President Riccobono: We're going to switch gears from technology in some ways to talk about education and really a commitment to high expectations. I asked this next presenter for some biographical information before introducing her, and I learned a number of things from what she provided me, and it's very impressive, but I decided that maybe it would be better if I just shared a couple stories with you. She has a long history of building capacity in nonprofit leadership, but I wanted to share my own experience.
Now, I first went to an annual meeting of the American Printing House for the Blind in the year 2000. I served for a number of years as a trustee of the American Printing House. I have been to many, many, many meetings all around the blindness field, and they're not like a Federation convention. And so after twenty-five years of going to various meetings, you learn a lot about the vision industrial complex, and when you talk to people, you figure out pretty quickly whether they're a Federation member or whether they're part of the old way of thinking.
In 2019, Pam Allen and I went to a meeting and Pam had just been at a session about marketing in the blindness field where they encouraged everybody who was there, including Pam, not to use the B word. [Laughter and some groans and boos] So later that evening was the first time that I met this woman, and it was clear from the questions that she asked, from the interests that she showed in understanding the perspective that I had as a blind person, that she might think differently than someone who says “We shouldn't use the B word.” Now, this convention for a number of years now has heard all about the innovation of the Monarch.
[Cheering] Yeah, yeah. And what you don't likely realize about the Monarch is that it has come to be in a significant way because of the leadership this woman has provided at APH in building partnerships, in managing resources and relationships. Her leadership has been critical in that effort, and I would argue her leadership has been essential in our field at this time, and she has been a significant part of helping to get blind people much more integrated, especially into the educational leadership field.
When I came to the American Printing House for the Blind annual meeting in 2000, I could count all of the blind leaders there on one hand. She's been a big part of changing the paradigm, and I wanted this audience at this time to know this leader because we still have a lot of work to do in education, and you need to know that our next presenter, although she is not blind, she represents all of the qualities of what we mean when we say “blind at heart.” I wanted you to get to know my friend and this critical leader in our time. She's the Vice President of Innovation and Strategy at the American Printing House for the Blind. Here's Anne Lancaster. [Applause and music]
Anne Lancaster: Good morning, partners! [Cheers] It's such an honor to be here with you today, and I have to thank President Riccobono for all the nice things he said about me and also for this opportunity to connect with you and for your partnership and for his friendship and your guidance. APH is a much stronger organization because we are working together with NFB. [Cheers]
I know that most of you are familiar with the American Printing House for the Blind and what we do. APH started in 1858, the vision of two blind men who believed that all blind people should have access to books. That vision grew over decades to providing students with the materials they need in the classroom to ensure a solid foundation in life. For nearly 170 years, that's been our mission, to do what's necessary for learning inclusion. It's a mission that's been supported by government funds and championed by generations of blind people.
At APH, this mission is not just about equity; it's also about expectations. We have high expectations for what blind and low-vision students can achieve. We have high expectations for their inclusion and for the systems that support them and the teachers who teach them. These expectations drive us every day. They are the impetus to solve the unsolvable problems. It's a work in progress, even after all this time, but our expectation is that we'll have a future that provides opportunity for everyone, and it's at the core of who we are and how we work.
As a society, we're divided on a lot of things. We're also divided on the meaning of expectations. Some people believe if you keep expectations low, you'll never be disappointed, or that low expectations lead to happiness. But we all feel differently, right? [Cheers] Yeah. We would argue that low expectations are disappointing. We believe that no one else will rise to the potential if there are low expectations, that when we expect minimum results, that's what we get. We know that societal barriers and limitations are the direct result of low expectations, that these low expectations are a thin disguise for systemic bigotry.
Let's look at the Monarch and our partnership project with NFB and HumanWare as an example of how we've all worked together to meet high expectations. The idea of technology providing immediate access to multi-line Braille and tactile graphics on one device was a hopeful expectation blind people named decades ago as the Holy Braille. Many believed it would never be possible, that even if we could solve the technology problems, it would be so expensive blind people would never have access.
A big dream with pessimistic expectations. When we started the Monarch project, I felt like it was my duty to sit down with APH'S President, Dr. Craig Meador, and tell him in detail all the many ways the project could fail. To which he responded, “I'm not afraid of failing. I am afraid of not trying at all.” [Applause]
Craig recognized that low expectations are more devastating and more costly than setting the bar high and working to achieve it. And I'm excited today to share with you what high expectations have achieved so far through the Monarch project.
The Monarch has been publicly available for less than a year, and today there are nearly 1,100 Monarchs being actively used in classrooms around the world. [Applause] Yes, and even better, most of those are supported by government-funded programs and made available free of charge to teachers, students, and adults transitioning in employment. [Applause] It represents millions of dollars of public and private investment, and we're seeing early success not just in access but also in impact.
Students in our Monarch pilot project are reporting that they're more interested in Braille and tactile graphics than ever before. They're even more interested in school. Parents are delighted that they can now help their children with their Braille homework and read together in the evenings. Teachers are finding more time available to actually work with their students rather than on the time-consuming tasks of creating adaptable materials for their lessons.
However, further success for the Monarch is being limited by the barriers of low expectations: low expectations of school systems that are hesitant or refuse to write Monarch into an IEP because of “liability concerns”; low expectations of schools that limit access to Monarch to only minutes each day, or those who refuse to teach with Monarch because “the child isn't ready” or the technology is too complicated; low expectations of those who say it's too expensive for a family to be responsible for or too expensive for an employer to purchase; low expectations of systems that don't subsidize the costs of assistive technology and expect the cost burden to be on the person despite laws that say otherwise; and the low expectations blind people sometimes have of themselves when they say, “I don't need Braille.”
We can discuss how barriers create these low expectations all day long, and in many cases, the reasons they exist are at least temporarily justified, but at its core, they're the impact and conditioning of blatant discrimination.
It's been a delight to see that it's the young people experiencing Monarch who have the highest expectations for its evolution. They're not shy about it, and they've shared their feelings through the student pilot project. They want more, and they believe firmly they have a right to that access. [Light applause]
Students want access to the learning management systems being used by their sighted peers in the classroom, and this requires certification for the Monarch by major technology companies that have platforms they want access to. They want more books, and they don't want their book apps to crash in the middle of reading Hunger Games. [Laughter] They want more games, games that will allow them to challenge and compete with gamers across the world or to simply race a car in the desert and crash it and not get arrested.
[Laughter and one person saying “Yeah!”] Race car driver down here! They want more tactile graphics. And they’re specific: not just a tactile graphic of a car, but the chassis of a 1967 Mustang. They want to edit videos for their YouTube channel. They want to write music, make art, solve complicated math problems, write software programs, print their 3D creations, win science fairs, design their own fashion line, participate fully in class projects and contests. Students want to learn. They want to dream big dreams, and they aren't just setting the bar high for us. They're sending it to another galaxy. [Applause]
Now, I'll tell you, their feedback easily represents hundreds of millions of dollars in necessary technology and software development, but they don't want to be told to have realistic expectations because that's setting the bar too low for their ambitions. Their innocence of systemic barriers doesn't allow them to even consider that these things are high expectations. They are simply fair. They are what they need to answer that fire inside of them, that urgent call that from the moment they were born has always said, “You can live the life you want.” [Applause]
We're only at the base of the mountain for Monarch, and it still exists as a promise yet to be delivered. Where we go from here and how quickly we can do it depends on challenging factors, but it begins with expectations. We could never meet and exceed those expectations without the active participation and inclusion of blind people. The Monarch is proof of that. It would never have been this groundbreaking without our partnership with NFB and the active engagement and leadership of blind people in its development.
I have observed that for blind people, pushing the agenda of high expectations against the fragility of sighted privilege can be exhausting. As much as we crave your voice at APH, we endlessly request your feedback on products, and on top of that, your every day is filled with giving sighted people information, often the same information you've provided millions of times, again and again. That's unfair. But real inclusion of your voices, of your hopes and dreams, your expertise and experiences, is critical.
We cannot deliver on the high expectations students deserve without it. Their very future depends on you. So I humbly ask of you today, knowing the demands the world already places on you, to consider how you can be more involved in education and setting a high bar of expectations for the future of our young people, to challenge the low expectations not just of individuals, but of systems and attitudes. You can do this in small ways: share your education story in social media. Volunteer to teach local school children about Braille, tutor in Braille instruction, or be a mentor for one of my very favorite summer programs to visit, the NFB Bell Academy. [Applause]
You can respond to surveys and share your experiences with product developers. You can also do this in grassroots ways. Run for your local school board or show up at school board meetings. If you're a parent, find a leading role in your school's PTA, be seen and heard in your local schools. Or you can do this in big ways. We have a distressing shortage of teachers of blind students, and it's getting worse. These teachers have unmanageable caseloads. Pursuing any profession in education matters, and I would ask you to also consider employment opportunities at APH. We're constantly looking for staff who have deep commitment to those we serve.
Your lived experience is merit, and you can advocate, advocate, advocate. Active, organized voices are historically the driver of progress, and there's no shortage of issues that need your urgent attention. The rights we already have for special needs, students are at risk and need protection. We must have more funding for instruction and technology, and we must demand digital inclusion for parents to have a say in their child's education for equity and opportunity in all schools, whether public, private, or at home. [Applause]
NFB is the preeminent advocacy organization in our field, and when you speak with a clear and persuasive voice, elected officials and government leaders listen. Your active participation as an NFB member is critical here. Even as I speak to you, Congress is working to finalize spending plans for next year. We believe, and I hope you do as well, that the Monarch should be included in those plans. [Applause] It is your voice that matters, and it is to you that Congress will respond.
The majority of the voices in blindness and education today are coming from sighted people, and yes, we have good intentions and good hearts, and yes, we're your allies, and yes, we'll fight alongside you. But we will never, ever have your perspectives and we should never, ever be allowed to set the expectations for you. [Applause]
I came into this field after more than a decade of working closely with several disability advocacy groups, and I thought I knew a lot, but I made all the same embarrassing mistakes, like thinking because I can't see anything without my contact lenses that I had empathy for the blindness experience. That was embarrassing. [Laughter] The first time I was a sighted guide for my new boss, I accidentally kicked his cane into the street. I was pretty sure I was going to be the next one to be kicked to the curb.
In my work, I've met blind people from all over the world, and every one of these hundreds of conversations has been perspective-shifting. Very early on, I had the honor of spending time with Abraham Nemeth. Anybody know what I'm talking about here? I know you do. [Applause] Yeah, mind blown. That's all I can say about meeting him, and I'll never ever forget that conversation because it was the beginning of tearing down everything I thought I knew.
I've learned a million lessons from every NFB convention I've attended and from the leaders and the membership of this incredible movement. I've learned from talking to parents about their hopes and their fears, from experiencing the joy of students as those walls to learning come tumbling down. I've watched blind colleagues handle with grace and self-advocacy just crazy situations, like when waitstaff ask me what they would like to order for dinner or when a rideshare refuses to take us somewhere because there is a guide dog. Or when a hostess once asked if I wanted to accompany my colleague into the men's restroom so I could help him! [Laughter] For the record, we both said “no thank you.” [More laughter]
I've learned from your persistence, resilience, strength, inventiveness, intelligence, your wicked sense of humor, your utterly fearless audacity, and most of all your friendship and acceptance. I'm so honored and grateful that you've welcomed me as a guest and a student in your world. You have challenged me, shaped me, and humbled me. You've shown me more patience than a person deserves, and my life is incredibly rich as a result of these gifts from you. [Applause] I'm still learning.
I'll always be learning, but this I know for sure: when I reach that glorious moment, when I feel like I know everything there is to know about the expectations of blind people, I have royally messed up. [Laughter] If sighted people in the industry like me or organizations like APH set your expectations for you, we will fail. Sighted people and the organizations of this field can do it with you, but we cannot do it for you despite our legacy names, and that includes American Printing House for the Blind by the way.
This isn't a token invitation to the table. It's an acknowledgement that your hopes and dreams, your expectations, are the table. Continue to hold our feet to the fire. Don't just participate in this journey with us. Lead us where we need to go. [Applause]
APH is here to do the heavy lifting that is necessary, but we're not here to shape your hopes and dreams. Only by working together can we ensure the expectations of this brilliant next generation are fulfilled, a future where opportunity for everyone is not a dream, but a reality. Thank you so much, President Riccobono and my Federation friends for your partnership. Let's keep flying toward that future together.