Susan J. Spungin, Ed.D

Susan J. Spungin, Ed.D

Dr. Jernigan and Dr. Susan Spungin

Tribute to Dr. Kenneth

Jernigan

by Susan J. Spungin, Ed.D.

From the Editor: Dr. Spungin is Vice

President of the National Programs Group of the American Foundation for the Blind.

Here are the remarks she delivered at the

memorial service:

I would like to begin with a tribute to Dr.

Jernigan from Carl Augusto, President of the American Foundation for the Blind, who

unfortunately cannot be with us today:

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan was a leader's leader and

had an unwavering belief in the capabilities of blind people. He was someone I have always

respected and grew to admire as I got to know him better over the years. His presentations

sometimes made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, made me happy, made me sad, but

always stimulated my thinking and rekindled my passion for work on behalf of people who

are blind or visually impaired.

This past summer, at the convention of the

National Federation of the Blind, it was my pleasure and privilege to present Dr. Jernigan

with the American Foundation for the Blind's first International Leadership Award. This

award was given in recognition of his lifelong commitment to enabling blind people to be

all they can be. His leadership in this country and throughout the world is unparalleled.

He has inspired blind and visually impaired people to reach for the stars and not allow

their blindness to be an obstacle in the way of success.

He was, as I am and know Dr. Maurer is, committed

to working to bring the field of blindness together so we all can redouble our efforts in

improving the lives of blind and visually impaired people everywhere.

Dr. Jernigan's leadership will be sorely missed,

but his legacy will live on.

Now my remarks to my good friend Mary Ellen

Jernigan and her family and to President Maurer:

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, a giant in the field of

blindness, has left us. There are others in the field that may fit that description, but,

whether you agreed with Dr. Jernigan or not, his impact on changing the meaning of

blindness for the public; the professionals and providers of service; and, most

significantly, blind people themselves has made a major impact on the twentieth century.

I was privileged to know Dr. Jernigan for

approximately twenty years, first at the professional level and later as a friend. In both

relationships I received more than I gave, and I will always consider him a great teacher.

A teacher of strategy, of debate, of literature, and of letters—an orator, an

advocate, a philosopher, a connoisseur, and a humorist.

This great teacher has always been an enigma for

many of us, which perhaps explains the vast differences of opinion on the actions of this

man. I dare you to find someone who has known Dr. Jernigan and has no opinion about his

words and deeds.

Perhaps the first verse of this sonnet, written

by Kenneth Jernigan, best explains this man many of us were privileged to know and love.

To Heisenberg

Perhaps my final breath will gently go

In restful sleep or age or other way,

As uneventful as the close of day

When only soft and quiet breezes blow

To mark the undramatic ebb and flow

Of all that lives and turns again to clay.

But just as like, my life may end in fray.

We dream and speculate but cannot know.

When I first met Dr. Jernigan, it was during a

period of time when the demand of consumer involvement and empowerment were becoming more

of a reality rather than rhetoric. It was during a period of time when Bill Gallagher,

then Executive Director and President of AFB, had the foresight to see the political

potential and demand for provider/consumer partnerships in order to save categorical

programs for the blind, seen by many in the 1980's, as now, as redundant and too costly

for too few of the larger and increasingly more vocal disabled community. Of course,

having been in the field as a teacher of blind children since 1965 and with AFB since

1972, I certainly knew of Dr. Jernigan and the NFB movement but, unfortunately, only in

the context of the conflict between AFB and NFB on standards and the National

Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind, which in retrospect speaks volumes

about the beginning of the consumer empowerment movement for blind people in our country.

However, trying to move past that, Bill Gallagher

and Kenneth Jernigan agreed to select a small number of their respective staffs to meet

together in order first to agree to disagree on issues but second, and more important, to

define those issues AFB and NFB agreed on, and to work together toward their resolution.

Due to these two men many meetings were held and later expanded, after a hiatus, with the

help of the North America/Caribbean Region of the World Blind Union, to a committee known

as JOE—the Joint Organizational Effort.

Well, I was privileged to be part of those many

meetings, which afforded me the opportunity of getting to know Dr. Jernigan in action, so

to speak. When I think back to my feelings about working and getting to know Dr. Jernigan,

I come up with a laundry list of emotions. The top of the list was fear and terror,

followed by curiosity, guilt, anger, frustration, hope, determination, and

commitment—a commitment to the participatory rights of all disabled individuals and,

I underscore, for respect for the providers of services which the blind must depend on,

improve on, and honor.

I have been privileged to be invited to address

three of NFB's National Conventions in 1989, 1994, and 1997. The first two on the topic of

Braille, and the third on perhaps Dr. Jernigan's greatest challenge for me, numbers and

statistics—go figure! And, during those years from 1989 to 1997, I have enjoyed

getting to know many of the NFB friends gathered here today. Together we have collected

the infamous convention mugs, clicked glasses for the same celebrations, sung the songs,

and clapped the rhythms that have hopefully helped toward changing the meaning of

blindness for blind people themselves, the professionals who work with them, and the

general public.

If we see further than our predecessors, it's

because we stand on the shoulders of giants, and what a giant Dr. Jernigan was and always

will be. Happily, he has left this world a better place and has left us his writing, which

serves as some of the best information about him as a person and about blindness.

The speech which will always stay with me and

allow me to remember the importance of the past spent together with Dr. Jernigan, Kenneth

or Ken, is his last address delivered at the Annual Banquet in New Orleans on July 4,

1997, and I quote:

"If a minority lives too long in an armed

camp atmosphere, that minority becomes poisoned and corroded. We must move beyond minority

mentality and victim thinking. This will be difficult— especially in today's society,

where hate and suspicion are a rising tide and where members of minorities are encouraged

and expected to feel bitterness and alienation and members of the majority are encouraged

and expected to feel guilt and preoccupation with the past. Yes, it will be hard to do

what I am suggesting, but we must do it. We must be willing to give to others as much as

we want others to give to us, and we must do it with good will and civility. We must make

the hard choices and take the long view.

"Let me be specific. If a blind person tries

to exploit blindness to get an advantage, or tries to use blindness as an excuse for

failure or bad behavior, we must stand with the sighted person that the blind person is

trying to victimize. This will not be easy; it will not always be politically correct; and

it will frequently bring criticism, not only from those blind persons who claim to want

equality but are not willing to earn it, but also from some of the sighted as well. But we

must do it anyway. If we want equal treatment and true integration, we must act like

equals and not hide behind minority status. Yes, blind people are our brothers and

sisters, but so are the sighted. Unless we are willing to have it that way, we neither

deserve nor truly want what we have always claimed as a birthright.

"That birthright, equal responsibility as

well as equal rights, is the very essence of the NFB's philosophy. It is what we set out

to get in 1940; it is what we have fought for every step of the way; it is what we are now

close to achieving; and it is what we are absolutely determined to have. Equal

rights—equal responsibility.

"We are capable of working with the sighted,

playing with the sighted, and living with the sighted; and we are capable of doing it on

terms of complete equality. Likewise the sighted are capable of doing the same with

us—and for the most part I think they want to. What we need is not confrontation but

understanding, an understanding that runs both ways. This means an ongoing process of

communication and public education."

I believe Dr. Jernigan's words and thoughts

should stand as a vision or strategic goal for all of us as we enter the twenty-first

century.

Finally, what is it about this man that will

always stay with me? Perhaps it was his love of play, with paper airplanes flying and

wet-lipped wine glasses singing on absolutely, or so I thought, the most formal occasions.

Perhaps it was the absolute joy he had creating wordplays that danced across his tongue to

the delight of all onlookers. Perhaps it was his need to account meticulously for and

understand every aspect of life from the best wines to construction of elevators and roof

gardens. Perhaps it was his love of Braille as the gateway to equality for all blind

people. Perhaps it was his lack of concern for person-first language. His complete

involvement with life and the effective use of every minute of it, is an accomplishment I

continually envy. I will never forget you, Dr. Jernigan, but I have to admit I miss you

already.