The Braille Forum Vol. VI July 1967 No. 1 Published Bi-Monthly by the American Council of the Blind Oklahoma City, Oklahoma * Editor: Ned E. Freeman 136 Gee's Mill Road Conyers, Georgia 30207 * President: Reese Robrahn 541 New England Bldg. Topeka, Kansas 66603 * Associate Editors: George Card 605 South Few St. Madison, Wis. 53703 Earl Scharry 264 Saunders Ave. Louisville, Ky. 40206 * Executive Office: Board of Publications 652 East Mallory Ave. Memphis, Tenn. 38106 To inform its readers and to provide an impartial Forum for discussion. ** 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 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 Ave., 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 Even as You and I ACB President's Message Wichita Calling Social Security -- We Can Win in 1967 Seeing Europe with the Senses We Must Have Dreams Placement of Teachers at the College Level Seven Good Reasons "Getting to Know You" In Korea In Saigon ACB Tape Chatter A New Approach Loretta's Corner Welfare Bed Checks Ruled Out Letters from Readers Ned's Corner Here and There With George Card Refugees from the Round File Pilot Dog Serves Distant Applicant ACB Officers Directors ***** ** Even as You and I "Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will soon be old. Keep me from getting talkative and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every occasion. Release me from the craving to try and straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my many aches and pains; they are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken. ..." (From the New Beacon, London) ***** ** ACB President's Message By Reese Robrahn In the last two issues of this magazine, my messages have been concerned with prejudice and discrimination against the blind minority in this country and the constitutional rights of the blind as first-class citizens. These two subjects are interrelated; and any discussion of the one necessarily must include the other. The recognition and resolution of the one necessarily would render moot the other. I have said that one of the premises of many, including some blind people and some agencies for the blind, is that the blind are something less than or other than full citizens or first-class citizens, and that therefore the blind are not entitled to or capable of exercising their rights as individuals and of citizenship. Those who make this contention then conclude that when the blind have earned or proved their worthiness to become first class citizens, full citizenship will then be accorded them and they will be free to exercise all these rights. The final point urged by those who make this contention is that you cannot legislate or otherwise compel by force of law social acceptance of the blind. The fallacy of this advocacy is two-fold. First, if the blind must earn or prove their worthiness as first-class citizens, how, indeed, can they do so when prejudice and discrimination latches tight the doors of opportunity. Second, to deny that social acceptance of the blind can be legislated or otherwise compelled by force of law is to deny the very foundation of our western civilization, i.e., that the law is the majority expression or crystallization of the mores of the society. Our late President, John F. Kennedy, once said in speaking of the civil rights movement "the tide raises all votes." I urge therefore that each of us for himself individually, and for one another, and all of us in concert man the oars and take in hand the tillers. We must assert our rights, demand the right to speak for ourselves, insist upon our right to be represented and to be consulted. We must seek and obtain passage of legislation providing for implementation, enforcement and redress of our rights. We must seek and obtain passage of legislation enabling the blind to realize their potential and achieve self-attainment. We must resort to court action and appeals procedures when the circumstances warrant. We must involve ourselves in service to and actively participate in the affairs of our communities. We must offer our services and time and talents to our local and state organizations of the blind. In conclusion, I urge each of you to initiate procedures on the part of your own organization to affiliate with the American Council of the Blind for effective and collective action on all fronts. P.S.: I take this opportunity to issue to each and every one of you a personal invitation to come to Wichita Kansas the Broadview Hotel, July 19-22, and join with us in the festivities and deliberations of the American Council of the Blind, 1967 convention. Your program committee has worked long hard hours to plan a full and well-rounded, informative, educational and entertaining convention program. We will look forward to meeting all of you. See you in Wichita! ***** ** Wichita Calling By Bonnie Byington ACB Convention Chairman The welcome mat is out, and the scene is set for the 1967 American Council of the Blind Convention July 18th to 22nd at the Broadview Hotel, Wichita, Kansas. Registration will begin at 7:00 P.M. Tuesday with an ACB Board Meeting scheduled for 7:30 P.M. The "Hi, Neighbor Reception" beginning at 7:30, and sponsored by the Wichita Association for the Visually Handicapped, is a party you'll want to attend. Wednesday morning will be given to committee meetings with special activities available for other guests. The registration desk will be open each day. The first general session will get under way at 1:00 P.M. following welcomes by the Mayor of Wichita, Governor Robert Docking and John Thomas, Vice President of the Kansas Association for the Blind. Ned E. Freeman, Conyers, Georgia, ACB First Vice-President and Editor of the Braille Forum, will respond. The keynote address, "Improving Tomorrow, Today", will be presented by Vernon Williams, Aberdeen, South Dakota, ACB Director. Carl McCoy, Director of the Florida Rehabilitation Center for the Blind in Daytona Beach, Florida, will discuss "Evolution of Rehabilitation Centers," and Melvin P. Moorhouse, Associate Professor of Speech, Wichita State University, will explore, "What's So Funny?" Donald O. Clifton, a widely recognized authority on human relations, of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, will open the Wednesday evening session, followed by an address and demonstration of "Electro-Mechanical Devices for Transcription of Braille," presented by Richard Woodcock, George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee. A message from ACB President, Judge Reese H. Robrahn, will conclude the session. The Thursday session will begin at 9:00 A.M. with a talk concerning "The Partially Seeing Child" by Gladys Foss, Resource Teacher, Wichita Public Schools. The Credentials Committee report and a talk by Harry E. Hayes, Director, Division of Services for the Blind, Kansas Board of Social Welfare, will follow. Completing the session will be an address, "Are You Listening?", by Miss Betty Girling, Director, School of the Air, University of Minnesota. Air-conditioned tour buses will leave the hotel at 1:00 P.m. Thursday. Actual demonstrations of training and therapy will be observed at the Institute of Logopedics. Buses will then proceed to the Boeing Co., where officials are trying extra hard to make the visit meaningful and enjoyable. The tour will be climaxed by a visit to "Cow Town," a barbecue, and entertainment by 150 enthusiastic teenagers, "The Sing Out Kansas" group. Friday, at 9:00 A.M. Edward F. Rose, Director, Employment Program for the Handicapped, U.S. Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C., will address the convention on "Employment of the Blind." Miss Pauline Moor, American Foundation for the Blind, then will discuss "Multi-handicapped Blind Children -- Some Problems Presented and Services Currently Offered." She will be followed by Robert J. Winn, Project Director, Texas School for the Blind, who will discuss "Education of Multi-handicapped Blind Children." The afternoon session will begin at 1:15, with a panel "Blind Persons with Unusual or New Occupations," moderated by Lowell Ebel, Rehabilitation Counselor, Kansas Division of Services for the Blind. Panelists are: S. Bradley Burson, Argonne, Illinois, nuclear physicist; Bill Adler, Kansas City, Missouri, computer programmer; Roy Zuvers, Webster Grove, Missouri, machinist; Robert Brunson, Oklahoma City, audio-visual aids department, Oklahoma City Public Schools; Russell Meyer, Wichita, Kansas, manufacturers' representative. At 3:00 P.M. "The NIB Program" will be discussed by George H. Park, Director of Community Services, National Industries for the Blind. The banquet is set for 7:00 P.M. with Jerry Hall, Riley, Kansas, a blind Public-School Music Instructor, as Toastmaster. The Ambassador Award will be presented, and the address will be given by Dr. Kenneth McFarland, Topeka, Kansas, noted educator, author and lecturer. The American Trucking Association, Inc. is sponsoring his appearance for ACB. The Credit Union breakfast, hosted by KAB Credit Union Ray McGuire, Wichita, President, is scheduled for 8:00 A.M. Saturday. Durward K. McDaniel, Oklahoma City, will speak. ACB business meetings will begin at 9:00 A.M. A convention luncheon is planned, and S. Bradley Burson, Argonne, Illinois, will visit with the group about his work in Holland and his travels abroad. Business sessions, including selection of a 1969 convention site, are scheduled for the afternoon, with adjournment by 5:00 P.M. The Kansas Association for the Blind extends an invitation for those who can to remain and attend the big KAB dance, beginning at 9:00 P.M. Guests are also welcome to attend the KAB awards breakfast and business meetings Sunday. It is easy to come to Wichita. It is less than three hours from either coast, and the city is serviced by TWA, Braniff, Continental, and Central Airlines, as well as train and bus. And when you arrive, the convention hosts, along with many other persons and groups, are planning a good time for you. Don't forget your swimsuits, as the hotel pool area provides a fine place for relaxation, along the banks of the Big Arkansas River. Oh, yes, about prices -- Banquet, $4.00; tour, $4.75, or less; luncheon, $3.00; and Credit Union Breakfast, $2.00. Registration is $1.00. If you have not already done so, send your registration right away to the Broadview Hotel, 400 W. Douglas St., Wichita, Kansas, mentioning ACB Convention special rates. If the Convention Committee can be of help to you, contact Bonnie Byington, 950 Drury Lane, Wichita, Kansas 62707. ***** ** Social Security -- We Can Win in 1967 By Durward McDaniel, Chairman ACB Legislative Committee Have you been a doubting Thomas about our chances to get the King Bill (H. R. 3064) enacted by Congress? If so, you probably have not done your part by writing to your Congressmen and to the House Committee on Ways and Means in support of this legislation. That we do have a chance to win in 1967 is persuasively demonstrated by the introduction of S. 1681 by Vance Hartke and 56 other Senators. Senator Hartke's introductory remarks and a list of the co-sponsors are reprinted below. If either of your Senators is not a co-sponsor of this bill, you should write him at once to request his support for it. Significantly and unfortunately, the five ranking Democrats -- Russell Long of Louisiana, George A. Smathers of Florida, Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico, Albert Gore of Tennessee and Herman E. Talmadge of Georgia -- and two of the three ranking Republicans -- John J. Williams of Delaware, and Wallace F. Bennett of Utah -- on the Senate Committee on Finance are not co-sponsors of S. 1681. While it is obvious that this bill can and will be adopted by the Senate as a part of the Social Security Amendments of 1967, in order to become law it must survive the inevitable conference committee of House and Senate members. A majority of the Senate conferees will be chosen from the seven names above. Unless their support can be obtained, we may win on the floor of the Senate and lose in the conference committee. We urge a flood of mail to these seven Senators from blind people in every State. This does not mean that we have given up on the House of Representatives. We can and must build the same kind of support in the House that we have in the Senate. As we go to press, H.R. 5710, the Social Security Amendments of 1967, is still in the Committee on Ways and Means. There should still be time to write your Congressmen to enlist his support for including H.R. 3064, the King Bill, in H.R. 5710. Let's transform past doubts into an energetic letter writing campaign. Ask your friends, blind and sighted, to write. The following statement appeared in the Congressional Record for May 3, 1967. * Improved Disability Insurance for the Blind Mr. HARTKE. Mr. President, today I introduce a bill to improve disability insurance under social security for the blind. I am highly gratified that there are joined with me as cosponsors on this bill, from both sides of the aisle, no less than 56 other Senators whose names are listed, including a majority of the Finance Committee members. This measure has already been passed twice by the Senate, and there can be no doubt of its adoption once more by this body when we have the opportunity to vote upon it. When I offered it as a floor amendment to the social security bill of 1965, H.R. 6675, the vote was 78-11, but after the House- Senate Conference there was left only a very minor improvement affecting an extremely small number of the blind. In the 88th Congress, when Senator HUMPHREY presented it as a floor amendment to H.R. 11865, it was adopted without dissent -- but it will be recalled that in that year the social security bill ended in deadlock. With the strong support of the Senate as shown by those two votes, and by the very large number of cosponsors this year, there is reason to expect that this improvement for the disabled by reason of blindness will become law. First, the bill incorporates in the law the standard accepted definition of blindness, which is that vision is 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of correcting lenses. This is the definition commonly used in State workmen's compensation laws and in the Internal Revenue Code. But at present the social security law has no such automatic definition. Rather, blindness is lumped with all other disabilities under the general requirement that disability insurance qualification depends on having a disability which prevents employment. Many blind do not meet that definition, but under the proposed standard definition there would be no question about qualification. The second change involved is to relax the requirements for the blind person to secure disability benefits. At present, as in all other disabilities, to be covered he must have covered employment for 5 years out of the last 10-20 quarters of the last 40. But by virtue of their blindness, many who find work secure only temporary jobs; or jobs which are being automated out of existence as factory assembly work, for instance, declines; or work which requires very little skill -- all of which contributes to the frequent impossibility of meeting the 20-Out-of-40 quarters demand. Under the present law, if a disabled person secures work he is considered to have shown employability and so is ineligible for disability payments. Under this bill, after six quarters of covered employment the blind person who meets the definition is allowed disability payments without regard to whether or not there is further employment. Mr. President, I am sure there is not one among us who would regard blindness as anything other than a disability. Yet among those handicapped there are many who are eager to make their own way in the world, as many do. By giving a modest floor of security to them, we can give encouragement for them to undertake training and useful work even more than at present, with the knowledge that we will apply to them a reasonable standard of expectation, taking due recognition of the manner in which blindness differs from many other disabilities. There are other changes which are needed in reference to our laws concerning treatment of the blind, and I shall later offer some suggestions in other bills, continuing the work in this area which I have sponsored ever since coming to the Senate. But while the other changes are also desirable, this is the one which deserves top priority in our consideration of the blind in their relation to our social security laws. The bill is being cosponsored by Senators BAYH, BIBLE, BOGGS, BREWSTER, BURDICK, CANNON, CARLSON, CHURCH, CLARK, COOPER, COTTON, CURTIS, DIRKSEN, DODD, DOMINICK, EASTLAND, FANNIN, FONG, FULBRIGHT, GRUENING, HART, HATFIELD, HILL, HOLLINGS, INOUYE, JACKSON, JAVITS, KENNEDY of New York, KUCHEL, LONG of Missouri, MAGNUSON, McCARTHY, McCLELLAN, McGEE, McGOVERN, McINTYRE, METCALF, MILLER, MONDALE, MONTOYA, MORSE, MOSS, MORTON, MUNDT, MURPHY, NELSON, PELL, PROUTY, RANDOLPH, RIBICOFF, SCOTT, SMITH, TYDINGS, WILLIAMS OF New Jersey, YARBOROUGH, AND YOUNG OF North Dakota. ***** ** Seeing Europe with the Senses By Betty Floyd 62 North Main St. Sardis, Mississippi (Editor's Note: This account of her European tour was prepared especially for the Forum by a most attractive college girl from Mississippi.) Last September, my mother, my Pilot Dog Garth, and I, along with forty-four other people and one other dog, were members of the first tour to Europe that was especially planned for blind people. This was a twenty-two-day tour through six European countries. From New York we arrived in Paris six hours later on the morning of the seventh. After a wonderful flight, with a movie, all types of music and a delicious dinner and breakfast on the plane, we visited the City Hall where officials welcomed us to Paris. The French Government gave us special permission to touch the sculptures in the Louvre Museum. These sculptures which are usually never touched, not even by the guides who work there, were being touched by the hands of the thirty-two blind people on our tour. Lunch on the Eiffel Tower was something long to be remembered. Our meal was delightful, and the two dogs were also fed, which was something we did not expect. First, the dogs were given water in a beautiful cut-glass bowl; then a tremendous steak cut in nice bite-size pieces was served to them; after dinner water was served in a silver finger dish. Another unusual trip was to the Guy La Rouche Fashion House of Paris, where we attended a fashion show, during which the women were allowed to touch the clothes the models were wearing. Garth attracted a few extra stares as we attended the opening night of Carmen at the Paris Opera House. It seems that he was the first dog to attend an opera there. All during our stay in Paris, we ate delicious meals at famous restaurants and had to contend with the captivating night life of Paris, causing us to lose much sleep. Already exhausted, we arrived in Amsterdam, where we toured the canals and harbor as an introduction to the city. Although we had a lovely visit to the Aalsmeer Flower Market, we did not have to go there to see lovely flowers in Holland. A revealing feature of that country is the beautiful yards, and flower boxes in the windows of the homes; both yards and window boxes were just running over with flowers. With a feeling of concern over the precarious position of their pocketbooks, the men joined the women in a tour of a diamond factory. We viewed the process of cutting and polishing diamonds, after which we were allowed to examine some of the finished products. One afternoon, we visited the quaint little village of Volendam, where we shopped and had afternoon tea. The people there still dress in their native costumes of wooden shoes, long dresses and little Dutch caps. After a little rest in Amsterdam, we flew to Copenhagen, a city of cleanliness, beauty, plenty of rain and graced with many statues signifying the homeland of Hans Christian Andersen. We enjoyed a reception by the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen at the City Hall, where we were served refreshments of wine and Danish pastries. During a tour of Tuborg Brewery we followed the production of beer from beginning to end. At the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory, we were allowed to touch each stage of the development of porcelain, after which we toured the factory to see how it was actually done. Of special interest to the blind members of the tour was the visit to the Workshop for the Blind, where people are taught to operate machinery in preparation for jobs in other factories. We also visited the Home for the Blind, where elderly blind people may live if they have no one to take care of them. Their building was new and very modern, and we were told that there would be others like it in Denmark soon. After landing in Vienna, we attended a rehearsal of the famous Lipizzaner Horses of the Spanish Riding School. After the workout, we were allowed in the arena to pet and feed sugar to those beautiful animals. Next, we met the Cardinal of the Austrian Catholic Church at St. Stephen's Cathedral, where the big "Pummerin" Bell, which is about 18 feet in diameter, rang especially for us. The Viennese hear this bell twice a year at New Year and Easter, but special press announcements reached the people telling them not to be alarmed when the big bell rang for their special visitors on September 17th at 12:00 noon. The famous Vienna Boys' Choir gave a special concert for us. They are adorable little boys of ages nine through fourteen, and they have the strongest, most beautiful voices I have ever heard. One afternoon, we took a boat cruise on the Danube River, and as we entered the river the boat swayed to the rhythm of the Blue Danube Waltz. Of course, our first question was, "Is it really blue?" and the answer was, "No, but they say that it is blue if you are in love." Having that score settled, we sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere and the explanation of the scenery. Again, we were honored by city officials at a reception in the City Hall of Vienna. Then, with delightful memories of Vienna still fresh in our mind, we landed in Germany. The small town of Garmisch became headquarters for our group. We visited Oberammergau, where the Passion Play is presented every ten years. Although the play was not being staged while we were there, we did visit the Theatre and saw some of the costumes and scenery used in the production. Imagine the most beautiful thing that you have ever seen, and it still will not compare with the beauty of Neuschwanstein Castle, built about one hundred years ago by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. With jewels in the chandeliers, marble everywhere, carving in much of the woodwork, and beautiful tapestries, you just cannot imagine the splendor of this castle. There was even a waterfall outside the King's bedroom window. One afternoon we traveled by funicular railway to a hotel near the summit of Zugspitze Mountain, where people could be seen skiing in the distance. After lounging on the lookout terrace where one of the tourists from Florida had an opportunity to feel snow for the first time, we boarded a cable car for the trip back down the mountain. Much like the countryside of Germany is that of Switzerland, which was our next and final stop. With beautiful mountains and plenty of fresh air, and curves in the roads that would make an old woman out of a young girl, we did much driving and sightseeing through the eyes of the sighted members of the tour, with explanations from our capable escorts. In Zollikofen, we visited the new and modern school for the blind, where we were given a grand tour and served refreshments. We did a little clock and watch buying in Lucerne, then visited an embroidery factory in St. Gallen, where we were allowed to touch the looms and other machinery in the factory and given a handkerchief as a sample of the finished product. On September 27th we left Zurich for New York, another eight-hour flight, that gave us plenty of time to recall all of the wonderful things we had seen and done. Because of the success of this tour, others will be offered, and although not the first tour of Europe for blind people, I am sure that it will be just wonderful as ours was. ***** ** We Must Have Dreams By Joseph Hunt, Associate Commissioner Vocational Rehabilitation Administration (From Rehabilitation Record, January 1967) Never in our history has the conscience of our Government been as sensitive as now to the rights of all our citizens, to their daily living needs, and especially to the needs of the underprivileged, the poor, the disadvantaged masses in our unhappy cities, to the disabled, and to all in distress. To meet these great needs we must work creatively with all public and voluntary agencies. To do this we must keep our freedom of movement and stand ready always with our comprehensive offering of services. We must have a readiness to break and reshape any structure, any policy, any procedure which acts as a haze of fiction between the simple lives of people at home and the lives they bring into the rehabilitation office. We face a questioning age which calls for a hard, lean understanding of what we believe, stripped of sentimentality, cultural supports, and bureaucratic fuss. There is a built-in uniqueness and clarity in rehabilitation. Let the image appear for all to see. We must, of course, face facts and deal with things as they are. But facts imply things that are not. So we must do more for the future. We must have plans. We must have vision. We must have dreams, if we are to open new gates and work with unexplored land. President Kennedy often quoted George Bernard Shaw's words: "You see things, and say 'why?' But I dream things that never were, and I ask 'why not?'" For us, this is the challenge of the future. ***** ** Placement of Teachers at the College Level By Dr. Otis Stephens Division of Social Sciences Georgia Southern College Statesboro, Georgia Blind persons who intend to pursue careers in college teaching specifically should not rely on counsellors when the time comes to obtain the initial full-time teaching post. This conclusion is based on my own experience in job hunting and upon my knowledge of the rather subtle methods employed in academic recruitment which are not likely to be commonly understood outside the profession itself. I do not mean to suggest that counsellors are in no position to give advice to prospective college teachers on general approaches to the problem of placement. However, I am fairly certain that above the level of the public high school, or at the best the public junior college run by ex-high school administrators, the efforts of a counsellor on behalf of a prospective teacher who is blind would be viewed with some misgivings, if not outright disapproval, both by college or university administrators and, more important, by department chairmen. Obviously, this is a very general assertion, not necessarily applicable to every conceivable situation, but I am reasonably sure of its soundness. First of all, the typical graduate student who has progressed to the doctoral level and shows signs of weathering the ordeal successfully will be recommended by his major professor and other graduate professors -- usually including the department chairman -- for positions at a number of schools. Information about these openings is communicated informally through conversations at professional meetings or by letter or, perhaps less unofficially, through employment newsletters distributed by most national academic associations. In addition to these sources of information, most universities maintain fairly active placement bureaus of their own and receive requests for applications to fill college or university teaching positions in virtually all parts of the country. Ordinarily, as graduate students near the end of their programs of study, or reach some "turning point" at which it proves necessary to find a job, they attend a national or regional meeting of scholars in their discipline and find no difficulty in obtaining interviews with prospective employers. Usually these are department chairmen, the individuals who, for all practical purposes, do most of the hiring, despite necessity for official approval of deans, vice presidents and other members of the administrative hierarchy. The typical graduate student who is, let us say, completing his Ph.D. at the end of the current academic year (or is reasonably sure that he is) will have on file in the placement service of his national professional association, a dossier, complete with letters of recommendation. This information he can have forwarded to any school which has an opening in his field. And throughout the process of placement, as I mentioned before, the role of his major professor and of others under whom he has worked as a graduate student remains crucial. A letter of recommendation from a respected scholar on behalf of one of his students can work miracles in this area. Whether my conclusions respecting the role of rehabilitation counsellors in college teacher placement apply to such professions as law, public administration, journalism and the like, I am not certain. If the criteria for determining the nature of a profession are reasonably uniform, I suspect that similar conclusions might be drawn for these fields. But data are needed to support such conclusions if they are to be taken seriously. I do not hesitate to speak with some certainty about my own profession, though even here one may find exceptions to the general picture which I have attempted to present. It would be interesting to learn whether blind persons in other professions share my view of the limited role of vocational rehabilitation. One point should be further clarified. I am not condemning or even criticizing rehabilitation agencies for attempting to be of service at this level. Their desire to help -- where it is manifest -- is welcome. However, blind persons should not be encouraged to depend on such agencies for any significant assistance in obtaining good competitive employment in this field. The rehab simply lacks access to the academic community and this fundamental fact should be recognized. The term "vocational rehabilitation" as opposed to "professional placement" suggests the true nature of the problem. (Editor's Note: Dr. Stephens hopes to go more deeply into the whole field of professional placement and would like to receive letters from readers concerning their experiences in obtaining employment in professional fields other than college teaching.) ***** ** Seven Good Reasons for Not Helping His Fellow Blind By William Taylor, Jr. When we of Pennsylvania think about the forty years of dedicated and effective work of Frank Lugiano we are always struck by the thought of how many good and sufficient reasons he has for not involving himself in those exhausting and usually thankless labors. Those of us who have again and again endeavored to persuade other blind persons of our State to bestir themselves of behalf of their fellow blind have been met and wearied by tedious recitals of the supposedly good reasons for evading participation. The irony of it all is that Frank has better reasons for shirking his duty than anyone -- in fact, seven good reasons: his children. Dorothy has been so patient and long-suffering through it all that we tend to forget the burden this has put on her. The sort of excuse to which I allude is the purely selfish one: "I have my job to look out for." It is a fact beyond cavil that Frank's vending stand has occasionally been put in jeopardy by his firm and persistent labors for the advancement of the welfare of the blind. Moreover, it has on occasions been made clear to him that interesting advantages would come his way if only he ceased pressing for reforms. It is worth thinking about: how many of us -- even without the seven children to whom Frank is so devoted -- would have persisted as he has? For one who has been close to Frank over the years and has known of the hundreds of hours each year he has given, it is difficult to select the salient points in such a busy and effective life. Frank always plays to win. One of the roughest fights we ever waged was to hold the blind pension in 1949. The Social Security Agency had completely duped the Pennsylvania Legislature -- I mean both the Republican and Democratic caucuses and the Governor. We had less than a week to defeat the ripper bill from passing and knocking some ten thousand off the pension rolls. Each of us undertook different phases of the task, and one at Harrisburg might have thought Lugiano had gone home. For nearly a week he sat in his hotel room and scarcely put down the telephone. About Thursday the Governor suddenly discovered he did have time to meet with the Federation after all -- this was about when he received the two thousandth telegram. In fact, year in and year out, week in and week out, Frank has ceaselessly been on the floor of both Houses of our Legislature. It is hard to talk about Frank without discussing the history of legislation and administrative reforms relating to this whole State during the past forty years. When the fight for the pension was started about forty years ago there were upwards of thirty agencies for the blind in Pennsylvania; and they had monopolized the field of services for years, in some cases nearly two hundred years. These agencies, or at any rate their paid staffs, got the silly but detrimental notion that if the State paid pensions no more contributions would be made to those agencies. Now, for them this was a paramount and fighting issue and no holds were barred. Many of the blind were intimidated by the agencies into going to Harrisburg to testify against the bills and to assure the Committee they would never so disgrace themselves as to accept the pension. -- Subsequently, substantially all of these witnesses did accept and enjoy the pension. Frank's outstanding efforts to improve our rehabilitation and vending stand programs became a sore point with the Commission for the Blind (then called the Council). It was from this source that incursions into Luzerne County and against his stand were made again and again until the futility of the effort became clear. Frank has consistently been impatient of every sort of fantasy hunting. It has often confused the more philosophical and utterly logical spirits among us. Frank is a grimly pragmatic person who attempts to determine what will help the blind and roughly how much the legislators are prepared to vote right now. I know there are those who feel we are neglecting the great soul victories or something else I cannot comprehend. Currently he is pushing for a five dollar a month increase, and I am sure there are those who are shocked Frank is not out asking that the Legislators double the pension. In their present state of mind, he will be lucky to get the five dollars. I stress Frank's pragmatism and his testing everything by the simple question: "Will it work?" Frank often says that ten favorable votes on a committee are preferable to five votes cast by the finest members who ever sat. Many have been and are perplexed by Frank's stands and endeavors during and since the lamentable discords which strained the organized blind. He asks: "How do discord and disruption increase our favorable votes?" (Editor's note: The above remarks were prompted by the recent observance of Frank Lugiano's forty years of service to the blind of Pennsylvania. A testimonial dinner marked the occasion. A picture of Frank and his fine family was the cover for the bulletin WE, THE BLIND. Many of our readers will remember Frank from his attendance at ACB conventions in Chicago and in Rochester when he participated in panel discussions.) ***** ** "Getting to Know You" By Loretta Freeman * In Korea We get a glimpse through the little stories which appear in some magazines and on the inside pages of the newspapers, but now we know first-hand that our soldiers in the United States Army are up to much good. A young PFC tells us, "I am a soldier now serving my tour of duty at Camp Page, Korea, with the United States Army. While stationed here I have become interested in a blind orphanage in the city of Chun Chon and now work at helping it by obtaining periodicals, pamphlets, and general information, in braille, that can be used by its students and staff. The School's name is The Chun Chon School for the Blind and is one of fifteen located throughout Korea. It is now filled to its maximum and is in need of braille reading material." Wherever our boys are stationed stories similar to this and the following might be told. Since 1958 a section of the 4th U. S. Army Missile Command has sponsored the Chun Chon School for the Blind Orphanage with contributions of work and money. The unit participates 100% in this project. In addition to Christmas gifts they have provided firewood, cement and building materials and helped with the construction of classrooms, a latrine, a perimeter wall, etc., as well as providing the money to purchase such items as seed potatoes each year. The only other source of support for the school is an occasional gratuity from the Korean Government and a few CARE packages. The Orphanage, with its present capacity expanded to 47 children, now has six teachers, four of whom are blind. These teachers, both male and female, are certified by the Korean Government which provides the salary for three of them. The director, Chui Soo Lee, pays the other three from money obtained from the men of the Battalion and from the sale of rice. The teachers receive a monthly salary of 6400 won (approximately $25.00). Mr. Lee and his wife serve without compensation and for several years they had no additional help. They now employ a cook. Age of the students ranges up to 20 years and the older students help with the training of the younger ones as well as with the work of the school. Some vocational training is given and of the 40 young people who have gone out from the school some are working as masseurs, teachers, farmers, Christian ministers, and shopkeepers. The school is accredited as a school for the blind and has requested accreditation as an orphanage. The men of the Battalion are enthusiastic in their sponsorship of the school and are in personal contact with the children. They present special programs for and by the children and send selected ones to a school for the blind in Seoul. The children are sometimes brought to the Camp dispensary for medical attention. These children, in turn, do much for our boys away from home, and for our country. They give the men an opportunity to come in close contact with the people of the country in which they are serving, and they provide a break from army routine and a reminder of brothers and sisters back home. The Chun Chon School "just grew." Mr. Lee was a refugee from North Korea who fortunately was able to sell his land holdings there. With this money Mr. Lee took in four abandoned blind children from six to eight years old and the number increased until he had to ask for assistance. From one house and no land the school has grown to six buildings with a small area of farmland for growing rice and potatoes from which some income is derived. In addition to building up a library of braille material, the school needs musical instruments of the brass, percussion and stringed families, playground and recreational equipment -- as well as basic foods and clothing for all seasons. The plans for the future in Chun Chon include expansion of the classroom facilities, an enclosed washroom, electric wiring, improved cooking facilities, completion of a perimeter wall to stop thievery and to improve the appearance of the institution, and continued improvement of general living conditions. In all of this the men of Camp Page will have a big part. Anyone wishing to send braille books, braille slates, paper or other material may direct them to: Chun Chon School for the Blind, c/o Lt. Menaker, Btry B, 1st Bn(HJ,) 42nd ARTY, 4th USAMICOM, APO San Francisco 96208. * In Saigon (Editor's Note: The Editors wish to express their thanks to Mrs. Helen G. Napolitano of Jackson Heights, N.Y. for sending us this item along with other clippings, a number of which will appear in this and future issues. We hope other readers will assist us in like manner. This article was written by J.A.C. Dunn of the Charlotte Observer, who is stationed in Saigon.) The thing about the school for blind girls is that there is so little you can say. You just want to go back again and teach them a song, or read them dictation so they can practice typing. Robert Sharpe has been doing that, with a lot of other sailors in the Saigon naval support activity who help in other ways. All of them pledge money (5,000 piasters a month to help with the school's operating expenses), and many go down to the school on their own time to paint walls and clean the building. They even plan to build more rooms. There are 18 girls in the school, which is run by two nuns and a lay teacher. They learn English and anything else that may help them get a job when they leave the school. Three of the older girls are going to high school outside their home in a large yellow building on a busy corner in the Cholon section of Saigon. Most of the girls suffer from trachoma, a viral affliction of the eyes common in Vietnam, which can be cured with antibiotics if caught early enough. But the girls' running, painful eyes were not noticed in time, and now they are permanently blind. ... They do Vietnamese dances, learned laboriously over a period of weeks; they weave and work with clay, and they are learning to type on the school's five small typewriters. They also have very sensitive musical ears. Sharpe, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Sharpe of General Pershing Rd., Charlotte, North Carolina , has been teaching the girls American songs -- "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Ten Little Indians," and most of the Christmas carols. He also has taught them to play musical chairs, a form of madness which delights the girls. ... The singing is a form of recreation. Education is the important thing. Some of the girls speak English fairly well; the object is to enable them to get secretarial or interpreting jobs when they grow older. ***** ** ACB Tape Chatter By John B. Sevier 449 East 28th St. Baltimore, Maryland 21218 Hi, there! This is your Tape Coordinator coming back to you this month, wondering why more of you have not taken up the wonderful hobby of tape recording as a means of making our voice more effective in the field of legislation and discussion of the problems of blind people all over the world. Send in your name, address, age, recorder speeds, and personal descriptions, and I will list you as you request. Make note of the membership lists as they appear in each issue of the Forum and write to or send a tape to any and all persons that appeal to you. A list of tapers will be sent on request. How about State ACB affiliates taking this up as a Club project and really get going, we can have round robin tapes, newstapes and that sort of thing. Any comments? Good taping, and please let me hear from you real soon. Our new club member for this month, Leona M. Stewart, 3734 LaFayette St., Ft. Wayne, Indiana 46806, is a newcomer in tapeland who would like very much to tape with someone, so let us all send her a tape. She has a Concord recorder, two track, three speeds. She has been employed by the Howard Photo Finishing Lab for 14 years and enjoys this work very much. She has a Leader dog guide, reads any grade of Braille, likes music, plays the marimba and hopes someone will tape with her so she can learn to tape properly. Let's all take her in hand, okay? By the way, there were several requests for information about your Tape Coordinator who, incidentally, will tape with all comers to offer assistance in learning the hobby and help in any way I can to make our voice more effective; also, I like friendly relationships! I am 41 years of age, married, and am particularly interested in legislation for the blind and organizational activities, music, reading, all phases of radio (amateur, short wave, CB, and just plain listening), and of course meeting and talking to interesting persons like yourselves. I am a Tar Heel by birth and background and a Baltimorean by adoption. So long for now. Remember, this is your Club. ***** ** A New Approach Released March 15, 1967 By U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare A work experience and training demonstration project that successfully raised the employability of public assistance recipients is being adopted as a permanent program by the Ventura County Welfare Department in California, U.S. Commissioner of Welfare Ellen Winston announced today. The Ventura project was totally financed during the past two years by approximately $160,000 of Federal funds administered by the Welfare Administration of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare under Title V of the Economic Opportunity Act. Having demonstrated its value, the programs will now be financed jointly by Federal, State and local funds, in the same way that other permanent public welfare services are financed. The project is carried out in training centers in two poverty areas within Ventura County, one in the city of Oxnard and another in the City of Ventura. These centers provide basic education, high school equivalency courses, and on-the-job training for work as teacher assistants and general education aides to recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children support. Instruction in child care, food preparation, home maintenance, and housekeeping is also offered. Day care programs in the two centers, staffed by project trainees, care for the trainees' children as well as the children of other mothers in work training programs elsewhere. Parents are charged $5.00 per month per child with the remainder of the cost paid from project funds. About 230 children are cared for in this way each year. This is a new approach to the old problem of low-cost day care for the children of public assistance recipients. It allows interested AFDC mothers to take job training or employment. In addition to vocational training, public welfare workers provide a broad program of social services to ensure that trainees and their families are not hampered by health and other family problems. ***** ** Loretta's Corner In the course of a recent conversation a visitor observed, as he told us of a new acquaintance, "He can see a little bit, I guess -- when he dials the telephone, he gets real close and looks out the corner of his eye." To which Ned replied, "Goodness, you don't have to see to dial a 'phone!" This has sorta pricked our thoughts. It so clearly points up the problems of the partially sighted, though legally blind, person who hasn't learned how to function as a blind person. He holds printed material to his nose and squints through a glass, or hunches over a book. What a different picture is presented when one relaxes and reads with his fingers! The tension in this one operation alone is enough to cause emotional problems! The partially seeing often attempt to navigate the busy city streets -- and very much resent the suggestion that they use a cane. But they resent even more such remarks as "Why don't you look where you're going!" or, "Can't you read the sign on the front of the bus?" Of course, we wouldn't advocate a sign around the neck saying "I am Blind," but life could be easier and safer for partially sighted folks if they would act more like blind persons. If you can't see, admit it! Also, the sighted traveler deserves a break. Neither of the above remarks would ever be made with the knowledge that the person addressed couldn't see. Of course, we might campaign for better manners generally and that the public assume that the fellow who gropes or bumps into him can't see -- but this would take quite a bit of education. Maybe the white cane does make one conspicuous, but a cane carried confidently by a blind person with head up and step firm is a picture that evokes admiration and respect. It is a signal that brings instant understanding -- and willing assistance when needed. Maybe the partially sighted need more training and counseling than they themselves realize. ***** ** Welfare Bed Checks Ruled Out San Francisco (AP) -- (Editor's Note: The "Parrish" case has received considerable attention in other Braille publications over the past several years. Forum readers will be interested to learn of the successful outcome. Such invasions of privacy as those indulged in by the California Welfare Department are now prohibited by Federal regulations). Bed check raids on welfare recipients are unconstitutional, the State Supreme Court ruled as it ordered the reinstatement of a social worker who balked at making them. The tribunal in a 6-1 decision, ruled that the Alameda County Welfare Department acted illegally in firing the worker, Benny Max Parrish, 33, in January 1963. He had refused to take part in bed checks designed to determine whether unauthorized males were living with women receiving aid for needy children. The court held such raids were made without search warrants and were illegal. Such raids have since been outlawed by the California Legislature. ***** ** Letters from Readers From Pennsylvania: I am writing, hoping to spark the interest of ACB in two matters of vital interest, not only to us the deaf-blind, but also to the whole braille reading blind population of this nation. Once again representative Corbett of Pennsylvania has introduced into Congress a new Postal Bill. It is an excellent measure except for one provision. This would allow publishers of Braille magazines to charge subscription fees for their periodicals in an amount not to exceed the cost of production." That's the joker in it. While this bill pretends to grant us the privilege of mailing all our Braille postage free, any savings accruing to us would be cancelled out by the vastly high subscription fees publishers would be allowed to charge and still retain their free mailing franchise. Not only would all of us derive no benefits from postage concessions, but suffer penalties from that objectionable feature. ... A proposal that President Johnson made to Congress should be vigorously opposed. This concerns the proposed establishment of a National Center for the deaf-blind. Why another one? The one that has been operated for four years by IHB at Jamaica, L.I., has failed to reach down to the common herd. Not a word has been said in any of our Braille magazines concerning its "successes" in rehabilitating deaf-blind people. We have heard of only one person who is said to have gone there who is stated to be a college graduate. None of the others have even been approached. ... Isn't it reasonable to suppose that, if they had accomplished the wonders they claim, their successes would have been emblazoned all over the pages of every Braille magazine and the newspapers, as was done when Kinney, Smithdas and one or two other stand-outs were cited for their accomplishments? A center is definitely not the answer to the needs of this severely handicapped group. ... The onset of deafness is usually followed by a loss of much of the sense of equilibrium. The overwhelming majority of the deaf-blind are age 65 or over. Many have additional handicaps. ... Many have little or no sense of direction and get lost in their own back yards. ... How many of these people would consider being uprooted from familiar surroundings and transported miles away to a Center that's usually run like a boot camp, the emphasis being all on self-reliance? Dorothy Bryan (formerly with AFB) tried unsuccessfully to arrange a party for the deaf-blind. Only one or two could be budged from their chairs. Such people are not candidates for either rehabilitation or education. What is needed is someone to spark the interest of sighted people, right in the locality where the deaf-blind person resides. Some say they have not set foot off their premises for more than a year; that they speak no more than 25 or 50 words a day; no one will attempt to talk with them. The communication barrier is terrific. *** From W.U. Lewis, Jr., 909 Alabama Ave., Durham, N.C. 27705: I have just been reading the excerpts from the Report of the National Advisory Council on Welfare in the Braille Forum. I hope that neither I nor any large percentage of the American people ever get hold of the Utopia pills which that group must surely have been taking! The people in welfare work try to expand it, just as the people who sell typewriters, automobiles or tape recorders try to get them into use by everybody. However, in welfare you are asking or expecting someone other than the consumer to pay for the goods and services. This makes the whole affair different. For one thing, while welfare workers may assume that clients have a legal right to assistance, the rest of us do not; it is something we are willing to pay for only in cases where the persons are truly unable to earn and for only as long as the disability remains. Moreover, we feel that those people who are simply lacking in enough native ability or willingness to support themselves should be sterilized as assurance that they will not perpetuate this kind of dependency on others. It certainly is a gross distortion of what constitutes one's dignity and rights to say that he should only be required to state that his income is insufficient to meet a decent living standard by, say, $300.00 per month, when the people whose tax payments will supply the funds do not have the same right to simply write on the tax form that their income is not sufficient for them to make any payments for relief or the operation of the government in general, for that matter.' The taxpayer's dignity is disrespected to the point that he is hauled into court if he refuses to pay. By the same token the recipient of relief should have to stand a strict investigation and to be hauled into court when it comes out that he has been defrauding the government. If a person has paid insurance for compensation in the event of his becoming disabled, of course, he is entitled to the compensation when he becomes disabled. However, disability is a relative thing. There are more people working to support themselves and their families who have conditions for which others are living on relief than the total number of relief recipients. In my experience, the greatest handicap to people with disabilities is governmental regulations and restrictions of one kind or another, beginning with cities and extending through the federal government. Already, there is widespread concern because certain groups of people who may need assistance part of the year will not work to help harvest crops or do other types of necessary work. These things not only increase relief costs but increase the price of fruits, vegetables and other farm produce. Under such a system as the Advisory Council outlines, these people never would work -- and many of them would draw relief in several different places. I would be the first to want to help those who are truly in need of help and to try to make arrangements so that those who just never will be able to stand on their own may have a basic living. *** From Mrs. Amanda Farley, 106 Vicky Dr., Sturgis, Michigan 49091: I like the sound of the Burton Bill. If we could get that passed by Congress it would put money into circulation right here in the U.S. where it should be. Not many foreign people could be much poorer than we blind people are. H.R. 335 would enable us to keep the roof over our heads. I have had to abandon my little home after 27 years. We have never gotten money enough for floors and doors and chimneys, things that do wear out. ... I tried to work but had to go so far away that it was no good. I was told that I could sell only a very small portion of the handwork I did through the outlet store 79 miles away because I was blind and deaf, not crippled! If we blind-deaf people are not handicapped I would like to know who is! *** From Vera and Berge Thompson, 8038 SE Salmon, Portland, Oregon 97215: (We) have been regular readers of the FORUM and although we have not been in a position to attend the conventions we follow the activities and hope to be in San Francisco next summer. ... We were thinking, as the convention is going to be on the West Coast a package tour to Hawaii certainly would be in order. ... I feel sure if we started working on it right away it would be popular among the members. We thought we would send this suggestion on so it could be discussed at the upcoming conference. (How about it Readers?) ***** ** Ned's Corner We quote as the first item under Letters from Readers some excerpts from a long braille letter written by a blind reader upon which I should like to comment. The American Council has not yet taken any official stand on either of the questions raised but it is my feeling that the gentleman is unduly alarmed. The postal bill referred to would eliminate the one cent per pound rate now charged braille, large-type or recorded magazines for which a subscription fee is charged, or which contain advertising. The one cent rate which now applies, under certain conditions, to appliances and materials for the use of the blind would also be dropped. Most braille magazines designed specifically for blind readers are sent without charge upon request or the cost is included in the dues charged to members of the sponsoring organization. The one cent per copy which would have to be paid represents such a small part of the cost of production that it plays no material role in the decision as to whether or not to charge a subscription fee. Braille editions of general inkprint magazines are subsidized by contributions and the Library of Congress and are circulated postage free by the regional libraries. The proposed law should make no change in their availability to all. The main reason for the Corbett bill is the desire of the Post Office department to get rid of this token postage rate which costs them more to administer than they collect. The feature of this proposal to which I myself object is the dropping of the present third-class charge on braille, large type and recorded correspondence. We ask for equality for the blind, not special favors, so should we not be willing to pay postage on our letters? True, braille letters and tapes weigh more than typed material but this is compensated for by the third-class rate. So far as the proposed National Center for the Deaf-Blind is concerned -- it is my hope that this desire of the President can be realized. I thoroughly agree with the writer that the most crying need of the deaf-blind person, child or adult, is communication with others in his home community. A few local groups are making efforts in this direction, and it is hoped that more will recognize the special needs of the deaf-blind. There are only eight agencies in this country which have the facilities and trained personnel for the education and training of deaf-blind children. Except for the Industrial Home for the Blind, there is presently an almost total lack of training facilities for the adult deaf-blind. The proposed national center would not be designed for the aged and infirm deaf-blind, but rather for the younger, potentially employable adult and for the vocational training of graduates from the specialized school programs. It is my hope that many of you who know of the employment barriers faced by the able deaf-blind young person will take Mr. Salmon's suggestion and write to the President expressing your support of this project. It will be good to get together with many old and new friends in Wichita. Am looking forward to seeing you. ***** ** Here and There With George Card From the HOOSIER STAR-LIGHT: "The 'moon walker' is a battery-powered 'bug' with six jointed legs designed to transport instruments over the irregular surface of the moon. It is now being tested by handicapped children at the University of California in Los Angeles as a walking wheelchair which easily navigates curbs and steps ... A blind craftsman, Bill Jermyn of Whitby, Ontario, using a Jackknife as his principal tool, occasionally supplemented by a power tool, turns out perfect reproductions of antique furniture ... The use of sign language as a vernacular for the deaf in parts of the Mass where English is spoken has won full approval of His Holiness Pope Paul VI. ... In response to a request from Dr. Frank Heofle, ophthalmologist aboard the American hospital ship Repose, the International Eye Bank at Ceylon made a gift of eyes for corneal transplants for blinded Vietnamese civilians, mostly children, who were being treated by the Repose Medical Team ... Effective use of low vision aids has enabled Russell McNeely, a 1965 graduate of the Indiana School for the Blind, to function successfully as a claims examiner for the Associates Life Insurance Company, of Indianapolis ... Hugh McGuire, of Terre Haute, who has been an outstanding placement counselor for 22 years, has now been appointed state wide Employment Counselor and his vast experience will henceforth be available to area placement counselors in every part of Indiana." (Hugh has been a familiar figure at many national conventions of the organized blind.) From the ILLINOIS BRAILLE MESSENGER: ... "A new book on fine cooking, Feasts for All Seasons, has been written by Roy Andries deGroot, a blind New Yorker. Mr. deGroot, who lost his sight during the London blitz, is president of the International Gourmet Society." From the VISUALLY HANDICAPPED VIEWS (S.D.): "Howard H. Hanson, State Director of the Service to the Blind was elected President of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation at their annual conference in Denver ... Raymond Melhoff has tendered his resignation as President of the South Dakota Association of the Blind in order to accept a position in Washington, D.C., as a consultant on the vending stand program. His address is: Apt# 104, 3707 Connell Drive, Forestville, Maryland. He is succeeded by the vice president, A.C.B. Board member, Vernon Williams, of Aberdeen." (The new editor of the V.H.V. is John Hauge, of Bison, South Dakota.) Knowledge is knowing the rules, experience is knowing the exceptions to them. From the World Council NEWSLETTER: "Death has occurred at the age of 90 for Sir Henry Holland. The Times of London calls him one of the most distinguished medical missionaries of this century and remarkable in particular for the contribu tion he made to the campaign against blindness in India. In his lifetime he is estimated to have restored the sight of about 100,000 cataract sufferers. At the age of 85 he conducted an eye-camp in Pakistan, supervising a group of eye surgeons which included his two sons. The team performed 2,500 operations in six weeks ... The current Five-Year Plan in Poland (1966-70) provides, among other educational reforms, an extension of the compulsory education of all blind children from seven to eight years, enrichment of the curricula of schools for the blind, (including corrective exercises for bad posture) and a beginning of integration into classes for sighted children. ... The European Committee of the World Council is urging that the White Cane Safety Day be recognized and celebrated throughout the world. ... In Germany the Disabled Persons Act, which requires business agencies to hire disabled persons as at least 10% of their employees and private employers at least 6% --of which a reasonable proportion must be blind -- is enforced against those who do not conform by a monthly tax of 50 Deutsche Marks for each post not filled. ... In five areas -- Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony and the Saar -- monthly grant of 100 DM to those over 18 years is paid as a matter of right, without any limitations as to income and property. However, a blind person who refuses to do work that can be reasonably expected of him or to be given training, further training or retraining for an appropriate occupation or other suitable activity, shall not be entitled to such assistance ... The German Union of Professional Blind, which celebrated its Golden Jubilee last year, may have made a very important breakthrough when one of its members was appointed to a key position in the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. In all countries, even those in which access to the higher ranks of the Civil Service now accepted as normal for blind people, foreign ministries would appear to have resisted the recruitment of blind civil servants more energetically than their colleagues in other Government departments ... At the Golden Jubilee of the Study Center for the Blind in March, Dr. Carl Strehl, who was a founder in 1916 and later became a vice president of the World Council, was decorated with the Gold Medal of the Union of the War-Blinded for his work for the blind both in Germany and abroad. This was the first time such an award had been made to a blind civilian ... The Universal Postal Union has authorized the use of the word 'Cecogramme' as a substitute for 'Literature for the Blind' or 'Articles for the Blind', or their equivalents in other languages, by any of its member countries as a standard marking on material for the blind sent post-free from one country to another ... In the Netherlands blind nationals of other countries are permitted to take advantage of travel concessions on an equal basis with the Dutch blind when visiting Holland ... The World Council has received a description of a sheltered workshop in Shanghai, China. It employs some 400 workers, divided equally between the blind, the deaf and those otherwise handicapped. One department produces 70 different plastic articles, another a wide range of electrical goods, and a third is engaged in metal work and manufactures screws and other articles for the light engineering industry. Rubble paths have been laid to assist the blind workers to move freely among the various buildings. They observe a six-hour working day ... The Danish Union of the Blind is compiling details of the manufacturer and the catalogue number of all gramophone records by blind artists which are currently obtainable in other countries ... Mr. Eero Hakkinen, a member of the W.C.W.B. Executive Committee, has been elected to the Parliament of Finland Mr. Denis Pons, a blind physiotherapist in France, has invented a new piece of equipment for himself and his blind colleagues called the 'Arthropons'. It is an armchair to which many separate pieces of specialized apparatus can be attached to assist in the articulation of various parts of the body from thumb to the ankle ... Last November at a one-day symposium conducted by the Irish National League of the Blind, the World Council Secretary-General, Mr. John Jarvis, told his audience -- which included a number of members of the Irish Parliament -- that many of the reforms for which the League is asking are already in force in countries whose economic and social development is no more advanced than that of the Irish Republic. ... In Japan an effort is finally being made to locate deaf-blind children with a view to their training and education. Most of them will have been hidden away and neglected by their parents or confined to institutions for the mentally defective because of their inability to communicate with people around them ... Glaucoma and cataract are the main causes of blindness in Caribbean countries, but there is an interesting and so far unexplained racial difference. Glaucoma predominates among people of African origin, cataract among Asians; trachoma, prevalent on the mainland, is conspicuous by its absence in the islands. This puzzles the medical authorities but not the tourist boards who ascribe it to sunshine and sea-bathing. There are many children not at school and most of the Caribbean blind live in poverty and destitution. ... The Union of the Blind of Yugoslavia estimate that the blind population of their country is now some 19,000, of whom 17,000 are members of the Union. Some 2,500 are readers of Braille and well over 5,000 are employed. More than 600 are employed as telephonists. There are also some 60 masseurs, over 70 teachers (half of them working in schools for the blind), 9 lawyers, 4 social workers, and 13 shorthand-typists. Two thousand children and young people are in the various schools for the blind and over 500 in rehabilitation and training centers. On the railways the blind are entitled to six journeys a year at a reduction of 75% and their guides travel free. On internal airlines the blind may make two journeys a year with a guide who pays no fare." Donald Hunder, of Minneapolis, passed away on April 20. He was Chairman of the Minnesota Citizens Committee Of and For the Blind, a long-time treasurer of the Minnesota Organization of the Blind and a highly successful blind lawyer. On April 27 Sidney B. Cohen, Executive Director of the American Association of Workers for the Blind, died in Washington, D.C. Starting July 1 all New York drivers will have to have eye tests every time they renew their drivers' licenses. The former N.Y. law required an eye test only every nine years. The Library of Congress, Division for the Blind, now has its own handsome building in the northwest part of Washington, D.C. With the addition of many severely handicapped clients who are unable to read ordinary print by reason of disabilities other than blindness, this branch of the Library has been adding an average of 1,000 names a month to its Talking Book recipients. From the Washington State WHITE CANE: "Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed a bill March 14 barring discrimination in the training, certification and hiring of blind school teachers in New York City, the only city in the state still holding to a prejudice policy." ... Successful WSAB Legislation: "HB 175 removed the former objectionable sections and added new sections which modernize and liberalize vocational training for the blind. It removed the word 'need' as a requirement for vocational training. HB 608 removed completely the residence requirements for assistance." From the American Medical Association NEWS: "A Federal Appeals Court struck down the mandatory $100-a-month limit on outside earnings for people receiving social security disability payments. The court, meeting in Richmond, Va., held that Congress did not intend to exclude from disability payments people who 'because of character and a sense of responsibility' choose to work despite their handicaps. The ruling was made in the case of a W.Va. coal miner found to be unfit for heavy labor because of back injuries. He received $150 a month for operating a dishwashing machine to help support his wife and nine children. Social Security refused to pay him disability benefits because his income exceeded $100 a month." From the American Foundation for the Blind NEWSLETTER: "The first census of blind persons ever conducted in Puerto Rico is now being carried out under a VRA grant. The names and addresses are gathered by electric meter readers, Lions Clubs and school teachers. ... An increase in job opportunities for visually handicapped persons in the food service and lodging industries was the goal of an institute which AFB conducted June 5-7 in New York City. The participants observed selected service jobs being performed by employees of the N.Y. Hilton Hotel to identify which jobs can be handled by visually handicapped persons. The institute was similar to that held by AFB last year for the employment of blind persons in hospitals." From the HOOSIER STAR-LIGHT: "Although Seeing Eye, Inc., Morristown, N.J., normally makes monetary grants only for ophthalmic research, veterinary medicine and for mobility training and device development, the agency recently made a grant of $50,000 to Recordings for the Blind, Inc. The grant will be used to assist RFB in its new five-year program to change over from recording on discs to recording on tape, thus permitting the organization to serve many more persons ... From TODAY'S HEALTH: "University Medical Center scientists in Cleveland are using high-frequency sound waves beamed inside the eye to push a detached retina gently back into place. They hope to use a higher intensity of sound waves later to 'weld' the retina in place." (May 25) I have only just now learned that my old friend J. M. Warren, Chairman of ACB's Audit Committee, was quite severely injured when struck by a car on a Nashville street last January. He spent several weeks in hospital and is still able to take care of his concession stand on only a part-time basis. It was a pelvic fracture but in spite of his age Mr. Warren still has tremendous resilience and his many friends will be thankful to learn that he is steadily gaining. The American Foundation has provided three television shorts showing blind people performing very untraditional jobs, among them: A blind mechanic repairing automatic transmissions, a stenographer taking Braille shorthand dictation, a blind teacher with sighted students, a computer processor, a hospital worker. From the NEW BEACON: "A cross-section of American adults handed a card listing eight major diseases and ailments, were asked 'Of these, which one would you say is the worst that can happen to you?' the results: cancer 62%, blindness - 18%, heart disease - 9%, arthritis - 3%, polio - 3%, loss of limb - 1%, tuberculosis - 1%, deafness - less than 1%." (But I have yet to meet the first blind person who would wish to recover sight at the expense of the loss of his hearing.) Darlene and I attended an AAWB twelve-state Regional Workshop in Minneapolis, May 10-11. I represented the Wisconsin Council. Many such workshops in the past have been so dominated by high-level administrators talking to each other that, for the rank-and-file worker, they have been something less than rewarding. This one was different. There were a few very knowledgeable experts as discussion leaders but -- if I can mangle a metaphor -- the firing line workers were not only permitted but encouraged to take over the proceedings and they reacted with enthusiasm. In my opinion, however, the two forty-five-minute talks by Dr. Douglas McFarland, top man in the blind section of VRA, were the high points. He gave us a searching analysis of the 1965 rehabilitation amendments, pointing out their as yet unrealized potential. For quite a long time we have been told that each year 30,000 people become blind in the U.S. Dr. McFarland stated that that figure is now 42,000 a year. He insisted that, if the jobs of rehabilitation which the 1965 amendments make possible were really being done, at least 12,000 of these newly blinded Americans could be placed in remunerative employment each year. This is certainly the most optimistic figure I have ever heard. But Dr. McFarland was very convincing. ***** ** Refugees from the Round File A 2,000-year-old artificial hand was removed from an Egyptian mummy recently in the United Kingdom by Mr. P.S. Rawson, keeper of Durham University's Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art. Uncovering the mummy's arms, crossed on his chest, Mr. Rawson cut through the right forearm in order to remove the prosthesis. It was tightly bandaged, with the fingers curled inwards. The next step will be to find out by detailed laboratory examination what the artificial hand was made of and whether it was worn during life or fitted after death in order to equip the Egyptian (who seems to have been a civil servant) for the next world. The hand may have been fitted to make him presentable at court. *** (Missouri Chronicle, March, 1967.) In November, Mr. Hubert Wheeler, Commissioner of Education, formed an Advisory Committee on Workshops and Rehabilitation Facilities for the Handicapped. G. Arthur Stewart, Past President of the Missouri Federation the Blind, was appointed on this Committee. This group plans to meet quarterly and hopes to make a major contribution to this worthwhile project. The letter appointing Mr. Stewart to this group states its purpose as follows: ... "To study Vocational Rehabilitation resources now available within the State, and to develop, as a result of the study, a comprehensive plan to strengthen existing resources and develop new facilities so as to be capable of affording necessary services of vocational rehabilitation to all handicapped Missourians by July, 1975." On January 18th a Committee was appointed by Mr. Charles O'Halloran, State Librarian, to implement the Federal Legislation passed last session expanding library services for the physically handicapped. G. Arthur Stewart was also appointed to this Committee, which held its first meeting on January 30th. *** The United States delegation to the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind met in New York City February 17th to discuss possible revision in its membership. The International conference of WCWB which met in New York in 1964 adopted a policy statement which, in effect, states that where organizations of the blind exist in a member country the delegation to the World Council should give, so far as possible, equal representation to organizations of the blind and agencies for the blind. The present American delegation consists of two representatives from AAWB and one each from AAIB, AFB, AFOB and NFB. Thus, there is only one of organization represented in the six-man delegation. In addition to the members of the delegation the meeting was attended by representatives of VRA, the Library of Congress, the Blinded Veterans Association and President Reese Robrahn, representing ACB. No final decision was reached at this meeting, although it was recognized that the representation of the delegation should be broadened. Future consultations on this subject are contemplated. *** The community services division of the American Foundation has opened a regional office in Atlanta to serve local and State agencies in the Southeastern area. The office, located in the Candler Building, 127 Peachtree St., N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30303, is the second regional office opened by the division in a de centralization of the Foundation's field service program. Vernon Metcalf, the newly appointed AFB regional consul tant for the Southeastern area, will be permanently based in Atlanta. From Atlanta he will serve agencies, schools and centers in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico ... The community services division is the Foundation's prime link with local and state agencies. The division's regional consultants regularly visit agencies, schools and centers to assist the professional staff and to transmit both established and newly developed methods and techniques. The consultants arrange for and participate in seminars and conferences as well as aid in long-range planning for the improvement and expansion of programs. The opening of field offices will provide the staff with closer identification with developments in the regions and will make them more accessible to all agencies. The first of such regional offices was opened in November, 1966, in San Francisco, California to serve the West Coast area. Benjamin Wolf is the AFB regional consultant in this area. *** A research project being carried on by the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Center is looking for information concerning unusual occupations in which blind persons are engaged. This is one part of a larger project looking toward the improvement of employment opportunities for the blind. It is understood that the Center expects to conduct a number of regional seminars in various parts of the country and that they intend to include representatives of organizations of the blind in these panels. If you are doing a job which is unusual for the blind person, or if you know of someone engaged in such an occupation, you are requested to write to: Mrs. K.L. Maloney, Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Center, 727 Goucher St., Johnstown, Pennsylvania 15905. *** The current Summer edition of DIALOGUE magazine contains, together with its usual well-balanced content, three articles which are especially recommended. First, "Concepts and Misconceptions" by Kenneth Jernigan, director, Iowa State Commission for the Blind. Ken warns us against accepting for ourselves the prevalent misconceptions as to the abilities of the blind. He also recommends efforts on the part of organizations of and for the blind to correct misconception and urges the organized blind to insist upon their collective voice being heard. A pilot project conducted by the DVR of the District of Columbia to study the feasibility of totally blind operators of vending machines is reported. Since the success of the original installation a number of complete service vending machine locations have been established in various departmental buildings in the District, using licensed blind operators. Ray Dickinson's "Talking Time" paraphrases an old Chinese proverb: "Expect not understanding but learn to live without it." It is your editor's opinion that DIALOGUE is one of the best magazines written specifically for blind persons. It is available on records from your Regional Talking Book Library. *** Paul Knowles, of Leader Dogs and active ACB-ite, is busting his button these days. His daughter, Carrie Jane, was recipient of the Wayne (Mich.) Business and Professional Women's Club Scholarship Award, which was presented to her as guest of honor at the Club's dinner meeting. With a total of nearly $2000 in scholarships, Carrie will attend Wayne State University preparatory to becoming a Physical Therapist. She is already busy on her summer job as nurses' aid in the local hospital. Graduating on her eighteenth birthday, Carrie is one of six state-wide members of the National Honor Society and an honor graduate of John Glenn High, Wayne. Besides her scholastic achievements she is an accomplished musician, playing practically every woodwind instrument in the school orchestra. She is also a student of the harp. Our congratulations and best wishes to Carrie -- and to Paul and Ruth! ***** ** Pilot Dog Serves Distant Applicant Stanley Doran Paltiel Molczadski has returned to Tel Aviv, Israel, with his new Pilot Dog, a Labrador Retriever named Beauty. Paltiel, who answers the phone in seven languages, is a switchboard operator for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Agency in Tel Aviv. He had been a dental technician before World War II. In the Polish Army he fought the German invasion and after Poland fell, he served twice in Russian Armies. When Paltiel lost his sight in the explosion of a mine, he returned to Poland to find his family and 40,000 Jews had been shot and buried in open graves near his home. When Israel was formed, he became a citizen and received his first guide dog from a school there. When that school closed, relatives in the United States told him of Pilot Dogs, Incorporated, 625 West Town Street, Columbus, Ohio. Paltiel provided his own transportation from Israel to the United States and back, but the Pilot Dog Training was provided without cost as it is to all qualified blind persons within the United States. ***** ** ACB Officers and Directors President: Reese H. Robrahn, 541 New England Building, Topeka, Kansas 66603 1st Vice President: Ned E. Freeman, 136 Gee's Mill Rd., Conyers, Ga. 30207 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: F.W. Orrell, 5209 Alabama Ave., Chattanooga, Tenn. 37409 ** Directors Mrs. Mary Jane Schmitt, 55 Queens St., Rochester, N.Y. 14609 R.L. Thompson, 104 W. Hanlon St., Tampa, Fla. 33604 Fred C. Lilley, 7629 Dale St., Richmond Heights, Missouri 63117 J. Edward Miller, 2621 Chesterfield Ave., Charlotte, North Carolina 28205 George Card, 605 S. Few Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703 Vernon Williams, 217 Western Union Bldg., Aberdeen, S.D. 57401 Mrs. Catherine Skivers, 836 Resota St., Hayward, California 94545 Floyd Qualls, 106 N.E. 2nd St., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104 *** This sight saving edition was assembled and mailed by members of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Oklahoma Federation of the Blind. ##