American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Convention 2017 NOPBC AWARDS AND OTHER HONORS
Dan Ryles Memorial Award
Presented by Carol Castellano
The award we are about to present is given in memory of a very special person. Dan Ryles was a young man who grew up in the Federation and whose escapades we learned about through the writings of his famous mother, Ruby Ryles.
As a little boy, Dan was a lover of Braille who became an excellent speller, reader, and writer. He had a paper route when the family lived in Alaska. He delivered his papers even when the snow was up to his knees, due to his excellent mobility skills and his strong sense of responsibility.
Dan also loved the game of chess, and he made his own chessboard in woodworking class at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. When he was young, he used to have to wait around a lot at his siblings' hockey games. Once, to ease the boredom, he brought along his chess set. One of the dads felt sorry for the poor little blind boy and offered to play him a game. Dan whooped him good!
My husband and I had the good fortune to meet Dan at a convention when he was about fourteen years old. Every year after that we'd find him at the piano, and we'd hang out talking and laughing sometimes late into the night. Now, Dan was a handsome young man, and he had no trouble picking up girls. There came a time when he decided he'd rather hang out with the girls than with us old fogies at convention.
Sadly, Dan's time on earth was far too short. He passed away unexpectedly in 2007 at the age of thirty-three. He lived a rich, full life and left a legacy of inspiration for so many.
We created the Dan Ryles Memorial Award in 2008 to recognize special people in the Federation who have provided significant inspiration and mentorship and have made extraordinary contributions to our literature. We have only bestowed the award three times since we created it, and this will be our fourth.
I am most happy to announce the recipient of the Dan Ryles Memorial Award—Deborah Kent Stein.
As Debbie makes her way up to the podium, I'd like to tell you a little bit about her. Most of us are familiar with Debbie through her outstanding work as editor of our national magazine, Future Reflections, and through her many articles over the years in Future Reflections and the Braille Monitor. But Debbie is also an author "on the outside." She was first published when she was six years old! Since then she has written many young-adult novels and works of nonfiction for children. When I say "many," I mean that I stopped counting at eighty-nine titles on Amazon!
Her nonfiction works are in series such as America the Beautiful, Cornerstones of Freedom, and Exploring Cultures of the World. She has also written biographies of US presidents, first ladies, and other important figures in history. Other works explore aspects of disability, including such books as Extraordinary People with Disabilities; Athletes with Disabilities; Animal Helpers for the Disabled; and Snake Pits, Talking Cures, and Magic Bullets: A History of Mental Illness.
Debbie's work has been described by reviewers as "splendid," "engaging," "lively," "highly readable," "well-paced," "thoroughly researched," "agreeably unbiased," "concise," "factual," and "accurate." When you have some time on your hands, look up her biography on jrank.org!
The heroine of Debbie's first novel, Belonging, was blind. But Debbie branched out from there. She did not want to be typecast as someone who could only write about blind people. At the same time, she felt that people with disabilities needed to be more positively portrayed in books, so she made sure to include them as both major and minor characters in many of her works.
The awards committee initially thought of presenting Debbie with our book award, but then realized that that just wouldn't be enough. We wanted to recognize Debbie's broader contribution to literature, especially for children, to help them grow up with inclusive attitudes toward blindness and people with disabilities.
Our book reviewer, Anna Hughes (who knows a thing or two about blindness, growing up with a blind brother and being the daughter of our president emerita, Barbara Cheadle) says this about Debbie's book, What Is It Like to Be Blind?:
This book for early readers is a high-quality example of a nonfiction text reflecting positive attitudes to blindness and providing accurate information about the tools, aids, technologies, and techniques used by the blind to go about everyday activities. The author addresses common misconceptions and misunderstandings about blindness, such as it being like "living in the dark all the time," and sends the message that "blind people find ways to do almost everything." Throughout, the book maintains the sense that there is nothing different about being blind apart from some of the techniques that are used to accomplish one's goals.
The contributions Debbie has made through her work in the Federation are countless. I will mention just a few. She has served on the NFB Scholarship Committee, she heads the Blind Parents Group, and she was presented with a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for her work on the quiet cars issue. She leads workshops on tactile graphics and imagery, serves each year as a mentor with the Parent Leadership Program, and, in her work as editor of Future Reflections, she creates collections each quarter of some of the finest, most inspirational literature in the field of blindness.
Now I'd like to read you the plaque. It is made of alder wood and is inscribed with a picture of Dan.
The National Organization of Parents of Blind Children presents
the Dan Ryles Memorial Award
to
Deborah Ann Kent Stein
In recognition of a life's work in teaching, inspiring, and mentoring
countless parents and their blind children
and for invaluable contributions to the literature.
You are our teacher, our role model, and our friend.
Orlando, Florida
July 2017
National Federation of the Blind
Live the life you want
And here is Debbie Kent Stein!
Debbie Kent Stein: I'm speechless. Thank you Carol, thank you all of you! I am honored beyond words, and words are my livelihood! I had absolutely no idea this was going to happen.
I've been working in the Federation to build opportunities for blind kids for nearly thirty years. I'll tell you a small story about how it all began. I lived in the town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico for five years in the late 1970s. While I was there I got involved in trying to develop a program for blind kids in that town, because there were no opportunities at all. I tried to teach them basic blindness skills so they could go into regular schools. I worked with a group of American and Mexican teachers, and we started an alternative school for kids with and without disabilities. It was an amazing experience.
One day a family brought a little boy named Guillermo to the school. He was six years old, and he had been blinded very suddenly when a teenager came to the playground at his school, flaunting a BB gun around. Guillermo had barely let go of his mother's hand in the four months since he lost his sight.
Guillermo came to our little school, and I put a cane in his hand. He just took off with that cane! Everybody stood there watching him with tears in their eyes. I knew that kid was ripe for learning. He remembered what it was like to be a regular kid, and he wanted to get back there. It was so exciting!
But we never saw Guillermo again. His mom never brought him back to school. She would not let go of him. She didn't respond to any of our efforts to contact her. We couldn't reach her or her son.
When I came back to the States, I knew the work I had done in Mexico was very incomplete. I felt sad to leave when the need was still so great. But then I realized that there was a lot to be done right here in the United States. We did not have it all together here. There were still too many kids who were not getting what they needed from the schools, and there were frightened parents hanging onto their kids just the way Guillermo's mom hung onto him. I knew that here I could try to have an impact. When I connected with the Federation, I saw that this was my vehicle.
I truly thank you all for working on these issues, too, for doing everything you can to make the future better for blind kids. The fact that you are here shows how committed you are to doing that. Thank you!
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