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In response to Lucia Marett
I am writing in response to Lucia Marett’s letter in the August “Braille Forum.” As someone who has spent the first 20 years of his working life in the human resources field, and who has advocated to expand job opportunities for people with disabilities for almost 30 years, I feel compelled to respond to a number of her erroneous assertions and conclusions.
At the outset, while I take exception to almost everything she writes, I am most especially disturbed by the tone of her letter. The attitude conveyed seems to be: I couldn’t find a job so how can anyone else who is blind — particularly someone who is totally blind — have found employment. Her whining, badgering, angry tone is symptomatic of the “victim mentality” which too many people with disabilities have chosen to adopt. Regardless of how hard one tries to hide it during the job interview, this mind set always becomes apparent to the interviewer. No one is going to hire a person who displays such an attitude; employers hire applicants for their ability and positive attitude, not their disability and “poor me” outlook. The employment arena aside, how many of us consciously choose to spend time with people who are always negative, angry or who complain constantly? I certainly don’t! This may explain why Ms. Marett has had difficulty finding work and why she is so unwilling to accept that other blind people do have successful careers.
With regard to Marett’s comments concerning Bill Lewis’ article, I must offer several of my own comments in response. First, I believe sheltered workshop employment should be considered a career in the sense that, at one time, it was one of the few viable options available to blind persons. By present-day standards, it may not be an attractive alternative for most blind people, but this does not mean that it wasn’t a career 40 or 50 years ago. The sheltered workshop served as a relatively reliable source of income for many at a time when the alternative was to sit home and let their families support them.
Second, the careers cited by Lewis are jobs currently held by real blind and visually impaired people, many of whom are ACB members. It is unfortunate when someone who is apparently blind asks who would hire a blind nurse or an early childhood specialist? I have known a nurse who was blind and worked for several years (in discharge planning) after losing her sight. I am aware of a woman who operates her own day care center. Over the years, I have met three totally blind mechanics, a radio astronomer, two appliance repair persons (both of whom own their businesses); a custodian, several engineers, attorneys, teachers and psychologists. It might be very enlightening for Ms. Marett to contact AFB’s Careers and Technology Information Bank (CTIB) at (212) 502-7642, which maintains a database of more than 1,700 blind and visually impaired people performing every kind of job imaginable. She can speak directly to blind people who are working in those careers about which she is so skeptical.
Third, she asks how blind people (presumably in professional positions) manage the print. We do it by using assistive technology (e.g. reading machines) and/or paid readers. (It is my understanding that the New York State Commission for the Blind is pretty good in this regard.) The question she should be asking is: How have blind people overcome negative public attitudes and stereotypes? The answer is that the successfully employed blind person looks and acts competent: he or she exhibits good hygiene and grooming, gets around well with a cane or guide dog, and has a positive attitude about life in general and him- or herself in particular. As a supervisor of five staff and someone who has done a good deal of interviewing and hiring in over 25 years of government service, I would not employ anyone with Marett’s attitude.
Fourth and finally, my remarks are not intended to lessen or trivialize in any way our 70 percent (not 75 percent) rate of unemployment, but only to point out that many of us are our own worst enemies insofar as how the public sees us. Believe me, Marett is not the “Al Sharpton of the blind.”
Let me conclude by answering the questions posed at the close of her letter: “When will blind people work together to combat discrimination, prejudice and bigotry ...?” We already are, as members of the American Council of the Blind, and in our state and local ACB affiliates. “Why do blind people abandon their own?” Frequently and sadly, many blind people “jump ship” because of the aforementioned “victim mentality” displayed by their fellow blind peers. They choose not to associate with such negativism.
Those of us who believe in blind people and know what we have already accomplished and will accomplish in the future are not “complacent, conservative elitists.” We are realists who have been in the work force and have a pretty fair idea of what it takes for blind people — regardless of visual acuity — to compete on equal terms with the sighted in the job market. Life isn’t fair; so be it. We can either moan and wring our hands over the injustice of it all, or we can work together to overcome injustice, one obstacle and one battle at a time!
— Mitch Pomerantz, Los Angeles, CA
Regarding Glaucoma
I would like to augment Joseph Neff’s very informative article on glaucoma which appeared in the August issue of “The Braille Forum.” I have a tale to tell which, I hope, will be a reminder to those of us who are blind or visually impaired regarding this insidious disease.
One morning earlier this year when I left home for the airport to fly to New Jersey, I felt slight discomfort around my left eye which made me wonder if a sinus attack were brewing. By the time I reached Newark I was almost certain that this was a case of acute glaucoma. My work as a professional in the field of blindness had long ago educated me regarding glaucoma, the excruciating pain associated with the acute form of that disease, and the necessity for periodic tests for intraocular pressure. I was well aware that just because one is blind, he or she is not immune to the disease.
To make matters worse, during several nights in the weeks preceding my trip to New Jersey I had awakened with discomfort in my left eye, had consciously noted to myself that I should go to the doctor for a pressure check, and had equally consciously decided to wait until I returned from the trip north.
Once I reached New Jersey, events occurred very quickly. Within 24 hours, on an emergency basis, I was in surgery having the lens and part of the vitreous gel removed from my eye. Needless to say, it was a traumatic experience, one which was quite probably avoidable, and, incidentally, was a source of considerable embarrassment to me as a former professional in the state of New Jersey. I took more than a little chiding from the ophthalmic surgeons, along the lines of, “Of all people, you should have known better!”
I returned home with a resolution to climb up on a soap box whenever I had the chance to remind folks who are already blind or visually impaired that it is just as necessary for them to have regular glaucoma checks as it is for those who are fully sighted.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to drag out the soap box.
— Norma Krajczar, Morehead City, NC
Regarding accessible pedestrian signals
I applaud the July article on accessible pedestrian signals by Sheila Killian and Daveed Mandell. It, like previous “Braille Forum” audible pedestrian signals (APS) prose, is a fine exposition of very important travel technology. I am also pleased there was an editor’s note referencing the ACB pedestrian safety handbook which lists a number of companies, all producing walk signal devices.
The company identified by the July article’s authors happens to be one of my favorites. In fact, they have loaned me a sample which I demonstrate in meetings every chance I get to stimulate consumer demand for APS’s in Manhattan. But I think we need to avoid touting one company too soon. The competition among manufacturers is healthy and can only benefit the quality of the devices offered and their price structure too.
I attempted to make the same point during the March ACB legislative seminar when we discussed approaching members of Congress to advocate for audible locational information within Capitol campus buildings. The name of a particular company which has been aggressively marketing its transmitter-receiver system was used in our briefing as a generic term.
I urged in March, and I still believe, we should encourage all entrepreneurs to develop devices in the free marketplace. Only when ACB formally anoints a clear winner after careful comparative evaluation, or when a specific purchase is about to be made according to discrete specifications, should a particular company be selected. Expert professionals, Janet Barlow, Beezie Bentzen and Lukas Franck among them, have been exemplary in their even-handed public presentations of APS devices. Again, attention to the ACB pedestrian safety handbook is highly recommended for a full view of this wondrous APS landscape.
— Ken Stewart, Warwick, NY
Regarding “The Spirit of ADA!”
As you noted, the torch relay celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act began in Houston, Texas on Sunday, June 11, 2000 at the Metropolitan Multi-service Center at 1475 W. Gray. Two participants from Houston were missing from the list, Edwin Rumsey and Catherine Gleitz. Both were self-sponsored, paying $100 each to participate in the torch relay. Edwin is the Houston Council of the Blind reporter and a long-time advocate who initiated audio description in Houston. (Note the article in “The Braille Forum” from June 1996 entitled “In Houston, Description Is the Word.”) Catherine Gleitz is the past treasurer for the Houston chapter and the past president of Guide Dog Users Inc., and who currently serves as parliamentarian for the Metropolitan Multi-service Center advisory board and as first vice president of the River Oak Gardens Home Owners Association. Hoping you can correct the omission as soon as possible.
— Edwin Rumsey, Houston, TX
And the list below was submitted, via e-mail, by Mike Smitherman, vice president of the Mississippi Council of the Blind (MCB). The following names of participants in the ADA Torch Relay were not included in Ms. Sloan’s Braille Forum article on that topic:
1. Mike Duke — President
2. Mike Smitherman — Vice-President
3. Alison Smitherman — Recording Secretary
4. Kenny Maddox — Treasurer
5. Rita Taylor
6. Janice Gable
7. Randy & Bonnie Thompson
8. Dan & Peggy Maddox
9. Karen Brown
10. Billy Mayfield
11. Donna Smith-Whitty
12. Judy Sikes
13. Mark Smith — Executive Director of CCD
14. Ralph Smitherman
15. Jan Hawthorne
16. Carrie Ponder
Sometimes Snail Mail Really Travels S-L-O-O-O-O-W-L-Y!
Bernice, my California friend, keeps me informed. “There’s a lot of hubbub on the listserv about that article in the Forum about democracy in ACB,” she told me in late August.
The Forum? An article on democracy? What is this, I asked myself? I devour the Forum from back to front every month. The minute I take it from the mailbox everything else goes on the back burner. Scott and Matthew, the two humans who live with me, know not to bother me. Even Sweetums The Cat, who fears nothing and is ruled by no one, approaches me with caution. I am reading the Forum and I am not to be bothered!
But an article on democracy in the ACB? Where was it? I didn’t see it.
I searched the house over looking for my most recent Forum. It was not to be found. I guessed the recycling man was reading it off in the west desert someplace. Oh well, an interesting article missed. I’d be more careful next time.
Two weeks later, Scott told me at the dinner table, “There sure is an interesting article in the Forum about democracy in the ACB.”
“Yes,” I replied, “Bernice told me there was a lot of hubbub about it on the listserv. I must have missed the article. I’ll have to be more careful next month and read the Forum from bottom to top as well as from back to front.”
When I went to the mailbox on September 25, I was excited to see my faithful blue and white Forum. Oh, for a few minutes rest and quiet while I leafed through its pages. “Here and There,” “An Open Letter to....” Wait, what was this? An article about democracy in the ACB? I turned to the cover, “The Braille Forum, September 2000.” Aha, I hadn’t thrown the magazine away. It just hadn’t come yet. A month after it was the hot topic on the listserv, two weeks after my husband listened to it in Alvin the Chipmunk speed on his tape player, I received it in print.
I should have known. In my local affiliate, where well over 50 percent of the membership requests our monthly newsletter in print, my husband gets his braille copy of the newsletter two weeks before I get my print copy.
Eighty percent of those who are legally blind have some usable vision. Only 5 percent of that same population read braille. So, why is it that both in the ACB and my local affiliate, print readers get their magazines and newsletters at least two weeks after everyone else? Whatever the reasons, I suggest that the editors of the publications and the leaders of the organizations stop and look at the subconscious message they are sending out every month to the print readers who receive their publications.
After all, to get the publication out in braille, or on cassette, it had to have been in a format which could have been accessed by light-dependent people such as myself, the people who get it after it’s been embossed in braille, recorded on cassette, and hashed and rehashed on the listserv.
In that September Forum, the one with the article on democracy, there was an open letter to the board of directors of ACB and to a certain number of members of the ACB who receive their Forum on cassette. The producer of those tapes vowed to do a better job in the future.
I hope the ACB will do a better job in the future as well, and take measures to ensure that ALL members of the ACB receive the Forum in a timely manner.
— Janis Stanger, Salt Lake City, Utah