Volume 41, Number 2 Special Issue: The Federation in Partnership
A magazine for parents and teachers of blind children published by
the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults in partnership
with the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children.
Deborah Kent Stein, Editor
ISSN-0883-3419
Copyright © 2022 American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
For more information
about blindness and children contact:
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, MD 21230 • 410-659-9314
https://nfb.org/nopbc • [email protected] • [email protected]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Power of Partnership
by Deborah Kent Stein
LEARNING TOGETHER
Blindness: What It Means in the Mind of a Blind Child
by Ramona Walhof
What We Learned during the Pandemic: The NFB BELL® Academy and NFB BELL® Academy In-Home Edition
by Karen Anderson and Anil Lewis
Of Braille and Beanstack, Contests and Collaboration
by Sandy Halverson
Learning from the Experts
by Brenda Lopez
TEACHERS AS PARTNERS
Developing the Teachers of Tomorrow Today
by Anil Lewis and Karen Anderson
Creating Possibilities: Partnerships in STEM Education for Blind Students
Based on an Interview with Seth Lamkin
PREPARING FOR INDEPENDENCE
Stepping Out with Confidence: Strengthening Partnerships with the NFB Training Centers
by Casey West Robertson
Getting the Straight Scoop from Our Mentees
by Maurice Peret
PARTNERS IN ADVOCACY
Adventures at the Capitol: Blind Children, Blind Adults, and Families Making a Difference
by Carla Keirns
Carrying the Message: Reflections on Washington Seminar
by Kevin Strehy
A Voice for Our Children
by Christina Kuckie-Roberts
BUILDING PARENT PARTNERSHIPS
Unlocking Parent Power
by Katie D. Nelson
REVIEWS
Coming to Our Senses
by Susan R. Barry
Reviewed by Deborah Kent Stein
Two Canes on the Tundra
by Mary Tellefson
Reviewed by Kristin Witucki
WHAT'S HAPPENING
We Make a Difference by Supplying Free White Canes and Instilling Confidence
The NOPBC National Conference: Sharing Our Core Values: Creating Opportunities, Raising Expectations
by Carlton Anne Cook Walker
Announcements
Are you the parent of a blind/low-vision child? Don’t know where to turn? Have you ever wondered what your child will be capable of when he or she grows up? Are you concerned that your child’s future will be limited by blindness or low vision? Do you have questions about how to parent a blind child? We are here for you.
Founded in 1983, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC), a proud division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), is a membership organization of families, friends, and educators of blind children. We have thousands of members in all fifty states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.
We have a very inclusive definition of blindness which includes children who have some usable vision. Instead of focusing on what the child can or cannot see, we focus on the child and what she or he wants to be.
NOPBC is for families, educators, and friends of blind children, including those who have some usable vision. We welcome all families of blind children, and many of our children have both blindness and other disabilities.
We help families and blind children themselves maximize the child’s abilities and opportunities; we hold high expectations for all of our children, regardless of any additional disabilities they may have.
As a division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the largest and most influential organization of blind people in the world, the NOPBC is well informed about the societal, legislative, and technological issues that affect blind people. We enjoy the resources, support, and expertise of fifty thousand blind people who can serve as mentors and role models for us and our children. When we as parents join the NOPBC, our children belong to the Federation family.
The NOPBC:
Most states have an NOPBC affiliate chapter. You can find your state chapter at http://www.nopbc.org. If your state does not have a chapter and you would like to start one, please contact us. We may be able to offer training and other assistance to start a state NOPBC chapter.
We have been where you are, and we want to support you and your blind child. We know that blindness does not define your child's future. We can connect you with other families and blind adults who can serve as positive mentors and role models. They can teach you the attitudes and techniques that will enable your child to become independent and to succeed in life.
The NOPBC offers hope, encouragement, information, and resources for parents, families, and educators of blind children. NOPBC provides:
We offer a wide variety of programs, activities, and training to families, children, and youth. One of our most exciting activities is our annual conference. Every year since it was established, the NOPBC has conducted an annual conference for parents and teachers of blind children as part of the national convention of the NFB. This conference has grown to include five exciting days of workshops, training sessions, activities for all family members, including sighted siblings, and countless opportunities to meet blind adults and other families and children from around the country.
Contact Us:
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
[email protected]
www.nopbc.org
by Deborah Kent Stein
When a new member joins a chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, they receive a special gift. It is a coin with the NFB logo on one side and a word in Braille on the other. The word is written in contracted Braille as the letters t g r, which means together. The word together embodies the work of the National Federation of the Blind that has spanned more than eight decades.
In its early years the Federation brought together a scattered collection of local and state organizations of blind people. Jacobus tenBroek and other early leaders recognized that blind people could only gain equality, security, and opportunity by working in concert. In the early 1950s the Federation scored a major victory when job opportunities in the federal civil service were finally opened up to blind applicants. In the 1960s state affiliates worked with legislators to pass a series of White Cane Laws, ensuring that blind people had full access to public spaces.
In the 1970s inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil approached NFB President Kenneth Jernigan with the radical idea of creating a machine that could read the printed page aloud. Dr. Kurzweil's reading machine, the world's first OCR scanner, tore down print barriers and transformed life for blind people everywhere. In the years that followed the Federation has built partnerships with other developers to make certain that blind people will have access to everything from personal computers to public kiosks.
As members of the NFB we work constantly to build partnerships that will help blind individuals and the blind community as a whole. Through the NFB BELL® Academies, blind adults mentor blind children and reach out to parents. Federationists partner with parents to advocate for blind children at IEP meetings. We partner with legislators to pass local, state, and federal laws that will benefit the blind community.
This issue of Future Reflections focuses on the many facets of partnership developed by the NFB. Karen Anderson and Anil Lewis write about two important NFB programs, BELL Academy and Teachers of Tomorrow. Casey West Robertson discusses the value of the NFB training centers and the Federation's partnership with RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) to help blind persons stay safe. Carla Keirns shares her experience as a parent advocating for legislation that will help her son and other blind persons. Brenda Lopez shares her experience with blind mentors who helped her young son become confident and independent.
Partnership is so central to the values of the NFB that this issue of Future Reflections can scarcely do the topic justice. With that disclaimer, we hope you will enjoy this issue and find ways to become a partner in our movement.
by Ramona Walhof
Reprinted from Future Reflections, Volume 15, Number 2, Spring 1996
From the Editor: Recently Future Reflections received a request from Oxford University Press. The publisher asked to reprint excerpts from an article by Ramona Walhof in an upcoming book. The book, by Karin Sternberg and tentatively entitled The 21st-Century Child, will be published in the fall of this year. It is expected to sell some 6,900 copies in print and electronic formats. Through this publication our Federation literature and our perspective on blindness will reach a new audience of parents and educators.
Here is Ramona Walhof's article, which is as relevant today as it was when it first appeared twenty-six years ago. The article is based on a speech Ramona gave at the 1995 NFB National Convention.
Perhaps you have heard the story about Johnny, who came running in from play to ask, "Mommy, Mommy, where did I come from?" Mommy thought four years old was a little young to be asking about the birds and the bees, but she supposed she was up to it. She explained about growing for nine months in the uterus inside her tummy and then being born. Johnny was impatient to go back outside, but on the way he called over his shoulder, "I came from a uterus, but Michael came from California."
We cannot read our children's minds. If we could, there would be many surprises. This is true of blindness, just as it is regarding other things. But there are some general things we do know.
A child who is born blind does not know what it is like to see. Until he or she is old enough to begin to understand how other people do things, blindness seems normal. Therefore, a small child will not feel bad about blindness until someone teaches him or her (directly or indirectly) to feel bad.
When my sighted children were little, they treated me in some ways that were different. If they showed me something, they put my hand on it. I did not teach them to do this; it was obvious to them. They knew what worked, but that didn't mean they understood blindness; they didn't—not at that age, anyway. A blind child is the same. They learn what works, and they do it. But that doesn't mean they understand what blindness is and isn't.
Blindness is something we explain little by little as a child progresses toward school. Because nobody knows when a blind child really understands what blindness is, it should be discussed in a positive manner. Anything associated with blindness should also be approached positively. Learning to use a white cane or being able to read Braille can be opportunities and privileges, not last resorts. Braille is a special way to read with your fingers. Positive approaches convey the attitude, "It's okay to be blind."
We must not lament the fact that a child cannot see. It isn't helpful to make comments such as, "I wish you could see the birds out the window," or "I wish you could see the pictures in this book." Instead we can say, "Do you hear the birds singing? They sound nice. They have pretty colored feathers that look nice, too," or "This is a funny picture. It shows an elephant in a dress! Isn't that silly? Do you remember the elephant you rode on at the zoo? Can you imagine it in a dress?"
In other words, we must share what we see with a blind child as a pleasant and normal part of communicating, not as a constant sad reminder of something the child is lacking. It is impossible to guard blind children from all excessive admiring, crying, and gushing about blindness, and parents can begin by setting an example. This means getting your own grief and frustration about blindness out of your system as early as possible. You have a good peer support group right here to help you through that.
I recommend you don't spend a lot of time talking about how much your child can see. Neighbors, other family members, friends, and even strangers will want to do that. They are curious and being friendly when they say to your child, "How much can you see? Can you count my fingers? Can you see that color? Can you see across the street?" Sometimes the child tries to cooperate, and sometimes he/she doesn't. Either way, too much talk about what the child can see will be boring and confusing. Why does it matter so much? Is the amount a child can see really the most interesting and important part of him or her?
Of course the doctor must do eye tests. As a parent you want to have some idea of what your child can do using vision, but this is enough.
Blind people can tell you about the different reactions they had as children to all this discussion about seeing. I learned to lie about it. I tried to make people happy so they would leave me alone and I could go on to other things. Pretending to see sometimes got me special privileges and prestige at the school for the blind, and I knew I made my family members happy if I said I could see things. Nobody meant to teach me to lie, but that's what they did.
And what about using the word blind? Does it make you uncomfortable? It might be hard for you, but it could be a relief for your child to be able to name the difference he senses, a difference no one will talk about directly. I can remember feeling that something was wrong with me before anyone used the word blind. When I was in kindergarten in public school, the teacher guided my hand to teach me to print. I couldn't see the large letters she put on the paper. I learned to print, but the whole thing was embarrassing and confusing to me. Some explanation about what was happening might have been helpful, although I know that the adults involved were as unsure about what to do as I was.
An even bigger concern for me in kindergarten, though, was the bathroom. From the kindergarten room you had to go across a big hallway, down a flight of stairs, around a few corners, and there was the bathroom right next to the door that led to the playground. My class always went to the bathroom just before recess, and I found it very hard to wait. It was all right to go earlier, and I know that other children did, but I was sure I could not see well enough to find my way. I did not dare admit this to anyone. One day when the teacher asked me why my dress was wet, I told her I didn't know. I did not associate this problem with blindness, but I now do. I am not aware that the teacher or my mother ever figured it out.
Your child needs reassurance that blindness is okay, even before he or she really understands what blindness is. This is true because of what others say about it, and because a blind youngster may have fears (as I did) that are associated with their lack of vision. If you have created an atmosphere where it's okay to talk about blindness, your child will have the language and the "permission" needed to express some of the things he or she is thinking or experiencing.
When a blind child is little, he or she may not have much interest in what you see. You may drive along the road and describe beautiful scenery, and your child may totally ignore you. Because children express no interest, that doesn't mean you should quit talking about what you see, but do it in small doses. You know that you get information from all directions through your eyes, both close up and far away. Your child doesn't know what you see. Gradually, he or she will learn—if you keep talking.
It is important that a blind child learn how to interact with people who are getting information visually. In one sense your child may borrow your eyes to read a story, learn about colors, identify a noise, and so forth.
Sight is convenient, and blind people rely on sighted people for certain things. Blind children need to learn how eyesight works and how to interact with sighted people. It's a part of learning about blindness. But too much reliance upon someone else's sight deprives the child of skill and confidence. Thus, a blind child must learn to balance trusting their blind techniques and understanding the uses of vision. This is part of growing up for a blind child. It is not a disaster if we don't understand it all immediately.
Several parents have mentioned to me lately that their blind children seem to have trouble understanding humor. I would not hesitate to describe some visual humor to your children, but I wouldn't worry if they miss some jokes. It's good to describe some cartoons so that your child comes to understand that humor is often based on weird impressions shown in pictures. My mother used to read the comic papers to me. I am sure this was helpful, but I was often slow to understand the jokes.
Blind children must learn to get information from sighted people for many different purposes. This is part of a life-long process.
We keep learning about eyesight, just as we keep learning about other things. When I was forty or so I was riding down the street with my two sighted teenagers, and I wanted to get some information about street signs. I said, "I want you to read me every sign you see." That was a mistake! They thought this was a wonderful opportunity. They couldn't talk fast enough to read all the signs out loud. They were deliberately taking advantage of the situation to read things they knew I didn't want to know (not an unusual attitude for a teenager), but I learned something new from this experience. I knew that in a business district there are signs on practically every building, but I really had no concept of how many signs you could read while driving down one street.
I tell you this story to show how a blind person continues to learn about seeing. The process needs to start young. Your awareness of this process will help you help your child build a better grasp of how vision is used.
When my son was three years old, he taught me something I found instructive. He was a sighted child. I already knew how blind children learn about color, for I was once a blind child and grew up with other blind children. We learned by listening to what people said about color. As we grew older, we learned to do things with color based on what others were doing and saying. What I didn't know is that this is the way sighted children learn about color, too.
My son had a pair of comfortable, striped, knit pants, and he had a nice comfortable T-shirt that was absolutely the wrong color to wear with those pants! In typical three-year-old style, he wanted to wear them together. He liked them, so they must look good together. I had to teach him that other people said they didn't look good together. We had similar experiences when matching other clothes he liked.
This is the same lesson you teach a blind child. A sighted child sees the colors and a blind child doesn't, but they both must learn what the culture agrees is okay in using colors.
You have heard statistics about how much learning is visual. These figures are often used to indicate that blind children don't learn as much or as fast as other children do. This is not necessarily so, however. It is only true when we don't use the alternative techniques that are available to the blind.
If a blind infant drops a set of keys on the floor, and you lean down to pick them up, that can be a fun game. If you lower the baby down and put his or her hand on the keys, it might be even more fun. If you encourage the little one to move a hand back and forth on the floor to find the keys, that's another kind of game, and that's learning. As the baby becomes a toddler, a little talk about where things go when they get thrown and dropped increases learning gradually. Sometimes the child will cooperate and enjoy the games, and sometimes not. But you keep playing them and making them more challenging and complex as the child learns.
My friend Ali was three years old when she first came to my house. She is blind and has mild cerebral palsy, so she has been slow to walk. However, she covers a lot of ground in her crawling. Within minutes after arriving at my house, Ali was sitting in front of the refrigerator in the middle of a crowd of people in the kitchen, and she was in danger of being stepped on. Her father rescued her and explained that Ali often heads for the fridge in new houses. She must find that big metal box with a motor humming and air blowing out very interesting.
Later I learned from Ali's mother that she also likes to get things out of the fridge (if she can reach them) when the door is open. I have no idea when Ali made the connection between the fan in the fridge and the food, but I know she did, and that's learning. It may not be exactly the same pattern that another child would follow, but that doesn't matter. Ali learned about the fridge, and that's what is important.
We reduce blindness to the level of a nuisance by using our own imaginations to figure out what techniques are best suited to specific experiences. Just because you never saw someone who is blind doing a thing doesn't mean it can't be done.
It can be helpful, as you raise a blind child, to observe how sighted children learn. Here is an example.
When I was visiting my daughter's Sunday school class of three-year-olds, one little boy, Thomas, arrived early. My daughter gave him crayons to keep him busy until she and the other children were ready for class. After coloring for a while, Thomas reached for the roll of Scotch tape that was nearby. It was clear to me that he did not know how to get the end loose from the dispenser, so I showed him how to do it.
If Thomas had been blind, he might not have noticed the tape an arm's reach away. I would have had to tell him it was there, or I might have prompted him to explore until he found it. Also, I would have used different techniques to show him what to do with it. But using tape should be as normal and typical for the blind three-year-old as it is for the sighted three-year-old. If we watch a sighted child doing something like this, it prods us to offer the same opportunity to our blind child. It is a simple matter to say, "Oh, look at this. What do you suppose we can do with it? Here, let me show you." So what if the child makes a big mess with the tape? That's the way kids learn.
Paying attention to children in general can help us be on our toes in offering new learning experiences to blind children. It is really just as simple as that—not anything to worry about, just a guide that can be useful.
Like other children, blind children need to learn about appropriate and inappropriate behavior. This gets a little complicated sometimes, because blind children should do some things differently. For example, it is okay for a blind baby to feel your face, and they often do. But this behavior becomes socially unacceptable at a very young age. Before school age a blind child needs to learn that it is not a good idea to put their hands all over other people. It is better for a young boy to be scolded and learn a lesson about getting along with his peers than for him to be branded "to be avoided" by his classmates. This means parents have an extra responsibility in teaching social skills to their blind youngsters. Blind children need information, even when they don't ask for it and don't take it. We must keep reminding them when we see inappropriate behavior.
When my children were small, I grew very tired of having to fuss at them for doing the same thing over and over. I tried to be creative in finding ways not to nag. This spring my youngest graduated from college, a real milestone for both of us. He is selling books this summer, as he has done throughout college. He said to me, "Don't let me stay with the company beyond the summer." Amazed, I asked what he wanted me to do about it if he did. "Nag me," he answered. I told him I didn't like to nag, and I thought he didn't like being nagged, either. What do you suppose he said? "Sometimes it works." I found that most interesting, and I pass it on, for what it is worth.
Many blind children feel no need to hold their heads erect. Not only does this look funny, it also causes underdevelopment of the muscles in the neck and back. Constant reminders and creative motivators must be tried. There is no simple solution, but it's worth working on. When they get to be sixteen or twenty, they will be very glad if they've developed the practice of holding their heads up and looking at other people.
One evening I was talking with a blind eight-year-old who was jumping up and down and flopping his body around. Thinking I could subtly change this behavior, I suggested we sit down. We did and continued our conversation, and he continued to jump around. By and by I mentioned that most eight-year-olds don't jump around all the time. "Oh," he said, "I do that all the time."
"Yes," I said, "that's why I brought it up. It makes you look funny."
I still did not get much response, but repetition of the same message in different ways will get through. Sometimes we just have to figure out how to make the message matter, and there may be some value in using a blend of shock techniques and repetition. No technique is right for every situation, and frequently a change of emphasis from day-to-day is desirable.
Today most blind children have far less contact with each other than when I was young and most of us went to schools for the blind or resource classrooms. Being one blind person among hundreds of sighted children in public schools and in the neighborhood can be lonely. There is a void in learning about blindness. In fact, children may learn, to their detriment, to take advantage of other people's attitudes about blindness.
Public attitudes about blindness may be the most difficult part of raising a blind child, both for you and for your child. Some of you may know better examples than I do, but let me share just one.
Nine-year-old Melissa lived in a house about two hundred yards from the road where the school bus picked her up. There was a dry creek bed with a bridge across it between her door and where she caught the school bus. Melissa was still learning how to use her cane, and she resisted taking it when she should. Her mother explained to her what could happen if she didn't use her cane, but Melissa continued to resist taking it.
Sure enough, one morning Melissa went racing out the door to catch the bus—without her cane—and fell in the creek bed. Melissa was not seriously hurt, but the neighbors were angry. They felt Mom should never let Melissa out of her sight. They didn't think Melissa could be safe, even with the cane. Though Mom had the right attitude, it was difficult for her to stand her ground when all the neighbors were mad at her. I reassured Mom that she was right on target. Sometimes it is hard not to fall into traps formed by public attitudes.
Without realizing what they are doing, blind children often learn to depend on sighted people more than they need to or should. Elementary school is not too soon for a blind child to begin traveling independently, keeping track of print papers, looking for things that are lost or dropped, and keeping track of clothes that match. As a child matures, he or she needs to develop greater self-reliance in all these areas.
This spring Kathryn was a model in a fashion show. She had less time than I wished to practice her route across the stage, down the steps, around a couple of corners, and down the aisle through the audience. Still she did just fine, and she looked good. As she came down the steps someone could not resist the need to tell her where she should go. A lipreader at a nearby table reported that Kathryn said in a whisper without looking around, "I can do it myself." Kathryn handled the situation, but it must have been demoralizing and embarrassing.
How many times in a day or a week do children like Kathryn have to face somebody who does not really believe in them? What does it do to their confidence and self-esteem? We cannot quickly change these attitudes, but what we have to offer is valuable. We can reassure blind children that somebody does understand. We can offer the opportunity to talk about blindness and to learn the skills that help reduce it to the level of a nuisance. We can share with these children the successes, frustrations, grief, and excitement of growing up as a blind person.
Blindness is a characteristic that these children do not share with most of their peers. To talk about it when they can is important, and we must find ways to give them this opportunity.
A child needs to be encouraged to understand how he or she is affected by blindness. I have been asked many questions by blind youngsters that demonstrate they want to talk about it. They ask me, "When should I use my cane, and when should I walk with someone else?" "How do I decide when I really need Braille?" "If other people seem to know what is going on and I don't, what can I do about it?" "In a group I don't always like to ask for help or information. But if I'm quiet, I get left out or forgotten, and I don't like that either. I know I can be noticed by calling attention to blindness, but sometimes that isn't much fun." "What will my life be like when I grow up? All the adults I know can see." "How will I learn to put make-up on?" "What will happen if I don't drive a car?"
Whether or not you hear these questions in so many words, you need to realize that blind children are thinking about these things. You and your children need to talk about these and other matters and work out answers. One of the resources available to you through the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) comes in the form of people who have answers to these questions.
The other day I visited a one-week camp for blind children who attend public school in Idaho. I was introduced to a group of about ten teenagers. Most had returned to the camp for at least the second year. After telling them who I was, I asked why they liked the camp and why they came back. No answers. I told them I thought I knew. I suggested that the camp gives them an opportunity to share experiences with others who are blind.
Immediately, the room was a-buzz with chatter and questions. My few minutes grew into a whole class period. These youngsters wanted to talk about jobs, careers, and discrimination—what it is and what to do about it; the attitudes of parents, teachers, and peers about blindness; and all the topics we have touched on this morning. At that camp there were counselors who would discuss blindness in the evenings, but they were not blind themselves. It seems to make a difference.
I didn't have all the answers to the children's questions, but that did not seem to matter. They were eager to share with me and to have my thoughts to ponder.
The NFB Training Centers in Louisiana, Colorado, and Minnesota sponsor summer programs for blind children and teens. Their staff members—most of whom are blind like me—will tell you the same thing. Children are eager to learn about blindness from those they know have had real experiences. They are glad for the opportunity to experiment with the skills and attitudes about blindness that they are learning.
Kathryn is ten years old, and I have known her for five or six years. When I see her, Kathryn always wants to take hold of my cane. At first she wanted to talk about it and compare it to her own. Now she just wants to grasp it for a moment and go on with whatever she is doing and saying. I think this is her way of saying, "I'm glad you and I have canes in common."
The National Federation of the Blind provides the rhythm and the melody for us all to march forward together to change public attitudes about blindness. We have a young, energetic leader who depends on all of us to make the music and move ahead. Our children are learning to play the instruments that broadcast our message to the world.
One or a few persons cannot make the band move forward or sound good. The fullness of sound and the impressiveness of configurations on the field come from planning and rehearsals. Each individual must play a part and coordinate with the others. Because of our togetherness, we are all more successful than any could be alone.
We meet at this convention to renew our spirits and improve our skills and our understanding. As adults, both blind and sighted, we need what we came here to partake of. And we bring our children, for they need it, too. They need what they will find this week, and they depend on us throughout the year to help them improve their skills and grow in their understanding.
When our children become the section leaders, one day our band will be welcomed by society as a leading part of the parade, not merely with sympathy because the blind are doing better than expected, but with honor because the high quality of our performance can no longer be denied.
This is what we hope and plan for our children, and this is what they dream. We must do what we can to facilitate their dreams. This is our goal for ourselves, and this is our pledge to the next generation!
by Karen Anderson and Anil Lewis
From the Editor: Launched in Maryland in 2008, the NFB BELL Academy has become one of the flagship programs of the National Federation of the Blind. In this article Karen Anderson and Anil Lewis discuss how BELL has evolved since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
For more than ten years, the National Federation of the Blind has held BELL Academies across the country each summer. Historically BELL, which stands for Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning, has been a two-week, in-person summer program that gives blind children ages four through twelve the opportunity to build their Braille skills. Students are mentored by blind adults, and the program is designed to help kids realize that reading can and should be fun.
In 2020, as COVID-19 changed our world, we recognized that the NFB BELL Academy needed to change, too. Though it wasn't safe for students to gather in person, we knew that it still was important for blind children to be exposed to Braille and the alternative techniques of blindness in a fun way. For this reason we created the NFB BELL Academy In-Home Edition.
Still faced with an ongoing pandemic, in 2021 the National Federation of the Blind once again adapted our summer Braille literacy program to meet the circumstances. Three two-week NFB BELL Academy In-Home Edition virtual sessions were made available. We attempted to accommodate families' schedules throughout the summer months and to permit three levels of instruction: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each class was taught by an experienced teacher of blind students. In addition, families were connected with blind mentors who could work with them to answer any questions they might have. All of the activities were intended to grow students' love of reading and of Braille by having fun.
Each registered participant received a box of materials that contained everything they needed to complete the lessons through the two-week session. Each participant also received a white cane of the appropriate size. The materials list was extensive. Supplies included the following:
It is important to note that due to the generous support of partners such as the Wells Fargo Foundation, the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults, the Lavelle Fund for the Blind, and Seedlings Braille Books for Children, as well as our dedicated nationwide network of members, the 2021 NFB BELL Academy was entirely free to participants and their families. These families came from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds; many did not have access to items often considered common household supplies. The NFB was committed to providing all of the materials necessary for children to complete the activities in its programming. The lack of financial resources was not allowed to be a barrier to participation.
The agenda for all three levels of the 2021 NFB BELL Academy included direct instruction from volunteer leaders across the country via video conference. Families received recorded videos to watch before and after the lessons. Social hours helped facilitate peer-to-peer interactions among blind students. These gatherings were unique opportunities for children with a low-incidence disability such as blindness. Spanish interpretation was provided during one of the sessions in order to encourage even more participation.
A portion of the agenda for the NFB BELL Academy In-Home Edition is as follows:
Day 1: Monday
Videos to watch before your meeting time:
"O&M Cane Introduction" video (older or younger)
"Slate and Perkins Lessons"
"Why Kids Wear Shades"
During social hour, we will be decorating canes and learning shades. If you are going to participate, please have your cane, learning shades, and all materials you would like to use to decorate them ready.
Day 2: Tuesday
Videos to watch before your meeting time:
"Magnetic Names"
"Seed Germination"
Materials to have for virtual lesson:
Seeds: Styrofoam plate, paper towel, seeds, cup, and water
Magnetic Names: Foam shapes, scissors, Braille label paper, and magnets
The videos from the program remain available at https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/nfb-bell-academy/lessons.
The NFB conducted a post-program survey of parents of participants to gather data on their experiences in the program, including successes and areas for improvement. The survey also asked about the participants' experiences with Braille in their general education. Sixty percent of respondents reported that they believed their child's Braille skills improved after attending the 2021 NFB BELL Academy, and 40 percent said they believed it remained about the same. Ninety-three percent of respondents reported that they were satisfied with the program, while the remaining 7 percent reported being neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. No response indicated dissatisfaction.
In response to the question "What do you believe your child/student learned at the NFB BELL Academy?", most cited the introduction to Braille. Responses included the following:
"She was exposed to Braille for the first time."
"He understood the importance of Braille and the proper way to read and write."
"We don't have access to Braille instruction outside of BELL Academy."
"We saw the importance of learning Braille. Also we saw that blind people are capable of being successful adults."
"She had no knowledge of Braille or cane walking before we started, and we are continuing to try and use what we learned at home."
Others reflected on the camaraderie with other students learning Braille:
"This was the first time Jason learned Braille with other students, which was amazing. He's one of only a handful of Braille learners in our county."
"He learned that there are other kids learning Braille (he's not the only one) and that blind people can be teachers."
"She learned how to interact with other peers who are also blind."
"She learned fun ways to learn Braille as well as so many other things like exploring money, scissors, tape. And she learned that there are other kids that need to read Braille like her."
In response to the question "What was your child's/student's favorite aspect of the NFB BELL Academy?", respondents most frequently cited the interaction with other students. This is notable due to the low-incidence nature of blindness—often students are the only blind child in their area. This isolation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, making programs such as the NFB BELL Academy all the more important.
To the question, "What could we do to improve the program?", the most frequent response was that the program needed no improvement, followed by a desire to return to in-person activities—which was our preference as well. The next most frequent response reflected a desire to make the program longer, followed by a request for smaller group sizes. We will carefully consider how to address these recommendations from our participants and their parents as conditions allow.
This summer we are excited that several states are getting back to in-person BELL Academies. There is nothing like the opportunity for blind children to gather in the same space with peers and successful blind adults. Again they will spend time working on Braille, cane travel, and other skills of blindness while having fun and being exposed to a positive philosophy of blindness. In-person learning offers incidental learning opportunities that are not as frequent in the virtual environment. In a face-to-face program children may discover how to put a straw in a juice box independently, how to open a snack by themselves, or how to locate their own cubby to put away their art projects. We are very excited to welcome students back to in-person BELL Academies across the country.
However, we have been fundamentally changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have realized that the virtual model presents a unique opportunity to reach participants who would be unable to travel to a BELL site. We recognize the ultimate necessity to develop new ways to reach these families more effectively and efficiently. Based on lessons we learned over the past two summers, we will infuse our future in-person programming with virtual components that enhance the experience for on-site participants and extend the benefit to those not in attendance.
In addition to returning to some in-person NFB BELL Academies, we are offering one three-week NFB BELL Academy In-Home session to those students who can only access the virtual experience. We hope this program will give them more exposure to the lessons and positive philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. Moreover, we will continue to offer social hour for all of our NFB BELL Academy In-Home participants. The social hour gives students the opportunity to get to know each other while they enjoy scavenger hunts throughout their homes, do yoga, listen to stories read in Braille by blind adults, and talk about some of the things they experience as blind kids growing up.
In the face of an ongoing pandemic, we have worked to counter the isolation felt by our students, their parents, and their teachers. We strive to connect them with a community of blind mentors and peers who can show them they can live the lives they want, that blindness does not hold them back. Through lessons learned we have grown stronger and more committed to the work ahead.
For more information about the 2022 NFB BELL Academy, or to apply for your child or student, visit nfb.org/bell. Thank you for helping us change what it means to be blind for your children and/or students.
by Sandy Halverson
From the Editor: The promotion of Braille as a means to literacy has long been a tenet of the National Federation of the Blind. In this article Sandy Halverson, a longtime Federationist from Virginia, remembers how the Braille Readers Are Leaders (BRAL) contest evolved over more than three decades and highlights this year's competition.
In the mid-1980s the National Federation of the Blind recognized that a Braille reading contest could motivate blind children to do more Braille reading. The contest, known from the beginning as Braille Readers Are Leaders, also could encourage the increased production and distribution of Braille materials. Although I was never a contest participant, I have had multiple opportunities to be involved over the years. In the early days I hired a reader who read hundreds of print pages of Braille Readers Are Leaders entry forms and reading logs. Later my team and I determined winners by combing through computer-generated participant entries. This year, for the first time, we worked with the online platform called Beanstack, which served as the primary mechanism for gathering contest information. The contest is operated through the generosity of the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. Since the Action Fund currently produces and distributes annual, free Braille calendars and promotes a monthly, free Braille books program for school-age children. Previously compiled a tactile art supplies kit to encourage blind children and adults to experiment with art. It seemed appropriate to include the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest as one of our programs.
Through most of the history of the contest, participants kept track of the number of Braille pages they read during the contest period. However, we learned that many summer reading programs for children find it more inclusive to judge reading contest entries by the number of minutes spent reading instead of page counts. We decided to change the Braille Readers Are Leaders (BRAL) contest so that participants could log the number of minutes they spent reading.
As we planned the 2021-2022 contest, we tested the three most popular reading contest platforms used by libraries and schools. We determined that Beanstack was the platform most accessible for screen reader use. The Beanstack staff was eager to answer our questions and to include features to meet our contest parameters. They have graciously worked with us to make improvements that we continue to identify.
With any transition from a relatively well-known process to a totally different system, things will not always happen as planned. How many participants would register? How many prizes would we need, and by whom would they be provided? How many participants would need assistance getting their information recorded in Beanstack? What kind of grand prize would be worth reading lots of minutes? Would we give each participant a "Braille Readers Are Leaders" T-shirt as we have done in past years?
With the support of the National Federation of the Blind, we formed a Braille Readers Are Leaders Committee to research possible prizes and define reward levels for minutes read. The committee suggested grand prize entries at certain milestones and approached producers of Braille products who might consider becoming donors. The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) quickly offered to donate two Chameleon 20-cell Braille notetakers; Seedlings Braille Books for Children and National Braille Press gave gift certificates. Horizons for the Blind provided a variety of tactile pictures of animals, birds, and flowers, all labeled in Braille, at a greatly reduced price. Additional art- and Braille-related prizes were donated by the American Action Fund.
We used email and social media to recruit contest participants. After the first contest announcements we began to hear from parents of blind children and teachers of blind students. A parent reported, "I haven't received my daughter's T-shirt yet. I was wondering if it had shipped. I was hoping to film a morning announcement with her wearing the shirt so that she could teach the other students about the contest and reading Braille." A middle- and high-school Braille teacher at the Indiana School for the Blind registered fifteen students. "Thank you for keeping this amazing contest so successful," she wrote. "It is so important to highlight our Braille readers!!!"
By the end of the contest, 508 participants had registered and 280 had submitted reading logs. This was the largest number of participants we have ever had. Participants represented thirty-six states; in addition, one child from an APO military family and one Canadian Braille reader also took part. Contestants read Braille a whopping total of 471,770 minutes. That amounts to 7,862 hours, or 327 days of Braille reading!
On March 4, in recognition of Dr. Seuss' birthday, the first-, second-, and third-place winners in each grade category were announced at an American Action Fund Facebook Live event. In addition to the prize packets sent to all participants, winners received a check for $25, $15, or $10 for first place, second place, and third place respectively. Here are the winners for the 2021-2022 Braille Readers Are Leaders contest.
First Place: Carol Ann Weeks, South Carolina, 30,525 minutes
Second Place: Nicholas Wilcox, Iowa, 28,356 minutes
Third Place: Angela Randall, Ohio, 28,322 minutes
First Place: Mila Chow, California, 1,588 minutes
Second Place: Hope Gernster, Montana, 1,005 minutes
Third Place: Jane Gacioch, Missouri, 855 minutes
First Place: Maeve Erb, Utah, 1,585 minutes
Second Place: Baylynn Lluveres, Minnesota, 1,524 minutes
Third Place: Madison McCombs, New York, 1,224 minutes
First place: Gabriel Wahlberg, Florida, 5,000 minutes
Second Place: Narjis Karimipour, Louisiana, 2,713 minutes
Third Place: Salome Cummins, Missouri, 2,599 minutes
First Place: Divanai Miguel, New Jersey, 9,402 minutes
Second Place: May Resendiz, Indiana, 8,433 minutes
Third Place: Amare Laggette, North Carolina, 3,755 minutes
First Place: Faith Switzer, New Mexico, 2,925 minutes
Second Place: Hayden Roswell, Colorado, 2,505 minutes
Third Place: Maria de Nooy, Michigan, 1,928 minutes
Luis Villanueva from Maryland read 155 minutes and earned our Breaking Reading Limits Award; which is presented to a participant who has overcome significant barriers to reading Braille.
Our Facebook Live event ended with the grand prize drawings for the two APH 20-cell Chameleon Braille displays. Our adult winner was Elizabeth Rouse from South Carolina, and Faith Switzer from New Mexico was our winning high-school student.
The National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) received a very generous donation specified for technology for blind students, and they asked that a winner from each of the remaining categories be drawn to receive either a Focus 40 Braille notetaker or the IRIE Buddy Braille embosser. These winners were Boon Dumrong, grades 6-8, Washington; Salome Cummins, grades 4-5, Missouri; Madison McCombs, grades 2-3, New York; and Kindergarten-first grader Jane Gacioch, Missouri. It was a privilege to contact each winner, assuring parents that I was not a telemarketer and explaining that their child really did win something of great value!
Several parents expressed their appreciation for the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults and the National Federation of the Blind. After the contest one parent wrote, "I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, the NFB, and the NOPBC, not just for the prize but also for all the support you have given us over the years and continue to give us and so many other families. We went to our first NFB Convention twelve years ago in Detroit. Since then, you all have been our role models, shown us time and time again that we are not alone, and given us the support and guidance that we've desperately needed to help advocate for our son. It is largely because of your influence that he holds himself to such high standards. He doesn't feel limited by his blindness, and it hasn't stopped him from pursuing his many goals and passions."
As a child I loved having hard-copy Braille books under my fingers. I read on my grandmother's front porch, on the bus, or in bed under the covers—until I heard my mom get up to put the book away. Darn the noise of those turning pages!
These days, refreshable Braille displays make it possible and convenient for us to have access to as much Braille as we can manage. Many of our school-age contest participants have choices that people of my generation never imagined. No matter how many school districts insist that recorded books or computers with screen readers are better than Braille as a primary means of reading and learning, our Beanstack minutes logged show a tremendous and exciting commitment to Braille literacy.
There will be another Braille Readers Are Leaders contest during the 2022-2023 school year. The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults is pleased to partner with the National Federation of the Blind to strengthen Braille literacy and to create opportunities to put Braille in the hands of blind children and adults.
by Brenda Lopez
From the Editor: When sighted parents learn that their child is blind, they may be caught in a swirl of unanswered questions. How will their child learn to perform basic tasks such as dressing, walking independently, and using utensils at the table? What lies ahead in school? Will their child be able to hold a job, raise a family, and enjoy hobbies and travel? Where can they find reliable information on what comes next?
In this article Brenda Lopez recounts what happened in her family when her son Chris lost his sight at age four. By connecting with active, independent blind adults, she and her husband found their way forward.
Our son Chris is involved in several programs for blind children through SAAVI Services for the Blind, an organization that serves blind children and adults in southern Arizona where we live. This summer he will attend SAAVI’s summer program for blind kids as well as BELL® Academy in July. He has a lot of friends through these programs, and he can't wait to get started!
My uncle lost his sight as an adult. He held a job, lived independently, and traveled everywhere using public transportation. My husband and I knew that blind people could live active, fulfilling lives, but we weren't sure how we would help Chris learn everything he needed to know. I remember sitting with Chris in the hospital right after he lost his sight. They brought him his meal, and he didn't know what to do. We said, "You've got a tray in front of you with food and silverware and a napkin. Check it out. Eat your lunch." He used his hands, found everything on his tray, and started eating. That was the beginning, but we knew we had a long way to go.
One day when Chris was five, my husband and I saw a blind couple walking down the street. She had a guide dog, and he was using a cane. My husband told Chris that he saw some grownups who were blind and that he wanted to meet them. Chris was a bit skeptical, but my husband introduced himself and told the couple that our little boy is blind.
These strangers we met on the sidewalk couldn't have been more friendly and welcoming! Their names were Ashleigh and Jordan Moon, and it turned out that they work at SAAVI. They encouraged us to get Chris involved in SAAVI'S Saturday program for blind children. We signed him up right away, and he started to get real instruction in cane travel and other blindness skills.
We are extremely fortunate to live in a school district that has excellent services for blind students. Chris attends a resource room for half of the day, and for the rest of the time he is fully mainstreamed. For the first several years, he had a wonderful teacher of the visually impaired named Debby Feliz. She gave Chris a solid foundation in Braille, and she signed him up for the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest every year. She absolutely went above and beyond when it came to her students! She spent hours every weekend transcribing material into Braille so Chris had it when he needed it. Sadly Ms. Feliz passed away in 2020, and our district is still trying to hire someone full-time to fill her position.
Even though we receive excellent services through our school district, we find it extremely helpful to have Ashleigh or someone else from SAAVI attend Chris's IEP meetings with us. Sometimes we have no idea what he needs in terms of technology and class materials, and it's great having somebody to help us sort it out. When the school went virtual during COVID, SAAVI set Chris up with a tutor who made sure he had full access to all his classwork. He was able to keep up with his classmates the whole time. In fact, he made the honor roll when face-to-face classes resumed. He hadn't lost any ground at all!
In 2019 my family attended the convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Arizona in Phoenix. It was very interesting to meet parents of blind children from throughout the state. Listening to the stories of other families, I really came to appreciate Chris's program. I learned that other parents have to fight for things as basic as canes and Braille paper. We're so lucky to be in our Mesa School District! I only wish other families were as fortunate as we are!
Chris is ten now, and when I watch him I realize he's doing all the things that sighted kids his age are able to do. He rides a bike, he goes on the roller coaster at the amusement park, and he crosses quiet streets in our neighborhood. He's learning to cross some of the busier streets now. He even helps me in the kitchen. He's good at slicing tomatoes. A lot of sighted kids his age don't do anything when it comes to preparing meals. Chris learns about cooking at Saturday school, and it's something he really enjoys.
Right now we're working on taking care of clothes and doing laundry. Chris is starting to learn how to pick out clothes that match and how to choose outfits that are right for a particular occasion. My husband and I hadn't figured out how to teach him these skills, but the instructors at SAAVI knew how to help.
Many of the staff members at SAAVI are blind, so Chris sees blind people handling responsibilities and living active, independent lives. The blind adults Chris knows are wonderful role models. They show him that he really will be able to live the life he wants, that blindness never has to hold him back.
I talk to other parents of blind children whenever I have the chance. I encourage them to get connected with blind adults through agencies such as SAAVI and through the National Federation of the Blind. Even the best school program can't provide everything your child needs. Programs such as SAAVI and the NFB training centers can teach the independent living skills your child needs.
One thing I tell parents is, "Don't be afraid to ask questions. If you don't ask questions, you'll never get answers!" In fact, I encourage parents to approach blind people they see on the street. If you tell them you have a blind child, they will probably be glad to share their knowledge and experience. That's how we found Ashleigh and Jordan. For us that chance meeting made all the difference!
(Editor's Note: SAAVI Services for the Blind received one of the NFB’s Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards in 2015 for its excellent and innovative service to the blind community.)
by Anil Lewis and Karen Anderson
From the Editor: The NFB has long recognized that high expectations and a solid grounding in the skills of blindness are the best recipe for the success of our blind and low-vision students. Teachers of Tomorrow is an exciting program launched by the NFB to build partnerships with teachers of blind/low-vision students.
In classrooms across America, blind students are all too often underestimated, underserved, and overlooked. The cumulative impact of these educational experiences is devastating: illiteracy, unemployment, and isolation. Once in motion, these patterns represent a significant threat to the social and economic vitality of the blind community.
Most teachers of blind and low-vision students are sighted, and they often lack the experiential disability know-how to counteract blindness stereotypes and to unleash the full potential of their students. Furthermore, many university teacher-preparation programs in visual impairment lack the resources to establish meaningful and sustained relationships with the blind community. In some cases they do not even provide prospective teachers with interactions with blind students prior to graduation. The lack of face-to-face exposure to blind children and adults has been shown to lead directly to negative conceptions about blindness and pervasive low expectations for blind youth. The Teachers of Tomorrow program was developed to meet the need for a community of networking and support for new and early-career teachers of blind students.
Through the generous financial support of the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation, the NFB Teachers of Tomorrow program was revitalized in January 2021. The program brought together twenty-two new and early-career teachers for monthly virtual professional development sessions that centered on the lived experiences of blind people. These gatherings created a direct path between program participants and successful blind adults, offering an unobstructed view of the types of educational opportunities and disability outlooks that prepare blind students for lives of personal and professional fulfillment. While each session had specific learning objectives, these overarching goals served as the foundation for all program activities:
During our sessions and throughout the duration of the program, the teachers had access to national experts in blindness education, dedicated mentor teachers, and a transformative environment of positive blindness attitudes. The following is a brief overview of the monthly session topics that were discussed.
January: "When Blind People Drive: Introduction to the Organized Blind Movement"
In this inaugural session, participants began to build community by describing their professional roles and by sharing their motivations for becoming teachers of the blind. NFB President Mark Riccobono provided an overview of the historical and philosophical landscape underpinning the Federation's perspective on blindness education. The teachers gained insights on the use of blind mentors, the value of Braille, and the role of high expectations. This session established the foundation for a professional identity that is informed by the lived experience of blind people.
February: "Assisting Students in Developing a Positive Blindness Identity"
This session explored the ways social perceptions about blindness influence identity development among blind youth. A diverse panel of college students provided an intersectional perspective on achieving self-acceptance and becoming situated in the blind community. The vital roles played by families and general education teachers in communicating positive blindness attitudes were discussed. Since all but one of the cohort participants were fully sighted, learning about the social and personal implications of possessing a disability was an especially relevant topic to unpack.
March: "Braille Literacy: Teaching, Advocating, and Assessing for a Lifetime of Literacy"
This session provided resources pertaining to Braille literacy in the areas of advocacy, assessment, and teaching strategies. The discussion explored the routine challenges experienced by teachers of the blind and the range of techniques employed to circumvent barriers to quality Braille instruction. A featured speaker shared her story: as a low-vision youth she was not provided with Braille instruction, leaving her unprepared when she suddenly lost her remaining vision later in life. Society's prejudice against Braille hindered her academic productivity and chipped away at her self-confidence—an experience shared by many blind people. The teachers reflected upon their own Braille teaching practices and were provided with resources to help them gain professional growth in this area. They had time to reflect upon their students and the role that Braille can fulfill in employment and personal enjoyment.
April: "A Solid Foundation for Success: A Close-up on Early Childhood Education"
This session provided information and teaching strategies for blind students in early-childhood settings. Presenters engaged the participants in considering how best to implement inclusive teaching practices among general education teachers to maximize meaningful learning and age-appropriate independence for young blind learners. Braille learning and early exploration with a white cane in both school and home contexts were also discussed. Participants also received information regarding the specialized needs of blind students with additional disabilities. This session underscored the need for establishing high expectations and a positive blindness identity as essential aspects of the early childhood curriculum.
May: "Supporting Professional Growth through Mentorship"
The purpose of this session was to establish professional mentorship connections between program participants and our team of teacher/mentors. During our program interviews and subsequent sessions, participants, as early as career teachers in a low-incidence field, often reported experiencing professional isolation and insufficient understanding among the special education community. This session underscored the value of professional growth and demonstrated how our seasoned blindness-education professionals implement a teaching outlook that empowers blind students. Each participant established virtual contact with their individual mentor and learned how to seek support from others on the mentoring team.
June: "Reimagining STEM Education for Blind Students"
This session provided participants with techniques and resources to enhance their knowledge of nonvisual STEM teaching strategies. Providing meaningful and equitable opportunities in STEM education has long been a Federation priority. Systemic issues, including low expectations, inaccessible materials, inadequate teaching techniques, and a legacy of low-quality special-education services are some of the issues hampering the achievement of countless blind students in STEM. The teachers were provided with a novel framework grounded in a nonvisual STEM perspective that challenged the teachers to create an accessible lesson for their students. Collectively, this session encouraged the teachers to reimagine the STEM field as a place rich with opportunities and possibilities for their students.
July: "NFB Virtual National Convention"
NFB Teachers of Tomorrow participants were invited to attend the NFB National Convention, the largest annual gathering of blind people anywhere in the world. This virtual gathering showcased the outlook and skills that blind people employ to succeed in school, work, and life, providing encouragement and resources to program participants. Teachers interacted with blind individuals working in various occupations, heard from families of blind children, and gained knowledge about innovations in access technology. In addition, we initiated mid-program individual interviews during this month to pinpoint some of the primary professional and philosophical needs of the teachers and to gather details to assist us in enhancing our program.
August: "Thriving in the New School Year"
The purpose of this session was to provide teachers with resources and strategies to support their work in the new school year. We spotlighted skilled and enthusiastic teachers who could share stories from their classroom experiences. These stories are especially important since many teachers of the blind experience professional isolation, contributing to disengagement and burnout. This session also featured a panel of blind individuals—a college student, a job-seeker, and a Mary Kay consultant. Each speaker traced their educational path, highlighting the things their teachers got right. Finally, our teacher mentors held small-group discussions to address challenges and fears expressed by participants during the mid-program individual interviews.
September: "Highlighting Intersectional Perspectives in Blindness Education"
This session explored the role of intersectional identities in the education of blind students. Often the academic experiences and social lives of this population are viewed through a medical lens, eclipsing the powerful influence that personal characteristics or community/social contexts impose on schooling. To bring these elements into focus, our presenters shared detailed accounts of their educational pathways, describing the impact of factors such as language, class, immigration status, race/ethnicity, religious practices, and gender identity. The session also addressed strategies for supporting students who are blind and identify as LGBTQ. Our final speaker shared how white teachers of the blind can build meaningful relationships with diverse students.
October: "Supporting Transition-Age Students"
This session provided resources and perspectives to support the postsecondary aspirations of blind students. For blind youth ages fourteen through twenty-two, the path from school to college and career often introduces academic and social obstacles that can derail dreams and hamper economic mobility. These challenges often are more pronounced for blind students with additional disabilities, for blind youth who are first-generation college attendees, and for students who choose not to attend college. A panel of blind college students highlighted these experiences by detailing their path through high school and the challenges and opportunities that they encountered along the way. The student narratives served as the foundation for a deeper exploration of specific supports, including vocational rehabilitation services, mentorship, self-advocacy, and vocational career options. The session concluded with small-group discussions, where participants built upon their personal knowledge and collaborated with other educators to enhance their skills for serving the complex needs of transition-age youth.
November: "Fostering Autonomy and Agency in Blind Students across the School Years"
The goal of this session was to increase knowledge and to provide resources that teachers can implement to promote bodily autonomy and personal agency among blind students. Blind students often are socialized to relinquish their bodies in various ways—"not being permitted to decline assistance, by forced hand-on-hand teaching strategies, or by the failure to introduce tools that promote independent movement. Personal agency is stifled when blind students are exposed to these practices, along with other strategies that reduce the locus of control and independent decision-making. These issues were described and placed in context via an activity that asked teachers to problem-solve various social scenarios. The teachers also drew from experiences in their own classrooms to seek support on topics including sex education, personal space, advocacy, shopping, etc. The session concluded with a presentation by Dr. Arielle Silverman, who provided insights from her disability memoir. Dr. Silverman shared stories and tips around developing friendships, dating, working with families, and upholding high expectations.
December: "Lessons from the Blind Bayou"
Teachers traveled to Ruston, Louisiana, for an in-person session that included twenty-six hours of hands-on learning. The group engaged with students and staff at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, a residential training center founded by blind people in 1985. Here participants gained experience with Structured Discovery—a model for teaching and learning created by blind people. Teachers wore sleepshades to bake brownies, to learn basic cane travel concepts, and to cut wood with a chainsaw (an exercise in confidence building and an important demonstration of the effectiveness of nonvisual skills). They also spent a day at the Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University, where they learned about the development of Structured Discovery and its application in K-12 settings. Both the Louisiana Center for the Blind and the Institute on Blindness are widely recognized for their innovations in education and rehabilitation. Their programs instill confidence; prioritize the perspective of blind people; and elevate expectations, reflecting the educational practices and outlook that we hope will inspire program participants on their journeys toward professional growth and student empowerment.
Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, also participated in our Louisiana session, and shared his personal experience as a blind student who "didn't know he was blind." Rather than being taught the alternative skills of blindness, he spent a significant part of his K-12 life attempting to "pass" as a sighted student. As one of our confidence-building activities, he taught the teachers how to use a chainsaw while blindfolded. One of our Teachers of Tomorrow described the experience as follows: "As a souvenir, I brought home the piece of the tree that I cut off while blindfolded. I have never used a chainsaw, let alone blindfolded. This task helped me overcome my fear. On the piece of log I put "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE 2021," using black rhinestones to create Braille dots."
Another teacher states, "During the experience at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, we had the opportunity to make brownies from scratch while being blindfolded. The activity was called "Cooking without Looking." I took the recipe that we used during the experience and had my ninth-grade student make the brownies (we added a Christmas touch to them by adding crushed candy canes). We made two pans for a total of forty-eight brownies to share with his classmates and to take home to his family. The brownies were gone in ten minutes. Comments from his family were that they could not believe that he had made such amazing brownies."
Still another teacher states: "As a sighted person, I was unsure of where I fit in. I knew that people at the NFB had something to offer me as a new teacher, and certainly something to offer my students that I couldn't provide them with myself. My participation in Teachers of Tomorrow not only benefits me professionally, but it benefits my students. One day my students will no longer be mine . . . They will graduate, and have the rest of their lives ahead of them. Now that I relate to the NFB, I can connect my students with this huge network of people who share lived experiences as blind individuals. Their families can meet blind adults who are 'living the lives they want,' and have that same goal for their children."
Following the July session, each participant was invited to take part in a mid-program interview. Although we distributed a survey after each monthly session, these in-depth individual interviews were conducted to enhance the program and to learn how best to address the specific needs of each teacher. Here are some of the ideas the interviews revealed:
Every teacher expressed eagerness to continue learning from the blind community, recognizing that our life experiences are vital sources of knowledge for educational excellence and positive life outcomes.
The stories shared by blind panelists created an increased sense of urgency for participants to provide blind students with solid Braille instruction.
Teachers began to view themselves as key contributors to the future lives of their students.
Participants began to understand that blind mentorship can serve as a game-changing resource for blind students.
Based on these mid-program interviews, the following program changes were implemented to meet more fully the needs of the teachers:
More time was allocated in the virtual sessions for small group discussions during which participants could share successes and address teaching challenges.
Mentoring partnerships were expanded to create increased access to the various areas of expertise that each teacher/mentor possesses.
New session topics were created, and additional resources were disseminated based on the interviews.
Stronger connections were established between program participants and the NFB affiliate in their state.
The following statements from participants illustrate the impact of the NFB Teachers of Tomorrow program and the Pfeiffer Foundation's invaluable support:
"Now that I am connected with the NFB, I can connect my students with this huge network of people who share lived experiences as blind individuals. Their families can meet blind adults who are 'living the lives they want' and have that same goal for their children."
"This organization and this group have gotten me through so much this year. I look forward to every month because I feel so supported and learn so much. Sometimes day-to-day can feel like I'm drowning in work, and then I come to one of these meetings and I go, 'Okay. I can do this. I can be a TVI. And my students can do this.' So thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."
"The Teachers of Tomorrow Cohort Program has been such an enriching program, allowing us access to experienced professionals and individuals in the field. I feel such a program is important to the new teachers and leaders in the field and hope this program will continue in the future."
As you have read, the NFB Teachers of Tomorrow was an invaluable resource to the participants. As a result of their experiences, the program will impact the lives of countless blind students for years to come. We hope to continue this program long into the future. Thanks to the generous support of the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation, we have the financial groundwork to do so. The COVID-19 pandemic altered the original design of the program, shifting all of the sessions except one to virtual experiences. This was not ideal, but under these circumstances we learned valuable lessons about the positives and negatives of this medium, as well as ways to improve program delivery at a distance.
In order to better align the next cohort with the academic calendar that so greatly impacts participants' day-to-day lives, we will begin the next program year in late summer 2022. We hope that this structure will allow for more confidence in planning and holding in-person events in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual sessions have demonstrated a significant impact, and we have learned ways to improve this method of program delivery. However, there is no substitute for in-person interaction with peers and blind mentors. Therefore, the 2022 cohort will have the benefit of multiple in-person sessions interspersed with virtual sessions carefully tailored to meet the needs of new and early-career teachers of blind students.
In our work to change what it means to be blind, we know that teachers of blind students have unparalleled influence in our children's formative years. As someone who grew up as a blind student in a public school, I (Karen Anderson) know that these teachers are changing the lives of their students in ways they can't even imagine. The impact that one teacher can have on the lives of countless blind students means that supporting these educators is one of the most important things we can do. We are proud of this year's cohort. We know that these teachers will undoubtedly go on to raise the expectations of what blind people can achieve—showcasing to the world that we can live the lives we want; blindness does not hold us back.
Based on an Interview with Seth Lamkin
From the Editor: For nearly twenty years the National Federation of the Blind has upheld a serious commitment to STEM education for blind and low-vision students. In this article Seth Lamkin, grant writer for the Federation's STEM programs, shares how the NFB and its partners are working to open new opportunities for blind youth.
In the summer of 2004 scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) teamed with the National Federation of the Blind to bring twelve blind high school students to Baltimore for a program christened Rocket On! After a week of planning, discussions, and meticulous calculations, the students launched a ten-and-a-half-foot rocket from the Goddard Space Center in Maryland. The rocket soared to an altitude of 4,902 feet before it plunged into the ocean.
The Rocket On! program send a NASA rocket into the atmosphere, but it also dramatically launched the Federation’s ongoing effort to develop opportunities for blind students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Many educators have long considered the STEM fields to be out of reach for blind and low-vision students, largely because these subjects usually are taught using inaccessible tools and graphics. Blind students tend to be sidelined in lab courses, told to “just listen and take notes,” while their classmates are busy with beakers and Bunsen burners. With the generous support of NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), a team of science educators, and a group of dedicated blind scientists, the NFB is working to open the STEM fields to blind students.
Beginning with Rocket On! We at the NFB Jernigan Institute hosted a series of programs that encourage blind students to explore their interests in the STEM fields. In 2017 we received a generous five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to hold a series of science and engineering programs for blind high-school students. A team at the Columbus Center for Science and Industry in Ohio evaluates our project activities, and we built an ongoing partnership with the museum as we developed our STEM programs.
The first programs in this NFB EQ series took place in Baltimore in 2018 and 2019, with thirty students taking part. Each student was invited to imagine and design a unique building. The students gained hands-on experience with structural engineering as they calculated such factors as earthquake resistance and the capacity of the roof to withstand the weight of five feet of snow. On the final day of the program the students displayed models of the buildings they had designed and answered questions from visitors.
The COVID-19 pandemic derailed plans for face-to-face STEM programs in 2020 and 2021. However, coordinators switched gears and planned virtual programs that were available to students from across the United States. The programs continued to focus on activating critically important spatial reasoning abilities and developing tactile fluency. Students studied raised-line diagrams, made tactile drawings, experimented with origami, and built constructions with LEGO blocks. All of these activities lay the groundwork for meeting more complex scientific and engineering challenges.
At the 2022 NFB National Convention in New Orleans, fifteen past participants in these STEM programs continued to build their knowledge of key STEM concepts in the STEM EQ Suite. Activities included building a roller coaster with paper and devising a heating system for low-energy housing. In the exhibit hall and the art room the students introduced visitors to an assortment of STEM-related activities. For example, convention-goers were invited to construct buildings with blocks after examining tactile drawings that showed the building from various angles. The STEM EQ participants met and interacted with members of the 2022 NFB Scholarship class, many of whom are pursuing studies in the STEM fields.
Building upon the experiences of blind students in the STEM programs over the years, the NFB and its scientific and academic partners are developing a set of STEM materials to be used by teachers, parents, and science museums. These materials will be available for free download on the NFB STEM website by the spring of 2023. All images will have descriptive alt tags, and files for printable tactile graphics will be included.
One of the leading collaborators on the NFB’s STEM initiatives is Dr. Wade Goodridge, a professor at Utah State University. Dr. Goodridge had no experience working with blind people before he got involved with the Jernigan Institute, but his prior research focused on spatial reasoning. He welcomed the chance to learn how people develop and use spatial abilities without relying on sight, and he embraced the challenge of making STEM activities accessible to blind/low-vision students.
The Mental Cutting Test (MCT) is a widely used test of spatial abilities that was developed in the 1930s. Students look at a series of pictures and try to imagine how they would appear from various angles. In collaboration with the NFB, Dr. Goodridge designed a version of this test that uses tactile graphics and 3D-printed objects. By working with these materials, students can strengthen their spatial reasoning skills. Input from blind people has been crucial at every stage of this project.
The NFB’s next STEM initiative will be a series of activities for middle-school students. "STEM lunchboxes" will contain materials to be used in experiments and educational games. Leaders in NFB affiliates will be trained to conduct STEM sessions at state conventions and student seminars in 2022 and 2023.
Opening opportunities for blind students calls for a multipronged approach. The NFB and its partners in the science community are trying hard to teach science educators about working with blind/low vision students. Dr. Goodridge, program coordinator Natalie Shaheen, and others have published articles in the journal Technology and Engineering Teacher. Papers have been accepted for publication at several conferences, including the American Society of Engineering Education Zone IV Conference and the 2021 and 2022 American Society of Engineering Education Conferences.
STEM EQ and other NFB STEM programs involve much more than science lessons and experiments. When they take part in these programs, students are introduced to the NFB philosophy. They are involved in discussions and activities that challenge their attitudes toward blindness. Blind mentors help them recognize that they can live the lives they want, that blindness need not hold them back.
"Back in their home communities most blind students have to fend for themselves,” explains Natalie Shaheen. "When they come to our programs we show students what it is like to learn STEM in a place that is inherently accessible to blind folks and in a classroom community where everyone supports each other in the work of learning. In our programs blind students don’t have to waste time and energy fighting for access to learning; their nonvisual access needs have been incorporated into the design of the learning. Students also learn that STEM subjects aren’t visual, they are spatial. We need to represent information in two and three dimensions, and there are many nonvisual ways we can make that happen.”
In the NFB we know that science isn’t about physical vision. It's about asking questions, testing hypotheses, and searching for answers.
by Casey West Robertson
From the Editor: Casey West Robertson is the parent of a teenager with visual impairments who has the Usher's gene, and she is the aunt of an independent blind niece. She serves on the board of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). In addition, she is a certified Teacher of Students with Blindness/Low Vision, she is a professor in the Teaching Blind Students Program at Louisiana Tech University in the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness (PDRIB), and she is vice-president of the National Blindness Professionals Certification Board (NBPCB). Throughout the country she advocates to obtain better services for blind/low-vision students.
I play many roles and wear many hats in the field of blindness. Of all my roles, advocating for blind/low-vision students is at the heart of everything I do. I have been involved with the NFB and the NOPBC since 2002, when my niece was a mere toddler. My partnership with NFB, NOPBC, and the NFB training centers grew as my niece grew and reached school age. Without the NFB and the NOPBC, I would have been lost. I would not have had the knowledge I needed to advocate and set high expectations for my niece, my daughter, and students across the nation.
As an advocate for blind/low-vision students and their families, I am constantly drawn to the NFB philosophy of setting high expectations for students. Whether I am advocating for school-age students or training my graduate students to become teachers of the blind, my partnership with the three NFB training centers offers education for all aspects of life. The NFB operates three training centers: Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions, Incorporated (BLIND, Inc.), in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Colorado Center for the Blind (CCB) in Littleton, Colorado; and the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB) in Ruston, Louisiana. These training centers offer Structured Discovery learning that transcends the center program and readies students for real-life situations.
The NFB training centers provide opportunities for children and young adults during the summers to meet a wide variety of needs. LCB and BLIND, Inc., have Buddy Programs for children ages nine through thirteen. CCB runs the Confidence Camp, a day program for children ages five through nine. For high school students there are the Summer Training and Employment Project (STEP) in Louisiana and the Postsecondary Readiness Empowerment Program (PREP) in Minnesota. CCB offers various opportunities for youth, from Fun Activities and Skills Training (FAST) to Learning Box and Study buddies. Administrators review these programs regularly, based on feedback from students and staff.
Each center focuses on training blind people through Structured Discovery, helping them develop and enhance the skills of blindness. The centers help students adjust to blindness and carry their skills beyond the center into real-life settings such as college, apartment living, and the workforce. Each center also works with senior adults who are newly blind to help them participate fully in community life by using alternative techniques to accomplish daily tasks.
The training centers provide ongoing partnerships with students and their families. Once connected with a center, a person has a lasting bond with the staff. Center grads can reach out to the experts at any time for information and support. These partnerships clearly last a lifetime.
"Our blind/low-vision children benefit from the guidance, support, and mentorship they receive through relationships with blind mentors and teachers," says NOPBC President Carlton Anne Cook Walker. "Our NFB training centers offer an environment of immersion in blindness skills with instructors who use those skills throughout each day. Many of these instructors are blind themselves, and they serve as powerful role models for their students."
Carlton Walker, who is a teacher of blind students and the parent of a blind young adult, goes on to say, "The NFB training centers infuse all areas of instruction with the Structured Discovery educational philosophy, a teaching method that recognizes the importance of the student being a full and indispensable participant in learning. Structured Discovery equips our children to critically examine, analyze, and problem solve when they encounter new situations and find themselves in unfamiliar environments. Our NFB training centers are uniquely equipped to provide the student-centered, empowering instruction our children need to build their confidence, prepare for future challenges, and achieve their goals throughout their lives."
To learn more about Structured Discovery, visit https://www.nbpcb.org/pages/what-is-structured-discovery.php.
Over the past two years each of the NFB training centers has gone through extensive training to strengthen the services it provides and to raise the standards for all age groups. The centers could not have done this without strong partnerships with their boards of directors, NFB, and NBPCB. To ensure that deeply personal concerns were treated with sensitivity and investigated thoroughly, the NFB formed a partnership with RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network).
Unfortunately, throughout this process much misinformation circulated on social media. It is important for families and colleagues to have the correct information. At the end of this piece, I list links to articles and webpages that display the work completed thus far. I want to highlight the aspects of the process that were most important to me as I continue to recommend the NFB training centers to families, students, and teachers every day.
Early in 2018 the NFB began to look at its Code of Conduct in order to make changes that would strengthen this crucial document. Each participant at an NFB training center is held to the Code of Conduct by the NFB. Each professional teaching at the centers is also held accountable under the Code of Conduct by the NBPCB. By adopting and implementing a strong Code of Conduct, NFB and the training centers can carry out their vital mission of increasing knowledge and skills for blind participants.
While working on the adoption of the current Code of Conduct, the NFB and the training centers partnered with RAINN, the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. NFB was also guided by a survivor-led task force that provided input into potential process improvements, training, and actions to be implemented throughout the Federation and the training centers. NFB sought feedback from members to help with the process of creating an improved environment throughout the Federation and its training centers.
The current Code of Conduct was published on December 19, 2021. It is very important to view official documents that were created during this critical process.
You might ask, "Has this effort really changed the centers for the better?" Adult students in the six- to nine-month program at NFB training centers have always had access to quality mental-health counseling options, nutrition planning assistance, and other support services to help them become self-advocates, even after leaving the center. However, greater emphasis now is placed on ensuring that each student is fully aware of these services throughout their program. Students also are encouraged to continue counseling if needed after they leave the center. Pam Allen, director of the Louisiana Center for the Blind, states that the centers have changed the way they talk about boundaries and mental health. She says a focus has been placed on teaching students about personal space and how not to defer situations and feelings to others but to trust their judgement and know what to do if they have concerns in any aspect of life. These skills are taught during training center time; however, instructors are preparing the students for the future outside the center. Pam explains that there has been a great deal of focus on empowering students by giving them knowledge, so they are aware and can make good decisions in other areas of life, even outside the center. The centers have leveraged partnerships with various people to ensure safe places to learn. By teaching this during center training time, students can carry these skills into real life outside of the center to always create a place of safety and knowledge wherever they may find themselves in life. As youth come into the centers for summer training, the changes that have been made allow families to connect with strong blind mentors and gain the knowledge they need to continue to strive in their schools outside of the summer trainings.
Julie Deden, director of the Colorado Center for the Blind, comments, "We have always made it our top priority to ensure that our students are supported and safe in our programs. In the past two years, we have further built this resolve and are offering a wide variety of training opportunities to staff and students." She continues, "We have passion for our work, and we love seeing each student gain pride in being blind. We love seeing that they realize they can take on new challenges with success!" She stresses, "CCB continues to be committed to providing positive instructional programs to students of all ages so that they will gain full belief in themselves as blind people." Jennifer Kennedy, director of BLIND, Incorporated explains, "We are committed to expanding understanding of complex issues by our staff and students. We partner with national and local experts on issues that include sexual misconduct, intersectionality, mental health, professional behavior, and social justice. Through ongoing discussions and workshops with staff and students alike, we will foster a safe, supportive, and respectful environment where everyone can learn and work."
Change is never easy; however, change is always needed. We must continue to change and mold our programs as we gain knowledge. Every successful program must be willing to look at its strengths and weaknesses and advocate to change for the better. I believe this is what the NFB training centers have done over the past two years.
The training centers have developed a culture based on continuously assessing their programs. They have further improved to create a safe, respectful, and professional culture conducive to learning.
The NFB training centers are not the first organizations or programs to examine their policies and see opportunities to better their programs. In his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make Leaps and Others Don't, Jim Collins says that the greatest obstacle to greatness is settling for good. The NFB training centers have always been “good” places to train; now, through partnerships and processes of change they are making their way to becoming “GREAT!”
Current NFB Code of Conduct
NFB Code of Conduct Frequently Asked Questions: https://nfb.org/about-us/history-and-governance/code-conduct/code-conduct-frequently-asked-questions
Safety and Support Initiatives of the National Federation of the Blind
“When Survivors Lead: Introducing the Survivor Task Force,” Braille Monitor, February 2021: https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm21/bm2102/bm210207.htm
by Maurice Peret
Reprinted from Braille Monitor, Volume 65, Number 1, January 2022
From the Editor: In the Federation, as in life in general, we all learn from each other. The concept of mentoring is a basic tenet of our NFB philosophy. As blind students, employees, parents, or world travelers, we pass along what we have learned to other blind people. The NFB’s Career Mentoring Program, coordinated by Maurice Peret, formalizes this process by connecting blind young people with adult blind mentors who work in a variety of fields. In this article, four mentees describe what they have learned through these partnerships.
If you're not familiar with the Career Mentoring Program, you can read more about it on our website at https://nfb.org/programs-services/career-mentoring. As I look back on the articles I contributed on the program in past issues of the Braille Monitor, however, I must admit that they sound rather dry. It strikes me that the best spokespersons for our program are the mentees themselves. Let me step back, then, and let them tell their own stories.
"My name is Julia Holdcroft, and I am a freshman at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where I am double majoring in journalism and English. I have been part of the NFB Career Mentoring Program since November 2019, when I was a junior in high school." Julia has been a lifelong Braille user and she is an aspiring novelist. She likes science fiction and horror. Julia also enjoys painting with acrylics. She currently works for the Love Library Information Desk on campus, checking books out for people and providing general information and direction. When asked how she landed this work-study opportunity, Julia said, "I noticed a flyer, and I went for it." She mentioned that she did not choose to disclose her visual impairment on her application. Her academic advisor is also visually impaired.
Julia participated in two prior in-person NFB Career Quest retreats supported by the Nebraska Commission for the Blind & Visually Impaired. She especially remembers working on her elevator pitch and participating in a work-based experience at a property management facility in Omaha. "I think the mentoring program gave me an opportunity to really gain a deeper understanding of what an informational interview entails and how it can be useful as a job exploration tool," she said.
In describing her participation in a popular discussion about setting Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART) goals in school and the workplace, Julia explained that she really enjoyed being able to have a guideline by which to make goals without them becoming too vague or too much to handle at one time. In reference to another virtual session on volunteering and giving back, Julia explained that she had been able to gain a lot of support from her entire community, which instilled in her a strong sense of needing to give back. Julia further stated, "It also provided me options that I had never before considered."
Julia acknowledged contributions she was able to provide her peers. As an example, she discussed scholarship opportunities, since she had been through the rigorous process of applying before. In reference to another of these virtual modules, "I hope my contributions helped other people better understand how to succeed in standardized testing. I enjoyed being able to help others. The NFB Career Mentoring Program provided me with lots of information that I am almost sure I would not have had otherwise and probably to which most of my peers did not have access."
In her overall assessment of the NFB Career Mentoring Program, Julia said, "I would definitely recommend this program because you will not find a program quite like it anywhere else to serve people who are blind or have low vision."
"My name is Maxine Gretchokoff, though some might know me as Michael. I am twenty years old, and I am from Ridgland, Mississippi. I have been a part of the NFB's Career Mentoring Program since 2019. Currently I am enrolled at Hinds Community College, pursuing degrees in criminal justice, law, and music.
"When I first started in the program many, many moons ago, I was a junior at the Mississippi School for the Blind, freshly blind with total loss of vision, and I was uneducated about what I could truly do as a blind individual. Today I am a sophomore in college, a national scholarship winner, and motivated with a plan for my life. I am a staff officer in the US Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol. I can confidently say without a doubt that I would not have been able to write that last sentence without the Career Mentoring Program.
"Very obviously the scholarship opportunities module [in the program] presented by Cricket X. Bidleman, Logan Stenzel, and Justin Salisbury, was pretty important. I would never have gained the knowledge and motivation to complete my application, nor would I have met amazing friends and mentors at the national convention, if I did not attend that module and become a national scholarship winner. The self-advocacy module, which included a recorded speech from Dr. Kenneth Jernigan entitled 'The Nature of Independence' was also really impactful in helping me not be so frustrated at myself for being blind. Independence is a difficult concept to truly embrace, and for a long time I hated myself for being disabled. That speech helped me see clearly for the first time in a long time.
"The job search module presented by Pam Goodman was also nice. By that point I had built up so many life skills that I felt confident in speaking with her, learning from her, getting the most I could from the resources presented, and learning how to form professional relationships—not to mention I found out job searching is not as intimidating as it seems. I know for a fact I can compete against sighted peers with the knowledge learned from that module."
Maxine went on to explain, "The one in-person Career Quest weekend retreat that I participated in, back before COVID-19, is a really good memory for me. I was a little embarrassed about being so maladjusted to a setting outside a classroom. I was ashamed of fumbling my way through social interactions, even something as simple as chatting with folks in a buffet line. I struggled with being, well, a socially awkward, freshly blind person who did not have a shred of love for myself. I look back on it though, and I can see how much I have learned, matured, and grown as a responsible citizen. Existing as I do in a purely sighted world and functioning as a key staff officer in my squadron, if I'm not mistaken I serve as the only fully blind person in an Air Force Auxiliary position in Mississippi. I enjoy chatting with any person regardless of ability, and I'm not afraid of buffet lines. I'm also not afraid to ask for help when needed or learn from my mistakes. I have confidence and independence because of putting myself out there with the help of the NFB Career Mentoring Program."
Taiye Akanni is a twenty-year-old second-year student at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland. He joined the NFB Career Mentoring Program in August 2021. Soon thereafter he and his twin brother, Kenny, jumped in with both feet in a Career Quest Saturday Seminar at the NFB Jernigan Institute in Baltimore. In fact, this was the first in-person event held after a long COVID-19-IMPOSED moratorium. During this day-long interactive event, ten mentees:
Taiye is of Yoruba heritage; the Yoruba are one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. He dreams of becoming a physical education teacher. "Just because I have a disability does not mean I cannot perform a job that is usually thought of as a visual job," he said. Taiye uses a white cane during the day for identification purposes and uses it at night when his vision is less functional. "Sometimes people don't think I'm looking at them when talking because of my visual condition," he said. "I just assure them that I am indeed looking at them."
Taiye was greatly inspired by his PE teacher and goalball coach, Athletic Director Matt Mescall at the Maryland School for the Blind (MSB), where he attended since fifth grade. Taiye served as captain of several sports teams and played goalball in high school. He was impressed by Mescall's patience in working with individual students to meet their personal objectives and facilitate problem solving. Taiye learned about the NFB Career Mentoring Program from his friend Qualik Ford, a graduate of MSB and a recent graduate of the Louisiana Center for the Blind, one of the Federation's Structured Discovery training centers. Ford also currently serves as president of the Maryland Association of Blind Students and is a Career Mentoring Program alumnus.
Among the virtual pre-employment transition sessions that he attended, Taiye expressed his appreciation for the detailed approach to navigating the online job application presentation by James Gagnier. In this learning module, he gained a better understanding about how to apply for a job online and create a job account, and he became familiar with the specific documents and other information needed to complete a job application. Taiye also learned how to request and obtain professional recommendations and learned appropriate steps for following up after submitting a job application. He also learned effective ways to highlight his talents during a job interview, as aptly described by Amy Porterfield. Taiye found the session on "Self-advocacy in the Workplace" presented by Jedi Moerke, to be most helpful. He learned about implementing effective strategies for requesting accommodations from an employer. He also learned it was possible to become confident and comfortable enough with his disability to blend into the corporate culture and thrive in the work environment.
He took away from a module on notetaking fundamentals presented by Nancy Coffman that notetaking methods vary almost as widely as the unique individuals who employ them. He also grew in his awareness of effective ways for taking control of his access to the print universe in school and at work using human readers.
In answer to the question about what he would say to young people thinking about the NFB Career Mentoring Program, Taiye's advice to other students is to "shoot for your goals and don't let anybody stop you just because you have a disability. Your disability isn't going to hold you back in anything you want to do. Although it will be challenging, there are always ways around anything in life. Talk with a favorite teacher or faculty member. Although I had a direction in mind for my future, I found that many high school seniors did not seem to know what their next steps would be. It is important to realize that there will not be anyone out there to hold your hand."
"My name is Tasabih Elfaki, but I am mostly known as Abbu. I am a seventeen-year-old senior at Sycamore High School in Sycamore, Illinois, and I have been part of the NFB Career Mentoring Program since July 2021. I am originally from Khartoum, Sudan. I lost my vision as a young child living in Saudi Arabia, where my family relocated and where I felt my disability was neither welcome nor accommodated. I developed a keen understanding of the importance of advocating for myself in every part of my life. Thanks to my mom, I grew up learning that I should never allow people to set limits for me."
Tasabih learned Arabic Braille while living abroad. She has since mastered Unified English Braille (UEB) and uses it all the time. "The module Self-Advocacy in the Workplace, presented by Jedi Moerke, really struck a chord with me," she says. "It equipped me with various strategies to effectively advocate for accommodations during the job search process, during the actual job interview, and on the job itself. I also learned strategies to advocate for promotion and how to look for other advancement opportunities."
Tasabih explained that the session on Getting the Most Out of Your Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in High School "gave me a newfound confidence in being able to walk into that meeting with a sense of empowerment to advocate for what I knew I needed, rather than simply listening and accepting without question what the team proposed for me."
"When I joined the NFB Career Mentoring Program in the summer leading into my high school senior year, I was looking for programs and experiences that would give me the knowledge and confidence to approach my future goals and dreams. I always try to involve myself in experiences and programs that would help me get out of my comfort zone and be the person I hope to become. As a way of expanding my horizons of new experiences, I went downhill skiing, joined my school track and field team, and became a club president." During a discussion called "Setting SMART Goals in School and in the Workplace," Tasabih described how she used this simple formula to successfully campaign and ultimately become elected as senior class vice president. "Without a doubt the NFB Mentoring Program was one of those experiences that affected my life in a beautiful way," Tasabih said.
The NFB Career Mentoring Program is an important and powerful component of our Blindness Initiatives Department Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO). We recognize that unemployment and underemployment are among the most stubborn obstacles to achieving social equality, equity of opportunity, and financial security for those of us who are blind or have low vision. Leaders of our organization have placed a premium priority on developing programs and strategies to empower blind people to become equipped with the tools to compete in the job market. In an ever-evolving labor environment, we must be more innovative and creative in implementing these strategies. The young blind and low-vision individuals we have met in this article represent and exemplify a generation better prepared than their predecessors to take on the considerable challenges they face. By being provided with a vast network of positive blind adult role models, they will be able to leverage their gifts and talents to compete equally with their non-blind peers.
If you are a student between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two and live in Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, or Nebraska, talk with your state vocational rehabilitation counselor about becoming a mentee in the NFB Career Mentoring Program. Complete our online mentee application at https://nfb.org/menteeapplication.
For more information about the NFB Career Mentoring Program, contact Maurice Peret, coordinator of Career Mentoring & Employment Programs, National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, at 410-659-9314, extension 2350, or [email protected].
by Carla Keirns
From the Editor: Carla Keirns is a member of the Kansas City Chapter of the NFB of Missouri, and she serves on the national board of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). She is the sighted mother of a blind child.
A year ago my first-grader and I set out on our way to the state capital. On the drive we talked about the hearing we were about to attend and the bill for which we would testify. I had written my testimony, but my seven-year-old couldn't read yet. Whatever he had to say to the legislators was going to be short, simple, and from memory or coaching.
We talked about the bill and what it would do for blind kids. I told him what he could say about how the bill would help him and kids like him. After a while, Russell said, "Mommy, I'll pay the bill."
Oh. Hmmm. We'd skipped a step.
This wasn't our first lobbying trip together, but it was the first time Russell was going to advocate for himself. Clearly he didn't have the big picture yet. Civics is taught much later in school, and he had never seen the Schoolhouse Rock videos with the songs I learned from. Once we got to the capitol, we looked them up on YouTube and listened to "How a Bill Becomes a Law."
It was pouring rain, and when we reached the hearing room we were soaked to the skin. The hearing was just about to start, and we found our friends near the front of the room. Gary Wunder, former president of the NFB of Missouri, was ready to testify, reading his statement from his Braille notetaker. He went first and gave a passionate speech about inclusion, opportunity, and fairness. He explained that we wanted a chance to participate in education and employment like everyone else. I followed, speaking as a mother about our experiences with Braille instruction and how we were hoping to see higher standards for our kids. Russell handed out Braille alphabet cards and showed the legislators his Braillenote Touch Plus.
This year when we went back to Jefferson City, the Education Committee staff remembered us. I don't think they get many eight-year-olds lining up to testify! Now my son can read, and he testified for himself. When I asked him what a bill was, he said, "A bill is a law idea." The little guy from Schoolhouse Rock would be pleased! Maybe he can even get his seal and be a law soon.
Our friends in the NFB have been teaching both of us to advocate. They've been sharing their experience in disability policy, governmental affairs, and personal persuasion since we met them. We made our first trip to a state capital when Russell was twenty months old. We got dressed early, took a ferry from Long Island to Connecticut, and drove to Albany, New York, for our first legislative seminar. Russell wore khaki pants, a blue polo shirt, and a tiny blue blazer. We brought snacks and milk, and we were excited but uncertain. It was our first family advocacy trip to the state legislature. We went to explain to our representatives about the laws we hoped they would pass and why.
Our partners on that trip were about twenty-five members of the NFB from across the state of New York. Many of them had been advocating for decades for themselves and others. Now they came with specific asks. The bills we supported had been developed either at the state or national level, and they were focused on issues that are critical to the blind community.
One issue we discussed was the accessibility of the state's General Educational Development test, known as the GED, or high school equivalency exam. In New York at that time the test was available in Braille, but it was not available in large print or audio formats. Test-takers could not choose one format for one section and a different format for another—for instance, they could not do the math sections in Braille and the language sections using audio, even though many blind people find different tools work best for particular tasks. My toddler was not yet ready for the GED, but already we had seen some of the accessibility issues around educational materials.
Other issues were on board as well. Funding was important, of course. We discussed the right of blind people to parent. We pointed out that blind people often are seen by social service or medical staff as incompetent, unable to care for their own children. In recent years many states have passed laws to protect parental rights. We had a great visit to Albany, and more than one legislator or staffer looked at my white-haired little boy and said a version of, "That's your best argument right there."
I had been to Congress and to state capitals before with doctors, scientists, and public health groups. I discovered that the blind were better at constituent lobbying than these groups of professionals. In the blind community we are able to share personal stories. We give specific examples of how public policy affects specific individuals. We have decades of experience, and we build on the work of disability civil-rights advocacy going back nearly a century. And we always come to the legislators with specific requests.
I've learned that raising general awareness is important, but when we meet with legislators we need to respect their time. We're most effective when we ask them to support a few specific pieces of legislation. When we go to the state capital, we focus on things that are managed, regulated, or funded at the state level. In Washington we focus on federal issues. All of this may seem obvious, but it was striking to me how clearly our community breaks down these strategies for new advocates of all ages.
I have been to Washington Seminar and our state capital several more times since that visit to Albany when my son was a toddler. We moved to Missouri just before his second birthday, and we got to know our new community and our new state. (Russell’s dad lived in Missouri as a child, so the state wasn’t completely new.) At five and six years old, Russell wanted to join us, but I was worried it would be too long a day for him.
Last year, when Russell was seven, the NFB of Missouri found a legislator who was willing to introduce the BRITE Act. BRITE stands for Blind Students’ Right to Independence, Training, and Education. On a cold spring morning, we drove from Kansas City to Jefferson City, hoping to testifying in support of the bill. I still thought Russell was a bit young, but he really wanted to come. We decided it would help the legislators to hear our story and to be reminded who and what the bill was really about.
According to the "Braille provision" in IDEA (the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and provisions in Missouri state law, Braille is the default literacy medium for blind and visually impaired children. Under these laws students have a right to Braille instruction unless it is shown to be inappropriate for them. The burden of proof is on the school district to show that the student doesn't need Braille now and won't need it in the future; the child and family are not required to show that Braille is needed. The BRITE Act builds on that legislation to address the provision of services by certified professionals. These professionals include teachers of the visually impaired (TVI or TSVI) or teachers of blind students (TBS), certified orientation & mobility specialists (COMS) or instructors with National Orientation and Mobility Certification (NOMC), and instructors certified in assistive technology for people with visual impairments (CATIS).
We don't know whether our bill will advance this year. Maybe we will be back next year, asking a new group of legislators to help us. We do know that the lifetimes of experience and perspective in the blind community are critical to making the world better for all of our kids.
This lifetime perspective on blindness, from lived experience and study by blind people themselves, offers a counterpoint to the advice families often receive from helping professionals in education and rehabilitation. We need both. How does the development of early skills in literacy, mobility, and access technology lead to school success, employment opportunities, and independence? Where are the roadblocks? How can we catch kids before they fall behind? What do we know about how different eye conditions evolve over time? How can we help our kids succeed so they can do what they want in life?
Our blind mentors know how the disability laws have evolved over time. We need their wisdom. And our kids need all of us. One of our friends recently voiced frustration that we are fighting some of the same battles they thought we had won forty years ago with laws about inclusion. I said, "Take the weekend off. On Monday, we storm the castle. Again. What else can we do. If you don't feel up to it, can you lend us the map?" Our kids need us. All of us.
by Kevin Strehy
From the Editor: When we as Federationists visit legislators, we are careful to prepare our talking points and build the case for our legislative agenda. As one parent points out, however, our very presence as blind people, speaking for ourselves, may have the greatest impact.
The annual Washington Seminar is a time when Federationists from all over the country gather in our nation's capital to meet with legislators about issues that have an impact on people who are blind and/or have low vision. For me as the parent of a blind child, Washington Seminar offers an especially powerful opportunity to affect our children's future in lasting ways. Sometimes the issues at stake already have an impact on our children. At other times the proposed legislation breaks down barriers our children would otherwise face when they are older.
I have attended Washington Seminar both in person and in its virtual format. While the two formats were very different from each other, they both allowed legislators to hear directly from blind/low-vision adults and parents of blind/low-vision children.
It is a misconception to assume that Federationists only advocate during meetings with legislators. On the contrary, there is no understating the powerful effect of proud, capable, polished professionals confidently navigating congressional hallways, using long white canes and guide dogs. Our very presence makes a powerful statement, even before anyone begins to speak. To the sighted onlooker, a professionally dressed cane user in the nation's Capitol communicates the message, "I am here. I have rights. These freedoms are for me, too. I am here to speak on my own behalf."
As a fully sighted parent, I was proud to uphold my own important role at in-person Washington Seminar. Like the presence of cane users themselves, my impact did not require speech. Most congressional staffers do not have visible disabilities, and none that I have encountered thus far has been blind or had low vision. Inevitably, fully sighted staffers, if even by accident, would look at me while asking a question. It's impossible to discern whether this is due to unconscious bias or simply because most group members are physically unable to return eye contact. Either way, it allowed me the important job of immediately shifting my gaze to the blind leader of the group who was more educated, more experienced, and more capable of answering any question the legislators or staffers might ask. This subtle gesture communicates the message, "Sighted people are not the experts on matters of blindness. Ask the people who live this every day; they are the experts."
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also got to experience Washington Seminar in a virtual format, via Zoom. This time, I had more to say, as did all parents, sighted and blind alike. We spoke passionately on behalf of our children who, by and large, were cast aside as school districts embraced virtual learning. Often districts failed to ensure that blind students had access to appropriate assistive technology such as refreshable Braille displays or Braille embossers, and often students lacked the training to use this technology. Districts threw incredible amounts of money at ed tech vendors, often without communicating accessibility needs during the procurement process. As a result, district-procured apps and website-based virtual learning programs largely were not compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Therefore, they were inaccessible to many students with disabilities, including blind/low-vision students. After months of being denied a voice at the district level, it was refreshing to share these experiences with legislators who truly seemed to listen.
A few things surprised me about Washington Seminar, in both in-person and virtual settings. One surprise was that it was impossible to predict via political party who would support our legislation. Sometimes the lawmaker I expected to support the legislation was the first to disregard it. At other times the one I thought wouldn't care at all was the first to truly listen and be supportive. Often lawmakers shared their personal experiences of having a friend or family member who was blind or had low vision. One legislator told us of watching an intelligent blind college roommate excel despite accessibility barriers with college textbooks. Another talked about a favorite aunt who was blind. Yet another spoke of a blind colleague who made great contributions to the field of rocket science. It seemed to me that the greatest predictor of support was not which political party a legislator or staffer belonged to, but whether they personally knew a blind/low-vision person in real life.
This realization drove home another point that was important for me to remember when attending Washington Seminar or similar legislative advocacy events at the state level. My child will be judged by the success or failure of every other blind/low-vision person out there. It didn't matter if a particular issue applied directly to my own family. If it mattered to one blind/low-vision person (and it's safe to say the issues at hand matter very much to many, many blind/low-vision people), it mattered to my family. If even one blind/low-vision child has poor reading skills, one blind adult is not gainfully employed or cannot access the basic features of household products, my child will be judged according to that person's experiences. Likewise, my child will be judged by successful blind scientists, blind lawyers, blind engineers, and by every proud, cane-using professional walking the halls of the Capitol. One blind person's success is the success of all blind/low-vision people now and in the future. Every voice is needed to advocate on behalf of the legislation that impacts blind/low-vision people.
To contribute to Washington Seminar, it is not necessary to be a professional lobbyist or even to have experience speaking with legislators. There will be a paper with talking points to help you understand the issues at hand, and there will be fully capable blind group leaders who will give you great advice on how to get your point across. If you can tell your story in a way that is authentic, polite, and professional, you will be persuasive. Often legislators and their staffers just need to hear your experience so that they can better represent all their constituents.
Please consider attending Washington Seminar, and please speak to your state affiliate about attending state-level legislative advocacy seminars as well. Your experience is valuable, and your voice is needed.
by Christina Kuckie-Roberts
Reprinted from Future Reflections, Volume 34, Number 2, Winter 2015
From the Editor: At the end of January each year, Federationists from all over the country take part in the annual Washington Seminar. Washington Seminar went virtual in 2021 and 2022, but in prior years Federationists flocked to the capital in person. They visited the offices of legislators, seeking their support on issues of concern to the blind community. In 2015 Christina Kuckie-Roberts attended Washington Seminar for the first time as part of the Parent Leadership Program (PLP) sponsored by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). In this article she reflects on her experiences as part of the Illinois delegation.
My name is Christina Kuckie-Roberts. I have four children. My oldest, Christopher, has been blind since birth. He also has autistic tendencies and related behavioral issues.
I've been involved with the NFB ever since Christopher was asked to speak at the Illinois state convention about his experience in the BELL® Academy three years ago. My weekend at convention opened my eyes to the vast possibilities that are out there through technology and other resources. Most of all, I realized how much I didn't know.
Last fall I received a phone call from our state president, Denise Avant, asking if I would be willing to participate in Washington Seminar. My first thoughts were, "Attend a convention and learn more things? Awesome! Sleep in a bed all by myself, with no children and no dogs? Double bonus!" I had no idea what I was in for!
A few emails went back and forth, and the Illinois team had a kickoff call. It was at that point that I began to panic. I felt completely unprepared. Previously I hadn't concerned myself with getting to know my representative in Congress. I hadn't thought there were issues that concerned me on the table. Boy, was I mistaken! I learned on the call that we were going to request our representatives to vote on legislation that would affect our blind community. I thought, "What? There is legislation out there that affects my child? Time to start studying!"
I followed the links that the NFB provided, but still I felt a little lost. I Googled each item and was happy to find some firsthand accounts of how the issues affected individuals. Okay, I was ready to prepare my speeches!
However, the harder I tried to write, the more I found that I still had questions. At the airport awaiting my flight, I still worried that I was going to make some disastrous mistake at my first Congressional meeting.
When I arrived in Washington, DC, I met my roommate, Jennifer Duffell-Hoffman. Jennifer is from South Carolina and has two sons with progressive vision loss. She is a veteran of Washington Seminar. In our first hours getting to know each other, I told her how completely unprepared I felt. She tried to put me at ease, and she held my hand as we started off to our parents' seminar.
Arranged through the Parent Leadership Program (PLP), the parents' seminar was educational and inspiring. I was able to meet and ask questions of NFB members to prepare myself better for my upcoming meetings with the legislators. More importantly, I met parents who were pioneers for equality in their states. For example, I met two women who fought their state because of the lack of services provided for blind children. They actually had to leave the parents' seminar early, as their legislation was being voted on at the state level. When they began their work, these two women did not yet have an NFB parents' group in their state. They are now the founding members of their state's parents' chapter. That is just one story of the inspiring people I met. All of the parents I met were inspiring for what they are doing within their states, often with very little local support.
I am blessed with the services Christopher has received from our school district in Naperville, Illinois, since he was seven years old. We receive unlimited support from the team that works with him. His team includes everyone, quite literally, from the janitor to the principal, the retired husband of a teacher, and the band director. I often feel guilty because my son is blessed with unlimited support from his school district and its staff, while so many other children have so little. My son uses an iPad, an iPod, a refreshable Braille display, and more, yet another NFB of Illinois mom had to fight to have a Braille sign installed on the door of her child's school bathroom.
The more parents I meet at seminars or on our Facebook groups, the more I feel that we have no idea what services our children need, much less how to obtain them. Compound our lack of knowledge with a school district that is underfunded, or worse still, with a caseworker or teacher of the visually impaired who is undereducated! The NFB has brought us together to help each other along this journey.
Before I attended Washington Seminar, I thought the most I could do was to tell other parents exactly what services my son receives and urge them to push their school districts to provide their children with the same. At Washington Seminar I had a voice to speak for our children's futures. At my first few meetings on Capitol Hill, I did my best to give a short personal description of my family and why I was there. Then I would lay out the facts as I had memorized them. As the days passed, my team members and I altered our conversations with the legislators to include things we learned from each other. I was definitely feeling comfortable with the issues. The meetings were becoming a bit routine—until my final one.
We were talking with a particularly condescending representative regarding HR 188, the TIME act, which would ensure that workers with disabilities are paid the minimum wage. Teammate Annette Grove took the lead during this meeting, and the legislator clearly didn't agree with us. At one point, in order to defend his position, he used an example, speaking disparagingly of a group of "disabled" people who dismantle hard drives. For me, his comments became a personal attack on my child.
"I'm sorry, but I work for a leading investment firm," I told him. "We pay our IT employees full salary to dismantle hard drives. Are you telling me that, even though my child has the ability to dismantle hard drives, he doesn't deserve to be paid the same salary because he is disabled?" At that point, he stuttered over his words.
I walked out of that room furious! In that moment, I understood what this was all about.
That is what I learned from the Washington Seminar itself. Now let me tell you what I learned from the people I had the opportunity to be with through that week. As most parents know, we do our best to teach our children how to function. As a parent of sighted children, there is a lot I take for granted. Without being formally taught, children learn to pour a cup of water, to press the buttons in an elevator, or to find the pool at a hotel. Spending the week in a hotel full of Federationists taught me how to be a better parent to Christopher. My new friends from the Illinois affiliate were quick to let me know when I was being too helpful. I was able to discuss openly with them how to know when to help and when to be patient. I learned that it was okay to let Christopher bump into someone; it happens.
At dinner, I learned to ask for the waiter to read the menu aloud if a Braille menu is unavailable. I learned to listen for the dings of the elevator that indicate whether it is going up or down. While riding the elevator, I learned that Christopher can tell which floor he is on by counting the dings. If he loses count, there is usually a floor plaque with a Braille number to read when the door opens.
I learned that Federationists from every state are a great educational resource for me and for Christopher. They are willing to help me guide Christopher as he learns how to navigate the world. They are our friends.
Thank you.
by Katie D. Nelson
From the Editor: Katie Nelson is an enthusiastic new leader in the parents' chapter of the Utah affiliate of the NFB. This is her story.
My husband and I are fairly new members of the NFB. We joined our local affiliate in 2018. My husband has been blind his whole life, and our son was born blind as well. He inherited the same genetic change as his father and grandmother. We are very quiet and reserved by nature, so we were grateful to join our NFB affiliate and watch for a while.
I was surprised and very grateful when our affiliate president asked me a couple of months in advance if I would be interested in attending the parent training in Baltimore aligned with the Washington Seminar. I would go in place of a parent who was no longer able to attend. I accepted gladly, and immediately I scheduled my absences from work. Our group was small, with two parents from Chicagoland, a veteran parent and board member, and our two trainers—Carlton Walker and Carol Castellano.
As a career educator I've attended my fair share of trainings. This one was different. Despite my experiences as the spouse of a blind man and the parent of a blind child, there was so much I didn't yet know.
We discussed various aspects of advocacy and the power of a collective group. We learned best practices for leading out in our respective areas and how to build a network of families. Attending in February 2020, we were among the last tourists in the Baltimore and Washington, DC, area before the world shut down due to COVID.
Armed with knowledge, I was ready to help strengthen efforts in Utah with our very dedicated current parent leader, Sarah Erb. Many paths had been paved in the early 2000s by a very strong and motivated group of parents in our state. Sarah had been working to clear the underbrush and reinvigorate Utah.
However, the pandemic has had an impact on every aspect of life, including my momentum from the parent training. The good news is that we just wrapped up our state convention in Utah. To strengthen our numbers, and because we share common ideals, we've combined the Parents of Blind Children Group with the Blind Parents Group. In this way we formed new leadership that is seven parents deep. We have a balance of blind parents and parents of blind children. I look forward to pulling out my training materials and reviewing everything I learned in Baltimore. I hope to take all that I gained from my training and combine it with my further growth as a parent. Although we're still dealing with the impact of pandemic living, I have confidence that Utah will soon be a state to watch. We are blossoming toward an era of renewed strength.
by Susan R. Barry
Reviewed by Deborah Kent Stein
Coming To Our Senses
A Boy Who Learned to See, A Girl Who Learned to Hear, and How We All Discover the World
by Susan R. Barry
Basic Books, 2021
ISBN: 9781541675155
Available from Amazon, Kindle, audible.com, and bookshare.org
In the 1954 film The Magnificent Obsession, the beautiful female lead (Jane Wyman) is blinded in an automobile accident. Years later the young doctor who loves her (Rock Hudson) performs a miraculous operation that restores her vision. To the joy of her family and friends, Helen can see again!
Miracle cures like this appear so often in fiction and film that they are woven into our cultural imagination. Yet the case histories of blind people who gain vision through surgery tell a very different story. One of the best-known cases in modern times is a man described in an essay by Oliver Sacks, "To See or Not to See." Virgil, as Sacks called him, lost his sight in infancy due to cataracts. When he was in midlife, the cataracts were surgically removed, and suddenly Virgil could see. However, his sight proved of little benefit, as he could not interpret what he saw. He grew depressed, unable to live as a blind person yet incapable of using the sight he had gained.
MRI studies in people who have been blind from birth or early childhood indicate that the visual cortex is soon re-purposed to handle a variety of other tasks. Today it is widely believed that vision restoration in a person blind from birth or early childhood is likely to be unsuccessful after the age of eight. Similar findings raise questions about the effectiveness of cochlear implants for people who are prelingually deaf. People who receive implants after the first few years of life have trouble adjusting to their new hearing.
In Coming to Our Senses, journalist Susan Barry recounts the history of Liam, a young man with albinism whose vision was dramatically improved with the implantation of a device called an intraocular lens (IOL). She compares and contrasts Liam's story with the case of Zohra, a woman deaf from birth who gained hearing when she received cochlear implants. Both Liam and Zohra were in their teens when they had their surgeries; they had passed the age when they might be expected to reap serious benefits. Yet, through ongoing effort spread over many years, they both taught themselves to make use of the sensory information that was now at their disposal.
Liam was never totally blind. As a small child he could make out blurry images up to four feet away, though his acuity diminished as he got older. His mother insisted that he begin Braille and cane travel instruction in kindergarten, and he also learned to read large print. Liam learned to deal with his low vision from early childhood, and he never regarded his blindness as a tragedy.
In 2005, when he was fifteen, an ophthalmologist suggested that an IOL might greatly improve Liam's vision. After careful thought Liam and his mother decided he should undergo the surgery. Liam's perception of colors improved, as did his depth perception, and his lifelong nystagmus disappeared.
Nevertheless, Liam struggled to interpret what he saw. "He saw lines where one object ended and another began, where an object in front occluded an object behind, or where a shadow was cast on a surface," Barry writes. "He saw a tangled, fragmented world." As Barry explains, "understanding the lines and colors he saw required constant attention and analysis." The effort was overwhelming and exhausting.
Over time Liam gained a greater understanding of the visual world, and the effort grew less intense. Yet fifteen years after his surgery, he continued to piece together whole images by studying their components. Climbing stairs posed dramatic challenges. "All the while, when I move, the stairs are skewing and changing," Liam wrote, "and if you move around a staircase extremely, some weird stuff can happen." In many instances, such as taking buses and light rail, Liam continued to use his long white cane.
Like Liam, Zohra had to adjust to the hearing she acquired. She struggled to make sense of the sounds that flooded her life after she received her cochlear implants. With the help of her family, especially a devoted aunt, she worked every day to sort through the cacophony and to master the enormous complexities of spoken language. More than a decade later she was still learning new sounds and discovering new coping strategies.
Unlike Sacks's Virgil, neither Liam nor Zohra regretted undergoing their surgeries. Yet both of them acknowledged that adjustment to the new sensory input required unending effort. They rose to the challenge and approached their acquired senses with a sense of adventure.
Coming to Our Senses thoroughly dispels the myth of the miracle cure. Barry reveals the vast complexity of the mental processes most of us take for granted as we move through our noisy, dazzling, mystifying world.
by Mary Tellefson
Reviewed by Kristin Witucki
From the Editor: Kristin Witucki teaches blind and low-vision children in New Jersey. She is the author of two novels for young readers, The Transcriptionist and Outside Myself.
Two Canes on the Tundra
by Mary Tellefson
Orange Hat Publishing
ISBN: 9781645383352
Available in alternative formats at bookshare.org
I vividly remember my very first cane book, A Cane in Her Hand by Ada B. Litchfield, which I read when I was seven or eight. In this book a young girl learns to accept her cane as her vision changes. At first she deals with feelings of frustration about using the cane. Toward the end of the book, she becomes angry when a pitying stranger misreads her cane as a symbol of helplessness. It was a good beginner book.
It is rare to find the mobility cane not only as a tool but as the support that underpins a whole narrative. Mary Tellefson achieves this in her book, Two Canes on the Tundra, which lays out a compelling and poetic case for the necessity of using a cane. The book is more complex than the one I grew up with, in that it respectfully provides a glimpse into a First Nations culture, and it's written for a slightly older audience, late elementary to early middle school.
The story takes place in an Alaskan Yupik village. Apu, age eleven, has a deep knowledge of and reverence for nature. He also has a dislike of making a change in his life—using the cane—that will increase his competence as a traveler but will symbolize difference to him and his classmates.
'The most compelling aspects of the book are Apu's family interactions. The story beautifully communicates the influence of family members when it is necessary to make a change. When Apu hides his cane in a janitor's closet at school, his grandfather unearths its emotional and spiritual importance long before Apu's orientation and mobility instructor reunites him with the physical object. In this way, Tellefson highlights the emotional weight of a cane in the life of a child. The climax of the book is a beautiful ceremony in which each family member shows Apu a unique reason for the cane's importance, demonstrating the power of ritual in Apu's transition from dependence to independence.
The book also gives us a useful compendium of Yupik words. Yupik words and phrases are interspersed throughout the story, along with their English counterparts, and a glossary is included at the end so students can learn the words more explicitly. My sighted fifth-grade son read this book with an eye toward the pictures. I'll admit he picked it up with some skepticism—a cane is such a part of the periphery of his life, so how could someone write a whole book about it? He thought the illustrations did an excellent job of helping to tell the story and introducing him to a culture with which he was not familiar.
The sole drawback to this book was the portrayal of Apu's sighted classmates, who only appeared through Apu's perception, never in scene or as unique individuals. Thus it seemed that everyone outside the family, except Apu's teacher, held him in an almost uniform contempt that changed by the end of the book into a grudging respect. It would have been interesting to find unique classmates who hovered, who showed possibly misplaced concern or amazement, or maybe who even valued Apu as a friend. Brink, the "walrus cousin," was a multi-dimensional guide with complex thoughts and feelings which were very authentic to childhood and early adolescence. However, I was a little disappointed that Brink went silent during moments when Apu described how he knew about things despite of and because of his blindness. While a long speech would not have been realistic for this character, I wondered what he thought. I wondered if his friendship with Apu would change and deepen, not just because he no longer had to guide him, but because Apu is a human being with interesting facets including and beyond his blindness.
All in all, this is an excellent book to introduce students to the positivity and complexity of a mobility cane in one's life. It also can help those who are unfamiliar with Yupik culture to get a taste that can inspire them to learn more.
You probably know that the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults publishes this magazine, and that Future Reflections provides you with inspiration and information. However, you might not know that the Action Fund also supplies free white canes to blind children and adults in partnership with the National Federation of the Blind. In 2021, the Action Fund purchased 5,321 long white canes that were distributed to blind individuals by the National Federation of the Blind.
"The white cane is my key to independence," wrote one enthusiastic recipient. "I can't imagine travelling without mine. There are blind people who show me every day that one can use a cane with poise, grace, and confidence. Just knowing that there are good confident travelers out there and that I can get a cane regardless of my ability to pay makes a real difference."
The work we do to encourage independent travel, excellence in education for blind students, and Braille literacy nationwide must be done. All of these programs are made possible through the generous support of people like you. If you are in a position to do so, you can help by giving a tax-deductible gift to the American Action Fund.
You can donate to the Action Fund in three easy ways. You can make a gift online by visiting our new webpage at actionfund.org. You can donate over the phone by calling 410-659-9315. Finally, you can write a check made out to "American Action Fund" and send it to 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, MD 21230.
Often the simplest and most significant way to make a charitable contribution is to plan a legacy gift. It is easier than you might think. You can plan to give all or part of a bank account, insurance proceeds, investment assets, real estate, or a retirement account. You can even give a required minimum distribution from your IRA directly to charity and avoid taxes on the distribution. After taking care of your loved ones, you could bequeath a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your estate to an organization whose mission is important to you. Your bequest carries with it the values and ideals that have been important to you throughout your lifetime and supports an organization whose mission you hold dear. In addition, planning for a legacy gift may reduce the total amount of your taxable estate, which can positively affect any funds you have designated for your heirs. The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults Legacy Society recognizes and honors the generosity and the vision of special friends of the Action Fund who have chosen to leave a legacy through a will or other planned giving option.
If you wish to give part or all of an account, simply fill out a P.O.D. (payable on death) or T.O.D. (transfer on death) form. For pensions and insurance assets, simply designate a charity as a beneficiary. If you would like to leave a legacy to the Action Fund in your will, simply include the following language:
I give, devise, and bequeath unto the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults, 1800 Johnson Street, Suite 100, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, a Maryland nonprofit corporation, the sum of $______________ (or) _________ “percent of my net estate" or "the following stocks and bonds”: ____________________, to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf of blind persons.
If you have questions or would like more information, please reach out to Patti Chang at 410-659-9315. If you have included the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults in your will or have made some other provision for a future gift, please contact Patti so we can recognize you as a member of our Legacy Society.
Legacy gifts provide for generations of blind children and adults. Please consider the American Action Fund in your future plans.
by Carlton Anne Cook Walker
From the Editor: This article was prepared in anticipation of the 2022 NFB National Convention, held July 5-10 in New Orleans.
NOPBC CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT: We're Gathering Together In Person—Please Join Us!
NOPBC REGISTRATION at https://nopbc.org/2022-nopbc-conference.
Until June 30: $30 per person, or $50 per family.
Single registration includes NOPBC membership through December 31, 2022
Single registration includes one annual subscription for Freedom Scientific software (JAWS, Fusion, or ZoomText)
Family registration includes two memberships and two software subscriptions
After June 30, including onsite registration: $33 per person
Registration includes NOPBC membership through December 31, 2022
Registration includes one annual subscription for Freedom Scientific software (JAWS, Fusion, or ZoomText)
Each year the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) hosts a conference within the national Convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Federationists and friends of all ages gather to learn and share, reconnect with old friends, and form new friendships. The NOPBC Annual Conference includes sessions and workshops on a wide variety of exciting topics.
After two years of virtual conventions due to COVID-19, we are thrilled to announce that the 2022 NOPBC Conference will be held in person this summer. We will gather in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 5-10, 2022, in conjunction with the NFB National Convention. The theme of this summer's conference is "Sharing Our Core Values: Creating Opportunities, Raising Expectations."
The 2022 NOPBC Annual Conference includes:
Featuring a welcome to our conference, Kid Talk with NFB President Mark Riccobono, keynote address from Chancey Fleet, a student panel, and more!
We will hold concurrent sessions that address the needs of blind and low-vision children at different ages, including those who have additional disabilities. This year's topics include:
Youth Track: Youth Track is open to all blind and low-vision students, children of blind adults, and sighted siblings aged eleven to eighteen. Preregistration is required.
Family Game Night: This is a great gathering for playing new or favorite accessible family games.
Megan Bening Memorial Fund Technology Giveaway: In loving memory of Megan Bening, the Megan Bening Memorial Fund Technology Giveaway will take place before our Annual NOPBC Board Meeting. To be eligible for the drawing, a blind child must:
1) Be age twenty-one or younger
2) Be registered for the NOPBC conference
3) Have a parent/guardian who is registered for the NOPBC conference.
Each eligible child will receive three tickets for a chance to win. Thousands of dollars of technology will be given away!
Exhibitor Open House: Learn the latest on technology and other organizational resources
NOPBC Annual Meeting: Kid Panel, Parent Power, business meeting, elections, and more.
Braille Book Fair: Browse tables of new and used Braille and print/Braille books. Volunteers will box your books and deliver them to the post office for Free Matter shipment to your home. Books are free, and donations are encouraged to help support our Braille programs.
Learn from experienced advocates how the IEP process works and what you can do to get the best out of your child's IEP conferences.
Please contact NOPBC President Carlton Walker at [email protected] with any questions or for information about how to register without using PayPal.
In addition to the NOPBC Conference, please register for the NFB Convention. NFB is our parent organization. Registration includes access to discounted hotel rooms, the incomparable NFB Exhibit Hall and Independence Market, and general and breakout sessions. You'll hear how the National Federation of the Blind is helping us tear down the obstacles that separate blind people from our dreams. You will have the opportunity to join a community of people who are eager to support your child and your family in ensuring that blindness will not hold your child back. Learn from blind people who are living the lives they want!
Mary P. Oenslager Scholastic Achievement Awards
Learning Ally
https://portal.learningally.org
Contact: [email protected]
800-221-4792
Deadline for Applications: December 31, 2022
Blind and visually-impaired students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees who have active Learning Ally subscriptions are invited to apply for one of the Mary P. Oenslager Achievement Awards. Six scholarships will be awarded in 2023, ranging in value from $3,000 to $6,000. Scholarship awardees must be willing and able to share their personal stories and represent Learning Ally as spokespersons at virtual, local, and national events.
Early Childhood Initiatives
https://nfb.org/programs-services/early-childhood-iniatives/early-childhood-application
The National Federation of the Blind sponsors two programs for young blind/low-vision children and their families. Braille Reading Pals and Early Explorers are offered to families free of charge.
Braille Reading Pals Club
The Braille Reading Pals Club introduces young blind children and their families to literacy through Braille. The program fosters positive attitudes about Braille and helps sighted family members promote a love of reading through the shared reading of print/Braille books with their blind children. This program is designed for blind and low-vision children ages birth through eight years old. Braille Reading Pals Club members will receive at no charge:
Early Explorers
The Early Explorers program introduces young blind children and their families to the long white cane. Children will become more independent, confident, and curious travelers throughout life. The program provides strategies to teach children beginning cane travel skills. This program is designed for blind and low-vision children ages birth through eight years old.
Early Explorers will receive at no charge:
Adopt-a-Reader Program
Seedlings Braille Books for Children
https://forms.gle/P5AFiMnbZfeQGy2k9
Contact: Katelynn Lucas, 734-427-8552
Do you have a child or student with vision loss who lives in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, or Indiana? The Adopt-a-Reader Program allows blind low-vision children in these states to receive ten free Braille books of their choice once matched with a generous sponsor. Choose twelve titles and fill out the enrollment form. When the child is matched, Seedlings will send ten of the ten chosen titles free of charge.
Health Education for Students with Visual Impairments: A Guidebook for Teachers
https://www.aph.org/product/health-education-for-students-with-visual-impairments-a-guidebook-for-teachers-2
Created by APH, this book is intended to fill a longstanding educational gap by providing teachers and educators with tips, background information, and other resources for teaching health-related topics to students who are blind or visually impaired. The guidebook is not core curriculum and is not intended for use by students. Parents and educators are encouraged to use this resource when explaining issues around sexual education, including body awareness and appropriate/inappropriate touch. The book follows the National Health Education and National Sexuality Education standards. It also dispels damaging stereotypes regarding the sexuality of youths who are blind or visually impaired.
Getty Images Initiative
https://tactileimages.com
Getty Images, the National Federation of the Blind, and Tactile Images have partnered to deliver more than 45 million images to the world's blind population at museums, science centers, libraries, and government programs that serve the disabled. This initiative will significantly enhance educational opportunities and cultural inclusion for blind individuals worldwide. Tactile Images is committed to providing tactile experiences for the blind. These transformative experiences allow visitors to develop an intimate connection with a wide range of visual and graphic material. Images designed for touch provide the opportunity for visitors to acquire information independently, without relying on recorded descriptions or the interpretation of a sighted companion.
Accessible Programs
https://laufware.com
Laufware.com is a new website that provides links to more than two hundred accessible Windows programs. Software is divided into twenty-five categories with descriptions for each program. Specialty pages include keyboard shortcuts, top forty accessible programs, fifty portable programs with no installation required, and podcasts created by and for the blind and low-vision community.
Indo Jax® Surf Charities
https://indojaxsurfschool.com/outreach.php
Contact: Nikki Bascomb, [email protected]
910-233-7999
June 22-24: Riding on Insulin Surf Camp (juvenile diabetes)
July 12: Visually Impaired Surf Camp
August 2-4: Childhood Cancer Surf Camp
Based at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, Indo Jax is committed to empowering medically fragile and special-needs children by exposing them to the ocean environment and teaching them to surf. The program was shut down for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is now back in operation. Indo Jax believes that the ocean and learning to surf have profound healing properties and can build self-esteem in children with special needs. Surf camps are provided at no charge to the participants.
Blind Equestrian Community
[email protected]
Contact: Suzanne Ament, [email protected]
540-381-0963
If you are a blind rider, work with horses, or just love horses and would like to be in touch with like-minded others, the Blind Equestrian Community (BEC) is for you. BEC is trying to gather blind equestrians together to support each other, share successes and challenges, and advocate when necessary. Currently an email listserv acts as the main medium for announcements to the group. BEC will also have a presence on Facebook soon. To subscribe to the listserv, send an email to the address above and put "Subscribe" in the subject line. For further information contact Suzanne Ament. Please pass this information on to others who might be interested.
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