AN OPEN LETTER TO READERS
by Marc Maurer, President, National Federation
of the Blind
Photo:�
portrait.� Caption:� Marc Maurer
From the VOICE Editor:� This article first appeared in
the Braille Monitor, Volume 43, No. 2, February
2000,
published by the� National Federation of the Blind (NFB).
Because diabetes is the biggest producer of new
blindness in
the United States, the NFB is the principal
funding source
for VOICE OF THE DIABETIC.� The following message is well
worth your consideration.
As many of you know, during the final months of
his
life Dr. Jernigan devoted much of his creative
energy and
imagination to planning an exciting new facility
to be built
on our property at 1800 Johnson Street, which he
named the
National Research and Training Institute for the
Blind.� A
little more than 20 years ago, when we first
began
renovating the turn-of-the-century factory
building that we
intended to transform into the National Center
for the Blind
and the headquarters of the National Federation
of the
Blind, many of us found it hard to imagine that
we could
ever use all the space available in the
block-long building.
We told each other that rent income from the
unused areas
would help us meet day-to-day operating
expenses.
Through these past two decades our dreams have
expanded
to keep pace with our growing strength and
experience as an
organization. The Materials Center and all the
publications,
literature, and equipment it stores and ships;
the
International Braille and Technology Center;
NEWSLINE� for
the Blind; bedrooms for visiting groups; and the
expanding
staff to meet the demands of a growing
organization:� all
these have been added and require significant
space to
operate.
Now the unimaginable has come to pass. We have
just
about run out of space for the programs we are
already
conducting.�
More to the point, our dreams of finding ways
to use our experience and expertise to improve
programs and
increase opportunity for all blind people demand
expanded
space if we are to carry out the training and research
that
must be done.
Dr. Jernigan saw all this coming; that is why he
conceived the plan to erect a new building. We
have
dedicated ourselves to bringing his dream and
our own to
fruition. We have embarked on an ambitious
capital campaign
to raise 18 million dollars during the next two
years.
Never before have we taken on a program as
demanding as this
one, but we have now begun discussing our plans
and hopes
with foundations, corporations, and wealthy
individuals as
we make contacts with organizations and people
who might be
interested in helping us make our dreams
reality.
Federationists have never been content to ask
others to
do all the work for us.� We may not have millions ourselves,
but we have always taken pride in doing whatever
we can to
bring our dreams to fruition. The entire Board
of Directors
have now made five-year personal pledges toward
our campaign
goal, and many other Federation leaders and
rank-and-file
members have begun planning their gifts.
The time has come for all Federation members and
friends to learn more about our plans in order
to determine
what they can do to help.� Perhaps you have friends or
family members who would be interested in making
a gift.
Perhaps you have contacts that we should know
about.� I hope
that each of you will plan to make a significant
gift, and I
know many of you will.� What is significant?� That
depends
on your personal resources and
responsibilities.� The
Research and Training Institute will allow us to
affect the
lives of blind people in ways we have never
before dared to
attempt.�
A gift, no matter what its size, generous enough
to cause strain on your personal budget, will
honor both Dr.
Jernigan's memory and you.
I ask each of you to take some time to reflect
on who
you know and what you might do to assist in this
ambitious
campaign.�
You can contact Vince Connelly, who is working on
this project, if you have ideas or
information.� Call (410)
659-9314 and ask for Mr. Connelly.� I hope you will use the
pledge form printed at the end of the� article to make your
personal gift and send it to NRTI Project, 1800
Johnson
Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230.
So that you have a complete picture of
opportunities,
here is a brief description of gift
possibilities:
Contributors may choose to have their gifts
recognized
through dedication to one of the Institute's
Initiatives or
through naming opportunities associated with
specific
floors, wings, rooms, facilities, equipment, or
furnishings
of the National Research and Training
Institute.� Please
contact the NFB Capital Campaign Office for more
information
on specific naming opportunities.
The Wall of Honor:
A permanent wall display listing individual
donors
above the $5,000 level will further recognize
contributors.
All contributors, including those below $5,000,
will be
listed in the appropriate gift level on the
Campaign Honor
Roll to be announced and published during the
campaign
victory celebrations.
Gift Amount���
Title
$1,000,000+���
Jernigan Circle, Master Builder
$�
500,000+��� President's Circle,
Program Builder
$�
250,000+��� Director's Circle,
Opportunity Builder
$�
100,000+��� Leader's Circle,
Independence Builder
$��
50,000+��� Patrons
$��
25,000+��� Partners
$��
10,000+��� Benefactors
$���
5,000+��� Fellows
$�� <
4,999��� Friends
What follows is the text of a document that
briefly
describes the initiatives and programs we expect
to
undertake as the result of this capital
campaign.� I hope
that the plans will kindle your imagination and
fuel your
dreams.�
Join us in making the future our own.
The Campaign to Change What It Means to Be Blind
Vision for the Future
The spirit and passionate dedication of the over
50,000
members of the NFB are directed toward building
a future for
the blind in this country that includes
opportunity for
education, employment, and full participation in
our
society.�
Our message is one of hope and personal
responsibility.�
We are determined to demonstrate that blind
people can achieve and prosper, if trained using
a
philosophy of blindness that emphasizes capacity
and mutual
support.�
We envision a new approach to helping blind
people--an approach which transcends ancient
images of
darkness, ignorance, and isolation.� We foresee a revolution
in services for the blind which views blindness
as a
characteristic to be dealt with through the
acquisition of
pragmatic skills and self- acceptance.� We are a people with
abilities and dreams, a people of hope and
tenacity, too
long held down by our own and others'
misconceptions and
fears.�
We are working toward a time when all of us can
achieve to our capacity and contribute fully to
our society.
The next chapter of blind people's struggle for
full
integration into all aspects of our society will
include the
nation's first research and training institute
inspired and
operated by the organized blind.� We have long known who we
are; now it is time to demonstrate and implement
model
programs and services that will forever change
what it means
to be blind.
The National Research and Training Institute for
the Blind
A new five-story, 170,000-square-foot building
will be
attached to the present national headquarters of
the NFB,
located in Baltimore, Maryland.� The new facility will
include a research library, technology training
labs,
classrooms, a distance learning center, an
adaptive
technology development center, and office and
flexible
meeting space.�
We have begun an 18-million-dollar capital
campaign.�
Funds are being solicited from members and
individual supporters of the NFB, corporations,
foundations,
and governmental sources.� The goal is to raise the needed
funds by summer 2001 and to complete the project
in the
summer of 2003.
At least 50 percent of this country's 1.1
million blind
citizens will be directly affected by the programs,
research, and technology developed during the
first ten
years of the Institute's operation:
* Through the use of newly developed distance
learning
technologies and training methods, we will work
toward
providing an opportunity for all of the 57,000
blind
children in this country to learn Braille and
other
needed skills.
* The 788,000 blind seniors today, and the
projected 1.6
million by 2015 and 2.4 million by 2030, will
have
access to improved services and resources
stimulated by
the senior initiatives of the Institute.
* Partnerships between private-sector employers
and the
NFB will result in lowering the 74 percent
unemployment
rate among working-age blind people in this
country.
* Non-visual speech and Braille technology will
be
developed, making it possible for the blind to
access
an ever-increasing number of services and
resources
delivered by computer technology.
Major Initiatives
The following initiatives will provide the
structure
for the programs, projects, and services of the
National
Research and Training Institute for the Blind.
Technology Access and Training Initiative
Technology is a critical element in both
education and
employment opportunities today and will be even
more so in
the future, for the blind just as for the general
public.
Advances in speech, Braille, and large-print
access
technology lead some to assume that the blind
now have or
soon will have access to nearly all of what
technology has
to offer.
Unfortunately, due to the widespread obsession
with
visual design in technology, the shortage of
good technology
training, the cost of equipment, and the rapid
advancements
of technology applications, blind people now
face the
dismaying prospect of being left out if
non-visual access is
not continually updated and improved.� This means that
advances in software and hardware must include
design that
allows non-visual access.
The Institute will be the center of
technological
advancement for the blind. Along with
development and
promotion of adaptive technology, training will
be provided
to ensure that the blind move smoothly with
their sighted
peers into the emerging technological age and do
not become
casualties of what Bill Gates has called the
digital divide.
Blind Children's Initiative
The 57,000 legally blind children in this
country face
unique educational and daily-living
challenges.� Today the
majority of blind children have other
disabilities, are
educated in public schools rather than
residential schools
for the blind, and have other individualized
needs.
Blind children are often discouraged from using
alternative reading and travel methods because
uninformed
parents and teachers believe that as far as
possible their
children should avoid being labeled as
blind.� For too long
these useful tools of independence have been
associated with
the negative stereotype of the hopeless,
isolated blind.
Unfortunately this has resulted in less than 10
percent of
blind children being able to read Braille and
many not being
able to travel independently.
Because the NFB knows that alternative skills
are basic
to self-esteem among the blind and to successful
employment
(today 85 percent of blind people who use
Braille are
employed), we have already directed significant
resources
toward changing this alarming trend.� By establishing a
national Braille literacy campaign, promoting
early mobility
training for young blind children, and
contributing to
development of adaptive technology, the NFB has
led the way
in innovation and change.� However, because many school
districts are hiring only general special
education teachers
rather than specially trained teachers of the
blind,
families face a growing shortage of qualified
educators and
services for their blind children.
Braille Literacy Initiative
In 1968, 40 percent of blind children in this
country
read Braille, 45 percent read large print, and
only 9
percent read neither.� However, today less than 10 percent
of legally blind children read Braille, and more
than 40
percent read neither Braille nor large
print.� This problem
reflects a dangerous trend:� the functional illiteracy of
tens of thousands of blind children.
In the 1970's, blind children began to be
mainstreamed
into regular classrooms.� Most school systems did not know
how to teach children Braille, so they tried to
teach the
children using any method available.� For blind children
this meant listening and memorizing; they never
learned to
read and write.�
For those with some sight, it meant the use
of magnifiers.�
Imagine trying to learn how to read when you
can see only one letter at a time.� The result has been
predictable:�
many blind children have fallen behind in
school and as adults are now significantly
limited.
For too long Braille has been associated with
total
blindness and many of the misconceptions
associated with
this disability.� Parents of blind children are easily
convinced that, if their child has some residual
vision
(even if that vision is minimal, unstable, or
likely to
deteriorate), reading print will somehow mean
their child is
not really blind.� It takes people who are positive about
Braille and familiar with the real benefits of
this
alternative technique to convince reluctant
parents. Also
much work is necessary to upgrade the Braille
skills of
teachers of the blind and to improve
Braille-production and
Braille-teaching technology.
The National Research and Training Institute
will be
the center of a growing Braille Literacy
Initiative that
will ensure that the progress led by the NFB
continues and
that Braille is recognized to be a
communications tool as
essential to the blind as American Sign Language
is to the
deaf.
Research Initiative
Despite the tremendous outlay of public and
private
funds throughout most of the decades of this
century, the
objective situation of the blind as a group
remains
intractably bleak:� 74 percent unemployment, functional
illiteracy for tens of thousands of blind
children, and
exclusion from the mainstream of society. These
facts make
it starkly clear that the techniques and systems
used to
serve the blind in the United States are in dire
need of
overhaul.
The unsolved problems demand innovative
solutions.
Effective training programs that will teach the
professors
who will teach the teachers and other
professionals who will
teach the blind must be developed so that the
age-old cycle
of dependency and despair can be broken.� The Research
Initiative of the National Research and Training
Institute
will focus on identifying and solving the root
causes of
these endemic problems.
Blind Seniors Initiative
Less money is spent and fewer services are
available to
those over 55 losing vision than to younger
blind people.
Yet far more people lose vision after retirement
age than
before.�
New approaches must be developed and taught to
state and local staff members in rehabilitation,
older
blind, and older Americans programs and in
centers for
independent living.� The National Research and Training
Institute will bring together knowledgeable
professionals
who will design materials and develop training
programs to
assist state and local agencies in helping blind
and
visually impaired seniors remain independent and
continue to
participate in the activities they hope for in
their
retirement years.� Blindness can happen to anyone. Without
training and opportunity it can be
devastating.� In short,
seniors have huge needs.� The Blind Seniors Initiative of
the National Research and Training Institute
will focus on
finding ways to meet them.
Employment Initiative
Work is one of the fundamental ways in which
individuals express their talents, make a
contribution, and
take responsibility for themselves.� For too long many blind
people have been told by their families,
teachers, and even
rehabilitation counselors that the world of
competitive
employment is most likely out of reach for them.
Since its founding in 1940, the NFB has been
committed
to the principle that otherwise-able blind
people should be
expected to work and should be given every
opportunity to
achieve.�
This means that the blind must believe in
themselves and employers must learn that
qualified blind
people make productive, loyal employees.
With an unemployment rate of 74 percent, many
working-
age blind people are not enjoying the challenges
and
responsibilities of competitive employment.
Although
hundreds of millions of dollars have been
invested in job-
preparation programs around the country, this
staggering
number has not changed in recent years.� The employment
initiative of the National Research and Training
Institute
will provide focus, resources, and direction for
a
comprehensive evaluation of contemporary methods
for helping
the blind.�
From such an evaluation will come the necessary
knowledge to develop, demonstrate, and replicate
innovative
training programs to replace existing efforts
which have
failed to bring the blind into the workforce.
The new National Research and Training Institute
will
be the center of research, demonstrations, and
job-
development partnerships with private
industry.� These
partnerships in combination with successful
employment
preparation programs will create national
momentum toward
the full employment of the blind.
The Campaign To Change What It Means To Be Blind
�� Capital
Campaign Pledge Intention
Name:______________________________________________________
Home
Address:______________________________________________
Address:___________________________________________________
City, State, and Zip:______________________________________
Home Phone:_________________�� Work Phone:_________________
E-mail
Address:____________________________________________
Employer:__________________________________________________
Work
Address:______________________________________________
City, State,
Zip:__________________________________________
To support the priorities of the Campaign, I
(we) pledge the
sum of $________________.
My (our) pledge will be payable in installments
of $
__________ over the next _______ years (we
encourage pledges
paid over 5 years), beginning
____________________, on the
following schedule (check one):
___ annually��
___ semi-annually�� ___
quarterly� __ monthly
I (we) have enclosed a down payment of $
________________
____ Gift of stock: ________ shares of
____________________
____ My employer will match my gift.
Please list (my) our names in all Campaign
Reports and on
the Campaign Wall of Honor in the appropriate
Giving Circle
as follows:
___________________________________________________________
___ I (We) wish to remain anonymous.
Signed:�
_____________________________ Date:�
___________