The Braille Forum
Vol. III July 1964 No. 2

Published Bi-Monthly by the
American Council of the Blind
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

To Inform Its Readers and to Provide an Impartial Forum for Discussion

* Editor:
Mrs. Marie M. Boring
1113 Camden Avenue
Durham, N.C. 27701

* Associate Editors:
Ned E. Freeman
136 Gee's Mill Road
Conyers, Georgia 30207

Mrs. Mary Jane Hills
33 1/2 Edmonds St.
Rochester, N.Y. 14607

George Card
605 South Few St.
Madison, WI 53703

* Executive Offices:
136 Gee's Mill Road
Conyers, Georgia 30207

*****

** ACB Officers and Directors

President: Ned E. Freeman, 136 Gee's Mill Rd., Conyers, Ga. 30207 
1st Vice President: Durward K. McDaniel, Suite 305 Midwest Bldg., Oklahoma City 2, Oklahoma 73102 
2nd Vice President: David Krause, 4628 Livingston Rd., SE, Washington, D.C. 20032 
Secretary: Mrs. Alma Murphey, 4103 Castleman Ave., St. Louis 10, Missouri
Treasurer: Reese H. Robrahn, 210 Crawford Building, Topeka, Kansas 66603

** Directors

* Directors Until 1966:

George Card, 605 S. Few Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703 
Delbert K. Aman, 929 South 2nd St., Aberdeen, South Dakota
G. Paul Kirton, Room 6327, Department of the Interior, Washington 25, D.C.
Mrs. Marie M. Boring, 1113 Camden Avenue, Durham, North Carolina 27701

* Directors Until 1964:

F. Winfield Orrell, 5209 Alabama Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Mrs. Mary Jane Hills, 33 1/2 Edmonds St., Rochester, New York 14607
Earl Scharry, 264 Saunders Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky, 40206 
Robert W. Campbell, 253 Stonewall Road, Berkeley 5, California

*****

** Table of Contents

ACB Officers and Directors

ACB President's Fireside Chat 

ACB Convention Notice 

On the March, by Anthony J. Celebrezze 

The Pampered Blind of Puerto Rico, by Alexander F. Handel 

More Progress in Echo-Location 

Miniature Talking Book Machine 

Raising the Speed Limit 

LASER Presents Hazards for Being on the Beam 

Spectacles 

Another Way of Providing Optical Aids Service, by C.B. Minner 

Experience 

The Responsibilities of Leadership, by Rev. H.J. Sutcliffe 

Mow Your Own Lawn? 

Peace Corps Accepts Blind Teacher 

Life Begins at 40, by Robert Peterson 

Occupational Pamphlets Available 

Hyde Park Corner, Conducted by Earl Scharry 

Here and There, by George Card

*****

** ACB President's Fireside Chat 

My Friends: 

The response to Florence Watson's letter in the January Forum and my comments in this column on this and the letter from Mr. Varma from India has been most gratifying. A number of you have not only expressed concern, but have taken steps to do something about it. I am including here excerpts from some of the letters I have received relative to these matters. 

From a letter from a Pennsylvania man who prefers that his name not be used here: " ... a friend, Mr. Hail Douglas of this city, gave me a copy of The Braille Forum in which I happened to read Mrs. Watson's appeal for people to write up the news for the deaf-blind. This moved me very deeply, and to a checker enthusiast, a move is a move is a move; so I moved, though experimentally. So imagine my surprise when I found myself practically syndicated. However, it's the only thing I should expect. Mrs. Watson having just given all hearing-blind people the devil for not, so to speak, sharing the wealth, it'd be only natural that, if any of us did she'd pass it along, which is exactly what happened. Not that I'm the only one in this game; there are at least one or two others, although there's still a big gap. I send in my batch of news -- the last one ran to 20 pages -- approximately every two weeks; this is not my arrangement, but was requested. See what you fellows started!"

From Abraham Gulish of Bridgeton, N.J.: "Your comment in the March Braille Forum on Mrs. Watson's request for a news service for the deaf-blind contributed by interested hearing-blind interested me very much. Immediately upon reading her request in the January Forum I offered my help, and I hope other hearing-blind joined me. Having been given a braillewriter by a friend who has two, I can put down news reports I hear much more quickly than I could on a slate, which is a big help both to me and to the deaf-blind who receive the items I send Mrs. Watson.

"Your suggestion of establishing a central or regional center for gathering these items is very good. I think these centers should each be devoted to a certain kind of news that our deaf-blind friends could choose from according to their interest. Some like crime news, some baseball, some bowling or chess tournaments, and so on. ...

"... The cost of this service, I think, should be shared by those benefiting from it. This need not be in the form of money, but in supplying the braille paper to be used. Just how much paper is necessary for a month or year can be seen after the how service is well established."

From Mayme Tuttle of Mendon, Ill.: "... About those newsletters -- I know both ladies through correspondence and belong to a club with one of them, but several deaf-blind have complained that she writes nothing but crime. They said they would rather have the 'lighter side of the news.' ... I thought I would do a newsletter and keep it to the news about people and humorous articles. When I got home from the West, I put together just three sheets for a sample and mailed it to Mrs. Watson for her approval, asking her to please let me know if these items were along the lines she preferred."

Mrs. Florence Verken of Milwaukee, Wis., is listening to Wisconsin and Michigan newscasts and is circulating news items to a number of deaf-blind people in that area. The Wisconsin Council of the Blind has purchased a Perkins brailler for Florence's use in this project.

The Blind Service Center in Detroit, Mich., has expressed an interest in helping to get more news to the deaf-blind. Mr. Raymond Wuenchel of the center writes in part as follows   "There seems to be a great need, according to the Forum, for more extended news coverage for the deaf-blind. If you can pinpoint for us the need to a greater extent, I would be happy to present the problem to the Board of Trustees, with the goal of establishing a service for this group. 

"It appears to me that a possible improvement in the news media would be in the field of political commentary. For example, perhaps we could publish weekly, in braille, the columns of two or more commentators representing widely different philosophies of politics and government. Perhaps Fulton Lewis, Jr. and Drew Pearson might be cases in point."

From the above you will see that quite a number of people are concerned for the news-hunger of deaf-blind people. I have not myself had any direct communication with any deaf-blind people except Florence Watson, but I understand both she and Boyd Wolfe, chairman of the ACB committee on the deaf-blind, have had correspondence with a number of interested persons. 

I have asked the committee to undertake the co-ordination of this project and to try to develop circulation chains which will route the newsletters of the several volunteers to those deaf-blind persons who have expressed an interest in that particular type of material. Any deaf-blind reader who is interested in receiving these newsletters should communicate directly with Boyd Wolfe, 74 N. Huron Ave., Columbus, Ohio, and should indicate the particular type of news material he would prefer.

The following excerpts indicate the interest which has been expressed in sharing our wealth of braille material with English braille-reading persons overseas.

From Harold Rowley, Battle Creek, Michigan: I have long been interested in securing more reading material in braille for the blind in the emerging countries and am currently working on a project to send the Bible to the blind in those countries either in English braille or in their own languages whenever the entire Bible, or portions thereof, are available in braille. 

" ... You may send me the name and address of that blind teacher in Spain whom you mentioned, as I read, write and speak Spanish but do not understand it very well. I have been in Mexico, and while I had little trouble making myself understood, I was always having to ask others to 'repite.' But I like Spanish very much and shall enjoy making the acquaintance of the teacher (Maestro) in Spain."

Abe Gulish says, "I'm glad in the January Forum you had Mr. Varma's interesting letter. I'm glad I can share my Reader's Digest with him, for he has a big work for the blind of India that needs developing, and he needs all the encouragement we can give him. I have not been able to contact blind people in the underprivileged countries whose braille-pal requests often appear in our magazine. I think this is due to the anti-Western agitation in many of those lands, for I often hear from blind people who have had no better luck with them than I. It seems the only way I can get a braille letter through to these people is inside braille magazines. ... So perhaps the ACB could establish connection through which interested blind friends in those countries could be continuously maintained." 

Mayme Tuttle says, "About sending magazines overseas, there again I'll be happy to do so if you will send me some addresses. I did for years correspond with a blind musician in Bombay and a Chinese boy in Jamaica and sent them magazines, but they both died. After that I was pretty busy so just never took on anymore, and so many times the addresses of these people, especially in our special area, are not clear and I'm not sure it's right. I do get quite a few magazines and some I pass on here in the States, but others are destroyed because no one wants them." 

Others, too, have expressed an interest in this project, and I am currently trying to assemble some addresses of persons overseas who might be interested in receiving braille magazines.

This column has run much longer than is my usual custom, but I felt you would be interested in knowing what is being done in these two fields. The committee on the deaf-blind will have an hour or so on Saturday afternoon9s program at the Rochester convention discussing the special problems of the deaf-blind, and I feel sure all of us will find their report of great interest. It is also my hope to develop a committee which will co-ordinate and encourage more braille material for blind people overseas, especially in the developing countries. 

As is our custom, the Headquarters Suite at the Manger Hotel in Rochester will be open at all reasonable hours, and perhaps some not so reasonable. I am looking forward to meeting and visiting with many of you at that time.

*****

** ACB Convention Notice

The 1964 convention of the American Council of the Blind will be held at the Manger Hotel, 26 Clinton Avenue, South, Rochester, New York, from Thursday, July 23, through Sunday, July 26. Mrs. Mary Jane Hills, chairman of the arrangements committee, and Delbert K. Aman, chairman of the program committee, promise an entertaining and inspirational convention. 

President Ned Freeman has announced that convention guests will include several overseas visitors arriving in the U.S. to attend the General Assembly of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind, which meeting will be held from August 1 to August 12 in New York City. The ACB extends an invitation to all interested blind persons and friends of the blind in America and elsewhere to be in Rochester on July 23. 

Room rates at the Manger Hotel are: single, $7.00; double $10.00; twin bedrooms, $12.00; all rooms are air-conditioned.

A summary of the events planned for the convention follows: 

On Wednesday afternoon, July 22, the feature race at Finger Lakes Raceway in Canandaigua will be the American Council of the Blind Handicap. We want to see as many ACB members and friends there as possible. 

Thursday morning, July 23, the convention will be called to order at 9:00 A.M. During the morning the proceedings will include roll call, the report from the credentials committee, the selection of the nominations committee, the president's annual report, the reading of the minutes of the 1963 convention, the treasurer's report, the report of the finance committee and the report of the membership committee.

On Thursday afternoon the convention will hear an address by "Lou" Rives, Chief of Services to the Blind in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington, followed by a panel discussion of vocational rehabilitation services.

On Thursday evening there will be a dance in the ballroom of the Manger Hotel. 

The Friday morning session will include an address by Hyman Goldstein, Ph.D., Chief of Biometrics, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness; and a panel discussion on membership and leadership development in state and local organizations moderated by Durward K. McDaniel. 

On Friday afternoon and evening a 12-hour trip to Niagara Falls will be offered to those who wish to go. The cost of this tour will be $12.00, and reservations must be made in advance. However, payment may be made on the day of the trip. This will be a tour filled with experiences to be remembered a lifetime, so make your reservations now. 
 
The Saturday morning program will include an address by M. Robert Barnett, Executive Director of the American Foundation for the Blind, and the report of the ACB legislative committee. 

On Saturday afternoon the convention will hear an address by John Jarvis of London, Secretary-General of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind; and addresses by Louis Bettica of the Brooklyn Industrial Home for the Blind and Miss Annette Dinsmore of the American Foundation for the Blind, presenting
discussions of the special problems of the deaf-blind.

The banquet will be a highlight of the convention. It will be held on Saturday evening at 7 o'clock. The banquet program will feature an address by Ivan Nestingen, Undersecretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington. 

The banquet program will also include the presentation of the "Ambassador Award." 

Sunday, July 26, will be devoted exclusively to business sessions. This year the terms of all five officers and four of the directors will expire, and these positions must be filled by the convention. The convention site for 1966 must be selected, and resolutions must be considered. Adjournment time will be 5:00 P.M. on Sunday.

We look forward to seeing you in Rochester. Plan to come early and remain late. Be prepared to take part in the discussions; and, if you are an ACB member, come and cast your vote for your candidate and your personal convictions.

*****

** On the March
By Anthony J. Celebrezze
Secretary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

(This guest editorial appeared in the September 1963 issue of Performance.) 

All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to those other Americans who, through the years, have worked with purpose and pride to demonstrate the truth of this principle: Handicapped men and women can be restored to productive lives.
 
These pioneers in the field of rehabilitation knew this. But their faith and knowledge was not enough. The principle had to be demonstrated. 

And it has been demonstrated -- by several hundreds of thousands of successful rehabilitations. Last year alone, the total rose above the 100,000 mark. 

This is real progress. Vocational rehabilitation -- deriving its strength from sound public policy and from the courage and tenacity of the handicapped   has assumed the proportions of an irresistible force in our society. 

In view of the record, we can confidently look forward to the time when employment policies that arbitrarily bar the hiring of a handicapped person solely because of his handicap will be the rare exception.

We can look forward to that time -- but it will not just happen. We must redouble our efforts so that we may hasten the day when employment of the handicapped in jobs that they can do will be standard practice on the part of all employers, large and small, public and private. 

Not giving the handicapped an opportunity to achieve the degree of independence of which they are capable not only adds insult to injury but is an economic waste. 

So rehabilitation of the handicapped is not only good public policy from a humanitarian standpoint, it is good public policy from an economic standpoint. 

And I mean by the handicapped those who are mentally handicapped as well as those with physical disabilities. 

As the Attorney General pointed out in this space some months ago, the mentally handicapped also can be helped to achieve useful and productive lives through special education and training and providing a proper environment in which they can work. 

The interest of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in vocational rehabilitation is well known. 

To further emphasize this interest, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation has been reconstituted as the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, and its director -- Miss Mary E. Switzer -- has been given the title of Commissioner of Vocational Rehabilitation, as befits her vast contributions to this vital effort. 

These new symbols are further evidence of the Government's determination to do all that it can to bring new hope, new confidence, new strength into the lives of the handicapped everywhere.

*****

** The Pampered Blind of Puerto Rico

(Ed. Note: The following is excerpted from an article by Alexander F. Handel, in the October NEW OUTLOOK FOR THE BLIND. This article, in turn, was based on a talk which Mr. Handel gave at the University of Puerto Rico.) 

"... In any appraisal of community services for those who suffer a serious physical handicap, the problem of income maintenance, including public assistance, assumes major proportions. This is particularly true of those handicapped by blindness. ... It is indeed discouraging to have to report that close to one out of three blind persons has had to endure a demeaning means test in order to secure an equally demeaning subsistence grant. ... In preparing this paper equally I had planned to avoid specific reference to social services in Puerto Rico because my first-hand knowledge about the Commonwealth is much too limited to warrant this type of specificity. However, I found in one area, that of public assistance, that my reaction of outrage was such that I was unable to adhere to this type of bland conservatism. The most important social service currently made available to blind persons in Puerto Rico is that provided through the public assistance program. Its importance is attested to by numbers, i.e., more than 1,800 or approximately one-third of all the blind persons in this area are receiving this service. However, its importance is also based on the nature of this service in that it is concerned with meeting such basic needs as food, clothing and shelter. While public assistance grants throughout the United States are submarginal, we find a situation in Puerto Rico which requires a stronger adjective, and the words that come to mind are 'tragic' and 'disgraceful.' The February, 1963, issue of the SOCIAL SECURITY BULLETIN reports that the average aid-to-the-blind grant in Puerto Rico is $8.26 per month.  I find myself incapable of comprehending what this pittance means to the individual blind person. I do regret that circumstances have not yet provided me with an opportunity to personally meet with some of these recipients in rural and urban areas. 

"Two factors are, I believe, responsible for this situation. First there is the gross and inexcusable discrimination against Puerto Rico in the public assistance titles (I, IV, and XVI) of the Social Security Act, and second, there is the problem of the limited resources that this Commonwealth can allocate for the program. ... The key discrimination in this federal grant-in-aid program is in the matching formula. For the fifty states and the District of Columbia the law allocates twenty-nine federal dollars to match six state dollars to cover the first $35 of the average grant. For Puerto Rico the Federal Government matches Commonwealth funds on a dollar-for-dollar basis (with other stipulated limitations). ...  If the Social Security Act were amended so as to place Puerto Rico on the same basis as the several states, the average grant under aid-to-the-blind would immediately rise by approximately 200 percent -- without the Commonwealth government adding a single cent to its present contribution. ... Personally, I find it difficult to imagine any reasons that might be put forth to support the present inequity. This is true when we recall that a major justification for federal aid to the states is the equalization of fiscal capacity in order to reduce inequalities based solely on ability to pay. ... The $8.26 provided to blind Americans living in Puerto Rico compares with an average grant to blind Americans in the State of Washington of $124.54. ..."

*****

** More Progress in Echo-Location

From Time, November 1: To the human submariner, the built-in sonar system of the porpoise is an object of particular envy. How does a series of clicks and squeaks enable the graceful swimmer to "see" so well through the murkiest water?  Scientists from the Lockheed-California Co. are still searching for the answer. But their research is already pointing toward an extra, nonaquatic dividend -- a practical aid for blind people walking on land.

Working in an all but echoless 10-ft. by 13-ft. room lined with sound-absorbing wedges of glass fiber, Lockheed's scientists have set up a sort of searchlight with a sound generator in its throat. The researcher sits in a chair, covers his eyes with a blindfold and presses a button with his right hand. Out of this searchlight comes a beam of noise, 50 pulses per second which sounds like a distant chorus of crickets and spring peepers. The mixed frequencies are higher than human ears normally hear, but the researchers have found that they can quickly adjust to the higher pitch. In his left hand the blindfolded subject holds a tiller by which he can swing the sound beam, searching for test objects -- small wires, lengths of pipe, pieces of cloth -- hung at random from the chamber's roof. When the beam hits a target, an echo comes back, and from the character of that echo an experienced listener can tell an amazing amount about the target. 

The secret is the mix of frequencies in the sound pulses, a formula that Lockheed copies from the porpoises. Small objects such as wires do not reflect the longer sound waves of the lower frequencies. The echoes that they send back are predominantly high-pitched, and a listener quickly learns to judge target size by the tone of the echo. Once he knows the size of an object, he can tell its distance by the loudness of the echo. Judging a target's material is a more subtle job, but in general such hard materials as metal and glass send back a clear buzz, while cloth and other soft surfaces send a mushy return. 

Lockheed's echo-location system may someday have an important impact on anti-submarine warfare. This could correct a major failing in present sonar systems in which whales are sometimes mistaken for enemy submarines. It may also put the Seeing-Eye dog out of business. Lockheed scientists hope to reduce the sound generator to the size of a flashlight; then the blind may learn to "see" with their skilled ears.

*****

** Miniature Talking Book Machine

From the HOOSIER STAR-LIGHT: "Through a grant of $20, 000, Recordings for the Blind, Inc. has been working with the Troy-Beaumont Co. in the development of a small portable disc-player, specially designed to play the seven-inch embossed discs. The machine weighs about four pounds, is battery operated and has a speaker and earphones. It offers several great advantages to blind students. Unlike the Talking Book machine which weighs 24 pounds and is too bulky to be portable, the new machine may be carried anywhere and may be played in any position, even when hanging from the shoulder. Although this increased speed results in some distortion, this makes it possible for the student to skim material when necessary. If the machine is found satisfactory after thorough field testing, it will be submitted to the Federal Government for consideration as a possible additional recording aid for blind individuals."

*****

** Raising the Speed Limit

From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology via the Peoria, Illinois, OBSERVER: "A serious barrier encountered by blind people in reading Braille is a 'speed limit' of 70 to 90 words per minute. The system employs just one finger, and this imposes an obvious limitation to the rate at which material can be scanned. Lt. Col. Geoffrey Cheadle, an Air Officer who received an electrical engineering degree this month, has developed a new reading aid technique for the blind which could lead to speeds two or three times as fast as Braille. The basis of the technique is a stenotype machine which works backwards.

"In the normal operation of a stenotype machine (a small typewriter-like device with 22 keys used to record such things as court proceedings and conferences), the stenotypist transcribes speech by depressing a series of keys which print a phonetic code on a roll of paper tape. Colonel Cheadle's idea is to reverse the process: Punched tape containing words in the same phonetic code is fed through a special mechanism which depresses the corresponding keys of the stenotype machine -- the effect is a bit like that in a player piano -- and the operator can 'read' the information with his fingers as he feels the keys move up and down with movements which exactly reproduce those made by the operator who transcribed the original text. By learning the stenotype system, a blind person would be able to 'read' information transmitted to him through such a machine.

"The big advantage of the system is speed. An advanced stenotypist can work at between 200 and 300 words per minute, so it is possible that a blind person who became proficient in 'receiving' through a stenotype-like machine would be able to read at speeds approaching ordinary prose-reading values of 300 to 400 words per minute. This could overcome a serious psychological block encountered by people who became blind later in life and find the speed of Braille objectionably slow. 'It seems apparent,' said Colonel Cheadle, 'that a system using many fingers would have the advantage over Braille that touch typing has over one-finger 'hunt-and-peck.' There are strong experimental indications that the use of many fingers is a promising way to go. ..."

*****

** Laser Presents Hazards for Being on the Beam

From the Wise Owl News (New York 16, N.Y.): A new scientific advancement that will mean new hazards to vision is now nearing the time when it will appear on the industrial scene. The startling potential -- and perils -- of the laser were spelled out by Leonard Solon, Ph.D., president of Radioptics, Inc., in an address before the Governor's Conference on Occupational Safety of New York State. Laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Briefly, a laser emits 
an intense and extremely narrow beam of light which will be used to weld, through extremely high temperatures, miniaturized equipment; to transmit on a single coherent light beam thousands of telephone messages; to destroy diseased human cells; or for repair of eye damage, such as "tack welding" detached retinas. In one test of its ability as focused light, a laser beam was used to illuminate a circle one mile in diameter on the moon! At this time there is no known method of protecting the eyes from the laser beam itself. Major safety eyewear manufacturers have developed goggles for protection against the reflections caused by using a laser beam. In this regard Dr. Solon points out: "One more admonition regarding persons occupationally connected with laser development or laser applications. One of the most important properties of optical radiation is that of specular reflection. At the intensities achievable with lasers, reflection of a laser beam from mirrors, doorknobs, or even highly polished furniture surfaces or walls could be dangerous. The occupational safety specialist should be alert to this possibility in establishing a safe working environment for the personnel involved in the exciting new enterprise of laser development and application."

*****

** Spectacles

From VISION (Canada): "It is not known when, or who had the first pair of eyeglasses. The oldest lens known was found in ruins at Nineveh. It was made of rock crystal. Although the Babylonians and Assyrians knew certain clear gems could magnify, spectacles were not known to them nor to the Hebrews or Egyptians. Neither is there a record of the Greeks using them. The only primitive people that had some type of eyeglasses were the Eskimo. For centuries the Eskimos and Aleuts have worn goggles to protect their eyes from the glare of the sun on the snow. They were made of wood or ivory and had narrow slits to see through. They were fastened on with a leather thong. About the 13th century Marco Polo mentioned in his writings that old people in China used spectacles for reading. They were made from various transparent gems, rose quartz, topaz, rock crystal or amethyst, and set in tortoise-shell rims, and there were different ingenious methods to hold them on. Some were tied on with string and some were fastened into hats. Two Italian physicians in the 13th century have the credit of introducing eyeglasses into Europe. They were in general use by the following century. They were thought to lend dignity to the appearance and were often worn for this reason. ... First concave lenses for shortsightedness were in the 16th century. When first introduced into England, they met opposition from the clergy, but as people with a need found them of benefit, they gradually were accepted in spite of ridicule. Bifocals were invented in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin and the first contact lenses were made by a German in 1887."

*****

** Another Way of Providing Optical Aids Service
By C.B. Minner

Maximizing the usefulness of extremely limited eyesight has become in the last ten or fifteen years an established and well-recognized component in the rehabilitation of legally blind and near-blind persons. It is referred to as optical aids service or visual rehabilitation, but the need for such service exists extensively beyond the limits of rehabilitation efforts strictly so-called. Many thousands of individuals in this country who do not want or need to be "rehabilitated," but who just want to see more usefully, are potential applicants for, and eagerly seek, more enlightened and more adequate visual service. This is a grave challenge to the eye-care professions. 

Optical aids as a distinct service was initiated in this country when some of the larger agencies, such as the Industrial Home for the Blind and the New York Lighthouse for the Blind, established specific programs to improve the usefulness of remaining eyesight among their clients. These agencies procured the services of eye-care specialists (both ophthalmologists and optometrists); worked out a division of labor; assigned special counsellor-instructors to the programs; arranged for social casework services; fitted out rooms with ordinary and special equipment for testing and prescribing for low vision cases; gathered a wide range of usual optical aids for study, exploration and experimental use; and started prescribing special optical aids for their clients. Hundreds of clients were tested, and immediately very gratifying and often amazing results were achieved by way of improving the usefulness of residual eyesight. This lead was soon followed by other agencies, hospitals, medical centers, rehabilitation facilities, etc.; and now there are more than 50 such optical aids centers throughout the country. Many of these centers are called optical aids clinics.

This line of procedure may be called the centralized way of providing optical aids service. The center may serve to considerable advantage in areas of concentrated blind population and where a relatively small area is covered. Where they meet the needs adequately, much can be said in their favor. But unless they become much more numerous throughout the country, the needs are not going to be met adequately in this way in the wide-open spaces and less populated areas. For various reasons, many persons who could benefit from optical aids service never find the center.

There is, I think, another way of providing optical aids service which may meet the needs among the general population somewhat better and may provide other desirable gains as well. By way of contrast, this other way may be called the decentralized procedure. It simply amounts to a recurrence to the eye care specialists themselves. The doctors simply extend their ordinary practice to include adequate and effective service to cases of extremely limited eyesight. Every doctor's office, or at least a great number of them, becomes an "optical aids clinic." This procedure will be fully established when a person with extremely limited eyesight can go to an eye-care practitioner near him and receive the same kind of effective service now received generally by persons with near normal eyesight, or which he might receive at one of the special centers. The remainder of this discussion is devoted to a consideration of the complicating factors and requirements involved in this procedure. 

There are reasons, of course, for the development of low vision centers. It seems obvious that such centers represent not so much a new discovery as rather a new line of departure. There was a job (and there always will be) which desperately needed doing, and the eye-care professions simply were not getting it done. If now we propose to turn it back to the doctors where it would seem normally to belong, we need to inquire into the reasons why they were not doing it and what must be done to help them assume or resume their obligations. Perhaps the point should be made here that an emphasis on decentralization in optical aids service need not mean the elimination of existing low vision centers. It simply would relieve the present inadequacy of service to persons who do not have knowledge of, or easy access to, the centers. It certainly would not relieve the agencies for the blind of concern in this matter, as we will see later. 

It seems clear that education is the primary requirement if doctors generally are to provide optical aids service to persons with extremely limited eyesight. The doctors, with few exceptions, simply did not know what could be done or how to do it. Consequently, most persons with extremely limited eyesight who have been helped or who are now being helped by optical aids have been told at one time or another by their doctors that nothing could be done to help. This sort of advice is almost always unreliable unless every possible avenue has been explored. 

Education to reveal the possible avenues to be explored and the procedures to be followed must occur at two points: Many more established practitioners must be shown the way and helped in various other ways to meet the needs, and eye-care students in the colleges must be given more extensive training in the field of low vision correction. The colleges could and should be encouraged to offer intensive courses to practitioners and thorough training to students in this field. I feel certain that all of us in work for the blind and most if not all practitioners in the eye-care professions would strongly advocate stepped-up training in low vision correction. This way lies adequate optical aids service to persons with extremely limited eyesight. 

Agencies for the blind can and must continue to play a determinative role in this procedure, and other social welfare agencies must be ready to play supportive roles. We cannot just dump the complicated problems in the laps of the doctors and the colleges. That would mean an intolerable slow-down in providing the needed service. Furthermore, the doctors can be expected to supply only the professional eye-care services and that is a long way from the total service required. 

Some agencies for the blind which strive to serve a rather extended territory are finding it both necessary and rewarding to conduct their optical aids service with this educational objective deliberately emphasized. Here the aim is to help prepare experts strategically located throughout the territory so that applicants can go directly to the doctor and receive adequate eye-care service. Agency personnel provide, of course, not only direct assistance of various kinds to the doctor, but also initial counselling, screening, instruction, follow-up, and financial assistance to the applicant when required. The agency initially can supply the expensive trial sets and the intimate knowledge of the problems involved in low vision, which are usually lacking in the doctor's office. It is obvious that very desirable gains can accrue from such procedure. Perhaps the largest gain derives from the impetus to education itself. Individual doctors learn and their interest and knowledge spreads to others, to the colleges, and to the students. 

But there are some adverse considerations which must be dealt with very carefully because they sometimes generate "delicate" situations. One of these is the fact that the doctors will not develop equal proficiency, or that a given doctor will think that he is capable of providing the service when, as a matter of fact, he can only "hit or miss." The overriding concern is, of course, always that the applicant shall receive the most determinative service possible. 

Another critical consideration in this procedure is the matter of charge of the professional service and the aid prescribed. The agency can have very little control over pricing. I suspect that this is the chief consideration justifying the agency-maintained optical aids center. Although we cannot expect the doctor to work for nothing, and these cases do require extra effort and time, we have to recognize the fact that many of these cases are not in a position to assume heavy expense. The agency will have to work out some kind of understanding with the doctors and stand ready to supply, from one source or another, financial assistance when it is needed. When it is not needed, and many times it is not, it is obviously better to rely on private enterprise. It certainly is possible to give too soon; and this must be avoided for the general good. 

Another matter which is likely to be fraught with "delicacy" until practitioners generally become more evenly competent in this field is the selection of doctors. If applicants are sent to Dr. Jones and not to Dr. Smith, the latter is likely to question the motive; if only ophthalmologists or only optometrists are used, the other profession is likely not to be happy. So long as there is need for selection, this situation can be relieved only through complete understanding among the professions. This must be developed by those most interested in the service. 

It goes without saying that the requirement for education extends beyond the professional people themselves and the training facilities for them. The general public must be educated in sound fashion as to the possibilities and limitations in this field. Those needing the service must be informed as to what they can expect so as to avoid false hopes and wasted energy and money. And the whole range of social welfare agencies and activities must be made better acquainted with the facts. This must be a joint effort of all concerned, with perhaps the agencies for the blind taking the lead. 

One requirement is quite obvious to me, namely, greatly increased inter-agency and intra-community understanding, coordination, and cooperative effort in meeting the needs of the growing number of persons with extremely limited eyesight. Many of these people can be relieved of some of the restrictions under which they are now forced to live. All of us need to learn what can be done for them by getting about doing it. 

It may be instructive to end this discussion with a short "case history" of optical aids activity at the Oklahoma League for the Blind. We have followed largely this "other way of providing optical aids service." 

Exactly how it happened I do not recall, but the League started its optical aids program with the professional services of an optometrist, Dr. W.S. Farmer, who had had some 25 years of experience in low vision correction. We have worked almost exclusively with optometrists ever since, mainly because of ready active interest from members of that profession. Ophthalmologists are used, of course, when the special need exists. We ourselves had intimate personal knowledge of the benefits of optical aids and determined to facilitate the spreading of those benefits to others. We could not afford a complete center with professional staff, and so the program was set up as a counseling demonstration, and screening facility with referral to Dr. Farmer for professional service.

The League's service area includes the whole of a large state; the initial rush of applicants for optical aids service from the local area of dense population was augmented by many applicants from distant parts of the state and from neighboring states as well. After a while, the demand for the service levelled off; but we had reason to believe that other centers of population in the state had potential applicants who were not being served for various reasons, including inaccessibility of the service. This proved to be true when we began to make the service available in other localities. 

This move brought the necessity to find doctors who were able to provide the required professional service. This in turn pointed up the need for professional training. We took this problem to interested doctors, and they took it to their state association, where we got immediate enthusiastic response. Together we are now launched on a professional training program which we believe will have far-reaching and most beneficial results. The development of this procedure enables us to serve better not only the local areas but also the school for the blind and the public school system which have special classes for visually handicapped children. We think the whole procedure is headed in the right direction because we believe it is imperative that more doctors be prepared to provide the needed professional service at the local community level.

C.B. Minner, Ph.D.
Educational Director,
Oklahoma League for the Blind

*****

** Experience

(From the "Oklahoma Mason") 

As a man grows older, he reads more from the book of experience and less from the pages of prophecy. He boasts less and boosts more. The years mellow him, and he loses much of the intolerance of youth. He thinks more of the real worth of folks and less of their shortcomings. Experience convinces him that snobbery is a confession of inferiority, and kindly consideration of others the mark of real aristocracy. He learns to refrain from butting his head against stone walls, which only brings on headaches and aspirin bills. He hurries less and often accomplishes more and comes to realize that age is only a state of mind. Finally, he discovers that the greatest reward this life offers is the respect, understanding and the love of his fellow man.

*****

** The Responsibilities of Leadership
By Rev. H.J. Sutcliffe

(Editor's Note -- The following address was delivered during the 1963 convention of the American Council of the Blind at a luncheon for leaders in state organizations of the blind. Rev. Sutcliffe is Director of the Episcopal Guild for the Blind, a sub-division of the American Church Union -- a missionary and educational organization of the Episcopal Church. Rev. Sutcliff is also Associate Instructor in Sacred Studies and Classical Languages for The Hadley School for the Blind in Winnetka, Illinois.) 

You will know how deeply conscious I am of the responsibility that is mine in addressing you today. Certainly no one who approaches a task such as this in this solemn hour of the history of our nation and the world will do so with any sort of a cavalier attitude. Now is not the time for meaningless mouthings, nebulous nostrums of pious platitudes. And yet indeed this subject of the responsibilities of leadership is singularly appropriate for a meeting of this type, for these are indeed times which call for leadership -- courageous leadership, daring leadership, imaginative leadership. These are critical times in which we live -- times which try the souls of men   times which challenge the vision, the courage and the imagination of men and women of good will everywhere to venture forth with renewed and resolute acts of faith to chart and to pioneer new paths of progress and peace and to build new bridges of benevolence and brotherhood. These are times that call for men and women of courage, candor and conviction -- stalwart souls and dedicated souls, consecrated souls -- to go forth and to do battle with unflinching fortitude and unflagging determination in the relentless struggle, a struggle to the death if need be, against the forces of ignorance, bigotry and prejudice. 

There are those who offer counsels of despair and say that our civilization and our way of life are irrevocably destined to destruction. I do not share this view. There are those, on the other hand, who offer a starry-eyed counsel of optimism, stating that there is in man that innate portion that will enable him to triumph eventually and that day by day we are going toward some far-reaching and some idealistic and abstract utopia. I do not share this view. There are those who, on the other hand, maintain with the prophets of old that, although the times are serious, although the times are perilous, although the times are urgent, yet these are times of decision -- these are times that present some of the greatest adventures that mankind has ever embarked upon. This is the view I share, and this is the view which I believe an organization such as the American Council of the Blind should share. These are times that call for a new vision of the true spirit of sacrifice and service. What is needed, I submit today, in this field in an organization, not composed of those who wish a "serve us" pressure group, but a service organization. 

I speak to you all today, not as blind persons, but as members of the public -- as citizens, who in your own communities and in your own ways have made and are making a singular vital contribution to community, commonwealth and country. I would submit to you today that the time has come to do away with this duality between blind persons and the public, for indeed each blind person is a part of the public; and it is up to him and to her to make his or her contribution to the betterment of the community and to the betterment of his fellow citizens. The justification for the American Council of the Blind is, therefore, to provide and to assist in the provision of the tools that will enable each and every visually handicapped and sightless person in this country to make his or her singular contribution of his endowments, faculties and talents to the betterment of his nation. This indeed is our mission. It is a mighty mission; it is a meaningful mission, and it calls for bold and resolute action; it calls for us to gird the loins, to join forces, to unite in the bonds of fellowship and steadfast determination to spend and to be spent in this momentous crusade and, rather than to be apprehensive, to thank God our time is now. As Christopher Frye has said, "Thank God our time is now, when wrong comes up to face us everywhere, never to leave us till we take the longest stride of soul men ever took. For affairs are now soul-size and our enterprise exploration into the will of God where no nation's foot has ever trodden yet." These times speak to us with urgency and with a clarion call. They speak in the words of Boris Pasternak who said that the two basic ideals of modern man (and without them he is unthinkable) are the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice. Is not this the meaning of the first and great commandment -- to love the eternal God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind; and the second, which is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself? 

This indeed is the time in which we live -- times that call for our devotion to a God who is concerned not only with Heaven but with earth -- not only with Eternity but with time -- not only with spirit and soul but with body and mind -- concerned not only with the spirit and souls of men, but with the slums that doom and damn them, with the economic conditions that paralyze and cripple them and with the social conditions that throttle and strangle them -- concerned about the poor, the homeless, the destitute, the neglected, the unloved and the unlovely -- concerned about such vital matters as civil liberties and civil rights and the manifold tensions and inequalities between varying social, economic, cultural and political groups -- concerned about the tensions and about the oppression of all His children whoever and wherever they may be and whenever this oppression occurs. 

This is the faith which I think governed those who saw two years ago a vision and who brought into being this organization. And this is the faith that must govern each and every one of us, not only as blind persons, but first of all as citizens of this great land in which we live. This is the faith by which we live, and this is the faith by which this nation, if it is to survive, must prove worthy of survival. A priceless heritage has been given us in our freedom, but the corollary of every right is a duty; and serious responsibilities are incumbent upon each of us. This is especially true in the case of this generation in which we live. We must demonstrate anew the willingness to accept the great challenge of leadership and responsibility which can be ours and will be ours if we will but reassert those basic tenets and teachings for which our forefathers so courageously gave their lives in the spirit and concept of the sanctification of the name of the Eternal. 

These are the times in which we live. What we do with them is our decision. What we do with them will reflect and will redound either to the credit or to the shame of our posterity.

Now as never before these times call for a vibrant faith, a vibrant force which in our day and in these times of crisis and challenge will transform and ennoble the hearts and the souls and the lives of people of all races, nations, kindreds and tongues and place their feet upon the high paths traveled by the just and the righteous of all ages -- that beautiful path that shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day -- that noble path leading forward in liberty, equality and fraternity -- that glorious path leading upward and onward to the kingdom of God. 

It has been well said that to some generations much is given and that of other generations much is expected, but that this generation of Americans -- this generation of men and women of good will everywhere -- this generation of those of us who have taken this stand, have caught this vision of this crusade -- this generation has a rendezvous with destiny. Now as never before, we need a faith that will manifest its depths, its strength and its truth in an ever-widening outreach of dedicated devotion, sacrificial service, consecrated concern, courageous commitment and life-giving love -- "A love which ever gives, forgives, outlives and ever stands with open hands, and while it lives it gives; for this is love's prerogative -- to give and give and give." To give in the spirit of that ancient woman in India who was asked the cost of a temple that was being built; and she turned to her questioner in surprise and said, "We don't know the cost. It is for our God; we don't count the cost." I am led to ask how much cost-counting do we do when the challenge for bold and resolute action presents itself to community, to commonwealth, to country and to cosmos. 

O, may the Holy One, blessed be He, teach us anew to serve Him with fervent zeal, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to look for any reward save that of knowing that we do His will and share in the fulfilment of His great redemptive, restorative and recreative purpose. 

Guided then by the light of this faith, guided then by this concept of leadership as a mighty and meaningful mission, let us join hands, blind and sighted -- citizen and fellow American -- citizen and co-worker -- brother, in this mighty and meaningful crusade -- join hands on the basis of those great principles which are the very warp and woof, the very essence, the foundations of the Judea Christian ethic -- join hands, I say, to work together for the glorious fulfilment of that purpose, going forward in faith, fraternal fellowship, to the joyful day of its complete and glorious fruition -- the day of true amity, the day of true brotherhood, the day of true peace.

And the Father of Peace and the Author of Love and Concord send His light into our darkness, guiding the nations as one family into the ways of light, justice, peace, truth, benevolence, brotherly love and harmony; taking away all prejudice, all hatred and all fear and strengthening day-by-day understanding among the peoples of the earth. May He hasten the day envisioned by the prophets of old in their sublime dream of a world united when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; the day which the clarion call will encircle the globe; the Lord shall be One and His name One. May the Holy One, blessed be He, make us worthy of the fruition of this hope speedily and in our day.

*****

** Mow Your Own Lawn?

From the HOOSIER STAR-LIGHT: "The lawnmowing season is almost over, but its problems remain for those blind persons who wish their lawns to be neat and finished in appearance. One such individual had an aluminum company make him a 20-foot aluminum 'lawn guide.' The guide is like an aluminum ladder, except it has only four or five rungs. This guide is just a little narrower than the swath the mower would cut. The individual starts mowing along a drive, walk, or side of the house for the original cut. The ladder is then placed over the spot just mowed, as a guide edge for the next area to be mowed. Then the person keeps turning the ladder over and uses it as the guide for the return trip. This guide also can be used to spread fertilizer, weed killer and other preparations used in caring for a lawn or for any other purpose where a straight guide line in needed. 

"Another person places four-inch aluminum hedging around trees, flower beds, shrubs and the like to keep grass from growing into the cultivated areas and to know when to stop weeding when he comes to the grass line. He also has prepared a three-inch mulch mixture of equal parts sand and peat moss for all cultivated areas, as the use of a mulch makes weed control much easier, conserves moisture and makes possible a neater yard. In spite of every effort, there nevertheless will be weeds and it will be necessary to do much of the weeding on hands and knees. The blind person can learn to tell the weeds from the flowers by the shape of the leaves or stalk.

"Because of the many serious accidents involving power mowers, experts advise against using one unless the blind person has a large area to mow. Then the area should be examined carefully before starting. Any loose rocks, pieces of metal or any object that could get in the blades of the mower must be removed from the lawn. Most important, the person using the mower must realize that he is operating a power-driven tool with cutting blades and must observe every safety principle. A common-sense precaution which many persons fail to observe is to be certain to shut the motor off at the first sign of trouble. Generally speaking, the old-fashioned hand mower is still the best for the blind person to use."

*****

** Peace Corps Accepts Blind Teacher

(The following article appeared in the September 1963 issue of Performance.) 

A young teacher from San Antonio, Tex., is the first blind volunteer to be accepted by the Peace Corps, Marilyn D. Brandt, daughter of a rancher, is now working in a school for the blind in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. 

"She can read Braille and teach it to others," a Peace Corps spokesman said. "She also is fluent in Spanish and talented in music."

As a child Marilyn had limited vision, but glaucoma caused total blindness when she was 13. She was graduated from the Texas School for the Blind at Austin and received a bachelor of science degree from Southwest Texas College at San Marcos, where she was a member of the student senate and several honor fraternities. 

A telephone call from Washington, advising her that the Peace Corps had accepted her application, interrupted the completion of her work for a master's degree. Before leaving for Santo Domingo, Miss Brandt took her Peace Corps training at the Experiment in International Living, Putney, Vt.

*****

** Life Begins at Forty
By Robert Peterson
(AP Staff Writer)

Eight years ago Al Sperber, a buyer in a department store, noted that his vision was impaired, Doctors found that retinas on both eyes were becoming detached. The surgery he underwent was ineffective, and at the age of 40 he joined the nation's 400,000 sightless citizens. 

He went through the usual period of depression. But as time passed he began finding compensation through learning to use his other senses. He took classes in braille, found new friends among the sightless and decided to create a new career. 

"When I sought vocational advice from the various organizations for the blind," said Sperber, a slender, intelligent man of medium height, "I found most of them still thinking along basket weaving lines. It seemed there must be other, more challenging vocations, and I began wondering why the telephone -- which can be used as easily by the blind as the sighted -- could not be the bridge to new employment. 

"I found that the American Telephone and Telegraph Company gives its blessing to legitimate telephone sales techniques and, in fact, has a telemarketing division which trains operators. So I familiarized myself with approved techniques and started a small company in my home, specializing in contact telephone selling for major department stores in the New York area. Within a year I was employing half a dozen other sightless persons in this work." 

Although it would seem that telephone marketing is a natural for visually handicapped men and women, a spokesman for A.T. & T. tells me that to his knowledge Sperber's telephone marketing organization is the first anywhere to utilize sightless personnel.

But doesn't the average housewife dislike being solicited by phone? "No," said Sperber, "studies show she doesn't mind if you identify yourself as representing a well-known store and if you get straight to your message, such as inviting her to open a charge account or telling her about a special trade-in sale on new refrigerators. The phone calls that are irritating and that give this service a black eye are those by untrained operators representing little-known or questionable firms with schemes and phony quizzes purportedly offering something for nothing."

Does he have other plans percolating? "Yes, I've recently formed another company -- Convention Planners, Inc. We contact clubs, organizations and fraternal groups and suggest they let us take over details for a convention or trip. Then we make all arrangements -- transportation, hotels, meeting rooms, parties, theater and sight-seeing trips -- even chaperones and babysitters. Our compensation comes from a modest commission received from travel companies and service suppliers. Right now we're making arrangements for dozens of groups planning to hold conventions in New York during the World's Fair." Sperber's optimism and imagination despite loss of vision are inspiring. It is hoped other sightless persons will be encouraged to follow his examples and find new, imaginative careers utilizing creative abilities and natural intelligence.

*****

** Occupational Pamphlets Available

Braille pamphlets containing excerpts from the Occupational Handbook issued by the United States Department of labor are now available at your regional library. Although no reference is made in these pamphlets to opportunities for blind persons, there are blind men and women successfully engaged in each of the fields covered by the pamphlets listed below. In some of these fields there is a very definite shortage of qualified persons, and for those of our readers who have requisite interest and aptitude, entrance into one of these fields could result in a stimulating and richly rewarding career. The present shortage of fully trained and qualified workers is especially acute in the fields of psychology and social work.
 
Separate pamphlets are available on each of the fields giving the employment outlook, training requirements, earnings, working conditions and a description of the type of work involved. 

Advertising workers, marketing research workers, public relations workers 
Agricultural occupations 
Biological scientists 
Electronic computer operating personnel and programmers 
Electronics manufacturing occupations
Engineers 
Factory occupations not requiring specialized training 
Government occupations
Home economic dietitians 
Industrial chemical industry
Insurance and real estate agents and brokers
Insurance occupations 
Lawyers 
Performing arts 
Personnel workers 
Physical therapists, occupational therapists 
Protestant clergymen 
Psychologists 
Sales workers -- retail stores, wholesale trade, manufacturing
Secretaries, stenographers, and typists 
Social scientists
Social workers 
Teachers and school counselors

*****

** Hyde Park Corner
Conducted by Earl Scharry

The Power of Positive Teaching. We believe we can discern a revolutionary new theory germinating in the education of the blind today. So far as we know, it has never been formulated, and we hope we may be doing a worthwhile service by attempting to do so. 

By way of introduction it should be said that everyone concedes that the overall aim of education for the blind should be to train them to adjust successfully to and to compete in the sighted economic and social community. It used to be thought (and no doubt still would be maintained by some) that the best way to achieve this goal is to adapt the curriculum and the tools of learning to the needs and capabilities of the blind. Thus, Dr. Cutsforth, in The Blind in School and Society, criticized what he called "verbalism," the tendency to require blind pupils to describe their environment and their experiences only in visual terms, often meaningless to them. He maintained that for a blind child to be expected to describe a rose, for instance, by its color is making a mere parrot of him, and that instead he should be encouraged to describe it in terms of its fragrance and velvety texture. He would have had educators supply them with equipment and tools of learning which would help them become familiar with their environment through hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

The enlightenment in education of the blind, on the other hand, maintains that to teach the blind child to cope with the sighted environment you should simply put him into that environment. You give him as nearly as possible the same tools that are used by his sighted peers. You give him the same course of instruction and the same training and expect the same responses from him. You give him the same textbooks, the same readers. The pictures, of course, cannot be reproduced, so that he may not be able to see what Dick and Jane are doing; but he can learn to read "Oh, look, look!" with the same enthusiasm. He cannot see the funny cartoons in some of the more advanced books, but he can read the comments about them and (if properly coached) give the right answers to the questions about them. In short, the more nearly you can make the educational experience of the blind child approximate that of the sighted child, the more will his blindness disappear as a limiting factor.

An additional bonus is the effect of such an approach on the parents of blind children. Such parents are known often to suffer from feelings of guilt and disappointment from the knowledge that their child is different and is excluded from the group. With this system of education, it should often be easy for the parents to convince themselves that this is not true and that the gulf has been successfully bridged. 

We believe that this theory has almost limitless applications. For instance, we heard of a man who had laboriously copied every one of Shakespeare's plays in longhand because he wanted to be a writer but had no talent. But we feel sure that going through the same process that the Bard did in writing the plays made an accomplished author of this man.

Again: Last summer when our friends, the Millers, visited us, we decided it would be nice to take them bowling. Much to our chagrin, however, we discovered that Johnny is a lefty while we are right-handed. What to do about the rail? We needed it to our left, and he should have it on his right. The problem seemed insoluble. Now, of course, we realize that the answer was simple. He should have learned to use it at his left, and by using the tools of a right-hander he should have been able to compete with right-handers.

Of course poor unregenerate, primitive savage that we are, we have our moments of weakness -- we hope nobody will embarrass us by insisting on asking how often. Sometimes we think that blind children could better develop their potentialities if some research time and money were to be put into developing textbooks specially adapted for them and into instruments of education (such as the Cranmer abacus) which are specially designed for their use. But then we take firm hold of ourselves, assume a stern and omniscient mien, grasp our pointer in one hand, and begin scribbling on a blackboard with the other (this makes us a pedagogue, does it not?), and our faith in the power of positive teaching is restored.

*****

** Here and There
By George Card

Died -- on April 13, Major General Melvin Maas, former Congressman from Minnesota, blinded in World War II. For the past ten years he has been chairman of the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped. 

Bill Webb has been the dominant figure in the Syracuse, N.Y., chapter ever since it was organized. Those who have met him at former national conventions will be interested in a well-authenticated report that this confirmed bachelor finally "met his Waterloo" on February 22. The new Mrs. Webb is the former Miss Sharon Stewart. 

From the April New Outlook for the Blind: "Lon E. Alsup, director of the Texas State Commission for the Blind for the past 22 years, has announced his retirement, effective August 31, 1964. ... Jack and Jill, the popular magazine for youngsters, became available on talking book records from all regional libraries for the blind in January 1964. The braille edition, which has been in use for several years, will be discontinued. Tape Recording, the only American magazine exclusively on that subject, is available in tape-recorded form and may be borrowed directly from the regional libraries. Vocational literature, long in demand by blind persons, is now available in braille and recorded form. Inquiries should be addressed to Robert S. Bray, Chief, Division for the Blind, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C." 

In the May issue of the South Dakota Newsletter, Dean Sumner reports that his wife, Donna, underwent major surgery and must remain very quiet for the next few weeks. He also reports, with reasonable pride, that his racing pigeons came in first in their first big contest.

The refusal of service to a blind man accompanied by his guide dog in a Walla Walla restaurant, the consequent appeal to the state anti-discrimination board, and the ensuing crackdown on the restaurant owner received statewide publicity throughout Washington recently.

From the New Beacon: "An unusual subcontract job was recently awarded to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind Workshop in Toronto. It provided work for 50 blind men and consisted of packaging about 350,000 Mexican jumping beans, which were fastened in threes, into a plastic bubble on a card. .. The S-Rite Research Division of Canada recently produced an 'invisible' thread, which is said to be a great help to blind women who make their own clothes. Home teachers to whom it was sent agreed that it had many advantages; for instance, it eliminated the problem of matching various shades since it had only two shades -- light and dark -- which would blend exactly with the fabrics. In addition, it would be a great help to those blind women who found it difficult to sew perfectly 
straight, for the stitches were virtually invisible."

From the Ohio Council of the Blind Bulletin: "The Montana Association of the Blind, with a membership that equals a small fraction of ours and is scattered just as widely as ours, spent $11,839 last year and still had $5,554 in its treasury. We need some counseling from Montana. ... Vernon Blatz, a blind Ohio boy, attended a class at the University of Cincinnati where he learned to operate an IBM. Now he is an IBM programmer for Nationwide Insurance. Since the IBM is playing a bigger and bigger part in business and industry, it is good to know that even a limited number of blind persons can be a part of this program."

From the Hoosier Star-Light: "The Institute of Modern Languages in Washington, D.C., is convinced, after a year's research, that the blind -- with their generally sharpened auditory perception -- may make the best language teachers. ... Sister Marion Madeleine, a 58-year-old New England nun blind since birth, has been named Mother Superior of Our Lady of Hope Convent, Owensboro, Ky. ... Eight blind directors are managers of a small but fast-growing television parts factory in Osaka, Japan. The factory hires 28 employees, all handicapped in some way. ... When John Coles, 57, described as 'totally blind and virtually stone deaf,' applied to the town clerk's office for exemption when faced with a call to the jury, the verdict was: refused, because of insufficient excuse."

From the May New Outlook: "Grace Sharp Harper, director of the Commission for the Blind of the New York State Department of Social Work from 1919 to 1951, died on February 26 ... Florence Bishop Tracer, co-founder of Clovernook, died on February 22 at the age of 86." 

From the Florida White Cane: "A new law in Nevada exempts the first $200 of a sighted wife or husband's income from consideration each month when calculating the budgetary need of the blind spouse. ... President Don Cameron and all other officers of the FFB Credit Union were re-elected in January. This credit union is flourishing -- total assets, $101,672.59. It declared a 4 1/2% dividend and announced that future loans will be made at 3/4 of 1% per month instead of the regular 1% per month." ... Murdock Martin, executive director of the Florida Council for the Blind, met with FFB President Larry Thompson on March 25 and assured him that the state agency would cooperate fully with the FFB and would not tolerate anti-FFB activity on the part of his staff. Governor Farris Bryant ignored Florida's statutes by failing to appoint a blind person to membership on the Florida Council for the Blind. Editor Larry suggests the Governor was unable to find a blind person who would be a 100% "yes man."

Donald Nold, founder and guiding genius of the recorded magazine called the Talking Lion, was honored at a testimonial dinner in Berwyn, Ill., on April 7. Congratulatory messages from President Johnson, Illinois Governor Kerner and many others were read. Gregor Ziemer of the American Foundation for the Blind called Nold "a blind person with great vision." 

From the Braille Messenger (Illinois): "In an effort to compensate in some measure for the drastic reduction in Illinois aid grants to the blind, resulting from the ruthless action of the 1963 legislature, the Department of Public Aid has listed special expenses of the blind and instructed all caseworkers to make sure that these items are claimed. The list -- 'shopping service; repair of braille equipment, radios, or typewriters; reading and guide service; food for a guide dog; shoe repair, mending and dry cleaning.' This list is not intended to be exclusive; any other special expense which can be claimed as a result of blindness may be allowed.   On March 8 the Illinois Federation of the Blind board voted to send Mayme Tuttle as an observer to the 1964 ACB convention and to contribute at least $50 to the Braille Forum. ... The new $600,000 facilities of the Hope School, Springfield, Ill., are nearing completion and should be ready for occupancy by this summer. The school will then be able to accommodate a total of 28 multiply handicapped blind children in two cottages. Eventually the school hopes to reach a capacity of 125 children in ten cottages. ... High in the dome of the old Federal Court building on South Clark Street in Chicago, which is now being demolished, was discovered a treasure trove of 4,500 braille volumes in their original wrappings. They had lain there forgotten for 30 years. The Library of Congress, which was found to be the owner, has generously donated these to Mr. Donald Hathaway, director of the Hadley School. Mr. Hathaway feels that the discovery of these 4,500 forgotten volumes of braille books will be one of the most important steps forward in helping to establish libraries for the blind in countries not so fortunate as the United States. In most countries braille books are as precious as regular books were in the 17th century. They will be used in 50 foreign countries. To duplicate these books now would cost about a million dollars. Because there was no operating elevator, the books had to be passed from hand to hand down the narrow winding dome staircase from the 15th floor." 

On May 3 the North Central Automatic Merchandisers, whose membership has been comprised of blind vending-machine operators in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gala steak and champagne dinner in Milwaukee. Both Earl Scharry and I were members of this unique organization, and I am still permitted to serve as its secretary. 

From the Milwaukee Journal, May 10, 1964: "The Badger Association of the Blind has purchased the Edgewater Convalescent Home, 827 N. 34th St., for $507,000, Louis Seidita, Association president, announced Saturday. Seidita said that the 60 aged persons at the home, formerly owned by Edgewater Enterprises, Inc., would continue to be housed there. An additional 40 beds will be filled by blind aged persons, he said. Eventually all the beds will be occupied by the aged blind. ... " 

From the Blind Advocate: "People who are both deaf and blind can now contact each other on the telephone, thanks to two new developments. First, deaf-blind persons can wear an electronic device -- in the form of a ring -- which is so sensitive that it picks up the vibrations when the phone bell rings. Second, it has been discovered that it is possible to feel Morse Code messages on a telephone diaphragm. The British Post Office (which operates the telephone system in the United Kingdom) has been requested to allow deaf-blind people to have telephones with unenclosed diaphragms ...."  

From the Washington State White Cane: "Mrs. Jack Flory of Spokane, wife of the state president, entered the hospital March 4 for major surgery. ... The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc., Seattle, has received a bequest from the late Miss Della Gaffner, consisting of all of her real estate holdings, including two valuable downtown properties. A division of the Lighthouse known as Handcrest, Inc., plans to supply one-third of the necktie requirements of the U.S. Armed Forces." 

From We, the Blind: "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Lugiano have just become proud grandparents for the first time; two boys." 

The "Eyeball Network" (discussed in this column some time back) has grown to a point where it now serves 40 American cities which have eye banks. It has changed its name to the "Eye Bank Network." It is an association of ham operators who keep in close touch with their local eye banks and keep each other informed of available corneas and of emergency needs. It meets over the air at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day. 

The Oklahoma Federation has begun a mimeographed newsletter edited by Wanda St. Clair. The first issue reports, among other items, that our Oklahoma affiliate now has 593 voting members and that a new chapter has just been organized in Duncan, Oklahoma. 

From the Lion, June 1964: "Customer: 'Your dog seems very fond of watching you cut hair.' Barber: 'Well, it ain't that so much. Sometimes I snip off a bit of a customer's ear.' ... The trouble with life -- you're halfway through before you realize it's one of those do-it-yourself deals." 

Ned Freeman, president of the American Council of the Blind was guest speaker at a specially called meeting of the Macon Chapter of the Georgia Federation of the Blind on May 29. Interest has been expressed by members of the chapter in learning more about the structure and functions of ACB. Following Mr. Freeman's talk, the members expressed their enthusiastic support for the movement to bring the Georgia Federation of the Blind into affiliation with the national organization. 

On Saturday, May 30, Mr. Freeman was the banquet speaker at the annual convention of the Georgia Academy for the Blind. The title of his address was "Where There Is No Vision the People Perish." 

Jack C. Lewis, president of the Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Federation of the Blind and a frequent contributor to the Forum, has been granted a full scholarship by Florida State University's School of Social Welfare. Mr. Lewis will begin graduate study at FSU in September for his Master's degree in social work. Since his graduation from the University of North Carolina in 1954, Mr. Lewis has been engaged primarily in sales work. In addition to being president of the Atlanta Chapter, he has also been president of chapters in Savannah, Georgia, and Anniston, Alabama. He is currently treasurer of the Georgia Federation of the Blind and a member of the credit committee of the GFB Credit Union, as well as president of the Georgia Academy Alumni Association. During the period of his graduate study it will be necessary for Jack to relinquish most of his other obligations, and his enthusiastic leadership will be missed. We wish Jack every success with his chosen profession. 

C. Chris Cerone, long-time president of the West Virginia federation of the Blind, passed away on May 23. He was well known to many convention goers and will be sorely missed by his organization. At Miami in 1960 he voted against the suspensions, and at Kansas City in 1961 he voted steadily for ending them. He is succeeded by the first vice-president, Mr. Robert Hunt, 114 Florida Street, Buckhannon, West Virginia, who is reported to be well qualified to assume the duties and responsibilities of leadership.

From the Peoriarea Observer: "The Food and Drug Administration in investigating the cause of 14 reported cases of blindness or partial blindness associated by a Boston doctor with wearing a plastic contact lens."

*****

** Statement of Editorial Policy

The Braille Forum is dedicated to promoting the greater independence, autonomy and dignity of all blind people. 

The Forum will carry official ACB news and programs, but its pages will also be available for free expression of views and opinions. Insofar as possible the Forum will publish news of organizations and agencies of and for the blind and any developments of interest to its readers. Timely material is solicited. 

Selections of material will be made on the basis of interest, timeliness, originality, clarity and forcefulness of expression. In controversial matters space will be made available for the presentation of divergent points of view.

** Notice

The Braille Forum is available in braille, inkprint and on tape. Miss June Goldsmith, 652 E. Mallory Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38106, should be notified of any change of address or of any person desiring to receive the braille or inkprint editions. 

The tape edition may be obtained from Mr. Melvin D. Cohen, Tape Library for the Blind, Inc., 94 Broad St., SW., Atlanta 3, Georgia.

Letters and material for publication should be submitted to the Editor or to one of the Associate Editors.

##