The Braille Forum
Vol. VI March 1968 No. 5

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

* Editor:
Ned E. Freeman 
136 Gee's Mill Rd. 
Conyers, GA 30207

* Associate Editors:
George Card
605 South Few St.
Madison, WI 53703

Earl Scharry
5714 Ridgeway Ave.
Rockville, MD 20851

* Executive Office:
ACB Board of Publications
652 East Mallory Ave.
Memphis, Tenn. 38106

* President:
Reese Robrahn
329 Woodbury Lane
Topeka, KS 66606

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.

***

The BRAILLE FORUM is available in braille, large type and on tape, 7-inch, dual track, 3-3/4 ips. 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 large type editions. 

The tape edition may be obtained from Ned 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 Message, by Reese H. Robrahn

Golden Gates to Opportunity, by Juliet Bindt, ACB Public Relations Chair

ACB Elections, 1968

Call for Ambassador Nominations, by George Fogarty

New Electric Braille Writer

New Small Business Opportunity

The Hungry Can't Wait, by Charles I. Schottland

Trial Work Period Clarified

NAM Champions Handicapped

Israel: Computer Training Pioneer, by Yehuda Schiff

Progress in Hays (Kansas), by Bill Lewis

Lifelong Objective Realized

The Friend as Counselor, by Louis and Lucile Cantoni

Ned's Corner

Tape Library Services

From Ground to Air and Beyond, by Anthony V. Cirella 

Look to the E-A-S-T, by Frank Kells

The Genie Goes to College, by Earl Scharry

Here and There, with George Card

New Free Postage Regulations

Nemeth Code Workshops

Openings at Hadley

Letters from Readers

"Head Start" Worker

Refugees from the Round File

ACB Officers

Directors

*****

** ACB President's Message
Reese H. Robrahn

Space assigned to this column does not permit a complete enumeration of the programs and services which will be established and provided through the Washington, D.C. office of the American Council, much less permit the setting forth in detail. For this issue, I will state simply a few most immediate plans. From time to time and as programs and services are inaugurated, you will be fully informed in these pages. 

1. The leadership of the American Council has always displayed interest and active participation in the organization and development of credit unions of the blind. One of our first programs will explore and implement methods and techniques of expansion of the credit union movement among the blind population, which ultimately will involve a comprehensive plan of education in consumer buying, credit purchasing, family budgeting and allied aspects of personal and family finance. 

2. Upon the written request of any affiliate organization or other organization of the blind, the American Council will provide speakers from among its officers and members to participate in conventions and meetings. This service will be without cost. For the time being, requests should be addressed to this office: 539 New England Building, Topeka, Kansas 66603. 

3. Subject to our selection the American Council will assist in the preparation and prosecution of appropriate court cases to challenge the encroachment of agencies and/or employee unions and organizations upon the rights of blind vending stand operators under the Randolph-Sheppard Act. This offer is made both to licensing agencies and individual operators. 

4. We will conduct area seminars or workshops in cooperation with state and local organizations to acquaint further our membership and all interested persons with the purpose and aims of the Council and with the means by which we seek to realize our goals, to develop leadership and provide officer training, and to educate and inform in such areas as fund raising, membership development, legislative action and all other areas of organizational activity. 

5. We will encourage, foster and assist in the formation and development of regional conferences or organizations in cooperation with our members-at-large.

6. Our Washington office will provide free of charge to any individual or organization any information concerning programs and services for the blind and legislation affecting the blind, Federal and State.

7. We will develop a regular and continuing program of television and radio series, to be distributed nation-wide, designed to inform and educate the public concerning the blind to the end of eradication of stereotypes, elimination of discrimination, and achievement of realistic acceptance of the blind in all areas of endeavor and at all levels of social intercourse.

*****

** Golden Gates to Opportunity
Juliet Bindt, ACB Public Relations Chair

"Golden Gates to Opportunity" is the theme for the seventh annual convention of the American Council the Blind, to be held in San Francisco, California, Tuesday, July 16, through Saturday, July 20, 1968. The host affiliate, the Associated Blind of California, will hold a one-day meeting on Sunday, July 21. 

Both conventions will be headquartered at Hotel Bellevue, 565 Geary Street, San Francisco 94102. This is a block from the airport terminal, next to the theater and shopping centers of this fabulous city, and on a municipal bus line that goes from the beach to the terminal for catching buses to the East Bay. Incidentally, persons with white canes or guide dogs are not asked for fares on municipal buses. Brailled maps and listings of restaurants and points of interest are in the making.

Everyone will be warmly welcomed by the Associated Blind of California and its president, Mrs. Catherine Skivers, who is General Chairman as well as being an ACB Board Member. 

Activities will begin Tuesday evening, July 16, with a California Champagne Reception, courtesy of the host affiliate.   

Wednesday morning is set aside for committee meetings, and the afternoon is for the opening general session. The evening is open so that everyone can seek his greatest pleasure in this city of unending surprises. If you do not have personal plans, there will be literature and guides to help you have fun. 

Thursday will offer a morning and afternoon session of excellent program, including a talk by Dr. Berthold Lowenfeld, who continues to do research on educational opportunities for blind children. The program will include panel discussions on blind persons in the teaching profession, autobiographical accounts of interesting work being done by blind individuals, a discussion of the problems of the multiply handicapped blind and especially those with diabetes. The keynote speaker will be Durward McDaniel of Oklahoma City, ACB's Legislative Chairman and upcoming National Representative in ACB's new Washington, D.C. office. Many other fine program items are still being developed. Thursday evening will be a two-part tour: dinner in Chinatown and then, for those who wish to continue, a night club tour into the haunts of "The Topless" entertainers -- and they are not hesitant about embracing appreciative patrons!

Friday morning and all day Saturday will be business sessions to handle resolutions, elections and other or organizational business. These sessions will be presided over by Judge Reese Robrahn of Topeka, Kansas, ACB President. Friday afternoon, there will be a Bay Cruise at world-famous Fisherman's Wharf. Then back to the Bellevue for the banquet at which charters to new affiliates and the Ambassador Award will be presented by Judges' Chairman, George Fogarty. Banquet speaker will be Don Mozley, News Director of KCBS, who will take you behind scenes in a radio studio and provide many good laughs.

Saturday morning there will be a special breakfast for those interested in credit unions. This will be chaired by Durward McDaniel. Also on Saturday there will be a special luncheon for vending stand operators where they can go into detail about their unique problems and exchange ideas. This meeting will be jointly chaired by Durward McDaniel and John Thomas, who was elected president last year of the national vending stand operators organization, the Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of America. 

The Associated Blind of California as well as ACB has been especially interested in problems of the Deaf-Blind, and it had been hoped that ABC could host a special day's meeting for this group just prior to the regular ACB convention. Response has been light, but anyone interested should contact our general chairman and we might yet have some social get-togethers arranged.

Also, the host affiliate would like to provide nursery care service, but we would need to know ahead as to when these services might be needed, the ages of the children, and whether parents would want their children taken on local tours about the City. 

All these plans can be greatly facilitated if people will report their interests and needs to the general chairman, Mrs. J.K. Skivers, 836 Resota St., Hayward, California 94545, telephone -- area code 415, then either 782-3744 or 357-1986. She is anxious to plan for everyone's comfort. If we know about how many may be interested in tours, etc., it will make it easier, and we can procure better prices.

Lucille (Mrs. Fred) Krepela, 855 Belmont Street, N.E., Salem, Oregon 97301, is planning for exhibits, and hopes to hear from any of you wishing to bring some, especially unusual items from the various states. 

Please make reservations directly with Hotel Bellevue, 505 Geary Street, San Francisco, 94102, marking your letter that you will be attending ACB. Single rooms will be $12 and either double or twin beds - $16, suites with sitting rooms - $25. It will be appreciated if you send a carbon of your reservations to Registration Chairman, Mrs. Ferne Pritchard, 400 Adams Street, Albany, California 94706.

We're planning for you! We're doing our best to have you work a little, play a little and gain something for yourself and ACB. So to carry out our permanent theme of "Improving Tomorrow, Today," be sure to make it Golden Gate in '68 for "Golden Gates to Opportunity."

*****

** ACB Elections, 1968

There has been very little response to the suggestion that those who felt willing and able to devote their time and efforts to furthering the development of the American Council of the Blind in an elective capacity should let this fact be known to the readers of the BRAILLE FORUM. 

For your information, we are indicating here which of the present officers and directors will complete their present terms this year and whether or not they will be eligible for re-election. So far as we are advised, all are willing to continue to serve in some capacity.

The list of ACB officers and directors will be found in its customary place inside the back cover of this issue. The two-year terms of all the five officers will expire this year. Of these, Murphey and Krause will have completed the three consecutive terms permitted by the Constitution and so will not be eligible for election to their present offices. 

The directors whose terms expire this year are Schmidt, Thompson, Lilley and Miller (elected in '66 to complete the unexpired term of Orrell). All of these will be available for reelection except Schmidt who will have completed the two terms allowed by the Constitution. The directors whose present terms extend to 1970 are Card, Williams, Skivers and Qualls. 

The present elected members of the ACB Board of Publications are Fred Krepela of Salem, Oregon, Mrs. Assunta Lilley of St. Louis, and Jack Lewis of Macon, Georgia. Of these, only Mrs. Lilley has indicated a desire to serve in some capacity other than the publications board. The other two are available. The only person not presently serving in an elective capacity for ACB who has indicated a readiness to serve is Mary Walton of Topeka, Kansas, who has held various elective offices in local and state organizations and who was for some time editor of the KAB News.

*****

** Call for Ambassador Nominations
George Fogarty, Chairman
ACB Ambassador Award Judges

The time has come to seek nominations for the recipient of our 1968 Ambassador Award. This award affords us a rare opportunity to present, through personal achievement, an image of the blind in keeping with what we strive to have it be. As stated before, one of the highlights of the ACB convention is the presentation of the Ambassador's Award during the convention banquet program; and one of the pleasures of convention goers is the opportunity to meet and become acquainted with the recipient of the award, our Ambassador. 

In order to qualify, the recipient must be blind and must be a citizen of the United States or one of its possessions. The award gives recognition annually to a blind person, who, through employment or profession, civic, political or cultural activities, exemplifies the citizen integrated into the total life of the community. It is not essential that the recipient be a member of an organization of the blind.

Submit your nominations now. Have YOUR favorite Ambassador join our very select group. Nominations should be submitted on or before June 10, 1968. They should be presented to the chairman of the Board of Judges, with a copy to the members of the Board of Judges. 

Submit your nominations to: George L. Fogarty, 2107 28th Avenue, San Francisco, California 94116, Chairman of the Board of Judges Ambassador Award; and members of the Board of Judges John P. Nelson, Montevideo, Minnesota 56265 and Miss Lovelia Hilty, 309 Van Buren, Topeka, Kansas 66600.

*****

** New Electric Braille Writer

What may prove to be an important breakthrough for students, teachers and braillists has just been announced by the International Business Machines Company (IBM). Their new electric braille typewriter uses the standard four row typewriter keyboard, and corresponding braille characters are embossed automatically and can be proof-read as produced. Any touch typist can thus produce grade one braille without any knowledge of the shape or construction of braille characters, simply by typing the material without the use of the shift key. All letters, numerals, and most of the punctuation marks are in the same position as on a standard typewriter keyboard. Provision is made for all 63 braille characters by using the shift key for the non-alphabetic symbols, making it possible to write any form of braille, grades 2 or 3, mathematics, music, etc.

It is believed that this new machine will greatly facilitate braille communication for schools, agencies and volunteer transcribers. It will no longer be necessary for the transcriber to learn the shape of the characters or the position of the braille dots. All they will have to learn is the rules for braille usage and the standard contraction forms. Hourly production rates should be greatly increased. Since the additional energy necessary for the embossing of the braille characters is supplied by the machine, brailling will be no more fatiguing than typing on any other electric typewriter.

The IBM electric braille typewriter has a correction key which, when depressed, flattens the embossed dots and the correct character can then be typed in. Provision is also made for the production of a master copy from which almost unlimited duplicates may be made. 

This new electric braille writer sells for the same price as the IBM Selectric model to which it is essentially identical in size and keyboard arrangement. 

It is expected that one of these new models will be on display at the ACB convention in San Francisco next July. After next July, be sure to see it. 

Those interested in obtaining further information about this new braille writer should contact their nearest IBM office.

*****

** New Small Business Opportunity

A nationwide program which gives promise of being a most important opportunity for handicapped persons to establish their own businesses has been developed through the cooperative efforts of the 3M Company and state and other vocational rehabilitation agencies. Called Community Business Services Associates (CBSA, for short), the operators of these businesses provide a great variety of business services within their home communities. The handicapped operators of these installations throughout the country include all categories of disabilities, including severe visual impairment and even total blindness. However, those responsible for the selection, counseling and training of prospective operators freely admit that a person without some useful vision will need to have some sighted assistance, usually from family members. 

Central to the CBSA installation are a dry photo copier and a thermofax copying machine, but other equipment is included to provide services to local business clients. CBSA services include valuable copying, operational services, copying, short-run duplication, mailing lists and mailing services, "grand opening" support material, laminating, statement making systems, illuminated point-of-sale advertising, salesmen prospecting systems, photo labels, effective meeting equipment ... plus other types of services related to graphic reproduction. In most cases, services are as applicable to the social and personal areas of the community as they are to business.

The CBSA program had its founding in the winter of 1963-64 when the Minnesota Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and the 3M Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, a diversified manufacturing corporation, agreed to test a "business services" theory developed by 3M to create self-employment for the handicapped, and to develop new routes to new markets. DVR examined its case histories and made two recommendations. 3M contributed the equipment, supplies and, most important on the company's part, the business knowhow and instructional guidance necessary for the experiment. During this experimental stage new "applications" were included to broaden the business potential of a center. 

After weighing the results of the test installations, Minnesota DVR gave the 3M Company the go-ahead to set up as many centers as DVR and 3M specialists felt plausible -- in relation to handicapped referrals and likely communities. From mid-1965 the CBSA program moved into adjoining states, then began taking on national stature in 1966.

Usually the program is set up jointly by the CBSA Division of the 3M Company and the state vocational rehabilitation agency, with the agency and company personnel screening and evaluating potential operators, with the state agency meeting the costs for equipment, supplies and training. Anyone interested in obtaining further information about this opportunity to establish himself in a business of his own should contact his state rehabilitation agency or write to Mr. R.W. Nelson, National Sales Supervisor, CBSA Services, 3M Company, 2501 Hudson Road, St. Paul, Minnesota 55119.

*****

** The Hungry Can't Wait 
Charles I. Schottland, Dean of the Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University 
Condensed by permission from the NATION.

... During the past two years, while discussions of a guaranteed minimum income an anti-poverty programs occupied stage center, little attention was given to the "poorest of the poor" -- the more than 8 million persons on the public relief rolls of state and local welfare departments who receive funds for food, clothing and shelter, but in most cases not enough to support health and decency. Thus, the federal government attempt to assist persons out of their distress and up from poverty through various anti-poverty programs, while it participates with the states in continuing to maintain 8 million public assistance recipients in conditions of distress and in poverty. 

A number of sound and far-reaching proposals are occupying the intellectual and political arenas. The guaranteed minimum income, which would have been considered radical even three or four years ago, has been proposed by Sargent Shriver and by the National Commission on Technology, Automation and Economic Progress of the Department of Labor, which included representatives of big business. There is an unfortunate tendency among some federal officials to deprecate "handout" programs and to emphasize training, community action, and more "constructive" approaches. When Congress pays attention to the problem, it is frequently to deplore rising costs, "chiselers," illegitimacy and other problems which frustrate alleged Congressional desires to do something more "constructive." 

Public assistance programs represent the recognition by the American people, the Congress, the state legislatures and the executive branches of federal, state and local governments that an affluent society such as the United States cannot permit people to suffer because they lack income through no fault of their own. Some are too old or too young or too disabled to work. Others suffer from handicaps which make it impossible for them to get even a sustaining share of our increased standard of living and our continued rise in personal income. We recognize a responsibility for such as these. Nevertheless, we can hardly echo the statement made in an official British document that "No man, woman, or child in Britain need for any reason fall below a minimum standard for decency which reasonable people would be willing to set."

To understand how this situation can exist in the United States today, it is necessary to understand how our public relief programs operate ... Generally, the aid was so meager (prior to the enactment of the social security law in 1935) that reports on local practices revealed that cruel treatment and shameful hardships were the lot of those "on the county." 

In addition to social security and categorical public assistance, states and/or local communities have established a program of "General Assistance" for needy persons who do not meet the eligibility requirements of the federal categories. 

All of these programs are infinitely superior to those existing prior to the Social Security Act. Federal laws and regulations require that assistance be granted in cash; that recipients have the right to appeal a denial of assistance; and that states must provide services to assist in rehabilitation uniting of families, and a variety of other services in order to qualify for federal reimbursement of 75 percent of state and local administration costs.

But although the federal government established numerous excellent regulations for the federal-state programs, the most important aspect of the program -- the amount of money to be paid to relief recipients -- was left for state determination. As a result, states vary in their payments from liberal amounts which are yet barely enough to support people decently, to payments which are too low to purchase the minimum necessities. 

The average payment on Old Age Assistance in the United States is less than $75.00 per month, and the average payment per recipient in the AFDC program is approximately $35 per month. These amounts must take care of rent, food, clothing, utilities, transportation and all other needs of life. When one realizes that many of the recipients of public assistance have little or no other income, the seriousness of the problem can be appreciated. ...

There is one simple answer to this problem. Both from a practical and a humanitarian point of view, the appropriate solution is compulsory federal standards. Levels of public assistance should be set by the federal government to guarantee recipients sufficient income to purchase the basic food, clothing and shelter vital for decent living and health. No state should be permitted to fall below the minimum standards. 

The United States has the resources to provide a decent standard of living for all of its citizens. A mechanism to secure that standard for those who cannot achieve it for themselves in the market place has been developed. It is a combination of social insurance and public assistance. A federal standard that will be binding upon all states  accepting federal funds is needed in the public assistance arena.

Theoretically, the standards already exist. What is needed now is a specification in terms of dollars. And a floor must be set below which no state may fall. It should 
be at least as high as the current demarcation line of $3,000 for a family of four.

We simply cannot help people out of their poverty, make them self-sufficient and self-respecting, as long as their stomachs are empty. There are states today that have excellent medical programs for public assistance recipients but such low cash grants that the inevitable result is a large incidence of malnutrition   which, of course, immediately qualifies the starving person for excellent medical care.

The imposition of a federal standard will not solve the problems overnight, but it will be a step in that direction. It will show that as a nation we do care how the 8 million fare on public assistance, that we do want to establish in America a minimum way of life below which no one shall fall.

*****

** Trial Work Period Clarified

(Editor's Note: From a letter received from the Social Security Administration in answer to several questions raised concerning trial work period permitted in Social Security disability insurance provisions. The principal question was whether more than one trial work period was allowable and whether the work experience in successive trials was cumulative.) 

An individual is not entitled to more than one trial work period within the same period of disability. The not more than nine months of trial work is counted beginning with the first month within the trial period in which a beneficiary performs services while entitled to disability insurance benefits. The trial work period ends with the ninth month in which the beneficiary has worked in the trial period or when his disability ceases for reasons other than work, whichever is earlier. An individual may attempt to work several times during a period of disability. However, not until after nine months of work are his services considered in determining whether he has demonstrated an ability to engage in substantial gainful activity. After the end of the trial work period any such services may be considered in determining whether he is able to engage in substantial gainful activity in any later month. 

A month of work is counted whether the disabled individual performs services throughout the entire month or in only part of the month. The term "services" means any activity in employment or self-employment which is performed for remuneration or gain or is determined to be of a type normally performed for remuneration or gain. Thus, if any individual renders services in self-employment in a month, that month will be counted even though the business may be operated at a loss. The month will be counted whether the individual renders services for payment in cash or in kind or gratuitously. "Services" would not include such activity as is performed in self-care, the individual's own household tasks, an unpaid training program, or work without pay which is performed merely as a therapeutic measure.

After an individual's trial work period has ended the Social Security Administration, in determining whether his disability has ceased, will review all medical and non-medical factors, including the claimant's work before, during, and after the trial work period. When a worker overlooks reporting at the beginning of a work attempt, he may have received erroneous disability payments and may be asked to refund the amount of disability checks he was overpaid. It should be pointed out that a cessation of disability may be found in any month after the ninth month of a trial work period. It may be the first month after the ninth or any subsequent month, depending on the facts in the case. 

An individual's nine-month work period need not be consecutive, he might work six months and then later work the remaining three months of the nine-month trial work period. This will be the point at which the Social Security Administration should review the case to determine if the individual is engaging in a successful work attempt.

*****

** NAM Champions Handicapped

(From a pamphlet published by the National Association of Manufacturers (New York))

Employers know from experience that the handicapped individual, when matched to the requirements of the job, is no longer handicapped. 

Employers should endeavor to provide wider employment opportunities for the handicapped by adhering to those personnel policies which promote the hiring, retention, and advancement of these individuals on a sound basis. 

The fact that skills and talents are in critically short supply today provides the best opportunity in years to convey the message to labor-short employers that handicapped people have real potential as workers. In the current labor market, employers cannot pick and choose as they normally do in selecting their work force. The unemployed worker today is often one with marginal skills, and he may not be nearly as competent as a handicapped person with the necessary abilities to handle the particular job. 

Enlightened employers are inclined to see the true values of the handicapped worker, no matter what the labor market conditions may be. But these times of labor shortage provide an unparalleled opportunity to approach employers whose interest heretofore was slight -- who previously saw more problems than benefits -- but who today may well be persuaded to see more benefits than problems.

*****

** Israel: Computer Training Pioneer
Yehuda Schiff

(Condensed from NEW OUTLOOK, January 1968. Mr. Schiff is the director of the Department for Rehabilitation in the Israeli Ministry of Social Welfare.) 

Under the Law of Return, implying nonselective immigration, Israel has during the past nineteen years received a great number of blind persons from all over the world, particularly from countries in Asia and Africa. Many of these immigrants have been deficient in education, lacking in regular working habits, and culturally deprived. This multiplied the blind population in Israel twelvefold, two-thirds being aged fifty and lower, which is contrary to what prevails in other countries. 

During the past few years there has been a growing need for training programs for the increasing number of graduates of regular high schools and capable non-graduates. 

In Israel, as in other western-oriented states, industry and commerce have made use of increased automation, and this forced training facilities for the blind to look for job activities which the blind could pursue in this new field. The success of nearly 100 blind telephone switchboard operators who are employed throughout Israel made us more confident that a properly trained blind person with certain technical, logical and mathematical capabilities could function well in the computer field. 

Israel has been, during the past years, in a period of industrial expansion which created a manpower shortage and made employers more willing to use blind persons as workers in industry and commerce. However, there was no precedent in Israel: or in other Western countries for employment of blind persons in the field of IBM machine operations or computer programming.

All of the above facts led to the idea of a course in IBM machine operation for high school graduates who did not pursue higher studies. 

An experimental group of eight blind students was formed. The term "class" was not justified since teachers, methods and curriculum were lacking. The experiences with this group were discussed at a meeting attended by the instructors, vocational rehabilitation counselors, specialists in IBM machines, and managers of three IBM installations in Jerusalem. The experiences with the experimental group were presented and it was concluded that a blind person is capable of operating all machines in an IBM installation except the accounting machine, and is also capable of installing the panel wiring for all machines, including the accounting machine. 

Our ministry conducts the IBM Program in cooperation with the office mechanization center of the Ministry of Finance, the IBM Corporation, and the Jewish Institute for the Blind. Through this cooperation we have brought together the skills and resources of representatives from industry, government, and voluntary agencies in developing better training and employment opportunities for the blind and otherwise handicapped persons.

The research project had four goals:

1.  To compile a manual for teachers and instructors on how to teach blind people theory and practice of operating IBM machines and panel wiring.

2.  To train blind persons to perform all operations according to the methods he has been taught, to do his work efficiently in a minimum time, and to operate the maximum number of machines of different types. 

3.  To devise special aids and features which will make the blind operator independent in his work. 

4.  To set up standards and criteria of abilities, education, etc., required of a student in an IBM course. 

The trainees were first taught the functions of the IBM machines and the information that could be obtained from them. This part of the course also included training in the wiring of control panels of all the machines. In the second part of the course, they practiced the actual operation of the machines. 

Studies were conducted according to a special program tailored to the needs of the visually handicapped trainees. The lessons were based on manuals published by IBM for sighted people. These manuals were transcribed into braille in order to free the trainee from dependence on instructions from sighted co-workers. 

As far as abstract explanations were concerned, the blind did not present special problems, but when explanations were based on drawings or illustrations, difficulties arose. The sketches and drafts were rendered in our training manuals with braille ink through a braille heater, so that the blind trainees could feel the sketches. 

Twenty-four blind students have now attended and finished three courses. Twenty of these students have been placed successfully in IBM operation and computer programming work with banks; with the municipalities of Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Nathanya; and with the IBM Corporation, the Ford Company, and other government and private enterprises. The project also included the training of deaf-mutes and otherwise handicapped girls as card punchers. Ten blind trainees participated in the evenings in three different programming courses for the IBM Computer 1401 and the NCR computer 315. Five of them did not graduate from our regular courses, while the others who were already employed returned to the project for retraining to be brought up-to-date on changes of equipment in their firms. 

Since the use of electronic computers is steadily increasing, manpower requirements for computer programming and operators must also be expected to increase. Therefore, our project has adapted itself to the growing tendencies in development by expanding from the original plan to include the whole field of computer programming. 

The adaptation of the project to the new trends in development will solve three problems: (1) retraining of the graduates; (2) basic training program for more blind in the field of computer programming; and (3) the opening up of new possibilities of training the visually and otherwise handicapped in the field of computer operation (an occupation that until now has been closed to them).

*****

** Progress in Hays (Kansas)
Bill Lewis

I hope this gets to you before the paper turns yellow. The mail service in small town areas is quite slow, so I hear from the people who are supposed to know about such things. I guess I'll have to agree. I once sent a Perch fish to a relative. When they got it, they thought the skeleton was that of a prehistoric creature and rushed over to the nearest museum to have it tested with carbon dating only to be told the truth -- slow mail service.

Living in a small town goes on as usual despite what the rest of the world is doing. Our fire department is still on the ball preventing fires or at times starting them; but when there're no fires to put out they continue to go geese hunting. Our police department is still protecting us from the bad guys. They're still looking for the culprit who stepped on the tulips on the courthouse lawn. Our airport has its own beacon light now. It flashes red by day and green by night -- well, whatever it flashes the pigeons don't seem to get confused. We probably have the only airport in the state that has its own night bird flights. Our train depot agent still sells tickets on the passing freights. Our schools still teach the kids to write. They don't know what they're writing, though, because they haven't been taught to read yet. Our local mayor is still promising to bring the Miss America pageant to Hays when his daughter gets old enough. Our forty-year-old bus station still looks brand new -- nobody ever uses it, so the paint is still new looking, too, on the bathroom walls. Our business district is still growing by leaps and bounds. We got a new used car lot last month. The new car sales are booming. One of our clinic staff bought it last week. We all ride to work with him now. 

I can't understand people who complain about there being nothing to do in a small town. I hear it time and time again, but I want you to know there's all sorts of 
things to do. If you're an active sort of person you can run a couple of times around the town before supper for exercise; or you can throw rocks at passing cars on the Interstate Highway; or you can go down to the river and catch colds; or you can join the fire department and help start fires -- that is, stop fires. Well, actually I have to reveal a secret here. Since our fire department has received honorable mention in a state-wide contest for fire prevention, they've gotten big-headed. They used to throw matches around just so they'd have some work to do. But now! They're driving around in their new red truck and waving to everybody on the streets. Well, anyway, back to my point -- what was my point? Oh, yes, I was talking about things to do. Well, the other day we got to feeling bored around our house and couldn't find much to do to entertain ourselves, so we all got in our wagon and drove down to the train depot and watched the rust form on the tracks. I don't have to run clear across town any more to deliver messages. I now have strung a telephone line -- well, actually it's a long resin coated string with paper cups on each end. Now all I have to do is figure a way of getting him to answer his cup when I'm plunking the string. 

That reminds me, I'm in a nasty mood today so I think I'll trot over to the river and throw a rock at the turtle.

*****

** Lifelong Objective Realized
(From the Sunday News, New York)

An 18-year-old Mineola girl, blind since birth, has given up her interest in rooting for the Mets and Little League baseball teams to become a Sister in the Dominican Community of Blauvelt, New York. Maureen Scanlon, of 223 Pershing Parkway, Mineola, has begun studies and expects to receive the Dominican habit by the end of this school year. Maureen was one of a number of premature babies in the 1940s and '50s to be blinded by the oxygen used in a newly developed incubator. Her entry into the Dominican Community follows the path of two other graduates of the Lavelle School for the Blind in the Bronx which she attended from the age of 3 to 14. She then went to the Sacred Heart Academy on a four-year scholarship. Maureen's main interests at the Lavelle School were music and poetry. And though her poetry betrays a keen awareness of the outside world, she insists that "it has always been my ambition to become a Dominican nun." She says she would like to devote her life to helping others to be as happy as she feels. As a Dominican nun, Maureen could become a teacher or a nurse.

*****

** The Friend as Counselor
Louis and Lucile Cantoni

You come to realize that, in various ways, a troubled friend or relative is asking you for help. Your first thought, however, may be merely wishful thinking. If only he had more money, a different boss, a sympathetic wife, then everything would be all right for him. But, alas, you are a human being, not a fairy godmother. Magical solutions to his problems simply do not exist; real solutions come from understanding underlying causes of his distress. 

The counsel of a wise friend has been prescribed from time immemorial for the troubled soul. Modern views regarding counseling and psychotherapy can off er a perceptive friend certain guidelines to make his work more effective. It is a rare individual who can remain calm in the midst of compound difficulties. Often we cannot be objective about personal concerns simply because we are the subject of those concerns. Under stress, we find that our intellectual processes are clouded by an overlay of emotions. When an emotional-cloud obscures our vision, we need help. We need someone outside ourselves to see and report facts accurately. With other eyes to guide us, we can begin to discern these facts for ourselves.

We need not assume the role of an umpire or of a judge to see a friend's problems clearly. No cold impartiality is required to arbitrate between a man's emotions and the world around him. Emotions are as important as anything else in the world -- man cannot survive as a human being without them. And so a friend must listen as keenly to "see" and "hear" emotions as he must to learn any other kind of fact. A twitching of the mouth, a quaver in the voice -- certainly these are telling signs as they accompany the words and assertions of a troubled person. A helping friend never becomes a laboratory experimenter, coldly dissecting emotions. A basic characteristic of friendship is a willingness to share feelings. When we are bereaved, our friends are sad, when we are victorious, our friends rejoice; when we are wronged, our friends become angry. Such sharing is the wellspring of comfort and healing for those suffering spiritual and emotional wounds. It is the combination of our warmth and objectivity which gets a troubled friend ready to solve his own problems. 

What we really feel and believe will be communicated most emphatically to our distressed friend in the things we do for him and in the things we help him to do for himself. Therefore, we must examine our attitudes regarding human foibles and frailties. We must root out our own prejudices and fears. People with serious personal problems lose, in some degree, their sense of personal worth. It is the task of an interested, perceptive friend to help such persons to appreciate again their intrinsic worth. How can you let a friend or relative know that he is loved and esteemed? 

First, and foremost, listen to him. Listen and learn his thoughts. Listen and understand his emotions, listen to every word he says, reading carefully the facial expressions that accompany his words. Remember that fine speeches will never convince anyone that you have an inside track on the understanding and management of people's problems. Let him know that you care what happens to him, that you are on his side despite all odds. He can count on you -- you believe in his dignity. He takes strength from your belief in him until he is strong enough to believe in himself. If at times he wants to cry on your shoulder, sympathize with him. When he is in doubt, reassure him. When he is in sorrow, share his sorrow and help him bind up his emotional wounds. You recognize, however, that he has to live his own life. It is futile to tell him how he should think or feel or act. You cannot put restrictions on what he does even for his own good. Instead, you accept him as a person responsible for his own destiny. 

Let us say that, on your referral or someone else's, your friend or loved one has begun to see a professional therapist, whether psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker. Under these circumstances your efforts should complement those of the therapist. 

Throughout your relationship with your friend, you should encourage him when he seeks new outlets for his creative interests. Dwell with him on the fortunate aspects of his situation. What he needs above all is a healthy perspective. After a while, sensing his wholeness, his independence, he will want to establish satisfying relationships with many individuals in his community. Having overcome the undesirable patterns of behavior which brought him to you for help, he may now express a desire to understand you just as you understand him. Let him help you. There will emerge, then, two people, serene of mind, sharing thoughts and feelings, hopes and plans -- surely this is the high point of human living.

*****

** Ned's Corner

Many letters come to this office asking where certain information or services may be obtained. The "information gap" is, perhaps, one of the most serious problems we face. The BRAILLE FORUM is dedicated to helping to bridge this gap, and we will do everything we can to help find what you need. But we do not want to duplicate services available elsewhere. 

In these pages we try to keep you abreast with developments in legislation, government regulations and policies, and employment opportunities   also with what individuals and organizations are doing around the country. If there are other areas of general interest which you feel should be included in our coverage, let us know and we will see what we can find. The background of the news and editorial opinion, especially on local news, is one area which is particularly lacking to us. Spot news and some commentary we get via radio and TV; coverage in depth is hard to come by. The Georgia regional Library for the Blind is initiating a project to meet this need which might well be emulated in other areas. A three-hour summary of the week's news, opinion and commentary will be recorded over the weekend with the cooperation of local newspapers and the School of Journalism. Copies will be mailed to each subscriber no later than Tuesday. The only cost connected with this news service will be that of the FT-1800 reel of tape, which each recipient is expected to furnish. Why don't you try to get your regional library to do likewise? 

The Library of Congress, Recordings for the Blind, and many groups of volunteer braillists and recordists are doing yeoman service to bridge the information gap. Thousands of volumes have been hand-transcribed into braille or recorded on tape. A catalog of these is maintained by the Library of Congress, Division for the Blind, Washington, D.C. 20542. If there is some specific title you need, write to the Division for the Blind and they will tell you if it has been produced and where it may be obtained; or they will refer you to one of the volunteer groups. 

In addition to the general magazines, there are many specialized braille and recorded magazines in many fields, including science, electronics, piano technology, music, etc. Your best key to these sources of information is the BRAILLE BOOK REVIEW or TALKING BOOK TOPICS. In spite of all this, the gap remains. The sighted person goes to his public library and consults the card catalog or the reference librarian when he has some special reading need. Only a few of the very large public libraries provide such services to blind persons. The American Library Association has recognized the deficiency in services to blind patrons and has recommended to local public libraries certain minimum facilities which should be made available to blind readers. These would at least provide a place where a blind person and/or his reader could read aloud or record material which cannot be checked out. Some equipment and services to assist the blind patron are also recommended. The details are spelled out in the Comstac Standards for Library Services. Why not bring these to the attention of your public librarian? 

The tape recorder remains the most effective tool so far developed to fill the information needs of the blind. With it the reader can record at his convenience, and the listener can take his time and can go back and repeat where this is necessary. In some cases it may be necessary for you to recruit your own individual readers from family or friends, but this should not be too difficult with the recorder. The purpose of our expanded tape library service is to help you meet your information needs. Let us hear from you.

*****

** Tape Library Services

Using the Cranmer Abacus for the Blind, Gissoni, one 1800' and one 45' reel, price - $2.75. 

The Cross Code for the Deaf-Blind, one 250' (3"), price - 30 cents (the above will be copied for you without charge provided you send us the necessary amount of tape.)

Note: A new book, The Abacus Made Easy, by Dr. May Davidow, is being recorded and will be made available for purchase or recording on your own tape; details later.

For Free Circulation on a Loan Basis:

"Citizen's Advisory Committee on Welfare Report," 1966, one reel.

"Sociological Basis of Poverty," Dr. Michael Schwartz, Indiana University. 

"Psychological Consequences of Poverty," Dr. Boyd McCandless, Emory University. 

"New Frontiers for Research on Deaf-Blindness," Herbert Rusalem. 

"Characteristics and Trends of Clients Rehabilitated in Fiscal Years 1962-1966," U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare.

"Principles of Church Union," Consultation on Church Union, one reel. 

"Realistic Reflections on Church Union," John Macquarrie, et.al., one reel. 

"How Secure is Your Social Security," from the Congressional Record, September 27, 1967, one reel.

*****

** From Ground to Air and Beyond
Anthony V. Cirella
(From LISTEN, October 1967)

Sometimes it seems marvelous as segments of our early education are vividly awakened through later related experiences. Recently I was asked to go to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, to observe the display especially constructed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to inform blind people about our country's space program. This traveling exhibit has been shown in various parts of the country and was at Perkins in September as part of NASA's program to educate Americans in the field of space exploration. As an American and one interested in scientific progress, I was glad of the opportunity to be educated in such a fascinating area. 

I found a well-planned set-up, making it possible for a blind person to examine many models of aircraft, space rockets and modules and their various stages of development. Beside each model stood a figure of a man scaled to show the comparison in size between them. In some instances the man stood only about three quarters of an inch high, while the rocket towered well over a foot. 

The exhibit was divided into five booths and from start to finish the observer could follow a railing which ran along the edge of the display. At the start of each booth a button protruded from the railing preceded by brailled instructions, "Push Button." It turned on a transcribed narration which, besides being informative, was well paced to give the observer adequate time to study each item. I understand that several blind persons were consulted while the exhibit was in preparation and it would seem that their advice contributed to the effectiveness of the arrangements. 

The first model in the exhibit was that of the earliest airplane to fly -- the Wright brothers' plane -- a double-winged plane with the figure of a man lying across the lower wing. At this point my mind recalled a year in grammar school when my class made a special project of the history of transportation. I remembered the models of covered wagons and clipper ships on the classroom table, and a play about the Wright brothers' flight in which I took the part of one of the brothers -- the one who stayed on the ground and timed the flight. My lines in the play consisted mainly of counting up to twelve, the number of seconds the flight lasted. This was my first experience with stage fright. Our project was climaxed with an actual flight over Boston in an airplane -- ten minutes of utter horror which I never dared to admit. 

Getting back to NASA, there were models of the Spirit of St. Louis, Lindbergh's plane in which his historic flight over the Atlantic was made, the DC-4, a jet liner, a helicopter with its long rotor blade and coordinated moving parts, proposed planes of the future which would carry hundreds of passengers at three times the speed of sound, and the X15 which will attain a speed of 5000 miles an hour. On the recording, a sample of a sonic boom is attempted. 

In another booth I was able to examine models showing the history of rocketry from its primitive beginning to the powerful sophisticated monsters of the present. Then I was able to trace the orbit of the moon and the path the lunar probe must take to meet it. A raised map of the world on the wall described to me the network of tracking stations. The model of an astronaut in a space suit was of interest, especially as it was accompanied by a discourse on space walking, and a portion of the late astronaut White's conversation during his historic walk in space.

A model I found particularly revealing was that of the Gemini capsule with a portion of the interior cut away exposing the inside of the cabin and showing a model of the two astronauts on their couches facing their instrument panel. I was impressed with a model of the great Apollo Saturn rocket which stood on the floor and extended high above the railing. Arrangements of the multiple stage rockets with a capsule on top, constructed so that each stage could be raised and separated from the others, was interesting. 

I have followed our progress in space by radio and television with interest, and have received many verbal descriptions by expert commentators. Now the NASA exhibit has served to clarify sharply the mental impressions received through all the media. 

(Editor's Note: Having viewed this NASA Exhibit, the editor can assure you that Mr. Cirella has done an excellent job in describing it for you. Be sure to see it when it is on display in your area.)

*****

** Look to the E-A-S-T
Frank Kells, Executive Director, Phoenix Center for the Blind, Arizona
(From his regular column in VISION un-LTD., October 1967)

"Just what are we trying to accomplish in our field?" Or, in other words, "What constitutes real service to a person who is visually impaired?" 

Of course, thousands of answers have been advanced, ranging from scholarly books to catch slogans. Yet, there is little general understanding, perhaps because the answers have been either too scholarly or too catchy. I don't presume to have a better $64,000 answer, but I'd like to share an idea which is definitely not scholarly, and hopefully not too catchy. (As the man said when he took a swing at the contented spiritualist, "I'm trying to strike the happy medium!") 

So what can be done to help a blind person? First, let's be sure we agree on the basic fact that the only way that anyone can help anyone is by helping him to help himself. If by chance you don't agree, please stop reading right here!

Assuming then that "self-help" is basic to everything else, may I offer the following answer: "LOOK TO THE EAST!" 

This phrase is given as one dictionary definition for the verb "to ORIENT. " An age-old practice of lost travelers was to get their bearings by first determining which way was EAST. From this comes the current usage of the word "ORIENTATION," but this is not primarily what I had in mind. 

This "EAST" breaks down into initials, like NASA, WAVES, or SEATO. "Look to the E-A-S-T" means ... 

.. . Look to "E" for EYESIGHT. Make sure everything has been done to maximize any residual vision. 

... Look to "A" for ATTITUDES. Without the right attitudes, you can forget about anything else. And I mean such attitudes as hope, self-respect, a sense of humor, a desire to improve, self-confidence, and coming to terms realistically with the facts of one's particular situation.

... Look to "S" for SKILLS. Make it possible for a person to learn what he has to do, and what he wants to do, particularly those special skills which he wouldn't need if he had better eyesight.

... And look to "T" for TOOLS. Make sure he knows about the special things he might need to use his SKILLS.
 
And there you have it, for whatever it's worth. How does it grab you, as food for thought, at least?

*****

** The Genie Goes to College
Earl Scharry

There was gratifying response to my notice in the FORUM regarding the donation of a braille calculator to someone who could put it to a worthwhile use. It is clear that the need for such an implement is considerable. A total of fifteen letters or phone calls came from people who would like to have one. Some said they had tried to purchase a braille calculator and had been unable to do so.

All of the applicants made a genuinely strong case for their need and selecting the particular one who seemed most worthy required an agonizing appraisal indeed. Mrs. Carla (Dotson) Franklin, a psychology major at the University of Louisville, was the final choice. Aside from the fact that I know her to be a very promising student, I was also influenced by the fact that Mr. Keller's original wish was to make the calculator available to some school. I hope that Carla will find this machine useful in her studies, and I regret that so many others had to be disappointed. Mrs. Franklin's letter reads in part as follows: 

"Until about a week ago I did not know that there was such an item available in braille. As you know, I am majoring in psychology with special emphasis on the experimental branch. Even in undergraduate work this means working with endless sets of statistics when analyzing experimental data. For example, I took an experimental psychology course in the second semester of last year. One of the requirements, of course, was to plan and carry out a simple experiment. Even in analyzing this very elementary investigation, I was required to perform 175 correlation coefficients, 80 tests for significance, and two twenty-by-twenty matrices. As you can easily see, these statistics involve countless hours to perform. This is the type of work which I plan to be doing, not only until I earn my Ph.D. in experimental psychology, but also as a career. No matter what form of research I enter, statistics are vital for proving or disproving the hypothesis. And as with everything else, as I go further into the field, they will become more and more complicated and time-consuming ... It would be next to impossible to analyze an experiment, even for my master's degree, without access to a braille calculator. So I am asking to be considered as a possible recipient of the machine. You and your friend may be assured that it will be put to almost constant use, beginning as soon as it is received. I am planning to take a class in animal research beginning in February, which will involve almost exclusively work in the lab and statistical analysis as homework. ..."

Not only did I think that those who have expressed an interest are entitled to some knowledge of the facts on which my selection was made, but I also believe our readers will be interested to learn about this somewhat unusual career for a blind person. 

For those who may be interested in purchasing one of these braille calculators, I have ascertained that they are available from the Central Typewriter and Adding Machine Company, 923 12th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Address your correspondence attention of Mr. Irving Keller. The price is $180.00, less ten percent for cash in fifteen days, plus shipping charges.

I am hopeful that either Carla or someone else can be persuaded to exhibit and demonstrate this machine at some ACB Convention in the near future.

*****

** Here and There
with George Card

From TIME magazine: For a man of 74, who is functionally blind, Lieut. General Lewis B. Hershey, who rules over the draft with an iron hand, seems as invulnerable as he is in tractable. He lost his right eye to a polo mallet at Fort Sill, Okla., in 1926 as a captain; the sight of his left eye failed last year. 

From LISTEN: Eugene Sibley became president of the Associated Blind of Massachusetts during its annual convention in early October. -- Now known as possibly the greatest living writer in the Spanish language, Jorge Luis Borges of Buenos Aires, who is blind, will spend the academic year as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. -- Basic research in the field of vision resulting in discoveries concerning "the primary chemical and physiological visual processes of the eye" has won the 1967 Nobel Prize in medicine for three scientists, two of them Americans and the other a Swede. Sharing the $62, 000 award are Dr. George Wald, a professor of biology at Harvard University, Dr. Halden K. Hartline, a biophysicist at Rockefeller University in New York City, and Professor Ragnar Granit, a neurophysiologist at Oxford University in England. Their independent research, spanning some 40 years, has substituted "experimental facts" for "speculations and hypothetic explanations." -- Joseph Lazaro of Waltham has won the national Blind Golfers championship for the second time. --  Stella Holt, a woman whose blindness was no bar to success as a producer of Off-Broadway plays, died of a heart attack in New York City hospital late in August. As managing director of the Greenwich Mews Theater on West 13th Street of the past 15 years, Miss Holt produced 38 plays, many of which critics judged better than the Broadway productions.

The HOOSIER STAR-LIGHT reports the retirement of one of the best-known of all placement counselors. An extended illness has finally compelled Hugh McGuire, of Terre Haute, to give up his duties. The agency chief, Howard C. Carroll, said: "McGuire's retirement leaves a void in the agency program. He leaves behind him a record of job placements of blind persons which is without equal in the United States." -- Milorad Popovic, who was blinded during his childhood in Yugoslavia, overcame great odds to become a concert pianist and made his U.S. debut in 1965. He builds his repertoire by using concert works in braille borrowed from the Library of Congress. He commits to memory about five pages a day of works played by his wife, Joan, who is a musician and composer. 

From PERFORMANCE: There are in the U.S. some 100,000 computer programmers whose ranks simply are not growing rapidly enough. It has been estimated that a half-million programmers will be needed by 1970. Even before the computer programing course given by Dr. Theodore Sterling at Washington University was completed, Eastern Airlines sent representatives to examine the work of the students and chose John Schuch, a school teacher, blind since the age of seven, because his work was considered the best. The unusual thing about this hiring was that Eastern sought out Mr. Schuch and recruited him, thus demonstrating how great is the need for additional programmers and how promising this area of employment for capable blind persons has become. 

From the N.A.P.H. PIONEER: The most recently published report on data from individual tax returns contains some interesting facts about blind taxpayers. Some 107,000 blind persons filed tax returns. Income of $10,000 or more was reported on about one out of seven such returns. Most blind taxpayers are married but, typically, only one spouse is blind. -- An outstanding television documentary, "Eyes Are For Seeing," has been aired throughout the country by NBC recently. Sen. Everett Dirksen, who once had to leave Congress because of sight problems, narrates most of the show, which emphasizes the modern advances of eye surgery transplants. It is interesting to note that almost 30,000 Washington area citizens have willed their eyes to the Eye Bank in the past ten years. -- One of the most promising theatrical groups in the nation is the newly endowed National Theatre of the Deaf, which got a third of a million dollars from Uncle Sam not long ago. Most of the company's members have been deaf from birth and are graduates of Gallaudet College in Washington. Their performances are for general audiences, and while the actors use sign language, a pair of readers at each side of the stage reads the lines aloud for the theatre goers. The company is now on a six-week tour of 30 performances in 21 American communities.

WE THE BLIND reports that, at the recent state convention of the Pennsylvania Federation, Norman Yoder, head of the State Office for the Blind, appeared eager to cooperate with the PFB. Following his talk a resolution was adopted setting up a liaison committee of Federation members to approach the State Office for the Blind at various times to insure harmony and progress. The convention demanded a revolutionary change in the manner in which the NFB allocates to the states the receipts from its fund-raising projects -- that the same formula be used as that in assessing dues, i.e. based on the population of the individual state. (I feel sure the New York and California affiliates would enthusiastically concur but it just isn't going to happen.) In another resolution, the PFB condemned the action of the 1967 convention of the NFB in Los Angeles expelling the Alabama affiliate from membership in the NFB. In still another resolution, the PFB called upon the 1968 convention of the NFB to institute immediate unity talks with the American Council of the Blind. 

From the Montana OBSERVER: With this issue of the OBSERVER, Stanley and Lelia Proctor begin their fifth year as "temporary" editors. Question? How permanent can "temporary" be?

The most recent report of the Wisconsin state agency serving the blind shows that the following were among the occupations in which placements were made in the past biennium: research biochemist, plastics compounder, telephone answering service, spray equipment repairman, brush machine operator, work projects administrator, appliance repairman, computer systems analyst, psychiatric aide, secretary, masseur, nurse's aide, film developer, flower arranger, service station attendant, teacher, vocational rehabilitation counselor, restaurant operator, practical nurse, laundromat operator and insurance clerk. Of the 4,127 on the state blind registry, 1,376 -- or one in three -- are employed in useful occupations. This figure includes: 215 skilled and professional workers such as attorneys, teachers, social workers and persons in managerial positions. 

From the Washington State WHITE CANE: Blind persons who cannot show a driver's license for identification can now obtain a similar card for this purpose under a law recently passed in Michigan. 

From the K.A.B. NEWS (Kans.): The Kansas School for the Blind is undergoing a process of humanization which includes a request for $830,000 in building funds. Until
the new administration of Supt. Robert L. Ohlsen, Jr., the 100-year-old school was an austere monument to Puritan regimentation. Girls and boys were totally separated in education and social life of the school and living facilities were institutional in the worst sense of the word. With the addition in 1964 of Brighton Recreation Center which includes a heated pool, bowling lanes, snack bar and lounging areas, a step was taken in the right direction. Dr. Ohlsen in his one year as superintendent has embarked on a new program keynoted by a coeducational approach and aimed at the creation of a family-like environment. --Rosemary Distifan writes, "A friend of mine asked how sight-handicapped people see Europe. My answer was through our ears and our stomachs. Frank and I literally ate, drank and listened our way through Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Vienna, the Bavarian Alps and Switzerland. We may not have talked the same language, but it is remarkable how friendliness transcends language barriers. You just don't realize how much water you drink until you have to buy it. In Paris we paid 60 cents a quart. Coffee was expensive. We paid from 30 to 75 cents for a 10-ounce pot. We appalled the waiters by drinking it straight." 

From LOOK (via the Peoria Observer): During his frequent visits to England, Frank Sinatra always visits a hospital for blind children. He entertains these children and raises funds for their support without any publicity allowed. 

The ABC DIGEST (Calif.) contains the report of the October convention in San Diego, at which Catherine Skivers was unanimously elected for a second two-year term, In view of the possibility that California may adopt a system structured on the basis of a commission for the Blind, Fred Krepela, former president of the Oregon Council of the Blind, reported to the convention the experience of the blind people of his state with their Commission. Judge Reese Robrahn, president of the ACB, was the featured banquet speaker. -- The DIGEST reported the death of Dr. Donald Whitney Wheaton, the first blind person ever to receive a Ph.D. degree at the University of California. -- California State College at Los Angeles has initiated a 1-year master's degree program for orientation and mobility instructors, augmenting Western Michigan U. and Boston College in this urgently needed field. Free tuition plus $3,200 stipend will be available to qualified applicants. -- The blind graduates of the computer program training center in Santa Monica have been placed at an average starting salary of $640 per month. Los Angeles County has been so impressed by this that written examinations for entrance to the course have been abolished and a comprehensive oral one substituted. -- Commitments have been received from two Federal agencies to place at least one blind person in each of their district offices. -- California's vending stand program is the largest in the country; more than 270 legally blind operators are presently in business, employing large numbers of other disabled people. The operators averaged a net income during 1966-67 of $573 per month.

From The HORIZON (U.K.): A new and smaller talking book machine which can be carried in the pocket and mailed in a letter box will be introduced shortly. The new machine was adopted after a five month's field test. It weighs only 6  pounds of the present cassette, and will give 13 hours of recorded reading. (Disc recordings were abandoned in the United Kingdom a number of years ago and all talking book machines are tape cassette playbacks). 

Many years ago Sam Gompers, founder and first president of the A. F. of L., said: "We want more schoolhouses and fewer jails; more books and fewer arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright." 

All of us who are blind suffered a severe loss with the untimely death of John K. Dupress, Director of the Center for Sensory Aids Evaluation and Development at M.I.T. 
Blinded by a hand grenade in World War II, he returned to enter Princeton, from which he graduated with high honors. He was in the midst of all-important research when he passed away suddenly at only forty-five.

From the NATIONAL NEWS OF THE BLIND (Canada): A training program beyond any level offered before will take shape in 1968 when CNIB will build a National Training Center as a lasting memorial to CNIB's 50th Anniversary. -- The CNIB has made substantial grants to help Dr. Michael P. Beddoes, a University of British Columbia professor, in his continuing research on a miniaturized reading machine for the blind. He believes he will eventually produce one the size of a blackboard eraser. --Blind visitors to the new Coventry Cathedral are able to refer to a Braille relief map or plan of the building. -- Deutsche Blindenverand, a German organization for the blind, now has 13 holiday homes for the blind. They have a credit bureau for financing the purchase of raw materials for blind craftsmen and for financing the purchase of homes and blocks of flats for blind occupants.

From the Missouri CHRONICLE: The Lions Clubs of Missouri have pledged $250,000 for expansion of facilities and equipment for a Sight Clinic at the University of Missouri Medical Center in Columbia. The money will be used for building and equipping a modern eye clinic, laboratory research area and facilities for the Lions' Eye Tissue Bank. Sixty-three collecting stations have been opened in Missouri. A total of 545 eyes have been donated. -- "By the 21st century there is absolutely no reason why we won't be able to achieve at least some kind of minimal visual sensation by blind people -- whether by hearing, skin sensation or direct stimulation of the brain -- that will enable blind people to 'see'." So said the late John K. Dupress. 

The Florida WHITE CANE BULLETIN reports that President Richard Knight of the FFB has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the Florida Council for the Blind, which is the state agency. This is a big change from the years of warfare between this organization of the blind and its state agency and it is a most hopeful sign for future cooperation and progress. 

From the OCB BULLETIN: Bruce Thomas, graduate of the Tennessee School for the Blind, has become president of the City Council of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The problem of knowing who is asking for the floor has been solved by his son, an electronics engineer. On the arm of the chair of each Councilman is a button that clicks when pressed. The button activates a plastic unit in a wooden block placed in front of Thomas. He is familiar with the seating of the Councilmen and keeps his fingers in contact with the plastic unit, easily identifying the Councilman wanting recognition. 

Early in January Clyde Ross was honored with a Certificate of Appreciation and a life membership by the Summit County Society of the Blind for his 24 years of, service, 19 of them as president. As of this writing Clyde is still at home recuperating from a series of heart attacks. 

From the Peoriarea OBSERVER: Following a 1/3 increase in taxi fares, the Peoria Blind Center has purchased a 40-passenger bus to make it possible for blind persons to get to the Center 00 something which many could not have afforded under the new taxi rates. 

From the ILLINOIS BRAILLE MESSENGER: The Hadley Correspondence School has just been issued an Amateur Radio Station License by the Federal Communications Commission. 

The station, WA9WHS, will be used in conjunction with a new home-study course called AMATEUR RADIO, the first correspondence course of its kind designed exclusively for people who are blind. Hadley provides the student with a taped and Brailled edition of AMATEUR RADIO THEORY, as well as raised line drawings and components with identification labels in Braille so that the student may study the radio parts by touching them.

*****

** New Free Postage Regulations

As a result of recent legislation passed by the Congress, braille and large type correspondence and recorded letters either on discs or magnetic tape may be sent by blind persons postage free. The pertinent portions from the postal manual are quoted here for your information. 

Part 138 -- For the Blind and Other Handicapped Persons Section 138.1 The following conditions are applicable to articles mailable free of postage under this section: (a) Except as provided in 138.2 (a), the matter is for the use of the blind or other persons who cannot use or read conventionally printed material because of a physical impairment who are certified by competent authority as unable to read normal reading material; (b) No charge, or rental , subscription, or other fee, is required for such matter or a charge for rental, subscription, or other fee is required for such matter not in excess of the cost thereof; (c) The matter contains no advertising. 

Section 138.2 Items Mailable Free: (a) Unsealed letters sent by a blind person or a person having a physical impairment as described in Section 138.1a in raised characters or sightsaving type or in the form of sound recordings; (b) Reading matter and musical scores; (c) Sound reproductions; (d) Paper, records, tapes, and other material for the production of reading matter, musical scores, or sound reproductions; (e) Reproducers or parts thereof for sound reproductions; and (f) Braille writers, typewriters, educational or other materials or devices, or parts thereof, used for writing by, or specifically designed or adapted for use of, a blind person or a person having a physical impairment as described in Section 138.1a.

Section 138.3 Markings: All matter mailed under the provisions of Part 138 shall show the words "Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped" in the upper right corner of the address side.

NOTE: 
A stamp with the required words "Free Matter for the Blind," together with an ink pad, is being offered by DIALOGUE PUBLICATIONS at a cost of $1.25. These stamps may be ordered by writing to DIALOGUE PUBLICATIONS, INC., 3132 Oak Park Ave., Berwyn, Illinois 60402, enclosing check or money order for the necessary amount. Your attention is called to the fact that material mailed free under these regulations should not be sealed, so that they may be opened for postal inspection if necessary.

*****

** Nemeth Code Workshops

The Kansas State Department of Public Instruction, Division of Special Education, announces two workshops on the Nemeth Code of Braille Mathematics, June 10-14, 1968; 

Workshop -- National Braille Assn. Beginners Course in Nemeth Code (Monday-Friday, 9 A.M.-4 P.M.)
Teacher: Mrs. Alice M. Mann, Chairman, Mathematics Committee, National Braille Assn., Inc., Illinois.
Sponsor: National Braille Assn., Inc.
Cost: Enrollment Fee $3.00. (for entire five-day course).

Workshop -- Reinforcement Course in Nemeth Code (Mon.   Fri.) 5:30 P.M.-9:00 P.M.
Teacher: Dr. Abraham Nemeth
Sponsor: Kansas State Dept. of Public Instruction, Div. of Special Ed.
Cost: There is no charge for enrollment in this course.

Both workshops will be held at the Wichita Public Library, 223 South Main St., Wichita, Kansas 67202. Applications for either of these workshops will be welcomed from residents of states other than Kansas and should be sent to Mrs. Clara H. Robertson, Director, Programs for the Visually Impaired, Division of Special Education, 120 E. 10th St., Topeka, Kansas 66612.

*****

** Openings at Hadley

The Hadley School for the Blind, which tutors blind adults and teenagers all over the world by mail in Braille without charge, is pleased to announce that 300 openings are available for U.S. students in the following areas:

1. Braille -- including Talking Braille (a recorded course that teaches the reading of English Braille), Braille Writing, Braille Review, and Grade 3 Braille.

2. Grade School Courses -- including Spelling, English, History, and Arithmetic.

3. A complete high-school curriculum with accredited diploma. 

4. Vocational courses -- including Typing, Salesmanship, Insurance Selling, Commercial Law, Business English, Medical Terminology (for medical transcribers), and
Home Management.

5. Avocational courses -- including Verse Writing, Story Writing, foreign languages, Bible courses.

6. College courses for qualified students with a high school diploma or its equivalent.

For further information, including a Braille catalog of courses, write to the Hadley School for the Blind, 700 Elm Street, Winnetka, Illinois 60093.

*****

** Letters from Readers

Mr. Merrill A. Maynard, P.O. Box 4, Taunton, Massachusetts 02780. 

I propose trying to develop letter discussion on procuring and using information such as a sighted person takes as a matter of course. How do the blind gain and use "seeing" information?

*** 

Abraham Gulish, c/o Lora Letwing, 42 West Park Av., Vineland, N.J. 08360. 

Thank you for the explanation of the Burton Bill in the January BRAILLE FORUM. I wish to discuss some reasons why I am afraid of such a bill. According to this proposal figures 25 million senior citizens and physically handicapped people would receive $242 every month from the federal government. Is it necessary for the federal government alone to administer these payments? Why not let the states do it? With so many people receiving this big sum, I fear many people will falsify their age and claim nonexistent handicaps to entitle them to these payments. These payments would be a great temptation for recipients to spend much of this money on bad habits. Some states have had this problem with welfare recipients. Some recipients of old age grants have been caught spending that money in liquor and gambling joints. It is good to live comfortably and enjoy the pleasures of life. But when it comes to what most people call bad habits, most agree that this should not be at government expense. If it were known that aged and handicapped people had such large sums available, I am afraid that they would be targets for people with the wrong intentions. Those of us who have willing sighted helpers can depend on them for protection from being cheated or from bodily harm, but not all handicapped persons have access to such help. Just where should we draw the line between comfortable living and extravagance? I think this idea of asking for big handouts should be a matter that our organizations of blind should seek to limit whenever possible. We now have free postage, free cultural and health services in many parts of the country. With such large pensions, will we be entitled to these things? I hope to see this matter freely discussed in the BRAILLE FORUM. I don't want the public to get the idea that we are not capable of handling our money matters decently. 

*** 

Mary Walton, 1915 Lane Street, Topeka, Kansas 66604. 

I want to second your suggestion that candidates might throw their hats into the ring a bit in advance of the election. I have always felt that the reason a nominating committee's slate can generally be swept into office unopposed is that, in any big convention, most of the delegates are either first timers or people who know their officers only from seeing them perform in convention and reading the organization's official publication. Not knowing anyone on the floor too well, the natural attitude is that the committee knows their candidates and how they qualify. 

So why not a bit of good, clean electioneering?

*** 

Mike Sofka, 228 Jefferson Street, Newark, N.J. 07105 

Without Which, Nothing is a very good editorial and the best piece of literature I ever read in THE BRAILLE FORUM. It is the kind of material that should appear more often in a magazine for the blind, published by the blind. This is not just picking on agencies for the blind, but just simple statements of facts ... It is discouraging to us who have dedicated years, much free time, and out-of-pocket money in helping to get appropriate legislation passed which established the many programs for the blind to discover that employees of said programs are merely using them as gravy- trains for their own comfort and security ... If we, the organized blind, continue to use the kind of material you used in that editorial as often as such opportunities arise, threaten to agitate against appropriation measures, and start to talk more about a flat grant system to replace all or most federally aided programs, we may start getting better results for those dependent on agency for the blind services. The blind client would have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

***

Doranna Robertson, Secretary, The North Dakota Association of the Blind, Inc., P.O. Box 51, Fargo, North Dakota 58102

Lloyd and I both enjoy the FORUM ... It's really a good publication. I especially like your article this time, Without Which, Nothing. That is the picture here in North Dakota, as well as everywhere else. I myself have been trained to be a medical transcriber, but cannot find employment here. There is a job three hundred miles away which I could have had, but you just can't pick up and leave your husband, you know. ... There is one item in the listing of affiliates of the Council which comes in the Letters from Readers, that lists one affiliate to be the North Dakota Federation of the Blind. This is incorrect. ... Our organization is the North Dakota Association of the Blind, which is affiliated with the Council. ... Thank you for a really nice magazine. Sorry we don't ever contribute anything to it. (The editor wishes you would!)

***

Lilian Mendell, 1042 Banklick Street, Covington, Ky. 41011

I am glad to be back but without crutches and/or wheelchair, I can't get around much. Must stay off ulcered feet! But you can't keep a good man down, they say, and I'm trying awfully hard to be good! God is good and I am slowly, happily fighting my way back!

*****

** "Head Start" Worker 

From the Illinois Braille Messenger: 

James Crockett was "someone special" to about 285 children in Danville's Head Start program this summer. He made the rounds visiting and teaching in the sixteen classes. "Although he is blind," states the Commercial Times, "to the preschoolers he teaches, James can see a thousand things because his disability has not encumbered his joy in life. The children quickly respond to his gentleness, courage and determination." James, a graduate of I.B.S.S.S., and a student at Southern Illinois University, expresses the desire to work as a VISTA* volunteer for one year after graduating. "And I will do anything," he says, "to promote Head Start." 

*(Volunteers in Service to America -- the "Domestic Peace Corps")

*****

** Refugees from the Round File

Deserving of serious attention is the report of Dr. Jules C. Stein, chairman of the nonprofit Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., who recently warned that "the blind population of this country is increasing at a rate nearly twice that of the general population." 

Dr. Stein reported in a recent issue of the National Observer that, from 1940 to 1960, the blind population increased by 67% while the U.S. population grew by only 36%. He also indicated there is every reason to believe that new factors are arising that will accelerate the increase of serious visual disability among the American people. 

Main causes of the increase are the rising number of elderly citizens in the population, many of whom develop eye disorders; increasing numbers of long-lived diabetics who are likely to become blind as a result of the condition; and larger numbers of defective children, many with vision problems, being saved from early death by improved medical treatment and techniques. 

"If we look at what lies ahead," Dr. Stein declares, "it becomes obvious that we should at this moment be engaged in a crash program of eye-research activity." 

***

J. Kirk Walter, industrial arts instructor, recently opened new vistas to the young students of Mrs. Karvazy at the Oak Hill School in Hartford, Connecticut. These youngsters, who naturally had no real conception of the process, had questioned how a house could possibly be built from trees. So, with the youngsters gathered around him, Mr. Walter explained the reason for bark as tiny hands explored a short log. Then after being introduced to a band saw and a large planer, they discovered how a plank is cut from a log, then smoothed. At the same time, they learned about the cutting by-products, sawdust and shavings. 

The little hands of each boy and girl, protected by Mr. Walter's hand, were guided along the saw, planer and joiner, allowing the children to experience the vibrations of the machines, and "feel" the board-cutting from start to finish. Throughout the entire session, the animated facial expressions of the youngsters and their cogent questions, proved the importance of this kind of communication. 

***

The AAWB has received and will distribute an excellent film, "May I Help You?", produced at Western Michigan University under the direction of Donald Blasch, a member of the AAWB Board of Directors and Director, Center for Orientation and Mobility at Western Michigan University. This exceptional film is presently being duplicated and is available to all agencies at $100 per print. 

"May I Help You?" can serve as a means of educating the general public on the abilities of the blind and the best ways to offer help to individuals who are blind. Members of the AAWB Board of Directors reviewed the film and feel it to be one of the best they have ever seen and heard. Such a film would be excellent material to be shown at Board meetings, public meetings, Lions Clubs, and public schools. Agencies are urged to take advantage of this opportunity for public education and information. The film can be ordered from the American Association of Workers for the Blind, Inc., 1511 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. (AAWB News & Views -- Dec., 67)

***

Dr. James J. Gallagher, Associate Commissioner of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, stated in the August issue of the BVA BULLETIN that, "The establishment of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped is another clear sign that our society is determined to make good its promise that every child, regardless of his deviation from the norm, shall have the opportunity to learn, and to grow, as far as our professional knowledge and skills will allow. The new Bureau of Education for the Handicapped is now in a position to provide services to children who are mentally retarded, speech handicapped, visually handicapped, auditorily handicapped, severely emotionally disturbed, who have severe learning disorders, and children with special health problems. Today we know that these children can fly much higher and much farther than our pessimistic judgments once suggested. Now our job is to provide the fertile educational environment that will allow each of these children to reach his maximum potential development." 

***

Maps in braille will be tested by blind students during a two-year research project recently awarded by the RSA, HEW to the University of Maryland. The award was $16,741 for the first year grant. "Sighted men and women need maps as guides to turnpikes and highways," said RSA Commissioner Mary E. Switzer. "But the blind need mobility-maps to guide their walks on streets, within buildings, and to other areas of work, worship and pleasure." Maps made from three different production processes will be tested for clarity and ease of reading. The blind men and women selected to evaluate the maps are from the Maryland School for the Blind, Baltimore, the Overbrook School, Philadelphia, Syracuse University, N.Y., and the Maryland Workshop for the Blind, Baltimore. The mobility maps to be tested were developed during a pilot project sponsored by VRA last year at the University of Maryland.

***

From the luncheon address of the Rev. Thomas J. Carroll (which was presented to the 1967 Blinded Veterans Association's Convention): ... Let me summarize what I have said regarding one aspect of prejudice against blinded persons. I pointed out that in this civilization in which most of us have grown -- the culture from which most of us have been derived, blind persons have a major problem in the attitude toward Light and Dark. Lightness, I said in my book, refers to all that is good. It refers to the dashing white knight (it refers to the guys in the white hats). It refers to purity, sincerity, and the very presence of God. I pointed out that in Eastern theologies, there is even a theology of light. 

Quickly, to move on, I noted that darkness, on the other hand, means witchcraft, fear, magic, hatred, and the powers of evil which are known as the very "Powers of Darkness." With this background, we cannot for a moment expect that an American pluralism can quickly overcome the cultural heritage which is ours. 

I have talked to you and others on many occasions of what this means with regard to blindness. I have criticized those organization for the blind which refer to themselves in terms of light and darkness, e.g., those which call themselves lighthouses, those which use a symbol such as a light buoy or those which on their letterhead show the sign of a light shining in the darkness. For, as you well know, Cutsforth and Chevigny and others have clearly pointed out the blind persons do not live in Darkness. They are correct in this sense -- that many have a degree of remaining light perception -- and that even those who have no light reception live in an area of what could at worst be called cortical gray -- not the positive entity which darkness means to sighted persons -- not something of magic and evil. (BVA Bulletin, Nov. 1967.) 

***

With a grant from the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration the Kansas Department of Social Welfare is developing a training course in effective listening for 
the sightless. The course will include understanding and following directions, comprehension and oral instructions, verbal retention, delayed recall, and voice identification. Would not this course be useful to most everyone, and in particularly the cerebral palsied? (From NAPH Newsletter, Winter, 1968) 

***

Another opportunity for those of us who have wanderlust comes from Franklin Travel, Inc., specialists in international group travel, who are sponsoring a special tour to Europe for the blind. Twenty-two exciting days are planned, leaving July 29 for a stimulating and educational trip to London, Lucerne, Rome, Sorrento and Paris. For further information, send for itinerary in braille or print to: Franklin Travel, Inc., 344 Suburban Station Building, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.

***

The Daily News (New York City) reported that a major breakthrough to relieve the plight of sidewalk newsdealers -- hard hit by the death of five New York daily newspapers in the last four years -- was announced at City Hall by Mayor Lindsay and License Commissioner Joel L. Taylor. They will now be permitted to sell certain designated items to supplement their income from newspaper sales. The items would retail for under $1 and include such articles as paperback books, rainhats and pennants. Sale of candy and tobacco products would be prohibited. The newsdealers will be permitted to install coin-operated newspaper vending machines in or near their stands to be used during the hours when the stand is unattended. They will also be permitted to possess licenses for two stands when need is established instead of being restricted to one. This will enable a dealer whose stand primarily sells afternoon papers, for example, to supplement his income by opening a "morning" stand.

***

Among the many beautiful cards received during the past holiday season, all of which were greatly appreciated, was a white, black and gold nativity scene produced and distributed by the Malayan Assn. for the Blind and sent to the FORUM staff with Christmas greetings from Thomas Khoo Kay Soon. As was once said of the British Empire, the sun never set on FORUM readers.

*****

** ACB Officers

President: Reese Robrahn, 541 New England Building, Topeka, Kansas 66603
1st Vice President: Ned Freeman, 136 Gee's Mill Rd., Conyers, GA 30207
2nd Vice President: David Krause, 4628 Livingston Road, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20032
Secretary: Mrs. Alma Murphey, 4103 Castleman Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Treasurer: F.W. Orrell, 5209 Alabama Ave., Chattanooga, Tennessee 37409

** Directors

Mrs. Mary Jane Schmitt, 510 Tarrington Rd., Rochester, New York 14609
R.L. Thompson, 104 N. Hanlon St., Tampa, FL 33604
Fred Lilley, 7629 Dale St., Richmond Heights, MO 63117
J. Edward Miller, 2621 Chesterfield Ave., Charlotte, NC 28205 
George Card, 605 S. Few St., Madison, Wisconsin 563703
Vernon Williams, 217 Western Union Bldg., Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401
Mrs. Catherine Skivers, 836 Resota St., Hayward, CA 94545
Floyd Qualls, 106 NE 2nd St., Oklahoma City, OK 73104 

***

This sight saving edition was assembled and mailed by members of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Oklahoma Federation of the Blind.

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