Public Education Works: Letter from Twin Cities Police

Public Education Works: Letter from Twin Cities Police

Braille MonitorMarch 1986
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Public Education Works:
Letter from Twin Cities Police

For several months we have been distributing
the August-September, 1985, Braille Monitor and other material to
members of the public and decision-makers.
We have been doing it to inform
people about the problems we are having
with the airlines. Among other things,
Federationists have been going to airports
to carry our message to arriving
and departing passengers, as well as to
airport officials and police.

Sometimes (especially when there is
resistance to what we are saying) we are
bound to wonder whether we are getting
through--whether (regardless of the
reasonableness of our message) anyone
cares or is willing to listen and understand.
But public education (when it is
factual, honestly motivated, and calculated
to solve problems and meet real
needs) pays off--not just sometimes but
always. The effects may not be immediately
apparent, and we may not get
everything we want (at least, not all at
once), but the momentum builds.

Federationists in the Minneapolis-St.
Paul area have been working especially
hard in this push for public education.
Recently they received clear-cut
evidence of positive results. In the
future perhaps it will be more difficult
for airline personnel in the Twin Cities
area to persuade the police to make
illegal arrests of blind persons who ask
nothing more than to be treated like
other passengers:
Saint Paul, Minnesota

December 20, 1985
National Federation of the Blind
of Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dear Sir:
I would like to thank you for sending
to our department the Braille Monitor publication for August and September of
1985. I have reviewed all articles in
the publication that deal with the
difficulties encountered in air travel
by blind travelers.

In most cases I was somewhat familiar
with these particular incidents, and had
received some information on them. By
reading the Braille Monitor I have been
given a whole new dimension to these
problems.

I again would like to thank you for
sending the Braille Monitor to us, and
if at any time we can be of help to you,
please feel free to call us.
Sincerely yours,

Eugene E. Sheridan

Patrol Division Commander

Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport Police
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