by Sharon Lovering
One of the main attractions of ACB conventions is the presentation of awards to outstanding recipients, and this year’s convention was no different.
The Sunday opening session of the convention featured the presentation of the Ned E. Freeman Excellence in Writing Award by the board of publications. Carol McCarl, BOP chair, presented the award to Larry Johnson for his December 1998 “Braille Forum” article titled “Blind Faith.” Johnson’s article was chosen from a field of 35 contenders for excellence in writing, widespread appeal, and interesting and instructive content. The article is a chapter from his soon-to-be-published book about his experiences as a blind deejay in Mexico City.
McCarl told the convention that there were many deserving runners-up, and she encouraged ACB members to go back and read articles they may have missed, and to keep writing for “The Braille Forum,” where airing of sometimes competing ideas epitomizes the very essence of the American Council of the Blind.
“I feel like I just won an Oscar,” Johnson said. “It’s really important to a writer to know that somebody reads his stuff.”
Dawn Christensen, chair of ACB’s Awards Committee, discussed the new directions which the committee has attempted to take. There are now two categories of membership awards, she noted: one for membership outreach, and one for membership growth. “Unfortunately,” she said, “the committee received no nominations for the outreach award.” She expressed the hope that members will submit several nominations for next year’s award.
The American Council of Blind Lions won the membership growth award, with a remarkable 111 percent growth rate during the preceding year. Elizabeth Lennon presented the award to Alan Beatty, president of the ACB Lions. “Next year,” Beatty said, “we’ll double it again!”
The 1999 winner of the George Card Award is Paul E. Ponchillia. Dr. Ponchillia, a member of Western Michigan University’s faculty for many years, and founder of the first sports and arts camps for blind children, was honored for his many endeavors to improve the lives of visually impaired children and adults.
Ponchillia said, “Short-term programs will never take the place of year-round programs that are specific. But I can tell you that they’re very, very much worth doing. I challenge you — I challenge us all — to put our efforts into sports, recreation, and the arts ... I’ve been blessed with a lot of luck, a lot of good fortune. I’ve received other awards, but nothing compares to this! And the reason is: It’s from you — the coolest blind people in the world!”
At the banquet Thursday night, two more awards were presented: the Robert S. Bray Award and the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award. Awards committee member Mike Duke assisted in the presentation of the Bray Award. “Our recipient served as counselor with our blind vision for the Lutheran mission with blind and visually impaired persons in St. Louis, Missouri. Before accepting this position full-time in 1998, he was the full-time pastor of a Lutheran congregation in Overland, Missouri. He is directly involved with the mission’s publication of periodicals: 17 in braille, seven in large print and five on audio cassette ... also in the transcription of hymnals, Bible studies and other special request items as well as a library of Christian materials in the above-mentioned formats. In addition to all of that, he’s been a missionary; he works to encourage other blind people ... to be missionaries and to take part in their community. The person who nominated tonight’s recipient describes him as a devoted father, husband and a person who always seems to be looking for new ways to reach out to his community. ... The winner of our Robert S. Bray Award is Rev. David Andrus of St. Louis, Missouri.”
Andrus could not attend the convention, but he did send an acceptance speech, which Duke played. “Thank you very much for this award,” Andrus said. “It is truly humbling and honoring to receive the Robert S. Bray Award for work done in the area of library service.” He told the audience that he had lost his sight when he was 11, and learned braille and mobility skills, and knew that “I wanted to be able to help people somehow, some way, and so I headed out on my educational journey, which took me to finally be a Lutheran parish pastor.”
He served in that capacity for several years, and then came to the Lutheran Library for the Blind. “I really believe that those years as a parish pastor helped, because I got to understand some of the hurts and pains that people have. That, along with my own experience in knowing other blind people and what it’s like ... I’ve worked very hard in helping the library provide materials that can be comforting, helping and especially give people strength in their spiritual walk with God. But not only that, we provide many other resources as well. I must also ... give acknowledgement to the wonderful staff that we have, the three paid staff but even more importantly the hundreds of volunteers around the United States that help produce this braille, large print and audio cassette so that blind and visually impaired people may feel a part of society and churches and play an active role with other people. ... Thank you from the bottom of my heart, as we will continue to provide these services and, God willing, a few more as well in the near future.”
The plaque reads: “The Robert S. Bray Award of the American Council of the Blind is presented to Rev. David Andrus in recognition of his dedication to providing religious materials in accessible formats for people who are blind and visually impaired; Los Angeles, California, July 8, 1999.”
The next award presented was the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award. “The American Council of the Blind awards that we give out are for the most part only given to folks who have managed to demonstrate a level of excellence that is very difficult to manage,” said ACB President Paul Edwards. “In fact, there are some years when we don’t even give awards. So I’m sort of anxious to figure out who in fact gets this one.”
Christensen told her listeners, “The person who submitted this nomination specifically asked me to keep it confidential until this evening. So all I can do is really hope that the individual is here. I did a little snooping, and they’re supposed to be here.” But the results weren’t confidential for too long. “... this gentleman was born in Idaho — couldn’t be too many of them, could there? — and attended the Idaho School for the Deaf [and] Blind until sixth grade. His family then moved to Oregon, where he attended mainstream junior high and high school. In his sophomore year, he was elected class president, and at that time he knew it was his first real acceptance with his sighted peers — a very important time for him. He then attended University of Oregon, where he did his undergraduate work, and then Cornell University, where he worked on his Ph.D. He was involved in many, many, many civil rights activities ... a variety of different organizations such as the Independent Living Center for the Handicapped, the National Association for the Physically Handicapped, the Washington, D.C. Center for Independent Living, the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, United Cerebral Palsy board of directors ... He’s very much been a part of ACB for as long as I have, and that’s been quite a while.”
The winner, Roger D. Petersen, was indeed in the room. “Congratulations, Roger,” Christensen said. “It is industrial strength braille, isn’t it?” Petersen said, reading the plaque through the plastic wrapper. “Well, I recognized my biography there somewhere along the way; the Idaho part ... I want to say that I really didn’t know about this and also that I’m very flattered and pleased at this particular award because of the importance that Durward McDaniel played in my life and in my coming into the American Council and in my coalition activities ... and even in commiserating with me at the time that I was ejected from the National Federation of the Blind. As I say, this is a very meaningful award to me, and I hope to continue to be worthy of an award named for Durward McDaniel. Thank you very much.”
(Editor’s Note: If you know someone worthy of one of the awards ACB gives, check this issue of “The Braille Forum” for deadlines and qualifications.)
Caption
Roger Petersen bows his head at the podium microphone as he accepts the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award.