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FUTURE REFLECTIONS
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Winter, 1994
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THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLInd
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MAGAZINE FOR PARENTS OF BLIND CHILDREN
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Barbara Cheadle, Editor
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Published by the
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national Federation of the Blind
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1800 Johnson Street
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Baltimore, MD 21230
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(410) 659-9314
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ISSN 0883-3419
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Vol. 13, No. 1<T>Barbara Cheadle, Editor Winter, 1994
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Contents
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Snapshots from the 1993 NFB National Convention
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Michigan: Host of the 1994 National Parents Seminar and National
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Federation of the Blind Annual Convention
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Reflections from Home: Report on the 1993 National Convention of
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the National Federation of the Blind, Dallas, Texas
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by Jude Lincicome
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Through the Screen Door
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A poem by Nancy Scott
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NFB Recognizes Outstanding Individuals
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Gift of Independence: Teacher Helps Blind Find Their Own Way
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1994 Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award
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by Sharon Maneki
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1994 Application
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Childhood on the Lower East Side
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by Dr. Abraham Nemeth
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Meeting the Needs of the Deaf-Blind Child
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1993 Gus Gisser Memorial Braille Readers Contest Report
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by Sandy Halverson
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Chesnee Girl Wins Braille Award
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The Scholarship Class of 1993
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NAPUB Plans National Braille-A-Thon for Detroit
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by Jerry Whittle and Betty Niceley
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The Nature of Independence
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by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan
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MICHIGAN: HOST OF THE 1994 NATIONAL PARENTS SEMINAR AND NATIONAL
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FEDERATION OF THE BLIND ANNUAL CONVENTION
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Each year the National Parents of Blind Children Seminar gets
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bigger and better. This day-long seminar has become one of the
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traditional kickoff events of the annual convention of the National
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Federation of the Blind. Sponsored by the National Organization of
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Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC), (formerly the Parents of Blind
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Children Division), the seminar attracts parents, educators, and
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interested members of the Federation from all over the country, and
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a few foreign nations as well. And the 1994 seminar and convention
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in Detroit, Michigan, promises to be the best, the biggest, and the
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most informative we have ever had.
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The focal point of the convention activities will be the Westin
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Hotel at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. From Friday, July 1, to
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Thursday, July 7, over 2,500 blind people and hundreds of parents
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of blind children will converge upon the hotel to listen, learn,
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share, discuss, debate, and otherwise participate in the week's
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activities. It is a unique opportunity for parents and educators to
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learn about blindness from the real experts on blindness the blind
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themselves.
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For parents, the first big event is the National Parents of Blind
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Children Seminar on Friday, July 1. The seminar agenda includes
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topics that are always appropriate "Planning Your Child's
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Individualized Education Program (IEP)" and "How to Choose the
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Right Technology for Your Child" as well as some topics never (or
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seldom) explored in previous national parent seminars, such as
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"Readers and Drivers: The Other Alternative Techniques" and
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"Learning Through Play: A Panel Discussion about Toys, Games,
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Hobbies, Recreation, and Sports." Other subjects on the agenda
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include: "Parents: The Blind Child's First Mobility Teachers" and
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"From Taking Notes to Taking Out the Trash."
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Registration for the seminar will begin at 8:00 a.m. The seminar
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will begin at 9:00 with the keynote address, "Cheap Mistakes: When
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Children Need to Fail." The registration fee for the seminar is
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$8.00 per family for those who wish to join, or renew their
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membership in, the NOPBC. The fee is $5.00 per person for those who
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do not wish to become members. The seminar will conclude at 5:00
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p.m.
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As usual, a special field trip has been planned for children ages
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five to twelve. Donna Posont of Michigan is organizing and
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supervising this year's trip to Greenfield Village. Donna Posont is
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a blind mother, an active member of her local chapter and state
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affiliate of the NFB, and an active member of the Parents of Blind
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Children Division of Michigan as well. She has conducted many local
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field trips and other activities for children for the Michigan
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parent division. Here is what she has to say about the field trip:
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On Friday, July 1, 1994, children between the ages of five and
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twelve are invited to take a field trip to Greenfield Village,
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which is one of the most extraordinary places you can visit. It
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provides unique educational experiences based on authentic objects,
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stories, and lives of America's famous inventors. On this
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ninety-three-acre outdoor exhibit stand the Wright brothers'
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bicycle shop, Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory, and the Logan
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County Courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln worked as a lawyer.
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These are not replicas they are the actual buildings. You will also
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find a working blacksmith's shop, an 1880's farm, and a 1913
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carousel. These are one-of-a-kind exhibits you don't just look
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at you experience them! And, because of a contact we have with a
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member of the Greenfield Village staff, we will have a special
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guide for our group who will be dressed in colonial costume and who
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will explain the exhibits as we examine them.
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We will gather in the hotel near the parents' seminar room on
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Friday morning between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. The price for the trip is
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$20.00 per child. This includes the cost of transportation and
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lunch. We will return by 5:00 p.m. or before. Parents will be told
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Friday morning where to pick up their children.
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Since the number of children who can be accommodated for this trip
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is limited, we urge you to pre-register your child(ren) for the
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Greenfield Village daytrip. Children will be accepted on a
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first-come, first-served basis. Please contact Donna Posont if you
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have any questions about the day-trip, if you want more information
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about pre-registration, or if you have a child with special needs.
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To pre-register your child(ren), send your check for $20.00 per
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child and the names, ages, and indication of special needs of each
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youngster (including whether the child is blind or sighted) to
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Donna Posont. Her contact information is 20812 Ann Arbor Trail,
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Dearborn Heights, Michigan 48127; phone (313) 271-3058.
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Two other very special workshops for qualified parents, teachers,
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and other members of the Federation will take place Friday
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concurrently with the afternoon session of the 1994 National
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Parents of Blind Children Seminar. These workshops, "Braille
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Methods," and "The Nature and Nurture of Cane Travel and
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Independent Movement in the Early Years" will be conducted from
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1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. These workshops are open to two groups of
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people: blind adults and parents of blind children who are willing
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and able to work within their Federation affiliates to use and
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share their new knowledge for the benefit of others and teachers
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and others who work professionally with blind children.
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The "Braille Methods" workshop will be conducted by Claudell
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Stocker, a nationally known Braille expert. The National Library
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Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped's (NLS) Literary
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Braille Competency Test was developed under her direction as the
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former head of the NLS Braille Development Section. Mrs. Stocker
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also conducted the very popular "Beginning Braille for Parents"
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workshops at our last three national conventions. Participants must
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be able to read and write Grade II Braille. A maximum of twenty
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persons may register for this workshop.
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Joe Cutter, who is both an early childhood specialist and an
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orientation and mobility instructor, will be conducting the cane
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travel workshop with the help of Carol Castellano, President of the
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Parents of Blind Children Division of the NFB of New Jersey, and
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George Binder, a children's cane travel instructor in New Mexico.
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Mr. Cutter assisted Fred Schroeder with a cane travel workshop at
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National Convention a few years ago. He has been a proponent of
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giving canes to blind preschoolers, and even toddlers, for many
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years. The purpose of this workshop is to train participants in the
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concepts, philosophy, and strategies which undergird the successful
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nurture of independent movement, confident cane travel, and good
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orientation and mobility for young blind children. With this
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knowledge participants will be better able to advocate for quality
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cane travel and O&M programs for children; and the teachers, O&M
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specialists, and other professionals who attend the workshop will
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be better prepared to provide these quality programs. The maximum
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number of participants in this workshop is fifty. We urge NFB
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parent's divisions and state affiliates to consider sending a
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representative to this workshop.
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To pre-register for either of these workshops, send your name,
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address (including city, state, and zip code), telephone number,
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and a check in the amount of $10.00 (made payable to National
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Organization of Parents of Blind Children) to NOPBC Convention
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Workshops, National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street,
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Baltimore, Maryland 21230. Also, please indicate if you are a
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parent, teacher, or other professional and whether you are blind or
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sighted. If you are registering for the Braille Workshop, please
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describe your level of Braille knowledge or experience.
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Other activities during the convention will include an opportunity
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for blind youth to get together for a discussion. This will also
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take place the afternoon of Friday, July 1. Friday evening the
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NOPBC will sponsor a Parent Hospitality Room in the NFB Camp room
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from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. There will be food for everyone (specifics
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will be announced at the seminar) and plenty of toys and space for
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the kids to play. Susan Benbow of New Mexico and other teachers and
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blind adults will be on hand to talk to parents one-on-one about
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particular educational concerns. If you wish, they will also
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demonstrate the use of the slate and stylus or other simple
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activities to you and your child.
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As usual, the annual meeting of the NOPBC will also take place
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during the convention. The meeting will be on Sunday afternoon,
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July 3, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. An IEP workshop will also be held
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for parents on the evening of Monday, July 4, from 7:00 p.m. to
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10:00 p.m.
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General Child Care Information
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As usual, child care will be available during the 1994 convention.
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Again this year the volunteer director of child care services
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(christened last year and now known as NFB Camp) is Mary Willows.
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Mrs. Willows is an experienced educator, the mother of two
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children, and a long-time leader in the National Federation of the
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Blind of California. This volunteer job is a major undertaking. It
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takes a tremendous amount of time from many Federation parents who
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care deeply about making the NFB Convention an enjoyable and
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enriching experience for every member of the family who attends.
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Child care is provided not only during the parent seminar on
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Friday, July 1, 1994, but also during the convention sessions, the
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banquet, and other special meeting times (as resources allow).
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Parents are asked to make these donations for child care: $50 for
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the week (including the banquet) for the first child and $25 for
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each additional child. Or, if you do not need the full week of NFB
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Camp, $10 per child per day and $10 per child for the banquet
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night. Parents who cannot contribute the suggested donation should
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contact Mary Willows to discuss what donation they are able to
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make. Mary will be available in the NFB Camp room before and after
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sessions. Please contact Mary as soon as possible to indicate the
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number of youngsters in your family who will be participating in
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NFB Camp during the week. Be sure to tell her about each child's
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special needs, if any. We also need to know the age of each
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youngster and whether each is blind or sighted. Checks for child
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care (made payable to NOPBC) and registration information should be
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sent to Mary Willows, 3934 Kern Court, Pleasanton, California
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94558; (510) 462-8557. Since the suggested donation does not cover
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all expenses, other donations from individuals and groups will be
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much appreciated.
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Hotel Reservations
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As usual, our hotel rates are the envy of all who hear about them.
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For the 1994 convention they are: singles, $38; doubles and twins,
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$43; triples, $45; and quads, $48. In addition to the room rates,
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there will be a tax, which at present is twelve percent. There will
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be no charge for children in the room with parents as long as no
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extra bed is required.
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To make hotel reservations for the 1994 convention you should write
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directly to Westin Hotel, Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan
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48243, Attention: Reservations; or call (313) 568-8000. Westin has
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a national toll-free number, but do not (we emphasize NOT) use it.
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Reservations made through this national number will not be valid.
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They must be made directly with the Westin in Detroit. The hotel
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will want a deposit of $45 or a credit card number. If a credit
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card is used, the deposit will be charged against your card
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immediately, just as would be the case with a $45 check. If a
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reservation is canceled prior to June 20, 1994, the entire amount
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of your deposit will be returned to you by the hotel. Requests for
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refunds after June 20, 1994, will not be honored.
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Convention Dates and Schedule
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Here is the general outline of convention activities:
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Friday, July 1 seminars for parents of blind children, blind job
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seekers, vendors and merchants, several other workshops and
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meetings, and Parents' Hospitality (evening).
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Saturday, July 2 convention registration, exhibit hall open for
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business, first meeting of the Resolutions Committee (open to
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observers), some other committees, and some divisions.
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Sunday, July 3 exhibit hall open all day, meeting of the Board of
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Directors (open to all), division meetings (including the National
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Organization of Parents of Blind Children annual meeting),
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committee meetings, continuing registration.
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Monday, July 4 opening general session, exhibit hall open before
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session and during lunch, evening picnic and gala, and evening IEP
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Workshop.
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Tuesday, July 5 general sessions, exhibit hall open before session
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and all afternoon, tours.
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Wednesday, July 6 general sessions, exhibit hall open before
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session and during lunch, banquet.
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Thursday, July 7 general sessions, exhibit hall open before
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session, adjournment.
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Miscellaneous Information
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NFB information tables will be set up in the hotel (usually near
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the hotel registration area). Details about where the Friday, July
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1, workshops will be held, location of the NFB Camp for kids, and
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so forth will be available at these tables. The complete convention
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agenda, in print or Braille, is available to all those who register
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for the convention. Registration opens on Saturday, July 2. The fee
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is $5 per person. There is no pre-registration for the convention.
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Each person must be present to register him- or herself.
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Banquet tickets generally do not exceed $25 to $30 and should be
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purchased at the time you register. We have a system called the
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Banquet Ticket Exchange which gives you the option of selecting in
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advance the people with whom you wish to sit at the banquet. The
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procedure is explained at registration and again early in the
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convention session.
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Hospitality and convention information will be available at the
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Presidential Suite and the NFB of Michigan Suite throughout the
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convention. The location and phone numbers of these suites will be
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listed in both the pre-convention and convention agendas.
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The NFB of Michigan is putting together some wonderful tour
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packages for convention. Details will be in the Braille Monitor and
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at the NFB Convention Information table when you arrive. If you do
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not get the Monitor and would like some information in advance,
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write or call:
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National Organization ofParents of Blind Children Convention
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Information 1800 Johnson Street Baltimore, Maryland 21230 (410)
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659-9314.
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REFLECTIONS FROM HOME Report on the 1993 National Convention of the
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National Federation of the Blind Dallas, Texas
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by Jude Lincicome
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Editor's Note: Jude Lincicome, a parent from Maryland, received a
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scholarship from the Parents of Blind Children Division of the NFB
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of Maryland (POBC/MD) for herself and her son, Jeremy, to attend
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the 1993 NFB Convention. Jude later gave a fascinating report about
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their convention experiences to the annual meeting of the POBC/MD.
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That report (which was published in <M>Horizons<D>, the Maryland
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Parent Division newsletter) became the basis for the following
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article. Here is Jude's "Reflections from Home":
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Jeremy and I arrived in Texas on Friday afternoon, July 2, feeling
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a little bit of apprehension and a lot of excitement. The Hyatt
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Regency DFW was quite comfortable, and we found our room easily. We
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stayed in the West Tower. NFB Camp and the swimming pool were also
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in the West Tower. Across a quarter-mile corridor was the East
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Tower where the majority of convention activities were held.
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While parents were attending sessions, children went to NFB Camp,
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which was directed by Mary Willows, a blind educator. The week was
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abundant with activities in the hotel and about the Dallas area.
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The children had a great time not only sharing adventures but
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making new friends with true peers other blind children and/or
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siblings of blind children. For one week they were just like
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everybody else.
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Our busy week began early Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. with the
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Parents of Blind Children all-day seminar for parents and teachers,
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"Meeting the Needs of the Blind Youngster." How reassuring to hear
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speaker after speaker reinforce the importance no, the
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necessity for early Braille and cane travel instruction. It was
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during this seminar that I realized that I was not demanding enough
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independence in cane walking for Jeremy. For those who do not know
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us, Jeremy is five years old and attends the Maryland School for
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the Blind. How about that! Me, the one most folks who know me say
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demands too much from her children, guilty of not expecting enough.
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Just for this, the whole trip seemed worthwhile.
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The morning included recognition of the Braille Readers Are Leaders
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contestants, discussion of the role of parents, blind role models,
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and alternative techniques. There was also an excellent panel on
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||
the needs of deaf-blind children. Dr. Abraham Nemeth, inventor of
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||
the Nemeth Braille code for mathematics, spoke of his upbringing
|
||
and education as a blind child in an earlier era. Both the progress
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we have made and, sadly, the regression since his days as a youth
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were most enlightening.
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||
For the afternoon we broke into specialty groups. The choices
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||
included: Current Trends and Legislation in Special Education;
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||
Deaf-Blind Children; Integrating Braille at Home and in the
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||
Classroom; Alternative Techniques for Junior High, Middle, and High
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||
School Students; IEP Workshop; Blind Multiply Handicapped Children;
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Cane Travel; and Personal Independence and Daily Living Skills.
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||
Since I write a column for parents of the multiply handicapped
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blind child for the POBC of Maryland newsletter, I attended the
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||
group led by Colleen Roth, who chairs the POBC Network for the
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Blind Multiply Handicapped Child.
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||
While I was busy learning all I could about how to be my son's best
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||
advocate and how to more effectively meet his needs, Jeremy spent
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||
the day at a Dude Ranch with his friends from NFB Camp. His
|
||
favorite story about the trip is about the hayride and what
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||
happened on the way to the petting zoo. "...The wheel came off and
|
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we tipped." What an exciting start of NFB Camp! For me the most
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impressive part of the ranch trip was that all the children
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||
participating were given canes (if they did not already have one),
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no matter what level of vision they had. What a great message to
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||
everyone about the importance of using a cane. Since this trip,
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Jeremy uses his cane everywhere he goes; a habit I've tried for a
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year to instill in him. Saturday evening we went to a pizza party
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||
with high-steppin' fiddle music. We made new friends at the party,
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||
then went for a swim before bedtime.
|
||
Sunday was less structured, giving us time to go into town for a
|
||
whataburger and shop for a few forgotten items. Then it was on to
|
||
the convention exhibit hall to shop again -this time for
|
||
information, ideas, trinkets, gifts for friends and family, and a
|
||
tee shirt in Braille. This was my first of many trips around the
|
||
exhibit hall, and I dare say I probably still missed a few things
|
||
to see. Registration was quick and easy with one stop to register
|
||
and purchase tickets for trips and the banquet. Lines were only a
|
||
couple deep despite the fact that over 2,500 persons registered
|
||
during the week. Sunday afternoon Jeremy and I took our turn
|
||
working the POBC table in the exhibit hall. Toys we thought would
|
||
be attractive for kids were a hit with the adults. Our
|
||
print/Braille tee shirts with the cartoon Pluggers<191> character
|
||
Zacharoo (a blind kangaroo) and the words "Braille is Finger-food
|
||
for the Blind," were liked by young and not-so-young. We sold out
|
||
of several items the first couple of days.
|
||
Monday morning was spent again at the exhibit hall and the Sensory
|
||
Safari, a hands-on exhibit of stuffed animals sponsored by the
|
||
Safari Club International. Jeremy had a rare and wonderful
|
||
opportunity to touch and explore, in detail, huge elephant tusks,
|
||
tiny squirrel feet, hippo teeth, wolf fur, mountain lion claws,
|
||
monkey tails, and bird feathers, just to name a few. Each animal
|
||
had a knowledgeable guide to answer any question. Some animals had
|
||
tape recordings of their special call or sound. How many of us can
|
||
say they have plunged their whole hand into the mane of a buffalo
|
||
or felt the tongue and back teeth of a hyena?
|
||
Monday afternoon was our Parents of Blind Children Annual Meeting.
|
||
Speakers again reinforced the necessity of Braille and cane
|
||
independence for blind children, giving example after example of
|
||
kids successful at learning Braille or cane walking. We vicariously
|
||
experienced each child's triumph and were all encouraged by these
|
||
examples to renew our own resolve to have our child be the best
|
||
that he or she can be.
|
||
Ruby Ryles, who is currently working on her Ph.D. in the education
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||
of blind children, gave an enlightening presentation of her
|
||
research which documents the positive link between Braille literacy
|
||
and employment of the blind. Officers and board members were
|
||
elected and state POBC reports were given. Networking exchanging
|
||
names and addresses was also a highlight of the meeting.
|
||
A swim in the pool after dinner was about all the activity Jeremy
|
||
and I could handle as by now we were both feeling the effects of
|
||
early to rise, late to bed. Reluctantly we missed the "Yah Sure Can
|
||
Do Carnival" sponsored by the NFB of Minnesota affiliate and
|
||
BLIND, Incorporated (the NFB of Minnesota orientation and training
|
||
center for the blind).
|
||
Tuesday morning the magnitude of the convention became evident.
|
||
Eight halls were joined to form a huge room to accommodate some
|
||
2,500 registrants from not only our 50 states, Puerto Rico, and
|
||
D.C. but from many other countries, such as Thailand, Japan,
|
||
Canada, and Saudi Arabia as well. People of every variety, size,
|
||
color, shape, ethnicity, and station who carried canes or used dogs
|
||
(and some who used wheelchairs, too) were coming together in one
|
||
place for a common cause. It was truly an awesome sight!
|
||
As I sat watching the people in the room, it occurred to me that
|
||
something seemed to be missing something that perhaps had not
|
||
happened yet. Then it came to me. We had been here for four days
|
||
now, here in a strange place with people we've never seen before,
|
||
doing things we've never done before, among people who like my son
|
||
are blind. How strange that my level of stress and anxiety was so
|
||
low. There were a few people who during the first days seemed to
|
||
carry a lot of emotional baggage. But they, too, seemed to have
|
||
been able to leave it behind and join the spirit of our single
|
||
purpose learning about blindness and how to be the best that we can
|
||
be. And whatever each of us is, is okay. As if this realization was
|
||
not exciting enough, the roll call of the states brought my
|
||
awareness back to the convention hall.
|
||
As each state represented was called forward, conventioneers
|
||
responded with a resounding cheer. Our tiny state was third in
|
||
numbers attending. Not bad! Albeit, it does seem most fitting that
|
||
the state of Maryland, under our President, Sharon Maneki, should
|
||
assume a role of leadership since we are the home of the National
|
||
Center for the Blind, headquarters of the National Federation of
|
||
the Blind. If only we can sustain that enthusiasm when we get home!
|
||
Just think what we can accomplish.
|
||
The afternoon session was highlighted by the Presidential Report by
|
||
Marc Maurer. The scope and power of the National Federation of the
|
||
Blind seems to touch us at all levels of our lives. I hope you will
|
||
read his report in the Braille Monitor. No less inspiring was an
|
||
address by the Honorable Sam Johnson, Member of Congress, Third
|
||
District, Texas: "Blindness: Meeting the Challenge Through
|
||
Self-Organization and a Fighting Spirit Lessons From One Who
|
||
Knows!" Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, President Emeritus of the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind, both amused and instructed us with his
|
||
presentation of "The Nature of Independence." Dr. Jernigan gave a
|
||
very personal, sensitive, and instructive answer to a group of
|
||
letters he received from blind students at a training center for
|
||
the blind concerned about what they perceived to be a rift between
|
||
Dr. Jernigan's choice of using sighted-guide techniques over
|
||
independent cane walking at convention, and the position of the
|
||
National Federation of the Blind concerning the importance of
|
||
independent cane travel. Again, I hope you will read this also.
|
||
[Editor's note: This speech is reprinted in this issue on page 44.]
|
||
|
||
Tuck Tinsley, III, Ed.D., President of the American Printing House
|
||
for the Blind, Louisville, Kentucky, gave us a good look at what we
|
||
can expect from the American Printing House in his talk "Tomorrow's
|
||
News Today." Some of the joint projects now taking place between
|
||
the National Federation of the Blind and the American Printing
|
||
House for the Blind will help prepare the future generation to meet
|
||
the challenge of competitive employment in the age of computers and
|
||
technology.
|
||
As my head was reeling with possibilities for my son, I hurried to
|
||
pick him up from NFB Camp to go to the Texas Barbecue Under the
|
||
Stars. To think I had to travel all the way to Texas to meet the
|
||
President of my NFB Baltimore County Chapter. That night Ken
|
||
Canterbury met my son Jeremy. This was Ken's first real experience
|
||
with a blind child. I have asked Ken to be my son's big brother.
|
||
Role models are important for children, and I am glad to find a
|
||
blind man for my son to look up to. Just think, several times I
|
||
almost gave up on coming to the barbecue. Food, friends, fun,
|
||
dancing, and music were abundant. We had a great time. I'm so
|
||
grateful we went.
|
||
Wednesday morning came all too soon, beginning with election of NFB
|
||
Board Members. Greetings from the Congress of the United States
|
||
were then delivered to the convention by the Honorable Greg
|
||
Laughlin, Congress member from the fourteenth district, Texas. His
|
||
remarks were a firm reminder of the responsibility the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind has to lead the nation's blind and to
|
||
advocate for them and the high regard held for the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind by those who govern this great nation.
|
||
Turning to other serious matters, the remainder of the morning was
|
||
spent in a discussion of issues around "Fair Labor Standards Fact
|
||
or Fiction for Blind Workers in the Sheltered Workshop." James
|
||
Gashel was moderator of a panel which included: Joe D. Cordova,
|
||
Assistant Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and
|
||
Administrator of the Industries Division; Richard J. Edlund, Member
|
||
of the Kansas House of Representatives; Fred Puente, Chairman of
|
||
the Board of Trustees of Blind Industries and Services of
|
||
Maryland; Donald Ellisburg, labor lawyer and consultant; William
|
||
Gross, Assistant Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the
|
||
Employment Standards Administration in the U.S. Department of
|
||
Labor; and Austin Murphy, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor
|
||
Standards, Occupational Health and Safety of the Committee on
|
||
Education and Labor in the House of Representatives.
|
||
General consensus was that there is a serious double standard in
|
||
the wage earnings of blind and sighted employees in workshops for
|
||
the blind. Ironically, the majority of the monies allocated to a
|
||
workshop go to the salaries of the sighted administrators and
|
||
supervisors, and what is left is paid to the blind employees. The
|
||
legislation, which was originally designed with the intention of
|
||
increasing employment possibilities for the blind by allowing
|
||
employers to pay sub-minimum wages, is now responsible for unfairly
|
||
keeping blind employees in sub-minimum-wage-paying jobs. However,
|
||
studies show that productivity is higher when wages are at or above
|
||
minimum-wage standards. This was a very sobering panel. Reality
|
||
shock has certainly made me concerned, even frightened for my son's
|
||
future. I'm really glad I insisted on a strong Braille component
|
||
for Jeremy's IEP this year! His opportunities in the future will be
|
||
better with good Braille skills and cane independence.
|
||
Wednesday afternoon and evening was left open for Federationists to
|
||
relax, enjoy local sights, or do whatever they wished. Our
|
||
afternoon was spent riding the train to the airport and exploring
|
||
the shops. This was Jeremy's choice, and I'm so proud that he is
|
||
telling me what he wants to do. During our afternoon he wanted to
|
||
go about with his cane "all by myself." Before, when we were in the
|
||
mall or the airport and even when he had his cane, he has always
|
||
wanted to touch either myself or his brother's wheelchair. So this
|
||
was a real gain.
|
||
Most of Thursday morning's general session was devoted to issues of
|
||
education. Those speaking included Frank Kurt Cylke, Director of
|
||
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
|
||
Handicapped of the Library of Congress, and Ramona Walhof,
|
||
Secretary of the National Federation of the Blind. Mr. Cylke's
|
||
presentation was entitled, "Twenty Years of Service and Twenty
|
||
Years to Come." Ramona Walhof's inspiring speech was called,
|
||
"Braille: A Renaissance."
|
||
Next was a panel discussion called "Mainstreaming, Schools for the
|
||
Blind, and Full Inclusion: What Shall the Future of Education for
|
||
Blind Children Be?" Panel members were: Fred Schroeder, Executive
|
||
Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and formerly
|
||
Director of Low-Incidence Programs in the Albuquerque Schools; Dr.
|
||
Phil Hatlen, Superintendent of the Texas School for the Blind and
|
||
Visually Impaired; Dr. Michael Bina, Superintendent of the Indiana
|
||
School for the Blind and President of the Association for Education
|
||
and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER); and
|
||
Dr. Ralph Bartley, Superintendent of the Arizona State Schools for
|
||
the Deaf and the Blind. The morning ended with a presentation by
|
||
Patricia Stenger, Senior Vice President of the American Diabetes
|
||
Association; the title was "Diabetes: A Leading Cause of Blindness
|
||
in the United States."
|
||
Issues of modernizing the Social Security and SSI systems were
|
||
addressed by Louis Enoff, Acting Commissioner of the Social
|
||
Security Administration, first thing during the afternoon session.
|
||
Excellence in the workplace was demonstrated by the next panel of
|
||
speakers: Richard Realmuto, teacher of technology, Stuyvesant High
|
||
School in Manhattan, New York; Kathy Kannenberg, teacher of
|
||
mathematics in Raleigh, North Carolina; Michael Gosse, Ph.D.,
|
||
Electrical Engineer at Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation
|
||
in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Alan R. Downing, a high-performance
|
||
engine builder. Under the topic, "Diversified Tasks: The Blind in
|
||
the Workplace," each spoke of their success as blind professionals
|
||
in a diverse cross section of employment.
|
||
Finally the Honorable Jim Ramstad, Member of Congress, Third
|
||
District of Minnesota spoke about pending legislation, the
|
||
Americans with Disabilities Business Development Act, and what it
|
||
could mean to the blind for self-employment opportunities. Reports
|
||
from Dr. Kenneth Jernigan as representative of the World Blind
|
||
Union of North America/Caribbean Region were deferred to Friday
|
||
because of time.
|
||
Thursday night's banquet was a most phenomenal success due to an
|
||
incredible banquet address presented by President Marc Maurer. A
|
||
look at the past and people's perceptions of blindness were
|
||
presented in a hilarious walk through the writings of several
|
||
scholars of the day. It was clear that President Maurer enjoyed
|
||
presenting his address as much as we enjoyed hearing it.
|
||
Neither Jeremy nor I had the energy left for the Colorado Hoe-down
|
||
following the banquet. The spirit was ready, the flesh weak. Jeremy
|
||
had stayed busy at NFB Camp with trips to the park, puppet shows,
|
||
and fun in the Oyngo-Boyngo, a marvelous net-enclosed trampoline.
|
||
And Friday would bring with it a field trip to the Science Center
|
||
and lunch at McDonald's.
|
||
Friday's general session was devoted to the business of running a
|
||
big organization. Reports, finances, resolutions, and a report from
|
||
our NFB Director of Governmental Affairs, James Gashel, filled both
|
||
morning and afternoon sessions.
|
||
I made a last trip to the exhibit hall to make sure nothing was
|
||
overlooked, then went to the NFB Camp to collect my son for the
|
||
last time. The tears in the eyes of his caretakers were a sure sign
|
||
of the loving care my son received while at Camp. After exchanging
|
||
addresses and promising to write, we left for one more ride on the
|
||
airport train, dinner, then bed.
|
||
My only disappointment from the entire week was that we had not won
|
||
any of the hundreds of door prizes, ranging from chips to $1000 in
|
||
a leather briefcase. My secret wish was to take home a box of
|
||
Armadillo Droppings, the caramel and pecan confections that had
|
||
been taste-tested in general session by President Maurer himself.
|
||
Saturday's return trip was spent enjoying the quiet and remembering
|
||
the past week with friends. How richly blessed we are by the
|
||
vision, wisdom, information, friendships, networking with other
|
||
families, and the reassurances we received at the Federation
|
||
Convention that after all is said and done, blindness need not be
|
||
a crippling handicap. And with Braille literacy and competence in
|
||
cane walking, blindness may be reduced to nothing more than a
|
||
nuisance. I returned home with a renewed hope for my son and his
|
||
future, and a resolve to make certain he has the Braille and cane
|
||
skills he must have. I, too, am learning Braille.
|
||
In closing I would like to share a funny anecdote from our final
|
||
train ride to the airport on Saturday. I sat across from a father
|
||
with his young daughter. The man sat staring at me for quite a
|
||
while before he spoke. I answered his questions about where we had
|
||
been and where we were going. Then he asked "What do you use that
|
||
for?" looking at my purse with his eyes. "What do you mean?" I
|
||
asked, "That's my purse."
|
||
"Then what do you keep in that?" he asked, again pointing with his
|
||
eyes, but now at Jeremy's book-bag with noticeable Braille on the
|
||
flap. Confused by his odd questions, I said, "It's my son's
|
||
book-bag."
|
||
"You see well" replied the man, seeming pleased with his test of my
|
||
vision. I was simultaneously amused by his `beat-around-the-bush'
|
||
way of determining my visual acuity, and offended by his obvious
|
||
thought that because I was also carrying a cane (Jeremy's small
|
||
cane that we replaced at convention) that he needed to determine by
|
||
trickery whether I was really blind or merely pretending by also
|
||
carrying a cane. For a brief moment, I felt like I could have been
|
||
proud to be blind like Jeremy. And then I wondered if it was that
|
||
I would be proud to be blind or proud to be associated with the
|
||
blind; for I had just spent eight days in the company of the blind
|
||
learning about blindness, and I had been privy to some measure of
|
||
their courage, determination, and caring for one another. And I do
|
||
feel proud to have been at the convention the National Convention
|
||
of the National Federation of the Blind.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
THROUGH THE SCREEN DOOR
|
||
by Nancy Scott
|
||
|
||
I am on my back steps, my squirt gun ready, but I need something
|
||
good to shoot. I already shot the house. The water thuds if I get
|
||
close, but that's no fun anymore.
|
||
|
||
I hear the hiss of Mom's iron in the pantry. I could shoot her, but
|
||
not really. There's a door for the water to hit so I could shoot
|
||
her in my head. I aim at the spitting iron.
|
||
|
||
I fire. The water sisses with the force of my wishing. Buzz against
|
||
the screen so I know its going where I want. Buzz. Siss. Pull. Feel
|
||
the water going from the gun. Siss. Buzz.
|
||
"Stop that." What? That's not supposed to happen. Mom must be
|
||
hearing me think. I know she can do that sometimes. "There's water
|
||
all over the floor." No. There's a door there.
|
||
|
||
I'm six and I'm not stupid. "You're shooting through the screen.
|
||
Water goes through the door." That can't be. Water is big. It stays
|
||
in one place, not like air and noise. I tell her.
|
||
Mom sighs from mad to show-and-tell; puts my left hand inside, my
|
||
right with the gun out and says "shoot." Pull. Buzz. Wet against
|
||
my inside hand. "Yes. Come look." She puts my right hand in the
|
||
puddle on the floor.
|
||
|
||
I could have shot her after all. How far wouldwater go through the
|
||
door? How high could I make it reach? Good thing she isn't hearing
|
||
me think. Maybe if I reach real high No, I'll try for the tree.
|
||
NFB RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS
|
||
|
||
Three special awards were presented at the 1993 NFB Convention.
|
||
They were: the Blind Educator of the Year Award, the Distinguished
|
||
Educator of Blind Children Award, and the Golden Keys Award. These
|
||
awards are not bestowed lightly. If a worthy recipient does not
|
||
emerge from the pool of candidates for a particular award, it is
|
||
simply not presented that year. These awards are, therefore,
|
||
meaningful expressions of recognition and gratitude to outstanding
|
||
individuals who have made a difference in the lives of blind
|
||
people.
|
||
The Golden Keys Award was presented for the first time in 1993 at
|
||
the Convention banquet Thursday evening. The National Association
|
||
to Promote the Use of Braille (NAPUB), a division of the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind, created the award; and Betty Niceley,
|
||
President of NAPUB, made the presentation to the 1993 winner. The
|
||
winner had, in Mrs. Niceley's words, " worked for us and with us to
|
||
increase the use of Braille. [He] sought us out, wanted our
|
||
comments, listened to us, and put into action the suggestions we
|
||
made." She then presented a beautiful plaque with seven gold keys
|
||
emulating the keyboard of the Braille writer to Deane Blazie,
|
||
inventor of the Braille 'n Speak and many other outstanding Braille
|
||
products for the blind.
|
||
The two educator awards were presented at the Monday morning
|
||
meeting of the Board of Directors. Emerson Foulke was the 1993
|
||
winner of the Blind Educator of the Year Award. Stephen Benson,
|
||
Chairman of the Selection Committee, described Dr. Foulke's many
|
||
accomplishments, then presented him with a plaque and a check for
|
||
$500. Dr. Foulke has a Ph.D. in psychology from Washington
|
||
University in St. Louis. He has written literally hundreds of
|
||
articles, authored and co-authored many books, and taught at the
|
||
university level for thirty-three years. He has long been involved
|
||
in technical research and research on human perception. Beyond
|
||
that, he has done extensive work in Braille and is involved in the
|
||
construction of the Braille Code.
|
||
Sharon Maneki, Chairperson of the Distinguished Educator of Blind
|
||
Children Selection Committee, presented that award. She said:
|
||
|
||
We in the National Federation of the Blind constantly challenge
|
||
ourselves to find new ways to meet our goals. In 1987 we created
|
||
the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award because we not
|
||
only believed in excellence in education, but we believed that the
|
||
best way to help blind people is to make it better for the next
|
||
generation. The members of the Committee have a difficult task.
|
||
Those members were Jacquilyn Billey, Allen Harris, Fred Schroeder,
|
||
Joyce Scanlan, and I. We were able to find a candidate who reflects
|
||
what we stand for. She is a candidate who has been teaching for
|
||
nine years in the classroom. Some may say that's like combat duty,
|
||
but she is a person who believes in students and passes on the
|
||
torch, not only of knowledge, but of confidence in their abilities.
|
||
This year's Distinguished Educator of Blind Children is a teacher
|
||
in Zia Elementary School in the district of Albuquerque, New
|
||
Mexico, Gail Katona.[applause] I'm going to present Ms. Katona with
|
||
a check for $500 and also with a plaque, and I will read the
|
||
plaque:
|
||
|
||
DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND CHILDREN
|
||
|
||
The National Federation of the Blind honors
|
||
GAIL KATONA
|
||
LIST = for your skill in teaching Braille and the use of the white
|
||
cane, for generously donating extra time to meet the needs of your
|
||
students and for inspiring your students to perform beyond their
|
||
expectations. Our colleague, our friend, our ally on the
|
||
barricades, you champion our movement, you strengthen our hopes,
|
||
you share our dreams. July, 1993
|
||
|
||
After Ms. Katona accepted her plaque, she said:
|
||
|
||
I'm overwhelmed. Thank you very much for this wonderful award. It
|
||
is a great pleasure and honor to receive it from an organization
|
||
such as yourselves. I would like to thank Mrs. Maneki and the
|
||
members of the selection committee for selecting me this year. I
|
||
would also like to say thank you to Mr. Fred Schroeder, who, when
|
||
I was first hired into Albuquerque, was the coordinator of the
|
||
program. So Fred was the one who hired me initially and gave me the
|
||
opportunity to start the program in Albuquerque and to teach these
|
||
wonderful blind children.
|
||
|
||
I'm a niece of Karen Mayry from South Dakota, so it's no wonder
|
||
that I've been a member of the NFB since I was about sixteen or
|
||
seventeen years old, and it is through this organization that I
|
||
have learned my philosophy and my attitude about teaching blind
|
||
children. Blind children are children first they're kids. They're
|
||
little. They need to be taught. Our blind children need to be
|
||
taught the skills of blindness. I do my best to make sure that all
|
||
of my students get the opportunities to learn and to grow to their
|
||
full potential. I think that is done through the use of teaching
|
||
Braille so that we have proficient Braille readers, and we always
|
||
encourage the use of a long white cane so the students can become
|
||
very independent cane travelers. Thank you again. This is a
|
||
wonderful honor.
|
||
GIFT OF INDEPENDENCE Teacher Helps Blind Find Their Own Way
|
||
|
||
From the <M>Albuquerque Journal<D>, September 21, 1993, by Tracy
|
||
Dingmann.
|
||
|
||
Jefferson Middle School student Jennifer Espinoza shuffles down the
|
||
crowded hallway, tapping her white cane uncertainly and hunching
|
||
her shoulders as if to shield her body form students charging
|
||
around her toward class. Her eyes see nothing, and her ears strain
|
||
to hear clues from her cane over the din.
|
||
From a spot down the hall, Jennifer's teacher Gail Katona watches
|
||
but makes no move to help. "If I walk with her, then she depends on
|
||
me," she whispers, as Jennifer slowly makes her way to class.
|
||
For the ten years Katona's been teaching visually handicapped
|
||
children, that's been her passion: to keep such students from
|
||
thinking they must depend on others to live happy, educated, and
|
||
successful lives.
|
||
This past summer the National Federation of the Blind named Katona
|
||
its 1993 Distinguished Educator of Blind Children. The prize means
|
||
a lot to a woman who grew up inspired by a blind aunt, a "really
|
||
regular, normal person" who skied, golfed and worked as a probation
|
||
officer.
|
||
"Through her and the National Federation of the Blind, I met blind
|
||
people from all walks of life successful, capable people," said
|
||
Katona, 30. "Then I met some blind people who were not very
|
||
independent, and I tried to figure out what the difference between
|
||
them was."
|
||
What did she find? "It all boils down to education, attitude, and
|
||
the expectations others have of them," she said.
|
||
Katona learned Braille at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and
|
||
earned a degree in elementary education of the visually
|
||
handicapped. Her first job was at Zia Elementary in Albuquerque,
|
||
where she co-founded a program to teach visually handicapped
|
||
children from throughout the district in one classroom. The program
|
||
is the only one of its kind in New Mexico public schools and has
|
||
been nationally recognized, Katona said. It was for her work
|
||
there her last year at Zia that Katona won the Federation's top
|
||
honor.
|
||
This year Katona moved to Jefferson to start a program that
|
||
concentrates services for visually handicapped middle school
|
||
students at one school. Four students from Zia, including Jennifer,
|
||
came with her.
|
||
For most of the school day, Katona follows her students to the
|
||
classes they attend with regular students, staying to help them
|
||
with especially difficult subjects such as math and science.
|
||
"Middle school is tough for any kid. It's been a rough transition
|
||
for both of us," said Katona last week while watching Jennifer
|
||
navigate the crowded halls.
|
||
But the Jefferson program makes it easier for such students.
|
||
Visually impaired students at other middle schools have only the
|
||
help of one part-time special teacher, who travels from school to
|
||
school, Katona said.
|
||
At Jefferson, Katona also tells staffers about the special needs of
|
||
blind students. And she punches out all of her students' lessons in
|
||
Braille and translates their work from Braille for their regular
|
||
teachers.
|
||
Katona spends considerable time dispelling the fears and
|
||
stereotypes kids have about blind people. "We sure had some stares
|
||
the first week. We had kids stopping dead in the hallway," she
|
||
said, smiling wryly. Katona has since talked to all sixth-graders
|
||
about what it's like to be blind. "I've had several students say,
|
||
`Can you teach me Braille?'" she said.
|
||
Kids at the Jefferson program can also look to each other for
|
||
support, Katona said. Jennifer and her best friend, Michelle Lopez,
|
||
went to school together at Zia for years, and now they help each
|
||
other at Jefferson. Michelle is legally blind but can make out
|
||
large letters. Like Jennifer, she walks with a cane and reads
|
||
Braille. But they can't be together every minute.
|
||
Jennifer's sighted lab partner in science class Friday happens to
|
||
be Abby Browder. The task looking at various objects through a
|
||
microscope.
|
||
"You're going to have to be Jennifer's eyes as you actually look at
|
||
it," Katona tells Abby. "You've got to give good verbal
|
||
descriptions."
|
||
"It's veiny," says Abby, peering through the microscope at a leaf.
|
||
Abby said later she enjoys working with Jennifer.
|
||
"I've never really had any experience with blind people, but
|
||
Jennifer's nice," she said. "It's different. It's interesting."
|
||
Across the room, Michelle scrutinizes a hair and crystals of salt
|
||
with her lab partner.
|
||
Jennifer doesn't say much, but bubbly Michelle makes it clear how
|
||
they feel about their special teacher."Very fun, very intelligent,"
|
||
she says. "She's a really neat person."
|
||
1994 DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD
|
||
by Sharon Maneki
|
||
Editor's Note: Sharon Maneki is President of the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind of Maryland. She also chairs the committee
|
||
to select the Distinguished Educator of Blind Children for 1994.
|
||
|
||
The National Federation of the Blind will recognize an outstanding
|
||
teacher of blind children at our 1994 convention, July 1 to July 8,
|
||
in Detroit, Michigan. The winner of this award will receive an
|
||
expense-paid trip to the convention, a check for $500, an
|
||
appropriate plaque at the banquet, and an opportunity to make a
|
||
presentation about the education of blind children to the National
|
||
Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a Division of the
|
||
National Federation of the Blind, early in the convention.
|
||
Anyone who is currently teaching or counseling blind children or
|
||
administering a program for blind children is eligible to receive
|
||
this award. It is not necessary to be a member of the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind to apply. However, the winner must attend
|
||
the National Convention. Teachers may be nominated by colleagues,
|
||
supervisors, or friends. The letter of nomination should explain
|
||
why the teacher is being recommended for this award.
|
||
The education of blind children is one of our most important
|
||
concerns. Attendance at a National Federation of the Blind
|
||
convention will enrich a teacher's experience by affording the
|
||
opportunity to meet other teachers who work with blind children, to
|
||
meet parents, and to meet blind adults who have had experiences in
|
||
a variety of educational programs. Help us recognize a
|
||
distinguished teacher by distributing this form and encouraging
|
||
teachers to submit their credentials. We are pleased to offer this
|
||
award and look forward to applications from many well-qualified
|
||
educators.
|
||
DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD 1994 APPLICATION
|
||
Name:
|
||
Home address:
|
||
City:
|
||
State: Zip:
|
||
Day phone: Evening phone:
|
||
School:
|
||
Address:
|
||
City: State: Zip:
|
||
List your degrees, the institutions from which they were received, and your
|
||
major area or areas of study.
|
||
|
||
How long and in what programs have you taught blind
|
||
children?__________________________________
|
||
|
||
|
||
In what setting do you teach? Itinerant program[ ] Residential school
|
||
classroom[ ] Special education classroom [ ] Other [ ] Please
|
||
explain____________________________
|
||
|
||
How many students do you teach regularly this
|
||
year?____________________________________
|
||
What subjects do you teach?_____________________
|
||
|
||
How many of your students read and write primarily using: Braille [ ]
|
||
large print [ ] closed circuit television [ ] recorded materials [
|
||
] small print [ ].
|
||
Please complete this application and attach your letter of nomination; one
|
||
additional recommendation, written by someone who knows your work and
|
||
philosophy of teaching; and a personal letter discussing your beliefs and
|
||
approach to teaching blind students. You may wish to include such topics as
|
||
the following:
|
||
|
||
What are your views on the importance to your students of Braille, large
|
||
print, and magnification devices, and what issues do you consider when making
|
||
recommendations about learning media for your students?
|
||
When do you recommend that your students begin the following: reading Braille,
|
||
writing with a slate and stylus, using a Braille writer, and learning to
|
||
travel independently with a white cane?
|
||
How should one determine which children should learn cane travel and which
|
||
should not?
|
||
When should typing be introduced, and when should a child be expected to hand
|
||
in typed assignments?
|
||
|
||
Send all material by May 15, 1994, to Sharon Maneki, Chairman,
|
||
Teacher Award Committee, 9736 Basket Ring Road, Columbia, Maryland
|
||
21045; telephone (410) 992-9608.
|
||
CHILDHOOD ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE
|
||
y Dr. Abraham Nemeth
|
||
From the Editor: A basic ingredient in every NFB National Parents
|
||
Seminar is the blind adults who talk about what it is like to grow
|
||
up as blind children. Parents including myself, and I have been
|
||
organizing and attending these seminars for the last ten
|
||
years never get tired of these talks. Year after year I have been
|
||
inspired, informed, and challenged by Federationists who are
|
||
willing to share their insights into blindness. What I find
|
||
especially intriguing is that despite the different circumstances
|
||
and environment in which these speakers grew up, they always have
|
||
something to say which is relevant to the problems we today's
|
||
generation of parents struggle with.
|
||
As relevant and as inspiring as any of our speakers was Dr. Abraham
|
||
Nemeth who gave the following presentation at the NFB Convention,
|
||
July, 1993, Parents Seminar in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Nemeth,
|
||
distinguished college math professor and creator of the Nemeth code
|
||
for Braille mathematics, grew up on the Lower East Side of
|
||
Manhattan, New York nearly 70 years ago. Here is his inspirational
|
||
story:
|
||
|
||
I was very lucky. I had parents who knew nothing about blindness
|
||
but who had an innate understanding of what was necessary to do to
|
||
raise a blind child. I was also lucky because I went to the New
|
||
York City public schools, where I had a very, very good resource
|
||
teacher. Not only was I integrated, but I was really integrated.
|
||
Let me tell you a little about that.
|
||
The New York City public schools had a resource room for blind kids
|
||
in each of the five boroughs. It so happened that the one in
|
||
Manhattan was within walking distance of where I lived, so I went
|
||
there. Every day my aunt (my father and mother were busy taking
|
||
care of the store they operated) walked me to school and walked me
|
||
home. We had a wonderful teacher. Her name was Miss Roberts. She
|
||
taught me Braille, and she made sure that I learned it.
|
||
There were other kids in the resource room; some of them with no
|
||
sight, some of them with a lot of sight; and everyone learned
|
||
Braille. There was no such a thing as you didn't learn Braille.
|
||
Even those who could ride bikes learned Braille.
|
||
Now I did not go to the resource room for arithmetic, or geography,
|
||
or history. I went to my regular classroom for these subjects. I
|
||
went to the resource room during times when the other kids were
|
||
doing penmanship, drawing, art, and so forth. It was there that the
|
||
resource teacher would teach me blindness skills; for example how
|
||
to read a map. I remember one day she put me at a large globe of
|
||
the world. This huge globe had nice smooth surfaces for the oceans,
|
||
was raised for the land masses, and was even more highly raised for
|
||
the mountain areas. And then she put a problem to me. You know the
|
||
sun rises in the east and sets in the west, she said. Now, this
|
||
globe spins. Which way should the globe spin in order for the sun
|
||
to rise in the east and set in the west? Finally I figured that
|
||
out, and it was a wonderful educational experience.
|
||
My father, (maybe some of you heard me tell this story in Denver
|
||
four years ago at the NFB Convention) whenever we were out walking,
|
||
he would tell me, "Now we are walking west, and when we make a left
|
||
turn, we will be walking south. Listen to the traffic. All of it is
|
||
going in the same direction on this street. But when we get to the
|
||
next street you will notice that all the traffic starts traveling
|
||
in the opposite direction." And he would let me touch mailboxes,
|
||
fire hydrants, police call boxes, and fire call boxes and let me
|
||
read the lettering on them. You know in our neighborhood on the
|
||
Lower East Side the kids would all open the fire hydrants in the
|
||
hot summer. He never encouraged me to open a fire hydrant, but he
|
||
showed me where and what the firemen would do if they had to open
|
||
the fire hydrant.
|
||
Anyway, my mother was equally perceptive. She would send me on a
|
||
trip to the grocery store. She would give me five or six items to
|
||
memorize when I was six years old, tell me exactly what to buy and
|
||
in what quantity, and send me to the grocery store for them. Where
|
||
was the grocery store? Around the corner, no streets to cross. And
|
||
who was the grocer? My grandfather. Anyway, I was very diligent in
|
||
remembering every single item and would bring back everything she
|
||
sent me for. This was wonderful memory training.
|
||
I had an uncle who was a handyman. He taught me how to fish
|
||
electrical wire through a wall, how to replace a burnt out bulb and
|
||
screw in the new one, and just generally how to do electrical work.
|
||
I developed a wonderful sense of mechanics. I knew how things had
|
||
to go together. My grandfather, I told you, had a grocery store.
|
||
And he had an icebox, not a refrigerator, but an icebox. A large
|
||
block of ice kept all the cheeses and butter and things cold. And
|
||
from the icebox, which was high overhead, there was a rubber hose.
|
||
As the ice melted the water would drain through that rubber hose
|
||
into the sink below. Well I was a curious little fellow, and one
|
||
day I went around the back of the store and discovered this hose
|
||
trailing in the sink. Now my mechanical sense told me that no
|
||
mechanical mechanism could work right if there were loose parts
|
||
around. Things had to be connected. It was clear to me that the end
|
||
of that hose had to be connected somewhere. So, I felt around. Aha,
|
||
I thought, the faucet, that's where it goes. So, I connected the
|
||
hose to the faucet and, proud of myself for having corrected my
|
||
grandfather's obvious oversight, I walked out of the grocery store.
|
||
A few hours later I was confronted by my grandfather. I will end
|
||
the story at that point.
|
||
As a boy I had a tricycle. Now, remember, I had no sight at all. My
|
||
father told me that I could ride the tricycle around the block, but
|
||
to remember to make a right turn every time I came to a corner.
|
||
Ride slowly, he told me, don't bump into anybody, and come back
|
||
here. That's what I did. I rode my tricycle around the block and I
|
||
came back where I was supposed to. One time my younger brother and
|
||
I went on some kind of an expedition. We got separated, and my
|
||
brother, who had perfect sight, got lost. I came home.
|
||
When I grew up on the Lower East Side I had a wonderful playmate.
|
||
We used to filch empty orange crates from the grocery stores, and
|
||
then we would go to the junk yards and take the wheels off
|
||
discarded baby buggies. Then we would find planks of wood and make
|
||
a wagon or a skateboard. I would hop on the back of it, and he
|
||
would drive it. Now that little buddy of mine became famous. He was
|
||
Zero Mostel. I spent almost every Saturday night in his home. Why
|
||
did I spend every Saturday night in his home? Because my father
|
||
took me there. What was my father doing? He and all the other men
|
||
were poring over the account books. What were they doing in those
|
||
account books? They were making interest-free loans to immigrants
|
||
coming into this country. After a year or two these people had
|
||
acquired furniture and a business and were as affluent as you could
|
||
be in those days. They would repay the loan with a little
|
||
appreciative addition, and then we would have more money to lend to
|
||
more immigrants. And that's what my father and those men were doing
|
||
on those Saturday nights keeping records of those free loans. It
|
||
was a wonderful experience in morality, in human feeling. And so I
|
||
knew all of Zero Mostel's family. I knew his mother and father and
|
||
his brothers and sisters and so on.
|
||
Because of my family, because of their expectations and what they
|
||
taught me, it never occurred to me that I couldn't do whatever I
|
||
wanted to do. I just had to think of a way of doing it.
|
||
Take this problem, for example. A lady who was blind called me one
|
||
day in desperation. She's having a problem. She has a family and
|
||
she wants to broil a pan of hamburgers. She knows she has to turn
|
||
those hamburgers over. But she can't see which ones she has turned
|
||
over and which ones she hasn't. How can she solve this problem? I
|
||
told her it's very simple. You make the hamburger patties and you
|
||
put them in the broiler pan. Then you take some toothpicks and you
|
||
implant one in each patty. You time the hamburgers and when they
|
||
are half done you pull out the broiler pan, pick up the spatula,
|
||
and feel above the hamburger. When you locate a toothpick, take it
|
||
out and turn the burger over. When there are no more toothpicks,
|
||
all the burgers have been turned. The lady was very thankful for
|
||
this idea.
|
||
There are all kinds of ways of doing things. Let your kids
|
||
participate in household activities. Let them change a bulb. Let
|
||
them do the dishes. Teach them to pour water from a bottle into a
|
||
glass. Let them do this over the sink at first if you don't want a
|
||
mess. Pretty soon they will be able to pour any liquid hot or
|
||
cold without spills. It's not a problem. They will learn if you
|
||
expect them to do it and you give them the chance to experiment and
|
||
learn. But don't give them the idea that they are wonderful because
|
||
they are able to pour a glass of water. Everybody pours a glass of
|
||
water.
|
||
I once had a teacher, a vision teacher as they call them these
|
||
days, who told me I was a genius because I was able to read Braille
|
||
at the rate of a high school student. Now maybe I have other
|
||
qualifications that would rate me as a genius, but certainly
|
||
reading at the rate of a high school student is not one of them!
|
||
Expect your kids to do the normal things, and then react normally
|
||
when they do. Encourage them and do not overprotect them.
|
||
My father did not overprotect me. You know kids will tease a blind
|
||
kid in the street particularly on the Lower East Side where I grew
|
||
up. They would get after me, and I would want some protection from
|
||
my father. I would say, "Pa, he hit me." My father would say, "So,
|
||
why didn't he hit me?" In other words, my father was trying to
|
||
teach me to fend for myself. Which I was very well able to do. One
|
||
time, in the park, a sighted kid was teasing me. When I ran after
|
||
him, he shimmied up a ladder on one of these jungle gyms which had
|
||
a trapeze, a pair of rings, a chinning bar, and all that stuff. I
|
||
went right after him. Well he wanted to get out of my way so with
|
||
his hands he grabbed the upper bar and moved himself to the right.
|
||
He ended up dangling above the ground some distance from the
|
||
ladder. The poor fellow got so scared he was unable to move back to
|
||
the ladder and get down. However, I wasn't scared so I did get back
|
||
to the ladder and get down. But somebody from the park had to come
|
||
with a ladder and get him down. He didn't start up with me too much
|
||
after that.
|
||
I did participate in physical activities. I was on the high school
|
||
swimming team (I'm still a good swimmer). I climbed ropes and
|
||
jumped and did all kinds of physical activities. It was very good
|
||
for me.
|
||
Well, all I can tell you is that I have led quite a normal life. I
|
||
think I have been able to do this because I was not overprotected
|
||
as a child. I had a wonderful, wonderful support system in the form
|
||
of relatives, parents, and teachers who expected me to be normal
|
||
and do the normal things. They gave me opportunities to learn. And
|
||
that's what made it all possible. And that's what can make it
|
||
possible for your kids to have a normal childhood and life, too.
|
||
MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE DEAF-BLIND CHILD
|
||
|
||
"At first everything looked real bleak for us. We cried a lot the
|
||
first few years. But our child is now thirteen and she's absolutely
|
||
wonderful!"
|
||
Those who met Keri-Ann Ruemmler at the 1993 NFB National Convention
|
||
couldn't help but agree with this statement by her mom. Keri-Ann is
|
||
a delightful young teenager. Her engaging smile, lively curiosity,
|
||
and pleasing personality captivated everyone who crossed her path
|
||
at the 1993 NFB National Convention, which she attended with her
|
||
mother, Sally Ruemmler of Kansas. Deaf-blindness was certainly no
|
||
deterrent to Keri-Ann in making friends and generally having a
|
||
great time at the convention.
|
||
But it was no easy journey for the Ruemmlers to go from a bleak to
|
||
a wonderful outlook for their daughter. It required attitude
|
||
adjustment, information, courage, persistence, some very specific
|
||
training strategies, alternative techniques in communications and
|
||
mobility, and support from the National Federation of the Blind.
|
||
Sally Ruemmler shared some of her experiences with other parents at
|
||
the NFB Convention through the panel discussion "Meeting the Needs
|
||
of the Deaf-blind Child." This panel was one of the items on the
|
||
agenda of the all-day Parents Seminar. Sally shared the podium with
|
||
Kathy Arthurs, the mother of a three-year-old deaf-blind and
|
||
multiply-handicapped daughter; Kathleen Spear; and Don Petty both
|
||
of whom are deaf-blind adults who grew up as deaf-blind children.
|
||
Julie Hunter, president of the NFB Parents Division in Colorado and
|
||
chairman of the Concerns of Parents of Deaf-Blind Children
|
||
Committee, moderated the panel discussion.
|
||
Julie began the discussion by giving a little bit of background on
|
||
deaf-blindness. She pointed out that most of us think immediately
|
||
of Helen Keller when we think about deaf-blindness. But this image
|
||
is inaccurate. Helen Keller, Julie explained, is representative of
|
||
only one of four general categories of deaf-blindness. The four
|
||
categories, according to Julie, are based upon when the individual
|
||
became deaf, and when he or she became blind. Helen Keller
|
||
represents the category made up of those who are born both deaf and
|
||
blind or who lose both vision and hearing very early in life,
|
||
before the development of language. Another category is made up of
|
||
those who are born deaf (or, again, become deaf very early in
|
||
life), then later lose their vision. Ushers Syndrome is a common
|
||
medical condition among persons in this category. Sally Ruemmler's
|
||
daughter, Keri-Ann, fit into this category. Then there are those
|
||
who are blind from early childhood and only later in life (after
|
||
the development of language) lose a significant amount of hearing.
|
||
Julie explained that her teenage daughter, Lauren, fell into this
|
||
category. The fourth category consists of adults who became deaf
|
||
and blind through disease or injury. These individuals had learned
|
||
language and developed life skills as seeing and hearing children.
|
||
Julie Hunter explained that the significance of these categories
|
||
lies in the manner in which the children who are deaf-blind have
|
||
historically received services. What has happened, and still
|
||
happens, is that children who are primarily deaf have their special
|
||
education programs planned by educators of the deaf, and children
|
||
who are primarily blind have their programs initiated and conducted
|
||
by educators of the blind and visually impaired. This was the
|
||
pattern of education, for example, for both Lauren Hunter and
|
||
Keri-Ann Ruemmler. Keri-Ann, being first and primarily deaf, for
|
||
many years received services from only the deaf program. Lauren,
|
||
who was blind many years before she began to lose her hearing, had
|
||
her special education planned by the teachers of the visually
|
||
impaired. As a consequence, the programs for these children are
|
||
often inadequate. Sally Ruemmler, in her presentation, explained
|
||
that it wasn't until her daughter attended a program for the blind
|
||
at the Kansas School for the Visually Handicapped, that they
|
||
understood the nature of Keri-Ann's vision loss. It turned out that
|
||
she has tunnel vision, which affects her mobility (she couldn't see
|
||
to the side or straight down without turning her head). This
|
||
explained why she frequently fell and bumped into things and why
|
||
she had trouble with interpreters who signed so broadly that much
|
||
of it was outside her field of vision.
|
||
As troublesome as it was for the Ruemmlers to piece together a
|
||
program for their daughter, parents of congenitally deaf-blind
|
||
children have far more difficulties in finding suitable programs
|
||
for their children. Mrs. Hunter pointed out that very little has
|
||
been available to these children, in spite of what was learned from
|
||
Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan regarding the need for
|
||
intensive total-waking-hour intervention. The lack of an
|
||
appropriate education for these children, Julie explained, has
|
||
often led to a misdiagnosis of mental retardation. This problem
|
||
highlights the need, Julie Hunter explained, for public recognition
|
||
of the special character of deaf-blindness as a unique disability
|
||
distinct from both deafness and blindness.
|
||
This basic information set the stage for the four panel speakers.
|
||
The first speaker was Kathleen Spear, a congenitally deaf-blind
|
||
mother, grandmother, and college graduate. Kathleen addressed the
|
||
crowd in her own voice without an interpreter. Kathleen explained
|
||
that her parents knew that she was blind by the time she was six
|
||
months old. At first, they feared she was also brain-damaged.
|
||
Although all but one doctor advised her parents to put her in an
|
||
institution, she was raised at home with her six brothers and
|
||
sisters. When she was four, her parents were told that there was no
|
||
evidence of brain damage but that she was deaf. This was
|
||
devastating to her parents. "Until the day my father died,"
|
||
Kathleen said, "he could not say the word deaf-blind."
|
||
Nevertheless, her parents demonstrated considerable insight and
|
||
good sense in raising her in those early years. "My dad was an
|
||
immigrant, my mother the child of immigrants. Neither had any
|
||
experience with disabilities. [But] my first speech therapist,
|
||
believe it or not, was my dad, who had the equivalent of a
|
||
sixth-grade education. He would sit with me by the window in his
|
||
armchair after going through the comics with my brothers. Putting
|
||
his hand under my chin, he would point to his pipe and say, `What
|
||
is this?' Then he would say, `Who am I?' He would give me the
|
||
answers pipe and dad and I would try to emulate him. I didn't do a
|
||
very good job then. The only people who could really understand me
|
||
were my parents. But it was the beginning of the idea of language
|
||
for me."
|
||
The frustrations she must have experienced in learning to
|
||
communicate as a small child were poignantly expressed in her
|
||
description of going to Mass on Sunday. "As a little girl the thing
|
||
I looked forward to all week was going to church. In church I could
|
||
sit for an hour and watch the glow of the candles (I had some
|
||
residual vision in my right eye then) and smell the incense. And
|
||
for one solid hour nobody pulled me or pushed me or tried to make
|
||
me understand."
|
||
Even as a toddler, Kathleen had an independent spirit. "I was a
|
||
tenement kid. I learned independence by roaming the neighborhood by
|
||
myself. Years later my father would say that I was the only
|
||
four-year-old on the block with a police record because sometimes
|
||
the cops had to go and find me and bring me home."
|
||
Education consisted of a series of five different schools before
|
||
she entered an apartment for the deaf-blind at the age of eleven.
|
||
By then, however, Kathleen explained, she had learned Braille. "A
|
||
blind person can talk about Braille as an alternative technique,
|
||
but to me it is not an alternative technique. It is salvation. I
|
||
read Braille faster than most people read print. I went through
|
||
college using Braille."
|
||
Of her college experience, Kathleen said, "I didn't graduate summa
|
||
cum laude, but I did graduate in four years with a B average. I can
|
||
tell you I didn't sleep much during those four years."
|
||
It was while she was in college that Kathleen learned to use a
|
||
cane. "I had not learned to use a cane because the deaf-blind
|
||
weren't supposed to be able to do this. But while I was in
|
||
Manhattan attending Hunter's College I taught myself to use the
|
||
cane and went about the city with it."
|
||
Of all the successes in her life Kathleen stated that she most
|
||
valued the fact that she had been a successful parent. As a child
|
||
she never believed she would ever marry or have a child, but she
|
||
did. Tragically, however, she was widowed when her son was nine
|
||
years old. She raised her son, who is now 30 years old and a
|
||
lieutenant in the United States Navy, as a single parent. Kathleen
|
||
ended her presentation with a poem she had written about Helen
|
||
Keller. In one line of the poem, Kathleen refers to the message of
|
||
Helen Keller's life. But she could just as well have been referring
|
||
to her own life. Here is the line: "The message that she left to us
|
||
who are both deaf and blind is symbolized in hope that life need
|
||
not leave us behind. If people would accept us, life wouldn't be so
|
||
hard. For we possess potential; who knows how much save God."
|
||
Don Petty was our next speaker. When Julie Hunter introduced him
|
||
and his wife, Marilyn, (who was interpreting for him), she
|
||
explained that Don and his parents, Bob and Charlene Petty, had
|
||
written a book called Out of the Shadows. The book described their
|
||
difficulties in getting education and services for Don when he was
|
||
a child.
|
||
Don explained that his speech would be given by reverse
|
||
interpretation. He would speak first, then his wife would repeat
|
||
his speech for the audience. Don's disability came about because of
|
||
a bout of encephalitis he had as a baby. The loss of vision came
|
||
first. He learned Braille in the third grade, but he could
|
||
understand speech until about the eighth grade. By age eighteen he
|
||
was learning to sign.
|
||
Don especially emphasized the importance of his parents in his
|
||
life. At one point, as a young adult, he was doing nothing but
|
||
sitting at home, depressed about his life. His father came into his
|
||
room where he was sitting in front of the t.v. and asked him, "Do
|
||
you want to spend your life in front of the television?" Don
|
||
decided that this was not what he wanted to do with his life.
|
||
Today, he is married and has a job. After his brief presentation
|
||
Don invited everyone to come and speak with him, his wife, and his
|
||
parents at the exhibit hall where they had copies of his book for
|
||
sale.
|
||
Our first two panelists were living proof of the ability of
|
||
deaf-blind children to grow up and become happy, productive adults.
|
||
They were representative of what can be if parents dare to dream
|
||
and expect the most from their child.
|
||
But we all know that dreams are not achieved without hard work and
|
||
persistence. Our next panelist, parent Kathy Arthurs, described the
|
||
nitty-gritty reality of life with a deaf-blind infant and toddler.
|
||
Here is the edited text of her remarks:
|
||
My name is Kathy Arthurs. I have two children. Kristin is eight,
|
||
and Kaylee is three and a half. Kaylee is here with me at the
|
||
convention. She is a spunky three-year-old. You'll hear me calling
|
||
her as she runs and runs down the hallway. Kaylee was born blind
|
||
deaf. She was born with a cleft-lip palate. She has epilepsy. It's
|
||
a depressing thing to hear the doctors tell you that your child
|
||
will never see well, hear well, speak well, or even develop
|
||
cognitive skills that she'll never do much of anything. Naturally,
|
||
I went home depressed. My husband didn't know what to do with me.
|
||
But I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion early on that
|
||
the only person who should put limitations on my daughter was my
|
||
daughter. I decided I had to be positive. I know that's been said
|
||
a lot today, but it is so true. You have to be positive. You have
|
||
to be positive, and you have to understand what your child needs.
|
||
For example, I decided that Kaylee needed to know when I was
|
||
around, even when I wasn't touching her. So, from the time she was
|
||
a small infant I wore the same perfume so that no matter where I
|
||
was, she could smell me. It just seemed like common sense to me
|
||
that Kaylee needed to learn to use her hands to explore things
|
||
around her. So I wore interesting jewelry and interesting clothing.
|
||
I painted t-shirts with fabric paint. I sewed appliques on my
|
||
clothing and on hers. I did anything I could so she couldn't avoid
|
||
touching different textures from the very earliest age. I had a
|
||
rule when she was an infant: If you wanted to admire my baby, you
|
||
held my baby. This way she could see your glasses, your beard God
|
||
help you if you had false teeth!
|
||
When she was a little older, we needed to find a way to get her
|
||
interested in moving about. Kaylee does have light perception, so
|
||
for stimulation we used a small flashlight. We used it to help her
|
||
pick up her head and to motivate her to move across the floor. My
|
||
husband would push on her feet, and I would use the light in front
|
||
of her. We strung Christmas lights from toy, to toy, to toy. This
|
||
really motivated her and got her moving. Then I put my Christmas
|
||
lights around my child's room so she could see the perimeter of the
|
||
room. This has made for an interesting childhood, let me tell you.
|
||
She thinks Christmas is year-round.
|
||
Dealing with food was terrible! She was scared to death of touching
|
||
her food. So I devised a method of putting plastic wrap across the
|
||
food so she could feel the food through the wrap. This way she
|
||
could discover a lot of things about the food shape, temperature,
|
||
hard, soft, thin, thick, even bumpy or smooth without actually
|
||
getting her hands on its surface. And little by little I pulled
|
||
back the wrap so that, with a lot of encouragement from me, she
|
||
began to feel the unwrapped part. We still have some trouble with
|
||
gooey stuff, but for the most part she is feeling everything now.
|
||
Very early on I Brailled all of her children's books with clear
|
||
contact paper and a slate and stylus. I didn't know Braille well,
|
||
so I found a Braille chart a cheat sheet and used that to help me.
|
||
When Kaylee started to cruise around and walk on her own at
|
||
eighteen months, I gave her a cane. I had three rules: she had to
|
||
hold onto it, she had to hold it in front of her, and she had to
|
||
keep the point down. I confess my shins were definitely raw for the
|
||
first six months or so after she got her cane, but she finally got
|
||
the idea. Now she has confidence and independence. The cane is an
|
||
extension of herself. She doesn't leave home without it. We keep it
|
||
in the same place by the door so when we go someplace she always
|
||
knows where it is.
|
||
When she runs into something she hasn't seen before, I take the
|
||
time to let her feel that object. We spent an hour at last year's
|
||
convention on a grate on the sidewalk in downtown Charlotte.
|
||
Parents, please, I urge you, get your child a cane. If it doesn't
|
||
work at first, put it up for a while and give it to them later.
|
||
Education and IEP's what a nightmare it was at first! My school
|
||
system said "We've never had a deaf-blind child in our preschool
|
||
classroom," and I said that's okay, Kaylee's going to be the first.
|
||
I stood my ground and the school system, when they realized they
|
||
couldn't push me around or make me change my belief in Kaylee,
|
||
backed down. From that experience I learned that parents have
|
||
power. This is my advice to parents: Get yourself educated. Know
|
||
the rules. Stand your ground.
|
||
Kaylee is now in preschool. Regular, ordinary,
|
||
toddlers-running-everywhere preschool. For support she has me and
|
||
an interpreter in the classroom in addition to the regular
|
||
preschool teacher. And all the children in there love her. She has
|
||
taught them as much as they have taught her. With the right
|
||
support, why not regular preschool for the deaf-blind child?
|
||
Everybody asks me how I deal with Kaylee's disabilities, how do I
|
||
raise her? The answer is simple. Mostly it's just like raising any
|
||
other three-year-old. We go places together as other families do:
|
||
to church, to the YMCA, to the park, to the mall, wherever. I don't
|
||
tell Kaylee she can't do something. I've always said she can try.
|
||
Yes, she can play with other kids in school, the neighborhood, or
|
||
at church. Yes, she can ride her tricycle even if it means crashing
|
||
into a few things. And Kaylee has rules and regulations to follow
|
||
just like other kids her age. She has to pick up her own toys. She
|
||
has a regular bedtime. She has chores. For example, she takes the
|
||
clothes out of the dryer and puts them in a clothes basket. She
|
||
puts the silverware in the drawer. (Mind you, it doesn't always get
|
||
in the right place, but it gets in the drawer.) I always remember
|
||
that Kaylee is first and foremost a child like any other child.
|
||
Yes, she is deaf-blind, but that comes second. First, she is a
|
||
child.
|
||
In our three-year journey with Kay, I have discovered that I can
|
||
still have the same dreams for her that I had before she was born,
|
||
before we knew about her physical disabilities. I expect her
|
||
...[emotionally overcome and cannot speak for awhile, applause] I'm
|
||
sorry. I expect her to get a higher education. I expect her to have
|
||
a career, to marry, to have children, and to aid her community.
|
||
And if you see my little toddler at this convention, please say
|
||
hello to her that is, if you can catch up to her as she's running
|
||
through the hallways. [applause] Thank you.
|
||
Sally Ruemmler, who was introduced at the beginning of this article
|
||
as the mother of deaf-blind teenager, Keri-Ann, concluded the panel
|
||
with her remarks. Unlike the other panelists, Keri-Ann was deaf
|
||
first. The gradual loss of peripheral vision did more than create
|
||
a mobility problem for her. Because of her blindness, she began to
|
||
lose friends and was rejected by many in the deaf community.
|
||
Interpreters at the public school she attended did not understand
|
||
why they needed to modify their signing for her. (Interpreters,
|
||
Sally explained, tend to sign widely and Keri-Ann, because of the
|
||
loss of her side vision, could only see signs if they were kept
|
||
within the very narrow range of her central vision.)
|
||
Finally, with the help of their new friends in the Federation,
|
||
Keri-Ann got a cane and some mobility training. Her parents
|
||
enrolled her in a private residential oral school where her
|
||
specific communication needs were accepted and understood. Although
|
||
many parents are understandably reluctant to send their child away
|
||
from home to school, Sally said that for Keri-Ann this move "was
|
||
absolutely the beginning of independence for her." "I am," Sally
|
||
explained "the original overprotective mother. Now my child flies
|
||
home every other weekend by herself. She is quite independent." To
|
||
further increase that independence Keri-Ann, her mother explained,
|
||
had enrolled in a summer program for youth at the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind's Colorado Center for the Blind. She would
|
||
be attending that program after the NFB Convention. "She is very
|
||
excited [about going]," Sally said. "She is going to come back more
|
||
independent than she left, I'm positive."
|
||
Sally concluded her remarks with a declaration of her commitment
|
||
and gratitude to the organization the National Federation of the
|
||
Blind which truly changed what it means to be deaf-blind for
|
||
Keri-Ann and her family. She also invited everyone to take a moment
|
||
at the convention to stop and talk with her daughter. "She's quite
|
||
a character," Sally proudly boasted. "You will be in for a treat."
|
||
It was obvious from the audience's warm, enthusiastic response to
|
||
this panel that one did not need to be the parent of a deaf-blind
|
||
child to draw inspiration and increased understanding from the
|
||
deaf-blind and their parents who have become an important part of
|
||
this movement.
|
||
FAMILY SUPPORT OF EMERGENT LITERACY PRACTICES FOR CHILDREN WITH
|
||
VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
|
||
by Chris Craig
|
||
I am a doctoral student in the Special Education department at
|
||
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, majoring in visual
|
||
impairment. I strongly believe that research involving families of
|
||
children with disabilities should center on the needs of the
|
||
family, rather than the needs of the researcher. Thus, I deeply
|
||
appreciate the cooperation of the NFB on some research which I hope
|
||
will benefit children with visual impairments and their families.
|
||
The professional literature has discussed how reading aloud to
|
||
children is the most important way to foster literacy development.
|
||
Selecting stories with repetitive passages, using tactual books and
|
||
material which adequately represents visual concepts, and promoting
|
||
Braille awareness through exposure to the medium in a variety of
|
||
contexts have all been identified as ways to enhance the shared
|
||
reading experience for parents and their children who are blind. In
|
||
general, the literature has emphasized the importance of family
|
||
involvement in the literacy development of young children with
|
||
visual impairments. Unfortunately, there is very little research on
|
||
how children with visual impairments "emerge" into literacy or how
|
||
home literacy experiences impact on learning to read and write in
|
||
either print or Braille. Thus, my doctoral dissertation will
|
||
examine the nature of family support of emergent literacy practices
|
||
in the homes of children with visual impairments.
|
||
Fifteen families attending a week-long preschool evaluation program
|
||
at the Tennessee School for the Blind assisted in the development
|
||
of a survey instrument for the study. The survey measures family
|
||
support of literacy practices, home literacy opportunities, and
|
||
parental attitudes toward Braille and low vision devices. Over a
|
||
three week period, these families reviewed drafts of the survey and
|
||
made suggestions as to how to improve the instrument. In addition,
|
||
the research staff at the American Printing House for the Blind
|
||
(APH) has provided both technical and financial assistance for this
|
||
research, and I am very grateful for their support as well.
|
||
During the month of September, 1993, the NFB assisted me in my
|
||
research by sending out survey packets to over 250 of its members.
|
||
The study includes primarily families who have a child with a
|
||
visual impairment ages two to eight and who believe that their
|
||
child has the ability to learn to read and write in either print or
|
||
Braille at some level. Families who received the packets were asked
|
||
to fill out the survey and return it using the self-addressed
|
||
stamped envelope enclosed in each packet.
|
||
I am very excited about beginning my dissertation as I believe the
|
||
outcome of this research will help to increase literacy
|
||
opportunities for children with visual impairments. I hope to be
|
||
able to share with you the preliminary findings of this study
|
||
sometime in 1994 through the Braille Monitor or Future Reflections.
|
||
1993 GUS GISSER MEMORIAL BRAILLE READERS CONTEST REPORT
|
||
by Sandy Halverson
|
||
Editor's Note: Sandy and John Halverson of Kansas City, Missouri,
|
||
voluntarily serve as the judges for the annual Braille Readers are
|
||
Leaders Contest co-sponsored by the National Association to Promote
|
||
the Use of Braille (NAPUB) and the National Organization of Parents
|
||
of Blind Children (NOPBC). Sandy is a Braille teacher, and both she
|
||
and John have been Braille readers since childhood.
|
||
|
||
Ten years ago, the boards of NAPUB and NOPBC established the
|
||
Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest for the purpose of promoting
|
||
Braille reading among school-age children. The members of our
|
||
organizations were appalled by, and deeply concerned about, the
|
||
growing Braille illiteracy among our blind youth. Even bright
|
||
children were in danger of remaining mediocre or poor Braille
|
||
readers. For numerous reasons, blind children were not catching on
|
||
to the excitement and thrill of reading via Braille.
|
||
We finally decided that if the kids were motivated to read, they
|
||
could overcome other obstacles to reading Braille (such as less
|
||
instruction time with teachers, fewer books, and so forth). And
|
||
they have! Once motivated by the contest we have seen both good
|
||
readers and lackadaisical readers catch fire with the excitement
|
||
and pleasure of reading. Although originally motivated by the cash
|
||
prizes and other awards, the students soon become self-motivated as
|
||
reading becomes its own reward.
|
||
In the 1993 contest we had 226 contestants our largest number
|
||
ever from 35 states plus Canada. We had a nice mixture of students
|
||
who have been in the contest off and on for several years, and
|
||
students who were entering the contest for the first time. We also
|
||
had four deaf-blind contestants who were given special recognition
|
||
and prizes in honor of Gus Gisser, a deaf-blind, long-time member
|
||
of the National Federation of the Blind. A memorial donation from
|
||
the National Federation of the Blind of New York made these special
|
||
prizes possible.
|
||
Judging for the contest is based entirely upon the number of
|
||
Braille pages read by the contestant. All students competed in one
|
||
of five categories: grades kindergarten through first, second
|
||
through fourth grades, fifth through eighth grades, ninth through
|
||
twelfth, and Print to Braille. Those who had participated in
|
||
previous contests were also eligible to compete in the Most
|
||
Improved category. This category honors students who show the most
|
||
improvement in number of Braille pages read from one year to the
|
||
next. First-, second-, and third-place winners in each category
|
||
receive cash prizes $75, $50, and $25 respectively a contest
|
||
t-shirt, and a certificate. Most Improved winners also receive a
|
||
cash prize and a certificate. All contestants receive a Braille
|
||
certificate and a ribbon of participation. Here is the list of
|
||
winners by category:
|
||
|
||
|
||
Kindergarten First Grade
|
||
First place: Krystle Zamudio 1,656 pages Salinas, California
|
||
Second place: Jessica Culley 1,329 pages Steubenville, Ohio
|
||
Third place: Amber Jo Kineard 1,268 pages Pineville, Louisiana
|
||
|
||
Second Fourth Grade
|
||
First place: Blake Earl Roberts 8,366 pages Felton, Delaware
|
||
Second place: Gabriela Gonzalez 6,317pages Alexander, Alabama
|
||
Third place: Jessica Leigh McCracken 5,678 pages Dorchester, South
|
||
Carolina
|
||
|
||
Fifth Eighth Grade
|
||
First place: Stacy Kruger 13,694 pages Worthington, Minnesota
|
||
Second place: James Konechne 12,510 pages White Lake, South Dakota
|
||
Third place: Jennifer Espinoza 10,643 pages Albuquerque, New Mexico
|
||
|
||
|
||
Ninth Twelfth Grade
|
||
First place: Chastity Morse 15,838 pages Anoka, Minnesota
|
||
Second place: April Swaim 12,649 pages Arlinton, Texas
|
||
Third place: Matthew E. Weaver 6,955 pages Berlin, New Jersey
|
||
|
||
Print to Braille
|
||
First place: Hillary Anne Bates 2,361 pages Ceville, Indiana
|
||
Second place: Joshua Jungwirth 2,044 pages Ishpeming, Michigan
|
||
Third place: Laura Ann LaDuke 1,802 pages Frankfort, Michigan
|
||
|
||
Most Improved
|
||
Jocelyn Dore, Ontario, Canada
|
||
J.T. Fetter, Sterling, Virginia
|
||
Katherine Gresh, Flourton, Pennsylvania
|
||
Melissa Saylor, Kentucky
|
||
Jennifer Warner, Green Springs, Ohio
|
||
|
||
Deaf-Blind Award Winners
|
||
Second Fourth Grade
|
||
First place: Robert Riddle 3,498 pages Vancouver, Washington
|
||
Fifth Eighth Grade
|
||
First place: Janna Nelson 2,699 pages Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
|
||
Ninth Twelfth Grade
|
||
First place: Jennifer Baker 4,884 pages Rockville, Maryland
|
||
Print to Braille
|
||
First place: Hillary Anne Bates 2,361 pages Ceville, Indiana
|
||
CHESNEE GIRL WINS BRAILLE AWARD
|
||
|
||
Editor's Note: The following article by Steven Shultz appeared in
|
||
a South Carolina paper, the <M>Spartanburg Herald-Journal.<D> It
|
||
was later reprinted in <M>The Palmetto Blind<D>, the newsletter of
|
||
the NFB of South Carolina. Jessica is the daughter of Mrs. Sarah
|
||
Jane McCracken, president of the Parents of Blind Children Division
|
||
of the NFB of South Carolina. The contest is, of course, the
|
||
National Federation of the Blind's Braille Readers are Leaders
|
||
Contest. Jessica was one of the fifteen national winners in the
|
||
1992-1993 annual contest.
|
||
|
||
For third-grader Jessica McCracken, learning to read was more than
|
||
just another accomplishment on the way through school. Blind since
|
||
she was born, Jessica struggled with Braille reading for years. She
|
||
and her teachers worked at it month after month with little
|
||
success. Then Jessica suddenly had a breakthrough, and the
|
||
meaningless mass of bumps that had been so frustrating opened up
|
||
into a whole new world of meaning.
|
||
Now Jessica reads every spare moment she has. And last week, the
|
||
South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind where she studies
|
||
honored her for having won third place in the National Braille
|
||
Literacy Reading Contest.
|
||
Between November and February, Jessica read 5,678 pages of Braille.
|
||
She reads stories, poems, children's books everything she can put
|
||
her fingertips to.
|
||
"She just zooms through everything," her teacher, Terrie Randolph,
|
||
said, as Jessica sat nearby, her hand flying over a maze of raised
|
||
dots on a white page. She's insatiable for a dot."
|
||
Jessica's parents, Joel and Sarah Jane McCracken of Chesnee, said
|
||
learning to triumph had changed their daughter's life.
|
||
"We thought she'd never learn to read," she said. "Then one day,
|
||
after three years, it was like a light came on. It's been so
|
||
wonderful."
|
||
Both her parents teach in Spartanburg County public schools and
|
||
knew the importance of not giving up on teaching Jessica to read.
|
||
"She is such a good example," Mrs. McCracken said. "That's what I
|
||
tell my students: Reading opens so many doors."
|
||
Like other children her age, Jessica reads Nancy Drew mysteries,
|
||
the "Ramona" books by Beverly Cleary, and Judy Bloom.
|
||
Even though the McCrackens learned a little bit of Braille,
|
||
Jessica's abilities are in a different league. Mrs. McCracken said,
|
||
"People say, `How on earth is she reading?' And I say I have no
|
||
idea. It's a miracle."
|
||
THE SCHOLARSHIP CLASS OF 1993
|
||
|
||
Reprinted from the September-October, 1993, issue of the <M>Braille
|
||
Monitor<D>.
|
||
|
||
The task of the National Federation of the Blind Scholarship
|
||
Selection and Award Committees is never easy. During the spring the
|
||
members of the selection committee must pore over many hundreds of
|
||
scholarship applications to choose the group of finalists, who will
|
||
attend the convention to compete for the various awards. Then
|
||
during convention week, when there are always at least five things
|
||
one wants to do with every free moment, the awards committee
|
||
members must find the time to get to know each of the twenty-six
|
||
winners in order to make the final judgments in the competition.
|
||
This year the job was particularly difficult. The Class of '93 is
|
||
talented and energetic. A number of its members are already active
|
||
in the Federation, and during the convention many others began to
|
||
demonstrate deep interest in and personal response to our
|
||
philosophy and commitment to changing what it means to be blind.
|
||
Here are the 1993 scholarship winners as they presented themselves
|
||
to the Board of Directors at its Monday, July 5, meeting. Peggy
|
||
Pinder, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, introduced each
|
||
person and listed first the state from which the winner comes and
|
||
then the state in which he or she would be a student this past
|
||
fall. This is what the winners had to say in the few seconds they
|
||
were given in which to introduce themselves:
|
||
|
||
Jack Allord, Wisconsin, Wisconsin: "Good morning, everyone. I'm
|
||
Jack Allord from Shawano, Wisconsin. I went to Illinois School of
|
||
Technology and studied mechanical engineering. After that I went
|
||
into the Army, and they saw fit to make a Korean interpreter out of
|
||
me. After the Army I went to Northern Illinois University and got
|
||
a degree in biology, studying genetics. After that I went to
|
||
Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and got a doctor of dental
|
||
surgery degree. Right now I'm at the University of Wisconsin in
|
||
Green Bay, studying administration science. I hope to go into
|
||
health care administration. Extracurricularly, I'm on the
|
||
Independent Living Council of Wisconsin. I'm a speaker for the
|
||
visual impairment program at North Central Technical College. I am
|
||
very active in Free Masonry I'll be the Grand Master of Free Masons
|
||
in Wisconsin in 1996. Thank you."
|
||
Laura Biro, Michigan, Michigan: "Good morning, fellow
|
||
Federationists. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the
|
||
National Federation of the Blind not only for honoring me with a
|
||
scholarship, but for your continued love and support. I am
|
||
currently a junior at Sienna Heights College in Adrian, Michigan,
|
||
where I'm pursuing a career in social work. My ultimate goal is to
|
||
obtain a master's degree and work with handicapped children. Thank
|
||
you."
|
||
Matthew Brink, Michigan, Michigan: "Thank you, Miss Pinder, and
|
||
good morning to you all. I am presently at Western Michigan
|
||
University, academically focused right now in psychology,
|
||
specifically working with clients with traumatic brain injury. I
|
||
also co-instruct in a class in abnormal psychology and just
|
||
finished an internship in Battle Creek. I am also learning from the
|
||
National Federation of the Blind, for which I am grateful and hope
|
||
to contribute to the '93 convention, as well."
|
||
Maren Christensen, Montana, Montana: "Hello. My name is Maren
|
||
Christensen. I'm currently a student at the University of Montana.
|
||
I'm enrolled in a joint degree program, receiving my law degree and
|
||
a master's in public administration. I intend to work as a lawyer
|
||
with particular emphasis on implementing progressive public
|
||
policies. I am honored to be here. I have enjoyed the last two days
|
||
of meeting, talking with, and listening to this group of dynamic,
|
||
intelligent, and active, dedicated individuals. I'm real pleased to
|
||
be here, and I'm particularly pleased with my new NFB long white
|
||
cane. Finally I can move as fast as I want to. Thanks."
|
||
Bill Cuttle, Massachusetts, Massachusetts: "Hello, everyone. This
|
||
is my first convention. I'm very grateful to be here, not only for
|
||
the scholarship, but also I have just met so many nice people. To
|
||
be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed with everything that's here.
|
||
I'm going to be going to Boston College Law School in September,
|
||
and I'm going to be focusing on the field of family and juvenile
|
||
law. I received my bachelor's degree at Bridgewater State College
|
||
in psychology and a master's degree also in counseling psychology
|
||
from the University of Massachusetts and have been working in the
|
||
field of mental health for the past seven years as a clinical
|
||
director of programs for kids. I'm thirty-one, and I'm going to be
|
||
trying a new career. I'm hoping to combine my background with law
|
||
to help other people. Thank you."
|
||
Marvelena Desha, California, California: "Hello. My name is
|
||
Marvelena Desha, and I'm from San Francisco, California. This is my
|
||
first convention, and I must say that I am very impressed with the
|
||
Federation. In September I am going to be attending the University
|
||
of California at Berkeley with a major in linguistics and foreign
|
||
language. I hope to pursue a career as a foreign language
|
||
interpreter."
|
||
Brigid Doherty, Oregon, Oregon: "Good morning, everyone. I am a
|
||
junior at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. I am
|
||
majoring in international studies. I have been out in the work
|
||
force for the past twelve years, working as a legal secretary and
|
||
office manager among other things. I'm very pleased to be back in
|
||
school, working toward a better understanding between cultures. I
|
||
would like very much to work either in a governmental capacity or
|
||
in business, helping people to learn to communicate with other
|
||
cultures as they are traveling overseas also just to have a better
|
||
understanding door to door, neighbor to neighbor. We're all living
|
||
in an increasingly interdependent world, and I think it's very,
|
||
very important that we learn to understand one another better. I
|
||
thank you for the opportunity of being here."
|
||
Ann Edie, New York, Massachusetts: "Good morning and thank you all
|
||
for the opportunity to be here at the NFB convention. My background
|
||
is teaching Asian studies and Chinese. In the fall I'll be going to
|
||
Boston College to study teaching of the blind. I hope eventually to
|
||
combine these two interests by teaching blind people the skills
|
||
that they need, by teaching sighted people Braille and other skills
|
||
that will help them understand the abilities of blind people, and
|
||
by teaching both sighted and blind people Chinese and Asian studies
|
||
and Asian cultures. I'm very happy to be here, and thank you very
|
||
much."
|
||
Tina Ektermanis, Missouri, Missouri: "Hi. My name is Tina
|
||
Ektermanis. I'm a senior at Northwest Missouri State University
|
||
with a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics. I
|
||
ultimately plan to go on for a master's degree. I'm not exactly
|
||
sure where yet, but I plan to work in the field of adaptive
|
||
technology or network administration. Thank you."
|
||
Al Fogel, New York, (Washington, D.C. this summer) and New Jersey:
|
||
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Al Fogel. I've just
|
||
completed my first year at Rutgers Law School in Newark, New
|
||
Jersey. This summer I'm working at the Department of Justice with
|
||
the ADA. I have a bachelor's degree in accounting and Talmudic law.
|
||
I hope to be a corporate attorney with an emphasis on bringing more
|
||
disabled people into the corporate field. I can say that starting
|
||
next year, working with Rutgers, we'll be getting the first
|
||
disabled student to go into a New Jersey law firm. I'm glad to be
|
||
here. I'd like to thank the Scholarship Committee, and I'd really
|
||
like to thank the Texas people for some down-home hospitality.
|
||
Thank you."
|
||
Christopher Foster, California, California: "Good morning. I'd like
|
||
to thank the Federation as well as the committee. This is my first
|
||
convention, and I have learned a lot in the last few days. I also
|
||
have my brand new long white cane. Again I'd like to thank you all.
|
||
I'm going to be a freshman at Sierra Community College in Rockland,
|
||
California, where I will start my studies in English and computer
|
||
science. I hope to then go on to the University of California at
|
||
Davis, where I will continue and hope to get a master's in computer
|
||
science. I would like to go into possibly design engineering or
|
||
something like that, just to sort things out and do the
|
||
follow-through work at companies and things. Thank you very much."
|
||
Saeed Golnabi, Ohio, Ohio: "Good morning, everybody. My name is
|
||
Saeed Golnabi. I am very happy and pleased to be here. This week I
|
||
have had the best experience in my whole thirty-two years. Right
|
||
now I am at the University of Cincinnati. I'm working on my Ph.D.
|
||
in mathematics, and I hope I will graduate in a couple of years.
|
||
Thank you."
|
||
Kathleen Hart, New York, Washington: "Thank you. Good morning. I
|
||
previously have been a teacher of special education and a
|
||
counselor. I hold both a bachelor's and a master's in education. I
|
||
am currently a senior at Colgate Rochester Bexley Crozer that is a
|
||
seminary. I am working on my master's in divinity and will be
|
||
graduating next May 14. I am looking for ordination in the
|
||
Episcopal Church as a deacon and have about four more years to go
|
||
till that happens. I have been a Federationist for two years. My
|
||
first convention was two years ago. About a month after that my
|
||
state affiliate's president invited me to a state leadership
|
||
conference, and I also met my fiance at my first convention, so the
|
||
Federation has been wonderful!"
|
||
Denise Howard, Georgia, Georgia: "Good morning. My name is Denise
|
||
Howard, and I'm from Savannah, Georgia. I recently graduated from
|
||
high school. In the fall I'll be a freshman at Spelman College. I
|
||
plan to double major in English and elementary education. Thank
|
||
you."
|
||
Mary Hurt, Kentucky, Kentucky: "I'm Mary Hurt from Louisville,
|
||
Kentucky. My first convention was in '87. I'm a past treasurer of
|
||
the Diabetics Division and Kentucky State representative for the
|
||
Diabetics Division. In 1991 I raised $10,000 for that group, and I
|
||
am a senior at the University of Louisville, studying business
|
||
administration. I plan to pursue a career in the world of corporate
|
||
finance, and I'm very honored to be here."
|
||
Jennifer Lehman, Wisconsin, Minnesota: "Good morning, everyone. My
|
||
name is Jennifer Lehman. I'm a recent graduate of BLIND, Inc. in
|
||
Minnesota. I am President of the Minnesota Association of Blind
|
||
Students, and I was elected last night to be the Secretary of the
|
||
National Association of Blind Students. I'm also a member of the
|
||
Metro Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota.
|
||
Right now I am a junior at the University of Minnesota. My major is
|
||
sociology. My minor is communication and speech and hearing
|
||
science. I would eventually like to be a speech clinician, working
|
||
with preschoolers. I want to say that I am very honored to be a
|
||
scholarship winner and very glad to be here for my third
|
||
convention."
|
||
Zuhair Mah'd, Florida, Florida: "Good morning, fellow
|
||
Federationists. I've always been told how hard it was to speak in
|
||
public, but I guess I know now what it means. My name is Zuhair,
|
||
and I am studying computer science at Florida Atlantic University.
|
||
I also work for the Office for Students with Disabilities as a
|
||
computer consultant in assistive technology. I'd like to take the
|
||
opportunity here to thank the National Federation of the Blind
|
||
very, very much for the help and the honor it has bestowed upon me.
|
||
I'd like to make a pledge here to be, for everyone else that I
|
||
meet, as helpful as the National Federation of the Blind has been
|
||
to me. Thank you very much."
|
||
Angie Matney, West Virginia, Virginia: "Good morning. My name is
|
||
Angie Matney. I recently graduated from Iager High School in Iager,
|
||
West Virginia, and I will be attending Washington and Lee
|
||
University in the fall, where I plan to major in English and/or
|
||
computer science to pursue a career either in post-secondary
|
||
education or in the field of adaptive technology for the blind. I
|
||
would just like to thank each and every one of you for the
|
||
opportunity that you have given me to attend my first NFB
|
||
convention as a national scholarship winner and also to thank you
|
||
for my new long white cane. Thank you very much."
|
||
Janelle McEachern, Arizona, Arizona: "Good morning, everybody, and
|
||
greetings from the great state of Arizona, the home of the almost
|
||
world champion Phoenix Suns almost, I say. My name is Janelle
|
||
McEachern, and I hold my bachelor of arts degree from Arizona State
|
||
University. It's a history degree in American and European military
|
||
history. I am currently in law school, ASU College of Law. I'm
|
||
studying to be a lawyer, and I am also taking my master's degree in
|
||
American and British constitutional and legal history. I'm doing
|
||
both at the same time, so I'm either desperate or crazy I haven't
|
||
figured out which yet. I hope to be both an attorney and a
|
||
professor of constitutional and legal history for either American
|
||
or British I haven't figured out which. I guess I'll cross that
|
||
bridge when I get to it. In my spare time I do disability advocacy.
|
||
I am a prospective board member for the Arizona Bridge to
|
||
Independent Living. I am a volunteer consultant on ADA
|
||
accessibility guidelines for area historical museums and zoos. I
|
||
also do local missionary work for my church, and I am a civil war
|
||
history buff. Thank you."
|
||
Jonathon Mize, Texas, Texas: "Good late morning, close-to-lunch
|
||
late morning. Welcome to Texas, where you have wide-open spaces and
|
||
always pleasant-smiling faces the only place where it costs a $10
|
||
cab fare just to get out of the airport. My previous background in
|
||
education I got an associate in science degree with emphasis in
|
||
public administration from South Plains College in Levelland,
|
||
Texas, and transferred to Stephen F. Austin University as a junior
|
||
majoring in public administration. I will continue to get my
|
||
master's degree at the University of Texas at Austin, where I will
|
||
also have the public administration master's. In the near future I
|
||
plan to be a city manager or work in some of the state
|
||
agencies Lord knows they need help. Thank you."
|
||
Sally Nemeth, West Virginia, Ohio: "Good morning. How y'all doing
|
||
out there? Good, I hope. I thought I'd try a little bit of Texan.
|
||
This is my first NFB experience, and I have to say, what an
|
||
incredible initiation! My background is in communication and
|
||
psychology. I have a strong interest in the area of wellness. I am
|
||
a member of the ADA Training and Implementation Network. This fall
|
||
I'll be beginning a degree in counseling at the Franciscan
|
||
University of Steubenville. I hope eventually to obtain a Ph.D. in
|
||
either counseling or counseling psych and with that to teach, to
|
||
conduct seminars on a national basis, to write, counsel, engage in
|
||
community service, and eventually join the Peace Corps. I thank you
|
||
for your generosity in helping me to obtain my goals."
|
||
Jim Salas, New Mexico, New Mexico: "Good morning, everybody. I'm
|
||
Jim Salas. I'm attending Webster University, pursuing a master's
|
||
degree in human resources development. I'm interested in the people
|
||
side of organizational effectiveness. For the last four years I've
|
||
been the associates program chairman in New Mexico. Over that
|
||
period of time we've quadrupled the number of associate recruiters,
|
||
and we are the two-time defending national champion. They're going
|
||
to be telling us in a little while who the champion is for this
|
||
year, and we have some pretty good numbers again. If we win, great,
|
||
congratulations to us. If Missouri or Maryland or California or one
|
||
of those pretenders happens to get in this year, well
|
||
congratulations to them; but remember there is always next year! In
|
||
the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, `Vi'll be back!'"
|
||
Carolyn Scharkey, Missouri, Missouri: "Hi. It's good to be here. I
|
||
was the first licensed hairdresser in the state of Missouri as a
|
||
blind person, and I then had three children of my own, two foster
|
||
children, and just loved people. I decided to go into social work
|
||
so will be entering the University of Missouri, St. Louis, in the
|
||
fall. Thank you."
|
||
Christopher Smith, New Jersey, Rhode Island: "I just recently
|
||
graduated from Ridgewood High School in northern New Jersey. I'll
|
||
be a freshman at Brown University this September, and I plan to
|
||
major in English, creative writing, with the goal to become a
|
||
professional writer. This is my first experience with the
|
||
Federation. I'd like to thank everyone for their truly sincere
|
||
welcome, and I look forward to a long and committed future with the
|
||
Federation. Thank you."
|
||
Chuck Strickland, California, California: "I have a master's degree
|
||
in physics with a minor in computer science from Southwest Texas
|
||
State University, which is where I've mostly been, in Texas. I was
|
||
a participant in the Young Scholars program sponsored by the
|
||
National Science Foundation, and I was a science counselor there.
|
||
It was held at SWT. I'm now going for a Ph.D. in physics. I hope to
|
||
teach at the university level and do theoretical physics, make some
|
||
contribution. I'm attending the University of California at
|
||
Riverside. Thanks for your consideration."
|
||
Colleen Wunderlich, Illinois, Indiana: "Good morning. I would like
|
||
to begin by thanking the Federation for the opportunity they have
|
||
given me to be here today. I feel very fortunate to have received
|
||
influence from these Federationists. I feel that they have a great
|
||
sense of inner strength and pride, and I hope that I will achieve
|
||
my dream of becoming a psychiatrist. Right now I will be attending
|
||
Purdue University in the fall, where I will major in pre-med and
|
||
psychology. Then I plan to go to medical school. I believe that the
|
||
Federation will be here to help me achieve my dream. When I do so,
|
||
I'd like to give that back to future generations to come. Thank you
|
||
very much."
|
||
|
||
Peggy Pinder: "And there, Mr. President and members of the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind, are the twenty-six scholarship winners
|
||
this year."
|
||
|
||
As you will observe, it was an impressive group of students this
|
||
year. Here are the awards they received:
|
||
$2,000 NFB Merit Scholarships: Marvelena Desha, Tina Ektermanis, Al
|
||
Fogel, Saeed Golnabi, Kathleen Hart, Denise Howard, Jonathon Mize,
|
||
Christopher Smith, and James Strickland.
|
||
$2,000 Ellen Setterfield Memorial Scholarship: Janelle McEachern,
|
||
$2,000 Hermione Grant Calhoun Scholarship: Angela Matney.
|
||
$2,000 Kuchler-Killian Memorial Scholarship: Ann Edie.
|
||
$2,500 NFB Scholarships: Jack Allord, William Cuttle, Christopher
|
||
Foster, Mary Hurt, and Zuhair Mah'd.
|
||
$2,500 NFB Educator of Tomorrow Scholarship: Sally Nemeth.
|
||
$2,500 NFB Humanities Scholarship: Colleen Wunderlich.
|
||
$2,500 Frank Walton Horn Memorial Scholarship: Carolyn Scharkey.
|
||
$2,500 Howard Brown Rickard Scholarship: Maren Christensen.
|
||
$3,000 Melva T. Owen Memorial Scholarship: Matthew Brink.
|
||
$4,000 NFB Scholarships: Brigid Doherty and James Salas.
|
||
$4,000 Anne Pekar Memorial Scholarship: Laura Biro.
|
||
$10,000 American Action Fund Scholarship: Jennifer Lehman
|
||
|
||
In introducing Jennifer during the banquet for brief remarks, Peggy
|
||
Pinder said:
|
||
Jennifer took time out during her undergraduate years to go to a
|
||
training center for blind people when she met the Federation and
|
||
realized that she needed what the Federation and its training
|
||
centers have. She hasn't been in school this last year. She's going
|
||
for the first time to the University of Minnesota (ranked as a
|
||
junior), where she is earning a bachelor of science degree in
|
||
sociology. As I think many of you know, Jennifer is an active and
|
||
loved member of both the Minnesota and the Wisconsin affiliates and
|
||
intends to be a pre-school speech clinician. Now here, for a few
|
||
remarks, is this year's $10,000 scholarship winner, Jennifer
|
||
Lehman.
|
||
Jennifer Lehman: Thank you all so much. I am very, very honored to
|
||
be chosen as this year's top scholarship winner. I want to thank
|
||
President Maurer and Dr. Jernigan and everyone in the National
|
||
Federation of the Blind for all the help and support you have given
|
||
me during the past three years.
|
||
I would not have been able to make it through a lot of situations
|
||
that have happened in the past three years if it had not been for
|
||
all the support from the members of the Federation family. I can't
|
||
even tell you how I feel right now or how much the NFB means to me.
|
||
So I just want to say that I will continue to be active in this
|
||
organization and help to change what it means to be blind. I want
|
||
to help get more people into the movement so that everyone's life
|
||
can be changed as much as mine has been by this wonderful
|
||
organization. Thank you all.[applause]
|
||
NAPUB PLANS NATIONAL BRAILLE-A-THON FOR DETROIT
|
||
by Jerry Whittle and Betty Niceley
|
||
For the past five years, the National Federation of the Blind of
|
||
Louisiana has held a Braille-A-Thon at its state convention as a
|
||
means both to promote Braille literacy and to raise funds for the
|
||
state affiliate. During the past five years, the NFBL has raised
|
||
over five thousand dollars and has received some excellent
|
||
publicity about Braille literacy in almost every major city in
|
||
Louisiana.
|
||
Volunteer Braille readers pledge to read a set number of Braille
|
||
pages between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the Friday before a state
|
||
convention begins. For several weeks prior to the state convention,
|
||
these volunteer readers procure sponsors, and then the volunteers
|
||
gather in a large room in the hotel where the state convention is
|
||
held and complete their page goals. Some read as many as three
|
||
hundred pages, and others read just a few pages. For example,
|
||
Harold Wilson raised over $1,300 on just ten pages the first year
|
||
the event was held.
|
||
Because of the success of the Louisiana Braille-A-Thon, the
|
||
National Association to Promote the use of Braille (NAPUB) has
|
||
decided to hold a similar event at the 1994 NFB Convention in
|
||
Detroit, and if successful, it will be continued at each National
|
||
Convention. "We expect to have excellent Braille readers and
|
||
brand-new Braille readers participating on Saturday from 9:00 a.m.
|
||
to 4:00 p.m. in Detroit," said Betty Niceley, President of NAPUB.
|
||
"We should have at least two hundred people reading Braille in one
|
||
room in Detroit, and we will try our best to have every major
|
||
television station and newspaper in the Detroit area there to cover
|
||
the event. We will be calling on our membership in NAPUB to pledge
|
||
to read their pages and to find sponsors in their home states who
|
||
would be willing to pay them handsomely for their hard work. Half
|
||
of the money will go to NAPUB and half will go to the national
|
||
organization. If Louisiana can raise two thousand for state
|
||
convention, there is no reason why we couldn't raise over one
|
||
hundred thousand for national Braille-A-Thon," said Niceley,
|
||
smiling. "We want to make this an annual event. I bet it will be
|
||
one of the quietest fund raisers we could ever have."
|
||
If you would like to participate and receive some sponsor sheets,
|
||
you may contact either Betty Niceley, 3618 Dayton Avenue,
|
||
Louisville, Kentucky 70402, (502) 897-2632, or Jerry Whittle, 101
|
||
South Trenton Street, Ruston, Louisiana 71270, 1-(800)-234-4166.
|
||
THE NATURE OF INDEPENDENCE
|
||
An Address Delivered By Kenneth Jernigan At the Convention of the
|
||
National Federation of the Blind Dallas, Texas, July 6, 1993
|
||
Shortly after last year's convention, I received a number of
|
||
letters from students at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. It was
|
||
clear that the letters were written as the result of discussions
|
||
held at the Center and that, although the apparent topic was
|
||
independent mobility, the real issue was independence in general,
|
||
and how blind persons should live and behave. I want to share those
|
||
letters with you, then tell you how I answered them, and finally
|
||
say a few things about what I think independence really is. The
|
||
letters are all dated July 23, 1992. Here is a composite of them:
|
||
|
||
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
|
||
I am a sophomore in high school. Right now, I am in a teenage
|
||
program that the Louisiana Center for the Blind is sponsoring. It
|
||
is the STEP program. That means Summer Training and Employment
|
||
Project. We are allowed to get jobs and make money as well as have
|
||
classes.
|
||
A few weeks ago I attended the national convention. I really
|
||
enjoyed all your speeches and everything. People noticed that you
|
||
and Mr. Maurer walked sighted guide sometimes, [I interrupt to call
|
||
your attention to the almost code-word use of the term "sighted
|
||
guide." Not "walking with a sighted guide" or "walking with a
|
||
sighted person" or "holding the arm of a sighted person," but
|
||
"walking sighted guide." This makes it clear that the concept of
|
||
"sighted guide" has been the topic of considerable conversation.
|
||
But back to the letter.] and we thought you all would never walk
|
||
sighted guide, because you all are so highly involved in the NFB.
|
||
I never thought sighted guide was OK until then. So why did you all
|
||
use sighted guide? I know there are many reasons why this might be.
|
||
We discussed this in one of our talk times and came up with one
|
||
reason this might be. We know that you all have to be at meetings
|
||
all the time, and it would be faster if you would use sighted
|
||
guide. [I interrupt again to call your attention to the use in the
|
||
following sentences of the depersonalized "it." Now, back to the
|
||
letter.] I am sure you don't use it so much that you lose your cane
|
||
travel skills. I am not trying to say this is wrong. I was just
|
||
wondering why you do this. Someone brought up that if we, as the
|
||
people being trained at the moment, were caught using sighted
|
||
guide, they would fuss at us. And I realize that you are not the
|
||
one in training, so it is not wrong. We couldn't use sighted guide,
|
||
because we might want to use it more than the cane if we use too
|
||
much of it.
|
||
|
||
Yours truly, ____________________
|
||
|
||
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
|
||
During this past convention in North Carolina some of us noticed
|
||
that you did not walk with a cane. I do not understand this at all.
|
||
I can understand that you have to be in many places in a short
|
||
amount of time at the conventions, and that might be the reason you
|
||
went sighted guide. But I also know that when you came for a tour
|
||
of the Center, you also went sighted guide. We do not understand
|
||
this.
|
||
We all have our own theories as to why you went sighted guide, but
|
||
we want to get the correct answer straight from the horse's mouth.
|
||
|
||
Your fellow Federationist, ____________________
|
||
That's a very clear-cut letter, and I am pleased to be called that
|
||
end of the horse. Here is the last one:
|
||
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
|
||
This year I came to Charlotte to attend my third national
|
||
convention of the NFB. I am currently a student at the Louisiana
|
||
Center for the Blind in the STEP program for blind teenagers. This
|
||
program stresses cane use, Braille literacy, employment readiness,
|
||
and self-confidence based on achievement. While at the convention
|
||
I heard from a friend that you were never actually seen using your
|
||
cane. I discussed this with a group of friends, and it was decided
|
||
that you most likely had many places to go and had to get to them
|
||
quickly. This made sense, and the question seemed settled. Then one
|
||
of the group remembered you using sighted guide during a tour you
|
||
took of the Center while passing through Ruston on the way to the
|
||
Dallas convention in 1990. This was such a hectic situation, and
|
||
the question was no longer settled because the only alternative
|
||
travel technique anyone noticed you using was sighted guide.
|
||
I do not mean this letter to imply any disrespect towards you, the
|
||
Federation, or its many achievements. If the Federation had not
|
||
pushed so hard for independence for the blind, I would have no
|
||
grounds on which to write this letter. It is because of my own
|
||
personal convictions about independence that I ask why the
|
||
figurehead of the NFB is not himself using the alternative
|
||
techniques that his student, Joanne Wilson, has been teaching for
|
||
nearly ten years in Ruston.
|
||
I would prefer to end the letter on a positive note. I realize that
|
||
you are responsible for the training I am currently receiving, and
|
||
I am grateful for it. I am not implying that you have no cane
|
||
skills, because I do not honestly know.
|
||
Sincerely, ____________________
|
||
These are straightforward letters, seriously written. They raise
|
||
fundamental questions, questions that deserve a reasoned answer.
|
||
Here is the expanded substance of what I wrote:
|
||
Baltimore, Maryland July 29, 1992
|
||
Under date of July 23, 1992, the three of you wrote to ask me why
|
||
I didn't travel alone with a cane during the national convention in
|
||
Charlotte and why on a visit to the Louisiana Center in 1990 I took
|
||
a sighted person's arm instead of walking alone with a cane. I
|
||
appreciate your letters and will tell you why I do what I do.
|
||
In the first place let us assume that I didn't have any cane travel
|
||
skills at all. This might be comparable to the situation of a
|
||
parent who had no education but dreamed of an education for his or
|
||
her child. That parent might preach the value of education and
|
||
might work to send the child to high school and then to college.
|
||
The parent might, though personally uneducated, feel tremendous
|
||
satisfaction at the learning and accomplishment which his or her
|
||
effort had made possible. In such circumstances what attitude
|
||
should the child have toward the parent? The child might be
|
||
critical of the parent for his or her poor grammar and lack of
|
||
education and might even be ashamed to associate with the parent or
|
||
the child might feel gratitude for the sacrifice and the work that
|
||
had made the education possible.
|
||
This is not an apt analogy since I have perfectly good cane skills,
|
||
but it has elements of truth about it. When I was a child, there
|
||
were no orientation centers or mobility training. The only canes
|
||
available were the short, heavy, wooden type, and we youngsters
|
||
associated carrying a cane with begging, shuffling along, and being
|
||
helpless.
|
||
It was not until I finished college and had taught for four years
|
||
in Tennessee that I first carried a cane. It was made of wood and
|
||
had a crook handle. I might also say that it was longer than most
|
||
of those in vogue at the time, forty inches. I started using it in
|
||
1953, just before going to California to work at the newly
|
||
established state orientation center for the blind. The Center had
|
||
been in operation for only a few months and had enrolled only four
|
||
or five students by the time of my arrival.
|
||
In those days the California Center was using 42-inch aluminum
|
||
canes. They were a tremendous improvement over the 40-inch wooden
|
||
cane I had been carrying, and I immediately adopted the new model.
|
||
Even so, it seemed that something better was needed. I worked with
|
||
the person who had been employed as the travel teacher, and we
|
||
experimented with different techniques and canes.
|
||
In the mid-1950's the solid fiberglass cane was developed. It was
|
||
first made by a blind man in Kansas, but we at the California
|
||
Center popularized it and brought it into general use. We also
|
||
worked to improve the tip. Our students received intensive
|
||
training, those with any sight using blindfolds (or, as we called
|
||
them, sleep shades), and our students and graduates were
|
||
identifiable in any group of blind persons because of their
|
||
competence and ease in travel. Since they had enjoyed the benefit
|
||
of our study and experimentation, as well as intensive instruction
|
||
and the time to practice, many of them probably became better
|
||
travelers than I and I felt pride and satisfaction in the fact. We
|
||
were advancing on the road to freedom and independence.
|
||
In 1958 I went to Iowa as director of the state commission for the
|
||
blind, and I carried with me the experience and knowledge I had
|
||
acquired in California plus a 48-inch fiberglass cane and a head
|
||
full of new ideas and hopes for the future. I hired a young sighted
|
||
man who had no experience at all with blindness and spent several
|
||
days giving him preliminary instruction in mobility, using blind
|
||
techniques. First I had him follow me all over Des Moines, watching
|
||
me use the cane while crossing streets and going to various places.
|
||
Then, he put on sleep shades, and I worked with him to learn basic
|
||
skills. Next I sent him to California for three or four weeks to
|
||
gain further experience and to compare what I had taught him with
|
||
what the California Center was doing. Finally he came back to Des
|
||
Moines, and I spent several more weeks working with him until
|
||
(though sighted) he could (under blindfold) go anywhere he wanted
|
||
safely and comfortably using a cane.
|
||
During all of that time I worked with him on attitudes, for unless
|
||
one believes that he or she is capable of independence as a blind
|
||
person, independence in travel (as in other areas) is not truly
|
||
achievable. This travel instructor's name is Jim Witte, and he
|
||
developed into one of the best I have ever known.
|
||
Iowa students rapidly became the envy of the nation. You could
|
||
single them out in any group because of their bearing, their
|
||
confidence, and their skill in travel. As had been the case in
|
||
California, some of them undoubtedly traveled better than I, and I
|
||
felt a deep sense of fulfillment in the fact. Joanne Wilson (the
|
||
director of your own Louisiana Center) was one of those students,
|
||
and I am sure she has told you how it was at the Iowa Center how
|
||
students were treated, what was expected of them, the relationship
|
||
between staff and students, our dreams for the future, and how we
|
||
set about accomplishing those dreams. Arlene Hill (one of your
|
||
teachers) was also an Iowa student. Both Joanne and Arlene are
|
||
living examples of what we taught and how it worked. So are
|
||
President Maurer, Mrs. Maurer, Peggy Pinder, Ramona Walhof, Jim
|
||
Gashel, Jim Omvig, and at least fifty others in this audience.
|
||
It was in Iowa that we developed the hollow fiberglass cane. It was
|
||
an improvement over the solid cane, lighter and more flexible. We
|
||
also gradually began to use longer and longer canes. They enabled
|
||
us to walk faster without diminishing either safety or grace. As I
|
||
have already told you, I started with a 40-inch wooden cane. Then
|
||
I went to 42-inch aluminum and after that to solid fiberglass, then
|
||
to hollow fiberglass, and (three or four years ago) to hollow
|
||
carbon fiber. As to length, I went from 40 inches to 42, then to
|
||
45, 48, 49, 51, 53, 55, and 57. At present I use a 59-inch cane. It
|
||
seems about right to me for my height and speed of travel. Will I
|
||
ever use a still longer cane? I don't know but at this stage I
|
||
don't think so. Obviously there comes a time when a longer cane is
|
||
a disadvantage instead of a help.
|
||
I've told you all of this so that you may understand something of
|
||
my background and approach to independence in travel, and
|
||
independence in general. The doctors who established the medical
|
||
schools a hundred years ago were (with notable exceptions) not
|
||
generally as competent and skilled as the doctors they trained, for
|
||
they did not have the benefit of the kind of concentrated teaching
|
||
they themselves were providing. Obviously they could not stand on
|
||
their own shoulders. Through their students they extended their
|
||
dreams into the future, building possibilities that they themselves
|
||
had not known and could never hope to realize.
|
||
So it is with me in relation to you. You are the third generation
|
||
of our mobility trainees, having the benefit of what I have learned
|
||
and also of what Joanne and the other Iowa graduates have learned.
|
||
Unless you make advances over what we have done, you will, in a
|
||
very real sense, fail to keep faith with those who have gone before
|
||
you and those who will follow. In this context I would expect and
|
||
hope that some of you will become better travelers (and, perhaps,
|
||
better philosophers and teachers) than I, and if you do, I will
|
||
take joy in it.
|
||
Having said all of this, let me come back to my own travel skills.
|
||
During the 1950's I traveled completely alone on a constant basis
|
||
throughout this entire country, going to almost every state and
|
||
dealing with almost every kind of environment urban area, city bus,
|
||
taxi, complicated street crossing, rural setting, hired private
|
||
car, country road, and almost anything else you can imagine. During
|
||
late December and early January of 1956 and 1957, for example, I
|
||
traveled alone to fourteen states in eleven days, writing testimony
|
||
for the NFB's Right to Organize bill. It was no big deal, and not
|
||
something I thought about very much. It was simply a job that had
|
||
to be done, and the travel was incidental and taken for granted. I
|
||
have taught travel instructors and have developed new techniques
|
||
and canes. I travel whenever and wherever I want to go in the most
|
||
convenient way to get there and sometimes that means alone, using
|
||
a cane.
|
||
Once when I was in Iowa, students observed that I walked to a
|
||
barber shop one day with another staff member, and they raised with
|
||
me some of the same questions you have raised. That afternoon in
|
||
our business class (you may call it by some other name philosophy
|
||
or something else) I dealt with the matter. I told the students
|
||
some of the things I have told you, and then I went on to say
|
||
something like this:
|
||
"Although what I have told you should mean that even if I couldn't
|
||
travel with much skill at all I might still not merit your
|
||
criticism, we don't need to leave it at that. Follow me. We are
|
||
going to take a walk through downtown traffic and see that you keep
|
||
up."
|
||
I took the lead, and we walked for eight or ten blocks at a fast
|
||
clip. When we got back to the classroom, I didn't need to tell them
|
||
what kind of travel skills I had. They knew.
|
||
Then, we talked about why I had walked to the barber shop with
|
||
another staff member. In that particular instance I had matters to
|
||
discuss, and I felt I couldn't afford the luxury of doing nothing
|
||
while going for a hair cut. As a matter of fact, in those days I
|
||
often made a practice of taking my secretary with me to the barber
|
||
shop and dictating letters while getting my hair cut. Of course, I
|
||
could have made a point of walking alone each time just to make a
|
||
visible demonstration of my independence, but somehow I think that
|
||
such insecurity might have made the opposite point and would
|
||
certainly have been counterproductive.
|
||
In the Iowa days I was not only director of the state Commission
|
||
for the Blind but also First Vice President and then President of
|
||
the National Federation of the Blind. Both were full-time jobs,
|
||
requiring me to use to best advantage every waking minute.
|
||
I was up before 6:00 to go to the gym with the men students; I
|
||
wrote over a hundred letters a week; I entertained legislators and
|
||
other civic leaders an average of two or three nights a week to
|
||
gain support for our program; I traveled throughout the state to
|
||
make speeches; and I spent long hours working individually with
|
||
students. Besides that, I handled the administrative details of the
|
||
Commission and the NFB on a daily basis. At the same time I was
|
||
doing organizing in other states and dealing with problems brought
|
||
to me by Federationists throughout the country.
|
||
In that context it would have been a bad use of my time (and both
|
||
Federationists and Iowa students and staff would have thought so)
|
||
for me to spend much of my day walking down the street to make a
|
||
visible show of my independent travel skills. I traveled alone when
|
||
I needed to, and I gave demonstrations to students, legislators,
|
||
and others when I needed to do that but I never did either to
|
||
convince myself or to establish in my own mind the fact of my
|
||
capacity or independence. It didn't seem necessary.
|
||
So what about the NFB convention in Charlotte? I was in charge of
|
||
convention organization and arrangements, and there were a thousand
|
||
details to handle. There were four hotels and a convention center,
|
||
each with its own staff and each requiring separate handling and a
|
||
myriad of decisions. Sometimes I had not only one but two or three
|
||
people with me as I went from place to place, talking about what
|
||
had to be done and sending this person here and that person yonder.
|
||
Even so, I might (you may say) have refused to take the arm of one
|
||
of the persons with me and used my cane to walk alone. But for what
|
||
reason? When a blind person is walking through a crowd or down a
|
||
street with somebody else and trying to carry on a meaningful
|
||
conversation, it is easier to take the other person's arm. This is
|
||
true even if you are the best traveler in the world and even if
|
||
both of you are blind.
|
||
In fact, I contend that there are times when refusing to take an
|
||
arm that is offered may constitute the very opposite of
|
||
independence. If, for instance, you are a blind person accompanying
|
||
a sighted person through a busy restaurant closely packed with
|
||
tables and chairs, do you create a better image of independence by
|
||
trying to get through the maze alone, with the sighted person going
|
||
in front and constantly calling back, "This way! This way!" or by
|
||
simply taking the sighted person's arm and going to the table? What
|
||
is better about following a voice than following an arm? From what
|
||
I have said, I presume it is clear which method I favor. Of course,
|
||
if no arm is conveniently available, you should be prepared to use
|
||
another method, regardless of how crowded the restaurant or how
|
||
labyrinthine the path. In either case you should do it without
|
||
losing your cool. But I'll tell you what alternative is not
|
||
acceptable in such circumstance pretending that you don't want
|
||
anything to eat and not going at all. That's not acceptable.
|
||
But back to the convention. When you are trying to get through
|
||
crowds quickly to go from meeting to meeting, and possibly also
|
||
trying to find different people in those crowds in a hurry, the
|
||
efficiency of sighted assistance multiplies. Incidentally, even if
|
||
I were sighted and doing the things I do at national conventions,
|
||
I would want two or three persons with me to look for people in
|
||
crowds, to send for this and that, and to talk and advise with.
|
||
As an example, consider what happened at last year's convention
|
||
with respect to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander. He has
|
||
normal eyesight and is in every other way, so far as I know,
|
||
able-bodied and energetic. I am sure that he can drive a car and
|
||
walk vigorously. Yet, he sent an assistant to Charlotte a day in
|
||
advance of his arrival. The assistant scouted out the convention
|
||
and then went to the airport to meet the Secretary. The assistant
|
||
drove the car from the airport to the convention, accompanied the
|
||
Secretary into the meeting hall, went with him to the platform, met
|
||
him at the edge of the platform when he finished speaking, and
|
||
drove him back to the airport. If the Secretary had been blind, I
|
||
wonder if somebody would have said, "Just look! He's not
|
||
independent. He has to have a sighted person with him at all times,
|
||
accompanying him everywhere he goes and driving his car."
|
||
Since I am not a student trying to learn to travel independently or
|
||
to establish within my own mind that I can compete on terms of
|
||
equality with others, and since I can and do travel by myself when
|
||
that is most convenient, I feel no particular obligation to make a
|
||
demonstration when it is more efficient to do otherwise. If I were
|
||
a student, I should and would behave differently. As an example, I
|
||
think a student should always use a rigid (not a collapsible) cane.
|
||
But I generally use one that is collapsible. Why? Students often
|
||
are uncomfortable with canes, and if they are allowed to use those
|
||
that fold or telescope, they may tend to hide or conceal them
|
||
because they think (even if subconsciously) that it will make them
|
||
look less conspicuous. I have carried a cane for so long that I
|
||
would feel naked without it, and I always carry one whether I am
|
||
with somebody or not. Because they were so rickety, I refused to
|
||
carry a collapsible cane until we developed the telescoping carbon
|
||
fiber model. I pull it to such a tight fit that it doesn't collapse
|
||
as I use it, and I almost never collapse it unless I'm in close
|
||
quarters. Again, it is a convenience, and my sense of independence
|
||
is not so brittle that I think I have to carry the rigid cane to
|
||
prove to myself or others that I am not ashamed to be seen with it
|
||
or uncomfortable about blindness.
|
||
When I was teaching orientation classes in California and Iowa, I
|
||
often said to those in attendance that students at a center tend to
|
||
go through three stages: fear and insecurity, rebellious
|
||
independence, and normal independence FI, RI, and NI. During fear
|
||
and insecurity one tends to be ultracautious and afraid of
|
||
everything, even if at times putting on a good front. During
|
||
rebellious independence one tends to be overly touchy, resenting
|
||
anybody who attempts to offer him or her any kind of assistance at
|
||
all, even when the assistance is appropriate and needed. In the
|
||
rebellious independence stage one is likely to be a pain in the
|
||
neck, both to himself or herself and others but this is a necessary
|
||
step on the road from fear and insecurity to normal independence.
|
||
Unfortunately some people never get beyond it.
|
||
Hopefully one will eventually arrive at the stage of normal
|
||
independence, with relatively little need constantly to prove
|
||
either to oneself or others that one is capable of independence and
|
||
first-class citizenship. This means maturity in dealing with
|
||
condescending treatment, and it also means flexibility in accepting
|
||
or rejecting offers of assistance, kindness, or generosity.
|
||
Sometimes such things should be graciously or silently taken,
|
||
sometimes endured, and sometimes rejected out of hand but the
|
||
reason should never be because you doubt your own worth, have inner
|
||
feelings of insecurity, or wonder whether you are inferior because
|
||
of blindness.
|
||
Normal independence also means not rationalizing your fear or
|
||
inability by saying that you are just doing what is convenient and
|
||
efficient and that you don't feel the need to prove something when
|
||
in reality you are just covering up the fact that you are as
|
||
helpless as a baby and it means not going so far the other way and
|
||
being so touchy about your so-called independence that nobody can
|
||
stand to be around you. It means getting to the place where you are
|
||
comfortable enough with yourself and secure enough with your own
|
||
inner feelings that you don't have to spend much time bothering
|
||
about the matter one way or another. It means reducing blindness to
|
||
the level of a mere inconvenience and making it just one more of
|
||
your everyday characteristics a characteristic with which you must
|
||
deal just as you do with how strong you are, how old you are, how
|
||
smart you are, how personable you are, and how much money you have.
|
||
These are the goals, and probably none of us ever achieves all of
|
||
them all of the time. Nevertheless, we are making tremendous
|
||
progress and we are farther along the road now than we have ever
|
||
been.
|
||
I am pleased that you wrote me, and I am especially pleased that
|
||
you are able to receive training at the Louisiana Center. It is
|
||
grounded in Federation philosophy, and it is one of the best. You
|
||
are getting the chance while you are young to learn what blindness
|
||
is really like, and what it isn't like. You have the opportunity to
|
||
profit from the collective experience of all of us the things we
|
||
tried that didn't work, and those that did. On the foundation of
|
||
love and organizational structure which we have established, you
|
||
can make for yourselves better opportunities than we have ever
|
||
known and I pray that you will. The future is in the hands of your
|
||
generation, and I hope you will dream and work and build wisely and
|
||
well.
|
||
Sincerely,<Kenneth Jernigan
|
||
|
||
That is what I wrote, and there have been a number of subsequent
|
||
developments. One person, hearing these letters, said, "I can see
|
||
your point, but don't you think you should try to be a role model?"
|
||
To which I replied, "I thought that was what I was doing."
|
||
Then, there was the letter I got about a month ago from a person
|
||
who attended a seminar at the National Center for the Blind last
|
||
Christmas. She said in part:
|
||
The discussion about the letter from the students at the Louisiana
|
||
Center for the Blind has stuck with me and helped me in two ways.
|
||
I no longer feel the deep embarrassment I had been experiencing
|
||
about being unable to read Braille and having less-than-perfect
|
||
travel skills. I remain painfully aware that I could be much more
|
||
efficient than I am, particularly if I could read and write
|
||
Braille, but I no longer feel that I am less worthy because of the
|
||
lack. And, by the way, I hope to take care of my deficiencies in
|
||
that area soon.
|
||
The discussion also helped me better to appreciate and respect my
|
||
dad, who was blinded by an on-the-job accident when he was 26.
|
||
After he became blind, he went to law school, and I have always
|
||
admired his relatively quick adjustment to blindness. On the other
|
||
hand, I have always felt somewhat embarrassed that when traveling
|
||
he uses a sighted guide the majority of the time. (For instance, I
|
||
was horrified and disbelieving when I heard my dad flew to Alaska
|
||
by himself to go fishing without his guide dog or a white cane!) He
|
||
has a guide dog but only used him when he was going to work. I have
|
||
never seen him use a white cane although I have just learned that
|
||
he used one while in his office at work. However, the seminar
|
||
discussion helped me to understand that everyone's situation
|
||
differs and that the opportunities available are not uniform. My
|
||
dad has accomplished a lot: He was an administrative law judge
|
||
until he retired last month; he is an avid fisherman; and he is as
|
||
pro-Braille as anybody I have ever met.
|
||
|
||
That is what the seminarian wrote me, and her letter makes a point.
|
||
It is simply this: We absolutely must not become so rigid and
|
||
dogmatic about the means and precise details of achieving
|
||
independence that we make ourselves and everybody else around us
|
||
miserable. Down that road lies bigotry, as well as the loss of any
|
||
real independence or true normality.
|
||
Usually when I go to bed at night, I read myself to sleep with a
|
||
recorded book. A few months ago somebody took me to task for this.
|
||
The person said something to this effect: "You should not read
|
||
recorded books. You should use Braille. After all, the Federation
|
||
advocates Braille literacy, and if you use tapes and talking books,
|
||
you decrease the circulation of Braille from the libraries, and you
|
||
also set a bad example. What kind of statement are you making? What
|
||
kind of image are you creating? You have an obligation to serve as
|
||
a role model."
|
||
I didn't argue with the person. It wouldn't have done any good.
|
||
Yes, I use Braille; and as you know, I find it helpful. More than
|
||
that. My life would be poorer without it. But Braille is a means.
|
||
It is a vehicle, not an article of faith. I am conscious of the
|
||
fact that I have an obligation to be a role model, and I do the
|
||
best I can to meet the requirement. But the kind of role model I
|
||
want to be (for anybody who cares to see me that way) is that of a
|
||
competent, well-balanced human being, not a caricature. The fact
|
||
that I don't want to die of thirst doesn't mean that I want to
|
||
drown.
|
||
What is independence? I would define it this way. With respect to
|
||
reading, it means getting the information you want with a minimum
|
||
amount of inconvenience and expense. For me that means Braille, but
|
||
it also means using live readers, recordings, and (despite my
|
||
limited competence in that area) a certain amount of work with
|
||
computers. For somebody else the combination may be different, but
|
||
any active blind person who lacks skill in Braille will be
|
||
limited not necessarily unable to compete but definitely limited.
|
||
As to travel, independence is the ability to go where you want when
|
||
you want without inconvenience to yourself or others. Probably none
|
||
of us (blind or sighted) ever fully achieves that goal all of the
|
||
time and almost all of us achieve at least some of it some of the
|
||
time. Usually we are on a continuum.
|
||
If I could not travel by myself without discomfort or great
|
||
expense, there are times when it would be a real problem. What
|
||
about the trip I made to Kansas City in May of this year to meet
|
||
with local Federationists and speak at a JOB seminar? My wife had
|
||
other things to do, and it would have been inconvenient to take
|
||
somebody else. I went alone. Did I have any assistance during the
|
||
trip? Yes. At times when it was convenient for me and not
|
||
inconvenient to others.
|
||
What about the time last month when I was called for jury duty? It
|
||
would have been very difficult for a guide to have accompanied me
|
||
to the jury box or the jury room so, of course, I went by myself.
|
||
Does that mean that nobody showed me where the jury box was or gave
|
||
other assistance? No. It means that I went where I needed to go
|
||
without inconvenience to me or those around me. That is what I call
|
||
independence.
|
||
Just as with the sighted, there are times when you as a blind
|
||
person want privacy want to go somewhere (to see a boyfriend or
|
||
girlfriend, for instance) without being accompanied by your daily
|
||
associates, want to buy a present for a friend or a loved one, or
|
||
just feel like following a whim. In such cases a dog or a cane is
|
||
helpful. On the other hand, there are times when the assistance of
|
||
a sighted person is extremely beneficial. Taken by itself, the use
|
||
or lack of use of a sighted guide has very little, if anything at
|
||
all, to do with real independence. In fact, the whole notion of
|
||
independence (not just in mobility but also in everything else)
|
||
involves the concept of doing what you want when you want, and
|
||
doing it without paying such a heavy price (either monetarily or
|
||
otherwise) that the thing is hardly worth having once you get it or
|
||
do it.
|
||
In conclusion, I say to each member of this organization: Hold your
|
||
head high in the joy of accomplishment and the pride of
|
||
independence but not because of dog or cane or human arm, and not
|
||
because of your ability to read Braille or use a computer. These
|
||
are the trappings of independence, not the substance of it. They
|
||
should be learned, and used when needed but they should be regarded
|
||
only as means, not ends. Our independence comes from within. A
|
||
slave can have keen eyesight, excellent mobility, and superb
|
||
reading skills and still be a slave. We are achieving freedom and
|
||
independence in the only way that really counts in rising
|
||
self-respect, growing self-confidence, and the will and the ability
|
||
to make choices. Above all, independence means choices, and the
|
||
power to make those choices stick. We are getting that power, and
|
||
we intend to have more of it. That is why we have organized. That
|
||
is why we have the National Federation of the Blind. We know where
|
||
we are going, and we know how to get there. Let anybody who doubts
|
||
it put us to the test. My brothers and my sisters, the future is
|
||
ours! Let us meet it with joy; let us meet it with hope; and (most
|
||
important of all) let us meet it together!
|
||
|