Presidential Report, 7/92

Presidential Report, 7/92

PRESIDENTIAL

REPORT

National Federation of the Blind

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, July 1, 1992

by Marc Maurer

During the past twelve months the endeavors of the National

Federation of the Blind—the largest, most dynamic organization of blind

people in the nation—have been diversified, extensive, and energetic. The

oneness of spirit and the harmony within the Federation are as great as they

have ever been. As we have come together in this convention to plan for the

year ahead and reflect on the year just ended, our mood is upbeat, enthusiastic,

self-assured. The influence of the organized blind in matters dealing with blind

people continues to increase. The problems for the blind are many, but we have

the know-how, the determination, the dedication, and the talent to solve them.

When we think of the work of the Federation, many images come

to mind—teaching Braille and the other skills of blindness to blind children

or adults, seeking the adoption of laws or regulations that will protect the

rights or promote opportunities for the blind, collecting technology of use

to the blind, distributing information about employment to the blind, planning

meetings with public officials to persuade them to follow a certain course of

action beneficial to the blind, assisting the parents of a blind child, speaking

to the public about the normality and respectability of being blind, and assembling

in our meetings and conventions at the local, state, and national levels to

discuss the matters that affect our daily lives. As the members of the public

come to understand blindness, and as our sighted colleagues become aware of

our hopes and dreams, much of the difficulty that we as blind people face will

be a thing of the past.

Our name and activities have become so well-known throughout

the United States as to be almost household words, but our philosophy and point

of view are also recognized and sought in nations beyond our borders. This spring

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan (our Executive Director, the most widely recognized author

in the field of work with the blind today, our teacher, and our leader) was

invited by the American government to represent the United States in matters

concerning blindness at the Eastern European Conference on Disabilities in Prague,

Czechoslovakia. When Dr. Jernigan indicated that his schedule would not conveniently

permit him to attend, the government officials involved urged him to change

his plans and made it clear that he, as the primary spokesman knowledgeable

about blindness in our country, would be a keynote speaker for the conference.

As reported in the June, 1992, Braille Monitor, Dr. Jernigan went, and

he carried our message.

In addition, Dr. Jernigan, at the invitation of the Director

of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services,

traveled to Puerto Rico last year to be the featured speaker at a conference

to discuss the importance and the meaning of the Americans With Disabilities

Act. We in the National Federation of the Blind have been a powerful force—perhaps

more effective than anybody else—in bringing blind people into the workplace.

The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services has

shown its commitment to equal rights for the handicapped. It has been very much

interested in working with us to see that disabled people are employed on terms

of equality with others.

Last year I reported to you that the National Federation of

the Blind had created the National Braille and Technology Center for the Blind,

which is now called the International Braille and Technology Center for the

Blind because included within it are products from many countries and because

this Center is available for use and study by individuals from any nation on

Earth. Collected in one place is every piece of hardware which we have been

able to locate (and most of the software packages) capable of producing information

in Braille or in speech. The perspective gained by an examination of this array

of computer technology is not merely helpful from an intellectual point of view.

It provides technical solutions to everyday problems and inspiration for imaginative

methods of employing electronic equipment.

The establishment of the International Braille and Technology

Center for the Blind (along with the far-ranging interaction of the National

Federation of the Blind with others throughout the blindness system) helped

stimulate the convening of the U.S.-Canada Conference on Technology for the

Blind, which took place in Baltimore at the National Center for the Blind last

September. This conference brought together for the first time in history the

leaders of all of the major entities in the field of work with the blind in

this country and many of those from Canada, along with the principal manufacturers

and distributors of technology for the blind. This international conference

(which nobody else could have called and organized) is noteworthy because it

engendered a spirit of unity never before achieved in the field of work with

the blind. Leaders from the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the Library

of Congress, the private agencies for the blind, the vision consultants, the

professional organizations for the blind, the producers of technological devices

and software for the blind, and blind consumers came together to discuss common

problems, share information, learn from each other, and plan for future cooperation.

Such a meeting could not have taken place as recently as ten years ago (or,

for that matter, even five years ago) because of the fragmentation, distrust,

and hostility which then existed in the field of work with the blind. But the

hostility, the distrust, and the fragmentation are diminishing, and the blind

are receiving better services and expanded opportunities as a result.

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan serves as President of the North America/Caribbean

Region of the World Blind Union. As the elected leader of the world organization

from our area of the globe, he attended meetings this year in Tokyo, Hong Kong,

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Canada. The international cooperation among agencies

and organizations dealing with blindness has been tremendously beneficial to

the blind of the United States and to other countries as well. Not only have

we gained knowledge of matters dealing with blindness in other lands and perspective

regarding our efforts at home, but we have also been stimulated to plan cooperative

ventures with other entities in the field of work with the blind that would

never have occurred without our involvement in the international arena. Indeed

at the National Center for the Blind we have welcomed over a thousand visitors

during the last twelve months—many of them from nations beyond our borders,

including: Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Germany,

Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines,

Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, and the United

Kingdom. In the fall of 1992 at the quadrennial meeting of the World Blind Union

scheduled to be held in Cairo, we will be participating actively to expand opportunities

for the blind. Not only in our own country, but throughout the world, we are

changing what it means to be blind.

One of the best known medical research centers dealing with

vision loss is the Wilmer Eye Institute, a department of Johns Hopkins University.

In 1989, working in conjunction with this prestigious medical facility, the

National Federation of the Blind published the book Blindness and Disorders

of the Eye. In 1992 the Wilmer Eye Institute has released its publication,

Vision Loss Information and Resources. In this brief document the National

Federation of the Blind is mentioned seven times. As is the case with others,

the medical professionals are discovering that they can serve their clients

better when they become associated with the organized blind.

Two of the best known writers in the field of education of

children with disabilities are Daniel P. Hallihan and James M. Kauffman, authors

of the volume Exceptional Children: Introduction to Special Education. In 1988

Professors Hallihan and Kauffman released a new edition of their textbook, which

contained statements indicating that the blind could not be as competitive as

those with eyesight. At the invitation of the National Federation of the Blind,

these authors attended and participated in our 1991 National Convention. After

returning home, Professors Hallihan and Kauffman wrote to the Federation indicating

that the information about blindness they intended to include in the next edition

of their book would be much more positive, and they give credit where credit

is due—to the National Federation of the Blind. The blind children of today

(the oncoming generation of blind adults of the decades ahead) must be given

the opportunity to be treated like the normal human beings they are, and deserve

the right to be—and we (you and I, the members of the National Federation

of the Blind) are the ones to get the job done. We can do it—and we will

do it!

One of the most positive programs for the blind is the Books

for the Blind Program conducted by the National Library Service for the Blind

and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress. For a number of years

the National Federation of the Blind has been working cooperatively with Mr.

Frank Kurt Cylke, the Director of the NLS program, and other officials at the

Library of Congress. The resulting interaction between blind consumers and library

officials has provided the opportunity for give and take, joint planning, and

imaginative exploration of technological and programmatic alternatives.

This spring the National Conference of Librarians Serving Blind

and Physically Handicapped Individuals was held in Baltimore. All two hundred

of these librarians came to the National Center for the Blind and were our guests

for lunch and a tour of the facility. The dining room at the National Center

for the Blind is a sizable area, but until May of 1992, it had never been quite

so full. Many of the librarians had not previously visited the National Center,

but the response makes it clear that this first meeting will not be the last.

The National Federation of the Blind is among the most outspoken

proponents of Braille. In addition to publishing the Braille Monitor

in Braille, circulating tens of thousands of documents in Braille, establishing

the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille, supporting Braille lending

libraries, serving on a committee to advise the National Library Service for

the Blind and Physically Handicapped regarding the development of a Braille

competency examination, creating the International Braille and Technology Center

for the Blind, and initiating other actions to support Braille, we have authored,

taken to the state legislatures, and fought for the passage of Braille literacy

bills entitled the "Blind Persons Literacy Rights and Education Act."

These proposals have been introduced in the legislative halls of over twenty

states and have been adopted in a dozen of them. In Kentucky the Braille literacy

bill passed both houses of the legislature without a dissenting vote.

In Maryland the state Education Department tried to weaken

the measure by eliminating the presumption in favor of Braille for blind students.

Education Department officials claimed (if you can believe it) that legislation

with such a presumption would violate federal law. But we know better—and,

incidentally, so did they. It is not against the law to support Braille or literacy

for the blind. We asked the Attorney General of Maryland to consider this question:

"Does a presumption in favor of Braille violate federal requirements?"

When the opinion of the Attorney General became public, we learned that he agreed

with us. A presumption in favor of Braille complies fully with federal law.

The Maryland Braille literacy bill was adopted without alteration, exactly as

we had drafted it.

Let no one be deceived. We will not quit or rest until every

blind child in this nation has the chance to become literate—and that means

the chance to learn Braille. We will do it by negotiation and gentleness if

we can—by stronger means if we must. But make no mistake about it: We absolutely

intend to get the job done.

The public service announcements of the National Federation

of the Blind continue to receive recognition as among the most positive portrayals

of blindness available on radio or television. Our messages are broadcast by

all of the major radio and television networks and a number of cable systems.

It is estimated that this upbeat depiction of the blind has gone into the homes

of almost two hundred million Americans.

Not all of the radio and television coverage about blindness

during the past twelve months has been positive. The ABC program "Good

& Evil," which made fun of the blind, is a malodorous reminder—a

reminder that many of the attitudes about the blind held by entertainers and

others are still both superficial and negative. ABC personnel had the effrontery

to tell us that the blind character on "Good & Evil," shown as

a clumsy oaf who used blindness as an excuse to fondle indiscriminately the

sex organs of both men and women, was a positive portrayal of us as blind people.

But we of the National Federation of the Blind were not prepared to take this

abuse without a fight. And if it ever happens again, we won't take it next time

without a fight either.

Dr. Jernigan appeared on the nationwide television broadcast

of "Entertainment Tonight" to inform the public that "Good &

Evil" should be cut from the entertainment lineup because its characterization

of blind people was deliberately misleading, degrading to the blind, and a straight-out

lie. Blind Federation members marched with picket signs in front of ABC headquarters

in New York and Washington. We were interviewed by newspaper reporters throughout

the nation. "Good & Evil" quickly reached the cutting room floor,

and today it is only a disgusting memory. Let no one doubt it: The reason for

its demise was the National Federation of the Blind.

Shortly after Dr. Jernigan appeared on the television program

"Entertainment Tonight," the Cable News Network conducted an interview

with him about blind people serving on juries. A number of us had been rejected

for jury service, and there were certain so-called experts saying that blind

people could not judge the facts. Dr. Jernigan pointed out that the task of

a juror does not require eyesight but the capacity to understand, make judgments,

and reach conclusions. It is not so much the state of the eye but the condition

of the brain that matters. In this respect blind jurors are quite as capable

as their sighted colleagues. CNN carried the message to millions—the message

of competence, the message of ability—the message of the National Federation

of the Blind.

Last spring the producers of "L.A. Law" contacted

the National Federation of the Blind with questions about the portrayal of blindness.

An actor playing the part of a blind lawyer was scheduled to appear in several

episodes. What would be believable, they wanted to know. What would be most

realistic? The information was provided. As it happens, several of the leaders

of our organization have experience with the legal profession. Blindness is

no bar to the competent and effective practice of law, and we demonstrated this

to the screenwriters.

In 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into

law by the President of the United States. One of the requirements of this law

is that information be made available to the blind in forms accessible to them.

In partnership with the United States Department of Justice, the National Federation

of the Blind established, last October, the Information Access Project. Through

this project we are providing private companies and government institutions

with assistance and technical support in meeting the needs of the blind for

information. This project operates through the National Information Access Center

(a subdivision of the National Federation of the Blind) and uses the facilities,

equipment, and expertise of the International Braille and Technology Center

for the Blind, another of our subdivisions. Volunteers are available in each

state to help solve the problems of obtaining access to information on the local

level. During the first eight months that we provided service through this project,

approximately five thousand people participated in meetings and seminars about

alternative methods for providing information. From October to May approximately

a hundred people a month visited the National Information Access Center for

hands-on demonstrations. More than thirteen thousand copies of the brochure

Toward Equal Access: Providing Information Access Services to Blind and Visually

Impaired Persons Under the Americans With Disabilities Act were distributed

in Braille, in large print, in recorded form, on computer disk, and in digital

format through computers.

One of the features of the International Braille and Technology

Center for the Blind is our computer bulletin board, NFB NET, established about

a year ago. This bulletin board is a computer that can be reached by telephone

by people who have computers that know how to talk on the phone. Our computer

has a lot of storage in its memory. The memory bank is so big that you could

stuff an entire encyclopedia into it and have room left over. It will hold over

100,000 pages of print, and it talks very rapidly.

Included in the information available from this computer bulletin

board are the Braille Monitor, other NFB literature, computer games,

and specialized computer programs such as synthesized voice software. Our bulletin

board has received more than five thousand telephone calls, and the number is

growing exponentially. Over twenty-eight million bytes of message and file information

have been transmitted to the board, and more than one hundred forty-nine million

bytes have been disseminated. We try to make information about blindness available

in every possible way. No matter what the medium, we will use it to send our

message throughout the nation and the world. The blind have the need—and

we have the know-how; we have the resources; and we have the determination.

When I joined the National Federation of the Blind, over twenty

years ago, our movement had a reputation which combined toughness with generosity

and tenderness with a hard-as-hell practicality. We try to be gentle, but we

won't be walked on—and we have good memories. We do our best to avoid conflict,

but when combat becomes unavoidable, we fight to win—and we never quit.

In 1984 several members of the National Federation of the Blind

were fired from the Idaho Commission for the Blind because they were a part

of the organized blind movement. For the past eight years we have been involved

in a lawsuit to protect the rights of the two blind supervisors who were dismissed,

Frank Smith (who has since died) and Ray Martin. The lawsuit charged unlawful

dismissal on two counts: discrimination on the basis of blindness, and violation

of the constitutional right to freedom of association. The defendants asked

that the case be dismissed on technicalities. They objected to a trial by jury.

They urged the court to rule that even if they admitted the truth of what we

said, the Constitution and the laws of the United States had not been violated.

There was a trial in the federal court, followed by a proceeding in the Court

of Appeals. We had lost in our arguments at the lower court level, but the Court

of Appeals reversed the decision and ordered a second trial, which was scheduled

to occur later this summer. As the second trial became imminent, officials in

Idaho asked if it wouldn't be possible to settle the case. Although the documents

filed for settlement carefully avoided admitting wrongdoing, the payment involved

may suggest the extent to which the state officials believed the charges were

true. I have been informed that I am not to disclose the size of the payment.

However, the amount is sizable. The cash to be paid would not quite buy a new

Rolls Royce which might sell for upwards of $200,000, but I believe it is in

the range.

In 1986 John Jones, who was then employed as a fire fighter

in the Baltimore City Fire Department, became blind. His superiors forced him

to accept disability retirement. In November of 1989, we assisted John Jones

with a federal lawsuit charging that the forced retirement was discrimination.

After much maneuvering in the court, the case has now come to a favorable conclusion.

It is helpful to have knowledgeable, determined friends; it is worthwhile to

belong to the National Federation of the Blind. John Jones is presently reporting

to work in the Fire Prevention and Inspection Section of the Baltimore Fire

Department, and he has received back wages. The total amount of the payment

to him is $108,000. Oh yes, we who are blind have found our voice—and we

have also found our strength. We have found it through the National Federation

of the Blind.

Sheryl Pilcher, who is a sighted woman living in Texas, has

a five-year-old blind daughter named Ashley. Recently, she attempted to buy

insurance for Ashley, but she was informed by Security General Insurance Company

that they did not insure the blind. When Sheryl Pilcher brought the matter to

the attention of the Texas Insurance Department, officials there indicated that

nothing could be done. This sighted mother could buy insurance on her blind

daughter from another company or go without. Then, the National Federation of

the Blind came to her assistance. We examined Texas insurance discrimination

laws, and we reached the conclusion that the Security General Insurance Company

had violated the code. Our findings were brought forcibly to the attention of

the Texas insurance commissioner. Under date of June 2, 1992, the supervisor

of Consumer Services of the Texas Department of Insurance wrote to Security

General requesting that a change in the underwriting guidelines be filed with

the Commission within ten days. The insurance company was told that it may not

refuse to sell insurance to the blind. This is the law. It was adopted because

of the National Federation of the Blind, and it is being enforced because of

the National Federation of the Blind. We care; we follow through; and we take

care of our own.

Karen Small is a blind parent living in Illinois. During a

custody dispute in the early 1980s, a misguided judge ordered that Karen (because

she is blind) could not have custody of Eric, her own son. The court said that

Eric must be placed with sighted grandparents and that Karen could visit the

boy only with sighted supervision. Although our initial efforts in the courts

were only partially successful, we did not quit. In 1984 we persuaded the judge

to eliminate the requirement for sighted supervision, but custody remained with

the grandparents. Today, as a result of our continuing support and work, a complete

change in the custody order has been made. Eric now lives with his mother. Karen

Small has her son—and we have preserved and strengthened our self-respect.

The National Federation of the Blind is helping Jerry Vaughn,

a blind businessman, who operates a sand and gravel pit in Tennessee. In 1986

he filed an application to become a minority small business enterprise contractor

under Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act. Participants in this program must

demonstrate that they are both socially and economically disadvantaged. Those

who are members of certain minority groups are presumed by law to be socially

disadvantaged, but the blind are not within this classification. The SBA demanded

that Jerry Vaughn prove that he is socially disadvantaged. (You sometimes wonder

whether to laugh or cry.) For five years Jerry Vaughn carried on a regular correspondence

with them. He would ask for minority contractor status; they would demand additional

documentation; he would send the paperwork; they would demand still more. When

the SBA had finally become convinced that he was both socially and economically

disadvantaged, they rejected the application because, they said, Jerry Vaughn

had not been in an active business during each of the last two years.

The sand and gravel contracts in the area where Jerry Vaughn

is in business are largely government orders. Those who get them are either

very large corporations with the economic backing and influence to build multi-million-dollar

projects or small business operators like Jerry Vaughn. If the small business

operators are not part of the minority small business program, they are prohibited

from competing for a very substantial amount of the business. In other words,

the failure of the Small Business Administration to grant the application for

participation in the small business enterprise program drove Jerry Vaughn out

of business. Now that his company has failed, the SBA is claiming that they

cannot grant the application. Such treatment will not do. We will not permit

it. We have assisted Jerry Vaughn in bringing legal action in the federal court,

and we intend to win.

We continue to be active to protect the interests of blind

vendors in the Randolph-Sheppard program. As Federationists know from discussions

at these conventions year after year, Dennis Groshel is a blind vendor in Minnesota

who operates a facility at the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital in St.

Cloud. The income from this facility is about $30,000 a year. The Department

of Veterans Affairs first argued that Dennis should not be permitted to have

a vending facility at the VA Hospital at all, but the arbitration panel convened

to hear the case ruled against them. However, the VA asked that it be paid a

commission amounting to seventeen percent of the gross receipts from the vending

facility (about $15,000, or half of the profit). The arbitration panel erroneously

granted this request, so we are helping with an appeal.

The Dennis Groshel arbitration is, to say the least, quite

unusual. The vending facility in question is operated by Dennis Groshel; the

money being taken is the income of Dennis Groshel; and the person who reports

to work is Dennis Groshel. It seemed only reasonable that one of the parties

in the case should be Dennis Groshel. However the lawyer for the Department

of Veterans Affairs has tried to keep him out. But this is simply not fair.

We are helping Dennis intervene in his own case. He will be involved, and we

intend to help him keep the money that is rightfully his under the law. Incidentally,

all other vendors should take note, for this case has implications for every

one of them throughout the nation.

Kenneth Godwin has, for a number of years, been a blind vendor

in Kansas. On May 1, 1991, officials of the state licensing agency summarily

dismissed him from his vending facility. Although the Randolph-Sheppard Act

requires a hearing before termination of a vendor's license, state officials

claimed that they did not violate the law because they were not terminating

the license. They were (if you can believe the hypocrisy) merely preventing

him from operating his business. He still had the license, they said.

Lynn Webb Bary is a member of the National Federation of the

Blind, a blind vendor, and one of our leaders in Kansas. She heard about the

abrupt and unfair dismissal of Kenneth Godwin, and she came to his assistance.

She was present at the administrative hearing in support of Godwin, and she

was prepared to offer testimony. Agency officials were saying that Godwin had

been caught drinking in the vending facility, but they couldn't produce evidence

to substantiate the claim. The record at the hearing strongly suggests that

they had decided to get rid of him because he insisted on his rights and would

not be bullied by agency personnel. He would have been completely out of the

program, however, without the help of Lynn Webb Bary and others in the National

Federation of the Blind. The decision in the vending hearing has not yet been

reached, but we expect it to be favorable. Even if it is, it will not solve

all the problems in the Kansas vending program. There appears to be a pattern

developing—a pattern of harassment by vending officials in Kansas. And

who would you guess is the object of this harassment? It is the person who supported

Kenneth Godwin in his efforts to gain fairness in his dealings with the agency;

it is Lynn Webb Bary. If agency personnel take reprisals against this blind

vendor for protecting the rights of her blind colleague, we want here and now

to make them a promise. They will face all of us; they will face the organized

blind; they will face the collective power of the National Federation of the

Blind. We will not be silenced—and we will not be bullied into meekly giving

up our rights.

We have also been involved in a number of Social Security cases.

Gary Metzler is a blind vendor living in Florida. He was advised by the Social

Security Administration that he was no longer eligible to receive Social Security

benefits. Their notice indicated that he had been overpaid $32,698.10. The accounting

procedures in the vending program in Florida make it appear that blind vendors

are employees of the state. Blind vendors, operating under the rules applicable

to self-employed individuals, may deduct a number of work-related expenses that

are not applicable in the case of state employees. Consequently, the erroneous

determination that this blind vendor was employed by the state deprived him

of work-related deductions to income which should have been available. The lawyers

for the Social Security Administration did not understand the distinctions involved,

but we know the law, and we know how the facts should be applied. The decision

in this case has now been received. Mr. Metzler does not owe $32,698.10. In

fact, he has not been overpaid at all. He is entitled to monthly benefits, and

he is currently receiving the checks.

A year ago the Social Security Disability benefits being paid

to David Dillon of Massachusetts were unceremoniously cut off. He was unemployed,

but this fact seemed insignificant to officials at the Social Security Administration,

who were drawing their own checks on a monthly basis without interruption. David

Dillon had worked for a newspaper on a part-time basis for a few months in 1989

and 1990. Social Security officials said that this demonstrated his ability

to work, and the ability to work made him ineligible for benefits. They insisted

that he return over $10,000 in Social Security benefits that had been paid to

him during the two years that he had done part- time work. David Dillon felt

desperate. He was unemployed; Social Security declared that he was no longer

eligible for benefits; and they demanded that he pay $10,000. He turned to the

National Federation of the Blind.

A hearing has now been held before the Social Security Administration,

and the decision has been reached. There has been no overpayment; David Dillon

is not required to return $10,000; and Social Security benefits should continue

to be received. This is not the only result of the hearing. The record shows

that the Social Security benefit for David Dillon was figured incorrectly. When

the calculations have been properly made, there should also be a substantial

back pay award. This is one more reason why we have formed the National Federation

of the Blind. If we don't take care of ourselves and each other, others will

certainly not do it for us.

Harvey Heagy works as a disk jockey at an FM radio station

known as Oldies 106.5 located in the New Orleans area. Most of his work is done

at night and on weekends when public transportation is not available. He gets

to work by taxi, which costs a bundle. A year ago he was notified by the Social

Security Administration that he could no longer receive benefits and that he

had been overpaid about $20,000. Social Security ignored the costs of job-related

transportation. During the past year we have assisted him in receiving a correct

determination of his eligibility. The case is not yet over, but there has almost

certainly been no overpayment, and Harvey Heagy should be receiving a substantial

amount of back benefits.

The National Center for the Blind (the headquarters of the

National Federation of the Blind) is a facility both functional and impressive.

Renovations during the past twelve months have been extensive. The front entrance

has been completely redesigned. There is currently a front portico, which is

a hundred and thirty-two feet long and adorned with a decorative wrought iron

railing. At our front door there is a staircase twenty-two feet wide, topped

with a twenty-five foot internally lighted canopy. Displayed in light is the

name of our building, the National Center for the Blind. This newly installed

front entrance is wheelchair-accessible.

We have also constructed a conference center on the second

floor. This area has office and meeting room space, and a kitchen.

All of the metal and wood on the outside of the National Center

for the Blind is being painted with a dark green acrylic aliphatic urethane.

This modern product resists abrasion, water, corrosive fumes, chemicals, and

weather conditions of all kinds. We estimate that the amount of paint being

applied weighs approximately 3,500 pounds, one and three-quarter tons.

In August of 1991 on the roof of our building, we installed

a forty-foot aluminum flag pole with a ten by fifteen-foot United States flag.

Illuminated with four spotlights, the flag flies above and behind our National

Federation of the Blind sign. This combination creates a commanding impression

for the fifty thousand drivers who pass our building each day.

In addition to the programs and cases we have initiated this

year, we in the Federation have continued our other ongoing activities. Our

publications are the most widely distributed and recognized in the field of

work with the blind. We circulate in print, in Braille, and in recorded form

approximately 30,000 copies of the Braille Monitor each month. We have

available almost five hundred items of literature about blindness, and we have

mailed tens of thousands of our Kernel book What Color is the Sun. The

second Kernel book, The Freedom Bell, is being released at this convention,

and if it has an impact as great as the first, this Kernel book will do much

to change the image of blindness in the public mind. We will soon be releasing

the third Kernel book, entitled As the Twig is Bent. We continue to produce

over 30,000 copies of the Voice of the Diabetic each quarter, and our

magazine for parents and educators of blind children, Future Reflections,

is received by more than ten thousand individuals and institutions. In our studio

we record the Braille Monitor; Job Opportunities for the Blind Bulletins;

the Student Slate, which is the magazine for students; the American Bar

Association Journal; and a number of other newsletters and individual pieces

of literature. The National Federation of the Blind is by far the largest publisher

of information about blindness in the world.

From our Materials Center we distribute aids, appliances, and

literature. Our NFB canes, lightweight and strong, have come to be recognized

as the world standard. In the past twelve months we have distributed over 7,000

cane tips. We have also continued to distribute literature at a record rate.

We have shipped over thirteen thousand of our new Diabetics Division brochure,

almost 700,000 What is the National Federation of the Blind, more than 350,000

Do You Know a Blind Person, and a number of other materials. Almost 25,000 different

aids and appliances have been sent, and the total of all items distributed from

the Materials Center since last year is almost two million. In April, 1992,

we released a new book entitled What You Should Know About Blindness, Services

for the Blind, and the Organized Blind Movement. In the first two months that

it has been available, more than five thousand copies have been sent to provide

information about blindness and the organized blind movement. This large print

pocket-sized book is the best general information quick reference guide about

blindness available.

In 1975 the National Federation of the Blind completed the

organizing of affiliates in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. In

1992 an additional affiliate was added to the roll. We welcome to the family

of the Federation the National Federation of the Blind of Puerto Rico.

The blind of America have been traveling to the National Center

for the Blind, the nerve center of programs and activities in the blindness

system, for the past decade and a half. Increasingly, agency representatives,

government officials, and those considering a career in programs for the blind

have also been coming. In October of last year Dr. William Wiener, the president

of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually

Impaired, brought his class of orientation and mobility students from Western

Michigan University to visit the National Center for the Blind and to interact

with Federation members and leaders. The directors of publishing houses for

the blind, state agencies for the blind, schools for the blind, and federal

programs have also come. The National Center for the Blind is ideal for such

interaction, but the reason they come is the imagination and spirit which they

find. The National Center for the Blind is a symbol as well as a superb physical

plant. Dr. Kenneth Jernigan had the wisdom to imagine such a Center and the

talent and energy to focus resources on its acquisition and development. Now

that the Center is in place, it is easy to see how much it is needed. The same

is true of the largest gathering of blind people in the nation, the convention

of the National Federation of the Blind.

Much of our work is done in meetings and by telephone, but

there is also the mail. We receive thousands of letters a year. Many of them

are routine, but there are many which contain the very essence of the reason

for the National Federation of the Blind. The diabetic mother who is becoming

blind writes to ask for help because she can no longer have children of her

own, and she is convinced that her growing loss of sight prevents her from adopting.

A woman whose father has become blind tells us she is glad we exist because

her father has given up hope, and she needs our support in bringing him to believe

he can use his talents again. A sighted seventh-grader who writes for the school

newspaper and has read our Kernel book What Color is the Sun wants to interview

a blind student for the paper. She says: "I want to show everybody that

blind people are just like everybody else. I figure if we start showing everybody

the truth now, we will have fewer problems. Remember we are the future."

Then there are those who in writing (sometimes without even knowing it) express

their fear and shame about blindness, but there are fewer of these than there

used to be. We try to address each of the problems, and we do our best to help.

Whether it is a blind parent seeking to adopt a child, a mother

trying to find an educational opportunity for a blind student, a blind high

school graduate seeking the chance for a college education, a blind adult looking

for a job, or a blind senior citizen seeking the means and the understanding

to remain active and involved in the community, we are there. With our publications

in almost every field, with our chapter meetings in almost every city, with

our support groups in virtually every profession and calling, we are able to

give the advice and encouragement that are needed.

As President of this dynamic nationwide organization, I have

had the good fortune to be with thousands of you during the course of the year.

There are certainly problems—some of them large and complex. But we have

the organization; we have the means of collecting the resources; and most important

of all, we have the spirit that is required. It will not be easy—the simple

things are for those who do not share our commitment, our dedication. The ignorance

about blindness is ancient; the misunderstandings we face are widespread; and

the misconceptions about us are great. Nevertheless, I have met with you, the

members of this organization, in meetings all over the nation in our hundreds

and thousands. I have shared with you our hopes, our disappointments, our realities,

and our dreams. And I know—I am certain—that there is nothing on Earth

that can stop us or hold us back. We have the courage, the gentleness, the practical

good sense, the willingness to work—and we have the boldness to dream of

the time when the problems we face will be no more. This is the promise and

the reality of the National Federation of the Blind—and this is my report

to you.

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Updated: March 14, 2002