The 2002 Awards

The 2002 Awards

The Braille Monitor

August/September, 2002

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The 2002 Awards

Presented by the National

Federation of the Blind

Mary

Willows, displaying her award, and Steve Benson

From the Editor: National

Federation of the Blind awards are not bestowed lightly. If an appropriate recipient

does not emerge from the pool of candidates for a particular award, it is simply

not presented. At this year's convention six presentations were made by the

National Federation of the Blind, one by the National Blindness Professional

Certification Board, Inc., and one by the International Braille Research Center.

The first four presentations took place during the board of directors meeting

Friday morning, July 5. The first was presented by Steve Benson, who chairs

the Blind Educator of the Year Selection Committee. This is what he said:

The Blind

Educator of the Year Award

Thank you, President Maurer,

and thank you, members of the selection committee--Judy Sanders, Adelmo Vigil,

and Ramona Walhof--for your contribution to this year's deliberation. The Blind

Educator of the Year Award is presented only to those whose talent, teaching

skill, contribution to the education field, and demonstrated leadership in the

community and in the National Federation of the Blind merit such singular recognition.

The recipient of this year's

award teaches blind children whose cognitive level is a minimum of three years

below their chronological age. She has done this for the past five years. During

the previous six years she taught in regular classrooms and special education

settings. She has earned the respect of her peers, administrators, and parents

of the children she teaches.

The winner of the 2002

Blind Educator of the Year Award comes from Illinois. She met the NFB for the

first time at the 1972 convention in Chicago. Shortly after that convention

she moved to another state. Her involvement in the Federation emulates that

of Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan, and President Maurer, for she has given unselfishly

of her time, energy, and means. This year's honoree has advocated with parents

of blind children. She has participated in numerous IEP meetings to make certain

blind children get appropriate, quality education. She has testified on behalf

of blind teachers; she has consulted with attorneys in our effort to ensure

that blind people teach in a variety of classroom settings, and she has counseled

many newly blind teachers, encouraging them to continue in their chosen profession.

The Blind Educator of the

Year Award Committee has selected as this year's honoree, Mary Willows of California.

While Mary is making her way to the platform, I will tell you that she earned

bachelor's and master's degrees at San Francisco State University. She holds

a special education credential called "Professional Clear Multiple Subjects

Preschool through Adults," and she teaches at the California School for

the Blind.

Mary has served as a chapter

president for ten years. She is immediate past president of the National Organization

of Blind Educators. She has also chaired the Committee on Parental Concerns.

She directed NFB Camp for several years. In addition she has served as president

of the Northern California Chapter of AER.

Mary, congratulations!

Here is a check for $1,000 and a plaque that reads:

BLIND

EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

National

Federation of the Blind

presented

to

Mary Willows

IN RECOGNITION

OF OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS

IN THE TEACHING

PROFESSION

YOU ENHANCE

THE PRESENT

YOU INSPIRE

YOUR COLLEAGUES

YOU BUILD

THE FUTURE

JULY 5,

2002

Fellow Federationists,

here is Mary Willows.

Thank you, Mr. Benson.This

is far worse than my first day in the classroom. To receive such an award from

the very people I admire most--I'm shaking; I can't even talk. I was really

one of the lucky ones. As Mr. Benson said, I met the National Federation of

the Blind when I was eighteen years old, so all of my life's decisions and choices

about what I did with my life and what I did has been influenced and guided

by the very people in this room. This is just mind-boggling. Thank you very

much.

When I first started working

at the California School for the Blind, I was asked to speak to a group of graduating

students about the history of the NFB. As I was talking to the kids, I realized

that, although the location had changed, I was doing what Dr. Newel Perry had

done sixty or seventy years ago with Perry's boys. I was now working at the

very place where all of this started. Thank you so much; this is just wonderful.

I appreciate--it's an honor to receive this award, and it's a privilege to know

all of you. Thank you.

Distinguished

Educator of Blind Children Award

Sharon Maneki reads the text of the award from Braille while Debbi

Head holds her plaque.

Later in the board meeting

Sharon Maneki, who chairs the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award

Committee, made her committee's presentation. Here is the way it happened:

Good morning fellow Federationists.

The selection committee of Jacquilyn Billey, Allen Harris, Joyce Scanlan, and

me are pleased indeed to present to you a distinguished educator of blind children.

This award originated from a suggestion by our National Organization of Parents

of Blind Children to recognize teachers in the vision field who truly have vision.

This morning's recipient is someone who has been teaching for twenty-one years.

Fourteen of those years have been at the Wentzville school district.

She does not limit her

activities to the classroom, although the classroom is certainly very important

to her. She has assisted young teens in getting part-time jobs. She serves on

the advisory committee of the state rehabilitation council, and she serves on

an education task force. By the way, she serves in partnership with the National

Federation of the Blind. In case you don't know where the Wentzville school

district is, it is [in] Missouri.

So the recipient of the

award this year is Debbi Head. First of all, Debbi, I am going to present you

with a check for $1,000. While Debbi is holding the plaque, I will read it for

you.

The National

Federation of the Blind honors

Debbi Head

Distinguished

Educator of Blind Children

for your

skill in teaching Braille

and other

alternative techniques of blindness

for generously

devoting extra time

to meet

the needs of your students

and for

inspiring your students to perform

beyond their

expectations.

You champion

our movement.

You strengthen

our hopes.

You share

our dreams.

July 2002

Congratulations, Debbi.

Ms. Head then responded:

Thank you very much Dr.

Maurer, Board of Directors, Federationists, and especially my Missouri supporters.

I am greatly honored to be here today and to have the opportunity to sit in

on the convention. With the work we are doing in Missouri I think we are making

some really good progress with our students. I greatly appreciate the chance

to be here today. Thank you.

The Fredric

K. Schroeder Award

Presented by

The National Blindness

Professional Certification Board, Inc.

Roland

Allen and James Omvig prepare to shake hands.

Sometime later during

the board meeting Dr. Maurer called James Omvig, president of the National Blindness

Professional Certification Board, to the podium to make an important presentation

and to announce the establishment of a new award. Mr. Omvig began by providing

the background of this award and then made the first presentation. This is what

he said:

The directors of the National

Blindness Professional Certification Board are gratified to be here today and

to have this opportunity to bestow our inaugural award for outstanding contributions

to the field of travel training for the blind. As we thought about it--to come

up with just the right name to attach to this signal honor--it occurred to us

immediately that, among the blind of America, no name holds more weight or lends

more prestige and credibility to an award in the field of orientation and mobility

than that of Dr. Fred Schroeder. So it is a privilege of a very special order

to present the very first Fredric K. Schroeder Award.

Although Fred Schroeder

is one of today's giants in work with the blind and is greatly admired and loved

by those who know him, I venture to say that many, even in this vast audience,

would wonder at the naming of an O&M award for him. So what does Fred Schroeder

have to do with Orientation and Mobility? Everything! Fred Schroeder was the

very first blind American to be accepted in and graduate from a master's degree

program at one of the old-line O&M university programs.

It is not, of course, remarkable

at all that Fred graduated with high marks, earning a master's in O&M. He

is extremely intelligent and highly motivated. What is remarkable is the facts

and circumstances surrounding his matriculation into the O&M program at

San Francisco State University and his subsequent efforts to become certified

in the profession.

To give a little history,

Fred's personal story is all too common among people who are blind in America.

As a blind youngster he was deprived by the blindness system of the very training

and attitudinal adjustment which would have empowered him. Instead of getting

proper training, much of his early life was spent in hospitals undergoing surgeries--sixteen

of them--in quest of vision. They didn't work.

Fred first met the National

Federation of the Blind as a young man in the 1970's; and, as is the case with

many of us, his life was changed forever. After he learned that he as a blind

person could have a life, he attacked his future with passion. His undergraduate

and graduate university work tells much about his spirit, character, and competence.

He completed his undergraduate work, not in four years or five or six or even

seven, but in two-and-a-half years, graduating magna cum laude. In graduate

school he earned a dual master's degree--in both special education and O&M,

graduating summa cum laude.

While working on his master's

in special education, Fred decided he wanted to teach travel to other blind

people, and Jim Nyman of the Nebraska state agency was willing to give him a

chance, even though he had no formal training at the time. He later returned

to California and finished the O&M work. It was while Fred and other blind

pioneers were working in Nebraska that the concepts of nonvisual instruction

and structured-discovery learning were defined.

At the very same time that

pioneering work was being done by the blind, a vicious war was also being waged

upon the blind by professionals serving them over the issue of blind O&M

instructors. The good-old-boy powers-that-be of the day held fast to their tragedy

view of blindness--that is, the notion that blindness means inferiority and

incompetence. Since they thought of blind people as incompetent, it naturally

followed in their minds that the blind were not at all suited to teach O&M,

and the schools were closed to the blind.

One more factual piece

of timing comes into play. Prior to the 1970's, the people running the university

programs assumed they could keep the blind out with impunity, and they did.

However, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act had been set in place in 1973,

and it prohibited discrimination against persons with disabilities by programs

which received federal funds. This meant that university programs could not

discriminate on the basis of disability. Fred made it known in the late 70's

that he intended to get an O&M degree. So set on maintaining their position

of superiority and control over the blind were these good old boys that they

actually tried to persuade the heads of all of the O&M programs to stand

as one on the position that sight is absolutely essential to teach O&M and

that, therefore, even if the blind as a class were kept out, it could not be

called discrimination.

Fortunately for Fred Schroeder

and the blind of America, one program director who knew and respected Fred would

not fall meekly and thoughtlessly into line. He was Pete Wurzburger of San Francisco

State. Pete admitted Fred into his program. Fred of course did extremely well

even though some expressed extreme hostility toward him while he was a student.

Some sighted students who displayed friendliness toward Fred were told that

such behavior might jeopardize their careers.

Following his graduation,

the knotty problem of O&M certification came along. At that time the only

possible professional certification was administered by the American Association

of Workers for the Blind (AAWB), then Association for the Education and Rehabilitation

for the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), and now the Academy. The good old

boys had decided to screen out all blind people. To accomplish this, they created

a bogus document called the Functional Abilities Checklist. Relying upon visual

techniques, it proved that sight--very good sight--is absolutely essential to

teach travel. Fred failed the visual portions of the assessment and was refused

AAWB certification.

Then Fred moved on with

his life and launched the career we all know and admire--travel instructor,

public school special education program administrator, state commission for

the blind director, federal rehabilitation commissioner, and now university

research professor and director of the Professional Development and Research

Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University.

An NFB lawsuit was filed

against AAWB/AER, but in the final analysis the case was dismissed with a ruling

by the court that, since AER was a private association rather than a public

entity receiving federal funds, Section 504 did not apply. Even with this clear

ruling by the court, certain AER officials misrepresented the facts and claimed

that the judge had taken jurisdiction and had ruled that under Section 504 it

was not discriminatory to bar the blind from professional certification.

Fred never received AAWB/AER

certification, but, to complete the story, I would like to say for the record

that Dr. Fred Schroeder is now a certified O&M instructor. It seemed particularly

fitting that he receive the very first National Orientation and Mobility Certification

presented by the National Blindness Professional Certification Board.

These then are the facts

about Dr. Fredric K. Schroeder, NOMC, but they do not reveal the true character

and spirit of the man. Even so, this brief history tells the story of why it

is fitting that our award for excellence be named for him. Intelligence, drive,

patience, compassion, stick-to-itiveness, good sense, and a fierce passion for

justice for the blind: what more can be said; what more could be wanted?

With this bit of history

as a backdrop, we turn to our new award. As with National Federation of the

Blind recognitions, this honor will not necessarily be presented each year but

only as often as it has been earned through exemplary service. The 2002 recipient

of the Fredric K. Schroeder Award is the program instructor in the Louisiana

Tech O&M master's program, Mr. Roland Allen, NOMC.

Like Dr. Schroeder, Roland's

life was touched profoundly and changed forever when he met the National Federation

of the Blind. And he too has distinguished himself by being a first--the first

blind O&M instructor in the country teaching in a university program. He

has been a student at the Louisiana Center for the Blind and at Louisiana Tech

University and also holds our National Orientation and Mobility Certification.

Presently, although Dr.

Ruby Ryles coordinates professional development and heads the Tech O&M master's

program, it is Roland Allen who actually teaches the hands-on travel training

part of the degree. He has become invaluable to the program and has mastered

the ability to teach the nonvisual and structured-discovery techniques. Roland

is a busy guy. He also teaches travel at the Louisiana Center for the Blind

and is a leader in the NFB of Louisiana.

In describing Roland Allen

and his significance and contributions to the program, Dr. Ryles writes,

It is profoundly fitting

that Roland Allen is the first recipient of the Fredric K. Schroeder Award in

that, like Dr. Schroeder, Roland is not only a beloved professional but also

a true pioneer in the field of orientation and mobility. As the nation's first

blind university orientation and mobility instructor, Roland exemplifies the

personal dedication, teaching skills, and professional excellence that he strives

daily to instill in our Tech master's students.

He demonstrates in both

his personal and professional life the values to which we as Federationists

dedicate our lives. I am honored to call him my colleague and blessed to call

him my friend.

Roland, as a symbol of

your excellence and to memorialize this occasion, the National Blindness Professional

Certification Board bestows its first ever Fredric K. Schroeder Award upon you

and presents you with this walnut plaque. It reads:

FREDRIC

K. SCHROEDER AWARD

presented

to

Roland Allen,

NOMC

For excellence

in teaching the

structured

discovery strategy of travel

training

to future instructors of the blind.

Because

of your pioneering, dedicated,

and exemplary

contributions to the field

of orientation

and mobility,

the blind

of tomorrow will be enabled to walk

independently

through life with faith

justified

by self-confidence;

they will

be masters of their own destinies!

Louisville,

Kentucky

July 5,

2002

National

Blindness Professional Certification Board

Following enthusiastic

applause, Roland Allen then spoke briefly. This is what he said:

I am truly honored to receive

this award. I want to thank Mr. Omvig and the rest of the board members. And

I also have to thank God for sending me to an organization like the National

Federation of the Blind over sixteen years ago. You know, [sounding rattled]

Joanne took a chance on me--I am just touched, I'm sorry--Joanne put me in a

position where I could give back to blind people as so many members of the National

Federation of the Blind have given to me. Because of the dedication of all of

my role models and the people who have given to me, I have dedicated my life

to make sure that blind people are competent travelers and that blind people

are looked at as professionals who can teach blind people to travel and be productive

members of society. This organization means a lot to me. I love all of you,

and I greatly appreciate this award.

The Distinguished

Service Award

Gary

Wunder presents a plaque to Ed Bryant

Near the close of the

board meeting Gary Wunder, president of the NFB of Missouri and a member of

the NFB board of directors, came to the microphone to make a special presentation.

He said:

Our recipient came into

the world on February 10, 1945, a normal birth and a real joy to his parents.

They say, however, that he found the process so upsetting that it took more

than a year for him to say a word. He's over that now, and it is through his

words that he is known.

The person we honor is

blind and a diabetic. His blindness in the middle of a successful and expanding

career brought on his unwanted and unplanned retirement, but in character with

our Federation philosophy he decided he must make lemonade from lemons. Our

recipient simply found himself a new career, one that would give him a reason

to live and give others an option to live. With the help of the Federation and

his own innate drive and creativity, this man transcended retirement and put

his energy into a volunteer position which is every bit as demanding as any

paid one.

When our recipient came

to the Federation, he knew what it was like to be independent and successful,

but what he didn't know was how he could continue to be both and be blind. The

organization which gave him that knowledge is one he credits with being the

most important and impressive he has ever known.

When our colleague looked

at blindness and diabetes, he found a lot of information about each but almost

nothing about both. Where others said, "Gee, that's too bad," this

man said "Listen, this is unacceptable." His colleagues in the National

Federation of the Blind agreed with him, and together we started a division

which since has become the Diabetes Action Network. Our new division took up

the cause of good-quality, people-oriented information about blindness and diabetes

and so created the Voice of the Diabetic. Its first and only editor is

the man we honor today. The Voice is the story of a small newsletter

that soon became a magazine, its first printing starting at 600 and its circulation

now at 300,000.

In the NFB we say we save

lives, and indeed we do, but generally we mean we create opportunity so a life

is worth living. The work we do with blind diabetics not only helps to make

life worth living but, through the information we provide about self-medication

and living independently, we often make the difference between life and death.

It is with pleasure that I ask Mr. Ed Bryant to come forward to accept this

plaque. Ed, we ask that you accept this award with our admiration, our love

for the man you are, and for all of the lives you touch. I am going to give

you this award, and then I will read it to you, if you will hold it up for the

audience. It says:

Distinguished

Service Award

Ed Bryant

For your

selfless devotion and unstinting effort to create a climate that brings greater

independence to the blind, the National Federation of the Blind grants you the

Distinguished Service Award. Your effort is unflagging; your spirit is unquenchable.

July 2002

Thank you very much, Gary

Wunder, President Maurer, the entire board, and everyone in the audience. Quite

honestly, I usually have something to say, but I am a little stunned today.

This is very gratifying, and I do appreciate it. I will keep it short; I know

we are really pressed for time. All I really need to say is that I do spend

a lot of time with our Diabetes Action Network board. I'm a blind diabetic,

have been for forty-three years, and our purpose is to show people that they

are not alone and they do have opportunities. Someone blind from diabetes is

just like someone blind for any other reason. All we have to remember is that

many times diabetics have other complications. Diabetes has many ramifications--like

I have had a kidney transplant for nineteen years--just little things like that.

Anyway, this is really great, and I do appreciate it. Thank you very much.

The Louis

Braille Memorial Award

Harold

Snider presents the Louis Braille Award to Pamela Lorimer.

Harold Snider came to

the podium early in the banquet to make a presentation for the International

Braille Research Center. This is what he said:

Distinguished guests, fellow

Federationists, ladies and gentlemen, this year the International Braille Research

Center will again present its Louis Braille Award, the most prestigious award

in the field of Braille given anywhere in the world. This award is not presented

every year. Rather, it is presented from time to time, only when the fellows

of the IBRC have unanimously agreed that there is a candidate worthy to receive

the award. This year there is such a candidate.

Our recipient this year

is from the United Kingdom. During the first thirty-two years of her life she

prepared for and taught elementary school students without disabilities. After

further education, in 1950 she was employed to teach blind elementary school

students at the Lickey Grange School. It was there that she met her dear husband,

to whom she was married for thirty-six years until his sudden and untimely death

in 1992. She taught at Lickey Grange School for eight years and stopped in order

to adopt two sons. Her husband John was blind, and she spent many years as his

assistant, working on Braille research projects. John was one of the eminent

experts on Grade II British Braille in the United Kingdom. I first met her and

John at a conference on Braille held by the National Library Service in Washington

twenty years ago.

Our recipient and her husband

have had a long and fruitful relationship with the Center for Research and Education

of the Blind and Visually Handicapped at Birmingham University, which until

recently was directed by Dr. Michael Tobin, a previous award winner in the year

2000. Dr. Tobin recommended that our recipient complete a doctoral degree after

her husband's death. She took much of the research which she had previously

done and added to it to write her dissertation, the definitive history of Braille,

which, as we heard earlier this week, has just been published in book form by

the National Federation of the Blind. With Dr. Tobin as her mentor, she received

her doctorate in 1997 at the age of seventy-nine. She is now eighty-four--that

is, she is fourteen with seventy years of experience.

It is now my pleasure,

honor, and privilege to present the Louis Braille Award, which consists of a

magnificent plaque and a four-ounce solid gold medallion depicting the bust

of Louis Braille. The plaque reads as follows:

The International

Braille Research Center presents the Louis Braille Award to Mrs. Pamela Lorimer,

Ph.D., for outstanding academic achievement in the cause of Braille.

July

8, 2002

Pam, I'm going to give

you this plaque. And here we have the solid gold medallion, which is inside

this box.

Dr. Lorimer then responded:

I've spent the last few

days having a wonderful time. I had no idea this was coming. I am overwhelmed,

but I am very honored. Thank you very much.

The Golden

Keys Award

Nadine Jacobsen and Debra Bonde, who is holding her plaque

Immediately following

the Louis Braille Award presentation, Nadine Jacobson, president of the National

Association to Promote the Use of Braille, came to the podium. This is what

she said:

This is a great evening

about Braille, isn't it? In the last year we have heard a great deal about heroes,

but many heroes are normally unsung. I want to tell you tonight about a woman

who is not blind. Her children are not blind. She began transcribing Braille

for kids in 1978, and she began to realize that blind children could not buy

Braille books. They could get them from the library, but they had to send them

back. I'm sure that many of you remember when you were a little kid getting

a book from the library that you just loved but you couldn't keep. It had to

go back so somebody else could read it. This woman decided that wasn't right.

She believed that blind children too should be able to read, own, and keep books.

I would like to call Debra Bonde.

Debra Bonde is the director

of Seedlings Braille Books for Children in Lavonia, Michigan. Seedlings was

incorporated in 1984, and they have produced more than 450 titles and sent out

over 250,000 books. The award we will be giving Deborah is a special award given

only periodically by NAPUB. It is called the Golden Keys Award.

The Golden

Keys Award

The National

Association to Promote the Use of Braille

to Seedlings

Braille Books for Children

we award

these golden keys

in recognition

of its accomplishment in

providing

over six million pages

of high-quality,

low-cost Braille books for young readers.

For several

generations its wonderful books

have planted

the seeds of Braille literacy

throughout

this continent.

Ms. Bonde responded:

Thank you very much. I

am deeply honored, and I humbly accept this award on behalf of the Seedlings

staff, the board, all the volunteers, and the donors, who subsidize the cost

of each of the books we make. Each book is made with a great deal of love. At

Seedlings we love children, we love books, and we particularly love Braille

books. Isn't Braille beautiful?

We believe in raising readers

by introducing books early and often. We believe that reading is one of the

most basic building blocks of education, a golden key that can unlock so many

doors. I would like to thank Nadine and the members of NAPUB for this beautiful

award, which we will proudly display on our wall and for the support which it

symbolizes. Being here has reenergized us to go back to the Detroit area and

make many, many more books for our children. Thank you so much.

The Newel

Perry Award

When the excitement

of the scholarship presentation had calmed down a little, Allen Harris made

the following presentation:

One of the honors that

we bestow from time to time on an individual is named for Newel Perry. Newel

Perry, as many of you know, was a teacher of Dr. Jacobus tenBroek and of many

other blind people who attended the California School for the Blind. He was

a man, himself blind, who had been educated in mathematics but could not find

work although he had advanced degrees, including a Ph.D., and had taught at

the Sorbonne in Paris. After returning to the States, working for a while in

New York City at comparatively menial work, he ended up doing what he was called

to do, teaching blind children at the California School for the Blind.

Dr.

Daniel Reneau and Allen Harris shake hands.

We look to people who have

partnered with us in the Federation in projects that have been important and

meaningful and have contributed to educational opportunities for blind people

in the United States. We often look outside of the Federation for people who

have worked with us and supported our beliefs and our ideals, in helping to

facilitate the establishment of educational improvements or opportunities, some

of which did not previously exist. It is our pleasure tonight to present the

Newel Perry Award to the president of Louisiana Tech, Dr. Daniel Reneau. Dr.

Reneau, will you step up here please?

Dr. Reneau was graduated

with a bachelor of arts degree in chemical engineering in 1963 and with a master's

degree in 1964. He went on to earn a doctorate from Clemson University in 1966.

He then returned to his alma mater, Louisiana Tech, where he worked as a faculty

member and did a number of other tasks at the university until 1980, when he

was appointed vice president for academic affairs. In 1987 Dr. Reneau was appointed

president of Louisiana Tech University. He heads a dynamic, growing, and important

university in this country, one that has been rated repeatedly by U.S. News

and World Report in the top one hundred institutions of higher education.

Dr. Reneau has authored over eighty scholarly articles and edited more than

five books. As you can see, he is clearly a distinguished scholar and a leader.

He is the kind of person whom we in the National Federation of the Blind think

of when we think of excellence, when we think of teaching, when we think of

Newel Perry. I will read to you, Dr. Reneau, what the plaque says:

Newel

Perry Award

National

Federation of the Blind

in recognition

of courageous leadership

and outstanding

service,

the National

Federation of the Blind

bestows

its highest honor,

the Newel

Perry Award,

upon

Dr. Daniel

D. Reneau

our colleague;

our friend;

our brother

on the barricades.

You champion

our progress;

you strengthen

our hopes;

you share

our dreams.

July 8,

2002

Dr. Reneau?

Mr. Harris, President Maurer,

Commissioner Wilson, Dr. Schroeder, distinguished members at the head table,

to each and every one of you in this audience tonight, including my former classmate

and good friend James Mays, I simply can't express to you in words how deeply

appreciative and humble I feel at receiving your award tonight. It is particularly

meaningful because thirty years and seven days ago I was privileged to establish

the bioengineering department at Louisiana Tech, and it has made a name for

itself in providing educational and occupational opportunity to the severely

handicapped. So it is a distinct honor and privilege for me to be with you at

this marvelous banquet and to accept the Newel Perry Award.

I want to point out that

I say the Federation of the Blind not for the blind. We at Louisiana

Tech University certainly recognize the difference and support it.

To recognize one person

particularly, I want to recognize Joanne Wilson. She is visionary. She is a

prime mover. We have watched with awe and inspiration and pride the Center for

the Blind grow from its infancy in '85 until its world acclaim of today. President

Bush is very smart in appointing his commissioners. Joanne focuses on possibilities,

not obstacles. It was she and others from the National Federation of the Blind

who first approached us with the idea of a master's degree in orientation and

mobility. That has gone over very well. Once that was under way, Joanne and

her people began visioning and dreaming again, and they began talking about

the education and research center. So we have now put together the Professional

Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University.

It's a joint venture. The entire institute is directed by Dr. Fred Schroeder;

I don't know if you know, but he is the first blind person in America to hold

a master's degree in orientation and mobility.

We could name others: Dr.

Ruby Ryles, Dr. Ronald Ferguson, and President Pam Allen, who is doing such

a fine job. We at Louisiana Tech are very aware that the National Federation

of the Blind is the prominent force in this field and is doing pioneering work

all around the country to change what it means to be blind. I am pleased to

tell you that we at Tech are not the only people in Louisiana who recognize

the valuable contributions being made by the Louisiana Center for the Blind

and our institute. In a time of hardships in many states, our state legislature

voted to fund our institute again this year, but with a 25 percent increase

over last year's appropriation.

Right before I conclude,

let me tell you that we have one of the finest biomedical engineering centers

in the nation at Louisiana Tech. We have one of the finest micro-manufacturing

centers, that's in nanotechnology in biomems, the word that I heard today. And

now we have one of the finest institutes for blindness. I am going to work toward

integrating those three factors for a holistic approach to blindness. As I accept

this Newel Perry Award on behalf of Louisiana Tech, I pledge to you that our

partnership with you will only grow and strengthen through the years. We want

to be a valuable part of your effort to reduce drastically the 70- to 80-percent

unemployment rate among blind people of working age. We at Louisiana Tech share

your vision for the future.

The Jacobus

tenBroek Award

Following the Newel

Perry Award presentation, President Maurer came to the microphone again to say:

I come to make the presentation

of the award which we as an organization give internally. A number of years

ago we decided that the Newel Perry Award was a very valuable, high honor of

our organization and that we would consider it for presentation to people who

were not within the Federation. We decided at the same time that we would establish

the Jacobus tenBroek Award for activity of members of the organization of such

a quality that it would exemplify those traits and characteristics which made

Dr. tenBroek the outstanding leader that he was. We give this award, not each

year, but only as often as we find an individual worthy to receive it.

President

Maurer speaks at the podium while Al and Sharon Maneki hold their plaque

The tenBroek Award Committee

has met and has selected this year, not a single individual, but two. They are,

however, very closely associated; in fact, a number of years ago they married

each other, and they have remained so. The people involved have the ability

to lead. Yet they possess an understanding that they must be part of a team.

They do not ordinarily receive much recognition, but they work tirelessly to

ensure that the organization grows, prospers, pursues the dreams that we as

blind people have. One of them is today an officer in an affiliate; the other

has been an officer but, I believe, is not today. They are always supportive

to the best of their ability, always willing to give without counting the cost,

always prepared to go the extra mile.

I ask that Sharon and Al

Maneki come forward. There are many things that could be said about the Manekis.

I think that today I may have heard more of a description of Dr. Maneki's employment

than ever before in history--and this from the undersecretary of the Department

of Defense. Dr. Maneki has steadfastly avoided ever discussing his employment.

Sharon has frequently said that she would not and has made a humorous remark

of it. They both, however, work for the Department of Defense. Sharon Maneki

has been a teacher. She taught in New Jersey for many years, then she took a

job with the federal government.

Al Maneki got his degree

from, I believe, the University of North Dakota. At least I know that he taught

there for a time, which must have been a trial for a man who grew up in Hawaii.

There are other pieces of history that we could relate. The thing that makes

this award of real importance is not the history nearly as much as the present.

Sharon is our president in Maryland. She makes the affiliate grow and prosper,

and she takes on the tough issues. Whenever there is an issue that should be

brought before the legislature or a case that should be taken with a school

district or something that has gone wrong respecting the blind in the city or

whatever it may be, she is there.

She said to me that a blind

woman who was having trouble getting her taxes paid and who had had some company

take over her house needed help. She said that she wanted somebody in a certain

case to be assigned to go help, which we did. I was pleased to do that. But,

when the person got there to help, this elderly woman, who is about a hundred

now, mentioned that Sharon had been helping her for months already and doing

a lot of the work. It was just that she couldn't get there that day. And that's

the way she is. She's got a dozen things going all at the same time.

And what about Al Maneki?

Al Maneki provides support, help, encouragement to Sharon Maneki. He's prepared

to do his part too. He'll raise money for scholarships; he'll help to plan things;

he'll work on the finances; he'll do whatever else is asked. But I suspect,

although I have never asked, that one of the most important things he does is

give encouragement and support to Sharon. Because of the real commitment of

these two, we award them the Jacobus tenBroek Award. Now, Sharon and Al--I have

now presented the award to Sharon and Al Maneki, and it reads:

JACOBUS

tenBROEK AWARD

National

Federation of the Blind

presented

to

Sharon and

Alfred Maneki

for your

dedication, sacrifice, and commitment

on behalf

of the blind of this nation.

Your contribution

is measured not in steps but in miles.

Not by individual

experiences but by your impact

on the lives

of the blind of the nation.

Whenever

we have asked, you have answered.

We call

you our colleagues with respect.

We call

you our friends with love.

July 9,

2002

Sharon Maneki responded

first:

You know, people think,

"Oh wow, it's great that you live in Maryland," and it is. But it's

also a tough state to live in because you got to be good, or at least you got

to pretend to be. I want to say thank you to each and every person in this room.

Words really couldn't express everything that we are feeling tonight. Thank

you.

Al Maneki then said:

Thank you, everybody. I

want to say that, if tonight there is anybody that deserves remembrance, it's

John and Connie McCraw. While those names are only history to most of us, because

it was really almost twenty-five years ago--history through our records and

our willingness to study it, history lives, and it's a reminder and a teacher

for all of us. I am here today really because John and Connie told me to get

involved, that it is important.

I don't have too much more

to say. The Secretary of Defense told you what I did, and he didn't have to

shoot any of you. One does not join the movement to get an award. One doesn't

look forward to it; one doesn't anticipate it, but it is certainly appreciated

when it comes. Thank you very much.

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