American Council of the Blind
                        Resolution 73-01 

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind is dedicated to
improving and developing programs of the blind throughout the
Nation, and 

     WHEREAS, such improvements and developments require a
considerable expenditure of monies, and 

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind is at this time not
in a financial position to carry out such improvement and
development of programs, 

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the
Blind in Convention assembled at Knoxville, Tennessee on the 21st
day of July, 1973, that the President shall appoint a committee of
not more than three persons to develop, as soon as possible, a
nationwide solicitation by mail fund-raising program, and 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American Council of the Blind
provide the necessary funds to implement such program.   

Moved by Maxine Schram, seconded by Ken Ingle 
Unanimously adopted                    American Council of the Blind
                       Resolution 73-02  

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind has a substantial
and continuing interest, on behalf of the blind population of the
United States, in health care needs and health care delivery
systems, and  

     WHEREAS, the rising cost of health care through existing
systems assure that a large percentage of the general population,
and an even larger percentage of the blind and handicapped
population, will be deprived of adequate health care, and  

     WHEREAS, the absence of uniform health care standards and
controls has compounded the problem of poor quality in this field,
and  

     WHEREAS, the need for a complete program of health services
for all blind persons is given high priority by our organization,
and 

     WHEREAS, the need for comprehensive planning in this field
must be recognized if skyrocketing health care costs are ever to be
curbed, and  

     WHEREAS, this organization wishes to accept its responsibility
to improve health care for the total community, and  

     WHEREAS, the only plan which will ever assure comprehensive
health care for the blind population is contained in S-3 and HR-22,
and      

     WHEREAS, this legislation contains safeguards of the rights
and interests of the consuming public, and  

     WHEREAS, more than forty highly respected organizations and
institutions have formed an alliance: The Health Security Action
Council and the Committee for National Health Insurance,  

     NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the
Blind, in Convention assembled at the Hyatt-Regency Hotel in
Knoxville, Tennessee on the 21st day of July, 1973, that
participation of the American Council of the Blind in such
alliances as those named above be authorized, and that Council
officers and members throughout the country be encouraged to work
in such alliances at national, state and local levels in support of
the enactment of national health care legislation, including the
provisions, principles, as covered in S-3 and HR-22.   

Unanimously adopted                    American Council of the Blind
                       Resolution 73-03  

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind has always
supported Senator Adlai Stevenson's effort to win congressional
permission for airlines to grant air concessions to physically
handicapped persons when accompanied by a suitable companion-guide;
and  

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind feels that such
fare concessions would be a great boon to the deaf-blind, few of
whom are willing to attempt traveling by themselves; and  

     WHEREAS, due to the widespread unemployment and meager public
assistance grants, it rarely happens that a deaf-blind person can
afford to pay full fare for himself and his companion-guide - a
fact that effectively excludes a deaf-blind person from enjoying
the speed and convenience of transportation by plane; and  

     WHEREAS, this exclusion from the airways tends to perpetuate
the loneliness and isolation of deaf-blind persons who, for lack of
sufficient funds, are unable to visit their friends and relatives
in distant parts of the land;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the
Blind in Convention assembled in Knoxville, Tennessee this 21st day
of July, 1973, that this organization instruct its officers and
national representative to continue giving all possible support to
Senator Stevenson's air fare concession bill, with special emphasis
on its relation to the needs of deaf-blind citizens.    

Unanimously adopted                    American Council of the Blind
                       Resolution 73-04  

     WHEREAS, it is the duty of the American Council of the Blind
to promote the social and economic advancement of all citizens who
are either seriously or totally deaf and blind; and  

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind believes that such
rehabilitation of those doubly handicapped persons depends, in very
large measure, on the success of the National Center for Deaf-Blind
Youths and Adults, an agency which, despite insufficient funds,
inadequate facilities and limited staff, has been serving the
deaf-blind with remarkable success for years; and  

     WHEREAS, the President's veto of the Rehabilitation Amendments
of 1972 deprived the National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and
Adults of the necessary funds with which to build, staff and
operate its long-needed permanent facilities at Sands Point, New
York where fifty (the present capacity in only eighteen) clients
could be trained simultaneously,  

     NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the
Blind in Convention assembled at Knoxville, Tennessee this 21st day
of July, 1973, that this organization instruct its officers and
National Representative to give the National Center for Deaf-Blind
Youths and Adults all possible assistance in its campaign for
prompt and adequate funding by the Federal Government.    

Unanimously Adopted                    American Council of the Blind
                        Resolution 73-05

     BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the Blind in
Convention assembled in Knoxville, Tennessee this 21st day of July,
1973, that all Congressional bills and the succeeding laws relating
to the deaf and blind, and to other handicapped persons, include
the word "deaf-blind".   

Unanimously adopted                   American Council of the Blind
                        Resolution 73-06 

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind recognizes that
substantial progress has been made in the field of special
education, with particular reference to the needs of blind
children, but that developments in this field have not kept pace
with innovations in other educational areas; and  

     WHEREAS, residential school and public school programs, both
of which occupy important places within the total system of
education of the visually impaired, should place primary emphasis
on sound educational standards; and  

     WHEREAS, visually impaired children are entitled to full
educational opportunities as a matter of right; and  

     WHEREAS, no well defined mechanism exists through which blind
persons can influence the development of programs of special
education; and  

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind should assist blind
persons in urging improvements in educational facilities and
resources available to blind children; and  

     WHEREAS, the Special Education Seminar held at the
Hyatt-Regency Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee on July 15, 1973,
brought forth strong expressions of interest in and demand for
standards of high quality in special education of blind persons,
both at elementary and secondary school levels and in the field of
continuing adult education;  

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the American Council of
the Blind, in Convention assembled on the 21st day of July, 1973#
at the Hyatt-Regency Hotel, Knoxville, Tennessee, authorize the
establishment of an Institute for Special Education to serve within
the Council as a channel through which our organization can inform
and educate the public and, in particular, the blind population of
problems, needs and alternative solutions in this area, and to
provide a mechanism for advocating retention of systems and
practices that have proved to be effective, and the establishment
and improvement of other special education services wherever needed
throughout the country.   

Unanimously adopted                    American Council of the Blind
                        Resolution 73-07

     WHEREAS, the National Association of Blind Teachers, an
affiliate of the American Council of the Blind, has prepared a
resolution advocating the use of video tapes in the training and
placing of blind teachers, and  

     WHEREAS, a copy of that Resolution has been filed with the
American Council of the Blind, and read into and made an official
part of this Resolution,  

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the American Council of
the Blind in Convention assembled at Knoxville, Tennessee, on this
21st day of July, 1973, hereby endorses the action taken by the
National Association of Blind Teachers in this Resolution. 

Unanimously Adopted                    American Council of the Blind
                        Resolution 73-08

     BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the Blind in
Convention assembled at Knoxville, Tennessee, this 21st day of
July, 1973, that this Convention concurs in and affirms the
Resolution adopted and reported by the Commission of Blind and
Visually Impaired Citizen Consumers.    

Unanimously Adopted                   American Council of the Blind
                        Resolution 73-09

     WHEREAS, the American Council of the Blind wishes to take note
of the article "Pathology in Rehabilitation" by Vernon Metcalf,
reprinted in the September issue of the FORUM from the Arkansas
Council of the Blind Newsletter "Quasar", and  

     WHEREAS, the philosophy of "numbers for closures" is unfair to
the successful rehabilitation of the multiple handicapped blind
persons because rehabilitation counselors are inclined to neglect
the more difficult cases in order to reach the "quotas of
closures",  

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the American Council of the
Blind, duly assembled in Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee, on
this 21st day of July, 1973, that we endorse the philosophy as set
forth in this article.

     FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that Federal and State agencies be
urged to promulgate changes in regulations and administration
whereby blind persons can be given quality rehabilitation services
on the basis of individual needs rather than the number of
closures.  

     FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that copies of this Resolution shall
be forwarded to the State Rehabilitation Services for the Blind and
the Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Health, Education
and Welfare.   

Unanimously Adopted