[NFBNJ] NFB: Braille Monitor, July 2017
Brian Mackey
bmackey88 at gmail.com
Wed Jul 19 12:10:31 UTC 2017
>From the desk of NFBNJ President Joe Ruffalo.
Received from Brian Burrow, NFB.
BRAILLE MONITOR
Vol. 60, No. 7 July 2017
Gary Wunder, Editor
Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash
drive, by the
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Mark Riccobono, President
telephone: (410) 659-9314
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THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND KNOWS THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT THE
CHARACTERISTIC THAT DEFINES YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. EVERY DAY WE RAISE THE
EXPECTATIONS OF BLIND PEOPLE, BECAUSE LOW EXPECTATIONS CREATE OBSTACLES
BETWEEN BLIND PEOPLE AND OUR DREAMS. YOU CAN LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT;
BLINDNESS IS NOT WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK. THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND-IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR
OURSELVES.
ISSN 0006-8829
) 2017 by the National Federation of the Blind
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Vol. 60, No. 7 July
2017
Contents
Illustration: Nielsen Cares and a New Partnership is Born
Need Vision on Demand?: There's an App for That
by Chancey Fleet
New Bill Seeks to Raise Wages for all Workers, Including Those with
Disabilities
by John Pari
Is Braille on Life Support?
by Kane Brolin
Dirigibles, Blimps, and Looking Around
by Justin Salisbury
Dots From Space!: A Bunch of Cut-Ups
by Amy Mason and Anna Kresmer
There Is a List for That!
by David Andrews
Anthony Don't: On Blindness and the Portrayal of Marie-Laure in All the
Light We Cannot See
by Sheri Wells-Jensen
How I Live the Life I Want as a Sports Fan
by Jonathan Franks
Independence Market Corner
by Ellen Ringlein
What Do They Say?
by Lauren L. Merryfield
Editor's Introduction to Celebrate
by Marc Maurer
Swabbing the Deck
by Mary Ann Lareau
Here's the Proof
by James Gashel
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures
[PHOTO CAPTION: The Nielsen Cares team poses with Anil Lewis, Mya Jones,
and Jenivieve White]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Matthew Ottwell helps with inventory of the education
section]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Gareth Kelly explains the procedure to Toni Moore]
[PHOTO CAPTION: The entire Nielsen Cares team works together on a Braille
Pals mailing]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Part of the Nielsen Cares team poses with President
Riccobono, Mya, Jen, and Mrs. Maurer]
Nielsen Cares and a New Partnership is Born
Many of us have heard of the Nielsen ratings and have probably been
disappointed when a favorite TV show has been cancelled, and the excuse for
taking it off has been the rating provided by this company. It turns out
that Nielsen does much more than watch people watch television: its mission
is to collect and analyze data, and television is but one of its markets.
To help employees and to help the community, Nielsen has employee
resource groups. Lou Ann Blake, Jenivieve White, and Anna Adler attended
two meetings to learn about Nielsen and to help it learn about the
Federation. The company has a program called Nielsen Cares, and at least
once each year employees can decide to help an organization they select.
The result was the Baltimore group choosing to help us on May 11, Global
Impact Day, by sending nine employees to the Jernigan Institute. They
helped reorganize the storage of our educational material, assisted in
doing a Braille Pals mailing, and later participated in our Six Dot Dash
race to raise funds for the organization. The Nielsen family is interested
in expanding its involvement with us to include participating in state
conventions and other activities in our local chapters. What a wonderful
way to get to know our neighbors and to get them to know us.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Chancey Fleet enjoys the great outdoors listening as she
leans against a rock with her guide dog.]
Need Vision on Demand?
There's an App for That
by Chancey Fleet
From the Editor: Many of us who are blind have learned to do most
tasks in our life without the aid of vision. We know that there are
alternative techniques, we are proud to use them, and we treasure the
independence they give us. Even so, there are times when we find the
services of someone who can see very helpful. Maybe we need that vision for
five seconds or for two minutes or for two hours.
Traditionally we have met this need in several ways. Sometimes we
wait until we have enough tasks in which sight would be helpful and then
pay or get a volunteer to help us. Some of that waiting can seem long when
we want what we want or actually need it sooner than the next scheduled
visit from a person who can see. Even if we have someone with sight living
in our house, we get tired of asking, and they get tired of all the
questions, so some mutually-acceptable asking and granting must be agreed
upon.
Chancey Fleet offers an answer to this dilemma, which she calls
visual interpretation. She is a tech educator for a New York City library
and understands as much about technology for the blind as anyone I know.
She knows most of the apps that can help us and has a gift for explaining
what they are and what they do. Here is her brief overview of some of them:
If you're a blind person with a smartphone or tablet, you can use it
to get visual information on demand. This genre of service is relatively
new and can go by many names: you might hear it called remote visual
assistance or crowdsourced vision. Personally, I prefer the phrase "visual
interpretation" because it precisely names the process of turning visual
information into something more useful and because the concept of an
interpreter is familiar to people in many walks of life.
Working with a remote visual interpreter can be liberating: you
decide what your interpreter can see, when the interaction begins and ends,
and whether you need a second (or third, or tenth) opinion. A virtual
interpreter can't touch anything in your environment, so you can't be
tempted to abandon a task that is "too visual" to someone else's hands.
Remote visual interpretation can be an empowering option when you'd rather
limit the extent of your interactions with the public, avoid turning
friends and colleagues into de facto describers, or when no one around you
is available to give you the information you need.
A variety of apps provide remote visual interpretation. Although they
vary in price, functionality, and whose eyes are on the other end of the
connection, there are some things you'll want to consider when you use any
of them.
Know your camera: it's important to understand how lighting
conditions, glare, angle, orientation, and distance affect your camera. If
you're not familiar with these concepts, Judy Dixon's National Braille
Press book Getting the Picture is an excellent introduction. You can even
use remote visual interpretation apps themselves to get feedback about how
effectively you're using your camera.
Think about how you want to listen: these apps are going to talk to
you, whether using voice-to-voice connection or text and audio messages. If
you plan on using them in public, invest in comfortable headphones. Unless
you're an EMT or a trucker, two-way speakerphone interactions are almost
never OK in shared spaces, and you do not get a pass on this article of the
social contract just because you're borrowing some eyes. Besides,
headphones will help you hear more clearly. If you're traveling outdoors,
attending an event or tour, or otherwise engaging with these apps in a
context where it makes sense to stay maximally aware of the soundscape
around you, you can use a single Bluetooth earpiece or go with the timeless
budget strategy of just wearing one earbud. If you like balanced sound and
prefer nothing blocking your ears, check out the AfterShokz line of bone-
conduction headphones (available in wired and Bluetooth models). They rest
on the bones just in front of your ears and let you hear your phone or
tablet's audio without blocking what's going on around you. Whatever you
do, read some online reviews before you buy, or take a friend's headphones
for a test drive: people tend to feel deeply about their audio gear, and no
one choice is right for everybody.
Don't run out of gas: live video connections and multimedia messaging
will drain your battery and deplete your data plan. If you're counting on
all-day access to your tablet or phone and plan on using these apps, carry
a backup battery. Once you've started using apps that involve multimedia
messaging or live video connections, check your phone or tablet's data
usage statistics on a regular basis to make sure that you're not
approaching your data limit; and, when you can, save your data by
connecting to a wireless network.
Free your hands: if you'll be sorting things, assembling something,
or taking your own picture, check out your environment to see if you can
use a box, a ledge, or some other stable resting place to set up your phone
so that its camera covers the area you need. Depending on your typical
workflow, you may consider investing in a document camera stand, clip case
or tripod case to keep your phone where you want it.
Protect your privacy: even premium apps that rely on paid
interpreters might be subject to unsecured networks, data breaches, or
human error. Think critically before exposing sensitive personal
information to any internet-connected camera, ever.
Work smarter, not harder: take a moment to reflect on what you want
to accomplish before you start, and make a little bit of a plan. If you're
looking out for some spices or sorting the mail, having a Braille labeler
or some other system on hand will help you capture the information you
receive so you won't have to ask for it again. If you're learning something
complicated (like what button does what on the office copier, the layout of
a new neighborhood, or a thirty-step origami project), taking notes or
making a recording will empower you to read or hear the information
whenever you like until you have it by heart.
Look past the marketing: blind and sighted people are still learning
how to talk about these apps, and you are guaranteed to come across
marketing materials and news stories that don't exactly strike the chimes
of freedom. When that happens, I'd recommend constructively engaging with
the content, whether by posting a comment, dropping a line to the
developer, or using social media to tell your own story about visual
interpretation. Don't abandon the tool just because you found it in a tacky
package.
As with any technology, apps for visual interpretation come and go.
Here are my top four sighted sources right now.
TapTapSee (free for Android and iOS)
How it works: snap a picture or upload one from your camera roll, and
a combination of machine vision and crowdsourced web workers will send you
a quick description. Typically, your answer arrives within twenty seconds
and is short enough to fit on a fortune cookie.
When it shines: for the simple things. TapTapSee is great at
identifying products and describing photos in brief. I use it on a daily
basis to sort and label mystery items in my home and office, get real-time
feedback about the photos I'm taking, and double check that my pen has ink
and my handwriting is legible. TapTapSee descriptions are text-based
messages that can be read with magnification, speech, or Braille.
BeSpecular (free for iOS and Android)
How it works: take one or more pictures, or upload them from your
camera roll. Type or record a question, and listen for text and audio
replies to come rolling in from sighted volunteers over the course of
twenty minutes or so.
When it shines: for rich detail, diverse opinions, and a nuanced
understanding of what different people notice when they look at an image. I
use BeSpecular to ask for detailed descriptions of clothing and jewelry,
ideas about what to wear with what, guidance in picking the "best" photo
from a set, and impressions of photos and objects that are important to me.
Once I've heard five or six different takes on the same image and question,
I can find the patterns of consensus and divergence among the responses and
arrive at my own informed understanding of the image. BeSpecular finds a
happy medium between the brevity of TapTapSee and the live connection used
by other apps. There's something special about BeSpecular's format of long-
form questions and answers. Outside the rhythm of a live conversation,
BeSpecular answers almost feel like postcards from a sighted correspondent
passing briefly through your life. They're often full of detail,
personality, and emotions like surprise and humor. Once, while delayed on a
train at Union Station in Washington, DC, I asked BeSpecular to relieve my
boredom by describing the scene outside my window. One respondent sent me
an audio reply that explained, in a tone that was equal parts delighted and
chagrined, that I had unfortunately sent her the most boring view she had
ever seen. It was one train car, an empty John Deere forklift, and a cloudy
sky.
BeMyEyes (free, iOS, with Android reportedly coming soon)
How it works: connect to a sighted volunteer who speaks your language
and have a conversation about what they see through the lens of your
camera.
When it shines: for exploring, sorting, and troubleshooting. Every
time I arrive at a new hotel, I check in with BeMyEyes to take the decaf
coffee pods out of play, sort the identical little bottles in the bathroom,
and learn the thermostat and media controls. I also use it to find out
which food trucks are parked on the streets near my office, decipher
mystery messages on computer screens, and grab what I need from my local
bodega. Since BeMyEyes is powered by volunteers, I try to make the
interaction upbeat and fun and let the person I'm working with decide
whether they'd like to bow out of a long task after a certain amount of
time. There are just over a half a million sighted volunteers and about
35,000 blind users currently registered with the service, so you can call
as often as you like without fear of bothering the same person over and
over. The system will always connect you to someone for whom it is a
reasonable hour, so Americans calling late at night or early in the morning
will be connected to wide-awake people in Europe and Australia. Since the
volunteer base is so large, you're likely to get through to someone quickly
even when lots of other blind users are connecting.
Aira (iOS and Android, $89 per month and up, available 7 AM - 1 AM Eastern)
How to pronounce it: it's a hard I, so pronounce it as "Ira."
How it works: use your phone's camera or a Google Glass wearable
camera to connect with a live agent. Agents can access the view from your
camera, your location on Google Maps, the internet at large, and your
"Dashboard," which contains any additional information you'd like placed
there.
When it shines: for tasks that are long, context-dependent, or
complex. An Aira agent can start from any address, use Google Streetview to
find a nearby restaurant, glance at online photos to clue you in to whether
it's upscale or casual, suggest and explain the best walking directions to
get there, read the daily specials when you arrive, and show you where to
sign and tip on the check when you're ready to leave. Agents have watched
and described completely silent YouTube videos with me so that I could
learn origami models, counted heads in my local NFB chapter meeting,
described 20 minutes of nothing but socks until I found the perfect sock
souvenir, read online guitar tabs for me so I could write them down in my
own notation, helped me pick out nail polish, and taken spectacular photos
through my camera for my personal and professional social media accounts.
Aira agents are great at reading handwriting, diagrams and product manuals
that seem to have as many pictures and icons as words. When I can't read
something with OCR, Aira can almost always help.
Aira agents are paid, trained professionals. Most of them are
unflappable, effective describers who are up for any challenge. Since you
pay for their time, you should feel comfortable about asking for what you
need, being assertive about the type of descriptive language that works for
you, and calling whenever the need arises.
Like any new technology, remote visual interpretation solves old
problems and creates new ones. To use it well, we need to understand what
it requires in terms of power, data, planning, and effective communication.
We must employ it with sensitivity to our own privacy and to the legitimate
concerns that people sharing space with us may have about cameras. Just as
each of us makes different decisions about when and how to use a screen
reader, the descriptive track of a movie, or a sighted assistant in daily
life, each of us will have our own ideas and preferences about how visual
interpreters fit into our lives. Blind and sighted people working together
are just beginning to discover how to use language, software, and hardware
in ways that employ visual interpretation to our best advantage.
Collectively, we still have a lot to learn. The journey is long, but the
view is phenomenal.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Senator Bernie Sanders stands at a podium with a
#RaiseTheWage banner to announce the new bill.]
New Bill Seeks to Raise Wages for all Workers, Including those with
Disabilities
by John Pari
From the Editor: John Pari is the executive director of strategic
initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind. Although he is
responsible for many program activities, he is best known for his focus on
government affairs. In this article he tells us about new and exciting
developments regarding our quest to see that blind people are paid a fair
wage. Here is what he says:
On Thursday, May 26, 2017, Senators Bernie Sanders and Patty Murray,
and Congressmen Bobby Scott and Keith Ellison introduced the Raise the Wage
Act of 2017. This legislation would increase the federal minimum wage from
its current rate of $7.25 per hour to $15.00 per hour by 2024. While
similar legislation has been introduced in the past two Congresses, this
version included, for the first time, a provision to end the payment of
subminimum wages to workers with disabilities. This is unquestionably due
to the tireless and determined advocacy of the National Federation of the
Blind.
In a press release issued by the National Federation of the Blind on
the day of the legislation's introduction, President Riccobono said, "The
National Federation of the Blind has advocated for the elimination of the
subminimum wage since our founding. The recognition of this issue by
leaders in both houses of Congress and both parties confirms that the time
has long passed to eliminate the unfair and separate wage system for people
with disabilities. Time and time again, we have demonstrated that the idea
of people with disabilities being less productive is simply an antiquated
misconception that has been allowed to permeate throughout society. This
wrong and harmful notion has resulted in multiple generations of disabled
Americans being grossly underpaid and overly reliant on government
assistance programs to survive. We want to work. We want to rid society of
these low expectations. For those reasons, we applaud the promotion of
economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities set forth in the
bill."
The press release further explained that under current law there is
no minimum as to how little an employee with disabilities can be paid. Some
workers earn merely pennies per hour, wages that were considered below
average more than one hundred years ago.[1]
Section 6 of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 would implement an
immediate minimum wage of $4.25 per hour for all workers classified under
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This absolute
minimum wage rate would increase by two dollars per year until it matched
the minimum wage earned by the rest of the American workforce, at which
point employers would no longer be permitted to pay employees with
disabilities a subminimum wage.
It is important to note that raising the overall minimum wage is a
highly partisan issue. As of the writing of this article, not a single
Republican in either the House or the Senate has cosponsored this
legislation, making it extremely unlikely that it will ever pass through
either chamber of Congress. Furthermore, while the National Federation of
the Blind firmly believes that Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act must be phased out, the level at which the federal minimum wage should
be set is not a blindness issue. Therefore, we do not take a position on
the bill's primary purpose, which is to set a higher minimum wage rate.
We can justly celebrate the great progress we have made by getting
this issue included in such mainstream legislation. But the best vehicle
for phasing out and repealing Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act
continues to be the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment
(TIME) Act, H.R. 1377. The TIME Act is sponsored by Representative Gregg
Harper of Mississippi and enjoys solid support from both Republicans and
Democrats. While the Federation is certainly gratified by the language
included in the Raise the Wage Act, our efforts must remain laser-focused
on passing the TIME Act. Therefore, we need to continue to urge our
Representatives to cosponsor H.R. 1377. With our trademark love, hope, and
determination, we are sure to make subminimum wages for people with
disabilities a thing of the past.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Kane Brolin]
Is Braille on Life Support?
by Kane Brolin
From the Editor: Kane is the president of our Michiana chapter which
encompasses the states of Michigan and Indiana, as one might guess from the
name. Kane is a financial analyst and works very hard to see that what is
said about blind people and the techniques we use is accurate and reflects
the views of the Federation. Here is what he wrote in response to a segment
that aired on National Public Radio:
It has to be an unnerving experience to learn that some in the press
are reporting one's death, even though it hasn't happened yet. "In May
1897, the great American humorist, novelist and social critic Samuel
Clemens-best known by his pen name, Mark Twain-was in London. It was one of
the stops on a round-the-world speaking tour he'd embarked on in 1895. He
hoped to use the fees from speaking engagements to pay off the considerable
debts he owed in the United States, due to a series of unsuccessful
investments and publishing ventures. ... While Twain was in London, someone
started a rumor that he was gravely ill. It was followed by a rumor that he
had died. ... It is true that in late May of 1897 the English correspondent
for the New York Journal, Frank Marshall White, contacted Twain in London
to inquire about his health. ... The next day, White wrote an article that
quoted from Twain's letter. On June 2, 1897, the article was published in
the New York Journal. It said, in part: Mark Twain was undecided whether to
be more amused or annoyed when a Journal representative informed him today
of the report in New York that he was dying in poverty in London... The
great humorist, while not perhaps very robust, is in the best of health. He
said: 'I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I
have even heard on good authority that I was dead. ... The report of my
death was an exaggeration.'"[2]
For Mark Twain, premature reports of death were annoying but
correctable. But for the Braille code, which has enabled nearly eight
generations of blind people around the world to have access to the written
word, a consensus opinion about its demise would result in nothing short of
tragedy. Unfortunately, multiple reports about the impending death of
Braille are issued each year and disseminated by the mainstream media as
well as spread across the World Wide Web. We in the National Federation of
the Blind must be vigilant to spot and correct them.
I found out about one of the more recent mainstream media reports of
Braille's doomed future from a friend while he and I were talking in the
hallway after the conclusion of a church service a couple of weeks ago. My
friend, who is sighted, was telling me about a story that had aired on
National Public Radio during his drive home from work a few weeks before.
My friend had some questions: "So why are they saying Braille is almost
dead, even though I've seen you using it every day? They say it's the young
people who don't want it anymore. Is that true?"
I found the report my friend had listened to: "As Braille Literacy
Declines, Reading Competitions Held To Boost Interest."[3] It was filed by
Blake Farmer, news director of NPR affiliate station WPLN of Nashville. The
piece went national when producers for the iconic public radio program All
Things Considered picked it up and aired it on the evening of March 13,
2017.
On first hearing, it seemed to me as though this reporter was
defending Braille, even romanticizing it. The setting was the Tennessee
School for the Blind, where students at the school were competing for a
shot at prizes and nationwide recognition in the Braille Challenge. It is a
contest sponsored each year by the Braille Institute of America, a not-for-
profit organization based in Los Angeles, California. The atmosphere
captured in Mr. Farmer's soundscape was upbeat, as several students were
heard clacking away energetically on Perkins Braillers. A retired teacher
from the Tennessee School, Joanne Weatherall, even had come back to the
school to encourage students to take part in the Braille Challenge and to
judge that part of the competition that the Tennessee School was hosting.
But then, I took another listen and took more careful note of what
some of the participants were saying. Of course, the statistic that
"Braille literacy has fallen to about 10 percent for children" was featured
front and center. Although this retired teacher Ms. Weatherall is blind
herself, and although she remains personally enthusiastic for Braille, she
concluded, "The kids are not wanting to do it (Braille) because it takes
extra time, and it's harder..." Why is it harder?, she was asked. "The only
thing I would think is because kids that start out in school very young
learning technology-it's very easy for them," she says. "It's faster than
reading and writing in Braille because that can be very slow and
cumbersome."
So there is a divide between people who use Braille and people who
use "technology?" And what exactly is the difference between "Braille
literacy" and just plain literacy?
"What to do to really get the kids really charged up about Braille, I
don't know because many of them hate it, which just makes me crazy," she
(Weatherall) says.
Even for those Tennessee School students who were competing in the
Braille Challenge, this feel-good story expressed doubt as to whether it
really mattered. At one point Farmer narrates as follows: "What makes
Weatherall grin are Braille lovers like Marcus Johnson, who plans to attend
a local university in the fall, though he says Braille will not be
particularly useful in his college classes." Farmer never goes on to
question the truthfulness of this assertion, but just seems to take it for
granted: Braille serves as a nice-to-have tool now that might win Marcus
Johnson some limited glory in this year's Braille Challenge if he is
fortunate enough to be among the fifty finalists who get to go to LA, but
at the end of the day it will prove irrelevant to his life in the real
world.
The more I reflected on this story, what bothered me most was what it
had left unsaid: nothing about electronic, refreshable Braille; nothing
about the usefulness of Braille for the expression of math, scientific, or
musical notation; nothing about the recent project to keep Braille up-to-
date through the widespread adoption of Unified English Braille as a
standard; nothing about Braille's application to professional careers in
STEM fields; and not even a cursory mention of the National Federation of
the Blind or the work the Federation has been doing to qualify and certify
new teachers of Braille. Most disturbing of all was this reporter's lack of
discernment about the nature of literacy. Without the ability to see well
enough to read print efficiently enough to meet the demands of today's
world, doesn't a lack of Braille in a blind person's life make him or her
illiterate? The question never was asked.
So I decided to write to Blake Farmer myself. I did so in an email
sent on Monday, May 8, 2017-just one day after listening to his story about
the presumed obsolescence of Braille. My appeal was rather quickly written,
so I am sure it is imperfect. But I just felt that something needed to be
said. When confronted by a world that misunderstands and sometimes even now
still ridicules blindness or legitimately proven blindness skills such as
Braille, I believe it is imperative that I take a cue from the biblical
Apostle Peter and "always be ready to give a defense" for my faith in the
proven power and simple elegance of the Braille code. Here is what I wrote:
Blake:
I am pleased to make your acquaintance, even if just via email. I
think your story set in the Tennessee School for the Blind . . . was well-
meaning, and I know you made a valiant attempt to be balanced in your
approach. But because many persons who occasionally do journalistic
coverage of blindness have never knowingly met a blind person prior to
their going out on the assignment, I wish to present you and your
colleagues with another perspective . . . Having been a lifelong,
totally blind person who learned to read at age five or so (in the early
1970s), I feel very strongly that in my own case, if it weren't for
Braille, I would be illiterate, regardless of how much I could remember
from oral learning. Among the blind who are advanced students or who work
in the professional world, Braille is making a comeback-especially as we
learn how to utilize it rapidly, digitally, and noiselessly while connected
to postmodern, commercial devices like mobile phones and tablets via
Bluetooth. After all, it looks a lot more respectable for me to be in a
meeting and taking notes in Braille or reading Braille while interacting
orally with someone seated in my office than it does for me to have earbuds
attached to my head while acting as though I'm listening to my client.
But this is not about just me and my own story or conditioned
preference. Since I now serve on the board of directors for the Indiana
State Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind, I encounter a lot
of situations in which a parent or guardian is referred to me, not knowing
what to do after receiving a medical diagnosis saying that his or her child
is "visually impaired" or "sight-challenged." What you should know is that,
even though your retired (TSB) teacher Joanne Weatherall is excited about
kids wanting to learn Braille, this seldom is an opinion shared among newer
teachers of the visually impaired who are entering the field today unless
those teachers happen to be blind themselves. A lot of the opposition to
Braille comes from the sighted professional community tasked to serve the
blind as teachers, school administrators, or vocational rehabilitation
counselors, because they find it hard to locate individuals qualified to
teach or proofread Braille, and they consider Braille expensive to obtain
and to store. Even more of a factor than this perceived need for cost
containment, though, is the stereotype that blindness is a fate worse than
death in the mind of many persons who have never encountered it before, and
they are particularly scared if it is their children who must suffer this
unthinkable fate. Blindness is so frightening to so many that otherwise
rational and well-educated adults when confronted with blindness will freak
out and go with whatever the first so-called "professional expert" tells
him or her. All too often, that advice sounds like "saving eyesight,"
"taking advantage of all usable vision the child has left," and trying "not
to make him or her look blind." All too often, this well-meaning attempt to
help a young student keep fitting in to his or her social environment in
the classroom proves ineffective and ultimately harmful to the child's
academic achievement and future prospects, and sometimes harmful even to
the child's brain health.
It is true that, according to statistics published by the American
Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, only about 10 percent
of American blind children learn Braille. It also is true that some people
who are blind are also people who hate Braille-because they don't like
reading by touch, or because they believe the embossed books are too bulky
or heavy to carry around usefully if living a mobile lifestyle, or because
diabetic neuropathy in some individuals just makes it next to impossible
for them to pick out nuanced shapes with their fingertips. I respect
someone's decision not to learn or read Braille if it is a consenting adult
who makes that decision for him/herself. Unfortunately, though, the
question of defending Braille or heralding its imminent death is one that
has been used to divide the blind community, and much of the time it is
children who get caught in the crossfire. The National Federation of the
Blind, which is the organization I have chosen to represent voluntarily, is
a fierce defender of Braille. But other organizations-and quite a few
sighted professionals in the fields of educating disabled children and
rehabilitating disabled adults-push back against Braille, claiming that
synthetic text-to-speech and/or magnifying technology in a digital world is
all one really needs. Some make the claim that the NFB's defense of Braille
amounts to little more than a branding distinction used to market and fund
the National Federation of the Blind. I quite disagree with this cynical
and narrow-minded conclusion.
So what I wish to do is to present my pro-Braille argument from
another angle, drawing from sources outside the Federation. First, I refer
you to an article entitled "Is Braille Relevant?" It was posted by a blind
working woman named Neva Fairchild; it appears as a blog entry on the
website of the American Foundation for the Blind. Of her childhood, Ms.
Fairchild writes: "As the print in books that I wanted or needed to read
got smaller, my ability to read diminished. By fourth grade, I was
listening to Talking Books for pleasure unless I could get my hands on the
rare large print book. I was not always able to complete reading
assignments in school because the amount I needed to read took too long and
caused severe eye strain. Somewhere around eighth grade, I noticed that
teachers told us the important content from the textbook during lectures,
so finishing my reading was less and less attractive to me. I made passing
(although not stellar) grades, and that seemed adequate at the time. I wish
that someone had pointed out that I was selling myself short, settling for
less, and not living up to my full potential. I also noticed during this
time that my spelling ability was declining because the majority of written
words that I read were written by me, and therefore, spelled by me. Would
you agree that my literacy was suffering?" Note that the writer of this
testimonial was not encouraged to read or write Braille in school
whatsoever; but she has adopted Braille because she found it essential
later in life as a productivity tool in the workforce.
And there is a statistical correlation between those who read Braille
and the higher likelihood of such persons to gain and keep competitive
employment. It's documented in The Impact of Braille Reading Skills on
Employment, Income, Education, and Reading Habits by Ruby Ryles, PhD.[4]
Blake, you also need to understand the changing face of Braille, one
you might not have seen at the Tennessee School for the Blind when
profiling those contestants. Braille in the year 2017 is not just about
carrying around a bunch of heavy, bound volumes that cost hundreds of
dollars and hundreds of human-hours to produce. And it's not about just
reproducing rows of dots by punching them mechanically into paper with a
hand-held stylus or on a heavy, metal, nine-key manual typewriter. See
Braille technology moves into the 21st century, available online from
rawstory.com.[5]
Anyone who spends time in my office or who attends public events at
which I speak-or who even comes into the room where I teach Sunday school
at a local church-will observe that most of the Braille I use is
refreshable Braille that pops up on a little, one-line, electronic display
that literally is small enough to fit into my breast pocket. I can use this
both to read output from and to control my laptop, iPad, or iPhone. I even
know of a couple of new devices that are stand-alone Braille computers: a
fully Braille-enabled Android tablet that can run Google Books, Google
Docs, and Google sheets, and can interact with the Internet;[6] and a
Windows 10 tablet PC that also is fully empowered to interface with the
user via Braille output and input.[7] Both the BrailleNote Touch and the
ElBraille described here have synthetic speech built in, but either can be
fully operated without synthetic speech, if the user wants Braille only. I
don't own either the BrailleNote Touch or the ElBraille, but I could gain
access to a unit temporarily and demonstrate their use in public if called
on to do it.
As for what you can do on paper, a variety of methods are being
perfected that will allow for a standard commercial printer to be adapted
so it may produce Braille hard copy output using touchable ink, not
requiring embossing in the traditional manner and thus being far less
expensive and far less labor-intensive than the embossed Braille available
from specialized libraries for the blind today. Perhaps the code used for
touchable ink printing wouldn't have to be Braille in the strict sense, but
the basic principle is the same, and there is the possibility that this
would make a gigantic difference as it enables blind people affordably and
quickly to reproduce graphical material used in mathematics, science, and
even the visual arts, or even to make their own graphs that could be
accessed in real time equally well by blind and sighted project
collaborators. Some of this R&D is happening in Bangkok, as outlined in a
video from the international marketing company J. Walter Thompson.[8]
And while on the topic of the sciences, you should know that a blind
man named Dr. Timothy Cordes, a board-certified psychiatrist working in
Madison, Wisconsin, says Braille played a large role in his passing
prerequisite math and science courses as he prepared for medical school.
Yes, Dr. Cordes is an MD and PhD who did a full medical residency at
the University of Wisconsin.[9]
The problem with all this? Electronically produced Braille is still
far too expensive for most individuals to afford, especially if they live
below the poverty line. But solutions are being worked out: including H.R.
1734 the Access Technology Affordability Act, which has been introduced
into the House Ways & Means Committee in the 115th Congress.
Last but not least, as my kids love to point out, Braille gives me a
hidden advantage in life: being able to read in the dark. As my highly
observant, seven-year-old, sighted son Max said one time, "Being blind in
the desert wouldn't be hard. All you'd need is food, water, and Braille."
I welcome your response.
Since writing that letter to Mr. Farmer and a shorter version to the
producers of All Things Considered on the same day, no response from anyone
in public radio has been received. The battle for Braille continues.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Justin Salisbury]
Dirigibles, Blimps, and Looking Around
by Justin Salisbury
From the Editor: Justin Salisbury is a former scholarship winner who
often offers his opinions about issues relevant to the blind and
particularly ones involving the adjustment to blindness. Sometimes he
reflects on his own adjustment: the denial, the hiding, the frustration,
and the stages he has gone through on his way to acceptance. At other times
he talks about his hopes and fears for blind people who do not get good
adjustment to blindness training. Occasionally he talks about all of these,
and in this article he does. Here is what he says about the words that
people use, the guesses about their motives and intentions, and the way he
should react:
While teaching cane travel, I sometimes tell my students to look
around and see what they find. One student recently became frustrated with
me and said that he cannot see anything with sleep shades on and that
looking around is a visual activity.
It is entirely possible to argue that our vernacular has commonly
evolved so that our concept of experience or awareness has many
descriptions involving the sense of sight. We will regularly say that it
was good to see someone. It helps to shed some light on the subject. Let us
not keep them in the dark about this. If you don't want it to come out in
the light, don't do it in the dark. She had been seeing this guy, but she
had not foreseen that he was looking for a wife. We use these expressions
every day.
It is just as possible to argue that these references to the sense of
sight reinforce or give rise to a belief that vision is the primary means
to do many things. To be honest, I believe that it is the primary means
employed by many sighted people. This, by itself, is not harmful in any way
that comes to my mind. If they have the sense in its full form, they might
as well use it when it is efficient.
I worry sometimes that universal access is overlooked because of a
lack of expectation that blind people will use a product or service.
Someone might think that blind people are not living on their own and
watching television on a Thursday evening when an emergency alert flashes
across the screen. Since blind people could not be in a position to need
equal access to that information, that equal access may not be pursued and
created. Thankfully, because of the work of the National Federation of the
Blind, equal access is being discussed in productive spaces. Equal access
to instructional materials in higher education is a discussion topic only
because the organized blind movement decided that separate but equal
instruction would not suffice for blind students. We will continue to work
to raise the expectations of blind people because low expectations create
obstacles between blind people and our dreams.
There is also a problem, though, when blind people come to
internalize the idea that visual means of experiencing or doing something
is the primary or best way to go about it. I was one of the best disciples
of this belief, and I even used to surround myself with other blind people
who thought the same way. This way of thinking was so imprisoning. I cannot
claim that I am perfectly immune to this belief, but I am grateful to the
many blind role models in my more recent years who have taught me that this
is not the case.
It is easy to slip into a feeling that, when people use vision or
eyesight in their daily expressions, they are rubbing our blindness in our
face. Maybe they did not mean to do it. If we let that affect us
negatively, it dooms us to a sustained onslaught of pain and a long hallway
of closing doors. It may not be harmless, but it may not be intentionally
harmful. I believe that perhaps the best thing I can do is change the way I
look at it when people use these types of expressions.
Back to my student's frustrated assertion that looking was a visual
activity that could not be done with sleep shades on. I didn't want to get
into a deep philosophical discussion about the nature of sight during our
travel lesson, but I needed to answer him. And I love that my job requires
me to think on my feet and be ready at all times with an answer. My first
response to try to change his mind was to ask him, "Do you know what a
dirigible is?"
He cautiously answered, "A blimp?"
"Well," I said, "blimps are only a subset of dirigibles, but they are
the only ones that most of us ever discuss. Looking visually is only a
subset of looking, but it's the only kind we often consider until we go
blind."
Maybe I should curtail my speech so that I avoid telling students to
look around. Maybe it taunts them with the thought of being asked to do
something which they can no longer do. I think, though, that it might be a
disservice to my students. Instead of changing my individual speech and
hoping that others will follow suit, maybe I should help expand my
students' understanding of these expressions so that, when they encounter
them, they do not consider them to describe activities outside the domain
of blind people. If they do, there is some risk that these thoughts could
erode their confidence or feelings of normality. In a long-term way, I want
blind people, whether they are my students or not, to be able to truly feel
normal, at least as it relates to their blindness. Just because our way of
efficiently searching our environment often does not involve eyesight does
not segregate us from the standard speech of our society.
Even up until I finished college, I used to feel very awkward about
my blindness. Carrying a cane was not a completely ridiculous idea, but I
was not consistent about it. Daily physical pain from straining my eyes and
neck was apparently better than looking weird by using a cane. I would have
been using different means of gathering environmental information while
traveling, but it would not have made me that different. To be honest, the
lack of comfort in my own skin and occasional missteps while traveling
without a cane were probably what did the most to make me different.
Sometimes, I would be at a party and meet somebody I might like to see
again. If I had my cane, it was easy to explain that I wouldn't be able to
just spot them across a room and find them again. If I did not have my
cane, they were rarely receptive to my explanation that I was actually
legally blind and needed a little more than a wave from across the room. I
tried to function like a sighted person, but I was no longer a sighted
person. I was limited, not by blindness, but by the walls that I was
putting up for myself by refusing to function as an independent blind
person and by the walls put up for me by not being given good adjustment to
blindness training.
At work, when I meet a blind person, I am pro-consumer organization,
meaning that I encourage them to explore organizations of blind consumers.
When I am off the clock, I encourage blind people to take one of the most
important steps which I have ever taken in my life, to join the National
Federation of the Blind. I have been a member of a few different blind
organizations over the course of my life, but the National Federation of
the Blind is the one which has taught me the most genuinely empowering
things about myself. The Federation has taught me that, if I am abnormal,
it is not a direct consequence of blindness. If I cannot do something,
aside from seeing clearly, it is not a direct consequence of blindness.
Often I need to remind myself or someone else that blimps are only a subset
of dirigibles. Through the National Federation of the Blind, I have been
blessed to surround myself with good blind role models who have taught me
that I can still live the life I want and that blindness is never what
holds me back. It is in the Federation where I am constantly re-inoculated
against the low expectations and misperceptions in society so that I can
keep moving forward on the right path. Without the National Federation of
the Blind, I could very easily have relapsed after training and gone back
to using my residual sight for just about everything. I do not know of
anywhere else that blind people can gain this level of strength and hope,
so I point others in as clear a direction as I can. I hope all blind people
look around, and I hope we all find the National Federation of the Blind.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: Amy Mason and Anna Kresmer]
Dots From Space!
A Bunch of Cut-ups
by Amy Mason and Anna Kresmer
From the Editor: Since January the Monitor has been running a
serialized version of the NFB Quest from the 2016 National Convention. The
NFB Quest was designed to be a fun game to break the ice between Federation
members meeting in person for the first time and to make Federationists
active participants rather than passive observers of the presentations and
speeches. This is the final installment of the adventures of the Dots from
Space crew, just in time for those Federationists attending the 2017
National Convention to embark upon the new NFB Quest. And now we return to
the adventure with Lieutenant-Commander Jot trapped in an ancient device as
the crew searches for a way to rescue her:
After a fruitless hour spent attempting to extricate Lieutenant-
Commander Jot from the ancient device, Captain Dottie called for a new plan
of action.
"All right, people! This is obviously not working, and there doesn't
seem to be anything in this room that can free our shipmate. We need a new
plan-and we need one now! Any suggestions?"
"Well, Captain, as you say there is nothing in this room, so
logically we should begin by searching some of the other rooms."
"Excellent suggestion, Doctor Spot," replies Commander Point,
stroking his beard meditatively. Squeak, squeak.
"Yes, but I don't like the idea of leaving one of our members behind,
even in this seemingly abandoned place. Just look what happened when we
were all together!" the captain laughs sardonically.
At this, Counselor Mote perks up, "I'm happy to stay with her,
Captain. You should take the rest of the team on ahead. If anything
happens, I'll contact you."
"Very well, Counselor," she says. "The rest of you, come with me."
Leaving their teammates behind, the rest of the crew begins to search
the other areas of the floor, but finds nothing except offices filled with
more obsolete technology once used by the previous inhabitants. Undaunted,
they decide to expand their search to the floor below them.
Reluctant to trust the tiny elevator that they encounter in the
hallway, they choose instead to take the stairs. Rounding a bend at the
bottom of the steps, they encounter yet another locked door. Still riding
high on his boundless enthusiasm, Ensign Bean charges ahead, reaching for
the door handle.
"Hold it right there, Ensign!" the commander barks. "Charging ahead
without waiting for orders is how we got ourselves into this mess in the
first place!"
"You're quite right, Commander. We should pause and look at the
situation logically. What do you suggest we do?"
"I think the ensign should be the one to hold this position while we
ensure that there are no more surprises in the room beyond."
Young Bean, drooping a little, begins to complain, but is brought up
short when Captain Dottie nods approvingly and says, "Excellent idea. Make
it so!"
The junior officer steps forward, with a resigned sigh, and leans
into the doorknob. Finding the door to be locked, Bean extends a thin
filament into the lock, feeding more of himself in until all the internal
nooks and crannies of the mechanism are filled. With a twist, he turns the
knob, pulls the door back, and stands aside as the others file past him.
Upon entering, they discover another storage room filled with rusty
metal shelves. Aging Braille and print documents, covered with a fine layer
of cobwebs, still stand in stacked piles on many of the shelves. In other
areas of the room the floor has deteriorated and left gaping holes. The
sound of dripping water can be heard, and the musty air is humid.
"Fan out! You, too, Bean. See if you can find anything useful,"
Captain Dottie commands. "But be careful! That floor looks unstable!"
The Dots search the room in silence, only the creaking of the floor
and the rustling of pages marking their passage.
"Captain, I believe that I have found something."
"What is it, Doctor Spot?"
"If I am reading this correctly, there's a tool somewhere in this
building that may help us to free Jot."
"In this building? How do you know?" Squeak, squeak.
"Simple. The author of one of the stories in this small book that I
have found-a Dr. Maurer, I believe-mentions a device for cutting wood and
other hard surfaces that was stored in what they called 'the Center.' I
think that may be one of the names they called this building."
"Well, what is this strange device, Doctor?"
"I believe it was called... a chainsaw."
[Note: Link to or copy of "Children and Chain Saws," by Marc Maurer,
To Touch the Untouchable Dream, the Kernel Books,
https://nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/books/kernel1/kern1503.htm]
After searching for a few more minutes, they discover that the shop
is next door and contains precisely the tool that they are looking for.
Hopeful that this is the solution to their problem, they return to their
trapped teammate in the technology room. As they near the open double
doors, they hear the soft voice of the counselor say, "Okay, here's another
one! Why did the sun go to school?" Silence fills the room. "Oh come on!
You know this one. Just take a guess!"
In a deadpan voice, Jot says, "I don't know, Mote. Why did the sun go
to school?"
"To get brighter! Get it? Why aren't you laughing? Isn't that one
funny?"
Jot sighs gustily.
"Okay, try this one for size. How do you organize a space party?"
"You planet!" Bean bounces into the room followed by the rest of the
team.
"You got it!" the counselor exclaims.
"Yeah, yeah, Mote. That's great. Captain! Tell me you've found a way
to get me out of this thing!"
"Yes, Lieutenant-Commander, I believe we have. But it may be
dangerous."
"That's okay, Captain, I'm ready now!"
"What can you tell us about the inner workings of the machine? Are
you near the top?"
"No, Doctor, I've been trying to work myself free since you left.
Most of my body is now wrapped around some of the rollers near the base of
the machine. Something is still caught, and I can't get out, but I'm clear
of the top third of the box."
"Excellent. Brace yourself, Lieutenant-Commander," the doctor
instructs her.
Stepping forward, he pulls a cord, and the chainsaw splutters to
violent life. Laying the edge of the idling blade against the side of the
embosser, he waits for the captain's signal. "At your command, Captain."
"Engage!"
Epilogue: The Return of a "Klassic"
Having freed their compatriot and feeling that they have now learned
all they could from the long abandoned building, the six Dots (in two
columns of three) make their way back to their ship, the Particle, which is
still waiting for them on the roof.
"I wonder what happened to them all..."
"Who, Ensign?"
"The people who lived on this planet, Captain, but especially the
ones who lived here. With all that we have read about them, I feel almost
as if I know them."
"We may never know, Ensign, but I remain hopeful that we will find
answers elsewhere."
Later that week, as the Particle wings away from the lonely planet,
Lieutenant-Commander Jot sits in engineering. She is surrounded by
mountains of ancient hard drives and other media storage which the crew
pulled from what they now called the Center. Grabbing a drive from the top
of the nearest stack, she instructs the ship's computer to scan the device.
The computer analyzes the contents and informs her that, "83.2 percent of
the unique content on this drive refers to something called 'K-N-F-B
Reader.'"
"Computer, stop!" Jot cries. "I wonder, could it be?"
Growing increasingly excited, she peruses the documents on the drive
in much greater detail. Finally, several hours later, she calls the captain
to report her findings.
"Captain, you'll never believe what I have found! I was looking
through the data we collected from the aliens at the Center location. I
think they may still be out there somewhere!"
"What makes you think that, Jot?"
"Shortly before they disappeared, they had released a program for
scanning and interpreting text that could not be read tactually. They
called it K-NFB."
"That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that name before,
Lieutenant-Commander?"
"It should sound familiar, Captain! The new translation devices we
recently purchased in the previous sector, which we just so happened to be
using while we were exploring that planet, were built by an organization
which goes by that name!"
"You don't suppose?"
"Yes, Captain. I don't know how, but I think they are still out
there. Living the lives that they want!"
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: David Andrews]
There Is a List for That!
by David Andrews
This month we will continue our monthly column exploring internet
mailing lists with the Golden State-California. The main list for the state
of California is NFBC-Info. You can subscribe to the list by going to
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org, or you can
also subscribe by sending an email to nfbc-info-request at nfbnet.org and put
the word "subscribe" on the subject line by itself. The list contains both
discussion and announcements related to the NFB of California and its
chapters and activities.
A number of the chapters in California have their own lists. Below
are the list name and a brief description of each. To subscribe substitute
the list name in the command above for the nfbc-info phrase.
NFBSF: NFB of California San Francisco Chapter list
NFB-River-City: NFB of California Sacramento Chapter list
NFBC-SFV: NFB of California San Fernando Valley Chapter list
Two divisions in California also have their own lists: students and
community service. Their list names are CABS-Talk and CACommunity-Service
respectively and can be used in the web or email commands mentioned
previously. You can also locate all the California lists just by going to
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ and searching for the word
"California."
Next month we will tell you about guide dog-related lists. As always,
you can find all NFBNET.ORG-related lists at
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Sheri Wells-Jensen]
Anthony Don't: On Blindness and the Portrayal of Marie-Laure
in All the Light We Cannot See
by Sheri Wells-Jensen
From the Editor: Sheri Wells-Jensen is a professor of linguistics at
Bowling Green State University. She wrote this book review for Interpoint,
the blog of the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. It is gratefully
reprinted with the permission of the author and the Lighthouse. Here is
what she has to say about the novel:
When I think of All the Light We Cannot See, the latest, most popular
portrayal of blindness, there are many scenes that run through my head.
Here are two, summarized, for your consideration:
In 1940, under the imminent threat of German invasion, a middle-aged
locksmith and his twelve-year-old blind daughter are fleeing Paris.
Everything happens quickly, and their escape is urgent. The locksmith is
working furiously, but, short of running her hands over a toy model of the
city, the blind daughter does nothing. Her father asks nothing of her
except that she use the bathroom, and so she waits, passive as an
upholstered chair, while he assembles their possessions, packs their food,
then buttons her into her coat, and leads her out the door.
Why isn't this adolescent girl participating in her own escape?
Four years later, the locksmith is drawing his now-sixteen-year-old
daughter a bath, despite the fact that there is a decidedly maternal female
character just downstairs. The locksmith washes his daughter's hair, and
she is docile as he explains that he is leaving. At the end of the bath he
hands her a towel and helps her climb onto the tile.
Why is a middle-aged man bathing his sixteen-year-old daughter, even
if he does step outside while she puts on her nightgown? Who is this girl?
Is she the heroine or the victim of the story? Does she get to be both?
This helpless, sexless child is the blind girl who is one of the main
characters of Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, a book which
first enraged me, then began to haunt me and fill me with a kind of
appalled despair. The book has raised neither widespread outrage nor
offense in most readers. People love it. It won a Pulitzer [in 2015]. Book
clubs are gobbling it up. Every morning, on my way to work, I hear ads for
it on my local NPR station. And every morning, I feel the same gut-deep
sense of despair, a kind of a mental nausea, as Marie-Laure begins to slide
into her place in the public consciousness as a reasonable representation
of what it's like to be blind.
Marie really doesn't do much for herself in the novel, and when she
does, her methods are decidedly strange, the reception she receives even
stranger. She doesn't put on her own shoes, button her own coat, or help
out around the house. Her ability to find her way around her own
neighborhood is constructed and controlled by her father, who builds
obsessively detailed models, accurate down to the last park bench, for her
to use in navigation. Until the model is complete, she does not leave the
house alone. He watches over her as if she were made of spun glass and
sugar. When, one evening, she dances in the attic with her agoraphobic
uncle, we are told that "her two eyes, which hang unmoving like the egg
cases of spiders, seem almost to see into a separate deeper place, a world
that consists only of music ... though how she knows what dancing is he can
never guess."
In case you don't know, not a single blind person I have ever met
would count thirty-eight storm drains on a walk downtown. We walk to work,
to the bakery, and back home again and manage this without the benefit of a
single 3D model of the park benches we pass. We can also tell night from
day. We carry our own luggage. We don't need to use a rope tied from the
kitchen table to the bathroom to navigate the inside of a house. And all of
us know what dancing is.
But I am not here to complain about misrepresentations of adaptive
techniques or tired blindness stereotypes. I honestly don't care if Marie-
Laure counts her steps, reads Braille with her thumbs, hears the ocean from
her sixth-floor window, or can detect the scent of cedars from a quarter-
mile away. The assault on the dignity of blind people is not that this
character has strange adaptive techniques, or even that there are so many
things she does not do for herself; it is that she is utterly without
agency as a character.
Marie does not even pack her clothes, not because she can't find her
bedroom or doesn't know her socks from her pantaloons, but because she is
simply not expected to do that sort of thing. She's not especially timid or
excessively shy. She is, in fact, intelligent and reasonably charming. But
she is not the agent of her own life. Isolated, apparently friendless, she
is led through her life by the hand and accepts everything that happens to
her with dystopian magnanimity. She is moved about, remarked over, and
admired, and she spends the majority of the novel in the apparently
courageous and all-involving activity of simply staying alive while blind.
She expects nothing-not praise, not condemnation, not challenge-and the
people around her are glad enough to oblige. Even when she does manage to
do something-to cast away a particular gemstone, or run an unsupervised
errand downtown for the French Resistance-it changes nothing in her life,
except that she eventually asks permission to go to school. Nothing really
changes. She resists nothing. She asks for little.
She is my nightmare.
All the Light We Cannot See is historical fiction, and Mr. Doerr says
in his numerous interviews that he did endless research while writing. You
can tell he did read about blindness: He read about Jacques Lusseyran, a
blind man who took part in the French Resistance in World War II; and
apparently also about Geerat Vermeij, a blind evolutionary biologist now at
UC Davis. You should take the time to learn about these two men; their
stories are about active, joyful, curious, hard-working blind people, quick-
witted and ready for a challenge. After reading their memoirs, you might
think Mr. Doerr would create an engaged, vibrant main character who is
blind.
In what feels very much like a betrayal of the lively spirit that
inspired and motivated M. Lusseyran and Dr. Vermeij, all Marie inherited
from these successful men was a degree of composure and an innocuous
predilection for mollusks. Blindness is Mr. Doerr's metaphor. Real living
human beings-caring, active, blind human beings who are parents and
teachers and artists and scientists-are not relevant in his story. And I
can't tell from his prose if he cares about that or not. [Editor's note:
Doerr first achieved notoriety with his portrayal of a mythical blind
character in "The Shell Collector."]
His defenders might object that Mr. Doerr's depiction has nothing to
do with modern blind people-he was creating a historically real picture of
a young blind girl seventy-five years ago in a European war zone when
circumstances were different and women of any sort had less power and less
autonomy than we do now. Similarly, you could argue-and friends of mine
have-that Mr. Doerr, as an artist, can and should create as his muse
prescribes. I'll happily grant that, too.
But art, whatever its genesis or intent, flourishes or fails in a
social context. We decide-by what we read, what we watch, and what we buy-
if the muse is worth it. And the fact that this book and its blind heroine
won the Pulitzer says something not just about Mr. Doerr's knack as a
storyteller, but also about what sighted people expect from blind people.
The fact that most people do not notice any problems at all with the
depiction of Marie is sad to me.
Many a friend, perhaps in an effort to redeem something from the
uncomfortable hour of discussing this book with me, has implored, "Yes, but
other than Marie-Laure, didn't you like the book?" I think they must want
to preserve something of the glow they felt while reading. It was a pretty
story, well told, right?
Well, no. Not at all. Asking if I liked the book in spite of the
portrayal of the blind character is like asking, "Except for the dog turd,
didn't you enjoy that piece of cake?"
So why, you might ask, did I read this book? I have started and
discarded dozens of books-some slightly better, some worse-because of their
depictions of blind characters. It just isn't generally worth my time to
read insulting or stupid depictions of blind people. All things being
equal, I'd rather clean the catbox. But I made myself finish this one,
hoping for some resolution. I kept reading because this one will not
quietly go away.
I am an associate professor of linguistics in the English Department
at Bowling Green State University, where Anthony Doerr received his
Master's degree in creative writing in 1999, the year before I arrived on
campus. I understand that he was quite well regarded at BGSU, and has since
been named among our 100 top alumni. Although we have never met, he is
respected by my colleagues and liked by many of my friends. And because of
this book, he will most likely return to BGSU someday, probably to give the
commencement speech, and then I'll have to decide what to do. (My choices
range from confronting him angrily in the East Hall lounge to hiding under
my desk for the duration of his stay. Both options have their appeal!)
Would meeting a real, competent, employed blind person change his approach
to writing blind characters? Would that make a difference? Or are the
cultural stereotypes-and the permission to use them-just too powerful?
The answers to those questions, although fascinating to me on both a
personal and a professional level, don't matter. And my inclination to spit
fire or curl up under my desk is not as important as the conversation we,
as a society, should be having about what matters to us and how what we see
in the media impacts our lives. Art is important. It is an echo of the real
world, capturing our perceptions and reflecting them back to us. And what
do we discover reflected in the story of Marie-Laure? A well-crafted homage
to destructive stereotypes about blindness, softened and made pretty by
artful prose.
There's nothing pretty about the reality of prejudice, and there's
nothing soft about the lives of disabled people who have been taught that
they have neither the right nor the power to run their own lives. Art does
matter because it not only reflects what we believe, it also helps
establish those beliefs. And if an artist is unsure how to authentically
portray blind people, then it falls to the community to begin the
conversation, because we do not have "eyes like the egg cases of spiders,"
we can put on our own shoes, and we do, in fact, have reason to know what
dancing is.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: With the football stadium behind him, Jonathan Franks
shapes his right hand in the "Hook 'em" symbol.]
How I Live the Life I Want As a Sports Fan
by Jonathan Franks
From the Editor: Jonathan Franks is a member of the National
Federation of the Blind who lives in Austin, Texas. What he writes about is
the simple pleasure of being a sports fan and his fear that the loss of
sight would mean losing one of his favorite pastimes. But what makes
Jonathan's story interesting is that he is blind, goes to the sports
stadium alone, and doesn't think much of it. In the Federation we have
plenty of sports fans and plenty of chapters that go to sporting events,
but very few blind people who are willing to attend a game alone. Here is
Jonathan's story:
Since I was four my father has gotten me involved in sports in one way
or another. I played soccer for eight years and even won first place on a
number of teams. My father and I would go to the park and play football,
basketball, baseball, or soccer. I had always wanted to play for the teams
at my high school; however, my grades were not up to par.
I grew up in San Jose, California, and we would often travel to
Oakland or San Francisco to attend the Oakland Athletics or San Francisco
Giants games. I have also had the pleasure of attending a New York Yankees
game in New York and a Houston Texans game versus the Indianapolis Colts in
Houston, Texas. My next goal is to attend a San Antonio Spurs game in the
near future.
Every Sunday and Monday during the football season, my father and I
would watch the games on television. I started to lose my sight in December
of 2005, and all of my vision disappeared ironically on White Cane Day,
October 15, 2006. This was due to diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. At the
time I was very concerned that I would lose my love of sports and
particularly my enjoyment of games on television because I could not see.
My father convinced me not to give up watching, and he sat with me on
Sundays and would describe to me what was happening during the games I
chose to watch.
In 2007 and 2008 I attended a local training center, where I learned a
number of skills that included Braille, screen reading technology, daily
living skills, and, perhaps most important of all, orientation and
mobility. One of my assignments was to attend a WWE Monday Night Raw event.
This is the professional wrestling program that many of you watch on
television. At first the tasks seem daunting; however, I was up for the
challenge. This really brought to the forefront my concern about not being
able to enjoy a sporting event independently. To my surprise I was able to
enjoy myself. This was to be the start of something big.
Since I have moved to Austin, Texas, I have been a major fan of the
Texas Longhorns. For those of you who do not know, the Texas longhorn is
the mascot of the University of Texas at Austin. I became a loyal fan when
I moved here and even a more ardent fan when the team won the national
college championship in 2006. But it wasn't until one day when my father
and I went to get some dinner that I found that the Longhorn football games
were on the radio. I was amazed by how descriptive the play-by-play
announcer was in bringing the game to life. After that experience I decided
to abandon television and listen to radio broadcasts. In 2015 I actually
met the man who is known as the voice of the Longhorns, Mr. Craig Way. I
told him how he had once again brought vitality to the game for me, and I
do believe he was flattered.
In 2011 my significant other at the time and I bought tickets for a
Texas Longhorn football game. I had always wanted to attend one of the
games, and in preparation I bought a handheld radio so that I could listen
to Craig Way's broadcast. The announcer gave me all the play-by-play
action, and I was thoroughly captivated by being able to witness the power,
the tradition, and the excitement of being at the game. After that I was
hooked.
In 2013 I was accepted into the University of Texas at Austin, where I
earned my bachelor's degree in social work with a minor in psychology.
There was a sports package available to students, and I bought what was
called the Big Ticket package. This gave me access to all of the Texas
Longhorn sporting events for only $250. While a student I attended as many
football, basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, and volleyball games as I
could. During the games I was attending I would post on Facebook, and word
got around. Many of my friends were simply amazed that I went to the games
and asked me how I could enjoy them given that I was blind. I would happily
reply, "I have my radio. It costs me a fortune in batteries, but it is
worth it." I explained that I follow the crowd noise, and if I am unsure
about what is happening, I will ask a fellow fan.
The second most frequent question I receive is, "Why do you go to the
games alone if you cannot see?" I reply that my blindness does not limit my
ability to enjoy the games, and neither does it require that I be
accompanied by someone. The event staff will help me locate my seat at the
stadium, but by now I have learned the layout and know exactly where to get
my food and how to get my ride at the completion of the game.
Even after graduating from the University of Texas in 2016, I still
continue to attend as many sporting events as time will allow. For the last
two years I have purchased alumni football season tickets, and being a
loyal sports fan is one of the most exciting things I do. I have been an
avid sports fan for nearly twenty-five years now. The National Federation
of the Blind says, and I have affirmed through my own experience, that my
blindness does not limit what I can enjoy or dictate my life choices. I
live the life I want, including enjoying sports, and I hope that my story
encourages all of you to do the same. Hook 'em Horns!
----------
Leave a Legacy
For more than seventy-five years the National Federation of the Blind
has worked to transform the dreams of hundreds of thousands of blind people
into reality, and with your support we will continue to do so for decades
to come. We sincerely hope you will plan to be a part of our enduring
movement by adding the National Federation of the Blind as a partial
beneficiary in your will. A gift to the National Federation of the Blind in
your will is more than just a charitable, tax-deductible donation. It is a
way to join in the work to help blind people live the lives they want that
leaves a lasting imprint on the lives of thousands of blind children and
adults.
With your help, the NFB will continue to:
. Give blind children the gift of literacy through Braille;
. Promote the independent travel of the blind by providing free, long
white canes to blind people in need;
. Develop dynamic educational projects and programs that show blind
youth that science and math are within their reach;
. Deliver hundreds of accessible newspapers and magazines to provide
blind people the essential information necessary to be actively
involved in their communities;
. Offer aids and appliances that help seniors losing vision maintain
their independence; and
. Fund scholarship programs so that blind people can achieve their
dreams.
Plan to Leave a Legacy
Creating a will gives you the final say in what happens to your
possessions and is the only way to be sure that your remaining assets are
distributed according to your passions and beliefs. Many people fear
creating a will or believe it's not necessary until they are much older.
Others think that it's expensive and confusing. However, it is one of the
most important things you will do, and with new online legal programs it is
easier and cheaper than ever before. If you do decide to create or revise
your will, consider the National Federation of the Blind as a partial
beneficiary. Visit www.nfb.org/planned-giving or call (410) 659-9314,
extension 2422, for more information. Together with love, hope,
determination, and your support, we will continue to transform dreams into
reality.
Invest in Opportunity
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. You can live the life you
want; blindness is not what holds you back. A donation to the National
Federation of the Blind allows you to invest in a movement that removes the
fear from blindness. Your investment is your vote of confidence in the
value and capacity of blind people and reflects the high expectations we
have for all blind Americans, combating the low expectations that create
obstacles between blind people and our dreams.
In 2015 the NFB:
. Gave away over four thousand long white canes to blind people across
the country, empowering them to travel safely and independently
throughout their communities.
. Produced hands-on educational programming for hundreds of blind
children, allowing them to access the essential building blocks for
their future.
. Provided one hundred thousand dollars in scholarships to blind
students, making a post-secondary education affordable and attainable.
. Delivered free audio newspaper and magazine services to more than one
hundred thousand subscribers, providing access to the essential
information necessary to be actively involved in their communities.
Just imagine what we'll do next year, and, with your help, what can
be accomplished for years to come. Below are just a few of the many
diverse, tax-deductible ways you can lend your support to the National
Federation of the Blind.
Vehicle Donation Program
The NFB now accepts donated vehicles, including cars, trucks, boats,
motorcycles, or recreational vehicles. Just call (855) 659-9314 toll-free,
and a representative can make arrangements to pick up your donation-it
doesn't have to be working. We can also answer any questions you have.
General Donation
General donations help support the ongoing programs of the NFB and
the work to help blind people live the lives they want. Donate online with
a credit card or through the mail with check or money order. Visit
www.nfb.org/make-gift for more information.
Bequests
Even if you can't afford a gift right now, including the National
Federation of the Blind in your will enables you to contribute by
expressing your commitment to the organization and promises support for
future generations of blind people across the country. Visit
www.nfb.org/planned-giving or call (410) 659-9314, extension 2422, for more
information.
Pre-Authorized Contribution
Through the Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) program, supporters
sustain the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind by making
recurring monthly donations by direct withdraw of funds from a checking
account or a charge to a credit card. To enroll, visit www.nfb.org/make-
gift, complete the Pre-Authorized Contribution form, and return it to the
address listed on the form.
----------
[PHOTO/CAPTION: 2016 NFB Convention Exhibit Hall]
Independence Market Corner
by Ellen Ringlein
The National Federation of the Blind Independence Market is the
conduit through which our organization distributes our empowering
literature to our members, friends, and the general public. As a service we
also operate a blindness products store, which sells mostly low-tech items
designed to enhance the everyday independence of blind individuals.
The staff of the NFB Independence Market has been busily gearing up
for our national convention, which will be held this year in Orlando,
Florida, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort from July 10 through 15. In
preparation for the convention we are adding new items to our stock and are
updating our catalog. At the convention itself almost all our sales
products and much of our free literature will be available in the exhibit
hall. Convention attendees will have a chance to examine demo items of our
products, including the new ones. Check the convention agenda to learn when
the Independence Market will be open in the exhibit hall. We will share
information about the new products in later issues of the Braille Monitor.
If you would like a sneak peak of what's new, visit the
https://nfb.org/convention page and follow the links for the exhibit hall
and the Independence Market.
Many volunteers will help staff our store at convention to assist
with demonstrating products to our customers and processing the resulting
purchases. Thank you to all of you who are helping out in some capacity. We
would not be able to run the Independence Market at convention without you.
We hope to see many of you in Orlando. If you are not able to join us
at our convention, check out the Independence Market online or contact us
by email or by phone.
Please note that the Independence Market operations in Baltimore will
be suspended while we are in Orlando. We will not be able to process any
online or telephone orders while we are away at convention.
For more information about the products and literature available from
the Independence Market or to request a catalog in Braille or in print
visit us online at https://nfb.org/independence-market. You may also
contact us using email at independencemarket at nfb.org or by phone at (410)
659-9314, extension 2216, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Eastern time. Our staff will be glad to assist.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Lauren L. Merryfield]
What Do They Say?
by Lauren L. Merryfield
From the Editor: Lauren Merryfield is a long-time Federationist and
intermittent contributor to the Braille Monitor and Future Reflections. Her
article "What Color Is the Sun?" was the title article for the first Kernel
Book. Her book There's More Than One Way to Be Okay: A Blind Woman's
PURRspective On Life is available in audio at www.audible.com. Lauren has
served as secretary in several chapters of the NFB. Because she moves
around, she has been involved in helping to resurrect or establish several
new chapters. She currently lives in Carmichael, California, with her three
cats: Maryah (Mariah with a Y), Tobias (Toby), and Lelaynya (Laynie).
Lauren is an online pastor and Jesus follower. In addition, she has earned
an MSW degree and certification in pet loss and bereavement. She counsels
people online and has held pet memorial services using Skype.
Lauren does not like getting old but is not ready for the
alternative, stating that she would rather be over the hill than under the
hill. She says she will never be an "old fogy," intending to remain young
at heart. In this article Lauren discusses the almost-universal problem
blind people encounter when receiving health care; the staff see our
blindness and secondarily the condition we expect them to treat. Although
they know quite a lot about their area of expertise, they often know little
about how to treat a well-adjusted blind person, and our compromised health
can limit our ability to do much to educate them. Here is what Lauren has
to say about her recent health experiences:
When I was young, I strongly believed that once blind people
demonstrated to the sighted world that we could do a thing, we would be
believed, and we could live the life we want without constantly having to
confront doubt. It is many years later, and I feel quite disappointed that
we too often find ourselves dealing with the same issues we did back when
we were young. Though the NFB certainly helps the public make progress,
there is still a long way to go for some of us.
Each time we push the envelope so that we can more readily live the
life we want, we help make it better for the next blind person coming
along. I might not say much if an incident or set of incidents affected
only me, but when I know how they could affect other blind people, I am
less likely to be quiet about the situation. A case in point:
For the last two years I have had the misfortune of living with what
the medical people call "venous insufficiency" in my legs. My legs and feet
swell up-at times like balloons-and they occasionally develop wounds and
cellulitis. It has been necessary on far too many occasions for me to be
hospitalized in order to be given IV antibiotics to combat the cellulitis.
Being a patient has been stressful for me, mainly because,
overwhelmingly, staff insists that I be treated like a two-year-old just
because I am blind.
The last two times I was hospitalized, the staff kept repeating, "Now
don't get up unless there is someone in the room." One nurse wanted me to
pee into pads on the bed. I felt embarrassed about that. She said that if I
needed anything from my suitcase, she would get it for me.
I, not being the most obedient person to such demands, would
sometimes get up on my own to visit the restroom or retrieve an item from
my suitcase. I was told later that when I did this sort of thing, a report
was written up on me. I was not particularly taken aback by that.
However, as one shift followed another and one day and night followed
another, I got tired of this treatment. Over and over again I would say
that I was ambulatory and that I could find the restroom and my suitcase by
myself. However, they kept insisting that I use my call button to have
someone else help me with these things.
During my second hospitalization, I had three separate roommates who
stayed overnight following surgery. In each case not only were these women
allowed to get up out of bed; they were practically forced to do so as part
of their recovery-quite a contrast from how it was for me. When I would
point this out to the on-duty nurse or CNA, I was always confronted with
the argument that, "Well, they can see."
When it came time for discharge, I was invariably confronted with the
argument that "We can't discharge you to go home, living alone blind. That
is too much of a risk. You could fall. You can't handle your medications."
They rarely asked me if I often fell or if I had difficulty managing my
medications; they stated these things as facts. I would correct them at
every possible opportunity, but it was like they just did not hear me.
When I would finally make it home, without falling and without having
any problems with my medications, I would be barraged by the home health
care nurses who continued the same litany.
About a week ago a social worker visited me. Although I have a
master's in social work myself, I still tread on thin ice when a social
worker comes to visit me. I never know which side of the fear-mongering
they will be on. The latest visitor had heard from the home health care
nurse that it was dangerous for me to live alone because I could fall, the
reason being that I have quite a lot of stuff in my apartment. She also
informed the social worker that I had difficulty with my medications
because I couldn't tell them apart and could take the wrong ones. The nurse
had written in print the names of my medications on the top of the bead box
that I keep them in. The social worker laughed, stating that this was not
exactly helpful to me. I said that if I needed to write them down, I could
put Braille labels on the top of the bead box; however, I was the one who
placed each medication into each receptacle, so I knew where my medications
were located. I further was aware by the shape of the pills which one was
which. For me there was really no problem. The social worker asked me when
last I fell. It had been a year ago when my office chair dumped me out-
forward. It had absolutely nothing to do with blindness, and I was not
hurt.
We decided that since I was not constantly falling due to blindness
and was not having difficulties with my medications because I am blind,
that she would report to the nurse-what do they say?-if it ain't broke,
don't fix it.
I have subsequently filed a complaint with the hospital because it is
obvious that its staff is not trained in how to treat blind people. It has
been suggested that the floor on which I was a patient and could be again
will undergo training. I suggested that, while they were at it, it might be
a good idea to train all of the units in the proper way to treat blind
patients. I am hoping that this will be accomplished soon.
Before Easter I was quite insistent about my discharge from the
hospital. My doctor understood my strong desire to be home with my cats,
plus my desire to attend my church. She was able to make arrangements for
me to have IV antibiotics only once a day as an outpatient. This
arrangement meant that I could not leave town for Easter; however, I was
able to attend church and experience the freedom of being at home. I am
hoping that this kind of arrangement can be made again if or when I am
dealing with another bout of cellulitis.
Ironically, in the place I live, I am on the independent living side
so that getting help is not all that easy. Therefore I am not smothered,
and the staff is aware that I come and go on my own. This is quite a
contrast from my hospital experiences. I realize that the hospital staff
believe they are protecting themselves from liability. The problem is that
there is no evidence that blind people fall more often than sighted folks
or that they mess up on their medications more than sighted patients do.
So, as far as I am concerned, they are barking up the wrong tree.
I am further aware that many of the blind patients with which the
staff interacts are people who are in the process of losing their vision or
who are newly-blind. When they are met with someone like me, blind since
birth, they see me through the lens of someone newly-blind, which is quite
inappropriate.
Fortunately I have not had as much trouble as an outpatient. In the
infusion clinic I was just another patient who was a hard stick who needed
IV medication. I am hoping and praying that this will be the route I go for
any further IV treatment.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Marc Maurer]
Editor's Introduction to Celebrate
by Marc Maurer
From the Editor: As President Riccobono has noted on his monthly
presidential release and in the President's Notebook, we are making a
significant effort to distribute the Kernel Books published by the National
Federation of the Blind. These books provide wonderful messages to the
public about what it really means to be blind and are ideal when local
chapters and state affiliates do public events and offer our literature.
This month we will republish several articles that come from one of
these books, its title being Celebrate. What follows is the introduction
that Immediate Past President Maurer wrote, along with two articles from
it. Here's what he says:
Just a few months ago we in the National Federation of the Blind
celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of the National Federation
of the Blind Jernigan Institute-the magnificent research and training
facility which you, the readers of this Kernel Book Series, have helped us
to create and build. Indeed, as I write the introduction to this twenty-
eighth book in the Kernel Book Series, I take great pleasure in the
knowledge that we have much to celebrate, and I am keenly aware of the part
you have played in making this so.
It has now been fourteen years since we published the first Kernel
Book, and six million of them have been circulated. As we add this new
volume, Celebrate, to the Kernel Book collection, I want to tell you that
the progress we have made together in those years-in understanding,
partnership, and increased opportunity-has been a joy and a wonder to me
personally and to the tens of thousands of blind men, women, and children
who make up the National Federation of the Blind. We give you our thanks
and our gratitude for your continuing care and concern.
As I have said repeatedly in the pages of the Kernel Books,
understanding blindness is more a matter of understanding what it is not
rather than what it is.
It is not lack of capacity to live a life filled with adventure. I
tell you more about that in my story about "The Airplane, the Cobra, and
the Lighthouse."
As John Pari will tell you, it is not lack of capacity to ride a
unicycle. Nor is it the inability to tour Greece and visit the Parthenon,
direct a children's playground, serve as foreman of a jury, rake the leaves
in your yard, teach your daughter to ride a bicycle, have a passion for
astronomy, or cut your five-year-old niece's pancakes.
So, if blindness is not these things, what is it? To state the
obvious, it is lack of physical eyesight. But more important than that, is
what all of us-blind and sighted alike-think about not being able to see.
For it is only what we believe about blindness that can make it the tragedy
that it sometimes becomes.
But the theme of this book is not tragedy, but celebration. The blind
men and women you will meet in these pages are not filled with doom and
gloom. They are filled with hope and belief.
We Celebrate the progress we are making toward the day when blindness
does not limit our opportunities. We Celebrate the power of partnership
with ever-growing numbers of Kernel Book readers and others in the general
public who are joining with us in our work. We Celebrate the goodness of
life and invite you to join with us to make it even better.
----------
Swabbing the Deck
by Mary Ann Lareau
From the Editor: Here is how this story was introduced when it
appeared in the Kernel Book Celebrate: Mary Ann Lareau is an officer in the
National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts and is president of the
Suburban West Chapter-one of our newest local chapters in Massachusetts.
She is the mother of two daughters and is active in her community. On a
daily basis she works to change what it means to be blind. In "Swabbing the
Deck," she relates a simple incident that opened the heart and mind of a
stern Navy captain. Here is what she has to say:
In the summer of 1980 I was the mother of two daughters, ages eleven
and thirteen. I was appointed the first director of a new neighborhood
playground.
Being the president of the playground board, I wanted this new park
to be a success. We didn't have the funds to pay a highly trained director,
so we decided to run the playground ourselves.
Since I was a Campfire Girls' leader of three troops, I was urged to
take charge of the task. We were supported by the city with a lunch program
site, a few paid teen-aged staff members, a twice-a-week swimming program,
some arts and craft supplies, and three trips with busses to transport the
kids away from the city. The youngsters all seemed to have great fun each
day.
The arts and crafts program was my primary function on a daily basis.
Many of the items we produced were made from materials that you could find
around the house such as milk cartons, egg cartons, coffee cans, popsicle
sticks, etc. Numerous things were assembled: sit-upons, trinket boxes,
drums, birdcages, and much more.
The final trip of the summer was scheduled for Battleship Cove at
Fall River, Massachusetts, where there are two historic ships-the U.S.S.
Massachusetts and P.T. 109. The latter vessel was made famous during World
War II by the courageous feats of John F. Kennedy.
The kids were excited for the final trip of the season. Three busses
were loaded with lunches, kids, parents, and staff. The usual singing and
jokes amused all during the hour ride to the Cove. Upon arrival the rules
for good conduct were again given just to remind the kids of what they
could and could not do.
We all decided to tour the P.T. 109 and were to assemble in the mess
hall at 11:30 for lunch. All parents and staff members had assigned numbers
of kids for which they were responsible. I supervised four youngsters,
because it was my responsibility to ensure that all went along smoothly.
My oldest daughter and I were having fun lifting my guide dog, Koko,
a forty-two-pound silver shepherd, up and down the ladders of the P.T.
boat. My daughter would climb the ladder; I would pass the dog up to her
and then climb up after. Koko was a lot of help because some of the
passages had low entrances, and sometimes there were huge, unexpected
steps.
As lunchtime approached we all made our way to the mess hall. The box
lunches were passed out, and all the kids were starting to eat when the
captain made his first appearance. He inspected the scene and immediately
came over to me.
"I need to have a word with you," he declared in a firm tone. "I must
ask you to leave this ship." I was very surprised and asked, "Why?" He
replied, "Because of safety considerations we do not allow blind persons
aboard."
I struggled very hard to contain my initial anger but eventually
informed the captain that I was the person in charge of the three busloads
of children that were thoroughly enjoying their field trip to see the
historic vessel so closely associated with the memories of the late
President Kennedy. I made it clear that if I were being ejected from the
ship, the entire group would have to join me.
Just at that moment there was a great deal of noise behind us.
Spinning around rapidly, I shouted out, "Peter and John-stop it at once!"
As a milk carton came whizzing by my head, I shouted to those responsible
for the disturbance that they would be responsible for the cleanup of the
mess hall. We were not leaving until the area was as clean as it had been
upon our arrival. I asked the captain if his men could provide the boys
with the necessary equipment to clean up the hall.
The captain kindly offered to have the mess cleaned up, but I
insisted it was the responsibility of our youths to do so. He seemed rather
impressed with this response and began conversing in a much more pleasant
tone: "How did you know which youngsters were causing the problem?" I
explained, "I know the kids by their rather distinctive voices, and I can
generally assume which ones are causing the trouble."
After the lunchroom was all cleaned up, and all the mess was taken
care of, we all finished touring the ship and spent money in the gift shop.
Just as we were about to depart the captain came over to say, "Blindness
does not seem to be as much of a handicap as I believed it to be." "No," I
replied, "but sometimes it is a nuisance."
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: James Gashel]
Here's the Proof
by James Gashel
From the Editor: This is how this story was originally introduced in
the Kernel Book Celebrate: James Gashel lives and works in Baltimore,
Maryland. He has been a leader in the National Federation of the Blind for
more than three decades and in that time has seen marked progress in the
way blind people are perceived by members of the general public, and his
story is one that relates that advancement. Here is what he has to say:
I have been blind all my life, and I grew up in Iowa where Dr.
Kenneth Jernigan was my teacher on matters dealing with blindness and life
in general. He taught us that it is respectable to be blind. This is the
most important lesson I ever learned.
Knowing that blindness is respectable leads to self-confidence. I
still see blind people holding back on trying things they could do if they
only had the confidence to try. More than loss of eyesight, this is the
real problem of blindness. Dr. Jernigan taught us this too.
During the time I was in college in Iowa and starting to think about
such things, I knew blind people who were told they couldn't take certain
classes or be hired for certain jobs, for example as teachers. I knew this
was wrong, and this is why I joined the National Federation of the Blind.
I learned that a form of discrimination occurs when blind people are
denied jobs or other opportunities based on misconceptions. Not all denials
are discrimination, such as refusing to issue a blind person a driver's
license. Denials based on incorrect facts or false reasoning are
discrimination, but are almost never mean-spirited as we sometimes think of
with racial or ethnic prejudice. Still, even if kindness is the reason,
blind people do face discrimination in the form of exclusion from
opportunities.
In the National Federation of the Blind we share stories with one
another about the successes we have and the barriers we still face. This is
how I first learned that blind people were being excluded from jury
service. I knew that blind people were working as lawyers, so I couldn't
figure out why we couldn't serve on juries.
Who would think that the legal system would discriminate against
blind people? None of this seemed right, and it wasn't right. I wondered
what would happen if I was called to serve. On whom can you count for
justice when the law enforcer has already made up his mind against you?
Many years went by, and I was never called for jury duty. Then it
happened. I now live in Baltimore, Maryland, where the circuit court has a
"one trial or one day" rule. This results in being called for jury duty as
often as once a year and certainly within two years, but many more people
are called than actually serve on a jury.
The first time I was called the day was uneventful, but the second
time was different. My summons number was 14, so if a judge needed a jury,
I was certain to be in the group called for screening. In fact, this is
exactly what happened as soon as we had received the general "pep-talk"
about the importance of jury service.
The announcement made by a court official instructed anyone with a
number between 1 and 100 to report to one of the courtrooms in the building
across the street. Using a long white cane, which I do, no one could miss
that I am blind, but nobody mentioned it either. So, off to the courtroom I
went where the judge told us the procedures and started asking questions to
select the jury.
This was a civil dispute. The plaintiff was an older gentleman, and
the defendant was a young man in his early 20's. These two had been
involved in a traffic accident, and the issue was over who caused it and
who would pay.
According to the instructions we were supposed to stand up if we had
to answer "no" to any of the questions. I kept my seat since I had no
reason to give a "no" answer. Then the judge started calling numbers, and
what do you know, number 14 was the very first one called.
When I rose, white cane in hand, the judge told me to take the first
chair in the jury box. Actually, I had no idea where the jury box was, let
alone the first chair, but I walked confidently toward the bench to an area
where I assumed the jury would have to be seated to view the attorneys, the
witnesses, and the judge.
With two rows of chairs there, it turned out that I was right. I
proceeded to the first chair at the end closest to the judge in the front
row, figuring that this was the one intended for me. This view was
confirmed too when the judge called the next juror's number as I
confidently took my seat.
Finally we were all seated, and the trial commenced. At noon we took
a break, and a court employee escorted all of the jurors to a room where we
were told to reassemble after lunch, after which we were dismissed for
lunch on our own. I'm not sure when we were told that the juror in the
first chair is the foreman, but I remember feeling a great sense of
responsibility as I left the courthouse for lunch. Here I was, the foreman
of a jury at the Circuit Court in Baltimore.
Some time after 1:00 p.m., when everyone was back, the trial resumed.
We listened to testimony for the next two and a half hours, nothing like
the O. J. Simpson trial that lasted several months. Anyway, the judge
started to read instructions to us at about 3:30 p.m., and we filed back to
the jury room to deliberate. It was close to 4:00 p.m.
The judge's instructions included three or four questions that we
were specifically directed to answer. I wrote these questions down on a
Braille device I use, and read my Braille notes to direct the jury. The
crux of the case was who caused the accident? Did the older gentlemen fail
to see the car driven by the younger man before he pulled out, or was the
younger driver speeding out-of-control as the older gentleman alleged?
All of the sympathies were with the plaintiff (the older gentleman)
who had been seriously injured in the accident, but my responsibility was
to lead the jury to evaluate the proof. With four years of intercollegiate
debating and subsequent work as a high school forensics coach, I was
probably the best-qualified person in the room to explain the burden of
proof to the others. Emotions were running high as we argued the merits of
each side, but no one mentioned that I am blind and cannot drive a car. If
they had, I would have argued that this would leave me free from
preconceptions that drivers might have in evaluating the facts of this
case. Knowing about evaluation of evidence and burden of proof were more
important in that setting than knowing about driving, so no one challenged
me on that point.
Anyway, when all was said and done, the jury reached a unanimous vote
that the plaintiff had not established the defendant's fault. I directed
another juror to complete the printed form for the judge, and we returned
to announce the verdict. The day was almost over. It was now my
responsibility to speak for the jury to confirm the decision, which I did.
At that point we received the judge's thanks, and the trial was over.
As I left the courthouse it struck me, blindness had not come up all
day. I had gone to the bar of justice and been treated as a first-class
citizen. There was no need to argue or persuade anyone that as a blind
person I could still judge the facts of a traffic accident. No one seemed
to doubt my ability. The message of the National Federation of the Blind is
really getting through. Here's the proof: there was no discrimination at
the courthouse.
----------
Recipes
This month's recipes come courtesy of the National Federation of the
Blind of Hawaii.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Kyle Sabrina Laconsay]
Pineapple-Coconut Scones
by Kyle Sabrina Laconsay
Kyle is the affiliate treasurer of the NFB of Hawaii, and the
personal home management instructor at Ho'opono, the only Structured
Discovery center in Hawaii. A past pastry chef at Alan Wong's Restaurant in
Honolulu, she still loves to bake at home and at work, teaching the New
Visions students.
Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups of Bisquick flour
1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
Method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place flour into a large bowl
and using a butter knife or pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until the
mixture becomes like large pebbles. Add sugar, then whipping cream. Knead
dough until a ball forms in bowl. Fold in coconut flakes and pineapple
tidbits-mix in well. The mixture should still be a little crumbly. Transfer
dough onto a marble slab or cutting board, and shape it into a flat circle,
using a light pressure with your hands or a rolling pin. With a dough
cutter or long knife, cut circle into eight pieces. Cover a baking sheet
with parchment paper, and place scones evenly on top of pan. Bake at 425
degrees for twelve to fourteen minutes. Meanwhile, make icing.
Icing
Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Method: Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice. Add just enough juice to
make the icing smooth and silky, not too runny. If icing is too sweet, add
more lemon juice, or if too tart, add more powdered sugar. Using a fork,
dip into the icing and sprinkle over scones when just taken out of oven.
Enjoy! Aloha!
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Debbie Gabe]
Kale with Raisins and Nuts
by Debbie Gabe
Debbie has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind
Hawaii Affiliate since 2006. She originally joined the Honolulu Chapter but
currently participates with the Anuenue Chapter (anuenue means rainbow in
Hawaiian.) She was born in Hawaii, was raised part in Honolulu and part on
the Mainland, and then returned to Honolulu in 1980. She's been married for
34 years and has two grown daughters. She worked for thirty-five years as
an audiologist, the last twenty-six years working with deaf infants and
children. In 2006, she went through Ho'opono Services for the Blind New
Visions Program to learn blindness skills, after not acknowledging her
retinitis pigmentosa for thirty years. While she was a student there she
attended her first NFB National Convention. She was so inspired and moved
by what she learned and witnessed that she decided to change careers at the
age of fifty-six. She retired early from her audiology job and took a job
teaching cooking and home management with Ho'opono in 2007. Two years ago
she switched to the Braille instructor position. About this recipe she
says, "This recipe is husband-tested. It's the only way I can get my
husband to eat kale."
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped fresh kale
1 big handful of raw walnuts, chopped (you can use any other nut you like)
1 small handful of raisins, my favorite is golden. Or you can substitute
any other dried fruit, chopped if pieces are large.
Method: In a skillet on medium heat, lightly roast the nuts with a
tiny bit of oil of your preference. Cook until you smell the nuts. Add the
raisins and sauti for a few minutes until soft and plump. Add the washed,
chopped fresh kale and turn off the heat. Sauti until kale is just
beginning to soften. Do not overcook the kale. Combine everything in a bowl
and add the dressing of your choice. I have found the best dressing is a
very light one. I make a dressing with a little bit of rice vinegar, a
little bit of roasted sesame oil, and a small pinch of salt and pepper.
----------
Blueberry Wild Rice
by Justin Salisbury
Justin Salisbury is a mobility instructor at Ho'opono Services for
the Blind. He's an active member of the National Federation of the Blind of
Hawaii, thriving after transplanting from the East Coast. So, mixing in
with recipes that showcase the tropical tastes of coconut and pineapple is
a traditional food of the Algonquian-speaking indigenous peoples of the
Great Lakes and northeast region.
Ingredients:
1 cup wild rice
1 cup blueberries
3 cups water
Method: Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Boil on high heat. When
the mixture starts to thicken, reduce heat to medium-low to finish cooking.
Serve hot or cold. This dish is a great summertime breakfast but can be
eaten at any time of day. It can be enhanced by adding honey, maple syrup,
pecans, walnuts, or using a different type of berries. If you use a wild
rice blend including conventional rice, use less water proportionately.
----------
Shoyu Chicken
by Debbie Gabe
Debbie says, "This is another of my favorites that I don't eat very
often anymore. But I continue to make it for my family and guests. Shoyu is
the Japanese word for soy sauce."
Ingredients:
5 pounds chicken pieces (can be thighs or breast meat, cut into large bite-
size pieces)
1/2 cup shoyu
1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar is best, but white sugar and even coconut sugar
works fine
1 1-inch piece of ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
Green onions
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Method: Put everything into a pot with a 1/2 cup of water. Bring it
to a boil, and then immediately turn down the heat to low. Simmer for about
forty-five minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how much chicken you
are cooking and how big the pieces are. Every once in a while, stir the pot
so that all the pieces of chicken get all the flavors. Serve with rice.
----------
Pineapple-Carrot Cake
by Kyle Sabrina Laconsay
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated carrots (about 7 medium-size carrots)
1 cup diced canned pineapple
Zest of one orange
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a thirteen-by-nine-inch
cake pan. In a medium-size bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt,
cinnamon, and nutmeg. Zest one orange and set aside. In a small bowl, pour
pineapple out of can and drain juice. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs,
oil, and sugar. Add orange zest to egg mixture. Fold in flour mixture,
about one cup at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Add carrots
and pineapple and mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake cake at
350 degrees for approximately forty-five minutes. Cake is done when
toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool
completely before icing.
Icing
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce block cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Zest of one orange
Method: Zest one orange and set aside. Insert paddle in electric
stand-up mixer. In the mixer's bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together
until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Mix well until smooth.
Add orange zest and vanilla. Cream all together until smooth and silky. Ice
cake and enjoy! Aloha!
----------
Chocolate Haupia Pie
by Debbie Gabe
She introduced this recipe saying, "This is a recipe that I don't eat
often, but it is my favorite. It's an easy recipe even though it seems to
have a lot of steps. Haupia is the Hawaiian word for coconut pudding."
Ingredients:
1 9-inch prepared pie crust
1 can coconut milk
1-1/4 cup sugar or you may substitute coconut sugar
1 cup whole milk, but you can use skim or low fat milk, or non-dairy milk
such as almond milk
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or pieces
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, or you can substitute non-dairy whipping
cream
Shaved chocolate for garnish
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake prepared pie crust until
golden brown, about fifteen to twenty minutes. In a sauce pan, whip
together coconut milk, one cup sugar, and milk. In a separate bowl,
dissolve cornstarch and cup of water. Bring the milk mixture to a boil in
the sauce pan. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in the cornstarch mixture until
thickened. You need to keep whisking constantly until it thickens to
prevent any lumps from forming. Microwave the chocolate pieces or chips for
thirty to sixty seconds until melted. Pour half of the haupia mixture into
a bowl and set aside. Mix the chocolate with half of the thickened haupia
and pour into the cooled pie crust. Layer the remaining haupia on top. You
can use the back of a spoon to evenly pour it out. Cool the pie in the
fridge for a minimum of one hour.
Using a mixer, whip heavy whipping cream with the 1/4 cup sugar until
stiff peaks form. Garnish the pie with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
Chill for another hour.
----------
Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
Daniel Goldstein Receives Lifetime Achievement Award:
The Daily Record is an old and respected Maryland newspaper that
launched the Lifetime Achievement category for the 2016 Leadership in Law
program. This award recognizes an attorney or judge whose body of work over
their career makes them stand out. This person should be well respected in
their profession, active in their community, and dedicated to growing the
next generation of legal leaders. The Lifetime Achievement award honoree
each year will be selected by the Leadership in Law judging panel,
comprised of past winners. One of the recipients of the Lifetime
Achievement award this year was Daniel Goldstein of Brown, Goldstein &
Levy. The following is the profile the Daily Record published on May 16,
2017, about him:
Most people take for granted the privilege to browse the web, read
books, and make use of everyday items such as ATMs. However, those everyday
tasks can be hard to accomplish for the blind, and Daniel Goldstein has
dedicated his career to making access to these kinds of public resources
more equitable.
Take for example the case Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust, which
Goldstein considers the most important of his career. "The case arose from
the Authors Guild's challenge to a number of universities who had allowed
Google to digitally scan their entire print library collections and, in
exchange, [gotten] back a digital copy of those scans," Goldstein said.
"The court held that it was a fair use to allow unfettered access to
the digital scans of these copyrighted works to blind and other print-
disabled scholars." (In addition to blindness, other conditions that can
make it hard to access printed text include dyslexia, arthritis, and
cerebral palsy, among others.)
The ruling also allowed non-disabled scholars to search and compile
data based on the scans, Goldstein said. This created a compelling
incentive for more collections to be scanned in the future, "thereby
incidentally throwing open still wider the doors for those with print
disabilities," he said.
As counsel for the National Federation of the Blind, Goldstein
initiated a national legal campaign to ensure equal access to technology.
"Today, most ATMs can be used through voice guidance and a pair of
earphones by blind consumers, because, in part, of a series of pioneering
lawsuits," he said. "We have made the internet a more blind-friendly place,
with successful resolutions with AOL, Amazon, Target, eBay, Ticketmaster,
Scribd and many others."
Goldstein has also been instrumental in a settlement with the U.S.
Department of Education that requires the online forms and notices
associated with the student loan program to be equally accessible to blind
students and in litigation to ensure blind people are granted the right to
vote independently and privately.
What is a key decision you made in your career that made the
difference?
"It was not a decision that I made that changed the course of my
legal career. It was the decision made by the National Federation of the
Blind to engage me as their lawyer that refocused my career and led to
thirty years of exciting and meaningful work that brings me joy every day.
Having learned so much from my mentors in the National Federation of the
Blind and having been so supported by my friends in the blind community, I
thank them for the extraordinary honor of representing them."
Elected:
On Tuesday, March 14, 2017, the Yellowstone County Chapter of the NFB
of Montana held elections. The results are as follows: president, Jeff
Haworth; vice president, Kristin Byram; secretary, Clayton Kuntz; and
treasurer, Pam Haworth.
NFB of Missouri Steps up to the Challenge:
Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri are
currently participating in the fifth iteration of the National Fitness
Challenge (NFC), sponsored by the United States Association of Blind
Athletes (USABA) and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Anthem Foundation. The
challenge started in March and runs through the end of November. Twenty-
five members of the NFB of Missouri were given a Fitbit Flex 2 and agreed
to achieving various goals including walking at least ten thousand steps a
day and being physically active for at least thirty minutes every day. The
NFB of Missouri is one of thirteen organizations nationwide participating
in the challenge and the only blind consumer organization. The first full
month of the challenge was April, during which the NFB of Missouri had the
third highest number of steps. Though this is certainly a good beginning,
members of the National Fitness Challenge in Missouri are encouraging each
other and pushing their own personal limits with the aim of ultimately
winning the challenge.
In addition to the personal daily goals, the affiliate agreed that
members of the NFC would participate in an organized 5k run. To fulfill
this pledge, NFC members from across Missouri were in St. Louis on May 7 to
run and walk to benefit the Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual
Impairments. This was the twenty-fifth annual fundraiser for the group, and
the weather couldn't have been better.
As a part of our participation, the affiliate will sponsor a
Paralympic Day and will hold regular meetings to support and encourage all
of our participants. Besides the obvious health benefits for those
involved, the NFB's participation in this event shows both sighted and
blind people alike that blindness does not hold us back from being
physically active, something which is crucial if we are to live the lives
we want.
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.
New Titles for our Children:
Seedlings adds three brand-new titles in UEB to its big-kid book
collection!
Seedlings Braille Books for Children has just added three new titles
to its all-Braille collection for independent readers: A to Z Mysteries:
The Kidnapped King by Ron Roy, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, and
Magic Tree House 48: A Perfect Time for Pandas by Mary Pope Osborne. All
are in contracted UEB!
Seedlings has also made two more of its big-kid books available in
UEB: Holes by Louis Sachar and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine
Applegate. That brings to sixty the number of big-kid books Seedlings
offers in contracted UEB! Order today at
http://www.seedlings.org/browse.php?cat=12
Seedlings' nearly 300 print-and-Braille books for babies and toddlers
and beginning readers are already in UEB. Order at
http://www.seedlings.org/order.php
Monitor Mart
The notices in this section have been edited for clarity, but we can
pass along only the information we were given. We are not responsible for
the accuracy of the statements made or the quality of the products for
sale.
En-Vision America:
En-Vision America is a pioneer in the assistive technology industry
offering accessible products for the visually impaired and blind. En-Vision
is the inventor of the ID Mate talking bar code scanner; Galaxy is the
latest version which has a brand-new price check feature. We also offer
accessible prescription labels through participating pharmacies. Formats
include ScripTalk audible labels and prescription readers, large print
labels, and Braille labels. These labels are available in seventeen
languages. En-Vision America has partnered with pharmacies across the US
and Canada, absorbing the cost of accessible labels so that the service is
free. We are very excited to be able to offer this service to those who
need it most. We strongly believe our product enhances the quality of life
for blind and visually impaired people, and it is our great pleasure to be
part of that process.
For more information contact us at https://www.envisionamerica.com/
or call us at (309) 452-3088.
You Sit, I Get:
At our national convention do you ever find yourself resting in your
room and decide you want some ice cream from downstairs? Do you want
something from the gift shop but hate the thought of putting your shoes
back on to get it? If you have cash for your item, for a $3 get-and-deliver
charge, you've got it. The Grab It Guy is your man!
To use my service simply send a text message to (573) 355-0907 or
call at this number. My name is Ethan, and I'll be glad to help in any way
I can. My goal is a new guitar, so text or call, and I'll do my best to
help.
----------
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.
-----------------------
[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics. February 2016. Monthly Labor Review. "The
life of American workers in 1915."
[2] Taken from This Day In Quotes for the entry posted for May 31, 2015.
[3] For an audio archive and full transcript, visit
http://www.npr.org/2017/03/13/519983877/as-braille-literacy-declines-
reading-competitions-held-to-boost-interest.
[4] Excerpted at
https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm98/bm980204.htm
[5] See http://www.rawstory.com/2014/06/braille-technology-moves-into-the-
21st-century/.
[6] http://www.rawstory.com/2014/06/braille-technology-moves-into-the-21st-
century/
[7] http://www.freedomscientific.com/Products/Blindness/ElBraille
[8] https://www.jwt.com/en/bangkok/work/touchableink/.
[9] For a transcript of an explanatory talk Tim Cordes gave about his
medical school experience, see
https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm10/bm1010/bm101008.htm.
Forwarded by:
Brian A. Mackey
Brian A. Mackey
Owner, Mackey Enterprises, LLC
Treasurer & Webmaster, National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
Webmaster, National Federation of the Blind of Delaware & Illinois
Member, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Blind Users Innovating &
Leading Design (BUILD) Team
609-953-6988
<mailto:Bmackey88 at gmail.com> Bmackey88 at gmail.com
<http://www.mackeyenterprisesllc.com> www.mackeyenterprisesllc.com
"Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make
those dreams come true"
-Vince Papale
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