The Braille Forum Vol. IV July 1965 No. 1 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 George Card 605 South Few St. Madison, WI 53703 * Executive Offices: 136 Gee's Mill Road Conyers, Georgia 30207 ***** ** 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 ACB official 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. Ned E. Freeman, 136 Gee's Mill Road, Conyers, Georgia 30207. Letters and material for publication should be submitted to the Editor or to one of the Associate Editors. ***** ** Table of Contents ACB President's Fireside Chat Convention Program Legislative Report, by Durward McDaniel ACB Ambassador -- A Fighter for Southern Equality Juliet Bindt Honored, by Harriet Penner Needed: A New Definition of Blindness, by Richard Brown Do You Want the Forum on Disc Recordings? Our Concern with Poverty, by Alford B. Starratt Bulletin from the President's Office -- Information for Parents of Blind Children He Walks in Darkness, by Terrence S. Carden Abacus Instructions Available on Tape In Defense of Gold Brickers, by William L. Lewis New Print "Reading" Device A Proud Record Reverse English Letters from Readers Here and There, by George Card ACB Officers and Directors ***** ** ACB President's Fireside Chat My Friends: Two items have crossed my desk in the past week which are especially worthy of comment. These will appear sooner or later in the Braille Forum, but comments on the questions raised may not be amiss at this time. An article written for the Forum and a letter to me came in the same mail. Each points up a different area in which public relations or, if you will, educational activities are required on the part of individuals and organizations of the blind. The letter comes from Muncie, Indiana, and, among other things, mentions the fact that of some 300 blind persons in the writer's home county, only two or three are employed. The writer raises the question as to whether this is due to apathy and a willingness to be dependent upon public or private assistance or to ignorance of the possibilities which are open to one in spite of blindness. One percent employment would seem to be an indictment of the entire program of rehabilitation, both governmental and private. It is true that probably 60% of the blind are beyond the years of employability and perhaps 10% are under age 20. Some years ago Joe Clunk estimated that not more than 20% of the blind were potentially employable. But there is a great difference between 20% and 1%. The article came from Brooklyn, New York, and lays much of the blame for lack of enthusiasm for rehabilitation upon counselors and agency personnel. This writer claims (and the same complaint has been heard from other quarters) that professional workers themselves are not fully convinced of the capability of a blind person to do almost anything except see. They thus tend to discourage the young, ambitious blind person who wants to step outside the stereotype classifications of "employment for the blind." Of course it is simpler for the counselor to try to steer his clients into one of three or four types of activity -- sheltered shop, vending stands, Dictaphone -- with which he is thoroughly familiar and where he has had some success in placing clients. These occupations are not to be depreciated, but they certainly do not fit the aspirations and capabilities of all blind persons. So it would appear that all of us, both individually and as organizations, have a job of educating to do, Most of our efforts toward educating the public as to the capabilities of blind persons have been directed toward the general sighted public and especially potential employers. These activities should not be slackened but, in addition, every effort should be made to convince professional workers and blind persons themselves that blind people really can do almost anything that anyone else can do, given the necessary training and motivation. The American Council of the Blind, especially through the Braille Forum, is doing its utmost in this phase of education. Each of us has a personal responsibility to our fellow blind to prove in our own lives the principles which we so stoutly maintain in words. I shall be looking forward to seeing many of you in Louisville. Faithfully yours, Ned E. Freeman ***** American Council of the Blind Fourth Annual Convention -- July 21-24, 1965 Sheraton Hotel -- Louisville, Kentucky * Tuesday, July 20 6:30 p.m. - Dinner, Board of Directors, Followed by Board Meeting; 9:00 p.m. - Early Bird Mint Julep Reception, Sheraton Hotel and Associated Blind of Kentucky Hosts. * Wednesday, July 21 9:00 a.m. - Registration begins 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - APH Exhibit Committee meetings as called by Chairmen; 2:00 p.m. - Convention called to order, President Ned E. Freeman presiding; Invocation, Welcome to Louisville, Mayor William Cowgar; Welcome to Kentucky, Governor Ned Breathitt; Welcome to the Sheraton Hotel, William Howard, Manager; Response, Reese Robrahn; Roll Call; Report of Membership Committee, George Card; 4:00 p.m. - Textbooks and Trade Books for the Blind, Mr. Carl Lappin, Textbook Consultant, APH; 7:00 p.m. - "ACB Today and Tomorrow," President's Report, Ned E. Freeman 8:00 p.m. - Something to Take Home, A Seminar, Don O. Nold, Moderator; * Thursday, July 22 9:00 a.m. - Credentials Committee Report 9:15 a.m. - Braille and the Computer, Bob Haynes, Chief IBM Department, APH; 10:00 a.m. - The Quota System for Employment of the Handicapped, a report by the Employment Opportunities Committee, John Luxon, Chairman; 10:30 a.m. - Report of Finance Committee, F.W. (Bud) Orrell, Chairman; 11:00 a.m. - Discussion and Demonstration of the Sonic Travel Aid, Tim Cranmer, Kentucky Department of Rehabilitation; 1:30 p.m. - Tour -- American Printing House for the Blind; My Old Kentucky Home; Whiskey Museum; Dinner at Talbot Tavern; The Stephen Foster Story (a musical production); total cost will be $7.50 per person. Reservations for this should be made not later than 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 21. * Friday, July 23 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon - Resolutions Committee - other committee meetings; vending stand operators and other group discussions; 1:00 p.m. - The University of Cincinnati Computer Training Program for the Blind, Mrs. Diane Stuebing, Supervisor, and Miss Helen Mueller, Instructor, both of the University of Cincinnati 2:30 p.m. - Legislative Committee Report, Durward McDaniel, Chairman; 3:30 p.m. - The Telephone News Service, John Luxon and Alma Murphey; 4:00 p.m. - Resolutions Committee Report, Fred Lilley, Chairman; 7:00 p.m. - Banquet -- William Routh, Toastmaster; Ambassador Award Presentation, Mrs. Juliet Bindt, Chairman of Judges; Acceptance of Ambassador Award, Walter R. McDonald, Georgia Public Service Commissioner; Nuclear Giants -- Spiritual Dwarfs, Reverend Dr. Arie Bestebreurtje, pastor, Calvin Presbyterian Church, Louisville; Presentation of Affiliate Charters, President Ned E. Freeman; * Saturday, July 24 9:00 a.m. - The Abacus as a Mathematical Aid in School and Business, Mr. Fred Gissoni, Kentucky Department of Rehabilitation; 9:30 a.m. - Demonstration of Abacus, Mrs. Houser and pupils of Kentucky School for the Blind; 10:00 a.m. - Discussion and Demonstration of High-Speed Recordings, Dr. Emerson Falke, Psychology Department, University of Louisville; 11:00 a.m. - Mr. Nyal McConoughey from Japan; 1:30 p.m. - Resolutions; Elections; Selection of 1967 Convention Site; other business 5:30 p.m. - Adjournment; Meeting of ACB Board of Directors The Chairman of the Resolutions-Committee is Fred Lilley, 53 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 1449, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Anyone wishing to submit a proposed resolution should mail it to the Chairman or give it to him as soon as possible after your arrival in Louisville. Room rates at the Sheraton Hotel will be $7.50 per day for single rooms and $11.00 for double rooms. All rooms will be air-conditioned. The hotel has excellent eating facilities at reasonable prices, and there are other nearby establishments to serve our members. Reservations should be sent directly to the hotel. ***** ** Legislative Report By Durward McDaniel * Social Security Amendments On May 25, after extensive hearings on H.R. 6675, the House version of the 1965 Social Security amendments, the Senate Committee on Finance began consideration of the bill in executive session. It is expected that H.R. 6675 will be reported by the end of June and that it will be debated and acted on before the end of July. The amendments tentatively approved by the Committee during the first week of the executive session indicate that it will recommend a liberalized version of the House bill. H.R. 6675 as passed by the House does not include the "Humphrey" amendment on disability insurance for the blind which passed the Senate last year. The American Council has urged the Senate Finance Committee to add this amendment (introduced this session as S. 1787 by Senator Hartke and others) in its mark-up of H.R. 6675. As we go to press the Committee has not dealt with S. 1787. You are urged to write each of your Senators in support of this objective, and further information will be furnished by bulletin as it is timely. The principal provisions of H.R. 6675 as passed by the House are: * Health Insurance and Medical Services 1. A basic health insurance plan covering persons 65 and over entitled to benefits under OASI or the railroad retirement program. 2. A supplementary health insurance plan covering all persons over 65 who wish to pay the premium costs. 3. Expansion of the Kerr-Mills medical assistance program to additional groups of needy persons such as the blind, the disabled, and dependent children. 4. Expansion of services to crippled children, including children with handicaps such as blindness and mental retardation, and provision for preventive and diagnostic services, combined with treatment, to children in low-income areas. * Old Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Benefits 5. A seven percent across-the-board increase in OASDI benefits, with a minimum increase of $4 monthly, retroactive to January 1965. 6. Increase of the OASDI taxable wage base to $5,600 in 1966 and $6,600 in 1971 and corresponding increases in maximum benefit amounts. 7. Provision for continuing payment of child's insurance benefits to beneficiaries between the ages of 18 and 22 who are attending school. 8. Removal of the requirement that a worker's disability must be expected to result in death or to be o-f long-continued and indefinite duration to entitle him to disability benefits. 9. Extension of old-age benefits to aged persons 72 years old and over who do not have sufficient coverage to qualify under the present law, with the new minimums varying from three to five quarters of coverage. 10. Reduced benefits for widows at age 60 and benefits for certain aged, divorced women married for many years prior to divorce. 11. Increase in the amount of outside earnings allowed to old age insurance beneficiaries. * Public Assistance 12. Changes in matching formulas whereby the Federal Government would pay $31 of the first $37 instead of $29 of the first $35 as at present in the adult categories and $15 of the first $18 instead of $14 of the first $17 as at present in the AFDC category. 13. Increase in the amount of outside earnings allowed old age assistance recipients to $50 for those earning $80 or more monthly. 14. Provision for allowing State public assistance programs to disregard the retroactive portion of the increases in OASDI. benefits. (The American Council is advocating that all social security payments be disregarded in determining eligibility for public assistance.) * Vocational Rehabilitation The House Committee on Education and Labor has reported a substitute (H.R. 8310 by Congressman Daniels of New Jersey) for the administration proposal (H.R. 6476 by Green of Oregon) and other bills to amend the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. The principal changes made by the House Committee are summarized below. 1. Liberalization and simplification of the formula for allocation of Federal funds to the States. 2. Elimination of economic need as an eligibility requirement for vocational rehabilitation services insofar as Federal financial participation is concerned (but continuing the provision for "full consideration" of "eligibility for any similar benefit by way of pension, compensation, and insurance"). 3. Revision of the definition of "vocational rehabilitation services" to allow Federal financial participation in (a) the provision of reader services for the blind and interpreter services for the deaf and (2) management and supervision of small business enterprises. 4. Revision of the definition of "handicapped individual" to allow Federal participation in paying the cost of services to a handicapped person during the period necessary for evaluation of his rehabilitation potential, such services to be restricted to "vocational rehabilitation services" as defined in the Act and limited in duration to eighteen months or less according to the nature of the individual's handicap. 5. Provision for designation to administer the State plan of a State education agency or a State agency administering public education, health, welfare, or labor programs, as well as a State vocational or rehabilitation agency. 6. Substitution for current provisions for extension and improvement projects of a system of grants for innovation of vocational rehabilitation services through projects which (a) provide for the development of vocational rehabilitation techniques or (b) develop or provide new or expanded vocational rehabilitation services for groups with catastrophic or particularly severe disabilities, with Federal financial participation of 90 percent for the first three years of a project and 75 percent for the two years following. 7. Extension of Federal financial participation in the establishment of workshops and rehabilitation facilities to new construction, purchase of existing buildings, architects' fees, acquisition of land, and residential accommodations for designated categories of handicapped workers. 8. Federal financial participation of 90 percent in the cost of training projects in workshops and rehabilitation facilities, including training services, occupational tools and equipment, job tryouts, and weekly allowances of $25 plus $10 for each dependent (with a maximum of $65) for training periods not to exceed two years. 9. Grants to workshops for projects to improve professional services and for technical consultation services, and establishment of a National advisory group including representation from organized labor. The virtual elimination of economic need as a requirement for Federal financing of certain services would, of course, be a major improvement. While it is regrettable that this bill does not go as far in this respect as H.R. 7373 (by Sickles of Maryland), which requires that the States eliminate such requirements, it is significant that the Committee report states that, "rehabilitation services should be made available on the basis of the person's handicap and not on the basis of economic need" and requests a report from the VRA on the response of the States to this revision within a year after its enactment. The Committee report shows unusual interest in the problems of the severely impaired, mentioning specifically the deaf-blind, the retarded-blind, paraplegics, quadriplegics, the totally deaf, and stroke and cancer victims, and stating that these groups have been inadequately served to date because of the severity of the disabilities and the costs involved. H.R. 8310 commits the vocational rehabilitation program to a greatly enlarged and radical extension into the field of sheltered workshops which the American Council believes is a departure from and a perversion of the basic concept of vocational rehabilitation. The Council is opposed to the diversion of vocational rehabilitation money and effort to sheltered workshops as places of terminal employment for the blind and other handicapped persons. The Council advocates that the vocational rehabilitation program be restricted to the objective of preparing handicapped workers for and placing them in regular remunerative employment. We recognize that much of this measure is meritorious, but we do not want the vocational rehabilitation effort to be weakened, and large amounts of money and manpower diverted in order to make cheap placements in sheltered-captive workshops. This concern should be shared by all handicapped persons because of the large number of embryo workshops now standing in line hoping to receive public funds with which to create more places of terminal employment. * Subminimum Wage H.R. 8093 by Congressman John Dent of Pennsylvania provides for major reforms in the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to workers in sheltered shops. The principal provisions of this bill would: 1. Require that workers in sheltered shops be paid wages commensurate with those paid nonhandicapped workers in the vicinity for essentially the same type, quantity, and quality of work but not less than those specified in special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor. 2. Require that the special certificates for handicapped workers in sheltered shops provide for no less than specified percentages of the minimum wage, as follows: 50 percent effective January 1, 1966; 75 percent effective January 1, 1967; 100 percent effective January 1, 1968. 3. Allow special certificates for less than the minimums required for other handicapped workers in sheltered shops for handicapped workers engaged in training and evaluation programs and for exceptional cases -- including multi-handicapped and severely impaired individuals -- such certificates to be made by State vocational rehabilitation agencies and reviewed annually by the Secretary of Labor and to be for no less than 50 percent of the minimum wage. 4. Provide for a new classification called work activity centers planned and designed exclusively for, and employing only, severely impaired workers whose productive capacity has been certified as inconsequential by State vocational rehabilitation agencies, such certifications to be reviewed annually by the Secretary of Labor. 5. Allow special certificates for wage rates less than the minimums required for sheltered shops to be paid to workers in work activity centers pending the establishment of a formula by the Secretary of Labor for determining equitable compensation for such workers, such formula to be developed after a study by January 1, 1968. Proposals for strengthening the subminimum provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act are not included in the administration amendments introduced on May 18 by Senator McNamara and by Congressmen Powell, Roosevelt, and Dent. The General Subcommittee on Education and Labor of the House Committee on Education and Labor began hearings on these amendments and related proposals such as H.R. 8093 during the first two weeks of June. * Unemployment Compensation S.1991, the administration proposal for improvements in unemployment compensation, has been introduced by Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. This bill would add employees of non-profit religious, charitable, and educational organizations to coverage under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, but handicapped workers in sheltered workshops would be exempted from this provision. While the States are now and would continue to be permitted to cover workshop employees in their unemployment insurance laws, few workers in sheltered shops will be given this protection in the absence of a Federal requirement for mandatory coverage. * Air Travel H.R. 929 by Congressman J. Arthur Younger of California is substantially the same as the air travel bill supported by the Council which passed the House last year. It would amend the Federal Aviation Act to permit the granting of free transportation to guides or dog guides accompanying totally blind persons. This bill, in contrast with existing arrangements for transportation of guides on railway and bus lines, applies to totally blind persons only. Furthermore, it is permissive and thus would not constitute a financial burden on the airlines. In the long run, as in the case of other fare concessions such as family plans and student rates, this proposed amendment probably would increase paid air travel. Although blind persons generally have found airline employees considerate and helpful, they also have experienced difficulties in changing planes at undermanned and confusing terminals. Guides are needed especially for newly blind air travelers and for blind persons with other handicaps such as hearing defects. In many cases a guide, while not necessary en route, is essential to a blind person when he reaches his destination because of the nature of his business, his inexperience, or his unfamiliarity with a particular city. The American Council is giving its active support to H.R. 929. You are urged to indicate your support to your own 9ongressman and especially to the members of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Aeronautics of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. These are: Harley Staggers of West Virginia, chairman; Glenn Cunningham of Nebraska; John Jarman of Oklahoma; J.J. Pickle of Texas; John Bell Williams of Mississippi; Samuel Friedel of Maryland; Samuel Devine of Ohio; Howard Callaway of Georgia; and Daniel Ronan of Illinois. * Braille and Talking Books H.R. 60 by Congressman Glenn Cunningham of Nebraska would amend the law providing books for the adult blind so as to make books available of to "quadriplegic" and "near blind" in the bill -- persons without or unable to use both arms and both legs and persons unable to read with the help of any artificial device -- would restrict this extension of the braille and talking books program to a relatively few individuals. The American Council is supporting this bill because the groups affected -- persons either unable to read print or unable to operate special reading devices for handicapped persons -- need this service to read independently. The small number of individuals and the types of handicaps included make it unlikely that this amendment would affect to any significant degree either the availability or the character of books for the blind. * Mailing Privileges H.R. 6407 by Congressman Rumsfeld of Illinois would add to the list of materials which may be mailed free to blind persons. The principal additions and changes would be: 1. Removal of weight limitations and requirements that publications be unsealed. 2. Addition to the "free" list of publications rented or furnished at cost which now require postage at the rate of 1 cent per lb. 3. Addition to the "free" list of paper, records, tapes, and other materials for the production of reading matter for blind persons. 4. Addition to the "free" list of letters and reading matter to or from blind persons (in braille, sight saving type, or recordings). * Other Proposals The following bills also are of interest to blind persons: H.R. 2811 (Denton of Indiana) to prohibit lien provisions in State assistance programs for the blind. H.R. 2812 (Denton of Indiana) to increase the earned income limitation for blind persons receiving benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. H.R. 2045 (Gonzalez of Texas) to improve public assistance programs for the blind, including provisions prohibiting relative responsibility, lien, and residence requirements and removing the 12-month limitation on receipt of assistance, by individuals with approved plans for achieving self-support. H.R. 2390 (Boggs of Louisiana), H.R. 3823 (Rhodes of Pennsylvania), H.R. 5126 (Ashley of Ohio), H.R. 5133 and H.R. 5998 (Fino of New York), and H.R. 6618 (Buchanan of Alabama) -- proposals to liberalize income tax provisions which would affect blind persons or taxpayers supporting blind persons. ***** ** ACB Ambassador A Fighter for Southern Equality It is with much pride that we report to you that Walter R. McDonald of Decatur and Atlanta, Georgia, has been named ACB Ambassador Extraordinaire for 1965, according to an announcement by Julie Bindt, chairman of the Ambassador Award judges. Our Ambassador is no stranger to many readers of the Braille Forum and is known throughout the country for his work as a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission, an elective position he has held since 1922. In recognition of the esteem in which he is held in transportation circles by both management and operating personnel, he was recently named "Man of the Year in Transportation" by the Transportation Club of the University of Georgia. At the time this award was given, Mr. McDonald was especially cited for his nearly 40 years' fight to bring freight rates on both raw materials and manufactured, goods from and into the South into equality with the rates which apply in other parts of the country. Although this campaign has now succeeded, Mr. Mac, as he is affectionately known in Georgia., has not relaxed his efforts and evinces no intention of doing so. In the fall of 1964 he was re-elected to another six-year term on the Commission. Mr. McDonald travels extensively, frequently by himself. Within the past year he has had occasion to attend meetings of national organizations in Hawaii and in the Caribbean as well as in numerous localities within this country. He and his white cane are familiar sights in downtown Atlanta as he dashes from one appointment to another, sometimes on the arm of his secretary for greater speed. Mr. Mac has appeared many times before committees of the Congress as well as those of state legislatures throughout the South. To enumerate all of the hats worn by our Ambassador would require more space than is available here. In addition to his more than 40 years of service on the Public Service Commission of the State of Georgia (10 years as chairman), he has served for 29 years as president of the Southeastern Association of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners, which post he still occupies. He is past president of the National Association of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners, served as the first executive secretary of that body, and is presently chairman of its committee on railway problems. He is director of the Freight Rate Section, Southern Governors' Conference and a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee. In addition to all of the above, Walter McDonald is very active in civic affairs. He is a member of the Lions Club, the Order of Elks, the First Baptist Church of Decatur, director of a state civil defense group, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dekalb County Educational Foundation, and a trustee of Atlanta's Community Services for the Blind. Mr. Mac has for many years been concerned with the problems of the blind. Prior to 1959 he was active in the organized blind movement at the national level and served briefly on the Executive Committee and Budget Committee of NFB until his resignation prior to the Santa Fe convention. He was one of the organizers of Ways and Means for the Blind and serves as its first vice-president. He helped to establish the first Library for the Blind in the state and is a member of the Board of Trustees, Tape Library for the Blind. He served as president of the Georgia Federation of the Blind from its foundation in 1956 until the summer of 1964 when he was named president emeritus. He is chairman of the Credit Committee of the GFB Credit Union, and also chairman of the Board of Managers, Georgia Factory for the Blind. Walter McDonald was born on a farm in Georgia. After losing his sight at the age of 13, he was educated at the Georgia Academy for the Blind, Overbrook School for the Blind and Brown College Preparatory School. He worked his way through the law school of the University of Georgia by selling law books and received his degree in 1914. He practiced law in Augusta, Georgia, until he was elected to the Georgia Public Service Commission in 1922. With the exception of one brief period, he has served on the Commission ever since and is not only the Commission's senior member but has more years of public service to his credit than any other official in the state. Mr. Mac and his wife Estelle have two married children, a son and a daughter, and three lovely grandchildren. Much of his leisure time is spent working in his rose garden or "bird watching" in his patio as his feathered neighbors sing their thanks for the bird feeder which he has provided for them. He has a keen ear and can identify most of his visitors by their songs. He is very fond of the out-of-doors and exhibits with great pride the buck's head over his fireplace which he himself shot on a hunting trip in the Georgia woods. By precept and example Walter R. McDonald has done as much as any other one person to convince the public 6f the capabilities and potentialities of the blind. The American Council of the Blind is very proud to name Mr. Mac as our Ambassador Extraordinaire for 1965. ***** ** Juliet Bindt Honored By Harriet Penner (Editor's note: Mrs. Penner is first vice president of the Associated Blind of California, Inc.) Mrs. Juliet Bindt, junior past president of Associated Blind of California, Inc., was honored by members and friends of the organization when the group convened its semi-annual convention in Sacramento, California, early in April. At a banquet attended by nearly 100 persons, Mrs. Bindt was presented with a set of matched luggage as a token of the esteem in which she is held by all who know her. Julie, as she is known to her friends, was the first president of Associated Blind of California. Putting her alert mind to the task of organizing the infant association, she is responsible for the firm foundation on which the organization now stands. Long hours were devoted to planning and organizing the semi-annual conventions during the last five years. Rest, recreation and relaxation were pushed aside, and as a result, Julie became ill and was obliged to resign after serving one year of her third two-year term as president. In a presentation speech, Perry Sundquist, a longtime friend, traced Julie's life from the time he first knew her as a teenager. Listing the many honors and achievements which have come to Julie over the years, Sundquist pointed out that Associated Blind of California has had a most illustrious person as president for the past five years. In accepting the gift, Mrs. Bindt said that the knowledge that the membership loved, admired and appreciated her sacrifice of time and effort had made it all worthwhile, Mrs. Bindt is a charter member of the American Council of the Blind and serves on several committees in the organization. ***** ** Needed: A New Definition of Blindness By Richard Brown of Broadview, Illinois How many blind are there in the United States? The number seems to vary according to the definition of blindness. A few years ago a survey was taken by the census bureau, which assumed for its purpose that everyone was blind if he could not read ordinary newsprint with his present glasses. According to this survey it was found that there are about a million people who are blind. When I first began reading literature concerning the blind, it was estimated that there were 300,000 blind in the United States; then, a few years later, the figures rose to 390,000, and now according to the latest statistics there are 456,000 people in this country who are blind. These figures are based on the present definition of blindness which states: The visual acuity shall not be greater than 20/200 or less in the better eye with correction, or greater visual acuity if there is a field defect in which the widest diameter of the visual field subtends on angular distance no greater than 20 degrees. In my opinion, this is not a very good definition, and I shall now endeavor to explain why I consider the present definition unsatisfactory. I have heard various agencies, when appealing for money, state that there are 390,000 blind in this nation. They are in effect saying that the funds which they receive will aid all of these people. The average man, when he hears this appeal, thinks of all of these 390,000 as truly blind. Certainly he does not conceive of them as being able to travel about a city without the aid of a cane or guide dog, nor does he dream that many of these blind people are able to read print and never, in his wildest imaginings, would he dream that some of these people even drive a car. The agency, of course, is familiar with all of these anomalies; they know that they are talking about the legally blind, and I maintain that the public thinks they are speaking of the actual blind. In other words, the agencies and the public are using the same words, but interpreting them differently. To draw a parallel, only think of how the Western nations and the Communist nations often "freedom" and "democracy" and the difference in the meaning of these words to those who are using them. I feel that the agency which wishes to be honest, truthful and ethical should surmount this barrier of semantics and express in clear terms what they mean by the word "blind." Much has been written and spoken lately about the education of the public concerning the blind; one wonders how such education is possible when there is such a discrepancy between the agency thought and the thought of the public concerning the word "blind." The agencies, we assume, are supposed to be the educators; but when they classify people as blind who have useful vision, one is entitled to ask if the agencies are not disseminating misinformation rather than education. Another reason for changing the present definition is that it makes the statistics relating to blindness unreliable, if not irrelevant. I shall now cite a few examples: In the October 1964 New Outlook there are several articles dealing with the problem as to whether the elderly blind should be placed in a segregated home for the blind or in a regular home for the aged. One director of a regular home for the aged was not sure that he could take care of very many blind people with safety; however, when a check was made of the occupants of the home, it was found that he had 40 blind dwelling there rather than the 6 or 8 which he knew about. What the article should have said was this: All but 6 or 8 of the persons were able to function as though they had normal sight, and it took a medical examination to reveal their blindness. Then, there's the statistic which states that only two percent of the blind population could use dog guides. To me this figure would be a lot more valid if they would base this finding on the number of persons who must use a human guide, a cane or a dog for the purpose of traveling. I feel sure that if this were done, the percentage would be higher than it is now. And lastly, there is the classic example which I found in one of the '63 New Outlooks. It seems that one of the agencies made a survey of the library service in part of the Midwest; and they reached the astounding conclusion that a greater percentage of the blind in this area read print than read braille. Now I'm not arguing with the conclusions, but I do question the value, or even the relevance, of such statistics. All that was proven was that a person who can read print will use it in preference to braille. A more valid question would have been: Of those who do not have useful vision, how many people read braille? We also hear a great deal as to how the talking book is used so much more than braille. I don't doubt this conclusion; however, I do say that if those who have enough residual vision to read print with the aid of special lenses were eliminated from this figure, the percentage of braille readers would be greater than at present. If a person can only read enough print to meet his personal needs, it is probable that he will not use braille, therefore his reading will be via the talking book. Since I'm not an ophthalmologist, I cannot say what the visual acuity should be before a person should be classified as blind. But, in my opinion, I would say that if an individual has travel vision, or if he has enough useful vision so that he can read enough print to meet his personal needs using special lenses, then I don't believe these people should be considered as blind. It seems to me that if this segment of the population were considered as severely visually impaired, it would benefit them greatly. I have known of persons who were refused jobs which they could have done simply because their record stated that they graduated from a school for the blind. Certainly, I would think it better when applying for a position to accentuate one's vision than merely to say, "I am blind." Surely more consideration would be given to the applicant if he stated he had impaired vision and then explained the limitations of his vision rather than if he just said, "I am blind." Now I wish to allay at once any misgivings which my partially sighted friends might have by stating that I'm not advocating this policy so that these people would lose any of the benefits which they have gained by being classified as blind. For these individuals have a severe visual loss and great problems as a result of this loss. However, their problems are different from those of the blind. The blind person must be taught to rely on his other senses rather than vision. The person who is severely visually impaired must be taught to depend on the other senses when necessary, but in my opinion, the emphasis should be on training him how to use his remaining vision effectively. To sum up, the present definition of blindness is unsatisfactory because a semantic barrier exists between the agencies and the public as to the concept of blindness; and until this barrier is removed, the education will be hindered. Secondly, by classifying those with useful residual vision as blind, it makes much of the statistical data become valueless, misleading and irrelevant. And lastly, by placing the severely visually impaired in a different category, they would benefit; for the rehabilitation process would be somewhat different from that of the functionally blind and their employment opportunities would certainly be enhanced. ***** ** Do You Want The Forum On Disc Recordings? Over the past years there have been suggestions from time to time that The Braille Forum should be produced in talking book form. Our preliminary investigation indicated that the cost of producing pressed records would be prohibitive at the present state of the ACB treasury. There has now come to our attention a process of producing recordings on thin plastic sheets which might prove feasible if there is sufficient demand. These are seven-inch discs of thin vinyl plastic similar to that used by "Recordings for the Blind." If we were to use these discs, each reader would be sent his own individual set of three or four double-faced discs which he could keep or pass on to someone else. They play very nicely on the current talking book machine or other good quality record players at 16 2/3 rpm. In order to keep the cost per copy to a reasonable level, it would be necessary to abandon all other forms of publications if we should convert to disc recordings. We realize that some of our readers would be inconvenienced were we to discontinue the braille edition, and many of you like to keep the ink-print edition on file for reference purposes. While this matter is under consideration, we would like to have your comments and your arguments for and against the change to an exclusively disc-recorded magazine. Please send your comments to Ned Freeman at the address given on the cover of this magazine, and please state in your letter whether you presently are reading the braille, ink-print or tape edition. ***** ** Our Concern with Poverty By Alford B. Starratt (Reprinted from Witness, January 21, 1965) ... Members of the radical right in American politics have labeled the Economic Opportunity Act which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law on August 20, 1964, as a political gimmick -- a way of attracting votes. In their opinion, any such program that uses government resources to promote the general welfare of individual citizens is simply "creeping communism." It is doubtful that these political paranoids are aware of any (moral) basis for a concern with the elimination of poverty in our land. And that is exactly what is now the declared policy of our government -- the elimination of poverty, as is stated clearly in the following words found in the Act of Congress which became law last August. "It is," says this law, "the policy of the United States to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this nation by opening to everyone the opportunity for education and training, the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity." ... In medieval times, some theologists worked out a theory of what was called a "just war." This was an attempt to confine conditions under which a Christian might with good conscience serve in an army. As I remember it, one of the conditions laid down was that a man might not participate in a revolutionary war unless he was confident that there was a probability that the effort would be successful. You should enlist only if you think the war can be won. ... Such teaching reminds us of the fact that men in past ages did not enlist in any war against poverty for the simple reason that the means to win such a war were not at hand. It is only with the growth of the modern industrial state with its enormous economic power that the means to eliminate poverty became available, thus creating a moral challenge where none had existed in the past. only in our generation, in an industrial democracy such as the United States, can it be seen that poverty is a social disorder rather than an arbitrary arrangement of divine providence. Such a judgement indicates that the remedy must be found in public management of the economy. In 20th century America we can now say that it is both heartless and cruel to exhort a deprived man to change his condition by personal initiative; heartless, because willingness and courage cannot make jobs where none exists nor can these virtues substitute for the education and training necessary for decent employment; cruel, because the exhortation adds the burden of guilt to a helpless man whom you ask to achieve the impossible. Since poverty is a social, rather than a strictly individual problem, it can only be eliminated by social remedies instituted by the government as the instrument of public policy. We already accept such government management of the economy as essential for the elimination of widespread poverty through severe depressions. It is only a small extension of this responsibility for the government to clear up the poverty pockets which continue to exist in a generally prosperous economy. ... Whatever may have been true of the poor in a rural economy with sparse population in times past, it is simply not true in our crowded urban industrial economy that poverty is the handmaiden of virtue. The image of the good poor man is false to fact. Slums breed crime. Poverty tends to rot character. The heroic few who by courage and luck climb up out of the handicaps of deprivation deserve our admiration, but they do not justify the conditions which smother the potential development of thousands for everyone who manages to climb up out of the ghettos of the poor. He who wishes to help men be good cannot ignore the conditions of poverty which influence man toward evil. ... We recognize that God does not intend this time-space environment in which we live to be an effortless paradise in which we can drift through life in placid pleasure. Evil may be an ultimate mystery, but we can at least acknowledge that in some form and some degrees it helps man to grow strong and tall in personal character. The challenge of poverty can serve such growth for some people, but we need not fear that the elimination of poverty will deprive man of the stimulus of struggle against evil. In our prosperous social order we are well aware that economic privilege does not eliminate the challenges of frustration and pain. ... If we get rid of poverty we will not have ended man's struggle, but we will have given men a more even chance to enter the combat armed with more nearly equal social and personal resources. ... We no longer conceive of a man as a ghost inhabiting a corpse. Rather, we view man as a psychosomatos -- an inseparable unity which manifests itself as both mind and body. Hence, in ethical concern we can no longer conceive of our religious task as one of saving souls -- a project in which one could ignore the conditions of bodily existence. In the light of modern understanding, it is foolish error to think that you can be of real service to a man's soul while neglecting his physical environment. Such behavior was forgivable as grounded in ignorance in past ages, but it is not forgivable on that ground in the 20th century. ... Our awareness of this unity of being motivates our concern for the whole well-being of our neighbor in the unity of his psychic and somatic life. His opportunities for employment, for education, for training in skills, and his ability to have the real share in the economic privileges of the whole social order are just as much our religious concern as was the concern of the religious men in the past for what they spoke of as an individual's "spiritual life." We now see that both of these concerns are simply two ways of talking about one reality. ... It is good to give a cup of water to a thirsty man. It is better to build a dam and provide public water supplies in such a way that no man need be thirsty. Before we had the knowledge and the means to build dams, the gift of water to the thirsty was an adequate work of virtue. After we know how to supply public water and have the means to do so, the simple act of charity is no longer adequate as a measure of our loving concern for our fellowman. ... We need not be surprised if the privileged resent the taxes needed to implement a real effort to eliminate poverty. Motivated by such self-centeredness, men will tell us that government should not meddle in their problems. They will say that we should leave the solution of the problem of poverty to individual good will. We will hear the familiar variations of the old cry that you cannot legislate righteousness. It is true, of course, that you cannot eliminate selfishness by law, but you can eliminate some of the evil social consequences of selfishness by legislation, and this is all that the new public policy proposes to do. In closing let me repeat that I have given only some ideas that came to my mind as I thought about the problem of poverty. I do not expect you to agree with me. I hope only that my ideas may stimulate you to clarify for yourselves your own reasons for enlisting in the fight against poverty in our great nation, and not only here but hopefully, eventually, in all the world. ***** ** Bulletin from the President's Office -- Information for Parents of Blind Children The American Council of the Blind has accumulated quite a number of pamphlets addressed primarily to the parents of blind children. In most cases, these pamphlets can be obtained without charge from the source indicated in the list below. If there is sufficient demand, the contents of these pamphlets can be recorded on tape (either on your own tape or on loan). Requests for such tapes should be sent to Ned Freeman, 136 Gees Mill Road, Conyers, Georgia 30207, and should indicate which titles are desired. Available from the New York Commission for the Blind, 111 East 59th St., New York, N.Y. 10022, are: "A Guide for Parents of a Pre-school Blind Child"; "Helps for Small Fry -- Sleep"; "Helps for Small Fry -- From Strained to Solid Foods"; "Your Children and You"; "Helping the Blind Child Accept Limitations"; "A Healthy Personality for Your Child"; "Orientation and Mobility for Blind Children"; "Trips and Excursions for Blind Children"; "The Blind Child in Kindergarten"; "Back to School"; "Building Reading Readiness in Blind Children"; "Fear"; "Understanding your Blind Child." From the American Foundation for the Blind 15 West Sixteenth St., New York 11, N.Y., we have: "Is Your Child Blind,?"; "Toilet Habits." From the offices of Public Affairs Pamphlets, 22 East 38th St., New York 16, N.Y., at 25 cents each, these and many other pamphlets concerning family problems are also available from this source: "Blindness -- Ability, Not Disability"; and "How to Help Your Handicapped Child." ***** ** He Walks in Darkness By Terrence S. Carden (Editor's note: Reprinted from Fordham, a publication of Fordham University, New York. Vol. 10, Fall 1964.) Louis D. Mitchell, Class of '52, is a blind Negro in a sighted and white-dominated world. Yet he has managed in his 32 years on earth to become an accomplished pianist cook conversationalist and college teacher. A 1952 graduate of Fordham College, he received his master's degree in English at the University in 1954 and went on for further studies at Columbia and at New York University where he is a candidate for his doctorate of philosophy. While operating under the dual handicaps of his blindness and race, Mitchell has relied on his talents and independence to achieve his goals and attain a "normal" life as a teacher at the University of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The soft-spoken scholar refuses to claim any special talents as the "secret" of his ability to find a comfortable nook in this sighted and white world. But the strict standards he has set for himself and all those who deal with him have combined with his unbounded optimism and unflagging intellectual curiosity to allow him to pursue a course independent of the agencies for the blind. He is dependent, however, to the extent that necessary services are provided by these agencies or friends who spend countless hours acting as his "eyes." Books for the blind inscribed in braille pile up in shipping containers in the corridor outside his five-room apartment. And a Scranton woman, Mrs. Samuel Dinner, works seven days a week as a volunteer braillist to transcribe scholarly works Mitchell needs in his studies into the dot code he "reads" with his fingers. "Most blind people rely on the agencies," he points out, explaining that since most of the problems of the blind are "mechanical," agencies must provide services to compensate for a lack of sight. But aside from these services, Mitchell is independent -- especially, he emphasizes, for "recreation." He is happy doing things for himself. He lives alone and does not use a seeing-eye dog. He cooks his own meals and tends to his apartment with the help of a maid who comes in only once a week. "I always took care of my quarters before I came here," he relates, "but then I decided to have a woman come in to give me more free time to do the things I like to do -- reading, playing the piano or listening to records." Endowed with an "absolute ear," which hears discord in any sounds not in perfect pitch, he spends hours adjusting his stereo set which he built from components. Discussing his absolute ear, he laments that "like all gifts, the biggest trouble is in harnessing it." Mitchell further shows his independence by walking the four blocks to school. He knows every tree, curb and other landmark between home and school. Louis D. Mitchell is sightless, but it is possible he sees more than most of us. ***** ** Abacus Instructions Available on Tape Readers of the Braille Forum will recall an article concerning the use of the Cranmer abacus written by Henry Kruse, Jr., (Nov. 1964). An excellent instruction book concerning this valuable calculating tool was written by Mr. Fred Gissoni of the Kentucky Rehabilitation Department and this is available in braille and ink print. Sometime ago Mr. Gissoni announced that he would be glad to make a tape copy of his book for anyone who would send him an 1800-foot reel of magnetic tape. The demand for tape copies greatly exceeded the author's expectation, and he found himself snowed under with the requests for tape copies. The American Council of the Blind has therefore agreed to duplicate and circulate tape copies of Mr. Gissoni's book on the abacus. Anyone who desires a tape copy of this book should send an 1800-foot reel of tape (preferably 1 mil mylar) to the American Council of the Blind, 136 Gees Mill Rd., Conyers, Georgia 30207. Please enclose with your tape a slip of paper giving your name and address typed or plainly printed together with the words abacus book. A copy will be made on your own tape which will be returned to you as soon as possible. The package containing your tape should be marked -- FREE READING MATTER FOR THE BLIND -- and requires no postage. Normally the copies will be made on 1800-foot reels at 3 3/4 ips. However, by special request copies may be made on 500-foot reels at 1 3/4 ips. ***** ** In Defense of Gold Brickers By William L. Lewis (Editor's note: Mr. Lewis is a blind clinical psychologist in Wichita, Kansas.) I have read innumerable articles on the subject of rehabilitation, educational opportunity, and vocational opportunity for the blind. I have read pleas for the blind people of America to accept the responsibility for themselves as representatives of blind people in general; to accept responsibility to help their brothers advance; to work for the betterment of the blind and for mankind. Much has been written and spoken about the benefits of advancement and favorable change, but what about the need for failure? What about the success of people who devote their lives to failing and being irresponsible and shiftless bums? Can society actually exist without them? I think not, and this is my reason why. In a dictatorship the social and economic strata are usually rigid, extreme, and hard to change. In a democracy, on the other hand, there are ample opportunities for movement up and down the social, vocational, and economic ladder. This creates continual adjustment problems for not only those who are making the moves up and down, but for those who are left behind. Let me explain. I know of a fellow, whom we shall call Sam, short for Samuel Alawishus Mahoney, III. From earliest childhood he was called by parents, relatives, neighbors, and even total strangers, a lazy, good-for-nothing, shiftless, stubborn, irresponsible bum who was content to live off the surpluses of our society. By high school he had nearly succeeded in living up to this almost unobtainable reputation. Then tragedy struck! He lost his vision because he was too lazy to go see a doctor. To Sam this was opportunity, not misfortune. Blindness fit wonderfully into his scheme of things. Now he had a reason for not attending school. He had a reason for being downcast and self-pitying (on the surface, that is), and he had an excellent reason for not working. Somehow Sam found a girl who would marry him, and he settled down on a welfare grant to vacation out the rest of his long life. His personal philosophy about himself was that he was filling a vital need for our society. What could that be, you may ask? Well, hold on; I'm coming to that now. The community has a definite need for Sam. Every few days a group of little old proudly unhappy women come over to cheer themselves up by trying to cheer Sam up with all the latest news of the day, and to assure him that despite his dissipated life there is still hope for him in Heaven. Civic clubs do nice things for Sam. Even total strangers send him cheerful cards and occasionally money. They must undoubtedly get much satisfaction from these good deeds. Yet, what would happen if there were no more people to do good deeds for? Why, it would cause a revolution of gigantic proportions. Since some of you are still skeptical about this, I will continue. Society needs people like Sam. His wife even needs him. She continually complains about his laziness and irresponsibility, but would she leave him? No! Why, you ask? Because she feels superior to him that way. If it were not for Sam, she would have to accept the fact that she herself is an inefficient, inadequate hag. If Sam were ever to become all the things she keeps saying she wants him to be, he would have absolutely nothing to do with her. Even the welfare department and many other organizations need him, for without Sam they would be among the ranks of the unemployed and have to undertake retraining programs for themselves. Yes, and even the neighbors need Sam. When they come home from a hard day at the unemployment office, their spirits are mighty low. But, when they see Sam aimlessly ambling down the street, dirty, ragged, sour-faced, the neighbor's spirits immediately lift and he goes home with a smile on his face, recognizing his own problems to be mere trifles compared to those of poor old Sam. The neighborhood children charitably help him down the street and occasionally run errands for him. Then one terrible day a tragedy occurred. Along came a nosey rehabilitation counselor who would not take "no" for an answer. After weeks of toil, he persuaded Sam to go to a rehab center and he made Sam recognize that there were better and happier things in life than what he was experiencing now. "What?" Sam asked. "You mean there is a happier life in store for me if I but work at it?" The rehab counselor went out on a limb and said "yes" and that is where the tragedy turned to a calamity. When Sam packed up his cardboard box and left, the whole neighborhood nearly panicked. The welfare department found themselves with a small surplus on their hands. That meant the government aid would be cut some next year. His wife hit the ceiling. She finally left him for an alcoholic vagrant who happened by on the street. The neighbors started beating their spouses and neglecting their children. Some people even moved to slummier neighborhoods because the people around there were trying to get too uppity. The neighborhood children threw rocks at his house. Sam received threatening telephone calls. It was terrible the way everything got upset like that. Many of you are probably wondering why all this had to happen? Well, it's this way. Much of human existence is based on the need to feel superior or inferior to somebody else. This makes our democracy the wonderful system it is. Why do people advocate equal opportunity but not equal achievement? Have you ever gotten satisfaction from giving a quarter to a rich man? I doubt it! Have you ever received a sense of satisfaction from trying to help someone who was self-sufficient, self-respecting, and capable? Not usually! Have you ever done your good deed for the day by helping a boy scout across the street? Absolutely not!! So, when that nosey rehabilitation counselor came along and persuaded Sam to change, the whole pattern was turned topsy-turvy. Therefore, I appeal to your patriotism to stand up on your braillewriters and shout to the sky, "Long Live Ignorance, Misconception, Fear, Apathy, Resistance to Change and especially THE STATUS QUO!! Down with rehabilitation centers! Down with educational opportunity and vocational training! Don't let them take Sam away from us!" Yes, he may be much happier and richer for it all, but the rest of the world will have to make new adjustments, and nobody likes to ADJUST without a fight! If many people like Sam go for rehabilitation, for vocational training, for educational advancement, for psychiatric consultations, whom then is the community going to use for scapegoats? I say to you, write the President of the ACB, of the USA, of any place you can think of. If any of you agree with me and would like to contribute to the cause, please send your contributions to me. Although Sam no longer needs them, I feel it my duty to accept them in order to keep the STATUS QUO. ***** ** New Print "Reading" Device (Editor's note: Reprinted from INSIGHT, a British publication.) A device which may well in future years enable the blind to "read" the ordinary printed page has been developed by Professor John G. Linvill, executive head of Stanford University's Department of Electrical Engineering. The device is based on a combination of photocells and piezoelectric reeds. As the photocell array is passed across the printed page, individual cells are activated as they pass over the darkened images presented by the print and in turn, the reeds corresponding to the activated cells are stimulated into vibrations. The tops of the reeds are arranged in a rectangular array of pins protruding through holes in a perforated plate. As the photocell scanner passes over the page, the pattern of vibrating pins thus represents an enlarged image of the printed letters and can be so read tactually by the finger tip of the blind reader. Dr. Linvill's 12-year-old daughter Candy, who is blind herself, has served as an enthusiastic subject for experiments with the new device. After just a few weeks of one-hour practice sessions, she is now able to read about 25 words a minute -- far less than her rate of reading braille but nevertheless a promising beginning after so little time to practice. The original device, built by Gerald Alonzo, a graduate student, has yet to be microminiaturized and otherwise perfected. However, Professor Linvill has ventured the personal opinion that, with adequate effort prior to production, development could be completed within a year or two and large-scale production could be commenced before 1970. ***** ** A Proud Record On April 9 the new California Orientation Center facility was officially dedicated in Albany. It has been transferred from the Department of Education to the new Health and Welfare State Agency. The new building and grounds are spacious and much additional modern equipment has been added. As soon as a larger staff has been recruited, its student capacity will be raised from the present 23 to 40. In his dedication address, Warren Thompson, director of the new Department of Rehabilitation, predicted that, because of the tremendously successful Center in the Bay Area, a second center may soon be established in Southern California. Of the 300 alumni who are now on the mailing list for the newsletter, there are: 20 teachers (16 in the public schools of California); 2 attorneys; 1 minister; 1 administrator; 2 rehabilitation counselors; 2 teacher-counselors; 3 social welfare workers; 1 counselor at OCB; 1 Peace Corps worker (training teachers in Nepal); 3 insurance salesmen; 1 chiropractor; 2 masseurs; 1 electronics-engineer; 1 journeyman electrician; 4 outboard motor repairmen; 1 electronics assembler; 1 vacuum cleaner salesman and repairman; 2 switchboard operators; 3 transcribers and medical secretaries; 2 office workers (one in a credit department, one truck dispatcher); 3 professional musicians; 1 piano teacher; 1 piano tuner; 1 stock investor; 14 vending stand and cafeteria managers; 6 self-employed (from pheasant raiser to cabinet maker); 2 owner-managers of apartments; 1 book store clerk; 1 agricultural worker; 1 foster home parent; 1 game supervisor; 1 waiter; 50 housewives and mothers; 40 enrolled in schools of higher learning (universities; colleges, etc.); 6 in other training fields (medical transcribing, piano tuning, etc.); 6 darkroom technicians; and 1 tailor. ***** ** Reverse English In this country considerable publicity has been given to a set of ten rules (sometimes put in the form of questions) for the guidance of the sighted in their social or casual contacts with blind people. In the "Letters to the Editor" column of the London-based New Beacon appears a letter from a totally blind correspondent who writes: "We frequently hear it suggested that the attitude of most of the sighted public toward the blind and the image of blindness which has become so firmly fixed leave much to be desired. This is undoubtedly true, but what about our own attitudes toward the sighted world? Are not some of us responsible, at least in part, for the misunderstanding, rejection and avoidance of which we complain? It is wrong for us, surely, to carry around a grudge against those w1th sight because we have lost our own. I should like to suggest that we ask ourselves the following questions, and that we answer them honestly, for the replies will show whether we are helping to make or mar that better image we are seeking to implant in the minds of the public: (1) If you are offered help by a stranger, do you accept it gratefully, with a few well-chosen words of thanks? If you do not need the help, do you explain the reason and courteously give thanks for the offer? Or do you refuse the offer in a manner which may appear ungracious or even rude and offensive? (2) On meeting a sighted person for the first time, do you try to realize that he may feel shy and embarrassed, and do you do your best by an easy manner and natural relaxed conversation to dispel this feeling? (3) If you are having a meal with sighted people, do you make an effort to eat in such a way as not to give offense to those around you? (4) Do you become impatient if help is not immediately forthcoming when demanded, not realizing that the person you ask may be engaged in doing something that cannot be left or put aside at the moment? (5) Do you try to realize your limitations and not attempt the impossible, so avoiding annoyance to others? (6) If you were asked to do something well within your powers, do you plead your blindness as an excuse for getting out of doing it, thus giving a false and damaging impression of helplessness and reinforcing the stereotype? (7) Do you resent being asked questions about your blindness, however kindly they are meant? (8) Do you always try to maintain a tidy and pleasant personal appearance? (9) If, because of blindness, you have acquired any habits or peculiarities of manner which make you conspicuous, do you resent having this pointed out to you by a friend, or do you try your best to remedy the situation? (10) Do you use your blindness as an excuse to demand more help and consideration than you are really entitled to or need? (11) Do you refuse to carry a white cane? If so, have you considered the difficulty, or even danger, this may cause, not only to yourself but to pedestrians or motorists who have a right, in all fairness, to be apprised of your handicap? (12) Do you deliberately embarrass or wound the feelings of a waitress or salesperson who has addressed questions concerning your wants or preferences to your sighted companion and thus ruffled your dignity? ***** ** Letters from Readers Dear Mr. Freeman: As I grow older, the reading of braille, along with other activities, becomes slower and more difficult, so I can sympathize with those who learn braille in later years. For that reason, I suggest that The Braille Forum be condensed as much as possible. Here are a few suggestions and adverse criticisms. In writing out the report of the resolutions, you could have said, "At the meeting of the ACB on July ___, the following resolutions were adopted: Resolved that ..." However, every resolution started telling date and stating ACB convention and "Resolved that," etc. I think this is on page eight of the last issue of the Forum. The secretary's report was more wordy than necessary in the October Forum. The program for the next meeting of ACB was referred to several times and, probably, will be mentioned again. Many articles sent in by readers, could have been condensed by the editorial staff. Mention could be made in the Forum that writers should be interested in condensing their articles. All this would save printing and reading time. -- Mrs. Lovelia R. Hilty, 309 Van Buren, Topeka, Kansas ***** ** Here and There From The New Outlook for the Blind: "Mr. Frank H. Kells has been appointed executive director of the Phoenix Center for the Blind, Inc., and Mr. Ira N. McAlister has been appointed general manager of Arizona Industries for the Blind. Milton A. Jahoda, executive director of the Cincinnati Association for the Blind, has been selected for a one-year appointment by the government of Libya to the post of rehabilitation consultant. ... John C. Lysen, since 1934 superintendent of the Braille and Sight-Saving School, Faribault, Minn., has resigned from that position, effective as of June 30, 1965. The organized blind of Minnesota are planning a testimonial dinner in May for their retiring superintendent." The Florida White Cane reports an effort on the part of the state agency to gain the right to withhold from inspection the records of its blind clients. Editor Larry Thompson writes: "The blind know what this agency is trying to hide from the light of day. Money has been spent and charged to a blind client, but this blind client never received the tools and services charged against him. Blind vocational rehabilitation clients have been reported to Washington, D.C., as rehabilitated, at a handsome wage a number of times, but the blind client has never earned a dime and never been advised that he has been counted rehabilitated vocationally. This is the kind of information that this state agency is desperately trying to hide." ... The telephone Pioneers of Florida are now contemplating underwriting and sponsoring a switchboard training school for the blind. A Miami Herald article is quoted as follows: "Although it occupies a $200,000 plant and receives $60,000 a year from the United Fund, the Miami Lighthouse now has only 27 blind workers on its production staff and has cut their work to three days a week. The workers are also upset because more than a dozen salaried staff employees are being retained full-time during the production cutback. ... Wally Lopez (one of the three 1953 charter members of the Tampa Chapter) is the proud manager of the deluxe stand at the Hillsborough County Courthouse." From the Washington White Cane: "Twelve successful corneal transplants were performed in Spokane during 1964." The organized blind of Indiana achieved a signal victory during the recent legislative session. Four liberalizing measures were adopted, increasing real property exemption of blind persons, reducing the residence requirement to one year, abolishing legal responsibility of near relatives of blind recipients and eliminating the lien law. From Horizon: "In Switzerland the percentage of color blindness is so extremely high that traffic lights bear a special design with each color." The Louisiana Federation of the Blind has requested that an ACB speaker address its annual convention, which this year will be in Shreveport the second weekend in October. It has expressed a preference for F. W. Orrell of Chattanooga, who spoke so effectively last year at the North Carolina convention. From The Blind Advocate (London): "Queen Elizabeth II attended a reception at St. James Palace March 26 to mark the Golden Jubilee of St. Dunstan's. The reception was attended by 300 men and women blinded in the two world wars. To commemorate the occasion, St. Dunstan's is supplying each St. Dunstaner with a larger version of his familiar braille watch in the form of a striking clock. ... A long overdue concession finally came when the Postmaster General announced that henceforth braille books may be sent through the mails without charge. ... An ophthalmic surgeon recently arrived in Singapore from London with 19 pairs of preserved corneas in his luggage, which he will use to restore the sight of blind lepers. ... Following a recommendation from the National League for the Blind, the British Supermarket Association has suggested to its members that they should arrange help for blind shoppers in their stores." From Listen: Dr. Hyman Goldstein, who spoke to our Rochester convention last summer, writes: "An agreement to collect data on blindness in Egypt has been negotiated with the University of Alexandria by the Biometrics Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness. The high incidence of blindness in Egypt makes it a particularly desirable place to evaluate the role of environment in causing blindness." ... A legally blind college professor and lawyer, who faces the loss of his position as instructor in business law and psychology at Quinsagamond Community College in Worcester, Mass., has publicly claimed that he is being dismissed because of his visual handicap and has charged the college president with discriminatory action. H. Noyes Macomber of Uxbridge, a member of the faculty of the state-supported college for the past two years has filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court against President Paul G. Preus and other college officials and against members of the state board of regional community colleges in an effort to obtain a hearing before the board. Student demonstrations have been staged on the Worcester campus in support of Professor Macomber. A male student carried a placard which said, "We are victims of a nearsighted administration." ... A former president of the American Association of Workers for the Blind, Calvin S. Glover of Cincinnati, Ohio, died on March 8 at the age of 76. ... A team of United States blind golfing stars headed by former international champion Joe Lazaro of Waltham, Mass., won the ninth annual international blind golfers' championship this month by defeating a Canadian blind foursome. Other members of the team were Peter Bell of Oak Park, Mich., Charlie Boswell of Birmingham, Ala., and Charles Tooth of St. Petersburg, Fla. ... Blind and infirm priests will now be able to celebrate Mass as the result of a new decree recently published by the Congregation of Rites in in Rome. ... A blind professor of literature at Notre Dame University, Stephen J. Rogers, is the subject of an article in a recent issue of Witness, a magazine for youngsters. The article states he is familiar with the masterpieces of half a dozen languages, although he has never seen a printed page nor has he seen his wife, his children, his home, his campus, his students. The Indiana state agency has eliminated what have been awkward and inconvenient service territories by dividing the state into five clearly defined areas and assigning one rehabilitation counselor and one home teacher to each. "Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not and a sense of humor to console him for what he is." -- The Lions Magazine From the Ohio Bulletin: "We, in the organizations of the blind, have emphasized the difference between 'of' and 'for.' We believe that the initiative in programs dealing with the blind should be maintained by the blind. Now a blind man, J. Kenneth Cozier, is president of the Cleveland Society for the Blind. It is a big job, but Ken is big enough to handle it. ... For the third year, Clyde Ross was unanimously re-elected custodian of the Braille Fund by the Ohio Association of Lions Clubs. ... Sunday, May 23, the Summit County Society of the Blind dedicated its workshop. The building was given to them by Walter and Edith Jesse and has 10,000 square feet of floor space available for work projects. ... Bill Wells, vice president of the OCB, died while participating in a panel discussion at a PTA meeting at the Ohio State School for the Blind." The many friends of Emil Arndt -- and they are legion in every state -- will be deeply concerned to learn that two months ago Emil underwent drastic major surgery for the removal of a malignancy of the colon. We can only offer a fervent prayer that the surgeon was completely successful and that there will not be a recurrence. For 20 years Emil was the national treasurer of the organized blind movement. The Montana Observer (which came today, June 14) brought the sad news of the passing of one of that state's long-time leaders. Agnes Francis, charter member of the Association first president and leader of the Great Falls chapter and very active member of the Association's Board of Directors died on May 9, after a long and brave fight against cancer. The Forum editor called me last night to tell me that my column was overdue. She also told me that H. A. "Pete" Wood had retired as head of the North Carolina Commission for the Blind. He had been a highly controversial figure for many years. ***** ** 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, Missouri 63110 Treasurer: Reese H. Robrahn, 308 Columbian Building, Topeka, Kansas 66603 ** Directors * Directors Until 1966: George Card, 605 S. Few Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703 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 1968: F. Winfield Orrell, 5209 Alabama Avenue, Chattanooga, Tenn. 37409 Mrs. Mary Jane Schmitt, 55 Queens St., Rochester, New York 14609 R.L. Thompson, 104 West Hanlon St., Tampa, Florida 33604 Fred C. Lilley, 1155 West 83rd St., Apt. 216, Chicago, Illinois ###