THE BRAILLE MONITOR April, 1997 Barbara Pierce, Editor Published in inkprint, in Braille, and on cassette by THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT National Office 1800 Johnson Street Baltimore, Maryland 21230 NFB Net BBS: (612) 696-1975 Web Page address: http://www.nfb.org Letters to the President, address changes, subscription requests, orders for NFB literature, articles for the Monitor, and letters to the Editor should be sent to the National Office. Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about twenty-five dollars per year. Members are invited, and non-members are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to: National Federation of the Blind 1800 Johnson Street Baltimore, Maryland 21230 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES ISSN 0006-8829 THE BRAILLE MONITOR PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND CONTENTS April, 1997 Stacking the Deck Against Blind Travel Instructors by Marc Maurer Teaching Cane Travel Blind? by Arlene Hill A Letter from the Trenches: Straight Talk About Cane Travel by Georginia Kleege Helping the Sighted to See The 1997 Washington Seminar by Barbara Pierce Legislative Agenda Winning the Chance to Earn and Pay Taxes: How the Blind Person's Earnings Limit in the Social Security Act Must be Changed Braille Literacy and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Blindness, Rehabilitation, and the Need for Specialized Programs Telling Our Story by Michael Baillif Disability Simulation That Works by John W. Smith New Orleans--Something for Everyone by Jerry Whittle 1997 Convention Attractions Recipes Monitor Miniatures Copyright (c) 1997 National Federation of the Blind [LEAD PHOTOS: #1 The picture is of a large church. In the foreground can be seen iron gates, part of the cathedral lawns, a statue of a man on horseback, a large clock high on the facade of the church, and the bell tower. CAPTION: Visitors to New Orleans flock by the thousands to the French Quarter. One of the first sights to be seen is the St. Louis Cathedral with its distinctive architecture. #2: In this picture a horse-drawn carriage with driver and passengers is visible. The horse is wearing tall flowers on a headpiece. A child is in the foreground. CAPTION: One way to enjoy the New Orleans French Quarter is to take a carriage ride with a driver/guide to point out the sights. Federationists will have a chance to enjoy this picturesque form of transport during the 1997 convention. Make your reservations now.] [PHOTO/CAPTION: President Maurer and Tanya Stewart walk together using white canes.] Stacking the Deck Against Blind Travel Instructors by Marc Maurer Can blind people teach cane travel? The answer to this question is so thoroughly documented that there can be no doubt. Blind people can and do teach travel to other blind people every day. Blindness does not necessarily guarantee that the teacher will be a good one. However, some of the most effective cane travel instructors are blind. In the February, 1996, issue of The AER Report, the newsletter of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired (AER), an item appears entitled "VA Rules on Hiring Blind Mobility Specialists." The article reports that a decision has been issued by the Office of the General Counsel of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the capacity of blind travel instructors to teach orientation and mobility, sometimes known as O&M. The General Counsel's opinion declares that the blind are unfit to do this teaching. The decision says that using blind mobility teachers is dangerous and that refusing to employ them is justified. Despite the adoption of anti-discrimination legislation (according to the article), blind people may be excluded from employment as travel teachers at the Department of Veterans Affairs. But not everybody believes it. Federation members and leaders throughout the United States know the conclusion is untrue. But we are not alone. Not even everybody within AER believes it. Dr. Sharon Sacks, who serves as president of AER, appeared on the platform of the convention of the National Federation of the Blind of California in November of 1996. When she was asked about the opinion of the General Counsel with respect to blind mobility instructors, she stated without equivocation that the conclusion reached by the General Counsel was wrong. Her willingness to stand and be counted in the effort of blind people to receive fair treatment is refreshing and welcome. It is fair to say that there are still those who will oppose the opportunity for blind instructors to teach cane travel--notably officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, Dr. Sacks is clearly, unambiguously, and strongly on record. She believes the prohibition to be wrong, and she believes that it should be changed. The report, which appears in the AER publication, says in part: "In October 1995, the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued an opinion in response to the question of whether Federal civil rights laws which prohibit discrimination against the disabled require the VA's Blind Rehabilitation Centers to train and/or hire blind orientation and mobility instructors. The federal civil rights laws in question are sections 501 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (These provisions impose on federal entities and recipients of federal financial assistance the same obligations which the Americans with Disabilities Act imposes on the private sector.) The opinion begins with a thorough analysis of the role of the O&M instructor in the Blind Rehabilitation Center (BRC) setting. A team of O&M specialists from three VA BRC's visited a facility in Louisiana which uses blind instructors to teach mobility." I interrupt the AER article to say that the facility mentioned is the Louisiana Center for the Blind, ably directed by Joanne Wilson, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. The quality of training at the Louisiana Center for the Blind and the innovative programs conducted there are widely recognized throughout the United States and in a number of other nations. Leaders from the Louisiana Center and other National Federation of the Blind training centers have, during the past two years, conducted extensive programs of instruction for teachers of the blind in Poland. Joanne Wilson was invited to make the keynote address at the World Blind Union's Women's Forum in Toronto, Canada, last August. In addition, joint travel training instruction classes are currently being taught by the Louisiana Center for the Blind and university instructors in Louisiana. Although the AER document fails to mention any of this, these facts help to give background to the discussion. Here is further text from the AER article: "The focus of the training seemed to be on locating a destination and returning to a starting point. Falling, bumping into objects, stumbling, and falling off curbs were commonplace. Based on their observations at the Louisiana facility, the review team concluded that the facility's program of instruction was vastly different from that of the BRC's (Blind Rehabilitation Centers), as was the end result. Students were not as skilled in the ability to avoid unnecessary contact with objects and were more prone to stumbles and falls to a degree that would be deemed an unacceptable safety risk for the BRC patient population. In addition, many advanced students were observed spending too much time in potentially dangerous situations due to a lack of training in basic skills, such as efficient recovery techniques normally taught at the BRC's." I interrupt once again to say that I disagree with most of the statements in this article so far, but one observation seems to me to be entirely true. This is that the results from training at the Louisiana Center are different from those achieved at the Department of Veterans Affairs. My own observations make me believe it. Students who graduate from training centers operated by the National Federation of the Blind know how to travel with a cane with confidence and skill. Quite often the individuals who pass through the centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs complete their training without the same degree of proficiency in cane travel. Of course, the language of the document demonstrates the attitude of the Department of Veterans Affairs toward the blind. At the VA, trainees are known as patients, not students. But back to the article. "The General Counsel's office also did a review of what little research exists in the area and noted, þAlthough there has been little investigation into whether vision is needed to teach O&M, the one scientific study to address the issue suggests that vision plays a significant role with respect to the ability of the instructor to react quickly enough to events such as starting, stopping, turning, negotiating stairs, veering at street crossings, and colliding with obstacles.' Based on the research review and the findings of the team which visited Louisiana the General Counsel's office concluded that þ...the use of totally blind O&M instructors poses a significant safety risk.' [The VA then] looked at the next question, whether a reasonable accommodation could be found which would eliminate the risk or reduce it to þacceptable levels.' The main accommodation suggested by the General Counsel's opinion memo was the use of þa sighted assistant.'" One might interrupt to ask why that is the only way they thought of doing it. Could it be that the people who asked for the opinion offered the suggestion that a sighted assistant was the only alternative? Why do the orientation and mobility teachers who are closely associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs always think that sighted assistance is a necessity for teaching travel? Are they worried that the competition from blind instructors will be too fierce? But back to the article. "The memo notes: þThe problem with this approach [having blind instructors use the technique of employing sighted assistance] is that the assistant would have to possess the same knowledge and abilities as the sighted [sic] instructor. Hence, such an accommodation would essentially require two instructors (one blind, one sighted) to do the job of one sighted instructor.' ...Reasonable accommodation does not require an employer to reallocate essential functions of a job to an assistant." "Other accommodations such as using blind instructors only in indoor environments, were also deemed unacceptable because they `would result in a substantial modification of the VA's program in which the same instructor teaches and instills confidence in the patient throughout the program of instruction.' Such a fundamental alteration would result in an undue hardship and thus not be required by law." "The memo concludes: þBecause of significant safety risks, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 does not require the VA to hire O&M instructors who are totally blind. In addition, notwithstanding any affiliation agreements, the VA would not be required under the Act to provide clinical training to totally blind students enrolled in affiliated colleges and universities.'" This is what was reported by AER, and it is a commentary on the bias and prejudice of those who compiled the evidence and wrote the document. AER has asked to be recognized as the official body to determine who will and who will not receive certification as orientation & mobility specialists. However, the AER official position has (until recently) been that blind people are incompetent to teach cane travel, even though many of us are doing so. It is ironic that the so-called professionals in education and rehabilitation could adopt a policy which is so obviously discriminatory. However, times are changing. As noted earlier, the president of AER has publicly rejected this discriminatory position. I am told that blind people will now be considered as candidates for certification by AER. But this certification is different (according to some) from that of the sighted, I am told. Although the official standard (according to the president of AER) is that blind candidates for certification will be treated no differently from the sighted, blind candidates, according to certain officials in the rehabilitation field (the letter in the June, 1996, Braille Monitor article titled, "Who Is Qualified To Be A Mobility Instructor?" comes to mind), must demonstrate their ability to teach cane travel using a sighted assistant. No other mechanism would be plausible, according to some. With all of this as background, one might suspect that certain people who are part of AER were afraid that the current discriminatory policy might not stand up. Consequently, they set about bolstering a weak case. Approximately three years ago, instructors in the Department of Veterans Affairs' program to teach cane travel to blind veterans requested the opportunity to visit the National Federation of the Blind Orientation Center in Ruston, Louisiana. The purpose of the visit (according to these VA officials) was to study the methods used by blind cane travel instructors. The Louisiana Center for the Blind has extensive experience with the use of blind cane travel teachers. Arlene Hill, the cane travel instructor, and Joanne Wilson, the founder and director of the Center, believed that this would be an opportunity to demonstrate the ability of blind teachers and to expand communication and understanding in programs dealing with blindness. They welcomed the visitors to the Louisiana Center for the Blind. In the fall of 1995 the real purpose of the visit was revealed. These officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs (who, it is reported, are also members of AER) compiled a report of their visit to the Louisiana Center for the Blind. The report included excerpts of video tapes of blind students being taught travel by blind instructors. The evidence gathered by these officials was submitted to the office of the General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs with a request that the General Counsel issue an opinion stating whether the law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to consider blind travel instructors for employment. In selecting the evidence to be presented to the office of the General Counsel, the so-called impartial observers chose to portray not the reality of the training but a distortion of the facts. This was accomplished by depicting travel training as much more dangerous than it is and blind people as much less competent than we are. For example, when a student is walking on the street where there is a drain into which he or she might step, keen attention is called to the possibility of this mishap even though it never happens. A blind traveler at the Louisiana Center for the Blind learns to manage in virtually any circumstances during the course of travel training. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, blind travelers are apparently kept out of any place which contains the slightest potential for injury. The contrast in teaching technique was apparently emphasized to the Office of the General Counsel with the implication that travel training at the Louisiana Center for the Blind is conducted irresponsibly. The blind, according to this formulation, should be content to travel only in places which are entirely safe--safe as defined by the officials who have selected for themselves the task of caring for the blind--the officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs. With this distorted information in hand, the office of the General Counsel issued its opinion. It is ironic that a program designed to serve the blind has reached the conclusion that the blind are inferior to the sighted and cannot be trusted to teach travel. Arlene Hill, travel training teacher at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, observed the approach of the Veterans Administration in gathering its evidence. This is her report: These are my observations on the July 1993 visit from the three Veterans Administration employees. When these visitors arrived, we held a brief meeting in which they explained that they would be observing travel students and their instructors and making videos of travel routes. They explained that they had come to learn how we, as blind instructors, taught our blind students. I felt that this would be an opportunity to share our work and show how our students learn and progress. I was asked very few questions as a blind instructor about how I teach students. At the time of the initial meeting, I requested a microphone for both the instructor they were observing and the student. We explained that a good bit of our training depends on communication. They agreed that was a good idea and said they would work on providing mikes, but they never appeared. Only once during their visit was I aware that they were taping. As far as I remember, they never sat in on the sessions in which directions were given to the student before leaving on a route. At no time were they aware of the communication between me and any student. Because our training is based on students' both building self-confidence and learning how to problem solve, we do not rush in to move students away from stairs, curbs, cars, poles, or other obstacles. With beginning students, problem- solving begins with instruction about how to use a cane and lots of practice to develop a proficient technique. Communication is necessary between a new student and the instructor, who explains what to listen for, what to look for with the cane, and how to handle various situations. Continuing to develop and build on problem-solving skills depends on allowing the student to work through problems faced while traveling on the streets. I try to ask students leading questions to help them think and learn to listen and look for the necessary and useful cues while traveling. When the memo printed in The AER Report states that the students of a blind instructor come into contact with objects too close for safety, the writer can be referring only to the cane's touching objects. In fact, a blind person cannot travel safely without having the cane touch the many objects on the streets. We watched some of the taping the team did one morning. They focused the camera on a student's feet. Then the lens crossed the street to record the presence of a drainage hole at the curb. The camera returned to the walking feet crossing the street. When the student located the drain with her cane and did not fall, the camera immediately left her feet. When all is said and done, it is easy to draw any conclusions you choose as long as you don't bother to look at the entire picture. The video they made has no voice track. For all any one can tell, the students never received a single correction or instruction during all of the taping. Even so, the videographer recorded blind people traveling independently in many different situations. It is always easy to make judgments, but when they are based on half-truths, they have little validity. During the visit the team asked very few questions about how blind travel instructors do their job--again, half a story. This is what Arlene Hill observed, and her comments are corroborated by Ruby Ryles, who has recently served as the Assistant Director of the International Braille Research Center for the Blind. She has observed and understands the methods and techniques used by blind instructors. After reviewing the legal opinion of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mrs. Ryles offered her own comments. Here is her sworn statement. I, Ruby N. Ryles, being first duly sworn depose and state: The AER Report is a newsletter published by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. After reading a narrative in the February, 1996, issue of this newsletter, I felt compelled to come forward to express my deep concern about the information in this report and the manner in which it was compiled. I am also disturbed about the technique used for selecting the information published. A description of the methodology used failed to appear in the report. I am a Research Associate with the International Braille Research Center. I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. Within the next few months I will complete a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. My training in work with the blind was done at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. My teaching career spans thirty years with both sighted and blind children and sighted and blind prospective teachers at the university level. I have worked as an administrator at the state level, as a classroom teacher, as an itinerant teacher, and as a consultant. I have taught teacher education courses at the University of Washington and Louisiana Tech University. During the summers of 1994 and 1995 I held an adjunct faculty position at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. During that time I taught four courses designed to satisfy Louisiana State Department of Education requirements for certification of teachers of blind children. Because the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB) is nationally recognized for its excellence in the field of rehabilitation and because the center continuously provides training for both consumers and professionals, the teacher education courses at Louisiana Tech are taught in cooperation with the staff at LCB. Most of the classes are held at the center, and many sessions are taught by or with the LCB staff members. This unique arrangement provides prospective teachers with experiences unavailable in a more passive environment, such as a lecture/test format. During the summer of 1994, I designed and taught a course entitled "Orientation and Mobility for Persons Who Are Visually Impaired," which was designed to provide teachers of blind children with a basic understanding of mobility techniques used by skilled blind adults and children. One half of the course was comprised of lectures, films, panel discussions, readings, and guest lectures. The other half of the course consisted of individual instruction in the skill of traveling under sleepshades using a cane. All but one of the students was fully sighted. Each of my students was assigned an experienced cane travel instructor from LCB who taught him or her the basic cane travel techniques which should be taught to young blind children. Although the director of LCB employs both sighted and blind cane travel instructors, I specifically requested that only blind instructors be used with my students. After many years as an educator in this field, I have found that blind instructors who are themselves skilled cane travelers impart not only a higher level of problem-solving skills, but a realistic understanding of problems encountered in travel without sight. Moreover, the daily positive example of a competent blind traveler provides a powerful tool to allay my sighted teachers' all-too-common deep- seated misconceptions and fears of independent travel without sight. Using sleepshades (sometimes called blindfolds) and a cane, my students received training in safely crossing streets, orienting themselves to traffic, detecting and avoiding obstacles, and navigating curbs and stairs. Each class period I walked or drove the streets of Ruston observing and measuring the progress of each student. I often observed the lessons from a distance of six to eight feet. Because I did not wish to interrupt the lesson, the student and instructor were unaware of my presence. Never once did I have occasion to question the safety of my students while they were under the instruction of their blind mobility instructors. An incident occurred with the students I was teaching in late July and early August of 1994. During several of the first mobility sessions, I noticed an individual with a home camcorder video taping parts of one of my students' lessons. I noticed that the cameraman was selectively taping. I watched as he sporadically taped very short segments, then lowered his camera and casually studied other pedestrians and items in nearby shop windows. He did not record the entire lesson. As I observed him, the mobility instructor, and my student, it was obvious that he was recording neither the important oral nor the hands-on corrections being made by the blind mobility instructor. The problem-solving process techniques valued and taught by the blind mobility instructor were never taped in their entirety. I wondered if the individual was familiar with techniques of teaching mobility since he was not taping the instructor's oral corrections. I was tempted to approach him to point this out but did not. Inevitably, the partial and spotty tape recording of sessions made the record of the classes incomplete and inadequate for forming valid conclusions. It appeared to me that this was an effort to capture on film the missteps, the miscues, and the stumbles of the trainee and to eliminate from the film the episodes in which corrections were made and counseling was provided. When I later inquired in more depth why this individual was taping my student, I was told by the director of the center that the individual and his two colleagues had been sent by the Department of Veterans Affairs to learn how blind mobility instructors teach. However, the three individuals avoided indicating that they were part of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, which for years has had a policy either to inhibit or to prevent blind instructors from teaching mobility to the blind. These people gained the cooperation of LCB and me by saying that they wished to learn more about the techniques used by blind mobility instructors. They had persuaded the LCB director to allow them to come by telling her that the VA was considering permitting blind mobility instructors to do internships with the VA and that the VA was considering hiring blind mobility instructors. They said that they were at LCB to learn the techniques of blind mobility instructors and any adaptations that might be needed. They presented themselves to the director of the center as objective and willing to learn. Given this, she informed me that she was pleased that LCB would be a part of the process. The cameraman and his colleagues and I were taken to dinner that evening by the director and other staff at LCB. Blind staff members with knowledge of techniques used to teach mobility were present at dinner, but the three individuals made no effort to start or take part in conversations on this subject. The failure to provide complete information about the background of these individuals and the fact that they created a videotape record which emphasized errors and excluded problem-solving techniques, together with their behavior in both professional and social situations, leads me to the reluctant conclusion that they intended deliberately to mislead the director and other staff members about their purposes and intentions. The cameraman did not stay long enough to tape the final lesson of any of my students. After ten two-hour lessons, my sighted students, under sleepshades, crossed four-lane streets and intersections with and without stoplights and handled a variety of independent travel obstacles. They learned the safe techniques to accomplish independent travel under sleepshades because of their blind mobility instructors. I never once felt concern for the safety of my students during their lessons. During the final class period (an evaluation session with me) students unanimously agreed that the training under sleepshades provided at LCB was invaluable to their future teaching. When they were asked how I could improve the course, the majority responded with requests for additional training under sleepshades from LCB. The fact that their instructors were blind was simply never an issue. Ruby Ryles [PHOTO: This picture shows Arlene Hill walking down the street using her cane. CAPTION: Arlene Hill] Teaching Cane Travel Blind? by Arlene Hill From the Editor: Some months ago Arlene Hill wrote the following article about teaching cane travel as a blind instructor. Here it is: When I was invited to write this article, I wondered what I could possibly say. I was asked to write about any special problems blind people have teaching orientation and mobility. In my view this notion is one of the greatest misunderstandings in the blindness field. The differences, philosophical and practical, seem to arise from the different techniques employed by sighted and blind instructors. I grew up in Iowa. I attended both the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton and Knoxville High School, the local public high school in my hometown. I never had a cane in my hand while I was growing up. I believed that canes were for blind people less capable than I. My attitudes were no better than those of most sighted people. The common belief is that blind people are really not very capable when it comes to independent mobility. Though well-trained blind people overcome this myth, it persists among most sighted people because they have not undergone extensive sleep-shade training. After graduating from high school, I became a student at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, where I was introduced to the long white cane--long enough to reach my chin. I was taught how to use this cane by a sighted instructor who had undergone extensive sleep-shade training. It was immediately obvious to me that this cane was not just a symbol of blindness but a tool that could be used to achieve true freedom. I have been a user of the long white cane for more than thirty years; and, as time has passed, the length of my cane has increased until it is now as tall as I am. Some may find this fact curious; however, as one increases in both skill and confidence, one's walking pace naturally increases. Thus one needs more stopping distance in which to react to potential obstacles, and the increased length affords that distance. My education after attending the Iowa Commission for the Blind was in the field of special education, with emphasis on teaching the mentally disabled. I taught blind, mentally handicapped individuals in a state hospital school for some years. I then taught for three years at Blind Industries and Services of Maryland in Baltimore and nine at the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston, Louisiana, where I am currently employed. As I see it, the major differences between blind and sighted instructors are philosophical. Different techniques follow naturally from the different philosophies. It seems to me that the variation in techniques causes some of the so-called problems we blind instructors face. Let's begin with what we call ourselves: orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists versus cane-travel instructors. As a blind person I teach other blind people how to use the cane properly. The technique is straightforward and simple and is one of the easiest tasks for most students to learn. However, what follows mastery of this technique is what seems to make the difference between those taught by blind and those taught by sighted instructors because this later instruction enables the student to develop self-confidence and the problem-solving skills necessary to achieve true independence. O and M specialists, on the other hand, seem to spend much time with pre-cane techniques, sighted-guide training, and protective methods. For example, like me, most blind instructors I know use route travel in teaching our students. We send them on assigned routes which have been carefully planned to teach students how to deal with various types of travel problems, using problem-solving skills. As a blind traveler and a blind instructor, I believe there are two keys to being a good independent cane traveler. They are the same things that make good drivers: self-confidence and problem-solving skills. Building self-confidence is as important in learning to drive as it is for blind persons learning to travel independently. As children grow, they cannot wait to drive, but when they sit behind the wheel for the first time, they find it pretty frightening. The same is true for a blind traveler: the first time he or she goes out on the street with a cane is very frightening, because this, too, is unfamiliar territory, requiring the use of undeveloped skills. The sound of traffic and the thought of potential harm may be overwhelming to many blind travelers, just as being behind the wheel of a fast- moving vehicle is to many young drivers. In both cases they return from their first trip and all is well--or at least it was not quite as bad as they thought it would be. Each future trip becomes less frightening. As time passes, the drivers, as well as the blind travelers, build confidence until they truly believe in themselves. Most people, blind and sighted alike, tend to do and become what others expect them to. If their instructor has high expectations for them and they have high expectations for themselves, they learn that they can travel everywhere, mostly unassisted. A good blind traveler believes in his or her ability to negotiate obstacles and expects to take on travel challenges throughout each day. Most sighted persons, unless extensively trained under sleep shades, do not believe that a blind person can successfully traverse the many unfamiliar hazards they might come across daily. Yet since a blind instructor is used to facing these challenges, he or she will expect and encourage students to do likewise. The next key is problem-solving skills, important for both drivers and blind cane travelers. Can the person learn to use the entire environment to remain oriented or, when confused, to reorient? We teach drivers always to keep watching, their eyes constantly moving. The good driver looks continuously for landmarks, signs, traffic patterns, and traffic cues. As a travel teacher I also teach blind persons to use everything around them for the same purpose: the sun and breeze as directional tools, traffic cues, traffic patterns, sense of smell, familiar and unfamiliar sounds, and landmarks found with the cane. All of these skills--listening, feeling sun, locating objects with a cane, and quickly assessing the situation--must be taught. Who knows these skills better than a person who depends on them daily for normal, safe, and efficient travel? This is not to say that every independent blind person can teach cane travel. It is, however, true that a capable teacher who has become a good independent cane traveler through daily practice can impart this skill and knowledge to another blind person naturally and easily. It is very important that the blind instructor go on travel routes with any new student for the first several trips, then observe the student closely, especially at key trouble spots. Some would say that having to do so much walking is a problem for a blind instructor. A sighted instructor can hop in a car and observe the student from comfortable heat or air conditioning, while the blind instructor is out in all types of weather. However, since the blind instructor is right there, he or she can much more easily and quickly communicate with the student when necessary. Initially, constant communication is essential to remind the student to look for landmarks, listen to traffic, cross parking lots efficiently, and so forth. Therefore, what most sighted specialists would consider a problem, I consider an advantage. Many of these skills must be reinforced more than once, sometimes more than just orally. Often a hands-on method works best. The blind instructor is right there to give immediate help and advice. The biggest problem blind instructors have, according to most sighted ones, is that we cannot see the environment in front of the student in order to protect him or her from tree limbs, construction, or other barriers. I do not agree. In my view this is a legitimate difference in professional philosophy. Sighted orientation and mobility specialists generally have a protective attitude toward their blind students, whereas blind instructors use a realistic approach in their teaching. Sighted specialists seem to believe that blind people need protection and are not able to travel with genuine independence anyway. Blind instructors are independent cane travelers themselves, so they have no doubt that blind students can learn to travel as well or better than the instructor, if they can acquire the self-confidence. The reality is that occasionally a branch will be in the way, and the blind traveler may strike it. There is sometimes construction on a travel route. The student must learn how to identify these things and how to deal with them. It is an advantage to travel in real-life situations during training in order to learn to use problem-solving skills. If a blind student is protected from real-life experiences, of course, he or she will not travel much independently when the training ends. Because the protective sighted instructor does not teach the student to handle such things, the student naturally concludes that it is not possible for a blind person to cope with them. If, on the other hand, students face these things during training, they will learn that they can face and master any travel situation that comes their way. At first blind students are frightened and need much encouragement. Seeing other blind people using canes to move about capably and efficiently can make a big difference to a frightened student. All of us, blind and sighted alike, look for role models in new situations. The blind instructor can be that role model to the new travel student. Having said all this, I believe that the biggest problem facing a blind cane-travel instructor is the almost constant discrimination from his or her sighted peers. Blind cane-travel instructors are told they cannot do the job, in spite of the many successful independent cane travelers they have taught. In my experience, most blind people prefer being taught by a blind instructor, because they have confidence in the instructor's ability and because they know their instructor's skills are tried and true and are used daily by thousands of other blind people. Being constantly criticized and told that you are limited in what you can do because of blindness can become a real problem. However, the success of the many blind independent travelers taught by blind instructors provides the most convincing proof. Compare these results with the travel skills of the more protected and sheltered blind people taught by sighted O&M specialists. I am not arguing that the profession of cane-travel instruction should be limited to blind persons. I am saying that we, as blind instructors, have valid methods that should be considered on their own merit. The alternative methods used by blind instructors are just as sound as the usual prescribed certified methods of cane-travel instruction advocated by sighted O&M specialists. Finally, an ongoing problem for blind instructors is that they are not fully certifiable by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). Because our methods are different, blind instructors are barred from the high financial benefits paid by many of the state and private agencies to sighted O&M specialists. I look at some of the advertisements for O&M specialists, and the money looks wonderful. We blind instructors cannot obtain these jobs simply because we do not meet the requirements established by sighted O&M specialists, although we have helped hundreds reach true independence. I realize that this article does not talk much about the problems blind instructors face on the job. This is because, after searching my mind and heart, I honestly do not believe that there are many problems that blind instructors have that they do not share with sighted instructors. I have been as honest as I know how to be, after twelve years of teaching in both a metropolitan city with buses and subways and a small town with cabs and walking. The most prevalent problem facing blind cane- travel instructors is caused by the dichotomy between the philosophy of blind, non-certifiable instructors and that of most sighted, certified instructors. If this discrepancy could be eliminated, there would be more candidates to fill vacancies in cane-travel instruction; therefore, more opportunities would be available for blind people to learn independent cane travel. A Letter from the Trenches: Straight Talk About Cane Travel by Georginia Kleege From the Editor: Listening to erudite discussions among orientation and mobility instructors about cross-body technique, shorelines, hand position, and arc-width, its easy to forget that the fundamental principle of successful cane travel is to use a long white cane efficiently to find out as much as possible about the terrain immediately in front of one. As the writer of the following letter says, "It isn't rocket science." It is mostly common sense and enough practice to gain confidence in the tool and the technique. As the preceding two articles demonstrate, these ideas are heresy in some circles, but to Georginia Kleege they just make sense. Here is the letter she wrote to the National Federation of the Blind: Columbus, Ohio July 29, 1996 National Federation of the Blind Baltimore, Maryland Dear NFB: This is a letter of thanks to the NFB in general and to the staff of the materials center in particular. I recently ordered a white cane from the materials center and want to express my appreciation to the employee who answered the phone (sadly I didn't get her name) for all the help and advice. I was prompted to call the NFB when my local rehabilitation agency refused to sell me a cane because I have not received mobility instruction from their specialists. I am, to use the experts' phrase, "legally blind with some usable sight." I have been blind for almost thirty years but never received mobility instruction because the experts felt I didn't need it. I made clear that I was willing to pay for my cane myself and that I would even pay for mobility instruction if they insisted, but I was unwilling to have my case reopened and my needs re-evaluated. By their standards my needs have not changed because my vision has not changed. It's true that I can see most obstacles in my path, and I seldom bump into pedestrians or fire hydrants. But I cannot, for instance, always see traffic signals. I have learned to interpret traffic sounds to know when to cross the street. When I ask strangers for directions, they usually assume I can see where they're pointing. When I explain that I cannot, they often become confused, distressed, or so overly solicitous that it turns my simple request into a major ordeal. Do I need a white cane to get where I want to go? Perhaps not, but it seems to me that a white cane will help me get there with greater safety and less embarrassment for all concerned. I am so grateful that the NFB was there to call. The staff member at the materials center answered my questions without making me feel foolish, recalcitrant, or self-pitying. I am also grateful that I have friends, NFB members and others, who have offered to help me get started. And I have read Care and Feeding of the Long White Cane, which I found extremely useful. The instructions are so clear and down-to-earth, I feel I can learn cane travel from the book alone. Cane travel is not rocket science. I feel confident that with practice I can learn it. I am sure the experts would not like to hear this. If everyone learned cane travel from a book and their friends, someone might be out of a job. Fortunately, the NFB gives blind people an alternative to such experts and their opinions. Thank you. Sincerely, Georginia Kleege Member, NFB of Ohio [PHOTO/CAPTION: Melody Lindsey] Helping the Sighted to See From the Editor: Week in and week out one of the most important jobs Federationists are called upon to undertake is educating the public. Not only do uninformed people need help recognizing the very real and substantial problems facing blind people, but often they require instruction to comprehend what they are actually looking at. When the instruction is of this latter kind, it requires great tact not to embarrass ignorant but well-meaning citizens unnecessarily. This challenge faced members of the National Federation of the Blind of Alaska on July 14, 1996. On that day the editorial page of the Anchorage Daily News included the following letter: Obstacles Menace the Blind Recently I was looking out my office window at the corner of Fourth Avenue and H Street and noticed there were several blind people walking down the street. My attention was drawn to one man in particular because he was having an extremely difficult time maneuvering around the planter area at the new courthouse, and on two occasions he actually stumbled over the planter. I became even more concerned as I continued to watch this gentleman. He managed to get across H Street without incident, but when he got back on Fourth Avenue, he became disoriented when he got to the Pioneer Bar because he got caught between the wooden Indian's arm and the sidewalk advertisement. He had a very difficult time getting his bearings because of all the obstacles that are sitting out on Fourth Avenue. It broke my heart as I watched him try to make his way down Fourth Avenue. I realize that businesses are entitled to advertise, but shouldn't they be required to do so in such a way that people won't be injured? These sidewalk advertisements are certainly harmless enough to sighted people, but they are a definite menace to the blind. I hope the businesses on Fourth Avenue and elsewhere will take note and move their sidewalk signs out of the way of the blind. Faye Stevens, Anchorage That's what Ms. Stevens said, and Melody Lindsey, President of the National Federation of the Blind of Alaska responded in a letter published July 21: Problem for Blind Not on Street I am responding to Faye Stevens's letter of July 14, from the perspective of one of the other blind persons who was with the individual she described. When I first read her letter, I was perplexed, but I have decided that she has provided an opportunity to educate the public about blindness. Ms. Stevens wrote that she saw "several blind people" walking down Fourth and H. However, her attention was focused on one individual who appeared to have trouble negotiating the sidewalk displays. What about the other blind people? Did she wonder what the difference was between the way they traveled and the apparent difficulty the one individual was having? I submit that the difference lies in the experience, confidence, and skill that blind people choose to acquire. I encountered the same obstacles as the person Ms. Stevens observed, yet I had the skills and confidence to conclude that I needed to go around them just as everyone else does. I may not be able to ascertain information visually, but by using the cane, I can find objects on the sidewalk and deduce that they are not going to get up and move solely for my convenience. The only way that blind people can obtain good problem- solving skills is by working through difficulties that arise and moving on. If someone is always there to correct problems for them, they will never gain accuracy and confidence in their own capabilities. The real obstacles to the blind include misconceptions about blindness, lack of opportunity, unemployment, lack of quality training, and lack of high expectations by society in general. If the physical barriers on Fourth and H were the only ones we had to deal with, we would be in pretty good shape economically and socially. To the businesses along these streets I say: please do not move your displays solely to help the blind. I would like to invite Ms. Stevens and anyone else who would like to learn more about the blind to call the National Federation of the Blind of Alaska office at 566-2620. I believe that together we can change what it means to be blind. Melody Lindsey, President National Federation of the Blind of Alaska In the same spirit and also on July 21, Tracy Kuzara, a travel teacher who had been with the group Ms. Stevens observed, added her perspective to the discussion. This is what she said: Blind Students Are Learning I am writing in response to Faye Stevens's letter of July 14. I was also there that day on Fourth Avenue when she saw that blind man "having difficulty." She didn't mention the several other blind people who were having no difficulty whatsoever. They were getting around with much ease. I work at the school where these individuals are learning the alternative techniques for everyday living. On that particular day there were two instructors with the students out on Fourth Avenue. Yes, walking around on the streets and around wooden Indians happens to be one of the things they learn. Although mistakes may happen from time to time, I don't feel that the signs should be moved. The students are learning how to maneuver around these types of obstacles. While they are out walking and find an obstacle with the cane such as a wooden Indian or a planter, they can figure their own way around it without someone yelling, grabbing, or pulling on them. Blind people should be treated with the same respect you would like to receive as a sighted person. I know that Ms. Stevens was writing out of concern. But please realize that if the signs were a menace to the blind, we would take measures to have them moved, but they are not. The blind should be able to go where they want when they want just as the sighted do. They don't want special treatment; treat them as you would any other person. If they have questions, they will ask you for assistance. Tracy Kuzara, Anchorage Have you considered leaving a gift to the National Federation of the Blind in your will? By preparing a will now, you can assure that those administering your estate will avoid unnecessary delays, legal complications, and substantial tax costs. A will is a common device used to leave a substantial gift to charity. A gift in your will to the NFB can be of any size and will be used to help blind people. Here are some useful hints in preparing your will:  Make a list of everything you want to leave (your estate).  Decide how and to whom you want to leave these assets.  Consult an attorney (one you know or one we can help you find).  Make certain you thoroughly understand your will before you sign it. For more information contact the National Federation of the Blind, Special Gifts, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998, (410) 659-9314, fax (410) 685-5653. [PHOTO: This picture is taken from the back of a meeting room which is filled with people. CAPTION: The Columbia Room at the Holiday Inn, Capital was filled to capacity well before the Sunday afternoon briefing began.] The 1997 Washington Seminar by Barbara Pierce By now everyone in the National Federation of the Blind knows that the first week of February means one thing in our organizational calendar: the Washington Seminar. Activities actually began Friday evening, January 31, with the student division party at the Capitol Holiday Inn. But the daylong Mid-Winter Conference of the National Association of Blind Students that took place the following day was only one of the preliminary programs that weekend. So many groups had scheduled meetings at the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore that virtually every one of the fifty-two beds at the Center was occupied. The Comprehensive Braille Training Advisory Committee, the NFB Research and Development Committee, the International Braille Research Center Board of Trustees, and its Research Fellows were all working in Baltimore. Meanwhile at the Capitol Holiday Inn in Washington, the student conference was capped by a banquet for nearly 200 who enjoyed an address by Dr. Jernigan. Sunday morning the loaders had to turn people away from the busses taking Federationists to tour the National Center. Well over a hundred found seats, and some at least of the two dozen others were able to make the trip and tour later in the week. During the afternoon a number of seminars and meetings took place at the hotel. These included parents, Associate recruiters, merchants, lawyers, and those interested in the American Communications Network business opportunity. By 5:00 p.m. the Columbia Room on the hotel's lower level didn't even have standing room left for those gathering for the briefing. Luckily the public address system speakers used the day before to allow the registration team to hear the student seminar were still available to broadcast the briefing to the large group who could not get into the room at all. Estimates put the size of the crowd at over 500. Forty-eight states and Puerto Rico were represented, and all but three members of the NFB Board of Directors were on hand. President Maurer and Dr. Jernigan updated the group on recent activities at the National Center and on issues of importance to all of us. Then Jim Gashel, Director of Governmental Affairs, briefed the crowd on what we would be discussing with members of the 105th Congress during the next several days. We had three issues this year. The first was to urge both houses of Congress to introduce legislation that would reestablish linkage between the stipends paid to blind Social Security Disability Insurance recipients and those of working retirees under the age of seventy. Though we didn't know it at the time, Barbara Kennelly would soon introduce H.R. 612 in the House of Representatives, and Senator John McCain would introduce a similar bill as S. 375 in the Senate. At this writing (in early March) H.R. 612 had sixty-two cosponsors, and S. 375 had eleven. We still have a good bit of work to do in the months ahead. The second issue was the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which has already been introduced in the House with very strong Braille literacy provisions. Our message was that these provisions as they now stand must be part of the final legislation passed this year. The third concern we took to the Hill was the need for continued efforts to strengthen the Rehabilitation Act when it comes up for reauthorization later this year. We must do everything we can to insure that the specialized rehabilitation services that are an integral part of getting disabled citizens back into the workforce must not be turned over to one-stop- shopping job centers serving everyone needing employment services. As usual Sandy Halverson and her staff of volunteers did wonderful work in the Mercury Room managing the schedule of meetings and taking reports on them after they took place. The job is huge and is carried out entirely in Braille. The importance of having the records completely accessible to Braille readers was demonstrated this year when the computer system went down, leaving the crew to prepare reports for Mr. Gashel by hand. The team was equal to the challenge, but it was amazing to see just how far the Mercury operation has evolved in recent years as the computer has become more and more central in producing Braille reports. By late in the week, the appointments had been kept, the reports made, and the peanut butter pie in the hotel dining room eaten; and Federationists headed home to do the all-important follow-up work with Congressional staff members. We left knowing that we had made a good start on this year's legislative agenda, but only a start. Now the real work begins. There is certainly enough to go around. Here are the texts of the legislative agenda and the three fact sheets we took to Congress: [PHOTO/CAPTION: James Gashel addresses the crowd at the opening briefing of the 1997 Washington Seminar.] Legislative Agenda, 1997 FROM: Members of the National Federation of the Blind TO: Members of the 105th 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. Public policies and laws that result from misconceptions about blindness or lack of information are often more limiting than the loss of eyesight itself. This is why we have formed the National Federation of the Blind. 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. Our priorities for the first session of the 105th Congress reflect an urgent need for action in three specific areas of vital importance to the blind this year. (1) Congress should restore work incentive equity for blind individuals by re-enacting the identical earnings exemption threshold for blind and senior citizen beneficiaries under Title II of the Social Security Act. This proposal seeks to reduce (or eliminate altogether) the work disincentive of the Social Security earnings limit as it now affects blind beneficiaries. In spite of a law passed in 1977 creating a logical and identical earnings exemption threshold for blind people and retirees, beneficiaries who are blind were singled out for exclusion from a series of seven specified annual increases in the exempt amount mandated under a new law solely for seniors. This means that a lower earnings limit for the blind--$12,000 as compared to $13,500--is now in effect. By 2002, when the exemption for seniors becomes $30,000, the lower limit created by Congress for the blind in 1996 will be less than half the amount allowed for seniors unless the law is changed. People of working age who are blind must not be forgotten now that the earnings exemption for retirees has been raised. Just as with hundreds of thousands of seniors, their positive response to the higher amounts of earnings allowed will bring additional revenues into the Social Security trust funds. The chance to work, earn, and pay taxes is a constructive and valid goal for senior citizens and blind Americans alike. This is why the statutory linkage of the exempt earnings amounts which existed under the law for almost twenty years should be restored. For more details and an explanation of the need for this legislation, see the fact sheet entitled "WINNING THE CHANCE TO EARN AND PAY TAXES: HOW THE BLIND PERSON'S EARNINGS LIMIT IN THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT MUST BE CHANGED." (2) Congress should amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to include provisions for strengthening programs of Braille literacy instruction. This can be done by enacting Braille literacy for blind persons provisions as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Goal Five of the National Education Goals declares that by the year 2000, "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 34 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 10 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-eight states, can help to reverse this trend. For more details and an explanation of the need for this legislation, see the fact sheet entitled "BRAILLE LITERACY AND THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT." (3) Congress should enact legislation this year to reauthorize the existing federal/state program of vocational rehabilitation. This program, as currently authorized under Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is now in its final year before action must be taken to continue grants to states for serving persons with disabilities, including people who are blind. During the 104th Congress vocational rehabilitation was among the programs first included but later removed from a proposed job training, education, and employment system consolidation bill. Nonetheless, with the program's reauthorization due for consideration this year, the possibility of consolidation with other programs has been discussed and could be proposed again. Vocational rehabilitation has been recognized as a specific responsibility to be shared by the federal government and the states for seventy-seven years. The mixture of this program (intended to address essential and complex disability-related needs) with generic job training, education, and employment programs for the general population is a fundamentally flawed concept. For someone who becomes blind in mid-career, unemployment is only one of many consequences. By comparison, however, the need for special help to deal with blindness is by far the most profound initial problem. This is why vocational rehabilitation services should continue to receive dedicated federal funding to support a targeted and identifiable service delivery system. For more details and an explanation of the need for reauthorization see the fact sheet entitled "Blindness, Rehabilitation, and the Need for Specialized Programs." 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, and the needs of the nation's blind are among them. By acting on these priorities 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. [PHOTO/CAPTION: James Gashel (left) shakes hands with Senator Pete V. Domenici [R-NM]. __________ Fact Sheet Winning the Chance to Earn and Pay Taxes: How the Blind Person's Earnings Limit in the Social Security Act Must be Changed BACKGROUND: The Social Security earnings limit, also known as the "retirement test," was recently changed by Congress. The new law, which first took effect in 1996, provides a 1997 earnings exemption threshold of $13,500 and specifies five more annual increases to reach an earnings exemption of $30,000 in the year 2002. In making the case for this change, advocates in Congress explained that senior citizens in greater numbers would now have the opportunity to work, earn, and pay taxes. In spite of a law passed in 1977 creating a logical and identical earnings exemption threshold for blind people and retirees under Social Security, beneficiaries who are blind were singled out for exclusion from the new, mandatory raises in the earnings exemption. This means that a lower earnings limit for the blind--$12,000 as compared to $13,500--is now in effect. By 2002, when the exemption for seniors becomes $30,000, the lower limit created by Congress for the blind in 1996 will be less than half the amount allowed for seniors unless the law is changed. At that point a blind individual, age sixty-four, with earnings of approximately $14,400 will lose entitlement to any payment whatsoever from Social Security. But the same individual, upon becoming age 65, will be permitted to earn up to $30,000 before there is any effect upon eligibility for Social Security. This is clearly a counterproductive federal policy which speaks of work incentives for the blind but for seniors provides actual continuation of monthly cash benefits as a tangible incentive to work. EXISTING LAW: Section 216(i) of the Social Security Act specifies what "blindness" means. The definition of blindness is clearly stated in medical terms. Therefore, blindness can be determined quite reliably on the basis of objective medical evidence. This unique feature of the Social Security Act makes blindness the only defined disability. All other disabilities are determined on the basis of an individual's "inability to engage in substantial gainful activity." This inability is actually hard to determine reliably in many cases. Although blindness is precisely defined, monthly disability insurance benefits are not paid to all persons who are blind. Under the law benefits are only paid to those people who are blind and who do not have substantial earnings. Personal wealth not resulting from current work activity does not count as earnings and has no effect on eligibility. Only work is penalized. The amount of earnings considered to be "substantial" for working people who are blind is $1,000 per month ($12,000, annually). The procedure for adjusting this exempt amount for each year remains in effect under the law passed in 1977 but applies at present to the blind only, since increases in the exempt amount for seniors were mandated in 1996. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS: Congress should restore work incentive equity for blind individuals by re-enacting the identical earnings exemption threshold for blind and senior citizen beneficiaries under Title II of the Social Security Act. Legislation to achieve this objective is being offered in the 105th Congress by Representative Barbara Kennelly. Mrs. Kennelly is the ranking minority member on the Subcommittee on Social Security in the House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means. Amendments to retain the identical exemption for blind people and seniors enjoyed broad bipartisan support during the last session of Congress but were blocked from consideration when the provision which raised the exemption limit for seniors was attached to the unamendable debt ceiling bill. The National Federation of the Blind (along with every other organization having interests in the blindness field) strongly supports legislation to restore the identical exemption threshold for the blind and seniors. By creating an earnings limit that is lower for blind people than for seniors, the bill passed last year applies a harsh work disincentive policy to blind Americans. NEED TO REMOVE WORK DISINCENTIVES: Mandating the adjustments in the earnings limit for blind people along with the adjustments for age sixty-five retirees will assure that an estimated 104,300 blind beneficiaries will receive a powerful work incentive. Most blind people could then not lose financially by working. The mandated earnings limit changes if made applicable to blind people would be cost-beneficial, since among those of working age 70 percent are currently unemployed or underemployed. Most of them are already beneficiaries. At present their earnings must not exceed a strict limit of $1,000 per month. When earnings exceed this exempt amount, the entire sum paid to a primary beneficiary and dependents is abruptly withdrawn after a trial work period. When a blind person finds work, there is absolutely no assurance that earnings will replace the amount of lost disability benefits after taxes and work expenses are paid. Usually they do not. Therefore, few of the 104,300 beneficiaries can actually afford to attempt substantial work. Those who do will often sacrifice income and will certainly sacrifice the security they have from the automatic receipt of a monthly check. This group of beneficiaries--people of working age who are blind--must not be forgotten now that the earnings exemption has been raised for seniors. Just as with hundreds of thousands of seniors, their positive response to the higher amounts of earnings allowed will bring additional revenues into the Social Security trust funds. The chance to work, earn, and pay taxes is a constructive and valid goal for senior citizens and blind Americans alike. __________ Fact Sheet Braille Literacy and the Individuals with Disabilities 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 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 10 percent of what is seen by someone with normal eyesight. During the 1995-1996 school year there were approximately 53,654 such individuals enrolled at the elementary and secondary levels in the U. S. Only 4,657 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 see printed matter with the most intense magnification. 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 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. A proposal to achieve this objective has been included in H.R. 5, the "I.D.E.A. Improvement Act of 1997." The provision on Braille literacy, which was also passed by the House of Representatives during the last session of Congress, is a straightforward requirement to have Braille instruction and services included in the IEP of any child who is blind unless all of the IEP team members agree that Braille is not necessary for the child. The proposal for federal legislation on Braille literacy is necessary to support laws with a similar purpose which twenty- eight states have now enacted. These laws require individualized assessment of a blind student's need for Braille. The federal legislation has been designed to promote Braille services for blind students in order to have a consistent state/federal policy in this area. 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, 34 percent of the blind students at the elementary and secondary levels are "non-readers," and the percentage of non-readers 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. By enacting a strong Braille literacy provision when programs under IDEA are reauthorized this year, 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 Blindness, Rehabilitation, and the Need for Specialized Programs BACKGROUND: Under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, federal grants assist every state to provide comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services to eligible persons with disabilities, including persons who are blind. The program's cost for fiscal year 1997 (the final year of the current authorized funding) is approximately $2.3 billion. STATEMENT OF POSITION: Congress should enact legislation this year to reauthorize the existing vocational rehabilitation program. Vocational rehabilitation has been recognized as a shared federal and state responsibility for seventy-seven years. The program has received consistent and broad bipartisan support in Congress during each major review, leading to its periodic reauthorization. The last reauthorization occurred in 1992. During the 104th Congress vocational rehabilitation was among the programs first included but later removed from a proposed job training, education, and employment system consolidation bill. The most decisive action occurred in the House of Representatives, where an amendment was passed on the floor to exclude vocational rehabilitation from the consolidated service delivery system. Nonetheless, with the program's reauthorization due for consideration this year, the possibility of consolidation with other programs has been discussed and could be proposed again. RATIONALE FOR IDENTIFIABLE, BLINDNESS-SPECIFIC SERVICES: The consolidation approach is based on the theory that the administration and delivery of services to assist the blind are essentially the same as services to dislocated workers or unemployed welfare recipients. However, the mixture of vocational rehabilitation with job training, education, and employment programs for the general population is a fundamentally flawed concept. For example, the following essential rehabilitation services needed by blind individuals are not available from--and are completely unrelated to--generic job training and employment programs: 1. Comprehensive adjustment to blindness services. This training involves a sustained period of concentrated study to acquire the necessary tools for dealing with blindness and moving on to lead a normal life. Success in adjusting to blindness particularly includes integration of skills development with an understanding of relevant personal and social attitudes. 2. Travel training in using the white cane or the guide dog. This service must include all skills necessary to assess and move safely through the environment without seeing one's surroundings. 3. Adaptive methods of reading and writing. This training includes Braille instruction sufficient to perform at the level of literacy required for success in vocational preparation or on the job. Competent use of Braille requires the tactile identification of raised dots presented in prescribed patterns to form letters, numbers, and approximately 200 shorthand contractions commonly used. The extent of training needed will vary in complexity from learning the basic Braille code to specialized notations for computers, foreign languages, music, math, and other disciplines. 4. Assistive technology. This service includes individualized assessment of technology needs, procurement of appropriate devices, and personalized often one-on-one training in the use of the technology. High- or low-technology adaptations include use of specially adapted synthetic speech devices for computers, screen enlargement programs, Braille computer terminals, closed-circuit television or other magnification devices, and reading machines or scanners. For someone who becomes blind in mid-career, unemployment is only one of many consequences. By comparison, however, the need for special help to deal with blindness is by far the most profound initial problem. Failure to provide services which respond to the blind person's fears, lack of confidence, and skills will almost certainly result in lifelong dependence. Under existing law all states are provided with a dedicated block of federal funding for the sole purpose of assisting people with disabilities to achieve individualized rehabilitation goals. Under the consolidation plan, however, both the dedicated funding and the resulting specialized services would essentially be sacrificed to meet other perceived needs. It is a matter of historical fact that state agency organization and service delivery patterns tend to mirror the pattern of federal financial assistance. Moreover, the combination of programs would inevitably favor the largest and best-understood needs to be met. Unique services for blind individuals would be sacrificed in the merger since the needs of a person who is newly blinded are dramatically different from those of the typical unemployed worker. ACTION REQUESTED: Each member of Congress is urged to assist with efforts to assure that programs which provide blindness- specific rehabilitation services are able to continue by: 1. Announcing support for reauthorization legislation to maintain dedicated federal funding and existing requirements for identifiable programs which specialize in providing vocational rehabilitation services; and 2. Opposing efforts to combine the funding and service delivery system of the vocational rehabilitation program with a consolidated job training, education, and employment system for the general population. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Michael Baillif] Telling Our Story by Michael Baillif From the Editor: Michael Baillif is President of the Capital City Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of the District of Columbia. He is also a past president of the National Association of Blind Students (NABS). He was invited to address NABS's Mid-Winter Conference on Saturday, February 1, in Washington, D.C. President Maurer made the following remarks about Michael in connection with that speech. Here are both President Maurer's comments and Michael Baillif's recollections of and reflections on the student division: Michael Baillif is a member of perhaps the stodgiest profession in the history of the world. He is a lawyer--you know about lawyers--but even worse, he is a tax lawyer! He knows about the Internal Revenue Service and the Internal Revenue Code, the distribution deduction and the Tax Equity and Financial Responsibility Act of 1986--he knows all about it. If you want something dull, read about that. It is as dull as you can get! If you have trouble sleeping, I can recommend a book, written by Michael Baillif. He's a tax lawyer, and he's good at it, very good. He works for one of the top tax law firms in the United States. Using this stodgiest of all knowledge, Michael Baillif helps to represent companies whose worth is in the billions. In other words, Michael helps to make tax policy in the courts of the United States of America. You may think that the tax law is dull, and you are right unless you have to pay the tax man and with Michael's help you can find a way out of it. But I'll tell you something; Michael Baillif is not dull. You have seen that today. He has committed a very fine mind to what we have been talking about all day: our belief in ourselves and each other and our effort to create a mechanism to bring enough pressure to bear to compel others to recognize and value our abilities. He has made something impressive of all this, but all of us have also had a hand in shaping him. Did Michael do it? Sure he did. Could he have done what he has without us? No, he could not. Could we have shaped him without his ability and drive? Not at all. His success is our success; his enthusiasm is shared with us. For my part, I am proud of Michael Baillif and glad that he is my colleague in the movement. "You are an evil generation; you wait for a sign." "You are a perverse generation; you wait for an answer." "You are a lost generation; you seek both reason and purpose." These are all statements that have been made about earlier generations. But they are equally applicable to us here today. We each come seeking something that we have not yet found: a sign, a reason, an answer, a purpose. Today we are beginning, just beginning, to build some bridges and establish an identity. A few weeks ago I stayed late at a party. Those of us who remained were sitting around drinking very good Scotch and talking about philosophy. A friend posed an interesting question. He asked, "What do you think has been the most important career in the history of the world?" I responded flippantly, "An attorney, of course." He said, "No, the storyteller because people's beliefs and actions and identities are in large part determined by where they fit into a story." Whether that story revolves around a religion or an ethnicity or a family or an individual dream, it has tremendous power to shape and mold, to motivate and to energize. If I told you there is a story of hidden pain and fearful loneliness, a story of awesome determination and quiet courage, a story of constant struggle and ultimate achievement, would you want to hear it? Would you wonder whom it was about and how it ended? Well, it is my story, and it's your story, and it's the shared story of all blind people in this room and outside it. It's a story that's gone on for a long time, that took on new focus when this organization was formed more than fifty years ago, and that will be concluded by those of us with the strength and courage and passion to write it. Let me tell you just a small part of this story as it relates to what brings us here today, the National Association of Blind Students. For a time I had a chance to serve as president in this organization that Carlos now guides so ably and so conscientiously. I can tell you that it was one of the best experiences of my life. Those of us who formed the leadership in the National Association of Blind Students, which in my heart will always be just the Student Division [applause], did two things: we worked hard and we had fun. We established this national conference of blind students some seven years ago. We initiated the Monte Carlo Night. We regularly published the Student Slate, and we went out and organized student chapters in New York, Texas, Oregon, and Minnesota. We worked hard and achieved much, but we also had fun. We used to stay so late in bars that they had to throw us out. We talked of blindness and life and nothing at all. Today I really don't remember the content of those conversations, but they were very important at the time. We put on student division parties that were so good they rarely lasted for more than two hours before being closed down by hotel security. And we laughed a great deal, most of the time with one another, occasionally at each other. For as Jane Austen says, "For what do we live, but to be made sport of by our neighbors and to laugh at them in our turn?" And the people: they mattered more than anything else. There were Scott LaBarre and Melody Lindsey, Maria Morais and Tom Ley, Dan Fry and Melissa Williamson, Jennifer Dunham and Pam Dubel, all of whom are involved today and doing very upright and respectable things. But I'm sorry to say that we had so much fun during those days that the very best stories can never be told. While I was president, I saw many things. Some things made me furious: the self-satisfied disability offices that because of their own pride and power and petty gratification strove to dominate the lives of blind students and push them into dependency, the apartment owner who refused to rent a room on a second floor to a blind student because he didn't think she could climb the stairs, the mobility instructor who threatened to break the long white cane of a blind student if he ever caught her bringing it to school. I saw some things that made me want to cry, such as the blind students who themselves bought into the notions of infirmity and incapacity that the disability offices were selling, or the students who came to this event or to a national convention knowing in their hearts that we had what they needed desperately, but were so overwhelmed and afraid that they went away and never came back. There were students who went to get residential training and for the first time found out what it was like to live, but then went home, where they were viewed as having little more capacity than a rocking chair and sat in that rocking chair and are still sitting there today. But I also saw many things that made me laugh: Joanne Wilson all dressed up and ready to go to Mardi Gras in a tiger costume complete with flaming orange wig and a tail made from one of Jerry Whittle's old dress socks, or the time at a National Convention when I got out of bed one morning and bumped into my roommate, who was standing on his head doing Yoga meditation. Then there was the Student Division party that had been going on for only half an hour when security came to close it down, and Melody Lindsey refused to let them in until they paid a cover charge. And I saw many things that made me incredibly proud, such as looking out over the Student Division meeting audience at the 1989 convention in Denver and realizing that the room was full. The speaker was saying something important, and people were listening, really listening. There were wonderful moments when I heard that an event we had sponsored had been important to someone, had meant something, had helped that person deal with an issue, surmount a hurdle, or simply feel good, even though none of us had known it at the time. And there were times like today when I would meet blind students much further along than I was at their age--at your age. I can see unlimited potential, all that they and you can be and do and give. So what is the Student Division to me now? Well, it is everything about which I have just spoken. It's the story that I have just told about days gone by. But it is much, much more than that. It's new ideas and energy and hope. In your hands lies the continuation of our story, and not just at some vague point in the future, but right now. Today you can go out and organize and fight for that which is good and right, and you can have an awful lot of fun doing it. You can become a part of a much larger story, the story that took on new texture fifty years ago when Dr. tenBroek established this organization and that has been evolving through the leadership of Dr. Jernigan and President Maurer. This is a great and powerful story. Yet it is a story the final lines of which have yet to be written. It is you who will write them. You who are seniors in high school and sophomores in college and you who have not yet been exposed to all that this organization is and has to offer: you will tell our story. Where do you begin? You begin by becoming involved in whatever way you can and by accepting the involvement of others on whatever terms they can offer. This is crucial because, if you don't, if you opt out of our story, you will be alone and isolated, and not only that, you will deprive the rest of us of that special something that only you can contribute to the story. This organization provides the only way for us to tell our own story. Unless we are all involved and pull together in whatever way we can, we will allow someone else to tell it for us. We have much too much to say and too much to do and there is too much fun to be had to allow anyone else to do it for us. I've been a part of this story for a very short time, but I intend to be involved in it for a long while to come. I truly hope that you will share it with me and with everyone else in this organization here today. But as Ayn Rand said in The Fountainhead, "Don't work for my happiness, my sisters and brothers, show me yours. Show me your achievement. Show me that it is possible, and the knowledge will give me courage for mine." [PHOTO: A man is seated in front of filled bookcases. CAPTION: Dr. John Smith] Disability Simulation That Works by John W. Smith From the Editor: Dr. John Smith teaches communication studies at the Ohio University in Athens. He is also a leader in the NFB of Ohio. In the following article he offers proof that not all disability simulations are damaging. This is what he says: For the past three years I've had the pleasure of teaching a very special class at Ohio University entitled, "Communicating with the Physically Disabled." To my knowledge it is the only course of its kind at the university level. That was one of the reasons I decided to develop it. Another reason was that the field of communication has, I believe, been quite reluctant to discuss communication and interaction between those with physical disabilities and those without. In addition I developed the class because I thought it could serve as an opportunity for me to dispel myths about blindness specifically and physical disabilities in general. The class has received a lot of media coverage. There have been articles in the Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Chicago Tribune, as well as an NBC television story, which was aired in Dallas, Cleveland, Columbus, and Chicago. In addition to these national and regional stories, the course has been covered by a number of small newspapers (The Athens Messenger, The Athens News, and several radio stations). I taught the class over a five-week period during the summer quarter. The first week was devoted to laying out a theoretical framework. The next three weeks focused on specific disabilities: week two, blindness and visual impairments; week three, deafness and hearing impairments; and week four, mobility impairments. The final week was devoted to class presentations of student-devised workshops. As you might expect, I used the blindness and visual impairment week to unfold the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind--blindness can be reduced to the level of a nuisance, and we are changing what it means to be blind. One of the reasons the class received so much media attention was the simulated exercises we used during the course. The media like the bells and whistles and melodramatics of people rolling around in wheelchairs and using sleep shades or ear plugs. I recognized that, when I implemented these simulated exercises, people would tend to focus more on them than on the content of our message, but after much discussion and thought, I decided I could devise a plan to make these simulated exercises useful for both the students and the general public. Like many other thoughtful blind people, I have had mixed emotions about simulated exercises because they are so often implemented by temporarily able-bodied individuals (TABs) and are designed to be dramatic and entertaining and to convey the wretchedness of a particular disability and the gratitude TABs should feel because they don't have that disability. Factor in the pity that inevitably results, and it's no wonder these exercises leave a bad taste in our mouths. Even given all this, I figured that, in the blindness component at least, I could show my students what an actual blind person's life was like. Through carefully planned course discussions, rigorous journaling, and an exit interview at the end of the course, I thought I could create an atmosphere in which simulation exercises could do some good. I asked the students to participate in one simulated exercise lasting for one twenty-four-hour period. They chose to be blind for twenty-four hours by wearing sleep shades or hearing-impaired by wearing ear plugs and remaining mute or mobility-impaired by using one of our wheelchairs. For the purpose of our discussion here, I've focused on the visual impairment. No matter which exercise they chose to simulate, they had to submit a journal of their experience as well as participate in an exit interview with me concerning the contents of that journal. It's easy to distinguish between falsified or dishonest journals and the authentic ones. One in particular struck me as powerful and instructive. I thought it would be interesting to share with our NFB family. Sarah McConnell was a very quiet, reserved student in my 1996 course. She decided to choose blindness as her simulated exercise. I might add here that, in addition to the individual simulated exercises, during the appropriate week I implement collective simulated exercises as well. For example, during the blindness week I pair a student using a sleep shade and cane with a sighted guide and teach the use of proper techniques. Then we go shopping. I send them on errands and we meet back in the classroom to talk about the experience. The first day the discussion focuses on the negative: how tough it was, how much they hated steps, how time-consuming everything was. I leave it at that the first day. The next day I bring in one or two blind friends from the NFB chapter, and we then go buy things and perform the same errands I had asked the students to perform. The idea is to demonstrate what a trained blind person can do using alternative skills. Back to Sarah: She submitted her journal and I read it. I was impressed by her honesty and creativity and by her willingness to take chances. In my follow-up interview with her I found her genuinely interested in what it would be like to be blind. In short, I left the interview feeling that, if Sarah ever lost her sight, she would be all right. This class gives every indication of continuing to be a success. We are now franchising it to other universities and other organizations, and, though I still have some mixed emotions about simulated exercises, I hope that, when you read Sarah's journal, like me you will begin to see that in the proper context and with the proper implementation and facilitator, these exercises can be useful. Here is Sarah's journal: Disability Days: Visual Impairment Journal by Sarah McConnell I decided to be visually impaired for my second disability day. I have always wondered what it would be like to experience a day without using sight. I think this disability was more authentic than the hearing impairment. Once I put the blindfold on, I could not see anything. I went to bed with the sleepshade on so that I would wake up not able to see. When I woke up, I realized that I had somehow taken it off while I was sleeping, so I quickly shut my eyes before I could really see anything and searched for the blindfold. When I finally found it, I put it back on and went back to sleep. When I finally woke up, I had no idea what time it was. It seemed as if it was still dark out. I had waked up a couple of times and then fallen back asleep because I didn't know the time, and I didn't hear any noises in the living room. I decided I would get up and see if anyone was in the living room since I heard the TV. I walked out of my room, which goes directly into the living room, and paused. I could hear the TV, but there were no other noises in the room. I finally asked if anyone was there, and two people answered me. One was my housemate Chad, and I still have no idea who the other person was. I asked Chad what time it was. Not knowing what time it was really bothered me. It ended up that I hadn't waked up until 2:00 p.m. I made my way through the living room, which is hard because it is so narrow that there is very little space between the couch on one side of the room and the chair on the other. I bumped into the chair, and it was no big deal, but I could hear Chad laughing at me. I went into the bathroom and took my shower. I didn't have any problems to speak of. My shampoo and conditioner are in a hanging shower rack in specific places separated by my shower gel, so I knew which was which. I even shaved my legs without any major flesh wounds, at least not that I know about. Brushing my teeth was no problem at all. I made my way out of the bathroom and back into my room, where I got dressed. I had laid my clothes out before I went to bed, but when I was dressing, I decided I wanted to wear something different, so I searched in my dresser and found what I was looking for. After I got dressed, I went back to the kitchen to get something to eat. I made a salami sandwich, which was quite simple, especially since all of the stuff I needed was in one drawer of the refrigerator. Chad was watching Miracle on 34th Street, so I sat down and watched the end of it while I ate. I had never seen the movie before, so I didn't really know what it was about. There were quite a few scenes in this movie that were solely visual and really confusing to me. I asked Chad what was going on in one of the confusing parts but just let the others go by. What was interesting was that a few days later I saw the movie when I could see and realized that all the visual cues I noticed changed the meaning of the things the characters said. I had a totally different picture of what was meant when I couldn't see the characters. My roommate and another friend were supposed to spend the day with me, but one had dance team practice all day, and the other one's parents came into town. So after Chad left, I was all alone in the house. I called my friend, and she was amazed that I could use the phone. That kind of surprised me, because you can easily feel the separations of the numbers on the phone, so it was simple. I had planned on going to Bob Evans's for dinner, but my roommate ended up having extra practice, so yet again I was left alone. I got really depressed when I realized that I was going to be alone until about 9:30 p.m. I was tired of sitting in the house. I was tired of watching TV. I couldn't read, so I was very bored. There was a knock at my door, and the living room is on the second floor, so I had to work my way down the stairs to answer the door. It wasn't hard at all, but it was kind of scary to open the door and not be able to see who was there. It was just my neighbor, who needed me to move my car because it was blocking him in. Needless to say, he had to do it for me. My driveway is impossible to back out of when you can see; I didn't think it would be too good an idea when I couldn't. When my roommate came home during one of her breaks in practice, I went down to her room, which is on the first floor, to talk to her. She had gotten a huge duffel bag, her pom poms, a warmup jacket, and a couple of new shirts for dance camp; and she tried to explain all these things to me. She did an excellent job of describing. She had me feel the pom poms and bag, and with the jacket and shirts she drew on me how the designs were on them. For example, there was a circle with Ohio University on the front, so she drew a circle on me where it would have been if I had been wearing the shirt. When she left, I decided to make something to eat. I had opened a can of nacho cheese the night before for nachos and decided that I wanted to finish it. The trick was that I had to figure out where I had put it in the refrigerator. I knew it was in a bowl close to the front with aluminum foil on it. I had to taste it in order to find it. It took me two tries; the first thing I tasted was refried beans. I was just glad that I didn't stumble on the three-week-old tuna fish that I knew was in there somewhere. The hardest part was using the microwave. Unlike the phone, the microwave's buttons were not sectioned off. It was just a flat surface, and I couldn't feel where the numbers were. Moreover, with our microwave you have to press the time set button, the amount of time, and then the start button. I could find everything but the time set button. I ended up getting it to heat long enough to make it lukewarm, so I ate nachos and watched TV. When my roommate finally came home, she brought two of the girls that were on the dance team with her so that they could use our shower. I had never met them before, so I had no idea what they looked like. I only got to know them by their voices. They wanted me to go to practice the next day to see if I could tell what they looked like just by having heard their voices. I didn't go to practice the next day, but they did come back over, and I got to see what they looked like. It was an interesting experience to meet people and judge them by their voices and what they said instead of by their looks. They did look different than I had pictured, but it wasn't too much different than I thought. My other friend had come over; and, when the dance team girls left, we decided to go uptown. My roommate Sheila was my sighted guide. We walked uptown from Mill Street. I really wish I could have seen the reactions we got, but according to Sheila and Andrea (my other friend), we got a lot of stares. They decided to take me down Court Street before we went into any bars. One drunk boy reached out and touched my blindfold as we passed him on the street. Quite a few people made dumb comments as they passed us. I realize just how awful the sidewalks in Athens are; they were pretty scary in some places. After we went for a stroll, we went into Tony's. It was a little difficult because there are three steps to go up, but I did fine. According to my friends, we got lots of strange looks at Tony's. We stayed for a little while and decided to go to the bakery for some pizza. When we rounded the corner from Tony's back to Court Street, this very strange boy came right up to me and started talking to me and asking me questions about what I was doing. He got way too close to me; his face was less than an inch from my face. I even think his nose touched me. I did not like that. It seemed like a few people got closer to me than they would have if I could have seen them. When we got to the bakery, the OU cheerleaders were there. Sheila is friends with all of them, and I know a couple of them. They had a great time with the fact that I couldn't see them. There was some sort of picture of me taken, and from what I've heard, I don't think I want to see what they were doing around me. I got my pizza, and we got a table and ate. Sheila and Andrea were amazed at how well I had adapted to not being able to see, but really it wasn't that bad. The only things that really bothered me were things that could be adapted if I really couldn't see: like getting a talking clock, making the microwave so I could feel the numbers, and getting used to walking around by myself. I think driving would be the hardest thing not to be able to do. After we ate we decided to take one more trip down Court Street and then go home. Sheila had been my sighted guide the whole time, so they switched, and Andrea did it for a while. Andrea was a good guide too, but after we switched, I could feel Sheila on my other side guiding me too. She was so protective of me it was funny. I swear, we knew everyone that was uptown that night. I didn't feel self-conscious about the blindfold, which surprised me. Quite a few people stopped and asked what I was doing and why. They wanted to know if I really couldn't see anything, so waving their hands in front of my face was common practice for most of them. One thing I found very humorous was that at least five people asked me if my hearing was better because I couldn't see. I thought about saying, "Why, yes of course, now I hear like Superman." But I guess that would have been inappropriate. On our way back down Mill Street, there was an odd boy in front of us. He didn't see my blindfold at first and just thought that I was really drunk and couldn't walk, but then he realized that I couldn't see. He walked us home and followed behind me with his arms out in case I fell. It was strange that so many people I didn't know came up to me and were extremely protective of me. I guess they thought I would break. The truth is that I suffered no injuries and no falls when I was blind, and I get hurt at least three times a day when I can see where I'm going. The thing I noticed the most was that I had to pay more attention to my other senses, and I had to pay more attention to where I put things. You can figure out where people are in the room by listening just as well as looking, but you don't give your hearing the chance because seeing is quicker. It surprised me that people were so shocked that I could make phone calls, use the microwave, go down the stairs, eat without seeing my food, and walk quickly. All these things were easy, and I won't ever think of a blind person as helpless. This ended up being a good experience, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it. [PHOTO: A number of blind people are seated at tables under a canopy at a sidewalk cafe. CAPTION: Louisiana Center students enjoy coffee and beignets at the Cafe du Monde in the New Orleans French Quarter.] New Orleans--Something for Everyone by Jerry Whittle From the Editor: In about two months the largest gathering of blind people to take place in 1997 will be about to begin. You still have time to arrange to be a part of the fifty-seventh convention of the National Federation of the Blind, but you had better hurry. Call Mr. Cobb at the National Center for the Blind today to make your room reservation. The telephone number is (410) 659-9314. Meantime, to whet your appetite for what you will find in New Orleans, here is Jerry Whittle's latest evocation of the Crescent City: As most Federationists already know, New Orleans is one of the most popular convention cities in the world. Noted for its myriad of so-called adult attractions, New Orleans also affords ample wholesome entertainment for the entire family. This year's National Convention also offers one of the most spacious and elegant hotels in the Crescent City as our headquarters--the Hyatt Regency--just a few blocks from the French Quarter. Connected to the Superdome and a massive shopping complex, the Hyatt-Regency usually serves as the main hotel for major sports events, such as the Super Bowl. Here is a brief description of the Hyatt Regency--just one more reason why this year's Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, June 29 through July 5, is the place to be. Hyatt Regency New Orleans: Discover a city known the world over for its soulful jazz and its Creole cuisine. Located in the heart of downtown just minutes from the historic French Quarter and the scenic riverfront, Hyatt Regency New Orleans captures the flavor of the Crescent City with rich mahogany, beautifully appointed guest rooms, and wrought iron grillwork crafted by talented artisans. Savor famous New Orleans cuisine in its three restaurants and lounges, serving such regional dishes as muffalettas, Crawfish Etoufee, and other tantalizing Cajun creations. Relax in the whirlpool spa, take a dip in the heated pool, or work out in the fully equipped health club. Experience the magic of the Big Easy as only the people of Hyatt can deliver. * Thirty-two-story atrium hotel, including 1,084 guest rooms, 100 suites, and exclusive Regency Club accommodations * Twenty minutes from New Orleans International Airport * Complimentary Hyatt Express shuttle to the French Quarter, Mississippi Riverfront * Heated rooftop pool, whirlpool and fully equipped health club * Business center on site * Connected to the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Centre Shopping Mall, featuring Macy's, Lord & Taylor, and more The Courtyard Restaurant: located on the third floor, is open seven days a week serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Top of the Dome Steakhouse: Enjoy a fantastic view from New Orleans's only revolving rooftop restaurant, located on the thirty-second floor. Menu suggestions include filet mignon, New York Strip, and T-Bone, Smokehouse Ribs and much more. Chocoholic bar and cocktail specials are featured nightly. Hyttops: Located on the third floor, Hyttops Sports Bar offers casual fare and friendly competition with tables, video games, pool, and more. Fitness Room/Swimming Pool: The fitness room, accessible from the fifth floor of the main tower or seventh floor of the Lanai tower, is adjacent to the pool and jacuzzi. A magnificent hotel is only the beginning. New Orleans is dotted with hundreds of interesting shops of every description, and men, women, and children should have few problems finding that special shop of their dreams. In addition to a variety of quaint shops, New Orleans also offers plenty of family entertainment. Enumerated below is a partial list of the places that help to make the Crescent City one of the most popular convention sites in the world. Southern Fossil & Mineral Exchanges A Natural History Gallery, 2045 Magazine Street The South's first gallery to showcase artifacts of nature. In addition to spectacular displays of fossils and minerals, insects, butterflies, meteorites, shells, and skulls are featured. Children's Hour Book Emporium 3308 Magazine Street "One of the best new bookstores of '94," according to the Times-Picayune. New and classic titles, audio and video cassettes, software, compact discs, and artwork by young artists. All That Jazz 829 Decatur Street An impressive selection of CD's, records, and tapes. Art to Wear 910 Decatur Street Hand-painted and appliqued women's and children's wear and accessories are sold at this family-run shop. Lazybug 600 Royal Street and Riverwalk at Poydras Women's contemporary clothing and the store's signature line of wearable art. Payless Souvenirs New Orleans Centre Shopping for Super Bowl souvenirs? Payless is one place not to be missed. Jackson Brewery 600-621 Decatur Street It's jewelry and fashions. It's spicy shrimp and Creole cuisine. It's fireworks and festivals--a unique collection of shops, restaurants, stores, and boutiques. Louisiana Music Factory 210 Decatur Street Offers both new and used music products, giving shoppers a larger selection of rare tunes on both vinyls and CD's. Audubon Zoo 6500 Magazine Street See more than 1,800 endangered or rare animals, including the exotic white alligators. City Park: City Park Ave. City Park has something for the whole family. It features a world class botanical garden, storyland (a children's wonderland of rides), the Carousel Gardens, paddle-boat rentals for two, horseback riding, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Louisiana Children's Museum: 420 Julia Street Features two floors of colorful, educational, and imaginative hands-on exhibits. Louisiana State Museum: 701 Chartres Street Five important historic properties make up this expansive complex in New Orleans: The Cabildo, Presbytere, Arsenal, and 1850 House on Jackson Square plus the old U.S. Mint on Esplanade Avenue. Louisiana Superdome: Connected to the Hyatt Regency Tour one of America's largest and finest domed stadiums. Nottoway Plantation: White Castle, Louisiana (a one-hour drive from New Orleans) Experience and savor the aristocratic splendor that was the Old South. Nottoway is the ultimate in Southern grandeur, Southern hospitality at its finest. Aquarium of the Americas: 1 Canal Street Explore underwater worlds teeming with exotic marine life. Entergy Imax Theatre Film Special Effects: 1 Canal Street A behind-the-scenes-look at Hollywood magic. Come experience the magic of illusion on a screen ten times bigger than a traditional movie screen. Riverwalk: On the Mississippi River at Poydras Street This unique center features 140 stores and restaurants stretching a half mile along the Mississippi riverfront. The Big Easy truly aims to please everyone, but the real entertainment will be the opportunity to attend the largest gathering of blind people in the world. Despite all the distractions of the Crescent City, the major focus will still be the wonderful general sessions, the informative speakers, the division meetings, and the banquet. New Orleans truly teems with life, but above all this is our chance to work together for a brighter future for all blind people. Take advantage of this opportunity to make new friendships and renew old acquaintances in a wonderful spirit of camaraderie. Laissez le bon temps roulet! [PHOTO: Two little girls sit holding a toy together. CAPTION: Macy and Madison McLean from Ohio. PHOTO: A small blind boy is sitting on the floor fitting a shape into a shape-sorter toy. CAPTION: Bryan Hergert of Washington state plays in NFB camp. PHOTO: A woman standing with a guide dog talks to her interpreter by signing into her hand. A man looks on. CAPTION: Kathleen Spear (right) talks through her interpreter (center) to Bob Eschbach (left).] 1997 Convention Attractions From the Editor: Every year's National Convention is an absolutely unique event. The agenda items, the exhibits, the new friends and business acquaintances: all these give each convention its own character and significance. Some activities lend a luster to the convention in part because they do take place every year and provide helpful fixed points in the whirl of events. In this category are the meetings of the Resolutions Committee and the Board of Directors, the annual banquet, and the many seminars and workshops of the various divisions and committees. Here is a partial list of activities being planned by a number of Federation groups during the 1997 Convention, June 29 through July 5. Presidents of divisions, committee chairpeople, and event presenters have provided the information. The pre- convention agenda will list the locations of all events taking place before convention registration on Monday, June 30. The convention agenda will contain listings of all events taking place after that time. Blind Industrial Workers of America BIWA President Primo Foianini announces that the division will conduct a split cash drawing at this year's convention. The group will gather on Tuesday afternoon, July 1, for its annual meeting. Blind Professional Journalists Group If you are studying journalism, are working in this exciting field, or are interested in doing either, the NFB Blind Professional Journalists meeting is the place for you to be Sunday, June 29, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Please see the pre- convention agenda for the meeting location. The Blind Professional Journalists group, which organized last summer during the convention in Anaheim, is here to help everyone exchange ideas and answer questions about working for newspapers and magazines and in broadcasting. If you have questions about BPJ, contact Elizabeth Campbell evenings at (817) 738-0350 or e-mail, Liz@dfw.net or Bryan Bashin at (916)441-4096 or e-mail, bashin@calweb.com Child Care Information Throughout our National Convention NFB Camp provides activities and programs for children under twelve years of age. Although it is generally referred to as "child care," the participants in NFB Camp will tell you otherwise. It is a tremendous opportunity to instill Federation philosophy in the camp counselors, the parents, and the children (blind and sighted alike). Advanced registration is required to ensure that the number of camp counselors is sufficient for the safety and happiness of the children. Blind and sighted children will enjoy the action-packed schedule awaiting them in New Orleans this summer. Call or write to register today. NFB Camp is under the direction of Carla McQuillan, the owner and operator of Children's Choice Montessori School and Child Care Center in Springfield, Oregon. With seventeen years of teaching experience in early childhood education, Mrs. McQuillan received the Blind Educator of the Year Award presented by the National Federation of the Blind at our 1996 convention in Anaheim. Carla is also the mother of two children and the President of the National Federation of the Blind of Oregon. The team supervisor and activities director are employees of Children's Choice Montessori School. Both have extensive experience planning and expediting programs for children. Once again we are recruiting Head Start teachers from the local area to serve as our camp counselors. All of these individuals have CPR and First Aid certification, criminal record checks, and the education and experience to handle large groups of children with ease. In addition to the contracted staff, the Federation youth who participate in our CPR/First Aid baby-sitting class on Sunday, June 29, will be paired up with NFB camp counselors throughout the week for hands-on child care experience. This year's convention setting offers a wide range of opportunities to explore areas outside the hotel. The children will be practicing their independence skills as they take various walking tours of the city, engage in scavenger hunts in the mall beneath the Hyatt, and challenge each other to water-pistol fights. There will be guest appearances by storytellers, musicians, magicians, and artists. We will be conducting philosophy discussions to complement the skills training that will be taking place daily. Each day, during general sessions, children will be encouraged to participate in a variety of activities both inside the hotel and out in the community. A schedule of NFB Camp activities will be available at the information table at convention. NFB Camp will be open one half hour before the beginning of sessions and one half hour after sessions recess. Children must be picked up during lunch breaks. The schedule follows: Sunday, June 29, during the seminar for Parents of Blind Children Tuesday, July 1, during the Board meeting and afternoon committee meetings Wednesday, July 2, during both general sessions Thursday, July 3, during the morning general session, not tours Friday, July 4, during both general sessions and the banquet Saturday, July 5, during both general sessions We will not serve dinner during the banquet. A late fee of $10 per child will be strongly enforced if children are not picked up from camp on time. Registration fee schedule: full time (all hours of operation except banquet) first child in the family, $60, each additional child, $40; banquet, $10 per child; daily rates, $15 per child. Registration for NFB Camp will be handled through the state office of the National Federation of the Blind of Oregon. If you are registering by telephone and you would like to speak to a live human instead of an answering machine, call between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. If you mail your registration or leave a message on the answering machine, please be sure to include the following registration information: child's name; age; special needs, if any, such as blind or in wheelchair; parent's name, home address, and phone. Please list the days you will need child care and whether you need services during the banquet. Please call or mail the information to NFB of Oregon, Attention NFB Camp, P.O. Box 320, Thurston, Oregon 97482, (541) 726-2654. Complete information packets and medical releases will be mailed approximately two to three weeks after Mrs. McQuillan receives initial registration information. Field Trips and Special Activities for Children and Youth New Orleans Children's Museum, ages four to twelve; cost, $10 per child (includes lunch); check-in, 8:30-9:00 a.m. This June 29 trip begins with a brief orientation to the hotel and adjacent mall, featuring a stop in the food court for lunch. Children will divide into small groups for this activity. They will be paired with capable travelers selected from the membership and from National Federation of the Blind training centers. The children will have the experience of selecting and purchasing their own lunches. After lunch we will board a bus to the Children's Museum, which invites children and their adult friends to discover and learn in a hands-on environment. All exhibits are designed to encourage children to touch, explore, and get involved while having fun together. Children may be picked up at 3 p.m. when they return from the museum or stay in the NFB Camp room until the parents seminar adjourns. Red Cross Baby-sitting Course, ages twelve and up, cost, $20 including lunch. Check-in, 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. This is an opportunity for our youth to acquire valuable skills that will lead to year-round employment. Upon completion of the June 29 course, participants will receive Red Cross First Aid and Infant/Child CPR certification. The course will also include important tips and guidelines for the young baby-sitter, including songs, games, crafts, and other fun activities for children of various ages. Course graduates will be encouraged to participate in our Mentoring Program, where they will develop child care skills under the guidance of NFB Camp Counselors. Certification of child care course completion and internship will be awarded, and the list of graduates will be made available to convention attendees as a resource list for evening baby-sitters. Don't miss this unique opportunity! Space will be limited, so be sure to register early. The course will last approximately seven hours. You may call or mail in registration for either activity. Please include the following information: child's name, age, home address, home phone, and special needs. Please designate whether each registrant will be attending the children's museum ($10) or the baby-sitting course ($20). Please send registration and payment no later than June 1, 1997, to reserve your spot. Mail to National Federation of the Blind of Oregon, P.O. Box 320, Thurston, Oregon 97482, or call (541) 726-6924, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time), Monday through Friday. We are planning a number of additional activities to take place throughout the week, such as a dance instruction session, a pre-banquet pizza party, tours of the hotel kitchen and the Superdome, tournament games, and an ice cream party. A schedule of activities for the week will be available at the information table at convention. Committee on Associates The Committee on Associates will meet in New Orleans on Tuesday evening. In addition, final standings will be announced at the National Board Meeting that morning. We look forward to a brisk final segment of the 1997 enrollment year and to some surprises in the top finishers. At the meeting we will discuss several items and plan to have the national treasurer as our guest. We will also hand out contest results and standings by state and enjoy other activities. The enrolling of Associate members is a highly productive activity. It educates people to the positive aspects of blindness and should help them come to understand blindness as a characteristic. This program is severely under-used, and we need to think of ways to help our members understand how much of an impact they can have on family, friends, and community with Associates. As chairman of the Committee on Associates I extend my sincere appreciation to all Associate recruiters. You can contact me, Tom Stevens, at (573) 445-6091. Deaf-Blind Division The Deaf-Blind Division will host three seminars at the National Convention in New Orleans, each to begin at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, June 29, location to be announced. We will try to have guest speakers from deaf-blind agencies in Louisiana. Tuesday, July 1: Speakers from Louisiana's Helen Keller Regional Office and NFB representatives. Also Dean Blazie from Blazie Engineering will update us on its various portable note taker/data managers. Thursday, July 3, Board Meeting: Members of the Deaf-Blind Division Board will give reports. We will have literature available from various groups and organizations who work within the deaf-blind community. By the time you read this, Joe and Arlene Naulty will have moved fifty miles north. Their new address is 11943 Suellen Circle, Wellington, Florida 33414, (561) 753-4700. Please remember that we are now a division. Dues are $5 per person for the 1997 year and should be remitted to Treasurer Arlene Naulty at her new address. The Deaf-Blind Division Board officers are Joseph B. Naulty, President; Richard J. Edlund, (913) 296-7648, First Vice President, Topeka, Kansas; Burnell E. Brown, (202) 396-7370, Second Vice President, Washington, D.C.; John J. Salka, (914) 496-7186, Secretary, Monroe, New York; Arlene Naulty, Treasurer; and Board members Robert S. Jaquiss, (503) 626-7174, Beaverton, Oregon, and Dawn Salka, (914) 496-7186, Monroe, New York. We'll be needing volunteers and interpreters, so, if any of you can help out, please contact Joe Naulty or any other Board member. I'm looking forward to seeing you in New Orleans. Please come; we need your support. We're going to have a great convention. The Diabetes Action Network The Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind has been busy making plans for several months for the 1997 annual convention in New Orleans. Each year thousands of diabetics lose vision or become blind from complications of the disease. The Diabetes Action Network has the knowledge and experience to guide diabetics with vision loss back to a state of independent self-management of the disease. The Diabetes Action Network will first host an open forum on diabetes and the associated complications of the disease. A panel of experts will assemble to answer questions on all aspects of diabetes and techniques for managing the disease after vision loss or other complications. In addition, a discussion of the new generation of fast-acting humalog insulins will be held. The forum will occur on Monday afternoon, June 30, from 2:00 to 4:00, room to be announced. Get your questions ready because this forum is not to be missed. Then, on Tuesday evening, July 1, from 6:30 until 9:00, the Diabetes Action Network will host the annual diabetes seminar and division business meeting, room to be announced. The subject for the keynote address will be the new system of counting carbohydrates and doing meal planning. For those unfamiliar with this new system, it introduces many simplifying techniques for planning meals. Come join the membership of the division and help plan the events of the upcoming year; review the accomplishments of the past year; discuss diabetes with experts; and enjoy the lively, spirited crowd. Remember, brush up on all of those diabetes facts to see how much money you can make the president pay. See you in New Orleans! Entrepreneurial Interest Group Tuesday evening, July 1, 1997, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., we will conduct a meeting for blind individuals interested in being part of a division whose focus will be entrepeneurialism. Assuming sufficient interest, we plan to adopt a constitution, elect officers, and establish widespread communication of ideas. If you are a business owner or if you wish to know more about owning your own business, this group could be a vital link. From the development of a business plan to the networking achievements of others, this formation meeting has plans for tomorrow, and it will be enhanced by your participation. If you plan to be in Louisiana for the 1997 convention and intend to join us, please call Connie Leblond at (207) 772-7305. We know there is tremendous interest in this meeting, and we would like to get an approximate count of attendees. See you in New Orleans. Bringing NEWSLINE to Your Community: How Foundations and Corporate Giving Programs Can Help Sunday June 29, 1997, 1:00 to 4:30 P.M. Securing funding from foundations and corporate giving programs is challenging, but certainly all of us can learn how to write clear, targeted proposals and master the research techniques that can find the right grantor for our projects. Many local chapters and state affiliates are eager to pursue local foundations and corporate-giving programs to establish and continue funding to bring NEWSLINE (tm) to their communities permanently. Although only 12 percent of the charitable contributions made in this country come from foundations and corporations, many of us can be successful funding NEWSLINE (tm) and other projects once we learn the basics. Dr. Betsy Zaborowski, NFB Director of Special Programs, and several NFB members who themselves have been successful at raising funds will share their strategies for identifying appropriate foundations and corporate giving programs, writing proposals, and selling a project once an interview has been arranged. Workshop participants will learn the ten basic steps for good proposal writing, print and on-line resources for researching funding sources, and communication techniques to use once you get to promote your project in person. Participants will be given some helpful materials and time to discuss problems they have had in the fund-raising arena. All are welcome; however, this workshop is recommended for those who will be actively working on funding projects such as NEWSLINE(tm). Human Services Division The keynote speaker this year at the meeting of the Human Services Division of the National Federation of the Blind will be NFB Treasurer and Michigan affiliate President Allen Harris, who will kick off a dynamic program by talking about skills needed to complete your education, get a job, and keep it. The Division will meet from 1:15 to 5:00 p.m. on the afternoon of the NFB Board meeting (Tuesday, July 1, 1997) at the NFB National Convention in New Orleans. Ask yourself: did or will your rehab program give you the skills needed by blind people? This question will be answered by a panel of our experts. Here are some other questions: How do I get a job? How do I keep it? Who else is working in my professional field? How can I network with these people on the Internet? All these questions and more will be answered at this year's divisional meeting. Don't miss it. Come early and stay late to network with fellow professionals. We'll see you in New Orleans. And laissez les bon temps rouler at the Human Services Division this year. An Introduction to the Internet Are you tired of hearing about the Internet without knowing how to take advantage of its many features? What do they mean when they say "surf the Web"? What is "Real Audio"? What is e- mail? The Internet is one of the most exciting and informative ways to use the power of your computer. With a knowledge of the Internet you can send and receive messages from people throughout the world and have access to libraries and online books from colleges and universities as well as newspapers from cities all over the U.S. You can even listen to radio broadcasts, music, and sporting events. Want to know how? Make plans to attend "An Introduction to the Internet" on Sunday, June 29, at the NFB convention. We'll give you the information you need to get started on a journey that never has to end. Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB) Someone out there knows the answers to your questions about employment. Your best chance to find that person will be among the thousands of people attending the largest convention of blind Americans to take place in 1997. JOB helps people locate each other at convention. Ask us. The 1997 National JOB Seminar June 29, (Sunday) 1 to 4 p.m. For three hours competent blind Americans tell you about their jobs and answer your questions. They got the jobs they wanted; why not grab their good ideas for yourself? This annual, lively, fact-filled, practical national job seminar has the most interesting mix of speakers! Here are just three of the agenda items for 1997: "How to Find, Train, and Fire Readers and Drivers"; "How to Start Hearing Windows"; and a panel presentation with a blind teacher sharing recommended blind techniques; Dr. Ralph Bartley, Superintendent of the Kentucky School for the Blind, who will tell us what he looks for when hiring teachers and other staff members; and William Gibson, Director of the Utah Division of Services for the Visually Impaired. Have you refused to consider jobs outside your home territory because you wondered how to find a new apartment, make travel arrangements, and such? In addition to a seminar presentation titled "New Job in a New Place: Self-taught Orientation, Part 1," a sign-up sheet will be available at the JOB seminar for "New Job in a New Place, Part 2: A JOB Walking Workshop." The day after the seminar (Monday), Russell Anderson and Ron Bergese, professional cane travel instructors at BLIND, Inc., will lead a walking tour which supposes that you live in Minneapolis and have been hired by the Hotel Hyatt Regency in New Orleans. They will literally walk participants through some excellent methods for figuring out a new workplace and a new community. This JOB workshop is limited to the first twenty people to sign up at the Seminar, and you must be independently mobile in your home community. JOB Networking Breakfasts All week long you are invited to attend the daily (7:00 a.m.- 8:00 a.m.) JOB Networking Breakfasts, either those with a particular job topic or the generic breakfasts that cover whatever the individuals at the table have found of concern. BYOB (Buy Your Own Breakfast) is the rule. People are seated family style with a coordinator who is an expert in the topic. So far twenty-one breakfasts are planned. The full list of breakfast topics will be posted during convention on the NFB Information Table in both Braille and print. You will notice that some of the breakfasts have a specific topic and some are generic. These latter are an open forum and networking opportunity for solving any problem related to employment and blindness. For the breakfasts with a specified topic, both those currently in the field and those who would like to be are invited to network. Please help spread the word to everyone you know with a special interest in one of these topics. We are attracting such numbers to the JOB Networking Breakfasts that this year we have to begin something new-- excluding folks. If you are not personally involved in the topic for the specific breakfast, please eat at some other table with some other friends. These are working breakfasts. Yes, you may decide at the last minute to show up. JOB Net- working Breakfasts start promptly at seven each morning. We will be seating attendees between 6:45 and 7:00 a.m.; after that we'll be networking too. Reservations are helpful but not required. Here is the 1997 list of topics along with the table coordinators: SUNDAY, JUNE 29: (convention set-up day) 1 The Sunday first-timers breakfast Never been to a full NFB National Convention before? We'll help you get the most out of this full week of activities-- the seminars, introductions to specific people, and the one- of-a-kind events that will help you reach your employment goals. Wayne and Carmen Davis, Florida MONDAY, JUNE 30: (registration day) 2 The Monday First-timers Breakfast (A second chance for first-timers) Marianne and Buck Saunders, West Virginia; Connie and Seth Leblond, Maine; and David and Mariann De Notaris, New Jersey 3 Monday's Generic Breakfast for Job Seekers What problem are you running into in your job search? Brain-storming is our specialty at each generic breakfast. Loraine and David Stayer, New York 4 JOB's Third Networking Breakfast for Travel Instructors Blind teachers share NFB-teaching techniques for long canes. Louisiana Center for the Blind instructors 5 Emergency Dispatchers Networking Breakfast New! Brad Greenspan, New York TUESDAY, JULY 1 (Board meeting day) 6 Tuesday's Generic Breakfast for Job Seekers Greg Trapp, JOB's ADA consultant, and Tonia Balletta, New Mexico 7 The Annual Breakfast for Blind Scientists and Engineers Ask John Miller, California, President of this NFB division for details. Home phone, (619) 587-3975, e-mail, 8 JOB's Fourth Annual Breakfast for Blind People in Medical Fields David Stayer, New York (MSW), JOB consultant in medical fields 9 JOB's Fifth Annual Breakfast for Braille Proofreaders and Transcribers Mary Donahue, Texas 10 JOB's Eighth Annual Networking Breakfast for Blind Lawyers Coordinated by Povinelli and Kay (DC law firm), and the NABL 11 I Do Windows: The Second Annual JOB Networking Breakfast Steve Shelton, Oklahoma; Michael and Fatos Floyd, Nebraska; (3 Windows users) and Jim Watson of Henter-Joyce, Inc. WEDNESDAY, JULY 2: (first general session) 12 Wednesday's Generic Breakfast for Job Seekers William Ritchhart, Indiana 13 The Sixth Annual Blind Artists Breakfast Money-making ideas and resources, Janet Caron, Florida (artist and JOB consultant on art) 14 A Networking Breakfast for Customer Service Representatives Chris Flory, Colorado Center for the Blind CTR Program; Mary Donahue, US Long Distance employee THURSDAY, JULY 3 (tour afternoon and evening) 15 Thursday's Generic Breakfast for Job Seekers Peggy and Curtis Chong, Minnesota 16 Writing for Money, a New Job Networking Breakfast Loraine Stayer, New York; Sharon Maneki, Maryland 17 The Job Coordinators Brainstorming Breakfast New! for JOB Field Service Network Volunteers, Diane Domingue, California 18 The Green Thumb Careers Breakfast, Pete Donahue, Texas FRIDAY, JULY 4: (banquet day) 19 JOB's Last-Chance Generic Breakfast for Job Seekers Whom do you need to find? What do you need to know to help you get a job? Bring the problem up at this breakfast before convention ends this year and you go home leaving its rich resources behind you. Lorraine Rovig, JOB Director 20 JOB'S Networking Breakfast for Computer-Access Teachers Are you teaching the use of computers adapted for blind students or adults; would you like to? Come on over and have a byte with us. Colorado Center for the Blind teachers SATURDAY, JULY 5: (closing general session of convention) 21 JOB's Breakfast for Employment Professionals by Invitation Only Sharing the best ideas of the past year. Lorraine Rovig, Director, JOB What is holding you back? Is it lack of opportunity where you live or lack of training in competitive-level blind techniques or in a job skill? At the NFB annual convention you can do research in all these areas with people who speak from experience. It's not in any store; it's priceless; and it's free--but you have to go that extra mile to make it happen. You have to be ready to speak up, ready to seize the opportunity. Helping people locate good contacts at convention is one of my jobs. If you'd like some introductions to get you started, call me, Lorraine Rovig, now or talk to me at convention. Job Opportunities for the Blind is a free, nationwide program, sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor. Call (800) 638- 7518 (12:30 to 5:00 p.m. EST), or write JOB/NFB, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. The Merchants Division The NFB Merchants Division will offer a variety of items of interest to Federationists. Do you need to get up and get out? Don Bell, long a familiar face at our conventions, will present a seminar entitled "A Positive View for a Positive You" at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 29, at the Hyatt Regency. When Don, President of Management Management, Des Moines, Iowa, spoke at a past convention, there was standing room only. Tickets are $20 and will go on sale at 8:30 a.m. Let's get energized and have some fun. The Merchants Division will again sell snack packs for $5. If you want to win $1,000 for an investment of only $1, buy one of our raffle tickets. The drawing will take place at the convention banquet. We plan to sell corsages (new and improved) for the banquet and give away free soft drinks. See you at our booth. Music Division The Music Division will meet Monday, June 30, 1997. Registration for membership and for the Showcase of Talent will begin at 6:30 p.m. outside our meeting room. The meeting itself begins at 7:00 p.m. If you have agenda requests, please contact Linda Mentink, 1737 Tamarack Lane, Janesville, Wisconsin 53545, (608) 752-8749. Division membership dues are $5. If you'd like to join or renew your membership before the convention, please send a check, payable to the Music Division, to Ben Snow, 358 Orange Street, Apt. 4091, New Haven, Connecticut 06511. Again this year the Showcase of Talent will not be a contest with prizes, so there will be no fee for participants. However, since it is our only fund raiser, we will pass the hat so that those who wish to can make a free-will offering. We will need accompanists for performers who do not have tapes. If you are willing and available to accompany, please contact Linda Mentink. If you would like to participate in the Showcase, here are the guidelines: 1) Sign up no later than noon, Wednesday, July 2. 2) Perform only one number, taking no more than four minutes to perform. 3) If you are using a taped accompaniment, be sure that the tape is cued up properly. Do not sing along with a vocal artist; you will be stopped immediately. 4) If you need live accompaniment, make your arrangements before the Showcase begins. Children who plan to participate will be invited to perform first. The Showcase will be limited to two hours, about twenty- four performers. Come help us enjoy music. We are also planning to have a lunch for musicians, open to anyone who would like more information about the Music Division or would just like to talk about music. Listen for the announcement of time and place during the general session. National Association of Blind Educators From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, the National Association of Blind Educators will hold its annual meeting as a part of the National Federation of the Blind Convention. Attending this meeting gives prospective job seekers valuable information about the variety of job opportunities and the knowledge to procure jobs by listening to and talking with working blind educators. Those who are already employed learn new and refined teaching techniques unique to blind educators. In these shaky economic times, we discuss how to use our talents to the best of our abilities, how to remain sane in an unstable environment, and generally how to enter and retire from the profession the way we had planned. We commence our meeting with group discussions. These groups are chaired by successful blind educators. Some of the topics are preschool, elementary, secondary, and university teaching; student teaching; teacher's aides; special education; and school administration. We will then have speakers on learning the necessary skills of blindness at NFB training centers, finding and keeping jobs, and getting along with principals and others with whom we must work. We will conclude the seminar with our annual business meeting. While this annual gathering is our chance to meet in person, we have a mentoring program through which blind educators are matched with other blind educators. We are the experts, so we know best what our needs and problems are. Our work is never- ending, and the National Association of Blind Educators has been very successful, judging by the number of happy, successful blind educators we have, so come and join us in New Orleans for the entire Convention. For further information about the Division or details about the meeting or the field of education, please call Pat Munson at (510) 526-1668. If you would like to join the Division or continue membership, send a check for $20 for employed educators or $10 for others to the Treasurer, Patti Harmon, 1315 Desert Eye Drive, Alamogordo, New Mexico 88310. Make the check payable to the National Association of Blind Educators. Come join us in New Orleans. It's great to be a part of the Educators Division and the Federation and to be employed. National Association of Blind Lawyers Come and join the largest organization of blind lawyers in the country. The National Association of Blind Lawyers (NABL) will meet on Tuesday, July 1, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. as part of the fifty-seventh annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind. We will be discussing many exciting topics on that afternoon. Speaking from their areas of expertise, lawyers will give us updates on the current status of laws affecting the blind. We will hear about various advocacy matters in which the Federation has been involved in the last year. Officials of the American Bar Association and the Louisiana Bar Association will address the group. Experienced practitioners will offer strategies on how best to conduct various types of cases. Hear about the publication of our law journal. This and much more will all take place at the NABL meeting. Everyone in the legal profession, law students, and others interested in the law are welcome. Remember that you may be able to receive up to four continuing legal-education credits for this meeting. Come and help us continue to build the Federation through the Lawyers' Division. National Association of Blind Secretaries and Transcribers The National Association of Blind Secretaries and Transcribers is proud to announce its annual meeting to be held on Sunday, June 29, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana. Who will want to attend this meeting? Secretaries and transcribers at all levels, including medical and paralegal, office workers, customer-service personnel, and many other fields. Those providing training programs to prepare blind people for this kind of office work are also welcome. Registration for the Division meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. Dues are $3 per year. Plenty of topics will be discussed and maybe a few surprises. Anyone who wishes to become a member of this Division can send name, address, telephone number, e-mail address if any, and preferred newsletter format (print, Braille, audio tape, 3.5 or 5.25 computer diskette). Those wishing to pay dues in advance should make checks payable to N.A.B.S.T. and send them to Lisa Hall, President, National Association of Blind Secretaries and Transcribers, 9110 Broadway, Apartment J103, San Antonio, Texas 78217; e-mail: lisahall@texas.net, phone, (210) 829-4571. NABST officers are Lisa Hall, President, San Antonio, Texas; Janet Triplett, Vice President, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Mary Donahue, Secretary, San Antonio, Texas; and Carol Clark, Treasurer, Kansas City, Kansas. See you in New Orleans. National Association of Blind Students This year's student seminar promises to be the best ever. The Student Division will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. We will conduct our traditional student seminar on Monday, June 30, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Several national leaders will talk to us about blindness issues important to college students. On Thursday night we will again sponsor our Monte Carlo Night with games, refreshments, and fun. National Association of Guide Dog Users The annual meeting of the National Association of Guide Dog Users will be held on Sunday, June 29, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Registration will begin at 1:00 p.m., and the meeting will start at 1:45 p.m. The seminar, "A Guide Dog in Your Life," will be held on Monday, June 30, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. The Division meeting will open with a panel presentation entitled, "Why I am a Federationist Who Uses a Guide Dog." Given factors such as maintenance costs in time and money associated with feeding, relieving, veterinary care, grooming, and flea and tick control; eventual retirement, the need for retraining, access and travel restrictions abroad, and the necessity of relief accommodations when large numbers of guide dog users gather in large downtown hotels, this is a topic which needs discussion. The panel presenters will be the board members of the National Association of Guide Dog Users. These are Paul Gabias, President; Rick Fox, Vice President; Mark Noble, Secretary; and Priscilla Ferris, Treasurer. There will be plenty of time for comments from the audience. The Division will also feature another panel presentation entitled, "What the Federation Has to Offer the Guide Dog Schools." The panel presenters will be Rick Fox, Priscilla Ferris, and Paul Gabias. There will also be time for comments from the audience. Following this presentation we will discuss the formation of a committee of volunteers to speak to graduating classes at the guide dog schools about the benefits of joining the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association of Guide Dog Users. Fund raising for the Division will also be discussed, as well as state division concerns. At the seminar, "A Guide Dog in Your Life," the guide dog schools will be invited to tell us how they believe they can profit from a working relationship with the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association of Guide Dog Users. Mark Noble will discuss flea and tick prevention and control. Rick Fox will discuss the role of the white cane in a guide dog user's life. There will be an update on efforts to abolish the Hawaii quarantine. Paul Gabias will discuss the importance of global commands such as "inside," "outside," "upstairs," "downstairs," and "elevator," in the context of Peggy Elliott's comments about the importance of orientation and mobility at the 1996 Division meeting of the National Association of Guide Dog Users. The National Office and the NFB of Louisiana are working hard to provide the best possible relief accommodations for guide dogs at the convention. Of course, the relief facilities will have to be kept clean. Instead of relying on hotel personnel to maintain the facilities, we will hire outside workers to do the job. This should result in more pleasant surroundings for owners and dogs alike. In 1993 the Division voted to ask each guide dog handler to pay $25 for use of the relief facilities throughout the week. We encourage all guide dog handlers to help cover the maintenance costs of relief areas, if at all possible. Contributions should be made at Division activities early in the week. Owners who miss these opportunities for any reason and who wish to help can pay Priscilla Ferris, Division Treasurer and President of the NFB of Massachusetts, later in the week. She can be found at convention sessions in the Massachusetts delegation. Questions about the relief arrangements or other guide dog matters can be directed to Paul Gabias at 475 Fleming Road, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, VIX 3Z4, (800) 714-4774. National Association to Promote the Use of Braille Time to Sing "Ode to the Code" Celebrating victories and planning for the future are elements which add excitement to any meeting of the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille. New Orleans will certainly be no exception to the rule. But something new is being added to the New Orleans get-together, and you do not want to miss any of it. Attendees at this year's NAPUB meeting will benefit from some serious moments and will be delighted with some fun and surprises. Take a look at this: It's off to the Pub we go--"NA-PUB," that is. Have the time of your life, and at the same time give your support to the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille (NAPUB). Take a look at the extraordinary drink list at the "NA-PUB" in New Orleans. Lift your spirits with such drinks as a "tenBroek Tonic" or a "Maurer's Marc." We trust that's just enough information to pique your interest. More details will be forthcoming. Meet me, Betty Niceley, at this special pub and share a "Rusty Stylus." National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science Come and talk about computers and computer-related technology at the 1997 annual meeting of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 1, at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. Registration for the meeting will begin at 12:30 p.m. Membership in the NFB in Computer Science costs $5 a year. For specific meeting room information, refer to your convention agenda. At this early stage of planning for our annual meeting, we can say these things: We will hear from Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden of the Trace Research Center. Dr. Vanderheiden has done much pioneering work to make public electronic information kiosks accessible to the blind. A direct result of Dr. Vanderheiden's work can be seen in the accessible information kiosk at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. As in the past we will devote a number of program items to the graphical user interface. We will hear from Microsoft about the work it is doing to increase our ability to use its graphical applications and operating systems. We hope to hear from IBM about its most recent efforts to increase the ability of the blind to use its graphical applications.Finally, we will try to put together a panel of experienced blind computer professionals and users who can talk knowledgeably and understandably about the tricks and techniques they have used to survive in the GUI world. If we get lucky, we may be able to discuss the Windows/NT access problem. Many people are asking me if there is any screen reader for Windows/NT. All I can say in response is that there is one program we know about and that program costs approximately $2,500, a price tag that is about three times higher than that of a conventional screen reading package. Come to the 1997 meeting of the NFB in Computer Science and discuss computer access issues with other blind people. Learn how others are adjusting to the rapid pace of technology, and maybe share a few of your own experiences. For further information about the meeting and other computer-related matters, contact Curtis Chong, President, National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science, 20 Northeast 2nd Street, Apartment 908, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413-2265, evening phone: (612) 379-3493, Internet: chong99@cris.com National Organization of Parents of Blind Children On Sunday, June 29, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) will sponsor its annual seminar for parents and educators of blind children titled, "An Education for a Full Life." Registration will take place from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. Registration is $5. The morning session begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at noon and includes the following agenda items:  Blindness, Childhood Experiences, and My Life Today presented by a panel of blind adults  Around the Block, to the Mall, and Beyond presented by a panel of blind children & youth  Music Education--Beyond the Stereotypes  Life Is like a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, presented by representatives from NFB programs for blind children and youth  Instructional Assistants (Classroom Aides): Are They a Help or a Hindrance?  Creative Solutions to Impossible Educational Situations, presented by a panel of parents  Access to Technology: When Computer Games Become Serious Business After lunch concurrent workshops begin at 2:00 p.m. and end at 5:00. 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., Beginning Braille for Parents 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., Resources and Strategies for Blind/Multiply Handicapped Children, featuring displays and demonstrations of equipment and materials developed by Dr. Lilli Nielsen (inventor of the "Little Room") and marketed by Lilliput L.L.C. Special door prize: a "Little Room" donated by Lilliput L.L.C. (worth over $700!) 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., Social Skills and Blindisms 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., Access to Technology 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Music Education for Blind Children 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Social Skills and Blindisms 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., How to Organize a Braille Storybook Hour 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., Resources and Strategies for Deaf-Blind Children 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., Education of the Partially Sighted From 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., NOPBC will sponsor Family Hospitality Night, an informal time to relax and get to know one another. Everyone welcome, kids too. Also from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., Youth Only are invited to "Get to Know Your NFB Hotel Home," convention orientation for youth. This activity for blind and sighted teens gives them a chance to become familiar with the hotel, meet other teens, and learn more about the NFB and the NFB Convention experience. On Monday, June 30, two one-hour Cane Walks for Blind Children and youth will take place from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., location to be announced at the Parents Seminar on Sunday. This activity is an introduction to the use of the cane for blind children and youth (toddlers to teens) who have never used a cane or are just beginning to use one. Instructors Joe Cutter and Arlene Hill (and other volunteer Federation instructors under their supervision) will give hands- on demonstration of basic cane techniques and then take the group on a Cane Walk through the hotel. Canes and sleepshades will be provided. There is no fee, but participants are urged to preregister for the Cane Walk. You may do so on Sunday, June 29, at Parents Seminar registration, 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., or at the noon recess. Please remember that this is not for experienced cane travelers, and it is only for blind children, youth, and their parents. From 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., youth can drop in and get to know who's here. adults will be on hand throughout the afternoon to orient newly arrived youth to the hotel, the NFB, and the NFB Convention. Supervision will also be provided for youth who want to meet other youth and hang-out together. From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children will conduct its annual meeting. On Wednesday, July 2 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., Ruby Ryles and Ron Gardner will conduct an IEP Workshop. Thursday,July 3, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. will be "Kids and Canes," a drop-in-anytime discussion group and slide/video presentation, conducted by Joe Cutter. The National Organization of the Senior Blind The National Organization of the Senior Blind, a division of the National Federation of the Blind, was formed at the National Convention in Anaheim, California, last summer. The elected officers are Christine Hall, President; Ray McGeorge, First Vice President; Kathy Randall, Second Vice President; Paul Dressell, Secretary; and Don Pruitt, Treasurer. If you have ideas, suggestions, or comments regarding the division meeting to be held in New Orleans this summer or on networking throughout the nation, please send them to Christine Hall, 3404 C. Indian School Road, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, or call (505) 268-3895. NFB NET Training Seminar No matter where you turn today, you are likely to hear references to the information superhighway. With all this interest many blind people feel the need to get and use a modem so that they aren't left out. In the National Federation of the Blind we have had our own information superhighway since June 1, 1991, in the form of NFB NET, our computer bulletin board service (BBS). That was the date when NFB NET officially went online. In addition, we connected our information superhighway to the other one this year when we made the resources of NFB NET available through the Internet. Once again this year we will conduct a training session for NFB NET users. The session, which will be held on Sunday, June 29, from 9:00 a.m. until noon, is designed for new modem users, for people who haven't accessed NFB NET before, for people who want to learn how to connect to NFB NET through the Internet, and for people who want to learn more about the capabilities of our BBS. Topics will include telecommunications basics, using your modem and communications software, connecting using Telnet and the Internet, registering for NFB NET, navigating around, reading and entering messages, downloading the Braille Monitor and other files, finding files, setting up off-line reading facilities, and more. David Andrews, Systems Operator (SysOp) of NFB NET, will also answer your questions. If you don't know what that paragraph means and you would like to, perhaps you had better attend the annual NFB NET training session on Sunday, June 29, starting at 9:00 a.m. Check the pre-convention agenda once you are in New Orleans for the location. See you online. Public Employees Division The Public Employees Division of the National Federation of the Blind will meet during this year's National Convention. We plan to meet at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 1. The division will have a briefing from the Office of Personnel Management on changes in federal hiring and retention practices as well as the new electronic means of finding federal job opportunities. We will also discuss the increasing use of alternative dispute resolution techniques to solve disputes. Finally, several blind public employees will discuss their jobs. Times of change are times in which those who are prepared can take advantage of changes and improve themselves. What skills will be in demand in the next few years in federal, state, or local government? As down-sizing takes place, inevitably scarce job categories begin to appear. How can we learn of these and take advantage of the knowledge? As usual, we will have three people discuss their public sector jobs. If you have questions or suggestions for additional speakers, please contact John Halverson, President, National Federation of the Blind, Public Employees Division, 403 West 62nd Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri 64113, telephone (816) 426-7278 work, (816) 361-7813 home, e-mail johnhal@cris.net or johnhal@concentric.com Social Security Seminar An outreach seminar (Social Security and Supplemental Security Income: What Applicants, Advocates, and Recipients Should Know) will take place on Thursday afternoon, July 3. The purpose of this seminar, which will be conducted jointly by the National Federation of the Blind and the Social Security Administration, is to provide information on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for the blind. Seminar presenters will be Jim Gashel, Director of Governmental Affairs for the National Federation of the Blind, and Tom Gloss, Special Assistant to the Associate Commissioner for Disability, Office of Disability, Social Security Administration. Writers' Division The Writers' Division of the NFB will hold its division meeting and program on Tuesday afternoon at the National Convention in New Orleans. We plan a highly interesting and productive program and have several copies of our exciting new book, Summit, available for purchase in large print, tape, or Braille. We have a great record of outstanding presentations, and the 1997 meeting should be no exception; we will cover poetry, short story fiction, and other areas of interest. Expect some time to be set aside for poetry reading--contact Tom Stevens to get your bid in for time on the agenda. Winners of the 1997 Poetry and Short Story Fiction Contests will also be announced. The Division will also conduct a workshop on the Sunday morning following the convention. Topics scheduled for presentation include short story fiction, poetry, and blindness- related issues in the media. Attendance at this workshop will cost $5, while Division dues are $5 for new members and $10 for renewals. Benefits include the quarterly magazine, Slate and Style, plus notification of poetry and fiction contests. Contact Tom Stevens, (573) 445-6091. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Roland Allen PHOTO/CAPTION: Joanne Wilson PHOTO/CAPTION: Pam Dubel PHOTO/CAPTION: Neita Ghrigsby PHOTO/CAPTION: Patti McGahan] Recipes This month we are again departing from the alphabetical tour of the United States to take a culinary look at Louisiana in preparation for the convention this summer. Members of the NFB of Louisiana have contributed some of their favorite recipes to inspire you to come enjoy the world-renowned cuisine of Louisiana. You will note that several of the following recipes include Creole seasoning. The Louisiana affiliate will be selling this irreplaceable combination of spices at its table in the exhibit hall during the convention this summer. Creole Pork Chops by Roland Allen Whenever a potluck dinner is planned, everyone at the Louisiana Center for the Blind requests Roland Allen's Creole Pork Chop casserole. Roland, who is from New Orleans, teaches cane travel at the Center; is President of the North Central Chapter of the NFB of Louisiana; and, when he can find time, enjoys preparing this dish for friends and co-workers. Ingredients: 8 pork chops 2 large onions 1 bell pepper 3 potatoes 3-4 carrots 1 can tomato soup 2 cans Rotel tomatoes with chilies Creole seasoning Method: Season pork chops with creole seasoning and brown lightly in a heavy skillet. Chop onions and bell peppers; quarter potatoes and carrots. Place pork chops in a 9-by-13-inch pan and layer vegetables on top of meat. In a large bowl mix soup and tomatoes together. Pour this mixture over the meat and vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for 1-1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Jambalaya by Terrence Jeffery There are many ways to prepare Jambalaya, but Terrence Jeffery, who is from New Orleans and currently a student at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, has developed his own recipe. It is a favorite at the Center. It serves ten to twelve. Ingredients: 2 large onions, chopped 1 large bell pepper, chopped 4 stalks celery, chopped 1 stick butter or margarine 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced 1 pound boneless, skinless, raw chicken breast, chopped 4 cups uncooked rice 8 cups water Creole seasoning Cayenne pepper 3 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet for coloring Method: In a five-quart pot, melt the butter and saut`e onions, bell pepper, and celery until tender and slightly browned. Add bite-size pieces of chicken breast and saute for approximately five minutes in covered pot. Then add sliced smoked sausage and saute another five minutes with pan covered. Remove lid and add four cups rice and eight cups water. Season with creole seasoning and Cayenne pepper to taste. Add three tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet and stir gently. Let mixture come to a vigorous boil with lid off (approximately fifteen to twenty minutes). Lower heat and simmer covered for ten minutes or until rice nears desired tenderness. (Do not stir during cooking.) Turn heat off. Leave lid on and allow mixture to simmer about five more minutes in residual heat. Eat and enjoy! Bread Pudding by Joanne Wilson Joanne Wilson is the President of the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana and Executive Director of the Louisiana Center for the Blind. She is also the queen of desserts in the state affiliate. This is one of her favorites. Ingredients: 1 loaf day-old French bread (1-1/2 feet long) 1 quart milk 3 eggs, beaten 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons vanilla 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup raisins 3 tablespoons butter Method: In a large bowl break bread into bite-sized pieces. Cover with milk and soak one hour. Mix well. Add eggs and sugar. Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and raisins. Melt butter and gently stir in. Bake one hour at 350 degrees in a lightly greased 13-by- 9-inch baking dish. Sauce Ingredients: 1 stick butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg, beaten 1/4 cup bourbon Method: In the top of a double boiler melt butter and stir in sugar. Gradually whisk in egg. Cool slightly. Gently stir in bourbon. If serving right away, pour warm sauce over pudding. If not, warm slightly before serving. Shrimp Etouffee by Pam Dubel Pam Dubel works with blind infants and toddlers and their parents and also supervises the training of classroom aides to teach Braille throughout Louisiana. Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup flour 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper 1/2 cup chopped celery 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic 1-1/2 cup small or medium peeled raw shrimp 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 1/3 cup thinly sliced green shallot tops 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh parsley 1 cup cold water 2 cups hot water (approximately) Method: In a heavy five- to six-quart pot, melt butter over low heat. Gradually add flour, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until mixture forms a roux, medium brown in color (about fifteen to twenty minutes). Quickly add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic, and cook until vegetables are tender (about twenty minutes). Add shrimp, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, shallot tops, and parsley, and mix well. Add one cup cold water and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer about twelve minutes, or until shrimp are tender, stirring frequently. Shortly before serving, heat the etouffee slowly over a low flame and gradually add one to two cups hot water to provide the gravy. Serve over boiled rice made as follows: Boiled Rice Ingredients: 1 cup long grain white rice 2 cups cold water 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon butter or margarine Method: Combine all ingredients in a heavy three-quart saucepan with a tight-fitting cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir once with a fork, then cover tightly and reduce the heat to very low. Cook covered for exactly fifteen minutes. Do not lift the cover during cooking. Remove the pan from heat, uncover, and fluff the rice gently with a fork. Shrimp Fettuccine by Neita Ghrigsby Neita Ghrigsby has been the Office Manager at the Louisiana Center for the Blind ever since its opening in 1986. This dish is much less complicated than Shrimp Etouffee; however, your guests will be equally impressed with the results. It serves four to six. Ingredients: 5 green onions, chopped 2 cups sliced mushrooms 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 stick butter 2 tablespoons oil 1 pound peeled, raw shrimp 1 teaspoon salt 8 ounces fettuccine, uncooked 3/4 cup grated Romano cheese 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley Method: In a large skillet saute onions, mushrooms, and garlic in « stick butter and oil. Add shrimp and saute until pink. Pour off excess liquid. Season with salt, cover, and keep warm. Cook fettuccine in salted boiling water according to package instructions. Drain. In saucepan melt remaining « stick butter. Add noodles, cheese, and cream. Mix well and combine with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with parsley, toss, and serve immediately. Louisiana Pecan Pralines by Patti McGahan Patti McGahan is the Program Supervisor at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. She has been with the LCB for six and a half years. Ingredients: 1 cup light brown sugar, not packed 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup evaporated milk 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1/16 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 3/4 cups pecan halves Method: In a saucepan, using a wooden spoon, mix sugars, milk, butter, syrup, and salt. Cook to soft ball stage, about ten minutes. Test by dropping a small amount of mixture into cold water. Tiny ball of candy should be soft when picked up with fingers. Remove from heat; add vanilla and nuts. Beat until mixture begins to thicken, about one minute. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto buttered waxed paper. Makes two dozen. Monitor Miniatures Getting in Touch With Literacy: David Andrews of Minnesota writes to pass along the following announcement: Mark your calendar for the Third Biennial Conference of Getting in Touch with Literacy, a national conference focusing on the needs of individuals who are blind or visually impaired. It will be held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 25, 26, and 27, 1997. It is organized by Minnesota Teachers of the Blind & Visually Impaired; Minnesota State Services for the Blind; National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota; Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning; Minnesota Deaf/Blind Technical Assistance Project; Minnesota State Academy for the Blind and Visually Impaired; AER of Minnesota; and the Wisconsin Bureau of Exceptional Children. Help us make The third Biennial Conference exceptionally exciting, a conference of innovative as well as practical applications to literacy in all stages of life. For further information contact Jean Martin, Minnesota Resource Center for the Blind/Visually Impaired, Box 308, Faribault, Minnesota 55021-0308 (507)332-5510, e-mail mnrcblnd@edu.gte.net [PHOTO/CAPTION: Carol Castellano and her daughter Serena PHOTO/CAPTION: Joe Ruffalo] Changing What it Means to be Blind--One School Assembly at a Time: We recently received the following little piece from Carol Castellano. It is a useful reminder to us all of the importance of taking the time to talk with school children. It also nicely summarizes the goals of such programs. This is what she says: Last week three members of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey--Joe Ruffalo, affiliate President; Ed Lewinson, President of the Northern Chapter of the NFB of New Jersey; and I, President of New Jersey Parents of Blind Children- -visited an elementary school to make a presentation about blindness. We were to speak at two assemblies, one for the older students and one for the younger. The school principal introduced us to each group. In her first introduction she said, "Boys and girls, as you know, today is the kickoff of Helping Hands Week at Washington School, and this assembly is the first of many activities. Our guests today are members of the National Federation of the Blind, and for Helping Hands Week they are going to tell us how we can help the blind." We then went on to give our presentation. After the second group of students took their places in the school's auditorium, the principal once again introduced us. But this time, after having heard what we had to say in the first assembly, she said with great enthusiasm, "Boys and girls, we are lucky to have with us today members of the National Federation of the Blind. They are going to tell us all about how blind people do just what everyone else does, simply by using different tools and methods!" Incidentally, here are the objectives we kept in mind as we spoke to the students:  For students to understand that blind people live full, normal, productive lives, complete with jobs, families, friends, and fun  For students to understand that blind people learn and use simple, effective methods for doing tasks that sighted people do with eyesight  For students to gain familiarity with the basic skills of blindness  For students to understand how a blind child gets an education  For students to conclude that blind people are not helpless and do not need to be watched over. Hoping to Buy: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: I would like to buy a used Kurzweil Reading Edge in good condition and English and Spanish recognition cards, which would allow the Kurzweil to read in either language. Contact Gerardo Corripio in Braille or print at 9226 Wellsworth Drive, Houston, Texas 77083, or call (281) 530-5640 weekdays after 2:30 p.m. or all day on weekends. New Reading Service Available: Ben Bazo, President of the Northwest Florida Radio Reading Service, Inc., has asked us to carry the following announcement: "The Voice of Print" of the Northwest Florida Radio Reading Service, Inc., announces that we now have a toll-free phone number at your service. It is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. An answering machine will take your call. Tell us your reading request, leave your name and number, and your call will be returned as soon as possible. We will record any personal material on tape: manuals, religious books, recipes, address books, etc. This is a free service for the blind and physically handicapped. We also have hurricane preparedness tapes available. Call 941-2888 (local) or (888) 941-2888 (toll free). Recipe Tapes Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: Recipe collections on 90-minute cassettes, including diabetic, microwave meals, one-dish meals, crock pot recipes, low-fat/low-cholesterol, vegetarian, and cookies. Tapes are $12 each. Send check, money order, or cash to Janet Murphy, 24A Coddington St., Newport, Rhode Island 02840. All tapes will be sent out the day your order is received. Technical Brailling Service Planned: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: If you are a blind engineer, mathematician, or scientist, you may be interested in the Technical Braille Center being established by a nonprofit organization. This center will produce highly technical material in Braille or in a special file format. Mathematics will be done in the Nemeth Code. Tactile graphics will be included where practical. Books will be available to anyone at prices that will depend on the cost of production. To secure funding to get the service started, information is needed on how many people might use it and the kinds of technical materials that are most needed. Please contact John J. Boyer at Computers to Help People, Inc., 825 East Johnson Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703, (608) 257-5917, e-mail 76025@compuserve.com Elected: Norma Gonzales Baker, Secretary of the Austin Chapter of the NFB of Texas, reports the chapter's recent election of officers. They are Wanda Hamm, President; Mary Ward, First Vice President; Zena Pearcy, Second Vice President; Norma Gonzales Baker, Secretary; Margaret "Cokie" Craig, Treasurer; and Jim Shaffer and Mike Waddles, Board Members. Braille Atlas of the Middle East Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: This collection of tactile maps of the Middle East covers seventeen countries from Egypt in the west to Iran in the east, from Turkey in the north to Yemen in the south, and all countries, large and small, in between. The countries are arranged alphabetically; each country is introduced by a page of facts in Braille, followed by key information and a full-page map showing major cities, physical features, and points of interest. In a few cases two maps are needed to show this information. The scale of the maps varies from twelve miles per inch for Lebanon, one of the smallest countries, to 120 miles per inch for Saudi Arabia. Both the maps and the factual information are adapted from The World Today Series: The Middle East and South Asia, 1996, by Malcolm B. Russell, Stryker-Post Publications, West Virginia. Five introductory maps provide an overall view of the Middle East. These maps show the location of the Middle East in the Eastern Hemisphere, the boundaries of the seventeen countries, the elevation, the climate, and the location of the oil fields. Some experience with tactile graphics is recommended. The complete Atlas consists of sixty-nine Brailon pages, including twenty-five pages of maps, bound with cardboard covers and a multi-ring binder. Cost, $20 including shipping. Allow four to six weeks for delivery. Order from Princeton Braillists, 28-B Portsmouth Street, Whiting, New Jersey 08759 or call (908) 350- 3708. Technical Summer Internships Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: AAAS and IBM announce a program to provide outstanding summer opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities who are pursuing technical fields. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is committed to strengthening the role of disabled professionals in the advancement of technology for all industries. In that spirit we are participating in a precedent-setting partnership with IBM. Continually seeking the brightest minds anywhere, we hope to place qualified students with disabilities in internships throughout the country. We want to offer opportunities to work with people who are transforming the world using technologies that won't reach the classroom for years. Take Matt King, for example. When he's not working hard designing database software for a mobile workstation, using computer screen-reading equipment and a Braille printer, he is training for paralympic gold. Backed by IBM, there's little that stands in Matt's way. Think about it. An internship at IBM can get you where you really want to be--up close with the hottest industry-advancing projects on the planet. You'll be amazed at how quickly we'll start applying your skills. In one summer you can get more real- world experience than most students get in four years. The 1997 summer program lasts from ten to twelve weeks. There may be opportunities for successive summer internships and potential placement upon graduation. To be eligible you must be majoring in a technical field, e.g., computer science, engineering, mathematics, or physical science. Provide a copy of your resume, current GPA, and contact information. IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. This program is open to U.S. citizens or nationals; permanent residents, refugees, asylees, or those authorized to work under the amnesty provision of U.S. immigration law. Contact Laureen Summers, AAAS, (202) 326-6649 (phone/TDD) (202) 371-9849 or e-mail, lsummers@aaas.org PHOTO/CAPTION: Joe and Patricia Miller and new daughter Alexandra Juliet] New Baby: Many Federationists know Joe and Patricia Miller. Mr. Miller is largely responsible for seeing that the National Office computer network behaves properly and does what it's requested to do. Mrs. Miller served as President Maurer's Secretary for a number of years before she took over direction of the Records Center. On Wednesday, March 12, at 1:00 a.m., the Millers' daughter Alexandra Juliet made her first appearance in the world. She measured 18« inches in length and weighed 6 pounds, eleven ounces. All three members of the Miller family are doing well, and the proud parents report that Alexandra is extraordinarily beautiful. Congratulations to the Millers. Extended Technical Support Hours at Blazie Engineering: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: Blazie Engineering has increased its weekly hours of available telephone technical support by 33 percent. Effective immediately, customers with questions about Blazie products can call Blazie any time between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, at (410) 893-9333. This extra telephone availability arrives in conjunction with the recent release of the Braille 'n Speak 2000 personal data assistant. New, feature-laden Braille 'n Speak 2000 is a stand-alone word processor with voice output, a fully adjustable speech synthesizer, a Braille-to-print translator, and much more. The 2000-Series upgrade also comes standard on Type 'n Speak and Braille Lite 18 personal data assistants from Blazie. Blazie Engineering's customers with Internet access can also find help there. Visit blazie.com on the World Wide Web to download files, link to other blindness-related sites, catalog- browse, or access product demos and manuals. Also available are e-mail discussion groups known as list-servers. These are forums of dialogue between users of Blazie products and Blazie Engineering tech support personnel. For more information on Blazie Engineering's extended telephone support hours, Braille 'n Speak 2000, or Blazie's e- mail discussion groups, contact Blazie Engineering, 105 East Jarrettsville Road, Forest Hill, Maryland 21050, or call (410) 893-9333. On the World Wide Web visit http://www.blazie.com Laminating Service Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: I will laminate address cards for mailing cassettes. The lamination process provides much longer use without the cards' being worn out or ruined by weather. The size of the lamination can range from a business card up to a 4-by-6-inch card. The cost of this service varies. Business cards and wallet-sized pictures cost fifty cents each. Anything bigger than this costs $1 each. If the customer would like me to type out all of the information on the card, the cost is $1.25 per card. I must receive all of the information, including correct spellings, for the address cards in Braille or on cassette. I will only accept money orders and cashier's checks as payment. If there are any questions about this service, please contact Claudia Del Real, 2346 Birch Ave., Whiting, Indiana 46393-2135, (219) 688-0716. Guitar-by-Ear Course Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: A new guitar course just for the visually impaired has been released. The all-cassette course (nothing to see or read) was created by Bill Brown, who has been teaching guitar for over twenty-five years. The cost of the course is $34.95, which includes shipping and access to a tuning hot-line in case the student needs help tuning the guitar. After completing the course, the student will know the basic chords in first position, the most commonly used rhythm patterns for these chords, several songs using these cords and patterns, the names of the notes on the strings, and several songs using these notes. The student will also be able to access the entire Guitar-by-Ear library of guitar songs. To order the course, send a check for $34.95 to Bill Brown, 704 Habersham Road, Valdosta, Georgia 31602. If you have further questions, you may call Bill Brown at (912) 249- 0628. Braille Magazines Wanted: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: I would appreciate receiving pass-along copies of the following Braille magazines: Reader's Digest; National Geographic; Fortune; the Isaac Asimov Science Fiction magazine; the New York Times, Braille edition; or any other Braille magazines with fiction features. I am deaf and blind. Any letters must be in Braille. Contact Gordon Janz, 101-2425 Brunswick St., Vancouver, British Columbia, V5T 3ML. Omni 1000 Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: The vision of Ray Kurzweil is helping to enhance the lives of blind and visually impaired people by allowing them greater independence and improved productivity. His new PC-based reading system, Omni 1000, converts the printed word into speech. This leading edge technology offers the most accurate optical character recognition (OCR) and the clearest synthetic speech available. Omni 1000 features a 40,000-word dictionary and the ability to operate the system using your voice, among its useful features. Omni 1000 is available for as low as $995 for software only or for just under $4000 as a complete system (pentium PC, scanner, and software). Upgrade your Arkenstone, Oscar, Xerox, etc., reading machine and receive an Omni 1000 plus for just $595. For more information, please contact Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc., 411 Waverley Oaks Road, Waltham, Massachusetts 02154, (800) 894-5374, e-mail: infor@kurzweiledu.com or visit our website at www.kurzweiledu.com Elected: At its January, 1997, meeting the North Central Chapter of the NFB of Louisiana elected the following new officers: Josh Boudreaux, President; Brenda Walburn, First Vice President; Constance Connolly, Second Vice President; Pam Dubel, Secretary; Harold Wilson, Treasurer; and Arlene Hill and Eddie Culp, Board members. Hoping to Buy: I am looking for a Sharp Talking Time One talking alarm clock. If you have one for sale or if you know where I can purchase one, please call Tony Lewis at (510) 865-3171 or write 1211 Paru, Apt. E, Alameda, California 94501. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Jim and Olivia Ostergaard] Letter from a Very Young Federationist: Allow me to introduce myself. My name is James Randall Ostergaard, son of Jim and Olivia Ostergaard of the Fresno, California, Chapter. I arrived on January 15, 1997, at 12:33 a.m. I weighed seven pounds, four ounces and was nineteen and three- fourths inches long. I am looking forward to attending NFB meetings. I am especially interested in the Parents of Blind Children Division. Maybe they can help my mommy and daddy learn how to take care of me. Maybe I'll have my mommy tell you about some of the things we've been experiencing that first-time blind parents need to know. I am excited about life and look forward to being a Federationist. I know the California affiliate has been waiting a long time for me to get here. So tell Willows and the gang that I'm rarin' to go after I grow up a little. Thanks for reading my letter. Here's to a better Federation! Sincerely, James Randall Ostergaard Position Available: We have been asked to carry the following announcement: Research Director. Full-time, professional position. Qualifications: earned doctorate in rehabilitation counseling or a closely related field from an accredited college or university. CRC preferred. Five years experience in conducting applied rehabilitation research and/or in grants management activities with a minimum of two years experience in applied rehabilitation research. Demonstrated success in securing research grants. Expertise in computerized statistical packages, spreadsheet packages, and other research techniques required. Applicants must be able to coordinate and direct research activities of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University. Salary: negotiable, depending upon training and experience. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Send letter of application, resume, three letters of reference, and transcripts to John Maxson, Chair, Screening Committee, RRTC on Blindness and Low Vision, P.O. Drawer 6189, Mississippi State University, Mississippi 39762. Questions regarding the position can also be sent to jhm51@ra.msstate.edu or call (601) 325-2001. MSU is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. [PHOTO/CAPTION: Dr. C. Edwin Vaughan] NAC Takes a Hit in the Journal of Rehabilitation: The January/February/March, 1997, issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation, perhaps the most prestigious publication in the general rehabilitation field, published an article titled, "Why Accreditation Failed Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Impaired." The author was C. Edwin Vaughan, Professor of Sociology at the University of Missouri at Columbia. The article's abstract tells the sorry NAC tale. The handful of agencies still clinging to NAC accreditation would do well to read this history and consider their actions in the light of the field's decision to move on, leaving NAC behind. This is what the abstract says: Four major organizations provide national accrediting services for rehabilitation agencies. National accreditation becomes increasingly important when both consumers of services and those who provide economic support for these agencies expect increased accountability. The most specialized of these national agencies is the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC). NAC grew out of a two-year planning process which culminated in the establishment of the new accrediting organization in 1967. Its founders envisioned accrediting more than five hundred agencies that provided education and rehabilitation services to people who are blind. Throughout its history NAC has been opposed by well- organized consumers of services and has not attracted the support of most agencies. It has never reached its envisioned goals and is now declining. This article reviews the history of this accrediting organization and discusses the reasons for continuous and intense consumer and professional resistance. It analyzes why different occupational groups within this field failed to unite in support of NAC and provides data documenting its rapid decline during the past decade. The article concludes by exploring available alternatives for agencies in the blindness field when accreditation fails. PHOTO/CAPTION: David Stayer] Elected to Serve: On December 11, 1996, David Stayer, one of the leaders of the National Federation of the Blind of New York, was elected to chair the Rehabilitation Advisory Council of the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped. Congratulations to David Stayer and to the Commission's Advisory Council. Scholarships for Part-time Students Available: The George Washington University is pleased to invite applicants for the Barbara Jackman Zuckert Scholarship for Blind Part-time Students. The scholarship fund was established by Barbara Jackman Zuckert in 1985 to assist visually impaired or blind students seeking higher education at The George Washington University. It is the goal of this scholarship to encourage enrollment of visually impaired or blind students by extending financial assistance when other sources of support are not available. The purpose of the Barbara Jackman Zuckert Scholarship for Blind Part-Time Students is now amended to include learning- disabled students who have a significant deficit in the area of reading. These may be students, primarily those with dyslexia, who qualify for and use books on tape, such as those designed primarily for sight-impaired persons. Applicants for the Barbara Jackman Zuckert Scholarship must submit a complete application (including a financial aid statement), a letter of application, certification of disability, and a high school or college transcript to the selection committee. Applications must be postmarked no later than May 30, 1997. Applications can be obtained from the George Washington University, Disability Support Services, Marvin Center 436, 800 21st Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20052. Please feel free to call Christy Willis, Director, Disability Support Services, (202) 994-8250, if you have any further questions. [PHOTO: The picture is of two horse-drawn wagons with iron-rimmed wheels. The wagons are filled with bulging canvas mail sacks, and the two drivers are about to give their horses the command to go. CAPTION: Horse-drawn wagons outside the Ziegler Magazine's plant on Manhattan's West 53rd Street prepare to haul the Braille publication to the post office. The photo was taken in 1907.] Ninetieth Anniversary Celebration: We recently received this picture and press release: With its March issue, the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind completed ninety years of uninterrupted publication--a record most print publications cannot match. The Ziegler came into existence in 1907 following the serendipitous meeting of Mrs. William Ziegler, who had a blind son, and a Tennessee newspaper man, Walter G. Holmes, who had a blind brother. He knew how difficult and expensive it was for blind people to find materials they could read with their fingers. For example, the then-popular book, Ben Hur, which cost one dollar in print, cost $10.50 in an embossed form. After meeting Mr. Holmes in 1905, Mrs. Ziegler agreed to pay all the costs of an embossed magazine if he would edit it. To this arrangement he readily agreed, and the first issue was mailed to subscribers in March, 1907. It required two horse-drawn wagons to haul the dozens of mail bags stuffed with the bulky raised-dot publication from the magazine's Manhattan plant to the post office. At that time Braille was not the most widely-used embossed reading system. The first run of the Ziegler Magazine, therefore, had only 2,000 copies in Braille, but had 5,000 in the popular New York Point. The Ziegler was a pioneering publication in other ways. It was the first publication to solve the problem of embossing both sides of a sheet of paper without crushing the dots on the first side. What is now called "Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped" was also pioneered by the magazine. As early as 1904 books lent out by libraries for the blind could be mailed free of postage. In 1910 editor Walter G. Holmes instigated legislation that would allow magazines for the blind also to be mailed postage-free. This legislation was designed specifically to spare the Ziegler from second-class postage but has since benefited every comparable periodical for the blind and physically handicapped. A free subscription may be had by anyone who can read Braille or has a four-track, half-speed cassette player. For details contact Ziegler Magazine, 80 8th Ave., Room 1304, New York, New York 10011, (212) 242-0263. Fax (212) 633-1601, e-mail: zieglermag@ibm.net Home page: www.zieglermag.org A history of the magazine, The Ziegler Magazine Story, is available free of charge in Braille, standard speed cassette, or large print from the above address.