MINNESOTA BULLETIN Quarterly Publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, Inc. 100 East 22nd Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404 (612) 872-9363 Tom Scanlan, Editor Volume LXII, Number 1, Summer 1997 WE ARE CHANGING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND Table of Contents Les Affaires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Climbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sixteenth Annual Move-A-Thon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 We Will Miss Them, But They Are Still Part of Us . . . . . . . 8 A Good Year in the Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Tim Aune Honored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Action at the 1997 Semiannual State Convention . . . . . . . 15 Convention Alert!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Les Affaires The Canes in My Life By Joyce Scanlan, President I finally bought a carbon fiber cane. Yes, after long mental anguish over whether it, the carbon fiber cane, was the right weight or price or a significant enough improvement to bother with, I have brought home from the 1997 National Convention in New Orleans a new white cane. That made me do post mortems on all my past white canes. When I was a teenager, about 14 or 15 years old, I was invited, along with every other blind person in the Fargo, North Dakota area, to a Christmas party sponsored by the local Lions Club. We were all served a big dinner and presented with a gift. That gift was a white cane, the very first I had ever had. It was wooden and quite short, probably about 36-40 inches. It also had a crook on the top; the lower part of the cane was red. I do not remember the type of tip. Everyone in the crowd seemed very pleased. There was great ooing and aahing and many expressions of gratitude. The Lion who had handed out the canes had said something like this: "We thought it would be nice if all the blind people in the Fargo area had the same type of cane." I sat in silence. By far the youngest person in the room, I was not at all thrilled with my new possession. This was the first time I had had a white cane in my hand. It felt just awful. Family and friends had always told me I was sighted. I didn't need to read Braille or use a white cane. Of course, even the totally blind kids at school didn't use white canes. No one else did either, blind teachers or the blind superintendent. White canes must have been just for adult blind people who lived in the big city. Surely these Lions knew I was sighted. They can't think I'm blind. I felt very insulted. What did the Lions think I was going to do with that white cane anyway? Well, I took care of that white cane with dispatch. When the party was over and I, together with my fine Christmas gift, was dropped off at home, I ran through the front door and right upstairs to my bedroom. I stashed that cane in the very rear corner of the closet. I have not seen that cane since that moment. As far as I know, the cane may still be there. Maybe it has disintegrated with time. One might imagine all sorts of fates for that particular cane. That was my first cane experience. The professionals might say, "She just wasn't ready." That was an understatement. The cane was a symbol of blindness, and I wasn't blind. I didn't "need" that cane. All through high school and college and five years of teaching, I never touched a white cane. I served as a sighted guide to others, who were really blind. My next cane was a branch cut from a tree. It was quite long but served the purpose well. I had just returned from the hospital where I had lost all my vision from glaucoma, and I didn't want to be dependent upon a sighted person to guide me. I needed a cane. Then I regained a small amount of vision and someone gave me a 42-inch collapsible cane. The orientation and mobility instructor had said that I wasn't blind; he said I might want to use the collapsible cane for "identification." I grew to appreciate that cane and when it met its demise, I was quite sad. I was crossing a very busy street near the University of Minnesota when another pedestrian stepped on the lowest link of my cane, which immediately fell into four loose parts. My route home included getting to the bus stop, taking two buses, and walking about six more blocks to my apartment. I was very worried. Somehow it all worked out and I arrived home in one piece. Now I was ready for the next step. About the same time as the mishap with my collapsible cane occurred, the students from the Iowa Orientation Center came to tour the Minneapolis Society for the Blind, where I was working part-time. One day as the workers were returning from lunch, there was a great clatter in the hallway. A bunch of people with long straight canes, each person walking alone, was headed for our work area. It sounded like a steady sprinkle of small stones hitting the floor. We all wondered what was going on. These people came into our work room. They were using white canes. They asked questions of the workers. The sighted people with them seemed friendly also. Feeling good about using a white cane and walking independently and being happy were all new phenomena to me. I saw none of that around the Minneapolis Society for the Blind. Within the next few days I contacted my rehab counselor to ask for more travel training. Of course, I expected the training to be with a straight cane, not a collapsible one. I had had enough of that. The counselor gladly sent me right back to the Minneapolis Society for the Blind for training. I began in January 1970. At first my lessons were one hour and eventually they were extended to two hours. The new cane was about 46 inches long. It had no crook. There was a golf grip at the top, and the tip was of nylon, which wore down at an angle as it hit the ground. I was thrilled with my cane and what it could do. I did not train with sleepshades, although I had requested that. I was all psyched up for shades when the instructor opined that because I had glaucoma, using the shades might cause a problem. I should have argued the point, but I was alone and knew very little about my rights or how training could best be done. The instructor had also suggested that I might want to have a collapsible cane for going to the theater and out to dinner. I purchased such a cane but never used it. It was eventually given away to someone who needed a cane in an emergency. Later that same year, 1970, I attended my first National Federation of the Blind convention; it was in Minneapolis. There I met many blind people who were using longer canes. It became respectable and totally acceptable to use a white cane. As time went on, we were all introduced to the solid fiberglass canes. I liked those canes even better than my metallic cane with the nylon tip. Eventually, we had hollow fiberglass canes, which became longer and longer. I finally settled on a 59-inch cane and thought it would be my longest. However, a few years ago, I went to a 61-inch cane. It is a fine, fine cane. The new carbon fiber cane I just bought is also 61 inches long. I have only two canes, the hollow fiberglass cane I use regularly, and my new carbon fiber cane. I love my two canes. Over the years, we have all fought vigorously for the right to use our white canes. When I was 14 or 15 as I was when the Lions gave me that first cane, I could not have dreamed that one day I would stand firm in the face of an airline official who wanted me to give up my cane before I would be allowed to fly. Yet in 1978 that is what happened. Many other times a flight attendant demanded that I give up my cane. I flatly refused. My refusals have gradually become more tactful and diplomatic than they once were. Now I am more sure of my position and my rights. I know I can keep the cane with me. This is a story of gaining independence and learning to handle it efficiently and well. My school has been the National Federation of the Blind. Before that I was a lonely, struggling hypocrite, pretending to be sighted when I wasn't. Those days are gone now. I have moved on to a much more comfortable method of dealing with independence. Independence is no longer just talk. It is real life to live with work to do, people to care about and goals to be achieved. My cane is a fine tool in making independence possible, but that is all. Far more important is the organization with all its fine members who gave me everything I have with respect to blindness, my philosophy, my belief in myself and others who are blind, and even my appreciation of my white cane and its true place in my life. Climbing By Jennifer Dunnam One of the many perks of being an instructor at BLIND, Inc. is that the students and staff have the chance to participate in rock climbing several times a year. Not all of us look forward to ascending walls of rock with equal eagerness, but I, for one, am energized every time I do a climb or work with someone else who is climbing. Sometimes I am reminded of my early childhood, when I was willing to try climbing on just about anything taller than I. My parents did not learn that I was blind until I was seven months old, by which time I knew how to crawl and could pull myself into a standing position. The doctor told my parents that since I was blind, they would need to keep me in a playpen and do everything humanly possible to protect me from harm. Despite their disappointment upon learning of my blindness, they saw no reason to follow the doctor's advice, since they had so far treated me as they would any other child. I also believe that, by that time, my parents already had a pretty good idea that trying to keep me in a playpen would probably not have accomplished the protection that the kind but misguided doctor had intended. One of my earliest memories is of climbing a chest of drawers. I am sure I remember hearing the half-open drawers call out to be climbed like a ladder; being a most agreeable child, I obliged--my fingers gripping the top of the upper drawers as my feet stepped on the lower ones. I almost made it to the top before the chest and all its contents fell on top of me. My fingers still smart whenever I think about it. My pain and humiliation were sufficient to ensure that I did not try climbing on drawers again; my parents could see that I had been well-taught and did not need them to put any additional restrictions on my movement. During most of my childhood, my family lived in a house located on property owned by the natural gas transmission company that employed my father. My two younger sisters and I had 27 acres of land at our disposal for play-- including such useful structures as trees, a pond, an empty house similar to our own, and the compressor station where my father worked. We children were disappointed that we had no stairs inside the house, but we were delighted when we discovered them on the sides of the compressor station. We (or at least, I) could spend hours just running up and down those metal stairs--a pastime to which my mother never expressed any objection. It seemed very natural to my sisters and me, therefore, to entertain ourselves in a similar manner the day we discovered stairs during a visit to the home of a friend of our parents. My mother did not see the connection at all, but she couldn't stop us quite in time to prevent my sister Becky from somehow breaking an expensive statue that stood near the stairs. Not long ago, when Becky and I were reminiscing about our childhood over the phone, she began to tease me about clumsy or embarrassing things she remembers that I did. Naturally I felt compelled to remind her about the statue incident. Of course, she had forgotten all about that and was horrified; before changing the subject, she mumbled something about being dragged from store to store as Mom shopped for an expensive statue. At a very early age I graduated from stairs to the monkey bars in our backyard. I got to be rather good at climbing on them and was thrilled on my first day of school when I found out there were higher monkey bars on the playground. What a shock I got during that first recess when I tried to join the other kids who were climbing on the bars! As I approached, the children jumped off as fast as they could, screaming, "Don't touch her! You'll go blind!" It felt as though the floor had been pulled out from under me. Was it so bad to be blind? Fortunately, when I went home that evening (and every evening after), I found my world was still normal, my family didn't think I had suddenly gotten a terrible disease, and, best of all, my sisters were still willing to join me on the monkey bars. My family did their best to help me keep my expectations of myself high despite the misconceptions of many others around me. That basic support was invaluable to me as I went back to school each day and gradually made friends and acquaintances who, even if they did not always treat me as an equal, were not afraid of me and would share the monkey bars with me. At home, we had a swing set, which, together with several trees perfect for climbing, consumed much of my free time. My sisters and I, like most kids, were pretty good at thinking up alternative ways to use the swing set--like walking up the slide or standing in the seats of the swings while swinging. The caps had long since fallen off the ends of the crossbar at the top of the swing set, so we liked to climb up the side poles and use the long pipe as a communication device. Other creatures apparently made use of the open- ended crossbar as well; on at least two occasions, bees came out to express their anger at me for disturbing their home. The bee stings were nothing, however, compared to the time I put my mouth up to the pipe and a little frog took the opportunity to jump in. All I can say is that a frog--at least in living form--most assuredly does not "taste like chicken." As the years passed, I played outdoors less and less often--not only because of the increasing homework, but also because I found I could obtain and read my own books. Another factor was that I did not use a cane regularly until I was a senior in high school; my lack of effective travel techniques, along with the increasing need for independent travel in my life, slowly took away my confidence in my ability to move around safely and gracefully. This is not to say that I never went outside or that I stopped testing limits. When I was about twelve, my sisters and I began incorporating the huge pipes behind the compressor station into our games. They were several feet in diameter and some of them slanted upward from the ground at angles that were deliciously dangerous if you were trying to walk up them. (Oh, and did I mention that we were expressly forbidden to go near them by my parents?) For months and months my sisters and I enjoyed the pipes; they could not be seen from the house, so we could play without any annoying interference. Or so I believed, until the day my father suddenly hauled us all into the living room and yelled for what seemed like hours about how we should never, never play around those pipes. How he could have found out was beyond me, especially since we had not been near the pipes since the week before, when we took all those pictures of each other. . . . Sudden dread shot through me as I racked my brain to recall what we'd done with those newly developed pictures. It wasn't long before that question vanished into irrelevance; my dad held up an envelope, from which he removed a series of indisputable photos of his three daughters in various poses on the pipes behind the compressor station. He stopped yelling, and, fortunately for us, his amusement at our humiliation tempered his anger somewhat. That experience with the pipes taught me well about the wisdom of hiding evidence; therefore, I will not write about some activities in which I engaged as a teenager. Certainly I became far too cool and mature even to think about such childish exploits as climbing. I joined the National Federation of the Blind when I was fourteen--one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Not only did I make lots of new friends through the NFB, but I also collected plenty of useful information and ideas about dealing with blindness. I found language and cohesion for my philosophy of blindness, and I learned that I did not have to be alone in fighting to be treated as an equal in society. Through attending NFB national conventions in various states, I also developed a taste for traveling to new places--long white cane in hand. At the 1989 convention in Denver, I had my first experience with rock climbing and immediately abandoned my notion that climbing was for kids. Here was something much more real and challenging than monkey bars or natural gas conduits. At BLIND, Inc. I am pleased to have the chance to help students believe in themselves and their abilities as blind people. Rock climbing is one of the ways in which our program challenges students to go beyond what they believe is possible. I treasure the time spent in such productive fun! Sixteenth Annual Move-A-Thon By Peggy Chong The brochures for the sixteenth annual Move-A-Thon are now available from your Chapter President. Pick up several for yourself as well as some for your family and friends to help support the NFB of Minnesota. Our only state fundraiser will be held in New Ulm, Minnesota, Saturday, September 20, 1997, at Harmon Park. Participants will start walking the peaceful 10-kilometer walk about 9:00 a.m. A bus from the Metro Area will leave for the Move-A-Thon about 7:00 a.m. Contact Metro Chapter president, RoseAnn Faber, at 221-9107 for more details. Charlene Childrey, Chair of this year's event, promises many surprises. The Riverbend chapter has put much effort into this year's event to make sure everyone has a terrific time. To be a part of this event, get a pledge form from your Chapter President. Collect contributions from your family, friends and business acquaintances. Awards will be presented to participants of the Move-A-Thon at our state convention banquet. One of the awards will be for bringing in the most money. Hope it will be you. We Will Miss Them, But They Are Still Part of Us By Joyce Scanlan Curtis Chong, Vice President of the NFB of Minnesota, has accepted a position as Director of Technology with the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore. While we all understand his choice for a career change and the opportunity this is for him, we are all saddened at the thought of losing Curtis and Peggy. They are two of the most hardworking and dedicated members of our organization. Curtis came to Minnesota from Hawaii in December of 1974. He will be remembered for wearing short-sleeved shirts year-round and for his love of cold Minnesota winters. He will be even more remembered for his warm friendships. He served as President of our student division for several years. He then served as Secretary of the NFB of Minnesota for many years before being elected Vice President. Among his many outstanding contributions to our movement and to our state were: writing policy statements on burning topics such as audible traffic signals, services for blind college students, the need for basic technology such as slates and styluses; serving on the Minneapolis Society for the Blind board of directors as one of the "NFB Eight" (see "75 Years: Dealing with the Minneapolis Society for the Blind" in the Summer 1996 issue of the Minnesota Bulletin); representing the Federation and serving as chairman of the Rehabilitation Advisory Council for Services for the Blind for many years; providing information and answers to problems related to technology; and probably most prominent of all, serving as a role model for every blind person in the state. Curtis's employment as a computer specialist with American Express was both a source of expertise on technology and a matter of pride for us. He was a living example of our beliefs in the ability of blind people to be as successful as any sighted person, to provide for a family, and to lead a full life. He worked on public relations and did speaking engagements on blindness; he gave testimony at legislative hearings. How can his shoes be filled as he leaves Minnesota? Peggy, too, has held leadership positions in the NFB of Minnesota. She served as President of our Federation center, BLIND, Inc. for its first ten years. She represented the Federation on the Minnesota Council on Disabilities, the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Site Council, and on the Cooperating Fund Drive. She ably chaired the Move-A-Thon for many years. She directed our mailings of the Minnesota Bulletin, fundraising letters, and letters to members. She will long be remembered for her historical research into the minutes, newsletters, resolutions, and every other documentation available on the 75th anniversary of the NFB of Minnesota. Peggy wrote extensively for the Minnesota Bulletin. Her "75 Years" series during our 75th anniversary was outstanding. Producing the Minnesota Bulletin will be difficult without her. The editor will miss both her willingness to write and her assistance in putting together the print and tape editions. Peggy's most visible role in recent years has been as President of our Metro Chapter. In that position, she carried on an extensive correspondence and telephone communication with our local transit company, and kept us all up- to-date on current newspaper articles on blindness. Peggy will also be remembered for her love-hate dealings with computers, her love of Long Island Ice Tea as served by Lyon's Pub, and the fun she always had at lively social gatherings. Peggy was quick to put together a party. She could bring together a group of people to eat heartily and pump out hundreds of Associates letters. When the State Supreme Court decision in the Minneapolis Society for the Blind case came down in our favor, Peggy packed up a picnic basket with food, put one- year-old Tina on her back, and headed off by bus to the Scanlan home to organize a celebration. Who will continue all of the fine traditions Peggy has begun? We can be sure that Curt and Peggy are only moving to Baltimore. They will not be leaving the Federation. Curtis will be working for the National Federation of the Blind. We will be seeing them at Federation functions, Washington seminars, National Conventions, and activities at the National Center. No final "goodbyes" need be said. We are all truly sad to see Curt and Peggy leave us. The gaps they leave will be large and difficult to fill. We wish both of you, Curt and Peggy, good health, good luck, and much happiness. We will all miss you. Change is always difficult. We must go on with every project now underway in Minnesota. We will all need to do just a bit, a big bit, more to keep up with the momentum already built. We know we will pull together to further our cause on behalf of blind people. As we said long ago, "We know who we are, and we will never go back." Again, good luck to both of you. You have been good friends and outstanding workers in the movement. We look forward to seeing you at every Federation activity in the years to come. When you decide to return to Minnesota, we will all welcome you. A Good Year in the Legislature By Judy Sanders It actually began in 1996 at the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota with the passage of a resolution supporting the creation of a Board for Blind Minnesotans. Then in January, we held our Day At the Capitol where we began in earnest to seek support for our proposed bill. The idea of a Board for the Blind was met with mixed reaction ranging from enthusiastic support, to qualified support but doubt about our ability to get the bills passed, to honest disagreement with it. Our most enthusiastic support came from Representative Tom Rukavina who agreed to be our chief author in the House. We could not have asked for a better author. When the going got tough, he stayed with us all the way. The honest disagreement, which was not a surprise to us, came from the Department of Economic Security. This bill, HR960, removes State Services for the Blind (SSB) from Economic Security and the Department's management was opposed to losing that staff and money. The bill was referred to the House Economic Development Budget Committee for hearing. Chair Steve Trimble was a coauthor of the bill. However, it must be admitted that he was uncertain of his support and reserved the right to withdraw his sponsorship. The hearing room was packed with many of the usual players; NFB members predominated, Department officials were present and there were the usual blind folks who come out to challenge the Federation. None of this was a surprise to experienced Legislative watchers; but there were some new faces. Two in particular are worth mentioning, and both of them are graduates of Vision Loss Resources (formally the Minneapolis Society for the Blind). The first is Wally Hinz. By his own admission, he has not been active in blindness issues, and he could not explain his sudden opposition to a separate agency for the blind. His reason for opposing the bill was that he did not understand the issue and we should ensure that taxpayers are getting their money's worth from SSB. If Mr. Hinz had taken the time to become informed before expressing his opposition he would know that the Federation also wants the taxpayers to get their money's worth from SSB and this can best be done by establishing a Board for Blind Minnesotans. The second newcomer is Representative Torrey Westrom, a newly-elected legislator from Elbow Lake who happens to be blind (see the Winter 1997 issue of the Minnesota Bulletin). His performance at the hearing would suggest that he knows more about politics than blindness. He waited for the end of the hearing to make a statement. By that time, it appeared that this would be a partisan vote with Democrats voting for the bill and Republicans voting against it. Although not on the committee, Mr. Westrom expressed his opposition and cast his lot with his Republican colleagues. The atmosphere was tense; but when the vote was finally taken, we prevailed eleven to ten on strictly party lines. The bill moved on to the Governmental Operations Committee. Those in the Department of Economic Security were surprised that we had as much support as we did. In turn, we realized that much education was needed about how to deliver the best services to blind Minnesotans. Legislators were losing sight of the issue and becoming more concerned with partisan politics. Consequently, we were ready to listen when Department officials approached us with a proposal. They wanted to replace our bill and ask for a study of services for the blind by the Legislative Audit Commission. We agreed to the study but said they would need a separate bill; we would not drop our bill. Eventually, the bill creating the study passed the House and the Senate as part of the Department of Economic Security Omnibus Budget bill and was signed by the Governor. However, many studies are legislated every year. Since the Legislative Auditor cannot conduct all those studies, the Legislature must rank the importance of each study after the session ends. The study of SSB was not ranked high enough to be conducted. Our bill remains alive and we will continue with it when the Legislature reconvenes. Representative Tom Rukavina deserves special credit for his stalwart support. Mr. Rukavina continues the backing of blind people he started when he successfully sponsored our Braille Literacy bill in 1987. We value his respect and his tenacity. We also credit Representative Steve Trimble who, while initially expressing honest doubts about the wisdom of our bill, ended up being a staunch supporter. On another front, we supported budget requests for SSB. This is something we always do and it is usually very uneventful. However, such was not so this year. Many of you will be familiar with SSB's staff training program in adjustment to blindness (see the Winter 1997 issue of the Minnesota Bulletin). The training gives the staff a taste of how their blind customers learn that it is respectable to be blind. Neither they as staff, nor we the blind, automatically understand that concept. There were lengthy planning sessions for this training with the SSB Rehabilitation Advisory Council, discussions at public meetings and trials with staff. This project was funded with federal money that could only be used for staff training or strategic planning. When the program was launched, it inevitably became controversial because, among other reasons, some staff were afraid of training that would require using blindfolds. In addition, some of our opponents resented the fact that BLIND, Inc. would be one of the trainers. Never mind that Vision Loss Resources and the Lighthouse in Duluth were also in the program. This controversy was reported to two senators who chose to take exception to the training program for all staff. Although this did not involve any state monies, Senators Cal Larson and Steve Murphy decided to challenge SSB's wisdom in proceeding with such an extensive plan. We received word that there might be some objection raised at a budget hearing in the Senate. We were told that the hearing would take about fifteen minutes. Instead, we were subjected to a three-hour grueling public hearing where the National Federation of the Blind was attacked and where the Assistant Commissioner of SSB was accused of having a conflict of interest in supporting this training program. There was no substance to any of it. In the end, Senator Murphy proposed that $100,000 be cut from SSB's budget because that was the estimated yearly cost of the training. Assistant Commissioner Richard Davis pointed out that the Legislature could not cut the training money since it comes from Congress. If they chose to make such a cut, he would have to reduce some other services such as those from the Communication Center. Later, Senator Murphy saw the wisdom of what Mr. Davis said and did not carry through with this threat to cut the budget. He and Senator Larson were able to obtain a provision that prohibits requiring support staff to take the training with blindfolds in the next two years. This means that it is still required for counselors and managers and that others can volunteer to take it. There are a few support staff members who work directly with customers who still can be required to take the training. It is apparent after this stormy session that legislators are like the public. They live with the same misconceptions and fears about blindness as most people. We must embark on a massive public education effort to teach them about our potential and what it will take for us to meet it. Furthermore, we should not forget the success we had. Our bill to create a Board for the Blind is still very much alive. Not many legislators are willing to buy into the small-minded attacks of our opponents. Despite the all-out efforts of Senators Larson and Murphy (with help in the House from Representative Westrom) to stop the adjustment-to-blindness training for the SSB staff, they failed. The training will go forward and will concentrate on counselors, managers, and others with direct contact with blind people. That is a definite victory in our efforts to improve the quality of service from SSB. The Department of Economic Security increased its respect for the NFB of Minnesota's political ability and influence in the Legislature. We must begin to lay the groundwork for hard work next year. We have always been willing to do what it takes to expand opportunities for the blind of Minnesota and the nation. Through the National Federation of the Blind, we will continue that work and we will hold our heads high with our success. Tim Aune Honored By Peggy Chong During Volunteer Recognition Week this past April, the Communication Center of State Services for the Blind held an awards banquet to honor and thank the many people who volunteer their time for its many projects. Tim Aune was one of the volunteers honored for ten years of service. Tim produces the NFB of Minnesota's monthly Radio Talking Book program called "Speaking For Ourselves." Congratulations Tim! Action at the 1997 Semiannual State Convention By Jan Bailey, Secretary The 1997 semiannual convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota was held at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, May 10. The convention was called to order by President Joyce Scanlan. Convention activities began with some rousing Federation songs, led by Jennifer Dunnam, and some welcoming remarks from Peggy Chong, Metro Chapter President. National and State Report The first official program item for the convention was entitled "The Federation Moves Forward in Minnesota and Around the World in 1997." This report of national and state issues affecting the blind was presented by President Joyce Scanlan. President Scanlan began by discussing the publicly-expressed position of the National Council for Independent Living (NCIL) opposing categorical programs for the blind. On the heels of that public statement, there has been opposition expressed by the National Council on Disabilities (NCD) of categorical programs for the blind. Regarding NCD, President Scanlan said that the NCIL people have taken control of this organization. NCD originally recommended to the Congress that categorical programs for the blind be eliminated. Due to pressure from the Federation, NCD was forced to back away from this position, instead recommending that a study be conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO). We are concerned that the study would place undue emphasis on the supposedly high cost of rehabilitating blind people as compared to the dollars spent in the general rehabilitation program. President Scanlan told the convention that the Reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act is up before the Congress again this year. The main question will probably be the length of the reauthorization. Most people seem to think that no substantial changes will be made to the Act other than the amount of time for which it will be authorized. President Scanlan reported that our Braille Literacy Bill is included in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the House. A version of that bill is also included in the Senate version of IDEA, but the House version is stronger, she said. President Scanlan said that we continue to work on restoring the linkage between the blind and age-65 retirees in the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Bills to restore the linkage have been introduced in the House and Senate. Senator Paul Wellstone has cosponsored the bill, but Senator Rod Gramms has not. President Scanlan talked to the convention about the attempt by the Department of Defense to exempt mess halls from the Randolph-Sheppard Act. Needless to say, the Federation is at the forefront of the effort to prevent this from happening. President Scanlan then discussed the Federation's upcoming national convention in New Orleans. We have already used all of our rooms at the Hyatt, she said, but we are arranging to secure additional rooms to accommodate everyone. She asked the membership to see if anyone would be interested in chartering a bus to New Orleans, to reduce the cost of having Minnesotans attend the convention. Turning to state matters, President Scanlan informed the convention about the dismissal, by Commissioner R. Jane Brown, of Norena Hale, who formerly headed the Rehabilitation Services Branch in the Minnesota Department of Economic Security (MDES). President Scanlan speculated that the firing of Ms. Hale might be due to her apparent lack of support for the Workforce Centers, a pet project of Commissioner Brown. President Scanlan reported that our bill to establish a Board for the Blind passed out of a House committee, despite objections from MDES. After the bill was passed out of committee, MDES began talking compromise. We agreed to support a study by the Legislative Audit Commission. We did not agree to withdraw our Board for the Blind bill. President Scanlan then informed the convention about matters surrounding the training of State Services for the Blind (SSB) staff in the alternative techniques of blindness. Senators Murphy and Larson tried hard to eliminate the training of SSB staff altogether but were only successful in reducing the total number of staff that could be required to take such training. It is our position that all SSB staff should be required to take, at a minimum, six weeks of intensive training in the alternative techniques of blindness, for it is only in this way that all agency staff can come to understand and support the agency's mission of fostering independence for all blind Minnesotans. President Scanlan emphasized the vital importance of our Board for the Blind bill. Without it, she said, services for the blind will be swallowed up in the Workforce Center efforts of the Department. Finally, President Scanlan informed the convention that Peggy Chong had chosen not to seek another term as President of the Board of BLIND, Inc. RoseAnn Faber is the new President. It has been ten years since BLIND, Inc. was founded, said President Scanlan. Although it was established as a separate corporation, with an independent financial structure, it has always been and will continue to be part and parcel of the National Federation of the Blind. In other words, like JOB, Newsline for the Blind, and every other Federation- sponsored activity, BLIND, Inc. is a project of the National Federation of the Blind. Services for the Blind Update This item was presented by Richard Davis, Assistant Commissioner of State Services for the Blind. He began by providing the convention with information about national legislation affecting vocational rehabilitation. Then, he turned his attention to matters at the state level. State Services for the Blind (SSB) has just come out with a document outlining ten principles of consumer choice. These principles are "final," and they will be incorporated into everything that the agency does to serve blind people. SSB has also published a document describing the "job ready" blind person. Mr. Davis informed the convention about some upcoming statewide public meetings to be sponsored by SSB. These meetings are an effort by the agency to get public input to improve service delivery. The first such meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 20. Mr. Davis said that the agency takes seriously the comments it receives from the public and incorporates many of them into future state plans. Mr. Davis reported that in fiscal year 1996, the agency had found jobs for 138 people, many of them at the professional level. This is a vast improvement since he first came to head the agency in the early '90's. The Department of Economic Security has released the Radio Talking Book privatization report. Its conclusion: the program does not need to be privatized. Finally, Mr. Davis talked about the SSB staff blindness training effort. A year ago, the agency adopted a policy requiring all of its employees to receive blindness training over the next five years. The policy was discussed thoroughly with the Rehabilitation Advisory Council for the Blind, all employee unions, and others. Those who oppose the policy (including some SSB staff) have made it controversial and an issue of concern to the State Legislature. A rider was attached to SSB's budget limiting the training to counselors and managers. Ultimately, a compromise was struck. Seventy SSB employees will be required to receive blindness training. This does not preclude other employees from voluntarily taking the training. Speaking of staff training, Mr. Davis next introduced two SSB staff members who had participated in blindness training: Dona Champlain and Jean Hanzal. Both individuals reported that the training was a very positive experience. President Scanlan urged the convention to keep in mind that despite the problems we have in Minnesota, we are far ahead of many other states in terms of the quality of service available to the blind and the willingness of agency top leadership to work with the people whom they serve. Election of National Convention Delegates The afternoon session began with the election of a delegate and an alternate delegate to the National Federation of the Blind convention. Joyce Scanlan was elected as the delegate, and Curtis Chong was elected alternate delegate. Communication Center Plan for the 21st Century David Andrews, Director of the Services for the Blind Communication Center, presented this program item. The plan is designed to take the Communication Center into the 21st century, taking advantage of digital technology along the way. Essentially, the plan (which will cost about $2.1 million) is divided into two phases, each of which could be done separately. Phase 1 is aimed at developing and distributing a new and more functional Radio Talking Book receiver. Phase 2 converts the existing analog technology used to record books into a digital infrastructure, enabling books to be stored in a more compact and reliable way while, at the same time, enabling books to be distributed through a wide variety of media. Fending Off Fear in the Minnesota Legislature Judy Sanders reported on happenings in the Minnesota State Legislature. She talked about the Board for the Blind bill, the proposed study of its feasibility, and SSB staff training. She stressed the importance of individual members of the Federation becoming known to individual members of the Legislature. Only in this way will individual legislators learn not to fear blindness while understanding what blind consumers themselves really want. Legislators fear blindness themselves because, in part, some blind people fear it, too. The Polish/American Exchange Program This program item was a panel consisting of some staff members from BLIND, Inc. and four Polish students, who are spending six months at BLIND to learn about our training program. The four students from Poland are Ania Skrobisz, Grzegorz Rzeszutek, Marek Baginski, and Damian Przybyla. Staff members who presented on the panel included Ron Burzese, Russell Anderson, and Betty Bishman. In the spring of 1996, and again in 1997, staff from the three Federation training centers spent time in Poland, acquainting people there with Federation philosophy and the positive methods used by our centers to train blind people. In February of this year, four people from Poland came to this country to spend six months at BLIND, Inc. so that they could experience for themselves the training we provide. All in all, everyone agreed that the exchange has been a tremendously worthwhile and positive experience. Blind People Are Working This item consisted of a panel of blind people who are engaged in competitive employment. Participants included Luis Thorin, a Spanish language interpreter; Pat Barrett, an implementation project leader for Diversified Pharmaceutical Services; and Janet Lee, a contract educator in Diabetes. All three of these individuals are living testimony to the Federation's long held belief that with proper training and opportunity, blind people can compete in the labor market on a basis of equality with the sighted. Pledges to the tenBroek Fund Each year, during semiannual conventions of the NFB of Minnesota, members make pledges and contributions to the tenBroek Fund. These are in turn matched by the NFB of Minnesota. Curtis Chong talked to the convention about the tenBroek Fund and raised approximately $1,550 in pledges. Newsline: Access to National Newspapers Tom Scanlan talked about Newsline for the Blind in Minnesota. This service, which provides access to no less than three national newspapers, celebrated its first birthday in Minnesota. He said that some people have told him that they don't have time to read the paper and have therefore not signed up for Newsline. He encouraged everyone to rethink this notion, saying that lack of time to read the paper is just as much a factor in the lives of people who are blind as it is for those who are sighted. Yet, lots of sighted people read the paper. So should the blind. He asked the members present to suggest ideas about what we might place on our local access channel. Suggestions included: information from the local bus company, voter registration material, and NFB chapter meeting times and locations. Convention Alert! Exciting times are coming in NFB conventions. Keep these in mind as you plan your activities throughout the coming year. The Annual NFB of Minnesota Convention will be held October 31 to November 2 at the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, will be the national representative. Members will receive a letter with details about a month before the convention. The Semiannual NFB of Minnesota Convention will be held in Greater Minnesota in April or May 1998. Members will receive a letter with details about a month before the convention. The National NFB Convention will be held in Dallas, Texas during the first week of July 1998. This is a whole week of friends, fun, and serious business. It is a chance to be part of the largest gathering of blind people in the world. Full details will be in the December 1997 issue of the Braille Monitor.