The Braille Forum Vol. XXII November 1983 No. 5 Published Monthly By The American Council of the Blind Mary T. Ballard, Editor ***** * National Office: Oral O. Miller 1211 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Suite 506 Washington, DC 20036 1-800-424-8666 * Editorial Office The Braille Forum: Mary T. Ballard 190 Lattimore Road Rochester, NY 14620 (716) 244-8364 * Contributing Editor Elizabeth M. Lennon 1315 Greenwood Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49007 ** ACB Officers * President: Grant Mack 139 E. South Temple, Suite 5000 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 * First Vice President: Dr. Otis H. Stephens 2021 Kemper Lane, S.W. Knoxville, TN 37920 * Second Vice President: Durward K. McDaniel 9468 Singing Quail Drive Austin, TX 78758 * Secretary: Karen Perzentka 913 Colony Drive Madison, WI 53717 * Treasurer: James R. Olsen American Council of the Blind Summit Bank Building, Suite 822 310 4th Avenue, S. Minneapolis, MN 55415 The Braille Forum seeks to promote the independence and dignity of all blind people: to stress responsibility of citizenship: to alert the public to the abilities and accomplishments of the blind. The Braille Forum carries official news of the American Council of the Blind and its programs. It is available for expression of views and concerns common to all blind persons. ***** ** Contents ACB Officers President's Message, by Grant Mack News Briefs from the ACB National Office, by Oral O. Miller When I Found Myself in This Boat ... - 23 Days and 2400 Miles from San Francisco to Honolulu ACB Ready to Help More Blind Students Than Ever Before Highlights, ACB Summer Board Meetings, 1983 A Tale of Two Rehabilitation Bills, by Scott Marshall Research to Restore Sight: Hope for Future Generations Low-Vision Musicians Assisted by "Large Print Slides," by Patricia Price Alcoholism as Secondary Disability: The Silent Saboteur in Rehabilitation ACB Affiliate News: Oregon Council on the Move The Hills Come Alive with ACB New Device to Aid Central Vision Loss High Tech Swap Shop Here and There, by Elizabeth M. Lennon Notice to Subscribers ***** ** President's Message By Grant Mack The inconsistency of airline personnel in their treatment of blind passengers never ceases to amaze me. No airline seems to have a monopoly on either sophistication or ineptness. About the time that it begins to appear that a company has really done something positive toward training their employees, one has a shattering experience that destroys the whole image. On the other hand, after a run of negative experiences, one may encounter a flight attendant or agent who really knows what he or she is doing. This leads one to conclude that the airlines are not aware that a problem exists. This chronic problem was vividly brought to mind while I was traveling to and from Louisville, Kentucky, recently. On the first leg of this flight, I had a very positive experience with a TWA flight attendant. However, on the return, the agent at the Louisville airport insisted that he knew the best place for me to sit. He refused to confer with me as to my choice. It eventually got worked out and I did sit in the seat of my choice, but an unpleasant scene occurred. By way of contrast, let me tell you of the positive experience with a TWA flight attendant named Karona. She made a two-hour trip one of the most pleasant I have ever had. After I had taken my seat and made certain that Albee (my dog guide) was comfortable, she approached me and asked if I was familiar with the safety features of the 727. When I replied that I flew a lot and really did know about the emergency exits and oxygen masks, she let it go at that. Any of you who fly regularly know that this is not the usual case. The over-zealous insistence of some flight attendants to parrot their memorized speech is very annoying. Even more annoying are the "hand-grabbers" who insist on raising your hand to the oxygen mask compartment above. This might be an appropriate indoctrination for a 6- or 7-year-old youngster flying for the first time, or perhaps for an adult who has never been on an airplane before, but it is very annoying to someone who has flown many times. Karona also made certain that she had my name correct. She was aware that she could immediately get my attention by addressing me by name from the center aisle. She seemed to understand that it can be confusing when a question is asked by a flight attendant standing in the aisle. The sound is almost the same whether she is at the end of your row or the row in front or behind. When she delivered the breakfast tray, she put it down with the statement, "I assume you will feel free to ask if you want any special help." Later in the flight after her chores were done, she came and sat by me saying that she was curious about the slate and stylus I was using. She wanted to know what braille was all about. Her interest was genuine, and it was with some satisfaction I showed her the alphabet and introduced her to the basics of braille. I would not expect that all flight attendants would be as interested or as personable as was Karona, but I would suggest that it is not asking too much for airlines to brief their personnel on the importance of making all passengers feel comfortable and at ease. The airlines have a great opportunity through their mandated training program to take the lead in helping to change attitudes about handicapped people. Many organizations of the handicapped would be more than willing to make meaningful contributions to that training. It really would not take much to eliminate the chronic, ever-present annoyances that a handicapped traveler encounters. ***** ** News Briefs from the ACB National Office By Oral O. Miller National Representative The fall is the season during which many state affiliates of the American Council of the Blind conduct their conventions. It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that the members of the National Office staff have been "on the go" considerably while speaking at such conventions during the past month. Staff members spoke and otherwise assisted at the Michigan convention in Jackson, the West Virginia convention in Morgantown, the Maryland convention in in Baltimore, the Kansas convention in Hutchinson, the California convention in Los Angeles, the Oregon convention in Corvallis, and the Pennsylvania convention in Harrisburg. It should be pointed out, also, that ACB officers and Board members spoke at several other state conventions during the same time. Space limitations do not permit detailed reporting of each convention, but a few highlights will be of interest. For example, the West Virginia convention was preceded by a student seminar which was attended by high­school seniors and college students from around the state. The seminar was patterned after ACB's national student seminar, and it featured an upbeat report by a West Virginia student who had attended the ACB seminar in Phoenix last summer. One of the highlights of the Oregon Council convention was the announcement that the Oregon Council of the Blind is opening an office in Salem in order to better serve the blind and visually impaired of Oregon. The Old Dominion Council of the Blind, ACB's Virginia affiliate, met in Richmond the weekend of September 17. Topics on the program in eluded sheltered workshops, low-vision services, and services for deaf­blind individuals. Convention-goers made good use of the braille menus in the nearby McDonalds restaurant. (ACB coordinated the braille menu project for all 6,000 McDonalds in the country in 1982.) And to think that next month will be even more popular than the past one as a time for state conventions! By the time this issue of The Braille Forum reaches you, the National Office will have hosted a small reception or "open house" to introduce ACB’s neighbors to its programs, services, and expanded National Office. Most people are generally familiar with the business activities of some of our corporate neighbors (such as Sears, Roebuck and Anheuser-Busch) but most of our corporate neighbors are not well acquainted with ACB's programs and services. During its meeting in late September, the ACB Board of Directors had an opportunity to consider a number of programs and services that require a considerable amount of long-range planning. Although this article will not attempt to summarize the matters considered at that meeting, I do want to call your attention to the expanded scholarship program for 1984. A separate article concerning the 1984 scholarships appears elsewhere in this issue, and I encourage each of you to help publicize this worthwhile program to any prospective applicants. ACB members should be proud of the progressive steps taken in the establishment and expansion of the scholarship program. Absolutely no other organization of the blind offers such a meaningful scholarship program. In recent weeks, several ACB members have remarked that they have not yet heard ACB's latest public service announcements on their local radio stations. Although the recorded announcements were distributed to the top 100 markets in the country during July, radio stations are not required to air them. Accordingly, if you have not yet heard our announcements locally, call your local station and ask why it is not playing the ACB announcements. Radio stations respond to inquiries and requests from their listeners, so begin helping now by requesting that the announcements be played. This is another way in which ACB's members and friends can publicize its invaluable programs and services. ***** ** When I Found Myself in This Boat ... 23 Days and 2400 Miles From San Francisco to Honolulu (Note: This article is based upon an interview conducted on August 25, 1983, by Fred Zapinski, a member of the Aloha Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, for Kaleo O'Aikane Broadcast Corporation of Honolulu, broadcasting by and about the disabled. One week earlier, Hank Decker, who is blind, had completed a trip of 2400 miles, sailing alone from San Francisco to Hawaii.) Hank Decker, and his 25-foot sloop, Dark Star, sailed into Honolulu, Hawaii, right on schedule just before 3:00 P.M. on Friday, August 19, 1983. At age 42, and having been legally blind for only about five years, Decker became the first blind person ever to sail alone from San Francisco to Hawaii. What put it into Hank Decker's head to make such a trip? "Well, I had been working in the handicapped field since I lost my vision - or since I got my head squared away after losing my vision. I found that there were a lot of people out there who were in the same boat, if you will, that I was previously - feeling sorry for themselves; saying to themselves: 'Gee, what can I do? I've lost my vision, or whatever, in adulthood. I'm not trained for any particular thing, so I'll just sit back in a chair and collect my welfare check and drink a lot and destroy me life ... ' I wanted to reach those people. I wanted to reach them and let them know that they could have a new life; that they could learn new job skills, if you will." Hank Decker lost his sight from glaucoma. It was first diagnosed in 1972 and deteriorated to the point of legal blindness by 1978, at which time he was no longer able to read or drive a car - or work, either, "because my own mind wouldn't adjust to working without being able to see." He describes his vision now as hand movement at 18 inches. "In 1978," he relates, "when I was unable to work any longer and was going through, to me, being degraded - applying for Social Security disability and being sent from one doctor to another - ... I had absolutely destroyed my marriage and my relationship with my two children and was drinking very heavily. I was living for a while south of Market Street in a place called Lionel Park, where you sleep in these sewer pipes that the church had put out so you wouldn't get wet at night - and drinking out of paper bags - and just killing myself. "At this particular time, also, I was going for medical treatment for my eyes at Pacific Medical Center. I went in there one day with this horrible attitude I had - probably reeking of alcohol - and just hating the world and everyone in it." He accepted the invitation of a worker at the Center to join a group of blind people who were meeting weekly, feeling that "maybe there's something in it. Maybe I can get a buck or two, or get a free lunch, or coffee." This low-vision counseling group actually turned out to be group therapy - five or six individuals, all of whom had lost their vision to the point of legal blindness and beyond in adulthood. "We were all having trouble coping with life. We all had drinking problems. We had all lost our partners. We were all alone. We were all having terrible embarrassment using a cane - didn't want to use a cane - you don't want to let people know that you're inferior in some way. That's what it was to me. "And after about three months, I realized I wasn't unique. Hell, this has happened to a lot of people in life. I had a choice: I could either get the hell out of this or die." Having been in sales and marketing for 25 years before losing his sight, Decker approached the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and undertook to do contract procurement for the workshop. From there he went to work for Aid to Retarded Citizens, an adult vocational program, expanding that agency's workshop from 40 to 200 people. He then established his own service agency for handicapped people in San Francisco, but gave that up in order to buy a small charter boat business so that he could spend a full year on the water - teaching sailing to sighted people and perfecting his own sailing skills. After getting serious about a trip across the Pacific, Decker spent two concentrated months preparing the boat and attending navigation school. "I had to prepare well. I knew that if I didn't make the trip in good style - leaving on schedule and arriving in Oahu on schedule, and in good time - it would hurt the handicapped cause more than it would help." He chose Oahu mainly because it was a smaller island and harder to navigate to Oahu than, say, "the big island (Hawaii)." As for navigational aids, the charts he used were standard, off-the-shelf charts, brailled for him by his girlfriend. Existing lines on the chart for latitude and longitude were transferred to the back and then raised by running a marker over those lines. Four charts were on board, each requiring ten to twelve hours to braille. He also used a braille compass. Electronic aids consisted of a LORAN (Long-Range Aid to Navigation) unit, an off-the-shelf device with speech output, which uses parabolic radio waves emitted from towers operated by the Federal Government. Time differences are computed from one's location to the towers, and the LORAN device reads out the latitude and longitude position. The device is used mainly for coastal navigation, however, and has a range of about a thousand miles. Decker had expected to be able to pick up the Hawaii chain as the U.S. mainland coastal chain fell out of range, but found that the Hawaii system was closed down for routine maintenance and repair. "So we came in the last 1200 miles or so using the braille compass, the braille charts, and also I had what they call the nautical tables taped up." By knowing sunrise and sunset and the length of the day, with these nautical tables Decker was able to determine longitude and latitude so accurately that when he was sighted by the Coast Guard near Oahu, he was only 20 miles off. By no means was the trip "smooth sailing" and without incident all the way. Because his single-sideband radio (upon which he had planned to rely for long-distance communication) failed to operate from the very beginning, he was entirely out of radio contact after 30 to 40 miles off the mainland coast. This meant he had no access to weather information and no warning of a tropical storm in the area. "The day before the storm, the wind had increased and I thought it was tradewinds blowing like hell. It was good sailing and we were just zipping right along, and I went to sleep up in the forepeak of the boat. Next thing I knew, I woke up to this terrible crashing ... Everything flying around and water gushing in. I knew immediately, of course, that the boat had been knocked down. After maybe ten to fifteen seconds, she righted herself and I was able to get out of the cabin. I'd say the wind was in excess of fifty knots, and the seas felt like maybe they were between 18 and 20 feet, with heavy spume flying off and hitting your face maybe like sand. It was blowing pretty good!" Sails were torn; jib halyards were ripped loose. Decker "hove to" for two days while the storm passed on and to give him time to repair the damage. He heard afterward that a boat which had left Los Angeles about the same time he left San Francisco had not been heard of again following this storm. Asked about the odds of a normally sighted person making such a trip, Decker responded: "A lot of people don't make it, but a lot more do. There might be a 10 percent chance of things going bad. I don't know what the odds are. I know I couldn't get insurance. The odds for me were like a million to one against it. I could not get insurance of any kind." Did he actually leave the boat and get into the water to bathe? "I am not a courageous man," responded Decker without hesitation. "You know, there are sharks out there, and they've got teeth and they bite, and I don't care what anyone says. I stayed on the boat. I just used buckets. You're not going to get me into the water when jaws are swimming around!" Nor was the trip without its moments of depression and elation. "Around the 18th day, I went into depression. I just wished I could get off the boat; never see a boat again as long as I lived; buy a farm in Nebraska!" Decker attributes this depression primarily to his diet. He had been living on canned goods for close to three weeks. He was over-tired. "And if you're too tired and you don't have a good diet, you lose confidence in yourself ... So I thought about this for a day and couldn't figure out why I was depressed. I took some extra vitamins and forced myself to eat more food and came out of it okay. ... I did have some Tang - not that I am promoting it or anything. But it was really good stuff - it was full of good vitamins and it tasted pretty good. But that bottle shattered on me the night of the storm, so that was the end of the Tang." "On the third day out, I caught an albacore," he said. "It weighed maybe ten, twelve pounds. I took a photograph of it with my fixed camera. I filleted it and ate all of, what, maybe six or eight ounces. And, of course, it wouldn't keep, so I threw it away. And that's really destroying one of God's creatures, and I never fished again because it was just a waste of food." And the moment of highest elation? "Well, when it all came together, it seemed unreal. It was hard for me to believe it. In fact, I still don't believe it ... The elation was when the Coast Guard came to pin my position ... We were right on! I was elated. I was thrilled because I was more worried about being off maybe a hundred miles or so, which is quite normal, or maybe even more. But to be right on, that was a terrific sense of elation. "And then when other boats started coming up to escort me in and wish me well, and throwing me beers and kisses ... By the time I was off Cocoa Head, I know I was crying. I met a fellow last night from one of the escort boats bringing me in, and he said, 'You know, we saw you start crying, and it was such a wonderful moment, we started crying, too.'" Hank Decker summed up his feelings following the trip as self-satisfaction, greater self-confidence - and humility! This was not a "stunt," he emphasized. "This was just a well planned task, you might say. It showed good preparation ... It showed we could master navigation, and it showed that we could be really in charge of our own mind and self­determination." And what is Hank Decker's message to the disabled community? "I'm trying to tell them, don't sit back and take handouts, because you'll lose your self-respect. Don't despair that you can't get a job because you can't learn new skills. You can! "I can't put myself in every disabled person's position. I can put myself in a blind person's position, and because of my hearing loss I can put myself perhaps in a deaf or hard-of-hearing person's position. I can't put myself in a paraplegic's position or a quadriplegic's position. But what I say to the people that I really can't exactly relate to is that they can figure on their own how to overcome and how to work with what they have. If you work with what you've got and you utilize it 100 percent, you're going to do much better than the person that has everything in the world going for him, but only utilizes 20 or 30 percent of his abilities, as most people do. We can usually surpass and do a much better job in life than the 'normal' person who is only going at 20 to 30 percent of his capabilities." ***** ** ACB Ready to Help More Blind Students Than Ever Before - $25,000 in Scholarships Available By Laura Oftedahl Director of Public Affairs More than $25,000 in scholarship money will be awarded by the American Council of the Blind to outstanding blind and visually impaired students in 1984. Because of the tremendous need for and response to this ACB program, the Board of Directors added over $5,000 to the scholarship fund. All legally blind persons admitted to vocational, technical, academic, or professional training programs at the post-secondary level for the 1984-85 school year are encouraged to apply for these scholarships. The Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarships, totaling $24,000, will be awarded to top students in each of the following categories: entering freshmen in academic programs, undergraduates in academic programs (sophomores, juniors, and seniors), graduate students in academic or professional programs, and vocational/technical school students. Applicants will be compared with other applicants in their category, which means that entering freshmen in academic programs will be competing for funds with other first-year students. Up to six awards, totaling $6,000, will be presented to Floyd Qualls scholars in each of these categories. The Melva T. Owen Memorial Scholarship, provided by the Tarver Foundation in the amount of $1,200, will be granted to an outstanding student at the undergraduate level. Applications and instructional materials are now available from the ACB National Office. Students are encouraged to contact ACB to request an application by calling 1-800-424-8666 toll-free, or by writing American Council of the Blind, 1211 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 506, Washington, DC 20036. All completed applications and supporting documents must be postmarked no later than April 1, 1984. Leading scholarship candidates will be interviewed by telephone in May, and the Floyd Qualls scholars and Melva T. Owen scholar will be notified no later than June 15, 1984. The scholars will be announced at the national convention of the American Council of the Blind to be held July 1-7, 1984, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Efforts will be made to enable many recipients to be present at the award ceremonies. Among the criteria to be considered in selecting the scholars will be demonstrated academic record, financial need, and involvement in extracurricular and civic activities. Academic objectives, degree of visual impairment, and study methods will also be taken into account in the selection process. The Floyd Qualls Scholarship program was established in early 1982 in memory of one of the great personalities and dedicated leaders of the American Council of the Blind. The Floyd Qualls Endowment Fund was also created to provide for the continuation and advancement of this worthwhile program for blind and visually impaired students. The Melva T. Owen Scholarship, made available by the Tarver Foundation, is in memory of Mrs. Owen who was a dedicated worker for and with blind people. She is primarily remembered for her work with The Voicespondence Club. ***** ** Highlights, ACB Summer Board Meetings, 1983 The Board of Directors of the American Council of the Blind met twice during the week of July 4, 1983, once preceding and once following the ACB annual convention in Phoenix, Arizona. All Board members were present at the pre-convention meeting except Second Vice President, Dr. Robert T. McLean, who for personal reasons was unable to attend. Dr. McLean also requested that his name not be placed in nomination for re-election. At the annual convention business meeting, the office of Second Vice President was filled by Durward K. McDaniel, who was present at the post-convention meeting. The Board directed that a letter be sent to Dr. McLean expressing deep appreciation for his years of dedicated service to ACB and the hope that he will continue actively to participate in its affairs. A representative of the North Dakota Association for the Blind presented a check for $200.00 to ACB Treasurer Jim Olsen to be used for expenses incurred by The Braille Forum. Charles Hodge announced that the American Blind Lawyers Association, in recognition of its first president, John Vanlandingham, had voted $500.00 to the Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund. Because the Eddy County Council of the Visually Handicapped and Las Luminarias of the New Mexico Council of the Blind had not submitted membership lists and dues for the past several years, as required by the ACB Constitution and By-Laws, their charters were revoked. Among new ACB state affiliates developed over the past year with the assistance of the National Membership Committee was the American Council of the Blind of New Mexico. The Board voted to seat the ACB of New Mexico as well as the newly formed New Hampshire Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired and granted charters of affiliation to both organizations. Jim Olsen presented and read the ACB Annual Report for 1982, available in print from the Treasurer's Office in Minneapolis and in print and on cassette from the ACB National Office. LeRoy Saunders, as chairman of ACB Enterprises and Services, reported that two new thrift stores had been opened in April and June 1983, bringing the total number of stores now in operation to sixteen. A preliminary plan was presented and accepted in principle by the Board for greater income sharing with affiliates. The plan is to be similar to that presently in use by the Thrift Store Revenue Sharing Committee. It was announced at the affiliate presidents breakfast in Phoenix and is to be finalized and implemented in 1984. Mrs. Carol McCarl, editor of Lifeprints magazine, reported on progress of her fund-raising endeavors and expressed appreciation to the Board and to ACB for their support. M.J. Schmitt, as Scholarship Committee chairperson, reported that approximately 440 applications for the Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarships were received by the National Office. Recipients were chosen on the basis of academic achievement, financial need, extracurricular involvement, and marketability of their field of study upon graduation. The twelve scholarships were presented at the Awards and Charter Gala on July 6. National Representative Oral Miller reported that the remodeling and expansion of the National Office was proceeding smoothly and should be completed soon. He also reported that the luncheon for Phoenix area business persons, held July 7, was a great success. Both the Constitution and By­Laws Committee and individual members raised questions concerning affiliate voting and delegate count. It was recommended that feedback be sought from affiliate presidents and that the subject be discussed in detail at a subsequent Board meeting. Adjustments were made to bring over- and under-budgeted items in line with the 1983 budget adopted at the January Board meeting. The substantial increase for telephone service because of extension of the WA TS line to Hawaii was discussed, and the Board directed that the ACB staff and Treasurer investigate alternatives. The Thrift Store Revenue Sharing Committee recommended, and the Board approved, grants to the following affiliates: South Dakota Association for the Blind, ACB of Minnesota, ACB of Texas, ACB of New York State, National Alliance of Blind Students, Bay State Council of the Blind, and Guide Dog Users, Inc. Grants were approved to the following organizations and/or projects: National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped, Affiliated Leadership League of and for the Blind of America, Association of Radio Reading Services, and North Carolina Organization for Advancement of the Visually Impaired. Phyllis Mitchell of the Bay State Council of the Blind requested that the Board study the feasibility of installing a braille TTY telephone in the ACB National Office for communication with deaf-blind persons. Personnel matters and the report of the Management Review Committee were discussed in executive session. ***** ** A Tale of Two Rehabilitation Bills By Scott Marshall Director of Governmental Affairs "The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley! So wrote Robert Burns in his poem, "To a Mouse," in 1785. In 1983, the United States Congress discovered the truth of Burns' words. What everyone thought would be a smooth, non-controversial re-authorization of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 became a hotly contested partisan stand-off in which Democrats and Republicans accused each other of everything from holding disabled people hostage for political ends to perversion of the legislative process. It all began innocently enough on April 11 when Representative Austin Murphy (D., PA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Select Ed­ucation, introduced H.R. 2461, a bill to re-authorize the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and to create a separate authority for the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults. The Rehabilitation Act, originally enacted into law in 1921, is the most significant Federal law affecting blind and other disabled Americans. The coverage of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, includes grants to states for vocational rehabilitation services, authorization for independent living centers, civil rights protections, and much, much more. As with many other Federal statutes, however, the Rehabilitation Act does not live in perpetuity. Rather, it must be reauthorized from time to time, which allows Congress to make needed improvements or adjustments in the program. Since the current authority for the Rehabilitation Act was to expire on September 30, 1983, Representative Murphy, as chairman of the subcommittee having oversight responsibility for the Act, introduced H.R. 2461. A similar, but not identical, bill was introduced in the Senate as S. 1340. Both bills proceeded uneventfully through hearings at the subcommittee level, and representatives of the disability community, the Federal agency which administers the Rehabilitation Act, and rehabilitation professionals were asked to testify and/or to submit written comments on this legislation. The first stumbling block for H.R. 2461 occurred at the full committee mark-up in May. At the behest of Representative Carl Perkins (D., KY) and other Democratic members, the committee adopted an amendment which provided that all programs under the committee's purview would be authorized at the levels contained in the F.Y. 1984 budget resolution. The amendment was silent as to specific programs and dollar amounts. Further, it failed to specify which budget resolution — the House-passed budget resolution, the Senate-passed budget resolution, or the resolution agreed to in conference between the House and the Senate — was to be controlling. When the amendment was prepared for the committee report by committee staff, the Perkins amendment, which originally encompassed something in the order of sixty words, was expanded to over 300 words. Specific programs ranging from museum services to vocational education were mentioned and were allocated dollar amounts totaling approximately $1.6 billion. The Republican members of the committee, led by Representative John Erlenborn (R., IL), were infuriated. The Republicans charged that the committee-reported Perkins amendment went well beyond the intent of the committee; that the ten programs covered by the amendment might well be considered worthy, had the committee had the opportunity to consider each program separately; that these ten programs were unrelated to rehabilitation and, therefore, were not "germane" or relevant to the rehabilitation bill; and, finally, that the ten programs in toto cost more than the rehabilitation portion of the original bill itself. Democrats countered that the ten programs encompassed by the Perkins amendment were worthy of support; that funding levels in the Perkins amendment had been agreed to by the full committee; and that the amounts contained therein were in line with the spending targets contained in the budget resolution agreed to by the House and Senate. In addition, Democrats argued that the Education and Labor Committee as well as other Congressional committees had had a full opportunity to conduct hearings on these programs. The dispute came to a head in July before the Democrat-controlled House Rules Committee. Before most legislation can be called up for debate and final passage on the floor, a rule must be issued by the Rules Committee and agreed to be a majority of the members in the House. In this instance, the Rules Committee refused to issue a rule on H.R. 2461, since it agreed with the Republican members of the Education and Labor Committee that the so-called Perkins amendment was not germane or relevant to the original rehabilitation bill. Subsequently, Chairman Perkins cured the germaneness objection to H.R. 2461 by simply directing introduction of a new bill, H.R. 3520, identical to H.R. 2461 but including a separate title encompassing all of the authorizations contained in the Perkins amendment. Although this maneuver cured the parliamentary objection to the Perkins amendment, since the amendment was now included in original legislation, the ire of Republican committee members was not soothed and the new bill, H.R. 3520, was passed by the Education and Labor Committee on July 14 on a straight-line party vote. Thus, the Rehabilitation Act, which had heretofore enjoyed bipartisan support, became highly politicized as members squared off on issues of social spending and legislative prerogatives. At the same time, Representative James Jones (D., OK), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, wrote to the Rules Committee, objecting to the state grant portion of H.R. 3520 on the grounds that the committee-reported bill violated the Congressional Budget Act by locking in spending authority in future years, namely, F.Y. 1985 through F.Y. 1987. On July 21, the Rules Committee issued a rule on H.R. 3520 which waived the Budget Act objection, which, if asserted by Jones or any other member, would have prevented consideration of H.R. 3520 on the floor. The Rules Committee further provided that an amendment could later be offered which would address Chairman Jones's concern. Although Congress recessed during the month of August, lines were being drawn in preparation for the battle on the rehabilitation bill, scheduled for September 12. Some organizations advised their constituencies to oppose the Jones amendment without first seeing the language of the amendment. In fact, it was unclear whether Jones would offer an amendment at all. As it turned out, however, the amendment which was finally agreed to provided for less funding than the House committee-reported bill, while representing a funding increase over the Senate-passed bill. On September 12, an acrimonious House debated the rehabilitation bill, and on September 13 a vote was completed on each separate title. Over strong objections by Republican members, Title IV, the former Perkins amendment, was passed. An amendment was then offered creating a new title V to provide for education aid to migrant children. This, too, passed, as did amendments relating to low-income energy assistance, handicapped education, and funding for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. It was clear that the Democratic majority knew that rehabilitation, handicapped education, etc., were popular programs which could be used as a vehicle for numerous other programs which certainly could not have been passed as quickly on an individual basis. Unfortunately, however, this story does not end here. In July, the Senate had quietly passed S. 1340 - its version of the re-authorization legislation - which contained none of the tie-ons provided for in the House-passed bill. Many differences exist between the two bills relating to both substance and funding levels. These differences must be reconciled by a conference committee. Unfortunately, as of this writing (October 12), conferees on the Senate side have not yet been appointed. In fact, the clock has run out! The Rehabilitation Act was not re-authorized prior to September 30; and, accordingly, it is included in a so-called stop-gap funding measure known as a "continuing resolution," which expires in mid-November. Unfortunately, because of the delay in final passage of the reauthorization legislation, the continuing resolution funds rehabilitation services only at current F.Y. 1983 levels, without benefit of the funding increases contained in both the Senate and House bills still awaiting conference. Even more tragically, the substantive differences between the two bills, representing much time and work by committee staff and all those concerned with rehabilitation, remain in limbo. For example, the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults is denied its separate authorization contained in the House bill; client assistance projects are not available in every state, as provided for in the Senate bill. Space does not permit a full detailing of the list of differences between the two bills, which is quite extensive. A copy of the position paper prepared by the American Council of the Blind and several other organizations concerned with services to blind persons is available upon request. What can be done at this time? Again, it is imperative that a conference take place between the House and the Senate on the Rehabilitation Act so that needed improvements can be made. Since the appropriations bills have already been passed by both the House and Senate and are scheduled to be reconciled in mid-October, the opportunity for the higher funding levels contained in the House-passed re-authorization bill may already have been lost. We must continue to urge our Senators to call for a conference on the rehabilitation bill as soon as possible. Letters and phone calls urging your Senator to speak out on this matter will be very helpful, as will letters to Senators Hatch and Baker, who are key on this issue. One last note: It is possible that a conference will have taken place prior to the time this article appears in The Braille Forum. Please stay in contact through the Washington Connection for the latest details. Whether or not the rehabilitation bill is finally enacted into law by the time this issue of The Braille Forum reaches you, the history of the rehabilitation re­authorization legislation demonstrates why all of us must continue to be involved in the legislative process. We must hold our members of Congress accountable for their actions on programs which affect blind and disabled persons and must not allow politics to interfere with programs that should not become a partisan issue. ***** ** Research to Restore Sight - Hope For Future Generations (Reprinted from Sundial, Newsletter of the Eye Research Institute of Retina Foundation, Vol. 9, No. 2, Summer 1983) A new program at the Eye Research Institute bears an exciting and promising title: Research to Restore Sight. Through this program, Institute scientists will investigate brain mechanisms that combine information from the eyes and other senses to construct a picture of our three-dimensional world. Research to Restore Sight (RRS), proposed and developed by Drs. D. Max Snodderly and Peter H. Hartline, will build on a strong foundation of research already ongoing in the Institute’s Neuroscience Group. One goal of the research is to discover how hearing or touch could be used to restore some of the functions of vision to blind or visually handicapped people. There are several related research topics within the ambitious and challenging program being launched by RRS. One area is the manner in which the brain combines information from the eyes with information from the ears and from the skin. Another is the effect of movement of the eyes on our visual experience and our ability to combine sight with hearing and touch. The non-visual senses provide an extensive array of information about shape, identity, movement, and location of objects in space. If we learn how the brain normally combines these other senses with vision, we may learn how to activate visual parts of the brain, even without the eyes. Many regions of the brain are known to take part in recognizing and localizing things that we see. Among them are two centers, the mid-brain and the visual cortex. The midbrain is concerned with the location of objects in space. If something catches your eye, and you look at it, your midbrain is at work. The visual cortex is the center for perceiving fine detail and for analyzing shapes and colors of things we look at. As you read this page, a lot of analysis is taking place in your visual cortex. By means of very precise connections with the eyes, both the mid­brain and the visual cortex form maps corresponding to the shape around us. When an object in a particular space is seen, nerve cells in the corresponding part of the map are activated. Other senses, such as touch and hearing, also feed into these maps. Many never cells can be activated by vision and by another sense, such as hearing. If a bird-watcher hears a rare species, he or she can rapidly find the bird with the eyes, and see it. Much credit for this goes to the midbrain. One of the initial projects of RRS will explore how the visual maps incorporate information from touch and hearing first in the midbrain, and then in the cortex. Concurrently with the study of visual maps, RRS scientists will investigate how eye movement affects what we see. We move our eyes consciously when we look around the world; our eyes also move unconsciously when we are trying to look in one spot. Both kinds of movements affect how well we can see objects and how well we can judge their position in space. Since we can move our eyes while keeping our ears and body still, the ways that we combine hearing and touch with vision must also take into account the position of the eyes and the head. We expect that visual aids that take advantage of the intrinsic organization of the brain and incorporate the influence of eye movements will be more effective and easier to use than visual aids now available. Our basic research will lay the foundation for development of aids that draw upon the natural capabilities of people who no longer have adequate sight. It is essential that Research to Restore Sight involve as large a community as possible in all of its efforts. Towards this goal, we will establish an active communications network as an integral part of RRS. It will help our program harness the combined talents of experts in a variety of fields from many institutions; no single laboratory will be able to explore all of the questions that must be answered. Even when some of the scientific issues begin to be understood, the problem of developing practical and affordable aids will remain. If progress is to be rapid and effective, it is important to involve scientists, lay groups for the visually impaired, and industry. ... Future articles will describe RRS research currently under way at the Institute, new projects, and projections for the future. Any questions should be directed to Deborah Bowers at the Eye Research Institute, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114. ***** ** Low-Vision Musicians Assisted by "Large Print Slides" By Pat Price (Reprinted from Newsletter of the Council of Citizens with Low Vision, Vol. VIII, No. 8, July-August 1983) An innovative new system for teaching visually impaired and legally blind individuals how to read music has just been developed by Marie Morrison, Director of New View, Inc., and Gale Pederson, an Oklahoma music teacher. The system is a combination of 120 large-print music slides, two tone-indexed cassette tapes, and a 35mm projector. Each slide, designed to be easily readable by visually impaired and legally blind individuals, shows large, bright, white music notes and printed instructions against a contrasting black background. The use of a projector allows students to sit comfortably and use both hands on the piano, rather than split movements between the keyboard and a magnifying device. Large Print Music Slides is compact. The slides, organized in easy-to-store trays, and two tape cassettes replace bulky large-print and braille texts traditionally used in music programs for the visually impaired. As a self-taught course developed for teenagers and older beginners, Large Print Music Slides allows students to learn at their own pace. Students do not need to know braille. The consistent large-print text designed specifically for this system is used throughout the slide series. Because of its compactness, learning materials are easily stored. Consequently, the system adapts easily for individual use at home or in group settings such as schools, community centers, and churches. While the system as it is now being marketed is basically a 14-lesson program geared toward learning how to play the piano, it does represent a significant breakthrough in large­print techniques. As I watched the system in operation, its potential for life-enhancement seemed almost endless. Why not have Large Print Slide textbooks? Large Print Slides music for other instruments? Large Print Slides recipes? Large Print Slides mathematics? I am confident we will, if low-vision people will express their interest in this new technology directly to: Marie Morrison, Director, New View, Inc., 6734 E. 51st Place, Tulsa, OK 74145. (Each complete unit of Large Print Music includes 120 numbered slides, two slide trays, two tone-indexed audio cassettes, and an instruction booklet. Price: $87.50. Note: A projector is not included in this price.) ***** *** Alcoholism as Secondary Disability: The Silent Saboteur in Rehabilitation (Excerpted from Rehab Brief, Vol. V, No. 6, June 1982, published by National Institute of Handicapped Research, Washington, D.C.) "More than 36 million people in this country are physically or mentally disabled, and while hard data are minimal, there is growing evidence that this population is particularly vulnerable to alcoholism and related problems." Thus begins a special issue of Alcohol Health and Research World, published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is entitled The Multi­Disabled: Emerging Responses. The issue outlines policy, research, and program information pertaining to people with physical or mental disabilities in addition to alcoholism or drug abuse. Its purpose is to encourage programming responsive to the long-ignored needs and problems of these populations. Alcohol Health and Research World is widely read by those who serve identified alcohol abusers. However, it is not too well known to rehabilitation professionals with other specializations. ... Therefore, this Rehab Brief will summarize and highlight selected portions of it. It is hoped that increased alertness to alcoholism as a "secondary disability" - one which can sabotage apparently well-laid rehabilitation plans - will result. ** The Nature of the Problem The over-all incidence of alcoholism in the general population is estimated to be 8-10%. On this basis, one would expect about 8-10% of rehabilitation clients to be classified as multi-disabled alcoholics. Emerging evidence suggests, however, that these figures are far too low. Research from a residential vocational rehabilitation facility in Michigan suggests that prevalence rates may be closer to 25% to 30% for some sub­groups of disabled people. Surprisingly, service agency statistics suggest rates even lower than 8%. For example, only 5% of state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency clients were classified as multi-disabled alcoholics in 1979. What is becoming clear is that alcoholism among people receiving rehabilitation services for other disabling conditions is often undetected, undocumented, and untreated - for many reasons. First, clients are likely to hide or downplay their alcohol problems. Also, they are unlikely to initiate or even ask for treatment. John Noble, Deputy Director of the NIAAA Division of Special Treatment and Rehabilitation, explains: "The dual stigma of alcoholism and physical or mental disability may deter the multi-disabled person from admitting to an alcoholism problem; previous rejection by community service agencies may prevent the multi-disabled alcoholic from seeking treatment; the limited income available to most disabled people may cause feelings that they cannot afford the cost of alcoholism treatment; a negative self-concept, reinforced by the fact of a mental or physical disability, may contribute to lack of self-motivation to seek treatment; disabled persons may be unable to face guilt feelings relating to alcoholism's role in causing the disability (in the case of accidents); and physical disability often creates dependence on others, contributing to the maintenance of alcoholism." Second, rehabilitation professionals who have not worked much with identified alcoholics may not recognize the signs of alcohol abuse in a client's appearance, behavior, or history. Also, tendencies exist to focus overly on the "primary" or more visible disability, allowing secondary disabilities to escape detection. Consciously or unconsciously, some professionals resist acknowledging the presence of still another disabling condition to deal with. When alcoholism is suspected or known, it may still be "ignored" because of beliefs that documenting it could do more harm to the client than good, lack of preparation for dealing with it directly, and lack of resources or knowledge of resources for treatment referral. ** Why Are Disabled People Vulnerable to Alcohol Problems? The observation is made that disabled people are an oppressed minority in society. The lure of alcohol and other drugs is the promise of relief, highs, and numbness to discrimination and frustration. Similarly, alcohol dulls distressing tensions that cannot be discharged through ordinary physical "exhaust mechanisms" because of functional limitations. Lack of preparation for dealing with the stress encountered in adapting to disablement is often cited as a prime causal factor. These clinical observations have considerable face validity. However, the causes of alcoholism are far from settled for any population. For example, controversy continues over the role of biology; that is, will any degree of stress trigger alcoholism in the absence of a physiological predisposition? Too, alcoholism often precedes rather than follows another disability; and alcoholics are unusually vulnerable to becoming otherwise disabled. A different aspect of vulnerability results from combining alcohol with prescription or over-the-counter medicines, or "recreational" drugs. Some alcohol-drug interactions are very toxic. Also, the effects of alcohol on already impaired motor or sensory functioning can make its use more debilitating than either the alcohol or the disability alone. ... ** The Action So Far * National Advocacy Congress took strong legislative action in late 1979. The NIAAA re­authorizing law (P.L. 96-180) gave funding priority to prevention and treatment services for alcoholic people with additional disabilities. ... Also, the NIAAA is encouraging its grantees and contractors to comply with the requirements of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act (P.L. 93-112). NIAAA visits and monitors sites and offers technical assistance and training to assure program accessibility to people with mobility, communication, or other handicaps. While the NIAAA is the largest provider of treatment services to alcohol abusers, three other Federal agencies also serve substantial numbers. These agencies are the Veterans Administration, Rehabilitation Services Administration, and Social Security Administration ... They serve many multi-disabled alcoholics - whether or not their alcohol disabilities have been disclosed. ... * Community Efforts The Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley, California, reports that substance abuse is detected early in their screening process. They stress the importance of peer support in preventing it and in overcoming resistance to treatment once it has developed. Two weekly support group sessions plus individual counseling are advocated. Concurrent involvement in other treatment programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous may be encouraged as well. Prevention revolves around helping clients achieve independent living, break down their isolation, and learn to cope with emotional issues. Developing social skills and assertiveness, embracing risk-taking, and learning problem-solving skills are emphasized. The CIL raises a very important caution: Although well established independence appears to reduce substance abuse risk, newly developing independence may carry a temporarily increased risk. That is because it brings about increased responsibilities, anxieties, and expectations. ... In southern California, a group of concerned citizens initiated a disability/substance abuse task force. Finding no useful existing directory of service providers to multi-disabled substance abusers, they surveyed 400 relevant agencies. The 87 replies indicated: • Fewer than 30 agencies were providing services to disabled substance abusers. • "Disabled advocacy" agencies were surprised that the non-disabled community was interested in the problem. • Alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs questioned whether multi-disabled persons could be served in facilities used by the general population. … AID is an advocacy program that refers and delivers alcoholism services for deaf people in northeastern Ohio ... V.A. hospital programs for visually impaired and for spinal-cord-injured veterans are described. Both emphasize such elements as: learning to deal assertively with distressful aspects of the "primary" disability and family involvement. The program for visually impaired alcohol abusers features relaxation techniques such as alternate tension and relaxation, yoga breathing, and autogenic training. ... Emotions Anonymous, in Ramsey County, Minnesota, offers help to mentally retarded substance abusers in a group setting. It borrows heavily from the Alcoholics Anonymous philosophy and program and emphasizes tension and anxiety reduction. ... It is predicted that as more states deinstitutionalize mentally retarded people, the incidence of alcoholism and abuse of other drugs in this population will increase. ... * Implications for Practitioners John Scanlan, Director of the Mental Health/Hearing Impaired Program at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, observes that care givers often deny substance abuse among their clients, to consider it "understandable," instead of developing genuine empathy and helpfulness. To combat this, he recommends: "Care givers working with disabled people must examine their own motives and behavior." Frederick Sachs of the Rehabilitation Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Education indicates further that: "The rehabilitation counselor is in an excellent position to assist in the identification of persons impaired by alcohol abuse and to refer them to an appropriate treatment resource." ... ***** ** ACB Affiliate News * Oregon Council on the Move In a recent issue of The Stylus, newsletter of the Oregon Council of the Blind, OCB President Kim Charlson reports on two major involvements of that ACB affiliate: "I find it almost beyond belief that I can write this message of victory of the Oregon Council of the Blind. In the last issue of The Stylus, I outlined the serious circumstances of the possible closure of the Oregon State School for the Blind. However, with much last-minute lobbying and many late nights, the OCB and members of the Alliance for Blind Children were successful in averting the closure of the school. The response of OCB members was fantastic. Many wrote letters and made phone calls, with 25 members coming down to the capital to lobby in person, thanks to transportation from Oral Hull Park. Everything each of you did made it possible for us to succeed. We all should be proud of the effectiveness of the Oregon Council of the Blind as an advocacy and lobbying organization for the rights of blind persons in Oregon. "At the July OCB Board meeting in Sandy, a great step forward was taken for OCB. For the past few months, research and investigation has been conducted to determine the feasibility of opening a statewide OCB office. The Board voted to implement all necessary steps to open an office of the Council. "I am greatly pleased to report that on August 1, the OCB state office was officially opened. It is located at the Oregon State School for the Blind, 700 Church Street, S.E., Howard Hall, Room 140, Salem, Oregon 97310. The phone number is 363-0278 ... "The office is being staffed by volunteers at present. I hope that all chapters will contribute to the office, whether it be funding, equipment, or volunteer time. The success of this project depends a great deal on the support it receives from members ..." * The Hills Come Alive with ACB! The Mountain State Council of the Blind, one of the youngest state affiliates of the American Council of the Blind, held a very productive student seminar for high-school seniors and college students from throughout West Virginia. The four-hour workshop took place Friday, September 23, in Morgantown. The student session kicked off the weekend of activities connected with the Council's successful state convention. Students gathered from numerous schools across the state to learn and share ideas on important topics, including career planning, financial assistance, textbook acquisition, and involvement in social and recreational organizations on campus. Newcomers found the seminar most helpful and assured the Mountain State Council they would be active participants in future activities. Presenters were pulled in from the University of West Virginia and the ACB national staff. The seminar was patterned after the national ACB student seminar held during convention week this past July. Del Wachter, an industrial arts major at Fairmont State College, did a first-class job of coordinating this state convention. The meetings, the exhibits of products (including several computers for visually impaired users), and the social get-togethers were beneficial to all. All ACB affiliates, no matter what size, could pick up some good pointers from West Virginia on how to put together a constructive council convention. ***** ** New Device to Aid Central Vision Loss A device to help persons who have lost the ability to see objects directly in front of them has recently been developed by a retired Eastman Kodak Company engineer. According to doctors who work with low-vision patients, macular degeneration accounts for 30% to 35% of all sight problems in the 26 million people in this country who are 65 years of age and older. The condition, which leaves peripheral vision relatively unaffected, is not treatable except through the use of low-vision aids. As reported in a recent article in the Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, Michael Onufryk has developed a new testing device which looks something like an oversized pair of eyeglasses with dials on the frame. Prisms located on the front of the device are rotated, enabling doctors to locate a patient's best area of sight within his or her existing peripheral vision. The eye looks to the side and sees images shifted from in front by the prisms. Working with a patient's optometrist or ophthalmologist, prescriptions can be suggested for prism lenses. The resulting lenses are similar in appearance to normal eyeglasses. Michael Onufryk, 67, has been developing engineering models of this device for the past three years and has worked with doctors to test it on over a hundred patients during the past year. Onufryk, who received his optical training at the University of Rochester, retired in 1978 as a senior development engineer with the Eastman Kodak Company, after a 35-year career working with optical testing equipment. He says doctors who have heard of the device are making inquiries, and he has a backlog of orders. Once production is under way, he expects to conduct seminars around the country to demonstrate the device to optometrists and ophthalmologists. Onufryk expects to form a company to assemble parts that will be manufactured by local subcontractors, and he hopes to hire as many as twelve handicapped employees to do the assembly work. He points out, however, that the Federal Food and Drug Administration requires devices which are to be used for medical testing to be assembled in a "clean­room" environment in which dust and dirt are carefully controlled. A "clean-room" is usually painted all white and is equipped with a special air-conditioning system to filter out dust and dirt. "I'll receive the machine parts and assemble them under a clean environment," he told a D&C reporter. "That's one reason I want to incorporate, because if I have to ask another company to do it, they would have to build a clean-room environment, and that would cost money." During the first six months, he expects to manufacture between 100 and 150 units. He also sees a potential for doing additional "clean-room" assembly work for other companies, and this would make it possible for him to hire more workers. ** High Tech Swap Shop * For Sale: Visualtek with 19-inch monitor. Price reasonable. Good condition. Contact Marie Hennessy, c/o TAPS, Epilepsy Foundation of America, 59 Temple Place, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02111; (617) 542-2279. * Wanted: TSI Game Center. Also FSA Optacon lens for IBM selectric typewriter. Contact Carol Gillispie, 68 W. Spring Street, West Haven, CT 06516; (203) 933-3929. ***** ** Here and There By Elizabeth M. Lennon From The White Cane Bulletin (Florida): One evening recently, blind and sighted persons alike took their seats at the Inverary Cinema in Fort Lauderdale for a showing of "The Pirates of Penzance." From the standpoint of the sighted audience, this was not unlike any other evening at the movie. For the blind theater­goers, however, it was quite different. They know every detail of every scene; they knew every character present, even when not a word was being spoken. How could this be possible? All of this background information was contained in a braille movie guide which each blind person received upon entering the theater. The guide contained a summary of the story; each scene was described in detail - color of the sky, background landscape, surrounding buildings ... Action taking place was explained, with a few lines from the dialogue included in order to keep the reader in touch with what he or she was hearing from the screen. * * * A housewife, blind for 23 years, amazingly had her sight restored when a dentist pulled her teeth. After being blind half her life, 53-year-old Gud Thoresson of Sweden is trying to catch up on lost years. In fact, she has just passed a stringent driver's license test. When the dentist extracted the first of her molars, she suddenly noticed dull grey shapes before her. As other molars came out, the world around her took form as her vision increased by leaps and bounds. Doctors say there is undeniably a link between her loss of sight 23 years ago and the fact that she had teeth filled at the same time. The amalgam compound used for the fillings may have caused a form of electrical "short circuit" in the patient's mouth and surrounding areas of the brain, doctors said. Doctors also noted that some people are more sensitive than others to metals. Mrs. Thoresson has never been able to wear rings of gold or silver. She breaks out in a rash. Nolan Crabb, 25, a blind newspaper reporter from Ogden, Utah, has been named editor of Dialogue magazine. Prior to accepting the appointment, he worked for nearly two years as a reporter for the Ogden Standard Examiner, a daily newspaper with a circulation of about 50,000. Crabb said he covered a wide variety of news stories — everything from city and county government to spot news events. "The editors at the paper never prevented me from covering a news event. They never used my blindness as an excuse, and I didn't either." Crabb has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Brigham Young University. He replaces Louise Kimbrough, who left Dialogue for a position with the Triformation Braille Service in Stuart, Florida. The following issues of "Aids and Appliances Review" are now available on cassette tape: Issue No. 5, "Alternative Labels"; Issue No. 6, "Diabetic Control: Equipment for Use with Vision Loss"; and Issue No. 7, "The Light Probe: A Versatile Aid." Send a blank C90 cassette for each issue desired to: Aids and Appliances Review, The Carroll Center for the Blind, 770 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02158. Expectations, the annual braille anthology of current children's literature published by Braille Institute, is now available free to any English-speaking blind child in grades 3-6. This 35th edition is centered around a sports theme that commemorates the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Included among the embossed pictures are the five rings, the logo of the U.S. Olympics Committee. Among the books included are sports stories as well as adventure, fantasy, and wonderful animals. There are poems about various sports and a new page of microfragrance labels. Published since 1948 by the Braille Institute Press in grade two braille, the anthology is geared specifically for children in grades 3-6 and becomes the personal property of each braille reader. Schools, libraries, and organizations serving blind children who wish to receive this 35th volume of Expectations may write to Jody Avery, Braille Institute, 741 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029. Howard H. Hanson of Little Rock, Arkansas, a charter member of the American Council of the Blind and long-time member of its South Dakota affiliate, was honored recently in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for outstanding contributions in his special field of work which brought recognition to the state. The 75 persons so honored were either born and/or educated in South Dakota, but left to pursue careers outside the state. Howard Hanson was employed for 28 years by the South Dakota Services for the Visually impaired, serving as director for 25 years. He left to accept a position as director of Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind, resigning in 1980 because of poor health. Each of the 75 individuals honored at the ceremonies received a Certificate of Achievement presented by Governor William Janklow and was made an honorary citizen of South Dakota. From The Missouri Chronicle: After visiting 27 cities in 20 countries, in which hundreds of sight-saving and sight-restoration surgical procedures were performed in its on­board operating room, the Flying Eye Hospital has returned to the United States. The DC-8 teaching hospital, which contains state-of-the-art laser and microsurgery equipment as well as modern audio-visual equipment, flew into St. Louis during May of 1983. Its medical director, Dr. Robert Munsch, a native of St. Louis, said that the Flying Eye Hospital has restored vision to hundreds throughout the world and has provided advanced training to more than 1200 ophthalmologists in foreign countries. "We've done over 900 operations in 27 cities in 20 countries on five continents in fourteen months," said Munsch. Rudolph V. Lutter, a member of the American Blind Lawyers Association and a professor of communications law at Howard University School of Communications, has been named in the first edition of Who's Who in Washington, D.C. Who's Who in Washington, D.C., lists the leadership of the nation's capital's governmental, media, legal, business, and cultural communities. William H. Porter of Zion, Illinois, a blind woodworker hobbyist, writes as follows: "I am always seeking to find aids that will make my woodworking easier and safer. I believe I have found such a tool - and one that might be useful to other blind woodworkers, too." The "Finger Saver" is a precision safety aid specially designed for use by blind and visually impaired woodworkers when using stationary power tools such as table saws, radial arm saws, joiners, planers, etc. For information, write Finger Saver, P.O. Box 5765, Pasadena, TX 77508. Blind people in West Germany are getting a helping hand from the Finance Ministry in the form of currency that is identifiable by touch. The government, prodded by an organization of blind people, had previously tried braille codes on the bills, but the idea was dropped because the tiny dots wore down quickly. The Ministry is now considering using bills with tiny identification marks on the edge. PC Speaker is a new computer program package designed to give visually impaired users access to almost all software available for the IMB personal computer. PC Speak can say what is sent to the display or can be used to review the display much the same way as a sighted person can review the screen. With the cursor control keys, the visually impaired user can select words or lines to be spelled or pronounced. For further information, contact Solutions by Example, Inc., Box 307, Newtown Branch, Boston, MA 02258; (617) 244-5880. A new word processing program, the Talking Writer, is now available for the Texas Instrument home computer. The Talking Writer program features voice output as well as a visual cursor. Documents are stored on cassette tape, so that there is no need for an expensive disk drive system. For further information, contact Robert Tinney, 2916 Alpine Drive, Kalamazoo, MI 49004; (616) 344-6643. The Mid-State Association of the Blind (chapter of the Tennessee Council of the Blind) has developed a cookbook on cassette containing some of the finest kitchen-tested recipes from the state of Tennessee. This taped cookbook, tone-indexed for your convenience, is now available at $5.00 per copy. Send check or money order to: Mid-State Association of the Blind, 1201 Kermit Drive, Nashville, TN 37217. Innovative Rehabilitation Technology, Inc. (IRTI), offers the Talkman two-speed, four-track cassette recorder/player/FM radio plus six free high-fidelity tapes for $195.00. IRTI is also a distributor for the Cranmer Modified Perkins Brailler, manufactured by Maryland Computer Services; price, $2,625.00 plus shipping. In addition, IRTI subscribers are eligible for discounts on the purchase of cassettes, recorders, radios, calculators, clocks and watches, and many other items. Subscribers also receive all IRTI brochures on cassette as well as the Technical Innovations Bulletin, a cassette newsletter produced by IRTI, which features interviews and up-to-the-minute information on current technological advances and products of interest to the blind and visually impaired. IRTI subscription for 1984 is $12.00. Address: IRTI, 375 Distel Circle, Suite C-4, Los Altos, CA 94022; (415) 965-8102. The Hawaii International Disabled Sports Association (HIDSA) wants you to know about the second annual Blind Sports Week to be held August 5-15, 1984, in Honolulu. HIDSA will feature clinics in canoeing, sailing, snorkeling, swimming, tennis, and goal ball. This is an excellent opportunity to spend ten days in beautiful Hawaii. For further information, contact Coletta Whitcomb, 419A Atkinson Drive, No. 901, Honolulu, HI 96814; (808) 941-1998. Catonsville Community College has developed a brochure describing its services to blind and visually impaired students. The brochure is available in braille, print, or cassette. Requests for taped copies should be accompanied by a blank C60 cassette. Write Catonsville Community College, Services to Blind and Visually Impaired, 800 S. Rolling Road, Catonsville, MD 21228. ***** ** Notice to Subscribers The Braille Forum is available in braille, large-type, and two recorded editions - flexible disc (8 1/3 rpm) and cassette (15/16 ips). As a bimonthly supplement, the recorded editions also include ALL-O-GRAMS, newsletter of the Affiliated Leadership League of and for the Blind of America. Send subscription requests and address changes, as well as items intended for publication, to The Braille Forum, 190 Lattimore Road, Rochester, NY 14620. Those much-needed and appreciated cash contributions may be sent to James R. Olsen, Treasurer, c/o ACB National Office, 1211 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 506, Washington, DC 20036. You may wish to remember a relative or friend by sharing in the continuing work of the American Council of the Blind. The ACB National Office has available special printed cards to acknowledge to loved ones contributions made in memory of deceased persons. Anyone wishing to remember the American Council of the Blind in his or her Last Will and Testament may do so by including a special paragraph for that purpose. If your wishes are complex, you or your attorney may wish to contact the ACB National Office. ###