FUTURE REFLECTIONS Vol. 11, No. 2 Barbara Cheadle, Editor Spring, 1992 Contents Children and the NFB Convention in Charlotte The Turning Point Confessions of a Scholarship Winner by Jennifer Lehman Parent Educates Fairyland About Blindness by Dianne Millner No Good for the Blind in "Good and Evil" by Barbara Pierce Shanthi's First American Year by Barbara Freeman The First Rocky Mountain Regional Parents of Blind Children Conference by Julie Hunter Tours With Allure in Charlotte by Wayne E. Shevlin KIDS KORNER * Blind Student Bucks State Ruling * Christina * Walt Cone: Communications Assistant * Is There A Dog Guide in Your Future? Comments on CCTV's and Braille by Mary Ellen Gabias Spatial Relations and the "Little Room" by Lili Nielsen, Ph.D. with introductory material by Donna Tatro Fast Facts on Individualized Education Programs by Christopher Button J.O.B. Braille Readers Deserve More by Cynthia Aronoff Literature Review: Itinerant Teaching: Tricks of the Trade for Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students Written by Jean E. Olmstead. Reviewed by Doris Willoughby Education of Blind Children: Spotlight on Idaho by Ramona Walhof Coming to Grips With Blindness: A Mother Talks to Medical Professionals by Loretta White NFB NET by David Andrews HEAR YE! HEAR YE! CHILDREN AND THE NFB CONVENTION IN CHARLOTTE Charlotte is a great place for an NFB Convention, and a great place for kids, too! First of all, children will be delighted--and parents relieved--to discover many nearby, inexpensive restaurants and fast-food places. Visitors to Charlotte will also appreciate the friendly people and the mild weather (temperatures from June-August range from 87 to 67 degrees). Each of the four convention hotels have swimming pools, so be sure to bring swim suits! Next, there is wonderful family entertainment and recreation. Of course, the major focus is the convention and learning about blindness, but there will still be free time before and after the convention and on convention tour afternoon, Thursday, July 2. The Convention Center is conveniently located within walking distance of a large city park; some of the city's most interesting historical sites and museums; a brand-new, state-of the art Aquatic Center (which is accessible to the orthopedically handicapped); and the city's most popular hands-on Science and Technology museum- -Discovery Place. For those who wish to go further afield, there is the Afro-American Cultural Center (this is a long walk or short ride from the Convention Center); the Nature Center (inexpensive and a moderate drive from the Convention Center); the Mint Museum of Art (a 5 minute drive from uptown Charlotte); Celebration Station (a family fun center with bumper cars, miniature golf, game rooms, and so forth--located on the Outer Loop of Charlotte); the Reed Gold Mine (located in the nearby city of Stanfield); the Charlotte Motor Speedway (located between Charlotte and Concord off highway 29); and Carowinds (a family theme park with water rides, roller coasters, and so forth--located off I-77 south of Charlotte); and many more attractions. But wait! Before you start making your plans, first check out the "Tours With Allure" on page -- of this issue. The North Carolina affiliate of the NFB has put together some great tour packages for Sunday, June 28; Monday, June 29; Tuesday, June 30; and Thursday afternoon, July 2. The pre-arranged tours are not only convenient and inexpensive, they give you the chance to meet lots of other parents, blind kids, and blind adults in a relaxed, informal setting. Special arrangements have also been made by the Parents of Blind Children Division for a Children's Fun Day field trip and other activities on Sunday, June 28. (This is the date of the big, day-long seminar for parents of blind children.) While parents are attending the parents seminar children ages 5-12 can be learning and having fun, too. Under the capable leadership of Lori Anderson, a former kindergarten teacher, and with the help of dedicated Federation volunteers, the children will begin the day with get-acquainted activities, games, and discussions/demonstrations of blindness-related skills and techniques. The children will then go to a nearby restaurant for lunch. (To promote independence, each child will be given money and assisted as needed in ordering their own lunch.) After lunch, the group will walk to the Discovery Place museum for an afternoon of exciting hands-on experiences at one of the top science museums in the country. The highly popular Discovery Place features: a Science Circus where children learn about light, power, motion, and sound; a domed, 6-track sound system Omnimax theater; the Space Voyager Planetarium; an Aquarium; a Collection Gallery; and a 3-story replica of a tropical jungle- -the Knight Rain Forest. The group will return in time for the children to reunite with parents following adjournment of the parent seminar at 5:00 p.m. The cost of the "Children's Fun Day" is $10 per child; this includes lunch and admission to Discovery Place. In order to get group rates we must make reservations in advance for Discovery Place, so please pre-register (see form below) your child(ren) for Children's Fun Day. Send the pre-registration information plus the $10 fee per child to: Children's Fun Day, Lori Anderson,111 Marquette Avenue, South, Apt. 302, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401. Child care, sponsored by the NFB Parental Concerns Committee, will also be available for babies and children up to age 12 during the Convention, including all day Sunday, June 28. Preregistration is not required for child care, however advance notice from parents planning to use child care would be much appreciated. To help defray the costs of child care, the Parental Concerns Committee is asking that parents make a donation of: $50 for the week (this includes banquet night) for the first child and $25 for each additional child; or $10 per child per day, and $10 per child for banquet night if the full week is not needed. (Parents who cannot, financially, make the suggested donation are requested to contact Carol Coulter to discuss alternative donations or arrangements). Please contact: Carol Coulter, 2504 Glenn Drive, Columbia, Missouri 65202; 314-474-3226. If you have not yet made your room reservations for the National Federation of the Blind Annual Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, please do it now! Remember that single rooms are only $30 per night; doubles and twins, $35; triples, $38; and quads $40. These prices are in addition to tax. Write to: Convention '92, National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230; or call Anthony Cobb at 410-659-9314. Room deposits of $40 are required and may be paid by check, money order, or credit card. For further details refer to the December, 1991, Braille Monitor and the Winter, 1992, Future Reflections. This should be the best convention ever, so make your plans now! THE TURNING POINT Editor's Note: I met Ann and Dale Elliott at the 1991 NFB convention. It was clear they had come to convention determined to learn all they could about blindness. They sought out parents, teachers, and blind adults of all ages. Everyone who met them must have been impressed, as was I, with their down-to-earth attitude and desire to learn. They also demonstrated courage. It isn't easy for parents to talk about a child's blindness when emotions are still raw and close to the surface. But with knowledge comes understanding, and with understanding comes healing. I was once asked by a parent when would her tears ever stop. I said something like this: "You are a parent, the tears never stop. However, the nature of your tears can change." That turning point comes so much more surely if, like the Elliotts, you seek knowledge and understanding from those who know blindness best--the blind themselves. Here is Ann and Dale Elliotts story as told in a local newspaper, the Times/Record News of Wichita Falls, Texas, on Sunday, February 2, 1992. `Big Brown Eyes' Child's Blindness Helps Parents See By Lois Luecke (Senior Staff Writer) Ann and Dale Elliott still become teary-eyed when they talk about their adopted son, Caleb.Their tears are joyful, where once they were the tears of parents facing an unknown. Not until he was 5 months old did the Elliotts, older parents in their 40's, discover that Caleb was blind. "We were devastated," said Mrs. Elliott. "He has the prettiest big brown eyes. To look at him, you would never know that there's anything wrong."A number of people, Mrs. Elliott said, asked if they still wanted to keep Caleb. "Of course, we did," she said. "He was ours." The Elliotts' initial reaction, though, was one of disbelief and denial. They said they experienced various stages of grief, including anger and depression. Eye specialists told them that Caleb was born with a fatty buildup and a "pseudo cherry spot" on his retina. No name was given to it and no one knows why, said his mother. During that critical time, Mrs. Elliott says in retrospect, "I think probably I held my baby closer. My husband and I both cried and we still do at time....Then for the most part you accept it and go on with your life. But I don't think you ever get over the hurt. I don't think you feel so much for yourself but for your child. And he doesn't need it. He doesn't know. his world is normal." The Elliotts have come a long way in the three ensuing years. They believe they reached a major turning point only last July at the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind in New Orleans. Members of the NFB parents division, they heard talks by many of the nation's blind leaders. They saw sightless teen-agers making their way effortlessly through the convention halls, having fun.Role models like these and the Federation itself, they said, opened up new vistas for them and their son. "We have no doubt that Caleb will be a totally self-sufficient adult. We expect him to grow up and marry and have children. The only problem he has is that he can't see. But there is nothing to keep him from being a very successful adult. We intend to see he gets the best education he can get," said his mother. Both parents are involved in all of Caleb's activities. They are learning Braille and encouraging Caleb to learn Braille by reading such books as a Sesame Street book on the ABC's."His vision teacher Brailled sticky paper with every letter on each page. Another book is called a twin visions book. While you read the nursery rhymes to him, he feels the Braille. He doesn't know what it ways, but this is getting his fingers accustomed to the feel of Braille." His parents enrolled Caleb in preschool in September 1990 at The Learning Center at First Presbyterian Church. There and at home he receives visits from his vision teacher, who works at Region IX Education Service Center. He will be eligible for mainstreaming into the public schools when he reaches kindergarten. The Elliotts are charter members of a new support group for parents with visually impaired children. They keep up with new developments, such as the Texas Legislature's passage of a model Braille bill, specifying that the state will provide all the textbooks or the capability of the textbooks to be printed in Braille. The public school system in Texas starts working with visually impaired and deaf children from birth, said Mrs. Elliott. In Archer County, the Elliotts come under the umbrella of the Big 4 Coop for special education. "Caleb is a typical 3-year-old. He is typical in every way except that he can't see. To him that's not a problem," said his mother, a licensed vocational nurse who works for a physician at the Wichita Falls Clinic."Being blind from birth, Caleb can go anywhere in the house," said his father, a system operator with TU Electric. "He can tell you about anything in the house." Caleb still has light perception and that helps him with balance and mobility. Sometimes he "trails the wall" with his hand when he goes down the hall, said his mother. They have taught him to keep his hands out so he won't bump into things. He uses a small cane when he goes outside and when the family goes to the mall or to a restaurant. In the near future, his parents hope to buy a computer for him, with both Braille and regular printer. Caleb and his parents enjoy unusual rapport. As they sat together for photographs in Caleb's room, they chatted and laughed and Caleb kept up a running commentary about his "new toy," a balloon toy that "replaced an `ailing' Kermit." The youngster runs over to the toy box in his room and pulls out a toy. As he does with most objects, he feels for the toy, puts it to his nose to smell, then to his mouth and then to his ear to check the sound. Dale and Ann Elliott said they have learned a great deal from Caleb and his acute senses of touch, sound, and smell. "When we turn into our driveway, he says, "We're home. It's a `soft ride," because our driveway is smooth," in contrast to some of the rural road around their house, Mrs. Elliott explained. "He can't see the mountains or the sky, everything that is beautiful," said Dale Elliott. "...But we went to Ruidoso on vacation last October. He just loved the mountains, the babbling brooks, the smell of the pine cones, the smell of the pine trees, and feel of it all. He can probably tell you more about the mountains now than most people who go there." Elliott's eyes brimmed with tears. "The first year he was blind, I would pray every night that the Lord would restore his vision. And now I pray every night, `Thank you, God, for giving me such a fine boy.'" CONFESSIONS OF A SCHOLARSHIP WINNER by Jennifer Lehman Reprinted from the December, 1991, Braille Monitor. From the [Braille Monitor] Associate Editor: Jennifer Lehman is a sophomore at St. Norbert College, majoring in communications. She reminds us all over again just what the impact of the National Convention is on people who are experiencing it for the first time. If you are toying with the idea of attending the NFB convention for the first time or if you know someone who is doing so, read this article, and consider that this same expansion of the world and deepening of self-confidence is available to everyone who attends our conventions and dives into the activities and the opportunities available. Here is the story of what happened to one young woman as first printed in the Fall, 1991, issue of the Wisconsin Chronicle, the publication of the NFB of Wisconsin: As I stepped from the oppressively humid jetway into the startling coolness of the New Orleans airport, I felt the apprehension I had been fighting to control begin to overwhelm me. Flying alone for the first time, I had just arrived in an unfamiliar city to spend a week attending a convention of a group about which I knew almost nothing. Lurking beneath my apprehension, however, was a spark of excitement. I realized that this trip could be a challenging and fun adventure. I could not have known then how much I would learn and what an exciting and unforgettable experience the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind would be. Prior to this convention my contact with other blind people had been limited. I was the first blind student to enter the Watertown public school system and am presently the only one at St. Norbert College. Apart from my younger sister, many of the blind people I had met seemed to exemplify the stereotypic image of blindness. They seemed totally dependent upon others to meet all of their needs. I was not anxious to spend a week surrounded by such people. I felt that there were no other blind people like my sister and me--people who thought of their blindness, not as a handicap or an insurmountable hurdle, but as something which, though sometimes a nuisance, did not have to keep them from doing what they wanted to do with their lives. Soon after arriving at the convention, I discovered, to my relief, that I had been wrong. The ideas about blindness which I had thought were unique to me and my sister were actually part of the philosophy of the NFB. I was among people whose attitudes and accomplishments I admired and who reached out and made me feel that I was a part of their huge family. The sense of community I felt was one of the most positive aspects of the convention for me. Another positive aspect was the chance to learn more about the NFB. Before this trip I knew almost nothing about the group. I had heard some mixed reports. For instance, I had heard that it was somewhat radical, especially in its fight for exit row seating on airplanes. I had also heard that it worked hard to promote the teaching of Braille, something which I very much support. Through conversations with members and many excellent speeches, I learned a great deal about the philosophy and actions of the National Federation of the Blind. I found that I agree with much of this philosophy. I plan to become an active member and may even work to start a student division in Wisconsin. The convention taught me as much about myself as it did about the NFB. I have always considered myself fairly independent, but this convention taught me to be even more so as an improved cane traveler. Walking with so many other people who were also using canes, I gained new skills as well as more of the confidence I needed to help me travel better. As I relaxed and opened up to people, I also gained much-needed self-confidence. I hope that the positive effects this convention had on my self-image will last a lifetime. Attending the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind is an event I will never forget. I am extremely grateful to the members of the scholarship committee and all those who worked to make this experience possible for me. By winning the Wisconsin NFB scholarship, I received more than just the money to help pay for my tuition. I gained confidence, knowledge, friends, and memories which I will cherish forever. PARENT EDUCATES FAIRYLAND ABOUT BLINDNESS by Dianne Millner Editor's Note: The basic job of a parent of a blind child is the same as it is for other parents--to prepare that child for independency and self-sufficiency as an adult. Granted, the task is complicated by the fact that most parents never asked for this job, and have little notion of how to begin raising a blind child. Many parents also lack the benefit of knowledgeable, skilled professionals who could make the task easier (not infrequently, the professionals actually make it harder.) But once parents realize that the goal is the same--only the means of getting there is sometimes different--then everything begins to fall into place. But the parent who stops here has only completed half the job. What's the other half? It is this. Like other minorities--such as African-Americans, Hispanics--the blind face prejudice and discrimination. Granted, it does not usually come in the form of hatred and bigotry. However, pity, ignorance, and condescension can keep a blind person from getting job, renting an apartment, or flying unharrassed on a plane just as surely as hatred and racism keeps other minorities from full participation in society. Like parents of other minority groups, parents of blind children must wrestle with such questions as: How do I build self-esteem and confidence in my child when those around him/her act in such a way to tear it down? How do I prepare my child to recognize and face prejudice and discrimination as an adult, without crushing her/his spirit? and, What can I do to change attitudes so that my child will have more opportunities for full participation in society than do the blind adults of today? Though her daughter is still only a preschooler, Dianne Millner of Oakland, California has already come to grips with the second half of her job. Perhaps it is because she found the National Federation of the Blind early in her daughter's life. Perhaps is it is because she is an African-American and is therefore especially sensitive to this need. Whatever the reason or reasons, Dianne takes her task of educating the public about blindness seriously. Here is a letter she sent last summer to the director of Children's Fairyland in Oakland, California. As you read it, consider the impact just one letter, like this one, can have on people's attitude about blindness and disabilities in general. Educating the public about blindness is not somebody else's job. It is our job. By taking personal responsibility, and combining our efforts with others through the National Federation of the Blind Parents Division, it is possible that our children will enter society as adults on a level of equality never before known by the blind of the world. Here is Dianne Millner's letter: July 22, 1991 Herbye White, Director Oakland Office of Parks and Recreation R>Oakland, California 94612 Dear Mr. White: A few months ago I investigated the possibility of having a birthday party for my daughter at Children's Fairyland. I was very impressed with the facilities and agreed to reserve a catered birthday party on Sunday, July 21. We were pleased to be informed that our birthday party participants could attend one of your daily puppet shows and that my daughter would be acknowledged at the beginning and given a special key to operate some of the attractions. On Sunday, July 21, my daughter and her friends eagerly awaited the puppet show as part of their birthday party activities. My daughter was very excited to be called to the stage and given her special key. She then sat down with her friends and waited with anticipation to watch the puppet show. I had told her that the puppet show would be "Pinocchio" and gave her a brief description of the story. We were all having a very good time until the point in the show when two characters came out, one who described himself as "lame" and another with a big sign across his chest labeled "BLIND." We were further dismayed to hear the characters explain that they had become lame and blind as a sort of punishment or consequence of some act. Although we are sure that the performers did not intend to offend anyone, the characters and the messages that they portrayed nevertheless were very damaging. They said to the small children at the puppet show that: (1.) being lame or blind is terrible and horrifying; and (2.) these maladies are punishments for something that a person did wrong. You see, Mr. White, my daughter (who was called to the stage that morning) is an ordinary preschooler who happens to be blind. Her blindness is an inconvenience at times but certainly it is not a terrible malady-- blindness is a normal characteristic that occurs in the human population as do other disabilities. She was more like the other preschoolers sitting at the puppet show than different from them. Moreover, she is not blind because sh did anything bad and became blind as a punishment. The reason we are pointing this out to you is not to condemn or chastise your performers. We merely hope that you will modify this part of the performance so that it does not convey or reinforce to very impressionable youngsters (and their parents) negative stereotypes about disabilities or make children with disabilities feel bad about themselves. People often reject such criticism on the basis that we should not change the traditional way of telling stories. The facts are, however, that some traditional stories are insensitive and inaccurate and either should not be told or should be modified, especially when they are being told to young children. There are alternative non-demeaning ways to convey the same idea that the performers would like to convey in the play without using these characters. For your information, I am enclosing a short commentary on the often cited "The Blind Men and the Elephant" story [from Future Reflections] in which the author was able to convince a speaker to convey the same story idea but in a positive and non-insulting manner. We hope that you will give this matter serious attention and look forward to hearing back from you. Very truly yours, Alexander, Millner & McGee Dianne M. Millner NO GOOD FOR THE BLIND IN "GOOD AND EVIL" by Barbara Pierce Editor's Note: The following article is an edited and somewhat modified version of a much more detailed article (same title) which appeared in the December 1991, Braille Monitor. The issue in which the article appeared is free of charge, and can be ordered from: Materials Center, National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230; (410) 659-9314. It was a battle about "Good and Evil," and between good and evil--and the good prevailed. But the battle would not have been won--and, for that matter, would not ever have commenced--had it not been for the coordinated, nationwide effort of the National Federation of the Blind. In the end the victory was complete, and the show of strength was such that neither friend nor foe will forget it. In fact, the threatened disaster was converted into a vehicle for unprecedented opportunity. On September 25, 1991, people in an estimated 9.3 million homes sat in their living rooms watching a blind character on an eagerly-awaited new prime-time situation comedy called "Good and Evil." The writer was Susan Harris, creator of the hugely successful programs "Soap," "Golden Girls," and "Empty Nest." The blind character George was played by Mark Blankfield, and the portrayal made fun of blind people and our alternative techniques. He shared billing on the program with the stars Teri Garr and Margaret Whitton. George made his entrance the first week halfway through the show by sweeping laboratory glassware off every surface he could reach with his wildly flailing cane. In the following four and a half minutes he staggered up a staircase and around the lab looking for his lady love (mostly in the wrong direction), made a pass at a hanging coat and struck himself with the coat rack, groped across the body of another male character until even he was irrefutably persuaded of his masculinity, and choked himself on his cane as he stumbled out the door. In subsequent weekly appearances George continued to break any glass in his vicinity and fall up or down every available set of stairs. In addition he created a number of embarrassing situations by failing to recognize that silent people were present or notice when other characters left the room. In short, every tired old saw about the oblivious, socially inept, clumsy blind person was hauled out and played for all it was worth. From the first preview of the "Good and Evil" pilot, which Federationists saw last summer, we protested in the strongest terms to ABC's Entertainment and Broadcast Standards departments. Our complaints were met with the statement that all the characters on "Good and Evil" were drawn broadly and intended to be parodies of real people. In effect we were asked where our sense of humor was. In letters to those who complained about George to ABC and in press releases and interviews, network officials repeatedly said that, if George had been meant to be a true-to-life character, such a portrayal would have been in poor taste. But no one could possibly miss the parody element, so there was no reason to modify the character or remove him from the script. That was the position ABC maintained from the beginning, and one is struck by its shallowness and naivety. Although the National Federation of the Blind has succeeded in educating many members of the public enough for them to admit that blind people (in theory at least) can be capable citizens if given the chance, there is still a large residue of unconscious prejudice in most people that would cause them to identify a character like George as a more or less accurate extension of a normal blind person trying to cope ineffectually with the sighted world. ABC's concept of George as parody would never even enter the equation. The presence of an incompetent blind person slashing and smashing his way through the program would necessarily give people emotional permission to abandon their newly-learned and difficult-to-accept notion of the blind as equal partners. Moreover, the most devastatingly cruel form of humor at someone else's expense is surely that in which the object of the joke is also its unwitting perpetrator. In every episode George invited laughter at himself by his antics, his stupidity, and his comments. Absurd as every blind person knows his behavior to have been, his actions assumed a semblance of reality just because they were being performed by the blind character. There is a degree less cruelty in wisecracks made by other characters about or to the one being laughed at. Archie Bunker made fun of all kinds of people in the program "All in the Family." Even those who shared Archie's world view understood that part of the joke was his lack of tact and taste, and Archie was usually shown to be wrong in his opinions. The result was that, although everyone was invited to laugh at the jokes, no one was being asked to accept Archie's point of view. The greatest fear that blind people and their friends had was that because of the public's inability to recognize the absurdity of George's behavior, the stereotypical clumsiness and obliviousness to actual events around him which George exhibited would compound the problems blind people already have in employment and social interactions. As more than one indignant correspondent inquired of ABC executives, "What do you suppose the chances would have been for a blind job applicant wanting work in a research facility the morning after George smashed his way around the lab in the first episode of `Good and Evil?' If the employer had seen the show, none at all." Almost equally disturbing to thoughtful blind viewers was the response to George of the other characters on the program. No one ever got mad at him for smashing everything in sight. Genn, the good sister and the woman with whom George was enamored, never once told him to go jump in the lake despite his inappropriate behavior. On a show memorable for the rudeness, cruelty, and selfishness of most of the characters, everyone was the soul of tact and patience with George. They were united in nothing but their belief that George was not a responsible adult, capable of hearing hard truths. It is just barely possible that a little of the rough and tumble of real life on a sitcom for George might actually have carried a whiff of humor. But the most demeaning part of this hands-off behavior was the unstated, but graphically portrayed conviction that George was absolutely not an acceptable candidate as a romantic partner. At one point George was wandering around the lab, trying to find Genn as he poured out his love to her. She remained silent, almost cringing from the very thought of physical contact with him. Then Eric, the man whom she loved and her sister was blackmailing into marriage, walked in, and she sheltered in his arms. The message was clear: Genn would not say an unkind word to or about George, but, guilty though she felt over it, she wanted nothing to do with this repellent and pathetic creature. When "Good and Evil" burst on the fall schedule, the National Federation of the Blind mobilized an astonishing range of blind people and their friends and family members. They immediately understood the depth of the insult and the seriousness of the danger to blind people if George were allowed to grope and stumble his way through a weekly sitcom. Federationists wrote thousands of letters to various ABC and Touchstone Productions executives and to the program sponsors. Many people turned to the telephone to lodge their protests. In fact, on Monday, September 23, for about a half hour we flooded ABC Television's New York switchboard with calls to urge the network to withdraw the season premiere of the program. Participants in the U.S./Canada Conference on Technology, which took place at the National Center for the Blind September 19 to 21, sent a telegram to ABC registering their disapprobation. The NFB of Minnesota mobilized itself in time to conduct a demonstration outside the local ABC affiliate in St. Paul on Wednesday afternoon, September 25, the day of the show's premiere. By October 2 the battle was well and truly joined. Federationists everywhere had circulated the names and addresses of program advertisers to add to their lists of ABC executives, and the mail was pouring into corporate headquarters around the nation. We announced that we would begin picketing the New York offices of ABC Television every Wednesday afternoon until "Good and Evil" vanished from the ABC prime-time line-up. In addition, Federationists in other cities began taking to the streets to go on record personally in opposition to George and all he stood for. Demonstrations were organized outside ABC affiliates in Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Denver; Colorado Springs; and Los Angeles in addition to the one in New York. One-time-only pickets took place in other cities as Federationists urged station managers to press harder on network executives to remove George and his friends from the air. Brochures were prepared and picket signs constructed. Despite the fact that NBC and CBS television network affiliates consistently refused to cover this story (they maintained that they didn't want to give free publicity to a rival, but the blind remain convinced that out of self-interest they preferred to protect their colleagues), our protest against "Good and Evil" and the demonstrations across the country garnered a good bit of media attention. Newspapers and the wire services carried stories every time we circulated a press release. The Fox and CNN television networks filmed our demonstrations and aired interviews with Federation spokesmen. Even "Entertainment Tonight," a syndicated program produced by ABC Television, covered the story twice. To make a long story a little shorter, after a meeting early in October with ABC officials, weekly protests outside ABC headquarters in New York, and a continuous outpouring of letters to Good and Evil sponsors, on Thursday, October 24, 1991, ABC announced that it had ordered production of "Good and Evil" stopped. With eleven episodes already completed, it was not immediately clear just how many more would actually air. In unofficial discussions, Federation leaders told ABC executives that we understood the time it takes to make arrangements to replace a canceled program, but we would be mightily displeased if more than one more episode were to appear. In the end, only one more, that of October 30, was broadcast. With that, the curtain came down on one of the sorriest experiments in television humor ever conducted. Among those who wrote letters and made telephone calls to protest Good and Evil, were parents and their blind children. One parent, in a letter to ABC asked if the writers and producers had ever considered the impact the lab scene could possibly have on a blind high school student who walked into his/her science class the following day? Adam Emerson, a blind student from Michigan, took the initiative, after he heard about the show from his Mom, Sunny Emerson, to compose his own letter to ABC and the sponsors of Good and Evil. Here is Adam Emerson's letter: October 18, 1991 Dear _______: Hello, my name is Adam Emerson; I am currently eleven years old, and I am planning to be a professional student, particle physicist, and a chemist. Your show "Good and Evil" reinforces stereotypes about blind persons, and makes fun of them. For instance, my sister has seen that I can live competently, but after she watched "Good and Evil" her opinions changed. My mother, Sunny, asked her is she wanted to let my nephew, Andrew, go on a field trip to Greenfield village supervised by blind persons, and she refused. Furthermore, I have met several blind persons who are currently employed in the occupations listed above. Shows like "Good and Evil" deliver messages that may affect a person's opinion of blind people. Please do not show anything that will hinder the chances of myself and other blind children's chances of getting a job in the future. Sincerely, Adam C. Emerson The time may come--one hopes that it will--when the American people are ready and able to laugh together about the funny things that happen to blind people. Nothing would be a healthier indication of our final emergence into first-class status and full equality. But that time is not in the foreseeable future. As long as the general public presumes our incompetence, our clumsiness, and our inability to understand or appreciate what is going on around us, blind characters on television who exhibit these traits cannot be funny. Until every blind person has an opportunity to receive effective training and a chance to compete for good jobs, we will all suffer from caricatures like George. Yes, it was a battle about "Good and Evil," and between good and evil--and the good prevailed. SHANTHI'S FIRST AMERICAN YEAR by Barbara Freeman Editor's Note: Mike Freeman, a blind computer analyst, and his wife Barbara (who is sighted) are long-time leaders in the Washington state affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. When Mike and Barbara began the adoption process about four years ago, they were a little nervous. Not only did they have to deal with the usual bewildering mass of paperwork, interviews, and unexpected pitfalls associated with the adoption--especially overseas adoption--process, but they had to deal with questions and doubts about Mike's ability to care for a child. Why? For no other reason than the fact that Mike is blind. Fortunately, it is no longer rare or unusual for blind individuals to successfully adopt children. The National Federation of the Blind has been providing help and encouragement to prospective blind adoptive parents for over twenty years, and has in the process developed some excellent literature about the competency of blind parents. Also, the NFB Parents Division formed a Blindness and Adoption Network a few years ago to give support and information to blind people trying to adopt any child, or to any individual seeking to adopt a blind child. As a consequence, blind persons generally have fewer difficulties today in overcoming negative attitudes and ignorance about blindness among adoption social workers. So it was with Mike and Barbara, and eventually Shanthi joined her family in America. But a whole new set of challenges awaited Mike and Barbara. Shanthi, too, is blind, and for nearly a year she had been in a less than ideal environment. Here is Barbara's story of "Shanthi's First American Year." My husband, Mike, and I met our new daughter, Shanthi Anne, at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 13, 1990. Shanthi, then aged eleven and a half months,flew to us from India. Our social worker had recommended this baby to us because she was outstandingly responsive and alert when she observed her on a trip to India the previous April. Shanthi is anophthalmic, this means she was born without eyes. When Shanthi arrived at our home in November, she had changed little she had been placed in the foundling home the previous April. She could not bear weight; she could sit up, but not get to a sitting position by herself; and she could roll, but not crawl or creep. She examined people's faces, hands, and clothing, but never reached out to find anything beyond the person holding her. Most disturbing of all, Shanthi did not know what a bottle was and could not use a cup or eat from a spoon. Another set of parents had visited her foundling home and had observed the babies being fed. Because of a nipple-borne infection, the doctor had forbidden bottles. As a result, at every feeding one caretaker would hold the babies down and pry open their mouths while another caretaker would pour thick water-buffalo milk in from above. The babies would scream and gag the whole time. The social worker who brought Shanthi from India had been feeding her with a little medicine syringe. She would squirt formula into Shanthi's mouth while Shanthi sucked her thumb. Shanthi expected to be fed lying down, and never took her thumb out of her mouth. She got more formula on her than in her. We drove home with our baby without any idea about how we going to feed her. Upon the advice of our pediatrician, we decided to train Shanthi to a cup instead of back to a bottle. Our doctor also advised us to start feeding her a wide variety of foods immediately. Shanthi was underweight and had mild anemia. There was no time to introduce solid foods gradually. Shanthi's front teeth were coming in when she arrived so it was doubly important that she learn to bite and chew right away. A child who does not learn to use her teeth when they are coming in often has eating problems. A delay in learning how to eat plus the early trauma of forced feeding might very well have caused a life-long problem. Thus began an extremely intense three weeks. My goals were twofold: first, to teach her how to eat a mixed diet and second, to give her control over her food intake as soon as possible. I bought training cups with lids that allowed the formula to flow when the cup was tipped. I wanted Shanthi to know that tipping the cup caused the milk to flow. Some training cups are so spill-proof that the milk must be sucked out. I insisted from the first that Shanthi sit up to eat or drink. I sat her in my lap with my left arm behind her back so she could not lie down. By the third feeding, she was sitting in the highchair. When I gave her a drink, she learned she could control intake by pushing my hand away. I also got her to eat a little strained food but I had to chase her mouth as she moved her head back and forth. She also kept her thumb in her mouth most of the time and I had to catch her when it came out. I learned to keep the spoon in one place and let her come to it. Within ten days Shanthi could eat graham crackers and even a fig newton cookie. Upon the advice of an eating therapist, I stopped using baby-food the same day she learned how to eat the graham crackers. I taught her how to pick up the cup by placing her hands on it and showing her what to do. After she learned how to pick it up, it took several more days to learn how to tip up the cup to get the formula. I placed crackers or large sticks of food in her hand and moved her hand from the tray to her mouth. Soon she could feed herself finger-food. As Shanthi practiced feeding herself, she slowly learned how to get smaller bits of food into her mouth. As soon as Shanthi discovered that she could feed herself, she refused to take anything from a spoon She began to use a spoon again only when I showed her how to use it herself. Shanthi attended the NFB National Convention in New Orleans in the summer where she became much more aware of how adults drink out of open cups because she sat in our laps a lot while we talked with friends. She heard the tinkling ice in water, juice, and tea and started reaching for them. I would help her taste them. When we got home, I taught her how to drink from an open cup. I moved her hands from behind. Because she was having trouble moving the full cup to her mouth, I fed her a few times in just her diaper without a bib so she could feel right away what movement made the milk spill. She learned in four days. We also began helping Shanthi with her motor skills shortly after she arrived. First, we got her a Johnny Jump Up and showed her how to jump in it to music. She loved it would jump in perfect rhythm, changing her pace when the music changed time. Her daddy taught her how to bear weight on her hands by bouncing her playfully face-down on a rug so she would put her hands out to protect her face. He would then bounce her on her hands. She learned how to get to a sitting positions without our instruction. I taught her how to pull up on furniture by placing her hands on the coffee table and bending one leg so one foot and on knee were on the floor simultaneously and then pushing her up by her bottom. It only took one lesson! She learned to get into crawling position on her hands and knees about the time she learned to pull up, but she would not move. She preferred to lie on her back and roll to find toys. We tried "tummy time" but she soon began to fight us. By August, if we flipped her over on her tummy, she would let out a pitiful little whimper and say in a confused, hurt voice, "Baby cute." I'm afraid we were no match for her and she was probably allowed to spend more time on her back than was good for her. Shanthi began walking with us holding on with two hands in January, 1991, and could walk holding on with one hand by May. In early Fall, I taught her how to climb stairs while I held her hands. As Shanthi's second birthday approached, she was rapidly developing new language, charm, and musical ability but she was stuck in her motor development. She was cruising around furniture but still rolled to move and spent a lot of time lying on her back. We began to flip her over onto her stomach whenever she was on her back. Her daddy spent an entire weekend flipping her when she least expected it. Soon, she began to take flipping in stride and would sit up whenever she was flipped. As a result of all this, two weeks before Christmas, Shanthi started crawling. Her crawling made her mobile enough that we could now insist that if Shanthi wanted Mama, she must come to Mama. She was also required to make her way from the living room to her highchair on her own when meals were served. Unfortunately, shanthi is now very much two and issues of mobility are mixed with the general issue of negativity and independent thought. Shanthi cries, screams, kicks her feet, and crawls around in circles every time before she will come to me or to her meals. She always gets where she needs to go, however. Perhaps as a result of pushing Shanthi to move at home on her own, she now refuses to walk with me when we go to the store or visiting, even though she had been doing so for months. Recently, she had the Mother of All Tantrums on the wet pavement in the middle of a parking lot. It went on so long that I decided that I should take her home rather than wait it out. She won, and she knew it! I plan to wait a few weeks, then go walking with her outside in the driveway where tantrums won't matter so much. Shanthi has quite a wide vocabulary now. She will ask her daddy to play the piano and says, "See book" when she comes across anything with Braille on it. She celebrated entering the "Terrible Twos" by singing the entire Star-Spangled Banner substituting "no" for each word. Shanthi has great dignity. Her daddy and I hope to be able to teach her the skills she needs to put her proud independence into practice without crushing her spirit in the process. I have learned that if I am to teach Shanthi a new skill, we must both be ready. I will not always know just how I, as the mother, get ready to move with Shanthi to the next phase of development. I believe my membership in the Federation will continue to give me the faith to believe that if I teach, she will learn. THE FIRST ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARENTS OF BLIND CHILDREN CONFERENCE by Julie Hunter, President,Parents of Blind Children Division National Federation of the Blind of Colorado "Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow." David Everett Big things can come from small beginnings. This proved to be true when the Parents of Blind Children Division of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado developed a parent conference. Like a flower grown from seed, we planted an idea which grew with roots of community support, a strong stem of group commitment and, finally, the blooms of new insight and shared enthusiasm. "Expect Success" was the theme of the NFB Parents of Blind Children Division conference made possible by the generous financial support of the Denver Church of Christ. The conference was held on December 13 and 14, 1991, in Denver, Colorado. Parents and children from Kansas, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado gathered at a Denver hotel to look at ways to help their blind children achieve success in life. Speakers and panel presentations provided both inspiration and challenge to the parents, while the children were occupied with their own learning experiences in a program which included cane travel instruction (with street crossings and bus travel), and cooking their own pizza for lunch. The NFB Student Division held a concurrent conference for high school and college level students. An exciting line-up of speakers was pulled together for the "Expect Success" conference. We were delighted to welcome Barbara Cheadle, President of the NFB Parents Division and editor of Future Reflections, as our keynote speaker. Mrs. Cheadle spoke to the parents and the students on Friday evening. Her address "Blindness --an Alien Experience?" started the members of the audience thinking about their perceptions of blindness and how these perceptions might be limiting their expectations for their children. The process of self-examination was continued on Saturday morning with a panel discussion involving three successful young adult women who shared some of their experiences in growing up. Judy Dixon and Julie Dedan spoke about their backgrounds as totally blind children, while Marcie Page represented the trials faced by a child with partial vision. Although the three had different experiences in terms of how their parents approached their blindness--from total acceptance to denial--they were united in encouraging the parents to expect their children to compete on a level with their peers. The morning session got quite exciting with a presentation by Fred Schroeder, Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, mobility instructor and educator. Mr. Schroeder reinforced the importance of children being expected to perform on a par with their peers and he addressed the necessity of providing them with the skills they need to compete. He challenged parents to monitor what other children the same age are doing, and then to work with their own child so that they are prepared to carry out the high expectations which we hold for them. Without the appropriate adaptive skills, we have set the blind child up to fail. Mr. Schroeder also addressed mobility and cane travel issues with the parents. This was followed by a "Cane Travel Workshop" where the parents were divided into small groups for instruction in the techniques of using a long white cane. Many questions were answered and fears alleviated by the workshop session and the follow-up with Mr. Schroeder. "Expect Success" found its climax in the Saturday afternoon session with Ruby Ryles, Washington state itinerant teacher and doctoral candidate in special education. Mrs. Ryles gave the parents a no-nonsense look at development from infancy to adulthood and addressed the issues involved in keeping a blind youngster developmentally on target with his sighted peers. As the conference drew to a close, the parents felt stimulated and challenged to take an aggressive role in preparing their children for success. For many of us demanding that our children be given the adaptive skills they need to compete is not easy. It was agreed that belonging to the National Federation of the Blind Parents of Blind Children Division is one way to secure support and assistance. We now have a group of new members committed to the process of working together to expect and achieve success for blind youth and adults through the support and the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. TOURS WITH ALLURE IN CHARLOTTE by Wayne E. Shevlin From the Editor: Wayne Shevlin is the First Vice President of the National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina and the man in charge of organizing the special tours during the 1992 convention. It won't be long now until it will be time for our national convention in Charlotte, and that means tours. We think we have several things lined up this year that you will really enjoy. Sunday, June 28--The North Carolina Zoo The first tour is a visit to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, about a two-hour ride from Charlotte. This will be an all-day trip. The North Carolina Zoo has been called one of the best habitat zoos in the world. Visitors are not separated from the animals by fences but by moats and other natural barriers. Besides the aviary, where you spend time among the birds and small animals who live there, the Zoo includes gorillas, elephants, zebras, giraffes, rhinoceros, many types of deer, and many other species of animals. You may take a tram from place to place in the zoo. Wheelchairs and scooters are available for those who need them. The cost of this tour is $18, which includes transportation and admission. Carowinds The other activity we have planned for Sunday is a visit to Carowinds. This is an eighty-three-acre theme park outside of Charlotte. The park includes water rides; a monorail; a sky ride; and the Vortex, a five-and-a-half million dollar roller coaster on which passengers stand to travel along two thousand feet of track. In addition to the rides, there are also several shows offered depending on the day. These include Country and Western, Broadway, and Tribute to Rock and Roll Shows. The price of admission is $28, which includes transportation, all the rides, and whichever shows are playing on that day. This tour will also be offered on Thursday afternoon, July 2. The Charlotte Tour We have one more item of interest planned for Sunday. This is a tour of the City of Charlotte, which is known as the Queen City. This is a bus tour and includes a visit to the Mint Museum, the first Mint in the United States; a ride through Myers Park, which is listed in the National Register of historic neighborhoods; a view of the rapidly-changing skyline of the city; and many other points of interest. You can get to know Charlotte, the host city of the 1992 convention. This tour will be offered again on Tuesday, June 30, and will cost $15. Monday, June 29--The Railroad Museum We have a tour of the Railroad Museum in Spencer, about an hour-and-a-half from Charlotte. Spencer, halfway between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, was at one time the main repair facility for Southern Railways and is listed as a National Historic site. This tour consists of such things as the roundhouse; several restored posh antique railroad cars; other transportation from a dug-out canoe to a single-seater airplane; and the highlight of the tour, a ride on a train. On Monday, the train will be pulled by a diesel engine, but if your plans allow you to take this tour on Thursday, July 2, the train will be pulled by a restored steam locomotive. As mentioned, this tour will be offered again on Thursday, and the cost is $15 and includes transportation and the price of admission. The Charlotte Motor Speedway For those of you interested in the NASCAR circuit, we have a special treat planned for Monday, June 29, a tour of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, home of the second most attended spectator event in the U.S. See racing memorabilia from the past and present, and visit the collection of vintage cars. Ride the same track that has thrilled thousands; visit behind the scenes; meet and talk with one of the drivers; and, to top it all off, enjoy a delicious dinner. The cost of all this is only $45, which includes everything. Sorry, because of the NASCAR schedule, this tour can be offered only once. Tuesday, June 30--Old Salem We will offer a tour of Old Salem, which is an eighteenth- century town founded by devout Moravians and is recognized as one of the most authentic restorations in the country. You can smell the bread baking as you visit the Winkler Bakery, hear the gentle taps of the tin smith's hammer, visit the Old Salem Tavern, and smell the smoke of the wood fires from the Market Fire House. Knowledgeable hosts and hostesses, some in dress of the period, are stationed in each building to welcome you, demonstrate crafts, answer questions, and provide information. You will have plenty of time to shop for arts and crafts. There will be about a two-hour ride each way to Old Salem, and the cost will be $25, which includes transportation and the tour. Remember, we will also be offering the Charlotte tour again on Tuesday. Thursday, July 2--The Pig Pickin' We have an activity planned called a Pig Pickin'. You might well ask what's a "Pig Pickin'"? It's what we in these here parts call a Bar-B-Q. North Carolina Bar-B-Q pork is unlike any Bar-B-Q you have ever tasted. Along with the food there will be beer and music provided for your Thursday evening entertainment. Y'all come. We will also be offering the Carowinds and Railroad Museum tours again. Please fill out the Tour Registration Form, which follows, or provide the following information along with your payment: tour, date desired (if offered more than once), number of tickets for each tour, and total payment due. We also need your name, address, and telephone number. Please make your check or money order payable to National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina (NFB of N.C.), and mail to NFB of N.C. Tours, P. O. Box 18087, Raleigh, North Carolina 27619. Tour registration forms and payment must be received on or before May 15 so that we can make the final preparations. Check with the North Carolina suite after you arrive in Charlotte for the convention for updated information about tours and about where to pick up your tickets. BLIND STUDENT BUCKS STATE RULING Test Is Unfair, Teenager Says Editor's Note: The following article was written by Tim Bass and is reprinted from the January 19, 1992, Greensboro News and Record, Greensboro, North Carolina. Just for the reader's information, Miss Goodman's goal of working in a foreign embassy was only recently made possible by the actions of the National Federation of the Blind (see the October, 1991, Braille Monitor), and the persistence of one blind man--Rami Rabby, former second vice president of the National Federation of the Blind. It was only in late 1990 that the discriminatory barriers keeping blind persons out of the U.S.A. diplomatic corps were finally broken down. On January 7, 1991, Rami Rabby began his six-month training as a Foreign Service Office, and later that July he flew to London, England to take up his first assignment at a U.S.A. embassy overseas. He and one other blind trainee were the first blind people to ever be accepted, trained, and placed on assignment as U.S.A. Foreign Service Officers. Gibsonville--A voice from Carey Goodman's electronic wristwatch speaks up: "It's 3 p.m." Goodman, who is blind, pays no heed. She's busy talking about her carefully constructed plans for the future. What's time to a 17-year-old, straight-A student who's about to graduate from high school a year early and head for college to study international relations? "I'm looking much forward to getting out in the real world," she said. "It's just another step in the course of life to get you ready for your task in life. It's a natural progression. It's like asking a baby, 'Are you ready to leave your diapers?'" She's ready. By June, Goodman will have earned 20 high school credits, enough to qualify her for graduation as a junior at Eastern Guilford High School. But unless she bows to the bureaucracy and takes the state's mandatory competency test--which measured academic skills at about a fifth-grade level--Goodman won't get her diploma. She says sighted students with the same standardized test scores would have been exempted years ago; the state says her scores don't count, in part, because the tests were in Braille. Her mother, Debby, said years of fighting the state over the competency test have been frustrating. "Governor Martin can pardon a man on death row, but my daughter can't get a waiver on the competency test," she said. Carey Goodman calls the competency test "the biggest pain in the neck that I've ever known." She repeatedly has refused to take it, saying she's been penalized because she's blind. "It's a waste of my time to miss an hour of honors history or AP biology to prove to them that I have a fifth-grade education," she said. Indeed, her accelerated program would bear that out. She'll have the necessary credits for graduation a year early because she took senior English and Spanish II at home this past summer in an independent study program. This year, she's taking advanced-placement biology, honors English, honors U.S. history, French I, Spanish III, and Journalism. Her grades are all A's. She's tops in her junior class with a 4.6 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. Her honors courses carry extra credit. But Goodman doesn't want to talk about grades now. She's focused on her mission: to work in a U.S. embassy in Germany or the Baltic states, shaping important decisions and encouraging people "to know what's going on around them, to wake up and get with the program. Somebody has to do something." Goodman has been accepted at Florida International University, a Miami school that offers a major in international relations. She hopes to get a law degree from the University of Miami and a job with the U.S. State Department. "It's been a long time since I have run into a student who is as focused as she is," said Barbara Allman, Goodman's school counselor. "She's so far beyond some of her classmates in her thinking. She's just on a different plane" A conversation with Goodman covers a lot of ground. College. Diplomacy. The C-Span television network. Her family's frequent trips abroad. The civil war in Yugoslavia. Her favorite book, "The Great Gatsby." Her independent studies to learn Russian, German, and Hungarian. But she also talks about rock 'n' roller Rod Stewart, football, "Saturday Night Live" and learning to play the guitar left-handed. "I love 'Designing Women,'" she said. "Don't get the idea that I'm this stodgy, stuck-up thing." Goodman was born with a visual disorder called Peter's anomaly. "I guess Peter was the first dude who had it," she said. She can see some light and some color, but that's all. At school, Goodman lugs around a Braillewriter, a 5-pound metal box that resembles a small typewriter. She uses it to take notes in class. An adult aide, Barbara Carter, is on hand daily to walk Goodman to class and the cafeteria and to keep up with the equipment, supplies, and book bags stored in a special room assigned to Goodman. Braillist Sheila McCain translates most tests. Because it takes so long for publishers to convert textbooks to Braille, Goodman has gone entire school years without books. And when Braille books arrive, they can be daunting. A Braille copy of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," for example, runs seven volumes. The Bible is 18 volumes. Webster's New World Dictionary is 72 volumes."When I was in fifth grade, they sent me a dictionary that was eight volumes," she said. "They called it the pocket dictionary." Goodman lives within earshot of Southeast Guilford High School but transferred from there two years ago after several disputes with officials concerning her blindness and her condition as a diabetic.Goodman's parents have asked Eastern Guilford teachers to cut no academic corners for her. Their only request was that Goodman receive assignments in Braille at the same time other students receive theirs in print. Her blindness is at the center of the controversy over the competency test, which could stand between Goodman and her early diploma. The N.C. Department of Public Instruction exempts students from the competency test if they score high enough on the standardized California Achievement Tests in eighth grade. The scores vary according to section, but generally students are exempt if the CAT scores are in the top 55 percent. Goodman's overall CAT scores were in the top 5 percent. But the state says her CAT tests were not standardized because they were in Braille and were not administered with a timed deadline. The state refuses to exempt her from the competency test. "We have to recognize that test has no official standing, because it was given in a non-standard manner." said William Brown, the department's director of accountability services. "We tried everything we knew to present alternatives to the child that would accommodate her problem." Goodman still can attend Florida International even if she doesn't get her diploma because she doesn't take the test, but she concedes she'll "probably be forced into wimping out and taking the thing." She sees the test an another unnecessary obstacle that she must clear simply because she's blind. But she can handle that. And she can handle that. And she can handle it when people speak loudly around her--assuming that because she's blind, she's also hard of hearing. But she can't stand it when people believe her blindness diminishes her intelligence."It's this attitude, 'She can't see, she can't think, too,'" Goodman said. "That makes me mad, because if there's one thing I can do, it's think for myself." CHRISTINA Editor's Note: The following item is reprinted from Horizons, the newsletter of the Parents Division of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. Hi! My name is Christina Shorten and I attend Ballenger Creek School in Frederick, Maryland. I am 11 years old and I'm in the sixth grade. My favorite classes are chorus and social studies. I enjoy chorus because I love to sing and the teacher is nice. Social studies is interesting to me because I like reading about the world's history and where things are located. I am in the Odyssey of the Mind program. This is an extra-curricular activity for students who like to expand their knowledge. Odyssey of the Mind involves logic and hard thinking. I like to read, write, and listen to stories in my spare time. I am attempting to get some of my short stories published in a small magazine called Notions Potions. In the fourth grade I sent an essay in to the Maryland statewide writing contest. I was chosen fourth place. I won 18 Kings Dominion coupons. I have participated in the Read-a-thon for the past five years. Last year I was one of the five most improved [Braille] readers in the United States of America. I received $25.00. In outdoor hobbies, I like planting gardens and exploring. I like to plant gardens because I like to grow things and be responsible for living things. I like exploring because I never know what's coming up next. Sports I like to do are water skiing and beep ball. I have been water skiing for the last five years. I am now learning how to cross the wakes. I have been playing beep ball for the last four years. A few years back I had a modeling experience. I was chosen to represent blind people in a social studies book called Communities s Near and Far. I was given a Braille map and we went around the city. This social studies book is for third graders. When I become an adult I want to be a lawyer. I have chosen this career because I like to help people have things done in a fair way. In fifth grade our class went to witness some drug trials. I think these hearings are both enjoyable and educational. I think our class learned a lot about what can happen to you if you choose to do drugs. In school I am taking the DARE program. This program teaches you about drug abuse, resistance and education. It is a full week program taught by a police officer. Christina gave this talk at the POBC/Maryland luncheon at [the NFB of Maryland] state convention this year. This was her first state convention. She is the oldest child of Teri and David Shorten. She has two brothers, ages 3 and 1. In April, there will be another addition to the family (hopefully a sister!). Christina has a delightful personality and a bright mind. It will be a pleasure to watch her grow! We look forward to hearing from her often. WALT CONE: COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT by Donovan Cooper Reprinted from the National Federation of the Blind of California newsletter, The Blind Citizen, Spring 1990. Associate Editor, Donovan Cooper: Working blind people are important. So are the jobs they perform. And so it is important that we tell others of the work that blind people in California are doing. It is our intention to feature blind Californians and the jobs they perform in an ongoing series of articles entitled "Blind Californians at Work". The publication of these articles will demonstrate our pride in working blind people. It will extend to them our congratulations. It will let other blind people know of job opportunities and of careers heretofore thought to be unapproachable by the blind. It will provide useful information to both job seekers and employers. Thus, it may help to diminish the 70% unemployment rate among the blind. This unemployment rate is unacceptable, and we must do all that we can to reduce it. Walt Cone is a relative newcomer to California (he recently settled in Ventura County). Walt is from Arizona, having lived there off and on for 36 years. His employment history includes approximately two years in radio advertising sales and several in food service as an operator of a snack bar. Walt has always been an avid Braille reader. You will see how this has contributed to his success in his new position. Walt is now working for AT&T in Woodland Hills, California. His job title is Communications Assistant. In his job Walt facilitates telephonic communications between speech and hearing impaired persons and the general public. Speech and hearing impaired people may type messages into a computer terminal-like device called a TTD. When the message is intended for a hearing person, a communications assistant will receive the typed text through a similar device at the telephone company office and convert it into spoken messages. These messages are delivered over the telephone to hearing recipients. Likewise, the communications assistant will convert spoken messages into typed text and transmit this text to the speech- and hearing-impaired recipient. Most communications assistants use a computer screen to read typed text that is sent to them. Since Walt cannot visually read a computer screen, he uses instead a paperless Braille display to read the typed text. He is then able to verbally deliver the message to the hearing recipient. Walt says that good Braille skills are critical for blind persons wishing to perform this job. Synthetic speech output from the computer has been tried but was not successful. The communications assistant must pay attention to messages often simultaneously transmitted by both caller and the recipient. This becomes exceedingly difficult when one of those messages is delivered in synthetic speech while the other is spoken over the telephone line. Walt says that with good Braille skills, blind communications assistants can be as effective as their sighted counterparts. It should be noted that a typing speed of at least 40 words per minute is also required for this job. Walt's employer is pleased with his work and will welcome applications from other qualified blind persons. There are more job opportunities in this field than you might think, and the opportunities are growing. This is because of the volume of calls converted by communications assistants each day. There are now over 267,000 telephone calls converted per day by communications assistants and transmitted to and from speech and hearing impaired people in California. All communications assistants in California work at the AT&T Office in Woodland Hills. Persons wishing job descriptions, salary, and application information for this and other AT&T positions in Southern California should call (800) 526-4144. Congratulations to Walt Cone. He is doing well and has opened the door to additional employment opportunities for the blind. IS THERE A GUIDE DOG IN YOUR FUTURE? by Ed and Toni Eames We co-chair the NFB of California Guide Dog Committee and write a monthly column for Dog World Magazine. Toni has worked with three guide dogs over a twenty-five year period and Ed has worked with two guide dogs in the past ten years. Our lives have been enriched and our mobility enhanced by our partnership with our dogs. As a congenitally blind child growing up in the 1940's, Toni was given no information about mobility techniques until she was sixteen. At that time, she was given a short white cane and minimal instruction in its use. When she was twenty-two, Toni met a guide dog user who demonstrated the benefits of mobility with a dog. Shortly thereafter, she got her first guide dog and has chosen this mobility option ever since. We all recognize and applaud the revolution that has taken place in O&M training in the past four decades. Although nowadays very young children are given white canes, the guide dog schools are mired in tradition and have remained fixated on sixteen as the minimum age for guide dog training. In fact, some schools have increased the minimum age of application to seventeen and eighteen. Foundation Mira, a French Canadian guide dog school, has courageously broken with tradition. Last summer, a class of twelve- to fifteen-year-old youngsters were partnered with guide dogs. American guide dog schools resist this break with tradition, despite the success service dog programs have had for more than a decade in matching children under ten who are wheelchair users with working dogs. In a future Dog World column, we plan to focus on the issue of children with guide dogs. Please send us your views. If you are a blind youngster, let us know how you think a guide dog would benefit you. How old are you? How would you meet the challenge of assuming the responsibility of caring for a dog and maintaining its high level of training? Would your parents encourage your independence with a dog? How would you handle the potential problem of managing your guide dog in school? If you are the parent of a blind youngster, what do you see as the benefits of a guide dog for your child? How old is your child? Does your child have the maturity to take responsibility for the care of a guide dog? In what ways would a guide dog enhance your child's independence? You can write to us in Braille, cassette, or print. We will include excerpts from selected letters in our column, "Partners in Independence." We can be reached at 3376 North Wishon, Fresno, California 93704; telephone: 209-224-0544. COMMENTS ON CCTV'S AND BRAILLE by Mary Ellen Gabias Editor's Note: The following comments were lifted from a letter Mrs. Gabias had written about the usefulness of a CCTV (closed circuit television--a powerful magnification device) for a particular partially sighted student. I have edited and published her sensible, thought-provoking comments because they are especially relevant to blind students who use, or are considering using, CCTVs. Mrs. Gabias, a blind woman, is a long time leader in the National Federation of the Blind and an expert on employment of the blind (she is the former Assistant Director of Job Opportunties for the Blind). There are several companies which provide closed circuit televisions for enlarging print on a page. The cheapest I have seen is approximately one thousand dollars. It's easy to spend five thousand dollars or more on a complex system. If a student is thinking about using a closed circuit television system to read print, she should test equipment in situations like those she is encountering in school. Sometimes the system will work very well under controlled showroom conditions. The same equipment may be of little or no practical value when it is taken home. It is usually helpful for someone considering the purchase of equipment to get a thorough low vision evaluation from an optometrist or ophthalmologist who is skilled in helping people find visual aids. Magnifiers, telescopes, prisms, closed circuit televisions, and other visual aids can sometimes help. It can also do a great deal of damage. I am not suggesting that a person's eyesight will get worse if it's used. I am talking about a much more subtle, and in the long run more destructive, type of damage. Most people use their eyesight to do a wide variety of things. Usually there are alternative techniques which can be used instead of eyesight and which work equally well. Someone who has ten percent or less of normal vision (the generally accepted definition of legal blindness) can take two general approaches to solving the problem blindness creates. The most tempting approach is to try to maximize remaining vision. The second is to develop alternative techniques to replace vision in situations where it is inadequate. The first approach concentrates on overcoming a deficit. The second approach builds up strengths. I believe the second approach, that of developing alternatives to vision is psychologically healthier and is more likely to succeed on a practical level. Let's look at an analogy. Suppose there is a young man who is an excellent student. He has great skill in math, English, and languages. However, he is a disaster on the football field. For one thing, he is very small. For another, he is not terribly coordinated. What should the young man do? Should he build up his muscles and try to become a great football player, even though his size will keep him off most college or professional teams? Or, should he play football for the fun of it and concentrate instead on building up his academic skills so that he can become a college professor some day? You probably are saying that he ought to go with his strengths. That doesn't mean you think he should sit around without exercising and become flabby and unhealthy. It simply means that you think he ought to plan a strategy that has some hope of success. After all, it is just as respectable to be a college professor as a football player. I think it's that way with blindness, too. Blind people who have some remaining sight should not ignore it or pretend that it doesn't exist. On the other hand, they should not spend so much time working on stimulating their remaining vision that they neglect to develop the skills of blindness that will have more practical value in the long run. After all, it's as respectable to be blind as it is to be sighted. I hope the parents of the little girl you mentioned will seriously consider teaching her Braille. There will simply be situations where a closed circuit television isn't practical. When she grows up and attends a meeting, how will she take notes? If she takes them in print, but can't read them back until she gets home to her closed circuit television set, how will she refer to the notes she's taken? What about giving a speech? She can't take her television set to the podium with her. Even if she could, she would lose the value of having eye contact with her audience. Braille could solve these and a number of other problems for her. It is also faster, less tiring, and more pleasant than a television screen. Someone who is blind and has not learned Braille is forced to rely on print for everything from writing recipes to keeping phone numbers. That often leads to increased eye strain and headaches. It also means that the blind person has no maneuvering room if there is a change in vision. Even for eye conditions which are stable, visual efficiency decreases with age. It gets harder to use limited vision as time goes by. As a result, many people gradually decrease the amount of reading they do as they get older. They get out of the habit. Reading becomes a chore, not a pleasure. With Braille, the partially sighted student can enjoy reading and still use the CCTV or other magnification aids for specific visual tasks. SPATIAL RELATIONS and the "LITTLE ROOM" by Lilli Nielsen, Ph.D. Special Education Advisor, Refsnaesskolen, Denmark Editor's Note: We in the National Federation of the Blind are fond of saying that, given the proper training and opportunity, blind people can compete on the basis of equality. This assumes that if society will provide the opportunity, the blind individual will provide the motivation and drive. If this is true for blind adults (and we know, through the experiences of thousands, that it is), is it not also true for blind children and infants--including the multiply disabled? If given the proper stimulus--the proper environment and opportunity--do not blind and blind-multiply- disabled infants, too, have the same innate urge and desire to explore and learn as other infants have? Not everyone thinks so. Many professionals believe that, as one counselor of blind babies recently put it, "They [blind children] are naturally self-centered and without motivation...." Now, of course blind children are self-centered; ALL children are self-centered; that's common knowledge among parents and other early childhood specialists. But, unmotivated? Are blind children so unlike other children that we must somehow instil in them a desire for learning, as well as give them opportunities for learning? Many professionals apparently operate out of this belief. But the lives of thousands of blind people and the observations of hundreds of parents tells us this is a lie, a false and harmful myth. Fortunately, not all professionals buy into this myth; and Dr. Lilli Nielsen seems to be one of them. I first heard about Lilli Nielsen and the Little Room when I received an invitation to a National Conference sponsored by the Blind Children's Fund. Dr. Lilli Nielsen was coming to the U.S.A. to do an in-depth five-day conference about the techniques and equipment she had developed to help blind children--especially blind, multiply-disabled children--reach out into the world and begin to develop concepts about objects and spatial relations. I was intrigued, but unfortunately could not attend the first conference (yes, there is a second one coming up. See page --- in the Hear Ye! section of the issue for more details.) So, I wrote and asked Dr. Nielsen for information about the Little Room which I could consider sharing with our readers. Then, the VIP July, 1991, issue came out with a article, written by a parent, about the conference. It contained enlightening information about Ms. Nielsen and the philosophy behind the invention of the Little Room. Portions of that VIP article by Donna Tatro (entitled "I could not contain my awe and enthusiasm") are reprinted below followed by the article Ms. Nielsen submitted to Future Reflections. Although I have never seen the Little Room demonstrated and have no opinion whatsoever about its effectiveness or usefulness, the concept behind it seems to be sensible. Here is the report on the conference and Ms. Nielson's own description of the Little Room and her methods. VIP Newsletter, July, 1991. By Ms. Donna Tatro: ...Dr. Nielsen took several traditionally accepted practices and threw them out of the window, much to the dismay of several seasoned teachers of the visually impaired. For example, it is Dr. Nielsen's belief and observance that a child can not be taught. Rather, a child must learn for himself how something is done, or it will not register (author's word) for the long term. She is very much against hand-over-hand anything, and she told us story after story of instances in which a child learned something himself using her techniques. Actually, it's erroneous to say that these are Dr. Nielsen's techniques. She merely questioned herself time and time again as to why a child was not learning something or why a child was not leaning something or why a child was behaving in a certain way. When faced with a problem, she observed experts. her experts were often found in a nursery or preschool and are what many would term as "normal" children. She made many many videotapes of typical children in various stages of development, and through studying her tapes she picked up clues as to how the blind child could learn something. She also made videotapes of her involved children and watched them over and over again picking out subtle things, sometimes only after watching a tape for the 80th time! The thing that impressed me most about Dr. Nielsen was her determination to work with and help the forgotten or ignored children. She has chosen for 30 years to work with infants through adults who are multiply impaired and autistic. Those children who are stuffed into the corners of institutions. When being introduced to children who needed help, institutions staff members would pass up these children saying, "Don't bother with him, he doesn't even have a brain." Lilli would say, "That is the child I want to start with!" And this "brainless" child would come alive under Lilli's tutorage. it's no wonder that she was chosen to be the Special Education Advisor for the Danish National Institute for the Blind. Dr. Nielsen notes that most blind or multiply-involved children do not learn because they are not presented with the right circumstances in which to learn. Her book, The Comprehending Hand, is packed from the first page to the last with practical hints as to how material and surroundings can be adapted so that a blind child may be stimulated and encouraged in their development. The Comprehending Hand was written because Dr. Nielsen has learned that "the development of the ability to grasp is of fundamental importance, if a blind child is to get into contact with his surroundings..." Dr. Nielsen also wrote, Are You Blind?, to promote the development of children who are developmentally threatened. I thought this to be an odd title until it struck me that her title is insinuating, and correctly so, that it is the teacher (or caregiver) who can't see what should be obvious--the whys that explain the reason a child has not learned something. It is up to us to promote learning environments and situations in which our children can learn. The conference was laced with Dr. Nielsen's special, yet serious, humor. For instance, she noted that if while standing with a blind person on a platform at a train station, we say, "The train is coming," as soon as it becomes visible to us, our blind companion might think we must be pretty stupid because he has known for several minutes that the train on this track is coming; after all he could feel its vibrations.... This trip to the U.S.A. was a first for Lilli Nielsen. Although she is well known internationally and has given "standing room" only workshops on several continents, this was her first presentation in North America. The list of attendees at the conference demonstrates her popularity. Participants came from coast to coast as well as Canada, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Netherland Antilles, Mexico, and Trinidad. THE LITTLE ROOM by Dr. Lilli Nielsen In 1981 an experience with a two-year-old self-mutilating child made me think that the reason for this child's, and many other visually impaired children's, difficulties in developing was maybe due to a lack of knowledge about the surroundings. I designed the "Little Room" hoping that it would provide the visually impaired child with a frame of reference concerning spatial relations and thus facilitate the child's learning about the outside world. After observing the positive reactions to the "Little Room" in visually impaired children who had other disabilities, I decided to a scientific study on the effect of the Little room on 20 congenitally blind infants. This study was conducted from 1984-1987. In the experiment, each of the 20 infants were exposed to a control environment and thereafter to the Little Room. Despite the fact that the control environment was arranged with the same number of objects as the Little Room, the infants were mostly passive in the control environment but became much more active during stays in the Little Room. I concluded that the main reasons for the Improvement were: 1. The sounds from the outside world were sufficiently eliminated by the Little Room, enabling the infant to concentrate on the object-based sounds he was producing inside the Little Room. 2. The stability of the equipment and arrangement of the Little Room provided the child with a certain feedback on each movement. This facilitated the child's learning of the position of the objects and early object concept. 3. The echoes in the Little Room reinforced the child's auditory experiences. 4. The Little Room was equipped with objects of tactile and auditory qualities. This encouraged the child to explore these qualities and thus establish early integration of the kinesthetic-tactile-auditory sense modalities. 5. Objects were present in sufficient number enabling the child to compare his experiences and to play sequence games. 6. Nobody was interfering in the child's activities as long as he was placed in the Little Room. By means of the activities in the Little Room, 11 of the 20 infants learned that they were the producers of the object based sounds occurring in the Little Room. The youngest to learn this was 6-months-old (correcting for prematurity, 3-months-old). Additionally, 15 of the infants commenced to explore and experiment with the objects hanging in the Little Room. From my findings arose the awareness of the necessity of equipping the Little Room according to the individual child's needs. Nevertheless, the objects should: be of pleasure to the child; be easy to grasp; have tactile and auditory qualities; be visually inspiring; have comparable qualities; and be present in such a number that the child has the opportunity to choose, to combine his experiences, and to play various sequence games. Since the completion of the study a lot more knowledge has been gained concerning different ways equipping the Little Room as well as about how the achieved spatial relations can be applied to environments other than the Little Room. Literature: Nielsen, L. (1980): "Spatial Relations in Congenitally Blind Infants." Refsnaesskolen, National Institute for Blind and Partially Sighted Children and Youth, 4400 Klundborg, Denmark. Nielsen, L. (1991): "Spatial Relations in Congenitally Blind Infants: A Study." Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, January, 11-16. Nielsen, L. (1991): Rummet og Jeg'et. SIKON, Denmark. *The English version, "The Space and the Self" will be available in 1992 at SIKON, P.O. 2555, Kristineberg 6, 2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark. FAST FACTS ON INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS by Christopher Button Editor's Note: The following item appeared in the 1991 Special IEP Issue of Circuit, a newsletter of South Dakota Parent Connection, Inc. Christopher Button, Ph.D., is a Senior Policy Associate, Governmental Activities Office, in the national office of United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc. As the end of the school year approaches, many school systems will begin their annual review of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students receiving special education and related services. IEP meetings must be conducted at least once a year to review and revise each child's IEP. Although these meetings may be held at any time during the year (including the summer), frequently schools review and revise IEPs towards the end of a school year so that they will be in effect at the beginning of the following school year. The last year has brought several developments which you should consider as you prepare to take part in crafting the IEP for your child. As a result of an amendment last year to P.L. 101-476, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (formerly the Education of the Handicapped Act), IEPs must now consider the transition needs of students with disabilities who are 14 years of age (or younger if appropriate) as they plan for eventual move from school to adult life. In addition, on August 10, 1990, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) issued a policy letter which clarifies the right of a student with a disability to assistive technology services and devices under P.L. 94-142, the federal mandate for a free, appropriate public education. This policy letter (reproduced in the Fall, 1990, issue of Family Support Bulletin), clearly states that assistive technology can be considered special education or related services. It can also be supplementary aids and services which are designed to assist a student with a disability stay in a regular classroom. Assistive technology devices include thing that help students with disabilities in their daily lives--such as hearing aids and wheelchairs. Assistive technology devices also include other things which may be less familiar--such as changes in school equipment that make it easier for kids with and without disabilities to learn together: computers; adapted toys and computer games; remote control switches that allow kids to use computers and other equipment in the classroom; and electronic devices that enable a child with limited speech to say whatever is on his or her mind. Examples of assistive technology services include help figuring out what devices can best assist a particular child, training in how to use the devices, or help getting devices required. IEPs must reflect the areas of transition and assistive technology if they are appropriate for your child. However, particularly where requirements or regulatory interpretations are new, it is often up to you as a parent to ensure that these areas are considered. It may be helpful to bring a copy of the OSEP policy letter on assistive technology if you are requesting inclusion of technology for your child. Contact Jenifer Simpson at (800) USA-5UCP if you need a copy. FAST FACTS ON IEPS The following facts are intended to help guide you as you approach working with school personnel to develop or revise the IEP for your child: As a parent, you should be included in IEP meeting as an equal participant. This means that the meeting should be held at a mutually convenient time, and that you should have sufficient notice that it will be held. The IEP should not be presented to you as a completed document, but must be developed jointly at the meeting. Some schools prepare a draft IEP in advance of the meeting to use as a "working" document. If your school does this, request that they provide you with a copy in advance so that you will have all the time you need to review what they propose. You may view this document as a "starting point" for your IEP discussion. Do not be afraid to request additions, deletions, or other changes once you get to the meeting. You may also develop your own "working" document to bring to the meeting. Remember that you have the right to request that certain services, such as assistive technology, be included on your child's IEP. If you are requesting inclusion of specific services, it is important to be prepared to discuss why you believe they are important for your child's education. IEPs must list all special education (specially designed instruction) and related services (services necessary to assist the child to benefit from special education) which are required for your child. Assistive technology (e.g., augmentative communication devices and/or training; a wheelchair; a computer) may be either of these things, depending on the individual needs of a particular chile. Related services may also include such things as occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, transportation services, and even parent training. IEPs must also specify how much of your child's education program will be spent in the regular classroom. If modifications to the regular education program (sometimes referred to as supplementary aids and services) are necessary to insure that your child can participate in regular education, those modifications must also be included on the IEP. This applies to all regular education activities in which your child participates--including art, music, p.e., lunchroom, recess, and, of course, the regular classroom for his or her age. Modifications might be as simple a minor rearranging of the desks to allow for movement of a wheelchair, or special seating arrangements for a child with vision or hearing difficulties. Or they can be more complex, including such things as a computer, specially adapted switches, modifications in how assignments are presented, an augmentative communication device and training for the child and teacher in how to use it, or a classroom aid. Remember that IEPs must be individually designed to meet the needs of your child, not to fit pre-existing programs or services for administrative convenience. Just because your child as a disability does not mean that he or she must automatically be segregated from friends, from classmates without disabilities, or from the mainstream of school life. Nothing prevents a school from including students with disabilities in regular education classrooms with necessary supports to ensure success. Special education may consist of only specially designed physical education for a student with physical disabilities, or only speech/language therapy for a student who has difficulty with communication. However, it may include most of the education program for a student with sever or multiple disabilities. The critical point is that programs are individually designed. Special transportation needs should be specified, including such things as a lift-equipped bus, or even special training for the bus driver to deal with specific behaviors which might occur on the bus. A personal attendant to assist in daily school activities such as general mobility, toileting, or feeding should also be specified if appropriate. One parent included a specific timeline for the school to repair a broken cash register which was essential for her daughter's vocational education. Lack of availability of services or lack of sufficient funds may not be used by school personnel to deny services, or to eliminate a needed service from you child's IEP. All required special education and related services needed by your child must be listed on the IEP, even if they are not directly available through the local school. The school system must arrange for everything listed to be provided, through contract if necessary. All services must be provided at no cost to you. The school system may ask you to use your private insurance to pay for some of the services, such as speech or physical therapy. You do not have to do this! Consider the long-term effects, such as lifetime limits on coverage, before you agree to use your own insurance. Evaluation results are key to what is included on the IEP. Therefore, it is critical that evaluations accurately reflect the strengths and needs of your child. You may request an independent evaluation of you child at the school's expense if you are dissatisfied with the evaluation provided by the school system. You may bring another individual, such as an advocate who is familiar with the law, or someone who conducted an independent evaluation of your child, to the IEP meeting.You may tape record the IEP meeting if you choose. The IEP is a written record of decisions you make jointly with school personnel regarding the special education program for your child. It is a commitment on the part of the school to provide specified services. You have a right to a copy of this document. You may request a review of the IEP at any time. If you do not feel that your child's IEP accurately reflects the program he or she needs, or if critical components of your child's program (such as assistive technology or transition planning) were not considered, you may request another meeting of the IEP team to consider these areas for your child. Make your request in writing, and keep a copy for yourself. If your request for inclusion of specific IEP goals is met with resistance or if you are dissatisfied with your child's program, you may request a due process hearing. Attorney fees must be paid by the schools if the hearing officer decides in favor of your request and you used an attorney. Note: Each state has a Parent Training and Information Center (PTIC) which is federally funded to provide information, training, and support to parents...If you do not know how to contact the (PTIC) in your state, please contact the National Parent Network on Disabilities at (703) 684-6763 or the Technical Assistance for Parent Projects (TAPP) at (617) 482-2915...Each state also has a federally funded Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system to advocate for persons with disabilities, including children....If you do not know how to contact your state P&A, please contact the National Association of State Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) at (202) 408-9514. J.O.B. Job Oppportunities for the Blind (JOB) offers free services and assistance to high schools with programs on transition to the world of work, to counselors of legally blind clients, and to other persons assisting a blind job applicant. JOB is a joint project of the U.S. Department of Labor in partnership with the National Federation of the Blind. JOB offers free services to U.S. residents who are blind and looking for work in the United States. Services include a nationwide reference and job referral service, a job hunter's magazine on cassette (the JOB Recorded Bulletin 8 times per year), recorded job information literature, print materials for employer education, local and national career-planning seminars, consultation on low vision aids and appliances, and introductions to blind peers employed in the jobs of interest to the job seeker. JOB offers employers free, nationwide job listings to locate competent workers who are legally blind, free consultation on cost-effective solutions for reasonable accommodation needs, and free educational seminars on hiring legally blind employees. JOB's volunteers are available in every state for consultation and information. You may also order the following JOB literature from: J.O.B., 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21228. For a sample JOB packet, call 800-638-7518. SELECTED J.O.B. PUBLICATIONS These publications are of special interest to high school counselors of blind students, prospective employers of blind youth, parents of blind children, and blind teens who are seeking employment or who are in the procees of making a career choice. "Job Opportunities For The Blind Fact Sheet with "Blind Persons At Work" (1 Sheet) Facts about JOB plus a list of some jobs done by blind persons. "What's A Job Seeker To Do? Some Practical Tips You Can Use" (8 pages or 1 cassette: same title) Tips for a legally blind person on how to begin a job search. "Making Points When The Interviewer Asks Tough Questions" (5 pages or 1 cassette: "What's a Job Seeker to Do?") Suggestions for talking to an interviewer about one's blindness. "Insurance Coverage For Blind Workers: Some Facts You Should Know" (1 trifold sheet) Insurance rates do not go up if one hires a blind employee. "Taking The Mystery Out Of The ADA: How To Hire A Competent Blind Employee" (3 Pages) JOB will help employers comply with The Americans with Disabilities Act through cost efficient reasonable accommodation. Have You Considered...? (27 Pages or 1 cassette) For employers/job hunters: stories of blind employees on the job. Access To Personal Computers For The Blind: A Review of Speech and Braille Software/Hardware Systems Designed to Permit Blind Persons to Access the Video Display of an IBM Personal Computer (prepared April 1, 1989. 45 pages or 1 cassette: same title) Still a good basic primer. Ask for updates on specific machines. Press Release--National Braille And Technology Center (1 Page) "Using The Skills Of Blindness On The Job" (9 Pages) These real life scenarios (composite verbal pictures of actual blind persons) show 4 workers using their "blind techniques" to maintain their competetive edge from wake-up alarm through to quitting time. BRAILLE READERS DESERVE MORE by Cynthia Aronoff Editor's Note: Reprinted from Contrast (a New York parents newsletter). As my son leaves for school each morning, I kiss him goodbye and wish him a fine day. I know that he will work to the best of his abilities alongside his sighted classmates, but instead of a pencil he will use a Brailler and instead of reading print he will use Braille. The vital importance of written communication and the power of the printed word in the education of our children is a given. The task of having the printed word transcribed into Braille is often a problem. For sighted children, the presence of books is taken for granted. The teacher hands out textbooks at the beginning of the year; school and public libraries boast volumes; bookstore shelves are filled; and offers to join book clubs and to purchase encyclopedias are stuffed into our mailboxes almost daily. These luxuries do not exist for the Braille reader. The visually impaired child is dependent upon others for transcribed books, publications, and materials. It is a world limited to "what's available in Braille" and what can be Brailled if a transcriber is available. Books needed for school must be ordered months in advance. And yet, come September, books may arrive late or not at all. Sometimes the Braille does not follow the format of the print copy. Sometimes two Braille copies of the same print book arrive. Sometimes a text is deemed "too visual" and is dropped altogether. Parents are often overwhelmed by all the details involved in their child's education. Securing books is not only a time-consuming chore, but can also be a frustrating one. Here are a few suggestions which might help organize this ongoing responsibility: 1. Insist that books be ordered early in the school year (by March if possible) for the following fall. This should include textbooks as well as books from the classroom and school library reading lists. 2. Insist that you be given a copy of all book orders including the following: name of book, publisher, dates, where the book is being ordered from, phone number, and contact person if available. 3. Since it is doubtful that anyone will follow up on book orders over the summer, do it yourself to be sure. Check in July and double check in August. Ask about the current status of the book and when it will be sent. 4. Be sure to keep records which document all your efforts. List phone calls, notes, etc., which demonstrate your intervention. 5. If space allows books can be delivered directly to your home rather than to the school. The advantage is that books can be checked off as they arrive. The disadvantage is that the books will have to be transported to the school. Should you care to use this method, instructions must be given when books are ordered. 6. Since it is always better to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, offer to help out. You can contact the local library for the blind in an effort to obtain books on school reading lists. Help locate additional Braillists should they be needed. If possible learn Braille and support the vision teacher's efforts. Braille is a basic tool. To compete with sighted peers the visually impaired child must become a proficient and fluid Braille reader. It is up to us, parents and professionals, to insure our children this equal opportunity to learn, to grow, and to succeed. Literature Review ITINERANT TEACHING: TRICKS OF THE TRADE FOR TEACHERS OF BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS Written by Jean E. Olmstead Copyright 1991 American Foundation for the Blind Review by Doris M. Willoughby The well-chosen subtitle describes the scope of this helpful book. There are a wealth of hints and practical suggestions for efficiency and time saving for the itinerant teacher. Little is said directly about the contents or methods of actual instruction; but that is not the purpose of this book. Efficiency and organization help maximize opportunity for appropriate methods and content. The following are some of the topics covered: Books and materials Scheduling Record-keeping Relationships and responsibilities I.E.P.s Time-saving memos and forms Describing methods to classroom teachers and others The suggestions are practical. They are especially relevant to itinerant work, and are valuable to both new and experienced teachers. A positive philosophy is demonstrated in regard to various placement options, and promoting genuine integration of blind and visually impaired students. Resource lists at the end of the book are helpful and include listings for the National Federation of the Blind and for our Handbook for Itinerant and Resource Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students. I would have preferred to see more hints and examples relating to Braille and Orientation and Mobility, however, these topics are mentioned enough to show that they are indeed part of the program. Frequent samples of specialized humor contribute a great deal. For example, in one illustration a teacher and student, working with a Braillewriter, are crowded in by piles of boxes, old desks, and trash barrels. This shows--as the caption wryly observes-- "Less-than-ideal working conditions." Itinerant Teaching: Tricks of the Trade for Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students is available for $00.00 plus S&H of $00.00 from: American Foundation for the Blind, 15 West 16th Street, New York, New York 10011. EDUCATION OF BLIND CHILDREN SPOTLIGHT ON IDAHO by Ramona Walhof Editors' Note: The following article is reprinted from the Fall, 1991, Gem State Milestones, the newsletter of the NFB of Idaho.Ramona Walhof is president of the NFB of Idaho, and a member of the national board. Education of blind children underwent a major shift in the 1960's. There was a change from educating blind children in state residential schools to enrolling them in local public schools so they could live at home with their families. This phenomenon hit federal law in the mid 1970's with the passage of 94-142. This law provides that local school districts are responsible for the education of all children in the district, including the blind. By 1992 school districts will also be required to provide educational services to disabled preschool children, so that the children will be better equipped to enter kindergarten at age five. This responsibility has been frightening to some educators and some school administrators, but most are genuinely trying to do what is best for the children, in spite of limited funding and personnel. In 1974 or 75, the State of Idaho funded ten positions for itinerant teachers of blind children to be supervised by the Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind. Six of these teachers work with school age children (5-21), and four work with preschool children. They are based in Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Gooding, Meridian, Moscow, and Coeur d'Alene. The time has come to consider whether or not changes are needed. Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho are receiving an increasing number of requests for advice and help with the education of blind children. If changes are decided upon, it does not mean that anyone or any institution is bad. Even when people are doing their best, it is possible that needs are not being met. Greater expectations and/or a change in approach may require adjustments. Itinerant teachers of blind children work with anywhere from 20 to 40 children enrolled in as many different schools. These schools may be spread over an area requiring an hour or two of travel from one to the next. Young blind children need Braille instruction and cane travel instruction daily. These are specialized skills. Most certified teachers of blind children are not prepared to teach both Braille and cane travel. Only two school districts in the State (Coeur d'Alene and Boise) hire teachers who can meet these needs. In Boise this year there are three blind children who need individual Braille instruction in early elementary school. Classroom aids are being taught a limited amount of Braille in order to reinforce the Braille instruction of the special teacher. The special teacher must provide some instruction to a number of other children besides these three, and he cannot meet with each of them every day. The itinerant teachers may see young children as seldom as once a week. Often no one in the local school districts is equipped to work with a blind child. If a classroom aid is hired, training for that person may not be readily available. Last spring I received a call from the mother of a two-year old. The mother had been informed that, when her child started to school the itinerant teacher would probably meet with the child once a week. This mother was horrified. How can any child learn to read and write with one lesson a week? Another mother called me to say that her blind four year old was learning Braille letters and was motivated to keep right on going. This mother felt unable to help her child continue to learn Braille. She also questioned whether the school could provide adequate instruction in Braille for the child in kindergarten and first grade. The school shared these concerns. I received another call regarding a child who was assigned a teacher's aid during the first few years of school. (When an aid is assigned to a classroom where a blind child is enrolled, this person should assist the teacher with the entire class and not be assigned primarily or exclusively to work with a blind child.) The child in question had become a discipline problem and felt it was his right to have an adult assigned to him. This attitude and dependence must be undone. Classroom teachers need to learn how to work with a blind child in their classroom, and a classroom aid can be important however, blind children, like other children, learn to take advantage of situations when given the opportunity. Federal law 94-142 provides that parents must meet with school representatives in an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) conference yearly to plan special support and education for a blind child. However, many parents and many schools do not know what is reasonable to expect from a blind child or from the school. Furthermore, many parents and many schools have very little information about how to get what is needed. In Idaho the School for the Deaf and Blind is supervised by the Board of Education. Public schools are not. The Department of Public Instruction has more questions than answers about how these schools relate to one another. Public schools often do not know what is reasonable to expect from the itinerant teachers. The most convenient thing for them would be to let the itinerant teachers provide all the special instruction needed by a blind child. This is impossible, as shown above. As a consequence, I have dealt with high school students who could not write Braille with a slate and stylus, which is the same as a sighted student who could not write with a pen or pencil. I have dealt with many students who can read neither small print nor Braille, but depend on a print enlarging machine and tape recorders to read. This puts them at a huge disadvantage both in school and in other activities. The National Federation of the Blind of Idaho passed a resolution last spring at its 1991 convention recommending that two statewide consultants be hired by the Department of Public Instruction to help local school districts arrange for and provide appropriate education for blind children. Obviously, the intention of this proposal is that the work of these consultants would help to coordinate the work of the local school districts and the itinerant teachers from the Idaho School for the Blind. A number of people in Pocatello have requested that the school district should hire a full-time teacher of blind children as is done in Boise and Coeur d'Alene. The need is there, but no teacher has been hired. We need to establish standards for the instruction of Braille and cane travel and provide the resources to make it possible to meet these standards. With the current arrangement in Idaho nobody has the responsibility to do this. No regulations specific to blindness have been passed in this state, and Federal law is not designed to be specific to every state. In other words, education of blind children in Idaho appears to be somewhat disjointed. If the parents are able to carry a great deal of the load, it is possible for a child to get the skills and support needed. Parents cannot be expected to be experts in the education of blind children. Therefore, many blind children are not receiving what they need in school. Blind children should have as much chance to learn to read and write Braille as sighted kids to learn print. Independent travel with a white cane should be taught to every child beginning in kindergarten or before. Blindness is a low incidence disability. There are not so many children that we cannot provide them with a good education. With a good education, blind children will become productive, self-supporting adults. Without it, they won't. We must work together to improve opportunities for the blind children in Idaho. Membership of the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho passed the resolution (printed below) at the 1991 convention. Taking the step outlined in this resolution could certainly provide needed information to parents and public schools. The NFBI continues to look for information and ideas to improve the education of blind children in Idaho. If you have problems, solutions, and/or interesting experiences with blind children-- please contact me, Ramona Walhof, at the NFB/I office in Boise. Your ideas and experiences can help. Also, study the resolution that was passed. We would like feed-back on it. RESOLUTION 91-04 WHEREAS, there are 12 teachers working with blind children in Idaho: 4 itinerant preschool teachers, 6 itinerant teachers working with school-age children, and 2 teachers hired by the Boise and Coeur d'Alene school districts to work in those districts, and WHEREAS, there is a small residential program for blind children in Gooding, and WHEREAS, none of these teachers have responsibility for advising public schools where blind children are enrolled regarding the best ways to meet the special education needs of these blind children, and WHEREAS, a consequence of this lack of consultants in the education of blind children means that public schools have inadequate information about the needs of blind children and what they can do to meet these needs, and WHEREAS, many (if not most) blind children enrolled in the public schools throughout Idaho have inadequate instruction in the reading and writing of Braille and in independent travel, and WHEREAS, this inadequate instruction is not brought about by incompetent teachers, but rather by the lack of anyone to advise and consult with public school systems, and WHEREAS, paraprofessionals can be hired by local school districts to reinforce instruction of itinerant teachers working with children in early elementary school, and WHEREAS, no training is available in Idaho for teacher aids working with blind children. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho in convention assembled April 14, 1991, that we call upon the state of Idaho to add two positions in the Department of Public Instruction to hire two consultants to provide training for paraprofessionals and advice to parents of blind children and to local school districts regarding the special needs of blind children and alternative methods of meeting those needs, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that it shall be the policy of the State of Idaho that every blind child shall have the opportunity for quality instruction in reading and writing Braille and independent cane travel, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that if necessary, legislation shall be sought by the 1992 legislature. COMING TO GRIPS WITH BLINDNESS: A Mother Talks To Medical Professionals by Loretta White Editor's Note: Loretta White is the capable and energetic president of Maryland's NFB Parents of Blind Children Division. Her leadership and organizational ability is giving the division new zest and sparkle. This past Fall she and I, as representatives of the NFB/MD, were invited to conduct an in-service training session for nurses who worked with children and babies at the internationally known Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. This article is a somewhat edited version of the talk she gave at that in-service meeting. Loretta has since been invited to speak at the 9th Annual Symposium for Opthalmoligcal Nurses being held in Baltimore this Spring. My name is Loretta White and I live in Anne Arundel County with my husband and four children. Their ages are 16, 6, almost 5, and almost 3. I am also a licensed daycare provider, so most of my time is spent with and around children. My daughter Niki will be five in November. Niki has been totally blind since birth. It's most likely due to retinopathy of prematurity, but since she was adopted from India, we don't know for sure. Her prenatal history is unknown, and the post-natal is sketchy at best. She also has some neurological problems that include a seizure disorder. I'm here today to talk to you about Niki and our experiences. Hopefully I can help you better understand how to deal with a parent who have a blind child. And if you have any questions you've never had the opportunity to ask parents, or felt comfortable asking, please feel free to ask me. I have done a lot of reading and talking to other parents of blind children. I find that the problems and difficulties and things that we have had a hard time coming to grips with are pretty much the same. And I have also learned that the sooner we, as parents, can pull ourselves together and start constructively dealing with our children's blindness, the better off our child will be. Early intervention is crucial; and the earlier the better. The first thing we parent face is being told our child has a vision problem. We may have suspected it or even known it; but being told by the medical professionals seals it. And that moment, for better or for worse, will be permanently etched into the parents brain. In our case, Niki came home from India when she was five months old. We took her to the pediatrician for a check up a couple of days after we got her. He told us that her eyes didn't look quite right, so he wanted us to have her checked by an opthalmalogist. The opthalmalogist he sent us to didn't do children, so all he did was take a quick look and tell yes that, yes, she has cataracts, and then referred us to a pediatric opthalmalogist in Harrisburg (at that time we were living in Pennsylvania). So I took Niki to the appointment by myself while my husband watched the other children. I was expecting to have her seen and then scheduled for cataract surgery. I spent the entire day there. The doctor had a wonderful reputation, but I quickly found out in the waiting room that he had the bedside manner of Attila the Hun. So I was pretty nervous to begin with. Once the technicians had examined her eyes, and did their tests with the drops, and did the sonograms and what not, the doctor came in and quickly looked at her eyes. Then, with the same demeanor one might use to comment on the weather, he told me that my daughter's blindness was total and permanent. I'm sure he must have read the look on my face and realized that I had not known. And then he added, "Well, it's not that bad. It's like a Hershey bar. If you've never eaten chocolate before, you wouldn't miss it because you can't miss what you never had." Then, after a couple of minutes of very uncomfortable silence, he gave me the name of a doctor who might try some heroic surgery; wished me luck; and left the room. I never saw this doctor again. Somehow I collected myself and my baby and made the hour and a half drive back to my home. It took me a long time to forgive his brutal honesty; but I will never forget it. I would have really appreciated some compassion then. Also, I did not appreciate the belittling of my child's condition. Things could always be worse, but so what? Right now they feel awful, and any parent who just been dealt such a blow is entitled to their pain. As I was preparing for today, I asked myself what would have made that moment easier? First, I would ask you--the medical professionals--to find out how much the parent knows about their child's vision problem. Explain the tests and procedures and results in terms they can understand. Often we are told about the tests in medical jargon. In the beginning we may not know enough of this medical jargon to know whether we have questions or not. Also, whenever possible, tell both parents together so they will have each other to lean on. Use some compassion and respect with the words you choose. I read about a survey that was done to find out which medical problems we fear the most. Going blind was third. We only considered AIDS and cancer to be more devastating. Some parents may need some quite time alone to collect themselves before leaving. Be sensitive to that; but please don't let them get away without referrals. Have literature available, at least from the NFB as an anchor to help them get their bearings and figure out what is next. They don't have to think about it or look at it at that moment, but they will need it soon. There are a lot of emotions brewing at that moment. We might be angry; and that anger may be directed at you simply because you are the bearer of the bad news, or because you cannot fix it or make it go away. Or we may deny the problem. We may think that you've made a mistake, our child can't be blind. And we may go from doctor to doctor trying to find someone who will tell us this is not true, or that it will pass, or that some heroic surgery will fix it. We desperately want that magical cure which will restore our child's sight. In our case, we went through the anger at the doctors and also at the adoption agency who had placed her. From what we were later told, anyone who examined her should have seen the detached retina and scare tissue mass. And yet we had paperwork that said she had an opthalmalogic evaluation and that her eyes were in good condition. To have known probably wouldn't have changed our minds about her, but we certainly could have been prepared and avoided the shock. We also tried the heroic surgery. We took her to a doctor in Tennessee who had had some success at reattaching retinas. We put ourselves in debt mustering up the finances to make three trips to Tennessee; two for surgeries and one for a check up. We did all this knowing initially that her chances of regaining any usable sight were less than ten percent. At that time we were just so frightened of blindness we were willing to try almost anything. After, or maybe along with, the anger and denial, most of us will then go through a grieving process. I is as if our child had actually died. We have lost that perfect child we had planned for and hoped for and longed for; and in a sense, what we feel we have left is a broken child. Our lives are permanently impacted and forever changed. Not only our lives as parents, but our other children, and to a lesser degree, the extended family. Things will never be the same again. Some parents become angry at each other; one wanting to blame the other for being responsible for the child's blindness, or for not caring enough, or for caring too much. Sometimes we parents may feel sorry; sorry for ourselves because we have this tremendous burden and sorry for our child because she has to endure it. Sometimes it's hard to get past that feeling of "My poor, poor baby." But for our child's sake, we must. Hopefully these stages won't last too long, and parents won't get stuck in any of them. But these are feelings we have, and we need to deal with them so we can move on and constructively meet our child's needs. And that may leave us feeling, "Oh my gosh, what now?" This is because we are now forced to deal not only with our own child, but with our feelings toward blindness in general. Before Niki came into my life, I had virtually no experience with blindness. The only blind person I had every known was Tammy who lived across the street from my family for a short while when I was six. I can still see this eight-year-old girl in my mind. All she ever did was sit and rock, sometimes poking at her eyes. Her speech consisted mostly of repetitions of what she had just heard. She never played with the other kids, or even went to school. She just sat and rocked. As you can imagine, that memory haunted me for a while after we found out Niki was blind. If the only experience you've had with blindness is seeing a man begging on a city street; you're hardly going to feel excited about your child's future. And if the parent doesn't have a positive image of blindness, how can the child hope to develop a positive self-image? As we begin to deal with blindness, we parents will be full of questions. We wonder what children with little or no sight are really like. Do they live in a world of darkness? Do they grow and develop like other children? Where do they go to school? Do blind people ever get married? How do they earn a living? Can they be happy? Can they live independently? What will happen to my child when I die? We may feel overwhelmed when we think of the long years ahead in which we will have to cope with what seems to be an insurmountable number of problems involved in raising a visually impaired child. But the sooner we get to work; the better off we are and the better off our children will be. So we need for you, the professionals, to get us steered in a positive direction from the very beginning. We need to know--and most parents do not--that there is an infants and toddlers program offered through the school system in Maryland at no charge. We need to know how and where to look for services for our child. When we found out Niki was blind, we were given a diagnosis and left on our own. Perhaps referrals were made, but we never heard from anyone. So I began to look on my own. I got a copy of Reach Out and Teach, probably at the library, and found a list of sources for information on blindness; probably 50 or more. I made a form letter requesting information and sent it to every one. For the next few months I got back all kinds of letters, pamphlets, and books. These were really helpful and I learned a lot from them. Then one day I got a phone call from Barbara Cheadle from the National Federation of the Blind. This was a turning point for me and for my daughter, Niki. Through the Federation I have met successful blind individuals from all walks of life and from all over the country. By observing and interacting with these people, I have been able to revise my perceptions of blindness. Reading about it in a book will teach you here, in your head. But by living it, you learn it here in your heart. Children learn what they live. I want my child to know in her heart that she can be successful and independent because she has grown up watching successful and independent blind adults around her. Through education and interaction with the Federation, Niki can even take this for granted and think of her blindness as a mere nuisance, many other Federationist now do. As Niki's parent, the Federation has been my source of information through literature; interaction with blind people; and very importantly, networking with other parents of blind children. Sharing what does and does not work has saved me lots of valuable time and energy. The Federation has also been there to advocate for Niki at school. This is by means a small task. It has been my experience that a child is special education can get all the services and benefits entitled by law provided the parent can find out what they are and if they fight tooth and nail for them. One last thing that I would ask is that, regardless of your perceptions of how or what we are doing, you always give us your encouragement. You see our child only from time to time. Teachers and schools may change. Friends may come and go. Three years from now you may not even remember our child's name. But we--the parents--will still be there working for and with our child. A pat on the back or a "atty girl" can go a long way. And what about the kids themselves? How do we ask you to deal with them? Although our daughter is multiply handicapped, she is still very much the active, busy, noisy, drive-Mom-crazy preschooler. Niki can identify each of her doctors and their offices. Her pediatrician has the office with steps by the window full of toys. When she visits her neurologist, she goes up the elevator and gets to play with a bead toy while she waits. Her dentist has a chair that lies down like a couch. And so on. Most of the time going to the doctor is o.k. for Niki because the people she sees have seen her over a long period of time and have learned and few do's and don'ts that make everybody more comfortable. First, always identify yourself when you come into the child's presence, and let her know when you are leaving. When someone comes into the room that Niki does not recognize, she asks over and over "Who is it?" until she finds out. Doctors and nurses who see Niki often have learned to talk directly to her whenever possible. "Niki, do you want a toy?" rather than asking me, "Do you think she'd like something to play with?" It also helps to let the child explore the environment as much as is safely possible, and to use a lot of descriptive language that the child can understand. We may be embarrassed to let our child crawl all over and under anything and everything, but this is how she learns. Your permission lets us know you understand. Also, tell the child what you are going to do to them before you do it. And be as honest as you can. If it's going to hurt, say so. A child who can see knows what to expect when he sees the needle or the eye drops, regardless of what he's told. We want our kids to trust us, so we have to be honest with them. The last thing I would suggest is please do not presume that a child needs help. Blind children are just like sighted children, they want to do it themselves! Wait until she asks for help or demonstrates a need before you offer help. You wouldn't presume to help a sighted six- or seven-year-old in the bathroom; so you probably wouldn't help a blind child that age either. If in doubt, ask. And please remember to use the National Federation of the Blind as a resource for yourselves--the medical professionals--and for the parents whose blind children are your patients. We are here to help. NFB NET by David Andrews With more and more Federationists and blind children using computers, speech synthesizers, refreshable Braille displays, Braille 'n Speaks and modems, there has been increased interest in the National Federation of the Blind offering a bulletin board service. We have met this demand with the creation of NFB NET. NFB NET is the official computerized bulletin board service of the National Federation of the Blind. A bulletin board system, or BBS, is a computer system which contains files and messages on various subjects. A person using his/her computer and modem can access the bulletin board from home or work. The NFB NET files include past and current issues of Future Reflections, the Braille Monitor, other NFB Literature and state affiliate and local chapter newsletters. The system also has files of interest to blind computer users, such as demo copies of various screen review programs and Braille translation programs. Further, there is a selection of public domain and shareware software. Finally, there is a file area for NFBTRANS-related files. (NFBTRANS is the Braille translation program developed by the NFB.) Messages on NFB NET are categorized by topic. There is an area called Blind Talk for the discussion of issues, both computer-related and noncomputer-related, of interest to blind persons. Another area, NFB Talk, is for the announcement of timely information and discussion of matters concerning the NFB. These discussion areas are also carried by a number of other bulletin board systems around the world. There is also a discussion area for NFBTRANS and Charlie Cook, its author, has agreed to call in periodically to answer questions and offer advice. NFB NET is a part of Fidonet, a worldwide network of bulletin board systems that exchange electronic mail and discussion areas or conferences called Echoes. NFB NET will carry a variety of Echo Conferences on job hunting, employment listings, home-based entrepreneurial opportunities, WordPerfect questions and solutions and more. NFB NET also belongs to another network called ADANET which contains a number of disability-related conferences, including one which discusses the raising of disabled children and another which discusses the education of kids. The parameters for NFB NET are 8 data bits, no parity and one stop bit. The system has a U.S. Robotics 9600 HST dual standard modem and can handle baud rates of 300, 1200, 2400 and 9600. The modem can also handle V.32, V.32BIS, V.42, V.42BIS, and MNP level 1-5 protocols. What all this means is that NFB NET should be able to connect with most anything around. NFB NET is the official BBS voice of the National Federation of the Blind and exists to disseminate news and information of interest to Federationists, other interested blind and sighted persons, and persons working in the field of blindness. It is also our goal to facilitate information and idea exchanges via computers and modems. The success of NFB NET will ultimately be determined by your participation. If you have a computer and modem, give us a call, leave messages in the different message areas and please contribute files and upload your state or local newsletters, if they are available on disk. We look forward to seeing you on-line. If you have questions about NFB NET or the National Federation of the Blind, please leave a message to the SysOp as you sign off (our number is 410-752-5011) or write to us at: NFB NET National Federation of the Blind 1800 Johnson Street Baltimore, Maryland 21230