blind voted to close the
state's only sheltered workshop at that time. There is certainly no good reason
to turn the clock back thirty years and establish an outdated and archaic form
of unnecessary sheltered employment which keeps the blind out of the mainstream
and sets them apart from the rest of society.

     That was the general statement. Here are excerpts from the document sent by
the NFB of South Carolina to area media representatives and community leaders:

     . . .With the departure of Executive Director Isabel Ewing, who had
apparently been leading the segregated-sheltered-workshop movement, the NFB of
South Carolina was encouraged to hope that the well-intentioned Board Members of
the Association had decided to abandon this disastrous initiative. We were
obviously incorrect.
     The board of the Association did react to the NFB of South Carolina's Fall,
1992, resolution. Soon after the adoption of our resolution, African-American
representation on the Association's board finally became a reality. Also the NFB
of South Carolina's resolution prompted the Association's board to appoint blind
people to their board. It seems to the NFB of South Carolina that broadly based
representation and diversity should have been a policy and practice of the
Association long before our resolution was adopted. At its May 27, 1995, meeting
the board of Directors of the NFB of South Carolina conducted a thorough
discussion of the Association for the Blind's current plan to establish a
sheltered workshop. The policy of the NFB of South Carolina in this regard was
reaffirmed.
     National Industries for the Blind (NIB) is obviously happy with its
segregated-sheltered-workshop empire and no doubt relishes the idea of enlarging
it with the cooperation of the Association for the Blind, Inc. It is neither
appropriate nor honest for anyone to mislead or make a pretense that a NIB-
related sheltered workshop is not in fact just that--a sheltered workshop. The
primary purpose and existence of NIB is to work with and assist sheltered
workshops. If this were not the case, NIB would probably have to close its
doors. The current Executive Director of the Association for the Blind, Roy
Proffitt, has a longstanding connection with the NIB and is well known by the
blind of Tennessee and the nation. The NFB of South Carolina believes that
National Industries for the Blind played a role in the Association for the
Blind's employment of Mr. Proffitt, knowing full well that he would use his
longtime connection with NIB to establish the first segregated sheltered
workshop in South Carolina in some thirty years.
     Mr. Proffitt has a significant, though unenviable, record. The NFB of South
Carolina believes it is most unfortunate that officials of the Association
imported Mr. Proffitt, who brings with him considerable baggage, which must be
understood if the seriousness of the current situation in Charleston is to be
fully appreciated.
     While Mr. Proffitt was part of the management team at Volunteer Blind
Industries in Morristown, Tennessee, he gained a national reputation for
oppressing the blind employees of that sheltered workshop. His oppression was so
serious that several blind employees of Volunteer Blind Industries filed
litigation in the Federal courts and also filed a complaint with the National
Labor Relations Board. The information in an affidavit signed by employee Taylor
Smith in 1983 and furnished to the Federal Court and NLRB contributed to a
decision against Volunteer Blind Industries.
     Incidentally, in a call to Volunteer Blind Industries in Morristown,
Tennessee, on Monday, June 12, 1995, we requested to speak to Mr. Taylor Smith.
Not surprisingly we were told by the switchboard operator that he had been laid
off, a fact consistent with past policy and practice of VBI. In the affidavit
signed by Mr. Smith, (copy enclosed [to area media]) a complete accounting of
the discriminatory practices and policies of Roy Proffitt and VBI were
delineated clearly.
     Upon hearing this complaint, the National Labor Relations Board ruled
against VBI in favor of the blind employees. We are highlighting both the
affidavit and the ruling of NLRB as well as the notice the NLRB required VBI
prominently to place at its headquarters, pledging that management would no
longer oppress and discriminate against the blind employees. Other blind persons
associated with VBI are furnishing additional affidavits, being prepared by our
attorney, and they will be forwarded to you in the near future. Please also note
that the NLRB imposed monetary settlements to the complainants as well. The NLRB
would not have ruled against VBI had the discriminatory practices alleged by
blind employees been trivial or insignificant. This sad affair became a national
issue, and we are therefore enclosing other material giving background
information explaining why it became necessary to file the litigation which led
to the decision against VBI.
     Any reasonable person would believe that this adverse ruling by the NLRB
against VBI would have caused Roy Proffitt and others at VBI to cease their
oppression and discriminatory practices, but this was not the case. Enclosed is
a copy of a current affidavit by Mrs. Linda Tatum, who recently moved to
Columbia but was an employee of VBI for seven years. You will note that Mrs.
Tatum has described a pattern of discrimination by VBI against the blind,
including intolerable working conditions leading to painful injuries to Mrs.
Tatum, which would not have happened without callous indifference and negligence
on the part of Roy Proffitt and other management personnel.
     Incidentally, in Sue Henson's 1983 letter to Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, she
refers to Mr. Roy Proffitt as the "big man." Also, based upon references in Mrs.
Henson's letter, it certainly appears that Mr. Proffitt was guilty of nepotism,
employing two of his sighted nieces, who were paid almost twice as much as the
blind received for doing the same type of work. Note that Mr. Proffitt paid his
sighted nieces some $100 a day while the blind receive significantly less.
     We cannot help wondering whether the board and other officials of the
Association for the Blind did their homework with respect to researching the
background and record of Roy Proffitt before employing him. On the other hand,
if the board was in possession of the information being furnished to you and
disregarded it, this would in and of itself be an incredible decision. Blind
employees, who have little job security at VBI and who are no doubt easily
intimidated by sighted bosses including Roy Proffitt, would not be preparing
affidavits without having been treated shabbily. Additionally, the NLRB would
not have handed down a decision against Roy Proffitt and VBI in favor of the
blind employees without compelling evidence.
     It is generally held that an individual's past performance is a reliable
measure of what that individual will do in the future. This concerns us greatly
with respect to Mr. Proffitt. In an effort to improve relations in the entire
blindness field, our national organization is having ongoing dialogue with NIB
officials.
     Information furnished to the NFB of South Carolina indicates that, in
addition to establishing a sheltered workshop, Mr. Proffitt and other
Association officials may be considering establishing a bakery at the sheltered-
workshop site. Also we understand that a training program for blind medical
transcribers is underway. While our information may be incomplete or inaccurate,
we understand that two individuals are currently in training as medical
transcribers, one a high partially sighted individual and the other sighted. We
also understand that blind medical transcribers will be paid a stipulated wage,
after some of their earnings have been skimmed off to pay other parties for
making this service available to the Association. We are continuing to
investigate this situation in order to obtain further clarification and
information. . . .
     We believe that talk about establishing a bakery at the sheltered-workshop
site and the training program for blind medical transcribers at the sheltered
workshop headquarters is nothing more than window dressing and an attempt to
camouflage or disguise the principal purpose of the sheltered-workshop
operation. Certainly, properly trained blind persons can work satisfactorily in
a bakery not part of a sheltered workshop. Likewise, properly trained blind
persons make good medical transcribers and should receive full pay working side
by side with their sighted co-workers in a hospital, clinic, or doctor's office.
Why stigmatize or isolate blind persons in bakery or medical transcription
employment in a segregated setting?
     If we the blind are going to reduce misconceptions and avoid stereotypes,
we must support programs which will assimilate properly trained blind persons
into the mainstream, regular job market. It's simply not necessary for well-
trained blind persons to be set apart, finding themselves in a sheltered
workshop, which is more often than not a dumping ground and dead end. If blind
people can make helmets in a segregated sheltered workshop, they certainly can
do the same type of work in the regular job market and earn more for their
efforts.
     The Americans with Disabilities Act is replete with language and
instruction about mainstreaming the blind and other disabled persons,
assimilating them into the normal market place. The ADA emphasizes normal job
market access to the blind and other disabled persons. There is nothing in the
ADA which supports segregated sheltered-workshop employment for the blind, since
the language, spirit, and intent of the ADA support employment for the disabled
in the mainstream. It is incredible that officials of the Association for the
Blind insist upon resurrecting this deep-seated controversy. It is not helpful
to the state's blind community. Many blind Charlestonians are successfully
employed in mainstream jobs, and this wholesome practice should be continued and
accelerated.
     The Association for the Blind has an important role to play in serving the
blind. We fail to understand why the Association does not concentrate its
employment efforts on such training as the proposed bakery and medical
transcription projects and placing qualified blind graduates in jobs beside
sighted coworkers. The NFB of South Carolina would certainly welcome the
opportunity to work with the Association in such initiatives. While we certainly
cannot speak for the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, we also believe
the state agency would be most cooperative in working with the Association to
mainstream blind people in employment with their sighted neighbors and friends.
It can be done. Thousands of blind Americans are already competing on terms of
equality with their sighted co-workers every day. . . .

     There you have excerpts from the document sent to the media by the National
Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. Here are the affidavits that went
with it:

                            Affidavit of Linda Tatum
          I, Linda Tatum, being duly sworn, state that I am legally blind and was
     legally blind during my employment at Volunteer Blind Industries (VBI) from 1987
     through 1994 in Morristown, Tennessee, where I met Roy Proffitt (the top staff
     member at VBI).
          The staff at VBI consisted of both blind and sighted individuals, but for the
     majority of my employment at VBI only one blind person (an individual by the name of
     Jack Wolfe, a supervisor) was a member of management. I can recall only one other
     blind individual who served briefly as a supervisor during my employment at VBI
     before being demoted, possibly for reasons other than blindness. Jobs on the factory
     floor had varying levels of difficulty and (consequently) varying levels of pay. Not
     only were the blind employees at VBI kept out of management by-and-large during my
     employment, but the blind were also barred from filling the higher paying jobs on
     the factory floor.
          As a seamstress I received slightly above minimum wage plus three cents per
     item I produced, provided that I met my daily quota. Many of my sighted peers who
     worked along side of me on the factory floor (including the sighted niece of Roy
     Proffitt, Carolyn Eply) received as much as five or six dollars per item produced,
     provided that they reached their daily quotas.
          At times production demands at VBI would diminish making it necessary to lay
     off some employees for lack of work. I believe that, for each blind employee laid
     off, VBI was required to lay off three sighted employees. VBI did not observe this
     policy. Whenever lay-offs occurred, VBI laid off mostly (if not only) blind
     employees. When production demands increased, VBI often hired sighted, temporary
     employees in place of laid-off blind employees. As I recall, a blind individual by
     the name of Taylor Smith (who repeatedly tried to organize a union for VBI employees
     and a chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, among other things) was laid
     off more than any other blind or sighted employee.
          I believe that the machines on the factory floor which were operated by
     sighted employees were better maintained than those which were operated by blind
     employees. I recall being forced to make velcro straps to be placed on helmet covers
     on a defective strap machine, which (as a result of the defect) had been fragmenting
     sewing needles and propelling them from the machine toward me, striking me at times
     around my face. Though I could not meet my daily quota (which meant less pay) due to
     the defect in the strap machine, I worked under these circumstances for
     approximately four weeks before one day leaving my work station crying, after being
     struck on the forehead by a needle fragment at which time VBI made the necessary
     repairs. A VBI maintenance man told me that VBI simply did not want to bear the cost
     of repairing the strap machine.
          I was forced to endure other circumstances, such as poor working conditions
     (by factory standards) including poor ventilation (partly due to the fact that there
     were no windows), and an extraordinarily high concentration of lint circulating in
     the air due to poor ventilation and the high quantity of clothing produced on the
     factory floor. Many of my peers and I suffered from breathing and sinus problems as
     a result of the lint in the air. VBI furnished employees with one type of mask in
     response to the problems caused by the lint, but subsequently replaced the first
     type of mask with what seemed to be a cheaper mask, which was so uncomfortable that
     I decided not to wear that mask and deal with the breathing and sinus problems
     instead.
          In about 1993 Taylor Smith, Teresa Smith, and Doyle Henderson organized a
     protest in front of VBI's place of business (which received media coverage), where
     Taylor Smith was harassed and physically assaulted by Mark Wolfe (a sighted employee
     and the son of Jack Wolfe) and where other employees were told not to join the
     protest or "VBI would close its doors on us." Roy Proffitt and others in upper
     management did nothing about the assault on Taylor Smith or about the threat against
     VBI's employees concerning the possibility of joining the protest. Based on my seven
     years of experience working in a sheltered workshop, I know that I could never work
     in a sheltered workshop again, and I cannot support the establishment of any
     sheltered workshops anywhere in the future.
                                                                  Linda E. Tatum
                                                                         Affiant

                            ________________________

                            Affidavit of Taylor Smith
          Personally appeared before me Taylor Smith, who first being sworn, affirms and
     deposes:
     1. That he resides at 1103 North Henry Street in the City of Morristown, Tennessee.
     2. That he is totally blind and has been from birth.
     3. That he has been employed by Volunteer Blind Industries of Morristown, Tennessee,
     since September of 1981 except for (a) a period of thirteen months in 1988 and 1989
     when he was laid off and (b) the time between September of 1991 and February of
     1993.
     4. That he has been continuously employed at Volunteer Blind Industries of
     Morristown, Tennessee, (hereafter VBI) since February of 1993 as a sewing machine
     operator.
     5. That in May of 1988 he and other employees of VBI picketed on a public sidewalk
     across from the VBI plant for higher wages for blind employees.
     6. That in June of 1988 he was laid off for thirteen months by VBI.
     7. That Doyle Heddrick, another blind picket, was also laid off in June of 1988.
     8. That Mark Wolfe, the son of a VBI supervisor and a sighted employee of VBI, and
     William Bedwell, another VBI employee, in May of 1988 came out of the VBI plant and
     ripped down and broke the signs being carried by Taylor Smith and other blind
     pickets.
     9. That neither Mark Wolfe nor William Bedwell were disciplined by VBI, nor were
     either of them laid off.
     10. That a Tennessee state trial judge subsequently ordered Mark Wolfe and William
     Bedwell to make restitution to the court and that a fine was paid in the amount of
     approximately $150 to the court for the breach of the public peace by Messrs. Wolfe
     and Bedwell.
     11. That on March 16, 1995, Taylor Smith, the affiant, was laid off by VBI and has
     been continuously unemployed since that time.
     12. That production quotas have been established by VBI for blind persons employed
     in the plant, and that blind persons not meeting those quotas have been laid off,
     including affiant.
     13. That it is a business practice of VBI to employ blind persons only four days a
     week, or thirty-two hours a week, in order to avoid paying insurance on blind
     employees.
     14. That VBI discriminates against its blind employees in its insurance coverage in
     that sighted workers are hired for forty hours a week, and their insurance is paid
     by VBI.
     15. That VBI does not adhere to the 75 percent/25 percent ratio under law that 75
     percent of the work in direct labor in the shop be done by the blind.
     16. That VBI discriminates against its blind employees with respect to layoffs, its
     practice being to lay off blind workers rather than sighted workers wherever
     possible and to call back to the job, first, persons with better vision instead of
     calling back the totally blind.
     17. That it is a VBI business practice to discriminate among its blind employees on
     the degree of their visual acuity, a preference being given to legally blind
     individuals with some vision over totally blind individuals.
     18. That VBI has used "production quotas" as a means of discriminating among its
     employees based on their degree of visual acuity.
     19. That VBI has falsely stated that there were no work tasks the totally blind
     could perform, when, in fact, there were work tasks the totally blind could perform,
     such as turning and lacing sweat pants and other tasks as well.
     20. That VBI has adopted as its business practice the exclusion of blind persons
     from non-shop and managerial positions.
                                                      Further affiant saith not.

                              ____________________

                            Affidavit of Ellis Hines
          Personally appeared before me Ellis J. Hines, who first being sworn, affirms
     and deposes:
     1. That he resides at 224 Brittain Drive, Talbott, Tennessee.
     2. That he is totally blind and has been so from birth.
     3. That he has been employed by Volunteer Blind Industries of Morristown, Tennessee,
     (hereafter VBI) since February 20, 1978, except for periods in which he has been
     laid off.
     4. That he has been laid off since March 16, 1995.
     5. That at the time he was laid off on March 16, 1995, he was employed as a tacker,
     i.e., an operator of two automatic sewing machines and a snap machine.
     6. That there are sighted persons who are still employed by VBI to perform work
     tasks identical to those done by affiant before he was laid off on March 16, 1995.
     7. That VBI discriminates against totally blind persons by laying them off before
     laying off sighted persons.
     8. That when affiant and other blind persons in the life vest department were given
     part-time work (four days a week) or laid off, sighted workers in the department
     were not laid off but were transferred to other departments and kept on five-day
     work weeks.
     9. That Maurice Robinson, M.D., one of the VBI company doctors, in May of 1995 gave
     physical examinations to six sighted persons as a step in the pre-employment
     process, when blind workers at the plant were still laid off.
     10. That VBI has advertised the availability of jobs at the plant during times when
     blind employees were laid off.
                                                      Further affiant saith not.

     There you have much of the information we provided the media. On July 12,
1995, we provided them with additional information as follows:

     The enclosed resolution, which is self-explanatory, was adopted several
days ago at the National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind
without a dissenting vote.
     The annual conventions of the NFB are the largest gathering of blind
Americans every year. . . . The provisions of the enclosed resolution adopted by
the nation's blind are entirely consistent with the information previously given
to you concerning the Association for the Blind, Inc., of Charleston.
Understandably, when this resolution was adopted, a blind sheltered-workshop
employee asked to be recognized and told the nation's largest gathering of the
blind that he had been unable to escape thirty years of sheltered-workshop
employment and certainly could not recommend it to any other blind person.
     Recently we had a telephone conversation with Ms. Judy Peters, Executive
Director of National Industries for the Blind, who was surprised to learn of the
pattern of mistreatment of the blind employees at Volunteer Blind Industries of
Morristown, Tennessee, including the NLRB ruling against VBI for unfair labor
practices. . . . Ms. Peters stated that she and NIB were currently attempting to
assist blind persons in mainstream employment.
     The NFB of South Carolina strongly supports any effort by the Association
for the Blind of Charleston if such efforts are directed towards mainstreaming
and competitive employment, but the nation's blind are clearly opposed to
perpetuating segregated sheltered-workshop employment, which may have been a
viable solution in 1938 but not today.
     The following is the resolution unanimously adopted by the NFB convention
in Chicago:

                                RESOLUTION 95-03

     WHEREAS, the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, originally known as the Wagner-O'Day
Act, became law in 1938, for the purpose of giving a non-competitive priority in
federal purchasing to favor items made by blind people at non-profit agencies
called sheltered workshops; and
     WHEREAS, the jobs made possible by virtue of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act
are not in the competitive labor force and, in the vast majority of instances,
never lead to jobs that are in the open labor market; and
     WHEREAS, in its operation of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act in the manner just
described, the federal government is overseeing and financing a system of
segregated employment settings for blind and disabled people, directly
contravening the policy of the United States, declared in the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973, as amended, to promote employment opportunities for persons with
disabilities in integrated settings: Now, therefore,
     BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this seventh day of July, 1995, in the City of Chicago, Illinois, that
this organization urge the Congress to enact legislation which will reshape and
reform the Javits-Wagner-O'Day program into an instrument of job training and
transitional work opportunities for blind people, providing for each person
employed in the program a plan with specifically identified goals and time
schedules to obtain competitive employment; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that eligibility for agencies to participate in the
Javits-Wagner-O'Day program be based to a considerable extent on each agency's
consistent demonstration of its ability to enable blind people to achieve
competitive employment outcomes.

     There you have the text of the South Carolina's second mailing to the
media. Not unlike the rest of the country, the Charleston area certainly has
blind persons who are unemployed. However, we believe that Roy Proffitt and the
Association for the Blind are exploiting this situation with the apparent
intention of creating an outdated segregated sheltered workshop. Unemployed
blind persons who are unskilled and economically deprived and who are promised a
better quality of life in segregated sheltered-workshop employment are
vulnerable and easily intimidated. This has been reflected in the expressions of
several blind persons in the Charleston area. While the NFB of South Carolina
throughout the decades has worked for greater employment opportunities for the
blind and supports proper training and fairness in employment opportunities, we
absolutely reject the notion that segregated sheltered-workshop employment is
the answer. Thus the NFB of South Carolina will continue to oppose vigorously
all efforts by the Association for the Blind to turn the clock back by
establishing and perpetuating segregated sheltered-workshop employment, which
does nothing significant to improve the quality of life for blind persons.
     Linda Tatum, Taylor Smith, and Ellis Hines are not alone in the segregated
sheltered-workshop experiences they related in their affidavits. Hundreds of
blind Americans trapped in segregated sheltered workshops have had similar
experiences. We don't need any more segregated sheltered workshops! The NFB of
South Carolina is appalled that the Association for the Blind has once again
resurrected this controversy, which had apparently been put to rest some three
years ago. The NFB of South Carolina would be derelict in its commitment to the
blind and irresponsible not to continue its vigorous opposition to segregated
sheltered workshops.


                   A PROMISE OF HOPE: MY FIRST NFB CONVENTION
                                 by Susan Walker

     From the Editor: What is the impact of one's first convention of the
National Federation of the Blind? How can one measure the benefit of meeting
thousands of competent blind people and hundreds of focused, optimistic parents
of blind children? There are no exact answers to these questions. But the impact
of the experience changes lives and sews hope every July when the National
Federation of the Blind gathers for its annual convention. Here is what one
mother reports about her experience:

     Last July in Chicago I attended my first NFB convention with my infant
daughter Moriah, who is cortically visually impaired (CVI). Since I had been
introduced to the NFB only weeks before, I really didn't know what to expect.
However, I was primed for the convention by the contagious enthusiasm of Dawn
Neddo, Barbara Cheadle, and Loretta White, all of whom I had met just days
before at the June Lilli Nielsen Conference in Novi, Michigan.
     Just a couple of months previously, my daughter Moriah had been diagnosed
with CVI, and I was still battling shock and hopelessness and struggling for
answers. Quite frankly I needed help. How do you teach a blind infant to crawl,
walk, talk, or be potty trained? How will I cope? My husband and I are both firm
believers that attitude affects 90 percent of what happens in one's life.
Therefore, I knew it was crucial for me to regain a conviction of hope for my
daughter's future and confidence in my ability to raise her.
     When my funding for the NFB convention fell through at the last moment, I
called Dawn Neddo to explain that I wouldn't be going after all and to thank her
for all her encouragement and help. It was then that I learned my first lesson
in parent empowerment from the guru Neddo. The lesson is entitled "Never Give
Up." Our conversation ended with Dawn saying, "Let me make a few phone calls,
and I'll get back with you." Within minutes the phone rang, and Dawn told me to
pack my bags. A scholarship had been granted to me.
     Saturday, the first morning in Chicago, I was spellbound as I listened to
Marc Maurer and Kenneth Jernigan speak. I could feel the promise of hope welling
up within me as I listened to numerous parents and blind children give speeches
and perform skits with confidence and ease. I watched in awe as graceful,
confident people wove their way through crowded lobbies and hallways using their
canes effortlessly. (I was greatly tempted to follow them as I tried to grope my
own way through the wall of people.)
     I had planned on attending only the parents' pre-convention weekend this
year, so I really needed to return home the following Monday. My heart, however,
was yearning insatiably for more of this thirst-quenching hope I had received.
Deep down I knew that the key to keeping a hopeful perspective is continuing to
meet with other parents of blind children. In watching others walk the path that
now lies before my family, I see that many of the rough places have been made
smooth by these heroic pioneers. I returned home with a feeling of peace and the
promise of hope.

     Are you considering coming to the 1996 convention of the National
Federation of the Blind? Chances are that it will change your life for the
better. If you can handle an infusion of optimism, hope, and resolve to change
the world, join us for the single most important gathering of blind people to
occur in 1996. Read the following article for details.


                                CONVENTION 1996:
                                WE GO TO ANAHEIM
                               by Kenneth Jernigan

     The time has come to plan for the 1996 convention of the National
Federation of the Blind. As Federationists know, our recent National Conventions
in Detroit and Chicago were outstanding in every sense of the word--excellent
programs, good food and facilities, and wonderful hospitality. But Anaheim in
'96 promises to be the best we have ever had. The last time we were in
California was Los Angeles in 1976, twenty years ago. We now return to Southern
California, bigger and stronger than ever before in our history and ready for a
wonderful convention. President Jim Willows and the other leaders and members of
the NFB of California tell me that plans are going forward for a spectacular
meeting.
     We are going to the Anaheim Hilton at 777 Convention Way in Anaheim. Those
of you who attended the 1995 convention at the Hilton and Towers in Chicago know
how good a Hilton can be, and the one in Anaheim is among the best. A short
distance away from Disneyland, the Anaheim Hilton has all of the elements
required for a tremendous convention.
     Let's begin with the rates: one in a room, $45 per night; two in a room,
$47; three in a room, $54; and four in a room, $57. As you can see, these rates
are slightly better than we had last year in Chicago. In addition to the room
rates, there will be a tax. At the time Mrs. Jernigan and I made the
arrangements with the hotel, it was just under 15 percent. There will be no
charge for children in a room with parents as long as no extra bed is required.
If you want to come a few days early or stay a few days late, convention rates
will apply.
     As to the meeting facilities, there are two side-by-side ballrooms (the
Pacific Ballroom and the California Pavilion) located on the ballroom level. We
will use one for our general sessions and the other for exhibits. This will give
us maximum efficiency and convenience.
     In recent years we have sometimes taken hotel reservations through the
National Office, but for the 1996 convention you should write directly to
Anaheim Hilton, 777 Convention Way, Anaheim, California 92802-3497, Attention:
Reservations; or call [phone]. Hilton has a national toll-free number,
but do not (we emphasize NOT) use it. Reservations made through this national
number will not be valid. They must be made directly with the Anaheim Hilton in
Anaheim.
     Here are the convention dates and schedule: Saturday, June 29--seminars for
parents of blind children, blind job seekers, and vendors and merchants; several
other workshops and meetings. Sunday, June 30--convention registration, first
meeting of the Resolutions Committee, other committees, and some of the
divisions. Monday, July 1--meeting of the Board of Directors (open to all),
division meetings, committee meetings, continuing registration. Tuesday, July 2-
-opening general session, evening gala. Wednesday, July 3--general sessions,
tours (you can bet that Disneyland will be on the list). Thursday, July 4--
general sessions, banquet. Friday, July 5--general sessions, adjournment.
     There are two major airports one can use when flying into the Anaheim area.
They are Los Angeles International Airport and John Wayne Orange County Airport.
It may be easier to find a flight into Los Angeles International, but John Wayne
is closer to the Anaheim Hilton. Keep both of these airports in mind when you
make your travel arrangements.
     Remember that we need door prizes from state affiliates, local chapters,
and individuals. Prizes should be relatively small in size and large in value.
Cash is always popular. In any case, we ask that no prize have a value of less
than $25. Drawings will be made steadily throughout the convention sessions. As
usual the grand prize at the banquet will be spectacular--worthy of the occasion
and the host affiliate. The 1995 grand prize in Chicago was a thousand dollars
in cash. The 1996 grand prize will be at least as good. Don't miss the fun! You
may bring door prizes with you or send them ahead of time to Patsy and Bob
Ramlo, 401 Livingston Avenue, Placentia, California 92670-2420.
     The displays of new technology; the meetings of special interest groups,
committees, and divisions; the exciting tours; the hospitality and renewed
friendships; the solid program items; and the exhilaration of being where the
action is and where the decisions are being made--all of these join together to
call the blind of the nation to the Anaheim Hilton Hotel in California in July
of 1996. Come and be part of it all.


[Caption: Lou Zuares]
                         LOU AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
                                  by Don Morris

     From the Editor: The following article is reprinted from the Fall, 1994,
issue of the Merchants Messenger, the quarterly newsletter of the National
Federation of the Blind Merchants Division. It captures the spirit of this
holiday season. We can all be proud that Lou Zuares is a Federationist. Here is
a delightful Christmas story as Don Morris tells it:

     Leon (Lou) Zuares has a varied business background and a wealth of
experience. Although Lou was born in Egypt, he is Jewish. His mother was born in
Italy; his father in Sardinia. Lou has lived in several countries and is fluent
in French, Italian, Arabic, and English.
     He has been a vendor in the Maryland Business Enterprise Program since
1984. He currently operates three restaurants. His primary operation is at the
Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) located in Annapolis. He has an annex
facility at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Experimental Farm in Greenbelt,
Maryland. Recently he took over the management of a third full-line cafeteria;
this satellite operation is located in the Legislative Services Building in
downtown Annapolis.
     We all know that the real Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, but Lou
Zuares is a genuine long-distance Santa's helper. For the past nine years Lou
has provided Christmas dinner to any and all of the 500 employees at the
Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund. The price of admission to this traditional
Christmas dinner is a gift-wrapped toy. A barrel is placed inside the door. As
diners file past, they deposit their gifts in the barrel. Packages are marked
for a boy or a girl and indicate the approximate age. Lou places no minimum
price requirement on the presents. He says, "We leave it up to each person what
they want to give. According to what most people tell us, the presents have a
value of from $7 to $10 each." The gifts are turned over to the Toys for Tots
program, which distributes them to children in needy families.
     Wearing chef hats and aprons provided by Lou, the senior management of the
Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund staff the serving line. They scoop the
potatoes, dip gravy, and carve the twenty-two freshly roasted turkeys.
     Even though lunch is served in three shifts, a very large group of diners
at any given time is being served. To accommodate the large number, Lou rents
additional tables and chairs, as well as linens for every table. Entering the
cafeteria is a sensory delight. The wonderful aroma of roasting turkeys and the
scent and sight of poinsettias and other table decorations heighten the
Christmas spirit.
     Once everyone has been served, Lou and his own employees take over for a
massive clean-up effort. In addition to the normal clean-up procedures,
leftovers are packed for transport to a Salvation Army facility, which
distributes them in a feeding program for homeless people.
     Lou is modest about his generosity. He said, "This is just something I like
to do." However, his customers and the children who receive the gifts say more.
"When I have Christmas lunch with Lou, his food feeds my body and his kindness
for children feeds my soul," reports one customer.
     Because gifts are donated anonymously, Lou doesn't hear from any of the
children, but our guess is that they appreciate this unlikely Santa's helper.


     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 the 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."


[Caption: Toni and Ed Eames
Photo: Picture of Ed and Toni Eames seated in the audience at a convention session. Toni is
knitting]
                              WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?
                              by Toni and Ed Eames

     From the Editor: Ed and Toni Eames are members of the Fresno Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of California. The following article describes
a situation with which they have been struggling for more than four years. This
is what they have to say:

     Willie Lee Johnson, a member of the Fresno Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of California, is serving a fifteen-year-to-life prison
term as a result of being convicted of second-degree murder. Based on police
records and Willie's discussion of the evidence with us, we have pieced together
the following story:
     Willie's stepson invited a friend to stay with the family until he found a
place of his own. After a while Willie began to suspect the guest was dealing
drugs and probably having an affair with Willie's wife. Willie asked the young
man to leave, and he then challenged Willie's ability to put him out.
     Faced with this impasse, Willie called the police for help. They informed
him that, if the house were searched and evidence of drugs or drug dealing were
discovered, they would have to arrest all adults in the household. If this
happened, Willie believed his twelve-year-old daughter would be placed in a
foster home. Fearing the impact of this familial disruption on his daughter,
Willie withdrew his complaint.
     Several days later (on July 1, 1990) Willie demanded once again that his
unwelcome guest leave. As before, he refused and dared Willie to force him out.
Frustrated and desperate, Willie went into the guest room, grabbed the young
man's shotgun, loaded it, and returned to the living room. He intended to shoot
out the TV and other amenities to make life so uncomfortable in the house that
the drug dealer would leave. As Willie and his wife struggled for the gun, it
went off, and the young man was killed.
     Subsequently Willie was arrested and sent to jail. We believe that several
factors worked against Willie in his confrontation with the criminal justice
system. In addition to being blind, Willie is poor. As a result, he was
represented at his trial by a public defender, who says Willie should never have
been convicted of second-degree murder.
     Willie has concluded that he was inadequately represented at his trial
because two vital issues were not brought up in his defense. The first was his
blindness. Since Willie, who is legally blind as a result of macular
degeneration, had a limited driver's license, his public defender decided that
the blindness issue should not be presented in his defense. This decision was
made despite the fact that the police report indicated the room in which the
homicide took place was dark and the victim was wearing dark clothes, which
would have severely limited Willie's ability to target him if that had been his
intention. The second issue was the attorney's decision to omit material
indicating that the victim had a history of convictions for drug dealing. The
public defender claimed afterwards that he could not find any mention of this
evidence in the police report although we were able to find reference to it
without difficulty.
     Willie did not contact us until the trial was over and he was awaiting
sentencing. He asked us, as fellow members of the NFB, to act as advocates on
his behalf and help him in whatever way we could. We agreed and have been
involved with him and his case for the last four years.
     Initially, Willie was assigned to New Folsom, a maximum security prison
near Sacramento. Although he had no prior criminal record, the authorities were
afraid that his job history as a locksmith made him a security risk. Because
Willie is not totally blind, prison authorities denied him access to Braille and
recorded material. At our request Willie's Fresno ophthalmologist forwarded a
report to Folsom certifying Willie as legally blind. Only after prison
ophthalmologists confirmed the diagnosis, were we able to convince the
administration to authorize his receipt of Braille and recorded material.
     At Folsom Willie ran into the barrier of denial of access to the law
library. During the last two decades a series of court decisions have recognized
prisoners' Constitutional right to help prepare their own appeals. Part of this
right is the ability to use the information in the prison libraries. Because of
his blindness, Willie cannot read standard print and, we believe, was denied the
right of equal access guaranteed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
     After several calls we contacted a representative of the California
Department of Corrections. When we presented Willie's case, the representative
did not see it as a problem or a denial of his rights. Her response is detailed
in our letter to the Department of Justice.
     Frustrated by the impenetrability of the prison system and fortified by
Willie's blessing, we filed a formal complaint with the Department of Justice
(DOJ), which is responsible for enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act as
it relates to prisons. This is what we wrote:

                                                                January 20, 1992

U.S. Department of Justice
Coordination and Review
Civil Rights Division
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir,
     We request an investigation into the treatment of Willie Lee Johnson, who
has been denied his basic right of access to the law library at New Folsom
prison in Represa, California. A representative of your office has told us that,
if New Folsom receives any federal funds, the Department of Justice has the
right to investigate the matter and seek remedies.
     Mr. Johnson has been legally blind from early childhood as a result of
macular degeneration. Two prison consulting ophthalmologists have noted this
fact in their reports (see enclosed documents). Mr. Johnson can read Braille and
receives tape-recorded Talking Books from the National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped. He cannot read standard print material without
the aid of magnification devices. Despite his legal blindness, no effort has
been made to obtain adaptive equipment for him or provide him with readers.
     Mr. Johnson wants to be involved in appealing his conviction and
sentencing. However, he cannot get involved without access to the law library at
New Folsom. When we discussed this issue with Mrs. Easter of the classification
section of the Institutional Division of the California Department of
Corrections, she told us that he did have access to the law library since he,
like any other prisoner, could go into the law library and obtain books. She
said the clerks would even help him get books from the stacks. We could not
convince her or anyone else in the system that as a legally blind person Mr.
Johnson did not have access since he could not read the material.
     As field representatives of the National Federation of the Blind of
California and as members of the National Federation of the Blind's Fresno
chapter, to which Mr. Johnson belongs, we call on the Department of Justice to
investigate this obvious case of discrimination against him.
     The National Federation of the Blind is the largest consumer organization
of blind people in the United States with a membership of more than 50,000. Our
goal is to eliminate discrimination against blind people in all areas of our
society. We believe that Mr. Johnson has been a victim of such discrimination.
     Please let us know what steps you can take to remedy this situation.

                                                                      Sincerely,
                                                               Ed and Toni Eames
                                                           Field Representatives
                                                               NFB of California

     Shortly after we registered this complaint, Willie was transferred to the
California Medical Facility at Vacaville. However, he still faced the problem of
lack of law-library access. Despite the presence of more than twenty blind
prisoners at this facility, no reasonable accommodation had been made for them.
Willie discovered many additional instances of discrimination as he talked with
other blind prisoners.
     No educational or rehabilitation services were provided. A number of
prisoners who needed white canes were denied access to them. Although a large-
print version of a test to become a clerk was provided for Willie, he could not
enter the training program after passing the test because the training materials
were not available in large print. However, Willie has continued his education
by taking courses from the Hadley School for the Blind.
     Once Willie realized how bad things were at this facility despite its large
blind prison population, he asked Sharon Gold, then President of the NFB of
California, to support his efforts to organize an NFB chapter at the prison.
Sharon provided him with the necessary letter, and Willie began organizing.
However, prison authorities would not permit any group meetings. Thus, the
effort failed.
     A few weeks after we filed our complaint, we were notified that the
Department of Justice had assigned Richard Waters, an employee in Washington,
D.C., to investigate the complaint. In October of 1992, after many phone
conversations, Mr. Waters visited Vacaville to investigate Willie's complaint as
well as those of other blind prisoners. He interviewed Willie twice and held
interviews with twenty other inmates. After these interviews he met with the
warden of Vacaville and his staff and with the Deputy Director of the California
Department of Corrections and his staff. All agreed that there were violations
of the rights of blind prisoners, and Mr. Waters was asked to prepare a
statement detailing the results of his investigation and to make policy and
procedural recommendations.
     In January of 1993, a year after the official complaint was filed, we spoke
with Mr. Waters about the progress being made. He indicated that his report was
finished and that the California Department of Corrections was willing to
cooperate in implementing his suggestions. However, his superiors at DOJ seemed
to be in no hurry to settle the matter. Mr. Waters assured us that the
discrimination faced by Willie and other blind prisoners would be removed, but
he just didn't know when.
     In October of 1993 Willie was transferred to the California Men's Colony at
San Luis Obispo. Since the transfer we have been able to interest
representatives of the University of California at Davis Law School Civil Rights
Clinic in Willie's case. Unfortunately, the case with the Department of Justice
received a blow when a class action suit was brought against the California
Department of Corrections by a group of physically disabled prisoners. When the
DOJ learned of this development, it turned Willie's case over to the lawyers
representing the physically disabled prisoners. Willie's claims of
discrimination are being included in this class-action case, known as Armstrong
v. California Department of Corrections. This case is slated to be heard in
federal court on April 1, 1996.
     Apart from and reaching far beyond the issue of the denial of Willie's
civil rights as a blind inmate is the issue of the unduly harsh sentence he
received. Without success we have approached attorneys to help in his appeal on
a pro-bono basis. Despite his inability to access the law library, Willie
(assisted by sighted prisoners) has filed an appeal and is hoping for a new
trial.
     Willie looks forward to the day when he can resume active participation in
our Fresno Chapter. Until that time comes, we support him in many ways,
including visiting him in the California Men's Colony, located more than 100
miles from Fresno.
     All visitors are required by the Department of Corrections to obtain prior
approval, and several of our sighted friends who are NFB supporters have joined
us in acquiring such approval in order to drive us to the prison. Visitors must
adhere to a dress code which, surprisingly, is never fully specified in the
visitor's instruction packet. We haven't gotten it right yet! Each time we
visit, we or our driver wear something that violates a rule not specified in the
written code. Knowing that blue is a forbidden color, because prisoners are
identified by their blue outfits, on our first visit Ed wore black slacks. The
checkpoint guard disallowed Ed's pants, insisting that they had faded to navy
blue. During a winter visit, knowing that layering was not permitted, Toni wore
a hooded shirt. Hoods, we discovered, are disallowed. Given our previous
experience with the quixotic dress code, our driver wore on our last visit a
bright red blouse and white pants. Believe it or not, the pants were considered
too tight and disallowed! Initially we were concerned that our guide dogs might
present an access problem. To our consternation, it has been clothing rather
than dogs that has plagued our visits. The clothing issue would have been
disastrous had it not been for the availability of a visitors' swap shop at a
neighboring prison facility. Apparently we are not the only ones to run afoul of
the unstated dress code.
     One of the unanticipated benefits of our visits has been the impact of our
dogs on Willie's fellow prisoners. Inmates and visitors meet in a large social
hall dotted with tables, chairs, and food vending machines. During each of our
visits several men have approached us asking permission to pet our dogs. Many
have not seen or interacted with a dog for more than ten years. The dogs are
also an attraction for children visiting their fathers in prison. One father was
delighted when we allowed his threeyear-old daughter to have her picture taken
standing with her arms around our two golden retriever guides.
     Willie is seeking correspondence with NFB members. Unfortunately, all
personal correspondence must be in print. Under current prison rules, he is not
permitted to have a tape recorder and cannot receive taped correspondence, which
could be played on his NLS equipment. Since Willie is denied the right to
receive and send recorded correspondence (an accommodation to him as a blind
prisoner) and has to ask fellow inmates to handle print correspondence, the
Armstrong case lawyers have added this discriminatory policy to the class action
suit.
     Those interested in corresponding should write to Willie Lee Johnson
E81930, California Men's Colony, PO Box 8101, Quad B, Cell 3178, San Luis
Obispo, California 93401-8101.


[Caption: Nadine Jacobson
Caption: Elizabeth Jacobson
Photo: Elizabeth Jacobson is seated on the floor playing with Barney's animal keyboard]
                        LOVING ELIZABETH: BLIND COUPLE'S
                            STRUGGLE TO ADOPT A BABY
                    by Nadine Jacobson as told to Bill Holton

     From the Editor: The following article first appeared in the "Profiles in
Courage" section of the October, 10, 1995, issue of Family Circle Magazine.
Nadine and Steve Jacobson are leaders in the National Federation of the Blind of
Minnesota. They are not the first nor, regrettably, will they be the last couple
to have difficulty adopting a child simply because they happen to be blind. But
articles like this one will certainly make a difference in our efforts to
educate the public about this painful and maddening issue. Here is Nadine's
story:

     My husband Steve and I were so excited. There was a newborn boy in
Arkansas, and after years of hoping and trying, it looked as if we were finally
going to become parents. The private adoption seemed so certain, we started
buying baby clothes and furniture for the nursery. But then, abruptly, the
lawyer who was handling the adoption stopped taking our calls.
     "I'm sorry," he said when I finally got through to him, "but we changed our
minds and decided to give the baby to another family." He explained that it
wasn't because there was a problem with our home study or that Steve and I
couldn't support a child financially. The lawyer made it perfectly clear there
was only one reason we weren't getting that baby boy--because Steve and I are
both blind.

                              Childhood Sweethearts

     Steve and I have known each other since I was six and he was eight. We were
both students at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, where we pretty much
grew up together. We started dating when he was fourteen and I was twelve. We
played in the school band together and sang in the choir. I was a cheerleader;
Steve wrestled on the school team. When Steve graduated and went on to college,
I left the Academy and spent my last two years in public high school back home
in Richmond, Minnesota, where I became involved in speech tournaments, had parts
in several school plays, and graduated near the top of my class.
     We were married in the spring of 1973 and set up housekeeping in
Minneapolis while I finished college and Steve started turning his math degree
into a career in computers. Like many couples our age, we always planned on
having a family but decided to wait, wanting to become a bit more settled first.
Steve went to work for 3M, where today he's a lead programmer analyst. I got my
master's degree in social work, and over the years I have licensed foster homes,
done advocacy work for the elderly, taught Braille, and done career counseling
at a private rehab agency for the blind.
     About ten years ago Steve and I decided it was time to begin our family.
Unfortunately, nature didn't agree. Fertility drugs, making love on a schedule,
many trips to the doctors didn't help. Eventually, I underwent surgery to try to
increase my chances of conception. When even this failed, Steve and I were
forced to face the truth: I was probably never going to get pregnant.

                               The Adoption Option

     We'd talked about adoption many times. It was always something we hoped to
do after we had a baby of our own, but now that it looked like a biological baby
wasn't going to happen. . . .
     Walking into that first agency interview in June of 1989, Steve and I knew
we had a lot of work ahead of us. Although social workers are educated to
understand how the disabled function and adapt, all too frequently they harbor
the same misconceptions and negative stereotypes as does much of the general
population. We knew we were going to have to do a lot of educating, teaching
them everything we knew about how blind parents parent.
     "Please, ask us anything you want to know," I encouraged the agency
officials. They seemed open to what we had to say and asked a lot of detailed
questions. For example, how would we know if our child were sick or playing with
something that might be dangerous? I explained to them that, like most parents
who don't spend every minute of every day in the same room with their child, you
do a lot of careful listening. If the child becomes too noisy or too quiet, then
you know it's time to check. You become especially careful not to leave things
lying about that a small child could hurt himself with or put in his mouth.
     Also as a blind parent you tend to spend more time with your child, sitting
on the edge of the tub or standing right there beside the swing set. And as for
illness, they do make talking thermometers, but what mother can't tell when her
child is sick just by the sound of her breathing or a gentle kiss on an
overheated forehead?
     During the following weeks we filled out any number of forms, provided
written life histories and philosophies of parenting and such, and prepared
ourselves for that all-important home visit. Everything seemed to be right on
track, and Steve and I started to feel cautiously optimistic.
     When the social worker who did the home visit asked how we would feel about
adopting a blind child, we told her that we wouldn't have a problem with it but
that, if we'd had our own baby, he or she wouldn't have been blind, so we didn't
think eyesight should be a consideration. "Yes, well," she replied matter-of-
factly, "I can't imagine we would even consider placing a sighted child with
you."

                           Best Interest of the Child

     Steve and I were disappointed by her attitude, but we understood it. In any
placement the agency needs to keep the best interest of the child as its first
priority, and apparently this woman simply did not believe the best interest of
a sighted child could ever be served by placing him with blind parents.
Understanding her position, of course, didn't make it any less misguided. There
are thousands of blind parents raising sighted children and doing a fine job of
it. After all, it's not what you can or can't see that makes you a good parent;
it's what you teach your child about love and life and living in the world. (We
later learned of another reason the agency wanted to limit our adoption to blind
children. They were afraid that eighteen years from now a sighted child might
sue them for forcing him to grow up with blind parents.)
     We tried to educate them, but it became clear that their minds were set:
they would help us find a child, but it was going to be a blind child.
     Were we equally set against adopting a blind child? Of course not. Steve
and I don't think any less of ourselves or each other because we happen to be
blind. How could it make a difference in the way we would feel about a child?
But we did want to adopt a child, and fewer than 1 in 200 children in the world
are born blind. And many of those babies also have severe physical problems that
make them unlikely candidates for adoption.
     We had chosen this agency because they specialize in finding children in
Korea and South America, where there are far more babies waiting to be adopted
than adoptive parents. We figured the larger the pool of potential children, the
sooner we'd find a baby who was just right for us. But then the agency tells us
that for us the only right baby is a rare, blind baby.
     So rare that, after a year and more of searching, the agency hadn't been
able to come up with a single potentially adoptable child for us.
     Eventually Steve and I began to look elsewhere. We ran up huge phone bills
calling other agencies in other states as well as attorneys who specialize in
private adoptions. There were agencies that would agree to help us, but then
we'd never hear from them again. Even though attorneys were more
straightforward, they couldn't help us either.
     By the summer of 1992 Steve and I were despairing. And then we were
introduced to a social worker from Washington State named Barbara Freeman.
Barbara and her husband Mike had experienced many of the same roadblocks to
adopting a child as had Steve and I. It had taken them five years to find a
child, particularly discouraging since Barbara wasn't blind; only her husband
was. Barbara told us of an agency in Oregon called Hold International Children's
Services, which specialized in placing children with special needs. We contacted
them at once.
     Again we were asked if we'd mind adopting a blind child. Again we explained
that, blind or sighted, it didn't matter to us--what we wanted was a baby, a
precious new life to love and cherish and raise as our own.
     It was a few months later, in September of 1992, when we got a call back.
"We think we've found a baby for you. A five-month-old little girl from Korea
named Kang Soo Jee."
     Steve and I tried not to get too excited. We didn't want to get our hopes
up, only to have them dashed again. Sure enough, a few weeks later we got a
call. "We don't think this child is going to work out for you after all," the
woman apologized.
     "What's the problem?" I asked, my stomach tightening into a knot.
     She explained that Kang Soo Jee wasn't totally blind, and they were worried
that a partially sighted child might be too much for Steve and me.
     Back to square one. I explained to her that I had been partially sighted as
a child, so I knew what it was like. I understood the sort of things Kang Soo
Jee needed to know in order to make the best use of her limited vision and how
techniques used by the blind could help her avoid the dangers of partial-
sightedness.
     The agency representative promised to take what I'd told her under
advisement. Six weeks later we received their decision: Steve and I had been
approved for adoption. Though the waiting wasn't over--there were papers to be
filed, a passport and visa to be secured, and about a million last-minute things
that could go wrong--it began to look as if Steve and I were finally going to
get the baby we'd been praying for.

                                 The Homecoming

     Our daughter arrived in this country at 1:45 p.m. on March 25, 1993, five
days after my fortieth birthday, and eight days before her very first.
     "Oh, Elizabeth!" I wept, accepting my baby girl from her escort and using
the new name we planned to give her. Steve was right there by my side, a proud
new papa.
     She was so tiny, so beautiful, and after all these years of wanting and
waiting, I could hardly believe she was really mine.
     When she first came to us, she was mostly crawling, and she could only
speak a few words of Korean. Just today she was chasing the cat around the house
with one of the arm protectors from the sofa, calling, "Kitty, night-night!
Kitty, night-night!" Later, while I was fixing dinner, she sat on the kitchen
floor with most of the pots and pans out, banging the lids and saying, "`abeth
cook too!"
     Elizabeth loves watching Barney on TV. She sings along, and when it's time
for the "I Love You" song, she always runs over and gives me a great big hug.
After Barney, we often go to the little park up the street. Sometimes I take her
in the stroller with the handle that reverses so I can pull it with my right
hand while I cane with my left, or else I fasten a loose string tether around
our wrists and let her use her own, smaller cane. She does pretty well with it,
too. I stick pretty close to Elizabeth in the playground and usually dress her
in a pair of shoes with tiny bells on the off chance she decides to go
exploring.
     After dinner the three of us go for a walk, and Elizabeth gets to ride in
her daddy's backpack. Elizabeth loves her daddy. She loves listening to him read
to her from one of her picture books with the text transcribed into Braille, or
helping him put together one of the many puzzles I've Braille-marked on the back
so I know which picture we're working on. I've similarly marked the colors of
many of her toys, because no one is ever going to say my little girl doesn't
know green from orange because both her parents are blind.
     I hope, though, that we'll be able to teach Elizabeth more than just the
colors of the rainbow or how to read Braille or use her white cane to negotiate
her way across a busy intersection. If Steve and I are truly to succeed as
parents, we're also going to have to impart to Elizabeth everything we know
about growing up to become a decent and responsible human being. We'll have to
show her how to enjoy each day of her life to the fullest and, most important,
give her the support and confidence to recognize that there isn't anything in
this whole wide world she can't accomplish if only she sets her mind to it.
     But then, aren't these the very same beliefs, values, and ideals that
parents everywhere hope to instill in their children?


[Caption: April and Amanda Jones
Photo: April and Amanda Jones sit at a table reading Twin-Vision■ books]
                            TWIN REASONS TO CELEBRATE
                              by Chris Shackleford

            Sisters April and Amanda Jones Find Blindness No Obstacle
             to Achieving Success Thanks to Caring Educators and the
                Support of Family and Friends at the VITAL Center

     From the Editor: It's easy to get discouraged when being constantly
reminded of how much there is still to do to win the right for blind children to
take their proper place in school and the normal social life of their peers.
Ignorance, fear, and misconception play such a large part in people's reaction
to blindness that it sometimes seems as though we are getting nowhere. But we
are making a difference. Gradually things are changing. Parents are learning
what to demand and expect of themselves, their blind children, and their
schools. On rare occasions, educators actually get the equation right. And
sometimes local agency staff members and other blindness professionals even know
how to provide truly useful help and do so with a minimum of fuss and with
admirable efficiency. Occasionally all of these things happen at the same time
and for the same child. When that occurs, it is usually because the National
Federation of the Blind and the National Organization of Parents of Blind
Children have been active in the area.
     That is what has been happening recently in Chattanooga, where Amanda and
April Jones live with their grandparents and where long-time Federationist David
Robinson has recently become Executive Director of the Vital Center. The Jones
family has attended the past two annual conventions of the National Federation
of the Blind, and Pat Jones has taken an active part in organizing a parents
division in Tennessee. The combination of all these factors has been wonderful
news for April and Amanda. Here is a recent story about the Jones twins as it
appeared in the September 19, 1995, edition of the Chattanooga Free Press. The
story should bring you a little cheer for the holiday season. Here it is:

     Amanda and April Jones are disappointed.
     "I wanted to be on TV," April says, upon learning her interviewer is a
newspaper reporter.
     Resigned to being in print, she reaches over to touch the reporter's steno
pad.
     "Read me your notes," she asks.
     "April," her grandmother Pat Jones reminds her, "That's not nice."
     "But I want to know what she's writing about me," the youngster insists.
     Born premature, April, like her twin sister Amanda, is blind. But that's
the only thing that separates these dual dynamos from their classmates at
Ooltewah Intermediate School.
     "Indeed," says David Robinson, executive director of the VITAL Center, the
agency that provides rehabilitation services to the visually impaired, "they're
like any other nine-year-old kids. The only difference is that they just happen
to be blind. They're at that age now where they're asserting their independence.
They're very outgoing and full of energy." In other words, "The twins are quite
a handful."
     "They like to rollerblade, go swimming, ride bikes, and go to the movies,"
their grandmother says. And recently the girls joined the Chattanooga girls
choir and are learning to play the piano.
     "In fact, given the chance, there is no reason they can't do anything their
sighted peers do," Mr. Robinson says, "so long as they have access to
alternative skills that allow them to function independently."
     That's where VITAL comes in. Not only does VITAL provide orientation and
mobility (cane travel) and Braille training, which allow the visually impaired
to function; VITAL also provides consultation to the teachers at their school in
the case of the twins.
     "Federal law mandates that schools must provide the disabled with an equal
and appropriate education and the necessary support. That includes Braille
materials, equipment, tape recorders," he explains.
     The problem is some mainstream classroom teachers don't know how to
communicate with the blind.
     "If a teacher puts an assignment on the board, Amanda and April can't copy
it down. The teacher has to find a way to provide the information in an
alternative format," Mr. Robinson says.
     As a result VITAL works to help classroom teachers adapt their lessons so
that youngsters like the Jones twins can function independently and
successfully.
     "Most blind people want to function normally within society. And they can,
once they learn the basic alternative skills. That, in turn, builds confidence.
And confidence encourages people to attempt and learn more things. It creates a
positive cycle," he says.
     Pat Jones agrees. "David has been great. He has developed so many programs
for our children. He's been a wonderful influence on the girls."
     Recently the girls spoke to a meeting of the Lions Club to discuss their
disability and the need for better understanding about the barriers many
handicapped people face.
     "Someone asked me recently if I wasn't being a little too hard on them
because I make them walk to the school bus stop rather than have the bus pick
them up at the front door," their grandmother relates. "I said, `No, they're
perfectly capable of walking to the bus stop.'"
     "A lot of people want to protect them. They don't understand that it's
important that they learn to lead independent lives."
     So far, the approach appears to be working. Just ask April.
     "I was the only one to make 100 on the math test today," she says,
squealing with pride.
     And as for taking the bus to school like their sighted friends, well that's
okay too. With perhaps one exception.
     "It has a lot of boys on it," the twins echo.


[Caption: Zach Ericson enjoys a day camp outing to the Waterford Wave Pool.
Photo: The picture is of a boy playing in the water.]
                    WHY THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND?
                                by Sue Drapinski

     From the Editor: Sue Drapinski is the Treasurer of the National Federation
of the Blind of Michigan. She and her husband Don are long-time leaders of the
affiliate. Sue wrote the following article after the close of the 1995 NFB of
Michigan Summer Day Camp for blind youngsters and their families. Here is what
she has to say:

     We've all been asked what the National Federation of the Blind is and what
the organization does. We know the answer and can give it without even thinking-
-it is so much a part of us. But the answer to the question that often follows,
"Why the National Federation of the Blind?" varies from person to person and
situation to situation. Here is my current answer.
     We of the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan have just completed
our eighth summer day-camp program for blind children. We have made changes and
refinements over the years, and this year we believe was our best program yet.
We invited blind children and their families to join us on five separate field
trips. We went for a train ride, explored a fire engine hands-on, went roller
blading, spent a day at a wave pool and water slide, went to the zoo, toured a
farm, and went to the beach. Each day we had a picnic lunch. We enjoyed our old
friends, made new ones, and grew stronger in our common belief that blind
children are no different from any others. Most important, we gave our blind
children and their families the opportunity to learn this truth first hand.
     But such learning does not stop with the blind children and their families.
We teach wherever we go and whomever we encounter. The owner of the railroad
company that provided the train trip asked me what to do with our group. She
went on to explain that they usually gave a narrated tour and used such comments
as "Look to your left and you'll see . . .," or "When you see the train
crossing,. . . ." She then asked me what she should say instead so that she
wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings. My response was not to do anything different
from what she normally would do, and everything would be fine. Was she naive to
ask this question? Absolutely. Was it a stupid question? Not to her and,
therefore, not to me. But the important point was that she listened to my
answer. We talked for a few minutes about the National Federation of the Blind
and our philosophy. She then did the presentation in the same way she always
did, and we all enjoyed and learned from it. And she learned as well.
     What about Kyle, who went down the giant water slide? One of the attendants
at the top of the slide radioed to the attendant at the bottom, "Blind child
coming down." Was this necessary? Absolutely not, but the attendants learned.
Kyle went back on the slide again. He showed the park personnel that he could
handle the slide the same way any other child would have, and on his second and
third trips down the slide there were no radio announcements about the blind
child coming down. They have learned.
     These encounters were small victories, but they were victories nonetheless.
During each of our trips the children also observed blind adults barbecuing,
roller blading, and swimming. The children quickly learned that blind adults do
all the things other adults do.
     Why the National Federation of the Blind for me? Because I believe in this
philosophy. It must be shared with the people who cross our path. I am committed
to doing my part in accomplishing this goal. I have also found, need, and enjoy
the friendships and love that are a part of our Federation family.
     But most important are Adam, Alison, Charles, Cheryl, Christina, Jared,
Jason, Karl, Kyle, Steven, and Zach--the blind children of this year's summer
day camp program. For me, they are the most powerful answer to the question,
"Why the National Federation of the Blind?"


[Caption: Jerry Whittle
                         SOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO USE
                            READERS MORE EFFECTIVELY
                                by Jerry Whittle

     From the Editor: Developing good study habits and using readers effectively
are important skills for any blind student to master. From time to time we have
published articles on this important subject. (See "The Care and Feeding of
Readers" by Peggy Pinder in the May, 1993, issue and "Of Readers, Drivers, and
Responsibility" by Peggy Elliott and Barbara Cheadle in the March, 1995, issue.)
Jerry Whittle is a staff member at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. He has
worked with many students and has personal experience supervising readers
successfully. His approach is a little different from that of Peggy Pinder
Elliott, but his message is the same. This is what he says:

     Over the past ten years the Louisiana Center for the Blind has had several
students who had never used readers before and who sought to be more effective
in their study habits. Usually I discover that these students have been making
some fundamental errors in using their readers efficiently. First of all many
blind college students make the mistake of hiring only one or two readers,
usually college students attending the same institution as the blind person. One
or two readers are not enough. Tests at a university often occur on roughly the
same schedule in all classes; therefore, student readers need to study for their
own tests, so they are unable to spend lots of time helping the blind student
during these high-pressure periods in the school year. If, however, the blind
student maintains a list of seven or eight dependable readers, the chances of
finding someone to help study in times of crisis are far greater.
     Another principle in using readers is not to hire university students only.
It is important to hire one or two readers who do not attend college. At exam
time all college students are necessarily engrossed in their own studies and do
not have much time to help a blind employer. A reader from outside the
university becomes extremely important in such times of concentrated study.
     It is essential that the time you spend with your readers be effectively
used. Some students make the error of relying on their readers to record tapes
only. During my undergraduate and postgraduate work, I rarely asked readers to
tape record anything for me and drop it off. I did this for several reasons.
First of all, when one allows a reader to work on his or her own recognizance,
he or she is less likely to be efficient than when reading directly to the
employer. Tapes often come back with innumerable yawns or recorded by a voice
that sounds as though the reader were an inmate of a concentration camp. This
happens because readers often get around to recording the material only when
their own studies are finished and they are ready for bed.
     Second, tapes can break, twist into frightful knots, or become garbled.
Third, no two tape recorders are alike, so the reader may well use a K-Mart
special to produce tapes that will be irritating or incomprehensible on your
top-of-the-line tape recorder. Fourth, human nature being what it is, readers
often do not get study materials recorded until the very last minute. Often
anxiously awaited tapes don't appear at all because the reader has not been
under the blind employer's direct supervision. In short, reader laziness and
irresponsibility can be a terrible problem, and they are more likely to occur
when one sends a reader home with material to record rather than doing it live
and under direct supervision.
     Many blind students also make some rather tragic mistakes when using a
reader under direct supervision. For example, for some reason many blind
students believe that they are studying effectively if they simply sit and
listen to someone read a chapter. Unfortunately, this method is almost useless.
Statistics have shown that a person retains only about 15 percent of what he or
she simply hears when studying in this manner. One does not remember much
without writing it down. It is vitally important that a blind student take
careful notes from the material being read aloud. Use a slate and stylus and sit
at a desk or table when studying. Point out to your reader the important
passages that you wish to have underlined or highlighted; then, after you have
listened to your reader and have written down the important points with a slate,
ask him or her to record the important material he or she has marked in the
chapter. Listen to this condensed material and take notes while listening to it.
     I would like to reiterate how important one's working environment is. I
once visited the apartment of a student who was not doing well in class but who
was using a reader consistently and studying at least two hours a day for a
single course. This student was sitting on a couch with her reader. She had no
writing instruments within reach, and she was listening to music on the radio at
the same time. She heard the chapter read, but she had no notes to refer to, so
she probably retained only 10 percent of what she had almost heard through the
music. In summary, it is wise to sit at a table or desk, take notes, ask one's
reader to underline important material, and tape record this underlined material
for future review. This method has proven to be successful for many blind
students.
     Many people make another tragic mistake in the classroom. These students
decide to tape record their class lectures, but they do not take notes while the
tape recorder is going. However, sighted students are taking notes with a pen or
pencil while listening to the lecture. By the close of the class, the sighted
students have heard the lecture and also have hard-copy print notes to review
further. In contrast a blind student who depends only on the tape recorder
retains hardly any of the lecture; he or she has no hard-copy notes; in fact,
the blind student has almost nothing until he or she returns home and begins to
study by listening to the entire lecture again and again. It is extremely
important that one take notes while listening to a lecture. Writing helps the
mind focus on what is being said instead of wandering. Additionally, this is an
excellent way to begin developing faster and more useful notetaking speed.
     This raises another problem. Many blind students lack confidence in taking
notes, so a sighted notetaker is often assigned to help. A sighted notetaker is
at best an unsatisfactory way to handle one's college studies. Such notes may
well not be dependable and are unlikely to include all the things and only the
things that the blind student would have written down. Taking notes is a highly
individualized exercise since everyone comes to the lecture with his or her own
approach to and previous knowledge of the subject. Moreover, a blind student who
uses a notetaker in class has already planted in the professor's mind the
concept that he or she cannot do the work independently. Finally, the blind
student has wasted valuable class time by not focusing on the lecture as
attentively as his or her note-taking classmates do.
     In order to compete on an equal basis, blind students must use their
readers effectively and find ways to keep them working hard in a team effort.
Cultivating and keeping good readers is important during a college career. You
must establish good working habits with readers. Stressing how important your
studies are to you can be an effective way of getting a reader to go the extra
mile. "I am taking sixteen hours this semester, and I really depend on my
readers to enable me to make good grades," is not a bad thing to say to a reader
from the outset of the working relationship.
     It is also important for the reader to recognize that the blind student is
in charge of study time. The reader is an employee, and the blind student
expects him or her to be on time and to read and work steadily for one- to two-
hour periods. During my college career I found it difficult to keep a reader on
task for more than two hours. Even my best readers grew weary of reading
continually for that period, and some of them were ready to call it a day after
one hour. For that reason I scheduled my readers to come in every two hours.
Since I was a day person, I usually scheduled my classes as early in the morning
as possible and kept my afternoons free to use readers, having them come in
every two hours. I saved my evenings for further review or to listen to
textbooks on tape or to socialize when time permitted. I would suggest that
students schedule readers during the hours of their peak concentration.
     Additionally, it is important that the blind employer not be afraid to
phase out poor or irresponsible readers as quickly as possible. During my
undergraduate studies alone, I hired well over twenty-five readers, but I used
only about seven for any length of time. I never allowed them to take control of
my study time; I made sure that I was prepared to begin work as soon as they
arrived. Many students make the mistake of waiting until the reader arrives to
get out the work for the day, and fifteen to twenty minutes of precious time is
then wasted preparing to study. It would be much more efficient to have the
necessary materials organized and ready to read as soon as the reader arrives.
This preparedness minimizes the temptation to converse too much. I would begin
to answer chatty comments in monosyllables and comport myself in such a way that
it was clear I wanted to study. A wise and disciplined blind student will
communicate the idea that general conversation is appropriate only after
studying is finished.
     In some circumstances it may be appropriate to give an occasional small
gift to a particularly good and dependable reader. This gesture may keep him or
her working hard. For example, in college I had a very good reader who was not
paid expeditiously after I had turned in her hours. She was growing impatient to
be paid by the Commission for the Blind, and I could sense her consternation. I
bought her a small gift and attached this note to it: "I couldn't make the grade
without you." She was touched and kept reading diligently until she was finally
paid. Don't take a good reader for granted--cultivate and thank him or her.
     On another occasion this same reader grew weary of reading for me after
three or four weeks of concentrated work, probably because I did not relent in
my desire to do well with my studies. She said to me one day, "Couldn't we just
talk some time? Wouldn't it be nice to have some bread and cheese and wine and
just talk instead of studying all the time?" So the next time we were scheduled
to read, I put a bottle of wine, two wine glasses, a small loaf of bread, and
some packaged cheese in my briefcase. When she met me that evening in an empty
classroom of the history building, I opened the briefcase and took out the
contents, and we had a wonderful conversation for two hours. After that she felt
relieved not to be under pressure all the time; and she read sedulously and
without complaint for the rest of the semester.
     Remember that good readers are extremely important to a blind student's
success, but more important is the way readers are used. Other important aspects
of a successful college career are the kind of working relationship one
establishes and how effectively a blind student keeps a reader working. Most
important, remember to write information down. Listening alone is not a
satisfactory method.


[Caption: Marc Maurer]
                            THE AXE AND THE LAW BOOK
                                 by Marc Maurer

     From the Editor: The following article first appeared in Toothpaste and
Railroad Tracks, the most recently released Kernel Book, published by the
National Federation of the Blind. It begins with Dr. Jernigan's introduction:

     Abraham Lincoln wielded an axe, and he also became a lawyer. Although Marc
Maurer has never been elected President of the United States, he has followed
Lincoln's footsteps with the axe and the lawbook. Living in different centuries,
both Lincoln and Maurer had hardships to overcome--and both succeeded when they
might have despaired and given up.
     No, Marc Maurer has never been elected President of the United States--but
he has been elected President of the National Federation of the Blind, a
position he holds today. And the lives of countless blind people are better as a
result. Here is how he tells the story of his development.

     Many of the toys I was given as a child were mechanical. Toy cars and
trucks often contained mechanisms attached to the wheels that made a noise when
the vehicle was pushed across the floor. I wanted to know what was inside, and I
took them apart. But this was not all. Alarm clocks, mechanical ice-cream
dippers, egg beaters, doorknob assemblies, electric motors, our family lawn
mower, the vacuum cleaner, and anything else I hadn't been forbidden to touch--I
took them all apart.
     Then came the question of putting them together again. Those who have taken
an alarm clock to pieces know how difficult this can be. The spring shoots out,
and the pieces go everywhere. Even if you can find all the parts, it is hard to
tell which tiny wheel or spring goes where.
     The first time that I dismantled a piece of machinery which was not working
and reassembled it so that it functioned properly, I was delighted. I began to
examine everything with the idea that I might "fix it."
     Although I was then--as I am now--blind, I became the fixer for our family.
My father was the principal fixer, but he was a traveling salesman, and he was
often away from home. If an electrical cord needed a new plug, if a curtain rod
needed hanging, if a hinge on a door had become loosened, if the washers in a
faucet needed to be replaced--I was the one to be called upon to put it right.
     I even got to work on our second car, a 1954 Plymouth. My Dad forbade me to
monkey with the internal mechanisms of the new car. He drove that one for work,
and he did not want me fiddling with it. He would let me change the tires if
they were flat or put the new license plates on. He would even let me look at
the engine if I wanted to. I just couldn't do anything to it.
     My father had many tools, and he shared them with me and taught me to use
them. But he had very little experience with blindness, and he did not know how
blind people use power machinery. He gave me an electric drill, and he let me
use his disk sander, but he did not encourage me to use the power saws. He
thought that using them was beyond the capabilities of a blind boy, and I agreed
with him.
     In 1969 I met Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, who was then serving as President of
the National Federation of the Blind. I was a student in Dr. Jernigan's program
for training blind adults. In that program there was no prohibition against
blind students' using power tools.
     There were hand tools, of course, but there were the big ones, too--a table
saw, a planer, a radial arm saw, a joiner, a wood lathe, a metal lathe, a
vertical mill, a drill press, and more. And best of all, I was not prohibited
from using them. I was expected to make them function. I was expected to learn
how to use the machines and to demonstrate my knowledge by building something.
During the time that I was in the program I hoisted an engine out of a car, tore
it to pieces, and rebuilt it.
     One cold winter day we traveled to a wooded area. I took one end of a two-
man cross cut saw, and, before the day was through, we had cut down a tree more
than three feet thick. It was exciting and fun.
     Although I was a student in Dr. Jernigan's program, I knew that the time
was approaching for me to go to college. The fun that I had had manipulating
tools made me wonder whether I should study engineering.
     Dr. Jernigan encouraged me not to be limited by a single perspective. How
mechanical things fit together can be interesting, he told me, but there are
other fascinating ideas as well. How do organizations accomplish their goals?
How do governments achieve their objectives? What is it that makes people
persuasive? What are the characteristics that cause an individual to be a
leader? How is opportunity created? What are the driving forces behind social
change? How are the decisions reached within society to select one direction
over another? Not only did Dr. Jernigan pose these challenging questions, but he
also introduced me to a startling new idea.
     I, as a blind person, could--if I possessed the ability and the willingness
to work--help to decide the answers. If I could learn how social structures
worked and if I could discover how change was created, I might be able to help
contribute to the building of a nation.
     Before I became a part of the National Federation of the Blind, I believed
that I might be able to replace a broken leaf spring or to balance a flywheel.
But I never imagined that I would be able to participate in determining broader
questions.
     With the help of my friends in the National Federation of the Blind, I
enrolled at the University of Notre Dame. After graduating with honor from Notre
Dame, I entered law school. For many centuries the law has been among the
honored professions.
     In law school I learned that the law, the courts, and the judicial system
are not mysterious or unknowable--not beyond the mental capacity of a blind
student--not an unattainable goal. The law is a tool to be used to achieve a
stable and civilized society. It changes to meet the demands of that society. In
the hands of a skillful artisan the law can be used to bring about the most
worthwhile results. And it possesses a great deal of power.
     Early in my legal career I learned that a seventy-six-year- old woman had
(four years earlier) been declared criminally insane. Agnes had been placed
behind bars in the mental hospital for criminals. When I questioned the doctor
about her case, he told me that Agnes was perfectly sane. I asked for permission
to interview her in the hospital, and she asked me to represent her in the
courts.
     Agnes had been good friends with her neighbor Clara--a woman somewhat
younger than she. To Agnes's amazement, Clara stole Agnes's husband. There was a
fight, and Agnes was hauled off by the police. Clara told the arresting officer
that Agnes was having strange hallucinations, and she repeated her testimony in
the court. Agnes was adjudged to be insane.
     Unless something could be done to change the circumstances, Agnes would
live out the remainder of her life in the mental hospital. I prepared a petition
of habeas corpus and presented it to the court. The prosecuting attorney refused
to consider an adjudication without court proceedings. The matter came on for
hearing, and I prepared witnesses to present evidence. The doctor repeated under
oath what he had told me in our private conversation. Medical evidence indicated
that Agnes was sane.
     After the evidence had been presented, it was time for argument to the
court. Locking a person who is sane in a hospital for the criminally insane is
the same as putting that person in jail. Our law states unequivocally that no
person may be put permanently in jail unless that person has been convicted of a
crime. Even if a conviction has occurred, a judge must decide how long the
sentence will be.
     Agnes had already been in the hospital for four years, and she was facing
the real possibility of life behind bars. I asked the court to release this
seventy-six-year-old lady. The judge gave the order that we wanted.
     Although I have handled many different kinds of cases in my career, most of
the legal practice that I do today involves individuals who are blind or
corporations established to assist the blind. The diversity of experience I have
had in the courts has helped to give me perspective and understanding in the
things I do today.
     As I think about the tools that I have used in my lifetime (both those that
are mechanical and those that are not), I am astonished and pleased to note that
the learning never stops. In 1993 my son David joined the Cub Scouts. A new pack
was being formed at the church we attend. Despite my inexperience (I had never
been a Scout), I was asked to serve as an assistant leader. As a part of my
responsibility I participated in the 1994 fall Camporee.
     In this event the Scouts go out into the woods, set up tents, build fires,
cook their meals, and practice outdoor skills: recognizing and following tracks,
tying different kinds of knots, building shelters with the materials at hand in
the forest, learning to load a backpack, and chopping wood. The wood-chopping
exercise demands precision. A wooden match stick is placed on the chopping block
with its striking end up. The Scout is expected to split the match with a
hatchet. Extra points are given (they say) if the match lights as you cut it.
     I was the leader, so I was not asked to perform this feat. I was glad not
to be expected to perform in public. Even though I have a great respect and a
great appreciation for good tools, I had never used a hatchet or an axe.
     I thought about why this was so. I remember quite well the story of the tin
woodman from the Wizard of Oz. He made a number of mistakes with his axe. One at
a time he cut off each of his legs and each of his arms. They had to be replaced
with tin. Then he slipped once more and cut his body so that it had to be
replaced as well.
     I came to understand that using an axe was a dangerous thing to do.
Although I would probably not have said so, I thought it was too dangerous and
too impractical for a blind person. Consequently, I never tried. All of this is
what I thought on that camping trip. How often we create our own limitations and
restrict our activities because we don't believe there is any possibility of
doing otherwise.
     Later, in the fall of 1994 I borrowed a hatchet and, working with my son
David, chopped out a stump in the yard of one of my neighbors. I have always
liked physical work with tools. Perhaps this is because I spend most of my
working days in an office, meeting with people and managing documents.
     The fireplace in my house needs wood to make the evenings pleasant. Each
fire requires kindling. I suppose it is possible to buy it, but my son and I
have begun making it ourselves. He uses the hatchet he got for Christmas, and I
use an axe. Neither one of us is very good at it yet. But we enjoy being with
each other; we enjoy the outdoors; and we enjoy the physical exertion. We also
feel good about learning a new skill. We hope to become competent at using the
tools that helped to clear the forests from our nation to give us the productive
farm land that has fed this country for so many years, and we like to have
kindling for the fire.
     We keep the tin woodman in mind. We don't want to have artificial legs, so
we play it safe. But we don't let the worries about safety keep us from using
the tools.
     In the National Federation of the Blind we offer hope and encouragement to
blind people who believe that the possibility for having a full life is ended by
blindness. We know that blind people can perform most jobs that are done by the
sighted. We know that blindness is not the thing that will stop a blind person
but that negative attitudes about blindness are. I learned this when I joined
the organization in 1969, and I have had this learning reinforced from time to
time throughout the years.
     In the fall of 1994 with an axe in my hand, I learned it again. I may never
spend a significant amount of my time using an axe, but it isn't because I'm
blind. I thought that it couldn't be done--that my muscles might do many things,
but they would never feel the bite of the axe blade in the wood. Because the
Federation taught me to explore what I thought I could not do, and because my
son wanted to go camping, I have learned to swing an axe.


[Caption: Barbara Walker]
                              A LESSON FROM MARSHA
                                by Barbara Walker

     From the Editor: The following story first appeared in Toothpaste and
Railroad Tracks, the newest in the Kernel Book series of paperbacks published by
the National Federation of the Blind. Beginning with Dr. Jernigan's brief
introduction, here it is:

     Almost all children test their parents to see just what they can get away
with. What if the parent is blind? And what if the parent is blind and the child
takes advantage of the blindness? Is it fair? And what does it say about the
child's attitude toward the parent and the parent's blindness? With sensitivity,
love, and true understanding of herself, her blindness, and her daughter,
Barbara Walker (one of the leaders of the National Federation of the Blind)
explores these questions in the story that follows.

     "Mom, someone asked me today if I can read Braille because I was wearing my
Braille Readers are Leaders sweatshirt." I felt again the depth of my daughter
Marsha's acceptance. I know that, as she grows, a time may come when she won't
want to champion the cause of the blind. I thought that junior high might be
that time. But not only has she worn that sweatshirt, but she has also proudly
worn her "Braille is finger food for the mind" T-shirt with the "cool Federation
logo" on the back.
     One day she took a copy of some titles she had Brailled along with the
print version to show her teacher. She did them on an IBM Braille typewriter
which was recently donated to our affiliate of the National Federation of the
Blind. Without much thought I can bring to mind many times that she has promoted
our cause.
     There was the time when she took copies of our first Kernel book, What
Color Is the Sun, to each of her teachers. Inside she had tucked a Christmas-
tree-shaped note pointing out that the title article was written by her aunt.
     When she ran for student council in the fifth grade, she wanted to mention
in her speech that I was president of the National Federation of the Blind of
Nebraska. I told her how pleased I was that she wanted to do that but suggested
that, since she was the one seeking office, it would be more appropriate for her
to talk about some of the things she herself has done to further our cause--
stamping and stuffing envelopes, helping younger children at our conventions,
assisting in sorting and distributing literature, participating in fund-raising,
and so on.
     That same year she involved friends of hers in our walk-a-thon, created
Braille art, and made a Braille picture card game with me. She is very
interested in art and believes people should be allowed to touch three-
dimensional creations, whether or not they can visually see them, because you
experience them more fully that way.
     I have complimented her insight and have encouraged her to present that
perspective often to others. Since our society tends to emphasize visual
learning and to underestimate the value of education through other senses, many,
including some artists, may otherwise never consider the treasure which feels so
natural to her.
     Last summer, while volunteering at a day care home, she took copies of The
Encounter (a cartoon book about blindness) for the children to color in. She
said, when asking to do that, "If they take them home to their parents, which
they usually do with things they make, their parents will read it and learn
about blindness."
     On another occasion, when I was not present, a man in our church suggested
to her that she should see to it that her brother wore clean and appropriate
clothes to church. When I heard that this had happened, I asked her what she had
said. She told me she had been a little embarrassed about how to answer him but
had ultimately said, "I think that's Mom's job."
     In the midst of all of this, there was one situation which at first seemed
to contradict all of the foregoing. Marsha had been wanting to have someone over
one evening, and I had said she couldn't because she hadn't earned the
privilege. A little while later she went to the door. I asked if someone had
come. She said something noncommittal which, since her brother came in shortly
thereafter, I took to mean that he had been the one who was out there.
     Moments later John asked why Seana's bike was in our driveway. I felt
stunned. Trembling in disbelief, I went to Marsha's room and knocked on the
door. I asked if she was alone in there. When she didn't immediately answer, I
opened the door. The smell of Seana's perfume brought with it a suffocating
mixture of hurt, anger, mockery, and betrayal.
     When I found my voice, it was surprisingly low, even, and cool. I asked
Seana to leave at once, saying that I was disappointed in both of them. She
started to speak, but I cut her off, saying that I didn't want to hear from her
then. I added that, if she was intending to have me consider her innocent, I
didn't. She could, at several points, have rejected the idea, even if Marsha had
initiated it.
     After she left, Marsha wanted to talk to me. I said I would seek her out
when I was ready. I went to my room and cried. There are many kinds of tears.
Mine on that occasion were not tears accompanied by audible sobs which invite
sharing. They were silent tears, spilling unbidden from one too full of pain to
contain them--too deep in the aloneness of betrayal to seek human companionship.
     I prayed for guidance and strength as I again approached Marsha's room,
believing that our relationship would be forever changed by this incident. I was
not prepared for what followed.
     She received me calmly, continuing to tape a poster to her door as I began
to talk to her. I asked how she felt about what had happened. She said she
didn't feel good about it. I said I felt for the first time that she had
deliberately included someone outside our family in taking advantage of my
blindness and, in doing so, she had shaken my trust. She said she knew she had
done that and she was sorry. Then she added, "If you were sighted, I would have
found a different way to have Seana come."
     Again I felt stunned. What was she really saying to me? I said to her that
I was willing to rebuild our trust. She said she was too.
     As I left her room, I began to consider that perhaps we had taken a step
forward. Why after all should the characteristic of blindness be some sort of
touch-me-not fortress protected by delusion from the throes of children's
testing? And had it really, through the years, been untested? When at last I
felt the fresh air sweeping through this deepest hole in my cover, I realized
that it was riddled with snags, and I was finally willing to let it fall away.
     We have all known all along that blindness brings with it opportunities for
the creative tester. But we often succumb to confusing equal with identical--
that is, it's o.k. to acknowledge that children of blind parents will test them
in the usual ways, but it's not o.k. to put blindness-related tests in that same
category. They are worse somehow. They take the child beyond the realm of fair-
game testing into the arena of the dirty player. That night I had to ask myself
why that is.
     Over time I have come to understand that the answer relates to perceptions
about blindness. All of us, blind and sighted alike, consider blindness a
characteristic with so much on the negative side that even children, whose
natural bent is to test limits and explore ramifications of human
characteristics, should treat this one with kid gloves. The unfortunate outcome
of that process is that the unexplored trait becomes stagnant or brittle, and
neither parent nor child knows what it's made of.
     I believe, of course, that Marsha's actions were wrong. Both the
disobedience and the conspiracy were unacceptable. She endured consequences of
that behavior. But after I got past the initial shock of her having included
someone outside of the family in this test, I realized that it was not in any
way a contradiction of the positive approach to blindness she has always
expressed.
     She is not bamboozled by the facade we so often build when we want to be
treated identically rather than equally. Blindness is, in her mind, no more or
less sacred than other potentially fertile testing grounds of her parent. I hope
we've all learned the lesson well enough that we won't need a refresher course
any time soon. If we haven't, it won't surprise me at all if younger brother
John steps up to teach it.


[Caption: Hazel Staley speaks into the microphone on the floor of the convention.]
                            KEEPING THE RENT CURRENT
                                 by Hazel Staley

     From the Editor: When I joined the National Federation of the Blind more
than twenty years ago, Hazel Staley was President of the National Federation of
the Blind of North Carolina and a member of the NFB Board of Directors. In all
the years since, during personal good times and bad, Hazel has continued to
serve wherever she was called and in whatever capacity she could. She is content
to let others take center stage, but when you stop to chat with her, she is
filled with humor and profound common sense. In the following article, which
first appeared in Toothpaste and Railroad Tracks, the latest in the NFB's Kernel
Books series of paperbacks, Hazel reveals, in part at least, the philosophy that
motivates her to be one of the finest examples of Federationism and humanity I
have ever known and loved. This is what she says, beginning with Dr. Jernigan's
introduction:

     The strength of the National Federation of the Blind lies in its members
from the very young to the not so young. Here one of our senior members tells
about her life. Her story reminds me of something I frequently tell people about
us: we laugh and cry, work and play, hope and dream--just like you. Here is what
she has to say:
     I was number five in a line of six children born to a farm family in Union
County, North Carolina, in August of 1916. I lost my sight when I was two years
old as a result of meningitis. I graduated from the North Carolina School for
the Blind and received my A.B. degree from Flora McDonald College (now St.
Andrews) with majors in French and English and a minor in psychology.
     When I first entered Flora McDonald, the faculty was at a loss as to how to
deal with me. Blind students had been there before, but they had all majored in
music, and the faculty didn't know how I was going to do the lab work in
science, which was a requirement for an A.B. degree.
     After considerable discussion they decided to put me on probation for the
first semester to see if I could make it. Science just isn't my bag, but I felt
diminished by being on probation; so I decided to do whatever I had to do to
prove that I could handle the lab. My other subjects came easily to me; so I
zeroed in on science and made the honor roll that first semester.
     I had hoped to teach English in the state secondary school system; but
finding this field closed to blind people, I enrolled in the graduate school of
social work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I was employed
as a social worker with the North Carolina Commission for the Blind for almost
six years.     I met and married Bob Staley and resigned my position. Bob was in
the U.S. Army, and I wanted to be free to go wherever he went. That was in 1947.
Our only son Ken was born in 1951. Bob died of lung cancer in 1986. I have two
lovely little granddaughters.
     We were stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, when Ken entered school, and I
immediately got involved in the PTA. I served as vice president and president of
the PTA, and I think I must have served as the chairman of almost every
committee there was. I received a lifetime PTA membership from the state of
Georgia.
     One day in 1969 (I was again living in Charlotte, North Carolina) my
employer, the director of the local agency for the blind, told me that a group
of blind people wanted to meet in our conference room on Sunday afternoon and
that I should come and be responsible for opening and closing the building.
     That meeting turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to
me. Leaders of the National Federation of the Blind had come to organize a
chapter of the Federation in Charlotte. I had never heard of the Federation, but
I realized at once that its philosophy had been mine all my life. I joined that
day and immediately became active in the movement.
     I have lived a very full life. I served two years as president of my
homeowners' association and have been teaching Sunday School for more than
twenty years. I have also served as president of my church's Women's Missionary
Society and as director of church training. In 1978 I was named Charlotte's
Outstanding Citizen, and in 1989 I received the Jacobus tenBroek Award for my
service in the National Federation of the Blind.
     Someone has said that service to others is the rent we pay for the space we
occupy on earth. I plan to keep the rent on my space current.


[Caption: Sharon Maneki speaks on the convention floor]
                             DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR
                        OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD FOR 1996
                                by Sharon Maneki

     From the Editor: Sharon Maneki is President of the National Federation of
the Blind of Maryland. She also chairs the committee to select the Distinguished
Educator of Blind Children for 1996. Here is her announcement about the
competition:

     The National Federation of the Blind will recognize an outstanding teacher
of blind children at our 1996 convention June 29 to July 5, in Anaheim,
California. The winner of this award will receive an expense-paid trip to the
convention, a check for $500, an appropriate plaque, and an opportunity to make
a presentation about the education of blind children to the National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children early in the convention.
     Anyone who is currently teaching or counseling blind children or
administering a program for blind children is eligible to receive this award. It
is not necessary to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind to
apply. However, the winner must attend the National Convention. Teachers may be
nominated by colleagues, supervisors, or friends. The letter of nomination
should explain why the teacher is being recommended for this award.
     The education of blind children is one of our most important concerns.
Attendance at a National Federation of the Blind convention will enrich a
teacher's experience by affording him or her the opportunity to meet other
teachers who work with blind children, to meet parents, and to meet blind adults
who have had experiences in a variety of educational programs. Help us recognize
a distinguished teacher by distributing this form and encouraging teachers to
submit their credentials. We are pleased to offer this award and look forward to
applications from many well-qualified educators.


                        NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
                 DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD
                                1996 APPLICATION


Name:

Home address:

City:                             State:         Zip:

Day phone:                     Evening phone:

School:

Address:

City:                            State:          Zip:


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






How long and in what programs have you taught blind children?




In what setting do you teach?     residential school classroom

   special education classroom    itinerant program

    other (please explain)


How many students do you teach regularly this year?


What subjects do you teach?




How many of your students read and write primarily using:

    Braille      large print     closed circuit television

    recorded materials     small print

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

Send all material by May 15, 1996, to Sharon Maneki, Chairwoman, Teacher Award
Committee, 9736 Basket Ring Road, Columbia, Maryland 21045, telephone: (410)
992-9608.


[Caption: Steve Benson]
                    THE 1996 BLIND EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
                              by Stephen O. Benson

     From the Editor: Steve Benson is a member of the Board of Directors of the
National Federation of the Blind and President of the NFB of Illinois. He also
chairs the committee charged with identifying each year's Blind Educator of the
Year. Here is what he has to say:

     Several years ago the Blind Educator of the Year Award was established by
the National Association of Blind Educators (the teachers division of the
National Federation of the Blind) to pay tribute to a blind teacher whose
exceptional classroom performance, notable community service, and uncommon
commitment to the NFB merit national recognition. Beginning with the 1991
presentation, this award became an honor bestowed by our entire movement. This
change reflects our recognition of the importance of good teaching and the
impact an outstanding blind teacher has on students, faculty, community, and all
blind Americans.
     This award is given in the spirit of the outstanding educators who founded
and have nurtured the National Federation of the Blind and who, by example, have
imparted knowledge of our strengths to us and raised our expectations. We have
learned from Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, and President Marc
Maurer that a teacher not only provides a student with information, but also
provides guidance and advocacy. The recipient of the Blind Educator of the Year
Award must exhibit all of these traits and must advance the cause of blind
people in the spirit and philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind.
     The Blind Educator of the Year Award is presented at the annual convention
of the National Federation of the Blind. Honorees must attend the National
Convention to receive the appropriately inscribed plaque and a check for $500.
     The members of the committee which will select the 1996 Blind Educator of
the Year Award are Steve Benson, Chairman, Illinois; Patricia Munson,
California; Homer Page, Colorado; Judy Sanders, Minnesota; and Adelmo Vigil, New
Mexico. Nominations should be sent to Steve Benson, 7020 North Tahoma, Chicago,
Illinois 60646. Letters of nomination must be accompanied by a copy of the
nominee's current resume and supporting documentation of community and
Federation activity. All nomination materials must be in the hands of the
committee chairman by May 15, 1996, to be considered for this year's award.


                      THE ORIGINALITY OF THE SPANISH MODEL

     From the Editor: The following article first appeared in the January-June,
1994, edition of The World Blind Union, the publication of the World Blind
Union. It recounts the history of the Spanish National Organization of the Blind
(ONCE), by any measure one of the most successful organizations of disabled
people in the world. In many ways the story is remarkable; here it is:

     The year was 1938. For two years Spain had been living a terrible civil
war. And yet, at a time when passions and opposing world views violently
clashed, a group of young blind people, a handful of crazy visionaries, dared to
conceive the idea that for the visually disabled it was a good moment to create
a strategy that would allow them to progress toward a better future. Located in
the territory occupied by the side that was already emerging as the inevitable
winner, these dreamers prepared a project for a unified organization of the
blind which they submitted to the Head of State of what was then called the
national zone, Francisco Franco, who would rule the destiny of Spain with an
iron hand until 1975.
     The increase in the number of blind people as a result of the war made
Franco and his government more sensitive toward the problem, and they agreed to
sign a decree that on 13 December, 1938, would create the Spanish National
Organization of the Blind (ONCE). And at the helm was a twenty-eight-year-old
blind masseur: Javier Gutíerrez de Tovar.

                          The ONCE's identity features

     This institution's founding document was suffused with idealism and utopian
schemes, but it also included practical approaches to facing a miserable and
desolate situation. The founding group had, among many other things, the
undeniable good sense positively to take advantage of the coercive force
implicit in an authoritarian political regime that was being imposed in Spain at
that time, to form a strong and unified organization that would seek solutions
to the problems of the blind without squandering resources. In effect the
government decree obliged all the institutions of and for the blind existing at
the time to disband as independent bodies and to merge assets and people into
the new organization.
     Faced with the impossibility of receiving any worthwhile subsidy from a
state in such adverse circumstances, they had the foresight to introduce a daily
lottery on a national level that would capitalize on the local raffles that had
been set up in some cities before the war. The management of the new association
was placed in the hands of the blind themselves, although they were supervised
by the government. Therein lie the roots of the three main characteristics of
the situation of the blind and blindness in Spain over the past half-century.

 One single institution manages all the services, including education, while
  it also functions as the associative structure that represents the interests
  of the visually disabled before the authorities and society.

 The daily lottery is the primary source of funds for operating the
  institution and for rendering services, while at the same time providing
  jobs for the majority of the blind.

 It is the blind themselves who hold positions of responsibility in the new
  institution.

This institutional profile has gone essentially unchanged throughout its
evolution.

                                 The Early Days

     In the Spain of 1938 there were very few blind people who had had access to
an education, and even fewer who had found a job. A considerable number of
people had lost their sight in combat or as a consequence of it, and some of
them had received a good education, but the majority ended up as beggars and
indigents. Nonetheless, it can be said that soon the Spanish blind won the prize
in their own lottery, because in a remarkably short time the success of this
undertaking became evident. This fund-raising system called "Pro Blind Cupón"--
today known as the "ONCE Cupón"--began immediately to fulfill the dual function
for which it was created and which, to a large extent, still does to this day:
to yield funds to the institution so it could meet its objectives and directly
or indirectly provide jobs for a growing number of blind people.
     However, its spectacular success brought with it the disadvantage of making
it difficult to conquer ideal goals, such as the blind being integrated in the
labor market with everyone else and in jobs that correspond as much as possible
to their characteristics and interests. Over a relatively short period, they had
all the blind children whose existence they were aware of enrolled in well-
equipped residential schools, and through the sale of the lottery and the
preferential reserve of management and administrative positions, teaching in
specialized schools, as well as certain jobs in print houses and Braille
libraries, they succeeded in providing decent employment to the majority of the
blind of working age. Nevertheless, this employment system is too exclusive, and
although the ONCE is an institution respected by nearly everyone, it is a very
closed structure. It is as if the blind constituted a state within the state.

                          The Renovation of the Sixties

     In the sixties the winds of renovation and openness blew across Spain, and
some of this fresh air timidly made its way into the ONCE. In 1959 Ignacio
Satrústegui, a prestigious entrepreneur who had lost his sight in the Civil War
and who had been managing his own companies, was appointed national Director of
the ONCE. This appointment brought some changes to the institution which mainly
took the shape of a series of establishments set up for vocational training and
basic rehabilitation. These began to train the blind as telephone operators,
specialized factory workers, and physiotherapists. After a few years the number
of those who had jobs outside the ONCE structure began to be significant.
Physiotherapy and telephony continue to be valid job options to this day; the
employment in factories soon failed in Spain because people preferred the
comfort and higher wages offered to them as vendors of the lottery to the work
in an industrial plant, which can be quite hard.

                             The Advent of Democracy

     Beyond a doubt the writing of the most brilliant pages of this heartening
story is reserved for the young people of the seventies, educated by the ONCE
itself. In Spain in 1976 a new period of transition toward a democratic system
began, which the new generations of blind people, with their very progressive
mentality, wanted to bring to their institution as well. This new course was not
an easy one because the isolationist attitude of the organization of the blind's
old guard resisted the change. They thought that these young agitators, who were
claiming freedom and democracy, were going to destroy that great work they had
built with the sacrifice of so many people over many years. But the pressure in
favor of reform was unstoppable.
     In 1981 the government issued a decree that modified the founding document,
and in it, among other things, a thorough democratization of all ONCE's
structures was established. From then on the organization has been governed by a
General Council, composed of fifteen blind people, who are chosen every four
years by all of the institution's members in a general election that is
reminiscent of the parliamentary elections of any country.
     In April, 1982, the first voting was held, which brought to power the very
young people whose advocacy had been so feared by those who had managed the ONCE
until then. Nearly all of them were under the age of thirty. Some had a
university education; others had gained their experience in the school of life--
the sale of the lottery on the streets of many cities in Spain, at times done in
quite harsh conditions. Indeed, they did not have experience in positions of
responsibility or management, but they had more than enough enthusiasm and
imagination, as well as a large dose of that energy that comes from the positive
combination of youth with the unlimited conviction that things can be done
another way. And, happily, they were able to rely on a leader with exceptional
qualities, Antonio Vincente Mosquete, who in April, 1982, became the first
President of a democratic ONCE.

                         The Revolution of the Eighties

     Antonio and those who during the years immediately prior to that date
shared in the struggle for change with him and who now participated in
representative and management tasks quickly got to the job at hand. They
fostered a process of profound transformation, which meant the modernization of
the organization's objectives and strategies, a drastic reform of the lottery
system, and full participation in the country's social and economic dynamics.
     In January, 1984, the new lottery went into effect. Instead of thirty-three
daily draws, which had been made in as many territorial districts, now one draw
would be made on a nationwide level, and without changing the percentage
destined for prize money, they changed the system in such a way that the amounts
the public could win were higher. The reform was accompanied by an imaginative
campaign in every communication medium, including television, which
unquestionably aided the success of this undertaking. In January many people
stood in line from the early hours of the morning in front of the ONCE's points
of sale in order to buy a ticket, and the street vendors were left with not one
ticket after an hour. The printing house which turned out the tickets could not
keep up, so after a few months they had to modernize it completely. Very soon
sales had doubled. The Spanish blind had once again won the biggest prize of
their own lottery. Its success amazed the people involved and outsiders alike
and represented a qualitative leap in the institution's evolution.
     In 1985 another change was introduced which took the shape of a grand prize
(approximately one million dollars) every Friday for one single ticket, and the
welcome it received once again exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.
It must be said that from 1984 to 1994 the overall business turnover has more or
less multiplied by eight.
     In June, 1987, a tragic and absurd accident cut short the life of Antonio
Vincente, when he was only thirty-five years old. For many of us his sudden
disappearance left a vacuum that is impossible to fill, because Antonio was
gifted with an incredible constellation of qualities. He was extraordinarily
intelligent and imaginative; he had the marked charisma of a born leader, while
his kindness and sensitivity enabled anyone to feel close to him. He possessed
an uncommon capacity for work, and his vitality seemed to have no limits. He
seemed to have accomplished the work of a hundred years in only five.
     Fortunately, the ONCE's institutional solidity is great, and talent and
creativity abound in it. After 1987 the changes continued to occur at a rapid
pace.

                                 The ONCE Today

     Thanks to the employment scheme used, the percentage of blind people of
working age who have a job is the highest in the world, that is, around 75
percent. In absolute figures, we can say that 14,384 blind and partially sighted
people are employed as vendors of the ONCE lottery, and they receive monthly
salaries that are notably higher than the average salary of Spanish workers.
Their income is calculated in accordance with a complex system which sets
commission percentages that increase as sales increase, and once a certain limit
is exceeded, they begin to decline but are complemented with amounts that are
not subject to commissions, such as compensations for holidays, vacation,
seniority, etc.
     The popularity of the ONCE lottery and the almost continuous advertising
that is done on it guarantee that all of the vendors reach very reasonable
levels of income. Of course, because of their full status as workers, they enjoy
all the benefits of the Spanish social security system, besides the additional
advantages that the ONCE offers its members and employees. The sale is done on
foot in the street, although a growing number of vendors now sell from the
modern kiosks located on public thoroughfares or in stands placed in large areas
of common use like train stations, airports, department stores, etc. As an
example we can say that in Madrid there are around 2,500 blind vendors and
another six hundred with disabilities other than blindness. There are about 700
kiosks, some of which are used by more than one vendor, and twenty stands.
     As we have already mentioned, the ONCE applies a very strict policy in the
reservation of upper and middle management positions, as well as in its schools
and centers of a diverse nature. In this manner about one thousand visually
disabled people have well-paid jobs. Several hundred work outside of the ONCE as
physiotherapists, telephone operators, teachers in regular schools, computer
programmers, etc.
     Over the past ten years the ONCE has completely renovated all of its
services and has introduced new ones, such as the Center of Production and
Distribution of Books in Madrid, which includes a wonderful museum for the
blind, a network of visual rehabilitation centers, several school integration
support units, and the rendering of rehabilitation services in the clients'
homes, two new non-residential basic rehabilitation units, etc. Practically all
its services are provided in totally new or completely renovated facilities that
are staffed by mostly young and well-qualified people.
     In 1987 the ONCE reached an agreement with the government to create a
foundation, which receives three percent of the total amount of lottery tickets
sold and whose objective is to promote activity in the field of employment,
rehabilitation, and education for people with disabilities other than blindness.
Many companies have been constituted through this foundation, either its own or
shared, in which a significant number of disabled are employed. The ONCE also
decided to employ a certain number of disabled as Cupón vendors. Currently
around 7,000 now work in this activity.
     Between 1988 and 1992 it intensified an economic risk diversification
strategy in which the ONCE became majority shareholder or even the owner of many
companies of a diverse nature. In nearly every case the blind hold major
management positions in them. The communications media of many countries
reported on this fact, especially when Miguel Durán, then the General Director
of the ONCE, became chairman of the Tele 5 Television Company. To a large extent
Miguel Durán led this aggressive policy of participating in the economic life of
the country, and owing to his great personal charm and extraordinary gift for
communication, he has become a very popular public figure. It is noteworthy
that, even now when the ONCE is no longer a main shareholder of the television
channel, the others want him to remain as its president.

                              The Blind and Society

     The fact that the sale of the lottery takes place directly on the street
has meant that in Spain, after the creation of the ONCE, blindness has become a
highly visible phenomenon for society in general. There have been foreign
visitors who thought there were more blind people in Spain than in other
European countries. However, people knew that the ONCE fulfilled a good social
function, but they knew very little about what went on within its structures.
This interaction with society underwent a dramatic shift after the renovation of
the eighties.
     The ONCE has maintained a very intense communication with the public
through frequent advertising campaigns, which are sometimes strictly commercial,
aimed at boosting lottery sales, while others focus on specific aspects of the
services it provides. The quality of these campaigns has been recognized by
national and international awards, and it is obvious that this barrage of
information has succeeded in conveying the message that the blind are by no
means useless beings. And this contact with the people has been further
cultivated through the participation in different exhibits and scientific and
cultural gatherings. The blindness/poverty connection has definitively vanished
from the minds of the public in general, and from social and economic agents in
particular. the ONCE is admired and respected, and often bankers and
entrepreneurs are found courting its directors in an attempt to gain their
favor.

                                   Conclusion

     Of course, Spain is not exactly a paradise for the blind, although it is
easy to understand the pride that those who manage the ONCE and those who
benefit from it feel for their organization. Comparing the miserable situation
in which it was created fifty-six years ago with the present strength of its
social and economic activity, no one can deny how remarkable its accomplishments
have been. The experience, although it may be unrepeatable in some aspects,
should serve as motivation for many countries that are currently undergoing
rapid development. It certainly would be worth trying to imitate the Spaniards
in some things. Prejudice toward blindness and discriminatory attitudes have not
been erased completely. There are people who hold the combined success of the
institution in high esteem but who feel that the blind have little to do outside
of it. Of course, this subtle discrimination appears when one is already on the
top rung of the ladder leading to full social equality.
     Let us all rejoice at this splendid reality. We can give assurances without
any reservation that the ONCE will always offer solidarity to all efforts made
to foster international collaboration.


[Caption: Jim Omvig
Photo: Jim Omvig, wearing his trademark Stetson, is seated at a table speaking into a
microphone.]
                            PRE-AUTHORIZED CHECK PLAN
                      Can Your Chapter Achieve 100 Percent?
                                  by Jim Omvig

     From the Editor: Jim Omvig is the energetic chairman of the Pre-Authorized
Check Plan Committee. This is what he has to say:

     I have just returned home from the 1995 national convention in Chicago, and
what a convention it was! I attended my first in Kansas City in 1961, and the
stimulation and revitalization which I receive from each National Convention
never cease to amaze me.
     As PAC (Pre-Authorized Check Plan) Committee Chairman, I am also pleased
and gratified with the progress we made at the 1995 convention on this important
organizational fund-raising program. We began the convention with 1,325
individuals giving at a total annualized rate of $306,012. We signed up ninety-
two new PAC contributors and ended the convention with 1,415 givers. (If this
math doesn't seem accurate, it's because we also had two people drop temporarily
because of personal problems.)
     We also made significant strides in the total amount of annualized giving.
We had an increase of $25,158 and ended the convention with total annualized
giving of $331,170. The top five states at the end of the convention were
Maryland, California, Minnesota, Colorado, and Iowa.
     Sometimes the Chairman can have experiences which are particularly
heartwarming, and this convention was no exception. Early in the convention a
couple came to me and said, "We wanted to join PAC last year, but we didn't have
a checking account. We just wanted to let you know that this year we opened a
new checking account before we came so that we could join up and do our share!"
     As I just said, we made good progress on PAC this year. Perhaps, though, to
be accurate, I should put it another way: those who attended the National
Convention did a good job this year. The PAC Committee is convinced, however,
that we must find a lot of new PAC Plan contributors who do not generally attend
National Conventions, if we are significantly to increase the base of giving
from our own membership. The Committee believes that there are large numbers out
there who, while they are not able to attend conventions, are just as committed
to the Federation and feel just as obligated to support it as those who do.
     Accordingly, we are initiating a new type of recognition. The idea comes
from my old Lions Club days, where it was with real pride that individual clubs
endeavored to achieve one-hundred-percent membership participation on a variety
of club projects. It was truly something when you were recognized as a
"one-hundred-percent" club.
     So the PAC Committee thought, "Why not develop a method whereby one day a
year the NFB could recognize One-Hundred-Percent Chapters--chapters in which all
members are on the PAC Plan?"
     We approached President Maurer with the concept, and he heartily approved.
We decided that Valentine's Day (February 14) would be a suitable day for
checking a chapter's membership list against the official PAC giving list. In
order for a chapter to qualify, each member (or couple) must be an individual
PAC member. We can't just say, "My chapter gives to PAC, so I qualify even
though I haven't signed up individually."
     Each One-Hundred-Percent Chapter will receive due recognition. One of the
stoneware NFB Braille mugs will be given to the chapter. A gold emblem
indicating the year in which the chapter achieved its One-Hundred-Percent status
will be affixed to the mug, and suitable publicity will be given at each annual
convention and in the Braille Monitor.
     The PAC Committee also has a few general suggestions for state affiliates
and chapters. Each state President should appoint a State PAC Chairperson, and
each chapter should do the same. Each affiliate or chapter could develop some
type of incentive to attract new PAC members. Each state newsletter should
include information about PAC and urge broader participation. In fact, a PAC
card could be included in each state newsletter.
     If anyone asks what the PAC money is used for, have him or her read
President Maurer's Presidential Report in the August-September issue of the
Braille Monitor.
     We of the PAC Committee wish to thank those of you who are on the Plan. For
those who aren't, we urge you as strongly as we can to sign up. As the song
says:

Get on the PAC Plan; sign up today.
We need your contributions right away!
Funding the movement, it must be done,
So all our battles can be won!

     I wait with anticipation to see which of our chapters will be among the
first to receive the One-Hundred-Percent recognition!


[Caption: While Joanne Wilson prepares to cut the ribbon opening the newly remodeled and
expanded Louisiana Center for the Blind, President Maurer and LRS Director May Nelson hold the
ribbon symbolizing the progress that can be made between consumers and agencies.
Photo: Joanne Wilson with scissors in hand and President Maurer stand beneath the freedom bell
at the Louisiana Center for the Blind]
                       THE LOUISIANA CENTER FOR THE BLIND
                         CELEBRATES A DECADE OF SERVICE
                                  by Karl Smith

     From the Editor: Attentive readers of the Braille Monitor will have noticed
that during the past year all three of the private adult rehabilitation centers
for the blind operated by affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind
have celebrated important milestones. The most recent was the tenth-anniversary
celebration and facility dedication at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, which
took place on October 7. Here is former student Karl Smith's report of the
event:

     Joanne Wilson, Director of the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston,
Louisiana, is not in the habit of looking backward. During my association with
her as a center student and part-time employee, she always seemed to be planning
new programs, negotiating hurdles, and looking for the next challenge. Over the
weekend of October 6 to 8, during festivities marking the tenth anniversary of
the opening of the Louisiana Center in 1985, Joanne and the more than 300 former
Louisiana Center students from around the country, local governmental and civic
leaders, and townspeople from Ruston took time to reminisce and take stock of
the accomplishments of the center's first decade.
     An informal get-together featuring good food, conversation, and guitar
playing kicked off the weekend on Friday evening at the activity center, located
at the student apartments. Saturday morning we met for a nostalgic tour of the
old house which served as the Center's first home. As we crowded into this
cramped structure, where Joanne shared an office with three other staff members
and the kitchen floors sloped so severely that a brick had to be placed under
the leg of the stove so baking cakes would come out level, we heard from some of
the first students and staffers about what it was like in those early days.
     Next we attended a seminar conducted by NFB President Marc Maurer. Two two-
hour discussions emphasized the important role of the Federation in providing
training centers in which blind people can learn to fulfill their ambitions,
raise their expectations, and receive the support they need to face the
challenges of life. We also discussed the importance of associating with people
who believe unconditionally in us and who spend every waking hour of every day
instilling this belief in us and in helping us understand our responsibility to
pass this belief on to other blind people.
     At 2:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon Joanne cut the ribbon officially opening
the newly remodeled Louisiana Center building.  On hand for the ribbon cutting
was the Director of Louisiana Rehabilitation Services (LRS), May Nelson. The new
facilities were made possible by a million dollar grant from LRS. Following the
ribbon cutting Joanne rang the official freedom bell, a large old-fashioned
school bell located between the two wings of the new building. This single
ringing bell was soon accompanied by a crescendo of ringing bells as the crowd
of former and current students and staff members rang their own bells. These
small brass bells engraved with the student's name and sporting an eagle with
outspread wings on the top are presented to all students as a symbol of their
new-found freedom at graduation.
     Following the ceremony, tours were conducted through the new facilities.
The new center building is an impressive structure with spacious, bright work
places. The contrast between it and the old house where it all began is
striking. But the new facility is only a building. Anyone visiting the center
will soon understand that the real difference between this training center and
most others lies in the Federation's fundamental belief in blind people. Without
this conviction the Louisiana Center for the Blind would be just another
training center.
     The highlight of the weekend was the banquet held on Saturday evening.
President Maurer delivered a stirring banquet address telling personal stories
of the triumph of individual blind people over their own and others' attitudes
about blindness. He also talked about the importance of passing the great legacy
of the Federation on to blind youngsters and their parents so that this
generation of blind children can grow up with the precious knowledge that it is
respectable to be blind. At the close of the banquet ten former and current
students expressed their feelings about their association with the center and
presented each staff member with a memory box to contain their good memories of
the past ten years. Finally the students presented Joanne with a locket in
appreciation for her dedication to the cause of blindness.
     Sunday was a day for goodbyes and last-minute reminiscences. As busses and
cars loaded and pulled away, the hubbub of laughter and conversation died away,
and the Center building and apartments began to return to normal. But not for
long. On Monday morning, after thanking everyone for their help over the weekend
and discussing the positive results, Joanne said, "Now, for our next big
project. . . ."


                                     RECIPES

     This month's recipes come from members of the National Federation of the
Blind of Oregon.


[Caption: Carla McQuillan]
                              CRAB AND POTATO CAKES
                               by Carla McQuillan

     Carla McQuillan is the President of the National Federation of the Blind of
Oregon. These crab cakes served with eggs and toast make a wonderful brunch
menu. Imitation or canned crab meat may be substituted if fresh crab meat is too
costly or difficult to find.

Ingredients:
2 potatoes, peeled and cooked
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups buttermilk, cream, or evaporated milk
1 cup cooked crab meat
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced onion
3 tablespoons fresh dill, parsley, or basil
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

     Method: Mash potatoes and let cool. In a bowl, beat eggs and stir in flour,
salt, pepper, garlic, and onion. Whisk in the buttermilk. Gradually beat egg
mixture into potatoes. Fold in crab meat, cheese, and dill. Heat a large skillet
on medium high, then coat with non-stick cooking spray. Drop large spoonfuls of
potato mixture into the skillet about four inches apart. Cook until crisp (about
five minutes per side). Keep cooked crab cakes warm in a 150-degree oven while
preparing the remaining cakes. Makes twelve to fifteen cakes.


                      SALMON STEAKS WITH MUSHROOM STUFFING
                                by Sally Edmonds

     Sally Edmonds is Treasurer of the Lane County Chapter of the NFB of Oregon.
She is also Carla McQuillan's mother. Salmon is an Oregon specialty. Fresh or
frozen, it cooks very nicely in the microwave oven. This recipe has a flavorful
mushroom and bread stuffing that forms a topping for each steak. The mixture
makes a good stuffing for part of a whole salmon too.

Ingredients:
4 salmon steaks, cut 1/3 inches thick
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1 stalk (1/2 cup) chopped celery
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cups (3 slices) soft bread cubes
1/2 cup light cream (or evaporated milk)
lemon slices for garnish

     Method: In a two-quart (12 by 8-inch) baking dish, arrange salmon steaks
with thin ends toward center; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. In mixing bowl
combine butter, onion, and celery. Cook uncovered on high in microwave oven
three minutes, stirring once after butter melts. Stir in bread cubes, mushrooms,
parsley, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Toss to mix well. Spoon on
top of salmon steaks. Pour cream over top. Cook, covered with wax paper or
plastic wrap, ten minutes or until salmon flakes easily. Garnish with lemon
slices. Makes four servings.


                               HOT CRAB TRIANGLES
                                by Sally Edmonds

     Dungeness Crabs are plentiful in the Pacific waters off the Oregon Coast.
The crabs are a purple-brown color in the water but turn bright red when cooked.
The crabs measure about six inches across the back. These crab triangles make
delicious holiday hors d'oeuvres.

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 6-ounce can crab meat, drained
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons finely chopped almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 slices firm white bread, crusts trimmed
Dash of cayenne pepper
Paprika

     Method: Beat cheese until fluffy. Combine mustard with milk and add to
cheese with next five ingredients. Mix well and spread generously on bread
slices. Sprinkle lightly with paprika. Cut each slice in four triangles, place
on baking sheet, and bake in hot oven (400 degrees) for ten to twelve minutes,
or until well browned. Makes twenty-four.


                                FIVE-CHEESE PIZZA
                               by Carla McQuillan

     Vegetarian dishes are prevalent in Oregon cuisine. You may choose, however,
to adorn this pizza with additional toppings.

Crust Ingredients:
1 pound, 2 ounces flour
1 ¼ cup warm water (90-110 degrees)
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 package active dry yeast

Topping Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup feta (or other goat cheese)
1/3 cup grated cheddar
1 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup grated provolone or romano

     Method: In the large bowl of a mixer, combine water, two tablespoons olive
oil, cornmeal, yeast, salt, and 1-1/2 cups of the flour to make the batter.
Using a dough hook, mix the batter as you gradually add the remaining flour to
the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place until dough doubles in
size: approximately one hour. Split the dough into three equal pieces. The extra
dough may be frozen in a plastic bag or container for up to six months. Dust a
rolling surface with flour. Using one piece of the dough, roll out crust to 14
inches in diameter. The crust will be thin. Place on pizza pan, rolling up
excess dough at the edges. Combine the two tablespoons olive oil and minced
garlic. Brush oil mixture onto the crust. Spread spaghetti sauce over the oil.
Sprinkle the cheeses over the sauce in the order that they appear in the
ingredients list. Bake at 450 degrees for ten to twelve minutes.


                                   SPINACH PIE
                               by Carla McQuillan

     Don't let the name fool you! This is a wonderful vegetarian main dish that
goes well with a tossed salad and a glass of red wine. This recipe uses the
crust from the Five Cheese Pizza recipe above.

Ingredients:
Pizza crust (■ dough from pizza recipe)
12 ounces fresh spinach leaves
1 ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1 ounce fresh basil leaves (optional)

     Method: On a floured surface roll the pizza dough into an oval about 12 by
16 inches. Layer about six ounces of the spinach on half of the oval, leaving a
margin of 1 inch at the edge. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella over spinach. Layer
mushrooms and olives over the cheese. Place the remaining spinach over the top.
Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the spinach. Press down on the layer of
spinach and cheese to compress. Fold other half of the crust over the spinach to
form a turnover. Roll the edges of the dough together to seal the pie. Place on
a cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for fifteen to eighteen minutes. Top
crust should be crisp and lightly browned. Cut pie in half. Makes two servings.


                          SUGAR-FREE BANANA CREAM FLUFF
                                by Gary Jeffries

     Gary Jeffries and his wife are relatively new members of the Lane County
Chapter of the NFB of Oregon.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 bananas
1 3-ounce package instant sugar-free banana pudding
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk
9-inch graham cracker or vanilla wafer pie crust
2 to 4 teaspoons sweetener

     Method: Whip the heavy cream until thick. Add sweetener to taste. Add the
pudding and milk to the whipped cream. Whip until well mixed. Slice bananas into
1/2-inch thick rounds. Fold into the pudding mixture. Spoon into the pie crust
and smooth the top. Chill for one to two hours before slicing. Makes six to
eight servings.


                               BLACKBERRY COBBLER
                               by Carla McQuillan

     Blackberries grow wild throughout central and coastal Oregon. This recipe
makes a simple, no-frills cobbler that is very tasty.

Dough Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
2-3 cups blackberries, rinsed
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or allspice

     Method: Mix ingredients for the dough. Pour into a greased 9-inch square
baking dish. Combine the ingredients for the filling. Stirring the berry mixture
will produce juice. Pour the berries and juice evenly over the dough. Bake at
350 degrees for forty-five minutes, or until the center is done. Makes nine
servings. Note: The amount of sugar added to the filling may be altered,
depending on the sweetness of the berries.


                             *** ■ MINIATURES *** ■

*** NFB NET Goes North--At Least Temporarily:
     In mid-October David Andrews, who has directed the International Braille
and Technology Center for the Blind for almost five years, moved to Minnesota to
take a new job with Minnesota's state agency for the blind. When he left
Baltimore, NFB NET went with him--probably not permanently but at least for the
present. As of late November, the phone number for the NFB NET bulletin board
service shifts to [phone]. After the change, calls made to the old (410)
752-5011 number will result in a screen showing only the new Minneapolis
listing. Since most people have always accessed NFB NET using long-distance
service, the change of location should make very little difference. Log on soon
and see what's new.

[Caption: Mark and Miriam Truman
Photo: Mark and Miriam Truman in wedding clothes stand outdoors.]
*** Wedding Bells:
     We recently received the following happy announcement:
     Miriam Rodriguez and Mark Truman, board members of the Greater Daytona
Beach Chapter of the NFB of Florida, were married May 19, 1995. The newlyweds
attended their first National Convention this year in Chicago, where Truman was
one of the national scholarship winners.

*** Hoping to Buy:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I would like to buy a Talking Clock radio. Call Jay at [phone], or
write in Braille or print or on cassette to 3312 York Street, Wichita Falls,
Texas 76309.

*** Elected:
     The Greater Springfield, Inc., Chapter of the NFB of Massachusetts elected
new officers at its June, 1995, meeting. They are Basil Maurice, President;
Diane Hall, Vice President; Paulette Gordon, Recording Secretary; Keith Barton,
Treasurer; Joseph Mitchell, Sergeant-at-Arms; and Wanda Ryan and Joan Merrill,
Board members.

[Caption: Joe Ruffalo]
*** Appointed:
     Under date of July 6, 1995, Joe Ruffalo, President of the National
Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, received notification of his appointment
to membership on the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Board of Trustees. The appointment was made by the State Board of Human Services
with the approval of Governor Christine T. Whitman. Congratulations to Joe and
to the New Jersey Commission.

*** For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     VersaBraille II Plus unit manufactured by Telesensory. Includes carrying
case, two battery chargers, and all Braille documentation. Asking price: $1,000
or best offer. For further information contact Kimberly Morrow at either of the
following internet addresses or telephone number: [e-mail] or
[e-mail] or [phone].

*** Elected:
     Johnna Simmons, Secretary of the NFB of North Carolina, reports newly
elected affiliate officers: Peggy Kalin, Treasurer; Johnna Simmons, Secretary;
and Hazel Staley, Laurancene Murphy, Ike Collins, and Billy Bethea, Board
members.

*** Attention Talented and Fun-Loving Residents of the Southeast:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     The Montgomery, Alabama, Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind is
sponsoring Spring-Fest Entertainment for the Blind, 1996. Interested
Federationists are welcome to enter. The festival will be held March 2, 1996.
Events include a talent-fashion-comic showcase, talk show, picnic, and after
party. The showcase and talk show will be taped and aired on television. Door
prizes will be given at the festival. Admission and registration fee is $30. The
admission and registration deadline is February 1, 1996. For further information
contact Mr. Eldridge Hardy, weekends only at [phone].

*** Wedding Bells:
     Dottie Marlow of the Magic Valley Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of Idaho writes to report two weddings that took place earlier this fall.
On September 9, 1995, chapter members Neil Gibson and April Jansson were
married, and on September 10 Lorrie Riddle, President of the Magic Valley
Chapter, and Quen Miller also tied the knot. Congratulations to both couples.

*** For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     EZ Reader portable closed circuit TV system for reading printed materials
from your television screen with a fixed-focus 45X magnification. Has an option
of black on white or white on black lettering. Complete with all cables and
adapters to hook up to TV. Good condition. Asking $495. Contact Orville Lewis,
692 E. Second Street, Logan, Ohio 43138 or call [phone] or (614) 385-
5703.

*** Attention New York Residents:
     Wells Jones, Executive Director of the Guide Dog Foundation, Inc., of
Smithtown, New York, has asked that we disseminate the following information:
                               New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
                                                              September 15, 1995

                        GUIDE, HEARING, AND SERVICE DOGS

     Effective September 24, 1995, sales or uses of any goods or services
necessary for the acquisition, sustenance, or maintenance of a guide dog, a
hearing dog, or a service dog are exempt from sales and use taxes. The guide,
hearing, or service dog must be used by a person with a disability to compensate
for an impairment to the person's sight, hearing, or movement (Tax Law  1115(s)
as added by Chapter 102 of the Laws of 1995). Those eligible to claim this
exemption are a person with a disability and an individual whose dependent is a
person with a disability. People who have been given express authority by an
eligible person to make purchases on the eligible person's behalf may also claim
the exemption.
     Purchases of guide dogs have always been exempt from sales and use taxes.
The new exemption under section 1115(s) is broader because it also exempts
tangible personal property (goods) and services necessary for the acquisition,
sustenance, or maintenance of these dogs. In addition, section 1115(s) extends
the exemption to include purchases of hearing or service dogs for use by a
person with a disability and goods and services necessary for the acquisition,
sustenance, or maintenance of hearing and service dogs.

[Caption: Kathy Day, 1943-1995]
*** In Memoriam:
     Carla McQuillan, President of the National Federation of the Blind of
Oregon, has written to tell us of the death on August 10, 1995, of Kathy Day,
President of the Lane County Chapter of the NFB of Oregon and newly elected
Secretary of the Diabetics Division of the National Federation of the Blind.
Kathy also served as receptionist and assistant for the NFB of Oregon. According
to Carla, she had a real gift for finding the right words to comfort and
encourage people who were dealing with blindness for the first time. She will be
deeply missed.

*** Elected:
     Tina Hansen, Secretary of the Capitol Chapter of the NFB of Oregon, reports
the election of the following officers: David Hyde, President; Kathleen McGrew,
Vice President; Tina Hansen, Secretary; and Donna Henry, Treasurer.

*** Resource and Information Service Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Announcing the Resource and Information Service. We will find the agency
you have been looking for--equipment and services for the blind and visually
impaired--businesses that sell screen readers, tape recorders, glucose monitors,
scales, agencies for rehabilitation, special legal services, guide dogs, all
types of computer equipment, clubs, books on computer disk and tape,
transcriptionists, etc. No problem too big or small. Call us for a form on
cassette tape or IBM, 3½-inch computer disk. Please specify. We will research
your problem and get you the best services at the best prices. We will send your
list back in the medium in which we received your form. The cost is only $10.
Call today, [phone].

*** In Memoriam:
     Dottie Marlow of the Magic Valley Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of Idaho reports with sorrow the death of chapter board member Arlene
Fuller, who died on June 27, 1995. She was a lively and warmly hospitable member
of the chapter and will be deeply missed.

*** Tactile Cards Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Creative Adaptations for Learning (CAL), designers of innovative legible
tactile illustrations, has put together a set of tactually illustrated notecards
suitable for all occasions, including seasons greetings.
     At CAL we make it easy for you to shop from the comfort of your home.
Delight your family, friends, and business associates by sending your personal
message Brailled, printed or typed by you on the inside of an attractively
illustrated notecard.
     Each 5-by-7-inch picture is embossed on white plastic and framed on white
card stock backing for durability and easy Braille writing.
     The selection includes CAL-tac■ notecard and envelope, $2.50. Set of ten
cards, $18.75: snowperson, "Season's Greetings"; 6 balloons, "Congratulations";
flowers in flower pot; three hearts; rainbow over duck pond; waterfall between
two mountains; butterfly; moonlight sailing; and bowling ball and ten pins. Add
10 percent shipping and handling to the cost of the card(s). Send your order to
Creative Adaptations for Learning, 38 Beverly Road, Great Neck, New York 11021.
For more information contact Shirley Keller or Irma Goldberg [phone].

*** New Address:
     Federationist Tina Blatter of Artistic Touch, a company that produces
Braille greeting cards and tactile paintings, has moved from Colorado to South
Dakota. For those wishing to place orders, her new address and phone number are
2600 West 28th Street, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57105, [phone].

*** Elected:
     Sandy Jo Hansen, Secretary/Treasurer of the Black Hills Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of South Dakota, reports the following election
results: Noble Mellegard, President; Bonnie Bender, Vice President; Sandy
Hansen, Secretary/Treasurer; and Ray Thomas, Jean Thompson, and Julaine Rollman,
Board members.

*** Cassette Mailers for Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I am hand-making cassette cardboard mailers for the blind. The cost of the
mailers is 50 cents each. Orders must be in large print or on cassette. Send
your name, address, and number of mailers along with payment to Christine Diaz,
51 First Street, Norwood, Massachusetts 02062.

* Elected:
     Jim Omvig, Secretary of the National Federation of the Blind of Arizona,
reports that the following individuals were elected as officers and Board
members of the NFB of Arizona on September 17, 1995: Bruce Gardner, President;
Judith Tunell, First Vice President; Jim Boatman, Second Vice President; Jim
Omvig, Secretary; and Donna Silba, Treasurer. Sandie Addy, Carolyn Craven, Lee
Kerr, Captain Lewis, David Montgomery, and Ruth Swenson were elected to serve as
Board members.

*** Albums of Vocal Music Available:
     Linda Mentink, President of the NFB Music Division, has asked us to carry
the following announcement:
     I have recorded two albums of sacred songs on cassette. One is
contemporary, and the other is old hymn favorites. The cost of each is $10,
including shipping. They make great gifts. To order, contact Linda Mentink, 1737
Tamarak Lane, Janesville, Wisconsin 53545-0951, phone, [phone].

*** Physical Fitness, Wet and Dry:
     From the Editor Emeritus: I recently received a letter from Olivia
Ostergaard, who is a member of the Fresno Chapter. She says in part:

          As Federationists are known to blaze new ground, so two
     Federationists in the Fresno Chapter are gaining visibility, and
     better health. How? By attending a local gym at least three times a
     week for water aerobics, treadmill, and/or bike.
          Lyrue Taylor, Vice-President, who is diabetic, and I, who am
     borderline, are members of "George Brown's Fitness" and "Clovis
     Athletics" respectively. Lyrue attends the 8:30 a.m. water aerobics,
     and I the 11:45 a.m. class, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We both
     try to get in some treadmill and exercycle before the water aerobics.
     There are six gyms in the Fresno/Clovis area. If you're a member of
     one, you get the benefits of all of them.
          One day, while I was at the Blackstone gym, I met a blind man who
     labeled the treadmill. The only drawback to this, as I see it, is that
     we can't read the numbers for time, heart rate, miles, etc. that
     appear on the screen of most treadmills. The same is true for the
     exercycle.
          My question is this: Is there any way that the NFB can make contact
     with companies that manufacture this equipment to see if we could have a
     talking computer chip in some of them so that they would be more
     accessible? We hope to contact a local sports reporter and make a news
     story out of this. Remember, most folks think blind persons just sit and
     read our Braille and Talking Books. Not anymore!

*** Educational Supplies Needed in Ghana:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I am appealing for donations of educational materials for the blind in
Ghana. These may include blank or used cassette tapes; writing aids such as
Braillers, slates, and styluses; Braille paper; and any other useful equipment
or accessories. Please send all donations to the following address: Kobena
Bonney, 90 Saint Mary's Street, #2-6, Boston, Massachusetts 02215; e-mail,
[e-mail]; or phone, [phone].

[Caption: The Board of the Delmarva Chapter of the NFB of Maryland is pictured here with NFB of
Maryland President Sharon Maneki and NFB of Delaware President Richard Bennett: back row (left
to right) are Raymond Jackson and Richard Bennett, and front row (left to right) are Lydia
Richardson, Joan Mitcheil, Sharon Maneki, Tami Jones, Virginia Glynn, and Ann Xumbo.]
*** New Chapter:
     Sharon Maneki, President of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland, reports that on Saturday, September 9, 1995, the Delmarva Chapter of
the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland was formed. The chapter was
welcomed into the Federation by both the President of the NFB of Delaware and
the President of the NFB of Maryland. The new chapter officers are Joan
Mitcheil, President; Ann Xumbo, Vice President; Virginia Glynn, Secretary; and
Tami Dodd Jones, Treasurer. Raymond Jackson and Lydia Richardson were elected to
serve as Board members.

*** For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     For sale Romeo Braille printer, RB--40, in excellent condition, never
having been used. Will sell complete with all Braille and printed materials,
along with a complete box of paper for the machine. Will deliver in reasonable
distance from Los Angeles. Excellent machine for anyone needing to make Braille
copies of material. Asking $2,500 or best offer. For further information call
Essie Hall at [phone].

*** Space Camp for the Blind:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Traveling into space is something that many of us have always wished we
could do. The odds of this ever actually happening are pretty slim. Through its
Space Camp Program the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, located in Huntsville,
Alabama, has allowed tens of thousands of children and adults to experience
earthbound the effects of space. The West Virginia School for the Blind has made
this experience possible for hundreds of visually impaired children and adults
through its coordination of the Space Camp for Children with Visual Disabilities
and the Adult Space Camp for the Blind. The West Virginia school is entering its
seventh year as the coordinator for these programs. The 1996 schedule for
programs serving the blind has been set, and the dates are as follows: Adult
Space Camp for the Blind, May 10-12, 1996; Parent/Child Camp for the Blind, May
10-12, 1996; and Space Camp for Children with Visual Disabilities, September 21-
28, 1996. The Parent/Child Camp for the Blind is a new program that allows both
parents and their children to go through the Space Camp experience together. At
least one member of each family must have a visual impairment to be eligible for
the program. This program will be held during the same weekend as the Adult
Space Camp Program in Huntsville.
     Anyone wishing additional information for these programs may contact Dan
Oates at the West Virginia School for the Blind, 301 E. Main Street, Romney,
West Virginia 26757, [phone], or in the evenings call [phone]. The
registration deadline for the parent/child and the adult program is March 15,
1996. If enough registrations are not confirmed by the deadline the program will
be canceled.

*** Useful Books from NBP:
     National Braille Press has recently announced the following new releases:
     Based on the success of our tutorial for WordPerfect 5.1, National Braille
Press is pleased to announce a new tutorial for Learning WordPerfect 6.0 Using A
Screen-Access Program by Kathleen Beaver. Similar to the previous tutorial,
Learning WordPerfect 6.0 contains a self-paced, step-by-step instruction book,
plus two practice disks to give new users hands-on experience using the newest
features of this version of WordPerfect with speech or Braille access. This book
assumes no prior experience with WordPerfect.
     Learn basics like entering and editing text; exiting, saving, and opening
documents; and so forth, as well as more advanced features, such as using the
Thesaurus and Grammar Checker. The tutorial comes in Braille (two volumes) or
cassette for $23, and in print for $28 (includes shipping). In her book, What Do
I Do Now? Making Sense of Today's Changing Workplace, Shena Crane, founder and
President of Mentor Career Services in Irvine, California, outlines the dramatic
changes occurring in today's workplace and spells out new strategies to turn
these changes to your advantage. What Do I Do Now? sells for $14.95 in Braille
(same price as print book).
     Order both books from National Braille Press, 88 St. Stephen Street,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115, or call [phone] and charge it with
MasterCard or Visa.

*** In Memoriam:
     Bill Isaacs, President of the Kankakee Heartland Chapter of the NFB of
Illinois, reports the death of Boi Ehmsen Eskildsen. He was 103 at the time of
his death, perhaps the oldest Federationist. Mr. Eskildsen was a gentle, kind,
pleasant, interesting man. He was born in Denmark and traveled from the United
States to Europe many times over the years. He lived alone in his own home until
fairly recently. In his mid-nineties he went to nursing homes to entertain the
"old folk" with his harmonica.
     Ehms is survived by his sister, Metha Jensen, who is in her nineties. She
is as active and lively as her brother was. Both Ehms and Metha were members of
the Federation for many years.

*** Pen Friend Wanted:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     My name is Denis Bui, and I am thirty-three years old. I would like to find
a pen friend. I like music, travel, and correspondence. I can write in print, in
Braille, or on computer disk. I have an IBM computer. My contact information is
Residence Pierre Loti, 15/227 rue des Fusillés, 59280-Armantières, France.

*** Wedding Bells:
     We are pleased to report that on September 23, 1995, David Denotaris, one
of the leaders of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, and
Mariann Serano were married. Congratulations to the Denotarises.

*** For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     For sale, 14-inch Telesensory black-and-white CCTV, Model ER2A, Serial
#ER91111-154. Cost $2,825 when purchased in 1992, will now sell for $1,600 or
best offer. Contact Elmer Estey, 608 Mimosa, Roswell, New Mexico 88201.

*** World Series Baseball Game Is Back:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Version 10 of the award-winning World Series Baseball Game and Information
System will be available following the 1995 World Series. This game is now being
played in forty-eight states and four foreign countries on IBM-compatible
computers with screen readers and synthesizers. Version 10 comes with 155 items
and ten information programs. There are many improvements and several new
features. The cost is still only $15 to new users, $5 for updates. Send your
check to Harry Hollingsworth, 692 S. Sheraton Drive, Akron, Ohio 44319 or call
[phone]. Please specify which size disk you prefer.

*** New Cassette Catalog Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Jett and Smith is back with the 1995-1996 No-Frills, Priced-Just-Right
catalog on tape. Presenting over 300 exciting products for everyday living, and
a collection of special gifts for all occasions. We are also introducing a new
line of liberating products. As our catalog name implies, every item is discount
priced. Shop in the safety and convenience of your own home. All orders will be
shipped to your door. When requesting your free cassette catalog, please call
[phone] between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, Monday
through Saturday. We are here to help you and look forward to your call. Please
note that we do not ship outside the United States.

*** Transcription Service Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Do you need your bank statements, bills, business cards, booklets, folders,
greeting cards, business letters, magazines, menus, instructional manuals,
signs, or labels produced in Braille, large print, or regular print? Call or
write Ronald Kolesar at Ron's Braille Transcribing Services, P.O. Box 102,
Girard, Pennsylvania 16417-0102, or call [phone] between 9:00 a.m. and
5:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. No holidays or weekends
please. Leave a message on the machine during these hours.

*** Elected:
     Robert Leblond, Treasurer of the NFB of Maine, reports that the National
Federation of the Blind of Maine held its annual convention on September 22 and
23, 1995, at the Holiday Inn West in Portland. It was a wonderful convention,
which focused on the changing balances in the blindness field. Allen Harris
delivered an inspirational banquet address. The officers elected to serve were
Connie Leblond, President; Dave McCabe, Vice President; Robert Leblond,
Treasurer; Seth Leblond, Secretary; and Rob McIninch, Bruce Westfall, and Mike
Jacubouis, Board members.

[Caption: Ken Canterbury]
*** Thank-yous Are Always in Season:
     We came across the following note in the August 17, 1995, edition of the
Dundalk Eagle, in its "By the People" column. It was submitted by Ken
Canterbery, a Federationist from Maryland who owns a vending business called Hot
Diggity Dog. At this season of the year we would all do well to remember that
goodness and compassion still walk the streets of our world, and we could all do
more to help them prosper:

                                   Good Heart
     I am legally blind and run the food vending cart in front of the Dundalk
Post Office.
     I often encounter homeless and needy people gathering near the Post Office
water fountain. Some are loitering, and some are just hoping someone will offer
them money or food. Many people claim I contribute to their loitering because I
occasionally offer them a free meal or soft drink.
     Sometimes I feel good about myself when I can offer them something to eat.
It doesn't matter who they are or where they come from; they are all human; and
I don't like to see anyone go hungry.
     I am not the only person who feels this way. For several months before and
after the last election, a special friend has handed me $10 or $20 at a time to
help feed the underprivileged. When I talk to this friend, I can see and feel
the goodness in her heart.
     On behalf of these needy people and me, I want to thank Ms. Bonnie Leisure.
God bless her. Hot diggity dog!