Volume 42, Number 3 Convention Issue 2023
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 © 2023 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]
A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Celebrating Our Movement, Building Our Community
by Deborah Kent Stein
NOPBC CONFERENCE
Reach for the Stars
by Carla Keirns
Eureka! It All Matters
by Cary Supalo
Reach for the Moon
by Aunya Anderson
WORKSHOPS
When College Is Not Right for Your Child: Preparing for Independence and Success
by David DeNotaris
Let's Have Some Fun!
by Krystal Guillory
AWARDS
2023 TWIG Awards
Presented by Carol Castellano
From the Heart of a Teacher
by Krystal Guillory, 2023 Distinguished Educator of Blind Students
2023 Blind Educator Award
Presented by Robin House
2023 NFB Scholarship Awards
Presented by Cayte Mendez
The Sixteenth Annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards
Presented by Everette Bacon
GENERAL SESSIONS
Reflections on Four Decades: Celebrating Parents of Blind Children in the Organized Blind Movement
by Barbara Cheadle and Carla Keirns
Showing Heart on Route 66: A Ride for Literacy
by Dan O'Rourke
Securing Equal Protection Under the Law: The Essential Role of the Organized Blind Movement
by Eve Hill
Shattering Injustice and Raising Expectations: Dedication to Equality by a Blind Attorney
by Karla Gilbride
AMERICAN ACTION FUND
Does Future Reflections Help You?
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ODDS AND ENDS
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
Photo/Caption: Federationists pick up literature from the Seeing Eye table in the Exhibit Hall.
Photo/Caption: A Federationist talks to a representative from Social Security.
Photo/Caption: Wearing a Houston Astros jersey, NFB President Mark Riccobono leads the opening ceremony of the NFB General Sessions.
by Deborah Kent Stein
"How many people in this room attended their first national convention in the 1960s?" asked NFB President Mark Riccobono from the convention podium.
"I!" came a smattering of replies, the voices of people who attended their first national convention more than fifty years ago.
"How many of you attended your first convention in the 1970s?" President Riccobono asked.
This time the chorus of "I's" was stronger. Even more voices responded when President Riccobono asked to hear from those who attended their first convention in the 1980s.
Decade by decade, the chorus swelled through the meeting hall. Finally, when President Riccobono asked to hear from those who were attending their very first convention this year, the room rocked with enthusiastic shouts and applause.
For thousands of Federationists our annual convention is an event not to be missed. It is a milestone in the year's calendar, as indisputable as major birthdays and holidays. Many of us plan throughout the year, saving up money and vacation time to ensure that we will be able to attend. This dedication is a testament to the power of our movement and the role that our community plays in our lives.
Held at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston, Texas, the 2023 NFB National Convention brought together nearly three thousand blind people and their friends, families, and allies. Another fifteen hundred people attended convention sessions and workshops virtually from across the United States and around the globe. Convention-goers attended gatherings of people with special personal or professional interests: blind lawyers, blind parents, blind people in the performing arts, blind educators, blind people in the human services, and many more. In the vast Exhibit Hall, they had the chance to get hands-on experience with the latest access technology. During convention General Sessions attendees sat with their state delegations to hear inspiring presentations by movers and shakers who are changing what it means to be blind.
On July 1, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children hosted its annual conference. This year the conference theme was "Reach for the Stars." The theme certainly resonated with blind students who aspire to enter scientific fields, but its implications extended even further. To reach for the stars is to stretch beyond expectations, to follow one's dreams into uncharted territory.
Convention concluded on July 6 with the Annual Banquet. The centerpiece of the evening was a stirring address by President Riccobono, "Belief, Courage, and Wisdom: Centering on the Blind People's Movement." You can read the speech at https://nfb.org/resources/speeches-and-reports/banquet-speeches/belief-courage-and-wisdom-centering-blind-peoples.
This issue of Future Reflections contains highlights of Convention 2023. The speeches and presentations that appear in these pages carry the positive message of the organized blind movement, but they can only hint at the vibrancy of convention itself. If you were with us in Houston, they will remind you of your own convention adventures and discoveries. If you haven't yet attended an NFB convention, perhaps they will inspire you to join us in Orlando in 2024. When President Riccobono asks, "How many of you are here at convention for the first time?" you can add your voice to the shouts and cheers.
Photo/Caption: Carla Keirns with her son Russell.
by Carla Keirns
From the Editor: "Reach for the Stars" was the theme of the 2023 conference of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). NOPBC President Carla Keirns launched the conference with this presentation.
Why are we here together? Maybe it's because we want to understand what our kids need. Maybe we want to learn from our blind colleagues what we can do for our children. Here are some other reasons you may have come to Houston—raise your hand if this seems right. Who came here for the weather? [Laughter] Who came here to go to the Space Center and see the rockets? [Many raised hands] Who came here to see the latest blind tech in the Exhibit Hall? [Many more raised hands] Who came to learn about advocating for your kids? [Raised hands and applause]
Advocacy was what brought us here. When my son Russell, who's sitting in the front row, was turning three, the school said, "He doesn't need to learn Braille, he has enough vision." He is legally blind. How many people in the room would accept 'No Braille!' for an answer? I was stunned, truly stunned! I realized I needed help.
My sisters both were refused special education in the 1970s and 1980s. I knew a bit about the struggle my mother had had. I knew that I needed you, and we all needed each other. We needed our blind colleagues who had been there. Our kids are their kids, and they are the best partners I've ever known in terms of making sure we get what we need.
Russell and Robert [McKinney] came to this convention because they wanted some blind friends to play with. Some of us in the room are sighted, and some are blind. We all want to make sure our kids have the tools they need, the strategies they need, everything they need to be who they were meant to be, to live the lives they want.
Some of us have really struggled through the last few years—I won't mention why, I think you know why! Others of us have found new tools, new strategies, new ways of addressing our needs. One of the most amazing things I've seen is that some kids who were struggling with accessibility at school were able to find it at home. Kids who were struggling to get access to teachers and tech experts got access to them at home.
When everything shut down in 2020, my son was five. We tried remote speech therapy, and that wasn't so great. We tried remote occupational therapy, and that was worse. We tried remote school. Let me tell you, the model for our district was six hours a day of Teams meetings—for kindergarteners! I think that's a violation of the Geneva Convention!
After a few weeks, my kindergartener said to me, "Mommy, why should I sit in front of the computer all day to look at slides I can't see, with a program I can't operate, to learn things I already know?" I said, "Well—sometimes we just have to do things that don't make sense."
And then he asked me again.
And then he asked me again.
And then he started hiding under the bed.
We waited a few more weeks, and Mommy finally got the message. I went to the school and I said, "This is not acceptable. He can't do this." And my favorite part, I said, "He can't operate Microsoft Teams." They said, "No problem!" and they sent the instructions for using JAWS with Teams. I said to the TVI, "That is super great! Six months ago I asked you to teach him JAWS, and you said no!"
Then there's the hot key. You can use the hot key, right? Unless you're a kindergartener, and your hands aren't big enough to reach three keys at once.
On the other hand, I have friends whose kids learned beautifully at home. They weren't bullied; they weren't lonely. We were able to teach them ourselves and get them the support they needed. The community rallied in enormous ways with webinars and volunteer activities. A number of people in this room made materials to help kids learn at home. They did it on their own time because they knew it was filling a need. My son learned the entire Braille code via Zoom from a teacher in Pennsylvania. We thought about what to do and how to do it, and we improvised. We recognized that some things were not working well for some of us, and we would need to help each other. That is the power of this community!
The people who are not in this room are the ones I most worry about. We are all here because we know that our kids need us to be here. But we need to be sure that we reach out to others. We need to make sure that the kids whose parents don't have the time or money to come to a convention in another state, the folks who don't have the time to study, we have to make sure that those kids get what they need, too. That means infiltrating other organizations. It means sharing what we've learned. Our job is to pay it forward. My kid can read today because of all of you. The next kids that we teach to read because of what you taught us are going to be your legacy.
We face a daunting task in the state of Missouri, where I live. Only one in six kids who has a VI IEP is reading at grade level this year. The older kids did better, but the younger kids struggled. We are fighting for them, and we are making progress.
In the past year, we've had a chance to gather in person. We've gathered here, and we've gathered in states across the country. We're sharing advice and information by email and by phone and in other ways.
When my son decided to study piano he couldn't see the music notes he needed. I wrote to the NFB listserv, and I said, "What do you do? How do you do low-vision music?" Within hours, I had half a dozen solutions. Again, that is the power of this community!
We are planning lots more things for next year. In particular, we want to build our cadre of advocates. Believe me, I struggled with that. If you need an advocate, it's because the system is not doing what it should be doing. I hope for us, and for the future, that we need fewer advocates. I hope we'll be getting the resources we need. I hope our kids are getting what they need to be able to grow and thrive.
I'm a physician by training. One of the things I want to do is make sure that we partner with our eye doctors. Some of our eye doctors really struggle to understand brain-based vision issues, cortical visual impairment, CVI. We need to collaborate between the families, the kids, the doctors, the teachers. We need to make sure that everybody is prepared to serve our kids. We need to make sure that our school districts are able to serve our kids.
STEM is a really important area in education, and we need to make sure our kids are getting access to it. STEM teaching usually is such a visual thing! NFB’s programs in STEM really have been innovative in terms of making sure that we do things in hands-on ways. All kids, all of us, are multisensory learners. We don't learn in just one way. We need to be able to share our broader view, what we know about access, about different ways of learning. When we brought tactile learning materials to my son's kindergarten class, everybody played with them.
I want to thank you for making the time to come here. I want to thank you for making the effort to support your kid and support other kids and share what you know and learn. This is the power of this community! With everyone in this room, everyone in this movement, we can build the society that we need. We can help our kids reach for the stars. I am so excited that we are all here today!
by Cary Supalo
From the Editor: Dr. Cary Supalo is a research chemist, a consultant with Educational Testing Services (ETS), and the founder of Independence Science, a company that develops and markets tools that make science measurements accessible to blind students.
Children often ask the question, what is science? As you can imagine, this question has many different answers. Science can simply mean investigating phenomena around us and seeking answers to scientific questions. To others it might mean trying to gain a greater understanding. And to others, it might mean applying the scientific method to try to understand and explain a phenomenon. I think a simple definition would be fundamental problem solving. How can we ask scientific questions and answer them? This fundamental critical thinking skill set can and usually does go beyond scientific questions. Your child can use this valuable life skill to figure out how to go from Point A to Point B. It might also mean for your child what to do to make a chocolate cake from scratch, or to explore plant life in the back yard. Do you see where I am going with this? Fundamental problem solving is at the core of what scientists do for a living.
Moving on, chemistry is the study of matter. There are different branches of chemistry. Some of these branches are organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, and physical or theoretical chemistry. Many blind people tend to go into the theoretical realm of chemistry. This area of chemistry involves lots of complex computations that are usually done on a computer. However, most chemists are experimentalists. These are the ones that get to design experiments, and conduct all kinds of chemical reactions and perform extensive diagnostic tests, depending on the theory being evaluated.
In my graduate research at Penn State University, I studied inorganic chemistry, which is the study of the transition metals or the D-block elements on the Periodic Table. My research interest involved the synthesis of different transition metal-supported catalysts. We were investigating how hydrogen gas could be produced from different organic materials for the purposes of serving as an alternative fuel source. I worked in conjunction with researchers from Universal Oil Products and other chemical engineers from the Illinois Institute of Technology in downtown Chicago.
Much of the research instrumentation I was expected to work with was not accessible with any access technology. Therefore, I had to come up with work-arounds. My primary tool at that time, in the early 2000s, was a human research assistant. I will simply call this assistant a lab technician, or lab tech for short. I had to recruit my lab techs from the pool of undergraduate chemistry and other science majors. I interviewed and hired them, and in some cases fired them when things did not work out well. These individuals were paid a decent wage for undergraduate students. I was able to work out a funding structure for their pay. My research advisor, the chemistry department, and the office for student disability services each paid one-third of the assistant's wage. Thus, the financial obligation was spread around so I could get the hours I needed to do my work.
I always needed to have several lab techs available in case someone called in sick. Sometimes exams would get a little overwhelming during a particular week, and thus the techs were unable to work. Also, lab tech time was almost always scheduled in advance, but sometimes the research experiments required working at non-normal hours, i.e., at 2:00 a.m. Scientific discovery does not always work on a schedule that is convenient to us, but rather when Mother Nature says the discovery will be revealed to us as scientists. It is up to us both to be there and to recognize the discovery when it happens, and of course to document observations and other key data.
Next, I will mention the documenting of observations. Blind people need to have good ways to take and keep organized notes. I use electronic notetakers. However, the slate and stylus is also a popular method. Some may record observations on a computer or smart tablet device. Whatever the tool, the important thing is for blind people to have an accessible way to record their own observations.
Also, blind people need to know what is and is not important. We must know what types of clarification questions to ask at the appropriate times with minimal, if any, disruption.
We must also have good communication skills and develop an innate ability to read other people's behavior through inflections in voice and direction of speaking. Overall, we must know how attentive others are to what we are saying.
Another challenge is to communicate visually by drawing visual graphics. Many blind students like to describe graphics in words. This tends to be all right for a blind audience, but for sighted colleagues in a scientific meeting, this method does not often go over very well. Being able to draw graphical representations using raised-line drawing kits is a good starting skill to develop. This method may eventually transition to drawing on whiteboards for groups of people.
I had the pleasure of serving as an assistant professor of chemistry at a state university. I was asked to teach first-year general chemistry lab courses and upper-level science education methods courses for future teachers. My ability to draw molecular structures, chemical equations, and other mathematical calculations on a whiteboard helped my instruction a great deal. My students tended to be very vocal if I did not write something clearly!
I also was expected to grade lots of handwritten homework, lab reports, and quizzes. I accomplished this by employing a human reader who read the response to each question, and I assigned the points that were properly earned. Eventually, I was assigned a grader to assist me with the application of rubrics and other answer keys that I prepared.
In the end, a lot of what was required to serve as a faculty member was good time management, the ability to use alternative skills of blindness, and the capacity to think outside the box. A blind faculty member must figure out how to access information which, by its very nature, is not innately accessible.
Now, why is all of this relevant to you? Some of you are wondering, how can my son or daughter succeed in science? I will say that science is not for everyone. However, for a long time, blind students were discouraged from pursuing science careers at all. We were told that science is too visual, or that lab work is not safe. A teacher might simply say, "I have no idea how you can do this work."
I am here to ask you today if your child has an interest in science. One good indicator is they ask lots of inquisitive questions about why things are the way they are. Or maybe they like doing math problems. Or they like animals and/or going to science museums. The key thing for you as parents is to encourage them and keep them engaged in science activities. Enroll them in enrichment programs; take them to science museums where they can take part in firsthand, engaging activities. Sometimes if you can get a group of blind students together to go to a science museum and let the staff know several weeks in advance, they can arrange a special hands-on session for you. It just requires a little planning. Once you have done this, please write about your experiences for Future Reflections. Share your ideas with other parents as to things they can do to keep their children engaged in science activities.
With regard to IEP meetings, I have learned in recent times that it is important to document the types of access technology your child will be using in their classes. For your information, multi-line refreshable Braille devices are coming in the extremely near future. You can see some of them on display in the exhibit hall at this convention. It is expected that these devices will be commercially available within the coming school year. If you want your child to have the use of these technologies for their schoolwork and their K-12 standardized tests, make sure these technologies are mentioned in their IEP.
Finally, I want to circle back to my initial message. Scientists perform fundamental problem solving each and every day. No two days are ever alike. If you can learn how to ask good questions, you can be a scientist. If you can learn how to apply the scientific method and use data to answer questions, you can become a scientist. Knowing your blindness skills, leveraging human assistance when necessary, and understanding the limitations of access technologies is just as important as what access technology can do. If your child can learn to do all of these things as they mature, they will be able to pursue almost any career path they choose. I hope that some of them will want to study science. Not all of them will, and that is all right. It's one thing for them to choose not to pursue science as a career; it's quite another thing for them to be told they cannot study science, that science is not in reach for them because they are blind.
I am going to end with one of my favorite quotes from a famous 1980’s movie, Back to the Future. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. Thank you very much.
Photo/Caption: Aunya Anderson poses for a photo on a rooftop terrace.
by Aunya Anderson
From the Editor: Aunya Anderson is a student at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. She plans to attend medical school, and in the meantime, she's gaining a broad base of knowledge on a variety of subjects.
As you get older, people sometimes ask you, "What would you tell ten-year-old you?" And I ask myself, "What would ten-year-old me tell me today?" Ten-year-old me was doing a lot more than I might have expected.
At ten, I was at Mission Control for our space team. I was there with all the little astronauts who went out into "space." I learned one important thing from the space team program in my elementary school. The Braille teacher wrote on the decorated classroom door, "Reach for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars." That thought has stayed with me to this day.
I am currently a rising junior at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. I am studying biology with a biomedical concentration and a minor in psychology. I'm not just a student. I'm a daughter, and I'm a sister. I love reading, writing, music, and thinking—quarantine gave me lots of time for that! I'm very competitive. I've done every sport I can possibly get my hands on, no matter what anyone told me. I am a blind individual. I was born with cataracts and developed glaucoma when I was very young. I'm also an individual diagnosed with scleroderma, which is an autoimmune condition that pretty much affects every organ in my body.
These are all factors that make up me, who I am today. All of these things shaped me into the person who can sit in front of you now and say, "I want to become a doctor. I want to be a pediatric rheumatologist."
I have to take a lot of steps to get there. Education starts with elementary school. That's the groundwork. I was actually educated at home first. Before I started school my mom taught me Braille. I like to say I learned Braille before I learned how to read print. My mom knew that, as a low-vision student, I was going to face pushback about learning Braille at school. Teachers were going to say, "You don't need Braille. You can still see."
Throughout elementary school I was educated like any other student, and in addition I got Braille and access technology. When I started middle school I really began to enjoy my science classes. That's also when I started to become active in my IEP meetings. I was learning to advocate for myself. At that point I started to curate my educational toolkit, to figure out what I needed in order to be educated as a blind individual.
When I started high school, things got hard. I got really sick. I had to struggle hard to get the accessibility I needed in order to have the education that any other student was offered. After freshman year I started dual enrollment at Traverse Technical College, but things didn't get much better. Honestly, I failed my first chemistry class. I can say it with a straight face: I failed the first chemistry class I ever took! It wasn't for lack of knowledge. It was lack of access, because of people not wanting to give me the access I needed. One thing I learned from that experience was how to fight for myself. I learned to tell people, "This is what I need. This is what I need to be successful."
After two years of dual enrollment, I decided to graduate early because of COVID, and I started at Southern Adventist University. It's a very little school, and I guarantee no one here has ever heard of it. One of the joys of going to a very little school is that no one has worked with people who have intersectional disabilities. I went up there and said, "Hi! I'm me, and I'm blind, and I'm majoring in biology. This is how we're going to do it."
I have amazing professors and amazing disability services. Although no one really knew what they were doing, all of my professors and all of the administrators were amazing, listening to me, listening to what I needed to become successful. I'm very happy to say I re-took the science class I had failed, and this time I got an A!
I decided to major in biology. When I was doing my research on applying to medical school, I found that they tell you there's no particular major you have to choose. I decided I wanted to major in biology because I would have access to so many biological sciences that would be helpful to me in medical school. I'm minoring in psychology because I find the brain interesting, and I love to know why we think the way we think. Major in whatever you want to major in! College is the last time you're going to get access to so many unique classes, so take advantage of it. I will be taking a baking class. I will be taking horsemanship class! Do it all! I promise you, it's great!
I use Braille, print, and audio. I have a BrailleNote, an iPad, a laptop, a CCTV, and a LabQuest. That sounds like a lot, but I have a use for every piece of equipment. I'm nineteen years old now, and I don't use Braille every day, but I keep it in my toolkit.
So many students who feel helpless don't realize that they need access to a lot of different kinds of materials. There is no one-size-fits-all. There is no single solution that will work for you every day of the year. I may use print one day because my fingers hurt too much for me to read Braille. I may use audio the next day because my eyes hurt too much for me to look at things. Having a lot of resources allows me to have access, no matter what my circumstances.
One important thing as your children go through school is to keep up with technology. We live in a time when everything is changing very quickly. One of the best things you can do for yourself and your child is to make sure you know all the options that are out there. You'll be surprised by how many things you can find that can help your kids out!
Science is amazing! It's great! But, do what you want to do. Don't let anyone tell you no. There are going to be so many people questioning your child, so many people asking, "How are they going to do this?" Be the one to tell them they can do it. I let everyone's questions roll off my back because I had a mom who, from the day I came out of the womb, told me no matter what I wanted to do, I could do it. Just remember, reach for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
by David DeNotaris
From the Editor: David DeNotaris has a long history in blindness rehabilitation, leading agencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Through his work and his personal experience, he has gained insight into the issues faced by blind people when they finish school and seek to enter the workforce.
When I was twelve years old, I asked my resource room teacher, Mr. Watson, "What kind of jobs do people like me do?" He said, "I don't really know. If you can figure it out, you'll help yourself and a lot of other people." It occurred to me back then that even some professionals didn't know. You're in the right place—that's why we're here today!
As advocates, we tell a lot of stories. We look at the past as a way to build for the future. I was born in October, so I started school in September, before I turned five. I remember in August of 1974 my dad took me to meet the principal at Public School 10 in Belleville, New Jersey. I was able to see a little bit. I didn't use a cane—I probably should have! The principal started sharing with my dad all the reasons why a blind student couldn't attend that school. He said, "We've never had a blind student. Our teachers don't know Braille. And there are a lot of stairs." When he said, "There are a lot of stairs!" I said, "I walked up the stairs to get here."
My father said, "Please give my son a chance. If it doesn't work, we'll try something else." The principal said, "Are you sure you don't want to send him to that school in Philadelphia?" My dad said, "No, sir. It's two hours away."
That night my father's sister and her husband came over. They were people who loved to debate. My Aunt Rosie said to my father, "Why did you take him with you to go meet that principal?" My dad said, "Because I'm not always going to be here, and he's going to have to learn to stand up for himself."
I graduated from public school and attended Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. I got my first job in a community organization helping people with disabilities find jobs and use assistive technology. I served as a job coach and a job developer. I served as Coordinator of Assistive Technology for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind. I was director of the Bureau of Blindness of Pennsylvania and the Executive Director of the Office of Rehabilitation.
I have done this for a while, right? And these are some of the things I've learned. The secret sauce is involved parents, involved families. I know—I'm preaching to the choir! But as my dad would say, "That's how the choir gets to be good." It's very important for parents to be great advocates. It's also important to remember what my dad said when I was four years old, "I'm not always going to be here." There's a fine balance between being involved, being a good encourager and listener, and letting kids learn that they have to stand up for themselves. Maybe they're going to have to advocate for themselves in an IEP meeting or an IPE meeting. They're going to have to advocate for themselves. We have to help them recognize that they can do that.
In New Jersey, we had a program through a university. It was a 28-day program that prepared students for college. But, you and I know that not everyone is going to college, nor should they. We developed another track at the College of New Jersey. We called it the Work Skill Program, WSP. It taught many of the same skills that were taught in the college-bound program, but it also provided work experiences right there on the college campus. Students did jobs that ranged from emptying the wastebaskets and doing maintenance to working in the IT department. For three weeks, we worked on soft skills in the mornings, and in the afternoons, we worked on job skills. Then at night, we would debrief about what we all had learned.
College isn't for everyone. Vocational school isn't for everyone, either. Technical school isn't for everyone. Everybody has different abilities, skills, and talents. It's a matter of figuring out what a student likes and is good at. Do they like to do math? Do they like to create things? Do they like to write?
In closing I want to share one strategy with you. While I was working for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind, I was asked to speak to the Lions Club State Convention. It was going to take place in Atlantic City, with about fifteen hundred people attending. King Lion came into the room and announced, "And now, from the New Jersey Commission for the Blind, David DeNotaris will speak on what we can do to remove this horrible scourge called blindness!"
I thought, gee whiz! Honestly, I didn't know what he was talking about! I wanted to come up with a way to help people understand that blindness is not a tragedy, that blindness can be overcome with the proper skills and techniques. So I thought of some ABCs.
A is for access. Access equals success. Access to what? Access to positive role models, access to information, access to inspiration, access to transportation. Access equals success.
B is for Braille literacy. We must be able to write things down! We can't just think we'll remember. When I've run summer programs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I'd ask the students, "How do you take notes?" I'd hear, "My teacher, she gives me the notes," "My classmate, she takes notes for me!" or "I just memorize things." If you can't write things down, you can't organize your day. If you can't organize your day, you can't organize your week. If you can't organize your week, you can't organize your month. And if you can't organize your month, you can't organize your life! You need a way to write things down. Do you use your iPhone or your Android? Do you use your BrailleNote Touch? Do you use your slate and stylus? I don't care what you use, but you've got to use something! You need to be able to get information down and retrieve it later.
C is for Can you travel independently from where you are to where you want to go? There's not always going to be an elbow around! I use a white cane. I don't care if you use a cane or a dog, but you've got to use something! You've got to be able to travel independently.
I often hear kids say, "I travel with my mom," or "I travel with my paraprofessional." And I also hear kids say, "No one wants to sit with me at lunch because they don't want to hang out with my paraprofessional."
When I travel with an assistant, I let them know it's their job to help me show up, to help me set up, and then to shut up! Shut up and let me do the work!
I just had a good interview with some people from disability services at a good university. I asked them, "Why do some blind students succeed while some others fail? What have you found?" When I ask about this, I hear that some blind students don't know how to travel, they don't know how to take notes, and they don't know how to get along with other people. They may have the hard skills, the academic strength, but if they don't have the soft skills of travel and notetaking and getting along with people, they're at a great disadvantage.
In our community it's very important to network in places like this. It's important to see that if someone else can do it, maybe you can do it, too. When I was young and met people through the NFB, I thought, Wow, I want to learn to travel! I want to be able to present in front of people! I want to use technology! When I'm around blind people who are doing things, it raises my expectations.
So here you are. Listen and ask questions and learn. You're in the right place!
by Krystal Guillory
From the Editor: In a child's life, play is the foundation for learning. Yet all too often parents and educators worry that blind children do not play in constructive ways. In this workshop educator Krystal Guillory discusses play in general and shares ideas for helping blind children play and learn.
I'm the state coordinator of our Louisiana NFB BELL® Academy. We're always playing, and we're always learning. We have a phenomenal pre-kindergarten program, but sometimes teachers and parents observe us and say, "They're just playing over there!" Well, they are. They're playing a lot, but there's lots of structure. They are playing, and they are learning. I think sometimes people try to rush kids to paper and pencil, to sit down and do schoolwork. But so many things are missed when a child is not given the opportunity to play.
Play helps develop imagination and creativity. In symbolic play, a child lets one object represent another. A stick can become a horse; a box can become a boat. In unstructured play, kids direct their own activities, free from adult schedules and expectations.
Play also helps deliver behavioral benefits. All of us in this room feel overwhelmed at times. Each one of us has activities that help us through those times of stress. For instance, I like knitting. Sometimes when things are a little crazy I sit down and knit to calm myself down. Some people go out and sing karaoke. Some of us garden. Just like adults, kids need ways to calm themselves. Their play can reduce anxiety and stress.
As teachers, we know that play improves literacy. When babies coo and gurgle and you make sounds back to them, they're starting to learn language. When they manipulate objects, they build fine-muscle coordination that will help them with writing later on.
Solitary play is just as important as learning to play with others. Sometimes parents and teachers worry because a child isn't interacting with other children. They might be playing alongside another child, who is playing alone, too. They're involved in parallel play, which actually is a form of interaction. Independent solitary play also builds skills that help later with socializing.
Play helps kids learn problem solving. Too often when children struggle, we grownups step in and solve the problem for them. When we do that, we take away the opportunity for them to figure things out on their own.
A line we often hear from kids is, "I'm bored!" As a parent, you don't have to rush in and solve that problem for them. We need to allow them opportunities to deal with their boredom by getting creative.
Play also promotes physical fitness. It can sharpen reflexes, improve movement control, strengthen the cardiovascular system, and improve balance.
One thing I've often noticed—everyone wants to bring things to the blind child. So often I hear parents and teachers say, "Sit at the table, and I'll bring your blocks to you." Let the child move around! Let children find their own toys! You don't have to bring everything to them. The first time or two you might go with them and show them where things are, but after that let them find things on their own.
Think about where you store your child's things. Don't put their toys out of reach on a top shelf. Store their things in places where the child can get them independently, without needing your help.
Here are some tips for encouraging independent play. (Sometimes parents aren't too happy about this!) First, put away all the toys that light up, sing, beep, and buzz. The best toys for independent play are the ones that challenge children. Think about plastic containers, art materials, dolls, balls and baskets, toy vehicles, or toy animals. Gathering these toys takes kind of a Montessori mentality. Let children manipulate the toys. The toys don't need to do everything for them. Having to interact with their toys will help children play independently.
Make sure that the toys are right for your child's age and stage. Choose toys that will challenge children a little bit, but avoid toys that are too far beyond their level and will require help from you.
I've noticed with the families I work with that a lot of children seem to have too many toys. Too many toys can become overwhelming. If you have lots of toys, cycle through them. Put some away and bring out a few others now and then to keep playtime fresh. You can even make baskets with special themed toys. Your child might keep all the blocks in one basket, and all the cars and trucks in another one. All the dolls and doll furniture can go into another.
Create a child-safe play space—and I challenge you not to have screens there! Don't have the iPad around or the TV on when your child is doing independent play.
Manage your own expectations. What do you think is the attention span of a two-year-old? The actual attention span of a two-year-old is five to six minutes. The child may play longer, even for thirty minutes or so, but they'll switch gears, from one activity to another. Three-year-olds might stay with an activity for six to eight minutes, and for four-year-olds, it's about ten minutes. Even adults can only attend for twenty-two minutes. After that, we have to have a break.
Independent play is very important, but do most children automatically know how to play independently? Initially children get a lot of information visually, so if your child is blind or has low vision, you may need to teach them some things to start with. Sometimes we have to teach things to sighted children, too.
Especially when your kids are very young, you may need to model play for them. You can get down on the floor and play with them for a while. You can provide some experiences for them to use as a springboard for play later on.
Here's an example. You sit with your child and build a tower together with blocks. Then you say, "We just built a tower together. Now I'm going to give you a chance to play by yourself." Then you step away a little, but stay within earshot. Let it be a short time-frame at first. When you take that step, moving away, don't constantly interrupt. It's very tempting to glance over and say, "Oh, look what you did! You've got six blocks piled up!" You're trying to give encouragement, but your child can end up feeling that they need your validation.
Think about it in your own life. If you're really intent on something, really focused, and someone interrupts you, you're probably going to feel annoyed. The interruption distracts your mind. It pulls you away from what you're doing. Give your child the opportunity to play alone, without interruptions. By doing so you help build important pathways in their brain.
As I work in the schools, I often see the end result of adult interference. Students know the whole process of an assignment, but they keep stopping to ask, "Is this right?" I'll say, "You're good, keep going! We'll talk about it when you're done." Sometimes I give them a goal. For instance, if a kid is anxious about writing an essay, I might say, "Check in with me when you finish your third paragraph."
Kids get very hung up on having to be right and worrying about making mistakes. With my students of all ages I try to reiterate, "Even if something isn't right, you're going to learn from the mistakes you make."
Independent play has to become part of your child's day. I don't mean for you to be rigid about it: "At 9:02 a.m. we will have independent playtime." Just try to find opportunities for play to be part of your child's daily routine. Figure out what works with your family's life.
I want to talk about activities that can help kids learn to play. Some things work great for some people, and not so well for others. For instance, I think sand play can have a lot of benefits, but some parents don't care for it. You can have sand play in a confined space, such as a large jar or bowl, or you can have it in a traditional sandbox. You can use various kinds of scoops, or you can use things like seashells or cars. You can switch things out every so often.
Another type of play is water play. You can use a water table or just an ordinary bucket. You can use different scoops, toys that float and toys that sink, stones of different sizes. Just splashing is great!
Play dough is very beneficial. It's great for fine motor control, finger dexterity, and creativity. As a teacher of blind children, I will say it's really crucial that they come to school with hand strength. If they don't come with hand strength the process of learning to read and write Braille will be a lot slower. They might get the flow of reading line by line, but they won't have the strength to press the keys on a Brailler.
Compare the experience of blind kids in pre-K and kindergarten with the experience of sighted children. The sighted children are learning to use pencils. They start out by scribbling before they learn to write distinct letters. Most sighted children have been coloring at home, before they enter school. They already have the experience of holding a crayon and making marks on paper.
Many of our blind kids haven't had the experience of coloring. A lot of parents don't think there's any point in giving their blind kids crayons. Of course, we can let them color! We can make raised lines on a piece of paper so they can color in a picture or a design. Kids can use a raised-line drawing board such as the Sensational Blackboard. They can draw on it with a regular pencil or pen and create a raised line.
You also can make an outline with Wikki Stix. Some kids don't like them because they leave a waxy film on your fingers, but some kids don't mind that at all. You also can make an outline with Elmer's Glue. You have to plan ahead, because it takes about two days for the glue to dry. The fastest way to make raised lines is by using hot glue. You can very quickly make a simple outline by using a glue gun.
Another idea is to use a coloring screen. You can attach a sheet of sandpaper to a clipboard and put a sheet of paper on top. Have the child draw or color on top of the sandpaper, and it will create lines they can feel. They can feel where all the strokes are happening. You can do the same thing with a piece of window screen.
Blind children can enjoy finger painting. Different kinds of finger paint have unique textures. Some finger paints are fluffy and some are thick. You also can add things to the paint to create varied textures. Try using feathers or sand.
Blind kids also can build hand strength by using play dough and modeling clay. Sometimes kids just pat the play dough or pound it. Encourage them to shape it with their fingers, which builds finger strength and coordination. Other ways to build fine motor abilities are eating with utensils and buttering bread.
Playing dress-up is a fun way to build dressing skills. You don't have to have elaborate costumes. Kids can play with hats and scarves. They can also try on Dad or Mom's shoes.
Dolls, G.I. Joes, and stuffed animals all can encourage imaginative play. You can decorate a toilet-paper roll, and it can become a doll. Kids can make up stories with these doll characters.
I've had a number of students who have been inactive most of their lives. They haven't been given the opportunity to move. In those cases, we have to wind back and build in those experiences, regardless of the child's chronological age. I remember one mother who told me, "I loved swinging when I was a kid. I just don't know if my son will ever be able to swing." I thought, "What? What is she talking about?"
Don't be afraid to let your blind kids run and jump and swing and climb! You might have to show them how at first. Tell them, "Hold on with both hands so you don't fall off!" Then let them take some reasonable risks, like other kids do.
Nature play offers lots of opportunities. It can be as simple as going outside and looking for fall leaves. There's a lot of sensory stuff outdoors! Kids can discover the textures of grass, leaves, dirt, and gravel. Maybe one day you put ice cubes in the water table. Ice? What happened there?
Then, when you play indoors, there are board games. You can make simple memory games with textures. A lot of commercially available games can be adapted very easily.
Everybody has used a cardboard box, right? You can put a small child into a cardboard box and push them around. Later they'll climb into the box on their own. With a box, anything is possible. It can be a boat, a car, or a secret hiding place.
Sighted children are usually motivated to crawl because they want to reach things they see. Auditory cues can motivate blind children to crawl. When I do early intervention with blind babies, sometimes I roll up a towel and put it under the child's belly. Then you can maneuver their hands and knees to get them moving. Have something in front of them that will motivate them to move forward. It can be an auditory toy, or it might be Mommy herself. Unless the child has some physical issues, it works nearly all the time.
If your child has favorite books that you read aloud, you can make story boxes to use along with the reading. For instance, if you're reading "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," the box could include a doll to represent Goldilocks and three stuffed bears of different sizes for Mommy, Daddy, and Baby.
For early exposure to Braille, label things around the house. Even though your child can't read yet, they can get used to feeling the dots and knowing they mean something.
Blind or sighted, your child is a child first. We want our children to learn, and they learn through play. Give your children plenty of experiences and opportunities so they can learn about the world we all live in.
Photo/Caption: Penny Duffy and her daughter, Abby Duffy.
Photo/Caption: Carlton Walker
Presented by Carol Castellano
Carol Castellano: "As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclin'd." These words of Alexander Pope are the inspiration for the title of our awards. The National Organization of Parents of Blind Children initiated the Twig Awards for our twenty-fifth anniversary in 2008 to honor those whose work has influenced the direction in which our children grow.
The award itself is a medallion engraved with a tree and the words, "As the Twig Is Bent Award," and "NOPBC since 1983." NOPBC is written in Braille and print. On the back of the medallion are the recipient's name and the year.
This year we will be presenting two Twig Awards. Our first recipient is a person we were very lucky to have on our NOPBC board for a good long time. Our recipient's dedication to blind children and their families is renowned throughout the country. She truly has bent the twig and influenced the lives of countless blind children. She is amazingly knowledgeable and incredibly smart. Her proficiency, effectiveness, and hard work moved this organization forward through many challenges, including through the tough years of the pandemic.
I first met our recipient many years ago at the Beginnings and Blueprints seminar, where she came to get information for her little girl. She began serving on our board in 2008. She served for thirteen years, many of them as our president.
I am proud and delighted to present this award to Carlton Walker.
Carlton Walker: Thank you! Thank you very much! The kind words absolutely mean a lot. I have loved every minute of what I've done with the NOPBC, and I'm so excited to see where the NOPBC and the NFB and our children are going in the years to come. And best yet, cupcakes at our gathering tonight!
Carol Castellano: And now, to present our second award, here is Vice President Cassie McKinney.
Cassie McKinney: Good morning, everyone! For me it is very much an honor to be here to make a presentation. I tried to write it all down, and the more I tried, the more I cried. So I'm just going to say what's on my heart.
The presentation that I'd like to make goes to an individual who came into this organization because they didn't know where else to go. They didn't have another opportunity or another option to help their child, so they came to us.
This person came looking for help and ended up giving more help than you ever could imagine. We never know how much our actions are going to affect those around us. We never know if we're going to say the right thing that will change someone's life. But I like to think that when Penny Duffy came to our first NFB Convention, maybe she heard the right things. Only three years later, in 2014, she joined the board, and she served on the board for nine years. She did tremendous work, and I know that she continues to do that work, as she is able. I am honored to present this Twig Award to one of the strongest people I know, Penny Duffy.
Abby Duffy: My mother can't be here this year, but I know she'll really appreciate this award. She loves this organization very very much!
Carol Castellano: This is such a great organization! We love it, don't we? We came for ourselves, and we stayed for everybody else. Thank you, everybody!
Photo/Caption: Carla McQuillan stands with Krystal Guillory who smiles and holds her Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award.
by Krystal Guillory
2023 Distinguished Educator of Blind Students
From the Editor: At the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind on July 3, Carla McQuillan presented the 2023 Distinguished Educator of Blind Students Award. Here is her announcement of this year's award recipient.
Carla McQuillan: Every year the National Federation of the Blind honors and recognizes a teacher of blind students for going above and beyond expectations and upholding the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind.
We started this award in 1988, so this is the thirty-fifth Distinguished Educator of Blind Students Award that we will be giving. There are some impressive names on that list. Ruby Ryles, for example. So when I read this person's nomination, I could not believe that this individual had not previously won this award. But sure enough, she had not.
In typical years we notify the teacher that they are going to be receiving the award to make sure they're here at convention, because they don't always attend. We did not have to do that this year. In fact, this year, President Riccobono said, "What are the odds we could make it a total surprise?" How do we get this person at the board meeting to receive the award without knowing why? And how do we get her to speak for the Parents of Blind Children without knowing why?
Carol Castellano and Beth Braun [President Riccobono's secretary] were part of this scheme. And sitting to my right is the recipient of this year's award, Krystal Guillory!
I have to tell you, Beth Braun—I did not know how sneaky she was! Beth Braun created a false agenda that she gave to Krystal so she would think she was here to talk about the Braille Book Fair! Now, she can talk to you about that if she wants to. But, for those of you who do not know Krystal, she is one of our greatest members from the great state of Louisiana. She is not only a full-time teacher, but she is the coordinator of our Louisiana NFB BELL® Academies. She was written up in the Ruston Leader newspaper for all of her efforts in the BELL Academy. She also runs a Braille Saturday program. And she's very active in the Louisiana Association of Parents of Blind Children.
Here's what it says on the plaque: “The National Federation of the Blind honors Krystal Guillory, Distinguished Educator of Blind Students, for your skills in teaching Braille and other techniques of blindness, for graciously devoting extra time to meet the needs of your students, and for empowering your students to perform beyond their expectations. You champion our movement, you strengthen our hopes, you share our dreams. July 3rd, 2023."
At the board meeting of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC), Krystal Guillory gave the following address:
I think any of my parents can attest to the fact that their kids are my kids. I am your child's teacher, but I'm a mom at heart, too. Everything I want for my own children I want for your children as well.
I could talk forever, but I came up with a few ideas about what blind children can do. I always want to emphasize to parents that your child is a child first. In the Federation, we know that blindness is not what defines them. We use the term blind because we're not afraid of blindness.
So, your children are children first. Play with them, love them, and don't worry about what they can and can't see. Build those cherished life memories. Try to get away from the track of, "How are we going to do that?" Just be a parent!
The next thing I want to say is, believe in your child. Many people, including some of you in this room, probably never knew a blind person before your child was born. Your child is probably the first blind person you ever met. Despite all the work we do, we know that all the stereotypes in the media are still out there—stereotypes like the blind person begging on the street corner. We're doing our best to get rid of those stereotypes!
Your child can indeed live a rich, fulfilling, purposeful, and productive life. They're going to use techniques that you may or may not know about, and often your child will turn into your teacher. They'll just have a different way of getting things done.
Next, I want to say that we have to have high, but reasonable, expectations. Your child does not have to be the best at everything! No one is the best at everything! Whether blind or sighted, we're all interdependent, constantly learning from each other. No one person can know everything. I'm never going to be a world class track star, but if you ask people around Ruston, they'll tell you I make a pretty darn good gumbo—just so you know!
I'm not going to be a track star, but I do make an impact in others' lives. Your child will have an impact in others' lives as well.
Finally, I want to say that you need to surround yourself with people who will support and empower your child. You know it's said that it takes a village to raise a child. That's very true, whether the child is sighted or blind. The beauty of what we have in the NFB is that supportive community, with all its variations and perspectives. Everyone truly cares about your child. It's crucial for your child, and it's crucial for you, too.
As parents we can't do everything ourselves. But these people in the Federation are saying, "I've got you. I have your child. Let's do this!"
The connections you make in the National Federation of the Blind and the NOPBC are priceless and enduring. I can't tell you how many times I've reached out to someone in the Federation and said, "I don't know how to do this," realizing that I don't need to know, because I'm going to find a person who can help me. I'm going to find blind mentors, parents of other blind children, and teachers who will help me.
For instance, I wasn't exactly sure how my student was going to participate in a marching band. Starting young, I realized that she would need to learn Braille music. I don't even read print music! I am not blessed with musical talent. But, I connected with some people, and I figured out how to get started. I have to say that my student looks pretty darn good in marching band! She did all the arrangements by herself! She pulled it off, and all I can say is, "Go, girl!"
I reach out to blind mentors around technology all the time. As you know, technology is constantly changing. If you're not a user of that technology, it's very hard to keep up, even as a teacher. But, I don't have to know all of it. I have to get the student started, and then we can reach out to some blind mentors who use the technology. More importantly, I can empower my students to resolve their own problems.
So as a parent, I say, know your child and love them! Believe in them. Have high but reasonable expectations, and surround yourself with people who will empower you and your child. Thank you!
Photo/Caption: Tomás Cintrón holds his award and poses for a picture with presenter Robin House.
by Tomás Cintrón
Introduction by Robin House: It is my privilege and my honor to present the 2023 Blind Educator of the Year Award. To help me during this presentation, we have a Spanish interpreter, who will be interpreting both the recipient's comments and my comments as well.
I also want to share that the Blind Educator of the Year Committee gets together and makes this important decision, and I want to thank them for their work. The members of the committee this year include Vernon, Cayte, Melissa, and Adelmo.
I want to provide a bit of history about the Blind Educator of the Year Award. This award has been presented for over thirty years now, and it began with the National Organization of Blind Educators.
We don't present this award every year. It's given only in years where a suitable candidate has been nominated and the committee agrees on the recipient. It's my pleasure and privilege to be able to announce the 2023 Blind Educator of the Year.
Let me tell you some information about him. He holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in special education from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico in San Germán. He holds certification in visual impairment from the Central University of Bamono. He teaches Braille, orientation and mobility, and blindness skills to students. Additionally, he works with children K-12 in the special education program and mainstream education. He provides Braille instruction to parents and caregivers at the Lola Rodriguez School. His philosophy of blindness is in line with the National Federation of the Blind. He has been involved in the organization for many years and has been instrumental in building and rebuilding the Puerto Rican affiliate.
In terms of the educator that he is, he believes in his students' strengths, abilities, and capabilities.
Fun fact: he is also a mechanic, he's involved with the Boy Scouts, and he has two sons. The 2023 Blind Educator of the Year is Tomás Cintrón.
Congratulations, Tomás. We have a plaque in both Braille and print, and I will read the inscription in a moment. And to go along with the plaque, we have a check for $1,000.
Here we go. "Blind Educator of the Year, National Federation of the Blind, is presented to Tomás Cintrón in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in the teaching profession. You enhance the present. You inspire your colleagues. You build the future. July 3, 2023."
Tomás Cintrón: Good morning. In 1992 when I became blind, I thought my life was over. But, I met the National Federation of the Blind Puerto Rico affiliate. And my life changed. In 1993, I came to my first convention here in Texas. So now in 2023, it's my thirty-year anniversary of being initiated to the philosophy and living it throughout those thirty years.
When I decided to become a teacher, it's because I wanted my students, my blind students, to have the opportunities I did not have when I was growing up in school. When I decided to become a teacher, it wasn't only to be a good teacher but to give my students the security, opportunity, and equality that we practice in the Federation. I am not only proud to be a part of this big NFB family, but also to contribute to the Puerto Rico affiliate by being its current vice president. Thank you.
Photo/Caption: The 2023 Scholarship Winners: Back row: Felecia Bradford, Ashleigh Rogers, Tyler Hoppe, Zachary Ledford, Athena Scopelite, Jack Freeburg, [Name Redacted], Justin Harford, Ernest Emmanuel Peeples, Tatyana Tolliver-Hughes; Middle row: Kahmile Whitby, Sara Folsom, Avery Sallean, Joanne Kim, Nina Marranca, Zach McLean, Maura Loberg, Dan Hlavinka, Ammar Tarin; Front row: Trisha Kulkarni, Ellen Harper, Noah Carver, Roshunda Holt, Mickayla Biddle, Theresa Mendez-Booze, Ryan Menter, Mitchell Ford, and Eric Gonzalez
Presented by Cayte Mendez
From the Editor: Each year the National Federation of the Blind presents thirty academic scholarships to outstanding blind postsecondary students from the fifty states plus Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. At the annual board meeting of the NFB, this year's scholarship finalists had the chance to introduce themselves to the Federation's Board of Directors. Scholarship Committee Chairperson Cayte Mendez gave some background about the scholarship program and introduced each of the finalists.
Cayte Mendez: Good morning, Mr. President, members of the board.
The National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Program is one of the ways we invest in our future, the future of blind people across the nation and the future of this Federation. Every year we receive hundreds of applications, and I have to thank the dedicated folks on the Scholarship Committee for convening to select the top thirty students within this year's batch of applicants.
What makes someone stand out to the Scholarship Committee? Well, they demonstrate scholastic aptitude. So, we look for folks who have exceptional track records in their academic careers, whether they're in high school or grad school. We look at their academic records, and we look for scholarship, because these are academic merit scholarships.
The other thing we look for is their leadership, demonstrated through their community involvement. This program seeks to bring new people with new perspectives into our organization. To present these folks to you every year is one of my great privileges in working with the NFB.
So, without further ado, I am going to begin. I will announce each finalist by first name, last name, home state, school state if it's different, and vocational goal. Then they each will have thirty seconds to introduce themselves. I hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as I have! Here we go!
Cayte Mendez: Mickayla Biddle, New Mexico, teacher of blind students.
Mickayla Biddle: Good morning, everybody. One of the things that stands out about me quite a bit is my sense of humor. Everybody is constantly laughing about my puns. For hobbies, I like to play a blind version of hockey. I like to write creative stories. And I put my humor in those, too. And I've been blind since birth. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Theresa Mendez-Booze, Oklahoma, international health advocate for physical activity and disability.
Theresa Mendez-Booze: Hello, everyone. As Dr. Jernigan had a vision to improve global accessibility and empower blind individuals to succeed, I want to help within the disability community. Thank you so much for the scholarship.
Cayte Mendez: Felicia Bradford, Michigan, social work technician.
Felicia Bradford: Greetings, everyone! My goal is to bridge the gap between the elderly blind and our young people, because our young people are our future, and they will be standing where we are today. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Noah Carver, Maine, New York, Vocalist.
Noah Carver: Good afternoon. Listen, I came from the Eastern Time Zone. It's afternoon. When I chose to take a leap of faith and study at one of America's premiere conservatories, Eastman School of Music, there were many unknowns, but none more terrifying to me than my inexperience with music Braille. So I taught myself. Literally. And it was very difficult. Turns out obtaining resources to learn music Braille is challenging, time-consuming, and requires much hard work. My goal, apart from my work at Eastman, is to make any score accessible, whether you compose it or whether it's written by someone else, through software called MuseScore. Visit musescore.org, or come find me. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: All right. Sara Folsom, Georgia, biology.
Sara Folsom: My intention is to pursue a pre-physical therapy track to work with disabled children and athletes, which is a cause very close to my heart as a disabled athlete myself. Thank you for the scholarship opportunity.
Cayte Mendez: Mitchell Ford, Virginia, attorney.
Mitchell Ford: Greetings to the esteemed board and general membership. I am humbled and honored to receive this scholarship. A little bit about myself, I've had a fruitful ten-year career as an educator teaching Arabic, and now I will be transitioning to a career as an attorney to advocate for causes that I care about and to help people. Thank you very much for this opportunity.
Cayte Mendez: Jack Freeburg, South Dakota, Indiana, capital compound expert.
Jack Freeburg: Hello, everyone. Thank you for this great opportunity. I'm an incoming freshman at the University of Notre Dame. I plan on studying finance and accounting. And I really like to run and trade stocks, but I don't really know what I want to do with my life after I graduate college. So that's why I just made up something funny on the career goal.
Cayte Mendez: I told him last night at the NABS meeting someone will have to explain what that means, because I have no idea. I think it means he's going to get rich someday.
Speaking of riches, this year's scholarship class is rich in people whose last name begins with the letter H. For the first of the six Hs, Justin Harford, Oregon, Accountant.
Justin Harford: Thank you, everyone. My name is—wait, I'm not going to say that, because you know my name. I have had a career before this. I got my first life as a student ten years ago, got a degree in history and Spanish lit and worked for eight years in the nonprofit sector.
I am looking to migrate to the field of finance, working possibly as an accountant in a nonprofit governmental organization. I am also really passionate about languages, whether the language of South America, Spanish, or the language of business, and thinking linguistically, how that can help me solve problems. For me, I'm just really passionate about my involvement in the NFB. My first time meeting blind people that I would want to be like was when I was fourteen. My goal is to support programs so that young blind kids don't have to wait that long. Thanks.
Cayte Mendez: Ellen Harper, Michigan, Washington, DC, attorney.
Ellen Harper: Thank you. I am attending Georgetown Law this fall to pursue a career in public policy. Two years ago, when my doctor disclosed to me that I am legally blind, I was shocked to discover how drastically others' perspective of me changed. I discovered that many of the institutions designed to help me find the resources I need to succeed also told me that my goals were too ambitious. This type of ableism perpetuated in the systems assigned to assist people with disabilities made me realize I need to be more than a self-advocate; I need to be a community advocate. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: All right. Dan Hlavinka, Colorado, social worker. His name actually starts with an H. Find him in the hall and ask him.
Dan Hlavinka: Thank you. Thank you so, so very much from the depths of the wealth of gratitude that I have. I'm very interested in end of life care. That's kind of where the Long Dark hopes to end at the end of the day. And speaking of the end of things, I want to circle back to the beginning of things. And this whole place, all these people, the route that got me here through the CCB [Colorado Center for the Blind] giving me the confidence to really root into this aspect of wanting to create life and come August, towards the middle or the end, we're going to push it back as much as we can, we got two twin Hlavinkas coming on the way. It's hard for me to say that as a terrified blind person. I can only say that with the confidence that I do have because of all the support that I've ever had through all of this. And to be here, standing here and saying this amongst a big group of people, it's really one of the highest highlights of my life. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Roshunda Holt, Kansas, business management.
Roshunda Holt: Hello, everyone! I am so grateful to be here! I've been told that I'm positive, optimistic, and very, very loud. So, I appreciate anyone that hears my voice and calls my name. I will try my best to find you, greet you, and just love on you as much as I can. Being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa was the best thing that could have happened to me, because I got to be a part of this amazing community of National Federation of the Blind! So thank you guys so much for accepting me! I'm emotional too! And I'm really happy that I got to go back to school and learn how to be visually impaired. Because of my journey, my education is going to take me to start a program called Life Transitions: Assisting Individuals into Adulthood. Because I need everybody to know that even though it's hard being an adult, there's somebody out there willing to help you go through that. And because of everyone that I've encountered that's helped me get to where I am, I want to be an advocate to help others do the same.
So thank you. I'm really not hoarse. I'm just emotional right now. I appreciate you all.
Cayte Mendez: And you made a mistake telling us you're loud, because somebody is putting your name down for next year's Ambassador Committee.
All right. Tyler Hoppe, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Law.
Tyler Hoppe: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm honored to be here today. Just to give you a little background about myself, I am currently studying at Penn State as a junior, studying political science with aspirations to become a US senator in my future. I have very strong aspirations to give a voice to the voiceless and help communities in need such as ours. There's far too much discrimination that goes on in this world, and I want to be one of the people in the United States Senate that can help make a difference. I just want to give thanks to the National Scholarship Committee. I am honored to be here and be recognized as a scholarship finalist. And thanks to my beautiful girlfriend Cassie, who has helped me through this last school year. I would not be here today without her support.
Cayte Mendez: Marco Hurtado, Texas, software development.
Marco Hurtado: Hello! I would like to point out how apt it is that we have so many Hs, given that we are in the lovely city of H Town. I get to say that because I live here. But I am immensely grateful to be here for the week down in the searing city of Houston from the city for the blind in Austin, which has been the culmination of my efforts for the past year or so to take my independence into my own hands and live away from home, pursuing school and a degree in software development and potentially also marry my two passions: artistic expression and technology. Thanks to the support of the National Federation of the Blind, that dream can become a reality. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Joanne Kim, Pennsylvania, environmental protection.
Joanne Kim: Thank you so much for having me here. I currently study environmental science with a focus on climate and a minor in geology, which is a fancy way to say I like rocks. I am very honored to be here today. I lost my vision when I was ten due to a benign brain tumor. That day I thought my life was over, mainly because in the Korean community, there's a lot of internalized ableism, and my own father was very not supportive around my vision loss. However, being here today I learned that it's okay to be confident in my vision loss and to not be fully sighted and still possible to lead a full life. Thank you very much.
Cayte Mendez: This next scholarship finalist is one of two distinguished as a tenBroek fellow. Dr. Jacobus tenBroek was the founding president of this organization. This award commemorates folks who have received a scholarship in the past through the National Federation of the Blind, and the standard for these folks is a little bit higher. As if the standards weren't high enough for this program, trying to find the top thirty blind scholars in the nation! To become a tenBroek fellow and receive a second scholarship, these folks have to have really shown active involvement and participation in the organization and have turned their tremendous talents and hands to helping to grow our movement. So this next person is one such young leader. Trisha Kulkarni, Ohio, educational technology.
Trisha Kulkarni: Hello my Federation family! This past year at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, I realized one of my favorite quotes: "Confidence is not about knowing all the answers, but instead about being ready to face all the questions." I'm grateful to the National Federation of the Blind for supporting me as a blind woman in tech as I tackle questions like how to regulate artificial intelligence to not discriminate against people with disabilities. Thank you for this incredible honor, and let's go build the National Federation of the Blind.
Cayte Mendez: Zachary Ledford, Utah, sports medicine.
Zachary Ledford: Hello! I am honored and grateful to be here with all of these incredible scholarship finalists as well. Thank you for your support and your love and mentorship. I'm also honored to serve as the president of the Utah Federation of Blind Students. I love to see the growth within students, not only in Utah but throughout the National Federation of the Blind. I'm very grateful for those experiences as well as my past experiences in athletics, and I hope and intend to pursue an education in sports medicine to help further athletics around the world. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Maura Loberg, Nebraska, mental health counselor.
Maura Loberg: Hello, everybody. Thank you for watching me go through these milestones from high school to almost graduating college in December. You guys have watched me grow and change and cry and learn and do all the good things that you do. Thank you to the Scholarship Committee. You guys are bringing me closer to my dream of helping others in so many different capacities. I will be heading off to grad school next fall. Not this fall, next fall, to pursue my master's in mental health counseling. We have grown and changed so much during the pandemic, and I hope to be one of the people that helps foster that process. Thank you so much.
Cayte Mendez: This next person is our second tenBroek fellow. Nina Marranca, New York, clinical psychologist.
Nina Marranca: Hi, everyone. I just want to say that I'm extremely honored and humbled to be standing here for a second time. I obviously do not have time to get into all the ways that I've changed since the first time I was here, but one of those is that I don't cause feedback on the mic, so I'm really proud of that today because that was in my dreams for a long time! I'm happy to be back, and I can't wait to reconnect with people from before, but also I am so excited to continue networking with new people. So feel free to say hi, and I can't wait to make the most of this opportunity. So thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Zach McLean, Washington, Oregon, sports and leadership management.
Zach McLean: Hello, everyone. So a little bit about me, I've been playing football now for about seven years. I was recruited by over thirty NCA schools across all three divisions to play linebacker this fall. I was one of the leaders at my high school who organized and advocated for unified sports and now annual unified prom. And I was informed by Harvard Children's a few years ago that I'm currently one of two in the world with a similar undiagnosed eye condition. So thank you for this opportunity. I could not put into words how grateful I am.
Cayte Mendez: This scholarship class represents twenty-seven different affiliates, which if you think about it, out of a class of thirty, that's pretty good. Twenty-seven affiliates! We can't get them all. The math would have to be really in our favor. But I think we've done really well. And this next one is our second from Maine. Ryan Menter, Maine, Ohio, law.
Ryan Menter: Hi, everyone. I recently completed my double major at Southern New Hampshire University and will be attending Case Western Reserve School of Law this fall. I hope to practice as a disability rights attorney and also work as a guardian ad litem to represent abused and neglected children in the courtroom. More specifically, I hope to fight for those who have faced discrimination and also serve as a voice for children failed by the systems and by people that were supposed to protect them. Thank you to the board and the Scholarship Committee. I'm extremely grateful to be at convention and look forward to the many opportunities that await over this week.
Cayte Mendez: Emmanuel Peeples, Illinois, actor.
Emmanuel Peeples: Thank you. My artistic goals as a multihyphenate artist are to change the perception of albinism in the media through my work as both an actor and playwright. I am beyond humbled and honored to be here and excited to share more of my work with you and to join this fabulous NFB family. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Eric Rivera Gonzalez, Puerto Rico, attorney.
Eric Rivera Gonzalez (speaking in Spanish): Thank you so very much to the board of the National Federation of the Blind for having me here. Without you guys, I would not have this opportunity. I want to thank Tomás [Cintrón] for inspiring me. As a finalist, I'm going to be very strong as a blind lawyer in Puerto Rico to educate, to showcase that we as individuals with disabilities can do more. My dream and my passion are to showcase that everyone has a voice, a vision, and a way to do what they want in their heart. Thank you to Mr. Riccobono and the board of trustees for having me and the scholarship finalists here. Thank you!
Cayte Mendez: Thank you. In this year's scholarship class there is a forty-year gap between our most senior finalists and our youngest finalists. This one is one of our youngest. She has been eighteen for—what, about two weeks now? And we're so glad that her birthday is in June so she could be here with us today.
Ashleigh Rogers, Pennsylvania, actuary.
Ashleigh Rogers: Thank you for having me here, everyone. In case you don't know, an actuary will be doing a blend of math, statistics, economics, and business. So that's my career, a blend of all of those. I would like to thank the NFB and everyone that made the scholarship possible for giving me this opportunity. And I'm looking forward to starting college in the fall and seeing what life has in store. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: Avery Sallean, North Carolina, neuroscientist.
Avery Sallean: Good morning, everybody! Thank you so much for having me here, and thank you so much to the scholarship board for awarding me this amazing opportunity. I'm currently a rising sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill, studying neuroscience and minoring in chemistry. After my undergrad, I want to pursue a PhD in neuroscience and do research in the field of Alzheimers and neurodegeneration. The reason that I'm interested in that is because being blind has taught me that we're not the only community that has challenges. There are many communities in our nation and in this world that have challenges that need to be addressed. And so, I would really like to be a part of this community and other communities, helping in any way that I can. So thank you again so much for having me here, and I'm so excited for the rest of this week.
Cayte Mendez: Athena Scopelite, California, psychologist.
Athena Scopelite: Thank you so much. It's an honor to stand here and tell you about myself. Since I've been to this convention, it's my first one, my pride as a blind person has just grown so much! I have noticed myself noticing all the little accomplishments that I've achieved so far in these first three days and actually recognizing them. So, that's amazing, and it wouldn't have happened without the National Federation of the Blind here to show me what I'm capable of. My goal as I continue in my studies is to become a counselor, and not only be a caring ear for people who need to talk but also have the honor and privilege of helping people design their own personalized plans and steps forward as they walk along their own mental health journey. And I am very fortunate to be able to perpetuate the ever-growing concept and truth that taking care of your own mental health is integral to living a happy and healthy life. And I very much look forward to helping people along that journey. Thank you so much.
Cayte Mendez: Ammar Tarin, Arizona, attorney.
Ammar Tarin: All right! My friends, how is everyone doing?! Okay. If you know me, I am very proud to say that my family is originally from Afghanistan. And it's always been my dream, my passion, to not only help the refugees here coming from Afghanistan to the US, but also in Afghanistan. So I feel right now the best way to do that is to be an attorney, to do what I can in Afghanistan. So thank you for this opportunity. I really appreciate it.
Cayte Mendez: Tatyana Tolliver-Hughes, West Virginia, Missouri, law.
Tatyana Tolliver-Hughes: Greetings, everyone. I am currently at Washington University, pursuing a major in philosophical law and policy and double minoring in education and African-American studies. Like many of you, I've been advocating for myself within the public school system for as long as I can remember. And in my position, I was acknowledged by administration and encouraged to mentor my fellow visually-impaired students in orientation and mobility, classroom advocacy, and even pursuing interests through adventure whitewater rafting and vocalist interests. In my academic journey thus far, I have been able to acknowledge my passion for education and see the disparities across not only the disabled community but also through other minorities such as religion, linguistics, and race. It's my passion to pursue educational equality for all of these marginalized groups and eventually continue to the federal judicial system. Thank you.
Cayte Mendez: [Name Redacted], Texas, medical doctor, bioethics attorney.
[Name Redacted]: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so very much for having me today. I graduated law school a number of years ago, and I'm currently a second-year medical student here at Texas A&M. I realize after so many years of school I probably need to find a different hobby by now! But in sincerity, this is my first convention, and it's no exaggeration for me to say that without exception, every interaction I've had so far has been an incredible learning experience. So thank you all for the wonderful honor and the very warm welcome to the Federation family.
Cayte Mendez: Kahmile Whitby, Massachusetts, autonomous vehicle design.
Kahmile Whitby: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm the last scholarship finalist. I promise. I am a mechanical engineering undergrad. I hope to use my degree to advance the accessible design of autonomous vehicles to promote independent mobility. I have an interest in beep baseball and board games and fashion. Thank you for investing in me and believing in my aspirations.
Cayte Mendez: Okay. Now we can do the applause! [Applause] And Mr. President, members of the board, it's been my pleasure to present to you the National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Class of 2023!
At the Annual Banquet of the National Federation of the Blind, Cayte Mendez presented the 2023 National Scholarship Awards to this year's winners. Each received a plaque in print and Braille contributed by the Ray Kurzweil Foundation and an award of eight thousand dollars from the National Federation of the Blind.
National Federation of the Blind Scholarships: Mickayla Biddle, Felecia Bradford, Sara Folsom, Jack Freeburg, Roshunda Holt, Marco Hurtado, Maura Loberg, Zach McLean
Charles and Betty Allen Scholarship: Ryan Menter
EU and Jean Parker Scholarships: Justin Harford and Ashleigh Rogers
Charles and Melba T. Owen Memorial Scholarships: Noah Carver, Theresa Mendez-Booze, Ammar Tarin
Edith R. and Alvin J. Domrow Scholarships: Dan Hlavinka and Athena Scopelite
Jesse and Hertha Adams Trust Scholarship: Tyler Hoppe
Jeannette T. Eyerly Scholarship: Emmanuel Peeples
Jacqueline Billie Memorial Scholarship: Nina Marranca
Mimi and Marvin Sandler Award: Joanne Kim
Pearson Award: Eric Rivera Gonzalez
JAWS for Windows Scholarship: Tatyana Tolliver-Hughes
NFB STEM Scholarship: [Name Redacted]
Oracle Scholarship for Excellence in Computer Science: Kahmile Whitby
Oracle Scholarship for Excellence in a STEM Field: Avery Sallean
Adrienne Asch Memorial Scholarship: Mitchell Ford
Scott C. LaBarre Memorial Scholarship: Allen Harper
American Action Fund Scholarship: Zachary Ledford
Kenneth Jernigan Memorial Scholarship: Trisha Kulkarni
Each year the recipient of the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship has the honor of addressing the NFB Banquet. Here are her heartfelt remarks.
Trisha Kulkarni: My Federation family, thank you! When my sisters and I were growing up, our parents wanted to give us the world. Their only requirement was that we put our hearts and minds into everything we did. We were happy. Our family was complete. But my parents knew what the world is like, that there was discrimination, that there were challenges we were not prepared for. They gave us everything we needed to be successful. The only requirement was that we put our mind and heart into everything that we do.
But then, their youngest child, in middle school, went blind. Suddenly they faced a world that they didn't understand. But they still wanted to give me the world. They fought for me to have an aide in class who would read my textbooks. They stayed up with me at night to read my assignments. They were prepared to give me the world, but it was a world they didn't understand, and I needed that understanding.
In 2018 I was called with the news that I was to receive a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship. At the time I didn't know what that meant, but I got on a flight and went to Orlando, Florida. I was overwhelmed, not only by the resources, the mentoring, the national community of students, but the love that fills every corner of this organization. The National Federation of the Blind gave me the world when they allowed me to serve our student community, and when they gave me my Freedom Bell from the Louisiana Center for the Blind.
But when you're given the world, you have to put your heart and your mind into everything you do. Tonight, to my Federation family, I promise I will put my heart and mind into everything we do in this organization. To my family back home and my family in this room, thank you so much for everything!
*This article was modified on September 25, 2025 to reflect changes requested by the subject.
Photo/Caption: Everette Bacon and Mary Ellen Jernigan pose with the 2023 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award winners.
Presented by Everette Bacon
Everette Bacon: We have an outstanding presentation for you that I'm really excited to give. This is the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards. This is the sixteenth year. And we have now given away seventy-five Jacob Bolotin Awards. Can you believe that? After today, we will be up to eighty-one. So, we are inching closer to giving away one hundred Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards, which is pretty fabulous! Awesome, right?
I don't know how many people here have read the book The Blind Doctor. It's the outstanding story of a man who persevered through so many trials and tribulations to get to where he wanted to go. He did that before there was a Federation. You can read how he grew up as a blind person, and the trials he went through. There's a little romance in there, you get to read about his wife and family. I like to point out that when he was in college, back in the early 1900s, he faced the same types of adversities that we face going to college today. He had teachers who doubted him. It is an inspiration to college students of today to understand that we have been traveling this pathway, and people like Dr. Bolotin started it. And we have been doing it for years and years. We are going to continue to travel this pathway, and break the barriers and beat down the doors.
I want to thank the previous chairpersons, Gary Wunder and Jim Gashel, who have come before me. I also want to thank our current committee members in no particular order: Dr. Natalie Shaheen, who couldn't be here with us today; Ms. Mary Ellen Jernigan; Donald Porterfield; Steve Jacobsen; and board-elect member Jessica Beecham.
Let's get to the presentation. We have an 8-1/2-minute video we are going to play for you now. Let's go ahead and queue that up.
Speaker: Federation guests, the National Federation of the Blind is proud to introduce the 2023 recipients of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards, made possible in part by the generous support of the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust and the Santa Barbara Foundation. These individuals and organizations have broken down barriers faced by blind people in innovative ways, changed negative perceptions of blindness and blind people, and pushed past existing boundaries to inspire blind people to achieve new heights. The first of our three individual winners is Peggy Chong, The Blind History Lady, receiving her second Bolotin Award to fund an ambitious project.
Peggy Chong: I think it is really important for professionals and social workers to know the history of the disabled, not just our eye disease, not just when laws were passed, but the successful people who made it in the world. Blind people have been US Senators, bankers, and crooks, you know? Murderers! They should know that we are a cross-section of society, and that we aren't the first to try something, so that we don't always feel like we need to reinvent the wheel every time we turn around.
Speaker: Sharon Maneki, with over thirty years of advancing technology for the National Federation of the Blind.
Sharon Maneki: Dr. Bolotin's service is the blind living. That's the very purpose of life. I think that's what he represents.
Speaker: Neil Soiffer, MathCat, Assistive Technology. A free open-source tool that allows software development to make digital math content accessible to screen readers.
Neil Soiffer: The whole goal of MathCat is for vendors to be easily able to incorporate math accessibility into their products. It is open source, it is free, and it has a nice simple interface. I am hoping that the excuse that I heard a lot when I did math, that "math accessibility is hard," that "we will eventually get to it," is no longer an excuse at all. It is not hard! The software does it. It's free, so it doesn't cost much. And it is simple to integrate into products.
Speaker: Accessible Pharmacy Services, for solutions that allow blind people independent control of their healthcare. Here’s co-founder Alex Cohen:
Alex Cohen: This is a full-service healthcare company specializing in medication management and diabetes management for the blind, low-vision, and DeafBlind communities. We find solutions to alleviate and remove any challenges or barriers related to loss of sight or hearing impairments, and we identify each one of our particular patients as an individual and unique patient.
This is our primary service. Accessibility services, working with people with various abilities is not an afterthought, it is our primary service. This year our Jacob Bolotin Award is validation that we are headed in the right direction. But we also understand that we are not done. Accessibility and inclusion is a moving target and a continual effort. We could not be more honored to receive this award at Accessible Pharmacy Services. It shows that we are on the right track.
Speaker: AstroAccess. Here's Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen.
Sheri Wells-Jensen: We know what is happening. Blind people will not be left behind. This is all about doing the research that we need to do. We are all about figuring out what we need to change, both in the governmental space program and the increasing number of private space programs. What do we need to do to get blind people in line to go like everybody else?
Speaker: The National Federation of the Blind of Texas is receiving its second Bolotin Award for Project BOLD. Here's affiliate President Norma Crosby.
Norma Crosby: Project BOLD is an opportunity for blind children and their families, including sighted siblings. It is a project that we took on from the Texas Wildlife Department. We asked children and families to apply to be part of the program. As I said earlier, we not only invited blind children, but their families. We wanted to teach the sighted siblings how to be better allies for their blind siblings. So as the name says, Blindness Outdoor Learning and Development is just as the name BOLD says. We take children outside to do fire building, tent building and philosophy about blindness. We teach our children and their siblings in a pod, as a pod. All of the instructors in the program are blind adults.
Speaker: Each of these winners will receive a trophy and a monetary prize to advance their work to help blind people live the lives we want. Now, the National Federation of the Blind proudly presents them with their 2023 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards.
Mark Riccobono: That is exciting!
Everette Bacon: When I call your name and talk about your particular program, I want you to come up, and we will hand you an award. So our first one—I thought I would do this one first, because I kind of wanted the loud applause right away! So let's go with the NFB of Texas, five thousand dollars! This program is called BOLD, Blindness Outdoor Learning and Development. It is basically to help blind families, blind adults, blind children get an opportunity to experience the great state's wildlife services and the great state's parks, all in the great State of Texas. Norma Crosby is here to accept the award. Thank you, Norma.
Norma Crosby: Thank you.
Everette Bacon: Our next award winner, Accessible Pharmacy Services. This program provides fully accessible home delivery pharmaceutical services. Lynn Heitz from Pennsylvania nominated them. And Lynn Heitz said simply that before this service, blind people were left out by pharmaceutical services. They didn't understand the needs that blind people had. This service has now broken down those barriers for us to get our accessible pharmacy services. Thank you, Andy Burstein.
Andy Burstein: Thank you.
Then the next award—I'm excited about this one. This is really fun to learn about. AstroAccess. I want to read their motto to you. "If we can make space accessible, we can make any space accessible." Don't you love that? I was reading about this program and some of the great things they do. We have two blind astronauts up on stage right now. Danielle Montour and Lindsay Yazzolino. They are blind astronauts, and they have experienced zero gravity. I have not experienced zero gravity. Danielle was telling me she had an opportunity to go into the rocket and be able to create an accessible tactile map for the sighted people when the lights go out, so they can find their way. I thought that was really awesome. So, I'm really proud of AstroAccess. Danielle and Lindsay are here to accept the awards, five thousand dollars to them as well. Here you go!
Now to the individual awards. The first individual award, for five thousand dollars, goes to—I like to refer to her as OUR Blind History Lady, Peggy Chong. Peggy Chong has previously won the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for her work in the Blind History Lady Program she directs. But this is a special project that she is doing. She will be going to Washington, DC to go into the Library of Congress to review documents related to the Harmon Foundation. The Harmon Foundation gave awards in the 1920s and 1930s to the Black workers who were in the shops making all sorts of things, and then the program stopped. She is looking into why they stopped, and she will figure out who won the awards. I've got a sneaking suspicion that after she does her research and finds out what she finds out, that this will have a space in the Museum of the Blind People's Movement. So thank you, Peggy Chong!
Our next winner is not here today to receive her trophy, but I know she's listening on Zoom. Sharon Maneki! Sharon Maneki was the longtime President of the NFB for Maryland. Ronza Othman nominated her for this award. I like to think of Sharon as a policy wonk before there was such a thing as a policy wonk. Ronza said that no other leader in any state has done more to advance legislation in a particular state like Sharon Maneki has. I will name three, but I counted fifteen listed on Ronza's application. Three stand out to me.
Maryland was one of the very first states to get a Parental Bill of Rights for the Blind. It was one of the first states to require Braille certification for teachers of blind students. And it was one of the very first states to require accessible textbooks, not only for K-12 students, but for K-Ph.D. She did it for both! We will make sure Sharon gets the award. She's also a five thousand-dollar winner.
Our last and final award winner, Dr. Neil Soiffer, is going to win twenty-five thousand dollars. Dr. Neil created an open-source tool to allow individuals to access math using software and tools for their screen reader. There's nothing else like it. And guess what? It is free! It is free to you. You can use it right now. This is an awesome service! We feel this is just what Dr. Jacob Bolotin speaks to. I'm going to let him speak.
Neil Soiffer: Please bear with me, I will make this as brief as I can. Before hearing about this award, I didn't know about Dr. Bolotin. I read his book, and I will never match his accomplishments, but we do share one thing. We have the same birthday! So, I'll have that. Thankfully, not the same birth year, so I am not that old. But I want to thank Dr. John Gardner, who twenty years ago asked me to help him make some software accessible so he could continue research after becoming blind. That ask has given me purpose in my life. It might surprise some people, but there are people who think that math is fun. I'm one of them! And for those who don't like math, it's likely because you weren't taught about what math really is. I could go on and on about that for many hours, but I don't think that's what you want to hear about today.
I just want to say that I want to make the joy of math accessible to everyone, and I will continue to do so for as long as I can. Thank you so much for the recognition. Perhaps this gives hope to other math nerds that they too someday will be appreciated.
Everette Bacon: Thank you again. Don't forget your award! All right, that's it. Those are our six winners. They are pretty awesome, aren't they?
Thank you again to the Perlman Trust. Mr. President, that's my report.
by Barbara Cheadle and Carla Keirns
From the Editor: On July 4, 2023, NOPBC President Emeritus Barbara Cheadle addressed the NFB National Convention. She looked back on the founding and growth of the NOPBC and shared her hopes for the future of blind children in the United States.
Barbara Cheadle: When I sat down to write this speech, I remembered what Dr. Kenneth Jernigan told me when I asked him for guidance in writing one of my first public speeches. I was totally taken aback when he said, "Be entertaining." And he was right! If you can't entertain, no one's going to listen long enough to be informed or inspired. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember Dr. Jernigan will recall the jokes he told at the beginning of every recorded presidential release. They were hopelessly terrible, terrible jokes—real groaners! The worse they were, the more we loved them. We looked forward to them, and within minutes, we were relaxed, happy, and eager to be informed and inspired by the rest of the release.
So, in honor and appreciation of all that Dr. Jernigan taught me, here's, I hope, a good groaner to get us started today.
What kind of shoes do frogs wear?
Why, open-toad sandals, of course!
My husband John and I adopted our blind son, Chaz, in 1980. He was two years old when we met him at the airport with his escort from South Korea, and I fell instantly, irrevocably, in love. He was perfect. We were living in Omaha, Nebraska, at the time, and I had a job with the local Red Cross.
Shortly after the adoption, a job came open in my department that I was positive could be done by a blind person. What an opportunity it might be for the right blind applicant if we could get the job description out through the NFB. I was very excited when I went to my boss to lay this suggestion before her. But as soon as she heard the word blind she shut me down. Her husband, she said, had limited vision. He couldn't drive, or read print, or cook, or clean, and most certainly he could not hold down a job.
I was stunned. All I could think was that in twenty years or so, it could be my newly adopted, happy, beautiful son who, without ever knowing it, had a door of opportunity slammed shut against him. I locked myself into a nearby bathroom stall and sobbed. I knew then that it wasn't going to be good enough to raise a competent, confident child with good blindness skills and a strong work ethic. If I didn't do something to help change the world, he might never be given the chance to live the life he wanted.
By the way, my husband, John, and I are both sighted. In the mid-1970s, before we had a child or even were married, we worked for the state rehabilitation agency for the blind in Nebraska. We joined the NFB because we wanted to learn more about blindness from the real experts. By the time Chaz joined our family, we had been NAC-tracking, attended state conventions and a national convention. I had even helped organize and conduct a statewide seminar for parents of blind children. Very few parents showed up at that seminar, and those who did looked sad and desperate. They clearly didn't know what to make of all these blind people, and they were too frightened even to ask questions. I remember thinking, if only there were some way NFB members could get invited into their homes so they could get to know blind people and be comfortable around them! Maybe they could start to learn that it really is okay to be blind.
Fast forward to the 1981 NFB convention. At that convention, I approached the NFB Parental Concerns Committee, most of whose members were blind parents. I suggested that we start a newsletter for parents of blind children and volunteered to be the editor. I had a vision for the magazine. Of course, it would republish some classic NFB speeches and articles, but also it would seek to generate and publish new material from blind adults and parents and teachers of blind children. Teachers such as Doris Willoughby could share practical tips and strategies that were deeply embedded in the NFB philosophy of positive attitudes about blindness.
As soon as the first issue of the newsletter came out, Dr. Jernigan contacted me to let me know that henceforth the national office would handle the publication. I was to continue working as editor on a volunteer basis from my home in Jefferson City, Missouri. And then YOU, the leaders of local chapters and state affiliates, got to work. There was no internet or social media in those days, but somehow affiliate leaders such as Joanne Wilson and Gary Wunder got their hands on mailing lists of parents in their states. Slowly, issue by issue, the newsletter started showing up in mailboxes around the country.
As you know, that newsletter was later renamed Future Reflections, and, under the capable editorship of Debbie Stein, it continues today to be invited into thousands of homes of parents and teachers nationally and globally. If you haven't read the recent special issue, “The World of Work,” you must. I read it on the plane on the way to convention, and my heart soared with gladness at the inspiring stories.
But the magazine alone wasn't going to be enough. Dr. Jernigan had a vision that encompassed so much more than mine. His was a vision of blind people working side by side and hand in hand with sighted parents to bring about cultural, legislative, educational, and deeply personal changes in attitudes and expectations. Those changes were required if blind children were ever to have the opportunities they needed to live full, productive, satisfying lives as adults. To achieve these goals we needed parents to be engaged as fully participating members of the Federation.
Historically, very few sighted parents of blind children had joined the organization. Mostly, sighted parents didn't even know about the NFB. If they did find out about us, the information often came with warnings from teachers, rehab counselors, and even some eye doctors, telling them not to get mixed up with that "radical" group of blind people.
To make his vision a reality, Dr. Jernigan sent an invitation to me, Doris Willoughby, Ramona Walhof, and Susan Ford. "Come to Baltimore," it said. He wanted us to sit down with him and write a constitution for a new NFB division, a division for parents of blind children, to be presented and approved at the upcoming 1983 NFB Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.
Why did he choose us? Ramona was a powerhouse national and state leader within the NFB, and she had worked closely with Dr. Jernigan in Iowa. Doris Willoughby, a sighted teacher of blind students and the spouse of NFB member Curtis Willoughby. Curtis was one of the first competitively employed blind engineers in the country. Doris was already well known for her books (published by the NFB) about the education of blind children. Susan Ford was a blind foster parent of a blind child. She was the chairperson of the Parental Concerns Committee and an active officer and leader in her state affiliate. All of us, including me, had experience organizing local chapters and building membership.
Dr. Jernigan had plenty of experience with writing affiliate constitutions. Most of the details and decisions were not difficult or controversial—except for one. The most important decision we made at that meeting was positively to affirm the right of sighted parents to run for all offices in the new parents' division, especially the presidency.
This decision was a big deal! In the 1980s many members of the NFB could still remember historical attempts of sighted professionals to take over and run—for their own purposes—groups originally organized by the blind. The NFB is an organization of the blind, not for the blind. Therefore, it is fundamental that the office of the presidency at the local, state, and national levels be filled by a blind person. This decision was an acknowledgement that sighted parents of blind children had common cause with the organized blind. As the guardians, the spokespersons, and advocates for our blind children, we were natural allies and partners.
That was forty years ago. What has the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, the NOPBC, together with the NFB, accomplished in the past four decades?
In 1982, the year before we organized, the NFB started selling canes sized for children—really, really young children, even toddlers. The NFB was the first entity, agency, or organization to do so. The NOPBC had its first goal and program ready to go in 1983: get those canes into the hands of kids. We started by distributing the video "Kids with Canes" from the Nebraska Services for the Visually Impaired. We distributed that video across the country. For years Doris Willoughby stocked copies of the video and mailed them from her home.
Next, we started giving away kid-sized canes to children who came with their parents to our NFB National Conventions. Once blind kids got canes in their hands, they refused to give them up. We changed forever the educational practices concerning white canes for children.
In 1984, the NOPBC voted to sponsor a national Braille reading contest for children in kindergarten through high school. Soon parents and teachers started to complain that the youngest kids were reading so much, so fast that they were running out of Braille books to read for the contest. We even heard suggestions that we should drop the contest categories for early readers! Of course we didn't do that. Instead, we pressured the Library of Congress to increase the number of Braille titles for children. We went to organizations such as National Braille Press, Seedlings, and the American Action Fund. We asked them to provide us with more Braille books for early readers, and they did. When the contest established a category with prizes for children with additional disabilities, the participation of schools for the blind skyrocketed. In the 1990s students who participated in the contest formed an important cohort of research subjects for the groundbreaking Braille literacy research conducted by Dr. Ruby Ryles.
For almost thirty years, the NOPBC's Braille Readers Are Leaders contest proved that Braille-reading kids can be competitively literate with their sighted peers. After a hiatus, the contest is back with a new sponsor and an updated structure—and it is more vibrant and vital than ever. Thank you, Debbie Stein and Sandy Halverson!
Toward the end of the decade, in 1987, NOPBC parents in Minnesota were instrumental in helping the NFB affiliate in that state pass the first Braille bill. Many states followed, including Maryland. Ten years later, a Braille literacy provision was included in the reauthorization of IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Despite legislative progress, the struggle to make Braille the default for blind and low-vision children still continues, but we have not given up.
There was an enormous growth spurt in the decade of the 90s. In partnership with O&M instructor Joe Cutter, we established the annual Cane Walk at convention. We created and distributed numerous videos for parents, including "It's Okay to Be Blind," "White Canes for Blind Kids," and a six-video set, "Avoiding an IEP Disaster." We published The Bridge to Braille, an instruction book for educators co-authored by Carol Castellano.
In the era of the 2000s, we established what has become one of our most beloved convention programs with a grant from UPS—the Braille Book Fair. By this time, our original parent leaders were beginning to age out as their blind children grew up and left home. In 2006, under Carol Castellano's guidance, the Parent Leadership Program (PLP) was established.
From that time to the present we have done so much more! We have a website and a Facebook presence; we have more books, articles, and videos. We established Braille Reading Pals, an early literacy program for preschoolers. We host IEP workshops and Braille and technology workshops for parents.
Our most important program is the one the NOPBC voted to establish in 1984. At that meeting, we unanimously voted to hold a seminar for parents every year at all future NFB National Conventions. The seminar gradually expanded to become a multi-day conference embedded within the NFB Convention. I did a quick count this year, and NOPBC had thirty-five or more named programs, workshops, and activities listed in the convention program, with more than one hundred volunteers behind the scenes making all those programs happen.
Of all our successful NFB programs, how can I assert that this one is the most important? I make that assertion because parents need you—you, the members of the NFB. We need to meet you, talk with you, laugh with you, cry with you, debate with you, and collaborate with you. We need you so we can imagine together, with you, what the future might be for our blind children. And when we are new and a little raw about this blindness business, we need your understanding, your love, your patience, and your sense of humor to help us get over our fears and awkwardness. We need you to be models, not only for our blind children, but for us. You are a reflection of what the future can be for our children.
And as we sighted parents grow in our understanding of blindness, you need us. We demonstrate for each other, and for the world, what it looks like when sighted people accept blind people as equals.
The pandemic has upended so many things in our country! It has had a profoundly negative impact, especially upon the educational and social development of our children. More than ever, we and our children need to be in community together, in person, with you, our blind colleagues. The internet and social media present wonderful opportunities to us for the spreading and sharing of the NFB philosophy about blindness. Yet there is no substitute for personal, one-on-one connections. These connections can only bubble up from the grass roots—from our local chapters, our state affiliates, and our divisions. You are the key to our continued progress and successes.
Remember the joke I told at the beginning of this speech? I found it on a plaque in a little nature center near where Chaz and his family live. Just a few weeks ago, my husband, John, read it with our ten-year-old grandson. Our son Chaz was chasing down and corralling our eighteen-month-old grandson, who runs as if he's competing for a place on a high-school track team. Chaz is a great dad. He brings home a paycheck, changes diapers, and walks his son to and from the bus stop. He shares with his wife all cooking, laundry, and house-cleaning duties. But he still finds time to have fun with his hobbies—photography, ham radio, woodworking. And he and his wife are active in a local committee to make their community more walkable, safer, and accessible to pedestrians. I've never asked him if he is living the life he wants, but I think I know the answer.
NOPBC President Carla Keirns: I didn't tell Barbara how old I was when she started the NOPBC. Should I keep it a secret?
My older sister is not blind. She has autism, and she was born in 1967. For those who can do math, my young son can help us out. Five years later, what year is it? 1972. So in 1972, my mother took her five-year-old to the local school to enroll her in kindergarten. And what happened? They turned her away at the door.
Now, my mother tells the story that they said, "It's too bad you taught her that she's five years old. If she didn't know, then it wouldn't be so bad."
It is impossible for me to imagine that an educator really could have said that! But when you and I talk, when people in this room talk about what we are facing, about the challenges we have today, a lot of times we get discouraged. We think, you know, we've been fighting this fight for decades, and it just doesn't seem like we're making progress.
Making progress? You all know we are!
The next year they had to take my sister. They didn't know what to do with her, though. Six years later, my family moved from New Jersey to New York, and my mother decided that my sister needed access to the general educational curriculum. They had her stuck in the resource room for six years.
My mother thought about this, and she decided that the best first strategy would be not to tell them. Yeah, that worked for, about, like the morning. My sister had moderate autism, and it was pretty clear that there was something else going on. So my mother decided that the hill she was going to die on was that my sister deserved an education.
Four years later, my other sister had a visual impairment and dyslexia. She failed the first grade. Twice.
My mother says that when they went to sit in the meeting to decide what to do next with her now eight-year-old—with the vocabulary, by the way, of a sixteen-year-old—the first-grade teacher was maintaining that she was not smart enough to learn to read. The plan was to keep her in the same classroom with the same teacher and the same instructional method for a third year!
So, one, my mother is a force of nature. Two, she was raised a southern debutante. Three, her first job in the mid-1970s was as a chemical engineer for Exxon. So she had to decide ... Southern skills, Yankee skills? Debutante skills, chemist skills?
Cry, argue. Cry, argue.
She went with cry. And she got my sister placed in one of the first twice-exceptional classrooms in the country, what at the time was called "gifted handicapped." That was the year of the first NOPBC convention. And we have come so far! The reason we have come so far is that my mother was on her own. And I have you. We have the laws that you fought for. We have the teachers you have educated. We have the infrastructure that you have built and the other infrastructure that you have torn down. We have a future.
When my son was diagnosed as blind, we found ourselves in the conference room of a small library on Long Island, New York. We went to a room, and there were twelve blind adults. And there we were with our little baby boy, who was five months old. And he gave a high five to all the grownups, and everybody who wanted to hold the baby got to hold the baby.
Then my husband and I sat down in this room full of blind adults, and they were polite. They didn't say, "Why are you here?" But they said, "Hey, can you introduce yourselves?" We explained that we were sighted and our baby was blind. And almost on the verge of tears, I said, "We're here because we don't know what he needs, and we need help."
The president at the time of that chapter meeting was David Stayer. So you all can imagine how this went. David said, "You don't worry about that. We know what he needs. Your kids are our kids."
So our plans for the NOPBC are to continue to do what you do so well. My son has been to Albany for a state seminar. He's been to Jeff City [Missouri]. He's testified before the Education Committee at the State Legislature. After Gary Wunder, my son Russell spoke at the state legislature, and the special-education administrator who was there to testify against our bill cowarded out and didn't talk.
We're about educating parents, advocacy, partnerships, mentorship between blind children and blind advocates and all of you. But I have a problem with advocacy. Advocacy is only necessary when the system doesn't work on its own. What I want for all of us is to build a world in which we no longer need the level of advocacy that we need today.
Thank you to everyone here for being our partners and supporting our kids. Our kids truly are your kids. Thank you!
Photo/Caption: Wearing his referee’s jersey, Dan O’Rourke stands at the podium.
Photo/Caption: Dan O’Rourke visits the children in NFB Kids Camp.
by Dan O'Rourke
Introduction by Mark Riccobono: It is unusual for us to welcome to this stage a referee from the National Hockey League. And it's not every day that we welcome to the stage someone that we didn't meet too long ago. But this gentleman came to us and said he had a dream to use his experience of riding a bicycle along Route 66 to honor his own dad, who was a blind person, and to honor the work that blind people do to be self-sufficient and live the lives they want every day. We invited him to come to our national headquarters, and I admit I was fifty percent ready to figure he was going to be a crackpot, because we get a lot of those. But if you get a chance to know him at this convention, you will find out that this gentleman is the real deal. He's not just the son of a blind person, he is blind at heart, and he wants to share the message of the National Federation of the Blind. Here's Dan O' Rourke!
That was a very gracious welcome. As a referee in the National Hockey League, that does not happen. I would probably feel more at home and more comfortable if you guys were yelling and booing me. This public speaking is not something I have done since about twelfth grade back home.
I would like to let you know a little bit about who I am and how I came to take on this Route 66 Ride for Braille Literacy. I was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I was raised in a small town in British Columbia called Summerland. Hockey has been a large part of my life for as long back as I can remember. I probably started skating at three or four years old, and I played hockey until the age of twenty-five.
I went to training camp in the early Nineties with the Oilers. Just like every other kid who grew up in Canada, my original dream was to play hockey in the National Hockey League.
Well, we don't all get exactly where we want to go, but I found another way to make it into the NHL, and that was through officiating. I learned this love for officiating back when I was around twelve years old. As I got older and more competitive in hockey, it took away the time that I had to officiate, so I had to put it on the back burner with the idea that I would come back to it when I played as much hockey as I could. I remember telling my dad when I was about thirteen years old that when I played as much hockey as I could and made it as high as I could, I was going to come back and be an official. So that actually came true.
At the time I finished playing hockey in the East Coast Hockey League, I talked to the head of the officiating department. I had heard that they were looking for ex-hockey players to become officials. We talked at the end of that season, and he hired me to work his league the next year. I was extremely lucky.
Just a quick funny story about that ... I was coming in for what was going to be the start of Game 5 in the Finals of our League, and my coach called me into his office. It just happened that the head of officiating was sitting in his office and wanted to talk to me. I had probably done something I wasn't supposed to do the night before, and he suspended me from my last game. But he also hired me for my new career. So it was a good and a bad story.
The following year I started working for him. I spent two years in the East Coast Hockey League as a linesman. Then my big break came with the NHL when they hired me on to their team in 1999. I was a linesman for two seasons in the NHL, and the league and I had decided that it might be a good idea for me to try refereeing. So, I went back to the American Hockey League to start my training as a referee. I spent four years working on my craft, and then the NHL brought me back as a fulltime referee in 2005.
I have been very lucky in my career as an NHL official. I'm closing in on fifteen hundred games in the regular season. I'm not too far away from two hundred playoff games, and this past season I worked my sixth Stanley Cup Final.
Those things that I just talked about are pretty cool, but the reason I'm here today is because I'm the son of a blind father. Forgive me if I get a little bit emotional, but when I talk about my dad, it tends to happen. He is the inspiration behind my Route 66 ride. I'm doing it to honor him and how he raised me and my brother.
My father has RP [retinitis pigmentosa), and as far back as I can remember, he had issues with his sight. But that never defined who he was or what he felt he could do. That is why I feel so fortunate to be partnered with you here at the NFB, because you guys also believe that you can live the life you want.
My dad inspired my brother and me with how we approach life. It didn't matter what we asked him when we were kids. Dad found a way to be involved, whether it was just being out and about in the backyard, or if it was coaching us in our youth sports, or getting us back and forth to any of the events that we needed to do. Dad probably drove a little longer than he should have. One thing he did, he taught me to drive at a fairly young age. We lived in a very small town with one stoplight. So, it was probably sometimes safer for me to get us home after it was dark.
My brother and I would guide Dad, especially at night, but as kids, sometimes we got a little preoccupied and probably weren't the best guides for him. There are a few stories back there. Thank God I had an aunt or uncle that was nearby, or probably I wouldn't be here talking to you.
To see this many successful people in one room reminds me of my dad and how his determination and his stubbornness helped him succeed as a blind person. He is a great father, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention his support team—which is my mom. She has been by my dad's side since they met in high school, and they have been a great team ever since.
I want to give you guys a little bit more information on my Route 66 Braille literacy ride and what I want to accomplish, which is obviously to raise funds for the NFB. Just as important I want to get this great organization's name out there in the public.
I would love for the funds to help kids come to the Braille literacy camps so they can come in and learn Braille. But I feel it's just as important for them to come in and meet other kids like themselves, and also to realize they can accomplish anything in life. You can definitely live the life you want.
So to do this, to accomplish this, we will be starting our ride on July 27th in Santa Monica, California and finishing on September 8th in Chicago, Illinois. We will be going through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. When I say "we," that is my wife, who will be driving the RV as my support crew, and our one-year-old yellow lab puppy named Bailey.
The plan is to ride three or four days in a row and try to average between fifty and fifty-five miles on each of those days, and then to take in a rest day or two along the way. The total mileage is close to twenty-seven hundred miles—as long as I don't take too many wrong turns!
We should have about thirty-five or so ride days with some rest days in between. We definitely will have some early-morning starts to stay out of the heat of the desert. That's what the original plan is. But as we all know, plans can change due to weather, mechanical issues, or just life in general. Please follow us along on the Route 66 ride. You can find more information about the ride at https://nfb.org/route66. We will be adding some social media coverage, and I will livestream as often as I can from the road. We don't have the links yet, but as soon as we do, we'll add them to the website.
We will be stopping at some of the affiliates along the route. The locations and specific times, as we get closer, will be posted. We'll have the events up so anybody that is in the area can join us and get the word out.
One other thing I have to make sure I mention—I need to thank Patti Chang. Patti was the first person I spoke with at the NFB. Her trusting me and giving me the chance to represent your organization is one of the most special things I have had in my life.
Also, I want to say to you in this room that to be here has been a great honor. It's very humbling to be in this room with you guys. I would like to thank you very much for your time today. What I'm going to ask of you is that you share this ride with as many people as possible, so we together can make this ride a great success. Thank you so much for your time!
by Eve Hill
Introduction by Mark Riccobono: Our next speaker is not blind, but she is one of those allies that we recognize as truly being blind at heart. She has built a very accomplished career of advocacy in legal work, impacting people with disabilities and many others. She brings to life in the law the lived experience of people with disabilities. At the end of last year, when our general counsel, Scott LaBarre passed away, I asked her if she would take up work as our general counsel. I knew that she not only had the technical expertise, but she had the deep understanding within herself about who we are, why our movement exists, and what is needed to advance our cause. Law 360 recently named her one of the Titans of the Plaintiffs' Bar for 2023. In that article, they asked her why she is interested in civil rights. She answered the question by saying, "Injustice makes me mad!" Here from Brown, Goldstein and Levy is Eve Hill.
I want to start off by talking about how honored I am to try to follow in the footsteps of the great Scott LaBarre. I knew Scott and I loved Scott, and I am not Scott LaBarre, but I will try my best every single day to follow in his footsteps.
President Riccobono suggested I let you get to know me a little bit today. I hate talking about myself, but I agreed to talk about why I'm a disability-rights lawyer working for the National Federation of the Blind. My husband uses a wheelchair, and that is not why I'm a disability-rights lawyer. I met my husband some twenty years after I became a disability-rights lawyer. But the fact that my husband has a disability helps shape my approach to disability rights and the fact that I believe people with disabilities are their own experts, are their own best representatives.
In addition, I have my own disability. I have bipolar disorder—and that is not why I'm a disability-rights lawyer. I was diagnosed ten years after I became a disability-rights lawyer. But my own lived experience helps frame the way I approach disability rights and how I know that your disability doesn't define you, just as my disability does not define me.
I grew up poor in rural Maine. Like many kids, I would often stomp my foot and complain that something wasn't fair. My mother would sigh and say, "Life is not fair." And I would scream, "Fix it!" Most of us grow out of that kind of tantrum, but not me. Righteous outrage is still my favorite emotion. I still stomp my foot and complain that it's not fair. I'm trying to spend some of my time on this planet trying to fix some of that unfairness. And that is why I'm a disability-rights lawyer. That's why the National Federation of the Blind is the best partner imaginable in that effort.
I have done a lot of things in the disability-rights movement. I have worked for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division twice, both as a line attorney and as a member of the Obama administration. I ran the Disability Rights Legal Center at Loyola Law School, where I did high-impact disability-rights litigation and taught law students to be disability-rights lawyers. I started the District of Columbia Government's Office of Disability Rights, working to make the District a model of inclusion for people with disabilities in government services. And I worked for the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University. And in all of these positions I worked to implement disability rights laws, whether by taking on impact litigation, writing a casebook, teaching law students, making city agencies comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, or helping states support employment of people with disabilities in competitive, integrated employment and not in sheltered workshops.
For the past six and a half years I have been in private program practice at the fantastic law firm of Brown, Goldstein and Levy, where I also run the inclusivity strategic consulting practice. I'm incredibly honored to serve as general counsel for the National Federation of the Blind. I wanted to talk about why no other organization is as powerful in securing equal protection under the laws as the NFB, and why working for the NFB is the culmination of my career as a disability-rights lawyer.
The NFB has a long history of using and shaping the law to support the equal rights of blind people. The founder, Jacobus tenBroek, was a leading lawyer and constitutional scholar who helped shape the interpretation of the United States Constitution to protect the rights of the blind. He used the law to demand the full range of rights and responsibilities of citizenship for blind people, and NFB has been doing the same thing for more than eighty years. Dr. tenBroek and the NFB envisioned the principles that eventually would become the federal disability civil-rights laws we work under today. They incorporated those principles into their work long before the ADA was even a dream. Once the law began to reflect an equal-rights framework for the blind, the NFB developed a legal program to implement it, shape it, and lead its development in the courts.
In the 1980s Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and Dr. Marc Maurer developed what is now the NFB's robust legal program. At first the legal program was primarily a defense against attacks on the organized blind movement, on the NFB itself, and on its leadership. Then Dr. Maurer hired the great Dan Goldstein, my predecessor, mentor, and friend, to take on affirmative challenges to the rights of blind people. This included their rights under the Randolph Sheppard Act, their rights to be parents, and their equal right to employment.
Now, bear in mind that for the first few years of this program there was no ADA. The NFB's legal program had to be creative, using state law, federal law, and constitutional law. They used the expertise of blind people who spoke up for themselves and each other and served as models to teach lawyers, judges, juries, and defendants about blind people. It took chutzpah to support equal rights for blind people before the law was set up in our favor.
The legal program in its current form really began around 1999, when Dr. Maurer recognized that the emergence of digital technology offered a tremendous opportunity but also a huge potential risk for blind people. My friend Dan Goldstein remembers the conversation in which Dr. Maurer noted that in his house he was able to access his thermostat and kitchen appliances and everything else he needed to control his environment independently, because everything had a tactile element. But, if he moved to a new house, all those devices would be digital, controlled by touch screens, and they would be inaccessible to him. Technology that should make life easier and better for blind people was being rolled out without any consideration of the blind. As a result, it was making life harder and less accessible. So, Dr. Maurer asked Dan to get the attention of the folks developing these emerging technologies.
As a result, the National Federation of the Blind sued America Online, at the time the biggest player in the internet, challenging their inaccessibility. The NFB followed that suit with a suit against Diebold, challenging its inaccessible ATMs, and a suit against Target for its inaccessible website. The NFB has led the fight for digital accessibility for nearly twenty-five years now.
The NFB has brought suits challenging Amazon's inaccessible Kindle e-readers, Travelocity and monster.com, and H&R Block. It has called for the application of the ADA to business websites, educational technology, employment technology, digital books, and other forms of technology. It's fair to say that without the NFB the technologies that are everywhere in our world would be completely inaccessible to this day.
In one of the most significant victories, the NFB in the Trust case established that making materials accessible for blind people is a fair use under the copyright law. There is no excuse for the law to stand in the way of digital literacy for the blind. As other disability-rights advocates say to me all the time, "Thank goodness for the NFB."
The NFB understood how the ADA should apply to the internet, even though no one had thought about it before. It understood how the ADA should apply to digital technology. The NFB's legal program developed the legal framework for applying the ADA to that technology across contexts of employment, education, government services, and public accommodations, and the NFB and its lawyers and members persuaded courts across the country to adopt that legal framework.
Under the leadership of President Riccobono, the NFB’s legal program has grown. The legal program today takes a strategic approach to making systemic change. It has established priorities of access to digital technology, employment, education, civic participation, healthcare, and the Randolph Shepherd Program. The NFB’s legal program takes on some of the most important issues facing blind people today, from challenging employment discrimination, to ensuring blind people are not separated from their children, to making electronic books and the internet accessible, to challenging sheltered workshops and subminimum wage, to ensuring that new transportation mechanisms work for the blind.
The NFB legal program takes cases that have a systemic impact and bring results that create precedents that apply far beyond any individual case. The power of the organized blind to make change through legal action has been evident to me in the years I have worked alongside the NFB, including the six-and-a-half years I have been at BGL. We've advocated successfully for accessible electronic absentee voting in over a dozen states. As a direct result of NFB's work, blind people in Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Virginia, North Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois, and very soon Bexar County, Texas, can vote absentee privately and independently.
The NFB has established the right to accessible websites for everything from retail stores to fast food to tax preparation to travel, to voting and federal government services. We have established the right of blind federal employees to enforce their rights under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. And we've established the right to have other technologies accessible as well, including ATMs, kiosks, voting machines, eBook devices, and restaurant ordering devices. We will keep insisting on the accessibility of all emerging technologies, including those that use artificial intelligence. We also have fought for the right to have important information communicated in accessible formats, such as Braille, large print, and accessible electronic formats. We required the IRS to make tax information available to blind people in accessible formats. And right now we are challenging the University of North Carolina healthcare system to make important healthcare information and medical billing information accessible. We're waiting for an order from the court.
The NFB has stood up and continues to stand up for the employment rights of blind people, challenging inaccessible workplace technology at Amazon, Comcast, Williams-Sonoma, and federal agencies, just to name a few ongoing cases. We challenged the discriminatory attitudes and policies of employers who refuse to hire blind people because of their misconceptions about blindness, such as employers who believe blind people can't be childcare providers or teachers. We have challenged the prejudices that lead government agencies and employers to relegate blind people to segregated subminimum-wage sheltered workshops.
The NFB has stood up over and over again for the rights of blind parents. We take on these cases in the face of state agencies acting on prejudices and stereotypes to try to terminate parental rights. We stand up to public agencies that make uninform decisions about blind foster and adoptive parents. We stand up to spouses and courts that rely on prejudice to decide child custody.
The NFB recognizes the crucial importance of education. Its legal program fights discrimination in public education, higher education, testing, and credentialing. Recently you all heard about the case against the Los Angeles Community College District, which went to trial, twice, and culminated in a verdict finding that LACCD discriminated against students Roy Pion and Portia Mason by failing to purchase and use accessible technology. The plaintiffs were awarded over $240,000 in damages.
The NFB has also reached comprehensive accessibility outcomes with schools such as Florida State University and Miami University, but the fight continues. Now the NFB and three brilliant blind students are challenging Oregon State University's failure to make course materials accessible. We're challenging discrimination against blind students by the Harvard Kennedy School and the Berklee College of Music.
So what makes the NFB special and especially effective in advocating for equal rights? I talked to several advocates about this, and it's a combination of factors. One is that the NFB is the voice of the nation's blind. The NFB speaks for you as real blind people and reflects your priorities and principles. It has legitimacy when it sets priorities and takes on cases. Anyone who misunderstands that the NFB is advocating for anything less than justice for the blind does so at their peril.
And the NFB is brave. It is willing to take on the biggest companies and the biggest government agencies, including scary ones like the FBI. We will even challenge entities that are supposed to be our allies when they fail to do their jobs, as we did with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The NFB is willing to use litigation as a tool and to take cases all the way to judgment and even appeal in order to reach binding and precedential decisions.
The NFB will not accept halfway settlements that don't actually fix the problem, even if the other side offers cash. And the NFB is not afraid of losing a case. It recognizes, as Dr. Maurer often has said, "We may lose the battle, but we don't lose the war, because we don't stop fighting until we win."
The NFB is creative. It will color outside the lines when necessary, as it did when it intervened as a defendant when the Authors Guild sued the trust to prevent digital books from being made accessible to the blind. The NFB takes cases for the right reasons and insists on resolutions that further those reasons. Justice for the individual plaintiff is important, but the NFB's insistence on public settlements is one of the most important aspects of its legal program. Each decision, settlement, or other outcome is available for others to learn from and acts as a precedent and a deterrent for other entities.
The NFB is bold. The organized blind movement is not going to wait around for somebody else to take on its battles. The blind stand up for themselves and for each other.
While the NFB compromises when it makes sense, it doesn't compromise its principles. As President Riccobono often reminds me, the NFB will not pull its punches.
Speaking of President Riccobono, the NFB leadership is another reason the legal program here is so incredibly powerful. Judges and defendants often push you to accept half measures or to let go of your legal principles, but President Riccobono and the Board of Directors of the NFB never lose sight of the point of every case. They hold tight to the principles of NFB's mission.
Finally, the reason the NFB is such a powerful force is that the NFB is you. You are the real experts on blindness. You are the best clients in existence. You are willing to be plaintiffs and stand up for principles. You're willing to stick it out all the way to get the right result, and you don't give up halfway through. You are outstanding representatives of the blind community. Your actions and your credibility educate defendants and judges and juries better than any lawyer can. In short, the NFB is extraordinary!
I will also note that that NFB has some pretty great lawyers. Working with Tim Elder, Al Alia, Lauren McLarney, Jessie Weber, Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum, Andy Freeman, and others is an amazing privilege.
I want to leave you with a thought from President Obama that embodies the NFB for me. Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Thank you to the NFB for everything you do!
by Karla Gilbride
Introduction by Mark Riccobono: Our next speaker is another outstanding champion of equal rights, and she's not afraid of taking on the biggest of the corporations or government bad actors to address injustice. She also happens to be a blind woman, simply striving to live the life she wants. She graduated with honors from Georgetown Law in 2007 and has, in a very short time, made a difference. She's a member of the bar in New York, California, and the District of Columbia, as well as several federal district courts, the United States Supreme Court, and several courts of appeal. Most recently, she was the co-director for the Access to Justice Project at Public Justice, where she worked for nearly a decade. This will resonate with Federation members—her work is described as "focusing on dismantling structural barriers that make it more difficult for people harmed by corporations or government abuse to use the civil courts to get redress." In May 2022 she won a significant victory in a fight against forced arbitration in a case that she argued before the United States Supreme Court. I am not aware of another blind attorney who has argued and won a case in front of the Supreme Court, so she has set precedent in a very motivating way.
She's worked closely on a number of Federation matters, but most recently she led the arguments in the Court of Appeals on behalf of Joe Orozco.
I could talk for a long time about the many achievements that she's made in what is still quite a young career. I want you to know, however, that she has been nominated by the President of the United States to serve as the general counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This is a nomination that the Federation has enthusiastically supported. I just went over to her and asked if she was confirmed yet. She said not yet. We'll see at the end of her speech if you all feel she should be confirmed by the Senate.
I should also share with you that she is described as an avid baseball fan and a fantasy baseball nerd. She enjoys hiking, cycling, and goalball. Here is a true champion for equal rights and equal responsibility who is driven by her lived experience. Here is Karla Gilbride!
Thank you, President Riccobono, for inviting me here to speak with you all today.
As a young child I was convinced that I wanted to be a lawyer. Now, mind you, I didn't have a very good idea of what it was that lawyers did, but I knew that I loved words and I loved using words to get my way. My dad used to make a joke about this. He would say, "She's going to be a great lawyer someday, because the judge will be so tired of hearing her argue that they'll let her win just to shut her up."
But even though my aspirations to be a lawyer went all the way back to childhood, I couldn't have imagined as a law student, or even as recently as three years ago, that I would have the opportunity to argue a case before the US Supreme Court. Making an argument there is very rare. Most lawyers never get the chance to do it. And I'm not aware of a totally blind lawyer who has ever argued there before I did last year.
In preparing to speak to you about that experience, I had occasion to reflect on what brought me to that juncture and what traits and tools made it possible for me to seize that opportunity when it came my way. I decided it boiled down to three things: I have a stubborn streak, I have strong blindness skills, and I have a passion to fight against injustice.
So, going back to the stubborn streak. It also dates back to early childhood. When I was young it was nothing more complex than that rebellious instinct a lot of little kids have, the desire to do the opposite of whatever the adults around them tell them to do. As a general matter, I wouldn't recommend it, because usually the adults in our lives are telling us things that are good for us. I've been totally blind since I was two years old. Many of us in this room may have had similar experiences—that sometimes the adults around you are telling you things that are not good for your development. They might say things such as, "You can skip that assignment, it would probably be too hard for you anyway," or, "It would be dangerous for you to do that phys ed activity; why don't you sit on the sidelines?" When the adults in my life said those things to me, my stubborn streak flared up, and I wanted to find a way to do the things they said I shouldn't do. As the child me would have put it, "Oh, yeah? I'll show you!"
Fortunately, for me, I had parents who were fierce advocates. If they ever witnessed or heard from me about these sorts of incidents, they made clear to that gym teacher or that extracurricular activity leader that low expectations were not acceptable. I would be included in whatever the other kids were doing. I was fortunate that the administration in my public school also provided me with the supports and services that I needed.
Another thing I'm very grateful to my parents for is that they exposed me to a lot of positive, successful adult blind role models, including members of the National Federation of the Blind. Those blind adults impressed upon me the importance of gaining a strong foundation in blindness skills such as Braille and technology. I had the good sense to listen to what those adults told me. I became a proficient Braille user, and I learned to use the computer and the internet early in my educational career. With those skills in hand, I went off to college, after receiving a scholarship from the NFB in 1998.
When I came to the national convention to receive that scholarship, I had the opportunity to observe a mock trial and watch blind lawyers like Scott LaBarre in action. That reinforced for me that this club of blind lawyers was one I definitely wanted to belong to.
Throughout college and law school, as I gained more experience, I was exposed to many people from different backgrounds and different life experiences than my own, including people with different disabilities. Through getting to know those people and learning more about their stories, I gained a more sophisticated understanding of the identities that we all carry and the different forms of discrimination that we all face. I also came to appreciate that growing up as a white person in an affluent town on Long Island in a well-funded school district had afforded me a lot of advantages that many of my peers hadn't had. I learned that the history of injustice and access to opportunity in this country is far more complicated and far more painful than just my gym teacher telling me to sit on the sidelines.
Even as my understanding of discrimination deepened and became more expansive, I never forgot what it felt like viscerally to be held apart, to be treated as less than others. As I became a practicing lawyer, I tapped into those personal experiences and the feelings that they evoked in me. They still evoke those feelings in me when I experience discrimination to this day, for example, when I'm denied service from a rideshare driver because of my guide dog, which happens all the time.
I tapped into those experiences and those feelings to better relate to my clients who had experienced different but equally unjust mistreatment, whether it was being sexually harassed by a coworker or being passed over for a promotion because they were Black. That ability to empathize and have solidarity with others who experience mistreatment has made me a better lawyer. It has fueled my passion to fight against injustice. I agree with what Dr. King said in his letter from a Birmingham jail, that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
I spent three years working as a lawyer with Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley, California, working on disability discrimination cases. Then I decided to move back east, where my family is from, to take a job at a law firm in DC that handles all sorts of employment and housing discrimination cases. Ever since 2011 I've been practicing law in DC, either in plaintiffs' firms or public interest organizations with a focus on workers' rights, both around discrimination and around people not being paid properly for their work. In 2021 that workers' rights practice led me to meet Robyn Morgan.
Robyn was working at a Taco Bell franchise in Iowa, and she realized that she and her coworkers were not being paid overtime when they worked more than forty hours in a week as the law required. She filed a lawsuit on behalf of herself and her coworkers. Initially she was successful, but on appeal, the decision was reversed. It had to do with some complex legal stuff that I won't get into, involving forced arbitration and such. She couldn't be in court at all. She needed to go to a private arbitrator.
The lawyers who had handled her case in the district court came to Public Justice, which is where I was working at the time. We have a lot of experience working on these issues. They said, "Because we lost at the Court of Appeals, the only step left for Robyn's case is to take it to the US Supreme Court. We would like you to handle the case."
My boss at Public Justice said, "Well, Karla, you have a lot of experience working on these particular legal issues. If we decide to go forward in the Supreme Court, I think you should handle the case."
I sat there for a minute, and there was a little voice inside my head that said, "Whoa!"
Now, I know the law in this area, I thought we had a good chance of winning. But it's the Supreme Court! And as I said before, not a lot of people ever get a chance to argue there. They only take about eighty cases a year, and those eighty cases tend to be handled by a very few repeat-player Supreme Court advocates who appear there over and over again.
But my passion to fight against injustice prevailed over my doubts. I thought that what had happened to Robyn wasn't right, and there was something we could do about it. So I said, "Yes, let's take the case." We filed our petition. The Supreme Court didn't have to take it. But a couple months later, we found out that they had taken it, and we were off to the races.
That was in November of 2021. A few weeks later I found out that Taco Bell had hired one of those repeat-player Supreme Court advocates to argue the case on their side, someone who has been up there over and over again. For those who know the law, you might recognize his name. Paul Clement. At that time he had argued over one hundred cases before the US Supreme Court.
That little voice inside my head, that voice that had said, "Whoa!" got a little bit louder. And it got some company. There were a lot of little voices suddenly asking a lot of questions. What if you're not ready for this ... what if you're not smart enough ... what if you can't think on your feet as well as someone who has argued up there a hundred times?
Then it took a really toxic turn. These other thoughts came to the forefront. What if you go up there on that big stage and it doesn't go well and people think, Well, after all, what do you expect? She's blind...
Luckily, just as that spiral of self-doubt started to take hold, that old stubborn streak flared up again. And it had something to say to all of those nagging negative thoughts swirling around in my head. It said, Oh, yeah? I'll show you!
So, I buckled down, and I got back to preparing the case. That preparation meant reading lots and lots of previous cases, which I did using JAWS. That preparation also involved listening to lots and lots of archival audio of past Supreme Court arguments. Luckily, Paul Clement had a large body of work, so I had a lot I could listen to.
And the other thing that was helpful, the reason I wanted to listen to all of these arguments, was to try to memorize the voices of the different justices. Since each of them has their own legal philosophy and way of approaching cases, it was very instructive for me to know who was asking me a question so I could know how best to respond.
Another thing I did to prepare was to put together a list of important cases and quotes that I wanted to have literally at my fingertips at the lectern. I could refer to my list in Braille as I was making my argument or as I was responding to questions.
Having two or three pages of Braille notes is something I've made a common practice whenever I do a court argument, whether in a trial or appellate court. But, at the Supreme Court I also wanted to have a way to take notes when Mr. Clement was arguing. Since we were the petitioner, we would go first. We had brought the case to the court, so we would begin. Then Mr. Clement would have his argument time, and I would get the last word in rebuttal. I wanted to have a reliable way of taking notes so that I could make that rebuttal. I thought about bringing a Braille display, but I worried that the technology could fail at a really inopportune moment. So, I dug back into my old bag of tricks, blindness skills I hadn't worked on since high school, and I brushed up on my slate and stylus skills.
A couple of weeks before the argument was scheduled, I called the Supreme Court to let them know I was bringing a slate and stylus into the building. I figured they wouldn't know what it was, and I didn't want to have a problem with security. I also asked them what accommodation they could make for their clock, which has a couple of different lights that come on. You get a yellow light when you have a couple minutes left, and then a red light comes on when you're out of time. I asked them could they provide some sort of audible tone? Did they have a nonvisual component to their system for people who can't see those colored lights?
They said, "Huh! We haven't thought about that. This hasn't come up before, but we'll come up with something." And they did. They had a court employee sit at a table and physically ring a bell when the light came on for yellow and when the light came on for red.
The day of the argument came, and it really went by in a blur. It lasted about an hour, but it felt much shorter than that because of all the adrenaline that was coursing through my veins. It was actually surprisingly enjoyable to be engaging back and forth with the justices. Before I knew it, the bell rang, and it was time to sit down. I just sat there in disbelief. Did I just really do that?
Because of the COVID protocols that were in place at the time, early in 2022, there was no public admitted into the court. It was just the lawyers, the justices, and a very few court staff. One of the people there was the official court sketch artist, who draws pictures of the people arguing each case. Because photographers aren't allowed in the court, those sketches will accompany any media account or article that's ever published about the case later. I was so proud and so moved when, the day after my argument, the official sketch appeared. It showed me standing at the lectern speaking with my hands on my Braille notes, and there was a little explanatory caption arrow pointing to my fingers with a note reading, "Braille." So now, in the official archives of the Supreme Court, there will always be that documentation that in March of 2022, a blind person argued at the Supreme Court and they used Braille to do it.
As proud as I am of that, I was equally proud two months later in May. In a unanimous 9-0 opinion, the court ruled for Robyn Morgan. I was able to do my part to help her get the justice she deserves.
As proud as I am of all that, I will be even more proud when I get to hear the next blind lawyer argue a case at the US Supreme Court. What I really hope is that after two and three and four and five blind lawyers walk that path, the Supreme Court will decide to invest in some technological solution, such as a tone or a tactile buzzer for their visible light system, because they realize there are so many of us blind people arguing that just having a person ring the bell each time is not a good solution.
But this isn't just a story about the Supreme Court. And I certainly didn't say yes to come speak today just to congratulate myself. I came here and I'm sharing this story with you because I know that many, if not all of you, will in the future experience a situation where you will have voices of self-doubt inside your head like the ones I described earlier. And sometimes those voices aren't just coming from inside our heads. Sometimes they're coming from out there in the world, telling us we shouldn't do this, we can't do that, no blind person has ever done this before so what makes you think you can be the first?
When those voices come into your lives, whether external or internal or both, I hope that by sharing my story with you today, I will have given more strength and more conviction and more force to your own voice when you are answer back, "Oh, yeah? I'll show you!"
We can all do more than other people think we're capable of doing. We can all do more than we might believe we're capable of ourselves. And we can do even more when we support and lift up one another. That spirit of mutual support and solidarity is one of the things that I admire most about this organization, especially when it's directed to those who are newly blind or to the next generation coming up.
I am so grateful to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along my journey, including people who are here in the room today and others who are no longer with us. I am honored to do what I can to pay it forward in the years ahead. Thank you all so much.
"Future Reflections helps me realize that, with the proper skills, my blind daughters' future need not be defined by what they cannot see, but rather by all they can do."
We hope this magazine assists you, whether you are a teacher of blind students, the parent of a blind child, or someone interested in blind children. When you benefit from this publication, please remember that the American Action Fund impacts the lives of blind and deafblind people every day.
The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults publishes this magazine in the hope that Future Reflections will provide you with information and inspiration. The work of the Action Fund to encourage independent travel, excellence in education, and Braille literacy nationwide must be done. These vital programs are made possible through your support. If you are in a position to do so, you can make a difference by making a contribution. Please help by giving a tax-deductible gift to the American Action Fund.
You can give online by visiting our homepage, https://actionfund.org. You also can make a donation over the phone by calling 410-659-9315, or you can send a check made out to "American Action Fund," 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, MD 21230.
There is also another way you can help. Often the simplest and most significant way to make a charitable donation is to plan a legacy gift. It is easier than you 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 can bequeath a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate to an organization whose mission is important to you. Your bequest carries with it the values and ideals that have mattered to you throughout your lifetime and supports an organization whose mission you hold dear.
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If you wish to give part or all of an account, fill out a P.O.D. (payable on death) or T.O.D. (transfer on death) form. For pensions and insurance assets, you can designate a charity as a beneficiary. If you would like to leave a legacy to the Action Fund in your will, please include the following language:
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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 if you have made some other provision for a future gift to us and would like to tell us about it, 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.
At the 2023 meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, the constitution was amended, requiring the Board of Directors to include no fewer than ten and no more than fifteen members.
The following board members were elected: First Vice President: Sandra McKinney, Tennessee, to complete the term of Abby Duffy, who resigned due to illness.
The following were elected to serve as General Board members: Jeannette Jones, California; Emily Gindelsburger, Pennsylvania; Tabitha Mitchell, Hawaii; Jackie Anderson, Georgia; Sarah Kassim, Louisiana.
Blind Equality Achievement Month
https://nfb.org/programs-services/blind-month
Remember history, advance equality, celebrate accomplishments! The National Federation of the Blind celebrates the organized blind movement during October each year. Chapters across the country organize local outreach events. Submit your events, activities, and celebrations so they can be posted.
2023 ISLAND Conference
https://islandconference.org/island-2023-registration
Contact: [email protected]
Dates: October 20-21, 2023
The ISLAND Conference serves as a forum for access technology developers, science educators, rehabilitation professionals, and educational researchers to network and share their experiences around how they have promoted the inclusion of persons with disabilities into STEM fields of study. Come and learn what is being done to promote inclusion in the STEM classroom for students with disabilities.
https://www.actionfund.org/resources/braille-calendars
[email protected]
Contact: 410-659-9315
Are you ready for a 2024 Braille calendar? The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults produces over eight thousand Braille calendars each year, and they are given free to any blind or deafblind person in the United States. These pocket calendars are great for the office, home, or classroom. Individuals can order up to three free Braille calendars per year.
Accessibility Online
https://www.accesssbilityonline.org/ao/archives/111069
Contact: 877-232-1990
Hosted by the Great Lakes ADA Center, Accessibility Online is a series of webinars on creating accessible spaces for people with disabilities. "Designing for Children," held on August 3, examines the needs of children with disabilities that differ from those of adults. Accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) provide requirements that ensure that facilities such as daycare centers, playgrounds, and children's museums are designed with accessibility for children with disabilities in mind. Webinars are archived and available to the public.
Fat Brain Toys
fatbraintoys.com
Contact: 800-590-5987
Fat Brain Toys offers thousands of educational toys that encourage problem solving and imagination. Toys are listed by developmental age. Categories include active play, arts and crafts, building and construction, imaginative play, maker and DIY kits, music, outdoor toys, sensory toys, and much more.
Melissa and Doug Toys
https://www.melissaanddoug.com
Contact: 800-718-5365
Melissa and Doug began thirty years ago by crafting sturdy wooden puzzles. Over the years, they have expanded to include a wide variety of toys that encourage screen-free, imaginative play. Kid-centered play promotes skill building and problem solving.
Adaptations Store, San Francisco Lighthouse
https://lighthouse-sf.org/tmap/
Contact: 888-400-8933
[email protected]
The TMAP-ON-Demand Tactile Street Map program creates custom maps of any street address. Each packet includes a zoomed-out overview map and a zoomed-in detail map showing streets, paths, and buildings.
Princeton Braillists
https://shop.nbp.org/collections/maps-princeton-braillists?view=30
For more than thirty years, two women based in Princeton, New Jersey, created tactile atlases of continents, nations, and US states. Their atlases are available through National Braille Press. All maps are produced on thermoform sheets and are labeled in print and American contracted Braille (not UEB).
National Library Service Music Collection
https://www.loc.gov/nls/braille-audio-reading-materials/music-materials
Contact: 800-424-8567
[email protected]
The NLS Music Collection, authorized by Congress in 1962, includes Braille and large-print musical scores, recorded instructional materials, and recorded materials about music and musicians. Music materials are circulated to patrons directly from the NLS headquarters in Washington, DC. Most materials are also available as free downloads from Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD), a web-based service that provides access to thousands of Braille and encrypted audiobooks, magazines, and music scores.
Dancing Dots
https://www.dancingdots.com/prodesc/currdet.htm
A Course in Music and Braille Music Reading
by Richard Taesch
An introduction to Braille music for the blind student, this book is a flexible course that equips the mainstream educator who has no prior experience with Braille to teach and learn music Braille. The author is a lifelong music educator who is certified as a Braille music transcriber by the Library of Congress.
Convention Survey
If you attended the 2023 NFB National Convention, please share feedback in English or Spanish.
English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TCXMT7Q
Spanish: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W2F96RG
To complete the survey by phone, call 229-632-7878 or toll-free 833-632-7878. Please note that the phone number above provides the survey in an automated system and will require the survey to be completed in one session. There is an option to pause the survey for five minutes and the pause can be extended as needed. Push the pound key for help.
Educational Technology Survey
https://nfb.org/legal/surveys
The NFB is gathering information regarding the accessibility of educational technology used in our nation's schools (kindergarten through graduate level). If you are a student, parent, teacher, or administrator who uses screen access software or other accommodations to participate nonvisually in educational programs or services, or if you are the parent, teacher, or administrator of someone who does, please complete the Education Technology Survey once a semester and contribute to this important research.
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