Complete October Monitor 2012

Complete October Monitor 2012

_______________________________________________________________________________
Braille Monitor
Vol. 55, No. 9 October 2012
Gary Wunder, Editor
Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash drive (see below) by
The National Federation of the Blind
Marc Maurer, President
National Office
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
telephone: (410) 659-9314
email address: [email protected]
Website address: http://www.nfb.org
NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org
NFB-NEWSLINE® information: (866) 504-7300
Letters to the president, address changes,
subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature
should be sent to the national office.
Articles for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also
be sent to the national office or may be emailed to [email protected].
Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited,
and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be
made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to:

National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998

THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION
SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES
ISSN 0006-8829

Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots--the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped.
You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the drive when you return the device.

Contents

Vol. 55, No. 9 October 2012

Illustration: The Blind Say
No to Subminimum Wages
Our Fight for Dignity and Equality
by Christopher Danielsen
Readers, Braille, and Independence:
A Scientist's Perspective
by Geerat J. Vermeij
October: High-Profile Month for the Blind
by Barbara Pierce
City of Des Moines Adopts a Rational Process
for Accessible Pedestrian Signal Installation
by Curtis Chong
Charting Our Own Course
NFB Project Innovation
by Natalie Shaheen
My Priceless Scholarship Experience
by Justin Salisbury
Braille Edge 40:
The Newest Offering by HIMS Inc
by Michael D. Barber
tenBroek and the Beach Blanket
by Patricia C. Estes
21 Cupboard Essentials for a Diabetes Diet
by Madeline Vann, MPH
Medically reviewed by Farrokh Sohrabi, MD
The Young Manhood of Newel Perry
An Interview Conducted by Willa Baum
Ask Miss Whozit
Featured Book from Your tenBroek Library
Reviewed by Ed Morman
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures

The Blind Say No to Subminimum Wages
This month’s lead photographs capture the resolve of blind people to do more than talk among themselves about the inequity in the law that allows for the payment of less than the minimum wage to the blind. They capture our intention to let the public know about this outrageous practice in the belief that people will be both surprised and moved to action because of this unfair, immoral, and discriminatory practice. Not only are we encouraging donors to boycott Goodwill stores until they pay their workers at least the minimum wage, we also hope the public will provide vocal support for H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act.
Our Fight for Dignity and Equality
by Christopher Danielsen
From the Editor: Chris Danielsen is the director of public relations for the National Federation of the Blind, the president of the Baltimore Chapter of the NFB of Maryland, and a thoughtful and articulate human being. Here is his description of the many protests against the payment of subminimum wages that took place on August 25, 2012:
Although receiving the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour will not make a person wealthy, federal law sets a wage floor so that every American worker can experience a degree of self-respect and a sense of fairness in the workplace. However, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) denies workers with disabilities the dignity and equality of a guaranteed federal minimum wage by allowing some employers to obtain special wage certificates that permit them to pay their workers with disabilities wages far less than the federal minimum. The National Federation of the Blind has fought for the repeal of this discriminatory provision since the founding of our organization in 1940. We recently affirmed our policy position by passing Resolution 2012-01 at our national convention in Dallas. We have also taken our fight to the floor of the United States Congress with our efforts to support the passage of H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act. In order to inform the public about this unfair, discriminatory, and immoral practice and to galvanize support for a change in public policy, the National Federation of the Blind decided to spotlight one of the most well-known nationwide charities with affiliates holding special wage certificates.
We took our fight for dignity and equality to the streets to inform the public by emphasizing the repressive employment practices of Goodwill Industries International, Inc., known to most Americans simply as Goodwill. Goodwill is a household name because of its nationwide network of thrift stores. Many people support Goodwill by donating clothing, furniture, and other items or by purchasing such donated items. Goodwill affiliates foster this support by promoting their alleged good works in employing the so-called severely disabled, but most Goodwill donors and shoppers have no idea that Goodwill affiliates operate manufacturing operations that employ people with disabilities under special wage certificates at wages as low as 22 cents an hour, as the National Federation of the Blind learned through a Freedom of Information Act request. We decided that it was high time that the public learned the facts. After the refusal of Goodwill executives to meet with us, we began our campaign to hold Goodwill accountable for its exploitation of workers with disabilities by publicly calling for a national boycott of Goodwill. On August 25, 2012, we then took that call directly to Goodwill shoppers at over ninety Goodwill thrift store locations in thirty-five states. Federationists from across the nation carried signs, chanted slogans like “Good Jobs, Not Goodwill!” and handed out flyers to people bringing donations to Goodwill stores, planning to shop there, or just passing by. One of the signs simulated a scoreboard, showing the salary of a Goodwill executive as $500,000 and that of an employee with a disability as 20 cents. The flyer prepared for the use of the protesters read as follows:
Boycott Goodwill Industries
Don’t shop at or donate to Goodwill
Did you know that some Goodwill workers with disabilities are being paid as little as 22 cents per hour?
It may be legal, but it is not right.
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers like Goodwill to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.
UNFAIR! DISCRIMINATORY! IMMORAL!
Assuming that people with disabilities lack capacity is UNFAIR!
Denying disabled workers the federal minimum wage is discriminatory!
Paying six-figure CEO salaries while paying disabled workers pennies is immoral!
All people with disabilities, when provided the proper training and support, can be competitively employed at the minimum wage, free from dependence on public assistance, and contributing to our nation’s bottom line.
Goodwill receives public funds, accepts philanthropic donations, and profits from the sale of donated goods but refuses to pay its workers with disabilities the federal minimum wage.
Don’t donate to or purchase goods from Goodwill until it adopts a responsible corporate policy to pay its workers with disabilities at least the federal minimum wage.
For more information, visit: <www.nfb.org/fairwages>.
Some supporting organizations, including ADAPT and the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN), also organized or participated in these demonstrations. Across the nation the protests garnered media attention in places as far flung as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Columbia, Missouri; Des Moines, Iowa; and Albany, Georgia. The following article was published in an online magazine called Working in These Times and accurately summarizes the protests, as well as Goodwill’s counter-arguments, such as they are.
Blind Activists Boycott Goodwill over Subminimum Pay
by Bruce Vail
BALTIMORE–The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) escalated its pay protests against Goodwill Industries with August 25 sidewalk pickets at some ninety retail locations around the country. The informational pickets are aimed at publicizing the NFB call for a consumer boycott against Goodwill over its policy of paying subminimum wages to thousands of workers with disabilities.
NFB spokesperson Chris Danielsen says his organization has been able to document cases where Goodwill affiliates have paid disabled employees as little as 22 cents an hour.
In Baltimore–home to the NFB national headquarters–the protest took place on a busy Saturday afternoon in one of the city’s busy downtown tourist districts. With about twenty spirited picketers clustered around a storefront Goodwill outlet, the protest was effective in spreading the word to thousands of city residents and out-of-town visitors, Danielsen says. “Our goal is not to harm Goodwill or any of the people who work there. Our goal is to get the leaders of Goodwill to change their policies so all disabled workers are given the protection of the minimum wage laws,” he says.
The August 25 picketing follows a June 7 call from the NFB for a national consumer boycott of Goodwill. That call arose from the NFB's efforts to change a portion of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act that exempts some disabled workers from the national minimum wage. Those efforts have been stymied, in part, by the high-profile lobbying of Goodwill Industries to keep the exemption in place, according to Danielsen.
“Goodwill isn’t the only organization that fails to pay minimum wage to disabled workers. But they are probably the best known to the general public, and their lobbying has carried a lot of weight in Congress,” Danielsen says. It is for these reasons that the NFB chose Goodwill as the target of the consumer boycott.
The picket in Baltimore was exasperating to Lisa Rusyniak, president of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc., a regional affiliate of the national Goodwill organization. “The protest is not pertinent to us,” she told Working in These Times as she observed the picketing in front of the Baltimore store. Because the Chesapeake affiliate does not pay subminimum wage to any of its employees, she says, the picketing is unfair and undermines the good work done by Goodwill. According to Rusyniak, all Goodwill regional affiliates are entirely autonomous in their labor and compensation policies. Her group, for example, employs about 160 people with disabilities who would qualify for exemption from the minimum wage. However, the regional policy is not to seek exemption, and the average hourly wage for those 160 workers is currently $11.50, she says.
The NFB’s Danielsen did not dispute Rusyniak’s assertions but suggests that she is missing the point. The NFB’s boycott is intended to call national attention to the law permitting subminimum wages for all disabled workers, he says, and to build support for changing the law. Furthermore, Danielsen says, regional Goodwill officials like Rusyniak are in a uniquely strong position to push for employment policy changes at the larger Goodwill organization.
Brad Turner-Little, a top official of the national Goodwill Industries Inc., defends the group’s policy without endorsing the specific pay practices of any of the affiliates. Some 30,000 disabled persons are employed by 165 affiliates in the United States and Canada, Turner-Little says. Of those affiliates sixty-four have received certificates from the U.S. Department of Labor that allow them to employ workers at less than the minimum wage. Only about 7,400 individuals are currently covered by the labor department certificates, and the average hourly wage for them is $7.47, he says. With the national minimum currently pegged at $7.25, the average wage for the select number of individuals covered by the certificates does not even fall below the minimum, he points out. Some of these disabled workers even support the exemption (<http://www.goodwill.org/creating-jobs-improving-lives/>) because of non-cash benefits associated with employment at Goodwill, he says.
These arguments also miss the point, Danielsen says. The minimum wage is already low by any standard, and blind and other disabled workers are entitled to decent compensation for their labor, he argues. All advocates for the rights of the disabled--especially Goodwill Industries--should be supporting the change to the subminimum wage law, he says.
Note the disingenuous and scattershot quality of the arguments made by Goodwill officials in the article. The Goodwill affiliates, as exemplified by the comments of the official from Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, Inc., seem to wish to have their cake and eat it too. Some of them defend the policy of paying workers with disabilities subminimum wages while at the same time protesting that they do not employ the practice themselves. Goodwill even trots out a version of this argument at a national level by claiming that, if benefits such as life skills coaching and transportation are included, the “average” wage of its disabled employees who are covered by special wage certificates is above minimum wage and that there aren’t very many such employees anyway. But Goodwill cannot have it both ways. Either it supports subminimum wages or it opposes them. If a Goodwill affiliate can pay even a single worker 22 cents an hour, then it can similarly exploit and abuse any or all of its workers at any time. Goodwill is clearly embarrassed that the public is learning about the practice and is attempting to make the situation sound less egregious than it is. But there can be no equivocation on this point. If Goodwill recognizes that the payment of subminimum wages is problematic, then it should revise its policies to forbid the practice and instruct all of its affiliates to do so. Furthermore, it should support the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act or at least support the general principle that the 14(c) program should be phased out.
Perhaps never has the difference between organizations consisting of people with disabilities and organizations that claim to speak for us and look out for our interests been exemplified more clearly than in the debate over subminimum wages. Goodwill and other entities that hold special wage certificates must decide whether they truly believe in the essential dignity and equality of those whom they claim to serve. We will continue to emphasize the nature of the choice that they must make by holding them accountable and by taking our case directly to the general public.
Readers, Braille, and Independence: A Scientist's Perspective
by Geerat J. Vermeij
From the Editor: Dr. Vermeij has been an occasional and thoughtful contributor to the Braille Monitor for a number of years. He is distinguished professor of geology at the University of California, Davis. Recent articles about the necessity of Braille compelled him to write this article. He said they “sent me over the edge,” by which I am guessing he means they caused him to speak out in support of a tool that has meant a great deal to him. Here is what he says:
Thanks to enormous improvements in technology, a vast amount of information has become available to the blind in recent years. Indeed, for some blind people and their sighted peers, audio formats and computer-generated Braille would seem to have largely eliminated the need for live readers, especially in fields far removed from mathematics and science. In fact I can foresee the sad day when blind people are expected to rely entirely on technology and when the option of having a live reader will no longer be available.
Over my forty-year academic career, I have relied very heavily on live readers and on the vast library of extensive Braille notes I have taken on the Perkins Brailler as I listen. With more than twenty thousand references at my fingertips, I have gained the freedom and independence to engage in extensive scholarship in many fields, all thanks to the flexibility afforded by having highly capable people read to me. It all began in college at Princeton, where I stood up during the first session in each class and asked for volunteers, whom I could pay (with New Jersey's money) about $2 per hour (in the 1960s). Highly capable readers always came forward, with the result that a symbiotic partnership was formed: I needed to read the material, and so did my readers. Fortunately, no disability bureaucrats interfered with this system, and the arrangement worked flawlessly.
As a working scientist with teaching and research duties, I outline four important reasons why live readers and Braille notes remain critically important even in the age of technology. Others may disagree, but I suspect these reasons will ring true to many students and others who carry a heavy reading load.
1. The volume of material to be read is great, and live readers are very efficient. I read ten to thirty scientific publications per week, depending on other commitments. In addition, I scan dozens of scientific journals and hundreds to thousands of titles; I conduct library searches online; and I review manuscripts and other documents, to say nothing of student theses and essays. Although much of this material is online and therefore in principle accessible without the intervention of a live reader, I save enormous amounts of time by relying on a human intermediary. Vision allows the reader to scan for items quickly without having to scroll down. If I want a particular citation or if I need to write down a quote, I can have it done in seconds with a live reader. The fifteen to twenty hours per week I spend with a live reader might well be doubled without her.
2. Most of the material I read is highly technical. It is laced with jargon, abbreviations, mathematical expressions, unpronounceable names, and arcane conventions. Sometimes illustrations communicate critical information, and often long tables contain information only some of which would interest me. A trained reader is at home with such complexities; and, when I make my extensive Braille notes, I have a permanent, easily accessible record that I can scan quickly with my fingers because I have whole pages of text to work with rather than a few cells of Braille. I use my Braille library every day, including many publications I read decades ago.
3. Not everything is online and accessible. A surprisingly large amount of scientific literature, especially older work and publications in languages other than English, is available only in its original printed version. For a scholar like me this literature remains essential, for I must often track down early descriptions of species and places and ascertain where ideas came from. For nearly every paper and book I have written, I have consulted publications that fall into this category. Without a live reader who can find and read me these sources, my scholarly work would be fatally compromised.
Many printed sources are still found only in a few libraries and cannot be scanned or removed easily. On occasion I have had to read old publications housed in rare-book collections at major academic institutions. Live readers and my ability to take Braille notes are indispensable in these circumstances.
4. Not everyone has my reading habits. For many undergraduate students materials accessible online will suffice to complement their studies, although highly technical material would likely be more accessible and more easily interpreted with the intervention of a fellow student reader struggling with the same material. My major concern is that the allure of technology will be seen as the only necessary accommodation to blind students and scholars. If live readers are no longer seen as a reasonable accommodation, a serious impediment would be imposed on graduate students and academicians. In our quest to improve technology, we must therefore strive to maintain flexibility in accommodation, allowing and indeed encouraging the use of live readers and the ability to accumulate extensive Braille notes in readily accessible paper form.
Engaging live readers entails a degree of dependence on other people, a situation that might seem to clash with the goal of gaining greater independence. But we must see this in a broader context: all of us live in a world of pervasive dependence on others. Most of us no longer make our own clothes, grow our own food, generate our own electricity, or teach ourselves. Like other forms of life, which live in interdependent networks in complex ecosystems, we cannot go it alone. A little dependence can relieve burdens of time and energy and ultimately leave us with the independence of thought and action we all desire.
Besides, how else would I have met my wife of forty years?
Professor Vermeij can be reached at <[email protected]>.
October: High-Profile Month for the Blind
by Barbara Pierce
For a decade or so now NFB chapters have been planning Meet the Blind Month activities in October to educate our communities about the capabilities of blind people and our presence in our neighborhoods. Chapter members speak to civic groups and school classes; they volunteer at community activities; chapters conduct fundraisers and march in parades, and members pass out thousands of pieces of NFB literature. These efforts call attention to the National Federation of the Blind and blind citizens as contributing members of the community. We also hope that our visibility touches the hearts and offers hope to those losing vision and grieving their loss of independence. All of this activity is merely an expansion of efforts reaching back to 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed October 15 each year as White Cane Safety Day.
It is easy to forget the history of White Cane Safety Day and the importance of the Model White Cane Law. For this reason we are reprinting an article that President Maurer wrote in 1978 and the text of the Model White Cane Law as Dr. tenBroek wrote it. A variant of this legislation is now law in every one of our fifty states. Here is a slightly edited version of President Maurer’s article:
White Cane Safety Day: A Symbol of Independence
by Marc Maurer
In February of 1978 a young blind woman said, “I encounter people all of the time who bless me, extol my independence, call me brave and courageous, and thoroughly miss the boat as to what the real significance of the white cane is.”
The National Federation of the Blind in convention assembled on the 6th day of July, 1963, called upon the governors of the fifty states to proclaim October 15 of each year as White Cane Safety Day in each of our fifty states. On October 6, 1964, a joint resolution of the Congress, HR 753, was signed into law authorizing the President of the United States to proclaim October 15 of each year as “White Cane Safety Day.” This resolution said: “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, that the President is hereby authorized to issue annually a proclamation designating October 15 as White Cane Safety Day and calling upon the people of the United States to observe such a day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”
Within hours of the passage of the congressional joint resolution authorizing the president to proclaim October 15 as White Cane Safety Day, then President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized the importance of the white cane as a staff of independence for blind people. In the first Presidential White Cane Proclamation, President Johnson commended the blind for the growing spirit of independence and the increased determination to be self-reliant that the organized blind had shown. The presidential proclamation said:
The white cane in our society has become one of the symbols of a blind person’s ability to come and go on his own. Its use has promoted courtesy and special consideration to the blind on our streets and highways. To make our people more fully aware of the meaning of the white cane and of the need for motorists to exercise special care for the blind persons who carry it, Congress, by a joint resolution approved as of October 6, 1964, has authorized the President to proclaim October 15 of each year as White Cane Safety Day.
Now, therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 15, 1964, as White Cane Safety Day.
With those stirring words President Johnson issued the first White Cane Proclamation, which was the culmination of a long and serious effort on the part of the National Federation of the Blind to gain recognition for the growing independence and self-sufficiency of blind people in America and also to gain recognition of the white cane as the symbol of that independence and that self-reliance.
The first of the state laws regarding the right of blind people to travel independently with the white cane was passed in 1930. In 1966 Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, the founder of the National Federation of the Blind, drafted the model White Cane Law. This model act—which has become known as the Civil Rights Bill for the Blind, the Disabled, and the Otherwise Physically Handicapped—contains a provision designating October 15 as White Cane Safety Day. Today a variant of the White Cane Law is on the statute books of every state in the nation.
From 1963 (and even before) when the National Federation of the Blind sought to have White Cane Safety Day proclaimed as a recognition of the rights of blind persons, to 1978 when a blind pedestrian met with misunderstanding regarding the true meaning of the white cane, is but a short time in the life of a movement. In 1963 a comparatively small number of blind people had achieved sufficient independence to travel alone on the busy highways of our nation. In 1978 that number has not simply increased but multiplied a hundredfold. The process began in the beginning of the organized blind movement and continues today. There was a time when it was unusual to see a blind person on the street, to find a blind person working in an office, or to see a blind person operating machinery in a factory. This is still all too uncommon. But it happens more often, and the symbol of this independence is the white cane. The blind are able to go, to move, to be, and to compete with all others in society. The means by which this is done is that simple tool, the white cane. With the growing use of the white cane is an added element—the wish and the will to be free—the unquenchable spirit and the inextinguishable determination to be independent. With these our lives are changed, and the prospects for blind people become bright. That is what White Cane Safety Day is all about. That is what we do in the National Federation of the Blind.
Here is the text of the model White Cane Law as Dr. tenBroek wrote it in 1966:
Model White Cane Law
1: It is the policy of this State to encourage and enable the blind, the visually handicapped, and the otherwise physically disabled to participate fully in the social and economic life of the State and to engage in remunerative employment.
2 (a): The blind, the visually handicapped, and the otherwise physically disabled have the same right as the able-bodied to the full and free use of the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, public facilities, and other public places;
2 (b): The blind, the visually handicapped, and the otherwise physically disabled are entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of all common carriers, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains, motor buses, street cars, boats or any other public conveyances or modes of transportation, hotels, lodging places, places of public accommodation, amusement or resort, and other places to which the general public is invited, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons;
2 (c): Every, totally, or partially blind person shall have the right to be accompanied by a guide dog, especially trained for the purpose, in any of the places listed in section 2 (b) without being required to pay an extra charge for the guide dog; provided that he shall be liable for any damage done to the premises or facilities by such dog.
3: The driver of a vehicle approaching a totally or partially blind pedestrian who is carrying a cane predominantly white or metallic in color (with or without a red tip) or using a guide dog shall take all necessary precautions to avoid injury to such blind pedestrian, and any driver who fails to take such precautions shall be liable in damages for any injury caused such pedestrian; provided that a totally or partially blind pedestrian not carrying such a cane or using a guide dog in any of the places, accommodations or conveyances listed in section 2 shall have all of the rights and privileges conferred by law upon other persons, and the failure of a totally, or partially blind pedestrian to carry such a cane or to use a guide dog in any such places, accommodations or conveyances shall not be held to constitute nor be evidence of contributory negligence.
4: Any person or persons, firm or corporation, or the agent of any person or persons, firm or corporation who denies or interferes with admittance to or enjoyment of the public facilities enumerated in section 2 or otherwise interferes with the rights of a totally or partially blind or otherwise disabled person under section 2 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
5: Each year, the Governor shall take suitable public notice of October 15 as White Cane Safety Day. He shall issue a proclamation in which:
(a) he comments upon the significance of the white cane;
(b) he calls upon the citizens of the State to observe the provisions of the White Cane Law and to take precautions necessary to the safety of the disabled;
(c) he reminds the citizens of the State of the policies with respect to the disabled herein declared and urges the citizens to cooperate in giving effect to them;
(d) he emphasizes the need of the citizens to be aware of the presence of disabled persons in the community and to keep safe and functional for the disabled the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, public facilities, other public places, places of public accommodation, amusement and resort, and other places to which the public is invited, and to offer assistance to disabled persons upon appropriate occasions.
6: It is the policy of this State that the blind, the visually handicapped, and the otherwise physically disabled shall be employed in the State Service, the service of the political subdivisions of the State, in the public schools, and in all other employment supported in whole or in part by public funds on the same terms and conditions as the able-bodied, unless it is shown that the particular disability prevents the performance of the work involved.
In some States blind and otherwise disabled persons have been having difficulty renting, leasing, or buying suitable housing. Another section (Section 7) is herewith set forth for those States which have no protection for disabled people in the housing area.
7 (a): Blind persons, visually handicapped persons, and other physically disabled persons shall be entitled to full and equal access, as other members of the general public, to all housing accommodations offered for rent, lease, or compensation in this State, subject to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons.
7 (b): “Housing accommodations” means any real property, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied or is intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence, or sleeping place of one or more human beings, but shall not include any accommodations included within sub-section (a) or any single family residence the occupants of which rent, lease, or furnish for compensation not more than one room therein.
7 (c): Nothing in this section shall require any person renting, leasing, or providing for compensation real property to modify his property in any way or provide a higher degree of care for a blind person, visually handicapped person, or other physically disabled person than for a person who is not physically disabled.
7 (d): Every totally or partially blind person who has a guide dog, or who obtains a guide dog, shall be entitled to full and equal access to all housing accommodations provided for in this section, and he shall not be required to pay extra compensation for such guide dog but shall be liable for any damage done to the premises by such a guide dog.
City of Des Moines Adopts a Rational Process for Accessible Pedestrian Signal Installation
by Curtis Chong
From the Editor: Curtis Chong is a longtime leader in the National Federation of the Blind. He was formerly the director of the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind in Baltimore. He now lives in Iowa, works as the program administrator of field operations and access technology for the Iowa Department for the Blind, and is the president of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science. His technical skills and ability to communicate mean he is no stranger to readers of the Braille Monitor. Here is what he has to say about pedestrian signals created to help the blind.
A variety of special-purpose pedestrian signals--once known as "audible traffic signals" and now called "accessible pedestrian signals” (APS)--have been developed and installed in various cities around the country to provide nonvisual indication of when it is safe to cross the street. Early models, which emitted chirping bird or cuckoo clock sounds, were so loud that they masked the sound of approaching traffic, and they provided no clear indication of which intersection was safe to cross. This type of signal predominated in 1992 when the National Federation of the Blind passed a resolution reaffirming its policy objecting to the wholesale and routine installation of audible traffic signals.
Today's version of the accessible pedestrian signal provides more useful information for the nonvisual pedestrian and in my experience does not interfere with hearing traffic sounds that are critical to safe crossing. First, it beeps every second to tell the nonvisual pedestrian where the pole is; usually this beep cannot be heard beyond a distance of ten feet. Second, it has a button with a tactilely discernible arrow pointing in the direction the pedestrian is supposed to travel when the walk signal is activated. When the button is pressed briefly, the signal tells the pedestrian to wait; for example, it might say "Wait to cross Fourth Avenue." When the button is held down for more than a second, it tells the pedestrian when the walk signal has been activated. Finally, if a traffic signal displays a visual count-down timer, the APS can be set up to speak this information.
The U.S. Access Board has circulated for public comment a document entitled "Proposed Accessibility Guidelines for Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way," often referred to as "PROWAG." If adopted, these guidelines will require accessible pedestrian signals and pedestrian pushbuttons to be provided whenever new pedestrian signals are installed. Also, whenever a signal controller and software are altered or a signal head is replaced, these guidelines will require that accessible pedestrian signals be installed.
The Challenge for the City of Des Moines
Last year the City of Des Moines received some extra funding which it used to cover the cost of four accessible pedestrian signals, which it installed along what it termed the "elderly corridor." Members of the Des Moines Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa were concerned because they feared that the City of Des Moines had installed these signals at intersections where they were not really needed, thus wasting limited funds. This view was embodied in a position statement developed by the Des Moines Chapter and circulated to the Des Moines City Council. This resulted in meetings between the city's traffic engineers and the Des Moines Chapter.
Based on the almost certain probability that the PROWAG will be adopted as proposed by the Access Board, the City of Des Moines believes that it will ultimately be required to install accessible pedestrian signals whenever it puts in a new traffic signal or replaces an existing one, and this cost will certainly be incorporated into the city's future budget planning. However, what about existing traffic signals? Where and when should accessible pedestrian signals be installed, and, given the concerns raised by the blind community, how can the City of Des Moines make rational decisions about where these devices are to be installed, let alone whether they should be installed at all?
The Process
City traffic officials, members of the Des Moines Chapter of the NFB of Iowa, and the City of Des Moines Access Advisory Board conducted meetings. A committee was created with members from each group, and over a period of six months the committee met and ultimately developed a workable process.
It was clear during these committee meetings that the city's traffic engineers had thoroughly researched the criteria used by other cities to determine how and where they would install accessible pedestrian signals. Some cities had chosen to involve orientation and mobility specialists from agencies for the blind to help them decide when and where to install accessible traffic signals. Some cities seemed to think the proximity of accessible pedestrian signals to agencies for the blind was important. The theory seemed to be that the need for such a signal is increased the closer one gets to a service agency.
The committee agreed unanimously that there was no reason for the City of Des Moines to consult with orientation and mobility specialists--let alone agencies for the blind--to decide where and when to install accessible pedestrian signals. Also the committee was unanimous in its view that accessible pedestrian signals should not be placed near agencies for the blind, especially if those agencies provide independent travel training to the blind. Crucial to any independent travel training program is the development of the skills necessary to cross intersections safely and independently, regardless of whether those intersections have accessible pedestrian signals.
The committee ultimately developed a procedure and a scoring system which approaches the question of APS installation for existing signals in a rational and straightforward fashion. The procedure was approved by the Des Moines Access Advisory Board and the Des Moines Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa and is now in force today. Other U.S. cities that have not yet dealt with the question of where and when to install accessible pedestrian signals would do well to adopt this procedure.
The Final Procedure
For existing signalized intersections in Des Moines, no APS will be installed unless they are specifically requested by an individual who is prepared to support his or her request all the way to the final decision. A person can request the installation of an accessible pedestrian signal by filling out a request form or making the request over the telephone. The city will accumulate requests and act upon them once each year. The intersections for which an APS was requested will be scored, and intersections with the highest scores will be selected by the City of Des Moines for APS installation, subject to budgetary constraints. The city is currently able to install no more than two accessible pedestrian signals per year.
When the City of Des Moines scores a particular intersection, it examines intersection complexity, signal phasing, crosswalk length, approach/crosswalk geometries, whether there is sufficient vehicle traffic at all times to provide an audible cue for safe crossing, and whether there are complex turning provisions (e.g., right turn permitted on a red light). It also looks at the number of individuals who have requested a specific APS and the proximity of existing accessible pedestrian signals.
Historically the entire subject of accessible pedestrian signals has too often been tied to all of the traditional stereotypes and negative emotional baggage about blindness with which we in the National Federation of the Blind are all too familiar. Fortunately, our work with the City of Des Moines to develop this process was a very positive and refreshing experience--one that we hope will be shared by other Federation chapters around the country. I would be pleased to provide more specific information about the Des Moines process to anyone who is interested. I can be reached by email at <[email protected]>.
Charting Our Own Course
NFB Project Innovation
by Natalie Shaheen
From the Editor: Since the NFB Jernigan Institute began conducting innovative educational programs for youth almost a decade ago, we have published wrap-up stories about the events that have stirred the imagination and left readers shaking their heads at the creativity and daring of the education team and the volunteers they recruit to help. Yet we have never before invited readers to watch the evolution of the ideas and activities that comprise these youth opportunities.
Natalie Shaheen, director of education at the Jernigan Institute, has solved this problem. She decided to keep a journal throughout the creation and execution of this summer’s youth program. What follows are excerpts from that journal. The glimpse into the process may not be as clear as observing Natalie and her team at work, but it is fascinating all the same. Here is what Natalie put together for us:
Traditionally, when children are in an educational setting, a few things about the structure are a given. First, the teacher determines what is going to be learned and then leads the children in the learning. Second, the children in the class or activity are all about the same age. These are common characteristics of education in the United States.
In the Federation we like to break the mold, try new things, and raise expectations. In NFB Project Innovation this summer that is exactly what we did. Instead of the teachers’ determining what was going to be learned and leading the process, the students took that role. Instead of one age group of students, we had two. We tried something new because we thought, based on what we know about the way children learn, that, if we changed a few traditional elements of education, the children would have a higher-quality learning experience. Excerpts from my Project Innovation Investigation Journal tell the story.
Investigation Journal Entry 1, October 11, 2011:
Description of Investigation: The NFB Jernigan Institute will facilitate a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program for twenty third- through sixth-grade students and ten high school students July 24 to 29, 2012. Students will design an inquiry-based investigation in an area of STEM that is interesting to them and conduct the investigation during the program. In addition to designing and conducting an investigation, the high school students will assist in mentoring the younger students.
Materials Needed for Investigation:

National Federation of the Blind: an organization that believes in the capacity of blind students and as a result has only the highest expectations for them
Twenty Junior Innovators: youth in grades three to six
Twenty Chaperones: guardians of the Junior Innovators
Ten Senior Innovators: youth in grades nine to twelve
Five blind adult mentors
Three blind STEM professionals
Two teachers of blind students
Two parent educators
An abundance of STEM-related materials and equipment, e.g., talking multimeters, solar cells, motors, batteries, owl pellets, shark teeth.

Hypothesis: A multi-age STEM program that incorporates student-initiated learning will produce students who are highly motivated and engaged in STEM content and have increased leadership and mentoring skills.
Procedures:

For the ten weeks leading up to the program all thirty students will talk weekly with an educator from the NFB Jernigan Institute. The teachers will help guide the students through determining a STEM topic that is interesting to them, developing a measurable question, and designing their investigation.
For the ten weeks leading up to the program, the students will maintain an investigation journal in which they will record their progress on the road to designing their investigation. Students will have the option of recording their investigation journal in hard copy, in an electronic document, as a podcast, or in a blog.
Place students in Innovation Teams, each consisting of four Junior Innovators, two Senior Innovators, and one blind adult mentor.
Develop a curriculum for the chaperone workshop taking place concurrently with student lessons during the program that will foster a positive attitude about blindness among the chaperones and provide the information they will need to raise their children to be successful blind adults.
Develop independent experiments and optional chemistry and engineering activities that students can participate in during the program if they are at a point in their investigation where they are waiting for something, e.g., glue to dry or a reaction to happen).
Bring everyone to the NFB Jernigan Institute.
Let the learning and fun begin.
Mourn the fact that everyone is leaving Baltimore to head back home, but rejoice in the fact that the Internet will allow us all to stay connected.

Investigation Journal Entry 2, April 23, 2012:
We now know who is coming to the program. We have students from eighteen different states, ranging in age from seven to nineteen. We’ve put together ten independent experiments for the students to work on when they aren’t engaged with their investigations. These activities are diverse, including engineering challenges in which students will use gummy candy and toothpicks to create bridges and an experiment in which students drop Mentos into a two-liter bottle of soda to cause a huge eruption. Hopefully all of the students will find something of interest.

We have also designed four optional activities for the students to participate in if their investigation is at a stand-still. There are two optional chemistry activities—one for Junior Innovators and one for Senior Innovators—which involve eating Miracle Frooties, which change the way your taste buds work. Who knew chemistry was involved in eating! The optional engineering activity for the Junior Innovators is an engineering challenge in which students will try to use plastic cups to build the tallest tower they can. The Senior Innovators will also be tasked with an engineering challenge; but theirs will consist of using principles of physics and foam insulation tubing to create a rollercoaster for a marble. These optional activities will provide the students with glimpses into a few more STEM disciplines in addition to the disciplines they are studying in their investigations.
Investigation Journal Entry 3, May 13, 2012:
This week we began weekly calls with the thirty Innovators. The students—especially the Junior Innovators—are shier on the phone than I had anticipated. In order to learn with them over the phone, I’m going to have to come up with some ways to get them warmed up before we start talking about Project Innovation. This week we’re asking the students to decide what format they are going to use for their Investigation Journals. We’ve given them many choices: hard copy, electronic file, podcast, and blog. We have also asked them to think of five things they might want to study. The only restriction is that it has to fall into the category of STEM. When talking with the students, I reminded them that sometimes even things that don’t seem like they are related to science have a STEM component. The example I gave, because I like sports, is that a lot of engineering and experimenting has to happen to make high-quality sports equipment. I wonder how many different topics the thirty kids will end up studying. Will any of them pick the same topic? Will one discipline be more popular than the others? If so, which one will it be?
Investigation Journal Entry 4, May 25, 2012:
The students have now identified the area of STEM they want to study, and they are beginning to work on their measurable question or engineering design specifications. One of the senior innovators wants to build a prototype of a space elevator. One of the Junior Innovators wants to do an investigation around the science of ice cream. The students are keeping track in their Investigation Journals of what they are learning.
Investigation Journal Entry 5, June 25, 2012:
All of the students have measurable questions now. They include:

If given three choices of food that they do eat, what would a guinea pig prefer?
Do the additives and flavoring of ice cream change the freezing temperature and time?
Can humans use echolocation similar to the way dolphins use it?
How does the shape of a shark’s tooth relate to the type of food it eats?
Which fruit—lemon, lime, or grapefruit—makes a battery with the highest voltage?
Which rocket—stomp or fizzy—will go the farthest?
How does the way people under age eighteen cope with stress compare to the way people over eighteen cope with stress?

Students are now developing their step-by-step plans or procedures for their investigations. They will be turning in the list of materials they will need to perform their investigations very soon. Once the students have completed their step-by-step plans and materials lists, they are ready to come to NFB Project Innovation and conduct their investigations. It is extraordinary to watch the students move through the process of preparing for their investigations. We have some intriguing youth coming to this program; I can’t wait to meet them in person and observe their learning firsthand.
Investigation Journal Entry 6, July 9, 2012:
Everyone has turned in their materials list. Now it’s time to do some frantic shopping. We have two students doing investigations of hovercrafts, but otherwise everyone is investigating something different. Consequently we have diverse materials to buy. Here is a sample of our shopping list.

Assorted rocks
An abundance of solar cells
10-ohm, 100-ohm, 1,000-ohm, 10,000-ohm resisters
Copper and zinc electrodes
Guinea pig
Electric ice cream maker
Magnetic powder
Mosquito netting
Luggage locators
1 big inner tube
Lots of duct tape
Leaf blowers
Talking food scale
Assorted PVC pipe
Lots of Braille paper
Braillewriters
Braille graph paper
Slates and styluses
Braille meter sticks
Talking indoor/outdoor thermometer

Investigation Journal Entry 7, July 16, 2012:
With the exception of a few last-minute items, we’ve got all of the materials the students have requested. It’s time to start sorting through the dozens of shopping bags and placing each student’s requested items on the tables. I wonder how many students will find, when they start working on their investigations, that they should have asked for additional items. I suspect we will be doing a few shopping runs during the program.
Investigation Journal Entry 8, July 23, 2012:
The volunteers arrived today. Our team is now assembled, and we’re ready to work and learn with the program participants. Tomorrow we will spend the morning going over logistics as a team. After lunch the Senior Innovators will start arriving. This is going to be so much fun!
Investigation Journal Entry 9, July 25, 2012:
The program has officially started. We have all of the students and chaperones in the building. Folks came from as far away as Alaska and Puerto Rico. The Senior Innovator who came from Alaska took three planes to get here and traveled independently the whole way; she is going to be a great role model for the Junior Innovators. I am curious to see how the Senior Innovators take to their roles as mentors to the Junior Innovators. Yesterday during an activity where the Senior Innovators were learning about mentoring and how to be a good mentor, some of them expressed their concern that they aren’t naturally good with kids. I think the Senior Innovators are underestimating themselves; I’m glad we were able to provide them with an opportunity to be mentors and leaders.
This evening we had a welcome and kick off. After some inspiring remarks from President Maurer and Mark Riccobono, the chaperones and Innovators went their separate ways. The chaperones had an opportunity to introduce themselves and mingle while the students had a little fractal fun—an activity in which students used six index cards to create a box, which was then connected with other boxes to create a bigger box, demonstrating the mathematical principle of a fractal.
Investigation Journal Entry 10, July 26, 2012:
Today—the first full day of the program—was awesome. The students spent the morning in innovation time working on their investigations. The Senior Innovators got a jump start on their investigations Wednesday before the other students arrived, so they were able to step in and help the Junior Innovators when they got stuck or had questions. The Junior and Senior Innovators spent the afternoon in separate activities. Both groups had lessons on nanoscience, a STEM subject often not covered in the standard K-12 science curriculum. Each group also participated in a philosophy lesson. The younger students talked about the characteristics of successful blind people and then used craft supplies and Braille labels to decorate a large paper person to symbolize the characteristics discussed. The Senior Innovators watched a humorous video about some of the random comments sighted people frequently pose to blind people. Then they discussed the various ways they could respond to the comments, keeping in mind that they may be the only blind person that sighted person ever interacts with.
The chaperones also had a full day of learning. They learned about the programs and resources available to their families through the NFB Jernigan Institute. Dr. Schroeder offered remarks for the group about skills and confidence, the foundation for success. Two panels of blind adults covered things they wish their parents had known and discussed the fact that blind people can compete on terms of equality in STEM careers. The chaperones wrapped up their day with a hands-on nonvisual cooking activity.
The learning didn’t stop at 5:00 o’clock. The Junior Innovators and their chaperones headed to the Inner Harbor for a night on the town. This provided parents and students an opportunity to implement some of what they had learned during the day about independence. Senior Innovators spent the evening hiking at a local park. The outdoor learning experience started with some advice from experienced blind hikers about alternative techniques that are helpful on the trail. A few of the students had never hiked before, and they were a bit tentative about the unpredictable terrain. In the end, however, everyone had a great time, and those who were hesitant at first gained confidence as they successfully navigated obstacles on the trail.
Investigation Journal Entry 11, July 27, 2012:
We just wrapped up another jam-packed day of learning. Students had another block of innovation time; their investigations are coming along well. Bridges and hovercraft are taking shape, and some lovely pieces of fruit are well on their way to becoming batteries. One student is problem-solving why the ice cream maker isn’t working properly. Another student, who is designing a tactile graphics tablet, is already on his third prototype. The theme of today was creative problem solving. The students are learning firsthand that in STEM things don’t always happen the way you anticipated, and, when you come up against a barrier, you have to rethink your plan. These lessons are valuable far beyond the walls of the STEM classroom.
In addition to innovation time, the students participated in various other experiments and activities. Both the Junior and Senior Innovators had their optional engineering challenges today. The Junior Innovators also did a materials science lab, in which they combined ingredients to make new toys and then determined which toy they thought would be most marketable. The younger students also learned about the characteristics of fingerprints by examining enlarged tactile images of their very own fingerprint. Senior Innovators investigated whether or not a variety of foods had antimicrobial properties. By exposing the students to these activities in addition to their investigation, we provide the students with a broader view of STEM and the various alternative techniques used in those disciplines.
All of the Innovators had the chance of a lifetime today to get up close and personal with the NFB Blind Driver Challenge car and to talk in small groups with blind drivers Mark Riccobono and Anil Lewis. The students even got to sit in the driver’s seat of the car and test the nonvisual interfaces. I’m quite jealous; I’ve not yet had that opportunity myself.
The Innovators topped off their day with a field trip to a rock-climbing gym, where they did lots of problem solving. Several of the climbing walls had overhangs and obstacles on the wall that the students had to figure out how to get around. We didn’t realize until we got to the gym that several of our Junior Innovators are part monkey. They practically sprinted up the walls. One of the students who ended up being a natural climber had resisted the idea of going climbing. He had never done such a thing and wasn’t really interested in trying; but, when we got to the gym and the energy level was high, he gave it a try, and not more than thirty seconds later he was at the top of the wall, eager to come down so he could try another wall.
The chaperones’ day was fast-paced as well. They learned about problem solving and structured discovery through a variety of hands-on cane travel activities. They now know how their children will be able to stow their new long white canes on the airplane or in a car, how to carry a tray and use a cane at the same time, and much more. Advocacy and the IEP process were also a part of the chaperones’ discussions today. The chaperones are gaining confidence as they soak up valuable information.
Investigation Journal Entry 12, July 28, 2012:
Today we wrapped up NFB Project Innovation with a bang. The day started with the last session of innovation time. Students concluded their investigations and tabulated their data. They spent time deciding what they were going to show off at the Innovation Expo—an open house later in the day where chaperones, Federationists, and members of the public would come to learn from the students.
In the afternoon the Innovators had a blast experimenting with liquid nitrogen under the direction and supervision of instructor Hoby Wedler. After freezing an assortment of items from carnations to balloons, students tossed objects across the room and listened with delight to them shatter all over the floor. We found out that making a mess is tremendous fun, and you can learn a lot in the process.
By far the highlight of the day was the Innovation Expo. Students stood by their tables and explained in detail to visitors the investigation they had planned, what actually happened, and their conclusions. You could hear the pride in the children’s voices as they taught the adults all about STEM. The chaperones were also proud of what their students had been able to accomplish under their own direction. One parent came running up to me and said, “See, I knew my son was bright and had the ability to learn. The school just doesn't believe in him.” After the expo one Senior Innovator pulled me aside and said, “Natalie, I am so proud of myself for doing this. I mean I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it on my own; but I did, and my project turned out even better than I had expected.”
As I walked around to learn from each student at the Innovation Expo, I asked everyone the same question. What is the coolest thing you learned from doing this investigation? The responses were a bit varied, but two common themes emerged. The students liked learning about problem solving and overcoming the unexpected. They also learned that, when they get to make decisions about their own learning, it is much more interesting. One student told me that, if the teachers had decided what she was going to learn about, they probably would have picked something boring like butterflies!
Investigation Journal Entry 13, July 29, 2012:
Results:
Based on my observations, I think we proved our hypothesis. It was amazing to me how engaged the students were in the learning that was available to them in this program. They almost never needed reminders about where they were supposed to be or what they were supposed to be doing. I believe they were so engaged because they were driving the learning. They chose the topic of their investigation, and, when they weren’t working on their investigations, they chose the independent lab or optional activity that they wanted to participate in.
The Senior Innovators—some of whom didn’t think they were good at working with kids—really stepped up to the plate. They encouraged the Junior Innovators when they were frustrated that a part of their investigation hadn’t work out. They helped guide the Junior Innovators in finding answers to their questions without providing the answer. Perhaps most important, they modeled good blindness skills and a positive attitude about blindness for their younger counterparts.
Like the Innovators, we learned a lot by doing our investigation—NFB Project Innovation. We had to do a great deal of problem solving too. What do you do to build rapport with students when they are shy about talking on the phone and you live thousands of miles from them? What do you do when the motors one of the students needs to build his space elevator is stuck on a boat coming from China and won’t come in until after the program?
Conclusion
When telling people about our plans for NFB Project Innovation, we often got the response, “Why? That seems like a lot of extra work.” The Federation is made of people who take charge and are in control of their own lives. We don’t sit around and wait for people to tell us what to do; we make things happen. We want the same for our young blind children. Our motivation for creating a program around student-initiated learning was twofold. First, we hypothesized that it would create a higher-quality learning experience. Second, we wanted to empower our blind students to take charge of their learning and by doing so realize that they can take charge of their lives.
We will continue to look for opportunities to incorporate student-initiated learning in our youth programs in addition to providing environments in which students of all ages can teach and learn together. If you are organizing a youth program in your affiliate, you might consider incorporating these two elements to enhance your effort. If you’d like ideas about how to do so, contact Natalie Shaheen at <[email protected]> or (410) 659-9314, extension 2293.
My Priceless Scholarship Experience
by Justin Salisbury
From the Editor: Justin Salisbury is a senior at Eastern Carolina University working on a major in mathematics and a minor in economics. He plans to earn his PhD in economics and become a university professor. He is the president of the North Carolina Association of Blind Students and one of the members of the 2011 scholarship class. While his article clearly explains his journey to becoming a scholarship recipient by growing as a person and a Federationist, it is important to remember that Federation membership is not a criterian for receiving a scholarship, and many students are first introduced to the organization through the program and their attendance at the national convention. Here is what he has to say about his experiences as a winner:
Scholarships: $3,000--$12,000
Experience: priceless
For four years I applied for the National Federation of the Blind scholarship program. For three years I saw a list of winners that did not have my name on it. Finally I did something right.
In the early years I was hurt that a scholarship committee wouldn’t pick a blind, multiracial, first-generation college student with SAT scores over 2100. Now I understand why. I had to grow as a person, a blind person, and a Federationist before I was ready to be a national scholarship winner. In the early years I carried scholarship committees on a climactic story of how I had the world in my hands, lost it with my vision, and still persevered to above-average achievements. That was easy to do because other scholarship selection committees rewarded it. I’m glad ours didn’t.
Now that my head was finally in a place where the sun does shine and my essay reflected that fact, I waited anxiously for the deadline for the announcement of winners. I was in the middle of a dinner date when my phone announced a call from our national office, and I met my primary mentor from the scholarship committee, Charlie Brown. He double-checked my eligibility and congratulated me on my selection. He made sure that I knew that I was required to attend the entire national convention; it would have taken a requirement to keep me away!
I received an email from my alumni mentor, whose name is Tara. She introduced herself and offered herself as a friend and resource throughout the convention whenever I needed one. I realized from her email that I had been a Federationist longer than she had, and I offered the same thing to her in return.
I soon learned that I was one of three winners from Connecticut, and the other two were quite new to our Federation family. I assumed the duty of introducing them as well as I could. We all traveled to convention together and found ourselves on the same flight as our state president, treasurer, and one board member. It was a great opportunity for us to start the week with a little Connecticut pep rally.
We arrived in the lobby of an unsurprisingly enormous hotel filled with the sound of cane tips on marble like rain on a still pond, and I knew I was home again. It was only my second national convention, but I had already been hard-wired to love it. On the first night the scholarship winners and committee gathered in a beautiful meeting room in the hotel. On the way into the meeting I noticed members of the committee teasing each other and really having a grand old time. I had the opportunity to greet scholarship winners I already knew from previous events and to make new acquaintances. We all settled down and heard from President Maurer and Patti Gregory-Chang, scholarship committee chair. I could tell that the leaders of our Federation family were very proud to have us with them.
I set off to get dinner with my first scholarship committee mentor Charlie and his wife. While he and I were waiting for his wife to join us, we talked about my future plans, and he offered me advice on how to pick the right graduate school. I was surprised to notice that Charlie didn’t always use his cane. I had previously thought that all Federation leaders used their canes as a matter of principle.
I really enjoyed the food, and even more I enjoyed Charlie and his wife. They were just friendly people who wanted to get to know me and help me make the most of my week. Before we parted ways that night, Charlie was very clear with me that I was welcome to contact him for anything I wished, including after the convention.
As a scholarship winner my week was filled with a few speaking engagements, scholarship class gatherings, a breakfast with the scholarship committee, a gathering with scholarship alumni, and of course a little less than just enough sleep to function. My mentors for that week were Jim Antonacci, Garrick Scott, Bennett Prows, Sharon Maneki, and Gary Wunder. I could tell that my batch of committee mentors had been hand-picked so that they created a diverse subgroup. I got to know each of them for a day. One took me out to breakfast. Another bought me a beer. Two of them ate lunch with me. I sat with them in general sessions, and life was good.
Mentoring, on the whole, was a group effort. I had an alumni mentor and a handful of committee mentors, but it takes a community to raise a child. I found that I learned just as much--if not more--from the people I met spontaneously as I did from the people who were assigned to mentor me formally.
During the day that Jim Antonacci was my mentor, he pushed me hard to think philosophically. I like that kind of thing, and he really made me dig deep. Later in the day I opened up to him about my plan to step down from a leadership role that I was holding because I felt that I was doing too much work with too little support. Without missing a beat, he told me that doing all of the work oneself in any situation is not leadership, and he gave me a simple decision tree for what to do if certain situations arise. Thanks to him, I returned to that leadership position for another term, and I cherish the experience greatly.
Garrick Scott was definitely the most entertaining of my mentors, but I didn’t get to know him that well at convention. If I had let convention be it, I would have missed out on a great connection. I volunteered for a week at Youth Slam seven days after convention, and Garrick was my boss there. I had a medical emergency during Youth Slam, and I spent dinner time in the E.R. Garrick had a boxed dinner waiting for me when I returned. Working alongside him, I realized how much he cared about everyone on that campus and how many details he remembered from our lunch conversation at national convention.
Since the convention I have stayed in touch with all of my mentors for one reason or another, and I cherish the backstage pass to hang out with the coolest people in the Federation. They really are mentors in the purest sense of the word. I know that I received a check and some phenomenal technology in the form of a gift, but my experience was priceless.
Braille Edge 40: The Newest Offering by HIMS Inc.
by Michael D. Barber
From the Editor: Michael Barber is the president of the NFB Assistive Technology Trainers Division, works for the Iowa Department for the Blind as the rehabilitation technology specialist, and is the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa. Here is what he has to say about his history with Braille displays and his thoughts about a new offering:
My very first introduction to the world of refreshable Braille was in 1991 during my employment as the first totally blind customer service representative at then Norwest Card Services (later to become Wells Fargo Card Services). My job was to help customers understand their monthly statements, assist with replacing lost or stolen cards, make necessary monetary adjustments to their statements, give balances, etc.
At that time I was using Artic Business Vision, but because of unresolved conflicts between Norwest's system and the screen-reading technology, it was clear my short stay at Norwest was in jeopardy. Enter Humanware and the Alva 280 Braille display. I had never seen a Braille display and was totally unfamiliar with what they could do. This Alva display was a job saver for me, because now I could without exception do all the things my sighted coworkers were doing.
Since then I've seen many different displays, ranging from the eighty-cell to the twelve-cell offered by the Braille Pen 12 display. Some of these displays are simply that--Braille displays--while others actually allow the ability to take notes using their Perkins-style or QWERTY keyboards as seen with the BrailleNote, Braille Sense, and other devices. The most recent offering I've seen is the Braille Edge 40 from HIMS Inc.
The Braille Edge 40 is a very basic note-taking device manufactured by HIMS Inc. It features a forty-cell Braille display, a nine-key Perkins style keyboard, eight function keys, eight navigation buttons, four scroll buttons, and forty cursor-routing keys. Additionally it operates using the Windows CE 5.0 operating system and has a lithium polymer battery, which lasts approximately twenty hours before recharging. The package includes a USB cable, an AC power adapter, a CD containing the manual, and a 2GB SD card. The unit measures approximately twelve inches long and about four inches deep and weighs about two pounds. Its primary function is as a Braille display for the JAWS, Window-Eyes, and NVDA screen readers. It also works with iOS devices such as Apple's iPhone and iPad. At present it does not work with the 5.11 iOS software; however, it did work with the previous version. According to HIMS, they are hopeful that Apple will fix the problem in the next software release.
Tour of the Unit
With the unit oriented so that the Braille cells are nearest you, the unit has forty cursor-routing keys above the display. To the left and right ends of the Braille display are two sets of up and down scroll buttons. These are used to scroll between menus, fields, lists, and text. You can also use these buttons to scroll by display length or line. Above the display is the nine-key Perkins-style keyboard, along with eight function keys and two four-way navigation keys. The function keys are arranged four to the left of the spacebar and four to the right. From left to right the function keys are Esc, Tab, Control, Alt, Shift, Insert, Windows, and Applications. Just below these is a strip which has seven little dots located at five-cell intervals. The Braille keyboard has dots one to six, with the backspace key on the left, the enter key on the right, and the spacebar in the middle, between the two sets of function keys. On the left and right corners of the top panel are two four-way navigation keys with up, down, left, and right arrow buttons. Between dots one and four is a speaker from which the user hears audio alerts. At the top of the unit on the right edge are two LED lights, one for Bluetooth and one for USB connectivity.
Along the left edge are two items--a Bluetooth/USB switch and the SD card slot, which is capable of handling up to a high-capacity 32GB SD card. The Bluetooth/USB slide switch is in the middle of the unit. Moving toward the rear, a letter B is just behind the switch, indicating Bluetooth connectivity.
Going from front to back along the right edge of the unit are first the USB OTG [On-The-Go] port and then the AC adapter jack. On the front panel is one button, the power on/off button. In the middle of the unit on the back is a recessed reset button. Near the right edge of the back panel is a very small hole that contains a shutdown button. This is used only when using the reset button gets no results or when connecting the AC adapter doesn't power up the unit.
The Braille Edge 40 can open BRF files such as those found on Web Braille, create new BRL files, and edit text files. It also has a calculator, planner, stopwatch, countdown timer, and alarm. Its price is slightly under three thousand dollars, which is about half the price of other popular note-taking devices on the market.
While this unit provides a nice ergonomic design for the keyboard and the keys are easy to push and very responsive, I experienced a problem in getting one setting to hold in the Options Menu. I wanted the unit to start in a new document, and it would not. HIMS indicates that this is a known problem. When I pressed the reset button on the rear panel of the unit, it would start up, and I was placed in a new document. Powering down and then back up produced the same result as before, and I was once again in the main menu.
A major limitation of this unit is that it currently has no ability to backtranslate a document, meaning that material written in Grade II Braille can be read only by someone with a Braille-aware device. One cannot write in Grade II, email that document, and have it read in print or spoken correctly by a screen reader’s speech synthesizer. Though a reverse Braille translator is slated for an upcoming release, without it the unit is significantly limited as a notetaker, and its primary value is likely to be as a Braille display.
I was able to install the needed drivers successfully so that the unit would work nicely with JAWS for Windows. When one connects the unit to the computer using the USB cable, the Braille Edge automatically powers up and is immediately placed in Terminal mode. Loading JAWS or reloading it causes the Braille display to show what the screen reader sees. The manual accompanying the unit is easy to follow, and the steps to perform various functions are written in an easy-to-follow style.
My conclusions are these: 1) HIMS has developed an excellent product which is principally for use as a Braille display or for taking notes. 2) With the price about half of what other note-taking devices cost, this will be attractive to individuals and rehabilitation agencies alike. 3) The unit is very comfortable to write on. 4) The Braille on the display is very firm and easy to read; 5) Although this is a nice unit, I fear that, because of the small percentage of people reading or writing Braille, it may not sell as well as it would otherwise. 6) I could live with a unit half its size using a twenty-cell display.
tenBroek and the Beach Blanket
by Patricia C. Estes
Introduction
The references in this article are to blindness more than any other disability because I am blind, so that is what I know. Examples of rearing children and human development are frequent because I am a mother of four, had a mother, and have studied all manner of mothering. If this article lacks the usual sports metaphors, I make no apology, and, if the issues seem to be over-simplified, it is because I don’t think life needs to be complicated.
For some reason I really enjoyed the way Dr. Jacobus tenBroek wrote the introduction to his famous legal treatise, "The Right to Live in the World.” He explained his personal frame of reference that underpinned the following fifty-five pages. Of course he also demonstrated his brilliant grasp of common sense and drew on his scholarly achievements and a doctorate of juridical science from Harvard University Law School. I had been forewarned that reading "The Right to Live in the World" would be a tedious venture. It was an article published in a legal journal, after all. But as someone who read The Federalist Papers at eighteen and at fifty-nine still considers it my favorite book, reading tenBroek's logical and sometimes tongue-in-cheek presentation of the case for civil rights for the disabled was enlightening. Where had this treatise been all my life?
How I Found "The Right to Live in the World"
I had just mentioned in our latest NFB of Maine newsletter that I knew little about Dr. tenBroek's personal style. Then I came across the 2008 DVD about the impact of Dr. tenBroek’s life and of his scholarship, "Jacobus tenBroek and the Right to Live in the World," right there in the Independence Market. I discovered it on the last day of my leadership seminar at the National Center this past May. We brought it home, and, as I was resting after all the excitement, I decided to pop it into the player and read it before I put it away. I mulled over the title and decided that it pretty much summed up our whole movement. But at that point I still thought that the phrase wasn't as clever as Dr. Jernigan's "We know who we are and we’ll never go back” or "Join me on the barricades.” And it seemed to me to lack the imagination of President Maurer’s notion to unveil the blind drivable car on the Daytona Speedway. But "The Right to Live in the World" was certainly right to the point, I had to admit. I guess that, having been blessed with such impressive leadership during all of my years as a Federationist, I just never felt the need to study any material from Dr. tenBroek's years as our first president.
The DVD is only about twenty minutes long, but, listening to it, I came to know Dr. Jacobus tenBroek through stories from his son, commentary by current civil rights law scholars, and President Maurer's commentary. I became so moved by this simple phrase, "the right to live in the world," that I felt it in my being and teared up because I could completely relate to it. It is profound common sense, and, if this landmark paper has been—as the legal experts maintained--the basis of most civil rights movements, is the most-often-referred-to treatise in civil rights law, and was the basis for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I had to ask why I hadn't seen more change in civil rights for the blind over the years. I believe that this issue is so basic to our understanding of our rights, the barriers we still face, and the work we still need to do that I referred to it again in another NFB of Maine newsletter article. At this point I received a note from the Braille Monitor editor suggesting that I write a piece on the subject for the magazine. If the greatest legal minds had already weighed in on it, I wondered what was left to be said--especially by me. Gary persisted, so I agreed to write something and let him decide what to do with it. If nothing else comes from this effort, I have been blessed to have learned and to have read some more about Dr. tenBroek and the beginnings and the staying power of the movement that is the National Federation of the Blind.
Mulling it Over
As I reflected on what I was learning and internalizing, I remembered vividly the times I had been denied the civil rights taken for granted by others. Dr. tenBroek asks often in "The Right to Live in the World" what happens when the disabled “come out of our homes and out of our asylums, and out of our institutions?"
I was hired as an assistant to the teacher in our local resource room for the blind. We were very excited. My husband Skip left for work, I called a cab, and our phone rang. The principal had the resource room teacher call to tell me not to bother coming because they couldn't hire a blind person to teach blind children. The principal had never even met me. I cancelled the cab.
Then there was the time we brought our daughter, who was working on a Girl Scout badge, to the Portland Museum of Art. As we were at the desk paying for admission and learning about the special exhibits, a security guard came up to me and grabbed my white cane, saying, "I'll have to take that."
"No you don’t!" I said, and I clung to my cane as he let go. He insisted that he would have to put it in a closet. I insisted that as a blind person I had a right to carry it. (By this time I had joined the Federation, and we were in the middle of the cane battles with the airlines. No one had mentioned that I would face the same thuggery in an art museum on a family outing) Kate's eyes were huge, and the three (well four) of us proceeded through the art museum with the static of the security guard's walkie-talkie following three feet behind us.
But these are old stories, and all blind people have them. Hadn't anything changed through all the years? Had the NFB done its work? It seems that the fear of blindness and the public’s perception are cemented into the psyche of society through our literature, our superstitious sayings, and every culture's myths. But a myth is just that: a myth. Common sense tells us that fear is simply false expectations that appear real. The struggle is that perception and fear, however falsely founded, preside and take control, and the simple, straightforward and honest approach is rejected in favor of a solution that is convolutedly complicated. All logic seems to disappear. This is exactly why we each need to be versed in the legal basis of our right to equality in order to persist and continue and to know in our bones why we have the right to live in the world.
I now have more focus when hearing new but familiar stories of illegal neglect, parental despair, and careers and timetables ignored by our state agency and others charged with delivering services to the blind. As a blind person and as an affiliate president, I know that our right to equal access has been argued over and over and has the weight of legal precedent. The blind not only have the basic right to live in the world, we also have the right to become skilled in what it requires for us to join our communities. It's all in tenBroek's paper laid out from his citing of the Magna Carta, referencing the U.S. Bill of Rights, and appealing to our logical minds through compelling common sense.
I am inspired to stop collecting stories in favor of taking action and finding the simplest path to solutions when I am approached with a problem a blind person is experiencing. I do have respect and deep empathy for people's need to recount their desperate situations, but I will no longer wallow with them. I'm an advocate, not a therapist. We have far too much experience and too many resources to offer to spend precious energy and time on anything less than forward movement. Either blind people will move with us, or they won't.
Conclusions
My first reaction upon learning more of tenBroek's personal style was to think to myself, "His poor mother!" Jacobus had no fear. He was totally blind by the age of nine, having lost one eye playing with bows and arrows (yes, to all you mothers and grandmothers out there--a stick!) and the other eye a couple of years later after being hit with a baseball. He continued to play like any normal boy and went bike riding with his sister. (Listen to the DVD to hear the rest of that story.). Jacobus tenBroek continued to explore his world, and no one had to persuade him that he had the right to do it.
I got to thinking about that concept and the fact that exploring our world is just a natural part of being human. I sought to enlarge my world a couple of years ago and thought I needed a brush-up cane travel session or two. The O&M instructor came to our home on a busy rural road.
"Which routes do you want to learn?” she asked.
I just didn't understand her thinking, “What?"
"Which routes do you want to learn?" she said more slowly; "Where do you travel most?"
I started to say that I wanted to learn all of them, but I settled for saying a walk to a friend's a couple of houses down. We were standing at the end of our dirt driveway.
"Well you have a special situation here."
"I do?"
"Well, yes, you have a blind drive."
"I do?"
"The cars coming up the hill to our left can't see you, but you can hear them, so we'll wait, and I'll show you." We waited, and in a moment we heard a vehicle coming up the hill towards us on our left. "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one…" The car passed in front of us. "See? You have six seconds."
"Six seconds?” I asked. “To do what?"
"From the time you hear a car coming up the hill, it takes six seconds for it to pass your driveway. You have six seconds to cross to the other side."
"Really?" My mind was racing. “What if I couldn't walk that fast that day? What if the next car was going faster? What if it was an electric car? And why did I want to cross the road anyway? So you mean I have six seconds, or else I go splat?"
"Well sort of. But that’s the chance a blind person takes traveling anywhere."
I couldn't stand it anymore and just went up to Margaret's house at the top of Woodbury Hill, where the instructor caught up with me. I cancelled future appointments, not knowing if I'd live to tell about it. It is just exactly as Dr. tenBroek writes in "The Right to Live in the World." When the blind and disabled come out of our houses and asylums and institutions, life suddenly gets complicated by the lack of common sense as we seek simply to move abroad in the land and to acquire the skills that we need. There has to be a better way to accomplish something as normal as exploring and expanding our world.
Human Development Simplified
I observed the touch-the-beach-blanket phenomenon as our four children were growing up. We'd go to the beach and put a blanket down, and each would begin their own adventure. The littlest might move six feet away from our blanket and become absorbed with the sand and a shovel. The next oldest might walk to the water's edge and giggle before running back to touch the blanket, while the fifth-grade boy was yelling to me from out in water over his head and making blubbering noises that were supposed to scare me. He was touching the blanket in his own way. The thirteen-year-old girl walked the beach with her friend and turned around to walk to the other end, acknowledging me with a giggle as she passed our blanket. It's a normal part of human development and growth. Give them the opportunity and room and provide the assurance that you know that they can do it. No fear. It's no different for blind children. This is the same thing Jacobus tenBroek was doing as a child.
Our kids are much older now and have taken their right to live in the world for granted. But they still touch the blanket. Only now it tends to be plumbing questions for Dad. "You do understand I am in Maine and you and your plumbing problem are two thousand miles away, right?" Sure they did, but this was the situation and…Thank goodness the reassurance doesn’t always involve mothers.
I ask myself where the blind child is. Home, or out walking and exploring with his white cane--feeling all the textures, smelling the smells, and plotting his own landmarks back to touch the blanket? I hope so, and I work in the Federation to this end, to imbue other blind people with the knowledge of how to take advantage of their Right to Live in the World.
21 Cupboard Essentials for a Diabetes Diet
by Madeline Vann, MPH
Medically reviewed by Farrokh Sohrabi, MD
From the Editor: the following good advice is reprinted from <EverydayHealth.com>. It is useful information for anyone interested in healthy eating, not just diabetics.
Healthy food choices are key to a good diabetes diet. But, when you get home after a long day, the last thing you want to do is go to the grocery store. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just whip up a quick meal or snack with basic ingredients? It's surprisingly simple if you just rethink your weekly shopping list. You can easily create a pantry stocked with dozens of delicious options to create healthy meals for diabetes.
Stocking your pantry with the right foods can help you succeed with your diabetes diet, and the reason is very simple: "It's more likely that, if healthy food choices are available, you'll choose them," says Susie Villalobos, LDN, RD, program coordinator for the Tulane Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Weight Management Program in New Orleans.
Make restocking your pantry an easy-to-attain goal. That way, says Cathy Kapica, PhD, RD, an adjunct professor of nutrition at Tufts University in Boston and director of Global Health and Wellness at Ketchum in Chicago, you'll always have some convenient diabetes-friendly foods on hand. Make room in your cupboard by reducing or eliminating foods that you don't need to include in your diabetes diet, such as candy, cookies, cake, sweet rolls, white bread, pretzels, crackers, soda, and fruit drinks.
Your Diabetes Diet Shopping List: If your pantry shelves are somewhat bare, take heart. Work your way through this list to create an arsenal of healthy food choices for diabetes:
a. Canned vegetables. "It's easy to add a can of vegetables to almost any recipe to boost nutrition," Kapica says, who recommends keeping no-salt or low-salt canned green beans, mushrooms, and spinach on hand.
b. Canned fruit. Look for fruit that's packed in its own juice instead of syrup.
c. Canned beans. "Beans are nutritious and have a lot of fiber," says Nessie Ferguson, RD, a diabetes educator and nutritionist at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Add them to soups or salads. Look for beans that don't contain sodium, or rinse them for about a minute under water to cut the sodium content.
d. Canned soup. Soup is great to have on hand, but it can have fairly high sodium content. Look for labels that say "low sodium" to keep salt under control.
e. Canned tomato products. Tomato paste, tomato sauces, and diced tomatoes are healthy, versatile cooking essentials.
f. Canned fish. Stock up on tuna, salmon, and sardines packed in water--and always check the sodium content. Canned fish can make a quick filling for a sandwich and a tasty addition to salads, soups, and whole-grain pasta dishes. Plus they're a reasonably priced way to help you meet the American Heart Association's health goal of at least two servings of fish a week.
g. Canned chicken. This is a good backup source of protein to add to quick meals.
h. Roasted red peppers. Ferguson says roasted red peppers make a tasty addition to a variety of dishes, from salads to rice.
i. Whole-grain products. Look for whole-grain pastas and other whole grains such as oatmeal, quinoa, polenta, kasha, and wild rice blends, which you can cook for a side dish or use as a base for a meal.
j. Salsa. A jar of salsa makes a healthy dip for raw vegetables, a zesty base for a bean soup, and even a tasty salad topping. But read labels to steer clear of too much added sugar and salt.
k. Nuts. Almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts are healthy snacks and great to have on hand, but eat them in moderation. One serving of shelled nuts is about two tablespoons. "Nuts have fiber and will keep you feeling full," Ferguson says, who recommends buying them in the shell when possible because the time it takes to crack open the nuts can keep you from overeating.
l. Dried herbs and spices. "Pepper, cinnamon, curry, oregano, rosemary, and other seasonings without salt are key cooking ingredients to have on hand," Kapica says. They all add unique flavors without relying on salt and butter.
m. Vinegars. A variety of vinegars--such as white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and balsamic vinaigrette--means you have interesting taste additions for marinades and salad dressings.
n. Low-fat dressings. Another option for marinades and salads, low-fat dressings are also an instant dip for veggies.
o. Low-salt soy sauce. This flavorful condiment adds an Asian flair to dishes like stir-fry and vegetable fried rice.
p. Sugar-free gelatin. This is a safe, sweet treat for your pantry. If you can have a bag of chocolate chips, chocolate kisses, or mini cookies around and not eat more than one or two, that's okay, Villalobos says. But, if temptation always wins out, keep your dessert shelf a sugar-free zone with instant gelatin instead.
q. Sugar-free syrup. This adds a sweet note to whole-grain pancakes and fruit--an excellent breakfast choice for healthy diabetes eating.
r. Cooking spray. Your favorite cooking spray can help you produce dozens of healthy meals for diabetes without added fat.
s. Whole-wheat flour. "If you like to bake, you can cut any flour mix with whole-wheat flour," Ferguson says. Try replacing half of the white flour in your baking recipes with whole-wheat flour.
t. Beverages. Keep club soda, low-sodium tomato juice, and low-calorie powdered drink mixes in the pantry for beverage variety.
u. Popcorn. Popcorn is an excellent snack, especially if you pop your own in a hot-air popper, which doesn't need any oil. Serve with a sprinkle of spices from your collection rather than salt and butter.
Whether you love cooking or not, this pantry list will let you get as creative as you want. However, if you're new to cooking or are unsure of how to make the needed adjustments for a healthy diabetes diet, talk with a diabetes educator or contact your local American Diabetes Association chapter to learn more and find healthy cooking classes in your area. "People learn to cook better if they see a dish made and know they can do it themselves," Ferguson says.
The Young Manhood of Newel Perry
An Interview Conducted by Willa Baum
From the Editor: Thanks to Federationist Bryan Bashin, we recently received a scanned copy of an in-depth interview with Newel Perry archived in the Bancroft Library of the University of California General Library, Regional Cultural History Project, which Miss Baum conducted in Berkeley, California, in 1956. The interview is so lengthy that we decided to serialize it. The first installment appeared in the July issue. This section of the interview covers graduate school in Europe and the New York years.
Raymond Henderson
Baum: By the time you had been in college four years and then did graduate work, were other blind students beginning to follow you?
Perry: Yes, not many.
Baum: Didn't Raymond Henderson and his brother go to the University here?
Perry: Well, they both went to the high school. I got them to go to the high school.
Baum: Were they younger than you were?
Perry: Yes. They were younger. By that time I was in a position to do more for them than I could have done earlier. I remember getting Raymond to go to the high school, and I remember that I used to have quite a hard time to get the blind boys to go out with the sighted boys more. You know, blind people are sensitive, most of them. Finally, after I got him down to the high school, I kept after him until he finally took part in athletics. He could see a little bit, so, when it came to running on a track, he could run as well as any of them. He'd have all sorts of excuses to stay away. He didn't have the costume. I remember buying one for him the day before I left for Europe. And I got him a sort of a scholarship up here at the school. He entered the University after I had gone to Europe. He graduated in the regular four-year term. Henderson was an able man, and he worked under great hardships. He had no money of his own and found it difficult to make money somehow. He was no salesman.
Baum: Raymond Henderson was an attorney, wasn't he?
Perry: Yes.
Baum: He was executive director of the National Federation for a while?
Perry: Henderson? No, I don't think so.
Baum: Was he active in the Council?
Perry: Yes. Not at the beginning. When I came back here in 1912 to take charge of the Blind Department of the Berkeley School for the Blind, Henderson, who was a graduate from the University then, was a very pessimistic, discouraged man. He said to me, "You're making an awful mistake.” You see, I had helped him get into college, through high school. He said, "It's all nonsense. No good. University isn't worth it. Best thing to do is burn it down." He said, "Your idea of sending these boys to college is ridiculous. You should make piano tuners out of some and teach some others to make brooms, but this higher education is nonsense." He was a great friend of mine, but he was just giving me his frank opinion. He came out and rang my bell a few years later. He said, "I'm here to apologize." He had become convinced, from what he saw happening to these boys, that I was doing just exactly the right thing.
Baum: Had he become a success himself?
Perry: In a way, but he was not a financial success. He became interested in the labor movement and would work for no pay for unemployed people. An idealist. Something of a socialist. He never gave himself a chance to make any money.
Baum: He was a smart enough lawyer, wasn't he?
Perry: Oh, very brilliant lawyer. Won his cases. But he was not sufficiently selfish to be a success; he was...well, loads of us do that. Get interested in helping people, and you forget to do things for yourself.
Baum: Did you and he have political arguments?
Perry: Oh yes. We didn't agree at all.
Baum: You said he was a socialist.
Perry: Yes. All sorts of theories that appeal to people. I don't know why he should fall for it, because he was a bright man, and he was sorry for me because I didn't have more sense. He said I had no understanding of social problems. Of course I never would argue with him, and I'd say, "Maybe you're right," and he'd go on. He thought capitalism was a wicked thing. I think in his last few years he lost some of his zeal for socialism.
Hugh Buckingham
Perry: Another one was Hugh Buckingham. He's a wonderful fellow. He doesn't have very good health now. He was idolized by everybody. Everyone likes him. They call him "Buck."
Baum: When did he start to college?
Perry: I think he graduated in 1907.
Baum: So he went after you had gone to Europe?
Perry: Yes, he remembered me when he had been a little boy.
Baum: He's the man who is going to write a biography of you.
Perry: Yes, he started to write one. I suppose he isn't well enough to put much energy into it. He's a beautiful writer, but he's not very energetic. His health has never been good. He tells me he remembers when I'd walk into the school up there, and he was a little child, six or seven years old. I had a big dog, and he likes to tell me that he knows all about that dog.
Baum: Were you rather a symbol of success to the students at the school?
Perry: Yes, I guess they all thought so. I was sort of lionized a great deal more than I had any occasion for. I suppose for being the first one to try going to college. I was doing something that people thought couldn't be done.
Baum: I understand you rode a bicycle around the Bay?
Perry: (laughter) Yes.
Baum: Was that later?
Perry: It was while I was in college. A fellow and I rode down to San José and back. He put a little bell so that when the spokes of his wheel struck it, it tingled, which enabled me to know where he was. I could guide myself by him. I could go alongside of him or behind him as I pleased, but that little bell told me where I was. I remember we rode down to San Jose on this side and back on the other side, up to San Francisco. Oh my, they thought I was as wonderful as Eisenhower. I don't know why it should have been harped on so much.
College Chums
Baum: Who were your special friends in college?
Perry: One that was very close was a man who after graduation disappeared, and I've never heard of since. His name was Gilbert Walker. Nice fellow and rather brilliant, a little lazy, I think. I was very fond of him. He went east, and I've never heard of him since. I've tried to hunt him up. The Drews, two brothers. John Drew and Bill Drew. They were great friends of mine. Bill Drew became principal of one of the high schools in San Francisco. John Drew ran a private school of his own over in San Francisco. I had a chum by the name of Powell, Walter Powell. He and I went to high school together and were great chums all the way through high school and college. The one I was closest to of any was Charlie Delany. We were chums at high school and through college, and we've been very close all through life. He died maybe four years ago. He became an engineer, worked in the East and finally came here and worked for the P.G. and E. Oh, all the people I was chums with have passed away. In fact, I guess there are very few of the class of 1896 still living.
Mrs. Perry
Baum: When did you meet Mrs. Perry?
Perry: You mean the first time? We went to college together.
Baum: Oh, is that right?
Perry: We both belonged to the class of '96. I saw her in New York a lot. Her folks would go back and forth to Europe a good deal; her father had interests in New York, so they lived in New York for a good many years. But we weren't married till I came back to California.
Baum: What was her maiden name?
Perry: Her father, who died when she was a very young child, his name was Unna. Her mother remarried. My wife often went by her stepfather's name to please him, because they were very devoted.
Baum: What did she study at the University?
Perry: Languages, a great deal. She was quite interested in Greek.
Baum: Where did she live when she was at the University?
Perry: San Francisco.
Baum: What was her first name?
Perry: Lillian, called herself Lilly. I never could get her to stick to one name...Kalman was the other last name she used, her stepfather's name. Lilly Unna Kalman. She got an MA in '98.
Baum: Was that in languages too? Greek?
Perry: That was in languages. I've forgotten just what it was; might have been German, because I know Professor Putzker of the University was interested in her thesis. Putzker was head of the German Department.
Baum: What was Mr. Kalman's business?
Perry: He really was a wine merchant. He was always going to Paris and so on to buy the different wines. He had some men who could taste the wine and tell you what it's going to be like so many years hence. Once at the St. Louis Fair, 1903, someone gave Mr. Kalman some wine to taste, and he guessed within a mile where the grapes grew, on the Rhine River in Germany.
Baum: Did Mrs. Perry work before you were married? Teach languages?
Perry: Yes, she did some. I started a sort of private school in Berkeley while I was a student and while I was a graduate student. She joined me there and taught languages, mostly Latin. Later she, her mother and stepfather, all went to Europe a lot, and they lived in New York. Then in 1912 we were planning to get married, and I came back to California, and she came a couple of months later, and we were married in April, 1912. She passed away in '35.
Baum: Did you have any children?
Perry: No, no children.
Alumni Association of Self-Supporting Blind
Baum: In our last interview we got as far as your trip to Europe, but we didn't cover the organization of the Alumni Association of Self-Supporting Blind.
Perry: Do you want to hear about that?
Baum: Yes, that is what I'm especially interested in.
Perry: All right. While I was in college, of course I spent a good deal of time thinking about what I was going to do when I got through, and a great many of the boys who had been in the school would come to me to tell their stories and what they'd like to do and how they were unable to do it apparently and so forth.
Baum: Why did they come to you, Dr. Perry? Because you had gotten through college?
Perry: I don't know. They had gotten into the habit, I suppose, at the school. All the children at the school came to me for some reason or another. And the other people in the school, the people in authority, took it for granted. Some boy would come and want to know if he couldn't go downtown this afternoon, and I would hear them tell him, "Well, if you get Perry to go down with you, it's all right."
Baum: Was this when you were still a student at the school?
Perry: Yes, this was when I was a child myself, like they were.
Baum: People just naturally looked to you for advice?
Perry: Well, of course I had remarkable ability in getting about. I developed that ability to get about shortly after I went blind, on the old ranch. I was running around, and I usually went on a run instead of a walk. The people got used to it. At any rate, if they had a row, the children, if one bunch was bothering another, they would come to me in their complaints. They wanted me to stop those. They always had an idea...they assumed somehow that I had authority. I didn't.
Baum: So, when you were in college, boys came to you for advice?
Perry: Yes, those who had graduated and left school would come about and see me, really for advice. I don't know as I had very much to give them, but I got the idea from it that it was quite a problem, not only to myself, but evidently to all of them. That convinced me that it was very essential for blind people to get all the education they can get. I noticed those people who had left school and had no advanced education, and that was practically all of them, were at a loss. They would go home and sit around and hope something would happen, but it never does.
In most homes the blind person is discouraged from doing things. Well, my dad always wanted me to be careful. I mustn't go here or there. I must stay away from the well and all that sort of stuff. Of course, that stimulated me to go all the more. I think my chief merit was that I never felt bound to do what he told me. In a little while they gave it up; they quit telling me I shouldn't do this and the other because they saw me do it. After a while it got so they would tell me there were some horses out there in the barn [that] hadn't been curried this morning, and would I go out and curry them? At first they wouldn't have dared let me go to the barn alone around the horses.
So I always advise blind children not to obey their parents because they never get anywhere if they do. The only ones that acquire the ability to get about are those who simply go and do it, which is always against the advice and instructions of their superiors.
Baum: These people you got together in the Alumni Association must have been the group who had more confidence.
Perry: They were out of school; they were graduated. I got what I could. Yes, they were mature people, and they didn't even take the thing seriously. In the first place they were afraid that, if they had an alumni association, the school authorities would object, which was true. School authorities were in those days afraid of the organized blind.
Baum: Oh, they were?
Perry: Well they were afraid they would spread criticism and would be a source of trouble, which wasn't altogether groundless. They probably would have, because the children, after they got out of school, began to wonder why they didn't do this or that and why someone didn't help them. There was no one to help them. The school wasn't equipped to help them as alumni. They probably should have been, but they weren't.
Baum: You called your association one of self-supporting blind. Were all the members earning their own livings?
Perry: They were all people who were trying to do something, that is, the principal ones. There was a man, Mr. Hull, a totally blind man who ran an express company. He had started it himself down here in Oakland. There was one boy who was quite a musician, in fact, quite a wonderful musician as a child. He taught the violin and piano and different things and also played at concerts. His name was Henry Foster.
There was a man, Daniel Weider, who was really employed at this home down in Oakland that had started, and he not only made brooms and all that, but he also kept the machinery in order. He was quite a mechanic, an ambitious fellow. He had wanted to go to college--that was before my time--but no one would help him. He was always bitter about that.
There was another fellow who had left school. He had some sight. He had ability as a dramatist, acting. He liked to do it, and he was a source of a great deal of pleasure to everybody. His name was George Calvert. He finally went ahead and joined theatrical groups and traveled around the country with the rest of them. He was very much liked, a very popular fellow.
But, when I came along and told them that I wanted them to form an organization, they at once had this fear that the school would object. I said, "Well, what could they do in their objection? How can they bother you? They don't know where you are or how you're living. They don't know anything about you."
Oh, they were afraid of that. They said, "Yes, the school, if they objected to it, they could hurt us." It's a strange idea, but they had that fear in their minds. And in fact the schools usually advised the children in those days, when they left school, not to see much of other blind people in any kind of club or organization. Keep away from them. So I had that to contend with. The general expression about my idea was, with perfect good nature but with considerable frankness, "That's one of Newel Perry's crazy ideas."
Of course, I contended that, if the blind were ever going to get anywhere, they'd have to do it themselves, and this sitting around waiting for Santa Claus to come doesn't work. But the idea was new to them, and they were very timid. However, they would come and we'd have a party and coffee and cake and argue about this, that, and the other thing, and they rather enjoyed it. So we started planning then.
In the first place we wanted higher education, which we didn't have anywhere. Next, we wanted opportunities for remunerative employment, which of course meant that it would require a great deal of state legislation. That meant we must think up what we wanted, put it in the form of a resolution or something, take it to a member of the legislature, and work for it.
Baum: Was there any state legislation at that time for the blind?
Perry: Well, none such as it is now. Of course, the State School was a state institution that was created way back in the [18]60's. But there was nothing done beyond the elementary education. The problem of a child's future when he left the school was a blank. Nobody had any idea or took any particular interest in it, largely because they simply didn't think it was practical or possible. That is still quite prevalent. This problem was before us, so we called a meeting in Oakland at one of their homes, and we had quite a crowd. Some came just out of curiosity, a few got interested in it, and the others came for a little social amusement. Then others began to talk about wanting to go to college, the younger people. I remember we got a good deal of advertising in the papers. A lady reporter, I think her name was Darling...she was a graduate of the university with very high honors, came and called on me and gave us a write-up in the Bulletin, I think a Saturday Bulletin, a few days after we had that meeting in Oakland. I imagine it was in 1898. Well, the thing grew quite a bit. I had quite a crowd.
Baum: Were you president of this association?
Perry: I guess so. I've kind of forgotten. At any rate, if I wasn't president nominally, I was anyhow because they'd all leave it to me. I was the only one who had such crazy ideas, and they weren't as crazy as I was.
Baum: About how many members were there then?
Perry: I think we had about 25 to 30.
Baum: And they were all self-supporting?
Perry: I wouldn't say they were all exactly self-supporting. They were all earning something, and some were quite successful, and others were not so much so.
Baum: That was a pretty good number, don't you think, for that day?
Perry: Well it was. Of course, others were people who had come along and were not particularly promising, and we didn't expect much of anything from them.
Europe and a PhD
Perry: In 1900 I left and went to Europe to get my PhD. I went to Göttingen and decided that wasn't what [I] wanted and went down to Zurich, Switzerland, and stayed there for one semester. Then I left and went to Munich and took one semester, and then I got my degree, my PhD in mathematics. I liked Munich very much.
Baum: Did you come into contact with any blind groups in Europe?
Perry: Yes, the only thing I could see that the [blind] were doing, some of them had studied music and could play, and some of them had positions playing the organ for churches. I saw quite a number of those in Switzerland and everywhere. The blind seemed to be able to fill those positions, and the people would accept it, but outside of that I didn't see them doing much of anything. Some of them had institutions where the adult blind could go, run perhaps by the government, sometimes by charity, but largely by the government. They would teach them how to make brooms and brushes and things of that kind, which is what they do down here in Oakland at this adult institution.
(Brings over a clothes brush to show.)
Perry: When I was in Munich, a blind man in an institution made this for me.
Baum: You mean this brush is over fifty years old?
Perry: He made that in 1901.
Baum: That's a good brush.
Perry: Yes, he gave it to me as a present, sort of. I had no idea it would last as long as it has.
Baum: Were there any organized blind groups in Europe? Had the blind people thought of getting together for their own benefit?
Perry: No. Once in awhile the government would hold a sort of convention, an international one sometimes. While I was in Zurich they had a convention in Paris. The blind went to it. Of course they didn't get it up; the teachers in institutions and so forth got it up. The blind people could come.
Baum: Was it mainly just social?
Perry: Well, largely. The different superintendents of the different institutions would tell what they were doing and so forth. There was nothing very constructive coming out of it, due to the fact that the blind people didn't have much to do with it. They weren't encouraged to have much to do with it. Timidity holds blind people back. It did more then than now. They've rather outgrown that timidity, many of them at least, so we now have blind people who can do their own talking.
Baum: Did you think at that time that Europe was ahead or behind the United States in opportunities for the blind?
Perry: Well, really, neither of them had any opportunities for the blind. There had been a history of the development of the blind which had been developed in Europe, but I think we had passed them by my time.
When I was in Germany, I had a friend who had a chemist shop. He asked me about myself and my life, and I told him how I had been brought up in California, how my family lost their money and was broken up, how I went to the blind school, how I got to go to Germany to study. He was very quiet when I finished; then he said, "It couldn't happen in Germany." He didn't quite dare say he didn't believe me, or maybe he was too polite. After that he quit meeting me for dinner. I began to wonder what was wrong. Then it dawned on me that he was insulted; I had insulted his intelligence by telling him seriously an unbelievable yarn that you might tell as a bedtime story to children. I don't blame him; any other German would have felt the same way. Even without the blindness element, it was quite a story because of the special American conditions. A boy born in poverty in Germany has no way of getting out of it. Well, they're improving now, but they didn't have. I should have stopped to think.
Baum: You just told him the truth without thinking.
Perry: What a fool I was! I don't blame him at all for not believing me.
Tutoring in New York
Perry: When I came back from Europe, I was very much impressed with New York. It's such a wonderful city, and, financially speaking, it was the center of the country; now it's the financial center of the world. They can do so many things so easily. They could go out and collect $100,000 where we would collect $100 in those days. So I decided that, instead of coming back here, I would stop and try my luck in New York. I tutored people for entrance to the universities, boys who had not been good students when they were in the high schools, and they found, when they got to be seniors, they weren't equipped to go to college, and they wanted to go to college. They'd want a private tutor. I also tutored the students at Columbia, the engineering students who had not been properly trained before entering college.
Baum: Was that mainly in mathematics?
Perry: Mathematics, yes.
Baum: I heard you also tried the insurance business.
Perry: I sold insurance, personal insurance, and then I tried insuring livestock.
Baum: Insuring livestock!
Perry: Started a little company on it, in fact. And sold it out. I didn't do very much on either of them; I was principally interested in tutoring.
Baum: So the insurance business wasn't very much?
Perry: No. I made some money at it, but I was not primarily interested in it. It tended to take my time away from tutoring.
Baum: Also I heard you had a mail-order fortune-telling business, where you could tell if an unborn child was going to be a boy or a girl.
Perry: Oh no! That was sprung on me as a joke by somebody. We talked a lot about it and Columbia law students used to argue about it.
Baum: Argue about whether it could be done?
Perry: About whether it was legal. Everyone I've spoken to thinks it would be. I've told about it as a joke very often.
We thought of advertising, sending letters to people, enclosing a questionnaire, and charging a dollar for a prediction. If we were wrong, we would refund the dollar. The questionnaire was to make it more mysterious. One would be bound to be right some of the time, and that would be a dollar earned.
Baum: Did you think it was legal?
Perry: No, but the law students thought it would be. I think the Postmaster General has the authority to stop undesirable mail. It was just a lot of fun to discuss it.
Baum: Did you ever take any courses at Columbia?
Perry: No.
American Association of Workers for the Blind
Baum: I was told that you had taken part in the organization of the American Association of Workers for the Blind back in 1905. Could you tell me about that?
Perry: Yes. I'm a life member of that organization now.
Baum: That split off from the American Association of Instructors for the Blind, didn't it?
Perry: No, I don't think it had much to do with the Instructors, or at least, it never did in my mind. I never took much interest in the Instructors. The Instructors were chiefly state officials of the schools, and they really had very little, as far as I could see, to contribute. My impression has always been that the teachers in the schools know very little about the real problems of the blind and take little interest.
Baum: What was the purpose of this Association of Workers for the Blind?
Perry: It was intended to be an organization largely of the blind, a realization that they should solve their own problems and not wait for state agencies. All our progress has been in spite of the opposition of the state agencies.
Baum: Was this association made up mainly of blind persons?
Perry: Yes, largely.
Baum: It's not any more, is it?
Perry: It has a great many sighted in it; it includes anyone who works for the blind. The elected officers are blind. The A.A.W.B. was a good effort and has accomplished a great deal. They are very active now, and they rather resent the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind. I think they are a little jealous; all the agencies are. The governmental agencies, either federal or state, like to advertise themselves as doing so much for the blind, but they really do very little progressive. The fact that they are government officials intimidates them, and they hesitate to go to the legislatures and Congress harping on new legislation.
No one in the California Council or in the National Federation gets any remuneration, so the only people we get are those who are genuinely interested and who are willing to go out and campaign and propagandize. I think the A.A.W.B. has improved because of our National Federation and our state councils, and they have gotten over some of their initial opposition to us. In many ways they are doing the same things the state councils are doing, except they don't like to encourage the blind to express themselves. The agencies like to take all the credit, but they can't do that so much anymore because there's propaganda being published by the blind that calls their bluff, so they are now taking an interest in legislation.
Baum: Are most of the A.A.W.B. members sighted?
Perry: Oh, about half, but the leaders are blind.
Baum: You'd think they'd go right along with the Federation then and be members of it.
Perry: No. They are largely employees of the agencies or hope they will be, and the state agencies discourage progressive things. So they were utterly amazed that any blind people had the courage to get up and say what they wanted. Of course, it is our assumption that the only people who really understand blindness are blind people.
Winifred Holt and the Lighthouse
Perry: During the time I was in New York, I became associated with the Lighthouse. There was a movement started in New York to help the blind get employment. The idea was to build a shop and have the blind people work in the shop, same as we have in California. Here we have these shops run by the state. New York, for some reason or another, is very backward about those things, though she thinks she's way up. You've read the name of the publisher of many books, Henry Holt and Company?
Baum: Oh yes.
Perry: Well his daughter Winifred was a very prominent social figure in New York City, and she became very enthusiastic about helping the blind adults. She heard of me in some way, and she'd have me go down there, and I'd sit and talk by the hour with her. The next day she'd ring again. It kept me away from my tutoring.
Baum: Did she want you to advise her?
Perry: Yes, she wanted me to talk about it. She wanted it, I think, for propaganda purposes also. I think she wanted to write up a lot of stuff, and she thought she could make a story out of it. I don't know. They started a broom shop for the blind and so forth. So I at once said, "We ought to have an organization of these blind." That frightened her a little.
Baum: It did?
Perry: Finally she said all right. So I wrote up a constitution for them. We called a meeting and had a club formed. They called it...
Baum: Was that the New York Association for the Blind?
Perry: No, that was Miss Holt's organization. You mean the Lighthouse on 59th Street?
Baum: Yes.
Perry: Well, she was the founder of that, and she was doing it then. They didn't have that building on 59th Street then. Of course, my association would be in connection with that. I think we called it the Blindmen's Self-Improvement Club. I had the "self" in it because I wanted the blind to do something themselves.
Baum: This was similar to the club you started here?
Perry: Yes. The word "self" made trouble. You see, Miss Holt wanted to talk about what they were doing for the blind and not what the blind were doing for themselves. Socially Miss Holt was high in society, and she had the ear of endless wealthy people, so she could do a lot, and I was glad to encourage her. But of course she couldn't see that "self" business at all. At any rate we formed the organization, and she used to come to it. Eventually I told her I couldn't give the time any more. We had a big booming society of about 100 people. I've formed, I guess, dozens of organizations for the blind around in different places, but, as soon as I left, they usually died out. That society is still running now. They call themselves the Blindmen's Improvement Club. They took the "self" out after I left New York.
Baum: Did they accomplish much?
Perry: Well not very much because they don't run it. You see, they are workers in that shop, and the attitude of the agencies for the blind, not of the blind--they intimidate the blind. The blind all have the feeling, and I guess there must be some foundation for it, that, if they express ideas that don't happen to agree with the people in charge of the agency, it will be to their great disadvantage. And it works that way. Of course in New York generally the agencies for helping the poor and so forth are very strongly entrenched, and any poor fellow who has indulged in criticism will very soon wish he hadn't said anything. That is still true.
And Miss Holt took that same attitude, and she wanted it to be a part of the association. She wanted to sort of dictate what they should do and what they shouldn't do, and all the little programs were to be her programs, not theirs.
Baum: Do you think Winifred Holt really understood the problems of the blind?
Perry: Well, she thought she did. No, she knew that the blind were in great need, and she wanted to help them. Of course, like a great many people, she wanted to get a little glory. She would get the papers to write up things she had done. Expressions antagonistic to what she had said also got into the papers.
Baum: Made by blind people?
Perry: By blind people and friends of blind people who expressed the ideas of blind people. The editor of the Matilda Ziegler magazine wrote a long article criticizing Miss Holt, and it made quite a stir.
Baum: My goodness. Well, there wasn't any profit made on this shop, was there?
Perry: You mean for her?
Baum: Yes, or for anybody?
Perry: Well they employed people. They had a manager, and he was paid a salary. Of course it was the beginning of an organization, and naturally they didn't have a lot of money yet. These blind people were not making a living at all, but on the other hand, if they didn't do that, they'd sit home, so some of them would go down and work, but they weren't real employees. They mixed up a good deal of chatter with their work.
Oh, I never questioned her motives myself. She would have liked to have done something for the blind, and she had an idea she knew how to do it, which wasn't any too well founded, I guess. My own idea was that advanced education was the thing to help the blind. That's why I thought so much of a reader bill. The blind had schools to go to, and, when they got through with the school, they couldn't go to college, and then they were lost. However, the point was that she got me mingling in, helping her there, and of course the blind people got to coming to me. I wanted to get rid of that because I had to make a living myself. There was nothing in it except taking my time, and, when I spent my time on them, I wasn't making anything. So I tried to get out of it. But that's one thing about working for the blind--you start working for the blind and you can't get out of it. It keeps growing.
Baum: Do you mean you don't want to get out of it, really, after you've started?
Perry: Well you don't want to, but, if you did want to, you'd find it almost impossible. They keep coming, and, if you're really genuinely interested in helping them, and I guess we generally are, you spend your time on it when you should be thinking of yourself. Of course, if I'd been a millionaire or something of that kind, it wouldn't have mattered, but I had to jump around pretty lively to keep myself alive.
Baum: I understand Carl Schurz was an advisor of Winifred Holt.
Perry: I don't know. He might have been. I didn't come in contact with him, or I've forgotten it. That was a long time ago, you know.
Baum: Mark Twain was in this New York Association for the Blind too.
Perry: Well, yes. When they would try to have a meeting preparatory to collecting a lot of money, and in New York wealth is unlimited apparently, Miss Holt got up a meeting, spent several months advertising it. Of course, she was very, very prominent in society. They jumped at the opportunity of getting Mark Twain to come down and be one of the principal speakers at this big affair. I don't know that he ever took any great, particular interest in the blind. He made a delightful talk.
Baum: They got a lot of money at that meeting, didn't they?
Perry: Yes, they got a lot of money.
Baum: He didn't really work in the Association? He was just a big name.
Perry: Oh no, he was a big man brought in for his big name.
New York Reader Bill for Blind College Students
Perry: Well, I kept thinking about a reader bill for the blind, so one day I said to myself, "I'm just going to write a bill, and see if I can get somebody to introduce it in the legislature in Albany and see what happens." It's funny, because I wrote the bill, and then I didn't know where to find an assemblyman. It occurred to me then that the only place I could think of where they would probably know would be to go down to the saloon, so I went down and asked the saloonkeeper, "Who's your assemblyman around here?" He said, oh yes, he knew all about it and told me. If I had gone up to the University and asked any professor who the assemblyman was, he wouldn't have known.
I went and rang up the assemblyman. I told him my name and where I was and that I had a bill I wanted to have introduced and would he have time for me to see him. He said, "Why yes, yes. I can come anytime. Do you want me to come up now?" I said, "No, I think I'll put it off. How about Sunday?" He said, "Yes."
So Sunday he walked in, and I showed him the bill and explained what it was. He said, "Why, it's fine. I think we can get that through." He introduced my bill in the Assembly.
Baum: Had you talked to any other blind people about this?
Perry: There, you mean?
Baum: Yes, in New York.
Perry: Not many. I had thought of it, and I had plenty of opportunity to, but I knew that, if I had advanced it, there would have been opposition, and I thought I could get along better without saying anything about it at all. After all, the question was to get it through the legislature.
Baum: So you started this all alone.
Perry: Oh yes, entirely alone. I did make one move, and I think I made a mistake; I went to the head of the …, an organization of lawyers who give legal advice to the poor.
Baum: The Legal Aid Society?
Perry: Yes. I went to the head of the Legal Aid Society, after I got the bill introduced, and wanted him to write to the legislature or the governor. I gave him the number of the bill and so forth. He said, oh yes, he'd do it, and I guess he did. He said he did.
Later on I spoke to this same attorney that I'd asked to write to the governor, and he said, "Well I think, Dr. Perry, that I've done all that I think [I] should...I think what you should do now is to see if you can't get an association interested in it."
Well, without his knowing what he was doing, he was telling me that Miss Holt had gotten in touch with him. That was after I had quit going down to her place. I knew right away that she would have opposed my idea of higher education. She would think that was a fancy because there'd be only one blind man in several thousand who could go to college. So I didn't say anything. I just acted dumb and went out. I don't think he could have done anything for me anyhow.
Everybody whom I spoke to about the bill said, "Why, it's unconstitutional. It's class legislation. Appropriating money for blind college students; why should they give it to blind people and not to other people?" Well, I was pretty sure that wasn't the case, and I knew lots of lawyers. In fact, a lawyer and I sat together every day at dinner, and he said, "Oh, it's class legislation." Then the members of the legislature would write me that they thought it was unconstitutional, or they'd been told it was unconstitutional. It was very evident that I'd have to do something.
I had written to the governor (Charles Evans Hughes) and asked if I could see him. That was before it had been introduced. So he very kindly told me that he'd be at a certain office at a certain date and would be glad to see me at a certain time. I went down that day and told him what I wanted. He was a very remarkable man. His mind went so fast that you couldn't keep up with it. He came back at me immediately, "Well, that sounds fine. Now, can you show me how in doing that, which would be a good thing for the blind, you're not opening up an opportunity for its wide extension over other classes. Here's a poor widow down the street here and she has to make a living for her children. She's got a boy, and, if he could go to college, he'd be a better man and have greater opportunities. Why not give him some money? When they come forward with that plan, how can the legislature defend itself?"
Of course that was the very thing I had been worrying about, but I didn't know the answer. But I saw that he practically gave me to understand that he'd be very glad to help me and thought it was a fine thing if I could get around that obstacle. So I thanked him and said, "Well, you'll have to give me a little time, but I think I can do it."
I went down and bought a constitution of New York State and looked through it. Now, you know most all constitutions have, after they've put down what you can and cannot do, a section of exceptions and they say that notwithstanding anything stated elsewhere in this constitution, nothing in this constitution shall be interpreted to prevent this, that and the other thing. In all constitutions it is unlawful for the legislature to give money to any individual. They can pay you a salary for working for the state, but they can't present you with some money out of the state treasury.
I thought to myself, "I'll bet, if I can find that section with the exceptions in it, we'll see if I won't find something." Well I finally found the section, and I think there were twenty-some-odd exceptions and way down, I remember it was number eighteen, it said, "Nothing elsewhere stated in this constitution shall prevent the appropriation of state money for the education of the blind."
Well I couldn't have asked for anything any better. Of course the men who put that in there were undoubtedly thinking about the state school for the blind. They didn't say anything about adults or children, but I don't suppose the question of helping adult blind had ever been thought about. But that didn't make any difference. It did say for the education of the blind, and my bill was for nothing else but the education of the blind. I quickly wrote to the Governor and told him just where to find it and quoted it and also to these legislators who had expressed their doubts as to its constitutionality.
Well the assembly passed the bill in no time and got it into the senate. Finally the head of the committee on appropriations, the financial committee, wrote me a letter and said they'd probably take up this bill on a certain day, and he thought it might be a very good thing if I were present. So I had to leave and go up to Albany.
I was short of change. It was quite a joke how I got there. I'd have to run up to Albany and be there all day and maybe stay overnight. So I went down to the saloon on the corner again. There was a nice bunch of fellows who came there. Many of them were faculty members at Columbia, almost like a club.
I sprang it on them. I told them what my situation was and that I wanted to go up there tomorrow morning, and I wanted to know if they wanted to pass the hat around and see that I could get up there and get back. Well there was silence all over. That kind of surprised me because I thought they'd be tickled to death. And then they came up with the question, "Well I'd do it, sure, if it were going to help you. Will it be of any assistance to you in any way?" Well I couldn't say "Yes." I didn't want to go to college. So I said, "No, it won't, not that I know of." They said, "Well, if you don't get anything out of it, what's the good of bothering about it?"
I gave them a talk about what it would accomplish, so they did pass the hat. I think they gave me twelve or fifteen dollars.
Next morning I went down and got an early train and got to Albany. I went over to see my representative, who had introduced my bill. He said he'd go up with me to the meeting of the committee that afternoon.
Baum: Do you remember what the name of this assemblyman was?
Perry: I think it was Brough. I remember asking him...he called himself "Bruff" and I said, "Where do you get your 'gh' in there?" He said, "Well, how do you spell 'rough'?" I walked in to see the chairman of the senate committee and he said, "You go right up to our room. We're just adjourning our session, and our committee will all be there in a few minutes." So I went in there and took a seat, and they came in and held their meeting, one bill after another, one bill after another, didn't say a word about my bill. They kept on; the time got later, four o'clock, after four, after five. I thought, "Well, my heavens, they'll adjourn in a minute. I wonder if he's forgotten me." Then it occurred to me that he was doing that deliberately. He was waiting until they all wanted to adjourn and were all in a hurry and he would say something about the bill, and bingo, it would pass. I was taking a chance, but I bet that was what he was doing.
Sure enough, at the very end he said, "Well now we've got a little matter here." It was only for a small amount of money. Three thousand dollars I was asking for. "I think we're all interested in it and Dr. Perry is here. I'll ask him to speak on it. We want to get it out today if we can." He showed his hand right away to all of them that he wanted the bill out.
So I got up and told them what the plan was. There was only one man who I had thought would not fall for it. The chairman said, "Well, what's your decision, gentlemen? We'll have to adjourn." And they all voted, and the thing went out unanimously.
Then, I was so tickled I went home and wrote a long letter to the governor. The governor in New York had thirty days to sign the bill, and, if he didn't sign it, it was vetoed.
Baum: You said that you thought Winifred Holt would be against it.
Perry: Well, she was. She opposed it.
Baum: I was wondering if any other agencies opposed it.
Perry: They didn't know about it. I wanted to keep it as quiet as I could, because I'd rather concentrate on the people in the legislature. After the governor had signed it, they could make all the noise about it they wanted to. There was no pronounced opposition. Some people didn't care for it, but they didn't do anything about opposing it because they thought it wouldn't get anywhere anyhow, that it was a crazy idea.
The State of New York had two residential schools for the blind, has still. The superintendent of one of them heard about the bill, and he wrote me a courteous, nice note urging that I withdraw the bill for the present so that they could all consider it and perhaps put it through next year. That simply meant that they didn't want anybody to take too much interest in what they were doing. They had a kind of isolated position in the schools; no one knows anything about them. They're not particularly anxious that people should take any interest in reforms or anything of that kind. I knew enough about blind schools to know that. So I wrote him a polite letter and said that I would consider what he said. I phrased it in such a way that he would conclude that I wasn't going to go ahead with it. So he didn't bother me anymore.
Time passed, and I began to get worried. Two days before the expiration of the time for the governor to sign, I rang Miss Holt up. I said, "My bill is in the governor's hands; has been for some time; passed both houses unanimously; I want to have him sign it at least by tomorrow; if you wish to have your organization write to the governor advocating it, that would be fine." She said, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I wasn't looking for an argument, so I let that go by. But, when she realized that the thing was going to be a law, of course she wanted to be in on it. She said she would hold a committee meeting that night and endorse it and write a letter to the governor. Apparently they did. Finally, the last day came. If he didn't sign it that day, it was gone. I said, "Well, I've done my best. I'll just sit down and take my medicine if I have to. I'll have to try next year again."
Around five o' clock the kids came out with their newspapers, yelling and shouting, and they were making an awful noise. "Governor signs reader bill for blind college students." I rushed out and got a newspaper. He had signed it the last day. That was in, I guess, August. The university started up shortly and eleven blind people entered college in New York.
I thought all the other states would just copy that. I was disappointed. They are doing so, but very slowly. Some did it after a year or so, and some haven't done it yet. Then I came out to California in 1912, so I introduced it here right away. In fact I introduced two forms of it, and the governor signed both of them. Now it's prevalent in pretty much all the states.
Of course we've increased the amount from year to year. The last session the California legislature raised the amount. Graduate students can spend $1,200 reader money per year and undergraduates $1,000. The New York bill, when it started, was $300 a year. It's been a wonderful thing. Now, there is nothing to prevent a blind person, no matter what his situation is; if he's an orphan and lives in an almshouse, there is nothing to prevent his going to college and getting his PhD degree now in California, except his lack of brains and lack of ambition. We now have in California in our different colleges over seventy blind people. The other states have some, but not so many.
Baum: It sounds as if the New York bill was a singlehanded accomplishment by you. You did it all alone.
Perry: Well, I was afraid. If you started an argument about it with the public, you would find some opposition, and I didn't see that you needed it. You had to present your case to the legislature; they're the ones who do the voting. You've got to get their consent. It looked very simple because the amount that I asked for was very small. My experience with legislatures--and I've been working with them all my life--is that that doesn't count as much as I thought it did. It's just as hard to get a bill appropriating $3,000 through the legislature as it is for $300,000. You have to do the same things, and there's apt to be not very much enthusiasm because it looks like a trifling bill.
Baum: When you and Miss Holt disagreed on the reader's bill, did that damage your friendship?
Perry: Oh, it didn't do it much good. No...she was very, very friendly with me, but she was a woman who always wanted her way, very intolerantly, and I never had any discussion with her. But she did say, and talked around a good deal, about how unfair it was to have a reader bill, money for the few who were getting educated. She was going to put in a shop that was going to make a living for, I guess, all the blind in New York, she thought. Of course it never does.
No, the people who know nothing about it at once think of a shop. Get the blind together, put them in, teach them to do one thing, and they'll all make a good living and be happy the rest of their lives. But in the first place the blind people wouldn't want to do it. They vary in their tastes like anybody else. They would dislike the job.
Of course what you can't get people to understand is why to educate the blind is so expensive. You spend so much money on one person instead of taking the same money and helping a whole lot of people. That's their argument. The fact is that, if you'll educate a few blind people, it brings about a great change. The great interest in the blind now is due to the fact that a few blind people have had an education.
I helped a boy, Ernest Crowley, get into the legislature in Sacramento, and he became possibly the most popular man in the legislature. He was a lawyer. Everybody in the state knew him or knew of him, practically, and knew that he was totally blind. It stopped all the talk about how helpless the blind were, that there was nothing they could do. He could get bills through the legislature when no one else could...He died a few years ago, and it seemed as if the whole county was at his funeral. It has done away with most of that talk about how you can pity the blind but you mustn't expect anything of them.
Baum: Apparently Governor Hughes was able to see your point of view rather than Miss Holt's view.
Perry: Well, fundamentally my point was very simple. If you educate a man, you increase his opportunities of doing things. I think Hughes saw at once that it was a more serious problem for the blind than for the others and that an education would reduce his difficulties. He saw that in the time you could snap your finger.
Baum: It sounds as if you thought he was a very bright man.
Perry: Hughes? Oh he was, a very brilliant man.
Baum: Did you vote for him for governor?
Perry: Yes, I did.
Baum: You thought he was a good governor?
Perry: He was a remarkably good governor. Of course he was a very, very upright man, very brilliant. [To be continued.]
Ask Miss Whozit

From the Editor: From time to time Miss Whozit answers reader questions about etiquette and good manners, particularly as they involve blindness. If you would like to pose a question to Miss Whozit, you can send it to the attention of Gary Wunder, 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, or email me at <[email protected]>. I will pass the questions along. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Here are the most recent letters Miss Whozit has received:
Dear Miss Whozit,
I have been blind since age nine, and I will not tell you how many years ago I was nine, but rest assured, it was decades ago. I have a lot of experience traveling on my own. I am a confident traveler with both my guide dog and my cane. I am active on several boards and commissions. I work full time and spend every free moment hiking, running, climbing, etc. My older brother, who has known me all my life, shocked me last week when I went to board my plane. He was very nervous and agitated about leaving me at the curb and insisted on walking me inside to the check-in counter. I allowed him this big-brother privilege, but, when he wanted to get special permission to accompany me through security and to my gate, I became agitated. I kept my anger under control, but I was angry that he believed I needed this assistance. I left him at the check-in counter and went on my way by myself. I struggle with the general public’s not understanding the competence of blind people, but I try to give them the benefit of the doubt on the grounds of their ignorance. However, my own brother knows better!

I must be doing something wrong. Should I have insisted he drop me at the curb? Should I not let anyone help me a little bit for fear they will assume that they need to help a lot?
Please advise!
Frustrated
Dear Frustrated,
No, you have not done anything wrong, and yes, we have all been in the situation you describe. You have outlined one of several different but related problems of family adjustment.
When blind adults return home following successful adjustment-to-blindness training, parents, spouses, siblings, and close friends may have a rude awakening. The dependent, docile, insecure blind person who left home only months ago has returned waving a white cane or hanging on to the harness of a dog and expecting loved ones to let him or her stride off independently into traffic and who knows what other dangers. Frequently these well-meaning souls have been acting as sighted guide and have been part of a general conspiracy to pretend that blindness is not a fact of life. Suddenly a stranger comes home inhabiting a familiar body but behaving in new and uncomfortable ways.
With luck this situation is merely transitional. Resolving it takes patience and understanding on the part of the blind person, but family members and friends who truly want independence for the rehabilitated person, if confronted with tact and understanding and maybe even gentle humor, will recognize the inappropriateness of their behavior and rejoice in this transformation.
Family members who knew us when…but have not spent much time with us since we became adults, often behave the way your brother did. They know perfectly well, in theory at least, that we hold down jobs, travel independently, manage our homes and lives, and generally carry on our lives pretty much the way they do. But they haven’t observed us engaged in the daily conduct of these activities. Their experience is of us as children or untrained young people. Even when they have observed us from time to time running after a toddler or flying home for Christmas, they are inclined to revert to the more familiar and more comprehensible memories of the old days. Unless adults, blind or sighted, spend a lot of time with family members, parents and older siblings especially tend to stick all children or younger siblings into the pigeonholes of “Daddy’s little girl” or “kid brother.” This tendency is merely human nature, and no one solution will resolve the problem when independence is at stake. Sometimes humorously horrified indignation or teasing incredulity will call attention to inappropriate behavior and bring it to a halt. However, those who are oblivious of their intrusive behavior may need a serious talking to. For the sake of family harmony it is best to avoid anger or outrage if possible. Before resorting to swallowing your pride and accepting inappropriate assistance, Miss Whozit would suggest restricting the amount of time you spend with those who seem incapable of adjusting to the world as it is and not as the family member remembers it.

The third category of problematic family members and so-called friends are those who, to meet their own needs, insist on denying the blind person’s independence: put that cane away; you are walking with me. Sit down there; I’ll clean up the kitchen. If I let you do it, you’ll just make a mess. If calling attention to such tactless and inappropriate attitudes in a serious conversation does not lead to a good-faith effort to alter behavior, you should definitely limit contact with the person or, if that is not possible, explore opportunities for third-party intervention or counseling. Such attitudes are poison when a person is first moving into new-found independence, and it is an outrageous insult to a competent blind adult.

Dear Miss Whozit,
I have two incidents I wish to have you discuss. I have a blind friend who is a very nice person but talks constantly. When we go out to lunch or dinner together, she talks incessantly, even when the waitress is serving us. The waitress oftentimes tells us things like "The glass is above the plate; your silverware is on the napkin to your left." My friend continues her conversation as if no one but me were there. My tactic has been to make sure that I thank the waitress for every helpful comment, even if she overdoes it a bit. However, this hinting isn’t working. How should I handle this without hurting her feelings?
The other thing I would like you to comment on happened a few years ago when I was being trained on a computer program by a blind instructor. We went out to lunch, and, after being given our bills, my instructor asked me a question. "Just a minute," I said. “I'm figuring out my tip."
He said, "That's great! I've worked with some blind people who have told me that they don't have to give a tip because they are blind." I was totally blown away by that concept. What do you think?
Bewildered
Dear Bewildered,
Miss Whozit has also observed that the humanity of servers has escaped the notice of some people. Surely your friend recognizes that her meal is appearing, so it must be that she does not believe that civility requires her to acknowledge that fact. You are certainly correct that courtesy requires the two of you to stop talking while you are being served. Miss Whozit has been known to comment to an over-zealous server in gentle and lady-like tones that the geography lesson is not necessary. But, since some blind people appreciate receiving such information, one must decline it with tact. I doubt that your friend would be hurt by your saying, “Just a moment, Esmeralda, here is the server. We can continue our conversation when she is finished.”
As for the diverting notion that blind people are excused from tipping, Miss Whozit is shocked to her dainty toes that anyone is still using such an excuse. Blind people who are too strapped financially to leave a tip should remain home or frequent fast-food restaurants, where the order taker cum cashier does not expect a tip. The rest of us should be calculating 15 to 20 percent unless we receive poor service and adding that amount to our checks—like everybody else.
Featured Book from Your tenBroek Library

Reviewed by Ed Morman
Deborah Kent. Belonging: A Novel. New York: Dial Press, 1978
From the Editor: With some regularity we spotlight books in the tenBroek Library. Here is Librarian Ed Morman's review of a book in our collection:
Deborah Kent is, of course, our own Debbie Kent Stein, editor of Future Reflections and chair of the NFB's quiet car committee (or, more formally, the Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety). Many Federationists also know Debbie as a prolific author of books--both novels and non-fiction--for children and adolescents.
Belonging was Debbie's first published novel. Written while she was in her late twenties, Belonging takes as its subject a teenage girl whose experiences somewhat mirror Debbie's own of a decade and a half earlier. The protagonist, Meg, has had the advantage of growing up in a comfortable middle-class suburban family with parents who accepted her congenital blindness as just one of their daughter's characteristics. Meg has a younger, sighted brother, Sam, who clearly loves and admires her. For Sam having a blind sibling is normal, so he thinks nothing of Meg's inability to see. It is a given, a simple fact no more important than the color of her hair or her love of reading.

We meet Meg when, as a fifteen-year-old, she is preparing for her first day at a regular school. Her parents, though they nurtured her independent spirit, were uncertain about the wisdom of her choice; but Sam backs her up with his confident assertion that, if Meg said she could go to high school with the sighted kids, nothing more need be said. Sam was certain that she could manage it quite well.
Though written for young adults, in no way does Belonging talk down to its intended audience. For the sighted person of any age who knows nothing about blindness, this book subtly teaches that a blind person's daily life is as normal as the life of the sighted.

Incidental to the plot, but important in painting a full portrait of Meg, are her observations about the bulkiness of Braille books or the need, at certain times, to choose between independent cane travel and walking with a sighted guide. While Meg is concerned that her blindness may get in the way of her ability to make new friends, we soon find out that her problems adjusting to the new school have little to do with her disability.
In fact, the book can be read simply as a coming-of-age story in twentieth-century America. In it a teenager finds that her efforts at inclusion meet with some success but that this does not necessarily lead to a satisfactory social life. Meg gains the attention of one of the popular boys and is invited to party, but she suffers the humiliation of being excluded from full participation in the kissing game, spin the bottle. It's not that the kids in the in-crowd are mean or especially prejudiced against blindness; the well-meaning principal--similarly missing the point that blind people are normal--also embarrasses Meg by asking her to demonstrate her Brailling skills during parent-teacher night.
No, Meg's dissatisfaction with the popular kids has more to do with the fact that she finds them dull. And she feels authentically included by the two oddballs with whom she works on the school magazine. Meg and the other editors conspire to stand up for their faculty advisor, Miss Kellogg, who has antagonized the school administration by failing to follow the prescribed curriculum in her English classes.
After Miss Kellogg is forced to resign, Meg and her friends publish an editorial defending her. But ultimately their defense of Miss Kellogg is for naught. She is gone for good, and the three who collaborated on the editorial are suspended from school for a few days. Meg's parents have mixed feelings about this episode, and Debbie leaves the reader uncertain about whether Miss Kellogg may have indeed been unfit to teach. This twist only strengthens the story, because real life is like that. Meg has discovered where she fits in; she has the satisfaction of accomplishing what looks like a good deed with her real friends; but, if she is wise, she will reflect on the lessons she might learn.
Belonging established Deborah Kent as a leading writer for young people, and by now a generation and a half of fortunate children and adolescents have been able to enjoy her first-rate prose while learning about everything from disability rights to migrant farm workers, or from the Salem witch trials to the War of 1812, or from teenage love to African American patriots, or from. . . . Well, by now you should get the point. At this point we have close to a hundred titles by Debbie Kent Stein listed in our online catalog, THE BLIND CAT.
Belonging is available from the NLS in Braille (BR 03940) and audio (RC 13304). The NLS catalog also lists more than twenty other books by Deborah Kent Stein in accessible format, including more fiction for young adults; books on the states of the U.S.; and books on American Sign Language, animal helpers, disabled athletes, and the disability rights movement.
Recipes

This month’s recipes have been provided by members of the National Federation of the Blind of Indiana.
Hamburger Pie
by Jean Brown
Jean Brown is the wife of Ron Brown, NFB of Indiana president and NFB second vice president. She has two daughters and six grandchildren. She joined the Federation in 1982 and has been the state fundraising chair for over twenty years. She owns Visions Salon & Day Spa and is a state sales representative for Advanced Diabetic Solutions. She enjoys reading a good book with Ron whenever possible, bowling in the fall and winter, and beep baseball in the summer. When she really wants excitement, she just plans another fundraising project.
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1 can cut green beans, optional
1 cup grated cheese (or more if you are a cheese lover)
1 1/2 cups instant potato flakes
Seasoning salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Method: Cook crumbled ground beef over medium heat until done. Remove from skillet, draining the fat. Drain the green beans. Mix the beef, green beans, soup, and seasonings in a glass dish or round pan. Make up the mashed potatoes according to package directions. Spoon the potatoes over the beef mixture. If you use a large cooking spoon to move the potatoes, you will have a serving per scoop. Sprinkle cheese over the potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for about twenty-five minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and pie is bubbly.

Refrigerator Mashed Potatoes
by Susan Jones
Susan Jones is a longtime leader of the NFB of Indiana. She currently serves as secretary of the Indianapolis Chapter. She says, “This is a staple in our family around holiday time. It can be done ahead and heated through on the big day.”
Ingredients:
5 pounds of potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 teaspoons salt, divided
1 stick butter
6 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons fresh, freeze-dried, or frozen chives
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups milk
Butter and paprika for the top
Method: Heat 4 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt in a four-quart Dutch oven over high heat until water boils, about six minutes.
Add peeled and quartered potatoes and cover and cook until water returns to the boil, about six minutes. Reduce heat to low, and cook for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
Drain potatoes and return to Dutch oven. Mash with a potato masher or beat with an electric mixer until mixture is smooth. Add the butter, cream cheese, chives, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Mix well and continue mashing. Gradually add enough milk to make potatoes creamy and fluffy. Mash or whip until smooth.
Refrigerate tightly covered. Pressing cooked potatoes through a potato ricer before mashing or whipping ensures a smooth finished product. These potatoes can be stored under refrigeration up to two weeks. You can either remove portions and heat as needed or place the entire recipe in a greased casserole dish and bake covered at 350 degrees for an hour.
Before removing from the oven, uncover potatoes and dot the surface with butter and sprinkle with paprika. If you like, you can continue baking until the potatoes are lightly browned and bubbly.

Quick and Easy Meatloaf
by Diane Graves
Diane Graves is secretary of the NFB of Indiana. She works as a mediator for the Indiana Civil Rights Commission. She returned to school and has just completed a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication. Diane is a tenBroek fellow who won NFB scholarships in 2009 and 2011. She is now considering earning a master’s degree in dispute resolution. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband Richard, her daughter Chelle, and her granddaughter Angelica.
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
1 package stovetop stuffing
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
Catsup
Salt and pepper
Method: Break up ground beef in large mixing bowl. Add egg and mix with hands until the egg is completely incorporated. This is a good time to add salt and pepper to taste. I like to use Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Work in the onion and garlic. Break the stuffing mix into fine pieces or crumbs. I do this by kneading the package back and forth in my hands or beating it against the counter (depending on the amount of frustration I am feeling). Mix the stuffing thoroughly into the meat mixture and pack loaf into an 8-by-11-inch baking pan. Finally spread a thin coat of catsup across the top of the meatloaf. Bake at 350 degrees for about forty-five minutes or until meatloaf is firm to the touch.
This recipe invites many variations. One could add some diced celery, chopped green or red pepper, diced tomatoes, or a small can of mushrooms. Enjoy.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
by Diane Graves
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 20-ounce can pineapple slices, drained
1 can maraschino cherries, drained and halved
Walnuts, chopped
1 package Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix
1 package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup cooking oil
Method: Melt butter in a bundt pan and stir in brown sugar. Arrange pineapple rings on the bottom and place a half cherry in the center of each ring. Sprinkle walnuts over the top of this mixture. Beat remaining ingredients together to make cake batter and pour evenly over the pineapple. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Remove to a cooling rack and loosen edges of cake from pan. Remember to work the knife around the center post as well. Invert cake onto a serving plate while still warm. Slice and serve.

Randy's Potato Soup
by Diane Graves
This recipe comes from Diane's stepmother, Randy. She brought it with her when she married into the family in the 80s, and this delicious soup has been a family favorite ever since.
Ingredients:
8 to 10 medium potatoes (peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound smoked sausage
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Method: Place potatoes, onion, garlic, and sausage in Dutch oven or similar pot and just cover with water. Place lid on pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow soup to simmer until potatoes are tender. In a small mixing bowl prepare thickening by combining milk and flour, adding the flour slowly and beating mixture with a fork until smooth. Once potatoes are tender and sausage is done, slowly add the milk mixture, stirring briskly until soup thickens. Adjust seasoning. Eat and enjoy.

Round Steak with Gravy
by Diane Graves
Ingredients:
3 pounds round steak
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
3 tablespoons solid shortening
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup flour
Method: Cover one side of meat with half of the flour and pound in with meat mallet or the edge of a saucer or butter plate. Turn meat over and repeat with remaining flour. Cut meat into serving-sized pieces. In large skillet melt shortening and brown meat on both sides. Sprinkle onion soup mix over meat. In small mixing bowl mix cream of mushroom soup and water. Pour over meat and cover skillet tightly. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 ½ hours.

Ranch Dip
by Diane Graves
This recipe is very quick and easy and is great with chips or vegetables.
Ingredients:
1 16-ounce tub sour cream
1/2 small onion, minced
1 small clove garlic, minced or grated
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
Method: In small mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a serving dish and surround with dippables. Eat and enjoy.

Granola Bars
by Phyllis Morales
Phyllis Morales is a member of the Indianapolis Chapter of the NFB of Indiana. She was introduced to the NFB when she was diagnosed with macular degeneration. She was researching support groups for the visually impaired and says she was blessed to find the NFB because it is great to be a part of a group of such motivated, passionate people.
Ingredients:
2 cups quick oats, uncooked
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup jelly, any flavor
Method: Mix all ingredients together, spread on a baking sheet, and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes at 350 degrees. Cut into bars.

Pesto
by Phyllis Morales
Ingredients:
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pignoli (pine nuts), optional (You can add more walnuts instead if you prefer.)
3 tablespoons garlic (9 cloves), minced
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Method: Place the walnuts, pignoli, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel knife blade. Process for 15 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil coating and sealing the top. Notes: Air is the enemy of pesto. For freezing, pack it in containers with a film of oil or plastic wrap directly on top with the air pressed out.
To clean basil, remove the leaves, swirl them in a bowl of water, and then spin them very dry in a salad spinner. Store in a closed plastic bag with a slightly damp paper towel. As long as the leaves are dry, they will stay green for several days.
This pesto is great in pasta, on bread, or as a bread dip. You can also use it as a marinade for fish, chicken, or beef. You can pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze, then pop one out to use when you wish or store them in a tight plastic bag.
Monitor Miniatures

News from the Federation Family
Wedding Bells:
We are delighted to report that National Federation of the Blind Secretary James Gashel and Susan Kern were married on Saturday, September 2, 2012, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Denver, Colorado, with approximately sixty friends and family present to share in the celebration. Susan was a deputy attorney general in Hawaii, representing the Department of Health and Human Services and the state's Randolph-Sheppard (blind vendor) Program for several years. She previously served as staff attorney for the Hawaii Open Meetings and Public Records Agency. In March of 2012 she moved to Denver and has established a law practice specializing in disability and Randolph-Sheppard issues.
Jim served as the NFB’s director of governmental affairs for thirty years, a position that, in addition to other duties, saw him actively working for the rights of blind vendors. He is now the vice president of KNFB Reading Technologies. Jim and Susan Rockwood Gashel hope to go to Paris next April, but for now they are back to work in service to blind people.
Elected:
In April the Metro Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota held its annual elections. The following officers were elected: Sheila Koenig, president; Rob Hobson, vice president; Kathy McGillivray, second vice president; Michael Sahyun, secretary; and Ryan Strunk, treasurer.
AccuWeather Now on NEWSLINE:
We have taken the following information from a press release circulated by the NFB:
National Federation of the Blind Collaborates with AccuWeather®
to Provide Emergency Weather Alert Information
to the Blind and Print-Disabled via NFB-NEWSLINE®
On August 29, 2012, the National Federation of the Blind, the oldest and largest nationwide organization of the blind in the United States, and its newspaper service for the blind, NFB-NEWSLINE®, announced a collaboration with AccuWeather®, an online weather information service, to provide emergency weather alerts to blind and print-disabled subscribers throughout America. NFB-NEWSLINE is a free audible information access service that provides over three-hundred newspapers and magazines to the blind. The AccuWeather information service will now give blind and print-disabled people instant access to emergency weather alerts.
NFB President Marc Maurer said: “The lack of access to emergency weather alerts has been a persistent problem for the blind, and now, with the combination of AccuWeather alerts and NFB-NEWSLINE, an innovative source of this critical information has been created for the blind of America.”
NFB-NEWSLINE is a free audible newspaper- and magazine-reading service that provides information to blind and print-disabled readers over the telephone, online, and on the iPhone. For more information or to register for NFB-NEWSLINE, visit <www.nfbnewsline.org>, write to <[email protected]>, or call (866) 504-7300.
Wedding Bells:
Catherine Close and Eric Clegg were married on Friday, August 31, 2012, in Sacramento, California. Catherine and Eric are both longtime Federationists, and NFB friends and family attended the wedding. Catherine works as a personnel security specialist for the Office of Personnel Management. Eric is a Braille specialist in the California Department of Rehabilitation.
First Annual Indiana Fishing Derby:
The following story appeared in the June 18, 2012 online edition of the LaPorte, Indiana, Herald Argus.
Taking a Swing at New Activities
by Gabrielle Gonzalez
If you give a blind child a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. This is a leadership principle that the National Federation of the Blind adopted and implemented to help the blind and visually impaired. Fishing was exactly what fifteen visually impaired children, adults, and their families experienced throughout the weekend with the help of the Westville Lions Club.
This was the first event for the blind statewide to join together and camp outdoors for a weekend. The kids and adults learned to set up tents, fish, hike through the woods, experience bonfires and hayrides, and play baseball. Some of the campers had never fished before or swung a bat and did not refuse to try something new.
According to Westville Lion Butch Weston, region chairman, Lion Al Lovati, representative of the Indiana Lions and teacher at the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, talked to the Westville Lions about a weekend-long camp. Weston agreed and donated the use of his backyard, which consists of fields; woods; and a pond with bluegill, catfish, and bass. "We've been having a lot of fun," said Weston on Saturday. "I love to help people. Hopefully this can grow, and we can do it next year."
All the food for the campers and families, as well as the camp T-shirt that read "Fishing for Life" in Braille, were donated by various groups and organizations. The drinks coolers were labeled in Braille as well. “It helps to know what you are getting," said adult camper from Indianapolis Susan Jones with a laugh about the cooler label.
Jones said she enjoyed the experience of putting the fishing poles together and hiking in the woods. She attended the camp as a positive example to the children. "I came to encourage the kids that you can do anything," said Jones. "It is important to learn the steps to be independent for life."
Members of the non-profit Indianapolis Thunder joined the group to let the blind and visually impaired take a swing at the ball. Thunder is affiliated with the National Beep Baseball Association. Campers of all ages and sizes took on the challenge, encouraging others who were up at bat, and each took a turn at the plate. An underhand pitch was thrown in the batter's zone, and, when the batters heard the word “pitch” and a beep, they were instructed to swing.
Not only did campers experience new activities and socialize, but the volunteers and families were able to interact and learn a lot from the blind as well. Lovati said that, since the prevalence of blindness is pretty small, people do not understand that the blind do everything an average person does. "They just do it differently. Not less, just different," said Lovati. "It [the camp] shows the face of blindness."
Fifteen blind students and adults from across Indiana, along with the Indiana School for the Blind, spent the weekend engaged in activities that included fishing, camping, beep softball, a hayride and cookout. The weekend, which was held on the property of a Lions Club member near Westville, was sponsored by the Indiana Lions Club District 25A.
Blind Hikers on Maryland's Appalachian Trail:
In mid July Lou Ann Blake and Maurice Peret successfully hiked the forty-one miles of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland’s Frederick and Washington Counties. The blind husband and wife, residents of Baltimore City, were raising awareness of what is possible for blind people when the positive attitudes and high expectations of the National Federation of the Blind are coupled with proper training in the alternative techniques of blindness.
According to Blake, "Most people don't know anyone who is blind, so they know only the stereotypes of blind people as helpless and incompetent that pervade society and the media. Unfortunately, even today the misconception is that a blind person cannot cross a street on her own, let alone hike the Appalachian Trail."
Peret, who teaches blind adults to travel safely and independently using a white cane, added, "For blind people, hiking the Appalachian Trail requires the mastery of the nonvisual skill of traveling with the long white cane combined with the essential confidence to go wherever our hearts and minds will take us."
Blake and Peret celebrated their first wedding anniversary on July 11 on the A.T. and are both members of the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the NFB of Maryland. Some twelve members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland greeted Blake and Peret when they arrived at the trail’s end in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, on Thursday, July 12. Members of the media were also invited to join the gathering and interview the hikers.
Elected:
In March the Kankakee Heartland Chapter elected the following officers: Bill Isaacs, president; Tom Wietrzykowski, vice president; Carol Kwaak, secretary; Ruth Isaacs, treasurer; and Ray Kwaak, board member.
Announcing the Facebook Trainers Team:
The NFB Communications Committee has organized a team of experts in the use of Facebook who can teach any computer user to create and maintain a chapter-sponsored Facebook page and more. If your chapter is not up on Facebook, you are missing one of the newest and largest collections of today’s computer users. They need to find you.
The Communications Committee of the National Federation of the Blind, chaired by Robert Leslie Newman, has launched an initiative to get all Federation entities--affiliates, chapters, divisions, and groups--to establish a presence on Facebook. To support this initiative, we have established a Facebook Trainers Team to train Federation leaders in harnessing the power of Facebook to further the work of our individual entities and thus the Federation as a whole.
Facebook is useful for:
Reaching out to new members through a searchable online presence.
Getting a positive message about blindness out to the community quickly with pictures and multimedia files.
Allowing for open, free-flowing discussion between members outside meetings.
Sharing important information efficiently with board and members, and much, much more.
We recommend establishing Facebook groups, but we are also willing and able to support the development of Facebook pages. We are happy to advise you on your best option. If you are interested in establishing a Facebook presence for your affiliate, chapter, division, or group or, if you are interested in joining the Facebook trainers team, please contact Robert Leslie Newman at <[email protected]>.
We would love to train you in this simple, quick, and easy way to further our work in the Federation.
Attention Blind People with Cerebral Palsy:
I am interested in starting a group within the National Federation of the Blind for members with cerebral palsy. The purpose of the group will be to discuss our common problems and work toward solutions. I would like to consider forming a group and eventually a division if there is sufficient interest.
If you are interested in being part of such a group, contact me by email: <[email protected]>; postal mail: Alexander Scott Kaiser, 3928 Northwest 89th Avenue, Coral Springs, FL 33065; or by telephone: (954) 594-2710.
Travel and Tourism Fundraiser:
The NFB Travel and Tourism Division is planning a seven-day fundraiser trip to the greatstate of Utah. Proposed dates are September 18 to 24, 2013. This group travel event is for adults only, and we need those interested tocontact us as soon as possible so we can begin arranging for hotels, bus, airline,etc. To let us know you are interested and for more information, contact Cheryl Echevarria, president, NFB Travel and Tourism Division, at (631) 236-5138 or <[email protected]>.
Independence Market Calendars Available:
It's time again for new calendars to appear in stores and malls. The NFB Independence Market is also stocked with a selection of 2013 Braille and large-print calendars. Here is the list of what we have available:
2013 American Action Fund Braille Calendar: This comb-bound, pocket-sized Braille calendar measures 6 x 6 1/2 inches. Each calendar page includes the days of the month and lists major holidays. A page for personal notes is in the back. This calendar is available free of charge.
2013 Large-Print Calendar: This spiral-bound, large-print appointment calendar measures 8 1/2 x 11 inches with inside pockets. Each month is displayed on two facing pages and features two-inch blocks for each day of the month. The months are tabbed and include a section for monthly notes as well as a three-month calendar overview. The calendar costs $10 plus shipping and handling.
2013 Large-Print Planner: This organizer, designed with low-vision professionals in mind, features easy-to-read large print. The spiral-bound 146-page planner with a black leatherette cover measures 8 1/2 x 11 inches. All calendar views are spread over two pages and include current and upcoming year-at-a-glance views as well as twelve monthly and fifty-three weekly views. Pages for names and addresses, notes, and personal information are also included.
Products, including the items listed above, can be ordered from the NFB Independence Market online or by phone. For more information contact us by email at <[email protected]>, or by phone at (410) 659-9314, Extension 2216.
Honored:
Donna Posont of Michigan has been named one of the inaugural winners of the Edward Bagale Scholarship for Difference Makers. The award is $2,000. She was introduced at an event honoring University of Michigan Vice Chancellor Bagale during a program in early September. Congratulations to Donna from the entire Federation family.
Writing Critiques Available:
Have you just written a masterpiece? Would you like a seasoned writer to evaluate your material? The Writers’ Division of the National Federation of the Blind is initiating a new service: a critique of your writing. For $10 you will receive a written evaluation of your short story, the first chapter (or first twenty pages) of your novel, up to three poems of thirty-six lines, your children’s story, your memoir (first twenty pages max), or your nonfiction article (first twenty pages max). The critique will contain feedback on format, mechanics, and overall quality.
Those interested should submit their work by email as an attachment in MS Word to Robert Leslie Newman, president, NFB Writers’ Division, <[email protected]>. Material may be submitted from September through December. Critiques will be emailed within thirty days of receipt of the material. You may pay the $10 fee by check to Robert Leslie Newman, 504 S 57th St., Omaha, NE 68106; or use PayPal® on the Writers’ Division website, <www.nfb-writers-division.net>.

In Brief
Notices and information in this section may be of interest to Monitor readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the information; we have edited only for space and clarity.
Attention All NLS BARD Users:
Now you can enjoy using your NLS Talking Book machine without worrying about having to return reading materials to your local library for the blind. The NFB Independence Market sells blank cartridges that can be used with the NLS Talking Book machines as well as the USB cable needed to transfer data to the cartridge. You can download digital Talking Books from the NLS BARD website and transfer them to the cartridge to create your personal library of NLS audio books and magazines. The 2GB cartridges hold ten to fifteen average-sized books.
The cartridge costs $10 plus shipping and handling. The three-foot USB extension cable, which is sold separately, is $3 plus shipping and handling. For more information or to place an order by phone, call the NFB Independence Market at (410) 659-9314, extension 2216, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time. You can also order these materials online on the NFB Independence Market e-commerce site.
Seedlings Braille Books for Children 2013 Catalog Available:
Seedlings announces that its 2013 catalog is now available. The new books range in size and scope from a Print-Braille-&-Picture book called Llama Llama Hoppity Hop to the 489-page Braille copy of The Hunger Games (Book 1), bringing its total to almost 1,300 books. The new books are also listed on the website at <www.seedlings.org> and are ready to be ordered. Seedlings books are always on sale: sold for a fraction of what it costs to produce them, and prices have not been raised in over twenty-five years.
Register Now for the 2012 Book Angel Program
The Seedlings Book Angel Program is open to visually impaired children who live in the U.S. and Canada. Through this program each child can receive two free Seedlings books per calendar year (choose four Seedlings books, and we will send you two of them). If you have not yet registered for your child's 2012 books, fill out the registration form online at <www.seedlings.org>. If you have questions, call (800) 777-8552.
Consider Chocolate Gifts for the Holidays and All Occasions:
"Chocolate never goes out of style.” Sweet Tooth thinks this quote fits our product perfectly. It makes great gifts for all occasions including birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays and makes great favors for bridal and baby showers, weddings, graduation parties, and special dinners. In business for over twelve years, we look forward to serving customers with chocolate treats.
We continue to add new items to our list of products. Sweet Tooth's fudge, gourmet chocolate sauce, our signature Chocolate Lab truffles, and blueberry and raspberry clusters (in season) are becoming increasingly popular; but our standard items are crowd pleasers as well and are always available. From clusters of all kinds to molded chocolate and suckers, from coffee mugs with chocolate to Braille chocolate bars and guide dogs with Braille, Sweet Tooth can accommodate your chocolate needs. We can customize a gift basket, party tray, or gift tin for any occasion.
Our ever-popular Braille bars continue to be a great gift item for the holidays. They come with a choice of sayings including “Thank You,” “Have A Nice Day,” “Happy Birthday,” “Love You,” “Merry Christmas,” and “Happy Holidays.” They weigh 4.5 ounces and can be made in milk, dark, or white chocolate or sugar free. The bars can also be made with Rice Krispies, nuts, peppermint flavor, or raisins. The guide dogs can be personalized with the dog’s or owner's name and come complete with a chocolate harness. Many molded chocolate items can be personalized with Braille.
We are a small family business but are happy to accommodate special needs. By request we can put Braille or large-print labels on candy packages to suit individual needs. Price lists are available online, in regular or large print, and in Braille. Sweet Tooth is on Facebook and will be connected soon to Twitter. Place orders through email at <[email protected]> or by phone at (585) 544-1853. Our website is <http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~laurabai/SweetTooth/ Welcome.html>.
Whitney Verbal Description and Touch Tours:
As the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists. Now visitors can explore the Whitney’s permanent collection or special exhibitions with a highly skilled museum educator trained to provide vivid, detailed descriptions of the works on display. They can also experience a selection of works through touch. Whitney Verbal Description and Touch Tours provide an opportunity for blind or low-vision visitors to experience the richness and diversity of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American art. These ninety-minute tours are free and are held monthly as well as by request with three weeks advance notice. To place a request, inquire about the next scheduled tour, or sign up for our email list, contact us at <[email protected]> or call (212) 570-7789. The Whitney Museum is located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City.
Apply Now for Ski for Light 2013:
Are you a blind or visually impaired adult who cross-country skis or wants to learn how during a fun-filled week in a resort? Join over two hundred active adults from across the U.S. and around the world for the thirty-eighth annual Ski for Light International Week. The 2013 event will take place from Sunday, January 27, through Sunday, February 3, in Northwest Lower Michigan on the grounds of Shanty Creek Resorts in Bellaire, Michigan.
Located just forty-five minutes from the Traverse City airport, Shanty Creek Resorts is a 4,500-acre complex containing three housing and entertainment villages, both cross-country and downhill ski trails, a tubing hill, several swimming pools and hot-tubs, a fitness center and spa, and much more. Shanty Creek Resorts is a true destination resort.
Ski for Light attracts cross-country skiers from beginners to advanced. Skiers and guides come from every adult age group and occupation. You will be paired with a sighted instructor/guide who will assist with skills and technique while describing the countryside and enjoying the trails with you. Two sets of parallel groomed tracks are set in the snow, with the skier and guide deciding together how far, how long, and on what kind of terrain they will ski. Free rental of skis, boots, and poles will be provided to first-time participants, and partial stipends based on financial need are available.
If you have never before attended what many have called the experience of a lifetime or if you have been waiting for the 2013 event information to repeat the experience, visit the SFL website now, <www.sfl.org> for more details and to submit your application for a fantastic week of fun. New this year, the first 100 applicants who select the early-admission option are eligible for acceptance within two weeks of their submission so they can shop for the best airfare. All applications are due by November 1, 2012.
If you have any questions, contact the visually impaired participant recruitment coordinator, Bob Hartt, <[email protected]>, or call (703) 845-3436 during evenings and on weekends.
Successful Resolution of an E-reader Complaint:
The NFB circulated the following press release on August 30:
National Federation of the Blind Settles Complaint
Against Sacramento Public Library
Library Will Deploy Accessible E-readers to Blind and Print-Disabled Patrons
The National Federation of the Blind, the nation’s leading advocate for access to information by the blind and other people with print disabilities, announced today that a complaint filed by the NFB with the United States Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights, against the Sacramento Public Library Authority has been resolved. The NFB filed the complaint last fall because the library was lending NOOK e-readers preloaded with e-books to its patrons. Unlike some other e-reading devices, the NOOK, which is manufactured and sold by Barnes & Noble, cannot be used by blind and print-disabled readers because it does not have text-to-speech capability or the ability to send content to a Braille display.
The goal of the agreement is “to provide a library e-reader circulation program where library patrons, with and without vision disabilities, are able to access and use the same technology to the maximum extent possible.” Under the agreement, the library will “acquire only technology that does not exclude blind people or others” who need accessibility features such as text-to-speech or Braille output and the ability to access the device’s menus and controls independently. The library’s commitment is also in line with a resolution passed in 2009 by the American Library Association entitled Purchasing of Accessible Electronic Resources, which urged “all libraries purchasing, procuring, using, maintaining, and contracting for electronic resources and services” to “require vendors to guarantee that products and services comply with Section 508 regulations, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, or other applicable accessibility standards and guidelines.”
Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “We are pleased that the Sacramento Public Library Authority is showing leadership by ensuring that the e-books that it lends will be accessible to all of its patrons, including those who are blind or have print disabilities. E-books represent an opportunity for the blind to have access to the same books at the same time as our sighted friends, family, and colleagues, but sadly most e-book vendors have not designed their technology so that it can be used by the blind, despite the fact that it is not difficult or costly to do so. Libraries, schools, and other institutions have a legal and moral obligation to make sure that the content they deploy is accessible to the blind and print-disabled. If they meet these obligations by demanding accessibility from their e-book vendors, then accessibility will happen.”
Hadley Reaches Out to Veterans:
The Hadley School for the Blind invites you to learn more about our new Blinded Veterans Initiative, launched last fall. You may have heard about this project at the NFB convention this summer. Our goal is to help blinded vets adjust to their sight loss while pursuing their personal and professional goals.
We have a new website dedicated to this important new initiative at <www.hadley.edu/veterans>. There you can find links to various tuition-free courses and webinars of interest to veterans and their families, as well as a video featuring stories from blinded veterans and why this initiative is needed.
We just concluded a series of focus groups in which we asked veterans how Hadley could help them through distance education. The areas of interest include recreation, technology (particularly mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads), business/self-employment, independent living, and Braille literacy. We have over 100 courses to choose from, all in accessible formats. If you see something of interest, call us to enroll at (800) 323-4238, or better yet enroll online at <www.hadley.edu>.
We also welcome your feedback, so, if you have ideas and suggestions about the types of distance education courses and webinars you would be interested in, let us know. Contact Deborah Bloom, vice president, Development and Communications, the Hadley School for the Blind, 700 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL 60093; phone: (847) 784-2774; email <[email protected]>.
Brailler Repair:
To repair a manual Perkins Brailler, the Selective Doctor, Inc., charges $60 for labor, plus parts, and postal insurance. We also repair electric Perkins Braillers at $70 for labor, plus parts and postal insurance. Our address is P.O. Box 571, Manchester, Maryland 21102. If using UPS or Federal Express, please send the Braillers to 3205 Laverne Circle, Hampstead, Maryland 21074 (our physical address). Our telephone number is (410) 668-1143, and our website is <www.selectivedoctor.com>. The email address is <[email protected]>.

Monitor Mart
The notices in this section have been edited for clarity, but we can pass along only the information we were given. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the statements made or the quality of the products for sale.
King James Bible for Sale:
I am selling a dramatized King James Bible on cassette tape, multiple character voices and animal noises included. The set includes sixty-four tapes, and a carrying case is included. Original price $130; asking $70. Please call Ryan at (520) 834-2562 or email <[email protected]>.
Blind Entrepreneur Offers Self-Made Products:
Charlotte Lang offers a wide variety of handmade bath and body products, holiday items, and gemstone jewelry. Bath products include soaps in various shapes, shower gel, hand soap, shampoo and conditioner, hair and body spritz, lotion, body butter, bubble bath, bath salts, herbal bath teas, room spray, aroma beads to make your room smell nice, flavored lip balms, and pet spritz. Most products come in several sizes. Prices are very affordable, ranging from $1 to $16 per item. In the holiday items section I offer ornaments, decorations, holiday jewelry and accessories, gift items, etc., with prices starting at $3 or less. I also offer one-of-a-kind handmade gemstone jewelry including bracelets, earrings, pendants, and necklaces with prices starting at $5. Treat yourself to a great gift or start on your holiday shopping.
I accept PayPal® or money orders. I ship priority mail, so your packages arrive quickly. I can also ship to another recipient if you are shopping for gifts. Please contact me at <[email protected]> for more information, join my yahoogroup newsletter at <[email protected]>, or call me at (952) 300-2188. I can not take credit card orders over the phone, but I will do personal consultations to help you shop for yourself or anyone on your gift list.

NFB Pledge
I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.

(contents)