The Braille Forum Vol. IX January 1971 No. 4 Published Bi-Monthly by the American Council of the Blind Oklahoma City, Oklahoma * Editor: Alma Murphey 4103 Castleman Ave. St. Louis, MO 63110 * Associate Editors: George Card 605 South Few St. Madison, WI 53703 Earl Scharry 5714 Ridgeway Ave. Rockville, MD 20851 * President: Reese Robrahn 329 Woodbury Lane Topeka, KS 66606 * National Representative: Durward K. McDaniel 20 E Street NW Suite 215 Washington, DC 20001 To inform its readers and to provide an impartial Forum for discussion. ***** ** Table of Contents Notice to Subscribers Blind Vendors Need Protection from Capricious Government Practices, by Senator Jennings Randolph Precollege Orientation Programs for the Visually Impaired: An Overview, by Clyde R. Smith ACB Convention -- 1971 -- Milwaukee Regional Seminar Idea Initiated RCA Audio Receiver All Channels TV, FM-AM Radio Blind Lions Now International, by Fred C. Lilley Now They Tell Us Burson Appointed to Sensory Study Section William Taylor of Pennsylvania Dies Wagner-O'Day Act Legislation Secretarial Transcribers Association Joins ACB Pennsylvania Joins ACB Louisiana Council of the Blind Organizes T. Munford Boyd Honored As He Retires Alabama Federation of the Blind's Convention, by Dempsey Byrd Notes from the Tape Library Announcement Bill Ferrell Honored The Long Cane and the Sonar Torch in England Communication Is the Key to Successful Living, by Katherine Epstein Ma Bell and the Blind Boy Here and There, by George Card Good News for the Readers ACB Officers Directors ***** ** Notice to Subscribers The Braille Forum is available in braille, large type, and on tape -- seven-inch, dual track, ips 3 and 3/4. Subscriptions and address changes should be sent to Floyd Qualls, who is in charge of our three mailing lists. His address is: 106 N.E. 2nd Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104. Items intended for publication should be sent to the editor or to one of the associate editors. Those much-needed and appreciated cash contributions should be sent to ACB Treasurer Fred Krepela, 241 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301. ***** ** Blind Vendors Need Protection from Capricious Government Practices By Senator Jennings Randolph (Editor's Note: The following is the testimony of Senator Randolph on S. 2461 before the Select Sub-Committee on Education of December 8, 1970. As we go to press, the outcome of this legislation is not certain.) You have my appreciation, Chairman Brademas and members of the Select Subcommittee on Education, for giving me the privilege of appearing this morning to testify for S. 2461, the Randolph-Sheppard Amendment. I am gratified that our basic legislation became law. I served in the House 34 years ago when this significant legislation was written. At that time, the purpose of the Act was to provide job opportunities for the blind. That is its overriding purpose today. The Randolph-Sheppard Act, however, has not done the job of expanding opportunities for the blind as full as Congress intended. In 1954, it became necessary to restate the emphasis on job preference for the blind at federal installations because administrative caprice had threatened the existence of the blind vending stand program. This threat remains today, and it is the reason we have submitted our amendment. Introduction of automatic vending machines over the past 20 years has created a destructive competitive force for the blind businessman. Some agencies arbitrarily choose the machine over the man; the noble and realistic purpose of the effort has been eroded by these administrative decisions which are not authorized by law. In addition to enabling thousands of blind citizens to earn their own way, the vending stand program has served to demonstrate to the public that severely disabled individuals are essentially normal people who are capable of running a business which involves meeting the public in an efficient and effective manner. The best evidence of this is the fact that two of every three vending stands operating today are located on private property or at government locations other than federal. I shall speak directly to the key provision of S. 2461 -- that is, the exclusive assignment of vending machine income to the vending facilities program. At our hearings last June before the Senate Special Subcommittee on Handicapped Workers we heard -- as you have earlier this week -- that the present work force of almost 3,400 blind vendor operators could be nearly doubled over the next few years if this program is expanded to its full potential. This goal is impossible, however, if the present situation is permitted to continue. A number of agencies controlling Federal properties have allowed local welfare and recreation associations of federal employees to install vending machines in Federal buildings, and these machines cut directly into the income of vending stands operate by blind persons under the Randolph-Sheppard Act. The profits from these vending machines are being used for a variety of employee activities, such as picnics and parties, bowling tournaments and other group functions. Income also is used for so-called "welfare" activities such as flowers and get-well gifts for ill members. This has an alleged effect of raising morale and esprit de corps among members of these employee organizations. But the effect of these practices on blind vendors is something else. While the morale of employees is raised, the income of these blind entrepreneurs is reduced, depriving them of resources to feed, house, clothe and educate their families in a period of crushing inflation. I would like to know: Where is the justice and humanity in these wrongful practices and policies? You have heard that the Comptroller General of the United States has ruled, on two occasions, that there is no statutory authority for Federal employee recreation and welfare clubs to receive any money from vending machines on Federal property. Yet despite these rulings, some agencies have not only condoned but encouraged these practices. In its regulations to implement the Randolph-Sheppard Act, the General Services Administration has developed a formula for allocating some of the vending machine income to employee clubs, and some to blind stand operators and their state agencies. Post Office Department regulations allow vending machine income to be allocated to blind stand operators to the extent that it will bring their income tip to the GS-5 level. As I said before, these arbitrary policies have no authority in law. Both regulations, in fact, are questionable on a legal basis in view of the provisions of the Randolph-Sheppard Act and the rulings of the Comptroller General -- who said that profits from vending machines on Federal property should be paid into the Treasury of the United States in the absence of any statutory authority. Now we come to the question that I know has troubled you, Chairman Brademas, and other members of this committee. And that is, how much money are we talking about? There are no hard figures available from the Administration. Our committee has made repeated attempts to get an exact accounting of this income. The difficulty lies in the fact that there is no fiscal accountability of these funds. I suggest that here today you can help clear up this muddy area when representatives of the employee groups appear before you. In a recent newspaper article, a Federal employee group representative was quoted as saying that exclusive assignment of vending machine income to expanding the job opportunities for blind workers would somehow adversely affect the morale and esprit de corps of all Federal workers. I refuse to believe that. I believe that the best way of insuring high morale of workers is to provide them with adequate compensation for their work. As a member of the Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, I feel that our efforts on behalf of rewarding federal employees for this work has been well done. Mr. Chairman, at this time I wish to digress for a moment to mention a situation which does not specifically pertain to the legislation under consideration today, but which may have a profound effect upon the Randolph-Sheppard vendors and upon the future administration of the Randolph-Sheppard Act. My testimony thus far has implied criticism of the Executive Branch of the Government in its administration of the Randolph-Sheppard Act. It is only fair to recognize that the Congress of the United States, with over 12,000 employees and Members, does not have one blind vending stand on its premises. It is my genuine hope that we will soon take effective measures to correct this inequity. Mr. Chairman, I emphasize that S. 2461 is co-sponsored by a majority of senators of both parties. The bill you are considering includes a number of urgently needed improvements in the vending program, of which the vending machine is only one. If enacted, the bill will expand employment opportunities for thousands of additional blind persons, enabling them to become self-supporting, tax-paying citizens. I urge you to give these thousands of severely handicapped persons the opportunity to demonstrate their worth. The blind men and women of our country, the newly blinded of the Vietnam war, the recent medical mistakes among young people who will enter the job market in the next few years, all these people look for a better tomorrow. We in the Congress are vitally concerned that we help that tomorrow become a reality -- and that it come soon. I believe that approval of S. 2461 will be a major step toward that goal. ***** ** Pre-College Orientation Programs for the Visually Impaired: An Overview By Clyde R. Smith ** Dear Editor: The enclosed article "Pre-College Orientation Programs for the Visually Impaired: An Overview" is submitted to you in the hope that the information contained in it will be of assistance to vocational rehabilitation counselors for the blind and their clients contemplating college. I was a visually impaired student on a college campus during the mid-1950s and discovered many of the "how to do it " techniques currently being taught as part of the precollege orientation programs for visually impaired college students. From 1958 to 1960 I was a vocational counselor for the blind and faced firsthand the problems of orienting my clients to the college campus. Now that I am a counselor-educator I feel that even more emphasis should be placed on precollege orientation, especially for the handicapped. I would appreciate it very much if you could aid me in promoting pre-college orientation by publishing this overview of existing programs and past attempts at orienting students to college. If you do publish this article, I would like very much to have a copy of the publication in which it appears. Very truly yours, Clyde R. Smith, Ed.D., Assistant Professor Latimer (1926) emphasized the ideal of higher education and accurately summed up the philosophy of rehabilitation counselors who work with visually impaired students when he wrote: If talent rather than limitation, aptitude rather than handicap, capacity rather than pride of family are the bases of right selection, there can be no doubt that blind persons should be encouraged to go to college. During the 1940s and 1950s the number of blind students entering the universities was insignificant. The first survey of blind and partially sighted students enrolled in institutions of higher education was conducted in March, 1957 by the Office of Education. Of the 2,228 colleges and universities contacted, 2,032 (91.2%) responded. Of this number, only 415 institutions reported blind students on their campuses, with a total enrollment of 915 (Trosch, 1958). With the increasing emphasis on higher education it was inevitable that more and more partially sighted and totally blind high school graduates would seek admission to institutions of higher education. Their admission to colleges and universities brought a different set of problems than those to which the staff and faculty were accustomed. Very little attention was given to freshman orientation programs, which at that time were not capable of dealing with these problems. This absence of interest is attested to by the lack of relevant literature in this area. The literature search, as well as correspondence with the American Foundation for the Blind, Recording for the Blind, Inc., and the national Office of Vocational Rehabilitation revealed little of value prior to the early 1960s; in fact, the majority of the relevant material reviewed has been written during the past five years. As Trosch (1958) noted: The integration of blind and sighted students in school and classroom is increasing. While their educational needs are not being fully met, the possibility of doing so is within reach. Each year, as institutions of higher education open their doors to these students, more aids and tools for learning can be extended to them. During the past ten years there have been four major attempts at establishing pre-college orientation programs for the visually impaired. McGill & Frish (1960) in describing the college preparation program at the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind listed three major areas of concern in this program -- understanding of college procedures, practice in effective study methods, and personal/social development. In more specific terms, the following activities were arranged in order to satisfy the goals of the program: (1) students lived at the YMCA and other clubs where they learned to function independently with assistance from staff members; (2) field trips were taken to campuses in Chicago which gave the students training; (3) assistance was offered in learning to work with readers, use of tape recorders, and improvement in typing and Braille; (4) personal counseling was offered and was especially helpful with those students from sheltered environments; and (5) blind professionals discussed career choice with the participants and blind students already attending college discussed their experiences. In the summer of 1964 the New York Vocational Rehabilitation Service of the Commission for the Blind provided a six-week orientation program for students who had already been accepted at a college or university (Brown, 1965). The program was conducted on Syracuse University, the general objectives being: (1) to introduce each student to dormitory living in a large, complex college community and to the many problems of living on a typical college campus in an unfamiliar community; (2) to allow the student to explore and participate in the procedures and routines of college life, including registration, counseling services, study techniques, and extracurricular activities; and (3) to test and evaluate each student to determine remedial services which might be required to achieve maximum success and acceptance in college. A follow-up institute was held during the following Christmas vacation, and it was believed that adjustment to university life was greatly facilitated by the summer orientation at Syracuse. The program was not only valuable for the student but also for the college administrators who turned to the rehabilitation center with problems related to the visually handicapped. In the summer of 1963 the Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind in Little Rock, Arkansas established a college preparatory program for prospective college students. Although some attention was given to academic preparation, the more practical needs of the student on a college campus were emphasized. Mobility training included learning to travel (with the aid of a white cane) around the facility, progressing to travel in and around immediate neighborhood and ending with the students being able to go to at least seven different addresses in Little Rock alone and bringing back proof that he had been there. Personal adjustment included learning to live as a blind person in a sighted world. Since many of the staff members were totally blind or partially sighted, they were able to understand, from their own experiences, some of the problems facing the new trainee. Communicative skills included the reading of Braille, typing on both standard and Braille typewriters, and penmanship. Daily living techniques such as personal grooming, ironing, making beds, doing laundry, and cooking were practiced. Social skills included bowling, dancing (ballroom and other styles), card playing, shuffleboard, and just carrying on a conversation were stressed. There were also times set aside for discussion groups led by staff members and lectures by outside personnel who possessed knowledge and experience valuable to the potential college student. The value of pre-college orientation as seen from the college student's perspective was described by Grant (1967), a college sophomore at Fresno State College who had participated in a workshop sponsored by the California State Department of Rehabilitation. During this workshop, all aspects of college life were discussed, academic and social, and the participants were made aware of problems to anticipate at a university. The workshop was a two-day affair conducted by both students and rehabilitation counselors. Topics for discussion were those common to college students such as development of more effective study habits and how to research and write a term paper. There was general agreement that the workshop was beneficial. All of these programs have as their basic theme the integration of the visually impaired student into the college he attends. The main differences were: location of the orientation program (two were on college campuses and two were in private center settings), length of time to accomplish their goals (two days to nine weeks), and emphasis placed on specific needs of the visually impaired student. * References Brown, H. Orienting Blind College Students. The New Outlook for the Blind, 1965 (59) Grant, M. Blind Student On Campus: A firsthand report. Journal of Rehabilitation, 1967 (33) Latimer, H. R. Should blind students be encouraged to go to college? American Association of Instructors for the Blind, 1926 McGill, W. and Frish, E. Helping blind students prepare for college. New Outlook for the Blind, 1960 (54) Trosch, C. First national survey of the blind students enrolled in colleges and universities. Higher Education, 1958 (14) ***** ** ACB Convention -- 1971 -- Milwaukee The ACB convention will commence on the afternoon of July 28th, Wednesday, and continue until 5 P.M. on Saturday, July 31st. It will be held at the Sheraton-Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Readers should make reservations directly with the hotel without delay. Milwaukee is a popular summer convention city, so it is timely to reserve early. Commencing on Sunday, July 25th at the Sheraton Schroeder, an increasing number of special interest groups will initiate their own meetings which will end in time to permit their members to attend the ACB convention. These special organizations are: the Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of America, Wally Menning, President; the Visually Impaired Data Processors International, Raythel E. Jones, President; the American Blind Lawyers Association, John Vanlandingham, President; the Visually Impaired Secretarial Transcribers Association, Betty Ann Jones, President; the ACB Service Net, Travis L. Harris, Coordinator; and the Association of Blind Lions, Fred C. Lilley, Chairman. The last week of July truly holds something for everyone. It will be a week of serious work and activity seasoned with some fun and entertainment of old and new Milwaukee. Watch for the details in the March and May issues of the FORUM. The Wisconsin Council of the Blind knows how to make Milwaukee even more famous, and we know how to help them do it. We will have another opportunity to sample the great food and the culture of a great city. The convention program will give adequate information about convention programs and about the host city. George Card of Madison and Joe Brown of Milwaukee are Co-chairmen for this convention and will be pleased to answer any questions. You may also consult your national office in Washington about details. ***** ** Regional Seminar Idea Initiated At its fourth quarterly meeting on December 12th, the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Federation of the Blind (ACB) approved the participation of that organization in a regional seminar for members of organizations in the area. The seminar objective will be to train members to be more effective volunteer workers in their organizations. To the extent possible, new participants will be encouraged to take part. ACB contemplates the staging of a series of seminars around the country. Further information may be obtained from the Council's national office. The address appears on the front of this issue. Inquiries are welcomed from organizations and individuals. ***** ** RCA Audio Receiver All Channels TV, FM-AM Radio The Oklahoma League for the Blind, 106 Northeast 2nd St., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104, announces that the much talked about RCA Audio Receiver can be obtained for sixty dollars including handling and shipping costs. Orders must be accompanied by money order or cashier's check in that amount payable to the Oklahoma League for the Blind. Sales are absolutely limited to visually impaired persons. This receiver includes UHF, VHF audio TV (no picture) and FM-AM radio. It operates on AC or DC current (no batteries). Each receiver contains an instruction booklet in print and braille. The BRAILLE FORUM makes no charge for this announcement. ***** ** Blind Lions Now International By Fred C. Lilley Since our meeting in Oklahoma City last July, I have been working on two fronts. The first has been an attempt to enlist Mr. Robert Uplinger, incoming President of Lions International as guest speaker for our 1971 luncheon, to be held in Milwaukee on July 28. To date, Mr. Uplinger has advised of a possible conflict with a standing obligation which the President has -- to appear at the annual Boy Scout Jamboree. He has assured me, however, that the date of the luncheon is marked on his calendar, and that if the conflict does not develop, he will be pleased to be our guest speaker. In any case, you may be sure that we will have a big-name Lion as our speaker in Milwaukee. The second objective tackled was to gain recognition for our organization from Lions International. In correspondence with Mr. Richard E. Peters, Supervisor, Sight Conservation and Work for the Blind, I asked if Lions International would grant our organization a special charter as a unique organization of Lions, dedicated to a specific purpose. In his reply, he stated the subject would be placed on the agenda of the upcoming Board of Directors. Also, he asked for the name of our new group, and, with tongue in cheek, I replied, "The International Association of Blind Lions." I am now awaiting information on the results of that meeting. In the meantime, my dream of an international organization of blind Lions has come true. Just recently, a letter came to me from Mr. Clive Thelning of Adelaide, South Australia, who had read the report of our 1970 meeting, and he asked to be included among the blind Lions. Although it was my hope to have more positive information by this time, I am encouraged by developments thus far and will report further in the March issue of the Forum. In the meantime, make your plans to attend the convention in Milwaukee. And to you blind Lions who have not as yet checked in, including those from distant shores, send in your name and address so that you may be included in future mailings. There is no cost or obligation. Send your name and address to: Mr. Fred C. Lilley, 7629 Dale Ave., Richmond Heights, Mo. 63117. ***** ** Now They Tell Us! Oh, the joys I have missed in my 40-odd years of life! All this time I have been in that large class of people you hear so much about these times, the poor, and underprivileged, the disadvantaged, the socially and culturally deprived, or what you will, and didn't even know it until just lately. What a tragedy! Just think of all the fun I could have had tearing up my work in protest! I was born in the poorest part of our little city of about ten thousand people, in one of several hundred almost identical little "shotgun houses" -- three rooms of equal size arranged in a straight line -- that had been built hastily to provide shelter for the people who came flocking in to work during the town's oil boom. In later years we lived in a succession of farms and rented houses in town; but only one of them in my first 22 years boasted an indoor bathroom. Radio did not enter my life till I was about seven and there were long periods when our only sources of entertainment were a collection of records played on an old spring-wound phonograph, such magazines as people gave us, and later, books borrowed from the library, which mother read aloud in the evenings by the light of the kerosene lamps. For years, mother cooked, and heated the house with wood, washed on the board, and did the ironing with flatirons heated on the stove; and the big wood heater and cookstove provided not only warmth but an excellent facility for disposing of most of the trash. We bought our first electric refrigerator second hand the year I entered the eighth grade, and I had my first telephone conversation at the age of fourteen. Now they tell me I grew up in an atmosphere of social and cultural deprivation. But I didn't have this information then, when I could have been using it as a beautiful excuse for all sorts of behavior problems, or just plain meanness if you prefer. So I managed to have a fairly normal childhood, stay out of trouble with the law as a teenager, learn enough in school to walk out with a diploma, and even acquire a college degree. All this when I could have had such a great time thinking up ways to get even with the society that had denied me all the advantages of the good life. But in those depression years I didn't even know I was disadvantaged because nearly everyone I knew was in just about the same fix. When I reached school age, I was shipped off to a residential school for the blind, after a brief and unfruitful career in the local kindergarten. My first dormitory was one of two large ward-like rooms above the music hall, where I occupied one of nine beds. The older girls lived on the top floor of a building erected in 1967, in rooms containing three to six beds. Boys and girls were together in the class rooms and strictly segregated elsewhere. The fortunate ones who lived close enough to the school went home for one weekend a month; some saw their families only during Christmas and summer vacations. Now they tell me I grew up in a dreadful institutional environment and was emotionally deprived, which should have resulted in serious ego damage. What a time my classmates and I could have had storing up all sorts of resentment against the education system that had foisted off this way of life on us, if we had known all this then. We might even have bombed the school or at least had ourselves a first-class mutiny against the authorities! But though those years in the residential school had their unpleasantness and frustrations, and though I probably came through them with at least as many neurotic hang-ups as my sighted peers, I carried away from that school a huge bundle of happy memories, and a feeling that the education I had received there was better than average. My state's fine rehabilitation center had not been built when I finished high school, and the agency for the blind was making its first wobbly steps toward today's program of services. A great source of inspiration to me were those really deprived blind people in our state who had their start before there was an agency for the blind, and had to create their own job opportunities or struggle on their own against a hostile sighted world to further their education. How deprived they were! What a spectacle we could have made as we marched down the streets of our state Capitol, or even Washington, chanting "blind power!" with the rhythmic thumping of our white canes! But, totally ignorant of their misfortunes, these deprived, uninformed people simply buckled down to the unglamorous task of making a place for themselves in the working and professional world and filling that place so well that they were able to open the way for a whole oncoming generation. So now they tell us how deprived we have been all these years -- now, when the damage is already done. We have not only missed the joys of demonstrating, but those of us who have not written flashing success stories have not had the use of these beautiful reasons why we didn't, but have had to content ourselves with such shopworn excuses as laziness, lack of initiative, etc. For most of us, it's too late to reshape our thinking; for the feeling is ever with us that, rich or poor, white or black, blind or sighted, educated or uneducated, disadvantaged or otherwise, everyone has suffered some form of deprivation or had some obstacle to overcome. Which brings us right back where we started before all this talk about deprivation -- in the same boat with everyone else who has had to make his or her way in the world. ***** ** Burson Appointed to Sensory Study Section S. Bradley Burson of Downers Grove, Illinois has been appointed to serve on the Sensory Study Section of the Social and Rehabilitation Service. The Study Section has the responsibility for the technical and scientific review of applications for research grants and demonstrations and makes necessary recommendations to the National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation. The members of the Study Section also survey, as scientific leaders, the status of research in their fields to determine areas in which research should be initiated or expanded. Members of the Study Section are selected from various disciplines concerned with deafness, blindness, and speech and hearing problems. Meetings are usually held three times annually in Washington, D.C., prior to each meeting of the National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation. Dr. Burson is well known to readers of the BRAILLE FORUM as the first vice president of ACB and as long-time research physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. ***** ** William Taylor of Pennsylvania Dies William Taylor lived and practiced law in Media, Pennsylvania for many years. As a blind person he was well known as an early leader in the National Federation of the Blind and in the Pennsylvania Federation of the Blind. He served as second vice president and as a member of the Federation's executive committee. Taylor was keenly interested in the adoption of white cane laws in the states, and he made this his principal project in the forties and fifties. He wrote the white cane laws which were passed in almost every state and personally carried on a crusade with blind people throughout the country in this effort. Many cities adopted ordinances containing the same language as the statues on the subject. The white cane law is a monument to his good work and to his memory. Taylor defended "his" white cane law against all critics and argued for the stricter duty placed on motorists as compared to later attempts to modify it. He was plagued with ill health throughout his adult life but was remarkably active until recent years. His death occurred on October 29th. ***** ** Wagner-O'Day Act Legislation As we go to press it appears that S. 3425 has failed. This is the bill which would expand federal authorization to include purchases of products from workshops employing other handicapped workers. The Council's opposition and reasons therefor have been explained in three previous articles. As the bill passed the Senate it would have permitted the mixing of blind and other handicapped workers to meet the requirement of 75 percent of production labor on procurement of products and services for the government. At its annual convention in Denver, the General Council of Workshops for the Blind recognized this possibility and adopted a resolution suggesting an amendment to the bill which would define workshops for the blind in terms comparable to the present definition in order to avoid the mixing and to protect the priorities specified in the bill for workshops for the blind. Such amendments were prepared and submitted to the Sub Committee considering the bill. Thereafter, a new issue came to our attention -- the advocacy by some leading members and officers of the General Council of Workshops for the blind of a reduction in the percentage of blind labor required from 75 to 60 percent. A further report will be made in the next issue. ***** ** Secretarial Transcribers Association Joins ACB The Visually Impaired Secretarial Transcribers Association was accepted as the 28th affiliate of the American Council of the Blind on November 7th. This is another of the occupational groups associated with ACB activities. It was organized last July in Oklahoma City at the time of its first meeting. Betty Ann Jones, 907 Harper St., Utica, N.Y. is its president. Blind persons who are engaged in work within this field of membership should communicate with Miss Jones. The statement of purpose of this special interest group is as follows: A. To provide a national organization for visually impaired persons engaged in the vocational activities hereinafter described; B. To provide a forum for deliberations, free expression, and action by the membership; C. To protect and to improve the training, employment, and related interests of visually impaired persons in these vocational fields; D. To provide information and vocational counseling; and E. To do any lawful thing which may be necessary or desirable to accomplish these purposes and to assist visually impaired persons in their efforts to improve their social and economic conditions. ***** ** Pennsylvania Joins ACB On the 7th of November, the ACB Directors accepted the application of the American Council of the Blind of Pennsylvania as the 29th affiliate of ACB. The new organization held its organizing convention in Harrisburg on October 31st. Earl L. Bigger, 1203 Clover Lane, Chester, Pennsylvania 19013, was elected President; Bill Diehl of Wilkes-Barre, Vice President; Louise Deweese of Harrisburg, Secretary; and Eugene F. Gressley of Greensburg, Treasurer. Plans are being made for a statewide convention in 1971. ACB of Pennsylvania offers to the blind of the state an opportunity to work in a constructive organization for the improvement of all phases of work for, with and by blind people. ***** ** Louisiana Council of the Blind Organizes On December 5, 1970, charter members of a new organization completed the formation of the Louisiana Council of the Blind, adopted bylaws, elected officers and made plans for a regular convention and working committees. The following officers were elected: Robert T. McLean, President; Vernon Daigle, vice president; Lola Siren, Secretary; and Betty Pousson, Treasurer. Members of the Board of Directors are: Dalton Brown, Walter Siren and Laurence Fontan. President McLean lives at 2139 Joseph St., New Orleans, and is a professor in the Mathematics Department at Loyola University of the South. The formation of this Council group has been widely accepted and will bring blind people in Louisiana into direct participation on a national basis for the first time in eleven years. ACB welcomes this enthusiastic group as its 30th affiliate. ACB has members in every state, and this will lead to representation of organizations in every state. ***** ** T. Munford Boyd Honored as He Retires Editor's Note: Professor Boyd retired from the faculty of the Law School of the University of Virginia on June 30, 1970. Many of our readers know him personally as a charter member of ACB and as one of the founders of the American Blind Lawyers' Association. Professor Boyd was honored by his friends and colleagues at a special dinner in Charlottesville, Virginia on June 3, 1970. We are pleased to present a portion of a tribute made on that occasion by Hardy C. Dillard, Judge, International Court of Justice; former James Monroe Professor and Dean, University of Virginia Law School. "... To say that T. Munford Boyd is a professor -- even a revered professor -- tells us something but not very much. There are thousands of revered professors. To say His life is rich in past achievements -- as a wise counselor, an able advocate, a firm but compassionate juvenile and domestic court judge, a careful and discriminating scholar -- these things say a great deal, and more could be added, but they are not what makes T. Munford Boyd unique. Indeed, if it is permissible in whimsical defiance of the logic or language, to say with Orwell, that some are more equal than other, it is surely more permissible to say that some are more unique than others, although the criteria for saying so are not susceptible to measurement. Yet how convey in fallible language the attributes of uniqueness? The answer may lie in the realm of anecdote. "Munny" Boyd is the kind of man around whom legends grow and anecdotes cluster. They are bred out of affection for his qualities of spirit, in which modesty and humor predominate, and out of respect for his sturdiness of mind in which analytical power is accompanied by a passion for accuracy. But his uniqueness -- the special quality which sets him apart and contributes to the anecdotal side -- is something else. It is an attribute of character linked with the manner in which he has overcome one of life's elemental handicaps. Indeed few have done so much to show that an affliction which would have disheartened most people was only a minor challenge to be so genially ignored and gently tolerated that colleagues and friends, in all walks of life, soon came to forget that he was denied the use of sight. ... Indeed the dogmatic and frequently strident assertions of those who hold extreme views are so completely foreign to his mental makeup that to associate him with them would be an affront; yet he tolerates their excessive expression with mild good humor. A "moderate," he is yet a living refutation of the wryly humorous remark that a "moderate" is a man "who makes enemies right and left." Somehow without loss of force or conviction, he manages to make friends out of opponents, and he is equally at home with a multi-millionaire tycoon and Tim the Beggar. A colleague once put it well in a single memorable sentence: "Munny," he said, "has taught us all to see." He has taught us to see by sensing, as he does, the finer and nobler aspects of the human condition which gives perspective to life and temper its less attractive features. I am sure I speak not only for all alumni but for all people who have come within the circle of his influence when I say that we do not merely like him, we love him. And if this sentiment seems high flown and tinged with emotion, so be it. He is not "reverting" to practice after twenty-three happy years on the Law Faculty. In a subdued key he has always remained in practice as consultant to his former firm and with a few clients of his own. Yet he is retiring from active teaching by decree of the most inexorable of all dictators who measures time by clock and calendar instead of zest for work and play. Munny has said he leaves the faculty with "eager reluctance" -- a quoted phrase which appeals to him because of its quixotic ambivalence. Eagerness to meet new demands is characteristic of his appetite for life, while reluctance to sever, even formally, a mutually cherished association, bespeaks the loyalty he feels for the Law School which he has so greatly enriched by his own special brand of uniqueness, humor, knowledge, insight and wisdom. Happily, he will practice in Charlottesville so his high talents will not be altogether lost to Dean Paulsen and his former colleagues who will, no doubt, call upon him from time to time for wise counsel which, we may be sure, will be tendered graciously without fee, and accepted gratefully without pay. Editors' Note: The Editors of the BRAILLE FORUM extend best wishes to our friend and distinguished member. ***** ** Alabama Federation of the Blind's Convention By Dempsey Byrd (Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the December, 1970 issue of HEARSIGHT, published by the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind.) On October 16, 17, and 18 the Alabama Federation of the Blind held its annual convention in Birmingham. I was there with my notebook. I enjoyed every minute. Deciding not to go in for "blackmail" after all, I destroyed most of my notes. Some of the wholesome, but perhaps less exciting things which occurred included three speeches on Saturday morning. Dr. Woodrow W. Elliott, President of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, spoke convincingly on the progress at the Institute and his ambitions for it. Mr. J.C. Lindley, from the Division of Vocational Education, in his speech enumerated the ways in which his Division serves the blind and other handicapped groups in Alabama. Mr. Davenport Smith, WBRC Radio News Chief, spoke on the obligations of the broadcast industry to the general public. Miss Vera McClain, capable blind rehabilitation teacher in Birmingham, was moderator of the Saturday morning session. Officers elected Saturday afternoon were -- Lester McGlaughn, President; Bill Howard, Huntsville, First Vice-President; Crawford Pike, Talladega, Second Vice-President; Mrs. Arietta Hudson, Birmingham, Secretary; and Arnold Parker, Gadsden, Treasurer. Judge Reese Robrahn, President of the American Council of the Blind, was the banquet speaker on Saturday night. The banquet was followed by a dance with music -- courtesy of the Birmingham Local Musicians Union. Sunday, the final day of the convention, included a devotional service and a legislative luncheon. A number of legislators spoke to the convention at the luncheon. ***** ** Notes from the Tape Library Some of the tapes that are coming to the Tape Library are too short for the material requested. Most titles require 1800' of tape, so when tape is sent to us for copying, please be sure the reel contains 1800' of FRESH tape, preferably mylar. We are finding that some of our material needs to be re-recorded for better quality, but we hope to have all topics in good order soon. One new title to add to the list that was in the September FORUM is -- Techniques for Handling Problem Parents, by Andrew Stevens. The AFB's "A Step-by-step Guide to Personal Management for Blind Persons" contains much of the information covered by our two other titles concerning homemaking and housekeeping and may be substituted for these. ***** ** Announcement Sara Selis is interested in organizing an active library service users group in the various media -- talking-book, tape, cassette, braille -- to serve as the voice and sounding board of blind readers. This group will concern itself with increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of library service, in the selection and distribution of reading material that will reflect the taste and need of readers, as well as reading equipment. If sufficient interest is demonstrated for such a group, The American Council of the Blind will be asked to arrange a meeting of this group as part of its program at the 1971 Convention in Milwaukee. Those interested in forming such a group should write Mrs. Sara Selis, c/o The Associated Blind, Inc., 135 West 23rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10011. ***** ** Bill Ferrell Honored On June 17 William J. Ferrell of Nashville, Tennessee, was honored during an anniversary luncheon marking the 50th year of vocational rehabilitation in the nation. Ferrell, who is blind, is a supervisor for Services for the Blind, a division of the State Department of Welfare. His multitudinous duties include policy making, interpretation of the special language the Federal Government uses, training, project development, orientation of new personnel and anything that will help serve blind and visually handicapped persons. Bill was the first blind student to enroll at Tennessee Technological University where he completed a four-year B.S. degree in social science in less than three academic years, reaping honors such as Vice President of the student body and recognition in WHO'S WHO AMONG STUDENTS IN AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. In those days financial assistance from Rehab Agencies was very limited so Bill supported himself with a snack bar, vending machines and newspaper sales. Bill has been active for many years in social, community, civic and church affairs. He is Past President of the Tenn. School for the Blind Alumni Association, Past President of the Franklin Road Lions Club, is a member of the Mid-State Association of the Blind, the Tenn. Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind. He is a past Board member and life member of the National Rehabilitation Assn. and a life member of the AAWB. ***** ** The Long Cane and the Sonar Torch in England (Excerpted from an editorial by Tom Parker in the BLIND ADVOCATE.) Almost as long as I remember, I have been reading about different types of aids which have been experimented with for enabling blind people to get around on their own. In the vast majority of instances these have been based upon bright ideas thought up by seeing individuals without any serious consultation with the blind people themselves. Too often we blind fail to put forward our ideas. I suspect this is a legacy from the past when we were taught that other people could do the thinking for us. Of course, all of us would like to find some idea really materialize into something of use to us in this field. For more than twenty years many blind Americans have used the long white cane technique with considerable success. In this country, however, you cannot purchase a long white cane unless you have undergone a course of training. The course could last for three months. It is estimated that it would cost twenty-five pounds a week for such a residential course. But the kind of blind person most likely to need this long white cane is probably a worker. So there would be the loss of earnings for this period. I have been told by an official at the R.N.I.B. that they have been advised not to issue these canes to other than trained blind persons by an American organization. Yet in 1965 when I visited an orientation center in the U.S., I was accompanied by a totally blind man who was able to buy one immediately; and this, despite the fact that he had not received any training in its use. He was simply given some instructions as to how it should be used and then told to practice with it. My own guess is that if these could be bought in his country, many more blind people would very soon be using them successfully. The Sonar Torch. I tried one of these about two years ago. I came to the conclusion that it was an interesting and clever instrument, but extremely confusing. I thought one of its greatest disadvantages lay in the fact that you had to use one of your ears to receive the information. It truly gave a lot of information, but I know very few blind people who would willingly sacrifice one of their ears for this purpose. I sought an interview a few months ago with the Head of Electronics Division of a local university and discussed the problem with him from the standpoint of a blind person. This scientist appreciated the fact that we need something to augment what we already have rather than something which would leave us with only one ear free for other auditory clues. I expressed the view that the technique of an instrument sending out a beam ahead was sound, provided the return signal was converted into a motive force instead of into sound; that this motive force should be able to operate vibrating pins or reeds the moment it picked up an obstruction. I thought that if such a signal could operate a small pin or reed on each finger spot on some small handle which one held in the hand, it would give sufficient warning. We would still rely on the stick to indicate the position of steps. If the idea turned out to be successful it could ultimately be incorporated into a walking stick. The scientist thought the idea perfectly feasible. ***** ** Communication Is the Key to Successful Living By Katherine Epstein The 1970 Oregon Council of the Blind Convention The Blind have long been at pains to convince the unbelieving world that they differ from the sighted only in that they are without sight. Those who have seen blind people interacting with one another and with their sighted friends will acknowledge this fact. A large-scale interaction of this type took place in Portland, Oregon on the weekend of October 17 & 18. The occasion was the annual meeting of the Oregon Council of the Blind. The site of this year's state meeting was Portland's Washington hotel. Council members found the hotel's downtown location convenient and its staff cooperative. The Convention's success was due in no small measure to this happy circumstance. The O.C.B. was honored to have as its guest the National Representative of the American Council of the Blind, Durward McDaniel. In his several appearances before the convention and Executive Board he emphasized the A.C.B.'s commitment to ensure that the road to opportunity remains open for those who would travel it. What new members can do for the A.C.B., he said, was of no less importance than what the A.C.B. can do for new members. O.C.B. members were thus challenged with the prospect of two-way communication. Communication is the key to successful living, and it was the key to this most successful convention. Chief among the communication problems considered by those in attendance, were those arising from the proposal that the state Commission for the Blind be included in the Department of Human Resources. For more than two decades, Oregon has enjoyed the benefits of an independent Commission, whose members have exercised both policy-making and administrative authority over blind programs. The new arrangement in the proposed new department, although not yet finalized, would probably be detrimental to the blind and the Commission would exercise only advisory authority. The Commission Administrator would be responsible to the Department Administrator who in turn would be accountable to the governor, thus denying the independent status now enjoyed and removing the Commission from a direct line to the governor. A similar pattern as described above has been adopted in several other States. Proponents of the Departmental approach list among its merits greater efficiency, broader scope of services administered more effectively throughout the state, greater cooperation among agencies, and a heightened emphasis on the normality of the client served. It was, nevertheless, the consensus that the advantages, as presented, were not as self-evident as the proponents believed them to be. The opponents believed the efficiency would readily be increased within the existing system, that cooperation between agencies would not necessarily result from a department merger, that Oregon would be taking a step backward to pre-commission days, and that the blind, being a small percentage of the population would lose services. A constant problem of organizations of the blind is that of communication between the state affiliate and local chapters. As a measure of its concern for the improvement of communications, the O.C.B. approved significant changes in the articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws. The three at large seats on the Executive Board, which followed a three-year overlapping election cycle, were abolished. ... A second constitutional change would broaden the present membership of the nominating committee. At present this committee has five members elected at the convention and will, henceforth, consist of one member from each local chapter. The chairmanship of the nominating committee will rotate annually in alphabetical order, by chapter names. This year's executive board features some new faces, along with some familiar ones. President and Delegate to the 1971 A.C.B. convention is Haris Lipsit of Eugene. Other Executive Board members are: Katharine Epstein, First Vice-president; John Fleming, Second Vice-president; Vivian Dignan, Corresponding Secretary; Lucille Krepela, Recording Secretary; Dick Kohl, Treasurer; and members at large, Millard Thompson, Pauline Forrest, and Louis Waymire. Rounding out the Board is our ex-president, Wally Menning, best known to Forum readers as national president of the Randolph-Sheppard Vending Stands Operators of America. The O.C.B. is indebted for this year's successful convention to the hard work and careful planning of Millard Thompson and Dick Kohl, co-chairmen. ***** ** Ma Bell and the Blind Boy As a boy, Joe Engressia could tell what denomination of coin had been flipped by the sound it made as it hit the floor. He could even tell in which year it had been minted by recognizing the silver content. The incredible sensitivity of 20-year-old Joe who has been blind since birth is being investigated by University of South Florida psychology professor Harold L. Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins was given a $5,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for just that purpose. Joe's specialty is the telephone, about which he probably knows more than anyone since Alexander Graham Bell. When a phone rings, he can tell from which exchange it is coming. By the feel of the instrument, he can tell in which year it was made. He knows how to make a free call to anywhere in the world. Given a couple of days of research, he reckons he could work out how to contact anyone -- President Nixon on his bedside phone, or the Pentagon's highly secret hot line. Says Dr. Hawkins: "I'm trying to find out what is the limit of Joe's skill and whether it is an inherent, undeveloped trait others could use." It was his talent that got Joe in trouble with the university and the FBI two years ago. He was temporarily suspended for making free long-distance phone calls for his friends by imitating the dialing equipment. He did it by whistling a sequence of tones into the mouthpiece. The long-distance relays reacted to the particular frequencies he made, for Joe has perfect pitch. He can reproduce any sound frequency impeccably, no matter how long it has been since he heard it. The FBI finally ruled that no Federal statute had been violated ("I promised I wouldn't do it anymore"), and an astonished General Telephone Co. offered him a job, which he refused, preferring to major in mathematics at the university. Joe's blindness is of little handicap (he also has a built-in radar instinct which prevents him from ever bumping into things). He will board a bus by himself, go to a city and ask to be shown around the local telephone exchange. Often, he is able to warn the phone company officials of impending problems in their equipment by listening to the electronic tones. "See," he says, "I'm not trying to beat the system when I accidentally get an overseas phone call free: I'm just trying to learn and to help. Eventually, I'd like to start my own phone company. "Excuse me, I have to go now. I promised a friend I'd balance his stereo equipment for him." ***** ** Here and There By George Card Word has just come from our Washington representative that the copyright bill (S. 543), which caused many blind people to worry about its effect on talking books and tape recordings, will not pass this year and that when it is re-introduced next session, Senator McClellan has received assurances from the Copyright Office "that these fears are unwarranted and that the passage of the bill would not be harmful either to the blind or those who use tape recorders for their personal enjoyment." From the Ohio BULLETIN: A successful person is one who has lived well, laughed often and loved much. Because of his success, the world is a better place in which to live. His life has been an inspiration. His memory will be a benediction. Francis B. Ierardi, 84, who founded the WEEKLY NEWS in 1927, the first braille newspaper in the Western Hemisphere, died on September 14. He was blinded at the age of 12, attended Perkins, served as a social worker and was Editor of the WEEKLY NEWS during its first 30 years. A book is being written, the aim of which is public education about visually handicapped people. Every visually handicapped person has probably had numerous encounters with sighted persons which have proven to be hilarious. The authors believe that using these incidents may cause sighted readers to realize the sometimes-ludicrous nature of their behavior toward visually impaired people. The book is not intended to evoke sympathy but only to educate the sighted public. Send your tales in braille, print, cassette or open reel tape to Mrs. Dorothy Drayson Lowenstein, 3123 Bailey Avenue, Bronx, N.Y. 10463. From the AFB NEWSLETTER: The 1970 Migel Medal, the nation's highest award in work for the blind was presented October 22 to Richard E. Hoover, M.D., developer of the long-cane travel technique, and Roy Kumpe, executive director of Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind, Little Rock. -- The results of an AFB survey of hospitals to determine what jobs can be performed by blind persons are now being sent to hospital administrators, personnel directors and rehabilitation personnel. The survey found 22 jobs in four categories -- processing centers, where students were trained in the preparation and packing of instruments and material used in the operating room; the laundry, where they were taught various hand and machine operations; the radiology department, where they learned to develop X-ray films; and the dietary department where they were instructed in food preparation and serving. -- Mr. Robert Barnett has called the effort to combine services to the blind with those to other handicapped groups "the greatest threat to the vocational rehabilitation of the disabled in its 50 years as a Federally assisted program. Efforts to introduce non-physically handicapped individuals into the system will so dilute the resources available for blind and physically handicapped that none of several groups, including the original, will receive real assistance." He added that, "Agencies for and of blind persons must settle possible differences in favor of concerted action." -- A recent survey of occupational therapists showed that most had occasion to work with blind persons but had little knowledge about blindness. A Baltimore seminar October 28-30 was designed to remedy this deficiency. One phase of the sessions had the therapists blindfolded to give them a more empathetic appreciation of the problems confronting the blind person. In accepting the Helen Keller International Award, John F. Wilson, head of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, said, among other things: The amount being spent on research for the prevention of blindness is less than the cost of a quite unsophisticated fighter-bomber ... In a single day a team of doctors did 405 sight-restoring operations in a village in India. On that day the world was just about keeping pace with its blindness rate ... The spirit of Helen Keller could perhaps be expressed as follows: There is a light on the way ahead. It could be the glare of a nuclear Armageddon or the glow of some revolting big brother utopia, but it could so much more easily be the gleam of the beacon light of a braver world." -- Doctors are worried for fear that retrolental fibroplasia may again raise its ugly head. Oxygen is being used more liberally for premature babies in incubators in order to combat hyaline membrane disease and cerebral palsy. -- A survey in South Dakota nursing homes involving 1,070 patients revealed the startling information that 298 persons had severe and previously undiagnosed visual problems. -- Milton A. Jahoda, of Cincinnati, has been appointed to the position on the Ohio Commission for the Blind formerly occupied by Clyde Ross. -- From the September NEW OUTLOOK. From the ABC DIGEST (Calif.): While our California affiliate failed to obtain a commission for the blind, largely through the opposition of other handicapped groups, it did succeed in defeating many bills which would have been highly detrimental to the blind. The vending stand operators succeeded in beating a bill which would have permitted set-aside funds to be used for administrative salaries. -- Charter member, Dr. Harry Earle, who has attended several ACB national conventions, celebrated his 80th birthday on August 24. Lucille Strelow underwent minor surgery in August and is doing well. -- The withdrawal of Medical Funds has forced many handicapped people to leave their homes and be confined in hospitals, where the cost is twice as great. Some governments are short-sighted enough to look at what seems an initial saving but eventually hits the taxpayers very hard. -- Juliet Bindt's HANDBOOK FOR THE BLIND has now been reissued on talking book records. -- Berthold Lowenfeld, a Berkeley psychologist and educator, has been named to the Department of Rehabilitation Appeals Board. -- The State Department of Social Welfare operates a revolving loan fund to help blind persons to establish themselves in business, professions or other gainful employment. Loans up to $5000 and at an interest rate of not more than 3 percent per year may be made but loans are restricted to those on public assistance. From the CCB OUTLOOK (Canada): Eric T. Boulter ended his 22 years of service to the American Foundation for Overseas Blind in September and returned to his native England. Mrs. Boulter had travelled nearly half a million miles and visited 60 countries on behalf of the Foundation. He was President of the World Council from 1964-1969 and had also served as Secretary-General and Vice-President of that organization. He will remain a member of the Executive Committee of the WCWB. (Some may remember the remarkable address he delivered at the national convention in Omaha in 1955.) -- After 31 years of blindness, Ralph Voelker, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was able to see his four children for the first time after a successful plastic cornea operation restored the sight in one eye. From WE THE BLIND: One more door opened -- Stephen Cassell, the first cantor, blind from birth, to officiate at a Sabbath Service, chanted the Friday evening service recently at Union Temple in Brooklyn. Word has come from South Dakota of an accident to former ACB Board member Dean Sumner. Dean suffered a broken leg when the horse he was riding fell. He and his five sons have specialized in horses in recent years and this has been the first serious mishap. From the AP: Famous blind golfer Charley Boswell, of Birmingham, sank the first hole-in-one of his 16-year links career October 21. The ace came on the 141-yard 14th hole at Vestavia Country Club. At its annual convention October 17-18 the Oregon Council elected Harry Lipsit, of Eugene, President, succeeding Wally Menning. Durward McDaniel, ACB Washington representative, was a featured guest speaker. Fred Krepela, long-suffering ACB Treasurer, will be Chairman of the national convention in Portland in 1972. From the Washington WHITE CANE: Six Olympia restaurants now have brailled menus available for blind patrons. From the HOOSIER STAR-LIGHT: Coolville, Ohio -- Seven employees of a photographic processing plant here are blind but their handicap has proven to be an asset. Ned Tanner, president of Best Photo Service, said his seven blind employees do excellent work and do not receive preferential treatment. "They perform their jobs as well as, if not better in many cases than, persons with sight," he said. -- Bell Telephone is working on a device which will enable the deaf-blind to feel phone messages in the coded vibration of a finger pad. The current issue of INSIGHT describes an unusual occupation which has proved ideal in the case of two blind Seattle girls. They operate a "hot-line" service which enables customers needing hard-to-find parts for foreign cars and trucks instantaneous connections with the four Fitz Auto Parts Yards in Seattle and yards in Oregon, Utah, Idaho, eastern Washington and in the northern California area. From the LION magazine: The dream world a child carries inside his head and acts out in play may have to be curtailed if the child is blind. Unable on his own to race pell-mell through hills and woods or to pole a makeshift raft across a pond, the blind child must find different means of expressing his energies in fantasy. Salem (Downtown), Oregon, Lions helped create a special park for children of the Oregon School for the Blind that makes some of those elusive childhood activities possible for blind youngsters, too. One-and-one-half acres of an "Outdoor Sensory Stimulation Teaching Area" were constructed by Salem service clubs, providing an animal shelter, lawns, giant trees, gardens, a climbing tree and, best of all, a figure-eight shaped pond containing two islands straight out of a children's adventure story. Visually handicapped children scamper across four beautifully arched wooden bridges built by the Salem Lions to visit a jungle island, complete with bamboo forest and a bird cage, or to a larger island containing lilac groves, a pumpkin patch and herb and vegetable gardens. The waterways, about 18 inches deep, are perfect for poling small boats around the islands, just like Huckleberry Finn or maybe a Viking explorer. The Lion-built bridges have some unusual qualities, especially designed for use by the blind. Two of the bridges are drawbridges and boaters must operate each bridge to allow their craft to pass. Describing the complex mechanism youngsters must learn to operate when working the drawbridges, Lion John D. Howarth, secretary of the Salem (Downtown) club, explained: "Students detect the bridge by bumping a device in the water with the boat. Then they must dock the boat and close a gate on the bridge which releases a lever, enabling them to open the bridge. Students must really work at turning the automobile-type steering wheel which is connected to cables, but this is part of the planned activity. With the bridge up, the student reboards the boat, moves past the bridge, again docks the boat and closes the bridge." Superintendent Charles Woodcock said: "We're trying to force the children to interact with their environment and at the same time find it's fun to be doing active things rather than always taking the passive position and being involved only in the listening experience." ***** ** Good News for the Readers Beginning with its March issue, this magazine will be edited by Mr. Earl Scharry, longtime associate editor of the Braille Forum and one of the ACB's most scholarly charter members. His address appears on the cover page. I congratulate the Board of Publications on the wisdom of this appointment, and sincerely thank Earl for having agreed, though with great reluctance, to add this time-consuming job (for which he is so uniquely qualified) to his many other duties. I also wish to thank the ACB Board of Directors, the Board of Publications, Durward McDaniel, George Card and Earl Scharry for their tolerance and splendid cooperation during my brief editorial career; it was a pleasure, as well as a privilege, to work with so many outstanding leaders of the American Council of the Blind. I shall still strive to be a useful member of the ACB, of course, but I felt obliged to resign from the editorship of the Braille Forum in order to have sufficient time and energy for my duties as president of the Missouri Federation of the Blind -- an office which, as experience has taught me, requires the best one has to offer. Best wishes to everyone for a joyous and rewarding New Year. Alma L. Murphey ***** ** ACB Officers President: Judge Reese Robrahn, 329 Woodbury Lane, Topeka, Kansas 66606 First Vice-President: Dr. S. Bradley Burson, 917 Kenyon Street, Downers Grove, Ill. 60515 Second Vice-President: Vernon Williams, 217 Western Union Bldg., Aberdeen, South Dakota 54701 Secretary: Mrs. Mary Jane Schmitt, 510 Tarrington Rd., Rochester, New York 14609 Treasurer: Fred Krepela, 241 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301 ** Directors Mrs. Cathie Skivers, 836 Resota St., Hayward, California 94545 George Card, 605 South Few Street, Madison, Wisc. 53703 Floyd Qualls, 106 N. E. 2nd Street, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73104 Earl Scharry, 5714 Ridgeway Ave., Rockville, Md. 20851 J. Edward Miller, 2621 Chesterfield Ave., Charlotte, N.C. 28205 David Krause, 2121 P Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037 Fred Lilley, 7629 Dale Ave., Richmond Heights, MO 63117 Don Cameron, 724 S. Davis Blvd., Tampa, Fla. 33609 ###