[Nebraska-senior-blind] The Braille Monitor - November 2014
Becky McCullough
misscoffee at neb.rr.com
Wed Nov 26 11:31:03 UTC 2014
I get the braille monitor.
Becky
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Leslie Newman via Nebraska-senior-blind
To: 0senior division listserv
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2014 8:34 AM
Subject: [Nebraska-senior-blind] The Braille Monitor - November 2014
Hi you all!
RE: Are you getting the Braille Monitor? I need to know this. Pleas!!! (Write me back and tell me)
Below this section is a copy of this month's Braille Monitor. For those of you who are newish to our division, and to the NFB, this is our monthly news magazine. It is one of the best ways to learn of news about blind people, or products that are blindness related, and/or what issues the NFB is involved in. If you are not signed up for it, please do so!!! If you need help getting signed up, write or call me and I'll help you. Note: signing up means that you start getting it, automatically each month; choices are either by email, hard-copy large print or by audio that comes on a USB thumb drive. There are other NFB publications that you can also sign up for. To learn more, or to sign up, go to the following link:
https://nfb.org/publications
**Here is this month's Braille Monitor:
BRAILLE MONITOR
Vol. 57, No. 10 November 2014
Gary Wunder, Editor
Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash drive
(see reverse side) by the
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Mark Riccobono, President
telephone: (410) 659-9314
email address: nfb at nfb.org
website address: http://www.nfb.org
NFBnet.org: http://www.nfbnet.org
NFB-NEWSLINE. information: (866) 504-7300
Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind
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Letters to the President, address changes, subscription requests, and
orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles
for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national
office or may be emailed to gwunder at nfb.org.
Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year.
Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the
subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation
of the Blind and sent to:
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998
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
) 2014 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.
You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to
your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb
drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in
order to stretch our funding. Please use the return label enclosed with the
drive when you return the device.
Vol. 57, No. 10 November 2014
Contents
Illustration: Pre-K at Play
Heritage for the Blind Ads for Car Donations Raise BBB Concerns
The Blind Gun Designer: The Genius of Mikhail Margolin
by Greg Trapp
Fred Gissoni Dies
by Gary Wunder
Fred Gissoni: A Man of Change
by Larry Skutchan
What is the Cost of a Free Product?
by Tim Connell
Improving Disability Employment: A Pathway to Success for Employers and
Workers
by Patricia Shiu
Reflections of a White Cane Guy
by David Cohen
Bringing Our Animals to the Zoo
by Marion Gwizdala
NFB's iOS Resolution: Some Perspective and Context
by Jonathan Mosen
Advice to the Rookies from a Rookie
by Jamie Allison
Normal
by Daniel B. Frye
Coming to See the Unfairness of Paying Less than the Minimum Wage
by Cindy Bennett
Blindness Cured? And Thank You for It
by Eric Woods
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures
Pre-K at Play
Each year schools in Baltimore take one day from their busy school year and
send their youngest children out on the town to observe organizations doing
good work in the community. Oriana Riccobono's teacher asked if the
National Federation of the Blind would be willing to host her class. Of
course the answer was yes and the children spent more than two hours
learning about how blind people do things that the children are accustomed
to doing with vision.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: There are hula hoops on the ground in patterns that
represent the shapes of Braille cells, and the Pre-K children are standing
in the hoops to match the print letters shown on the papers inside them.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Children have their hands and arms stuck through two holes
cut in the middle of a presentation board, attempting to fill a cup with
beans nonvisually.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: A group of children "fishing" for paper fish in a kiddie
pool.]
Heritage for the Blind Ads for Car Donations Raise BBB Concerns
BBB advises donors to consider alternatives to Heritage for the Blind for
car donations
From the Editor: For several years now members of the National Federation
of the Blind have been hearing advertisements about Heritage for the Blind.
Being familiar with most service providers and charities in work with the
blind, many of us have called this organization, only to find those
answering our calls to be quite vague about program offerings. Generally we
are asked to leave a number and promised a callback. If we get one, we find
that we are offered no specific services but instead are referred to other
organizations, foremost among them the National Federation of the Blind.
Our research suggests that Heritage for the Blind provides little if
anything in the way of direct services, and it appears others share our
concern about a charity that has so much money that it can afford to
purchase commercial rates on the major radio networks, offer free vacations
to its donors, and still purport to have money left over to provide
services to blind people. Here is what the Better Business Bureau had to
say about them on September 11, 2014, in a press release that ran on their
website and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch <STLtoday.com>:
Better Business Bureau (BBB) is advising motorists who are planning
to donate vehicles to charity to consider alternatives to Heritage for the
Blind, a national charity that has been soliciting car donations in the St.
Louis area.
The charity recently sent mailers to area residents asking for
vehicle donations. The mailers urge recipients to "provide help for the
visually impaired" by calling a toll-free number and arranging to donate
their vehicles to the organization. The ads show a Heritage for the Blind
truck towing a car and suggest that potential donors ask about a free three-
day vacation voucher. BBB believes the ads have the capacity to mislead
consumers. In addition, BBB also warns that the charity omits important
information on its website and fails to adequately explain how it is
spending its money.
Charity officials have declined to respond to BBB requests for
information. "BBB has tried to get Heritage for the Blind to open up about
where its money is going without success," said Michelle Corey, BBB
president and CEO. "This organization has said, basically, that it is too
much trouble to respond. When a tax-exempt charity that solicits the public
takes that position, it is a cause for concern."
The nineteen-year-old, Brooklyn, New York-based charity raised $14
million in the five years prior to January 2013, according to Form 990
reports to the Internal Revenue Service. From January 1 to December 31,
2012, the most recent information available, the charity reported nearly
$4.2 million in contributions. Almost all of the money came from its
vehicle donation program. The IRS records show brothers Shrage and Steven
Toiv, the charity's top-paid employees, received salaries of $135,000 each
that year.
Heritage for the Blind has not responded to requests for information
from BBB's Wise Giving Alliance. As a result BBB has been unable to
determine whether the charity meets BBB's Standards for Charity
Accountability. Charity participation in a review is voluntary, but BBB
encourages participation to demonstrate transparency and strengthen public
trust. The charity also declined to discuss its operations in an email to
St. Louis BBB, saying, in part: "Heritage for the Blind is in full
compliance with all statutes and regulations of every state in the nation,
as well as those of the Internal Revenue Service, and is current with all
required filings. However, as much as we may like to, Heritage for the
Blind simply does not have the resources to respond to every detailed
request we may receive from non-governmental groups and organizations."
In its 990 IRS report and information on its website, Heritage for
the Blind says it produces and distributes large-print and Braille
religious and non-religious publications, operates a phone referral and
support program, offers educational information to consumers, and provides
a medical alert service called "Freedom Carephone." However, it has
declined to release any details on how much money is going to each program
and who it is serving. Specific BBB concerns include:
. Potentially misleading advertising. The charity's mailers and
other promotional literature asking for car donations refer to a "free
three-day vacation voucher," "free vacation vouchers," and a "free
vacation" for those donating vehicles. However, the company that is
partnering with Heritage for the Blind to provide the vouchers says,
"there are fees associated with this offer, so obviously this is not a
'free' trip. Our offers generally are 70 to 90 percent off the going
retail rate."
. Omission of important information on the charity's website.
Based on reports to the IRS, one of the charity's programs involves
the production of large-print publications. It appears that most of
those publications are religious materials distributed to the Jewish
nonprofit group, Jewish Heritage for the Blind. That information is
not included on the charity's website.
. Donations to a family member's nonprofit organization. In its
most recent 990 report, Heritage for the Blind reports that it donated
$110,000 in large-type religious publications to Jewish Heritage for
the Blind. The disclosure notes a family relationship between the two
groups, but does not detail the relationship. Rabbi David Toiv is
listed as director of Jewish Heritage for the Blind. Neither Jewish
Heritage for the Blind nor Heritage for the Blind has responded to BBB
requests for information.
. Heritage for the Blind's business relationship with the
medical alert company Freedom Phone, a business owned by Shrage Toiv.
While the exact nature of the relationship is unclear, Heritage for
the Blind notes that it provides "Freedom Carephone services for those
in need." Freedom Phone is owned by Shrage Toiv, and it is unclear
whether Freedom Phone donates the medical devices or sells them to the
charity.
Heritage for the Blind's IRS 990 report for 2012 says that the
charity spent nearly $3.9 million that year, with $1.8 million allocated to
fundraising, and $1.7 million allocated to program services. But BBB says
Heritage for the Blind has repeatedly declined to detail its program
service expenditures. Carole Bellman, St. Louis BBB's director of charity
review, said the charity's refusal to break down where its money is going
means that donors are left to wonder how the money is being spent. "For
people to be able to trust a charity, they have to know how their money is
being used," she said. "Any charity that keeps that information secret is
doing a disservice to itself and donors."
A BBB employee phoned the charity requesting assistance for a sight-
impaired relative. A charity representative told her that it could help her
access a variety of services, including books for the sight-impaired, help
with technology, monetary grants, and a folding white cane. The charity
then sent a packet of information that included two "talking alarm" key
chains (wholesale cost $2 to $6), a plastic "vision simulator card"
(distributed by the Ohio Optometric Association), a Braille alphabet card
(produced by American Foundation for the Blind), and a listing of St. Louis
area organizations that assist the blind and visually impaired.
In June 2010 New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that
Heritage for the Blind was among sixteen charities, fundraisers, and
individuals subpoenaed as part of what he called a wide-ranging
investigation of the charitable car donation industry. An official with the
attorney general's office said last week that he is "not aware of anything
current in regards to Heritage for the Blind."
National Federation of the Blind is a seventy-three-year-old national
nonprofit that works as an advocate for the blind. Its past president, Marc
Maurer, said he had worked with several staff members of his organization
trying to research Heritage for the Blind. "We have been trying to track
down what they do, with no success," he said. He said researchers who
called the organization for help often were referred to the National
Federation of the Blind.
In October 2012 the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota
asked that Heritage for the Blind stop fundraising in that state until it
registers with the Minnesota attorney general's office and "demonstrates .
. . that it actually provides useful services to blind Minnesotans." It
also called on media outlets to cease carrying the charity's advertisements
until it met those conditions.
BBB has these tips to consumers considering donating a vehicle to
charity:
. Research the charity, making sure it is tax-exempt and asking what
programs will be supported by your donation. The charity should be able to
provide detailed information about the charity's operations. Tax-exempt
charities have an ethical obligation to be transparent with the public.
. Find out how the charity benefits financially from the resale of the
car.
. For tax records take a photo of the car and keep copies of current
classified ads or guide value estimates for similar vehicles. (For more
deductibility information, get a copy of IRS Publication 561, "Determining
the Value of Donated Property.")
. Understand deductibility details. Most cars donated to charity are
sold at auction, and the donor's tax deduction is limited to the gross
proceeds from the sale. The charity must provide that amount to the donor
in writing. Donors can claim the car's full fair market value only in
certain conditions, such as when a charity uses a car in its program or
gives it to needy individuals.
. Check IRS guidelines in A Donor's Guide to Car Donations
(Publication 4303), at <www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4303.pdf>. If you are
claiming a car donation of over $500, you will need to complete and attach
IRS Form 8283 to your tax return. If the car is worth more than $5,000, you
will need a written professional appraisal.
. Transfer the car's title to the charity's name and keep a copy of
this record. The title change will help you avoid potential problems if the
car is somehow parked illegally by the organization or is involved in an
accident or other mishap before the charity sells it.
. Check out a charity by going to <www.bbb.org> or call (314) 645-
3300.
The BBB is a nonprofit, business-supported organization that sets and
upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. All BBB
services to consumers are free of charge. BBB provides objective advice,
free BBB business reviews on more than four million businesses, 11,000
charity reviews, dispute resolution services, alerts and educational
information on topics affecting marketplace trust. Please visit
<www.bbb.org> for more information.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Greg Trapp fires a C96 Mauser Broomhandle.]
The Blind Gun Designer: The Genius of Mikhail Margolin
by Greg Trapp
>From the Editor: Greg Trapp is the executive director of the New Mexico
Commission for the Blind, a position he has held since 1999. Prior to
becoming commission director, he was a senior staff attorney with
Disability Rights New Mexico. He has taught disability law as an adjunct
professor, and he is a past president of the National Council of State
Agencies for the Blind. He is also a longtime member of the National
Federation of the Blind. Here is what he has to say about a blind person
who succeeded in a field many would consider unlikely-he found success as a
gun designer.
The question of blind people and guns continues to be hotly debated.
On August 4, 2014, a video commentary was posted on NRA News in which the
commentator said, "Every law-abiding, blind individual should be able to
have whatever guns they want." The commentator was Dom Raso, a defense
instructor and former Navy Seal. The video was ridiculed by Shannon Watts,
the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. Apparently unfamiliar with
the NFB's Blind Driver Challenge, not to mention bioptic driving, she
sarcastically asked, "Should we let blind people drive, too?"
The attitude of the general public toward the blind was further
demonstrated when the Huffington Post responded to the commentary by
conducting a survey asking if it "should be legal for the blind to own
guns." Only 23 percent of respondents said it should be legal for the blind
to own a gun, while 51 percent said it should be illegal, while the rest
were not sure. The results of the survey may have been different if the
people surveyed had been told about and shown the alternative techniques
used by blind shooters or about blind people who successfully engage in
activities related to firearms. They could have been told about Carey
McWilliams, a blind hunter and author of Guide Dogs and Guns. They could
also have been told about Jim Miekka, a blind stock trader and inventor,
who can accurately fire a rifle with a photodiode scope he invented. Had
they Googled "world's best target shooter," the first result they would
have found was for Miekka, and they would have learned that he can hit a
4mm target at 100 yards. They could also have been told about Mikhail
Margolin, the remarkable blind Russian gun designer who successfully worked
during a career that started in the reign of Joseph Stalin and continued
into the rule of Leonid Brezhnev. This article examines the life and
contributions of this brilliant Soviet gun designer.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: The Margolin MCM target pistol]
[PHOTO/DESCRIPTION: The semi-automatic handgun has a long and thin barrel,
with a high front sight at the end of the barrel. The equally high rear
sight is mounted on a stationary bridge through which the slide passes as
it ejects the fired cartridge case. Though strange in appearance, the high
sights were largely responsible for the accuracy of the pistol.]
Mikhail Vladimirovich Margolin designed several successful firearms,
but he is today best remembered for the revolutionary MCM .22 caliber
target pistol. The pistol was first made in 1948, and variations of it are
still being made today. It was called the Margolina tselevoy, or the target
pistol by Margolin. The pistol was designed for use in the highly
competitive field of twenty-five meter target shooting. A modified version
of the pistol was also used as a prop in one of the most memorable scenes
in the original Star Wars movie. In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the
rebel star ship carrying Princess Leia had just been captured and boarded
by Darth Vader. The beautiful Princess Leia is shown hiding the plans of
the Death Star in R2-D2. Afterwards she is in action, and in her hand is a
blaster that she uses to down one of the storm troopers. The blaster was
actually a modified version of the unusually-shaped Margolin MCM target
pistol. The Margolin thus joined the famous C96 Mauser Broomhandle, which
was the basis of Han Solo's blaster, as a prop in one of the most famous
movies of all time.
Margolin was born in the early 1900s, a time of rapid progress in
science and technology. Many revolutionary new firearms were being
designed, primarily in the United States and Germany. These revolutionary
designs were made possible by advances in metallurgy and the perfection of
smokeless powder. Smokeless powder burned cleaner and was more powerful
than black powder, making it possible to design reliable semi-automatic and
fully automatic firearms. The preeminent gun designer of the age was the
American John M. Browning, who designed firearms that were so advanced that
some of his designs are still used by the United States military. Unlike
the United States, Imperial Russia had long struggled to expand the
capacity of its domestic small arms industry, and its arms designs had
lagged behind those of its foes. After the start of the First World War,
Russia found itself short of its 1891 Mosin-Nagant rifles, forcing Tsar
Nicholas II to order 2.3 million rifles from the United States. The
shortage was so critical that many Russian soldiers were sent to the front
with orders to get their rifles from fallen soldiers. Desperate for arms,
Russia pulled its obsolete single-shot 1870 Berdan rifles from storage and
issued them to soldiers headed to the front. In addition to the ancient
Berdan rifle, Russian soldiers were issued a bewildering variety of modern
and obsolete firearms. These firearms continued to be used in the Russian
Civil War, which took place from 1917 to 1922. The C96 Mauser Broomhandle
was one of the firearms used during the Russian Civil War. Called the
Broomhandle because of its unusual grip, it was the favorite gun of the
Bolshevik Commissars. Margolin was a soldier during the Civil War, and it
was as a result of this military service that he gained a familiarity with
this vast variety of weapons. It was also during the Russian Civil War that
Margolin sustained a head wound and lost his vision.
Margolin's response to becoming blind was described by Victor
Maryanovsky in a 1958 issue of GUNS Magazine: "First came the study of
Braille. Friends helped him to study mathematics, mechanics, and strength
of materials, all essential subjects for the arms designer. His wife read
aloud to him from textbooks and books on the history of firearms. He
collected guns and enlarged his knowledge of various weapons systems. Most
important was his splendid memory: within a few years he was a match for
any engineer. As for firearms, there was no disputing his superior
knowledge. He got acquainted with the latest models of weapons and took
them apart dozens of times in order to let his sense of touch give rise in
his mind to a mental picture."
Despite his great knowledge and enthusiasm, Margolin did not meet
with initial success as a gun designer. He had difficulty communicating his
designs, which he tried to do by hand motions. Ironically, it was this
failure that led to his success. According to Maryanovsky, "Unable to draw
the gun parts on paper, he had to explain his ideas by gestures. A solution
to Margolin's deep personal problem of communicating by his hands was found
unexpectedly, at a sanatorium where the striving inventor had gone,
depressed, to rest. He was bored by idleness. 'Suppose you try clay
modeling, that may be interesting,' suggested his roommate." That simple
suggestion transformed Margolin from a depressed patient into a successful
gun designer.
Margolin went on to use more durable and harder forms of clay as well
as aluminum and wood to create models of the guns that he had envisioned in
his head. This led to his first successful designs in the 1930s, a semi-
automatic sporting rifle and a fully automatic .22 machine gun for use in
military training. Maryanovsky describes it as follows: "As a result a day
came to Margolin of great honor, one which the most highly skilled gunsmith
could be proud of. The blind man was invited to work at designing offices
in the big government small arms factory at Tula."
At Tula Margolin studied with some of Russia's greatest gun
designers. One of those was Fedor Tokarev, the designer of the Tokarev TT-
33 pistol. The TT-33 was intended to replace the aging 1895 Nagant
revolver. Margolin designed a modified version of Tokarev's TT-33 pistol
that enabled it to fire lower power cartridges and be used as a training
pistol. Margolin also worked on a .22 sport pistol that was based on the TT-
33 frame. The pistol was approved for production on June 21, 1941. However,
the pistol was never produced. On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded Russia,
bringing the Soviet Union into the Second World War.
During the war Margolin worked as an ordinance engineer and served as
an air raid warden. Describing a German bombing raid on Moscow, Maryanovsky
wrote that, while on duty on the roof of one of Moscow's big buildings,
Margolin picked up a fallen German incendiary bomb and threw it from the
roof to the street, where it burned harmlessly. Writing of another incident
during the war, Maryanovsky wrote Margolin went "in the ruins of a lodging
house demolished by bombs" and "lead 120 old people, women, and children to
safety."
When the war was over, Margolin abandoned the pistol design he had
worked on before the war and instead designed what would become the
Margolin MCM. The gun was designed between 1946 and 1948, and the first
pistols were built in 1948.
The new Margolin MCM gained international attention in 1954, when it
was used at the 36th World Championship shooting competition in Caracas,
Venezuela. Describing the Russian team as they were about to compete,
Maryanovsky wrote, "They could not boast of great achievements in pistol
competition; they had nothing to match the German Walther or the American
Colt for rapid-fire shooting. Then Nikolai Kalinichenko took his place at
the firing line. The first shot scored, and the next . . . In two days of
shooting, sixty shots, Kalinichenko scored 584 points, beating the world
record set by Benner, the American. The team record was carried off by
Soviet marksmen, who scored 2,317 using the new pistol of Mikhail
Margolin."
The world record success of Margolin's pistol was due to the use of
several revolutionary design features. The gun was designed so that balance
weights could be attached to steady the pistol during firing. The pistol
could also be equipped with a muzzle brake to reduce the tendency of the
gun barrel to rise during shooting, a movement called muzzle climb. The
muzzle brake is at the end of the barrel, and it directs some of the
expanding gas upward and to the rear, which helps counteract the muzzle
climb. Margolin also designed a version of his MCM with an aluminum slide.
The slide is the part of a semi-automatic pistol that moves backward and
forward with each shot, ejecting the empty bullet case as it goes backward,
and chambering the new bullet as it travels forward. The lighter slide
helped the shooter hold the gun steady during firing.
Margolin also designed the sights to improve accuracy. He placed the
rear sight on the frame, creating a bridge through which the slide passed.
Margolin's design was very different from traditional pistols in which the
sights were mounted on the slide. Mounting the sights on the slide reduces
accuracy, since the slide is a moving part that could be slightly out of
alignment with the barrel. By placing the rear sight on a stationary bridge
above the slide, Margolin greatly improved the accuracy of his pistol.
[PHOTO/CAPTION: The 1895 Nagant revolver]
[PHOTO/DESCRIPTION: This unusual handgun was used extensively by the
Russian military during World Wars I and II. The revolver's most
distinctive feature is the seven-shot cylinder. The flutes between each
chamber do not extend to the end of the cylinder, but are instead hollowed
out depressions in the middle of the cylinder. The cylinder also moves
forward when the gun is cocked, sealing the gap between the cylinder and
the barrel. This keeps high-pressure gases from escaping, and increases the
velocity of the fired bullet. The unique design of the cylinder contributes
to the strange overall appearance of the revolver.]
The innovative design features of the Margolin created a very
unusually-shaped pistol, including the abnormally high sights. This unusual
shape is likely responsible for some of the comments that attribute the
appearance to the designer being blind. However, Margolin's design should
be judged in the light of its Russian contemporaries, and most Russian guns
of the time tended to be unattractive and even strange looking by American
standards. For instance, the Margolin would look right at home if it was
placed next to the 1895 Nagant revolver or the PPS-43 submachine gun or the
1891 Mosin-Nagant rifle. One of the comments that attributes a design
feature to Margolin's blindness can be found on the Wikipedia page that
describes the Margolin MCM, which states:
"The designer himself was blind. The most critisized [sic]
characteristic-the elevation of the plane of sight-so also [sic] be
explained: the designer could not aim his pistol."
Besides being a poor speller and not including a citation, the person
who made this entry is not recognizing that the criticized "plane of sight"
is actually a deliberate design feature that contributed to the success of
the pistol. In addition to the bridge that made the rear sight stationary,
the unusually high sights enabled the shooter to hold the pistol a little
lower and bring the barrel more in line with the shoulder. This gave the
shooter a slightly improved ability to control the pistol in rapid fire
competition. The high line of sight is a design feature that the Margolin
had in common with the AK-47, the famous assault rifle designed by Mikhail
Kalashnikov. The AK-47 was designed between 1946 and 1948, the same time as
the Margolin MCM. Just like the Margolin, the high sights of the AK-47
lowered the barrel and put it more in line with the shoulder, helping to
reduce muzzle climb.
Margolin's willingness to alter the barrel height to compensate for
the problems of muzzle climb was further demonstrated in the design of his
next pistol, the even more revolutionary "upside-down" pistol. According to
Maryanovsky, "The pistol which emerged was radically different from any
firearm ever before designed in the world. Called the MTsZ-1, the five-shot
competition 3.1 is built with the slide and barrel below the hand, the
magazine feeding inverted from above. This caused the 'kick' of the gun to
strike downward, aiding rapid fire control." The pistol was used by Soviet
shooters at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. After the Olympics,
rules were issued that banned the MTsZ-1 pistol. There were only about 125
upside-down pistols made, and it remains one of the most fascinating and
unusual guns ever designed.
Mikhail Margolin was a brilliant gun designer who just happened to be
blind. It is ironic that Margolin was able to achieve such great success as
a blind gun designer in the Soviet Union, and yet today many voices are
being raised in the United States that question the ability and right of
blind persons to handle and even own guns. The remarkable career of Mikhail
Margolin illustrates the point that blind people can successfully work in a
wide range of professions that many might not think possible, including as
scientists, medical doctors, nurses, chiropractors, mechanics, and yes,
even as gun designers.
References
Cherry, P. (2011, February 3). MC-3: The first upside down gun, American
Rifleman, <http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/mc-3-first-upside-down-
gun>
Maryanovsky, V. (1958, September). The man to beat in Moscow, Guns
Magazine, <http://toyfj40.freeshell.org/GunPix/Margolin.html>
MCM pistol. (2014, January 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 03:57, September 2, 2014, from
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MCM_pistol&oldid=591688449>
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Fred Gissoni]
Fred Gissoni Dies
by Gary Wunder
Before the time of Braille and speech notetakers, blind people who
used Braille wrote their first draft on a Perkins Brailler, their second
draft on the same machine, and then, when they had the document as perfect
as they could envision it, they set themselves to typing that Brailled
document in print so their sighted instructor could read it. If the phone
rang while you were typing and you stopped to answer it, you had to
remember where you stopped typing: was it before or after the comma, did
you space after it, and how could you know for sure without asking Mom,
Dad, Sister, or Brother for help-help you would sometimes have to pay for
from siblings intent on supplementing their spending money.
When people of that day thought of science fiction and how there
could be a useful invention for the blind, we envisioned a machine that
would let us type a document in Braille and have it magically turned into
print. Never in our wildest imaginings did we think this might somehow
involve a computer, and the concept of a word processor had no meaning for
us.
Sometime during the early 1980s we began hearing about devices that
had Perkins-style keyboards and could produce refreshable Braille (a new
concept at the time), and the buzz was that these machines could be plugged
into computer printers to generate printed documents from works created in
grade two Braille. Prototypes were being built by the Kentucky Department
for the Blind, and the word on the street was that two blind men were at
the center of these inventions-Tim Cranmer and Fred Gissoni.
Deane Blazie, the inventor of the spectacularly popular Braille 'n
Speak, recalls visiting with Fred and Tim to examine a machine they had
constructed using a VHS cartridge for its case. He recalls that the machine
was called a PortaBraille and that it could keep a document in memory only
as long as it remained turned on. Their meeting was to discuss how to use
this Perkins-style Braille keyboard to do document navigation, and the
design that evolved out of their two-hour meeting is so much a part of
every Braille notetaker that we take it for granted in the same way we
expect the arrow keys on the keyboard to react in moving a cursor on a
computer screen.
In writing this tribute, it occurred to me that what was missing was
personal knowledge of Fred. A recurrent theme in interviews I did spoke to
Fred's sense of humor and his friendship with Tim Cranmer. I was told that
one evening Fred and Tim were at a banquet together and that Fred
unexpectedly rose, struck his cup with a spoon until the room was silent,
and then said that he would like to introduce an unscheduled presentation.
The story is that he announced the topic, specified its length in the
evening's agenda, and then, without warning, introduced Tim Cranmer as the
presenter. I was led to believe that Tim took the podium and delivered his
speech. The audience was never aware of the joke Fred had played on them
and on his friend Tim.
My interview with Deane Blazie was immensely helpful, but he
suggested I talk with others who also had a warm friendship with Fred.
Knowing and admiring Larry Skutchan, I called to interview him, but he gave
me much more than an interview. He said that, if I could give him a couple
of weeks, he'd be delighted to write a tribute. I argued that I needed
something in four days. He gave me a draft in two, sent a revised draft in
two more with a request that I give him another day or so, and sent his
final revision one week to the day after we talked. I hope you will agree
it was worth the wait, and I want to thank Larry publicly for an
outstanding piece. It is a wonderful tribute to Fred, an interesting
insight into the work that goes on at the American Printing House for the
Blind, a tremendous review of some of the history surrounding problem-
solving strategies for the blind, and a moving glimpse into the heart and
mind of a really good man who took the time to put down the words that
appear in the following article.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Larry Skutchan]
Fred Gissoni: A Man of Change
by Larry Skutchan
>From the Editor: Larry Skutchan graduated from the University of Arkansas
at Little Rock and holds the position of product manager for the Technology
Product Research Department at the American Printing House for the Blind
(APH). There he manages a team of engineers devoted to accessible
technology. He is well-known in technology circles for creating the
Automatic Screen Access Program (ASAP) screen reader and for initiating one
of the first podcasts devoted to issues of interest to the blind--the Blind
Cool Tech podcast. Here is what he has to say about his mentor, his friend,
and one of the most inspiring people to have touched his life:
There are very few times in a person's life when another person can
change it profoundly in a positive way. Fred Gissoni affected the lives of
countless people, but his pioneering work is appreciated most by people who
are blind. As a young, inquisitive man who had been blind for only a few
years, I benefited immensely from his innovations, just as the thousands of
other individuals with vision impairment did; but Fred affected my life in
a much more personal way.
After graduating from college in the early 80s, I began exploring the
capabilities of the personal computer (PC)-called a microcomputer back in
those days. I had a degree in English and planned to attend law school, so
you can imagine the pure excitement I experienced at using a tool that
allowed me to read and edit papers on my own. Believe it or not, a blind
student either paid someone to type or got very good at it. There was no
room for mistakes. On the typewriter there was a backspace, but it did not
erase what you had wrongly typed, and the concept of inserting a paragraph
in the middle of a document was a dream, not a function. The efficiency of
a PC seems so simple and expected today, but in the early 80s it was a
liberating, exciting, and enlightening sensation to be able to organize and
manipulate thoughts and ideas so simply.
As I explored the landscape of accessible computers, I realized I had
accidentally made some pretty cool tools that others could use and began
looking for ways to spread the word. Back in Kentucky, Fred, Wayne
Thompson, and Tim Cranmer (and Tim's assistant, Deane Blazie) were already
applying simple, practical solutions to obstacles for people who were
blind. These guys comprised the technical unit at the Kentucky Office for
the Blind (OFB). Tim had adapted the ancient and effective abacus for
efficient use by those without sight, and Fred spread the word. It was a
simple solution to a real problem, and one wonders why someone did not
think of it before. That could be said about nearly everything Fred and his
team invented, innovated, or adapted. Fred's wife Betty was teaching living
skills and wanted a way to pour a liquid into a cup with precision. So the
technical unit invented the Say When. The device beeped when the liquid
level reached the sensor. Even the name evokes a smile and fond memory of
his humor and wit.
Later, Fred, Wayne, and Tim put together commercial parts to make
something called the Kentucky Light Sensor, a device that blind people have
used for everything from determining a burning light in their house to
identifying an incoming call on a switchboard. I have and use one to this
day, and it is still sold in the NFB Independence Market. None of these
innovations seem very dramatic, but they all exemplify the ability to match
ideas with components to create logical, sometimes technological solutions
to real problems.
I really don't remember in which magazine I first advertised the
Words program, but, regardless of which it was, Fred ordered the very first
one. The technical unit at OFB also used technology to find jobs for
Kentucky citizens who were blind or visually impaired. Their purchase of
Words was a solution to a problem, and, along with an Apple computer and a
speech synthesizer, it made an excellent tool for medical transcribers
throughout the state. Fred and Wayne conveyed the transcriber needs to me,
and I would bang them into the software with ease. Most memorable were the
phone conversations about interfaces and ideas on effectively applying this
new microcomputer technology. It was very exciting stuff. We were crazy
with ideas. Before we knew it, the word processing software navigated and
spoke by sentences rather than the arbitrary and useless restriction of
screen lines. I still look forward to the day when all screen readers
support that feature.
These are the kinds of conversations Fred and I had. We calculated
and laughed at the number of minutes in a day, or hours in a month, or
years in a life that got wasted by redundant and inefficient user
interfaces, especially on things like email, where you might have to listen
to the word "subject" before every subject line. Our conversations led to
features in the ASAP that analyzed the context of the active screen area
and spoke only the differences. It was an amazing experience that made
interaction with the PC dynamic and productive. Discussions in later years
focused on how to cut through the web clutter and get the right information
delivered in the right order and at the right time. We have no illusion
that we have accomplished that one yet.
Meanwhile, the APH also saw the possibilities of this revolution in
technology and began looking for someone to guide it in software design.
Naturally, as the best source for information, they consulted Fred, and he
recommended me. I was still interested in law, but programming seemed much
more fun and practical. I fell in love with the idea of what APH was about,
and they seemed interested in what I could do. Thanks to Fred, I accepted a
job offer as a systems programmer in 1985 at APH and began working on
educational software for the Apple.
Perhaps one of the more complex of Fred and Wayne's projects was the
design of a talking tablet (called a personal data assistant back in the
day). The Kentucky PocketBraille had a Perkins-style Braille keyboard and a
speech synthesizer. It also had the audio, electronics, and software to
allow one to type in Braille and use synthesized speech for navigation
through the document and user interface. They paired the concept with a
refreshable Braille display-the Tiflatel from Italy-to make what was
possibly the very first Braille notetaker. Since these designs were all
conceived as part of their work at OFB, they made the designs public
property, making this one of the earlier examples of open-source software.
Every note-taking device available today borrows elements from the Kentucky
PocketBraille.
I accepted the position at APH and moved my family to the Silicon
Valley of universal design, right in the middle of a beautiful city on its
rise to a metropolis. As an acquaintance from Houston described it,
Louisville is the smallest big city. At the same time it is the biggest
small town. I believe its diversity may have played a hand in how APH came
to be established, serving the regional needs of blind students even before
the federal government recognized it as a national institution in 1879.
That is probably how Tim Cranmer and Fred Gissoni began directing technical
developments at the Department for the Blind.
Fred and Betty welcomed us as family. We spent more than a few nights
in front of the computer, playing Eamon on the Apple II. It was quite
interesting. Fred and Betty were the kind of people who helped everyone.
Betty's guide dog Ozzie had a built-in tiled water bowl in the kitchen:
just another example of their kindness and tendency to adopt unique
solutions to solve problems.
Pamela Rader, an APH customer support representative, told me she
first met Fred on the sidewalk outside APH when she began attending the
Kentucky School for the Blind. He coaxed out her interest in broadcasting
and audio engineering.
I never appreciated the depth of Fred's personality and talent until
he came to work at APH as a customer service representative after retiring
from OFB. He loved talking people through the technical problems they
encountered in trying to unleash the magic of their technology. He was not
afraid to talk you down when you got too emotional, and he told us
programmers what he thought, too; it was usually right on target. If he
didn't know something, he knew how to find the answer. Fred's genius
extended beyond the innovation phase of an idea; he knew how to explain new
concepts that made it easy to understand, and his generosity extended to
spending his time to help.
If you perform a search of his name online, you will see countless
examples of innovations and solutions he provided. Thousands of teachers
and students still appreciate his every word, through clearly written or
recorded instructions on dozens of processes and products. I do not think
anyone can know the extent of Fred's influence in the advancement of both
simple and technical solutions to meet the needs of blind people. I loved
to solve problems with him. The solutions were always so simple. For
example, we both delighted in the technique of knowing when to empty the
dishwasher; always put a new tablet in the dishwasher after you've put the
clean dishes away. If the tablet is gone, the dishes are clean; it's that
simple. It was the simple, elemental ideas-the "that is so obvious" ideas-
that pay tribute to innovators like Fred; and he had thousands of them.
Perhaps the most endearing characteristic of his personality was the
enthusiasm and enjoyment Fred brought to every aspect of his life. I am
sure it is online somewhere, but Fred and Wayne wrote a whimsical article
that described an innovation that let the user shake Braille dots onto a
page from a salt shaker. Of course it was fanciful, but it displays the
kind of spirit, fun, and extraordinary thinking that led to many
innovations. More important, it exemplifies the character and attitude of a
man who recognized that blindness was nothing more than an inconvenience: a
man with a knack for finding ways to eliminate those inconveniences one
step at a time.
As I reviewed background for this piece, I ran across an article
written by Deborah Kendrick. In it Fred said that he considered introducing
me to APH to be one of his most important accomplishments. What an honor
that is coming from a man with so many! Fred, I commit to carry on your
fortitude, devotion to service, and practical innovation, as long as it
meets the criteria you outline in Deborah's article.
Today at APH a dedicated group of engineers share his vision and
continue to apply technology to evermore interesting problems. "Pass it
along" was Fred's motto. We can all honor his memory with similar gestures
of generosity and compassion. Thank you, Fred. Your life has influenced and
changed our lives forever.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Tim Connell]
What is the Cost of a Free Product?
by Tim Connell
>From the Editor: A longstanding debate has flourished among blind people
about the technology we use. One objection is its cost and, closely related
to that, its difference from what people who are not blind are purchasing
and using. All of us are looking for bargains, and it is never easy to
ignore a sentence in which the word "free" figures prominently. Also
attractive is using the same technology that sighted people use, because it
is usually less expensive, readily available, and easier to replace if it
fails.
About a year ago we ran an article reflecting the opinion that screen
readers cost too much and that there were alternatives. In that piece we
mistakenly said that the price of one of the more popular screen readers
was several hundred dollars more than it actually was. In making apologies
to the screen reader developers, we asked if their company might like to
make a case for the for-profit companies that have traditionally brought
screen-reading solutions to the blind. They said they would think about it,
but no article ever came.
Just last month we published an article featuring the presentation
made by NV Access at the 2014 NFB Convention. Again a good case was made
for blind people having a low-cost or free screen-reading solution, and the
National Federation of the Blind was recognized and thanked for our support
of the project. But a lack of thought-provoking material supporting the
concept of a for-profit company engaging to meet the special needs of the
blind has meant that the Braille Monitor has been uncomfortably silent
about the tradeoffs there might be if we embrace these free or low-cost
solutions at the expense of those we have traditionally relied on. The one
exception is Resolution 2014-03, "Regarding Principles That Should Govern
the Purchase of Screen-Access Technology for Vocational Rehabilitation
Clients," reprinted in the August-September 2014 issue. What appears below
is a piece that attempts to look at all of the funding models for
developing and purchasing screen readers around the world. It forces the
reader to examine more closely the proposition that the lowest price is
always better and that free unquestionably wins the day. It also suggests
that we closely examine the concept that, because specialized technology is
more expensive and necessarily different from what the sighted use, it
should be avoided, especially if the cost of that decision is reflected in
lower productivity.
Tim Connell is the founder and managing director of Quantum Technology
and has been an active contributor to the field of assistive technology for
thirty years. Quantum developed the first talking typewriter, called
SpeakWriter, the Braille-n-Print, the Mountbatten Brailler, Jot-a-Dot, and
Pictures in a Flash (PIAF). He is also a director of the Centre for
Disability Studies at the University of Sydney and lives with his wife and
two adult children. Here is what he has to say about special devices used
by the blind, the various ways their development and distribution can be
funded, and the benefits and perhaps unforeseen pitfalls that might be
inherent in those now gaining in popularity:
Recently I moved back into the suburb in which I grew up. It has been
astounding to witness the changes that have occurred in the last fifty
years. I remember a shopping center that consisted of a large number of
small family-run businesses, but, as has happened in most Western
countries, there is now just a single large supermarket, and the small
shops have disappeared. Supermarkets have brought many improvements to the
retail arena: lower costs, longer opening hours, and online shopping, to
name a few. The downside is a loss of customer service and the personal
relationships you had with your vendors. I mention this because what really
interests me is the process of change-how change can involve many small
incremental steps, none of which by themselves seem all that important.
I think there is a direct analogy with the world of assistive
technology (AT). Until recently all AT has been developed and provided by
small specialty companies. With greater frequency we are starting to see
large corporations becoming involved and an increasing number of so-called
free AT options. Perhaps it is timely that we examine what that means for
our field. What are the implications for individuals with a print
disability (low vision, blindness, dyslexia) of being able to access free
AT?
I was drawn to this topic by the recent announcement from GW Micro
that its screen reader, Window-Eyes, would now be available to download at
no cost if you owned a copy of MS Office. While this is technically not a
free product, it has created a great deal of discussion and debate, with
many calling it a game-changer and a new era for assistive technology. I
don't happen to think that is the case, and I will discuss why later. There
are also other ways that free options are also starting to appear.
. The App Model: The meteoric rise of the iPad has been discussed at
some length, and the number of free or very low-cost apps is
increasing daily. New Android and Windows platforms are adding
hundreds of thousands more.
. The Philanthropic Model: The screen reader NVDA is an excellent
example of this, in which philanthropic spending from large
corporations such as Mozilla and Microsoft has supported the
development of a competitor to commercial screen readers.
. The Health Insurance Model: In some European countries access to
vision aids is largely provided through health insurance companies,
using a levy paid by all taxpayers.
. The Universal Design Model: This is where products are designed from
the beginning with the intention of being accessible to all. The
screen reader VoiceOver on Apple products is an example of this.
. Various Models of Direct Government Funding of AT: Pretty much
everyone has welcomed the advent of these free options and believes
they are giving rise to more options and greater choice for
individuals with a print disability. What hasn't been discussed is the
possibility that these free options may ultimately have unintended
consequences and that there may actually be a high cost for a free
product. That cost may involve the loss of specialty providers and an
increased dependence on large corporations-what I would call a
supermarket model for AT delivery.
Over the thirty years I have been involved in AT, we have travelled
an enormous distance from a time when access to information was limited or
non-existent, to a world where limitless amounts of information are
available. Thirty years ago a person who used Braille needed a large garage
or warehouse to store a modest library. Today all of us can access huge
libraries just using the phone in our pockets and a refreshable Braille
display. It is easy to forget just how far we have come in such a short
period and to overlook the incredible changes in opportunities and
expectations that people with a print disability now have, all thanks to
the small specialty providers that make up the AT industry.
I am confident that history will record this period of technological
development and the rise of AT as one of the key factors in the
emancipation of people with disabilities worldwide. So, if we are going to
move to the supermarket model for AT, we need to be really sure what it is
we are leaving behind. Let's start by looking at access to the personal
computer (PC), a foundational part of almost every blind person's technical
life. The PC market has been dominated by Microsoft, both in the operating
systems used and by the suite of programs that turn our PCs into
productivity tools. Approximately 90 percent of desktop computers around
the world use a Windows operating system (compared to Apple's iOS operating
system with around 7.5 percent. Microsoft has a range of productivity tools
known as MS Office, which has a market dominance of approximately 85
percent. MS Office accounts for 29 percent of Microsoft's overall revenue
and approximately 60 percent of its profit. These are staggering numbers
and explain why so many corporations are keen to knock Microsoft off its
perch.
There have been many attempts to do just that by developing
alternative products to MS Office. For a little over twenty years we have
had access to a free alternative, now known as OpenOffice Apache.
OpenOffice has direct product alternatives, such as Writer for Word, Calc
for Excel, and Impress for PowerPoint. However, in twenty years a
completely free alternative to MS Office has been able to attract only a 3
percent market share. Other free alternatives such as LibreOffice,
NeoOffice, and KOffice have been even less successful than OpenOffice,
garnering a combined market share of 5 percent.
More recently GoogleDocs has started to pose more of a challenge, and
the whole move to cloud-based computing is throwing up lots of competition
for Microsoft. However, it is also throwing up many challenges for screen
readers and is a far more complex environment than desktop computing. We
are not assured at this stage that we will be able to maintain the same
level of accessibility in the cloud as we have at the desktop.
The bottom line is that until now Microsoft has been able to achieve
such market dominance while there has been a fully featured free
alternative. We (the 85 percent of us) have chosen an expensive tool like
MS Office over a free tool that is nearly as good. If you Google OpenOffice
and read the multitude of reviews and comparisons, you will find this
phrase repeated often: "nearly as good." However, you won't find a review
that claims OpenOffice is the "best."
To me this highlights a key problem in our understanding of the role
of AT. Up to this point I believe we have always been guided by what is
best. We have seen the development of solutions that may not be affordable
to individuals, like the early refreshable Braille displays. However, they
opened the door to innovation pathways that have resulted in lower prices
and vastly improved products. The very first video magnifiers were
commercialized by Bernd Reinecker in Germany in the late 1960s. His first
system cost twenty thousand marks (approximately ten thousand euro), which
was the equivalent of an above average annual salary. That is not a tenable
proposition for a large multi-national company today.
Our current specialist solutions have all been created by small teams
of highly innovative technologists who have applied themselves to solving
access issues for a very small population. Low volumes have meant high
costs, and those costs have become the focus of our attention.
Very few people argue that the free products are better than the
commercial products; the argument is nearly always about the cost. So, if
we accept that we always want to maintain the best options as one of the
choices people have, shouldn't our focus now be on the core issue of
funding? When we make that our focus, it is pretty clear that we have
failed to make funding the paramount issue of accessibility. Far too many
organizations and agencies have embraced the attitude of scarcity, and,
rather than take a rights-based approach and demand more funding, they now
promote a free and low-cost approach as the best way to represent the
rights of their members. However, those rights are enshrined in law, and we
need to base our claims for increased funding on the clear economic
benefits of having a more able and productive community. Lack of funding of
the best technology solutions is the true barrier to equality of access.
At the beginning of this article I described various models of
delivering free products. I'd like to take a look at each of them in more
detail. While the benefits may be obvious, the potential pitfalls may not.
The App Model
Technology and apps have and will continue to have an enormous impact
on the way we access information. They are rightfully being called
transformational technology. Many apps are free or cost just under a dollar
and are therefore available to all. However, apps, by their very nature,
have limited functionality, and a suite of apps is needed to replicate the
functionality of many existing AT products (it is estimated you would need
fourteen apps to get close to the functionality of WYNN, for example).
[WYNN is software developed by Freedom Scientific to assist people who have
learning disabilities that affect reading.] Individual apps may be
brilliant, but collectively they don't offer anywhere near the same level
of functionality, due to factors such as a lack of uniform design standards
(in menus, gestures, orientation, etc.) and a lack of support and training.
One area that apps have made an enormous impact on is in augmentative
and alternative communication (AAC), particularly communication tools. An
iPad with various apps is providing an alternative for a fraction of the
price of traditional communication tablets. As a result we have seen the
decimation of the traditional AAC business model, with estimates that there
are now fewer than a third of the AAC companies that existed ten years ago.
For the wider print disability field small touchscreen computers and
apps may one day provide an equivalent level of access, but they are
currently not a solution that will provide true equality of access in
education or employment. Anyone claiming otherwise is doing a great
disservice to the people he or she is professing to serve. These may serve
well as a great personal device, but they are not computers.
A recent report on the effectiveness of federal government funding,
as featured in the Department of Education's evaluation of the MSSAID
Program, November 2013, described the increased use of iPads in classrooms
as follows:
Mainstream technologies with applications that match specific needs
are replacing the former specialized, clunky equipment that was provided
for the individual student according to their disability. The subtle but
critical shift to the technologies enabling learning as opposed to
addressing the "deficit" of a disability is no longer highlighting the
student as being different.
Are we to interpret this report and others like it to say that it is
more important for students with disabilities to look normal than to have
the best tools to address their specific disability? Is this progress?
There are many other examples that could be provided in which devices like
iPads are being promoted as a generic fix for inclusivity and
accessibility.
The Philanthropic Model
The work that the developers of NVDA have done is exceptional. On a
small budget they have developed a really good product and have provided a
free screen reader to many thousands of people around the world who
couldn't previously afford one, especially in developing countries. Their
technical skills and dedication are to be applauded; however, I have a
problem with the funding model they have chosen. Philanthropic funding is
at best a fragile beast, and it often doesn't extend to covering services
like training and support, which can be the most important components of
accessibility (especially in education). The bigger issue of equity and why
we accept such a fundamental right as access to a computer to be at the
whim of philanthropic generosity should be of tremendous concern. Do we
welcome it simply because the recipients are people with a disability? Why
is this particular group of people not worthy of a business model that
guarantees standards of support, service, and viability? The developers of
NVDA need investors, not handouts.
The Health Insurance Model
For people in markets that are largely unfunded (such as Australia,
USA, UK, and Canada), the idea that you can get the equipment you need
through your health insurer seems very attractive. In these countries the
health insurance companies call for tenders for commonly used items such as
video magnifiers and Braille displays and are able to negotiate incredibly
low prices through bulk national purchasing. On the face of it this seems
like a win-win situation-universal access to AT at the lowest possible
prices. However, what has happened under the insurance model is that the
choice of options for individuals is greatly restricted; in fact, it is
only the products that the insurers support that are viable. There are very
limited opportunities for innovative products to enter the market, since
they are often more expensive and not supported by the insurers. And one of
the most damaging features is that the role of assessment has been pretty
well bypassed. The role of specialists is marginal when they can recommend
only those options that are supported by the insurers.
In most unfunded markets the European insurance model seems
attractive. Yet it is achieving much poorer outcomes for individuals and is
putting a brake on innovation, affecting long-term prospects. The European
insurance model is very much a case of "be careful what you wish for, lest
it come true."
In Australia we are starting to see health insurance companies
provide rebates on classes of products rather than individual items, though
at this stage they are only small. This is a far better design, since it
leaves the choice of device up to the user, supports normal commercial
competitiveness, and ensures that assessments are based on individual needs
and a wide choice of products.
The Universal Design Model
Universal design began as a concept in architecture-that buildings
should be inherently accessible by all-but has evolved now to mean access
to all products, to learning, and to information. In 1963 Selwyn Goldsmith
wrote a book called Designing for the Disabled, one of the earliest
treatises on universal design. Goldsmith is remembered for the creation of
the curb ramp-now a standard feature of the built environment. Curb ramps,
ramps to buildings, ramps on buses that kneel for wheelchairs-all are good
examples of universal design that are part of our standard expectations for
how the world should work.
Typically any discussion of universal design considers both the
specialist tool and the wider environment in which it has to work. So with
the wheelchair we looked at how to change the environment so that a
wheelchair can more easily access it. For the hearing aid we looked at how
we could change the environment by putting hearing loops in schools,
buildings, and cinemas. Universal design has been all about designing the
world so that it includes the specialist device.
However, the argument that is emerging within the print-disability
field is that we should get rid of the specialist tool altogether so that
the environment is accessible to all. At the heart of this argument is the
proposition that the differences of being blind, for example, are small
enough that they can be catered to in a one-size-fits-all product. This
idea seems reckless. The discussion of universal design has moved away from
the myriad of other access issues that still exist-things like accessible
white goods [home appliances], accessible transportation, accessible
signage and public information, or even accessible education and the design
of curricula. Instead we have various prophets going around deliberately
promoting the end of specialist AT products and providers and talking about
liberating people from the high cost of specialist tools.
The cost of screen readers has become a bigger issue than all the
other accessibility challenges facing every person with a print disability.
What happens if universal design ends up giving us less functionality or
features than the specialist products? To what extent can we sacrifice
efficiency in order to minimize our appearance of difference by using
technology different from that used by sighted peers?
It all comes down to whether we can trust the likes of Apple,
Microsoft, Google, and the new players that will arrive in the next decade.
Over the long term how important is the 1 percent of the population who are
visually impaired, or a subset of that being people who depend on Braille,
or a subset of that again, people who are deaf-blind or have multiple
disabilities? Should we start trying to assess what level of specialist
support to those groups will be lost? There is a clear-cut economic
argument called majority rules that will eventually win the day, and a
large multinational corporation is never going to provide the same level of
nuanced accommodations that a specialist provider will.
Proponents of the universal design model argue that they are not
promoting the end of specialist tools; they want a world where people can
have both. Whether that is possible remains to be seen, but I suspect we
will continue to see the incremental loss of small specialist providers,
just as we have seen in the AAC sphere. The recent fate of GW Micro offers
clear evidence of this. People too often conclude that the high price of
specialist AT products springs from extortionist pricing policies, instead
of the real costs of providing the best specialist solutions to a very
small population. Shrinking what is already a very small commercial market
will simply make it unviable for many more companies.
In the absence of funding, however, a free product like Apple's
VoiceOver is attractive, and there are many people extolling its virtues
without asking how free it is given how much you pay for the Mac versus an
equivalent PC. It is a very good accessibility solution straight out of the
box, but it is not without problems. VoiceOver is not a separate program
but an integral part of the operating system, which means that bugs and
fixes occur only when the operating system is upgraded. There was a
significant bug in the way VoiceOver handled Braille translation that took
nearly three years to fix. It took over a year for a bug that moved you
backwards on a webpage when you chose to go forward. Plenty of other
examples provide a sharp point of differentiation between VoiceOver and the
products produced by the developers of JAWS and NVDA, for example, who
provide regular updates and fixes. Even the most ardent supporters of
VoiceOver admit that sometimes the little things seem to get overlooked, or
features that seem obvious never arrive. (For example, see the article
written on the AppleVis website by the editorial team in April 2014.) While
Apple is riding the crest of an economic wave, these little things may be
just annoyances. It is yet to be seen how many of these little things would
exist if they were struggling financially and if they would again abandon
accessibility as they did in the 1990s.
VoiceOver may be a good product for the person who wants to use email
and browse the web. But it is not a solution for anyone who works with
complex Excel files, writes in various programming languages, manages
networks, or plays any number of other real-life employment roles. It would
be devastating if it was the only screen reader around.
Microsoft has chosen to go down a different path altogether, with the
arrangement mentioned previously to provide Window-Eyes to anyone who has
purchased MS Office. Many commentators are calling this a universal design
solution, but that is the case only if Microsoft is going to incorporate
Window-Eyes code into its own operating system, and at this stage there is
no evidence of that happening. A more cynical suggestion has been that the
deal came about as a means of complying with legislative and consumer
pressure on Microsoft to do more about accessibility. A possible outcome of
this deal is that philanthropic funding will be harder to secure because an
equivalent free product exists, putting a great deal of pressure on NVDA.
So the first consequence of Microsoft's move could be the demise of a
product that many argue is better than Window-Eyes. Once again we have a
short-term gain, with some people able to access a free screen reader, but
at a longer-term cost of having less diversity and product choices and less
competition driving innovation.
The Government Funding Model
Many models for government funding exist, some good and some bad. The
best ones are based on outcomes and not on upfront costs. The best ones
value the long-term social and economic benefits of enabling all people to
participate in employment and education.
In March of 2014 a program of support for people who are blind was
announced by the government of Colombia. The local blindness consumer group
made a convincing argument that many blind people in Colombia could not
afford accessibility tools needed for education and employment. They argued
that, by empowering them with the right tools, together with training and
support, the government could save money by helping people move off social
welfare. The Colombian government agreed and provided US$3 million for a
package of support that includes a copy of either JAWS or MAGic, training
centers in fifteen cities around Colombia, and hotline phone support for
all users. In the first few weeks of being implemented, over thirty
thousand people in Colombia had downloaded a copy of JAWS or MAGic. The
bulk of the cost for this effort was in training and support and not in the
purchase of the software. The government could have chosen a free solution
but realized that the success of the program depended on having a business
model that focused on outcomes and which guaranteed training and support.
This initiative by the Colombian government shows us another way for
consumers to have a free product.
Summary
A growing number of people in the print-disability field are not happy
with the status quo and with the fact that specialist products are
expensive and not available to all. The prospect of cheap or free products
has become the goal that many individuals as well as some agencies are now
supporting. When I started to think about this subject, my first question
was, "Who is going to support an argument against free products?" "Not many
people" is the answer. So perhaps the days of specialist developers and
vendors really are numbered. In a world where many problems still exist,
particularly in employment, some people need to assign blame and prefer to
view the specialist providers as the problem. The cost of a commercial
screen reader is viewed as the problem, and getting something free would
help solve that problem. However, I keep returning to the supermarket
analogy and have come to the conclusion that those small steps of change
that occur incrementally mean we may not know what has been lost till it is
too late. We may not really be aware of the change that is currently
underway in the AT market. The point that is being missed is that it is not
the cost of the product that should be our focus, but the ability of the
product to fully meet the needs of each individual. Does a keen fisherman
get all of his fishing gear at Kmart, or does he go to a fishing gear
specialist? Do elite athletes buy all their sporting gear from Target, or
do they go to specialist suppliers? Is price going to be the driver to make
people successful, or is it getting the best possible solutions that will
determine whether people can achieve their potential?
I would like to see a robust and informed debate on this issue,
focusing on achieving the best possible outcomes for people with a print
disability. At the heart of that debate are funding and finding business
models that support choice, training, and ongoing support, as well as
nurturing innovation. Agencies in particular should be at the vanguard of
this debate, ensuring the best long-term outcomes for their members.
Championing something that is "almost as good" is actually a major
step backwards; if it wasn't, we would all be using OpenOffice. Product
cost is not the issue that should define this debate; it is real life
outcomes.
Generally our attitudes about technology are that we feel comfortable
with what we know. However, what we don't know is just around the corner,
and in ten years we may find we have completely new ways to interface with
technology, like holographic displays or other systems that rely more on
vision or cognitive ability. If it comes to a choice between large multi-
national corporations or small teams of dedicated and innovative
technologists to ensure true accessibility, I know whom I would rather have
in my corner.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Patricia Shiu]
Improving Disability Employment: A Pathway to Success for Employers and
Workers
by Patricia Shiu
>From the Editor: One of the most moving presentations at the 2014 National
Convention to come from a governmental official was presented by the head
of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, part of the United States
Department of Labor. The crowd was quite moved by what she said, but she
wanted more than emotion-she clearly came to urge that we stimulate
America's economy by going out and getting jobs, that we take advantage of
the new hiring goals promoted by the administration, and that we use her
office to see that blind people are given a fair chance at good jobs. Here
are her remarks as they were heard on July 4, 2014:
Thank you very much, Marc, and happy Independence Day, everyone. Today
we don't just remember a revolution. Today we issue our own call to action.
My name is Pat Shiu, and I am here to recruit you!
Yesterday the Department of Labor announced that 288,000 jobs were
added to the US economy in June. That's the fifth straight month in which
we have added more than 200,000 net jobs. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the
best stretch of job creation since the Clinton administration.
So I am here to recruit you because our economy is growing. Jobs are
coming back, and I want all qualified workers to compete for those jobs-
including people who are blind, people who are deaf, people who run on
prosthetics or roll in wheelchairs, and especially people who have been
discouraged from applying for far too long. To them and to you I say, "The
water is warm. Come on in."
For the past four years my colleagues and I have been making the case
to lawmakers and employers that we have a serious problem in America: that
the laws designed to ensure equal opportunity for workers with disabilities
aren't working; that a nation in which four out of five workers with
disabilities are so discouraged by their employment prospects that they've
given up on even looking is a nation in crisis. We made our case
effectively and, thanks to the leadership of President Obama-who campaigned
on a promise to address this crisis-we did something about it. On March 24
a new rule went into effect that calls on companies with federal contracts
to achieve a 7 percent employment goal for qualified workers with
disabilities in every job category and across their workforces. Now we can
start counting and measuring and really checking to see which employers are
taking their affirmative action obligations seriously and which ones are
not.
So I've come here to Orlando to recruit you-and the communities you
represent-to the American labor force. We need you. We need the skills, the
talents, the ingenuity, and the hard work of millions of qualified
individuals with disabilities who want a chance to succeed, an opportunity
to contribute, and a means to sustain themselves and their families.
Today we celebrate our Economic Independence Day. I am honored to have
this opportunity to speak with all of you. On behalf of President Obama and
Secretary Perez, I congratulate you on this convention, and I thank you for
your advocacy on behalf of the blind. I especially want to thank National
Federation of the Blind President Marc Maurer and your executive director
and advocate-in-chief John Pari for inviting me and for their leadership of
this organization. Marc and John and the entire NFB team are champions for
the more than fifty thousand members of this organization. I am grateful
for their support-and your support-of our work at the Labor Department.
We are the department of good jobs for everyone. We are the department
of opportunity for all. For more than a century we have held firm to our
mission of preparing the workforce of tomorrow while ensuring that today's
workplaces are safe, healthy, fair, and accessible. And key to that mission
is economic independence. Economic independence doesn't mean that we don't
rely on each other. It doesn't mean we don't help each other or that we
don't build structures, both public and private, to support our mutual
aspirations. Government is not irrelevant to the process. But nor are we
the only player. The very best solutions to our common challenges require
partnership among government agencies, private employers, community
advocates, academic institutions, and working families.
I believe economic independence is ultimately about freedom: freedom
from artificial barriers that impede our ability to live and work; freedom
from prejudice and discrimination that diminish us as people; and freedom
to pursue happiness, and to do so on our own terms.
These are freedoms I have worked to advance for my entire career.
Before I joined the Obama administration, I spent twenty-six years as a
civil rights lawyer, advocating on behalf of students and workers who
simply wanted a way in the door and a chance to succeed. My clients with
disabilities wanted the ability to go to school, to get a job, to know the
dignity and self-worth that come from doing meaningful work. Understanding
those aspirations was a perfect precursor to my current job.
In 1965, a year after the Civil Rights Act became law, President
Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order requiring companies with
government contracts to build workforces that reflect the diversity of the
taxpayers funding those contracts. Almost a decade later Congress and
President Nixon expanded that mandate to include people with disabilities
and specific groups of veterans. Enforcing those laws is our job at the
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Yes, it is a long and
cumbersome name, but it's also a pretty apt descriptor of what we do.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is a civil
rights agency in the Labor Department tasked with protecting workers,
promoting diversity, and enforcing the laws which require companies that
profit from taxpayer dollars to prohibit discrimination and to take
affirmative action so that all workers get a fair shot and a fair shake in
the workplace. We enforce those laws for the benefit of the nearly one
quarter of American workers who are employed by or seek jobs with companies
that receive about $500 billion in federal contracts and subcontracts.
My position is pretty simple: being a federal contractor is a
privilege, not a right. The price of that contract is compliance with our
civil rights laws. In other words, diversity and inclusion programs are not
optional. They are required. And OFCCP exists to enforce those
requirements.
Strong, effective enforcement begins with good policy. And when I
arrived at OFCCP, I found that many of our regulations were sorely outdated
and in need of updates. That was especially true when it came to the
regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the
Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act, known as VEVRAA.
As I mentioned earlier, our updates to the Section 503 and VEVRAA
regulations became effective on March 24, after an extensive and highly
inclusive rulemaking process that took almost four years. We developed two
rules with a specific set of interests in mind: first and foremost, to
improve employment opportunities for qualified workers with disabilities
and protected groups of veterans, including veterans with service-related
disabilities; second, to update antiquated provisions in the existing
regulations, including aligning them with the ADA Amendments Act of 2008
and its revised, much broader definition of disability; third, to provide
businesses with real metrics by which to measure their affirmative action
efforts; fourth, to give my investigators a tangible way to evaluate
compliance with the law when they review contractor establishments; and
fifth, to facilitate the success of both workers and businesses by
increasing the access employers have to a large, diverse pool of qualified
workers whose talents may have been overlooked or left untapped for too
long.
I want to spend a few minutes talking about two key aspects of the
rules.
Real Metrics
First, you should know that these rules are historic because they set-
for the first time ever-targeted goals for the employment of veterans and
individuals with disabilities in the contracting workforce. These goals are
similar to the metrics that have long been used to measure progress in
hiring women and minorities.
I believe that what gets measured gets done. To that end, the Section
503 rule establishes an aspirational, 7 percent utilization goal for the
employment of qualified individuals with disabilities in each job category
of a contractor's workforce.
The VEVRAA rule establishes a national hiring benchmark-currently 7.2
percent-or a more flexible option employers can develop using parameters we
have laid out. If every contractor subject to these rules were to achieve
the metrics we established, nearly 600,000 people with disabilities and
200,000 veterans-including 84,000 veterans with disabilities-would be added
to or identified in the American workforce. And that's just in the first
year. Consider what a remarkable achievement that would be. And just so we
are clear-and because words matter-both the disability goal and the veteran
benchmark are aspirational. Contrary to what some observers have said, they
are absolutely not mandatory quotas. Rather they are management tools for
employers and a way for the rest of us to hold business leaders accountable
to doing what they commit to do when they agree to do business with our
government.
A goal is a means to an end. It is not an end in and of itself. If
the metrics are not achieved, contractors will be expected to examine their
employment policies and practices to figure out why. Then they have to come
up with specific plans to address any barriers to equal opportunity.
Failure of a company to achieve a goal is not a violation in and of itself.
But failure to try is.
Voluntary Self-Identification
Another major provision of the new Section 503 rule is the
requirement that contractors invite job applicants voluntarily to self-
identify as individuals with a disability when they apply for a job. This
is in addition to the long-standing requirement that contractors invite new
hires voluntarily to self-identify after they receive a job offer. Under
the new rule contractors must on a regular basis invite their employees to
self-identify voluntarily. After all, disabilities are not static, and a
person's status may change over time. I believe that providing workers with
multiple opportunities to self-identify voluntarily is a good thing.
When we first proposed these self-identification provisions, I
overheard a business consultant speaking to a group of contractors about
this issue: "Is OFCCP obsessed?" he asked. "They want us to ask our
employees if they have a disability when they apply for the job, after they
get the job, and again and again while they are on the job. Workers are
going to think we care!"
I felt like yelling out, "Bingo!"
This is how things change. This is how workplaces become more
welcoming. You and I know that workers are safer in the workplace when they
understand their rights under the law and feel confident that those rights
will be protected. In time these invitations to disclose demographic
information or to self-identify voluntarily will be seen as inclusive, not
intrusive-as a means to promote, not to pry.
And, since it's come up again and again, let me make two points here:
The invitation to self-identify is 100 percent voluntary. We have made that
explicit on the self-ID form and encouraged employers to make it clear in
the context they provide when disseminating the form; and the self-ID form
does not ask any worker to disclose what disability he or she may have.
There are three options for the worker to check: Yes, I have a disability;
No, I don't have a disability; and I don't wish to answer.
This is going to be tough for some employers and for some workers. I
get that. And I have always said that operationalizing the Section 503 rule
will be a process, not a switch. Some employers will be uncomfortable
asking the question. Some workers may be uncomfortable answering it. With
time that will change, just as it is changing for lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender individuals. But it won't change on its own. It requires a
cultural change that has to be led by the community, embraced by employers,
and mandated by the government.
That is why we need to start a revolution. In order for our new rules
to have the desired impact, employers have to make a serious effort to
achieve the goal. But workers also need to meet them halfway. That's why I
need your help to spread the word among your colleagues and across your
communities that the voluntary self-ID form is a lever of power. It's a way
to gather critically important data and to ensure that every worker is
counted. It is a way to show employers that, if they build it, you will
come.
Two days ago we marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights
Act. The activists and visionaries who fought for that law were willing to
sacrifice their very lives in the pursuit of justice. Their sacrifices made
us a stronger, more just nation and paved the way for the Rehab Act, the
ADA, and many advances in the rights of women, immigrants, the elderly,
LGBT Americans, and so many others.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead famously said that we should "never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Of course she was
right, except that it doesn't have to be a small group. It could be a big
group. It could be this group. It could be the three thousand people at
this convention. It could be the fifty thousand members of the NFB. It
could be the fifty-seven million Americans with disabilities.
Progress doesn't happen in a moment. It happens in a movement. Our
country needs you to build that movement, to lead that revolution. We need
you to be the heroes and she-roes who will get us to the other side. All it
takes is for you to bring your whole selves to work, to demand access, and
to be counted. I am asking you to show by your example that people with
disabilities-obvious or hidden-can ignite this revolution and help us
change the culture of our workplaces.
I will promise you this: at OFCCP we will have your backs and stand
with you every step of the way. When you check that box and allow
yourselves to be counted, you will serve notice that you are a part of our
economic growth, that you will share in our collective prosperity, and that
you are committed to our common destiny.
Thank you for your time. Thank you for your leadership. Have a safe
and happy Economic Independence Day!
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: David Cohen]
Reflections of a White Cane Guy
by David Cohen
>From the Editor: This article is reprinted from the Fall 2014 issue of the
Buckeye Bulletin, the newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of
Ohio. I enjoy and can relate to the humorous dialogue that plays in David's
head, while admiring and always trying to follow his prescription for
reacting kindly to those whose only motive is to act kindly to me. The only
growl in my own internal dialogue while reading what follows is the
allusion to Braille on ATMs-something that seems every bit as logical to me
as print on those same keys, and the only question in my mind is why we
have had to fight so hard to make them speak what is so clearly placed on
the screen. Here is how this humorous piece was introduced by the Buckeye's
editor, Barbara Pierce:
Editor's note: David Cohen is a longtime Federationist. When he was
young, we helped him get to BLIND Incorporated in Minneapolis for blindness
training, and he has been putting that training to good use ever since. He
now lives in the greater Dayton area again. He recently sent a very funny
post to the Ohio listserv. We asked him to expand a bit on that reflection
for the newsletter. His thoughts are amusing, but they also provide an
insight into the reflections and reactions of a competent blind person with
an irreverent sense of humor. This is what he wrote:
Yesterday afternoon I walked to a shopping center/mall near my home
in Kettering to buy some bed sheets. After making my purchase, I decided to
check for a DVD title at another store inside the mall called Second &
Charles, a used book, music, and movie place. I turned into the store and
heard a woman's voice saying hello to me.
"Hi, Second & Charles?" I asked, raising my eyebrows to her for
confirmation.
"Yes," she said; "You've got it."
"Do you work here?" I asked.
She said, "No," so I continued in the direction of the main customer
service counter, not breaking stride. From behind me the woman who'd
greeted me was giving me the standard audible play-by-play, less the crowd
noise, "Right, now left," etc.
I turned to face her and smiled, mouthing the words "I'm okay,
thanks." You got to handle the public sometimes with kid gloves, as y'all
probably know.
I continued on my way. From behind me this woman called to me, "I
gotcha. My ex-husband is a white cane guy."
I laughed aloud, and without turning held my left arm up with a
thumb's up sign for her to see. I can do without all the euphemisms spoken
to avoid saying "blind." Still, if the word "blind" was good enough for the
Bible, the Quran, the Hindu Vedas, etcetera, shouldn't it be good enough
for speakers today? But this white cane guy label-I can really get used to
this. I like it. I can see it working for me.
"What's your sign? You act like a Virgo."
"Nope, nope. I'm a WCG [white cane guy]."
"Single WCG seeking SWF (single white female). Must like dogs, fish
fries, college football, and Braille literacy."
"Oh there's a white cane guy at our office. I know exactly what
you're talking about."
Text message: LOL! [laughing out loud] BTW [by the way] the WCG
[white cane guy] called, LVM [leave a voicemail]. RE: Friday BYOB [bring
your own bottle].
So White Cane Guy leaves the mall with a sack containing bed sheets
and a DVD purchase of Sean Penn's All the King's Men in hand. This mini-
mall has a sidewalk extending the entire width of the front of the
building, but the sidewalk is not even close to being a straight shot. The
pathway is also cluttered with anything the designers salvaged after the
project's completion. This sidewalk also has more curves than a full
Braille cell, so I walk in the frontage road along the curb, shorelining
the outer edge of the sidewalk.
I am several shop door entrances along my shorelining route and have
just passed another because I hear the squeaking hinges of one of these
glass doors opening behind me, and a man's voice calls to me, "You're in
the street, you know that, right?" he says, stating the obvious. I know
that as a blind person I am a living message board for postings of the
obvious and have learned to handle this maturely 90 percent of the time.
"The sun is out; that's my foot you're standing on; the bus is here; I'm
standing in front of you now; it's raining; you're breathing and standing
upright. . . . that's Braille; you have a pulse."
Again I raise my left arm, plastic sack in hand. I turn my head
slightly and, again smiling, tell the fella, who is watching me as if I'm
the end of a parade route, "There are fewer obstacles out here."
"No kidding," the fella cries out with surprise, and the sound of his
voice is delighted with this insight on my behalf. "Oh yeah? You're right
ha ha ha ha," and again White Cane Guy has brought a bit of pleasure into
the life of Joe Citizen, and maybe, just maybe I'll meet him again someday.
Personally I think it is very difficult to communicate with the many
unknowns who enter my sphere of being. I alluded to this earlier when I
said sometimes I've got to handle people with kid gloves. It is such a fine
line to walk when so many situations like this one imply and assume minute
examination, so routinely you know you're being watched with intrigue. I
don't think folk realize that I know by their sound and movement that they
are watching me and that such focused attention on me walking through a
tile-floored mall or looking for a urinal in the men's room is like the
pressure of shooting free throws in March during the NCAA college
basketball tournament with twenty thousand voices screaming at you when
your team is down two points and only seconds remain on the game clock.
Seriously, I think blind people and disabled people in general should be
highlighted on ESPN for all that we do so silently as such pertains to what
the professional sporting experts call "being in the zone," not to mention
handling your emotions in hostile environments as the sporting vernacular
often states is necessary.
The depth of the mall parking lot extends northwards to my right side
and beyond its sparse occupancy I can hear the street I will eventually
need to cross. This is my landmark, and, no matter how out of the zone I
get, I can always reorient myself by listening for the ever-present sound
of this heavily-traveled road in Kettering.
But again allow me to digress for a personal reason and say that I do
not-do not-like it when someone tells me or asks me if I am disoriented or
lost. I'm not, although I may acquiesce and say "Yes ma'am," or "Yes, sir,
I am," in order to keep the world moving, but what I am telling myself is
that I am only temporarily misplaced like car keys or a smartphone.
Blindness is, like our organization has said for many decades, a nuisance,
and well you know this. Here's the deal: I'm shorelining the curb of the
sidewalk at the front of the shopping mall. The incoming traffic from the
main road and the exiting shoppers with their groceries from Trader Joe's
and tennis shoes from New Balance are driving in both directions slowly to
my immediate right side, and I need to get across this access frontage road
and through the parking lot to the sidewalk along the main road.
Unfortunately there is no pedestrian sidewalk extending through the parking
lot, and my hot air balloon is at home in the garage-the cloth ripped by
the clawed feet of a crow who perched atop me when I floated over the local
amphitheater to listen to Jackson Browne perform several years ago. But
this is no problem because at the end of this sidewalk curb there is a stop
sign for the access frontage road. In fact there is a four-way stop here,
so I can put it on cruise control and listen ahead for engines rolling to a
stop and then moderately accelerating after the pause to know where I need
to be. Voila! White Cane Guy is planning his work and working his plan.
"Oh I am so fortunate to have received good training and to have
experienced the know-how of others before me who were doing then what I
wanted to do and am doing now," I think to myself. I'm not kidding. On my
worst days I can, if I am able to muster the attitudinal strength,
accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch onto the
affirmative as Johnny Mercer sang. I cannot always find and do this, but at
least I know it's possible, and I have my memories to serve in this
capacity if I feed them properly.
So I'm marveling in my aptitude for cane travel, and my cane tip is
metronomically playing the soundtrack to my travels. I've found the four-
way stop thanks to one automobile's exit route, and I've followed this
vehicle's trajectory of departing sound all the way to the sidewalk along
the busy road. I'm asking myself if I should wash these new sheets first or
do the man thing and simply spread 'em and do laundry when absolutely
necessary. The answer comes to me in 1.5 seconds.
I arrive at my corner mentally ready to listen for and align myself
to the passing traffic at this intersection of four lanes north and south
and four lanes east and west each direction also engineered with a filter
lane, so the width is actually five lanes. I stand and listen... listen...
I am listening, yes listening, and a crow flies overhead and announces
itself as Jimmy Cagney.
"Huh," I thinks to myself, "This light sure is taking a long time
today." I listen to one, two, three, six cars roll up, stop California
style, and accelerate around the corner in front of me. "The traffic light
must be out of order," I tell myself because White Cane Guy is not only
omnipotent, he's a traffic engineer on his day off. A seventh car rolls up
next to me and stops, then accelerates, and the cross traffic in front of
me continues passing at forty miles per hour.
"The sun! Where is my sun?" My internal problem-solving voice asks,
and I turn around only to realize it's clouded over since I last knew where
the heck I was and began daydreaming about my White-Cane-Guy aptitude.
Another car rolls up next to me, and now White Cane Guy is going to
interact with citizenry. I turn to my left to face the paused vehicle and
make the universal hand-and-arm motion for someone to roll his or her
window down, but I remember that I have been here forty-four winters and
that this one-time universally recognized signal may be lost on someone of
the everything-electronic world, or worse, the hand gesture may suggest
something offensive to someone visiting the Kettering Towne & Country Mall
from one of the other six continents. For all I know, I might be signaling
like a prostitute does in Paraguay and end up with two halves of a broken
cane and a blackened eye and still waiting to cross this street.
Instead I lean into the space between myself and the idling car and
mouth words silently in just the same way I did inside Second & Charles
when the unknown woman declared me White Cane Guy. "Is the traffic light
out of order?" I mouth, pointing my outstretched arm up into the air where
my mind has told me most certainly the traffic light should be hanging. The
car's tires squeal twice front to back and spit gravel, and I'm wondering
how ridiculous I look to the passersby still moving at forty miles per hour
on the other side of the street.
"Something's wrong here," I finally admit. "Anything's possible.
White Cane Guy has walked into the women's restroom before, and he's also
walked past his own driveway," I remind myself.
I gather my secret strength-my brain-and I really tune in to my
surroundings. Wait a bloody second here. I've awakened. There's no
persistent ringing of the superfluous street-crossing signal that White
Cane Guy knows to be an invention of the same conspiracy that put Braille
on drive-thru ATM machines, limited Braille on McDonald's drink lids, and
probably funded the training of the rehab counselor who asked me, "What is
that thing?," when I pulled my slate and stylus from my pocket to write
down his office information twenty-five years ago.
"I'm south of where I need to be," my brain and true Orient Express
tells me. Oh joy, joy, joy, joy, and joy. I win again!-temporarily
misplaced just like any sighted person who exits the mall and cannot
remember where the car is parked. I must have been curving westward. "That
crow was telling me this, and I did not listen. That crow has been watching
me silently from above for years, observing me and learning how a blind
person does what a blind person does and therefore has never needed to ask
me questions for which answering the obvious makes no sense other than to
communicate the simple truth that what White Cane Guy does is the only
answer to all mysteries herein."
I'm two blocks south of where I need to be, and I get on with it. I
reach the corner where I believed I was, and on my approach I'm hearing the
familiar traffic signal noise and send out apologies and gratitude to the
conspirators who inadvertently gave a practical use for my ears after all.
----------
Consider a Charitable Gift
Making a charitable gift can be one of the most satisfying
experiences in life. Each year millions of people contribute their time,
talent, and treasure to charitable organizations. When you plan for a gift
to the National Federation of the Blind, you are not just making a
donation; you are leaving a legacy that ensures a future for blind people
throughout the country. Special giving programs are available through the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB).
Points to Consider When Making a Gift to the National Federation of the
Blind
. Will my gift serve to advance the mission of the NFB?
. Am I giving the most appropriate asset?
. Have I selected the best way to make my gift?
. Have I considered the tax consequences of my gift?
. Have I sought counsel from a competent advisor?
. Have I talked to the NFB planned giving officer about my gift?
Benefits of Making a Gift to the NFB
. Helping the NFB fulfill its mission
. Receiving income tax savings through a charitable deduction
. Making capital gain tax savings on contribution of some appreciated
gifts
. Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or other
beneficiaries
. Eliminating federal estate tax in certain situations
. Reducing estate settlement cost
Your Gift Will Help Us
. Make the study of science and math a real possibility for blind
children
. Provide hope and training for seniors losing vision
. Promote state and chapter programs and provide information that will
educate blind people
. Advance technology helpful to the blind
. Create a state-of-the-art library on blindness
. Train and inspire professionals working with the blind
. Provide critical information to parents of blind children
. Mentor blind people trying to find jobs
Your gift makes you a part of the NFB dream!
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Marion Gwizdala]
Bringing Our Animals to the Zoo
by Marion Gwizdala
>From the Editor: Marion Gwizdala is the president of the National
Association of Guide Dog Users and has played a significant role in
increasing the membership of the division and strengthening the ties
between it and other work that occurs in the Federation. Here is what he
has to say about recent negotiations on behalf of guide dog users who wish
to visit zoos accompanied by their guide dogs:
On Wednesday, August 6, 2014, Merry Schoch, vice president of the
Florida Association of Guide Dog Users, and I met with the executive
management team of the Lowry Park Zoological Garden, also known as Lowry
Park Zoo. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss how Lowry Park Zoo and
the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) can work with the National
Association of Guide Dog Users to provide people with disabilities who use
service animals an optimal experience when visiting US zoos. We have been
interested in this project for quite some time, so I am pleased that all
the necessary elements are in place to make this a reality.
Due to the unique challenges of displaying live wild animals, the
issue of access for those accompanied by service animals has been an area
of concern for quite some time. Before the enactment of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, there were no nationally recognized policies or practices
concerning service animals in zoos, leaving each exhibit to develop its own
policies for such access. Some states that have places that keep and
display live animals for public enjoyment or education had provisions to
deny service animals admission. The state of Florida had such a provision
that we worked to have repealed following the enactment of the ADA, since
the Florida act violated the ADA's implementing regulations. Since then
there has been some litigation to clarify the rights of access to zoos by
service animal users. Despite these cases many zoos continue to have
policies, practices, and procedures that are not congruent with the ADA,
ranging from restricted access to specific areas to a requirement for a
chaperone while on the property.
The impetus for this specific project and our collaboration with AZA
came when Dr. Don Woodman, a veterinarian and zookeeper from St.
Petersburg, Florida, visited the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New
York, and was denied access. He was raising a guide dog puppy at the time,
and New York statutes allowed service dog trainers the same access as
disabled individuals accompanied by their trained service dogs. Dr. Woodman
was told that even a fully trained service dog had limited access to the
exhibits. He suggested we contact AZA, and the rest of the story unfolds
from there.
I want to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Steve Olson,
vice president of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and Mark
Trieglaff, president of ACTServices, an ADA consulting firm specializing in
work with zoos. It is through Mr. Olson's suggestion after attending the
2013 annual meeting of the National Association of Guide Dog Users in
Orlando that we are embarking upon this project. Mr. Trieglaff also
attended this meeting, solidifying his commitment to ensuring the least
restrictive access to zoo exhibits. I appreciate Mark's introduction to
Craig Pugh, with whom he had worked while at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago,
Illinois. I commend Mr. Pugh's energetic and enthusiastic support of our
efforts, as demonstrated by his willingness to dedicate more than two hours
of his time to meet with us. In addition, he encouraged the attendance of
three of his executive management staff and affirmed his commitment to the
long-term goals of this project in their presence. I was also very
encouraged by Mr. Pugh's willingness to lead by example, allowing us the
opportunity to take a critical look at Lowry Park Zoo's policies,
practices, and procedures and then to follow through by making immediate
changes based upon our input.
It was very refreshing that the management team valued and respected
our experience and suggestions. We were encouraged by the willingness of
Dr. Larry Killmar, Lowry Park Zoo's vice president of Animal Science and
Conservation, to think outside the box and even more to recognize the value
of our expertise. We were especially impressed with Dr. Killmar's
understanding that no simulation experience, such as blindfolding sighted
people or putting ambulatory individuals in wheelchairs, can replicate the
experience of the disabled person, underscoring the importance of our
involvement in the creation and implementation of the project.
We also want to give credit to Tony Moore who presented some issues
from an operational perspective. As Lowry Park's chief operating officer he
is acutely aware of the practical issues faced by the staff with direct
visitor contact. We realize that, in order to shift the paradigm of what
constitutes reasonable access to people accompanied by service animals, we
need to address the real concerns that are unique to live wild animal
exhibits by creating sound solutions to these issues and concerns. As we
progress on this project, anticipating the objections will help us advance
solutions.
When we first conceived of this project, our vision was to create and
market a video program for dissemination among AZA members. When we shared
this vision with the team, Ruth Myers, the grants manager for Lowry Park
Zoo, helped us expand our perspective by raising our sights from a stand-
alone video program about the rights and responsibilities of service dog
users to a more comprehensive curriculum of instruction for live animal
exhibits on the importance of effective policies, practices, and
procedures, of which the video would be one element. She suggested we
increase the scope of the project as well as the budget. Since the
Institute of Museum and Library Sciences is one of the most obvious funding
sources for this project, and Ms. Myers is a former grant reviewer for
IMLS, her expertise will help us create the best possible proposal for this
project.
As the team began to consider the expertise of each member at the
table, the need for a comprehensive training program involving all
stakeholders began to unfold. Many specimens in a wild animal exhibit may
never have seen a dog or may view the dog as predator or prey. This could
result in dire consequences. Therefore, one element of a comprehensive
curriculum will involve systematically desensitizing exhibit animals until
they no longer have negative reactions to the dog's presence. Such a
desensitization program could also be a valuable training tool for those
preparing puppies for guide dog work.
Another element of the curriculum will obviously involve training of
the staff responsible for direct guest relations. These employees will need
to understand the rights and responsibilities of those who use service
dogs, what is considered appropriate service dog behavior, and how to deal
with those circumstances in which the right to be accompanied by the
service dog is denied, either because of the service dog's behavior or the
special circumstances of the exhibit.
Those of us who use service dogs also need to understand the unique
challenges of exhibiting live wild animals. Our goal is to afford service
dog users an optimal experience while visiting a zoo; however, there is a
need to responsibly balance our rights of access with the rights of others.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires places of public accommodation
to modify their policies, practices, and procedures, unless doing so would
create a direct threat to the health or safety of others that cannot be
eliminated. Our goal is to help zoos learn how to eliminate the threats by
desensitizing their animals to the presence of a dog. At the same time we
need to remember that we are dealing with wild animals, and this may not
always be possible. In such cases we are offering alternatives in an effort
to help all service dog users have the optimal experience they are seeking.
Dr. Killmar said that the San Diego Zoo has a web-based instructional
platform where this curriculum could be made easily accessible to all
personnel whose agencies subscribe to this service. As a member of the
board of directors for the Florida Association of Museums, Mr. Pugh also
said that this project could be a springboard for training other museums in
the way to make their collections more accessible to the blind and
otherwise disabled.
By the time you read this article, we will have already begun our
pilot training program with Lowry Park Zoo. We are beginning the process of
preparing the grant proposal and identifying the necessary resources to
carry out this project. These resources include videography and editing
technicians, other types of service animal users, volunteers to assist in
desensitization programs, other marketing channels, curriculum development,
grant research and writing, and additional funding streams. As we move
forward on this initiative, we intend to keep everyone abreast of the
developments. The success of this project will depend upon a team effort.
This team will likely expand as more zoos embrace the concepts for which we
are advocating. The team will include more people becoming involved in
staff training, those willing to invest time in the process of systematic
desensitization, input on how our efforts are making a difference and where
they need improvement, and other needs we will identify as they arise.
If you have suggestions for this initiative or have a talent or
expertise you would like to offer to the project, please feel free to
contact us. Our email address is <info at nagdu.org>. You can also call us
through the NAGDU Information and Advocacy Hotline at (888) NAGDU411 or
(888) 624-3841.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Jonathan Mosen]
NFB's iOS App Resolution: Some Perspective and Context
by Jonathan Mosen
>From the Editor: The name Jonathan Mosen is probably familiar to any of you
who have owned a HumanWare product or a product from Freedom Scientific or
have read advertisements from National Braille Press that feature books
Jonathan has written about using the iPhone without vision. He lives in New
Zealand and is a keen follower of everything happening in matters regarding
the blind around the world. In this article, taken from a blog entry he
made some time ago, he discusses the art of advocacy, negotiation, and
determining what blind people need and how we should go about asking for
it. What prompted his reflections was NFB resolution 2014-12, which said,
"that this organization call upon Apple Inc. to work with the National
Federation of the Blind to create and enforce policies, standards, and
procedures to ensure the accessibility of all apps, including core apps
distributed by Apple in the base iOS distribution, and to ensure that
accessibility is not lost when an app is updated." Its passage seemed right
and proper to some, and downright ungrateful to those who tend to see Apple
as the leader in accessibility and consider anything we say about them as
singling them out for criticism. The resolution also sparked discussion
about the role of the National Federation of the Blind in bringing lawsuits
to promote accessibility, with some coming down on the side of the
Federation's being too eager to sue and others concluding just as strongly
that the organization is not aggressive enough. Jonathan does not attempt
to deal with this latter controversy, but he does a splendid job in talking
about advocacy, responsibility, and respecting oneself enough to know that
at times there is no substitute for confrontation, albeit polite and
respectful. Here is what he says:
Being a member of a minority is exhausting at times. Ignorance,
discrimination (both inadvertent and deliberate), and barriers preventing
us from realizing our full potential are problems we encounter regularly.
These issues aren't unique to blind people or even to disabled people. I'm
mindful as I write this of the recent fiftieth anniversary of the Civil
Rights Act in the United States. It's a significant piece of legislation.
It required bravery on the part of the legislators who passed it. Its
principles met with considerable resistance, some of it violent. This post
is a long one, because I believe the issues of self-advocacy, collective
advocacy, what is worth fighting for, and what is not are all important to
our sense of self-perception and our expectations of what constitutes our
rightful place in society.
I'd like to illustrate both the challenges and potential of advocacy
by recalling a few issues on which I've worked over the years, remind you
of the advocacy of other minorities, then take a look at the National
Federation of the Blind's resolution on the accessibility of iOS apps in
that context.
Maybe before you took time out to read this post, you spent some time
today reading a book. Perhaps it came from Bookshare or a special format
library. We now have access to eBooks, and it's worth noting that access to
the Kindle app was achieved after considerable collective advocacy efforts.
Nevertheless, special-format libraries and repositories continue to play an
important part in blind people's exercising our right to read. It wasn't
always this easy for special-format organizations to get their material to
you.
In 1994 as the manager of government relations for the organization
then known as the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, I oversaw a
campaign of advocacy that took advantage of New Zealand's Copyright Act
being rewritten. We believed that if an author published a book, it was
being published for all the people to access. The status quo at that time
was that, if the special-format library in New Zealand, and for that matter
most other countries, wanted to make a book available in Braille or on
talking book, they had to write a letter to the copyright holder asking for
his or her permission. Sometimes those letters would sit on someone's desk
for months and months. Eventually the library would get a reply. Most of
the time the reply said "yes;" sometimes the request was declined, meaning
blind people were deprived of access to that book.
It seemed wrong to me that the process of making the book available
in a special format, which is time-consuming in itself, was delayed by the
need to seek permission. It was absolutely abhorrent to me that publishers
felt they had the right to say "no."
We began an advocacy campaign asking for a clause to be added to the
Copyright Act giving blanket permission for recognized organizations for
people with print disabilities to make books available in special formats,
without having to seek the permission of the copyright holder first. The
response of the publishers was ferocious. They blasted me and the campaign
for a culture of entitlement. Worse, they called me a thief. One day I got
a call from the representative of publishers who said, "So tell me, do you
steal from everyone, or just from publishers?"
There's no doubt we had gotten the publishers angry. But we calmly
made our case to the people who mattered-legislators. We pointed out that
the publishers weren't being required to pay for their material to be made
available in special formats, that access to the printed word was just as
important as access to the built environment. The legislators agreed, and
the law was passed. It was groundbreaking, and in subsequent years I was
approached by a number of organizations in multiple countries, including
the United States, about how we concluded that advocacy effort successfully
and how they might go about doing something similar.
Ultimately that concept has now been enshrined in an international
treaty. Something considered by some to be radical, over-reaching, and
exhibiting entitlement just twenty years ago is now considered sound public
policy, even by the publishers.
Not long after that campaign was concluded successfully, I was being
asked to front up on a range of current affairs shows over my campaign to
repeal the law that arguably prohibited any blind person from serving on
any jury. I debated the issue on radio with our minister of justice, who
was staunchly opposed to any change in the law. In the most exciting of
these appearances, I was debating one of New Zealand's top criminal
lawyers, who was both patronizing and adamant on the subject. Sight, he
said, was essential to serve on any jury. I put my case politely but
forcefully.
Afterwards the talk shows were full of it. There were a good number
of people who talked about political correctness gone mad, asking why the
Foundation was paying big money for this clown to alienate people, saying
they'd never donate to the Foundation again. No matter how psychologically
prepared you are for the onslaught, it's not easy being in the center of
that kind of firestorm.
However, legislators were watching. Enough had been persuaded by the
logic of my argument that the law was changed. Now it's totally a non-
issue. I could fill screens and screens with examples like this--examples
of taking advocacy stances that were right but unpopular.
All the vitriol I went through is totally insignificant compared with
what racial minorities, such as blacks in the US, went through to secure
their right to equality. There was no shortage of people who said, "If we
don't want to serve blacks, that's our right. If we don't want blacks at
our school, that's our right." If brave, great civil rights leaders had
listened to those who were worried about how many white people civil rights
campaigns were offending, what a much less equal world we'd have. Sometimes
you have to take a stand, knowing it will offend. That's not to say you
deliberately seek to offend. One is better respected, and furthers one's
cause, when one is resolute but courteous.
In the context of the resolution passed by NFB over the weekend
asking that Apple require all iOS apps to be accessible, it really saddens
me to see the number of young people on social networks, enjoying
entitlements very hard fought for, slamming what they perceive to be the
culture of entitlement pervasive in the resolution. Ironic, and sad. People
seem to forget that in 2008 we had access to iTunes, at least in Windows,
only thanks to the diligence of one man, Brian Hartgen. I seem to recall a
lot of people complaining extremely vociferously about the cost he was
charging to get some recompense for the hours and hours it took to make
that dog's breakfast of an app usable.
When Apple embarked on iTunes U and educational institutions began
adopting it, iTunes became subject to federal law. The NFB of Massachusetts
sued Apple, and also put pressure on universities not to use iTunes U until
iTunes was fully accessible. NFB won that suit. Now blind people with a
range of screen readers benefit daily from that advocacy, which some people
criticized at the time.
Can we express gratitude and request change at the same time? Yes, of
course we can. NFB gave Apple an award in 2010 for the remarkable, life-
changing introduction of VoiceOver to iOS. But we are customers. The money
we pay for an iPhone or iPad is no less of value than the money a sighted
person pays. We're perfectly entitled to strive for access to as many apps
as we can get. Since the resolution was published ahead of the debate, a
move for which I thank NFB since the debate was interesting, people have
asked why Apple is being singled out. I think the reasons for that are
twofold.
First, more blind smartphone users are using iOS than any other
platform, by virtue of how well Apple has done. Apple can and should be
proud of that. Second and most significantly, no other app repository
imposes as many criteria on app developers. Apps are rejected from the App
Store for a bunch of reasons. Apple can decide the app adds no particular
value. It can reject it for security reasons. It can decide the app is in
bad taste or not family-friendly enough. Those of us who've been around a
while may remember all the hassles Google had getting the Google Voice app
into the App Store.
So then the question is, why shouldn't accessibility be of greater
concern? Some have said that the resolution's scope is totally unrealistic.
They say that calling for all apps to be accessible is just nonsense. It
can't be done, and it would be hard to police even if it could.
Let me take the first part first. It can't be done? Yes, I agree with
that. It can't. There are some apps so visual in nature and purpose that
you're never going to make them accessible. If that's the case, why do I
support the resolution? I support it because it's important to understand
how advocacy works. You go into a negotiation with your very best case
scenario on display. In an ideal world we'd like all apps to be accessible.
I have no inside information, but I have concluded many successful advocacy
campaigns, and I have no doubt that NFB will already be clear about where
they'd be prepared to give ground. If Apple comes to the table, its
starting position is likely to be that whether a third-party app is
accessible or not is a matter for the developer in question, not Apple.
Apple may well also have a compromise position of some kind in mind. It's
an absolutely standard negotiating position.
Second, how practical is the resolution, given that there are
approximately 1.5 million apps in the store? There are plenty of automated
testing tools in use in IT companies. They can certainly test for textual
labels on buttons, although I agree it would have to be a clever testing
tool to try and ascertain whether the text was helpful. Tricky, but Apple
has some of the best software engineers in the world.
I can remember some years ago when web accessibility campaigns were
in their infancy. Many people were complaining then about how unnecessary
and politically correct web accessibility was because they just knew blind
people would never go to their website anyway. Then Dreamweaver, a popular
web authoring tool, added warnings when developers tried to save a page
that contained links or graphics without ALT text. A warning would pop-up
telling developers that it looked like they were about to create an
inaccessible page, and did they really want to do that. Adding a similar
warning to Apple's developer tools could make a huge difference.
It's true that automated testing tools and warnings when developers
create an app are not a panacea. Perhaps some additional blind people might
be employed to further Apple's efforts here. And, if a few more of the
capable, tech-savvy blind people I know who are struggling to find work
could get those jobs, I'm all for that.
Some people have said how sad it is that NFB is showing such
ingratitude, that they're alienating developers, the very people we need to
have on our side. As you may know, I set up a company earlier this year,
Appcessible, where a bunch of blind people help app developers with
accessibility. It's rewarding work, and I find it satisfying because, if I
see a problem, I always try to find a constructive way of being part of the
solution. But no matter how hard we at Appcessible try, how hard you try as
an individual who contacts a developer, it's a humongous task. You'll have
successes, and you'll have setbacks, but there's a wider principle to be
defended here.
The status quo is that app developers can say, "If we don't wish to
accommodate blind people, that's our right." Sound familiar? It should.
It's a similar argument to that which was used against blacks in 1964. Deaf
people have been criticized for their efforts to have every single movie
captioned on Netflix. Wheelchair users were criticized for getting
legislation passed requiring all public buildings to be physically
accessible. Building owners objected, saying no disabled people come here
anyway, so why should I bother? The irony is, disabled people didn't go
there because they couldn't.
Many app developers either don't know blind people are using
VoiceOver, think we only use special apps, or think that we don't want to
use their particular app. We're a low-incidence population, so
misconceptions are common. And that's yet another reason why this
resolution has been a great move. I've read a number of tech publications
this morning where a story about the resolution is running. I figured it
would get out there eventually, which is why those who thought the
resolution made no difference were naive and didn't understand the media
clout of an organization like NFB.
Of course there are those reacting badly. As I've sought to
illustrate, nothing worth winning in this world was ever won without
objection, so I'm relaxed about that. But you know what's good? People are
talking about app accessibility in the mainstream. Some of the commenters
are educating the ignorant about how powerful VoiceOver is, what blind
people are doing with iPhones, and how relatively easy it is to make an app
accessible. Sure, there'll be people who will never be persuaded, but today
more people are a little more informed about accessibility than yesterday.
Some have objected strongly to a quotation in the Reuters piece on
NFB's resolution in which an affiliate board member mentioned the potential
of a lawsuit on this issue. I listened to the debate carefully on Saturday,
and the question of a lawsuit didn't come up. I also know from experience
that, once a story gets into the wild, news agencies will contact people
they have on file, who may not necessarily be an authorized spokesperson
for the organization. That's just the nature of the media. Once the story
gets out there, you can't control who they talk to.
I realize I've written a bit of a novel here, but I really want to
try the best I can to illustrate to younger people in particular why many
of the accommodations they enjoy today, such as the course they're
studying, the job they're doing, the vocational choices they have, were
achieved over the opposition of some often powerful forces. We need to be
far less worried about what others think and more concerned with a
considered position on what we believe the place of blind people in society
to be. Do we have sufficient self-worth that we're willing to do what it
takes to achieve equality, even when it necessitates ruffling a few
feathers, or are we content to languish in our mediocrity and accept being
rebuffed?
In this case I think NFB made the right call. Maybe Apple will come
to the table, maybe it won't. But already more people are aware of
accessibility than they were before this resolution. If Apple does engage,
the outcome won't be that every single app will be accessible, but with
good will on both sides, progress will be made. Then, in twenty years,
people will be trying to remember why it was ever contentious.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Jamie Allison]
Advice to the Rookies from a Rookie
by Jamie Allison
>From the Editor: Jamie Allison is a member of the National Federation of
the Blind of South Carolina, the president of the Cherokee County chapter,
the coordinator of their recently concluded BELL program, and, from what I
can tell, a delightfully well-organized human being who believes that good
organization can maximize one's enjoyment of our convention and has taken
the time to share some of her tips. Here is what she says:
I was proud to represent my local chapter and my state at the 2014
National Convention, celebrating the 74th anniversary of the Federation's
founding, this year in Orlando, Florida. I was encouraged to submit a
request for the Jernigan Scholarship and was honored to receive it. I also
had the mentorship of several experienced Federationists who have attended
national conventions in the past. I learned an immense amount of
information during convention on a variety of subjects, but more
importantly, I learned more about my own potential as a blind person. I
often thought about and even dreamed of attending a national convention in
the years prior to my attendance in 2014. Now that this dream has been
realized, I want to share some of what I learned with the next class of
rookies.
First, accept from the beginning that you can't possibly do it all. I
found that, even with meticulous preplanning and prioritizing, there is no
way to do everything that is available. Begin studying the agenda once it
has been released. It will take several readings in order to get a feel for
the choices you will be making. I would also advise making an
individualized itinerary. I did this with a simple Microsoft Word document
containing the times and locations for the events that I felt were most
important. Later I Brailled an abbreviated hard copy of this information to
carry with me. This made things a bit simpler for me because I didn't have
to consult the entire agenda to refresh my memory on when and where my
priority events would be.
Think of your itinerary as a fluid plan. Give yourself the
flexibility to adjust it as needed. Items that don't seem interesting at
first may become more inviting after hearing about someone else's
experience with them once you're at the convention. You may also find that
some of the ones you thought were good choices may not be as good after
all. Look for the ones with repeat sessions and schedule them around the
ones that don't repeat.
Have a place to keep all of your materials for the convention within
easy reach. I created a Dropbox folder for electronic files of agendas,
itineraries, and other information. I also kept my Braille agenda and a
folder with hard copies of such documents in one place in my hotel room. I
did not have to take every document to every event, but having one place to
store them made it much easier to put my hands on them when needed.
You will definitely want some sort of bag to carry things from one
event to another. Thankfully, tote bags were a frequent free item. Some of
the state affiliates sold small drawstring backpacks in the exhibit hall. I
bought one to use during the week and noticed a lot of other people doing
the same thing.
Plan ahead for what you need to pack. Casual clothing will get you
through the better part of the week, but you do need to dress appropriately
for the banquet. Don't forget to bring a swimsuit if you plan to go to the
pool. Towels and linens are usually provided, so concentrate on the other
things you will need. Remember to leave some room in your suitcase in case
you do any shopping, either at the exhibit hall or away from the
convention. UPS boxes were also sold in the exhibit hall. I found that to
be very helpful because I sent some of the bulkier items home that way,
rather than putting them into my luggage. However, I did have to remember
to drop it off at a designated time and place before I left.
You also need to consider the fatigue factor. The convention is more
like a marathon than a sprint, especially if you plan to be there from
seminar day through the banquet. Try to get extra rest in the week or two
prior to the convention, and allow yourself a couple of recovery days
afterward if you can. If you are not directly responsible for overseeing
the travel, try to get some sleep while en route and as you go home. Don't
forget to plan some blocks of time when you can relax during convention
week. If you are the type of person who needs a break from the crowded
meeting rooms, elevators, and restaurants, plan some times when you can be
by yourself for a few minutes. Bring lunch up to your hotel room or better
yet, make a trip to a nearby store and grab items you can use for impromptu
meals once you're there. This is a much less expensive option than buying
all your meals at the hotel, as well as providing an opportunity for a
break for yourself. Make use of the pool area and exercise facilities in
between or after meetings. This is very important to help balance the
amount of time you spend sitting in one place. As contrary as this idea may
seem, this will actually help keep you from feeling the fatigue as badly.
I would also advise you to be mindful of your sleep schedule. It is
hard to turn down the request for a late-night visit with a friend you just
met or to cut the conversation short if you're doing some networking. If
you are one of those fortunate souls with a high energy level and can
function on a handful of hours sleep for a few consecutive nights, you'll
most likely be fine-maybe a little frazzled by the last day or two. For
those of us who have medical conditions that affect rate of fatigue, it is
vitally important that we pay attention to what our body is telling us. You
may have to pare down some of the items on your itinerary or leave the
evening's activities before you're really ready, but it would be no fun to
spend the last couple of days stuck in your room from being sick as a
result of overdoing it. If you take medicine, be sure to bring enough with
you for the entire trip and perhaps some extra in case there are unforeseen
delays.
Don't forget to stay hydrated. There is a lot of sitting, but you
must sometimes walk a considerable distance between events. It might be
helpful to bring bottled water with you for seminar day or evening
activities. There were plenty of water stations just outside the convention
hall during general sessions, so it isn't necessary to buy bottled water
during those unless you really don't like moving from your seat during
meetings. It's also perfectly fine to get up during meetings to stretch or
use the restroom. Just be as discreet as you are able. I found it easier to
do this if I chose a seat near the back of the room, at the end of a row,
and preferably near a corner. This may not work if you wish to sit with
your state's delegation. If you have a guide dog, I would also caution you
not to position your dog directly next to a doorway, since there will be
people needing to get in and out of the room. And, of course, be mindful of
noise-emitting devices during sessions and meetings. It is wise to bring a
set of headphones for your phone or notetaker. If you must take a call,
please leave the room.
A good piece of advice I give to families with more than one adult
attending is that you have the advantage of doing some turn taking. If two
items are happening simultaneously that are both important, families have
the ability to "divide and conquer." It's also possible for one parent to
stay in the room with a child that may be over-tired or fussy while the
other attends meetings. Those roles can be swapped so that both spouses get
a break and the chance to do things.
I would also encourage first-time attendees to go to the Rookie
Roundup. You will receive a warm welcome, lots of useful information, and a
ribbon for your name tag that lets others know you are a first-timer. I
also would encourage you not to overlook the other seminars held just
before and during the general sessions. I attended many of the NOPBC
(National Organization of Parents of Blind Children) and PIBE
(Professionals in Blindness Education) sessions and found them very useful.
The cane walk and the Braille book fair should definitely be on almost
everyone's itinerary.
Also know ahead of time that many state affiliates and divisions use
the convention to fundraise. You will be asked many times if you would like
to purchase an item, make a donation, or buy a raffle ticket. I was told to
budget ahead for this, and that was extremely helpful. It's very hard to
refuse, especially when it's a cute child making the request, and it often
is. I kept a ziplock bag with my budgeted amount of money for this in one-
and five-dollar bills. It went with me almost everywhere. Then, when I
purchased tickets for a raffle, the tickets also went into this bag so that
they didn't get lost in the shuffle. This was helpful in several ways, not
only as an organizational tool, but as a way to gauge how much money I had
spent for this type of thing. When I started to run low, I was more
conservative in my purchasing. When I ran out, I didn't feel bad about
declining a purchase, knowing that I had already used what had been
budgeted for this. Once or twice I reached into my "miscellaneous" budgeted
monies when motivated to help a certain division that I felt strongly
about.
This leads me to my next piece of advice. As soon as you know you are
going, make a budget. Put it in writing in whatever format you're used to
using and include everything-transportation, lodging, food, registration
and banquet fees, donations and sales, miscellaneous spending, and
admission costs for activities or meetings that require it. Ask veteran
attendees how much one should budget for certain items. Increase that
amount by a few dollars as a cushion. Have an emergency fund (or if you
have the ability and don't mind doing so, assign a credit card to use) to
cover anything that you may not have planned for. Once you decide how much
you think you need to budget for each item, try not to exceed this amount
significantly. Think about sharing the cost of the hotel room. This
decreases the amount you pay for lodging significantly. Our state also
rents a charter bus for its members who help fundraise to offset the cost
during the year. Members can ride it to and from the convention at a
reduced price.
Be mindful of freebies. There will be many of these opportunities
around, but you have to be observant to find them. I was able to RSVP for a
free breakfast and information session put on by the American Foundation
for the Blind. The food was delicious, and the information was interesting.
There were also tote bags and other items at events or in the exhibit hall.
Bookshare.org had freebies for its clients, which turned out to be
extremely useful.
I also encourage you to go to the banquet. If you plan to apply for
the Jernigan Scholarship, this is a requirement. It is also one of the key
portions of the convention, and you'll feel a stronger connection with the
organization if you are able to attend. However, this is probably the most
expensive item for the week other than lodging, transportation to and from
the hotel, and food. It is worth the cost to attend, whether this is your
first or your fiftieth convention.
I hope the information that I have shared will make your first
convention easier. I definitely encourage everyone to attend, especially if
you have read about past conventions and thought it would be interesting or
fun to go. Even if you already consider yourself an old pro at being blind,
you will learn things that will challenge you to be more independent. There
is something there for everyone, and I guarantee that by the end of the
week you'll learn something new about yourself and your own abilities that
will surprise you.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Daniel B. Frye]
Normal
by Daniel B. Frye
>From the Editor: Dan Frye is the executive director of the New Jersey
Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBVI), the state agency
responsible for providing vocational rehabilitation, independent living,
education, and eye-health services to blind and vision-impaired residents
of New Jersey. Prior to his role with CBVI, Dan served for three years as
the national manager of the Randolph-Sheppard Program and grants officer
for the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults at the
Rehabilitation Services Administration. An active Federationist at the
local, state, and national levels since his childhood in South Carolina in
1982, Dan worked on the NFB's national staff from 2005 to 2010 in our
Affiliate Action Department and as associate editor and editor of the
Braille Monitor. Finally, from 2002 to 2005 Dan served as national advocate
for the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand (ABC NZ), where he
used his skill as a Federation-trained advocate and graduate of law school
to promote the legislative and political agenda of the ABC NZ membership.
Throughout his adulthood Dan has been involved with Democratic politics,
the Unitarian-Universalist community, and Lionism. He and his wife Renee
reside in Newark, New Jersey. Here is what he says about his college
experience and learning to fit in:
Soccer was the dominant sport played and appreciated at Erskine
College, the small, four-year liberal arts institution where I earned my
undergraduate degree. During freshman orientation it was made clear to
everybody, sports enthusiast or not, that support of, if not involvement
in, Erskine's extracurricular point of pride was important. Much of
community life and campus spirit were influenced by the success or failure
of our Single A, championship-caliber women's soccer team. As a matter of
course then, we were all made familiar with the location of the soccer
field in the sleepy little town of Due West, South Carolina, and it was
there that we, as newly admitted students to Erskine College, pledged our
allegiance to the Flying Fleet.
Founded in 1840, Erskine enjoys the distinction of being the oldest
private college in South Carolina. It was and remains a small school,
enrolling approximately eight hundred students while I was there.
Generations of families sent their offspring to Erskine to study but also,
it seemed to me, to honor their heritage and institutional tradition. In
such an intimate environment, situated in a small southern town
characterized by charm and a unique regional culture, the arrival on the
scene of a blind freshman with no identifiable ties to the community must
have been jarring for campus residents so steeped in an ethos of custom and
conformity.
Motivated in part by an adolescent desire to fit in, but also by an
interest in demonstrating that there was nothing inherently abnormal about
being blind, I immediately immersed myself in the college life. I sought
and secured election to the Student Senate as a freshman and then served
during my last three years of college on the Student Judicial Council, the
entity charged with hearing and resolving student infractions. Loving to
sing, I auditioned and was accepted as a member of the Erskine College
Choraleers, a show choir that annually toured and served as a musical
ambassador for the school. Wanting to develop my skill as a writer further,
I volunteered as a reporter for the Erskine College Mirror and was
ultimately given the opportunity to write my own weekly column,
"Spotlight," featuring accomplished members of the student body.
In order to help pay my way through college, I worked as a tutor in
the Office of Academic Counseling Services. Among all these obligations I
worked in time to study so that I could actually earn the degree for which
I came to college.
Gradually I managed to integrate into the social microcosm of Erskine
life with a measure of success. Along the way, though, I had to engage in a
great deal of public education about blindness. I explained and
demonstrated, for instance, that I could independently carry my own tray in
the college cafeteria without problem or incident. Additionally, professors
prompted by a misdirected sense of benevolence, would occasionally offer to
exempt me from performing assignments which they believed to be beyond the
ability of a blind student. I would explain that it was important for me to
complete comparable tasks in order to receive credit for my coursework.
These and other lessons helped to increase the respect for and expectations
of blind people in the Erskine community.
On a crisp fall Friday evening in my senior year of college, I was
walking up Main Street in pursuit of a sub sandwich for supper at the
Station, a refurbished gas station turned take-out deli. As I walked this
familiar route, I could hear music wafting from the seminary as I passed
and loud cheering from the soccer field about a half mile away. Otherwise
the evening was quiet, and I was intent on grabbing a bite to eat and
relaxing after an intense week of school. The streets and sidewalks were
vacant except for an occasional passing car. My mind was far away in
thought as I soaked up the familiar sounds and smells of my fourth autumn
in Due West.
Suddenly my attention was captured by a persistent honking horn and
shouted inquiries from several rather intoxicated students visiting from a
neighboring college. Out of the opened window of their noisy automobile,
they asked, "Hey, where's the soccer field?" I stopped, gave them the
driving directions, and they were off as abruptly as they had appeared.
As I finished my walk and returned to my dorm room, I reflected on
the simple but significant interaction that had occurred earlier. Sighted
people, driving along, observed me comfortably engaging in my community and
asked if I could be of assistance to them. I responded appropriately with
the desired information, and we went our separate ways.
Frequently as a blind person I have been subtly discouraged from
contributing to the social intercourse of my world by those who harbor low
expectations of blind people or who simply are unaware of our community's
diverse aptitude. Often the reservation stems from a desire to make things
as easy as possible for the blind person or from a general sense of
discomfort caused by limited exposure to blind people. In short,
misinformation, low expectations, and a genuine kindness are regularly the
culprits for our restricted opportunity to contribute in an unobtrusive way
to the normal course of affairs. The final factor in this diminishment, as
I pondered this topic on that memorable Friday evening, has to be our own
complacency resulting from teaching that encourages blind people to accept
assistance more often than we are urged to give it. So I resolved that
evening to carry my luggage, answer questions in a crowd, help others as it
was needed, and generally not take for granted the importance to a blind
person of acting normally. I recognized then and there the value of
engaging in such simple but significant social interactions as a way to
advance our integration as blind people into the larger world. The
direction I offered to the soccer-seeking students, while not profound, may
have helped them understand the innate normalcy of blind people. I was glad
to have been there to answer their question.
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[PHOTO/CAPTION: Cindy Bennett]
Coming to See the Unfairness of Paying Less than the Minimum Wage
by Cindy Bennett
>From the Editor: Cindy Bennett is the recently elected treasurer of the
National Federation of the Blind of Washington, a winner of a 2014 National
Federation of the Blind Scholarship, and a woman whose intention is to work
in the field of adaptive technology for the blind. Every challenge she has
in getting equal access to her coursework serves as one more affirmation
that she has chosen the correct field and that the efforts of her labor and
the intelligence she brings to the world are being properly focused.
Because she is socially conscious enough to be concerned with more than her
own narrow self-interest, Cindy shares her budding awareness about the
unfairness of paying less than the minimum wage in an email post to the
National Association of Blind Students (NABS) listserv. Here is what she
says:
The first I heard about the fair wages initiative was at the 2011
National Convention. It was my first convention, and I was astonished that
we cared about solving a problem experienced by those with disabilities who
did not have hope of gaining anything better based on their lack of
potential. I heard about the initiative again from our national
representative at the NFB of Minnesota state convention and at the North
Carolina state convention; I was attending BLIND Inc. and had the good
fortune to attend both. Anil Lewis happened to be in Minneapolis for some
reason and ran a seminar for the students at BLIND Inc. Surprise! It too
was on the subminimum wage issue. I was annoyed at this point. I felt like
people were yelling at me to just believe that it was wrong, and I didn't
listen because my only experiences with people tagged as having multiple
disabilities were at events where they were tokens for fundraising purposes
or visiting a class or something.
I was a National Association of Blind Students representative at the
NFB of Michigan convention later that fall, and Anil Lewis was the national
representative. I had finally had enough, so I cornered him and asked him
why the NFB expected its members to take action based only on moral
arguments, when no one had ever presented me with any facts on which to
act.
Since then I have seen numerous emails and stories filled with facts
and figures that expose the fallacy that special wage certificates are in
place for the good of those with disabilities. Not only did my
confrontation help to change my mind about the rightness of pressing for
the minimum wage for everyone, but it also convinced me that this is an
organization in which what I say means something. I expressed a concern to
a national leader, he listened and understood the value of what I and
others were suggesting, and then he acted to address our concerns.
If it isn't abundantly clear from what I've already said, I too, at
first was very skeptical about the relevance of this issue in the National
Federation of the-let's hear it-Blind-not Blind with other disabilities-and
about whether it was actually unfair, discriminatory, and immoral.
Many entities justify their special wage certificate because they
claim they are a training center for people with disabilities. If that is
so, then you would expect trained people to depart such a center or at
least move up in the ranks. At our NFB training centers, our students don't
stay forever. Although we don't train students for one specific job, we
have success rates of over 90 percent of our graduates finding jobs or
going to school within a year of graduating from a center. I will echo
others in noting that several students at our training centers have
disabilities in addition to blindness. In contrast, only 5 percent of
workers at these so-called sheltered workshops/training centers with their
special wage certificates ever seek other employment.
Another argument is that passing legislation will mean that all
people with disabilities working under the Section 14(c) provision of the
Fair Labor Standards Act will lose their jobs. I agree with Arielle
Silverman, the former president of the National Association of Blind
Students, when she observes that, if employers do this, it is because they
are prejudiced against workers with disabilities. It is obvious that these
companies operate just fine, given they are able to pay exorbitant
executive salaries.
A great example of this phenomenon occurred at the state convention
of the NFB of Washington in 2012. BISM in Maryland, the Chicago Lighthouse
for the Blind, and the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind voluntarily
forfeited their special wage certificates and committed to pay all workers
at least the minimum wage. We thanked the CEO of the Seattle Lighthouse at
our convention. He gave a report, as he does each year, and mentioned that
the company was operating on a $54 million budget. He later mentioned that
the transition would be difficult because it was costing the Lighthouse $60
thousand a year to raise everyone's wage to at least the minimum. A little
math easily shows that this is just over one-tenth of 1 percent of their
$54 million operating budget.
If a company is having difficulty making less than a one-tenth of 1
percent increase in its cost, then they have bigger problems. I would
contend that the real transition is in attitudes rather than finances.
Paying people ethically does not cost these companies; these are not mom-
and-pop shops employing people with disabilities at subminimum wage; these
are often conglomerate workshops that take advantage of the provision to
get nice perks like preferential contracts, which means they have to do
less work to receive more business, and people with disabilities are an
easy ticket to such a provision.
For those that think this plight affects only those with multiple
disabilities, you should be informed that our own NABS president, Sean
Whalen, worked for subminimum wages at a sheltered workshop. He is now
pursuing a master's in public policy from Harvard, but at the time his
community believed that such a job was his only hope. He talked about this
in his 2012 presidential report at the annual business meeting of NABS at
the national convention. Similarly, there was a news special done months
ago about a couple in Montana working for subminimum wages. If they have
additional disabilities, they did not choose to disclose anything other
than blindness in the news story.
However, I think this is irrelevant. We just had a discussion on the
listserv of the National Association of Blind Students about working harder
to include people who have disabilities in addition to blindness in the
NFB. This fight is a direct way we are doing this. We believe that people
with all types of disabilities can achieve adequate productivity in society
with the proper training and opportunity. We highlight this in many of our
major speeches. In an article about Walgreens hiring people with
disabilities, mention is made of using simple organization strategies like
colors, food items, or animals to help people whose understanding is not
adequately communicated through lettered signage. The Walgreens article
also mentioned several times that hiring people with disabilities was an
experiment, and, if the workers did not meet their standards, they would
let them go. My favorite part of the article, the one that really resonates
with me as an accessibility researcher, is that the methods used to assist
those with disabilities actually helped everyone.
Another thing I have wondered is whether some of these people with
disabilities even understood what minimum wage is at the time they agreed
to work for it. There is an inherent problem with this. We have legislation
protecting those who cannot manage their own lives against abuse, and, if
caregivers can be convicted for squandering their clients' money, how can a
business be given the opportunity to take direct advantage of someone who
doesn't know the system? What is more is that this idea is unrealistic.
Many earners of subminimum wage know it and are brainwashed to believe they
are not worth more. I heard these exact words said by a woman who attended
the NFB of Oregon state convention. She interrupted Parnell Diggs's update
about the fair wages initiative to say that she had other disabilities and
mental health instability that prevent her from being productive enough to
be worth paying the minimum wage. It sure seems like her employer does not
fit the propaganda about the happy places that just love giving people with
disabilities opportunity and increasing self-esteem. They have clearly
exaggerated what society already tells her: as someone with a disability,
she really isn't worth much, and she should be thankful for the charitable
saviors who give her some way to spend her sad life. I don't see anyone
going through tests to gauge whether they are worth anything.
All workers except people with disabilities are entitled to the
minimum wage if they get a job. So this is about equality. And, if there is
someone who-after being put through appropriate training and after being
given appropriate opportunity-does not perform to company standards or who
chooses not to work, then, disability or not, I do not believe he or she
should be working at that job. I think that this will constitute a small
minority of people with disabilities.
The essential question is whether it is okay to give someone
something to do just to keep him or her occupied, when others doing that
same something are given a proper wage. I have to wonder how unproductive
these employees actually are. I wonder if the issue lies more with the
inside-the-box training that is too often provided, in lieu of training
that really meets the needs of the disabled people seeking work.
It is true that some employers pay their workers without disabilities
based on productivity; it's called commission. Right-to-work states also
require service industry workers like restaurant servers to count tips as
part of their wage. But this has nothing to do with Section 14(c), which
discriminates against a select group of individuals simply because they
have a disability-not because they are less productive, but because they
are disabled; productivity tests are implemented as a mechanism to
determine wages; the certificates are not made for "less productive
people."
It wasn't long ago that we treated other groups like this. I have
watched several World War II videos about how to train a woman to work.
They became popular when many women went to work to replace the men who had
gone to fight. The videos were littered with misconceptions such as the
need to be softer on a woman, the importance of not expecting as much out
of her, and remembering not to expect her to understand higher level
thinking. This sounds inane now, but we are still behind as a society when
it comes to the perceptions of what people with disabilities can contribute
to the workplace and society.
Some think it is utopian to think that legislation will solve the
problem, and in some ways it is. And that is why the NFB also does other
things, such as creating quality training for blind people and working with
other companies and organizations who exemplify similar ideals to prove
that the legislation should create rather than stifle opportunities. Some
companies will choose to continue their prejudiced behavior against people
with disabilities, but I would like to learn more about how realistic this
is. It sounds to me like preferential contracts are pretty desirable, and
any reputable companies that laid off a ton of workers with disabilities
would get deplorable publicity.
If you think the NFB is crazy for believing in the capabilities of
the disabled, then consider that President Obama included workers with
disabilities in his recent executive order raising the minimum wage for all
workers under federal contracts. Similarly, over fifty organizations made
up of and for people with disabilities have joined the NFB in the effort to
phase out Section 14(c).
So I challenge anyone who justifies the subminimum wage to take a
good hard look at the sheltered workshops which employ it-their tax-exempt
status, their preference in getting government contracts, their charitable
solicitations, and their inflated salaries, and then tell me with a
straight face that you believe it would be a hardship to pay at least the
minimum wage to the blind and the otherwise-disabled who live in our world,
share our expenses, and have the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations as do
the rest of us. We can do better; we will do better!
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Eric Woods]
Blindness Cured?
And Thank You for It
by Eric Woods
>From the Editor: This article is taken from the 2013 Holiday Issue of the
Blind Coloradan. Included is the editor's note written by Kevan Worley.
Here is Kevan's introduction:
Eric Woods is a longtime Federationist and a member of the NFB of
Colorado board of directors. As a blind adult he has been an
industrial arts instructor. He has worked as a counselor and role
model for hundreds of blind youth. Many of our readers know Eric as a
guitar player, singer, and songwriter. Eric regularly performs in the
Americana group Stray Dog. We are thankful for Eric's reflections
during this time of celebration and Thanksgiving. Here is what he
says:
It being the holiday season, and especially Thanksgiving, I find
myself, as many of us do around this time of year, putting the giving of
thanks that is in my heart into words. I've had what most people around the
world would consider to be a blessed existence, at least comparatively so-
decent up-bringing, opportunities, plenty of good food and friends, and
sometimes more than enough beer. For all these things I am quite thankful.
But as I get older, not only in my overall years of life but also in the
increasing number of years which I have been blind, I find that my hopes
for the future and my thankfulness for all I've been lucky enough to
receive have simplified some. I imagine that this is not altogether
uncommon.
When I was a little boy, I had such dreams: dreams that very few could
ever obtain, but the stuff that makes youngsters bounce around and would
likely lead to discouragement if I dreamt them at a later age. I wanted to
win Wimbledon. I wanted to play second base for a World Series winning ball
club. I wanted to be a rock star and have countless busty chicks trying to
tackle me on the street. Nobody will be surprised to realize that not even
a whiff of these or similar dreams came true, though I once was knocked
over by two women coming out of a Walmart.
Gradually we all realize the differences between dreams and reality. I
had given up the pie-in-the-sky sort of dreams for a regular existence, and
I was fine with that. I was about where I wanted to be at that stage in my
life when I went blind. After going blind, I wanted to be cured, and, God
knows I would have been thankful. Of course I was cured shortly thereafter-
at least I began the curing process, though I didn't quite understand how
all that was happening at the time.
Initially I wanted my eyes back in good working order, but really that
was just the physical cause of my problems, not the underlying
manifestation of my situation. I wanted to feel normal again. It wasn't
that I couldn't see a book or a newspaper; it's that I suddenly had no
means of reading any longer. It wasn't that I couldn't see the grocery
store; rather, it was that I had no way of getting there. I wanted to feel
good about myself, and I didn't. I wanted to feel optimistic about the rest
of my life, and I couldn't. I wanted to be a normal guy again, and I didn't
know how.
God never chose to give me my sight back. Doctors couldn't medicate or
operate my eyes back into usefulness. Scientists and engineers had no
solutions. After some time of feeling despair and desperation, I did find a
cure of sorts. My eyes are not healed, but the hole I felt in my soul over
the loss of sight I experienced as a young man has been filled with
countless caring men and women. I have known them for many years now. I am
thankful for them. I feel good about myself. I read books and newspapers
again and feel optimistic about my remaining time. I am a normal guy. Thank
you, National Federation of the Blind, with all your individual, local,
state, and national components. You have done this for me. I will never be
able to thank you enough.
----------
Recipes
This month's recipes are offered by members of the NFB of Pennsylvania.
Sugar Melts
by Antoinette (Toni) Whaley
Antoinette (Toni) Whaley is the current treasurer of the NFB of
Pennsylvania. She is also the treasurer of NAGDU and the president of the
Pennsylvania Association of Guide Dog Users. This recipe comes from her
Aunt Babs.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1/2 cup almonds or walnuts, finely ground
Method: Cream the butter, sugars, and oil. Beat until well blended.
Add one egg at a time, blending well after each addition. In another bowl
combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Add to butter mixture, and
mix until blended. Add extract and nuts, and mix well. Cover and place into
refrigerator for two hours or overnight. Form dough into one-inch balls.
Roll in granulated sugar and place on lightly greased baking sheet. Using a
glass with a decorative bottom dipped in water and sugar, press into
cookies. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes or
until brown around the edges. Makes about 100 cookies.
----------
Sour Cream Pound Cake
by Antoinette (Toni) Whaley
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sour cream
2 cups sifted flour
Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup nuts, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
Method: Cream butter, sugar, and eggs together. Add sour cream and
beat on medium speed. Sift all dry ingredients together and add to egg
mixture along with vanilla. Mix well. Pour half the batter into a greased
and floured tube pan. Combine nuts, cinnamon, and sugar. Sprinkle the nut
mixture on the batter. Pour remaining batter on top. Place in a cold oven
and then set the oven to 350 degrees. Bake fifty-five minutes or until
inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan immediately onto
cooling rack.
-----------
Firecracker Casserole
by Michelle McManus
Michelle McManus is the president of the Happy Valley Chapter of the
NFB of Pennsylvania and is an affiliate board member. She has also been one
of the co-chairs of our BELL program in Pennsylvania for the past two
years.
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 to 3 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 15-ounce can ranch-style beans
6 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 10-ounce can RoTel tomatoes
1 can condensed mushroom soup
Method: Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet. Add chili
powder, cumin, and salt; stir well. Spoon the meat mixture into a 9-by-13-
inch baking dish. Layer beans, tortillas, and cheeses over the meat. Pour
RoTel liquid over cheese. Chop RoTel tomatoes and spread over cheese.
Spread soup over all. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered at
350 degrees for one hour.
Note: I use refried beans. I'm not sure if these are "ranch-style
beans" or not, but they taste great. This recipe takes awhile, but it's
worth it.
----------
Broccoli Salad
by Eileen Hunger
Eileen Hunger is the treasurer of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chapter
of the NFB of Pennsylvania. Her husband Kirk is the president of this
chapter and serves as a board member for the affiliate.
Ingredients:
3 to 4 pounds of fresh broccoli broken into small florets-use only florets
or use some stems too after peeling and dicing them
1 large onion, diced (a red onion adds color) or 8-10 scallions/green
onions, diced
1 cup raisins (or more to taste)
1 pound bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
Method: Rinse broccoli and drain thoroughly so that the dressing will
adhere. In a large bowl, mix all of the above ingredients together.
Dressing Ingredients:
1 to 2 cups of mayonnaise (to taste, how creamy do you want it?)
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (how sweet do you want it?)
2 tablespoons vinegar
Method: Mix ingredients together in small bowl. Pour over and stir
into the large bowl of prepared salad ingredients. Can be made one day
ahead of time, but must be kept refrigerated.
----------
Mama Eileen Rosa's Marinara Spaghetti Sauce
by Eileen Hunger
Eileen says about this recipe: "Growing up in Brooklyn and living
next to an Italian restaurant was a very fragrant experience. This is one
of the jewels I gleaned from the real thing."
Ingredients:
4 sliced or pressed garlic cloves
2/3 cup olive oil
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons dry parsley
1 teaspoon basil
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Method: In a large skillet (or Dutch oven if doubling recipe),
lightly brown garlic in olive oil. Remove from heat to avoid splatter and
add diced tomatoes. Return to low heat, add and stir in the remaining
seasonings, except the tomato paste and oregano. Allow to simmer uncovered
for twenty minutes. Then add the tomato paste and blend it into the sauce.
Now add the oregano and simmer for the final ten minutes. If the oregano is
added too early, it makes the sauce bitter. Recipe can easily be halved
when feeding only two or three, or doubled for a gang.
----------
Candied Sweet Potatoes
by Eileen Hunger
Ingredients:
6 sweet potatoes or yams
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method: Cook yams in their skins in boiling salted water until nearly
tender. Prepare a shallow, well-greased baking dish while yams boil. When
yams are nearly tender, drain, peel, and cut into one-inch slices and place
in baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. Preheat oven to 375
degrees.
In a separate small saucepan, cook together brown sugar, water, and
butter for several minutes until it slightly thickens and starts to coat a
spoon. Stir in lemon juice. Pour over cut yams. Bake at 375 degrees for
forty-five minutes to an hour, basting occasionally.
Note: If you are making this recipe a day or two in advance, bake for
only thirty minutes. Remove from oven and turn each slice over in the
sauce, cover, and store in refrigerator. On serving day bake sweets at 375
degrees for thirty minutes, basting occasionally.
----------
Easy Chili Cheese Nacho Dip
by Emily Angelcyk
Emily Angelcyk is the president of the Pennsylvania Parents of Blind
Children and also serves as a board member of the affiliate.
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can of Hormel Chili No Beans (original or spicy)
1 bag of shredded Mexican or taco cheese
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread cream cheese in the
bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish. Spread chili on top of the cream
cheese, cover chili with shredded cheese-however much you desire. Heat
thoroughly in oven approximately twenty to thirty minutes.
----------
Cheesy Chocolate Chip Dip
by Connie Schwartzfeld
Connie Schwartzfeld is the second vice president of the NFB of
Pennsylvania and the president of the Erie County Chapter.
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 stick butter, softened and blended
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Method: Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for two hours.
Then shape into a ball and roll in nuts if you wish. Chill at least one
hour.
----------
Oven-Roasted Chicken Thighs
by Joe Drenth
Joe Drenth is the past treasurer of the NFB of Pennsylvania and,
aside from being a former national scholarship winner, he serves as the
webmaster for the NFB of Pennsylvania. Here's what he said about this
recipe: "This recipe produces delicious roasted chicken thighs through a
simple process of searing and baking. It works very well with the
inexpensive thighs, often available for around a dollar per pound. The skin
gets crusty while the meat is moist and flavorful."
Ingredients:
4 to 7 chicken thighs (with bone and skin)
Seasoned salt (like Lawry's)
Large skillet, preferably oven-safe
Broiler pan and aluminum foil if skillet is not oven-safe
Heavy-duty oven mitts
Method: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Arrange the shelves to
provide ample height for the middle shelf. If the skillet is not oven-safe,
line the drip-collecting tray of a broiler pan with aluminum foil, crimping
it securely around the edges before setting the slotted rack on top of the
tray. A brownie pan with edges also works, but do not use baking sheets
because the juices from the chicken will run off the sheets into the oven.
If the pan is heavy, preheat it in the oven so it will be hot when needed.
Heat a lightly oiled skillet on medium-high until a drop of water
sizzles and snaps on contact with the skillet (about ten minutes). Wash
chicken thighs (with bone and skin) based on how many can easily fit in the
skillet, then dry thoroughly with paper towels. Any water that contacts the
hot skillet will pop and splatter hot liquids. Carefully place the thighs
in the skillet with the prettier side down (for presentation purposes,
since it will attain the best color). Wear long oven mitts and possibly eye
protection, since there will be oil and water splatter. Let the thighs sear
for five minutes without moving them, then carefully flip them over with
tongs or a spatula and sear the other side for five minutes. Sprinkle
seasoned salt over the thighs to taste.
If the skillet is oven-safe, place it directly on the middle shelf of
the oven; otherwise carefully transfer the thighs from the skillet onto the
broiler pan and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for thirty to
thirty-five minutes. Wearing thick oven mitts, carefully remove from the
oven and let the meat rest for five minutes.
Note: To use this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sear
for only three minutes per side and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes.
----------
Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
National Association of Guide Dog Users Launches Innovative Mobile App:
The National Association of Guide Dog Users Inc., a strong and proud
division of the National Federation of the Blind and the nation's leading
service animal advocacy organization, is excited to announce the release of
the NAGDU Guide and Service Dog Advocacy and Information mobile app. This
new iOS app provides comprehensive information about the rights and
responsibilities of service animal users under state and federal law. This
app contains the entire text of the implementing regulations of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) concerning service animals, along
with the complete texts of every state law about the rights of access for
the disabled. Also included in this app is specific guidance concerning
service animals in settings in which those of us who use guide and service
dogs experience the most challenges, such as airlines, restaurants, hotels,
taxicabs, and health-care facilities. In addition, those who face
discrimination because of their service dog can use the app to call a
special advocate trained to resolve such issues. The app is provided for
iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users free of charge as a public service by
the National Association of Guide Dog Users. You can find the app by going
to <https://appsto.re/us/F8jO2.i> or by simply searching for "NAGDU" in the
Apple app store.
This mobile app grew out of the NAGDU Information and Advocacy
Hotline, which currently fields nearly 1,100 calls per year. We believe
that having the information in text format in our pockets will help resolve
access issues before they escalate to the level of needing intervention. If
you do need help, the National Association of Guide Dog Users and the
National Federation of the Blind are here to help.
Future plans for the app include creating an Android version, adding
more industry-specific guidance, including more information about the Air
Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA), and adding a
feature that will sort state laws based upon one's current location. We are
also seeking input from users about other features that will enhance the
app's function and effectiveness. You can offer your input by sending a
message to <Info at NAGDU.org>.
Newel Perry Inducted into APH Hall of Fame:
In May of 2014, Dr. Newel Perry (1873-1961) was inducted into the
American Printing House for the Blind's (APH) Hall of Fame. This high
distinction is awarded to leaders and legends in the blindness field, and
Dr. Perry's admittance to this elite group has been long overdue. Fans of
the history of the National Federation of the Blind may know him as the
mentor of our founder, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, but his impact on the American
disability rights movement extends far beyond that.
Among his many accomplishments, Perry was the first blind graduate of
the University of California at Berkeley (1896), earned a doctorate in
mathematics at the University of Munich (1902), and successfully lobbied
the New York state legislature to sign into law the first bill
appropriating reader funds for blind college students (1906). In his
capacity as a teacher at the California School for the Blind (1912-1947),
he tutored the best and brightest students and is credited with preparing
seventy-eight graduates to find work in a variety of fields during a time
period when most blind people were considered unemployable.
Perhaps most importantly, however, Dr. Perry founded the California
Council of the Blind in 1934 and encouraged the young tenBroek to found the
first national organization of the blind in 1940, giving blind people
everywhere the power of collective action to advocate for their rights.
Established to honor his memory in 1955, the NFB bestows the Newel Perry
Award on individuals, sighted or blind, who have demonstrated courageous
leadership and outstanding service in the blindness field by working in
partnership with the National Federation of the Blind.
For more information on the life and work of Newel Perry, the APH has
published an extensive biography at
<http://www.aph.org/hall/bios/perry.html>. Also in 1961, tenBroek eulogized
his mentor and life-long friend in a speech called "Newel Perry: Teacher of
Youth and Leader of Men," which is available at
<https://nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/speeches/NewellPerryTeacherOfYouthL
eaderOfMen.html>.
Elected:
The National Association of Blind Office Professionals (NABOP) is
pleased to announce the following officers for 2014-2016 term: president,
Lisa Hall (OH); vice president, Nancy Coffman (NE); secretary: Joanne
Jordan (VA); and treasurer, Debbie Brown (MD).
Anyone wishing to learn more about our division can contact Lisa Hall
at 7001 Hamilton Avenue, Unit 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231-5262; or call (513)
931-7070 or cell (513) 550-5155; or email at <lhall007 at cinci.rr.com>. To
become a member send $5 to Debbie Brown, 11923 Parklawn Drive, Apartment
104, Rockville, MD 20852; or contact her by phone at (301) 881-1892; or by
email at <dabro at loc.gov>.
The last meeting we had at our 2014 convention was great. All
participants at our meeting learned what was new in technology and training
opportunities. We hope to see everyone next year in Orlando, Florida, in
July 2015.
In Brief
Notices and information in this section may be of interest to Monitor
readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the information; we
have edited only for space and clarity.
National Braille Press Invites You to Apply for the Opportunity to Win up
to $20,000:
Louis Braille was an innovator-and this award seeks to identify and
inspire future innovation. Potentially the award process will inspire new
strategic directions for National Braille Press. The project must
demonstrate some aspect of tactile literacy for blind people and promote
Braille literacy or access to information. The Louis Braille Touch of
Genius Prize for Innovation was developed to inspire innovators to continue
the promotion of Braille literacy for blind and deaf-blind people
worldwide.
The award is open to individuals, groups of individuals, or companies
who have developed an innovative and accessible product in one of the
following categories: professional software and apps, educational software
and apps, gaming software or apps that promote tactile and Braille
learning, and Braille or tactile-related hardware.
Applications must be received by January 7, 2015. For more
information and to download the application, please visit
<www.touchofgeniusprize.org> or contact Ximena Ojopi at (617) 266-6160,
extension 412.
The Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation is provided through support
from National Braille Press and The Gibney Family Foundation.
Computers for the Blind Announces Twenty-Fifth Anniversary:
Computers for the Blind (CFTB), which was formerly The Texas Center
for the Visually Challenged, is a volunteer organization devoted to
providing computers to persons who are blind or visually impaired. It is
our hope that each person who is visually impaired may experience the
information age in a positive and productive manner. We believe technology
opens new worlds and creates opportunity for greater personal freedom.
Computers for the Blind has partnered with Goodshop.com to help do
more for our cause. Along with helping save you money with online deals to
stores like Dell, HP, and Tech Armor, Goodshop will also make a donation
for every purchase you make. It doesn't get much easier than that!
A licensed copy of MAGic, which retails for $395, is now included in
Computers for the Blind desktops and laptops. The desktops are available
for $110 and the laptops are $160. The computers also include the
following:
Accessibility software:
. JAWS for Windows demo version (screen reader)
. NVDA (screen reader)
. Licensed version of MAGic without speech (screen magnification)
. Just Write Checks
. TypeAbility typing tutorial (demo version)
Additional software:
. Windows 7
. Windows Microsoft Security Essentials
. Internet Explorer
. Windows Live Mail 2012
. 388 electronic books
. Word processor and spreadsheet
. Instruction tutorials and FAQ articles
The minimum configuration for our Pentium 4 Dual Core 2GHz refurbished
computers is:
. 2GB of RAM and 80 GB Hard Drive
. CD-R/RW and DVD-ROM
. Sound card, speakers, broadband network card
. Keyboard and mouse
. 17- to 21-inch LCD monitors
If consumers want to upgrade, they can obtain the following from
Freedom Scientific after obtaining a computer: MAGic with Speech, MAGic
keyboard and two SMA upgrades for $199 (which is about a 50 percent
discount); or a licensed version of JAWS Home version for $716 (a 20
percent discount). Please note that these discounts are only available to
consumers and not to state agencies. We do, however, accept purchase orders
for our computers.
Finally, thank you for sharing the news about the computers for $20
for SSI recipients. We received hundreds of calls, and these are no longer
available. However, we intend to write a much larger grant next year and
will let you know if it is approved.
New Fiction by Blind Author:
The Soul and the Seed is the first book in an intense new urban
fantasy/contemporary dystopian series. The story centers around Aranka, a
girl who describes herself as "relatively normal" until those who hold true
power in today's society decide she is a threat. The United States and the
rest of the modern world is dominated by a clandestine power that usurps
the wills and emotions of individuals, but very few people know the truth.
>From the outside Aranka's world appears to be today's world. And yet she is
imprisoned and forced to watch as her friends are killed one by one, all
because they are different in a small physical way and because they can't
be easily controlled. It is only a matter of time before it is her turn to
die.
The Soul and the Seed, called "terrifyingly taut tension" by
reviewers, can be found at: <http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Seed-Kyrennei-Book-
One-ebook/dp/B00MQ99F0Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408634384&sr=1-
2&keywords=The+Soul+and+the+Seed>.
The Soul and the Seed is a gripping tale for adventure, science
fiction, and fantasy readers. It is also a story with high emotional impact
and deep themes about physical differences and social exclusion. The
author, Arie Farnam is a legally blind writer who grew up in eastern Oregon
and moved to Europe "primarily for the public transportation." In 2000, she
became the first successful international conflict correspondent with a
significant physical disability. While reporting from Bosnia, Kosovo,
Macedonia, and the Ukraine among other international crisis areas for The
Christian Science Monitor and Business Week, Farnam also directed two
documentary films The Eye of the Storm (in Kazakhstan) and Walls (in the
Czech Republic). Along with writing and publishing The Soul and the Seed
independently, she also photographed and designed the cover. She is a
former NFB scholarship winner and her documentary films were assisted by an
equipment grant from the Oregon Commission for the Blind.
----------
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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