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Braille Monitor

Vol. 49, No. 11 December 2006

Barbara Pierce, editor

Published in inkprint, in Braille, and on cassette by

The National Federation of the Blind
Marc Maurer, president

National Office
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
telephone: (410) 659-9314
email address: [email protected]
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Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about twenty-five dollars per year.
Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover
the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to
National Federation of the Blind and sent to:

National Federation of the Blind
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230

THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION
SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES

ISSN 0006-8829

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Vol. 49, No. 11 December 2006

Frontispiece

Convention Bulletin 2007

Maxi-Aids Seeks to Intimidate Competitors by Claiming that Somebody Stole
Intellectual Property from It
by Marc Maurer

Blindness: The Lessons of History
by Kenneth Jernigan

It's a Long Way from School Plays to Community Theater
So How Did I Get from There to Here?
by Gail Snider

An Examination of Four Stand-alone Reading Machines
by Steven Booth, Mike Tindell, and Anne Taylor

A New Day for Disabled Americans
by Karl Smith