Spring Means State Conventions!
March 9-11, Hawaii Association of the Blind; contact Warren Toyama, President, (808) 521-6213
March 30-April 1, Bay State Council of the Blind; contact Judi Cannon at (617) 479-7452; e-mail cannonja@att.net
March 30-April 1, Arkansas Council of the Blind, contact Michael Triplett (501) 223-9090, or via e-mail, arkansas_acb@yahoo.com
Calling All Hams
The ACB Radio Amateurs is planning its annual meeting for late in the week of convention (June 30-July 7, 2001). Responding once again to your popular demand, we will host the ACBRA breakfast on Sunday, July 1. We are currently scrambling to get membership dues together so we can make our report to ACB in a timely manner, so if you haven’t paid your $10 annual dues to ACBRA, please send in your check to our treasurer, Robert Rogers (K8CO), by February 20, 2001. Robert Rogers’ address is 1121 Morado Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45238; phone (513) 762-4022 office, (513) 921-3186 home.
Hello VIDPI and Friends
VIDPI is once again holding its annual program in conjunction with the ACB national convention. We are planning VIDPI events for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of convention week, as follows: A vendor-driven technology program on Sunday and Monday; a luncheon on Tuesday followed by our annual business meeting at which we will elect officers. We hope you will reserve a place amid your other convention plans for VIDPI. Remember, we need to turn in the membership list to ACB by the end of February, so please send your VIDPI dues to Mary Abramson as soon as possible so your VIDPI vote will count on the ACB convention floor. A full membership costs $20; associate membership costs $10. Send your dues to: Mary Abramson, 0N032 Ambleside Dr. #2402, Winfield, IL 60190-1904.
Blind Lions Howling and Prowling
by J. Alan Beatty
The unique structure of the special-interest affiliate, Blind Lions, which requires active membership in Lions Clubs as well as the American Council of the Blind, has fostered many wonderful opportunities for cross-pollination. As a result, ACBL has experienced phenomenal growth and has opened the door for blind and visually impaired individuals to experience the rewards of membership in Lions Clubs across the country — and now the world! Our membership in Lions Clubs has given our sighted colleagues great insight into the special services and support that the American Council of the Blind offers its members. Over the past two years, many members have expressed great enthusiasm for our organization. I want to share with you some of the wonderful experiences that members have reported to me, and encourage more of you to participate in the American Council of Blind Lions.
The ACBL newsletter received a new name this past year, “The Pride.” The name reflects our feelings about the accomplishments we have made and the great enthusiasm many of our members have for participating in our activities. The newsletter highlights many of the programs that Lions sponsor throughout the United States and extols the benefits of these programs for blind and visually impaired people. When our members learn about program successes and benefits, they can make recommendations to their own clubs about programs that work and results that will be meaningful in their local communities.
The Lions Clubs International organization is clearly acknowledging ACBL as their prime contact for issues pertaining to blindness and loss of sight, and that is a position we have been striving to attain for many years. The most exciting event that has occurred over the past year is that ACBL is becoming international. Now we record members in eight foreign countries. We have received requests to provide our newsletters in braille and large print for Spanish, German and French readers. We also have members in India and Sri Lanka. Many of them are very enthusiastic about the programs in the U.S. that can be tailored to accommodate their own cultural attitudes toward blindness. As you may imagine, many of us here in the United States have very little knowledge about the unique attitudes which people from cultures different from ours may hold about blindness and the capabilities of people with visual impairments. If we can only reach out to a few people whose experiences may be vastly different from our own, we will begin to accomplish our mission.
This year’s International Lions convention in Indianapolis is scheduled for the same week as the ACB national convention in Des Moines. Although this conflict will create some logistical problems for ACBL members, rest assured we will be as alive and active at both sites as we have been in the past. The recognition and appreciation we have experienced at Lions International conventions have been overwhelming, and it doesn’t hurt our financial position to increase awareness among many Lions organizations who may wish to support us.
ACBL is howling and prowling; you really should join in the excitement! For more information in any format and language, contact Alan Beatty, 519 Locust, Fort Collins, CO 80524; phone (970) 484-2598; e-mail JABeatty1@yahoo.com.
Badger Association Holds ACB Day
The Badger Association of the Blind will hold its annual ACB Day meeting on Saturday, April 7. The meeting will convene at 9:30 a.m. and will take place at the Badger Association facilities, 912 N. Hawley Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53213. For more information, please call (414) 615-0107.
ACB of Indiana Convention
The American Council of the Blind of Indiana held its convention November 3 and 4, 2000 at the Ramada Inn in Bloomington. Susan El Shamy, one of the speakers, led a discussion on the concerns of sighted and visually impaired people as they relate to each other. We found that most of us have the same concerns and shared ideas on ways to solve them.
Craig Brenner from the Bloomington community and resource department gave comments on community accessibility. He is on a council along with several of our ACBI members that has committees that do many things, like sensitivity training, training on ADA for government employees, building inspectors, for builders and architects and for businesses.
The center for adaptive technology at Indiana University has been making restaurant menus in braille free of charge for the Bloomington community. They also started a citizens’ accessible parking enforcement program because of the people who have been illegally occupying parking spaces designated for disabled people. Police officers must go through disability awareness training before being able to issue a ticket on such a parking violation. They did some training in a local hospital and made a video, “Disability Awareness in a Health Care Environment.” The hospital gave it to the group to use as a fund-raiser (it costs $19.95). At the end of his talk, he let us know the committee had managed to get some audible pedestrian signals.
Brian Charlson, ACB first vice president, spoke on the importance of change. Change does not happen by accident; it happens by aggressive involvement. Blind and visually impaired people need to get out and educate others by going into schools and organizations and showing them accessible equipment and mobility aids like white canes and guide dogs. You also need to change the attitudes of blind people themselves. He told us that he’d learned on a trip to Greece that a blind person there can go to college for free, but colleges are not obligated to supply information in accessible formats, or to provide testing accommodations.
Dr. Julia Blank from Indiana University’s school of optometry spoke on services to visually impaired people. She gave us information about early childhood development, vocational rehabilitation, and training at the workplace and at home. She spoke on electronic magnification, computer software, bioptic driving and gave many resources for those with low vision.
Linda Platt, a clinical research coordinator at Indiana University Medical Center’s department of ophthalmology, spoke on the current retinal research projects and some of the preliminary findings. She spoke on preventing vision loss, preventing progression of early disease, preserving sight once the disease has progressed, recovering sight, enhancing remaining sight and creating sight. For information on macular degeneration and other eye diseases, visit http://www.macd.net.
We concluded the convention with a short business meeting where we elected four new members to our board of directors. Hats off to the Bloomington chapter of ACBI for a great job in hosting the convention.