THE BRAILLE MONITOR
Barbara Pierce, Editor
Published in inkprint, in Braille, and on cassette by
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT
National Office
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
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National Federation of the Blind
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION
SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR
THEMSELVES
ISSN 0006-8829
THE BRAILLE MONITOR
PUBLICATION OF THE
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
CONTENTS
March, 1997
Lighthouse for the Blind Closes Sheltered Shop
and Feels that It Got a Bum Rap
by Kenneth Jernigan
Carnival, Life Go On Despite Blindness
by Rhonda Nabonne
Needed: Blind Individuals for University Training
as Orientation & Mobility Instructors
by Ruby Ryles
If Only We Could See Through the Eyes of a Child
by Sue Drapinski
Content Validity of the National Literary
Braille Competency Test
by Carol B. Allman and Sandra Lewis
A Nonacademic Plea for Common Sense
by Barbara Pierce
Making Other Arrangements
by Bruce A. Gardner
Federation Spirit on the Internet
by Marc Maurer
How I Became a Park Ranger
by Lynda Boose
Possibilities
by Carol Castellano
From the Electronic Mail Basket: Teaching
Braille Online
by Curtis Chong
Lionizing Around New Orleans: Good Food,
Good Times, and All That Jazz
by Jerry Whittle
The Metal Pole
by Homer Page
Federationists, Fund-Raising, and Free Enterprise
by Marie Cobb
Dialysis at National Convention
by Ed Bryant
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures
Copyright 1997 National Federation of the Blind
LEAD PHOTO #1. Six people are pictured here. The four on
the left are wearing costumes and headdresses which
prominently include musical notes. The woman on the right is
wearing a coat and a crown. Three canes can be seen.
#2. A parade float is fringed at the bottom and
decorated with musical notes. Centered at the front of the
float is a large record player turntable and needle arm,
angled so that it can be seen by parade watchers. CAPTION:
In New Orleans February means one thing--Carnival, which now
fills the week before the beginning of Lent and ends with
the celebration of Mardi Gras. This year the National
Federation of the Blind was invited to ride float #17, The
World of Music float (below), in the Bards of Bohemia
Parade. Four of the Federationists riding the float and
throwing plastic NFB cups to the crowd were (left to right
above) Marilyn Whittle, Joanne Wilson, Harold Snider, and
Pam Dubel. Pictured with them are Julie Russell (far right),
a Federationist invited to be a member of the Bards of
Bohemia Court, and her escort Billy Petrino, a student at
the Louisiana Center for the Blind.
#3: A crowd of people in the foreground is watching a
parade float pass. Some hands are raised to catch trinkets
thrown from the floats. CAPTION: The crowd watches the Bards
of Bohemia Parade.
#4: In this picture eight people stand on a stage.
Julie Russell holds her bouquet in one hand and her white
cane in the other. The four women are wearing floor-length
dresses and crowns. CAPTION: Members of the Bards of Bohemia
Court.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Kenneth Jernigan]
Lighthouse for the Blind Closes Sheltered Shop
and Feels that It Got a Bum Rap
by Kenneth Jernigan
In the fall of 1995 The Lighthouse, located in New York
City, decided to close its sheltered workshop and try to
help able-bodied blind employees find work in the regular
competitive market. Even though it would seem hard to
quarrel with this action as a basic concept, some did.
In its December, 1996, issue, The Braille Forum, a
publication of the American Council of the Blind, raked The
Lighthouse over the coals. In an article titled, "Choice:
Not Just for the Chosen Few," the Forum accused The
Lighthouse of everything from robbing workshop employees of
their right to make choices to a deliberate effort to try to
prevent them from getting work in another sheltered setting.
As will be seen from the article, which we reprint here in
full, the language is anything but dispassionate.
We have never hesitated to criticize agencies doing
work with the blind when we have thought it necessary. But
we do not publish inadequately researched, politically
motivated, biased articles, which (though they fit the
classic definition of "muck-raking") try to disguise
themselves as investigative reporting. Such tactics do
nothing but create strife and ill will.
Before turning to the text of the Forum article, it
might be worthwhile to examine some of its specifics. In the
third paragraph from the end, there is a sentence which
reads: "The Lighthouse said that the only choice these
workers had was to give up their jobs and collect a benefit
check--or to accept work in substandard conditions."
Regardless of what The Lighthouse management might have
felt, is it really reasonable to believe that a Lighthouse
official would have said what is alleged? This speaks to the
tone and flavor of the Forum article.
And so does a passage close to the beginning. The
second paragraph reads as follows: "There is a controversy
raging inside agencies serving the blind regarding the
merits of operating facility-based employment for blind
people." Regardless of how often one meets politically
correct language, it is always just as distasteful as it was
the last time. It attempts to deceive by using high-flown
language.
As to the present instance, in case you are not
familiar with it, "facility-based employment" is simply the
latest way of trying to sugar-coat the term "sheltered
workshop." Let me not be misunderstood. Sheltered workshops
may be good or bad. But we shouldn't try to pretend by
terminology that they are what they are not. A sheltered
shop is a sheltered shop, and it must stand or fall on its
own merit without the prop of a linguistic crutch.
By way of background, The Lighthouse was established in
1906 by two sisters, Winifred and Edith Holt. Its purpose
was to help blind persons get opera tickets, and The
Lighthouse still runs a music school. Later it established a
sheltered workshop, and somewhere along the way it began to
recruit volunteers to do reading and recording for blind
persons. Barbara Silverstone, the president and chief
executive officer of The Lighthouse, says that in addition
to its New York City operation The Lighthouse is expanding
its scope to the national and international stage. Among
other things, this includes training of professionals to
work with people with low vision.
But back to the article in the December issue of The
Braille Forum. Here it is in full:
Choice: Not Just for the Chosen Few
by Donald Moore
(Editor's Note: The author is a former president of the
American Council of the Blind of New York. He currently
serves as vice chairman of the board of Industries for the
Blind in New York state.)
There is a controversy raging inside agencies serving
the blind regarding the merits of operating "facility-based
employment" for blind people.
While the goal of integrating blind workers into the
mainstream sounds good, the reality can be much different
and should raise serious questions among those concerned
with the continued employment and independence of blind
workers. With 70 percent of all blind working-age people
unemployed, mainstreaming today is more of a wish than a
viable option, especially for those without a college
education. As you'll see, it all comes down to the question,
"Who should choose what's right for blind workers, the
workers themselves or the people holding executive positions
at blindness agencies?"
Having just passed the anniversary after The
Lighthouse, Inc. in New York City chose to close its
workshop, thus displacing fifty-five blind workers, it seems
fitting to look at what "choice" really can mean.
The Lighthouse decided that its workshop facility
should close so that workers could be retrained and
integrated into the mainstream job market. That was the
reasoning of its leaders. The workers had virtually no say
in the decision. The Lighthouse was also facing a need to
quickly raise cash because of additional expenses incurred
in paying for what some considered unnecessary and
extravagant expenditures on The Lighthouse headquarters
building on East 59th Street in Manhattan.
The Lighthouse's answer to its cash-flow concerns?
Firing the blind people and selling the land and building in
Long Island City in which they worked.
The employees were given notice and told it was for
their good. This despite the fact that they clearly wanted
to work, and those who had been in charge of the former
Lighthouse facility wanted to continue working as well.
Furthermore, the operation had been generally operating at
break-even or profitable levels.
This was a clear example of how a blindness agency's
pursuit of theoretical ideals can run roughshod over a blind
individual's right to choose what is best for him or her.
Being blind or becoming blind does not--and should not--rob
a human being of the ability to determine where, how, and if
one will work to support oneself.
The Lighthouse workers were very concerned about their
loss of employment and ultimately contacted Jean Mann,
president of the American Council of the Blind of New York,
with their concerns. Jean contacted The Lighthouse, asking
that it reconsider its decision to shut down the
manufacturing operation, but to no avail. Jean then spoke
with Steven Ennis, the president of Industries for the Blind
of New York State, and, with me in my capacity as the vice
chairman of the Board of Industries for the Blind, and--
together with National Industries for the Blind--helped to
form a new organization to employ these displaced blind
workers.
The first meeting with the former Lighthouse employees
was held last fall after work in a modest diner in Queens,
New York, where several of us involved with the new
enterprise tried to give them some hope. We told them of our
plan to start a new shop--from scratch, if necessary--and
told them what we'd done so far to get the shop off the
ground. After listening to different employees tell their
stories, I felt really good knowing that we were trying to
offer them the option of employment rather than
unproductivity and unemployment. I feel good knowing we were
working to give them what they wanted--jobs.
Dr. Barbara Silverstone, CEO of The Lighthouse, Inc.,
promised her board of directors that she would find
competitive employment for all the former Lighthouse
employees. However, employment never materialized for most
of them. Several received training, but that was for jobs
that would have paid them less than they could earn at the
former workshop and with worse hours.
The negotiations with The Lighthouse were really
difficult. Dr. Silverstone apparently felt that her
reputation would be tarnished if a new blind workshop--which
the former Lighthouse employees wanted--were to open and
operate in New York City. Rather than allowing for a smooth
transition of the Lighthouse's former blind employees to a
new workshop employer, The Lighthouse created one obstacle
after another to try to prevent the new workshop from
functioning.
Even though The Lighthouse was shutting down its
workshop and selling the property, it determined not to sell
some essential equipment to New York City Industries for the
Blind that the facility would need to function
appropriately. NYCIB has since purchased some of that
equipment from those to whom The Lighthouse sold it.
New York City Industries for the Blind, Inc., is open
and has already been able to re-hire all the former
Lighthouse employees who wanted employment, plus some
additional people. Last June Jean Mann and I visited the
workshop and were flattered to receive plaques from the
employees thanking us for ACB of New York's help in getting
the workshop off the ground.
Today New York City Industries for the Blind is
celebrating its successful progress as a new employer of
blind people under the dynamic leadership of Rick Bland, the
former Lighthouse workshop director.
The moral is that blind people are no different from
anyone else when it comes to their right to choose how they
will live their lives and that they are willing to fight to
be able to make their own choices. The Lighthouse said that
the only choice these workers had was to give up their jobs
and collect a benefit check--or to accept work in
substandard conditions.
If blind social workers and blind agency executives
have the right to choose where and how they work, why not
blind workers? As one NYCIB employee put it, "Not every
blind person can go to college, but that doesn't mean we
should be told we're not entitled to work."
New York City Industries for the Blind is living proof
that choice is important for every blind person, not just
the chosen few.
That is the article as it appeared in the December,
1996, Braille Forum. And as might be expected, The
Lighthouse was not amused. Under date of January 2, 1997,
Barbara Silverstone wrote to Nolan Crabb, Editor of The
Braille Forum. She said in part:
Recently I received two communications in the same mail
from the American Council of the Blind: the first, a request
for a donation from The Lighthouse to support The Braille
Forum; the second, the December, 1996, issue of The Braille
Forum with an article on page 18 that includes grossly
distorted and incorrect information about The Lighthouse. I
am bewildered that you did not choose to check out the facts
before printing this article...
I am enclosing an article entitled "Facts from The
Lighthouse," which I am requesting be printed in its
entirety in the next issue of The Braille Forum.
So said Barbara Silverstone, and at the time of this
writing (late January) I don't know whether her request will
be granted. Be that as it may, here is the full text of what
she asked the Forum to print:
Facts from The Lighthouse, Inc.
by Barbara Silverstone, President
Donald Moore's article in the December, 1996, issue of
The Braille Forum contains inaccurate information about The
Lighthouse, Inc., and the circumstances surrounding the
reorganization of its career services program over the past
two years. The following FACTS are presented so that the
readers of The Braille Forum can be fully and accurately
informed.
FACT #1. After lengthy study and as part of its
strategic planning, the Lighthouse Board of Directors
decided in the Fall of 1995 to phase out its sheltered
workshop for fifty-seven able-bodied, legally blind workers
in Long Island City and to move its work activity program
for fifty workers who have multiple disabilities to The
Lighthouse facility in Woodside, Queens. Now, one year
later, Lighthouse Industries has been closed, the work
activity program, as an enhanced therapeutic employment
program, is thriving in its new quarters, and Lighthouse
consumer and professional product catalog operations have
been reorganized and expanded under the banner of Lighthouse
Enterprises.
FACT #2. Training and career placement opportunities
were offered to all fifty-seven able-bodied, legally blind
workers. All workers who accepted The Lighthouse's career-
placement assistance have been kept on the payroll until
internships could be provided, and their former salaries
were maintained through their internships. All others
received comprehensive severance or retirement packages.
Each worker made his own choice. A number of workers
declined training and placement assistance and opted to wait
for employment with New York City Industries for the Blind,
which was in formation. Fifteen workers chose retirement.
Four have completed training and/or internships and are now
working in competitive jobs at salaries higher than their
pay at Lighthouse Industries. Eleven other individuals are
in various stages of training for competitive jobs.
FACT #3. The closing of Lighthouse Industries was a
philosophical, not a financial, decision. In short, the
Lighthouse commitment to a philosophy of inclusion in the
workplace for all able-bodied legally blind workers cannot,
and does not, support the sheltered workshop concept.
The Lighthouse subsidized Lighthouse Industries for
many years so that a workshop option could be available for
unemployed, legally blind workers. The Lighthouse decided to
end this subsidy and devote its financial and personnel
resources to career training and placement in competitive
jobs for the following reasons:
- Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and
accompanying increased receptivity of employers.
- Increased job opportunities in the service and
information industries offering better pay and
benefits accrued from working in the mainstream.
- Advances in adaptive computer technology.
- Marked growth in the Lighthouse career training
and placement capacity.
FACT #4. The Lighthouse did consider the desires of
able-bodied legally blind workers--the workers of tomorrow.
Consultations with representatives from all secondary
schools in the New York City area which serve students with
impaired vision, and the job goals expressed by applicants
for placement, revealed that the youth of today are not
interested in workshop employment or workshop training
opportunities.
FACT #5. The demand for competitive employment
opportunities by legally blind adults is increasing, as is
the receptivity of employers. In the last two years
Lighthouse career staff have placed 160 individuals in
competitive employment in a wide range of jobs in the
industrial, service, and office sectors. Only a fourth of
the positions required college preparation. The demand for
training and internships is growing, and The Lighthouse is
expanding its career-training and placement staff. The
Lighthouse also recently opened a customer service training
program at its Queens facility and continues to offer
competitive employment opportunities at its newly opened
Lighthouse Enterprises and in SPECTRUM, The Lighthouse
Store, located in Manhattan.
FACT #6. While Lighthouse Industries had always been
subsidized by The Lighthouse (in FY 1995 the subsidy was
$238,000), it was not closed for financial reasons (i.e., "a
cash flow problem"). The resources of The Lighthouse,
however, are finite, and all programs are examined not only
from a philosophical perspective but in terms of their
outcomes and cost effectiveness. The Lighthouse has chosen
to devote its resources to services for the many hundreds of
visually impaired youth and adults seeking employment in the
competitive marketplace.
FACT #7. The recently renovated Lighthouse headquarters
building in Manhattan was financed by a tax-exempt revenue
bond issued by the New York City Industrial Development
Agency. The bond issue enabled The Lighthouse to protect its
endowment and expand its programs to meet the rehabilitation
and training needs of a growing population of people with
impaired vision.
The new Lighthouse facility is recognized as a national
model of universal accessibility and has tripled the
organization's training and classroom space.
FACT #8. In closing its own sheltered workshop for
able-bodied legally blind workers, the Board of Directors of
The Lighthouse chose to direct its resources to training for
competitive employment and not to subsidize other sheltered
workshops for able-bodied legally blind people.
However, inventory and equipment were sold for
approximately $750,000 to the newly-established sheltered
workshop, New York City Industries for the Blind. As of
January 1, 1997, The Lighthouse is still owed a considerable
amount of money from that sale.
FACT #9. The Lighthouse mission, philosophy, and
advocacy efforts are carried out through regional, national,
and international programs to enable people who are blind or
have partial sight to lead independent and productive lives.
Headquartered in Manhattan, The Lighthouse provides
rehabilitation services to adults and children with impaired
vision through eight regional offices in the greater New
York area. It also offers a broad range of educational
opportunities for the public and health and human service
providers and conducts major research studies on the impact
of vision impairment and its amelioration.
The Lighthouse is a staunch advocate of full inclusion
and equal access for people who are blind and partially
sighted and for full health insurance coverage of basic
vision rehabilitation services.
The Lighthouse is a not-for-profit organization and
depends on support from individuals, foundations,
corporations, government, and the proceeds from Lighthouse
Enterprises, which comprises its catalog operations and
SPECTRUM, The Lighthouse Store.
[PHOTO: This picture is of two people in formal attire. The
woman wears a floor lengthdress and carries a bouquet and a
white cane. She is wearing a crown. The man is wearing white
tie and tails. CAPTION: Billy Petrino and Julie Russell.]
Carnival, Life Go On Despite Blindness
by Rhonda Nabonne
From the Editor: New Orleans is a city that knows how
to throw a party. On almost any occasion New Orleanians can
put together bands, floats, throws, and a crowd and voila,
an irresistible parade. Walking between two of our hotels
one day during the 1991 convention, a group of us found
ourselves caught up in a parade. Gradually we noticed the
sound of music coming toward us; then suddenly floats were
passing us, and the people on them were throwing pirate gold
at the crowd that materialized as traffic came to a stop.
The jazz had everyone dancing as the band went by. It was
impossible not to smile and grab for the coins being tossed.
We clapped and waved, but too soon the little parade was
gone. We never did know what the special occasion had been,
but we went on our way energized by our brush with this
wonderful city at play.
New Orleans has been honing its talent for throwing a
party for over a hundred years. The famed Mardi Gras
celebration during the days preceding Ash Wednesday each
year is perhaps New Orleans's most famous event. The city
prepares all year for Carnival and the celebration of Fat
Tuesday, Mardi Gras. The idea is to eat, drink, and be merry
before facing the rigors of Lent, the forty days leading to
Easter.
Many different parades take place during Carnival. Each
one is organized and conducted by a Krewe, really a club,
comprised of prominent citizens. Each krewe, and therefore
its parade and ball to follow, has a name: Rex, Endymion,
Orpheus, Bacchus, etc. A king and queen and a court of maids
and their escorts are invited to preside over the
festivities, and organizations or groups are also invited to
ride on a series of floats behind the two carrying the
royalty.
This year the Bards of Bohemia Krewe invited the
National Federation of the Blind to ride on float seventeen
of their parade, which took place on Monday, February 10. In
addition, Julie Russell, a member of the NFB of Louisiana,
was invited to be a maid in the court presided over by this
year's queen, the daughter of nationally known magician
Harry Blackstone. Billy Petrino, a current student at the
Louisiana Center for the Blind, served as Julie's escort and
rode on the escorts' float. Julie rode with members of the
court, and six other Federationists took part in the
festivities. They threw plastic cups emblazoned with the NFB
logo.
The participation of the National Federation of the
Blind was noted by the media. The Cable News Network,
National Public Radio, and Associated Press carried stories
about our participation. The Times-Picayune, the most
important newspaper in New orleans, placed the story on the
front page of the Metro Section of the February 10, 1997,
edition. It speaks for itself. Here it is:
If someone had told Julie Russell two years ago that
she would lose her eyesight yet finish college, take charge
of her life, and toss Carnival throws from a float, she
would have laughed in sheer disbelief.
The unthinkable began to unfold in January, 1995:
Russell, a Tulane University senior in the middle of final
exams, suffered a mysterious illness that attacked her optic
nerve and in a matter of days left her blind. The scariest
part, she recalled, was not knowing what the rest of her
life would be like.
As it has turned out, life has not been much different
than what she had expected all along. She recently earned a
bachelor's degree in English and is searching for a job in
the hotel, tourism, and hospitality industry.
Nor has blindness cut down on her Carnival merriment:
tonight she will be a maid in the royal court of the Bards
of Bohemia and toss Carnival trinkets along with the other
riders.
It was Mardi Gras 1995 that she learned that she need
not be sucked into a cynical existence after meeting with
students and staffers who had come from the Louisiana Center
for the Blind in Ruston for Fat Tuesday.
After joining the group for breakfast and getting an
impromptu lesson in travel by cane, Russell realized that
their lives weren't much different from hers before her
illness and that options seemed endless. She did have one
question.
"I wondered how they would catch throws," said Russell.
Two years later Russell boasts she's as good as if not
better than the most seasoned bead snatcher and has a pile
of loot from Endymion to prove it. And tonight she'll ride
above the sea of hands, tossing cups and trinkets from Float
No. 3.
The daughter of Tim and Heather Russell, she and about
thirty of her fellow members of the National Federation of
the Blind will be part of the parade, to be followed by a
ball at the Marriott.
Russell, twenty-three, attributes her bright outlook to
the Federation, which operates three training centers for
the blind in Louisiana, Colorado, and Minnesota.
Russell, whose family relocated to New Orleans from her
native Fairbanks, Alaska, when she was twelve, is a product
of the Federation's training center in Ruston, where
students gain self-sufficiency and get a chance to go deep-
sea fishing, rock climbing, and bargain shopping in Mexican
border towns.
Computer classes and woodshop are part of the
instruction. To meet graduation requirements, Russell
prepared a breakfast, complete with blueberry bread, for
forty people.
"The National Federation of the Blind gave me all this
wonderful knowledge and a perspective that blindness is
really no big deal," Russell said Sunday at her tidy Mid-
City area home, where she lives alone.
"With proper training and skills, blindness can be
reduced to a physical nuisance," Russell said.
Russell became part of Carnival royalty after the
krewe's executive director, Terry McIntosh, invited her
longtime friend Harold Snider to ride in the parade.
Snider accepted, and Russell was invited to fill a slot
in the royal court.
"There are very few people who have done what Julie has
done," said Snider, director of the International Braille
Research Center. "Adjustment is usually a more difficult
process."
Snider, who'll ride in the parade with his wife Linda,
said he's always heard so much about Mardi Gras while
growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, and will finally
fulfill a long-held ambition to ride in a parade.
"We're doing this to show the public that blind people
can take their place in the mainstream of life," said Joanne
Wilson, president of the Federation's Louisiana affiliate,
which will meet in Metairie from April 11 to 13.
The National Convention, expected to draw 3,000
participants, will be in New Orleans June 28 through July 5.
"In New Orleans the mainstream of life right now is
Mardi Gras," Wilson said. "We want to show that blind people
can ride on floats, throw stuff off floats, and take their
place in society."
PHOTO/CAPTION: Ruby Ryles]
Needed: Blind Individuals for University Training
as Orientation and Mobility Instructors
by Ruby Ryles
From the Editor: Most people who know Ruby Ryles think
of her as a sensible and intuitive teacher of blind
children. Some of us have become familiar with her research
on the importance of learning Braille as early as possible
in elementary school. Now she is using her expertise in
visual impairment to tackle the serious problem of too few
good instructors in the field of orientation and mobility.
This is what she says:
The Louisiana Center for the Blind, Louisiana
Rehabilitation Services, and the Louisiana Department of
Education, in cooperation with Louisiana Tech University and
Grambling University, proudly announce an exciting, long-
overdue program created specifically to train qualified
blind and minority adults as orientation and mobility (O&M)
instructors. Ruston, Louisiana, home to both Louisiana Tech
University and the Louisiana Center for the Blind, promises
to be an especially hot spot in June because classes are
scheduled to begin in the nation's first university O&M
training program specifically recruiting blind applicants.
As most Federationists know, many of the nation's most
competent orientation and mobility instructors have been
denied professional training and/or certification solely
because they were blind. This program marks the beginning of
a new era. The Louisiana Center for the Blind, the Louisiana
Rehabilitation Services, and the Louisiana State Department
of Education are now developing certification standards
which are fully inclusive of qualified blind persons. The
certification currently being designed is an alternative to
the prohibitive certification of the Association for
Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind and Visually
Impaired (AER). Applicants completing the prescribed course
of study will earn either certification in orientation and
mobility or a master's degree, which will include
certification. Both will be awarded on the basis of
meritorious achievement rather than vision.
Classes will be held at Louisiana Tech University, one
of Louisiana's major universities. The university is located
within easy walking distance of the Louisiana Center for the
Blind (LCB), one of the nation's premier training centers
for the blind. Known for its highly successful
rehabilitation program, the Louisiana Center for the Blind
will serve as host for internships; practica; seminars; and
liberal doses of down-home, southern-style fun and
friendship with students and staff. University courses in
the program will incorporate the theory and best practices
of both the "guided-learning" model which dominates
traditional university-based O&M programs, and the
progressive agency-training model grounded in structured-
discovery learning.
If an innovative, model program conducted at a state
university with an acclaimed training center for the blind
situated in lovely northeastern Louisiana isn't enough to
whet your appetite for learning, there's more! Financial
assistance with tuition, books, supplies, room and board,
and travel is available. Classes will start in June, and
interest in the program has been heavy, so don't waste time.
Call now for more information. Interested blind adults who
have completed an undergraduate degree are encouraged to
contact Ruby Ryles at (318) 251-2891. Come join us as we
begin a new era in the orientation and mobility field. Note:
This grant is funded through the U.S. Department of
Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration, under
Experimental and Innovative Training Programs. We welcome
sighted applicants as well, but they must meet the same high
standards expected of blind students.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Sue Drapinski]
If Only We Could See Through the Eyes of a Child
by Sue Drapinski
From the Editor: As spring rolls around again, this
little reminder of the importance of the work that we all do
every day may be helpful. Sue Drapinski is the Treasurer of
the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan. This is
what she says:
The importance of the NFB of Michigan's tutoring
program and the ongoing education of our blind children is
immeasurable. However, the education of the general public
about blindness issues and the capabilities of those who are
blind must also be a high priority. Today's blind and
sighted children are the best teachers. The following
tradition in our family demonstrates how easy it would be if
only society could see things through the eyes of a child.
Each year our family has a barbecue on Memorial Day
weekend. We invite friends and family and enjoy outdoor
games, food, fellowship, and the local carnival games and
rides just a block away. Each year new friends join us. Last
year, Sid and Dawn Neddo and their children came. Kyle
Neddo, who is an eight-year-old blind child, was one of the
twelve children under the age of ten. He ate with the rest
of the kids, played with the rest of the kids, and went to
the carnival with the rest of the kids. Because Kyle and his
family are a part of our Federation family and because they
believe in and live our philosophy, Kyle has never been
excluded from children's activities.
During the barbecue never once did any of the children
question Kyle's abilities. Never once did they treat him
differently, and most important never once did they assume
there was something he couldn't do. The same is not true for
the adults watching the children play. Some wondered if Kyle
should be running; some worried that he would get hurt; some
marveled at all of the exceptional things he was able to do
(such as playing like any other eight-year-old).
One by one, the concerned adults realized that neither
Kyle's parents nor those of us who knew Kyle were concerned.
They began to understand a little bit of NFB philosophy--
Kyle is no different because he is blind, and he doesn't
need to be treated any differently because he is blind. The
next step is for these same adults to realize that Kyle is
not exceptional, nor has he overcome great adversity. Kyle,
like all of the other children, was just having fun being a
kid.
As we meet new people and try to spread our philosophy,
our ultimate goal is for everyone to understand the truth
just as simply as the children do--blindness does not make a
difference in who a person is, what he or she can do, or how
he or she should be treated. We have a long way to go, but
if each of us takes advantage of the opportunities presented
to us, our philosophy will prevail.
Content Validity
of the National Literary Braille Competency Test
by Carol B. Allman and Sandra Lewis
From the Editor: Because Braille users and those who
wish they had been taught to use it have such strong
convictions about the importance of effective teaching of
the code to children, members of the National Federation of
the Blind have worked to ensure that teachers of the
visually impaired know the code well themselves so that they
can teach it. Unfortunately, a number of teachers have
opposed our efforts. They offer a variety of arguments in
support of their position, but we have been made skeptical
through the years by transparently poor teaching of Braille
and, too often, a rigid determination to teach print if at
all possible. In short we have become convinced that
insecurity and fear underlie a large part of the teacher
resistance to the movement toward demonstrated competency in
Braille reading and writing for teachers of blind students.
A few months ago word began to circulate about an
astonishing article that had appeared in the Fall, 1996,
issue of RE:view, the journal of the Association for
Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually
Impaired (AER). Here is the article by Carol Allman and
Sandra Lewis as it appeared:
Criticism of teacher competence in using and teaching
Braille contributed to the start of a Braille literacy
movement in the 1980's. Because of the Braille movement and
the general agreement that Braille is a literary code of
importance for some people with a visual impairment, twenty-
five states [now twenty-eight], including Florida, have
passed "Braille Bills" (Turco, 1993; personal communication,
B. Pierce, April 13, 1994). Such legislation reiterates the
importance of Braille for some students with severe visual
impairments and, in most cases, requires testing the Braille
competence of teachers of students with visual impairments.
As a result of the Braille literacy movement, the
Braille section of the National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Impaired (NLS) of the Library of
Congress has developed the National Literary Braille
Competency Test (NLBCT), a criterion-referenced test that
assesses skill in reading and writing (transcription)
Braille. No other test of this kind exists, and states that
have passed Braille legislation have considered using the
test for one aspect of certifying teachers of students with
visual impairments. If the test, which has not been used as
yet, is to be considered for partial use in teacher
certification, its content must be determined to be valid.
In 1989, national organizations for the blind (American
Council of the Blind, American Foundation for the Blind,
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind
and Visually Impaired, Blinded Veterans Association,
Canadian Council of the Blind, Canadian National Institute
for the Blind, National Federation of the Blind, and the
NLS) formed the Joint Organizational Effort (JOE) in part to
promote Braille literacy. The group chose the NLS to devise
a competency test because it had expertise in Braille codes
and no affiliation with teachers, universities, or other
education or rehabilitation organizations (National Library
Service, 1993).
An editorial committee of eleven professionals involved
in education or rehabilitation for blind and visually
impaired persons was formed in 1991 to advise on test
development. The committee recommended limiting the test to
literary Braille (excluding math or music codes), including
slate and stylus writing, and not testing Braille teaching
methodology. It recommended that university training
programs assure proficiency in teaching methodology testing
through certification standards.
In the spring of 1992, the editorial committee reviewed
a trial test, which NLS revised on the basis of that
evaluation. Subsequently, thirty-two peer reviewers (64
percent return rate) in fifteen states evaluated the test.
The editorial committee or NLS selected those reviewers from
a list of individuals who had expressed an unsolicited
interest in reviewing the test. Their responses were
positive; most agreed that slate writing was important,
although a few thought it unnecessary. Most recommended more
multiple-choice questions. NLS revised the test based on
these recommendations (Stark, 1993b).
The NLBCT is described in news releases (National
Library Service, 1992, 1993, 1994) as a three-part
evaluation of general knowledge of the Braille literary
code. The test assesses (a) the ability to write by using a
slate and stylus to Braille one medium-length paragraph, and
a Braillewriter to transcribe one full print page, and (b)
the ability to identify Braille errors in four medium
Braille paragraphs. It also requires the candidate to answer
twenty-five questions on the use of Braille rules.
Candidates can use a dictionary, but not Braille reference
materials, to complete the test within four to six hours.
NLS will grade the tests and set passing scores. NLS has set
prerequisites for taking the test the first time and
guidelines for subsequently retaking it.
The Braille literacy concerns of JOE indicate that
professionals and consumers in the field generally support
the concept of a Braille competency test. However, the NLBCT
has not been rigorously validated, and testing and
measurement specialists agree that assessments used to
obtain teaching certification should have psychometric
characteristics that include assurance that the instrument
used has job relevance (Gorth and Chernoff, 1986). The
measurement literature on validation of teacher
certification tests, although limited (Schmitt and Borman,
1993), supports the need for content validation,
particularly for tests like the NLBCT that are
criterion-referenced tests of skills used in teacher
certification (Shimberg, 1981).
Unfortunately, the current development of the NLBCT
consists of expert judging and peer review based on personal
expertise (Stark, 1993a) and not of job analysis data. The
recommendation by peer reviewers to assess only knowledge of
the Braille code and not methodology raises particularly the
question of the need for teachers to demonstrate ability to
transcribe materials using a slate and stylus. There is
agreement in the literature that teachers should teach slate
and stylus to students. However, if the NLBCT is designed to
assess demonstration of the Braille code and not teaching of
Braille and related communication skills, the requirement of
slate and stylus writing is questionable.
Issues Surrounding Content Validity
Technical adequacy of any test through the use of
psychometric techniques is considered standard procedure as
outlined in the Standards for Educational and Psychological
Testing (American Educational Research Association, American
Psychological Association, and National Council on
Measurement in Education, 1985). Primary standards include
evidence of validity. Validity of criterion-referenced tests
is widely discussed in the literature, but content validity
is generally recommended as the primary validation of
interest. For teacher certification purposes, test content
validation is generally determined through an investigation
of practitioners who either report or demonstrate the skills
tested while on the job.
As prospective teachers are tested for competency, it
is critical that the competence be based on the knowledge,
skill, and ability that is demonstrated by practicing
teachers. The job relevance of testing for certification
purposes is upheld by Standards for Educational and
Psychological Testing (American Educational Research
Association et al., 1985) and the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission's overview of the Adoption by Four
Agencies of Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection
Procedures (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1978).
The assessment of skills through performance rating of
demonstrated skills has traditionally been focused on
occupational areas that lend themselves to completion of a
product through simulated performance of specified skills,
such as secretarial (typing exams) and mechanical
functioning (car repair, building construction, or
assembly-line skill)(Fleishman, 1982; Hambleton and Rogers,
1991). Typically, teacher skills are not defined in ways
that allow their simulation for skill performance
assessment. However, Braille transcription competence is a
skill that lends itself to a performance rating on a
criterion-referenced test.
Legal opinions support the critical nature of content
validity for teacher certification testing. In a 1971 case,
Griggs v Duke Power Company, employees of Duke Power Company
challenged the legality of an employer's using general
ability tests to hire and advance employees. That landmark
case in personnel testing established the concept of job
relatedness in finding that the general ability tests were
not validated by correlation with job relevant tasks
(Bershoff, 1981). In a 1975 case, Albemarle Paper Company
v Moody, an employer's method of determining validity of an
employee test was found defective. A psychologist hired to
validate an employee test compared test scores of current
employees with supervisors' judgements of competence. The
court stated that the validation did not analyze attributes
or particular skills needed in the job and thus was
defective methodology. (Bershoff, 1981).
Two cases in 1981 further addressed the validity of
employment testing. The United States v City of St. Louis
case challenged multiple-choice questions and simulation
exercises on an employee test developed by a panel of
experts. The court concluded that the items were based on
opinion rather than actual observation of correlation
between mastery of knowledge and abilities measured by the
test. Although the test assessed reading and writing skills
that were dissimilar to those needed in the work situation,
it threatened the use of simulated situations in the testing
situation. In Guardians Association of New York City v Civil
Service Commission, perhaps the most sophisticated opinion
on employment test validity, the court found the functional
approach of job relatedness for content validation to be
appropriate. The court upheld the city's use of content
validation strategies, supporting further use of
job-relevant content validation for tests of teacher
certification. (Bershoff, 1981).
Bishop (1993), Harrell and Curry (1987), Heinze (1986),
Olmstead (1991), and Torres and Corn (1990) provided
descriptions of duties of a teacher of visually impaired and
included the transcription of materials into Braille and the
interlining of Braille materials with print. Teachers may
demonstrate these transcription skills by using a
Braillewriter, a slate and stylus, a Braille computer
program, or a Braille transcriber aide. Any assessment of
these Braille transcription skills must necessarily reflect
on-the-job activities as carried out by teachers.
Unfortunately there are no quantitative studies or job
analyses to suggest how teachers proceed with Braille
transcription duties.
The Present Study
In the present study, we address the content validity
of Braille transcription on the NLBCT. The need for the test
is not at issue. If the test is an instrument for
demonstrating "basic competency in literary Braille"
(National Library Service, 1994, p.1), then proper
validation procedures should show that the test is related
to the job performed by the teacher of students with visual
impairments.
Method
The Questionnaire
We designed a Braille Skills Analysis Questionnaire
(BSAQ), choosing the questions by reviewing the literature
on Braille- related communication skills and by evaluating
the purpose, content, and process of Braille transcription
skills on the NLBCT practice test. We designed the
questionnaire so that the teacher respondents could indicate
how and how often they used Braille transcription skills,
particularly their use of slate and stylus, Braillewriter,
Braille computer programs, and transcriber aides in
transcribing materials and transcribing with the use of
Braille reference materials.
We asked fifteen visual impairment professionals to
review a draft of the BSAQ. Using responses from nine of
those reviewers (60 percent), we revised the draft. We then
asked ten potential participants to complete the revised
test to determine its test-retest reliability. We had
established a priori that a test-retest reliability of .85
would be acceptable for ascertaining that the questionnaire
would produce reliable information. Eight participants (80
percent) returned the completed questionnaire. Two weeks
later we sent a second questionnaire to those participants
who returned the first one. Six of the eight participants
(75 percent) returned the questionnaires for test-retest
reliability computation. We obtained an average test- retest
reliability of .87 from those six responses. The field test
participants were not part of the initial review, and both
groups of participants were deleted from the participant
pool.
Participants
The participants were 233 teachers of students with
visual impairments in Florida, whose names we obtained from
the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually
Handicapped, which maintains an annually updated list of all
teachers of students with visual impairments in Florida.
These individuals would be a source of current on-the-job
information about skill in Braille transcription. The sample
of teacher participants consisted of thirty-two men (14
percent) and 201 women (86 percent).
Procedure
The Florida Department of Education mailed the test and
a return-address, stamped envelope to the 233 teachers. The
tests were coded to the addresses of the participants. The
coding was accessed only by a research assistant who
maintained records on the return of the tests and sent
follow-up letters four weeks after the original mailing to
those who had not completed the questionnaires.
Results
Eighty-one percent (189 of 233) returned the test. Of
those 189, 181 questionnaires (96 percent) were completed in
a usable manner. The eight unusable questionnaires were not
completed because the recipients were no longer teaching.
Twenty-six men (14 percent) and 155 women (86 percent)
completed the questionnaire. Seven participants reported
that they were tactual Braille readers. Seventy-five percent
of the respondents were teachers of visually impaired
children; 7 percent were orientation and mobility
specialists; 14 percent had dual assignments; and 4 percent
gave no identification. Of these teachers, 42 percent served
prekindergarten through secondary school children; the
remaining 58 percent, in about equal proportion, taught
secondary school children only, elementary and secondary
school children, elementary school children only, or some
other combination of ages. Sixty-seven percent of the
teachers reported that they had taught for more than ten
years; 59 percent stated that they had taught students with
visual impairments for more than ten years. The data in
Tables One and Two indicate the locations of teaching
assignments and the number of visually impaired children
each teacher taught.
Teachers who did not use Braille in their teaching
assignments were asked not to answer the remaining
questions. Eighty-nine teachers (49 percent) reported
transcribing Braille; 96 percent of those used a
Braillewriter, 64 percent used computer software, and only
12 percent used a slate and stylus.
We had decided before mailing the tests that to be
reported as content-valid a skill had to be used by 85
percent of transcribing teachers. Based on the report of
eighty-nine teachers in Florida who transcribe materials for
students as part of their current job, the NLBCT skill of
producing print into Braille by a Braillewriter can be
considered content-valid. The NLBCT skill of producing print
into Braille using a slate and stylus is not content-valid
based on the Florida responses. Although the skill of using
a slate and stylus is described in the literature as
desirable for teachers who teach students with visual
impairments, the reproduction of materials into Braille by
that method is not a skill that many teachers in Florida
use. Most teachers who transcribe materials do so with a
Braillewriter or computer software.
Of the 104 teachers responding to the question about
using Braille transcriber aides to transcribe materials,
sixty-five (63 percent) reported not using an aide. However,
sixteen (15 percent) reported using an aide for 3-5 hours a
week; 16 (15 percent) reported using an aide less than 1 to
2 hours; and 7 (7 percent) used an aide for transcription
from 6 hours to more than 10 hours weekly.
One hundred teachers answered the question about using
reference materials for transcription, and eighty-five
teachers answered the question on using reference materials
for interlining Braille with print. The data in Table three
show the frequency of reported use of reference materials.
Table four contains data on the amount of time teachers
spend weekly in interlining and transcribing Braille.
Interpretations of the findings in this study need to
consider the following limitations:
1. Participants in this study were volunteers and may not be
representative of the population of teachers.
2. Participants were limited to the state of Florida.
3. Participants in this study may have previously
participated in some aspect of the NLBCT development.
4. Data from this study are self-reported information and
may reflect the participants' biases.
TABLE One. Teaching Assignments of Respondents
Assignment Number Percent
Residential School 25 14%
Resource Room 24 13%
Itinerant Teaching 99 55%
Special Class 21 12%
Other (supervisor, media spec.) 12 6%
Total 181 100%
TABLE Two. Number of Students With Visual Impairment That
Respondents Serve
Program Mode Range M Mode
Itinerant teaching 2-32 14.1 10
Resource room 1-65 11.5 9
Residential School 3-100 27.4 27
TABLE Three. Frequency of Teacher Use of Braille Reference
Materials
Use Always Sometimes Never
Transcribing Braille Materials 21 70 9
Interlining Print Materials 14 47 24
TABLE Four. Time Teachers Spend per Week (in Hours) in
Transcription
and Interlining
Skill <1 1-2 3-5 6-10 >10
Slate and stylus 10 1 0 0 0
Braillewriter 18 30 21 11 5
Computer Software 7 21 13 6 3
Interlining Braille 9 27 15 7 2
Conclusions and Discussion
We designed the collection of data in this study to
determine if teachers transcribe Braille using a
Braillewriter and a slate and stylus without the use of
reference materials as assessed on the NLBCT. The data from
this survey support the assertion that transcribing Braille
with a Braillewriter is a valid skill to assess as a
certification requirement for prospective teachers of
students with visual impairments. Using a slate and stylus
and transcribing Braille without using reference materials
are not valid components for certification requirements.
Wittenstein (1993a, 1993b) found that over half of the
subjects he surveyed felt that it was not desirable for
teachers to be certified transcribers of Braille. Currently,
Braille transcribers are certified through a test similar to
the NLBCT that requires transcription on a Braillewriter
with use of reference materials and with particular
attention given to format, structure, and lack of errors on
the transcribed document. If teachers are to be assessed on
their ability to transcribe Braille for student use, those
skills should be assessed through ways typically used by
teachers and with attention to lack of errors on the
transcribed document. The data from this study indicate that
transcribing using a Braillewriter and reference materials
is a skill used by over 90 percent of the teachers who use
Braille in their classrooms. Unlike the NLBCT, the
applicants for the Braille transcriber test may use
reference materials and may complete the test in a setting
of their choice.
Over half of the teachers using Braille spent one to
five hours a week interlining print with Braille.
Interlining appears to be a critical skill for a number of
teachers and is necessary in the management of students with
visual impairments in regular classrooms. If regular
classroom teachers are readily to accept students with
visual impairments in their classrooms, they need assurance
that the materials are accessible. This suggestion is
supported by Bishop (1986), who identified factors in the
successful mainstreaming of students with visual
impairments. This finding supports the suggestion that
teacher preparation programs include the skill of
interlining in Braille coursework.
The data from this study indicate that 64 percent of
teachers using Braille in their classrooms transcribe with
computer software. This skill may reflect a future trend and
probably reflects teachers' desires to complete needed
transcription in a timely, simplified fashion. It does not
suggest that teachers are illiterate in the Braille code.
The finding of some use of aides for transcription may
indicate a trend in the use of trained transcribers, which
is supported by Currey and Hatlen (1989), who reported that
teacher "aides are often assigned the job of Braille
transcription and that teachers of the visually impaired are
assigned the job of training those aides in the fundamentals
of Braille transcription" (p.61). This information suggests
that a Braille skill that may need to be included in teacher
competency in the future is the ability to train teacher
aides in the transcription of Braille.
Based on the results of this study, we do not recommend
using the NLBCT in its present format in certifying teachers
of students with visual impairments. Competence in
transcription of Braille on a Braillewriter using reference
materials is a job-relevant, content-valid skill expected of
any teacher of students with visual impairments. In
addition, teachers should be competent in interlining
materials.
Teachers must have the opportunity to continuously
renew and upgrade teaching skills. In this study, we report
that 51 percent of the respondents indicated that they do
not currently use Braille, and often teachers go for several
years with no Braille-reading students; these teachers
require Braille and Braille device updates (Olmstead, 1991).
New and improved technology, methodologies, and materials
become available and require learning or renewing (Maron,
1983). Commonwealth of Virginia (1991) and Wittenstein
(1993a, 1993b) report that although teachers generally feel
confident in their Braille skills, they desire some level of
inservice training on various Braille-related communication
devices.
Based on the findings of this study concerning the
content validity of the NLBCT, the Braille Competency
Committee of the Florida Department of Education recommended
that this test not be used for teacher certification. The
Braille Competency Committee established Braille competence
standards for teachers and recommended that prospective
teachers' competence in Braille be assured through the
content of university courses, including passing an
examination that allows use of reference materials while (a)
transcribing a lengthy passage from print to Braille on the
Braillewriter and (b) interlining Braille to print. This
committee, recognizing that caseloads of teachers may only
sporadically include students who are Braille readers, also
recommended that regular inservice training in Braille be
initiated for teachers who believe that their skills are
rusty. More than 100 individuals participated in four
regional two-day Braille refresher workshops in the spring
of 1996. Future plans are to provide advanced Braille
updating, which would include teacher competence in the use
of software for transcription and the training of teacher
aides to assist in the transcription of Braille.
NLS has announced that it will proceed with a
nationwide effort to validate the content of the NLBCT. Our
research, conducted in only one state, can be used as a
pilot study for the larger investigation. It will be
interesting to see if the transcribing practices of Florida
teachers are similar to those of teachers in other states.
Should the nationwide validation confirm that teachers
primarily use Braillewriters and reference materials when
transcribing materials from print to Braille, it seems
reasonable that the NLBCT can be made more content-valid by
making changes to the testing procedures that reflect these
job-related practices.
In the meantime, states that have adopted the current
version of the NLBCT for teacher certification may want to
reevaluate their decision. If the test lacks content
validity, as determined in this study, continued use of the
NLBCT as a determinant of employability may not be upheld in
the courts.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Barbara Pierce]
A Nonacademic Plea for Common Sense
by Barbara Pierce
Anyone who depends on the ability to read and write
Braille or who needs strong Braille skills and does not have
them undoubtedly finished reading the preceding article
frothing at the mouth. To those unused to digging through
reports of research findings, the striking point in the
authors' argument would appear to be that they surveyed
teachers of blind children in Florida and learned that very
few of them ever prepare class materials for their students
using the slate and stylus. Therefore there is no reason to
demand that such teachers learn to use the slate and stylus,
and states using the NLS National Literary Braille
Competency Test (NLBCT) as part of their certification
process for teachers of the blind may eventually be
instructed by the courts to throw out this instrument.
A close reading of the article reveals that the
argument being presented is actually somewhat more complex
but equally disturbing. I do not pretend to comprehend the
professional jargon completely, and neither did several
academics to whom I showed the article in the hope that they
could explain it to me. But I would like to comment on a
couple of disturbing things it seems to say.
The authors object to the original decision to
construct the Braille competency test to measure knowledge
of Braille rather than focusing on the teacher's mastery of
teaching methods for working with blind students. They seem
to think that assessing teacher mastery of the code somehow
means transcription skills are being assessed. Their words
are: "The recommendation by peer reviewers to assess only
knowledge of the Braille code and not methodology raises
particularly the question of the need for teachers to
demonstrate ability to transcribe materials using a slate
and stylus. There is agreement in the literature that
teachers should teach slate and stylus to students. However,
if the NLBCT is designed to assess demonstration of the
Braille code and not teaching of Braille and related
communication skills, the requirement of slate and stylus
writing is questionable." Unless I am missing something,
this reasoning seems astonishing to me.
The concept of a competency test was first proposed
because so few special education teachers of blind students
truly knew the Braille code and could use it with any
facility. As far as I know, the evidence is anecdotal, but
blind people with a good mastery of Braille reading and
writing consistently point to a teacher or other adult whose
instruction and personal skill enabled the blind youngsters
to learn Braille effectively. Teachers who don't know
Braille well are typically unenthusiastic about teaching it,
avoid doing so as much as possible, and make errors when
they are forced to prepare Braille materials.
There is nothing extraordinary about this phenomenon.
It pops up in human nature all the time. My children had two
different French teachers in high school. One had a
beautiful accent, had been to France, and clearly loved the
language. Her students were excited about French, spoke it
whenever they could, did extra-curricular projects, and
enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I suppose the other teacher
liked the language well enough to teach it, but no one could
ever be certain. Her accent was very poor, and her ability
to inspire enthusiasm in her students was nonexistent. When
students expressed interest in taking French at the local
college, she did what she could to discourage them on the
grounds that they would find it too difficult. Everyone
assumed that she was really afraid that her own shortcomings
would be exposed more obviously if the French faculty saw
the results of her instruction. To my mind this is the same
set of very human responses at work that we find in the
teachers who resist having their Braille skills tested.
The NLBCT was developed, not to predict how successful
a Braille teacher would be in teaching Braille reading and
writing, but to determine whether that teacher possesses the
body of information and skills he or she must teach. A sound
knowledge of Braille reading and writing is a necessary, but
not sufficient, prerequisite to effective teaching. I am
mystified as to why this point seems so difficult for many
in education to grasp.
Another place where ordinary common sense and
researcher logic seem to part company is in the section
titled "Issues Surrounding Content Validity." Specialized
terms are discussed in this section, and in the following
passage I do not pretend to understand the term "criterion
referenced tests," but it's pretty clear the researchers
believe that the best way to test the skills of teachers or
would-be teachers is to compare their abilities to those of
actual teachers doing the work in the classroom, which seems
to be content validity. In other words, if you construct a
valid test that measures the skills of the test-taker
against the job being done in the field, you can predict how
well the test-taker is teaching or will teach in the future.
Here is the relevant passage: "Validity of
criterion-referenced tests is widely discussed in the
literature, but content validity is generally recommended as
the primary validation of interest. For teacher
certification purposes, test content validation is generally
determined through an investigation of practitioners who
either report or demonstrate the skills tested while on the
job."
What follows this foggy little passage is a long
discussion, complete with citations of court cases, to
support the concept that generalized notions of what should
be taught and assessment of the test-taker's knowledge of a
body of material are unimportant or at least less important
in the certification process than assessment of the
teacher's mastery of methodology.
Having conducted no research myself and knowing nothing
at all about test theory and test validation, I can only
comment based on common sense. Surely no one would argue
that anyone who has mastered a body of knowledge can
necessarily teach it. All of us have endured teachers who
knew their stuff but who could not communicate it to the
class. We are not arguing that knowing the Braille code well
and having the ability to write it with Brailler or slate
guarantee that one can effectively teach a blind child to
read and write Braille rapidly and effectively. But it seems
self-evident to me that one who does not have those skills
and that knowledge will very seldom be able to teach others
mastery of Braille and will be unlikely to believe in its
importance. One must understand algebra before teaching it.
A violin teacher must be able to produce music on a fiddle
if his or her students are to learn to play.
Some years ago my local NFB chapter invited the teacher
of the visually impaired in our county to come to a meeting
and talk to us about the education of blind children. With
pride she told us that she had been teaching in the system
for eleven years, and never in all that time had a single
student in her class needed Braille. She had assured us at
the beginning of the meeting that she knew Braille and that,
if a student really needed it, she would teach it. What she
did not know was that we had been working with the parents
of several students in the county who had requested Braille
for their children, and all the students had eventually left
the school where this woman taught and gone to the school
for the blind, where they could receive Braille instruction.
When teachers like this one are not teaching what their
children need to learn for success in life, how can they
possibly provide a reliable reference for determining the
standards for teacher competency? This teacher genuinely had
not noticed that her prejudice against Braille was actually
preventing her from recognizing her students' needs.
Of course, the teachers in Florida surveyed about their
teaching do not transcribe much material for their students
using the slate and stylus; teachers haven't done much of
that sort of thing for fifty years. First grade teachers
don't prepare worksheets for their students using pencils
either. Yet first grade teachers do use handwriting and are
expected to teach their students to write as well as read.
The authors give lip service to the concept that slate and
stylus instruction should be given to blind students. In
their survey, however, the authors did not ask how many
teachers taught the use of the slate and stylus, and they
certainly made no attempt to ascertain how effective such
teaching was. Those questions were beyond the purview of the
research, which focused on Braille transcription only.
But I can tell you that very few blind students today
are being taught effective and enthusiastic slate use. The
Ohio affiliate conducts a Braille-writing contest each year-
-or at least we try to. We have just changed the contest
rules. We used to present a Braille 'n Speak to the middle
or high school student who wrote the best essay about the
importance of Braille in his or her life. The essay was to
be written using a slate and stylus. Last year we had no
contest entrants because, as the teachers told us, their
Braille students could write with a Perkins Brailler but not
the slate. This year we will award extra points for
submissions written with a slate and stylus, but so far none
have appeared.
I recently received a report from a Federationist whose
affiliate had just completed a daylong trip to the state
capital during which teams of Federationists talked with
legislators about important bills coming up for action. Six
high school students took part in the event, which was
wonderful, but not a single one could take notes of the
meetings in Braille. It was not that they could not take
good notes or make a complete and legible record; these
students were unable to take Braille notes at all! It would
be hard to assemble a group of six sighted high school
students interested in attending and able to take part in
such an event who were, to a person, unable to take notes at
all.
These are anecdotes admittedly, but they are stories
the truth of which I can vouch for, and they have occurred
in the past year. In fact, I know only one high school
student who is enthusiastic about using the slate and
stylus, and she is being home schooled by members of the
Parents Division in Ohio and has attended the Buddy Program
at BLIND, Inc., for the past three summers. In other words,
her exposure to the poor attitudes of many teachers of blind
students in Ohio has been minimal, and her absorption of
Federation philosophy has been steady and constructive.
Is this little essay of mine merely one more
indiscriminate attack on the abilities and attitudes of
teachers of blind students? Absolutely not! In my experience
no one is more enthusiastic about the importance of Braille
reading and writing than those teachers who do know the code
well and teach it whenever and wherever they can. They have
seen more clearly than the rest of us can how important it
is and what a difference it can make to their students at
every ability level.
We can only hope that legislators and education
officials will depend on their own common sense and the
experience of blind adults and those teachers who actually
know and effectively teach Braille to their students. If we
have our way, most blind students will be learning Braille
in the future, and most of their special education teachers
will actually be required to know the code they are
teaching. We can only work and hope for the best and trust
that in the meantime ill-conceived research does not do our
children in.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Bruce Gardner]
Making Other Arrangements
by Bruce A. Gardner
From the Editor: Bruce Gardner is the President of the
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona and an attorney
with a responsible position. He has a lovely home and a
large and happy family. By any measure he is a successful
and satisfied man. Bruce's success is not a matter of luck;
he has worked hard and struggled to overcome obstacles. In
the following story he talks about one of these and the way
in which his victory has helped to shape his life. This is
what he says:
I have come to understand that the real problem of
blindness is not the lack of eyesight but the public's lack
of insight about blindness. In other words, it is not the
physical disability but the social handicap (society's
attitude) that is the real problem. It was Henry Ford who
said "If you think you can or you can't, you're right."
Given opportunity and training, a blind person with a little
initiative, determination, and the conviction that there's a
way to do the job can find alternative techniques for doing
just about anything sighted people do. Unfortunately the
public's notion of blindness is one of helplessness and
dependence. The blind are generally regarded as incapable of
doing much of anything.
Because blind people are part of society, we often have
the same low expectations and negative perceptions about
ourselves and thus do much to make those negative
perceptions a reality. I certainly grew up with all the
usual misconceptions about blindness, never mind the fact
that I was blind.
It was not until I was in college that I heard about
the National Federation of the Blind and learned the truth
about blindness. Therefore it was in college that I first
started using my long white cane.
Before that time I had low expectations and low self-
esteem. I was ashamed of my blindness because I thought
blind people were fumbling, bumbling Mr. Magoos or, worse,
virtually helpless dependents who sold pencils on the street
corner. I did not want to be thought that, so I tried to
hide my blindness and, of course, did not use a cane. But
that all changed when I learned the truth about blindness--
that it is respectable to be blind--and started
internalizing that truth.
A girl I dated a time or two in college after I began
using my cane asked me to Sunday dinner and church
afterward. As we left her apartment to walk to church, she
turned to me and said, "Why don't you just leave your cane
here? You won't need it at church because you will be with
me the whole time."
Although she was a nice young lady and I could tell
that she quite liked me, I felt like saying, "Why don't I
just leave YOU here?" She had now confirmed what I had
suspected: she was embarrassed to be seen with my cane. She
was not comfortable having others know that she was dating a
blind man. I decided to do both. For her sake I left the
cane behind when we went to church; then for my sake I left
her behind when we got back.
Shortly thereafter I met Becca. Unlike many others I
had dated, Becca did not try to deny that my blindness could
have an effect on our relationship. In fact, soon after we
started going together, she told me that she did not want to
get serious until she knew whether she could deal with my
blindness. That was refreshing. Because about a year earlier
I had learned of the National Federation of the Blind, I was
finally beginning to internalize the truth about blindness
and come to know in my heart that it is respectable to be
blind. Becca was getting ready to leave on a two-week
vacation, so I asked her to read a couple of articles while
she was gone. I explained that the articles had been written
by Kenneth Jernigan, President of the National Federation of
the Blind, and that they expressed the way I felt about my
blindness. She agreed to read "Blindness, Handicap or
Characteristic" and "Blindness, Of Visions and Vultures."
When she returned from vacation, her ability to accept and
deal with my blindness was no longer a question. Within a
few weeks Becca and I were engaged.
Becca's mother happened to be coming to Utah and
planned to stop and see Becca, so we took that opportunity
for me to meet her and to announce our engagement. She
seemed happy for us, but she made a few comments like "Don't
worry Becca; I won't say a thing to your father." A day or
two later I met Becca on campus after finishing my shift as
the supervisor of one of the breakfast crews at the dorm
cafeteria.
I asked what her mother had meant. Becca said that her
father was a little old-fashioned and that perhaps I should
ask him for her hand in marriage. So I said, "I know where
the pay phone is; I'll give him a call." Still, I could tell
there was more to it. We were going to school in Provo,
Utah, and Becca's parents lived in California. Even so,
apparently her father had heard that she was dating a blind
man.
When I made the call, it was still early in the
morning, and Becca's father (a physician) was just getting
into his car to go to his office, which was at the hospital.
When he came to the phone, I said, "Dr. Loeb, you don't know
me, but my name is Bruce Gardner, and I have been dating
your daughter Becca. I am asking for her hand in marriage."
It would be an understatement to say that his response was
less than I had hoped for.
He said, "I do not give permission to marry my daughter
to just anyone, and to me you are just anyone. You will have
to make other arrangements." He then hung up the phone. I
had the distinct impression that what he meant by "make
other arrangements" was go marry someone else.
When I hung up the phone, Becca asked me what had
happened. In answer I said, "Get the phone book. I need to
call the airlines; we are going to visit your parents."
Those were the "other arrangements" I chose to make.
The earliest flight we could get was late the next day,
which was a Friday, but that gave us time to call Becca's
mother back and arrange for me to have an interview with Dr.
Loeb at his office Saturday morning and at his request to
relay to him all the medical details I could provide about
my blindness. Of course I was scared. What was I to do? What
could I say to this Pediatric cardiologist that would
alleviate his concerns about his daughter's marrying a blind
man.
On Saturday morning, when Becca and I arrived at her
father's office, we learned that Becca was to have an
interview first. Only a few months earlier Becca had
graduated from college and begun work as a registered nurse.
Her father was concerned that Becca did not really love this
blind man but only felt sorry for him and wanted to take
care of him as she had done so many times before with hurt
or stray animals and birds.
When it was my turn, I discussed with Dr. Loeb the
medical aspects of my blindness, and he told me the results
of his hasty research and conversations with the
ophthalmologists he worked with at the hospital. We then
discussed my plans to finish college and attend law school.
I also explained to him what my philosophy was regarding my
blindness and asked him to read the two articles I had
earlier shared with Becca. There were many other NFB
speeches I could have given him, but these two articles
summarized the issues well and had helped Becca work through
her concerns, so I used them again.
After my interview Becca and I went to lunch with her
parents and then accompanied them on their Saturday
afternoon grocery shopping expedition, which was a weekly
tradition. Although I was staying at their home in the guest
room, nothing more was said about my blindness or my
engagement to Becca. The next morning, which was Sunday,
Becca and I were preparing to go to church. At the breakfast
table Becca's mother turned to her father and said, "Becca
and Bruce are going to church, and she wants to wear her
engagement ring. Have you made up your mind yet?"
With that, her father turned to me, cleared his throat,
and said "did you have something you wanted to ask me?" I
almost fell off my chair. I muttered a lame apology for the
abrupt way I had asked the first time and then formally
requested Dr. Loeb's permission to marry his daughter. He
got a tear in his eye and a lump in his throat as he gave me
his permission. He then excused himself and left for work at
the hospital.
That was all there was to it. It was clear that he had
read the articles I had given him and that he was impressed
with the attitude that I had conveyed and that the articles
relayed regarding blindness.
I have since made good on my plans to finish college
and law school, and for the past fourteen years I have been
successfully practicing law. Becca and I now have six
bright, healthy, happy children, three of whom are
teenagers. Since that interview with Becca's father, my
blindness has not been an issue of concern for either Becca
or her parents. And since that interview I have grown
extremely close to Becca's parents.
I am grateful to Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and the National
Federation of the Blind for helping me learn the truth about
blindness and enabling me to share that truth with my wife
and in-laws.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Marc Maurer
PHOTO/CAPTION: Mike Freeman
PHOTO/CAPTION: John Miller]
Federation Spirit on the Internet
by Marc Maurer
As Federationists know, I do not possess a great deal
of information about computers, but occasionally I turn my
attention to computer technology and equipment. Almost
invariably the telephone rings, somebody knocks on my door,
or the letters and messages from previous days begin to make
me nervous. I know that my prime responsibility is not to
understand the computer but to address the broad overall
needs of members of the National Federation of the Blind.
Consequently I don't spend enough time with computers to
become familiar with the way they work. Nevertheless, we in
the National Federation of the Blind have placed an
increasingly heavy emphasis on technological solutions to
information access for blind people. In 1990 we established
the International Braille and Technology Center for the
Blind (IBTC)--the only facility of its kind anywhere in the
world. In 1994 we established a Web site on the Internet. We
now distribute the Braille Monitor, Voice of the Diabetic,
and a number of other publications by electronic mail.
Shortly after we established the IBTC, we also created NFB
NET, our computer bulletin board service (BBS), and an
increasing number of our communications use our BBS and
indeed the Internet generally.
Although I do not know how to use the Internet to
communicate, I review many of the documents distributed by
members of the National Federation of the Blind through this
electronic medium. Recently, Internet communications from
Jim Rebman and Christian Harris asked for help in finding
ways for blind people to study mathematics. As you would
expect, the response of Federation members was immediate and
positive. Not everybody will want to master the arcana of
advanced mathematics. However, some will. Of course, there
are many other topics which we in the Federation might
explore. If you want to know something, ask. Maybe we know
the answer. If we do, we'll make it available. If we don't,
we'll try to find out. Here are some examples of recent
questions and responses from the Internet.
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996
From: Jim Rebman jrebman@netcom.com
To: Multiple recipients of list
nfb-se@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Subject: Introduction
Greetings list members:
My name is Jim Rebman, and I'm sure many of you know
me, but some may not, so I'll give a little background.
I lost my sight almost seven years ago as a result of
diabetic retinopathy, and just prior to that my kidneys
failed. In 1993 I received a kidney-pancreas transplant and
am no longer a diabetic.
My formal training was in electrical engineering,and
from 1980 to 1984 I was a research assistant/engineer at the
Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, where I
developed several microprocessor-based instruments and
controllers for a 12OKv 100 amp DC power system, as well as
several different 12-pulse high-current rectifiers and a
multi-pulse cycloconverter that was used to vary the line
frequency on the output of a 960 MVA motor/generator set.
Big volts, big amps, and an occasional big boom (grin).
Since that time I have been working almost exclusively with
computers on everything from compiler design/porting, to
application-development, to networks and MIS systems. I am
planning on going back to school to finish my bachelor's
degree and eventually to get my Ph.D. in computer science.
One of my big concerns at this point is how I am going to
handle the math--I really must learn it all over again from
intermediate algebra through at least four semesters of
calculus. Any tips on how to approach this would be much
appreciated.
Under the heading of miscellaneous: I live just outside
of Boulder, Colorado; love outdoor activities like hiking,
rock climbing, and backpacking; am a board member of the
Boulder County chapter; and am also a graduate of the
Colorado Center (1995).
I look forward to participating in the discussions and
especially to helping students with the tools, techniques,
and support they need to venture into the world of science
and engineering as blind people. Of course we can be
scientists and engineers--just look around.
Jim Rebman jrebman@netcom.com
__________
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996
From: Mike Freeman mikef@pacifier.com
To: Multiple recipients of list
nfb-se@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Subject: Help: teaching mathematics to visually impaired
individuals (forwarded)
start of forwarded message:
From: Christian Harris chrish@mercury.cs.albany-edu
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Help: teaching mathematics to visually
impaired individuals
Date: 07 Sep 1996
Hi,
I hope that this group is an appropriate place to ask
this question. I am a Teaching Assistant for a course called
Discrete Mathematics, which is sort of "mathematics for
computer science majors." The subject matter is entirely
mathematical; we don't do any programming in the course. The
work is all pencil-and-paper, theorem/proof work. It is
similar to first-semester calculus in the amount of work
that is assigned over the semester, and the subject is very
heavy on notation--the lecture consists of about 80 percent
board-work. Thus it is highly visual.
I have a person in my class who is blind. I would like
to know if there are any people out there who have taught
visually impaired people highly symbolic, traditionally
visual subjects like mathematics and what methods you
employed to convey what was on the board. Also, if there are
any visually impaired persons out there who have taken
mathematics or computer science courses, I would really
appreciate hearing about what methods work the best and your
perspective about this subject.
I have absolute confidence in my student's ability to
comprehend the material--just in talking to him after the
class, I got the impression that he is brighter than the
average student, highly enthusiastic, and very proactive
about getting help. I'm just worried about communicating the
material to him in a way that he can conceptualize. Also I
have to strike a balance with the rest of the class--I don't
want to be reading formulas off the board like: "OK, what I
wrote is open-paren, open-paren, open-paren, negation
symbol, x, close paren, . . ." because that will severely
limit the amount of stuff that can be covered and hence harm
the other students.
I'm a bit out of my depth with this situation, I think.
I don't know the first thing about how to teach visually
impaired people. My rough plan is just to conduct the class
in the way that I would normally do and try to describe
what's on the board well enough to get the message across to
my student. But that probably won't help him do the
homework, or will it? Other than trying hard to be
considerate, nice, and communicative about the course, I
don't know what else to do. Could anyone help me out?
Thanks,
Christian S. Harris
Graduate Assistant
chrish@cs.albany.edu
Department of Computer Science
University at Albany, SUNY
------- end of forwarded message-------
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996
From: Mike Freeman mikef@pacifier-com
To: Multiple recipients of list
nfb-se@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Good afternoon, Christian. I am responding to your post
to "misc.handicap" requesting help teaching mathematics to a
blind student. I have taken the liberty of forwarding your
post to the E-mail list of the Science and Engineering
Division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The
NFB is the largest organization of the blind in this
country, and there are quite a number of NFB members
(including me) who have studied higher mathematics and the
natural sciences and/or computer science and who can help
you. Indeed the inventor of the current Braille mathematics
code used throughout most of the world, Dr. Abraham Nemeth,
is an NFB member and reads the NFBSE mailing list; I suspect
he will have something to say on the subject.
I hold a B.A. from Reed College, Portland, Oregon, in
physics and an M.S. in physics from New Mexico State
University and have taken numerous computer science courses.
I took all the usual higher math courses so can give you
some ideas.
First a question: does your student read Braille? If
so, is his/her math text in Braille (if you're working from
handouts, are these available in Braille)? While not
absolutely essential, use of Brailled math texts and notes
is highly desirable in that the student has the same
material in front of him/her as your sighted students are
privileged to have and she or he can peruse the material and
ponder it at his or her own pace. (I once took a topology
course from taped books alone; and, while I made it through
the course, it was tough! Physics texts, on the other hand,
were no trouble for me on tape.)
As for a lecture style advantageous to the blind
student, I think you can follow a middle ground between the
literal "open paren, open paren, open paren . . ." style and
saying nothing about the equations. Often, especially in
fields such as set theory, Boolean algebra, math logic,
number theory, and the like, you can just read the equations
as you write them in the same manner you would speak them to
a colleague while engaging in a discussion while walking
across the campus. In some instances you will have to be
precise, but this is not as hard as it sounds. Proofs in,
say, linear algebra often go quite well aloud, especially if
the student has some familiarity with the material. Let the
student be your guide: ask him or her after class if things
were clear or not. It is, in the end, his or her
responsibility to see that she or he learns the material.
Incidentally, I think you'll find that, if you just
relax and start talking the equations as you write them, you
won't be wasting much time, and your sighted students will
also find your presentations much clearer. I once took an
electricity and magnetism course from a very articulate
professor (the only person I've ever known who could just
read aloud any electronic diagram you put in front of him
off-the-cuff). I was late for class one day by five minutes
or so. According to fellow students, his presentation became
one-hundred-percent clearer the moment I walked in the door.
In making certain concepts conveyed by diagrams come
across clearly, it is often helpful to use a raised-line
drawing kit (in which thin sheets of plastic are stretched
taut on a rubberized board and a ballpoint pen without ink
is rubbed along the plastic, stretching it to make raised
lines). In multivariate analysis, I once saw a wonderful
wooden model showing saddle-points and the like. Let your
imagination (and that of the student) be your guide. I got
quite good at doing all sorts of proofs in my head, and the
chief problem was getting someone who could write them on
the board for me fast enough from my dictation!
Dr. Nemeth has invented a way of speaking mathematics
precisely and quickly. I do not think it is always
necessary, but it really works. You might wish to correspond
with him directly on this subject. His Internet address is:
anemeth@ece.eng.wayne.edu
Good luck and feel free to ask as many questions as you
desire!
Cordially,
Mike Freeman
Amateur Radio Calsign: K7UIJ
Internet: mikef@pacifier.com
__________
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996
From: John Miller jamiller@qualcomm.com
To: Multiple recipients of list
nfb-se@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Subject: Teaching math to blind students
September 11, 1996
Christian S. Harris
Graduate Assistant
chrish@cs.albany-edu
Department of Computer Science
University at Albany, SUNY
Dear Chris,
My name is John Miller. I am the president of the
Science and Engineering Division of the National Federation
of the Blind. I received a posting of your message to
misc.handicap dated September 10. As you have no doubt found
from prior correspondence from the Science and Engineering
Division of the National Federation of the Blind, the
division is full of ideas on how to make learning math a
snap for blind folks. I will continue to forward the
discussion about teaching math to you as it develops on the
nfb-se.nfbcal.org list. I strongly encourage your student to
contact me and the members of the science division. The
brightest people and the ways they do math are right here.
The basic question of what alternative techniques will work
best for your student, your student will have to decide for
himself class after class and project after project on the
job. What has been written down from people's experiences,
of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. There is nothing
earth-shattering about the advice and experiences of
division members, but in the big picture I think they will
help.
I grew up totally blind since age three. Math has
always been my favorite subject. That's why I am doing
algorithm design and fixed-point implementation of signal
processing speech compression algorithms at QUALCOMM. I
received my B.S. and M.S. from Stanford University in
electrical engineering and have been taking graduate courses
at the University of California at San Diego ever since to
stay on the cutting edge. The discrete mathematics course
you are teaching sounds quite interesting because it has
some useful applications to what I am doing these days. I
have been attending similar courses specific to signal
processing at UCSD over the past year.
Here are some personal experiences that have given me
the most from class participation. Braille helps. If your
student knows Braille and needs help getting handouts or
portions of a book into Braille, have him give me a call.
Places can do it with just a few weeks delay, although more
time reduces the cost and effort considerably. Preparation
helps. Usually the first day of class I make an announcement
requesting a copy of another student's notes. Usually I shop
around and keep several people's notes until I find one that
gets the details I think are important. That way the details
for rote memory I pick up later and only worry about those
that are pertinent to the discussion at hand.
To get anything out of a lecture, I need a solid
context. I want to know down pat the postulates, the symbol
and graphing conventions, the basic framework ahead of time.
The best way I learn is to read the relevant material ahead
of time. Homework can be a pitfall. The trick is getting the
solutions in print. Sometimes I would just read my Braille
solutions to a grader line for line. No filling in with
"what I meant was." Today I would write solutions in print
or use Latex to laser print my solutions whenever possible.
I have found reviewing my professor's written comments on my
written solutions a useful learning tool. What's more, in
print is the way all work needs to be done on the job, so
sorting this out up front is a big help.
These are the things I ask my professors to do to help
me out in the course: Tell me what in the syllabus will be
covered next lecture. Braille books are usually several
volumes. I bring the right one with me to class. If it is
possible to have raised-line drawings of graphs being used
in the course ahead of time, this is helpful too. Then the
only additional framework I need is "I'm now drawing figure
8.5 from the text." Speak the key equations as you go and
describe graphs as you draw them. The weight of
responsibility is on your student to ask when he is
confused. There seem to be two kinds of questions about
notation. "You lost me when you substituted the second
expression into the first," which means backtrack and
summarize a bit; and "read the right hand side of the
expression again please," which isn't a request to
resummarize the lecture. The error most professors make is
stopping to summarize here and resenting the interruption,
when they never said "the right hand side of the expression"
in the first place. Giving specific answers to specific
questions helps the flow of the lecture quite nicely.
Describe a graphic such as "this is a sampled decaying
exponential" as you sketch it.
I have never found that my questions slowed the flow of
information in a class. As it turns out, on the heels of my
question always comes a related question from another
student. I sit in the front of the class. When the professor
loses the class, my question is usually the one that brings
the class back to where the professor is going.
My learning style is my own. Your student may learn
completely differently. Use your own teaching style, the
tips that fit naturally with it, and be guided by the
requests of your student. I do believe that a good framework
will help your student learn the most from your class. I
look forward to hearing from both of you and wish you the
best with the course. You can reach me at E-mail:
jamiller@qualcomm.com
Sincerely,
John Miller, President
Science and Engineering Division
of the National Federation of the Blind
__________
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996
From: Dave Schleppenbach engage@sage.cc.purdue.edu
To: Multiple recipients of list
nfb-se@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Subject: Re: Help: teaching mathematics to visually
impaired individuals (fwd)
Dear Chris,
The problem you are facing of teaching mathematics to
blind people is not a new one, and fortunately some terrific
advances have been made recently in the field. First of all,
let me recommend that you e-mail Dr. Nemeth, as others have
suggested, and ask his opinion.
Second, I have written a paper, "Teaching Science to
the Visually Impaired," which deals with the topics of math
and science education for the blind. This, together with
other information on our home page, the VISIONS Lab home
page, may prove useful to you. The address is
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/facilities/sightlab/index.html
Third, we have developed custom software specifically
for teaching math to the blind. Specifically, we have
written a program that converts print equations into
Braille, which is available on our Web page. Version 2.0 of
our program, which we have recently finished, includes
support for Nemeth Braille output as well as MathSpeak
output, which is the spoken form of mathematics also
invented by Dr. Nemeth. This should be of great use to you
in teaching your student.
Finally, let me mention that Dr. Mike Kress and Dr. Al
Blank have developed an AudioTactile beginning Calculus
course, which uses sound and tactile graphics to teach
calculus. This, along with some of our work in tactile
images, may be another route for learning for your student.
Feel free to e-mail or call me if you have any
questions.
Regards,
Dave Schleppenbach
VISIONS LAB director
engage@purdue.edu
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/facilities/sightlab/index.html
Deane Blazie, a member of the National Federation of
the Blind and president of Blazie Engineering, also
responded with additional information as follows.
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996
From: Deane Blazie deane@blazie.com
To: Multiple recipients of list
nfb-se@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Subject: Re: Help teaching mathematics to visually impaired
individuals (fwd)
There is also a graphing calculator program called
Graphit that operates much like the graphing calculators you
see at stores. However, it is able to emboss the graphs of
up to ten equations on a Braille embosser. It can also
display in some fashion the information in an audio format.
This audio output is good for single equations.
Graphit runs on any of the Blazie Engineering note
takers like the Braille 'n Speak. There is also a PC version
of the program. It works with most Braille embossers that
have a graphics mode.
Deane Blazie
[PHOTO: The picture is of a woman in park ranger uniform
holding a peregrine falcon. CAPTION: Lynda Boose]
How I Became a Park Ranger
by Lynda Boose
From the Editor: Not long ago I came upon a Talking
Book titled A Superior Death. The author was Nevada Barr.
The mystery was fun, and the author's ability to evoke the
scene and the various characters was certainly above
average. But the most memorable thing about the plot was the
casual appearance of Sandra, a blind secretary in the Park
Service office. She was efficient, funny, and knowledgeable
about people and the workings of the programs she carried
out. The techniques she used were accurately described, but
no particular fuss was made about her competence or her
blindness. It struck me at the time that this author had
observed a good blind secretary at some time and brought her
to life in these pages. Then one day Lorraine Rovig,
Director of the Job Opportunities for the Blind Program,
sent me a copy of a letter she had received from Lynda
Boose. Miss Rovig had learned of Mrs. Boose's work as a park
ranger and had asked her to write describing her duties and
the ways she had found to carry them out.
As I read the letter, I realized that here must be the
inspiration for the character in Nevada Barr's book. I
called Mrs. Boose and asked her if she had ever met Ms.
Barr. She confirmed my guess. For two years Nevada Barr had
worked on Isle Royale, where Mrs. Boose worked. They lived
at opposite ends of the island, but they talked often on the
radio and telephone. Mrs. Boose assured me that, although
Barr had drawn on her observations of Mrs. Boose for the
character, there was very little resemblance between herself
and Sandra. Here then is a matter-of-fact description of how
one blind park ranger does her job:
Before I started working as a park ranger, I was a
teacher of severely handicapped children in California. Then
I met my future husband, and my life changed drastically.
When I met my husband, he was working for Isle Royale
National Park, which is located in the middle of Lake
Superior, seventy miles from Houghton, Michigan. The Town of
Houghton is headquarters for the park. Some park employees
live in Houghton year-round, and others live in Houghton six
months and are on the island for six months. For the past
ten years my husband and I were in the latter category.
So how did I go from teacher to park ranger? I was in
the right place at the right time. I did not work my first
summer on the island, but the next summer I heard that the
park was looking for a part-time dispatcher. I felt I could
do the job and went and talked to the chief ranger. We
discussed dispatcher duties and talked about how I could do
them. The rest is history. I was hired part-time, which was
two days a week. The next year the permanent dispatcher
left, and I got his job.
My duties were to monitor and respond to park radio
traffic, monitor the marine radio and respond to any calls
to the park service from boaters, put up the flag, take mail
out to the mail boat, which came about three times a week.
This boat carried passengers around the island. I also
answered the phones and took messages. If there was a
medical emergency, I assisted the park EMT's by relaying
messages and calling doctors. This was the most stressful
part of the job. I kept track of lost-and-found items. I
also kept track of case incident numbers and issued them to
the rangers when they needed them.
To do my job I had the following equipment: a computer
with voice output; a light sensor, which I used for the
phones; a tape recorder; and a Braille writer. I also had an
Optacon, which I used quite a bit to fill in forms before I
had computerized templates.
One of the biggest challenges was organizing the lost-
and-found. Each item had to be numbered, so I made a
database on the computer, which included everything that
appeared on the actual lost form. People would call me on
park radio, I would give them a lost/found number, and they
would give me most of the information I needed for the
computer. Then I would send them an envelope with both
Braille and print case numbers on it. I had them put the
completed form into the envelope and attach it to the item.
This way I could handle the lost-and-found items without
much assistance from a sighted person. I made up a phone-
message form on the computer and filled it in whenever I
took a phone message for someone. I labeled all the
mailboxes in Braille so that I could put the messages in the
right mail boxes.
My husband and I now live in Houghton year round, and I
work in the Houghton Visitors' Center. Last summer was my
first summer in Houghton, and there were lots of new things
to learn: operating a cash register, taking Ranger III
reservations, and answering visitor questions and requests.
The Ranger III is the park service boat, which takes
passengers to the island. The reservation program is
computerized, so it didn't take too long to learn how to use
it.
I now have a scanner and a Braille printer and find
them both very useful. I am working on getting a talking
cash register, which will make me more independent. Right
now visitors have to help a lot when I am operating the cash
register. They don't seem to mind doing this. I just tell
them what I need for them to do, and they do it.
I have been working for the park for ten years now and
really enjoy it. I like new challenges and learning new
things. I like figuring out how to do things as
independently and simply as possible. I'm glad I was in the
right place at the right time and that I took advantage of
the opportunity.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Serena Cucco]
Possibilities
by Carol Castellano
From the Editor: Beginnings and Blueprints is the title
of the latest Kernel Book in our series of paperbacks about
blindness. The following delightful little piece appears in
the book. It begins with Dr. Jernigan's introduction. Here
it is:
Carol Castellano and her husband Bill are leaders in
the National Federation of the Blind's organization for
parents of blind children. They live in New Jersey with
their children Serena and John. Serena is blind and John is
sighted. For both of these children the future is filled
with exhilarating possibilities. With sparkle, pride, and
belief Carol shares some of them with us. Here is what she
has to say:
It took my daughter Serena a long time to decide just
what she wanted to be when she grew up. Whereas my son was
only four when he decided that he would be a dinosaur
scientist, it wasn't until she was seven that Serena
realized that her destiny in life was to be a folk singer.
She happily played the chords to her favorite song, "Michael
Row the Boat Ashore," on my guitar.
Then came the Presidential campaign of 1992. Serena was
eight. She sat rapt before the television listening intently
to the speeches of both parties. After the summer's two
national conventions, she realized that it wasn't a folk
singer that she wanted to be after all . . . it was a
folksinging Senator. By late fall, having heard all three
Presidential debates, Serena was going to be President.
Her barrage of questions about how she could learn to
be President and conversations about what politicians do
kept up for so long that my husband and I were convinced she
really might go into politics when she was older.
In the late spring of this year, Serena went out with
her father to pick early snow peas from the garden. Coming
inside with her basket of peas, she told me she was very
interested in gardening. "That's wonderful," I replied.
"You'll be a big help to Daddy."
Overnight Serena's interest must really have taken
root, because the next day she asked me if I thought the
gardens at the White House were too big for the President to
tend, since the President is such a busy person. "Yes," I
replied. "I'm sure there's a staff of people who take care
of the White House gardens." "Well then, I won't be a
gardening President," she told me. "I'll just be a
gardener."
The desire to be a gardener was still but a tender
shoot when Serena took a piano lesson--just a few weeks
after picking those peas--and realized it was a pianist she
wanted to be!
Serena is at such a wonderful stage of life! Interested
in everything, trying everything out, she sees the world as
her plum, ripe for the picking. She believes in herself, as
we believe in her. And since what people believe largely
determines what they do, it is critically important for
parents of blind children (and other adults in the child's
life) to have positive beliefs about blindness and what
blind people can do.
If we are told (in a journal article or by a teacher of
the blind, say) that blind children usually do not or cannot
learn how to do a certain task and if we come to believe
this, chances are we will not give our child the experience
or opportunity anyone would need in order to do this task.
And chances are the child won't learn to do it.
Imagine, though, if we--and our blind children--were
never told that blind people couldn't accomplish a certain
thing. Imagine what the results might be if everyone
believed that blind people could do anything they wanted to!
Well, I believe this--and attending NFB National Conventions
has solidified this belief for me. It is this belief which
guides the way I bring up my daughter.
My husband and I know personally or have heard speak a
blind high school teacher, a college professor, a
mathematician, a scientist, a car body mechanic, an
industrial arts teacher, a Foreign Service officer, an
engineer, a high-performance engine builder, and a man who
has sailed solo in races from San Francisco to Hawaii. This
makes it possible for us to glory in the exhilarating
feeling of watching a child look toward the future and see
only possibilities.
Planned giving takes place when a contributor
decides to leave a substantial gift to charity. It
means planning as you would for any substantial
purchase--a house, college tuition, or a car. The
most common forms of planned giving are wills and
life insurance policies. There are also several
planned giving options through which you can
simultaneously give a substantial contribution to
the National Federation of the Blind, obtain a tax
deduction, and receive lifetime income now or in
the future. For more information write or call the
National Federation of the Blind, Special Gifts,
1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230-
4998, (410) 659-9314, fax (410) 685-5653.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Curtis Chong]
From the Electronic Mail Basket:
Teaching Braille Online
by Curtis Chong
From the Editor: A couple of months ago now, Curtis
Chong, President of the National Federation of the Blind in
Computer Science, sent me an exchange of comments--can one
refer to such exchanges as letters when they were never
intended to appear on paper? I found the information
interesting and, on the whole, reassuring. It is clear that
Federationists are patrolling the Internet and that people
of good will from various places are working to increase the
number of people who know and like Braille. It is also
comforting to see a constructive dialog begin among folks
who started a conversation in distrust and unhappiness. Here
is the exchange that was first printed in the Winter, 1996,
edition of Computer Science Update, the publication of the
NFB's computer science division:
On December 12, 1996, an announcement was sent out over
the Internet about a new on-line Braille course. The
announcement was made jointly by the School of Education at
the North Carolina Central University (Durham, North
Carolina), the Governor Morehead School for the Blind, and
the Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. In a nutshell the
announcement promoted something called "BRL: Braille through
Remote Learning," a program funded in part by the U.S.
Department of Education. Here is part of the announcement:
This program provides teachers, parents,
social workers, and current/future Braille
transcribers with a series of three integrated,
online courses in Braille and Braille
transcribing. The program is designed to offer the
Braille student the RIGHT INSTRUCTION (almost all
aspects of Braille) at the RIGHT TIME (self-paced)
in the RIGHT PLACE (home or workplace). By
combining electronic technologies, quality
materials, and expert instructors, the program has
as its goal the provision of a complete Braille
instructional program to all types of consumers
nationwide who have an interest in some or all
aspects of Braille codes.
Blind people who read the announcement took exception
to the course requirement for a graphical web browser. They
expressed the opinion that this requirement would render the
course inaccessible to the blind. I understand that Bob
Gotwals, the contact person for the course, received many
impassioned notes by electronic mail on this subject. Here
is an example of one note, which was posted to the EASI
mailing list:
From Jim Rebman [an active member of the NFB of Colorado]:
I would like to point out that the technical
requirements and course materials, as you describe them,
preclude blind people who depend on speech synthesis and
screen reader technology from participating in this course.
The requirement for a graphical browser and the use of Java
scripts and graphical images (which I assume are not
described) are all integral, yet inaccessible parts of your
course.
As you are probably aware, blind people can be parents,
teachers, social workers, and Braille transcriptionists. By
making your course materials inaccessible, you are
effectively discriminating against the blind population. I
am certain that this was not intentional but nonetheless,
that is the result and, as somebody who frequents this list,
I would think you would be more aware of these issues. I
would also like to remind you that there are laws that
protect disabled people from such things.
Respectfully,
Jim Rebman jrebman@netcom.com
P.S. Do you plan to do anything about this situation?
I myself wrote to Bob Gotwals in my capacity as
President of the NFB in Computer Science, asking for
clarification. Here is what I said:
December 17, 1996
Mr. Bob Gotwals
The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.
Durham, North Carolina
Dear Mr. Gotwals:
My name is Curtis Chong, and I am the president of the
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science
(NFBCS). This organization of blind computer professionals
and lay persons works hard to ensure that blind people have
equal access to computer systems and applications.
I read with interest your December 17 announcement
about the Braille-Through-Remote-Learning program. Your
announcement says in part:
This program provides teachers, parents,
social workers, and current/future Braille
transcribers with a series of three integrated,
online courses in Braille and Braille
transcribing...the program has as its goal the
provision of a complete Braille instructional
program to all types of consumers nationwide who
have an interest in some or all aspects of Braille
codes.
In the section which discusses the technical
capabilities program participants must have, you mention
that a graphical web browser is required. Graphical web
browsers imply that some, if not all, of the information
that will be presented to the student is non-textual--that
is, purely visual. This leads me to ask if your program is
intended for persons who happen to be blind or visually
impaired? The requirement for a graphical web browser
implies that it is not. As I am sure you are well aware, it
is not uncommon for blind people to be social workers,
parents, teachers, and Braille transcribers. If, as stated
in your announcement, the program is intended to provide
Braille instruction to "all types of consumers nationwide,"
how will you make it possible for blind people to
participate in it on an equal basis with the sighted? I
would appreciate some clarification from you on this point.
Yours sincerely,
Curtis Chong
President
National Federation of the Blind
in Computer Science
Mr. Gotwals responded to me and to many others as
follows:
December 18, 1996
From: Bob Gotwals gotwals@SHODOR.ORG
Subject: Interest in On-line Braille Course
To: Multiple recipients of list EASI EASI@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU
We are very aware of the fact that the current design
of the Braille online folks makes it difficult for blind
individuals to participate easily. This is a three-year
program. . . . Years one and two are concerned with
developing and pilot testing the curriculum and
experimenting with the use of current and emerging
technologies to try to think of new ways of presenting
Braille education. If you read the grant proposal
(http://www.shodor.org/Braille/grant/braillegrant.html), younotice that we intend, once the courses are
pilot-tested, to ensure that all of the materials are 100
percent accessible. We had asked the granting agency for
funding to do this earlier, but this portion of the request
was not funded. What was funded was the money to develop the
materials and to investigate the use of advanced
technologies, such as JAVA and VRML, in the teaching of
Braille.
What we are counting on is that the improvements in Web
browsers for blind folks by others who are being funded by
the Federal government (and other agencies) will make our
additional task of ensuring accessibility that much easier.
Yes, there are a number of things that we can do early on,
such as make liberal and clever use of ALT tags for images.
We're not sure yet how we're going to handle the heavy use
that we make of screen snapshots, but we're working on it.
We think we'll be able to go a long way towards 100 percent
accessibility from the early stages.
What are our options? If there is the demand that the
course be 100 percent accessible from Day One, our option
might be: we can't do that at this stage of the game, either
for the amount of money awarded us by the granting agency
and/or because of technical limitations. In other words, we
don't even try; give the money back. If folks are willing to
give us the time we need to develop the course, work on the
technological advancements, get bugs out, and wait/work with
others who are looking to improve browsers, then perhaps
everyone wins.
I've worked in the VI field as a Braillist/teacher for
almost thirty-five years. My master's degree is in education
of the hearing-impaired from the National Technical
Institute for the Deaf. I taught at Gallaudet and am fluent
in sign language. I am well aware of all the issues
concerning accessibility, and we thought a lot about this
issue early on (that is why we asked for the additional
funding to make it happen!).
This Braille education program is, by the way, part of
a larger VI master's degree program that is being developed
at North Carolina Central University. The idea is to make a
large part of that program accessible over the Net, and the
Braille course is the first test of that concept. We sure
would like a chance to make it work....again, if there is a
demand that the effort be made to ensure 100 percent
accessibility in the experimental phase, we can pretty much
ensure that the experiment will fail.
Tell us what to do. The Foundation that I work for is a
group of computational scientists and educators--we do
chemistry and physics on high-performance computers. We want
to do this work because we think it's important, because we
think we have something to offer, and because we care deeply
about the community. Our original budget proposal was half
of what we were awarded--the U.S. Department of Education
felt so strongly that this work was important that they
asked us to look at new technologies as well as design the
series of courses. As computational scientists we think we
can take some of the techniques that we use on a daily basis
to do science to the problem of helping folks understand
Braille better. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to figure
that out, then deal with the problems of accessibility.
Looking forward to a reasoned and reasonable discussion
of these issues.
I wrote back to Mr. Gotwals, and he responded to me
fairly quickly. He chose to intersperse his responses within
the original text of my letter, which is a common practice
these days when communicating by electronic mail. Here is my
letter with his responses, which appear in italics:
December 19, 1996
From: Bob Gotwals gotwals@shodor.org
To: Chong99@cris.com, EASI@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Braille Online
Mr. Chong,
Thank you for your very kind and supportive note. Some
replies are imbedded in your note. I've taken the liberty of
copying the EASI group on this note.
__________
December 18, 1996
Mr. Bob Gotwals
The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.
Durham, North Carolina
Dear Mr. Gotwals:
I have received your post to the EASI mailing list
dated December 18, 1996; and I thank you for your candor on
this subject. You acknowledge in a straightforward and no-
nonsense manner that the current design of the Braille-
Online program makes it difficult for blind people to
benefit from the course material. I wish that you had made
this clear in your original announcement so as to mitigate
some of the criticisms you have doubtless received.
We couldn't agree more and have modified our online
announcement to so reflect this. Future mailings will
absolutely include the appropriate statement. What a
wonderful and useful suggestion. In hindsight this one
should have been a no-brainer. We consider ourselves to be
intelligent folks, but common sense doesn't always prevail!
Regardless of whether or not Braille Online will be
useful to blind computer users, the fact remains that the
blind community will be better served if more people become
proficient in reading and writing Braille. We, the blind,
need teachers of blind children who believe in Braille and
who are competent, both in its use and in its teaching. We
need more skilled Braille transcribers in order to increase
the number of Braille books that we can read. Above all, we
need more people who believe in the value of Braille so that
all blind children will be schooled in this vital tool of
literacy. We cannot know today whether any on-line method of
teaching Braille (such as Braille Online) will help to
achieve these goals, but this should not stop people from
trying to develop new and innovative ways of teaching
Braille.
As I may have mentioned, my foundation is not in the
business of working for or with the blind or deaf
communities. We're doing this work because of my personal
interest in Braille and sign language. I've been doing
Braille since I was seven, and it's been a love affair that
has gone on now for thirty-five years. The opportunity to
try to incorporate the work I do as a scientist and
technologist with my first academic love was just too good
to be true. I'm disappointed that we weren't more careful
about the wording, especially regarding accessibility. If
there is a Braille fan club, I'm pushing to be at the front
of the line!
I am not personally convinced that blind people can
learn Braille using audio output alone or, for that matter,
any form of on-line, computerized instruction. Braille is,
after all, a tactual, hands-on means of reading and writing.
Without hard copy Braille material or a refreshable Braille
display (which most of us can't afford to begin with), how
can we realistically expect someone who is blind to learn
Braille?
Concur. We're not sure where technology will take us,
so all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that the
technology will move us past the audio. We had proposed
trying to incorporate a refreshable Braille display
capability to the course (with the assumption that prices
will go down), but the funding agency didn't or couldn't
include that.
Carrying this thinking a bit further, I hope that your
instructional program will enable sighted participants
actually to feel the Braille they are learning.
Instructional programs in which Braille is presented only
visually (e.g., printed dots on the screen or page) fail to
reinforce the notion that Braille is first and foremost
something handled by touch!
Most of the folks locally here who helped us test the
intro course this past semester prepared their assignments
on Perkins Braillers. Most of them are current VI teachers,
so have lots of access to Braille materials in their school
(most of our guinea pigs were Governor Morehead faculty). In
short, I couldn't agree more. Even as a sighted reader, I
use my fingers.
If I were to make some specific recommendations, they
would be as follows:
1. I think it is important that your promotional
materials clarify that Braille Online is not now accessible
to the blind. You might even take this notion a step further
and clarify that the target audience for the program
consists of sighted people who will be teaching or producing
Braille.
Done.
2. I would not hold out much hope that web browsers
will make the graphical world more accessible to the blind.
Although web browsers can and should be made more compatible
with screen-reading systems used by the blind, accessibility
to the Worldwide Web is more readily achieved if web page
designers take the time and trouble to ensure that the
design of their web pages meets basic accessibility
guidelines too numerous to list here.
We have some of those guidelines and will adhere to
them to the maximum extent possible. We'll also be depending
on the community to tell us when we fail. Within
technological feasibility, we'll fix it. I don't share your
feelings about web browsers, however. Perhaps I'm the
eternal technology optimist! After all, didn't Bill Gates
say (not too long ago either), "640K of RAM memory is all
anyone will ever need"?
3. If you haven't considered doing it, provide a way
for course participants to deal with hard copy Braille.
Based upon what I have read so far, it appears that course
participants will be producing Braille with either a Perkins
Braille Writer or a slate and stylus. This is eminently
desirable. I wonder how you envision having them turn in
their Braille assignments?
Folks who did hard copy Braille mailed them to me.
Worked fine. Depending on student load, we'll have local
teachers here help with grading and evaluation. I did have
some folks use a piece of software that emulates a Perkins
Brailler. They also had a chance to use a real Perkins
Brailler. They were impressed with the similarities in the
two. We'll continue to investigate that phenomenon.
4. I think that some research needs to be conducted
specifically to determine how on-line computerized
instruction courses--specifically, courses to teach
Braille--can benefit people who are blind. My initial notion
is that no benefit can be truly realized unless the course
presents information both audibly (using synthesized speech)
and tactually (using a refreshable Braille display) at
strategic points. You may have a different concept in mind.
If so, I would like to discuss it.
Would love to have that discussion. Again, the current
design depends heavily on photographs (screen snapshots) of
the monitor. On the monitor is the Perkins-emulator program
that I use, which uses a special Braille font. The only way
we can think of now to replace those snapshots is with large
audio files. Unless the recipient has a high speed line,
this may be problematic.
I want to thank you for taking the time to discuss this
important issue with everyone. I hope that you will not feel
personally offended by some of the comments you may have
received. All of us want more blind people reading and
writing more Braille, and all of us want more and better
Braille instruction and transcription services to be
available to the blind community. Where we may differ is in
our respective approaches.
I have to admit that the criticism has been difficult.
We should have foreseen it better, and I'm mad at myself for
that. At the same time, I've been a Braillist and a
professional sign interpreter for a long time. A significant
part of my life has been devoted to this work, so it has not
been easy. We're still excited about the work, however, and
are determined to do it right. I concur that we both want
more and better Braille instruction, and that is clearly the
goal. I'm not sure our approaches are that far apart....but
hopefully we've started down the path of making those
differences disappear.
Yours sincerely,
Curtis Chong
President
National Federation of the Blind
in Computer Science
Many thanks again for your thoughtful, insightful, and
instructive letter. Best wishes for a blessed and restful
holiday season. After perhaps a rocky start, I'm looking
forward to a long, professional (electronic) relationship
with you and with other EASI participants.
Robert R. Gotwals, Jr.
Computational Science Educator
The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.
gotwals@shodor.org
WWW: http://storm.shodor.org/~gotwals/gotwals.html
(919) 286-1911
So, there you have it. I don't know how good Braille
Remote Learning will turn out to be. I can't even say if it
will help to increase the number of people who will know
Braille well enough to be of help to us. What I do know is
that in its present form Braille Remote Learning is not
accessible to the blind--nor is it meant to be. Can blind
people benefit from Braille instruction received on-line
through the Internet? If the only means of receiving
information we have available to us is synthetic speech,
then I would say "No." If we have both synthetic speech and
refreshable Braille available to us and if different
information is communicated through each channel, then my
answer is, "Maybe."
[PHOTO/CAPTION: The paddlewheel steamer Natchez
PHOTO/CAPTION: New Orleans's French Market]
Lionizing Around New Orleans:
Good Food, Good Times, and All That Jazz
by Jerry Whittle
The National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana is
pleased to announce a wonderful array of tours for this
year's national convention in the great City of New Orleans.
To millions of tourists each year the Crescent City is world
renowned for good food, good times, and good music. This
year's selection of tours reflects the diversity and charm
of the great American city at the mouth of the mighty
Mississippi. Federationists interested in these tours will
want to make reservations early. If you have not yet made
your room reservations for the convention, call the National
Center for the Blind and speak to Mr. Cobb. Our block of
rooms at the Hyatt is now full, but he can take your
registration information and make a reservation for you as
soon as we have worked out arrangements with other hotels.
Even though the tours are fabulous and the Big Easy
beckons, the heart of the convention is reuniting with old
friends, making new ones, enjoying the hospitality of the
host affiliate, browsing through the expansive exhibit hall
to view the latest technology or purchase a new cane from
the NFB store, hearing wonderful and informative agenda
items, winning door prizes, and receiving inspiration at our
annual banquet. With all of these diversions, the days and
nights won't be long enough; however, one thing is certain--
the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana will be
working hard to help you have the most wonderful week of
your life. New Orleans is the place to be the first week of
July, 1997. Where else can you have so much fun this
inexpensively?
All tours will be pre-sold. Tour spaces are limited, so
book early. The deadline to book tours is May 15, 1997.
Tickets will be mailed to you after May 15, but prior to the
convention. To make tour reservations, include the following
information: name; address; city; state; zip; phone; number
of tickets, types (adults or children two to twelve), and
tour number for each tour. Send this information with your
check for the total amount due made payable to The Life of
the Cajun Tours, 4761 Hwy. 1, Raceland, Louisiana 70394, or
call (504) 537-3179. Please make your reservations as soon
as possible; space is limited on some tours. We must have
twenty-five or more people for each tour we sponsor. The
following is the complete list of tours:
Saturday, June 28
1. New Orleans Super City Tour. 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., $18
adults, $9.50 children.
2. N.O. City Tour & River Cruise. 12:00 noon to 4:30 p.m.,
$31 adults, $15.25 children.
3. River Road Plantations (two homes including meal). 9:00
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., $54.50 adults, $35.50 children.
4. Oak Alley Plantation (no meal). 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
$29 adults, $15 children.
5. Swamp Tour, Cajun Meal, Cemetery, City Tour of Thibodaux
(working sugar cane plantation). 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., $49 adults, $37 children.
6. Global Wildlife Center (with meal). 9:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m., $46 adults, $37 children.
7. Dinner Jazz Cruise & Transportation. 6:00 to 9:30 p.m.,
$49.75 adults only (must be twenty-one or older).
Sunday, June 29
8. New Orleans Super City Tour. 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., $18
adults, $9.50 children.
9. N.O. City Tour & River Cruise. 12:00 noon to 4:30 p.m.,
$31 adults, $15.25 children.
10. River Road Plantations (two homes with meal). 9:00 a.m.
to 4:00 p.m., $54.50 adults, $35.50 children.
11. Oak Alley Plantation (no meal). 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., $29
adults, $15 children.
12. Swamp Tour, Cajun Meal, Cemetery, City Tour of Thibodaux
(working sugar cane plantation). 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., $49 adults, $37 children.
13. Global Wildlife Center (with meal). 9:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m., $46 adults, $37 children.
Thursday, July 3
14. New Orleans Super City Tour, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., $18
adults, $9.50 children.
15. Oak Alley Plantation (no meal), 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., $29
adults, $15 children.
16. Swamp Tour, Cajun Meal, 12:40 to 5:40 p.m., $44 adults,
$33 children.
17. Global Wildlife Center (no meal), 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., $27
adults, $25 children.
18. Dinner Jazz Cruise & Transportation, 6:00 to 9:30 p.m.,
$49.75 adults only.
19. Pete Fountain Jazz Club (with 1 drink, twenty-one and
older), 9:15 p.m. to 12:15 a.m., $33 adults only.
20. Night Life-Top of the Mart Lounge, Peter Fountain Jazz
Club (with three drinks, twenty-one and older), 7:15
p.m. to 12:15 a.m., $42 adults only.
Tour Descriptions
New Orleans Super City Tours, Tours 1, 8, & 14
Travel through three centuries of history and romance
as you encounter "the city that care forgot." Absorb the
sights and sounds of the famous French Quarter and historic
Jackson Square. Your licensed guide presents the history,
landmarks, legends, and splendid architecture that made New
Orleans famous. Walk through one of our above-ground Cities
of the Dead (cemeteries) and marvel at stories of voodoo and
piracy on Bayou St. John. Enjoy a ride along Lake
Pontchartrain's shore before traveling through Mid-City en
route to Uptown New Orleans. Follow the clickety-clack of
the St. Charles Avenue streetcars past universities; Audubon
Park; stately mansions; and the world-famous, exclusive
Garden District. Then follow New Orleans into the twenty-
first Century as you pass under the shadows of towering
skyscrapers in the Central Business District (CBD). Cost:
$18 adults, $9.50 children. Includes bus transportation from
the Hyatt for the Super City Tour, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Tour 1, Saturday, June 28; Tour 8, Sunday, June 29; and Tour
14, Thursday, July 3.
New Orleans City Tour and River Cruise, Tours 2 & 9
This tour combines the steamboat Natchez Cruise (paddle
wheel) plus the Super City Tour. After your exciting
motorcoach tour through New Orleans, you'll have a few
minutes to rest or snack before boarding the historic
riverboat Natchez to the delightful tunes of the steam
calliope. Experience the sights and sounds of river life
that enchanted characters of history and literature like
Mark Twain's Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. View the ever-
changing skyline of the Crescent City from the sunny decks
and climate-controlled comfort of the majestic Steamer
Natchez. Cruise past the Chalmette Battlefield where the
legendary Jean LaFitte and his buccaneers joined forces with
Andrew Jackson to defend our city against the British in the
Battle of New Orleans. Cost: $31 adults, $15.25 children.
Includes bus pick-up at the Hyatt, City Tour, and Steamboat
Cruise, 12:00 noon to 4:30 p.m.; Tour 2, Saturday, June 28;
and Tour 9, Sunday, June 29.
River Road Plantations, Tours 3 & 10
Travel back in time to Nottoway and Oak Alley,
Antebellum mansions nestled along the banks of the
Mississippi River. Leave the modern skyline of cosmopolitan
New Orleans behind as you enjoy the panoramic view of Lake
Pontchartrain and travel over the Bonnet Carre Spillway.
Your narrated motorcoach tour takes you past six Antebellum
plantation homes surrounded by massive oaks, sugar cane
fields, pecan groves, and Louisiana countryside. Walk
through two of these beautifully restored homes while
resident guides, many in period costumes, tell the history
of the homes and elegant lifestyles of wealthy plantation
families. Enjoy an authentic Cajun country lunch complete
with charming southern hospitality. Cost: $54.50 adults,
$35.50 children; includes bus transportation from the Hyatt,
tour of two homes, and meal. 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Tour 3,
Saturday, June 28; and Tour 10, Sunday, June 29.
Oak Alley Plantation, Tours 4, 11, & 15
Feel the gentle breeze of southern hospitality on a
tour that takes you back to the glory of the Old South.
Experience a bygone era in one of the South's most beautiful
settings--Oak Alley Plantation, built in 1839. Marvel at the
unbelievable view of a quarter-mile-long alley of twenty-
eight magnificent oak trees, each over 250 years old. Along
the way view the majestic cypress trees in the swamps
bordering the Mississippi River. Travel past three other
plantation homes, legacies from the past grandeur of
historic River Road, from your luxury motorcoach. Cost: $29
adults, $15 children. Includes bus transportation from the
Hyatt and tour of plantation homes (no meal), 1:00 p.m. to
5:00 p.m.; Tour 4, Saturday, June 28; Tour 11, Sunday, June
29; and Tour 15, Thursday, July 3.
Swamp Tour, Cajun Buffet, City Tour of Thibodaux, Cemetery &
Working Sugar Cane Plantation, Tours 5 & 12
Cajun tour guide will bring you to beautiful Bayou
Bouef where you will enjoy a leisurely boat ride into the
beauty and serenity of Louisiana's most picturesque regions.
You will see alligators, nutria, birds, moss-laden oak
trees, and much more. Those who dare can hold a live
alligator in their hands and pet the silky nutria. Following
the boat ride and history of the region, you will be treated
to a Cajun buffet, including gumbo, alligator, and other
wonderful dishes. You can visit the Trading Post with a
large selection of gifts and crafts. We travel to Thibodaux
for a city tour and walk through a cemetery known as the
"Cities of the Dead" and visit a working sugar cane
plantation, the store museum, and craft shop. The day will
be filled with the history, culture, and heritage of the
Cajuns. Cost: $49 adults, $37 children; includes bus
transportation from the Hyatt; Cajun tour guide; boat ride;
buffet; tours of Thibodaux, Cemetery, and sugar cane
plantation, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Tour 5, Saturday, June
28; Tour 12, Sunday, June 29.
Swamp Tour & Cajun Buffet, Tour 16
This tour is like the previous one except that there is
no tour of a sugar cane plantation. Cost: $44, adults; $33
children; includes bus transportation from the Hyatt, Cajun
tour guide, boat ride, and buffet; 12:40 to 5:40 p.m.; Tour
16, Thursday, July 3.
Global Wildlife Center, Tours 6 & 13
Ride across Lake Pontchartrain on the world's longest
bridge and take a guided wagon tour of a 900-acre home to
many rare, endangered, and extinct-in-the-wild animals from
all over the world. Custom-built covered wagons pulled by
tractors offer comfortable seating with no obstruction of
the scenic view. When the wagons stop, animals will approach
to be fed. Come eye to eye with a buffalo and feed a family
of giraffe. The group will enjoy a meal at a local
restaurant. Cost: $46 adults; $37 children. Includes bus
transportation from the Hyatt, wagon ride, and meal. 9:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Tour 6, Saturday, June 28; Tour 13,
Sunday, June 29.
Global Wildlife Center, Tour 17
This tour is like the previous one except that no meal
is included. Cost is $27 adults, $25 children; includes bus
transportation from the Hyatt and wagon ride. 1:00 p.m. to
5:00 p.m.; Tour 17, Thursday, July 3.
Dinner Jazz Cruise, Tours 7 & 18
When night falls, we board a riverboat and cruise on a
jazz-filled adventure. The sounds of a dixieland jazz band
fill the air as diners enjoy a lavish creole meal. Cost:
$49.75 adults only (must be twenty-one or older); includes
bus transportation from the Hyatt, dinner, and jazz cruise.
6:00 to 9:30 p.m.; Tour 7, Saturday, June 28; Tour 18,
Thursday, July 3.
Pete Fountain's Jazz Club, Tour 19
On this unique tour you'll experience New Orleans
nightlife as a native would. You'll see and hear one of the
great New Orleans jazz musicians, Pete Fountain. Enjoy one
complimentary drink while he performs. Cost: $33, adults
only; includes bus transportation from the Hyatt, Pete
Fountain's Club cover charge, and one drink; 9:15 p.m. to
12:15 a.m.; Tour 19, Thursday, July 3.
Nightlife--Top of the Mart Lounge--Pete Fountain's Jazz
Club, Tour 20
From cool to red hot jazz and everywhere in between--on
this unique tour you'll experience New Orleans nightlife as
a native would. Your evening begins at the Top of the Mart,
where you'll relax with two complimentary drinks as you
enjoy the revolving cityscape. From there you're off to see
a New Orleans institution--Pete Fountain. Enjoy one
complimentary drink while he performs. Cost: $42, adults
only; includes bus transportation from the Hyatt to the Top
of the Mart and Pete Fountain's Club, and three drinks; 7:15
p.m. to 12:15 a.m.; Tour 20, Thursday July 3.
Y'all come.
PHOTO/CAPTION: Homer Page]
The Metal Pole
by Homer Page
From the Editor: The following story by Homer Page
first appeared in Beginnings and Blueprints, the latest in
our Kernel Book series. Here is the article, beginning with
Dr. Jernigan's introduction:
Homer Page is a leader in the National Federation of
the Blind of Colorado. When he was six years old, he learned
a lesson from a metal pole, and he remembers it well to this
day. Here is how he tells it:
I was born seven weeks before Pearl Harbor. As were so
many young men of his generation, my father was soon caught
up in the war. For a number of years during my early life he
was away from home in the army.
My younger brother and I lived with our mother and
grandmother on our family farm. My mother and grandmother
were blind, as was I. They ran the farm while we waited and
prayed for my father to come home. In time he did return
safely. But during this time we were rather isolated.
During these years I really didn't understand that I
was blind. I enjoyed enormously running in the open fields
that made up our farm. I fell off a table and broke my arm.
Another time I slipped in the water on the back porch, where
my mother was washing clothes. I fell out the back door and
broke my arm again. In each instance I hardly slowed down
while I wore a cast. Later, when I was nine, I broke my
collarbone playing tackle football at school, and still
later, when I was fifteen, I broke my arm again in a bicycle
accident.
Sometimes my cousin, who was a few years older, would
come to visit. He would tell me about going to school. It
sounded exciting. I could hardly wait until I was old enough
to catch the school bus and go to school. I spent many of my
days playing school and dreaming of reading books.
Finally the day came when I could start school. My
father was home by then. He and my mother took me to school.
No one mentioned that I was blind. When it was time to play
that first day, I joined the other children and went
outside.
Children who are six years old run. They run without
purpose. They run in packs for the simple joy of running.
The children began to run. I joined them, and I too began to
run.
My next memory from this day long ago is still vivid. I
ran into the metal pole that braced the playground slide. In
a split second I was flat on my back. My nose had squarely
struck the pole. I was in a great deal of pain, and the
other children were going on without me. In that moment I
realized that I was blind.
I knew that, if I lay there or if I cried, I could not
play with the other children. I got up to join my new
friends. They never commented, nor did I. I spent my
childhood and adolescence with many of those children. We
seldom talked about blindness. I just took part in whatever
activity presented itself.
No pity or sentimentality was shown to me. When teams
were chosen to play softball, I was chosen last. But when
teams were chosen for math or social studies competitions, I
was chosen first. Those selections were fair, and neither I
nor anyone else questioned them. It meant nothing to me to
be selected last. What was important was that I played, that
I played hard, and that I looked for ways to make a positive
contribution to my team.
In the decades since my encounter with the metal pole,
I have more than once found myself figuratively lying on the
ground. What I learned at six years of age, and have
relearned several times since, is that getting up is the
best option. The other option is to play it safe and not
really play.
In 1981 I was elected to the Boulder, Colorado, City
Council. In 1986 I was chosen to be Deputy Mayor of the
city. In 1988 I was elected to the Boulder County Board of
Commissioners. During all but one of my years as a county
commissioner I was either Chairman or Vice Chairman of the
Board. However, things were not always easy.
In 1980 I ran for the Colorado legislature. The race
was very close. Near the end of the campaign workers
representing my opponent began going door to door in the
district telling voters that, since I was blind, I could not
represent them, that I would only represent the interests of
the blind. I lost that election by 120 votes. That metal
pole had just blocked my path once more.
I got up and started to run again. I found that I had
won the respect of my community. A year later I was elected
to the Boulder City Council. Four years later I ran for re-
election. As top vote getter in the election, I was in line
to be mayor, but once again my blindness became an issue. I
was not selected to be mayor. I was, however, chosen to be
deputy mayor. Once again, that metal pole had gotten in the
way.
In 1988 I ran for the Board of County Commissioners. I
unseated a popular incumbent. In 1991 I was unopposed. My
blindness had simply ceased to be an issue that could help a
political opponent.
On September 1, 1995, I assumed the responsibility of
directing the National Federation of the Blind's training
center in Colorado. Students at the Colorado Center for the
Blind learn the alternative skills they need to live
independent and productive lives, and they learn the
attitudes that they need to accept and manage their
blindness.
As I work with Center students, there is a perspective
that I hope to be able to share with them. Perhaps I can
state it like this: In the lives of blind persons there are
occasional metal poles. Once it was believed that those
poles made life too dangerous or too difficult for us to be
able really to participate with sighted persons on terms of
equality, but now we know that this is simply not true.
However, we also know that, when those poles appear in
our paths and flatten us, we must get back up and continue
to run without bitterness or self-pity. We must also improve
our travel skills through life so that we can avoid as many
of those poles as possible. We must be tough enough to play
without sentimentality and smart enough to know that in this
way life will shower us with abundance.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Marie Cobb]
Federationists, Fund-Raising, and Free Enterprise
by Marie Cobb
From the Editor: Federationists who have enjoyed meals
in the dining room at the National Center for the Blind know
that Marie Cobb, who runs the kitchen from which all those
meals are served, is a wonderful cook and a gifted caterer.
In fact, she has many talents and is always adding something
new to her list of responsibilities. Here she describes the
latest work she is doing for the Federation:
As many of you know, some of the National Federation of
the Blind's traditional sources of funding are becoming less
cost-effective each year. In order for us to meet this
challenge, we are constantly searching for new sources of
revenue. Last spring President Maurer signed the NFB on as a
distributor for the American Communications Network,
marketer for LCI International long-distance. This project
will succeed or fail in direct proportion to the number of
people who agree to participate in the program.
There are about ten Federationists who own ACN
distributorships under the NFB, and we are all committed to
making this relationship between the NFB and ACN a lucrative
one. We believe that the combination of excellent service
and attractive rates will help to make our commitment a
reality. At the same time each of us is working to build a
profitable business for ourselves. The more successful we
are as individuals, the larger the residual income will be
for the NFB.
We want to be certain that everyone understands to whom
the commission from his or her long-distance or any other
ACN account will be paid, so here is the agreement we ten
have with Mr. Maurer. The NFB's ACN representatives will
hold business opportunity meetings at Washington Seminars
and at National Conventions. We will seek customers and
offer those who are interested a chance to examine the
business plan. We will also have a booth in the exhibit hall
for the same purposes. Any person who wishes to become an
ACN customer during the Washington Seminar or at National
Convention will automatically be placed directly under the
Federation instead of the associate who acquires the
account. We, the associates, will be building our personal
businesses during this time by recruiting new associates to
work with us.
Here is the way you can participate:
1. Fill out a simple form to change your long-distance
carrier to LCI. There is no charge for the switch, and LCI
provides excellent service at a lower rate than many other
long- distance carriers. If for any reason you are
dissatisfied with the service after ninety days, you can go
back to your original carrier at no cost to you.
2. Ask your friends and family to help the NFB by
switching their long-distance carrier to LCI as well.
The National Federation of the Blind will receive three
to eight percent of every dollar spent on long-distance
calls each month on all of these direct accounts, and one
quarter of one percent to five percent of all accounts which
are generated for our personal businesses.
Long-distance service is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is also cellular service through the most advantageous
carrier in each area, and pager service through Pagenet.
There will soon be voice paging as well. In the near future
we will also be able to offer cable access, local dial tone
service, Internet access, and utilities. The potential
income for the NFB is really exciting.
The bottom line is that this costs you nothing and
indeed will save you money each month. It will also help to
fund the important work in which we are all engaged. So
please contact an ACN representative as soon as possible. If
you do not know an ACN representative or wish to explore
becoming one yourself, please contact me, Marie Cobb, at
(410) 659-9314 or (410) 644-6352. I have volunteered to take
calls which come into the National Office or my home and see
that those accounts go directly to the NFB. However, I am
also building a file of personal accounts on other
occasions.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Ed Bryant]
Dialysis at National Convention
by Ed Bryant
From the Editor: Ed Bryant is First Vice President of
the Diabetes Action Network, the diabetics division of the
National Federation of the Blind. Here is very important
information for anyone planning to attend the convention and
needing dialysis during that busy week:
During this year's annual convention in New Orleans,
Louisiana (Sunday, June 29, through Saturday, July 5),
dialysis will be available. Those requiring dialysis must
have a transient patient packet and completed physician's
statement prior to treatment. Conventioneers should have
their unit contact the desired location in the New Orleans
area for instructions.
Individuals will be responsible for and must pay prior
to each treatment the approximately $30 not covered by
Medicare plus any additional physician's fees.
Dialysis centers should set up transient dialysis
locations at least three months in advance. This helps
assure a location for anyone wanting to dialyze. New Orleans
is a popular tourist destination, and in July the city is
very busy. Here are some dialysis locations:
Saint Charles Dialysis, 3600 Prytania, Suite 83, New
Orleans, Louisiana 70115; telephone: (504) 895-3992.
About ten minutes by taxi from the convention hotel.
Uptown Dialysis has two locations. A: Truro Hospital, on
Foucher Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70115. Social
Worker is Mary Wendt; contact her for information about
either Uptown Dialysis facility. B: Uptown Dialysis,
3434 Prytania Street, Room 200, New Orleans, Louisiana
70115. Use the same phone, 504-897-7946, for both. Both
locations are about ten minutes from the hotel.
BMA New Orleans, 2000 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70112; telephone: (504) 581-6363. For further
information contact Jennifer Wallace, administrator, at
(504) 455-5535. About ten minutes from the hotel.
DCI of New Orleans, 1400 Canal Street, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70112; telephone: (504) 593-9895. Although
DCI reports itself full now, they may well have a
cancellation. About ten minutes from the hotel.
Napoleon Dialysis, 2817 Napoleon Avenue, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70115; telephone: (504) 891-8176. About
fifteen minutes from the hotel.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SCHEDULE DIALYSIS TREATMENTS EARLY
TO INSURE SPACE.
If scheduling assistance is needed, contact Diabetes
Action Network First Vice President Ed Bryant at (573)
875-8911. See you in New Orleans!
Recipes
This month's recipes come from members of the National
Federation of the Blind of Washington.
Pasta Salad
by Judy Croy
John and Judy Croy are active members of the Spokane
County Chapter.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons diced green onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped celery
1 cucumber, chopped
1 can black olives, sliced
1 8-ounce package mozzarella cheese, shredded
5 cups rotini (uncooked)
1 envelope dry Italian seasoning mix
1 8-ounce bottle of zesty Italian dressing
Method: Cook rotini about twenty minutes according to
package directions; remove from heat and drain while still
firm. Combine all but last two salad ingredients and
sprinkle the envelope of dry Italian seasoning mix over the
salad. Add the bottle of zesty Italian dressing. Gently toss
the salad and marinate it at least two hours under
refrigeration.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Barbara Freeman]
Frosty the Snowman
by Barbara Freeman
Coffee drinks of all kinds are popular in Washington
State. Here are several local favorites as prepared by
Barbara Freeman, whose husband Mike is President of the
affiliate.
Ingredients:
2« cups iced coffee
5 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 pint vanilla or coffee ice cream
Method: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend
until smooth. Serve in tall glasses.
Chocolate Coffee Sauce
by Barbara Freeman
Ingredients:
¬ pound sweet chocolate
1 ounce strong, hot coffee
2 ounces butter
Method: Break chocolate into pieces and melt in the hot
coffee. Stir well. Let mixture cool. Then add butter, a
little at a time, beating until it is thoroughly blended in.
Caf‚ Vino
by Barbara Freeman
Ingredients:
1 cup cold strong coffee
2 ounces tawny port or Muscatel wine
2 tablespoons sugar
« tablespoon grated orange peel
dash cinnamon
Method: Whip all ingredients in blender at high speed
until foamy. Pour into chilled wine glasses. Serves two.
Spanish Rice de Freeman
by Barbara Freeman
Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 pound lean ground beef or other meat
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
Grated cheese or cubed Velveeta
Small amount of oil
Method: Put the rice on to cook according to package
directions. Chop the onion and garlic and cook in a small
amount of oil until soft. Crumble hamburger into pan and
brown. Add the spices while the meat cooks. Mix the warm
meat mixture with a can of tomato sauce and the cooked rice.
Top with cheese. Turn the heat off and cover the pan for a
few minutes so that the cheese has time to melt. Serve. This
recipe calls for quite a lot of spice. It is the cumin that
makes this recipe so good. You can leave out the chili
powder, but not the cumin. Cubed chicken can be used in
place of the hamburger. This dish is also good without meat.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Alco Canfield]
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
by Alco Canfield
Alco Canfield is a rehabilitation counselor from
Olympia, Washington. As a new, enthusiastic member, she
travels one-and-a-half hours to Vancouver to attend Clark
County Chapter meetings. She is looking forward to starting
a chapter in Olympia.
Ingredients:
« cup butter
« cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
« cup sour milk
2« cups flour
4 tablespoons cocoa
« teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
« teaspoon cinnamon
« teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
¬ to « cup chocolate chips
Method: Cream sugar with butter and oil. Add remaining
wet ingredients while continuing to beat mixture. Stir
remaining dry ingredients together, and beat into sugar
mixture. Fold in zucchini and pour into greased and floured
13-by-9 pan. Top with chocolate chips. Bake in a 325-degree
oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
Green Chili Frittata
by Stephanie Yates
Stephanie Yates is a new member from Seattle. She
attended her first National Convention in Anaheim. At our
state convention in October she was elected to the state
board of directors. She is also spearheading the acquisition
of NEWSLINE in Washington State.
Ingredients:
« cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
10 eggs, lightly beaten
¬ pound butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 to 2 4-ounce cans diced green chilies
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a shallow
9-by-13-inch baking dish. Mix flour and baking powder. Add
eggs and butter, blending well. Blend in remaining
ingredients. Place mixture in baking dish and bake 35 to 45
minutes or until set. Cut into squares and serve.
MONITOR MINIATURES
Technology Magazine on Cassette:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Bitstream is a bi-monthly audio cassette magazine that
is focused at blind, visually impaired, print handicapped,
or other readers interested in accessible high technology.
While the primary focus of Bitstream is on personal
computers with speech or Braille output, other issues are
covered as well. These include access tools of all kinds.
Bitstream is a narrated magazine with live interviews,
reviews, and demonstrations. The six 90-minute issues cost
$22 per year for U.S. and Canadian subscribers while
overseas subscribers are charged $32, and the tapes are sent
by Air Mail.
All subscriptions must be prepaid by check or credit
card. Unfortunately, we can no longer accept purchase
orders. Individuals interested in subscribing should contact
us at (800) 377-0774.
Prepaid Calling Card Business Opportunity:
Flowers Bates, a member of the NFB of Mississippi, has
asked us to carry the following announcement:
Only $20 to get started. No inventory or costly
overhead needed. Earn commissions and hours of free calling
time. Call (601) 249-3622 for more details.
Debt Analysis Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Want to be debt-free and stop giving your hard-earned
money to the banks? Have your debts analyzed and receive a
debt elimination plan that will help you get rid of those
debts. For example, a $38,000 home mortgage at 10 percent
for thirty years will cost $333.48 per month for 360 months.
By adding $100 ($433.48) to the current note, you can pay
off the mortgage in thirteen years and three months. Call
(601) 249-3622 for details and start getting rid of those
debts today.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: George Best, 1933 to 1996]
In Memoriam:
Hazel Staley, a longtime leader of the NFB of North
Carolina, writes with deep sorrow as follows:
On December 16, 1996, George Best died following a long
bout with cancer. He was just four days shy of his sixty-
third birthday. George was a dedicated Federationist. For
sixteen years he served as Treasurer of the North Carolina
affiliate, during which time he made my job as State
President much easier. He loved our state and national
conventions and the Washington Seminar and attended all
these events as long as he was able. In 1992 he received the
Clarence Collins Award for outstanding service to the North
Carolina affiliate. The Clarence Collins Award is the
state's equivalent of our national tenBroek Award.
George also loved his church. He sang in the choir and
was a leading member of the church's drama team. He accepted
a role in the 1996 Christmas drama with the understanding
that he could have an understudy in case he was not able to
perform. George is survived by his wife Nancy and five
brothers. The North Carolina affiliate mourns the passing of
one of our great leaders.
All of us in the Federation family join with Hazel and
the North Carolina affiliate in mourning the loss of George
Best and in expressing our condolences to Nancy and to
George's family.
Tours with Classical Themes:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
The Campanian Society, Inc., announces two tours
designed for blind and visually impaired people. Program
One, "The Classical Heritage in America," fall, 1997, will
be a one-week program including visits to important sites
whose meaning is enhanced by a knowledge of the ancient
world (Bunker Hill, Hudson River, Mt. Vernon) and several
classical sculpture collections (ancient and neo-classical)
in American museums: New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art);
Baltimore (The Walters Art Gallery); Washington: (National
Gallery of Art, American Museum of Art); and Philadelphia
(Museum of Art). This program will be seven days and six
nights or eight days and seven nights, starting and ending
in New York. Tactile experience, lectures, and special
events are planned for each museum. We will include not only
the museum but also other sites of interest and importance
in the area.
Program Two, "Northern Italy: Lake Como and the Italian
Alps." is planned for April, 1998. This program will center
in the Lake Como area of Northern Italy, including visits to
the many charming and scenic cities surrounding Lake Como,
with an excursion to St. Moritz in Switzerland. The area is
rich in history. Numerous museums and churches will provide
us with wonderful tactile and intellectual experiences. The
length of the program will be approximately ten to eleven
days.
Please indicate your interest in one or both of these
programs by sending your contact information (name, address,
city, state, zip, phone, fax, and e-mail) to the Campanian
Society, Inc., 5758 Brown Road, Oxford, Ohio 45056, (513)
524-4846.
Elected:
Michael and Robin Thorne of the Rock Hill Chapter of
the NFB of South Carolina report their chapter's recent
election results. The officers for the new term are Lenora
Robertson, President; Marcel Rocque, Vice President; Ricky
Hinson and Wenn Spears, Secretaries; Lyn Hornbe, Treasurer;
Ms. Odom and Ms. Bickle, Social Directors; and Michael E.
Thorne, Public Relations Director.
Diabetes Action Network Drawing:
The Diabetes Action Network, a division of the National
Federation of the Blind, provides support and information to
thousands of people. Because operating this valuable network
and producing the Voice of the Diabetic cost money, we must
generate funds to help cover these expenses. The Network has
decided to hold a drawing again this year, which will be
coordinated by our treasurer, John Yark.
The Grand Prize will be $500! The name of the winner
will be drawn on July 4, 1997, at the annual banquet of the
National Federation of the Blind.
Tickets cost $1 each, or a book of six may be purchased
for $5. Tickets may be purchased from state representatives
of our Diabetes Action Network or by contacting the Voice
Editorial Office, 811 Cherry Street, Suite 309, Columbia,
Missouri 65201, telephone (573) 875-8911. Anyone interested
in selling tickets should also contact the Voice Editorial
Office. Tickets are available now. The names of those who
sell fifty tickets or more will be announced in the Voice.
Please make checks payable to the National Federation
of the Blind. Money and ticket stubs must be mailed to the
Voice office no later than June 10, 1997, or they can be
personally delivered to Drawing Chairman John Yark at this
year's NFB convention in New Orleans. This drawing is open
to anyone, and the holder of the lucky ticket need not be
present to win. Each ticket sold is a donation helping to
keep our Diabetes Action Network moving forward.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Prince George's County Councilwoman Audrey
Scott is pictured presenting a White-Cane-Safety-Day
proclamation to Southern Maryland Chapter President Ken
Silberman on October 8, 1996.]
Elected:
Kenneth Silberman, President of the Southern Maryland
Chapter of the NFB of Maryland, reports his chapter's
January 4 election results. The new officers are Kenneth
Silberman, President; Bernetha Mclamore, Vice President;
Edward Harley, Secretary; Gerelene Womack, Treasurer; and
Jack Darosa and Mary Skattie, Board Members.
Arizona Brailler Repair Service
Now Open for Nationwide Business:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
As a mutual support project, the Arizona Instructional
Resource Center (AIRC) at the Foundation for Blind Children
in Phoenix and the Mohave Treatment Programs Department at
the Arizona State Prison Complex at Douglas (ASPC-D) have
jointly opened a new Perkins Brailler Repair Service.
The service got off the ground in August, 1995, and has
been working with such tremendous success that it is now
ready to go public. The Arizona Brailler Repair Service is
now available to anybody in the country. In a small, festive
celebration in Douglas last spring, the final details were
agreed upon between the two agencies.
The Brailler repair service is administered by the
AIRC, with actual repair taking place in Douglas. Top-notch
but inexpensive maintenance and repair (a $15 flat fee for
labor) with a 6-month warranty is guaranteed as part of the
excellent service offered to anyone in the country.
Turnaround time is approximately two weeks. Only if unusual
parts must be ordered from Massachusetts will the repair
time be longer since the more common replacement parts are
held in stock at ASPC-D.
For more information or to send your Perkins for
service, contact the AIRC at the Foundation for Blind
Children, 1235 E. Harmont Drive, Phoenix, Arizona 85020,
(602) 331-1470.
Elected:
On January 18, 1997, the Greater Seattle Chapter of the
NFB of Washington held elections with the following results:
Noel Nightingale, President; Rita Szantay, First Vice
President; Mark Noble, Second Vice President; Renee West,
Secretary; and Gary Deeter, Treasurer. Elected to serve on
the Board were Bennett Prows and Stephanie Yates.
New Chapter:
The North Greenville Chapter became the fifty-fifth
chapter of the NFB of South Carolina on Tuesday, January 8.
The following officers were elected: Lydell Gray, President;
Joyce Bowes, Vice President; George McKinney, Secretary; and
Jack Yearwood, Treasurer. Congratulations to the newest
chapter in the South Carolina affiliate.
Affordable Gifts:
Nancy Lynn of Pennsylvania has asked us to carry the
following announcement:
Affordable gifts for all occasions with income
potential attached. Call (888) 887-6318 any time, day or
night, and leave your name and phone number. You will
receive a prompt response.
CD-ROM Catalog of Braille and Recorded Books Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
In February, 1997, the National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped released the first
production version of CD-BLIND, a CD-ROM of catalog records
completed through December, 1996. Including the entire
catalog of Braille and recorded books produced by NLS, CD-
BLIND contains approximately 250,000 records of special-
format materials from more than two dozen libraries
throughout the world. It is searchable by title, author,
subject, keyword, and much more. Complete with a revised
user manual, this CD-ROM represents the culmination of
several years of testing by libraries and consumers.
A subscription to CD-BLIND is available through the
Superintendent of Documents. Send your order to
Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania 15250-7954, (202) 512-1800, and request stock
number 730-011-00000-8. Payment can be made by check, money
order, VISA, MasterCard, or Discover card. The price for a
year's subscription (four issues) is $92 in the United
States and $115 outside the U.S. The single-issue price is
$29 in the U.S. and $36.25 outside the U.S.
For further information, contact Mr. Robert Axtell,
Head, Bibliographic Control Section, National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped,
Washington, D.C. 20542, (202) 707-9248.
Elected:
During the fourth annual convention of the National
Federation of the Blind of Puerto Rico on November 9, 1996,
the following officers were elected: Alpidio Rolon,
President; Tomas Cintron, Secretary; and Maria Martinez,
Maria T. Rivera, and Jose A. Rodriquez, members of the Board
of Directors.
Braille Materials Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Mrs. Judith Kramer, a special education teacher at
Boonton High School in Boonton, New Jersey, writes to say
that she has a number of books and other materials in
Braille, which she would be pleased to pass on to high
school or college students who could use them. A list of
publications is available upon request. Many of these
publications, but not all, have to do with creative writing.
For more information or a list of books with descriptions,
contact Mrs. Judith Kramer, Boonton High School, 306 Lathrop
Avenue, Boonton, New Jersey 07005, (201) 335-9700, e-mail:
jkramer@njlink.pppl.gov
Summer Music Institute, National Resource Center for Blind
Musicians:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
The Music and Arts Center for the Handicapped is
accepting applications from motivated blind musicians
throughout the United States, high school or above, to
participate in its second Summer Music Institute for Blind
College-Bound Musicians. A three-week program to be held in
July at the University of Bridgeport will provide exposure
to music Braille, music composition by computer, keyboard,
theory, and ensemble and strategies for study and
independent living in a college setting. Enrollment is
limited to fifteen students, who will be accepted based on
their applications and over-the-phone interviews. Cost of
the program (including tuition, room and board, and
materials) is $2,500. Partial scholarships are available.
The National Resource Center for Blind Musicians
provides information to musicians, students, and teachers on
music Braille and accessible music technology. The Center
can provide advice about music systems or put people in
touch with someone in its national network of blind
musicians with experience in a particular aspect of the
field.
For an application to the Summer Music Institute or to
reach the National Resource Center, contact David Goldstein,
Music and Arts Center for the Handicapped, 600 University
Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut 06601, (203) 366-3300, e-
mail 102730.163@compuserve.com
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Catherine Horn Randall receives her award
from Neil Kelly]
Honored:
Neil Kelly, Illinois State Library Coordinator of
Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, presented
the 1996 Alexander J. Skrzypek Award to Catherine Horn
Randall, at the time First Vice President of the National
Federation of the Blind of Illinois, at the Illinois Library
Association annual conference, May 16, 1996, at the Palmer
House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.
The award reads as follows: "For outstanding
contributions to the advancement of library services for the
blind and physically disabled of Illinois, presented to
Catherine Horn Randall, Illinois State Library Advisory
Committee and Citizen. Presented by the specialized Library
Services Forum of the Illinois Library Association and the
Illinois Regional Library for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped."
Elected:
At its November, 1996, meeting the Triangle Chapter of
the NFB of North Carolina held its annual election of
officers. They are Johnna Simmons, President; Wayne Shevlin,
Vice President; Susan Briley, Secretary; and Linda Shevlin,
Treasurer. Melissa Orrsick was elected to serve on the
Board.
New Catalog Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Braille money marker, talking compass, talking
microwave, computer games, talking book equipment, and over
500 other items are all part of the 1997 Ann Morris
Enterprises catalog. Request your free copy in large print,
4-track cassette, or MS/DOS disk today. Braille is $6.
Contact Ann Morris Enterprises, Inc., 890 Fams Court, East
Meadow, New York 11554, (800) 454-3175, e-mail:
annmor@netcom.com
Computer Tutorial for Windows 95 Now Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Peter Scialli--proprietor of ShrinkWrap Computer
Products, a local consultant, and vendor for accessible
technology--has just published an audio cassette tutorial
called "Windows 95, Removing the Screen." Presented in an
informal style, the tutorial demonstrates how a blind
computer user with adaptive equipment can easily understand
and learn Windows 95. With examples throughout, Dr. Scialli
uses his own speech synthesizer to show blind people the
ease with which they can still operate a computer despite
the precipitous disappearance of text-based software.
"Removing the Screen" is available from ShrinkWrap
Computer Products for $40 and is about five hours in length.
It comes on standard audio cassettes and may assist anyone
who wants to learn to use Microsoft Windows 95 without
relying on a computer mouse or visual output.
Contact ShrinkWrap Computer Products at (800) 377-0774
or on the Internet at Shrink@Erols.Com
Income Opportunity Available:
Lonnie and Gail Wagner of New Mexico have asked us to
carry the following announcement:
We are in the business of offering three gifts: health,
hope, and freedom through a wonderful home-based business
opportunity. Easy-to-use audio and video tape system to get
your business booming. Training and support only a phone
call away. Wild grown products great for animals and people.
For free information please call (800) 927-2575, extension
02972.
New Division Formed:
The SAGE (Senior Action Group Energy) Division of the
National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico became a
statewide division in 1996. The elected officers are
Christine Hall, President; Verna Lorette, Vice President;
Jack Traxler, Secretary; and Ray Baca, Treasurer. Elected to
the Board were George Burman and Fern Lawson.
For Sale:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Reading Edge in excellent condition, hardly used, with
latest upgrade. Asking $4,000 or best offer. Please contact
Teresa Burke, 66 Post Road, Slag Hill, New York 10973, (914)
374-3902.