Reclamation at its Best

Reclamation at its Best

Braille MonitorApril 1986
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Reclamation at its Best
by Diane McGeorge

Long-time Federationists will remember
well the formation of the International
Federation of the Bilnd. It was Dr.
tenBroek's strong desire to share our
philosophy with the blind people around
the world, and he was instrumental in
the formation of the IFB. Dr. Jernigan
and he, along with Dr. Isabelle Grant,
worked with blind leaders throughout
Europe and Southeast Asia to bring about
an organization which was to have given
a new direction to lives of people in
countries where welfare agencies had
dominated them completely. What an
unfortunate path the IFB followed, and
instead of becoming the vehicle for
collective action for blind people
around the world, it became just another
agency-dominated group of blind people
with a "me, too" philosophy. The action
taken by us in withdrawing from the IFB
last year was the only course we could
reasonably have taken.
It is important for Federationists to
know about one of the most positive
aspects which grew out of the IFB and
our involvement in it. We spread our
positive philosophy about blindness and
along with that philosophy embarked upon
what is commonly called in and around
Denver, Colorado, the "Braille Book
Project."
Dr. Isabelle Grant was an energetic,
very caring member of the NFB, who lost
her sight when she was in her fifties
and found the NFB shortly afterward.
She was a teacher in the Los Angeles
public schools. In 1960 Dr. Grant took
a sabbatical to do extensive traveling
throughout the world to study the education
of the blind. She came back to Dr.
tenBroek saying that there were very few
schools for the blind, practically nothing
in Braille, and virtually no opportunities
for the majority of the blind who wished to do more than mere
begging for a living. She wanted to
establish more schools for blind children
and spent a good deal of time in
East Pakistan teaching Braille to blind
adults who could then become teachers in
those schools or in the few established
schools.
It was in 1961 that she first came to
Denver and met members of the National
Federation of the Blind of Colorado.
She spoke at our state convention, and
following that convention Federationists
gathered in the McGeorge's home to learn
more about her efforts to establish
schools in East Pakistan. Ray McGeorge
was particularly fascinated with the
ideas she presented to the NFB of Denver
concerning collection of discarded
Braille textbooks which could then be
shipped to a school.
The project began with the collection
of a few discarded books and Ray, along
with his two small sons, spent evenings
sorting and packing these books, which
were then mailed to a school which the
NFB of Denver had adopted in East
Pakistan.
Word spread throughout the country;
and Federationists started contacting
libraries for the blind, schools for the
blind, and special education departments
which were discarding textbooks. Textbooks
started pouring in. It wasn't
long before the project had outgrown the
McGeorge's basement, and Ray rented a
garage in the neighborhood.
In 1967 he contacted the Telephone
Pioneers, who became interested in working
on the project with him. By this
time the project had outgrown the neighborhood
garage and was moved to the NFB
of Denver office and is now primarily
handled by the Telephone Pioneers under
the able supervision of Lou Parker.
In 1985 Lou submitted a report which
showed that the Pioneers mailed thirty
seven tons of Braille and large print
books. Along with the Pioneers (sorting,
packing, and mailing), some of our
own NFB of Denver members help when they
are available. Richard Moon, a longtime
Federationist who is now retired,
comes to work on the project two or
three times each week.
We try to meet special requests. For
example, a student in Africa wrote to
ask if we might have a Braille book
containing writings by famous American
authors since he was studying American
literature. Fortunately someone had
sent a number of volumes of a collection
of essays by American authors, and it
was mailed to the student. When we
receive special requests from students
in the United States, the books are
sorted to see if we can send the material.
All of the books may be sent as
Free Matter for the Blind. However, the
costs of packaging rise steadily.
The project which started in the
McGeorge's basement has now reached
proportions which are almost unbelievable.
Last year 27,600 books were
mailed. We can all take pride in such a
major accomplishment. Federationists
have made it successful by contributions
of books and also have helped make it
possible through PAC donations, which
have helped keep it alive and growing.