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                       THE BRAILLE MONITOR



                     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
A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

                            CONTENTS

                                                      MARCH, 1994

THE STRUGGLE TO EVADE DUTY: WISCONSIN TEACHERS OF THE BLIND FIGHT
AGAINST BRAILLE
by Barbara Pierce

BRAILLE COMPETENCY TEST READY FOR USE

THE WASHINGTON SEMINAR: HOPE AND HARD WORK
by Barbara Pierce

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND TESTIMONY BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITEEE ON LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS, COMMITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
by Marc Maurer

1994 LEGISLATIVE MEMORANDUM AND FACT SHEETS

WHY I INTERRUPTED COLLEGE FOR LEARNING IN A NEW DIMENSION
by Doug Lee

DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD FOR 1994
by Sharon Maneki

THE 1994 BLIND EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
by Stephen O. Benson

UNLIMITED AMBITION: BLINDNESS DOESN'T HOLD BACK LEGISLATIVE PAGE,
LAW STUDENT
by Margaret N. O'Shea

WHY GO IT ALONE?
by Margie Watson

1994 CONVENTION FUN--TOURS FOR EVERYONE
by Don and Sue Drapinski

FEDERAL PROGRAMS CAN HELP WITH MEDICARE PREMIUMS
by James Gashel

RECIPES

MONITOR MINIATURES





     Copyright ■ 1994 National Federation of the Blind, Inc.
[LEAD PHOTO/CAPTION: On December 3, 1993, Fred Schroeder, member
of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind
and Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, attended
a dinner in Albuquerque in honor of a number of the state's
Democratic leaders. He is pictured here with New Mexico Governor
Bruce King (left) and President Bill Clinton.]




[PHOTO: Bonnie Peterson walking through hotel corridor at NFB convention.
CAPTION: Bonnie Peterson.]

[PHOTO: Blind child in classroom reading Braille book w/teacher. CAPTION: Some
children are lucky enough to learn Braille from real experts. Here Kim
Hoffman, a life-long Braille reader, teaches Cody Greiser of Montana.]

[PHOTO: Blind child sits on floor, reading Braille book to sighted sister.
CAPTION: When blind children learn to read Braille early, they can amuse their
younger siblings, as Sora Mindy Cook of Maryland does here, reading a Twin
Vision book to her little sister.]

                   THE STRUGGLE TO EVADE DUTY:
      WISCONSIN TEACHERS OF THE BLIND FIGHT AGAINST BRAILLE
                        by Barbara Pierce

     Some people ask why the National Federation of the Blind is
now working for passage of a national law to protect the right of
blind children to receive adequate Braille instruction. The short
answer is that twenty-eight states have yet to pass any
legislation aimed at addressing the shocking drop in Braille
literacy among school-age blind children, and even some of those
states that have done so have found the legislation undermined by
the very educators who could solve the problem but whose poor
attitudes about blindness helped to create the low literacy rates
in the first place.
     Take Wisconsin for example. In 1991 the legislature passed a
strong Braille bill. It provided that legally blind youngsters
would be taught Braille if their parents requested it; that,if
Braille was not to be taught, an explanation for the decision
must appear in the Individualized Education Program (IEP); and
that teachers of the blind had to demonstrate their competence in
reading, writing, and teaching Braille. Once the measure became
law, it was then necessary to write the regulations that would
implement it, and this is where the trouble started. The
Wisconsin chapter of the Association for Education and
Rehabilitation for the Blind and Visually Impaired (WAER) took
exception to the idea that its members should be expected to know
Braille well enough to teach it to children who needed it or
whose parents demanded it because they believed that print would
not always be an effective method of reading and writing for
their youngsters. The Wisconsin Education Association Council,
the teachers' union in the state, backed the AER position; and
the organized blind found that, although they had won the first
battle on behalf of blind children, the war was just beginning.
Moreover, according to Bonnie Peterson, President of the National
Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, because of the complexity
of the issues and the power of the teachers' union, the news
media in the state have by and large decided to stay away from
the story.
     Enter the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Charged with the responsibility of promulgating the rules to
implement the state's new Braille literacy law, DPI eventually
appointed a Braille Standards Advisory Committee to establish the
regulations. Bonnie Peterson was appointed to membership, but for
the most part her colleagues were unsympathetic to the concept of
improving the quality of Braille instruction for blind children
in Wisconsin. In addition to fifteen Wisconsin residents, DPI
appointed Toni Heinze, Director of the training program for
teachers of the visually impaired at Northern Illinois University
and a past national president of AER. In addition, apparently
afraid that, even though the committee was heavily weighted
against reform, the Department might not be able to prevent the
adoption of effective and sensible regulations, DPI brought in a
facilitator from Ohio State University to conduct the group's
meetings. The cost was significant; the obfuscation of the issues
in jargon and pseudo-professionalism was easier; and the
resulting inaccuracy and absurdity were complete. Bonnie Peterson
recounted the story of the committee's work in an article that
appeared in the September, 1993, issue of the Wisconsin
Chronicle, the publication of the National Federation of the
Blind of Wisconsin. Here it is:

                   The Wisconsin Braille Bill:
         Deceit and The Department of Public Instruction
                       by Bonnie Peterson

     If only 4% of sighted children read print and the rest were
nonreaders or used tape recorders and if teachers assigned to
teach reading and writing of cursive were not able to read and
write cursive themselves, no one would dispute the severity of
the problem. Decisive action would be taken. Wisconsin has just
such a problem with the literary future of our legally blind
children. Wisconsin has 907 legally blind children, of whom only
thirty-three are Braille readers. The remainder are actually
classified as "non-readers," "tape recorder readers," or "large
print readers." The number of children who read Braille in
Wisconsin is roughly sixty percent below the national average--
which is already a scandalously low nine percent of all legally
blind American children.
     In 1989 the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin
decided to take decisive action by requesting the Wisconsin
legislature to pass a law requiring that the teachers who teach
Braille in our schools demonstrate some knowledge of the code.
The Education Committees of the Senate and Assembly heard
testimony stating that some itinerant teachers did not know
Braille at all, and questions were raised about how one goes
about teaching what one does not know. Testimony from members of
the NFB of Wisconsin described how much better it is for a person
with residual vision to have the option to use either Braille or
ink print as the occasion demands rather than being forced to use
print inefficiently because of having been denied Braille
instruction. Federationists recounted how easy it is to learn
Braille and how they personally mastered it in two to three
months. Legislators also heard stories from parents about how
hard it is to get adequate Braille instruction for their
children. Several teachers from the Wisconsin School for the
Visually Handicapped testified that, if they had to upgrade their
skills in Braille, they would rather resign. A representative
from the Wisconsin Education Association Council said that this
legislation was too severe and, if this law were passed, there
would not be a qualified teacher in the state.
     After it passed both houses of the legislature in April of
1992, Governor Tommy Thompson signed the Braille Bill, Act 164,
into law. Basically it requires the following: (1) Every legally
blind child shall have the opportunity to be taught Braille, just
as every sighted child has the opportunity to be taught print.
(2) If Braille is not taught, the reason must be included in the
Individualized Education Program (IEP). (3) A teacher who teaches
blindness techniques must demonstrate knowledge of reading,
writing, and teaching Braille to the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction before becoming certified or recertified.
Sounds simple, right? No one could argue with this, right? Wrong.
Enter the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
     Almost ten months after Governor Thompson signed the Braille
Bill into law, the Department of Public Instruction established a
Braille Standards Advisory Committee, whose responsibility was to
recommend rules to the Department regarding the Braille Law. A
woman could conceive and give birth to triplets in less time than
it took DPI to create a committee. I represented the NFB of
Wisconsin on that committee. The primary question we were
expected to answer was how knowledge of reading, writing, and
teaching Braille would be defined.
     To make matters easier, a national test had been created by
the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped (NLS), and teachers in Texas and
Minnesota are already required to take this test. Representatives
from major organizations of and for the blind took three years to
assist NLS in creating the NLS literary Braille Competency Test,
which takes four to six hours to complete. It tests one's
knowledge of literary Braille and can be taken anywhere and at
any time the teacher desires with a retake in six months if the
test is not passed. Best of all, it is free. It makes sense to
expect all teachers to take the same test and to be held to the
same high standards for which the National Library Service is
known. Sounds simple, right? No one could argue with such a
concept, right? Wrong.
     Under the watchful eye of the Department of Public
Instruction, daylong Advisory Committee meetings dragged on from
January 29, 1993, through July 12, 1993. It was clear that DPI
had a agenda of its own. The committee was composed of seventeen
persons, eight of whom were DPI supervisors or staff, seven of
whom were members of the community, one of whom was a director of
a program for teachers of the blind from Illinois, and (believe
it or not) one of whom was a group facilitator from Ohio--the
Department of Public Instruction actually brought in a man all
the way from Ohio to run the meetings. With so many qualified
people on a committee, it seems to me that such an action is
highly questionable to say the least.
     Moreover, making an Illinois resident a voting member of a
Wisconsin committee was clearly inappropriate and resulted in
repeated instances of conflict of interest. She seemed much more
absorbed in the advancement of her own career than in what was
advantageous for Wisconsin's blind children. She was much more
interested in describing the program she runs at Northern
Illinois University, the classes in Braille, seminars AER
teaches, and the ways we could get grants for AER programs. When
committee members recommended that training programs for teachers
of the blind have higher academic standards (a discussion that
began because she admitted that the final exam in Braille at
Northern Illinois University doesn't even have a slate-and-stylus
component), she smugly replied that we really didn't have
anything to say about training programs.
     Decisions about the conduct of committee business, which
traditionally are made by a committee itself, were made by DPI.
The committee did not ask for a facilitator; we were merely
introduced to him at the first meeting by DPI and told we would
have one. DPI decided who would direct the committee's work, take
minutes, and establish the first agenda. These actions determined
the control and the tone of all subsequent meetings.
     On February 21 I brought to the second meeting an entire
page of undisputed additions and corrections to the January 29,
1993, meeting minutes. Statements made by members of the
committee about the importance of Braille, the need to teach it
to multiply handicapped children, and the importance of the slate
and stylus were missing. Statistics were misrepresented. The
committee list was inaccurate, obscuring personal organizational
affiliation, titles, and telephone numbers. When I requested that
corrections be included in the next minutes, Brent Odell of DPI
said "No, we have agreed to informal minutes... you have probably
not served on enough committees to know what that means." Despite
a letter to Andy Papineau of DPI, who had taken the minutes, and
assurances by the DPI attorney and supervisors, corrections never
did appear in the minutes. A feeble attempt to achieve the
appearance of proper minutes was made; however, additions and
corrections, even when requested, never appeared as they had been
made.
     The final recommendations of the DPI Braille Advisory
Committee are mind-boggling corruptions of education and the law,
exactly what DPI seems to have wanted. Beginning teachers seeking
a new license can choose between taking the NLS Test and
demonstrating completion of a four-credit course in Braille,
Nemeth Code, and Braille technology, including an evaluation
component. In other words, a new graduate wouldn't have to do
anything to get a license in Wisconsin because any recent
graduate could easily show that sometime during training he or
she had taken a four-credit course in Braille and technology.
With this alternative available, why should any new teacher ever
choose to take the NLS test? Beginning teachers will continue to
be as inept as they have ever been. Accepting previous course-
work from inexperienced teachers of the kind that is currently
available in university programs does not require these new
teachers to demonstrate any ability to read and write Braille.
     Under the committee's recommendation teachers renewing their
licensing can choose either the NLS Test or a DPI-approved two-
credit course in Braille, Nemeth Code, and Braille technology or
thirty DPI-approved clock hours in Braille, Nemeth Code, and
technology with an evaluation component. These DPI rules presume
the existence of courses and programs that have not yet been
created. Who will teach them? What will their content be? What is
meant by "an evaluation component"? An evaluation could be
anything from a personal note by an instructor to an eight-day
test. What assurances can DPI offer that courses will be
developed that lead to better training for teachers when the
system has failed so miserably up to now? Is all this stipulation
about clock-hours and review courses just more busy work to
distract teachers from actual Braille instruction?
     It was DPI that encouraged the inclusion of a technology
component in the rules for the Braille legislation, which was
never intended to be a technology bill. Of course technology is
important in the lives of everyone. But these DPI recommendations
would force teachers to learn the inner workings of refreshable
Braille displays, Braille embossers, Braille translation
programs, Braille 'n Speaks, and speech output devices for both
IBM- and Apple-compatible computers. Assuming that the teachers
actually learn about all this technology, when are they going to
find the time to teach Braille? Where will they get the money to
purchase the technology to practice on? What about the slate and
stylus? Knowledge of reading and writing Braille is distinctly
different from the ability to operate the machinery that produces
it.
     These DPI-encouraged recommendations are an attempt by the
Department of Public Instruction to rewrite Wisconsin's Braille
literacy law in order to obscure the fact that DPI let the
Braille literacy problem reach this magnitude in the first place.
These regulations are destined to cause dissension and confusion
among already overworked teachers in understaffed programs.
Public hearings will soon be held to approve the final DPI rules.
You can be certain that the NFB of Wisconsin will be fighting for
the National Library Service Test and for one standard of
competency for all teachers of Braille in Wisconsin.
                      ____________________
     That is what Bonnie Peterson wrote in September, and it soon
became clear that the article's impact on readers depended on
their point of view. Parents jumped on the bandwagon and told
their own stories of frustration and ongoing deficits in their
children. The following letter is typical:

                                                Monroe, Wisconsin
                                              September 12, 1993

Dear Mrs. Peterson:
     It was with great interest that I read your recent article
on the Wisconsin Braille Bill. I would like to applaud and
encourage your efforts to ensure that Braille is taught to all
visually handicapped children--whether they are able to read
print or not.
     Our daughter, who is now almost twenty-two, has no vision in
one eye and 20/200 in the other. She has gone through our local
public schools with the help of aides who were very good, but not
trained in the education of the visually handicapped. She went to
some summer programs at the School for the Blind in Janesville
and was given some mobility training by a woman the school
district brought in from Janesville. She has no Braille skills
whatsoever. She is now in college and doing well, but it is very
difficult for her. Reading with the page inches away from her
face is very slow and tiring, and tape recorders can break down
just when you are in the middle of a chapter or studying for a
test. It can take weeks to send them in to be repaired.
     I have many times wished she had been taught Braille. But,
every time we brought it up as she was growing up, the school
district would say, "We can't afford to have a teacher just for
her when we have no other blind children." She is doing all
right. Anyway, where would we get a part-time Braille teacher? We
thought of sending her to the School for the Blind, but we knew
other children with some sight there who were not being taught
Braille either. So each time we concluded that we had come up
against a brick wall and let things go on as they were, hoping
for the best.
     Often I have wondered and continue to worry, what will she
do if she loses the little sight she has? She would have to halt
her education to learn to read Braille--assuming we could find
anyone to teach her.
     Since starting college, she herself has realized how much
being able to read Braille would help her. She tried through the
Disabled Student Services to find someone who could teach Braille
to her and another girl with limited vision, but they said there
had to be at least four or five students to make it worth a
teacher's while. She even tried to learn it by mail from the
Hadley School for the Blind but found it hard to learn by
correspondence.
     Is it possible for an adult to learn Braille? She goes to
the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Is there anyone in the
area who might be able to teach her and her friend? If all else
fails, once she is done with college, are there colleges or other
places where she could learn Braille as an adult? Please write
and let me know this information. It would be very reassuring to
me to know that she could catch up on this crucial knowledge that
would save her so much time and frustration at some later point,
even though she did not learn Braille as a child.
     We are hoping to go to the Saturday, Sunday part of your
convention in LaCrosse. Perhaps we will meet you there. In any
case, I would appreciate it very much if you would respond to my
questions.
     I would also like to encourage you in your fight to keep
other kids from growing up without the valuable tool of Braille
just because their school district is too small, too poor, or too
far away from cities or because there are fewer or no teachers
who are qualified to teach the subject.
                                                       Sincerely,
                      ____________________
     Of course Mrs. Peterson wrote to this mother, giving her the
name of a Federationist near her daughter's university who would
be happy to assist her in learning Braille. She also told her
about BLIND, Inc., in Minneapolis, the nearest adult
rehabilitation center conducted by the National Federation of the
Blind. She also thanked the woman for her encouragement and
support.
     Not all the letters, however, were sympathetic. Typical of
this second sort was one written by a teacher of the blind. Here
it is:

                                                September 8, 1993

Dear Mrs. Peterson,
     I have just finished reading your article concerning the
Wisconsin Braille Bill in the September issue of the Wisconsin
Chronicle. I could not let your statements contained within this
article go without some sort of comment.
     Let me first state that I am a certified and qualified
teacher of students with visual impairments. My training included
instruction in reading and writing the literary code of Braille
and the Nemeth Code as well as methods for teaching these. I
believe that Braille is certainly a legitimate and functional
mode of written communication. I enjoy teaching Braille, although
I have no students at this time for whom the M-Team [Wisconsin's
name for the group that determines a disabled child's educational
program] has decided this mode of communication is the most
appropriate.
     Many of my students are those you class among the ninety-six
percent of legally blind students who do not read Braille. The
majority of these students whom I serve are also non-ambulatory
and nonverbal. In such a case I do not feel that nonreader is an
inappropriate classification. The same decision would be likely
to be made if the student had 20/20 vision. Many of these
students can be taught to use the vision they do have to help in
accomplishing necessary activities of daily living. In this way a
teacher of students with visual impairments can be helpful in the
education of such students.
     As for proving my competence in reading, writing, and
teaching Braille--I did so during my program of teacher training.
I do not feel I should be subjected to any grueling testing
covering Braille any more than an established math teacher should
be required to take and pass a six-hour test covering the
intricacies of calculus or an English teacher be required to take
a similar test covering the intricacies of grammar.
     As to the Illinois resident serving on the Braille Standards
Advisory Committee--Northern Illinois University is the closest
University offering training in teaching students with visual
impairments. This is a problem. It is ridiculous that we have no
university within our borders that trains such teachers. If we
had such a program within our borders, I am sure your input would
be welcome when planning curriculum.
Thank you for your time.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                            -----
                      Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
                      ____________________
     That is what the teacher wrote, and Bonnie Peterson was
quick to answer him. This is what she said:

                                             Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                               September 14, 1993
Dear -----:
     I have received your letter of September 8, 1993, regarding
my article "The Wisconsin Braille Bill: Deceit and the Department
of Public Instruction" in the September issue of the Wisconsin
Chronicle, and I thank you for it. I find your comments quite
troubling.
     You say in your letter that you believe that Braille is "a
legitimate and functional mode of written communication." Yet you
also say, "I enjoy teaching Braille although I have no students
at this time for whom the M-team has decided this mode of
communication is the most appropriate." Thus you are currently
teaching no one the functional and legitimate skill of written
communication that you say you care so much about. You don't seem
to remember the last time you taught this functional and
legitimate skill of Braille. You blame the M-team that Braille is
not being taught. Sir, as a professional in the field of
blindness, your recommendations carry significant weight in the
M-team process. Are your strong recommendations for Braille
continually being ignored? If so, I suggest you take courses in
assertiveness training. Or are you not recommending Braille and
thereby attempting to shirk your own responsibility? If so, I
wonder why you chose a career teaching the blind in the first
place.
     You tell me that many of your students "can be taught to use
the vision they do have to help in accomplishing the necessary
activities of daily living." Visual acuity is not something that
can be taught--you either have it or you don't. Reading and
writing are necessary activities of daily living. Blind children
need to be taught literary skills that will help then compete on
terms of equality with their sighted peers. Feigning sight is not
a recognized job skill in the competitive marketplace; however,
the speed, flexibility, and accuracy of Braille are.
     You also tell me, "I do not feel that I should be subjected
to any grueling test covering Braille any more than an
established math teacher should be required to take and pass a
six-hour test covering the intricacies of calculus or an English
teacher should be required to take a similar test covering the
intricacies of grammar." Your students are not learning math.
Your students are learning grammar. However, none of your
students is learning Braille. A problem exists when only three
percent of Wisconsin's legally blind children are Braille
readers. This is why the Braille Bill was passed. When only three
percent of Wisconsin's children know how to add or subtract, math
teachers will be tested on their knowledge of math. When only
three percent of Wisconsin's children know grammar, English
teachers will be tested on their knowledge of grammar. If you
wish to be treated like the math and English teachers, you will
need to act like them. Math and English teachers are not making
excuses or finding ways to avoid teaching math and English. In
your letter to me you are making excuses and finding ways to
avoid teaching Braille.
     Finally, you tell me that it is ridiculous that we have no
University in Wisconsin that trains teachers of the blind and, if
we had such a program in Wisconsin, "I am sure your input would
be welcome in planning curriculum." The National Federation of
the Blind is not waiting for people to request input. We have
been giving input all along. We help parents advocate for their
children at M-team meetings. We teach children the Braille that
you say can't be taught. Our publication, Future Reflections, is
changing attitudes about blindness throughout the nation. Our
Parents of Blind Children Division is a source of cumulative
advice and support for thousands of parents throughout the
country. Furthermore, it was the National Federation of the Blind
of Wisconsin that worked to pass the Braille Bill, which is now
requiring you to reexamine your skills in Braille. Rather than
suggest the creation of a multi-million dollar building or
program, why don't you come to a convention of the National
Federation of the Blind and see how teaching and inspiring blind
people really should be done?
     Again I thank you for your letter. I appreciate the time you
took to respond to my article and hope that you take my comments
in the spirit of service and support in which they are meant. I
do wish you much success and fulfillment in your career, both for
your sake and that of the blind children you have the privilege
to teach.

                                            Very sincerely yours,
                                       Bonnie Peterson, President
                    National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin
                      ____________________
     As autumn crept toward winter, it became clear that there
were very few supporters of the proposed rules implementing the
new Braille literacy law. Proponents of the law were angry at the
obvious attempt to water down the requirement that all teachers
of blind students demonstrate their capacity to read and write
Braille well enough to pass the new NLS Literary Braille
Competency Test. It became clear that the teachers were prepared
to make virtually any argument they could think of that might
undermine the regulations or undercut the law. Two members of the
Braille Standards Advisory Committee (Lori Loveless of the
Wisconsin Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the
Blind and Visually Impaired and Helen Boduch-Hahn of the
Wisconsin Education Association Council) wrote a letter to the
Department of Public Instruction official charged with gathering
all the comments about the proposed rules for the Superintendent
of Public Instruction, who has the responsibility of submitting
the final rules to the legislature. If one didn't know better,
one might have hoped that representatives from the Association
for Education and Rehabilitation and the teachers union might
have felt some responsibility to improve the education offered to
Wisconsin's blind children. Like the NFB of Wisconsin, these two
women found fault with the recommendations of the Braille
Standards Advisory Committee, but their reasons for doing so
could hardly have been more different.
     They suggested that research be done to determine whether
blind children were less capable of learning to read than sighted
and whether there might be a correlation between the children's
illiteracy and their teachers' competence. They went on to argue
at different points in their letter that teachers can't be
expected to maintain skill in reading and writing Braille since
there are no Wisconsin universities offering courses in the code
and simultaneously that all teachers of the visually impaired
knew Braille when they started teaching, because they had had
Braille courses, so they shouldn't have to demonstrate their
competency later. They also suggested that all current teachers
should be grandfathered in and that only new teachers should have
to demonstrate competency.
     Despite the fundamental role that reading and writing play
in every normally intelligent child's education, these teachers
maintain that focusing on Braille competency for teachers of the
blind is to concentrate inappropriately on one small area of
their responsibility. They assume that maintaining Braille
competency will take a great deal of personal time and hard work.
They then say that it is unfair for teachers to have to devote
all their continuing education efforts to this one corner of
their teaching responsibility. After dismissing the definition of
legal blindness as a reasonable way of determining which
youngsters should have Braille considered as a serious
possibility for a reading and writing medium, they go on to say
that the skilled teacher's individual evaluation of the child's
capacity to read print or Braille is the only real way of
determining the appropriate medium and that the professional's
grasp of the psycho-emotional component of blindness is far more
important than skill in Braille.
     Almost more distressing than the arguments made by two
teachers who are supposed to care about the lives and educations
of blind children are the underlying assumptions and
misconceptions that support this document: according to them,
learning Braille and keeping up the skills associated with
reading and writing it are arduous, time-consuming activities. No
teacher will ever teach it to enough of his or her students to
maintain the skill naturally. Most children with little enough
sight to require Braille don't have the intellectual or physical
means of using it. Anyone who expects teachers of the blind to
avoid making obvious mistakes in reading and writing the code is
discriminating against these teachers because no other Wisconsin
teachers are required to demonstrate competence in their fields.
     Here is the letter submitted by the self-designated
spokeswomen of Wisconsin AER and the state's teachers union.
Errors in punctuation have been corrected for the sake of
clarity, but the sentence structure is exactly that submitted to
the Department of Public Instruction:

                                                 November 1, 1993

Lori Slausen
Rules Coordinator, DPI
Madison, Wisconsin

Dear Ms. Slausen:
     We are writing to you to share our remarks regarding the
proposed Braille standards for individuals holding the 825
licensure as teachers of the visually impaired.
     As members of the Braille Standards Advisory Committee, it
is our belief that this group made an honest effort to create
proposed rules in response to Act 164, also known as the Braille
Bill. After reviewing the October 1, 1993, memorandum, we feel
compelled to voice the following concerns regarding Act 164 and
the shortcoming of the proposed rules.

1. Lack of Research
     Research has not been conducted to determine the degree of
     literacy in the blind population. At this time, there are no
     answers to the following questions: do blind children differ
     from sighted children in their ability to read? If so, can a
     correlation be established between a lack of literacy and
     the level of teacher competence in Braille? Are vision
     teachers, indeed, incompetent in reading, writing, and
     teaching Braille? If so, will additional teacher training in
     these skill areas prove helpful? Without objective answers
     to these critical questions any action made to address these
     issues will be based on hearsay rather than fact.

2. Lack of Training Opportunities
     Currently there are no training opportunities available in
     Wisconsin which allow teachers to earn college credit for
     classes related to the Braille code or Braille instruction.
     Teachers are forced to take these classes at out-of-state
     universities. Wisconsin is considering requiring additional
     training in the area of Braille. How can the state require
     teachers to take classes which are not available in
     Wisconsin?

3. Over-emphasis on One Skill
     Just as reading is only one part of the curriculum which
     must be mastered by sighted learners, visually impaired
     children are expected to learn many other skills. Some of
     these skills are unique to the vision disability; others are
     not. Teachers of these children must not only be
     knowledgeable about the skills related to the disability
     area (or areas) which are affecting the child, but also all
     the other pertinent areas of education. Many teachers find
     it challenging to stay ahead of the ever-changing and
     increasing curricular demands. More than ever before,
     today's successful teacher must be well-rounded. What will
     be accomplished by requiring vision teachers to concentrate
     the majority of their continuing education efforts only on
     the area of reading?

4. Misleading Definition/Print is Efficient
     The proponents of this law often refer to a specific number
     of blind children in the state. When the definition of
     blindness is carefully analyzed, it becomes clear that
     simply classifying the children as blind is very misleading.
     Legal blindness is determined via a measurement of distance
     visual acuity or degrees of visual field. The acuity
     measurement is recorded in a standardized unit of twenty
     feet. Anyone with a distance visual acuity of 20/200 or less
     in their better eye, after best spectacle correction, is
     considered legally blind for acuity reasons. These numbers
     mean that this individual sees an image, when standing
     twenty feet from a target, as clearly as a person with
     perfect vision sees the same image when standing 200 feet
     from the same target. However, when considering the distance
     at which the majority of reading occurs, these numbers
     become meaningless. Most people do the bulk of their reading
     at distances of sixteen inches or less. Reading is
     considered a near activity. Many persons with 20/200 acuity
     or less can, in fact, comfortably read newsprint.
     To be considered legally blind based on degrees of field,
     the individual must possess no more than twenty degrees of
     visual field in either eye. Very few children qualify as
     legally blind based on loss of visual field. Those who do
     are often successfully able to use print. In some cases,
     where the loss of visual field is the result of a
     degenerative disease process, Braille instruction often
     begins while the child is still in school.

5. Decision is Made Individually
     Given the above information regarding visual functioning,
     most vision teachers approach the task of determining
     whether to teach a student print or Braille with the
     understanding that a functional vision evaluation must be
     performed. This evaluation is conducted in an effort to
     discover what a child can see, at what size, and at what
     distance. Among the many factors to be evaluated are how the
     child uses his/her remaining vision, for what types of
     tasks, how efficiently, and for how long without
     experiencing fatigue. The stability and prognosis of the
     specific eye condition is also considered. The decision to
     have a child read print or Braille is not arrived at
     arbitrarily but rather through assessments, diagnostic
     teaching, and observation. Functional vision evaluations are
     often repeated as the child matures and the educational
     demands change. Some proponents of this law believe that a
     visual acuity of 20/200 alone is reason enough to teach a
     child Braille. We strongly disagree with this practice. Even
     in certain cases where instruction in Braille is appropriate
     and recommended by the educator, psychological factors
     related to the acceptance of the disability prohibit student
     success. In these instances, a good understanding of the
     psycho-emotional components of vision loss is much more
     useful to the vision teacher than any type of Braille
     skills.

6. Many Blind Students Will Never Read
     Blindness is becoming more prevalent, and the number of
     students who are identified as legally blind is on an
     increase. This is due to the large percentage of multi-
     handicapped children who are being saved via medical
     intervention. Many of these children have cognitive deficits
     which prevent them from ever developing reading skills.
     Others may have the cognitive ability to learn to read but
     have physical disabilities which make a Braille learning
     media inaccessible to them. The educational needs of these
     children extend well beyond Braille. Even if they were fully
     sighted, these students would never learn to read. The
     vision teachers working with this population have neither
     the opportunity nor the need to practice reading, writing,
     and teaching Braille. Thus Braille is meaningless to both
     the teachers and the students in this case.

7. Test Not Available
     The National Literary Braille competency Test is endorsed as
     a means for teachers to demonstrate competency in the
     Braille code. The National Literary Braille Competency Test
     is currently in development and not yet available. It has
     yet to complete the validation process. The validation of a
     test of this nature and scope could be a very long and
     involved process. How can DPI in good faith require testing
     with an instrument which does not yet exist for public use?

8. Discriminatory
     Visual handicap has the lowest incidence of all recognized
     exceptional education need areas. Yet teachers of the
     visually impaired are the only class of teaching
     professionals required to demonstrate competency in a small,
     specific subject matter. We believe it is discriminatory to
     single out vision teachers as the only class of teaching
     professionals required to complete specialized testing every
     five years to maintain certification.

9. Statistical Information
     The statistical information on the number of blind students
     in Wisconsin that was initially made available to the
     Braille Standards Committee was based on the Federal Quota
     Account Registry. This information is collected annually and
     is meant to be used as a justification for the provision of
     educational materials from the American Printing House for
     the Blind. We are concerned that statistical citations
     gleaned from this document do not accurately represent the
     children. The Federal Quota Account Registry was not
     intended for this purpose and thus does not readily lend
     itself to this type of interpretation. For example, the
     Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped was not
     included in the total count that was shared with the
     committee. Thirty percent of the students enrolled in this
     educational setting during the '92/'93 school year are
     Braille readers. Children who use more than one reading
     media are recorded only by their primary mode. (A cursory
     glance at the document revealed two children on the first
     page, alone, who are learning both print and Braille). Blind
     children who will never learn to read due to their severe
     multiple disabilities are only recorded as being blind. For
     example, 17.7% of the students attending the Wisconsin
     School for the Visually Handicapped during the '92/'93
     school year were actually considered non-readers. Proponents
     of the law are often heard quoting inaccurate statistics. If
     we are to use statistical information, we need to all be
     working with the same, accurate, numbers. It is suggested
     that a separate tally of blind children be conducted,
     specifically for the purpose of identifying the number of
     children who use Braille as their primary and secondary
     reading mode. In addition, it would be helpful to identify
     the number of children who are considered non-readers.
     Proponents of this law have indicated that they believe it
     will result in more children who read Braille. Without
     accurate baseline information, how will change be measured?

10. Teachers Have Already Had Braille Instruction
     All persons currently holding the 825 licensure in Wisconsin
     have completed an approved teacher training program. As part
     of all the training programs in vision-impaired education is
     the requirement that at least one class in Braille code and
     one class in teaching methodology be included. Therefore,
     teachers have already had the necessary training and have
     also demonstrated proficiency in order to complete the
     class. Why then are we being required to repeat this every
     five years?

     For the reasons stated above, we believe that Act 164 is a
piece of ill-conceived and poorly constructed legislation and
that the many problems of Act 164 are only compounded by the
rules-writing process. Within Act 164 it clearly states that the
superintendent is responsible for the establishment of criteria
for the demonstration of proficiency in Braille. Rather than
further exacerbate the problems with unnecessary and futile
rules, it has been recommended by the groups we represent that
DPI respond to this law by grandfathering all the teachers
currently holding the 825 license. If new license applicants must
be evaluated, this process should rightfully be conducted through
the teacher-training programs. If the people of Wisconsin cannot
entrust the university programs to have adequately trained
teachers to read, write, and teach Braille to students, we then
need to ask if any degreed professional can be expected to have
satisfactory skills in their area of specialization? Or perhaps
we should demand competency tests of all professionals every five
years.

                                                    Respectfully,
                                                Lori J. Loveless
                          Wisconsin Association for Education and
                Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired
                                                Helen Boduch-Hahn
                          Wisconsin Education Association Council
                      ____________________
     That is what two members of the Braille Standards Advisory
Committee wrote in protest. Bonnie Peterson, also a member of the
Committee, submitted her objections to the proposed rules as
well. Hers took the form of a minority report in which she
carefully delineated her objections and proposed what she thought
should be done instead. She maintained that the National Library
Service's Literary Braille Competency Test was the single
instrument that should be used to identify teacher capacity to
read and write Braille. She also protested the introduction of
technology issues into a piece of legislation which had nothing
to do with that important subject. At about the same time the
National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin wrote a position
statement on the rules for implementing Act 164, the Braille
literacy law. Here it is:

        Position of the National Federation Of The Blind
                    Braille Literacy Act 164

     Teachers who teach blind children Braille do not know
Braille themselves. You cannot teach what you do not know.
Learning Braille is not a mystery but a straightforward matter of
study and application. An adult of average intelligence can learn
Braille in a few months.
     The best way to show you can read and write Braille is to
take a test that will assess competency in reading and writing
it. The Library of Congress, National Library Service (NLS)
Literary Braille Competency Test was developed after three years
of intensive effort by experts in reading and writing Braille and
unanimously supported by all of the major organizations of and
for the blind of the nation.
     The Library of Congress NLS has certified the competency of
Braille Transcribers since 1943 through its Braille Transcribers
Test. Braille Transcribers are volunteers who on their own
learned Braille and transform print into Braille for the blind.
Their skills in reading and writing Braille are flawless and
nationally renowned.
     The National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin (NFB-W)
opposes the recommendations of the Department of Public
Instruction (DPI) for courses and seminar--or convention--clock
hours because:
     1. 825 licensure teachers are already required to take
courses and continuing education seminars, which have never yet
led to teachers who can read and write Braille, nor does DPI give
any reason why these classes or instructional programs will work
in the future;
     2. By the time DPI finally discovers that a course, seminar,
or convention does not work, it will be too late.
     The National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin recommends
that all teachers who wish to renew or be issued an 825 license
pass either the Library of Congress NLS Literary Braille Test or
its Braille Transcribers Test to demonstrate proficiency in
reading and writing Braille.
     The law requires that teachers demonstrate proficiency
teaching Braille, and an 825 licensed teacher's function is to
teach legally blind children blindness skills. The NFB of
Wisconsin recommends that, before an 825 license is issued or
renewed, teachers must submit to DPI a case study of an actual
experience teaching Braille.
                      ____________________
     There you have the position paper that summarizes the views
of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin. On January
18 and 19, 1994, the Department of Public Instruction conducted
hearings on the proposed rules for implementing Act 164. The
weather was unspeakable, but that didn't stop members of the
National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin. The lives and
futures of blind children were at stake, and a little cold
weather was not about to stand in the way of the Federationists
determined to change the status quo. This is the way Bonnie
Peterson described the experience in a letter to the Braille
Monitor:

                                             Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                                 February 7, 1994

Mrs. Barbara Pierce, Editor
Oberlin, Ohio

Dear Barbara:
     On January 18 and 19 public hearings were held before the
Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to develop proposed rules
for Act 164, the Braille Literacy Act. Wisconsin's law requires
that teachers of the blind demonstrate proficiency in reading,
writing, and teaching Braille to the satisfaction of the
Superintendent of Public Schools.
     On Tuesday, January 18, a severe cold front was going
through Wisconsin. The temperature was thirty degrees below zero
with a wind chill of sixty below. Schools were closed. At 1:30
that afternoon the state government officially shut down. Almost
everything shut down except the DPI public hearing in Wausau.
Bernadette Krajewski, President of the Green Bay Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, had previously
scheduled a driver for the hearings. The person who had agreed to
drive told Bernadette that anyone who went out in this weather
was crazy (it was too dangerous) and refused to drive her at any
price. In true Federation spirit Ms. Krajewski took a Greyhound
bus for the two and a half hour trip to Wausau. The bus had no
heat because of the extreme cold. She waited in a bus depot for
an additional two hours until the time of the hearing.
     Connie Miller, a board member of the National Federation of
the Blind of Wisconsin, lives in Antigo, where public
transportation is not available to Wausau. Ms. Miller spoke to
three drivers who told her that she was insane if she planned to
go out in that weather. They also refused to drive at any price.
Finally Connie found someone who was just as crazy as she was and
was willing to risk the trip to Wausau.
     Sam Guelzow has a history of easily catching pneumonia. But
nothing was going to stop him from fighting for Braille.
Undaunted, Sam took the Wausau city busses (also without heat) to
testify. No one but Federationists testified that day; not one
teacher attended the Tuesday hearings.
     A heat wave of two degrees above zero moved through
Wisconsin on Wednesday, January 19. Federationists came from all
over the state to testify about the importance of Braille
instruction, the terrible problems they had personally had
getting Braille instruction in Wisconsin, the need for the NLS
Literary Braille test for all teachers of blind children, and the
simplicity and ease with which Braille can be learned and used.
     Only three teachers had courage enough to testify openly
about what they really thought. Teachers said they felt people
were pointing fingers at them and blaming them for the small
number of blind children who knew Braille. They felt the Library
of Congress test was discriminatory since math teachers don't
have to take a test. They said we should blame the programs they
graduated from. The final statement came from a teacher from
Milwaukee who proudly declared that she did care about Braille.
She explained that she taught twenty-six legally blind children
and that one of them was actually learning Braille, but that she
hoped he would never lose the rest of his sight and have to use
it. Notice that she never said she knew Braille or that she could
pass any test that was put before her--just that she cared about
Braille. How much can you possibly care about a subject that you
are teaching to only one out of twenty-six students and for which
you hope the student will never have a use? Pity us all when the
day comes that the math teachers say, "I do care about math...I
teach one of my students math, and I hope he never has to use
it." Sort of sums up the whole problem with AER, doesn't it?

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                  Bonnie Peterson
                      ____________________
     The Department of Public Instruction has been flooded with
written comments in addition to the oral testimony it gathered on
January 18 and 19. Predictably that from teachers of visually
impaired children has argued against the NLS test and the
requirement for periodic competency testing. The teachers have
continued to protest that they know Braille well enough to teach
those students who absolutely have to have it and maintain that
nobody much should learn Braille anymore. Blind adults and
parents, on the other hand, have pleaded for Braille instruction
for every child who can learn the code and who cannot use print
efficiently and effectively.
     One of the most interesting letters submitted came from
Constance Risjord, who teaches review courses for teachers
needing to brush up their Braille skills. She clearly believes in
Braille and is knowledgeable. She is convinced that the Braille
Literacy Act rules should include language requiring
demonstration of competence in Nemeth mathematics code as well as
literary Braille. Those close to the situation believe she hopes
that her course would become popular if teachers really were
required to demonstrate Braille competence. It should be pointed
out that Ms. Risjord, like a number of others who have submitted
comments to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, is confused
as to whether the language of the Act itself is open to revision,
which it is not, or whether the rules implementing it are under
discussion. Here is the text of her letter to the Superintendent:

                                               Madison, Wisconsin
                                                 January 15, 1994

John T. Benson
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Madison, Wisconsin

     RE: Wisconsin Act 164

Dear Dr. Benson:
     As a member of the Wisconsin Braille Standards Advisory
Committee and a director on the boards of both NBA (National
Braille Association, an educational organization dedicated to
aiding Braille transcribers) and BANA (the Braille Authority of
North America, the Braille code-setting agency for both Canada
and the U.S.), I have a deep interest in Braille literacy and
regard the proposed changes and additions to the 1991 Wisconsin
Act 164 as extremely important. The drafting of this legislation
must be done with great care, and the wording must be
unambiguous.
     It is obvious that the teaching of Braille has been given a
back seat in the education of blind students for the past twenty
or more years. As a consequence we now have a blind population
with only marginal literacy and teachers who have inadequate
training in Braille. Statistics of 1993 from the American
Foundation for the Blind show that eighty-eight percent of
severely visually impaired students do not know Braille, less
than ten percent of adults with severe vision loss use Braille,
seventy percent of blind adults are unemployed, and sixty-four
percent of the blind unemployed do not know Braille. On the other
hand, those fortunate few who had teachers who recognized the
importance of Braille and could teach it well have prospered. Of
employed blind persons, ninety-one percent read Braille, and of
those, eighty-five percent use Braille as their primary reading
method.
     The National Literary Braille Competency Test was developed
by the National Library Service of the Library of Congress to
test simple, basic Braille skills. As a member of the advisory
committee that developed that test, I feel certain that it is a
fair test, not designed to be tricky or devious. This is such a
basic test that anyone who cannot pass it should not be employed
to teach Braille. Even so, I am told that teachers do not want to
be required to take the test. Why is that?
     My experience in teaching a refresher course in Literary
Braille to ten seasoned Braille teachers last year may provide a
clue. At the time they enrolled in my class only one stood a
chance of passing the NLS competency test. In their instruction
many of them were relying on manuals containing outdated codes
that they had used in university courses many years ago. They
were unaware that there have been major changes in the Braille
code that affect the way abbreviations, symbols, and foreign
words, to mention a few, are transcribed into Braille. Most of
them had no working knowledge of the Nemeth (math) code, and none
of them knew the Braille computer code.
     Because there have been no requirements demanding that
teachers of Braille take refresher courses and stay up-to-date in
the field, they are not preparing blind children for advanced
education. Preparing blind students for higher education or jobs
must be the prime goal of the teacher. A student in today's world
who is not fluent in Braille reading, including math and science,
and is not computer-literate doesn't stand a chance of competing
against sighted peers.
     In my work as chair of the Literary Braille Committee for
NBA and as a consultant to the Literary Braille Technical
Committee of BANA, I travel all over the country giving workshops
on literary Braille. These workshops help keep transcribers up-
to-date on the latest thinking and changes in the Braille code.
Few teachers attend these sessions, and in fact few teachers of
my acquaintance understand the function of these organizations.
The fault here lies with the teachers' professional organizations
that do not acquaint them with the wealth of help and information
that is available. The only state that attempts to combine
teachers and transcribers in training sessions such as I give is
California.
     There are those who say that it isn't fair to test Braille
teachers every five years when other teachers don't have to go
through the same ordeal. A teacher in the regular classroom
teaches the same subjects year after year. On the other hand a
vision teacher may not have a Braille-reading student for several
years in a row. Nevertheless, this teacher must be prepared to
teach Braille whenever the challenge arises. Braille skills are
quickly lost and therefore must be practiced constantly. In
addition, Braille rules do change, and teachers must be aware of
and prepared to communicate those changes.
     I favor giving teachers of the visually impaired a choice of
either a test or a refresher course every five years as a
prerequisite to the renewal of their teaching license. However,
the choices must be equitable. Teachers must be able to
demonstrate through either a test or a course which culminates in
a test that they are knowledgeable in basic literary Braille and
the Nemeth code. That is not what the bill says now. The present
proposed legislation states that a teacher may either take the
NLS test with no math requirement or take a course in which math
is required. This is not a fair choice. The teacher without math
skills (and therefore unable to teach this essential field to
blind students) can simply opt for the NLS test, pass it, and
continue teaching.
     Another problem I see with this wording is the clouded term
"technology." What is that? Does that mean that teachers must
know and teach how to use all the Braille direct input and
translation programs, scanners, and bridging programs? Does it
mean that they should be able to teach the use of devices such as
the Braille 'n Speak? Or does it mean teaching the use of the
Perkins Braillewriter--or even the slate and stylus?
     What exactly is a "student evaluation component"? Is it a
test? If it is, the statute should say so. If it isn't, the term
should be carefully and clearly explained.
     In the copy of the proposed amendments that I received in
December, Section 3, PI 3.03 (2) (f) is clearly headed Visually
impaired license renewal. In Section 4. PI 3.31 (3), however,
there is no heading or lead statement that explains to whom these
provisions apply. I assume that they are meant for new graduates
or transfers from out-of-state. That too should be clearly
stated.
     In conclusion I favor the bill but feel that the wording is
far too ambiguous and needs a great deal of work to clearly
define the requirements. I favor the use of the NLS test,
because, as I said, it is a good, basic test. However, I think
that the state of Wisconsin should devise and add to the NLS test
a test in basic math. Only then will the choices presented to
teachers for acquiring or renewing teaching licenses be fair to
teachers and assure future blind students the fullest possible
educational opportunities.

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                Constance Risjord
                      ____________________
     Soon the Superintendent of Public Instruction will have to
make his rule recommendations. Those in turn will face
examination and public hearings before the education committees
of both the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly. No one can now predict
what the outcome will be.
     Powerful forces are ranged against blind people and the
parents of blind children. No one can remember the last time
anyone successfully stood up to the teachers union, which is
firmly supporting the teachers who don't want to teach Braille.
In recent weeks one newspaper publisher and one television
commentator have come out in support of those who believe that
blind children have the right to be taught Braille by teachers
who actually know the code. If more of the media take courage
from these two men, perhaps the children of Wisconsin will not
lose out once again.
     This much can be said. The lines have clearly been drawn in
Wisconsin. On one side are those who believe in the importance,
usefulness, and relative simplicity of Braille. They see the
literacy rate among blind children in their state falling, and
they assume that only when the teachers are confident in their
own Braille skills will this trend be reversed. On the other side
are those who are convinced that Braille no longer has a place in
the education of most blind students. They fear and resent the
idea that they could be required to demonstrate competence in
reading, writing, and teaching Braille. Bonnie Peterson points
out that teachers of multiply-handicapped sighted children in
Wisconsin have been supportive of the Federation's fight for
Braille. They stress the importance of giving multiply-
handicapped youngsters every tool that may help them in the
future. Since they teach their students to read print, it seems
obvious to them that blind multiply-handicapped children should
have the chance to learn whatever Braille they can.
     It is regrettable that such confusion has been stirred up by
those who profess to have the best interests of their students at
heart. It is even more unfortunate that it is the blind children
of Wisconsin who are likely to suffer. Regardless of what happens
in the Wisconsin Legislature, the National Federation of the
Blind has no intention of abandoning its support for Braille
instruction and competence for teachers of the blind. The latest
skirmish is drawing to a climax in Wisconsin, but as always with
the National Federation of the Blind, the war will not end until
we have secured the victory.

                             ■  ■  ■


              BRAILLE COMPETENCY TEST READY FOR USE

     From the Editor: The following press release was issued by
the National Library Service on January ?***, 1994. It marks an
important milestone in the blindness field's effort to devise a
fair and impartial way of demonstrating the competency of those
licensed as teachers of blind children to read and write Braille
with reasonable skill. Here is the release:

     On January 7, 1994, the National Literary Braille Competency
Test was released for use by all interested parties.
     The test is intended primarily for teachers of children and
adults. It is designed to allow candidates to demonstrate a basic
competency in literary Braille. The test is composed of three
parts: part one, writing skills, asks the candidate to transcribe
materials using a slate and a Braillewriter; part two, reading
skills, requires the candidate to identify errors in a brief
Braille selection; and part three, multiple choice, presents the
candidate with twenty-five questions on the literary Braille
code.
     Since January, 1943, the National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress, has
been responsible for the development of training materials and
certification programs for Braille transcribers and proofreaders.
These programs were designed for the certification of volunteers
producing Braille texts for educational and leisure reading.
     For some time educators and consumer groups have been
concerned about the quality and quantity of Braille instruction
that blind children are receiving in school. In 1989 the
Committee on Joint Organizational Effort asked the Library of
Congress to explore the feasibility of creating a national
certification program in Braille for teachers.
     The Library, of course, readily agreed; and our Braille
Development Section immediately began the planning process. An
advisory committee composed of educators, rehabilitation
teachers, transcribers, and consumers was established to study
the feasibility of developing a test of Braille competency for
teachers. This committee recommended that NLS develop
certification tests in the primary Braille codes for teachers.
     In 1991 an editorial committee was formed to advise on the
development of the test. They developed guidelines for:
    Content of the test. It was determined that the test would
     not attempt to measure teaching methodology but only subject
     matter knowledge. Universities would be encouraged to
     continue to address methodology as a part of their teacher-
     preparation programs. State departments of education and
     professional standards boards would be encouraged to develop
     their own tests of methodology as needed.
    Credibility protection of the test. Issues included number
     of equated tests, frequency of revision, and statements
     prohibiting reproduction.
    Reading level of the test. It was decided to create one test
     for teachers for all educational levels; and
    Multiple versions of the test to the same location.
     The trial test was sent to the editorial committee in the
spring of 1992. Ten reviewers in the United States and Canada
evaluated the test. After the test and instructions were revised,
the peer review took place during the summer of 1992. Forty-five
people in fifteen states and Canada, who had been recommended or
had expressed interest, were sent copies of the test. Again
revisions were made. In 1993 four forms of the final test were
developed and made ready for use.
     Concurrent with its release, the National Literary Braille
Competency Test is undergoing a process of validation. Until the
formalities of this process have been completed, all of those who
ask to take the test will be informed of the pending validation.
     The National Literary Braille Competency Test has been
developed with every possible consideration for test content and
testing rigor. NLS staff will carefully monitor its use in the
field and stand ready to make whatever modifications and
accommodations are necessary in order to facilitate the
achievement of stated goals.
     For further information contact Frank Kurt Cylke, Director,
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped, Library of Congress, 1291 Taylor Street, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20542; or call [phone] or fax (202) 707-
0712.


                             ■  ■  ■
[PHOTO/CAPTION: The seats at the front of the meeting room fill up early for
the 5:00 p.m. briefing on the Sunday afternoon of Washington Seminar. Here
Federationists listen attentively as president Maurer reports on recent NFB
projects.]

           THE WASHINGTON SEMINAR: HOPE AND HARD WORK
                        by Barbara Pierce

     Most Federationists who stream into the nation's capital at
the end of January each year for the National Federation of the
Blind's Washington Seminar come hoping for a preview of spring
weather to carry them through the last hard weeks of winter.
Those from Florida come with the wish to see a little snow as a
change of pace from the sunshine and blue skies of their state.
This year it was the Floridians who were gratified by the
Washington weather. But nothing could chill the enthusiasm and
energy of the more than four hundred people who settled in for
seminars, tours of the National Center for the Blind, and
meetings with Members of congress beginning January 28 with pre-
seminar meetings and ending February 2, 1994.
     As usual, the first event on the crowded calendar was the
Mid-Winter Conference of students sponsored by the National
Association of Blind Students. The theme this year was
"Broadening Horizons," and it was filled with inspirational
presentations and useful information. President Maurer addressed
the banquet Saturday evening and urged his listeners to dedicate
themselves to true education and the work of the National
Federation of the Blind.
     For about a hundred Federationists Sunday began with a tour
of the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore. Others enjoyed
sightseeing during the morning, but most were back at the hotel
for the afternoon seminars. At 1:00 p.m. the National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a division of the
National Federation of the Blind, conducted a seminar entitled,
"Parents, the NFB, and the Legislative Process." The event drew a
standing-room-only crowd. Presenters discussed effective ways of
presenting issues of concern to legislators, gave detailed
information about the Braille literacy bill we would be
discussing on the Hill that week, and provided ideas for building
and strengthening parent divisions in state affiliates across the
country.
     At 2:00 p.m. the annual Associates workshop took place and
concluded in time for participants to attend the gathering-in
meeting for the actual Washington Seminar, which began at 5:00
p.m. President Maurer reported on recent activities and projects
of the organization nationally, and Jim Gashel, Director of
Governmental Affairs, discussed the legislative issues of the
seminar in some detail. Copies of the legislative memorandum and
fact sheets in print and on cassette had been circulating all
weekend long, so many people were already familiar with the
issues and could ask specific questions about organizational
strategy. The texts of these documents are printed elsewhere in
this issue.
     As always, Sandy Halverson and her staff of hard-working
volunteers did a masterly job of disbursing the material for the
Congressional packets and maintaining the schedule of
appointments and the reports and assessments of each one as they
came in. The result was that Mr. Gashel had revised printouts of
the data at his fingertips at the close of each day. The entire
operation is conducted in Braille, which demonstrates its
effectiveness and sophistication and the importance of Braille
technology to blind people.
     One of the primary benefits of the Washington Seminar is the
increased interest in our legislative concerns that our visits
stir up on Capitol Hill. This year, as a direct result of our
meetings with Members of Congress, the number of co-sponsors of
H.R.794, the Americans with Disabilities Business Development
Act, jumped during the week following our visit from forty-five
to seventy, and the number is still climbing. Several
Representatives and Senators expressed interest in introducing
the Braille Literacy bill, and Congressman Austin Murphy,
Chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor Standards, Occupational
Health and Safety in the House of Representatives, made
arrangements to conduct a hearing on amending the Fair Labor
Standards Act to protect the right of blind sheltered shop
workers to earn the minimum wage. That hearing is scheduled to
take place in early March.
     One of the matters we discussed with Members of Congress
this year was the 1995 budget for the National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). In addition to
individual conversations, well over a hundred Federationists
crowded the hall outside a hearing room on the House side of the
Capitol Wednesday afternoon to demonstrate their concern about
this matter as members of the House Legislative Appropriations
Subcommittee heard testimony from Frank Kurt Cylke, Director of
the National Library Service. On February 8 President Maurer
himself offered testimony in support of NLS to that sub-committee
on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind. See the
following article for the text of his comment.
     With the NLS budget hearing before the Legislative
Appropriations Subcommittee, the 1994 Washington Seminar ended. A
few Federationists went on to keep late-afternoon appointments
with Members of Congress, but most people set out for home and
the follow-up work that is so important in the ongoing education
of our legislators. As always the entire experience was
intellectually stimulating, informative, and simultaneously
energizing and exhausting. It is deeply satisfying to know that
the organized blind have found a voice and that it is
increasingly heard and heeded in matters concerning blind people
among the nation's legislators.


                             ■  ■  ■
[PHOTO: Mr. Maurer standing at head table podium microphone. CAPTION:
President Maurer addresses Federationists at this year's Washington Seminar.]

           NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND TESTIMONY
      BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS
                   COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
             UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
                         by Marc Maurer

     Mr. Chairman, my name is Marc Maurer. I am the President of
the National Federation of the Blind. My address is 1800 Johnson
Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. I am appearing today on behalf
of the National Federation of the Blind to support the
appropriations request of the Library of Congress for the
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
(NLS). As you know, the Library has requested approximately
$50,000,000 for the NLS program for fiscal year 1995. This is up
from $42,713,000 appropriated for fiscal year 1994. The increase,
which is certainly not a program expansion, is necessary to
maintain this program at its current level and to ensure future
viability of this service.
     The experience of the members of the National Federation of
the Blind (numbering now more than 50,000 people throughout the
United States, most of whom are blind) is that the Books for the
Blind Program of the Library of Congress is perhaps the most
significant and crucial service for the blind that exists. It
touches the lives of virtually all blind people. The blind
student hunting course material, the blind mechanic seeking
background documentation on the modern mechanisms in automobiles,
the blind physicist trying to learn of the most recent scientific
developments, the blind homemaker searching for recipes and hints
for performing household tasks--all of these and thousands more
need the services of the Library.
      The Books for the Blind Program provides not only
entertainment but much more. Intellectual stimulation, access to
current events, necessary information to hold a job, plans and
suggestions for hobbies, the classics of literature, the
histories of nations and civilizations, foreign language
materials, music, maps, the latest best sellers--they all come
from the Library. The Books for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped Program of the Library of Congress might very well be
regarded as exemplary, but it cannot continue to provide even
acceptable service unless it receives necessary funding.
     Braille books, tape-recorded books and magazines, and books
and magazines on record are all part of the program. The tape
materials and those provided on record are produced at half
normal speed to ensure the protection of copyright. Therefore,
the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped provides small record players known as
talking book machines and cassette players to library borrowers
so that readers of these books can hear them. The tapes and
records will not play on an ordinary stereo or cassette machine.
     If a person becomes blind (and it is estimated that there
are between six and eight hundred thousand blind people in the
United States), access to the printed word is no longer easy to
get. The readership of the Library of Congress National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped program is
currently estimated at 769,000. Readership is increasing. Most
blind people in the United States use the Library of Congress
program. For the sighted there are newspapers, bookstores, and
the mail. Airports have bookstores; shopping malls often have
more than one. There are book clubs and public libraries. There
are magazine distributors with their million-dollar sweepstakes
and door-to-door sellers offering to provide magazines. The racks
at supermarket counters are filled with newspapers, magazines,
and books. The paper boxes on the street corners offer them to
the pedestrian or the driver passing by. The American Booksellers
Association estimates that there are 15,000 bookstores in the
nation. The printed word is universal--but not for the blind. For
us the program to provide books and magazines is the Library.
There is no other good source of reading matter. If a blind
person wants the written word, the place to get it is the
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped.
     This past fall my nine-year-old son told me that he wanted
to join the Cub Scouts--a new scout pack was forming at his
school. The cub master asked me if I could help; the pack needed
an assistant scout leader. Although I had never been a scout, I
agreed to serve. However, to be an assistant scout leader I
needed information. Where was I to get it? The obvious answer was
the Library. I borrowed two books to read about Cub Scouting from
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped.
     As President of the National Federation of the Blind I am
the administrator for the largest organization of blind people in
the United States. Although I have been blind all of my life, I
received an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre
Dame and a law degree from Indiana University. I have been
practicing law for over fifteen years. During all of my adult
life and almost all of my childhood, I have looked to the Library
of Congress for the books I needed. This program for the blind is
not merely a convenience; it is a necessity for the blind.
     I urge you to fund this program at no less than the
$50,000,000 level requested. Although the Library of Congress
Books for the Blind Program is vital to the lives of the blind,
it cannot offer the service that ought to be provided unless it
receives adequate funding. Upwards of a hundred blind people from
throughout the United States appeared at a hearing of this
committee on February second to listen to the testimony of the
director of the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped, Mr. Frank Kurt Cylke. These people were
sent by the thousands of members of the National Federation of
the Blind to be the representatives of those in the chapters back
home who could not come to Washington. More than forty states
were represented.
      During recent years the funding requests for the Books for
the Blind Program have not been met. This has meant that the
number of titles that can be produced by the Library has
diminished. The small record players and tape recorders used in
the program must be maintained, and replacements must be built.
The number of these machines which are breaking down is
increasing, and the stock of replacements is dwindling.
Furthermore, research into the best techniques for providing
books and materials in the twenty-first century cannot be pursued
without the funding to do it. The $50,000,000 being requested
will maintain the program and prevent further shrinkage. With the
Library of Congress Books for the Blind Program in place, the
prospects for blind people's being able to contribute to our
society increase. Providing blind people with the means to get
information is not only good for the blind but good for our
country as a whole.
     Mr. Chairman, we of the National Federation of the Blind
appreciate very much this opportunity to come before the
Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations. Attached to our
written statement is a fact sheet including background material
about the urgent need for appropriations to the Library of
Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped program. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

                             ■  ■  ■


[PHOTO/CAPTION: James Gashel (left) stands with Melissa Williamson from
Alabama; Congressman Peter Visclosky of Indiana; and Paul Howard (right),
President of the National Federation of the Blind of Indiana; in front of the
U.S. Capitol.]

           1994 LEGISLATIVE MEMORANDUM AND FACT SHEETS

     From the Editor: When Federationists gather each year for
the NFB Washington Seminar in early February, we can depend upon
having copies of our legislative memorandum and detailed fact
sheets about each issue we will be discussing with members of
Congress. At the 1994 seminar we had four matters of particular
concern: sufficient funding for the National Library Service for
the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the introduction of
language into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
that would provide blind children across the country with the
right to Braille literacy, inclusion of severely disabled people
on the list of minorities covered by Sections 7(J) and 8(A) of
the Small Business Act, and minimum wage protection for blind
workers in sheltered shops. Here are the texts of the memorandum
and the four fact sheets for 1994:

For more information contact:
James Gashel
Director of Governmental Affairs
National Federation of the Blind
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
[phone]

                    LEGISLATIVE AGENDA, 1994

From: Members of the National Federation of the Blind

To: Members of the 103rd Congress

Re: Legislative Priorities of Blind Americans

     Public policies and laws affecting blind people have a
profound impact on our entire society. Most people know someone
who is blind. It may be a friend, a family member, or a co-worker
on the job. The blind population in the U. S. is estimated to
exceed 700,000. Fifty thousand Americans become blind each year.
By themselves these numbers may not seem large, but the social
and economic consequences of blindness directly touch the lives
of millions. In the form of its social consequences, and to some
extent its economic consequences, blindness affects virtually
everyone.
     Blind people as a group are engaged in a common struggle for
understanding of what blindness means and public acceptance of
our ability to compete on terms of equality if given the chance.
More than a matter of physical disability, the real problems of
blindness are lack of good training, lack of opportunity, and
lack of correct information about blindness among employers and
members of the public at large. If a blind person has proper
training and opportunity, the physical loss of eyesight itself
can be reduced to the level of a mere nuisance.
     Public policies and laws that result from misconceptions
about blindness or lack of information are often more limiting
than loss of eyesight itself. This is why we have formed the
National Federation of the Blind. The Federation is a
private-sector resource of knowledge, encouragement, and support
for blind people in the United States and increasingly throughout
the world. The Federation's leaders and the vast majority of the
members are blind, but membership is open to anyone who wants to
join in the effort we are making to win understanding and
equality in society. Blind people are well organized at the
community, grassroots level throughout the United States. Our
policy positions are developed and determined by vote of the
blind themselves. This is why the Federation is known by
lawmakers and the public as the "voice of the nation's blind."
Our priorities for the second session of the 103rd Congress
express our assessment of issues requiring particular action by
Congress on behalf of the blind this year.
     (1) Congress should restore funding for the "Books for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped" program of the Library of
Congress to meet critical service needs. Access to information is
crucial in today's society. Without access to books, magazines,
and other materials, blind people will not be able to acquire the
knowledge and information necessary to compete on equal terms.
For sixty-three years the National Library Service for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped (NLS) of the Library of Congress has
been producing books for the blind and for others with physical
disabilities which prevent them from reading standard print.
Currently 769,000 individuals depend upon the NLS services.
     There are approximately 40,000 new books published in ink
print in the United States each year. Only a fraction of these
ever find their way into Braille or sound-recorded forms designed
for use by the blind. Apart from volunteer groups and some other
specialty producers, NLS is the only book and magazine
reproduction source at work for blind people. Because
appropriations for the program have not kept pace with inflation
in recent years, the number of books being transcribed into
Braille or recorded form is declining as a percentage of the
total number of books published in the U. S. In a society whose
members increasingly depend upon access to information for
successful living, blind people cannot afford to endure this
growing gap in access to knowledge. Therefore, appropriations for
FY 1995 should be approved at a level which is at least
consistent with the amount expected to be in the President's
budget request. The Books for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped Program of the Library of Congress might very well be
regarded as an exemplary program, but it cannot continue to
provide even acceptable service unless it receives necessary
funding. For more details and an explanation of the need for
appropriations, see the fact sheet entitled "Funding Needed for
Books for the Blind."
     (2) Congress should amend the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) to include provisions for strengthening
programs of Braille literacy instruction and the cost-effective
transcription of instructional materials into Braille. This can
be done by enacting the "Blind Persons' Literacy Rights and
Education Act." Goal five of the National Education Goals
declares that by the year 2,000 "Every adult American will be
literate...." For blind people this means having the ability to
read and write in Braille at a level of proficiency which makes
performance on equal terms possible. Without legislative change
today's blind children will not be able to meet this national
goal.
     As many as thirty-one percent of the blind students enrolled
in elementary and secondary schools in the U. S. during the last
school year were classified as "non-readers." Fewer than nine
percent read Braille. Current federal and state laws require that
an appropriate educational opportunity must be provided to
children with disabilities. Each such child is to have an
individually planned program of instruction to meet identified
needs, but growing illiteracy for blind children has been the
result. Remedial federal legislation, similar to laws now enacted
in twenty-one states, can help to reverse this trend. For more
details and an explanation of the need for this legislation, see
the fact sheet entitled "Blind Persons' Literacy Rights and
Education Act."
     (3) Congress should enact the Americans With Disabilities
Business Development Act. This proposal seeks amendments to the
Small Business Act so that programs authorized to assist
minority-owned small businesses, conducted under section 8(a) of
the Act, will be open to persons with disabilities. The Section
8(a) program is designed to foster business ownership by
individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged
and to promote the competitive viability of businesses owned and
operated by them. To achieve these goals, Section 8(a) authorizes
the Small Business Administration (SBA) to enter into all types
of contracts with government departments and agencies for supply,
service, construction, and research and development. Small
business concerns owned and controlled by socially and
economically disadvantaged persons can be eligible to receive
subcontracts to fulfill SBA's procurement obligations. Technical
assistance is also made available to minority small business
concerns.
     This proposal is simply the recognition of disability as a
condition of minority status for participation in SBA's targeted
efforts to provide economic and technical assistance to members
of minority groups. The social and economic disadvantages which
accompany disabilities are well known and beyond dispute. The
problem for SBA has been to define disability and the extent of
the class of individuals included. To resolve that issue, the
Americans with Disabilities Business Development Act excludes
minor or perceived disabilities from the term "disability," as it
is defined in the bill. Another problem has been SBA's lack of
legal authority to presume that people with disabilities are
socially disadvantaged in the absence of a clear legislative
mandate. The Americans with Disabilities Business Development Act
will provide that mandate. For more details and an explanation of
the need for this legislation, see the fact sheet entitled
"Americans with Disabilities Business Development Act."
     (4) Congress should enact amendments to the Fair Labor
Standards Act to prohibit paying workers who are blind less than
the statutory minimum wage. This proposal is designed to achieve
wage equity for blind employees. The proposal would amend section
14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act to clarify that impaired
vision or blindness could not be used by an employer as the basis
for obtaining an exemption from paying the minimum wage.
Subminimum wage certificates, now permitted by law, could be
issued to employers for hiring people with "impairments" that
actually affect productivity. However, it has never been
demonstrated that, in the types of work settings in which
subminimum wages are ordinarily paid, blindness has any negative
impact on worker capacity to produce.
     The passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) has
granted equal protection under the law to individuals with
disabilities. Under the ADA denying disabled employees
opportunities based on disability is now prohibited in most
places of employment. However, the Fair Labor Standards Act still
contains exemption provisions under which approximately 2,000
blind people are paid less than the minimum wage. This occurs in
special work settings with employers known as sheltered
workshops. These employers pay as low as half the minimum wage or
even less for jobs in which sighted people are paid $4.25 an hour
or even more. Shockingly, the federal government is behind the
discriminatory wage practices through purchasing products made by
the workshops and determining the price to be paid. With changes
in the minimum wage expected to be considered by Congress this
year, these practices must cease. For more details and an
explanation of the need for this legislation, see the fact sheet
entitled "Wage Equity For Blind Employees."
     People who are blind are asking for your help in securing
positive action by Congress in the areas outlined here.
Legislative proposals will be offered to achieve each of our
specific objectives. Many priorities confront this session of
Congress, but the needs of the nation's blind must not be
overlooked. We of the National Federation of the Blind stand
ready to assist our Representatives and Senators to understand
our needs and to take meaningful action to address them. In
partnership with the National Federation of the Blind, each
member of Congress can help build better lives for the blind both
today and in the years ahead.

                           FACT SHEET
             FUNDING NEEDED FOR BOOKS FOR THE BLIND

BACKGROUND: Due to the inability to read standard printed matter,
blind persons of all ages must have access to books and materials
especially prepared in formats for their use. The Federal
government has recognized this fact by establishing a program
through which books and general circulation magazines are
reproduced for national distribution in Braille and sound-
recorded editions. The program is known as the National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and is
operated as part of the Library of Congress.
     The NLS program is the centerpiece of library services
available to individuals who qualify in all parts of the United
States. The service is provided to those who need it without
regard to geographic location. All materials are distributed by
mail free of charge to the reader. Those who qualify to receive
reading matter through the NLS program are persons who cannot
read standard ink print information because of blindness or
another physical disability which prevents them from using
ordinary print. There are an estimated 769,000 individuals who
will use the service during fiscal year 1994. The readership is
composed of ninety-two percent who are blind and eight percent
who have other disabilities which prevent reading print for
education or enjoyment.

SCOPE AND FUNDING OF EXISTING SERVICES: The primary mission of
NLS is to select, produce, and distribute books and magazines in
Braille and sound-recorded formats. The recorded formats include
audio discs and tape cassettes. Disc and cassette players which
are especially designed for use with the NLS reading matter are
provided to readers without charge. Virtually all readers,
including those who borrow some material in Braille, use the
recorded media and must have the machines to use the service. To
the extent necessary NLS supplies repair parts and replacement
machines to minimize service interruptions. Actual distribution
of both the reading matter and the machines (including repair and
replacement) occurs through a network of cooperating libraries
which function at the state and local levels.
     Actual appropriations for this program for FY 1994 are
$42,713,000. At this funding level 348 books and twenty-seven
popular magazines will be reproduced in Braille with sufficient
copies made for distribution to the network libraries. Several
copies of most books are supplied to meet expected circulation
demands. A similar plan is followed for the recorded media.
During FY 1994, 1,681 books and forty-four magazines will be
reproduced in disc or cassette tape formats. Machines needed for
the recorded media will also be purchased and distributed,
including 12,000 disc players and 57,711 cassette players. Books
and Braille musical scores will also be added to the NLS national
collection, which circulates to borrowers anywhere in the
country.

REQUESTED APPROPRIATIONS: Congress should restore funding for the
"Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped" program of the
Library of Congress to meet critical service needs. The current
funding level of $42,713,000 is $3,900,000 below the President's
FY 1994 budget request and $431,000 below the actual amount
appropriated for FY 1993. The current level is only $529,000
above the actual funding level approved for FY 1992 and
$1,500,000 above 1991. The 1994 amount appropriated is four
percent above the 1991 amount.
     Appropriations for books for the blind are included in title
II of the bill making appropriations for the Legislative Branch.
This title also includes sums for overall salaries and expenses
of the Library of Congress, the Copyright Office, and other
items, excluding the Congressional Research Service. During the
period beginning with FY 1991 through FY 1994, salaries and
expenses for the Library of Congress have grown by ten percent.
Funding for the Copyright Office has grown by thirteen percent.
The Congressional Research Service, funded under another section
of the same bill, has grown by eight percent. At the same time
the books for the blind program has declined in funding
considering inflation.

CRITICAL SERVICE NEEDS: The recent shortfall in appropriations
has resulted in a need to repair or replace much of the now
outdated equipment used for the recorded disc and cassette
materials. Broken machines are the crumbling infrastructure of
the NLS program. When these machines do not work, the patron's
use of the service stops altogether. Without adequate
appropriations for FY 1995, lack of service due to equipment
failures will threaten the future viability of this service. As
the appropriations numbers show, funding for the books for the
blind program has not kept pace with the rate of increases
granted to other activities of the Library of Congress in recent
years. However, requests for service are increasing steadily from
a growing readership. In light of these needs Congress must
approve funding for FY 1995 at a level which will help to get
this program back on track.
     There are approximately 40,000 new books published in ink
print in the United States each year. Only a fraction of these
ever find their way into Braille or sound-recorded forms designed
for use by the blind. Apart from volunteer groups and some other
specialty producers, NLS is the only book and magazine
reproduction source at work for blind people. Because
appropriations for the program have not increased in recent
years, the number of books being transcribed into Braille or
recorded form is declining as a percentage of the total number of
books published in the U. S. In a society whose members
increasingly depend upon access to information for successful
living, blind people cannot afford to endure this growing gap in
access to knowledge. Therefore, appropriations for FY 1995 should
be approved at a level which is at least consistent with the
President's budget request.

                           FACT SHEET
        BLIND PERSONS' LITERACY RIGHTS AND EDUCATION ACT

BACKGROUND: The National Literacy Act of 1991 defines "literacy"
as "An individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English
and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary
to function on the job and in society; to achieve one's goals;
and to develop one's knowledge and potential." This definition
points up the critical importance of emphasizing high-quality
literacy training programs for all Americans. For blind
Americans, especially school-age youth, the need is no less
critical. Yet surprisingly few students who are blind or visually
impaired receive instruction in Braille as a part of their
elementary and secondary education programs.
     Blind students are generally defined as those who see less
than ten percent of what is seen by someone with normal eyesight.
During the present school year there are approximately 50,204
such children enrolled at the elementary and secondary levels in
the U. S. Only 4,385 of these students read Braille. The vast
majority use print materials even in situations in which reading
with sight is an unrewarding, never-ending daily struggle.
Educators often resist teaching Braille until students are unable
to make any progress at all in school by using print. As a
result, Braille has become not the method of choice but the
method of last resort.

EXISTING LAW: The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) contains federal standards for special education and
related services to be provided to children with disabilities
throughout the U.S. The most important standard is that each such
child is entitled to a "free appropriate public education."
Education agencies, both state and local, receive Federal funding
to assist in meeting this mandate. When special education
services are provided to a child, there must be an Individualized
Education Program (IEP) to describe the needs of the child for
special instruction, the services to be provided, and the goals
to be achieved. The law also requires the use of qualified
personnel to deliver services. Federal funds are available to
support personnel training programs.
     The components of an "appropriate education" are not
strictly defined in IDEA. As a result it is easy and tempting for
school personnel to determine a child's needs largely on the
basis of the school's capacity (or lack of capacity) to provide
special instruction or services. This being the case, blind
students who may have even a limited ability to read print are
guided toward receiving instruction in that form instead of using
Braille. Procedural safeguards, including the right to challenge
decisions through administrative and court appeals, exist under
IDEA, but such proceedings are time-consuming and costly in
financial and educational resources.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: Congress should amend the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act to include provisions for
strengthening programs of Braille literacy instruction and the
cost-effective transcription of instructional materials into
Braille. This proposal, entitled the "Blind Persons' Literacy
Rights and Education Act," is patterned after laws with a similar
purpose which twenty-one states have now enacted. The following
provisions are included: (1) definitions of the terms "blind or
visually impaired children" and "Braille Literacy Plan,"
including a presumption in favor of teaching Braille for such
children; (2) specification of requirements for a Braille
Literacy Plan to be included in the IEP of each child whose
vision restriction meets the definition of "blind or visually
impaired"; (3) specification of standards and procedures to
insure that qualified personnel are provided for Braille
instruction; and (4) specification of purchasing conditions to
insure that each edition of a text or other material obtained is
also supplied in an electronically stored digital text format.
     The Braille Literacy Plan required for each blind student
will assure an individualized literacy skills assessment. Braille
for many may not be the exclusive literacy tool, but its
potential usefulness even to those who can also read some printed
matter must not be overlooked. To the extent necessary as
determined and stated in the IEP, Braille instruction would be
provided so that the literacy skills of blind and visually
impaired students are generally on a par with literacy skills
achieved by sighted students of comparable ability and grade
level. Wider availability of Braille materials and competent
instruction in their use will be essential in achieving this
goal. Therefore, provisions for teacher training and cost-
effective provision of texts on standard computer diskettes have
been included.

NEED FOR LEGISLATION: It is the policy of our nation as stated in
the National Education Goals that by the year 2000 "Every adult
American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and
skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the
rights and responsibilities of citizenship." In order for blind
adults to achieve this goal, literacy instruction must be
strengthened for children. The direction of current trends and
educational programming shows that this goal will not be achieved
without deliberate corrective action. According to official child
count figures supplied annually by state and local education
agencies, thirty-one percent of the blind students at the
elementary and secondary levels are "nonreaders," and that
percentage increases every year. The number who read Braille is
correspondingly declining.
     The experience gathered in many states over several years
shows that a legislative response is needed to reverse this trend
of growing illiteracy among blind school-age youth. Amendments to
IDEA, expected to be considered by Congress during 1994, would
provide the most appropriate vehicle for this urgently needed
remedial legislation. By passing the "Blind Persons' Literacy
Rights and Education Act," Congress can provide the leadership to
ensure that blind students graduate from our nation's schools
literate and armed with the necessary skills to be first-class
citizens of our society.

                           FACT SHEET
      AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ACT:
                            H. R. 794

BACKGROUND: Persons who are blind and persons with disabilities
in general have traditionally had few opportunities to become
employed and even fewer opportunities to establish and maintain
their own businesses. This does not reflect a general lack of
ability among this population. It does reflect a lack of
opportunity and financial support necessary to achieve success in
the competitive business world. Prejudices and fears of employers
have left nearly eighty percent of employable people who are
blind either unemployed or substantially underemployed.
     Congress has recently sought to address this situation by
enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the
ADA, most employers are prohibited from discrimination on the
basis of disability. Regardless of enforcement activities, the
ADA is expected to improve work force opportunities for persons
with disabilities. But complete equality will require more than
employment rights. This fact has been recognized in our
government's efforts to underwrite and support economic
development programs among members of other traditionally
disadvantaged minorities.

EXISTING LAW: Sections 8(a) and 7(j) of the Small Business Act
establish a Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership
Development Program to be conducted by the Small Business
Administration (SBA). This program is intended in part to foster
business ownership by individuals who are both socially and
economically disadvantaged and to promote the competitive
viability of businesses owned and operated by them. To achieve
these goals, Section 8(a) authorizes SBA to enter into all types
of contracts with government departments and agencies for supply,
service, construction, and research and development. Small
business concerns owned and controlled by socially and
economically disadvantaged persons can be eligible to receive
subcontracts to fulfill SBA's procurement obligations. Section
7(j) of the Small Business Act authorizes SBA to provide
technical or management assistance to individuals or minority
small business concerns.
     Participation in the Minority Small Business and Capital
Ownership Development Program is open to anyone who can qualify
as both socially and economically disadvantaged. Participants
eligible by definition include members of racial and ethnic
minorities. Other individuals not included by definition may be
found eligible upon application to SBA. Criteria for determining
social and economic disadvantage are not clearly specified in law
or regulations. As a result, program participants are almost
exclusively members of the defined minority groups.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: Congress should enact the Americans With
Disabilities Business Development Act. This bill has been
introduced by Congressman Jim Ramstad as H. R. 794 during the
first session of the 103rd Congress for the purpose of amending
the Small Business Act "to authorize small business concerns
owned and controlled by individuals with disabilities to
participate in business development programs established by that
Act." Mr. Ramstad's bill amends several sections of the Small
Business Act to include individuals with severe disabilities as a
defined minority group for purposes of eligibility in the
Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development
Program.
     This proposal is simply the recognition of disability as a
condition of minority status for participation in SBA's targeted
efforts to provide economic and technical assistance to members
of minority groups. The social and economic disadvantages which
accompany disabilities are well known and beyond dispute. The
problem for SBA has been to define disability and the extent of
the class of individuals included. To resolve that issue, Mr.
Ramstad's bill excludes minor or perceived disabilities from the
term "disability" as it is defined in the bill. Another problem
has been SBA's lack of legal authority to presume that people
with disabilities are socially disadvantaged in the absence of a
clear legislative mandate. Mr. Ramstad's bill, backed by the
impetus provided by the ADA, will provide that mandate.

NEED FOR LEGISLATION: Defined minority status is a distinct
advantage in obtaining section 8(a) eligibility. Proof of both
social and economic disadvantage can be both time-consuming and
expensive. SBA appears to have great discretion in determining
eligibility based on social and economic disadvantage, especially
for applicants who are members of non-defined minority groups. It
is difficult to challenge the decisions made by SBA in this area
because the eligibility criteria are so vague.
     Firms needing SBA's assistance cannot afford the time and
expense of application delays and appeals. In the absence of
defined minority status, business failures and bankruptcies can
result. This has been the experience of an owner of a Tennessee
sand and gravel business who is blind and is still waiting after
many years for approval of his minority business enterprise
application. After finally agreeing that he was both socially and
economically disadvantaged, SBA then disapproved his application
on the grounds that the business had not been in operation for
the past two years. This is only one example of what happens to
applicants who are truly disadvantaged but must first prove their
minority status before they can even be considered. Congress
should resolve this injustice by amending the Small Business Act
to include individuals with severe disabilities as a defined
minority group.

                           FACT SHEET
                WAGE EQUITY FOR BLIND EMPLOYEES

BACKGROUND: The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) enacted
into law the principle that individuals with disabilities are
entitled to equal treatment in all areas of life. Title I of the
ADA mandates that individuals with disabilities must be given
equal employment opportunity. But for blind people who work in
special work settings, known as "sheltered workshops," the ADA
mandate for equality has made little difference in the pay
received. This is so because agencies which operate the shops can
be exempt from certain provisions of another federal law (the
Fair Labor Standards Act) in order to pay employees less than the
otherwise applicable statutory minimum wage. An estimated 2,000
blind employees are paid less than the federal minimum wage of
$4.25 an hour. Although in theory any employer can qualify for
exempting certain individuals from the minimum wage, the practice
of seeking exemptions is most commonly found in the seventy-seven
workshops which hire blind people to make products bought by the
federal government under special procurement arrangements. In
spite of some advancements made toward integrated employment
opportunities for blind people, these workshops are still the
largest single employer of the blind in the U. S. Filling federal
orders is a principal activity. For example the workshops are a
major supplier of paper pads and ball-point pens used by
virtually all government agencies. Few people realize that the
workers who make these products are often paid less than the
minimum wage.

EXISTING LAW: Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act
requires the Secretary of Labor to grant exemptions from the
minimum wage to employers who hire workers whose "earning or
productive capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental
deficiency, or injury." The principle stated in the law is that
subminimum wages are permitted "to the extent necessary to
prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment." This
principle is largely rhetorical since there has never been a
finding that employment opportunities would decline if subminimum
wage permission were to be withdrawn.
     There is no legal lower limit on wages below the statutory
minimum. Employers, not the Department of Labor, determine the
pay rates. Affected employees may complain and seek redress of
grievances in individual wage disputes after the fact, but
recovery of back wages is limited to actual compensation due for
no more than two years in most cases. Legal pay rates below the
minimum wage are supposed to be based on individual productivity
as compared to standard productivity achieved by unimpaired
people for essentially the same type, quality, and quantity of
work performed.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: Congress should enact amendments to the
Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit paying workers who are blind
less than the statutory minimum wage. This proposal is designed
to achieve wage equity for blind employees. Without the exemption
all employers, including the sheltered workshops, would be
required to apply the same pay standards to everyone, regardless
of sight or the lack thereof. The minimum wage exemption in
largely its current form was originally granted in 1938 along
with enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Philosophically,
if not legally, it is now inconsistent with more enlightened
employment policies affecting blind people.
     The proposal would amend section 14(c) of the Fair Labor
Standards Act to clarify that impaired vision or blindness could
not be used by an employer as the basis for obtaining an
exemption from paying the minimum wage. Subminimum wage
certificates could be issued to employers for hiring people with
impairments that actually affect productivity. However, it has
never been demonstrated that, in the types of work settings in
which subminimum wages are ordinarily paid, blindness has any
negative impact on worker capacity to produce.

NEED FOR LEGISLATION: The 1986 amendments to the Fair Labor
Standards Act extended important new appeal rights to persons
employed under subminimum wages. In the few hearings that have
been held so far blind workers have recovered significant amounts
of back pay in some instances. They have done so, however, at
great expense. Through the efforts made in these hearings it has
been demonstrated that employers control virtually all of the
factors which affect worker productivity. Yet the employees who
are blind, not their employers, bear all of the responsibility
for low productivity and suffer the consequences economically in
their pay envelopes. No worker or class of workers in American
industry is subjected to such a rigid and unfair work-place
standard. It is not uncommon to find that blind workers in
sheltered workshops are being paid as low as half the minimum
wage or even less.
     The pay inequities resulting from the minimum wage exemption
policy are particularly odious in view of the federal
government's significant purchasing role, including price
determinations, which ultimately affect wage payments. In all too
many instances productivity records are not maintained to justify
wages below $4.25 an hour. Officials of the Department of Labor
have acknowledged that violations of the current law are found in
over fifty percent of the wage and hour investigations which they
conduct. Fewer than six and a half percent of the sheltered
workshops exempt from paying the minimum wage are reviewed each
year. This leaves ninety-three and a half percent free to pay
less than the minimum wage at virtually any level without fear of
scrutiny. When employers are caught illegally paying below the
minimum, the penalty is only to pay the affected workers the
amount due them in the first place. Under these circumstances the
present law is unenforceable and must be changed.


                             ■  ■  ■



[PHOTO: Portrait. CAPTION: Doug Lee.]

                    WHY I INTERRUPTED COLLEGE
                 FOR LEARNING IN A NEW DIMENSION
                           by Doug Lee

     From the Editor: One of the speakers at the Job
Opportunities for the Blind (JOB) Seminar at the 1993 Convention
of the National Federation of the Blind in Dallas was Doug Lee.
Mr. Lee is now a computer programmer for Metro Vision, Inc., in
Illinois. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, but he
took time out during his undergraduate career for intensive
training at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND, Inc.),
the adult rehabilitation center conducted by the National
Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Here is his
story as he told it to those attending the JOB Seminar:

     I suppose technically I could answer the question of why I
interrupted college in six words, but every time someone asks me,
I miss the mark by several hundred. I'll explain some things that
happened before I went to BLIND, Inc., and some that happened
afterward, then I'll talk a little bit about what I do now as a
computer programmer at Metro Vision. I think you'll see a pattern
in what has happened to me.
     When I went to college, I assumed a number of things. First
of all, during the first semester I assumed it was going to be a
little easier than high school because there weren't as many
hours of classes. There were, however, a few more hours of
homework that I hadn't bargained for, but in the first semester I
understood a lot of the material. When finals time came, I
thought, "So what's the big deal about finals? You go in and
answer a few questions that you know the answers to (at least I
thought I did during the first semester)."
     Second semester it wasn't quite the same story. I ran into
some new material, and I didn't really know what to do with it. I
didn't have any readers lined up, for example.
     The third semester went about the same way. But in addition
I had a few other problems. I ended up going into the hospital
for four days for an allergy-related problem, and I came out and
thought that I could get by, doing my homework and not going to
class. I told myself that I would use the class time to do my
homework instead. Between the spring break and summer I think I
made about three classes. Little things started to happen that
were not part of my plan. For example, I went to my professor and
asked, "How come we're not going to cover chapter four?"
     He said, "We did cover chapter four."
     I said, "How come it's not on the exam?"
     He said, "Oh that's right, you weren't here for the third
exam."
     "This isn't the third exam?"
     "No, this is the fourth exam." It seems that I was in the
hospital before the third exam, but since I wasn't going to
class, I didn't know that the third exam was given during the
time that I was trying to catch up in that one class.
     Things like this began to make me worry about my ability to
do the work and whether I was actually going to graduate with any
standing. The other worry I had was that I was going to graduate
with an apparent standing but without the knowledge that my
grades indicated I should have. I've told a lot of people about
the exam I took that was supposed to be a three-hour written
probability and statistics exam in mathematics. Probably due in
part to my absence and my having missed another exam and all the
problems that I seemed to be having, my professor gave me a
thirty-minute oral, non-numeric exam for which he gave me an A.
That felt wrong, though I did not have the courage to say so at
the time. But it stayed with me, and it worried me. It made me
think: I'm going to graduate, and maybe no one is going to expect
me to know probability and statistics. Besides, I was pretty sure
that I didn't know it as well as those other people who got A's
and did the numbers because I never did the numbers on that
final. As a result I started looking for a measuring stick that I
could believe in.
     One other important thing happened before I got to BLIND,
Inc. I was invited to go to an interview in Maryland for a
potential job, and I actually pleaded a little with the people to
let me do it after I went to BLIND, Inc., because I was really
worried about my performance. Consequently I certainly didn't
conduct myself with much confidence. That also scared me.
     When I got to BLIND, Inc., I had some expectation that it
was going to solve all my problems, and it did help me solve a
lot of problems, but it didn't do the work for me. Centers like
BLIND, Inc., will teach you the skills you need to know, but they
alone cannot teach you to believe in yourself. You have to learn
to do that for yourself. But believe me, because the environment
is full of positive philosophy, it makes the job a lot easier.
Most people assume blind people can't do a lot of things; you
know that as well as I do. So, as I say, I had some experiences
there that I had never had before. One of them was that the staff
assumed I could deal with a lot of things I had never done
before.
     Just to pull one story out of the air, I remember very well
an attempt to canoe down a river. I had been in a canoe before,
but I had never tried to be in the back. I had always been in
canoes with somebody who knew a heck of a lot more about them and
about what they do and don't do and about how to get them to go
from point A to point B. I hadn't done this. On this trip I
figured out a few things from what people were telling me and by
some information passed along most bluntly by some fast-passing
tree trunks. But it all happened in an environment in which it
was okay to make a few mistakes and to learn from the
consequences of those mistakes.
     In addition to the special experiences at BLIND, there was
also a lot of solid information--Braille, travel, and seminars in
which students talk about anything you can imagine from ways to
sort things in the kitchen to ways to find a job. The whole
experience taught me a lot I needed to know, and it was helpful
in building belief in myself and in my way of doing things as a
blind person.
     I graduated from BLIND, Inc., in 1991. I went back to
college and began to apply some of the things I had learned at
BLIND in college--getting readers, and using Braille to take
notes, for example. I had always used a tape recorder, but I
started using shorthand, which saved a lot of time. It also
raised a few questions from my classmates, which was fine with
me.
     I found that I was dealing with things in a different way.
Before I went to BLIND, when things happened like being asked to
go to Maryland, I tried to duck. But now, when somebody throws me
a fast ball, I don't always duck. For example, take my job, which
I got because I had contacts. I have a friend whom I've known for
about eight years. He was one of the many people I told that I
was graduating and was looking for a job. His boss invited me to
come out and interview. When I did (it was a very small company),
we talked about the things I would be doing if I started working
there right away. I did take the job, but let me tell you, if I
had not gone to BLIND, Inc., I would not have had the confidence
to take it. They were going to have me program in Clipper, a
program language I had heard of but had never seen a line of code
in. They were going to have me using an application system I had
never heard of before and work on a network I had never used
before. In short, there was very little about that job I really
understood, except that it was a programming job. But that fact
meant it was okay. In a previous job I had learned a programming
language fast, so I assumed I could learn this one too. With that
assumption I went in and did it. But you need that assumption
first, or you will never bother to try.
     It took me a little while to learn the language, but a lot
of that was evening time, because I didn't want to take much work
time. Actually, I learned a lot on the job too, and I think my
boss was very understanding. I did learn the language. I learned
the programming environment. I learned the network. Now sometimes
I answer their questions just like they still answer some of
mine.
     I'd been working there for about three months, and I knew
that my boss was going to have to go to Chicago for a
demonstration and that my co-worker and I were going to stay
behind and keep up with the work and deal with our customers'
problems. Part of our business is service contracts. I wasn't
really thinking much about the trip until Thursday night, when my
boss gave me a call at home about 10:15 in the evening and said,
"How would you like to be on a train to Chicago tomorrow
morning?" I jumped and tried to think what to say.
     In my mind I was saying, "You've been learning. You can try.
Don't say `no' immediately. Ask a few questions; don't give up
now."[applause]
     I was on a 6:30 train to Chicago the next morning. I got
there two hours before they expected me. They wanted me to help
demonstrate one of the programs. This was a show for educators,
and one of the programs we had written maintained the school
lunch information for students. We thought that would be a useful
program to bring to this demonstration. I had explained to my
boss a lot of the things that I had put into it, but he didn't
have much time to become familiar with it. Since I had been the
one writing the program, I knew more about it than anybody else.
That's probably one of the reasons they asked me to go to
Chicago. I did demonstrate it, and it went fine. When I got
finished, I thought about what had just happened. If I had not
gone to Chicago and learned that I could do this kind of
assignment, I would probably have stayed in Springfield and
wondered whether I could have done it. I had done that many times
before.
     I have had lots of experiences like this one since I
returned from BLIND, Inc.--times when I had to decide something
so fast that I didn't have time to plan. Now I have the
confidence to try new things.
     Obviously my job is programming. I write programs for school
districts and various groups and individuals--very specialized
programs, mostly database management and other information
management. We also do a fair number of service contracts. It's a
small business. There are about three of us working in my
section, and we overlap. At one point I referred to myself as a
programmer/receptionist because I was usually the only one there,
so I got to answer the phone. It wasn't in my job description,
but it had to be done, and I was the one who was available to do
it.
     In closing I will say in six words that I left college early
to attend BLIND, INC.: to learn to believe I can. [applause]

                             ■  ■  ■


[PHOTO: Sharon Maneki stands at microphone. CAPTION: Sharon Maneki.]

                     DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR
                OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD FOR 1994
                        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 1994.

     The National Federation of the Blind will recognize an
outstanding teacher of blind children at our 1994 convention July
1 to July 7, in Detroit, Michigan. 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 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
                        1994 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, and 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, 1994, to Sharon Maneki,
Chairman, Teacher Award Committee, 9736 Basket Ring Road,
Columbia, Maryland 21045; telephone: [phone].


                             ■  ■  ■


[PHOTO: Steve Benson stands at microphone. CAPTION: Steve Benson.]

           THE 1994 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 banquet of the National Federation of the Blind. Honorees
must be present at the National Convention and at the banquet to
receive an appropriately inscribed plaque and a check for $500.
     The members of the committee which will select the 1994
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, 3032 N. Albany, Chicago, Illinois
60618. 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, 1994, to be
considered for this year's award.


                             ■  ■  ■



[PHOTO/CAPTION: Parnell Diggs (right) stands with South Carolina
Senator Warren Giese in the Senator's office.]

                       UNLIMITED AMBITION:
    BLINDNESS DOESN'T HOLD BACK LEGISLATIVE PAGE, LAW STUDENT
                      by Margaret N. O'Shea

     From the Editor: Parnell Diggs is the Treasurer of the
National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. He is also
about to graduate from law school. He is bright, energetic, and
determined to accomplish whatever he puts his mind to. Recently,
a member of the South Carolina Legislature recognized these
characteristics and invited Parnell to become a legislative page
for the current semester. On Tuesday, January 4, 1994, The State,
a newspaper published in Columbia, South Carolina, printed the
following story:

     When the Legislature reconvenes this month, Parnell Diggs
hopes he'll stand out because he's a good page. But Diggs knows
some people will notice him because he's blind.
     Born with impaired vision, Diggs is legally blind. He uses a
white cane to help him get around much of the time but can see
shapes and tell light from dark.
     Diggs considers blindness one of the characteristics that
make him who he is. But in his twenty-five years he has learned
that people with good eyesight have trouble seeing blind people
as ordinary.
     "Blind people are just like everyone else," Diggs said last
week at the State House as he discussed his new job with state
Senator Warren Giese, the Republican Richland County lawmaker who
hired him as a page for the upcoming legislative session.
     "We all have different interests and different talents. Some
of us succeed and some of us fail.
     "I wouldn't be a good mechanic," Diggs said, "but there are
some very good blind mechanics in this state. There are blind
cardiologists, and I don't think I'd be very good at that. But,
I'm a good law student. I expect to be a good lawyer, and I think
I'll be a good page.
     "The important thing is that I have a chance to prove the
average blind person can do the average job as well as the
average sighted person can."
     Growing up in Myrtle Beach, Diggs discovered what he was
good at by refusing to let his limited vision keep him from
trying to do whatever he chose.
     At six Diggs told his mother he wanted to be president of
the United States some day. Nancy and William Diggs believed
their son, she said.
     Diggs learned to play football and basketball. He also
learned to play the guitar well enough to make money performing
while his friends were earning minimum wage at menial jobs.
     Diggs figured the folks with enough money to go out to eat
were about the right age to appreciate music from the 1960's and
1970's. So he built a substantial repertoire of easy listening
songs from those decades, charging $50 an hour to play his guitar
and sing in restaurants.
     Diggs learned most of the songs by listening to old records.
He figured out a few from sheet music, which his girlfriend--now
his wife--would help him decipher. She would read the chords, and
he would play them, he said.
     "Occasionally, I'd try something I'd never heard, and my
mother would say, `Parnell, you really need to listen to that
song,' So I'd listen to it and do it right," he said.
     But Diggs says what he's best at is juggling, juggling time.
     He plans to work as page while finishing law school--he
graduates in May--and clerking for Irmo attorney Alvin Neal, who
is also a member of Lexington County Council.
     Diggs, who begins as a page January 11, spent last week at
the State House learning the ropes. But a page's job description
is about as broad as any lawmaker's imagination. The familiar
click of the fingers to summon a page could mean anything.
     Giese is known for assigning his pages unusual jobs--like
figuring out how to get school buses bought at auction from
Spartanburg to Columbia.
     Hearing that tale, Diggs said, "I don't think you'd want me
to drive a bus, but I think I can handle just about anything else
you want me to try."
     Giese says he's excited about the chance to work with Diggs,
whom he noticed through his interest in the state chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind. Diggs was elected treasurer of
the statewide organization when he was twenty-four.
     "What I look for in pages is superior people in terms of
brightness and the ability to be creative and deal with whatever
comes up," Giese said. "I think Parnell has all those qualities.
     "I know he has interest in law, and I see this as a good
opportunity for him to see law developed, as well as an
opportunity for those of us who make laws to learn from him."
     And Diggs is no stranger to the ways of the Legislature.
Since he was a teenager, he has been lobbying for Braille
literacy and other laws to enhance blind people's lives and
opportunities.


                             ■  ■  ■


[PHOTO/CAPTION: Katie Watson walks with her Dad Marc between the towers of the
Dallas-Fort Worth Hyatt. Marc is carrying younger sister Elise.]

                        WHY GO IT ALONE?
                        by Margie Watson

     From the Editor: Margie Watson is the energetic mother of
two children, one of whom, Katie, is blind. The Watson family
attended the 1993 convention of the National Federation of the
Blind, and it was an experience that changed their lives.
     Katie is a lively pre-schooler who is lucky to have the
parents she has. As a result of what they learned last summer,
they have fought this year for her right to use her cane in her
pre-school classroom. As Bonnie Peterson, President of the NFB of
Wisconsin, explains what happened, Katie's mobility instructor
advised that Katie leave her cane outside the classroom, despite
the changing arrangement of obstacles that characterizes any
space occupied by a number of small children. The fact was that
Katie made much better use of her cane than this teacher's older
students, and apparently the woman could not believe that Katie
could use it safely and effectively. After the Watsons and Mrs.
Peterson argued the case for using the cane with the pre-school
teacher, Katie was allowed to use it, and she and her cane have
yet to cause a problem.
     The Watsons understand the importance of insuring that their
daughter maintain and increase the independence she has already
learned. They believe in Braille and will see that Katie gets
good instruction in it as well as continuing her cane travel
training. These lessons are only a part of what they learned at
their first Convention of the National Federation of the Blind.
Here is the Watson family's story as told in the Fall, 1993,
issue of the Wisconsin Chronicle, the publication of the National
Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin:

     Several years ago my husband and I attended a seminar for
parents of blind children sponsored by the NFB of Wisconsin.
Federationists shared their insights and personal experience, and
the supportive environment of that seminar affected us very
positively. In the years to follow, however, our family often
went it alone: resolving issues and addressing concerns as best
we could. Increasingly, we came to feel a great deal of
frustration that we were wasting our time reinventing the wheel.
At this time I renewed contact with Bonnie Peterson, President of
the NFB of Wisconsin. After I expressed my feelings of
frustration and aloneness to Bonnie, she strongly urged me to
attend the 1993 Convention of the National Federation of the
Blind to be held in Dallas, Texas.
     When Bonnie learned that, because of limited finances, I
would be attending the convention alone for only a few days, she
arranged for financial assistance. This meant that our family was
able to attend the convention for the entire week. My husband
Marc and I were astounded at this unexpected generosity. We were
very interested to learn why Bonnie felt the convention was so
essential that she would commit limited resources to see that we
all got there. The answer became evident soon after we arrived in
Dallas.
     Like many other parents we felt great pleasure and
satisfaction at the warm welcome we received. Certainly Bonnie
had meant for us to network so that we could help our four-year-
old daughter Katie learn good Braille and cane skills. To be
sure, she also wanted us alerted to the harmful and commonly-held
attitude that blind children cannot be expected to keep up with
and compete with their sighted peers academically or socially.
This information and the availability of the National Federation
of the Blind as a resource empowered us and undeniably made the
convention extremely valuable for us. But I do not think that
this was the only reason, or even the most important reason, that
Bonnie had wanted us to attend. There was something more that was
happening--a kind of magic that is a part of the national
convention.
     This magic has to do with the philosophy of the National
Federation of the Blind. Throughout its literature the NFB
repeats its conviction that it is respectable to be blind; that
blindness is just one characteristic; and that when a person
receives the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be
reduced to the level of a mere nuisance, enabling him or her to
compete on equal terms with the sighted. As parents of a blind
child, we said that we believed this philosophy, but I'm not sure
whether we really did or whether we just desperately hoped that
it was true. The convention changed that. At the convention we
saw that these beliefs are undeniable realities.
     There were well over two thousand Federationists in
attendance at the National Convention. The sheer magnitude of
this number made it impossible to stereotype people. Day after
day for a week we observed confident, competent blind people
successfully achieving their goals. This experience was
invaluable in shaping our attitude toward blindness, and we now
have no doubt that great things lie ahead for Katie because we
now truly share the philosophy of the NFB.
     The importance of an organization that promotes positive
attitudes toward blindness became readily apparent at the banquet
when the student scholarships were announced. The high
aspirations of these students underscored the importance of the
NFB. Federationists not only encourage students to dream big
dreams; we also see to it that these dreams become realities by
being successful role models, by promoting good attitudes toward
blindness, and by providing financial support to demonstrate the
confidence that students will attain these lofty goals.
     In 1994 the NFB National Convention will be held in Detroit,
and in 1995 it will be held in Chicago. This is a golden
opportunity for families who live in the Midwest. When you attend
a convention of the National Federation of the Blind, you can
have no doubt that the NFB is changing what it means to be blind.
Come and share in the magic. Being part of the NFB means that you
and your child will never again have to go it alone.

                             ■  ■  ■


[PHOTO/CAPTION: View of the Detroit Renaissance Center and Westin Hotel from
Riverside Park in Windsor, Canada.]

             1994 CONVENTION FUN--TOURS FOR EVERYONE
                    by Don and Sue Drapinski

     From the Editor: The members of the National Federation of
the Blind of Michigan are doing their best to make good on
affiliate President Allen Harris's promise that the 1994
Convention of the National Federation of the Blind will be an
unforgettable experience for us all. Here is the tour information
you have been waiting for. Please take the deadline statements
seriously. Make your plans now to attend the 1994 convention, and
take advantage of the following memorable tours as described by
Don and Sue Drapinski, who have made these arrangements:

     You read in the February Monitor that Michigan ranked first,
oldest, or largest in a variety of areas. We hope you'll agree
that it ranks best in convention entertainment and tours as well.
     Here are some of the things we are planning for convention
week. On Friday, July 1, 1994, we plan a Motown Review party with
a disc jockey and dancing to lots of the tunes that made Motown
so successful. On Monday, the 4th of July, we plan an outdoor
picnic on the hotel grounds, complete with dancing and a live
band. Be sure to pack your dancing shoes for both these events,
as well as comfortable walking shoes for the following tour
choices.
     Two of the tours take you to Canada, and for them you must
have proof of citizenship with you (U.S. birth certificate,
voter's ID, alien registration card, or passport). The Toronto
theater package currently has a deadline of April 15, 1994, to
allow time to secure the theater tickets. All other tour
reservations must be in the office of Detroit Upbeat, Inc.,
Attention M. McGinty, 18430 Fairway Drive, Detroit, Michigan
48221, by June 5, 1994. Payment must be included. Cancellations
of reservations must be in the Detroit Upbeat, Inc., office by
June 12, 1994, in order to receive a refund. Any cancellations
received after June 12 will not be subject to refund. All tours
are subject to cancellation if there is not enough interest, so
please get your reservations in early. A registration form
follows the description of the tours. If you do not have access
to a print registration form, just send a typed letter to Detroit
Upbeat, Inc. with payment, and include all pertinent information
regarding the tours you are interested in. Be sure to include
your name, address, and phone number. Pre-ordered tour tickets
will be available at the tour desk in the registration area at
the convention.
     The following tours are being offered Tuesday afternoon and
evening, July 5, 1994:

     1. SHOP TILL YOU DROP: 1:00 - 6:00 p.m., $15 per person.
Transportation from the Westin Hotel to Fairlane Town Center for
shopping at one of the country's largest shopping complexes
featuring Saks Fifth Avenue, Hudson's, Penney's, Lord & Taylor,
and Sears, plus over two hundred other stores. Price also
includes return transportation.
     2. DINNER/THEATER EXPERIENCE: 7:00 - 11:30 p.m., $58 per
person. An evening of dinner theater at the Castle, a totally
restored miniature Irish castle, for a dinner and murder-mystery
performance.
     3. LITTLE BAVARIA: 1:00 - 10:00 p.m., $57 per person. Visit
Frankenmuth, an historic Bavarian town complete with gift shops,
breweries, sausage makers, and cheese makers. You'll enjoy a city
tour of Frankenmuth; a visit to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland,
which has the world's largest year-round display of Christmas
gifts and trims; and lunch at the Bavarian Inn, sampling the
chicken dinner that made Frankenmuth famous. You will also have
time to shop as well as make your own pretzels at the Pretzel
Factory.
     4. GREENFIELD VILLAGE/HENRY FORD MUSEUM: 1:00 - 6:00 p.m.,
$35 per person. Visiting Greenfield Village or the Henry Ford
Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, provides an opportunity to go back
in time to the early days of our country. These two adjacent
museums highlight the history of American home furnishings,
agriculture, industry, and transportation, with antique cars a
specialty. On your way to this unique Michigan attraction the
tour guide will present information on Detroit, the history of
Henry Ford, and a detailed description of both the Village and
the Museum so that you can decide which one you wish to visit.
Visitors can enjoy a luncheon or light snack at any of a number
of food facilities in either the Village or the Museum (cost not
included).
     5. TIGERS VS. WHITE SOX BASEBALL GAME: 6:00 - 11:00 p.m.,
$44 per person. Come spend a hot summer night at the ol' ballpark
as the Detroit Tigers take on the Chicago White Sox. Your Detroit
Upbeat guide will tell you a little about the history of the
Tigers ball club and the stadium. Learn what future plans are in
store for one of the country's oldest stadiums and the
controversial decisions that have to be made regarding a new ball
park. You'll be in box seats with Tiger fans who know how to
enjoy a good ball game! Food and beverages will be available for
purchase either at your seat or at the concession stands.
     6. MEET THE FORD DYNASTY: 1:00 - 8:00 p.m., $62 per person.
The Ford dynasty stretches from Dearborn to Grosse Pointe Shores,
Michigan. This tour highlights the mansions of two auto barons:
father and son, Henry Ford I and his son, Edsel Ford. Henry Ford
I and his wife, Clara, built Fairlane Estate in Dearborn, a
fifty-six-room mansion styled after a Scottish manor house. The
estate includes a self-sufficient six-level powerhouse, spacious
rooms where the Fords entertained, and beautiful gardens
reflecting their love of nature. Edsel Ford and his wife Eleanor
built their home in Grosse Pointe Shores. Designed by Albert
Kahn, this home replicates those in the Cotswolds of England but
on a much grander scale. What makes this house especially
interesting is that it reflects the younger Ford's knowledge of
art and architecture. Originals by Cezanne, Matisse, and other
great artists continue to grace its walls. This tour includes
lunch at Fairlane Estate.
     7. DIAMOND JACK'S RIVER TOUR: 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., $14 per
person. Experience a unique and exciting way to see Detroit,
Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, and their surrounding
waterfronts, while traveling one of the busiest international
waterways in the world, the Detroit River. A camera buff's
delight. Capture the skyline of two cities in two different
countries. While on board the vessel, passengers share
spectacular views as a narrator relates interesting, informative,
and historic anecdotes. View the powerful Detroit skyline. Pass
and learn about freighters, tugboats, and ocean-going ships from
all over the world. Pass under the Ambassador Bridge, the longest
suspension bridge linking two countries, and the Belle Isle
Bridge, entrance to the largest U.S. city-owned island park (also
home to the Grand Prix).
     8. WINDSOR, CANADA, EVENING: 6:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m., $46 per
person. An evening in Windsor, complete with a dinner at
L'Auberge, across the border from Detroit in Canada. Our guide
will tell you about the history of the building of the underwater
tunnel to Canda as well as pertinent facts about Windsor. After
dinner we will escort you to the Casino, where you may try your
luck. Don't forget your I.D.--only birth certificate, voter's
I.D., alien registration, or passport are accepted. Driver's
license or state I.D. are not proof of citizenship.

     The following tours are offered for July 8, 1994:
     1. CEDAR POINT: 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m., $69 per person.
Spend a day at one of the region's most exciting and fun places
to visit--Cedar Point Amusement Park and Resort. Your day starts
early as your motor coach takes you from your hotel to the
Sandusky, Ohio, theme park. You'll visit the world's largest
collection of rides, thrill to more roller coasters than any
other park, and enjoy a variety of food, shopping, and live shows
all available on your own throughout the day. En route
(approximately a two-hour bus ride) your Detroit Upbeat guide
will tell you a little about the historic park, that has been
around for nearly a century and a half. This is a tour that
guests visiting the area will be talking about for some time,
because there is just no place like Cedar Point! Price includes
transportation and all-day admission to the park with unlimited
rides and other park attractions.
     2. TORONTO THEATER WEEKEND: 9:00 a.m., July 8, through 5:00
p.m., July 9, $255 per person based on double occupancy. This
outstanding opportunity provides motor coach to Toronto, a
Toronto harbor tour, overnight accommodations at the Royal York
Hotel, dinner in the Acadian Room, and a theater performance
(selection will be based on ticket availability). Saturday starts
at 8:30 a.m. with a breakfast buffet at the hotel, a local tour,
and return trip to Detroit. Lunch stops will be made both days,
but lunch is not included in the price of the package. Because
tickets for Miss Saigon and Phantom of the Opera are extremely
difficult to get, early response is essential. However, tickets
for other shows will be available.

     In addition to these tour packages there are many things to
see and places to visit within a short distance of the hotel.
Specifics will be available at the NFB of Michigan information
desk and the tour desk. If you need additional information or
assistance, please call Don or Sue Drapinski after 5:00 p.m. at
[phone] or the NFB of Michigan at [phone].
     Don't postpone making your tour decisions. Complete the
following order form and send it with your check to the address
at the beginning of this article. And while you're about it, be
sure to make your convention reservation with the Westin Hotel.
Certainly our rates (singles $38, doubles and twins $43, and
quads $48, plus tax) are extraordinary. There will be no charge
for children with parents if no extra bed is required. Make your
reservations by writing Westin Hotel, Renaissance Center,
Detroit, Michigan 48243, Attention: Reservations; or call (313)
568-8000. Do not use the Westin toll-free number. Reservations
made through this national number will not be valid. The hotel
will want a deposit of $45 or a credit card number. If a credit
card is used, the deposit will be charged against your card
immediately, just as would be the case with a $45 check. If a
reservation is cancelled prior to June 20, 1994, the entire
amount of your deposit will be returned to you by the hotel.
Requests for refunds after this date will not be honored. See you
in Detroit.

=================================================================
     **NOTE TO BRAILLER: INSERT TOUR RESERVATION FORM HERE**
                **DISK (FILENAME: TOURFORM.WP)**
=================================================================


        FEDERAL PROGRAMS CAN HELP WITH MEDICARE PREMIUMS
                         by James Gashel

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

     Two federally aided programs have been created in recent
years to help pay medical bills for people of low income. These
are the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program and the
Specified Low-income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) program. Both
programs supplement benefits available under Medicare. This
article explains the assistance available and provides some
general information about qualifying for each program.
     Participants in the QMB program receive help in paying
medical bills not covered by Medicare. This assistance includes
paying the beneficiary's coinsurance amount for hospital services
provided within a benefit period, paying the beneficiary's
coinsurance amount for services received from a skilled nursing
facility or the coinsurance amount for other services covered
under Part A of Medicare, paying the beneficiary's Part A premium
if premium-free coverage has expired, paying the cost of medical
services under Part B of Medicare which would otherwise be
charged to the beneficiary by virtue of the $100 annual
deductible and coinsurance requirements, and paying the
beneficiary's Medicare Part B monthly premium. Under the SLMB
program the single benefit provided is payment of the monthly
Medicare Part B premium. The Part A coinsurance amounts and the
Part B deductible are not covered under the SLMB program.
     Throughout the United States these programs are administered
at the county level. Specific eligibility decisions will depend
upon applicable state and county rules. However, the general rule
is that eligibility for either QMB or SLMB assistance is based on
three factors--Medicare eligibility, low income, and limited
resources.
     Income limits for eligibility may vary from county to
county. Despite some variation, however, it is fair to say that
the following income guidelines may be expected: for QMB
eligibility, monthly income must be below $601 for individuals or
$806 for couples; for SLMB eligibility, monthly income must be
below $659 for individuals and $884 for couples. Countable
resources must also be within specified limits applicable to both
the QMB and SLMB programs--$4,000 for individuals or $6,000 for
couples. A home and certain other property are not counted as
resources, but savings, stocks, and other things of value may be
counted.
     The federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA)
provides funding for these programs but does not administer them
directly. However, there is a toll-free hotline which HCFA has
established to help in finding the agencies responsible for
taking applications throughout the country. The number for the
hotline is 1-[phone]. The operator who responds will need
to know the county in which the beneficiary resides.

                             ■  ■  ■



[PHOTO: Portrait. CAPTION: Priscilla Ferris.]

[PHOTO: Portrait. CAPTION: Dennis Polselli.]

                             RECIPES

     This month's recipes come from Massachusetts. The Boston
cream pie, Indian pudding, and hamburger skillet dinner all
appeared in New England Cookery, the cookbook published by the
Massachusetts affiliate about ten years ago. The harvest chowder
and fabulous chocolate chip cookies will be included in New
England Cookery Two when it is published.

                    HAMBURGER SKILLET DINNER
                       by Priscilla Ferris

Ingredients:
3 slices bacon, cut up
1 pound ground meat
2 large onions, sliced
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup water
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 potatoes, sliced
1 large green pepper, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 cups cabbage, chopped

     Method: In skillet fry bacon until crisp. Add ground meat
and onions. Cook until brown. Add soy sauce, water, and pepper.
Add vegetables in layers from potatoes to cabbage. Cook over high
heat for 1 minute. Reduce heat and cook, covered, over low heat
for 15 minutes. Serves 6.


                 FABULOUS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients:
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups chopped nuts (any kind)

     Method: Cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add
eggs, one at a time; add vanilla. Measure 5 cups oatmeal (put
small amounts in food processor or blender and process until
oatmeal becomes powder-like), add flour, salt, baking powder, and
baking soda. Mix together dry ingredients, then add to egg and
sugar mixture. Add chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Drop golf-
ball-sized spoonfuls of batter, 2 inches apart, on ungreased
cookie sheet. Bake in 375-degree oven for 6 minutes. Makes 10
dozen cookies.

                        BOSTON CREAM PIE

Ingredients:
Cake:
½ cup butter
■ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
■ cup milk
Filling:
■ cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
1■ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons boiling water

     Method: For cake, cream butter, vanilla, and sugar; beat in
eggs. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat into egg
mixture alternately with milk. Pour into a greased 9-inch cake
pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until done. Cool 10
minutes. For filling mix sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in milk.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and slowly stir hot mixture into egg. Return to
pan and heat just to the boiling point, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Cover and chill. For
glaze, melt butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir in
confectioner's sugar and water. Stir until smooth, use
immediately. To assemble, split cake layer in half horizontally.
Remove top half. Spread filing on bottom half. Replace top half.
Spread glaze on top and sides. Note: store cake in the
refrigerator.

                NEW ENGLAND BAKED INDIAN PUDDING

Ingredients:
4 cups milk
½ cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
½ cup yellow cornmeal
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark molasses

     Method: Scald milk with half the sugar. Add cornmeal and,
stirring constantly, cook until smooth and well blended and
slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add rest of ingredients;
mix well. Pour into a greased baking dish, about 2 inches deep.
Bake about one hour in a 375-degree oven. Serve hot with ice
cream or whipped cream.

                 NEW ENGLAND STEAMED BROWN BREAD

     This recipe was passed down to Priscilla from her mother.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup graham or whole wheat flour
■ cup dark molasses
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
1 cup raisins

     Method: Set oven at 350 degrees. Mix first six ingredients;
add remaining ingredients and mix well. Half fill 3 greased one-
pound coffee cans. Cover tightly with foil and secure with rubber
bands. Steam for 3 hours on rack in covered pan with hot water in
the bottom of the pan. Add small amounts of boiling water as
needed. Uncover cans and place in 450 degree oven for 5 minutes.
Remove bread from cans.

                 GRANDMA'S FANTASTIC BAKED BEANS

     This recipe also belonged to Priscilla's mother

Ingredients:
9 slices bacon
3 cans baked pork and beans
3 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup catsup
1 pound brown-and-serve sausages
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

     Method: Cook bacon until crisp; drain. Reserve 2 tablespoons
of the drippings and sauté onion in them until tender. Add bacon
and other ingredients and mix well. Pour into bean pot or 2½-
quart casserole dishes. Place sausages on top and bake in a 350-
degree oven for 1 hour. This recipe can be doubled or tripled to
serve a very large gathering.

                         HARVEST CHOWDER
                   by Donna & Dennis Polselli

     Both Donna and Dennis Polselli are longtime members of the
National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts. Dennis
currently serves on the affiliate's board of directors.

Ingredients
1 15-ounce can of salmon
1 clove garlic
½ cup onion
½ cup celery
½ cup green peppers
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup potatoes
1 cup carrots
2 cups chicken broth
½ teaspoon each pepper, salt, and thyme
½ cup frozen peas
1 8-ounce can cream corn
1 13-ounce can evaporated milk

     Method: Drain and flake salmon, save the liquid; saute
celery, onions, green pepper, and garlic in butter. Add chicken
broth and liquid from salmon, carrots, and potatoes; add salt,
pepper, and thyme, and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat; then
add frozen peas, cream corn, and salmon. Cook for 10 minutes,
then add evaporated milk; simmer for 15 minutes before serving.


                             ■  ■  ■




                    ■■ MONITOR MINIATURES ■■

■ Tactile Cards Available:
     Vera Honc, a Federationist who lives in New Orleans, has
asked us to carry the following announcement:
     I have recently discovered tactile greeting cards which I
like very much and therefore wish to introduce to blind people in
the United States. I like them because they are well designed and
because I can easily recognize the shapes without having to ask
sighted people for help. The collection contains several floral,
Easter, and Christmas motifs. They can be used for birthdays,
anniversaries, Mother's Day, etc. Upon request, we will include
text in Braille and/or print, according to specifications.
Adhesive paper mailing labels are used for this purpose. The
estimated price is $1.00 per card, $4.50 per set of five, and
$9.00 per set of ten. The proceeds will be used to help blind
people in Prague (the capital of the Czech Republic), who make
these cards. Inquiries, orders, and payments can be sent to Vera
Honc, P.O. Box 30065, New Orleans, Louisiana 70190.

■ For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have the following Braille cookbooks for sale: The Art of
French Cooking, $25; Mike Roy Cookbook One, $20; Mike Roy
Cookbook Two, $20; and Sunbeam Frypan Cookbook, $15. I also have
a Braille copy of Using the Cranmer Abacus and an abacus for $15,
and a New International Version Bible (New Testament) for $70.
Unless otherwise specified, all books will be sent free matter.
If you wish books sent in any other manner, please enclose
additional funds. Please call or write to check availability of
items before sending money. Contact Darla Dahl at 366 E.
Ackerman, Monmouth, Oregon 97361, in Braille or call (503) 838-
0183 (between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., or after 3:00 p.m. Pacific
time). This will ensure a quicker response to your inquiries.

■ Editing Services Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     Ph.D. in English with twenty years college teaching
experience will edit manuscripts, books, articles, proposals, and
dissertations. I will accept material on large or small diskettes
for an IBM-compatible computer using WordPerfect 5.1 or ASCII.
Recorded readings of final documents on cassette tape are also
acceptable. I will return the finished copy in print and also in
the medium in which the original document was received. Because
this new employment will reduce the time I can spend fund-
raising, I will donate twenty percent of the income which comes
from NFB members responding to this announcement to my local NFB
chapter. If interested, call Patricia Morrow at [phone].

■ Elected:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     The Charlotte Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of North Carolina held elections on November 20, 1993. The
following members were elected to serve: Pat Robbins, President;
Mabel Conder, Vice President; Hazel Staley, Secretary; Lawrence
Murphy, Treasurer; and Nell Spiedel and LaVerne Gallant, board
members.

[PHOTO: Portrait. CAPTION: Doris Henderson.]

■ Energetic Federationist Honored
     Recently President Maurer received a letter from Doris
Henderson, President of the Dallas Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind. Doris's letter is like her. She
indicates that her energy is low because she is recovering from
the flu, but the letter shows a schedule which is packed to
overflowing. Here in part is what she said:

     I retired from the Texas Commission for the Blind in
September of 1993, many seem to think to a life of boredom and
idleness. It's just the opposite. Upon learning of my retirement,
several groups approached me to join their organizations to help
with speaking engagements. I have no time to be idle. I am
President of the Mesquite North Lioness Club; Secretary of the
Eva Cameron Homemakers Association; Treasurer and Food
Coordinator of the Christian Fellowship of the Blind; and, of
course, most active in our movement both at the state and local
levels. Our Chapter held elections recently. Those elected are
Gigi Firth, First Vice President; Cheryl McCaslin Smith, Second
Vice President; Sandra Parker, Treasurer; Rhanda Hasley,
Secretary; Kelly Hickman, Era Brown, Allen Vance, and Suzanne
Whalen, Board Members; and I am still President. I shall see you
at the Washington Seminar. I intend to visit our National Center
again. I'll likely see you there, too. Share this with Dr.
Jernigan, please. I am recuperating from the flu, so my energy is
somewhat low.

                                          Love in Federationism,
                                                  Doris Henderson

     The Texas Commission for the Blind published an article
about Doris Henderson at the time that she retired. This is what
it says:

     Pat Westbrook, Director of the Texas Commission for the
Blind, presented Doris with a silver platter on behalf of the
agency [in recognition of her service at the time of her
retirement].
     The following week the Dallas District Office held a
retirement luncheon for Doris during which she received special
recognition from the Mayor and the City Council of Dallas for her
many achievements. Doris wrote transportation bylaws for
individuals with disabilities. She helped obtain Kurzweil
personal reading machines for Texas libraries. Doris pioneered
efforts in getting paid drivers as an accommodation for visually
impaired Texas Commission for the Blind staff. She is also well
known for her work on the Dallas Mayor's Committee for Employment
of People with Disabilities.
     Doris is president of the Mesquite North Lioness Club, the
only chapter in the nation to be comprised entirely of
individuals who are blind or have other disabilities. She also
serves as First Vice President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Texas (NFB-T) and is president of the Dallas Progressive
Chapter of the NFB.
     In addition Doris received letters of congratulations from
Governor Richards and President and Mrs. Clinton. Staff members
arranged for the U.S. flag to fly over the Nation's Capitol in
her honor on the day of her retirement.

     Doris's colleagues in the organized blind movement join as
well in congratulating her on her many years of achievement and
in looking forward to many more.

■ Cookbook for Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     The Alaska Center for Blind Adults is selling the Braille
Sourdough Cookbook for $15. Those interested should send name and
address and a check made payable to the Alaska Center for Blind
Adults to the Center at 3903 Taft Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99517.

■ Matilda Ziegler Magazine Completes Eighty-Seven Years of
Publication:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     With its March, 1994, issue The Matilda Ziegler Magazine for
the Blind has completed eighty-seven years of continuous
publication. This monthly magazine reprints articles covering a
wide range of interests, including humor, health, animals,
science, family life, sports, and travel. These articles are
taken from some of the nation's foremost newspapers and magazines
and are published in Braille or on cassette.
     Each issue of the Ziegler contains a "Readers Forum," in
which readers sound off. In "Special Notices," readers can
announce items or services they want to buy, sell, swap, or give
away. New friends from all over the world can be found in the
"Pen Pals" section, and "Bits and Pieces" contains humorous,
startling, or unusual items from contemporary life and the past.
     Since 1907 The Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind has
been distributed free of charge to any blind or visually impaired
person who requests it. The magazine is published in Grade II
Braille and on four-track, half-speed cassette. Call (212) 242-
0263; or write Ziegler Magazine, 20 W. 17th Street, New York, New
York 10011.

■ West Virginia Directory:
     Laura Collier, Chairperson of the West Virginia School for
the Blind Alumni Association directory, has asked that we carry
the following announcement one more time:
     The WVSB Alumni Association is now gathering data for a
directory of all students and school employees to be made
available in June, 1994. We're sure you will want to be included
with all your schoolmates. Please send your name (including
maiden and married name), complete address, phone number, and the
dates you entered and left school to Laura Collier, 3470 S.E.
Cobia Way, Stuart, Florida 34997, as soon as possible.

■ For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have the following items for sale: Versapoint Model D
Braille printer (most recent model) excellent condition $3,795
when purchased, asking $2,200; Braille printer sound box with
built-in fan, good condition, gray and black, $400 when
purchased, all reasonable offers considered; Duxbury Braille
translator will sell separately or to purchaser of Braille
printer, asking $225; modular three-shelf printer stand on caster
wheels like new, $225 when purchased, currently used to hold two
printers attached to one computer, middle shelf pulls out to
provide easy access to printer, gray, asking $125; data transfer
switch with three ports, used to connect two printers to one
printer port on a PC, asking $20. Mention the Braille Monitor and
I will include free printer paper. Call Mildred, [phone]
or 433-5176.
     Needed: CD Rom player compatible with 286 AST PC with some
disks, especially interested in the Bible, Concordance, Bible
dictionary, legal materials, standard dictionary, and
encyclopedia. Will also buy other disks. Please call Mildred
[phone]; leave message.
     If buyers mention that they saw this ad in the Braille
Monitor, I will give the NFB a ten-percent donation.

■ Writer's Guidelines and Bi-monthly Newsletter Now Available:
     Nancy Scott, one of the leaders of the Writers Division, has
aksed us to carry the following announcement:
     A list of writer's guidelines from magazines to submit
manuscripts for publication is now available on two standard-
speed, ninety-minute cassettes. Compiled by Susi Kraft in
fall/winter of 1993, this list provides numerous addresses and
information for submission of articles, poetry, and some short
fiction. The list covers such topics as plants and gardening,
animals, homemaking, and feminism. The cost is $7 per copy and
can be ordered from Nancy Scott, 1141 Washington Street, Easton,
Pennsylvania 18042. Make checks payable to Nancy Scott. Tapes
will be shipped free matter.

                       Exchange Unlimited

     This upbeat, lively bimonthly newsletter for the visually
impaired and handicapped contains technology, generic shopping
tips, unspecified tidbits, gardening details, letters to the
editors, reader ideas, pet briefs, poetry, easy-to-learn how-
to's, cooking, funding/grant information, country clips, and
much, much more. The first bimonthly edition is available in
February, 1994. Want-to-buy or for-sale advertising of personal
items free to our subscribers. These listings are published as a
service to our readers. Inclusion does not indicate endorsement
by the publishers. Commercial advertisements not accepted.
     Subscription fee is $20 for six issues. Back issues are
$3.00 each. Available in large print, 4-track NLS cassette, or
IBM 3.5-inch double density disk. Send your name and address with
check or money order payable to Exchange Unlimited, P.O. Box 116,
Cook, Nebraska 68329.

■ Young Correspondents Wanted:
     We recently received the following letter:

                                                           Russia
                                                November 30, 1993

Dear Friends,
     Young disabled people from Russia greet you and wish you
robust health. We organize sports competitions, develop new
assistive devices, and learn foreign languages. We are also
occupied with many other interesting works. We want to make
contact with young Americans, especially disabled ones. Could you
please give us some addresses of groups and organizations of
blind Americans? If you need any information about Russian
achievements in rehabilitation, special education, and social
work, we would be glad to be useful. Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Joseph Edvubny
Nadejda (Hope)
The Omsk Club of Young Disabled People
Uchebraya St.202-37
Omsk-46, 644046
RUSSIA

■ Alert Federationist At Work:
     Recently President Maurer received the following letter:

                                           Minneapolis, Minnesota
                                               September 16, 1993

"The Young and the Restless"
WCCO-TV
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dear Sir or Madam:
     I would like to thank you for having a competent blind
person on "The Young and the Restless." I have watched this
program through a busy life of my own since the day it went on
the air. It is good to see a blind person reading Braille, using
her cane, and being generally competent with good judgment
skills.
     My only regret is that, when I called WCCO-TV to make
inquiry, I was told it was not a real blind person. If this is
true, I want you to know there are competent professional blind
people in all of the walks of life dealing with the arts. I hope
that you will consider hiring such a competent blind
professional, should one apply. I have recording experience
myself, so I do know it can be done.
     Still, with all the negative stereotypes that have gone
forth on TV involving everything from Mr. McGoo to the blind
character George on "Good and Evil," it is good that progress has
been made to at least this point. I am a member of the National
Federation of the Blind and a blind person who has had varied
employment experience and furthered myself educationally.
Therefore, I wanted to commend you on the good that you have
done. But if you hired a competent blind actress--and there are
plenty in Los Angeles--it would be still better.
                                                       Sincerely,
                                                       Julie Vogt
cc: Marc Maurer, President, National Federation of the Blind

     Providing this kind of feedback to the print and broadcast
media doesn't take long to do, but it is vital work. All of us
must be on the alert all of the time. Congratulations and thanks
to Julie Vogt.

■ New Chapter Election:
     LeRoy Schaffer, secretary of the newly organized Lakeland
Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida,
writes to report the results of recent chapter elections. The
officers are Jamie Sommars, President; Dennis Martin, Vice
President; LeRoy Schaffer, Secretary; Phil Sommars, Treasurer;
and Shirley Earl, Theresa Schaffer, and Richard Stanley, board
members. Congratulations to the officers and members of the
Lakeland Chapter.

■ For Sale:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     I have for sale a Kurzweil Personal Reader, Model 7315,
Software 2.1, hand and table scanners, and case. Asking $1200.
Those interested may contact Ted Ward by calling [phone]
or [phone].

■ Braille-output Computer Newsletter Available:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     VersaNews is a technology magazine which covers developments
in Braille equipment and the ways in which people use Braille to
access the benefits of the computer age. Topics include product
reviews, education, tips from readers, and how-to articles on
using Braille displays to access such commercially available
tools as dictionaries, check-writing programs, and information
services. Versanews is privately published and covers Braille
products from all American manufacturers and several imported
devices. Started twelve years ago for VersaBraille users,
Versanews remains one of the few sources of support for teachers
and others who may have acquired these machines secondhand. It is
read in fourteen countries by educators, writers, lawyers,
housewives, and computer programmers who use Braille equipment in
their daily lives. In many cases a letter or phone call to the
editor can put subscribers with a particular problem in touch
with others who have found a solution.
     Versanews is published three times a year on MS-DOS disk, on
VersaBraille II disk, and in print. Non-print users must have a
computer or VersaBraille to read the magazine, because there is
no paper Braille edition. Subscriptions, which must be paid for
in U.S. dollars, are $25.00 in the U.S. and Canada and $35
elsewhere. Please be sure to specify the format desired. Address
orders and inquiries to Versanews, c/o David Goldstein, Editor,
87 Sanford Lane, Stamford, Connecticut 06905; Phone (203) 336-
4330.

■ Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers:
     We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
     On February 4, 1994, AT&T filed tariff revisions with the
Federal Communications Commission waiving the charges for
interstate directory assistance calls for customers with
disabilities for up to a maximum of fifty calls per billing
cycle. Calls to interstate directory assistance in excess of the
fifty-call allowance will be billed at the tariffed rate. This
tariff is scheduled to become effective March 21, 1994. Once this
tariff is effective, to receive the exemption from directory
assistance charges, customers must have an AT&T-approved
certification indicating a visual or physical disability that
prevents use of a telephone directory. This exemption applies to
directory assistance calls for personal use, billed to one
residential telephone line per certified customer. This exemption
does not apply to calls for directory assistance in Mexico or
overseas countries/areas to calls made from Midway or Wake Island
or via AT&T USADirect Service to interstate directory assistance,
to directory assistance in Canada, or to the international
portion of 809 directory assistance.