BLIND WASHINGTONIAN WINTER 1993-1994 THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES Blind Washingtonian subscriptions cost the Federation about five dollars per year. Members are invited, and non-members are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind of Washington and sent to: National Federation of the Blind of Washington Post Office Box 2516 Seattle, Washington 98111 Bennett Prows, President Post Office Box 2516 Seattle, Washington 98111 (206) 823-6380 Albert Sanchez, Editor East 707 Garland Spokane, Washington 99207 (509) 487-0809 Address changes, requests for editional coppies of this newsletter, and articles should be sent to the Editor. Never GIVE UP--A Report from the President By Bennett Prows Recently I heard a story about a graduation speech made in the 1940s by Winston Churchill. The graduates, awaited Mr. Churchill's comments with anticipation, and a bit of apprehension, knowing how long these speeches could go on. When Mr. Churchill was introduced, he strode to the podium, looked out over the sea of anxious faces who knew they were slated to help in the war effort, and said: "Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!" Then he returned to his seat. In those few words, Mr. Churchill had done everything a graduation speaker is supposed to do, and much more. He had summarized the students experiences, since they had succeeded in passing their courses and had not given up on the rigors of school course work, and he had encapsulated the key element of being successful throughout life. He had given the students words they would always remember, and given them all they needed to overcome the adversity of war. In short, Mr. Churchill had presented the students with all they needed to accomplish every goal, face every pitfall, and ultimately to triumph at whatever they endeavored to do. Without knowing it, Mr. Churchill also captured the essence of the driving force of the National Federation of the Blind. Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan and now Mr. Maurer have always said that we never lose a war, because we won't quit until we win. One of the main differences between our organization and other groups of and for blind people is that we will never, never, never, never, never give up! In the case of the National Federation of the Blind, the sum is greater than the parts. Our organization is full of people who believe that we can accomplish every goal, if we just keep on working. All of us have experiences that we draw upon that inspire us to new, meaningful and greater accomplishments for the NFB. My own example is illustrative. When I was a law student in the 1970s, I had to work hard to make the grade. I had to read over five thousand pages of text a semester just to pass my courses. In addition, I had to spend at least 150 hours in the library, since nothing was computerized then. At one point during my law school career, I was overwhelmed with the amount of work I had to do. I became discouraged, bored, angry, and ultimately I was quite depressed. I made excuses about why I was getting behind. I finally had enough. One Sunday night, I had hit bottom. I was so far behind I knew I could not catch up. I closed the books, rewound the tapes, packed the books away that I had at home, and told my family I was quitting law school. I didn't know what I was going to do, but anything was better than this. The next morning, I awoke to a bright sunny day. I went to the law school, attended class, and answered a complicated question posed by a professor correctly. I thought to myself, "Well, maybe I'll go on a little longer. Maybe I can make it." I didn't give up! But the fight was not over. That semester, I took an interim exam in a class called "Wills and Trusts." Not having studied the case book for the class all semester, I tried to study the night before using one of those commercially distributed course outlines. After taking the test, I felt pretty good. I thought I had done a pretty good job of finessing the answers during the three hour exam. When the grades came out several weeks later however, I found I was sadly mistaken. The professor had given me the lowest grade recorded in school history in that class. He did however, offer me hope. He reminded me that the second half of the course also had an exam that could count toward a passing grade, if I came through with a stelar performance. After a soul searching talk with myself, and after a gut-wrenching realization that I had almost flunked out of law school, I challenged myself. I worked hard, and late into the night, all sixteen weeks of the second semester. Amazingly enough, the course work actually became interesting. I stopped making excuses, ranting and raving, and actually wanted to read more about the legal planning for death and taxes. And, when the final exam had been graded, I received high marks for the overall course work. It is no coincidence that I had found the National Federation of the Blind by that time. I learned from the blind of the nation that perseverance and self-confidence do indeed pay off. I'm sure that each one of you could relate your own story of perseverance. This organization is full of them, because the members of the National Federation of the Blind, never, never, never, never give up! During the past year, we have had numerous successes, and some setbacks. Our members have organized, sponsored and participated in conferences for the parents of blind children. We attended a conference organized jointly with the NFB of Oregon in March of this year. Parents and panelists came from throughout the northwest, and we discussed key issues concerning the teaching of Braille and cane travel, the teaching of academics, negotiating Individualized Education Plans, acquiring role models of blind adults, and many other topics. In another conference later that month, sponsored by the Washington Department of Services for the blind, Suzi and I talked about raising expectations for their blind children. At our State mini-convention, Barbara Freeman organized a round- table discussion with blind adults and parents of blind children to provide encouragement and support to parents who want and need our philosophy of blindness. Partly because of that gathering, the parents of blind children in this state are organizing a division of the NFB in Washington State at this convention. But there have been set backs too. As most Federationists know, our Braille bill has been introduced in the Washington State legislature over the past seven years. Last year was no exception. Our bill was introduced, and we went to Olympia to conduct a Braille awareness day, distributing literature and talking to the legislators and the public about our cause. We had tremendous support, and our sponsors this time have been very helpful, but the bill died in committee again last spring. It almost passed out of one committee, but ultimately it was amended and revised to an extent that was unacceptable. Despite the temporary set back, we will prevail. We must step back and resurrect the best aspects of the legislation in the upcoming session. We will compromise where necessary, we will negotiate where feasible, but we will not give up or give away the principle that every blind student in this state deserves--the opportunity to learn Braille. We must sharpen our message to the representatives and senators. We must arm ourselves with loud and clear statements about the need for Braille in the schools. We will not quit, until all blind students are guaranteed the same right to literacy as their sighted peers. The blind deserve first-class citizenship and we will have it. Until we do, we will never, never, never, never give up. Despite the lack of funds, Barbara Freeman has maintained a cane bank to lend canes to children in the State. We have replaced broken canes, and provided longer and longer canes to children as they grow. Funding for that project is needed, and it is worthwhile. We have developed a considerable mailing list of parents of blind children, and the message is getting to the parents about the NFB. The message says that even though there are other organizations, mostly funded by custodial charitable organizations, we the blind of the state and nation care about their blind children. When the parents join us, they won't receive platitudes and promises, we want their children to succeed as responsible citizens in society. In short, we want them to have what we seek also, first-class citizenship. The Washington Association of Blind Students has been active also. Under the leadership of Dan Frye, the students have conducted seminars to acquaint blind college students with significant national and state legislation, to provide information on financial aid and responsibility, and many other topics. I am please to report that Dan has graduated now, and we wish him luck in his future endeavors. He will always be a Federationist. At the same time, we pledge our support to the new officers in the Student Division. This year, the NFB handled numerous requests from elementary schools in Seattle, Spokane and Vancouver for speakers about blindness in general, as well as braille and travel techniques. Scout troops, and churches also received information and speakers from the NFB in 1993. Our members served as participants on task forces and committees to various public and private organizations to assist them to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In Spokane, Vancouver and Seattle we have worked on committees of city and county transportation authorities, as well as meeting with employers and smaller state and local governmental agencies to help with ADA advise and assistance. We have distributed literature to hospitals and clinics about blindness, and about the ADA. We helped one hospital to obtain information in order to transcribe its generally distributed medical information to blind patients and the public in media other than print. And then, there is the telephone. Literally hundreds of calls have come into the state office this year from all manner of people. We have answered questions, referred people to agencies for services, given advise on blindness, written letters in support of requests for help, obtained information about social security benefits, and even provided instruction on how to use the telephone. This year we have gained experience and knowledge on dealing with the state attorney general. Our community outreach efforts have been extremely successful. One measure of this success is that we have had contact from the Spokane office of the Attorney General. We have cooperated with the Spokane office, and also provided material and information to the Seattle office in order to demonstrate our good faith efforts to reach the public, and abide by all laws that affect our efforts. Our efforts at expansion and internal growth have met with mixed results. On the one hand, we tried and were unsuccessful in organizing a chapter in Port Townsend. Our Tacoma contacts have not organized a chapter as yet, and we are still working on Olympia recruits. But the good news comes from east of the Mountains. Spokane is another one of those stories of perseverance. Just a few years ago, the Spokane chapter, for all intents and purposes was comprised of two or three people. There were no chapter activities, and monthly meetings were being canceled. No one knew that there was an NFB chapter there, except the members of the NFB. When we had mini-conventions in Spokane, we succeeded in getting one or two people from the area to attend. But Al Sanchez never gave up. He and Susan Phillipy have brought the Spokane chapter from a small group of just a few to a membership that rivals the other NFB chapters in this State. What's more, they have told me that they intend to surpass the Seattle Chapter in numbers, and to just keep on growing. The Spokane chapter report will tell it all. Suffice it to say, that Spokane is now publishing the newsletter, raising funds, providing grants to conventions, including grants to this convention, distributing literature and recruiting new members at a tremendous rate. I look for good things to come from the chapter that wouldn't give up! We have taken steps to increase communications with the chapters this year. I began recording Presidential updates for each of the chapter presidents to play at meetings on a periodic basis. These updates are not designed to take the place of the all important national presidential releases. They are a method of giving everyone a summary of news from throughout the state. I also visited each of the three chapters this year. In January I went to Vancouver, where plans for several fund raising events were taking shape. In May I travelled to the Spokane chapter meeting, and was pleasantly surprised by its vitality. Of course, the SEATTLE CHAPTER IS MOVING TOO. Several new members have infused it with a fresh spirit, and a solid philosophy of blindness, and the members will make it grow during the coming year. To sum up the year in a few words, we had our ups and downs. But we never lost sight of the reason this organization was formed, and is ever growing--we are the blind speaking for ourselves. We have a tremendous amount of work ahead, but we have never shrunk from work. In fact, we relish the challenges we face. The NFB of Washington is growing, our momentum is unstoppable, and we are headed straight up the road toward first-class citizenship. There is much to do. Each of us must re-examine our commitment to the most vital organization in the field of work with the blind. We will not let others take control of our lives. Let each of us go forth from this convention with new energy to do the work that has to be done. And as my experience in law school taught me, we must always, always take to heart the words of Winston Churchill. The members of the National Federation of the Blind will never, never, never, never, never, never, never give up! 1994 NFB of WASHINGTON MINI-CONVENTION BY Albert Sanchez It's time to begin thinking about this year's Mini-Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington! This year's celebration of Federationism will be held in Spokane, at Cavanaugh's 4th avenue, East 110 4th avenue Spokane, WA 99202, during the weekend of April 9 and 10, 1994. We plan many activities that are important to the blind population of this State and of the nation. This year's national representative will be Barbara Pierce. Mrs. Pierce is President of the NFB of Ohio, and, for the last several years she has also been editor of our Braille Monitor. She will be bringing up-to-date information on numerous activities of importance to blind persons and, you won't want to miss anything! The room rates are good, $49.00 per night for singles, doubles, tripples, and quads, plus tax. The registration price is $25.00, this includes both lunch and the banquet on Saturday, and breakfast Sunday morning. For room registration contact President Prows at (206) 823-6380. We look forward to seeing you in Spokane, so come join us! Slow Down, Not So Fast! By Noel Nightingale, (From The Editor: Noel Nightingale is an active, thoughtful and interesting person. She is also Second Vice President of our Greater Seattle Chapter.) Thursday afternoon, on the way from my apartment to the law school at the University of Washington, I was crossing the intersection at Forty-second and Brooklyn, ahead of a man who had something quite revealing to tell me. He came up beside me, demanding I, "Slow down, slow down." I looked around, expecting someone else nearby to be the intended object of his advice. The case, however, was that I was the only person occupying that corner other than himself. This person had confused me. Why did he want me to slow down? I had no reason to reduce my pace as the sidewalk was free of obstructions: people, potholes, or otherwise. Why did he say this? His words settled into a deep part of my head that I rarely take time to explore. As blind people, day in and day out we are told in innumerable ways to slow down. Perhaps because we are excelling in careers, engaging in activities thought not to be pursued by blind people, or merely leading "normal" lives, we are subtly and not-so-subtly told to keep in our place. Go slowly. Go without confidence. Our vigilance instructs us not to let this message become a subconscious road map. To do so would deny us the achievement we all work toward. Long before the aforementioned concerned citizen felt it his duty to prescribe my speed, the same message had been planted in that deep part of my head. His message tells me two things: that blind people are not supposed to excel, and that we are permitted not to do so because society expects very little of us. When I was far away from the corner, nearing the law school, I felt tears coming to my eyes as his words resounded in me. Once again, a chord of truth had been struck. RESOLUTIONS by Albert Sanchez Resolutions adopted by the National Federation of the Blind of Washington are written policy statements of the organization. Each resolution is presented to the convention for discussion and a vote. Prior to coming before the convention, resolutions are ordinarily presented to the Resolutions Committee for discussion and a recommendation. The committee may not block a resolution from coming to the floor, it may only recommend "pass", "not pass", or "no recommendation." Any NFB of Washington member may present a resolution to the Committee and, through it, to the NFB of Washington convention. If the presenter chooses to withdraw a resolution based on committee discussion or for some other reason, that is also possible. Six Resolutions came before the committee this year, one, 93- 06, was withdrawn by the author. I wish to thank the members of the Resolutions Committee and all of you who worked on, and discussed these Policy Statements. RESOLUTION 93-01 WHEREAS, Shirley Smith, Director of Services for the Blind of Washington State, has offered to spend state monies to send members of the Services Advisory Council to the regional National Association of Parents of the Visually Impaired conference, (NAPVI); and WHEREAS, NAPVI has no local membership organization, but represents the interest of a few dying eastern based agencies rather than the true interest of Washington state blind children; and WHEREAS, NAPVI is so out of touch with modern educational practices that it stated in the Winter 1993 issue of Awareness, (it's newsletter) in an article entitled "Special Needs of Low Vision Children" that only children whose vision can be improved by low vision aids should be allowed to attend mainstream education programs; and WHEREAS, Even though the National Federation of the Blind has been holding national parents seminars for 11 years and local parents seminars for 9 years, Services for the Blind has never offered to pay the expenses of it's Advisory Council members to attend any of them; and WHEREAS, This favortism at the tax payers expense appears to be an attempt by Services for the Blind to discredit the ever growing voices of informed organized Washington state parents in partnership with the organized blind in their call for quality programs, reform and more vision teachers; and WHEREAS, We fear that Advisory Council members attending the NAPVI conference will be mislead as to the needs of Washington state blind children: Now, Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of Washington in Convention Assembled this 17th day of October, 1993 in the City of Seattle; that we call upon State Services for the Blind to give locally based and supported programs for blind children an equal chance at support to state monies by sending it's Advisory Council members to the spring Washington State Parents Of Blind Children conference to be held in Seattle and to the national Parents Of Blind Children seminar to be held in Detroit Michigan this summer. RESOLUTION 93-02 WHEREAS, Counselors at the Washington Department of Services for the Blind must provide meaningful assistance to program participants to obtain and keep gainful employment; and WHEREAS, in recent months the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind has again laid off some of its blind workers; and WHEREAS, many of these displaced Lighthouse workers are desperate for employment for all the same reasons that unemployed sighted workers need jobs; and WHEREAS, in some cases Counselors at the Department of Services for the Blind have not been forthcoming with helpful information about job leads and job training programs for displaced Lighthouse workers, including the benefits of the services provided by the NFB's Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB) program: Now, Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of Washington in Convention Assembled this 17th day of October, 1993 in the City of Seattle; that we strongly urge the Departments Counselors to implement a specific program to assist displaced lighthouse workers to acquire worthwhile employment, focusing on job development and placement; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Counselors to strongly encourage their participants to use the resources of Job Opportunities for the Blind to the maximum extent during their job search. RESOLUTION 93-03 WHEREAS, with the retirement of Carl Jarvis the Department of Services for the Blind will have only one manager who is blind; and WHEREAS, in recent years a trend has been noted of a decline in supervisory staff who are blind; and WHEREAS, when highly qualified blind people apply for supervisory positions they are rejected infavor of a sighted person; and WHEREAS, this lack of blind persons in management positions fosters an attitude in the agency of custodialism, paternalism and a desensitization of DSB staff to the needs of blind people: Now, Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of Washington in convention assembled this 17th day of October, 1993 in the City of Seattle; that the National Federation of the Blind of Washington call upon the Department of Services for the Blind to actively recruit nationwide for qualified blind people to hold management positions within the Department of Services for the Blind; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Department of Services for the Blind to institute a continuing program of dialogue between all staff and blind consumers with major constituencies on issues of real concern to blind clients and the blind community; and BE IT Further Resolved that the National Federation of the Blind of Washington call upon the Department to ask all staff to participate in some manner in the blind community, e.g. attend meetings of blind consumers. RESOLUTION 93-04 WHEREAS, several legally blind persons and persons with severe eye diseases or a family history of genetic blindness have been treated by Kaiser Perminente in a cavalier manner and with blatant disregard for their health, comfort, and for possible loss of their remaining sight, and the possible painful consequences of untreated severe eye diseases during the last year; and WHEREAS, Kaiser Perminente is a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) working under the auspice of the Insurance Commissioner of Washington State; and WHEREAS, society appears to be moving swiftly towards government sanctioned and regulated health related health care with emphasis on HMOS; and WHEREAS, prevention of blindness and further deterioration of severe eye conditions should be a top priority of any civilized society: Now, Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of Washington in convention assembled this 17th day of October, 1993 in the City of Seattle; that we call upon the State Insurance Commissioner to work with this organization to establish firm procedures and priorities for the prevention of blindness and needless related pain and suffering for all HMOS licensed in Washington State; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon Kaiser Perminente to quickly establish firm procedures and policies for the prevention of blindness and needless related pain and suffering due to eye conditions in consultation with the National Federation of the Blind of Washington state. RESOLUTION 93-05 WHEREAS, Carl Jarvis has served as the Administrator of the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind's Orientation and Training Center (OTC) since 1984, with a sabbatical to serve as Assistant Director of the agency from 1988 to 1991; and WHEREAS, Mr. Jarvis has served the blind community in other capacities prior to taking the position of OTC Administrator, including Business Enterprises Program Coordinator, instructor in food service management, braille instructor, and founder of the Lilac Blind Foundation in Spokane; and WHEREAS, Mr. Jarvis is retiring from the State of Washington on December 31, 1993: Now, Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY the National Federation of the Blind of Washington in Convention assembled this 17th day of October, 1993 in the City of Seattle; that the National Federation of the Blind of Washington appreciates and thanks Mr. Jarvis for his service to the blind community. NFB of Washington East 707 Garland Spokane, WA 99207 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED