Presidential Report 1990 President Marc Maurer

Presidential Report 1990 President Marc Maurer

Future Reflections Convention 1990, Vol. 9 No. 4
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PRESIDENTIAL REPORT
National Federation of the Blind
Dallas, Texas, July 3,1990
At the fiftieth anniversary of our founding as a
nationwide civil rights organization of blind people,
the National Federation of the Blind has the enthusiasm,
the know-how, and the determination to
meet the problems faced by the blind and to ensure
that we go the rest of the way to independence and
equality. In 1980, only ten years ago, we had only
recently established the National Center for the
Blind. Today, this facility, fashioned by the blind
of the nation, is unparalleled in the field of work
with the blind. But a building, even the most impressive
and practical of structures, is only valuable if it
is used. As the nerve center and headquarters for all
our efforts, the National Center for the Blind gets an
astonishing amount of use. In slightly more than ten
years we have built a facility which is admired by
our friends and envied by others. In fifty years we
have built an organization with enough understanding
and enough power to cause similar responses.
Early
in May Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, Executive
Director of the National Federation of the Blind and
Editor of the Braille Monitor, was invited to participate
in a press conference to interview President
George Bush at the White House. Dr. Jernigan asked
President Bush about civil rights for the blind in air
travel. The final results from this meeting are not yet
known. However, for the first time in the history of
the United States civil rights for the blind are being
addressed by the chief executive of our nation.
Never before in history have these matters been
regarded by so many as so important. They have
become significant because of the efforts of the
blind throughout the nation--because of the collective
action of the National Federation of the Blind.
In June the United States Senate voted on a
motion for cloture involving our Air Travel Rights
for Blind Individuals Act Civil rights legislation for
the blind has sometimes been a minor part of much
larger legislative packages. However, this bill is
focused entirely on the right of blind people to be
treated as equals with the sighted in air transportation.
It is totally and completely ours. The United
States Senate had this civil rights bill as its pending
business for several days. In the neighborhood of
two percent of the legislative year of the Senate has
been devoted to equal opportunity for the blind. To
be successful the cloture petition required not a
simple majority but sixty percent of the entire
Senate. Fifty-six senators cast their votes with us.
There are those who believe that the failure of this
motion to be adopted will stop us from achieving
the right to travel by air without harassment--that
the discriminatory regulations adopted earlier this
year by the Federal Aviation Administration will
remain unchallenged--but you and I know better.
The tactics we use may change, but the strategy will
remain the same. Our objective is to win full first
class status for the blind, and we will find a way to
doit.
In the 1950s we were battling for the right to be
considered for employment in the civil service. In
the 1990s it is the airlines and the Federal Aviation
Administration that are trying to insist that the blind
are second-class. We lost in the original civil service
confrontations, but hundreds of us are employed by
the government today. The motion for cloture did
not pass, but more than half of the Senate voted for
it. And there will be a time when discrimination
against the blind in air travel will be a thing of the
past. The question is not whether--but when.
In the October issue of McCall 's magazine there
appeared a full-length feature article about the National
Federation of the Blind, concentrating on the
work of the President. Personal details of my home
and family life helped to fill out the story and
provide background. How often we have said that
the blind aspire to have a home, a family, and the
responsibilities of citizenship. This article describes
one family in which these aspirations have become
a reality. I am informed that this article will have
been circulated to more than fifteen million people.
Shortly after the McCall's story, the Maurer
family was interviewed on a program called "Parent
Survival Guide," broadcast by Lifetime Television
cable network. Being disseminated to forty-nine
million homes, this interview was shown once in the
early fall and again just before Christmas.
On April 25, 1990, the Wall Street Journal carried a report about blind people in business.
Although the blind have very often been the victims
of discrimination in the job market, we have frequently
been able to demonstrate our capacity by
establishing our own businesses. The Wall Street
Journal reported this success. Discrimination cannot
stop us. We will find a way to circumvent it. For
many of us the method is a company or an enterprise
of our own. The headline of the article is, "For the
Blind, Business Ownership Opens a Closed Door:
Entrepreneurship Rises Along With Self-Esteem
and Lender Confidence." The first three paragraphs
of the Wall Street Journal article set the tone. Glenn
Crosby, President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Texas and a member of the national Board
of Directors, is featured. Here are those paragraphs:
Like many other small-business owners in
Houston, Glenn M. Crosby had to retrench in
the wake of the Texas oil slump. Having sold
or closed three restaurants, he is left with only
one. But his Mr. C Sandwich Shop earns a
profit, and is the source of considerable pride.
"I have survived, while a lot of sighted people
in the same business have not," says Mr.
Crosby, who is blind.
Many blind people such as Mr. Crosby are
becoming entrepreneurs these days. Like
other minorities before them, they are finding
thatentrepreneurship can create opportunities
for people who otherwise might have found
the door shut.
This spirit of independence is what makes us
the unstoppable movement we are. This belief in
ourselves has helped to shape our organization, the
National Federation of the Blind.
We were also mentioned in the letters to the
editor column of the Newsweek magazine for May
7, 1990. Newsweek had printed a story called,
"Making the Most of Sight." The basic assumption
of the report was that technology can be of great help
in making those with a little remaining eyesight
competitive. Strongly implied is the notion that if
you can't see enough to use this technology, your
ability to perform diminishes dramatically. According
to the reporter, for those who are really blind
there is virtually no hope. Also implied is the idea
that techniques used by the blind are inferior. Of
course, these implications are false. They mislead
the public into believing that the important factor
for a blind person is the machinery available rather
than the talent of the individual. Our experience
demonstrates that a well-trained blind person can
(using Braille and other techniques) compete effectively
with the sighted. In the May 7,1990, issue of Newsweek, we responded to the negative tone and
substance of the earlier report in a letter to the editor.
Our position was clearly articulated by Mr. Miller,
an employee of the National Federation of the Blind.
No group of people can become a consolidated
entity without tradition--a sense of history--an
understanding of where it is going and what its
members are within the structure of society. Because
this is so, one of the most exciting events of
the last year is the publication of the most thorough
history of the organized blind ever to be compiled.
Our book (Walking Alone and Marching Together,
by Dr. Floyd Matson) contains the facts not merely
about those who have done work with the blind, but
also about the blind themselves, organized to take
collective action and accomplish common goals.
Consisting of over 1,100 print pages, Walking Alone
and Marching Together acknowledges the work
that has been done by the agencies for the blind. But
it also does something else--something more important--something
that has never been done in the
history of the blind. It tells of the actions of the blind
themselves as an organized movement--of our
growth as a force and our emergence as a people. It
tells of our struggles for equality, of the problems
we have faced, and the achievements we have made.
It is fitting that this book (costly as it has been to
print) should be published by the organized blind,
for it is our story--the story of the blind of
America--the story of the National Federation of
the Blind.
This past winter the Director of Public Affairs
for the Pepsi Cola Company came to the National
Center for the Blind to ask for our advice and
assistance. Pepsi was planning to produce and distribute
an advertisement in which the principal character
is the blind musician, Ray Charles. In the
course of the meeting to discuss the ad, a number of
plans were reviewed for making commercials that
depict the blind as the normal, practical, independent
people we are. The portrayal of the blind in
television commercials and on television programs
has such an enormous impact upon our public image
that it is of vital importance to help shape the
impression being created. There are still descriptions
of the blind on television which are not as
positive as they could be. However, in our advisory
role to companies such as Pepsi Cola, we can do
much to change the focus and alter the image
presented by the networks.
It is to be expected that major American companies
will increasingly seek our advice in planning
advertising campaigns that depict the blind. Our
own public service spots blanket the airwaves. In
the neighborhood of one and one-half million
dollars' worth of airtime was contributed to the
National Federation of the Blind during the last
year. These announcements help to educate the
public about the ability of the blind. They tell
employers that we can work, educators that we can
participate in the classroom, and the public at large that our hopes and dreams are the same as those of
the sighted. Our battle is one for understanding in
the minds of those who make up this society. Much of what we do can be done most effectively by
public education. Our campaign to distribute public
service announcements is among the most important
undertakings that we have, and it is bringing
results.
Our interaction with other organizations dealing
with blindness from throughout the world continues
to be productive. In the past year Dr. Jernigan,
as President of the North America/Caribbean
Region of the World Blind Union, attended meetings
of the Executive Committee of that organization
in England and in Poland. The delegates from
the North America/Caribbean Region met at the
National Center for the Blind last December to
discuss matters of importance to the blind in this
hemisphere and throughout the world. We were able
to trade information about technological progress
which is likely to be of assistance to blind job
applicants here and abroad. Our spirit of self-determination
is a constant source of stimulus to blindness
organizations in other lands. As blind people
throughout the world gain independence, it becomes
easier for those in the United States to
achieve first-class status too. Dr. Jernigan also
traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, to help the blind of
the West Indies by providing information about
self-organization and by presenting a reading
machine.
Because of our interaction with other groups we
have been able to establish cooperative arrangements
with organizations in the blindness field in
our own country. The director of research of the
American Foundation for the Blind participated in
a meeting of our committee on research and
development at the National Center for the Blind
last winter. There was an exchange of ideas regarding
the most effective technological devices to assist
the deaf-blind. Sharing of information increases the
rate of progress. The National Federation of the
Blind is today, as it has been for a number of years,
on the cutting edge in technology for the blind. If
we really need to have a thing developed, we will
find a way to get it built--and will probably do
much of the groundwork ourselves. That is one
more reason for the National Federation of the
Blind.
For quite a number of years the relationship
between the National Library Service for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress
and the National Federation of the Blind has
been one of harmony and partnership. In May Dr.
Jernigan was invited to make a presentation to
librarians from throughout the United States in the
NLS network. Because reading is essential for
education, the Books for the Blind Program may
well be the single most important long-range service
for the blind in the United States. As the methods
for providing reading matter to the blind are further
developed, and as new ways are established of
delivering this vital service, we believe that the close
working relationship we have with the National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
will also continue to develop and grow. The
blind of America need good library service. The
National Library Service is committed to providing
it. When those responsible for government
programs to serve the blind come to feel a spirit of
community with the organized blind of America, the
result is predictable and can be stated in a word-- progress.
Those who are losing vision visit the eye doctor
to get their sight restored. If the doctor cannot fix
the medical problem, the newly blinded person is
dismissed from the care of the medical profession.
Sometimes the newly blinded individual finds the
organized blind movement, and sometimes not.
This spring we have begun work with Johns
Hopkins University on two projects that should
substantially increase our involvement with those in
the medical profession. Johns Hopkins University
Medical School is inviting members of the National
Federation of the Blind to make presentations about
our organization to classes of medical students. In
addition, we are participating in a joint research
project to examine the attitudes of eye doctors and
other health care professionals toward their blind
patients and clients and to quantify the advice being
given by these practitioners. With greater understanding
by the doctors that the National Federation
of the Blind is an available resource, an increasing
number of blind people will be stimulated toward
independence without wasting months and years in
unproductive, dreary inactivity. Until 1990 we
have not concentrated substantial resources in the
medical field--but we know that literally thousands
of blind people are faced with demolished dreams
and a dead end in the doctor's office. This need not
be the case, and we are changing it. We who are
blind know how to reconstruct shattered hopes. We
have the means and the will to provide inspiration
and facts to the people who believe that their blindness
makes them incapable of conducting a normal
existence. In fact, this is one of the major reasons
we have created the National Federation of the
Blind.
The Federation sponsors an insurance program
for blind merchants. It has been in operation since
the early eighties. Some time ago a few people
decided to appropriate our insurance for their own
use. We informed them that the National Federation
of the Blind had created the program and that
it could not be lifted for the benefit of private
persons. A lawsuit was filed to protect the interests
of the organized blind. After much maneuvering on
the part of the defendants, we have been able to pin
them down. The insurance program we have been
supporting is again in the hands of those who sponsored
it in the first place. We intend to retain what
is ours. And one thing more. Sharp practices and
devious methods will not be tolerated in programs
that bear our name. The National Federation of the
Blind insurance program for blind vendors and merchants
is now fully in operation and available to
those who need it.
There have been a number of cases this year
involving civil rights of blind individuals. Dave
Schuh is a blind accountant. Until the last day of
1989 he was working as a supervisor of accounting
at a Pillsbury products plant in Denison, Texas.
When he began to request certain job accommodations
(such as a Kurzweil Personal Reader and other
computer equipment), Pillsbury officials started
planning for the elimination of his job. But his job
ratings were excellent. Dave Schuh applied for
several transfers to vacant positions at other
Pillsbury locations. Despite his superior qualifications,
he was not considered for any of these vacancies.
Company rules say that preference is to be
given to persons whose positions are eliminated, but
the rules were ignored in this case.
Pillsbury, a large federal contractor, is required
to take affirmative action in employing the handicapped.
The evidence demonstrates unquestionably
that it did not happen for Dave Schuh. We have
proceeded with a complaint against Pillsbury on his
behalf. We are demanding that the company correct
its mistakes by paying back wages, offering him
another job, and making certain accommodations.
If Pillsbury officials persist in disregarding Dave
Schuh's rights, all of their federal contracts are in
jeopardy. Thus far, the complaint process is
proceeding quite well. The Department of Labor has
agreed with us. Pillsbury violated the law. The
company will pay, or we will find a method for
seeking enforcement of these federal findings. And
there are those who ask why we have the National
Federation of the Blind. Dave Schuh will have his
rights, and we intend to see that he does.
Although Richard Frost had been performing
the duties customarily demanded of a federal
employee at the GS-11 level, he was only being paid
the salary of a GS-9. He asked for promotions but
was not awarded any. Several years ago, Richard
Frost filed a complaint of discrimination against his
employer, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development We represented him during most of
the proceedings. The federal housing department
has insisted that the negotiations be kept (as they
would put it) "confidential." Despite this demand
for secrecy, I can tell you that we reached a
favorable resolution this spring. There is no longer
a complaint against this federal agency. There is no
longer a request for promotion and reassignment.
There is no longer a demand for back pay. Richard
Frost has told me that it is eminently worthwhile to
be a member of the National Federation of the Blind.
They may insist upon hiding the details, but we can
handle ourselves when it comes to an argument, and
we know how to promote the best interests of blind
employees.
In Florida, Adam and Denise Shaible have been
facing discrimination because they use dog guides.
The Island Club Condominium Association in Fort
Lauderdale insisted that they sign a special agreement
as a condition of purchasing their condominium.
This agreement demands that the private
patio attached to their new home be converted to a
dog run. Of course, such requirements are in violation
of federal law. Nevertheless, they would have
been imposed on the blind in Florida if there had not
been an organization prepared to prevent it. A law
which remains unenforced may be an interesting
statement of social policy or a curiosity in the annals
of the past. But we have the means and the will to
put these statutory provisions into effect--we are
the National Federation of the Blind.
Robert Gumson is a blind man living in Need
ham, Massachusetts. He has applied to be a daycare
assistant. Based on fears about Mr. Gumson's blindness,
the Massachusetts Office for Children has
refused to issue him the necessary license. Officials
have said that state regulations assume that supervision
of children must be done by visual observation,
but there is nothing in the regulations to substantiate
this discriminatory claim. Mr. Gumson
would have been licensed long ago if he had been
sighted. Despite the evidence that he is fully able to
perform the tasks of a day-care assistant, the Office
for Children has remained adamant. Consequently,
we are assisting with a complaint. In recent years
we have won the right for blind people to work in
the day-care business in Missouri, California, and
elsewhere; and we intend to bring nondiscrimination
to Massachusetts. The Office for Childrenjnust
realize that equal opportunity applies to the Northeast
as much as it does to the central states or the Far
West.
Last year I reported to you that we had commenced a lawsuit in South Carolina on behalf of Joe
Urbanek. Carnival Cruise Lines had proclaimed a
policy which discriminated against the blind. All
blind persons were required either to be accompanied
by attendants or to sign release forms waiving
the legal protections usually available to
travelers. When Joe Urbanek was told that he would
have to sign such a release, he refused. As a result,
the cruise line told him that he could not board their
ship.
On December 21, 1989, a court decree ended
the dispute. Liability releases will not be required.
Blind passengers will not be treated differently from
others. When Joe Urbanek asks for a ticket and pays
the tab, he will receive the same courteous treatment
as any other passenger. He will walk the deck of the
cruise ship, and blindness will be no bar. This is the
power of collective action, and Merry Christmas to
Carnival Cruise Lines.
We are assisting the National Treasury
Employees Union in a grievance on behalf of
several blind employees of the Internal Revenue
Service. Working conditions for the blind
throughout the Internal Revenue Service will be
affected. Blind information specialists were expected
to answer questions about income tax law
and regulations, but they were not given the necessary
technical manuals in a usable form. This information
is, of course, already available in the computer.
However, it was not provided to the blind.
Because blind workers were expected to use out-of
date documentation, their answers were sometimes
incorrect. Officials in the Internal Revenue Service
charged incompetence. However, the blind had
been competently giving the answers that had been
recorded in the out-of-date manuals they were
given. We are currently taking steps to ensure that
the materials are made available in a usable form
and that the performance of the blind is judged by a
reasonable and fair standard.
We continue to work in a number of areas to
help blind people obtain quality rehabilitation services.
One of the most effective ways to improve the
rehabilitation system is to create a legislative
mechanism which authorizes individual clients to
select the agency that will provide their training. A
bill which we initiated that is now pending in the
House of Representatives would create the process
for individual choice.
Early this spring hearings were held before the
Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways
and Means Committee. I expressed the views of the
National Federation of the Blind concerning the
urgency of the need for this legislation. A number
of other blind witnesses also made presentations,
and the hearing record is sprinkled with the testimony
of Federation leaders from throughout the
land. The result is that the Social Security Administration
is now establishing a pilot program
which has as one of its main features free choice of
rehabilitation programs for Social Security
beneficiaries.
Of course, if the errors committed by the agencies
for the blind are simply adopted by Social
Security, this pilot project will work no better than
the current program of rehabilitation; but if Social
Security really tests the concept of free choice (and
I believe that it will), there should be a noticeable
change. When blind people control their own lives,
enlightened self-interest will do the rest.
James Storey and Catherine Monville receive
services from the Maryland rehabilitation agency.
Rehabilitation officials told them that they could not
obtain training from centers operated by the National
Federation of the Blind because those centers
were outside of Maryland. But the rehabilitation
services offered to the blind of Maryland are inadequate,
so we filed appeals. Here are the results. Both
James Storey and Catherine Monville are students
at National Federation of the Blind centers, and the
state of Maryland is paying the bill.
At our 1989 convention we adopted a resolution
which declared that the Americans with Disabilities
Act must not be employed as a vehicle to force the
blind to use special rooms, equipment, and services
modified for the handicapped unless they wished to
do so. We said that if an amendment to this effect
were not adopted, we would reluctantly oppose the
bill. This new law is intended to be a comprehensive
prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability.
It applies to employment, to public facilities,
and to most private businesses. When it is implemented,
the Americans with Disabilities Act could
affect almost every activity of our lives.
Accommodation to the needs of the disabled is
the underlying principle of the act. Rather than
seeking equality of opportunity, this bill asks for
alteration of existing businesses, programs, and
facilities to achieve equality of result. This form of
civil rights has not worked for us in the past.
Programs that have been modified to accommodate
the handicapped have often first been offered to us
on a voluntary basis. Later, accommodated
programs become mandatory.
On buses there are seats for the handicapped.
Some bus drivers insist that the blind sit there or get
off the bus. It is possible that hotel operators will set
aside rooms for the handicapped that the blind are
required to use. This could have been the result of
the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, an
amendment was included in the bill which gives
each of us the right to accept or reject any accommodation.
This principle must be implemented in
regulations developed under the act. If it is not, this
civil rights statute could be used to establish restrictions
which were not authorized by law until its
enactment. However, we will monitor the progress
of draft regulations, and we will insist on our right
to participate on a basis of equality in programs
established to serve the general public. The role of
the National Federation of the Blind is to be a
watchdog on the programs and activities designed
to serve blind people. Nowhere is the need for our
organization more strikingly demonstrated than in
connection with the Americans with Disabilities
Act. In the name of civil rights we might have faced
reduced opportunity, but our amendment has
avoided this negative result. This is one more reason
for the National Federation of the Blind.
Richard Skipper is a blind vendor in North
Carolina. Laurie Eckery is employed by the Marriott
Corporation in Nebraska. Tom Anderson has been
a social worker, a clerical employee, and a dispatcher.
He lives in Ohio. Tony Jaramillo has been
employed for many years in the industries program
of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind.
These blind people are among those who have
received extensive assistance from the Federation in
dealing with alleged Social Security overpayments
during the past year. The amounts that Social
Security was attempting to recover ranged from
$7,000 to $60,000. In each of these cases the Social
Security Administration has been forced to
withdraw its claim of an overpayment. It is beneficial
to be a member of the National Federation of
the Blind.
Gladys Penney, who is 63 years old, has been
blind since birth. She last received a paycheck in
1951. In 1979 she heard that she might be eligible
for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
She applied, but her request was denied. The
decision said that her Social Security coverage expired
in September 1956 and that she was no longer
qualified for disability benefits. Although Gladys
Penney filed several applications for disability insurance
after 1979, the results were always the
same. Then, she learned of the National Federation
of the Blind. We agreed to help. An additional
hearing was held, and a decision has been reached.
In its previous rulings on her claim the Social
Security Administration had failed to apply the administrative
provisions related to blindness. The
denials would have been correct if Gladys had not
been blind, but she is. We explained the applicable
rules, and in March of this year the Social Security
Administration paid Gladys Penney the benefits she
should have had since 1979. She is presently receiving
a Social Security check each month. The amount
of her back payment was more than $23,000.
Pete Salas is a blind vendor at the federal building
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several years ago
he learned from the National Federation of the Blind
that the Social Security rules defining substantial
gainful activity probably made him eligible to
receive Social Security Disability Insurance. With
our help he applied, but his application was rejected.
Following a hearing last fall he was awarded disability
benefits. However on January 18,1990, Pete
Salas was officially notified that his claim was being
reviewed by the Social Security Appeals Council in
accordance with a request from the office of disability
relations at Social Security headquarters.
Their protest memorandum said that the hearing
officer had made an error of law in failing to consider
the extent of Pete Salas's work activity in
conducting his vending business.
The Social Security Administration has always
tested substantial gainful activity for blind people in
terms of money. If the money received by a
beneficiary is earned, and if there is enough of it,
substantial gainful activity has occurred. If it has not
been earned, or there is too little of it, substantial
gainful activity has not occurred. In the first instance,
benefits will be withheld. In the second, they
will not.
An alteration of the test for substantial gainful
activity as proposed in the Pete Salas case would
cost hundreds of beneficiaries tens of thousands of
dollars. Such a policy shift cannot be initiated
without authorization by law. So we took action
immediately. On March 26, 1990, the Appeals
Council concluded its review, reinstated the hearing
officer's decision, and ordered the Office of Disability
Operations to process the claim. Pete Salas
will be receiving continuing benefits, and he has
been paid the money due him--amounting to over
$36,000. Furthermore, many blind people (most of
whom have never even heard of this decision) have
been protected.
In Colorado we have achieved total victory on
behalf of all of the vendors of that state. Four years
ago officials of the state agency for the blind announced
that they would take the best vending
facility in the state and divide it between two blind
persons. In making this decision they arbitrarily
exercised judgment about how much money a blind
vendor should be allowed to earn. We could not
afford to have such a limit imposed, so we took the
matter to court. We obtained an injunction, and the
facility was never divided. Administrative appeals
and an arbitration followed. A settlement has now
been achieved. The state must negotiate new
regulations with the vendors if any facility is to be
split in the future. The business will not be divided,
and the Federation will be reimbursed for attorney
fees.
We are working to uphold the rights of blind
vendors in two other arbitrations involving the
states of Minnesota and Michigan. The Minnesota
case involves a long-standing dispute between the
blind vendor program and the federal Department
of Veterans Affairs, formerly the Veterans Administration.
Observance of the blind vendor
priority at VA hospitals is at issue. In Michigan the
arbitration involves application of the blind vendor
priority at Postal Service sites. We have joined with
the state agencies in these cases to secure the rights
of blind vendors. Regardless of what some of our
opponents may say, when state agencies step forward
on behalf of the blind, we support and work
with them. We are glad to have them stand with us
and share our know-how and expertise.
Then, there is the State Department. As long as
anybody can remember, the State Department has
rejected all blind foreign service candidates on
grounds of blindness. Rami Rabby successfully
completed the Foreign Service written examination
three times and the oral examination twice. The
State Department responded by establishing a
policy that no blind person could take the test. They
said that there was no discrimination, that reading
was necessary, and that sight was required for reading.
Congressman Gerry Sikorski attended our convention
last year. He pledged to work with us to
open Foreign Service jobs to qualified blind persons.
The Congressman was as good as his word.
Last October, State Department officials announced
at a hearing that they would abandon their policy of
rejecting the blind, and they initiated discussions
with Rami Rabby about a job. The commitment of
the State Department has been firmly stated. Future
applicants will not be disqualified because of blindness.
One more opportunity is available to the
blind, and it happened because of the National
Federation of the Blind.
These cases are an indication of the work that
we do on an ongoing basis. There are many others.
When it comes to civil rights for the blind, we are
really the only ball game in town. Nobody else has
the knowledge, the skill, the determination, and the
conviction that we possess. Nobody else has the
tenacity and the willingness to meet conflict halfway,
or the ability to settle arguments with finality.
We have a reputation, and we deserve it. Those who
want a tough, resourceful advocate in matters dealing
with the blind join hands with us; they become
a part of the National Federation of the Blind.
This year we have completed installation of
new elevators and finished other remodeling at the
National Center for the Blind. Our complex of
buildings in Baltimore is the finest of its kind in the
nation. Our facilities have helped to make it possible
to carry on the extensive programs of the
Federation. Without them we would be much less
effective. Our growth during the past ten years has
been dramatic. We are operating more programs
today and assisting more blind people than ever
before, and I confidently believe that our expansion
will continue. Again this year our activities have
brought visitors from a number of foreign lands.
Following our 1989 convention, the past president
of the World Blind Union, Sheikh Abdullah M.
Al-Ghanim of Saudi Arabia, spent several days
examining our programs. There have also been
visitors from England, Ireland, West Germany,
Sweden, Japan, Canada, Poland, Australia, Jamaica
and other Caribbean countries.
We continue to distribute a very substantial
volume of material to the blind of the nation. During
the past year over 20,000 aids and appliances and
more than a million pieces of literature have been
shipped and distributed. The total weight of these
items is estimated at over 30,000 pounds.
Our Job Opportunities for the Blind program
has remained one of the most effective job placement
services for the blind in the nation. It has now
been in operation for ten years. During all that time
almost 150,000 contacts have been made with
employers. More than 65,000 job-related publications
have been sent, and over 900 blind people have
become competitively employed.
We have continued our efforts to computerize.
In our Records Center there are in the neighborhood
of 600 documented discrimination cases, 7,000
photographs, and 20,000 file folders. These must be
organized, and the computer is one very efficient
method for doing it. This is only an example of the
efficiency we gain with technology. Our experts tell
us that we now have more than one hundred times
the computer power which was required to put the
astronauts on the moon. An extraordinary amount
of paperwork is handled each year at our National
Office. The computers we have obtained (and there
are now more than fifty of them) greatly increase
our efficiency.
Our monthly magazine, the Braille Monitor, is
by far the most widely read publication in the blindness
field. We are now publishing in the neighborhood
of 30,000 copies each month. With this and
our other publications we are educating an evergrowing
number of individuals about the nature and
needs of the blind. Our magazine for parents and
educators of blind children, Future Reflections, has
a circulation of over 10,000 copies. Our Diabetics
Division newsletter, Voice of the Diabetic, is mailed
to over 30,000 locations. Our other publications
(the Student Slate, the newsletter of the National
Association of Blind Educators, the newsletter of
the National Association of Blind Lawyers, and the
publications of the other divisions, committees,
state affiliates, and local chapters) are proclaiming
our message about blindness and creating a new
spirit in the land. And of course, there are the other
materials we disseminate: the American Bar Association
Journal, Presidential Releases, and JOB
Bulletins. In carrying on our activities we record,
duplicate, and mail from the National Center for the
Blind approximately 50,000 tapes each year. The
literature of the Federation is growing tremendously.
This year we have made available the Handbook
for Itinerant and Resource Teachers of Blind and
Visually Impaired Students, by Doris Willoughby
and Sharon Duffy. This handbook of techniques and
resources used by the blind has been acclaimed by
those in the field of education as one of the most
valuable publications ever produced.
Our scholarship program has received more
attention in 1990 than ever before. Over 500 blind
applicants sought our assistance. The results of this
program demonstrate its value. Not only do we
distribute in the neighborhood of $100,000 each
year to blind students, but because of our efforts
blind college applicants throughout the country are
encouraged to seek higher education.
There are many ways to comprehend the importance
of our organization. A cataloging of our
accomplishments is one of them, but the work we
do is measured not only by statistics but also in the
personal lives of the people who gain opportunity
as a result. Our Monitor circulation, the thousands
of pounds of material we distribute, our hundreds of
chapters and tens of thousands of members are an
indication that we care about the future of the blind.
As I have traveled to state conventions, local chapter
meetings, and other functions, I have met the
Federation in person. The lives and experiences of
you the members make this organization what it
is--the warmth, the caring, the commitment.
In our first fifty years we have built a solid and
substantial organization. We have solved literally
thousands of problems. We have come to believe in
our ability to meet the challenges that lie ahead in
the future. The first fifty years are finished, but the
next half-century is still to come. The challenge is
formidable. It will transform the lives of the blind
not only of this generation but also the generations
to follow. You know this task as well as I. We must
begin with the dream of a future bright with
promise--of a time when the blind are accepted as
equals--of a day when we can confidently say, "We
have attained our freedom." If we keep faith with
each other and our heritage, we can complete what
Dr. tenBroek began in 1940. A new era for the
blind--that is our objective. Can we have it? Of
course, we can. If we believe with all our hearts, if
we think and plan with all our minds, if we work as
hard as we know how, and if we care with every
atom within us, the goal can and will be achieved.
It is within our reach! Do we have the intellect, and
will we use it? Is there, in our midst, sufficient
imagination? Are we capable of the sustained labor that must be expended? And do we possess the
generosity of spirit necessary to care for one another
and support our movement? Are not these characteristics
the very substance of the National Federation
of the Blind? You know they are, and so do I.
I have met the great body of the Federation, and
I am absolutely certain that the first fifty years are
only the beginning. With the Federation as our
vehicle and a spirit of determination as our driving
force, we will create a climate of equality for all of
the blind. The stakes are too high and the costs of
failure too great to do anything less. With all of the
problems we face, our future has never looked better.
Therefore, with joy, with enthusiasm, with purpose,
let us go to meet our second half-century. This
is my hope; this is my certainty; and this is my report
to you on this golden anniversary.
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