[Charlotte-Mecklenburg-Chapter] [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, January 2026

[gerald moreno]

Chris Danielsen, Editor

Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash drive, by the NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Mark Riccobono, President

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National Federation of the Blind
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THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND KNOWS THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT THE CHARACTERISTIC THAT DEFINES YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. EVERY DAY WE RAISE THE EXPECTATIONS OF BLIND PEOPLE, BECAUSE LOW EXPECTATIONS CREATE OBSTACLES BETWEEN BLIND PEOPLE AND OUR DREAMS. YOU CAN LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT; BLINDNESS IS NOT WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK. THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND—IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR OURSELVES.

ISSN 0006-8829
© 2026 by the National Federation of the Blind

Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots—the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped.

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Vol. 69, No. 1 January 2026

Contents

Illustration: A Brailler from Early in the last Century

Convention Bulletin 2026

From the President’s Desk: The Federation Shares Pressing Concerns with Vispero’s CEO
by Mark A. Riccobono

A National Home for Our Stories: Members of Maryland Congressional Delegation Introduce Legislation to Designate the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement
by Alison Tyler

The Myth of the SuperBlind
by Cricket X. Bidleman

The Key to Keeping Benefits While Saving for the Life You Want
by Jesse Shirek

Razor-Blade Reflections: What You See Isn’t Always What You Get
by Marie Kouthoofd

Changing Words, Changing Minds, Changing the World
by Gary Wunder

Perspectives on Growing Pains in the Organized Blind Movement: A Panel of Student Leaders
Moderated by Anil Lewis

Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship
by Tracy Soforenko

Announcing an Exciting Update to the 2026 NFB Scholarship Program

Monitor Miniatures

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[PHOTO/CAPTION: A moving-head Hall Braille writer, dated to around the 1900’s.]

Illustration: A Brailler from Early in the last Century

As readers will learn in this issue, the National Archives of the Blind People’s Movement contains a number of artifacts from throughout the history of our movement and beyond. Since January 4 is World Braille Day (in honor of Louis Braille’s birthday), we thought we would include an image of a Braille innovation from around 125 years ago, likely one of the first Braille-writing implements since the slate and stylus. This moving-head Braille writer, produced by Hall, dates to around 1900, and serves as an example of the first successful and widely-used mechanical embossing system for Braille. The layout is similar to today’s Braillers, as it features six piano-like keys that are pushed to make different combinations of dots. This Brailler is housed in a carrying case made of wood, fabric, and leather for relatively easy transport.

Archives accession #C2025.999.453, courtesy of National Archives of the Blind People’s Movement

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PHOTO/CAPTION: The Austin skyline as seen across the Colorado River from the Boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake.

PHOTO/CAPTION: The JW Marriott at dusk.

Convention Bulletin 2026

The National Federation of the Blind’s National Convention brings together blind people from across the country and around the globe. We come from all walks of life. Some of us have been blind all our lives, while others may be new to blindness. Some are young, some have been around the sun more than a few times. Some are convention first-timers, while others have been attending for decades. Our patchwork of individual experiences makes us stronger together, and it means that our National Conventions are a celebration of our diversity.

Over the course of eighty-five annual conventions, nearly three dozen cities reflecting similar diversity have played host to the NFB’s biggest event of the year. Yet, among this broad list of destinations, our convention has never come to the capital city of Texas to gather and celebrate. This will change next July when we head to the JW Marriot Austin for our annual National Convention July 3 through July 8!

Austin is widely known as the “Live Music Capital of the World,” having been home to the PBS program Austin City Limits for more than fifty years and host to the annual South by Southwest music and media festival. Austin also boasts a vibrant arts scene with many public art displays throughout the city. But Austin isn’t just fueled by creative energy. A strong technology sector thrives here, with many tech companies establishing headquarters in the city. Waymo and Tesla are two notable names, as both companies offer autonomous vehicle rides within Austin. The University of Texas at Austin, with over 50,000 students, sits just north of downtown. Visitors will notice an emphasis on local retailers over national chains. This broad and eclectic diversity perpetuates the popular “Keep Austin Weird” vibe and makes for a truly unique destination.

Our Convention Hotels

The upscale JW Marriott Austin will serve as our headquarters hotel, while the recently opened Austin Mariott Downtown, just a short walk away, will provide overflow space. All convention events will take place in the headquarters hotel this year. Both hotels offer a number of dining options, 24/7 fitness centers, and rooftop pools with cabana rentals. The hotels are in the heart of downtown Austin, surrounded by local restaurants and shops. A few blocks south, walking trails line the section of the Colorado River known as Lady Bird Lake.

Our 2026 convention hotel rate is $139 per night for singles and doubles. Triples and quads are available for $155 per night. Sales tax and a tourism fee total a combined 19 percent.

Beginning on January 1, you may call 800-627-7468 to book a room at either hotel. Specify our room block code, BL1, to ensure you receive our convention room rate. For each room you book, the hotel requires a deposit of the first night’s room rate, taxes, and fees, payable by credit card or a personal check. If you use a credit card, the deposit will be charged immediately. If a reservation is cancelled before Sunday, June 1, 2026, half of the deposit will be returned. Refunds will not be issued after that date.

Convention Schedule

The 2026 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind will be an exciting and memorable event, with an unparalleled program and renewed dedication to the goals and work of our movement.

  *   A wide range of seminars for parents of blind children, technology enthusiasts, job seekers, and other groups will kick the week off on Friday, July 3. Convention registration and registration packet pick-up will also open on Friday.

  *   Breakout sessions continue Saturday, July 4, along with committee meetings.

  *   Sunday, July 5, begins with the annual meeting, open to all, of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. National division meetings will follow that afternoon and evening.

  *   General convention sessions will begin on Monday, July 6, and continue through the afternoon of Wednesday, July 8.

  *   Convention ends on a high note with the banquet Wednesday evening, so be sure to pack your fancy clothes. The fall of the gavel at the close of banquet will signal convention’s adjournment.

Make plans to be a part of it. To ensure yourself a room in the headquarters hotel at convention rates, you should make reservations early. The hotels will be ready to take your call beginning January 1.

Request for Door Prizes

Remember that we need door prizes from state affiliates, local chapters, and individuals. Prizes should be small in size but significant in value. Cash, of course, is always appropriate and welcome. As a general rule, we ask that prizes have a value of at least $25 and do not include alcohol. Drawings take place throughout the convention sessions, and you can anticipate a grand prize of truly impressive proportions to be drawn at the banquet.

Important note for attendees: You must be registered to win a door prize! Registration opens in March.

First-Time Attendees

If you or members of your chapter are first-time attendees, please learn about convention through the First-Timer’s Guide available at nfb.org/convention<https://nfb.org/convention>.

Countdown to Austin

The best collection of exhibits featuring new technology; meetings of our special interest groups, committees, and divisions; the most stimulating and thought-provoking program items of any meeting of the blind in the world; the chance to renew friendships within our Federation family; and the unparalleled opportunity to be where the real action is and where decisions are made—all of these mean you will not want to miss being a part of the 2026 National Convention. To secure yourself a room in the headquarters hotel at convention rates, make your reservations early. We look forward to seeing you in Austin in July!

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[PHOTO CAPTION: President Riccobono]

From the President’s Desk: The Federation Shares Pressing Concerns with Vispero’s CEO

by Mark A. Riccobono

One of the responsibilities I have as President of the National Federation of the Blind is to develop relationships with the executives of organizations and corporations whose work has an effect on blind people. Sometimes these are within the blindness field, but often they are companies who do not regularly work with blind people. Vispero is one of the major companies within the blindness field whose products have a wide reach and whose relationship with the community of blind people is critical. In my time as President of the Federation, I have worked with three previous CEOs of the company. Recently, I have begun building a relationship with the newest CEO, Ms. Rhonda Bassett-Spiers. Frequently, these relationships are built in private meetings where I help people understand the nature of the Federation—we are different than the many agencies for the blind that they tend to interact with—and I strive to help new leaders know that the Federation will always give them the straight story from blind people whether they like it or not. It is extremely unusual for me to publish correspondence between a new CEO and myself on behalf of the Federation after only a couple of months. However, the extreme concern from Federation members caused me to act swiftly to ensure that good information was out in the public.

For context, we knew that a new CEO was coming to Vispero. Bob Ciminera shared with me months before our 2025 National Convention that he would be retiring. I should interject here that in late November I learned that Mr. Ciminera passed away. He was a strong supporter of the organized blind movement, believed deeply in the products of his company, and trusted the wisdom of the community. Our hearts go out to his friends and family. One of the last things I undertook with Bob was to make sure that the company got Glen Gordon to present at our convention and to our annual banquet so we could give Glen our Kenneth Jernigan Award. We shared the 2025 Convention presentation given by Glen Gordon and Ryan Jones of Vispero in the November 2025 issue of the Braille Monitor. In acknowledging Glen’s tremendous contributions over thirty years, none of us could have foreseen that he would resign from the company only three months later. And there has been even more concerning news. Convention attendees and readers will remember that a new feature, AI Page Explorer, was demonstrated in a video, and the audience was told that this feature would be part of FS Companion beginning in the fall. But upon release, this feature is not part of FS Companion and is only available with more expensive JAWS licenses. It is specifically excluded from the most affordable license, JAWS Home Annual. We are now told that it was intended all along for “professional and academic environments,” but it was demonstrated using the website dedicated to the restaurants at the New Orleans Marriott, suggesting it was intended for general use. These and other concerns finally got to the point that I felt we needed to clearly document our concerns and share them directly with Ms. Bassett-Spiers. She wrote back to me fairly quickly. I had intended to use these correspondence to do a more personal interview with her myself for our Access On podcast. However, after her reply she cancelled the podcast interview, suggesting that we defer meeting until early in the new year. The extreme level of concern among Federation members causes me to release these correspondence, as blind people deserve straight answers. We will continue to work to build an executive-level relationship and to hold Vispero accountable to its loyal blind customers. Here are the correspondence from November 2025:

November 7, 2025

Sent via email

Dear Ms. Bassett-Spiers,

As you know, the National Federation of the Blind is the nation’s transformative organization of blind people, with affiliates in every state as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. As the voice of the nation’s blind, we have a duty to alert those who offer products and services to us when there is a groundswell of concern. This is the commitment I have also made to you in the two one-on-one conversations we have held.

Following feedback from many of our members who are raising new issues almost daily, I feel compelled to formally convey to you a series of pressing concerns regarding Vispero’s direction and engagement. As the producer of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, Vispero impacts the daily lives and opportunities of millions of blind individuals across the United States and worldwide. With this influence comes a profound responsibility to prioritize the needs, aspirations, and leadership of those you serve.

Pricing and Licensing Changes

While we appreciate that Vispero must operate in a manner that ensures ongoing commercial viability, we are concerned by the limited and unclear communication around recent changes to JAWS licensing models and pricing structures. These changes have generated significant confusion, anxiety, and frustration worldwide. The temporary removal of the Home Annual License option from the website, reversed only after public backlash, created unnecessary alarm. This decision led many to believe that a product they used daily was suddenly out of their financial reach.

We urge Vispero to provide a clear explanation of the new pricing options and to show respect for its loyal customers by explaining clearly why these changes are necessary.

Erosion of Home Annual License Functionality

We are disappointed that JAWS Home Annual License holders have been excluded from the new Page Explorer feature. Vispero highlighted this feature at our recent national convention in July, valuing it sufficiently to produce a video demonstrating the new functionality. It was marketed at that time as an addition to FS Companion. At no time was there any mention that Vispero would create different tiers of JAWS users when it came to cutting-edge AI tools.

When the Home Annual License was introduced in 2018, the National Federation of the Blind applauded the move. We believed it worked for everyone. The unemployment rate among blind people is far too high. The JAWS Home Annual License allows those who do not qualify for funding to use JAWS at a price they can afford. They can become familiar with the product, which in turn improves employment prospects. When an Annual Home License user finds work, Vispero benefits when an appropriate license is purchased for the blind person’s workplace. This program has been an investment in the capacity-building of blind people.

Depriving Annual Home License customers, who have paid in good faith, of new core features is a concerning new policy that changes the implicit social contract of this license. We call upon you to reconsider this decision and make Page Explorer, along with future AI features, available to this category of users.

Vispero Account

In the United States, JAWS 2026 requires users to create and sign into a Vispero account. If it eventually becomes possible for customers to return authorizations when upgrading computers and share settings across devices, then users will benefit from this change. However, we are also hearing concerns. Many of these may be addressed with clear, transparent, respectful communication.

Some JAWS users are concerned about the amount of data being collected, such as the name of a person’s employer. We seek assurance that all data Vispero is collecting is actually necessary for the operation of JAWS, and that users are not being required to provide marketing data, which should be optional, in order to use their screen reader.

Additionally, there are concerns about whether a cloud outage such as that which affected Amazon Web Services in October may disrupt JAWS if ongoing use requires verification that users are logged in.

We seek further clarity and assurance on these issues.

Technical Support

We are hearing from members that Vispero is no longer accepting technical support requests via email. While we appreciate that requiring users to submit a web form may aid Vispero through the mandatory provision of information that can help the technical support process, email is a ubiquitous medium. Even those who have access to older notetaker products, whose JAWS may not be working at all, can submit a written technical support request via email.

We invite you to reconsider this decision.

Blind Leadership

We are concerned by the apparent decline in blind leadership at Vispero that has recently occurred. We believe that one of the reasons JAWS has become the dominant product in the screen reader industry is that the original company that developed JAWS—Henter-Joyce—was founded by a blind person. There were always capable blind people, who were users of the product, in key positions. This allowed those blind people to mentor people who are not blind but who possessed the values and curiosity to be successful.

In recent days, we learned of the departure of Glen Gordon. Glen is a giant in this industry who developed many of the paradigms that all graphical screen readers subsequently adopted. Marking the 30th anniversary of JAWS for Windows, we honored Glen’s contribution at this year’s national convention of the National Federation of the Blind in New Orleans by giving him the prestigious Kenneth Jernigan Award for his outstanding contribution. The fact that Glen felt he must resign from the company—not because he wished to retire, but because of a perceived incompatibility of values—is of serious concern and one we would expect would cause considerable reflection about the company’s direction.

We also note that other blind people in leadership roles have been redeployed into positions that appear to have less direct influence on the products and services blind people use. We are concerned that these changes will result in Vispero making decisions that are not informed by the knowledge and lived experience of blind people.

The National Federation of the Blind proudly supports, and indeed insists, that blind people help direct the products and services intended for our use. However, multiple recent developments are creating an increasing disconnect between leadership and the people the company exists to serve.

We are here to help. It is our hope that Vispero and the National Federation of the Blind can continue to be trusted partners. We remain uniquely placed to provide constructive advice based on the views of our extensive membership across the nation. We encourage you to engage with these concerns in a spirit of partnership and urgency. We request a comprehensive, public response to the issues outlined above and a commitment to ongoing dialogue with the organized blind movement.

Your leadership presents an opportunity to set a new standard for access, accountability, and inclusion. We urge you to seize it.

I look forward to your prompt and substantive reply.

November 10, 2025

Sent via email

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your thoughtful and comprehensive letter. I greatly appreciate the time and care the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has taken to share these concerns and perspectives. The NFB plays a critical role in representing the voice and lived experience of the blind community. We value the open dialogue we’ve established through our past conversations and ongoing collaboration.

At Vispero, our purpose is to empower individuals who are blind or have low vision to achieve independence and access opportunities.

We recognize that fulfilling this mission requires transparency, accountability, and close partnership with organizations like the NFB to ensure our decisions reflect the needs and lived experiences of the community we serve.

We take the feedback outlined in your message very seriously. The issues you’ve raised regarding pricing and licensing clarity, feature access, account functionality, data privacy, technical support accessibility, and blind leadership within Vispero directly address areas that are core to our mission and values.

I’d like to address each of your points individually to provide background and context.

Pricing & Licensing

We recognize the importance of affordability and clarity to the communities we serve. For many users, the Home Annual License has been a bridge to independence, education, and employment. In 2018, when the Home Annual License was launched, the subscription price for JAWS was $90 per year. The price was increased by 5 percent in 2021 to $95, and again in 2025 by 10 percent to $104.50. This represents just two price increases over an eight-year period.

The Home Annual License remains central to our mission to keep JAWS accessible and affordable. Despite not being profitable, we continue to offer it because it aligns with our mission to support the blind and low-vision community and to ensure individuals have affordable access to JAWS for personal use.

Earlier this year, we removed the Home Annual License option from our website, requiring our loyal customers to contact us directly to make a purchase. This decision was made after discovering that several businesses were purchasing this lower-cost license rather than true home users. While we recognize this may create a minor inconvenience, the process helps ensure that the product remains available to the individuals for whom it was designed. To support this change, we also published a blog post that explains the different licensing options and helps customers select the right product for their needs. I’d be happy to share this link if you would like.

I’d like to reaffirm that the Home Annual License remains a core offering for Vispero. Going forward, any updates to pricing or licensing will be communicated clearly and collaboratively. We welcome the NFB’s feedback as part of this process.

Feature Access and AI Page Explorer

I understand and appreciate the community’s disappointment regarding the exclusion of AI Page Explorer from the Home Annual subscription. We intended to design this specific feature for professional and academic environments, where users frequently engage with complex, data-rich systems. However, we also recognize that innovation should never feel like exclusion.

We are actively reviewing how to make AI-driven functionality more broadly available, and we have many new capabilities planned for release across our product portfolio in 2026. As I mentioned in our recent conversation, we would like to work closely with the NFB and other community representatives early in our development cycle to gather feedback and ensure our innovation plans align with user needs.

To that end, I reached out to Beth [Braun, Chief of Staff for the National Federation of the Blind] Friday, November 7th, to schedule a call with you and your CTO to review our product strategy and gather your input.

As a company, we will not always offer identical functionality across all product tiers; however, we are committed to providing upgrade paths where possible. We have always listened to and responded to customers who contact us with specific needs.

Vispero Account and Data Privacy

The new Vispero Account was introduced to strengthen our connection with users and create a more unified experience. By enabling registration, we can simplify license management, cross-device personalization, and lay the foundation for future AI-driven features that adapt to individual user preferences. We also share the concern about data collection and want to assure users that only information essential to software functionality is required. We will be publishing a clearer explanation of what data is collected, why, and how it is protected.

We also share your concern about reliability. We are designing the system so that temporary cloud outages will not disrupt product access, and we will provide additional transparency on these safeguards.

Technical Support Access

We appreciate the feedback regarding the transition away from email-based technical support.

Currently, only about 7 percent of customers use email to contact our support team, with the majority choosing to call and speak directly with one of our fully staffed technical support representatives, who can address issues immediately.

We implemented the web form to help capture key details upfront and enable our team to respond more efficiently. However, we fully recognize that accessibility must always come first. For users who require immediate assistance—or who may find the web form difficult to access—our call center remains available to provide direct support.

Our goal is to ensure that every customer, regardless of circumstance or technology access, has a reliable and responsive way to reach our team. The call center remains our primary channel for achieving this level of service.

Blind Leadership and Representation

We share your deep appreciation for the extraordinary contributions of leaders such as Glen Gordon, and for the generations of blind professionals who have shaped JAWS and other Vispero products. Blind leadership and lived experience remain fundamental to our innovation model. While some roles have evolved as part of our broader organizational transformation, we reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that blind professionals continue to have a meaningful influence across our product, research, and customer experience teams.

As reflected on our website, our leadership team includes two members of the blind community—Matt Ater and Ryan Jones—who both play critical roles in shaping the company’s strategy, direction, and user engagement. Their expertise and advocacy continue to strengthen our organization, ensuring that our decisions reflect the perspectives of the communities we serve.

Looking ahead, we plan to expand our formal engagement with blind advisors, advocates, and users through ongoing listening sessions and advisory panels. We would greatly value the NFB’s partnership in this effort. We have developed a community outreach and engagement strategy to build stronger, more direct connections between Vispero and the community, and I would welcome the opportunity to review our plans with you to gather your feedback and insights.

Additionally, as we discussed on our call, I would greatly appreciate any recommendations you may have to help Vispero as we continue our efforts to recruit and hire blind engineers.

Looking Forward: A More Collaborative Partnership

As I mentioned when we met, I want to, and am committed to, working differently together—proactively rather than reactively. That means:

  *   Inviting NFB’s input earlier in Vispero’s product planning cycles.

  *   Hosting regular briefings to discuss upcoming updates and feature roadmaps.

  *   Partnering on communication to the broader community when changes are on the horizon.

Our goal is to ensure that the voices of blind users help shape every stage of development, and that communication around change is clear, respectful, and transparent.

We are proud of our shared mission to empower people who are blind or have low vision through technology. As we integrate AI and next-generation tools into JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, our vision remains constant: to ensure every user has the independence, confidence, and opportunity they deserve.

Thank you again for your partnership and for holding us to the high standards we strive to meet. We look forward to continuing this conversation and working more closely with the National Federation of the Blind to ensure Vispero’s innovation always advances accessibility for all.

Warm regards,

Rhonda Bassett-Spiers
Chief Executive Officer
Vispero

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[PHOTO CAPTION: Alison Tyler]

[PHOTO CAPTION: Representative Kweisi Mfume, Federationist Ever Lee Hairston, President Riccobono, and Senator Chris Van Hollen stand together smiling in front of a podium bearing the official seal of a Member of Congress of the United States.]

[PHOTO CAPTION: Representative Kweisi Mfume addresses the assembled crowd.]

[PHOTO CAPTION: Ever Lee Hairston speaks to the attendees.]

[PHOTO CAPTION: Representative Kweisi Mfume and Ever Lee Hairston shake hands and chat together. President Riccobono can be seen speaking with Senator Chris Van Hollen behind them.]

A National Home for Our Stories: Members of Maryland Congressional Delegation Introduce Legislation to Designate the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement

by Alison Tyler

From the Editor: Alison Tyler is the member of our staff at the NFB Jernigan Institute who leads our effort to establish the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement. Here is her report on a development that could substantially enhance that effort:

In a moment rich with symbolism and grounded in the power of collective action, members of Maryland’s congressional delegation; the boards of the National Federation of the Blind and the Jacobus tenBroek Memorial Fund; Baltimore City Councilman Zac Blanchard; and other dignitaries and Federation leaders gathered at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute on December 5, 2025, to announce the introduction of legislation that recognizes, at the national level, the central role blind people have played in advancing civil rights in the United States. The bill, introduced by Congressman Kweisi Mfume in the House of Representatives as H.R. 6467 and Senator Chris Van Hollen in the United States Senate as S. 3371, would designate the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement, to be housed inside the NFB Jernigan Institute, as the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement.

As President Mark Riccobono noted in convening the press conference, “The history, lived experience, and contributions of blind people are essential parts of the American story that are undershared and often not understood at all.” The bill acknowledges that blind people have faced systemic discrimination, low expectations, and barriers to equal participation, while nevertheless making “significant contributions to society which have often gone underrecognized.” It further highlights the founding of the National Federation of the Blind in 1940 as the point at which blind Americans self-organized on a national basis to “raise expectations in society” and build a vehicle for collective action.

The bill also recognizes that, throughout its eighty-five year history, the Federation has amassed millions of artifacts, documents, and stories chronicling the individual and collective accomplishments of blind people. Those materials, along with future exhibitions and programming, will form the foundation of a museum unlike any other in the nation: a cultural institution that centers the experience of blind people themselves and is owned and operated by the blind of America.

This will not simply be a museum about blindness; it will be a museum about people—their agency, their resilience, and their insistence on equality.

A Moment of Recognition and Resolve

At the press conference, President Riccobono situated the announcement within the Federation’s long commitment to preserving the movement’s history. When the organization nearly emptied its bank account to purchase the South Baltimore site of its national headquarters in 1978, he explained, one of its first acts was to bring into the formerly derelict building, constructed in the early twentieth century, the records and artifacts of its first four decades. “We began investing heavily in preserving the stories of blind people in this nation,” he said, adding that the Federation has been investing in Baltimore ever since. Today, the National Archives of the Blind People’s Movement occupy more than 20,000 square feet of the NFB Jernigan Institute.

Yet President Riccobono was unequivocal that preservation alone is insufficient; the stories currently “do not reach far enough.” He spoke of the planned museum as a catalyst for wider recognition and engagement: a place “to bring those stories to life in new, fully inclusive, and accessible ways; to teach all other cultural institutions about true accessibility; and to create new digital platforms so that these stories can be shared and used across the globe to change the understanding of blindness.”

Congressman Mfume, whose district includes the NFB Jernigan Institute, delivered remarks that characterized this recognition as a marker of Baltimore’s civic progress and national profile. Drawing on the precedent of granting the National Aquarium its designation in 1980, he emphasized how congressional recognition elevates local institutions to national prominence. He also connected the museum to a broader civil rights narrative, highlighting the intellectual contributions of Dr. Jacobus tenBroek—the founder of the Federation and a noted legal scholar—to the architects of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. He read from a letter that Dr. tenBroek received from Thurgood Marshall, the civil rights icon who argued the case and later became a Supreme Court justice. This letter is one of the many gems in the archives and was featured in the October 2025 issue of the Braille Monitor.

The Congressman also underscored the museum’s significance as the first blind-owned, blind-led institution of its kind, one that will serve “students, researchers, veterans, workers, and families from every corner of the United States.” He declared firmly that he and Senator Van Hollen would “fight this tooth and nail” to ensure the bill’s passage.

Senator Van Hollen, in turn, celebrated the Federation’s decades-long leadership in advancing equal opportunity and reframing disability as an issue of civil rights. He placed the museum’s national designation in the context of the nation’s ongoing effort to fulfill the promises of the American Revolution as it approaches its 250th anniversary, the promises of “equal rights and equal justice and equal opportunity.” “What this museum will do,” he said, “is help tell a very important part of that story as we work to truly complete the work of building a more perfect union.”

Through Our Past We Can See Our Future

The press conference concluded with remarks from Ever Lee Hairston, a member of the board of directors of the Jacobus tenBroek Memorial Fund (which owns and operates the NFB Jernigan Institute facility) and a longtime civil rights advocate. She shared her own experiences with discrimination, including a college professor who dismissed her blindness as an excuse to get out of taking an exam. (She later took and passed it.) Later, inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she joined civil rights marches that ultimately contributed to the passage of landmark civil rights and voting rights legislation.

Her reflection connected the civil rights journey of African Americans to the ongoing struggle of blind people for equal opportunity. “Through our past we can see our future,” she said, urging all present to advocate vigorously for the passage of the museum designation legislation.

A Historic Moment in Our Movement’s Journey

The press conference was followed on December 8 by the release of an official statement from Senator Van Hollen, Congressman Mfume, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon M. Scott, and President Riccobono. Here is the text of the release in its entirety:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, U.S. Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) announced their joint introduction of legislation to designate the new Museum of the Blind People’s Movement in Baltimore as the official National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement. Once established, this museum will be the first to be blind-owned, operated, and led.

“Blind Americans have long faced discrimination and low expectations, but that has never stopped them from making vital contributions to our society that are far too often under-recognized,” said Congressman Kweisi Mfume. “By acknowledging this institution as the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement, Congress honors an important American story and supports a first-of-its-kind, blind-owned and blind-led cultural institution that will serve students, researchers, veterans, workers, families, and visitors from every corner of these United States of America.”

“We can all learn from stories of the pioneering blind Americans who have organized and led the movement that reshaped our nation in the direction of equality. With this legislation, we are working to honor eight decades of leadership and ensure this history is preserved, shared, and celebrated not just locally, but nationally as well. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’ve been proud to support this mission with $301,000 in direct federal funding, and, now, to team up with Congressman Mfume on this legislation to designate it as the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement,” said Senator Van Hollen.

“The introduction of this legislation marks a historic moment in our movement’s journey. The National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement will be the first blind-led and blind-centered museum that authentically preserves and shares our stories of advocating, innovating, and transforming society. This museum will be about the people who have demonstrated that with proper training and opportunity, we achieve equality and full participation in all aspects of American life,” said Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “We are grateful to Congressman Kweisi Mfume and Senator Chris Van Hollen for championing this recognition. This museum will serve as a national platform for dialogue, education, and inclusion—connecting our rich history with action that makes a difference.”

“We are proud to support this effort to uplift and honor the blind community with a museum here in Baltimore,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “Our city prides itself on celebrating the history of those who shaped our nation, especially folks whose stories are not often told. We look forward to supporting the best federal delegation in the country as they work to advance this bill.”

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), founded in 1940, has preserved a great number of artifacts, documents, and literature that chronicle both the struggle and progress of blind people across the United States. The NFB has committed to the collection, preservation, and curation of the history of the blind through the establishment of a museum to house these artifacts. The museum will serve as a national platform to explore these stories, foster understanding, and spark dialogue today.

Recognizing the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement as the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement would be a significant step towards providing long-overdue national recognition to the many contributions to our nation and its collective history that have been made by blind Americans.

A National Museum for a National Movement

The introduction of this legislation is not merely a ceremonial gesture. The designation of the “National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement” recognizes what we have long known: that blind people have shaped, and continue to shape, America’s pursuit of justice and equality. The history, lived experiences, and contributions of blind people are essential parts of the American story which deserve a permanent and prominent place in our national memory. The Museum of the Blind People’s Movement—soon, we hope, the National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement—will stand as a testament to the truth that the stories of blind people are worthy of preservation, study, and celebration at the highest level. It will affirm that our history matters. It will invite the nation to learn from our journey. And it will ensure that the stories of blind people—stories of determination, innovation, leadership, and love—are preserved and shared for generations to come.

Appendix: Complete Bill Text
A BILL

To designate the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement in Baltimore, Maryland, as the “National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement”.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement Act”.

SEC. 2. Designation of National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement.

(a) Findings.—Congress finds the following:

(1) Equal treatment under the law and equal access to all the rights, privileges, and protections of the Constitution are core tenets of the philosophy of the United States of America.

(2) Those noble and lofty ideals have not always been met throughout the course of this country’s shared national history and its movement toward a more perfect Union.

(3) People with disabilities have faced unique challenges pertaining to accessibility and civil rights.

(4) Blind individuals have experienced systemic discrimination and low expectations but, despite these barriers, have historically made significant contributions to society which have often gone underrecognized.

(5) Blind people self-organized on a national basis in 1940 to establish the National Federation of the Blind which has served as a vehicle for collective action by the blind themselves to raise expectations in society.

(6) The National Federation of the Blind has served as the model and inspiration for the development of blind-led organizations the world over and sparked the creation of the International Federation of the Blind which later became part of the World Blind Union.

(7) Throughout the course of its eight-decade crusade to ensure the full integration of the blind into society on the basis of equality, the National Federation of the Blind has acquired innumerable artifacts, documents, and literature detailing the individual and collective accomplishments and struggles of blind people and how those individuals have contributed to the broader American society.

(8) The United States has no cultural institution that centers the experience of blind people and elevates the understanding of how those individuals have worked together to improve society and to change the negative misconceptions about the blind in the Nation and around the world.

(9) The National Federation of the Blind has chosen to commit to the collection, preservation, and curation of this history through the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement located inside the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

(10) This will be the first museum owned and operated by the blind of America.

(11) The museum, as well as the existing archive which is currently available to researchers, will serve as a national platform to explore the struggles and successes of the blind as individuals, as collectives, and as a movement, and to encourage understanding of the past, and facilitate awareness and evoke dialogue in the present, while inspiring respect, determination, and action for an equitable future.

(b) Designation.—The museum known as the Museum of the Blind People’s Movement, located at 200 East Wells Street in Baltimore, Maryland, is designated as the “National Museum of the Blind People’s Movement”.

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[PHOTO CAPTION: Cricket X. Bidleman]

The Myth of the SuperBlind

by Cricket X. Bidleman

From the Editor: Cricket Bidleman has contributed to these pages before on the topics of fostering inclusion and helping blind people to understand our full potential. Here are her thoughts on how myths of what the Federation expects or is perceived to expect can present barriers to inclusion and how this can be avoided. Here is what she says:

When I entered the National Federation of the Blind about a decade ago, I noticed a tendency among some other members to hold up role models that I will call the SuperBlind—people (many of whom were in leadership) whom they perceived to be capable of anything and everything. At the time, I was a high school student, and I was awed by the concept of these people. Occasionally, I was accused of being one of them, but I am not, for reasons I will describe in this article. While mentors and role models are crucial to our movement and to our individual development as blind people who live the lives we want, I have come to believe that demonstrating our philosophy of blindness isn’t about being good at everything, and that when we emphasize the skills of our leaders too much, we can unintentionally create a barrier to entry or full participation in our organization.

When I was little, I often memorized directions for mom, who admitted to being “navigationally challenged.” I could tell from various context clues about how quickly she drove, and as a result, about where we were on a route. I would tell her things like, “When we get to [insert street] turn right, but be careful of the trolley tracks.” I am now navigationally challenged myself, since I take medication with the unfortunate side effect of making me dizzy almost constantly. Directional corners are now very much beyond my grasp. I am ashamed of how often I use a GPS when traveling independently, even to places I’ve been to dozens of times. I walk a lot because it’s good exercise and affordable, but I do often feel like I have something to prove, like if I work hard enough, I can be as good as (or better than) I used to be. I can reach that SuperBlind travel standard, whatever it is.

I used to be proud of how good my memory was. I didn’t brag about it because there was no reason to, but it certainly was a strength. If you gave me a phone number, or a story about you and your family, they would be in my head forever. Some thought I had a photographic memory, which I did not, but it was certainly above average. I did very well academically, and I wanted to go into physics because I had an aptitude for it. College math kicked my butt though, and then I started having medical issues. For various reasons, including brain surgery, that memory is no longer there. It might be what is called working memory… Or maybe it’s short-term memory. I forget which. I now have to work hard to remember those things I used to just know. Someone had to remind me of her shellfish allergy probably a dozen times before I remembered, and now I’ll never forget, but mostly out of embarrassment.

My parents refused to allow me to learn daily living skills, which my teachers and I often argued with them about. One day, one of them sent me home with a packet enumerating reasonable expectations for blind students of various ages, and though I found using a can opener fairly intuitive, I couldn’t do much else. As with many kids presented with a “forbidden fruit,” I desperately wanted to learn to cook, and I often read about food science. In college, I taught myself how to cook based on what I learned, and I am proud to say that I am especially an avid baker. There is always more to learn about cooking and housekeeping though, and if there is one thing I love, it is learning. Although I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t have to do laundry…

These examples illustrate how my skillset has changed, even over just the last decade. The navigational and memory issues are a matter of circumstance, and although I wish my parents had let me learn to cook, there’s a chance I wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I do now. I was never one of those mythical SuperBlind, and I’m certainly now even further from this unreachable bar. I have more disabilities than I did back then, and my strengths and weaknesses have changed.

Unfortunately, some of the worst oppression has come from within my own community, and I know others have similar experiences. There’s a lot of literature supporting this for various minorities. We reasonably expect empathy to come from within the Federation because no one understands the blind experience like blind people do. But some, probably unintentionally, have made me feel like a burden because of my navigational, memory, and back issues, all of which I’m insecure about. I am not innocent either, though. I have made others feel similarly, the vast majority of which has been unintentional, and if I have done that to you, I unreservedly apologize. Being more intentional about avoiding micro-aggressions is essential if we want to help everyone feel welcome in our community, and it is something we should all work on. Including me. This is one way to foster inclusion, which is one pillar of what the Federation stands for.

When we hold up people as mentors or role models, we should remember that all of them are likely to have insecurities and things they are working on. Creating a community in which individuals feel comfortable being vulnerable is impossible when we think of and advertise others as the SuperBlind.

Externally, I strongly dislike when I meet someone who, upon finding out that I’m part of the National Federation of the Blind, says, “Oh, so you’re one of those Federation people,” with a tone clearly conveying their perception that we feel we’re somehow superior. We are not, and I haven’t met too many people who actually feel they are. Especially in a world seeking to divide us based on wealth, disability or lack thereof, or any number of characteristics, we really can’t afford to convey this attitude, either to others not yet part of the community or to those within.

The myth of the SuperBlind does not describe who we are; instead, it tempts us to measure ourselves against fantasies rather than realities. The philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind teaches something different: that blindness is not what holds us back. Low expectations are what limit us. Low expectations tell us that as blind people we cannot do anything. This is certainly toxic. But so is claiming that we can, or must, do everything perfectly. This is an unattainable standard. Our collective strength lies not in an image of perfection, but in the truth that blind people, like all people, grow and change. We learn skills over time; circumstances shift; new challenges emerge. None of this diminishes our capacity. Instead, it reminds us that we build competence through opportunity, community, and belief in one another.

The Federation builds a world where blind people can live the lives we want. This means building a community where no one feels the need to perform invincibility. It means supporting each other as we try, fail, learn, adapt, and succeed—often in ways that look different from one person to the next. When we embrace the full range of blind people’s experiences, we deepen our understanding and strengthen our movement. If we reject the myth of the SuperBlind, we make room for something better: a philosophy grounded in dignity, shared responsibility, and real expectation. We become a community celebrating both vulnerability and authentic success, where everyone belongs. This is the future the Federation is building—one where we recognize that none of us must be superhuman to be equal, capable, and free.

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[PHOTO CAPTION: Jesse Shirek]

The Key to Keeping Benefits While Saving for the Life You Want

by Jesse Shirek

Have you ever dreamed of being able to save money to buy your own home, go on a Caribbean cruise, or purchase that Monarch Braille display you’ve always wanted without affecting your federal benefits? Have you wished for a way to invest your savings so your dollars grow tax-free, and to be able to withdraw money when you need it most without penalties or negative consequences? It may sound too good to be true, but if you became blind or disabled at or before age forty-six, you likely qualify for an ABLE account—a benefit that far too many people are unaware of or are simply not using.

The Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, commonly referred to as the ABLE Act, was signed into law on December 19, 2014. This groundbreaking legislation made it possible for eligible disabled individuals who acquired their disability before age twenty-six to qualify for an ABLE account. On December 29, 2022, Congress expanded this opportunity through the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, increasing the age of onset to forty-six. As of January 1, 2026, millions more blind and disabled Americans now have access to this life-changing savings tool.

An ABLE account is a special, tax-advantaged savings account that allows qualified blind or disabled individuals to save money for disability-related expenses without losing eligibility for federal programs that have strict resource limits. That definition is accurate, but it can still feel abstract, so let’s talk about what it actually means in your everyday life.

Let’s use the example of Pat from Pittsburgh.

Pat is a blind person who receives Supplemental Security Income, commonly known as SSI, and is not currently working. Under SSI rules, Pat is not allowed to possess more than $2,000 in cash or savings without losing their benefit. Like so many people, Pat used to feel trapped, unable to set anything aside for the future. But once Pat learned about ABLE accounts, that changed. By saving money in an ABLE account, Pat can now set aside up to $100,000 without jeopardizing their monthly SSI payment or other essential supports.

ABLE accounts also ensure that individuals can maintain eligibility for other important programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid, and affordable housing programs through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Instead of worrying about losing benefits by saving too much, ABLE account holders are finally able to plan ahead and build security.

In 2026, an individual can save up to $20,000 per calendar year in their ABLE account; this is known as the annual maximum contribution limit. If the account holder is working and not contributing to a retirement account through an employer, they may be able to save even more. It is remarkable to think that gifts or donations from family and friends can now go directly into your ABLE account without counting as income that could reduce or eliminate benefits. For example, a cash gift given directly to you may be counted against your SNAP eligibility, but when contributed to your ABLE account, it will not be counted as income at all.

Money saved in an ABLE account must be used for qualified disability expenses, but that phrase covers far more than people first expect. Funds can support health needs and costs associated with maintaining or expanding independence or quality of life. This means ABLE funds can be used for food, medications, medical care, housing costs and utilities, transportation, clothing, or employment-related needs. Quality of life matters too, so travel, hobbies, and entertainment also qualify. I recommend holding onto receipts for purchases made with your ABLE account funds, just in case you ever need to verify that your spending meets the intended purpose of the law.

ABLE accounts are administered at the state level, and today forty-six states and the District of Columbia operate ABLE programs. It’s a good idea to review your own state’s program first, because some states offer state tax deductions or tax credits. If you live in a state without its own program, or if you simply want to explore your options, you can enroll in another state’s program. You may find that an out-of-state program offers lower fees or different investment options that better suit your goals. Many programs offer a basic savings account as well as investment portfolios with higher earning potential. Each state’s program is different, so it is worth doing a little research to make sure you choose the one that is right for you.

Because ABLE accounts operate as investment accounts, there are a couple of ways to spend the money. You can transfer funds into a checking account when you are ready to make a purchase, or you can request a debit card from your ABLE program. Returning to our earlier example, Pat finds the debit card option especially helpful because they do not yet have a strong enough credit history to qualify for a traditional credit card. Their ABLE debit card works seamlessly to pay for rides on Uber, Lyft, or Waymo, making daily life more convenient and supporting independence.

Another powerful way to use an ABLE account is for meaningful long-term savings. Pat’s older brother Roger became blind at age thirty-four and only recently learned he now qualifies too. He plans to begin saving a portion of his earnings from his sales job, choosing more aggressive investments so that his savings can grow tax-free. When Roger eventually needs to use that money, and as long as he spends it on qualified disability expenses, he will not be taxed on the growth or withdrawals.

I hope this article has helped you see just how valuable an ABLE account can be. You no longer have to feel stuck living benefit check to benefit check, unable to set money aside or plan the life you want. You deserve the opportunity to dream, to save, and to build a future filled with possibility.

If you would like to learn more about ABLE accounts, I encourage you to visit ABLETODAY.org. The site includes a wealth of information about the rules governing ABLE accounts, as well as detailed comparisons of every state program. You can also reach out to National Federation of the Blind Government Affairs Specialist Jesse Shirek at jshirek at nfb.org<mailto:jshirek at nfb.org> or by calling 410-659-9314, extension 2348.

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[PHOTO CAPTION: Marie Kouthoofd]

Razor-Blade Reflections: What You See Isn’t Always What You Get

by Marie Kouthoofd

From the Editor: Marie Kouthoofd has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind for thirty years. She became a Federationist in 1996, when she also won her first of two NFB scholarships; the second was three years later and was the prestigious Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship from the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. She hails from New York, where she served as first vice president of the Federation affiliate there for several years. These are accomplishments enough, but Marie obviously wished to continue to improve her blindness skills, and to that end she attended BLIND Inc., now the Minnesota Center for the Blind, in 2012 and 2013. Now a retired college professor and entrepreneur, she lives in Hawaii with her husband Rodney and guide dog Mango, where she is very active in the Honolulu chapter. She has three adult children, two of whom reside in New York and one in Hawaii. Here is her funny and thoughtful take on the misperceptions we sometimes have, and more often face, as blind people:

Perspective is everything. Ever think you saw one thing, only to find out it was something completely different? Give me a quiet nod if you’ve been there—maybe even a little chuckle.

I live with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). I wasn’t born blind—my eyesight has changed slowly, unevenly, over time. Like many of us, I’ve gotten pretty good at navigating the world with less sight. Still, there are the silly moments in my own life, like the time I mistook a covered pool for a tennis court. And there are the daily illusions that come with RP, where sunbeams pose as poles and dark shadows whisper, “This is how it ends!” (To my RP people, you know exactly what I’m talking about.) Those misreads are easy to explain. They come with partial vision, strange angles, bad lighting—easy enough to laugh off. But there are deeper kinds of misreadings.

I used to love watching the rainbows swirl in puddles after a good rain; the colors seemed to dance and shimmer, smiling back at me. Then someone had to ruin it with, “You know that’s just pollution, right? Gasoline runoff. It’s toxic.” Thanks for shattering the magic.

Then there was the highway off-ramp my husband and I always took on the way to our favorite lunch spot. Every summer, I’d see what I thought were tiny wild daisies lining the median. One day, I told my husband how they absolutely delighted me–how I marveled how they came back in force every year. He paused, gave me a look of reluctant pity, and said, “Honey, I’m sorry, those aren’t flowers. That median’s full of cigarette butts.” Great. So much for the world being sunshine, daisies, and red rubber balls.

But even those moments, once the sting wears off, are still surface-level. They challenge your view, sure, but they don’t shake your foundation. Then come the moments that do.

I recently bought a set of stemless wine glasses. I liked how they felt: smooth, clean, no-nonsense, and just a bit refined. When I drink water, I want it to feel like an experience. I like to add a little elegance to the routine.

After a few dishwasher runs, I noticed what felt like buildup on the bottom—gritty, tacky, and annoying. I figured it was hard water or dishwasher grime. I tried wiping, scrubbing, and abrasive sponges. Nothing worked. So I did what any stubborn, half-delusional perfectionist would do—I went full-on Marie and pulled out the razor blade. For weeks, every time the glasses came out, I’d attack the bottoms like I was restoring an artifact. They felt wrong, and I wanted them smooth again.

Then one day, my son Alex came over. I picked up a glass and said, “These things are driving me nuts. I think the dishwasher’s going. Look at this residue.” He took the glass, ran his fingers around the bottom, and said, “Oh shoot!” Enter that sinking feeling. “That’s not residue,” he said with a good-natured chuckle, the kind we always seem to find when things go sideways. “That’s the tint. These glasses are color-dipped and you’ve been scraping the design off.”

Turns out the glasses weren’t dishwasher safe, and they definitely weren’t razor-blade safe. And then it hit me: I suddenly remembered my husband saying, when we first bought them, “Oh, those are nice. They have a pretty tint.” I thought I was fixing a flaw. But instead, I was erasing the design. The glasses weren’t the problem; my perspective was.

That moment reminded me of one of the Kernel Book stories by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan. He described being given a toy horse as a child—a gift he cherished. It felt rough in his hands, so he got to work. He rubbed and polished and wiped away the imperfections. He worked hard to make it smooth, to make it shine the way he believed it should. When he was finished, he was proud. He had made it beautiful—perfect, even. But when he showed it to others, they gasped. The horse had originally been covered in gold glitter. He thought he was smoothing out a rough surface, making it better. In truth, he was scraping off the glitter. What felt like perfection to him looked like destruction to them.

But this article isn’t really about toy horses or stemless wine glasses. It’s not even about cigarette butts dressed as daisies or rainbow puddles made of gasoline. It’s about what happens when we assume something’s broken just because it feels unfamiliar. It’s about how easy it is to strip away something meaningful, something beautiful, without even realizing it, all because it doesn’t fit our idea of what’s “supposed” to be.

Both my wine glasses and Dr. Jernigan’s horse were acted on by good intentions. My glasses were damaged, that part is true. But I didn’t understand what kind of damage I was looking at. I assumed I knew what was wrong and set out to fix it, to make it better.

Instead, I destroyed the glasses. I scraped away something I didn’t fully understand, thinking I was helping, thinking I was restoring it to what it was supposed to be. But my perspective was flawed, and therefore, so was the fix I applied. Dr. Jernigan’s horse wasn’t damaged at all. Sighted people saw glitter and thought it was beautiful. But to a blind kid, the rough sparkly surface didn’t mean much. He polished it until it felt smooth, until he uncovered what he thought was its true form, its real beauty.

That’s the real trick with perspective. We see the world through our lens, shaped through our lived experience. But others see us through theirs. And when it comes to blindness, those perspectives don’t always line up. We may not see blindness as a defining characteristic, but what others see can tell a very different story.

In the Deep End Without a Belt

I go to water aerobics at my local pool. I take the bus there, get off at the drop-off point, cross mid-block, pick my moment between cars, and make my way through the lot toward the pool. I walk in on my own, set my dog up safely outside the splash zone, take my cane, and get myself to the edge of the pool. No drama, no need for applause. Just a blind woman who wants to move her body and enjoy the water.

Most days, that’s exactly what happens. I get in, do my drills, and no one says a word. But one day, In the middle of class, a woman turned to me with concern and asked, “Do you know you’re near the deep end? Why aren’t you wearing a flotation belt?” I rebutted with my usual sarcastic humor, “The question is, why are you wearing one?” “So I don’t sink and drown,” she replied. “Do you see me sinking?” I rejoined. Then came the awkward silence—my favorite—finally broken by, “I’m just concerned for your safety.”

Ah yes, the old “I’m concerned for your safety” line. But let’s talk about what she was really saying—not out loud, but in the unspoken perspective behind her questions. What she was really asking was whether I was competent, whether I could be trusted to assess my surroundings and my own body, whether I should be allowed to make decisions at all. And here I was again, in familiar territory, defending my autonomy while educating someone who had appointed herself my protector. Her concern wasn’t about safety. It was custodial, rooted in the belief that someone like me needs to be looked after. She didn’t know me. She couldn’t see me. She saw blindness, and her perspective filled in the rest.

The Checkout That Checked Me

And then there’s Walmart. My husband and I were doing our regular shopping. I asked our checkout clerk for a bottle of Malibu rum. The alcohol was behind glass, so an associate needed to unlock the display case. She looked right past me and said to my husband, “I need you to come with me.” I said, “No. I’m the one buying it. I’ll go.” She resisted. I insisted. She wouldn’t give me directions, so I found my own way. I walked across the store using memory, layout, and instinct, the same way I handle far more complex routes every day.

And that’s where things shifted from misunderstanding to hostility. She left without a word. Just slipped away. I didn’t even know she was gone; my husband had to tell me.

Sometimes, you run into people who want to manage you, guide you, and protect you, whether you asked for it or not. Other times, it gets darker—a little colder, a little more emotionally draining. This wasn’t about care or concern. This was about control, about proving a point. She didn’t believe I could do it, and when I pushed back, she wanted me to fail. She wanted me to get lost, to need help, to justify her decision to bypass me in the first place. That’s what happens sometimes. You don’t comply, so they set the bar higher just to watch you trip.

She met me at the case with attitude loaded. “Do you even know what kind you want?” “Yes,” I replied. “A magnum of Malibu Coconut Rum, please.” I asked to feel the bottle. She handed me a mini. “No, I said a magnum, that’s the larger one.” She handed me the magnum and said, “Are you sure?” “Yes.” I wasn’t on a scavenger hunt; I knew what I came for. But, at this rate, I was about two stupid questions away from cracking the seal and taking a swig. But I digress.

As we walked back, my dog made a slightly early turn. Nothing major. But she panicked. “You’re going the wrong way!” she shouted, like I was about to walk off a cliff. I calmly redirected him. “Mango, find Daddy.” He did, exactly as trained. We reached the register. I could tell something was off. I heard her say something about the alcohol, asking my husband, not me, followed by him saying, “Ask her.” I stopped cold. “What is happening right now?” Then, directly to her: “Please speak to me. Do not ask my husband. I’m the one purchasing this.” Her silence said everything. She didn’t just ignore me, she tried to remove me from the equation. She handed my agency to someone else, like it was hers to give away.

But the battle of wills didn’t end there. She had to get in the final slap by pointing to an inaccessible touchscreen and telling me to “press yes.” I thought, “Don’t we all feel powerful now?” My husband tapped the touchscreen and I finished the transaction. I then turned to her and asked, “What’s your name?” She hesitated, and then said, “Patty.”

I said, “Patty, I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day. Please know that blindness does not make me incompetent. I am a mother, a wife, a professional, and a woman, just like you. I believe it important we treat each other with mutual respect. Thank you for your assistance today.” Because, once again, there we were at that teaching moment.

Why am I telling these stories? It’s not just a venting session, although I do enjoy commiserating with my fellow travelers. It’s about perspective. It’s about how, when you’re alone, those constant little cuts—those quiet challenges to your autonomy—can start to wear you down. They can chip away at your confidence, your sense of self.

Because sometimes when people look at us, they don’t really see us at all. They don’t even see the blindness; they see their idea of what blindness means. Their perspective is warped by their fear, their pity, and their projection. And that perspective? It’s not usually intended to be cruel, but it cuts just the same. People think they’re helping, fixing what they think is broken, but all they’re really doing is carving away at who we are—not with one brutal slice, but with a thousand tiny, well-intentioned cuts, like my razor-blade strokes on those wine glasses. But once you know who you are and that you don’t stand alone, even the sharpest cuts can’t diminish you. Instead, they fuel your conviction.

Our perspective as blind people is not optional. It’s not theoretical. It’s valid. It’s lived. It’s ours. We know what blindness is, because we live it every day. You are not the problem. You are not broken. And you are most definitely not alone. We have each other, our shared experiences, our shared wisdom, our shared knowledge. Others may misjudge us, but our perspective is grounded in truth. We are rooted in the strength of those who came before us, people who knew the sting of judgment, who pushed past the same barriers, who believed in us before we ever showed up. They paved this road. They built the foundation. And because of them, we walk with assurance.

So if I’m allowed to offer some unsolicited advice, here it is: The next time someone tries to offer you a floatie you didn’t ask for, questions your ability to buy rum, or assumes your blindness makes you less, remember that what they perceive as a flaw is nothing more than a reflection of their own limits, and that so-called flaw became the fire that forged us into something stronger, sharper, and more relentless than they’ll ever be able to comprehend. Federation family, keep that fire burning.

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[PHOTO CAPTION: Gary Wunder]

Changing Words, Changing Minds, Changing the World

by Gary Wunder

For as long as there have been people, there have been ideas about blindness. Some are kind, some are cruel, and many are simply wrong. A sighted stranger may gush that a blind person who travels independently is “inspirational.” Another may think they are being helpful by insisting on doing what we as blind people can do perfectly well alone. Blind people themselves may sometimes doubt their own potential, not because of any lack of skill, but because of the weight of messages they have absorbed from childhood.

It is tempting to say that change comes from teaching people the right words: avoid this phrase, use that one instead. Language does matter—it sets boundaries for what can be imagined and what cannot. But real change is more than words. If a person says “visually challenged,” “visually impaired,” or “visually handicapped” instead of “blind,” yet still believes blind people cannot work, marry, or raise children, then nothing of importance has changed. The deeper work is not just to refine how people speak but to transform what they believe.

Surface Change vs. Deep Change

Psychologists often distinguish among compliance, identification, and internalization. Compliance happens when people change their outward words or actions because they feel pressure. Identification happens when they imitate a group they wish to join. Internalization is the deepest form of change: a belief becomes part of a person’s identity.

The field of blindness shows all three. A person might stop telling offensive jokes about blindness because they fear criticism—this is compliance. They might start using respectful terms because their friends do—this is identification. But only when they truly accept that blind people are equal participants in society will they reach internalization.

The challenge for us is not just to stop offensive words but to nurture the conditions for deep change. We want people to see blind people differently, not just talk differently in public.

How Change Happens

History offers encouragement. In living memory, blind people were routinely excluded from schools, professions, and civic life. Employers assumed blindness meant unemployability. Colleges denied admission. Parents of blind children were urged to expect little.

Today, the landscape is different. The White Cane Laws in the states and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act provide protection, but more importantly, expectations have shifted. Blind lawyers argue cases before the Supreme Court. Blind engineers design software used worldwide. Blind parents raise children who never doubt the capacity of their parents. None of this was common just a few generations ago.

Change came because blind people themselves insisted that it could. The Federation challenged assumptions through advocacy, lawsuits, and personal examples. Each blind person who traveled independently, who excelled in a classroom, or who succeeded on the job made it harder for society to cling to outdated beliefs.

But there is more: individual effort must join with collective action. One blind teacher suing for her right to work could win a personal victory. But when hundreds of blind teachers came together, supported by the infrastructure of the Federation, we transformed the profession itself. One blind person advocating for white cane recognition could change a single encounter with law enforcement. But when blind people in many states organized, we established White Cane Laws that recognize the rights of blind pedestrians everywhere.

This is the lesson: individuals are absolutely necessary, but individuals acting together, with a common purpose and a structure to sustain their fight, can move mountains.

The Power of Language—and Its Limits

We must be clear: language can open doors, but it is not the whole journey. If a teacher switches from saying “handicapped” to “student with vision loss” or even “blind student,” but still steers blind children away from advanced classes, the words are hollow. If a company writes diversity statements but never hires blind applicants, the commitment is empty.

Words are signals, and they matter because they shape expectations. Yet words must be matched with action. That is why the Federation does not stop with language reform but insists on equal access, full participation, and high expectations.

The Role and Responsibility of Each of Us

It is natural for blind people to value privacy. Not everyone wants to be on stage all the time. Sometimes we want to run errands without questions, ride a bus without commentary, or simply live without being seen as an example. That desire is reasonable, and privacy is part of human dignity.

Yet here is another and vital part of the truth: attitude change must fall to each of us. Every encounter with the public is an opportunity to shift perception. When a child sees a blind person using a cane with confidence, when a coworker hears a blind employee solve a problem, or when a neighbor observes a blind parent organizing a school fundraiser, those moments are lessons that ripple outward.

We may not always want to be “blindness ambassadors,” but if privacy always outweighs the chance to educate, then change will stall. We will live with less progress and more frustration than we want. Seen another way, though, public interaction is not a burden but a cherished opportunity. Each time we explain, demonstrate, or simply live our lives with confidence, we invest in a future where the next blind person faces fewer barriers. We should work to feel in our hearts that there is no such thing as a stupid question but rather that each question is a chance to inform with a polite and dignified answer that not only speaks to an issue of blindness but also to the civility on which good communication and the building of relationships is based.

Why Authorship Should Not Be a Barrier

Sometimes our work faces skepticism not because of what we say but because of who says it. An article submitted to a professional journal may be dismissed simply because it comes from the National Federation of the Blind, as though our firsthand experience makes us less credible rather than more. Yet history shows that truth does not always come from official credentials.

Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, was dismissed by chemical companies when she warned of the dangers of pesticides. Her book Silent Spring changed environmental policy worldwide. Rosa Parks was not a legal scholar, but by refusing to give up her bus seat she reshaped the law. Ordinary people, when persistent and clear, have changed nations.

Blind people are experts on blindness. Research by blind scholars and testimony from blind workers are not biased detours from objectivity—they are essential evidence. If reviewers dismiss our work because of its source, that reveals more about their bias than our merit.

How We Reach the Public and Decision-Makers

Academia is not the only gatekeeper of truth. Change spreads when ideas move beyond scholarly journals and enter everyday conversation. The Federation has shown again and again that the public can be reached. Here are just a few examples:

  *   White Cane Awareness. Once, blindness laws varied wildly, and few drivers knew to yield to blind pedestrians. Through coordinated Federation advocacy, white cane laws spread across the country, changing not only statutes but everyday driver behavior.

  *   Blind Teachers. In the mid-twentieth century, many school districts refused to hire blind teachers. The Federation’s lawsuits, testimony, and collective insistence changed that landscape. Today, blind teachers instruct at every level of education.

  *   Technology Access. The Federation has pushed relentlessly to ensure that websites, software, and devices are accessible. One person’s complaint could be ignored, but thousands of voices, coordinated, forced companies to change their design.

Beyond these major efforts, the way forward is familiar, and here are some ways we individually and collectively continue our progress:

  *   Tell our stories. Personal accounts of success, struggle, and ordinary life undercut stereotypes more effectively than statistics alone.

  *   Be visible. The more the public encounters blind people as colleagues, leaders, parents, and neighbors, the less space there is for outdated assumptions.

  *   Use accessible media. Blogs, podcasts, community talks, and mainstream press reach audiences far beyond conference rooms.

  *   Connect to values people already hold. Most people believe in fairness, opportunity, and community. We frame blindness not as tragedy but as part of the human family, demanding equal treatment.

  *   Model the change. When blind people themselves expect equality, live it, and teach it to each other, sighted people take notice.

What Real Change Looks Like

We know we are making progress when people stop catching themselves mid-sentence to substitute a polite word, and instead truly understand that blind people can and do live full lives. We know change has happened when a hiring manager does not just avoid discriminatory language but also hires and promotes blind workers. We know it when a blind child grows up never doubting she can be a scientist, musician, or parent.

Words open the door. Belief and action walk through it.

A Call to Action

Changing attitudes is not the work of experts alone. It belongs to each of us, but it becomes most powerful when we act together. When we speak up, when we write, and when we live openly as blind people expecting equality, we educate and make change. When we join our voices in the Federation, we amplify those lessons into laws, policies, and cultural norms that endure.

Change begins with individuals, but individuals united with infrastructure, purpose, and persistence change the world. This is why we so often say, “Let’s go build the National Federation of the Blind,” and why so many of us act each and every day to do it.

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[PHOTO CAPTION: Anil Lewis]

[PHOTO CAPTION: Student Leaders Panel: Manahil Jafri, Gene Kim, and Kinshuk Tella]

Perspectives on Growing Pains in the Organized Blind Movement: A Panel of Student Leaders

Moderated by Anil Lewis

From the Editor: The final presentation of the 2025 National Convention before the banquet was a panel of student leaders discussing the challenges that blind students too often face as they transition from involvement in the Federation’s state or national student activities to new roles in their local chapters and affiliates. This powerful presentation is still shaping discussion in our movement, as evidenced by a recent episode of the Nation’s Blind Podcast. Hopefully you didn’t miss this presentation because you left early, but if you did, or if you want to review their candid insights, here is the discussion, beginning with President Riccobono’s introduction:

PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: All right, everybody, we have a great panel coming up and you will not need to leave early because you won’t want to miss this. This panel is one that I’ve been waiting for, and I think you’re going to find it’s going to cap off a great convention of presentations: “Perspectives on Growing Pains in the Organized Blind Movement.” In the interest of time, I’m not going to take a lot of time to introduce the tremendous panelists we have.

They’re all young, emerging leaders contributing to our movement, and I’ve asked them all to come talk to us about the growing pains of transitioning from being a student to being an active leader in affiliates in the National Federation of the Blind. And I think their sharing their perspectives will help all of us better understand what we can do to continue to foster the next generation and continue the legacy of giving.

In the spirit that we have in the National Federation of the Blind, I’ve asked a gentleman who we all admire for his leadership across the generations of this movement to moderate this panel. So please welcome our Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives, Anil Lewis! [Applause and music]

ANIL LEWIS: All right! What a day, what a week, you guys! Some people left but they made a mistake because this panel is going to be a very dynamic panel. I don’t get an opportunity to give a Blindness Initiatives report, but President Riccobono talked about all the good work we’re doing in that space. But this is even more important because, as we say with blindness initiatives, the projects and programs that we operate are intended to build the Federation, and there’s no better way to build a Federation than making sure we create opportunities for our leadership to constantly grow and evolve.

So let me say this: this may be the last presentation on the agenda, but this is really going to be a call to action for work we need to do throughout this coming year. We have some young people here that are leaders in this organization, and I just want to be very candid because we’re going to have a very frank discussion around a topic that’s essential for us to address if we really want to continue to build the National Federation of the Blind.

We have a tremendous student program. Our National Association of Blind Students are phenomenal. [Applause] But we recognize that we’re not doing our best to tap into that talent as they evolve from being students to leaders in the broader organization.

We have three courageous young people that are going to talk about their evolution, some good, some bad, but I think that it’s important for us to know the full story if we’re going to develop some projects, programs, interventions, and strategies to make sure that we can continue to tap into this resource. So first, I want to let them introduce themselves very quickly by talking about the roles that they play. This will establish their credibility to you. So we’ll start with Manahil Jafri. [Applause]

MANAHIL JAFRI: Hi everyone. My name is Manahil Jafri. I am a recent graduate of Cornell University and a proud graduate of the Colorado Center for the Blind. And I have served as the first vice president of the National Association of Blind Students and have recently stepped down from that role a couple days ago and have served in NABS for the past four years and am proudly in a couple weeks going to start my first full-time job as an associate product manager at SMP Global.

ANIL LEWIS: Awesome, thank you, Manahil. Next is Gene Kim. [Applause]

GENE KIM: Hi everyone. My name is Gene Kim. I recently graduated from Stanford University studying human/computer interaction and accessibility, and in a couple of months I will be starting my PhD in computer science at MIT. [Applause] Thank you. Manahil is better than me at most everything in life. However, I did go to the Colorado Center for the Blind one year before she did, so I will take that win.

In terms of my other Federation involvement, I first joined the national student division in 2020 helping with a lot of back-end work, like social media, logistical tasks, helping out with our website as the webmaster. Then I served on the national student division board of directors, including being the secretary and chairing the membership committee and a handful of other roles for about three years.

In terms of my other Federation involvement, I serve on the Jernigan Fund Committee and the National Membership Committee. I also serve on the board of directors of the National Science and Engineering Division. I also help with some of the STEM2U programming to bring accessible STEM to our blind youth.

And in terms of my state involvement, I’ve been helping out with our student division in various roles for about six years, and I’ve been helping with our state scholarship program including this past year where I chaired that committee as well.

ANIL LEWIS: And later we’ll hear what he does in his spare time. [Laughter] So next is Kinshuk Tella. [Applause]

KINSHUK TELLA: Hey guys, how’s it going? Thanks so much, Anil. So my name is Kinshuk and I’m from the Great Buckeye state of Ohio. Where are you at? [Applause] There you are. Awesome. So I am a recent-ish graduate from the Louisiana Center for the Blind.

I know my friends up here, they don’t know, but no, this is the better center. And I’m also a recent-ish graduate from Miami University where I got my master’s in environmental science and my undergrad in geology.

ANIL LEWIS: Nice.

KINSHUK TELLA: Within the NFB I had a really interesting start, but I have served within my chapter as a member, a secretary, within the NFB of Ohio as a board member, and more passionately I really love to help or coordinate and run our state scholarship program the past couple of years in Ohio and nationally. I recently—not recently, but a year or two ago—I finished my term on the National Association of Blind Students Board of Directors as a board member.

And I’ve served for four years in NABS in various capacities, helping to, much like Gene, run student seminars. I worked on the content creation committee, ran the podcast with a really wonderful, [someone cheers] there we go. And then I’m really involved with the NABS and, more recently nationally, I’m serving on our national scholarship committee this year.

ANIL LEWIS: And as I said, we’re going to have a frank discussion. So I want to frame this very well. I read a book—yes, I read a book—I read a book by Don Miguel Ruiz. Ruiz, no, I think Don Miguel, The Four Agreements. [Applause] Thank you very much. 1997.

And it’s a simple framework, I encourage you to read it, but we’re going to practice these four agreements as these students express themselves. One, we’re going to be impeccable with our words. Two, we’re not going to take anything personally. Three, we’re not going to make any assumptions. And four, we’re going to always do our best.

I think this panel is going to model that and all of you can really pay attention to this presentation. And I think if we establish those four agreements, we’ll all learn something before it’s over. So now we’re going to have them talk about their evolution from being student leaders to their broader engagement into the organization. And we’ll start with Kinshuk.

KINSHUK TELLA: Awesome. So if there was a jackpot for getting into the right affiliate at the right time in your life and the right time for the affiliate, I think I hit that jackpot. I got super lucky to be involved with Ohio at age eighteen. This was 2019 at the time in which the NFB of Ohio had incredible, and still has incredible, leadership, an incredible ensemble of leaders who are really enthusiastic and wanting to invest in young leadership.

They were looking to restart the student division during the same year. I won the NFB of Ohio scholarship in 2019, and I think I got really lucky, honestly. And my story is somewhat uncommon, unfortunately, but it can be replicated. So I’m really excited to be talking about it this afternoon. So yes, I got involved with the NFB of Ohio when I was eighteen years old, a freshman in college. And very quickly I found the philosophy and the leadership that was modeled by the organization to be something I never knew I needed until that convention.

Incredible leaders such as President Richard Payne, Suzanne Turner, Dr. Carolyn Peters, Barbara Pierce, and so many more really invested in my success and wanted to meet me where I was. And it was that catalyst that really allowed me to grow and to get really involved with student efforts, helping to run the student division in Ohio. I met Kenia Flores at the convention, who got me really involved with NABS, and it really perpetuated these feelings of belonging and community that I didn’t really know I needed until at that point. And so ever since then, getting involved with the NFB at a local level was so much easier. Having the collaboration between the student efforts and our very important affiliate local efforts was really incredibly important in my personal development.

Despite being involved locally, the leadership in Ohio really did take the time to invest in my success nationally. A month into my involvement in the NFB, President Richard Payne gave me a really unexpected phone call. I was on campus walking home from the gym on a snowy wintery December day in Ohio, and he gave me a phone call and he said, “Hey, Kinshuk. Do you want to come to DC with me and represent the NFB talking to congressmen, advocating for policy that’s relevant to all of us?” And I thought he was crazy. [Laughter] I didn’t expect him to, I was like, what can I offer you? Right? That’s kind of the question I asked myself. But he saw a need and a place for young voices, and he invested the affiliate’s resources into me.

And that single trip to DC was incredibly pivotal to my development as a leader. And ever since then, the transition out of being in school and graduating over the past year and a half or so and transitioning into other kinds of work in the organization, especially through the scholarship programs, has been incredibly easy and seamless and positive.

ANIL LEWIS: Very nice. Thank you for sharing. So Manahil, would you like to share your story of evolution?

MANAHIL JAFRI: Yes. So thank you so much again, President Riccobono for hosting this amazing panel because this is a conversation that is really important to have. As I am so happy for Kinshuk about his amazing experience, I would love to talk about mine.

I mentioned in my introduction that I stepped down this week from my role from NABS, which I’ve been involved with for the past four years, ever since I found the Federation. And that’s very nerve-wracking for me because I’m not sure, and I’m still trying to navigate, where my presence and my involvement in the organization goes from here.

And it’s mainly to do with how I—and this is not just an experience that is solely for me—I’m sure if anyone here has any, maybe even affiliate presidents, anyone who knows of individuals who have been either involved in the national student division or even local student divisions in the past, it’s really common for them after they graduate college, after they’re done being a student, to leave the organization, to not continue to get involved in their affiliates in other parts of the organization. And I think it’s really important to figure out why that is the case. So to talk a little bit about my story, I first got involved a handful of years ago through winning, to be fortunate enough to win, a state scholarship in my local affiliate. And I was super grateful back then. I never met any other blind people before. I just applied for this scholarship because I needed money to go to college.

And from there I had my eyes open to meeting so many ambitious, determined, incredible blind individuals that had broke barriers that I never thought were possible. And it was so inspiring to me that I really did want to get involved and hit the ground running with this organization.

And again, at that time, and no one I’m talking about here is currently in leadership, but at that time with the previous administration in my affiliate, I felt very unwelcome in that space. I would try to reach out multiple times to ask how is it that I could get involved to no answer, to a lack of enthusiasm. Again, I was very new not only to the organization, but to the organization’s philosophy as well. So maybe I didn’t always say the right things, and maybe I didn’t always know exactly how the structure worked, but I really needed someone in that moment to teach me and help me figure out what exactly it is for me to do and how exactly this organization does function. So through my multiple times of trying to get involved in my local state to no avail, the following year I was fortunate enough to win a national scholarship. [Cheers] Thank you. Thank you. And that was an incredible experience for me because not only did I attend the convention virtually that year and see this organization on a local scale, sorry, a national scale, but I was introduced to the National Association of Blind Students, students that I felt welcomed me with open arms and really made me feel like I had a home in the organization. And through there I got very heavily involved very quickly in NABS and started some various different conversations in my home affiliate. There were two camps here, the first being individuals thinking that because I took such an active role and such an immediate role in NABS, that I had no interest in being involved in my home affiliate and that I didn’t care about affiliate work and that I felt above affiliate work, which was very disappointing for me to hear and me to observe because I know I was trying. The other camp of people, while very understanding of my newfound involvement in NABS, thought that I was way too busy to be involved and be engaged in my local affiliate.

ANIL LEWIS: Which, let me share really quickly just to let everyone know, and I appreciate you’re doing it much more fluently than I had anticipated, Manahil really had some angst about really being this candid in disclosing that she didn’t have the traditional wonderful kumbaya experience of transition through the Federation. So I really want to respect her for being vulnerable and really disclosing this. [Applause] So Manahil, I love the way you broke down the two camps. Tell us how that impacted your evolution into the work that you’re doing now.

MANAHIL JAFRI: I’m so sorry Anil, could you repeat that question?

ANIL LEWIS: Oh, I know it’s hard to hear, believe it or not from the mics, but tell us about, I appreciate you sharing the two camps description. Tell us now about how that impacted your evolution into doing work in the broader organization.

MANAHIL JAFRI: Yeah, of course. So because I felt that these two different ideologies, people thinking I was either not wanting to be involved in the affiliate or being too busy to be involved in the affiliate, that really unfortunately turned me away from trying to be involved in my affiliate. And that is, again, I am saying all of this to, a lot of this had to do with the former administration and former leadership administration.

But a big thing that I want to emphasize here is that it’s really important for individuals and affiliates to communicate with their students because the assumption was already made that I didn’t have time for my affiliate. I was not asked, not even when I reached out to ask to help with various parts, whether that be Washington Seminar, state convention, my pleas were ignored because of the assumption that I was too busy.

ANIL LEWIS: Very nice. And we’re going to talk about some solutions to that particular dilemma because what Manahil is expressing is not unique to Manahil. I’m pretty sure if there are students in this room, many of them can resonate with that same situation as well. So let’s hear about Gene Kim’s evolution.

GENE KIM: So my story falls somewhere in between Kinshuk and Manahil’s, which is maybe why they put me in between them up here. In 2019, I found the Federation as a national scholarship winner, and much like Kinshuk’s first introduction to our movement, I was a very shy, socially anxious, and awkward eighteen-year-old who got shot straight into Las Vegas. But during this crazy week, Tim Elder and Jordyn Castor from my California affiliate really made it a point to grab breakfast with me. Now I was still nervous. It was a very fancy breakfast spot somewhere I was not used to going to, and I was so nervous that I didn’t know what to pick. So I ended up picking a bagel and cream cheese, a fancy breakfast place, and I was like, man, it’s not a good first impression. But apparently that damage wasn’t too bad because a few months later in October, Tim Elder called me and said, “Hey, I want you to come to this networking dinner we have going on. It’s like fifteen minutes from your place and I think it would be a great time.” What he didn’t tell me, though, was that he was actually inviting me to an entire weekend of the California State Convention. So then, through a series of accidental events, I ended up finding myself as the secretary of this thing called the California Association of Blind Students. And then I started doing student work.

But the thing is, I noticed that the students, if I can be candid here, back then, this was about six years ago, were kind of off on our own doing our own thing. Cricket Bidleman was the president at the time, and we simply just did our own student things, our own calls. We didn’t have affiliate members showing up to our calls. There’s a chance that some of our affiliate leaders may not even have known when our calls were. And that miscommunication, that kind of siloing of our student activities, really basically gave me this perception that student division work was just student stuff, and we could not really participate, maybe we’re not qualified enough or welcome to contribute to the affiliate work. So this led me to join the National Association of Blind Students to continue that student work to have a broader impact. But then again, I felt this choice, similar to what Manahil was talking about, and for me personally, I was very busy with school and other things. So I decided I can either help at the local level or I can help at the national level, and to an eighteen-year-old who is really excited and wants to make a big impact, when you say the word “national,” that sounds very flashy. So then I left the state work and then started doing national student work. And the last couple of short stories that I’ll share is that an opportunity last year came to me to join the Kenneth Jernigan Leadership In Service program, the inaugural cohort. [Light applause] Yes. And for this program, you are supposed to ask two affiliate presidents to write you a letter of recommendation to serve as your mentors throughout the entire duration, the one year of the program. Now, I ended up asking the wonderful Jessica Beecham and Pam Allen, but you’ll notice Tim Elder wasn’t on that list. And it’s not because I didn’t have a great relationship with Tim Elder, but because I had been helping out with the national student work and interacting with Pam and Jessica, I felt more comfortable. I felt like I could relate to their stories a little bit more, just with their personalities. And I felt really bad at National Convention. I ran into Tim Elder in the Presidential Suite and I felt really guilty. I felt a little weird, if I’m being honest, but he still treated me very warmly and we had a very great conversation. And because he was seeing all of the great work I was doing at the national student level, he invited me to help out with other initiatives like the state scholarship committee on the state level. And that’s the other thing, it takes time to build up that credibility, to establish that trust between affiliate leadership and student leadership, especially when students have limited time and are interested in other things and we’re still maturing in a lot of ways. I’ll share another story a little bit later in this panel, but Tim really took a shot on me and because of that, I ended up getting more involved in the state community, getting to know our state affiliate leaders and handling different initiatives. And now I’m actually really sad to be leaving California to start my PhD in Massachusetts. I’m sure there’ll be a great community there, but I feel like I’m just starting out in California and now I’m going to be leaving. So thank you to Tim Elder for taking a shot on me.

ANIL LEWIS: Well, thank all three of you for sharing your personal story and again, hopefully this will facilitate more conversation. I have two questions that I’m going to get you guys to answer really quickly to help start framing how do we build better bridges, right? So the first question is, in reflecting upon your experience, what could affiliate leaders do that would help facilitate a better transition of your work from being involved in the student division to doing broader work within the Federation? So Gene, we’ll go back to you first.

GENE KIM: Awesome. So as I was sharing, I think I didn’t really see the value of affiliate work. I again thought national sounded flashy, that sounded cool, would look better on a resume. But then over the past year and a half or so where I’ve really gotten involved with the California affiliate, I’ve realized there’s something very unique, powerful, and beautiful about getting to know your local blindness community.

I’m working at the Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind as a summer counselor this summer, and I hear lots of stories. There are teachers of the visually impaired who have known each other for forty, fifty years helping blind babies learn different Braille skills and technology skills.

And some of them have actually known me and a lot of them have been sharing stories about how they grew up on the same block in San Francisco together. That kind of local context gets completely lost when you’re working at the national level.

So I think one thing that affiliate leadership can do is really mentor students in that sense of saying, “Hey, there’s something very unique and beautiful about the work that we do that you can’t do anywhere else.” And to get students excited and see the value of local work. The other thing I’ll say very quickly, I want to shout out this affiliate, is I went to the Nebraska State Convention last year, [Applause] and during that student division meeting, the student division was reforming and there are maybe about seven or eight students, small group of students, but strong. But there were thirty-five people in that room. There were parents, teachers of the visually impaired, vocational rehabilitation counselors, or I should say the state commission for the blind. And just seeing and showing the students that, “Hey, you are not just your own little group over there. You are integrated into this affiliate and we support you and we are here to mentor you and guide you as you take your first steps.” I think that’s very powerful. Thank you.

ANIL LEWIS: Thank you. Manahil, what suggestions do you have?

MANAHIL JAFRI: Yeah, thank you so much. So again, I agree with everything that Gene said. For my experience, I think the biggest thing that affiliates can do is communicate and showcase to the students that you are there for them.

I think the biggest thing for me is, again, as I mentioned this past year, my current affiliate president called me and acknowledged the situation of understanding, of hearing about my feelings of feeling a little alienated from the affiliate.

Because of them hearing about my alienation, they took the time out of their day to call me, figure out my side of the situation and figuring out additional ways where I can get involved in the affiliate. So that meant so much to me because it showcased that not only did they care about my involvement and my continuation, but they wanted me involved in the affiliate.

And that is something that I have frankly not felt for the past four years that I have been involved in this Federation. And I’m so, so grateful to Aubrey Bird for doing that for me and making me feel very included. And another thing, my final thing that I would say, the biggest thing that I want everyone here to take away is it is really important for the affiliates to provide mentorship and mentors for their students. When I was coming up, I thought the go-to person for me to reach out was my former affiliate president, and not getting any support there, I thought the entire affiliate was in the wrong, and that was a very poor mindset that I had there. Cayte Mendez actually recently had a conversation with me about the importance of mentorship and the importance of really looking out and finding a mentor in your affiliate to help guide you throughout the process. So I encourage for all the affiliate presidents listening, seek out your students, have lunch with them at this convention, at state convention, check in how they’re doing and figure out which ways they want to get involved and you are able to plug into their unique skill sets that they have.

ANIL LEWIS: Very nice. Thank you. Kinshuk. What advice do you have for our affiliate leaders?

KINSHUK TELLA: Look, I know that my story, I got very lucky. The Ohio affiliate was so quick and so kind to sponsor and invest in all the students in the state, but I’m only as grateful as I am today because I had the privilege of being able to serve with NABS as a national rep. I flew across the country to various states throughout my undergrad and got to interact with lots of different affiliates and see how their culture is and how they interact with their students.

And the results were so varied. It was night and day between Florida and Illinois and Wisconsin and so many other states, and they all had their own individual styles and relationships. And that dynamic itself showed me a lot about how special Ohio was. And I’m not just here to brag about Ohio, [Laughs] don’t get me wrong, but the affiliates that really invest in their students and give them the experiences, like Florida for example, like many others, those are the same students that I see this week, three years later, running around the hotel and serving in various capacities. Camille Tate in Florida and her students, they’re so active. I saw them integrated within all parts of their convention, and that really showed me the value of engagement in students. To my affiliate leadership in this room, you have to take the risk, you have to invest in your students, because we can’t expect students in states to have the conventional path to involvement through the local chapter all the time.

ANIL LEWIS: I love the way you framed it as taking a risk, and that’s important for us to do. So I want to make sure we wrap up so we can turn this banquet space around really quickly though. We’ve talked about what affiliate presidents can do, we have to be introspective, what can students do? And this needs to be a lightning round answer. So Kinshuk we’ll start with you.

KINSHUK TELLA: To my students in the room, I know there are at least thirty of you here for scholarship because you have to be here, but to my students, I know you have a thousand distractions on campus. I know it’s hard and your schedules are so variable, but the growth and opportunity in this organization will carry you so far. And don’t think that you have to get involved after you’re out of school to be involved in your affiliate, because it starts now, and it’s now that you have the opportunity to form the mentorships and connections and have the community around you that will carry your whole life. Students, wherever you go in the country, I know you’re always not going to be in the same state for your career as you are where you grew up, where you went to school. In my personal experience, I’ve traveled all over the world, not world, the country. And I’ve lived in different states, and each state I’ve been to, I’ve always felt so comfortable being by myself because I know no matter where I go in this country, there’s an affiliate, a chapter nearby, a community of Federationists that are here to support me. And that’s something that’s a privilege to have.

ANIL LEWIS: How about you, Gene?

GENE KIM: So President Elder actually tried to get me involved earlier on during my Federation journey. So he invited me to a state convention planning committee meeting, but I was a student that I didn’t really know what was going on. And because I didn’t know what was going on, I was told, “Hey, let us know what you want to help out with. We want to make sure you feel comfortable and effectively utilized.” But I didn’t know. So instead of asking questions and trying to take that initiative, I just fizzled out a little bit. And for the students in the room, I really encourage you; I know it can be daunting to enter new spaces. Maybe people are older than you, maybe you feel like people are more experienced than you, but there’s a reason you’re asked to be in this space. You belong here, you are valued, and you have a lot to offer. Oftentimes we say, oh, students are the leaders of tomorrow. Let’s invest in our students for the next generation. That’s great, but you’re also here today. You can make that impact. You are the leaders of today. So take ownership of that, find different ways to get involved, and whether even if it’s a very small task, get involved within your ability. [Applause]

ANIL LEWIS: That’s good. Thank you. Manahil, you have last word really quickly. What advice do you have for the students?

MANAHIL JAFRI: Okay. Really quickly, I would like everyone, all my new students in this room, to go to your affiliates and find a mentor. Okay. Please, please. You know, I mentioned, I talked a little bit about my story, but as we mentioned, I know a lot of you whose first convention it is, who were at the NABS meeting, mentioned how awesome and exciting it is to get involved in NABS. And it is, and we would love you to get involved in NABS, but also do not underestimate the power that your affiliate has. Please go sit with your affiliate, find them during banquet, and there is so much that you can learn from them. And communication is the key to success. So please communicate and please see the power of that.

ANIL LEWIS: Thank you. That is the key and that’s what we’re all about, mentoring. So let’s go build the National Federation of the Blind.

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Plan for the Future

“What if I was never blind? In April 2013 I received a diagnosis of Stargardt Disease. I often felt adrift, uncertain of how to chart a course towards a fulfilling life. At that time, I was employed at McDonald’s and had temporarily paused my undergraduate studies. If I hadn’t received that diagnosis, my life might have followed a completely different trajectory. I would have continued working at McDonald’s, feeling stuck and uncertain about my future, but without the guidance and support that I found through the National Federation of the Blind, I might have struggled to navigate the challenges of vision loss. Instead, that diagnosis became a turning point for me by forcing me to confront my circumstances and seek out resources and communities that could help me thrive despite my blindness. The NFB helped me realize that my vision loss didn’t have to define me or limit my aspirations. By believing in my abilities, by entrusting me with leadership positions, and through intensive mentorship, the Federation changed my life. My community helped me excel beyond where I would be if I were sighted.

Mentorship is what has brought me to this point in life thus far. Without my mentors I am not sure where I would be right now. I just hope I can pay it forward someday.” - Dustin

Blind children and adults are making powerful strides to live the lives we want every day across the United States, but we need to continue helping blind people like Dustin. For more than eighty years, the National Federation of the Blind has worked to transform the dreams of hundreds of thousands of blind people into reality. With support from individuals like you, we can continue to provide powerful programs and critical resources now and for decades to come. We hope you will plan to be a part of our enduring movement by including the National Federation of the Blind in your charitable giving and in your estate planning. It is easier than you think.

With your help, the NFB will continue to:

  *   Give blind children the gift of literacy through Braille.

  *   Mentor young people like Dustin.

  *   Promote independent travel by providing free long white canes to blind people in need.

  *   Develop dynamic educational projects and programs to show blind youth that science and math careers are within their reach.

  *   Deliver hundreds of accessible newspapers and magazines to provide blind people the essential information necessary to be actively involved in their communities.

  *   Offer aids and appliances that help seniors who are losing vision maintain their independence.

Below are just a few of the many tax-deductible ways you can show your support of the National Federation of the Blind.

Vehicle Donation Program

We accept donated vehicles, including cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, or recreational vehicles. Just call 855-659-9314 toll-free, and a representative can make arrangements to pick up your donation. We can also answer any questions you have.

General Donation

General donations help support the ongoing programs of the NFB and the work to help blind people live the lives they want. You can call 410-659-9314, extension 2430, to give by phone. Give online with a credit card or through the mail with check or money order. Visit our online contribution page at: https://nfb.org/donate.

Pre-Authorized Contribution

Through the Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) program, supporters sustain the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind by making recurring monthly donations by direct withdrawal of funds from a checking account or a charge to a credit card. To enroll, call 877-NFB-2PAC, or fill out our PAC Donation Form https://www.nfb.org/pac.

Plan to Leave a Legacy

The National Federation of the Blind legacy society, our Dream Makers Circle, honors and recognizes the generosity and imagination of members and special friends who have chosen to leave a legacy through a will or other planned giving option. You can join the Dream Makers Circle in a myriad of ways.

Percentage or Fixed Sum of Assets

You can specify that a percentage or a fixed sum of your assets or property goes to the National Federation of the Blind in your will, trust, pension, IRA, life insurance policy, brokerage account, or other accounts.

Payable on Death (POD) Account

You can name the National Federation of the Blind as the beneficiary on a Payable on Death (POD) account through your bank. You can turn any checking or savings account into a POD account. This is one of the simplest ways to leave a legacy. The account is totally in your control during your lifetime and you can change the beneficiary or percentage at any time with ease.

Will or Trust

If you do decide to create or revise your will, consider the National Federation of the Blind as a partial beneficiary.

Visit our Planned Giving webpage (https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/ways-give/planned-giving) or call 410-659-9314, extension 2422, for more information.

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[PHOTO/CAPTION: Tracy Soforenko]

Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship

by Tracy Soforenko

From the Editor: Tracy is a member of our national board of directors and is the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia. He is also the chairman of the Kenneth Jernigan Fund, and it is in this capacity that he shares the following:

Have you always wanted to attend an NFB annual convention but have not done so because of the lack of funds? The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund invites you to make an application for a scholarship grant. Perhaps this July you too can be in the J W Marriot Austin enjoying the many pleasures and learning opportunities at the largest and most important yearly convention of blind people in the world.

The three biggest ticket items you need to cover when attending an NFB national convention are the roundtrip transportation, the hotel room for a week, and the food (which tends to be higher priced than at home). We attempt to award additional funds to families, but, whether a family or an individual is granted a scholarship, this fund can only help; it won’t pay all the costs. In recent years, the grants have been $700 for individuals and $1,100 for families.

We recommend that you find an NFB member as your personal convention mentor, someone who has been to many national conventions and is able to share money-saving tips with you and tips on navigating the extensive agenda in the big hotel. Your mentor will help you get the most out of the amazing experience that is convention week.

Who is eligible?

Active NFB members blind or sighted who have not yet attended an in-person NFB national convention because of lack of funding are eligible to apply. If you have attended a convention virtually but have never attended an in-person convention, you are still eligible to apply.

How do I apply for funding assistance?

This year we will be accepting applications online. Since applications must be completed in a single session online, we strongly recommend you prepare your responses in a document and then cut and paste your responses into the application form. The application form does not support complex formatting, so we recommend avoiding formatting such as bullet points and fonts/styles.

Effective January 1, 2026, the application form can be found at the following link: https://nfb.org/form/kenneth-jernigan-convention-scho?q=form%2Fkenneth-jernigan-convention-scho

The application will ask for the following information:

  *   Are you applying as an individual or a family?

  *   Contact information: Include your full name and both your primary phone where you can be contacted by your state president and your mobile phone you might use at convention, if available.

  *   Please include your mailing address and, if you have one, your email address. If you don’t have an email address, please consider if there is a friend or chapter member who might be able to assist with email correspondence.

  *   State affiliate/chapter information: Include your state affiliate, your state president, chapter, and chapter president, if you attend a chapter.

  *   Mentor information: Include your personal convention mentor and provide that person’s phone number.

  *   Funding request: Include your specific request and explain how much money you need from this fund to make this trip possible for you. We suggest you consult with other members to make a rough budget for yourself.

  *   Essay questions to explain why this is a good investment for the NFB:

     *   How do you currently participate in the Federation?

     *   Why do you want to attend a national convention?

     *   What would you receive?

     *   What can you share or give?

     *   Any special circumstances you hope the committee will take into consideration.

Please note that applicants must be 18 years of age by the time of the convention or must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

If you cannot apply online, you can still apply by writing a letter to your state affiliate president answering the above questions. This letter should be emailed to your state affiliate president. Once you have decided you will apply, please contact your state president in person or by phone to request his or her help in obtaining funding. Be sure to tell the state affiliate president when to expect that your application will be submitted and mention the deadline.

Once your application has been submitted, your application will be provided to your state president via email. It is still your responsibility to contact your affiliate president. He or she must email a president’s recommendation directly to the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund Committee at kjscholarships at nfb.org<mailto:kjscholarships at nfb.org>. Your president must email the recommendation no later than the deadline of April 15, 2026. If you have applied outside of the online form, the state affiliate president must email both the recommendation and the application letter.

Notification of Award

If you are chosen to receive this scholarship, you will receive a letter with convention details that should answer most of your questions. The committee makes every effort to notify winners by May 15, but you must do several things before that to be prepared to attend if you are chosen:

  *   Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from attending, you can cancel the reservation. (Yes, you may arrange for roommates of your own to reduce the cost.)

  *   Register online for the entire convention, including the banquet, by May 31.

  *   Find someone in your chapter or affiliate who has been to many conventions and can answer your questions as a friend and mentor.

  *   If you do not hear from the committee by May 15, then you did not win a scholarship this year.

Receiving the Award

At the convention, you will be given a debit card or credit card loaded with the amount of your award. The times and locations to pick up your card will be listed in the letter we send you. The committee is not able to provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state affiliate to assist you by obtaining an agreement to advance funds if you win a scholarship, and to pay your treasury back after you receive your debit or credit card.

More Information

For additional information, please contact the chairman of the Kenneth Jernigan Fund Committee, Tracy Soforenko, at kjscholarships at nfb.org<mailto:kjscholarships at nfb.org> or 410-659-9314, extension 2020.

Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first convention on the national level and join several thousand active Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. We hope to see you in Austin.

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Announcing an Exciting Update to the 2026 NFB Scholarship Program

The National Federation of the Blind is pleased to announce an exciting update to our 2026 scholarship program. In the December issue, readers were reminded that we offer thirty scholarships annually to blind students from across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. For the past few years, the value of each of those thirty scholarship awards has been $8,000; however, during their December meeting, the NFB Board of Directors generously voted to increase the level of each of our thirty scholarships by $2,000, raising the total cash value of each award to $10,000.

Students may apply if they reside in the fifty states, the District of Colombia, or Puerto Rico and will be enrolled in a full-time accredited post-secondary degree program during the 2026-2027 school year. Additionally, eligible applicants must be at least eighteen years of age by July 3, 2026, the start date of the NFB Annual Convention at which the scholarships will be awarded.

The National Federation of the Blind may award up to five of these thirty scholarships annually to applicants enrolled part-time who meet all other eligibility requirements. We recognize that along with employment, family caregiving, and ongoing medical care, concurrent with post-secondary enrollment, can contribute to a need for students to carry a part-time courseload. Our application has been revised in order to provide an opportunity for students who will be enrolled part-time in the fall to share additional information with the committee.

As noted above, all scholarships will be awarded at our 2026 National Convention, which will take place in Austin, TX, from July 3-8.

The application period begins December 1, 2025, and closes at midnight EST on March 31, 2026. Go to www.nfb.org/scholarships<http://www.nfb.org/scholarships>. To apply during the four-month open period: read the rules and the submission checklist, complete the official 2026 scholarship application form, supply all required documents, and request and complete an interview with an NFB affiliate president. Remember, the only way to win is to apply!

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Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
National Federation of the Blind Partners with ElevenLabs to Transform Accessible Reading
Empowering Choice in How Stories Are Heard

From the Editor: The following is the text of a press release that was recently issued by the National Federation of the Blind:

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is proud to announce a partnership with ElevenLabs, bringing the innovative ElevenReader platform to blind readers across the United States. This collaboration represents a major step forward in accessible technology, offering emotionally rich narration that empowers choice in how stories are heard.

Text-to-speech tools are not new for blind people; however, ElevenLabs enhances the experience with options for the readers. By using advanced AI technology to deliver natural, human-like voices—including celebrity voices—for books, newsletters, and other content, users can select from a wide range of voices and upload their own materials, creating a personalized reading experience.

“Access to information has always been at the heart of our movement, and this partnership with ElevenLabs represents the kind of innovation that happens when we prioritize the authentic needs and preferences of blind people,” said Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “ElevenReader gives blind readers real options in how they experience content. The ability to choose from natural-sounding voices, personalize the reading experience, and upload our own materials means we are active participants shaping how we consume information.”

As part of this partnership, premium access to ElevenReader is available at no cost to members of the National Federation of the Blind. This benefit underscores NFB’s commitment to ensuring that blind individuals have access to cutting-edge tools that enhance independence and inclusion.

To access this benefit, create or log into an ElevenReader account and then visit https://elevenreader.io/nfb.

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NFB Pledge

I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.

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