The Braille Forum
Vol. XXXV September 1996 No. 2

Published by
the American Council of the Blind

*****

The American Council of the Blind strives to increase the independence, security, equality of opportunity, and quality of life for all blind and visually impaired people.

Paul Edwards, President
Oral O. Miller, J.D., Executive Director
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
Electronic bulletin board: (202) 331-1058

The Braille Forum is available in braille, large print, 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 contributions, which are tax-deductible, can be sent to Patricia Beattie, treasurer, at the above address.  If you wish to remember a relative or friend by sharing in the council's continuing work, the national office has printed cards available to acknowledge contributions made by loved ones in memory of deceased people. 

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 1996
American Council of the Blind

*****

** Table of Contents

President's Message: Conventional Wisdom, by Paul Edwards

ACB Reacts to Tulsa Negative Press, by Mitch Pomerantz

Report of the Executive Director, by Oral O. Miller

1996 ACB Convention Highlights, by Nolan Crabb and Sharon Lovering

American Council of the Blind Awards $49,500 in Scholarship Funds to 25 Outstanding Blind Students, by Jessica L. Beach

ACB Honors 1996 Award Winners, by Sharon Lovering

High Tech Swap Shop

ACB Officers

ACB Board of Directors

Board of Publications

*****

** President’s Message:
Conventional Wisdom
by Paul Edwards

For the first time this year I presided at an ACB national convention.  I had the opportunity to see our democracy work from a somewhat different perspective.  I learned a lot about who we are as an organization and about the limits of my power as president.  To start with, when you put a thousand people together in one place to consider the needs and concerns of blind people, you have a powerful force that looked at a range of issues from independent living to specialized schools through the way that the ACB is governed.  We passed more than 25 resolutions and made some very significant changes to our constitution and bylaws which, among other fine tuning, created a new committee to look at how we can increase our effectiveness at fund raising. 
We also found ourselves faced with the need to respond quickly and effectively to what was perceived by our membership as the inappropriate depiction of blind people by the Tulsa newspaper.

Most of these issues are presented to you in this month's "Forum."  I do not intend to reiterate positions already taken by this organization here.  What I want to do is to talk a little about how I felt as president of ACB and about some of the issues that did not make it to the floor of the convention but which I have heard about from other members.

First, as president, I was amazed at the high quality of the debate that occurred on all the issues.  This is not to demean the quality of debate at previous conventions but rather to say that it appears a little different when you are trying to mediate that discussion from the chair.  Our organization is built on the belief that absolute freedom of expression and the rule of the majority are both positive values which we have an obligation to protect above everything else.  I found myself faced with a number of decisions this year which required me to balance the need to move on with the need to allow free expression.  Time and time again, I found myself deciding that I must allow people to be heard.  I often received suggestions that I be stronger and move faster but am convinced that, while we must certainly get things done, we must also allow our members to express their opinions on the issues we are debating.

The result of this openness is that there are very occasionally statements made from the floor of our convention that are in bad taste or that don't reflect more than a fringe view.  Nevertheless, this is the price we pay for democracy.  I suppose that my point here is that we must be tolerant of people who might feel differently than we do and not make the mistake of believing that our organization must adopt positions that have the effect of disenfranchising people.  Another aspect of this same need to reflect all views was brought home to me by two incidents that occurred outside of general sessions this year.

I received several calls from members during the convention objecting to the fact that on our program this year we allowed the opportunity for gay, lesbian and bisexual people to get together.  On the other hand, after our banquet and, in fact, during our banquet, I received vehement objection to an invocation that many members perceived to be too fundamentalist and Christ-centered for a multi-religious organization such as ours.  I have also received a letter since the convention objecting to our banquet speaker because he was seeking political office.  It was suggested that allowing him to mention that during our banquet disenfranchised a political party and may well have given the appearance of taking sides in a political campaign.

At another level, I am told by some members that the convention is not doing enough ACB business and by others that we are doing too much and not enough programming.  I am told that we should not schedule tours at the time of meetings by one group while another is telling me that people come to ACB on their vacation and that tours are an important and necessary component of the ACB experience.  This group says that people who want to attend meetings will.  They say it is undemocratic to force people to be there.

I see the president and, by extension, the officers and board members and committee members of this organization acting as the filters that allow these various opinions to be moderated and turned into the policy and practice that govern the American Council of the Blind.  When we look at our constitution and bylaws and other governing documents, we must recognize that they are only one form of governance.  The other and more powerful force that dictates what we do is public opinion: your opinions.  Government of the people is as effective as the people make it.  In the elections in November, we have a chance to make our voices heard.  What is true of local, state and national politics is true for ACB governance as well.  The ACB is your organization. You have power and can exercise that power to change the organization.  Our convention this year is a clear and unequivocal demonstration of that truth.  What will next year's convention be like?  What will the dominant issues be in Houston?  Will ACB do what you want it to do?  That's up to you!  None of us who lead ACB can make the organization what you want it to be, if we don't hear from you!  None of the leaders of state and local chapters or special-interest affiliates can do the things you want unless they know what they are.

It is far easier to stand outside of government and politics and complain about the things that are being done to US by THEM!  We need to move instead toward a place where our organization does unto us what we tell it to do!  That is what democracy is all about and it makes for fun times for the president who gets to be the ultimate arbiter of what the organization is asking.  It is an awesome responsibility that I take very seriously.  The next time I am up for election, which is next year, you will decide whether I have done a good job or not by your decision to elect me or not!  It really is lonely at the top and I really need to hear from more of you about what our organization should be doing.  At the same time, it is wonderful to preside over an organization that is as diverse as ACB is! Thank you for your confidence and thank you, in advance, for your help!

*****

** ACB Reacts to Tulsa Negative Press
by Mitch Pomerantz

As more than 1,000 delegates began arriving for the 35th annual convention of the American Council of the Blind, an article appeared in the Friday, June 28th edition of the "Tulsa World" newspaper which would raise hackles on their collective backs.

The piece, "Convention for Blind Finds Hotel Prepared," by Michael Overall, drew heavily from comments attributed to David Wilcox, the food and beverage director for the lead hotel, the Doubletree Downtown.  Wilcox demonstrated a thorough lack of understanding as reflected in his quote concerning the Seven West Cafe's abbreviated menu: "Braille documents are a lot longer than those printed using the standard alphabet ... We had to shorten the menu to compensate for the added length or they would have been as long as books."

Arguably, the most misinformed and egregious utterance from Wilcox was this statement: "Sighted guests look up from their menus and glance around the restaurant, and this movement cues the wait staff to go over and take their order. ... Visually impaired guests usually don't give these visual cues, so the wait staff has to be particularly attentive."  (One wonders why sitting quietly at the table with a closed menu would not be perceived by servers as a cue to take an order.)

Even without direct quotes from hotel management, the story itself contained some choice tidbits of fantasy.  For example: "Wilcox also tripled the restaurant's staff for the eight-day convention, allowing each server to have two assistants while serving blind customers, who often need the location of each dish carefully described to them before eating."

Another statement, based on a comment by Doubletree general manager Don Breckenridge, dealt with lessons learned from ACB's earlier visit in February for the mid-year board of directors meeting.  According to the paper: "... their advice led to a hotel rule against leaving room-service trays in hallways during the convention so guide dogs won't be tempted to snack on the leftovers."  (What about deftly placing a cane tip in someone's ice cream?)
 
John Horst, ACB's experienced convention coordinator, did not get the opportunity to refute the statement which appeared in the article prior to publication, although he was contacted for a brief quote by the reporter.

On Sunday evening, armed with a copy of the article, the resolutions committee swiftly drafted and recommended for a "due pass" a strong resolution in response to what was perceived to be a demeaning and patronizing piece of journalism.  The resolution's three "resolve" clauses state as follows:
•  That this organization deplores the flagrantly inaccurate slant and content presented through this article;
•  That this organization supports and commends its press office in communicating the strongest of responses to the "Tulsa World" article and directs that a copy of this resolution shall be conveyed immediately to the editor and publisher of the "Tulsa World;"
•  That this organization expresses its expectation that at least equal space shall be afforded to the view conveyed by the ACB press office in refuting Overall's deplorable coverage.

In an unprecedented move, ACB President Paul Edwards directed committee chairman Michael Byington to bring Resolution 96-04 to the floor on Monday morning for a vote.  The resolution was adopted without dissent by several hundred delegates in attendance.

Subsequently, the resolution was conveyed to the offices of the "Tulsa World," although a proposed article in response to the June 28th piece was not submitted with the resolution. On Friday, an editor from the "Tulsa World" indicated to President Edwards that a follow-up story would indeed be prepared and that the reporter had already met with "Braille Forum" editor Nolan Crabb and ACB Second Vice President Stephen Speicher.  She also stated to the ACB president that the reporter would attend the Saturday morning session and speak personally to him.  Curiously, Overall failed to show up for the final convention session.

The article did appear in the July 7th edition.  While an improvement, it was clearly not written to address the distorted image portrayed of both the convention and blind people in the earlier story.  For starters, our organization became the American Council "for" the Blind.  Then Speicher was quoted throughout the article, although his name was never once spelled properly.  Further, he was quoted as having said: "With rules which discourage Council officers from curtailing debate at convention meetings, delegates spent hours discussing dozens of topics ranging from subway safety in large East Coast cities to the need for more Boy Scout manuals printed in braille ..."  Not surprisingly, Speicher subsequently indicated that he had not been accurately quoted.  Let's just conclude by saying that newspaper coverage in Tulsa was not one of the highlights of the 35th annual convention!

*****

** Report of the Executive Director
by Oral O. Miller

Since the ACB national convention is such a major event around which many vacation and other plans are made each summer, there is a tendency by many to assume that activity in Washington quietens down thereafter and merely "treads water" until Labor Day.  And so much for another incorrect assumption!  Hardly had the members of the ACB national staff returned to Washington after the convention before they were virtually inundated by Americans with Disabilities Act commemorative events, Congressional and regulatory hearings, and important meetings with government officials such as the assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.  As reported earlier this year in "The Braille Forum," the efforts are real by many well-meaning people in states such as Georgia and Kentucky to merge services for the blind with services for all other disabled people, thereby obliterating the more knowledgeable and separate service which we know is most beneficial to blind and visually impaired people.  Among the very lengthy and extensive advisory committee meetings attended by staff members in recent weeks were those of the Americans with Disabilities Access Guidelines Committee and the Telecommunications Access Advisory Committee.

With the national attention focused this summer on the Atlanta Olympics many people momentarily overlooked the commencement of the Atlanta Paralympics 10 days later.  The Paralympics are actually the "Olympics for the disabled," but cannot identify themselves as the "Olympics" because the national and international Olympic authorities will not allow the use of that name for the event.  (Yes, we know about the Special Olympics and other programs that use similar names as well as many of the reasons therefor, but that could be the topic of another article.)  The Paralympics are governed by the International Paralympic Committee, an international organization governed by, among others, some disabled athletes, a number of able-bodied people with an interest in and knowledge of sports for disabled people, and representatives of international disabled sports organizations such as the International Blind Sports Association — of which the United States Association for Blind Athletes is a member.  In short, the actual planning and conduct of the Paralympics is a multi-tiered process in which no single disabled sports organization has major input.  In addition, the Atlanta Paralympics were conducted by the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee (APOC), which has had to come up with a budget of approximately $100 million for the event.  This year almost 4,000 disabled athletes from more than 125 nations competed in the same facilities and venues used by the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  The torch which ultimately lighted the Paralympic flame was initially lighted by the eternal flame at the tomb of Dr. Martin Luther King in Atlanta and was then transferred to the White House in Washington for a special ceremony to commence the relay that would culminate in the lighting of the Paralympic flame a few days later in a manner far more spectacular than the very moving technique used during the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics two weeks earlier. That spectacular method will be described later in this article. At the very impressive ceremony conducted on the south lawn of the White House one very warm morning President Clinton pledged support to the Paralympics and then accepted the torch from a world-champion amputee athlete before passing it to a champion wheelchair racer, who in turn passed it to Congressman John Lewis of Georgia who transported it from the White House grounds to the Washington Mall to Secretary of Education Richard Riley, etc.  The torch was ultimately carried by hundreds of couriers on its way to Atlanta, including John Brockington, president of the Georgia Council of the Blind.

Each quadrennium since 1988, the days preceding the opening of the Paralympics have been devoted to a Paralympic Congress consisting of many seminars, workshops, exhibitions, and demonstrations dealing with subjects of importance to disabled people in addition to sports alone.  It was my pleasure to present a professional paper at the 1992 Paralympic Congress in Barcelona.  This year the ACB president and I were invited to participate in consensus sessions — seminars designed to develop recommendations to be adopted by the Congress; the subject of my seminar was employment and economic opportunity for disabled people worldwide and the topic of the seminar to be attended by the ACB president was the forging of a new paradigm for recognizing the human rights of disabled people worldwide.  Unfortunately, the president's professional commitments with his employer changed at the last minute and prevented him from participating, but his place was ably taken by Jane Lyons, an active member of the Georgia Council of the Blind and a member of the professional staff of Blind and Low Vision Service of North Georgia.  Those seminars and the other educational sessions attracted knowledgeable and interested participants from all levels of government, private industry, and the disability community.  In addition, the presenters who spoke at the various sessions were themselves internationally and nationally recognized experts and advocates — such as Assistant Secretary of Education Judy Heumann, Justin Dart Jr., Marca Bristo of the National Council on Disability, Joshua Malinga of Disabled Persons International, John Kemp of Very Special Arts, and many others.  With this array of speakers and participants it was almost inevitable that very worthwhile positions, analysis, and recommendations would come out of each seminar — but at what effort?  When the other disabled people attending the seminars entered the meeting rooms we confirmed that the consulting firm which had been contracted to coordinate the seminars intended to eliminate the subjective influence of personality dynamics by having most communicating done by means of personal computer at each seat (connected in a local area network).  The visually impaired participants in my seminar (there were five of us) pointed out that the system might have eliminated one important barrier in the decision-making process but might have created a major one in the process — namely the fact that the computers were not accessible for use by visually impaired people or many of the other severely disabled people in the seminar — such as one international expert who had no arms and several others who did not have the muscular control or manual dexterity to operate computers (assuming they had the knowledge to do so).  The consultants insisted that the system was so outstanding that we would all love it after giving it a chance — by asking able-bodied neighbors to read the screens for us and the like.  That system, of course, made it impossible for them to take part as fully participating attendees.  This absurd situation was soon recognized by disabled activists such as Assistant Secretary Judy Heumann and eventually volunteers were obtained to assist the people who could not use the inaccessible system.  I was lucky in that the volunteer who finally came to read for me was a special-education teacher in the Atlanta system, but one participant had to settle for an eighth-grade student who could barely recognize many of the words being used.  It was during the first session of the two-day long seminar that we learned also that the consultants had not realized that the tables on which the computers were sitting were not high enough to allow many of the wheelchairs used by participants to fit under them — another oversight.  As for the braille "program," which was finally made available the second day of the seminar, it arrived in the form of 328 single sheets of unbound braille that had been printed from many different computer files that did not use a merged page numbering system that produce pages in sequential order. In other words, one segment might begin at page one and end at page 10; the next section might consist of six pages, the next of 72, etc.  No, I am not describing this parade of horrors and oversights to demean the planners of the Paralympic Congress but to underscore the necessity, as all blind people know, for services and programs intended for the benefit of blind people to be planned and provided with knowledgeable input from blind people.  It was incredible that an event having the international stature of a Paralympic Congress held in a progressive city like Atlanta with its many human and other resources could have taken such a wrong turn.  Thank goodness the outstanding disabled athletes who competed did not encounter such oversights, miscalculations, and blissful ignorance.

Now what about the spectacular lighting of the Paralympic torch?  The extremely impressive and long opening ceremony took place in the same stadium where the Atlanta Olympics had been opened a few weeks earlier; there were approximately 85,000 people present to hear fantastic entertainers such as Carly Simon, Liza Minelli, Aretha Franklin, and many others.  The Paralympic athletes, unlike the Olympic athletes, were marched into the stadium very early in the process so they could observe the entire evening's activities.  Vice President Albert Gore, the last of a long line of nationally prominent speakers, officially opened the games before the lighting of the flame.  The flame, which had been brought from relay couriers from Washington, was carried into and around the stadium by, among others, blind world-champion distance runner Tim Willis of Tucker, Ga.  The torch was eventually taken up the many steps to the base of the tower holding the Paralympic caldron.  During the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics the torch was at that point passed from former heavyweight boxing champion Mohammed Ali to cable lift which slowly lifted it the remaining 80 feet up the tower to the caldron.  During the Paralympic opening ceremony, the torch was carried those last 80 feet straight up by a paraplegic mountain climber who, using modern mountain-climbing equipment and techniques, climbed a rope while the torch rested in a specially designed rack that held the torch approximately six inches away from his body at knee level as he climbed the rope.  During a four-way conversation the next day with a newspaper reporter, world champion blind skier Mike May and me, the paraplegic mountain climber, who had been a park ranger before being injured in a climbing fall, quipped that, following the lighting of the flame at that height he had the best seat in the stadium for seeing the massive fireworks display that celebrated the opening of the games.

* Caption:

Oral Miller gives his report to the convention. All photos copyright 1996 by Jon B. Petersen.

*****

** 1996 ACB Convention Highlights
by Nolan Crabb and Sharon Lovering

The 1996 convention of the American Council of the Blind may not have been its biggest, but it was certainly one of its most impressive when the activities of the action-oriented attendees is tallied.

"Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the American Council of the Blind, welcome to Tulsa!" said an exuberant President Paul Edwards as he opened the convention Sunday night.  Following welcoming remarks by Judy Pool Hansen, president of the Oklahoma Council of the Blind, Edwards gave his report.  (For a full transcript, see "President's Message," July-August 1996.)
 
After Edwards' remarks, convention attendees were treated to a one-man tribute to Oklahoma native Will Rogers, presented by Jean McFall.  McFall stated that Will told his audiences he'd been "in the circus, the wild west shows, the follies, motion pictures, even a play by O'Neil.  There was only one other amusement line he hadn't been in, and that was the United States Senate.  And he wasn't going to try that; he still had some pride left."

Following McFall's tribute, President Edwards and ACB Assistant Treasurer Jim Olsen presented life memberships.  The 12 new life members were: David and Bettye Krause of Nevada; George Wolber of Illinois; Marcy Scott of Massachusetts; Fred Schweigert of Virginia; Shirley Brokaw of Missouri; Richard Villa of Texas; Naomi Soule of Missouri; Alice Hepler Malbone of Virginia; John Horst of Pennsylvania; Mark Richert of Virginia, and Pamela Shaw of Pennsylvania.

Edwards then turned the microphone over to Sue Ammeter, chairperson of the awards committee, who presented awards.  (See "ACB Honors 1996 Award Winners," this issue.)

The Sunday session adjourned after a roll call of delegates.

* Monday:

The Monday session began with welcoming remarks from Bob Mayor, director of the Tulsa Convention Center.  "I think that you will find Tulsa an extraordinary place with something for everybody," Mayor said as he outlined some of the attractions convention attendees would visit during the week.  He admitted visiting ACB's World Wide Web site to learn more about the organization before delivering his speech.  He commended the Council, saying, "I think there can be no greater purpose for this organization than to educate all people about being blind or visually impaired."

Following Mayor's remarks and a preliminary credentials report, the group heard from Rich Ruffalo, a blind track coach from New Jersey.  In November 1995, Ruffalo was named Disney and McDonald's outstanding athletic coach and teacher of the year.

He detailed his experience with vision loss as a result of retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease which gradually reduces vision.  He said in 1980, his vision was all but gone, his marriage all but history, and his bank account all but empty.  He resigned his position as a teacher in 1981.  The principal refused to accept his resignation and promised him whatever help he needed to continue on the job.

He said his various teaching awards and honors prove "that the human body is simply a container, and that the spirit inside is indomitable, limitless, and boundless in its potential.  There are many champions in this room just waiting to jump out.”

He reminded his listeners of the importance of families.  "My family means more to me than anything on planet earth.  Material goods will come and go, but you can't replace love."

He likened blindness to a "detour to new and righter beginnings."  He said the "agony" of his blindness "is now, in a strange sense, my ecstacy because I can share the message with the world that there is hope after adversity; there's no question about it; I'm sitting in front of so many champions today."

Following Ruffalo's speech, the group was highly motivated to hear about library services from Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.  Cylke said while Congress has not slashed NLS's budget, the organization must spend what money it gets wisely.  The centralization of braille is an example of wise spending, according to Cylke.  Centralizing braille distribution would yield an $8 million savings with a $500,000 investment in the process.  "Those of you who subscribe to our periodicals realize that you're getting them primarily on flexible discs," Cylke said.  "Well, within a three-year period, that will all be shifted over so that you'll be receiving them in a cassette format.  I would think you would like that; they'll be easier to use, should be able to be produced as quickly; it just makes sense."

He said cassette machine repair is an ongoing expense. Currently, the average user plays some 35 books a year.  Cylke said expanded training of volunteers who repair the machines means machines are lasting longer.

In a question-and-answer session following his remarks, Cylke defended the discontinued combination disc/cassette machine.  "When we gave it to the people for whom it was intended, we had zero complaints," he explained.  He said even though the machine is no longer being distributed, it was not a waste of money to produce.

In response to a question regarding whether NLS would switch to compact disc recordings rather than cassette, Cylke reminded his listeners that CD technology is a transitory one which may rapidly die in favor of something more convenient.  "If we change tomorrow, and we change every book to a CD, (which we wouldn't do, of course), and we change every sound reproducer that's in the hands of individuals to a CD player, the most reasonable low cost would be $450 million.  It doesn't seem appropriate to do that to a transitory technology.  There certainly will be a change in audio technology, but it most likely will not be to a CD."

Convention attendees remained focused on information services as they turned their attention to remarks delivered by William Pasco, now past president of the National Association of Radio Reading Services.  He talked about what happens when technologies collide and either converge or destroy one another.  He recalled earlier times in history when new technology met old technology.  He said at one time, newspapers were certain that radio journalism would destroy them.  Hollywood studio moguls were afraid of TV in its infancy.  "Access technologies are very much the same way; they're part of the same phenomenon.  When the national library system started back in the '30s, it was an innovation.  When radio reading was pioneered in the late '60s, it was also an innovation, but it did not replace the library system.  In the mid '80s, dial-up newspapers pioneered, another innovation which ... will not replace either radio reading or the library system.  Why?  Because each have different strengths."

He pointed out how the Internet, radio reading, and other services are co-existing and converging.  He warned against fighting change and reminded his listeners that if their radio reading service no longer met their needs, they could work to change that.  "If an agency or service becomes irrelevant, the recipients of that service are somewhat responsible."

He talked about the advantages and disadvantages of various information systems.  He said dial-up newspapers are an interim technology.  "The fact is the newspapers themselves are learning how to do the same thing; they're dabbling in it.  Very soon, what's going to happen is the dial-up systems that have been developed around the country will be directly head to head with commercial entities that can do virtually the same job.  This is actually good."

He said while the computer has huge potential, it is also more difficult for many to use, thereby ensuring the future of radio reading for some time to come.  "By the time it is obsolete, it will probably have evolved into something entirely different; that's the nature of communication technologies."

The group turned its attention from radio reading to talking book reading as Talking Book Narrator Jill Ferris spoke about her experiences.  She has narrated more than 250 titles for NLS and has the distinction of being Denver's first weatherwoman.  She began narrating for NLS in 1975.  Born Gretta Lee Ferris, she ultimately became Jill when a college boyfriend began calling her GL.  That became Jill.  "I was so thrilled I finally had a nickname.  I went by Jill Ferris on television."

While she had high praise for her colleagues and her job, Ferris said she is less enthusiastic about reading titles like "Tides of Love" or "Love Child."  She said some days she talks with the studio director about such titles.  "I will say I was raised on Louisa May Alcott ... I don't really love to read stories that are so explicit."

She said she prefers to work with female monitors when narrating books with explicit sex scenes.  "This particular time we came across a word I'd never seen before nor since," she recalled.  "I still don't know what it means.  I said, 'Would you look it up and give me the diacriticals, and please don't pronounce it to me, I don't want anybody to hear it!'  Well, the word got around, and I swear every guy in that building came over and asked 'Where's page 70; I want to read it.'

"And they would stand there, if you can imagine it, and read this thing out loud.  My husband refers to me as Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farm.  I guess I am a little naive."

She says she is occasionally embarrassed by what she must read and worries she's sending the wrong message.  "One time," she recalled, "the book was soft on drugs; it had sex with violence, and violence without sex and sex without violence.  I couldn't find one redeeming feature about it.  I changed my name.  I changed it to Mae Anderson, and I didn't bother telling anybody.  I guess I really threw things at the library, and I'm sorry.  I've never done it again, but I've never had such an awful book again either."

She said many of the books she's read have touched her life positively.  She recalled a book she read in December 1986 while her father was dying in a Nebraska hospital.  "It was unbelievably difficult to read. ... It took us most of the evening to get through that two or three pages."

She concluded by reminding her listeners of the importance of mentors in their lives and by answering questions.

The convention turned its attention from talking book narration to a narrative of the year in review as presented by ACB Executive Director Oral O. Miller.  He said the transition from national representative to executive director has gone smoothly.  He reminded his audience that ACB was the principal disability organization to push for passage of the telecommunication act which includes wording which mandates accessibility to telecommunications equipment.  "As a result of working in behalf of passage of that act, something that required hundreds and hundreds of person hours in the last year, the American Council of the Blind has a position on the high-level advisory committee which is going to be advising the Federal Communications Commission on its responsibilities under that extremely important law."

He said during the past year, ACB has remained a strong advocate for braille and has "beaten back some savage efforts in the past few months to eliminate standards or regulations regarding such things as detectable warnings on subway platforms."

Miller also set the record straight regarding ACB's significant role in copyright legislation which makes it easier for blind Americans to have access to printed material.  "The American Council also played a major role with other organizations in developing very important wording in connection with the copyright legislation.  Now, some others have claimed more credit for it, let me hastily throw that in, but take my word for it, the organizations that really did the tough part of the work included the American Council of the Blind."

Miller said the preservation of separate services for blind and low-vision individuals remains high on ACB's list of concerns as does the media attack under which some schools for the blind have been besieged.  "The American Council of the Blind certainly would not and has never countenanced unacceptable improper conduct such as child abuse or neglect of children.  On the other hand, it's just common sense to point out that the irresponsible leveling of such very serious charges for political reasons is assuredly a way of reducing even further the understanding of the public concerning the importance of separate services for blind people."

Miller urged ACB members to invest more significantly in the American Council.  He commended the board of directors for its decision to commit to being personally responsible for raising several thousand dollars.  He encouraged ACB members to do more, citing the fact that only six percent of ACB's operating money comes from membership contributions.  

He concluded his remarks by commenting on the recalcitrance of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to install detectable warnings on subway platform edges as mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.  He said rather than install detectable warnings, Metro determined to implement an electronic warning system — a system first opposed by virtually all organizations of the blind then embraced by the National Federation of the Blind when it was awarded the contract to develop the prototype device.  Miller said the system had been completed in some stations and demonstrated a few times.  He pointed out many of the flaws of the infrared system including its inability to specifically tell the user how far he is from the platform edge and its vulnerability to disruption common to infrared signals.  "We cannot allow this joke, this travesty ... to take place," Miller affirmed.

Miller closed by playing an excerpt from a voice mail message he received from a newly blinded individual who said she had considered suicide until she began to learn of options available to her as a result of ACB's public service announcements and subsequent phone calls to the national office.

* Tuesday:

The Tuesday session began with a welcome from Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage.  "Tulsa is a thriving metropolitan area," Savage stated.  The city is almost 100 years old; it will celebrate its centennial January 18, 1998.  It has one of the largest urban Native American populations in the United States. 

Following Savage's remarks was a panel discussion about how and where blind children should be educated.  Panelists were: Dr. Sharon Sacks, president-elect of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired; Dr. Philip Hatlen, superintendent of the Texas School for the Blind, and Rhonda Weiss, an attorney on public policy on education of disabled students at the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.

Sacks said, "All of us would agree that when we talk about education for students with visual impairments we need to reflect on and focus on the individual needs of the student.  And I think sometimes when we're talking about placement, when we're talking about service, we lose sight of what's really important for the student.  I think that ... the continuum of services for children and youths with visual impairments needs to exist, that there needs to be a continuum of services that includes residential school placements, self-contained classrooms for students with visual impairments, students with itinerant services, students who can make it with consultation services.  More than ever before, our teachers and educators and related service professionals are working with students who are very, very diverse in their needs, and so it makes our job as educators much more complicated."  She believed teachers need to look at how they serve students, and give them the opportunity to experience a variety of options depending on their needs.  Placement should be changed according to the students' needs; it should not be static.  "The focus should be the student first and then the philosophy next, and I think we need to keep that in mind," Sacks added.

She also reflected on the services she received as a child, and then asked these questions: "Are we giving students the services that they really need and desire?  Are public school programs and educational programs for students with visual impairments really preparing these students for adult life?  And that is our goal.  Are we training teachers to prepare students to make it in this world? ... I'm not so sure if I can say yes to all those [questions].  I think we need to look very carefully at what our goals are for students."

Sacks mentioned findings from a study that tracked blind and low-vision students between the ages of 15 and 21.  The study showed that low-vision students had a harder time than blind or sighted students; they had difficulty with academics, social relationships, and parents' lower expectations, as well as vocational experiences.  More than half the students spent a lot of time after school alone.  Some students spent time doing passive things like watching TV, listening to music, or talking on the telephone.  And the most depressing fact the study found, according to Sacks, was that these students were sleeping 9 to 10 hours a night, a possible indicator of depression in some.  This, she said, suggested that a change of focus to an expanded core curriculum is needed for working with low-vision students.

Sacks also stressed the teacher's role in education. "Teachers can learn to adapt materials.  Teachers can learn to transcribe braille.  But teachers need to know how to teach students to be literate.  Teachers need to know how to teach students to get out in the world and be self-sufficient and be advocates for themselves.  Teachers need to give students early, early experiences with career development and career education.  Teachers need to help students to become interdependent in terms of taking care of themselves, learning to manage their money, having high expectations for themselves.  Finally, teachers need to teach students how to be social beings, how to interact with the world around them, and to make students feel that they are worthwhile, competitive, wonderful human beings.  If we can do all of that as professionals, then we have done our job.  But I think that we need to work together for that to happen.  It's just not going to happen overnight.  We as professionals, we as consumers, we as parents need to work in partnership with one another in order for that to happen.  We have a long way to go, folks, and if we don't start now I think we're going to miss the boat."

Hatlen pointed out that "... Schools for the blind are receiving some bad press these days," he said.  "That bad press is not over; it's going to continue for a while, and you and I are going to have to be the ones to counter that bad press and to assure parents and children that schools for the blind are not only educationally sound but they are safe and healthy places for children to go to school."  He read a list of names: Leonard Ogburn; Dick Umstead; Bert Boyer; Jerry Watkins; Dennis Holmes.  All five as superintendents of schools for the blind have left their positions within the last five years "either under duress or through retirement, but all are under fire today."  He said that if allegations against them were proven true, he would not condone that behavior; he would not condone it in any superintendent.

Hatlen talked about the Texas School for the Blind, which is continuing to expand its programs, and educational placements.  He read a position statement on educational placements which said in part: "The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired strongly supports educational services that lead to inclusion in school, employment and society for blind and visually impaired individuals.  Every student with a visual impairment is an individual with varying educational strengths and needs.  Educational services must reflect the heterogeneity of this population and provide a variety of learning environments.  Therefore, the Texas School strongly endorses the concept that appropriate options be available to all children with visual impairments. ..."  Options included schools for the blind, regular classrooms with pull-out time, a classroom for visually impaired students, and itinerant services.  The school for the blind is a valuable option for some children, Hatlen stated.  It can help them increase self-esteem and experience success; it emphasizes the students' strengths; and gives opportunities to be included in the sighted world.  "The educational needs of students with visual impairments will change, and only by having available a full array of educational settings that can be individualized for a specific student as called for in IDEA, can students be assured of an appropriate education," he said.

The paradox of education, Hatlen said, is this: "There was a day when we were only beginning to learn about teaching blind and visually impaired children, and people listened to us and did as we said. ... Now, today, 40 years later, we know much more about quality educational services, and no one listens to us. ... Why is it today that you and I, we who have so much invested in the education of blind and visually impaired children, cannot be heard?  Perhaps we need to be speaking louder, more persuasively, and with a single voice."

Weiss presented the federal government's perspective.  She mentioned the laws regarding education of disabled students, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and funding.  "The federal share in the education of disabled students is actually not very large," Weiss said, discussing budgeting.  "Free appropriate public education: what does it mean?  A program of special education and related services, provided at no cost to the parents, under public supervision and direction, and in conformity with an individualized education program.  And the individualized aspect of the entitlement is key.  But the guarantee to FAPE does not entitle children with disabilities to a better or fancier education; it's an access to education provision.  It's intended to equalize education opportunities, not to provide the most appropriate program."  She also emphasized that parent participation in education under IDEA is important.
 
She, too, believed that a continuum of placements was necessary.   The Department of Education recently issued a guidance with regard to the education of blind students, emphasizing that all skills need to be evaluated, she stated.  She also referred to the National Longitudinal Transition Study of Youth with Disabilities, conducted on secondary school students in the early 1990s, published in 1991.  It showed that "visually impaired students in regular high school classes were more likely than youth with other kinds of disabilities to be in academic programs.  In fact, many were largely educated full-time in the regular education classroom."  There was a large course failure rate among youth with other disabilities in regular education classes that did not show up with the visually impaired students in the study, she said; they had the lowest failure rate in any disability category.  But only 23 percent of them found competitive jobs after graduation.  She urged her listeners to look at the guidance document and share the information with others.

Following a question-and-answer session, Dr. Susan Daniels, Assistant Commissioner for Disability at the U.S. Social Security Administration, presented "The Real Story about Disability and Social Security."  "I know that you must think that Social Security might be the most boring topic in the universe, right?  No?  Good," Daniels said.  "I think and I believe in my heart of hearts that people with disabilities can work and want to work.  And I believe that today we face extraordinarily big challenges in getting to a place where people with disabilities can actually be part of the economic mainstream."

She gave a number of reasons why people should care about Social Security disability programs and why so many other people are interested in it.  She took her listeners on an imaginary tour of Social Security, beginning in 1984, when 4 million Americans declared themselves too disabled to work and the administration agreed.  In 1984, the SSA spent $25 billion on cash benefits to disabled people.  Last year, 8 million Americans were on disability, and $68 billion in cash benefits went out to disabled people.  "What is happening when so much opportunity, when people with disabilities say, and I believe, they can work and want to work, why are 8 million people now relying upon a public program at a very big cost?" she asked.  First SSA looked at the literature and asked the experts, and then it went out to talk to people with disabilities.  SSA learned five major lessons in those talks.

The first thing SSA heard was that "Social Security work incentives are too complicated for you to understand and us to administer."  The second thing: "While it may be possible to replace the cash benefit with wages they could earn in a labor market, for many, many people they cannot at any cost replace the health care. ... Disabled people aren't stupid."  Number three: "many people ... at their best effort cannot work all the time and, in their best times, may only be able to work part-time. ... our all-or-nothing approach, our yes/no, on or off the rolls, disabled or non-disabled approach, did not reflect the reality of their lives, and that in fact disability is a continuum ... that people often need supports, economic and vocational supports, in order to be successful, but that they would contribute substantially to their own welfare if in fact they could."  The fourth lesson SSA learned was that customers want to have choices.  Young people (under age 22) compose 1 million of the people on the rolls today, and "by our own figures, you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than you do of leaving our rolls and going to work. ... Without work, these young people will be marginalized and poor the rest of their lives.  This is not an acceptable outcome.  All of us have got to believe more in our young people today.  We've got to think of these young people with disabilities as having the potential to become integrated into our society and to contribute ..."

So what's SSA going to do about it?  Daniels said SSA plans to try to make the work incentives better; work with private providers; and will stay in the health care battle.  And what can disabled people do?  "Learn, learn, learn," Daniels said.  "In our rapidly changing society, the work force is changing so fast that five years from now, 50 percent of the jobs five years from now, do not exist today.  For you or for anyone else to participate in the work force, you have to be willing to learn new things all the time. ... My second challenge to you is the word I think is so important in the disability community: solidarity. ...  We've won so many battles because we stuck together, the most important of which was the Americans with Disabilities Act. ... The challenge of this year, to every person with a disability, is to vote."

The second panel discussion, titled "Through Unity There's Information, and Information Means Independence," included panelists Carl Augusto, president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind; Judy D. Moore, president and CEO of National Industries for the Blind; Dr. Sharon Sacks, and ACB President Paul Edwards.

Paul Edwards led off the panel because, as he put it, "I wanted to be the first one to tell the membership at large about what is going on."  Those who are regular "Forum" readers will remember his March message regarding cooperation on information access.  It's more than how to make computers work; it's low-tech things like information available in braille.  "Our idea in the American Council of the Blind and in other organizations therefore was to begin to work on a procedure and a process that would enable us to take a united approach to beginning to identify a range of issues that surround access to information and then to make some decisions about how these organizations could work individually and collectively to move forward with regard to that access to information."

Another area in which the group is working is in the creation of a prioritized list of some of the areas of access to information that the member organizations want to work on.  The first step in doing that was to decide what the individual organizations were doing about information access this year.  ACB has spent "a good deal of time this year working on the Telecommunications Act."  The element that will have increasing importance in the years to come "is the degree to which telephones and computers will begin to interact to form a seamless communication system that all of us will be a part of."  ACB led the advocacy efforts to include language that indicated that the needs of the disabled "must be recognized and valued," and that "people who wished to play on the information highway had to assure that blind and visually impaired people weren't road kill."

The second stage, which the group is working on currently, is "the development and implementation of regulations that will assure that the high and pious statements built into legislation turn into meaningful, day-to-day, nitty-gritty regulations that assure that what was intended by Congress is carried out by the federal government."  ACB is working with the FCC to assure this; it is also working on access to video.  Edwards mentioned his meeting with high officials at six movie studios in California "to try to persuade them to accept our premise that if captioning for people who are deaf is taken as a matter of course in producing films, then descriptive video for people who are blind ought to as well."  He also mentioned providing comments to the FCC in regards to video description, as well as to the reauthorization of IDEA.  Also included in information access was environmental access — signage, tactile warnings, curb cuts. "Ladies and gentlemen, access to information is perhaps the most important area in my view that we could be working on, and if we are successful, within the next two years I hope we will be able to see significant and fundamental alterations in the kind of, the quality of and the range of information that we have access to as blind people."

Carl Augusto spoke next about technology.  AFB evaluates assistive technology; recent written evaluations have been on personal organizers, stand-mounted CCTVs, and braille translation software packages.  It maintains a database of people who use technology on the job.  Also, AFB recently launched a national initiative to improve access to information technology and communications, Augusto stated; the purpose of the initiative "is to bring about public policy and technology industry cooperation to promote full access by blind people to the benefits of the information age."

"Technology is indeed revolutionizing the way blind and visually impaired people produce and receive information and organize themselves," he added.  "However, the major barriers preventing blind people from gaining access equal to their sighted peers seem to be even more major now than they were, and we must all work together to remove those barriers.  Perhaps the most significant challenge, perhaps the most significant barrier is simply that too few visually impaired people know enough about technology to understand how it could benefit them personally." ACB members have a head start, he said; they can read about it in "The Braille Forum" and see it in the exhibit hall, but most blind people aren't members of consumer organizations.  "Secondly, too few workers in our field are thoroughly familiar with the latest developments in technology so that they can advise their students and their clients about how technology could benefit them. ... Unfortunately, much of the technology available today is still too expensive for most blind and visually impaired people.  Finally, the technology available today just doesn't go far enough.  With the proliferation of graphic-based computer software like Windows, which is still not easily accessible to blind people no matter what they tell you, we seem to be falling further behind rather than catching up."  Other problems occur with flat-panel keypads, ATMs, touch screens, and multimedia systems.

But there are positive signs, Augusto said, referring to heightened interest on the part of Microsoft in accessibility and to passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which includes important wording regarding access to telecommunications equipment by disabled people.  He said merging services for blind people is a significant threat to ongoing progress.

Dr. Sharon Sacks spoke on the actions of AER with regard to information access.  AER "needs to educate its members," she said.  It needs to help them become advocates and understand that blind people can't access the Internet or Windows easily, among other things.  "I see our role as being one of a collaborator with ACB, AFB, NIB and other organizations of and for the blind, and so we work with you and hopefully we'll work with you in reaching the vendors, in reaching the producers of software and of computers so that access can be equal to people who are visually impaired.  I have a dream ... I challenge you as members of ACB and other organizations to join with us to make that dream come true ..."

The final panelist was Judy Moore from NIB.  She told of various staff roles in accessing technology.  "NIB, under our current leadership, is taking a very active role on the team in the blindness field fighting to preserve and, more importantly, improve specialized services."  NIB is committed to information access because of its importance in NIB's mission to enhance opportunities for economic independence for blind people.  It seeks to create more computer and technology-based jobs.  Various types of visual operating environments will continue to be an obstacle.

After a question-and-answer session, Dr. Tuck Tinsley, president of the American Printing House for the Blind, updated listeners regarding APH's programs and objectives.  It has developed 10 objectives, including increasing the percentage of items shipped on the promised shipping day, increasing the number of distribution outlets, decrease the time to develop new products, increase the number of new products, and increase funds donated to APH each year.  He mentioned the funding crisis of late April and thanked ACB for its support of full funding for APH.

Following Tinsley's report, Carl McCoy, chairperson of the credentials committee, amended the credentials report.  The amended report was accepted.  After several announcements, the session was adjourned.

* Wednesday:

The Wednesday session began with remarks from Aubrey Webson, outreach coordinator at Hilton-Perkins Foundation and a consultant to the World Blind Union.

Webson urged ACB members to take a more proactive role in assisting blind and low-vision individuals internationally.  He said the Perkins-Hilton partnership allows deaf-blind and multiply disabled blind children to continue in their education in countries throughout the world including Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and eastern Europe.  He said strong organizations of the blind will happen only when blind people feel empowered.  He said organizations for the blind in Africa have been in existence since the '70s, but they are extremely weak.  Blind people in the Caribbean are influenced significantly by what happens in the United States.  Education in that region is improving, and employment in Jamaica is better than in some of the other islands of the region.

He said things in Africa are significantly worse.  "Gambia, with a population of about a million, does not have one orientation and mobility instructor; Ghana, with a population of 20 million, has perhaps half a dozen."

He said braille production facilities are nearly nonexistent in Africa.  "Once you've left school, your access to braille ceases."  While other European nations are actively assisting blind Africans and others in underdeveloped nations, the United States is doing very little, according to Webson.  He urged ACB members to join in partnerships with others providing equipment and services to other nations to enhance its role in international efforts.

Following Webson's address, the convention heard from Lola Marson, a psychiatric social worker for Bellview Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica.  She represented the Jamaica Society for the Blind.  She is also a member of the World Blind Union's committee on the status of women.

She explained that there are some 45,000 blind and visually impaired people in the English-speaking region of the Caribbean.  She said until the 1950s, rehabilitation and employment of blind people in the English-speaking region of the Caribbean was nonexistent.  That has changed to a great degree.  Now those interested in teaching blind children in the region may receive training without leaving the area.  Some appliances such as Braille 'N Speaks and Kurzweil Reading Machines have been introduced to the region in limited numbers.  She said while Jamaica has a small employment service for the blind, the rest of the region does not.  Most blind individuals there are employed in workshops.  "Most persons who are employed are employed in what I would call substandard jobs," she said, "in that irrespective of their academic achievement, they are involved in jobs such as craft work to a large extent.  Only a few would be  involved in the professional fields."

She said the region must do more to enhance life for blind women as well.  Physical and mental abuse as well as rape and isolation are among the most significant problems blind women face in the region, according to Marson.

The convention turned its collective attention to domestic matters with a discussion regarding video description and its impact on blind TV viewers.  Emilie Schmeidler, a senior research associate at the American Foundation for the Blind, discussed current research done by AFB to determine the impact of video description.  She said in a comparison study, those programs with description were remembered longer by blind viewers than those without.  Description also meant that blind viewers learned more from the program.

She said a second study seeks to determine exactly what the audience for video description is.  "More than three-quarters [of those surveyed] said the description provided about the right amount of information," Schmeidler said.  "We found that among that group of people [surveyed] that the rates are very similar to the number of people in the general population in terms of the number of people who own TVs and VCRs, in terms of the amount of time spent watching TV or videos, and in terms of the amount of time and money spent in renting videos."

Getting information about described movies is only a small facet of the information-access arena as convention attendees learned.  They heard a panel discussion regarding what ACB affiliates and others are doing to broaden information access.  Panelists included Debbie Cook from the Washington Council of the Blind, Jamal Mazrui representing the D.C. Association of Workers for the Blind and Mitch Pomerantz representing the California Council of the Blind.  Cook said the Washington Council took on the project of broadening access to information kiosks.  Members first began by learning about kiosks and how they work.  Washington state officials had envisioned a kiosk system where residents could conduct large amounts of state business —all on kiosks which were not accessible to blind residents. She outlined steps taken to inform affiliate members, state officials, and the general public regarding the importance of access to state-owned information kiosks.  The affiliate members began writing letters, visiting kiosks and completing surveys regarding kiosk usability.  The state's governor visited a convention and declared that kiosk access is important to the state.  The group has filed a lawsuit which is still in progress to further ensure that kiosk access will become a reality.  "You don't have to wait for the national organization to do this for you," she affirmed.

Jamal Mazrui briefly described access technology's role in the '70s and '80s.  He characterized the '90s as an era where computers became highly visual.  He said many blind people have lost jobs or promotions as a result of Microsoft Windows and other graphical programs.  "This problem is changing," he said, "and I'm hopeful that by year's end, we will have comparable access to Microsoft Windows."

He said blind people became proactive and told their stories to the media, which affected Microsoft's public image.  "That way," he explained, "we were able to make it more in Microsoft's interest to work on our access than it would have been on simply a financial calculation."

He said getting state governments to threaten Microsoft with contract suspensions unless it delivers more accessible software has been a big plus for blind individuals as well.  Microsoft now has nine people working on accessibility issues.  "We have to continue being proactive," he said, referring to other future software products, "and catch the problem before it becomes a crisis like Windows did."

He also spoke briefly on braille literacy and the value of having tactually identifiable paper money.

Mitch Pomerantz briefly spoke of a pending lawsuit against three California banks in which plaintiffs have declared that the banks are out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding accessibility of automatic teller machines.  

"We are not unreasonable," Pomerantz said, regarding the pending suit, "but we are also of the mind that we have to keep their feet to the fire."  

The Wednesday session closed with a report from the nominating committee and a preliminary reading of some constitution and bylaw amendments.

* Thursday: 

The Thursday session began with the presentation of scholarships by Dr. John Buckley, chairman of ACB's scholarship committee.  (See "American Council of the Blind Awards $49,500 in Scholarship Funds to 25 Outstanding Blind Students," this issue.) 

Following scholarship presentations, Carol McCarl, chairman of the board of publications, presented awards.

Following the BOP award presentations, Assistant Treasurer Jim Olsen presented life memberships to Bradley and Phyllis Burson of Maryland.  Afterwards, convention coordinator John Horst presented bids for the 1998 convention.  Those cities interested in the 1998 convention were Detroit, Mich., and Orlando, Fla.  The convention ultimately chose Orlando as the 1998 convention site.

After the site selection, convention attendees dealt with resolutions and constitution and bylaws amendments.

* Friday:

As part of Friday's convention business, attendees heard the treasurer's report from ACB Treasurer Pat Beattie.  "Money, money, money, money — that's what allows us to be able to carry out the work of the American Council of the Blind, in addition to our most valuable resource, however, which is all of you and us up here, the people resource," Beattie said.  She pointed out that the primary source of income is the thrift stores operated by ACB Enterprises and Services.  The stores produce between $750,000 and $1 million in income per year, she noted.  ACB also receives funding from the Combined Federal Campaign and from members' donations, and is beginning to receive funds from a telemarketing project in conjunction with the Bay State Council of the Blind.  "In general, we budget very conservatively, and thanks to the diligence of our staff we spend even more diligently so that typically we run a little bit over on revenue and a little under on expenses," she stated.  In the past year she has "looked at every expenditure ... to get an idea of exactly how our money is going, and to understand" the books kept by Jim Olsen.

She said surplus funds were carried over from 1994.  For 1995, revenues were $950,000, and expenses were $1,038,000.  This year's budget was put together by the executive director in consultation with the president, then reviewed by the budget committee.  The committee budgeted approximately $1.1 million for the coming year, she said, and is looking at the status of things through May 31, 1996.  ACB is ahead on revenues with $471,500, as opposed to the anticipated amount of $311,000.  Since revenues are so far ahead of expectations, the ACB national office staff will be expanded with a director of advocacy services as well as a support staff person.  Expenses as of May 31 have been $373,000, as opposed to the budgeted $410,000.

Despite this, "there is so much more that we could do," Beattie stated.  "So I would hope that when you go back to your affiliates that you would ask: 'Could we help out with an issue of "The Braille Forum?"' 'Could we help out with any specific project we care about?' or 'Can we just make a general contribution to the general fund of the American Council of the Blind?'"  Several affiliates stood up to make contributions.

Brian Charlson reported on the telemarketing program with Integral Resources Inc.  The 30-month contract will allow ACB and the Bay State Council to gain $250,000.  "This is one way of diversifying our finances," Charlson said.

The remainder of the Friday and Saturday sessions were taken up with convention business.

* Captions

Jean McFall imitates Will Rogers' appearance during the opening session Sunday night.  Here he sports a cowboy hat, a bandana, leggings, and twirls a lasso in an accurate portrayal of Will Rogers' life.

Tulsa mayor M. Susan Savage welcomes her listeners to the city.

Richard Ruffalo speaks with animation about being a champion during his speech to the convention.

Frank Kurt Cylke addresses his listeners' concerns about centralized braille distribution. 

AFB President Carl Augusto talks about his organization's national initiative to improve access to information technology and communications for blind people.

Dr. Sharon Sacks, president-elect of AER, says she sees her organization's role as a collaborator with various organizations of and for the blind.

Judy Moore, CEO at National Industries for the Blind, says information access is important in the enhancement of opportunities for economic independence for blind people.
 
Dr. Emilie Schmeidler of AFB talks about the impact of video description.

Lola Marson of Jamaica discusses blindness services in her country.

Aubrey Webson tells how the Perkins School for the Blind's international program assists those in other countries.

Susan Daniels of the Social Security Administration tells her listeners why they should care about Social Security.

Talking book narrator Jill Ferris reminisces about some of the books she's narrated.

*****

** American Council of the Blind Awards $49,500 in Scholarship Funds to 25 Outstanding Blind Students
by Jessica L. Beach

At its 35th annual national convention at the Downtown Doubletree Hotel in Tulsa, Okla., the American Council of the Blind awarded its 1996 scholarships to 25 outstanding blind students from throughout the country.  The awards were given to students in academic and professional curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Hundreds of qualified blind and visually impaired students applied for these honors.  Eighteen of the winners and other students were able to attend the convention with the assistance of a grant to the American Council of the Blind by the NYNEX Corporation and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.  The winners were honored on Thursday, July 4 during the convention's plenary program.  The 1996 scholarship winners are:

* Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarship:
Timothy Cordes, BS - Biology, University of Notre Dame.
Suleyman Gokyigit, BS - Computer Science, University of Toledo.
Stephen Hagemoser, PhD - Clinical Psychology, University of Kentucky.
Kay Holmberg, AS - Medical Transcription, California Health Science College.
Thien Nga Vu, BS - Psychology, SUNY Stony Brook.
Elizabeth Rousseau-Rooney, AA - Occupational Therapy, Mt. Hood Community College.
Anna Shefl, PhD - Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.
Michelle Studebaker, BS - Elementary Education, Washburn University.

* Dr. Mae Davidow Memorial Scholarship:
Chad Newcomb, MA - Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.

* Melva T. Owen Memorial Scholarship:
Leah Campbell, BS - Computer Science, Rhodes College.

* William G. Corey Memorial Scholarship:
Pavla Francova, MS - Higher Education Counseling, West Chester University.

* NIB Grant M. Mack Memorial Scholarship:
Dana Patrick, BS - Social Work, West Texas A&M University.
Kimberly Shain, BS - Public Relations, Western Kentucky University.

* Arnold Ostwald Memorial Science Scholarship: 
Eric Fanning, BS - Physics, Carleton College.

* Anne Pekar Memorial Scholarship:
Kimberly Morrow, MA - German, University of Kansas.

* Arnold Sadler Memorial Scholarship:
Jasper Nzedu, JD - Law, Yale University.

* Kellie Cannon Memorial Scholarship:
Jonathon Avila, BS - Computer Science, Mary Washington College.

* John Hebner Memorial Scholarship:
Mary Lee Knoch, MA - Special Education, University of Missouri.

* Delbert K. Aman Memorial Scholarship:
Dawn Flewwellin, BS - Rehabilitation, Northern State University.

* Commonwealth Council of the Blind Scholarship:
Julianna Raiche, BA - Guitar Performance/Music, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Jennifer Tatomir, BA - History, Mary Washington College.

* Bay State Council of the Blind:
Michael Stahl, BS - Engineering, Boston University.

* ACB of Colorado Scholarship:
K. Renae Anderson, BS - Social Work, Colorado State University.
Kimberly Waegele, BA - Elementary Education, University of Southern Colorado.

The American Council of the Blind would not be able to award these scholarships without the financial support of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind, the Tarver Memorial Fund, National Industries for the Blind, Mr. & Mrs. Russ Pekar, Visually Impaired Data Processors International, Mrs. Audrey Hebner, the South Dakota Association of the Blind, the Commonwealth Council of the Blind, the Bay State Council of the Blind, and the ACB of Colorado. 

Applications for the 1997 ACB scholarships will be available in the late fall of 1996.  All blind and visually impaired students are encouraged to apply.  For more information contact the national office at (800) 424-8666 between 3 and 5:30 p.m. Eastern time weekdays.

* Caption

The 1996 scholarship winners and committee members.  Seated, left to right: Jennifer Tatomir, Patty Slaby, Dawn Flewwellin.  Behind the seated row, left to right: Leah Campbell, Jasper Nzedu, Kimberly Morrow, Kimberly Shain, Jessica Beach.  Alongside the railing: Michelle Studebaker, Anna Shefl, Elizabeth Rousseau-Rooney, and Stephen Hagemoser.  Standing on the stairs and stage: Wendy David, Naomi Soule, Chad Newcomb, Kimberly Waegele, Michael Stahl, Jonathon Avila, Alan Beatty and John Buckley.

*****

** ACB Honors 1996 Award Winners
by Sharon Lovering

The American Council of the Blind named the recipients of awards during the June 30 opening ceremonies of the 35th annual national convention in Tulsa, Okla.

"Tonight it's a real honor and privilege to come before you at this convention and to present two awards to individuals who, through their contributions and commitment, have made a difference in the lives of blind persons," said Sue Ammeter, chairperson of the awards committee.  She thanked the other members of the awards committee, John Cahall of Delaware and Dawn Christensen of Ohio, for their work, as well as Jessica Beach of the national office.

Mary Roatch of Phoenix, Ariz. was the recipient of the Robert S. Bray Award, which is presented periodically to organizations or individuals who have improved access to information for blind people.  She received the award via speaker phone.  "Tonight's recipient is indeed a pioneer in the field of extending library services to the blind and visually impaired community," Ammeter stated.  "Long before the passage of the ADA and the advent of electronic catalogs, she had a vision; a vision of providing equal access to the blind community.  In 1980, she founded the Special Needs Center at the Phoenix Public Library.  She began her efforts by arranging for the purchase of a Kurzweil Reading Machine, back in the days when they were really  expensive." 

Roatch's efforts didn't stop there, Ammeter added; the center includes a "toybrary, from which parents can check out educational toys as well as some large-print books and captioned videos."  The central point of this project is a computer work station for people with disabilities, she noted.  "The center has become a valuable resource for information access," Ammeter noted.

"I'm very proud and honored to accept this award," Roatch said.  She thanked those people who'd helped her, including David Holiday of Raised Dot Computing, Harvey Lauer of Heins, ACB member Roger Petersen of TeleSensory Inc., and the staff of the Phoenix Public Library.  "I hope that the next years will continue to make the printed word more and more accessible to blind and visually impaired people.  It's so exciting to me: the printed word finally accessible in a public library situation. Thank you so much."

The George Card Award was presented to Arnold Auch of Sioux Falls, S.D.  "When you first meet tonight's recipient of the George Card Award, he appears to be a quiet and unassuming man.  But don't let that deceive you," Ammeter said.  "He is tenacious and deeply committed to improving the independence of blind persons on a local, state and national level.  He works hard in his local community to remove barriers for blind people in the areas of transportation and equal access.  He is one of the founding members of his affiliate and he has been actively involved in its membership development, fund raising, public relations and legislative efforts over the years.  He has worked diligently to seek the passage of the white cane law and braille bill in his state. ..."  He is a teacher at the South Dakota School for the Blind and has been married for 45 years. 

Auch said he was "flabbergasted" when Ammeter called him, thinking she'd been put up to it.  "I accept this award both in humility, knowing that George and Darlene did so much and [worked] so hard and I have done so little; I also feel a little guilty because at home I've been threatening to retire from advocacy work, but knowing that so much still has to be done, I guess I cannot retire yet.  But don't tell that to [fellow affiliate members] Shelley and Don please.  Thanks a great deal."

Ammeter took the microphone again to mention an unusual award, one for a person who is sighted.  "We do not have an awards category presently that would recognize the work of an individual who is not blind," she said.  "However, after reviewing the work and contributions of this individual, we would like to present a special certificate which will be done next month in Washington, D.C."  The certificate goes to Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, "in recognition of his outstanding leadership to preserve this nation's vocational rehabilitation system, which is so vital to people who are blind and visually impaired."

President Paul Edwards then turned the microphone over to Stephen Speicher to present the winners of the first timers' contest, sponsored by the Durward McDaniel Memorial Fund.  He thanked the members of his committee: Sandy Sanderson of Alaska; Chris Gray of California; M.J. Schmitt of Illinois, and Stephanie Hall of Minnesota. The winners from the east of the Mississippi River were Marlem Perez and Bobbie Probst of Florida.  The western winners were Bart van Wolffradt of Colorado and Randy Hayhurst of Washington.

The board of publications awards presentations were postponed until Thursday.  The recipient of the Ned E. Freeman Excellence in Writing Award was Walt Stromer of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, for his article "Remembering Avon," which appeared in the December 1995 issue of "The Braille Forum."  Stromer was unable to attend the convention, but board of publications chairman Carol McCarl played a tape of his comments upon hearing that he was the winner.  "I guess there are some people who write just to please themselves, but that doesn't do much for me; but when an editor or board says that's good enough to be printed or to be recognized, that's something I appreciate," Stromer stated.  He encouraged his listeners to share their life experiences through writing.

NBC Nightly News and Tom Brokaw received the Vernon Henley Memorial Award for their coverage of mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer's climb up Alaska's Mt. McKinley. McCarl complimented NBC for doing such a fine job of covering the story and following up on it.  "It's amazing what that kind of a story can do," she stated.  The plaque will be presented to NBC's Washington news bureau. 

Sue Ammeter presented the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award to David Krause of Nevada at the ACB banquet Friday night.  "Tonight's award recipient is a charter member of the American Council of the Blind, and a living legend within our organization," Ammeter stated.  "He has served as a member of the board of directors, on numerous committees, and he's a state affiliate president. ... In 1940 he graduated from the Missouri School for the Blind and took a job at a St. Louis radio station where he wrote, produced and narrated a weekly radio show interviewing successful blind persons from all walks of life.  During the war, he worked in a defense plant and for the U.S. Civil Service Commission.  Following World War II, he enrolled at the Northwestern University, where he received a degree in journalism.  In 1948, at a banquet hosted by the American Foundation for the Blind in Chicago, he was honored as AFB's number-one scholarship student in the United States."  After graduation, he worked for the Arthur Meyerhoff advertising agency, writing commercial radio copy for several shows, whose sponsors included Wrigley.

"His organizational background is equally impressive," Ammeter said.  "He has been active since 1942.  In 1956, he was the founder and first president of RITE — Real Independence Through Employment — an affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind. ... He was one of the signers of the ACB charter, which is still on file in Washington, D.C. ... In 1984 he became president of the Nevada Council of the Blind, which is a struggling affiliate.  Not only did that affiliate host one of ACB's outstanding conventions, but it has maintained slow and steady growth, and it is one of the more fiscally responsible organizations today."  She characterized Krause's leadership as "cautious" and "steady."

"I have never been so surprised in all my life, and I don't know how they got all that information without me knowing anything about it," Krause said.  "I've got a hunch Bettye may be a part of this, 'cause I don't know who else had all that information.  But I couldn't be more surprised and I couldn't be more pleased, because the Ambassador Award from the very beginning of ACB has been something very special.  And it became even more special when it became the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award.  Durward and I were close-working colleagues in the organized blind movement and close personal friends since the late '40s.  So this takes on extra-special meaning to me.  I can only say that I thank the American Council of the Blind wholeheartedly for this, and thank you very much."

* Captions

Carol McCarl reads aloud from Walt Stromer's story "Remembering Avon" before presenting him as the winner of the Ned E. Freeman Excellence in Writing Award.

David Krause holds up the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award, which he received at the banquet, while his wife Bettye looks on.  The award reads: "The Durward K. McDaniel Award of the American Council of the Blind is presented to David Krause, who by his life, associations and activities has promoted integration into and interaction with the life of the community."

*****

** High Tech Swap Shop

* For Sale:
DECtalk express and DECtalk internal PC card synthesizers, $950 each.  Also external DECtalk Classic synthesizer; make a reasonable offer.  Contact Roger Behm in any medium (except handwriting) at 1611 Clover Ln., Janesville, WI 53545, or phone him at (608) 754-0658.

* For Sale:
Panasonic Magniviewer CCTV and 19-inch black and white monitor with audio/video in/out connections on the back.  Desktop camera stand with manual x-y base, negative/positive picture, and up or upside down switch.  $1,000 plus shipping. Call Ed at (414) 964-0130.
 
* For Sale:
Voyager VTek CCTV.  Black and white, has zoom focusing.  Asking $650.  Call Bob at (703) 591-6674.

* For Sale:
486 SX with 4 megabytes of RAM, 100 meg hard drive, 3 1/2 and 5 1/4-inch disk drives, DECtalk internal speech synthesizer, JAWS version 2.2, and Open Book Unbound with HP II scanner.  Asking $2,500 or best offer.  Contact Rodney Neely at 2309 Longview Ave., Apt. C, Roanoke, VA 24014, or phone him at (540) 344-6800.

* For Sale:
Braille 'n Speak classic with leather case and interface cord, $300.  Perkins braille writer with carrying case, new, $300.  Contact Don Simmonson at (509) 586-4245.

* For Sale:
Braille 'n Speak 640, external disk drive, adapters and cables, cassette and braille manuals.  In mint condition.  Asking $1,000 or best offer.  Call John Dina at (703) 971-0678.

* For Sale:
Japan Radio Corporation receiver, model NRD 525. Receiver frequency ranges from 90 khz to 34 mhz.  Capable of storing 200 channels.  Scan and sweep reception.  Two built-in clocks.  Works as a programmable automatic receiver with PC.  Receiving modes include AM, FM, fax, CW, USB, LSB and RTTY.  $1,000 or best offer.  Call JOhn after 5 p.m. Eastern time at (423) 573-2909.

* Wanted:
Your old VocalEyes or other current screen-reading software at a used price.  Up to $300 or best offer will not be refused.  If you have any questions or information, contact Bryan McGucken at 11 Hillside Ln., Wallingford, CT 06492, or phone him at (203) 265-2452.

*****

** ACB Officers

* President
Paul Edwards
20330 Ne 20th Ct.
Miami, FL 33179

* First Vice President
Brian Charlson
57 Grandview Ave.
Watertown, MA 02172

* Second Vice President
Stephen Speicher
825 M St., Suite 216
Lincoln, NE 68508

* Secretary
Cynthia Towers
556 N. 80th St.
Seattle, WA 98103

* Treasurer
Patricia Beattie
Crystal Towers #206 North
1600 S. Eads St.
Arlington, VA 22202

* Immediate Past President
LeRoy Saunders
2118 NW 21st St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73107

** ACB Board of Directors
Sue Ammeter, Seattle, WA 
Ardis Bazyn, Cedar Rapids, IA 
John Buckley, Knoxville, TN
Dawn Christensen, Holland, OH
Christopher Gray, San Jose, CA  
John Horst, Wilkes-Barre, PA 
Kristal Platt, Omaha, NE
M.J. Schmitt, Forest Park, IL
Pamela Shaw, Philadelphia, PA 
Richard Villa, Irving, TX

** Board of Publications
Carol McCarl, Chairperson, Salem, OR
Kim Charlson, Watertown, MA 
Thomas Mitchell, North Salt Lake City, UT
Mitch Pomerantz, Los Angeles, CA 
Jay Doudna, Lancaster, PA 
Ex Officio: Laura Oftedahl, Watertown, MA 

* Contributing Editor
Elizabeth M. Lennon, Kalamazoo, MI

###