The Braille Forum Volume XXXII September 1993 No. 3 Published By The American Council of the Blind ***** Promoting Independence and Effective Participation in Society LeRoy F. Saunders, President Oral O. Miller, J.D., National Representative Nolan Crabb, Editor Sharon Lovering, Editorial Assistant National Office: 1155 15th St., N.W. Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 467-5081 Fax: (202) 467-5085 The Braille Forum is available in braille, large type, half-speed four-track cassette tape and MS-DOS computer disk. Subscription requests, address changes, and items intended for publication should be sent to: Nolan Crabb, The Braille Forum, 1155 15th St., N.W., Suite 720, Washington, DC 20005. Those much-needed and appreciated cash contributions, which are tax deductible, may be sent to Brian Charlson, Treasurer, 1155 15th St., N.W., Suite 720, Washington, DC 20005. 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 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/her Last Will and Testament may do so by including a special paragraph for that purpose. If your wishes are complex, you may contact the ACB National Office. For the latest in legislative and governmental news, call the "Washington Connection" toll-free at (800) 424-8666, 6 p.m. to midnight eastern time Monday through Friday. Washington, D.C., residents only call 331-2876. Copyright 1993 American Council of the Blind ***** ** Table of Contents President's Message, by LeRoy F. Saunders News Briefs from the ACB National Office, by Oral O. Miller 1993 ACB Convention Highlights, by Nolan Crabb Computers Make A Difference: Assistive Devices Help the Disabled in Sweden and the United States, by Sharon Lovering ADA Could Mean Greater Access Through Universal Design, by Sharon Lovering Former Hostage Addresses Convention Banquet, by Nolan Crabb ACB Board Member Directs Legislative Affairs for National Industries for the Blind Dart Resigns Post ACB Announces Award Recipients Affiliate News Roundup Here and There High Tech Swap Shop ACB Officers ***** ** President's Message by LeRoy F. Saunders (Editor's note: The following was excerpted from President Saunders' address to the 32nd Annual National Convention of the American Council of the Blind.) I am extremely proud of the membership of this organization for renewing and revitalizing the American Council of the Blind during the past several years. We have emerged from the hard times of the mid-'80s and all of us are committed to ensuring that we never find ourselves in that place again. We are re-invigorated, and we speak for an even larger community of blind people. This week's annual convention is our chance to rebuild our strength and recommit ourselves to the original vision as stated by the American Council of the Blind: to improve the lives of blind people. The re-authorization of the Rehabilitation Act, the Rehabilitation Act amendments of 1992, were signed into law as Public Law 102-569 on Oct. 29, 1992. I am extremely pleased to tell you that the efforts of ACB and other organizations were successful in getting the necessary language into the Rehabilitation Act to authorize funding for formula grant programs of independent living services for older blind people. This means that when Congress and the president approve enough money for this program, each state will be able to establish an independent living program to serve this very needy population. Of course, we must understand that this will only happen if we fight hard to convince Congress and the president to spend the necessary amount of money on this program. The program needs $26 million, and we have been working hard to expand the current appropriation, which is only $6.9 million. Every year, it seems that the federal budget gets tougher and tougher, and this year is no exception. The House Committee on Appropriations has approved spending $6.9 million, again for the older blind program, and the Senate has not yet acted. We will need everyone's help to convince the Senate to agree to spend additional money for this program. Finally, we may have to fight hard just to hold onto the money that we now have in this program. People in Congress now say that if your program isn't cut, you should consider it a victory. Status quo has never been good enough for us, and we know how great the need is. So let's keep fighting to get the money needed to secure the valuable independent living services for those who lose their sight at such a difficult time. The Rehabilitation Act amendments also contain some important new language giving rehabilitation clients greater ability to choose services they need and the providers they are interested in. The Rehabilitation Services Administration is working on the rules and regulations to implement the so-called client-choice provisions. ACB was very active in working with Congress to fashion language which gives clients more choice, and which also ensures that clients have the information they need to make good choices. We are now working with the RSA to make sure that their regulations assist clients in making informed choices. I might add that in the Rehabilitation Act, it speaks of the evaluation based on outcome, and of course in our summit on accreditation, which has been scheduled for Nov. 12, 13 and 14, we'll be looking at this very same subject ourselves. The summit will be held in Tampa, Fla. Many of you remember how hard we fought during our convention in Phoenix, and immediately after we went home, to try to get a commission to study the rehabilitation and education programs serving the blind into the Rehabilitation Act. Well, politics being what it is, the commission didn't make it into the final legislation. I believe that the commission would have been of great assistance to us in fighting many of the battles which lie ahead. In particular, the state chapters and the national office are continuing to advocate for separate agencies for the blind. From New Jersey to Nevada. The battles with state legislators and simple-minded budget cutters rage on as ACB members, chapters and staff work to protect the services blind people need, while we try to strengthen the agencies which provide us with these services. Perhaps times are beginning to shift in our favor. In Oklahoma, I am pleased to tell you that the Oklahoma Council of the Blind and others have been successful in creating a separate rehabilitation commission. I think maybe states are beginning to realize that big agencies with big missions, huge bureaucratic systems and little meaningful interaction with the people they are supposed to serve are just not working. The new Rehabilitation Act might also help in these efforts since it requires more and better consumer involvement in rehabilitation agency decision-making and policy setting. I hope each of you is looking for ways to get our perspective heard about rehabilitation for the blind. Let's talk about the Americans with Disabilities Act for a few minutes. Back in February at our mid-year board meeting and affiliate president meeting, one of the main topics of discussion was a set of proposed accessibility guidelines which had recently been published by the access board. The guidelines were proposed as the requirements for access to buildings and facilities owned or used by state or local governments. The requirements were proposed in order to help government agencies meet their obligations under the ADA. During these meetings, Patricia Beattie, who chairs ACB's Environmental Access Committee, asked for volunteers to testify at public hearings to be held by the access board to solicit opinions about the proposed guidelines. Nearly everyone in attendance asked how they could help educate others about the needs of people who are blind or visually impaired. As a result, the concerns of ACB members were extremely well represented at the five public hearings that were held by the board and in volumes of written communication which were sent to the board in its request for comments. I might add that, if you will recall, in our budgets we allocated some additional money just for the purpose of getting people to these hearings, and you can see it's paid off. We don?t know what the outcome of our work will be since the board will not finish its work in producing a final set of guidelines until later this year, but you can be assured that the true access needs of blind people were heard by members of the board like never before. Unfortunately, most of the news on the ADA front has really not been very good during the past year. Our national office continues to hear from ACB members across the country who complain that paratransit providers continue to discriminate against blind people. We need to let the Department of Transportation know about this kind of treatment so the department can take action, including taking away federal money from the providers who discriminate. Let me tell you, the withdrawal of federal money would cause these providers to wake up and take responsibility for their obligations. I am saddened to tell you about the death of Mrs. Peggy McCarthy of Massachusetts. Peggy was a member of the Bay State Council and Guide Dog Users, and died after she fell from a subway platform in Boston onto the third rail, which carries a high electrical voltage. Peggy's tragic death horrifies us all the more because we know that the transit platforms are supposed to be equipped with detectable warnings which would help those of us who are blind or visually impaired to be aware that we are near the platform edge. Unfortunately, detectable warnings are under attack from many sides, including the Department of Transportation itself. The department has chosen to put the use of these warnings in jeopardy by suggesting to delay their use on transit platforms until January 1995. In some places, it is said, "it doesn't matter if people die; warnings are not needed." We know that this view is distasteful and disgusting! Let Peggy's death sorrowfully give us the resolve to redouble again our fight for the independence and safety of blind people. I don't know how many more blind people are going to have to die before we can get something done about this! Next year Congress will re-authorize something called IDEA, which stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is the major federal legislation affecting the education of children with disabilities, including blind children. Let us remember: in order to preserve the specialized services needed by blind children in public or residential schools, we need to be strong advocates in Congress and the state legislatures. You, the members of ACB, are the strongest and best weapon we have in carrying out that advocacy. I think an increasing number of us are beginning to recognize the importance of the changes now taking place in telecommunications. The simple dial telephone is now, or soon will be, replaced by video conferencing, rapid data communications and the like. ACB members and the national staff have already proven themselves to be influential players in this arena. I am pleased to tell you that Paul Schroeder worked closely with other organizations representing the disability community, to negotiate a far-reaching agreement with representatives of the Bell operating companies. The agreement would require the Bell companies to manufacture telecommunication equipment so that it is accessible to or easily adapted for use by people with disabilities. Also, the Bell companies, when they provide telecommunication services would be required to include access for people with disabilities. The agreement will be included in legislation to be introduced in Congress sometime this year. All of us need to be involved in ensuring that the new world of computers, communication and telecommunication will mean that barriers to accessibility of information now faced by blind people can begin to come down. In March, ACB hired a professional staff person to conduct membership activities. Many of you know Jennifer Sutton, and the rest of you will get to know her very soon. Jennifer is the latest addition to the ACB staff, and I know that many of our affiliates are anxiously looking for opportunities to work on membership activities with Jennifer. You will learn that she is a dynamo of action. I can tell you that a great deal of work by our membership committee has been done in Idaho and Montana recently. To bring you up to date on just a couple more things: We established a committee to work with developing the history of this organization. The committee has met, and we're in the process of reviewing resumes from people who are historians so that we may commission someone to write the history. Also, to make sure that we capture some very important information, we will have a person very shortly start interviewing some key people that were involved in the beginning of this organization so that we can have their knowledge on tape recordings. We are planning a leadership training seminar in the northeast part of this country. We will be trying to better equip our office this year and next year. We have had a consulting firm review the activity of our office, and we hope it will guide us in developing this office for the 21st century. I'd like to mention to you that the American Foundation for the Blind, directed by Carl Augusto, invited me to attend two conferences this year which I think were outstanding. One was referred to as the Wingspread Conference, which was held just outside of Milwaukee, and the other one was a Josephine L. Taylor Conference. Both of these conferences were dealing with the future, what might happen to services for the blind in the face of budget cuts, and changes in attitudes. At the Josephine L. Taylor meeting everybody came together and 100 percent supported separate services for blind people in states throughout this country. Of course we support that. We might have to follow Oklahoma's example and get a separate agency for rehabilitation services with a division for the blind as a separate entity within that agency. That might be politically better than going straight for just a separate agency serving the blind. Our state affiliates must take the leadership in this effort. I commend Carl and the AFB for having these types of meetings and giving ACB an opportunity to be represented. I attended my first JOE meeting, which is Joint Organization Effort. We were able to accomplish a statement on inclusion. We're all very concerned about the word inclusion, especially as it pertains to education. We're afraid that the educators are going to say that inclusion means everybody goes into the same classroom. We don't want that for our blind students. They deserve special education services and we have to make sure they continue to get them. They need the support services that go along with special education such as braille training, mobility instruction and so forth. We do now have a joint statement that these organizations did agree on and have signed off on. Now we're working on a joint statement in reference to separate agencies serving the blind, and we'll see how that works out. I'm pleased that our board of directors decided that we should join in with this organization. I'd like to close with a couple things: Change is inevitable. You just can't avoid it. It's in front of us. Everybody's had to change. We should never forget how this organization was founded, we should never forget the efforts that Durward McDaniel and many others put in to make this organization what it is. We can't let our history make our future. We have to extract from our history the wisdom that is needed to help us get into the future, but if we try to make our history develop our future, we will not succeed. As we deliberate at this convention, and as we formulate resolutions that will guide us through the coming year, keep in mind that things that were done when this organization was first formed were very necessary, but there have been a lot of changes since then, and maybe we need to take a look at some of the ways we do things, and bring them into the 21st century. I want to thank our board of directors, our office staff, all of our state affiliates, our special interest groups and especially all of you as members, for making me look good this past year. Thank you very much. * Caption: ACB President LeRoy Saunders reviews a successful year for ACB in his report to the 32nd annual convention. All photos by M. Christine Torrington. ***** ** News Briefs from the ACB National Office ACB Demands Immediate Action on Detectable Warnings by Oral O. Miller, National Representative Continuing commendations to the Smithsonian Institution as it wrestles with the real difficulty of making a visit to the museum meaningful to blind and visually impaired people, while at the same time, protecting the items on display and displaying them in a visually attractive and interesting way. My participation on its Disabled Access Advisory Committee has not consisted merely of attending meetings; committee members are frequently called for specific reactions while guidelines are being drafted. Recently, for example, a Smithsonian staff member called to discuss the realistic issue of how to deal with displays that are mounted on walls. Such displays may comply with federal regulations, but they may not be detected by blind travelers using canes. Caring people everywhere were shocked to learn that on June 10, 1993, Peggy McCarthy, a blind resident of Boston and an experienced subway rider, died from injuries sustained a few days earlier when she fell from a Boston subway platform onto the tracks and the electrified third rail. Before dying in the hospital, she stated that she would not have fallen if the platform edge had been marked with detectable warnings of the type required by regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. News of this tragedy was underscored shockingly a few weeks later when, on July 7, Pam Schneider, a blind resident of New York and an experienced subway traveler, was killed when she fell from a New York City subway platform which was not marked with the required detectable warnings and was killed by an oncoming train while she was attempting to climb back onto the platform. Although ACB had already sent strong letters of protest to both President Clinton and Department of Transportation Secretary Federico Pena objecting to the failure of the Department of Transportation to enforce the regulations in spite of the request from many major transit systems to postpone enforcement for another 18 months after July 26, 1993. News of Schneider's tragic death swept through the ACB national convention in San Francisco like wildfire. On Thursday morning, July 8, the ACB officers, board members, staff members, and many others hurriedly made the arrangements necessary to enable scores of conventioners to take part in a rally outside of the Department of Transportation office in downtown San Francisco to demand a meeting with Secretary Pena as soon as possible and to express their outrage over the failure of the department to require implementation of the regulation. Hundreds of ACB conventioners quickly boarded buses for downtown San Francisco and spent the next several hours marching to and fro in front of the federal building in an orderly manner. The group wore black arm bands and displayed placards demanding action and loudly calling for implementation of the regulations. At the same time, a small delegation of selected leaders met in the building lobby with Federal Transit Administration Regional Administrator Stewart Taylor, who refused to allow the delegation to go to his office with him. However, after learning of our concerns and our interest in meeting as soon as possible with Pena, Taylor spoke directly to Pena, who was then en route to a conference. Taylor made arrangements for ACB representatives to meet with Pena as well as federal transportation department regional directors in New York and Boston. In recognition of Taylor's cooperation following his initial reluctance, the ACB convention adopted a resolution commending and thanking him for his cooperation. On July 15, 1993, Paul Schroeder, ACB's director of governmental affairs, Patricia Beattie, chair of ACB's Environmental Access Committee, and Scott Marshall, director of governmental relations at the American Foundation for the Blind, and I met with Secretary Pena and other DOT officials in Washington. At that time, we repeated our concerns, demanded to know the basis on which the department was declining to enforce the regulation, pointed out that no research supports the position of the transit systems requesting postponement of implementation of the regulations, and pointed out that the American Council of the Blind was prepared to take whatever actions might be appropriate to prevent future accidents such as those that had taken the lives of McCarthy and Schneider. At press time, the Department of Transportation had not officially postponed the enforcement date of the regulations, but we are informed that the interested transit systems have been informed that they did not need to implement the regulations by July 26, 1993. Recently, the ACB National Office mailed to all ACB board members and the presidents of all the affiliates a packet which included print and taped copies of the newspaper articles about the fatal accidents in Boston and New York, correspondence to Secretary Pena, newspaper stories concerning the ACB rally in San Francisco, and an article by Paul Schroeder regarding the above-summarized inaction by the Department of Transportation as well as plans of that department and other federal agencies to postpone implementation of ADA regulations requiring detectable warnings near sloping curbs, curb ramps, and reflecting pools. Anyone who would like one of these packets should write to or call Jessica Beach in the ACB National Office weekday afternoons between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. toll-free at (800) 424-8666. The week of July 26 through July 30 was, indeed, a memorable and impressive one for the American Council of the Blind in that during that week, in celebration of the signing of the ADA four years ago, the American Council of the Blind participated in meetings with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, President Clinton, and former President George Bush. During the meeting with the attorney general on July 26, (the actual anniversary date of the signing of the ADA), it was my pleasure as one of approximately 20 representatives from the disabled community to encourage the justice department to take a more assertive and supportive stance in implementing and interpreting the ADA. I advocated for the speedy appointment of an assistant attorney general for civil rights and increase staff needed to enforce the ADA, and to serve as a forward-looking example for such departments as the Department of Transportation. At the meeting at the White House with President Clinton on Tuesday, July 27, I was one of approximately 20 representatives of the disabled community present. That number included several disabled people who have been appointed to important positions in the Clinton administration, including Bobby Simpson, commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and Judy Heumann, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Others present included Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the principal senatorial sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the principal House sponsor of the ADA. In a short statement, Clinton said, "my administration is committed to shifting disability policy away from exclusion, towards inclusion; away from dependence, towards independence; away from paternalism and towards empowerment." Disabled representatives who had been agreed upon before the meeting by the group made short statements to the president concerning our collective interest in the continued implementation of the ADA, the continued employment of qualified disabled people in responsible positions in the administration, and a national health care program that would be beneficial to disabled people as well as others. An interesting part of the program was a telephone conversation between President Clinton and Sen. Harkin's deaf brother by means of the ADA-mandated telephone relay system. The conversation, which included the assistance of a communicator in transmitting the president's message to Harkin's brother, went smoothly after Harkin's brother was convinced that he was, in fact, receiving a call from the White House. He was not convinced until his brother, Sen. Harkin, went on the line and communicated with him. The third important commemorative event during ADA anniversary week was a bipartisan luncheon held in Kennebunkport, Maine, celebrating the signing of the ADA and paying tribute to former President George Bush for the role he played in the enactment and signing of the law. I was one of approximately five disabled representatives present who were asked to make brief statements in tribute to Bush and looking ahead to the further implementation of the ADA. Following the luncheon, which took place in an old-fashioned inn, the luncheon guests were invited to visit the Bush home and compound on Walker Point, approximately a mile away from the inn. At the home, the former president was, as you might expect, a cordial host who was eager for some of the mobility-impaired guests to try out a newly installed wheelchair ramp. During relaxed conversation he discussed, among other things, the massive damage which his home had suffered during recent ocean storms, travel which he and Mrs. Bush planned to enjoy in the near future, the change from public to private life, and the enjoyment he receives from his family. He specifically referred to settling a disagreement between some of his grandchildren who were involved in a spirited baseball game as he was leaving the compound, which is made up of many acres, to come to the luncheon earlier that day. In a short statement at the luncheon he said, among other things, "The ADA has sparked a change in the attitudes of our citizens and has provided every man, woman, and child with a disability the power to control their lives. ... Barbara and I encourage all caring citizens to support the successful implementation of ADA." Late last month, the director of governmental affairs and I had the pleasure of speaking on different sections of the program of "ADA Expo '93 -- Complying with the law through technology," a commercially produced training conference held in Washington, D.C. Although the program was extremely ambitious and comprehensive, the experience gained by the commercial sponsors, as distinguished from the nominal organizational sponsors, will perhaps be helpful in planning future training conferences which charge high registration fees. With the end of the summer we give a reluctant farewell and enthusiastic "good luck" to Kirstyn Cassavechia, our 1993 summer intern, as she returns to Cornell University for her senior year. This is the debut issue of the Forum for our new editorial assistant, Sharon Lovering, who will be working closely with the editor of "The Braille Forum" and others in the ACB National Office. Sharon is a 1993 graduate of James Madison University, having majored in mass communication. Sharon occupies the position formerly held by Nicole Willson, who left ACB employment recently in furtherance of her career in publications. * Captions ACB National Representative Oral O. Miller emerges from the federal building in downtown San Francisco at the conclusion of negotiations with Transportation Administrator Stewart Taylor. Holding placards which read "No More Transit Deaths" and "Stop Killing Blind People," ACB members march on a regional office of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Hundreds of conventioners participated in the rally outside the Department of Transportation, to protest the possible postponement of installing detectable warnings in transit systems. Chanting "Access and Safety Now," ACB members demonstrate outside federal transportation offices in San Francisco. Marchers remembered those who have died in recent transit accidents and called for immediate implementation of regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act on detectable warnings. ACB Treasurer Brian Charlson, Board Member Jean Mann, National Representative Oral Miller, and AFB Governmental Relations Director Scott Marshall seek a firm commitment from Regional Transit Administrator Stewart Taylor that a meeting with Transportation Secretary Federico Pena would be scheduled within days of the demonstration. ACB Governmental Affairs Director Paul Schroeder stands at the front of the group in animated discussion with Taylor. ***** ** 1993 ACB Convention Highlights by Nolan Crabb The 1993 National Convention of the American Council of the Blind was a week fraught with triumphs and tragedies. It was the second largest convention in the Council's history, bested only by the Los Angeles convention in 1987. Held this year at the San Francisco Airport Marriott, the convention was an outstanding success by all counts. In addition to the usual opportunities for renewing acquaintances and the diverse cadre of speakers, conventioners made history with a well-orchestrated demonstration intended to alert federal transit officials of the necessity of prompt installation of detectable warning strips on the edges of rail transit platforms. It was a convention unique in its challenges and successes. * Sunday, July 4: The now-traditional Sunday night opening session got the convention off to an emotional start. President LeRoy Saunders gaveled the convention to order at 8 p.m. and introduced a local Coast Guard unit to present the colors. Before beginning his report to the convention, President Saunders announced the resignation of ACB Board Member Grant M. Mack due to a terminal illness. Two days later, the convention was informed that Mack had died. (See "Former ACB President Dies," August 1993.) Saunders noted the absence of James Olsen, ACB's assistant treasurer, who was unable to attend the convention due to a minor illness. "His family's here," Saunders said, "doing the work he would normally do." Olsen's wife Anne placed a call to him from the convention floor. Via speaker phone, conventioners shouted an enthusiastic "Hello Jim!" Saunders took the opportunity to present Olsen with his 15-year pin for his service to ACB and ACB Enterprises and Services, the corporation which operates the ACB thrift stores. "You're making it kind of tough on me to present you with your 15-year pin," Saunders said, "so what I'm going to do is send it back by Anne. But I want you to know that we're so pleased that your family's here to help us. Jim, we miss you, and I'm sure you'll be with us again next year." "I want to wish you a great convention for everyone," Olsen said. "The numbers look great, and I'm glad everyone's having a good time. You know I'm there in spirit." Saunders then reported to the convention, providing a review of the past year. He addressed a variety of issues including the reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, an upcoming summit on accreditation, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. (See "President's Message," this issue.) Following Saunders' report, attendees were entertained by Jeff Moyer, a Cleveland-based singer and entertainer. John Lopez, president of the California Council of the Blind, welcomed visitors to his state. "As the newly elected president of the California Council of the Blind," he said, "it gives me great pleasure to welcome you here." * Monday, July 5: The Monday session began with an address by Wolfgang Angermann, executive director of the German Association of Blind Students and Professionals. Angermann described rehabilitation and integration efforts in Germany. He said changes in the economies and labor markets of industrialized nations means blind and partially sighted people will have increased difficulty obtaining employment. "At first glance," he said, "these job seekers and the described labor market are apparently not a good match. But these job seekers are offering much more than their impairment, and the labor market is in a position to offer more than a pure mechanism of production and services." He said while employment may be difficult to obtain, a combination of education and good labor legislation can improve the odds. Legal blindness in Germany is defined as having less than two percent of full eyesight or a comparable lack of sight. He said blind Germans have free use of public transportation and his/her guide travels free, free transport for a guide on domestic flights, reduced tickets for trains, reduced prices for telephone use, a reduced rate for use of television and radio, and tax reductions. "Blind and partially sighted persons are eligible for a variety of social benefits," Angermann explained. "One of the most important of these is what we call blindness compensating money, an amount of money to compensate for all the expenditures you might have because of your blindness. The amount of this benefit varies among the federal states, but in any case, it will be paid monthly regardless of the wage you earn, regardless of the possessions you have." He said the liberal compensation policy is offset by the restrictions on who may receive the money. "A considerable number of individuals who are legally blind in your country unfortunately would not be eligible for the blindness compensating money in Germany." Angermann said during the past 20 years, increasing numbers of blind children have been integrated into schools which educate sighted students. Technology and personal assistance is available which enable blind students to succeed educationally. "But, ... in Germany, too, there are sometimes big gaps between the legitimate claims and reality. It is one of the elementary tasks of the organizations of the blind to contribute to the closing of these gaps," he said. He said organizations of the blind in Germany provide prospective employees with lists of individuals currently working in the prospective employee's field of interest. He said all companies employing more than 16 employees must assign six percent of their jobs to severely disabled people. However, because of loopholes in the regulations, companies can actually claim that more blind and disabled people work there than is the actual case. Still other employers simply choose to pay a certain amount of money monthly to the government, which then exempts them from hiring disabled people. Angermann said employment offices often grant subsidies to employers who hire blind workers. "In some federal states," he explained, "that amounts to 100 percent for the first three years. Employers don't have to pay the worker anything for this time. Furthermore, they {the employment office} can contribute in a large scale funding for the technology the blind worker will use." Subsidized training, the costs of traveling to an interview, and even a move to the city where the new job is located are available. Employers can't terminate disabled workers without the consent of the governmental authority. "As soon as a blind or visually impaired employee has been working on a job six months or longer," he explained, "he or she has a protection against unlawful dismissal so strong that it is considered by critics an impediment for employment." Disabled people qualify for five additional days of vacation above the general vacation benefits available to German workers. Disabled workers elect representatives from among their fellow colleagues to protect and represent their interests while they are employed by the company, he added. He said once a blind or partially sighted person is employed in Germany, the chances of promotion to higher professional positions with greater responsibility are limited. Blind German lawyers are severely restricted from pursuing judgeships. In a question and answer session, Angermann said braille has gone through a renaissance in Germany after a lull in its use. "We will do everything we can to keep it alive wherever possible," he said. He fielded questions regarding guide dog use, computer graphics, and support for student issues. Conventioners turned their attention to library service with an address by Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress. He reflected on his 20 years of involvement with NLS. "I would say that I have found this the most challenging work I've ever encountered," Cylke said. "I mean that very positively for two specific reasons: First, the involvement with the user group has been very important. I've found that in no other aspect of librarianship, and I believe that other librarians will confirm that as well. Second is the quick response in terms of praise or criticism various services that are offered." He reflected on how NLS has changed since 1973 when he began working there. He said in 1973, 318,000 people using NLS's services; in 1993, the number had jumped to 765,000 -- a 140 percent increase. "The circulation has nearly doubled also," he said. "When I started, we were circulating 11 million books and magazines annually; today, we circulate nearly 22 million." Cylke said braille and cassette titles had both increased in number, while the recorded discs were discontinued. He recalled other firsts and changes. "In 1974, we developed our first collection development policy. ... We do approximately 50 percent fiction, approximately 50 percent non-fiction resulting in a very broad structure of books." He said 1975 was the year NLS introduced tone indexing and cassette books at 15/16th inches per second. The first four-track cassette book was introduced in 1977. According to Cylke, 89 languages are currently represented in the NLS collection. The year 1978 saw the introduction of a math braille certification program. ACB Member Judy Dixon was named as NLS's consumer ombudsman in 1981, Cylke said. "I think that that single act was probably one of the most, if not the most, important acts that occurred during this whole 20-year period," he added. "With that, we were able to feature the direct involvement of the consumer, the user, in every aspect of our work, and we have involved Judy in all our high-level discussions." In 1982, NLS introduced solar battery chargers. "That's irrelevant to most of you unless you don't have electricity," he said. "Believe it or not, there are many places in the United States and throughout the world where these solar chargers are used." He reminded his listeners of the availability of the International Union Catalogue, which holds library records from NLS, Recording for the Blind, Seedlings, the Xavier Society, and other U.S.-based groups. The catalogue also includes records from Australia, New Zealand, and, with the cooperation of Recording for the Blind, Canada. Cylke recalled the introduction of the first voice-indexed book in 1983 and the E1 cassette machine, designed for ease of operation. Looking to the future, Cylke said the centralization of braille is an issue of present and future importance. "The big effort that remains ... is what will the future of audio technology be," he explained. "People come to us and say 'why don't you go into the compact disk?' It's our view and that of engineers who work for us, that the compact disk is not the technology. "We know that the future will be digital," he said, "we suspect that it may be a solid-state digital technology, but we know that when it happens, the amount of money needed to impact the change is going to be significant." Cylke said assuming NLS decided to convert every book and every machine to a compact disk system, the cost would exceed $400 million. "You'd have to phase it in, but it's still a $400 million decision." The Monday session continued with remarks from Dr. Elton Moore, director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University, who described some of the activities of the research and training center. "In a nutshell," he said, "we try to find new solutions to old problems." Founded in 1981, the center is the only one of its kind funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. "The RRTC is basically divided up into three categories, research, training, and dissemination," Moore explained. Moore said the center is currently involved in the development of a model program operations manual for the Business Enterprise Program. Other projects include Transition from School to Work, a project which focuses on the transition problems blind and visually impaired students experience in the transition from high school to college, and a job-retention project which involves analyzing characteristics of blind and visually impaired people who have retained employment and comparing them to another group who have not been successful in an attempt to identify some of the differences in those groups. The center is also attempting to understand and identify barriers to participation by blacks in the profession of services to the blind. Moore said the RRTC is involved in a computer access technology training program funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration. "We've just completed a training program in Boston," he said, "and we've done training in Atlanta and Phoenix this past year, and we have additional training programs coming up in Baltimore and Portland, and Nashville." He said the computer access training focuses on training rehabilitation agency staff, not consumers. Agency personnel recently received training on dealing with client substance abuse issues through the center. "We've also introduced a project called the Anne Sullivan Macy Fellowship Award," he said. "This is a project that focuses on training doctoral-level researchers in the field of blindness. We're particularly interested in blind or visually impaired people with rehabilitation experience." Moore said future projects include a satellite teleconference on new strategies and new instruction sources for teaching braille. He said an ACB member may be involved in the teleconference. Moore concluded his remarks by challenging his listeners to continue to work to break down stereotypes and to be the best at whatever they undertake. Carl R. Augusto, president of the American Foundation for the Blind, addressed the need for specialized services for blind and partially sighted people. He began by addressing activities at the American Foundation for the Blind. He said the foundation's deficit was slashed from $4.3 million to $622,000. "That's still a large deficit," he said, "but we're moving in the right direction." In addition, he said AFB has initiated staff task forces in such areas as braille literacy, implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and developing training materials to educate deaf-blind people. He said there are areas in which AFB must still provide input. Employment and the growing number of blind and partially sighted people among the very young and the elderly are two concerns AFB faces. "There's a growing need for services, especially among the very old and the very young, and there's a lack of sufficient funds to keep pace with that need." He said while AFB's mission remains unchanged the foundation will more strongly emphasize four elements of its mission. First, AFB would serve as a pre-eminent source of information; second, AFB will focus on being a leader in educating the public about blindness and in shaping public policy; third, AFB will serve as a think tank and problem solver. "We can't realize this vision overnight or by ourselves. We're going to be seeking partnerships with ACB and other organizations of and for the blind." The fourth element of emphasis for AFB is a reaffirmation of its commitment to the talking book program. "We started it back in the '30s, and we're proud of the leadership that we've exerted in providing books to blind and visually impaired people over the years." Augusto affirmed an earlier-published announcement that AFB is pulling out of the manufacture and sale of consumer products. It will temporarily close its library which includes its print book collections, and it will defer publication of any additional textbooks in the blindness field for six months to a year, and it will temporarily close its southeast regional office in Atlanta. "We've concluded that we have to make these sacrifices now to avoid more significant sacrifices in the future," Augusto said. He said the foundation has initiated a media campaign designed to educate the general public regarding the capabilities of blind and visually impaired people and to confront the public with its prejudices. He said the foundation continues to develop its Careers and Technology Information Bank, a database designed to match blind employees using assistive technology with other blind people interested in learning more about the technology and employment potential. AFB has instituted a braille mentorship project designed to provide teachers of blind students with resources to help them teach braille better. He said the mentorship program would also include the development of a data base which would include expert braille users. "During my first six months at AFB," Augusto recalled, "I asked as many providers and consumers as I possibly could 'what are the most important issues confronting our field?' Over and over again, you said 'convince policymakers in our state that we need separate vocational rehabilitation agencies for the blind and that the school for the blind must continue to exist.'" As a result, a task force was formed to examine and define the most appropriate service models for blind people in this country under certain circumstances. "Simply stated," he said, "we must convince policymakers of the value of separate and identifiable agencies and schools for the blind, and we must work together to mobilize our field to carry this message throughout the country." Augusto painted a starkly bleak picture of a world where there were no separate state agencies or schools for the blind. "Chances are," he said, "the teachers in the local school district would not know braille and would not properly teach braille, if at all; … mobility might be taught by a physical therapist who might have read a chapter on mobility once or twice, but may not know anything about mobility for the blind. "Teachers would not be aware of the technological advances that we all know about that enable visually impaired people to access information," he said. "If there were all generalist counselors … among rehabilitation counselors, there would be very few visually impaired people on each of those counselors' caseloads. There would be little knowledge of the wide variety of jobs that blind people can hold. … And because blindness is a low-incidence disability, the blind would not have a voice in the organizations that serve many disabled individuals." Augusto commended ACB for its participation on the Committee on Joint Organizational Effort, a consortium of consumer organizations and service providers. He called the 1993 meetings a success, pointing out that the group agreed on a strategy eliminating the work disincentives built into the Social Security Act, the importance and primacy of braille, and the importance of preserving a system of separate and identifiable agencies and schools for the blind. The Monday session concluded with an address by Dr. Tuck Tinsley, president of the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Ky. He said October 1994 is the target opening date for the museum at APH. The museum will highlight the history of education of people who are blind or visually impaired and the 135-year history of APH. "We've raised approximately $250,000," Tinsley noted. "That's about 45 percent of the total needed, so we’re going to continue with fund-raising efforts for the second phase of the project which includes construction of the museum and exhibits." Tinsley said the museum needs math and geography teaching aids that might have been used years ago to teach blind children. APH is also looking for a Swindler Universal Writer, a device which could produce braille, Moon Type and New York Point. Old equipment catalogues are also important. Tinsley also announced that APH has begun providing "Newsweek" and "The Reader's Digest" on cassette at no charge to eligible readers in the United States and U.S. citizens living abroad. * Tuesday, July 6: The Tuesday session began with a panel on independent living moderated by former ACB First Vice President Paul Edwards. He introduced Brenda Premo, deputy director of independent living for California's Department of Rehabilitation. Premo credited blind people with beginning the independent living movement. "It began 80 years ago with blind people who said 'hey, we can be like other people; we can get jobs; we need equal rights. …'" She said independent living isn’t about buildings, institutions or non-profit organizations. “It’s an ideology about equality, about language, and about treatment.” She said technology continues to hold great promise where independent living is concerned. She urged her listeners to become more involved on advisory boards and other groups “to ensure that those institutions provide access to all its members, no matter what the daily life activity or independent living needs would be.” Jean Mann, a member of the board of directors of the American Council of the Blind, and the former president of the board of the Capitol District Center for Independence in Albany, N.Y., was the second panelist. She said when she first began serving on the center’s board six years ago, she had serious questions about what appeared to be a lack of concern for blind individuals seeking service from the center. According to Mann, that has changed in recent years. "We have had blind people on our staff since the center opened," she recalled. The center began to more fully emphasize the need for material in alternative formats like braille and tapes. She reminded her listeners that they can take steps to enhance the level of service available to them through independent living centers. She encouraged them to go to the center's board of directors first to express their concerns. Other avenues of complaint include the Client Assistance Program, the state division of rehabilitation, or even the Rehabilitation Services Administration. She said while independent living generally may not always provide optimum service to blind participants, she sees progress at least in New York state. Dr. Stanley Greenberg, executive director of the Westside Center for Independent Living in Los Angeles, was the third panelist. He reviewed the history of rehabilitation law and its relationship to philosophy. “The basic core of the independent living philosophy can be expressed in three basic principles," he explained. "The first and most important is that we are OK just like we are. … The second component of that philosophy is that we ought to have the right to decide where we're going to live, where we're going to go to school, … what services we're going to receive, and what those services are going to look like. The third component is the reasons we're having problems in this world are not the result of our disability; they’re the result of the public's attitude toward our disabilities." Greenberg echoed Premo's encouragement for blind people to more actively seek independent living services. "If you come across an independent living center in your area that does not provide services to you, they’re breaking the law, and you need to hold them accountable for that." He explained the various services independent living services are mandated to perform by law. Greenberg encouraged conventioners to work for cross disability services. "May I remind you of one thing about cross disability," he said. "As long as there is a person with a severe disability who is put into an institution, any of us can go there. As long as children can be taken away from parents who are severely disabled, as long as the climate exists where a court can take away a child from its parents because the parents are disabled, the climate exists for a board of directors to decide it's OK to take a dog away from its owner. … So it is our challenge to live the life of independent living — to insist that society accepts us as being OK. …" In a question and answer session following the panel, ACB Board Member Michael Byington expressed his conviction that all is not sweetness and unity in the disability community where the independent living movement is concerned. He based his conviction on an experience in which he and eight other blind people filed a complaint with the Rehabilitation Services Administration against an independent living center in the midwest. Byington claimed his complaint had been ignored by a "good old boy network" of center administrators and federal officials. Panelists assured him that the divisiveness of which he spoke is not about disability, but about human nature. "I'm sure that there is an old person's network," Greenberg quipped, "and I'm sure that some people support each other in not doing things we know they should be doing. I would encourage you to do whatever advocacy you need to do in order to assure yourself that you're getting the services that you're entitled to." In response to a question regarding the independent living philosophy and generic services, Greenberg admitted, "I'm altogether certain that there are some people who believe that a generalist ought to do everything for everybody." But he said responsible members of the independent living movement believe that "people with specific disabilities need specific services." ACB Director of Governmental Affairs Paul Schroeder told conventioners that the National Council for Independent Living had sent a letter to the Access Board and other places objecting to the use of detectable warnings. "I think we wouldn't be where we are right now if it weren't for NCIL's intervention where it doesn't belong." He briefly rehearsed some of the events involved in the reauthorization of the rehabilitation act in which representatives from NCIL “generally wanted to speak about philosophy and generally didn't want to speak very much about service." He asked how ACB and other organizations could work within the distinction between philosophy and services to ensure that blind people receive the kind of services they need rather than merely access to “the services, puny though they may be, that a center may provide that may have nothing at all to do with the needs of blind people." Jean Mann said the best way to improve services is for blind individuals to "get involved with your center and start screaming — start demanding. Start asking for their budget and suggest ways to change funding priorities." Brenda Premo urged her listeners to get involved on governors' independent living councils. As he concluded the panel, Moderator Edwards said independent living is "at a crossroads. It's an opportunity, and it's a challenge. What we do with independent living will very much determine how actively involved independent living becomes with us." Ritchie Geisel, president of Recording for the Blind in Princeton, N.J., addressed the convention. He said information access is a vital part of RFB's mission. "It's an issue RFB and each of you can do something about." He said while employers should focus on physical access and mobility issues, they must put stronger emphasis on information access issues. "Each of you has an obligation to join us in educating corporate America on just how easy it is to make information accessible." He said RFB remains the leading source of specialized materials in alternative formats. He listed a variety of the topics which are recorded or available on disk. He said the organization is doing a better job of recording books before the first request comes in. He said RFB is speaking and writing in an attempt to put information access at the top of the agenda for federal and state agencies and private industry. "We've put marketing materials, certification preparation materials, job-support manuals, annual reports, and directories onto audiocassette and electronic text," Geisel said. "This is where you can help us — by letting us know what your needs are and more importantly, letting your employers know what they need to provide you." He said RFB is building alliances with such organizations as the Association of American Publishers. Such alliances will enhance information access. He announced the completion of a joint venture with IBM which resulted in the production of Book Manager, a software product designed to allow blind and partially sighted computer users to have better, more flexible access to printed material available on disk. In a question and answer session following his remarks, Geisel said RFB is investigating connection to Internet, an international computer network that would allow computer users to call and determine for themselves whether a particular book is available. A panel entitled "Work Incentives Available to Blind Recipients Eligible for Benefits and Changes to Social Security Disability and Supplemental Income Programs." The first panelist was Andrew Young, deputy commissioner for programs, Social Security Administration. He said the Social Security Administration is working to revise regulations dealing with blind and partially sighted recipients. Current regulations expire at the end of this year. Young said they may be extended if the new regulations aren't ready by then. He reviewed the various work incentives available to blind recipients including a trial work period, impairment-related expense deductions, and the ability to purchase Medicare benefits. He said in the future, blind recipients who are subject to occasional continuing disability reviews would receive information via the mail which they could complete and return to SSA. Based on that information, SSA officials would determine whether another visit to the eye doctor is necessary. Finally, he announced the implementation of a pilot program called “"Graduating to Independence," an information packet designed to address the needs of young people making the transition from school to work. "It's designed to give these students and the people who support them information and assistance in understanding the effects of earnings on entitlement to past benefits and on your health insurance coverage," he explained. "You, the American Council of the Blind, represent a major customer of Social Security," Young said. "We want to do what you want to do, but we may not always agree on how to do it. I want to offer our hand very sincerely, to nudge us when you think we should be nudged; give us the truth when you think we need to hear the truth; and, never allow us to let up on the case." Glenn M. Plunkett, representing the American Foundation for the Blind, was the second panelist. He offered some suggestions on how the SSA could improve its efficiency and service delivery to blind and partially sighted recipients. He said he is troubled by long delays in the processing of claims. "I estimate that if SSA were given the staffing right now to overcome the backlogs," he said, "it would be somewhat close to two years before they could even make a dent in it." Plunkett called for the establishment of a central group to handle all claims for disability benefits based on blindness. He called for the elimination of consulting statements for people who are obviously blind. "It's not necessary to have a consulting examination on a person who is blind," he said. "If he gets into the disability process and a determination is made based on the doctor's statement, unless you think that the doctor is a fraud, why make a consulting examination?" Attendees turned their attention from social security to accreditation with remarks from Dr. Frank Dickey, the chairman of ACB's upcoming summit on accreditation. He pointed out differences in the way education operates in the United States as opposed to other countries who rely on ministers of education. He said accreditation helps protect students from "diploma mills" and allows them to more easily transfer credits from one institution to another. "Accreditation," he said, "is a means of protecting the public by identifying quality institutions and helping to maintain and raise institutional standards." He said there are more than 50 areas subject to accreditation. In his view, accreditation should reach out to include rather than exclude institutions and agencies. By including rather than excluding, those organizations who need assistance upgrading their standards can get such help. Dickey said the time has come for schools for the blind and other service providers to recognize the need to start paying the bill for accreditation. "They must support the accrediting efforts," he said, "and they cannot expect some fairy godmother to come along and help the accrediting association's efforts." Finally, he said accreditation must remain part of the private sector. "Some may ask why accredit," he said. "My answer is a brief and forceful one. We owe it to the public and to society. Without accreditation, there's little opportunity for improvement and for accountability in our schools or in our programs that have been developed through the agencies." * Wednesday, July 7: The Wednesday session began with a report from the nominating committee. Following the report, ACB members heard from Laurel Pallock, director of the mediation consumer and environmental unit, part of the San Francisco district office of California’s attorney general. She alerted her listeners to some of the scams currently operating throughout the nation — scams which can affect ACB members. "At one time or another," she said, "all of us become targets of scams. In fact, the U.S. House Committee on Government Operations estimated that all of us as consumers lose as much as $15 billion each year as a result of telemarketing fraud alone, and that has skyrocketed in the last few years as computerized technologies have become more sophisticated and more and more con artists are increasingly sophisticated at using it." She listed a variety of scams that operate and have a high impact on consumers nationally including the Postcard-guarantee prize offers in which the consumer receives notice that he has won a free trip or other similar prize. Other scams include the "Advance Fee Loan Scam," which preys on people out of work or who have little money; this scam takes $50 from a person to fill out an application for additional loan money, and the loan never materializes. "Precious metal investment schemes are also national in scope," she explained. "They're done over the phone often to unwary people who have taken their life savings and invested it in precious metals that turn out to be nothing." A scam which can make blind and visually impaired people particularly vulnerable is one in which someone watches over your shoulder as you use a calling card at an airport or other public place. A month later, calls appear on your bill that you didn't make. She said student interns and retired volunteers help her office handle 200 calls per month. She listed a host of other scams including some of the TV infomercials such as weight loss programs and hair-loss restoration programs. She touched briefly on traditional home repair scams and fictitious charities. She said ACB members and others who have been victims of fraud can report the fraud to a fraud hotline (800) 876-7060. That number can't necessarily solve the problem, but it can catalog the caller's experience and warn others. From scams, conventioners focused on tax breaks and assistive technology purchases for people with disabilities with remarks from Steven Mendelsohn, an attorney and author on the subject of "Blindness: Not As Taxing As You Think." He told his audience "you don't need to be a veterinarian to use a dog guide, and you don't have to be a tax accountant or lawyer … to be aware that certain kinds of choices we make in our everyday lives have tax implications.” He said proper understanding of the tax system can help reduce the cost of living. "There are four ways that the tax system affects our decisions," Mendelsohn explained. "It affects what we spend, what we spend it on, when we spend it, and what documentation we should keep." He gave an example of a guide dog user being able to deduct the upkeep expenses of a guide dog as a medical expense. He said generally, taxpayers want to speed up their deductions and defer their incomes. "It may be a good idea to buy the Braille 'n Speak and the braille embosser in the same year," he explained, "since you only have to get over the 7.5 percent adjusted gross income threshold for medical deductions once during the year. This might be preferable to buying one piece of equipment one year and another the next." He urged his listeners to acquaint their employer, especially a small business, with the value of the disabled tax credit. This means that small businesses can take a credit of up to 50 percent of the first $10,000 of ADA expenses it incurs in any year. "That means if they buy you a CCTV, if they buy you a braille embosser, … and it costs $5,000, it should be possible for your employer to take a tax credit for 50 percent of that," he explained. He said bigger businesses are capable of taking deductions under the Architectural and Transportation Barrier Removal Deduction, section 190 of the tax code. The unification of the braille code was an issue of extreme interest to many in attendance at the Wednesday session. The issue was addressed by Darlene Bogart, immediate past chair of the Braille Authority of North America and the secretary of the International Council on English Braille. She began by congratulating the Braille Revival League for its impact on making others aware of the plight of braille and the need for braille literacy. "What we're going to do is to work together to undo the present situation which exists in the present situation which exists in the English-speaking world, the result of not talking to each other about braille for over 30 years," she said. "The goal is one literary technical braille code for the English-speaking world." She said research and evaluation projects will operate fully before any final decisions are made. "The most important decision to be reached at this time is whether the basic concepts of the unified braille code are viable," she explained. "Most of what is proposed is part of literary braille as you know it." She emphasized that current proposals to change the code are draft proposals only. She asked listeners to look ahead with her to what the braille-reading world would be like in the year 2001 with a unified code. "Prolific adult braille readers will have mastered the few new contractions and learn to put up with reading a few old ones letter for letter. … They will be as comfortable with reading old braille as new braille. What they read in new braille will be a more accurate representation of print; they will be more aware of print conventions. They will have access to books produced in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries — many more titles than at present and in a more timely fashion. "Adults who use braille in their work," she said, "will now know that the report prepared in braille will be identical in print. … The newly blinded adult will find braille much easier to master because the exceptions will not be there, and it will be based on print to a great degree. …" She said a unified code would lead to faster and cheaper production of braille. Transcribers will find it easier to produce braille because what they see in print is what they braille. Dr. William Crandall, a scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, was the next speaker. He explained the benefits and processes used by the Fax Reader Project, a project whereby blind individuals are provided a fax machine which they use to send information to a sighted reader who then reads to them via phone the information they’ve sent. He began by reviewing statistics on blindness which justify the importance of the Fax Reader Project. (See "Putting An End to Mystery Mail," April.) The final speaker for the Wednesday session was Charles D. Goldman, a Washington, D.C.-based disability rights attorney and author of "The Disability Rights Guide." A frequent contributor to "The Braille Forum," Goldman stressed the importance of implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He reminded his audience that they are entitled to reader service under the ADA, and urged them not to accept the idea that readers cost the employer too much. "You must look at the after-tax costs," Goldman said. The remainder of the Wednesday session involved a report from the credentials committee. The Thursday session included the presentation of scholarships to 17 outstanding blind students. All of them were given an opportunity to speak briefly upon receipt of the scholarship. The remainder of the week included passage of resolutions, a constitutional amendment, a report by National Representative Oral Miller, and the election of officers. The banquet speaker was Dr. Thomas Sutherland, a former hostage held in Lebanon for 77 months. (See “Former Hostage Addresses Convention Banquet,” this issue.) * Captions: ACB Assistant Treasurer Jim Olsen was keenly missed at the 32nd annual convention. Via the magic of speaker phone, conventioners were able to send an exuberant "Hello Jim" greeting. Anne Olsen, Jim's wife, operates the speaker phone. LeRoy Saunders stands next to Anne, announcing that Jim is the recipient of his 15-year pin. Although he was no doubt sad at missing the convention, Jim Olsen had every reason to be proud of his wife, daughters, and son-in-law who were first-class substitutes for their husband and dad. Pictured are Anne Olsen, Martha Olsen, Sarah Olsen-Psick and her husband Doug. Carl R. Augusto, president and executive director of the American Foundation for the Blind, prepares to address the 32nd annual convention. Tuck Tinsley, director of the American Printing House for the Blind, chats with Carl Augusto at the conclusion of his address at the convention. Ritchie Geisel, president of Recording for the Blind in Princeton, N.J., prepares to address the July 6 session of the conference. Laurel Pallock, director of the Mediation Consumer and Environmental Unit of the California Attorney General's office, pointed out scams in which ACB members may be victimized. She provided information on recognizing scams and avoiding them. Steven Mendelsohn, author and attorney, provided conventioners with tax tips that can help them free up personal funds for purchasing assistive technology. Dr. Bill Crandall, a scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, goes over his notes prior to addressing the ACB convention. Crandall talked about the Fax Reader Network and some audible signs his organization had set up in the hotel. ***** ** Scholarship winners (a photo essay) Alma Harris Donna Grimminger Shawn Mayo Jack Chen Behanz Soulati Dan Simpson Jody Sack Imke Durre Ramona Pierson Amy Van Boxtel Qiong Du Marilyn Beaupeurt Scott Meyers Kimberly Morrow and Scholarship Committee Chairman Jack Lewis ***** ** Computers Make A Difference: Assistive Devices Help the Disabled in Sweden and the United States by Sharon Lovering Computers make a big difference in the lives of disabled people in Sweden as in the United States, according to Lars Augustsson, CEO of Sweden's Tele Nova. Augustsson spoke at the Americans with Disabilities Act Expo 93 conference in Washington, D.C., on July 28. "Computers are the common denominator," Augustsson said. The Swedish government in the early 1980s was puzzled about the fact that the technology was there and usable, but few companies were having it installed. So the government decided to try an experiment: paying for the equipment to be installed. The earliest installations of adaptive devices were fairly discouraging, Augustsson said. When the devices broke, no one took the responsibility of fixing them. Tele Nova began working in the field of assistive devices for the disabled in the workplace in 1988. The company, composed of general contractors who are "50 percent computer experts and 50 percent teachers," has performed 1,500 work site accommodations in the last four years, Augustsson said. Sixty percent of Tele Nova's clients are visually impaired. The remaining 40 percent are hearing impaired, physically disabled or mentally disabled. The company has set up systems for each one based on the person's job and needs. Augustsson mentioned the case of a blind librarian who needed to navigate her way around the library and know which books were going out and which were on the shelves. Tele Nova set her up with a computer system and a bar code reader that would read the codes on the books and tell her which books she was looking at. Sweden also has a system that enables blind, visually impaired and disabled people to read the newspaper. The morning paper's data is manipulated at a printing house and distributed via the subcarrier of an FM radio station into people's homes. A personal computer attached to the radio receiver stores the information for later retrieval. Augustsson also mentioned the case of a musician with cerebral palsy who was an excellent composer, but had trouble writing his compositions. The company provided him with a computer system that could write down the music and play it back for him. "We believe it's our duty to help them express their talents with computers if they can't use their hands," he said. Tele Nova has six "possibility centers" that enable disabled people to come and explore the options of assistive devices in various parts of the country. Training a person to use the equipment takes two to three weeks. Job training takes a year. "It's kind of sexy to be doing something in front of a computer," Augustsson said. "It looks like you're doing something important if you're doing it in front of a computer." And Tele Nova will be opening an office in Washington, D.C. Augustsson said the office will facilitate communication between the United States and Tele Nova in Sweden. He would like to see some of the company's expertise put to use in the United States. ***** ** ADA Could Mean Greater Access Through Universal Design by Sharon Lovering Universal access design means designing products to be used by all people, including people with disabilities, according to Larry Scadden, senior program director of the Program for Persons with Disabilities of the National Science Foundation. Scadden addressed attendees of the Americans with Disabilities Act Expo 93 conference held in Washington, D.C., July 29. He said the process of access design began in the field of architecture, when people were looking into ways to make all buildings accessible to everyone. Computers and, later, the telecommunications industry borrowed the technology to make those fields accessible as well. But there are still some serious problems with the design of various products, Scadden said. "It is not wise for me today to just get up and tell you the good news," he added, "it's important to give you the bad news so you can establish vigilant observations and vigilant applications of safety." Though there are problems, Scadden sees "hope in the future." Groups that manufacture things like compact-disc players, radios, TV sets and entertainment systems are looking into the possibility of putting a seal of accessibility on their products which will certify those products can be used by handicapped people. He cautioned that this is still in the study phase, but surveys of handicapped people indicated an interest in having such a seal. Guidelines of accessibility design exist, but the emphasis is on flexibility. This permits consumers to select the best approach to product modification to access information, Scadden said. Gaining access to computers and telecommunications is no longer out of the question for blind people, but if corporations aren't responsive to the needs of blind and visually impaired people, technology will fail to give them access, said Paul Schroeder, director of governmental affairs for the American Council of the Blind and co-chairman of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities task force. "There are a number of reasons for optimism when it comes to telecommunications," Schroeder said. One of these is that the Clinton administration understands the need for computer networking and the value of information distribution, and how critical those are to the economy. Another reason for optimism is the Americans with Disabilities Act. "While it doesn't necessarily address these issues in particular, except for the telecommunications relay service — one of the great examples of failure in technology," he said, "it provides the simple definition for what I think society ought to be looking like with respect to barriers and with respect to access for people with disabilities." Also, "The interest, the publicity that has come about from the ADA, has certainly changed markedly, I think, the way the telecommunications policy is being framed," Schroeder said. His two other reasons for optimism were Section 508, dealing with computer and electronic access for people with disabilities in the workplace, and that competition favors consumers rather than companies. But there are still problems with telecommunications policy, Schroeder said. "Telecommunications policy is fraught with barriers placed upon almost all of the players, the corporate players. … Every major player in the telecommunications industry is limited in some way in what they do and how they go about marketing." Schroeder compared the competition of the corporate players to the Nixon administration's playing "the Soviet card against the China card, and vice versa." The corporate players compete, "and in that environment, our few groups of people with disabilities who have been involved in these issues take on, I think, more stature than we would otherwise." He said the CCD task force's major accomplishment was the agreement with the seven regional Bell telephone companies that would include language in future legislation which ensures that equipment and services would be accessible or could be adapted for use by disabled people. Schroeder's most important piece of advice was this: "If the needs of people with disabilities are considered and included in telecommunications services as in other forms, such as architectural access, there will be advantages for the entire population." ***** ** Former Hostage Addresses Convention Banquet by Nolan Crabb What began for Dr. Thomas Sutherland as a simple decision to dismiss three bodyguards at a Beirut airport became a 77-month long nightmare when he was kidnapped at gunpoint and held hostage. He recounted some of that nightmare to members of the American Council of the Blind gathered at the 32nd Annual National Convention Banquet in San Francisco on Friday, July 9. He said he barely noticed the little brown French car that pulled alongside his Chevrolet. When the brown car sideswiped Sutherland's car, he knew he was in danger. "I don't know if you've ever had anybody do that to you deliberately," he said, "but it shocks you when somebody bangs into the side of a nice car that you're driving in." Within seconds on that June night in 1985, Sutherland's car was surrounded by belligerent young men with submachine guns. "They all started shooting into the street and into the tires of our car — eight submachine guns at once." As the kidnappers sped north in a southbound lane, Sutherland was deftly separated from his possessions. An argument ensued when they attempted to take his last possession — a watch which had been an anniversary gift from his wife. "You can't have it," he told the young gunman. "That was a gift from my wife." At that point, the gunman sneered at Sutherland saying, "Tell her you gave it to a friend." "So I gave him the watch," Sutherland recalled. "How can you deny a friend when he asks you so nicely like that?" Sutherland received a new watch upon his return to the United States from the president of Seiko USA, Inc., "and it's nicer than the one I gave that gunman," he recalled. Within minutes, Sutherland was transferred from the front seat of the car to the trunk, where he was kept until his kidnappers were sure he was disoriented. When they pulled him from the car, he was surrounded by 30 or 40 young Arabs chattering excitedly about their new Western hostage. He was quickly blindfolded with both a blindfold and the head rest seat cover from a car. "Believe it or not," he recalled, "that was the last time I saw the sun for six and a half years. Now that may not impress some of you very much, because some of you haven't seen the sun for a lot longer than that. But for me, that was a pretty big spell without seeing old Father Sun there." After extensive interrogation, Sutherland learned that they weren't actually after him. "They were really waiting for a physician from New England who was supposed to be coming in on the same plane I'd come in on." Initially, Sutherland convinced himself that his employer, the American University in Beirut, had sufficient power and prestige in the Arab world to procure his release in a matter of days. "Little did I realize it was going to be 77 months," he said. "I don't know what I would have been thinking if I'd known it was going to be that long." During his captivity, Sutherland was constantly on the move, and constantly wondering if he was going home. "If you asked that question, their standard reply was 'maybe, I don't know.' Everything was 'maybe, I don't know.' They lied to us a lot, too. They could lie like carpets, those young men." Sutherland was imprisoned in 16 different places during his captivity. "In Beirut," he recalled, "they would come in always in the middle of the night. Those guys never did anything in daylight. They were creatures of the night, and the journalists had christened them 'hamsters' because they behaved about like hamsters. "They would stick us in a big sack, carry us downstairs or up out of a basement, stick us in the trunk of a car, transport us to the next place, carry us upstairs or down into the dungeon, and there we were at the next place." He said it often took days or even weeks to get settled in a new location. "There were never any provisions made for a new food bowl or a new mattress," Sutherland recalled. He said moving to locations outside Beirut meant even more difficulty for the hostages, since their captors feared discovery at various checkpoints. "They would take us out of our room, stand us up, and then tape us up from the top of our heads to the tip of our toes with that plastic two or three inch wide strapping tape. They would put it around and around and around, and we could hear it with our blindfolds on. We'd feel that tape being pulled around us as tight as could be until we were absolutely stiff like an Egyptian mummy — couldn't move a single muscle — and then they would carry us downstairs just before dawn and stick us under the bed of a truck where the spare tire normally goes. Then they'd close that up and camouflage it so that we wouldn't be discovered at any checkpoints. Sometimes they'd stick a guard in alongside of us with a gun at our heads, and it was cramped quarters, and that guard would say 'no speak! no speak!' "We couldn't speak anyway because we had that tape all over our mouths," he said. He remembered four-hour-long uphill drives, his ears popping as the truck slowly ground its way uphill. "By the time we got there, we were stiff —stiff as a board. I always had to urinate so badly, and it was such a relief to get out of that straightjacket that we were in." He recalled small unventilated rooms underground with no sunshine and no fresh air. He vividly described rooms above ground with steel sheets rivetted to the windows so they couldn't be opened. "The only fresh air we ever got was what came underneath the door or when they would open the door three times a day to come in and feed us." He said the captivity resulted in frustration and boredom. "I've always been an active guy ... and I never thought that I would be faced with waking up in the morning at 6 or 7 o'clock and wondering what do I do with the next 18 hours before I have to go to sleep again." He said meals consisted of unleavened bread with processed cheese inside, "they'd give us the stale bread and eat the fresh themselves," he said. "Bread's not bad if it's fresh, but if it's stale, it's not good for much except resoling the Marine Corps' shoes." He said occasionally, he would be given eggs instead of cheese, "and one cup of tea — badly made tea — where every cup, I swear, was worse than the one before." The noon meal consisted of rice and beans. "I never realized there were so many different kinds of beans on the face of God's earth. I never liked rice all that much; I'm kind of a meat-and-potatoes man like we had here tonight. But when you're hungry, and when you don't have anything else to eat, you get by on it." Sutherland talked about why he had been taken captive in the first place. "In the Middle East," he explained, "kidnapping is a way of solving problems. If you do something bad to me, I'll come and kidnap one of your relatives. Then you come and kidnap one of my relatives, and then we'll argue about the relatives, and we forget about the original crime." He said prior to the hostage-taking incidents of the early '80s, 17 Shi'ites had been imprisoned in Kuwait for attempting to blow up the French and American embassies there. "That was primarily why we were kidnapped. One of those guys in prison in Kuwait was the brother-in-law of a Lebanese family chief. … He wanted his brother-in-law out of there, and how was he going to do it? By kidnapping Americans." Sutherland's captors became increasingly confident that America would negotiate when the Reagan administration began trading arms to the Iranians for hostage releases and money for the Contras in Nicaragua. When the contra deal became public knowledge after three hostages were released, the U.S. government took a hard line stance against further dealing with the captors or their representatives. Sutherland reminded his listeners that kidnapping actually increased after the first arms-for-hostages deal was struck, since the Lebanese captors got nothing from the Iran-Contra deal. As their anger increased, so did their kidnapping activities. "Two months after [David] Jacobson was out," he said, "there were seven more Americans kidnapped. The moral for the government is, if you deal with hostage-takers and make hostages valuable, people are going to take Americans hostage." He said reliance on prayer and daily scripture readings helped all of the hostages endure their captivity more easily. "Terry [Anderson] read the Old Testament about 17 or 18 times and the New Testament about 40 times." He said his captivity taught him to enjoy the simple things life had to offer: "… like fresh air, sunshine, green grass, green leaves, flowers, color of any kind. Having not seen any of that for six and a half years, I really appreciate that now more than I ever did before. I need hardly tell this group how wonderful that is." He said he learned a lot of patience, and a great appreciation for his education and active mind. He said he learned the value of community and of support for one another. "I think most of you know that value as well, and the rest of the population needs to learn that." "I used to pray so hard to get out of there,” he recalled, “and nothing would happen. But you know, Terry [Anderson] told me when I got back with him … ‘look, Sutherland, you’re praying the wrong prayer. You don’t pray to get out of there; you pray for the strength to endure what you’re going through.’ It works. You get the strength. That was what really gave me the courage and the strength to get through it. “The main thing I learned," said the Scottish-born immigrant, "was to admire these United States. I saw again with a fresh appreciation what a great place this really is. … I recognize we have problems. … But folks, these are little problems compared to what the rest of the world has. Give them a chance, and the rest of the world would all be here in this greatest country of all time on the face of God’s earth, the United States of America." * Caption: Dr. Thomas Sutherland, a former hostage held in Lebanon, detailed many of the horrors he experienced as a hostage. He spoke at the banquet. ***** ** ACB Board Member Directs Legislative Affairs for National Industries for the Blind Patricia M. Beattie, a member of the ACB Board of Directors, has been appointed the director of legislative affairs for National Industries for the Blind, according to a press release from NIB. Beattie has extensive experience in the fields of assistive technology, interagency coordination of federal and state programs and increasing public awareness of people with disabilities. She has written on guidelines for public policy, rehabilitation and assistive technology programs for people with disabilities and has traveled worldwide lecturing on these issues. As a project associate for the past four years with RESNA (formerly the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America), Beattie provided technical assistance to state governments on public policy related to federal programs which provide assistive technology for people who are blind or disabled. She credits her seven years' experience as regional director of development and public relations and as a consultant for the American Foundation for the Blind in Washington, D.C., for giving her broad knowledge about issues concerning the blind community, the NIB and the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (1938). Beattie's responsibilities as director of legislative affairs will include directing legislative policies, increasing public and governmental awareness of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act and providing consultation and technological assistance to affiliates. She will work from NIB's Government Business Division?s office in Alexandria, Va. ***** ** Dart Resigns Post Justin Dart, chairman of the President's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities, has handed in his resignation and asked President Clinton to replace him by December 1. Dart was appointed to the post by President George Bush in 1989, and was an integral part of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was given one of the ceremonial pens when Bush signed the act into law. "I resign at this time because I feel a profound responsibility to focus all of my energy as a full-time advocate for the equality of people with disabilities on the national and international levels. ... I cannot live with my conscience if I fail to accept my full personal share of our responsibility to keep the promise of ADA to America and the world." ***** ** ACB Announces Award Recipients SAN FRANCISCO -- The American Council of the Blind announced the winners of five awards given here during the Council?s 32nd annual convention. Kim Charlson, chair of ACB's Awards Committee, announced the winner of the Robert S. Bray Award during the convention's opening session on July 4. The award, given in memory of a former director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, is given to recognize individuals who have contributed to making information accessible to blind and visually impaired people. William (Willie) Wilson of Pittsburgh received the Robert S. Bray Award for his efforts in the formation of Blinktalk, a computer conference available internationally via the FidoNet computer network. As a result of Wilson's efforts, computer users who have a telephone modem can call an electronic bulletin board in their community and send messages to other blind or partially sighted computer users via the Blinktalk conference. Wilson also operates his own bulletin board in Pittsburgh where he maintains hundreds of computer programs of special interest to blind and partially sighted people. "Blinktalk allows for the exchange of ideas, opinions, and information electronically," Charlson explained. "He started the Blinktalk system with one computer in his bedroom; his Blinktalk conference is now available on more than 300 computer systems worldwide. Approximately 20,000 messages are posted on Blinktalk each year." "I'm quite at home posting messages to literally hundreds and hundreds of people," Wilson said as he received his award, "but speaking in front of a crowd like this is quite different." Wilson acknowledged the members of ACB and others who have contributed messages and files to Blinktalk. "I really wish I could give this award to all those people who had a part in receiving it, but since I have an empty trophy case in Pittsburgh, you?re going to have to come there to see this. I'm happy with this; you've really done me an honor, and I'm truly humbled by all this." Billie Jean Hill, chairperson of ACB's Board of Publications, presented the Vernon Henley Media Award to The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind of Smithtown, N.Y. The award is given to an individual or organization who produces a media product which portrays blind people in a positive light. Celeste Lopes, a graduate of the Guide Dog Foundation, accepted the award in the organization's behalf. During the past three years, Lopes had served as vice president of public relations. "We, the graduates, staff, and board of directors are very honored to receive this prestigious award," she said. The Ned E. Freeman Excellence in Writing Award was presented to Jenine McKeown of Longwood, Fla., for her submission "The First Blind Astronaut," which appeared in the January 1993 "Braille Forum." "I just want to say thank you to the Board of Publications and to ACB," McKeown said. "It all started in Columbus, Ohio with the ACB chapter there who encouraged my writing career and taught me that I could regain my dignity after my sight loss." During the Thursday, July 8th session, life memberships were given to Ruth Ann Acosta of Chatsworth, Calif., Jean Mann, Guilderland, N.Y., Chester Holden, Little Rock, Ar., Carol Gillispie, New Haven, Conn., James D. Faimon, Lincoln, Neb., Vera McClain, Birmingham, Ala., and Alma Murphey, St. Louis, Mo. The membership charters of two special-interest affiliates, American Council of the Blind Government Employees and Visually Impaired Information Specialists, Inc., were renewed during the convention banquet on Friday, July 9. The George Card Award is traditionally presented to a blind person who has contributed significantly to his/her community, state or nation. The 1993 recipient of the George Card Award is Eugene Lozano, a counselor for disabled student services at the University of California, Sacramento. "There are few people in this country with the knowledge and expertise in environmental access issues," said ACB Awards Committee Chair Kim Charlson. "He has been working on the local, state, and national level to promote increased access for many years. "He traveled to Japan," Charlson said, "and observed the detectable warnings on street corners, subways, and other locations used to enhance safety for blind persons." She said as a result of Lozano's pioneering efforts a decade ago, companies began manufacturing tiles designed to warn blind travelers of nearby subway platform edges and other hazards. "I'd like to thank the awards committee," Lozano said as he received his award. "This is quite a surprise, and I feel very honored to have received this award and to be a part of this organization that I have to say has been a big part of my life since 1972 when I joined it. ... I'm kind of choked up; I'm just pleased to have gotten this." The Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award, the highest honor given by ACB, is presented in recognition of outstanding and exemplary service to the field of blindness. The 1993 Ambassador Award was presented posthumously to Louise Rude, founder and former director of the Louise Rude Center for Blind and Deaf Adults in Anchorage, Alaska. Rude was also the founder of the Alaska Information and Radio Reading Education Service, a charter member and the first president of the Alaska Independent Blind, and, according to Charlson, was instrumental in establishing transportation for disabled Anchorage residents. She was a strong advocate for library services, and served on the Governor's Advisory Committee on Libraries in 1985, and served for a four-year term. Sandy Sanderson, president of the Alaska Independent Blind, received the award in behalf of Louise Rude?s family and blind and disabled Alaskans. "I want to thank the committee for this fantastic honor," said an emotional Sanderson, "bestowed on our lovely leader in Alaska. It is with great sorrow that I come to you to receive this. ... She will never be forgotten; she will always be missed; and she will never lose the love of the Alaskan blind and of the people of Alaska." * Captions: Celeste Lopes, representing the Guide Dog Foundation, holds up the Vernon Henley Media Award she received in behalf of the Guide Dog Foundation. Jenine McKeown, a frequent contributor to "The Braille Forum," received the Ned E. Freeman Excellence in Writing Award. She stands holding up the award. ***** ** Affiliate News Roundup The annual convention of the American Council of the Blind in Nebraska, hosted by the Greater Omaha chapter, was held at the Leisure Inn July 23-25. Convention participants visited the rain forest at the Henry Dorley Zoo before being welcomed by Mayor J.P. Morgan. The city personnel director then explained what Omaha was doing to bring itself into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Paul Edwards, former first vice president of the ACB, presented a workshop on the ADA. On July 25, Kristal Hagemoser Platt was elected vice president and John Baird became recording secretary. ACBN voted to participate in an exhibition booth at the state fair in September, and to sponsor a ?Vision Fair? in Omaha to coincide with Braille Literacy Week in January 1994. The 1994 Convention will be held at the Midtown Holiday Inn in Grand Island, Aug. 12-14. The United Blind of Whatcom County, Washington, will host this year's Washington Council of the Blind convention Oct. 21-23 in Bellingham at the Best Western Lakeway Inn. Room rates are $53 for singles and doubles. Make room reservations as soon as possible. The hotel number is (206) 671-1011. To receive convention rates, specify that you are with the Washington Council of the Blind Convention. ***** ** Here and There by Elizabeth M. Lennon The announcement of new products and services in this column should not be considered an endorsement of those products and services by the American Council of the Blind, its staff or elected officials. Products and services are listed free of charge for the benefit of our readers. "The Braille Forum" cannot be responsible for the reliability of products or services mentioned. * Calendar Reminder The Affiliated Leadership League of and for the Blind of America will hold its annual National Delegate Assembly and National Legislative Seminar from Saturday, March 5 through Wednesday, March 9, 1994, at the Capitol Holiday Inn in Washington, D.C. Workshop and task force meetings will be held on Saturday, according to ALL President Robert Acosta. The official program will begin with a continental breakfast on Sunday morning at 7:30. If you are already on ALL's mailing list, you should receive your official Registration Packet by December 1993. For further information, call Robert Acosta at (818) 998-0044. * Brailler Repairs Bring your Brailler back to life. The Selective Doctor specializes in the repair of Perkins Braillers and IBM typewriters. Repairs cost $40 for labor, plus the cost of the parts. You can send your Brailler to The Selective Doctor, Inc., P.O. Box 28432, Baltimore, MD 21234, free matter shipping is accepted. The Brailler should be insured, which will cost around $6 or less; The Selective Doctor will add the cost of the return insurance to your bill. For more information, call (410) 668-1143. The Braillery also offers a complete repair service for Perkins braillers. It can make custom modifications for persons with restricted hand movement, install single-hand keyboards on old or new machines, and add key extensions. Braillers are usually repaired and shipped within two weeks. Emergency repairs are available. Contact The Braillery, 5 Cumberland Circle, El Paso, Texas 79903, phone (915) 565-0179 or (915) 859-7806. * Kids Braille Seedlings Braille Books for Children?s 1994 catalog is now available. More than 30 new books have been added this year, including some book and tape sets for preschoolers, print-and-braille easy readers, and fiction for older children such as "The Hardy Boys," "Boxcar Children" and "Bunnicula." Order early to avoid the holiday rush. Visa and MasterCard are accepted. To receive a free catalog, contact Seedlings, PO Box 2395, Livonia, MI 48151-0395, or call toll-free 800-777-8552. * Discontinued Catalog In May, the American Foundation for the Blind announced its decision to phase out of the development and manufacture of AFB-engineered products and the sale of products for people who are blind or visually impaired. The foundation will not change its consumer products catalog sales right away. Its new catalog came out during the summer with new products and a higher percentage of items with accessible instructions. Products can be ordered 24 hours a day by calling 1-800-829-0500. When the AFB discontinues the catalog service, it will ensure that the products it carried are available through other sources and that warranties are honored. * Ski for Light 94 The 19th annual international Ski for Light week will be held from Sunday, Feb. 6, 1994 to Saturday, Feb. 13, 1994 at The Inn At Silver Creek, Silvercreek, Colo. Ski for Light introduces blind and visually impaired adults, 18 years old and older to cross-country skiing. The program consists of one-to-one instruction by cross-country skiers. The total cost of the week is $525 (double occupancy rooms). This includes room, board, ground transportation to and from the Denver Airport and a small registration fee. Ski for Light will provide the use of cross-country skis, boots and poles to first-time participants who do not have their own equipment. The cost of transportation between your home and the Denver Airport is your responsibility. The application deadline is Nov. 1. For more information, contact Celeste Lopes, Selection Coordinator, 25 Helen Ave., Plainview, NY 11803, (516) 935-4670 evenings between 7:30 and 10 p.m. Eastern Time. * Audio Aerobics Invisible Audio Exercise, an aerobics audio tape designed especially for the blind or visually impaired, can help you get in shape for the skiing season. On side one, an orientation and mobility instructor clearly describes each movement to be used in the moderate-impact aerobics workout set to rock music on side two. The exercises are good for developing individual fitness and strengthening the cardiovascular system. The cassettes are $6; proceeds benefit Ski for Light. Send check or money order payable to Ski for Light to: Annemarie Cooke, 5 McAuliffe Dr., North Brunswick, NJ 08902. ** Guide to the ADA Hot off the presses is a reader-friendly book entitled "The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Guide for People with Disabilities, Their Families, and Advocates." The 64-page book, also available on cassette, discusses how the ADA prohibits discrimination against Americans with disabilities, how the ADA defines "an individual with a disability," who is and is not covered, and provides information on the law to enable individuals with disabilities to gain greater independence and integration in society. To order, send $8 and your name, address and phone number to the PACER Center, 4826 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55417-1098. Make checks payable to the PACER Center. Specify print or cassette. * ADA Brochure Another source of information is a brochure called "The Americans with Disabilities Act: Questions and Answers." It is available in print and other formats from the Public Access Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Dept. of Justice, P.O. Box 66738, Washington, DC 20035-6738. ***** ** High Tech Swap Shop * For Sale: VersaBraille II with dual disk drive, $695 or best offer. Contact Irene Rojas, 7806 Kellwood, Houston, TX 77040. (713) 937-7043. * For Sale: Model R1D Optacon, includes carrying case and shipping container, 10 years old, but has been kept on service agreement and is in excellent condition. $700 or best offer. Contact John Huffman, 7608 Dartmouth Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46260. (317) 254-0061 evenings and weekends. * For Sale: Optacon R1D, excellent working condition, includes charger, carrying case, braille owner's manual, and print training manual for the Optacon. $1,000 or best offer, plus shipping. Contact Jan Santos, 369 Fairmount Ave., Oakland, CA 94611; (510) 763-3746. * For Sale: Perkins Braillewriter, good condition, includes cover, $300 or best offer. Call (412) 521-4089 Monday through Thursday. * For Sale: Advantage CCTV reading machine, includes 19-inch black and white screen, magnification from four to 60 times. Make an offer; the best one will be accepted. Write to 46 Tony Ct., Brickstown, NJ 08724. (908) 458-1506. * For Sale: Toshiba T1000 laptop computer with Arctic Vision Hardware and Software built in. The computer has 512K of RAM plus an additional 768K of expanded memory installed. The expanded memory can be configured as a hard RAM disk. There is also a built-in 3.5-inch 720K floppy drive. Includes parallel, serial, monitor and external drive ports. $700 or best offer. Contact Loren Mikola, 13135 Argyle, Southgate, MI 48195. (313) 284-9772. ***** ** Corrections Due to an editing error, information regarding the proposed membership charter for the Virginia Association of the Blind was unclear in "Board Denies Charter for Virginia Affiliate," August 1993. In its pre-convention meeting, the board voted down two motions which would have granted a charter to the Virginia Association. Subsequently, other committees were contacted including the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and the Resolutions Committee. A resolution came to the convention floor, but was ruled out of order. At that point, the matter was referred back to the board. The Virginia Association of the Blind is based in Norfolk, not Richmond as the story indicated. ***** ** ACB Officers * President LeRoy Saunders 2118 N.W. 21st St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 * First Vice President Charles S. P. Hodge 1131 S. Forest Dr. Arlington, VA 22204 * Second Vice President Robert J. Acosta 20734-C Devonshire Chatsworth, CA 91311 * Secretary Patricia Price 5707 Brockton Drive #302 Indianapolis, IN 46220 * Treasurer Brian Charlson 57 Grandview Avenue Watertown, MA 02172 * Contributing Editor Elizabeth M. Lennon ###