A Wrenching Decision

A Wrenching Decision

The Braille Monitor

May 2003

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A Wrenching Decision

by Ed Lewinson

From the Editor: Monitor readers will recall that

in the November 2002 issue we carried an article by Buffa Hanse about recent

events and decisions at the Jewish Braille Institute, now known as JBI International.

One of the very few blind members of JBI International's board of trustees was

Dr. Ed Lewinson. Dr. Lewinson has been a life member of the board since the

1970's. He is a professor emeritus of history at Seton Hall University and president

of the Northern New Jersey chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.

Not surprisingly in recent years he has felt more and more isolated on the board,

and in the months since the publication of the article in the Braille Monitor,

his position has become nearly impossible. He wrote the following letter to

the president of the board of trustees in March. We can all share his sorrow

and pain at the necessity of ending his relationship with an institution to

which he has given his loyalty and for whose welfare he has worked for decades.

Here is his letter:

March 17, 2003

Barbara Friedman, President

JBI International

New York, New York

Dear Barbara,

After much soul-searching I have concluded that to retain

my self-respect I must resign from the board of trustees of JBI International.

Before I briefly explain my reasons for this decision, let me compliment Dena

Barbara on her editorship of the Jewish Braille Review and the JBI

Voice. The material she presents is always interesting, informative, and

well written. In a recent Braille update Pearl Lamb has shown a sympathetic

understanding of the changing technological and sociological factors governing

the production and use of Braille.

My association with the Jewish Braille Institute goes back

to 1937 when Leopold Dubov began a correspondence in Braille with a seven-year-old.

In my years of association with JBI, Dr. Ellen Isler has been the only staff

member with whom I have felt uncomfortable. The first time I heard her expound

her plans for JBI, I felt and said that she sounded as though blind people would

be lost in the shuffle. Without previous work experience in the blindness field

and with little or no previous contact with blind people, she jumped into her

new job like the proverbial bull in a china shop.

The things which bother me most are her failure to consult

blind people before making sweeping changes, her general insensitivity, and

her disparaging the use of Braille. We all know that many blind people—particularly

those who become blind later in life—may find it difficult or impossible

to learn Braille for both physical and psychological reasons. While 70 percent

of the blind people of working age are unemployed, the majority of those who

are employed use Braille. I don't know if I could have earned a Ph.D. and taught

in a university without using Braille. I do know that it would have been much

more difficult. I've always found it easier to absorb materials in Braille than

from tapes or readers.

Buffa Hanse's article in the November 2002 issue of the Braille

Monitor expresses the feelings of many of us who are blind, non-Jewish as

well as Jewish. Yet when I spoke with Dr. Isler on the telephone on December

24, 2002, she characterized the article as a "pack of lies." Under

her leadership JBI has gone from being a consumer-friendly organization to one

that reflects the stereotypes and condescension with which we as blind people

must contend all our lives.

Therefore I feel compelled to resign from the board of trustees.

Sincerely,

Ed Lewinson

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